Livin' Life on the Wild Side!

I've been a very lucky lady recently, as the day after winning an item of Tesco's gorgeous couture range on a Twitter competition (see previous post), I won a Wild Curls mascara from 17 at Boots :-) Cue cheesy photo!...

Before I review the mascara, let me show you how I won it. On Twitter, 17 (@Official17) asked their followers to tweet a picture of them with 'fierce eyes', from which they would pick their 10 favourites to win. As I wasn't really doing much that day, I had a bit of a play around. Here's what I came up with... (please ignore the rest of my face which I didn't do at all- I only did my eyes)...

I know some bloggers are brilliant with make up, but I'm actually quite a novice and actually don't really own that much. However, I really enjoyed experimenting and was pretty pleased with the look I created. Here's a close-up of my 'fierce' peepers!...

And closed...

The products I used to create the look were:

17 Eyes Trio - Pretty In Pink (on brow bone)

17 Eyes Trio - Smoky Quartz (on eyelids)

Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Liner

NYC 'Show Time' Volumizing Mascara

What do you think? I was pretty pleased with myself and it made me what to experiment a lot more :-)

Anyway, the lovely team at 17 sent me a Wild Curls mascara really quickly and I couldn't wait to try it out. Firstly, the all important packaging!

Let me just say that I categorically LOVE leopard print, so the shiny gold and leopard print packaging is right up my street! Also, when you do the lid up, it clicks gently into place as it closes. I know this is only a very little touch, but it just makes it seem a lot more expensive than it actually is, as I believe it's on sale for only £5.99.

Here's a couple of before and after pictures so you can see the difference it made (I don't have any other make up on here, so you can really see the effect it had clearly)...

These pictures are both with two coats, and as you can see it really gave my eye lashes a great curl. Also, the size and shape of the brush, which is straight and not too fat, meant I was able to get into the corners of my eyes really easily and it did not clump at all.

The packaging claims that Wild Curls 'holds for up to 10 hours'. If I'm honest I didn't have it on for 10 hours, but I must have had it on for about 5 or 6 and it didn't run at all - I was very impressed :-)

So overall, what do I make of it? Well, in three words, I love it! I recommend you give it a go, and if you get to boots quickly you might still be able to get an awesome freebie when you buy one - a Wild Curls Eye Kit, which contains tweezers, curlers and eyeliner. Can't ask for much more than that!

Have any of you tried 'Wild Curls' yet? If you have, what do you think of it?

(Oh, and they also sent me a nail varnish as a little extra which made me smile! It's called 'Amaretto' and is part of their Lasting Fix range. It's a gorgeous deep maroony kinda colour which I haven't had time to try out yet, but it looks lovely and will be particularly cute in the winter)

Thanks 17!

xx

Product Review: The Pink Cow

I've got a review for you here on some gorgeous products I've recently bought from Boots. Ladies, let me introduce you to... The Pink Cow!

(Can I just say that this review, as well as all the others I do on here, are all about products I have been out and bought myself, just because I like the look of them and want to give them a whirl! If I ever review anything I have been sent by a company I will point that out to you all, just to make it clear. Now the official stuff's done, on to the real business...)

Soooo, I'd never heard of The Pink Cow until I was perusing the shelves in Boots the other day and their colourful tubes and bottles took my fancy. There are 6 'flavours' in the range, and each of them is described on the packaging as 'A Very *something* Bath & Shower Gel / Body Scrub'. There's...

Lemon Cheesecake: A very morningy...

Strawberry Sundae: A very wild...

Coconut Creme: A very quiet...

Ginger Bread: A very warm...

Vanilla Biscuit: A very happy...

Mint Candy: A very soothing...

The packaging is simple but still pretty funky, with big, bold writing and really brightly coloured contents.

As I say, I'd never heard of the company, and have tried to find other blog reviews about their products, but can't find too much. I can't even seem to find a company website or email address which is a bit strange...

After giving them all a quick smell in Boots I decided to go for the Lemon Cheesecake Bath and Shower Gel and the Strawberry Sundae Body Scrub...

These two caught my eye because I love to eat strawberry sundaes and lemon cheesecake (hey, you've got to make a decision somehow!).

So, the scrub. Firstly, the strawberry smell is heavenly! I know smell shouldn't really be a deciding factor when it comes to beauty products (unless it smells horrible of course!) but it makes such a difference to me. And its pink, and who doesn't love a bit of pink beauty action?!

The ratio of creme to scrubby bits (I really don't think these are the right terms, but hey ho, you know what I mean) is just right. I hate scrubs that have such few 'bits' that they hardly feel like a scrub, and I equally dislike scrubs that have too many 'bits' (particularly if they are big) which just makes it feel like you are rubbing rocks on yourself (no, I don't know why you would ever do this either...). The Pink Cow have got it just right, though, as after using it I felt like it had done its job but was not too harsh on my skin.

'What's the price?' I hear you ask. Well, it was a mere £2.99. For 225ml I don't think that's bad at all. I've used it quite a few times and still have quite a lot left.

So, the scrub was a winner, so how about the bath and shower gel?

I have to say this didn't let me down either. Again the smell is amazing. The packaging refers to it as 'A very morningy' bath and shower gel, and that's such a good description of it! The smell is really strong and zingy (is this a real word?) and has really woken me up in my morning showers over the last few days.

It didn't lather up quite as much as some other shower gels I have tried and there weren't as many bubbles, but it still left my skin feeling really soft.

Again, this was only £2.99 for 500ml. It's a really big, chunky bottle and should last me a while. Much better than buying cheaper ones for half the price that wont last as long.

Overall I've got to say I'm a Pink Cow convert! Both products were much better than I expected from a company I'd never heard of and I'll definitely continue to use them. I really want to try out the rest of the range and will let you know if I do.

Have you ever heard of The Pink Cow or tried any of their products? If you have, what did you think?

xx