A Strange Package

This week I received the strangest thing in the mail. It was from Maybelline and the cute pink bubble bag contained their latest mascara. Not so strange you're thinking. Well, the mascara wasn't actually included, just the brush. That's right, inside was a clean mascara wand with no product. It includes a little bit about the product and a voucher for £1 off, but obviously I have no means of testing it pre-purchase. What a waste of money and promotion, I thought. Then the next thing I did was take photos of the brush to show you and as I'm writing this, perhaps it's not such a strange marketing move, as it's got us talking about it!

I still would have preferred to try a proper sample of the product before making up my mind about whether or not I want to purchase it. I always claim that the brush is half the battle with mascara, but I still wouldn't be convinced to buy it solely upon using this sample brush with any of my regular mascaras. How can I ever know if the 'real thing' will be just as efficient?

It's called The Rocket (Volum' Express) and promises up to 8x more volume. The Jet-Glide brush (oh how thrilled I am that my new toy has a name!) combined with the smooth mascara formula (one can only assume) loads on a volumised look with separated lashes in super speedy time without clumping. Apparently.

The brush is a flexy, rubbery material, with a bright pink cylindrical centre (no idea why that colour, just for coolness I think).

Granted the brush does look super cool and had I bought this mascara off the shelf, I'd have most likely been none the wiser as to what it looked like pre-black liquid. However, I'd like to be able to tell you how effective this product is and whether or not it does what it claims, so you and I have a fair idea of whether or not to part with our hard earned cash for it! It will most likely remain a mystery for me as I'm not feeling particularly enticed into purchasing yet. Do let me know if you've spotted the TV ads or seen it instore and if it's something you would like to or have tried.

Keeping on the theme of makeup and I'm very proud to say I completed an entire year of my self-imposed Lipstick Challenge this week (yes that's all 52 lippies pictured above)! For those not familiar with it, I wanted to use up my humongous lipstick stash and so select a different lipstick each week to wear for the 7 days (you can always find the current one in the sidebar or look back the archives on the link at the top of my blog). I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed to admit, I could probably keep this challenge going for several years as the 52 lipsticks I chose for the challenge last year have barely made a dent in my collection! I can't say I've significantly 'used up' any lipsticks, but that wasn't the intention (I mean how much of a product can you really use in 7 days?) I am pleased to say it's forced me to grab other lipsticks that would normally be sitting neglected or forgotten about. I also think I've become much more adventurous with layering (lipstick over lipstick as well as glosses), because it would get boring wearing the same shade, the same way, all week. I also expected the round-up image above to be filled with nudes, but I'm surprised to see quite a mixture there (see Mum, I don't always buy the same lipstick colours!) and I think for that first year, I've also picked a good selection/mix of brands too. Of course I still have my favourites and at times, I panic that I've already picked that colour for the challenge previously (MAC Viva Glam Gaga and YSL Rouge Volupte's I'm looking at you) and therefore can't wear it again.  However with layering, I can still get the essence of that particular colour if I so wish, so it's not quite so scary to know that it's not 'gone' forever.  So...onwards and upwards to another year and yes, 52 new lipsticks that I haven't already used for last years challenge (hard to keep track sometimes, so I have to check my own page!).  I'm really looking forward to it and hope you are too.