Makeup Forever HD Review...

This post could fall into “My Hunt For The Perfect Foundation” series, but I wanted to review the foundation and the primer together. I bought these two products when I was in America in September, and I have used them for a bit now to really test them and see how they are for my skin.

I will start with the primer. I hadn’t planned on buying this but when I saw the travel size, I thought why not?? It would be rude not to! I am not the biggest fan of primers, I don’t love the texture of them. I just use Beauty Flash Balm by Clarins instead and I love the finish it gives my makeup.

The HD Microperfecting primer claims to nourish, moisturise and soften the skin. I don’t know if it has done any of that for my skin, but it certainly did do the job I had intended on it doing and that was to keep my makeup on all day. I cannot argue with that, my makeup didn’t budge at all when I was wearing this. I have to say though I am still unsure if I will be buying this product again, it’s not that it is a bad product, but as I said earlier, I don’t like the texture of the product on my skin.

As for the foundation, I feel quite the opposite! The thing I love most about it is the texture! This foundation is absolutely gorgeous; it feels so soft and light on your skin and glides on so evenly. The coverage is medium, but I find it gives me a flawless finish! The selection of colours is huge which is great news for any people out there with fair skin like me! With or without using a primer under this foundation, it still had the staying power and didn’t budge of my skin. I cannot fault this foundation. I have completely fallen in love with it and will be sure to be buying it again when it runs out.

I guess my hunt for the perfect foundation is over.....

Have you tried any products from the HD range?

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Holiday Haul...

After almost a month, I have finally got round to doing a post about my holiday makeup purchases! I got a good bit but I had planned on buying more! It just wasn’t that type of holiday though and unfortunately I didn’t get to Sephora as much as I had planned. I am still so so happy with everything I got and have loved using them all. I'm sorry about the colour in some the pictures, the lighting wasn't the best!

Let’s get started......

Carmex Healing Lotion. As you know I am a huge Carmex fan and when I seen the body range in Walgreens, I had to get something from it. I was worried about my luggage weight though and I could only but one! 

Even though I am looking for a new foundation, I still got my usual MAC because it was just so much cheaper! I will use it as I've said before, once I have tan on the colour is lovely. I never tried Strobe cream before and when I seen this travel size one, I had to pick it up! It is great I love it!

I had been keen to try the new Makeup Forever HD foundation for some time. I had planned on picking it up  when I was there. I really like this and I will write a review soon! I hadn't planned on getting the HD Primer but I couldn't resist! I'll also have a review from that coming up shortly. 

Urban Decay Glide On CheekTint in Indecent. I love this so much! I love cream blush and the subtle peachy glow of this is so gorgeous.  I love it.

Three lipsticks - from left to right

Mac - Speed Dial, a gorgeous bright pink!

Mac - Lustering, a sexy pinky/red.

Sephora - there was no name on this but if I remember right it is 21, a glossy peach.

MAC Eye Khol in Teddy. I love this so much! Teddy is a dark brown and gives a gorgeous smokey look but without using black. 

Clinique High Impact Mascara in Black. This mascara is gorgeous, and doesn't get the recognition it deserves as a volumising mascara. 

Finally some of my favorite purchases are my nail varnishes! 

From left to right:

Essie #884

American Apparel Nail Polish in Berry Peach

American Apparel Nail Polish in Dynasty

American Apparel Nail Polish in Rose Bowl

Wet N' Wild in Night Prowl 

That is the lot! I did a little cosmetic shopping at the weekend so I will have another haul later in the week!

How do you like my purchases??

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Makeup of the week: Lauren Conrad

My makeup of the week post is late I know, but I didn’t see too many pictures that I was loving this week. Well, that’s not completely true, I did see this picture of the gorgeous Lauren Conrad and I loved it but as the look Lauren is going for is so simple, I thought I would keep looking for something more dramatic. I saw a few pictures, but nothing I liked as much as Lauren.

The “barely there” makeup look is very in at the moment and Lauren is rocking it with ease. Only thing with this look is you need to be quiet confident with your skin. Lauren has gorgeous clear skin, with her LA glow all year round, so this look is perfect for her. Lauren has small smudge of liner on her eyes and some mascara, a gorgeous nude colour on her lips but it is the small bit of bronzer and highlighter on her cheeks that completes the look.

It’s Laurens hair though that I really love! A few weeks ago she tweeted  about dying the ends of her hair a peachy colour and she did it, if you look close enough you can see this in her bun – such a gorgeous look! I have to take a minute to comment on her outfit. So simple and yet perfect. She looks gorgeous and I have to say she can do no wrong in my eyes!    

What do you think of Laurens simple look?

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Halloween Makeup Ideas..

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. No reason really, I just never got into it. But for some reason this year, I'm loving everything about this time of year, I love when the evenings get darker and the winter woolies coming back out from the wardrobe. I am a winter girl for sure! I am even loving Halloween this year. So much so, I'm dedicating a post to it. 

Now I'm not the most creative when it comes to thinking of costumes and doing fancy dress makeups, so I decided to go through You Tube and get some videos for you from some of the best in makeup! I hope some of these videos will inspire you when you are thinking of your Halloween costume this  year.

First up is Sam from Pixiwoo doing a Catwoman  tutorial:

Next is Nic from Pixiwoo, doing a great Halloween Corpse Bride tutorial. This is amazing!

Next up is Goldiestarling doing a brilliant evil doll tutorial:

Tanya Burr (Pixi2woo) shows us how to do a Gothic Fallen Angel makeup:

Miss Jessica Harlow is amazing at all tutorials but I think Halloween tutorials is her forte! Check out these two amazing videos. The first shows us how to do a Jessica Rabbit and in the other Jessica does a Sexy Vampire look! 

Hope these videos gives you some ideas for Halloween this year!

What are you dressing up as this year?

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Golden Oldies Part 2

Hi lovelies..So it is Wednesday which means it is time for my second Golden Oldies post. If you missed my first one, you can click here to catch up.  This weeks golden oldie is the one and only Daily Microfoliant by Dermalogica.  Daily Microfoliant celebrated it’s tenth birthday last week, which is young compared to last weeks product Clarins Beauty Flash Balm, but ten years is still an awful long time in this industry and it is still considered one of the best exfoliators on the market. 

Typically, people use exfoliators twice a week but as the name suggests, this can be used daily. The product is a very fine white powder, which you add water to to create a paste and massage all over your face. This can be incorporated into your everyday cleansing routine without drying your skin. In fact, I have found, people that don’t use it everyday, don’t get the same results as someone who has. 

Daily Microfoliant has Colloidal Oatmeal in it, which is super hydrating for your skin! It also contains Salicylic acid which is doing the exfoliating, but combined with the other ingredients it doesn’t dry out your skin one little bit! The best ingredient in this product - I think anyway, is Rice Bran. Rice bran is the magic ingredient that brightens your skin and gives it a gorgeous glow. 

As you can guess, I am a big fan of this product and I always recommend it to people. 

A few little facts about Daily Microfoliant... It is the only exfoliator that can be used all over your face including the eye area. It is so gentle, using it around your eyes will not irritate you and is great for helping with dehydration around that delicate eye area.  Daily Microfoliant particles are perfectly rounded meaning they roll over your skin and do not agitate it at all. It is also great for using around your nose to help get rid of any them unwanted blackheads! 

I’d be popping this one on my christmas list if you haven’t already tried it. It gets 10 out of 10 from me. 

Have you tried Daily Microfoliant? 

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The hunt for the perfect foundation continues...

My hunt for the perfect foundation continues...and continues and continues! I think this may take a while! As I told you in a previous post, I am going to blog about my experience is finding the perfect foundation! If you missed that post you can click here.

I don’t know what I was expecting to be honest. I kind of stupidly thought I‘d find the perfect foundation after one go, maybe two at a push! I’m starting to think maybe my MAC Pro-long Wear is the closest to perfect I am going to get! But I still have quiet a few I want to get through before coming to that conclusion! 

Since my last post about this I have tried another MAC foundation and a Smashbox foundation. I tries MAC Full Coverage Foundation first of all. I like coverage and I had used this before and I couldn’t remember why I stopped using it. So I decided to give it another shot. When you say full coverage foundation to people, they instantly think “Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish” style compacts. But the MAC compact is not even close to that type of coverage! I actually quiet liked the finish it left on my skin, but the problem was, it just didn’t last! I was quiet surprised by this actually, I thought it would last all day! I’m pretty sure that is why I would have stopped using it the first time round! All is not lost though, it has come in handy as a concealer!

The other foundation I tried was Smashbox Camera Ready Compact. I didn’t like this one on my skin at all! I was a bit disappointed as a friend of mine wears it and it is gorgeous on her, but for me it was a no go! It simply didn’t sit right and it moved a lot on my skin lasting hardly half the day. 

And so my hunt continues. I am currently testing HD Foundation and so far so good but I don’t want to speak to soon! I’ll let you know how I am getting on with that very soon!

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Make-up Of The Week

It’s Friday again and so that means it is time for a Make-up Of The Week. Have to admit, I was struggling a little to pick someone for this because I wasn’t seeing a whole lot of amazing makeups BUT last night while watching The Soap Awards, I spotted Michelle Keegan and I thought she looked amazing!

Michelle picked up an award for Sexiest Female in soap! Of course there is no surprise here, she has won this award many times before and you just have to take one look at her to see why, she is gorgeous. Michelle was wearing a beautiful gold sequins floor length dress, one which not just anyone could pull off, and later changed into a gorgeous black dress again looking stunning!

But it was her makeup that I loved. Michelle has gorgeous skin naturally and her foundation is sheer, and simple giving her a very subtle glow. The eyes have gone a little more dramatic with dark liner and false lashes and what looks like quiet a sheer red lip colour. Michelle has bronzer and highlighter rather than blush, which enhances that natural glow of her skin.

I think she looks lovely, I love that her makeup is so simple, yet very sexy. It’s no wonder she won Sexiest Female!

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Golden Oldies Part 1

                                            www.newwebstar.com

There is no denying that there are tons of amazing beauty products available and there are constantly improvements with science and technology and therefore products are getting bigger and better! I can’t deny this and I’m not, but sometimes I do think we forget about some of the older products. Some of which are little gems and no matter what new developments there is, will always be little gems! I’m going to do a series (if you like this) dedicated to the golden oldies of the beauty world. Skincare and makeup products that have been around for years and still going strong!

The first product I’m going to do is the ultimate golden oldie, Clarins Beauty Flash Balm. Beauty Flash Balm is a whopping 31 years old!  The original primer, it was once one the most wanted products in the cosmetic industry!  Beauty Flash Balm revives and brightens the skin and can be used under makeup as a primer or simply on its own to give your skin a glow – unlike other primers.  This was one of the first high end skincare products I ever bought and has been a staple in my collection ever since! I have tried a lot of the other primers available on the market and I have never found one that both keeps my make up on AND keeps my skin looking fresh and glowing.

Clarins extended the Beauty Flash range after the success of the balm and launched Eye Revive Beauty Flash.  This is one of my favourite eye creams of all time! It completely brightens the skin around your eyes and makes me look like I’ve never had problems sleeping – yes seriously! It is simply amazing and does not get the credit it deserves. 

What products do you think are golden oldies??

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September Loves...

Firstly I want to apologise for being so late with this post! But hey, better late than never?? One of the reasons I am late with it is because I was away on a lovely holiday and I only got back on the 2^nd of October, then I has a bad case of the holiday blues and was feeling sorry for myself! So this post was destined to be late no matter what!

My list for September is actually quiet short because I was away, therefore I didn’t try too many new products, so most the products here are regulars and were staples in my holiday toiletries. 

I was loving my Benefit Waterproof Bad Gal Mascara. It was so hot while we were in Orlando, I knew normal mascara would NOT last on my lashes and I wasn’t really up for rocking the panda eye look. I tried Waterproof Bad Gal before and I knew it worked so without any hesitation, I popped down to Benefit to pick up a new one before jetting off. I am so glad I did!

I love to paint my nails and I always change the colour of my nails! But for going away, I knew I wanted to paint my nails a bright summery colour. I opted for Attitude Tutti Frutti! I brought other colours with me so I could mix it up, but I didn’t change them at all! I just loved how summery the colour was!

The perfume I was loving was Gucci Envy Me. I first got this perfume 6 years ago and I love it. It has always been my favourite but they recently stopped making it, which made me so so sad! Luckily, for me though, my sister seen a bottle not so long ago and picked it up for me! I have been using it since and brought it away with me rekindling my love for it!

I used Aussi Three Minute Miracle Conditioner  a lot in September! My hair has just been so dry recently and I didn’t fancy getting it cut! I knew I needed some serious TLC so I bought Ausi to give my hair a boost! I also would have struggled without my Moroccan Oil this month (well every month)! I applied it after using Aussi and between both, my hair felt amazing!! Moroccan Oil also totally calmed my hair down when I was away as the heat gave it a mind of its own!

Another  month is over and so another list of my “Loves”. I bought so much while I was away so I can promise you, although this months post may be short, next month is going to be very long and jam packed!

What were you loving in September?

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A plan of action for Bella Beauty!

Hey there fellow beauty lovers...

I wanted to write a quick post to let you all know what is going to be happening with Bella Beauty. I started this blog a little while ago because I felt I had something to contribute to the world of beauty & blogging, and I still do. However, I think I was a little eager in jumping on the blogging band wagon and I didn't give my blog the time or thought it deserves. I was just dying to get out there and start blogging, and I lost sight of the main reason I wanted to do it and that is to share some the knowledge I have learnt in the beauty industry! I have been thinking a lot over the last week or so about what direction I want to take with Bella Beauty. 

 I have come to the conclusion that, rather then simply do random posts throughout the week, I want to try a series or two to keep a little bit of structure but also to try make Bella Beauty better!

So....I plan to do a couple of series over the next few weeks and see how they go. Some will be simple "Loves" and some new ones thrown in the mix as well. I am also going to do a series giving advice on different skin issues and reviews of some of the latest spa treatments available. 

I feel happy I have some direction and a better plan of action. I hope everyone will like this more organised version of Bella Beauty! 

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I am extremely lucky that myself and nobody from my family has been affected by breast cancer. I have seen the effects the disease has on families and seen how heartbreaking it can be.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and it is a chance for everyone to do their bit for breast cancer research. 

Many Estée Lauder companies are taking part by turning some of their most popular products pink and a huge amount of the cost going towards Breast Cancer research. 

Some brands include Clinique, Aveda, Bobbi Brown and Bumble & Bumble. For more information on which products you can click here. 

As part of the latest campaign, the Estée Lauder Companies are lighting 200 global landmarks pink this October. This is a “symbol of hope in the fight against breast cancer”.

It doesn’t end there though, they want to turn the whole world pink with the help of you, me, your friends & family, my friends & family and everybody in the world. On their Facebook page, we are all encouraged to leave messages of hope, which will help to light up your corner of the world pink on The Estée Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Illumination Map.

Ladies, we all know what we have to do, every little bit helps in fighting this horrible disease. 

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Got a case of the holiday blues...

As the plane lands back into Dublin, it was a dull morning and raining heavily...post holidays blues set in instantly...please please bring me back to sunny Orlando. The thoughts of going back to normality really are hard and knowing the holiday I spent the last five months planning has come to an end makes me feel so incredibly sad. 

Orlando Florida was the most amazing holiday I have ever had. It was packed with fun and action and I got to share it with my gorgeous boyfriend. Just thinking about it makes me smile...but Orlando is no more. Adrenaline pumped days on roller coasters are gone, chill out days by the pool are no more, meeting Mickey Mouse in Disney and being a complete kid is over, no more gorgeous cocktails and amazing food...

Anyone who knows me will know my entire life has been taken over by my holiday to Orlando. I wanted to go for years so when my boyfriend and I decided to book it, I couldn’t contain my excitement. Im not exaggerating when I say I spent that entire time planing out my outfits and, saving all my money, working out to get bikini ready and dreaming about what would happen when over there. I think I may have gotten a little too excited because now I’m home and nothing to look forward to I feel extremely sad and down in the dumps! 

I know this isn’t beauty related but thought I needed to explain my absence from blogging and Twitter.  So I have a few photos to show you all where I’ve been and tomorrow beauty blogs will resume...promise! 

Anyone else suffering from holiday blues? 

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