I’ve left my favourite and brand new Lancome mascara at my in-laws house along with quite a few other bits of my make-up collection. I’m going to blame it on my pregnancy brain which seems to be getting a little scatty! So I popped into Boot’s to try and find a cheap alternative to tide me over for a little while.

I found this new addition to the 17 make-up range which fitted the bill perfectly. The Peep Show mascara claims to lengthen the lashes and add extra volume to give you a “full, flirty flutter”. I like proper brushes with bristles rather than the plastic type as I find them easier to use and this mascara is exactly that. The brush is just the right length to coat all your lashes in one sweep and the formulation is clump free.

I think I still prefer my Lancome Hypnose mascara which gives me more volume than this one however considering the Peep Show mascara from 17 is only £6.2 it’s a good alternative. Just a couple of coats was enough to give my lashes the extra volume I want for a day time look.

I’m struggling a little at the moment with my skin as pregnancy seems to give me oily skin and breakout’s  rather than the lovely glow that most people refer too. My usual foundations just don’t seem to be working quite as well for me so when I spotted the new Blemish Balm Foundation from 17 I figured I might as well give it a try.

This is an all in one foundation which is meant to target all my problems areas of blemishes, shiny patches and sometimes even a little bit of dry skin. This foundation is meant to give reasonable coverage with a smooth finish and it also offers a little bit of SPF to help protect your skin from any sun (if we actually see any!).

The formulation is a thick liquid with almost a creamy finish. I’ve picked up the light shade which seems to suit my very pale skin quite well. I didn’t fancy doing a close up picture of my pregnancy skin so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with a couple of swatches on my hand!

The foundation blends really easily and gives a smooth, matt finish. In terms of oil control this seems to keep my shine at bay until late afternoon where as most of my foundations seem to need a lunch time touch up. I’d say this was only a medium coverage and a concealer is definitely needed however it’s perfect to apply quickly in the morning with your fingers. I don’t even need to use a powder to set it.

I picked this up for £4.99 as it currently has £2 off in Boot’s which is an awful lot cheaper than most of the other foundations I own yet it seems to suit all my daily needs at the minute.

After my not quite so successful purchase from Beauty UK I thought I’d give one of the Rimmel mascara’s a try. This bottle is a little bright for my liking but was on offer in Superdrug for £5.49 so I thought it was worth a try. After all packaging isn’t meant to be everything (though admittedly I’m easily swayed by it)!

The brush is made favourite type with bristles made of fibre rather than the plastic types which I find a little painful when I invariably poke myself in the eye. Formula wise for the first few weeks of using this mascara it was really smooth and applied easily without any clumps. My lashes did look longer even wit just the two coats like the picture below.

Unfortunately after a few weeks I’ve found the mascara seems to have gone a little clumpy and even when I draw the brush out of the mascara you can immediately see the mascara clinging to it. Obviously clump mascara on the brush gives a clump finish on the lashes even when you try to scrap the excess off on the edge o the mascara pot.

I know I this isn’t a particaulerly expensive mascara but I would hope it would last longer than a few weeks. I can already feel myself being drawn back to the Lancome or YSL counters though maybe I shall give Max Factor a try as I did use to love the 1000 lashes mascara they used to make.

I think I often spend a little too much on mascara and quite often find myself gravitating towards the high end brands such as Lancome and YSL which we all know come with a pretty hefty price tag. I do buy a few high street mascaras to try out but I often only use them for a few weeks before going back to my favourites.

As we’re saving to move house I promised myself I’d try to limit my spending on cosmetics so as a challenge I thought I’d try to find one of the cheapest mascara’s on the high street to see how it matched some on my old favourites. Beauty UK isn’t a brand I’ve really tried before as the brightly coloured eye shadows never really took my fancy so I had never stopped to browse. However as the mascaras were so cheap I thought I might as well give it a try so have picked up a black mascara called Lash Fx.

The brush is a proper bristle style brush which I musch prefer to the plastic ones. I tend to find bristles give a better, fuller application and help to comb through to get rid of any clumps. I’ve picked my usual black mascara as my eye lashes are already dark and the picture below shows two coats.

Personally I found the formulation a little clumpy and I don’t think it really gave me the length or volume I was after. I think you would struggle to apply any more than two coats without ending up with spider style eye lashes. This did only cost me £2.49 so maybe my expectations were a little high. I think this will unfortunately go in my once used pill of makeup but I shall continue searching the high street for a mascara I like!

I don’t often do pictures of the boxes items are sent in the post but this particular package from Trish McEvoy was just so pretty I couldn’t resist! I always try to tell myself the product is more important than the packaging but when it’s this lovely I just can’t help being won over.

So inside the very posh and luxurious box was the new autumn chic and sheer collection which is designed to give the face soft definition. The collection includes a new  fan shaped brush, two eye shadows and a bronzer. The eye shadows and bronzer are all enclosed in this handy and stylish black compact.

The top picture shows the eye shadows in French Vanilla (matte pink shadow) and Soft Grey (matte dove grey shade). The bottom picture shows the Golden Bronzer which gives a natural bronze with just a very slight hint of shimmer. The swatches below are a few coats to give a more intense colour, especially the bronzer which comes out a lot sheerer when applied properly.

I’ve just done a quick swatch of the bronzer on my cheek as I was really pleased with the natural glow it gives. I have really pale skin so bronzers can be hard to wear but this gives my face such a natural finish. It’s actually made me realise the added benefits a little contouring can give to an overall look. I use the new 62 fan brush to apply this as the flat rounded shape seems to deliver just a wisp of colour which is perfect for my skin tone.

I’ve been wear the two eye shadows quite a bit since they arrived earlier in the week so I shall do a FOTD soon including these. I don’t often pick up a matte eye shadow but these colours work so well together and really seem to brighten my eyes. The pink shadow I think would suit anyone and the grey shadow is the perfect colour for blending around the crease of your eye or lining round your lashes.

The deluxe French Vanilla eyeshadow is £18, the Soft Grey eyeshadow is £12, the Golden Bronzer is £22 and the 62 Fan Brush is £28. I think for the quality of the makeup and of course the stunning packaging it’s well worth spending the little extra. Trish McEvoy makeup is available from Selfridges in London and Harvey Nichols.

*pr sample – views are my own