Nail Polish Collection: Breakdown Part 13

13 weeks later and here we are at the very last post of this Saturday Series. At long last some of you might say haha. I can't believe that this is the last day of March and that April beckons us in the morning. I always feel that once we hit April, winter is well and truly over. (But of course this being Ireland who knows what could happen weather wise).

This is OPI Part 3

L-R Fiercely Fiona, Simply Smashing, Electric Eel, Gargantuan Green Grape, Mermaid's Tears, Jade is the New Black, Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window, Cuckoo For This Colour, Not Like The Movies.

L-R Go On Green!, Catch Me In Your Net, Absolutely Alice, Last Friday Night, Suzi Says Feng Shui, Roadhouse Blues, Russian Navy, Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees, Black Shatter.

I hope you have enjoyed my little mini-series (that turned out to last for over 3 months!) of a more detailed view of my nail polish collection. 

Have a great weekend everybody!

Hype Review: Bioderma Créaline H2O

This is the first review that I've done in relation to this post on products I've bought due to the hype.

Now I must admit the Bioderma hype went slightly over my head in the sense that I only became aware of it a few months ago. I read a blog post on it, was extremely interested and as I began to research it, I realised that people were going crazy for it.

What is it?: Bioderma is a French brand and the particular product that people went wild for is a micellar cleansing solution that very gently removes eye and face make-up. While some have said that it's just expensive water, I found it did better than any other make-up remover that I've tried.

How did it do?: You can slightly feel the oil in the solution but it does not leave a greasy residue. It hasn't irritated my skin or dried it out. In fact, it leaves it very soft. I was concerned about using it on my eyes, as a lot of eye make-up removers leave my eyes stinging and watering. However, I have encountered zero problems with using Bioderma on my eyes. It removes my make-up very effectively. I pour some on to an oval cotton pad (they are generally bigger than the regular round cotton pads). I find that for my usual day make-up this is sufficient, however, if it's night out make-up I may need to use two of the cotton pads.

Availability: Unfortunately, Bioderma isn't the easiest to find in Ireland but I successfully ordered it from this eBay seller who specializes in French Beauty brands. Shipping was quick and it came securely packaged.

Price:  I paid £18.20 (around €21) including shipping. It is quite pricy but you do get a reasonable   amount of product.

Hype Worthiness: Did it live up to the hype? Absolutely.

Bioderma is now a firm part of my skincare routine and I will definitely be re-purchasing it.

Pretty in Pink

I couldn't do a nail varnish swatch post on pink varnishes without a reference to one of my favourite brat pack movies 'Pretty in Pink' :)

Rimmel Icing Sugar. A light, frosty colour.

Rimmel Pop Rose. A medium, warm-toned pink.

Rimmel Shocker. A bright, blue-based, shiny pink.

Revlon Passion Fruit. A purple pink.

OPI Come to Poppy. A beautiful bright shimmery pink.

Kiko 167. A deep pink with glitter.

No7 Cheeky Chops. A salmon toned pink.

My Favourite Hair Products

I don't think I have ever done a proper hair care post so I thought I would start with my favourite hair products. These are all things that I use in the the process of drying and styling my hair.

L-R Umberto Giannini Volume Blow Dry Spray, Kérastase Nectar Thermique, Schwarzkopf Gliss Spray.

I use these first three products before blow-drying my hair

Umberto Giannini Volume Blow Dry Spray: I like to use this product first, just on my roots. I find that as my hair is quite long, the weight of it can cause very flat roots. By using this spray, I get enough lift to balance it all out.

Kératstase Nectar Thermique: This is a nourishing care leave in conditioner of sorts with heat protectant. A little goes a long way with this product. I use just a pea-sized amount, rub it between my palms and smooth it through my hair. I think I've had this bottle for nearly 2 years and it is still lasting well even though I use it every time I wash my hair, which is about 3 times a week.

Schwarzkopf Gliss: This is a liquid silk gloss spray treatment. It's purpose is to turn brittle, dull hair into hair as smooth as silk. I adore this product, it is probably my favourite out of all of them. The smell is gorgeous and it truly does leave your hair as soft and shiny as silk. I found this in a bargain basket in a pharmacy. I hadn't seen it before and I haven't seen it since. For this reason, I use it sparingly, usually only once a week. I definitely notice the difference in the shine of my hair when I use this. If you ever spy this product, buy it!!

L-R Aussie Dual Personality, Umberto Giannini Dry Shampoo, Bumble and Bumble Brilliantime.

Aussie Dual Personaility: This is a heat protectant spray, which I use before straightening or curling my hair with hot tools. It is the best heat protectant I've ever used. I tried so many over the years but this is the only one I've re-purchased. Some , like the GHD one made my hair sticky while others like Toni&Guys offering had the most overwhelming stench. This Aussie one is cheap, lasts for ages and smells like summer. It also helps to smooth your hair. Bonus.

Umberto Giannini Dry Shampoo: We've all heard the praise for Batistes dry shampoo. It's cheap and cheerful and does the job well. That's what I thought. It was the only dry shampoo I ever heard any thing about. So I bought it. And used it. And I even bought it a few times again. But I didn't really like it. I felt it was too powdery in my hair, even when I used the brunette tinted ones and the smell disgustingly overwhelmed and overpowered me. Finally fed up, I hunted an alternative down. I just wished I'd done it sooner. This Umberto Giannini one sprays through my hair in such a fine mist. It doesn't leave a powdery residue, instead just effortlessly freshens up my hair. The smell is light and doesn't linger for an eternity. Yes, it is dearer than Batiste but it is a bigger bottle. 

Bumble and Bumble Brilliantime: I like to use this usually on day old or day two old hair that has been straight. I rub it through the ends of my hair to give it a bit of definition and kick. The blurb on the bottle reads brilliantime is unique and hard to define. It gives hair polish and a sort of languid, slept-in, sexy look. So there.

And that is my 6 favourite hair care/styling products. Do you use any of them?

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Palette

The Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes palette is the first palette that I'm going to use in my re-using old palettes mini-series. See this post for more details if you wish.

I remember buying this palette on the plane on my way to a holiday in Italy when I was about 18. I was really excited because up until then I wasn't a huge make-up buyer and certainly didn't buy expensive products. I was thrilled with the savings I made by buying this on the plane!

The Big Beautiful Eyes palette is an easy to follow neutral eye kit. I remember carefully reading the instructions that came with this kit lol! I needed to follow the steps haha!

I have to say this is a great wee kit for giving a very natural eye look, yet not skimping on  definition. I used this kit religiously for quite a few months, although there is still a serious amount of product left. It helped me branch out from just lower black rimmed lashes with no eyeshadow at all (ick) It also helped me to realise that you could use more than one eyeshadow at a time and that there was so many ways you could dress up your eyes.

When I went to use this again this morning I had forgotten how lovely and smooth the eyeshadows glided on.  One thing that hadn't changed however was the dreadful fallout you get from the shadows, in particular the dark brown one. So make sure to always tap off any excess!

When I used this kit originally, I used the brushes that came with the kit as I didn't have any others. They worked fine, although I used my own brushes for the look shown today.

Overall, I think this is a great kit to have, especially for  beginners. But really anybody, at any level of make-up skills could do worse than having this at hand as it is also great for travel.

A Little Bit Of No7 Love!

Ah those wonderful No7 vouchers that Boots are so fond of giving out. I got so many around January time and ended up getting all nail varnish with them. Here are some of my favourites.

Vivid Violet. 

A beautiful royal purple. No blue tint.

Tangy.

 A delectable bright orange.

Totally Teal. 

A moody darkened teal. Kind of grungy.

Highland Mist. 

Darker than your usual nude but not yet a pink. Unusual looking but elegant.

Do you usually avail of the No7 vouchers or do they remain crumpled at the bottom of your purse until you find them months after expiry? This used to happen me a lot hah!

What The Hype?!

As I sit in my room, surrounded by make-up and beauty related items, I began to think of all the things I have bought because of the hype. Because they were the new wonder product. The new must have. The holy grail.

And as I thought this, I wondered how many of them lived up to that expectation. That hype. Was it worth craving? Was it worth searching for? Was it worth the money?

And so I am going to begin reviewing some of the products that I have bought because of the hype. Off the top of my head, this minute I'm thinking of things like the Clarisonic, Bioderma cleansing solution cleanser, Origins Gin Zing eye cream etc.

Most of the things probably are worth it because although I'm a dreadful impulse buyer and easily swayed by hype, if I know in my gut it won't suit me, then I won't buy it.

So we shall see. Stay tuned.

Nail Polish Collection: Breakdown Part 12

The colours in today's OPI post are mainly pretty purples and pinks:)

L-R Sweetheart, Sweet Memories, A Dozen Rosas, Strawberry Margarita, Come to Poppy, Teenage Dream, Senorita Rose-Alita, Meep Meep Meep, The One That Got Away, Diva of Geneva.

L-R Do You Lilac It?, Pamplona Purple, The Colour To Watch, Funky Dunky, It's My Year, Lincoln Park After Dark, Sparkle-icious.

And it's the very last post next Saturday!

Look What I Found!

Urban Decay The Black Palette, Mac Cool Eyes Trip Palette,
Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes and Rimmel Quad

Top-Bottom Rimmel, Mac, Benefit and Urban Decay

As I was going through some drawers where I keep my make-up, I unearthed this small drawer of old make-up palettes. Some of them are the ones I used before I was properly into make-up and others are ones that just fell by the wayside. I kept them all together and now that they are resurrected. You can expect some posts featuring these palettes over the coming weeks! 

Mac Innocence, Beware Lipstick

I think I have found my favourite nude lipstick...ever! I have a couple of nude lipsticks that I quite like but Innocence, Beware is really something special.

The centre swatch is a swatch of Innocence, Beware.

A light nude, this also has a slight shimmer to it which really lifts the colour. I find that a lot of nude lipsticks can look flat on the lips which is why I think the addition of shimmer in Innocence, Beware makes me love it so much more. It gives my lips depth and doesn't erase them!

Nicely Nude

Some people hate them. I love them. I think nude nails look so elegant, classic and polished. 

I probably (read definitely) have way more nudes than I need, but really, you can never have enough. And they do look different - I swear!

Essie Topless & Barefoot

Kiss No Name 

Catrice Mona Lisa Is Staring Back

Rimmel Nude Silhouette 

Rimmel Oyster Pink

Essence Shining Star

Nails Inc Basil Street 

Do you wear nudes? What's your favourites?