Chic Treat Club in aid of the Tricia McCarthy Memorial Fund

Chic Treat Club have gone above and beyond this month. Another month and another box that hasn’t disappointed, definitely one of the best beauty subscription boxes around.

As it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month Chic Treat Club along with Triona McCarthy have created a box in aid of the Tricia McCarthy Memorial Scholarship for Breast Cancer Research at the NBCRI with €2 from each box going to help fund the scholarship.

This month’s box is bursting at the seams, I will be using literally everything in this month’s box which can be hard to come by with some otherr beauty boxes.

To start we have the Yonka Lait Nettoyant Cleansing milk. This cleanser is for all skin types and will remove makeup from your face in a single wipe, at least that’s what it says on the box. This is a travel size which is really handy because I always find it difficult to decide which makeup remover to bring away with me. I love Yonka products and can’t wait to try this cleanser out. Full sized price is €30.00, the travel size works out at €4.50.

NYX came to Ireland this year, I have yet to go buy anything in stores that sell it here but I did pick up some of their makeup when I was in America. I already have 3 of their Power Blushes but luckily I didn’t get this colour. In the box I received the shade Rose Garden, it a lovely sparkly pink and retails for €7.49.

A big favourite of mine are the Wet N Wild Mega Last lipsticks. I have so many of these lippies and I love them, they last for ever on your lips, for me these are rivals for the MAC matte lipsticks. They cost €2.99 and can be found in all good Penneys and Dunnes. The colour that came in my box was Think Pink, which is very apt for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Luckily again this is a colour that I don’t have in my collection.

I’ve tried a few of these exfoliating foot masks out before, I love using them. It can be a bit gross when your skin starts to come off but they are left baby soft when the treatment is finished so it is worth a few days of shedding skin like a snake. The box contains the Purederm Botanical Choice Exfoliating Foot Mask, I don’t think I’ve tried this brand yet.  These masks retail for €3.99.

Another handy travel sized product in the box is the Roger & Gallet Bois d’Oranged Perfumed Moisturising Sorbet Body Lotion. I don’t think I have tried this brand before but I have heard many good things. I think I will be popping this in my hand bag for on the go moisture, especially during these winter months when the dry air from all the heaters leave me like a shrivelled prune. The full price costs €15.00, the travel size works out at €3.75.

The full box works out at €22.72, it’s probably one of the best boxes I’ve received from them as I’ll be using everything in the box and there is the added bonus of €2 from each box going to such a good cause.

If you’re thinking of joining the Chic Treat Club subscription service go check them out here.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

My Current Brow Routine and Obsession

I have a major love for eyebrows. For me there’s no point in having amazing makeup if you’re not going to bring your eyebrows into the mix.

I love getting my eyebrows done; I get them threaded every 4-6 weeks in Elysian Brown on South William Street. They are a bit pricey but from experiencing other cheaper salons that do threading they really are worth the money. For years I was going to BT2 in Dundrum to get them done, the girl there was amazing and always threw in a free head massage, unfortunately she ended up getting deported which left me in limbo and with butchered eyebrows for a few months before I found the holy grail of eyebrow threading  in Elysian Brows. It was a real first world problem but eyebrows really frame the face and for me even if I don’t have any proper makeup on as long as my brows are lovely and groomed then I can get away with having no makeup out in public.

I used to get my brows tinted but after getting my hair blonder I stopped doing that, I also fill in my brows so that does any darkening up I need. Before I went to America I was using just any light brown pencil to fill them in and the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow powder.

I love the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products, at the moment you can only buy them in Elysian Brows in Dublin or you can buy them online. I waited to buy more of their brow products when I was in the States, I headed straight to Sephora when I got their and picked up the Dipbrow Pomade and the Brow Wizz brow pencil.

I have the Brow Wizz in Soft Brown and Dark Brown. I bought the Soft brown and the Dark Brown was in one of my Sephora Favourites boxes. I use the Dark Brown to draw in the ends of my brows and to get a sculpted shape between the middle of my eye to the end of the brow. The Soft brown is used to fill in the front of my brows and shape everything up that end. If I used the Dark Brown all over my brows it would probably look a bit Scouse brow but by using the colours at either end make it a lot more natural looking. This is all I do now for my daily brow routine like going to work or just a Saturday afternoon.

Too step my routine up for night time or just to make them even more sculpted I do the same routine with the Brow Wizz but I add in the Dipbrow Pomade just to make them more defined. I have a dual ended spooly that I bought from Crown Brush which has a little angled brush at the end which I use to apply the pomade. Again I mostly apply it towards the end of the brow but if you really want that HD Brow look then you can apply it at the start of the brow. When I have all that done I take a little bit of concealer and just clean everything up, doing this really highlights the brow and really defines it.

Above: Brows shaped with Dip Brow Pomade and Brow Wizz.
Below: Natural brow with no product.

So I have a bit of a brow obsession, I’m very particular about who does my brows and what goes on them but having such bushy brows that grow pretty quickly and crazily it’s one thing that I need to have perfect.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I’m not the only one out there with the love of brows!

Love Sarah xoxo

Makeup Revolution Atomic Lipstick & Give Them Nightmares - Halloween Makeup

So my Makeup Revolution addiction hasn’t calmed down in anyway and I’m sure your all getting pretty bored of seeing a post about them nearly every week, but their so cheap and the products are amazing it’s hard not to talk about them.

The best thing has happened though, the genius’ over at Makeup Revolution HQ have come up with amazing Halloween inspired eyeshadow palette and lipsticks.

Firstly the Atomic Lipsticks are just wowzers, they come in 5 colours – Atomic Serpent (green), Atomic Ruby (red), Make it Right (dark purple), Atomic Magnificent (light Shimmery purple), Make Me Tonight (dark brown). These aren’t colours everyone will be wearing everyday but for £1.00 each they’re worth it even if you only use them at Halloween. My favourite is the Atomic Serpent it’s an amazing dark green. The formula is really buttery so I would recommend applying foundation or concealer to your lips to make it stick a bit more, it will also help the colours pop!!

They have also brought out an 18 colour shadow palette called Give Them Nightmares. It contains 12 shimmery metallic and 6 matte colours, all with deadly Halloween names like Pretty Zombie, Bump in the Night, Elm St Etc. This palette isn’t just for Halloween though I made a gorgeous peacock inspired eye with the purples and greens. I used Fix+ on the colours which really made them pop. I love this palette and it’s only £6.00, it’s really versatile so don’t just be thinking Halloween when it comes with this one.

Makeup Revolution have a stand in the Superdrug at Omni Centre in Santry but I’m not sure if they have these items in stock as I buy mine online. If you are buying anything from their website it does take a week if not a little more to get to Ireland, so if you’re in a hurry for these for Halloween maybe you should get the express shipping.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Sephora Haul

I’m nearly a month home now from Orlando and the depression is nearly over, the post-holiday blues where pretty tough this year.

I had an amazing time over there and would recommend anyone who has never been to head there on your holidays; it was probably one of my best holidays I’ve been on.

Before I left I had trawled through the Sephora website and made lists of everything I wanted. I had saved a good amount and new that the majority of it would be spent in Sephora alone. My mission was to buy things that I can’t buy in Ireland or that was much cheaper than Ireland.

As part of my preparation and planning of my shopping list I set up an account to join the Sephora Beauty Insider club. I had set one up when I found out that Sephora had begun ordering to the UK and was going to use Parcel Motel to get my order to me but I have yet to be successful – if any of you have managed to get a Sephora order to Ireland please let me know in the comments below. 

Anyway when you set up your account you need to give your date of birth because each birthday you get a special gift and as my birthday is in July I set up a second account and put a date in September so that when I got to Sephora I would get my little gift. The second reason for setting up your account is that you collect points, a lot like the Boots card. For every dollar you spend you get one point and after 100 points you receive a deluxe sample size or if you manage to get 500 points you get a box worth of products.

Getting down to the nitty gritty of what I bought and I bought a lot, an awful lot, so much so that in the middle of the holiday I had been told that I can’t go into a Sephora shop or buy any more makeup. I was also told that I have a “problem”, my boyfriend didn’t get angry but he did tell me he was “disappointed” which is probably worse than being angry at someone.

Anyway let’s start off with the little birthday gift, I think they change these each year and my gift was a sample set of a Make Up For Ever Smokey Extravagant Mascara and Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick. I haven’t tried either of these yet but it’s always nice to get something for free.

I had seen so many Youtubers rave about the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal and when I tested it in store I just fell in love with it immediately. The highlight this gives off is like nothing I have ever seen before. I wish I went back to get Moonstone which was slightly darker, I’ll just have to go back next year.

I love how Sephora have what I call beauty selection boxes; I wish boots did something like this, even just for Christmas. They have different boxes with a variety of beauty goodies featuring deluxe sample sizes and sometimes full size products. I bought 4 of their boxes, Give Me More Lip, The Superstars, Give Me Some Lip and the Meet your Match. I would have loved to have brought all the boxes home but I had struggled to fit everything in so I had to remove the items from the larger boxes.

The Superstar and the Give me More Lip are probably my favourite boxes. The Superstar box has the following:

- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown (Full Size)

- Benefit Cosmetics POREfessional

- Benefit Cosmetics They're Real Mascara In Jet Black

- Bumble And Bumble Surf Spray (full Size)

- Chloè by Chloè Rollerball (Full Size)

- Formula X Nail Color in Ignite (Full Size)

- Fresh Sugar Rosè Tinted Lip Treatment

- Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil (Full Size)

- Nars Cosmetics Blush in Orgasm

- Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 35 in Light (Full Size)

- Stila Cosmetics Stay All Day® Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner In Intense Black

- Urban Decay Eye shadow in Sin (Full Size)

The Give Me More Lip has:

- bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie™ Lipstick in Speak Your Mind (bubble gum pink)

- Benefit Cosmetics Hydrating Tinted Lip Balm in Posie

- Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Palomino (vibrant magenta)

- Buxom Mini Full Bodied lipstick in Menace

- Fresh Sugar Berry Tinted Lip Treatment

- Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Icon

- Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Outlaw

- Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Blush (medium rose brown)

- Laura Mercier Crème Smooth Lip Colour in Red Armour

- MAKE UP FOR EVER Waterproof Lip Liner Pencil

- Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Black Dahlia Lip Tar: Matte Test Tube

- Sephora Collection Rouge Infusion in 10 Red Essence

- stila Stay All Day® Vinyl Lip Gloss in Nude Vinyl (medium pink nude)

- Tarte LipSurgence Lip Tint in Moody

- Tarte LipSurgence Power Pigment in Flush

- Too Faced Cosmetics La Creme Color Drenched Lip Cream in Naked Dolly

- Too Faced Cosmetics Melted Liquefied Long Wear Lipstick in Fuchsia

I love how you get so much in these boxes and there are a lot of products in them that I haven’t tried as well as colours that I wouldn’t usually buy. With there being so much variety it’s a great way to sample colours and items that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought of buying and you don’t have the commitment of buying a full size item and then have it not work out for you. These are great stocking fillers too but this time these are all for me J

Among the full size lip products I popped into my basket was the Smashbox Long Wear Lip Lacquer in After Dark. These are gorgeous highly pigmented lipsticks that are very long wearing, except when you’re eating they come right off. I’ll be reviewing these soon so keep an eye out for that soon enough.

The other full size lippies I bought where:

-          Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick Duo

-          Bite Beauty Matte Crème Lip Crayon

-          Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask

Finally I bought the Marc Jacobs the Lolita shadow palette; I fell in love with this as soon as I saw it. I have yet to try it out I’m waiting for a special occasion to break this bad boy out but I can’t wait to try out a smokey eye with it.

I also bought the Glamglow Supermud, the Beauty Blender sponge and Solid cleaner, Urban Decay Triple Treat Travel Pencils, Urban Decay Perversion Mascara, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade and Brow Wizz Pencil and Tony Moly Lip Balm.

So as you can see I did buy a lot and after some contemplation I probably do have a little problem and maybe I did buy a lot, I certainly spent a lot, a whopping $544 dollars’ worth of goods. I managed to get my 500 points and got a Buxom Too Hot to Handle Box (Pictured below). I also got upgraded from Beauty Insider to VIB and received a point’s card and a 10% off voucher that I got to useJ. I have to the end of next year to use the rest of the points; we’re already planning on going back next year so I should get use out of my remaining points and you never know I might get upgraded to VIB Rouge.

I will be doing in depth reviews on the majority of what I got so keep an eye out for that. Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Autumn/Winter Wishlist

Summer is over and autumn is finally in full swing which means new makeup on the stands and new clothes in the shops.

Autumn and winter are one of my favourite times of year. I love how everything gets cosy and the dark vampy colours that are everywhere.

Since coming back from my holidays I’ve had to tighten the purse strings and I’ve been put on a spending ban by my boyfriend. I’ve been doing fine but this week with the weather taking a turn and Halloween coming up, as well as the accumulation of new makeup launches I have just wanted to buy everything.

I’ve compiled a list of the items I’m lusting after most, some of which I want straight away and some that can hold off till at least Christmas.

Starting of my lustful list is Nars, they have released some amazing pieces recently and I can’t wait to get my hands on their new Audacious lipsticks. Firstly the packaging is so sleek. They’re magnetic so they stick together and they also have Nars written around it so if you have 3 lipsticks lined up they spell out Nars. These will set you back €30 each which is pretty steep and I know I’ll want to get 3 of them to get them to spell out Nars.

Another one from Nars is The Nars Vault, a limited edition lipstick and nail polish set. You get 10 lipsticks and 10 polishes and hold on to your hats girls because it will cost a whopping €390!!! I’ve heard they only have 4 in Brown Thomas, they’d make a great Christmas present for a makeup addict like myself but I doubt my fella will be forking out for one of these.

Another makeup brand that has brought out some amazing products is Charlotte Tilbury. She has created makeup to go with 10 different looks. My favourite is the Vintage Vamp collection. Among it is the Vintage Vamp luxury palette (€50), it’s a quad shadow palette with gorgeous golds and wine colours. The lipstick (€30) in Night Crimson is an amazing vampy wine colour, my all-time favourite shade. This is definitely a brand I could fall in love with.

It wouldn’t be winter without a new coat. I’m going to hold off and lose a bit of weight and till it gets that little bit colder before I buy a new one but I definitely have my eye on one or two already. The River Island brown leather trench coat (€120) is on my radar, I’ve only seen it online but I’ve been reassured by my friend that it is just as nice in person. It has a detachable fur collar which I could take or leave but overall it’s just gorgeous and it kind of reminds me a spy would wear I’m not sure why that makes a difference but it makes me want it. I also love this Zara wool camel coat, it’s a bit light for winter but it looks very cosy. It costs a whopping €159 so I don’t know if I will buy this one however if I can find one cheaper and similar I might get it.

Finally on my list is the L’essence perfume by Balenciaga. It’s my all-time favourite perfume and when I was on my travels I tried every duty free and beauty store and couldn’t find it. It was in Dublin Airport but I figured it would be cheaper abroad but I couldn’t get my hands on it at all. It’s an expensive enough perfume at €85-€100 depending what size you get. At the moment it’s pretty much sold out everywhere so I’m not sure if it’s being discontinued or not, fingers crossed it isn’t and I can treat myself to a bottle before Christmas.

What do you guys have your eyes on? Is there anything that you would add to my list? Let me know J

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Halloween Makeup - "The Doll Face" How too

I posted a quick look of the photos from the Inglot “the doll face” look last Friday before I received the write up and details from my friend. Take a read of how they got on and a detailed look on how to recreate the look.

Take a read

Love Sarah xoxo

Hi Guys,

So I have been given the honour to do a report on a recent Master class done by the wonderfully talented Makeup artists in Inglot. The brilliant blogger Sarah from Beauty Blunders and Other Wonders had two engagements on the one night. A preview showing of Annabelle or a makeup master class with INGLOT so she give me and my sister the honour of going to the master class as her reporters. The glamourous life of a blogger. . .

Ok so upon going to the class I hadn’t really known what to expect as I have never been to a Master Class like this before. The look that was been showing on the night was a Halloween look, ‘The Doll Face’. As it turns out I have a great interest in Halloween and getting dressed up in fancy dress. It just so happened that I was a broken doll last Halloween so I couldn’t wait to learn exactly what I should have done instead of what I did too.

The MUA who was giving the class was very friendly and welcoming to all who attended. Her name is Tanya. She said she gets a little nervous doing these classes and she did seem to be nervous before we started but as soon as she started she was very professional and explained everything to us brilliantly. She gave us a full list of the products she used. One of the main tips that I came away with is that you do not need to buy all these crazy face paints to do Halloween Makeup. For example on this doll look she used the same blusher as an eye shadow, she also put a very light foundation with a very light/white concealer to make the foundation doll like.

Although this was a Halloween look she did for us she also give us tips and hints that can be used for our everyday makeup. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have going to one of these classes as everything is explained as it’s done.

One thing I was a little wary of when the class was over is the big sell at the end for you to but their products. After all it is a free class they have to make their money back somehow as we had a MUA and a model. I waited for it but to my pleasant surprise it didn’t come. We were told that you get 10% off all products on the night of the class but that was it, nothing was pushed on us to buy which avoided all that awkwardness at the end when you don’t want to purchase anything.

"The Doll Face"

Prime your face as normal. Using a flat foundation brush mix the light foundation with concealer white and cover lips and brows. With the White Powder press it into skin rather than brushing powder all over.

To contour your face, sculpt with brown sculpt powder or brown eye shadow. The areas you should contour are from eye brows down the side if nose, under your cheek bones and around the top of your hair line. Take your pink blush and apply to the apples of your cheeks, again press into the skin rather than push.

Brush more foundation in the lips tip block your lip colour. Exaggerate your cupid’s bow with lip liner then fill with lip stick/brush. Use concealer to tidy up mistakes.

Apply white eye liner along the waterline and then under the eye in sweeping motion, this will make your eyes look large and doll like. Apply the same coloured blush you used on your cheeks to your lids, applying from your lid to your brow. Then apply your gel eye liner creating a winged line. Use your concealer and brush to tidy and fix up any mistakes.

Apply big fluffy lashes on your top lash line. For your bottom lashes apply to your extended lash line, cut to fit.

For added touches dot freckles on your cheeks and to make it a bit gorier apply fake blood.

Makeup used:

Gel Liner - 76 and 77

Lipstick - 423

Blush – 62

Foundation – AMC LW 100

Cream Concealer – 37

Sculpt Powder – 502

Powder – 31

Lashes – 675 and 485

Halloween Makeup - Easy Leopard Makeup

If you’re looking for a super easy look to do for Halloween then this is the one for you. If you’re in a hurry this leopard makeup look can be done in a few minutes or if you want a bit more detail you can take your time.  

The main items you will need are the following:

A dark shade of foundation

A light shade of foundation

Bronzer

Black Liquid Liner

Black Pencil Liner

Nude lipstick

Metallic eye shadow in – white/cream, light gold, bronze/dark gold

Lashes

Mascara

 Step 1:

Apply the dark foundation around the outer part of your face, the in the middle of your face apply the lighter foundation. I used Buff Foundation for my darker makeup and Revlon Colourstay for my lighter foundation

Step 2:

On your eyes apply the lighter white/cream metallic colour on your brow bone, lighter gold colour on your crease and the darker gold on your lid or whatever way you would like to do a smokey eye. I used some of the colours from my Metallic Madness palette from Crown Brush.

Step 3:

Create a cat eye liner to your eyes. I’m pretty crap at doing this so if you’re like me just take your time and do your best. I used the They’re Real Push Up liner by Benefit to do mine.

Step 4:

Apply pencil liner around your eye and smoke it out with a pencil brush. On your lower lash line add one of the gold colours and blend it together with the liner to smoke out your bottom line.  Once you have your eyes done apply your mascara and your lashes.

Step 5:

To create your leopard nose just take your black liner and draw and fill in the tip of your nose, bringing a line down to your lip and drawing a thin black like at the top of your lip.

Step 6:

Apply nude lipstick to the bottom of your lip then rub them together. Doing this should create an ombre effect to your lips.

Step 7:

Taking more of the gold metallic colour apply some to your temples, around your nose, and around your smile lines. To contour your cheeks just apply under your cheek bone and blend down. With the white metallic colour apply to the top of your lip area, your chin and the middle of your forehead.

Step 8:

To make some whiskers just dot some liquid liner on your top lip. To make some leopard patterns just do some random C shapes in the areas you would like to be patterned with either or both liquid or pencil liner. You can also add some metallic colours to your leopard print; I added some orange and gold colours to mine.

Step 9:

 All that’s left is to touch up with powder and some bronzer if you wish.

My makeup was done in a hurry so if you take your time I’m sure it will look better. In my photos I don’t have any lashes as I couldn’t find and lash glue but try to find some that are winged out on the edges this will enhance your cat eye. Another tip would be to use a liner that is a bit hard; I used one that was very creamy which meant my leopard prints where a bit bigger and messier.

This look is really simple yet effective so if you’re thinking of something last minute without having to go to a costume shop to buy loads of extras this is great as the majority of you guys will have everything you need in your makeup bags.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

Living Doll Halloween Makeup Demo

I ended up going to a preview screening of the new horror movie Annabelle last night so I asked my friend if she wanted to go to the living doll makeup demo hosted by Inglot in my place.

She kindly took some pictures for me and for you guys. The look looks simple enough to recreate, I think it's just a case of having the right tools.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks Donna :)