If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you’ll know that Lancome’s Hypnose formula is my favourite mascara ever. Whilst it does have a tendency to dry up faster than I’d like, I can’t deny the amazing results it gives my lashes So when Lancome released a “Doll Lashes” version, I knew I had to give it a shot.

My general impression is that as a standalone mascara, this is great. As you can see from the photos below, two coats gives you thick lush looking lashes. The end result is very similar to that of the traditional Hypnose formula, the main difference I’ve found is the fact that it did take two coats to achieve this. Whereas traditionally, I’d only need one thick coat to get the same effect.

So if you’re someone who has always loved the Hypnose formula, but thought it was just a bit overkill, this would be perfect. But if you loved Hypnose just the way it is, stick to the original formula.

Comparison aside, I noticed no real difference between the original and this formula. Besides the shape of the brush (which does make it easier to coat lower lashes and small lashes in the inner corner), lasting power is the same. Lasted all day, no smudging nor flaking throughout the day. It’s no surprise Hypnose is my most loved mascara

Consider this a lesson learnt, I think I’m going to start toning down on any of these “huge” palette like makeup products unless the reviews online are amazing! This was not one of those palette Finding ways to store them is just a pain! Introducing Tarte’s Holiday 2011 palette called the Starlet. It’s a beautiful mirrored jewellery box that houses an array of eyeshadows, mascara, eyelash primer and blushes.

There is no doubt that the box is adorable, completely impractical and not the most sturdiest of boxes, but cute none the less. The makeup however is pretty second rate in my opinion. The swatches may not make it obvious, but the texture was very hit and miss. There were some shadows are had beautiful pigmentation, buttery formula, then others that were incredibly chalky, some were so solid that I had to literally dig into the pan to get any colour.

The blushes however were definitely much better than the shadows, but I would not personally recommend this palette to anyone solely based on the blushes which whilst were high quality, are not shades you need to buy this palette to own. They are easily dupable.

I will say that one up side to this palette is that it is relatively easy to depot all the product so you’re left with an empty mirrored box to store whatever you like in it It was no easy feat to get the makeup out of the middle drawer though :/

Another great surprise was the Tarte eyelash primer, I’d never tried it before but since this palette came with a mini version I thought I’d give it a go and really loved the effect! I will definitely be purchasing the full sized version when I finish up this sample size and will post a review

I’m not sure if you can still purchase this palette, but don’t consider it a must have

Another holiday 2011 collection! I think this may be the last one, yay! Luckily you can still purchase these shades if you feel so inclined I liked that this collection had a good mixture of crèmes and glitters. Overall it’s a solid collection for more festive occasions, depending on your work I can’t see many of these being overly neutral or work appropriate. As always 2 coats with no top coat.

Blue Year’s Eve

A shimmery royal blue, despite appearances the finish is really smooth. I find the shade to have a very decadent feel.

Champagne Bubbles

Shimmery canary yellow gold with silver glitters, I would’ve never thought silver glitters would work well with yellow gold, but now that I see it, it isn’t half bad!

Glittering Garland

A rich moss green with duo chrome gold and green flecks, I absolutely love this! It is gorgeous, I am such a fan of anything with duo chrome and the finish on this is very smooth. But if you like this without the flecks try China Glaze’s Jolly Holly.

Holly Day

An emerald crème shade, Essie’s Going in Incognito has more of a bluer tinge to it.

Icicle

A metallic silver shade, China Glaze’s Cheers to you is a more metallic version. Surprisingly I found Face of Australia’s Titanium to be a pretty spot on dupe!

Poinsettia

A chilli red crème, I thought Zoya’s Sooki and Tamsen was a pretty close dupe to this.

Ring in the Red

Red glitter with large chunky red glitter, not my favourite of the collection and it leaves a rough finish.

Snow Globe

Chunky light hologram glitters, a bit too gritty for my own taste but I do have a number of very similar dupes I can talk about. Color Club’s Snowflakes and Color Club’s Starry Temptress are much finer versions of this polish with a smoother finish. Or check out OPI’s Happy Anniversary which has even finer micro shimmers.

Tinsel Town

A gunmetal shimmer shade, packed with a ton of large and medium sized silver glitters. Even tho I wouldn’t deem my description as unique, I wasn’t able to find any dupes to this! And I actually really loved it, it’s edgy yet girly.

Twinkle Lights

A mixture of antique gold, red and green glitters. A few more coats and this would look amazing, very christmasy. OPI’s Bring on the Bling is similar but with a more pinky hue.

Velvet Bow

A deep maroon red creme, not a hard shade to dupe! Try OPI’s Sariguite or even a light coat of OPI’s Black Cherry Chutney. Even OPI’s Pepe’s Purple Passion is similarish.

Winter Berry

The perfect red, an essential in everyone’s collection… but I suspect most people already have it since it really isn’t that unique.