Christmas Nails

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and Santa was good to everyone :)

I know some people are really good at painting their nails but I am not one of those people haha. I am awful at painting my nails. As you can see below. My left hand is usually better but even then there tends to be nail polish everywhere. Normally one of two things happens when I paint my nails. Either I have polish all over the whole top of my finger (sometimes I have to go back with a q tip and a bit of nail polish remover to tidy up the sides like now for example haha). Or else I am impatient and end up smudging it. You'd think I learn but this happens most of the time I paint my nails.

Anyway I had red nails for Christmas at first but I did one coat Sunday I think it was because I wanted it to dry really well to try and prevent smudging. When I eventually got around to putting on the second coat on Christmas morning both smudged. It was a disaster. The red was 'aperitif' by Essie. So I repainted my nails with a combination that I quite like. I used a silver and a red sparkly nail polish. Both polishes are from Wet n Wild's Wild Shine collection. The silver is in 468 and the red sparkly one is in 435G. Both were in my New York Haul part 3. I must say I love the wet n wild nail polishes. They seems to dry fast which is really good for me! :)

Hopefully they don't chip to much for tomorrow night. It's been a while since I used either of these nail polishes so I can't remember what the lasting power is like. Although saying that being Stephen's night I'd say the last thing on my mind will be whether or not my nails are chipped. The way the weather has been lately I'll probably be more worried about my tan running everywhere. Hope everyone heading out Stephen's night and any other night over the holiday season stays safe. I hope everyone is having a great time this Christmas!

:)

Dublin Blogger Meet Up

As usual it has taken me a while to get around to writing this blog post. Sorry. On October 19th I went to the Dublin Blogger Meet Up hosted by Samantha from All The Buzz! It was so much fun. I got to meet some really nice bloggers. The venue was The Church Cafe Bar and it was amazing! I was glad to see a few familiar faces from the Galway Blogger Party.

With a demonstration from Niamh of Nima Brushes and a talk from Michelle from www.her.ie I was glad I didn't miss this event. Not to mention the gorgeous cupcakes. I retrained myself but they did look delish.

The goodie bags were amazing too. The amount of products is crazzy. I still don't think I've tried everything but hopefully I will have a post soon about all the products!

I admire people that organize these kind of events. They must go through so much effort organizing the venue and refreshments and goodie bags. Samantha did an amazing job.

                                                                          :)

Galway Blogger Party hosted by Bec Boop Fashionista!

So this post is a bit late. With college and well just pure laziness I haven't gotten around to this post but better late then never. :) September 21^st I went to The House Hotel where the Galway Blogger Party was. It was a fantastic event. I’m a newbie and this was the first event I braved on my own and I was so glad I did! I met loads of really lovely people. Bec Boop Fashionista did an amazing job organizing the event and making me feel welcome. Sadly the weather wasn't great but this is Ireland life goes on. Despite the weather it was a lovely event.  It was so nice to meet some Irish bloggers. So many blogger events seem to be in Dublin I was so glad to see this event mentioned on the #irishbbloggers chat on twitter.

The fashion show was amazing. The clothes were just gorgeous and the models did a great job. I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into planning an event like this. The room was set up with clothes, jewelry and makeup on display. My personal favorite was the Benefit and Urban Decay. So many things to add to my wish list! There were some really nice clothes too, and few bits of jewelry I would have loved to get my hands on. I said to myself when I arrived my bank account wouldn't like me after the event but I managed to restrain myself…..for now. ;-) Below is a random selection of pictures I took at the fashion show. :)

The goodie bag was amazing too. Personally I haven’t tried that many John Frieda products but I was so excited to see the Frizz-Ease spray gel, the Full Repair perfect ends deep infusion and the Luxurious Volume fine to full blow out spray. I was even more excited to see 2 Blank Canvas makeup brushes. The F20 and the E24, I’m so excited to give these a try! 

I still haven't used many of the John Frieda products but I have been using the F20 every day and I absolutely love it! However I think using foundation brushes breaks me out because I don't wash them everyday. I really need to find a cheap daily brush cleaner. But I still love the F20! :D Lately I have been reaching for it before my Real Techniques stippling brush.

:)

New York Haul Part 3

Hey! So this is gonna be the last part of my New York haul, beauty wise anyway. I haven't decide whether or not to do a post on the clothes and shoes I bought over there. I bought so many beauty products over the summer it's crazy! 

Starting with eye products. Even in that category I don't know where to start. I guess I'll start with NYX products. I know I mentioned in the 1st part of my haul the lip part I got my NYX products in Sears when they were 50% off. Since they were cheap and all I picked up a couple of eye products too. I love smokey eyes so I picked up two NYX Ultra Pearl Mania. One is white the other is silver. I don't know the actual names. I guess I accidentally took the names off when I took the price off. They are so handy. I really love the white. 

Another NYX product I picked up was one I saw a youtuber talking about. I really wanted to get my hands on the NYX roll on shimmer in Salmon. So when I found it in Sears 50% off I just couldn't pass it up. I use it as an eye shadow even though the packaging says eyes face and body. It goes on so easy but sometimes I have to roll in on my hand for a second to get the product to come out. 

Then I got some Wet n Wild Coloricon trios. I absolutely love these products! They are pigmented and they last a long time without creases even without a primer. I got one in Walking on Eggshells (the first pictured below) and one in Silent Treatment (pictured second below). They have become my everyday eye shadows. I wish I bought more when I was over there! I was so excited when I heard wet n wild is coming to Ireland!

I picked up a Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded. I saw a youtuber talking about it in a video and it looked absolutely amazing. So when I saw it in New York and it was cheaper than over here, I decided to pick it up. Personally I am not to fond of it. I think it will be more of a base for me than a shadow on its own. Its a champagne color and it is really nice. I love the color tattoos because they stay on my lid for hours without a primer. I have worn Barely Branded with a dark brown or black in the crease and it is a beautiful color but I probably will stick to the my coloricons for day to day wear.

Another Sears purchase (again 50% off makeup how can anyone resist!) I got this Maybelline Eyestudio in Silver Spark. So handy for a quick smokey eye. It's so easy just throw a bit of the silver on the lid and the black in the crease done and dusted. 

I have ranted to a few people already about this next product. Not the product itself the price. The Rimmel Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Stick/Crayon in Blackmail. I haven't used it as a shadow but I love putting it on my lower lash line and smudging it out. It is so creamy. It just glides right on. I love it! Now to the rant part. I picked this up in Target. It was $4 (roughly 3 euro) in boots the same product is €5.95! Pretty much twice the price to buy a product that comes from an English brand in Ireland than it is to buy the same product in America. Granted some shops that sell Rimmel in America charge a little more. I think I saw the Scandaleyes eye shadow stick/crayon in CVS for $4.69 (roughly €3.50). I find that so frustrating. The worse part is I meant to pick up one or two more before I came back and I never got around to it.

Another ELF product I picked up was the Eyebrow Treat and Tame in light. I usually forget to use the treat side but I use the tame side a lot and I love it! I love this product it's so easy and fast. I just run it through my brows when i finish my makeup and run out the door.

More ELF haha. I was in either T.J. Maxx or Marshall's I forget which. I spotted three ELF eyelid primers and I picked them up. I never used to use eyelid primers so I have nothing to compare these too but I do love them. My eye shadow last longer when I use these products. No more worrying about my shadows creasing throughout the day. 

I heard somewhere that the Wet n Wild Coloricon bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana was a good highlight so I decided to pick it up. I can't recall how much I paid for it but in my opinion it's more of a powder to set my foundation rather than a highlight. As a face powder I quite like Reserve Your Cabana, I was very disappointed it wasn't as good of a highlight as I thought it would be but I'm glad I found another use for it. I actually dropped my Natural Collection powder a few days before I picked this up so it worked out pretty well.

Not to long after the disappointment with the Reserve Your Cabana not being the kind of highlight I thought it would be I picked up the Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips in Vegas Strip/Light bronzer another Sears purchase if I remember correctly. I love it! I use it on the top of my cheekbones. I love the color. I had a sort of highlight before but it seemed to yellow. I am so glad I found something that giver that bit of shimmer without being to yellow.

I got this product for $1 in Target. I wasn't sure whether or not to pick it up but since it was only $1 and it was in front of me I decided why not. Plus if I regretted it afterwards I didn't know how expensive the ELF shipping would be. I haven't actually used it yet. I've only swatched it on my hand so far, but I am looking forward to trying it out one of these days.

Now for a couple of blushes! :D I picked up A NYX blush in Bourgeois Pig I absolutely LOVE this blush. I use it all the time. It's my favorite blush at the moment. I am trying to use some of my other ones but I just can't keep away from the NYX blush.

 I heard somewhere that the Wet n WIld Coloricon blush in Pearlescent Pink was a dupe for Nars Orgasm I think I can't remember now haha. I used it at first but then I picked up the NYX blush and Pearlescent Pink kind of got pushed to the side.

I picked up this ELF duo when I started contouring. It is in the shade St Lucia. I love this bronzer. Its so cute with a little shimmer in it. I love the blush too. Then again this blush also got put to the side because of the NYX blush.

When I was in the ELF Studio store in New York City I picked up this Complexion Perfection compact. I wasn't sure what to think of this product or how to use it but I tried using it under my foundation and I am happy enough with it. I don't use it everyday or anything, mainly because I forget half the time haha. 

At the beginning of the summer I was planning on getting myself a MAC foundation but then I had picked up a couple of other foundations so I decided not to pick up a MAC one. Instead I decided to pick up the Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light Plus.So far I am happy with it. I am petrified of dropping it though. The joys of powders haha.

When I went over to New York I was almost out of my Max Factor 3 in 1 foundation but I decided to wait until I got to New York to pick up more foundation. I ended up buying 6 foundations over the summer. I really wanted to try the Revlon Colorstay foundation. The picture below is actually my second one. Sadly the second one I picked up wasn't the same as the first one. The second one has SPF 15 and is a little darker but I still use it everyday. Its my favorite foundation. It just stays in place and I just love it! I'm not going to like spending €18-19 on it when this one runs out since the first one I got was $13 I think and the second was $7.50 but it stays put all day and matches my skin I think anyway haha. 

 I also picked up a Revlon Colorstay Whipped I was intrigued at the idea of a whipped foundation. I was going to pick up the Covergirl version but I watched a few youtube videos and decided to go for the Revlon instead. I love mixing this with my other Revlon Colorstay foundation. I used to apply it with my Real Techniques stippling brush but I found the brush got cakey quickly. Lately I wash my brushes once a week but when I use the Colorstay Whipped foundation the brush needs to be washed almost every other day.

I picked up this Covergirl foundation in Sears, it was $4 I think not sure. I only used it a couple of times. It is a very thick consistency so it's hard to get out without a pump. I used the pump from my Max Factor 3 in 1 foundation a couple of times. I haven't used it very often lately mainly because I've been using my Revlon Colorstay foundations.

I picked up another Revlon foundation. This time a PhotoReady foundation that was 75% off in sears when I picked it up. I was looking at it earlier in the summer but I decided not to pick it up at the time but 75% off I just couldn't pass it up. It was hard enough to pass up makeup at 50% off but 75% is like impossible for me haha.

On to the nail polish. I wasn't a huge nail polish person because I am to impatient and end up messing my nails up before the dry and my nails chip after a few hours a day max. I picked up a bunch of Wet n Wild nail polishes. I love the range of colors and for such a cheap nail polish they lasted long enough. First I saw the Spoiled collection by Wet n Wild in CVS. When I saw the white I couldn't pass it up. I love white nails and in Ireland I find it hard to find a white white nail polish. There are so many that seem white but end up more shimmery or something. The white is called Correction Tape. The blue is called Plenty of Fish in the Sea. And the purple is called Magic Carpet Ride. Magic Carpet Ride is a lovely color but it is very opaque. I don't like it on its own but I love how shimmery it is. 

I picked up a couple of the Wet n Wild Megalast nail polishes. On the left is Heatwave. In the middle is Sugar Coat and on the right is On a Trip. I find that Sugar Coat is also very opaque but I like it with the Spoiled nail polish in Correction Tape underneath. I love wearing On a Trip under Magic Carpet Ride. They are just lovely polishes. and for $1.99 you can't go wrong!

 More Wet n Wild nail polishes haha I picked up Metallica (left) and Sparkled (right). I can't remember how much these polishes were. I think they were either $1.99 or maybe even $0.99. So inexpensive. I also picked up a Wild Shine clean nail protector.

I got all 4 of these Sally Hansen nail polishes on offer. The Crackle one is called Wave Break. I got if for like 75% off in CVS. I think it is a beautiful blue colour. I love it. The pink one (Fuchsia Power) and the white (White On) I got both of these in Sears for 50% off. And then there is the magnetic one. I was very curious about magnetic nail polish. I really wanted to give it a try. I picked up Silver Elements the same time I picked up the Revlon PhotoReady foundation for 75% off in Sears. I just love it!

So many purchases over the summer. So much money spent on makeup and beauty products! Money well spent!

:)

New York Haul Part 2

So I decided this part of my haul would be mostly non-makeup beauty products with a few random bits at the end. Basically its hair products and body mists :) I love my Umberto Giannini curl styling spray and Umberto Giannini scrunching jelly. But this summer I wanted to test out a few other hair styling products. Since a lot of beauty products are cheaper in America I decided now was the time :) So let's get started.

The first products I picked up were the Pure Shine Curls lotion, the Not Your Mother's Beach Babe texturizing hair cream and the Not Your Mother's She's a Tease Volumizing Hairspray. The texturizing hair cream felt so funny. It's hard to describe. I've never tried a texturizing cream but I figured it was worth giving a try. Plus I needed a hairspray and I think there was an offer on Not Your Mother's products that week. I'm pretty happy with the curls lotion. It gives waves without making my hair hard or anything. To be honest I don't notice a huge difference with the texturizing hair cream but that's probably just me. As for the hairspray I think it works well for my hair.

A few weeks later I picked up Tresemme  Keratin Smoothing serum and Tresemme 24 Hour Body non-aerosol hairspray. I'm trying to grow my hair so I wanted keratin. Tresemme was having an offer in the local Stop and Shop 2 for $7 so I picked these 2. I love them. I go for the non aerosol hairspray before any other hairspray for now anyway haha. I use my Keratin Smoothing serum after I wash my hair and I love it. Although lately I've noticed my hair is still pretty frizzy when it dries so I have to put a little more in which I don't like doing cause to much makes my hair greasy faster if I use to much of the serum.



Then there was Target (I went a little crazy in target with makeup :P). So I picked up a twin pack of the Herbal Essences curl boosting mousse. Years ago I used a Herbal Essences curling mousse. It made my hair so wavy I just loved it. I don't think this is the same thing but for all I know it could be. It doesn't make my hair quite as wavy as I remember which is why I don't believe it's the same product. Then again it's been years and I have been using the Umberto Giannini scrunching jelly for so long that I'm not used to the mousse anymore so it could be the same haha.

Then there is the body mists. I love perfume as much as the next girl but I find that after a while I can't smell the perfume anymore and I reach to put more on. Probably not a good thing cause most people around me can probably still smell the perfume. So lately I got into body mists. They are so light and fresh and if I can't smell it I don't feel bad spraying more because it's light and not overpowering in my opinion. So the first one I picked up was the Victoria's Secret Dream Angels in Kiss. I LOVE the Victoria's Secret Dream Angels line. My favorite was Divine so I was very disappointed when it was discontinued (at least I assume it was discontinued). My next favorite is the Victoria's Secret Angel Gold mist. Its amazing! I got it for Christmas and I've probably used half of it already! Anyway, I like Heavenly too but Divine was just my favorite haha. So when I went in I was stuck between Kiss and Blush. (I had a half full Heavenly at home so I wanted something different.) After going into Victoria's Secret several times and spraying the little cards who knows how many times I decided to go with Kiss and I think I found a new love! :D A couple of weeks later I went in again just to have a look around and the PINK body mists were on offer. To be honest I can't remember what the offer was but it was to good to pass up. I picked up a Summer Daze and a Surf Party for myself. They smelled so amazing I even picked up a few extras for gifts for friends. 

Continuing with the body mist trend, before I came back from America I went into Bath and Body Works. I picked up a few bits for a friend (You know who you are ;) ) But I couldn't leave without picking up a few bits for myself :P One of the sales people sprayed Pink Chiffon on my wrist and it smelled AMAZING! I just kept smelling my wrist as I walked around the shop looking for the few bits I went in for in the first place. I didn't want a huge bottle of Pink Chiffon even though it smelled great so I decided to get 3 mini mists because they were 3 for $10 and like I said I didn't want the full size (which I believe it $14 I'm not sure though). So I was there looking at the range of mini mists and I smelled Beautiful Day and it was so fresh and light I was just like that makes two :) I don't even know how to explain Cashmere glow it's like relaxing or something. Then the salesperson came over while I was looking at the candles and said Mahogany Teakwood smelled like an Abercrombie and Fitch store and he was so right! I just couldn't leave without it haha. I haven't used it yet but it smells so good I find myself smelling it now and again. Hopefully it smells as good when it's lit as when it's not. That is if I can bring myself to light it. Haha.




On the the next part of the haul. This is a kind of mix of products. First, I got three brushes when I was in America. The first one I bought was the ELF Studio Angled Contour brush. I never used to contour but recently I've looked up a few videos and decided to give it a try and I love it. I wanted a smaller brush so I could make a smaller line and blend it out. I was planning on getting the ELF Essentials blush bronze blend brush but I got the angled contour brush in the ELF Studio store in New York City and there was only a small section of ELF Essentials in the store and the blush bronze blend brush was not there. But I am loving the studio angled contour brush its so easy to use and I feel like I have more control than if I try to use a fluffier or bigger brush. The other brush I got (I actually got 2 of them) was the ELF Essentials blending brush. I got one in a Target early in the summer but it was the last one. Later in the summer I was in a different Target and when I saw they had more of the blending brushes I decided to pick up another after all they were only $1 (roughly 0.75! A brush for less than a euro you just can't go wrong!)



While in Target I also picked up two pairs of the ELF natural lashes. I only wore fake eyelashes for my 18th. I tried to wear them once or twice since but I couldn't seem to get them on right. When I saw these lashes I was like no but for $1 each I decided to give fake lashes another shot. I was pleasantly surprised. I liked how the glue came with a hard wand type applicator which make it easy to get the glue on the lashes and also allowed my to put extra glue on the outer corner to make sure the lashes were secure. It took a few minutes to get used to the lashes but after I let my eyes adjust I quite liked them. The only thing I didn't like was that it felt like the lashes weren't sticking on the inner corner. But I think that was just me not being used to the fake lashes and worrying that they were falling off or something haha.



When it comes to primers I'm not the most consistent person. I hate when my makeup wears away in certain areas though so now and again I pick up a primer hoping it will keep my makeup in place. I picked up the NYC Smooth Skin Perfecting Primer in CVS. I wasn't to fond of this product. I held onto it anyway. I'm hoping to test it out again one of these days but for the time being I'm using the Revlon Colorstay foundation and I'm happy with the lasting power of the foundation without a primer.



Another Target purchase, I picked up the ELF brush shampoo. I never used to wash my makeup brushes that often (horrible I know) but when I did I used to use regular shampoo or sometimes cleanser I wasn't really sure what to use but then I saw this product and I decided to give it a go. I'm happy enough with it but I have started using my Sephora cleansing oil to remove as much makeup from my brushes as possible and then I use the brush shampoo to get rid of any oil that is left behind. The shampoo on its own does get rid of some of the makeup but I feel like you have to wash it several times before it seems like the brush is really clean.



Yet another Target purchase. I swear I did shop in other stores haha. A friend told me about White Girl Problems months ago now. I never actually saw it in stores in Ireland. I assume it's around somewhere but I never came across it. So when I saw it in Target I decided to buy it. I go through phases when it comes to reading. Sometimes you can't get me away from a book or my kindle. Other times it could be a good book but I might just be more interested in my tv shows or just not in a reading mood. Lately I haven't been in much of a reading mood but I have started "White Girl Problems" by Babe Walker and it's really good! When I'm at home I've been leaning more towards movies and videos on the laptop than reading but I'm a little over a third of the way through the book and I recommend! :) So glad I picked it up! Wish I got it sooner!

That's all for now.

:)

New York Haul

I spent this summer in New York and I went crazy shopping! As you do. ;)  I bought so much I think I'm going to split this into a few parts. Now to get into the good stuff, starting with lip products. Some of the stuff I got you can't get in Ireland and some of it was just cheaper over there hence why I went insane! SO let's jump right in.

Up until this summer I was more into eye makeup than anything else. However, this summer I decided to branch out of my comfort zone and bought a bunch of lip products even a couple of bronzers and blushes but I'll get into all that in my next blog post. I caved and bought 2 mac lipsticks while i was over there. I got 'Creme Cup' (left) and 'Hue' (right). I just fell in love with 'Creme Cup', to me it's the perfect colour for day time or night time. 'Hue' was a bit of a different story. Technically it was my last purchase in New York. I bought it in the airport at the MAC store. After looking in duty free and seeing the higher end products I was a little disappointed that there were no more affordable makeup products (even at the airport all I can think is makeup haha). As I was heading towards my departure gate I spotted the MAC store and I was in heaven. At first I couldn't decide what shade to pick up but then I remembered one day in Brown Thomas in Galway picking up 'Hue' again and again. When I swatched 'Hue' I loved it however on my lips there is less colour payoff than I was hoping for. I've only used 'Hue' once or twice so I'm trying to keep an open mind on that one for the time being.

I got 2 elf matte lip colours, one in 'Natural' and one in 'Tea Rose' i love them both. They are so handy and last so long. And for $3 like how could you go wrong! I got them in the elf studio store in New York City. It is so handy being able to actually test the products rather than guessing from the pictures online or the tube in store. The only thing I didn't like about the elf store in New York was that the majority of the store was the elf studio line as you may have guessed from the name. I was really looking forward to trying some essentials and minerals products but there was a very limited selection in the elf store. I was lucky enough to pick up a few other elf products in Target one of which was an elf essentials jumbo lip gloss stick in 'Pink Umbrellas' and a few other bits but I'll get into those in my next post. :)

When I was in Sears (which was quite often truth be told) they had 50% off cosmetics. 50% off like how can anyone resist! So I decided to purchase a Rimmel lipstick in 'Nude Delight' because I saw someone on youtube wearing it and it looked amazing! :)

 I also picked up a couple of NYX products. I was so excited to try NYX after seeing bits and pieces in youtube videos now and again. At first it was pretty hard to find NYX I thought it was a popular brand that would be in plenty of shops, I was pretty disappointed at first when I couldn't find the brand in any of the stores near me. Eventually I found it in Sears for 50% off! I was so lucky not only did i eventually find NYX but I got it on sale. I picked up 3 mega shine lip glosses in 'Salsa', 'Gold Pink' and 'Crystal Soda', 3 retractable lip liners in 'Peony', 'Fruit Punch' and 'Nectar' and a matte lip cream in 'Milan'.

During a couple of my very frequent trips to CVS I picked up 3 wet n' wild lip products. The first was a mega slicks lip gloss in 'Sweet Glaze' (560A). I wanted something that just added a bit of gloss for over any lipstick but I hate the way clear lip glosses with a brush applicator go pink or whatever colour the lipstick you apply them over is, so I decided to get a lip gloss that was already slightly pink in colour but that wouldn't be pigmented enough to outshine the lipstick I was wearing. I also picked up a very cute lipstick in 'Smokin' Hot Pink'. I just fell in love with the shade even though this particular shade is a bit bolder then I used to wear I couldn't resist. The final wet n' wild lip product I picked up was a lip liner lipstick duo in 120. Truth be told I haven't used this product that much. I just love the idea of it. It is so handy. No rooting for several products on a night out to touch up the old lips after a few drinks just one product and you are good to go for the liner and lipstick.

My last lip product is a Maybelline Colour Whisper in 'Mocha Muse'. I'm in love with the Revlon lip butters I have about 3 of them haha. So when Maybelline came out with the Colour Whispers I just had to try one. I didn't know what colour to go for so I decided to go with 'Mocha Muse' kind of a safer bet than some of the other colours. After picking up so many lip products several of which were bolder colours than I was used to I decided to go for a more natural colour this time. Next time may be a different story though ;)

So that's the end.....for now. Lots of lip products, most of which I'm pretty fond of so far. Thankfully :) I will say it is so much cheaper in New York than it is to purchase lip products in Ireland. A lot of what I got was on sale but with the exchange rate even the full prices are cheaper than here. It was good for me when I was over there however being back a lot of makeup seems more expensive now. I guess it's a good thing I bought so much over there haha.

:)