Aishling's July Empties

I'm going to start with two products I've had featured in an empties post before. They are the Lee Stafford Treatment For Hair That Never Grows Past A Certain Length and No.7's Essential Moisture Day Cream. The hair treatment is not only good if you want your hair to grow out but as a conditioner on it's own it's amazing! The moisturiser is my go to one that I've been using for years now and if you want to know more about both products head over to my June Empties post where I talk about them a bit more.

On the left we have Garnier's Eye Make-Up Remover. Now we all know I don't have great things to say about the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water which I also reviewed in my June Empties, I can't say I'm a fan and won't be purchasing it again if I can. But this Eye Make-Up Remover from them is actually a lot better. It's great at removing waterproof mascara and gets nearly every bit off. It does say non greasy but I do get some kind of residue afterwards but it doesn't matter to me cos I wash my face after anyhow. But over all I do really like this. The only thing I dislike about it is the size. It's very small and even for the price too. If it's on offer I will be purchasing again.

On the right is Aussie's Colour Mate Shampoo. Now I think way back in one of my YouTube Empties video's I talk about how I don't like Aussie and how it stops working for me after awhile. While I still believe that, buying it after not using it for so long, really showed me how great this shampoo is while it lasts. It leaves my hair so soft and less frizzy and helps slightly to keep my colour lasting a bit longer. It will soon lose its touch though and then I'll be sad.

On the left is Garnier Mineral InvisiCool 48hr Anti-Perspirant which was recommended by Kerrie in one of our Empties videos as well haha! I'm being very repetitive, sorry about that :P But this is a great deodorant! It doesn't leave any white marks and even in this crazy heat we've gotten in Ireland lately it lasts so long, even to the next day! Top marks from me!

On the right is Vichy Normaderm Toner which I wish wasn't here but unfortunately silly Steve left it in a bag with the top open and most of it spilled out! We have a little left but I thought I'd include it in this empties anyhow. It's a great toner and you can really feel it working and tightening without drying the hell out of your face.

***

That's all this months empties! Sorry about the repeat products but I thought I'd include them again in case you guys missed my last empties or haven't seen any of our YouTube videos!

More posts coming soon! Until then, let me know what you've used up recently! :D

Aishling's FOTD #2

This is a look I've been going for a lot recently. I used to go for very colourful looks but I'm liking more neutral colours right now, like this FOTD! I also think I'm repeating myself cos I feel like I said this in my last FOTD. Oh well :P

Face: I prime my face with the Rimmel Stay Matte Primer which even though I have dry skin actually helps prevent dry patches oddly! 

I then use Vichy Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Foundation Cream-Stick for all my redness. I have extreme redness all over my face. The only place I don't really have it is my forehead. So I have to use a good concealer under my foundation to get rid of as much redness as I can. I have to laugh at some people who say they have redness when they mostly have super pale faces with little red patches. You know nothing! :P This concealer is really good though, it has amazing coverage but still somehow manages to be so lightweight and does not make my skin really heavy or feel like I have anything under my foundation at all. The only negative thing it's done for me was show up pores for some reason. I thought being advertised the way it was, it would really know how to cover lumps and bumps but anyhow once you put your foundation over it that disappears. I've also never had any breakouts from this concealer or enlarged pores or anything like that. It's super good overall.

I then use my Revlon ColorStay Foundation for Normal/Dry Skin in 110 Ivory all over and I don't even have to use that much of it either because the Vichy concealer has done most of the job.

After that I just used my *NYX HD Photogenic Concealer in CW01 Porcelain for under my eyes. This concealer isn't great. I had to stop using the Collection concealer because it's so dry and shows up my lines under my eyes soooo badly. Unfortunately, I bought this NYX one hoping it would be better but its actually quite the same as the Collection one. So I am on the look out for a great coverage concealer for under the eyes that doesn't show up lines. If anyone has any recommendations (Cheap or pricey) let me know! A positive on this concealer though, it's great at brightening and highlighting especially along the brow bone. 

Brush: I've always just used my fingers to put on my foundation but I stole Kerrie's Real Techniques Buffing Brush and gave it a go and can't believe how awesome it was! It cut my foundation routine length in half, actually not even in half, more like it takes no time whatsoever! I really really have to get myself some Real Techniques brushes myself. It also puts much more fun into doing your makeup because you can spend more time doing the rest of your face. I find I'm doing my winged eyeliner great now because I'm not so wore out from blending in my foundation with my hands! 

I contoured with the awesome Real Techniques Contour Brush and MeMeMe Shimmer Stack in Bronze using the darkest colour. It has a nice shimmer but not too much.

Eyebrows: I have very dark brows. They're pretty much black. I use the blackest eyeshadow I have for them. So in steps the amazing HB Brows Vamp Palette which I also stole from Kerrie haha! :D The colour carbon is my colour. Don't get me wrong I love jet black eyebrows and will rock them whenever I can but HB's Carbon is a perfect match for my eyebrows. Well close to it anyhow :P I don't think Carbon is jet black but its not very brown either, it's just really nice dark natural colour for my brows. 

Eyes: 

Base: For the base I used Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze which I use lots as a base and just a colour on its own! It's amazing! 

I then put Revlon Colorstay 16 Hour Eyeshadow "Adventurous" Number 4 into the outer corners and along the bottom lash line but then I decided it wasn't dark enough so I put some of Rimmel's Matte Eyeshadow in Jet Black over it. 

Lastly I pressed some of Number 2 from the Revlon "Adventurous" Palette which is a beautiful gold leaf kind of colour into the middle of both my eyelids.

I tightlined with Rimmel's Soft Kohl Eyeliner Pencil in Jet Black and then on my waterline I put *NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk which didn't last too long in the end but I did like how it looked before it disappeared! I will soon have to get a Kohl white eyeliner.

My winged eyeliner was done with *Wet N' Wilds Mega Liquid Liner in Black which is an amazing liquid eyeliner especially for the price! It's nice and short so you can hold it close to your eyes which I think makes it easier to get a precise application. 

I then finished off the eye look with some mascara. At the moment I'm using Eyeko Lengthening Skinny Brush Mascara which I like lots and has lasted me so long!

I hope you liked this simple look and let me know in the comments below!

I'd also love to know what your favourite concealers are, as I said, I'm on the look out for a new one!

*NYX has just arrive in Ireland and you can find the list of stockists here. Wet N' Wild is available in Dunnes Stores and a lot Pharmacies in Ireland.

Lush Review - Fluffy Egg

I have so many Lush products bought over the last few months that I need to use up. So as I use them I will be doing some reviews! First up is Fluffy Egg Bath Bomb which is out for Easter. Let me tell you, this smells amazing! It smells like sweets and you could smell it all day! I was storing it in my sock drawer and the smell was incredible every time I opened it! It is worth getting for the smell alone. I think Lush calls it their Candy Fluff fragrance.

It dissolves very quick turning the water into an amazing bright pink colour, which you can see in the background of the first photo. The flowers even dissolve super quick until you're left with just the lovely pink water that smells like sweets. The only thing I didn't like about this was it didn't leave the water feeling soft or moisturising. So make sure and have some body lotion or butter to put on after your bath.

Overall I would buy this again for the scent alone. It really does smell that amazing. Especially when you drop it into lovely warm water. At the moment my bathroom still smells like it and will probably stay that way for awhile! I hope! I think if it had of just been a bit more moisturising and maybe lasted a little longer when dissolving this would have been on of my all time favourites. But still, that smell!

Lush Review - Inhale Exhale Bath Bomb

I'm only just after using this one. Inhale Exhale Bath Bomb. A woman in the Lush shop at Henry Street Dublin let me test it out! She said its from the new Spring range that is out at the moment. She had a jug of water for it to fizz in, I popped it in, it fizzed away and it smelt amazing. She said the red side fizzes up first quickly so you can breathe in the neroli and rose oils. Then as you lie back while the blue one takes its time at fizzing away you can enjoy your bath and the awesome woody smell. The blue side takes as long at 10 minutes to fizzy out completely and goes lovely and frothy!

The water is at first a pink with white and blue froth on top. As the blue slowly dissolves the water it changes into an amazing deep purple.

I really loved this one. It smells amazing. With Black Pepper Oil, Sandlewood Oil, Cedarwood Oil and lots of others it has an wonderful earthy smell.

It makes for a long super relaxing bath. Nice and warm and tingly and I could feel it really relaxing my legs especially.

I'm out of the bath now about half an hour or more and I can still get the smell of it on my skin and I love it. I will be repurchasing this one for sure!

Lush Review - Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bomb

Another Lush review?! I know, I know. I think every beauty blogger reviews Lush products and here's another one to add to the never ending list but honestly, I love Lush bath bombs, melts, bars etc. and you should too. They smell amazing and most of them leave your skin feeling amazing. I bought quite a few after Christmas (I'm far too slow with getting these reviews up) including this one.

Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb. It's in the shape of a Christmas pudding but has great big colourful polka dots around it. It smells amazing, citrusy but a nice Lavender scent to go along with it as well as a few other smells that you'd need to smell yourself. I'm not great at explaining smells :P It's also a great size for a bath bomb so you're getting your moneys worth.




Here is my bath bomb demo but of course don't watch if you want to be surprised and you're thinking of buying your own at Christmas!

In the end it leaves the water a very blood red colour, now I think this varies for some people because I've heard its a purple/red or a wine colour but for me it was a very blood red and I loved it! The water was soft but not as moisturising as others they have. Overall though I love this and will definitely repurchase it at Christmas. I really hate it when you have to wait til Christmas for these great ones again! I have Golden Wonder still (its one of my all time favourites) and once I use it, I won't have another til Christmas :'(

When I do use Golden Wonder I will most certainly be doing another review of that amazing bath bomb.


Hope you enjoyed this little review :) Lots more to come soon when I get off my lazy ass.

Lush Birthday Gifts Review - Star Light, Star Bright, Sunnyside & You've Been Mangoed

For my birthday I got two different Lush bath melts and a bubble bar. First off I'll start by saying I hate anything that smells like citrus. I do not like most citrus smelling bath products or even candles or anything like that! My family, even though I thought most of them knew I don't like citrus, got me all citrus based products! Haha! I had tried one other citrus Lush product before and it was awful, it was so so terrible and one of the worst bath bombs I've ever used. So as you probably guessed I was very skeptical of all three Lush products I received but I was pleasantly surprised and one of them even ended up being one of my all time favourite ones! So I'll start with it...

 (not a great video but you can see all the nice glitter and the lovely blue/turquoise water! Please watch on best quality possible!)

(the amazing glitter that is left on your skin after! Not gloopy or oily!)

Star Light, Star Bright

I used this one first because I thought I'd like it the least haha! But it's ended up being one of my favourites. It has a very light but really nice citrusy smell. It also had cocoa and Shea butter so it has a lovely chocolatey smell along with the citrus. It's very hard to explain but smells so good! It leaves a lovely blue/turquoise colour in the water and it's super glittery and all that glitter stays on your skin and leaves you all shiny! I've read some reviews about it and a lot of people don't like that about it and shower afterwards? You crazy people, who doesn't want to be covered in glitter?! And its not a gloopy mess either which I actually thought it might be. You could easily apply body lotion or butter afterwards and it would apply fine and you'd still have awesome glitter over you. By the next morning though most of it will be gone. I enjoyed it while it lasted. I will definitely be repurchasing this next Christmas. I'm super super sad it's only for Christmas. It could easily be a year round one.

★★★

Sunnyside

I feel like I've gotten this one before but can't remember using it?! Or either I was thinking about getting it but its citrusiness put me off it. On the Lush site it says it has Lime, Tangerine and Sweet Wild Orange which sounds so very citrusy and one I would steer clear of but actually its really not as sharp as you'd think it would be. Its really nice and fresh. I cut it in half and had two good uses out of it but if you want it to be super bubbly I'd say use the whole thing. It also leaves a lovely golden glitter shimmer in your bath water. It doesn't stick around like the Star Light, Star Bright but is still lovely all the same.

★★★

You've Been Mangoed

I forgot to take any photos of this but you can look at it here on the Lush website where I got the above image from. I've only used one other bath melt that I'm aware of, Star Light Star Bright, I didn't even know it was a bath melt when I first used it. I actually thought it was a bath ballistic and just threw it into the bath and let it fizz but with this one I wasn't sure what to actually do with it. Its just like a little bar of soap! It was even melting away in my hands when I first held it. But amazingly and oddly it fizzes when you put it into the bath! It doesn't leave any bubbles or leave a particularly nice colour (it went kind of greyish orange) but it smells amazing! I didn't think I would like the smell of Mango so much. Its delicious and sweet and not very citrusy at all! Its mixed with cocoa butter so its super creamy and leaves your skin so soft. I would buy this again but its a bit pricy for the size of it.

★★★

So overall I was super happy with all of these. It has restored my fate in the citrus smelling products that Lush have and I may just be purchasing some in future. I have bought some more recently but I think most of them are non citrus but I'll review them soon.

Have you used any of these products before? Or are you thinking of purchasing some now? I would love to know! :D

Hope everyone is having a good New Year!
Thanks for reading and I'll have another blog post very soon! :)

Shop My Stash!

Hi hope you're having a good day.  If you are anything like me you probably have a ton of beauty products purchased because you 'needed' them at the time, only to find them idling at the back of the drawer after their 15 minute of fame aka "ugh not sure I like that to the back of draw with you!".  

So with the aim of using all this 'crap' I have accumulated and try to make it work.  I decided to 'Shop my Stash',  if you're not familiar with this concept basically it means you 'shop' through your own stash of products and choose those that you don't often use or haven't seen light of day since you took them home! You never know you might save some money and find some new favourites you never knew you had, or a new way of using a product you though you didn't like. 

My finished face!

I selected a concealer I've never tried since purchasing! That's the Rimmel Clear complexion pictured below, along with a Chit Chat Highlighting Concealer, I bought that in Dealz but totally forgot I had it!.  On my faces I used - Avon MagiX cashmere finish foundation in Ivory.  I had stopped using the Avon foundation as I found it clung to the dry patches.  I mixed it with Estee Lauder Double Wear, this is a sample size I've only tried once or twice, it has great coverage but is a little too dark for me, it mixed well with the pinkish tone of the avon fondation.  I used 2 essence products that were rolling around, one is the shimmer and shade highlighter and the other is vintage district blush.

Next I picked through the multitude of eye liners, shadows, pigments, dusts, mascaras etc.  I chose my usual HD Brows palette as I have nothing to replace that!  My elf eyelid primer that I always forget to use.  An Essence eyeshadow trio.  A rimmel kohl liner.  Essence liquid liner.  Urban Decay 24/7 liner.  Two Frontcover purple/blue shimmer and glitter pigments. A primark eye dust in Pink.  And Rimmel Volume Accelerator mascara.

For the lips I picked a Pink lippie I got in a Glossybox some time ago and an essence XXXL lipgloss in a purple shade. 

Overall I was quite happy with how the foundation turned out, the Avon mixed will and applied a lot better for me, lasting all day and not turning patchy.  The Rimmel concealer I don't like, it's too thick and doesn't blend at all well, it's looks dry and needed a lot of work to make it look just ok.  The chit chat/dealz concealer works great as a highlight under the eye/browbone I do like that one.  The shimmer and shade is workable but not my favourite, I have trouble making it look good on the skin.  I quite like the vintage district blush but I find it lacks pigmentation.  

The eyes were the real 'discovery' products here!  I am really getting to like the elf lid primer, it does make the colours cling and 'pop' that bit more.  The middle shade in the trio, was a revelation, it looks silver but actually is a fab silver/blue colour and looked stunning as a base for the front cover shades which are hightly pigmented. You will get fall out from these but they are shimmery and glittery so I expected as much.  I used my mac 217 to blend a little of the pink into the crease and man it is a bright colour - a little goes a long way! 

I need to remember to use my urban decay pencils much more - they are soooooooooo long lasting and the colour is awesome.  The rimmel kohl pencil I don't love, though it is creamy and glides on easily, it tended to clump and gather at the corners of my eyes after a couple of hours, not a good look!  

The essence liner is good, it has a lovely small brush.  However as I haven't used liquid liner in ages I did have trouble with application and I'm not happy with that but that's down to me rather that the product.  It is very long lasting.  However it dries kinda tight feeling and I don't like that on my eyes.  Finally the mascara is good but a little too clumpy for my small lashes and the brush is not my favourite kind.

Here's another pic of the final face - I was going for 'Purple Galaxy Eyes'

I must say that Glossybox lippie was really nice and creamy!  a light pink shade with a small amount of the puple gloss over top, the gloss looks glittery in the tube but I didn't find it was gritty or uncomfortable on the lips. 

I am going to do this again as I have lots of stuff to rediscover in my collection.  Thanks for reading and bye for now!