An Inglot Haul + New HD Matte Lip Tints.

Inglot are some of my very favourite eyeshadows ever ever ever. Whilst I don't feature them a tonne on my blog or Instagram (purely because the numbering system makes them a nightmare to remember/pull of out palettes/reference) they are absolutely top quality. I did a massive swatch fest over a year ago delving into my Inglot eyeshadow palettes (link here if you're interested in seeing swatches of 30 brights and neutrals) which I think some people found quite useful. The number system is a pain, and finding swatches online can be so difficult. I wanted to branch out and try some other products from Inglot, particularly their pigments which my friend Ray uses loads in her YouTube videos. She's stun, the pigments are stun, her videos are stun... I digress. 

 

UDxGwen | Urban Decay Spring 2016.

Confession time: when the Urban Decay/Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette popped up online (and through my letterbox) late last year, I was left feeling a little deflated. Please don't throw your unicorn horns at me. Sure, the packaging was cool and as a No Doubt/Gwen fan I loved the idea but I just didn't think it was anything special. The eyeshadow quality was nice and had lots of mattes, I couldn't fault that, but after Naked Smoky and Vice 4 I was just left feeling a little "meh". And so, I chose not to show it on my blog - simply because I just couldn't bash it; it wasn't a bad palette (I know pretty much everyone else thought it was amazing and everyone who I know that has it LOVES it), but it just didn't excite me enough to blabber on about it. But what was released in November was only the start of things to come; better things, in my opinion. I'm so happy to say that the second half of the UD x Gwen collaboration has absolutely made up for the eyeshadow palette. If you're a Gwen fan, a cheek product junkie or a bright lipstick lover you need to have a nosy at your nearest Urban Decay counter, ehm, yesterday. 

 

Empties February 2016 | Sephora, Kiko, Lush + More.

Since I went on a bit of a blogging break towards the end of 2015, I actually binned a lot of things I had been meaning to save for an empties post. My room here in France is so small that any unnecessary clutter left hanging about drives me up the very horribly painted walls. I did finish up quite a few skincare and some other bits and bobs, though, and I thought I'd review those for ye in one (hopefully) quick post!

Review | Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette.

I think the very fact that I'm only getting around to buying this palette in 2016 is proof that Irish people are backwards. I know the internet is saturated with Chocolate Bar palette reviews, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in to the mix, since I don't seem to have the same feelings about this as most people. If you haven't heard of this palette before - where ya been, gurl?! While this hasn't blown up in popularity quite as much as the Naked palettes (for most makeup wearers I mean, die hard makeup fans not included!), this is Too Faced's offering at a neutral palette with a bit of a twist. I say twist very loosely, since I don't personally feel that any neutral eyeshadow palette is all that original anymore; although shout-out to Naked Smoky which didn't reinvent the wheel but is a great palette.

The Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette boasts 16 neutral-ish shades, infused with real cocoa powder. Yes, this smells amazing and I may or may not be able to confirm that it does actually taste like chocolate (don't try this at home, kids. I was always a curious one...) I think the metal tin packaging with the chocolate bar design on the front is super cute, but I have to say I'm really disappointed with the quality of the packaging. The magnet is just not sturdy enough and I've found myself picking it up and it opening very easily. I would have liked a stronger magnet or snap closure à la Naked 2. The layout of the palette is really nice, though, and I seriously appreciate them making the two highlight shades (one matte, one shimmer) the two bigger rectangle strips since you often go through those first in any palette. The palette contains 7 mattes and 9 more shimmery shades (some with frost, some with more shimmer and glitter). Since the quality varied so much depending on the shadow, it's impossible for me to say that the mattes/shimmers were better quality than the other so I thought it would be better to go through each individual shade and tell you the stars and duds.

Fine and Damaged Hair (don't) Care | MADES Wonder Volume & Repair Expert.

So I fell off the face of the makeup blogging earth. This is due to a mountain of reasons; mostly to do with travelling back home for Christmas, wanting to actually enjoy my time with friends and family whilst at home, my phone being stolen ( = no Instagram), then travelling back to France to what was one of the most stressful exam periods of my life aaaand finally a real disillusion with the blogging community and a sort of reluctance to write. I'm happy to say that this is all over me now, and I'm so ready to get back to doing what I love most (after Netflix bingin' and looking at photos of cute kittens) and that is talking about lipstick and all other makeup related things. I'm not entirely sure anyone will still bother reading what I have to say, especially since I haven't been on here in over a month but if you're still here to chat makeup then you're great, and thank you. I have a tonne of things to talk about on here so stick with me for the next few weeks while I shoot out some favourites, empties, yadda yadda yaddaaaaadada.

Okay, so I lied. Today's post isn't about lipstick. It's about hair products. A shampoo and hair mask to be exact. These were actually sent to me back in October for review consideration but I wanted to wait until I was pretty much finished using them until I posted about them on here. In short, I am in luuuuurv. I don't really dabble outside of my comfort zone when it comes to hair products in the shower - if you know me you know I love pretty much anything Schwarzkopf does. That being said, I found that my hair was hating me soon after I moved to France and my usual hair products just weren't cutting it. I think the water over here had a lot to do with it because subsequently my skin changed pretty much overnight too but that is completely irrelevant okay Grace talk about the damn shampoo. 

Here's where MADES comes in... and pretty much saves my hair/life. A brand I had never heard of before in my life, but one I will definitely be using more of in the future. For a bit of background, my hair is super fine but really frizzy and dry/damaged from bleach which makes it an absolute pain to treat.

The One Eyeshadow Lookbook.

If you follow me on Instagram, it would probably seem that the aim of my FOTD posts is to put as many eyeshadows onto my eyelid as possible. While that is great fun altogether, truth be told ain't nobody got time for that - certainly not me on a daily basis. The "one eyeshadow look" is a personal favourite of mine and is so easy to achieve given the right products. These are just some my favourite things to use when I want to achieve a quick and easy smokey eye that looks like I put tonnes of effort in but secretly spent 5 minutes sloppily applying. I think this is perfect for a lazy student like me who would prefer an extra 20 minutes in bed, someone who isn't super confident in their makeup application skills/simply doesn't like fussing around with loads of different eyeshadows or, for those moments when you get a text planning a last minute night out with your gal pals. You can easily take one or even two of these products (if you're really feeling extra fancy) instead of an entire eyeshadow palette. I'd suggest adding a wing/smudging some kohl pencil around the eyes, tonnes of mascara and maybe even lashes and you've got a really well put together eye look in no time. 

Lush Christmas | Fairy Dust.

It feels like it has been ages since I mentioned anything Lush related on my blog. Their Christmas 2015 products have been out for quite a while, but I'm really only getting around to playing with some of them that I picked up last time I was at home. Something that I'm pretty sure is new to their lineup this year is Fairy Dust; a cute dusting powder with the famous Snow Fairy scent. I'm a massive fan of the Snow Fairy shower gel ("we've seen your empty posts, Grace, we know" I can hear you all saying) so if you like sweet candyfloss-esque products and haven't tried Snow Fairy yet I suggest you run to your nearest Lush and buy in bulk. Being such a big fan of SF, I'm only delighted to see more products with the same scent, especially post-shower products. Last year they had a little massage bar in the scent of Snow Fairy and it was deeeee-lish. Anyway, back to Fairy Dust.

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.