Winter 2012/2013 was the winter of the Serum it seems; they dropped through our postboxes here at Dolly HQ almost by the bucket load, not that we are complaining! Far from it in fact; I am a sucker for serums and my skin really was in need of some extra help this winter so I got to testing and here are three of the best that I recommend spending your shillings on:
First up is most definitely my favourite skincare launch so far this year Read on »
This is another review that has been a while in the making mainly due to the fact that I was CONVINCED the product would fail miserably and not live up to the hype surrounding it. I even said I would eat my hat if this worked (my winter hat by the way).
I’ve heard people raving about Avon’s Anew Clinical Pro Line Corrector Treatment with A-F33 but to be honest I didn’t believe all the fuss being made; that was until I put it to the test myself. Well that’s a little bit of a white lie really as my mam put it to the test for us!
Let’s get the facts and figures out of the way first shall we?! Avon partnered with powerhouse cosmeceutical brand Neostrata to develop the apparent “biggest innovation in skincare since the discovery of AHAs”. Avon have announced that with this launch they are bringing a powerful new anti-aging molecule to the market that even dermatologists do not have access to. The molecule A-F33 (Amino Fill 33) is a molecule that has been found in testing on skin cells to work in a way that other well known anti-aging ingredients such as glycolic acid, retinol and CoQ10 don’t. Now, I am no scientist (Kat wears that hat) but I do know that I love a nice product full of glycolic acid or retinol so if A-F33 can do a better job then them well, just consider me sold Avon lady!
Thankfully my mam doesn’t tend to read much online or in print about beauty products so she was blissfully unaware of the hullabaloo surrounding this product when I asked her to be our guinea pig. (Avon’s PR people had kindly sent us a some of the product to test as it was not yet available to order).
Mam was given the product in early August and I promptly forgot about it (well it was on my spreadsheet of products to follow up on) until Mam came to visit recently. She has smoker’s skin, and anyone that has ever smoked will know what I mean. Skin that feels dehydrated with fine lines from puffing on the ciggies can be tricky to care for. She is also a sun worshipper and I am constantly telling her to wear spf to no avail!
Long story short having not seen mam for a couple of weeks she arrived over and I immediately commented on her skin. It was plumped, brighter and fine lines did seem very much less obvious. I actually could not believe it. Mam is RAVING about this serum, and it takes a lot for her to rave about a beauty product.
This product is coming to a catalogue near you soon (if not already, I’m trying to track down my local Avon lady as I type!) and will cost €39.00 at full price. I did hear a whisper it’s on offer at launch for €26 so if you can grab it at that price do. Either way myself, my mam and gran and all of the girls in the office will no doubt be getting orders in. This stuff works and I HAVE just eaten my hat!
To keep up to date on all things Avon check out their Facebook page!
When I saw these nails pop up on the gorgeous Zooey Deschanel‘s (of tuxedo nail fame amongst other things 
) Twitter feed I fell in love instantly. I knew I would have to give it a stab at home myself as it looked fairly easy to pull off. I don’t have a steady hand and that, combined with very little patience, means I tend to stick to the easier to achieve nail looks. I reproduced this look as best I could but if you don’t have a yellow/lemon polish or a bow decoration at home don’t let that put you off; grab another colour, a white striper and get going. It’s super easy and a great way to give your nails the A-list look. Read on »
There are very few mascaras on the market that I have not tried but some of my most used and loved wands are from budget brands! Avon in particular have a really strong line of mascaras in their range and today I bring you two of the best; Avon Super Extreme Extend and Supershock Max. Read on »
Pink Overload
Please forgive my shiteous photographs of late; what with Picnik closing down and ruining my life in the process I have yet to get to grips with other picture editing software. I’m hoping I will get to it this bank holiday weekend!
AVON Colordisiac in Fuschia & Little Red Dress in Pout
Avon can be quite hit and miss with their offerings so I tend to buy most of my Avon products when they are running sales or special offers (and in fairness to them they do this quite regularly). I tend to stick to the same old lip products day in day out so I decided to throw caution to the wind and try out some new lippies. Not having much of an idea of what I wanted I ordered the above two products not expecting much. Both cost me €5.00 each from a recent Avon catalogue. Read on »
In fairness I have been using and loving quite a lot of Avon products recently but this one is one you should avoid. I love Avon but I do not love this product and its my mission in life to let you know what tat to avoid; even if its inexpensive tat! Read on »
Here we go with our second installment of Dolly Rouge’s 2011 favourites. If you missed it, check out part 1.
La Roche-Posay Teint Mineral is a powder compact. It can be used on its own with a sponge for medium-full coverage (oily or combo-skinned ladies), dusted with a powder brush to set foundation, or provide more coverage over sheer foundations (combo-normal skins). It covers redness/imperfections, doesn’t look powdery, doesn’t oxidise, doesn’t budge when faced with oil, doesn’t clog pores and has SPF 25. Consider that all boxes ticked for me! Read on »
Two products,same results!
I really do amaze myself at times folks! When placing a recent Avon order I needed to order one more product to enable me get some discount or free gift so I opted for the Advanced Techniques Smoothing Cream which cost me all of €4.50 (for a 150ml product). I didn’t need or want the cream but I got it anyway to make up the numbers figuring that my mam or skin in blister would take it off my hands. Anyway it arrived and duly got thrown into my beauty “filing cabinet”. Fast forward to last week I had been out and about the night before and I always love to use Tigi Bed Head After Party after nights out to refresh and tame my hair between washes. Its one of my HG products that I always have in my stash. The 150ml Bed Head product costs in and around the €16.00 mark depending where you get it from (I use strawberrynet.com a lot).
Anyway, back to last week. In my rush to get ready I couldn’t find my bottle of after party so for the craic I used a small amount of the Avon smoothing cream. And, low and behold, it had the exact same effect as the After Party cream! I was amazed to say the least. Read on »
Avon Supershock Eyeliners - Bleedin deadly!
I first read about these eyeliners months ago on my favoritist beauty blog in the world, Beaut.ie! You can read their take on these babies here and here. The ladies at beaut.ie know their stuff so when I read their glowing review and the comparison quality wise to a Giorgio Armani pencil I knew I had to get my mitts on one. Read on »