Cocoa brown: Dark 1 Hour Tan

Well I caved I ended up buying the Dark Cocoa Brown. I have said previously that the Original 1 hour tan was dark enough for me so that's why I wasn't going to buy it, but with the sunny days after appearing I felt like having that little extra darkness. 

I'm currently a Cocoa Brown junkie and love everything Cocoa Brown. When I’m prepping for my tan I always use the Tough Stuff exfoliator (I use it nearly every time I’m in the shower which stops any dramas if I ever have to do a last minute tan). I love this exfoliator, it’s so easy just to grab it in the shower because it’s in a tube, but you can use any exfoliator that you want, I love the Soap and Glory ones too. It’s also important to use any exfoliant when you shower after you have applied your tan to create an even tan and avoid patches; it’s also great to get rid of any mistakes you might have made during tanning application.

Left: Before application, Right: After application

So normally I would use one of my Soap and Glory moisturisers but when I’m tanning I always use the Cocoa Brown Chocolate Whip. It looks like chocolate pudding and smells like it too but when you rub it in it goes white and dries in really quickly. A word of warning though, a little goes a long way with this stuff; it’s as if the amount doubles when you start rubbing it in so go easy and add more if you need to. I use the Chocolate Whip before application and I use it for the full week that I have my tan on. As far as I’m aware using any oil free lotions will prevent any of the dreaded streaking.

When it comes to the actual Darker 1 Hour Tan it is so much darker, if you’re really pasty I wouldn’t recommend it, it might look a bit cray otherwise.

I always put a bit of Vaseline around my elbows, in between my fingers and around my wrists or anywhere that the skin is a bit drier.

On application you can see the tan come up instantly, I’d try and buff it in as much as possible and as quickly as possible. I’ve noticed that if you leave it for any longer than a few seconds it will dry in so buff, buff, buff!!

I noticed that when I put it on it did take a bit longer than usual to dry, and it was still slightly tacky after a while, but that didn’t have any effect on how it turned out.

You could leave it on for an hour but I always leave it on for a full night before washing it off, the longer the better with this stuff.

Left: after application, Right: A day after application 

Overall the result was really good and any streaking was up to my bad application (for some reason I completely missed my fingers). It was a lot darker than the other tan, it still looked natural though which can be hard when you have a darker tan, luckily you do look brown and not orange which is always a bonus! 

If you like your tans dark and are fed up like me having to layer it on the get the New Dark 1 Hour Tan! You can get your tanning mitts on all Cocoa Brown products in all good chemists and Pennys/Primark.

Love Sarah xoxo

Facebook Competition

Good Morning Girl's!!!

I finally have a picture up of the goodies that you can win on my Facebook competition. 

If you haven't entered yet just click the link and like, share and don't forget to follow as well :)

You can win the new Cocoa Brown Travel Set, the Oh So Special Sleek Palette and a little nail polish set from the PS Love Beauty range from Penny's.

Enter Here :)

Reverse Hair Washing - Conditioner before Shampoo!!!

I'm an avid reader of the Daily Mail online and I have an addiction to the sidebar of shame, which I have no shame in admitting, my day wouldn't be complete if I didn’t know what every single Kardashian was up to!! Now they don't always get it right when it comes to some of their cookie articles but I think for one they have.

So a few weeks ago one article caught my eye - The Secret ofPerfect Hair! With a headline like that I had to give it a read and after I was pretty sceptical but I decided to try it anyway. Seemingly this craze is known as Reverse Hair Washing and it's a new thing sweeping beauty columns.

The first time I tried it was when I had a shower before work and I was in such a rush that I didn’t have time to was my hair properly or dry it. As a result my hair wasn’t that amazing that day.

I tried it again at the weekend seeing as I had more time. The last few weeks I've been noticing that my hair isn’t lasting very long after I’ve washed it. Usually after I've had my hair dyed it helps with my hair lasting an extra day or two but that hasn’t happened. I was contemplating getting a shampoo to clear any build up but I don’t think I'll be needing one now after the results from the Daily Mail article.

What I did was shampoo first, and then put my conditioner on which I usually massage deeply all over and then leave for a few minutes while I shower and exfoliate. So I washed the conditioner off and then shampooed, It's a bit odd to get your head around because usually I jump straight out of the shower once I wash any conditioner out.

I left my hair in the towel for a while and actually let it dry naturally, I only ever use my hairdryer if I'm in a hurry, but if I know I'm going to be at home all day I won't bother.

I didn’t notice the results until the next morning, after brushing and straightening my hair I found it was light, bouncy and full of volume! I was amazed with the results, usually my hair is flat and heavy and you can tell that there is still product in the hair and usually by that evening it will look like it needs another wash!

So this is going to be my new routine from now on. I'm so amazed with the results and my hair has lasted 3 days without needing to be washed, granted the 3rd day I had to use dry shampoo but I’d call that a result!

So give the article a read in the mail, The Secret ofPerfect Hair and give it ago and let me know what your results where.

And if you’re wondering what I used it was the Claudia Schiffer/Schwarkopf Essence Ultime Diamond Color shampoo and conditioner (try saying that ten times!)

DIY brush holder

Happy belated Easter guys, I hope you’re all completely stuffed of chocolate!!

On Sunday I took some of my brushes and cleaned them, while I was doing this I remembered that when I was in Ikea in January I had bought a vase and some decorations to make a brush holder. I dug them out and here's the result!

So when I was in Ikea I bought the Kanist Vase (€5.75) and 3 of the Kulort (€2 each) crushed glass in black, silver and purple. I had seen some ideas on Pinterest with people using coffee or chocolate beans and some others using sand, so when I saw the crushed glass I had a little Eureka! moment.

I just layered the glass in different sections, you could if you wanted just by 2 of the tubs as I had some glass left over!

So head to Ikea if you want to make a unique little brush holder like mine, and try not to stick your brushes in the wrong way round or you'll scratch your eyes with the glass shards :)

Love Sarah xoxo

Review | Tanya Burr Lip Collection

I promised this post a few weeks ago but better late than never!

Tanya released her lip and nail collection in February and they have been a huge success so far and just this week they were launched into all Superdrug stores.

There are 12 glosses to choose from in the collection:

Smile, Dream, Sparkle

Champagne Toast

First Date

Just Peachy

Afternoon Tea

Chic

Picnic In The Park

Aurora

Exotic Island

Let's Travel The World

 Heart Skipped A Beat

Vampire Kiss

I've only bought 3 but now that they are in stores I might buy a few more especially as it's always a lot harder to judge a product when you’re buying online. I chose Picnic in the Park, Champagne Toast and Vampire Kiss.

All of three of the glosses I bought smell just like strawberry Petits Filous so I presume the rest of the collection will too.

Because I have super red lips naturally Champagne Toast goes on my lips almost like a sheer gloss. It's not like me at all to get any type of nude colours so this was a step out of my comfort zone, but I was happy with the result, probably because my natural lip colour came through.

 

I love Vampire Kiss, it's my favourite kind of red. It’s a darker tone of red which I love and can be put on lightly or built on to your lips to make them even darker.

 

Anyone who has bought Tanya's lip glosses most likely has Picnic In the Park in their makeup bags. It's a baby pink and the smell of strawberries really pop with this one. In a lot of Tanya's videos she wears this one so I think this is one of her favourites. Just like Vampire Kiss I chose this colour to match with the nail varnish I bought.

 

I call these glosses but they aren’t as tacky as most glosses and they feel more like a cream lipstick. They do last a good while and really only disappear when your munching on something.

The colour pay off on Vampire Kiss and Picnic in the Park are amazing for glosses and not sheer at all. I don’t really like sheer glosses, that said I do love the Champagne toast.

So try them out for yourself at your local Superdrug, you can also buy them on Cloud10 Beauty.

Have a great day guys!!

Love Sarah xoxo

Nails Inc 2 in 1 Color and Pop Art | Review

If you follow me on Facebook or on Instagram you'll have seen my pictures of my new Nails Inc 2 in 1 Color and Pop Art varnishes. I had bought them at the start of March and only properly got around to using them this week.

They have 3 to choose from in their collection:

Angel & Upper Street

Sheraton St & Cavendish Place

Knightsbridge Place & Sloane Street

I was only going to buy one but I couldn’t choose between two colours so figured I just had to buy two, the sales guy must have seen the struggle of what to do on my face and came over to help me. Anyway I ended up getting all three thanks to the salesman, he told me if I bought 3 then I would get a free manicure so I really couldn’t deny a freebie. You've got to love a good splurge.

Luckily for me when it comes to Nails Inc. I love all their products and the majority of my nail polish collection is full of the stuff, so when I did splurge I didn’t feel too bad as I knew I was going to be getting a good product and you do get what you pay for my darlings!!!

So last Sunday I sat myself down and dug these beauts out, I only used Angel & Upper Street and Knightsbridge & Sloane Street as I was going for a pink look.

I didn’t use any top or base coat so I did have the fear that they would chip off within the next day but they didn’t and there was a great shine on them even without a top coat.

The varnishes are duos so on one end you have your colour and on the other you have the clear coat with glitter. These are limited edition for Spring/Summer 2014 and the shades have been chosen to reflect the pastel and pop colours for this season.

I love the ideas of these duos and they last ages without chipping. I have one problem and that’s when removing the glitter, they don't budge. I use my Maybelline Express Remover as it’s the only remover that I’ve used to get glitter off but it still didn’t work, I chipped them off with my nails which probably isn’t the best for my nails.

But other than that I love these little things, they are a bit pricey at €16.80 in Debenhams; I think they're £14 in the UK.

Have a great weekend dolls!!

Love Sarah xoxo

Liebster Award

Thanks to Rhiannon Cooke for the Liebster Award nomination. This was posted to me a few weeks ago but i'm only getting round to it now. The Liebster Award for people who don't know is basically like a chain mail, if you are under 200 followers you can be nominated and will have to answer questions and nominate 11 more bloggers.

Going off other blogs that have posted about The Liebster Award, the rules are as follows:

1. Firstly thank the person that voted for you and kindly leave a link to their site.

2. Write out '11 facts about yourself'.

3. Answer the 11 questions that have been given to you by the person that nominates you.

4. Nominate 11 up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. (I went through bloglovin' and nominated my favourite 11!)

5. Get creative and come up with your own set of 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

6. Leave a comment on their blog with a link to your post, letting them know you've nominated them for the award and it isn't a spam.

So the 11 Facts About me:

1. I'm a beauty Junkie
2. I've a major addiction to lipsticks and nail varnishes
3. I have major wanderlust, I just love travelling and a s soon as I return home I'm planning my next trip
4. I love Fifty Shades of Grey and have lost count of the amount of times I've read it
5. If I could drop everything right now I would move to NYC in a heartbeat
6. I have misophonia - I basically get into a rage with certain noises and can't be around some people when they eat
7. I live in Dublin in Ireland and I'm super proud to be Irish
8. I'm an amazing baker and brownies are my specialty
9. I have a Netflix binge problem, once I get into a program I need to watch it all
10. I only have 2 best friends and not many close friends
11. I wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was a kid - Basically the female Indiana Jones

My questions from Rihannon are:

1. What is your favourite thing about blogging?

I love seeing people like my pages and posts; it makes me so happy to think that someone else likes your work. I also love connecting with new bloggers and reading their posts. It also gives me a great excuse to buy new beauty products I feel like it validates my addiction.

2. What inspired you to create a blog?

So I started off watching beauty blogs, my fave bloggers are Pixiwoo and Jaclyn Hill, I then found that they don't just post videos they have their own blogs. This started me getting into reading other blogs, I also started reading SoSueMe the Suzanne Jackson blog, being an Irish blogger herself and seeing her success really spurred me on. I also buy enough beauty products and would recommend stuff to my friend so I figured why not recommend it to you guys!

3. Do you plan on blogging still in the future or is it more or a 'temporary' thing for you?

I would hope to see it last, I have a full time job so it's not always easy to get a chance to write up posts. So far so good but I suppose if people stop reading then I might stop writing.

4. What is your 'Holy Grail' beauty item?

This is a tough one, I can't live without mascara or eyeliner but when it comes to my favourite beauty product I suppose it's my MAC eyeshadow palette. 

5. Who is your favourite blogger?

I love reading other blogs my favourties are www.sosueme.ie, http://www.lovelygirliebits.com/ and https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6498215  but I love watching Pixiwoo's vlog I love those sisters.

6. What is your favourite season?

I love summer, I was born in July so I think that's why, although I do love watching the rain and playing in the snow, but summer will always make me feel young, most of my memories are created during the summer months!

7. Are you a tea or coffee person?

I hate tea, I know that's weird for an Irish person not to like tea put it just tastes like icky water. I only started drinking coffee a few years ago and now I am properly addicted, it has to be made by a barista though I hate granule coffee.

8. What inspired you to start blogging?

I think I answered this for my second question but basically reading other blogs and watching Vlogs.

9. What is your favourite book and why?

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, but I can't stop reading Fifty Shades, I love the story but I think it's just too easy to read I don't like anything too heavy before bed.

10. Do you have any hidden talents?

I have double jointed thumbs that horrify people when they see them.

11. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

NYC or Bruges!! Bruges will be where I retire, but if I could go on up to Dublin Airport right now I'd jump right on an Aer lingus to NYC. I've fallen in love with it, it's amazing, and I know every time I go it won't be the same city, there is always something new to see and do.

Here are my 11 nominations!

Sian Marie's Blog

Too Boring to Blog

Beauty Baggage

Blushful Beauty

Amy Louise

Aimee Belle - Blog

Alessandradaily

Chloe Logan

Genevieve's Life Blog

Mambo Melon xox

Novarellie

My questions for you are:

1. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
2. Who is your favourite blogger?
3. What is your favourite beauty product that you can't live without?
4. Who or what inspired you to become a blogger?
5. Facebook or Twitter?
6. What is top of your bucket list?
7. What is your favourite beauty brand
8. Winter or Summer?
9. Do you think you'll blog in the future?
10. Night in or night out?
11. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

Facebook Competition

Head over to my Facebook page for your chance to win a Cocoa Brown gift set and other little goodies! 

All you have to do is like and share the post and make sure you like my page as well.

Beauty Blunders Facebook Competition

Good luck xxx

March favourites

Hey Guys, I've been sorely lacking in the posts recently, it’s been a hectic week or so and hopefully I’ll be able to put up one or two posts extra this week.

So these are my March favourites, some of these products I purchased in February but I got the full use out of them for the whole of March and looking back over them they are all super affordable, I don't think I spent more than €10 on each of the products.

Starting off we have the Schwarzkopf Essence Ultime shampoo and conditioner created by Claudia Schiffer. They have a few different types of shampoos in this range; I got mine in Diamond Color which is for coloured and highlighted hair. Firstly it smells amazing, I can't put my finger on it but its noting like I've had in other hair products so that's bonus number one. The shampoo lathers so much, I also think that if it doesn’t lather then it’s not a proper shampoo, usually if I have one that doesn’t lather my hair always gets greasier quicker.

Now for my favourite part of this pair is the fact that it makes your hair super soft and it doesn’t knot at all. The knots just fall out even before you've put a comb through your hair.

I chose the shampoo and conditioner as over the years I’ve gone from blonde to brown to Cheryl Cole red to brown and back to blonde so my hair has been pretty damaged over the years and also with winter and being around heaters all the time my hair has dried out big time but the Essence Ultime shampoo and conditioner has brought life into my locks. I definitely recommend it if you have coloured hair.

This is my surprise favourite of the month which is the Rimmel BB cream matte foundation. I bought this in a 3 for 2 offer at Boots with a few other Rimmel products including their Stay Matte mouse foundation. I first tried the Stay Matte foundation and I really didn’t like it, you can see my review on that in one of my previous posts. But this foundation is really good, I’m not sure if the BB cream has any effect on the skin and it isn’t the most mattifying of foundations and they do have only 3 colours to choose from but apart from that I have fallen in love with it and have been using this foundation more than my MAC and the way my skin has been recently it's looking a lot nicer on my skin than the MAC has been. After using it for the month and getting to know it, I found that applying it with my fingers rather than using my brushes makes the application much better. The light colour is a shade or too darker than my pale Irish skin but I’ve managed to make it work for me with a super amount of blending.

Now I have the oiliest skin in the world and hate to have even a little bit of shine and at the beginning of using the foundation I was touching my skin up with powder a lot but after buying a mattifying powder it has worked perfectly with the foundation. The foundation does last throughout the day and it doesn’t dry out the skin I suppose that’s part of the BB cream in it. It’s a great little foundation, although it isn’t properly matte but I’ve found a way for it to work for me. It’s super cheap and great for days when you don’t want to waste the good stuff.

Just to add on, it’s a sheer makeup and not too buildable and it’s not the best if you want to contour with powders but as long as you just wear it as a normal makeup with a simple bit of blush then your good to go!

I was out one night and had forgotten to powder my face so I asked a friend if she had any, she handed me an Essence loose powder and after hours of dancing my skin was perfect. I was on a mission I went to every Penny's possible but they didn’t have it, but I kept seeing the same one only in a compact. I gave up and bought the compact. It works the exact same though, its translucent powder and really mattes the skin for hours. 

My final makeup March favourite is the Scandaleyes Rockin' Curves from Rimmel, I've done a blog post already on this one so you can read more of it on their. This was only launched a month or so ago but it has taken precedence over my other mascaras this month. What I love about this is the wand, it's a curved wand which I had never seen before and in one swipe it gets every lash and the tip gets every little bottom lash. It doesn’t clump and it stays on all day without losing any height. 

So this isn’t anything to do with makeup but I am in love with these two songs. All of me by John Legend and Magic by Coldplay, both of them are constantly on replay the last few weeks. I usually don't love Coldplay but I love this one and listening to John Legend got me listening to his Love in the Future album. I hope he comes to Dublin this year!

Only a small bit of March Favourites but I haven’t been allowed to spend that much this month.

Thanks for reading

Love Sarah xoxo