becca Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Eyeshadow Palettes I Don’t Reach For

This is not a dig at any of the brands that created these eyeshadow palettes. In fact I don’t really think overall, it’s really a dig at the eyeshadow palettes themselves. It’s just me explaining why I don’t reach for them, and why they don’t seem to work for me.

I might get a bitchy in between, but that tends to happen when you’re on a roll, right? 🙂 I have a bucket load of eyeshadow palettes. Makeup is my favourite pass time. There’s always going to be times I spend my money, or get something in a pr package that just doesn’t float my boat though.

There’s times also where you think you’re going to love a product, and then it just doesn’t get utilised. And that’s fine, it’s the look of the draw. Beauty products are being released constantly, it’s so easy to get caught up in the new shiny things on offer.

I’ve mentioned, I think all of these eyeshadow palettes in one form or another here on Beautynook or on my Instagram page. Some of them I loved initially, some I wanted because of the hype and some were bought on a whim. There is no reason to my thought process. And by the end of the video, I talked myself into trying to use at least one of them again, just because I don’t think it got a fair trial.

There is five palettes in total:

All the brands listed I enjoy and use a lot! I don’t think you can love everything a brand brings out. As I say in the video too though this is just my opinions and thoughts. We are all different. When it comes to reading reviews on products, never just read one. It’s always good to get different views and thought processes. Do you have and love any of these? Let me know.

xxx

*********INCLUDES PR SAMPLES*************

May 10, 2019/by Gem

Makeup

Beauty Stocking Fillers

I did this a couple of years ago in a different format. It went down pretty well. So I thought I would do it again. This year we’re definitely dialling it back for Christmas. Well as much as we can, I love buying presents. So whether you’re on a budget, want to pick up a token gift, or even something for yourself. Here is my list of beauty stocking fillers for 2018.

I picked from websites that are easy for us to order from in Ireland and that generally have decent discounts and sales on product too. I know everyone has different budgets as well, so I tried to cater to all, and to the skincare and makeup lovers in your life.

I’ll go in shop order to make things hopefully a little cohesive. Let’s start with beauty stocking fillers from Cloud 10 Beauty.

First up is this Best Of Bright Travel Kit from Pixi Beauty for €23.

I am such a fan of the brand, and this is a really lovely affordable introduction into their skincare.

Cloud 10 Beauty have some awesome Stila gift sets too.

I thought this Shimmering Heights one for €31.95 would make a lovely beauty stocking filler. It’s three of their Shimmer & Glow Liquid Eyeshadows.

Lastly from Cloud 10 we have this Alpha H Petite Holiday Collection for €25.

Minis of some essentials, including their Liquid Gold, which I have yet to try so I have my eye on this in particular 🙂

Ok, over to Look Fantastic now.

This Caudalie Hand Cream Trio would make a great beauty stocking filler in my very humble beauty obsessed opinion. It will set you back €11.45.

I don’t think you can go wrong with hand cream as a gift idea.

Another super affordable suggestion is this Garnier Hydrating Sheet Mask Selection for €14.95.

Five Moisture Bomb Sheet masks for different concerns.

Beauty Bay is next on my beauty stocking filler hit list.

This Holiday Facial Spray Trio from Mario Badescu is €14!

Facial Sprays are a nice treat within your skincare routine, and it’s a great way to sample all three versions the brand have on offer.

If someone in your life is a fan of sleep sprays the This Works Sleep Tight bauble is awesome and is only €15.

You get two teeny pillow sprays and a stress check roller ball.

I got carried away on Cult Beauty, I must admit, so bare with me 🙂

This Peter Thomas Roth Meet You Mask Set looks awesome and it’s only £20.50. Sorry Cult Beauty don’t covert to euro, this is good for our exchange rate though!

I’ve never tried this brand and have always wanted too. It’s not the most affordable so I thought this would be a great way to dip a toe or two in and give it a go.

Nest up is one of my personal faves. This is the Becca Cosmetics Golden Trio and it costs £35.

It’s mini versions of Champagne Pop, Opal and Moonstone highlighters.

I’m fairly obsessed with this 🙂

This Sweet Indulgence Set from Beauty Blender would have us sorted for makeup sponges for all of 2019. It costs £52.

It contains 4 Beauty Blenders and 4 solid cleansers to keep them clean.

I got the original Zoeva Plaisir Box a couple of years back from John and I bloody love it. This is a mini eyeshadow palette version and it retails for £31 so thought it was good beauty stocking filler material.

It contains three small but mighty eyeshadow palettes, and the display box is gorge too.

Last stop on this journey is Debenhams.

I actually nearly pulled the trigger on this Urban Decay Starfire Heavy Metal Trio in store yesterday. The only thing that stopped me is that it contains the infamous Midnight Cowboy liner and I already own it.

These retail for 20 quid a piece. To buy them as a set is €46.

Last but not least on this beauty journey, let me introduce the Kat Von D Limited Edition Best Of Nudes Mini Studded Lipstick Set.

This is currently on sale for €32.01 which I thought was a great deal for 6 mini lippies. It would make any nude lipstick lover happy.

And there you have my beauty stocking fillers for this year. No pressure, just sharing my research 🙂

xxx

December 5, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

Highlighters My Most Used At The Moment

If I’m wearing makeup, you best believe I have highlighter on! I sometimes just go for a more subtle liquid approach, or a mixture of liquid and powder. Generally though, powder highlighters are my jam.

I am going to run you through the three powder highlighters in my collection that I gravitate towards the most. I’ve loads of lovely other ones, but these are my ‘don’t have to think about it’ picks. They work for me and last well throughout the day.

First up, is the infamous Mary-Lou Manizer from theBalm Cosmetics.

I think the majority of makeup lover have Mary-Lou in their lives, or one of her very lovely sisters.

She isn’t too warm, she isn’t too cool. She’s the perfect in between slightly golden shade. The powder itself is soft and really easy to blend.

If you have yet to see Mary-Lou in the flesh, go check her out in your local Debenhams. You won’t be disappointed. She will set you back €19 online here.

My next choice in my most used highlights is one I picked up at Christmas time last year.

This is the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl.

If you have pale skin like me or even paler, this could be your perfect shade! It has more of a silvery tone, that can be more suited to pink toned skin tones. It gives shine without sparkle (all of the Shimmering Skin Perfectors do). They melt into the skin effortlessly.

You can also use this wet if you really want to amp up the glow. I did a whole review on this when I first picked it up here. Becca is in store from Spacenk or online from Cult Beauty here.

My last choice is the more pink shade out of the three highlighters. It’s still has a pale gold finish to it on the skin, so works really nicely for me without looking too obvious. I like that look sometimes, but generally everyday, I just want a bit of shine.

It is the Too Faced Prismatic Highlighter in Blinded By The Light.

This is the lightest shade in the three Prismatic Highlighters from Too Faced. There is a more pink shade too that I do use too, but this is just the one I reach for the most. They give such a lovely shine, nearly wet look to the skin.

I tend to reach for this more in the evenings. It looks so pretty as an eye shadow too. You can find these in store or online from Debenhams here.

And there you have my current faves. Any of them your favourites? What’s your most reached for highlighter?

xxx

December 27, 2017/by Gem

Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Festive Sparkle Makeup Look

We all need a bit of festive glitter in our lives. I am bringing some in eyeshadow form, with this really simple, but effective festive sparkle makeup look.

This sparkle makeup look is super easy to achieve and doesn’t require too much faffing around. I actually created it last week, when going out with friends. I already had some ‘daytime’ makeup on. So when it came to doing a more night time appropriate face. I really just went over what I already had on. It made me think this would be really great for going out straight after work. If you don’t have a lot of time, but still want to look put together.

You can check out how the full look comes together in video form here.

Here’s a list of some of the main products I used:

By Terry Ombre Blackstar cream eyeshadow stick in Bronze Moon. I got mine from Cult Beauty here.
Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow Quad in 268. Doesn’t seem to be readily available any more.
Urban Decay Original Naked Palette. You find here.
Stila Magnificent Metal Glitter Eyeshadow in Kitten Karma. You can find it online here.
La Girl Glide On Pencil. More info on this here.
Bellamianta lashes. You can buy them here.
Inglot Gel Liner in 96. I have a post on this here.
Mac Extended Play Mascara. Review here.
Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso. Buy here.
Becca Pearl Highlighter. You can find this on Cult Beauty here.
Max Factor Creme Bronzer. Review here.
Bourjois Rouge Velvet Lipstick. I have a video and blog post on these here.
Too Faced Hangover RX Spray. You can find this on the Debenhams website here.

And I think that is everything covered!

I really like this festive glitter makeup look. It’s very me and very easy to achieve in my humble opinion too. Let me know what you think.

Thanks, as always.

Gemma

xxx

December 13, 2017/by Gem

Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Easy St Patrick’s Day Makeup Look

I wouldn’t be Irish and the occasion would not be marked if I didn’t at least attempt a St Patrick’s Day Makeup Look.

I am a big fan of green eyeshadow, so for me this is something I would wear anytime honestly. But we will call it St Patrick’s Day makeup because it fits the bill too 🙂 As always I am not a makeup artist, so this is just something really simple and easy to achieve, but hopefully fun at the same time too!

I did a St Patrick’s Day makeup look last year, when I first set up my YouTube channel here. This is full on green. I thought this year, I would make it a little more subtle, but still festive at the same time. Think of it like your own makeup, that you are comfortable with, just with a hint of Paddy thrown in 🙂

As always, you can watch the video by clicking on it above, or directly on my Youtube channel here.

I used a mixture of the Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics palette which I have all the details on here. I used some Makeup Geek shadows, which you can buy online here. And, of course some Mac shadows that you can buy from Brown Thomas online here. The Kiko cream eyeshadow stick is directly from Kiko here.

Of course I use and name an abundance of other products. If you have any questions about any of them, just let me know in the comments below. You know I love to talk makeup any time 🙂

As always, thanks for taking the time to click in. Have a brilliant St Patrick’s Day whatever you get up too. I think my own this year will be pretty low key, but I am very much looking forward to it. There is always such a lovely atmosphere 🙂

Gemma

xxx

March 12, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

Highlighters My Current Favourites

What did we do before highlighters? Actually I remember what I did, wore too much blush 🙂

My oily skin doesn’t really let me enjoy cream highlighters to their full capacity. They just don’t last on me and I have to powder pretty much my whole face so the premise is lost. Powder highlight is my jam though. For the sake of longevity I mattify everywhere. But, then I can go in with a powder highlight and bring some much needed dimension to everything.

Here, I have five highlighters from my collection that I’ve been reaching for alot over the past while. I’ve done posts in the past on all of them so I’ll link them as I go. I just thought it would be good to dedicate one post so some of my very faves.

First up, we have the cheapest of the group.

This is the Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette. I am only adding one shade within it into my most used. The other three don’t really get much use. I have full swatches of the palette here. ‘Equinox’ is my shade of choice. It is a baked peachy champagne colour.

This is just a great all round colour. It is the most powdery formula of the bunch, but for the price point, it’s bloody lovely. Sleek,if you’re reading this, you should totally bring ‘Equinox’ out on it’s own!

My second choice in Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm. This really is an infamous highlighter.

I have an old post on this here. I’ve had Mary-Lou for nearly two years now and she is still going strong.

It’s a light champagne colour that works for so many skin types and blends really nicely into the skin. At just over 20 quid it’s not quite budget or high end, but she’s worth every penny 🙂

My third choice is the Urban Decay Afterglow Highlighter in ‘Sin’.

When these first came out last year, I ran to Debenhams and picked one up. I am a bit of an Urban Decay fan girl! ‘Sin’ is like Mary Lou’s lighter sister.

The formula of these is so long lasting on my skin. This is nearly what makes me reach for it so much! I did a first impressions video on ‘Sin’ here when I first bought it. Not the best quality, but you can see me ramble out it more 🙂

My fourth and fifth choices are both by Becca Cosmetics. Becca know how to formulate a good highlighter. The consistency is always super creamy and a dream to blend.

‘Champagne Pop’ doesn’t really need much introduction. If you are a makeup fan you will know all about it and probably own one yourself.

This was their first collaboration with Jaclyn Hill. It’s a gorgeous peach champagne colour. More deep in colour than ‘Equinox’.

If I am being honest with myself it’s too deep for my skin tone, but I love it so much I wear it anyways. I just have to bronze up a little more. I have a really old blog showcasing it here. Excuse my eyebrows in it. They are awful ha!

My last fave is ‘Pearl’ from Becca. This is the newest highlighter in my collection but I think it’s the most complimentary out of all of them on my skin.

As the name would suggest is a white pearl colour. It swatches quite icy.

But it does blend into a really lovely wearable shine. It’s honestly one of the best highlighters I have found for lighter skin tones. You can see it applied to the face here.

Here they are all swatched together for colour reference.

What do you look for in a highlighter? Do you use one in your day to day makeup? Let me know 🙂

xxx

February 13, 2017/by Gem

Posts

This is not a dig at any of the brands that created these eyeshadow palettes. In fact I don’t really think overall, it’s really a dig at the eyeshadow palettes themselves. It’s just me explaining why I don’t reach for them, and why they don’t seem to work for me.

xxx

I’ll go in shop order to make things hopefully a little cohesive. Let’s start with beauty stocking fillers from Cloud 10 Beauty.

Ok, over to Look Fantastic now.

Beauty Bay is next on my beauty stocking filler hit list.

I got carried away on Cult Beauty, I must admit, so bare with me 🙂

Last stop on this journey is Debenhams.

And there you have my beauty stocking fillers for this year. No pressure, just sharing my research 🙂

xxx

And there you have my current faves. Any of them your favourites? What’s your most reached for highlighter?

xxx

We all need a bit of festive glitter in our lives. I am bringing some in eyeshadow form, with this really simple, but effective festive sparkle makeup look.

I really like this festive glitter makeup look. It’s very me and very easy to achieve in my humble opinion too. Let me know what you think.

Thanks, as always.

Gemma

xxx

I wouldn’t be Irish and the occasion would not be marked if I didn’t at least attempt a St Patrick’s Day Makeup Look.

What did we do before highlighters? Actually I remember what I did, wore too much blush 🙂