Easy Leopard Makeup for Halloween

If you’re looking for a super easy look to do for Halloween then this is the one for you. If you’re in a hurry this leopard makeup look can be done in a few minutes or if you want a bit more detail you can take your time.

The main items you will need are the following:

A dark shade of foundation

A light shade of foundation

Bronzer

Black Liquid Liner

Black Pencil Liner

Nude lipstick

Metallic eye shadow in – white/cream, light gold, bronze/dark gold

Lashes

Mascara

 Step 1:

Apply the dark foundation around the outer part of your face, the in the middle of your face apply the lighter foundation. I used Buff Foundation for my darker makeup and Revlon Colourstay for my lighter foundation

Step 2:

On your eyes apply the lighter white/cream metallic colour on your brow bone, lighter gold colour on your crease and the darker gold on your lid or whatever way you would like to do a smokey eye. I used some of the colours from my Metallic Madness palette from Crown Brush.

Step 3:

Create a cat eye liner to your eyes. I’m pretty crap at doing this so if you’re like me just take your time and do your best. I used the They’re Real Push Up liner by Benefit to do mine.

Step 4:

Apply pencil liner around your eye and smoke it out with a pencil brush. On your lower lash line add one of the gold colours and blend it together with the liner to smoke out your bottom line.  Once you have your eyes done apply your mascara and your lashes.

Step 5:

To create your leopard nose just take your black liner and draw and fill in the tip of your nose, bringing a line down to your lip and drawing a thin black like at the top of your lip.

Step 6:

Apply nude lipstick to the bottom of your lip then rub them together. Doing this should create an ombre effect to your lips.

Step 7:

Taking more of the gold metallic colour apply some to your temples, around your nose, and around your smile lines. To contour your cheeks just apply under your cheek bone and blend down. With the white metallic colour apply to the top of your lip area, your chin and the middle of your forehead.

Step 8:

To make some whiskers just dot some liquid liner on your top lip. To make some leopard patterns just do some random C shapes in the areas you would like to be patterned with either or both liquid or pencil liner. You can also add some metallic colours to your leopard print; I added some orange and gold colours to mine.

Step 9:

 All that’s left is to touch up with powder and some bronzer if you wish.

My makeup was done in a hurry so if you take your time I’m sure it will look better. In my photos I don’t have any lashes as I couldn’t find and lash glue but try to find some that are winged out on the edges this will enhance your cat eye. Another tip would be to use a liner that is a bit hard; I used one that was very creamy which meant my leopard prints where a bit bigger and messier.

This look is really simple yet effective so if you’re thinking of something last minute without having to go to a costume shop to buy loads of extras this is great as the majority of you guys will have everything you need in your makeup bags.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment

I have been wanting to buy the Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment for months now, I tried to hold off as long as possible and when I knew I was going to the states I decided to wait and buy it in Sephora as I would get points on my card.

I probably should have bought it in Ireland on reflection as its $69 but you can buy here for less than €50 depending where you shop but I really wanted my points on my Sephora card.

The Supermud is a 5-20 minute mud mask that is used as a clearing treatment. It can be used on any skin type but works especially good on oily skin which I have. It works by sucking out all the nasty oils and gunk out of your pores and if you leave it on long enough you can see just how much nasty stuff actually comes out.

It has all the good stuff that is needed for clearing your skin of acne and closing up pores such as salicylic acid and charcoal. As it’s great for spots the mud can also be used as a spot treatment. If a nasty bugger pops up just dab a bit on the spot, leave overnight and VOILA its gone!

I’ve been using this for 2 weeks now and I have noticed such a difference in my skin since I’ve started. I use it 2-3 times a week and the results have been as follows:

Reduced black and white heads

Smaller pores

No blemishes

Smoother skin

Brighter looking skin

These results didn’t happen overnight though, when I first started it did look like it made my blackheads worse but I think this was just all the bad stuff getting sucked out. I did use a Biore pore strip on my nose and chin so that helped get rid of any of the stubborn pores and since then they have shrunk considerably.

I would say I have used it in total about 5 times in the last 2-3 weeks so it’s still a pretty new product but if it makes that much of difference in such a short space of time I can’t wait to see what it does in the future.

In the last few months it has become a lot more readily available in Irish stores, many online stores, hairdressers, beauty salons, and now even Clerys sell it. Do shop around though as prices can vary from store to store.

Glamglow have other masks available to so if you think that this isn’t your cup of tea then take a look on their website to see what else they have on offer.

Have you tried the Supermud? Have you had the same results? Have you tried any of their other masks? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Brand Focus – Makeup Revolution

I feel like I’ve been talking about Makeup Revolution a lot the last few months but I love the brand and their products so I can’t help but talk about them (a lot!).

Instead of doing a few posts on individual products this post will be a brand focus post. If this works out well I’ll be doing a few posts on different brands such as MAC, Smashbox and NYC.

I have foundation, concealer, highlighter, blusher, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. I have an eye shadow palette from them but at the time of taking pictures I couldn’t find it but their shadows are really good and I have a previous post done which you can read about them here.

I’m going to start with I didn’t love and leave the best till last.

Firstly we have the foundation and concealer. I bought the foundation as it has a matte finish and with having oily skin this is usually the type of foundation I go for and I bought the concealer as it was a brightening concealer so I use it to highlight my cheeks, nose and forehead. I’m going to be blunt and just say that I didn’t love them, I don’t know if it was just my skin that it didn’t suit or if it was the actual products but they were just not for me. The foundation looked thick when I put it on the back of my hand but as soon as I put it on my skin it went very sheer and dried so quickly that you didn’t have much time to really buff it into the skin and make it look natural. I found that using a damp blender sponge that it helped but it still didn’t look great. It also didn’t last too long being matte although that could just be because of my skin type. When I put the concealer on my face it was a very liquid substance and when blended into my skin it moved the foundation on my face and when I had just perfected the foundation and made it look decent it the concealer just ruined everything.

I suppose I shouldn’t expect much seeing as the foundation and concealer where £2.00 each but I did have a little hope they would have worked out.

The Vivid baked highlight is £3.00 and I bought mine in peach. The only other highlight that I have similar to this is the MAC Mineralise Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle so I’ll compare it to that one. The colours are very similar and it gives a lovely highlight but you do need to put what seems like a lot on just so it’s noticeable.

I have a few of their lipsticks but this is the latest one that I have. I love my vampy colours and this is from their Vamp Collection in the colour 100% Vamp. It’s a perfect colour for Halloween, it’s a dark black wine colour which are my absolute favourites and a bargain at £1.00 and if you don’t like the colour they have a huge range of different ones all for £1.00 so you should find something you like.

The Amazing Eyeliner in Ultra Black is awesome. It’s a super black liquid liner that is so long wearing it could put the They’re Real Liner to shame.  The only problem I have with it is the pointy brush, it’s very stiff and I think with a normal liner brush it would go on much better. This one is another bargain at £1.50.

Everyone needs this blusher; it is so pigmented and such great quality for a blush that costs £1.00. I have mine in Sugar; it’s a warm matte peach and brightens up your cheeks giving such a fresh look. A little goes a long way with this as a lot of pigment comes off on your brush so start off small and you can build it up to your desired colour. Absolutely love this blush and will most definitely be buying more.

Finally my favourite from the bunch is this Amazing Lengths mascara. Only £1.50, this plastic wand will lift and separate your lashes to give wide eyed natural look. It’s also a long wearing formula that lasts from morning till the time you’re taking off your makeup. My star buy and I really recommend it especially for more daytime friendly natural makeup looks.

The fact that the foundation and concealer where a disaster for me I still love Makeup Revolution they a fantastic inexpensive makeup company that keep their collections up to date and are always adding new lines so there’s always an excuse to buy more. You can find out more on their website and if you’re in Dublin, the Superdrug in the Omni Centre in Santry have a stand but keep an eye out as they are rolling out more soon.

I haven’t been paid or sent any of these items I just love their products hope that you’ll love them too.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Florida Outlet Bargains

Fingers crossed these haul posts aren’t starting to look like I’m bragging, I love to look at what other people have bought especially when it comes to makeup and things like that so I’m doing it for all of you who love them like me!

This is only a short little post. I spent a lot of time in various Outlets in Florida and in pretty much all the outlets I went to they had a store called The Cosmetics Company as well as having other beauty stores. The Cosmetic Company sell makeup such as MAC, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox and more at a cheaper rate, mostly because these are pieces from collections from a year or two ago.

I saw this Smashbox Ombre Eyes box that included a full sized Full Exposure mascara, full sized lip gloss and an Eyeshadow palette with 5 colours. The box was only $14, I was in shock when I saw the price and the only reason it was so cheap was that it was from a special offer where you got to pick which eyeliner you want to be included in the box. Needless to say at $14 I bought two.

I also bought these pigments from MAC, they were from the Nocturnal Collection that was out for Christmas last year. I haven’t had a chance to try these yet but they are just so pretty to look at and I’m dying to use the frosted colours. They were $24 and originally $32.50 so I like to think I got them at a bargain. They had other colours but I thought I would use the golds a bit more.

 

Another MAC item was the Studio Fix powder. I don’t think this is really for my skin type but it was in my colour so I bought it and only $19 when it’s usually $27.

The last piece I bought from The Cosmetics Company was the Clinique palette. I gave this to my mother so I don’t have proper pictures but the picture below is what it looks like on the inside.

 

Finally there was a Clarins store in one of the outlets where I picked up this lovely palette. Not that I need any more nude coloured palettes but they are very buttery and only $24.

 

I had been to The Cosmetic Company store in Woodbury Common in New York but it wasn’t half as good as any of the stores that I had been to while in Florida so I was very pleased to be able to pick up a few bargains.

I will definitely be back for more next time I go to Florida.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

American Drugstore Haul

Some of my favourite YouTube videos to watch are Drugstore Hauls so I had a good idea of what was popular over in the States before I left for Florida. My main aim while I was there was to buy makeup that you can’t get in Ireland or makeup that was much cheaper than at home and I think I achieved that goal!

I made a drugstore wish list before I left and stayed pretty close to it, I don’t think I deviated too much. I bought my makeup in Target, Wallmart and CVS. I went into Wallgreens but it their prices were too high compared to the others. If you’re ever in the States then it’s really good to shop around as prices unlike Ireland can differ pretty dramatically from store to store.

I won’t be going into detail with everything as I will be doing individual posts in the coming weeks.

To start I bought some EOS lip balms and a hand cream. You can get these in Ireland in Harvey Nichols for around €6.00 but I got mine for $2.99 which is €2.40 so I bought 3 and a hand cream. They have a new flavour out in Coconut Milk which I bought as well as Summer Fruit and Pomegranate Raspberry. I love these, they’re just so moisturising and yummy.

I then went slightly bat shit crazy when I found the Milani stands in Walmart and CVS. We don’t get Milani here in Ireland but they are a very affordable makeup brand with some amazing quality shadows and blushes. The shadows I bought are from their new Bella range, which are a gel powder formula and are highly pigmented. I’ve only tested them out on the back of my hand so I’ll be excited to sit down and try different looks on myself. I’ve tried one blush and it’s pretty amazing, one little swipe of your brush and you have hell of a lot of product on it, I’m so impressed. I wish I could have gotten more but the shelves weren’t stocked very well in either stores but I think my boyfriend would have killed me if I got anymore.

I picked up some Maybelline pieces too. I love their 24 hour tattoo range so I got some pigments and a cream shadow, I also got their The Nudes palette which you can’t get here at all and the Eye Studio Color Plush Silk Eyeshadow quad in Copper Chic. I haven’t used any of these yet so I can’t tell you what I think but keep an eye out in the future for some reviews on them.

 

NYX recently came to Ireland within the last year but I haven’t been able to get near a store that sells it. I could have bought the whole stand when I was in Target but I managed to rein myself in and only get a few pieces. I had watched Sinead from The Beautiful Truth and her American haul before I left and fell in love when I saw her NYX blue liner so I had to pop one in the basket. Again I haven’t opened any of the products and the stores in America usually don’t have testers so you just have to hope you’ve picked a good colour.

 

You can get Wet N Wild everywhere in Ireland now so I was only on the lookout if they had anything that I couldn’t get here, they didn’t have anything that caught my eye but they did have the single eyeshadows for only .94 cent which is so cheap when they’re basically €2 each here. They only had 3 colours left unfortunately but I will get use out of them.

This is another recommendation from The Beautiful Truth who raves about it. It’s an eye liner that also helps boost your lashes which is always a bonus. I’m not the best when it comes to putting on my liner so hopefully I’ll have good luck with this one.

 

Noting really caught my eye in L’Oreal but I did pick up a lip crayon that I don’t think is available in Ireland and one of their Infallible shadows. I’ve never used the shadows but I’ve heard amazing things about them that I’m sure I’ll love it.

 

 I also picked up some of the Revlon Colourstay foundations that I wear all the time. I love this makeup but its €17.79 in Boots so when I saw that it was $9.98 in Walmart I was all over it. I bought the shade Buff and Sand Beige. I was Buff before I left so I bought Sand Beige the next colour up so I’d have a darker colour for when I came back but that’s a little too pale for me know as well but I’m sure by Christmas I’ll be back to my pale self.

Finally I got this Burt’s Bees’ Lip Crayon, I just like the colour so it got thrown in the basket.

That’s all the drugstore makeup I bought, if I didn’t have my boyfriend giving me the stink eye I probably and most likely have bought an awful lot more.

Do you think I missed out on anything? Leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works Haul

In the first of what I think will be about 4 or 5 posts in total of all my goodies from my recent trip to Florida I’m starting off with Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Works.

If you don’t know already both companies are owned by the same people so I decided to put them together for this post.

To start we have Victoria Secret’s, I’m such a big fan and became hooked with the brand since my first trip to the states back in 2009. I even went over to London a few weeks after they opened their store there in 2012.

Each time I go I always stock up on their underwear and their fragrances as they always have offers on them. This time was no different, only this time I think I went a little over board with the sprays. They have offers of 5 for $30 which just can’t be ignored. The outlets have a Victoria Secret’s shop which have the same offer but the fragrances are from a season or two ago and are packaged differently, I bought my first 5 bottles here. I was then in the Florida Mall and went a bit cray there too, they had some fragrances that I don’t have already and they also had one that was a new release not included in the offer which was $5. I was also in the Miami VS and bought the little spray that was $10. I always buy the bundles as I sometimes include them in presents at Christmas. It’s also a great offer as single bottles are $14 each so I really feel like I need to buy them.

I also picked up this mini perfume set of all the perfumes that they have on offer, It was half price and I thought it would be great for having on nights out or when i’m going for weekends away.

I didn’t realise how many I bought though till I was packing, 13 in total I must be mad and I still have about 5 bottles at home from my trip to NYC last year that I still have to use up. I honestly do have a problem, but sure least I’ll smell good. I think I’ll have to have one in my bag and at my desk just to help use them up.

Now each time I’ve been to the states I’ve managed to stay away from Bath & Body Works but this time I made it into one. Basically they sell amazing candles, soaps, bath and shower gels and basically everything else that you’d want to keep you looking and smelling great after a wash. Like VS they too had a store in the outlets. I bought some candles from Christmas last year and they also had new season candles as well. For some reason I bought 5 hand sanitizers but they were on offer and I had 3 in my hand so I obviously had to get two more so I could get the offer.

As it is “Fall” everything is pumpkin flavour, the Yanks go crazy for it. I haven’t tried all the candles I’ve only lit the Sea Salt and Maple Popcorn flavour and since I have my house smells like freshly cooked biscuits which makes you insanely hungry, people are coming into my house drooling and expecting cookies. I might give one or two of the candles away at Christmas as well but they all smell so amazing I think it will be hard to let any of them go, they all smell so sweet and wintery they really put you in the mood for an open fire, dark nights and cups of hot chocolate!

Whatever about needing Victoria Secrets in Dublin we most definitely need a Bath and Body Works! Yankee Candles have nothing on these guys and they’re cheaper J

 I wish there was a way of you guys smelling everything I bought so you can get an idea of why I love the 2 stores so much.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Vamp Up Your Lips with Makeup Revolution

Since I heard about Makeup Revolution I have been super obsessed with their products. They are so affordable and have some great dupes for some big brands like Urban Decay and their Naked Palettes. I had recently discovered that their Velvet Matte Lip Lacquers are great dupes for the Lime Crime Velvetine lip lacquers.

They have recently released new colours and they are perfect for the coming winter and most importantly for Halloween.

The colours are:

Depravity (Purple)

Rebel (Pinky Red)

Vamp (Deep Dark Purple)

Black Heart (Pure Black)

The colours are so pigmented and last for such a long time. When applied they dry pretty quickly onto the lips and don’t bleed. They’re not the type of lippies that can just be thrown on, as they’re so pigmented you do need to take your time when applying them.

I will definitely be wearing these at some stage over the next few months. They aren’t the most day time friendly colours but I think I’ll get some wear out of them. The colour Depravity I think is my favourite, I’ve never worn a colour like this and I think it actually suits me.

These lip lacquers are such a bargain at only £3.00/€3.59.

If you want to find out more head over to Makeup Revolution, I’m sure you’ll love their site as much as I do.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Maxfactor Gel Shine Lacquer

I was recently sent these gorgeous Maxfactor Gel Shine Lacquer polishes. They are “high shine and intense colour that lasts, for an instant glamour transformation”.

These polishes claim to give “intense colour pay-out with high shine and up to 7 days wear”.

I am immediately drawn to any polishes that have gel in the title or promises to give the same results as any UV gel polish.

I didn’t test all the colours unfortunately, I didn’t manage to try the brighter colours before I got Shellac on my nails. I had Sheen Merlot on my nails for over a week though so I think I have a good idea of how they work.

 

I chose Sheen Merlot (Burgundy) over Vivid Vermillion (Neon Orange) and Twinkling Pink (Bright Fuchsia) as I am forever drawn to plums and reds.

It does have a very high colour pay out as it didn’t take too much for the nail to be completely covered without seeing any of the nail bed. By the end of the week I only had one or two chips which I was really impressed by.

The only thing I was disappointed by was the fact that I didn’t seem have a very gel like finish. It could have been that colour though because I did swatch the other colours and they did seem a bit thicker on the nails than Sheen Merlot.

I did love the colour I tested and while it didn’t have too much of a gel look it was very pigmented and did last for almost a full week which I was really impressed by. They retail for €10.39 each.

Do you think you’ll buy them?

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah

Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayon

The lipstick was put through its paces, I really wanted to know whether it would live up to being waterproof or not.

I would say it is waterproof, I drank plenty of water and coffee while wearing it and while some colour did come off onto my glass and cup they lipstick didn’t come off at all. However when it came to eating it came completely off but we can’t have it all can we.

I got mine in the colour Fuschia Libre, it’s a lovely bright pink. The finish of the Color Boost Lip Crayons are almost gellish, it’s doesn’t have the stickiness of a gloss but still gives off that appearance, which I love because I hate sticky lip glosses.

These cost €10.99 each, I’m not sure I’ll buy them again. They are a nice lipstick but I only liked it, I didn’t love it.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Maxfactor Skin Luminizer Foundation

I was lucky enough to be sent the new Maxfactor Skin Lminizor Foundation a few weeks ago and I’ve been testing it out like mad since.

This is a medium coverage foundation that has reflective pigments to give the skin a subtle glow. The foundation has been created to give a healthy glow that evens out and perfects skin-tone and imperfections.

The packaging is quite nice, I love how you can see how much product you have left as the bottle is clear and it has a pump which is always nice and handy.

I have oily to combination skin and found that the formula gave a matte to semi-matte finish. I’m not a fan of dewy finishes but I did like this finish as it gave more of a natural glow than my usual oily shine.

I did have some problems with application, I found it very hard to get a good coverage on the skin. I used my Real Techniques and Sigma foundation brushes and neither of them worked out great. I love to buff makeup into my skin to give it a smooth coverage but I found the more I buffed the more the foundation moved. After neither of those brushes working I gave up and decided to use the tools God gave me, I put the foundation on with my fingers and it gave a much better result. I still found that it started to move around my face into patches. It’s as if it dries too quickly which makes it difficult to give a smooth coverage and the look that you’re not wearing any makeup.

I ended up buying a blender sponge, I dampened the sponge and I think the fact that it was going on damp that it didn’t dry as quickly so it made the application that little bit smoother.

I also tried it with different primers and found that Smashbox Photo Finish primer was the best.

I think that this foundation would suit people with oily skin, my cheeks are a lot drier than the rest of my face and it did dry into the skin making it very noticeable.

It does say it perfects skin tone which I did find to be true, I can be very red cheeked at times and it evened out my skin tone perfectly. It claims to be a medium coverage foundation but I found it to be more on the sheer side, I don’t know if I’m just too used to higher coverage foundations but for me it didn’t seem to be a medium coverage.

The colour however did suit my skin tone amazingly, I received mine in Light Ivory, to put that into context I’m NW15 in MAC foundations.

If I’m honest I probably wouldn’t buy this if I saw it in Boots, it’s pretty pricey at €17.00 and I would be raging if I did spend my money on it and it not work with my foundation brushes. I give the Maxfactor Skin Luminizer Foundation a 6/10. 

Have any of you tried it, if so tell me what you think about it.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo