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Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation

Am I right in saying the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation has had a bit of a moment since it’s release? Some may say blogging is dead, but I 100% wanted to try this foundation because of all the hype online.

Now I will say I have seen some not so great things said about it. But sure balance is key in this industry and not everything can work for everyone (generally). We’re all different, looking for different things and different results. It’s one thing I love about this beauty world.

I picked up the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation when ASOS were having a 20% off everything sale. I had gone in to buy it a couple of times in Brown Thomas, but they never have my shade. It’s also important to note too, Nars counters never give out samples, which I think is a load of baloney! But sure didn’t I buy it anyways 🙂

So what do Nars say about this foundation? They say it has:

‘Liquid texture.
Luminous finish.
Fade resistant for up to 16 hours.
Available in 33 shades’.

I colour matched myself to the shade ‘Mont Blanc’. And it’s a pretty perfect match.

My thoughts on the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation are kind of contradictory if I’m being completely honest. I love the packaging, it’s very sleek. I love the formula. In my humble opinion it’s has really good coverage, but not oh shit, I’ve just put plaster all over my face, good coverage. Although you can definitely build it up.

I wouldn’t call it ‘luminous’, although it’s not flat on the skin. There’s definitely a bit of a satin sheen to it. It blends like an absolute dream. And when I first apply it, I could probably say it’s one of my favourite foundations ever. The term ‘weightless’, I can 100% get on board with though! However, there is a ginormous but! Saying it’s a fade resistant for 16 hours foundation in my very humble opinion is just plain madness. I did google other opinions on it because obviously I would have more oilier skin, and people with combination and even drier skin types were of the same opinion. It just doesn’t last. On me, it starts to break down after probably the second hour. Considering I use two primers, powder and setting spray, its just not cool! Where I’m more combo, it lasts a little better. But still, at the end of a day wearing the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation, I look super greasy.

Here it is in action in video form:

I want to love this foundation with all of my heart. Dramatic much Gemma? I love the finish, the application and the coverage. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t last the test of time for me, even with all the makeup accoutrements 🙁 In all honesty I probably went for the wrong Nars Foundation. I should have went for the All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation. Lesson learned!

Have you tried it yet? I would love to know your thoughts on it.

xxx

September 14, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

Disappointing Makeup Products

I have been in a bit of a creative rut this week. I asked on Instagram stories what kind of content you like. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to message me and fill my head with awesome ideas. I appreciate it so much. A big shout out to my lovely friend Sinéad aka The Beautiful Truth for giving me the Disappointing Makeup Products idea.

I generally talk about products I really disliked on social media. When I review products I try to be as logical as possible. I like to give the pros and the cons. I rarely dedicate a post to things I have and just generally don’t get on with. But it’s fun to change things up 🙂 Now this won’t be scathing. Everything is up for interpretation and just because I dislike something doesn’t mean everyone does. This is just my opinion.

First up of my six disappointing makeup products, is the Kiko Smart Cult Eyeshadow Palette in Matte Revolution. I did a post swatching this when I first got it here.

I bought this in Brussels after seen it plastered all over social media. The colours looked so cool and generally I am a big fan of Kiko.

This just doesn’t do it for me though. On first swatch some of the colours are grand, but trying to blend them on the eyes is way too much of a chore. They blend away to nothing. Yes, I can make it work if I need to, but this palette has just ended up lying in a drawer not being used. It wasn’t expensive, but still, it was definitely a waste of my money.

My second choice is controversial. So many people would declare this their holy grail. This is the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer.

For me, this foundation is too thick. I don’t like the doe-foot applicator, and I just find it hard to blend.

I don’t mind a thicker foundation, but I would put this in the same category as Esteè Lauder Double Wear. Although I do say in my review it isn’t as thick, but it nearly is 🙂 It’s just too much for me. At least Double Wear stands the test of time on my oily skin, this only does an ok job. I find it grand, but I haven’t reached for it much at all since buying it.

Third up, is the LA Girl Pro Primer Eyeshadow Primer.

This just doesn’t keep my eyeshadow in check. I have relatively oily lids so I am generally a good judge of eyeshadow primer. This is in the shade Nude. I think it’s more yellow toned, so unless I am covering it completely on the lids, the tone will poke through a bit.

It just doesn’t cut the mustard. I like that it’s in stick form, it’s easy to use and super affordable, but not for me 🙁

The Zoeva Strobe Gel was completely bought on a whim because the jelly like texture intrigued me.

I have the shade Halo.

If you like a more subtle highlight, this might work for you. For me, it just looks like nothing on my skin, especially when applied with a brush. Applying it with your fingers is tricky though, as the formula just doesn’t allow itself to be picked up with your fingertips too well. I tried to incorporate it into my makeup and to make it work, but I just end up reaching for something else. It’s a cool concept, but gets a thumbs down from me.

My next two disappointing makeup products will again, be controversial.

I only have a travel size of the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. I got it within a PR pack.

Waterproof mascara is more my jam, most of the time. But I do try lots of non waterproof formulas and do review the ones that meet my extremely high mascara standards 🙂

So many people adore this mascara. I don’t! I deem it grand. It coats the lashes, helps a little with volume and on me, flakes like a bitch. If a mascara flakes after a long ass, productive day, I can live with that. But this does it a couple of hours into wear on me. For that reason, it’s made the list 🙂

Ok, my last disappointing makeup product is the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk.

Now hear me out because this is definitely a more personal disappointment. I am just not wowed by it. The texture is a bit drying, especially for the price. It’s also super super similar to my lip colour, so it tends to look more brown on me than pink.

I have the lipstick too . (I have a blogpost about it here). You can see both of them swatched in that. I reach for the lipstick way more, although I am not a huge fan of the fragrance, but I can get over that. I have the lip liner literally years, and it’s still very much in tact as you can see. Give me Rimmel’s Eastend Snob liner over it any day!

Do any of my disappointing makeup choices shock you? Are some of your holy grails in here? This is what I love about makeup, one person’s trash can be another person’s treasure 🙂

xxx

April 5, 2018/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup

Huda Beauty Smokey Obsessions Palette

I hadn’t really planned on doing a dedicated post to the Huda Beauty Smokey Obsessions Palette.

A lot of chatting was done about the Mauve Obsessions here when I first got it so I thought people would be sick of hearing about them.

The Huda Beauty Smokey Obsessions Palette has been a constant in social media posts since I picked it up though so, I thought I needed to get a reference post up so I can link anyone to swatches and the likes.

If you’re unfamiliar with these palettes , they’re really very dinky. They fit into the palm of my very small palm. However the pans are decently sized within it. The eyeshadows also pack a real punch so you really don’t use much per look.

The Smokey Obsessions comes with nine colours in it’s miniature packaging.

You get five foiled shades and four mattes. They range from a light taupe, gold, silver, medium to dark browns and a matte black. So everything you need really to create a brown/black smokey eye or a more light, airy shimmery look. You get the best of both cool toned and warm tones from it. For me, it’s missing a base shade for setting the lid, but I don’t really mark it down, it just means I’ll always have to have another palette to hand for that.

The mattes are ultra pigmented and easy to blend. The foiled shades are really soft and creamy. However, I don’t think you get the best out of them with a brush. You need to press them on with your finger for full on opacity. This tends to be the case with most foiled shadows in my experience though, so doesn’t really bother me.Overall, I am a big fan of the Huda Beauty Smokey Obsessions Palette. The shade choices are all wearable for me. I have been reaching for it so much. At €28, these little palettes were a great introduction to the Huda Beauty brand for me too. I had never tried anything from them before. You can find all four colour ways online here.

xxx

February 14, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

High End Makeup – My Five Most Expensive Products

I have a lot of nice makeup that’s worth a few quid. These five products though, would be my most high end makeup products in my collection.

All five, funnily enough are only from two brands. And none of them I bought myself. They were all gifts from either John, or family and friends. Thanks guys 🙂

I chose these as my most high end makeup, simply on the price of them per product. It’s crazy money and you don’t need to spend it at all. I just thought it would be fun to delve into them a little in blog post form. I do love a good makeup rummage 🙂

I will go by brand and start with Tom Ford. I have three different products from the brand. All picked out by John and by John alone. He prides himself, when he buys me makeup, on getting as little help from the sales assistants as possible. First up, is his latest Tom Ford purchase. He had made a mental note of me saying if he was ever stuck to buy me something, a fancy lip balm would always be appreciated. So for my birthday this year I received the Tom Ford Lip Balm in L’Odissea. You can see it on the Brown Thomas website here. They cost €35!

Now, I do believe he didn’t know you could get these in slightly different hues. This wouldn’t have been by first colour choice. Also, it is tiny, I am more than halfway through the bullet already. It is something I would never have bought myself though, and I do feel very fancy using it and popping it into my handbag.

I do own one Tom Ford lipstick as well. For the past few years John has gotten me a red lipstick for Christmas. He did it one year, I liked it, so made him continue it on 🙂 One year it was Tom Ford’s Cherry Lush. €48 from the Brown Thomas website here.

Crazy money for a lippie I know, but as a makeup whore, it was so lovely to open at Christmas. And it is a beautiful lipstick too. Probably a bit old to use now, but I will still keep a hold of it.

The last Tom Ford product I own, came with the lipstick. They were a package deal from Mr John. This is the Eye Color Quad in 05 Silvered Topaz.

This is €74 from Brown Thomas here.

I was very much a cool toned eyeshadow gal for many a year, until I discovered I can make warm shadows work for me. This was the perfect and fanciest addition to my makeup collection at that point. The shadows are lovely. Super pigmented and blendable (thank god). The packaging is also very fancy….and magnetic. There’s a dark purple matte, two silvery shimmery tones, and a silver glitter shade for a pop of sparkle. I got so much use out of this palette. Don’t reach for it as much anymore, but it has still been known to make it into an eye look every now and again. Oul Tom makes a lovely eyeshadow, I must admit :).

My final two fancy high end makeup products are both from Chanel. The first one was a very generous gift from a family member It is one of the Chanel Rouge Allure Glosses in 17 Suprème. They don’t seem to have this one on the Brown Thomas website anymore. But there is similar colours available here, and they retail for €33. The packaging on this is so damn fancy. You click down the top and the applicator pops up. The click is so satisfying.

It’s a really lovely magenta pink gloss, a little sticky on the lips but lasts really well as a result. I don’t always reach for a gloss, but when I do it is something like this. So, it’s always nice to have an extra fancy one to choose.

The only other Chanel makeup product I own right now was a very lovely gift from my friend Ella.

She picked this up for me in the airport really recently, I believe it’s from last Autumn’s collection. It’s a Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow quad in 268 Candeur Et Expèrience.

These are the only Chanel eyeshadows I have ever owned. And I am sorry to say they are pretty gorgeous. Their quads retail for €51 on the Boots website here. I can’t find this exact one because the collection is from last year.

High End Makeup My Five Most Expensive Products_1692

High End Makeup My Five Most Expensive Products_1693

They are such gorgeous matte earthy tones. After picking up the Urban Decay Heat Palette (review here), this is completely my jam at the moment. I am getting lots of use out of it. Unfortunately though, it just makes me want more of their shadows…I better start saving 🙂

And there you have the five most high end makeup products in my collection. Now come on and tell me yours so I can make a wish list 🙂

xxx

September 4, 2017/2 Comments/by Gem

Makeup

Lip Pencils – Most Reached For.

Disclaimer, a lot of these lip pencils are a similar colour hue. Also, most of them are from two specific brands. Now that is out of the way, let’s get into some of my most reached for 🙂

Brown nude and mauve lips are my jam! I have four lip pencils here that help with that addiction. I will wear them on their own, with lip balm over top, or of course with lippie as well. I have a bit of a complex about my top lip. It’s not in proportion to my bottom one, so lining my lip and slightly over drawing my top one is a normal occurrence.

Whirl from Mac is about as nude as I get, from a lip perspective 🙂

Their liners are pricey, but they last really well and are generally super smooth to apply. Whirl is €17.50. You can buy it from the Brown Thomas website here.

I reach for Rimmel’s Exaggerate Lip Liner in Addiction when I want something super brown.

These lip pencils are mechanical and much softer in texture. You run out of product pretty fast if you are partial to a particular shade. But, they will only set you back €5.49 from Boots here.

If I am looking to go mauve, I reach for Mac’s Soar.

This is a newer addition to my makeup collection and I don’t think I will ever be without it. I think a mauve lip is the most flattering on me, (if I do say so myself). If in doubt, I mauve it out :).

When I am in more of a pink mood. Rimmel’s Eastend Snob is my favourite. I actually did a blog post on it here a while back. I compared it to Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk. Spoiler alert, it came out on top!

Ok, we have to touch on reds, because I do enjoy a dabbling in a red lip. I have two here that I alternate. Mac’s Cherry would be in the mix too, only I sadly left mine in a pub somewhere in Dublin. RIP.

I have another Rimmel Exaggerate Pencil here. This is Red Diva. It’s the perfect cherry red shade.

Another one I reach for is the PS Love Lip Liner Pencil in 05 from Penneys.

I love these, I dedicated a whole blog post to them here. Such great value.

If I am feeling a berry lip, which I do alot, especially when the weather is a little cooler. Mac Currant is one I pick up if I am feeling particularly brave. Generally though, the Essence Longlasting Lip Liner in Yummy Berry is what my hand gravitates towards. These are another great budget buy and come in a multitude of shades.

Yummy Berry is a bit more pink. I generally fill the whole lip in with it and then dab over it with something like Mac’s Plumful or Rebel for full on berry mode.

I could probably go on, but I will leave it there for now 🙂 Spot any of your favourite lip pencils?

xxx

August 28, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Waterproof Mascara

I am a big fan of ‘drugstore’ more affordable mascaras. As you know if you’ve been around these parts before, I am a waterproof mascara junkie. It’s been a while since I had tried a high end one so I traipsed into Brown Thomas a few weeks ago, had a look around, asked you lovely people on Snapchat what I should get and left with the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Waterproof mascara.

May I add the girl on the counter was super lovely and friendly which made the experience so much nicer. I love going to Boots and picking up bargains, but I do also love splurging every now and again on more luxurious items. As Tom Haverford and Donna from Parks and Recreation would say “Treat yo’self’ and that I did with the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Waterproof Mascara 🙂

I have to be honest I kind of hoped I wasn’t going to really like it, because it means if it runs out I am going to want to buy one again. Alas, it was love at first use, damn you YSL!

The packaging alone is pretty glorious, right? They definitely get brownie points for that.

The formula of the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Waterproof is wet but still very build-able without clumping together on your lashes. It has quite a thin tapered bristled wand that is great for really getting into the roots of your lashes.

The reason I always go for waterproof is because I have really straight lashes and waterproof formulas seem to hold a curl better throughout the day for me. I also have oily eye lids and normal formulas can sometimes transfer and make a mess.Since getting this mascara I have always used a eyelash curler before application, just to give my lashes an extra bit of oomph, for the purpose of this post I didn’t though and I was actually quite happy with how my lashes turned out regardless. For me and my crap eyelashes, there’s volume, there’s length and there’s a bit of curl too!

Here’s my lashes before application.

Then here is my upper lashes on one eye with a couple of coats of the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils.

I even use this mascara on my bottom lashes too, as the wand it not too big and the formula doesn’t flake or transfer. This means I don’t have to necessarily buy a separate tubing mascara from my bottom lashes which I normally do. That’s penny pinching right there 🙂

Here’s the before and after on each of my eyes.

And then here’s the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils applied to both eyes.

I do still prefer giving my eyelashes a quick curl with the eyelash curlers because I want maximum lash.

But if I forgot to do it or didn’t bring an eyelash curlers away with me, I wouldn’t be in panic mode as I have been in the past 🙂

I bloomin’ love this mascara, it’s pricey for sure, but it really ticks all the boxes for me. I may not use it exclusively forever because I do like to try new products, (it’s what I do ha), but if I HAD too, I wouldn’t be too unhappy about it at all.

You can pick up the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Waterproof mascara from Boots instore or online here and from Brown Thomas instore. It costs 32.50.

What do you think, would you splurge? Let me know what you’re favourite mascara is?

xxx

April 22, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Posts

So what do Nars say about this foundation? They say it has:

‘Liquid texture. Luminous finish. Fade resistant for up to 16 hours. Available in 33 shades’.

Have you tried it yet? I would love to know your thoughts on it.

xxx

My second choice is controversial. So many people would declare this their holy grail. This is the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer.

Third up, is the LA Girl Pro Primer Eyeshadow Primer.

My next two disappointing makeup products will again, be controversial.

I only have a travel size of the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. I got it within a PR pack.

I have a lot of nice makeup that’s worth a few quid. These five products though, would be my most high end makeup products in my collection.

All five, funnily enough are only from two brands. And none of them I bought myself. They were all gifts from either John, or family and friends. Thanks guys 🙂

And there you have the five most high end makeup products in my collection. Now come on and tell me yours so I can make a wish list 🙂

Disclaimer, a lot of these lip pencils are a similar colour hue. Also, most of them are from two specific brands. Now that is out of the way, let’s get into some of my most reached for 🙂

I could probably go on, but I will leave it there for now 🙂 Spot any of your favourite lip pencils?

‘Liquid texture.
Luminous finish.
Fade resistant for up to 16 hours.
Available in 33 shades’.