My Winter Beauty Essentials | Sunday Blues

Grab yourself a cuppa, this is going to be a long one!

Winter is fast approaching and that means a change in the weather, which means wrapping up in warm scarves, cozy jumpers and breaking out the fluffy socks. I love it! Winter is one of my favourite months (nothing to do with christmas I swear...) I love when it snows, which is rare here, it tends to be sunny on Christmas Day oddly enough. I love when the fires are starting to be lit and you can just cozy up with a nice movie and a cup of tea. Along with all of that is my most favourite part. Winter beauty.

Skin care:

I will start first, by talking about winter skincare. Taking care of your skin in winter is hugely important. The colder weather means dryer skin and with people blasting the central heating you can be sure it will take a toll on your skin. To be perfectly honest not much changes in my winter skincare routine other than I like to moisturize like a crazy person. As I have combination skin I don't like to use heavy products in the summer as I would just be an oily mess, so I save them for winter when my skin can take it more. I have changed up my cleanser this year to The Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter and I love it. This is quite an oily product but it literally melts makeup off your face, reducing the amount of time you spend cleansing. I also try to use face masks that are brightening and moisturising. I love the REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Face-mask which smells if oranges and really makes your skin glow. Always a winner in my book.

Another product that I highly recommend using in winter is and exfoliator, especially if you have dry skin as it takes away all the dead skin cells that can make your skin look dull. Exfoliating also helps your moisturiser and any other products you apply to your skin, sink in better as it doesn't have to fight through dead skin and makes them work better. I have three I am currently using. My everyday one (which I don't use everyday but it is gentle enough if you want to use it daily) is the Boots Botanics All Bright Purifying Face Scrub and two REN exfoliator's the REN Micro Polish Cleanser and the REN Jojoba Microbead Purifying Facial Polish. These products are amazing at making my skin feel soft and smooth and I love them. I also think that treatments are very important for your skin in winter as the cold weather can really dry it out. I have been thinking recently in investing in the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum as it is meant to be the the bees knees and the spiders ankles (I hope people understood that...) It retails for about €80 - €100 making it pretty pricey, although very much worth it from the reviews I have read.

Body care:

As for winter body care, I will start by saying, do not have a super hot shower. This will dry out your skin. I know, I know, hot showers feel amazing when your freezing cold but do your skin a favour and just have a nice warm one instead. You can thank me later. As I have mentioned, central heating is your skins worst enemy come winter time, it completely dries it out. Make sure you are moisturizing well after each shower to keep your skin soft and looking fab. Body brushing is also your best friend this time of the year and you can read up on that in my most recent post here.

Make Up:

Next up lets talk about makeup. My favourite look in winter is neutral eyes and a deep berry plum colour on my lips. My favourite this year is the Rimmel London Kate Moss lipstick in 107 which is proving very popular this year from the likes of Suzanne Jackson of sosueme.ie and Zoella both rocking this colour. Another big trend this winter is orange lips which has been seen on the catwalk and in magazines. I think orange lips are a great change from the usual dark colour's but still keeps it in the winter colour palette. I still love a good smoky eye and a nude lip, Satin Taupe shadow from MAC being an all time favorite. Foundation wise, depending on your skin type, something more dewy/moisturizing would be appropriate for winter. Having combination skin myself, this is not always an option. So as I have mentioned before I like to apply a good moisturizer and then once that has sank in I will apply my primer to keep the never ending supply of oil at bay. I am currently using the 17 Miracle Matte Primer which is amazing for a Boots brand. It is affordable and works great, what more could you want? I will then apply my favorite foundation of the moment (right now its the Revlon Color Stay foundation) and Bobs your uncle.

Bronzer is another life changing product in winter. Who wants dull pasty looking skin? I don't that's for sure. I love bronzing up my face in both winter and summer, it makes you look more tan in summer and less dead in winter! YAY! :) I love love LOVE the Sleek Contour Kit in Light, yes its for contouring but the shade is so perfect it makes my skin look glowy and amazing. The highlighter shade is also a dream, not so shimmery that you become a disco ball, but just right so you have gorgeous glowing skin, just in time for all those Winter parties ;)

                                         A swatch of the Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick 107
                                           

                                       A close up of Satin Taupe from MAC

Hair care:

Right, we all know what winter means for our hair.. it turns it into a dry and frizzy mess. Lovely. How do we combat this? Hair masks and lots of them. Pile them on people just pile them on. Your hair will love you I promise. Now what hair masks do I use I hear you ask? There are tonnes of them out there. I personally love pure coconut oil as it works well and is relatively cheap and easy to come by ( I am pretty sure Tesco's or a health food store would have this, you can use this for cooking too.) I warm it up in the microwave and apply to the ends of my hair, leave it for a half an hour, rinse and you are good to go. I am currently testing out the Organix Moroccan Argan Oil hair mask and I will be posting my review once I have tested it thoroughly. Hair serums and oils such as the ever popular Moroccan Oil (which, surprisingly, I do not own but have used) are also brilliant at keeping frizz at bay but keeping moisture in your hair. One big tip I have for combating frizz is to make sure your hair is completely dry before stepping outside. Any bit of moisture in your hair when the wind blows and POOF you look like Monica from Friends. Yes, I have been their.

Phew! Whoever manages to read this until the end give yourself a huge pat on the back, you are a trooper. I hope you enjoyed this post guys and I do hope it helps you in some way with any winter beauty problems you may have. If you have any more questions feel free to leave a comment down below or on my Twitter or Facebook pages, links are on my profile. :) Thanks for reading guys and a Happy Halloween! :D

My Pamper Evening Essentials | Sunday Blues

Who doesn't love a good pamper session? Especially after a long day at work on your feet, running around doing this, that and the other. A pamper session is just the remedy for this. I have been feeling a little run down lately and stressed so I decided that I was going to treat myself and have a girly night in with myself. I have not had one in a very long time and this was definitely needed. This is where the pampering begins. I begin by taking some Pure Coconut Oil and warming it in the microwave, I then apply it to just the ends of my hair for a deep conditioning treatment. I leave that on for about 30 minutes. I have recently started dry brushing before every shower which if you are not familiar with dry brushing is when you take a body brush and you run it over your body in long strokes towards the heart. This helps to get rid of dry skin, cellulite, boosts circulation and lymphatic drainage (ew) which ultimately rids the body of toxins! A winner in my book! You can and should be doing this twice a day, before you hop in the shower.

Next up is the actual shower itself. Now I am pretty sure I don't have to tell you how to shower.. :) Although in the shower I love to exfoliate. The body brushing does exfoliate the skin but I love to redo areas such as my knees and elbows. I use The Body Shops Peach Body Scrub and I LOVE it. It smells amazing, is amazing at leaving your skin super soft and is just an all round great product. I use this just before I turn on the water as its better to use this on dry skin as its more effective I think. Then I rinse it off and use my favourite shower gel which is either the Original Source Mint and Tea Tree shower gel (which is great for the morning time, super refreshing) or the Soap and Glory Foam Call (which no joke, lasted me a year). Then I move onto shaving. I personally love Gillette and think they are the best razors so I always use them. Now on pamper evenings I like to make sure I am squeaky clean, so I use a clarifying shampoo on my hair. My favourite one, and probably the best one I have ever tried is the Toni and Guy Cleanse Shampoo. I have reviewed this before so I will link it here if you want to read up on that. I then apply another conditioner (double conditioning ftw!) I use the Schwarzkopf Deep Nutrition Conditioner which is another never ending product! I apply this to the ends of my hair and then rinse.

Once out of the shower I towel dry my hair and apply a nice body moisturizer such as the Vaseline Total Moisture Cocoa Glow (review here) or my new Jergens Body Lotion which is brilliant stuff! Then pop on some fresh pajamas (and deodorant..) I like to let my hair air dry for a while so I reduce the amount of time spent blow-drying it. While its drying I begin on my nails. I file them into shape, apply my OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener then whatever colour I am loving which at the moment is BarryM's Matte Polish in Vanilla which is a gorgeous taupe colour. I then apply my Avoplex Nail and Cuticle Oil all over my nails and they are done. I will then light a candle, my fave this month being the Yankee Candle in Blissful Autumn soon to be the new Salted Caramel one, once I get my hands on it.. I then apply a face mask, I used the REN Glycolactic Face Mask all over my face and relax with my book (Melissa Hill: The Truth About You..if your interested.) or my favourite magazine Stellar! Rinse of the face mask, blow-dry the oul hair and et voila the pampering is complete! :)

I hope you enjoyed reading this mighty long post guys and that maybe you will treat yourself to a pamper evening as well. It really does work wonders and after a good nights sleep, you are sorted. :)

What is your favorite way to wind down after a long day?

Favorites | Beauty and random!

Hey guys! Long time no see! (Or write(?) in this case!) For the past few weeks I have lost my blogging mojo and have seriously lacked in ideas for new posts. I decided that the best thing to do would be to round up all of my favorites from the last month to show you guys! I have included beauty products and a few random bits and bobs as well! I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to give me a follow or leave me a comment down below telling me what you would like to see on here next! :) P.S This is going to be a long one so grab a cuppa!

First up are the beauty products. Some of these products you may have seen before as I have featured them on my blog. I'll get started by talking about two products that I have not mentioned but have adored. As you may or may not know, I despise doing my nails. I will either let them grow really long or hack them down to the skin (gross). Now I have heard of O.P.I Nail Envy before but had never picked it up, until I was in Myer in Australia and noticed they had an offer on for the Nail Envy and the Avoplex Cuticle Oil. These products are amazing! Especially together! I have never really been into talking care of my nails, but these products make a huge difference. My nails would always break and snag but after using this nail strengthener it really has helped! The cuticle oil is also great for softening your cuticles making it easier to push them back, it also hydrates the skin around your nails leaving them looking amazing! I usually like to file my nails into shape, apply two coats of the Nail Envy, once they are dry I will them rub a little of the oil over my nail and around the edges. Bomb.com! 

Next up is the Toni and Guy Cleanse Shampoo which I have previously done a post on so click here. I only use this shampoo if my hair is in real need of a good clean. It leaves my hair feeling soft and super duper clean! I feel that it actually gives my hair more volume too as it removes all product build up from the hair! Who doesn't want that?? As for skincare I have discovered two new products and one oldie but a goodie! First we have something I purchased at the start of the week to try out, the REN Radiance Perfection Serum. I have been hearing great things about REN skincare and really wanted to try out their products and seeing as garden.co.uk (they sell Bioderma!) had an offer on a bag of REN products to try out, I jumped at the chance! (I will have more on the other products later) This is basically like any other serum, you apply it under your moisturizer morning and night, but this is not heavy at all and it does not feel like silicone, it smells like oranges too! Yum! And it leaves my skin looking and feeling great! It works well under makeup too! I will most certainly be purchasing the full size of this!

Next up is the Botanics All Bright Purifying Face Scrub. I love a good scrub and this one is no different! The scrubbing particles are not too gritty so they don't irritate your face and you could most certainly use this on a daily basis. I keep mine in the shower and it really cleans your skin after a long nights sleep. It does not have a strong smell which I think people with sensitive skin would enjoy as well as it being gentle on their skin. Next is the Witch Naturally clear Blemish Stick. I love this stuff and I used to use it when I was a teenager. You can find it in most Boots pharmacies, and I would really recommend this to anyone suffering from blemishes, this stuff will completely clear them up. I use this on my "I hate my skin days" which I am sure everyone gets from time to time. Its kind of strange feeling in that its cold and it "melts" onto your face (trust me it works) Overall a great product!

I have always loved L'Oreal and clearly they make good eye makeup as I have two products in my favourites this month! First is the L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara which I have reviewed here. I love thin wand mascaras as I feel I have more control over them and I can also get to the root of my lashes much better than with a huge wand! This makes your lashes super lengthened and separated, a big thumbs up in my book! I am also a huge fan of winged liner and wear it on my eyes almost everyday, so I am always on the lookout for a great liquid liner. I have tried gels but I cant get them to last on me. The L'Oreal Super Liner is my go to liner for the perfect cat eye. The applicator is perfectly shaped, and thin enough to get an amazing wing, the only thing I will say is that I should get the waterproof one (I think they have one..) as my eyes water a lot and this tends to wash away. :/ 

So I personally love a great contour, something that makes your cheekbones standout and really adds to a look, and that's where the Sleek Contour Kit comes in. I love this! It has replaced my Mac Harmony blush which was my go to contour colour for years! Yes, it is that good. I bought it in light as obviously, I am paler than Morticia Adams. This colour is perfect for me and i can use it to bronze up my face a bit as it is not too orange in colour. The highlighter shade in this is beautiful, I have never really been a fan of highlighters as I have combination skin but this one is just too nice not to use! A blush favourite of mine, something I also never used to wear is the Essence Silky Touch Blush in number 10 Adorable. I love this colour! I am a huge fan of peachy pink tones and this is no exception. It apply's amazingly and really is a silky touch blush. It has the tiniest amount of shimmer in it which would usually irritate me but you really cant see it once applied to the skin. And lastly we have my favourite lip product of the month, my Burts Bees Replenishing Lipbalm with pomegranate oil. Just buy it, honestly it needs no review. Its great at keeping my lips hydrated throughout the day and keeping them from chapping. Woohoo!

Now for the random favourites! Who doesn't love Autumn? Personally it is my favorite season (after summer, but Ireland doesn't get those so..) I love how things start to get chillier, you have to light a fire in the evenings and of course the autumnal candle scents. :) In walks Yankee Candle in Blissful Autumn. Boy does this smell good! I love lighting this in my room at night and it makes it so warm and cosy. I hate spicy scents so thankfully this just smells of autumn fruits and clean air. Love it! As for food, I have been eating peanut butter by the bucket load! I love it with jam on brown bread or on crackers or on a spoon.... Don't judge. It has to be crunchy peanut butter though as I cannot stand smooth! Too sticky!

So those are my favourites for the past month! I hope you enjoyed reading this guys :) I enjoyed writing it! I will try and have another post up soon. If you have any requests don't be shy and leave a comment down below! I would also like to know if you have tried any of these products or if I have enticed you to buy anything? Thanks for reading guys :)