Recent Purchases - featuring Kerastase, Chanel, Burts Bees and more!

In the run up to Christmas and over the holidays, I really wanted to restrict the amount of cosmetics I purchased. In fact, it's part of my new years resolution. I don't *need* that really. But here are a few things which I did treat myself to. I work full time and I do enjoy buying myself little things here and there. These are some items which I got over the last 4 or 5 weeks.

Burts Bees Lip Balm Blueberry and Chocolate - While browsing one evening for shampoos on Feelunique.com, this little lipbalm ended up in my shopping cart. I do love lipbalms, and I think Burts Bees are actually the best lipbalm out there. But the Blueberry and Chocolate version is something that I had never heard of before and I really wanted to try. The balm itself is so lovely and moisturising like all Burts Bees lipbalms, but the scent is absolutely incredible. Admittedly it is more blueberry than chocolate, but it is amazing nonetheless. I adore it!

Kerastase Bain Divalent Shampoo - I had been using Kerastase Bain Exfoliant Purifiant for dry scalp for the last year or two, and lately I noticed that it has been doing nothing for me. So I decided to go with a different shampoo this time. This one is for oily roots and sensitised lengths, which describes my hair perfectly. It lathers up really nice and has a nice scent. I have noticed that I have been getting an extra day out of my hair, and it seems to be a lot kinder to my coloured hair too. Brilliant!

Deborah Lipmann Wicked Nail Polish Trio - I did not actually buy these but my sister's friend in America sent them over for me, because I love nail polishes and I love Wicked! This nail polish set is limited edition and exclusive to Sephora. The shades are (left to right) Defying Gravity, Popular and One Short Day. I love them all but Popular is my favourite! And I will be wearing them when I go to see Wicked again in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre on it's last day of the Ireland shows.

Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel - I have wanted this product for so long and on my recent trip to Dublin I popped into Arnotts and just decided to buy it. I don't usually wear bronzer, but since I got this I have been wearing it nonstop! It is an even better product than I thought it was going to be! Some days I just wear this all over my face on it's own when I don't have time to put on make up. It is absolutely amazing and I can imagine I will use it plenty in the summer months!

Katy Perry Killer Queen 50ml Eau de Parfum - I had tested this perfume before and thought it was nice, but I had to get this gift set when I saw it reduced to £15.00 in my local chemist! It is such a lovely  Wintery fragrance I think, and the bottle looks absolutely extraordinary. I will do a more in-depth review soon, because I really do think this perfume is very special!



It's ok to treat yourself now and then, isn't it?!

My new Sephora palette! A first look

I think everyone in Ireland wishes we had Sephora here! But I saw this cute little palette online (eBay) and I thought I would treat myself. I rarely order makeup online as I am always afraid it will get smashed while in transit, but thankfully this palette arrived safe and sound.

This is the Sephora Breast Cancer Awareness palette. I really do not know much about this product. I believe it was released some time last year.

It contains 36 eyeshadows, 12 lip glosses and 6 blushes. There is such a variety in here! There are shimmery and matte shades in the eyeshadows. I cannot yet comment on the quality or pigmentation of these as I have not used them yet!

The lip glosses

 Blushes

The only thing that surprised me about this little palette is how small it it! Here it is next to a Sleek palette. As you can see the eyeshadow pans are only about half the size of the Sleek ones! I guess if I find a shade I like it may not last very long!

So that is a first look at what I think is a very cute and fun palette. I am sure I will be posting many a makeup look using this palette very soon. I cannot wait to play around with all of the shades!

Green Smokey Eye

Hi everyone! I was so inspired when I took out my palette collection to photograph them for the post below, when I rediscovered my Kat von D "Ludwig" Palette. I remember at the time choosing this palette for the green shades alone. I adore them so much! Anyway I thought I would put together a green kind of smokey eye look for you. Here are the products I used ...

Firstly I used the Art Deco eyeshadow base, which is absolutely brilliant and will make the eyeshadow stay all day. I used my Art Deco dip eyeliner for my lash line, Lancome Le Crayon Kohl for my waterline, and my beloved Lancome Hypnose Star mascara, which is on its last legs unfortunately!
Here are the eyeshadows that I used...

I used the light green all over the lid, the dark green in the crease, the black in the outer corner, and the white in the inner corner and on the brow bone.

I am really pleased how it turned out, considering the eyeshadow brushes I have at the moment are absolutely rubbish. Here's hoping I'll have a Real Techniques set by the weekend :) 

I love this look, even though green doesn't exactly compliment blue eyes I still think it looks really nice. I wore this all day on Sunday and by that night it was still looking great. The Kat von D eyeshadows are amazing quality. That reminds me, I wish we had Sephora over here! 

Have a great day! :) 

My Eyeshadow Palette Collection

This is my very modest collection of palettes! I suppose this is a lot for me. I don't wear eyeshadow very often, just at weekends and on my days off.

 This is the Kat Von D Ludwig palette. I ordered this one from eBay several years ago. I love this one a lot, but I haven't used it in ages! I almost forgot I had it. I love all the shades in here, especially the greens! The eyeshadows are also really good quality. My favourite shadow it probably the white one in the middle! It is a perfect highlighting shadow and also amazing used on its own.

 This is the Sleek Sparkle 2 palette. I got this one last Christmas and as you can see, it's barely used. These eyeshadows are all really lovely, however they are not sparkly when you actually apply them. They all look beautiful in the palette. My favourite shades are the gold and the cranberry colour. As with all Sleek shadows, I think they are amazing quality for the price, and there is such a wide variety of shades here to create many looks. I will have to start using this one!

 This is the Sleek Oh So Special palette! Have you ever seen so many pink shades? For a while there, I was kind of obsessed with using pinks for my eyes, so this was my go-to palette for a long time. I loved the beige colour and the sparkly baby pink. This was the first Sleek palette I ever bought and I remember being so impressed with it and with Sleek as a brand. I like the combination of matte and shimmer shades. This is probably my most used palette overall.

 This one is my current favourite. Oh my goodness, what can I say. This is the Clarins Splendours palette and it is fabulous. Each shade is just stunning, super quality and just very elegant. I wore this all summer. The gold shade is just stunning. The shadows are slightly shimmery but it's quite subtle. They last all day and are very easy to apply and blend. I adore this one so much.

This is my 3 pan Inglot palette. I had never tried Inglot before, until the Irish Beauty Bloggers meet up in June when I bought this one. I wanted neutral everyday shades, and of course the fabulous orange shadow caught my eye, I couldn't leave without it! Each eyeshadow pan is such a generous size, and the Inglot Freedom system is so good that you can actually choose and custom build your palettes. They are quite reasonably priced too and the shadows are of a superb quality. I haven't used this palette all that much. I thought I was actually allergic to these shadows but I think it's very likely that the glitter in the orange shadow seriously irritated my eyelids so that they swelled up and were so painful. So this one has been neglected unfortunately. I have used the neutral shades on their own but I am so sad that I cannot wear the orange one, which was my favourite!


I just noticed that I haven't hit pan in any of my palettes!
It was actually fun photographing these palettes and writing about them, it has kind of inspired me to use them more and to create more looks with them and be adventurous! Right now I am experimenting a lot with natural shades, which is something I have never worn because I don't think brown tones suit my eye colour. I would love an Urban Decay Naked Palette!

How many palettes do you have?

Sixties styling!

I absolutely adore the 1960s. I wish I could have experienced it! A lot of my favourite music is from the 1960s and I think the hair styles and make up looks were really fantastic. So, I thought I'd try and recreate a very 1960s look. I hope you enjoy!

 The dress is by Yumi, I got it in the House of Fraser sale for an amazing £14.00. I absolutely love the style and print of this dress. It is very typical of the 1960s so I really couldn't resist! I think it looks nice with these shoes I have from New Look, I got them about 3 years ago. They are black patent and have a lovely small heel! I'm not really sure what bag I would use, I suppose any sort of clutch bag would look great!

The hair and make up was my favourite part about this look! I used my trusty backcomb brush and a few bobby pins for the hair, it really only took about 5 minutes to do. For the eye make up, I didn't want to do the very severe cut crease that was fashionable in the 1960s. I have tried it and it just looks ridiculous on me. So I used my Kat Von D "Ludwig" eyeshadow palette and used the darkest shades from there. I never usually wear my eye make up this dark but I really like this and I am so pleased with how it turned out! My lipstick is an MUA one, I can't believe they only cost £1!!

My style icon from the 1960s is definitely Lulu. I love all the cute dresses she wore, and her hair is pretty fabulous too!

Do you like the 1960s style?