I am due to get my brows micro bladed very soon. (Wish me luck 🙂 ). But before I do, I thought I could throw in another brow routine here on Beautynook. This time it’s all about budget brows and it’s all thanks to Catrice Cosmetics.
Catrice sent me out some new and some oldie brow products from their range last week. They have a bucket load of products to choose from now. From pencils, powders, pomades and everything in between. All of the products are under a fiver each too, which is awesome. My three budget brow choices from the range in my video demo are: The Slim’matic Ultra Precise Brow Pencil. I’m using the shade dark.The Eyebrow Set. This comes with two powders, with a tiny brush and tweezer tucked underneath. And to set everything in place I used the clear Lash/Brow Designer.
The three products together work out at around €11.50, so I thought it was worthy of the title budget brows. I particularly love the powder and the brow gel regardless of the price tag. The pencil is great, but it’s super duper soft, so uses up very quickly. In my humble opinion of course.
Here’s my brows before any product is applied.
Then, here is one completely done with all three budget brow products from Catrice applied. It’s really amazing what a brow can do.
I filmed a really short demo of them all in action which you can check out above and here. Let me know if you are liking the video demos along with the blogposts. I am enjoying putting them together 🙂
My brows are definitely only distant cousins, but here they are finished and ready to head out the door!
Catrice Cosmetics really do have so many great budget brow products to choose from, to suit any taste. These would just be the three I would gravitate towards on a daily basis. Have you tried anything from the range?
Zoella collaborated with Colourpop Cosmetics, (just in case you didn’t know). Zoe lives in the UK and Colourpop are in LA, so to celebrate the launch of the collection, they had free world wide shipping.
I’ve bought from Colourpop Cosmetics before, seen here, and never had any issues. Since this order, I’ve seen articles about it being illegal for them to ship to the EU. Apparently they violate EU regulations. I just wanted to state that. I don’t want anyone being out of pocket at all. Always do your research. There’s yet to be an issue for me, but maybe I just got lucky. I always keep my order below the VAT threshold, so I don’t have to pay anything extra. The threshold is only €22 now I believe, before you could have to pay customs charges for orders from America. Because the shipping was free, no matter how much money you spent at the time, I made two small orders and sent them to two different addresses.
They both came in about a week. I am obsessed with having an eyeliner in every colour imaginable. In case you don’t follow me on Instagram and didn’t know that 🙂 My Colourpop order definitely reflects that, so might not be for everyone. They have loads and loads of products to choose from though, with decent packaging, quality and price tag.
I am not Zoella’s target market whatsoever, but I liked the look of her collection, so picked up the blush to try. I brought this away with me at the weekend, so excuse its grubby appearance. It’s called Soul Mate and it’s a lovely pinky peachy shade. For me, the payoff is subtle but buildable with this.
The Mar Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette came on my trip away too, so it has been used before photographing it for this post. The blogger shame is real 🙂
From left to right, row by row you have:
El Rey, Wild One, Detour.
Boozy, Gridlock, Sorbet.
HWY, Top Down, My Way.
I really wanted to try one of their Jelly Much Eyeshadow. The jelly texture intrigued me so much. I went with the shade Short Circuit.
This is beautiful and the colour payoff is immense. I just wish I didn’t go for such a predictable shade. I have loads of similar colours in my collection already.
Lastly, I picked up three colourful eyeliners in three different formulas. I haven’t put any of these to the test yet.
And there you have my latest Colourpop Cosmetics haul. Did you pick up anything? Have you ever tried anything from the brand? Be sure to follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel to really see all of these put to good use 🙂
Guess what’s back, back again? You got that right, it’s favourites time 🙂 This time we’re delving into my August favourites for 2018. Can you believe we’ve gotten this far? As I’m writing this, the sun is belting in on me, so it’s not time to complain about the weather….yet!
My August favourites, are a pretty mixed, but logical bag, I think. I cover everything from body care, skincare, haircare, makeup, with even a hint of fashion.
I ramble a lot as always, so I apologise in advance. But sure if you’ve been around these parts before, you know I don’t really think things out. I just go with the flow and hope for the best. Literally how I live my life everyday 🙂
I’ll list everything in the order that I talk about them, and link what I can. But please do click on the video.
Obvs can’t link this t-shirt, but as you can see from my face. I. Am. Obsessed!
My other fashion fave is my new Nike Air Force 1s bought from the kids department from JD Sports.
I can’t find a link as of yet for the Essence Prime + Studio Mattifying + Pore Minimizing Primer with black clay. That is definitely a mouthful. This Autumn\Winter Collection was meant to be in store from the end of August though.
My last favourite I have a whole blogpost and video on here. This is just one of the shades that I’ve been particularly gravitating towards from the new theBalm Balk Jour Creamy Lip Stains.
And that is it for my August Favourites! Let me know what you think, and as always thanks for tuning in 🙂
I know this isn’t a new idea, but I was doing my makeup the other day and started doing something that I thought was worth sharing. I was about to jump onto Instagram stories and share it, but then I had the idea to do it in blogpost form for future reference purposes 🙂 I’m calling it my top 5 makeup tips but I can’t guarantee I’ll keep it to 5 🙂
There’s no real rhyme or reason to these makeup tips. They’re really just things that came to mind and things I’ve learned over the years.
If you’re using a thicker foundation and find it hard to blend. Try spraying your foundation brush with makeup setting spray. It’ll make it easier to blend without compromising the longevity. It works if you’re using a sponge too.
If you have trouble putting gel liner in your water line. This is something I learned from Marlena aka Makeup Geek. I use to attempt to do it with a brush but it just tickles too much! Instead, try using a similar coloured eye pencil to apply it. Dip the pencil into the gel liner pot and use it as the tool. Makes tight lining so much easier. Thanks Marlena 🙂
Don’t directly powder over wet skin ie: oil or sweat, it leaves holes in your foundation. If you need to touch up, always try blot and then pat powder where necessary onto the face.
Filing indexes aka sticky notes or even sellotape works. Just me sure you take the access stickiness off on the back of your hand. (You don’t want to pull your eyes). They make a great eyeliner guide. Apply to the edge of your eyes in the direction you want your flick. Apply your liner or eyeshadow and then slowly pull the sticky notes off away from your face. You should be left with a clean line. It takes practice, but I promise it works.
We know dampening your brush makes metallics shadows and highlights apply more vibrant, right? If you don’t want to do that, you can use your setting spray as normal on your face and before it dries, apply your highlighter on damp skin. This will make it pop a little extra too and help it last longer.
Cheap eyeliners are often hard to use. If you want to soften the pencil and get use out of it. Run the tip through the flame of a lighter for a couple of seconds. Obviously be sure that it’s not hot to the touch when applying it to your eyes. But it will soften it and make it much easier to apply.
If you have an eyeshadow that you don’t get much pigment out of but love the colour. Try applying concealer or a white base (like the NYX Jumbo eye pencil) before it and pat it on with your finger. It will help with the opacity. Dampening your eyeshadow brush with water, setting spray, Duraline or even eye drops before application will help too.
I did a post here yonks ago about keeping your lashes curled all day. I thought that might be helpful to throw into the makeup tips mix too. And here is a demo of the winged liner tip in practice. The pictures and videos are horrendous but the methods still stands 🙂
If even one of these makeup tips helps you, I’ll be very happy, so please let me know. I definitely went over the quota of five ha!
It’s about that time again dudes. Another month, another faves video. This time I’m looking back over my May Favourites for 2018.
May has been a trying month for me personally I won’t lie, but shite talking about makeup and beauty products definitely helps with all the personal stuff 🙂
My May favourites for 2018 and beauty heavy, there’s no fashion or random loves in sight. Also the lip I am wearing is one of the new L’Oréal Color Riche Shine lipsticks in 466. I am loving the formula of these.
My messed up hair is something I can’t even apologise for. It was a good idea at the time. I swear one of these days I’ll take a course on styling hair or something. I am absolutely brutal at it 🙂
As always I’ll list my May favourites here, but if you want to hear my musings on them click on the video above or here to check them out.
Vichy Mineral 89 Serum . I definitely use more than necessary of this stuff as a day time moisturiser. But it’s great if you don’t like a heavy cream in the day or for night time. I use it in conjunction with a serum and it doesn’t interfere with my makeup.
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.
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.
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.
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 🙂
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 🙂
I know this isn’t a new idea, but I was doing my makeup the other day and started doing something that I thought was worth sharing. I was about to jump onto Instagram stories and share it, but then I had the idea to do it in blogpost form for future reference purposes 🙂 I’m calling it my top 5 makeup tips but I can’t guarantee I’ll keep it to 5 🙂
I have been in a bit of a creative rut this week. I asked on 
