#irishbbloggersSS14 Big Reveal

 This is the second year that the wonderful Aisling from Total Makeup Addict has hosted the Irish Beauty Blogger Secret Santa and I have been very lucky to be part of both. Check out last years post here! 

This year my Secret Santa turned out to be the beautiful Nadine from The Parma Violet who I have had the pleasure of meeting this past year and has now become a great friend. She sent me a very cheery and Christmasy note with a little drawing of Christmas tree included. Here are the beautiful gifts she got me.

MUA makeup which I love, she got me the Hall of Fame eyeshadow palette which include the top 12 eyeshadows from the MUA range. It includes some beautiful nudes as well as a few dark shadows to bring you easily in to a night time look. She also got me MUA LUXE Velvet Lip Lacquer in the shade Reckless, it reminds me of my Lime Crime Red Velveteen I will be wearing this all over the festive period.

 She also got me Superdrug Tropical Peel-Off Mask which I was so tempted to use last night and then I remembered I had to take photos so its still in tack but I will be using it when I have my pamper bath on Christmas Eve. She also got me two festive Barry M polishes one in number 144 and other in 143 the both have glitter flecks with stars both will look great over a Christmas manicure.

She also got me some silver earrings from Penneys/Primark, I always lose earrings so extra ones are always great and these will go with any outfit.

She sent me this Ted baker set a body wash, body lotion and body scrub. All smell beautiful and will be part of my pampering bath routine.

I loved all my gifts from Nadine and could not be more happier. I love been apart of the Irish blogging community and Secret Santa and hope that Aisling continues it for years to come.

Check out all the other reveals today over on Twitter

#SBBC Day 7: Makeup Look

This look was inspired by an MUA I found on Instagram a few days ago Danielle Roberts MUA, she does some really amazing eye looks and if any fellow MUA need some inspirations this is certainly the page to look at.

The Look

Base

Foundation: MAC Face and Body C3

Powder: Fit Me Powder 125

Concealer: Dermacolor Camoflage Fair Palette

Contour: MUA Bronzer Shade 3

Blusher: 10 Pan Blusher Palette

Highlight: MAC Vanilla Pigment

The Eyes

Eyebrows: Inglot Duraline and Inglot Matte Brown from my 10 Pan Palette

Eyeliner: Black: Inglot Gel Liner 71 White: Inglot Gel Liner 72

Eyeshadow: Lid: Sleek Pigment in Eternal Flame

Crease: Bonze from 120 palette

Black: Inglot Matte Black from my 10 pan palette

Highlight: MUA White Eyeliner Pencil

Mascara: Pur Cosmetics Big Blink Mascara

Lips

Clear Gloss

#SBBC Day 3: Makeup Travel Essentials

Honestly when I go travelling I tend to bring everything but I usually go travelling for a good few weeks /months rather then short periods of time. So I had to sit down and have a think about this topic. I had to scale back and just think of the necessities and stuff that would easily pack away in a small suitcase.

Firstly I decided on brushes, easy part I know, I only have one face so I knew I would not need that many. I decided on my Real Techniques expert face brush for my foundation and maybe cream blush, my Real Techniques Powder Brush, and  Royal and Langnickel Angled Blush Brush.

For eyes I choose my Crown  badger hair IB119 Deluxe Crease Brush, my larger Crown blending brush that I got at Imats which can be seen here in my Imats Haul.

Another Crown Brush I would bring along is my C158 Angle Liner/ Spoolie brush. By bringing this brush I can use it for not only my gel liner but with a bit of spot cleaning can also be used for eyebrows as well.

Last but not least I would bring a lip brush for application of my Lime Crime Red Velveteen.

For Face I would bring my MAC N2 Face and Body and also for night time application I would mix in some Revlon Color Stay in 110 Ivory for a full coverage. 

I would bring two concealers my MUA Cosmetics Cover and Conceal for under the eye in fair and Collection 16hr concealer in fair 1 for blemish covering.

Fit Me face powder in 125.

For contouring MUA bronzer in shade 3.

10 pan Blush Pan that I bought from Crown but can be bought elsewhere check out my blog post on it here.

For eyes I would bring my Urban Decay Basic Palette for basic eyes during the day and can be easily  changed into a smokey eye on the night. 

Also I would bring my 10 pan Inglot Eyeshadow palette so I have some colours to play around with.

Gel liner I would bring my favourite Inglot in 71.

For Mascara it would have to be Pur Cosmetics Big Blink Mascara.

For Lips I would bring just 3 colors a red, nude and dark purple also I popped my MUA cream blush in the bag as I can use it as a lip and cheek colour.

For moisturiser I choose my small size Kiehl's Skin Rescuer which can be easily packed away in my travel bag.

Also packed my Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm for my makeup removing and daily cleanse.  Its quick and easy to use and last thing you want while away is to spend ages before bed taking off makeup so this is great.

Faces of December/ Christmas/New Years

Another faces post, I rather like doing these more then face of the day post so I will probably do these monthly from now on. As some of you might not know I work in a nightclub and a little requirement is to dress to impress or as my manager puts it "Sex Sells". Some of you my find that derogatory but the fact is I adore my job and getting to play around with looks that I may only get to wear when I am heading out with the girlos is soo much fun! And frankly all I do is serve drinks and throw a few bottles around!

New year I said I needed to start experimenting more with colors and start wearing blue which is a color I can not stand for some reason and try veer away from my normal smokey eye look. Slowly but surely I am getting there and I am even wearing out the blue in public.

So here is the looks any questions just leave them in the comments box or requests for tutorials!

A grey/silver smokey eye and Sleek pout paint lips in Pin Up

I'm back wearing strip lashes the bigger the better!

Glitter Glitter!

A rare night out and not a smokey eye in sight! Golden Eye

Date night look just a tad bit of a smokey eye and some mega long individual lashes!

Blue and Purple !

All blue!

The Old Favorite

Rocking my new lashes from metamorphosis-lashes

A Little Something For Halloween! Black Widow Inspired!

This is a very quick and simple look I did the other day while I was playing with some makeup, its not perfect some of the details need tiding up but taught it was worth showing if some of you still need ideas for this All Hallows Eve!

Everything I used will be in your makeup bag already so no need to head out and buy new makeup and anything you may not have i.e purple lipstick just improvise with a different color, a red lip will look good here also.

Products used:

Face: Elf Flawless Finish Foundation in Porcelain

Essence Fix and Matte Powder in Translucent 

Contour: MUA Pressed Powder in Shade 4

Highlight: MAC Pigment in Vanilla

Eyes: Sleek pigment in Livid Lilac (light purple)

Sleek Pigment in Fantasy

Inglot Black Gel liner( also used for web and spider)

Lashes from Ebay

Lips:Liner MUA Eyeliner Pencil in Black

Inglot Lipstick in  Shade 282

Essence Clear Gloss

Hope your all having a great weekend!

OOTD- Wind Blown

Last week I was announcing the Irish summer on the blog as I said it lasts a week and then were back to crappy weather. Well its now snowing in parts of Ireland I know crazy rite? 

There was like gale force winds this morning so my very pretty doughnut bun got destroyed in the winds, so excuse the hair! Got a tripod for my new camera yesterday and I am still trying to figure it out hence the tilted pictures and still trying to figure out the camera hence the closed eyed pictures but I took a few and these showed the outfit best.

Top: Penneys

Grey string top(underneath): Forever21

High-waisted jeans: Vila

Scarf: Penneys

Sunglasses: Dunne Stores

Picked up this scarf for 1 euro during the week BARGAIN!

Another Bargain from Penneys got this at Christmas for 0.50cent

 This arrived on Monday I am so in love with it will hopefully have a haul up on Friday so I'll tell yous all about it then!

Face of the Day!

Mac Face and Body C1

Makeup Artelier Concealer Palette

MUA Pressed Powder Shade 4 (contour)

Rimmel Pressed Powder Clear Complexion in Transparent

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Eternal Gold

Inglot Gel Liner in 77

Avon Perfect Eyebrow Pencil in Blonde

Avon SuperExtend Extreme Mascara

17 Lip Pencil in Valentine

Maybelline Lipgloss in Freshly sliced

MUA Blusher in 2

If Heaven Was An Eyeshadow

It would be Inglots Eyeshadows! Since Inglot has hit Irish shores I have always really liked their products I have used a few their foundations and powders and eyeliners. So when it was time to write up my Christmas wish list Inglot vouchers were top of my list. Yesterday I went and did a pretty big makeup haul which I was going to blog about today but after using my new Inglot shadows on my photoshoot yesterday and on myself today I just have to rave about them first.

Inglots freedom system makes Inglot ten times better then any other counter. The fact that you can go in and pick all your colors by yourself or with help from one of the lovely Inglot girls is amazing! One of the items i picked up yesterday was the 10 square eyeshadow palette, it retails at €55 which is so reasonable I get pro discount so I got it for €44. You can also get it for €44 if your with meteor , they have a voucher for 20% off in the goodie bag deals, so if you are on meteor or you know someone who is it's a great voucher to print off!

Top row l-r: 348 matte, 433 pearl, 359 matte,378 matte
Bottom row l-r: 452 pearl,392 matte,15 shine,335 matte,318 matte

I got a mix of 7 mattes and 2 pearls and 1 shine. Theres no logic to why I picked these colors just they appealed to me. Yes there is one color missing which is a matte black that I have to go and pick up this week as they did not have it in stock yesterday.

:

l-r: 452 pearl,318 matte,359 matte,392 matte,378 matte,335 matte, 348 matte,15 shine, 433 pearl

 So they pros and cons of the palette

Pros:

1. You can pick your own colors out of 250 colors!
2. They are extremly pigmented so a little goes a long way.
3. They are super blendable!
4. They are soft to touch none feel chalky at all.
5. The palette is magnetic and holds the eyeshadows in place so theres no breakages!

Cons:

1. I do not have enough money to buy all of them!

Face Of The Day!

Yes I do have purple hair!

Primer: Loreal Studio Secrets

Foundation: Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24hr in 005 ( Blog post on this when I have used it a bit more first impressions are good though)

Concealer : Maybelline 24hr in 02

Powder: 57 AMC Presssed Powder Inglot

Blush: 52 AMC Blush Inglot

Contour: MUA Powder in Shade 4

Lipliner: 050 Tiramiso from Rimmel

Lipstick:130 Soft Coral from Catrice

Lipgloss: Bourjais 62 rose Gold

Brows: Inglot Brow Wax in 571 and light brown powder from my 120 palette

Eyes: Lid: 359 matte Inglot, 

Crease and under lower lash line: 452 pearl Inglot

Eyeliner: On lid and upper waterline Inglot 77  Gel liner, on lower waterline Inglot 76 gel liner

Highlight: M.A.C Vanilla Pigment
Mascara: Maybelline Falsies 

MUA Cosmetics Blushers

Have you entered the GIVEAWAY yet ? Subscribe through google friend connect to win! Check out how to gain more entries and terms and conditions here! I just added a second prize into the goodie bag!

L-R Shade 4,2,6

So back to MUA Cosmetics I got 3 of their blushers which again were only €1.25 each. I got shade 2,4,6, at first look their pretty small about the size of a small single eyeshadow. They contain only 2.5g of product which is pretty small as most of my other blushers are 10g-12g but their only €1.25 buy four of these and you have 10g of blushers and only for €5! At the moment they only have 5 colors but this brand are still growing and are constantly adding new products and colors.

L-R Shade 2,4,6

So what are they like, well in my opinion they're worth €1.25. Yes they're highly pigmented but unfortunately they are extremely hard to blend you need to be so careful applying them. You need to use as little product as possible because once you put it on your cheek it's literally stuck to the spot you placed it on! Blending is soo difficult and after a few minutes of blending I give up and apply foundation over it! This kind of helps takes down the color if you applied too much and helps a bit with blending.

Unfortunately I will not be repurchasing these , and only giving them 1/5 that's because of the price! These are not in the giveaway!

MUA Cosmetics Cheap! But Are They Cheerful?

I have had my eye on this brand since they came on the market. I was always kind of weary weather it was any good or was it just cheap tat aimed at young girls who could not afford to spend loads on higher end stuff. It was not until I started to follow their head makeup artist Karla Powell(check her out!) on Facebook and saw her create so many looks with products that retail at €1.25 that I started to consider maybe they have something to offer. I also saw a friend wearing a really nice red lipstick on a night out , she then proclaimed to tell me it cost her a euro and it was from MUA. I knew then I had to try it.

Before Christmas I went into Superdrug in Wexford with an aim to buying their 24 piece eyeshadow palettes that retail at €8, they did not have any in fact they had none of the big palettes something MUA needs to sort out. Discouraged I left with out buying anything, I decided to give them another go this week and picked up 3 lipsticks, 3 blushers and 2 powders which came to exactly €10. For a brand that is still growing they have a good selection of colors and products so I had a bit of a struggle picking colors but I got there in the end.

So here's the 3 lipsticks I got, I will do a post on the other products in the next few days just did not want this post to be too long.

Shade 7, Shade 2 and Shade 13

I got a pink, purple and red. Admittedly I did not want a pink as I have loads but they did not have an orange toned lipstick in the choice so I went with a pink. Firstly you notice you get as much product in these as you would in a €20 lipstick, they are also highly pigmented which I was very surprised by.

Shade 7, Shade 2 and Shade 13

I swatched them when I got home and then totally forgot to wipe it off 6 hours later getting ready for bed the swatches were still visible total shocker !! I have been wearing shade 2 for two hours now and it's still there. They go pretty matte on the lips but are not drying so defiantly another plus.

Shade 13 it is a red but very sheer and a bit too pink for my liking but its nice if you are just starting off wearing red lipsticks!

Shade 7, the pink I did not want but I actually really like how nude i it and gives your lips a nice wash of color

Shade 2, my favorite shade of all 3 its a purple berry tone, my fotd picture below does it much more justice but its a must have for the makeup bag in my opinion!

 So if your still a bit weary of buying MUA lipsticks do not be. For €1.25 these lipstick get a 5/5 from me!
If you do not have Superdrug near you can order online http://www.muastore.co.uk/

Face of the Day !!!

Trends for 2012!

So spring is almost upon us even tho it does not look like it, so I decided to do a post on makeup trends that braced us during the spring summer collections. The thing to remember with trends is that though they sometimes seem unwearable on the catwalk they can be tamed down to fit the everyday women.

1. Bright Eyes!!!
All the dark,plain tones are out and neon is in! Grab the brightest eyeshadow you have and slap it on and your in trend!! In truth not the easiest look to pull off nor is it the norm for most girls. So how can you wear it without getting a few funny looks, put down your black eyeliner and pick up a colored one in cobalt blue or fuscia pink, it will totally give your everyday look a bit of a twist.

2. Eye Catching Lips!
From bright eyes to bright lips you either choose one or the other, not together or you'll just look like you had an explosion of crayon on your face! With more and more cosmetics brands bringing out different color lipsticks its easier to get your hands on a dramatic color. I personally love Illamasque range but even MUA cosmetics have a great range of bright colors! There is also this "wine stained" lips that we saw at Gurung, its not for everyone but if you dare go for it!

3. Smoulder Your Way Into My Heart!
Irish girls will be so happy with this trend, known for their love of the smokey eye this is right along their alley. All you need is a black kohl pencil ( make sure its soft) to create this look, I personally love Inglot pencil, but M.A.C do great ones as well.

Team your metallic nails with your smoulder eyes!

4. Do Not Put Away The Metallic Just Yet!
Metallic is still in! Well in nail varnish anyway ! In A/W11/12 we saw an explosion on metallic nail varnish everywhere and it seems to be sticking around. You can get metallic nail varnish every where now even in Penneys so there is no need to miss out!

5. Make Me Shimmer!
Illuminators are all in , the dewy fresh look is the look for the summer mix it in with your foundation or just apply it to the cheekbones and you have it! You want to avoid something that has lots of glitter as its about been shimmery not glittery! High Beam for Benefit is good, they also do Bathina for the body if you want an all over shimmer.

There is some other trends out there but these are my faves and you do not need to be on trend in every trend pick one to suit you and make it your own! You can be on trend but still be yourself!