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a personal note to myselfA personal note to myself….I am writing this, just home from a lovely holiday. With lovely people, in a lovely place. I don’t talk too candidly about my life, my feelings and emotions for fear of being judged. I am afraid of people’s judgement. I fear people thinking badly of me. But I also fear my own thoughts sometimes.

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I am not where I want to be in life. If you had of asked me ten years ago what I envisioned for the future, it would have been a nice house, kids, and a decent job. Myself and John had just moved into our own place and were thoroughly enjoying ‘playing house’. Not too long after, the recession hit and we were forced to move home. Even writing those words gives me a lump in my throat. But, we tried to be positive and figured we’d be back on our feet before the year was out. Fast forward to ten years later, sitting typing this in my parents back room at 33 years old!beauty blogger ireland

This is not the life I pictured. But, some times you just can’t imagine what life is going to throw at you. Family break ups, deaths and in my case Cancer, which my lovely mammy is currently battling for the second time in her life. This time it’s so much worse. She is literally the strongest person I know! And if I wasn’t still in her back room writing this, I wouldn’t be able to go to hospital appointments with her, be around when she needs me….and even when she doesn’t, just in case 🙂beauty blog ireland

 

I get down a lot, I’m naturally a pretty pessimistic person, I worry. But I choose not to show it much. My family sees it, John bears the brunt of it. For me Beautynook is an escape. Somewhere for me to get lost in the things that sometimes just keep me going. Completely unnecessary things like lipstick and eyeshadow. But some days, these are the things that keep me going. irish beauty blog

I don’t have a bad life in the grand scheme of things. I have somewhere to live, food, clothes and nice things to boot. I also have literally the best partner in the world. (Don’t tell him I said that). I have great friends. I write about something that I love. And in return, I get to do nice things, sometimes get sent lovely things and get to communicate with with some lovely people. It’s just not typically a life people would be proud of.top irish beauty blogger

Honestly I have no idea why I started writing this. I guess I just wanted to put it out there that everyone struggles. And we all handle it differently. Some of us get stronger in strife, some of us weaker. It doesn’t make us bad people, it just makes us people. Without some of the bad things in life, the good things wouldn’t happen. If we had of stayed in our nine to five job, John wouldn’t be excelling with his own business, I probably would have never taking up blogging and I wouldn’t have some of the brilliant people in my life that I do now. Maybe it’s all for a reason. Maybe it will all make sense one day.lifestyle blog

I am my hardest critic, it stops me from taking chances. It stops me from believing in myself. Which in turn, stops me from advancing. I haven’t always made the best decisions in life and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking what if?

Maybe saying it out loud like this might help me to take a chance now and again. And maybe it might help you too. Sure if we feel rock bottom, what have we got to lose?

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Shoutout to all the awesome people who say nice things to me and about me on Instagram, Facebook anywhere really. As shallow as it sounds, your words have helped me so much. My little corner of the internet is an ok place and I have you who take the time to check in with it to thank for it 🙂

This is a personal note to myself and I guess to you and all the lovely people in my life too.

Thank you for everything you do for me.

Gemma

xxx

 

YouTube 100 million percent made me do it! I have to admit I can be a bit skeptical when YouTubers or online people bring out products. A lot of it is just done to make a few bob on the side, and not really thought out.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders

Tanya Burr Cosmetics has been going a while now and I actually did try some bit from hers in the beginning, and they weren’t half bad. Since then though nothing has really caught my eye majorly so I didn’t invest in anything.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders

The Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders are new from the range. I watched her Get Ready With Me Video here, where she showcases her new ‘Chasing The Sun’ Collection. The Illuminating Powders in particular took my fancy.

Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powders

They remind me so much of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting blush and bronzers. And the Max Factor Creme Puff blush and bronzers too. I actually did a post on the Max Factor Bronzer not too long ago here if you want to see the lighter shade in action.

There is three illuminating powders within the ‘Chasing The Sun’ collection.

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I picked up all three because Superdrug were having a 3 for 2 offer. Any excuse, right? They all come in a square, pretty sturdy clear topped palette, with 12 grams of product within.

The darkest of the three is ‘Warm Bronze’.

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It’s a medium, shimmering bronze shade.

 

Next, we have ‘Champagne Sorbet’.

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As the name would suggest, this is more of a champagne shimmer. Much more suited to use as a highlight for my lighter skin tone.

 

The last of the three is ‘Peonies Please’.

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This looks like a darker pink in the pan than it swatches. It’s still a really pretty shimmering light pink blush shade. This, for me would be a blush and highlight all in one. irish beauty website

I have to admit, I am really impressed with the colour pay off from all three of the Tanya Burr Cosmetics Illuminating Powder shades. The powders themselves are nice and soft and easy to blend. You get a really decent amount of product for the price point €10.85 ( in store here from Superdrug.) Not the cheapest ‘from the drugstore’, I know. Although they are only €8.99 from the Feel Unique website here. They give a really nice glow to the skin without being too sparkly or glittery.

I will definitely get a lot of use out of ‘Champagne Sorbet’ and ‘Peonies Please’. ‘Warm Bronze’ might be a little too dark for me to use regularly. It will make a lovely eye shadow though!

Here is ‘Peonies Please’ applied as blush to my skin: irish beauty blog beautynook

And then ‘Champagne Sorbet’ applied on top:

 

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Have you tried anything from the Tanya Burr Cosmetics range? What has YouTube made you buy? I reckon I could do a whole dedicated blog post on that question myself 🙂

xxx

 

 

I’ve gathered some beauty bits to do a little give-away here on Beautynook just to say thanks for all the support. I really love blogging, and for people to actually go out of their way to read my thoughts on here is pretty amazing to me 🙂

 

As you can see, I have some lovely goodies from L’Occitane,Nima Brush,Catrice,Flormar,Nimue,Mine Tan, Jessup and from Penneys.

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To be in with a chance of winning, you just need to do the following:

  1. Be sure to be following me on social media Facebook Twitter Instagram You can even catch me on Snapchat too (@beautynook)
  2. Write whatever you want in the comments below, just so I know you have entered, keep it clean 🙂
  3. Finally, just share this post on whatever social media you want, to spread the word.

As most of my followers are Ireland based, I’m only going to open to it to Ireland this time.

Good luck to you all and thanks again!

Gemma

xxx