How many times have we read ‘longer, fuller, lusher lashes’ on the packaging of the latest mascara & shamelessly skipped to the tills to buy it, only to find unsurprisingly that it makes absolutely no difference to our lashes?

We have all succumbed to the advertising monster at some point and are slightly ashamed to say we did not learn from our mistakes and got very excited when we heard about Rimmel’s latest offering, the rather epic sounding ‘Lash Accelerator Mascara’.

Lash Accelerator incorporates an exclusive Grow Lash complex which promotes the appearance of long and strong lashes. Consumer testing revealed that the testers lashes instantly appeared up to 80% longer and with continued use (one month) they found that their lashes were fuller, stronger, lusher and up to 117% longer. A whopping 88% of the women also reporting seeing a higher volume of lashes and longer lashes within just one week of usage.

Of course we were itching to get our hands on this product and were all lucky enough to have been given a tube prior to its release date (1st September) and have now been using the product for three weeks. Well as the saying goes, the proof is in the proverbial pudding, so here is what we found:

Emma: Upon opening the mascara I found the wand to be long and slim in shape and not overloaded with an excess of product, a promising start. As someone with very short, thin and pale eyelashes, I was very apprehensive about how this would work for me. Usually I opt for a double ended mascara with primer then colour to give thickness and length and did not imagine this mascara would create the long, full effect I like. However… upon application I was pleasantly surprised to find my eyelashes were looking a lot longer. After a second coat the length and look was even more intense and though I didn’t measure them can pretty confidently say they looked a good 70-80% longer. After three weeks of using this product every day I am very happy with the results as even without mascara my lashes seem much thicker and longer and seemed to have prolonged my eyelash perm too. Whats more the mascara has shown no signs of drying out and happily lasts all day with no smudging or fall out. Will definitely be purchasing this again when this tube is bone dry!

Emily: Emily also concurs with much of the above, her only improvement would be making the brush a little thinner. Despite this she still loves the product and felt so confident with her new longer lashes that she even ventured out the other day mascara free!

Rimmel Lash Accelerator is available in two shades: Black / Black and Brown and is priced at £8.99

Last Thursday evening the Beauty Resource team finished work early, donned our heels and lippie and journeyed into le’capital for the Coty bloggers preview. Upon arrival we were greeted by the gorgeous press team who made us feel right at home in the quirky ‘Home Sweet Home’ venue and were very quick to make sure we all had a glass of champagne in hand!

Coty look after some fantastic and prestigious brands, ranging from Calvin Klein, Chloe and Marc Jacobs right through to Rimmel and Sally Hanson. We were lucky enough to be invited along to preview and try out some new upcoming lines and are extremely excited about what we saw (we are predicting some best sellers).

We came away with an incredible goodie bag full with wonderful treats for us to try out and review and here is a sneak peak of reviews which will be coming over the next week or so:

Calvin Klein – Beauty (Nationwide release 25th August) (read review here)
Marc Jacobs – Bang (Available from Harvey Nichols from 1st August & nationwide from 25th August)(read review here)
Rimmel – Lash Accelerator Mascara (Released 1st September) (read review here)
Guess – Seductive (Released September 2010) (read review here)
Chloe – Love (Available from Harrods from 22nd August and nationwide from 22nd September)
Adidas - New & improved shower gels (Relaunch October 2010)

Every women dream’s of having long and luscious eyelashes, the kind that could melt hearts with just one flutter, yet very few of us are lucky enough to be living that dream!

In an attempt to enhance what god gave us, many of us shamefully succumb to covering our lashes with coat upon coat of mascara, gluing on falsies or popping out to the salon to have extensions put on.

The beauty market has also recently experienced an upsurge of eyelash growth products, with some small lash enhancers costing in excess of £100. July 2010 saw Boots release the long awaited RapidLash Enhancing Serum, with a waiting list in place even before it’s release RapidLash promised to increase lash length by 50% for the relatively reasonable price of £39.99.

With such a huge array of lash enhancers currently on the radar it would seem that one unassuming product slipped through the net. DHC’s Eyelash Tonic doesn’t promise to give you 100% thicker 100% fuller and 100% longer lashes, but what it does offer is deep conditioning for our maltreated peepers.

The conditioning gel formula works at strengthening and protecting weak lashes against breakage, helping them to look thicker, fuller and longer.

Ingredients are completely natural and botanical, incorporating aloe which softens, ginsing which nourishes and comfrey which soothes and whats more the serum is completely fragrance free, colourant-free and non-comeogenic. All the components of a luxury high end product but for only £7.

The tonic is to be applied as a base before mascara application in the morning and is to be applied again at bedtime. You can pick yours up now from the DHC website.

All Nighter is Urban Decays answer to the melting makeup face, whether that may be from over exerting yourself in a club, taking a stroll in a tropical rainstorm or just after a very…very… long day, that make up ain’t going anywhere as it will be firmly fixed to your face with this godsend.

The formula comes in a bottle with a spray pump and comes out in a light mist which will cover your face easily in just two pumps. This basically acts as a fixer for all of your immaculately applied makeup and will keep it looking perfect for 16 hours! YES 16 hours…really. This means you could even pop on your makeup before bed have a good nights sleep and wake up ready for work!

It is designed to be weightless so your face isn’t left with any dewy looking residue and has intelligent temperature control which keeps your make-up from melting when it is warm and humid or dehydrating when its cold and windy.

All Nighter is allergy tested, dermatologist tested, vegan, cruelty free and free of oil and parabens. £17 may seem like quite a high price point but for 118ml and as little as two spritz’s enough to get you through the day, a little goes a long way.

We know that CHANEL’s Rouge Coco may be slightly old news (released in February) but it is extremely rare for us still be addicted to a product which is almost 6 months old. Rouge Coco has become a cult beauty classic just like the 2.55 has become a cult fashion classic. The highly pigmented lip colour is available in 33 shades which Coco would have worn herself and all of which sport wonderful names based on influential periods in her life, Mademoisselle, Paris and Cambon are to name but a few.

CHANEL chose to stick to classic and timeless packaging for this lipstick and as usual even holding it in your hand makes you feel like you are clutching pure luxury. The formula itself contains Hydratender complex which CHANEL claims gives ’8 hour hydration from a single application’. Now though the colour may not last eight hours it certainly try’s its best, lasting a minimum of four hours without showing signs of fading.

In terms of the colour itself you couldn’t ask for more, giving good coverage and a strong colour even from just one swipe. We adore Perle which is wonderful fresh coral and a fantastic alternative to nude. The shade Mademoiselle is the perfect feminine pink but if the thought of splurging your cash on a lippie is turning you weak at the knees then we suggest you opt for Cambon, a classic red which will be the best investment you’ve made in a long while!

CHANEL Rouge Coco is priced at £21.50 and is available from Boots.

Models Own Lip Cheek & Face Paint £5.99

Whats a festival without a few ridiculous costumes and neon face paints here and there? These pots won’t take up too much room in your rucksack and will provide you with hours of entertainment. Available in neon blue, neon orange, neon pink and neon yellow.

Piz Buin One Day Long Lotion SPF15 with heliplex £18.99

It may sound boring and expensive but this weekend is set to be the hottest of the year so far and unless you want to come back looking like a mixed grill you need to slap on the sun cream. This lotion smells fantastic and with almost a week without showers you are going to want to do everything within your power to smell mildly acceptable. Whats more this lotion lasts six hours without reapplication so in the event the beers are flowing and you become absent minded or if your tent is a 3 mile walk away from the arena then no worries, because once its on you’re off!

Ow! Day Tripper – Day Out First Aid Kit £5.99

All day alcohol consumption, tents, intense heat, music and excitement all rolled into one will probably lead to the odd bump and bruise. Here is a handy little first aid kit which will keep you smiling. The kit contains the following:

First Aid Leaflet
Insect Repellant Wipes
Wound Pad with Bandage
Safety Pins
Mini Grip Pill Bag
15ml Eye Wash
Blister Plasters
Assorted Washproof Plasters
Antiseptic Wipes

Batiste Dry Shampoo Blush 150ML £2.09

It is difficult to comprehend a life without dry shampoo and often women look back and wonder how we ever lived without it. This is an absolute must at a festival. Were certainly not saying its going to make your hair look perfectly styled and coiffed but it will tackle the grease at the very least and has the added bonus of a summery coconut fragrance.

Iridescent Glitterbug £3.65 per 30g

Not only will this massage bar leave your skin smooth, soft and flexible with its moisturising shea butters and cocoa, it will also leave you beautifully scented with rose, citrus and sweet vanilla and it will leave you looking like you’ve just been sprinkled with fairy dust.

Anatomicals Snoozers Are Losers Boost Patch £3.00

It’s no secret that at a festival you are likely to get very little sleep. If you feel your stamina is lagging and you are on the verge of creeping back to the tent for a little snooze then why not try one of these energy patches from Anatomicals. There are six individual patches in this kit to be applied to the upper arm for a boost. Within minutes they relieve tiredness and increase sharpness to get you back in the party spirit.

Eyelash dyes, or 30 day mascaras are a great compromise for holiday. If you can’t afford a trip to the salon for a tint then home dye kits work perfectly as well and mean you can go to the beach mascara free but still with gorgeous looking lashes. Eyelure and Coloursport each offer a home dye kit essentially comprised of the same components and applied in the same way.

Both kits come with a cream and a liquid which are mixed together following the instructions and then applied to the lashes and left for the designated period of time before being wiped off. The final result really depends on the initial colour of your lashes but we found our lashes appeared darker, glossy and very slightly thicker after application, a perfect low key holiday look which won’t come off in the pool.

The only downside to both products is the rather unhelpful applicator which makes the entire process of covering the lashes far more difficult than it ought to be. We recommend you pop and buy a mascara wand or simply clean of one of your old ones and use this to apply the mixture.

Happy holidays!

Coloursport 30 day mascara £7.49 and Eyelure dyelash £6.99 are both available from Boots.

Our pick of the range has to be the Lustre Drops, which have made a very welcome return but this time in different packaging. This liquid highlighter is available in two different shades. Pink Rebel is a peach toned highlighter which naturally suits those with a pink undertone and the warmer skinned of us will want to opt for Sun Rush with its golden undertones.

The highlighter is a fantastic multitasker and will take you through the entire summer looking fabulous. Not only can you use the product alone on the cheeks, brows and decolletage but you can also mix it with your facial moisturiser for a low key everyday look, your foundation for a glamourous glow or your body lotion for an all over shimmer. We love Lustre Drops mixed in with a little of our favourite cream blush which gives our everyday faithful makeup an on trend update.

Lustre Drops come in at £14.40, great value for a premium make-up brand, especially considering a little goes a verrrrry long way with this product. Snap yours up from the MAC website now.

This is a fantastic no fuss product, perfect for those of you who often find yourselves slapping the make up on the train or in the car at the red lights. For an everyday look this product can be worn alone for flush cheeks or stained lips. For a stronger look it can be layered with other face and lip products and is particularly good on the the lips with some gloss worn over the top.

The Multiple Tint comes in three vibrant shades and the convenient tube makes it a handbag must have.

Contrary to popular belief, waterproof make-up is not just for swimming and holidays. Think about the way your make-up melts in the blistering summer heat, how your mascara runs when you have a teary fight with your other half and how your make-up looks a little lacklustre after all night clubbing with friends. Waterproof make-up ensures things stay exactly where they are meant to!

A new system has been developed which sees film forming polymers coat the colour pigments in the shadows in order to make them waterproof as well as helping volatile oils stay in place as opposed to evaporating.

The shadows can be applied using your fingertips or with a brush and can be removed with the same products used to take off waterproof mascara.

The eyeshadows are available in 22 shades, all enriched with mother-of-pearl particles and most of them can be used on lips and cheeks too.

Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Cream collection will go on sale at Sephora in June. You can sign up for the retailer’s Beauty Insiders program to test the new shadows now.