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September Favourites 2017

Yep, we can all panic. It’s September favourites time. How did that even happen?

I am in disbelief that it’s October! The C word is just creeping up on us…..fast!

My September favourites are much like any other month. They are a mixed bag of things that I feel I have been reaching for alot over the past four weeks. This month definitely had a bit of a skincare theme. It’s probably the change in the seasons that has me more conscious, unconsciously 🙂

Of course there is some makeup in there too, that can’t not happen. Makeup stages are my thing. I will wear something religiously for weeks and then completely forget about it. Yes, I am fickle. It doesn’t mean I don’t still love something. It just means my obsession changes focus because I have a short attention span 🙂

My September favourites include:

The Bioderma Micellar Water limited edition pump bottle €16 from Cloud10beauty here.
A couple of products from Shiseido’s new Waso range . I can only find the full range online from Harvey Nichols here. It is a more affordable range from the brand. You can see the synopsis and ingredients of all the products on the Shiseido website here.
Pure Potions Skin Salvation Bath And Body Oil. This range is available in store from Holland and Barrett. I found the oil directly on the brands website here too.
Mac Syrup Lipstick. I did a post on this a little while ago here.
Stila Magnificent Metal in Rose Gold Retro. I used this in my go to rose gold makeup look here.
The Elf Shimmer Highlighting Powder. You can see this swatched here.
And the finally my gold mini Casio watch. John bought me this years ago from Asos. They don’t have it anymore. I found it for the cheapest price in Ireland here from Argos if you want to check it out.

And that’s September summed in product from 🙂 Hope you had a lovely month. You can watch the video where I waffle about the products by clicking above, or click here to watch it directly on YouTube.

Thanks, as always.

Gemma xxx

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*

October 6, 2017/0 Comments/by Gem

Skincare

Current Day Time Skin Care Routine

When is comes to my day time skin care routine. I keep things fairly simple.

I am not a morning person at all, so I usually do my showering and deep clean my face the night before, if I am up and out early in the day. I have oily skin, with places of dehydration. I am prone to breakouts and blessed with lovely (not so lovely) large pores, that like to get blocked. As a result, I don’t like to layer too many products onto my skin. Because of this, my day time skin care routine is pretty simple.

I start out with cleansing my skin. For me, micellar water works well. I know not everyone gets along with them. Right now, I am using the Garnier Pure Active that is for oily skin prone to imperfections.

I just apply some to a cotton pad and swipe all over my skin to refresh everything and get rid of any oil build up. It is available on the Boots website here.

penneys

These large oval cotton pads from Penneys are my favourite. They are quite thin, so the product soaks both sides, but they don’t break up or become ‘fluffy’ :). I always just pick these up when I’m on the queue in Penneys. I love that they leave them beside the till 🙂

For eye cream, I have been using the La Roche Posay Toleriane Ultra for probably more than a year now.

Although I have oily skin, I tend to get some dryness under my eyes. This does a brilliant job of keeping the under eye nourished without being to heavy. I have a full review of it here, if you want to know more about it.

I don’t tend to use a toner generally during the day, but if I do it’s usually either the La Roche Posay Serozinc which I have a full review of here.

Or I do love the Pixi Glow Tonic, which again I have spoken about in more detail here. I think I need this is my life again very soon.

For moisturiser, I tend to go with something light weight that won’t disrupt my makeup. I have a couple of holy grail moisturisers that I always recommend to people with more oilier skin. The La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo, I have a full review of it here. Or the Vichy Normaderm Anti Blemish Care which I’ve reviewed in the past here. At the moment I am switching between the Dermalogica Active Moist.

And the Garnier Pure Active Sensitive Anti Blemish Soothing Moisturiser.

I have to say both of them are working really nicely for my skin. They do a good job of hydrating, but sinking in quickly with no residue.

I always use some sort of lip balm in the morning too and let it do it’s thing while I do my makeup. At the minute I have three in my everyday skincare drawer.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream. I always have a tube of this on the go. I have a full blogpost on it here.

Then I have a Nivea Lip Butter.

I use this going to bed too. I love the scent 🙂

And then if I want to use a lip balm that doubles up as a lip product to leave the house in, I will reach for the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector.

I just have a mini of 01 here, which has a peachy tint to it. I love how this feels and looks on the lips.

And there you have my current day time skin care routine. I like to think it’s pretty simple, but effective. At the moment, there is no SPF included. I haven’t found one that doesn’t interfere with my makeup as of yet. I usually use a foundation with SPF in it or mix one in with the foundation I’m using.

Have you any skin care products you couldn’t live without?

xxx

March 15, 2017/1 Comment/by Gem

Skincare

Skincare Holiday Essentials

I’m off on a little breakaway for the Christmas period 🙂 Obviously being a beauty junkie, the products I bring, are quite important to me. This post is going to cover all of the skincare with the added daily bits and pieces I will use. Basically everything other than makeup, I will cover all that in another post soon 🙂

First up the skincare and body essentials.

Deodorant:

I prefer a cream deodorant. And I think cream and roll ons travel more safely too.

Toothpaste and toothbrush:

I have a mini of one of my favourite toothpastes, the Beverly Hills Perfect White, that is actually black because it contains charcoal. I bloody loves this toothpaste and I have a matching toothbrush because I’m fancy that comes with a head cover on it which is so handy.

Bodywash:

I have a mini Wild Argan Oil Shower Gel from The Body Shop. God I love minis, don’t you?

I’m bringing three body creams…extremely excessive I know, but they all have different uses.

I have a mini Atoderm moisturiser from Bioderma. I got this in a Bioderma Christmas skincare set that I reviewed here not too long ago. I’ll keep this for using anywhere that gets really dry.

I’m going to bring one of the Nivea In Shower Body Moisturisers with me too, for everyday use.

This is the new one, that’s apparently for ‘firming’. It has little menthol massage beads in it though, so I think it will be good for the hotter weather. (we’re going to Lanzarote, so hoping it will be warmer than Ireland :).

The third moisturiser is a gradual daily bronzer from The Tan.

I do not get a sun tan, I’m freckly and pale, so this will come in handy to keep me looking somewhat alive. I really like this one, it dries quickly and doesn’t make you stink too much.

As I am a paley, I am going to bring an instant tan too.

My favourite at the minute which I have a review and demo of here is the shimmer version of Cocoa Brown’s new Instant Tan Bronzing Gel.

It’s such a handy tan and is water resistant. This will get alot of use.

I bought some fancy disposable razors because it’s Christmas and they were half off in Boots 😉

Boring and a pain but necessary if the pins are going to be on display.

Sun protection will be really important too.

It will be hopefully in the 20’s in Spain, so I’m going to bring P20 SPF in Factor 30. This is water resistant for up to 10 hours and it soaks in well so it doesn’t add to the clammy feeling…I really hate feeling clammy 🙂

For face SPF I’m bringing the Bioderma BB Cream.

I’ve never used this before so I am hoping it doesn’t melt off my face. It contains SPF 30 and is anti redness so will hopefully camouflage my red cheeks if I over heat.

To wash my face, I am bringing the Ultra Brightening Cleanser from Neostrata.

I’ve only used this a couple of times, but so far I like it, and I thought bringing it with me would let me give it a try properly.

I have a mini eye makeup remover from Thalgo.

This is an oily solution which is my favourite for eye makeup remover. I always use waterproof mascara so it’s a necessity.

For pre cleanser, I’m bringing a mini of the holy grail Bioderma Micellar Water.

Perfect travel companion 🙂

I have no night time eye cream to bring I’ll have to buy one in the airport but for daily use, The Body Shop Drops of Youth eye gel is coming.

I’ve been using this for a while now and really like it.

To tone I have a mini of one of my faves the Neostrata Oily Skin Solution.

If you suffer with spots and have oily skin like me, this is such a brilliant product.

Again, because I’m high maintenance I am bring another toner. This will double as a facial mist and makeup setting spray too though. This is the La Roche Posay Serozinc.

I have a full review of this bad boy here if you want a more indepth description of it. It has become a skincare staple for me.

For night cream, I am bringing this cute mini Oils Of Life Facial Oil from The Body Shop.

Skincare is covered I think (I hope).

There’s much less going on in my haircare regime.

I’m trying out the L’Oreal Pro Fiber Revive shampoo and conditioner.

I have a mini Moroccan Oil.

This stuff is great for nourishing the hair and great for dry ends so comes in very handy in the hotter weather.

For the evening to jazz up my hair a bit, I’m bringing my favourite texturising spray from Charles Worthington.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to the Oribe cult spray, give this a go. It’s great for root lift if you’re like me and you don’t like back combing your hair.

A bit of hairspray is a must for me.

I have a mini (so many minis I know) of this L’Oreal soft hairspray. My frizzy bits will thank me 🙂

And by golly I think that’s it! Too much? Probably. I was a scout for my whole childhood though and our motto was always be prepared 🙂

xxx

December 14, 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