Beauty Review: L’Oréal Volume Million Lashes Luminizer Mascara

Ever since I read a fawning review of this mascara back in March I’ve been hankering after it.  But at €16.99 I was reluctant to part with my precious cash. Now, I’m sure you girls who swear by Dior Diorshow and Lancôme Hypnôse Drama mascaras (the big beauty award winners and both priced over €25) are shocked by my miserliness but I’m a staunch beauty on a budget advocate.  I believe we can all look stunning using inexpensive products and a €17 mascara is a little out of my range. However, the good folk at Boots sent me a coupon for €3 off mascara recently (oh how I love that Boots card!) and I was at my nearest L’Oréal counter before you could say ‘beautiful bountiful driving men insane lashes’.

And the verdict? Disappointment. Overall, it’s a decent mascara. The fat plastic wand lifted and defined my lashes and they were noticeably more voluminous. However, L’Oréal’s biggest claim with this mascara is to enhance the colour of your eyes. It’s available in three shades - for blue, brown and green eyes. The mascara goes on black despite the colour in the tube; you can see mine (for blue eyes) appears navy. But L’Oréal fail to deliver - despite examining my eyes intently and ordering friends to stick their faces into mine and get a load of my dazzling baby blues, I, and my suffering friends didn’t see one bit of difference to the colour of my eyes.

My biggest fault with this mascara, however, has to be the flaking. After just one coat and 30 minutes of wear I’m left with little black flakes under my eyes and down my cheeks. This is just unacceptable for a mascara of this price. I’ll be sticking to my Maybelline The Falsies Volum’ Express mascara, my absolute favourite at the moment.

Beauty Review: L’Oréal Elvive Nutri-Gloss Crystal Shampoo

If you're a fan of the L’Oréal Elvive range you will probably be familiar with Nutri-Gloss, the pink bottle that promises mirror shine and cashmere touch. Well now L’Oréal has released Nutri-Gloss Crystal, a shampoo and conditioner that actually sparkle. I admit I let out a little yelp when I spotted this in Boots a few weeks ago; it immediately reminded me of my first Barbie - Glitter Hair Barbie. I was never a true Barbie disciple but when you have four sisters you tend to remember toys that were handed to you brand spanking new and Glitter Hair Barbie was the epitome of early 90's cool. With her bleach blonde hair, tight neon clothes and sun visor she looked like an extra on Saved By The Bell.

L’Oréal claim Nurti-Gloss Crystal is enriched with micro-crystals that leave hair sparkling with up to 50% more shine from the first wash. However, I used it several times and so did my sister and unfortunately we ended up like poor old Glitter Hair Barbie - with more sparkles on our faces than our hair. Yes that's right, I didn't see any increased shine to my hair but my forehead was glowing! Nutri-Gloss Crystal may look pretty but it's messy. My advice is to stick to the plain Nutri-Gloss range.