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Zoeva Plaisir Box

The Zoeva Plaisir Box is one of the fanciest makeup products I have ever owned!

Well it’s actually three products in a very swish box, but you know what I mean 🙂

I spotted Anna from TheAnnaEdit chatting on her blog about it before Christmas and shared her post on the Beautynook Facebook page, just because it looked so pretty. So many of you lovely people told me just how much you loved the Zoeva eye shadows. That alone sold me so thank you! I have lots of Zoeva brushes in my possession, this is my first step into their makeup products. But, after this experience I would 100 percent buy more!

The Zoeva Plaisir Box comes impeccably packaged. It is in the same vein as a swanky box of chocolates. The box is sleeved as well as the individual palettes. Honestly, I know I sound a tad over the top, but it’s a joy to unbox.

The three palettes (which are available to buy separately) are all named very chocolate appropriately. There’s ‘Caramel Melange, ‘Blanc Fusion’ and ‘Cocoa Blend’.

The eye shadows themselves in my opinion are a joy to work with. They are soft, rich in pigment and I, as of yet have experienced minimal fall out when using them. There is a mixture of shimmers (almost foil like), mattes and a couple of satin finishes. You have warm and more cool toned colours within the mix too. The shades on a whole lean more towards the neutral side, but there is a couple of fun ones thrown in for good measure as well. I, myself wouldn’t use all of the shades on a general basis, but the majority as shades I would gravitate towards for everyday makeup and for the evening too. There is ten shadows in each palette, each pan is 1.5 grams.

Here are they are in action:

‘Caramel Melange’ is the warmest of the three.

Wax Paper, Universal Delight, Aftertaste, 182º, Liquid Center

Alchemy, Start Soft, Finish Sensual, Almost Burnt, Edible Gem

Next up is ‘Blanc Fusion’.

Noble, Single Origin, Visions Of Gold, Late Bloomer, Sweetness Lingers

Travel Inspired, Joy In A Box,Conched, Question Of Taste, Last Bite

The third is ‘Cocoa Blend’.

Bitter Start, Sweeter End, Warm Notes, Subtle Blend, Beans Are White

Pure Ganache, Substitute For Love, Freshly Toasted, Infusion, Delicate Acidity

The palettes are available on their own for €22.50 each. The Zoeva Plaisir Box costs €62 from the Zoeva website here.

What do you think?

xxx

January 11, 2017/1 Comment/by Gem

July Favourites 2016

I am in disbelief that it is in fact August. But, the calendar on my phone has told me it is, and I must obey the mighty iPhone. This means that it’s time to look back over the last month and pick out some of the things I have been using and loving throughout it. Here are my July Favourites for 2016 🙂

They are all beauty related for July, there’s no curve balls 🙂

Initially I had the L’Oreal Nude Magique Cushion Foundation included too (which I have a full review of here). Something happened with the footage though and I lost it, so apologies for that! But I have been loving it. It gives you high spf, light but build-able coverage and feels really nice on the skin. What’s not to like about that 🙂

The July Favourites that actually made it into the video include:

The Nyx Vivid Brights liquid liner in ‘Vivid Envy’. I did a look with this bad boy here if you fancy seeing it in action.

Colourpop Supershock eyeshadows in both ‘LaLa and ‘Game Face’. I have a Colourpop haul post with these in it here. Bloody love these!

The Scandal Queen Fairydrops mascara. This is new to me, but I had to add it in because I have been loving it! You can pick it up from Cult Beauty here and I will do a full review on it very soon 🙂

And then finally I talk about the Klorane products I have been using and loving. They are a plant based hair care brand. They have been around for years and I had never tried anything from them until now!

If you want to watch the video directly from Youtube just click here, or you can just click on it above.

There you have it, my July Favourites for 2016. What have you been loving lately? Let me know.

xxx

August 8, 2016/0 Comments/by Gem

Lifestyle

Galgorm Resort & Spa

I was very kindly invited to the very beautiful Galgorm Resort & Spa a few weeks ago. If you follow me on social media, you would have seen myself and John being treated like royalty to celebrate their Wellness Day and their new extended facilities.

We were blown away the minute we stepped out of the car in all honesty. The grounds of Galgorm Resort & Spa are so beautiful, our candid snaps do not do it much justice.

Galgorm cater for weddings and big occasions too, so they have two Rolls Royce casually parked on the grounds for when they are needed. There was actually a wedding on that day so one was away on duty 🙂

The foyer.

There was a small group of us including press and bloggers, so we partook in the Wellness Party Package. Here’s a link to it on the website. It includes:
• Celtic Sauna Ritual
• Body & Mind Class
• 1 course lunch in Gillies
• Private use of the group treatment suite for 3 hours
• Smoothie & fruit on arrival
• Thermal Village Experience
• 25 minute treatment each
£90 per person Mon – Thurs/ £100 per person Fri – Sun
Based on a minimum of 10 people

I’m just going to include all the pics I took to give you a bit of an insight. We did spend alot of the day in the water so I couldn’t bring the camera too close, but it might give you an idea of what to expect.

The spa uses products from both Aromatherapy Associates and Voya.

voya

The Galgorm Resort & Spa Thermal Village contains an Orangery, the Celtic Sauna, a snow cabin, a Sanarium, snail showers, waterbeds, and an indoor pool. Then, the River House is situated in the middle of it all where the private treatments take place.

We did some exercise to begin with and then went and experienced the Celtic sauna Ritual, which was like nothing I have ever done before. I’ll quote Galgorm here if that’s ok to describe 🙂 ‘Originating in Finland and now practised world-wide this is Galgorm’s unique presentation on the Aufguss sauna ritual. Your Sauna Master will guide through this meditative experience where a ritual with towels is used to agitate the air, lessening the intensity of the heat and allowing you to breathe in the essential oils infused into the air. You will complete the ritual with a meditation session in the River House followed by rejuvenation and refreshment in the Orangery where you can float away into a state of utter relaxation.’

After lunch, it was time for our spa treatments. I opted for a back and shoulder massage, that made me feel like bubble wrap. All my knots and tension was taken care of. John opted for a eye treatment and was so relaxed he actually fell asleep on the bed 🙂

And then, we just spent the rest of the day in the sauna, pool and hot tub hopping. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, right?

Our room for the night was one of the newly built deluxe room that overlook the Thermal Village. This was our view for the evening.

Because we were so darn relaxed, we forgot to take some pictures of the room before we messed it all up. Here’s some from the next day, but you get the gist 🙂 All the formal info of their deluxe rooms is here.

galgorm

The bed felt like a king size marshmallow and I wanted to bring the light up mirror in the bathroom home, not going to lie 🙂

The room comes with a complimentary mini bar which is a really nice added extra. It has some snacks and drinks, and includes Galgorm’s very own craft beer. This can only be gotten in the resort. John being the beer connoisseur that he is, really enjoyed it.

In the evening we were treated to a really tasty meal in the on site Italian restaurant Fratelli’s.

italian

After undoing all the wellness of the day with lots of delicious grub, we ended the night in the Gin Bar. A gin lovers paradise.

The next morning, we had breakfast before we left, which was a sit down affair with a buffet full of fruit and pastries and then whatever you want from the menu. It was the perfect way to end a beautiful and relaxing break at Galgorm.

We ended our stay in Northern Ireland with a trip to the Giant’s Causeway. The weather was pretty miserable, but it’s such a beautiful part of the country, so it was worth it 🙂

Overall, our experience in Galgorm Spa & Resort was an amazing one. Neither myself or John had ever been on a spa break and after this, we’re already planning our next one.

If you are looking for somewhere to go as a treat to unwind and relax, I would hand on hear recommend it.

Thank you so much to all the staff for having us.

xxx

August 5, 2016/0 Comments/by Gem

Makeup

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector-Champagne Pop

I already harped on about my go to highlighter, the Balm’s Mary-Lou Manizer not too long ago here. And then I get my greedy little mitts on this.

The Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in the Shade ‘Champagne Pop’.

‘Champagne Pop’ is in collaboration with American YouTuber Jaclyn Hill. If you are a YouTube makeup tutorial fan, you already know who Jaclyn Hill is, but if not, she is a Florida based makeup artist turned YouTube makeup guru with millions of people subscribed and watching her makeup tutorials here, including little old me 🙂

We have Becca here in Ireland. Spacenk sell it as well as Mise Beauty. It’s a gorgeous makeup brand that originated in Australia. They already have some beautiful skin perfectors in their collection i.e highlighters, but ‘Champagne Pop’ is the newest one on the block. Unfortunately for us it is a Sephora exclusive, so all us Irish fans had to beg steal and borrow to be the proud owners 🙂

‘Champagne Pop’ is a powder highlight with a peach/champagne tone to it.

I’ve never owned a Becca Skin Perfector, and now after owning this, I want them all. It glides onto the skin beautifully and is pigmented from the first swipe.

But obviously you can build it up to whatever intensity you desire.

It’s gives such a pretty glow to the skin. It shines rather than sparkles if that makes sense? And I love it for this. The peachy shade works on Mac NC20 pale skin, and I have seen others using it with lighter and darker skin tones online and it works just as well.

I apply it with something like this little duo fibre brush from Nima

I dip it in lightly.

Then apply a couple of light layers to the tops of my cheeks. I’m not going to call them cheekbones because my cheeks are way to chubby for that 🙂

It leaves you with a lovely champagne shine to your skin as you can see.

Like Mary-Lou, as well as being an absolutely beautiful highlight on the face, Champagne Pop applies just as lovely on the eyes either on the lids as a peachy pop or in the inner tear ducts to open up the eyes. I use a Nima concealer brush for this or a pencil brush.

I like to apply a little on my cupids bow too if I’m feeling really fancy 🙂

My skin has a tendency to ‘eat up makeup’. It just soaks in and begins to disappear after a while. I find that ‘Champagne Pop’ does stay put well on me. And even at the end of the day when the oils are after coming through on my skin (shine in the wrong places) I can still see highlighter on my cheeks. For me, this is rare. Mary-Lou Manizer and Champagne Pop have been the only highlighter I have ever owned to stand the test of time on my oily skin.

I can’t really say anything bad about this product except I wish it was easier to get hold of. There has been talk online though about Champagne Pop coming to Europe though, so if it does, run out and buy it, you won’t be disappointed 🙂

I got Champagne Pop direct from Sephora and it cost $38. It is now part of the Becca permanent line and you can buy in Spacenk and on their website.

xxx

September 15, 2015/3 Comments/by Gem

Lifestyle

Being Yourself…Flaws And All

I am turning 30 soon and it has scared the pants off me for a long time thinking about it. I’m a thinker. I overthink, over analyse and worry that’s who I am, it’s only great :).

As I reach closer to the time of the next decade of my life I have spent alot of time (you guessed it) thinking about my life at this point and my goals. I am not where I thought I would be, not in the slightest. I always did well in school without having to try too hard and so I suppose I just assumed life would be somewhat easy when I grew up and became an adult. Things didn’t really turn out like that. I’ve spent many years trying to find a career and something I could be proud of. I have a relationship that I am proud of, he has been the one constant in my life (for a long time), that has kept me going. Life has some crazy turns both good and bad.

I am a smart arse, I sometimes talk before I think, I make alot of mistakes, I have more of a male sense of humour ( I am the only girl of 3). When I am shy or nervous I use humour to cover it up or I just close up completely and try to hide.

I am by no means perfect. And I am critical of that all of the time. I don’t have a perfect figure, perfect hair,perfect skin, I would deem myself average in alot of categories both physically and in my capabilities.

I enjoy my own company, but I don’t like to do things out of my comfort zone on my own, I find it hard to make plans and stick to them, I can be lazy, I can be selfish, I have a temper, I am brutal at small talk the list is endless and it’s not one I am proud of 🙂

The reason I sat down to babble though is because I have realised that just because I am not the definition of perfect doesn’t mean I don’t matter, doesn’t mean my opinion or feelings are not important. We are all important, we are also important to someone. We have people who loves us for who we are warts and all. We should embrace this and feel free in this environment instead of trying to make the people who don’t matter like us. I have spent big chunks of my life doing that. Not everyone will like you in life, we have to come to terms with it. I know it’s hard, believe me and I am not writing this because I have the antidote, I just wanted to write it to say you are not alone.

We can all feel alone at times even when we are surrounded by people. I know I can forget to live in the moment because I am so worried about what is going to happen in the future. Sometimes I have to be snapped out of it and told to cop onto myself…he does that alot 🙂

My goals for my 30’s is to take more chances, see more things, love the people who love me more, spend time with them, but most of all love and be proud of myself…flaws and all, because I matter!

I know this blog is for makeup and beauty products and I love these things because they make us feel better about ourselves, more confident, but it doesn’t define us. We define us! Don’t let anyone let you feel inferior. You are amazing! You won’t always believe it but you are 🙂

xxx

March 25, 2015/3 Comments/by Gem

Skincare

Waxperts Wonder Pads and Beautiful Body Oil

I am not a waxer, I hold my hands up and admit to that. My hair grows really fast and just for me it would be too expensive to upkeep. However I know the Waxperts brands very well and they are a force to be reckoned with in the waxing world. They have taken Ireland and the United Kingdom by storm with their painless wax and methods and are set to conquer the world.

Just because I do not wax does not mean I cannot use their skincare products though. They so far have two on the market and I am hear to tell you all about them 🙂

First up is the Waxperts Wonder Pads.

These have been around a while now and I have been using them for a long time and love them. They are marketed towards the treatment and prevention of ingrown hairs after waxing or for someone like me after shaving. They work really well for this, but they can also be used for treating spots or any lumps or bumps you might get anywhere on the body including the face. Wonder Pads contain salicylic acid, so they unclog the pores and neutralise any bacteria within them. They also contain panthenol that helps to hydrate the skin while also helping to stop the itching that can happen after you shave or wax, pretty good right? This is the bit I love particularly about them because I am always prone to lumps and bumps after shaving…the joys! They don’t dry out your skin either like some salicylic acid products can.

You get 40 pre moistened pads per pot so it will last you a good while before you have to pick up another batch. You can get them from Cloud 10 Beauty here or from Dolledup.ie and they will set you back €7.95. I really recommend them.

The newest launch from Waxperts comes in the form of their Beautiful Body Oil.

Body oils can really be hit or miss. They can be too oily on the skin and make you feel slimy and unclean when you apply it, and make you literally have to wait an hour before clothing touches you…nightmare! The good ones can usually set you back a fair bit of dosh and then you tend to use them for only special occasions. None of this is the case for Waxperts Beautiful Body Oil.

It was created for at home consumption because the oil Waxpert waxers used at appointments went down really well and clients wanted to be able to bring it home with them.

The Beautiful Body Oil can be used in many different ways, post waxing, post shaving, post bathing or showering or post sunbathing(that’s alot of posts). As the main ingredient is lavender and the oil smells divinely of it, it’s great to use before bed as we know lavender products are great for relaxation.

I have been using the Beautiful Body Oil everyday after showering or bathing for the past few weeks. It soaks in really quickly, smells lovely, and leaves your skin feeling supple and soft without any residue. I can’t say anything bad about it. I even love the bottle because you can pump the oil out onto your hands or body so none of the product is wasted!

Waxperts Beautiful Body Oil 100ml bottle is available from Dolledup.ie and Cloud10beauty here too and will set you back €9.99 not too bad at all!

The lovely ladies behind Waxperts know their stuff, I cannot wait to see what is in store for them next.

Do you Waxperts?

xxx

March 16, 2015/4 Comments/by Gem