Lashes 8 - Benefit Bad Gal Lash

Today's mascara 'before & after' is Benefit's Bad Gal lash. I think I received this sample-sized mascara as a gift-with-purchase somewhere along the line. It is another one that I don't wear very often as I have others that I prefer, one off them being Benefit's They're Real. This mascara is very black and volumising but I've found that it isn't quite as good at lengthening and separating as some others. It looks a little clumpy in my photos but that might be fixed by wiping off the mascara brush before applying.

Benefit Bad gal lash mascara - before and after.

 Below is my 'table' of the first five mascaras compared again. I haven't added the Benefit Bad Gal lash, ModelCo Fibre Lash or this L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes yet but I've put the pictures from their posts here as well. As mentioned before, I plan to do a 'Part 2' of the table at the end of all the 'before & afters'.

Score chart currently goes something like this -

First Place -  ModelCo Fibre Lash Brush on False Lashes
Second Place - Maybelline One by One Volum' Express Satin Black
Third Place - Benefit They're Real!
Fourth Place -  L'Oréal's Volume Million Lashes in Extra Black
Fifth Place - Revlon Grow Luscious by Fabulash because it actually looks quite nice in the pictures.
Sixth Place - Maybelline's XXL PRO Extensions. 
Seventh Place - Benefit Bad Gal lash.
Eighth Place - Maybelline's The Falsies Volum' Express

Ranch Dressing with Eartha Kitsch: Catalog Mania

Photo from Eartha Kitsch's blog.

Fun link to a great blog. I wish we had catalogues like this in Australia!

Ranch Dressing with Eartha Kitsch: Catalog Mania

So...do you come here often? Can I buy you a drink?

Well, it's a bit hard for me to buy you a drink over the inter webs but I do feel like it's probably my turn to shout a few rounds. Looking back through our list of posts I realised it's been over a month since I last blogged which surprised me a little - thank goodness for Georgia who has been keeping things alive around here! When we started Four Letter Birds it was with the proviso that it was going to be a "no-guilt, no-stress, just for fun" project, and I think that we've stuck to that pretty well. Plus, I'm not a fan of daily blogging just for the sake of it - it's boring for us, and it's boring for you lovely people who come by and read the blog. BUT, I have missed you! Let's catch up.

What's been going on for the last few weeks? Well...not much, to be honest. This and that. I've had a few crazy situations at work appear out of left field, most of which resolved themselves delightfully with very little effort from me, thank goodness. I have also been trying some new avenues in regards taking care of my health - which is all a bit zzzz, frankly. Does anyone here do the raw food thing? I'd be interested to hear what you think and how much success you've had with it, but that's probably another post for another time. 

One thing I DID do during the last few weeks was finally chop all my hair off, which is pretty exciting. It was definitely a bucket list thing for me, and no regrets. I don't really have any decent photos and I'm absolutely terrible at taking iPhone self portraits, so just imagine...I used to have long blonde hair and now I have shorter blonder hair. I'd appreciate it if you would think Michelle Williams, and not Miley Cyrus. Here is a photo my hairdresser took - I made it black and white to try and hide the fact that I'm not wearing makeup...apologies for the dark circles under my eyes!

My other activities have included hanging out in the sunshine when possible, watching Season 4 of Friday Night Lights in one huge DVD binge over a few days (FNL is up there with Buffy as one of my all-time favourite shows, please watch it, you won't regret it), and putting a medium sized scrape on my car courtesy of one of those concrete pile-on thingies in the Broadway Shopping Centre parking lot. It was worth it - The Bourne Legacy was awesome. Jeremy Renner, I accept you as a worthy Bourne replacement. 

Happy Spring everyone! Are we all making plans for summer yet? I can't stop googling holiday deals for the Whitsundays...or maybe Port Douglas? A trip to somewhere warm, with a pool, a beach and a couple of cocktails is in order, I believe.

20 Days to Organise and Clean - Update.

The colds and flu are mostly gone from our house for now (touch wood) so it is catch-up time.

You might remember a few weeks ago I blogged about taking part in The Organised Housewife's 20 Days to Organise and Clean Your Home Challenge. 

Week 1 went quite excellently! I hadn't seen our kitchen, laundry and living areas so sparkly clean for a long time. Unfortunately for the cleaning (but fortunately for the bank account) I had some work come in with a deadline that had to be met so instead of cleaning when the toddler slept I had to work... until now! That work project is done and dusted and I can get back to the actual dusting. Here are some (not particularly good) photos with a bit of before & after action.

Kitchen - before and after.

Laundry - (partial) before & after.

 

Neither the kitchen nor the laundry look this tidy a week or two later though but they are still a lot better than they were. It is true that it is much easier to keep a clean and tidy house if you start off with a clean and tidy house. 

Today I jumped ahead to the current challenge - tidying the outdoor patio area. I wonder how The Organised Housewife knew we were going to be having such lovely weather today? ;) I've swept, cleaned windows, moved outdoor furniture around and enjoyed the spring sunshine. Now I have to get back to the yuckier jobs like cleaning out the 'junk' drawer. In our house it is common to hear the question - 'Where's the sticky tape?' followed by the answer - 'Check the third drawer down.' It's a bit of a catch-all at the moment and I'm not looking forward to sorting that one out.

If you want to see how other people are going with their 20 day clean up then check out the weekly link-up at The Organised Housewife's blog. Some people are doing really well!

Still here but we've been a bit busy.

Sorry to anyone out there who has been wondering where we have gone. Work deadlines, colds and flu and general life have gotten in the way of blogging for the last few weeks. We haven't forgotten the blog and will hopefully be firing on all cylinders again soon.

I'm working on the final few mascara reviews and a report on how I've been going with The Organised Housewife's 20 Days to Organise and Clean Your Home. (I'm falling a bit behind with that project at the moment too but I did start off pretty well.) I'm sure Caroline has some bits and pieces up her blogging sleeves too.

Stay tuned. :)

A touch of Degrassi?

A bit of Degrassi by georgialt featuring leather belts

Treasure Hunting.

I love a trip to a St Vinnies or a trash 'n' treasure sale . I don't do a lot of op-shopping (thrifting) at the moment but here are a couple of recent treasures I have purchased. Not exactly thrifted... more from the Mitchell Road Antique's Centre in Alexandria... but anyway...

The desk organiser matches an orange one I have from my childhood. I never had the Fashion Plates as a kid but always envied the friends who did.