First Impressions: Benefit's Roller Lash Mascara

I'm baaaack *insert creepy music here* Being a teacher has taken most of my free time lately, but I have missed my blog so much and have been constantly making mental lists of products I want to write about. Now that it is holiday time, I have decided to come back with a first impression on benefit's roller lash mascara.

I have been wanting to try this mascara out for the longest time because every review I have read on it is amazing. The main draw-card for this mascara is its curling ability, however others have raved about its lengthening and volumizing powers too. Apparently it is a great all-rounder, and who can say no to a mascara that does it all? Not me, clearly!

One of the things that I really like about benefit is that they sell their full-sized products in smaller, more affordable "mini" versions, and being the budget-conscious beauty that I am, I went for the small tube. It is R145 for 4g, whereas the full-sized version is just under R300 for 8g, so price-wise it made sense to go for the smaller one. Plus I don't usually finish a tube of mascara within the 6 month expiry limit in any case. 

The mini mascara has the same pink, rubberized lid as its full-sized counterpart, and the bristles on the brush are the same as well. The only difference is the size of the tube. The lid is really cute and resembles a pink hair roller. The brush is curved with longer bristles on the convex part, and shorter bristles on the concave part. There are also apparently hooks that grab onto your lashes to ensure that they curl sufficiently, however I could not see these!

There is some skill in applying the mascara - you are supposed to start with the longer bristles on your lashes, then roll the brush as you pull up so that you end up with the shorter bristles on the tips of your lashes. I did try this technique, but it was a little tricky at first, and I ended up getting quite a bit of mascara on my eyelid.

Left: Three coats. Right: Zero coats

Now for the verdict! In terms of curling, it did a great job. My lashes are separated, yet long, curled and volumized. The curl stays all day, and the colour is a good, strong black. There is zero smudging or flaking. All in all, I have nothing negative to say about it BUT I still feel a little disappointed. I guess with all the reviews I had watched on it, and all the hype surrounding it, I was expecting it to really WOW me, but it didn't. Yes, it is a really great mascara, and no, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, but I think I just wished that it made my eyelashes look like this

I also made my first video on YouTube, so you can head on over to watch that here (or below!) and let me know what you think! Please subscribe if you like what you see, and follow me to make sure you don't miss out on a post!

Elf Cosmetics NOT coming to South Africa!

In the latter part of last year, we were given some of the best news to date in the beauty world - elf cosmetics was launching in South Africa!

Beauty blogs went wild with the news, and thousands of us clambered to follow Elf Cosmetics South Africa on their multiple social media accounts. Photos of the cosmetics that we have been lusting over were splashed over their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. We liked, we commented, and more importantly, we got pumped up for what promised to be the launch of the year. They even held a competition that said you could win a year's supply of Elf cosmetics if you followed them on all their accounts by 31 January 2016.
That should have been the first clue that something was off. Firstly, to win a year's supply of cosmetics is a massive prize. Secondly, how were they controlling how they knew you were following them on all platforms? Usernames are different, so there is no way of knowing unless you use something like Rafflecopter. Another clue that something was off is that their website's address is eyeslipsface.co.za (elf stands for eyes lips face), however the real American and UK website address is elfcosmetics.com - surely the continuity would be kept, and the address would have been elfcosmetics.co.za? And finally, would a huge cosmetics company mess up basic spelling in images they post, like this:

Then, all of the social media accounts VANISHED! I was following on all accounts, then remembered that I hadn't seen anything about the launch for a while, so I went to check up what their latest posts had been. Imagine my horror when I couldn't find anything! Not a single scrap of evidence that they had ever existed. Even the website is gone. I searched their handle on twitter and found that I was not alone in wondering what had happened. I contacted the Head Office to find out if they could give me some clarity, but I have not heard from them yet. As far as I am concerned, either someone was pulling a nasty prank on us, or something went wrong with the launch in South Africa and Elf Cosmetics had to pull out, but I am leaning more towards this being a prank based on some of the suspicious activities. Either way, there are now a ton of disappointed beauty fans who were so looking forward to the launch of an affordable brand with great quality.