Maybelline 'Big Eyes' Mascara

The 'Big Eyes' Volum Express mascara is Maybelline's newest offering and I was pretty excited to pick this up. I actually saw this in my local Tesco when I was having a little browse and it originally caught my eye due to the fact it's double ended - one brush for your upper lashes and one for your lower lashes. On further inspection I got even more excited when I saw how tiny the lower lash brush was. 'Finally!' I thought, 'an alternative to my beloved Clinique Bottom Lash mascara!' I freaking love that mascara, it's absolutely perfect for hitting those bottom lashes, but at £11 a time (and it's a pretty small tube), it's just too pricey. So finding a drugstore dupe would be very convenient!

Upper Lashes 

The brush for your upper lashes is a bit of a unique one, with lots of different sized spikes (technical term!) it coats your lashes really well and separates beautifully. It definitely lengthens but I wouldn't say it thickens. All in all it's seriously good! I apply two coats but to be honest I could easily get away with one. 

Lower Lashes 

As I mentioned, this is a much smaller brush, designed to get right to the root of your lower lashes and reduce the risk of creating a big black mess under your eyes. The brush makes the application more precise but I found I had to apply two coats to get any kind of product payoff. One coat barely does anything. A slight disappointment but after a couple of coats, I'm good to go. 

I'm really happy to report that I had no under eye smudging with this little beauty either! That tends to be a problem I normally have with drugstore mascaras, but no panda eyes here :)

Two coats of Maybelline 'Big Eyes' mascara

All in all, this is definitely worth a try if, like me, you're a fan of dual ended mascaras. Who doesn't love a multi-purpose product? It's certainly worth £6.99 and you're basically getting two mascaras for the price of one.

My 'Wantable' Accessories Box

I've pretty much tried every monthly beauty subscription box in the UK. Some were good, some were awful and a couple of them I loved, but the main theme running through each of them was a box of samples sent to you every month. If you like samples, great! But it can get a bit tedious after a few months and to be honest I decided to spend that monthly amount on something I really wanted rather than a hit or miss box. But if there was a subscription service that offered full sized makeup products, nail polish or accessories I would be all over it. 

Cue Wantable! A US company offering three different subscription box options. Yes, three! A makeup box, an intimates (underwear, socks etc) box and an accessories box. The lovely people at Wantable were kind enough to send me one of each box just in time for their UK launch! I'm so pleased they're shipping to the UK because what they're offering is so unique and unlike anything we currently have over here. Yes, we have countless beauty boxes full of samples but trust me, Wantable are so much more than that.... 

I was asked to go to the website and fill in my personal profile, this is a list of questions which ultimately decipher what style of jewellery, beauty products etc. you prefer. Each question gave me the option to 'love', 'like' or 'dislike' something and once you've completed your profile you can rest assured that you'll never receive anything you've disliked. So if you don't like earrings, you'll never receive them. If you don't like bright lipsticks, you'll never receive them. You get the idea! This is something UK beauty boxes do not offer. Sure they might ask us to fill in a personal profile, but there's no guarantee we won't receive products we don't like.

Today I'm focussing on my favourite box of the three, the accessories box. Before mine arrived, I did a bit of googling and became seriously excited because the blog posts I read were amazing! Statement necklaces and scarves (both of which I'm entirely obsessed with), statement earrings and cool midi rings. These boxes seemed to be full of top quality, luxurious items that were bang on trend. Then my box arrived :)

I'm in love with it all. The leopard print scarf has gorgeous little silver studs and I've already worn it twice, a welcome addition to my collection. 

The earrings are beautiful and definitely something I'd pick out for myself, The grey multi faceted gems are so pretty and I wore them out on Valentines day :) 

My favourite item has to be the statement necklace. With coral, navy, turqouise and grey gems it's completely unique to anything I own. I'm a bit of a statement necklace fanatic so I was thrilled when I saw this in the box and I've had so many compliments when I've worn it. 

The three accessories combined are worth over $70 (£40) and considering the box costs $36 (£21.54) a month it's great value for money. I much prefer this concept to buying a beauty box full of little samples that I either won't use or can only use once due to the amount of product. These accessories are items I'll use over and over again and it just makes so much more sense. And another great service Wantable offer, is giving you a full refund if you're unhappy with your box! All you have to do is send your box back and you'll get your refund, no questions asked. Because your box is being sent from the US there are inevitably handling and tax fees (£8.49) which is a bit of a pain, but understandable.

If you fancy having a read about Wantable and signing up, head over to their website by clicking here for a browse, it's such a stylish site and super easy to navigate. 

Haircare Heros

I'm someone that's constantly on a quest to have that perfect, silky, shampoo commercial, amazing hair :) A hard task indeed! I've come to realise over the years that the products claiming to give you 'shine' and 'silky soft' locks are usually just coating your hair and basically creating short term results without really improving or benefiting it. This was never really a huge problem for me, as long as it's making it look nice then what's the problem, right? At least that's what I thought until I started noticing my hair becoming dull and weak. I guess repeated use of these shampoos, conditioners and masks that just coat my hair had taken their toll. 

I'd read about clarifying shampoos on various blogs and just general internet browsing but I never really thought it to be a necessary purchase until a few weeks ago. I came across the Moroccanoil Clarifying Shampoo on Feel Unique and thought ahh what the hell, let's give it a go! Clarifying shampoo is used to strip your hair of all the product build up. You're meant to use it once every couple of weeks to really give your hair a good cleanse and basically start with a nice, fresh base to apply your hair products.

When you first use this, it's quite a strange experience because it doesn't lather. At all. This then makes you automatically use more, then it still doesn't lather. But fear not, even though this isn't lathering up like your normal shampoo, it's still doing it's job! Try not to be tempted to add lots of this, a small amount (like you'd normally use with your everyday shampoo) is all you need to really clean your hair and breakdown all that built up product. Then use your conditioner as normal, heat protectant, hair dryer etc. 

After a few uses I'm really loving this. I can't compare it to any other clarifying shampoos because I haven't used any! But this really does leave my hair squeaky clean and soft! I'm hoping over time this will help put some strength back into my hair too. 

Another product I've been pretty addicted to is hair oil. I've tried quite a few (mainly drugstore) but I grabbed a small bottle of the Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment at on a recent trip to my hairdressers. I apply a small amount of this (about a 50p piece) to damp hair before I blow dry. I massage it into my mid lengths and ends (avoid roots!) and it immediately makes my hair feel super soft. Again I'm hoping this will help to strengthen my ends whilst keeping my hair lovely and soft, it's definitely a step I never miss in my hair washing routine! 

Clarifying shampoo and oil were never essential products for me, but strangely they've both become must haves! Do you have any haircare heros? Or have you tried either of these?

Moroccanoil Clarifying Shampoo - £18.45 - Link 

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment - £11 (30ml) - Link

Just a side note - my Naked 3 palette giveaway is running until Wednesday, so make sure you've entered! It's a UK only giveaway. Click here to enter.

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My Motives Collection

I'm so excited to be posting this today! If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have come to realise that I'm now a distributor of the hugely successful American cosmetics brand, Motives by Loren Ridinger :)

Motives has only very recently become available here in the UK and I'm the very first distributor in the South West! Eeeek exciting stuff! 

If you have Instagram, have a look at #motivescosmetics and you'll truly be blown away by all the amazing makeup looks created using these top quality products! 

Motives is owned by American entrepreneur Loren Ridinger and is part of the huge corporation that is Market America. There's also a line within the brand called 'Motives for Lala' which is fronted by reality star Lala Anthony. The main focus for the brand is bringing 'beauty in every shade' so they cater for fairer skins right through to very dark skin tones, something for everyone! 

I'll say now that the quality of these products is outstanding. Definitely of a high end standard with an affordable price tag! I've wanted to find a makeup brand to sell for quite a while and I knew this was the one for me when I kept seeing it pop up on Instagram. As soon as it came to the UK I couldn't wait to sign up as a distributor! 

So let's get on to the exciting bit, all the pretty products...

Motives products shown - 

Pucker Up lip plumper in Diamond

 '10 years younger' setting spray

Perfecting face primer

7 piece brush set

Gel liner in 'Little Black Dress'

Eye base

Onyx mascara

Liquid Powder Mineral foundation

Bronzer in 'Miami Glow'

Blush in 'Lust'

Essential brow kit

Lipsticks in Natural, Ruby & Pink Sugar

Lala lipstick in 'Beso'

Lip shine in 'Radiant Glow'

Lala mineral lip shines in 'Soho Pink' and 'Gossip'

Eyeshadows in Cinnamon Spice, Fantasy, Creme Fresh & Cappuccino

I won't talk in depth about every single one as we'd be here all day! But I have some firm favourites so I'll give you the low down on those today and if you'd like a full review on any of the products shown then comment below :) 

Lala Mineral lip shine - 

Even in the photo they look stunning, but in person, they are just gorgeous! These are part of the Lala line and admittedly one of Motives best sellers. The shade range is fantastic... 

I only have two for the time being but believe me, I'm getting every single one! Soho Pink is a bright, hot pink with holographic glitter. Such a girly, barbie shade! Gossip is a deeper, plum toned pink which is more opaque and full of shimmer. 

Two absolute essentials are the 10 years younger setting spray and the perfecting face primer. 

The primer has that signature velvet feel once you apply it and creates the perfect base for your foundation. Combined with the setting spray my makeup does not budge all day. Seriously I've been using these everyday for work and my makeup is still in place by 5pm. Amazing! The spray seems to also keep shine at bay, which is normally unheard of for my skin! (My friend has bought Motive's other setting spray 'no more shine' and says it keeps her skin matte for hours). 

Whatever Motives are doing, they've got it spot on! The products WORK. There's no two ways about it. 

If you'd like to have a look at the products or even order some for yourself then use the link below. I only have a small amount of the range, there's so many more gorgeous products on the website. It's free shipping too! 

Link 

If you'd like to know more about becoming a Market UK distributor and selling Motives then email me daniella.chapman@yahoo.co.uk

My twitter - @daniellacha

My Instagram - @daniellacha