The quest for the perfect eye pencil

Thinking I'd found the perfect eye pencil in Mac's Costa Riche I was devastated to be told that it was a limited edition and no longer available.


Worse still .. a quick look into the "spare make up" bags shows that I've since bought seven pencils in an effort to replace it .. 4 from MAC, 2 from Clinique and a Lancome just for good measure!

Potential replacements for the perfect eye pencil

 How mad is that?


PS. Burnt Coffee from Clinique comes close

Wot no samples

Too scared to work out how much I've spent on products that end up gathering dust on the bathroom shelves  I've decided to adopt a "try before I buy" approach.

So why do beauty brands vary so much in their approach to samples .. surely more sampling means more sales?

Here's a few recent experiences, good and bad ...

A trip to the Clarins counter yields enough skincare samples for long weekends away

I bought Nude Replenishing Night Oil online from www.nudeskincare.com and was delighted to see three sample sachets including their very latest Advanced Cellular Renewal Moisturiser tucked into the box. Haven't tried it out yet but will report back when I do ...

Dermalogica's Daily Microfoliant lasts me at least a year so I'm not what I'd call a regular customer but when I bought it from www.beautyflash.co.uk they included samples of my choice

So, why, when I spend £180.00 (ouch, it hurts to even write that) on Creme de la Mer does the assistant tell me that they don't do samples ... how stingy is that!

I experienced a flurry of excitement recently when a postcard invited me to collect a sample of The Eyecare Concentrate from a local store. I dashed into town only to find it was a teeny, tiny 3 ml tube. It didn't even cover the cost of parking!

Would love to know more about who's generous with samples .. and who isn't. It's easy to comment, no need to log in, just join in ..

Welcome to beautysoup

My love affair with beauty began early. By the time I was five years old I was regularly sleeping with my hair in rollers!

And so it continued into my teens with blue eyeshadow, a spritz of  Mum's Sea Jade, my own bottle of Charlie perfume (the height of sophistication), heated rollers and very messy experiences with kohl.  Frosted lipstick followed and even messier experiences with body glitter .. well it was the 80s. Elizabeth Arden's Visible Difference and Flawless Finish came to the rescue accompanied by heavy applications of Tawny blusher onto sucked in cheeks. From Ultraglow to Custom Blend Powder and the heady scent of Poison .. everything promised to bring perfection just one step closer.

Each year is marked with the latest beauty products and accompanying dreams of perfection. From olive oil to Creme de la Mer with a Cleo Facial Exerciser along the way .. my quest for beauty knows no bounds.

I'm an avid reader of women's glossy magazines but find I'm less interested in what works for a 25 year old "celebrity" and more interested in what works for me now that heavy applications of powder just make everything look worse and there really isn't enough room on my eyelids for four shades of violet.   

If any of this sounds familiar you may enjoy the musings of beautysoup. I'll be talking about the contents of my make up bag, my spare make up bags, the stuff I still get sucked into buying that doesn't work and, the holy grail, the stuff that does!

Sue with bags of "spare make up"

Join in the fun .. we'd love to hear what works for you.