Essence sent me a few goodies a while back and I quite liked their new Effect eye shadows (R60, Spree.co.za and Clicks), available in five shades.

They remind me a of Clinique’s cream/liquid shadows but the texture’s slightly more ‘runny’ and are great if you want a simple ‘wash’ of colour on lazy, almost no make-up kind of days. When used with a primer, they lasted all day on my lids without any creasing which is pretty impressive, especially since I’m an oily-skinned girl.

Essence’s Soo Glow! cream to powder highlighter (R54, Spree.co.za and Clicks) is a goodie too. Cheap as chips as does as good a job of spotlighting as other products that cost triple the price.

Other news? Gillette Venus&Olay have launched a new variant of their popular five-blade razor with an Olay moisture bar, this time with a fruity-floral ‘Sugarberry’ fragrance. (To my nose, it’s a lot like strawberry.) I’ve been using the regular Gillette Venus&Olay razor for a while now so I was thrilled to be sent the new variant. It really does serve up a super smooth shave in record time.

Anyway, to celebrate the launch, Gillette’s teamed up with Cosmo to run a Win a trip to Mauritius competition. You’ll find all the finer deets over here but for the most part know that it involves snapping a ‘legsie’ (yep, that’s a thing now) and sharing it to twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the tag #VenusLegsie.

Another beauty competition on the go? POND’S are offering you the chance to see your face on a billboard for their new foaming face wash and scrub.

To enter, simply share your picture on twitter, POND’S Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtag #PONDSNOFILTER or upload it over here.

As for the facial foam/scrub, it promises to blitz blackheads thanks to pore-exfoliating salicylic acid and contains kaolin in a bid to minimise oil. They’ve also included a ‘brightening essence’ (pigmentation-inhibitiing niacinamide) but that ingredient will give you best results if it’s used in a product that remains on your face as opposed to gets washed off, something like POND’S Flawless Radiance Anti-Spot Intensive Even Tone serum. (God, they just looove their seriously long names, don’t they?)

Love, love

Leigh