Lou's Reviews || YSL Shocking Mascara

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Whilst in town last week with Baby Glitter, I accidentally fell into House of Fraiser, fell into the YSL counter and then my credit card fell into the payment machine and a brand new mascara fell into my bag. Obviously, I am on a spending ban, so am absolutely not to blame for any of this. 

Since I now have it (against my will of course), I thought I would review it. Oopsie. 

YSL Mascara | Shocking | Deep Black

So here we have my accidental purchase. An accidental spend of £23.00 to be precise, but after trying this for a few days, I have no regrets at all.

I'm a sucker for the way things look and it's clear to see that the packaging for this product is luxurious- gold tube with embossed logo and sheeny shiny golden box to make it feel extra special. I know it's only card and plastic but I honestly feel a little bit excited when I pull this out of my makeup bag. It just looks special.

The wand has short plastic bristles of varying lengths. I get on really well with plastic wands and am happy to spend a bit of extra time applying. This is definitely not a 'wizz through and go' kind of product, you have to give it due care and attention. A luxury product deserves luxury care.

(Sadly I'm not a fresh faced 19 year old anymore so I have laughter lines and Mummyhood doesn't lend well to plenty of sleep so yes, there are little veins. I feel quite self conscious about this but figured the best way to give a full review of a mascara was on my peepers, so there we are, wrinkles and all!)

After using this mascara, I was IMPRESSED. It really gave so much length to my lashes and made me feel very doll like. I would go as far as to say this product has made my lashes the longest they have ever been without the aid of falsies.

The mascara lasted all day AND all night without smudging, flaking or generally misbehaving. The only tiny problem I have with it was that it made my lashes feel a little crispy, but with that much lengthening and staying power, I can overlook that for sure!

I know £23 is a lot of money to pay when the high street offers a plethora of alternatives, but if you are looking to treat yourself, this is your answer.

Have you tried this mascara? Does it entice you?

Toodlepip!

xx

LOTD || Clothes #4

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Happy Monday! Last weeks LOTD series was a HIT! I'm so pleased that so many of you liked it, joined in and found some new blogs through it. 

As you know, Monday will always be clothes.

Ooohhhh today I am lusting after THIS SKIRT from Dorothy Perkins. In summer (if you can call this monsoon a summer) I love pastels, aquas and whites so this ticks all my boxes colour-wise. I am also a big fan of dipped hems as I find them quite flattering and pleats are just floaty and girlie. Yep, basically, I need this skirt in my life and seeing as I am off to town in about an hour, I may pop in and try it on! Yipee!

If you would like to join in, simply copy and paste the image above (please link this blog with it), find your favourite clothing item of the day and share it with the world. Feel free to let us know in the comments if you have done this and we can all mooch about together!

*A Little Edit : For those of you who have asked/who are on twitter, the hashtag for this feature will be #LOTD. That way we can all see who's posted and spend way too much money! haha* 

What do you think of dipped hems?

Toodlepip!

xx

This month my Ultimate Advertiser is Confessions of a Secret Shopper. If you would like to know more about advertising on Sprinkle of Glitter, check out my 'Sponsor' page up at the top!

Love Your Library

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

It won't be news to you that I am a big fan of books. I'm not a literary genius that can recite reams and reams of Shakespeare, but I have read an awful lot of chicklit, home, style and craft books and enjoy sharing them with you. 

The gripe I have with books is the price. I begrudge paying a lot of money for something that I will seldom read more than once and may not even like. The answer to this is Public Libraries.

Before I had Baby Glitter and I worked in an office, I used to visit my local library quite regularly because it was right by my workplace. Then, when I became an at home Mummy, life lost it's routine a bit and I didn't feel like shlepping off to a library was convenient. 

Well, I was wrong. It turns out, my local library is literally at ten minute stroll away! I only discovered this last month when I made the effort to take Baby Glitter out on a walk and was shocked at how close it actually is - I felt almost silly for not knowing.

We now go weekly and absolutely love it. It is completely free to join the library and all you have to do is walk in, go to the desk and tell them you'd like to sign up. You fill out a pretty basic form, take the card they give you and voila- it's book time!

I wanted to write this post because going to the library with Baby Glitter has become one of my happy things and this blog is a place to share and document those.

Great Things About the Library ::

Borrow :: You can take up to 8 books out for free, for up to 3 weeks. Seeing as Baby Glitter has her own card, we can leave with up to 16 and I'm glad her pram has a big basket to carry them all!

Not feel Pressured :: Knowing that borrowing is free, I don't feel stressed about what I take out. Usually I will take quite a selection and may only read 1-2, but that's alright, I haven't just had to shell out £80 like I would have in a shop. 

Be calm :: Libraries are quiet, tranquil places and I happen to really enjoy the peace of them and feel very relaxed and soothed there.

Create :: Our library has a big table with tubs of wax crayons, pencils, felt tips and paper for children. Baby Glitter is just learning to hold these sorts of things and has already created a few masterpieces. You don't have to ask to use these things, they are just always out. Once I came to the library and saw a bunch of old ladies making quilts, which I thought was a cute little group too. 

Surf :: I'm not sure if you have to pay a small fee or not, but there is a sizable bank of computers and desks, should you want to use the internet or write a document etc. I haven't looked into this but I would imagine there are also printers and a photocopier but expect you would have to contribute toward using these. 

Shop :: In most libraries there are often 'sale rails' where you can buy old books for incredibly low prices.

Read :: I know this is an obvious one, but you don't actually have to leave the building with books. Quite often I will sit in the children's corner and read Baby Glitter stories and then put the books back.

Socialise :: I take Baby Glitter to a 'Rhyme Time' group (for free) where she learns songs and actions with other tots and all of the Mum's sit round the edge and rather awkwardly join in. It's really great for little ones and the musical instruments they are given to play with are very stimulating. At the end, they are given stickers and you have a chance to chat with other Mother's/Carer's. 

Those are just a few of the things we do at our library but you can also borrow DVD's, Videos and CD's. I also saw a poster last week asking for young people (I think 13-19) to volunteer during the summer. I'm going to encourage my sister to do this as it will look good on her CV and be beneficial to any further education applications.

Did you know there was so much to do at a library?

Toodlepip!

xx

This month my Ultimate Advertiser is Confessions of a Secret Shopper. If you would like to know more about advertising on Sprinkle of Glitter, check out my 'Sponsor' page up at the top!