illuminating Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe

Did I need the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe in my life? Hell to the no. This was a complete lust product. You might remember I did a post here a while back about my beauty shopping lust list. This was on it along with a few gorge other things.

Every Summer, the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess collection is released again. Usually reimagined somewhat, but still familiar if you’ve been keeping an eye on it throughout the years.

I’ve always lusted after the Illuminating Powder Gelée. The packaging alone had me hooked visually. I’ve tried to get my hands on it a few times, but it sells out super quickly. So I’ve been actually checking up on it regularly this year. Yes I am a makeup addict through and through ha. The release coincided with my 33rd birthday this year, so I was able to ask John to get it for me as a bday treat. Score!

Off the bat the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe for 2018, visually is just gorgeous. For €49, it would kind of want to be. It’s not as weighty as I anticipated, it is a plastic compact, but I can live with that.

I feel like this year’s representation is definitely more golden and glittery than other years. The pigment and shine pay off are really lovely though. The sparkle is just something to note. In case you’re curious the shade name is 01 Heat Wave. There is only one to choose from.

You can see there is a lighter shade within the darker more bronzed highlight shade. It nearly looks like a pretty sunburst within the pan.

Esteé Lauder call this an ‘all over bronzer’. I can’t get on board with that at all. I bought it knowing it’s a highlight and it definitely is a highlighter!

Unfortunately probably a highlighter that’s too dark for pale ol’ me. But by god, I will make it work 🙂

I am so glad to have gotten my hands on the Esteè Lauder Bronze Goddess Illuminating Powder Gelèe for this year. It’s not the most practical purchase, but it will be something that I will hang on to forever as it’s limited edition.

I bought mine from Debenhams here, although it is out of stock as I write this post. Have you picked up any of them over the years? What’s your thoughts?

xxx

June 17, 2018/by Gem

Fragrance, Haul, Makeup

Beauty Shopping Lust List

Do you know what I like to do when I’m broke? Put potential beauty items in my basket online. It somehow makes be feel like I’m beauty shopping. Do I sound deranged? Probably, but it makes me feel like I’m kind of, sort of shopping Pander to me people 🙂

If money was no object right at this moment in time and I was beauty shopping online, these products would be in my baskets all across the internet. And I could actually put in payment details to proceed with order!!

Two things from Anastasia Beverly Hills are currently in my Cult Beauty basket. The first is the Soft Glam Palette. (£43 from Cult Beauty).

To think I actually call myself a beauty addict and I’ve never owned an eyeshadow palette from Anastasia. It’s embarrassing really. This one just speaks to me. I feel like it has everything you would want. Transition colours, lid crease and liner colours. It’s pretty simple, but I think that’s what gets me with it. I think it’s going to be a great palette for makeup lovers but also artists too. It would make the perfect wedding day palette.

The other thing is probably on everyone’s beauty shopping lust list at the moment. The Amrezy Highlighter, again from Anastasia. (£29 from Cult Beauty).

They’ve either just marketed this impeccably or it’s the shiniest highlighter out there at the moment. Every time I see the promo videos or pictures, drool comes out of the side of my mouth.

Ok, there’s another two eyeshadow palettes on my list currently. I have a weakness for them if you didn’t know already.

First up is the Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat. (Will be available in limited supply from the UD flag shop in Grafton street. Available everywhere else from the end of April. RRP is €32).

This is the Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette‘s little sister. Do I need it? No? Do I already own the original full sized one? Yes. There’s something about UD palettes that has me hooked though. I have a bajillion of them and still can’t get enough. This would make for a great travel companion. There, that’s my justification 🙂

My other palette want is, surprise surprise the Huda Beauty Desert Dusk. (€65 from Cult Beauty).

Anyone who has this palette just says you need it in your life. And if EVERYONE says it, sure it must be true. After trialling the brand with the Mauve Obsessions and the Smokey Obsessions, I seriously need to try more.

There’s another highlighter on my lust list, but hear me out. This is the limited edition Estée Lauder Golden Goddess Illuminating Powder.

They release this every year as part of their Summer Golden Goddess Collection. Every year I want it and every time I decide to bite the bullet and get it…..it’s sold out! The packaging alone has me wanting this and I see so many YouTubers using it and the want grows. I can’t find it to shop for from here currently though, I will keep hunting!

I had a voucher and nearly bought the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation (€42 from Feel Unique).

I couldn’t get a sample though, so that put me off. I’ve seen so much hype about this foundation online though, so it’s made it back onto my want list. It’s meant to be long wearing with full coverage but still have a radiance to it. When I have cash money to blow, this is going to checkout!

The Ordinary Glycolic acid 7% Toning Solution is not exactly a financial stretch. (€8.70 from Cult Beauty).

The reason this is still in my basket is because it’s an enigma, it is never in stock. This is like the Pixi Glow Tonic I love so much. I have a really old blogpost on it here. The Pixi one is 5% Glycolic, this one is 7% and nearly half the price. My oily, giant pored skin needs to try this.

Last on my beauty shopping lust list is the newest member of the Victor & Rolf Flowerbomb family (€71 for 30ml from Debenhams).

This is Flowerbomb Nectar. Now I’ve yet to sniff this, but I adore Flowerbomb. I know it can be a bit heady and overpowering for some. I love how deep but still sweet it is though. I always have a bottle in my collection. This release intrigues me immensely though. You have the flowery bergamot goodness from traditional Flowerbomb but with a Orange Flower and Osmanthus twist. They had me at nectar to be fair 🙂

And there you have my beauty shopping musings. What’s in your online shopping basket?

xxx

March 7, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders

YouTube 100 million percent made me do it! I have to admit I can be a bit skeptical when YouTubers or online people bring out products. A lot of it is just done to make a few bob on the side, and not really thought out.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics has been going a while now and I actually did try some bit from hers in the beginning, and they weren’t half bad. Since then though nothing has really caught my eye majorly so I didn’t invest in anything.

The Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders are new from the range. I watched her Get Ready With Me Video here, where she showcases her new ‘Chasing The Sun’ Collection. The Illuminating Powders in particular took my fancy.

They remind me so much of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting blush and bronzers. And the Max Factor Creme Puff blush and bronzers too. I actually did a post on the Max Factor Bronzer not too long ago here if you want to see the lighter shade in action.

There is three illuminating powders within the ‘Chasing The Sun’ collection.

I picked up all three because Superdrug were having a 3 for 2 offer. Any excuse, right? They all come in a square, pretty sturdy clear topped palette, with 12 grams of product within.

The darkest of the three is ‘Warm Bronze’.

It’s a medium, shimmering bronze shade.

Next, we have ‘Champagne Sorbet’.

As the name would suggest, this is more of a champagne shimmer. Much more suited to use as a highlight for my lighter skin tone.

The last of the three is ‘Peonies Please’.

This looks like a darker pink in the pan than it swatches. It’s still a really pretty shimmering light pink blush shade. This, for me would be a blush and highlight all in one.

I have to admit, I am really impressed with the colour pay off from all three of the Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powder shades. The powders themselves are nice and soft and easy to blend. You get a really decent amount of product for the price point €10.85 ( in store here from Superdrug.) Not the cheapest ‘from the drugstore’, I know. Although they are only €8.99 from the Feel Unique website here. They give a really nice glow to the skin without being too sparkly or glittery.

I will definitely get a lot of use out of ‘Champagne Sorbet’ and ‘Peonies Please’. ‘Warm Bronze’ might be a little too dark for me to use regularly. It will make a lovely eye shadow though!

Here is ‘Peonies Please’ applied as blush to my skin:

And then ‘Champagne Sorbet’ applied on top:

Have you tried anything from the Tanya Burr Cosmetics range? What has YouTube made you buy? I reckon I could do a whole dedicated blog post on that question myself 🙂

xxx

July 17, 2017/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Elf Illuminating Palette

I received a care package from Superdrug this week and showed some of the goodies over on my Snapchat (I am ‘Beautynook’ over there if you fancy following. Shameless plug). The new Elf Illuminating Palette was among all the beauty booty.

If you didn’t know Superdrug recently opened it’s door in Liffey Valley here in Dublin. They already have stores in The Square and in The Pavillion in Swords. So that’s three we have in total here in Dublin now. The more makeup available the better in my opinion 🙂With the new store opening, Superdrug also relaunched Elf Cosmetics in store here in Ireland and in the UK too. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the brand here in store. And I think when we could get it, it was just bits and pieces in local pharmacies. I was a big shopper of the brand online when I first really started getting into makeup. It was super affordable and it meant you could buy loads of different products without breaking the bank. It’s definitely hit and miss and they have definitely upped their game with some of the collections too. This means alot of the products are more on the higher end of the ‘drugstore’ scale.

A few of you lovely lot were curious to see the new Elf Illuminating Palette up close. So I thought I would do a quick post chatting quickly about the brand and of course doing a bit of swatching too.

The palette has four powder shades within it. It seems they are interchangeable though, so you may be able to pick colours separately to go in it aswell.

These powders are not really for you glow getters. They are definitely more on the subtle side. This is purposely done, although I did find the powders a bit hard to work with just swatching them. The description on the Superdrug website is: ‘This beautiful illuminating palette holds 4 gorgeous complementary shades to mix and match for a custom blended radiance that captures, diffuses, and softens the way light reflects on the skin.’

Here it is swatched with the flash on and in natural light:

The Elf Illuminating Palette is available in Superdrug stores now and online here. I’m not sure of the euro price at this minute, I will amend when I double check. But the palette is £7.50 online.

xxx

July 12, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream

On my weekly trip to Boots (no judgment, it’s all for research purposes,right?) :). I came across these new Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream Sticks.

Stobing is such a buzz word in the beauty industry at the moment. I like to just think of it as good oul highlighting myself.

Anyways the new Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream Sticks are bascially cream highlighters in twist-able chubby stick form.

They come in two shades and are part of Barry M’s new Summer collection.

The first one is aptly named 1 and is in the colour Frosty Pink.

The second one is 2 Iced Bronze.

The Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream have a really light texture to them. It nearly feels oil like on your fingers, but then when you apply them to the skin they dry and blend in really nicely to give the skin a really subtle sheen. If you are looking for your highlight to be seen from space, I don’t think these will work for you 🙂 Although, there is two colours, I think they both have a really similar colour effect when blended in.

For someone like who is on the oilier side (skin wise), I can’t get away with the ‘healthy’ skin look, sure my skin does that to itself after a little while as it eats up all my lovingly applied makeup 🙂

So I would use the Barry M Illuminating Strob Cream as more of a base for a powder highlighter.

Here’s Frosty Pink with theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer applied on top (I have a review of this on it’s here).

And then here’s 2 Iced Bronze with Becca Champagne Pop applied over top. (There’s a review of this here too, if you’re interested).

You can pick up the Barry M Illuminating Strobe Cream from Boots in store or online here. They will set you back €6.49, but Barry M are currently on buy one get one half price. Do they float your strobing boat? Let me know 🙂

xxx

May 29, 2016/2 Comments/by Gem

Archives, Giveawy, Lifestyle

Beautynook Giveaway

I’ve gathered some beauty bits to do a little give-away here on Beautynook just to say thanks for all the support. I really love blogging, and for people to actually go out of their way to read my thoughts on here is pretty amazing to me 🙂

As you can see, I have some lovely goodies from L’Occitane,Nima Brush,Catrice,Flormar,Nimue,Mine Tan, Jessup and from Penneys.

To be in with a chance of winning, you just need to do the following:

Be sure to be following me on social media Facebook Twitter Instagram You can even catch me on Snapchat too (@beautynook)
Write whatever you want in the comments below, just so I know you have entered, keep it clean 🙂
Finally, just share this post on whatever social media you want, to spread the word.

As most of my followers are Ireland based, I’m only going to open to it to Ireland this time.

Good luck to you all and thanks again!

Gemma

xxx

October 20, 2015/99 Comments/by Gem

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