Lancome | Hypnose Volume -A- Porter Mascara

Hi guys,

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch of Lancôme’s new mascara last night and I got to see some familiar faces including Glasgow Beauty Blogger, A Life With Frills and The Girl in The Tartan Scarf but I also got to meet a lovely new blogger, Allergic to Average, who has found a niche in the market for corporate beauty and lifestyle. 

Lancôme have just celebrated their 80th Birthday and what an 80 years they`ve had. When anyone thinks of chic and sophisticated woman, the mind instantly wanders to the French as they do it so effortlessly and that’s exactly what Lancôme are all about, minimum effort, maximum effect! 

I have never tried anything from the Lancôme range as I’ve always thought of it to be a brand better suited to mature woman but looking at their new products I can safely say that they have made it more appealing to a younger generation. The packaging is sleek and the products are a little more "under thirty" friendly.

The Hypnose Volume-a-Porter Mascara* (£22.50) comes in a gorgeous gun metal tube which just oozes sophistication; I certainly wouldn’t mind showing this off to my friends and would probably just keep going into my makeup bag just to have a little glance now and then ha-ha, that’s how sad I am. The wand is something that I was quite excited about as it’s an elastomere brush (the first for Lancôme), meaning that it is flexible and moves with the lashes. I hate when I get mascara and the wand pulls at my lashes and leaves my eyes irritated but this doesn’t do that at all, it glides over the lashes perfectly and leaves every one coated without leaving them clumpy. I love the fact that the brush is small enough to fit in the corner of my eyes too as so many wands are either too big or they just don’t do the job. This formula is super creamy and can be used to build volume but please don’t expect a false lash effect as this mascara is all about sophistication, not drama.

As well as a stunning design, great wand and a formula that is both voluminous and creamy, the mascara contains 30% less beeswax than most mascara’s and contains Lancôme Native Rose Cells which conditions the eyelashes and leaves them feeling softer; it also leaves the mascara with a faint rose scent. Something I adore.

UPDATE: I wore this for 12 hours and had no smudging underneath my eyes or at the corners where I tend to have some excess mascara. This was a little difficult to remove due to its latex content. I went straight in with my Eve Lom Cleanser (from £40) and gently removed with a wet face cloth. I had to do this twice before it was removed successfully. I finally got every trace off after a third cleanse!

Now the mascara was the main reason for the beauty event but I was all over the Ombre Hypnose Stylos (£20) which are long lasting, creamy eyeshadow sticks with their own little sharpener attached, think By Terry Ombre Blackstar (£29) and you are almost there. These are the creamiest eyeshadows I have ever had the pleasure of trying. They can go straight on the eye without a primer and when I say they don’t budge once applied, I mean they don’t budge once applied! These little babies are waterproof, super pigmented and glide on the eye with such ease but you have to work quick as they dry super quick so I would suggest doing one eye at a time and blending quickly, add more colour if you want it to be more vibrant or dramatic but work quickly. With some cream eyeshadow sticks I always feel they tug on my eyelids but after feeling these and speaking with our beautiful model she assured me that they went on like butter. I swatched some of the shades and I honestly could not get them off of my hand. I washed the dishes, washed my hands numerous times throughout the night, had a shower and they were still hanging on for dear life. I will be 100% picking some of these up as soon as I get paid as they are amazing. They come in eight different shades ranging from a delicate gold to a warm bronze to a vibrant amethyst with everything else in between.

Lancome Ombre Hypnose Stylo swatches

A used Lancome Double Ended Eyebrow Brush

They also have Sourcils Gel (£19.50) which is an eyebrow gel-cream (comes in six different shades) these are super creamy and are highly pigmented. Using these along with the amazing Lancome Double Ended Eyebrow Brush (£19) above gives some serious definition to the brows. These are waterproof and will supposedly last 24hrs, I cannot promise this as I haven’t tried any but I was assured they would. Also, if you have dark brows and love gel eyeliner then the black shade will double up.

I couldnt resist a picture of Kate! Lancome at House of Fraser Glasgow

These products are amazing and have totally opened my eyes up to the Lancôme range. They are trying to be more current and trendy, which is apparent with these products. If you want something new, get down to House of Fraser and sample these, I would 100% recommend the Ombre Stylos as they are the best of the best.

Have you tried anything from this brand?

Would you try these new products?

Have you checked out my latest post featuring A New Scottish Scran Post? 

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Scottish Scran | The Black Dove

The Black Dove Scallops and Stornoway black pudding with a Glayva and cream sauce 

The Black Dove beef tartare, tarragon aioli capers and toasted bread 

The Black Dove Sushi of the Day 

 Hi guys,

For my birthday meal with friends, we went along to the newly opened The Black Dove in Shawlands which is a Scottish Tapas restaurant. When we arrived we were asked to sit at the bar area until our table was ready. Being typical of Liam and I, we arrived 30 minutes early so were happy to wait and grab a drink before our friends arrived. The setup of the restaurant is lovely, it has dark interiors with a downstairs section to both drink and eat and then an upstairs area too. By 5pm, we were expecting to be seated but no-one came over to us until 5.15pm where we were told the table was ready but we had to leave by 7pm! Considering we were early, the table was booked for 5pm and we were left for 15 minutes before anyone told us to sit, I thought this was a bit rude.

We quickly realised that three people were unable to attend so one of the staff moved one of the tables and then the waitress took our drinks order. They have a delicious selection of drinks and the cocktails menu was equally impressive.

The menu did look inviting but I did expect more variety within the a la carte menu as there was a limited selection. Any of the small plates can be bulked out to be made into a main meal but none of us took up that option. Liam ordered the Sea Bass dish, he said that it was delicious but for the £18.50 price tag he would have liked a side dish rather than just fish and peas. For that price, you want to be satisfied with the meal and contemplate whether you want a dessert or not. Most restaurants in Glasgow offer the same prices, especially in the decent restaurants but you always have a full plate. We usually go to an amazing restaurant, Peters Seafood, which has amazing food for similar prices but its full meals and the flavour combos go very well together.

I ordered small plates, I started with the Scallops with Black Pudding and a Glayva & Cream Sauce, which was delicious but the sauce was a bit sickly! The scallops were very tasty and so plump and juicy. I also ordered the Beef Tartare which I had never had before but let me tell you, this was stunning. One forkful of this was like a mini flavour explosion in the mouth, it was so fresh and the textures were on point. The last dish I ordered was the Sushi of the Day which should have been called the sushi of yesterday as it was so dry and had no taste to it whatsoever. The soy sauce pot was too deep to fit the sushi into and the wasabi paste was a watered down version of its gorgeous self which I was not impressed with at all, when I get sushi I look forward to the hot wasabi paste but this variation was a disappointment. The tuna on top also didn't taste of tuna, it had been marinated in some kind of beetroot coloured sauce which then left pink marks on the rice but it just wasn't up to par. Liam`s brother commented about the sushi being dry too but apparently the prawn tempura, beef tenderloin and the mussels were gorgeous, I didn't like the look of them myself, but the rest of the group raved about them.

Both of our waiters were quite sour faced and hardly raised a smile all evening, I have worked in all different varieties of customer service and it doesn’t take much to raise a smile to paying customers. Once we finished our food we left quite quickly as we wanted to move onto a livelier atmosphere with friendlier staff so we vacated our table before the 7pm mark.

Food: 6/10

Drinks: 9/10

Service: 4/10

Atmosphere: 5/10

Would I go back? Probably not, it wasn’t to my taste at all. For scallops, mussels and beef tartare there are far more impressive restaurants in Glasgow who offer similar prices but better quality produce and more pleasant staff. 

Have you tried The Black Dove?
Where else would you recommend?

Have you checked out my latest post featuring Katy Harmston Gothic Makeup? 

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Getting Lost In It With Katy Harmston

Hi guys, 

If you are a makeup or any type of art enthusiast you will understand the term 'Just Getting Lost In It'. This is so easy to do when you’re creative freedom is let loose and your eyes start to see the world and life in a whole new light. After my makeup post 'Butterfly Tropics', I developed a love for over exaggerated makeup. That look was very colorful and vibrant; I began to feel I needed to experiment with darker and gothic inspired tones. I didn't want it to look vampire-esque as I do feel sometimes it can become slightly childlike and you start to morph towards a Halloween inspired look. I wanted to keep it high fashion and have a depth of femininity to it.

I feel there is a lot of movement in this look even though makeup obviously doesn't move. What I mean by this is, is that you can move around with this type of look and it redefines the shape of your face from all different angles. It is mind blowing how you can change the face with makeup by targeting certain areas to enhance certain features, and hiding those flaws that you don't want people to see.

You can see this in the transformation below; the look is very heavily focused around the eyes and the eyebrows. However I am very happy I stayed true to my vision that darkness doesn't need to be blood and gore. It reminds me of a very sensual Queen of Damned type of look.

Products Used

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation | Vanilla

Maybelline Eraser Eye Concealer | Light

The Balm May Lou-Manizer

Makeup Revolution Redemption Eyeshadow Palette Essential Mattes

MUA Single Pearl Eyeshadow | Electric Purple

Eyeko Making Eyes Gel Eyeliner | Plum Wine

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

Makeup Revolutions Amazing Lipstick | Black Heart

As you can see from the products used above, not a lot of makeup was used for this look and surprisingly it did not feel heavy. I really liked wearing it actually; it was such a change to what society deems your everyday makeup to be.

I hope you like this fun look and if you have any inspirational looks you would like me to experiment with then please leave suggestions in the comments below. If you are a blogger and would like to collaborate on an exaggerated post please either leave your comments below, email me or contact me on any of the social media platforms below. I will definitely get back to you.

Email | katy.harmston@gmail.com 

 Youtube | Blog | Instagram | Facebook | Tweet 

Have a lovely day and if you want to express yourself, why not...

Katy xoxo

Katy Harmston is a partime Artist, Youtuber and Blogger with a love for all things creative. She has a passion for Art as a whole and is currently working on a Portrait Collection and setting up an Online Art store. She shares with us her blog and YouTube Channel that demonstrates and shares Beauty, Fashion and DIY Fashion Tips and Tricks.

Have you checked out my latest post featuring Mussels In A Lightly Spiced Broth? 

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Mussels in a Lightly Spiced Vietnamese Broth

Hi guys, 

I just came back from the Lake District yesterday where I was visiting two of my best friends who moved there a while ago, it was such a great, relaxing weekend but it’s time to get back to reality. I recently posted my Mussels dish to Instagram and you went crazy for it so I decided to put together a recipe for you. I did use more of the Posh Pickles SaVa Tu`o`ng o`t V Relish* as I loved using it in my Vegetarian Vietnamese Soup but I wanted to try something different. I was going through my local Morrison’s and stopped at the fish section to pick up some seabass and saw a huge bag of fresh mussels still in their shells and that’s when I knew what I wanted to do with this relish.

Mussels are a thing of beauty, I adore seafood and eat it as much as I possibly can as its super healthy and it tastes amazing. You will notice in my recipe that I have used some of the ingredients that are already in the relish but I always double up on flavour when I use a premade product as I want to make the dish to sing and as this was a main meal I really wanted it to pack a punch. This recipe serves two people for a main with some fries or bread or both.

Ingredients

2 x Small Brown Onions (or 1 large one), finely sliced

2 x Tbsp of Posh Pickles Vietnamese Relish*

2 x Garlic Cloves, finely sliced

2 Inch Piece of Fresh Ginger, julienne style

1 x Green Pepper, finely sliced

1 x Red Chilli, sliced

1 x Can of Coconut Milk

Glug of water to stop it becoming too thick

Soy Sauce

1 Tbsps. Fish Sauce

1 kg of fresh mussels (ask fishmonger to clean and prepare them for you)

Zest and juice of a lime 

Method:

Use a large, deep pot with a lid as you will be steaming the mussels in the sauce once it’s ready. 

To a large pot add some olive oil and finely sliced onions. Allow to cook out on a medium/high heat until nicely coloured.

Add the relish to onions and leave to cook out for a few minutes to awaken the flavours.

Add in garlic, ginger, peppers, red chilli and coconut milk. Give it all a good stir to make sure it’s mixed.

Leave for a few minutes before adding fish sauce, lime zest & soy sauce. I added the water at this stage too as it was looking a little thick, I also added in a small amount of garlic puree as I am a garlic fiend but you can skip this step if you are not as keen on it. 

Leave the sauce to cook out for 10 minutes to let all the flavours infuse, give a stir and then add in your mussels and lime juice.

Put a lid on top or something to cover the pot as you want the mussels to steam. I left mine for 4 minutes as the shells were open. Discard any that are still closed.

 Fill a bowl with your delicious mussels, throw over some coriander (if you want to make it even prettier) and serve with some crusty bread. 

You will notice that I didn’t add any additional salt or pepper as I felt mines was alright on the seasoning front as I had the fish sauce, soy sauce and the mussels which are pretty salty without adding more and overpowering the delicate mussels. As the mussels begin to open they infuse the sauce with the flavour of the sea so when you dig into your sauce it will taste a little different but even better, trust me.

Both Liam and I devoured ours as soon as it was served and he doesn’t even like seafood but he asked to try something different and wanted something lightly spiced to I came up with this. I would make this all the time if I could as it was full of flavour, filled me up and was super easy to make. If you want to give it a go and need to get your hands on the amazing Posh Pickles Relish then click here.

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