The Perfect Festive Lip with EOS (AD)

Christmas is coming, rapidly, and for those of us who get to attend some swanky parties, it's the perfect time to sport a bold red lip. It'll compliment any party outfit and it's a timeless classic. With that said, you do need to do some prep to get the perfect pout. You guys know I love a bold red lip, the clue is in my blog name, so read on and let me tell you exactly how to prep for the perfect festive red lip.

Before you start putting on your makeup, you need to moisturize your lips, especially if you're going to be wearing a matte red like Ruby Woo. Matte lips don't go well with cracks and dry skin, so it's best to really prepare your base. I always recommend a lip scrub, to smooth the dead skin off your lips, and then a generous helping of a lip-balm. This one from EOS or Evolution of Smooth is my favorite for under a matte finish lippie like Ruby Woo. It's thicker than your average lip-balm, so it helps to keep the matte effect from making your lips uncomfortable. It also smells like melon, and I am a bit of a melon obsessive. Yum!

I let the lip-balm sink in while I'm putting on the rest of my face, and then finish my routine with a well applied lip. First, line your lips with a sharp liner, and fill in your lip with the liner. Then you can apply the lipstick in any way you prefer. Some people swear my lip brushes, but I personally apply my lipstick right from the bullet. If you prefer a glossy finish, you can apply a light layer of gloss to finish the look. You could also opt for a cream finish lipstick like the Urban Decay Revolution lipstick in Gash if you prefer, which will look just as Yuletide appropriate and equally as amazing on your lovely moisturized pout!

There is nothing I love more than a red lip, and if you can't rock a perfect red lip at Christmas, when can you?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

Amy 

xo

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This post was sponsored by EOS. Thanks EOS!!

I got to write anything I wanted to, so you know I'm keeping it real, girl!

Red Recommendations: The Blacklist

First let me just say I genuinely contemplated writing "Just watch it, please!!" a couple hundred times, over and over again and posting that with a few teaser images, but alas, I need to wax lyrical for you.

Blacklist was brought into my life over 12 months ago by a good friend on a visit to Cork. We watched the pilot over some wine, and I'll admit it, I wasn't hugely taken with it, at first. Some time passed though, and just like what happened with Making A Murderer, Dex watched a few episodes ahead and informed me of its quality. So we back watched the first few episodes and then continued on. We're on Season 3 right now and it's become something of an addiction, so let me tell you why.

The Blacklist is an ongoing TV series starring James Spader (that's Ultron, to you Marvel movie buffs) and Megan Boone. Spader plays Raymond Red Reddington, top of the FBI Most Wanted list, and Boone plays Elizabeth Keen, who is a profiler with the FBI. It's giving nothing away to tell you that in the first several minutes of the pilot, Red enters FBI headquarters and gives himself up, stating he will only speak to Keen about a mutually beneficial arrangement for both Red himself and the entire FBI taskforce. Things only get weirder from there.

There are, like in many shows, multiple, very complex storylines going on at once. There's the relationship between Elizabeth and her husband Tom (he's the good looking one, you don't need to know more than that right now), the FBI Director and his workforce, Red and everyone else, and there's always politics within the criminal story lines, especially with Red's involvement, which are always intertwined and evolving, they are what move the show forward for the majority.

The format of the episodes is pretty simple: Preamble, title, and then nothing but action until the credits. Every episode follows another criminal on Reds list, and there are some absolute doozies in there. So, let me talk to you about my favorite stories, rather than storylines. I would only spoil it and upset people.

The Stewmaker:

To say this one is a bit gross is putting it mildly. The Stewmaker episode is about a murder who literally dissolves his victims He's a bit of an expert when it comes to corrosive substances and uses this to his advantage. Elizabeth is kidnapped by him and tortured and it's up to Red (who is a bad guy) to team up with her FBI partner to find her. I pretty much sat glued to this episode because it was so tense and gripping, and I still, three seasons later, maintain this to be one of my two favorites.

The Courier:

This one is a favorite not only ecause of the story, but also because of the actor who plays The Courier. Robert Knepper, who played T-Bag in Prison Break is our man in this episode. I always liked a bad guy that had a likable swagger to him, and this episode was no different to be honest. The courier feels no pain, and so he hides stuff literally in his body. He's carrying something the FBI badly want to intercept from being delivered, and that's pretty much it. This episode wasn't as gripping as The Stewmaker, but it was still jam packed with action and I loved it!

I'm actually not really able to tell you much more beyond my top two favorites. The show is tense and gripping and funny and complex but filled with well formed characters, and has more twists than a spiral staircase. The score is incredible, and Spader just makes the whole show. I've actually got a little bit of a crush on him, if only for the way he speaks.

The Blacklist is addictive, so watch with caution - there have been many late nights watching til the small hours, and then a lot of tired grumbling the next morning. I will be sad when it's over, though, because honestly, it's the best thing I've watched since Prison Break ended!

Give it a watch, you will thank me! 

xo

Amy

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Oddball Eyeballs feat GlassesShop.com*

I have a strange addiction. I am hooked on glasses, and I'm so not sorry!! The thing is, I see glasses as an accessory just as important to me as plugs for my stretched ears, or my antique necklace, because they're part of my look. And the thing is, I spend a lot of time looking at glasses online. I have no shame, none whatsoever. The wierder the frame, the more I like it. So, when GlassesShop.com reached out to me, and asked me would I like to review a frame of my choice, my answer was "Heck yeah!!".

GlassesShop.com are an online retailer that specialise in prescription glasses and prescription sunglasses. They're a whole lot cheaper than you'll find on the high street, or in your local optician. They believe that frames are a statement, whether you want to be charming, eye catching, trendy or chic. They ship worldwide, and they're incredibly reasonably priced. When they send your order, you are given a tracking number for your item, and they arrive well packaged. Shipping takes a little while, but for the savings, it's completely okay by me.

Before I get into the review, I just want to walk you through finding the right frames that fit when you're shopping for glasses online. If you happen to have a pair of frames you've bought from a retail opticians, then have a look at the numbers inside the arm of the frame. There is a measurement guide below every pair of frames on the site, and the numbers printed on your frame will correlate to the measurements on the site. it might take a little bit of working out, because I don't know 100% how they work, but this will help you a lot!

Now, I take inspiration from strange places, from movies to historical figures to old photos of my family from way back when; I love being slightly left of center, and I love that I can express my oddball style and people don't really seem to make a big thing of it. For a while, the Anza frame was really piquing my interest, but then I saw the ones I ended up choosing, and I knew they were the oddballs for my eyeballs!

I nearly always narrow my choices down to two or three, and then employ the help of my friends and boyfriend to help me with the final choice, though I am known to veto them completely and go for the one that speaks to my soul. I finally picked the Capricorn Round frame, which made my heart squeeze a little when I saw them - they just look so fabulously retro and a little bit hipster, which I'm all about. I got my opticians to furnish me with my prescription, sent the whole lot off and now I have the glasses so I can tell you about what I think of them.

So, the glasses! What do I think of them? In a nutshell, they're  beautiful, the tortoiseshell colour frame is beautiful and gives them a gorgous 90s feel, which I love. I think they fit me very well, they're wide enough to be snug, but not too tight. The arms were molded almost to perfection, so they sit on my face even when I'm looking down and they don't slide or shift. I like how slim the acetate is in the arm, which for me, is a huge part of my selection process when I get glasses usually, because of my peripheral vision.

My favorite thing about the glasses though is how fun they are. I have a lot of glasses, all in my current scrip, and these are definitely my new favorites. I'll be wearing these with flared jeans, cosy knits and curly hair all winter long, mark my words!


Glasses Shop have kindly given me a 50% off code for my readers, which means not only are your frames going to be half off, but the prescription lenses inside them are free!! The coupon code is: GSHOT50 .

I hope you found this chatty review helpful, and if you use my discount code to get yourself some snazzy frames, do tweet me a picture, because I love seeing peoples style when it comes to specs. 

Amy, 

xo

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GlassesShop.com sent me these frames for free to try out to tell you guys about.  

No paid product placement has occurred in this post and as always, my opinion is my own.