Primark PS Love Beauty Pearly Queen Highlighter

There’s nothing more I love in life than an absolute bargain and Penneys never fails to come up with one.

A few months ago pictures from the Penneys/Primark A/W collection started to emerge and amongst the photos was a PS Love Beauty Highlighter. Since then I had been on the lookout for this highlighter which had gotten some amazing first impressions from bloggers that attended the A/W showcase.

The highlight in question is called “The Pearly Queen” and costs only €2.50, it appeared in Penneys in the last few weeks and when I saw in store I grabbed it.

I was slightly sceptical at first as the Penneys makeup can be a bit hit and miss but after using it for 2-3 weeks now I love it.

When I used it first it didn’t put much product on my brush but after a few goes on it the product loosened up a bit. The colour is a pearly pinkie gold along the lines of MAC Soft and Gentle.

It’s a buildable highlight that lasts all day. I like to pack it on as I like the ultra-glowing look.

It wouldn’t be the same quality as MAC or Becca highlights but for €2.50 I haven’t come across a highlight this cheap that still gives you a good glow and that lasts all day.

Definitely worth picking up next time you’re in Penneys.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

PS. Primark is known as Penneys in Ireland 

SOSU X Suzanne Jackson

Two weeks ago I attended the Cocoa Brown launch of their new Bronzing Gels (I’ll have a post on them in the coming weeks). In the swag bags we got at the event was a Sosu nail polish by Suzanne Jackson, which I was really happy about as I hadn’t tried any of them yet.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the polish and have even heard that it can last up to two weeks so I was pretty intrigued to test it out.

I received the polish in Cast a Spell, a gorgeous purple that can only be described as a witches purple so the name is very apt.

The polish didn’t last two weeks on me but I did get a good week out of it with very little chipping. The left hand had no chipping at all and the right hand had only minimal chipping. The gloss and shine stayed all week which I was very impressed by, I would say it has more of a Vinylux effect rather than the gel like effect that you would get off Shellac nails but it's still very impressive. I think a lot of people who have had the nail polish last for longer than a week wore it over fake nails which would mean that it lasts a little longer than on natural nails.

The colour is very opaque with only one coat being needed but I did two anyway just for luck. I also used the CND Vinylux top coat over it.

I have one problem with the polish and that’s just the brush applicator, when dipping it into the bottle it did get a bit messy around the top of the bottle. I’ve heard that she has changed the brush applicator in her new collection so hopefully that will stop any excess polish being left on the top of the bottle.

I’m not sure what put me off not buying her polishes any sooner but after trying this one out I think I will pick up a couple, they are well worth the €7.99. You can buy them in Penneys nationwide as well as local pharmacies – a full list of sellers can be found here. They are priced at €7.99.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

The Lazy Girls Facial

There’s nothing better than having a good pamper sesh and if I’m not using my Glamglow Supermud mask I whip out one of the many sheet masks that I have.

You might have seen Insta’s and Snapchats from the likes of Marissa Carter and Kylie Jenner sharing their snaps of them wearing their sheet masks. They’re becoming super popular and have been super popular within Korean beauty for years. They’re so quick and easy to use that they’ve been dubbed “The Lazy Girls Facial”.

While I use the Glamglow masks for my pores, the sheet masks I have are mainly for hydration.

Starting with the Sephora Rose Mask. Whenever I’m in a Sephora I stock up on these masks, they’re my absolute favourites and come in 7 different kinds. The Rose Mask is my favourite out of all of them though as its main purpose is to hydrate the skin. I leave this on for about 15-20 minutes and when I peel it off just massage any excess into the skin. These can be bought in Sephora in the States as well as Europe and cost around €3.95 each.

The 7th Heaven Brazilian Mud mask is less for hydration and more for complexion but equally as pampering. It’s a bit more yogurty than muddy but still works just as well. Again I leave it on for about 15-20 minutes and then wash any of the excess off my skin, you need to otherwise the mud dries into the skin. These are available in Penneys and in most pharmacies, I think I’ve seen them in Dunnes as well, costing around €2.00.

Masque Bar are a new brand to Boots and if you can’t get your hands on the Sephora masks then these are a great alternative. There are 5 different kinds to get and come in Sheet, Mud and Crème masks. The Brightening Mask is basically the exact same as the Sephora Rose Mask but I like the Sephora one a little better as the Masque Bar sheet mask seemed to have too much liquid in the package which made things a bit messy. These come in a box of 3, available in Boots and cost €13.49.

Finally we have this little Penneys Sheet Mask from their PS Love range. Does the exact same as the Sephora mask but the sheet itself is a poorer quality and has a tendency to rip. It’s also super slimy which made putting it on the face a bit difficult as it was a bit drippy, saying that though it does what you need it to so if you don’t mind a bit of a drippy mess then try this one out and for a bargain of €1.50 you can’t complain.

Whenever I pop a sheet mask on I always lie down on my bed and catch up on a few Youtube videos. I find that sitting up or walking around the house that the masks just fall off and plus you don’t want to scare anyone because you do kind of look like a mummy/burn victim.

These are also super handy for when you’re travelling, especially on long haul flights to prevent you’re skin from drying out. 

So if you’re in the mood for a pamper you have a few of my faves to choose from and all reasonably priced. Most of the sheet masks I have are on the moisture and nourishing side as I prefer to use mud masks for any of my other problem areas.

If you’ve tried any of these or can think of any other good ones do comment below.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo 

September Wishlist

I am the poorest I have been in an awfully long time, all the “yolo” spending I’ve been doing has seemed to catch up with me so until I get paid and save up again I will be doing some serious ogling and with all the new season launches happening at the moment I will be doing an feck load of ogling.

I’ve a mix of things that have been on my radar, some reasonable in price and others I know that the closest I’m going to get to it is touching this screen.

Starting with the Stun Hun mug from Aoife Dooley. You might have seen her illo’s doing the rounds on social media and if you haven’t you need to check them out they’re hilarious. This mug is €11.95 and on the more reasonable side of my budget. There’s more in the collection but the Stun Hun mug is going to be winging its way to me next pay day.

I still don’t think I’m fully over how amazing the Becca X Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop highlighter is and I think it will be pretty hard for anything that comes across my lap to beat it. However saying all that I really want the new Anastasia Beverly Hills Highlighters. If you’re a regular reader to Beauty Blunders you will know just how much I love this brand and you should bet your bottom dollar that if you’ve seen any of the Kardashians highlight over the last few months they will have been wearing one of the highlighters from the collection. The best thing is that they are now available on CultBeauty at £28 (about €35). This one is still within budget but I’ll have to look at some reviews before I do decide to buy it. How gorge is the packing though, I love the art deco styling.

A new launch from Charlotte Tilbury with her new Magic Foundation available exclusively in Brown Thomas. I love a good full coverage foundation as I have a few scars and redness I like to cover up. I’ve heard some mixed reviews on this one so before I hand over €40 I will be going in to get some samples. I’ve yet to get anything from Charlotte Tilbury, I want an amount of products but unfortunately it’s always been out of my budget.

If you follow me on any of my social media accounts you will know that I’ve had my eye on the Louboutin Lipsticks since the pictures where first released. I bought the Louboutin Rouge varnish last year and at €45 everyone thought I was insane to spend that much and I even used a €20 BTs voucher and still got mad looks for spending that much on a varnish. So when I found out that the lipsticks where going to be £60 which is roughly €90 I really got lambasted for wanting it. Even at €90 I still want it, I know it’s an insane price but when you think about it it’s an awful lot cheaper than a pair of Louboutin shoes so when you think about it that way it’s a bargain (you can see my way of thinking when it comes to justifying buying any beauty products). So I might not get this right away, maybe I’ll wait till Christmas as I usually get a Brown Thomas voucher off someone but we’ll see.

Finally from The Balm we have The Manizer Sisters a trio palette of the Betty Lou-Manizer, Mary Lou-Manizer and the Cindy Lou-Manizer. I haven’t found a site or place that sells it yet but its $28.00, so will probably work out at around €25.00 - €30.00. I keep going to buy the Mary Lou-Manizer but never get round to it but I think I’d prefer to have the little trio pack especially as it will be nearly the same for one as it is for the little trio.

So there you have my list of wants, I’m sure I’ll be adding to it but for the moment I am coveting all of these beauties.

What’s on your radar at the moment??

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

How I keep my hair Healthy and Super Blonde

A few months back I decided to change my hair up a bit. I got a good bit chopped off and I went from golden blonde to a whiter platinum blonde.

When it comes to being blonde there is a bit more maintenance involved with keeping your hair healthy and the colour from going brassy and when you go this blonde there’s a bit more upkeep so I’m going to give you a few tips on how I’ve been keeping my hair so blonde and as healthy as possible.

To start I only wash my hair twice a week. I made that decision when I went blonder as I had been washing it every second day and it was just getting greasier and greasier the more I washed it. So I wash my hair on Wednesdays and Sundays now and it's resulted in getting a good few days extra out of my hair before it starts looking like it needs a wash, I’ll get a good two days out of clean hair and then by the 3^rd day I’ll use some dry shampoo to freshen it up a bit. Obviously if I was going to something special on the Friday or Saturday night I’ll wash it but I’m a bit of an old lady so it doesn’t happen that often.

Top Left - hair before the revamp.
Top left & Bottom left and middle - current style
Bottom right - Bleach London Silver Shampoo

By only washing my hair twice a week means I only dry it with my dryer twice a week so there is less heat damage to it. I don’t have a straightener anymore after breaking it which I used to use every day, the only added extra bit of heat onto my hair would be from my curler. All this means my hair is getting less damage to it from any heat from dryers or straighteners.

On top of that I use the Salon Science Reglosse Smoothing Serum GSP-T Swiss Grape on my hair before I dry it. It’s a serum to reverse split ends and any other damage to the ends of your hair. This one really works as I can’t find any split ends on my hair which has never happened before and I haven’t cut my hair since May, usually I’d notice a lot more split ends at the end of the month let alone 4 months since cutting my hair. I’d put it down to a combination of not using as much heat on my hair along with using the serum twice a week.

To keep my hair super blonde I use the Bleach London Silver Shampoo and Conditioner. When I used the shampoo first I was a bit scared as it comes out of the bottle as a bright royal purple colour, I was afraid I had picked up the wrong one and I was going to end up with a purple rinse but luckily I didn’t.

 A great tip from my hairdresser is to leave the shampoo in for a couple minutes, I really think this is key to keeping it as white as it is. I massage and work it into my scalp for a minute or so first, then leave it for a few minutes and wash it out and follow with the conditioner, I then do the same with my conditioner as I do with the shampoo. This process leaves my hair super white and soft.

I have used other silver shampoos in the past but the results were never as good as they are now. Usually my hair would get off colour and end up a bit brassy but this has yet to happen and I think as long as I follow my routine it will stay as white as possible.

How do you keep your hair as blonde as possible? Leave any tips you have below.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No.7 - The Lolita

I bought the Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No.7 - Plush Shadow palette in Sephora last year but it wasn’t until last month that I actually started using it.

At $59 it was just wasting away in my palette drawer for all those months and I have no idea why, it’s absolutely gorgeous.

So why did it get left in a drawer and not get a look in for months and months, it’s still a bit of a puzzle to me. I attempted to use it at Christmas but for some reason it didn’t work for me then. But seeing as I’m on a super spending cut at the moment I decided a few weeks ago that I need to look in my drawers to see what I’ve been neglecting and since then I’ve worn the palette nearly every day.

I think the main reason I bought it was the fact that you can only buy Marc Jacobs makeup in the Sephora, I don’t even think they allow it to be shipped to Europe so it seemed only right to get it. There are 8 different palettes to choose from of which I chose The Lolita palette which I think out of all them is the one that can be used most often and when it’s $59 for a palette you’re going to want to be using it a lot.

The Lolita palette is perfect for a smoky eye. The sleek palette contains the 7 shadows, a matte off-white cream, matte nude, matte dark coffee brown, metallic warm pink with iridescent glitter, iridescent champagne pink sheen, light peach sheen, rosy copper sheen.

The pigmentation is quiet strong and there isn’t an awful lot of fallout when applied except for maybe the middle glitter which I have only used once and a bit of Fix+ is needed with that one just to make it stick to the lids, used dry it just flies everywhere.

The colours last all day on the lid – with or without primer. The palette can be used for a simple everyday look or intensified for a gorgeous smoky eye perfect for a night out.

Is it worth $59 though, well yes and no? The palette is everything I want, it’s got excellent pigmentation, it lasts all day, I can do different looks with it bringing it from day to night and it’s the nudey coppery tones that I love but there are an awful lot of palettes out there that are pretty similar and that you can get for a lot cheaper, an awful lot cheaper.

So if you find yourself in a Sephora in the States and you’re at the Marc Jacobs counter should you buy it?? I would say no, firstly there’s an awful lot more things that I would buy in Sephora instead of it but if you are thinking that you want to try his shadows then maybe get the Style Eye-Con No.3, a 3 shadow palette that’s $20 cheaper.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

August Favourites 2015

August is over and we are finally getting into my favourite time of year. I absolutely love autumn and winter – cosy nights, dark lips, Halloween and the countdown to the big C word.

This month’s favourites are a bit sparse, it’s a bit lacking beauty wise as I’m on a serious spending ban and I haven’t bought much in the way of beauty products so this month I have delved into my makeup drawer to see what I’ve been neglecting and found some beauts that I’ve been loving.

Starting off with the Marc Jacobs The Lolita shadow palette. This was a major splurge last year when I went to Sephora, at $59 I have no idea why I bought it other than loving the colours and the fact that you can only get Marc Jacobs makeup in Sephora in America. Now it is a gorge palette but I could have easily bought a cheaper one in Ireland or even just looked at my other palettes as the colours are similar to a lot of what I already have. I’m not going into too much detail as I have a post on it coming up this week so keep an eye out for it. Despite being a total splurge and similar to every other palette I have, I have worn it an awful lot this month. Even though it’s pricey I’ve been using it most days as a go to for my work makeup as it gives a gorgeous smoky shimmery eye that’s subtle enough to be worn every day.

Another Sephora one, this time it’s their Rouge Infusion Lip Stain in 20 Dusty Rose. It’s a long wearing lip stain that lasts for a good few hours, it can be a bit sticky but I love the colour so I tend to look that over. I have a good few colours in the Rouge Infusion collection but Dusty Rose is one of my faves, it’s a dark reddish pink. It’s very buildable so you can have a light pink colour or put a few layers on for a dark pink.

Last in the beauty faves for August is the Body Shop Satsuma Beautifying Oil. This oil is for all over the body and can even be used in the hair. I have this in a deluxe sample and I will be buying the full size version when it’s done. The oil I find is much better for my skin than cream moisturisers, especially since I’ve started getting my legs waxed regularly. The oil keeps my legs moisturised much longer than cream moisturisers and my skin is a lot silkier as the oil keeps any moisture locked in. The fragrance of the satsumas is another reason to love this oil, it’s so refreshing and lasts all day that when you move around you’ll still get the scent.

Two un-beauty favourites this month has been the return of the Great British Bake Off and my Snapchat addiction.

Firstly there’s not much explanation for this one it’s pretty obvious for anyone who loves GBBO and in fairness who doesn’t love watching cakes being made. It’s taking so much for me not to get the goo to bake every night after watching it but I know if I do I’ll end up eating all the cake afterwards and my waistline will not appreciate it one bit even though my taste buds will. I have strong opinions about the contestants this year. I just love Nadiya, Matt and Paul, even though they’re not always perfect with their bakes I love their personalities. Of all the bakers though I really don’t like Ian even though he’s been star baker for the last 3 weeks he does nothing for me, he’s a bit of a show off in my opinion.

Finally I’ve gotten hooked on Snapchat (even more so), I used to just follow my friends but I’ve started following celebs, bloggers and the cool kids of this world and it has become an honest to god addiction. I cannot stop checking people’s stories. My faves are:

Karen AKA Lovelygirlybits: She is just hilarious and the bridie in me can relate to her on so many levels. Her dog Baily is just the cutest, her pubicles are on major fleek and she has the Hun Hole to beat all Hun Holes.

Holly Shortall AKA hollywooddublin: firstly her brother needs to give her the bunny back the poor girl is heartbroken! Secondly she’s just a gas hun, I love her rambles on life and popular culture I can relate to it all and her illos are just the biz.

James Kavanagh AKA JamesKava: to be asked to “Present Yo Self” by James is such a privilege and honour I hope one day it will happen to a pleb like myself. He is a blogging inspiration and I won’t be anything till I get a hat like his! If you’re ever having a bad day just go watch his snaps and he will make your day.

Marissa Carter AKA CarterMarissa: Marissa comes across as the loveliest person ever, her voice is the most calming thing to listen to. She is such an inspiration for women in business and I love to get tips from her Snapchat q&a’s. Plus it’s always great to see sneak peaks from the new Cocoa Brown collections.

So that’s my jam packed August Favourites. Who are your snapchat favourites?? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo