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Night Time Skin Care Routine Currently

I already spoke about my current day time routine here. It’s only fair that I throw my night time skin care routine into the mix too 🙂

I am very proud of being someone who removes their makeup every night before sleep. No matter how tired (or typsy) I might be. For me, it’s like brushing your teeth, it just has to be done! I am not really one for makeup wipes. If I am feeling really lazy, I’ll use eye makeup remover and micellar water and call it a day. But for the most part, I like to actually wash my face.

This for me, is my current night time skin care routine. I do change up products every now and then. It’s of course part of what I do. I don’t have majorly sensitive skin either so it usually doesn’t affect my skin too radically.

I do like to extra exfoliate a couple of times each week. I’ll usually use the Waxperts Wonder Pads (which I reviewed ages ago here), or the Dermalogica Daily Resurfacer Pads. These contain AHA’s so I stick to using them at night.

If I have a breakout I use the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion, which I have a review of here. It’s a bit gimmicky, but it seems to do the job. And it dries down on the skin, so you don’t get it all over your pillow which is a bonus in my book 🙂

I wear waterproof mascara on the daily, so before I wash my face I usually remove my eye makeup with an oil based cleanser.

I have been using the Botanics All Bright one for literally years. It does a great job at getting even gel liner off without too much rubbing. It doesn’t irritate my eyes and it’s as cheap as chips. You can buy it from Boots here.

For cleansing, at the moment. I have two in my bathroom. The Garnier Pure Active 3 in 1.

This can be used as a face wash, to exfoliate or a mask. I usually use this in the shower. I can wash my face with it and then pop some on as a mask while I go about my business. It is kaolin based so it dries on the skin like a clay mask. It’s been working really well for my oily skin.

If I am just washing my face and not showering I have been using the Yonka Cleansing Gel. This feels really gentle on my skin.

It is also like a spa in a plastic bottle, it smells bloody amazing.

For toner, it’s generally just the La Roche Posay Serozinc which I speak more about here. I always have a bottle of it in my skincare stash.

I use the same eye cream both day and night. My go to one over the past year or so is the La Roche Posay Ultra Toleriane Ultra Eye Contour.

I really like this stuff and it’s not super expensive either. I have a full review of it here.

Because I cannot get too heavy with moisturiser during the day because I am so oily. I usually make up for it in my night time skincare routine.

At the moment I am using (and really enjoying) the Hylamide Low Molecular HA Booster.

It’s basically a serum that contains hyaluronic acid. It helps hydrate without weighing down the skin. It’s an extra step in my routine but my skin is reacting well from it. My skin is feeling a little plumper and more hydrated without my pores being clogged up. You can buy it directly from the Deciem website here.

After that settles in, I apply a light layer of the Image Vital C Hydrating Facial Oil.

It just feels so nice. I pat a dropper amount into my face and neck. Although I am oily, I do have areas of dehydration so I use the serum and the oil in the evening to help with that. The Vital C is formulated for dull, tired skin but also suitable for acne prone skin that is healing. Image skincare is stocked in salons throughout the country including Millie’s here.

The final step in my night time skin care routine then is just lip balm. I usually just use some Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream.

I have a full review of this here.

And then my night time skin care routine is completed and I am ready for bed 🙂

xxx

March 27, 2017/by Gem

Skincare

Current Day Time Skin Care Routine

When is comes to my day time skin care routine. I keep things fairly simple.

I am not a morning person at all, so I usually do my showering and deep clean my face the night before, if I am up and out early in the day. I have oily skin, with places of dehydration. I am prone to breakouts and blessed with lovely (not so lovely) large pores, that like to get blocked. As a result, I don’t like to layer too many products onto my skin. Because of this, my day time skin care routine is pretty simple.

I start out with cleansing my skin. For me, micellar water works well. I know not everyone gets along with them. Right now, I am using the Garnier Pure Active that is for oily skin prone to imperfections.

I just apply some to a cotton pad and swipe all over my skin to refresh everything and get rid of any oil build up. It is available on the Boots website here.

These large oval cotton pads from Penneys are my favourite. They are quite thin, so the product soaks both sides, but they don’t break up or become ‘fluffy’ :). I always just pick these up when I’m on the queue in Penneys. I love that they leave them beside the till 🙂

For eye cream, I have been using the La Roche Posay Toleriane Ultra for probably more than a year now.

Although I have oily skin, I tend to get some dryness under my eyes. This does a brilliant job of keeping the under eye nourished without being to heavy. I have a full review of it here, if you want to know more about it.

I don’t tend to use a toner generally during the day, but if I do it’s usually either the La Roche Posay Serozinc which I have a full review of here.

Or I do love the Pixi Glow Tonic, which again I have spoken about in more detail here. I think I need this is my life again very soon.

For moisturiser, I tend to go with something light weight that won’t disrupt my makeup. I have a couple of holy grail moisturisers that I always recommend to people with more oilier skin. The La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo, I have a full review of it here. Or the Vichy Normaderm Anti Blemish Care which I’ve reviewed in the past here. At the moment I am switching between the Dermalogica Active Moist.

And the Garnier Pure Active Sensitive Anti Blemish Soothing Moisturiser.

I have to say both of them are working really nicely for my skin. They do a good job of hydrating, but sinking in quickly with no residue.

I always use some sort of lip balm in the morning too and let it do it’s thing while I do my makeup. At the minute I have three in my everyday skincare drawer.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream. I always have a tube of this on the go. I have a full blogpost on it here.

Then I have a Nivea Lip Butter.

I use this going to bed too. I love the scent 🙂

And then if I want to use a lip balm that doubles up as a lip product to leave the house in, I will reach for the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector.

I just have a mini of 01 here, which has a peachy tint to it. I love how this feels and looks on the lips.

And there you have my current day time skin care routine. I like to think it’s pretty simple, but effective. At the moment, there is no SPF included. I haven’t found one that doesn’t interfere with my makeup as of yet. I usually use a foundation with SPF in it or mix one in with the foundation I’m using.

Have you any skin care products you couldn’t live without?

xxx

March 15, 2017/1 Comment/by Gem

Lifestyle, Youtube Video

What’s In My Handbag

The day I filmed this video I was heading to the Irish Beauty Blog Awards where I was casually up for an award…no biggie like 🙂 Unfortunately I came home empty handed, but we had a good night regardless 🙂

I love handbags, but I am a lazy git and don’t always carry one. However, for a night out a bag is a completely necessary addition to my outfit. Us girls bring an arsenal of ‘just in case’ items in our handbags. We just make it a little smaller when we hit the town so we don’t have to lug around the big everyday bag. I think this makes what we bring that more important and it’s stuff we actually use and love 🙂

So tonight Matthew I bring you ‘What’s in My Handbag’ the night out edition. Just a bit of fun. I love having a nosey into other people’s handbags so I though it was fitting that I let you have a nose into mine. Click on the video about to watch me waffle up a storm and then I’ll have everything I talk about listed below and anything that I can link linked 🙂

So…what’s in my handbag?….

Too Faced Kabuki brush. I can’t find the exact one. This is a similar one from Too faced here.

Mac Studio Fix Powder, you can buy from Brown Thomas here

Catrice Prime & Fine Contour Palette can be found in Penneys nationwide and independent stockists. I have swatches of it here.

Benefit Porefessional License To Blot , You can pick it up from Debenhams online here and I have a full review here too.

You can buy the Rimmel Exaggerate Eyeliners in store or from Boots online here.

You can get the Exaggerate Lipliners like the eyeliners in store or from Boots online here. I also have swatches of it here if you’re interested 🙂

Rimmel The Only One Lipstick in Naughty Nude- I have swatches here and you can buy from Boots online here.

I bought the Chanel card holder from Brown Thomas. Very fancy purchase, but I do get alot of use out of it 🙂

And I think that’s it, if I missed anything out be sure to let me know.

Thanks for checking out what’s in my handbag 🙂

xxx

May 27, 2016/by Gem

Beautynook Tips, Skincare

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, a very well known skincare staple in the beauty world.

Us beauty enthusiasts go on about Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream alot, but does it live up to the hype? And exactly what can you use it for?

Elizabeth Arden will give you a list as long as your arm including using it on your eyelids and cheekbones as a highlighter, to tame fly away hairs and the likes. I don’t think this stuff is very practical in the real world, so I wanted to list my real life uses in a post 🙂

Eight hour cream has an ointment texture, although I get the fragrance free version, there is still a slight nearly medicinal scent to it, but it doesn’t linger so it’s not something to worry about too much. It is not fast absorbing so don’t be expecting it to soak into your skin any time soon. I see this as a pro rather than a con though because of what I use it for.

Here is what I use it for:

Chapped lips! It so great for hydrating the lips. It’s a great night time treatment, but it works really well to prep the lips before lipstick application as well as a giving the lips a nice shine without being sticky if you want to just wear it on its own.
I use it as a night time treatment on my brows and eyelashes. I think it helps with their condition. It also helps with softening any hard brow hairs you might have too.
It is fab for dry cuticles, it needs alot of working in, but it’s worth it.
If you wear lashes, you know the plight of left over lash glue, Eight Hour Cream massaged into the roots can help remove it gently.
Any dry skin spots you might have will benefit from a splodge of it!
If you have scrapes or minor burns it can help ease the itch and heal the abrasion.
Finally, I use it a foot treatment. I slather it on and then put some fluffy socks on before going to bed. It helps with cracked heels and any dryness that you might have from wearing stupid shoes (like me 🙂 )

Overall, Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream is a brilliant product to have in your skincare arsenal. It has so many uses, probably more than I have listed, they’re just things I use it for personally. It’s not cheap you can get it in Boots, Debenhams, anywhere that sells Elizabeth Arden really. The standard price is €33. A tube of it will last you forever though. The one I have now is over a year and it’s still going strong. I did order mine from Strawberry.net where if you’re lucky you can sometimes get a good deal on it.

Let me know if you use it and if there’s any other cool uses 🙂

xxx

January 18, 2016/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup Tools, Makeup Tutorial

Simple Makeup For When You’re Ill

I have a full blown cold, like most of the people in Ireland at the minute, right? Lovely start to the year 🙂 Life goes on though and we have to suffer through. This is my go to simple makeup for when I’m feeling a little under the weather. Let me blow my nose one last time and we’ll begin…

I have oily skin so I wouldn’t be adding radiance to my face on a regular basis, but when I am under the weather my skin does tend to dry up a little more so I can weirdly take advantage.

I added a good amount of the Botanics Radiance Balm onto cleansed skin (I have a full review of this stuff here, we all need it in our lives).

For some lip hydration I applied some of the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream, literally can’t be without this. I apply it every night before bed, and when I have a cold it goes under my nose too helping with the extra dryness.

I still have to prime, so I did and then it’s foundation time, thank god! I used a damp Beauty Blender to apply a thin layer to my skin.

I think the sponge feels more kinder to your skin when you’re feeling a little rough.

I used it for concealer too.

I applied some waterproof concealer around my nose, just a light layer, it’s going to diminish pretty quickly with all the nose blowing, but if you set it with powder you’ll get a little time out of it 🙂

For the actual makeup look, I think the softer the better.

I filled in my eyebrows.

I used a skin colour eyeshadow primer to conceal any redness on my lids.

To brighten up the eyes I applied a light gold cream shadow stick all over the eyelid.

Over the top I applied a similar coloured shimmery shadow.

To add a little definition, I added a matte taupe shadow lightly into my crease.

I applied a a light shimmery shade to the brow bone.

Lastly, I added a really small amount of the taupe shade on the lower lash line too.

I needed a touch more concealer under the eyes then…those bags ain’t Chanel 🙂

To brighten up the eyes more I applied some skin coloured eye liner to the waterline. This is a great step to tackle any redness and make you look more awake.

Curl the bejesus out of your eyelashes. I know it’s simple makeup, but I never neglect the lashes.

Then, lots of mascara on the top lashes. I opt out of mascara on the bottom ones because lots of watery eye shenanigans happen and of course the compulsory sneezing…it’s not worth it even the waterproof kind.

Bronzer is a nice addition, to warm up the complexion a smidgen. There’ll be no contouring today though 🙂

I added some peachy blush rather than pink, as I already have enough pinky flush going on.

I applied some light setting powder all over the face, nothing to heavy. There’ll be alot of face touching throughout the day, no point caking it on. You can always re apply.

I couldn’t resist a little highlighter, but it’s not necessary whatsoever. A little in the inner corner of the eye always helps I think though 🙂

To finish off this simple makeup look I just applied some glossy balm to the lips.

And we’re done!

I didn’t go into depth with the products I used, because I think they’re all stuff you already have lying around or that you use everyday. This is definitely not a glam face of makeup, it’s more of a I want to look human and survive the day makeup!

If you’ve been hit with the January plague like myself, feel better soon 🙂

xxx

January 6, 2016/4 Comments/by Gem