Tried and Tested: Mascara

As much as we like make up, there are some days we simply can’t be bothered with it all. You know the type of day – you’re tired, you wear your glasses instead of your contacts and you pull your hair back into a ponytail. As tired we may be though, we always bother with a bit of mascara. Only takes 2 minutes and we hope it drags us from dreary to mildly attractive. There are three we always have in our makeup bag.


Boots 17 Photo Flawless Mascara - £5.99

When we first came across this we thought it would be rubbish as it wasn’t from one of the big brands. How wrong we were! It left our lashes looking longer and separated. It does wear off slightly throughout the day and smudged a bit but we like to think that made us look ‘smoky eyed’ and not like we slept in our make up.

3 out of 5.











L’Oreal Lash Architect - £10.29

A great every day mascara. Over the years we’ve tried all the L’Oreal mascaras and this one is without a doubt the best. Lasts all day, leaves the lashes long and full and the brush doesn’t clog.

4 out of 5.


Lancome Définicils Mascara - £20.50

The best mascara ever. No doubt. Don’t waste it behind glasses – wear the No 7 Flawless if you’re having one of these days – your lashes deserve to be seen so put your contacts in. This made our lashes ridiculously long, full and separated. It comes off easily (Lancome do a nice remover too) and the waterproof version didn’t move at all when we blubbed our heart out at a wedding.

If we could give it 6 out of 5 we would. But we can’t because that doesn’t make sense, so we give it a well earned 5 out of 5.

Tried and Tested: Philip Kingsley Moisture Extreme Shampoo and Conditioner

Like many of you, we have been inspired by Solange Knowles and her natural hair journey. It can be tricky figuring out what products to use on transitioning or natural hair. Fear not! We are going to sift through the shelves of shampoos, conditioners and treatments and report back on what’s good, what’s bad and what you need to stay way from!

Solange Knowles

Our first review is of Philip Kingsley’s Moisture Extreme Shampoo and Conditoner.

Kingsley is a famous and well respected trichologist – an expert in the structure and function of human hair including the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders of the hair and scalp – so we had high expectations of these products, especially as they are meant for, according to the packaging, ‘textured, afro, mixed, curly and porous hair’. It should even work on synthetic hair or extensions.

We weren’t disappointed!

The shampoo left our natural afro hair feeling fresh but not dried out and one application was enough for it to be perfectly clean.

The conditioner applied well. We found we had to use a fair amount to get good coverage but that may be more down to the length of our hair (past shoulders) than the actual product. Once the conditioner was on the hair we went through it with a wide tooth comb and after rinsing, found the hair easy to manage and hardly tangled at all. Plus it smelled nice!

We heartily recommend and give Philip Kingsley’s Moisture Extreme Shampoo and Conditoner 4 out of 5.

Moisture Extreme Shampoo £14.30 for 200ml
Moisture Extreme Conditioner £17.40 for 200ml

Visit www.philipkingsley.co.uk to buy online or to find stockists near you.

Tried and Tested: Fair Naturally

Fair Naturally is a luxurious new range of 19 Fairtrade certified beauty products. We see the Fairtrade mark on coffee, cotton, chocolate etc but what does it really mean?

According to The Fairtrade Foundation, ‘Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system.’

Basically it means farmers and workers get a fair price for their goods/services instead of being screwed over as they have been in the past.


We’ve seen with our own eyes the good that has been done in St Lucia and Ghana when locals are paid a fair price and are able to work themselves into better economic conditions.

So we were rather pleased to hear about the new Fair Naturally product offering. We tried the Bath Cream, Body Scrub and Body Butter from the Cocoa and Walnut range (ingredients include Fairtrade cocoa butter, walnut oil and cane sugar) and were very pleased with the outcome!

With rather dry skin, it can be difficult to find products that don’t leave our skin feeling like we've just rolled around in a vat of lard and are leaving greasy handprints wherever we go. Thankfully that wasn't the case with the Fair Naturally Cocoa and Walnut range.

The Bath Cream left our skin feeling all silky  and made nice bubbles; the Body Scrub (when used with exfoliating mitts – 99p from Morrison’s) left us squeaky clean and the Body Butter left us all moisturised and hydrated (you know that feeling when you first get out of the bath and your skin starts to tighten with dryness? Well the Bath Cream alleviated that).

The true test comes next morning – is the skin still hydrated or has it turned sliver/grey with dryness? Pleased to say that next morning, everything was still looking and feeling good.

Besides knowing this range is helping workers in Pakistan, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic, the prices won’t break the bank either. The Body Butter and Scrub are £5.99 for 200ml and the Bath Cream is £3.99 for 300ml. What a bargain! When you think that The Body Shop’s butters are £12.50 for the same size tubs, we know which ones will be on our bathroom shelves!

So far the Fair Naturally range is only available online at www.fairnaturally.com and delivery is free if you spend over £30.

28th February – 13th March 2011 is Fairtrade Fortnight so a good time to invest in something good for you and the world around you.