arnotts Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Huda Beauty New Nude Eyeshadow Palette Tutorial

I’ve already swatched it here, now it’s time to show it in action on the eyes. I paid way too much money for this not to utilise it at least twice on Beautynook 🙂 This is my Huda Beauty New Nude Eyeshadow Palette Tutorial.

I noticed while editing that my eyebrows are not looking their best for this video, but sure you win some, you lose some. I just put them on for the purpose of filming. Obviously my heart wasn’t in it 🙂

I haven’t shut up about Huda Beauty in a minute, so I promise this is the last dedicated post for a while. My debit card will be happy to hear that too. I reviewed their Matte & Metal Melted Eyeshadows as well here too if you’re interested.

I wasn’t properly sold on the Huda Beauty New Nude Eyeshadow Palette since first getting it, I have to be honest. But sitting down with it and taking my time applying the glitter shades has really changed my mind. It’s very pink and purple, so neither of those colours are your jam, stay well clear!

I’ve been gravitating towards cranberry and pink shades more and more over the past few months. At first I was super intimidated by them. I find the more you try something, for example a red or an orange lip, the more ‘normal’ it becomes. And this has happened for me with these tones of shadows for sure.

In fact, you’re probably sick of seeing them on my eyeballs now. Totes soz 🙂

I will say tonally, you will get really similar looks with the Huda Beauty New Nude Eyeshadow Palette. I’m sure you can just guess that by looking at it, but I’m being super pedantic, cos it’s super spendy!

Anyways, please do click on the video and let me know what you think of the look, not so much my eyebrows though! Have you splurged on the Palette?

xxx

PR SAMPLES ARE USED IN THIS VIDEO

January 11, 2019/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup

Huda Beauty Matte & Metal Melted Eyeshadow

So while I was in picking up the Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette in Brown Thomas over Christmas. As I was perusing, I happened upon the brand new Huda Beauty Matte & Metal Melted Eyeshadow (s).

I think they were only out a day or so at the time, so all the shades were available in the BT Beauty Lounge. I had a voucher (thanks bro!), so I didn’t mind forking out the 50 quid for two of the shades. They have a pretty hefty price tag at €25 a pop!

There is five Huda Beauty Matte & Metal Melted Eyeshadow colour ways. But they are dual ended so there’s technically two shades within one of them.

So what are they? They are basically liquid eyeshadows, which I guess is an interesting concept. Especially for Huda Beauty considering how successful their liquid lipsticks are. On one end, you get a matte liquid formula with a doe foot applicator. And on the other end, there’s a melted metallic formula in a corresponding shade. I won’t lie, I was kinda intrigued and completely intimidated picking these up. But I’ve actually growing really fond of both shades that I have. There’s five to choose from in total.

I have Hot Sauce and Cherry Soda.

And Private Jet and Shimmering Sunset.

The liquid matte colours in both shades, apply really opaquely, but they give you some play time to blend, and they do blend out! You can add colour as you blend, or just go in full on and in both instances for me, I can blend out the colour relatively easily. I’ve been applying them on one lid at a time, with the doe foot applicator and then blending onto the lid with my finger, but switching to a brush for the crease. I find they last really well on their own which just primer underneath and set to a comfortable matte finish. I did use some brown shadow in the crease here just to add some depth.

Here’s Hot Sauce & Cherry Soda in action:

The melted matte formula, needs to be worked with more quickly as it does have a faster setting time. I’ve been using both, so far as just a glitter accent in the middle of the lid, or as actual metallic eyeliner. They apply fairly opaquely. This formula isn’t as comfortable when it sets, you can feel it on your eyes. It feels a bit tight once dry. Both of the metallics I own have glitter particles in them. The wear time on the metallic end isn’t as long as the matte. It does fade a little, and it can crack a tad, but after a few hours and not super noticeably. I would be wary if you have textured eyelids though.

Here’s Private Jet and Shimmering Sunset in action:

Overall, I have to say I am a fan of the Huda Beauty Matte & Metal Melted Eyeshadow. I think they are fairly pricey and I think I like the matte shades a bit more than the glitters, but I am having fun putting them to use for sure. Have you tried them yet?

January 9, 2019/by Gem

Makeup

Mac Whirl Lipstick and Lip Liner

I’ve had Mac Whirl lipstick for a while now. And I’ve had the liner forever, literally. And I never thought to do a blogpost on them. Silly me! Well I am rectifying this now for the archives and just in case any of you want to see them in action 🙂

There was a lot of hype around Mac Whirl lipstick launching after the success of the liner. I get so much use out of the lip liner. It’s great on it’s own, under similar shade lippies, not so similar shades and even gloss. It just works. It’s that typical 90’s flat brown shade.

I feel like it has a hint of blue in it because like any more blue toned red, it definitely makes your teeth look more white and bright, score!

The Mac Whirl lipstick itself is a matte formula. Mac Cosmetics do a great creamy matte formula, they apply smoothly and last well. But generally with any matte lippie, your lips need to be in tip top condition before application and it can cause dryness as you wear it throughout the day and night.

It’s weird because I don’t find the lip liner shade intimidating, but the lipstick is of course more opaque, so I do find it’s a bit of a statement to wear. Of course, this thought process is in the eye of the beholder, and the person wearing the lipstick.

Overall I am a fan of both Mac Whirl lipstick and the lip liner, but I do find myself reaching for the lip liner more day to day. Now Mac , if you’re reading this, if you could make a Soar lipstick too, that would be great. I love a brown lip but I am also partial to a mauve lip too 🙂

What’s your favourite Mac lipstick?

xxx

November 28, 2018/2 Comments/by Gem

Makeup

It Cosmetics CC Cream Oil Free Matte

Oh I jumped on the It Cosmetics bandwagon, I jumped on it hard 🙂 I just couldn’t bloody resist it. Good coverage and really high SPF! So many people had such awesome things to say about it, and the brand is in Arnotts now. It was a no brainer really.

I bided my time a little until the Oil Free Matte version came to our shores. I am generally oily, particularly in my t-zone. The older I get, the more dehydrated some of my skin is getting, but I still get a super oily nose, so I like oil free products.

So what is the Oil Free It Cosmetics CC Cream you may ask? Well I’ll let the brand do the specific explaining and then I’ll throw my two cents into the equation:

‘Created to improve the look of skin texture, this complexion-perfecting breakthrough provides long-wear coverage and camouflages skin imperfections including dark spots and discolouration without creasing or cracking. It’s also infused with charcoal, tea tree extract, colloidal clay and Moroccan lava clay—plus, oil-absorbing, minimising technology and an advanced anti-aging serum. You’ll see powerful results instantly and more dramatic results over time. Finally, a full-coverage CC cream that airbrushes the look of your pores while providing natural-looking matte complexion perfection that lasts!’

The other versions of the It Cosmetics CC Cream have broad spectrum SPF 50+. The oil free version is SPF 40+ which is still amazing! I love the packaging. It’s a tube with a pump, so you can squeeze every fairly expensive drop out of it.

It Cosmetics do recommend you apply this with a brush. And that’s what I was doing, like I would with a foundation for the first couple of weeks. I liked it at this point, the coverage and pigment was great and the longevity fairly decent, especially for something that has such high protection. However I did find, it clung to dry patches as it is matte, and it was hard to blend into my giant pores. I have the shade Fair Light.

Then, I brought it on holiday with me, and started wearing it as my SPF. One of the days I was just wanting to slap some on and used my fingers to blend it in. This was a bit of a revelation for me. It blended so much easier into my skin, it was easier to get it into all the nooks and crannies. Which makes complete sense I guess, since it is a CC Cream. It just performs like a really decent foundation.

Here it is in action on my skin in video form:

The coverage and staying power of this stuff is pretty overwhelming considering it’s good for your skin to boot. I need to get a sample of the original formula asap to see how that performs on my skin! I do get a bit of shine on my t-zone after a few hours, but I’ve yet to find anything to combat that. And a bit of blotting makes it disappear. The rest of my skin lasts really well though and I’ve found myself using less powder with this and can even skip setting spray if I fancy. Just be wary it is matte and it can cling to dryness. Once you aware of that, it does exactly what it says on the tin!

The It Cosmetics CC Cream Oil Free Matte is available now from Arnotts. It will set you back €39.

Have you tried it yet?

xxx

October 12, 2018/by Gem

Makeup, Skincare

Beauty Shopping Current Lust List

I am back again with another beauty shopping lust list!! I can’t help myself, when the new products come rolling out, there’s always a few that take my extra fancy 🙂

Now unfortunately my ‘beauty budget’ doesn’t stretch really far, so I have to be selective on what I pick up. But I find curating a list of the new releases and explaining why I want them helps me to make a decision. And sure it might help you too! My last one was here if you fancy checking that out and I picked up a good few items from that.

First on my list is the new Urban Decay Born To Run Palette.

If you’ve been around these parts before you know I’m a huge UD fan. Not to say that everything they release I want, but this collection is very pretty. The palette and the eyeliners in particular are on my radar.

I love the concept of the packaging. All of the photos are holiday snaps from various Urban Decay employees. It’s meant to be the perfect palette to take with you on your travels. You can create a nude look and have options of pops of colour too. It just looks really my speed.

Next up is completely because of the colour. Beauty Blender have just released a sapphire blue blender!

I’ve been toying with getting an original Beauty Blender again for ages. I use to buy them all the time when they first came out. But, obviously they’re pricey and the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge is awesome and under half the price. I’d really like to compare them myself though.

My next beauty lust is a whole collection!

This lusting is completely based on aesthetics. It’s the Lancôme X Proenza Schouler collaboration. I saw this and shared it on Instagram weeks ago now and just haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.

This palette in particular looks right up my street!

Would be a complete beauty treat, but I’ll defo be going in to BT for an oul swatch asap 🙂

If you know me, you know I’m a huge fan of the Pixi Glow Tonic, I did a post on it yonks ago here and I’m constantly replenishing it in my skincare stash. Well now they’ve only gone and released the Pixi Retinol Tonic.

Retinol as we know, helps the production of new skin cells. It’s basically vitamin A in topical form. It can help with fine lines, discolouration and even acne scars depending on the dosage.

My last beauty lusting is from a brand that is a tad controversial at the moment. But I have been waiting for this to launch forever, so I had to add it in. It’s the Kat Von D Lash Liner.

It’s such a cool, unique concept. A liquid liner for your waterline!! I know I’m a bit of a beauty geek, but this blows my mind and I think I just have to try it. I’ve read mixed reviews online, so I’m super curious to see if it actually lasts, or if it bleeds or makes loads of black gunk in the corners of your eyes 🙂

Oh, I’ll stop the beauty lusting there. Have you your eye on anything in-particular?

xxx

August 8, 2018/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup

Mac Eyeshadow Collection

I have been slowly re-adding to my Mac eyeshadow collection ever since they brought the price of the single pans down to €7. For a long while I had just stopped buying them and even gave a host of them away. As other brands came onto the market like Makeup Geek or even now Penneys that do great single pans, buying exclusively Mac just wasn’t necessary.

As the price is a bit more affordable and Mac is a more readily available for us too with Brown Thomas, Arnotts and even ASOS selling it now. Although, ASOS don’t sell just the pans. I’ve been using it as an excuse to buy up some of the colours I’ve always wanted to try buy just never got around to over my makeup loving years. And some old favourites. I’m not really buying basics as in transition shades or anything, just shades that take my fancy, although that may change. Never say never 🙂

My Mac eyeshadow collection is way smaller than it used to be, but I thought this might be helpful, just in case, like me, there’s certain shades you want to try. I can update it as I pick up more, and be sure to leave me suggestions in the comments below of other cool single pans to pick up.

I feel like I’m starting again with my collection and it feels good, I won’t lie.

Nine pans are all that adorn my new pro palette at the minute, but they’re very nice pans, and I’m happy with them all 🙂