Want the length of false eyelashes everyday without the hassle of having to painstakingly apply then with tweezers and glue?…If so, Benefit’s latest mascara offering could be just the ticket.

Benefit aren’t particularly well known for mascara – obviously the cult Bad Gal lash is the holy mascara grail for many, but other than that the kitsch and quirky brand are better known for the other great products in their line.

However, recently Benefit released their second mascara – they’re real, a mascara aimed at giving women lashes that are so long and so gorgeous – they could almost be mistaken for a pair of falsies.

According to Benefit, 94% of testers saw dramatic length and volume, 90% saw base-to-tip curl, 94% saw visible lift and 100% saw longwearing results…not bad hey!

Benefit believe that the lengthening effects of the mascara can be attributed in part to the specially designed mascara wand. The wand is designed with a combination of both short and long bristles for length and definition with the horizontal and vertical bristles making for perfectly smooth application.

The bristles continuing to run around the wand tip also means you are able to capture every single last lash with the lengthening, curling, plumping formula.

If you would like to try out they’re real!, pop on over to the Benefit website and pick one up for £18.50.

2011 has undoubtedly been the year of the ‘dramality’ show (TOWIE, Geordie Shore, Desperate Scousewives), introducing Britain to the world of vajazzling, ridiculous tans and the infamous scouse-brow.

According to the Telegraph’s Fashion journalist Jane Cullen, 2012 is set to be the year of the make-under. It’s time to take a step back, before ‘dramality’ shows, before Jordan and Peter, all the way back before our fixation on Z-list celebs ever even took a hold.

2012 is all about recreating Hollywood’s heyday – understated, sophisticated, glamorous and sexy. Think Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner. Think black thigh-split maxi-dresses and gold drop earrings, bright red lipstick, killer heels and fur shrugs.

And what better time to kick of this new, old look, than at your New Year’s Eve bash? We’ve compiled a handful of beauty products to get you started.

The key to classic Hollywood glamour is this: radiance.

So how to achieve that gleaming, radiant skin without covering yourself in glitter?

We recommend starting your regime with Gatineau ‘Melatogenine Futur Plus Eye Concentrate’. Claiming to fight the appearance of wrinkles, smooth eye-bags and banish dark circles, this emulsion gel is sure to make your skin naturally radiant, before you even start applying your makeup.

You can buy ‘Melatogenine Futur Plus Eye Concentrate at Very for £47

The next must-have product for Hollywood glamour is the ‘Estee Lauder Golden Alligator Refill’ with ‘Lucidity Translucent Pressed Powder’. With a decadent look, this vintage-style compact is great for quick touch-ups throughout the evening…and it looks pretty snazzy too.

You can buy Estee Lauder Goldon Alligator Refill with Lucidity Translucent Pressed Powder at Estee Lauder for £36 

The centre-piece of any vintage look has to be the lips. Why not try Dior’s extreme luxury range of high fashion lipsticks? Introducing Diorific, the epitome of decadence with its beautiful gold casing, rich texture and long-lasting colour. We recommend Dolce Vita Red, a bright red shade for a sexy kick.

You can buy Dior’s Diorific in Dolce Vita Red at Debenhams for £21.50.

No Grace Kelly-esque outfit would be complete without a sophisticated fragrance, and no perfume radiates sophistication more than the eternally classic Chanel No.5.

You can buy Chanel No.5 at Boots for £86

Whether it’s the office Christmas party, festive drinks with neighbours or a girl’s night out on the tiles, the party season is really just an excuse to dedicate a whole evening to some ‘you-time’ -scrubbing, pampering and glamming up to look your festive best.

If there’s any time when it’s truly acceptable to wear a full-on sequined cocktail dress paired with gem-stone stilettoes and glittering gold jewelry, it’s the Christmas party season. But with all that glam and glitter- what are you supposed to do with your makeup?

There’s a fine line between looking glam and looking like a bauble on legs, so our beauty tip for this season is dress to impress but keep it sleek and simple on your face.

We’ve selected 3 essential beauty items to help you keep to this rule.

Skin

Benefit dandelion pink perk-me-up face powder

If you’re looking for that fresh, rosy-cheeked ‘just been outside’ look, you could either actually go outside (let’s face it- can we get away with the streaming nose and smudged mascara?), or alternatively, apply a touch of Benefit dandelion pink perk-me-up face powder. Offering instant radiance in a cute, portable pot, this product is great for natural-looking touch-ups throughout your evening.

You can buy Benefit dandelion pink perk-me-up face powder for £23.50 from selected stores or from the Benefit online shop.

Lips

Bobbi Brown Rich Lip Color

For bold, Hollywood glamour, choose Bobbi Brown Rich Lip Color in either ‘Old Hollywood’, a bright, cherry red, or ‘Crimson’, a rich red wine shade. Red goes well with gold or metallic shades so if you’re going all out with your cocktail dress, a slick of rouge will give it a sophisticated edge. Alternatively, if you’re going for a chic LBD, bright red lips offers a sexy focal point.

You can buy Bobbi Brown Rich Lip Color for £18 at the Bobbi Brown online shop.

Eyes

Max Factor False Lash Effect Fusion Mascara

New to Max Factor this season is a mascara promising to become ‘the must have miracle for dramatic eyes’. The product is designed to lengthen and add volume to your lashes and would make maximum impact paired with a nude eye-shadow.

You can buy Max Factor False Lash Effect Fusion Mascara for £11.99 at Superdrug.

With fresh cheeks, bright lips and bambi eyelashes, this natural yet glamorous trio is sure to compliment a glittering outfit without going too OTT.

When I hear the word ‘apothecary’, I think of medieval alchemists pouring smoking potions into decanters, or dark, dusty shelves stacked with spell books. A far cry, then, from the sleek, modern, multi-billion-dollar beauty industry of the 21st century.

…Or is it?

We recently reported news of House of Fraser’s exclusive Biba Zamac ring-

a handy lipgloss hidden inside a statement ring. Now the high street chain has gone one step further and hidden a full (and rather generous) make-up range inside… a book.

Introducing the Apothecary Essentials Kit, exclusive to House of Fraser. This generous make-up collection includes:

• An exclusive eye palate with a spread of 12 smoky shades
• A liquid lipstick in a vampy red
• A shiny lipgloss in rustic rose
• An oyster pink highlighter for that glowing renaissance skin
• A black eye pencil for gothic-style eyes
• Luscious false lashes

All of this, hidden inside an antique-style apothecary’s potion book. It’s the stuff of gothic romance.

Inside the ‘book’ you’ll find the make-up kit hidden beneath authentic pages covered in hand-written notes and pencil sketches – a quirky touch to a very quirky product. In terms of practicality, the make-up trays slide out smoothly to allow for easy access, with no fumbling round in make-up bags. Everything you need is laid out before you.

You can either leave the ‘book’ open on your dressing table, or tucked away in your library! It looks good either way.

The Apothecary Essentials Kit would make a fantastic Christmas present for anyone who wants to add a touch of gothic glamour to their dressing table this season.

You can buy the Apothecary Essentials Kit exclusively at House of Fraser for £26.00

Popular, quirky and kitsch – Soap & Glory have been a firm high street beauty favourite for some years now, but something has always been missing…make-up.

Up until very recently Soap & Glory have focused their efforts on their bodycare range, with an extensive range of gorgeous scrubs, lotions and potions. Now however, Soap & Glory have decided to stick their finger in yet another pie and have released a cosmetics range featuring mascara, eyeliner, bronzer, blush, foundation and lip products.

I won’t waste too much time discussing the packaging because obviously it’s delightful. If you are anything like me and an absolute sucker for packaging then that will have been what made you fall hook, line and sinker for Soap & Glory products in the first place. They have continued their standard black and pink packaging throughout – as they have with the pun inspired product names.

Here are our top three picks from the range:

1. Love at First Blush £11 - This multi tonal blusher gives the skin a warm rosy glow and brightens up tired looking skin.

2. Kick Ass Concealer three piece camouflage kit £10 – This kit is all you need to improve the appearance of heavy eyes and bothersome pimples. It includes an under eye brightening concealer which helps to ease any puffiness, an on the spot concealer to cover those troublesome blemishes and transparent setting powder to make sure everything stays where it should.

3. Lid Stuff £10 – This is a great quad for everyday use and contains 4 fabulous neutral shades which rival some of the much higher end brands in terms of pigmentation and longevity. If you can’t afford the Urban Decay Naked palette then this is a great simplified cheaper alternative.

Check out the full Soap & Glory make-up range here.

In chilly weather we’re forced to hide our fabulous outfits under bundles of coats and scarves, so this year we’re wearing fashion on our faces.

We’ve compiled a selection of the best on-trend beauty products to add a little fun and vibrance to the bleakest of British weather.

Lips

A perfect pout is the fashion world’s obsession this season, with top labels like Diane Von Furstenberg and Yves Saint Laurant opting for striking shades- sure to attract attention. Whether your lips are as voluptuous as Angelina’s or as delicate as Kiera Knightly’s, accentuate your smile with one of the 32 bold shades on offer in Dior’s new Rouge Dior lipstick collection. Claiming to contain a ‘new generation of plumping hyaluronic acid microspheres’, this lippy promises to smooth and plump the surface of your lips for a youthful, radiant look. We recommend no.526 ‘Rare Amber’ for an on-trend, slightly coral-coloured sheen.

You can buy ‘Amber Rare’ at Debenhams for £22.50

Eyes

One runway trend this season is bold, black eyeliner. Designers like Louis Vuitton and D&G are playing with tribal and Egyptian influences to create bold, beautiful Nephertiti-style eyes. For a feline-feel, we suggest trying Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner. This gel is easier to apply than liquid liner due to its stickier consistency. It’s also water-resistant- so that pesky autumn drizzle won’t get in the way of you looking fabulous!

You can buy Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner at Selfridges for £16.50.

Eyebrows

Think Sophia Loren or Elizabeth Taylor for eyebrows this winter. Most of us plucked our eyebrows to oblivion in the early naughties, but now it’s time to go au-naturel and let those stray hairs run loose. If you’re not blessed with a bushy brow, we recommend No.7 Precision Brow Pencil. This pencil is great for filling out and adding shape and definition to scraggy eyebrows, and it’s not a bad price either.

You can buy No7 Precision Brow Pencil at Boots for £10.25

Nails

There’s no point having a beautifully made face if you’re going to forget about your nails.

Autumn/winter 2011 sees a return of bright, funky nail colours. They key to nail glamour is in the top-coat. Try Rimmel London’s Rock Your Colour Top Coat to add a little festive sparkle to your nails this winter. The more layers you paint, the more dramatic the effect. For an even funkier look, try Rimmel London’s Crackle Your Colour Crazy Top Coat. The crackle polish look was a hit this summer and it continues to spread this winter.

You can buy Rimmel London’s Rock Your Colour Top Coat from 24th November 2011 for £4.59 and Crackle Your Colour Crazy Top Coat is available now for £3.99.

I began to lose my faith in cosmetics after beauty adverts became multi-million dollar mini-epics featuring strobe lighting, strutting models and obscure close-ups of things entirely unrelated to make-up.

The mascara industry in particular is chockablock with examples of marketing campaigns that have seriously superseded the products themselves.

When a small tube of black gunk becomes ‘lash-sculpting formula enriched with undetectable and ultra-supple 4mm fibres”, you know there’s been some serious flip-board action going on in the marketing boardroom.

The question is- what do I really need from my mascara? Do I need microscopic structuring formula and an aerodynamic ‘wand’? Do I need 500x more eyelash than I already have? Do I really need to be defying gravity on my face?

I have chosen the mascara with what I consider to be the most overdramatic, preposterous advertising campaign in the industry. I intend to sift through the marketing lingo to find out how it really compares to all the other thousands of small tubes of black gunk on the shelves today.

LO’real Lash Architect 4D claims to be the first false-lash effect in 4D. Because 3D was ‘so last season dahling’, LO’real has taken us into a whole new space-time continuum.

It comes in a space-age style tube, all angles and silver metallic. I have to admit I like the feel of it in my hand; there is definitely something rather sci-fi about it. Let’s call it sci-fi chic.

The ‘wand’ (or light sabre) itself is long, elegant and easy to maneuver across my lashes. It retains the mascara well so I don’t have to keep dipping the brush, which is a plus.

According to the description, the mascara has 4 functions: to volumize, lengthen, texturize and curve.

I’m treating this claim with a fair amount of skepticism, so after the smooth, easy application, I am pleasantly surprised by the outcome. My lashes really do look longer, thicker and more curvaceous – without looking clumpy and cheap. It dries pretty much instantly too so there’s no risk of panda-eyes or smudging (and luckily didn’t send my eyelashes spinning off into hyperspace).

It has an over-the-top advertising campaign with a ridiculous misuse of scientific terminology, but all the same it turns out that LO’real lash architect 4D is a genuinely effective lash-enhancing, curve-embellishing, texture-intensifying, volume-boosting, life-improving ebony-hued sculpting formula.

In the end, despite my skepticism, I do believe it was £11 fairly well spent.

To find out more, visit Lo’real.

What is BB Cream?

BB Cream, short for Blemish Balm, or Beblesh Balm is a product which unites the benefits of skincare and make-up as one.

The cream is said to have originated in Germany, developed by a dermatologist with a view to being used as a cover up which also provided protection for patients who has just received laser surgery.

However, the products aptitude for providing light coverage, moisture, protection from the sun, and an improvement in the texture of the skin soon meant that BB Creams became a sensation all over Asia and have since remained a cult must have product.

Nowadays there are hundreds of BB Creams on the market, with developments consistently being made so that formulas are improving all the time. Some higher end BB Creams now claim to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, whilst others claim they can help to reduce acne.

The product…

Up until quite recently BB Creams have been relatively difficult to get hold of in the UK, unless you were prepared to order online or pay premium beauty prices. However, Garnier have recently just released their take on the Asian sensation, which means it is now accessible to the masses.

I can’t imagine it will be too long before other drug store brands such as L’oreal, jump on the BB wagon, but until then let us discuss Garniers foray into the BB biosphere.

Garnier BB Cream claims to provide 24hr hydration, sheer, luminous and smooth coverage, SPF15 protection and UV protection.

The product comes in two shades, medium and light, and I plumped for the light option as I felt it would be more suitable for my skin tone. I first applied the BB Cream in the morning on clean, dry skin. I was going to use a brush but actually I found this wasn’t necessary as it blended into the skin extremely well just with the use of my fingers.

The cream noticeably improved the appearance of my skin immediately. My pores looked smaller, my skin smoother and brighter and generally my complexion looked much more even. The cream is extremely light, smells fresh, doesn’t feel too heavy if you wear it underneath make-up and it does seem to help my skin retain moisture during the day.

I tend to use this as an alternative to tinted moisturiser on days around the house or when I don’t feel too much like wearing make-up, but I prefer to use the product as a primer under a very light liquid foundation such as Mac Face and Body, or under a light dusting of a mineral powder foundation such as Laura Mercier Mineral Powder.

Though I haven’t tried any other BB Creams with which I can compare Garniers version, I can say that this is good solid product which I am sure will hold it’s own when other BB Creams start to saturate the shelves.

8/10

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector Daily All-In-One B.B. Blemish Balm Cream is available from Boots and is priced at £9.99

In possibly their most unusual collaboration to date, Mac has joined forces with one of the most famous conceptual artists of the last century, Cindy Sherman.

With previous collections being fronted by Lady Gaga, drag queen RuPaul and even Elton John it has always been clear that Macs approach to makeup is about it’s ability to allow you to look different, unique and transformed as opposed to bog standard pretty.

Aesthetics and transformation have long since been at the forefront of photographer and filmmaker Cindy Sherman’s work. Sherman, now in her late fifties, is most famously known for donning a variety of different disguises, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, for her conceptual self-portraits.

Earlier this year Untitled #96, a self-portrait of Sherman’s from 1981 fetched a record breaking $3.89 million dollars at auction, the highest price ever paid for a single photograph.

Fortunately, lovers of Sherman’s art will be able to pick up Mac products for a slightly more reasonable price. In the limited edition collection which is to be released late September, Sherman has created three different faces and colour palettes, transforming herself from Hitchcock heroine, to a morose clown to plastic surgery junkie.

Whatever your motivation for wearing make-up whether it is to stand out from the crowd, to blend in or to transform yourself into someone different, there is sure to be something in the collection which suits you.

The Cindy Sherman for Mac collection is released on the 29th September 2011. Keep an eye on the Mac website for updates.

One of the great things about jetting off on a summer holiday abroad, other than the sunshine, is of course duty free shopping at the airport!

So, If the purse strings are a bit tight this year and you have switched sunny climes for a traditional English holiday, you’ll be pleased to know you can still pick up a summer beauty bargain at Debenhams as they are offering selected fragrances and beauty products at duty free prices.

For a slice of sunshine in what has been a rather rainy June so far you can pick up Xen Tan Deep Bronze Luxe for £24.15 instead of £28.99, the ever popular and much loved Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat for £20.41 instead of £24.50 and the gorgeous new Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh 75ml for £40 instead of £48.

The offer is for a limited time only so scoot on over to the Debenhams website to take a look at all of the great offers.