The Lo Down - Clarins Sweet Kisses Kit

Hey Guys and Dolls,

I hope you're enjoying the series so far yesterdays post was by far the hardest post I dare I say I've written. The feedback so far has been phenomenal and if I even help one of you guys or gals I know it's a job well done. Today's post is a little easier and it's another beauty review which I love doing. I'm forever buying makeup so when I find products that I really like I love sharing them with you guys.

When I seen this set on CH Tralee's website I out it straight in my basket. I'm a big fan of Clarins and have been lucky enough to try alot of their products and I must say there's alot of good ones indeed.
I actually discovered these when my two favourite YouTuber sisters Melanie Murphy and Jessica Brennan if you haven't already checked out these girls YouTube videos I'd highly recommend as they are amazing and their content is just great. I always sit down with a nice cup of tea when I see their videos coming up in my subscriptions. I was lucky enough to meet Melanie a couple of years ago at a Cloud 10 Beauty event in town and she is such a lovely, nice friendly girl. It's great to see Irish YouTubers in the spotlight and I can see great things in the future for both of these girls.  Well back to the product both these girls mentioned the Clarins Lip Oils a while ago and when they say somethings good I listen so of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on one so to get three in a Christmas set is a bonus. There is only three shades available so to get them all was pretty good.

After the Winter what am I saying it's still practically Winter in Ireland. That blanket in Penneys was the best investment purchase I made. Back to the review in the cold months in Ireland my lips can go sooo sore it's unreal and I'm always looking for a nice lip product that does exactly what it says on the tin and Clarins lip oils do just that. They are so nourishing and moisturising on the lips and don't leave them to sticky. I put some on in the morning and when I'm going to bed. It says that you can use this over lipstick but I haven't put that to the test just about yet.

At €39 this set is great value as one lip oil costs €21. The set consists of  Honey, Raspberry and Cherry. The latter two give a slight hint of colour to the lips. As well being moisturising, these lip oils are handbag friendly and come with a pretty makeup bag in the kit. Perfect for inside my makeup bag!

As I said earlier I've tried alot of Clarins products in the past, I can't fault them and I enjoy using them. I'm in love with their blushes especially there pretty pink shades that give a dash of colour to the cheeks. I definitely want to give their tanning products a go next for a nice glow to take me out of the cold weather.

Have you tried the Clarins Lip oils? What's your favourite product of theres?

Laura<3

London Calling!

Tomorrow I'm heading to London for the weekend for IMATS. The time has seriously flown by, I remember mentioning it on my blog a while back and I can't believe it's here already. I've never been to London before, it will only be my fourth time visiting the UK. I've been to Manchester three times to visit the Paddy's family, for concerts and of course shopping! It's one of my favourite cities, the people are lovely and there is so much to do. I'm definitely going to take a trip back there during the Summer and maybe take in a United game which I know will make the boyfriend happy indeed.

I'm flying over to London tomorrow evening with Paddy. He won't be coming along to IMATS with me but if you see him in Kensington on Saturday definitely say Hi. I was going to fly over on just for the day with the sole purpose of attending IMATS and go home that night. After checking out the flights Paddy and I decided to make a weekend out of it so we're having a little holiday too. I'm just taking a break from packing my bags and its a definite fail so far. I got this lovely Benefit Cosmetics Passport cover in Brown Thomas. The lovely sales assistant gave it to me when I bought one of their amazing Creaseless Cream Eyeshadows. I love the new packaging in their new colour range, it's so pretty! I know I'm only going for a weekend  but I also seem to overpack. This always seems to be the case for every holiday I go on. Does this happen to anyone else?

Being my first time at IMATS I don't know what to expect. I got a Press pass for the weekend so you'll definitely see some coverage on here in the coming weeks as well as posts on what I go up to in London. I'm sure I'll be taking a lot of picture whilst I'm there! Have any of you been to IMATS before? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. I'm really looking forward to checking out all the exhibitor stands, I know I'll definitely pick up some products from NYX and Make Up Forever. I love NYX blushes and lipglosses so I want to pick up a few more shades. I also want to listen to some of the Keynote speakers on the day, I always find these sort of talks really interesting and informative. The talk being given by Ruth Crilly and Caroline Hirons on The Power of Social Media sounds really great so I'll be sticking around for that. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you beauty bloggers too, if you see me on the day come say Hi. I'm meeting up with Jade from Beauty Butterfly on the day. I love her blog so if you haven't checked it out already go do it!

There's so many places I want to visit whilst I'm in London, I've gotten so many great suggestions from you guys already. I'm going to have fun trying to fit everything into four days. Considering that my flight departs Dublin Airport on Friday evening it really only leaves me with three days but I'm not going to think about that. On Sunday I'm going on a boat trip along the River Thames with my boyfriend and his Sister which I'm really exciting. I'm hoping that the weather forecast is good for over the weekend. I better get back to packing or I don't think I'm ever going to get it done. I literally dug out my suitcase yesterday and clearly no one has used it since I went to Manchester last year, it's seriously dusty!

What are your favourite spots to visit in London? I'd love to hear them!

Laura<3

VOYA Organic Voyager Travel Set

I wish I knew about this gorgeous set when I was doing my Summer Must Haves/Essentials post on travel kits as I absolutely adore it. VOYA is a Irish brand which started life as a successful family run seaweed bath  business in Sligo and from there it's grown and grown. I love finding Irish brands as I haven't come across to many and it's nice to discover  them. This Travel set contains four mini products from their range, a shampoo, condtioner, body wash and body lotion. They are all perfect sizes for travelling and come in a this gorgeous wash bag which is made from 100% organic cotton. I love this bag as it can be used again to hold makeup products as it's a nice size.

The sizes of the products are by no means small like some travel minis can be, they are all quite generous 75ml tubes. This also means if you haven't tried the brand before you'll get a really good idea of what they have to offer. I couldn't pick my favourite product from this set as I love them all. I was expecting the shampoo and conditioner to dry my hair out but I can swallow my words as neither did. My hair was left lovely and soft, with the little bit of added body which my hair is lacking at the moment. I love the Softly Does It body moisturiser, it's quite rich a little bit goes a awfully long way. I'll  probably get a lot of use out of this one tube, the Squeaky Clean Body Wash has the exact same lovely fresh scent as the moisturiser. When you think seaweed, you automatically presume the scent won't be the best but I truly love it. All the products contain essential oils so this is probably wear the nice scent come from too. This set is expensive at €40, but it's well worth every penny in my opinion. I really like the idea that you can get a feel for the brand without spending mega bucks on products. This will also make a lovely gift for friend or even as a sneaky gift to yourself. I've only seen this brand in one store in Dublin, House of Fraser but I seen on their website that it's also available in Avoca. I'm looking forward to trying more products from this gorgeous brand, I already have my eye on the skincare.

Have you heard of VOYA? What do you think of this travel set?

Laura<3

Summer Must Haves/Essentials #1 - Travel Kits

As we're nearing the end of June I thought it was about time I started my Summer blog series, better late than never eh? Each post will feature products and bits that I think are a must for the months ahead. For this post I'm going to touch on travel kits/sets I use them alot and I think there a necessity during the Summer. When travelling or staying in a friends house I doubt anyone would want to lug all there full sized skincare products with them (I know I wouldn't) so they are perfect.

I find skincare sets come in handy on holidays with the liquid restrictions on planes it's impossible to go over a 100mls so it's definitely worth the money to invest in travel sets. Most of them will come with your everyday cleaner, toner and moisturiser and to the best of my knowledge the majority of brands do them. It's only a matter of checking their websites, they usually have them all there with stockists. If not, you can always make up your own with mini products from Boots or decant some of your favourite skincare products into travel pots.

I'm not going to lie I bought the Caudalie travel kit after hearing all the blogger hype surrounding their products. I opted to get this as I wanted to see what their products were like, not for travelling purposes. I could see this work for weekends away as it contains five products that fit very nicely into this gorgeous see through bag. My favourites out of the bunch are the cleansing water and the body lotion, I could certainly see myself buying the full sizes of both of these when I run out. I just hope there not too pricey like the beauty elixir. When your finished with all these products, you also have the lovely see through bag which would be perfect for holding makeup as you can everything.  This set is the cheapest of the bunch at €15 which is great for what you get in it don't you think? I got mine in Harvey Nichols but from what I can see it's the same price online too.

Next is two Liz Earle Travel Kits, the Overnight Travel Kit* (€33.75) and Sun Try Me Kit* (€19). I love this brand so I think it's great how they have such an amazing range of travel sets. I actually brought the Overnight Travel Kit with me on my trip to Barcelona last year and it was handy to have. All that was missing was my haircare products which were easily bought in Boots. The bag everything comes in is the perfect size for your hand luggage as it's so neat and tidy. Again it can be used again as a makeup bag or you can also buy product refills on Liz Earle's website. I did a full review on it which you can check out here. The Sun Try Me Kit isn't a travel set as such but contains some mini Liz Earle suncare products. I think this would be great to pop in your beach bag on holidays as it's an ideal size. I love their Instant Boost Skin Tonic Spritzer so it's great to have one small enough for my handbag. Liz Earle's mineral sun protection has a different texture to any other suncreams I've used in the past. I wasn't too gone on it at first but I've grown to like it. It sinks into the skin super quick and didn't leave my skin feeling stick. After trying their sun protection and aftersun I may invest in full sized bottles.

The expensive option is the Elemis  Revitalising Skincare set (€63). My Mom actually got me this for my upcoming trip to Manchester (can't wait for it!). I wouldn't necessarily call this a travel set as it contains 3 full sized products and a miniature, like me if you haven't tried the brand yet this may be a good set to consider getting. I know €63 is expensive but the products individually would cost up to €120. Having never tried anything from Elemis before I'm really looking forward to trying these products. I've heard nothing but good things about them. The Apricot Toner included smells amazing, I'm looking forward to trying this the most. I'd recommend this if you were travelling over the Summer for a long period of time as it's easy to run out of travel sizes sometimes. The products come nicely wrapped in a gorgeous big bag which you can see above, all my makeup and brushes for Manchester will without a doubt fit in here. There you have it my first Summer Must Haves/ Essentials post, I hope you enjoyed it.


Do you bring travel kits on holidays?


Laura<3

What's in my Travel Makeup Bag??

As I'm going away to Barcelona tomorrow I wanted to do this post for you girlies. I love reading other bloggers 'What's in my Bag?' posts cause I find them pretty informative and I admit I'm a little nosey!

As I'm not checking in a bag it leaves me pretty restricted in what I can bring on the plane. There's also the fact I'm going for five days so I doubt I'll be wearing that much makeup. I'll be too busy seeing all the sights that Barcelona has to offer.

I got this bag in Debenhams at the start of the Summer. It was €18 but it was greatly reduced to €9 so course I had to pick it up. I didn't know I was going on holidays but I'm glad I picked it up now.

It opens to show two compartments, one is see through. I really like that feature as it's easier to find things which means I don't have to go pulling everything out. I keep my makeup brushes in the other compartment.

Face


Too Faced Primed & Poreless Primer (sample)
Garenier 2 in 1 Tinted Eye Roll-on

Korres Wild Rose Foundation SPF 20 in WRF1

Smashbox Blush Rush in Everlasting

The Body Shop Honey Bronze Bronzer in 03 Medium Matte
Sonia Kashuk Concealer Palette

Eyes


MAC Paintpot in Painterly
MAC Double Feature Duo in 5
Revlon Custom Eyes Palette in Naturally Glamorous
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil Duo in Whiskey & Zero (Naked Palette)
Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara (sample) in Excessive Black

Lips


'Lasting Finish By Kate' Lipstick in 03
MAC Lustre Lipstick in Quiet Please
EOS Lipbalm in Honeysuckle Honeydew (not pictured)

Brushes
Sigma F80
Make Up Store 357
Make Up Store 340
MAC 129SE
MAC 239
MAC 217

Looking through the stuff that I'm bringing it doesn't seem like too much. This is mostly makeup that I would use on a regular basis. I like how I still have extra space in this bag, knowing me I'll be making a few purchases when I'm away.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Talk to you girlies when I get back from my holiday.

Laura<3

Little Bits for my Holiday!!

With only nine days to go until my holiday, when I was out shopping with my mom I decided to pick up some stuff I may need while I'm away.

As I'm only going to Barcelona for five days I'm only bringing carry on luggage.  Being limited to what I can put in my bag I decided to hit Boots to pick up some travel size products. I have everything sorted for my holiday at this stage so I was delighted to get these bits out of the way.

Boots have a offer at the moment on travel sizes. If you buy five products you get the cheapest one free. This may not seem like the best offer but at the end of the day every little counts.

This is what I picked up....

Glad Hair Day Shampoo, Glad Hair Day Conditioner and Clean On Me Shower Gel

(All Soap & Glory)

I've used two of the above products before, Glad Hair Day Shampoo and Clean On Me Shower Gel. I got them in a Soap & Glory Christmas gift set and I can remember really liking them both. I also picked up a mini scrub and body butter from this brand which you can see in my last haul. Have you used Glad Hair Day Conditioner? What are your thoughts?

Charles Worthington Frizz Free Smoothing Creme

I haven't tried any Charles Worthington products before so i don't know what to expect. I have extremely frizzy hair which goes out of control. I'm hoping this product works wonders.

When I was at the till I was given a €7.50 off No7 voucher. I love getting these and always pick up a few products that I wouldn't usually buy. My mom treated me to the following goodies I got from No7.

No7 Lash Adapt Mascara and No7 Stay Perfect Eyeshadow Palette in Good Earth

I've heard such good things about No7's Lash Adapt mascara. I really can't wait to try it out. I've used a few No7 mascaras and I've always been impressed with them.

Before I left Boots, I spotted this Revlon eyeshadow palette. I hadn't seen it before so it must of been relatively new in. I fell in love with it right away.

Revlon Custom Eyes Palette in Naturally Glamourous


This palette contains all neutral colours and I've been using it daily. I love it and I'll be doing a review very soon.


Would you girls like to see a "What's in my Travel Bag?" post before I go on holidays??


Laura<3