fibre Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Posts

Fairydrops Scandal Queen Mascara

Yep, every time I find a new mascara that I like, it becomes my favourite, I know, I know. But honestly, the Fairydrops Scandal Queen Mascara is my new favourite 🙂

I have seen this spoken about so much online, but never really thought much about getting my mitts on it with it being an elusive Asian brand. A couple of weeks back, I did a post here on my favourite places to beauty shop online. I was going through the index on Cult Beauty and low and behold I see it for sale.

The Fairydrops Scandal Queen mascara went into my basket, no hesitation whatsoever. I was in need of a new mascara (says the beauty blogger), so that was justification enough for me 🙂 It is one of the best selling mascaras in Japan and was actually created by a Japanese ‘television personality’.

First off the packaging is super pretty. Anything metallic rose gold and I’m pretty much sold anyways.

This is the waterproof version, but the Fairydrops Scandal Queen comes in a non waterproof version too here.

The Cult Beauty synopsis of it is: ‘How much do we *heart* Fairydrops Scandal Queen Waterproof Mascara? Let us list the ways… Its wibbly-looking wand is ‘ooooh’ inducing, and guarantees that not a single lash escapes its curling, coating and conditioning clutches. The unique shape lifts and separates whilst fattening and lengthening each eyelash thanks to little (non-irritating) fibres. The smudge-, budge- and water-resistant formula is enriched with five different treatment essences – squalene, jojoba seed oil, panthenol, hydrolysed collagen and moisturising hyaluronic acid – to counteract brittleness and leave lashes looking lustrous. Aaaaaand innovative film-forming polymers have a long-lasting ‘perming’ effect, to ‘open up’ eyes and create an enviable set of full on, fluttering fringes (without the faff of falsies). Oh, and the rose gold tube is utterly covetable. Need we say more?’

That’s alot of waffle I know, but it gives a more specific explanation of the mascara so I wanted to add it in 🙂

It has a soft bristled wand that has three spheres, not the best explanation but sure we’ll go with it. It’s more of a you have to see it spooley.

The unusual shape does take a bit of getting used to, but once you do you can use the spheres (we’re calling them spheres for the purpose of this blogpost, k?) to your advantage.

The one on the tip of the spooley is great for getting in at the small inner lashes and for flaring out the outer lashes too.

The formula, in my humble opinion is pretty bloody awesome. It layers really well without completely clumping up, holds a curl, adds fibrous length and doesn’t budge! It doesn’t crumble or make your lashes feel hard either!

So, here is the Fairydrops Scandal Queen mascara in action on my slightly curled eyelashes:

Before.

Applied to top lashes on one eye.

It’s brilliant for the bottom lashes too and because the wand is really light, it’s not too difficult to coat all of the baby hairs that live down there 🙂

It’s clear to see I am a fan I know. Sorry for all of the gushing, but I love it ha!

The Fairydrops Scandal Queen Mascara in waterproof is available from Cult Beauty here and costs £18.50.

xxx

August 12, 2016/by Gem

Five Essential Makeup Brushes

Ok ‘essential’ is a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe which brushes make life a bit handier? That aren’t foundation that I spoke about here or eyeshadow brushes that I speak about here? That’s more of a mouthful though 🙂 And I promise it’s just a coincidence that I have five here like the other lists.

A blush brush is definitely one of these. It’s handy to have a makeup brush dedicated to this task.

Blush is usually pink or peach and you don’t necessarily always want them colours on the rest of your face, so pick up a smallish, soft brush. One that will fit the apple of your cheeks but still blend the colour in.

A concealer brush is handy, but of course not a necessity.

I know you can just use your foundation brush (or your fingers). It’s handy to have a smaller, dense synthetic brush to apply concealer though. You can get into all the nooks and crannies of you face with it.

A powder brush for me, I think is pretty necessary in this business we call makeup application.

You can have one to apply your setting powder and bronzer or one for each, it’s up to you. I think if you were to have another brush, grab a large fluffy variety and even a smaller one for under the eyes (if you’re feeling really fancy) or like to use a different powder under there like I do. 🙂

Ok contour.

I know not all of us do it, nor do all of us give a crap about it, but if you do and are interested, there is many a brush to help you on your contouring journey.

Flat paint brush types, tapered fluffy types or even small rounded types. There’s one for all! If you want a stronger contour, choose a denser brush like the paint brush, but if you want to add a more diffused contour grab something tapered and soft.

Ok, last unnecessary but necessary brush. One for highlighting.

Again this all depends on your highlighting needs, if you don’t do it, you don’t need a brush and if you just use your fingers, that’s perfectly acceptable. This is just another brush option, if you want one 🙂

As you want to use a light hand with a highlighter…well I’m assuming you do? So a fan brush is a great brush to have (although I cannot find mine to use as an example sorry). Or a mini duo fibre brush works really well, as you can just use the top less dense layer for application. Anything smallish with a soft lightly packed bristles is good for the job really.

What do you think? Too many makeup brushes? If you are a full on makeup junkie, you’re probably thinking eh Gemma where’s the rest of them I know 🙂

Thanks for reading as always and be sure to follow me on social media for the chats. Snapchat is becoming really handy for that. I’m Beautynook over there.

xxx

August 17, 2015/3 Comments/by Gem

Makeup, Makeup Tools

Nima Brush Artistic Collection My Picks

Nima Brush by the lovely Niamh Martin. They are an irish based company creating gorgeous makeup brushes. I have known this brand and Niamh for quite a while. The company have really being going from strength to strength.

The Artistic Collection is the latest launch from Nima Brush. They say they are a “range of brushes designed for the professional artist in mind, using precisely shaped brush heads and the softest fibres, but which are also suitable for the everyday wearer with step by step instructions on how to use each brush”

The handle of the brushes are a lovely duck egg colour with a velvet, nearly rubber feel and a gold ferrule which I am in love with. The handles on these brushes can be difficult to keep clean due to the material they are made from so they need a good scrubbing with warm water and baby shampoo to get them clean.

There are 20 brushes in the collection. You can buy them in customisable sets or you can buy them individually. Each brush is named after supporting female figures in Niamh’s life. Prices range from €10-€22. You can shop this collection or any other collection from Nima Brush on www.nimabrush.com

I picked my favourites from the collection to talk about.

I decided to pick the 3 brushes out of all the ones I own from the collection that I have been picking up religiously everyday since I have gotten them. They have quickly just become part of my routine.

First up is “Blaithin”

“Blaithin” is a tapered brush, that I have been loving for contouring. The end of it picks up the product, gets it into the hollows of your face and then the bristles around the tip blend it in seamlessly. It is also so soft on the skin, so you don’t mind spending all of that time making sure your contour is blended 🙂 The “Blaithin” retails for €16.

I have been loving the eye brushes I have, but this one in particular has really become a favourite in my collection.

This brush is called “Patricia”. It is a duo fibred brush, and like “Blaithin” is tapered at the end.

This is a smallish eye brush, and the domed head makes it great for diffusing your transitional colour in your crease. It can also be used to distribute colour all over the lid, and I love it from blowing out colour on my lower lash line. It’s a soft brush but stiff enough that you don’t end up with shadow where you do not want it. It is multi functional, and I get alot of use out of it 🙂 The “Patricia” retails for €10.

My last choice from the Nima Artistic Collection is the “Grace”

When I saw this brush I knew exactly what I wanted it for, under eye concealer! The “Grace” is a like a foundation brush in miniature form.

Again I picked a tapered brush, this wasn’t on purpose I promise! This brush is perfect for getting around the contours of your eyes or your face in general and blends cream products beautifully. It is small but it is big enough to get the job done quickly and that is what you want in the morning. The “Grace” retails for €16.

So there you have some of my fave picks from the lovely Artistic range from Nima. They are fab and it is great to see an Irish run company doing so well.

Thanks,

Gemma

xxx

January 18, 2015/by Gem

Santhilea London Magnetic Lash Mascara Review

The fibre mascara has been around a few years now but never really seemed to take off hugely. However it seems to be back now and becoming more popular so of course I had to get it to test it out, sure isn’t that what we’re here for 🙂

The Santhilea London Magnetic Lash Mascara is a two step system.

You use the magnetic mascara, (marked as number 1 on the tube) first just like a normal mascara, I suggest doing one eye at a time. While the mascara is still wet dab the lash builder (tube number 2) onto the lashes coating as much as you can without clumping them. The lash builder is a tube containing small black fibres that adhere to your lashes, so you have to be careful. You then coat the lashes again carefully with the magnetic mascara to help keep the fibres in place. You can see the steps below:

Nothing on lashes

One coat of the mascara

Lashes with the fibres added and another coat of mascara on top

As you can above there is a pretty significant difference in my lashes in the last picture. I have not being blessed with the longest or most voluminous of lashes so any mascara is some improvement but I really feel this mascara gives them more length and volume than the other vast amount of mascaras I have ever used.

However there are some cons to using fibres on your lashes. Some of them do tend to fall down throughout the day so you can find yourself having to check your make-up and clean up any fall down that may occur. The mascara itself to the best of my knowledge is not waterproof so if you have oily skin and eyelids like me and mascaras tend to smudge on you that may happen too. For this reason I do not use the mascara on my bottom lashes I opt for a waterproof one.

The process of using the two steps (well technically three steps, as you have to apply the mascara twice!) AND doing one eye at a time takes time. You would not be rushing out to work in the morning and using this mascara, if you like to throw on your make-up in a hurry. I tend to keep it for the weekends, when I can take my time beautifying myself or at least trying too 🙂

Overall, I love this product I really do, it adds length and volume and some wow when you don’t want to be using falsies to do the work. There’s are couple of drawbacks but sure nothing is perfect and if you are willing to persevere and are looking to try something a bit different I would definitely recommend it.

It is not the cheapest of products, it can be bought on Look Fantastic for 28.11 euro That’s a pretty standard price for a high end mascara.

Have you ever used fibre mascara? Have you tried other brands of it? What did you think? I would love to hear your feedback or any tips and tricks you might have.

Here’s the rest of my mug and a profile of my lashes 🙂

Thanks so much for reading.

Gemma

xxx

January 14, 2014/5 Comments/by Gem