Sephora Favourites: Extravagant Eyes

I was lucky enough to receive one of these Sephora Favourites Boxes recently. I love these boxes as they are they perfect way to sample a number of products without committing to full size versions (although in this box there were quite a few full products!). It also works out so much cheaper as well if you tend to find that you don't always use up full sized products before they expire. The box costs $42/€39. You can't order direct from Sephora.com here in Ireland, but they do send to the U.K so set up a Parcel Motel account to get it delivered here.

This box contains eight products, five of which are full size & the remaining three are deluxe size. The general colour "theme" of this box appears to be burgundy/gold, which is huge this season. I love these colours & have been wearing similar tones since the summer. If you don't like burgundy tones this box may not be for you...

These products are also great for travelling due to the size, but also because of the formula of some of the products you don't need a whole bunch of brushes.

This Nars Dual Intensity Eye Shadow in the shade Himalia is a gorgeous bronze/gold shimmer shadow with incredible pigmentation.

I love using this colour as a lid colour for smokey brown burgundy eye or by itself for a natural shimmery look. Beautiful shine off it, with no chunks of glitter.

This Milk Make Up Eye Pigment in the shade Silent Disco can be a bit tricky to use. A little of this product goes a LONG way.

This pigment has a slight pink glitter going through it so I tend to use it on the lid rather than the crease. The best way that I found to apply it is to put a tiny, tiny bit on the back of my hand and use a fluffy synthetic brush to apply over an eye shadow primer. This lasts all day & does not crease or budge.

The Marc Jacobs O! Mega Lash Volumizing Mascara in Blacquer is a good all round mascara, not the best in the whole world, but still a good day to day mascara.

The Sephora Collection Eye Contour Crayon in Black Lace is the perfect eyeliner for the water line, nice & creamy so it doesn't drag the skin & lasts for hours.

Similar to the Milk Pigment,with this Smashbox 24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer a little bit goes a long way! This primer has a slightly silicone-like feel to it & blended nicely across the eye lid.

Apparently the Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy has been sold out all over the states (I've spotted it in Debenhams over here though). This is great used in conjunction with black liquid liner & was just made for the Christmas Party season.

This Laura Mercier Caviar Eye Shadow Stick in Plum shade is SUPER pigmented & does not budge, I had to use an oil based Eye make-up remover to take it off.

I found this the hardest product to apply, just because once you apply it to an area it's not moving! I used it as a crease colour as there is no shimmer, but had to spend ages blending it out. The final result was worth it, you just have to work for it! 

These Huda Beauty Lashes in "Samantha" are pretty dramatic! I haven't had an occasion to wear them yet, but soon...

I've heard great reviews about the Huda Beauty Lashes & they retail for around $20 so these are definitely luxury & hopefully I'll get a good few uses out of them.

Korean Activated charcoal mask

Traditionally I have always had fairly oily skin growing up. This changed about the time that I turned thirty, as well as moving to a new home which has very hard water. The combination of the two has now turned my skin to dry/dehydrated.

One side effect of my new skin type is that I now have to use heavier products to moisturise my skin, resulting in clogged pores & blackheads on my nose!

I have tried several different masks & pore strips over the last couple months, but all these have done have dried out my skin more without actually removing the blockages. It was during my daily dose of YouTube viewing that I came across a 3 Step Korean Activated Charcoal Mask, which claims to first soften the blockages, drawing them to surface & then removing them via a peel off mask

I ordered this mask on Amazon for approximately €15 & took a week to arrive.

 

So this was my nose before. I started of by thoroughly cleaning & drying the area.

The instructions which come inside the box are much easier to understand than those printed on the back of the box, for example: " Penetrates pores deeply to quickly dissolve accumulated oil & dirty old horny to promote normal metabolism of skin keratin & recupertion of skin"... Enough said.

So step one of the process involves massaging the Deep Pore Sebum Softner into my nose, leaving on for about 5 minutes, rinsing off & then patting dry.

Next step was to smooth the Blackhead Removal Activated Carbon Mask to my nose (I used a cheap flat head make-up brush to ensure even coverage) I let that dry for approx 30 mins & then slowly peeled up from the bottom of the mask to the top.

It was not sore to peel of the mask, just made my eyes water slightly.

After I removed the mask I patted on the Skin Clarifying Pore Treatment Essence which they highly recommend to tighten the pores.

So this was my mask after I peeled it off. My nose felt noticeably smoother with a lot less congestion, especially around the corners of my nose.

Overall I would give this mask 4 out of five. Definitely made athe biggest improvement from any mask I've tried, the only downsides being that there is three different products to use & also that ordering off Amazon means that with the postage cost, the price can add up.

Removing Gel Nail Extentions

So after having Gel Nail Extentions continuously for the past year, I decided it might be time to give my poor nails a break, as you can see from the below picture, they are badly in need of a bit of TLC!

Despite the large selection of nail care available these days, I decided to keep it old-school & try Sally Hansen "Hard as Nails"

Nails before:

After the nails extensions were all removed, I buffed the surface of the nail gently & pushed back the cuticles. I then lightly filed the nails into an oval shape as this helps peeling as the nails get stronger. My nails are now paper thin & sore to the touch, so I applied three coats of the "Hard as Nails", two coats of Inglot Nail Polish & then two coats of Sally Hansen "Mega Shine" Top Coat. 

 Nails after Extentions were removed & nails were buffed:

I am planning to repeat this process about twice a week & keep my nails short until they regain some strength back.

Finished nails:

Inglot Nail Polish Review

As I was at a loose end this week while in Cork for work, I purchased three bottle of Inglot nail polish at a price of €10 each or 3 for the price of 2. These ones were from the Oliver Plunkett St branch, where they had a very generous colour selection, which from what I've seen from there other branches seems to be fairly consistent.

Product codes are: 858 (colour reviewed) 969 & 332.

Pros:

-Opaque coverage with one coat (picture shows nails after two coats)

-Has proven to be incredibly chip resistant so far

-High shine finish

Cons:

-The brush was very thin (I prefer a thicker brush for less brush strokes & fuller coverage)

-More expensive than drug store polishes 

-The brush could sometimes hold too much product resulting in pooling at the cuticles

Result:

Friday Night Cocktails

Girls night out in McGettigans Bar, Limerick drinking some of the amazing Heart of Limerick cocktails

Play suit: River Island

Shoes: Kurt Geiger

Earrings: Penneys

Ring: Parfois