June Beauty Favourites

So yet another monthly favourites where I am left wondering where the past month has gone to! I can't believe that we are in July and are over half way through the year. I didn't post a monthly favourites last month, because there wasn't really anything in particular I was loving, wasn't feeling particularly inspired by anything so I decided to leave it for a month and wait until I had some products I was excited to share with you!

MAC Strobe Cream*

The first product I have been loving this month I was sent in a little goodie box from MAC and it has been something I was mad to try ever since I've gotten into make-up. It is the infamous Strobe Cream from MAC. I have been using this on my skin under my foundation on a daily basis. Regardless of what foundation I am wearing, I will make sure that I have this on underneath to give myself that much needed glow. This is one of those multi-use products that you can wear underneath, above or mixed in with your foundation. It is lovely an moisturising on the skin so I have been using this in place of a moisturiser in the mornings and have been loving the effect I have been getting from it.

NARS Deep Throat

This is an oldie but a goodie, cringy name aside I actually have fallen back in love with this blusher. I'm not sure if I have ever spoken about it on the blog before but I bought it last year after avoiding it for ages. I was under the impression that this was basically nothing but glitter and didn't think it would suit me, but after swatching it in store and doing abit more research into it- I decided to just go for it. It is the most perfect peach-pink with the most subtle shimmer running through it. I would reserve this for the warmer, more summery months because it really does brighten up your entire face when you apply it. If you are contemplating buying this - do it! You will use it so much in the Summertime that its expensive price-tag will be slightly justified. 

Charlotte Tilbury Bronze & Glow Palette

So after getting soaked doing the Women's Mini-Marathon I waddled (squelching) up to Brown Thomas and bought this beauty. No better day I felt! I wasn't sure about it at first but I have grown to love it (I would want to at the price!) I just kept using it and figured out how to use it to my advantage. It is very easy to go over board with the highlighter in this so less is definitely more. I have been using the Bronze shade as a more all over bronze shade instead of purely a contour. I'm still not completely sure it is worth the €65 price tag, but it is a nice addition to my collection and I have been loving using it this month.

 Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt

Another old favourite this month, I received this as a Birthday present in March and I am more than half way through already. Wagh! This literally smells like Summer in a bottle. It is so fresh and clean (I really can't explain scents) I have been wearing this everyday without fail and I will definitely have to buy another bottle in duty free this Summer!

No.7 Gel Shine Polish | Bluebell

This has been either on my toes or fingernails all month. Blue is never a colour I gravitate towards for my nails but I have been loving this cornflower blue shade. It looks amazing with a tan and is just so different for me. I love the formula of these polishes, they're not the most long wearing but they are so amazingly shiny it is completely worth it to repaint them every so often. They also have the good brushes so one swipe and your done!

Lorac Pro-Palette

This feels like the month of old favourites on the blog, but this past month the eyeshadow I have been reaching for the most is the Lorac Pro. I got this at the beginning of the year and while I have been loving it,I didn't want to over use it because I knew how hard it would be to get another one. But this month I threw all caution to the wind and I have even hit pan on one of the colours! Mauve is my favourite shade for in the crease followed by Espresso if I want to darken up the look or I will run it along my lash line. The shadows in this palette are the nicest shadows I have every used. They are ridiculously pigmented and so soft and easy to work with. You can use them both wet and dry so there are so many looks you can get. Whenever I go somewhere and need to bring shadows with me, it will always be this palette I choose, for the variety and the fact that it is so slim and travel friendly you really can't go wrong! 

So that is another round up of two months worth of favourites! Let me know what you have been loving this past month and if there is anything I need to try!

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Charlotte Tilbury | Bronze & Glow Palette

 Well we were all expecting this really, were we not? It was always going to happen really, and no sooner had my W7 dupe post gone up had I gone out and purchased this palette of goodness. To justify: I got a Brown Thomas voucher for my Birthday, and I had just finished the women's mini marathon so I figured it would be a good day to treat myself (like I need a reason..ha!) I just wanted to mention also that unfortunately I didn't have the best experience at the counter, I was left standing there for ages while the girls were chatting away to each other, and then when I did get served it wasn't the friendliest of transactions- disappointing! But I didn't let that put me off my purchase, there's just alot to be said for buying online!

I have been putting this to the test the past couple of weeks since getting it, and to be honest at the start I was slightly underwhelmed by it. Maybe it was because I had grown accustomed to the W7 one and this isn't all that different but the first couple of days use I really wasn't too excited about it. But a few weeks on I have grown to love it. Like the W7 one, it has both a "shade" and "highlight" powder. The bronzer is the slightest bit shimmery which most people would be put off by straight away, but it is still really easy to use as a contour powder, along with an all over bronzer. The highlighter is really what swung me with this palette. It is on par with the Mary-Lou as my favourite highlighter at the moment. It gives your cheeks an almost wet look without looking shimmery or glittery which is always what I am looking for in a highlighter. The formula of both powders are of amazingly high quality- exactly what you would expect from a brand such as Charlotte Tilbury.

This palette with set you back a whopping €65 and it is available online. If you can get a hold of the W7 version I would thoroughly recommend you do, because it is so similar at a much more affordable price!   

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Maybelline | The Nudes Palette

I am a neutral eye-shadow addict. I love buying nude eye-shadow palettes that pretty much all look the same and I couldn't pass upn this latest offering from Maybelline. This has only recently been released in Ireland and the UK but as far as I know it has been out in the States for awhile. Maybelline has never been a brand I would think to go for, for an eye-shadow palette but this seemed to have the perfect combination of colours in it so I snapped it up straight away to see if it would change my opinion.

I put this straight in my make-up bag when I bought it because I wanted to try and get as much use out of it as I could so I could give a well informed review on it. Honestly since getting this I have had no desire to switch up to my other palettes. This has done me pretty well over the past few weeks on its own! It has a mixture of both matte and shimmer shades and also a mixture of warm and cool tone neutrals. I can't get over the quality of these shadows. They are so amazingly pigmented and quite comparable to something that the likes of Urban Decay would have. 

The shadows are all really easy to work with and if you are someone who is starting out with eye shadows I would definitely recommend you give this palette a go! On the back of the palette it even shows you different combinations of shadows that you can use to create different looks.

I would definitely recommend this palette if you are, like I said only starting off with eye shadows and want to play around with a couple of different looks or if you are looking for a good quality eye-shadow palette for everyday use that won't break the bank this is the one for you! It is available from Boots for €14.99.

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MAC Wash & Dry Collection

MAC have been doing so well with their collections recently, and I am not a girl that would be falling over to get something from a collection normally. But this is the second collection in a year that I have been waiting to come online so I can make a purchase. This one is called the "Wash & Dry" Collection. Now I'm not going to lie, one of the main things that attracted me to this collection was the packaging. How amazing does it look? I knew that I had to get something and the main items that caught my eye were the lipsticks! There was two Limited edition shades and two permanent in the collection and I picked up one of each. The shades that I chose were "M'orange" (permanent) and "Tumble Dry" (Limited Edition)

M'orange is a shade that I have been wanting to pick up since I started getting into MAC. It is an Amplified finish, and it a true vibrant orange. It is going to look amazing in the Summer with a tan. The one thing I would say with this lipstick is that you might want to wear a lipliner with it to make sure it doesn't end up all over your face. Tumble Dry was the first shade I wanted to pick up from the collection and I have to say I'm a little disappointed with this one. It is a Lustre lipstick and in the bullet it is a gorgeous orange toned coral. But unfortunately it doesn't suit my skin tone and just washes me out a little. I will try it during the Summer and hopefully make it work when I have more of a colour but this one was a bit of a let down to be honest!

At the time of writing this, some of the collection was still available to purchase online so if you are interested just click here!

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CoLab Dry Shampoo

After all the rave reviews after the CoLab Dry Shampoo range was released last year I thought it was all too good to be true. Created by Ruth Crilly from the YouTube channel "A Model Recommends" this range of dry shampoos was released late last year and since then there has been nothing but good words to say about it. The range has recently arrived in Ireland and more recently t has become available in Penneys. So on a recent trip I added one of the travel sizes to my basket to try out. I didn't want to get the big can incase it didn't work for me and I was left with the big can of dry shampoo that I wouldn't get any use out of. 

I bought it in the London version which has a Sheer Invisible formula. The first thing I liked about this was the smell. I can't place it but it definitely reminds me of something. It is a gorgeous fresh scent but not as overpowering as the likes of Batiste and it doesn't linger throughout the day. This is a lighter dry shampoo compared to Batiste. It is weightless in the hair and you are not left with that horrible chalky, powdery look and feel to your hair. It sprays out a really fine powder mist that soaks up any excess oil without leaving any residue. 

This is definitely a win product for me, I had the mini size gone in no time and have since repurchased the bigger can. I would recommend this if you didn't get on with Batiste and are looking for an alternative!

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W7 Bronze & Glow

I recently put up a picture on my Instagram proclaiming my love for a new highlighter and I am finally getting around to sharing with you what it is. You all know I am a massive fan of highlighters and there has been times where I have gone round resembling a disco ball. I have gone through a major love affair with my Mary Lou-manizer the past couple of months but lately I've been getting bored of using the same product and have been on the hunt for something new. I have been lusting after the Charlotte Tilbury Bronze & Glow contour duo since it came out but I can't justify the €60 price tag. Then I spotted this from W7 and instantly snapped it up. W7 are well known for their amazing quality products but at very nice price tag. They have dupes for the Naked palettes , Benefit's They're Real and many others in their collections and I have tried and loved many of their products. This one is no different.

I initially picked this up to see if I would get much use out of it and if it would be worth my while getting the Charlotte Tilbury one (I'm not fooling anyone, we all know I'm gonna get it!) I have been using this for my contour and highlight the past while and have really been enjoying it. The darker shade is perfect for contouring or just giving an all over bronzed look but the winner in this palette for me is definitely the highlight. It is the most intense highlighter I have found since the Mary-Lou. It makes your cheekbones look wet it is that intense, but doesn't look glittery in the slightest!

For the price tag it is definitely worth giving a go, I think it was around the €3 mark and W7 are available in most pharmacies nationwide.

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Falling back in love with Chanel Vita Lumiere Aqua

Recently I have become obsessed with the lovely FacesByGrace's Snapchat (which is @facesbygrace23 if you don't already follow her!) It was her Birthday recently and she snapped that for her Birthday night out make-up she was wearing the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation. Her skin literally looked flawless and I was inspired to dig out my bottle of the foundation. I bought this awhile ago, really loved it at the time but other things came along and I just forgot about it. 

This foundation gives you a new skin look. It is a very "your skin but better" foundation, it gives amazing coverage and lasting power but it doesn't feel or look anyway heavy on your skin. I have been wearing this to work and I have found with the combination of this and my Smashbox Primer spray that my base has been looking better and lasting much longer. 

It is a water based foundation so you have to give it a good shake before using it, otherwise you'll just end up with a lot of water on the back of your hand and not much product. As you would expect from a more water based foundation, it is very light in texture but don't let that put you off. It has more coverage than you would expect it to have. It blends so lovely both with your fingers and with a buffing brush so it is perfect for a quicker application. The finish it gives is a very natural/satin look to your skin which is right up my street!

At €40 a pop it is by no means a budget foundation. But if you are in the market to try something a bit more on the luxurious side I would definitely recommend you have a look at this and see if its one for you! 

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