Moving onward and upward!!!!

Hey guys!

So this will be my last blog........ on this blog page anyway!

I've teamed up with the wonderfully talented mua Nichola Graham to create a new bigger and better page.
So please come follow us at http://makeupfixirl.blogspot.ie/ for regular updates, reviews, and general fun times! Thanks for the support so far, looking forward to what's to come........!!!

Til next time,
Toodles my loves!

Jen xx

Quick Pick: Rimmel Stay Matte Primer

When I  first started wearing makeup I didn't even know what primer was (except maybe the one you use when painting walls). Now it's a very rare occasion I will ever do my makeup without it. I'm a big fan of Rimmels Fix and Perfect Primer as it's wonderful value for money, so I thought I'd give their newest offering a whirl a few weeks back.

The primer promises to reduce the look of pores and keep shine at bay for up to 8 hours. I'm yet to find a primer that covers my pores the way they promise, but this didn't do a bad job. My t-zone is quite oily, so 8 hours is a bit of a stretch, but I gave it a good 5 hours before I had to powder again. Not too shabby! I do really like this, and probably will repurchase although I can't personally see a massive difference between this and their Fix and Perfect.

This retails at €7.99 on the Boots website, and will last you a while as a little goes a long way! Do you wear primer? What's your all time fav?

Till next time,

Toodles,

Jen x

NYX Concealer Review

My favourite makeup product may in fact be concealer. As long as I can remember I've had high colouration in my cheeks. It's something that used to really bother me, and I found quite hard to cover. Over the years I've discovered products that do the job enough for me to not want to walk around with a bag on my head. But I'm always open to new products! So I thought I'd give these two a go!

Nyx isn't the easiest brand to acquire this side of the pond, but thankfully it's slowly but surely making it's way into some pharmacies. I picked these two up online so choosing a colour was guess work! Porcelain is generally the safest bet when you're as white as me. To say these are good value for money is a bit of an understatement. Although one is a cream consistency and the other a liquid, they both give lovely, buildable coverage.

I use the cream more for the redness in my cheeks (as I can't be bothered with colour correcting when I'm in a hurry) and the liquid for blemishes. You also don't need a whole lot of product as they are quite pigmented. So far so good right? My only slight complaint is that I find sometimes used under the eyes they can crease after a while, but let's be honest most concealers do! Here they are unblended:

I'm super impressed with these and would definitely recommend anyone to try them out if you like your coverage a little more on the full side.

Till next time,

Toodles,

Jen x

Quick Pick: Nivea Daily Essentials

As long as I can remember, my skin has always been a little troublesome. My cheeks have quite a bit of red pigmentation in them, and can vary from oily to very dry and sore. I also still have quite an oily t-zone. I have to be careful with what I use on my face. After a pretty severe reaction to a Clean and Clear wash a while ago, I'm pretty wary when it comes to washes and scrubs. However on a whim I picked the wash from this line a few months ago, and the scrub more recently.

I love nothing more than the clean feeling a nice face wash leaves, and as I've always been a fan of Nivea products I thought this would do the trick. It has a lovely clean, fresh scent, and a little goes a long way. It foams nicely and leaves my skin feeling lovely, albeit ever so slightly tight. I use this pretty much every morning, and have just bought a new one as they are on offer in Tesco right now. This is a staple of my skincare routine. The exfoliating scrub is a more recent purchase as I've been dealing with blemishes and blackheads recently. Again it has a lovely scent, and is gentle yet leaves my skin feeling thoroughly cleaned and refreshed. I highly recommend these products to even those with sensitive skin. They really are a budget friendly gem of a line. Nivea is available nationwide.

Do you use a face wash, or prefer to stick with cream cleansers, or perhaps even wipes?

Till next time,

Toodles,

Jen x 

Collection 'Work The Colour' Eyebrow Kit

Eyebrows... I have an obsession. The first thing I notice on anyone is their brows. I will not let anyone touch my own as it's taken me years to get them how I want them. I'm still not totally there yet. I feel a makeup look isn't complete with brows being filled in, so I picked up this little kit from Collection a few weeks ago as it was on offer.

(NO idea why these uploaded sideways, and for some reason it won't let me flip them) But I digress... This cute little set comes with 3 colours, a brow gel and a little double ended brush. The one strange thing I noticed was that once you remove the plastic packaging there's no where to store the gel. I'm not a big fan of brow gel anyway so this didn't bother me too much. Too be honest I didn't even open it :)

The powders themselves are quite a nice texture and a nice range of colours. I imagine this would be a nice addition to a students kit, or someone starting out in the business. Although you don't have to be an mua to use this, as the colours you don't use on your brows can double up as eye shadows too.

This would be handy to carry in your bag as it also has a small mirror inside and with the double ended brush you can fix brows and eyes on the go! This is priced at €4.99 in Boots at the moment which is pretty reasonable for 3 pretty matte shadows. Are you a fan of Collection? Is it all about the brows??

Till next time,

Toodles,

Jen x

Blank Canvas Cosmetics Eyeliner Pens

The first makeup product I remember buying was black eyeliner. I wore it all the time. In recent years I've learned about blending and, you know, not looking like a panda, but black liner has always held a special place in my heart. I own all types, pencil, liquid, gel and pen. However the latter isn't always easy to find, and certainly doesn't always live up to the standards some brands imply. Recently Blank Canvas Cosmetics have jumped on the band wagon. If you know me at all you know I love BCC brushes. They were some of the first brushes in my kit back when not many people even knew who they were. I still use those brushes today. So I was very intrigued to say the least when I saw these two new liners on their page.

First up is Winging It. This is my favourite of the two. It has a long pointed tip which makes it much easier to give a lovely defined cat eye look. You can also create thicker lines with this pen depending on your preference. Second is Borderlines. The tip on this is also nicely however not quite as thin and long. I prefer this for a thicker more dramatic liner effect.

Top: Winging It

Bottom: Borderlines

With a small amount of practice these are easy to use. The dry relatively quickly, are smudge proof, and leave a nice opaque black, slightly glossy line. You can also wear these alone or over shadow (which I was impressed by as I've purchased similar products before that didn't show up well on top of shadow). The only thing I will say is make sure when putting the lid back on you push it down till you hear a click as you don't want them drying out! 

Left: Borderlines

Right: Winging It

I do really like both of these for creating different looks but at a push I'd probably favour Winging It. My eye shape can be tough to create a liner flick on but this made it much easier for me. These are on offer on their website at €9.99 right now. (Normal retail €11.99) 

What do you think of pen liners? Would you give them a try or stick to the old reliables of pencil and liquid?

Till next time,

Toodles,

Jen x

Quick Pick: Original Source Shower Gels

There's nothing better then having a shower first thing in the morning to perk you up, or one after a long hard day to help you wind down. I love me a good oul shower gel. And I like to have a few different scents on the go at any one time. I'd never tried any Original Source products before so when I saw these on offer in Tesco, into the shopping basket they went.

They have a few choices, but I settled on Lemon and Tea Tree and Vanilla and Raspberry. I can't say enough nice things about these! They were great value at around €1.50, they both smell fantastic (reminiscent of Loop the Loop ice cream, and those little red and white strawberry flavoured hard sweets!), they foam up really nice, and even after drying my skin off I can still smell the scent of each. Plus, they're vegan, which is always wonderful! 

Are you a fan of Original Source products? 

Til next time,

Toodles,

Jen x