Opening of INGLOT’s New Pro Store -1 South Anne Street

Last night I attended an exclusive event for Beauty Bloggers to unveil the brand new INGLOT Pro Store which is opening today (Saturday 28th September) on 1 South Anne Street (just off Grafton Street) Dublin.

The impressive new store stocks the full INGLOT cosmetics collection and make-up accessories, as well as products that are exclusive to the new flagship store.  A make-over studio, brow bar, and a spacious private studio, which will host parties, make-up courses, and professional master classes, is also part of the latest new Dublin INGLOT store.

INGLOT’s fantastic makeup artists were on hand to help on the night and their senior makeup artist Ingrid did a demonstration to show off some of their new products like the Stage, Sport, Studio range of mattifying powders which are exclusive to the the new Pro store on South Anne Street.  Ingrid said they were a big hit with the MUA’s there and really make your makeup last the day with minimum touch-ups.

Inglot stocks everything from priming base, foundations, concealers and blushers, complemented with a selection of body illuminators and bronzers.  For beautiful eyes there’s eye-shadows, protective base, eyeliner, brow-liner and mascara; and a range of nourishing lipsticks, liners, lip-paint and gloss to deliver truly luscious lips.

Accessories, from brushes and applicators, to make-up bags, tweezers, false eyelashes and nail art are all stocked, and there’s also a range of facial toners and gentle make-up removers, to complete this unique one-stop-make-up-shop!

I am a big fan of their unique Freedom System where you can make up your own custom palettes of eyeshadow, blush, powder or lip and brow products.

We all received fantastic little goodie bags and I made some purchases on the night which I’ll detail in another post 🙂

Will you be popping in for a look?

M&S – Fantastic Strawberry Moisturising Body Butter Review

Natures Extracts Blissful Strawberry Moisturising Body Butter (bit of a mouthful that!)

I popped into the new beauty hall in Marks & Spencer, Dundrum recently for a browse – if you haven’t checked it out yet, you soooo should, but maybe not on payday…. don’t say I didn’t warn ya!! So while wandering round drooling at all the gorgeous beauty stuff there, I came across their range of Body Butters which are an absolute steal at €7!

After sniffing & trying them all (has to be done!) I decided to buy this lovely Strawberry one. They also had Cocoa Butter, Shea, Zesty Lime, and Peach and Almond to name but a few, so there’s really something for everyone.

Coming into the colder weather, you can’t beat a good body butter after a shower, it gets down really deep into your skin to moisturise it.  It’s also great for prolonging your fake tan application.

An added bonus is that this smells amazing and lasts for ages on your skin.  They also have matching shower gels and bath foam if you fancy the layered fragrance effect.  They would actually make a great pressie too.

I love strawberry scented body products for purely nostagic reasons, the smell just takes me back to standing in The Body Shop as a teenager dousing myself in the perfume oils – Strawberry being one of my favourites! (The Dewberry and White Musk ones were close seconds!)

You should give these a go, I really think they’re fab for the price.  Oh, and I’d love to know what particular smells do you always go for in body products and is there anything that you sniff and find it takes you back? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

Wow Brown Ready to Glo – Review

I was delighted to be sent a bottle of this new fake tan from Wow Brown to review.   Wow Brown is an Irish fake tanning brand created by two lovely ladies called Fran and Don who are both beauty therapists and wanted to create a good long lasting tan for Irish women and so from there came, Wow Brown 🙂

It comes in liquid form contained in a little 100ml spray bottle so it’s perfect for bringing with you if you’re travelling.  You’d never think for such a small bottle, that you’d get much out of it but it actually goes a lot further than you would imagine!

It arrived at just the right time, I was going to a wedding the next day so in preparation for that, I took a tanning mitt and sprayed it a couple of times with the dark liquid (which looks a little scary when you see JUST how dark it is!) and that was enough to do one area of my body, a little bit really went a long way.  Also, I noticed that the smell is actually quite nice and there’s no horrible fake tan smell lingering off you ‘til you shower!  It actually says on the box that it’s “boyfriend friendly”  – I love that!   The colour goes on really smoothly but as with any fake tan application, it’s definitely worth exfoliating and moisturising well the day before for best results.

Once I did my whole body it only took a minute or two to dry.  It wasn’t sticky and the guide colour was a nice dark brown that would actually work great as an instant tan if you’re in a hurry.  However, I applied this before bed and as the liquid is really dark, the colour did transfer onto my night clothes and bed sheets…so make sure you don’t sleep in light coloured clothes/sheets after applying this!

Next morning, I hopped into the shower to wash off the guide colour and the tan that was left was very close to what was already there, a gorgeous dark golden brown with a nice even colour and not at all patchy or orange so I was really impressed with that.  I often find with some tans, when you go to wash off the guide colour, you’re only left with a light tan and could probably do with a top-up but this definitely wasn’t the case with Wow Brown, so if you prefer a dark tan that you don’t have to do 2 or more layers of, then this is the one for you.

Before & After

One of the best things about this tan is that the colour lasts for at least 5 days which is bloody fantastic in my book!  And it fades so evenly so you could reapply without any patches of old tan lingering around to ruin your bronzed look.  If I was going on holiday, I’d use this as it gives you a perfect colour and is much better than a spray tan since you can top it up yourself after a week.  Not to mention how travel friendly the little bottle is!

Wow Brown Ready to Glow is priced at €21.99 so it’s a great buy and I’d definitely go and repurchase this myself for “good” use.  You can buy it on the Wow Brown website as well as large pharmacies nationwide.

Have you tried this yet?  What did you think?

Classic Black Winged Liner & Red Lip Look

I recently went to a wedding and decided to do a kind of Hollywood glamour look with winged liner teamed with my favourite red lippy at the moment which is  No7’s “Love Red”,  but more on that later 🙂

For the eyeshadow, I went for a shimmery beige on the lid with a contour of mid to dark brown on my socket line and then a classic black winged gel liner topped with my favourite Ardell Demi Wispie lashes.

Perfect Winged Liner in 6 easy steps:

Winged liner can be a tricky one but here are a few tips to master it:

1. Use a smooth gel liner such as Maybelline black gel liner and a good liner brush or angle brush.  The Inglot liner brush is my favourite.
2. Trace the line on three quarters of your lashline, don’t worry if it’s not even, you can tidy it up later.
3. With your eyes open, draw your line on the inner part of the eye.
4. Outline your flick at the end, extending up from your lower lashline and pointing towards the end of your eyebrow. Open your eyes to see where you placed the flick on one side then looking straight into a mirror follow on the other side.  If you make a mistake, use a pointed cotton bud dipped in non-oily eye makeup remover to clean up the lines on each side.
5. Bring the line from the edge of the flick back in to meet the thickest part of your liner and smooth out the line with black eyeshadow on an angle brush if you want it looking nice and even.
6. Apply Mascara and false lashes to really elongate the eyes and add the “cat eye” effect.

Top Tip:  If you find it really hard to get the placement of the liner matching on each side, use a flesh coloured eye pencil (Rimmel now do a great one) to trace the lines until you’re confident that they’re lined up perfectly on each side then trace over with black liner for even flicks on both sides!

No7 Stay Perfect Lipstick in “Love Red”

This is the colour I am wearing above. It’s a gorgeous true red colour that looks really well on either pale or darker complexions.  It’s also a blue based red so it really makes your teeth look whiter too!  I found this extremely long lasting as well, I only had to top up a couple of times during the night despite eating, drinking and chatting 🙂  It is definitely one of my favourites at the moment.  The cost is €12 and it’s available from all Boots stores.

Do you like this look?  Let me know in the comments below 🙂  Also let me know if there is any particular makeup you would like to perfect and I’ll do a post on it to help you out!

Giorgio Armani Sì – Perfume Review

Recently, on a mission to find a nice new perfume, I came across Giorgio Armani’s latest offering Sì.  And for me, it was love at first sniff 🙂

The website states: “It combines blackcurrant nectar, modern chypre and light musky wood. The fragrance opens with notes of Sicilian Bergamot, Mandarin oil and blackcurrant liqueur which is supported by a heart which bursts with Rose May, Neroli and Egyptian Jasmine. Warm undertones caress the unique chypre base notes of Patchouli oil intertwined with Blond Woods, amber and musky undertones known as OrcanoxTM. Finished with a sweet animalic accord of Vanilla which gives this fragrance, longevity and unforgettable sillage. “Sì is my tribute to modern femininity, an irresistible combination of grace, strength and independent spirit.” – Giorgio Armani”

If you can’t make head nor tail of all that jargon, basically, all you need to know is that Sì has a sweet vanilla patchouli fragrance, with a deep fruity floral top note that fades to a warm musky/woody base note which lingers on the skin.  And since it’s an Eau de Parfum, it really lasts all day.  I spritzed it on in the morning and it by the end of the day it had faded to that warm musky scent that I love in a perfume.  Whether you like florals (which you get when you first spray it) or more musky tones this is a beautiful perfume that you can’t go wrong with for day or night-time.

The bottle is plain and simple enough but I think it looks rather elegant with its black lid.  I definitely think this is my new favourite perfume.  Previously it was Armani Code and before that, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb was my scent of choice.  I really love those strong smelling scents 🙂

What’s your current favourite fragrance?  Do you have a “signature scent” or do you like to try a new perfume every time?

Debs Season Inspiration

I was really busy last week with Debs Makeup bookings and unfortunately my blog got a little neglected 😦  So this week, I thought I’d do a blog post showing you the looks I did.  All the girls whose makeup I did looked absolutely stunning and I loved creating the perfect look for them 🙂

My own daughter also went to her Debs (or, Prom as it’s called in other countries), she’s a bit of a tomboy so she doesn’t like wearing makeup.  I know…..  Most teenage girls would love having a Makeup Artist for a mother but not this one, she can be quite stubborn when she wants lol!  I really had to twist her arm to let me do it, but when I was finished with her she actually loved it and she really looked amazing.

My Daughters Debs

It can be hard to know what look to go for and I’d say it really depends on your dress.  You can wear eye makeup or lipstick that matches your dress or go for a classic smoky eye or neutral look that would suit all styles.

The pics below are of my Daughters friend Claire.  She is such a gorgeous girl and had the most beautiful eyes so I went with a light green shimmery cream shadow from Chanel and smoked it up with black eyeshadow at the edges to really make her eyes stand out.

Are you going to your Debs/Prom?  And if so have you decided what makeup you’ll wear?  What is your favourite look here.  Let me know below! 😀

How to Choose a Professional Makeup Artist

Brilliant article on choosing a Makeup Artist