Beauty products that didn't live up to the hype

This post may come as a bit of a shock to some of you today, as I'm not bigging up products that I love like I usually do. Instead I'm going to give you the rundown on a few products that have disappointed me somewhat in recent months.

Before I get started, I just want to make it clear, that I'm not saying these products are dreadful, they just didn't work for me... Some of you are going to read this post and think: "NAOMI, WHAT THE HELL?!" because most of these products are adored by a multitude of beauty lovers and have a cult folloing but sadly they just didn't cut the mustard for me... That doesn't mean they won't work for you, everyone's different and I enjoy reading these types of posts, I find it interesting to discover what other bloggers just didn't "get on with". 

Right enough rambling, here goes:

NARS Blush in Orgasm - £21.50

Yep, your eyes aren't deceiving you people. This is probably the most talked about shade of blush around, it's "that blush with the funny name". NARS blushes are renowned for being just, well fantastic, and trust me it's not a bad blush by any stretch of the imagination. The formula is good, it lasts throughout the day, and Orgasm is a lovely peachy, golden pink shade but there's 501 cheaper alternatives out there. My favourite dupe being the blush in Sleek's Face Form Contouring and Blush Palette. That nifty trio contains a contour, highlight and blush, and the blush is VERY similar to Orgasm. The only difference being it's accompanied by the contour and highlight, and the overall product costs £9.99. Sorry NARS... Sleek wins it here for me this time.

Maybelline Brow Drama Sculpting Mascara in Medium Brown - £4.99

After reading many a glowing review on this product, I thought I'd give it a go myself and boy, was I disappointed with this. I've read many posts where the reviewer claims it gives them a natural looking brow, I sadly cannot vouch for this. The strange ball brush just would not allow the product to apply neatly to my brows, it just made them look messy and odd. It's a no from me...

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in Black - £12

I had a sample of this free with a magazine a few months back and I was SO excited to give this a whirl, especially as it's renowned for being the liquid eyeliner behind Alexa Chung's famous cat flick and who doesn't love that look? I had such high hopes prior to using this but sadly I found that it smudged terribly. Instead of the cat flick, I got the panda flick... Not a good look! I'm just thanking the liquid eyeliner Gods for Stila's Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner!

Maybelline Baby Lips Balm in Pink Punch - £2.99

Following its Stateside success, the UK launch of this product was a highly anticipated one. I couldn't wait to get my hands on these lip balms, being a total lip balm fiend. Once they landed in the UK I purchased Pink Punch and Mint Fresh. I love Mint Fresh, it's one of my all-time favourite lip balms, I love any mint flavoured lip products anyway but the formula is just so hydrating. However, Pink Punch does not feel like the same hydrating product to me, it dries my lips out terribly and I also don't like the hint of colour that this has. Mint Fresh applies clear, while Pink Punch goes on like a sort of bright pinky colour but sheer too, which is fine but perhaps it should be a more muted pink if it's a sheer lip product. In my opinion, Pink Punch can't decide whether it's a balm or a tint... Disappointing but thank goodness it was dirt cheap or I'd feel a lot worse about it.

Benefit They're Real Mascara - £19.50

*gulp* I'm nervous about including this in the post but well... The UK's best selling mascara just didn't do it for me okay?! I'm sorry! Every beauty lover and their mother (poet and I didn't know it ;)) loves this mascara, and honestly I wanted to love this mascara so badly but I just don't... I find it so heavy on my lashes, so much so that it makes me feel uncomfortable and when I've had this on, I've felt paranoid of it smudging. The lash look that I tend go for is one that has the right mix of length and volume, but more so on the length side. This sadly has too little length for me, and far too much volume. I'm glad I've finally got this off my chest!

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post, it's good to mix things up a little every now and then, and it's a post I've contemplated doing for some time now. Like I said, just because a product doesn't work for me, doesn't mean the same applies for you, I just thought it may interest you to know what products I just haven't taken to. I'd love to find out what hyped up products didn't really float your bloat, let me know!

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Essie Button made me...

The title of today's post speaks volumes about me. Firstly, I'm a beauty addict but an easily led beauty addict at that. A product can sell itself to me but occasionally I do need the gentle nudge of fellow beauty bloggers to inspire a purchase... or eight.

This post features eight products I bought largely off the back of glowing reports from one of my favourite beauty bloggers, Estée from Essie Button. If you don't know who Estée is, she's a Canadian blogger, vlogger and YouTuber, who lives in London. She blogs under the name of Essie Button. Her blog is a joy to read and her videos are equally brilliant to watch. She's utterly hilarious, has superb taste in all things beauty, skincare and life in general, oh and she's ACE! Right, enough of the Essie Button love fest and onto the products:

Barry M Hi Shine Gel Effect Nail Polish in Lychee - £3.99

With their vast array of colours and reasonable price tag, Barry M's nail polishes are some of the best offerings on the high street. However, their Gel Effect Nail Polish formula really is something special. In two coats, you get wonderfully shiny nails that don't chip easily. Last year, Estée (and the rest of us, including myself) fell in love with the shade, Lychee, which is a lovely nude-grey shade. Ideal for daily wear.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner - £13

Like most women out there I have a real love/hate relationship with liquid eyeliner. I hate applying it, however when it does go on well, I love it. Who doesn't love a good winged eye after all? Estée has sang this product's praises no end, she claimed it was the best liquid eyeliner she's ever tried. With that kind of review, how could I leave Boots without this? Unsurprisingly, this has lived up to her rave reviews. It's the perfect black liquid liner, the pen makes for easy application and it doesn't budge throughout the day!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Balm Stain in Honey - £7.99

Estée’s readers know her love of Revlon's range of lip products. These Clinique Chubby Stick dupes took the high street by storm around two years ago and I do see why I suppose. I found these products okay but just that unfortunately, I have the shade Honey (Estée's fave), which is a lovely, 'your lips but better' kind of pink. My gripe with this product is it fades so easily, which is fine for some but I don't tend to reapply my make-up too much throughout the day, so it's a little annoying for me. Thankfully this kind of shade isn't too high maintenance, so it doesn't look silly once it has faded but it is just as though nothing was ever there. A plus point however, is the minty scent. I love mint scented lip products!

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake and Tutti Frutti - £7.99

More Revlon lip products here. The beauty blogging community went mad for these, including Estée, of course and I can totally see why. These are somewhere between a lip balm and a lipstick and they are lovely. They're extremely hydrating and there are a brilliant variety of shades to choose from. I opted for Strawberry Shortcake, which is another one of those 'your lips but better' pinks, and Tutti Frutti, which is an orangey coral. These go on sheer, which means their staying power isn't incredible but having such a balm like formula, I was expecting that really.

Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo 24hr Cream Gel Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze - £4.99

A product that Estée and every other blogger adores, including myself! This cream formula eyeshadow is excellent worn alone or as a base for other eyeshadows - it makes a wonderful companion for Urban Decay's Naked Palette I've got to say! Despite its low price tag, its longevity and quality mirrors that of a high end branded product. Estée's signature shade is On and On Bronze or Bad to the Bronze, as its named in the States and Canada.

Bobbi Brown Corrector in Porcelain Bisque - £18.50

I love this, Estée loves this... (Did you read that to the tune of the Barney the Dinosaur theme tune...? No, sorry, I will carry on). I love this little wonder, as you will know if you read my February favourites post. This works fantastically to combat that sometimes dark under eye area of mine. Its slight pink tint cancels out the darkness and with it having a creamier consistency than most concealers, it works a little better for me in my under eye area. A total gem, thank you Estée for introducing me to this.

Dior Hydra Life BB Eye Creme - £30

Last year, Estée and I had something in common, we ventured into the wonderful - albeit expensive world of Dior cosmetics and we fell for them, hook line and sinker. A BB eye creme sounds ridiculously extravagant and quite frankly unnecessary, and yes it is BUT this is a lovely product. The coverage is by no means heavy duty at all, which may not satisfy some but I'm all about the no make-up make-up look and this works great for me. The price tag is the product's only real snag but it's Dior, need I say anymore? (Poet and I did not know it)

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Are there any beauty bloggers that inspired some of your beauty purchases? If so, what products were they and what bloggers tempted you into those purchases?

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A naughty and wholly unnecessary drugstore haul

As the title suggests this is a bit of a naughty post. This documents a recent half an hour I spent in Boots and I just thought I would show you what ended up in my basket.  After a busy working week not so long ago, I fancied a couple of cheap and cheerful drugstore pick-me-ups.

A number of these purchases are inspired by some of my favourite bloggers who have been raving about some of these products recently and a couple are products I've tried before. Anyway before I ramble on any further I will crack on with telling you what I bought:

Nivea In shower Body Moisturiser - £3.56

I first tried this stuff ages ago but this is only the second time I've bought this. It's lovely, it contains almond oil, so it leaves my skin feeling extremely soft post shower. It smells delicious too. However, the real selling point for me is that it saves you moisurising after you've showered and as I'm sure I've probably stated on the blog before, I'm all for corner cutting products!

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation - £6.99

I haven't tried this yet but this is a purchase inspired by the wonderful Faye from Faye's Fix. She's been raving about this recently and I decided to see what the fuss was about. She likens this to Laura Mercier's Silk Creme Foundation. Ever since using and LOVING, I hasten to add, Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation, I'm more open minded towards drugstore foundations and expect big things following on from my recent Rimmel experience. Rimmel says this foundation is enhanced with Sapphire Radiance for an illuminating glow, which sounds pretty lovely to me. My only concern with this is I think I may have bought a shade that's too light for me! Yep, you read that correctly, a pale Prudence like me may have found a drugstore foundation too light for her. This is actually a big deal and even if this is too light for me, kudos to Rimmel for catering for paler complexions. FYI - I have this in the shade, Light Porcelain. 

 VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame and Shine Spray - £3.89

This is one of the few purchases that isn't a naughty one. This is just a really good heat defence spray and a product that I repurchase time and time again. Nothing more to say on this really.

Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean 3-in-1 Wash off Deep Purifying Cleanser - £8

Another product that I'm yet to try but extremely looking forward to using is this creamy cleanser, which contains supposedly 'super' T-zone decloggers, antioxidant-rich Peach and Gojuice extracts and detoxifying Oxyginseng technology. This smells exactly how you'd imagine, peachy! I can't wait to get stuck in with this as my past experience with Soap & Glory skincare has been pretty good.

L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara - £8.99

I'm looking forward to livening up my lashes with this mascara. This was mostly an impulse purchase but it was also partially inspired by my love of a L'Oreal mascara, the False Lash Telescopic, which is my holy grail mascara. The Miss Manga mascara is all about the volume, whereas I find the False Lash Telescopic to be more lengthening really, so this could mix it up a bit for me.

Simple Kind To Skin Purifying Cleansing Lotion - £2.99

This may well be the unsexiest product you will ever find. That sentence may sound bad to you but trust me it isn't, this product has been good to me. This is a product I will always repurchase without a second thought, it's reasonably priced and does what it says on the bottle and it's kind on my sensitive skin. It's loyal to me and I will always return that loyalty by repurchasing. After all, you can't go wrong with a bit of Simple really can you?

Maybelline Eraser Eye Concealer - £7.99

I bought this in the shade Light. This was an Essie Button inspired purchase, so surely that means I don't need to elaborate any further? If she loves it, I'm sure it's excellent. I also like the look of the sponge applicator. I'm hoping this hides away those pesky dark circles of mine, which I do suffer from occasionally.

Collection Cream Puff Lip Cream - £2.99

Cheap, cheerful and another Faye from Faye's Fix inspired buy. I have these in the shades Cotton Candy, which is a 'your lips but better' pink, and Fairy Cake, which is a bright but not too bright pink. Despite applying creamy, these have a matte finish, which I love and I don't find them to be too drying like many other matte formulas can be. Another plus point is how sweet these smell. Lovely!

Look out for full reviews of these products in the future!

Thanks for reading!

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