Rimmel 'The One & Only' Lipstick

Hello Ladies,

I hope your all doing well. Today's post is all about Rimmel 'The One & Only' Lipstick in the shade 

'One-Of-A-Kind'.

While I love the Color and Formula of this lipstick, I do have problems with the angled lipstick bullet. I find it slightly harder to apply than the standard bullet shape. I like the sleek, modern design of the outer casing but just wish they didn't have to angle the actual lipstick too! That aside the formula of this lipstick is fantastic! The long lasting formula moisturises the lips while giving incredible color payoff. Available in 15 shades, I chose the shade 'One-Of-A-Kind' which is a deep plum shade. I love plum and berry shades on my lips this time of year and this lipstick is just the perfect shade for me. 

The satin finish formula feels quite light weight and comfortable on the lips, sort of balmy, which I really like. This time of year my lips tend to get chapped with the cold and the wind but I haven't had that problem so much since I've started to wear this product. The lipstick is opaque so it gives really good coverage and lasts for hours without the need to reapply. It lasts for ages when eating and drinking making it a great choice for the festive season. I really like the formula of these lipsticks and the range of shades available as well as the very affordable price tag, my only gripe with this lipstick is the angled bullet. But hey, you can't win them all! 

Here is the lipstick pictured on me, applied without primer or liner.

I'm generally very impressed with this new product from Rimmel. Despite the bullet shape I think I will be purchasing some of the other shades available in the collection.

Have you tried these lipsticks yet? If so what did you think?

Zara

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Mini Essence Haul

Hello Ladies,

How are you all doing? I was recently in my local Cara Pharmacy when I laid eyes on these little beauties from Essence. Everything pictured apart from the 'all about the Roses' eye shadow palette is from the Essence Christmas Trend Edition 'Merry Berry'. Merry Berry consists of 5 nail polishes, 2 eye shadows, 3 lipsticks, a highlighter, a hair fragrance spray and a scented gold dust powder.  

I'll start with the Merry Berry Scented Gold Dust Powder. Can we please all just take a moment to look at the packaging... Isn't is just beautiful! Housed in this gorgeous gold atomizer bottle is a very fine glittery gold powder. The powder is very slightly scented, a sweet kind of vanilla-y scent. The atomizer pump disperses the powder lightly and evenly so it's perfect for adding a bit of sparkle to the collar bones, shoulders and decolletage. It leaves a subtle gold shimmer on the skin which looks beautiful. Whats really great about this atomizer is that it's refillable, it can be refilled with other fine loose powders or perfume. This atomizer was an absolute bargain at just €4.39, it'd make a fabulous gift for someone else or a little treat for yourself. 

Out of the 3 available lipsticks in this range I chose two,  01 - let's the berry-tales begin (swatch on the top) & 02 pink and perfect (swatch on the bottom). The third lipstick is a bright red matt finish called 03- red rocks. All three are beautiful shades and the only reason I didn't buy 03 is simply because I all ready have tons of red lipsticks. As for the two I did buy you can see from the picture above that they are incredibly pigmented and opaque. They have a long lasting creamy formula and give a slight shine to the lips. The colors are perfect for this time of year and they compliment each other perfectly for an ombre lip too. I also really like the packaging, the gold on the packaging fits in so nicely with rest of the collection.

The last thing I bought from this collection was Merry Berry Nail Polish in 03- pink & perfect. I love the dark pink, berry color of this polish. It's definitely going to be my go - to Autumn/Winter color. I applied 2 coats for the picture above so as you can see it gives very good coverage. I didn't apply a top coat as I wanted to see the staying - power of the polish by itself and also the polish already has a lovely shine. I was very impressed by how long lasting this polish is, I was on day 3 before it started to chip which for me, is fantastic.

Last but not least I bought the 'All About Roses' eye shadow palette. It's not part of the Merry Berry collection but I couldn't resist it. The palette contains 8 complimentary eye shadows in rose-y, purple-y colors, perfect for this time of year. There are 3 matte shades and 5 simmer shades all with wonderful color payoff. . The powders are all very pigmented and blend together easily to give looks for both day and evening time. As you can see from the swatches above (done without primer) the eye shadows are of very good quality considering the price tag of a mere  €4.99. 

I'm really enjoying the latest essence products and I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll do next. The budget beauty brand has really out done itself lately!

Thanks for reading and let me know if you've tried any of these!

Zara

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Autumn Lips

Hi Ladies,

How are you all? So to follow up my go to face products and go to eye products I'm now doing a post showcasing my favorite daily lip looks. I couldn't possibly pick just one look, so I've picked my favorite three go to autumn lip looks. 

If I'm in a bit of a hurry or don't think I'll have the time to be precisely reapplying lip liner throughout the day I like to stick with just a nude lipstick and a bit of gloss. I am loving Kate's Lasting Finish Nude Collection for Rimmel at the moment and I'm a big fan of number 45 which is a rose toned nude. I like the formula of these lipsticks as they are soft and smooth and they last for ages! It's nice to be able to pop on your lipstick in the morning and not have to think about it for a few hours. I like to top this off with a slick of Rimmels 'Oh My Gloss' lip gloss in 'Stay My Rose'. Its a beautiful pink sparkly lip gloss and it stays glossy for up to six hours. A winning daytime combination from Rimmel!

 One of my all time favorite nude lipsticks is Cherish from MAC. Its a brown toned opaque nude with a satin finish. It lasts for hours on and I'd say it would suit most skin tones. The creamy formula glides on and leaves my lips feeling soft and moisturized. I love pairing this with Essence 'In The Nude' Lip liner. I find that the colors compliment each other perfectly and make my lips look nice and full. It's a very wearable look and is suitable for all year round.

Finally my last look is a darker more autumn/winter look. To create this look I use Revlon Colorstay Lip liner in Raisin and I pair it with Essence 'Come Naturally' Lipstick.  The liner is a reddish brown tone and the lipstick is a dark nude with a sort of mauve-y tone. They are quite different colors but are brilliant for using together to contour the lips. I like to blend the liner into my lips using a lip brush before applying the lipstick as I find this helps to make sure there are no harsh lines.

So there they are, my three favorite go to day time looks for autumn. What lipsticks are you grabbing on a daily basis for Autumn? 

Zara

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Eye Love

Hello Ladies,

I hope you're all well today. As were in the midst of Autumn I like to warm up the tones I use on my eyes. I usually wear pretty neutral colors on my eyes but as the days get darker I love to embrace some darker shades like purples and mauve's.

I'm a huge fan of the W7 eye palettes which I'm sure you're all familiar with. The W7 palettes have been hailed as dupes of the Urban Decay Naked palettes and at a fraction of the price I definitely think their worth the purchase if you're not ready to splurge on the Urban Decay ones. I love these palettes, the eye shadows are of incredible quality and are extremely well pigmented and very versatile. The eye shadows are housed in sturdy metal tins keeping them nice and safe and come with a double ended applicator, one end has a sponge applicator and the other a brush. 

My favorite ones this time of year are 'In The Buff' and 'In The Night'. 'In The Buff' consists of 12 neutral shadows - 3 matte shades and 9 shimmer shades. The colors all compliment each other beautifully and easily be used for both day time and night time looks. I love using the bronze-y and rose gold toned colors this time of year. To make my look a bit more autumnal I reach for the 'In The Night' palette with is beautiful range of 12 shimmering shades from browns, to pinks and purples and greys. I find that these two palettes work wonderfully together! I like to blend the purple and mauve shades of the 'In The Night' palette into the crease of my eye while using the more neutral tones of the 'In The Buff' palette for my lids and for transitioning. The color pay off of these shadows is fantastic, I picked my palettes up in my local pharmacy for a mere €7.50 each and was astonished at the quality given how affordable they are. The shadows are really soft and easy to blend, I honestly don't believe that you could buy a better palette for the price. 

While were on the subject of W7, I am head over heels in love with the W7 Brow Parlour Eyebrow Grooming Kit. This little beauty (which also comes in a tin case) boasts 2 powder eyebrow shades, a highlight, brow wax, a mini tweezers and a double ended brow tool with an angled brush and a spoolie. As well as that it has a lovely little compact mirror for brows on the go! It's so handy to use and keeps my brows looking good all day! I'm a bit shall we say 'folically challenged' when it comes to my brows, My eyebrow hair is very fair and sparse so there's not a lot there for products to cling to but I find that this really does stay put!

As far as eye shadow bases and primers go I thought it was all a bit of a gimmick for years if I'm honest. I tried a few different bases and never really noticed too much of a difference. I saw 'I <3 Stage' eye shadow base by Essence one day in my local pharmacy and I thought I'd make one last attempt to be persuaded, so I made the purchase. I haven't looked back since! It's a fantastic base for applying eye shadow and really increases the longevity of the products you apply to your eyes. It increases the intensity of the colors you apply and helps prevent any creasing. I have Urban Decays Original Eye Shadow Primer Potion and I can honestly say that I much prefer my Essence one. 

I love my felt tip liquid eyeliners and have tried tons! Instead of repurchasing one when it ran out or dried up I'd try a different brand, I was on a quest to find 'the one'. It happened. Bourjois made me one happy bunny when I picked up 'Liner Feutre Ultra Black'. It's a blacker than black jet black and the formula glides on effortlessly. The tapered tip makes doing a flick super easy and, wait for this, it lasts for up to 24 hours! I found that a lot of the felt tip liners I tried dried out really fast but this one lasts until the product is gone and is as good as the day it were bought for months. I have repurchased this a few times now and since I first got it in my mitts my head has not been turned by another felt tip. 

For lining the tear shelf of my eyes I love Benefit's 'Eye Bright'. It's a very very pale pink shade and really makes a big difference to my eyes. It makes my eyes look a lot bigger but as well as that it makes me look a hell of a lot more awake! It's fantastic if you've had a late night the night before or maybe had that last glass of vino that you shouldn't have. As well as using this on my tear shelf I also like to apply some to the inner corners of my eyes as it really helps to open them up. 

Finally... to finish off my eyes I have been loving NYX 'Doll Eye' Mascara. This mascara is superb!! It contains tiny little fibers that cling to the lashes to make them look longer and fuller. It really gives the false lash effect and I've actually been asked if I had eyelash extension while wearing this. Love love love!

Here is a simple autumnal day time look that I achieved using all the products mentioned in this post.

So there you have it, my daily go to eye products. Have you used any of these products? I'd love to hear what you think! Thank you so much for reading, I really hope you enjoyed this post.

Zara

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My Face's Fav's

Hello Ladies,

I'm delighted to be back blogging again after such a long break away. For my first few posts on my new blog I've decided to do a series of  posts of my 'go to' daily products. I thought it would be a good idea to do as I thought it would give a good insight into the sort of products I enjoy. I have quite the love affair with makeup and I'm always trying new brands and products. I use products to suit a range of budgets and I love few things more than a good bargain or a good quality dupe. As a makeup artist I aim to use products of high quality but I also like to find products that I can recommend to my clients without breaking the bank. I'm going to start this series of posts with;

The Face

I find that using a primer is an absolute must and I recommend that everyone use one. There are primers available to suit every skin type. Primer is applied before foundation and helps to increase longevity of the makeup as well as ensuring a more even application. Different primers help with a range of different things including minimizing pores and fine lines to helping with colour correction and dullness. The primer that I myself prefer to use is the Garnier Skin Naturals 5 Second Blur. Its a very forgiving primer that hides a multitude including fine lines and it really helps keep my makeup in place for the day. 

The foundation that I use on a daily basis is Teint Ideal Illuminating Fluid Foundation from Vichy. Launched earlier this year, I couldn't resist trying it and have since finished a bottle and repurchased it again. I really really love this foundation so much. Its light to medium coverage but can easily be built up to achieve a fuller coverage if desired. It gives a beautiful, radiant, natural finish and just melts into the skin. It's highly pigmented so it helps to conceal any blemishes or uneven skin tone. I've used this foundation on a few clients and all of them have loved it.

For cream contouring, I'm currently loving Rimmel Match Perfection 2-in-1 concealer and highlighter for highlighting my face and concealing under eye circles. It's super easy to use with its built in applicator brush and it really brightens my complexion. For shading I've been using W7 Catwalk Face Shaper. I really like the cream shader in this palette but to be honest I'm not too much of a fan of the highlighter. As you can see from the picture I really have given the highlighter a chance but for me its a bit too shimmery and I find that it tends to lift my foundation off as I'm applying it. Despite that the shader is fantastic and blends really easily. A little goes a long way and gives lovely results.

For any really heavy duty concealing I have to do I always go straight to my Dermacolor Camouflage Make-up Palette from Kryolan. This will literally cover anything from acne scarring to tattoos. I've even used this for contouring and it does a wonderful job. The variety of shades in this palette makes it suitable for many uses.

I came across W7 Banana Dreams Loose Powder about a month ago and I have been really impressed by it. It's a dupe of the Ben Nye Banana Powder which I have never actually tried, so I can't really give a comparison between the two but I am very satisfied with the W7 offering! I have been using to set my cream highlight but it can also be used as an all over setting powder. It's very fine milled and doesn't look at all cakey. The slight yellow tone which can look a bit intimidating in the tub doesn't at all show when applied. The powder gives a lovely flawless finish and sets my highlight in place perfectly. 

For setting my cream contour I like to use the bronzer from the Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette. It's not too dark for my Irish skin tone and it blends so effortlessly. It's got a slight shimmer to it which I like but it's not glittery. It's lovely in the summer too for an all over radiant bronzed look. The highlight in this palette is my favourite part (as I'm sure you can tell by the pictures). It's a gorgeous pale pink, champagne-y shade and the finish it leaves is gorgeous. Its shimmery without being too glittery and its jet milled so the fine powder blends seamlessly. It looks so nice on the skin and it photographs really well too. 

As we've come into Autumn I've been using Lush Cosmetics Blush in the shade Elated. It's a superfine loose powder blush in a dusky pink shade. I think this shade is perfect for Autumn as it gives a natural rosy glow to the cheeks. It's got a hint of shimmer to give a radiant glow without looking unnatural. It's incredibly pigmented so a light hand is needed when applying. 

To finish off my face I give it a light dusting with Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent. I've been using this powder since I was about 14 and I've never really felt the need to stray. As they say, if it's not broke don't fix it. This powder sets my face in place and keeps me matt all day long! 

Well ladies, that's it for my first post. I really hope that you enjoyed reading it and  I'd love some feed back. I'm sooo excited to have my first post up on my new blog!! The next up and coming post will be on my 'go-to' daily eye makeup.

Zara

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