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Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette

There has been a ridiculous amount of hype about the Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette. And I think we can all agree it’s purely based on just how pretty it looks, right? I wanted it solely just because the shades look amazing in the pan. Even when I forked over the €65 for it in Brown Thomas, I didn’t even swatch it in store beforehand. Nor had I googled reviews, I just blindly bought. But look at it!!!!

I only own the Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette a week and have only used it on my eyeballs twice. It’s been a slow New Years week, there wasn’t much makeup being put on 🙂 I put up a poll on my Instagram stories asking would you want to see swatches regardless. 99% of voters said yes, so here we are. After using it a couple of times I did chime in on stories to tell you my initial thoughts.

The fall out is immense, do your base second and use a creamy base for the glitters to give them more opacity and help them stick. (Huda do include a concealer in the palette). I heard mixed reviews about the mattes, for me so far, they’ve worked well and I find them easy to blend. Although some of them need more building up then others and the fallout is bad, so just be careful!

This isn’t my first Huda Beauty eyeshadow palette. I also have three of the Obsessions Palettes which you can see swatched here, here and here.

Ok let’s get into the task at hand, talking about and swatching the Huda Beauty The New Nude Eyeshadow Palette. This palette contains 18 eyeshadows. They range from nude, mauve, gold, copper, to more berry tones in colour. And then you get 10 matte shades, four duo chromes: (Crave, Fantasy, Daydream, Charmed). Two glitters: (Excite, Infatuated). One pressed pearl (Kinky) and then a concealer to use as a base, or however you choose.

I’ve swatched them in their rows of six from left to right.

Top row: Bare, Crave, Play, Fantasy, Love Bite, Spanked.

Middle row: Lace, Daydream, Tickle, Excite, Infatuated, Kinky.

Bottom row: Concealed, Secret, Tease, Raw, Charmed, Teddy.

Here are some of the shades in action on my eyes, just for reference, it’s a really simple look, I’m no makeup artist, and I’m definitely no Instagram makeup artist.

I paid 65 quid for the Huda Beauty New Nude Eyeshadow Palette, I’m sure there’ll be a video demonstration at some point too 🙂 What do you think? Have you tried it yet? Is it on your lust list? Let me know.

xxx

January 4, 2019/by Gem

Makeup

Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer

I have been using the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer on and off for a few months now. It’s high time I tell you my thoughts on it 🙂

Off the bat I will say if you are looking for a light, breathable foundation, stop reading now. The Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer is not for you I’m afraid. If you like a more high coverage foundation, or perhaps you need something for a special occasion, then keep reading.

First up, I have to say I am not particularly a fan of the packaging of the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer. I like the glass bottle, yes. But, it comes with a doe foot applicator attached to the lid. (Like the Rimmel Lasting Finish Breathable Foundation I talked about here). I am just not really a fan. I don’t tend to complain when there’s one on concealer but I like to decant my foundation onto my hand myself and apply.

My relationship with it is a bit mixed. It’s quite thick, (not as thick as the Estée Lauder Double Wear for example though). You can have it at medium or full on coverage.

I have the shade Alabaster. It goes on a little darker than my skin tone initially, but does blend in and match quite well after a few minutes. It has a more emollient texture, which for me, with more oily skin can be quite problematic as it can be hard to blend. If you have drier skin, the texture might work in your favour though. As you can probably see from the swatch here, it does gather in fine lines, so you do have to be careful and make sure to blend really well. I would definitely recommend using a primer before application as it will help with the settling. Once you work it into the skin it though, I don’t find it too heavy or uncomfortable.

If you have redness, slight rosacea or acne scarring, it will cover well and you can build it up on the areas you want more coverage. I don’t tend to bring it up to the eye area too much though, as it does settle. But if you don’t have that problem, it will work well for under eye concealing. The emollient texture means it’s not too drying. The staying power is decent too. I do always use primer and powder with it.

For me, I found I like this foundation mixed with something else. So I will add it to another foundation to bump up the coverage. I don’t like the finish on my skin by itself. That’s obviously just personal preference though. If you are looking for something with high coverage and you don’t mind having to work with it a bit, the Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer could be for you.

You can find it online here, or in store from Brown Thomas, Arnotts and even Boots. Have you tried it?

xxx

December 18, 2017/by Gem

Rose Gold Sparkle Eye Makeup Look

It’s been a minute since I did a makeup look on my YouTube channel. I always call them looks rather than tutorials. I feel like the word tutorial is more professional, and I am definitely not that. In makeup or video form 🙂 I created this rose gold sparkle eye makeup look a couple of weeks ago and snapped an Instagram of it.

I was super happy with how it turned out and I got some good interaction on social media from it. So, I thought I would recreate it in video form. To show you what I used, how I did it. And, just how simple it was.

The main components of this rose gold sparkle makeup look is my beloved Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette. I am so sorry, I have literally not shut up about this palette, I know. But I have just been enjoying using it so bloody much. And, I have to stay true to what I used on the day, right? I have a review of it here, so I won’t bore you with the details.

The glitter came in the form of the Stila Magnificent Metals Eyeshadow in Rose Gold Retro. I have a post on this here too. I find although this is a cream eyeshadow, I do get fall out. So I used the NYX Glitter Primer underneath. I picked this up in Boots here. Of course any sort of adhesive base would do the job.

These along with the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Torch were the main products I used to create the eye look. I got this from Debenhams, but it’s actually cheaper from Feel Unique here.

I also mentioned my lip combo in my Insta post, so I recreated that too. It’s a very ‘me’ combo. Rimmel Eastend Snob lip liner all over the lips, with Mac Syrup lippie over top. Mauve and neutral. My go too lip colour for the past few months.

I totally got bored taking photos of myself 🙂

Obviously you can see create the rose gold glitter makeup look over on my YouTube channel here. Or you can just click on the video above to watch also.

Be sure to let me know what you think!

Thanks for tuning in, as always.

Gemma

xxx

September 8, 2017/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

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Spring Blush And Cheek Releases

The weather is kind of changing. I can see daffodils when I am out and about. That’s proof 🙂 With the changing season comes new beauty releases, which is always exciting! I thought I would compile some that I have from a few different brands. This is some of the new Spring Blush And Cheek Releases for 2017!

First up we have two (of three) new Perfect Blush colours from Isa Dora.

05 ‘Poppy Peach’ which is a soft slightly iridescent peach:

And, 60 ‘Pinky Peach’, which is very much it’s name sake.

I have been using these quite regularly over the last couple of weeks and have been enjoying them. I found them online from Feel Unique. They have an abundance of shades to choose from here. They retail for €15.30.

Next is the Clarins Contour Kit.

I already have a full blogpost on this here, so I won’t go into much detail. But, I thought it deserved to be in the mix. It’s a cheek product and it’s new 🙂

Next we have a couple of different offerings from the very affordable Essence Cosmetics.

As part of their Spring/Summer range for this year, they have the BlushPlay Sculpting Blush Palette.

This is in the shade 10 ‘Play It Peach’.

It has a highlight shade, a scultping shade (although to me this is more of a blush colour) and then a light satin coral ‘define’ colour. This is of course the blush shade. It retails for €4.95.

Another new cheek palette from Essence is their Prismatic Rainbow Glow Highlighter.

The internet is kind of going mad for this at the minute. The shade is called fittingly 10 ‘Be A Unicorn’.

The colours, indvidually do show up true to colour.

Swatched together though, they give you a really lovely light gold highlight, with subtle flecks of the colours shining through.

This retails for €4.40.

Next, is the very beautiful 7 Lights Powder Illuminator By Shiseido.

This powder was first created in 1917, and this offering is the modern day version of it.

The packaging alone is pretty stunning and then the powder contains 7 colours that are meant to help uneven skin tone and freshen the skin.

I have been using it to touch up my makeup of late and have found it works really nicely.

The brush that comes with it is really perfect for on the go too. Swirled together the colours give you a really pretty peach, wearable sheen.

Shiseido is sold in pharmacies here in Ireland. It was actually quite hard to source it in stock online. I managed to find it on the Escentual website here. It is priced at €48.76.

The last Spring blush release I have to show is Benefit’s newest Boxed Blush in Galifornia.

It smells like holidays in a box.

Once the gold overspray is gone, you are left with a really pretty peachy pink blush, with a hint of golden shimmer running through it.

Galifornia is available now from Debenhams here and Cloud10beauty here. It retails for between €30-34 depending on where you buy it.

And that’s pretty much Spring Blush products in a nutshell right there 🙂 Any of them take your fancy?

xxx

March 8, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Lipstick

I’ve shared her all over social media, I know. I am now the proud owner of the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk lipstick.

I wasn’t going to write this post, just because I know it’s been spoken about alot at the moment. But I thought feck it, she’s pretty, I want to show her in action 🙂

I already own the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Lip Cheat Lip Liner. John bought it for me for my birthday last year. I did a post on it here at the time, comparing it to Rimmel’s Eastend Snob. They are compared alot and obviously there’s a big price difference.

John kindly bought me the lipstick after seeing me conversing about it so much with some awesome blogger buddies. The boy did good 🙂 The packaging is perfection, I adore the rose gold corrugated tube.

It is a Matte Revolution formula, which is described on the website as a ‘Luminous Modern-Matte Lipstick’.

To me, the formula has more of a satin finish. It applies really smoothly and opaquely to the lips. The colour, on me applies like a brown toned nude, with a hint of pink. You can see both Pillow Talks swatched on my arm below. The colour really is identical.

Here is the lipstick applied to the lips on it’s own:

Then, the lip liner on it’s own:

And then both together:

Of course, you do not need to buy both products. If you want to keep the lipstick true to colour though and make it last longer, it is a nice addition. I find the liner a bit too drying, so I think I will be more inclined to use the lipstick. The formula is much more forgiving on the lips. I will say I am not a huge fan of the scent. To me, it smells like a mixture of caramel and flowers. It does dull down after a while though.

At the moment the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk lipstick is exclusive to the website. This means you have to get it shipped from the UK, which adds to the price. You can shop for it here and the lipstick alone costs €32. It is definitely a luxury purchase.

Would you splurge?

xxx

February 15, 2017/2 Comments/by Gem

Posts

I’ve swatched them in their rows of six from left to right.

I paid 65 quid for the Huda Beauty New Nude Eyeshadow Palette, I’m sure there’ll be a video demonstration at some point too 🙂 What do you think? Have you tried it yet? Is it on your lust list? Let me know.

xxx

Off the bat I will say if you are looking for a light, breathable foundation, stop reading now. The Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer is not for you I’m afraid. If you like a more high coverage foundation, or perhaps you need something for a special occasion, then keep reading.

You can find it online here, or in store from Brown Thomas, Arnotts and even Boots. Have you tried it?

xxx

Be sure to let me know what you think!

Thanks for tuning in, as always.

Gemma

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 🙂

This powder was first created in 1917, and this offering is the modern day version of it.

And that’s pretty much Spring Blush products in a nutshell right there 🙂 Any of them take your fancy?

xxx

I’ve shared her all over social media, I know. I am now the proud owner of the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk lipstick.

I wasn’t going to write this post, just because I know it’s been spoken about alot at the moment. But I thought feck it, she’s pretty, I want to show her in action 🙂