Lancome Christmas Collection 2015 | La Palette 29 Faubourg Saint Honore Review

Hi Everyone!
Hope you all are well :)

It is finally December my favourite month of the year and I'm nothing short of over the moon. I could go on and on about why I love this time of year. My birthday is in December, I adore the lights, and the festivities in general. Also in the months of November and December two of my loves combine in the form of makeup Christmas Collections, which is what I'm talking to you about today.

At the beginning of November Lancome launched their Christmas Collection for 2015 and I was drooling over the range. In the collection there are some nail varnishes, a lipstick, a mascara, and a face powder but what really grabbed my attention was the eye and lip palette.

Prior to this palette I had never tried any makeup from Lancome so I suppose the range intrigued me in itself but I was very curious about the way in which the lip colours in the palette were stored. I'm yet to come across a single eye/lip combo palette that I have enjoyed. I just find they generally don't work. When you pick up a little eyeshadow on your brush 90% of the time you will have excess product in the pan. The problem then is having a cream product next to the eyeshadows, it usually ends with the two textures mixing which can be extremely inconvenient. Not to mention the aspect of cross-contamination!

However, that won't be the case with this palette as there is a swing lid which adds a layer of protection for the lip products. Such a simple concept but extremely effective!

For the price I had expected the palette to have been a little larger, I was slightly surprised when it arrived to be completely honest. 

The palette houses six eyeshadows, a hydrating lip base and two matte lip colours. There is a dual ended eye and lip brush contained in the palette and also a decent sized mirror. Stuck onto the mirror there is a step by step guide showing you how to create a day and night time look using the palette. The shadows and steps are numbered so it is very easy to follow, a great guide for beginners. Being that the palette is small and contains a brush and a mirror it is handy for on the go, especially if you need to top up the lipstick.

As you can see the eyeshadows are contained to the left hand side of the palette while the lip colours are towards the right.

Eyeshadow 1: Matte cream coloured shade

Eyeshadow 2: A shimmery golden coloured eyeshadow

Eyeshadow 3: A bronze shimmery eyeshadow

Eyeshadow 4: Slightly grey toned pink with a shimmer finish

Eyeshadow 5: Medium plum toned shade with a pearlescent finish

Eyeshadow 6: Dark purple eyeshadow with flecks of glitter running throughout

Lip A: Hydrating lip base

Lip B: Cherry red lipstick

Lip C: Burgundy lipstick

I rarely use the brushes that come with eyeshadow palettes because a lot of them generally aren't great. The limited edition Lancome palette comes with a dual ended eye and lip brush and it's pretty good! I love the angled eyeshadow brush it's great quality, nice and dense and packs eyeshadow onto the eye really well. It's also great for blending the edges of the eyeshadow to ensure no harsh lines.

The lip brush is also good, its not revolutionary but it gets the job done.

The only thing I feel that is missing from the palette is a dark matte shade to add depth to the eyes. I found the dark purple with the glitter in it a little too chunky and not ideal for creating depth. I just found the look too shimmery then overall. I would have preferred a matte black or brown eyeshadow in place of the hydrating lip base as I can't see myself using that too much.

Other than that its a really nice palette for creating a glamorous smokey eye. The lip colours in the palette compliment the eyeshadows nicely and when worn together I think they create a nice party ready look for the festive season...or for any season for that matter!

I've filmed a step by step tutorial showing you how to use the palette which includes all products in the palette! If you would like to see how I created the look then just click on the play button below :)

The Lancome Christmas Collection 2015 is available now at select counters in Debenhams and the La Palette 29 Faubourg Saint Honore will set you back €55. The range is limited edition for Christmas so if you see anything you like snap it up quickly!

Until next time :)

Eimear x

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil 1993, Bittersweet, and Bad Blood Swatches and Review

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

You might remember that recently I reviewed one of the Urban Decay Matte Revolution lipsticks, well now the company have released liners to match! A fantastic idea and will be very helpful to those of you out there that have trouble matching up lipliners to lipsticks. Lip products come in different shades, tones and textures so it can be a tricky one to figure out. Urban Decay have now made that process simpler, all you have to do is simply select a shade of lip liner and then locate the matte revolution lipstick with the same name and you're good to go!

The 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils come in 16 different shades and I have three of them in my collection so today I'm going to give you my two cents on Urban Decays latest releases.

First up we have Bad Blood. This is a gorgeous deep red shade that sets to a matte finish.

Bad Blood Swatch

Next up we have Bittersweet. This is a vibrant fushia shade that has a cool undertone and sets to a matte finish.

Bittersweet Swatch

Finally then I have the shade 1993, which I can imagine is going to be extremely popular. 1993 is a medium brown shade that also sets to a matte finish.

1993 swatch

Application 

1993 just applied 2pm

1993 end of day 10.30pm

1993 just applied 2pm

1993 end of day 10.30pm

Bittersweet just applied 2pm

Bittersweet end of day 10.30pm

Bittersweet just applied 2pm

Bittersweet end of day 10.30pm

Bad Blood just applied 2pm

Bad Blood end of day 10.30pm

Urban Decay describe these pencils as creamy liners and they are just that. The pencils are soft and creamy making them glide onto the lips very easily, they don't pull or drag across the lips. However while they are soft, they aren't too soft that they crumble up on the lips. You can still get a nice sharp and defined lip line using these pencils. All of the pencils that I own set to a matte finish. As my lips are usually quite dry, it is more so evident that my lips are dry and cracked when I wear these lip liners. It isn't noticeable when I'm smiling or talking but when I'm resting my face it is more evident, as you can see from this photo below.

If you have dry lips like myself and you want to wear the lip liner on its own I would suggest to really prep the lips beforehand, this will ensure a nice smooth and even appearance. While my lips are dry I didn't find that the lip liners added to that, they didn't dry my lips out further and they weren't uncomfortable to wear. If you are wearing the lip liner on its own your lips will feel a little tacky but its nothing major. To eliminate the tacky feeling I add a very light dusting of translucent powder. This sets the liner in place and takes down the sticky feeling but it doesn't alter the colour of the product.

The lip liners are very pigmented and are long lasting so they can be worn on there own or as a base for another lip product. From the application photos you can see that all three lip liners performed more or less as well as each other. Bad blood perhaps performed a little better than the other two, only slightly. The colour didn't fade as much during the day as the other two shades but a little more product lifted from the centre of my lip. I tested them all for a period of eight and a half hours each because Urban Decay state they have an eight hour wear time. With eating and drinking throughout the day all of the lip liners only wore down in the centre of the lips, which isn't too shabby in my opinion. The lip liners stayed pretty much in tact until the six hour mark with some fading of colour throughout the day. After the six hour mark the liner started to flake and fade off completely in the centre of my lips. As my photos are extreme close ups it is very noticeable that the lip liner has worn in the centre of my lips but if we were having a conversation in person it isn't overly obvious. 

I tested out the lip liners as a base to see how they would perform and I wasn't disappointed. As I only own one of the Matte Revolution lipsticks and its not a shade that matches any of my lip liners I tested the lip liners with lipsticks from other brands first. They lasted on the lips for the full eight hours with just some fading to the colour, I wasn't left with a patchy appearance to my lips. I was curious then to see how the Matte Revolution lipstick would perform with the lip liner so I paired my shade 'After Dark' with the 'Bad Blood' lip liner. It didn't matter that the colours differed slightly because I was applying one on top of the other. Like with the other lipsticks, the colour of the lipstick had faded at the end of the day but I didn't have any product missing from the centre of my lips like I did when I wore the lip liner on its own.

Either way I'm extremely pleased with how the lip liners perform both on their own and as a base. On there own they don't live up to Urban Decays eight hour claim but six hours is good enough for me. I enjoy them more so when paired with a lipstick on top, the products last longer! 

I'm equally as impressed with the 24-7 Glide-On Pencils as I am with the Matte Revolution lipstick, I'm really looking forward to picking up more from the range especially a matching pair!

The Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils retail at €18.50 and are available from Debenhams online and instore. For a direct link you can click here.

Until next time!

Eimear x

Festive Fun: Christmas Party Makeup

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Today I bring to you the very first of my Christmas makeup tutorials for the party season. Once December is upon us then I will decorate my YouTube background for the tutorials! I just couldn't bring myself to do it in....

 November

am I a grinch? oops!

Recently I popped into the Body Shop to check out their Christmas range and I came across the most beautiful eyeshadow palette, I just had to pick it up!

The shadows are simply perfect for the party season, anyone who is a fan of neutrals will get use out of it all year round...I know I will! 

Beside where the eyeshadow palettes were stocked there was a couple of red lipsticks on display, you can never have enough red lipsticks so I bought that too! No Christmas look is complete without a pop of red, right? :)

4 Step Smoky Eye: Smoky Brown

I will have a full review up of the palette once I play around with it a bit more but so far I adore it! Here is the look I created recently :)

The colours are so flattering on all eye colours in particular blue and the shimmer off the shadows is something gorgeous!

To finish off the look I used '101 Colour Crush' from the Body Shop. Its such a beautiful glossy shade of red and the staying power is fantastic, I can't fault it!

If you would like to see how I created this look then just click on the play button below :) Hope you guys enjoy!

Eimear x

Kiss Me Under The Mistletoe

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Its 10 days until Christmas......are you excited, I am!

So today I have a very vibrant festive tutorial for you.

For my first Christmas tutorial of this year I decided to go all out.

Lashes, liner, lipstick..the works :)

You might have noticed in the video too I have a new background for Christmas.

The two snowmen I bought in Argos and I recycled the cobwebs from my Halloween tutorials. 

I took out the spiders and I'm now using it as snow haha!

Products Used:

Eyes 

Nyx Jumbo Pencil 'Milk'

Inglot Amc Shine 63

Inglot Amc 50

Inglot Matte 384

Inglot Amc 63

Nyx GOG17 Lime 'Glitter On The Go'

Nyx BEL06 Liquid Black Liner

Inglot Gel Liner Amc 77

New <id i-lash false eyelashes

Mally Beauty Volumizing Mascara

Face

Revlon Color Stay 200 Nude

Blank Canvas Cosmetics 6 Powder Contour Blush Palette

Lips

Bourjois Levres Contour 20 Rouge Soyeux 

Nyx LSS 511 Chaos 

If you would like to see the tutorial to this look, just click the play button below :)

Thanks a million for tuning in!

I'll see you in my next post :)

Eimear x