Collective haul!

OK so in the last week and half or so I've done WAY more shopping than I should have. Oh well I couldn't help myself! It's a bit of a mixed bag a few skincare, a hair product, some makeup and a couple of magazines.  Some of these products I have tried a bit so there's a bit of a first impression the rest I got today so I'll just show you those ones. Here it goes hope you enjoy.

First off I was in the Boots in Athlone which as far as I know is the closest Boots with a Sleek stand. My local Boots doesn't have one, I don't know if that a good thing or a bad thing though. If it did I might not be able to stop myself from buying everything haha. I was so excited to get my hands on some of the i-divine palettes after seeing a few different youtube videos and blog posts on them. I decided before I got to Boots that I wanted Oh So Special and since it was buy one get one half off I ended up picking up Vintage Romance. I was going to get Storm or the original but when I was at the stand Vintage Romance just looked so pretty!

I mean don't those colours just look gorgeous! And I love the names too!

Next thing I bought was a Tangle Teaser. Again youtubers and bloggers made me do it! I've heard so many people talking about this and I just really wanted to give it a try. I got it in my local Cara Pharmacy for the very reasonable price of €9.05. Considering Boots charge €15.99 I was very happy with my purchase. At first I thought it felt so strange but after using it for a little over a week I can't imagine going back to a normal brush or a comb I love it so much.

Next purchase blame/thanks goes to my friend. She spotted this mask and said it was really good so of course I had to pick it up. It was on sale for €6 I think it was €12ish not sure though. I just loved it. It made my skin feel so soft. It is the Sanctuary Spa Convent Garden Deep Facial Cleanse 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask. I've only used it twice but my skin feels so soft after it's amazing. I've never tried a thermal mask before I love the feeling!

Those were the bits I got last week. When I was in Boots I got a double points voucher so I decided to go in today and pick up a few things. I'll start with the hair product. I picked up the Batiste Dry Styling XXL plumping powder. I was watching one of my favourite youtubers, Tati, I can't remember if it was on her channel or the Allure one but she was talking about plumping powders and lately I feel like my hair looks a little flat in some pictures so I wanted to give one of these powders a try. I hope the Batiste one is good now.

Next thing I picked up was the L'Oreal Skin Perfection Miracle Cleansing Oil. It was on offer in Boots save 1/3 on selected L'Oreal skincare. It was reduced from €10.49 to €6.99. My Sephora cleansing oil ran out recently and I started using my Garnier Micellar Water to take off my makeup but I prefer getting the majority of the makeup off with a cleanser specifically a cleansing oil and then using the micellar water afterwards. I hope this is as good as my Sephora oil. I used it once and so far I'm pretty happy with it.

The other skincare product I picked up was the Garnier express 2 in 1 Eye Make-up Remover. I heard good things about this product, but the main reason I purchased this was because I feel like I've been pulling at my eyes more than I should when removing my eye make-up. I hope this lives up to my expectations now. This was also on offer in Boots save 1/3 on selected Garnier so I got it for €2.86.

 

On to make-up. Rimmel has an offer 2 for €12 on at the moment. I was using my Rimmel Scandaleyes jumbo pencil to line my water line but jumbo pencil + water line = bad. I had a few other pencil liners but they were scratchy and just uncomfortable so I decided to pick up the normal size Scandaleyes pencil. It feels very creamy and smooth on my hand and I've heard good things so fingers crossed. Sadly I had another liner that felt smooth on my hand but was very scratchy so hoping for better results this time around. 

 

The other Rimmel product I picked up was the Scandaleyes Retro Glam mascara. I like the mascara I have now (which also happens to be Rimmel coincidentally) but I feel like it is better for nights out or dramatic looks. I wanted to try something new. I was going to pick up the Wonder'full, but the lovely girl that was working at Boots said people weren't happy with it and often came back for another new mascara. I may have dodged a bullet on that one. I love the look of this brush though. I'm looking forward to testing it out tomorrow.

Moving away from Boots I wandered through my local Penneys. There's no nice way to say it my Penneys is crap. It's small and the stock is not a patch on Athlone or most other Penneys. Despite this I often come out with something. I'm a shopaholic what can I say. Today I picked up the french false nails. I love fake nails. I've never really been happy with my own nails. For €1.50 you can't go wrong with these. I personally think they last longer than or at least as long as the Broadway nails which are roughly €9-12. I also picked up fake lashes. I don't usually wear fake lashes but my graduation is coming up in about a month so I wanted to try out a pair of these and possibly wear them on the day. For €1.50 what could it hurt to give them a try anyway. I was going to get the natural ones but I have ELF natural lashes and they are definitely natural. I wanted to try something a little more noticeable.

I haven't read a magazine in quite a while so I decided to pick up Stellar and Glamour. I got Stellar in Easons for €1.95 and Glamour in Tesco for €1.47. I had my eye on a few other ones but didn't really want to spend €4-7 on a magazine. I normally like Stellar so I wanted to get my hands on the newest edition. Truth be told I only picked up Glamour for 2 reasons 1 it was cheap and 2 I recently read a post on tips to overcome blogging blocks and I figured it wouldn't hurt to have another magazine around the house. I'm really looking forward to reading the Glamour Beauty Power List though.

Hope you enjoyed this haul. Have you tried any of these products? I'd love to know what you thought.

:)

Today's Make Up

Hi there. I was doing my make up today and I thought I'd share how I applied everything. So I'm going to list what products I use then explain how I applied them.

Face:

Foundation - Rimmel Stay Matte in 010 Light Porcelain and Wet n Wild Coverall in 816 Fair/Light

Powder - Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light Plus

Bronzer - W7 Honolulu

Blush - NYX Bourgeois Pig

Concealer - Essence Stay Natural concealer 03 Soft Nude

Eyes:

Shadows - Sleek Oh So Special palette shades Organza, Wrapped Up and Bow

Liner - Wet n Wild Mega Liner Black

Mascara - Rimmel Glam Eyes Lash Flirt Volume and Flirt 

Brows - Wet n Wild Ultimate Brow Kit in Ash Brown

Lips:

Lipstick - Mac Creemsheen in Creme Cup

Lip gloss - NYX Mega Shine in Salsa

Brushes:

Real Techniques Stippling brush

ELF Blending brush

ELF smudge brush  - not pictured

Bare Minerals blush brush - not pictured

Claire's brush for bronzer - not pictured

Other brushes from Ebay 

Personally I go back and forth between doing my eyes first and doing my face first. Today I started with my eyes. I used my ring finger to apply a thin layer of foundation and set it with my mac powder. I applied Organza all over my lid and blended Wrapped Up into my crease with a little bit of Bow under my brow. At first I lined my lid with Noir from the Oh So Special palette but then I decided to go over it with my Wet n Wild liquid liner. I applied the mascara but this mascara is a bit more than I like for  day time look. I prefer something a little more natural but it does the job. For my eyebrows I use my ELF smudge brush to fill in my brows. I used the lighter shade of the Wet n Wild eyebrow kit.

I have a lot of redness in my cheeks so today I wanted to try something I haven't tried before. I put a pea size amount of the Rimmel Stay Matte to the back of my hand and used my Real Techniques brush to apply a very thin layer on the cheeks and anywhere else I thought looked red. Then I used a small amount of the Wet n Wild foundation all over my face. Alone I don't like either of these foundations. They both feel quite heavy and the Rimmel one creases but I quite like them layered like I applied them today. I applied a little Essence concealer under my eyes. For my bronzer I start just above my tragus and blend towards my mouth. I really like the W7 bronzer in Honolulu. I think it's really good and it's very affordable I think it's around €3. Lastly I swept my NYX blush from the apples of my cheeks towards the top of my ear.

Here is the finished look

Getting the right foundation

Getting the right foundation can be a real pain in the backside. I am pretty picky about my foundation. I like medium to full coverage. It's hard to find a foundation with good coverage that doesn't feel thick and heavy especially on a small budget. I'm definitely open to suggestions by the way. :) I test the foundation before purchasing but I don't know how to tell if a foundation is more yellow or pink and which one I should be getting for my skin type. Any tips?

This time last year I was using a Maxfactor Face Finity 3 in 1 foundation. Over the summer I picked up a couple of foundations including two Revlon Colorstay, a Revlon Colorstay whipped, a Revlon Photo-ready, a Covergirl Clean oil-free and a Wet n Wild. A lot of Revlon I know. It was so much cheaper than buying in Ireland. I like the Revlon foundations although I think the Whipped one is a little to dark for me. All of these are in my New York Haul Part 3 except the Wet n Wild which I seemed to have forgotten to mention...oops. I picked up a Wet n Wild Coverall cream foundation in 816 Fair/Light I don't love this foundation but I don't hate it either. Matter of fact it has come in quite handy when I forget my foundation or when I'm nearly out. I have found it easier to apply with my fingers as it cakes up my brush after one or two uses.

Since the summer I have picked up a few more foundations including a Rimmel StayMatte, a Maybelline Dream Satin and a L'Oreal Paris Nude Magique. I thought the Rimmel StayMatte felt way to heavy on caked on me a little. The Dream Satin was okay not a favorite but not the worst. The most recent was was the L'Oreal Paris Nude Magique. Its so light sometimes I forget I'm wearing foundation. Its very runny. I wasn't to sure about it at first. I grew to like it once I got used to it. However towards the end of the bottle the coverage isn't quite like it used to be. Its hard to describe. The end of the bottle also seems to be a little darker.

 

The past few weeks I have been using the Covergirl Clean foundation during the day and the Revlon PhotoReady for nights out. I'm not loving the Covergirl foundation but it does the job for now.  I'm thinking of trying the L'Oreal True Match next. Anyone know if it's any good? How do you pick your foundation? Any one else find it very hard to stick to one particular foundation?

:)

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

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.

:)