My favourite Irish Beauty Bloggers new and old - 2012 style!

When I started blogging back in 2010, there weren't very many Irish blogs out there on the interwebs at all at all.  Beaut.ie was the only one I'd check out regularly and in the first year or so of me writing, the Irish blogging community was quite small.  We worked long and hard to build up our blogs to what they are today.  We didn't know anything about the blogger-PR relationship or how things worked but we all forged connections and relationships, learned things along the way and we've all hopefully made it a bit easier for new bloggers!

I have my tried and true favourite beauty blogs that I check every day and can't wait to see what they're blogging about!  As I made my list, I couldn't believe how many Irish bloggers are out there and I'm sure I've missed some out, so if I have, leave me a comment below and I'll be sure to sort it out!

The Old Reliables!
www.fluffandfripperies.com
www.emeraldeyeliner.com
www.cherrysuedointhedo.com
http://www.dollyrouge.ie/
www.brightandbeautyfull.com
http://itsonlymakeupjohn.wordpress.com/
www.thunderandthreads.blogspot.ie
www.artdonatella.com/
www.yourbeauty.ie/
http://all-made-up-21.blogspot.ie/
http://ninasbargainbeauty.blogspot.ie
http://tricklingbeauty.wordpress.com/
http://makeupmonster.ie
http://girlwiththeskewearring.blogspot.ie/
http://makeupovermind.blogspot.ie/
http://nursefancypants.blogspot.ie/
http://totalmakeupaddict.blogspot.ie/
http://cuti-clue-les.blogspot.ie/

2013 will be an interesting one in terms of being an Irish beauty blogger.  I'm a firm believer that there's room for everyone but it's important that we try to be different from each other.  If everyone gets the same product to review, the reader isn't going to read 20 reviews of the same product and it doesn't benefit the blogger or the brand in that respect.  So if I was only able to give one piece of advice to my fellow bloggers, it would be to try to have your own spin on things.  Find your own voice and the rest will come.

So Happy New Year my lovely Irish beauty bloggers and let's hear it for the girls in 2013!

Yves Saint Laurent Longwear Cream Eyeliner - Gold Lamé

YSL do some of the most beautiful products out there on the market and this cream eyeliner in the shade Gold Lamé couldn't be more perfect for New Year's Eve.  At €29, it can be used as a shadow, blended across the eyelid, as an inner corner highlight or my favourite, as a sleek and elegant slick of liner along the top lashes.

It's so creamy and pigmented and forget about only being able to use a shade like this at Christmas, imagine this during the summer with a tan.

I'm not the best at doing winged eyeliner but look what I was able to achieve in a couple of minutes.  The creamy formula means there's no tugging or dragging along the delicate skin of your eyelids, giving you an even, precise line.   I was able to do a thin line and easily build it up to something more dramatic.  It's New Year's Eve, go big or go home!

Team this gold liner with flawless skin and a red lip and you are good to go this New Year's Eve!

The Smashbox Smokey Eye - New Year's Eve look

It's New Year's Eve and probably the last night out we'll all have for a while as it's a scientific fact that January is the longest month ever and those of us who get paid at the end of the month know exactly what I'm talking about.  So if you're going out tonight, you want to make sure you look your best and there's no better time to get your smokey eye on ladies!

I met up with the Smashbox team earlier this month and make up artist Janine Bird did the most gorgeous smokey eye on me.  I knew as soon as she was done that I'd have to buy the palette she used, but my pal CherrySue beat me to it and bought it for moi, so fanks so much Sue!  I knew that this would be a gorgeous palette for a smokey look and teamed with the Brow Tech To Go brow pencil and Full Exposure mascara, I thought I'd show you how Janine did the look on me and it's so simple.  If I can do it, so can you.

The palette is called Auto Expose and has a light pink, an ashy charcoal shade and a burgundy shade with shimmer in it.  If there was ever a palette that was made for me, this is is and it works perfectly with my eye colour but would work with most eye colours too.

Ok, let's get busy.  A quick note before starting this look is to leave the foundation until you're finished with the eyes as when you're working with dark shades like this, it can get a bit messy with fallout and you don't want to have to remove your foundation and do it again.

1. Starting off with the darkest shade, use a flat eyeshadow brush to pat the colour on all over the eyelid, not going over the crease. By patting the colour, you're making sure that the eyeshadow will stay put and also be nice and dark.  When we're doing smokey eyes, we want to go from dark to light with a nice gradient effect.

2. Before adding any colour to the crease, add a wash of the lightest shade all over the browbone and in the crease.  Doing this will help make it easier to blend the darker colour into the crease.

3.  Apply the darker shade into the crease and use circular motions to blend blend blend!  Don't bring the colour up too high as we'll be using the grey shade next.

4. Using the charcoal ash shade, start to apply it just above the crease and in to your eye socket.  The best way to know how far to blend up towards the eyebrow is to look in a mirror straight ahead with your eye open.  Apply a little and blend, then look and see how you're getting on.  You want to be able to see the medium shade when you have your eyes open.  Use a clean fluffy brush to blend this shade with the lightest one, which will give you an even gradient from the darkest shade to the lightest.

We're nearly finished already!  Take the burgundy shade right under the eyes and blend a bit of the charcoal shade in with it.  Apply a pencil liner to the upper and lower waterlines.  I didn't have a black one to hand, so I used my Avon Supershock liner in Blackberry.  Some mascara on the top and bottom lashes and there we go!

I'll be doing a separate post on the Brow Tech To Go but let me just say that it's amazing.  Look at my brows!

This really is an easy peasy smokey eye with a palette that has shot right into my favourites.  I think it might actually be my favourite palette in my stash..... At €26, it's not too expensive and the shadows are creamy, blendable and superbly pigmented.  I can't wait to add more of them to my stash!

What are you wearing on your eyes this New Year's Eve?

Happy Christmas from Lovely Girlie Bits!

So we made it folks! It's Christmas Eve and hopefully you're all sorted for the next few days and will be spending lots of time with your loved ones.

I'm taking a much needed mini break from the blog but I'll be popping in a few times between now and the new year as I'd have separation anxiety leaving the blog unattended for that long and I've ideas bubbling away for some posts!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and take some time to eat, drink and be merry over the coming days! And with that, someone else wants to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Essence Peel Off Base Coat - A must have for glitter lovers!

Oh ladies, this is a game changer!  Ok, so I've spoken many times about my love of glitter nail polish.  I've also spoken in great detail about my absolute hatred when trying to remove it.  Using nail polish remover takes ages and I end up essentially exfoliating my nails trying to get the stuff off and when I lose the rag with that, I end up picking it off which is murder on the nails, but very satisfying nonetheless.  So either way it was a lose lose situation, but one I found myself in time and time again as I like sparkley nails.

Essence have brought out something very amazing in the form of this little white bottle....  Essence Nail Art Peel Off Base Coat aka one of my favourite products of the year.

I saw this in Penneys recently for €2.89 and snapped up two bottles because a) I heard angels singing when I laid eyes on it and b) I love peeling stuff off my nails and now I can without damaging them!

So you apply a coat like so on clean dry nails.  You leave it for about ten minutes and it turns clear and ever so slightly tacky.

Then it's time for glitter polish.  As today is my last day at work before Christmas, I needed to bling it up big time, so Sally Hansen's Gem Crush in Big Money was my choice.  The mixture of purple and gold in this shade just makes me happy like nowt else, so on it went.

A little tip when applying these polishes.  They dry almost matte, so a layer of your favourite top coat will make the glitter particles shine even more and blind people.

I didn't want to start my whole manicure from scratch so I just did my baby fingernail to show the base coat in action and as I couldn't find my wooden orange sticks, I used the cap of my biro to gently push back the polish like so.

It takes seconds to remove the polish and you can see on my nail that there's no dryness left.  Usually when I use nail polish remover or peel off my polish, I end up removing the top layer of my nail, leaving it dry and gross looking but check out my undamaged nail!

If you're a glitter polish lover like myself, then you need this.  It's what we've been waiting for and I don't know why it's taken so long for something like this to come into our lives.  I now no longer have to grimace when applying my glitter polish, already dreading having to remove it.

Get your glitter polishes out ladies!

The final Star Gift from Boots! No7 The Ultimate Collection

Ooh I thought last week saw the end of the Boots Star Gift but I was mistaken!  The last Star Gift before the  big day is the No7 The Ultimate Collection, now only €40 (usually €85).

In this beautifully packaged box comes:

• No7 Protect and Perfect Day Cream
• No7 Protect and Perfect Night Cream
• No7 Blissful Body Wash
• No7 Completely Quenched Moisture Lotion
• No7 Lash Adapt Mascara in Black
• Limited Edition Lip Gloss
• Eye Shadow Palette

So basically everything you need to look after your skin, made even better with the addition of the make up!

This set is available from now until December 27th for €40, so if you're wondering what to get your sister, friend or mam, then check this out!

Self tanning this Christmas - Tan Organic, Cocoa Brown, He-Shi & Sally Hansen have you covered, literally!

'Tis the season to be jolly!  And photographed a lot, so it's important to look and feel our best.  Arms and legs are on show and since most photographs that'll be plastered all over Facebook and Twitter will be taken with flash photography, pale limbs become even paler.  If you like to embrace the pale, then I'm so jealous of the extra time you have to tend to other beauty duties.  I am pale, but also blotchy.  So if my arms are going to be on show, I need a little somethin' somethin' to help them on their merry way.

Whether you're one of those people who are totally organised and have all their Christmas shopping done and have their tanning routine sorted or someone who leaves it all to the last minute, I've three tanning products that are new to me and an old favourite that will get you through this holiday season.  I'll be trying them all out myself over the next few weeks and will report back with my findings. 

Organised Orla.
You are sorted.  The Christmas shopping is all done.  It's been done since the January sales this year, but you don't like to gloat or nothin'.  The party dress was bought ages ago as were all of the accessories.  You know what you're doing with your hair and make up and have been studying Youtube tutorials for weeks now.  Winged eyeliner?  Pfft, you could do it in your sleep you've been practicing that much.

The tan for you? Tan Organic (€19.99).  This organic tan is the first tan ever to be Eco Certified, is free of parabens and alcohol and doesn't dry the skin out either.  It promises to give a golden glow, is streak free, scent free and lasts for ages.  Spray it on your limbs a couple of days before The Big Party and you'll be a well prepared golden goddess, a smug golden goddess.

Day before Dorothy.

You had planned to be sorted but stuff kept happening.  Like Homeland and Revenge.  Then you were going to get organised over the weekend but you went out on Friday night for "one or two", famous last words...  Saturday was a write off due to a hangover from hell and you forgot that you're getting older, so two day hangovers are happening more and more, so Sunday was spent in it's entirety cursing alcohol in all it's forms.  It's now the night before the party and you still have a million things to do, so want something that'll take two seconds to apply and stay put over the coming days while you do another million things.

The tan for you? Cocoa Brown by Marissa Carter (€8.00).  This tan is brand new to the market and thanks to the accelerating ingredients, works in as little as one hour, but you can leave it up to three for a darker bronzey hue.  This thick mousse smells gorgeous and floral and the cherry on top is the price.  €8.  I know! 


Same day Sally.
You're not sorted at all.  Not even a little bit.  The only thing that should be white and pimply looking is the raw turkey.  Why did you buy a sleeveless dress?  It seemed like such a good idea at the time but now you've given yourself an hour to get showered, hair done, make up on before you head out looking (hopefully) fabulous.  You're wondering can you get away with using dry shampoo on your hair... Or backcombing the living Jaysis out of it to distract from how greasy the roots are... 

The tan for you? He-Shi Luminous Shimmer (€12.50).  This looks good enough to eat, but you don't have time for that.  This instant tan is packed full of colour, shimmer and will give you a golden glow that you can wash off easily at the end of the night.  Or the following morning.  If you can function like a human being that is.


When all else fails.
If you're really caught off guard and don't have time to run out and pick these up, then one product you probably have at home in your bathroom is Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs (€13.95).  An oldie but a goodie which was reformulated earlier this year, so really a newie and a goodie.  I've used this on both legs and arms in the past and it's brilliant.  The water resistant formula will stay put as you invariably get drinks knocked all over you and the lovely dress you're wearing.

Are you prepared for the Christmas party season ladies?

PS. These would all make excellent stocking stuffers, n'est pas?

Christmas make up look - grey smokey eye

As we're full swing into the party season, with that comes the perfect opportunity to play around with our make up.  Eyes get smokier, lips get redder and today I'm going to show you how to achieve a really quick smokey eye.  Ten minutes should do the job.  If you're going to be photographing your eyeball, it might take you a squidgy bit longer.

You don't need a huge number of products at all.  I used six which is practically nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Take a look at what I used.

• Inglot Rainbow Eyeshadow in 130R (The grey one)
• Smashbox Waterproof Shadow Liner in Chrome
• Clarins Kohl Eye Pencil
• Hourglass Jett Script Precision Liner
• Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill mascara
• Clinique Bottom Lash mascara

1. Apply the Smashbox Waterproof Shadow Liner all over the eyelid and take it under the lower lash line.

2. Pat the darkest shade of Inglot's Rainbow Eyeshadow 130R on top of the liner.

3. Apply the medium shade of 130R to the crease and blend it with the darkest shade.

4. Using a fluffy brush, apply the medium and lightest shade of 130R above the crease and just keep blending to beat the band.

5. Line the top and bottom waterline with Clarins Kohl Pencil, being careful not to poke yourself in the eyeball.

6. Using the Hourglass Jett Script Precision liner, apply a thin line along the upper lashline and wing it out slightly.  I have hooded eyes so don't like my liner being too thick, or else I won't be able to see the eyeshadow.

7. Apply Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill on upper lashes and Clinique Bottom Lash mascara on the bottom lashes funnily enough.

8. Voila!  You have beautiful eyes!

I love love love this look and paired with a nude lip and bronzer on your cheeks, you're good to go.  As you can see, it's really easy, so give it a go!

Are there any other make up looks you'd like me to show you over the Christmas?  I'll be piling on the make up over the next few weeks, so get ready for more tutorials!

The Lovely Girlie Guide to getting through the party season in one piece!

As the song goes "It's the most wonderful time of the year"!  It's also the busiest time of the year, sometimes it's the most stressful, but mostly yeah, it's wonderful.  Here at Lovely Girlie Towers, we've gone to our fair share of Christmas parties and have had a ball.  We think...  I've put together a Help Moi Get Through The Christmas Period In One Piece And Without Making A Holy Show Of Myself guide to get us all through the next couple of weeks!

The War Paint
Ok, we all love red lips over Christmas and if you're not one who uses red lippie throughout the year, then there's no better time than now!  But, with that bravery comes caution.  Yes, you will have spent ages getting ready, meticulously lining your lips before carefully applying your favourite red lipstick with a lip brush for absolute precision.  You go out the door looking and feeling fabulous and glamorous.  Then on your 6th drink of the night, you've broken the seal and find yourself in the loo and in front of the mirror a lot.  You see that you need to top up your lipstick to complete the Christmassy look once more.  You think you're looking gorgeous and apply layer upon layer, suddenly noticing that by applying the lipstick ever so slightly outside of the lips, it gives you big luscious lips and you're annoyed at yourself for only realising this now. 

You. Are Gorgeous. 

In reality, if you close one eye and squint through the other, there's more than a passing resemblance to The Joker.  It's all up your face and if you smile, yeah, it's on your teeth...  Beautiful...

My advice?  Unless you're planning on staying sober or one of your pals is a make up artist who is sober, (sobriety is obviously the key here) then bring a lipgloss with you or a lighter shade of lipstick because you will actually die of embarrassment the next day with all of the photos plastered on Twitter and Facebook.


With those sexy eyes (squint squint)
I am allllll about lashes every day of the year but at Christmas, I'm firmly in the camp of Go Big Or Go Home.  If I could only use one piece of makeup for the rest of my life, it'd be mascara so can you imagine how much I pile on when heading out on the town, never mind at Christmas.  There's nothing worse than catching a glimpse of yourself in a mirror, sober or otherwise and seeing your mascara all under your eyes.  Sloppy chic is not very Winter 2012 and it makes you look like you're only out of the bed.  No.  This is not a good look.

My advice?  Either use Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara which doesn't budge an inch, or if you've a waterproof mascara in your stash, use that on the bottom lashes.  If you don't have access to either of those, try powdering under your eyes with something like this Micro-Fil Loose Powder from Giorgio Armani so that the oil on your skin doesn't interact with the oil in the mascara and cause it to break down.  If you can't do that, then there's one more thing to try.  Do a smokey eye like never before and bring the shadow under your eyes.  I'd stick to the mascara or powder though!


Never again...
Yeah right.  There's not one single solitary person out there who hasn't said those two words after waking up following a brilliant night out.  If you haven't, you're a big ole liar.  We totally mean it for that day and swear that if your body is your temple, why did you chug a load of alcohol in your temple?  Was your temple having a drought and a grand bottle of Malbec was the only fix to save the impending natural disaster?
You get annoyed with yourself.  Didn't you remember having this exact conversation with yourself the last time you woke up dying a small death?  You wonder if it's like the whole childbirth myth, that you forget about the pain until the next time you do it?

My advice?
One of the best products that has come into my life is NoHo.  Now I'm not advocating drinking your body weight in prosecco or anything, but if you need to function as a human being the next day, please give this a go.  It's packed full of nutrients that your body uses to break down alcohol, tastes a bit like cough medicine and here's the most important thing; you need to drink one bottle before you head out and drink the other before you go to bed.  This is crucial.  I've gone out and forgotten to take the second one and shook my fist at myself (in my mind the following day as I lay like a zombie and waited for the day to be over).  Leave it on your pillow and you won't (shouldn't) forget it.  If you don't have access to NoHo or you've left it too late, give Vita Coco a go.  This is based on one ingredient, coconut water and is full of naturally occurring potassium and essential electrolytes, so total hydration station across the nation.  I'll totally be trying these out over the Christmas season.  No more waking up with a dirty big hairy tongue and asking myself  "Did I just lick a carpet?"  My brother loves this stuff and says it's brilliant, so it has the Lovely Manly Dangly seal of approval!

If you don't get around to taking any of this advice at all at all, then I'll leave you with this little nugget that I've lived by for years... If I don't remember it, it didn't happen...

Do you have any tips or tricks to help us all get through the party season in one piece without having made a holy show of ourselves?

Best of luck!

Easy Christmas Nail Art - Christmas presents!

Yesterday we finally got around to putting up the Christmas tree and it looks gorgeous if I do say so myself!  I'm feeling a lot more festive now with all the twinkly lights and so last night I was inspired to try some easy peasy nail art that anyone can do.  We all love presents, so why not make each nail a little present?

It was only when I went to take these photos in the tree that Joanne handed me one of the little decorations and said "Here, this is what you did on your nails"!  I didn't plan or realise that at all and was obviously subliminally inspired by the tacky decoration!

So what do you need?  Two polishes and some nail striping tape that you can get in Hairspray for around €3.  As our tree is decorated in red and gold, I grabbed the nearest red and gold polishes to hand.  Enter Lancome's Ginger Swing and NYC's Chelsea Cherry.

I applied two coats of Ginger Swing and waited for what seemed like a small age for it to dry completely.  I applied the striping tape so that they intersected on the top left corner of my nail.  A tip when using the tape is to rub the sticky side with your finger so that it's just slightly tacky as I found out the hard way the last time I used it that if it's too sticky, it can take the base polish off with it as you're removing it.

Doing one finger at a time, I applied a coat of Chelsea Cherry to each nail and removed the tape immediately.  If the top polish begins to set at all, it'll be a mess when you try to remove the tape.  So do polish and remove tape, finger by finger and you'll be fine.  A coat of Seche Vite will give the nails a beautiful gloss and this is what you'll be left with!

Christmassy nails!

Gotta hold on to the golden balls eh?

Joanne wants me to do this on her nails tonight so she'd better start thinking of what colour combination she wants!

UPDATE!  Have a look at my video showing you had to do this!

Do we like these festive nails?

It's here! Boots Star Gift! Soap & Glory: The Best of All

Since Boots started doing their Star Gifts weeks ago, we've all been waiting for this one, the much lusted after Soap & Glory set!  I'm not even going to talk about it that much because I know you won't read it as you'll have already skedaddled out the door and down to Boots.

At just €35, usually €75, you can pick up this bad boy from December 14th to 20th and these are going to fly off the shelves so get yourself into Boots early and stock up!

The Soap & Glory The Best of All set includes

The Righteous Butter

Hand Food

Sugar Crush Body Scrub

Smoothie Star Body Milk

Clean on Me Shower Gel

Heel Genius Foot Mask

Peaches And Clean Cleansing Milk

Super-Colour Sex Mother Pucker Lip Plump in Punch Bowl

Thick & Fast Mascara

And they're all sitting pretty in a gorgeous vanity case!

What are you waiting for, get down to Boots stat!

New York Colour Christmas collection

Bargaintastic are on hand this Christmas to give us up to the minute trend based make up for next to nothing!  These guys arrived when we were away and I had to show them to you!

Hh

There's no better time than Christmas to bring out the false lashes and NYC have two sets for us. On the left is Black Natural (€2.99) and on the right is Diamanté (€3.99).  I can see myself getting great use out of the natural ones to finish off a smokey eye and the sparkley ones could be a contender for a New Year's Eve look. Blingtastic wha?

On 

Things I'm loving right now - Clinique, Roger & Gallet, Shu Uemura, Smashbox, YSL, Liz Earle

I always feel a bit of pressure doing monthly favourites as half the time, I've forgotten what I've loved over the month and the other half of the time, I'm on to new things, so I think from now on, I'll give the old Things I'm loving right now posts a go!

So here's what I've found myself reaching for the most in recent weeks.  Some are new additions to my beauty stash and some are old reliables, but I try not to show favouritism as it's not fair.

1. Roger & Gallet Ginger shower gel and body lotion.

To me, this is the scent of New York.  I brought the shower gel and body lotion away with us and we started each day revitalised and ready for the day ahead and I know I've gone on and on about this range in various posts and just be happy that you don't know me in real life or I'd be getting you to smell my arm all the time.  #truestory

2. Clinique bottom lash mascara.

When this first came out, I pffffed at the idea that we needed a mascara for our bottom lashes.  I mean, could we not have just continued on using our normal mascara?  Em, no.  This is brilliant stuff.  I love really voluminous top lashes but on the bottom, I want long, defined, separated lashes and this is the perfect product for my blondey lashes.  The itty bitty wand means I can get every last lash, especially the ones on the outer corner and I've used it every single day since I came back from New York.  If you're a lash fiend, this is definitely worth checking out.

3. Smashbox Brow Tech To Go

I've just started trying out some Smashbox products and after hearing rave reviews of the Brow Tech To Go within two minutes of arriving at the event, I sat in the Beauty Bootcamp and started colouring in my poor weeny brows.  After Smashbox make up artist Janine Bird completed this make up look on my eyes, she filled in my brows and I spent the rest of the presentation trying to sneak glimpses of my newly shaped brows.  The eyebrow shaper has a triangular shaped pencil on one end and a gel on the other end, so you can shape and set your brows easy peasy lemon squeezy.  I'll do a post on this itself as it's brilliant and if I'd known about it sooner, I wouldn't have bought an Anastasia Brow Wiz when I was away!

4. Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Nourishing Oil-In-Cream

During the winter months, I am a lean mean, static haired machine.  I'm telling you, I spend the duration trying not to get electric shocks from everything I touch.  And I dare say, I'm probably the owner of the best straight haired afro and if you put me and a jinny joe side by side, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.  I need only the barest squidge (smaller than a chickpea) of this Shu Uemura Nourishing Oil-In-Cream (€38) in the palm of my hands and distribute it over towel dried hair before drying it.  It contains Camellia oil which is one of the most rapidly absorbed oils, so that combined with the cream means your hair is in for a treat.  Even drying it normally with the hairdryer leaves me with smooth, swishy hair but if I Babyliss Big Hair it (it's a verb), then it looks totally profesh.  You have to be careful not to use too much or you'll end up with lank hair, something I learned the hard way.  But once you've your designated amount sorted, you'll have tame locks and go about your day with the central heating on, confident that your hair will look lovely for the whole day.

5. Liz Earle Superskin Concentrate

Our flights to and from New York recently, combined with the fact that I'd stopped my usual skincare routine meant that my skin was uber dry.  I mean, it's not right to be sitting at your desk and rub your cheek to hear it rustling it's so dry.  So I knew what to do and have started using my Superskin Concentrate from Liz Earle every second or third night.  I like using it right after I've showered or cleansed my skin, so the pores are open and ready to suck up that precious oil.  You can read my full review here.

6. YSL Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation

This is in my favourites again because it's just the perfect foundation for me right now with my drier skin.  One pump buffed in with my buffing brush does me grand first thing in the morning.  It blends easily, takes minimal effort and doesn't cake to any dry bits on my face which is crucial for life right now so for those reasons, it remains one of my favourites.  Love. It.

So that's it folks, what are you loving right now?

Lancome Christmas 2012 - photos, swatches and happiness

There's nothing like a bit of red and gold at this time of year to really get me in the Christmas mood.  And Lancome haven't let me down this season with their Christmas collection this year.  Beautifully sophisticated with shimmer galore, the fact that the model is wearing gold sequins just makes me love the whole concept even more.  If you can't get away with looking like a Christmas ornament at this time of year, then what's the point, so bring on the gold I say!

There are three Ombre Hypnose Mono shadows (€25) that make me ache with how much I love the glittery lid.  The stunning shadows can be used wet or dry and would make a welcome present to yourself or a lucky lady this Christmas.  Just take a moment and look at them....

I was sent a couple of pieces from the collection to show you and one of my favourites is this unassuming little pot of loose powder.  The Ombre Les Paillettes aux Yeux (€24.50) in the shade A la Belle Etoile No 10 is a delicate rose gold shade that I've been wearing as a wash all over my eyelids with lashings of mascara.  It's one of those products that makes me go hmm as it goes on like a powder but when it sets, it looks almost like a cream finish if that makes sense.  All I can say is go visit it in the shops and as I love rose gold, this is right up my proverbial makey uppy street.

Now, one of my other favourite products is Le Crayon Khol in Jazzy Taupe (€17.28).  This shade is just perfect.  I can't fault the pigmentation, the longevity, the necessity for a shade like this at Christmas.  I know a lot of people are afraid to use black liner on the waterline as it can make the eyes look smaller but with this, it adds depth and dimension to a look while also bringing a bit of light to your eyes as it's metallic.  I'm getting giddy again just writing this paragraph so I may need to give Jazzy Taupe it's own post to show you how gorgeous it is.  

Continuing on the metallics theme, check out Vernis in Love in the shade Ginger Swing (€18).  For those of you who aren't in to glittery nails but still want sparkle, then this is a more mature way to go about adding a little somethin' somethin' to your manicure.  See, I'm all about the shimmery nails at this time of year.  Every pub and restaurant has twinkly lights all over the place and so you're guaranteed for someone to grab hold of your hand mid gulp of mulled wine to ask what you're wearing on your nails.  Or is this just something beauty crazed individuals do?  No, we'd grab your hand and say "Oh are you wearing Lancome Ginger Swing"? and be nodding knowingly as we asked because we'd already know you were.

There are three new shades of the L'Absolu Rouge to round out the collection and all I can say is if you're going to a Christmas party anytime soon, go in to your local Lancome counter and check these out.