If you're a pale girl like me you'll know how much of a nightmare it is shopping for cosmetics. I am ghostly white and even the lightest shades look orange on me.
So not a good look.
That's why I was delighted to discover
Dainty Doll. Dainty Doll is the brain child of Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud. The range was originally launched back in 2008 as a result of a TV show called 'The Passions of Girls Aloud'. I was excited about it back then but avoided it as I'd heard it went on like theatrical make-up.
Since then, the brand has had a image rehaul and many of the products relaunched to much better results.
I was lucky enough to win the
Dainty Doll Mascara & Eyeliner Duo in shade Shape Up Little Suzie and I'll be reviewing it today for you guys!
Please note although I won this item, I am reviewing this fairly. All opinions are my own.
The packing is pretty nice. The box features the Dainty Doll herself and the actual make-up duo is fairly unordinary. It looks smart and sleek, if anything.
The EyelinerThe shade I received, Shape Up Little Suzie, is a dark brown colour. With pale skin black can look too striking so I was pleased to receive this!
The brush itself is fairly small and one of the better eyeliner brushes I've had. As it's quite small it's quite easy to apply the eyeliner and correct any mistakes that you make. However, I did find that sometimes it was a little too small and the plastic upper part often hit my eyes which meant that I had to correct the eyeliner several times.
It was quite easy to apply and I was able to line my eyes with dual-wings easier than I had ever before. I was quite disappointed as it went on rather black without any hint of brown.
I placed a swatch of it on my arm and a swatch of Rimmel London's Glam Eyes for comparison and took a snap of them 45 minutes later.
I was really surprised to see how quickly Dainty Doll's eyeliner had faded in comparison to the bog-standard drug store eyeliner! I had even accidentally placed a thicker swatch after having some brush issues. Whilst applying the eyeliner I also found that I had to re-line the eye to ensure a thicker line; the formula is quite weak.
Overall, the eyeliner was quite a disappointment!
Pros:❥ The brush was perfect for accuracy when it came to this eyeliner. Little mistakes were easy to hide.
❥ The formula was quite quick drying. As I have hooded eyelids this was perfect for me!
Cons:❥ The formula was quite weak and the eyes needed relining. This means that a lot of product would be wasted fixing something that should've been right from the start.
❥ As great as the brush was, it was a little fiddly to use sometimes.
❥ Not quite as brown as it would lead you to believe.
Therefore I give the eyeliner:
♥♥ღღღ
The MascaraThe mascara is one of your bog-standard mascara brushes. There's nothing too remarkable to report about it to be honest!
I applied two coats before taking the 'after' photograph. After being so disappointed by the eyeliner, I was quite surprised at how well the mascara worked! It lengthened more than it built up volume. The mascara didn't clump whilst applying and application was rather smooth.
With a few more coats the lashes would have definitely been lengthened a lot more!
Pros:❥ Lengthens your lashes quite a lot and defines them!
❥ Suitable towear everyday depending on how many coats you use.
Cons:❥ When I first used it, the very first time, it did clump a little bit. Subsequent uses seem to have sorted that out completely though.
Therefore, I give the mascara:
♥♥♥♥ღ
OverallTaking into account both of the scores I rated these, I would give it a overall score of
♥♥♥ღღ
If I had bought this with my own money I would have definitely been disappointed with this; I'm so glad I won this in a competition.
Dainty Doll can be bought at Harrods, Boots and other good retailers. I believe even ASOS stocks it!
This combo set is sold for £17.50
Unneccesary picture of my face ftw.