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! :)