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Holiday Haul

If you follow me on social media, you’ll know instead of giving big gifts this year myself and my family went to Spain for the week of Christmas. We had a really great time. The weather was so good to us and we spent most of Christmas day in the ocean, so I ain’t complaining 🙂 I did by myself some goodies throughout the week though so I thought I would compile them into a holiday haul if you fancy a rummage.

Time ran away with me in the airport and I was gutted I didn’t get to shop in the Loop, I’ll just have to be sure I make up for it next time I fly.

We went to Lanzarote which is a tax free Canary Island. There’s not a whole load to be buying there, it’s a very holiday orientated town, so lots of tourist shops and the likes. Perfume is a good chunk cheaper there though, so I made sure to stock up on a few.

Don’t laugh, but I bought Britney Spears Fantasy.

This is the only celebrity perfume that I’ve ever really bothered with throughout the years. It smells like sweets, I was feeling nostalgic and it was only €15 🙂

My brother and John (the other half) know I love Lady Million from Paco Rabanne, so I got a couple of bottles to keep me going ha!

I bought another nostalgic perfume for myself. I use to wear this so much when I was younger. It’s Gucci Rush.

Luckily it was cheap, because I think I’ve grown out of the scent now…typical.

My fanciest pressie to myself was a bottle of Tom Ford Velvet Orchid. Well in Dublin this would be the fanciest, this set me back less than 40 euro over there which I don’t think is bad at all.

This is a cologne. And it would be classed as a unisex fragrance. John has Black Orchid, and I adore it, Velvet Orchid would be a ever so slightly sweeter version in my opinion, but still a very musky night time fragrance.

Of course there’s a big Zara where we were, it’s a Spanish company, so I had to have a look. I ended up only picking up two things. A dark green faux leather over the shoulder handbag, with gold hardware. Very Chloe-esque I thought?

And a long sleeved wool jumper of all things! I couldn’t leave this behind though 🙂

From one of the little boutique shops on the strip, I bought this really cute delicate rose gold plated bracelet.

If you’ve been to Lanzarote, you will know they have a stand alone Flormar store there, which is pretty cool. The brand has just been reintroduced here in Ireland, so I had to take a look and pick up a few bits. On a side note, they had different more seasonal products within the store, but the price point was the same as Ireland.

I got their Matte Velvet Mattifying Foundation. This is in Vanilla, but it’s a good bit darker than my skin tone (my fault), so I’ll have to keep it for when I have tan on.

I got one of their nail polishes, this colour is just unusual and caught my eye. it has a duochrome effect.

I get searches everyday here on beautynook for the Flormar Lip Primer, so I had to pick one up and give it a try.

I bought one of their eye primers too.

I liked this one because it has a concealing effect on the eyelid, so it will cover imperfections.

This eyeshadow stick was from their Christmas collection and I just thought the colour was so pretty. The formula is really nice too.

This twist up lipstick in the colour raspberry and I have 20 lippies in the same colour but I couldn’t resist. Love the packaging too.

The last thing I bought was a baked eyeshadow which they call a Diamonds Terracotta Eyeshadow.

Upon swatching it, I see it as more of glitter to apply over other shadows to add a bit of sparkle. I’d like to mix it with a bit of Inglot’s Duraline too and see what happens (I have a review of Duraline here 🙂

I bought a couple of random things on the strip too which we can get here easily, but sure I was on a spending roll so I just kept going 🙂

I had just run out of primer so I thought I would give the Catrice Prime and Fine one a trial.

I also got a Catrice Beautyifying Lip Smoother. This is really similar to the Clarins Lip Perfector and a quarter of the price. There’s a few shades to choose from too.

The one I picked up is in the shade Coffee To Go.

I got a couple of Essence Longlasting Lipliners in the same place. The formula of these is actually pretty great!

The pink shade is called Sweetheart and the peachy one is called Peach Beauty.

The last thing I got is from a brand I’ve never used before. This is the Palladio Crushed Metallic Eyeshadow.

I swatched all the colours of these and I really regret now not picking up more, but I settled on this burnt bronze colour in Eclipse.

There you have it, my holiday haul. All of the goodies I crammed into my suitcase and brought home to Ireland 🙂

Hope you had a brilliant Christmas (and new year). Hope 2016 is the most exciting year yet 🙂

xxx

January 4, 2016/by Gem

Makeup, Makeup Tools

Nima Brush ‘Girls On Tour’ Travel Set

If you haven’t heard of Nima, eh where have you been living? 🙂 They are an Irish owned makeup brush owned created by the lovely Niamh Martin. I’ve waffled loads about different brushes here on Beautynook in the past. I’m a big fan. Nima Brush’s last big release was the Artistic Collection which I spoke about in more detail here if you fancy a nose.

Nima Brush’s newest additions to their every growing brand is the ‘Girls On Tour’ Travel Set. They are seven of some of the most loved brushes from the Artistic Collection in a more travel friendly form, and in a really cute Nima pouch. The set costs €55 and you can pick it up from the Nima site here.

First off, how gorgeous are these brushes? If you are on the hunt for a Christmas pressie for a makeup lover…or a treat for yourself, I think Nima have you covered. The Girls On Tour Set would be great for bringing on holidays or just to have in your handbag for touch ups.

I think the choice of brushes are really thought out and have you everything you need for doing your makeup on the go.

Here’s the low down on Girls On Tour:

The ‘Blaithin’ is included.

This is probably my most reached for Nima Brush, I have the full handle sized version. I use it for contour mostly which you can see in action here but I love it for blush and powder too.

We also get the ‘Jane’.

The softest duo fibre stipping brush ever!

The ‘Tara’.

Perfect for blush, bronzer,contour the works.

The ‘Girls On Tour’ set also contains another one of my favourites from the Artistic Collection, the ‘Debs’.

This is a gorgeous blending eyeshadow brush.

The ‘Patricia’

A duo fibre tapered eyeshadow brush.

The ‘Ollie’.

I would describe this as a smudger brush, perfect for the lash line.

And finally, the ‘Danielle’.

Danielle is an angled duo fibre brush. I would use this for brows,liner or even lip definition.

The only real differences between the Girl’s On Tour collection and the Artistic Collection version of the brushes is the slight change in colour and the length of the brush handle. The actual brushes are the same great quality that we’ve grown to expect from Nima.

I have small child like hands so for me the Girls On Tour set will probably end up becoming part of my everyday makeup. For now, I’m trying really hard to keep them to bring on holiday with me next month…wish me luck 🙂

xxx

November 26, 2015/1 Comment/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Haul, Skincare

Bioderma Christmas Pouch

So as all of us beauty lovers know, Bioderma recently made their way onto Irish shores. Bioderma were really the pioneers of micellar water, and also do lots of other lovely skincare products.

For Christmas, they’ve released a pouch containing 4 products.

I happened to see this while I was scrolling through twitter (I’m @beautynookie over there, shameless plug :). Then I saw the lovely Jen from Matte To Metallic chatting about getting one over on Snapchat. She had gotten it in McCabes Pharmacy in the Pavillion in Swords, so I high tailed it over to the Northside and grabbed me one too 🙂

If you have been wanting to try the Bioderma range (or you know someone who has), this is really a great buy.

In the Christmas Pouch you get:

A 15m of their Atoderm Crème.

This is a fragrance free and paraben free moisturiser for dry to very dry skin.

You get a 100ml of the Bioderma Atoderm Gentle Shower Gel.

This is a soap free gel for sensitive skin. So really great for any of us.

There’s also a full 40ml of the Anti Redness BB Cream.

This on it’s own costs €16. It’s made for Sensitive Skin that’s prone to Rosacea. I’ve yet to use this yet, so I hope it works on my oily skin and the anti redness would be great for any blemishes. It also contains SPF 30 which is brilliant.

This is in the shade Light. When you first apply it, it looks really dark on the skin, but it blends in really well.

The last product in the pouch is of course the Bioderma cult classic.

You get a 100ml of their Micellar Water. This is hypo allergenic, so great for sensitive skin. I love using Micellar Water on cotton pads to remove the bulk of my makeup before full on cleansing. This means you are doing a double cleanse and are sure to be squeaky clean 🙂 Cannot wait to give this a go. Everyone has such good things to say about it.

I am going to sunny Lanzarote for Christmas this year, so I bought this to bring with me.

The Bioderma Christmas Pouch will cost you €17.50, and is a great way to try some of the products without committing fully.

Have you tried any Bioderma? Let me know what you would recommend?

xxx

November 20, 2015/1 Comment/by Gem

Haul, Skincare

Lush Winter Wonderland

Lush treated us bloggers and the press to an up close look at what they have in store (literally ha) for Winter and Christmas 2015. As a big Lush fan, I was very excited to see so many new and well known products back for the festive season. They have gift sets galore to suit any tastes and budget, and of course most of the products can be bought individually too.

We were very kindly gifted the fabulous Lush Winter Wonderland Gift Set, and so I wanted to show you what is inside, in case it’s something you would want on your Christmas list.

There are some old faves and some newbies up for grabs in this pretty huge gift box.

Snow Angel Bath Melt is in there. It contains cocoa butter and leaves your bath glittery.

We have Yog Nog Bath Bomb. This is a cinder toffee soak with spicy clove and ylang ylang.

The Ceridwen’s Cauldron Bath Melt looks really interesting. This plops into the bath as is and melts. It has sandalwood oil,oats and wildflower inside.

The Candy Mountain Bubble Bar has sparkles and fair trade vanilla to bubble up your bath with.

The Peeping Santa Bubble Bar looks funny right? This has shea butter and strawberry inside, so great for us with a sweet tooth.

The Yoga Bath Bomb is great for relaxing with. It contains olibanum and ho wood.

You can reuse this cutie. This is The Magic Of Christmas Bubble Bar. It has clove and almond in it. You can just sweep it across the water a few times and then put it somewhere safe to use again.

I get a Holly Golightly Bubble Bar every year from Lush. I think it just screams Christmas, and it smells like it too 🙂

Of course the Lush Winter Wonderland has a Frozen Bath Bomb this year. It contains grapefruit and Tunisian Neroli. Yum yum.

This is the Stardust Bath Bomb. It has vanilla and Rosewood in it.

Cinders is a lush classic. It smells like cinnamon.

I saw this Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bomb (mouthful) in action when we were in Lush. It dissolves into the bath just how it looks in the bomb it’s really cool. It also contains lavender so good for a before bed time bath.

My Father Christmas Bath Bomb got a bit bashed by its friends inside the box. He will turn your bath green though and smells like candy floss.

I think bubble bars are where you get the most bang for your buck in Lush. You can just break pieces off and get as many uses out of them as you want. This is the Bar Humbug Bubble Bar. It contains Liquorice, not my favourite scent, but if you love DollyMix this one is for you 🙂

The Lord of Misrule Bath bomb makes your bath wine coloured, so you could drink wine while you were having your bath and you wouldn’t even noticed if you spilled!

My So White Bath Bomb didn’t make it in one piece, but at least it means I can show you what it looks like inside. It contains bergamot and rose…yummy!

Golden Wonder is my all time favourite bath bomb from Lush. It has lime oil in it, so it smells really zesty and when it melts away it leaves little stars in your bath!

The Butterbear Bath Bomb is great for dry skin, it has cocoa butter in it like the Snow Angel…I might actually use these together for an extra hydrating bath time!

The Comforter Bubble Bar is probably my favourite out of all the Lush bubble bars and is one I purchase all the time. It’s really sweet but not in a sickly way. It contains cassis and cypress oil.

The Twilight Bath Bomb is the last on the list. As you would assume by the name and the look of this bath bomb, this is another good bath time bomb. It contains lavender and tonka and according to Lush makes your bath look like the night sky…we’ll see about that 🙂

The Lush Winter Wonderland will cost you €117.50, it is one of the priciest gift sets instore. I think if you are wanting to buy a hardcore Lush fan (or yourself) a really special gift this is pretty perfect though.

Any of your Lush faves in here? Any you fancy trying? Let me know 🙂

xxx

October 23, 2015/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup

Nars Dual Intensity Palette

I received this from my other half for Valentine’s Day. I am not very romantical, but who can say no to this loveliness? I am a lucky girl 🙂

This is the Nars Dual Intensity Palette in all it’s glory before I got it all grubby.

I bought a single Dual Intensity Shadow when they were released first exclusively to Space nk and paid €27 for it, so this palette is a pretty good deal at €55 for 8 of them AND a flat shadow number 49 brush to boot aswell as lovely packaging. The single shadows are 0.5oz and the shadows in the palette are 0.3oz. The palette is a much more practical deal to try out these shadows.

The Brush That Comes In The Palette

Close Up Of The Shadows Before I Dug In

Seven of the shades are part of the permanent range, but there is one shade called “Ursa Major” that is for now exclusive to the palette.

They are are all shimmery shadows ain’t no mattes around these parts 🙂 They are formulated to be used wet or dry. Applied dry they apply a bit more sheer and they are of course easier to blend. They are buildable though as you will see below. When you apply them wet, they become foiled and are even more metallic and magnificent. They are soft and just glide onto the lid. I feel they last better on the skin wet rather than dry.

Below, I have swatched them all so you can see them for yourself, wet and dry.

(Top four)

Dry

Narsissist Dual Intensity Palette Swatch Wet

Wet

Europa Himalia Ursa Major Subra

(Bottom four)

Narissist Dual Intensity Palette Swatch Dry

Dry

Wet

Andromeda Lysithea Giove Sycorax

As you can see we have warmer brown tones on the top of the palette and then cooler blacker tones on the bottom. Everything you will need for a metallic smokey eye 🙂

If you are a makeup junkie, and have money to splurge you need the Dual Intensity Palette in your life. The colours and pigmentation within it are just beautiful. You will get alot of use out of it if you like to experiment with makeup and play with colours and textures. I am not an enabler I swear 🙂

Have you picked it up yourself? Can you justify it?

Be sure to let me know.

xxx

March 11, 2015/2 Comments/by Gem

Skincare

Image Skincare Gift Ideas

I know I know it’s October and we are talking about Christmas yet again, but it’s time to get those thinking caps on!!

I am a huge fan of Image Skincare, and it is such a popular brand now, alot of salons are opting to use it for their treatments. Lets face it though, it is not cheap. So Christmas is the perfect time to splurge on it. Also, the Luxury Gift Collection is giving you money off for buying the products together…score!

If someone you love is a fan of Image Skincare or is just into their skincare in general, the brand have some lovely gift sets for the up and coming season. I was lucky enough to preview them, so thought I would share their loveliness with you 🙂

There are three to choose from that are put together for the specific skin type the person receiving it might have. This takes the guess work out of it which is handy.

We have the Image Selection, Vita C Celebration and Ageless Illumination to choose from and there is a saving of at least 32euro when you purchase a set!

Whether it is yourself availing of these offers (the money off is pretty impressive so why wouldn’t you) or you are buying for someone else, be sure to have a chat with the professional selling you them to find out the specifics on which set will suit which skin type and person. Image is a clinical skincare company so their products are very powerful and do what they say on the tin. Don’t waste your money on the wrong ones.

You can find a full list of stockists here and the Christmas Collections all come in a lovely cosmetics bag which is big and useful unlike some I have received through the years that you couldn’t even use as a coin purse.

Are you a fan of Image Skincare like me?

Happy October 😛

xxx

October 15, 2014/by Gem

Posts

I know I know it’s October and we are talking about Christmas yet again, but it’s time to get those thinking caps on!!