The MAC products worth spending your dollars on..♡

Hello my loves,

I want to have a little chat with you all about the 'MAC' hype. MAC is a brand I think most people are familiar with & when someone mentions more high end products, I think MAC springs to most of our heads. When you walk into a MAC shop you are greeted by 1 million different products & if you aren't very in the makeup know, you can end up spending your hard earned dollars on products that ain't worth their hype. So In this blog post I'm going to share with you some of the best MAC products, and the ones that are really worth the investment & worth your money.

#1. MAC skin base visage.

Primer is a detrimental part of your base. DO NOT SKIP if you want good skin as you age. While chemist primers are fine & while they do the job, when you use a good high end primer you will not look back. MAC's skin base is the perfect primer to pair with your dewy, demi matte foundations. It is almost moisturizer texture when you pump it but it leaves you with a veil of silkiness that your foundation can adhere to for the whole day.  Once you try this you may never go back.

#2. MAC prep + prime fix +

Have you ever wanted to emulate a Victoria Secret's angel's skin? Ever wanted make pigments stay on your eyes and not fall down on your cheeks when you're applying them? Have you ever thought 'god, I need to refresh my makeup'? 

If so, this is the product you need in your life. Fix + is the product of a million uses & your makeup bag is incomplete without it. Spray this over your powder you placed to lock down your foundation to turn your skin into a flawless base. It is a form of setting spray and it will keep that face in place without ever looking cakey.

#3. MAC mineralize skinfinish in Soft & Gentle.

While I love to look highlighted & glowing like an angel, I hate to look like a disco ball with lumps of glitter on my face and unfortunately, drugstore highlighters can do that. They sit on your skin and just do not look pretty because a lot of them are that pearly white unnatural shade. What you want is something that nearly melts & blends to the skin. Soft & Gentle is that product. Although it's a powder highlighter, the powder is so finely milled that glides on the skin with none of that chalky residue. The peachy shade of this is so flattering and gentle, that you get that stunning highlight without it being so obvious. You nearly look like you are glowing from within & that's the aim at the end of the day.

#4. MAC lip liners

I love lip liners. Love them. I'm quite conscious about the unevenness of my lips so I do have my techniques, much like Kylie Jenner (only not so crazy) to make my lips look fuller. MAC's selection of lip liner is incomparable to any other brand in my opinion. They have basically got every shade you will ever need. If you want that lip liner that honestly looks like your lips only better, MAC will have that shade. They last a very long time on the lips & are of a creamy yet firm texture so they are easy to work with. My favourite shades are spice & soar. These are my perfect lip colours and I've been habitually buying these 2 for 2 years. I will never be converted to any other lip liners. Go in swatch a few and if you are unsure ask one of the staff what would be the closest to your lip shade.

 #5. MAC Face & Body foundation

There's a reason that this is one of the most used foundations on photo shoots and runways and that's because this foundation is extremely good. It's build-able coverage means you can go for a very light base & build it up to a very decent medium coverage if you want. It's like your-skin-only-better. The choice of colours is vast and can be confusing as MAC work on cool and warm tones, so again ask to be colour matched. This foundation has no SPF so have you ever wondered why in photos your lovely tanned face looks like Casper the friendly ghost? That's because your SPF in your foundation has created a barrier that the flash has bounced off. As this foundation is SPF-less you will not have this issue but if you are going to be spending a lot of time outdoors I'd recommend using a moisturizer with SPF in it.

#6. MAC Pro longwear paint pot in soft ochre

If you would like your eye shadows to look exactly like they do in the pan & not like a wishy washy version of the pan shade, you have got to have a paint pot in your life. It intensifies and amplifies the eye shadow colours by providing the perfect base. It covers all them bluey veins on your lids, any redness, everything.  There are a few shades to chose from however either soft ochre or painterly works for most fair-medium skin tones. I'd like to add that this can be used as a stand alone with no shadow on top to give you a flawless eye.

I buy all my MAC products in Brown Thomas or the stand alone MAC shop on Henry street in Dublin. You can shop MAC online from Brown Thomas here for Ireland or the MAC store here if you're in the UK or USA.

With Love from,

Rebekah x♡

Flawless foundations for all budgets ♡

Hello my loves,

Today I'm going to be talking about my top 3 foundations at the moment. These are the three I've been loving and have been reaching to equally over the past 3 months. I have one drugstore/chemist brand, one mid-range brand and then one high-end brand. I wanted to cover all budgets in this post. Your base is so important, I believe it's THE most important part of your makeup, so it's worth while getting it right!

So without any further delay, lets go..:)

Drugstore/Chemist Brand:

L'oreal Infallible 24hrs stay fresh foundation.

Coverage: Medium

Price: €13.99
Where to buy: Boots

I literally receive compliments on my skin each time that I wear this foundation. The coverage is medium but could be built to full if you layered it. Although it is medium coverage it does not look cakey on the skin, which is very rare to find drugstore-wise. It gives a demi matte appearance so your skin looks like skin, and not like a mask.

This is my favourite drugstore foundation on the market at the moment and I have tried and tested them all. I like to apply this with a damp beauty blender as I feel that it really works well with this formula and I get a flawless finish.

Mid-range brand:

Illamasqua Skin base foundation

Coverage: Medium

Price: €30.50
Where to buy: Debenhams.com

I first time tried this foundation when I went to London over a year ago and I fell in love with it. The amazing thing about Illamasqua is the various shades that they stock. They have pink undertones, yellow undertones & olive undertones, so this means there is basically a shade for everyone.

 I use the shade 10, which was described to me by the makeup artist in Selfridges as the perfect match to St. Tropez tan. So by that he meant it's that golden tan colour, no orange. This foundation is like glow in a bottle. It spreads seamlessly covering any pigmentation issues, but it dries dewy and golden. Actually basically it's Jlo's skin in a bottle! Illamasqua is a makeup artist brand, so you know you are getting very high quality, tried & tested products with this brand. I have my mother using this and she is obsessed!

High-end brand:

Nars All day luminous weightless foundation

Coverage: Light-medium

Price: €43

Where to buy: Brown Thomas

This foundation is genius & I'm going to do my best to do it justice here. 2 pumps literally does my entire face seamlessly and evenly, something no other foundation can do. It also dries like skin.. you can hardly tell you've used foundation that's how perfect it sits on the skin. It is worth every penny, especially since you need to use so little. Because this dries like your skin, the finish is matte, but not dry and patchy matte, flawless skin matte. I only need a pick of concealer when I use this foundation.

It also lasts me all through my working day which I can say only about a few foundations & I never need to touch this up, it honestly lives up to it's all day claim.

If you are in the market for a new foundation I hope this helps you in some way. These are my favorites for my skin type. I have normal/sensitive skin. I recommend you do try these products out on yourself before you buy. I know that illamsasqua is only online, so if you have questions about matching please to leave me a comment or drop me a mail and I will help you out :)

With Love from,

Rebekah x♡

Bargain Buy of the Week ♡

Hello my loves,

So each week I'm going to do a specific blog post where I'll pick a beauty product/item of clothing etc. that I feel is a bargain worth knowing about that I want to share with you guys ♡ 

Nothing makes me happier than picking up an item that is not only cheap, but you are pleasantly surprised when the quality out shines the price by a mile. I LOVE getting value for my money & cheap hidden gems are everything to me.

So without further a due, here is my bargain buy of this week:

Product: Deep conditioning hair mask
Price: €2.50

Let me explain something about this product: IT OUTSHINES ALLLLL EXPENSIVE HAIR MASKS I HAVE TRIED!!! and it's from Penneys, yes that's right PENNEYS. (*Primark to those in the UK)

Honestly, this product costs €2.50 & it works better on my hair than masks I've had applied by hairdressers. 

There are a few different types that you can get by this brand/collection. The brand is HASK. I choose the Argan oil one because I personally find that Argan oil is life savior for hair in general.

This mask claims that it 'strengthens, restores & smooths dry damaged hair'. 

Let me tell you, It ticks all the boxes that it claims to. 

I find that my hair because it is fine hair, splits easy. This leaves me with white tips on my hair even if I've had a trim a week or two prior. I've tried all the 'miracle products' available and while I have found some that soften the cuticle and flatten the shaft to make the splits disappear temporarily, once I wash my hair again they pop back up. I like to have the option that good forbid I had a weekend away and forgot these miracle products my hair would still look good. This mask helps me to have this option. This mask is the only mask I've ever used that actually repaired my split ends and made them virtually disappear. 

I like to apply this creamy texture mask once every week and half to my hair from the ear down. Avoid the root as this is an oil based product, you will end up with a greasy scalp. The instructions read to apply to clean, wet hair, leave for 10 minutes and wash out and I've done this and achieved great results. But the best result that I receive is when I put this in my dry hair before I go to bed, pop my hair in a little bun, wrap it in cling-film and go to sleep. I'll wash it out then in the morning. The cling-film provides heat which open up the hair cuticles so the product can penetrate deeply.

Once I wash it out and rough dry off my hair, my hair is literally like silk. I can only compare it to the feeling of your hair when you get a €20 salon blow dry where they apply all the smoothing products and then blow dry it within an inch of its life. Except this is one little cheap €2.50 product that does it.

I highly recommend this product for anyone who has dry/damaged hair and anyone who basically wants their hair to feel like healthy, well maintained hair. For a price like that, I feel it's definitely worth a shot!

(above is my hair after using the mask, rough drying it & running a hair curler through it)

*Retails at Penneys & Primark stores in the UK & Ireland. Doing some research I've also found it retails at ULTA stores in the US too :)

With love from,

Rebekah  ♡ x

Urban Tropics OOTN ♡

Hello my loves,

Really quick little blog post as I've had some interest in my outfit that I wore last night out for dinner with my boyfriend & then out for some drinks. Like I've said before I've been sick to the point I've been out of work the past week so I've been house bound and slobbing around. So I was really looking forward to actually get dressed properly!

This was my outfit: 

I wanted something a little bit quirky, tropically/summery without being your typical summer outfit, I like to think of this as Urban tropics.

Dress: Missguided HERE

Shoes: Public Desire HERE

Bag: River Island HERE (currently in the sale :))

I hope this helps anyone who was wondering.

With love from,

Rebekah x

Makeup for those sick days

Hello my loves,

So over the past week I have not been well unfortunately. I have had the summer cold from hell, mixed with a chest infection, mixed with everything thing else. Basically, my eyes were watering & crying, my nose was red and my skin literally lacked life, I looked like death! BUT I still had to go to work. I won't lie, when I'm very bad I'll forfeit the makeup even for work because I can't bring myself to do it. On the days however that I do feel like I'm recovering somewhat, this is the makeup that I will lean towards (we'll get to the little bottle in the picture above in a minute):

The goal isn't to look covered in makeup & over processed. The goal is to look fresh, healthy & pulled together. This picture was taken when I was sick, so it's a true example of how these tips work.

 I know, like me, you probably just want to hide in bed when you're sick but sometimes that isn't an option & that doesn't mean you need to look like you just rolled out of bed.

So without further delay, here is my sick day makeup survival kit:

1. It's all about the base in this situation. Use a good moisturizer. I am LOVING the Vitamin C day cream by the Body Shop, this is literally a wake-me-up in a jar. You can check it out here. 
2. Skip out on the foundation. If you are sneezing your nose is going to lose foundation after 10 minutes, and it will be so noticeable that you've a Rudolph nose going on. Use a BB/CC/Tinted moisturizer cream. This will look more natural, so if you are sneezing & remove some makeup, it won't be a dreadful difference to the the tone and texture of the rest of your skin. My favourite one at the moment is the Bare Minerals Complexion rescue, which you can buy here. I will actually do a dedicated blog post to this soon because I feel that it deserves one. I bought this specifically because I was sick and forgot my makeup and couldn't deal with catching myself looking dead in my work mirrors. The Bare Minerals sales assistant popped it on my face and I went from dead to alive in about 1 minute. This IS a product you should invest in. Conceal any blemishes with your favourite concealer, I love the Maybelline 'The eraser eye'.This is one of the best formulas on the market for a drugstore concealer.
3. I'd also forget about eye-shadow if you've watering eyes. I find that a well groomed brow can frame the face enough that you can go without eye makeup. I use Anastasia Beverly hills dip-brow pomade in ebony to fill in my sparse areas & give even shape.. This is the best eyebrow product on the market in my opinion. I buy it from Beauty Bay & shipping from here is generally free, keep an eye on their offers.
4. Waterproof mascara is a MUST for obvious reasons, unless you like panda eyes, then go ahead!
5. For an instant boost of health pop the tiniest bit of cream highlighter on your cheekbones, on your inner corner of your eyes and under your brow. TRUST me, this will fake you health in a swipe. I love so many highlighters but one of my favorites is MAC cream colour base in pearl. Keep it to creamy highlighters for this look. Powders will enhance the skins dehydration & look fake.
6. When I'm sick my lips get dry so lipstick requires too much effort to keep perfect. I stick to a good clear lip balm to give my lips sheen & keep them moisturized but I don't have to worry about colour issues. My favourite is Dr.Lipp which I get here.
7. My last tip & this is my favourite, once your makeup is done, spritz your face with the Body Shop vitamin E face mist. This stuff is amazing. It will freshen your face up completely, giving you more life again, doesn't disrupt your makeup and you can re-mist during the day. Added bonus: if you've a temperature it cools you down & It smells DIVINE,

I hope these tips help you in someway if you are sick and you have to face the world for work etc:( If you are, my best wishes that you get well soon! <3

With love from,

Rebekah x

The lipsticks that you need to know about..

Hello my loves, 

I'm so excited to share with you what I got in the post this morning! If you follow me on Instagram, (if you don't my Instagram is here) you'll have seen that I posted a picture of 3 new lipsticks I bought from Gerard Cosmetics. 

After a long, LONG time of lusting over all the gorgeous girls on Instagram wearing all these beautiful lipsticks shades by american brand Gerard Cosmetics, I finally bit the bullet last week and decided I needed a least one of their lipsticks in my life. I NEEDED THEM!!

Honestly, my reason for not ordering from them earlier was because I was afraid that I'd be crucified on shipping costs, but you will be delighted to hear that shipping is only $9.50 and if you spend over $75 dollars, your shipping is free. They also have a deal at the moment which means you can get 3 lipsticks from $28 dollars AND free shipping!!!!! Just enter the code PromPout at the checkout! I don't know how long this will be valid for, but they always have offers going that you can check out on their Instagram page. Otherwise each lipstick is $19.00 each & they've tonnes of bundle deals too just check out their website Gerard Cosmetics

Shipping was super quick considering it was coming from the USA & it took about 6 working days to get to me, There were no customs or duty taxes either.

So let's move on to the good stuff, the colours :) 

I chose a 3 pack of lipsticks from their bundles:

- 1995

- Berry smoothie

- French toast

Can we just have a minute for the names, and don't get me started on the smell, it is to die for trust me. Their colour selection is fantastic and they have everything from the nudes to the brights. Each colour is beautiful.

- 1995, is THE perfect Kylie Jenner lip colour, add a little translucent powder over the top to matte it down like she does.

- Berry smoothie is a rose nude, that 'your-lips-but-better colour'.
- French toast is a rustic nude, it's more orange brown toned than berry smoothie. It's Ah-mazing with a tan.

The texture of them all is lovely and moisturizing, and they glide on super easy, with one layer providing a very true colour to the bullet. They do not dry your lips out at alllllll, so this for me is a major winner.

I hope this helped anyone considering buying from Gerard Cosmetics, I would highly recommend them to everyone, they really do live up to their hype, I promise you. The only trouble you will have will be trying to pick your favourite colours :)

* Just as side note, I purchased these lipsticks with my own money, so this review is my true & honest opinion.

With love from,

Rebekah x

A little hello..

I've been planning to do this for so long, now I'm not even sure where to start, but I think that hello is always the best place! 

For the past few years I've dabbled with the thoughts of doing a blog, started it and then things got in the way, as things tend to do - also me and computers are not friends; I tend to repel technology! I worked as an in-house blogger for an Irish fashion website before so I like to think I know a little bit at least!

I decided to set up this blog for a many reasons, the main one being that I am ADDICTED to makeup & beauty & clothing and I also work in these areas. Another being that I have a lot of experience and knowledge in these areas and I want to share this knowledge with everyone because I feel that sharing is caring!

  I'm going to use this blog to bring you all little bits of me, things I like, things I love, things I hate.. It will be mainly focused on he beauty/fashion side of things but I will also focus on lifestyle & food from time to time as that is a passion of mine also.

Everything I'm going to be bringing you is to share things, tips and tricks, things I think will help even if it's only minor, it will always come with love from me <3

I hope you enjoy what I have prepared for this blog & please subscibe if you want to learn more :*

With love from,

Rebekah x