I warn you now dear readers, this post is going to be a long one so grab a cup of tea and settle down to hear all about the makeup goodness that is the
Dainty Doll range.
I'm sure many of you have heard of the range, created by Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts, for us ladies of the fairer race. After years of conforming to the uber tan pop star way, Nicola finally had enough, embraced her natural skin and hair colour and brought out a makeup range for those with similar colouring. I've wanted to try out some of the range for quite some time but I honestly just keep forgetting to hunt some down, standard Aisling behaviour, but when they kindly offered to send me some pieces, I jumped at the chance to try the range.
The first thing that struck me with this, I didn't need the palest shade! Completely shocking for me as I usually find that I need the palest shade for most high street brands, and generally these are even a bit too dark/orange for me. So to need a medium shade is quite amusing to me!
I found that the foundation provided a lovely buildable coverage, covering my blemishes whilst not being too heavy on my dry skin. I applied it with my Real Techniques stippling brush and it went on like a dream. I also find that it is really good at lasting through the day without caking around my dry patches, but as always I used my MAC Fix+ after application.
Honestly, I was a bit sceptical before trying this as I am a hardcore Make Up Forever HD foundation lover but I was really impressed with the flawless finish, and this has now earned a firm place in my makeup rotation!
Dark?! Me? I love this range...
Again, I was thoroughly impressed with the results of this concealer. As you can see from the before and after photos above, my dark circles are dramatically improved by this. I find being so pale, that sometimes my skin is a bit see-through and I struggle to find a concealer that will make my dark/purple circles disappear. This concealer did this and seems to be the perfect tone to really battle my unfortunate natural look, hallelujah!
Now, I do tend to avoid brown mascara, even though apparently it's the best colour to use for someone of my colouring. Just call me a rebel, I tend to go for a classic black. But all in the name of research, I gave it a crack, and guys, I was genuinely impressed. I think because it is a very dark brown that it won me over, as I had horror images of a murky brown mascara, and oh no that would not do! I think I may tend to stick to this for my day time looks now as it is a lot softer than my normal black. I particularly liked the eyeliner part, as I am going through a phase of loving my liquid eyeliner. It is a nice thin brush, and I found it really easy to apply, even if I am somewhat of a pleb when it comes to applying eyeliner equally... It also lasted through the day, even on the sides, which is rare for me as my eyes can get quite teary/watery in wind or sun (weirdo I know!) so I was pleased to see that it held up against that.
I also liked the brush on the mascara, I prefer a thinner brush so this is exactly up my street. I think it's a very personal thing when it comes to mascara brushes, I know some girls prefer the big fat brushes but I think my small little eyes have always preferred the smaller and more precise brush on this. So if you've been looking for a small brushed dark brown mascara, I would definitely recommend this!
I was intrigued/scared when I first opened this little gem. I did think it would be bit too red to be putting on my face but again, in the name of research, I gave it a whirl. I used it quite lightly on the outside corner of my eye (see picture above) and it definitely came out as a very wearable colour. I think next time I will definitely be a bit braver and put more on, but you know baby steps and all that! I think this is a lovely colour but when applying to pale skin I would be careful as I think too much might start to resemble a black/bruised eye, and nobody wants that!
Hello my new love! I think you guys know how much I love a good lipstick, and I was very excited when I saw this in the bullet! Although red lipsticks can be scary territory for a ginger lass, I think this is the perfect dark red. The formula is very smooth and moisturising, whilst being very long lasting. I've yet to buy a lipliner (I keep forgetting...) but I found that this was absolutely fine without it and I didn't get any colour bleeding around the edges.
This is by far my favourite product of the lot, but then again I am a massive lipstick fan, so if you were going to buy any of these products I would highly recommend this colour! And hey, you definitely don't need to be uber pale to pull of this colour!
Finally I thought I'd just show you the full look I created using the Dainty Doll products, obviously I had to use my own eyebrow shadow and blush but all of the products mentioned in this post were used. I was thoroughly impressed with all of the products, especially the concealer and the lipstick so if you're a pale lady like me, I recommend you giving this range a try!
♥
Disclaimer: These products were provided free for review, but as always I am 100% honest and highly opinionated!
