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I am an avid online shopper. I do love going into shops and seeing products in the flesh, don’t get me wrong. However, living on our little island, we don’t always get the products we want in store, or we just don’t have the time to do it! So, here are some of my favourite online beauty shopping haunts that I like to frequent 🙂

Of course, alot of our favourite beauty retailers give us the option to shop online too, as well as in store. Some of my favourites are Boots, Debenhams, Brown Thomas and Arnotts. And I love that with some of these you have the option to click and collect so you don’t have to pay shipping and then whatever you bought, is packed up and paid for, just waiting for you to pick it up in store. Superdrug is another one that does that too, although I know they only have stores here in Dublin. You can shop from them online too though.

My favourite Irish online store for beauty shopping has to be cloud10beauty!cloud10beauty beauty shoppingThey cover some of our amazing homegrown talent like Cocoa Brown, Waxperts and Blank Canvas Cosmetics. As well as some harder to get brands here like Pestle & Mortar and Alpha-H.They have you covered with blogger/vlogger brands like Zoella, Real Techniques, Colab, Tanya Burr and of course SOSU by Suzanne Jackson. There is something on Cloud10beauty for everyone, the shipping is super quick, it is free over €40, you get free gifts with purchase. They always have website deals on and very generous sales.

 

My next favourite online beauty shopping destination is Cult Beauty

beauty shopping cult beauty

The name really says it all! Cult Beauty stock a good chunk of the brands we all want a part of. And not just old stock, we can get new stock from American brands we covet! They stock the likes of Anastasia Beverley Hills, Aesop,Becca, Daniel Sander,Eve Lom, FAIRYDROPS (I didn’t know that actually, this post is really enabling my shopping habit :)), Huda Beauty, Jouer, Laura Gellar, OCC. I could go on, I really could. They have free worldwide shipping over £50, and again you can get free gift with purchases. They are also based in the UK so no worrying about custom charges and the likes.

Beauty Bay is another UK website that is jam packed full of American brands we want to get our hands on.

irish beauty blog

Products are a little pricey and shipping takes a while, but once you’re aware of that the beauty shopping is awesome! They stock the likes of Gerard Cosmetics, Natasha Denona, Anastasia, Cargo, Cover FX, Dose of Colour, Ellis Faas, and of course Makeup Geek!!!

Look Fantastic is another….fantastic beauty shopping hub 🙂

irish beauty blogger

They offer free standard worldwide shipping, it can take a while, so you do have to be patient, but again they are a UK registered company so no duty to worry about. They sell the likes of Illamasqua, EX1, Benefit, Deborah Lippman, Dermalogica and Nudestix. What I particularly like about Look Fantastic is their range of hair care. They cover brands like Kerastase, Redken, Phillip Kingsley, Nioxin and Tigi to name a few. And, they don’t scrimp on the money off vouchers either!

Feel Unique is another website I am often found browsing.

top irish beauty blog

It is great for makeup and haircare, but it also carries an abundance of fragrance choices too, for both men and women. They cover the celeb fragrances as well as the likes of Marc Jacobs, Chanel, YSL and Stella McCartney. I rely on Feel Unique alot at Christmas time, it’s really handy for picking up gift sets.

For my last contribution in this post, I thought I would add in Asos.

top irish beauty blogger

Asos is a website I spend alot of time procrastinating on 🙂 It’s well known for fashion, but it does carry a good amount of beauty choices too. It has brands like Barry M, Rimmel and Benefit. But, it also carries harder to get brands (for us) like Japonesque, Anna Sui, Cowshed and so much more. There’s free shipping from Asos over €25 and they offer free returns too which is really handy.

I think I’ll leave it there 🙂 There’s other beauty corners of the internet I like to frequent, but I don’t want to bombard you. And these are all tried, tested and trusted websites that I’ve purchased from successfully on numerous occasions.
I hope you found this helpful and maybe discovered a new online beauty shopping haunt.
Thanks for reading.

xxx

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I am coming at you today with a few of my favourite liquid foundations of the moment. I tend to have a lot on the go at any one time testing them out and seeing how they fair. I have not got the best skin. It is overall very oily with some random dry patches and I tend to get breakouts quite alot, so for me foundation is pretty important and I use it everyday to even out my skin which has pink undertones . I would be an NC20 in MAC.

The first of the foundations I want to talk about is the purse friendly Revlon Colorstay which you can pick up in nearly all Boots  and on their website for close to 18 euro.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation Oily/Combination Skin

Revlon Colorstay Foundation Oily/Combination Skin

Sigma Flat Top Kabuki Brush

Sigma Flat Top Kabuki Brush

This foundation comes in two formulas oily/combination and dry. Of course I use the oily/combination version. It’s thick in consistency so you don’t need a whole lot and it dries to a matt finish. It’s medium to full coverage depending on how much you build it, so if you want a light layering maybe for work or just for daytime, I suggest adding a little moisturiser to it to loosen it a bit. I don’t feel doing this adds any more oil (to my skin anyway). My favourite way to apply this foundation is with a flat dense kabuki brush or with my fingers, for a lighter layer. Working it into the skin with a dense brush tends to make the product work better for you and cover any large pores so less concealer is needed. I really like the Revlon Colorstay and feel it wears pretty well on me throughout the day and is good for nights out as it only has an SPF of 6 so doesn’t have much or any flashback in photos 😉 I think it will always be in my arsenal of foundations.

The next foundation I want to chat about it a pretty new one to my collection and it is the Jouer Matte Moisture Tint. I picket this up on Cult Beauty for 30 pound so it would definitely be classed as a “higher end foundation”.

Jouer Moisture Tint

Jouer Moisture Tint

Real Techniques Buffing Brush

Real Techniques Buffing Brush

As the name implies this is a mattifying foundation but has all the benefits of a moisturising foundation. I would class this as a heavy duty tinted moisturiser with light but build-able coverage. It is oil free and fragrance free so good for any of you sensitive oily ladies out there! The texture of this foundation is like nothing I have ever used before, it is nearly like a gel which makes it very easy to blend. I tend to use my fingers if I am in hurry with this or a Real Techniques Buffing Brush as its not very dense and distributes the product nicely. I really like The Jouer Matte Moisture Tint, it wears well, however it is not great over blemishes, it can cake around them so you have to be careful of that when blending it. This had an SPF 15, so it is suited better for day wear. I wear the shade Linen.

Next on my list is the MakeUpForever Mat Velvet +. You can buy this from the MakeUpForever shop in Clarendon street in Dublin which I am lucky to live quite close to or on their website for 35 euro (again another high end foundation).

MakeupForever Mat Velvet +

MakeupForever Mat Velvet +

Sigma Round Top Kabuki Brush

Sigma Round Top Kabuki Brush

The bottle in the picture above is empty, so I guess that’s a sign I like this foundation :). This is my” I’m late for work” product. Squeezable bottle, medium coverage and lovely to blend, so doesn’t need much attention.  It is oil free and water resistant so lasts pretty well on the skin throughout the day with a light layer of powder on top. It doesn’t tend to oxidise on my skin which is brilliant. It does not have an SPF so if you want to protect yourself layer it up underneath. I apply this with fingers in a hurry or a dense kabuki foundation brush. I find the brush really helps gets the product into the skin. I may have to repurchase this, I’ve talked myself into it 🙂 I wear the shade 30.

My final choice of the minute (although I could ramble on for hours) is the Estée Lauder Double Wear Light. You can buy this in Debenhams or any other place that has an Estée Lauder counter. It retails for 36.50 Euro. Another pricey one I know sorry, I must be going through a phase Surprised.

Esteé Lauder Double Wear Foundation

Esteé Lauder Double Wear Foundation

Real Techniques Expert face Brush

Real Techniques Expert face Brush

This is my heading out on the town foundation. I also own the original Double Wear in the glass bottle which I love  but it is much harder to work and I am lazy so the light one is better for me. Don’t be fooled the word “light” in my opinion does not mean a lighter coverage foundation, this is a full coverage foundation and is hardcore stuff so needs to be used carefully. I apply it in light layers, letting each one dry as I go with a Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. It is a wet foundation and applies shiny to the skin, but sets quick and stays really well throughout the night. Honestly, only if I am in a really hot place or out til’ all hours of the morning do I really feel the need to touch up. This foundation covers like a dream, and is great in pictures even with an SPF of 10. I wear the shade 2.0 Intensity. This is not my colour match its probably about 2 shades darker, as I would have false tan on wearing it.

These are just a few of the liquid foundations I am using at the moment. I tend to vary my foundations depending on where I am going, if I am wearing tan and how much coverage I want that day. I will never be the girl who just has one foundation and sticks to it. However I think Revlon Colorstay and  Estée Lauder Double Wear Light will be in my collection for a long time to come, as well as Mac Face and Body which I always keep a hold of for the summer time as it can be used on the face and any other body parts that might need an extra bit of coverage.

As I have oily skin I always prep my skin with primer and set with powder, my next blog post will go into more detail about this so keep an eye out for that 🙂

Let me know if you have any foundation suggestions for oily skin, I am always on the look out and have a shopping problem so would love to know.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Gemma xxx