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High End Makeup

I have a lot of nice makeup that’s worth a few quid. These five products though, would be my most high end makeup products in my collection.

All five, funnily enough are only from two brands. And none of them I bought myself. They were all gifts from either John, or family and friends. Thanks guys 🙂

High End Makeup

I chose these as my most high end makeup, simply on the price of them per product. It’s crazy money and you don’t need to spend it at all. I just thought it would be fun to delve into them a little in blog post form. I do love a good makeup rummage 🙂

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I will go by brand and start with Tom Ford. I have three different products from the brand. All picked out by John and by John alone. He prides himself, when he buys me makeup, on getting as little help from the sales assistants as possible. irish beauty youtuberFirst up, is his latest Tom Ford purchase. He had made a mental note of me saying if he was ever stuck to buy me something, a fancy lip balm would always be appreciated. So for my birthday this year I received the Tom Ford Lip Balm in L’Odissea. You can see it on the Brown Thomas website here. They cost €35!

top ford lip balm

Now, I do believe he didn’t know you could get these in slightly different hues. This wouldn’t have been by first colour choice. Also, it is tiny, I am more than halfway through the bullet already. It is something I would never have bought myself though, and I do feel very fancy using it and popping it into my handbag.

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I do own one Tom Ford lipstick as well. For the past few years John has gotten me a red lipstick for Christmas. He did it one year, I liked it, so made him continue it on 🙂 One year it was Tom Ford’s Cherry Lush. €48 from the Brown Thomas website here.

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Crazy money for a lippie I know, but as a makeup whore, it was so lovely to open at Christmas. And it is a beautiful lipstick too. Probably a bit old to use now, but I will still keep a hold of it.

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The last Tom Ford product I own, came with the lipstick. They were a package deal from Mr John. This is the Eye Color Quad in 05 Silvered Topaz.

tom ford eyeshadow

top irish beauty websiteThis is €74 from Brown Thomas here.

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I was very much a cool toned eyeshadow gal for many a year, until I discovered I can make warm shadows work for me. This was the perfect and fanciest addition to my makeup collection at that point. The shadows are lovely. Super pigmented and blendable (thank god). The packaging is also very fancy….and magnetic. There’s a dark purple matte, two silvery shimmery tones, and a silver glitter shade for a pop of sparkle. I got so much use out of this palette. Don’t reach for it as much anymore, but it has still been known to make it into an eye look every now and again. Oul Tom makes a lovely eyeshadow, I must admit :).

My final two fancy high end makeup products are both from Chanel. top irish beauty vloggerThe first one was a very generous gift from a family member It is one of the Chanel Rouge Allure Glosses in 17 Suprème. They don’t seem to have this one on the Brown Thomas website anymore. But there is similar colours available here, and they retail for €33. chanel makeupbeauty bloggerThe packaging on this is so damn fancy. You click down the top and the applicator pops up. The click is so satisfying.
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chanel allure lip gloss
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It’s a really lovely magenta pink gloss, a little sticky on the lips but lasts really well as a result. I don’t always reach for a gloss, but when I do it is something like this. So, it’s always nice to have an extra fancy one to choose.

The only other Chanel makeup product I own right now was a very lovely gift from my friend Ella.

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She picked this up for me in the airport really recently, I believe it’s from last Autumn’s collection. It’s a Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow quad in 268 Candeur Et Expèrience.

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These are the only Chanel eyeshadows I have ever owned. And I am sorry to say they are pretty gorgeous. Their quads retail for €51 on the Boots website here. I can’t find this exact one because the collection is from last year.

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They are such gorgeous matte earthy tones. After picking up the Urban Decay Heat Palette (review here), this is completely my jam at the moment. I am getting lots of use out of it. Unfortunately though, it just makes me want more of their shadows…I better start saving 🙂

And there you have the five most high end makeup products in my collection. Now come on and tell me yours so I can make a wish list 🙂

xxx

 

I haven’t done monthly favourites since having my previous blog, so it’s literally been years now. But I thought I would try get back into it again and give you some of my March Favourites in video form.

irish beauty blogYou can watch my March Favourites on beautynook here by just clicking on the video above or you can head on over to my youtube channel here  and if you like it be sure to subscribe sure 🙂

 

I don’t have many things that I properly loved for the month of March and I also didn’t go into much detail of the items. I just wanted to try my hand at a chatty style video, I hope that’s ok?

If you want to see the palette in action, I used it in my last Get Ready With Me Video here  (I used the lippie in that video too), and I have a full blogpost on the palette here aswell.

I reviewed the foundation also a while back here, but as you can see from the video, my thoughts on it have kind of changed, I’m a tad more fond of it now 🙂

You can buy the fragrance from Brown Thomas here, if you’re curious.

And if you’re looking to sing along to some 90’s R n’b hits like myself, just search 90’s R n’ b over on Spotify…it’s so worth it, I promise 🙂

Thanks so much for watching (and reading of course). I’ll hopefully try to do these every month if you like them. So, be sure to let me know if you’re into monthly favourites, or what kind of videos you actually do like watching. All constructive feedback is very welcome, I’m still very new to the Youtube media 🙂

Happy April, hope it’s a brilliant one for you. Roll on the warmer weather!

Gemma

xxx

If you follow me on social media, you’ll know instead of giving big gifts this year myself and my family went to Spain for the week of Christmas. We had a really great time. The weather was so good to us and we spent most of Christmas day in the ocean, so I ain’t complaining 🙂 I did by myself some goodies  throughout the week though so I thought I would compile them into a holiday haul if you fancy a rummage.

Time ran away with me in the airport and I was gutted I didn’t get to shop in the Loop, I’ll just have to be sure I make up for it next time I fly.

We went to Lanzarote which is a tax free Canary Island. There’s not a whole load to be buying there, it’s a very holiday orientated town, so lots of tourist shops and the likes. Perfume is a good chunk cheaper there though, so I made sure to stock up on a few.

Don’t laugh, but I bought Britney Spears Fantasy.

irish beauty blogBritney Spears FantasyThis is the only celebrity perfume that I’ve ever really bothered with throughout the years. It smells like sweets, I was feeling nostalgic and it was only €15 🙂

My brother and John (the other half) know I love Lady Million from Paco Rabanne, so I got a couple of bottles to keep me going ha!

lady million paco rabanneI bought another nostalgic perfume for myself. I use to wear this so much when I was younger. It’s Gucci Rush.

irishbeautybloggucci rush 2Luckily it was cheap, because I think I’ve grown out of the scent now…typical.

My fanciest pressie to myself was a bottle of Tom Ford Velvet Orchid. Well in Dublin this would be the fanciest, this set me back less than 40 euro over there which I don’t think is bad at all.

irish beauty blogtom ford velvet orchidThis is a cologne. And it would be classed as a unisex fragrance. John has Black Orchid, and I adore it, Velvet Orchid would be a ever so slightly sweeter version in my opinion, but still a very musky night time fragrance.

Of course there’s a big Zara where we were, it’s a Spanish company, so I had to have a look. I ended up only picking up two things. A dark green faux leather over the shoulder handbag, with gold hardware. Very Chloe-esque I thought?

zara green bagAnd a long sleeved wool jumper of all things! I couldn’t leave this behind though 🙂

zara jumper #instamood From one of the little boutique shops on the strip, I bought this really cute delicate rose gold plated bracelet.

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If you’ve been to Lanzarote, you will know they have a stand alone Flormar store there, which is pretty cool. The brand has just been reintroduced here in Ireland, so I had to take a look and pick up a few bits. On a side note, they had different more seasonal products within the store, but the price point was the same as Ireland.

flormar irelandI got their Matte Velvet Mattifying Foundation. This is in Vanilla, but it’s a good bit darker than my skin tone (my fault), so I’ll have to keep it for when I have tan on.

irish makeup and beauty blogI got one of their nail polishes, this colour is just unusual and caught my eye. it has a duochrome effect.

irish makeup and beauty bloggerflormar irish beauty blogI get searches everyday here on beautynook for the Flormar Lip Primer, so I had to pick one up and give it a try.

flormar lip primerI bought one of their eye primers too.

makeup and beauty blog irelandflormar eye primerI liked this one because it has a concealing effect on the eyelid, so it will cover imperfections.

beauty blogger irelandThis eyeshadow stick was from their Christmas collection and I just thought the colour was so pretty. The formula is really nice too.

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This twist up lipstick in the colour raspberry and I have 20 lippies in the same colour but I couldn’t resist. Love the packaging too.

top irish beauty blogbeauty blog irelandbeauty blogger irelandThe last thing I bought was a baked eyeshadow which they call a Diamonds Terracotta Eyeshadow.

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Upon swatching it, I see it as more of glitter to apply over other shadows to add a bit of sparkle. I’d like to mix it with a bit of Inglot’s Duraline too and see what happens (I have a review of Duraline here 🙂

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I bought a couple of random things on the strip too which we can get here easily, but sure I was on a spending roll so I just kept going 🙂

catrice makeup irelandI had just run out of primer so I thought I would give the Catrice Prime and Fine one a trial.

catrice irish beauty blogI also got a Catrice Beautyifying Lip Smoother. This is really similar to the Clarins Lip Perfector and a quarter of the price. There’s a few shades to choose from too.

Catrice Beautifying Lip Smoother

catrice makeup irelandThe one I picked up is in the shade Coffee To Go.

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I got a couple of Essence Longlasting Lipliners in the same place. The formula of these is actually pretty great!

essence makeup ireland lip linersThe pink shade is called Sweetheart and the peachy one is called Peach Beauty.

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The last thing I got is from a brand I’ve never used before. This is the Palladio Crushed Metallic Eyeshadow.

palladio crushed metal eyeshadow irelandirish makep blogmakeup blog irelandI swatched all the colours of these and I really regret now not picking up more, but I settled on this burnt bronze colour in Eclipse.

palaThere you have it, my holiday haul. All of the goodies I crammed into my suitcase and brought home to Ireland 🙂

Hope you had a brilliant Christmas (and new year). Hope 2016 is the most exciting year yet 🙂

xxx

 

 

I already delved into all the skincare goodies I’m bringing for our Christmas trip away here I thought it was only natural to show what will make it into my holiday makeup bag. I say a bag, lets be honest I’m bringing a couple of bags I’m not gonna lie 🙂

My makeup bag is definitely overflowing, but as I said in skincare post I like to be prepared!

First up is eye products.

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I’m bringing 3 palettes, excessive I know, don’t judge, one of the zpalettes does contain my Inglot blushes though and a yellow under eye setting powder so it’s kind of ok, right? 🙂

irish beauty blog beautynookI’m bringing the new Urban Decay Gwen Palette which I have swatches of here I bloomin’ love this palette and don’t want to be without. Also some Makeup Geek shadows in a zpalette and then the palette of a few Inglot shadows and some blushes.

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Eye primer is essential in my world so I have a mini Urban Decay Primer Potion being added to my makeup bag. Then, in case I’m feeling posh I’m going to pack the Charlotte Tilbury cream shadow in Bette, I have a full review of this here. Rather than a black gel liner I have been loving using a dark grey one at the minute so I’m bringing my Inglot matte gel liner in 78. Then two kohl pencils. A grey L’Oreal one and a brown one from Rimmel.

beauty blog beautynookThe rest of my eye goodies consist of lashes, my fave individuals from Penneys, a pair of Amazing Shine lashes that I love, you can now buy these in Mr Price which is really handy. Then some Duo glue to apply them, an eyelash curler from Shu Uemura and finally some Catrice Glamour Doll Waterproof mascara, I have a full review of this here I love it 🙂

For the face, of course I am going to bring a few options because I am very fickle, and like to change my mind…alot. Also I think you need day time options and night time options too.

irish makeup and beauty blogThe Botanice Radiance Balm is coming. I have a review of this here The primer I have been using for the last while is the Wet n Wild Coverall. I really like it for my oily skin. I have the Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in a shade darker in case I get a little bit of colour, I can mix it with my tried and tested Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude foundation (review here) and a tester of the Makeup For Ever Ultra HD which I really like too. I’m also bringing the Benefit Porefessional License To Blot which is such a weird product. It’s a cream blotting stick and it bloody works!

irish beauty and makeup blogMy concealer choices for the week are my beloved Mac Full Coverage foundation. I love using this as a concealer. Then, my favourite under eye concealers of the moment (again another full review here 🙂 The Flormar Perfect Coverage and the Catrice Liquid Camouflage.

irish beauty blog beautynookirish blog beautynookPowders consist of four faves…yep four I have problems ha! I have Nars Laguna in this really cool palette (it’s called Tahiti) and it comes with a mini Ita brush! Then the Chanel Vitalumiere Powder Foundation, sorry for dropping all of the links but I reviewed this too . the cult classic Champagne Pop from Becca is coming, I have this reviewed too here .The last one on the right then is to bring with me for touch ups, it’s the Mac Studio Fix Powder.

beautyblogbeauty bloggerFor contouring (and cream highlighting) I have a couple of old reliables. The Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium (yep review here 🙂 and the Smashbox contour and highlight sticks (demo here 🙂

irish blogger beautynookBrow products consist of the Soap & Glory Archery Pencil, then three Billion Dollar Brow products, you can buy these from Boots. I have their brow brush, brow powder and brow gel.

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I have a full colour spectrum of lip choices to choose from going into my makeup bag. A red from Tom Ford called Cherry Lush, a Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Ping Pong, Essence liquid lipstick in Show Off (review here) and then one of the Rimmel The Only One Lipsticks in Naughty Nude (I have a load of these swatched here) A couple of lip liners join the crew too. Rimmel Eastend Snob and Mac Whirl.

nima brush

To apply all the slap some brushes are essential, right? I have the Nima Brush Girls On Tour travel set, I’m so excited to use these beauties, you can see them up closer here. I have a mini Mac 217, a random mini flat Nars brush and a big Powder n Pout P230 which I have yet to try so the hollier will be a good test. I think these will keep me going for the week, right?

 

That’s all the makeup that will make it into my suitcase. I’m definitely an overpacker I know, a couple of makeup bags will be needed.

If you want to have a nose at what I get up to, be sure to follow me on Snapchat. I love snapping. My username over their is ‘Beautynook’.

As always thank you so so much for reading 🙂

xxx

Simon & Tom Moroccan Hair TreatmentThe Simon & Tom Moroccan Hair Treatment contains Argan Oil from you guessed it Morocco 🙂

It deems itself to be a non greasy formula that instantly absorbs delivering concentrated shine. I can agree with that I think. I have been using this oil for a long time now and I would compare it very much to the well known Moroccan Oil that we all know and love. Simon & Tom market the serum for all hair types. I have long quite thick hair, but an oily scalp and it works well for me.

You just apply a small amount into your hand and massage it through damp hair.

Simon & Tom Moroccan Hair Treatment

One pump is enough for me. I tend to concentrate it on the ends of my hair. It helps with frizz and fly aways and makes your hair feel softer and smoother.

I sometimes use even half a pump after using the hair drier or straighteners just on the ends to make my hair less frizzled from using the heat.

It smells nice too which is always a bonus.

Overall, I really like the Simon & Tom Moroccan Treatment. The 100ml bottle will last you for ages too as you need such a small amount which is great.

You can pick is up here and it is on special at the minute for €24.90.

xxx

Top 5 Red Lipsticks

I love a red lip and I thought this was an appropriate time of the year to talk about my top 5, with Valentine’s Day only around the corner. I am not a romantic soul, but any excuse to wear a red lipstick and I am all over it, so keep reading to see what are my favourite red lipsticks are from my stash 🙂

Lime Crime Velvetine

First up is Lime Crime’s Velvetine. This is a bizarrely wonderful product. It is so opaque and creamy in texture. The colour is nearly over whelming when you first use it as it has so much colour pay off in lipgloss form, but once you get used to it it’s a fab product. It is a beautiful rich red with the blue undertone we want so our teeth look whiter:

Lime Crime Velvetine

The finish of it is in the name it definitely. It has a matte velvet look once it dries and once it dries it is not budging. It is on your lips to stay, so you can kiss all you want (bleh) :). I’ll admit, I bought this because of the hype around it and have to say I’m glad I did, it is a welcome product to my ever expanding make up collection.

My next red love is Mac’s Ririwoo.

Mac Ririwoo

This is basically Rubywoo in rose gold packaging for an extra 4 euro, but I just couldn’t resist, I am drawn to shiny things. Ririoo has a “retro matte” finish according to Mac. I construe this as being a matte lipstick but not so matte your lips crack from the dryness so it is easy to wear as it doesn’t have a complete matte finsh:

Mac RiriWoo

This is a very similar red to the Velvetine, rich and pigmented with a blue undertone that I think would be suitable for all skin tones. With this lipstick however, you have the choice of how deep you want the colour in accordance to how much you add, if you use a lip liner underneath and if you if you diffuse it with your finger or a brush for a lighter  day appropriate application. Mac really do make fab lipsticks and this is probably one of their most popular ones and with owning it I can see why.

Third up on my list is a red for the people who aren’t really a fan of the traditional bright red. This is Nars’ Joyous Red.

Nars

This is a hybrid of colours, which I know does not look very appealing in the tube, although it does have the lovely smooth black packaging to compensate :). This is an unusual lipstick, it is semi-matte with a satin/glossy finish. The colour reminds me of Autumn, it borders on brown and red which I think is a great option for a day time lip. Again can be worn full on:

Nars Joyous Red

Or muted down with a just s few dabs added and using your finger to work the colour into the lips. I think this is a lipstick that looks fab on pale skin and older ladies who still want to rock a bold lip with out going full on Marilyn with it. I wear this lippie quite alot to brighten up my makeup without having to put too much effort in and the formulation is beautiful, it fades away really nicely so is great for wearing to work. Not a traditional choice I know, but I thought not everyone likes bold red so why not mix it up a bit.

Next on the list is my very loved Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple. I was obsessed with these when they first came out and have quite a few.

Revlon Lip Butter

I love the packaging as much as I love the product inside (I am a sucker I know). These are like a lip gloss, lipstick and lip balm in one:

Revlon Lip Butter Candy Apple

They are so nourishing and easy to apply but are quite pigmented and long lasting to boot. Candy Apple is a lovely,youthful, vibrant glossy red that is not too over the top. I think this would be great for anyone really, particularly anyone who is scared of red lipstick but really wants to experiment. The lip butters in general and their colour range are a great place to start incorporating colour into your makeup routine as they are easy to maintain on the go, can be worn sheer or full on and are very mistake forgiving. I would recommend them to anyone.

Last on my voyage of reds is a bit of a special one, but I could not talk about my collection without adding this one in for good measure 🙂

Tom Ford

This was actually a Christmas pressie from the boyfriend along with the gorgeous eyeshadow quad mentioned here This is Tom Ford’s lip colour in “Cherry Lush”. The name say it all, this is a opaque, not too glossy cherry red colour but again with a slight blue undertone, that will lasts a long time and fades beautifully throughout the day (or night):

Tom Ford Cherry Lush

The packaging is so luxurious too. Black, gold and sleek that feels heavy in your hand. Can that justify paying 46Euro for a lipstick? Absolutely not. But will I do it again? Probably! I adore this lipstick, I love the colour, I think anyone could wear it and I think for a treat or present (hint hint Valentine’s Day present), this is a fab lipstick that really is pretty amazing. Well done Tom!

To maintain your lovely red pout, make sure to always give your lips a good ex foliate and add a slick of lip balm while doing the rest of your makeup. Line the lips with a similar colour of lipliner, this gets your lip line just right and you can even it out if it’s a bit wonky like mine, although I didn’t use one for the pics as I did not want to compromise the colours. Also do the blot, repeat step. Use a lip brush to fill in your lips with the lipstick, use one layer of a tissue, put it up yo your mouth and with a brush and some translucent powder blot lightly over the lips with the tissue on top, taking up the excess product. Then, apply another layer of lipstick out of the bullet and you’ll be good to go.

So there you have it, some red goodies to get you in the festive mood for this coming February the 14th whether you are celebrating with your other half, your friends or family, why not rock a red lip and get into the spirit of things. It is a Friday after all, I think Friday is worth celebrating even if Valentine’s Day isn’t 😛

Thanks for reading

Gemma

xxx