okaybee

You know by now I’m not one for beauty posts to this blog.

I’m no expert and never claim to be. However, I do have a love for all things beauty, and luckily have a number of friends who are particularly gifted when it comes to this area. On my recent trip to New York, I was really looking forward to going to Sephora. Part of me wishes there was a Sephora in Dublin, because you can get literally everything there. The other part of me knows that I would be permanently broke if there was one here!

I looked at a number of reviews and asked a few of my friends who are really in the know when it comes to beauty products and skin care. First and foremost on my list was getting my hands on GlamGlow. While GlamGlow is stocked in Ireland in Brown Thomas, I saw that Sephora had great sets in store which were much better value for money.

I bought the YouthMud set and loved it. After cleansing with the exfoliating cleanser, I went straight to the face mask. It dries hard on your face and makes moving pretty tricky, but hilarious. When I washed it off in circular motions with warm water, I was surprised at how gently, but effectively it exfoliated my skin. I’m definitely going to keep using this product. My skin feels soft, clean and refreshed.

 While I was in New York, my eyebrow pencil ran out, perfect opportunity to get a new one. I’m sure you’ve all heard a lot about Anastasia Beverly Hills. Their brow pots have been all over social media for the past year or so. I don’t actually trust myself with one of the pots, I feel there’s too much potential for me to be heavy handed with it. So I ended up going for the Brow Wiz pencil in Taupe. Normally I use the MAC Eyebrow Pencil in Fling, but I found this Anastasia one a million times better for a few reasons. Firstly, it has a spooley attached at one end for brushing your brows, secondly, you can retract the product back into the pencil. With the MAC one, once you’ve twisted it out, you can’t get it back into the pencil, which leads to a lot of wasted product. I love the colour and it’s simple for anyone to use. For better application, warm it up a little by rubbing on your hand to make the product glide easily.

 Another product I saw a lot of online was the Clinque Pep-Start eye cream. I personally suffer from puffy eyes with dark circles, and it takes me ages to look more awake in the morning. I’ve used this product quite a bit over the last few weeks and I’m pretty impressed. It was really put to the test the day I got back from New York. My flight from JFK to Dublin was at 9.30 pm New York time, and I landed in Dublin at 8.30 am Irish time and went straight to work. Yes, I am insane. I’m aware. Anyway, before heading into work, I put some of the Clinique eye cream under my eyes. Combined with my Charlotte Tilbury Rock N’ Kohl Eye Cheat, I managed to look bright eyed and awake, despite surviving on 3 hours sleep.

 One of my favourite products for my hair is Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray. It always delivers perfect beachy waves, which is my go to look in the summer. I’ve tried many different surf sprays, but none of them deliver the ‘just back from surfing and my hair looks amazing’ hair like B&B. More expensive than other sprays, but also more effective in my opinion. 

I’ve spoken before about my rosacea. I wish I had that even-toned, beautiful skin, but unfortunately I normally look like I’ve been for a jog and I’m flushed. I had my eye out for a new concealer and the Make Up Forever Full Cover Extreme Camoflage Cream one stood out. It has great coverage, easy to apply and blends well. One thing I will say is it’s a little heavy, so probably not the best for the pores to be wearing it constantly. Let your skin breatheeeee! But for someone like me who wants some even toned skin for once in her life, this is a great little product.

 

The final product I bought was kind of a random purchase, put I have to say, I really like it! It’s the Make Up Eraser which claims to remove your make up using just water. I’m someone who does like to keep things simple. I don’t like using a lot of products to cleanse my skin. Occasional face masks, deep cleanses, etc. are fine, but I tend to have a simple make up removal routine. I mostly use Dermalogica as it has never irritated my sensitive skin and every Dermalogica product I have used has always been extremely effective. However I brought the Make Up Eraser as I felt that if I could remove most of my make up without cleansers, that could only be a good thing. I’m a big fan, it removes make up easily and efficiently, no scrubbing necessary. While you’ll need to go to your cleansers if you’re wearing a tough to remove lipstick, or heavy makeup, if all you have on for the day is simple concealer, mascara and a bit of blush or bronzer, the Make Up Eraser will remove it no problem.

So those are my Sephora purchases. Any questions on any of these products, leave a comment below and I will get back to you!

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