shade Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Posts

Bargain Buying, Makeup, Makeup Tutorial, Youtube Video

Full Coverage Concealer Budget Beauty

It seems I am on a bit of a budget beauty roll at the minute, so just go with me 🙂 My last post was all about brows. This time I wanted to focus on full coverage concealer. I’ve picked three that I own and use regularly.

First up is the Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer.

This had major hype when it was first released. Here it is in action of the face:

It will set you back around a fiver, depending on where you buy it. It comes in a plethora of shades and undertones, 25 to be exact. I did a full review of this here, if you want my in depth thoughts. I think it’s a really decent buildable concealer though and is great for the price point.

Next up is the L’Oréal Infallible More Than Concealer, Concealer.

Again here it is in action of my face:

I dive into my full of review of this full coverage, budget concealer here, if you fancy a read. This has really decent coverage. And I know there are people out there who would choose this over Tarte Shape Tape in a heartbeat. I adore Shape Tape, so I don’t really compare the two. For me, this dries down fast, so you have to work quickly, but it can be a bit more difficult to blend. Having said that, it’s a great ‘drugstore’ fuller coverage concealer, and it comes in 25 shades which is great. I just think for drier under eyes, the other two I chat about here would be better in my very personal opinion 🙂

My last choice is one I haven’t spoken about on Beautynook yet.

I chatted about it briefly on my instagram stories the other day. So if you follow me there, you already have the beauty scoop. This is the Essence Camouflage + Healthy Glow Concealer #mouthful. Here it is in action on my skin first:

I think this only comes in two shade choices which is pretty pants, but Essence are forever bringing out products and changing up their stands. Maybe that has something to do with it. This, for me, is the thinnest formula out out of the three concealers.

It feels the most hydrating under the eyes too, but can still offer up full coverage for those dark circles. I believe there was a matt version of this too, but I have yet to try it. I like that this one isn’t completely flat though and it lasts on me throughout the day. The applicator is also a really cool teardrop shape so makes swiping it under the eyes really easy. And it’s an absolute bargain that you can pick up in Penneys for about 3 euro. Score!

And there are my three budget friendly full coverage concealer choices of the moment. Have you tried any of them?

xxx

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*

April 26, 2019/by Gem

Makeup

Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation

Am I right in saying the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation has had a bit of a moment since it’s release? Some may say blogging is dead, but I 100% wanted to try this foundation because of all the hype online.

Now I will say I have seen some not so great things said about it. But sure balance is key in this industry and not everything can work for everyone (generally). We’re all different, looking for different things and different results. It’s one thing I love about this beauty world.

I picked up the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation when ASOS were having a 20% off everything sale. I had gone in to buy it a couple of times in Brown Thomas, but they never have my shade. It’s also important to note too, Nars counters never give out samples, which I think is a load of baloney! But sure didn’t I buy it anyways 🙂

So what do Nars say about this foundation? They say it has:

‘Liquid texture.
Luminous finish.
Fade resistant for up to 16 hours.
Available in 33 shades’.

I colour matched myself to the shade ‘Mont Blanc’. And it’s a pretty perfect match.

My thoughts on the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation are kind of contradictory if I’m being completely honest. I love the packaging, it’s very sleek. I love the formula. In my humble opinion it’s has really good coverage, but not oh shit, I’ve just put plaster all over my face, good coverage. Although you can definitely build it up.

I wouldn’t call it ‘luminous’, although it’s not flat on the skin. There’s definitely a bit of a satin sheen to it. It blends like an absolute dream. And when I first apply it, I could probably say it’s one of my favourite foundations ever. The term ‘weightless’, I can 100% get on board with though! However, there is a ginormous but! Saying it’s a fade resistant for 16 hours foundation in my very humble opinion is just plain madness. I did google other opinions on it because obviously I would have more oilier skin, and people with combination and even drier skin types were of the same opinion. It just doesn’t last. On me, it starts to break down after probably the second hour. Considering I use two primers, powder and setting spray, its just not cool! Where I’m more combo, it lasts a little better. But still, at the end of a day wearing the Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation, I look super greasy.

Here it is in action in video form:

I want to love this foundation with all of my heart. Dramatic much Gemma? I love the finish, the application and the coverage. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t last the test of time for me, even with all the makeup accoutrements 🙁 In all honesty I probably went for the wrong Nars Foundation. I should have went for the All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation. Lesson learned!

Have you tried it yet? I would love to know your thoughts on it.

xxx

September 14, 2018/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Affordable Makeup Spring Favourites

I’ve harped on about some of these products online too much now. I thought I needed to do a dedicated post showing you them a bit more in depth. So here are my current affordable makeup Spring faves 🙂

I apologise in advance if you’re sick of me talking about the PS Bronze Shade & Shimmer Eyeshadow Palette. I did a whole post here dedicated to this Penneys Collection. I believe it’s in stores pretty much as we speak.

I didn’t swatch the palette though and I really think it deserves it now. I have honestly reached for this so much since I was given it. And not because I felt I had to if that makes sense? Being a beauty blogger, I do have to make a point to try products again and again. For €6, you get nine warm eyeshadow shades. They’re a mixture of mattes and shimmers and all compliment each other. Are they the softest, most pigmented shadows I’ve ever used? No, but for the price point they are pretty bloody awesome!

Continuing on from the palette, another affordable makeup Spring fave from Penneys, are their cream eyeshadow pots. And a disclaimer, I am only calling them makeup Spring faves because it’s Spring now. These are fine all year round ha.

I picked up two of these while I was in Edinburgh a while back from the PS Nudes Collection.

A matte and a metallic one just to try. I went to the launch of this collection and they were one of the things I was most intrigued about. Also at €2.50 each I thought they were worth the financial risk 🙂

I did however take the bloody stickers off them absentmindedly and they had the names on them, so I don’t know what they’re called. But they’re creamy and pigmented so I’ll forgive them not putting the names on the containers.

I’ve another two from the Bronze Collection too.

They’re super easy to work with and pack a real punch as a cream eyeshadow base. They’re a little slippy in texture so I don’t know how well they would fare on their own, without powder on top. I find the pots a bit of a pain. Fingers do not fit very comfortably inside them, but a synthetic brush works grand. That’s what I used to swatch them above.

The eyeshadow base I have been using for last couple of months is the Zoeva Matte Eyeshadow Fix.

Don’t let the word matte deter you. It has more of a velvet finish in my humble opinion.

I just think it’s a damn good eyeshadow primer. I have super oily lids so I’m generally a decent judge of what’s good and what isn’t in this department. A little goes a long way, it doesn’t interfere with whatever you put on top and it helps fill in fine lines too. €8.95 is a decent price for it.

The Madison M5 brush has been another firm favourite of mine over the past few weeks.

This comes as part of a 12 piece brush set available here for €39.95.It’s a super soft synthetic brush. I have been loving it for setting under my eyes. I’m enjoying quite a few of the brushes from the set, this one in-particular stands out though as I reach for it pretty much everyday.

My last affordable makeup Spring fave is a new in lippie from Essence.

This kind of shade is a no brainer for me really. I am a mauve lipstick whore. It’s called 10 Rosey Glitz.

When I’m not reaching for a matte finish day to day this is a great sheer, you don’t really have to think about applying it colour. It’s super flattering and feels really nice on the lips. I also think it retails for about 3 quid. Bargain!

And there you have my affordable makeup Spring faves 🙂

xxx

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED

March 26, 2018/by Gem

Makeup

Urban Decay All Nighter Concealer

My lovely friend Sue aka @itscherrysue (she LOVES to be called that out in the non digital world FYI 🙂 ), very kindly gave me the Urban Decay All Nighter Concealer. How much of a sound dude is she?

We were having a cheeky pint after an event and she pulled it out her back and exclaimed, ‘Gem, this is too light for me, you should try it’. The most romantic words I ever did hear. Sometimes having blue skin comes in handy!

So what is the Urban Decay All Nighter Concealer? Well I am so glad you asked. This is a followup to their All Nighter Foundation, which I actually wasn’t a fan of. It didn’t work great for my skin. I found it just slipped around.

There is 14 shades in the concealer range and Urban Decay say it’s 73% more pigmented than their Naked Skin Foundation. What a peculiar statistic!

I have the shade Neutral Fair (thanks to Sue). It’s definitely a shade or two lighter than my skin tone. This concealer is famously known to oxidise though. UD actually recommend you to opt for the lighter shade if you’re in between colours, so that’s definitely something to note.

For me, this is a thick, full coverage concealer. I find it does a really good job at covering darkness and pigmentation, including redness and blemishes. I do for the most part only use it under my eyes. It sets super quickly, so you have to work particularly fast with it to make sure it blends into the skin. But if you do, it applies really nicely. On me, once it’s blended and set with powder, it doesn’t crease or get caught in any fine lines. I don’t generally have major problems with that happening though. I think if you have particularly dry skin around your eyes, this might be a miss.

If you’re using a more full coverage base, I would be careful with applying this as you could go ‘cakey’ really is as it is quite thick in consistency.

I’ve heard talk of the Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation being compared to the infamous Tarte Shape Tape. As I own both, I will offer my humble opinion.

I think I prefer the packaging from UD, it’s more sleek and I prefer a smaller doe foot applicator. Shape Tape comes with a huge one and I can sometimes find it cumbersome and a bit messy as it can retain a lot of product. They come in at a similar price if buying directly. ST is a bit of a pain in the arse to get in Europe though with taxes. QVC do sell it but with a decent mark up and a more limited shade range. You get 3.5 grams of product from UD, whereas ST has 10 mls! For me, Shape Tape wins over All Nighter just because it has a thinner consistency and blends easier but still has the coverage and the staying power.

Saying that though, I really do like the Urban Decay All Nighter Concealer. It does a really great job. You can find it online from Debenhams here.

Have you tried it?

xxx

March 5, 2018/2 Comments/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation

If you follow me on social media, you know I have not shut up about The Ordinary over the past few weeks. It is a really affordable but effective skincare brand created by Deciem. They have now released two foundations. I managed to get my hands on both! So, I thought I would break it down into two blogposts, in case one takes your fancy more than the other. This post is dedicated to The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation.

Now I knew ordering this foundation, that it probably wouldn’t be compatible with my oily skin, but I wanted to try it regardless. The hype about this brand is just too much, and it’s super affordable to boot 🙂

The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation comes in a 30ml plastic bottle with a rubberized plastic pump.

The packaging works really well and is very sleek for the price. My only gripe with it is that because the pump is matte, it tends to get really grubby with foundation. You can order a glass pipette for it separately if you’d rather apply it with that.

The foundation comes in an abundance of shades from super light to super dark. 21 shades in total! It also comes in tones aswell which is even more awesome! So you can choose from pink, red and neutral undertones. There are 3 shades with S and G as the undertone, which stands for silver and gold. These have added highlight in them. Deciem say they will eventually create separate enhancers and highlighter so we can customise. I ain’t mad at that!

I totally guessed my shade and did a pretty good job I think. I went with 1.1N (neutral).

The formula is light and nearly runny when you pump it out. It is a serum foundation, so that’s completely what you would expect. They use high saturated pigment, so a little goes a long way.

To me, this is a light but build-able to medium foundation. It blends in to the skin really nicely and definitely covers up and even out any discolouration. A little goes a fairly long way. It doesn’t settle into lines and is really light weight on the skin too.

Here in Europe it is deemed SPF 15 (there is different regulations in different countries). The finish for me is more on the dewy side which again is what I expected. But, it’s not greasy on the skin. I’ve been wearing The Ordinary Silicone Primer with it and they work well together.

Before:

I usually just pump some directly onto my face.

After:

Obviously you can see it in action on my skin in the pics above, but I used it in a recent video here too, so you can see it kinda sorta in ‘real life’! When I first apply it, it has gives a velvet like finish to the skin. There’s definitely more of a glow to it after it settles though. I personally wouldn’t get more than a couple of hours wear out of before the oiliness wins the war. But if I use a good primer and powder (alot), I can get a bit longer.Having said though, if you have more dry, combo skin, this will work a treat for you. It is a gorgeous everyday foundation.

The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation is currently out of stock on the Deciem website (sorry), but you can sign up here to be notified when it’s back in. It costs a ridiculously reasonable €6.70. Deciem also offer free shipping over €25.

Are you intrigued? Have you tried it yourself? Let me know 🙂

xxx

May 31, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette

I already gave my first impressions of the Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette here not too long ago, along with some other bits from the brand.

I finally got to go into the counter in Debenhams on Henry Street and check out everything in the flesh. How cool is it we have counters in Ireland now though? So exciting 🙂

After using the Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette consistently for the past couple of weeks, I feel I can give a decent enough opinion on it. I also wanted to swatch all of the shades so you can see them in action on the skin.

The packaging is pretty robust cardboard adorned with hand drawn calligraphy depicting the palette name done by the lovely Kat herself. It has a generous sized mirror in the lid too which is always handy. Although if you look at the American site here, you’ll see they have redone the packaging and the shades are now housed in a plastic palette.

The palette is described as: ‘Inspired by an artist’s palette and loaded with twelve matte shades that capture the true hues of shadow and light, this ‘Shade and Light’ eye contour palette is arranged by undertone for neutral, warm and cool shades. Use deeper contour shades to add natural shadow and depth to the face, then accentuate best angles with the brighter highlight shades. These silky, buildable powders blend effortlessly into the skin with a formula so incredibly fine, it’s like brushing on powdered silk.’

So we get 12 shades in this palette. All matte and they are a mix of neutral,cool and warm shades.

They are arranged in their tone families, each one has a base, contour, define and highlight shade. Of course you can mix them whatever way you see fit though! I’ll swatch them in their tone groupings (from left to right) just to give you an idea of what they look like together:

For me, the shadows are rich in pigment, soft and really easy to apply and blend. I do find you get some kickback when you dip your brush into the pan. But, that doesn’t take away from the quality, it is just something to be weary of. There is a good range of shades to suit everyone too! You can go from a really simple makeup look to a full on smoky eye with one palette. Matte colours aren’t always the easiest to get right, I find, but Kat Von D have done a stellar job. The shade range covers a multitude too! I’ll be honest and say I find the colour selection very similar to the Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette which I have a blogpost on here. The Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette did come before it though 🙂

The Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette is available from Debenhams in store or online here. It’s priced at €46. It’s nice to note, the Kat Von D brand is 100% cruelty free!

Have you picked up anything yet? Do you have your eye on anything?

xxx

April 21, 2017/by Gem

Posts

First up is the Revolution Conceal & Define Concealer.

It will set you back around a fiver, depending on where you buy it. It comes in a plethora of shades and undertones, 25 to be exact. I did a full review of this here, if you want my in depth thoughts. I think it’s a really decent buildable concealer though and is great for the price point.

Next up is the L’Oréal Infallible More Than Concealer, Concealer.

My last choice is one I haven’t spoken about on Beautynook yet.

And there are my three budget friendly full coverage concealer choices of the moment. Have you tried any of them?

xxx

**********PR SAMPLES INCLUDED***********

So what do Nars say about this foundation? They say it has:

‘Liquid texture. Luminous finish. Fade resistant for up to 16 hours. Available in 33 shades’.

Have you tried it yet? I would love to know your thoughts on it.

xxx

I apologise in advance if you’re sick of me talking about the PS Bronze Shade & Shimmer Eyeshadow Palette. I did a whole post here dedicated to this Penneys Collection. I believe it’s in stores pretty much as we speak.

Continuing on from the palette, another affordable makeup Spring fave from Penneys, are their cream eyeshadow pots. And a disclaimer, I am only calling them makeup Spring faves because it’s Spring now. These are fine all year round ha.

I’ve another two from the Bronze Collection too.

The eyeshadow base I have been using for last couple of months is the Zoeva Matte Eyeshadow Fix.

My last affordable makeup Spring fave is a new in lippie from Essence.

And there you have my affordable makeup Spring faves 🙂

xxx

*******PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*******

So what is the Urban Decay All Nighter Concealer? Well I am so glad you asked. This is a followup to their All Nighter Foundation, which I actually wasn’t a fan of. It didn’t work great for my skin. I found it just slipped around.

I’ve heard talk of the Urban Decay All Nighter Foundation being compared to the infamous Tarte Shape Tape. As I own both, I will offer my humble opinion.

Saying that though, I really do like the Urban Decay All Nighter Concealer. It does a really great job. You can find it online from Debenhams here.

Have you tried it?

xxx

The Ordinary Colours Serum Foundation is currently out of stock on the Deciem website (sorry), but you can sign up here to be notified when it’s back in. It costs a ridiculously reasonable €6.70. Deciem also offer free shipping over €25.

I already gave my first impressions of the Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette here not too long ago, along with some other bits from the brand.

I finally got to go into the counter in Debenhams on Henry Street and check out everything in the flesh. How cool is it we have counters in Ireland now though? So exciting 🙂

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED*

‘Liquid texture.
Luminous finish.
Fade resistant for up to 16 hours.
Available in 33 shades’.

PR SAMPLES INCLUDED