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Beauty Advent Calendars 2017

I get asked every year to do a beauty advent calendar post, and I’ve always not ended up doing one. I generally always like to be able to use and give a physical opinion on products when it comes to the blog. I’ve been doing this four years now and that’s what kind of feels natural to me. To talk about products I have road tested and used. But sure there’s always exceptions and I’ve realised that now.

I’m a little blogger fish in a big pond and I can’t buy or get sent all of the fancy beauty advent calendars every year. So, I thought I would just compile the ones that are really taking my fancy in the run to Christmas for 2017 🙂

The first one is the one I am really considering buying for myself, although I have yet to justify it. This is the Beauty In Wonderland from Look Fantastic

This is retailing from their website here for €98. They say it contains product worth up to £300.

It’s a mixture of all different brands and all different types of beauty products. Also the packaging is pretty gorgeous. i blame Sharon Leavy from Behind Green Eyes for making me lust after this so much 🙂

Feel Unique do their own version too here. This costs €42 which is a little more palatable, I know.

They also give you a list of the products enclosed if you don’t want to wait until the Christmas countdown.

Clarins always do a really lovely beauty advent calendar and this year is no exception.

This is what would be deemed the more feminine version but there is a male offering too. This will set you back £52.50 here. This has been the cheapest I’ve found it online. It contains 12 minis including one of their Instant Light Natural Lip Perfectors, one of my personal faves.

Lancôme have a ridiculously lovely one this year with a 25 day countdown.

This costs €130 from Boots here, but you do get 25 mini products, ranging from skincare to fragrance.

If you want exclusively skincare, L’Occitane have a beautiful 25 day calendar chock full of it.

I actually think this is a really good deal at €59 from Debenhams here.

If Charlotte Tilbury is your go to brand, you’re in luck! She has released a Naughty & Nice Magic Box for this year.

It contains 12 makeup and skincare goodies. This is the most expensive one of the bunch coming in at €180 here.

If lipstick is your thing, Nyx have released their Kiss & Tell Advent Calendar again this year.

This is €67.57 from Asos here. Although if you buy in pounds it generally works out cheaper.

It contains 24 lip colours to suit any mood.

I know these are all pretty pricey, so if you are looking for a more budget friendly beauty advent calendar, hopefully I can cover you here.

The Tanya Burr 12 Sweet Days Beauty Calendar contains 12 products including nail polish and glitter liners.

I included this because you can still get your beauty hit with it, and it’s on sale from Feel Unique at the moment here. They also have it on 3 for 2 if you’re shopping for anyone else.

Asos have a budget friendly option too here from Mad Beauty.

This is a range of hair, skin and nail products and will only set you back €14.85.

My last choice is this years Makeup Revolution Calendar. This contains 25 full sized products.

It is on sale at the moment from Superdrug here. It was £50 and now it’s £30.

And there you have my beauty advent calendar countdown. Any take your fancy? Have you already bought one? Let me know 🙂

November 13, 2017/by Gem

Makeup, Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Boyfriend Does My Makeup

I roped John in to do the Boyfriend Does My Makeup challenge! It took a bit of persuading, he was a bit skeptical about being in front of the camera.

After a few beers though, we set up the camera and we jumped in. And I think you’ll agree with me after watching it. He took to it like a duck to water 🙂 I never particularly pride myself on being great in front of the camera, I just do it because I enjoy it. He’s so bloody quick and funny, he puts me to shame really 🙂

It took us an age to begin though because he couldn’t get used to the ring light at all. So if you hear him complaining about the light, that’s what he is on about!

If you’re not an avid YouTube watcher like myself. The Boyfriend Does My Makeup challenge is basically an umbrella term for your partner chancing their arm with your makeup. Myself and John are together over thirteen years, so calling him my ‘boyfriend’ is a bit strange. He’s just John to me now ha!

He tries to think he knows a thing or two about makeup. And to give him credit, he does listen to me harp on. (Notice the Anastasia Subculture reference he makes). I don’t think he realised just how hard it is to apply it all, and how much time and effort goes into it all. I reckon he won’t badger me so much now when I’m running late for a night out 🙂

I won’t name the products he uses, sure none of them went on right ha. But if you want to see me put the Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette to proper use, I have a post on it here.

If you want to watch the video, just click on it above, or you watch it directly on YouTube here. Big shout out to John for being a great sport. My sides were sore from laughing. I hope you get a laugh from it too 🙂

xxx

August 14, 2017/by Gem

Monthly Favourites, Youtube Video

July Favourites 2017

I am waaaayyyyy late to the party. Life gets in the way sometimes. But, I am finally here to chat about my July Favourites for 2017 🙂

This month’s run down is a random array of things from alcohol to perfume and then, of course a smattering of makeup products too. We’re staying in our friends house dog sitting at the minute. So, these are all things I packed up and brought with me. That definitely means they’re worthy of my (very late) July favourites, right?

First up is gin. Surprise, surprise 🙂 I chat more about my gin love here.
Next up is my new Molly Jeans from River Island. (Similar here).
Marc Jacobs Daisy Parfum. You can buy it here.
Lacoste Eau De Lacoste Magnetic Pour Elle Parfum. On the Debenhams website here.
Rimmel Eastend Snob Lip Liner. You can see it swatched here. Lov Cosmetics Colour & Care lipstick in ‘Miriam’s Rosewood’. Lov Cosmetics is sold in selected pharmacies across the country.
Wet n Wild One Step Wonder Gel Nail Polish in ‘Crime of Passion’. I get these in bigger Dunnes Stores or Penneys.
My last July favourite is the Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powder in ‘Champagne Sorbet’. I have a full blogpost showcasing this here.

My makeup for this video was a bit different to my usual slap. I got carried away with some purple eyeshadow and blue liner.

I am going through a bit of a top heavy phase with my eye shadow. I’m enjoying just applying colour on the top lash line and leaving the bottom with just mascara. Or just a tiny but of definition.

Special shout out to Louis the Schnoodle for making another cameo in one of my videos. Watch until the end to see just how cute he really is. 🙂

You can as always just click on the video above to hear me ramble more about my July Favourites, or click on the link here to go directly to my YouTube channel.

xxx

August 9, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders

YouTube 100 million percent made me do it! I have to admit I can be a bit skeptical when YouTubers or online people bring out products. A lot of it is just done to make a few bob on the side, and not really thought out.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics has been going a while now and I actually did try some bit from hers in the beginning, and they weren’t half bad. Since then though nothing has really caught my eye majorly so I didn’t invest in anything.

The Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders are new from the range. I watched her Get Ready With Me Video here, where she showcases her new ‘Chasing The Sun’ Collection. The Illuminating Powders in particular took my fancy.

They remind me so much of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting blush and bronzers. And the Max Factor Creme Puff blush and bronzers too. I actually did a post on the Max Factor Bronzer not too long ago here if you want to see the lighter shade in action.

There is three illuminating powders within the ‘Chasing The Sun’ collection.

I picked up all three because Superdrug were having a 3 for 2 offer. Any excuse, right? They all come in a square, pretty sturdy clear topped palette, with 12 grams of product within.

The darkest of the three is ‘Warm Bronze’.

It’s a medium, shimmering bronze shade.

Next, we have ‘Champagne Sorbet’.

As the name would suggest, this is more of a champagne shimmer. Much more suited to use as a highlight for my lighter skin tone.

The last of the three is ‘Peonies Please’.

This looks like a darker pink in the pan than it swatches. It’s still a really pretty shimmering light pink blush shade. This, for me would be a blush and highlight all in one.

I have to admit, I am really impressed with the colour pay off from all three of the Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powder shades. The powders themselves are nice and soft and easy to blend. You get a really decent amount of product for the price point €10.85 ( in store here from Superdrug.) Not the cheapest ‘from the drugstore’, I know. Although they are only €8.99 from the Feel Unique website here. They give a really nice glow to the skin without being too sparkly or glittery.

I will definitely get a lot of use out of ‘Champagne Sorbet’ and ‘Peonies Please’. ‘Warm Bronze’ might be a little too dark for me to use regularly. It will make a lovely eye shadow though!

Here is ‘Peonies Please’ applied as blush to my skin:

And then ‘Champagne Sorbet’ applied on top:

Have you tried anything from the Tanya Burr Cosmetics range? What has YouTube made you buy? I reckon I could do a whole dedicated blog post on that question myself 🙂

xxx

July 17, 2017/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Beautynook Tips, Haul, Makeup, Skincare, Tanning

Beauty Shopping Online

I am an avid online shopper. I do love going into shops and seeing products in the flesh, don’t get me wrong. However, living on our little island, we don’t always get the products we want in store, or we just don’t have the time to do it! So, here are some of my favourite online beauty shopping haunts that I like to frequent 🙂

Of course, alot of our favourite beauty retailers give us the option to shop online too, as well as in store. Some of my favourites are Boots, Debenhams, Brown Thomas and Arnotts. And I love that with some of these you have the option to click and collect so you don’t have to pay shipping and then whatever you bought, is packed up and paid for, just waiting for you to pick it up in store. Superdrug is another one that does that too, although I know they only have stores here in Dublin. You can shop from them online too though.

My favourite Irish online store for beauty shopping has to be cloud10beauty!They cover some of our amazing homegrown talent like Cocoa Brown, Waxperts and Blank Canvas Cosmetics. As well as some harder to get brands here like Pestle & Mortar and Alpha-H.They have you covered with blogger/vlogger brands like Zoella, Real Techniques, Colab, Tanya Burr and of course SOSU by Suzanne Jackson. There is something on Cloud10beauty for everyone, the shipping is super quick, it is free over €40, you get free gifts with purchase. They always have website deals on and very generous sales.

My next favourite online beauty shopping destination is Cult Beauty

The name really says it all! Cult Beauty stock a good chunk of the brands we all want a part of. And not just old stock, we can get new stock from American brands we covet! They stock the likes of Anastasia Beverley Hills, Aesop,Becca, Daniel Sander,Eve Lom, FAIRYDROPS (I didn’t know that actually, this post is really enabling my shopping habit :)), Huda Beauty, Jouer, Laura Gellar, OCC. I could go on, I really could. They have free worldwide shipping over £50, and again you can get free gift with purchases. They are also based in the UK so no worrying about custom charges and the likes.

Beauty Bay is another UK website that is jam packed full of American brands we want to get our hands on.

Products are a little pricey and shipping takes a while, but once you’re aware of that the beauty shopping is awesome! They stock the likes of Gerard Cosmetics, Natasha Denona, Anastasia, Cargo, Cover FX, Dose of Colour, Ellis Faas, and of course Makeup Geek!!!

Look Fantastic is another….fantastic beauty shopping hub 🙂

They offer free standard worldwide shipping, it can take a while, so you do have to be patient, but again they are a UK registered company so no duty to worry about. They sell the likes of Illamasqua, EX1, Benefit, Deborah Lippman, Dermalogica and Nudestix. What I particularly like about Look Fantastic is their range of hair care. They cover brands like Kerastase, Redken, Phillip Kingsley, Nioxin and Tigi to name a few. And, they don’t scrimp on the money off vouchers either!

Feel Unique is another website I am often found browsing.

It is great for makeup and haircare, but it also carries an abundance of fragrance choices too, for both men and women. They cover the celeb fragrances as well as the likes of Marc Jacobs, Chanel, YSL and Stella McCartney. I rely on Feel Unique alot at Christmas time, it’s really handy for picking up gift sets.

For my last contribution in this post, I thought I would add in Asos.

Asos is a website I spend alot of time procrastinating on 🙂 It’s well known for fashion, but it does carry a good amount of beauty choices too. It has brands like Barry M, Rimmel and Benefit. But, it also carries harder to get brands (for us) like Japonesque, Anna Sui, Cowshed and so much more. There’s free shipping from Asos over €25 and they offer free returns too which is really handy.

I think I’ll leave it there 🙂 There’s other beauty corners of the internet I like to frequent, but I don’t want to bombard you. And these are all tried, tested and trusted websites that I’ve purchased from successfully on numerous occasions.

I hope you found this helpful and maybe discovered a new online beauty shopping haunt.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

July 22, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Archives, Bargain Buying, Makeup

Clinique Pop Lip Colour Free with Glamour!

This is a really random post, but I just wanted to spread the word in case you haven’t seen them yet. Glamour are giving away Clinique goodies with their December issue. You can get a mascara, a moisturiser or one of two lip colour choices.

I wouldn’t be one to usually buy into this stuff, but I have been eyeing up the Clinique Pop Lip Colours on the Brown Thomas website and was actually going to pick a couple of them up. You lovely ladies of Snapchat let me know they were giving mini samples away with Glamour though and I raced out and bought two copies as there is two shades up for grabs 🙂

I am so happy I did. The lipsticks themselves are a really good size, they won’t be running out after a couple of uses. The packaging itself is the same as the normal Pop lips just in a smaller size too which I really appreciate…it’s the little things 🙂

The two shades you can pick up with the magazine are ‘Nude Pop’.

This is a really lovely pink nude, with a little shimmer running through it.

And there is also ‘Cherry Pop’.

This is my favourite one out of the two. It is a pinky cherry red colour.

The formula of these Pop Lip Colours is really gorgeous too. They’re like a colour intense lip balm and are so comfortable on the lips. When the shine dies down, you are left with a nice stain which I really like.

Even if you don’t read the magazine, it’s worth picking up for these little gems. Here in Ireland Glamour will set you back just under €3.50. Considering the Pop Lip Colours are €19.50 a pop (see what I did there), ’tis not a bad deal!

xxx

November 6, 2015/by Gem