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May Favourites 2017

We made it halfway through 2017! How did that even happen!! The start of a new month means I have to look back and catalogue some of my most used products. Yes, it’s time for my May favourites 🙂

I decided to rock a red lip for this video! Thought I was only brilliant, until I started to edit the footage and realised it was smudged for most of it! Epic, lipstick fail. Just pretend you can’t see it, OK?

My May Favourites don’t consist of many things, but I think the choices are mighty 🙂

We have the Penneys PS Pure Glow Highlighter Powder Palette. I have a full review of this here, so I won’t ramble on about it too much.

I spoke about one of my favourite primers, Benefit Porefessional. The original YSL Touche Eclat. I’ve been using this in conjunction with Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer. Very much a jump on price in both of these, but I love them equally. Then, I couldn’t not add in The Ordinary. I’ve harped on so much about this brand over the past few weeks.

My Asos earrings that I forgot to put in the picture above so here’s a very candid back lit one of me wearing them!

And then the last of my May favourites came in the shape of some rose gold Nike Cortez and fish net ankle socks. Not for everyone, but I am digging the trend.

As always you can watch me waffle on more about my May favourites by just clicking the video at the top of this post, or directly on my YouTube channel here.

Happy June! Hope you have the loveliest month. I have lots to look forward to, so I’m very excited for the next few weeks 🙂

Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it.

Gemma

xxx

June 2, 2017/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

PS Pure Glow Highlighter Powder Palette

I picked up the PS Pure Glow Highlighter Powder Palette after seeing my lovely and very talented YouTubing friend Eimear McElheron rocking it at a beauty event. Honestly, her makeup videos are awesome, you should totally check her out here 🙂

Her highlight was blinding and I was extremely intrigued to know what she had used. She was lovely enough to let me in on the budget friendly secret!

It was this €6 PS Pure Glow Highlighter Palette from Penneys! Now, I am very aware that Penneys beauty products can be very hit and miss! I actually bought another highlighting palette first thinking it was this one and it was so crap, it went in the bin. There is definitely some hidden gems within the brands though. I actually have a post on the PS lip liners here, that I really like and they only cost €1.50 each. Not bad at all.

This highlighter palette comes with four shades in a pretty decent cardboard magnetic palette. From left to right we have:

‘Desert’, which is an icy shimmer.

‘Glimmer’, which is a soft, light golden shimmer.

‘Eden’. This to me is more of a shimmery rosy blush shade.

And then finally ‘Firefly’ which is a deeper, more bronzed golden shade.

All of the powder are pretty bloody good for the price. They are reasonably soft to the touch and apply really well with a brush, as well as with your fingers. If you are more of a subtle highlight fan, this palette might not be your jam, as the shades are super shiny. If you apply them with a damp brush, they pack even more of a punch. They last really well on my oily skin too.

I think you get the best look at highlight when it’s actually on your mug, so here is ‘Desert’ and ‘Glimmer’ mixed together on my non existent cheekbones 🙂

Each pan is 7 grams of product. I myself, have been gravitating more towards the top two ‘Glimmer’ and ‘Eden’. They seem to work best for my skin tone. All of the shades will be pretty useful in different capacities though and they make really pretty eyeshadows as well.

Overall, the Penneys PS Pure Glow Highlighter Powder Palette gets a thumbs up from me! I am super impressed with it. Have you tried it? I’d love to know what you think.

xxx

May 24, 2017/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.

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

Monthly Favourites, Youtube Video

February Favourites

It’s the beginning of a new month! That can only mean one thing in blog/vlog land. It’s monthly favourites time 🙂 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 €7.49.

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 €17.50 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 🙂

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. €24 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 €22.50 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.

Gemma

xxx

March 5, 2017/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

H&M Makeup Haul Part 2

This is round two of my H&M Makeup Haul. The is the face products round 🙂 If you want to see the eye products I picked up, just click on the link here and you can see them up close and swatched. Again, I’ll link the UK H&M website here for all price listings as I bought these in Norway and was probably ripped off 🙂 Everything is pretty reasonable price wise .

First up in my H&M makeup haul part two is the Cover-Up Concealer.

Now, I wanted this in Ivory, but I couldn’t find one on the stand to save my life, so I got Vanilla, that’s a tad dark for my skin, but sure I’ll make it work. This would be an all over skin concealer, however I think I will chance it as an under eye one and see how it works.

It has a thin consistency and seems to blend really well into the skin. On first swatch it hasn’t a huge amount of coverage, but it definitely seems like it could be build-able.

I just blended it really softly here

Next up is their Immaculate Compact Foundation.

I chose this over one of their setting powders because I tend to like a bit of coverage with my face powders.

This is in the shade Ivory and I adore the packaging.

It comes with a mirror, the powder and than a sponge underneath.

The powder is really finely milled. There is a bit of a weird scent to it but nothing to crazy. After swatching it, the shade Ivory which I believe is the lightest shade they do may be slightly to dark for my natural (MacNC20) skin tone.

This is a bit annoying considering there are paler people than me out there.

I also got their Solar Flair Bronzing Powder. I had actually seen Lily Pebbles talk fondly of this so I knew it was something I wanted to try.

Again, I love the sleek packaging and it comes with a good sized mirror.

I got the shade ‘Sheer Tan’. I think this was the lightest bronzing shade they do. I really like that they do different colours. That is not a regular thing within a beauty brand.

I can detect a really really subtle sheen to the powder when swatched and like the powder foundation it is a really finely milled powder. I think I’m really going to like this 🙂

The last thing I have to show is one of the H&M Pure Radiance Powder Blushers.

Again, I’ll address the packaging, it’s super pretty and these have a gold bottom which I really love.

I chose the shade ‘Sunrise Pink’. I thought this was the most wearable shade for me.

It’s a dusky pink with a fleck of gold sparkle running through it. When you apply it though, the shimmer doesn’t seem to translate too much.

Personally, I’m happy about this, but if you’re looking for the sparkle you might not be.

Overall, on first impressions, I am really pleased with my H&M makeup purchases. The packaging, the products themselves and the price points are really great. I look forward to actually applying these to my mug now and seeing how they fare 🙂

Thanks for reading.

xxx

January 27, 2016/by Gem

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