Tanning Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess Shimmering Oil

The Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil is the third installment in the shimmering body oil family.

The other two offerings which I am sure you are familiar with are Golden Goddess shimmering loveliness. There’s a yellow gold one and a rose gold one to choose from. This is the first one with a more icy glow 🙂

The Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess comes in a trio with the other two. It will hopefully be available in it’s own right this year.

I was lucky enough to receive this from Cocoa Brown as a little festive treat so mine is personalised, which makes it even more special.

It comes in a 30 ml glass bottle and has the same distinctive Tahitian Gardenia fragrance that all of the Cocoa Brown products have.

The Ice Goddess has become my personal favourite out of the three oil choices. It has more of a pearl toned shimmer to it so is more flattering on my paler pink toned skin tone. I need a decent tan to rock the other two.

You just give it a shake to mix the shimmer and oil together and then apply it wherever you want some extra glow. You can even use it on your cheekbones as highlighter. The shimmer also disguises mild imperfections and makes the skin feel nice and hydrated.

As it’s a dry oil it doesn’t feel sticky once it dries down on the skin. And you can choose the amount of glow you get by how much you use and how much you work it into the skin.

The Cocoa Brown Ice Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil is available from Penneys around the country as well as selected pharmacies. You can also pick up the collection online from Cloud10beauty here for €14.95. The collection includes 30ml bottles of all three of the oils.

Have you tried any of them? What’s your favourite?

xxx

***sample***

January 2, 2017/5 Comments/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Beautynook Tips, Haul, Makeup, Skincare, Tanning

Beauty Shopping Online

I am an avid online shopper. I do love going into shops and seeing products in the flesh, don’t get me wrong. However, living on our little island, we don’t always get the products we want in store, or we just don’t have the time to do it! So, here are some of my favourite online beauty shopping haunts that I like to frequent 🙂

Of course, alot of our favourite beauty retailers give us the option to shop online too, as well as in store. Some of my favourites are Boots, Debenhams, Brown Thomas and Arnotts. And I love that with some of these you have the option to click and collect so you don’t have to pay shipping and then whatever you bought, is packed up and paid for, just waiting for you to pick it up in store. Superdrug is another one that does that too, although I know they only have stores here in Dublin. You can shop from them online too though.

My favourite Irish online store for beauty shopping has to be cloud10beauty!They cover some of our amazing homegrown talent like Cocoa Brown, Waxperts and Blank Canvas Cosmetics. As well as some harder to get brands here like Pestle & Mortar and Alpha-H.They have you covered with blogger/vlogger brands like Zoella, Real Techniques, Colab, Tanya Burr and of course SOSU by Suzanne Jackson. There is something on Cloud10beauty for everyone, the shipping is super quick, it is free over €40, you get free gifts with purchase. They always have website deals on and very generous sales.

My next favourite online beauty shopping destination is Cult Beauty

The name really says it all! Cult Beauty stock a good chunk of the brands we all want a part of. And not just old stock, we can get new stock from American brands we covet! They stock the likes of Anastasia Beverley Hills, Aesop,Becca, Daniel Sander,Eve Lom, FAIRYDROPS (I didn’t know that actually, this post is really enabling my shopping habit :)), Huda Beauty, Jouer, Laura Gellar, OCC. I could go on, I really could. They have free worldwide shipping over £50, and again you can get free gift with purchases. They are also based in the UK so no worrying about custom charges and the likes.

Beauty Bay is another UK website that is jam packed full of American brands we want to get our hands on.

Products are a little pricey and shipping takes a while, but once you’re aware of that the beauty shopping is awesome! They stock the likes of Gerard Cosmetics, Natasha Denona, Anastasia, Cargo, Cover FX, Dose of Colour, Ellis Faas, and of course Makeup Geek!!!

Look Fantastic is another….fantastic beauty shopping hub 🙂

They offer free standard worldwide shipping, it can take a while, so you do have to be patient, but again they are a UK registered company so no duty to worry about. They sell the likes of Illamasqua, EX1, Benefit, Deborah Lippman, Dermalogica and Nudestix. What I particularly like about Look Fantastic is their range of hair care. They cover brands like Kerastase, Redken, Phillip Kingsley, Nioxin and Tigi to name a few. And, they don’t scrimp on the money off vouchers either!

Feel Unique is another website I am often found browsing.

It is great for makeup and haircare, but it also carries an abundance of fragrance choices too, for both men and women. They cover the celeb fragrances as well as the likes of Marc Jacobs, Chanel, YSL and Stella McCartney. I rely on Feel Unique alot at Christmas time, it’s really handy for picking up gift sets.

For my last contribution in this post, I thought I would add in Asos.

Asos is a website I spend alot of time procrastinating on 🙂 It’s well known for fashion, but it does carry a good amount of beauty choices too. It has brands like Barry M, Rimmel and Benefit. But, it also carries harder to get brands (for us) like Japonesque, Anna Sui, Cowshed and so much more. There’s free shipping from Asos over €25 and they offer free returns too which is really handy.

I think I’ll leave it there 🙂 There’s other beauty corners of the internet I like to frequent, but I don’t want to bombard you. And these are all tried, tested and trusted websites that I’ve purchased from successfully on numerous occasions.

I hope you found this helpful and maybe discovered a new online beauty shopping haunt.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

July 22, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Archives, Bargain Buying, Hair, Skincare, Tanning

Cocoa Brown Kind Range

Marissa and the Cocoa Brown team have gone and surprised us all with their four new arrivals. I am sure you have seen them all over your social media feeds, but here’s a closer look at the new Cocoa Brown Kind Range!

Marissa has begun the expansion of Cocoa Brown, it no longer just means tan and complimenting products….a new Cocoa Brown Kind Range era has started 🙂

It Continas contains shampoo, conditioner and a shower gel.

This Cocoa Brown Travel Set is our introduction into these with travel friendly 50ml bottles of the products. These will be released in full size bottles too!

They are all scented with the Tahitian gardenia scent which is now synonymous with Cocoa Brown with a hint of peach in there too. Cocoa Brown actually say the fragrance used in the products is so minimal that they didn’t technically even have to list the ingredients used on the tube, but they did which is nice. The Kind Range is derived from natural sources and contains coconut oil and fruit sugars. They are paraben,alcohol and formaldehyde free. Marissa herself suffers with dermatitis on her scalp so wanted to create and shampoo and conditioner that works for sensitive scalp and skin conditions. They’re also kind to coloured hair and extensions. An added bonus too, the products are ph neutral, so they won’t get interfere with your fake tanning!

The Cocoa Brown Kind Range Travel Set also contains their new Face & Body Self Tanning Wipes.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with Cocoa Brown yesterday to hear about (and of course receive) the new products. Marissa said upon talking to buyers of Cocoa Brown, there was a market for tanning wipes. So, she decided she wanted to release her own and do them right!

The wipes are said ‘to be an easy way to maintain your Cocoa Brown tan on the go’.

Marissa also made the point that when your travelling, the wipes won’t take up any of the liquid allowance in your luggage.

I will of course be giving all the products a go, so keep an eye on my social media to see how I get on. 🙂

So there you have it, the newest Cocoa Brown Kind Range in travel form. What do you think?

It’s available in Cocoa Brown stockists since yesterday the 7th of June, so you can get your hands on it and try for yourself. Cloud10beauty have it to buy online here. The set is priced at €7.95.

xxx

June 8, 2016/by Gem

Skincare, Tanning

St Moritz New Releases

We all know St Moritz tan. The brand have been in Ireland since 2009 and are still going strong. It’s such an affordable range and is available nationwide in Penneys, Mc’Cabe’s Pharmacy,McCauley’s and Bradley’s. I was lucky enough to attend the launch of their new range this week and wanted to show you up close the St Moritz New Releases.

They have repackaged, relaunched and launched some new products!

First up we have the Exfoliating Skin Primer.

According to St Moritz this

Preps & primes
Exfoliates skin
Flattens & evens skin tone
Creates optimum base for tanning
Ideal for beginners or experienced tanners, but essential for all to create a beautiful streak free tan.

It is a really fresh smelling gel with really fine exfoliating particles in it. A 200ml tube costs €6.95

Next up in the list of St Moritz new releases we have their Moisturising Tan Enhancer.

According to St Moritz this:

Preps & maintains
Has a moisture rich formula
Is oil free
Prolongs tan with aloe vera
Ideal for beginners or experienced tanners, but essential for all to create and prolong the ultimate tan

This, like the scrub is a gel like formula. It has a coconut scent to it. You can use it on any rough areas of skin like the elbows and knees before tanning too! A 200ml tube costs €6.95

The 5 in 1 Tanning Mousse is next.

According to St Moritz this is:

Longer Lasting
Has a bb skin finish
Is moisture rich
Is skin smoothing
Has patented mood enhancing fragrance technology
Is available in medium and dark
Contains 100% naturally derived tanning agent
Has an instant guide colour

In the bottle this to me smells really nice. I’ve yet to use it so cannot comment on how good it actually is…I’ll keep you posted 🙂 It’s liquid in the bottle and then pump releases it in a mousse formula. This costs €10.95 for a 200ml bottle.

Their Velvet Finishing Gel according to the creators is:

Moisture rich
Skin soothing hydrating
has a non greasy finish
Has even coverage
Has patented mood enhance fragrance technology
Available in medium & dark
100% naturally derived tanning technology
It also controversially doesn’t have a guide colour. I think the reason for that is you can apply and let it develop without having to shower!

It has the same clean smell in the tube as the others and will set you back €10.95 for 175mls

The last product from the St Moritz new releases I have is their Fast Response Tanning Mist.

According to St Moritz this:

Has an guide colour
It is fast developing 1-3 hours depending on shade
Ultra light
Non greasy
Patented mood enhance fragrance technology
New actuator for a controlled spray
100% naturally derived tanning agent

I have actually given this a go (if you follow me on snapchat, you would have seen 🙂 )

I applied it to my legs with a mitt, I wouldn’t suggest using your hands with this. It applied really easily, smelled nice going on and dried super quickly too. I am quite pasty and left it on for about 2 and half hours. It gave me a hint of colour, but I did have to go over with an instant tan to bulk it up a little. I would definitely have to keep it on for longer. This costs €10.95 for a 150ml can.

There is also a Insta-Grad Tanning Mousse in the St Moritz New Releases. I don’t have it in my possession though. According to them it:

Gives instant colour
Instant tan and gradual build up
No mess & no fuss
Tested on sensitive skin
100% naturally derived tanning agent
Ideal for fair skin
Patented mood enhance fragrance technology.

For a 200ml bottle this costs €10.95.

You can check out their website here for more information.

So there you have it, all the St Moritz new releases in a nutshell 🙂 A product to suit every tanning mood. Any of them take your fancy?

xxx

May 6, 2016/by Gem

Skincare, Tanning

Cocoa Brown Golden Goddess Oil Review

Cocoa Brown Golden Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil, the newest Cocoa Brown kid on the block.

Cocoa Brown already has us glittering with their Shimmering Instant Tan Bronzing Gel (you can see it up close here) and now they are spoiling us, with a shimmering body oil.

First off the packaging of the Golden Goddess is really pretty. It’s a 50ml clear glass bottle, with a pump on the top, which I always appreciate. The clear bottle lets you see the prettiness of the shimmering oil inside and keeps you knowing how much product you have left.

The product itself is a separated oil formula that you have to shake up to get the golden goddess going 🙂

A little of it goes a long way, it’s really easy to apply, has the familiar Cocoa Brown scent (which I really like) and absorbs really quickly. Because it’s a dry oil, it doesn’t leave behind an greasy residue. When massaged into the skin, it leaves behind the prettiest golden shimmer.

Without any Cocoa Brown tanning help, I am naturally a pale Irish girl and the Golden Goddess still manages to give me a hint of colour as well as a shimmer…bonus!

It looks really gorgeous applied down the shin bone, on your collar bone, anywhere you would want a shimmery sheen really. I’ve seen people are using Golden Goddess even as a cheek bone highlighter, great idea!

You can pick up the Cocoa Brown Golden Goddess Shimmering Dry Body Oil in Penneys stores nationwide and from Cara Pharmacy. It will set you back €11.99 and will last you aaaagggggeeeesssss! 🙂

xxx

January 15, 2016/by Gem

Archives, Bargain Buying, Tanning

Cocoa Brown Instant Tan Bronzing Gel

Yep they’ve finally gone and done it! Cocoa Brown have released an instant tan! They’ve answered our tanning prayers 🙂

Us bloggers got all dolled up and headed to The Shelbourne this past Sunday where we were treated to a lovely and pink afternoon by Marissa and the Cocoa Brown girls. We were showered with gifts and the new Cocoa Brown Instant Tan Bronzing Gels were unleashed on us.

Marissa has created two different Instant Tan Bronzing Gels. One is matte.

And the other has shimmer running through it.

Here’s the matte one Bronzing Gel on my hand.

And here you can see the matte and the shimmer bronzing gel side by side.

They both differ in consistency slightly, the matte one is more of a fluid gel, where as the one with the shimmer is, well more of a gel texture 🙂

Both of the Cocoa Brown Instant Tan Bronzing Gel’s apply to the skin super easy, there’s not much faffing about and they dry really quickly too. You can apply as many layers of them as you need to build up the colour you want without the product going patchy as they are a thin gel and blend really well. Added bonus they smell really nice too 🙂

Obviously, I’ve only had these babies since Sunday so I haven’t given them a full road test yet, but first impressions are really good.

I applied them on both my legs to give you a better look at the finish you are left with. I applied with my hands, but of course you can use a mitt if you want too. (Cocoa Brown have just brought out a double sided one fyi 🙂

Here’s my pasty leg with nothing on it.

I applied a couple of coats of the matte instant tan.

Then it’s time for the shimmer instant tan. Again, my other pasty leg :p

Then a couple of coats of the shimmer tan.

The shimmer is hard to pick up on my camera, but there’s alot of shimmer going on, I promise.

It really is tanning in an instant, and the product is splash proof, thank god with unpredictable weather like ours 🙂

I for one am so happy about these releases. I hold my hands up and admit I am such a lazy tanner, it’s one of my least favourite things to do, so I love a good instant tan, it just takes the effort out of it really. Also if you’re pale like me and your developing tan doesn’t always develop enough, it’s handy to have something like this in your beauty drawer for back up.

Cocoa Brown Instant Tan Bronzing Gel should be hitting the shelves in Penneys stores near you very soon or you can order from Cloud10beauty here. They will both be €6.99 for 150ml tube.

Will you be picking one or both of them up? Let me know what you think.

xxx

September 28, 2015/3 Comments/by Gem