My Travel Makeup Bag.

Packing a travel makeup bag was something I used to be dreadful at, I would end up packing a makeup suitcase. I'm travelling to Portugal on Monday the 5th of October for six days (I'm writing this on Saturday!) and I only need to bring the bare essentials with me. I feel like I have finally perfected bringing only what I actually need with me. Now because it will be a sun holiday (hopefully!) I won't be wearing too much makeup but I still want to have enough to dress up at night.

As always I will link everything that I mention. I try to avoid bringing too many liquids with me because its just a nightmare at security in the airport. Although I am not of Portuguese decent, Portugal is like my second home and I visit every year at least once or twice. My family do have a home there so a lot of the basics I need are there already, but no makeup. So enough rambling, this is what is in my travel makeup bag!

I like to think that my makeup bag when travelling is very minimal, I used to bring tonnes of stuff but never actually used it. When its warm and sunny wearing makeup isn't on my mind as much as usual. Plus its always nice to give your skin a bit of a break. The BB cream has an SPF in it so I can wear it during the day if I want to. I will list and link everything below! Thank you so much for reading and once my internet connection is good I will be posting some Portugal posts while I'm over there. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and happy Monday ❤

Garnier BB Cream in Medium

Urban Decay Naked Concealer in Fair

Clinique Almost Powder Makeup in Fair

Chanel Bronze Universal

MAC MSF in Give Me Sun!

MAC Blush in Sea Me, Hear Me

TheBalm Mary Loumanizer

MAC Waterproof Brow Gel in Quiet Brunette

MAC Gel Liner in Dipdown

Estee Lauder Sumptuous Infinite Mascara

MAC Eyeshadow Quad Colours:

Swiss Chocolate

Rule

All That Glitters

Soft Brown

YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick No. 29

Halloween Makeup, Comic Book Character.

So once again after work today I came home and decided to paint my face. Yesterdays experimentation really gave me the confidence to try out some new things! I saw this Comic Book Character makeup somewhere on Instagram I believe, and I thought it would be pretty cool to recreate. Plus if you wore it on Halloween you could just wear a normal black outfit and you'd be all set. This literally only took about half an hour and was really easy to do. I just looked at various pictures when I was doing it but there are tutorials on Youtube if you prefer to watch videos.


*Excuse the dramatic faces but the makeup didn't look quite right with your standard smile and head tilt!

The main products I used to recreate this look were Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils in Milk and Black Bean. I used MAC Riri Woo on my lips (dupe is MAC Ruby Woo) and I just applied some Kiss false lashes. The products needed to create this were so minimal so its ideal if you don't have face paint or special effects products.


If you try this out I would love to see pictures! What are you dressing up as this Halloween? Or are you like me and you will probably stay at home in your pjs, eat your weight in sweets and watch Hocus Pocus. Have a lovely weekend ❤

Halloween Makeup, Experimenting.

Special Effects and Halloween Makeup are definitely not my strong points or area of expertise. I tend to stick with the more natural (aka human looking) makeup looks. I've watched so many tutorials on halloween looks but I've never actually tried one. I was watching Nicole Guerriero's newest tutorial and fell in love with what she did! So I took the plunge and tried it out. Now I didn't have half the products she used so I just did my own version. I had no cream colours so I used all powders and this is what I came up with. Now its by no means amazing but I am proud of myself for trying something new. I've really got back into my blog over the past week so I said I'd share what I attempted today and save my originally planned post for tomorrow.

Doing this again I would definitely purchase cream products because the powders were super drying! I literally just used some old Sleek palettes I had lying around with a dense Real Techniques brush that came in their eye set. Then I used an old liquid liner for the black. I'm really not sure what this look is supposed to be but I think with a black top and some galaxy trousers you could pull off a futuristic look. 

If you have watched any Halloween or Special Effects tutorials recently please leave me a link because I'd love to check them out! As always thanks for stopping by and I will chat to you again soon ❤

Room Decor Haul, Grey & White.

Recently my room went to hell a little bit, by that I mean when I went to tidy it up nothing actually had a place. So I decided to gut it out and buy some new decor for my room just to jazz it up a bit. There is nothing like adding some new bedlinen, pillows and some decorative pieces just to spice things up. The colour theme in my room is grey and white (I really hate the word theme), but two of my furniture pieces (ie. my bed and wardrobe) are wooden. I will list where I got everything if I an remember. I also have two pictures of pieces that are not new, but really are the main focal points of my room and I thought they were kind of important to show so you can see how everything ties together. Hope you enjoy! ❤

These are the two pieces that are not new. I'm sure you have seen them on countless blogs and YouTube videos. They are both from Ikea. I love Audrey Hepburn (fun fact actually my middle name is Audrey!) so I was automatically drawn to this picture, its slightly grey in colour and goes perfectly with my pale grey walls. Its hung just behind my bed. This lampshade is gorgeous, it really adds something to a room. Its dramatic without being too OTT! As you can see one of the walls in my room is darker grey/ purple in colour, you can see it in the top picture. I was in Ikea recently and they still have both of these pieces. 

One of my favourite places to go room or home record shopping is TK Maxx (TJ Maxx in the US). They also have the most reasonable but unique pieces. I bought the white bedlinen on my bed in there and it is so soft. My boyfriend bought me this sign for my room, I absolutely love it. I have it on my desk because it looked nicer there than hanging on the wall. My wardrobe is very old, it was actually from my grandparents house. Now because most of my furniture is white I wanted to be able to tie everything together. I needed eight door knobs in total because I have a double wardrobe, and there are two drawers on the bottom. These were really reasonable at €6 for four. They are a creamy white with a vintage rusted gold design on them. No need for a new wardrobe when you can a few small things to modernise it!

The next place that I bought a few bits was in Penneys aka Primark. They had loads of new homeware and I really had to try my best to not go too over the top. The two heart pillows were super cheap at only €4 each! They are made up of small tightly packed roses stitched together. They came in a baby pink and a beige colour too I believe. I bought the trio of elephants purely because they were cute, but I honestly had no idea where to put it once I got home. So I went with hanging it on my wardrobe because it was lacking the white theme that is starting to take over my room, they were about €4. The glass jar was ideal for the giant space on my windowsill. Now the only issue I'm having is what to put in it. So if you have any ideas it would be much appreciated, the jar was roughly €6 I believe. Lastly is the throw lying underneath all the products. Its white in colour with grey running through it (ideal colouring, I know) and is the softest thing I've ever felt in my life. It has a fleeced chocolate covered lining on the reverse side and was about €25.

My boyfriend actually bought me these two wooden storage pieces when he went to a game fair in the UK (he knows how I feel about room decor!). I use the top one for storing my most used jewellery, which is basically my Alex & Ani bracelets and a other more bits. I have it on my windowsill, which is also whitewashed. The bottom piece is kept on my vanity. It is a slight green tinged whitewash colour. This is so perfect for keeping my most used foundations, my setting sprays and my hand cream. The little drawers are ideal for holding lip balms, bobbins, bobby pins etc. Apologies for the weird lighting on the bottom picture, the evening sun was just not co-operating. These pieces were a total bargain at £10 for the two of them! They did have a label with a brand on them but I threw them out.. OOPS...

I hope this was somewhat helpful or even gave you a twincey bit of inspiration. If you have any pieces that you think I would love please leave me a link. I would also love to know what your favourite colour theme is. Also if you have any suggestions of what I could put in the jar I bought please let me know ❤

Product Lust. September.

No matter how much money I spend shopping, there always seems to be something else I'm longing for. Product lust or wish list posts are some of my favourite kind to read because I love to find out what other people are wanting (plus it feeds my shopping addition!).


So I've thrown together a few things that I've really been wanting this month. None of which I will probably purchase because I went a bit crazy this month and made the big switch from a PC to a Macbook Air! I've been wanting one for years and I've finally taken the plunge. I've never used a Macbook before so its going to take some serious adjusting!

1. I recently bought the Too Faced Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar Palette and to say I love it is an understatement. It has made me really really want to buy the original Chocolate Bar Palette. I love the rich colours it has, especially the maroon and chocolate shades.

2. I never really purchase perfume for myself but I am loving Lancome Le Vie Est Belle. I work in cosmetics and I can never resist going over to the Lancome counter to smother myself in this. It has a beautiful sweet scent and I absolutely love it. 

3. I am a sucker for limited edition products, and the Miley Cyrus Viva Glam 2 lipstick is no exception. However if I'm going to buy it, it has to be in a colour I will wear. The first Miley Cyrus lipstick was pink and I rarely wear pink lipstick. This one is a unique orangey red lipstick, ideal for this time of the year!

4. For me Autumn Winter means one thing, candles. I love seasonal candles, especially warm sweet scents. There is nothing nicer than snuggling up in bed on your computer with a candle burning in the corner. This Vanilla Bourbon Yankee Candle sounds right up my street. I can't wait to give it a sniff!

5. MAC Fix+ is one of my holy grail products, so as an oily skin girl I really think I'd benefit from the Urban Decay De-Slick Setting spray. For some reason I find nothing more satisfying in the morning than setting my makeup with a spray. A spray that would control oil sounds like a match made in heaven for me!

6. So the last product isn't beauty related but I thought I'd share it anyway. Upon researching and buying my Macbook I ended up looking at loads of cases and accessories. When I saw this Snow White Decal I knew I would buy it (eventually). It is just so cool and I have never seen anyone with something like this on their computer. I will be purchasing this, pronto. 

So that is the end of my product lusts for September. I would love if you would let me know what products you are lusting after this month! As always thank you for stopping by and don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin and Instagram <3

New Brushes & Tools! Sigma, Zoeva, MAC, Estee Lauder.

Firstly I'd like to apologise for my lack of blogging over the last two weeks (ie. zero posts). I have been sick, but being sick means lots of time for online shopping. Believe me, I did enough online shopping to last me a lifetime. I've bought loads of products and accessories for my makeup kit over the last month or so and I cant wait to share my finds with you. The biggest investment (and my personal favourite to buy) were my brushes. I did loads of research before I took the plunge, and I also got a few more brush tools along the way. I definitely will have more posts on some amazing products I have found online. Cant wait to share them with you!

Sigma

I've been lusting after Sigma brushes for what seems to be my entire life. Buying them in a set made the most side financially and a set really did cover all of the basics. I bought the Mr. Bunny Black Essential Kit and the Beauty Spa Express Brush Cleaning Glove from Cloud10beauty.com. Their shipping was extremely quick and I also got 15% off using a discount code I found online! So I would definitely recommend looking for discount codes before you purchase. I haven't personally used the brushes yet as they are for my kit but they all feel super soft and are of amazing quality, and I have used Sigma brushes before. This set in particular are cruelty free and vegan. My brushes do have a blue ring around the bottom, this was painted on by me just to differentiate them between everyone elses! 

The Mr. Bunny Black Essential Kit comes with twelve brushes and a brush holder. It consists of five face brushes and seven eye brushes. All of which are listed on the site here. I love the brush cup (which you can also buy separately), its ideal for holding your brushes when doing someone elses makeup and also for traveling. I have also yet to use the brush cleaning glove but anything that makes brush cleaning quicker is an A+ in my book! It has loads of different ridges and designs for different sizes and types of brushes.

Zoeva

Zoeva has been seriously growing in popularity over the past few years and I was dying to try some of their products. Their brushes are sold on several Irish websites but I really wanted to purchase their brush belt. So I went ahead and bought them off their German website. At first I thought shipping was a little pricey at €7.50 but after my delightful experience with them I'd pay it again. My products were packaged beautifully and delivered really quickly. I bought the Zoeva brush belt, lip brush and small stippling brush. They have a really good price point with loads of variety of products on their site.

MAC

This one is a staple. I have two in my own personal collection and I have written about it on my blog before here. In my opinion everyone should have at least one MAC 217, if not one hundred of them. 

 

Estee Lauder

Last but not least is my favourite spot brush cleaner ever. It is extremely similar to the MAC brush cleanser but this one features a spray top, which is a serious bonus. The Estee Lauder Brush Cleanser is ideal for on the spot cleaning of your brushes when you don't have time to full blown wash them. Its not that expensive either, but will save you loads of time, money and avoid you needing to carry too many brushes.

Thank you for reading and I'm sorry for being MIA for so long. Be prepared for loads of blog posts in the coming weeks! Happy September <3

"The right tools are just as important as the makeup itself" - Bobbi Brown