Showing posts with label isa dora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label isa dora. Show all posts

Monday, 25 January 2016

Whats In My Travel Make-Up Bag?

I travel a lot, and I've made a promise to myself to travel even more abroad, so I'm curating my travel make-up to get me through both short trips and trips overseas. From Dublin to The Dam, this is what I carry with me when I'm on the hoof! 



The make-up bag I carry with me was a gift from a friend in the USA and it's a blue floral Modella brand pouch with a sturdy handle. It fits everything and then some! It also has little holders for mascara, liner, etc, like pen holders almost! Handy as, I think you'll agree. 

Face Base

To prime my skin I always use Benefit Porefessional Primer. I love the Benefit brand, and this baby primer is perfect for taking on the go since it's so tiny! To get a flawless base I go for the Rimmel True Match Foundation. Everyone should try this foundation, I'm really impressed with it, it's great coverage and it's under a tenner. I don't think it rivals my Estee Lauder but it's a worthy adversary for travel. To set my t-zone, I take Essence Pressed Powder on a big fluffy brush. I've been using this powder since I started blogging and I'm still as in love with it now as I was then. It's cheap and cheerful, it's not cakey and there's a whole host of shades for all skin tones - including my snow white self. Now comes the time to break out my Isa Dora Color Correcting Concealer*. 

Travelling makeup should do the job well, and it should be built to travel - to me this means the more cream products the better. Liquids could burst, and that would be disastrous. This is a four-pan wheel with all the shades you could ever want, including the most beautiful pearl highlight. To contour I always take my Isa Dora Face Sculptor*. Another multi-pan, compact product. Even when I'm at home, at my vanity, this is a well loved product. My shade is Warm Peach and it's perfect, from contour to highlight and the blush is beautiful 
and buildable without caking. 


Eyes and Brows

Urban Decay Naked Basics. This palette is the travel companion of my life!! I bring this with me any time I go away, whether its a weekend with Dex or a trip down the country or overseas, this little 6 pan love affair is the best thing ever. I use Faint, the second deepest shade on my brows and set it with the W7 Style Eyes* clear gel. The other shades I use to create a lovely neutral smokey eye which is the handiest for travelling. For liquid liner I generally stick with my trusty Rimmel Glam Eyes Black liquid liner which has a brush applicator and makes for the quickest, most precise application you could want! When it comes to mascara, I travel with something cheap and cheerful, if you couldn't tell. I picked up this Catrice Better Than False Lashes mascara the last time I stayed away from home and I had forgotten my trusty Roller Lash and, well, I'm converted. When your boyfriend notices your lashes, you know you're on to a good product!

Lip Service

It wouldn't be a Red Lips; Red Hair beauty post without some lip products. If I'm travelling, I want the standard stuff for the face but I'll happily take more lippy than is strictly necessary. I'll take a couple of nudes, a deep vampy shade and a classic red - well I am Red Lips, Red Hair after all!! 
L-R Urban Decay Shame, RimmelXKate 01,
Pantone, RimmelX Kate Nude 45

Currently, my lip colour picks are: 

RimmelXKate Nude 45 - a neutral pink toned nude, perfect for day time wear.
Pantone Universe 18-1438 - a deeper brown pink for sultry day looks
RimmelXKate 01 - possibly my all time favorite red (yes, I said it)
Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Shame - deep black purple with red tones. 

So there you have it, my travel make-up - minus the brushes, hopefully I can walk you through my travel brushes in a later post! The products in my travel kit don't change very often, save for the lipstick.

So what are your travel makeup essentials?


As you can see from the asterisks, there are products mentioned in this post that were sent to me for consideration. I only talk about products I use, abuse and adore. 

Wednesday, 13 May 2015

April Favorites 2015

Hi All!!

It's been so long since I posted a talk-through of all my favorite things from the previous month, so I thought today I would do that for you all! Let's go ahead and get into it!!


LUSH Mask of Magnaminty:

Oh my god, I cannot even begin to describe how much I am digging this mask, you guys! I've tried on three occasions to write a review for you all but it winds up just being a couple of hundred words of blatant gushing and absolutely no constructive feedback. I will say that this mask really helps to control breakouts and soak up any excess oils you may have. It also slightly exfoliates your skin when you wash it off because of the little bits in it. Mmmmph, I love it!

Toms:

I have not worn any other shoes than Toms all month, unless I've had to attend an event, whereby I clearly wear heels! Toms shoes are seriously comfortable, really well made, warm and breathable. The best bit is that they are ethical, and every time you buy a pair, Toms give a pair to a child in an impoverished country. I literally cannot get over how comfy they are and they look so cute with all kinds of outfits!! You need a pair, honestly!!

Nivea Daily Essential Express Hydration Primer

This stuff has really been useful to me on those "no make up" days, when I want my skin to look great but I don't want to wear a full face of slap, I smooth this on, apply some concealer to trouble spots, mascara, do my brows and I'm done! It leaves my skin hydrated and glowing but not in that awful glittery way, more of a subtle "lit from within" way,

Isa Dora Face Sculptor Palette:

I am in love with this palette lately, not least because it's 3 perfect shades in one handy compact. It's been truly well loved since Isa Dora gifted it to me a couple of months ago. The bronzer is perfect for sculpting out my cheekbones and the blush is incredibly flattering. the highlight shade is my favourite of the trio, however, I've been using it as a highlight on my cheekbones, brow bone, inner eye and even use it as a shimmery eye-shadow.

What have you been loving lately?
 
xo
Amy

Monday, 23 February 2015

#CorkBlogMeet15 - The Recap


At 11.30, on Saturday February 21st, 21 bloggers (mostly from the greater Munster area) descended on Debenhams for a day of product demos, talks and networking, painstakingly organized by Zoe (sorry girl, no umlauts on this keyboard, I'm afraid!!). I am blessed and grateful to have been able to make the trip from Meath to my favourite city, to spend the day with gorgeous ladies doing something that makes me so happy. 


First up we were guided into a private room and plied with the most incredible croissants, danishes and a selection of drinks ranging from cranberry juice to sparkling wine. Each of our seats had 3 goodie bags upon them and one below. I can tell you, I was absolutely taken aback by how special we were made feel.



The head of P&G Fragrances gave a talk about the latest releases and passed around scented cards and spoke about each new release in detail. Personally, I haven't stopped lusting after Dolce by Dolce and Gabanna for myself, and Gucci Guilty for men as a treat for Chris. They are seductive and utterly more-ish.


Sharon, one of 3 of Debenhams personal shoppers gave a talk about the service offered and talked us through the upcoming trends for the coming season.

Once the talks were wrapped up, there were some spot prizes drawn out and then we were split into groups of seven to head onto the store floor and receive demos by Clarins, Urban Decay and Elizabeth Arden.

Clarins:


At the Clarins counter we were talked through some of their most popular products, the stand out for myself being the Body Lift Cellulite Control, which when applied twice daily after exfoliation lifts and firms areas of "sponginess" on the body. As Clarins most popular product, you can guarantee that this stuff does what it claims!!

Clarins had organized to gift us with little treats, but they were sent to the Dublin counter and so are being sent to us at home in the coming weeks. How lovely is that??

Urban Decay:


Kate and Carolyn from Urban Decay gave talks on the new Naked Skin Concealer and Naked Skin Powder Foundation respecively. Naked Skin Concealer comes in 8 shades, which is incredible. Weightless, build-able, light diffusing and capable of covering tattoos, I was really impressed by it. The Powder Foundation would not be for me, personally but it definitely has its merits.

The stand out products at Urban Decay for me where the Sheer Revolution Lipsticks, which do it for me in every respect. They boast Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Aloe Vera among the ingredients and have the most incredible high gloss finish and come in under MAC in price at 19 euro.

Again, Urban Decay spoiled us with shadows and liners as little treats. My liner was a dark blue black called Minx and the shadow is a matte warm brown called Secret Service. Both very user friendly for my colouring. 

Elizabeth Arden

At the Elizabeth Arden counter, the mantra is "Matte Is Back" and thus all the products on demo came with a matte finish, both foundation and lipstick. Rosin talked us through the Match MAker Service, where in a similar vein to No.7, they match a foundation to the tone on your skin using a nifty little light detection gadget. I got Alabaster, and I would be lying if I said I was not surprised. However, Elizabeth Arden do matte differently to others, offering a "satin matte", which is matte but radiant and gorgeous, not dull and cakey like competitors.

Elizabeth Arden gifted us with foundation samples matched to our skin which was a lovely touch.

After the In-Store demos, we all strolled back to our private room to collect our bags and have a raffle. I was lucky enough to be pulled out for 3rd prize and I claimed an Elizabeth Arden hamper. Delighted didn't cover it!! Zoe won a Clarins hamper as second prize and the stunning Aisling of Pale Girl walked away with the giant first prize hamper which was so big she couldn't take it home immediately.


Next, it was on to the Body Shop for a make-up demo and more goodies!! Some of the ladies went for threading as a treat, however I abstained. Nobody but Jenny B back home is allowed near my brows!! We spent almost an hour being talked through make-up and skincare. I picked up a Strawberry Hand Cream that smelled good enough to eat!! Nom nom nom!! Our treats contained new shadows from the spring line and either a lipstick or a nail colour; We were spoiled!!!

Finally, we migrated to SUAS on South Main St for drinks, more demos and banter. Zoe put together the most incredible goodie-bags laden with Sleek, Water-Wipes, Dream Dots, NYC, Physicians Formula and so much more!! At this point I was overwhelmed by the generosity of all these brands so I headed to the bar for a cocktail where I knocked great laughs out of the bartender over our horrific ID pictures. 

Inglot gave a demo for a beautiful but simple spring smokey eye look with a nude lip. Mei Ling (Darling Buds of Mei) sat as the model and was even more gorgeous, if thats even possible, when she walked away!

MeMeMe gave a demo and the dote that is Melissa modelled for it. When she walked away, the was a glowing goddess, which is the aesthetic MeMeMe are all about!


Sadly, before IsaDora gave their demo, I had to run to meet my friend. However the good folks of IsaDora got in touch to say they would send me my allocated goodie bag which was really going above and beyond the call of duty and I cant say "Thank You" enough!!

All in all it was a day of incredible fun and I think I can speak for every one of us when I thank Zoe for her incredible organization and effort. It was so so enjoyable and I'm grateful to have been a part of it! We all had a stellar day.

I also want to take a second to thank Debanhams for having us, Clarins, Urban Decay and Elizabeth Arden for talking us through some of the gorgeous products on offer and spoiling us when they didnt have to. The Body Shop was amazing, they accommodated us so graciously and SUAS really went above and beyond giving us a private area. Inglot, and MeMeMe also showed incredible generosity and gave wonderful presentations. 

Were you at the #CorkBlogMeet15?? 
Send me your links, ladies!!

xo,
Amy