Thursday 30 October 2014

FOTD #6: Simple Mouse Halloween Make Up


Hi everyone! I hope you're all keeping well. I haven't posted anything in a while, I've wanted to but I've just not had anything that I've particularly wanted to post about in the last while until today.

Last weekend the boyfriend decided to tell me last minute that we were going to the Pumpkin Festival which is a festival that happens where I live on the Halloween bank holiday, there's all sorts to do at it including fireworks (which were great) and the main event is fancy dress. 

With it being last minute I had no costume for said fancy dress and no time to think up an idea. So in a mad rush to get something that would do I picked up a set of mouse ears for €4 in the local joke shop and told myself id make an attempt with make up to turn myself into a mouse. If you follow me on Instagram you've probably already seen my photos of how it turned out.

I thought it would turn out disastrously bad but I ended up being pretty happy with the way it turned out, so I've decided to share what I did to help any of you that don't have an idea for a costume yet, haven't got much of a budget or like me - didn't have time to think of anything! 




So I first applied my foundation, concealer, contour and blush as I usually do, then I filled in my brows.

Next were the eyes. You cant clearly see them here but I used two eye shadows in my crease from Urban Decay's smoked palette, I used a mixture of backdoor and blackout, concentrating blackout mainly on the outer v of my eyes and slightly into the crease, i also ran both shadows along my bottom lash line. I then went into my Stila in the light palette and patted kitten all over my lid and in the inner corners. Next I took a black gel liner across my upper lash line and winged it out a little for a subtle cat eye. I then applied lashes which in my opinion is what pulled the whole look together.

Now for the fun part! I took a pencil liner, I used Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in perversion as I thought it was the least likely to smudge everywhere. I drew the outline of a round nose and then filled the middle of it in with the liner once i was happy with the shape. Next I drew the whiskers, trying to keep as steady a hand as I could as you can see from the picture it wasn't so steady on the first whisker! (oops!)

To finish this really simple look off I took some eyelash glue and some nail art decorations and glued them onto the tops of my cheekbones under my eyes and then I went for a red lip to finish everything off.

The whole look took no longer than it would usually take me to get ready for a night out and though its very simple to put together it worked really well and though I was worried about the liner on my face smudging it didn't budge at all! So for being in such a rush to pull something together I'm very happy with the way it turned out, sometimes I think the simplest costumes are the best ones!

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween! What are you dressing up as this year?

Thursday 28 August 2014

Seventeen Stay Time Concealer


Long time no see! Hope you're all keeping well, I know - I've been a bad blogger! I don't have any excuses for my absence except that I've just been enjoying life and blogging has taken a backseat to all the things that are keeping me busy these days! Blogging is something I've always enjoyed though so here's hoping I can find some more time for it from now on! So, excuses out of the way, let's get down to business!



For some reason my nearest Boots does not have a Collection stand, which in my opinion is a crime, seeing as I have to travel to Dublin if I ever run out of my beloved Lasting Perfection Concealer. I had literally been scraping every last bit of my last tube of said concealer for months and was going out for drinks one night with the Mr, and I couldn't get any more out of the tube! I legged it to Boots in desperate need of concealer anything would have done so I ran to the Seventeen stand because I didn't fancy spending the guts of 15 euro on a concealer that I probably wouldn't like so I settled for Seventeen's Stay Time Concealer which only set me back €6.50 or so. I picked up the shade fair, and I have to say I have been pretty impressed with this concealer since the first use. 

The shade matches my pasty complexion perfectly, the concealer claims to be full coverage and I have to say that it covers blemishes really well even the biggest and angriest ones! I also use this under my eyes and it doesn't crease and covers the discolouration there pretty well too. Staying power is great it doesn't budge at all throughout the day, as for if it stays for up 18 hours like it claims to I'm unsure as I don't think I've ever worn it that long but I'd imagine that it could last that long as it is still perfectly intact when I go to remove my make up at the end of the day. I often wear this concealer alone with no foundation and just powder over the top and it covers everything brilliantly on its own without foundation. 

I absolutely love Collection's Lasting Perfection Concealer and it is still my absolute favourite but this offering from Seventeen comes seriously close to being just as good and is a great alternative if like me your nearest Boots doesn't have a Collection stand!

Do you have any recommendations for other great cheap high street/drugstore concealers? 





Thursday 15 May 2014

Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Matte Top Coat





The squeals of delight that came out of me last week when I discovered that my local Dunnes Stores now has a Wet 'n' Wild stand got me a few funny looks in the toiletries aisle! So putting the fact that I made a complete eegit of myself aside - I picked up a few bits to try out and thought I'd share my thoughts on their Matte Top Coat.

Not sure why it's under their Wild Shine line of polishes as it's a Matte Top Coat that doesn't make much sense to me to be honest - but I'm seriously impressed with this top coat! I'm sure you all know that you apply a matte top coat over any polish and it takes the shine and glossiness away and leaves you with a really nice matte effect, meaning you don't have to buy actual matte polishes to get the effect - hurray!

Wet'n'Wild Matte Top Coat Over OPI's Mermaid Tears - yes that is a bit of a hole in my polish, I never said i was any good at painting nails! ;)

Wet 'n' Wild's matte top coat offering works perfectly, it completely takes away the shine of your polish (though there is a slight shine in the photo above for some reason I can assure you they are completely matte in real life) and leaves a really smooth perfectly matte finish, unlike some others that still leave a slight shine on the polish.

Not only does it leave things perfectly matte, but it only cost €1.99! I'm just seriously blown away at how good this is for the price point! 

I've picked up a few other bits from Wet'n'Wild and have to say I'm liking everything so far so keep an eye out for more Wet'n'Wild bits on the blog over the next while!

Have you tried the matte top coat? What are your thoughts on it? Also recommendations for other products from Wet'n'Wild that are worth trying are welcome - I'm pretty obsessed with their stuff right now! 



Tuesday 15 April 2014

MUA Undress Me Too Palette





I recently took part in a swap with Georgie, a fellow beauty blogger (you can see the swap here, if you haven't seen it already!) And one of the things I immediately fell in love with was MUA's Undress Me Too palette. 

Yes I know what you're thinking - "oh god she's banging on about another neutral palette!" and yes this one is very similar to other palettes out there, I actually think it's really close to being like the Naked 2, I don't know what it is its just blown all the other palettes I have out of the water.

It has 12 shades, and to me it seems there are only 3 fully matte shades with the rest being metallic, but not so metallic that they look insane. The shadows still come off looking really soft and pretty looking once you've applied them to the eyes. 

Top Row Swatches

Bottom Row Swatches

The texture of the shadows is lovely, they're all buttery soft and blend well. The matte shades are soft and easy to work with too, though corrupt (the black shade) is quite chalky you can still get it to work well without a huge amount of effort. 

I have been reaching for this palette daily since I received it, and I have been able to make barely there eye looks to deeper, smokey looks. I must actually say that I've been really enjoying the smokier looks I've been getting with this palette that it has steered me away from the really natural eye looks that I usually opt for.

Over all I absolutely love this palette, and I have never seen any MUA products here in Ireland but I think they need to pull the finger out and bring their products here because I for one would love to try more of their stuff - especially the palettes!

Are any of you as in love with this palette as I am?





Friday 11 April 2014

What's In My Makeup Bag #3





 Hola! Getting ready this morning I was digging through my make up bag and was thinking there's a lot of stuff in here I'm not using, this isn't practical - I need to sort this out! 

So I reorganised the contents of my make up bag and decided I'd show you what products I'm currently using the most because I haven't done it in a while! It's always interesting while I'm doing these posts to look back on my last one and see what products have made their way in - or out of my make up bag.


Base Products
This may be the only part of my make up bag that never changes! I've been finding that my beloved Bourjois healthy mix serum is a tad too yellow for me lately for some reason, so I have started to use my other favourite foundation Revlon Colourstay more, I'd be using this over the healthy mix serum at the moment anyway on account of my skin being awful. Then I have my 2 trusty concealers - Collection's Lasting Perfection and Maybelline's The Eraser.

Blushes, bronzers and powders

This hasn't changed too much either - Benefit's Rockateur is still my blush of choice, I usually pair this with MAC's MSF in Adored used with a light hand as a highlighter and I get a really lovely glowy effect that makes me look really fresh and awake. I contour everyday now, which is unusual for me! But I use Dainty Doll's Money Talks Blusher as a contour and it's just perfect for the job when you have Casper's complexion! My powder of choice these days is Maybelline's Super stay 24 hour powder. I just really like the coverage this gives without looking cakey and it doesn't cling to dry patches or break down when your skin is oily - my ideal powder!

Eyeshadow
The only eye shadows I have been using are from MUA's Undress Me Too palette that i received in a swap from Georgie, you can see the swap here if you'd like! I absolutely adore this palette and have actually mostly been using the darker shades which again, like contouring is somewhat of a big change for me make up wise!

Mascaras, Eyeliner, brows, etc
I have been using 2 mascaras. Seventeen's superlash and my favourite Lancome's Hypnose Doll Eyes. My Doll eyes has nearly run out and I'm trying to scrape every last bit out of the tube and I'm also trying to get to grips with the Super lash - I'm still not sure that i like it. My brow products haven't changed, I'm still using MAC's Fling brow pencil and a clear brow gel the one in the photo is Catrice's, which I really like as the brush has a traditional mascara wand like side to it and the other side has more of a comb type of thing going on. The eyeliners I've been sporting lately are Stila's Smudgestick in Damsel and Rimmel's Scandal eyes in nude. And lastly -  I couldn't be without my Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion!

So that's everything I've been using. Not a ton of stuff compared to the amount that was in the bag before I re organised it! It's going to be much easier to not have to root through piles of stuff that I'm not even using! 

What's in your make up bag at the moment?


Wednesday 9 April 2014

The Beauty Tag

A few days ago Georgie from Bean's Beauty Blog (to see the swap I recently did with Georgie click here!) tagged me in her Beauty Tag post and I thought it had some pretty interesting questions, so i've decided to take part and complete her tag - yay!

Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, lipsticks, eyeliners, lipsticks and lip-glosses, or lose all of your palettes and eye shadows?


This pretty tricky! I love my palettes and eyeshadows, but if I had to loose them to get to keep everything else I would, because you can still look put together without eyeshadow.

Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?

My hair actually really bugs me when it's too long and has no shape to it so i'd say chop it all off!


If you had £500, would you spend this on clothes or makeup?


I'd spend that amount on clothes because it's more practical. I love make up but I don't think I could spend that much on it alone at once!


Would you rather only use one eyeshadow colour or one lip colour for the rest of your life?


I'd rather one lip colour as I tend to stick to the same kind of shades all the time anyway.


Bright nails or nude nails all year round?

Nude, without a doubt!

Would you rather never be able to use lipgloss or paint your nails again?


I don't particularly like lipgloss but I wear it more often than I paint my nails so i'd choose getting rid of nail painting.

Describe your perfect mascara.  Have you found one?

It has to be volumising, not flake or smudge as I rub my eyes a lot and I tend to prefer drier formulas. And yes my favourite mascara is Lancome's Hypnose Doll Eyes, that stuff is wait for it - LEDGENDARY!

What's your ideal coverage foundation?

It depends on how my skin is at the time. If it's clear i'll wear medium coverage if not it's heavy My skin is awful so more often than not its a heavy coverage foundation that i'll be wearing.

Favourite high street/drugstore beauty brand?

Bourjois, they have some really great stuff and their foundations are my favourites.


Favourite High end beauty brand?

That would be MAC.

Is there any makeup you can leave the house without wearing?

If I leave the house without make up, which I do quite often i'll always have brow gel in nothing fancy just plain old clear gel.

What is your most cherished beauty product?

That'd probably my Naked palette - the original one.

Do you have a budget each month, or do you spend freely?

I have a budget, which usually dosen't involve buying new make up anymore seeing as i'm a grown up now and have to watch every penny that I spend! If I run out of something or see something I really want I will treat myself every now and then but that hasn't happened in a while now!

How often do you shop for goodies - online or in stores?

I used to shop online a lot, but very rarely now as it's too easy for me to spend more than I want to. As for in stores, I look a lot but haven't seen anything that has caught my eye in a long time!

Do you always use the same skin routine or do you like switching it up?

If something is working for me I stick with it. My skin is so strange though that something that works well and has cleared it can sometimes turn around and make it worse all of a sudden so when it does I find something else!

Top 5 Beauty Gurus?

Emilynoel83, Goss make up artist, Essie Button, From Head to Toe and Tanya Burr.

If you could only buy one makeup brand forever which would you buy?

If money was no object - MAC. Otherwise it'd probably be Bourjois.

Which brand has your favourite packaging?

Pretty sure everyone would answer this question the same haha! It's got to be Benefit!

Which do you apply first, concealer or foundation?

Foundation THEN concealer! It just dosent work the other way around, if you put concealer on first then foundation ontop you disturb the concealer underneath when you're buffing it into your skin to me there's just no point doing it that way!

What skin type do you have?

Is shitty considered a skin type!? Haha! It's combination, it can be very dry and also very oily.

Name a makeup crime you hate

Drawn on eyebrows. It looks rediculous. It's supposed to be subtle girls, learn to do it right!

Quick Fire Questions

Blush or Bronzer?

Blush

Lipgloss or lipstick?

Lipstick

Foundation or concealer?

Foundation

Brushes or sponges?

Brushes

OPI or Essie?

OPI

Lotion or body butter?

Body butter

I tag ALL OF YOU to answer these questions, if you do make sure to leave me a link in the comments below so I can have a peek at your answers! And thanks again to Georgie for tagging me!


Thursday 3 April 2014

(Another!) Beauty Box Swap


Hey there! It's been a long time since I posted I know. I've been poorly and in and out of hospital the last month or so so that's why there has been silence from me for a while! I'm happy to say that I'm now back and raring to go with regular posting again!

So during my lack of posting, I was asked by the lovely Georgie from Bean's Beauty Blog to do a swap with her. 

I never pass up the opportunity to do a swap with another blogger so of course I said yes! And Georgie being the lovely person that she is asked me if there was anything in particular that I wanted to try out so I told her that we cant get MUA products here in Ireland so she very kindly said that she would get me some of their stuff to try out!

 I received my box from Georgie last week when I was feeling very poorly and sorry for myself and it really lifted my spirits and I'm so happy with everything I was sent, Georgie did an excellent job! I sent my package off to Georgie a few days ago, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she thinks of it! 

Anyway! here's what you want to see! The goodies! :)



   

My box contained some really great things as you can see! Georgie sent me two face masks which I'm starting to have a collection of these days funnily enough! She gave me a cucumber cooling mask and a tropical self heating one which I used last night and I have to say it was really good, and my skin is so hydrated and feeling so soft today :) 

The part I'm most excited about is the two MUA palettes! Georgie picked out two perfect ones for me the Undress Me Too palette and the Ever After Matte palette. Both are gorgeous and exactly the kind of palettes that I would pick out myself. I've been using the Undress Me Too palette everyday since I got it and I love it, its very similar to Naked 2. I haven't played around with the Matte palette yet but I'm going to break it out soon and I'm hoping its going to be as good as it looks.

Georgie also sent me two MUA blushers one called Cupcake which is a really lovely peachy pink shade and Marshmallow which is a super bright looking pink! I haven't used them yet but from swatching them they seem great and feel really buttery in texture.

There is also an MUA Mosaic Bronzer in the box too, but unfortunately it arrived broken so I haven't been able to use it, if anyone knows how to fix broken powders let me know because I'm really keen to fix it so I can use it as it looks really nice.

One of the last few items that Georgie sent to me are MUA's Hide & Conceal Concealer which is a traditional twist up lipstick style concealer. I haven't got on too well with these kind of concealers before but I have to say I'm finding this one to be working well for me and it blends nicely too which has always been a problem for me with these kind of concealers but its working well and I'm really liking it so far. 

Georgie also included a Miss Sporty Eyeshadow Duo which is really nice actually. We get Miss Sporty here but they're not really a brand I've tried much from and I have to say this little duo is pretty nice and works well so it's made me want to try more from them.

The last item I received is the Up All Night Mascara and I think it's from One Directions line with MUA but I'm not sure so hopefully someone can confirm that for me? I haven't opened it yet as I don't want it to dry out while I'm trying to use up other opened mascaras but I really cant wait to get into this. From what I've seen on other blogs it seems right up my street - a volumising mascara that has something to do with One Direction - that can't be any better in my eyes! ha ha!

I think Georgie did such a great job and she picked out things that I really love and have been enjoying using so much that I can see a lot of these products - especially the palettes making their way into my daily make up routine. If there's anything I recived that you'd like to see a full post on let me know and i'll be happy to do it for you.

So thank you so much to Georgie for asking me to do this swap! If you're not familiar with her blog you should pop over and have a look, she's such a lovely person and her blog is great and well worth a read!

Hope you're all well and i'll be back to regular posting over the next week! 














Thursday 27 February 2014

Cook With Me #2: Tandoori Chicken



A few weeks I posted my Garlic Potato Bake recipe, which is here if you'd like to see it. That post was really well received and I got some lovely comments and tweets about it, so I decided that I'd post another recipe today!

I love Indian food, and always order Tandoori Chicken it's my favourite! I've also been making it myself at home for years and it's really simple to make and has become one of my favourite things to make. You'll find that with any recipe I post, they're really easy but really tasty! I'm all about things being as easy as possible!

Ingredients

2-3 Chicken Breast Fillets (This serves 2 people if you dice your chicken, 3 if you keep the fillets whole)
Natural Yogurt
1 Lemon
Tandoori Powder
Parsley

Preparation

- Put half of your pot of natural yogurt into a mixing bowl, along with half the lemon squeezed, chopped parsley - which I forgot to buy when I was making this! So I didn't use it this time. Also if you don't like parsley its just as nice without it! Add as much Tandoori powder as you like. I do this by eye, adding a little powder at a time until the colour of the mixture is a medium orange colour it usually takes about 3 generously heaped dessert spoons to get it to where I like it to be, but you can put in as much or as little as you like! Mix everything together and make sure that there is no powder left in the marinade.

- This time around I diced my chicken breasts into large chunks, but you can leave your fillets whole if you prefer it works the same way. Once you have your chicken ready throw it into the marinade that you just made and mix it well, making sure that it is thoroughly coated in the marinade. 

- Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to marinate, preferably overnight or for at least 1-2 hours before you cook it.

- Put the chicken and any remaining marinade into a baking dish lined with tin foil (you don't have to do this but I find it stops anything sticking) bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 - 200 degrees depending on your oven type for 30 mins. After 15 mins check the chicken and pour off any liquid in the dish. after 30 minsn your chicken should be cooked, but if you need to give it more time keep a close eye on it.

I serve Tandoori Chicken a few different ways. It's great with rice or with potato wedges and salad/veg. It's also lovely stuffed into Pitta Bread with lettuce and tomatoes - which is also a great way to use up any leftovers!

I'd love to hear what you think if you try this! Also if you make this yourself is there anything you do differently? 

If you'd like to see more recipe posts let me know, I love food and like sharing recipes so if it's something you would like me to keep posting let me know!






Friday 14 February 2014

Secret Valentine Beauty Box Swap





You might have seen me mention a few times that a while back I signed up to take part in a Secret Valentine swap that was set up by Victoria from Vickie Blogs and Laura from Tease Flutter Pout, if you're not familiar with their blogs check them out, they're two lovely girls and they both have really great blogs that are well worth a read!


For the swap, we were all assigned someone to buy for. We were each given all of our person's links to find out more about them and put together a box for them based on what we thought they would like and the swap is also Valentine's themed which I thought was lovely as it gave us a chance to throw in a few nice extra bits for our person! The idea of the swap is also to keep our identity a secret from the person we were buying for - which makes things even more fun! I loved putting a box together for the blogger I was assigned and I really can't wait to see what she thinks about it!

It was also great to receive my Secret Valentine's box! It arrived nearly 3 weeks ago and I decided that I wasn't going to open it until Valentine's day - which is today! It's been so difficult to not tear into the package and it has been teasing me so much!

My Secret Valentine wrapped the whole box in wrapping paper with hearts on it which was such a nice touch! It did however make it even harder to not tear into it! 


So this morning when I woke up I immediately grabbed the package and ripped it open! I have to say that I am so happy with everything in the box! My Secret Valentine has done a fantastic job and I'm so happy with everything, also the card is just so cute and perfect, even down to the message on the inside where they mentioned knowing that I have springer spaniels! Which made me think the sender did their homework, or that I may have had a conversation with them about my dogs because I remember talking to a few people on twitter about my dogs - either way that's some really good detective work! I also really liked the little heart shaped chocolates that were in the box too - they were really good! :) 

Let's have a look at what my lovely Secret Valentine sent me!



I couldn't be happier with what I was sent! In my box I received 2 Skin Wisdom face masks one is a peel off smoothing and brightening mask and the other a thermal mask. This is a brand that I'm not familiar with and also this couldn't be better timing to be given face masks as my skin has gone crazy, so I'm excited to try those!

I also got two soaps in my box and they're both lovely there's a heart shaped one from the body shop it doesn't say what the scent is but to me it smells of honey - I could be wrong! The other is A Dr.Bronner Hemp Rose Soap. It's fair trade and has organic oils, it smells fantastic and I'm looking forward to trying it out!

I also got a mini soap and glory Clean On Me Shower gel which I've been wanting to try forever but never wanted to purchase the full size in case I didn't like it so this is so great that its included!

There was a Vivo Colourwash Lipgloss in the shade Raring to go which is a lovely sheer watermelon shade of gloss. There were also 2 lip balms in my box one is a Honey balm which has really cute floral packaging with a bunny embossed on the lid. The other is an amazing smelling chocolate lip butter from The Bubbles & Butters company - it smells exactly like chocolate and I cant stop smelling it!

There was a mini L'Occitane foot cream and a really cute pair of socks with hearts on them, they're really soft and I cant wait to put them on - I love socks! ha ha

My final 2 items that I received are a Hello Kitty Magic flannel. I'm guessing that when you put it into water that it expands into a face cloth! I love little things like that and it was a really nice thing to include!

The last thing I got is my favourite out of everything I received! It's the Barry M Smokin' Hot Shadow & Blush Palette! I had my eye on these when they came out first but unfortunately my local boots doesn't stock them they only stock Barry M Nail polishes, so I was super happy to see this palette in my package! There's 6 shadows and a blush in the palette and it looks so lovely, cant wait to play around with it over the next few days!

I'm delighted with everything that I received and my Secret Valentine did such a good job putting it all together! I have lots of new stuff to try and not to mention most of what I received is from brands that I'm not familiar with so it's great to get to try new things! Thanks so much to my Secret Valentine! You did a fantastic job and your card and gifts put a big smile on my face today! :)

I'm so happy that I took part in this swap and I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's posts! If I get the chance to take part in something like this again I will, it has been so much fun!

Before I go I want to wish you all a Happy Valentines Day! Hope you're all being spoilt and having a great day! 


  













Wednesday 12 February 2014

Seventeen Super Lash Liner

Seventeen Super Lash Liner

On a recent trip to Boots to buy a new mascara I saw a deal on Seventeen's new Super Lash Mascara where you get the Super Lash Liner for free when you buy it! So I picked up both the mascara and the liner for €5! 

I haven't used the mascara yet as i'm waiting for my current one to run out before I open it, but I have to say that i've been really enjoying the liner!

The Super Lash liner is a liquid liner in felt tip form - but with a difference! Instead of being a regular pointed felt tip, it's angled, which for me has made it easier to get closer to my lashes and also makes it easier to do flicks and cat eyes especially if like me you don't have the steadiest hand!

The shape may make application easier, but the liner itself is lovely. It's a nice deep black shade and the lasting power is impressive, it dosent budge but also removes easily enough when you want it to. It dosent fade or transfer throughout the day which is great if you have oily lids like I do! 

Overall I think this is a great liner, but I think you can only buy it with the mascara at the moment and not on its own. If you dont need to pick up a new mascara and just want the liner I have noticed that Rinmel and Bourjois have the same kind of liners out with the angled felt tip so there is plenty of choice out there until you can buy this without the offer!

Have you tried this or a similar liner? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Sunday 9 February 2014

Loves Of Late #1


Hello and happy Sunday!

I find Sundays are the best days for me to write posts, it's the one day of the week where I don't leave the house as a rule so its perfect for catching up on writing posts, reading my favourite blogs, eating lots of food and spending too much time on twitter! 

I've never done a favourites post before. I know the usual thing to do is a monthly favourites post, but sometimes my favourite things don't change that often in terms of beauty products so instead of writing a post at the end of each month that would most likely have several repeats of things in the previous month's post, I've decided to do it my own way - like I do with everything else!

So this is my first Loves Of Late post! A sort of non-committal favourites post that I'm going to post whenever I feel like posting it. It'll have not only beauty related favourites, but also whatever else I'm liking at the time, be that food, clothes, a TV show or a blog I've been liking lately - it could have anything in it! 

Beauty 


Ive fallen in love with my Real Techniques Duo Fiber Collection (review here) over the past month. There just isn't a better set of duo fiber brushes out there than these at a reasonable price! They are just the softest, loveliest brushes ever and I can't say enough good things about them and it seems that Real Techniques can do no wrong!

I bought Sigma's Dry 'n' Shape last summer and I used it and really liked it, but in all the madness of the 3 moves I've done over the last year it got lost. I recently found it and realised how awesome it really is! It reshapes and dries your brushes so much faster and I'm making sure it never gets misplaced again!



I own 3 Inglot Shadows that have never gotten much love because I have other palettes that always took preference over them, but I've pulled them out a ton the last week and have to say I love them so much! They're buttery soft and blend like a dream, I'm planning on filling up my Z palette with more Inglot shadows so when I do expect a post on them!



I went into Boots recently to pick up a new mascara because my favourite L'ancome Hypnose Doll Eyes is close to running out - I will cry when it does! I wanted to try something new and not hugely expensive, so I was drawn to the Seventeen stand and picked up their new Superlash mascara which I haven't even opened yet, but I got a free Superlash liner with it and I have been loving the liner so much! I'll be doing a post this week hopefully, but to give you  quick run down it's a felt tip pen liquid liner but the nib is angled instead of the regular tip and it makes doing flicks so much easier! Lasting time is pretty good too!

Food

I've been eating so badly lately! I have been trying so hard to stop drinking Coke, and drink more water and basically just anything but Coke, but I've been so bad and am now hooked on the stuff again all my hard work is ruined!

I've also been eating anything that has the slightest bit of garlic in it. I've made the Garlic Potato Bake Recipe I posted about earlier this week (see it here here) twice this week. Also I've been obsessed with making my Cheesy Garlic Bread too this week, its so nice for lunch or as a side to pretty much anything, so I might do a recipe post on that soon seeing as my other one was so well received!

TV

I have been catching up on the TV shows that I've missed due to moving and being busy. Mainly The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, I have to say that I think I'm starting to prefer The Originals over The Vampire Diaries. I think it's because there's more action in The Originals and there's no ridiculous Elena/Stefan/Damon love triangle. It's just getting annoying now! Apart from that I do still love The Vampire Diaries though!

I started watching Awkward this week, and I'm now nearly caught up with all of it. I love it so much and I'm well and truly hooked! I thought I was in favour of Jenna and Matty but then Collin came into it - he's amazing! I don't know who I like more! ha ha!

Music 

I've recently only been able to really listen to music again because honestly it was just pissing me off, I don't know if that's normal - I'm guessing not! ha ha! But I've been back on my One Direction kick and can't stop listening to them again, I'm pretty sure I have my housemate driven mad at this stage. If I'm not playing them I'm going around singing the songs!

 Apart from 1D, I'm so in love with Stay The Night by Zedd & Hayley Williams. I'm a MASSIVE Paramore and Hayley Williams fan, but it took a while for this song to grow on me, but now that it has I absolutely love it and can't get it out of my head or stop playing it! If you haven't heard it yet - you need to! But I'm sure you all have heard it and haven't been living under a rock like I have for months! ha ha!



And that's pretty much it! I think I prefer this way of posting favourites. For me, it's overwhelming when there's a ton of monthly favourites posts all at the one time and you can only read so many of them at once before you don't want to read them anymore! Plus I also like seeing more in favourites posts than just products! 

Don't get me wrong I like seeing beauty favourites but seeing what other things a blogger is into at the moment gives you a sense of who they are, and I always like to know a bit more about the people who write the blogs I'm reading!

What are your Loves Of Late? Be it a favourite beauty product or anything else I'd love to know what it is, leave a comment and let me know! You can also find me on twitter here, I do love a chat on Twitter, so don't be afraid to come and say hi! 



Monday 3 February 2014

Cook With Me #1 : Garlic Potato Bake


Garlic Potato Bake with Herby Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast & Corn on the cob


So I thought I'd do a bit of a different post than usual. I've been meaning to post some recipes on here for a while now, and now that I'm back in my own place and have free reign of the kitchen again I thought that there was no time like the present!

So yesterday (which is today really but this won't be going up until tomorrow ha ha!) I decided to make my Garlic Potato Bake. There's a bit of a story behind this recipe actually which is a bit too funny not to share!

So basically when I was 15, I did Home-economics in school for my Junior Cert and part of the course for Home-Ec was a cooking practical. This is the recipe I came up with for the exam. We practised it for weeks getting it the way we wanted so that it would be a breeze on exam day and we wouldn't have to even think about what we had to do. So that's what I did, I practised it in school and at home for months and it was perfect every time and everyone who ate it loved it so I was pretty confident and not worried at all for my exam.

Exam day came around and I was doing really well, everything was going great - until my pan caught on fire!! I'm talking massive flames here, not just little ones. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life! Thankfully no one was hurt and the only thing damaged was the pan and I had to start over again but thankfully - no more fires! And I still came out of the exam with an A! ha ha! 

Ingredients

5-6 medium potatoes
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
3-4 slices of bacon (I use smoked but normal is fine too)
250ml Double Cream
Grated cheese (any is fine but a mix or red cheddar and mozzarella is what I use)

Preparation

- Wash, peel and par boil your potatoes for 5- 10 mins depending on size.

- Chop your onion and crush/grate the garlic and fry together in a pan for 2 mins. 

- Add bacon into the onion and garlic and fry until cooked.

- Once your potatoes are done drain and leave too cool so you don't burn your fingers when slicing them!

- Once you have sliced your potatoes and your onion, garlic and bacon is ready, you can start layering them in a baking dish. I do a layer of potatoes on the bottom, then place half of the onion and bacon mixture on top. Then I add another layer of sliced potatoes followed by the rest of the mix on top.

- Next pour your double cream over the entire tray. Then Sprinkle some cheese over the top (or if like me you love cheese drown it in it!) 

- Bake in an oven at 180 degrees for 30 mins. Check it after 30 mins by poking a knife into the potatoes to see if they're cooked through, if not cook for another 15 mins, you may need extra time depending on how thick you sliced them etc.

This Potato Bake is great just as a meal on it's own, with a nice salad on the side. Also it goes well with pretty much everything especially chicken! It also reheats well and is one of those things that tastes better the next day! It can be put together the night before or a few hours before you want to cook it too so it's great if you're going to be short of time!

My family have always loved this recipe and they always ask for it especially my sisters when they come over to visit and my dad always gets me to make it for family parties and I've never had anything but compliments from people who've tried it! 

If you make this I hope you enjoy it, and let me know if you tweaked it in some way to make it better! Also let me know if you'd like to see more recipes on my blog! Always love to hear what you all think about what I'm posting!

Hope you've had a great Monday!




Wednesday 29 January 2014

Real Techniques Kabuki Brush



Real Techniques Kabuki Brush

If you saw my post last week on the Real Techniques Duo Fiber Collection, (you can see it here!) you may remember I mentioned ordering the Kabuki brush from Real Techniques too. I ordered the set and kabuki brush from My Pretty Face Place which sells RT brushes along with lots of other lovely bits for a lot cheaper than other places and their shipping is reasonable too.

Left: Full Brush, Right: Brush Open

I bought this brush mainly because I wanted more powder brushes as I previously only had one, but I got this one specifically because of it's small size, perfect for carrying around in my bag as I hate carrying massive brushes around with me. They just take up too much space!

As you can tell from the photos the brush can be used the way it is which is a nice fluffy soft brush great for applying powders and blush or it can be opened up, which turns the brush into a flatter, thinner brush which is great for contouring with. 

Can I also add that when you open the brush up and close it again, that it makes a really lovely satisfying clicking noise so you know the magnets have locked it back into place. This doesn't matter really - I just really love the noise it makes! ha ha!

The brush itself is really soft and feels lovely on the skin. It does a great job at buffing powders into the skin for a flawless finish. 

I got this cheaper than it usually sells for I think it was €7 (ish) from My Pretty Face Place which is a great price, considering I've seen Boots and other sites selling it for €15! 

Over all its a lovely brush to have, maybe not an essential but I really like it and like I said it's great for carrying around for touch ups especially if you have a smaller bag, and it's unique and great that it's a 2 in 1 brush so you can use it for powder and contour/blush so it reduces the number of brushes you would potentially have to carry for touch ups!

Have you tried this Kabuki brush or anything similar?


Monday 27 January 2014

Real Techniques Limited Edition Duo Fiber Collection

Real Techniques Limited Edition Duo Fiber Collection

I'm a serious make up brush hoarder. I have so many that it's now boarding on the ridiculous. It all started a few years ago when I ordered my first brush set, which funnily enough was from Real Techniques as well, it was their eye starter kit. I still have it, and love it but then I got obsessed with Sigma brushes and I have a lot of their brushes and that's mainly what I've been using the last few years, I love them and use them on a daily basis.

Lately though I've been really annoyed with only having one powder brush and decided I needed a new one. So I decided I was going to get Real Techniques Limited Edition Duo Fiber collection for myself, I had been eyeing it for ages. So I ordered the set along with RT's Kabuki brush from My Pretty Face Place, which is a really great website. Bear in mind, they are based in the US - It turned out cheaper to buy the set from them with postage costs than it would to purchase the set from another site I use a lot that's based only down the road so to speak. Yes I had to wait a little longer but they arrived in or around a week after I placed my order, so it worked out brilliantly! 


Top: Duo Fiber Face Brush, Middle: Duo Fiber Contour Brush
Bottom: Duo Fiber Eye Brush

In the set, (which was €16.99 on the site) you get 3 Duo fiber brushes, you get a face brush, a contour brush and an eye brush. The bristles are made from taklon meaning they're really soft and with these brushes you're supposed to be able to create soft layers and add texture.

Duo Fiber Face Brush

The Face brush for me is the star of the set. It's super soft and feels wonderful against your skin. It picks up the just the right amount of powder that you need to set your make up. I love to use this with heavier coverage powders like my Maybelline Super Stay 24 hour powder, it makes it look a lot more natural without messing with the amount of coverage it gives. It's great with any kind of powder and also nice for blush, but this I prefer to use it with powders.

Duo Fiber Contour Brush
This brush has been a godsend for me, it's really changed the way my contouring work looks. It gives much more control due to it's size and shape, and the bristles are flexible yet still firm enough to be able to lay down your contour powders and blend them in seamlessly. Like the face brush, it seems to pick up the perfect amount of powder that you need so that you don't go overboard. I think this brush is also a good size for using with highlighters too.

Duo Fiber Eye Brush

The last brush included in the set is the eye brush. It's a nice addition to have to the set, but I personally think that another face brush would round the set out better because the other two brushes are so good. I like the eye brush too, but compared to the other two brushes it's a bit meh. It's a good brush, and I like to use it for blending out the edges of my eye shadow with it rather than applying with it. My main gripe with it is that it's a little too big for my eyes for me to use it for crease work, but it gets the job done for blending and in my opinion you can never have too many blending brushes!

So over all I really like the set, especially the face brushes! It would be great if the brushes were available to buy individually because I'd definitely pick up another of the face brush.

Do you own the Limited edition set? I'd love to hear what you think of it!





Sunday 26 January 2014

Sunday Social #3




Hey lovelies! So it's time for the Sunday Social again, you seem to be liking these posts so I'm going to carry on with them for the time being. As always let me know what you think of these posts as all feedback is welcome!

Before I answer this weeks questions - just a quick note to say that there won't be a My Week In Pictures this week as I've just moved house and haven't got many photos to share, but I'll be doing one next week when things settle down!

This Weeks Questions - Fun Beauty Questions!

1.  How old were you when you started wearing makeup?
I was around 11 when I started wearing eye shadow to school and maybe around 14 when I really started wearing it. I do however remember being obsessed with it when I was little and my oldest sister and my mum used to give me the odd lipstick or nail varnish all of my own to have!

2. What are your top 3 favourite beauty products?
This changes all the time. Right now it would be my Naked Basics palette which you can see my post on here, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer which is always a firm favorite and Inecto's Pure Coconut Glossing spray which I talked about here.

3. What is one make up product you don't leave home without?
I never leave the house without some form of powder in my bag. It's usually Maybelline's Super Stay 24 hour powder or MAC's MSF Natural depending on how my skin is acting.

4. What is your daily beauty routine?
When I wake up in the morning I brush my teeth and cleanse my face with a Micellar water, I then wash my face with a cleanser and moisturise well. I leave my moisturiser to soak into my skin while I style my hair - which I usually straighten. Then I do my make up, check my hair and put on perfume - I feel completely naked if I'm not wearing perfume! Then at night I remove my make up, have a shower or bath and wash my hair. I use a cleansing face wash while in the shower to get rid of any last traces of make up because I find it works better. I moisturise my whole body well after I get out of the shower especially if I have used a scrub. Then I blow dry my hair ready to style the next morning as I find it holds better if left overnight. It sounds like a lot when I write it down, but I have the simplest of routines!

5. What is your favourite hair/makeup product that you have discovered in the last year?
I'm going to cheat and choose one for both. For hair its Inecto's Pure Coconut Glossing Spray, it's worked wonders and my hair is so manageable now. Make up wise it's Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - it's one of the few products that gets hype that truly deserves it!

So there you have it! My third week of the Sunday Social! As always let me know if you take part, I'd like to see your answers and I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! 


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