Beauty and Fashion blog by Rebekah O'Leary

Thursday 20 October 2016

Beau Belle Brushes | Bronze Brushes & Pot set

Hi my Loves,

I just wanted to drop by quickly and share some pictures of the Beau Belle brushes I was sent in the post a few weeks back. I have had my eye on their beautiful brushes for a while now, so when I received some in the post I honestly nearly died! You know those type of brushes that you see on Instagram & Pintrest  - those brushes that you see people posting and you're like "WHERE ARE YOU FROM??" These are those type of brushes!



The set I was sent was the Bronze brush set - and it comes with a really handy pot for storage and travel too. In each pot set you get a good combination of face brushes & eye brushes; I'll list them below for you all so you know what you are getting:

A1 - Lip Brush, B4 - Powder Brush, B5 - Stippling Brush, B6 - Angled Contour Brush, B7 - Foundation Brush, C1 - Angled Brow Brush, C3 - Angled Shading Brush,  C4 - Blending Brush,   C5 - Detail Brush, C6 - Shader Brush, C7 - Lash Brush, C8 - Tapered Blending Brush

The eye brushes

The face brushes

The price of these brushes is £44.95 + your shipping, which I think is fantastic for 12 brushes (That works out at about £3.75 a brush and that's not taking into account you get a brush pot too).
So obviously these brushes are gorgeous, that's an obvious fact.. But do they do the job, are the good?
The answer to that is yes.
 I want to start out by saying these are beyond soft, so soft in fact that my little brother wanted me to just brush the fluffy face brushes (with no makeup on them obviously!) on his face, so that's telling you how soft they are - he was willing to over looked the fact they makeup brushes he was having touching his face! The Powder brush is my favourite out of the face brushes as it distributes the product nice and evenly.
By now I've used all the brushes and the quality is completely comparable with both my Morphe and Zoeva brushes - especially the eye brushes and the blending brush and the smaller detailing brushes are my favourite.

I'll leave the direct link to these brushes HERE if you're interested. They do loads of other set and colour-ways and even single brushes. A set like mine above would make a great Christmas present too in my opinion!

With Love from,

Rebekah x




SHARE:

Tuesday 18 October 2016

L'Oreal Pure Clay facial masks | My Thoughts

Hi my Loves,

I hope that you all had an amazing weekend! Usually either every Sunday night or Monday night I like to do a little pamper session and maybe scrub off tan or apply some, use a nice body butter and do a face mask; and this is actually what prompted me to do this post!



For the past two months I have been trying out the L'Oreal clay masks - I have the Pure Clay Detox mask and the Pure Clay Glow mask. The Pure Clay Purity mask didn't appeal to me as it is aimed towards people with oily skin which is an issue I do not suffer from - I'm quite the opposite to this!

First off lets go through what each mask claims to do and I'll discuss my thoughts. These masks are aimed at the whole multi masking concept by the way, hence why if you've seen the ads you'll of seen some of the models with one or two on their faces.

On the L'Oreal website the description says:

Detox Mask: 
"Enriched with Black Charcoal which acts like a magnet to draw out impurities.


The creamy texture of this deep cleansing face mask detoxifies the skin’s surface and works deep into the pores, leaving the skin looking clarified and beautified."


Glow Mask:
 "Enriched with Red Algae extract, known for its brightening properties.


Finely milled apricot seeds gently exfoliate dull, uneven skin to reveal your natural glow.

It has a beaded, creamy texture which illuminates tone by exfoliating your skin without drying it out."


I just want to state I am a huge L'Oreal fan; L'Oreal is one of my favourite drugstore brands - I think they are leaps and bounds ahead of other brands you can get in Boots or Superdrug; however these masks just didn't do it for me unfortunately and I'm so sad to say this because I had such high hopes!

Something I feel drugstores/or chemists etc. brands lack is good face masks so when I heard about L'Oreal releasing masks, I basically rushed to get them. I got them on offer so I'm pretty sure I paid maybe €7 or €8 for each one but they usually retail at about €11.50.

Sadly though I am not a fan. The Detox one seemed very promising - I was hoping for a dupe of the GLAMGLOW super mud - but no.

(The thing I want to mention about detoxifying clay masks; GLAMGLOW supermud included is that they actually are meant to make your skin worse before it gets better. However I don't think companies divulge this correctly - in order to clarify your skin, they work by bringing impurities to the surface - so please do not use a detox mask before the weekend as you will most likely have some spots appear from nowhere. If you are very strict and use these types of masks ritually they work as there should eventually be nothing to bring to the surface but as a once off these are not recommended as a Friday night weekend prep mask.)

To start, The first two times I used it I didn't notice anything super positive or negative - my skin felt and looked clean, but a good cleanser can do the same. However, after the third time using it,this specific mask made my skin so bad. Bad like I've not seen it so bad since I was in school. I broke out in tiny little spots all over my forehead, t-zone and around my mouth - my skin was NOT happy and I want to point out I don't have sensitive skin nor has a detox mask done this to my face before. I found it to be super chemically, the smell alone gave that away. I know so many drugstore masks have chemical ingredients obviously but this one just seemed particularly so, and I didn't like that.

As for the glow mask, whilst this didn't break me out anymore - it irritated spots I already had and made them worse. And again the chemical smell of this was so unappealing again. The only thing I did like about this mask was the little beads which allowed for a gentle exfoliation and did make my skin a little brighter, but nothing to write home about sadly.
I have read quite a few reviews of these L'Oreal masks and going by these I was expecting these masks to be amazing, and I'm not trying to call myself a skin care expert or anything like that - but from my experience these are sadly not really what I would classify as wow amazing.



In my opinion, if you're on the look out for good, reasonably priced masks you are better off trying a 'Lush' face mask - both of the results these masks claim to give can be easily achieved through one of their face masks at a similar price but using fresh natural ingredients which actually do fulfill the products claims unlike the chemicals which seem like they should do something but really don't. 
I love you dearly L'Oreal , but sadly the Clay face masks are a miss from me.

With Love from,

Rebekah x








SHARE:

Friday 14 October 2016

USING A BAR OF SOAP TO DO YOUR BROWS?? | Soap brow technique

Hi my loves,

So I'm pretty sure out of all the products you ever thought you'd use on your eyebrows - a bar of old fashioned hand soap was not one of them - and I'm with you on that! 
Then all of a sudden a few weeks back I heard of this thing called 'Soap Brows' and now honestly, I thought it was just some strange challenge; like you know find the oddest thing you can put in your brows and see how it goes..... 
However this was not the case.
 Apparently using a bar soap to style & groom your brows IS a thing & actually originates from way back to the old Hollywood era and YouTube sensation Pixiwoo have decided to revive it!

The main goal and result you will see from using a bar of soap to do your brows is that they will look very natural and have that fluffy look as opposed to harsh and blocky. Your brows will also last all day no jokes.

So how exactly do you go about doing your brows with soap you may ask?
I got you covered.

 Basically what you will need is:
  1. A bar of soap (It has to be a clear glycerin bar of soap - so no bars of Dove otherwise your brows will look like they have dandruff. I used a brand called Pears that I got from Boots and I got 2 bars for about €1.90 ish and this will probably last me for the rest of my life.)
  2. An eyebrow spooly (any brand will do)
  3. Warm water or something you can use to cause the soap to soften.
  4. Your usual product of choice you use to fill in your brows OR if you have amazing brows and you don't need to fill them in, leave this step out.

Now I have seen this done two ways, I have seen it done using the soap first before you fill in brows and I have seen it being done after you've filled in your brows. I'm not 100% sure what is the 'correct' way, but I found both techniques worked well. If you have pretty full brows with very little that needs done with them I'd say go in with the soap first but if you need to do quite a bit of work on your brows then I think the soap after will maybe be the best for you.

Wet your bar of soap and very gently start to rub the spooly over the bar till you get a sort of paste collecting on the spooly. Don't take too much as it can be hard to work with - start with a little and you can work up.



Then basically all you're going to do is brush the spooly through your eyebrows and shape them to your desired effect (pic 3). If you want super natural or super full brows brush the hairs in an upward motion (pic 2) - if your brow hairs are very long obviously this won't really work for you but you can trim the brows after you've brushed them up too.
Now on to the optional step of filling your brows in (pic 4)- you can fill them in your own normal way OR for the real old Hollywood way you use your eyebrow product to draw hair like strokes to fill in the brow - avoiding drawing any heavy lines around the brow area like you would usually to get shape. This will give you the most natural brow of all time.


(In the picture above my left eyebrow is done using this technique whilst my right eyebrow is totally bare)


There we have it guys, I hope you found this helpful or even just a little interesting! I personally love know quirky hacks like this and I had to share it with you all!

With Love from,

Rebekah x








SHARE:

Thursday 13 October 2016

Coloured biker jackets | Faux Suede & Faux leather

Hi my loves,
I posted a picture on Instagram and Snapchat today of me wearing a faux leather red biker jacket & you all went nuts and I got messages asking where I got it where could you get something similar.
My one was from Primark/Penneys like two years ago - but don't worry I have found some alternatives for you guys in lots of colours.. These are some of my faves!





I am obsessed with biker jackets, I love them casual with leggings to dress them up and then I love to wear them over dressed or even with jeans and nice top at night time! All these colours are super autumny colours too, so very on trend for this time of year!

With Love from,

Rebekah x



















SHARE:

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Kat Von D Lock it Creme Concealer & Lock it Setting powder | REVIEW

Hi my loves,

A few weeks back I shared a few products that I purchased from Kat Von D when she launched her brand in Debenhams. I shared this picture on Instagram and snapchat and I got loads of questions asking what I thought about what I picked up. 




I picked up the Lock it Creme concealer (this is an update on Kat's older Tattoo concealer, aptly named because it could literally cover tattoos!) in the shade 07 'light warm' and the Lock it Setting powder. the powder is translucent and only comes in one shade.
For reference as to whether these products will suit your skin type, I have very normal skin, with my under eyes leaning more so on the dry side.




Price: €26.00

I'm going to come straight out with it, this is my new favourite concealer and THAT is a BOLD STATEMENT. I have not put this down since I got it almost a month ago now. I have reached for no other concealer other than this one.
It is extremely full coverage, more so than Nars 'Radiant Creamy Concealer' or Urban Decay's Naked Weightless concealer' (both of which used to be my go to's) but I get ZERO creasing. None whatsoever. I work on each area at a time and by this I mean I will apply it under my left eye and blend it in, then apply it to the right eye and blend it in because what I will say is that it does dry down and set quite fast and the finish is just phenomenal. I have a very prominent vein under my left eye and this covers it with one layer - and it covers it flawlessly. To blend in this concealer I use a damp Beauty Blender. You can use a brush, but with the consistency of this product because it is quiet thick and full coverage, blending it in with a damp sponge will give you the best and most seamless finish.
The only thing I did struggle with, and this is not a product fault and I suppose in a way it is a good thing - there are so many shades to choose from, with so many undertones that I struggled to figure out what shade I was. I couldn't really find any swatches online at all where someone had swatched them all side by side and I would of liked that. In the end I settled for 07 'light warm' and it is almost the perfect match of the Urban Decay concealer in light warm and that was the shade I was hoping to match, shade 03 would probably be identical.


Without flash (KVD 07 in on the left & Urban Decay Naked skin in Light warm is on the right)


With flash (KVD 07 in on the left & Urban Decay Naked skin in Light warm is on the right)




Price: €26.00

Whilst I do love this powder and have also been using this every day since I purchased it - I don't have such an extreme love for this as I do the concealer. The concealer is in a league of it's own in my opinion.
This is a gorgeous extremely finely milled powder that has an almost light reflecting-esque property to it, but nothing so drastic that you can't use it on your entire face; it's more like a luminosity!
Paired with the concealer your under eye concealer is literally going nowhere all day long. I have also used this to set my face and I've found that I haven't noticed that it's extended my foundations wear any more than any other powders, but I have noticed that my foundation looks far more flawless and airbrushed - this also does not cake or bunch up on the face, nor does it give any flashback which I adore and can be an issue with a lot of flawless face powders. This powder also works perfectly for the baking method. It feels like velvet to touch and blends into the skin perfectly. 

I hope you guys found this review helpful!
Did you pick up any of Kat's products?  If so what did you get and what do you love?

With Love from,

Rebekah x

SHARE:

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Sudio Wireless Freedom Headphones + DISCOUNT CODE

Hi my loves,

Do I have any music addicts here?
Judging by my snapchat I think so! Every time I share a song I've been loving you are all screenshotting & mailing me asking what is that song - and that's so lovely, I love that you guys like my picks!

As a self confessed music addict, headphones are pretty essential to my life. I'm the type of person who likes music in their ears 24/7 - I cannot take any form of public transport without music; I feel like I'd probably die a death of boredom!



So Que my newest obsession - Sudio Sweden's Wireless Freedom headphones (Vasa BLA to be exact). Wireless headphones are the way forward and that's a fact - look at the direction of the newest iPhone 7 totally championing the wireless trend - and when Apple do something, it's trend setting.
I don't know about anyone else but me and wires are not friends. My old wired headphones have knots  upon knots in them that are never coming out and look so unsightly!

Sudio's Vasa BLA headphones provide you 8 hours of power on a a full charge and operates of your Bluetooth, it's compatible with all devices by the way. The one's that I have are the Rose Gold White pair. I thought that these were super chic and basically looked perfectly matched with my iPhone gold 6+.



These headphones retail at €90 a pair with free express 2-3 business day shipping to Europe (You'll find a discount code at the end of this blog too so keep reading <3) and with each pair you get 4 extra little ear buds, a leather carry case, a metal clip, a charging cable and a quality assurance card.

In terms of the battery as I said above you get 8 hours full use and then 10 days on standby and a full charge will take 2 hours.

So here is what I love about these headphones:
  • They are comfortable - they fit very nicely in your ears with no annoyance or pain, you actually nearly forget that you're wearing them
  • The sound quality is superior. I have tried other wireless headphones before and for some reason with a lot of headphones when they go wireless the quality reduces - this is NOT the case with Sudio wireless headphones; the quality is fantastic.
  • Headphone aficionados will be aware of this next point I'm going to say - anyone who has had the wireless Beats headphones will be aware of the timing issues when watching videos with the headphones, there is a super lag which means that the sound does not move in time with the physical video which is just my pet peeve. The Sudio wireless headphones absolutely do not have this issue, the sound moves in perfect time with the video which makes them A+ in my opinion.
  • They are just incredibly stylish. These are levels above any other wireless headphones in terms of style - these can nearly be described as a fashion accessory they are that gorgeous.


So the lovely people at Sudio Sweden have given me a discount code for all my readers giving you guys 15% off their headphones until the 31/10/16 by using the code 'REBEKAH'! Not only do they have wireless headphones they do stock wired headphones too. These would make great Christmas presents if you're on the hunt!<3

With Love from

Rebekah x






SHARE:

Monday 10 October 2016

Yo Tea 'Teatox' Review

Hi my loves,

I want to start off with long time no chat, which I hate - I have these M.I.A habits I need to kick and I am trying! I'm always so active over on Instagram and even Snapchat so if you ever need a fix you know you can find me there.

Today we are going to chat about the Therapie Clinic exclusive Yo Tea teatox. This product was sent to me to try out, however I am choosing to do this review of my own accord because I like keep you all informed! This will be a very in detail review.
 I feel particularly for heath products in detail reviews are good ways of seeing breakdowns and results but also answering questions that you cannot find on the products website.


Yo Tea is sold in packets of 30 individually teabags (super handy if you need to throw some in your handbag) meaning ideally you will take 2 cups a day (morning and evening) for 15 days. The product claims the results of detoxifying your body, boosting your metabolism and increasing energy levels. You take this tea in combination with a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise (this means no McDonald's unfortunately..)

I want to first discuss the ingredients of the tea with you guys. The tea contains 100% natural ingredients. This being said, before I list the ingredients I want to stress how important it is to have a google of ingredients (webmd.com is usually very informative) or speak to a doctor if you are taking any medication before taking health supplements or alternatives of any kind. In most cases there is no issue, however some can cause bad interactions and I always believe you are better to be safe than sorry.


        The ingredients are:
  • Oolong green tea
  • Lotus Leaf
  • Poria
  • Alisma Rhizome
Oolong green tea

This tea is rich in antioxidants - the reason for this is that it is actually a tea that is blend between both black tea and green tea (the difference is purely in it's processing). Oolong green tea is mainly used to improve mental awareness, prevent heart disease, treat obesity and promote weight loss, lower high cholesterol and treat skin issues like eczema.

Lotus Leaf

Lotus leaves are used to: increase blood flow & encourage a lowering of blood pressure, reduce anxiety & stress levels, help with weight loss by increasing your metabolism, detoxing your body and used for anti bacterial functions. It also helps to slow the absorption of carbohydrate and fat.

Poria

Poria is used mainly for its diuretic effect - this aids detox. It also helps to lower your blood sugar levels.

Alisma Rhizome

Alisma Rhizome can lower blood pressure and stabilize. blood sugar levels.

My Results:

So first off my reasons for taking this tea were not for weight loss as such, basically I believe I am possibly gluten intolerant so I wanted to detox out my body and start a gluten free (ish) diet after the 2 weeks. My main reason was therefore to use this tea as a detox tool. Also, if you know me personally you know that I suffer from a right shoulder injury that restricts my movement and effects my nerves, this leads to me not being able to exercise or really use my right arm at all - this leaves me extremely sluggish and very blah - not being able to release energy is frustrating and can take a toll on your moods in a negative manner and can also negatively impact on your metabolism and energy levels. BASICALLY, I felt my 'Get-up-and-go' had got up and gone!
 So my 3 reason were:

1. Detoxing
2. Improving my energy Levels
3. Increasing my metabolism

I want to point out that I was of course skeptical about this product working as I am with all products that promise me a flat tummy - I'm the type of person I need to try things to believe them! I have tried MANY weight loss, metabolism boosting, appetite suppressing health products; I'm a big believer in natural remedies and some have worked and others have not. Not everything works the same on everyone.
After 2 days I noticed a huge difference is both my mood and my energy levels. I had more energy than I'd had in months and I felt I had so much more get up and go in me. I also felt a lot more at ease and calmer; in general I felt better. This effect remained the entire teatox and also has remained now that I am finished it. For me, this is enough to sing the praises of this product!
Bloating was also something I noticed a marked difference in - again after 2 days I looked as though I had a flat tummy which is something I'm not used to seeing on myself! Clothes fitted better and my stomach felt like it was working some what smoother and better by about day 6. I did notice the laxative effect taking place around the 6 to 8 hour point for me BUT only if I ate bad or junk food, if I was sticking to the healthy balanced eating then I had no issues with it. I learned this after the first week and then at the second week I tried to really make a conscious decision to eat good!

Final Thoughts:

I would highly recommend Yo Tea to you if you are suffering from any of the things or similar that I listed above. Even if you are perfectly happy with your weight this tea is great to just give your body a kick and help you to feel all round better - who doesn't want to feel 100%! I also think that this would be great to reduce bloating if you have a big event approaching and would be great to help kick start a weight loss journey if you want to lose weight. You do see marked results and I think that this is essential if your are trying to lose weight.
Taste wise this tea is very easy to drink. If you like Green tea you will have no problem with this - it is actually not as strong as basic green tea making it very easy to drink. You can sweeten it if necessary however.
If you are interested in buying Yo Tea, you can get it from Therapie Clinics nationwide and also from www.therapieclinic.ie. It retails at €29.95 for your 15 day supply!
If you have any questions that I have not answered, please leave them in the comments below and I will try to answer you as best as I can. Alternatively, call any of the Therapie Clinics with any questions; they have the most lovely staff and they will be able to help you with any queries!

With Love from,

Rebekah x



IMPORTANT TO NOTE

The ingredients above and combined help to promote a detox or a cleanse of the system if you will. This said a cleanse and a detox usually involves a laxative effect which as stated on the back of the packet takes place 8 hours after consumption. Now, I am not a doctor but I do want to touch on the subject of taking this tea with birth control pills, if you are concerned about the laxative effect interfering with your pill please speak to your GP or a Pharmacist even. I myself take birth control tablets so I obviously researched this topic heavily. Birth control pills are absorbed into your system after 6 hours therefore if you ARE on birth control pills the best way to take the tea along side it would be as follows: Take your first cup of Yo tea at 8 am and take your second cup at lunch time as opposed to bed time so around 1 pm; as the tea has a delayed laxative effect of 8 hours by 10 pm on you will have no issues in safely taking your pill and you can be reassured that there will be no interference. I am obviously being very pedantic about this but it is important to take note of these things if you are taking any product with a laxative inducing effect. 










SHARE:
© Rebekah with Love

This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services - Click here for information.

Blogger Template Created by pipdig