Eyelash tinting - is it worth it?

Having light lashes, I have always been envious of those who naturally have dark lashes. I am going to have permanent eyeliner done again this weekend (I will put a post up for that too!) so I decided to get my lashes tinted as I won't be able to wear mascara for a while after that!

I wasn't too sure what to expect, but after image searching before and after photos I was hoping to have quite dramatic change.

I arrived at my appointment eager to get started. I lay down on the bed, had some sort  of cream applied to both eyes, got a piece of cotton under each eye, and finally the dye was applied. Then the wait began. At first it was ok and I felt like I might have a little nap, but after a short while my eyes started tingling a little. I tried to forget the images of women with swollen eyes that I had seen while image searching earlier, but as the tingling started to become stronger, I was seriously worried!

From the little research I had done before this, most salons had said to do a test patch 24 hours before to make sure there was no allergic reaction, but I thought that was being over-cautious and as I had dyed my hair in the past with no problem, I reckoned it was unnecessary. But lying on that bed with my eyes squeezed shut, feeling my skin and eyes burning, I started thinking that maybe a test patch would have been a good idea!

After what felt like forever (but was probably only 10-15 minutes), the beautician came back into the room and started to clean off the dye. A little of the water got into my eyes and I had to sit up so she could continue to clean it up without getting it in my eye. Finally I was able to open my eyes without burning and I was so excited to see the results! She gave me the mirror and I looked at my eyes, expecting to see lashes that seemed longer and thicker. Instead what I saw were eyes that looked a bit puffy, and lashes that seemed almost exactly the same as when I walked in.

I was quite disappointed with the results, my lashes didn't look anything like some of the before and after photos that I had seen on the internet. They are darker, but don't seem longer and thicker. I still feel the need to wear mascara, and the whole point was that I didn't have to wear mascara after I get my permanent eyeliner. Maybe I was just hoping for a miracle, but at least the whole process only cost about R50 so I didn't feel too put out! And my lashes do look slightly better than before.

Here are the before and after shots:

Would I do it again? Probably not, as I love wearing mascara so there is no need really. I have heard about a semi-permanent mascara though that is applied similarly to tinting, but I have yet to find a salon near me that does it! I would try that for sure because who doesn't want to wake up looking "naturally" beautiful?!

 As I mentioned, I am going to get semi-permanent eyeliner done again this weekend, so I am nervous and excited for that! I had it done earlier this year (you can see in these photos what that looks like) but now I want it just a bit thicker, especially on the bottom. I just hope it turns out ok!

Have you ever had a beauty treatment that didn't turn out how you expected? I would love to know! Leave a comment with your experiences :)

Baking Time! Gadget Reviews

When I get into the mood to bake, I get into the mood to bake! Last night I spent over 2.5 hours in the kitchen whipping up some baked goods, but it was so worth it.

Last night on my way home from work I decided to pick up a couple of ingredients and try out some of my baking gadgets that I haven't had a chance to use yet.

I decided to make chocolate sugar cookies and use my cookie stamp, and also vanilla cupcakes with melon icing and test out my cupcake corer and new icing kit.

I will post the recipes later if you like, but for now I'm just going to review my gadgets :)


COOKIE STAMPER - TYPO
First up, the cookie stamper from Typo. I could not resist this stamper - it was on sale and it says "S%#t Hot". I have such a sailor-mouth so I had to have it!

I made a basic chocolate sugar cookie dough, cut out circles using a glass, placed them onto silicone baking mats and then pressed the cookie stamp into them. I sprinkled a bit of icing sugar on top juts before they went in - here's how they looked:

Cookies!

Silly me forgot to take an "after" shot when they came out of the oven, but the icing sugar had melted nicely over them and they looked great! They weren't as sweet as I would have liked, but it was the first time I tried this recipe.

In terms of the stamper, it worked pretty well. It is a wooden stamp with a silicone stamping part (not sure of technical term!) that is removable for washing. I did find that sometimes a bit of cookie dough got stuck in a groove of the stamp, but it was easily removable with a wooden skewer. I love the contrast between the cuteness of the cookie, and the naughtiness of the swearing :) I give this stamper two thumbs up!


COOKIE CORER - MR PRICE HOME
Next up was the cookie corer. I bought this at Mr Price Home for R20. I love putting fillings in my cupcakes, and thought this corer would help greatly in making the holes.

Here is a picture of what it looks like:

It is pretty simple to use - just stick it in, twist it around, and then pop it out! Very effective and such a handy tool. This also gets two thumbs up!

Easy Peasy

ICING KIT - PICK N PAY
I bought this icing kit from Pick n Pay for a super cheap R40! It has a silicone body with a plastic screw lid, and a set of 6 plastic nozzles. What I immediately liked about it was the large opening to fill with icing.

I was a little bit concerned about the icing leaking through the lid as it didn't seem to close 100%, but it worked a dream! The only negative that I found was that the nozzles can be a bit tricky to get on, but once I got it right it stayed put. Unfortunately I messed up the icing so it was too runny, but you can get the idea of how it works still! I give this two thumbs up.

And that is that for my baking escapades, now I'm off to gym to work off the 20 cupcakes and 30 cookies that I will be eating over the weekend :)

Catrice Longlasting Eye Pencil Waterproof Review

Happy Friday everybody!

This is just a quick review for Catrice's Longlasting Waterproof Eye Pencil.

I went on the hunt for a good, long-lasting eyepencil the other day, and after testing a couple out (basically drawing on my hand and rubbing over them with my finger) I found that the best budget eyeliner was a toss up between Catrice's Longlasting Waterproof Eye Pencil, and Essence's Gel Eye Pencil Waterproof. I decided on Catrice as not only was it slightly cheaper at R38 instead of R43, but I prefered the colour selection, although the colours were quite similar.

On my preliminary test, both the Catrice and the Essence eyeliner stayed put, even after the other eyeliners had completely come off! The L.A. Girl's Semi-Permanent eyeliner was around the same price and came off almost completely with the first swipe! By the end of the evening, both Catrice and Essence were still on my hand, and in the morning, only Essence was still showing. Pretty impressive if you ask me - I will have to go back and get an Essence one now too to try out properly!

Anywho I chose a grey and a green Catrice pencil and tested their staying power on my eyes.

Here is a pic of the packaging. It is a retractable pencil I love that there is a secret sharpener in the bottom of the tube, but I haven't felt the need to use it yet :) Essence didn't have a sharpener, but it is also a retractable.

And here is a pic of the product in action! This is halfway through the day, and you can see that there is a little bit of fading, but no smudging or running, which is super important!

Pros:
- Price
- Retractable pencil
- Sharpener included
- Metallic finish

Cons:
- None that I can think of

All in all I would say that this is another hit from Catrice!

Have a great weekend y'all :)

Birthday Earthquake

No better way to celebrate a 28th birthday than with gym, a carrot muffin and an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale!

Happy birthday to me!

In my 28 years I have never felt an earthquake before, so the one today was pretty scary! At first I wasn't too sure what it was, but then things got a bit hectic (I think some things might have shifted on the shelves) and I jumped up, ran for the door, realised I was locked in and then ran around looking for keys before it just stopped.

Luckily the effects weren't so bad here in Joburg, but apparently (as of the time of writing this) there was a fatality in the epicentre of Orkney. Scary stuff!

Let's hope we can get through the rest of my birthday without any more earthquakes/tsunamis/sharknados