Empties | Skincare Products I've Used Up.

It's been quite a while since I've done an empties post... My little box that I keep used products in has been overflowing so I said I'd do this one dedicated to 5 skincare products I've tried and most importantly... if I'd repurchase any of them!

Review/Swatches | Wet n Wild Venice Beach Collection.

What is the best way to perk up a dull day? Some new palettes from Wet n Wild based on the theme of Venice Beach, obviously. When these came through my post box I honestly let out a little "squeeeee!" - only Judy can judge me, okay?! Wet n Wild have released 3 limited edition eight pan eyeshadow palettes (€6.49 each) from their new collection and I'm here to shade all 3 with ye today! These are all brights, vibants and neons with a range of shimmers and mattes which I absolutely love to see, particularly from such an inexpensive brand. 

I'm a huge fan of the Wet n Wild eyeshadows (especially their 8 pan palettes which I've previously reviewed here) so I was delighted to see such bright colours for the summer time. As with all their palettes, I've found there to be some (but very few) misses, with most palettes having 6 out of 8 hits or really great shades. Each palette was of course slightly different in terms of pigmentation/shades which I'll touch on individually below but overall, I couldn't recommend them enough if you were looking to spend just a couple of euro on a shade you aren't going to be wearing every day (and if you are about neon blue eyelids every day, then they're still a great option!). Once you wear a good primer and sticky base underneath these, you are golden! There are definitely a couple of Urban Decay Electric Palette dupes among these, too, and you could easily pick up all 3 of the Wet n Wild palettes for a fraction of the price of the UD one. I am still head over heels in laaaav with my Electric Palette, but I understand not everyone is going to see it as being worth the money when they won't use it every day, so these ones are a fantastic option, despite the few "bleh" shadows. These do kick up a bit of powder when you swirl your brush in the pan/swatch them/apply them to the lid but like I said, a sticky base and Bob is your uncle... or something. And, for reference, these swatches are sans primer!

Venice Beach Collection: Boardwalk Boozing (left), High Flying Colours (top right), Hemporary Solutions (bottom right)

Review | SOSU Nail Polish.

I had read a couple of reviews on the SOSU polishes when they first launched, which were equally split between the general idea that they were either absolutely amazing or very so-so. When I got an email asking if I'd like to try them, I gratefully accepted and decided I'd put them to the test myself and maybe add in my own two cents on the polishes. I do think it's absolutely amazing to see an Irish blogger and young business woman be given the opportunity to launch her own range of nail polishes, and is definitely something that should be celebrated.

I received four colours from the line which I'll review individually below. There are 25 polishes altogether so you're bound to find a shade that interests you, ranging from creams to shimmers, pastels to darks and everything in between. Available from pharmacies across the country and Penneys, retailing at €7.99 each. They're marketed as a "gel" nail polish with its selling point being it's "chip resistant" for "up to 5 days" and, as a reference, I used a Sally Hansen base coat and top coat on all the polishes, as I would with any nail polish from my collection. With all that said, let's get onto the individual polishes I was sent to try!

SOSU Nail Polish 

Finds from the Emerald Isle | Waxperts Beautiful Body Oil.

I made a small resolution for my blog in 2015, and that was to feature as many great Irish beauty based brands as I could throughout the year. I had intended on doing one a month, starting with January, but I'm a total disaster and in typical Irish fashion I generally get around to things a little later than I'd like. Regardless, now more-so than ever I see such an importance in supporting more local, Irish brands. I probably sound like a Bord Bia ad, but surely shopping Irish should extend to our makeup bags too! Plus, I'm hoping maybe some of my other readers from abroad can find out about some smaller, but fantastic Irish companies.

First up in my "Finds of the Emerald Isle" series is a Dublin based waxing salon that I had heard so much about; specifically, their own brand of skincare products. Waxperts is the brainchild of Ellen Kavanagh and provides both treatments and Waxperts products in their salon. Their newest thing to launch is the Beautiful Body Oil (€9.99 - 100ml). This was kindly sent to me from their PR to try, and I loved it so much it sparked me to finally start my 'Buy Irish' series!

Essentially, it is a lavender based body oil with plenty of uses. I love oils for lots of different things but find that most of them just smell the same. Nothing wrong with that, but this is such a light, unoffensive lavender scent that I think anyone would find soothing. Lavender is a really nostalgic smell to me and always reminds me of sleeping over in my nanny's house, so I knew I'd love the scent straight away.
In true body oil style it is nourishing and soothing but not at all greasy. It sinks right into the skin without leaving a residue or film on the skin (does that make any sense?). Basically, I don't have to stand like an oiled up scarecrow before waiting to put on a pair of jeans... Oiled up scarecrows? This is all getting a bit GQ meets The Wizard of Oz of me... Scratch the previous mental image, please. I actually use the Lush massage bars as a body lotion replacement (although they can be very oily and slow to absorb into the skin, so I reserve them for the very cold winter months!) and I had a feeling I would enjoy using the Waxperts oil.

Waxperts Beautiful Body Oil.

Monthly Favourites | January 2015.

I could sit here and type all day about how crap of a month January is, but I'd rather show you all some nice lipsticks and eyeshadows I enjoyed over the last few weeks. With yesterday being the official first day of Spring, it means I can start to bust out all my peaches and pastel shades, even if the weather is still very much in winter. I'm excited for all the peach. PEACH EVERYTHING.

2014 Makeup Favourites!

I know, I am the worst. Your eyes are not deceiving you. I am, in fact, writing a blog post after another hiatus. Not the best start to 2015 but I want this year to be a good one for my blog. As I'm writing this at midnight, I just reached 100 followers on Bloglovin'... wow! I know that number isn't anything significant to a lot of bloggers, even bloggers who haven't been doing it that long but let me tell you that is huge for me - massive! Of course figures aren't the most important thing to me personally as a blogger, but I never thought more than maybe 2 or 3 people would ever even want to read my blog, let alone comment on them or say they've found them helpful. But, as long as 1 person is reading, I'm happy to write! All I really wanted to say was thank you all so much!
I'm rambling on horribly, I do apologize... HAPPY 2015! Here were the stand out products of 2014 for me, makeup wise (if it were just beauty, I'd be here all year and well into 2016!). These are solely products I discovered in 2014. I'll admit, it was actually hard to find, even remember products I used at the start of the year, most of these are Summer and on wards discoveries but firm favourites nonetheless! It was hard to narrow it down, but I'm pretty happy with this list of game changers.

FOTD | Comfort Zone Smokey Eye (Wet n Wild Tutorial)

I bought the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette (along with their Petal Pusher one) AGES ago, when I first saw they had come to Ireland. I swatched the shadows briefly, thought they were gorgeous and typical me stuck them at the back of a drawer never to be seen again. I recently saw someone mention Club eyeshadow by MAC in a tutorial and remembered Wet n Wild having an exact dupe of Club in the Comfort Zone palette. Club, and the definer shade in this palette are warm brown shadows with a blue/green shift which looks amazing when it hits the light at different angles. Club is easily one of MAC's best selling shadows - but I actually prefer the Wet n Wild one! It's more pigmented, shows up more "blue" and you can get the entire Wet n Wild palette (10 shadows) for about €6... a fraction of the price of a single mediocre MAC one! 

Anyway, dupes aside, I wanted to use this palette because I haven't featured any Wet n Wild shadows on my blog so far, I love them almost as much as their lipsticks! I think this is a great shade if you, ironically, want to get out of your comfort zone just a teeeeny bit. The palette itself is mostly neutral, with the blue/brown shade and a few olive greens. I think the blue/brown shade is such a fantastic way to wear colour if you're a neutral girl at heart. So, to truly bust out of the comfort zone, I used it in a smokey eye tutorial, taking you through all the steps to create this look which I think would be perfect for Christmas parties coming up! This look is really easy to create, keeping the dark shades on the inner/outer corners and using the blue/brown colour in the centre and lower lash-line. I used lashes for maximum impact, but they're always an option! Keeping it easy, I opted for no winged liner which means there's no excuse not to try this look for your next night out! When using such dark shades, I'd definitely recommend using a sticky base/primer and doing your foundation last! Finally, I kept the cheeks warm and peachy with some peach nude lips. Hope you guys enjoy! :)

Winter Nail Picks.

I love dark nails around this time of year. Black, burgundy, navy, greys. I love the way they look with a shiny top coat and a dark vampy lip. I also love glitter, too, so you know I had to include just a liiiiittle bit of that. Most of the glitter polishes I have are limited edition from different OPI or Barry M collections, but I will say that Barry M has the best range for fun polishes so definitely check that stand out first!

Review | Seventeen Define and Conquer Contour Kit.

It's not secret that finding a good contour product can be hard, but a good contouring product from a budget brand? Unheard of... until now! I'd seen this product pop up on a few beauty blogger Instagrams and with the inner drag queen in my always looking for new sculpting products, I decided to take up the Boots 3 for 2 offer and give this a go.

First off, I love the clever name. Lame, so lame, but I thought I'd mention it anyway! I also really like the packaging. Very Nars-esque but without the horrible dirt/powder attracting rubber texture. Sleek and compact with a good mirror. I approve already.

Inside are a highlight and contour powder duo. The texture is the same for both - creamy and pigmented, not chalky and definitely blendable. I already knew after one application that this would be a good one for beginners, it's so easy to blend!

10 Winter Lip Picks.

It's probably no surprise that I love bold, dark, vampy lips. So much so that this post was both a joy and a torture to write. 50% of me was so excited to share with you my favourite dark lip colours because well, I love talking about lipstick! The other 50% was dreading it because it was extremely hard for me to narrow it down to a) a particular number and b) permanent, readily available shades. I'm happy to say that all these colours are permanent, no limited edition ones here! I managed to restrict myself to just 10, otherwise I'd be here all day listing lipsticks! Most of these are more berry, purple and burgundy toned colours (although I did include a couple more subtle shades for you guys!) because I find them more readily available than the darker reds. That being said, I am waiting on a certain Lime Crime product that I'm hoping will prompt a follow-up post closer to Christmas around my top 5 holiday reds. Keep an eye out!

A lot of these are MAC, but I have a few budget/drugstore lipsticks here too that I love for winter and I hope you will too! These are just some of my favourite dark lipsticks, particularly the ones I've been using this year... if you want to see more lipsticks (and to see them in action on ma faaaace) then follow me on Instagram. I always post new makeup purchases on there and usually show them in a FOTD before they feature on ze blog!

My Inglot Eyeshadow Palettes + Swatches.

I've been a big Inglot eyeshadow fan for a few years now. I feel like it was such a small brand for a long time and lately has grown to be more popular than the likes of MAC among Irish girls. They're big into their Instagram and other social medias and have super talented makeup artists working on their counters so it's no surprise why they're getting so well known. It's so funny to me that when I first saw xSparkage mention Inglot, her and other beauty bloggers were talking about the struggles of finding Inglot stores (particularly in America) and now there are about 4 in Dublin alone! It's nice to see more stores popping up around the country (Galway needs one asap!) and with Inglot Ireland announcing their online store, I thought it would be a good opportunity to whip out my palettes and get swatching for you guys! 

In short; Inglot eyeshadows are pigmented, amazing quality and amount of product for the price and come in an array of colours and finishes. The high quality is pretty much the same for all Inglot shades I've tried. The only downside I have to Inglot is their numbering system - it's impossible to remember the numbers. That's the only reason why I refrain from using them too much in blog posts because I have to try and get them out of their palettes which is no fun for anyone involved! I would actually own more of their shadows if I kept a list of the shades I already own, because I'm always worried about getting doubles of the same shadow!

 

Numbers aside, they are amazing eyeshadows and that's what I'm going to focus on today, showing you the shades in my current collection and some of my favourites. They have a Freedom System whereby you choose the eyeshadows individually and put them into the Freedom System palette. These palettes come in loads of different sizes (2, 3, 5, 10, 20, even 40 eyeshadow slots!) and the Freedom System also extends into powders, blushes/bronzer/contour, lipsticks and concealers. These are SO ideal for both travel and makeup artistry. The prices of the palettes of course vary on the size, and are available on the Inglot Website. One thing I want to mention before I get into the shadows I own, is that Inglot also offer rainbow shades (in bright and neutral shades) which consist of 3 different shades of the same eyeshadow. I don't own any of these yet but will definitely be investing in some soon, it's worth looking online for swatches of those because I know they're super popular among Inglot fans!

Brow Game 101 | My Brow Routine - Products, Techniques, Tips&Tricks.

I've been meaning to do this post for a long time, but I was avoiding it for ages. Purely because brows are a personal thing, different for everyone and can be hard to explain in a written post. That, and there are so many different ways to fill in your brows depending on the look you're going for. This is going to be my own personal brow routine. I'm a big fan of a fuller, sculpted brow and that's exactly how I like to do my own. My brows are naturally dark and thick, but I thought I would show you guys a couple of different ways I like to do my brows. I definitely don't think my brows are perfect, and I'm constantly trying to make them better, but I get asked about my brows quite a bit so I thought I'd do this post for those who were curious! These methods and tips can be taken and tailored to suit your own personal brow style and I think there's a few things everyone can take away from this post, no matter what brow shape or style you like! I hope this is helpful for some of you; I've gone through some of the different methods separately so you have the option of reading all of them, or just focusing on the way you personally prefer to do your brows. I'm going in order of my natural evolution in brow products; I began with powders and soon discovered new and unique products to use - I hope you discover some new ones as well! This is gonna be a long one, so stick on the kettle!

Halloween Make-up | 1920's Flapper Girl // Great Gatsby Theme.

This is a 1920’s flapper girl look I did for a college newspaper article thingyyyy. I thought it would be perfect to do a blog post on this look with it being so close to Halloween – this makeup is so quick and easy to do and would make a great “last minute Halloween plans” costume. Throw on a feather headpiece and it’s the perfect Great Gatsby-esque look! Being a history student and makeup lover, with a particular place in my heart for the 20’s, I’m hugely interested in makeup through the eras and the Jazz Age was one of the most innovative times for makeup trends. This post is going to include a list of the products used and a little more information on makeup at this time if you’re interested!

The 1920’s is such an exciting period in the makeup world! A new century had brought new inventions, (like the traditional swivel lipstick in a tube we use nowadays!) and heightened feminist/ suffragette movements along with female employment in typically male dominated fields made women embrace their right to wear as much makeup as possible. The Great War had ended and makeup was no longer seen as solely for harlots, it became commonplace for the everyday woman. The look I’m doing is a very dramatic and stereotypical of a flapper girl performer at this time, most women would not have worn their makeup to this extent on a daily basis but the techniques applied for all of those who wore cosmetics! I think it’s important to mention that this look was really only sported in the states. I’m not sure about the UK, but I know Ireland was extremely conservative in regards to women and their looks at this time, so you can bet there wasn't a woman in Connemara rocking a smokey eye!

I chose not to photograph a step by step tutorial for 2 reasons; a) it is SO simple... seriously guys, the messier and more blown out the better – no winged liner and no fuss! And b) my most recent Autumn FOTD (linked here with step by step photos) is the exact same concept and placement. The only difference is with a 1920’s look, keeping the eye shape circular and rounded on the edges is key – blown out but not winged out! The desired eye look of that time was a very heavy down-turned, almost “sad” eye. This was aided by the very overly plucked, thin and rounded brows of the time. I chose not to glue my brows down and redraw them because thin brows just aren't my thing. You can of course keep yours true to their natural shape and it will still look good, but if you want to keep it historically accurate then that’s something to think about! Remember that you can always take different bits of this tutorial and alter them too suit yourself and your preferences… there’s no harm in a modern day flapper girl!

New | Maybelline Colour Tattoos + Velvet Lip Pencils.

I went into Boots for eyelash glue and came out with a bag full of stuff (plus eyelash glue). Oh well... it's all for the sake of the blog really, isn't it? Does any other beauty blogger tell themselves that after a beauty shop? Anyway, I noticed Maybelline had some new (ish) products out and I decided to give them a go. I'm not exactly sure how new these specific Colour Tattoos are, because I haven't seen any talk about them, but I know the Lip Pencils are a pretty recent addition to the line. 

First Impressions | Lush Cosmetics Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub.

It's not quite a shower gel, not quite a scrub. It's an even mixture of both products in one little black pot. I actually bought this for my boyfriend originally and decided to try it out myself when I was in his house last weekend. I actually found it to be a bit of a 3 in 1 product. Here are my first impressions!

FOTD + Step by Step How To | Uninterrupted Mythology.

Finally, here is an autumn inspired face of the day! I've been itching to put this much makeup on my face and photograph it for you guys. This is a halo/spotlight type look, with the colour lightest in the centre. I like to call this a sort of "pretty grunge" look, because it's using some red and bruise toned colours in a very blown out shape but still manages to look made up and girly. I've really been enjoying this lately because it looks great even without winged liner and can be blown out quite a lot around the edges. Saves a lot of time and looks really nice with those kind of colours. I did a post all about some of my favourite eyeshadows for autumn/winter (link here) - you could easily take other shades similar to those that I mentioned and recreate this look to your taste. It could be made less burgundy and more brown, less rose gold in the centre and more gold or bronze, it's really up to you! I also gave the options of a dark lip and a nude lip, and I'd wear this look with both depending on my mood but, of course, you could opt for the nude lip if you preferred! Let me know which lip you would wear with this look down below! :)

Collective MAC Haul | All MAC Everythin'.

Nope, your mind is not playing tricks on you. I am, in fact, uploading a blog post. I feel like the past month has been nothing but "ahhhI'veBeenSoBusyErhMaGawdSorry" but it's so true. I haven't been bogged down with many assignments or exams, but finding the time to blog when I have tonnes of reading to do is a struggle. I promise Autumn FOTD and FOTD posts in general are coming soon, very very soon.. I've been itching to put makeup on my face and photograph it for you guys!

ANYWAY. I went back home for my birthday at the end of September and this post is pretty much the result of several things. 1) I wanted one (ONE) eyeshadow from MAC for a long time and had tried 3 different MAC counters on 4 different occasions but the results were fruitless (more on that later!). 2) Having wanted only one (ONE) thing from MAC, I of course took my birthday as a good enough excuse to treat myself to said item and a lipstick (if you follow me on Instagram you'll probably have already seen my "Happy Birthday to me" self pity purchase). 3) My mother was going to Berlin and ended up texting me that she was in a MAC Pro Store.. and sure when your mother is in a MAC Pro Store don't you grab that opportunity to text her a list of "Pro only" things you'll reimburse her for?! 5) I had 2 fellow makeup junkie friends staying over for my birthday (one actually has the Youtube, so check that beaut out here) and we ended up getting into each other's makeup bags.. whoops.. terrible thing really. So, as a result of product enabling, I wanted several shiny new MAC things (also more on that later) and the girls wanted Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade... can't blame them really, it's pretty feckin' deadly! 6) I had a couple of things to Back 2 MAC and finally, 7) I had recently (ish) read a Viva Adonis post featuring some comfort shopping MAC items and decided that retail therapy was definitely a thing. Definitely. I hadn't bought quite a lot of stuff from MAC's permanent line in ages - I JUST WANTED TO OKAY :(

In short, this post could have been called a number of things; "Collective MAC Haul", "MACalackin", "I Am A Broke Student And Am Now Eating Baked Beans For The Next Month", "My Boyfriend Knows Exact Locations and Opening Hours Of Every MAC Counter In The Country" or "Product Enabling Is A Real Thing SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" ... you get the idea.

I think you'll all agree the lipsticks look a lot nicer with the lids off! ;)

Favourites | Autumn Eyes.

I wasn't really sure what to call this post, and I'm still not fully sure how to accurately describe it but sure we'll go for it. Autumn is such a great time for bold, but still somewhat neutral eyes. I find a lot of inspiration in nature when it comes to autumnal themed makeup... if it looks like a colour that fell from a tree, then I want to put it on my eyeballs. I've done a favourite blushes for this time of year, and will be doing a lipstick follow up post too. I wouldn't necessarily say that these are my "Top *definite number* eyeshadows for fall" because they're not all eyeshadows, it's a mix of products and it's more of a general guide of season appropriate colours that I love to incorporate into my makeup during this time of year... make sense? It did in my head, I swear!

I'm going to be showing you some great colours that look particularly lovely this time of year, and different ways of wearing them. I think those of you who are all about eye makeup and aren't feeling dark vampy lips will benefit most from this, but I think there's something here everyone can take from it. I've been wanting to do some autumnal inspired FOTD posts, and sorry they've been slacking, but I've been trying to deal with terrible lighting in my college home and just finding the time to sit down and actually do my makeup during the day! Another thing I realised is that I do a lot of different variations of the same looking during this time of year. In the sense that I'll use a lot of plums, browns, maroons and golds and use them differently on the eye (for example with or without winged liner, with gold in the inner corner or on the centre of the lid etc). It's using the same products, but give a different effect. So, I naturally had to include the stand out products that I've been using on all, or most of my FOTD's in this post :)

FOTD/Get Ready With Me | Anniversary Dinner.

Hi everyone! My last Get Ready With Me style post seemed to be a pretty popular one so I thought I'd do another! I think they're quite nice to do for special occasions or events where you're putting a good bit of thought into your whole outfit and look. My last GRWM (link here) was for a college ball and so was pretty formal. This time round, I decided to do one for my 1 year anniversary dinner with my boyfriend. I had taken pictures of only my makeup and jewellery that night, because I didn't originally have the intentions of doing a GRWM post. I have no photos of the 2 of us, or the ridiculously good Italian food and cheesecake/gelato we ate which is ultimate sad face. I took pictures of the details of the dress and accessories the next day, so I'll definitely have to plan it better next time round if I had have been thinking. It'll be a wedding anniversary before I ever get around to planning anything half decently realistically. Butttt, because this is mostly a beauty blog, I figured the makeup was the most important thing really wasn't it?

Mini Reviews | 5 Products I've Used Up (Empties #1)

Before I get into this post, I have to apologize for slacking on blog posts since coming home from France. I hate making excuses, but I'd been super busy showing my friend around Galway and Dublin for the week, then travelling back up to Galway for house related/moving/college things and finally trying to see all of my friends from home before we go our separate ways for the college year again - phew. I thought it would be easier to fit blogging into that schedule but I was mistaken, I'll be much more prepared next time. It killed me not being able to blog for a little over a week!
In any case, this is my first ever Empties style post... I'm not sure how enjoyable they are to everyone else but I find them incredibly useful. The concept is a little weird, basically looking into the contents of someone's beauty bin but Empties posts are a great way to get an idea of someone's fully formed opinion on a used up product. Most importantly, you get to know if the person would buy it again... and sure isn't that the main thing?! I've decided to keep it to 5 products to try and make this post somewhat short and sweet.