Time for Change

Hey Ladies, I hope you're all keeping well and had a great weekend. This post is something a little bit different for me, but there is so many different thoughts floating around my head at the minute that I had try to put them down somewhere. So why not on my tiny tiny Internet place?
For the last while now, I've noticed a change in myself. I'm not the happy go lucky person I used to be, and on occasion my boyfriend has also said it to me. This in itself would be worrying if I hadn't lost one of the most important people in my life last August, my amazing grandfather. I saw him and my grandmother every day because they only lived around the corner, and I'm so grateful because thanks to being so near to them, I have some fantastic memories that noone can ever take from me. Death has hit my family hard having lost 2 brothers, and 2 cousins on the same side, and I was a lot younger at the time, so it has taken until now for me to fully understand the devastation loosing someone special can have on a person. Dealing with his loss is difficult enough, but without going into too much detail on here, my circumstances in life with regard to work have changed. I'm not working at the minute, and the job I was previously in was part time, its still hard to adjust from getting up to go to work to getting up and not knowing what I'm going to do with my day. At the start it was like a holiday, but now its been a few weeks its changed. I've started to get very fed up and at times I've ended up in tears feeling very low and down in the dumps. Its hard, so many of my friends have fantastic jobs, my brother is studying for a great career in Physiotherapy, and at times I find myself looking at them and thinking 'what's wrong with me', or 'why can't I be like that'. And before you say it, no I'm not jealous, my brother has come through a lot and worked his backside off to get to where he is, and I'm so proud of him for it, and likewise my friends are the same, so I suppose sometimes I just feel a little left behind or lost. Which I think is my problem right there. Comparing myself to everyone else. I am me, and only me can be me! I need to stop comparing myself to each and every other person out there and realise I can't and won't ever be like them, because I'm Alisha, and I've to lead the path that's right for me. I've realised its time to change my 'Negative Nelly' attitude. Instead of looking at the things I don't have, its time to look at what I do have. I've a fantastic family, who I love to pieces, I've a loving and supportive boyfriend, great friends, and a roof over my head. There's so many people out there who would only love to be right now, and here I am complaining about things I don't need to. Instead I'm going to have a more positive attitude to life. If I'm not happy, its only me who can change it. And it starts today! I've signed up for a Distance Learning course, I've this little space on the interweb which I'm going to put my heart and soul into while I have the time, and I'm going to figure out who I really am, and what I want from my life. (That sounds awful corny doesn't it)
But to end, a positive quote!

Thanks for reading everybody,
Alisha xxx

Nails of the Week

After having my nails a dull and rather boring grey colour for a night out last week, I decided I wanted to go for something bright and a bit more cheery seen as its Spring, (seeing today's weather though we could all be forgiven for thinking otherwise). I went for a look in my nail polish drawer to see what stood out and I fancied something with a bit of glitter. And then I found a white Rimmel polish at the back of the drawer that hadn't even been opened, so I decided to give both a go together and see how they fared out.

 The white polish I used was one of Rimmel's Lasting Finish Polishes in London Cloud. I know white nail polish isn't the most opaque of colours, but it took me 3  coats to get something that looked half decent. The effort! The glitter polish is the same formula but its in the shade Disco Ball. I don't think this is actually meant as a top coat, but it would take a lot of work  and a few coats to get it up to a decent coverage. I decided just to go with one coat, which resulted in fairly sparce glitter on the nail, which I was OK with. However it took me an age to get the lid off the glitter polish, and resulted in big nail marks in the polish on my nails  on my left hand... Some day I will get to do my nails without ruining them in 5 minutes! I was pleased with how they turned out, but 3 coats is a hell of a lot of work, and ain't nobody got time for that! I was also less than impressed when they had chipped by the afternoon the following day!! :( Next time I shall remember to use a top coat!

 

What are you all sporting on your nails at the moment?

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx

Fiver Friday

Every so often a product comes along that really makes me wonder how I lived without it before, because it makes life so much easier! I'm a nail polish fiend, in fact I don't even know how many I have, and truth be told I'm afraid to count. For ages I'd been looking for a good nail polish remover, that didn't break the bank but actually did the job it was supposed to.
Well finally I found it. And before you say it, yes I know how familiar it is to another well known product! ;)

Its Primarks (Penneys to us Irish Ladies), instant nail polish remover. The idea is the same as the one that's known and loved by many beauty bloggers across the globe, but this works just as well! The idea is simple. The pot contains a sponge soaked in nail polish remover with a hole in the middle. You put your finger into the pot, twist it around a couple of times, take out your finger and even the toughest nail polish is gone completely! Its so simple! But its only 2 EURO! Yes you read that right, I can't believe how well it works for something so inexpensive.
 I have tried one of these before from a discount shop, and there was barely any remover on the sponge, and it just scraped my nails and it was crap. But you can tell once you put your finger in that there is plenty of product in there.
For a price like this, you can even pick up a nail polish or two to go with it! :)

Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

How I Conceal and Correct

It would be great if we could all wake up each morning looking absolutely perfect, but for most of us this is not the case. I don't know about everyone else, but in the last couple of years the pores on my nose seem to have got significantly larger, and there seems to be a lot more redness on and around my nose than there used to be. So much so that no matter what primer or foundation I use it still seems to shine through. I'm used to light to medium coverage bases, and my skin is generally quite clear, so I'm not willing to switch to a fuller coverage base just to cover up a bit of redness in one particular area. If it was all over my face, or I had a lot of blemishes, then it may be something I'd consider. For now, I've figured out what works for me at the moment, so until it stops to work I'm going to stick to it like glue.
The two main area's I always conceal and correct no matter what are my nose and under my eyes.

Nose: I've mentioned the problem I have with my nose already so I won't dwell on it again, but I'll just explain what I do to fix it. If you're familiar with the Colour Wheel, you'll know that red is a primary colour, and green is its complementary colour because its across from it on the wheel. So if you put green on top of red, it will cancel it out altogether. So if you have problems with redness on your skin, if you use a green tone concealer on these red areas, they will eliminate the redness. The one I currently use is the green shade from the Catrice 'All Round Concealer' palette. This palette is so handy as it contains a green, pink (to counteract dark circles,) and 3 beige shades to suit differing skin tones. Its really inexpensive aswell which is always a bonus! I apply the concealer to my nose with my finger, and then blend it in with my Real Techniques Flat Foundation brush as its a middling size so it blends in the product quite nicely. The product itself is also really creamy so its easy to work with. And voila, redness is gone!

                                                    Maybelline's The Eraser (mine is disgusting and empty)
Under Eyes: The reason I conceal my under area is for the same reason as most others, dark circles! For most people, the area under there eyes will be of a purple/blue hue. If you look to the Colour Wheel to see the complimentary colour this, you'll see its yellow. Henceforth, a good colour to disguise the bags under the eyes is yellow. The area under the eye can be more difficult to find a concealer for because if you choose something to thick, it'll end up cakey and sitting in the lines around the eye. A more liquid concealer is perfect for this job as it blends in easier. I know a lot of people use Mac's Pro Long Wear Concealer for under the eyes, and I am hoping to pick it up when I go away, but for now I'm using two others. (At least I was until it one of those ran out).Those two are the Maybelline The Eraser, and Wet n Wilds Cover All Concealer.  Unfortunately I've ran out of the Maybelline one, and its 11 euro here, and something like 8.99 dollars, so naturally enough I'm going to stock up when I get over there instead of buying it here. ;) In fairness though it is a pretty good product. It comes with a little sponge applicator on the top, which some people don't like but I wasn't bothered about either way. Its a nice light liquid product, so it blends like a dream, it counteracts the darkness under my eyes, and brightens the area up all at the same time.

Until I get to New York though I'm going to use the Wet n Wild Cover All Concealer, which I picked up partly out of curiosity, it was only 2.99 or so, so it wasn't going to break the bank if it wasn't good. However though I was really impressed. Its another liquid product, but its a little bit thicker in consistency than the Maybelline one, but not so thick that it cakes and creases. In fact it blends really easily, and it actually offers more coverage than The Eraser. After using my concealer of choice I then set it with a powder, the one I'm currently using is the Rimmel Stay Matte.

Lastly, for the odd time I do get a whopper of a spot, I don't tend to wear a lot of make up as it just makes it more noticeable in my opinion. If I'm going somewhere though and can't go Au natural, the concealer of choice is Catrice's Camouflage Cream which is comparable from what I hear to the  Bobbi Brown corrector, accept this stuff is only just over 5 euro if my memory serves me correct. Its amazing, like its industrial strength stuff! It covers anything, and I mean anything! I've previously had scars on my hands from being pure clumsy but after dabbing a bit of this on it you wouldn't know they were even there! It is a very thick concealer though, so it wouldn't be suitable for the likes of under your eyes, but I find it works a dream for spot concealing, and just literally applying the tiniest amount on the pesky buggers!

Sorry this post was so long winded everyone, I didn't realise I used that many concealers on my mug!
Do you use as many as this? If so, which ones?

Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

Catrice Creme Fresh S/S 2014

Catrice is one of my absolute favourite make up brands of all time, and it's not hard to understand why. Great quality products at great prices! At any given stage there is a few Catrice bits in my every day make up bag.
Another thing Catrice are great at is releasing frequent limited edition collections, with there being a new one every couple of months or so.
This newest Spring collection is one that actually has me quite excited I must admit!
Beautiful washes of pastel with a hint of 60's style to it.

There is something for everyone in this collection. It is made up of:

• Creamy Powder Eyeshadow's
• Graduation Blush
• Lip Balms
• Ultimate Nail Lacquer
• Hair, Lash and Brow Colour!

I have to say the Hair Lash and Brow Colour is probably the most interesting thing, its just something that Catrice haven't done before. However I think it will appeal to a lot of people as hair chalks and adding bright colours to the hair is something that has become very popular over the last few months or so.

I'm a bit of a blush hoarder so I think I may have to pick that up, and possibly one or two of the nail polishes.

This collection will be available from January to March 2014 in pharmacies and Penneys.

Anythin here that you all would like to try? 

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx

Make Up shopping in Penneys!

I have been known on an occasion or two to drop a fair few euro in Penney's on any given day. Since Christmas though I'm very proud of myself as I've been very restrained! I'm trying very hard to save my money for New York as I want to be able to buy a few bits knowing how hard I saved for it.
On a trip in to Penney's recently I wandered over to the make up section which is my usual haunt and I  was super excited to see a new line of make up from Penney's themselves! The brand is called 'PS Love' and comes in super cute black and gold packaging. It looks a lot more expensive than it actually is! They had a fair few bits ranging from nail polish to eye liner to lipgloss, there's so much selection! I also saw on a video somewhere on YouTube that there is also 2 eyeshadow palettes available in England, but I didn't see them in the store when I was in. They were something crazy like 2.50 in pounds, and they looked so pretty! I really want to try them so I shall be keeping my eyes peeled!

In the end I decided to try a lipstick from the PS Love range, and a couple of bits from the standard make up that Penney's seem to have all the time.
The packaging is rather impressive, and its easy to see what the shade is because the packaging contains the colour on the bottom! There's no fancy names or anything, but I don't really mind that.
I picked up a light pink shade, which looks really natural with one coat, but it can be built up to a more pastel kind of look. I tried it last night, and after applying a heavy dose of lipbalm to my poor chapped lips, its actually really comfortable on! Obviously it doesn't last too long, but at 2 euro, would you really complain about that?

I then picked up another lipstick and a lipstain from the normal range. The packaging of either of these isn't great, but again at 2 euro each I wouldn't be put out. The colour of the lipstick is a slightly metallic purple, and its a sheerer lipstick than the previous one, but it can be built up to your desired coverage.
The lipstain is a beautiful coral colour, and I can't wait to try this out, as tried a lipstain before from NYC which I loved!

In the picture above from left to right we have the PS Love lipstick, then the standard Penney's lipstick and the lipstain. The stain is a completely different colour to the packaging! So not impressed with that.. :(


Have you tried any of them?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

Dandelion Blush Review

If I had to pick my favourite make up product of all time it would be without a doubt blusher. I just love how a simple sweep of a certain colour over the apples of the cheeks can change a look completely and instantly make you look more alert and fresh faced. In fact I love blush so much that I have an insane amount of it in my make up collection. I am yet to hit pan or anywhere near it on any blush I own, in fact, I don't think I ever will I have that many of them.
So even with the insane amount I have, there's only one that I have been reaching for on a daily basis over the last few months, and it is Benefit's Dandelion Blush. I was in Dublin before Christmas and decided to treat myself to a 'Box O' Powder' from the quirky high end brand, and one of the girls with me was raving about Coralista, so I was originally going for that. However, after telling this to the make up artist, he gave me a disapproving look, and said 'not for you love, you're far too pale' and recommended Dandelion instead.
Me being one to do what I'm told, brought it back to good old Galway with me..... But what did I think? Let's find out!

As you can see from the picture, it comes in the same cute packaging like a lot of Benefit's products. Its in a light green box, with a picture of a cute little dandelion on the front. (Anyone else used to pick these and pretend they were fairies and blow all the seeds away in the wind?) It contains 7 grammes of product, which from what I'm aware is in line with most of the other Box O Powder products.

All the Benefit boxed products also come with a little brush like this one in the picture. I honestly can't tell you what it's like because I never use any other brush bar my trusty Real Techniques Blush brush! But still, its a nice touch. I was actually watching Katie Dee on Youtube, and she actually recommended using these little brushes for contouring. So that's an idea!
Benefit describe it as a 'brightening face powder that takes you're complexion from dull to radiant with buildable colour and just a hint of shimmer'.
Its a really natural but pretty pink colour, which does have a slight shimmer in it, but nothing too crazy, it just makes you look like you have a natural glow, which is always good!
A little does go a long way with this though, you really don't need too much of it to get effective colour payoff. If you did use too much of this I think you're cheeks would end up looking more on the sweaty side of things as opposed to glowy!

It was really hard to actually try and get a good picture of this on the cheeks, but I think you can see the slight pink colour, and the hint of shimmer in there too. Before I bought this I wouldn't wear highlighter on a daily basis, but this does the work of one anyway, so if you're someone who does like to use highlighter everyday, this is a time saver as it takes that extra step out of your routine and gives you an extra few minutes in the leaba, which I don't think anyone would refuse!
Over all I have to say I am really impressed with this little box of loveliness. I held off buying one of Benefit's blushes for so long, mainly because they are pricey, but I have a feeling this will last for ages so I don't have to worry about running out of it any time soon!
Dandelion is available from Benefit Counters priced at 34 euro.

What do you guys think of Benefit?
Have you tried any of the products?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx