How Much Is Too Much?

Many of us have no qualms about dashing to the nearest beauty counter at the first sniff of a new MAC collection or Urban Decay palette. Come on ladies, who can say they weren't reeled in by the Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows hype?
I hotfooted it to my local Debenhams faster than you can say 'cat in a hat' when word broke of said palette.
*Hangs head in shame

You can justify it if you're getting a whopping 16 eye shadows, two eyeliners and the brand's famous primer potion for just £28, no?
But what if your £28, or worse still, £595 (for a Dr Perricone face cream), covered the price of just one beauty product. Madness!

The 'Bankrupted by beauty' piece, seen in today's (Monday's) Femail section of The Daily Mail, interested me somewhat.
How many of us are cajoled, by whatever means, into parting with our hard-earned cash for the latest must-have beauty item.

We've all been there. But just how much is too much?
Guerlain's KissKiss Gold and Diamonds lipstick, for instance, is £55. But can you really spot the difference between this, and say, a MAC or Revlon lippie?

Guerlain's KissKiss lipsticks are a whopping £55. Ouch!

Ladies, it's over to you! What's the most you've shelled out for a product and was it worth it?

And while we're here, which 'drug store', cheapo products are currently underated?

Could You Spot A Fake?!

Some fakes you can spot a mile off; fake tan, fake hair, even fake nails.

But can you spot a fake when it really matters; when you're parting with your hard-earned cash?

I couldn't. Like many, I was reeled in by the ever so slightly cheaper prices on Ebay when I came to repurchase my trusted Maybelline Colossal Volum' Express mascara.

Not so trusted from this particularly Ebayer though, it seems.

Alarm bells rang when I read the seller's feedback, unfortunately after I'd already hit 'commit to buy' on the product. Said feedback stated: 'This item is a fake and a refund was not offered'.

Right then, I thought....I'll definitely be looking out for tell tale signs when the mascara arrives. After holding said mascara up against my well used Boots-bought Maybelline mascara, I spotted it was a fake immediately.

Here's for a little beauty test then. Which one of these is the real thing?

Yep, you guessed it! The one on the left. The one on the right is the fake - you can tell due to the small lettering on the front. I'm a Maybelline The Colossal devotee, but I doubt I'd have spotted this Ebay fake had I not had the real thing to compare it against. So, there's the moral of the story. If you're unsure, dig out your original product and see for yourself. I should've done the same before I hit 'buy'.

You'll be pleased to know I contacted the seller immediately, telling him I knew the product was a fake and asking for a refund. He obliged straight away, to my surprise.

Have you 'been had' by an Ebayer selling fakes?

Coming soon on A Lauren to Herself...

Dr Perricone 'No Foundation Foundation' review, an interview with the Dragons' Den's wedge welly entrepreneurs and my Model's Own collection.

Would Shoe Believe It?!

Do you have a shoe story? Then share it online at Selfridges & Co for the chance to bag yourself a year's supply of shoes?

I don't know about you, but I'm hot footing it (ahem) to the site and entering pronto.

What do you have to do?

Visit the link above write a few sentences about your favourite pair  of shoes, plus a picture of yourself or the shoes (if you have one) and share your 'shoe story' online.

Hop to it : )

The UK's Fastest Selling Make-Up Range?

Drum roll please....

Superdrug's own brand MUA (Make Up Academy) range, with items costing just £1 each, includes over 100 lipstick shades, eye colours, blushers, mascaras and nail polishes.

We've been lucky enough to test some of the products in the office for my weekly beauty column at the newspaper I work at. And I have to say, everyone's been pretty impressed with the polishes in particular.

In terms of pigmentation and ease of use, these are brill.

What are your other cheap 'drug store' recommendations, nail polishes or otherwise?

Testing, Testing...Who's It Going To Be?

Anyone who read my blog last week will have noticed I was offering fellow bloggers the chance to join me in testing Dr Perricone's famous No Foundation Foundation.

A big thank you for all your comments, but I can now reveal who I will be sending the extra box of the foundation to.

Drum roll please......

Congratulations Becky of Style and the City.

Please email me at laurenholden6@gmail.com and I'll make sure the foundation is posted out tomorrow (Monday).

Hope everyone's had a lovely weekend.

One For Me, One For You...

An email dropped in my inbox from Jonny at Dr Perricone 'No-Foundation Foundation' this morning. Now, we've all seen the online Google ads for this Cosmo award-winning product, buy how many of us have actually tried it?

Well, now you can - courtesy of Jonny and A Lauren to Herself! A bottle of the one-colour-fits-all product is winging its way to me as we speak - and I've cheekily asked Jonny (well, you don't ask, you don't get!) to pop another one in the bag for one of you lovely lot. We'd all like that beautifully flawless foundation finish without looking like we've caked it on with a trowel, after all eh.

That's right, we'll test the product together. I'll do a review post on here and I'll put yours alongside mine. It's only fair we get more than one person's opinion, for a doubly honest, trustworthy review.

So, who fancies the challenge? Just leave me a comment below telling me why you'd like to try the foundation and I'll select a blogger at the end of the day.

Simples : )