It’s the beginning of a new month! That can only mean one thing in blog/vlog land. It’s monthly favourites time ๐ Here is my round up of February favourites for 2017!
My February favourites consist of all beauty related products. There is a mix of makeup and skincare. I do have an honourable random mention at the end of the video though. You can click the video above, or watch it directly on my YouTube channel here.
The Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey Range is first. You can see the range in more detail over on The Body Shop website here.
Garnier Pure 3 in 1 Wash, Scrub & Mask. You can pick this in Boots stores and online here. It costs โฌ7.49.
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk. I have a full review and details on this here.
Mac Soar Lip Liner is on the Brown Thomas website for โฌ17.50 here. Not the cheapest lip liner in the world, I know. But I haven’t found a similar colour for less money as of yet. I will keep hunting though ๐
Spring Sheen Blush from Mac. I am definitely having a bit of Mac revisit at the moment, I know! Again, this is on the Brown Thomas website here. โฌ24 is a bit steep, but you can buy Mac blushes in pan form too.
Then my final February favourite is the Clarins Ombre Iridescente Cream To Powder Eyeshadow in 09 Silver Rose. I cannot find a link to this particular colour in Debenhams or Boots. But it is avialble to buy online from CH Tralee chemist for โฌ22.50 here.
And that sums up my February favourites in one blogpost, oh and a video too :). Do you have any stand out products for the month? Beauty or otherwise of course? Let me know and as always thanks for clicking and watching.
I’m like a broken record, I know, but I have pretty oily skin and as a result of this makeup, as much as I love it, doesn’t particularly love me. It sinks into my skin, oxidizes and just doesn’t hang around too long. So, as a result, over the years, I’ve tried and tested lots of different ways to make it last longer on my visage. I’ve done a post about this in the past, but I’ve updated and added some different steps, so I thought I would put together all of my Long Lasting Makeup Tips in video form and demo them on my mug ๐
Before Makeup
After Makeup
There is a lot of long lasting makeup steps in the video, I don’t expect anyone to do them all, unless of course you’re really oily like me. But if you struggle with your makeup slipping and sliding, or have a special occasion, some of them might help you a little. You can click on the video up above or go to my YouTube channel here to watch.
Just in case something takes your fancy, I’ll link any reviews I have done in the past of the products I talk about in the video.
I really really hope you find something helpful within my waffling. These are by no means my personal long lasting makeup tips. I’ve just picked them up along the way on my makeup journey and tried and tested them on my skin.
As always, thanks for watching and if you have any other long lasting makeup tips to add to the pile, please do comment. I would love to try more ๐
I don’t think there’s one person in the world who enjoys the task of cleaning their makeup brushes. If you do I applaud you, for me it’s a menial task. However, the aftermath is so rewarding, seeing all of the white fluffy head peaking out of their flower pot homes ๐
How I clean my makeup brushes is not a new way or a fancy way (have you seen the machines you can buy now to do it?) but it gets the job done and it gets my makeup brushes and sponges squeaky clean.
Over the years of being a makeup fanatic I have accumulated alot of makeup brushes, so it does take me a while to get through them and then that means when I run out of clean ones, I have a pretty mammoth job on my hands. I change up my foundation brush probably every three uses, of course you can just wash as you go, I just have a few to procrastinate with ๐
Brush cleaning mats have become the norm in the makeup world. Sigma and Real Techniques have their own versions of them. They’re basically just a gripped rubber surface and so people have found cheaper alternatives be it in the household department (rubber gloves work great too), in Penneys, Dealz, or for me I found mine in the body care aisle of Boots.
This is the Massage Glove from Soap & Glory. I first saw Anna from ViviannaDoesMakeup using this. It’s rubber, it has grips and you can slip your hand into it for added pressure on your brushes. Even better news a lovely reader told me she saw these being sold off in her local Boots for nearly half the RRP, score!
In the past, I’ve used the Massage Glove in conjunction with baby shampoo and this works well, but for more stubborn makeup brushes like tightly packed kabuki ones, it can be a labour of love trying to get the bristles really clean.
There are specifically formulated brush cleansers too which are great but can be hard to come by. I saw alot of people using naturally derived soaps, and the Moogoo Fresh Milk Cleansing Bar has been spoken about very highly to get the job done well, so I had to give it a go. It contains Olive Oil (which is another great deep brush cleanser in it’s own right) and Cocoa Butter.
Both of these, with some added hot water of course do the job really well!
I take the massage glove on my hand. Another reason why I like the glove is that it protects your hand from the soap and water. I am not a fan of crinkly fingers ๐
Wet my makeup brush with warm/hot water.
Swirl it in the bar of soap a few times.
I am firm enough to get into the base of the bristles, but I am conscious of the ferrule and the handle as if they can get damaged from water getting in, the bristles or even the actual brush head can become loose.
I massage the soaped up brush with the glove to lather it up and really get it clean.
And then rinse.
For brushes you use with liquid products, you might have to repeat the steps a couple times until the water runs clear.
It works really well on makeup sponges too. Here’s my well loved Beauty Blender.
And my Real techniques Sponge before and after.
It even works on the flat tightly packed brushes too.
When it comes to eyeshadow brushes, if I have only used them for powder products, I usually grab a few that are of similar length and clean them together.
When I am finished soaping up ๐ I lay a towel on the floor under a radiator and place all of my makeup brushes down along it.
The towel helps absorb excess moisture and then if the radiator is on the residual heat helps the drying process too. If I need some of the brushes in a hurry I’ll put a few of them alot the top of the rad too, not ideal, but needs must ๐
Of course if you lived in a hotter drier climate you could just use your window sill, or you can just air dry them or even put them in the hot press, whatever works for you!
And there you have it, my makeup brushes are now hygienically clean but also any product staining is also gone too, which is not always achieved with other methods.
Be sure to let me know if you found this helpful and if you have any brush cleaning tips or tricks ๐
I use cream shadow pencils, sticks whatever you want to call them alot in my day to day makeup routine. Formulas have gotten so great nowadays that you can use them as shadow on their own and they don’t budge (for the most part) throughout the day. Or you can layer them under shadows to intensify them or increase their longevity too. They come in very handy.
So I compiled some my favourite brands for this post to show you some of the ones I love using and that I have tried and tested.
First up is the posh ones of the group.
These are the By Terry Ombre Blackstar. These are so very nice and so very posh with their โฌ30 price tag. They are so creamy, pigmented and easy to blend though and they last all day on the lids. You can literally just throw one of these all over your lids, blend the edges and you’ve got yourself a really lovely eye look.
I have two shades…so far ๐
5 Misty Rock (on top) 4 Bronze Moon (bottom)
I have a couple of brands that I just have one offering from, but I wanted to include them because I pick them up regularly.
The Rimmel Scandaleyes. I love this shade under gold or creamy coloured shadows. It’s a great neutral shade to have in your collection. They come in an alot of different shades though. This is 002 Bulletproof Beige.
I bought one of the new Bourjois Colorband sticks not too long ago in Boots.
This shade 05 Mauve Baroque is a great more affordable dupe for the By Terry Ombre Blackstar in Misty Rock. These stay put on the lid too, no messing about. You need to work quickly with them once it’s on it’s on!
Bourjois Colorband Mauve Baroque
The Kiko Longlasting Shadow Sticks are new in my makeup collection, but I picked them up because I’d read so much positivity about them in the blogging and You Tube world. You have to order online if you’re in Ireland which is a pain but the shipping is really good, as are the sticks themselves ๐
I got three shades 05 (another dupe for the By Terry Ombre Blackstar, do you see a theme forming?), 10 a sparkly blue green shade and 10 an electric blue.
These are just awesome, simple as that. Creamy, smooth ,vibrant, longlasting, and come in a plethora of colours to suit everyone, and they are so reasonable priced too. More will find their way home to me soon, I’m sure of it.
05, 11,10
A couple of Wet n Wild picks up next.
If you are a regular round these parts you’ll know I am a huge fan of this affordable brand. These are their Idol Eyes Creme Shadow Pencil. So ridiculously affordable and lovely base for shadow to help them stick around and help the colour become more vibrant too. These come in loads of colours, soft, but not as pigmented as maybe some of the others on the market. For the price though they are pretty great ๐ I have two:
E133 Techno (on top) E135 Graphite (on bottom)
I left the probably most well known ones until last.
These are of course the Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils. Apologies as mine have seen better days, they aren’t very photogenic. That doesn’t mean they’re not good at their job though. These things are brilliant! I’ve been buying Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils a long time, I use to have to buy them on eBay from America, but thank god Ireland now finally has gotten its act together and we are starting to see Nyx in pharmacies more and more. Wohoo! These literally come in all of the colour of the rainbow and more. They come in different finishes too,ย some are matte some are more shimmery or sparkly. They are stupid pigmented and last well on the eyes. I have even used these on my water line and they last really well inside the eye too. I know Milk is such a cult shade now. It’s a matte, opaque white, if you are wanting vivid colours to stand out, you need Milk in your life believe me!
I have six in my collection, I’ve had more in the past but where they’re gone I don’t know ๐
In Order 603 Pots & Pans, 615 Slate, 612 Gold, 617 Iced Mocha, 624A Rocky Mountain Green and 604 Milk
There you have it, if you are in the market for some new cream shadow sticks, I hope I’ve helped a little showing you some of my favourites. I tried to pick some from all spectrum’s of the market to suit everyone. I honestly get so much use from all of these little beauties. Writing this blog post has just made me want to buy more ๐
