Winter Nails

At the beginning of November I spotted this little beauty  in Boots. It's Rimmel's Salon Pro in 391 Celebrity Bash. The minute I saw it I fell in love with the colour. It's a beautiful deep red, perfect for Christmas. 
Rimmel's Salon Pro range is amazing and the polish is easy to work with. For me it lasted nearly 2 weeks before it chipped and it doesn't fade.

The brush is nice and wide making it easier to apply and it dries within seconds. Like I do with every nail polish, I apply a good 2/3 coats. I love it when my nails look like they've been dipped in the paint, it makes them look so rich and people always comment on them asking who did my nails and are shocked to find it was little me who did them myself!

I take pride in my nails, and my pet hate is chipped nail polish. Once I see a chip that's it! I remove all traces of polish and paint them again! 
I file my nails regularly which helps them stay strong.
I always have my nails painted and for the past month they have been this colour! It matches every outfit and until another colour comes along which I truly love I think my nails will be staying this colour for a while!

Have you found your perfect Winter colour yet?

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The Battle of Sleep vs. Looking Great

Sleep. The word every student loves. Every student knows sleep is one of the most important things during their university life. And it is only when we start university that we realise this! (Also day time naps are appreciated a lot more!) Every extra minute we have in bed is a blessing. However, us girls don't have it as simple as guys who can roll out of bed at the last minute and throw on a pair of jeans and a jumper and still look good. We have so much more to think about! Our hair and make- up! 

There are those dreaded mornings during winter where the thoughts of doing your make- up is the last thing on your mind. All you want to do is crawl back under your toasty blankets and drift back to sleep. This was all I wanted to do this morning the minute I hopped out of bed and the freezing cold hit me! So I rushed around and got dressed, made coffee, checked emails and after all this I sat down and looked in the mirror. What I saw was a face with the expression of "do I have to?" written all across it. Now don't get me wrong, I love make- up and applying it but I'm not it's biggest fan at 7am when it's still dark outside. And so that leads me to how I got the inspiration to write this post. I wanted to show you ways that you can look your best but in the fastest way possible! So you won't have to suffer, but at the end look amazing and ready to take on the day! Plus when you have fully woken up, you will be thanking your sleepy self for doing this. 

This is also great for those mornings where you only have 10- 15 minutes to get ready!

• After I had *cleansed and moisturised, I applied my foundation. I like to use MAC Pro Longwear Foundation, colour NC15, it lasts the whole day and gives enough coverage without being looking caked on. I hate it when it looks like you could scrap the make- up off you face. This foundation leaves a quiet natural finish. I apply this with a MAC 187 brush.

• After this I apply a few dots MAC Pro Longwear Concealer, NC15, under my eyes and blend to give them a fresher appearance. Also great if you're lacking sleep from study, makes you look like you've got your 8 hours!

• If I have any blemishes, I like to use MAC Studio Finish Concealer, NC15. I apply this using the tip of my ring finger. I don't like using brushes when applying concealer as it could spread the blemish.

• I then set my foundation using MAC Prep+ Prime Transparent Finishing Powder, which is great for taking away any shiny areas and also makes my make- up all day, even after all that running to and from lectures. I never have to worry about touch ups.  

• This all takes around 5- 6 minutes and now you have plenty of time to decide if you want to do your eyes or lips. For me when I'm rushing a good tip is to pick 2 features which you want to accentuate. So you could pick from eyebrows/ eyes/ cheeks. But this morning I picked my eyebrows and lips.

• I naturally have big eyebrows, and I don't wax them (once a few years ago and never again!). So I lightly filled them in using the eyebrow set from Catrice Cosmetics. This is really handy set to have as it gives you 2 colours, has a small mirror and also comes with a tiny eyebrow comb and tweezers. Remember when filling in your eyebrows that they are sisters, not twins! And try and avoid the 'scouse brow'! It's better to have a more natural finish.

• I recently purchased Rimmel's lasting finish by Kate Moss in colour 08 Rossetto. It is a beautiful nude mixed with a hint of pink. Perfect for daytime wear. It applies evenly and it lasted throughout the day, only needing a touch up after I'd eaten.

• To finish off my look I used 'They're Real!' mascara by Benefit. This adds instant length and volume without having to wear false lashes!

This is me before coffee!

So this took me in total 10 minutes to complete and with 5 minutes to spare I simply tied my hair up, spritzed some perfume and headed to my lectures. 
I hope this helps! and that you will all be looking amazing throughout the entire day!
Shhh... no one needs to know you only had 5 hours sleep, it'll be our little secret ;)

*If you want to find out more about the cleanser and moisturiser I use, read about them here!

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Do You Have Sensitive Skin?

Your skin is extremely important and so it should be looked after with the utmost care. I have very sensitive skin and have found that some cleansers and make- up removers give me an allergic reaction, like Simple's eye make- up remover pads. 

Luckily I don't suffer from acne, but I do get the odd 1 or 2 spots. In an ideal world we wouldn't get any, a girl can dream! But the least we can do is try and help reduce spots we get and keep our skin healthy and refreshed looking! 

I haven't had an allergic reaction in over 2 years and I put it down to the day I changed my cleanser and moisturiser to La Roche- Posay. Their products don't contain any nasty ingredients that can harm your skin. It has changed my skin for the better. 

Most days I wear a full face of make up, so I needed to change to a good cleanser and moisturiser and one which didn't give me an allergic reaction. The day I changed to La Roche- Posay I actually had a reaction on my face. I hadn't been wearing any make up for a couple of days but the reaction had only cleared slightly and it was getting me down. I was recommended to use La Roche- Posay Physiological Cleansing Gel, which retails around €15.25 (check your local chemists) and also their Toleriane Ultra Intense Soothing Care, around €18.50.

After 1/ 2 days using both products I noticed a huge improvement. They leave your skin feeling clean and fresh and applying my make up has become easier and applies more evenly. I use both products twice a day, in the morning and then again in the evening before bed. 

Both products are soap-free, alcohol-free, colorant-free and paraben-free. They are perfect for ultra sensitive or allergic skin. La Roche- Posay have a huge variety of products available, including make- up for sensitive skin.

Recently I began using their new Hydreane BB Creme in the colour light, around €18 . I use it after I moisturise and before I apply my foundation. It really evens out my skin tone and I know that it's not damaging my skin which is great! and it has an SPF 20. It's also perfect for during the day if you don't want to wear a full face of make- up as it gives a subtle glow to your skin.

Hope this helps you fellow sensitive and allergic skin sufferers and that you'll be on your way to healthy, calmed and refreshed skin in no time!

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New Blog! and Popcorn Ice- Cream

First blog post! *High five!
I'm new to this scene but I hope you'll enjoy reading about things that I find interesting and I like. I will be featuring everything from food to fashion to beauty, the three loves of my life!

I know it's winter and the thoughts of ice- cream is the last thing on anybodies mind but I saw this Cornetto Enigma with Popcorn flavour ice- cream and just had to get it. I mean popcorn and ice- cream in one! What's not to love! You might be thinking that it tasted a small bit odd but it was surprisingly lovely, definitely having it again! Keep an eye out for it in your local shop.


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