sleek Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Simple Summer Makeup Using Affordable Products

I wanted to create a simple Summer makeup look and I made it a bit more interesting and used all affordable makeup products!

This is about as fresh and simple summer makeup like my oilier and dare I say more mature skin will get 😛 Obviously, there is the bb cream and lip balm option too. This is more the ‘put together’ simple makeup look. After I filmed this I went out and had some dinner and felt very much put together.

On a side note, how much difference does filling in my brows make??

My simple summer makeup does use alot of products, but sure that’s how I roll and they are all affordable and easy to get a hold of here in Ireland. I used alot of L’Oréal products, Not on purpose, it just what I seemed to gravitate towards at time of application 🙂

L’Oréal Infallible Mattifying Base. (Full review here).
L’Oréal Infallible 24HR Matte Foundation. (Full review here).
L’Oréal True Match Foundation. (Full review here).
Maybelline Brow Precise Micro Brow Pencil in ‘Soft Brown’. I picked this up the other day in Boots, It’s on their website here.
Freedom Brow Powder Duo. (I talk more about this here).
Soap & Glory Brow Archery 2 in 1 Pencil (Full review here).
Flormar Primer.
Note Mineral Eyeshadow in 301.
Soap & Glory Solar Powder. (Full review here).
Wet n Wild Eyeshadow Palette in ‘Walking On Eggshells’.
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 1 Light. €5.79 from Boots here.
Catrice Glam & Doll Waterproof Mascara. (Full review here).
Maybelline Colour Show Eyeliner. (Full review here).
Rimmel Lasting Finish Concealer. (More info on it here).
L’Oréal Soleil De . (Full review here).
L’Oréal Infallible Blush Paint. (Full review here).
Nyx Contour Palette. (Full review here).
Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder. Available from Boots here.
Sleek Solstice Palette. (Full review here).
L’Oréal Color Riche Matte Addiction lipstick. (Full review here).
L’Oréal Infallible Fixing Mist. (Full review here).

As always you can watch the full video by clicking it above, or watch it directly on my Youtube channel here.

Thanks so much for clicking 🙂

xxx

April 23, 2017/by Gem

Makeup

Highlighters My Current Favourites

What did we do before highlighters? Actually I remember what I did, wore too much blush 🙂

My oily skin doesn’t really let me enjoy cream highlighters to their full capacity. They just don’t last on me and I have to powder pretty much my whole face so the premise is lost. Powder highlight is my jam though. For the sake of longevity I mattify everywhere. But, then I can go in with a powder highlight and bring some much needed dimension to everything.

Here, I have five highlighters from my collection that I’ve been reaching for alot over the past while. I’ve done posts in the past on all of them so I’ll link them as I go. I just thought it would be good to dedicate one post so some of my very faves.

First up, we have the cheapest of the group.

This is the Sleek Solstice Highlighting Palette. I am only adding one shade within it into my most used. The other three don’t really get much use. I have full swatches of the palette here. ‘Equinox’ is my shade of choice. It is a baked peachy champagne colour.

This is just a great all round colour. It is the most powdery formula of the bunch, but for the price point, it’s bloody lovely. Sleek,if you’re reading this, you should totally bring ‘Equinox’ out on it’s own!

My second choice in Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm. This really is an infamous highlighter.

I have an old post on this here. I’ve had Mary-Lou for nearly two years now and she is still going strong.

It’s a light champagne colour that works for so many skin types and blends really nicely into the skin. At just over 20 quid it’s not quite budget or high end, but she’s worth every penny 🙂

My third choice is the Urban Decay Afterglow Highlighter in ‘Sin’.

When these first came out last year, I ran to Debenhams and picked one up. I am a bit of an Urban Decay fan girl! ‘Sin’ is like Mary Lou’s lighter sister.

The formula of these is so long lasting on my skin. This is nearly what makes me reach for it so much! I did a first impressions video on ‘Sin’ here when I first bought it. Not the best quality, but you can see me ramble out it more 🙂

My fourth and fifth choices are both by Becca Cosmetics. Becca know how to formulate a good highlighter. The consistency is always super creamy and a dream to blend.

‘Champagne Pop’ doesn’t really need much introduction. If you are a makeup fan you will know all about it and probably own one yourself.

This was their first collaboration with Jaclyn Hill. It’s a gorgeous peach champagne colour. More deep in colour than ‘Equinox’.

If I am being honest with myself it’s too deep for my skin tone, but I love it so much I wear it anyways. I just have to bronze up a little more. I have a really old blog showcasing it here. Excuse my eyebrows in it. They are awful ha!

My last fave is ‘Pearl’ from Becca. This is the newest highlighter in my collection but I think it’s the most complimentary out of all of them on my skin.

As the name would suggest is a white pearl colour. It swatches quite icy.

But it does blend into a really lovely wearable shine. It’s honestly one of the best highlighters I have found for lighter skin tones. You can see it applied to the face here.

Here they are all swatched together for colour reference.

What do you look for in a highlighter? Do you use one in your day to day makeup? Let me know 🙂

xxx

February 13, 2017/by Gem

Makeup, Youtube Video

Makeup Favourites 2016

My first official video of 2017 comes in the form of my Makeup Favourites for the year gone by.

I thought rather than just show you my makeup favourites, I would show you them in action too. I picked my most used products and created a really simple ‘me’ look that I usually end up doing when I don’t know what to do. Some of the products were new in 2016, some were new to me for the year and then some are just favourites that I always gravitate towards because I know they work.

I’ve written blogposts for a hell of alot of these, so I’ll try list as many as I can in case you want to know more about a specific product.

Hylamide HA Blur Primer. Review here.
L’Oréal Infallible 24HR Matte Foundation. Review here.
Nyx Micro Brow Pencil. Review here.
theBalm Put A Lid On It Eyeshadow Primer. Review here.theBalm Put A Lid On It Eyelid Primer
Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette. Post here.
Sleek Diamond In The Rough Palette. Blog post about it here.
Catrice Glam & Doll Waterproof Mascara. Review here.
Too Faced Born This Way Concealer. I have a review here.
Wet n Wild Dual Ended Contour Stick. First impression video is here.
Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in ‘Nude Mauve’. I have a comparison post here.
Nyx Highlight and Contour Palette. First impressions and swatches here.
Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium. I have a really old review of it here.
L’Oréal Infallible Fixing Mist. Review here.

Phew, I think that’s everything 🙂

In the video here, you’ll see me using everything, but the finished look, looks a bit like this. I think it definitely sums up my go to makeup favourites for 2016. And, I do love a good before and after picture!

I say it in video form too, but just to write it down too. Thank you so much for everything over the year. Beautynook (and myself) grew up alot over 2016. I am excited to see what 2017 has in store. Thanks for sticking around.

Gemma

xxx

January 6, 2017/by Gem

Makeup, Youtube Video

Party Makeup Affordable Products

It’s Christmas, time to pull out the glitter and throw all the makeup on your face 🙂 Here is my version of a party makeup look using all affordable products. Even most of the tools are affordable too.

I went simple with a gold and brown eye with some gold glitter and lashes. I wanted to create a party makeup that I would actually wear myself. As I say in the video though, 2017 will hopefully be the year, I get out of my comfort zone a bit video wise and be a little braver with my makeup.

I mention all the products I use in the video as I go along, but to recap:

Primer: Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser.

Foundation: Catrice HD Liquid Coverage (review here). Mixed with L’Oréal True Match. Full review here.

I used the Real Techniques Miracle Sculpting Sponge to apply them and have my full thoughts on that here.

Concealer: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind and the Collection Instant Perfection.

Brows: Nyx Micro Brow Pencil and the Freedom Duo Brow Powder. My full brow routine using both of these is here.

Primer: Flormar Eye Perfection Primer in Bright Illuminator.

Eyes: Sleek Strobing Soufflé in Smoky Quartz and the Diamonds In The Rough Rockstars Palette. I have swatches of both of these here. Makeup Revolution Fortune Favours The Brave Palette. There is a full review of this here.

Glitter liner is from Catrice. Mascara is the Catrice Glam & Doll Waterproof mascara which I have a review of here. The liner I use to tighlight is the Maybelline Master Precise Skinny Liner. I actually only reviewed it here this week.

Lashes are Kiss in the style ‘Ritzy’.

Cream contour was Colourpop Sculpting Stix in ‘Dove’.

I used the Nyx Highlight & Contour Pro Palette. I have up close swatches of this here.

Blush: Makeup Revolution Ultra Blush Palette in ‘Sugar & Spice.

Highlight: Sleek Solstice Palette. I have swatches of this here.

Bronzer: Note Bronzing Powder in 10.

Powder: Paese Rice Powder.

Lips: Penneys PS Love Lipliner in number 6 with Rimmel’s The Only One Matte Lipstick in 200 ‘Salute. I have lots of these swatched in a blogpost here.

Party makeup done 🙂

Sometimes it takes a village, I am happy with how it turned out though. I do love a bit of sparkle.

You can watch the video by clicking above or directly on my YouTube channel here.

I’ll stop rambling now, Merry Christmas!!

xxx

December 16, 2016/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Festive Red Lipstick Budget Beauty

I did a post similar to this last here year for my first Christmas in Beautynook world. It’s a festive red lip for under a fiver. I still love and use both of products I used, these are just alternatives for your 2016 Festive Red Lipstick look 🙂

I think a decent lip liner is as important as the lipstick you choose when rocking a red lip. You can by all means go for a more soft approach and that’s beautiful too. But, when you’re going full out bright and Christmas-sy red, I think a crisp lip line is important. And you don’t want any bleeding, I mean lipstick bleeding but of course we don’t want any bleeding at all 🙂

For this year’s festive red lipstick lip liner, I went with the Rimmel Exaggerate in ‘Red Diva’.

I am a big fan of the Rimmel Exaggerate lip liners. They are super soft and easy to apply. And they now have an angled twist up nib which I find really handy for outlining and correcting my lip line. ‘Red Diva’ is the perfect classic red colour and actually works really nicely on it’s own as well.

This costs €5.49 and you can get it from the Boots website here.

The lipstick I chose is a new release for 2016. It’s one of the new Lip VIP’s from Sleek Makeup. It is called ‘Walk Of Fame’.

These are a semi matte formula lipstick. They are really creamy, pigmented and very comfortable to wear.

I just think both of these products together are a really lovely and affordable festive red lipstick combination. The Sleek Lip Vip’s are available from Boots too for €7.49 here.

Matte lips are everywhere at the minute so I thought I would go old school with more of a creamy textured combo. Layering the products means they are still long lasting but they won’t dry out your lips as much.

It is such a cliché I know, but I just love a red lip during Christmas time 🙂

xxx

December 11, 2016/1 Comment/by Gem

Makeup

Sleek The Rockstars Collection

Let me introduce to you the Sleek The Rockstars Collection in all of it’s glory.

I was lucky enough to go to the launch of it this week and went home with the whole collection generously in my goodie bag. So, since I have it all and it is rolling into Boots around the country as we speak. I had to swatch and get it up to show you as soon as possible.

The packaging of the Sleek The Rockstars Collection off the bat is super lovely. Even the outer packaging, which I had to show you as well 🙂

It consists of an eyeshadow palette, two Strobing soufflés, and two Lip VIP lipsticks.

First up we have the Diamonds In The Rough i Lust Palette.

It contains six gold toned shimmering shades.

The first and the last shades are creams while the four in the middle are powder.

From left to right we have: Solitaire, Trillion, Princess, Asscher, Marquise, Radiant.

The Diamond In The Rough i Lust Palette costs €9.49.

Next up in the collection we have the Sleek Strobing Soufflés. There is two to choose from.

‘Smoky Quartz’ which Sleek describe as a sparkly, translucent gold.

‘Pink Opal’ is described by Sleek as a sheer shimmery pink.

Both of the soufflés have actual coloured glitter running through them. I think these would actually make really nice eyeshadow bases. They would work really well with the Diamond In The Rough Palette. You will be able to pick these up for €8.99.

Lastly in the collection we have lip VIP metallic finish lipsticks.

‘Scandalous’ is described as a ruby red shade.

It is a deep red with blue toned shimmery flecks running through it.

‘Superstar’ is described as an amethyst purple.

It is a deep, but I think wearable purple colour with again a blue toned shimmer. The formula of these lippies is so lovely. They are soft and creamy but still super pigmented and last really well. These will set you back €7.49 a piece.

And there you have the new limited edition Sleek The Rockstars Collection. 🙂 It is being rolled out to Sleek stockists as we speak. So keep an eye out in store and online if anything takes your fancy. I saw it at the start of the week in Boots, Dundrum!

xxx

**pr sample**

October 30, 2016/by Gem

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