August favourites featuring Milani, By Terry, Make Up Forever, Omorovicza, bloggers and more!

Wowsers, how is it the end of August already?! It feels like summer flew by in the blink of an eye and next thing we'll be talking about Christmas! I've had a lovely month with my birthday, my niece's birthday and our wedding anniversary and I have had lots of new products to play with because I received so many lovely pressies! It was difficult to narrow down, but here are my favourite products from August and I've included some bloggers too. I read lots of blogs regularly and the ones mentioned in previous favourites posts are still ones that I read every time they publish a post, but I like to mention more regularly. I should really add a Blogroll section to the top of my blog so that I can link them all at some point. Anyway, let's get on with it!

Are Natasha Denona products worth the hype/price?

I first heard of Natasha Denona late last year when I saw Tati & Jaclyn Hill talk about her eyeshadow palettes in their videos and I thought that the palettes looked beautiful and sounded amazing but wondered how on earth the price could be justified (€239 here). I then started to notice Natasha Denona products crop up on some of my favourite blogs and on pinterest and her signature glowy look had me hooked. I almost placed an order on several occasions but the customs charges were always high and I never quite got around to it. When Beauty Bay announced earlier this summer that they would be stocking Natasha Denona products, I knew that I would succumb and place an order! Beauty Bay have really upped their game this year and stock some amazing brands now and their shipping has improved, thankfully! I'm not sponsored by them - I bought all of these products myself but just wanted to let you know where I purchased them in case anything catches your eye.

REVIEW: Vichy Double Glow Peel Mask - a dupe for Oskia Renaissance Mask?

We all know by now that I'm a skincare fanatic but it can be an expensive obsession so I like to keep my eye out for products in the mid-price range that might replace at least some of the more expensive products in my regime. When I read about Vichy's latest mask releases, the one that grabbed my attention immediately was the Double Glow Peel Mask. It is aimed at skin that lacks radiance and uses volcanic rock and AHAs to refine and renew the skin. I am obsessed with Oskia Renaissance Mask and hoped it might be a dupe for that at around 1/3 of the price. 

The dream cheek duo featuring Milani and Laura Geller

I received both of these products for my birthday a few weeks ago and I am ridiculously in love with them and haven't used any other blush or highlight since receiving these two beauts. The products in question are Milani Baked Blush in the shade Luminoso and Laura Geller Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator in the shade Peach Glow. 

Speedy reviews on some recent purchases featuring Make Up Forever, Hourglass, It Cosmetics & Becca

I have four products that I want to discuss today - two of them I expected to love and the other two, I bought on a whim but didn't expect too much (Sephora minis in the aisle of doom makes it very easy to buy on a whim!). I've been pleasantly surprised by one and disappointed by another. Enough cryptic talk, let's get on with the speedy reviews!

The budget foundation that rivals luxury brands: Milani Conceal & Perfect 2 in 1 foundation & Concealer

Foundations are generally the most expensive products in my make-up collection with Armani, Estée Lauder, Nars and Charlotte Tilbury being amongst my favourites. It's not that I'm a make-up snob as such but I just never found a budget base that worked as well as my high end ones but that has now changed with this beauty! Milani is a brand that I have seen lots of American youtubers talk about but it wasn't easily accessible this side of the Atlantic but BeautyBay now stock Milani. I added this foundation to my birthday wishlist and was lucky enough to receive it and want to share my thoughts on it with you today.

Mascaras for a dramatic, voluminous false lash effect featuring Marc Jacobs, Make Up Forever, YSL & more!

I've never been one for natural, defined lashes - "go big or go home" is my motto when it comes to my lashes! I've often toyed with the idea of having lash extensions - not necessarily for length, more for volume, but I've heard some horror stories of natural lashes falling out so I've never been brave enough to actually go through with it. Instead, I depend on mascaras to give me the volume I crave and today I am sharing my five favourite mascaras for dramatic, voluminous lashes. I don't have any drugstore mascaras simply because I have yet to find one that will give me the results that high end ones do and a lot of them are priced at around €13-16, which is not exactly cheap, so I would personally prefer to spend a little more to get the results that I want, rather than spend that amount and not be fully happy. Having said that, I am yet to try Maybelline Lash Sensational and so many of my favourite bloggers rave about it so that is firmly on my "to try" list. 

The pinky-nude lipstick edit featuring Charlotte Tilbury, MAC, Clinique & more!

For the longest time, I only ever wore nude lipsticks and glosses. It was only around the time that I started this blog two years ago that I began to introduce some colour into my lip collection but my heart will always lie with nudes because I just find them so easy to wear, especially on days when I just can't decide what make-up to wear! I also love how low maintenance a nude lip is. My favourite nude leans on the pink side, rather than the brown purely because that is what suits my skin tone best and I also find that they make my teeth look a little whiter. Today I am going to share 9 pinky-nude lipstick options. There are no liquid lipsticks here because I have to admit that I am not the greatest fan of anything too drying or matte on my lips so I haven't bought very many liquid lipsticks. I also haven't included any lip glosses because they deserve a whole other post! Let's get started!

Top 5 high end skincare buys featuring Omorovicza, Sarah Chapman, Oskia & more!

Last week I posted my top 5 luxury beauty/makeup products (here) so I decided to follow that up today with my top 5 luxury skincare buys. As you probably know, I am a bit of a skincare junkie and my skin is dry, (was) dehydrated, is sometimes uneven in tone, has some visible pores across the cheek area and is sometimes congested on my chin and along my jaw line - I really paint a pretty picture, don't I? Therefore, I look for products that will hydrate, moisturise, refine pores, improve texture and generally make my skin look radiant and plump - I don't ask for much! I had a difficult time choosing my top 5 products because I have a lot of skincare products that I use regularly but these are the ones that I know I can rely on to give the best results and actually make a difference to how my skin looks and feels. I have also slightly cheated by adding one product that deserves an honourable mention! 

Beauty birthday gifts featuring Charlotte Tilbury, Hourglass, Armani, Huda Beauty & more!

If you follow me on instagram (here), you will no doubt have noticed that it was my birthday on Monday and that I was lucky enough to receive lots of lovely gifts. My absolute favourite pressie was from my nephew and niece who baked some cupcakes for me and made cards - so thoughtful and sweet - the effort that went into those was better than any other present could ever be! Today, I am going to share some of the beauty goodies that I was lucky enough to receive, some of which have been on my wishlist for quite a while!

Top 5 high end beauty buys featuring YSL, Marc Jacobs, Hourglass & more

I know from experience that high end prices/brands don't always equal amazing products or results but today I want to share with you my top 5 high end beauty purchases that I believe are worth the price tag. I have quite a large make-up collection that consists of mainly mid-high end products with some budget gems in there too and I have tried quite a lot of high end brands but when I got to thinking about this post, I finally narrowed it down to these five products that really stand out for me and I would wholeheartedly recommend to others who want to make a luxury make-up purchase. I haven't included any skincare because I will do a separate post on my top 5 high end skincare buys another day. So let's get started!

Empties & speedy reviews #26 featuring Tatcha, Pixi, GLAMGLOW, Nivea, Nude, Aurelia, This Works & more!

It's been almost two months since my last empties post so I have gathered quite a few products to share my thoughts on for today's post. I have a mixture of haircare, bodycare and mainly skincare products - I have been on a mission to finish products that were half full and not being shown enough love and also to finish up some heavy products before replacing my cracked sink! (It is cracked due to heavy skincare products falling into it!). I also need to be a little stricter on myself because I have built up a pretty sizeable skincare collection again so I think I need to adopt my one in, one out policy again - time will tell if I can stick to that one! Let's get started.

The summer lovin' tag

The beautiful Leanne from Lpagebeauty tagged me to do this and because I love summer, I thought it would be fun so here goes! I have to say that I really don't think I will be able to choose just one option for each category so be prepared for some cheating!