FOTD | Lucky Green Feathers.

Another quick FOTD - I actually intended on doing a whole step by step for this, then got really into it and realised when it was pretty much finished that I hadn't taken a single photo of the thing (genius). Anyway, I posted it on Instagram and did say I'd post some up-close photos and product details along with it so... here you go! Green is a colour I rarely use in makeup so I'm trying to get out of that rut. I used a light green on the lid with a deep green in the crease. I wanted a little more colour and so added the purple the whole way along the lower lashline. It's actually a very easy look - 1 lid colour, 1 in the crease, 1 on the lower lashline etc. I finished the eyes off with a pop of gold in the inner corner to compliment both the green and purples and paired it with a nude lip! I'll have a few step by step pictorials coming up soon hopefully, I'm doing some pre-written blog posts before I go off to France on Monday so if you have anything you'd like to see then please let me know :)

Shout out to Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade for a strong brow game.

Products Used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Eden
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow(s) - Naked 2 (transition shade) Foxy (browbrone highlight) Half Baked (inner corner) 
• MAC Eyeshadow(s) - Lucky Green (lid) Plumage (crease)
• Urban Decay Glide-On Pencil - Ransom (waterline and lower lashline) this colour is actually no longer available since they redid their pencils but Psychedelic Sister would work well, if not even better considering I set the pencil with the same shadow!
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow - Psychedelic Sister (lower lashline)
• Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Brown (review here)
• Benefit Blush - Hoola (bronze and contour)
• Benefit Cha Cha Tint (review here) 
• Kiko Rock Attraction Blush - Pearly Rock (highlight)
• MAC Myth + Creme Cup (obsessed with this lip combination at the moment!)

Follow me on Instagram (@LongHairAndLashes) to see more FOTD's and other makeup stuff :) 

The Liebster Award.

Hi guys! 

A slightly different blog post from me today but hopefully you enjoy it. I'm hoping ye get to know more about me and find some other really great smaller blogs that I love to read.

         

Now that that's all finished, I'd like to thank Anu (from http://mylifeasanu.blogspot.ie/) for kindly nominating me for the Liebster Award. I have to be honest, I hadn't a scooby doo what this was until I read Anu's post. Essentially, it's a tag style blog award from one blogger to another with followers under the 200 mark. It's created by bloggers as a way of discovering new blogs - always a good thing in my book!

FOTD | Electric Eel.

I posted this FOTD on Instagram today and decided to post it on here with product details. This is going to be a super quick face of the day - I didn't think to do a pictorial for this look because I sat down at my dresser doing a pretty plain eye and by the end of it I came up with this. It's still a really simple look, especially if substitute black liner for blue, but I thought it was a nice change for the summer time. I should probably apologize in advance, because it turned out to be an "All Mac Everything" look, but a lot of these products, if not all, can be found from different brands! 

Products Used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Eden
• MAC Eyeshadow - Texture (crease/transition) Phloof and Electric Eel mixed (lid) Plumage (deep crease/outer v) Vanilla (inner corner/brow bone highlight) 
• MAC Pro Chromaline - Pure White (I took an angled brush and used this as a gel liner to do the wing, waterline and lower lashline)
• MAC Eyeshadow - Electric Eel 
• MAC Glitter - Transparent Teal (I added this later on very subtly across the eye which you can see in the bottom centre photo!)
• Ardell Demi Wispies #120
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Chocolate
• Urban Decay Bronzer - Toasted
• MAC Blush - Pinch o' Peach
• MAC Lipstick - Myth

Hope you guys like this one! Like I said, it's really not that complicated but definitely makes an impact with the blue the whole way around the eye. I've seriously been loving this kind of shade, especially very heavy on the waterline and lower lashline. Be sure to follow me on Instagram (@LongHairAndLashes) and Twitter (@DrnkTxtRmeo) for more FOTD's and makeup related things! 

What are your opinions on coloured liner? Would you wear something like this? x

FOTD | Blue Lagoon Sunset.

It's been a little while since I did a FOTD on here and I can really only put it down to laziness. I really haven't been wearing that much makeup lately and when I have it's definitely nothing too crazy. I asked a friend of mine to choose a colour scheme for my next look because I was completely out of ideas but knew I wanted to do something bright and summer inspired. Orange and yellow were the chosen shades of the day and this is what I came up with. It's inspired by sunsets with a yellow to orange fade on the lid, purple crease and heavy blue shadow on the bottom. I really like how this turned out for something I did on a whim! I hope it's not too similar to my Neon Jungle/Kiko FOTD I posted on Instagram a few weeks ago... I guess I've just been into my tropical colours because of the weather! I included a quick pictorial/step by step on how to achieve this look, but you could swap it for any bright colours you wanted! Not for everyone, but definitely something fun for a festival or summer night out. Apologies for the hun bun, but the Irish heatwave has made me want to shave my hair off ;) Hope you enjoy!

                                                               
                                                           Products Used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Original
• NYX Jumbo Pencil - Milk (base)
• Inglot Eyeshadows #362 (pink) #370 (yellow) #325 (purple) #322 (blue)
• Kiko Eyeshadow #207 (orange)
• MAC Eyeshadow - Vanilla (brow bone/inner corner highlight)
• Ardel Demi Wispies #120
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Brown (review here)
• Urban Decay Baked Bronzer - Toasted (discontinued)
• MAC MSF - Soft and Gentle (highlight)
• Nars Blush - Orgasm
• MAC Lipstick(s) - Myth + Creme Cup

Review | Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade.

I had heard so many American bloggers raving about Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products - brow powders, Brow Wiz, brow gels and more recently, Dipbrow Pomades. The latter really intrigued me, I'm all about finding new brow techniques that are different to a powder or pencil. I will be doing a more detailed brow related post to follow this up, which will include a multitude of different ways to fill in the brows for different looks and brow types. However, I feel the Dipbrow deserves a post all on its own because it is absolutely amazing! One of the only downsides to the brand itself is that it's very difficult to get in the UK and Ireland and I only ever see it on very selective online retailers so unfortunately you don't have the luxury of colour matching your brow products. I was on a waiting list for the Dipbrow so they're really not the easiest of products to get. I ordered mine from Cult Beauty which I would highly recommend as they carry a whole host of Anastasia products (contour kits and everything in between!)

I like big brows and I cannot lieeeee. Using the Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade.

Pastel Hair Tips&Tricks - Ooh La Lilac! | ft. BLEACH London

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook (yeah, I was feeling super hip and cool and got one of those things for my blog, link here) then you probably already know that I recently redyed my hair a silver/lilac pastel colour. I've had my hair a similar shade numerous times before and it's one of my favourite colours - especially in the summer time. 

What prompted me to do this post was the fact that I had used a different brand to colour my hair, one that is pretty readily available in Ireland/UK and so I thought I would do a (hopefully) short post on the process, the brand/colour itself and some tips and tricks I've learned along the journey to My Little Pony worthy locks! With Longitude and every other festival around the corner, it's a fun way to add something different to your look, whether you decide to do a dip dye or your entire head!

BLEACH London - Violet Skies.

A Rose Gold Romance With Black Tied (+ Rose Gold & Purple FOTD)

Recently, I got in contact with the jewellery brand Black Tied. Black Tied are an independent online store based in Ireland which is even more exciting for me as an Irish blogger. I had seen a lot of their pieces on so many well known bloggers/youtubers and luckily someone on Instagram directed me to their site a while ago. I instantly fell in love with their pieces - they're incredibly unique and not really something you'd see anywhere else.

I got talking with the founder of the company, Laura, who was so so lovely. She was kind enough to offer me a discount on my first order and even offered my readers a discount code too! I'm in no way not obligated to do a blog post on my items, but I really wanted to share these pieces with you all because I think they're something a lot of people would be interested in. That, and they're so so stunning! So, if any of you guys would like to pick up these items, or anything from her site then you can use the code LASHES15 at checkout for 15% off and free shipping for orders over £25! (The code is after the PayPal step, when you are redirected back to the site to enter the code, choose the shopping method and confirm your order). The code is valid until the 10th of August if you wish to make a purchase by then!

I chose 3 items; 2 bracelets and a necklace and I am so happy with my purchases. First of all, they arrived really quickly and tucked away safely in a bubble wrap envelope. The items were packaged in a cute little leopard print envelope with the signature Black Tied lettering. Again, all items were individually wrapped in bubble wrap so no chances of anything breaking! All the items are really well made and absolutely stunning.

Review | Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) Lip Tar - Black Dahlia.

When Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics came on the beauty scene a few years ago, I was so eager to try their products. I can't believe it took me this long to finally buy one of the Lip Tars! When I saw Black Dahlia, I knew I had to have it. OCC isn't an easy brand to come across in Ireland/UK and buying makeup online can be a bit of a pain when you can't swatch the items properly. I had a look on Temptalia for Lip Tar swatches and made a firm decision to go with Black Dahlia because it's a colour I gravitate towards anyway - not a very summer appropriate shade, but one I wear a lot anyway so I thought it'd be a good first pick! I've seen OCC on only a handful of UK based sites (no Irish ones unfortunately) and I think the only place you can buy OCC in person is Selfridges in London. I got mine from Cult Beauty for £14 which isn't too bad at all. 

OCC Lip Tar + Brush

Lip Tars are a really interesting product - they're essentially a very heavily pigmented liquid lipstick lacquer. OCC offer some avant garde shades like yellow and blue which may not be for everyone but make for great mixing shades, especially if you're a professional makeup artist. I had tried the Sleek Pout Paints previously (considered a Lip Tar dupe) but always wanted to try the real deal! As I said before, Lip Tars are made for mixing so if you have a couple of shades you can easily create a custom colour to suit you which is definitely something I'll be doing in the future! 

A nice thing to note about Lip Tars is that they are vegan and cruelty free. They contain castor seed oil, hemp oil, peppermint oil and vitamin E. While the ingredients seem moisturizing, Lip Tars can definitely be drying on the lips so it's important to exfoliate and moisturize the lips beforehand, particularly with a dark shade like Black Dahlia!

Black Dahlia

Onto the shade itself, Black Dahlia is described as a "blackened red". It looks pretty much straight up black in the tube, but the real shade shows through in the swatch. It has no shimmer and is a deep burgundy with the right amount of red and purple. I love these vampy colours and even though I'm writing this review in July, I hope no one dismisses this shade for the autumn/winter months by the time September comes around! I had heard before that Black Dahlia was more liquidy and sheer than some of the other lip tars. It has quite a thin, slightly watery consistency so you really need to do 2 layers of this to get it fully even if you're not wearing a lipliner. Personally, I always wear a lipliner with dark lips so it doesn't pose a problem. I've worn this with both Current and Nightmoth liners (MAC) and they compliment it very well. Regardless of the thin formula, it still has great pigmentation and I have to stress that a little bead/dot of this product goes a very long way. Lip Tars are not to be applied like a lipgloss because you're left with a gloopy mess that will bleed out to your ears come lunch time. However, if you apply a small (very small) pea sized amount dot then you should have no problem. 
I exfoliate and moisturize my lips before applying any makeup, let the lip balm sink in while doing my eyes/face and then come back to the lips. Blot off any excess lip balm and line the lips (OCC offer matching pencils to compliment their Lip Tars). I apply a little bead of product onto the tip of my lip brush, applying it to the centre of the lips and working the product outwards. This ensures minimal feathering as the least product is on the perimeter of the lipline. A lip brush is a must with this product and OCC now market the Lip Tar with a mini version of their brush which is fantastic for travel. The lip brush is actually really nice - I have a couple of lip brushes but prefer to use this one because its small and allows you to carve out the lips and get a good shape. They also offer a 'Black Metal Dahlia' shade which is the same deep burgundy but with a metallic shimmer... so cool!

Black Dahlia Swatch

                      

Overall, I love this product and the shade is absolutely beautiful. OCC are a really ethically sound company which is great to see, too! Lip Tars are a great idea and while they look intimidating, are easy when you get the hang of them. If you have tried any of the other Lip Tars then please let me know either below, or tweet me @GraceyOConnell because I'd love to hear your shade suggestions... I'm dying to try more colours! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! x

How To | Perfect, Glowing Summer Skin & Lips.

I have to admit, I'm a matte skin girl at heart. However, when it comes to summer I really like to switch things up and go for a more 'glowy' look to the skin - not necessarily dewy, and definitely not oily or shiny! This generally involves creams and lighter formulas rather than piling powder on top of powder. This routine looks so fresh on the skin and I absolutely love it. I've come up with a pretty solid routine that will suit both dry and oily skins (give or take 1 or 2 products!) Most people with dry skin will automatically gravitate towards this look, but even if you have an oily skin I'd suggest giving it a go... or incorporating some of these products into your routine for a summer glow to the skin! I decided to include some of my favourite lip products for summer, too. Skin and lips are always a big thing for me during the hotter months and although I like bright lipsticks for summer nights, I also enjoy 'easy' sheerer washes of colour for during the day. If you're interested in seeing some of my top picks for bright summer lipsticks, I have a blog post all about it here. In the meantime, if you have any summer skin product recommendations then I'd love to hear them!

Top 5: Medium & Full Coverage Foundations for Oily and Dry Skins (Drugstore & High-End)

A good foundation makes the world of difference to any makeup look and I think it is one of, if not the most important aspects of cosmetics. While eye makeup is fun and everything, a good foundation can make your skin look flawless and change the overall appearance of your look.
I've tried a lotttt of foundations from different price ranges and while some high-end foundations are nice, I have found a lot of budget friendly bases that are very comparable to higher-end ones. Although I have oily skin, I have found that some of these work better for a dryer skin type, and some are best suited to an oily skin.
One important thing to keep in mine is that all of these foundations are medium to full coverage and very long lasting. While I wear most of these daily, a full coverage isn't for everyone all the time and so might be something to try for a special occasion or night out. I hope this post helps some of you who are on the hunt for decent full and flawless coverage!