yonka Archives - Irish Beauty Blog Beautynook

Posts

Night Time Skin Care Routine Currently

I already spoke about my current day time routine here. It’s only fair that I throw my night time skin care routine into the mix too 🙂

I am very proud of being someone who removes their makeup every night before sleep. No matter how tired (or typsy) I might be. For me, it’s like brushing your teeth, it just has to be done! I am not really one for makeup wipes. If I am feeling really lazy, I’ll use eye makeup remover and micellar water and call it a day. But for the most part, I like to actually wash my face.

This for me, is my current night time skin care routine. I do change up products every now and then. It’s of course part of what I do. I don’t have majorly sensitive skin either so it usually doesn’t affect my skin too radically.

I do like to extra exfoliate a couple of times each week. I’ll usually use the Waxperts Wonder Pads (which I reviewed ages ago here), or the Dermalogica Daily Resurfacer Pads. These contain AHA’s so I stick to using them at night.

If I have a breakout I use the Mario Badescu Drying Lotion, which I have a review of here. It’s a bit gimmicky, but it seems to do the job. And it dries down on the skin, so you don’t get it all over your pillow which is a bonus in my book 🙂

I wear waterproof mascara on the daily, so before I wash my face I usually remove my eye makeup with an oil based cleanser.

I have been using the Botanics All Bright one for literally years. It does a great job at getting even gel liner off without too much rubbing. It doesn’t irritate my eyes and it’s as cheap as chips. You can buy it from Boots here.

For cleansing, at the moment. I have two in my bathroom. The Garnier Pure Active 3 in 1.

This can be used as a face wash, to exfoliate or a mask. I usually use this in the shower. I can wash my face with it and then pop some on as a mask while I go about my business. It is kaolin based so it dries on the skin like a clay mask. It’s been working really well for my oily skin.

If I am just washing my face and not showering I have been using the Yonka Cleansing Gel. This feels really gentle on my skin.

It is also like a spa in a plastic bottle, it smells bloody amazing.

For toner, it’s generally just the La Roche Posay Serozinc which I speak more about here. I always have a bottle of it in my skincare stash.

I use the same eye cream both day and night. My go to one over the past year or so is the La Roche Posay Ultra Toleriane Ultra Eye Contour.

I really like this stuff and it’s not super expensive either. I have a full review of it here.

Because I cannot get too heavy with moisturiser during the day because I am so oily. I usually make up for it in my night time skincare routine.

At the moment I am using (and really enjoying) the Hylamide Low Molecular HA Booster.

It’s basically a serum that contains hyaluronic acid. It helps hydrate without weighing down the skin. It’s an extra step in my routine but my skin is reacting well from it. My skin is feeling a little plumper and more hydrated without my pores being clogged up. You can buy it directly from the Deciem website here.

After that settles in, I apply a light layer of the Image Vital C Hydrating Facial Oil.

It just feels so nice. I pat a dropper amount into my face and neck. Although I am oily, I do have areas of dehydration so I use the serum and the oil in the evening to help with that. The Vital C is formulated for dull, tired skin but also suitable for acne prone skin that is healing. Image skincare is stocked in salons throughout the country including Millie’s here.

The final step in my night time skin care routine then is just lip balm. I usually just use some Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream.

I have a full review of this here.

And then my night time skin care routine is completed and I am ready for bed 🙂

xxx

March 27, 2017/by Gem

Monthly Favourites

Gem’s January Faves 2015

January has been and gone, we are officially into 2015, where is the time going? The end of a month means monthly favourites in my world, and so I am here to divulge some of the things I have been loving and using throughout the month of January 2015.

I firstly have something I have already prattled on about here so I’ll keep it short.

You can read the full review if you want my full opinions on Rimmel’s Lasting Finish Nude Foundation, and to see it on the skin. This has been the only foundation I have pretty much used in the month of January though. It is cheap,has good medium coverage, long lasting…and I like it! That pretty much sums it up 🙂

Up next I have one of my Christmas presents.

My Accurist rose gold and black leather watch. I have been wearing this nearly every day since I got it. I think it’s very classic but understated and seems to go with everything. It’s also light and comfortable. It is actually a man’s watch, but I like bigger watches so this appeals to me. I want one of these in every colour 🙂

I am a big believer in washing your face thoroughly before bed with a cleanser or a face wash whatever you use. I wear waterproof mascara and liner alot and these can be a pain and a bit messy to take off with a cloth or you hands so I like to use an oil based makeup remover just on my eyes to make washing my face then a little easier.

This Botanics Soothing Eye Makeup Remover was on sale in Boots. I think it was less than €3, so picked it up to try. It does a really great job. I don’t even look when I am doing it. I just soak two cotton pads in it and gently rub my eyes with. It does the job really great. It’s also meant to condition your lashes which is a plus. If you are looking for an affordable paraben free range, give the Botanics in Boots a look. I really like the face wash from this range too, I really recommend them.

I think I mentioned this in a favourites post gone by, but I am throwing it again because I have not been able to get enough of it this month.

This is the Yonka Invigorating Dry Skin Toner, which is an aerosol toner. Do you like the Caudalie Beauty Elixir? Well then you’ll love this. It smells sooooo nice and earthy and it is really calming and hydrating on the skin. It contains lovely things like Lavender and Thyme (hence the smell) .It’s pricey but I need to buy a full sized bottle of it!

I have a couple of duo items up next.

The first is the Soap & Glory Whipped Clean Shower Butter and then these funny little exfoliating mittens that I randomly picked up in good oul Penney’s. These two together for me are a match made in heaven. The wash is really emollient and moisturising on the skin and feels really luxurious. I’ve found using this with the exfoliating mittens really nice, as although I am getting rid of any dead skin cells with the abrasive gloves, the wash keeps the skin feeling nourished and looked after. The Whipped Cream smells of almonds which I am not a fan of, but I suck it up 🙂

My next duo are for the lips.

This is Rimmel’s lip liner in Eastend Snob and on of the Charlotte Tilbury Lipstick Charms in Bitch Perfect. How pretty and tiny are these lipsticks? We both got the little trio of lippies for Christmas. Mine is mashed a bit, sorry. I did that after a few alcoholic beverages and didn’t twist the bullet back down properly.

I am not really a nude lip person very often. But just something about this duo made me feel comfortable. Perhaps because it’s more of a pinky nude, so I don’t feel completely washed out. I’m pale enough as it is 🙂 Eastend Snob is a great liner to have if you are looking to slightly over draw your lips or you just want to even out your lip line.

My last favourite for this month is the Fuchsia Pro Collection Palette.

I have been reaching for this so much of late. It’s great that an Irish brand are doing these pans that you can put into a zpalette and customise the colours to suit yourself. I had never really used the Fuchsia brand until we were kindly gifted these at a blogger Christmas Party. This one was prefilled, I did not choose the colours, but the colours in it are lovely. There is something for everything and everyone from cool tones to warm, neutrals to brights and shimmery to matte. The colour pay off is really nice and they blend well too. They also come in an array of colours and finishes. I will be investing in more for sure.

There you have it. January summed up in beauty products. That’s what we are here for, right?

Thanks for reading my ramble.

Gemma

xxx

February 4, 2015/by Gem

Monthly Favourites

Gem’s November Faves

It is officially the countdown to Christmas, we can be excited and buy presents and sing Christmas songs and it is completely tolerated. Yay! Soooo… it’s the start of December, November has been and gone so quick may I add?!

This means November faves time on Chatterbox. Keep reading to see my instalment 🙂

First up I have a double lip product fave.

A lip liner and lipstick combo to be exact. Whirl lip liner by Mac made infamous by one Kylie Jenner and Nars Lipstick in Joyous Red, that is not red, it’s more of an orange brown colour. I think it looks like Autumn in a lipstick pretty much.

I have been wearing these two lovelies together a whole lot in the month of November. I love the 90’s brown lip shade revival so this is my nod to it.

I have a hat love next for this month.

This was bought for me by my kind boyfriend on a whim in River Island in the men’s section. I like to try on all of the hats in all of the shops (it can get annoying). I tried this on while we were waiting in the queue to buy himself some shoes, and it just became mine 🙂 I love all of the different colours going through it and it is lovely and soft and snuggly, perfect for this time of year. It was €17.50 not the cheapest of bobble hats I know!

The Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel has been my face wash obsession in November.

As beauty bloggers we are very fortunate to get alot of products for consideration. We received this product in a goody bag and had heard alot of good things about it so I literally used it the day I got it. It’s a gel wash that you apply to the face firstly on it’s own, then you add some water to make it more foamy, rub it in and then rinse it off. It gets all of your makeup off, waterproof included, without having to scrub your face and your eyes. It’s full of lovely natural ingredients including pumpkin enzyme that is meant to dissolve dead skin cells and really clean your pores. My other face cleansers have been gathering dust in the month of November, this has been all I have used.

More skincare for me this month. I got this in the October Chic Treat Club Box.

It is the Yonka Invigorating Mist, Dry Skin Toner. It is a lovely spray facial toner that smells divine, herbally and flowery all at the same time. I love using it in the evening time, it’s feels lovely on the skin, dries in really quickly and feels nice and hydrating. The smell is also really relaxing. The aerosol spray makes it so handy too, no wasting of the product.

This is a sample size, it doesn’t come this small promise 🙂

The Smashbox Photo Finish Pore Minimizing primer has definitely been my primer of the month. I’ve used nothing else, this sample has lasted me well hasn’t it? This, for me is so similar to Benefit’s Porefessional which I love. As you can see it is nearly skin coloured but blends in, so you cannot see it. It has a velvet texture, that makes your skin feel lovely and soft as well as blurring out your pores, which for me is so important in a primer. It’s not drying but it does help keep the shine at bay throughout the day. It will kill me to pay €35 for it when my mini runs out but I think I will invest as it is such a lovely product.

My last favourite is something I’ve had for ages and just stopped using.

We have here the HD Brow Kit.

I went to Preen in Dame Street in November and got my brows overhauled by the lovely Siobhan in there, she’s literally a brow wizard :). When it came to filling them in myself then I needed something to fill in the new shape of my brows where the hairs are still growing in. I have been using and loving Soap & Glory’s Brow Archery Pencil, but I needed some powder too for some extra help. So I reclaimed this palette from the back of a makeup drawer and the rest is history. I only really use the bottom two colours, “Warm Brown” to the left and “Ash Brown” to the right. I find combing them makes a good shade for me as I have red tones in my hair, but am not a fully fledged red head. However the other two shades on the top of the palette “Nude” and “Carbon” come in handy as do the other two shades I use on my brows, when you are in a pinch as they make great eye shadows. So it’s a multi functional palette. Happy days 🙂

There we have it, November faves done and dusted. I’m sure our December faves will be a flurry of new things we are dying to share with you. Have you had any stand out favourites this month? Be sure to let me know

As always, thanks for reading.

Gemma

xxx

December 2, 2014/by Gem