NARS At First Sight Palette Review.

If you've already seen my 'What I Got For Christmas' video then you'll already have seen this beauty of a palette. This was a fabulous surprise present from my Aunt and Uncle at Christmas and I couldn't love it any more- as I mention in the video, I squealed when I opened it.
This is a great little holiday palette as it contains four eye shadows, a blusher and a bronzer. I recently brought this on a weekend away and it was so handy, the packaging is sleek and streamlined- so easy to pack, and it meant I didn't need to bring a load of different products with me!

The eye shadows are as follows;
All About Eve: a lovely creamy vanilla shade with a hint of shimmer- pretty as an inner corner and brow bone highlight.
Nouveau Monde: A gorgeous shimmering lilac shade. This is so nice washed all over the lids for Spring, and it also looks great blended out with the other two darker colours!
Bellissima: This taupe shade is a great versatile colour. The only shadow without any shimmer, this looks beautiful blended into the crease for some more definition. I'm sure light haired girls could use this for brows too! Unfortunately my hair is too dark!
Cordura: Another shimmering colour, this one is a deep, dark brown. Including this shadow makes the palette so versatile as this can be used to create a lovely smokey eye for an evening look.

The blusher included in this palette is a NARS classic- Deep Throat. As well as loving its saucy name (NARS do love their cheeky product names) I love the blush. A light and girly pink with a hint of gold shimmer, but not as much as NARS Orgasm. This is a great colour for Springtime as it it is bright, fresh and pretty!
The bronzer is another one of the NARS cult classics- Laguna. Whenever I saw this mentioned online I always assumed it would look really muddy and orange on my skin tone. Oh how wrong I was! I love this colour, surprisingly enough it works really well as a contour shade on me and will also look great in summer dusted all over the face for some light bronzing.

Overall, I think this palette is a great little buy for anyone who travels a lot, its so versatile, you can create some great daytime looks with this and also use it in a more dramatic way in the evening (note: I also used Laguna as an eye shadow!). Th quality and pigmentation of these is also spot-on an I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next NARS palette offering!

February Beauty Haul! Crumpets and Marmalade

In case you missed it......I uploaded a beauty haul yesterday so if you want to see what I've been buying recently go check it out!

Glossy Box- January 2014 Review.

This month I received my first ever Glossy Box- I've been thinking about getting a subscription for ages and I finally got around to doing it! So what did I think of my first Glossy Box?

First of all, the packaging it comes in is lovely- a pink and grey polka dot parcel box- with the glossy box inside. The box is all filled with black tissue paper and tied up with ribbon which all look lovely! More importantly though is the contents of the box.....I was very underwhelmed with mine, especially after getting through all the gorgeous packaging! It wasn't terrible, perhaps I just had high hopes for my first box!

Inside we got;

Anatomicals Puffy the Eye Bag Slayer Wake-Up Under Eye Patches.
These are probably my favourite thing in the box, I've never used anything by Anatomicals before but I've always loved their packaging. Also, can we just take note of the amazing name this product has?! Cooling under-eye patches have been doing the rounds of the beauty world over the last six months or so and I am very curious to give them a go. I haven't used these yet but I will report back when I have! This little sample pack comes with i set of eye patches.

Vaseline Essential Moisture Clean Feeling Lotion.
This little Vaseline body lotion was nothing really to get excited about, I already have 13917348174 billion body lotions lurking in my room so I really didn't need another one! However, after using this it is really nice, smells lovely and is perfect for throwing into my handbag. This is a 50 ml size bottle.

Yu-Be Moisturising Skin Cream.
I also got two 3g tubes of this apparently 'cult' Japanese moisturiser. When I saw two of these I felt pretty meh about them, the packaging didn't exactly appeal to me and I assumed they were just body moisturisers. After reading the magazine that came with the box, I discovered that this stuff is a god send for dry and irritated skin. Seeing as I recently lost my Elizabeth Arden 8hr Cream (sob!) I needed something similar and intensive for my poor lips. I put this on overnight and it worked a treat! It has a slightly medicinal smell which I quite like and it made my lips super soft and plump. So in the end I was actually quite happy with these samples as once again I can throw them in my handbag!

Balance Me Super Toning Body Wash.
This was by far the most disappointing product in the box, especially this tiny sample size- this is a 50ml bottle. The instructions say to apply to wet skin and then rinse off- I'm assuming as it is a toning shower gel that this is to make your skin feel tighter and that it would be quite uplifting. It's also made form 99% natural origins. I haven't tried this yet, so maybe I will like it?

The Vintage Cosmetic Company Tweezers.
I was really happy with these tweezers as the ones I have at the moment aren't great and I was going to buy a new pair soon! The Vintage Cosmetic Company is a brand I've heard of once or twice-they launched last year I think? The pattern on these is really cute, a vintage floral print and the tweezers seem nice and sharp!

Overall, I wasn't particularly wowed by my first Glossy Box. The theme was 'Back to Basics' but this was all just a little bit too basic for me! From reviews I've read it seems that the January ones are never usually that good so I'll hold out for a few months and hopefully they'll get better!

This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray- Review.

Being the anxious worrier that I am, sometimes sleep doesn't come as easily as I would like, especially if I have to be up early the next morning. One thing that really helps me, and that I've done for years, is to write a list before bed. This way instead of lying in bed worrying about all the things I have to do the next day, I can just write them down so I know I won't miss anything important!

Another thing that's really been helping me lately is my Pillow Spray from This Works. This gets raved about in the You Tube and blogging world so I wanted to try it out for myself. I love it.
As I mentioned in this video, I'm not sure if this stuff actually puts me to sleep, or if my brain starts to associate the smell of this with bedtime, I have a feeling it could be the latter. I don't always find it difficult to sleep, but once I have a few restless nights I get stuck in a bit of a rut- and every night my brain just rejects the idea of falling asleep. However, a spritz of this on my pillow helps me drift right off to the land of nod. I was worried the scent of this would be too strong, but I love it- its infused with essential oils of Lavender, Vetivert and Wild Chamomile.

If you find it hard to go to sleep, I can't recommend enough these two tips! Lists have always helped me, its like taking a weight off my mind- and the spray smells super calming and spa-like, guaranteed to help you to relax!

Wet N'Wild Makeup Range- Review.

In the last few weeks, Wet N'Wild makeup has finally made its way to Ireland, already a huge brand in the US, its often mentioned on American beauty channels and blogs- so of course I had to give it a try. Above, is what I picked up on my first look around the Wet N'Wild stand near me, and it was very affordable- all this cost me only €16.45! That's almost the same price as a MAC lippy!

I've been using what I bought over the past week and a half- so I've tried everything and I love it!
First up, lets talk about the eye shadows- I picked up Petal Pusher which is a beautiful purple toned palette. If you watched my recent haul you'll have heard me mention that the nude palette is the most popular, I already have enough nude eye shadows to last a lifetime so I went with something a bit more colourful!
I also got one of the single eye shadows, at only €1.99 each, its too easy to grab more than one! I got the shade Envy, which is a gorgeous dark, mossy green with a hint of shimmer- to see it in action check out my Get Ready With Me which I filmed during the week!
The eye shadows are super creamy- almost Urban Decay quality but not quite, and the colour payoff and lasting power are both very impressive for the price!



Oddly enough, I also bought a coloured liquid liner. A friend of my Mum's was visiting recently and she was wearing turquoise and blue liner, sounds awful but when you apply a really fine line close to the lash line paired with heaps of mascara it looks lovely! A really nice way to add a pop of colour, and doesn't look as 80's as you might think! I haven't gone too crazy with the colours though, I also came home with a super soft black kohl liner which was only €1.99.

Now lets talk lipstick, I'm a sucker for lip products, I'd easily say they're my favourite thing to buy and use! Interestingly, they had a range of matte lipsticks- my absolute favourite! On my first trip I got Coral-ine, a beautiful bright orangey-red. I did make a second trip to the stand a few days later and I came back with Mauve Outta Here, a lovely purple-pink. I'm so impressed with the quality of these lipsticks- they're matte without being drying and are super long lasting! They have a few other shades I've got my eye on, so watch this space!

On my second trip I also got a face powder which so far I really like, its very light and has kept my makeup in place all day on the days I've used it so far. I got the shade Fair Coverall Pressed Powder. While I was there I picked up another eye pencil as I was so impressed with the black, I got Bronze which is nearly the exact same shade as my Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze, so I will probably be pairing it with that. While I was perusing the pencils I got a lip liner in the shade Fab Fuchsia which is  a nice plum-pink that matches a lot of lipsticks I already have!



Overall, I'm so impressed with this brand- for the price the quality is fantastic! Sorry for the long post- but I did go a bit crazy and bought a lot!

Get Ready With Me! Crumpets and Marmalade

In case you missed it...

This week I filmed a Get Ready With Me! I love watching these videos and I had a lot of fun making this one, hope you enjoy! And don't forget to subscribe! X

Academie Eye Cream/Primer Review.

I've been using the Academie Smoothing Care For Eye and Lip Contours* for almost six weeks now and I am loving it. I would have reviewed it sooner-as I knew early on that I really liked it- but I like to try and use skincare for as long as possible before reviewing it.

This is kind of like a cream/primer hybrid. It prevents, and smooth's deep lines around the eye area and apparently improves make up wear on the lips- a lip primer? To be honest, I haven't tried this on my lips at all so I can't review it with regards to that but I have been using this as my everyday eye cream for quite a while now. What I love most about this is that it leaves the skin feeling mattified- not in a horrible dry way- but its a nice base to apply my under-eye concealer to. I've found that my concealer lasts a lot longer with this as it isn't an overly-rich or greasy formula. It also feels lovely and cooling on the eyes-which I love for early mornings, it really helps to wake me up by tapping this lightly under and around the eye area!

Academie is a French brand that is now available in Ireland- I'm very interested in trying more from this brand as I love this product so much, so I'll keep you updated if I do!





*PR Sample

Dr Bronner's MAGIC Soap.

If you've already watched my What I Got For Christmas video you'll have heard me mention the Dr Bronner's Magic Soap, if you haven't yet you can watch it here.

This stuff really is as amazing as it is hyped up to be here in the blogging and YouTube world. I'd read a lot of reviews on how it is multi-purpose, you can use it as shampoo, as soap, on your dishes, etc., however, I just wanted to use it on my make-up brushes! I saw this in TK Maxx, and I'm not sure how readily available it is elsewhere in Dublin at the moment.

I have always washed my brushes with Johnson's Baby Shampoo and it worked a treat for me- however since switching to Dr Bronner's I've noticed a huge difference in my brushes;

Firstly is how much quicker they are to clean. With the baby shampoo I would always have to lather the brush up at least twice, and more if it is a heavily used brush like my Buffing Brush for foundation. Since switching to this, for most of my brushes I only need to lather them up once, and my foundation brush twice to get them thoroughly clean! I don't enjoy spending ages cleaning brushes so f I can get it done even a slight bit faster that's a bonus!
Secondly, I've found that my brushes feel a lot cleaner after using this, in fact they feel fluffier. This is my favourite thing about the soap, it leaves your brushes super soft and fluffy, almost like brand new! Looking back I think the baby shampoo might have weighed my brushes down a bit and left some residue in them after cleaning as they never felt fluffy even after a thorough rinse.


Overall I think this soap is fantastic- mine is the Almond Hemp scented one which smells delicious, just like marzipan! I will definitely be repurchasing this- however if I did want a cheaper alternative I would use baby shampoo again, its not a bad way to clean brushes I just think the Dr Bronner's is better!

Fashion & Beauty Haul! Crumpets and Marmalade

Just in case you missed it.....

Check out my latest video over on my You Tube channel, its a pretty big (and very long!) fashion and beauty haul!
Enjoy! X

Tom Ford Heaven.

Apparently today is the most depressing day of the year- Blue Monday. Or at least that's what everyone is saying about today, we have the post-winter blues and are already sick or have given up on our New Years resolutions. So I thought I'd inject a bit of glamour into your Blue Monday by reviewing probably the most luxurious product I own- my Tom Ford lipstick I got for my birthday.

 

Behold it in all its glory, (bit over the top? I think not!) really though, have you ever seen such amazing packaging? Its gold, and so heavy for a lipstick-it really feels expensive (well it is, but we won't go into how much, its almost horrifying) it also has a satisfying click when you pop the lid back on, which for me is a selling point and I really don't know why!

                                         

I have the shade Bruised Plum- a real 'me' colour. As the name suggests its a vampy, blackened-purple, quite similar to my trusty MAC Rebel but darker. The texture is rich and creamy and it just glides over the lips leaving a beautiful sheen which I'm not normally a fan of but I can definitely make an exception here! As of yet I have only worn it three times- I feel like I need to use it sparingly! Two of these occasions, I wore it for a long period of time with eating/drinking involved and I was very impressed with how it held up. Given the creamy formula it doesn't rub off too easily, although I did need to reapply more frequently than I usually do (you know by now I'm a matte lipstick girl).

Overall I love this lipstick- lovely formula and colour, and just don't get me started on the packaging again! Such an amazing present to get someone as you would never buy one for yourself !


If you want to see what it looks like on- check out my latest video here!