The Chic Cheek.

Don't get me wrong, I love my corals and bright blushes, but lately I've been favouring a more "sophisticated", subtle type of cheek. I'm not sure if sophisticated is quite the right word... Something muted, but still brightening and glowy. I've recently discovered 3 products in particular that I think are the epitome of a "chic cheek". Something that would look good on any age and with any makeup look. It makes an already simple face of makeup look complete and put together, but equally won't make you look cray cray when pairing it with a glitter cut crease. I also think these products would look great any time of the year, too... although you know I would werkkk a coral blush in December ;)

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.

Review | MAC x Miley Cyrus (Viva Glam Miley Lipstick)

Viva Glam is one of my favourite things in the beauty industry. It is at the heart of MAC's ethos and is just such a great charity. It is so rare that a company gives 100% of the proceeds to anything like this, and if you haven't looked up what your Viva Glam money goes to, then please check out http://www.macaidsfund.org/ :)

Anyway! MAC are always looking for an influential (and sometimes controversial) public figure to front their campaign. This year, they chose Miley Cyrus. Whatever your opinions about Miley or her music, I think it's a great way to spread the word about the charity. You get a nice lipstick and are helping people living with/affected by HIV, so I'm usually not bothered about who is the face of the lipstick. 

Empties #2 | Mini Reviews.

You know the drilllll. Going through my beauty bin and giving ye all mini reviews on products I've completely used up! And, most importantly, would I repurchase them! My first empties post is here if you're interested in reading some more of my smaller reviews :)

Review | MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers + Lime Crime Dupes.

Another day another dupe. I'm back with more matte liquid lipsticks (I know, I have a slight problem). This time, from the very affordable brand Make Up Academy. If you missed my last matte liquid lipstick post, I reviewed the Sleek Matte Me colours and found a brilliant dupe for Lime Crime's Utopia Velvetine. I had heard so much about the MUA ones and picked up a few on a trip to Superdrug in the hopes of finding some more Velvetine dupes, and in general, some decent lip products. Here's how I got on!

L-R: Halcyon, Funk, Reckless, Kooky.

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.

Review | Real Techniques Bold Metals.

Makeup brushes are one of the most important things when it comes to makeup and beauty - what's the point in buying a beautiful foundation if you don't have the right tools to apply it? I'm not saying you need the most expensive brushes *cough eBay bargains here* but having a couple of different ones will definitely perfect your makeup application. So, we all know I'm a fan of makeup brushes... I'm also a fan of rose gold. Everyone and their mammy knows about the Pixiwoo sisters and Real Techniques brushes (yano, those ones... affordable, sold in Boots/Ulta, weird coloured handles?). Now, I actually only own one from their regular line (if you were curious, it's the expert face brush), which I love but have decided to pass up on buying any more because I see so many dupes on eBay which I'll eventually get around to buying.

Before I get into the actual brush I'm reviewing, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents regarding the range itself, and the prices. If you know of Real Techniques you may also know that the blogging community went into mini cardiac arrest when they saw the release of the beautifully luxurious Bold Metals collection - 7 brushes in total; 2 gold, 2 rose gold, and 3 silver. I can't deny, they are beautiful looking brushes. Then, that mini cardiac arrest went into full blown heart failure when people saw the pricing. I won't get into all of the brushes individually with pricing, because I only have one here to review for ye today, but they are all significantly more expensive than the regular RT range. The Pixiwoo sisters have done a video stating that this is their premium line, understandably not for everyone but a more luxurious and higher quality brush which will of course, cost more to make (and thus buy). I get it, I don't LOVE the pricing but I understand. I was definitely iffy at first when I saw the prices, but I'm of the opinion that if the quality is on par with the price, then I have no problem spending my own money on it. The annoying thing is, and the difference between actual high-end brands and RT's "high-end" brushes is that you can actually feel a MAC brush for yourself and decide if it is worth it. With the Bold Metals, they're trapped in bullet-proof plastic so it's a bit more risky.

Review/Lime Crime Velvetine Dupes | Sleek Matte Me Lip Creams + YouTube Announcement!

Hi guys! Long time no see/blog… as per usual, right? WRONG! (ish). If you don’t follow me on Twitter and Instagram (which you definitely should, just sayin’) I recently ventured into the world of… YouTube! Yes, I know… WHOWHATWHEREWHENWHY?! I have one makeup tutorial uploaded on there already so make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe while you’re there. If you’d like to see more from me on the Tube of You, simply tell me whatcha wanna seeeee! It’s all baby steps for me, so be patient with me, please and thank you! Now that that’s over and done with… I’m sure you’re all here for the lip products, right?!

Sleek "Matte Me" Ultra smooth matte lip cream. 

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.