Recent Purchases

Pharmacies, they are like Aladdins cave, I love going into ones I have never been in before and having a good browse around, you are never sure what new and fabulous make up bits and bobs you may come across. The first thing that caught my eye were the Rimmel Apocalips that I have been reading so so sooooo much about lately. The packaging alone is extremely eye catching and then when you look at the colours you just want to buy them all. There is a great range of colours that would be perfect for every lip gloss loving lady to take you from neutral day to bold night. I decided on two very "me" colours, Apocaliptic and Celestial. Celestial is a beautiful soft rose colour, and Apocaliptic is an intense cerise pink which I absolutely LOVE. They are not like your average sticky lip gloss, which I HATE, all that hair getting stuck to your lips, definitely not an attractive look. These have a really soft moisturising consistency and feel super soft on the lips, and the colour is so true to what it looks like in the tube. Retail at €7.95 each and dammit they are well worth it. I shall be returning to the lovely Rimmel to stock up on more shades of my new fave lip gloss.

                        
                       

As a total sucker for black eyeliner I absolutely cannot resist trying a new one, especially when the packaging is as pretty as this one I picked up from Catrice. Part of their Neo Geisha collection, this eyeliner is black black black, another thing I love to find in an eyeliner (I'm all about the intense look). This little beauty was a bargain at €2.49!!

Last but not least, I picked up a new fragrance, this one is from Roger & Gallet. Let me first tell you that I am super picky when it comes to fragrances, I own an awful lot of fragrances, but they are ones that I have carefully picked out. I had heard my aunty rave about how much she loves their products, so I gave the perfume a quick spritz on my wrist, and as I was walking around, the fragrance was actually overcoming me, I fell in love with it straight away. Bois D'orange is a beautiful soft woody fragrance, it makes me feel like I am sitting in the sun in a beautiful hot country without a care in the world. That's how I know a fragrance is for me, when it evokes certain memories within me. Bois D'Orange is an Eau Fraiche fragrance grown in Andalucia in Spain, and my god this fragrance to me is actually Spain in a bottle, so fresh thanks to its ingredients of Mandarin, bitter orange and my personal favourite Neroli. I think this was about €26 for 30mls, my bad I'm terrible for not keeping receipts or remembering prices.

Enjoy your four day week guys, only three days till Friday!! YEY

Jen

N.O.T.D A Pop Of Colour

Nails Of The Day

So, the weather is finally getting brighter, albeit, still freezing temperatures. I am so sick and tired of still having to wear my winter clothes, so I decided it was time to brighten up my nail attire as I don't think I can possibly brighten up my wardrobe just yet. 

Here's what I did.

Kiko Milano and Dior Vernis 401

The Purple Glittery colour is from Kiko Milano. I am a huge fan of their nail polishes. They have an amazing range of colours, and they are so cheap. This one I picked up in Italy and I think it was only €2.50. The second colour is a kind of Turquoise/Teal colour from Dior, it was from their summer collection last year, and I am coming to the end of the bottle (sad face), so I need to find a replacement ASAP. Well at least now when I look at my nails they are nice and bright, takes a bit of an edge off the arctic weather outside!

Hope you are all having a nice week, 

Jen xoxo 

N.O.T.D

Barry M Magnetic Nail Polish

If you read my post from yesterday, you will have seen that I picked this Barry M magnetic polish in Neptune Sea from Boots on Saturday on my little shopping trip. I have been dying to try a magnetic polish for ages now, I love the effect it leaves on the nail. 

So this is what I was expecting to see. 

Image from respected owner

                                             

                                               


                               But instead this is what I got

I know the picture is quite bad quality, but the battery was dead on my camera so I had to make do with my iPhone. Anyway, I did not get the magnetic effect. So maybe I used it wrong, but I followed the instructions, used a base coat first, then applied one coat of the polish to each nail and let it dry. I applied the second coat and immediately hovered the magnet over each nail for 5 seconds, but it just didn't work for me. Its a good thing that the colour is actually nice on its own. If any of you have any tips on how to use this Barry M polish, please share them with me. I would love to give it another try, hopefully next time I get the perfect magnetic nails!

Jen xoxo

Shopping Haul

So I broke my leg six weeks ago and have been on crutches for that duration of time. It was absolutely awful, I had to move home to Dublin to my parents so they could help me with looking after Leah. I was getting serious cabin fever, and with very few trips to the shops, I was really looking forward to getting off them! So, last Thursday I had a visit with my consultant who gave me the great news that I could ditch the crutches and the very fashionable space boot I had to wear. I had serious withdrawal symptoms from shopping, and so when my consultant advised me to get myself a nice pair of trainers with a wedge in them, i couldn't think of any better excuse for some retail therapy. I headed back to Galway for the weekend and hit the shops on Saturday, even though I was still limping around, I couldn't have been happier to be out and about. Here are the bits that I picked up!

Some bits that I picked up in Boots. I always use the Wilkinson Sword Intuition razor, i love how it is a 3 in 1, it lathers shaves and moisturises all in one swift motion. I have been using the John Frieda sheer blonde colour renew shampoo for a while and i love how it brightens the blonde in my hair, so I bought the conditioner to give it an extra boost. Make up puffs are something i go through tons of so I needed to pick up more. I find them brilliant for leaving my fingers on when I am applying eye make up or lashes to a client so I don't risk smudging the makeup on the face and eyes. I also picked up two nail products (like I need anymore), Barry M magnetic nail polish in a silvery green and Models own Nail Art Pen by WAH nails in an illuminous pink colour, which will be perfect for bright summer nails. The last thing I picked up was Soap&Glory Trick and Treatment which is an under eye concealer, always a staple in my makeup bag as I have a serious issue with dark circles. Reviews to come soon on some of the above.

The next bits I had to pick up were from Dior in Brown Thomas. My foundation which is Diorskin Forever in no.20, great for lasting from day to night, and perfect for my combination skin. Also Dior Capture XP eye cream, I love this eye cream. Im all for the prevention rather than correction so for me this is the perfect eye cream. 60% reduction in 60 minutes, ehm yes please. Even though the 60% is not going to actually be a long term thing, its great for smoothing the skin before make up application and I always use it on clients. It also guarantees 100% less visibility in lines after two months, and I have definitely seen a difference, especially in the density of my skin!

My obsession with skulls is still going on, it shows you have a problem when you're two year old child see's skulls and says My Mammies!! These are from Freedom at Topshop. Loving the different coloured stones in them, and they are a rose coloured stud, different to the usual gold and silver I already have!

Another little gem from Topshop. They have some really cool t-shirts in there at the moment. This one was my favourite, I am already a fan of the Beastie Boys, and to get them on a top that can be worn dressed down during the day or with a nice pair of skinnies and heels at night was a bonus! This beaut was only €33

My final purchase was these gorgeous pair of Nike High Tops wedges. I am kind of justifying this purchase because my doctor did mention I should wear something with a wedge heel, so I mean what better pair of shoes to buy than these beauties. I couldn't just buy any old pair though. Im very into my trendy trainers, which unfortunately is an expensive habit to keep up, but I get a lot of wear out of them so I don't mind spending that little bit more for them. I picked up these in footlocker for €80, reduced from €105. They are so comfortable, I would barely know the wedge was even there.

So all in all I had a nice little shopping trip, well deserved after going cold turkey for six long long looooooong weeks!!!

Luv Jen

Clarins Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate

For those of you who have sensitive skin, if you have not tried this, you absolutely need to.  It basically is sensitive skin SOS in a bottle. This treatment oil from the much loved skincare brand Clarins was created for sensitive skin that reacts to every little thing. It was designed to instantly calm even the most extreme irritations and inflammations thanks to its ingredients of 90% plant extracts.

I started using this product for extreme inflammation on my skin. If you have read any of my other skin care posts you will know that I have slightly problematic skin, which all started when I fell pregnant with my daughter. My skin has never really been the same since, and I have on countless occasions changed my skincare and added different oils and multi vitamins to my diet to try and help my irritating skin problems. The bad breakouts that had dominated my skin for 10 months, left a lot of angry looking red inflammation under my skin, and it was really getting to me. The only way I could seem to cover them up was by using a lot of concealer and a heavy foundation on a daily basis. So, I decided that 2013 was going to be the year that I get my skin looking as flawless as I can. My aim is to be able to leave the house make up free and feel confident in doing so. 

So, this product was given to me as a gift from a friend of mine who works for Clarins, she used the words "miracle" and "immediate results", so i was delighted to get my hands on it and see if it could help my problematic skin.

I started to use this product at night time, putting two drops of the oil into my hand and lightly rubbing it into the inflamed areas of my skin before I applied my moisturiser. It smells beautiful, like an aromatherapy oil, and the consistency is so light. As I have combination skin, I am quite wary of putting oils onto it, but this just feels so light, it doesn't even feel like an oil. For the first week I used it every night, and I could actually see a drastic reduction in the high colouring in my inflamed areas. My skin looked so much clearer after just one weeks use. So I now use it three times a week as a treatment, and I am so happy with the results I am seeing. I'm not quite ready to brave the world bare faced, but i am happy to say I now wear just a little concealer under a BB cream! For me that's halfway to where I want to be, so I will continue using it, and who knows by the summer I  might have that flawless skin I dream of!!

Clarins Skin Beauty Repair Concentrate is available from your local Clarins counter and costs around €55!!

Jen xoxo

Nails Of The Day

I'm all about the natural look for my day to day wear at the moment, and that goes for my nails as well. I picked up this little beauty from Dior for €23.50. Nail Glow is one of the desirable products from their backstage collection. Nail Glow was designed to give your nails a fabulous healthy glow ( a little bit like their Rosy Glow Blusher, check it out here), It makes the pinks of your nails pinker and the whites whiter. Much needed after a gloomy winter of wearing dark colours!!


                                                 Before

After

Ps. Its also fab if you layer it over a different colour, I applied it over my Gris Montaigne from Dior and it turned it a really cool shade of purple!!

                                                         Lots of luv,
                                                                         Jen xoxo

My New Crown Brushes

One of my many downfalls when it comes to make up, is brushes. I can never seem to have enough brushes. Of course in my profession I use them every day, and the usual suspects are all in my collection, MAC, Laura Mercier, Makeup Forever and Sigma. In the past few months I have added some " less expensive" brushes to my collection. On a recommendation from Siobhan from LetzMakeup ,a colleague of mine and a brilliant Make Up artist whose recommendations I trust, I decided to try Crown Brushes. They have such a vast range of brushes, all at different, but very affordable prices. There are fourteen ranges of brushes that are sure to meet any make up lovers needs. To be honest I didn't actually need more brushes, and I was only going onto the site for a "browse", which actually never seems to work out too well for me. So within minutes I found myself with three brushes in my basket, and proceeded straight to checkout before I did any more so called "browsing". I purchased the C406 Large Duo Fibre brush ( I have about four Duo Fibre brushes on the go at the moment, so you can see my need for another one), C160-1/2" Angle Liner brush and the Deluxe Oval Concealer brush. When it came to paying I was in shock to see that the three brushes including VAT and postage only came to £26.87 which is about €30, so I was only paying on average €10 per brush, Bargain.

My brushes arrived three days after I ordered them, which is super fast compared to some websites I have purchased from in the past. I'm really impressed with the quality of all of the brushes, there is great quality goat and synthetic hair in the Duo Fibre brush. The Liner and Concealer brushes have great structured Taklon hair on them which is needed for these types of precision brushes.

I will definitely be purchasing from Crown again in the future, I now have quite a long list of their brushes that I absolutely NEED in my life!!

 Crown also have fantastic brush sets that start at only £16.99, a great place for any girl to start her brush collection. Check them out here


                                    Have a wicked Wednesday,
                                                                                   Lots of Love,  
                                                                                                            Jen xoxo