Clinique Limited Edition High Impact Mascara

I was recently sent a few products to try from the Clinique Black Honey fall collection, and among them was the brands new, limited edition High Impact Mascara.

Clinique High Impact Mascara

Now, I've not tried the original High Impact mascara, but as far as I can tell from the Clinique site, the new version is the same as the original but is packaged in a silver tube instead of the usual black. 

Here's what Clinique say about High Impact:

 Packaged in sleek Limited Edition silver packaging, this instant gratification mascara delivers intense, glamorous, dressed-up lashes in a flash.  Women crave long, thick, lashes and that's exactly what Clinique's multi-benefit High Impact Mascara delivers - dramatic volume and length, fast!

Clinique High Impact

If you've read any of my other mascara related posts, you may have noticed me mention that I'm quite picky about them. I tend to go for mascaras which add volume, but still look and feel quite natural. I'm not really a fan of over the top, dramatic lashes (on me) and I don't like 'wet' formulas, which I find to be quite messy and difficult to apply. The brush is important for me too. A few that I've tried recently have had quite large brushes, which I find also makes application on my small ish eyes a little bit tricky.

Clinique's High Impact brush is small enough for me to to able to apply product evenly and allows me to get into the tricky areas without making a mess. It's a soft, fairly dense, bristle type brush which pulls through lashes easily and coats and defines well.

Clinique High Impact Brush

The actual formula also applies well. It separates nicely, adds a decent amount of length and thickens without looking clumpy. I've attempted a couple of before and afters below to show you the results. The photos show what lashes look like after using one coat of High Impact, I've found the mascara builds well too though, if you're going for a more dramatic result.

Top: Without Mascara & Bottom with High Impact

  

High Impact adds quite a lot of length to my short lashes, but it also adds a nice amount of volume and darkens well too. One of the things I really do like about the formula, is that it doesn't leave my lashes feeling stiff or heavy. They're still soft and feel nice and light and natural. I've found the formula also wears excellently. I've had no problems at all with smearing, smudging or flaking and it actually holds a curl nicely as well.

As Above

Overall, I'm really quite impressed with High Impact. It's easy to apply, does what it promises to do, holds up well, and is fairly easy to remove. I'm pleased with the thickening and lengthening results I get from it and I really like the soft, perfectly sized brush, which allows me to apply product precisely and without making a mess. 

The Limited Edition High Impact Mascara is available now and costs £15.00 for a 7ml tube. 

PR Sample

Have you tried Clinique's High Impact? What do you think of it?

Clinique Black Honey Lipgloss/Lipstick Duo

Black Honey Lipstick and Lip gloss duo is one of the limited edition products from Clinique's 2011 Fall collection, which consists of berry and violet shades inspired by the cult favourite lip colour.

The dual ended lip product contains two different versions of the iconic shade, an almost lipstick and a long last glosswear. 

Clinique Black Honey Lipgloss/Lipstick Duo

The lipstick looks a little bit scary in the tube, but the dark brown/eggplant becomes more of a subtle, sheer, berry shade once it's applied. On my lips, it just adds a hint of colour which enhances my natural lip tone. The Almost Lipstick formula feels soft, light weight and balm like, perfect for those who don't like the feel or texture of lipstick or gloss. I've found lasting power to be pretty good and I find the formula to be quite hydrating too. It wears well and leaves my lips feeling comfortable.

Clinique Black Honey Lipstick

The complementary gloss shade is slightly more pigmented than the lipstick, but is still sheer and leaves lips with a pretty, glossy version of the berry shade. It almost looks like a shiny stain and creates a "just-bitten" look. The formula is quite thick and feels a little bit tacky on lips, but it's comfortable and fairly long lasting for a gloss. Applied over the Almost Lipstick version, it enhances the intensity slightly and creates a slighter deeper, glossy version of the berry shade.

Clinique Black Honey Gloss

Below are swatches of the two products. The lipstick is on the left and the gloss on the right.

Clnique Black Honey Duo

And here's what the products look like applied. Just the lipstick in the first photo and both the lipstick and gloss in the second.

Clinique Black Honey Lipstick

Clinique Black Honey Gloss

I must have been about sixteen or seventeen when I first tried Clnique's Black Honey and at the time, the shade didn't really wow me. I was more of a fan of soft, pinky nudes, and Black Honey was a little bit too dark for my taste. After giving the colour another go almost ten years later, I have to say, I've completely changed my mind. I'm not sure if Clinique have changed the colour slightly, or if I just remember the shade being darker than it actually is, but the berry shade works well at enhancing my natural lip colour and is perfect for days when I'm going for a 'no make up look' and want a subtle, barely there lip colour. 

Available now from the Clinique site, counters and department stores where it costs £17.50.

(PR Sample)