Dubai Haul♥︎ (makeup)

This is incredibly overdue and I have been back for over a week now but I've just been so busy with school recently and haven't found time to post as much as I would like to (sad face)

As you can guess from the title, I was on holidays! Yes, I finally got to visit my very lucky brother who lives in Dubai and I had the most brilliant time ever. I will give you a quick rundown on what we done whilst there - maybe you are heading on holidays there and this may interest you? 

So we landed in Dubai about 9am - and after a 8 hour flight I was tired to say the least. Alas I got myself together and went to 'Bounce' which is a cool trampoline centre thingy - it sounds so crap but trust me we (myself and my brothers girlfriend) had SO much fun. The instructors were lovely and taught us some cool tricks and there is also a section for dodgeball - which I loved (and also won). After bounce we went for lunch and then set off to 'iFLY' which I was scared out of my wits of doing. IFLY is basically a giant tube with air blowing up so you feel like you're skydiving/flying? I'm terrible at explaining it and I was also pretty terrible at doing it. After getting past the initial fear of it I had so much fun and again the instructors were so lovely - one lovely enough to get my leg and spin me around in a circle (whilst 'flying') lol. 

Day two we went to the waterpark in Atlantis - this was probably my favourite day, it was just so much fun and I loooove a good waterpark. Also I'm incredibly proud of myself for going on the famous 'leap of faith' which is basically a vertical slide. This was the first slide I went on. (so proud) The next day we attended a - pretty much - all day brunch. I have never ever seen so much food in my entire life, it was INSANE. I felt pretty disgusted if I'm honest - it was just so wasteful! I won't lie though, I did enjoy it and it was certainly enjoyable (there was a pina colada station and an indian food section, how could I not enjoy myself?!) The next three days were spent relaxing by the pool and doing a little too much shopping.. 

Which leads me into sharing my haul with you all!

(Can you tell the background is actually an old skirt.. Clever, eh?)

Lets begin! First off in the airport I picked up Mac Fix+  which I have been eyeing up for aaages, so it is about time I got it! Whilst on my way to the till I spotted Benefit Majorette blush and after reading a million reviews on it on bloglovin I thought I may as well pick it up - everyone deserves an extra cream blush:)

Up close and personal with benefit majorette ft. my pale arm and the end of my hair in the mirror

Whilst being in Sephora, I honestly felt so overwhelmed - it was crazy. Not just because I was so in awe of it all but because of how crazy busy it was and how I was approached about 10 times asking did I need help. No thank you, overly pushy sales person, I'm fine. Honestly, if I need help, I will come to you! Stop pushing me and following me around like a predator, it puts me off rather than makes me want to buy something! I noticed especially in Lush and Victoria's Secret how pushy the workers were and it got to the stage were I had to be rude to them - which I hated because working in a shop myself I know the feeling of rude costumers, but honestly I was so fricking annoyed and (hate to get too tmi here) thanks very much but I know my own bra size without you following me and pestering me. In lush she literally trailed after me - I left without even getting to look at half of the stuff there. Anyways rant over. Moving on.. 

Okay so in Sephora I was initially set on getting the original Smashbox primer however once seeing the same primer only a blemish control version, I instantly changed my mind. The salycilic acid in the primer helps to treat acne/blemishes while still reducing the appearence of them. I was also determined to get the Makeup Forever Hd foundation  so as soon as I seen the makeup forever counter I nearly screamed I was so excited. I got mine in the shade 117 and I even got one for my sister and one of my friends because it is so good. 

In Sephora I also got the own brand concealer brush  which is great for covering up blemishes because of the small and precise brush.. Head? (is that the word?!). 

I'm also a little confused about the next product I got because I am nearly 90% certain that it is the 'better than sex' mascara by too faced, however it's called 'better than love' and I have looked up everywhere to see if there is a different mascara called that but I can only find the better than sex one so I am very confused. Also I was set on buying the better than sex mascara but at the counter I could only find the other one - so after that rambling over mascaras, I have came to the conclusion they are the same. 

Last thing I picked up in Sephora is the limited edition 'Pulp Fiction' palette by Urban Decay. 

I absolutely love the shades it comes with - I especially love 'righteous' all over the lid and 'tyranny' blended into the crease. At £17.50 I think it's good value for Urban Decay. 

After my rotten experience in Lush. I managed to come out with the 250g tea tree water which is actually a repurchase as my smaller version ran out. I love this toner and the 100g lasted so long so it is definitely good value for money in my opinion. I also got the 'ultimate shine' shampoo bar because who doesn't want shiny hair?! And also because shampoo bars are super cool.

Probably my favourite purchase - the gorgeous 'star violet' eyeshadow by Mac. I love it, I love it, I love it. It is so beautiful and such an unusual colour, it looks beautiful with browns and pink toned colours. It is the ultimate autumnal shade in my opinion. 

So pretttttttty!

I also managed to pick up the Kiehls 'Rare Earth Pore Cleansing Masque'  I haven't used this yet, but it has been on my wishlist since August so I'm super duper excited to try it out!

And that's me! A bit of a text-heavy post but oh well! I hope you enjoyed reading, leave a comment below on your thoughts etc I love reading them:) 

Have a good day! Byeeeee:) 

Ps Always remember.. 

September Favourites♥︎

I understand that every blogger/youtuber/monthly enthusiast comments on how this month has flown past us and I am no different. This month has went soooo quick! It feels like no time since I was stressing over what bag I was going to bring to school. Now I'm a month in. Crazy.

Another month, another set of favourites.. Two of these are all time favourites however I have paticularly enjoyed them this month. 

Also this is a pretty late favourites post because I was on holidays - in which I was feeling a little spendy so I will be posting two new hauls - makeup and clothes later this week. Hurray!

First off lets begin with the social media superstar frank body coffee scrub (original- £11.95, Coconut & Grapeseed £13.95), this scrub claims to target stretch marks, cellulite and other skin conditions. I'm not going to go too in depth with this product as I think I will do a review on it once I finish my original scrub and then maybe when I'm like half way through the coconut one? Just so I can tell you my preference. So far I love this scrub, my skin feels smooth and toned(?) after using it and if you are like me and love the smell of coffee - it's the scrub for you! (Also it is free shipping, how great is that?!)

Two lip favourites this month include my trusty Burts Bees (£3.69) lip balm which is amazing and I have always loved it but I always seem to lose it so after getting a new one this month it was feeling a whole lotta love.

After my love affair with my Topshop lipstick in ditsy, I've been dying to try another Topshop product which led me to buying a lip bullet in the shade heartbeat (£8), it's a gorgeous peachy pink and is so wearable. Also I love how creamy the formula is making it so easy to apply. 

Only now am I realising the face masks packaging is dirty, I apologise for my grossness.  

I'm pretty sure I have mentioned the Ren 'Invisible Pores Detox Mask' (£18) before on this blog but I am only going to mention it again briefly. Whenever I'm having a bad skin day, I love using this mask as it really feels like it's doing good and always leaves my skin feeling soft and refreshed after using it. 

Fellow acne sufferers and people with skin issues, come and gather round - you will love this. Estee Lauder Double Wear (£29.50) was introduced to me around the start of this year and ever since then, I've been running back to it. I wouldn't wear it everyday as it's a very heavy, high coverage foundation. Without even using concealer, it can cover up all of my acne and it will last all day, literally - All. Day. I always wear esdw on nights out because (as gross as it sounds) dancing makes you sweat and other foundations melt away by the end of the night. One problem I have discovered recently is, I find that esdw causes flashback in photographs (I think?) because my face looks incredibly white compared to everyone else's but only when flash is used.. It's still worth it in my opinion.

Holy grail status - The Balm 'Bahama Mama' (£13.50) bronzer is my absolute favourite bronzer of all the bronzers I have tried.  (can you use the word bronzer anymore Nessa?!) This is literally the perfect contour shade. Not muddy or orange, it mimics a natural shadow under cheekbones and works as such a beautiful contour shade. If you are getting anything from this post definitely get the bronzer, it's amazing. 

  

What's that little contraption in the bottom left corner of the picture you ask? It's the Laura Mercier eyelash curler . I used to always skip curling my eyelashes, thinking it was pointless but this little guy has completely changed my mind. It's honestly so good - being the best eyelash curler I have used - and also because it's so small it takes up hardly any room in my makeup bag (leaving more room for other goodies)

My Mac fluidline in blacktrack (£15.50) has been quite the staple in my eye makeup this month, if it's not a cat eye, they will be lined to some extent - and I have been using this bad boy for just that.

How can I not mention my Too Faced 'Chocolate Bar' palette (£45)? I've been using this almost every time I've makeup on, mainly because it's gorgeous. The shades are pigmented, blendable and wearable - everything you want in a palette, eh? My favourites are 'salted caramel' (first on the second row), 'marzipan' (beside salted caramel) and 'cherry cordial' which I think will be fab for winter (fourth on the third row). Also, it smells of chocolate, case closed - it wins everything. 

I hope you enjoyed reading! Comment below on what your September favourites are, I would love to read them:) 

See you soon!x 

Toronto Treats! (haul)

 

A moment of appreciation for my Mum and Dad for trolling through Sephora, Mac, Lush and the lot, just to bring me back these goodies! I am in no way showing off here, I just really want to share with you what I got because I'm very, very excited!

Another thing, I am pretty sure (I think?) that certain brands are actually cheaper in Canada/Us so this also spurred on the excessive gift buying..

I'm going to begin with (in my opinion) the most exciting product which has been on my wishlist for aaaages and that is The Chocolate Bar palette by 'Too Faced'. This is the kind of item I would never go to buy myself - mainly because of the price tag - but oh my God it's literally so perfect. The first thing my Mum said to me when I opened it was 'Smell it! It smells of chocolate!! Isn't that cool?', the smell of it was about the last thing on my mind but it actually does smell of chocolate and it is very, very cool. I have already used this palette yesterday and I can't speak highly enough of it, the colours are gorgeous and so wearable, the pigmentation is amazing and they blend flawlessly, I have zero complaints.









Another item on my wishlist that the whole female population and their neighbour has heard of is the Anastasia Beverly hills Brow Wiz. I finally have it! Let's rejoice for the strong brow games to come. Also, completely random - not complaining just an observation - but the little 'Wiz' stick thing is so teeny! I wasn't expecting a brute of a thing but it's so small and skinny and cute. I'm in looove.

From Tarte my Mum picked me up the 12 hour Amazonian Clay foundation (another wishlist item - surprise, surprise). I also used this yesterday and the texture is so moussey and dream like, it lasted pretty much all day and I loved the coverage/ finish it gave.. Maybe a review to come? (after some more testing, of course!)

Whilst in Sephora, I was also treated to a new Sephora Brush set. There's something about getting new brushes that's just so exciting and great, that I can't fully describe it. This brush set comes with 7 brushes and a little brow comb (thingy). The brushes also come with a cute little case, which is very handy for travelling and keeping everything together. Also I apologise for the two brushes that are a little unclean - I used them this morning (A star for doing their job at being fab brushes)

I was also treated to a couple little goodies from Mac..  I got two eyeshadows in the shades: Shroom and Vanilla.  Shroom has a satin finish and Vanilla has a velvet finish - according to what it says on the packaging, ha. Both of these are very shimmery colours that would be beautiful for highlighting and using in the inner corner of the eye. The only slight difference between the two is that shroom is a little more on the taupe side. Super excited to try them out.

A mac classic, I finally got my hands on the Mac fluidline eye-liner gel in Blacktrack. I'm really excited to use this as it looks like a proper black-black and I have also heard some very good things about it..

(Oh heeeeey me, with my rather crap camera)

Holy grail status, Mac msf is my lifesaver. I can't leave the house without it, I have so much love for this product, I probably will never move on from it and I will refuse to use any other powder. I LOVE IT. (I wear light plus incase you were wondering)

Also my lovely mum got me a pro longwear blush from mac in the shade 'whole lotta love', what a cute name! Not really a blusher person but I'm very excited to use this, it's a gorgeous, deep pink colour, that I am terrible at describing. Laaaavely.

 
Oh how I love Lush.. I can't even explain why, I just do - like so much. My mum knows how much I love it too - most notably because I could spend about an hour in the shop (it smells good, okay?!)

As you can see, she bought me the lush Charity Pot which is basically a hand and body lotion/moisturiser which not only feels good but does good. How can you not feel good about buying this? You donate to charity by buying it and I just really love it's idea. It also smells great (no surprise).

A product I have never seen before whilst in lush is the cleanser Aqua Marina, it looks like it's rolled up in sushi form - basically because there is seaweed wrapped around it (how cool is that). Adding to the 'coolness' is that it's really thick/ almost solid and you basically add a little in your hand, add some water and presto! You feel like you've made your own cleanser. Trust me, it is just as satisfying as it sounds. (It's also inspired by mermaids, so fricking cool in my opinion)

And with that I am going to go write up my English lit essay (oh, the joys!)
Hope you enjoyed reading and snooping through my goodies! bye:)  

New Purchases..

I know the title is a little strange but I couldn't bring myself to call this a haul because it's not really one to be honest, but I felt like I still needed to share it with you all.

As you see I picked up 3 items from Wet'n'Wild, basically because I have never seen it in Ireland and it's in the chemist beside my school so of course I got a little excited.

I picked up the 'Walking on Eggshells' 3 step eyeshadow palette. You can clearly see I have used this already and I actually love it so so much. It's so pigmented and the colours are so complementary. It was only £3.49 and I would honestly compare it to a high end eyeshadow, it's amazing. Complete bargain. 

Next up I got two of their lipsticks and I know, I know they are near the same colour but I just really like my natural-ish colours and they were too gorgeous not to pick up both. The slightly darker colour is 'Rose Bud' and the lighter of the two is 'Just Peachy'. These are also such good quality for only £2.49 each! They have such a lovely formula and the colour is so pigmented. (everything is very pigmented, okay?! Ha)  I will definitely be back to add some more to my stash!;)

*They look like a red and orange in the picture but thats just my crappy camera haha*

The next two purchases are due to the great and godly Asos. I absolutely love Asos, it's just so handy, having so many brands at just a click of a button (I'm cringing at my cliche-ness) 

First off lets welcome my beeeeeeautiful new boots. As I was saying I got these of Asos but they are actually from River Island *Get them here!*. They are described as red but I think they are more of a burgundy red colour, which make them very unique instead of boring old black boots (no hate to black boots) and they are the perfect shade for Autumn time in my opinion. I also love the little cut outs on the side which make them so cute and a little different than your average boot and for £35 I think they are very good!

A product I have been coveting for ages.. The 'Bahama Mama' bronzer from The Balm. I have heard so much about this little beauty and I am so chuffed to finally get my hands on it! Sadly they don't sell The Balm in stores in Ireland so I got mine off Asos for £13.50. As you probably notice in the picture I have already began using this bronzer and.. Oh. My. God. I am obsessed with it. It is amazing for contouring, like it's incredible. It is not orangey in the slightest and gives a very natural contour, I use my real techniques duo fibre brush to blend this in and it is just so so so beautiful. *Get your hand on it here!!*

New items are the best, I seriously think I have a shopping problem. 

Have a nice day, byeee! 

At it Again...

Uh-oh. I did it again.

So I seriously think I have a problem. I went shopping, and yes, I picked up some new makeup/beauty related bits. Its really nothing new, to be honest. 

Anyways last Wednesday I was off to get my hair done so I decided to meet up with my pal to go for a quick look around the shops and to get something to eat. And of course, it led me to buying things I probably didn't even need if I'm honest. 

First off we decided to head to boots uptown and I got the ecotools eye enhancing duo set, I can actually justify this product because I really did need some new eye brushes and I seen a video by Kathleen lights or else by the youtube channel AlisonlovesJB (I think? Doubting myself now:-))  and they recommended it so I thought 'Why not?'. I actually used them yesterday and I already agree that they are fab. 

Next I decided to repurchase the amazing garnier micellar cleansing water. This stuff is absolutely amazing at removing makeup, I would highly recommend it. Also it is roughly about £5 and considering there is 400ml in this, it is quite the bargain as it lasts a very long time.

This little beauty was picked up with thanks to my friend Ellen, for coaxing me into buying it. Honestly we are as bad as each other, telling each other that we 'NEED' certain products when really we already have a similar one in about 6 different shades. But really, I actually do thank her for persuading me to get it as it really is something else. As you can see it's the most recent mascara from rimmel and it is  called 'wonder'full' (I do appreciate a good pun). Even the packaging is gorgeous, it looks so luxurious and what makes the product even more luxurious is the fact it has Argan oil in the formula. I think what really had me won over was the fact there was Argan oil in it because I've never actually heard of a mascara with it as an ingredient and I was very intrigued. 

I actually have been using the mascara recently and I can whole-heartedly tell you it is definitely going to be my favourite for quite some time as it is brilliant at creating long and voluminous lashes but yet is clump-free, maybe it's the inclusion of argan oil that makes this mascara so wonder'full (get it?) but whatever it is, it is certainly working:-)

The enabler strikes again. Yes, another product purchased thanks to my lovely friend but I can't let her take all the blame on this one as she has had to put up with me contemplating whether to buy this for aaaages. But finally I gave in as my curiosity got the better of me. I believe the 'Nude Magique' range from L'oreal is somewhat new and this 'Blur cream' particularly caught my eye. Maybe it was the promise of a blurred out, poreless, perfect - looking skin that had me won over, that or the fancy phrases like 'Concentrated with light reflectors, the micro-blur technology delivers an optical blurring effect'. Anyways I was bought. Recently I have used the blur cream and I can't say I love it just yet.. It is quite thick and reminds me slightly of the baby skin primer by maybelline, the only difference is that the blur cream has a slight colour to it. I do think when I first put it on that it does leave my pores looking blurred out however I don't think it has combined too well with my acne as concealer seems a little harder to apply/ doesn't last as long. But maybe I am not giving it a fair chance.. I will have to wait it out another while to get a full honest verdict I think. 

(don't ask why I have the eco-tools brushes and the real techniques in the same picture, I apparently thought it was a good idea at the time)

Last but not least I have the real techniques limited edition duo-fiber edition brushes. Now let me tell you, when I see 'Limited edition' something in my head ticks and I think "Oh my God! I need this, it won't be here forever.. I would be one of the few special ones to get the cool limited edition! YES SHOW ME THE TILL I WANT 20" (Am I the only one..?) Okay so that may be exaggerated just a tad but honestly, if something is limited edition I will be all over it. I haven't tried all these brushes out yet as I'm still trying to decided which one I want to use for what but I have used the smallest one (forgive me, I'm in bed and I refuse to go get it just to find the name so I'm referring to it as the smallest one) to blend in my under eye concealer and I have no complaints, so if you love limited edition goodies too, I say go for it;-) 

So that is it! Congratulations! You are a survivor, you have survived reading through the endless thoughts and rambles from my jumbled up head! And honestly if you have gotten this far, I can not thank you enough, as it means tons and tons..

Not sure what to put at the end of blogposts.. Like what is the 'cool' thing here? I don't want to be that loser blog that everyone makes fun of because she says 'come again' when everyone knows you are meant to say 'share with your friends'.

What am I even talking about? Okay, this is a queue for me to leave it off and go to sleep..

See ya soon guys!

Ness x 

Makeup Haul!

Hi guys!

So I am currently on holidays and when you are on holidays you tend to go a bit crazy don't you? Well thats what happened to me today in the makeup store. 

In my defence these are between my sister and I and we always share makeup, so its not so bad.. right? 

I will begin with the item I am most excited about and that is the 'Soleil Tan de Chanel', it is described as a bronzing makeup base and oh my Lord. It is beautiful. I haven't even tried it out yet as I only purchased it today but I will definitely be using it the next time I am doing my makeup. 

Here is the product in all it's beauty. The colour of it looks like it will be very natural once applied and because it's a mousse I assume it will be very easy to blend. I will report back with a review but I am very excited to try it out thanks to the plentiful reviews raving of its greatness. 

Next thing that I decided to pick up was a diorshow art pen eyeliner by Dior, simply because my current liquid pen liner from rimmel just wasn't cutting it and was pretty much all used up. Picking up this liner I have read no reviews or have ever heard anyone talking about it which I probably should of done before purchasing it but on first impressions I think it seems pretty damn good. 

I took a swatch of the tester on my hand and I was bought. It came out a very strong black and the line was very thin which I find useful especially if trying to perfect a cat flick. 

Next thing I got is actually a repurchase of the Clinique super balanced foundation. I absolutely adore this foundation and I'm not going to go into lengthy detail on it as I will most likely do a review of it in another blogpost but honestly it is my favourite full coverage foundation at the moment. 

Also whilst at the Clinique counter I decided to buy one of their cult products, the chubby stick. I actually felt like I was the only one that didn't have one of these for so long, it just never crossed my mind as I'm not as much into lip products, if you get me? Also I should mention I purchased shade 06 - linen for my foundation and I purchased shade 05 - chunky cherry in the chubby stick. Can we have a brief moment for what an amazing name the chubby stick has? 

(I can't get this picture rotated for some reason it won't co-operate, my apologies)

Next up, we have a cult favourite and something I won't go into too much detail on. The Touche Eclat by Yves Saint Laurent, I purchased the shade number 2. I have very high hopes for this as I'm hoping it will work well as an under-eye concealer to hide dark circles as my last concealer didn't really do any good if I'm honest. 

Last but not least we have a mascara. This was merely just an impulse buy. I was already done purchasing all my goodies when my mum turns around and says "Do you want a mascara? I'm getting one from Lancome, the lady said it's very good.. Do you want one too?" Of course, as a person to never turn down a great opportunity I think maybe I should get one..

So that led me to buy this. What I decided on was the Lancome Hypnose waterproof custom-wear volume mascara. Wow that was a mouthful. 

Usually I never get waterproof mascaras and I don't really have an explanation for it, it just never crosses my mind to buy one but after what happened last week when I watched the fault in our stars movie and had to walk to the bus depot straight after I realised I definitely needed one. So thats what spurred me on to try out a waterproof mascara. I really hope it isn't a pain to take off and will work just as well as a non-waterproof mascara, so I am also very excited to try this.

And thats me done.

*sighs in relief*

I hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe took something out of it.. Hopefully? Anyways please leave me a comment if you have tried out any of these or if you have read this or whatever you want really.

Thanks guys! 

Ness x