Tom Ford Eye Colour Quad in Cognac Sable - review

For today's Mondays with MontyC, I'm revisiting one of my absolute favourite make up brands, Tom Ford, and an eyeshadow quad called Cognac Sable, which as the name suggests, is all about the golden browns.

Sali Hughes "Pretty Honest" book - review

For today's Mondays with MontyC, we're looking at... a book review, of all things!  Bear with me...

When it comes to cosmetics, be it skincare or makeup etc, there are a bewildering number of products available to us.  Just walk up and down the aisles of your local supermarket, pharmacy or department store and count how many brands you see.  And then count how many ranges there are in each brand.  And how many products in each range!  If you've reached a point where you're thinking it's time to up your skincare game, what do you do?  If you think it's high time you started a proper skincare routine, where do you even start?  Maybe it's cosmetic surgery you want to know about... or you've got adult acne... or you need a new foundation, the questions are endless...

Here at Make Up For Dolls, like a lot of other blogs, we try to help out with honest reviews of products we buy and put to the test.  These are not magazine "reviews" which are frequently just paid promotions.  Most blogs (I do say most!) are honest and try to give a genuinely balanced opinion of a particular product.  And one of the longest serving and most respected of us all, the journalist, broadcaster, Guardian columnist and all round Welsh legend that is Sali Hughes, has written a book called "Pretty Honest" to answer some more of these questions.

Vichy Dermablend Corrective Compact Cream Foundation - review

Although I'm not usually one for high coverage foundations - recurring nightmares of the great (and recurring) Max Factor Panstick Disaster of my youth - I went wild and tried the new(ish) Vichy Dermablend Corrective Compact Cream Foundation, that's quite a mouthful!

Clarins Ombre Matte #5 Sparkle Grey - review

Very quick review today of another of the Clarins Ombre Matte shades, which have been available as part of the Autumn Ladylike Collection from Clarins... I've already used and reviewed two of these here as part of a Look of the Day post, today is the turn of #5 /Sparkle Grey.

with flash

without flash

This really is precisely the kind of shade and finish I love - as you can see, it's a mauve-and-brown toned grey, veering into that group of shades described as "taupe".  I bought this as it's the only one of the Ombre Mattes which has a bit of a (slight) frosted schparkle to it (it's not an annoying OTT fally-outy type frosting, never fear) and I did love the two matte Ombre Mattes I tried out (plus, I found myself back home in the sticks with ne'er an eyeshadow with me but a Clarins concession at the local pharmacy... handy out).

without flash

with flash

... as you can see from the pics, the flash shows off that slight reflection and reveals the mauvey-minky tone at the base of this shade.  I love it, I've been wearing it on its own as a schmeer of colour on my lids... together with a lighter shade and this in the outer corners as a subtle day-time blown-out smokey eye... on its own, built up at the lashline and pulled up and blended-out for a standard, classic smokey eye.

That's it!  Told you it'd be a quick one today!

MontyC's Monthly Favourites: September 2014

Welcome to my September Favourites!  This month my favourites are made up of tried and tested products that I use again and again and if I'm under pressure for time as I know they will work for me every single time I use them.  They rock.

Shu Uemura Paddle Brush - Review & Giveaway!

So lots of recent trips to the salon to get my hair in order.  It was the summer, so beachy, slightly messy, boho hair, slightly too long hair (that really needed a tidy but what odds) was just fine.  And as it also kept catching in the crook of my elbow every time I bent my arm, and was therefore driving me berzzzzzzzzzerk, it was time for the chop.  Although I hate cutting my hair.

Keep reading!  The important bit is coming up!

bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation - review

Another foundation, I hear you ask?  Well, there's a lot of 'em out there to try to get through!  That's the way it goes with blogs - those of us who produce blog posts do so (a) with mind to what we're using ourselves - my trials and reviews (b) with a nod to what is coming out soon - my preview and promo posts, and with a strong desire to try out and report back on what's new.  bareMinerals bareSkin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation is one of those Brand New Things I've been wanting to try out.

Before I launch into the usual headers, I will say that this foundation produces a truly beautiful finish, it gives you a natural looking, youthful, refreshed, glossy, glowing, flawless finish.  It's so gorgeous.  Keep that in mind, because there are a few caveats along the way...