Samantha

A fifteen year old high school sophomore with a sarcastic attitude and an interesting outlook on life. An aspiring film director and Florida native, currently attending a boarding school in New York and trying to keep whatever sense of sanity she has left. Learn more...

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Review: Mascara Tears

http://mascaratears.co.cc/

First Impression

Beautiful! That's seriously the first thing that comes to mind. A little on the plain side, but it's got a simple, elegant charm about it that makes it instantly appealing. It's unusual to see the website name on the left instead of front and center. I like it, it's refreshingly nice.

The name's cute. It's easy to remember and that's pretty much all you can ask for in a website name. In terms of simplicity, I think it might have been a little overdone. With the simplicity that is. I personally like a huge BANG "wow that's awesome" feeling when I first stumble upon a website. While your homepage is very nice, I didn't have that feeling.

What I like: The name. It's an easy on the eyes, comfortable and relaxing design. You make it work.
What I don't like: While simplicity is good, it may be too simple. It does look nice, but it lacks a major wow factor.

Layout/Coding

Header: It's simple, but sort of understated. The website name gets lost. You want your visitors to be able to remember what website it is they're staring at, don't you? It's easy to forget when the name isn't very noticable. There's a lof of white space left on the page, perhaps too much. Perhaps a little more of that floral would have helped liven up the page, to take the focus off the white. I do like the simplicity of it though, do not get me wrong. But it just might be too simple.

Colors: I love them a lot. They're soft, very easy on the eyes. They work, fantastic job.

Layout Style: Very clean cut, easy to read. I like the three information boxes above the content and sidebar. On the sidebar though I don't think there needs to be that much space between the title/header (ex. Affiliates) and the content under it. It looks a little overspaced there. Other than that, I really like it.

Content

Homepage: I really love your blog. I do notice that the post information above the actual blog text is extremely small. I understand it isn't seen as important compared to the actual blog, but it is far too small. I have extremely great eyesight yet have trouble reading it.

Also, the empty space to the right of the blog image/avatar is unnecessary. Other than that the blog posts themselves are very entertaining. It's good that you incorperate images into them, that catches attention plus helps the reader better understand what you're trying to convey.

Owner: There's a really unique set-up to this section, I like it. It offers a lot of information in a very organized way. Looking around the first page, I am slightly confused as to what I'm looking at. The quote is pretty out of place (although I personally love that song) and should be in quotes.

Your "fun-facts" and "basics" seem to be very confusable. And your "fun-facts" are very jumbled. There are so many... Perhaps just have a large "Biography" section and get it all over with in a slightly more organized way?

As for "music," I'm in love with your taste! It's also great that you offer a link to the artists website, that makes it very easy for visitors to expirience your music as well. And the fact that they're "listed in alphabetical order" makes it even better! It's obvious you put a lot of time into that page, it really shows.

Your "Photoblog" goes to a page that seems completely out of the section. The links are no longger at the top of the page connecting it with "Aileen," "Fun-Facts," and "Music" and that can get really confusing. I looked through your pictures though, and really like them. This section is great because it litterally allows visitors an inside look on your life.

Website: How you aquirred your website name is really cool. It seems out of place at the top of the "About" page though, I would label that small little part of the page "Why MascaraTears?" or "Name history." I know I'm not creative, whatever, you get the idea.

You have an affiliate apply page, but I noticed it isn't linked under the affiliates in the sidebar? It might make it harder for potential affiliates to apply, some simply don't know where to look other than the obvious place (below or near where the affiliates are listed in the sidebar).

I really like your "ask me" page, it's a great idea to have one of those. Other than that I have nothing else to add for this section.

Visitor:I found your "Website Tips" article very informative, I only skimmed through, but I will definitely be coming back to read the rest later when I have more time.

Your interactive contests are a great way to get involved and look like a lot of fun. I'm considering taking part in that blend contest.

Looking at your "coded layouts" I see you used celebrity images. I never recommend doing that due to the copyright issues out there, especially giving out the images for others to use as well. I know you don't need me to rant to you about all the copyright laws though. Anyway, the layout is gorgeous, celebrity image or not.
Same with the icons. Celebrity images, cringe. You have that entire photoblog section! Why not use some of those pictures for your next batch of icons. It could be a hit. You do have some major skill with icons though, they're all very beautiful.

I like the brushes and would like to see you add some more, they're very nice. As for the icon bases...I don't have to say it, you do have a good selection to choose from though and that's impressive. I really like the icon textures, they're very well created and nicely organized, awesome job.

The bullets are nice, but a bit of a bare selection. I have the same low-bullet-stock myself so I can't say much. The favicons are lovely. Not much more for this section.

Tutorials: For your first tutorial listed, "Customising Bullet Points," there's a typo in the first sentence. You said "every" and it should be:

Ever wondered how some people get their lists to have really cool custom bullet points?

You have a wonderful and easy tutorial format. I cannot stress how useful that is. On the menu, it's great how you list the icon tutorials through tumbnail images. I suggest doing the same with the "Colouring" tutorials in the menu. Maybe have a small before and after image as the link, rather than "Blue and Pink Glow" and "Brighter Day" because that doesn't offer much of a description.

Again, for your coloring tutorials, I find it safer to use a picture I took or one of myself over a celebrity image. But I'm just going to stop lecturing you about that. Your image use throughout these tutorials is impressive. It really shows the transition of the image from start to finish.

I looked through the rest of your tutorials and found them very unique and original. It's great that they arn't the same basic things you can find at any other resource website. You really have a fantastic selection. Keep it up!

Reviews: Again, the same organization as the "owner" section. That's good. Consistency. I note that this one seems a bit easier to navigate through for some reason. It's really cute that you have the rating in fish, rather than numbers or stars. Points for originality.

On the "Queue" and "Completed" pages there seems to be a very large gap betwen the chart details and the information.

I also noticed there wasn't a rubric page, which is usually found as helpful in determining whether visitors want to apply for a review or not. It's optional though, you may be just fine without it. Simply a suggestion.

Originality

I personally think your website is very original. Starting with the layout which is pretty one-of-a-kind, down to the tutorials. Everything seems to be there simply because you want it to be, not because it's on every other website you've seen. That's a very admirable thing. Keep it up, and you'll have a steady stream of visitors as long as Mascara Tears stays up and running.

Overall Thoughts

This was are really boring website to review. Not because the website is boring, oh, no. Not in the least. But because, honestly, there was barely anything I could find that needs to be improved! It's seriously got it's stuff together. I'm in love with this website.

Things that could change: The use of celebrity images...but really it's only a mere suggestion. Small spacing errors. Too much white and the website name being sort of hard to notice.

Things I would Keep: Your generally fantastic website! The unique tutorials, great visitor content, photblog, and very enjoyable written blogs.

I have nothing else to say, I think I covered it all. This is an awesome website, keep up the fantastic work!