Barry M lip gloss shade #201 Valentines

I got this lipgloss free when I bought 2 Dazzle Dusts a few weeks ago, and have gotten around to using it n the last week or so, and boy have I used it!! The colour is fantastic! Very vibrant, and a little goes a long way! There's a lovely gloss to it too, when it catches the light it's stunning! It's also fairly long lasting, I found myself touching it up every hour or so.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen this particular shade since, was it only a limited edition shade brought out for Valentines day? If it was, and you like red lips, then I'd try hunt this lipgloss down!

Collection 2000 EXTREME 24 hour felt tip liner €3.95

I absolutely love this!! SO MUCH! I've never used any kind of pen eyeliner before, as with the lip pens, the idea of colouring my face in doesn't sit well with me! But I will gladly make an exception for this!

I could spend the entire post listing all the reasons why this eyeliner is my new best friend.......and that's exactly what I'm going to do! Here we go!

1- It dries instantly! With liquid eyeliner I tended to open my eyes too early to too wide, giving my self a big black line on the bottom of my brow bone, NO MORE!!! Not a single smudge to be found.

2- Precision tip makes drawing my flicks super easy! They look neater and take less time!

3- It's jet black and goes on really thick and smooth, one coat and you're done!

4- It actually does last 24 hours!! Well....It may be dwindling slightly by the end, but it lasts a lot longer than any liner I've ever used! The proof was when, after a night out on the town (making cocktails n a friends house and watching crap on youtube) by eyeliner was still almost perfect on my hungover eyes the next morning!

5- It's incredibly reasonably priced, an in my opinion is worth more! (But shush, don't tell them that!)

If you're an eyeliner fiend with high expectations, like myself, then buy this! You won't regret it!

NYC 16 Hour lip tint €4.95

I've never used a lip pen before, because i can't really get my head around colouring in my lips! I know there are many different brands out there, but the price, and colours never really did anything for me.

I found these NYC ones yesterday, they have 4 or 5 different shades of pink. I bought 'precious pink', it was the most vibrant shade. It came out very pink on my skin, but was more subtle on my lips.

It claims to last 16 hours, it doesn't quite make it, but gives it a damn good try! It feels very lightweight on, i forgot i was wearing it after a few minutes. Until i licked my lips..... It doesn't taste very good at all!! But that goes after a few minutes!


All in all, for its price this is a pretty good buy! If you want a subtle, hassle free and cheap alternative to lippie, id give this a go!

Essence Get BIG Lashes volume curl mascara €2.97

This is a little gem!! I'm super skeptical of mascara's, and find it almost impossible to find one I really LOVE! Essence have brought out about 4 new mascara's, all aimed at big, bold lashes, and all under the €4 mark. This is the first one I've tried and I'm very impressed with it. I'm forever buying new mascara's in the hopes of finding that special one <3 I'm not sure if this is the ONE, but it's definitely the best I've come across in quite a while, and is wonderfully cheap!!

I have no complaints about this! I wore it all day yesterday, and it didn't smudge, clump, or start falling off in little flakes like some cheaper mascara's tend to do! It really separated my lashes, and definitely gave them a subtle, but noticeable curl! Particularly with my corner lashes, gave them a real cat's eye look!

The brush is also a nice big chunky one, which I love!! I really can't tolerate small brushes on a mascara wand. It's just.......wrong. I gave my lashes 2 coats on each eye and the look long, full of volume, and separated. I wouldn't necessarily use this as a going out mascara, I don't trust it enough just yet to put it to the test! But as a day time mascara...It's my new best friend!!

Nail Bliss Bling Nail Wraps €4.99

I'm so skeptical about nails wraps, because I have yet to find a pair good enough to warrant their price tag. I'd essentially given up on them, but I was doing the shopping a few days ago....and thought I'd give them one last try. They sell Nail bliss wraps in Dunnes Stores for €4.99, and I'd never used them before, so I decided that I would try them, and if I wasn't impressed I would never spend money on any brand of wraps again, EVER!!

Well, didn't they prove me wrong!!! They are really good! They're made of a really thin sticky film, so there's absolutely no bulk to them at all. They were super easy to apply, just press them on firmly, cut the excess and file! I even managed to get 2 nails done per sticker, which I have never been able to do with any other brand!

They stayed put for 3 days, would have been longer, but I took them off of my own accord! They have a really good selection of designs, from floral prints to leopard print! If, like me, you're getting a bit disheartened by nail wraps, invest in these and restore your faith! I highly recommend them!

Hairspray Nail Polish! S235 (Bright Orange) €2.99

WOW!!!! I absolutely adore really bright, vibrant nail polishes, almost illuminous! Unfortunately finding a brand that doesn't go on like lightly tinted water is no mean feat, but I have hit the jackpot!!

I wandered into Hairspray on Henry street yesterday (admittedly, just to kill some time before an appointment) but ended up spending a small fortune! I made a bee line for the nail polish, I wasn't overwhelmed by the colour selection, but the orange immediately jumped out at me! It looks like a highligther orange in the bottle! I had wraps on my nails at the time, so couldn't try it in the shop (devastated!) but I thought I'd be adventurous and buy it anyway. Treat myself :) At just €2.99 I thought it deserved a try.

And I'm very glad I gave it the benefit of the doubt! It's fantastic! The first coat is a bit wishy-washy, but after a second coat it gets really, really bright! I have about 4 coats on at this stage, but that's only because I'm getting curious about just how bright it can go. I'm hoping that soon my nails will be visible from space!

I was very impatient, I couldn't wait to get home to remove the wraps from my nails. There's has also been no chipping as of yet, which is an achievement for any nail polish when it come's to my nails!

I have nothing but praise for this polish!! If you like illumious colours, this is most definitely worth the money!! Going to buy the illumious pink soon, hopefully I'll be just as impressed!

NAIL ROCK designer nail wraps.

NAIL ROCK are the second brand of nail stickers I have tried. The first was a Sally Hansen design, and while they were good, I didn't find them worth their €10.85 price tag. There's also a pretty limited choice of designs.

That's were NAIL ROCK shines, they have a fantastic range of designs! Although, some are quite hard to come across. They are also almost €4 cheaper at just €6.99.

I followed the instructions to a T. Filed and buffed my nails, then wiped with an acetone based remover. Applying the wraps is very easy. You just chose the size closest to your nail size, place it on your nail and apply pressure to stick it. Then remove the excess using a file.

These look adorable, and I love the design. But sadly, I'm not too impressed with the quality! They were on for about an hour when I started to notice little bits peeling away, despite being put on perfectly! About 3 hours later...they're pretty much ready to fall off!! I can't see a top coat saving them and reckon they'll be all gone by morning :( Not worth the hassle in my opinion!

Essence Gel eyeliner

This is a little gem of a find! This was the first gel eyeliner I ever tried and I was very impressed! It goes on smooth, think, and jet black. And stays put ALL day!

This comes in at around the €2, but it's worth so much more! Essence also sell an application bush for the eyeliner for a similar price. It comes in a few colours to- Black, brown, purple and a dark green.

I'd definitely recommend this for anyone trying gel liner for the first time and wants to experiment. I can't find any faults with it, and can safely say it beats some of t's more expensive competitors hands down!

Barry M Dazzle Dust #98 Petrol Black

What would life be like without Dazzle Dust?.....It doesn't bare thinking about :(

I love dark eyeshadows, especially black, and ESPECIALLY when it has a little sparkle to it. This shadow is a very. very deep navy blue. It essentially black with a deep blue shimmer and a greenish glitter....and it's stunning!! I adore it!

As with all loose powder shadows, there was a little bit of spillage, but a lot less tan I expected!! This definitely gets my seal of approval!

Edit: After about 2 hours this shadow began to clump pretty badly in the crease of my eye, looked really unsightly :( Such a pity!

17 solo eyeshadow 'Funfair'

I'm a bit like a magpie, if it sparkle's I have to have it!! 17 are one of my favourite brands for affordable, super sparkly eyeshoadow's. The newest addition to my collection is 'Funfair'. It's a beautiful pinky- peachy shade with  a gold shimmer.

It comes out a lot paler on your eye than it appears in the tub, and in my opinion is much nicer! It gives a very subtle shimmer to your lid.

If you want a deeper shade, you can just apply another coat!

This shadow gives great coverage, and last's all day!! So, if you're like me and can't be bothered with hourly touch up's- this is a must have! At  €4.75 it's a bargain!!

Dying extensions with Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL 00B Max Blonde

Time for an experiment! Not so long ago I dyed my hair from pillar box red to chocolate brown, but it turns out that I'll always be a red head at heart! So after about 2 months of brown hair, I gave in and bleached he bejayziz out of my poor hair and am now a red head again! Yaay!! But unfortunately, during my adventures as a brunette, I spent about €70 on hair extensions (1 pack of 16", 1 pack of 22"). So now I'm stuck with 2 bags of brown hair extensions, that I love, and a head full of red hair!

I used Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL 00B to bleach my own hair, and it worked! So I figured, if it worked for me, it might just work for my chocolate brown extensions! Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

There's normally a pretty immediate change in colour when you apply the dye, it's small but noticeable! But there was nothing shifting in the extensions. Seeing as it wasn't 'living' hair, I decided to leave the dye on longer than the recommended 40 minutes. I left the dye to do it's job and checked on them 60 minutes later.

And, what did I find.....Not a lot to be brutally honest. To my eye they looked basically the same!

Then I looked very, very.....very closely. There is a slight change in some strands, but nothing light enough to take red dye :(

I reckon if I went at them with about 4 more boxes of dye it might eventually lighten them enough to dye them a similar red to my own hair, but that's a lot of time and money! 

Mission status: Failed!

Anyone wanna buy some....slightly used hair extensions?.....No?...Didn't think so!

Barry M Lip paint, shade #146 Dolly pink

Another Barry M favourite! I adore pink lipstick, but most brands primarily do very tonal, natural looking pinks. No dice!! If i'm going o the bother of buying and wearing lipstick, everyone's gonna know I'm wearing lipstick!

After much deliberation, I opted for shade #146 'Dolly pink'. It looks a lot darker in he tube than it is on your lips, which was a tad disappointing. That said, it could never be described as a natural colour!

With flash:

Without flash:

As with shade #55, I found that after a few minutes  got clumping in he corner of my lips, but blotting sorted that out too!  The lipstick has a lovely gloss to it and felt nice and natural on my lips, nothing worse than sticky lippie! Next venture- Shocking Pink!!

Essence Colour &Go #55Let's get Lost

Now , I know I said I love a bargain, so when I saw Essence had a range of polish's for €1.49 in a pretty damn good variety of colours, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. Essence has matured from a brand that started of pretty much aimed at preteen's to a brand that I'd buy, and women even older than myself would dabble in. I thought this would reflect in the quality of their products, and it a lot of cases it does (particularly the mascara's) but unfortunately with the Colour and Go range you get exactly what you pay for. Which, at €1.49, is not a lot.

I picked up shade #55 'Let's get Lost' and really liked the shade.It goes on thick so you only really need 1 coat, 2 max.

But that's it's only redeeming factor. It's barely dry and it's already chipping off. Even with a top coat it has little to no staying power. I applied it late at night, and woke up in the morning to 2 chipped nails, so unless I'm doing some strenuous exercise in my sleep, that's just not good enough.

By evening time pretty much every nail had chipped, so I admitted defeat and took it off. And what did I find? It had stained my nails a rather disgusting shade of blue. Beautiful!! For a polish that managed to stay on for well under 24 hours, this is actually kinda impressive!!

There's a reason these polish's are €1.49....and it's because that's all they are worth!

Eyelure Individual lash extensions.

I love the look of long, natural separated lashes, something that's very time consuming to achieve with just mascara. But who wants the weight of full strip lashes on their eyes all day, every day? I certainly don't! Strip lashes are for giving a night out that extra bit of glamour.

I bought Eyelure Individual lash extensions from boots, costing in or around €10. I bought these under the pretenses that they were semi permanent and I'd get at least a few days from each application.

How wrong was I!! I applied these lashes early in the morning, wore no mascara as i chose the longest length available, just some liquid eyeliner on my upper lid. They lasted the pace of the day without any difficulty, and in fairness looked fantastic!

But it all fell apart when it came time for bed! I took off my make up, not being overly aggressive around my eye's, in fact, I barely touched them at all. I lost about 4 while taking off my make up, but put that down to maybe just putting too many on!

When I woke up in the morning I was awash in a sea of tiny eyelashes. They were everywhere, except on my eyes. I'd say I had about 5 left on each eye. Not very semi permanent at all!!

Over all, I would never recommend this product to a friend, unless they were looking for temporary individual lashes. After the initial excitement of how good they looked, having them all fall off in less than 24 hours was very disappointing!

Barry M Lip paint, shade #151

Barry M have been one of my favorite brands for lippie and eye shadows for as long I can remember. In my opinion they can't be beaten when it comes to their range of colours. Quality?....well, that's a different story!

I don't wear lipstick an awful lot, as I just find it too fussy. On a night out I'd rather be socialisng with friends that running in and out of the loo making sure my lipstick still looks good. With that said, I will openly admit that nothing can make you feel sexier that the right shade of lipstick!

Being a fan of more unusual colours, Barry M lipsticks have always appealed to me. The latest addition to my collection is shade #151. It's a beautiful orangey- coral colour that I fell in love with.

Being very, very pale I sometimes find it hard to get a lipstick shade that really suits me, but this one does. Barry M lipsticks have a tendency to be very chalky, particularly with the lighter shades, but this one was very moisturising and had a lovely shine to it.

I've worn this lippie numerous times already, and still haven't gotten tired of it! I did find that my first application tended to clump in the corners of my lips, but I fixed this by simply blotting, then applying a second coat. For just over €6 I'll be a Barry M lippie devotee for a long time to come.

USA Nails

So, I have never had the patience to grow my nails. I'm not a biter but I'm clumsy as hell so as soon as they got to a certain length I'd manage to break them. Also, glue on nails just don't do it for me. Undoubtedly there are some stunning designs out there, but carrying around a bottle of nail glue in my make up bag just in case didn't suit my generally laid back attitude to cosmetics.

I'd been throwing it around in my head to just bite the bullet and opt for a full set of gel nails. Having never had them before, I didn't know how much they'd cost, how they were applied, or how long they'd last.I stumbled across USA Nails, a new business just opened in Tallaght Village (just opposite AIB bank) who had some very good opening offers. I paid €35 for a full set of french tip gel nails, with airbrush designs on 2 nails. Not a bad deal at all!!

I made my appointment for 6 in the evening and made my merry way up. I arrived on time, and walked into a very busy salon. There were 4 girls catering to about 7 clients, not including myself and the 2 people I was with. We settled ourselves in for a lengthy wait, and rightly so. My nails were started at about 7pm, my friends were about 15 minutes behind me. But despite the wait, once we had their attention, they were very efficient. From start to finish, including my airbrush designs, my nails took about 45 minutes.

All in all I would recommend USA Nails, but I'd only make an appointment on an evening I had no other commitments, you could be there longer than anticipated.

I got my nails done about 3 weeks before Christmas, by the time Christmas rolled around there was some noticeable regrowth but not an awful lot. Now however, the regrowth is very obvious so I've decided not to get them filled. I just miss painting my nails too much.