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Beauty Favourites 2015

I know so many wonderful bloggers have done their version of beauty favourites already so apologies if you’ve been inundated. I think it’s a really great idea though and I haven’t done monthly faves this year, so I thought I would do a yearly round of my beauty favourites 2015!

First up is an easy one. I know the Urban Decay Gwen Palette came out late in the year, but it has become one of my most reached for eyeshadow palettes.

I am completely head over heels for it. There is neutrals galore, transitional shades, fun sparkly shades and even a couple of cray cray shades to keep things interesting. Gwen, I bow down to you and can’t wait to see the new releases you and Urban Decay have up your sleeves for 2016 🙂 Full swatches of the palette can be seen here and I even did a makeup look with it here if you fancy a nose.

Next up is the very coveted Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Champagne Pop.

No joke I have used this pretty much everyday since I got it. When I first got my grubby little mitts on this in mid 2015 it was only available in America. Now the lovely people of Spacenk are stocking it here, so everyone can bask in the Champagne Glow. Another one of my 2015 finds was the brush I use to apply the Pop 🙂

This awesome F28 brush from Blank Canvas Cosmetics. The lovely Ashling from Total Makeup Addict introduced me to this beauty and I will forever be in her debt for it. It’s the perfect cheek bone highlighting tool.

My favourite setting powder of 2015 would have to be the Chanel Vitalumiere Powder Foundation.

I have pretty much used this exclusively for the past year.

I have a whole review if here. It’s a foundation so there is coverage with it, which I personally like. You can build it up or thin it out depending on application or what brush you use so it’s really versatile. Pricey but versatile 🙂

My next beauty faves are a little more pocket friendly.

Again I have a review of these here, but they are two of the All About palettes from Essence. Essence have a few different colour choices in these really handy eyeshadow palettes and they cost less than a fiver, bargain! Oh and they’re damn pigmented too!

2015 was definitely the year of budget friendly favourite for me. Another one is the Catrice Glamour Doll Waterproof mascara.

For the latter half of the year this is the only mascara I was (and still am now) using. And what do you know, I have a full review of it here 🙂

My favourite under eye concealer duo have been the Catrice Liquid Camouflage and the Flormar Perfect Coverage.

Cheap as chips and together for me are a dynamic duo. You can see them in action here.

My favourite blush of the year has to be the Max Factor Creme Blush in ‘Seductive Pink’.

This is just the easiest blush colour to wear. It goes with everything. I love the formula of these too. They blend so nicely. You can see it swatched here if you fancy a nose 🙂

My lip liner find of 2015 probably has to be Whirl by Mac.

This lip liner got a life of it’s own in 2015. It’s a great all round colour though that you can use on it’s own, under nudes and even under darker and brighter shades of lippie. It’s great for evening out the lip line too. I have it swatched here if you want a closer look.

The Only Lipsticks from Rimmel are another makeup find of 2015 that I am very happy with.

They came at the end of the year I know, but I’ve been obsessed with them so I had to include them. These two lighter shades have been the ones I grab for most but I own six of them and I wear all the shades alot. I love the finish, the pigmentation and the price point. (yep, I have them all swatched here 🙂

I have two facial skin care faves for 2015 that I wanted to add in aswell.

Serozinc from La Roche Posay.

I think I’ve gone through about 4 of these so far and I will repurchase! There’s a full review of it here, but I use Serozinc as a toner, to freshen up my makeup and as a finishing spray when I am finished my makeup. It’s a great all rounder.

My last fave is from the Oils Of Life range from The Body Shop.

This is their Intensely Revitalising Gel Cream. I use this as a night cream. I have oily skin, so heavy creams can sometimes clog my pores. This stuff feels so light on my skin and soaks in really quickly but still leaves behind nice soft hydrated skin. May I add it smells incredible too!

That’s my Beauty Favourites for 2015 done and dusted. Seriously, where did that year go?

Should I do below the neck beauty favourites too, as in more body orientated stuff ha. Let me know.

xxx

January 8, 2016/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Catrice Glamour Doll Volume Waterproof Mascara

Ok, you’re going to have to forgive me, because it’s time for another mascara rave 🙂

This is the Catrice Glamour Doll Volume Waterproof Mascara, and I am in love! I saw the lovely Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup talking about this a while ago. I kinda feel like I have similar mascara needs to her. She always goes for a waterproof formula as do I, she wants the curl to last and wants some length…so do I, we’re practically lash sisters right?

Obviously when I saw her talk about it, the Catrice Glamour Doll Volume Waterproof Mascara went on my to buy list. And as we know here in Ireland Catrice is readily available in pharmacies and Penneys around these parts and it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg, so even a better reason to give it a try. To be fair myself and Catrice have been getting on like a house on fire of late and I am thoroughly enjoying the brand.

I think the easiest way to review a mascara is to just show you in action. I have blabbed on about my lashes being pretty lame many times so I won’t bore you with the details, but my lashes need a bit of oomph and curl to look semi decent. Mascara would definitely be one of my desert island products.

Here they are with no product on them at all.

Here they are curled with an eyelash curlers, I have straight lashes and no mascara really gives me the full curl I want so this is a necessary step in my routine. It just gives them an extra lift, which I don’t have naturally.

Here, I have added a few coats of the Catrice Glamour Doll to one of my eyes.

You can see it makes a pretty significant difference to my lashes right?

The Glamour Doll Volume Waterproof mascara has a small plastic wand, with small spikes tips to it, I think it makes for really easy application, and you can get right into the root of the lashes with it. I layer it too and it doesn’t become overly clumpy and leave you with spider lashes either.

So here’s the mascara added to both eyes top and bottom.

I’m even happy to add a slick of the Glamour Eyes to my bottom lashes, and it lasts quite well. Usually I can be a bit of a mascara ponce and tend to stick to a tubing mascara on my bottom lashes, but the wand on this one isn’t too large so it applies pretty easy to the lower lashes and has yet to smudge on me either.

If you struggle with a curl lasting in your lashes like me and you want some extra length, with a bit of added volume too, I really recommend giving the Catrice Glamour Doll Volume Waterproof Mascara a go.

And the best part, it will set you back €4.99, not bad right?

October 18, 2015/13 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

Anastasia Beverley Hills Contour Kit

When the Anastasia Beverley Hills Contour Kit became available on Cult Beauty I forked out the 45 pound (not euro pound!) no questions asked. There was so much online hype surrounding it and if I’m honest I put myself on the waiting list in hopes of being one of the first in Ireland to get my hands on it.

I waited patiently and when it arrived, I did a little dance, no word of a lie. I opened it and thought…oh ok so this is what it looks like in the flesh…hmm. I wasn’t hugely impressed with the cardboard packaging. But then the Lorac Pro Palette comes in a similar black matte cardboard affair and I love it, so I won’t judge a book by it’s cover.

So let me show you what you get:

Top: Vanilla, Banana, Sand Bottom: Java, Fawn, Havana

So the top layer of colours would be the highlight shades. Vanilla is matte and slightly pink in colour. On my skin you can’t see it at all (I am quite pale and have pink toned skin), it could just be a setting powder for me. Banana would be what the name suggests. A matte yellow toned powder, that would be used for highlighting or setting under the eyes. Sand it a pink toned highlighter shade with a sheen running through it.

Then on the bottom we have what would be the contour shades. Java is a coffee coloured brown shade again as the name would suggest. I think this would work best on darker skin tones for contouring and bronzing. Fawn is more of a grey toned brown, in my opinion better on lighter skin tones for contouring. And then finally we have Havana a chocolate brown shade. Would be best used as bronzer I think.

As you can see from the picture above, these powders are refillable so when you are finished a pan you can buy them individually and pop them back into the palette which is cool. Anastasia have actually brought out a huge version of this palette for makeup artists with loads of shades to choose from. It would be great if you could mix n’ match the perfect shades for you.

Here are the shades swatched for you:

Vanilla, Banana, Sand, Java, Fawn, Havana

As you can see Vanilla doesn’t come out on my light skin at all, apologies for you not being able to see it, it’s there I promise 🙂

So….what do I think of the palette? Honestly, I think it’s ok. I don’t know whether I am too light skinned for the colours, but most of them of them don’t suit me. They don’t seem to stay on my oily skin too well throughout the day either. They aren’t the most blendable powders I have ever come across either. They are pigmented though! Every day when I’m getting ready, my Kevyn Aucoin sculpting powder makes it into my hands before I grab for this. I am in love with that product and a little of it goes such a long way, thank goodness because the product and packaging is teeny weeny 🙂

I’ll dip in and out of using the Anastasia Contour Kit and get use out of it but it definitely will not be on my list to repurchase. I love my eyebrow products that I have used from this brand (the Dipbrow and the Brow Wiz) and I would highly recommend them so I am not condemning the brand whatsoever. This palette as much as I wanted it doesn’t really float my boat.

It’s so brilliant that brands are bringing out these types of products. Contouring, when done right really is amazing. I think next on the list has to be Inglot’s version 🙂

So there you have it. Let me know if you have any thoughts on it or have used the Anastasia Beverley Hills Contour Kit yourself. As usual, these are just opinions, yours might be completely different and that’s perfectly fine!

Thanks for taking the time to read mine though 🙂

Gemma

xxx

August 8, 2014/3 Comments/by Gem