Mastering Your Makeup: Makeup

A Review Of: b.tan I want the darkest tan possible

13:22:00
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My current daytime foundation- Catrice HD Liquid Coverage Foundation

09:53:00
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Lip Glosses Summer 2018... Splurge Spend & Save

Hello Lovelies,

Our summer... hello you beauty! The weather has been unreal, I am so happy the sun has been shining, it's been giving me all the wedding feels. I also can't believe I am now less than a month to my big day its sooo exciting!

One thing that has happened over the last few weeks is the postman has been visiting my house with some really interesting new samples. Lip Gloss is making it's big come back this season and I for one am delighted! I really tried with the whole matte lip look for the last few seasons. I spent a fortune of my own money buying liquid matte lipsticks, bullet matte lipsticks and went to countless launches of brands with matte lipsticks. I'd wear them and I'd re-apply throughout the day if needed but I really missed the creamy sensation on my lips.

I actually started to use a more gloss based lip for events last summer so now that we are in fully into Summer 2018 and more & more lip glosses are back on the scene I am delighted! I have four brands I want to mention to day which escalate in price but will give you an idea of what's on offer this season in terms of lip gloss.

Essence: Essence is a brand extremely well known in Ireland. For me it's the go to brand when you've forgotten something and you need a cheap fix that will work. Recently I attended an Essence Ireland event with Anita from Adorn and it was all about creating festival looks. We were asked to take products home to create a festival inspired look which I posted to my social media accounts a couple of weeks ago. For me, festival makeup while sitting in a tent with a small hand mirror needs to be simple and glowing and needs to stay put for hours on end.

One of the products I used as part of my Essence makeup festival look was the Shine Shine Shine Lip gloss. "The lip gloss creates an extreme shine with a wet-look effect on the lips. The supple texture feels wonderfully pleasant and comes in a broad range of colours - including creamy nude shades, shimmering pink and intensive colours with a prism-glow finish. The heart-shaped flock applicator with a soft coating allows an accurate, smooth application." (essence.eu)

This lip gloss does exactly what it claims, it's really easy to apply, the nude pink shade I had was not too sticky so my hair didn't get too caught in it and it lasted a fair while. For under €5 this is an absolutely bargain and as I say if you are at a loose end or someone who is totally new to lips gloss then these are a great place to start!

Urban Decay:Next up and we do take a jump is price is a brand new product from the ever amazing Urban Decay Cosmetics. They have just launched their new Hi-Fi Shine Ultra Cushion Lip Gloss and it is retailing at €18 here in Ireland. There are 20 shades to choose from and available in locations such as Debenhams around Ireland.

The new Hi-Fi Shine Ultra Cushion Lip Gloss is ultra-shiny, glides on cushiony-soft and provides long-lasting wear that’s comfortable, not tacky. Laced with vitamin E and peppermint oil, our hydrating formula leaves lips feeling nourished, has an immediate plumping effect and comes in a yummy vanilla-mint flavor. And wait until you see our lineup; whatever gloss frequency you’re on, we’ve got you covered. Tune in to everything from blaring brights to soft neutrals in four different effects—metallic, holographic, cream and sheer cream.Urban Decay is 100% cruelty-free. (urbandecay.com)

I was kindly gifted Fireball, Midnight Cowgirl, Naked, SPL &. My absolute fave shade from these five beauties has to be Midnight Cowgirl, it's a fab sparkly nude shade. It's perfect to add a layer of sparkle over a lip pencil so you can have staying power with a glossy look. Fireball & SPL look very frightening in their boxes but on the lips bring a little party to your face so are great to have in your collection for a night out or if you're feeling fun. Naked has been living in my handbag quite a bit and the peppermint scent from the tube is lovely. At €18 a pop, with such a fab range of shades, if you loved a shade in the matte lippy for instance 1993 then having it in a gloss is just brilliant to move you right into the summer months.

Lancome: The final lip gloss installment in this post is a serious splurge purchase. A brand so world famous they can totally justify their costs and that is Lancome. The doorbell rang one day over the Easter holidays and a lovely delivery man held out a Lancome bag asking for me by name. I had no idea this little gift was coming to me so when I opened the bad to see four of the new lip glosses I was just delighted with life. It's not every day you can say you own a €30 lip gloss while saving for a wedding and a house I can tell you that much!! The new product I was sent were four of the L’ Absolu Lacquer.

The L'Absolu Lacquer buildable shine & colour longwear lip lacquer has a lightweight formula that coats the lips with colour and gives a high-shine lipstick finish. With buildable shine and colour you can create the lip look that you want, whilst ensuring lips are moisturised and hydrated for hours. Apply one coat for a sheer, natural look and a dewy shine finish. Apply two coats for intense colour and a high-shine finish. Apply three coats for a dramatic lip look head turning colour impact and an ultra lacquered shine! (www.lancome.co.uk)

Back to my shades, I was kindly sent 134 Be Brilliant, 323 Shine Manifesto, 378 Be Unique & finally my favourite 202 Nuit & Jour!! They range froma brilliant red to two pinks and my fave the 202 is a stunning nude shade. You can tell I have a thing about nudes... well I do! I was only at an event this week and purchased another nude lippy which may be a contender for my wedding day lip. The Nuit & Jour shade is deffo a product I will be keeping in my handbag the day of the wedding, it's the perfect top up product, so nice on the lips, not drying, not sticky just a stunning layer of colour and you really can build up the layers taking a little setting break in between layers.

So there we have it ladies... a little look at the lip glosses that have been happily added to my lip stash for the upcoming summer months. Now if only the weather would catch up and give us a chance to enjoy some sunshine that would be awesome!! Hope you enjoyed this post and of course any questions let me know.

23:10:00
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Catrice Cosmetics: Bridal Makeup Look By Me

Beauty

18:40:00
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Madison Makeup Launches in Ireland- Review

Beauty

Hello Lovelies,

Today on the blog we are taking a look at a new brand to my life, Madison Makeup. Unfortunately due to work I missed the official launch of this new brand in what looked like an out of this world event in Dublin's City Hall at the end of last year. But after Christmas I was sent two of the new products from the range to try out and review for you all.

About Madison Makeup:

Madison Makeup has been created and developed by Irish beauty industry veteran Paul

Mooney, and is his latest in a long line of innovative products. Paul’s vision is to create

obtainable luxury, while still providing uncompromised quality and Madison Makeup is

leading this vision. Madison Makeup has been created with the Millennial Irish girl in mind; its trend driven colours allow you to replicate the most current makeup looks. (press release email)

Berry Bold Eyeshadow & Hightlighter Palette- €19.95

This is an essential eyeshadow & highlighter collection with 14 shades in light , neutral & berry tones.

Highly pigmented formula for complete build-able coverage

Finely milled formula for the most seamless blend

Shades range from pink champagne to rich berry with a mix of neutral browns & 4 highly pigmented highlighters that open up an unlimited amount of makeup looks to choose from to suit every type of style. (madisonmakeup.ie)

This palette is really pretty. I also have to say that the size of the palette is very good. It's certainly big enough for the pans to work out at a brilliant cost of only €2 per eye shadow or the four highlighters at only €5 each if they were to be in a palette separately. The tones in the berry bold palette are exactly the type of colours I like to work with. Oranges and Burgundy's are my go to shade for my blue eyes especially when I have tan on, I love to make my blue eyes pop as much as possible. I also think that the shades can be used as a stand alone colour for a quick day look. I like to use the shade burnt when I want this look and sometimes I take it slightly browner with neutral. My absolute favourite shade from the palette though has to be berry itself I just love it!

The highlighters in this palette are not for the faint hearted, or I advise you to use them sparingly. The glow is unreal. I've been using them alone or sweeping my brush across them all. I find when I have tan on, they look even better on my skin. Although, doesn't that apply to every aspect of my life? Always better with a bit of tan on!! Daisy is my favourite highlighter shade from the palette and the one I used the most, it's not the lightest but I love the gold hue it leaves on my skin. I think if you are sallow skinned then fifi would be absolutely stunning on!

Contour; Contour Highlight & Blush Palette- €19.95

A kit to expertly sculpt and define your features with these highly bendable – 6 cream sculpting shades, 1 cream radiance highlighter & 1 powder coral blush
Each of the 6 contour colours can be inter mixed and custom blended to create a tailor made shade to expertly sculpt your features !! (madisonmakeup.ie)

Before we go any further, this is a disclaimer, I am not really into cream contouring. I have to be honest, I just panic when it comes to adding cream contour to my face. I always worry that I look really muddy and then if I do make a mistake, I'm trying to add more foundation ending up feeling like I've a weeks worth of product on my one night face!

That being said, I do think this palette would make a brilliant gift for someone who is into cream contouring or for yourself if you're growing in your cream contouring confidence. The blush shade takes my breath away the beautiful rose gold shade is stunning and I am OK with using the cream highlighter, again be light handed, it is creamy but you always want to be careful about the placement of a cream highlighter.

In the description of the contour palette on the Madison Makeup website, it's says that you can blend the shade to custom colour your contour shade... I will admit I tried this but it didn't work too well on me. I clearly thought my foundation was darker on my skin but I made the contour too dark so started again. Little by little I could see myself starting to add some of the cream contours for a night time look but at the moment, I like to use them more as a concealer. Carving out my brows using Contour 1 or sometimes adding a little of 4 as a concealer, it's deffo something if you're into cream contouring you'd love.

I hope you found this post helpful in deciding if you'd like to try out Madison makeup products. Being tailor made to the young women in Ireland, I think this brand will do very well. I think the price point is smart and this is reflected also in the packaging, it's young and funky and totally appeals to the young makeup lovers of Ireland.

15:10:00
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BPerfect LMD Master Palette- Review & Thoughts

Blogger Love

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Tried & Tested- Some Yeah! Some Meh!

Blogger Love

09:55:00
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Eyedeal Lashes- First time, First Impressions!

Blogger

Hello Lovelies!

Today I want to show you my lovely new lashes. I visited Eyedeal lashes in Clondalkin last week on the recommendation of three of the lovely ladies I work with who are all clients already.

She is one seriously busy bee with only a few appointments left this side of Christmas so if you want to get in touch with her be sure to do it ASAP! I contacted through her Facebook Page Eyedeal Lashes which you can find HERE.

Eyedeal Lashes works from her home which on a cold & wet winters night was the perfect setting to hop up on the bed and get my lashes applied. She had me all cosy while she was working. There was a music channel on in the background which I loved because sometimes it can be really difficult A) to stay awake while someone is working on my lashes and B) to pass the time as we all know getting your lashes applied takes well over an hour! Now don't get me wrong if I drift off I am more than happy, and it's quite easily done too, you are lying wrapped up all cosy on a comfy bed with your eye closed for over an hour, wouldn't be long about drifting off! The only reason I didn't fall asleep last week was I had to pee... how embarrassing!I swear I'm such a glamorous blogger!!

Here's a massive MASSIVE tip for anyone who hasn't gotten lashes before and a major rule I broke last Thursday... I showed up with bloody mascara on!! Who does that?! Getting ready for work I completely forgot what I was doing after work so I completely forgot not to put on mascara. Of course there was remover at the ready for me but it did mean there was a slight chance there would be residue left on my lashes so the new ones may not stick as well. Totally my own fault so ladies don't forget that!

But we are now a week on since getting my lashes done and apart from one little fecker on the inner corner of my right eye (the eye that is always really sensitive) I'm not losing many at all. I spread my appointments 3 weeks apart so I'm hoping to still have a good few on by the time I return. For this look I went with 12's as far as I know and they're really full looking all across my lashes. I decided to see how I feel this time and maybe next time I will try the Russians or I can try longer lashes if I want. I think given that it'll be Christmas week, I will get slightly longer lashes and have them flutter out at the end. I love that look on lashes.

I cannot feel them on my eyes this time around. Sometimes I get super sensitive about having lashes on. These lashes that used are applied so well to my own lashes they're like feathers, no irritation at all. As I have had lashes before I know how to take care of them but for anyone reading this who hasn't had lashes then please be careful with them. The more you look after your lashes, the longer they will last for you. Do not use oil based products on them, try to keep them as dry as possible. I tend to use a face cloth to clean my face while I have lashes on. I am also very careful when showering not to soak my face, I try as best I can to keep it out of the water. I also use a little spoolie to brush them out so they are kept separate and I especially brush them first thing in the morning as I tend to stick the side of my face into my pillow when I sleep.

False lashes should not be an inconvenience if they are applied right. Eyedeal Lashes focuses all of her work on crafting beautiful lashes for people so you are in total safe hands. I am delighted to have become a client of Eyedeal Lashes and I'm looking forward to trying out different lashes over the coming months. I think Christmas is such a lovely time to get your lashes done. I think it's good to give your own lashes a little break and plan for your next event. As the world and it's Momma knows at this stage, I am getting married next August so there will be plenty of events in between where I will want my lashes styled to the max for.

Eyedeal Lashes can be found on Facebook at Eyedeal Lashes HERE Her base as I said previously is in her home in Clondalkin and her pricing ranges from €35 for a full set and €30 for refills, absolute bargain for her skill level she's brilliant! You have to feel comfortable when you are having someone so close to your face and I am really thrilled with my results. Looking forward to heading back on the 14th of Dec again!

19:26:00
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Fenty Beauty Foundation- Time to hear my thoughts!

Beauty

Hello Lovelies,

This is the one post I think people have been dying to hear about. I purchased my shade 240 in Harvey Nichols in Dundrum a good few weeks back at this stage. I have worn the foundation about 6 times now so I wanted to write how I feel about this foundation currently.

Firstly as always on mastering Your Makeup let's take a look at what the brand themselves say. This is all taken from the Fenty Beauty Website which you can get HERE

A soft matte, longwear foundation with buildable, medium to full coverage, in a boundary-breaking range of 40 shades.

Finally — the ultimate photo filter in foundation form. Born in 40 boundary-breaking shades, Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation gives skin an instantly smooth, pore-diffused, shine-free finish that easily builds to medium to full coverage. The oil-free formula is made with climate-adaptive technology that's resistant to sweat and humidity, and won't clog pores so that wherever you are, it's going to work on your skin. Best of all, this longwearing, light-as-air texture is undetectable on skin — so you always look like you.

How’d we do it?
Obsessive research to create the perfect range of shades for all Exclusive insights from the world’s top makeup artists Extensively tested for real life, on real women
We figured out that it takes the right balance of tone and texture to make foundation work on every skin type. We obsessed over custom pigment levels to capture your truest tones with a soft matte finish that’s just right—not too matte and not too shiny. The result? A comfortable longwear formula that lets skin look like skin. Made for all women to love.

Shade-Finding Tips:
Always shake before use to activate. Pro Filt’r’s rich pigments need a moment to dry down to their truest color, so when you're testing shades, remember to let the formula dry completely to find your perfect match. Deciding between two shades? Try the lighter shade.

Fenty Beauty is 100% cruelty free.

Ok so onto my own thoughts on this latest cult product... The price point is good, It's €33 for a 32ml bottle so it's average size and pricing, to be fair, the extra 2ml if it'll come out of the glass bottle is a little bonus! The texture is runny (but I like that) you dab it onto your face, get working with your brush and it applies so well. The coverage again I like, four pumps is well enough to give you full coverage around your whole face, clearly less if you've a smaller face than mine so please judge that for yourself.

Now the powder bit... the girls in Harvey Nichs were telling me this foundation was designed for oily people in mind and that way you don't need to use powder over it. I have road tested this foundation using powder and not using powder and I can 100% confirm that with my oily complexion, you have got to powder it!

The day I decided to really test this was the Sunday of the Beauty Show working on the Blank Canvas Cosmetics stand in the RDS. The heat was unreal and after a couple of hours I was wrecked looking, like actually glowing it was terrible! I am not sweat resistant at all as the brand claims the foundation will adapt, it was really bad. I was really embarrassed so had to run to the bathroom to lash on the powder, thank goodness I brought it with me. I then wore the foundation with powder to a family party and it last much much better. We partied into the small hours of the morning and it was much better, I really liked it that night so if I'm ever wearing this foundation, I will always powder it.

Here I am partying away with the family and not overly shiny, the foundation was on about 4 hours at this stage and the room was very warm.

I think a brand claiming something of course doesn't guarantee that it will work the same way for you, our complexions are completely unique so just bear that in mind. I wouldn't write off the foundation just because it has to be powdered, I am so used to powdering my skin all the time that this is nothing new to me at all. The fact that the 240 shade is so nice on my skin is what keeps me coming back to it time and time again when I am going out on the weekends and want to wear my nice foundation. I'm not sure if I would actually go and buy it again but it will certainly get used until the last drop is gone!

I'd love to know other girls views on this who are oily like me to see if they find they need to powder it so if you've used it let me know. I found the girls on the Fenty Beauty counter in Harvey Nichols in Dundrum really helpful and I wasn't waiting too long to be skin matched either so swing by if you have the chance and at least then you can be sure the shade is right for you!