debenhams Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

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

Glitter Winged Liner

Three scary words I know. Glitter winged liner. Don’t worry. They’re scary to me too. I’m no professional 🙂

Winged liner for me, does not come easy. I really have to work hard for that flick. I overthink it and my left eye just doesn’t like to be bullied into doing anything it doesn’t want to do. My little trick, that I 100% did not invent does help ALOT though. I did it here on camera for the first time yonks ago and always resort to it when I want a feline flick. That video is from two years ago. I like to feel like I have come on leaps and bounds personally and makeup-ly since then 🙂

When I’m feeling a bit bleh, makeup really helps me get out of my head. So the other day I started playing with liner. I created a glitter liner look and got so many questions on it. Perfect for me, it meant I could do it in video form and hopefully some of you lovely people would watch.

This time around I got fancier and added a glitter winged liner and a bold lip to boot. I reckon this look would be great for now and as we creep into the festive season. Yep we’re nearly there. Meer weeks to go!

And yes, I am obviously am quite proud of this makeup, considering how narcissistic this blogpost is with just photos of my face. I am sometimes happy with my work 🙂 The star of this show is the glitter, of course. It’s the infamous Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Liner in ‘Midnight Cowboy’. This had been on my lust list for ages. Finally, I gave in and picked it up. There is so many more affordable alternatives out there though, so don’t be deterred.

The lippie is the darkest shade from the Bourjois Rouge Velvets that I own. They are a bloody gorgeous formula. And that’s pretty much it! Everything else is in the video above or you can click here. Let me know what you think 🙂

Gemma

xxx

October 26, 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 Tutorial, Youtube Video

Brow Routine Updated

I sound dramatic when I say I get a lot of questions about my brow routine. But, it’s actually probably my most asked beauty question.

My eyebrows have come such a long way in the past couple of years. I was definitely one of the ‘tadpole’ brow crew. We started in our teens and we just continued on plucking and plucking and never looking back 🙂 With the help of YouTube videos and the awesome brow gals at Benefit though, I finally gotten a handle on filling them in.

Unfortunately my natural eyebrows are left in a bit of a wreck from over plucking. I did get a stem cell treatment done last year that definitely helped them fill out a bit, but as you can see, a decent brow routine is completely necessary for me.

As I say in the video, I am no expert and my brows are not perfect, nor are they twins. But I’ve come to terms with that and just do them to the best of my ability. I’ve gotten better over the years, so maybe this time next year I’ll be even more accomplished 🙂

My brow routine is probably the longest part of my makeup application and I’m completely ok with that. I think they’re the most important part for me, and I kind of build everything else around them. I do use and excessive amount of products I know.

However, I get super oily in that area of my face throughout the day, so pencil alone just doesn’t cut it for me! And I use two brow gels to add texture, and to set everything too.

I’m not listing products here, because I feel this video is more about how rather than what I use. But if you want to know about anything specific, just ask 🙂

Let me know what you think and as always thanks for clicking.

Gemma

xxx

**PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*

July 18, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

Urban Decay Optical Illusion Complexion Primer

I’ve heard and read a lot of mixed reviews about the Urban Decay Optical Illusion Complexion Primer. I swatched it a while back at an Urban Decay masterclass. And from then, I was super intrigued, so I took the hit and picked it up from Debenhams.

First up, I really like the packaging of these UD primers (they come in different finishes). I always appreciate a pump when I’m spending a few bob on a product. I like that you can see how much product is in the bottle too. You get 28 mls for on average €29. So you’re getting a ml of product per euro. It contains rosehip and argan oil.

So what does the Urban Decay Optical Illusion Complexion Primer claim to do? Well pretty much that. They say it blurs pores and fine lines. As well giving a velvet like texture to the skin to help foundation go on smoother. It gives the skin a bit of a pink tint. UD say this helps illuminate the skin. I think if you’re my skin tone or lighter that might be the case. But, if you’re darker, it could give a white cast to the skin, that might not be so flattering.

I really like this primer, it works really well for me. I do tend to use it only in my t-zone though. It’s thick in consistency and takes a bit of working in to the skin. I press it into my skin with the tips of my fingers.

The big no no that people say about it is that it balls up as you apply. That definitely can happen with a silicone heavy product like this if you use too much, or use it over a thicker moisturiser. They’re two things I tend to avoid on a daily basis so for the most part it blends out smoothly on my skin. It definitely glides over my enlarged pores and helps fill in my more prominent forehead lines. It gives a smooth base and foundation blends well over top. I find it does help with longevity too. I do always set my makeup with powder as well though.

It reminds me of a thicker Benefit Porefessional, with a drier finish on the skin. I find that as it is thicker, it goes further than Porefessional.

I can whole heartedly say I am happy enough that I spent the €29 on the Urban Decay Optical Illusion Complexion Primer. It ticks all the primer boxes for me. My skin likes silicone heavy primers and this is definitely that with a more velvet finish. Have you tried it?

xxx

June 27, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe

Did I need the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe in my life? Hell to the no. This was a complete lust product. You might remember I did a post here a while back about my beauty shopping lust list. This was on it along with a few gorge other things.

Every Summer, the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess collection is released again. Usually reimagined somewhat, but still familiar if you’ve been keeping an eye on it throughout the years.

I’ve always lusted after the Illuminating Powder Gelée. The packaging alone had me hooked visually. I’ve tried to get my hands on it a few times, but it sells out super quickly. So I’ve been actually checking up on it regularly this year. Yes I am a makeup addict through and through ha. The release coincided with my 33rd birthday this year, so I was able to ask John to get it for me as a bday treat. Score!

Off the bat the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe for 2018, visually is just gorgeous. For €49, it would kind of want to be. It’s not as weighty as I anticipated, it is a plastic compact, but I can live with that.

I feel like this year’s representation is definitely more golden and glittery than other years. The pigment and shine pay off are really lovely though. The sparkle is just something to note. In case you’re curious the shade name is 01 Heat Wave. There is only one to choose from.

You can see there is a lighter shade within the darker more bronzed highlight shade. It nearly looks like a pretty sunburst within the pan.

Esteé Lauder call this an ‘all over bronzer’. I can’t get on board with that at all. I bought it knowing it’s a highlight and it definitely is a highlighter!

Unfortunately probably a highlighter that’s too dark for pale ol’ me. But by god, I will make it work 🙂

I am so glad to have gotten my hands on the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe for this year. It’s not the most practical purchase, but it will be something that I will hang on to forever as it’s limited edition.

I bought mine from Debenhams here, although it is out of stock as I write this post. Have you picked up any of them over the years? What’s your thoughts?

xxx

June 17, 2018/by Gem

Posts

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

Three scary words I know. Glitter winged liner. Don’t worry. They’re scary to me too. I’m no professional 🙂

The lippie is the darkest shade from the Bourjois Rouge Velvets that I own. They are a bloody gorgeous formula. And that’s pretty much it! Everything else is in the video above or you can click here. Let me know what you think 🙂

Gemma

xxx

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

xxx

I sound dramatic when I say I get a lot of questions about my brow routine. But, it’s actually probably my most asked beauty question.

Let me know what you think and as always thanks for clicking.

Gemma

xxx

**********PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*********

I can whole heartedly say I am happy enough that I spent the €29 on the Urban Decay Optical Illusion Complexion Primer. It ticks all the primer boxes for me. My skin likes silicone heavy primers and this is definitely that with a more velvet finish. Have you tried it?

xxx

I bought mine from Debenhams here, although it is out of stock as I write this post. Have you picked up any of them over the years? What’s your thoughts?

xxx

**PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*