Bargain Buying Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Essence Lash Princess Mascara Waterproof

Well hello there, it’s been a minute or two since I put fingers to keys and wrote a blogpost! Life, lack of creativity and well the lack of people tuning into them all contributed to it in all honesty. But sure no harm in letting my creative juices out every so often, I like writing 🙂 I picked up the new Essence Lash Princess Mascara, the waterproof version, pretty much upon its release. I always use waterproof mascara and people had such good things to say about the other formulas. And it was less than a fiver! I got mine in Penneys.

From the get go, the Essence Lash Princess Mascara (waterproof), was for me. I don’t use waterproof mascara, because I think I can dunk my head in water and be ok, although some formulas are reasonably good for that. I use it to hold a curl in my straight, boring lashes.

This mascara is quite a thick consistency and it has a bristle spoolie, which usually my lashes don’t like as much. In this instance they do though.

You get volume from the first application of this mascara. A lot of product goes on to your lashes. I don’t find that it weighs mine down in anyway, but it can clump. That is something to be wary of.

It provides volume and length really quickly and holds a curl, so it ticks all the lash boxes for me.

It can flake a little after a few hours of wear, but I don’t find that it transfers too much. I don’t use it on my bottom lashes, I find the wand to cumbersome for that. I stick to my trusted Mac Extended Play for that.

The Essence Lash Princess Mascara waterproof is a damn good mascara though. It gives maximum impact with very little effort. I curl my lashes and apply a couple of coats and I’m done. I don’t feel the need to layer too much more for a long, (well as long as my lashes can go) lashed look 🙂

Have you tried it yet? Are you a fan of the original? Let me know.

xxx

July 16, 2019/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup, Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Gold Glitter Eyeshadow Tutorial | Budget Beauty

I’m a going through a bit of a budget beauty phase at the minute. Here is another one to throw into the mix. I created this really simple, but I think effective, gold glitter eyeshadow look using all Penneys/Primark products.

Now I did cheat ever so slightly, just because I didn’t have everything I needed, like eyeshadow primer for example from Penneys. But all the products after that are Penneys own brand, PS Beauty, or products that are readily available in store. I’m talking like I used a bucket of products, I didn’t. You’ll see in the video 🙂 I have reviews already of the powder eyeshadows from Penneys here and the glitter and cream shadows here and here. That’s all the main bases covered I think in this gold glitter eyeshadow look.

There is chat about my eyebrows too in this video, which I’ve recently gotten micro bladed. I have put all my brow updated into highlights on my Instagram, just so I can refer to it if there’s any questions. I go through the process and the pricing and all that good stuff over there.

The gold glitter eyeshadow look itself I think is reasonably easy and I didn’t go in too heavy. I wanted it to be wearable, but still a bit sparkly.

The star of the show is the €1 Penneys eyeshadow called Gold Digger.

I’ve also come to the realisation in the past few weeks, that doing your eyeshadow before your base is brilliant. You can clean up any fall out and correct your work and you base won’t have glitter eyeshadow in it 🙂

I am super happy with how this turned out, the spot under my eye is really annoying, but I have to get over that 🙂

I kept the skin super simple, and added a matte pinky nude lip and a good splodge of highlighter to finish things off. Let me know what you think. Do you rate any of the Penneys makeup?

xxx

May 3, 2019/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup, Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Full Coverage Concealer Budget Beauty

It seems I am on a bit of a budget beauty roll at the minute, so just go with me 🙂 My last post was all about brows. This time I wanted to focus on full coverage concealer. I’ve picked three that I own and use regularly.

First up is the Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer.

This had major hype when it was first released. Here it is in action of the face:

It will set you back around a fiver, depending on where you buy it. It comes in a plethora of shades and undertones, 25 to be exact. I did a full review of this here, if you want my in depth thoughts. I think it’s a really decent buildable concealer though and is great for the price point.

Next up is the L’Oréal Infallible More Than Concealer, Concealer.

Again here it is in action of my face:

I dive into my full of review of this full coverage, budget concealer here, if you fancy a read. This has really decent coverage. And I know there are people out there who would choose this over Tarte Shape Tape in a heartbeat. I adore Shape Tape, so I don’t really compare the two. For me, this dries down fast, so you have to work quickly, but it can be a bit more difficult to blend. Having said that, it’s a great ‘drugstore’ fuller coverage concealer, and it comes in 25 shades which is great. I just think for drier under eyes, the other two I chat about here would be better in my very personal opinion 🙂

My last choice is one I haven’t spoken about on Beautynook yet.

I chatted about it briefly on my instagram stories the other day. So if you follow me there, you already have the beauty scoop. This is the Essence Camouflage + Healthy Glow Concealer #mouthful. Here it is in action on my skin first:

I think this only comes in two shade choices which is pretty pants, but Essence are forever bringing out products and changing up their stands. Maybe that has something to do with it. This, for me, is the thinnest formula out out of the three concealers.

It feels the most hydrating under the eyes too, but can still offer up full coverage for those dark circles. I believe there was a matt version of this too, but I have yet to try it. I like that this one isn’t completely flat though and it lasts on me throughout the day. The applicator is also a really cool teardrop shape so makes swiping it under the eyes really easy. And it’s an absolute bargain that you can pick up in Penneys for about 3 euro. Score!

And there are my three budget friendly full coverage concealer choices of the moment. Have you tried any of them?

xxx

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*

April 26, 2019/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup, Youtube Video

Budget Brows With Catrice

I am due to get my brows micro bladed very soon. (Wish me luck 🙂 ). But before I do, I thought I could throw in another brow routine here on Beautynook. This time it’s all about budget brows and it’s all thanks to Catrice Cosmetics.

Catrice sent me out some new and some oldie brow products from their range last week. They have a bucket load of products to choose from now. From pencils, powders, pomades and everything in between. All of the products are under a fiver each too, which is awesome. My three budget brow choices from the range in my video demo are: The Slim’matic Ultra Precise Brow Pencil. I’m using the shade dark. The Eyebrow Set. This comes with two powders, with a tiny brush and tweezer tucked underneath. And to set everything in place I used the clear Lash/Brow Designer.

The three products together work out at around €11.50, so I thought it was worthy of the title budget brows. I particularly love the powder and the brow gel regardless of the price tag. The pencil is great, but it’s super duper soft, so uses up very quickly. In my humble opinion of course.

Here’s my brows before any product is applied.

Then, here is one completely done with all three budget brow products from Catrice applied. It’s really amazing what a brow can do.

I filmed a really short demo of them all in action which you can check out above and here. Let me know if you are liking the video demos along with the blogposts. I am enjoying putting them together 🙂

My brows are definitely only distant cousins, but here they are finished and ready to head out the door!

Catrice Cosmetics really do have so many great budget brow products to choose from, to suit any taste. These would just be the three I would gravitate towards on a daily basis. Have you tried anything from the range?

xxx

**PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*

April 19, 2019/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Colourpop Cosmetics Haul

Zoella collaborated with Colourpop Cosmetics, (just in case you didn’t know). Zoe lives in the UK and Colourpop are in LA, so to celebrate the launch of the collection, they had free world wide shipping.

I’ve bought from Colourpop Cosmetics before, seen here, and never had any issues. Since this order, I’ve seen articles about it being illegal for them to ship to the EU. Apparently they violate EU regulations. I just wanted to state that. I don’t want anyone being out of pocket at all. Always do your research. There’s yet to be an issue for me, but maybe I just got lucky. I always keep my order below the VAT threshold, so I don’t have to pay anything extra. The threshold is only €22 now I believe, before you could have to pay customs charges for orders from America. Because the shipping was free, no matter how much money you spent at the time, I made two small orders and sent them to two different addresses.

They both came in about a week. I am obsessed with having an eyeliner in every colour imaginable. In case you don’t follow me on Instagram and didn’t know that 🙂 My Colourpop order definitely reflects that, so might not be for everyone. They have loads and loads of products to choose from though, with decent packaging, quality and price tag.

I am not Zoella’s target market whatsoever, but I liked the look of her collection, so picked up the blush to try. I brought this away with me at the weekend, so excuse its grubby appearance. It’s called Soul Mate and it’s a lovely pinky peachy shade. For me, the payoff is subtle but buildable with this.

The Mar Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette came on my trip away too, so it has been used before photographing it for this post. The blogger shame is real 🙂

From left to right, row by row you have:

El Rey, Wild One, Detour.

Boozy, Gridlock, Sorbet.

HWY, Top Down, My Way.

I really wanted to try one of their Jelly Much Eyeshadow. The jelly texture intrigued me so much. I went with the shade Short Circuit.

This is beautiful and the colour payoff is immense. I just wish I didn’t go for such a predictable shade. I have loads of similar colours in my collection already.

Lastly, I picked up three colourful eyeliners in three different formulas. I haven’t put any of these to the test yet.

A Crème Gel Liner in Zulu.

A Crème Gel Colour in Piggybank.

And finally one of their BFF Liquid Liners in Ducky.

And there you have my latest Colourpop Cosmetics haul. Did you pick up anything? Have you ever tried anything from the brand? Be sure to follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel to really see all of these put to good use 🙂

xxx

March 11, 2019/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Makeup Tutorial New In Products!

I always say, don’t judge me for calling this a ‘makeup tutorial’, so I just want to begin with that statement, because I am well aware of my lack of major skills in the makeup department. It’s just a blanket statement and we understand what it means 🙂 Ok now that’s out of the way….

It’s been a minute since I sat down in front of the camera and just did a face. So I wanted to do just that. I have been lucky enough to receive some products from PR over the last couple of weeks that are really decent too. So how did I incorporate them? By doing a ‘makeup tutorial’ with some new in products, genius.

For the most part I used new products, I did have to throw in some oldies too, just because I didn’t have a full face of makeup to use. I’m not that popular 🙂 The new products are mostly from Catrice and Essence, as their new Spring\Summer ranges have just launched. There is loads more products to check out from the brands, I just have a cross section.

I also had some newbies from L’Oréal, including the Infallible Fresh Wear Foundation, which I am currently obsessed with, no lie! And the Maybelline Made For All Lippies. Oh and the new skinny brow pencil from IT Cosmetics.

For me, the star of the show is the Topshop Chameleon Eyeshadow in Evolve. This kind of defeats the purpose of the makeup tutorial because it’s not new. But they have reinvented their beauty range, so I’m using that as my excuse. I need to get my hands on more colours of these shadows.

I am no makeup artist, so the makeup definitely didn’t go to plan. There was a few hiccups along the way, and my winged liner left a lot to be desired. But we got there and I was fairly happy with the finished result.

Click on the video at the top of this post to see the ‘makeup tutorial’ unfold. Or you can click here to go directly to my YouTube channel. If you like it, don’t forget to subscribe while you’re there.

xxx

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED******

March 1, 2019/1 Comment/by Gem