Environ Hydrating Oil Capsules

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Over the last year and a half I have really upped my skincare game. I've always been quite vigilant with my skincare, the 'cleanse, tone, moisture' routine was drummed into me at the age of 13 or 14. Although at times my skin doesn't reflect my efforts (*sigh* acne struggles) I've almost reached my mid twenties and I'm still suffering from breakouts. I honestly thought be the time I reached my twenties that spots would be long gone but alas that's not the case. I did have a good run where I was blemish free for a few years, I might get the odd spot now and then but nothing major, nothing to fret about. Over the last couple of years though I've basically gone back to square one. I've developed a more in depth skincare regime on top of going for regular facials in a bid to get a handle on it. One product that I tried for the first time recently was a facial oil and that's what I'm here to chat to you about today!

At the end of October I was sent out a lovely little package from Environ and their 'Hydrating Oil Capsules' were one of the products inside. I've heard lots of fantastic things about the brand, I'm currently using their eye gel and I'm very impressed with that so I had high hopes for the capsules. 

Environ's Hydrating Oil Capsules include ingredients such as Vitamin A and Vitamin C which are known for there antioxidant properties. The capsules are suitable for all skin types but will be beneficial particularly to those out there with dry or dehydrated skin due to the formulation of the product.

The capsules look like little skittles and you just crack off the top to release the oil. I had looked the capsules up online prior to using them and I was little unsure about them due to the fact that a jar containing 30 capsules is priced at €59.95. I thought this was quite expensive because it looked like there was a small amount of product per capsule but when I actually opened a capsule for myself I realised that wasn't the case, thankfully! I was quite surprised with the amount of product inside. I could do my face, neck and I still had a little oil leftover so I used this on my hands as I tend to suffer from dry, cracked skin there as well.

I had never used a facial oil before so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect in terms of results but I do know though that I figured there would be an oily/greasy residue on my skin but I was wrong. The oil absorbed quite quickly which I was delighted about because then I could carry on with the rest of my skincare routine knowing that I wouldn't be just sliding the oil around my skin when applying the next steps.

I had been using the capsules once a week for the first two weeks as my skin is very sensitive and I wanted to see how it would react to the product. There's no fragrance to the oil so that was a big plus for me and I was thrilled to see that after a couple of uses it seemed to be working well with my skin. Now that it's a bit colder here my skin is more dry than usual so I decided to use the capsules more frequently. I've started using them twice a week now instead and my skin is noticeably softer and any flaky patches that were on my skin have cleared up. 

The key ingredient is Vitamin A which hydrates the skin but apparently it's also a good ingredient on the anti-aging front too, bonus! I can tell you that it's definitely a hydrating product and works effectively and efficiently to treat the skin but due to the price tag I think it's one that I'm going to save for when my skin really needs some TLC. I know now that if I'm suffering from really dry/flaky skin that I just have to put my hand on this product and it'll sort it out.

Environ is available from selected beauty salons and skincare therapists nationwide plus selected Harvey Nichols stores. For more information head over to www.iiaa.eu :)

Chat soon,

Eimear x

Stila Stay All Day Vinyl Lip Gloss 'Merlot Vinyl' | Swatches and Review

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Another day another lip product review..my favourite! Recently I was shopping in TK Maxx (how predictable am I?) and I spotted this stunning lip shade from Stila. I was under the impression this was a liquid lipstick up until I tried it despite the box saying otherwise. I think the excitement just got the better of me. I mean seeing a Stila product in TK Maxx in one of your favourite colours and for only €6 (RRP €24), who wouldn't be excited about that? I snapped the product up as quickly as I could and made a beeline for the checkout.

I will admit I was feeling a little deflated when I realised it was a gloss and not in fact a liquid lipstick. I'm not the biggest fan of lip glosses the texture and lasting power just doesn't really appeal to me, despite this I figured I wouldn't knock it just yet. In a way I'm glad I didn't!

I purchased the lip gloss in the shade 'Merlot Vinyl' which is a lovely berry wine colour. Being that it is a gloss I was surprised to see such a bold colour pay off in just a couple of swipes. The doe foot applicator makes applying the product easy enough to do but I find in general it's not the easiest product to apply evenly to the lips. Perhaps it's because it is one of the darker shades, I'm not sure but I found that I had to take great care when applying so that I didn't end up with a streaky finish to my lips.

Once applied the lips feel sticky and this sensation doesn't really wear off throughout the day. There was always a slight tackiness to the lips even after the majority of the gloss had worn away.

To me this is more of a glossy liquid lipstick than just a regular old lip gloss. The product is so highly pigmented and is unlike any other lip glosses that I have tried before. One thing I really enjoyed about this product was the fact that despite it being a long lasting lip product it wasn't drying at all, I feel that's down to the glossy element! Below I've added a few pictures showing you how the product wears throughout the day but for a lip gloss it wears extremely well. Once that glossy shine wears off the lips are left looking as if just a lip stain was applied. Either way I actually liked how it looked at the beginning of the day as well as how it looked by the end of the day!

Just applied - 12pm

After 4 hours wear

After 6 hours wear 

By around the 4 hour mark all the gloss had worn off the lips and I was left with a berry coloured stain. I actually thought the product looked good after the gloss had worn off after eating and drinking. The only thing I would have done to touch up was blended in those edges so that I didn't have a noticeable line of product around the lips. It looks similar to if I used a lip liner and didn't fill the lips in. I wore no lip liner underneath the gloss the lined appearance around the lips is just due to how the product fades! If I had of blended the edges with a lip brush then I would have been good to go, it would have looked like I was just wearing a lip stain. At the 6 hour mark, again I still thought the lip product looked good. That line around my lips had faded significantly but I would have blended the edges of the top lip so that there was a nice even pop of colour.

Strangely enough I prefer how the product looks after 6 hours of wear compared to when it has been freshly applied. Now I wear this gloss as a stain instead. I just apply the gloss to my lips as normal, I blot away the shine and then I'm ready to go!

I don't think its a bad product it's just not really my cup of tea. I like it for the stain it leaves behind after the gloss has worn away not for the glossy shine it gives to the lips when it's first applied. For that reason I won't be purchasing more from the range, however I will look into picking up some of their liquid lipsticks. I've heard fantastic things :)

Until next time,

Eimear x

YSL Touche Éclat Slogan Edition Radiant Touch Pen | Review, Swatches, and Tutorial

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

The other day I tweeted asking would anyone be interested in a tutorial using the YSL Touche Éclat Radiant Touch Pen. The reason being was that after trying it out for the first time myself recently, I came to the conclusion that it's probably one of the most misused products on the market. After getting fantastic feedback in relation to the tutorial I decided to create a detailed demo showing how the product should be used in order for it to be beneficial.

The pen in my possession is one of the limited edition slogan pens that launched here in Ireland on March 27th. There are three slogans to choose from:

• All Lights On Me
• I Am Not a Morning Person
• No Need To Sleep

The only difference between this pen and the original pen, aside from the packaging is that the slogan edition pens are available in only two shades where as there are twelve to choose from in the original line.

The product comes in click pen form and as a result is very easy to apply. 

( I Am Not a Morning Person Shade 2 )

To put it simply the YSL Touche Éclat Radiant Touch Pen is a highlighter not a concealer. This product will not hide dark circles or cover up spots. The aim of the Touche Éclat Pen is to draw light to the face, therefore if placed over dark circles or spots it will in fact emphasis them not conceal them.

This is a really nice product for highlighting, the formula is quite lightweight and it gives a nice radiant glow to the skin. In saying that though I do feel it has been overhyped in the beauty community and a bit overpriced at €35 for the original pen. The slogan edition pens are priced at €45 and I don't think it's worth shelling out an extra tenner just for the packaging alone, even though pretty packaging is my weakness!

For a full demo on how to use the Radiant Touch Pen just click on the play button below! I hope you enjoy the tutorial and find it helpful, I tried to jam pack as much information into the video as I possibly could while trying to keep it under the 5 minute mark haha!

If you are interested in checking out the YSL Touche Éclat Radiant Touch Pens, they are available from Debenhams and can be viewed here.

Chat soon,

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