NEW | Kiko Cosmetics.

Moving to France and having two Kiko stores 5 minutes away from me is a dangerous thing. In my recent trip I saw they had quite a few new bits; their 2015 holiday collection was released, along with an expansion into their permanent lipstick and liner range. I picked up one thing from each bit... all for blogging purposes, of course. 

 

Empties | November 2015.

Time for another empties post! I've had a lot of these empty for quite a while but only got around to photographing them whilst I was home 2 weeks ago for midterm. Since being in France I've used up a couple of other bits that will warrant another empties post soon - my bedroom is currently a shrine to empty packages. Sigh. 

Gotta Glow.

Is it socially acceptable to start talking about Christmas makeup yet? No? Good thing I'm a highlighter freak all year round then, so. However, I did feel it apt to chat to ye about some of my recent favourite highlighters that I've accumulated in my collection since tis the season to shine bright like a diamond and be seen from space... at least that's how I like my highlight, anyway. I don't think I've spoken about any of these products on my blog before, although I've featured them all briefly on my Instagram and have been really enjoying these since I got them. Of course, I still love my Soft and Gentle and Lightscapade, the usual suspects, but it's nice to see some other highlights from other price ranges every once in a while, right?!

Urban Decay Vice 4 | Review/3 Looks, 1 Palette.

Guys... GUYS. Where do I start? It's no secret Urban Decay are one of my favourite brands, and I always look forward to seeing what they come out with for the holla'dazeee (Book of Shadows, Vice Palettes etc.) and this year was no different. I already own Vice 1 and 3, with the latter being my favourite of all the palettes they'd released... until now. I didn't think they could top the stunning jewel tone and burgundies in Vice 3 but I was wrong. Let's just say I'm VERY excited about Vice 4 and I think a lot of you guys will be too. I will say overall this is not a neutral only wearers palette, if that's more your thing then I'd look to the Naked Palettes (with their latest offering being Naked Smoky) but if you like a bit of colour to mix in with your neutrals, like some glittery jewel tones, duochromes (hurray!) and overall colour then this will make a beautiful palette for Christmas time. 

Starting off with the packaging - it's absolutely stunning. You don't have to be a makeup lover to appreciate that a lot of thought and effort went into this design which mimics an oil slick and looks almost holographic, shifting colour as you move the palette in different lights. I love the layered detail and shattered glass effect, it's just overall super aesthetically pleasing. It also comes with a little pouch to keep the palette/makeup bits in which and a synthetic duo-ended brush which are nice additions... but it's what's inside that counts, right? 

Clarisonic Mia 2 | Review, Experience, Recommendations.

I’m sitting writing this blog post in Frankfurt airport, having just come out of Duty Free. I’ve had the Clarisonic Mia for about 5 months now and was reluctant to write this review for a few reasons; all culminating around the fact that I wasn’t even sure if I liked the feckin’ thing or not. I think it’s important for me to state that this was sent to me for review consideration, and you all know that regardless of whether I’m sent a product or not, I like to review everything as if I had bought it myself, sure in the knowledge that that’s potentially what someone reading this might do. The reason it’s taken me so long to write this is because it was very hard for me to recommend something that was €100+ when I hadn’t fully formed my opinion on it, and I wanted this review to be as detailed as possible, because gurl, das esssspensive. Now, the reason I mention Duty Free (and what made me want to write about this) is because I just bought myself a brand new brush head for my Clarisonic (they’re €24 and need to be replaced every 3-4 months, by the way) and I felt that if I was going out of my way to buy a replacement brush head, then it’s a pretty good sign that I do actually love the thing.

Everyday Face | Urban Decay Naked Skin.

I have a handful of foundations that I absolutely love and will always go back to, and that handful is very hard to infiltrate... So, when Urban Decay's Naked Skin foundation made it into that handful I knew it was a big deal. I thought I'd share my current everyday face routine with ye since it's all coming from the UD range (something that rarely happens with me and base routines - I generally mix and match everything) and the foundation/concealer duo is particularly lovely. I've been using this combo for the last month and a half and I am in luuuurv. These products have been hyped up online for so long, I can't believe I only got around to buying them this summer but, alas. This is my routine for a polished and put together "every day" face that covers a multitude but still looks like "skin" - I hate to use such a wishy washy term, but Urban Decay did a seriously amazing job on these products and the whole "skin-like" finish.  

  

Overview | H&M Beauty.

I have always seen a few nail polishes and lip glosses pop up in H&M but up until recently it was never something I would call a "beauty collection"... That is, until I wandered into a H&M in city centre Strasbourg and was amazed at the massive section dedicated to all things makeup, skincare, hair care and beauty. I decided to pick up a few bits from across the collection to see what they had to offer. I'm not sure how readily available all this stuff is across H&M stores worldwide, but I heard tales of their beauty section popping up in Dublin so it might be worth having a goo if anything here interests you!

Although I only picked up a handful of things from the makeup section; don't be fooled. The H&M Beauty Collection has foundations, concealers, an array of powders and blushes (cream formula, too), eyeshadows, cream eyeshadows, glitters, lipsticks, lipliners... you name it! It also has plenty of palettes, makeup brushes and bags, body creams and hair products.

Crème Eyeshadows.

Remember me? Okay, I'm sure no one noticed I was gone, but if by some miracle you did then... sorry. I really am sorry, because I've missed blogging so much and it's been too long since I've sat down to write about makeup or things that make me as happy as a pig in shite. If you were wondering why I was gone for so long, it's because I kind of sort of moved to France (Strasbourg, to be precise) and was a bit occupied with leaving my job, saying goodbye to friends and family, setting up French bank accounts and finding my way around this amazing new city/weird supermarkets. With all that out of the way, I thought I'd chat a little about cream shadows today (or crème since, yano, France and all that jazz). This is honestly probably a boring topic for most, but gaaaaat damn I love me some cream shadows. Since I don't have even a smidgen (an actual scientific term for measuring things, I'm sure...) of my makeup collection here with me in France, I thought I would just do a small post on some of my favourite cream shadows - in addition to some new ones.

Most of these I brought with me when narrowing down my travel makeup bag, so you can guarantee these are my tried and true. Most of these have also been working pretty well with the crazy humid weather too, so bonus points for that. I don't really talk about cream shadows on my Instagram or blog too too much, but I would say 99% of the FOTD posts you see of mine on Instagram have some sort of cream shadow underneath the lid colour. Cream eyeshadows work great as a quick lazy girl eye look (a.k.a my makeup on a day to day basis) or used underneath eyeshadows to help the colour stand out or prolong the powder shadow. So now that you all know where I've been for the last few weeks and how to use a cream eyeshadow, let's get into some of my favourites!

Urban Decay | Matte Bad Blood Revolution Lipstick.

If you've been reading my blog/Instagram for a while, you probably know that the Urban Decay Revolution lipstick range is one of my top 3 lipstick formulas ever made. Not the cheapest in the world, but I think they're 100% worth it and I love treating myself to one on a special occasion. They feel so so luxurious (packaging and formula wise) and come in lots of fab shades so there's something for everyone. Urban Decay recently came out with 9 new Revolution lipsticks - this time, in a matte formula. The Urban Decay Matte Revolution formula isn't as creamy looking on the lips as their original Revolution formula, but isn't as drying as a typical matte. They're met somewhere in the middle and created such a beautiful lipstick formula that the lipstick gods could do nothing but praise. Completely useless information, but the packaging is equally as fab in the new matte lipsticks, just with black casing instead of the gunmetal.