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Top Spring Nail Polish Colours

I am a nailpolishaholic. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you will know I like to post obnoxious pictures of my painted nails on a regular basis…I do apologise 🙂

So I trifled through my collection to talk about the nail polish colours that represent Spring in a nail polish bottle for me. By all means you can switch and change brands and shades, these are just what I own.I am a firm believer that if you have and use a good base coat and top coat, you can use any brand of coloured polish and it should last pretty well on your talons!

I have very recently downsized my collection in order to fit them onto my new acrylic wall rack. So I threw out all the polishes I was hoarding in boxes and only kept the ones I know I would actually use:

So onto my picks for Spring:

Firstly I had to pick a hot pink. A hot pink is essential in Spring for me, it looks fab on your fingernails and your toenails and goes with everything, and helps accentuate a tan whether it be natural or from a bottle 🙂

I chose a BarryM colour. These polishes are so readily available in Boots and Superdrug, they are cheap and they have such a wide range of colours. I love them.

Barry M in Limited Edition 029

Next up I chose Peach. Peach is a colour that screams warmer weather to me. It’s the colour of icepops and sweets 🙂 It’s a good colour to have for those, who do not want to go crazy with their nail colour as it can look quite subtle and clean on the nails. I chose another Barry M polish, shock horror, this was a cult buy for last summer within the blogosphere!

Barry M Peach Melba 318

Next I chose… another Barry M pastel tone! I’m sorry but they’re lovely 🙂 I have a good cross section of brands in my collection but Barry M are really good and the pastels are lovely and creamy. Two coats and you’re good to go! So I chose a pastel lilac tone.

I love this colour and lilac is very on trend at the minute. Again, if you are afraid of colour, even use something like this on your accent nail for a touch of something different.

Barry M 308 Barry I/C

I have a sky blue shade chosen for my next spring nail polish. I think this sort of shade looks great on all skin tones and looks really interesting on long and short nails alike. It can really jazz up a look without going too over board.

This is an Essie shade, I love Essie polish from the point of view that their colour selection is amazing and the polishes themselves are easy to apply and do not need much working with. However, I will say they don’t last aswell as some other brands of polishes and they cost a small fortune here in Ireland, if other brands do the same shade for cheaper I say get it!

Essie Mint Candy Apple

Lastly, I chose a shade that is not for the faint hearted. This shade of nearly apple green sums up Spring in a colour to me. If you’re someone like me who loves bright colours on their nails, rock the hell out of it, if not this would be a great accent colour on the ring finger or whichever finger you choose to be brave with:

This particular polish is a Revlon polish. Revlon do a great formula of polishes, I have a few of them and they are some of my firm favourites. I can’t wait to give their new perfumed range a go 🙂

Revlon 510 Sassy

So there you have it, my spring nail wardrobe. I am rarely without nail polish, I don’t feel put together without it. Whether it is to compliment your look with a similar hue to your clothes or makeup or for it to contrast it, it all looks good in my book 🙂

Thanks letting me ramble on,

Gemma

xxx

April 21, 2014/by Gem

Makeup

Makeup Geek Pigments And More

Pigments? Scary…they are a bit I must admit, but they are so pretty! I haven’t many of them, but I wanted to share some of the ones I have accumulated over time. When alot of us think of pigments, we think of Mac, I know I do anyway. I cannot justify the money they ask for them, even if they are beautiful. So here are some more purse friendly ones and in my opinion just as pretty. There is one high end one thrown in for good luck, just because I couldn’t resist showing it off, hope you don’t mind 🙂

Pigments are fab to use just like shadows packed onto the lid with a flat stiff brush, as a light wash over shadows for a touch of sparkle or foiled onto the lid with some sort of mixing medium ie Mac Fix Plus, Inglot’s Duraline or even eye drops can be used to intensify the metal sheen or colour of the pigment.

I have some in my collection from Barry M which are readily available from Boots and Superdrug and come in all sorts of colours and finishes. They are priced at 5.99Euro. The others are from an American brand called Makeup Geek. Makeup Geek is owned by Marlena who is firstly a makeup artist. She started initially as a Youtuber and now has her own makeup line which is pretty fab. I own some her eyeshadows, lipsticks and of course pigments. The pigments are priced at 6.99 dollars from the website. Their shipping is pretty reasonable too.

First up is Barry M’s pigment in Number 4:

This is a really pretty silver pigment. It’s more of a chunky formula with silver glitter particles. I would definitely use a mixing medium like Mac’s Fix plus to adhere this to the eyelid as it will fall down and create a mess. I like to use this on my lower lash line for a pop of something extra. I wet a synthetic eyeliner brush with some fix plus and add the glitter carefully. I usually do this before I do my face makeup to ensure I only get glitter where I want it 🙂

Next is probably one of my very favourites. This is Afterglow by Makeup Geek:

It is a gorgeous shimmery champagne colour. This is a really finely milled pigment which is fab all over the lid for an everyday eye look, or as a pop of lightness in the middle of a smoky eye. It’s fab as an inner corner highlight also. A great all round colour I think.

Barry M’s No 98 is next:

This pigment has a black/blue base with really fine blue glitter through it. Perfect for an intense navy smoky look which looks great on a brown,green or hazel eyes. I rock this alot. I use a navy cream shadow underneath it and pack this on over the top. Love it 🙂

Utopia By Makeup Geek is next:

Utopia is another chunkier pigment. In order to get the best pay off, I suggest again wetting the brush you use and foil the pigment onto the lid. You then get a fab dark brown base with gold glitter through it. This is a fab lid colour.

Barry M’s No 27 pigment is next:

This is a lovely white pigment with a soft fleck of golden glitter running through it. I love this as an extreme inner corner highlight (for special occasions 😛 ). It is fab over darker shadows to add a sheen or as a gradient colour on the inner lid into a darker shade.

Here I have Makeup Geek’s shade in Insomnia:

This a really unusual shade. It is brown with green running through it, a two tone shade. It is really pigmented and blends very easily. This would be great for someone who isn’t great at blending colours as it is pretty much two shades in one, so it looks like you’ve spent loads of time adding different colours when you didn’t 🙂

The last on is Illamasqua’s Beguile:

This is the perfect going out glitter. I really couldn’t get a picture to do it justice. It’s a Barbie sparkle for all us grown ups out there. It’s fab over every kind of shadow or creams to bring a bit of glitter to your look. I love using this in the middle of my lid with a dark or light eye. The light catches it beautifully.

So there you have it, some pretty pigments. They can be underrated sometimes. I know I can leave them in a drawer and forget about them. They’re not as scary as you think though I promise, just don’t let it fall on the floor 😛

Thanks for reading.

Gemma

xxx

April 9, 2014/4 Comments/by Gem

Monthly Favourites

March Favourites 2014

Spring is finally here, we can all breath a sigh of relief and look forward to longer days with hopefully some sunshine woohoo ! So another month is gone which means it’s monthly favourites time in blog world. My March favourites are all beauty related this month, not on purpose I promise 🙂 So lets delve into the products I have been enjoying continuously through the month of March.

First up is not a very glamorous choice, but I honestly have not being able to get enough of it since getting it:

This is organic coconut oil, say what?! My good oul mammy was doing her usual ramble around the supermarket and she stumbled across this in the food aisle. You can use it for cooking or on your hair, I like to use it on my temperamental skin and I’m officially addicted. This big 500ml pot was about 6 or 7 quid and will last you a lifetime. When you open it the oil itself is solidified:

But when you scoop it out with your hand it instantly starts to melt into oil, that you can slather on and let it work it’s magic. It’s not something that dries instantly it does take a while to soak in but I think it’s worth it for how soft your skin feels after using it. When I have a bath I take a scoop and throw it in now aswell. Much better alternative to baby oil and it’s all natural baby 🙂

I use the coconut oil every second day. On the days I don’t moisture up with that I am using this:

The Cocoa Brown Gentle Bronze. I am a pale Irish girl, I do not get a tan I get freckles, it’s depressing, this stuff helps keep the pale at bay though without me looking too weirdly bronzed on a normal day to day basis. It is basically a moisturiser with a hint of tan in it. The cream itself is brown, which I love because alot of the alternative brands are just white in colour and you can miss spots when applying, which does not look great when the tan develops.

It also has the well known Cocoa Brown cocoa smell which we all love, you do not end up smelling like biscuits in the morning which is brilliant. Overall a winner for me. In fairness, Marissa has yet to steer us wrong 🙂

Next up is some makeup loveliness:

This is the neutral Mac pre filled palette. Mac have released two fully filled palettes and I had to scoop up this cool toned one, the other one is more warm toned so is more suited to those with a darker complexion. I have used this practically everyday since I got it. I have always found it hard to justify buying their eyeshadows from a price point of view. I have a few stocked away in a z palette, and another quad but other than that I don’t own many (don’t worry I make up for it in with other brands 😛 ). So when these came out and were 75 euro, this was cheap in Mac world so we had to buy some. I really like this palette, I know its yet another neutral one but I don’t care, you can never have enough of them if your a makeup fiend 🙂 The colours are pigmented, easy to blend, and there’s a great selection for everyday use right up to a dark smoky eye for night time with matte and shimmery shades a-plenty. I think Brun and Black Tied are the only ones I’ve ever heard of before that are in the palette, the rest of the names aren’t familiar to me. Overall it’s a winner for though 🙂

So onto my next favourite of the month:

This is the Maybelline Lasting Drama Black Shock Gel Eye liner. That’s a bit of a mouthful! This stuff is something I stumbled across rummaging in Boots for new stuff to try out. It’s a gel liner in pen form:

You twist the bottom of the pen and the product comes through the diagonal rubber tip. I’ve never had anything like this before. My favourite black gel eye liner is still No77 from Inglot that I rave about here. I use this in my waterline and top lash line and I know it won’t budge. However, I really fail in the skills of mastering the feline flick, especially with a brush. This eyeliner has helped me alot (I am still no master). It comes out of the nib in a nice thin line and I love that the nib is diagonal as it helps with drawing the flick. You can just place the nib on the corner of your eye and press down and it draws it for you.

This helps me because I don’t add too much product, and it sweeps across the eye in one swift movement, helpful again because I don’t have to go back in and fix it too much, which I am prone to do and that’s where it can all go wrong 🙂 It doesn’t transfer onto the eyelid once dry and lasts all day. Overall a great product and you can buy it in Boots!

Another Boots/pharmacy product. My foundation of the month has definitely been the Rimmel Stay Matte:

This is a mousse/liquid foundation. I use the shade 100 Ivory and it’s a pretty good match for day to day for me. It is a matte finish foundation as the name would suggest and is medium to full coverage.

Buffed into the hand, you can see if evens out my skin colour.

Not more I can say about it. It’s cheap, has good coverage, good colour range and lasts well throughout the day. Thanks Anita for recommending it to me 🙂

I have more face stuff from Boots next, I must have spent the whole month there!

This was a really random purchase. I ran out of my Image skin cleanser and just needed something to keep me going until I got more. I was in Boots and this was on sale for, I think 4 euro. It is the Botanics cleansing foam wash. I am a Clarisonic addict, I use it everyday. My clarisonic is an ugly yellow because I got it on Amazon before you could get them in Ireland so couldn’t pick a pretty colour 🙁 It still does the job though.

It works best with a foaming cleanser so just threw this in my basket as back up. I am so glad I did, it’s soap free and really foams up. It gets rid of all my makeup including mascara and works really well with the Clarisonic. And is has a nice fresh subtle smell. Overall a great (and cheap) cleanser. I will finish the bottle for sure before purchasing another one.

My last favourite of March is ANOTHER face product that can be purchased in Boots! Well Boots in Liffey Valley shopping centre anyways:

This is the Sleek blush trio in Pink Lemonade.

Pink Mint Macaroon Icing Sugar

We love Sleek makeup here at Chatterbox. And I love this blush trio. They are so pigmented and easy to blend. Usually I don’t buy cream blush much because my oily skin drinks it up and it disappears very quickly from my cheeks. However from having this palette I’ve been using the Macaroon shade under the other two and it helps them last all day! I use my fingers to apply it lightly on my cheekbones and then I tend to mix the other shades Icing Sugar and Pink mint together on a blush brush for a nice pink glow. By all means they can be used alone though, that’s just how I like to wear them :). I will be buying more of these trios for sure in the future.

So there you go, my fab faves for the month of March.

Hope you enjoyed having a nose.

Happy Spring 🙂

Gemma

xxx

April 4, 2014/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup Haul

So pay day was last week, so I thought I would treat myself to some things I had my eye on whilst poor. Here’s my makeup haul 🙂

So for everything pictured I headed into Boots to get. I got the oily gals version of the Bourjois Happy Light primer, the Happy Light Base Serum Matite, and their cream bronzing primer. I also picked up their Universal Illuminating powder to give it a go aswell, as it’s been compared to the Hourglass powders by some and is a quarter of the price and Bourjois was on 3 for 3 happy days. I got a Barry M eye Kohl in No 28 I really like their liners and they’re cheap too. Oh and some E45 moisturiser cos ya gots to keep your skin in check!

And I couldn’t walk by the Sleek stand without having a nosey. So got their new eye shadow palette in Garden of Eden, some amazing green and brown shades in this, roll on Paddy’s day 🙂 I also got a Matte Me Lip Cream in No 431 Fandango Purple and since Sleek is on 3 for two at the minute like Bourjois I was able to grab a Blush By 3 Palette in No 369 Pink Lemonade too.

I also bought the Ben Nye Cameo Powder online and am loving it!

My cheeky Zara purchase came on this miserable Monday too to make me feel a bit better:

This is a little bag perfect for a night out from Zara’s new Spring range for 2014. It’s navy “leather” with square studs and has a flap over to close.Is it really bad that I bought this bag to match my Louboutins, that are still in the box and I’m afraid to wear? Maybe having this might entice me to get them out of the box and bring them for a test drive…

So quick little makeup haul for you of my weekend purchases, don’t judge 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Gemma

xxx

March 3, 2014/by Gem

How I keep my oily skin at bay throughout the day

So if you have read my previous post on my favourite foundations of the moment, you will know I have oily skin. I am in my late 20’s and get spots like a teenager, apparently it means I will have less wrinkles in the future? I don’t know if it’s worth it though. Through the years I have picked up some little tips that help keep the oiliness at bay throughout the day and wanted to share them with you. They may be obvious to lots of people, but it is always good to spread the knowledge just in case 🙂

I’ll start with skincare. I always use a rich night cream going to bed. I know oily skinned people would be advised not to do this but I think we need moisture too so the night time is a good place to do it. If I am dealing with a really big break out I use Sudocrem as my nightcream,it helps dry them suckers right up! But for during the day, I always use an oil free moisturiser:

I love this Sebo Regulating Effaclar Mat Moisturiser from La Roche Posay. It has a gel like formula that if you weren’t horribly oily, you could use it as a make up base day to day. It is meant to help with large pores too. I cannot really confirm this, I haven’t noticed any difference. You can pick this up in most pharmacies and Boots stores for around 15 euro.

If I am going out for the whole day and night and know I won’t have much time to pay attention to my makeup, I use Milk of Magnesia on my face instead of a moisturiser. I am sure some of you are thinking what the hell? This is for an upset tummy you can’t put it on your face? Well I am here to tell you it works! I apply a really light layer with a cotton pad primarily to the middle of my face and just dab my cheeks with whatever else is left on the pad. This stuff is white so be really careful with it, and always shake the bottle before use. I do not know the science behind it but it works, simple as that, it can also help with drying spots up too, bonus! You can buy Milk of Magnesia everywhere and it is cheap as chips, I recommend that every oil faced girl always have this in their makeup drawer, it’s brilliant!

So next is primer:

I am a primer fanatic, for my skin and my eyeshadow. I have tried a fair few silicone based primers and then more “balmy” ones. I do not mind the silicone ones, I quite like the Inglot one pictured here priced a 22 Euro, it is smoothing and does an ok job with prolonging the oiliness. My favourite of my stash has to be the Benefit Porefessional. It has a ridiculous price tag of 34 euro (Benefit are renowned for their silly prices), but I really do like it. This would be classed as a more balmy primer and it is nearly skin coloured but rubs in to the skin and vanishes, it is diffusing too so helps with minimising the look of larger pores . Under make-up it is fab, but you can also use it over it to help smooth out anything that needs to be smoothed out.

When it comes to eye primer, I tend to stick to the Urban Decay Primer Potion (20 euro in Debenhams). I have bought a ridiculous amount of Urban Decay eye shadow palettes over the years so I have lots of little bottles of primer potion knocking about as you usually get a small sample with a palette, so I have yet to run out. This would be of a similar consistency to the Porefessional with the same colour tone but disappears once rubbed in. You need a teeny amount of eye primer, the rule of thumb is the less you use the better it works so use just enough to cover the lid with a thin layer. It really helps prolong your eye-shadow, so if you tend to get a crease line on your eyelid throughout the day, give a primer a go and you will see the difference!

So you have primed your face, added you gorgeous make-up, and want to make it last longer? You need a powder to set it:

I have a whole host of them knocking about my make-up drawer. For normal going to work use I tend to stick to the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressesd Powder (5.99 Euro in Boots). This is a light powder with no coverage so does not cake over your make-up and does the job of mattifying the face well, and it’s cheap what more can you ask for! For going out I use the Mac Studio Fix (31.50 in Brown Thomas). This is definitely much more expensive, but it is a powder foundation so gives much more coverage and is not too weighty on the skin if you use a light layer. It contains silica and talc which help absorb excess oil so less touching up throughout the night is needed which is why I do all of these steps in the first place :). There is so many types of powder to choose from though these are just the two I tend to go back to again and again.

So powder is on, could there be another step? Maybe just one more for good measure. I am a huge fan of finishing sprays:

They help prolong your make-up, they have active ingredients that help your skin and they get rid of the powdery look that tends to happen when you are trying to get rid of the oiliness 🙂 My favourite is the Urban Decay de-slick Make-up Spray (28 Euro in Debenhams). Urban Decay claim that this lowers the temperature of your make-up to help it stay put. My make-up definitely stays put and the spray is really fine so it doesn’t disturb the work you have already done, and it is another step to help control the oil for a decent period of time. I like using this to wake up my make-up during the day too when it is looking a bit tired. Spray a light layer of this and it looks a bit more alive and refreshed.

I have a couple of other random things that I sometimes throw in as well ( because I haven’t got enough already right?).

Blotting paper! These are great for touching up through the day ( I bought these Catrice ones in my local chemist for 3.49 Euro). I recommend getting ones without any type of coating on them as some of them are covered in talc which adds white splotches to your face. You just dab your face with the piece of paper and it soaks up any excess oil you might have without moving your beautifully applied make-up.

Finally is a really random one for you:

The Anastasia Lash Genius (14 pound on Cult Beauty) is a clear gel that you put on after your mascara to seal it in and stop panda eyes. Now I know waterproof mascara is meant to do this, but for me personally it doesn’t always cut the mustard, so this is just an extra insurance policy for me to help keep my mascara in place all day. I feel like it really helps and blackness under my eyes at the end of the day is now a thing of the past!

So these are a random group of things that I use (not always together) to help prolong my make-up, prevent creasing, smudging and general oily skin shenanigans. If you have reached the end of this blog post I commend and thank you 🙂

Gemma

xxx

January 26, 2014/2 Comments/by Gem