Night time makeup using browns & golds

A light, smokey eye using brown & golds with a dramatic flick.

Full Product List:

Face 
Mac Prep & prime Primer
Mac Full Coverage Foundation NC35
Mac Pro Palette Concealer in light/medium
Mac Blush - Desert Rose mixed with Melba
Mac Cream Colour Base in Hush as highlighter

Eyes
Max Factor Masterpiece Mascara in Black
Mae eye shadow in Nylon, Retrospec, Cork, Espresso & Carbok
Kiko gold eyeshadow No 400( be careful with this - lots of sparkles!)
Mac Fluidline in Black Traxx
NYX liquid liner in Black
Urban Decay crayon pencil in White
Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipdown in Medium Brown
Strip Lashes (available at Le Beau )

Lips
Mac Vino lip pencil
Mac lipstick in Mystic

Today's a good hair day

I have longed for full, luscious locks for a long time. Even though my hair is long it is so fine. I never thought about getting hair extensions as two things came to mind - the horrible, fake-hair-look where you can see bald patches and the bonds stuck to the hair and secondly the amount of damage they do to your natural hair.

I heard about Great Lengths Hair Extensions from magazines and instagram pic's from celeb's and they all had beautiful, volumised full looking hair. So I did a bit of research...

Great Lengths Hair Extensions are 100% human hair which is sourced in India during Hindu rituals. Women & Men's hair is voluntarily sacrificed and donated to Temples. 

Great Lengths commit to ensuring all hair is sourced ethically and willingly and that a fair price is paid.

The hair is shipped to Italy where it starts the cleansing process and is sewn to cloths to ensure it stays in the right direction. 

It is placed in baths to gently take out the natural pigment and then coloured through a process called osmosis. Finishing off, they 'hackle' hair by hand with a giant brush to remove tangles.

It is then shipped off to the salon!

Winter chills

With the cold nip in the air this week it's time to protect and re hydrate our skin. Even though all the Vitamin D during the Summer was great for our bodies, it's not so great for our skin (boo hoo).

Here are a few of my favourite products to start our Winter routine to nourish our skin again.

To banish all that old, dry, flaky skin on our bodies try Jo Malone Vitamin E Treatment Scrub - it smells divine. More on the pricey side but a little goes a long way. The best body scrub I have EVER used. It also leaves a gorgeous, luxurious oil residue on the skin to help moisturise all those dry patches.

Alfaparf Hair Awards

Yesterday I was working on a team for the Alfaparf Fantastic Hair Awards in The Hilton, Dublin. Big congrats to both Cathriona & Maire from Cathriona's Hair Salon Castlegregory who came in the top 10 of all their categories. And Cathriona who won second place in the Upstyle category - fantastic!

Here are the looks and product list for each -

Model: Robyn

Hairstylist: Cathriona

MUA: Annette - website here

Yes CHEF!

As you know I blog quite a lot about all things beauty & makeup but sometimes I want to share things that you will definitely want to go/see/do. Last night I attended a Cooking Master Class and here's how it went...

I was invited by Head Chef of The Riverside Hotel Killarney, Cyrille Durand to come and join 10 others for a fun night cooking at his kitchen. I called a friend of mine, Aine and we started the night off  at 6pm for some pre drinks at the bar in The Riverside.

New Brow Bar at Penneys

Penney's new beauty bar opened today in their flagship store on Mary Street, Dublin. Love Beauty by Monika Mohindra is now available for brow and nail appointments. Has anyone been there today?? I'm dying to see what it's like.  Here is the list of their treatments and prices. They are opening in Penneys across the UK and Ireland over the next few months. 

A x

Soft smokey eye

Have a look at my soft smokey eye tutorial. It's a very basic, quick and an easy eye for any occasion. 

Let me know what you think! All products listed below video.

Enjoy,

A x

Red lip tutorial

Hi guys, 

So here it is - my first video tutorial. Started with a simple but important tutorial - the red lip.

Enjoy and don't forget to comment.

A x

                           

Contouring & highlighting

I have done a few makeup looks on my facebook page recently  <click here for a snoop>  and I have got so many requests from clients to do one on contouring.

Yes we can all thank Kim Kardashion for her highlighting/contouring selfie she posted, which started this craze for you lot! Makeup Artists work this technique on every makeup application whether it is a natural makeup or a night time party look. There are so many tutorials on this at present and I believe you need good judgement & to be able to decide which part of your own face needs contouring.

 Still not getting it?? Call in to me at the salon :)

This is a very easy guide - start with very little product on clean primed skin. For contouring & highlighting you can use either foundation or a concealer cream. I change all the time as it depends on the condition & tone of the skin.

So here I am (looking a little scary!) with the highlighter. For the highlight I use Mac studio fix fluid foundation in NC15, try get one maybe 2/3 shades lighter than your own skin tone. You highlight the highest points on your face.

Using my finger I applied the foundation down along the center of my nose (to create the illusion of a slimmer nose), on the centre of my forehead and centre of my chin (this elongates my face).

I also applied the highlighter under my eyes in a V-shape to accentuate my contouring later. This step also helps brighten under the eyes.

Use a little highlight on the side of the jawline to slim down a round face.