In Beauty Terms, My Best Friend is not the Diamond

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend and I love sparkly, shiny stuff, but let's be real. Can I afford diamonds? I can barely afford a pack of pork chops. There are some things I have control over at this point and some things I do not. Diamonds - no control. None. But, my best friend in daily life, without a doubt is...


These days I use Maybelline XXL Extensions Mascara. It's really good.

 ...my mascara wand. I have said it enough times - my one beauty must-have is mascara. I can go with just about anything else, but mascara is a must. And there are varying degrees of mascaraliciousness. For a quick trip to Hi-Lo, one quick coat. For a night out, primer and 2 coats.

Sexy mascara!

I typically would buy Clinique's mascara and primer but before travelling, I could not find it, so I bought this Maybelline mascara, which is also pretty good and even better, the primer and mascara were in one tube. Primer. I never knew about primer until maybe 2006, when I bought my first Clinique mascara and primer duo. Now I swear by it. Not only does it condition your lashes and prevent that crunchiness that mascara can cause on your lashes, but it also works as a great base for the application of the mascara, and lengthens the lashes as well. For someone like me, who is not blessed with full, voluminous lashes, primer is a must. Maybelline's XXL has Step 1, the primer and Step 2, the mascara in the same tube which really is convenient especially when travelling, because you know my mascara must go in the little zip-loc bag in my hand luggage.

And second behind the Marvellous Mascara? Eyeshadow. I don't wear eyeshadow every day. There are some days I go to class, sans colour, either because I am late, feeling rather blah, or just prefer a clean eye. During the day, earth tones work best and I have a mixture of Sacha, L'oreal and M.A.C.. For night though, predominantly, the mysterious tones of M.A.C.

M.A.C. - my evening shades, though I have used them for daytime as well.
It's all about the application!

It seems almost anti-climactic to end this entry with my final must-have, but I mentioned before that I do not wear lipstick, and the British weather has caused me for the first time in my life to have dry, chapped lips. So bite me if you want to make a comment about must-have #3.

Vaseline Lip Therapy - a must-have for cold weather lips

 I do wear lipgloss as I said, but mainly to go out - not to sit in a lecture hall or in the library. C'mon. I got a laugh yesterday when Unilever posted this photo...

Marmite flavoured Vaseline? Nasty.

...which clearly had to have been an April Fool's gag, cause after trying marmite last weekend, I will not understand why anyone would want THAT taste on their lips. Blech.