July Favourites!!

I can't believe August is already upon us, where did July go?  I was just talking to my brother yesterday about how it's the last month of the Summer holidays before he heads back to college which is crazy!! For me July will be remembered for the amazing weather we had here in Ireland and of course going to see Justin Timberlake in concert! We don't get the Sun a lot but when we do we never stop talking about it. For two weeks straight the sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky. Fast forward to the first week in August and already the clouds are back, I miss the nice weather already!  On a brighter note I'm heading to Spain with my family next month. It's the first holiday I've had with my familia for years, I have to admit I'm really excited. Sun, Sea and nice food for a week whats not to like?! The city we're staying in is close to Gilbratar so I'm looking forward to going there to do a bit of shopping of course. Before I start rambling on about my upcoming holiday to Spain, I better start with my favourites as I do have quite a lot to show you this month.

I love finding products that are simple and easy to use, Benefit's Creasless Eyeshadow in No Pressure! is definitely one of them. I picked this up a while ago in Brown Thomas with a gift card I had floating around my bag for an age. It's gorgeous taupe shade with a few specks of gold shimmer. In the mornings I've been applying this to my eyelid and blending it out to create a quick and easy smokey eye. For night I layer it up and use Mac's Embark in the crease. This certainly has been a great addition to my makeup collection as I've been getting a lot of use out of it, well worth the €22.50 that I paid. I absolutely adore the new Colour collection packaging, this product comes in a really pretty art deco cardboard box which I have kept myself. I already have my eye on another shade Bikini-tini that I heard Essiebutton rave about so I know I'll definitely like it.

A nail polish favourite from July has to be Butter London's Cake-Hole*. It's a gorgeous neon pink shade that brightens up any outfit, it pretty much hasn't left my nails all month. I've gotten so many comments this nail polish when I'm wearing it, Cake-Hole is definitely one of those shades that stand out (just look at the name). Only two coats of this is enough to achieve the finish that you can see in this photo here from a previous post. I guess you could get away with one but I'm so used to doing two by now.

When I was in London in June I did go a bit wild and bought a lot of beauty products, two of which have made it into this months favourites. First up is this Crown Brush makeup brush (C45) I picked up at IMATS. It's from their new Infinity line and I've been using it to apply my foundation. Excuse it's appearance, I didn't get a chance to clean it before I took these pictures. The brush is similar to the Real Techniques Buffing Brush but the bristles are tightly packed making it a little more denser. I did buy a couple of brushes from the Infinity line but the C45 is definitely my favourite.

 There has been whispers that a Victoria's Secret store is opening in Dublin Airport which I'm super excited about even though I know it will probably be tiny. When I was in London I knew there was one in the Westfield Shopping Centre beside my hotel in Stratford. Of course I ended up dragging Paddy and if you've already read my Haul you'll know I picked up a lot. One of the products that I bought that I've been loving this month is the Sparkling Citrus Lemon Escape Fragrance Mist (pictured below). This stuff smells amazing, it's a mixture of sweet lemon and coconut which I've been using literally everyday. I haven't taken it out of my bag yet as you can see from the bottle I'm almost half way through the bottle. I bought this is a set for £20 which included a shower gel and a body lotion in the same scent. If you're in Victoria's Secret I'd definitely recommend picking up a set as there's such good value. Just be warned that this spray is 125ml so if you're travelling light with carry on luggage you may not be able to bring it back on the plane. I can't wait until I go back to Manchester at the end of the year as I do believe they're opening a Victoria's Secret store in the Trafford Centre. I'll definitely be picking up another bottle of this scent when I visit and check out some more while I'm there.

At night I've been using the Neal's Yard Beauty Sleep Concentrate*. I was given this at a Press Event a couple of months back and I stumbled upon it while cleaning up my room recently. I've been using this on its on at night but you can use it alongside other products in your nighttime routine. Apart from being moisturising, I haven't been using it long enough to see a significant difference in my skin but I adore the calming scent. It certainly makes me feel relaxed going to bed at night. This product is 90% organic aswell so I'm happy to know that I'm not putting anything nasty onto my skin. The bottle may seem small but you literally only need 3-4 pumps of this stuff so it will last a good while. After busy days on the go I think it's so important to give my skin some TLC and this has been working a treat.

With July being so sunny for the most part I had to include these two products from Hawaiian Tropics. Like everyone I know how important it is to use sunscreen even when the sun isn't shining (pesky UV rays and the likes) so I was using this duo a lot. They are both from Hawaiian Tropics Silk Hydration so aswell as protecting my skin from the Sun they are super moisturising too. Did I mention that they also smell amazing? The After Sun's Coconut Papaya scent reminds me of holidays and I can't get enough of it. I did buy these in Tesco on special offer a while ago so I'm not too sure if that is still on. I do remember it being a great bargain! Needless to say seeing as the Sun is no longer around I may not need these as much now but I'll be bringing them along on my holidays to Spain.

Here are two of my random favourites from July as you all know I'm big into reading. When I was given Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare I left it aside for a while I'm not going to lie. I thought it was going to be another Twilight kinda book which I knew I wasn't going to be interested in. Now that I'm almost half way through the book I couldn't have been more wrong. This has a really good storyline to it which I'm not going to explain as knowing me I'll definitely give too much away. I have a feeling there's going to be a love story in this at some point but the background plot is really good. If you're like me you won't want to put it down. Clock Angel is a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series which is has been made into a movie that is going to be release this month. It stars the babe that is Robert Sheehan (The Misfits & Love/Hate) and Lily Collins, whilst the movie is based on the 1st book in the series the City of Bones which I haven't read yet I can't wait to go see it! Once I do finish this book I'm going to pick up some more in the series as they are currently on 3for2 in Easons. The other random favourite of mine is this bag I bought from Accessorize. I usually don't go for bags with short straps, I much prefer when they're long as I find them way easier to carry around. I was between to minds when I got this but I think I made the right decision in the end. This bag is huge and fits absolutely everything in it, e.g my camera, notebook etc. It also contains a removeable pouch which for me makes the bag more secure as I can put all my important stuff in there. Coming in two different colours I opted for the black/brown option as I think it would go with more compared to the green/navy offering. If you'd like to see a "What's in my Bag?" post in the future let me know in the comments.

What made it into your July Favourites? Did you get up to anything exciting last month?

Laura<3

London & IMATS Makeup Haul Plus a little Giveaway (Closed)!

I promise this will be the last London related post on here. I know I've been harping on about it since I came back but I seriously had so much stuff to write about. This post is going to be a Beauty Haul showing you guys what I picked up whilst I was in London. Looking at my purchases now I did buy quite a bit but I know that I'll actually use the stuff I bought which I know can't be said for some past purchases.

First off I'll show you what I got at IMATS! To be fair I didn't buy too much. I bought a couple of bits from Crown Brush, I seen so many good reviews on their brushes I knew I wanted to check them out. I bought two palettes, their 28 Nude Eyeshadow palette (which you can win, details below) and their 10 pan blush palette. I also picked up five of their brushes on the day, I'm not too sure what type of brush they are as they have no names. It's kind of annoying but who knows they could be amazing makeup brushes and redeem themselves. The total for these purchases came to £78 which I wasn't expecting. I think it's kinda pricey for what I got to be honest but other than that I'm happy with my purchases. My only other purchase at IMATS was Make Up Forever's HD Foundation, again a product I've heard tonnes about.  I made such a good saving on this product, at IMATS it was £20 but in Dublin it retails for in and around €38. I got it in the shade 117 which is the perfect match for me and so far I'm really happy with it. I don't think it would be a foundation I'd use on a day to day basis but definitely for special occasions. I haven't really tried too much from Make Up Forever as I feel its a bit on the pricier side of things over here. Who knows after trying this I may pick up some more bits from them really soon! 

When I seen Benefit's Matthew Williamson The Rich is Back palette online I knew I had to have it. We do have a huge Debenhams in town but with saving for London I decided to save my money and buy it when I got there. I do have a few Benefit palettes in my collection which are all fab but this one just caught my eye, I'm in love with the retro packaging. All the shadows in the palette are very wearable, I could even see myself using the turquoise shade over the Summer months too, I just hope we start getting the nice weather soon. This palette was £26.50 which I guess is a bit on the pricey side of things but I know I'll get so much use out of it. It's also Limited Edtion so I doubt it will stick around for long. When I was in Debenhams on Oxford Street they literally had three left in stock. I came upon the store Liberty by a complete accident when we got off the Tube. Of course I snuck in with Paddy for a few minutes to have a look around their Beauty Hall which is heaven! I bought two miniature Bumble and Bumble products, their Prep and Thickening Hairspray. I've never seen the mini products in Dublin so I decided to give them a go. I always find it better to go for the miniatures instead of the full size products as if I don't like something I know I won't have wasted a lot of money. Both of these products came to €12.50 which I thought was rather good! I haven't tried too much from the brand but so far I'm really impressed with these two products. I signed up for a store card while I was in the store, I have no idea why considering I'll never use it as I live in Dublin. Another brand we can't get our hands on in Dublin is KIKO Cosmetics. I popped into their store in Westfield Stratford and it was so busy as they had their Sale on. I haven't heard too much about this brand so I was looking forward to trying some bits. I bought two products that were in the Sale, the Sun Bronzing Blush and Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow. I wasn't planning on buying the latter but the lovely Sales Assistant sold it too me at the til. They literally don't budge, I went for shade 28 which is a flesh toned. I think it will be great under a neutral eye. I also picked up KIKO's Night Balm which is a nourishing treatment for the lips. Mine have been extremely dry lately so I'm hoping it works magic! All three products came to £16.20 which didn't break the bank. If I end up liking these goodies I'll definitely pick up some more bits the next time I'm in London.

The only other shop I went to in Westfield Stratford was of course, Victoria's Secret! Here in Ireland we always seem to be the last to get big name stores opened on our shores so I couldn't wait to pop in and have a shop around. I ended up buying just beauty products, their beauty section is huge! There was so much choose from, I literally loved nearly every scent I tried. I finally decided on their Lemon Escape Gift Set and Love Spell Fragrance Mist. All of these products smell amazing! The minute I sprayed Lemon Escape Paddy insisted that I bought the fragrance. I think it was probably his favourite scent in the whole shop. I decided to go for the set as you get the body spray, body lotion and shower gel housed in a gorgeous makeup bag. Lets be honest here I did fall in love with the makeup bag just a little so that probably played a big part in my final decision. I was also drawn towards their Love Spell Fragrance Mist, it has a gorgeous peachy scent! Plus it comes in purple packaging which is indeed my favourite. For daytime I do love fragrance mists as opposed to perfumes over the Summer as they are much lighter on the skin. Lastly in Stansted Airport I picked up the Rockin' Body Perfecting Cream. This was one of those "Getting Rid of my Sterling need to buy Stuff" purchases. Lets be honest we all have them when we go on holidays. I was really surprised that the Victoria's Secret in the Airport stocked so much considering it was the size of a shoe. This came to £10.83, not a 100% sure how much it actually is in stores. Again this smells really nice , it's basically a body illuminator which I think will look rather nice over tan.

Paddy bought me some bits and bobs while we were in London. He picked me up this gorgeous Beatles Abbey Road teddy which is so cute. I have a couple of teddys from when I was younger with badges/pins from different countries my family and I have visited. Whenever people go away they always bring me back a couple. As you can see I've already stuck a couple of London badges on there. I'm actually scared to count the amount of badges/pins I have as there are so many. Paddy also got me two books, The Devil Wears Prada and the new sequel, Revenge Wears Prada. I've heard so much about the original book so I can't wait to give these two books a read very soon.

Now for the giveaway, I was quite lucky to have been able to buy quite a bit whilst I was in London last weekend. Thank god I checked in a bag or I wouldn't have been able to bring any of it home. Saying that my suitcase was nearly over the 15KG limit which I was indeed stressing out about all morning! I've decided to give away the lovely Crown Brush 28 Neutral Colour palette which you can see in the first picture on this post. Of course I opened it to show you guys what its like in person but I haven't touched any of the shadows! If like me you love neutral shadows this will definitely be up your street. I do love it myself but I do have quite a few neutral palettes already and I thought it would be nice to give it away to one of my lovely readers!!

Entering this giveway is simple as I don't want to go down the route of a million rules and such.

Here's what you have to do!

Follow All-Made-Up on Bloglovin' which you can do here , let me know in the comments if you have done so.

For an extra entry you can tweet - I've just entered @AllMadeUp21 International Giveway for a Crown Brush 28 Neutral Eyeshadow palette #bbloggers

Lastly comment on this post telling me what your favourite beauty products are for the Summer months.

Closing Date - Sunday 7th July @ Midnight. Winner will be notified on Twitter

Worldwide Giveaway (wherever I can send post too!)

UPDATE - The winner of the Crown Brush 28 Nude Palette is Chloe ! Congrats!

That's all you have to do guys easy peasy! I really hope you enjoyed my London/IMATS Haul, if you where at IMATS too I'd love to see what lovely beauty products you picked up.

Laura<3