Pür Minerals Starter Kit Review

* I received this starter kit from the Wizard PR event, honestly I was a bit apprehensive about it I was never really a fan of mineral cosmetics. I never thought that they gave me enough coverage or sat right on my skin, I am talking from low end mineral powders to high end, nothing ever did the job and quickly went back to my liquid foundation.

The 5 piece starter kit containers a compact foundation, a compact bronzer, a correcting primer, mascara and chisel brush. The foundation and bronzer are the size of eyeshadows and honestly I do not know how long they will last but when applying you do not use that much and literally no fall out.

The primer is pretty small with only 10mls but by god is this primer amazing. you instantly see it smoothing out pores and a little goes along way. The mascara is small but I have yet to try it. I have like 6 mascaras open at the moment and they only last 6 months, so I am refraining from opening another one.

 On first impressions the brush did not seem appealing to me, it just did not look luxurious. (Bit of magpie syndrome.) Looks can be deceiving and this brush does the business. Its sturdy, does not inhale the product and blends super easy. It is not too big and easily controlled with its palm length handle.

Aghh me mug with all my flaws present!

Now for the foundation, as I said I was not optimistic, as you can see from the extra large picture of my face I suffer from redness around my nose and chin. I have slight dark circles( this was a Friday night I was well rested from few days off work. A few spots and not visible but I have broken capillaries on my cheeks.

Flaws begone!

In shock so was I! This is literally just the powder, I did two full face applications, I can get away with one application during the day but for work max coverage is best coverage. With this little powder I do not even need concealer or powder. It literally takes two processes out of my makeup application and saving on all the blending that is involved in foundation and concealer application saves me about 15 minutes.

Full face of makeup mug shot!

Excuse my big Heineken fleecy. TA DA check out my flawless face, I joke, but golly gosh what a difference makeup can make. I applied the bronzer as a contour around the outside of my face and along my nose. Otherwise I just applied a bit of blush, my eyebrows and my eye makeup.

Longevity it stays put pretty well this is a picture at around 6 in the morn so about 10 hours after application. Not as glamorous as my other pic and my redness around my nose is becoming visible, but this is after a long shift in work, been sprayed with alcohol countless times and maybe sweating a little. I know us women do not sweat but during work I am one of the boys and these things happen.

All in all I am ecstatic with this kit, I was so surprised with the results that when I do run out I will be highly thinking of repurchasing. Which is pretty big as I have no repurchased a foundation in about 6 years.

Pür Minerals Starter Kit retails at £39.50 on the English Marks and Spencer website no word yet on the Irish website on how much it will be but they do have the rest of the Pür Minerals range and the foundation compact retails at  33 euro for 8g of products. A bit steep but the results are amazing.

 * Pr sample but as always opinions are my own

We Only Get Summer For A Week But Your Skin Is For Life! Stay Safe In The Sun

Us Irish long for the sun to come it makes everything better and we can not wait to bare the flesh. We spend €€€ each year on fake tan , sunbeds etc that any chance to get a bit of colour for free, we lap it up. We have this perception that Irish sun is weaker then the sun in hotter climates*

We tend to only break out the sunscreen when we get a scolding from the mother or our bodies have been burned to a crisp that you vow never to do it again and the sun cream is your new best friend. But us Irish tend to forget, mainly due to our one week summers and even when we do not a majority of us are not even applying it right.

My Skin and The Sun

I have been on many holidays in my life, I have even lived abroad but there is two holidays that have made me cherish my skin more then anything.

First off was when I went on 3 day hen weekend to Benidorm in Spain. I was 16 and naive, getting a tan in the shortest time possible was the goal. On our second day me and my auntie headed to the beach after a late night the night before it was not too long before we snoozed off and no sun cream  was never reapplied. 

I went out that night with a half a body red and half a body white literally, I was very hot and uncomfortable and in pain but I partied on. Till the next day I woke with the shakes, been violently ill and in dire need of water this continued on for 12 hours. 

Even when I arrived home the torture was not over, while sunbathing not only had I burnt my arms back and legs I had burnt the soles of my feet. A few days home my soles did not peel the skin literally came off in one go and walking was excruciating for days.

Rash is visible on arms

Fast forward four years and I went on my next holiday, I was much more sun conscious  and my sister was working as a sun care rep at the time so I had the best in sun cream and religiously applied it. It did not matter my skin had literally became allergic to the heat. I had extreme prickly heat( as us Irish call it) and my whole body came out with a rash. Not only that but I was extremely tired throughout the whole holiday and spent most of the days asleep my room.

Over next two years I tended to avoid the sun. I worked full time anyway for most of the time that I missed the sunny days. Factor 50 became my new best friend worn every day under my makeup and my skin went a nice shade of ghostly white. It did not bother me one bit fake tan is always there when I need a bit of bronzing up.

So last year when it came to moving to Portugal I was in a bit of a panic, I feared the rash would come back and ruin all my fun in the sun. But I was sensible I paced myself in the sun for first two weeks spending more time in shade constantly topping up with sunscreen and even though I was there for six months I never went below a 20 SPF. I never spent hours lying in the sun nor did I ever leave the house with out sunscreen even when I was going to work at 5pm. I never got sun burnt, but I did have a beautiful brown tan and my skin was safe.

I had learnt my lesson, well until I fell back into the Irish forgetfulness routine and with working nights I had become a vampire that never saw the sun. With working in the bar and pictures been constantly taken my appearance is important and flash back is a no no! My factor 50 got left on the shelf and forgotten about.

Last weekend the summer came to Ireland, after work Friday night we decided to carry on partying and went to a friends for a garden BBQ. Alcohol and sheer forgetfulness I sat in the sun unprotected for hours. Literally thought nothing of it till I went back to work that evening, the redness came first and then the undying thirst. Shaking was unbearable and made doing my job very difficult. Then the vomiting.... I ended up in bed all of Sunday and half of Monday. By Tuesday I was still not a 100% nearly collapsed in town waiting on a friend. My sleep is all over the place and my whole body is dehydrated.

The burns well the photos says it all and these photos were taken 5 days after initial sunburns and countless amounts of aloe vera cream.

Now I back to sun conscious factor 50 all the way, never going to leave my bag. Not only am I sensitive to the sun but I have nearly 300 moles/beauty spots and the risk of skin cancer if not properly cared for is extremely high for me.

Choose a high factor with UVA protection, us Irish are not used to the sun and just because it is not as hot as Spain does not mean you need to wear a lower factor.
Protect yourself in whatever the weather, over exposure to UVA can lead to premature ageing and skin cancer. Just because its dull does not mean your safe.
Reapply, reapply, reapply. Any contact with water, even sweating can remove your sunscreen. Apply a good fifteen minutes before venturing out into the sun and reapply every 30-40 minutes.

*1 in 4 people believe 25 degrees in Ireland is not as hot as 25 degrees in Spain. Source: http://www.sossaveourskin.ie/sos_facts.asp

Wizard PR event. In a Caravan!

Ok it was not all in a Caravan that would have made it a little bit squished. The other week I popped along to the Wizard Pr event in The Morgan Hotel. The event was to introduce us to some of the amazing brands that Wizard Pr advertise and that were new to our Irish Shores. 

Can I first off say the Wizard Girls did an amazing job even though they had just arrived after their flight been delayed the room looked great and so did they. They gave us some really informative information on each brand where abouts we can get them in Ireland.

I took a few snaps on my phone while I was there of some of the brands

Diego Dalla Palma an Italian Makeup Brand available in Marks and Spencer. Really excited about this brand  expect some reviews soon.

GlamGlow, I have been dying to try this after I saw it on Glitter mama wishes' Blog. Its been used for years in Hollywood on film sets and so on to give celebs beautiful glowing skin and now its here in Ireland. Be prepared Irish Ladies for sexy skin!

 

Cargo Cosmetics is the brand I am most excited about. They have everything you need in makeup, foundations, blushes eyeshadows, lippys and multi-use products. The packaging is to die for and girls check out the foundation packaging. Remind you of a certain childhood juice cartoon! I can not wait to review these for you.

These were all the photos I took but other brands at the event was Xen-Tan, Orla Kiely, Dr.Ceuticals, Filorga, Novexpert, Pur Cosmetics, Una Brennan, Freeze 24.7

 The view from The Morgan Hotel Penthouse. Oh if only Dublin was sunny!

Studding it up! DIY Studs

Getting a bit creative lately and picked up a bag of 100 silver studs on Ebay for 1 euro!! They did take 5 weeks to arrive but the buyer refunded me my money because they took so long and once they arrived I just repaid her. I was heading to a PR event yesterday at the gorgeous Morgan Hotel in Temple Bar, and felt that  my boots just needed a bit of doing up.

My boots are two years old and are on their way out, can not really complain I bought them in the children's section in Penneys/Primark for 14 euro. Bit of a bargain if I say so myself. So quickly before I popped out the door I quickly threw a few studs into the boots.

Not the straightest of studding but the great thing is the studs are easily removed and placed again. I am now thinking of what else to stud in my wardrobe.

Ebay Seller: http://stores.ebay.ie/dresslink

Link to Studs: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/360529872925?var=630070192787&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_9358wt_1139

Speaking of Ebay I have three dresses for sale my Lipsy dress was only worn twice and Topshop dress once and the blue one still have tags attached. Feel free to make me an offer.

Lipsy dress: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/321126248052?

ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1203

Topshop Dress: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/321126252729?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1203

Stradvarius Dress: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/321126257073?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1203

Face of the Night: Purple Smoke

Another work makeup face. I try to keep it all about the eyes in work as going for a strong lip is no use as it gets so busy I never get to top up the lippy. So smokey eyes and nude lips work best. These two photos are from Friday and Saturday I did the same look just switched up the lip color on either night.

Face: L'Oreal True Match in D1

Powder: Maybelline Fit Me in 125

Blush: Sephora Blush Orange Punchy

Contour: Inglot Pressed Powder in 17

Eyeliner: Maybelline Gel Liner in Black

Eye shadow: Matte Purple from ebay 120 palette/ Inglot Matte in 359 and 378

Eyebrows: Inglot Matte 348

Lips: Elf Party Pink and Essence clear gel gloss/ Elf Nearly Nude and Essence Clear Gel Gloss

Eyelashes: Perfect Lady Two week Semi Permanent Lashes