Lush Mask of Magnaminty Review

A couple of posts back I mentioned that I got my first mask from Lush while shopping in Dublin a while back :-) I've had it a month now and I feel like I've been using it long enough to give a decent review on it :-D 

I got the larger 12ml self preserving tub for €12.95. It says that it lasts up to 4 months and doesn't have to be kept in the fridge like some of the other ones that are non self preserving. You can also get smaller tubs for a cheaper price, and you can get small samples of most things in Lush too ;-) 

My Skin

I used this mask 2-3 times a week for the whole month of June, and it has really changed my skin. I'll just mention that I have seriously combination skin, oily T-zone with dry patches on the chreks, and prone to the odd break out here and there. I also have some scarring from previous breakouts mainly on the jaw area. 

The Ingredients

The mask itself contains mint and honey, which is known for its anti bacterial properties. These 2 ingredients are great for breakouts! The mint gives it a soothing feeling on the skin also. 

It also contains lots of natural seeds which give the mask a chunky look on the face, but are fab when washing it off as you get a really good exfoliation going to get rid of any dry or dead skin cells :-) 

Plus for any people out there who are against the microbead, this mask is perfect as the seeds in it are completely natural :-) It's also worth mentioning that Lush is a company that is completely against animal testing! 

I know it looks gross but trust me, it's amazing! :-D 

Oh and another major plus is that it smells like mint choc ice cream! It's a really nice natural smell though and not too over powering! 

This mask can also be used on the body too, not just the face #justsaying ;-) 

My Opinion

The seeds have done a great job at taking away my dry skin in my dry areas and has also done wonders at reducing the look of my scarring on my jaw line, while the mint and honey reduce any current breakouts I may have at the time so this mask is an all rounder for me! I find it perfect for all of my skin issues so if your dry, oily, are prone to breakouts or are acne prone, or maybe all of the above, I would definitely recommend this mask to you! 

I'm sorry I don't have any before and after skin pics for you guys, I honestly didn't expect such drastic changes in such a short amount of time!! You're just going to have to trust me on this one, this mask is an absolute keeper ;-) 

Remember you can always get a little sample in Lush before you take the plunge and buy a whole tub ;-) I hope you guys enjoyed this review and if any of you guys have tried this mask let me know what you think in the comments below :-) 

Love & Hugs, Lora xo  

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How to Organise & Display Jewellery

Over the next few weeks I will be re-organising my room one area at a time. I will show you guys my before and after pics and show you how I decided to organise and display my things :-) 

If your room/wardrobe is as crazy as mine then it is best to start with one small area at a time so that you don't overwhelm yourself! I decided to start with my jewellery :-) 

I have quite a bit of jewellery but I also had this massive jewellery box that took up so much of my cupboard space. I decided to get rid of it and make the most of the space I had :-) 

Here is the before picture... It's pretty crazy!

 

1⃣ The first thing I did was remove everything and give the area a good scrub. I then organised all of the items I took out into piles like KEEP, DONATE, and TRASH. 

I organised my keep pile into sections of bracelets, rings, earrings and necklaces. 

2⃣ To display my necklaces I hammered some push pins into the wall of my cupboard using a hard glass foundation bottle! You can use a hammer if you like but if your using a make-shift hammer make sure it's heavy and string enough to be used as a hammer and that  it won't break on you! 

Hammering the pins in is definitely the hardest and most time consuming part of this organisation, but so worth it! It completely frees up the floor space of the cupboard and also both organises and displays your necklaces at the same time ;-) 

I staggered the push pins on one side so that they were not completely in a line so that I could see each necklace. This is where I put my chunkier statement necklaces. 

On the other side I kept the pins in a line and hung my longer and delicate necklaces from here. I also added 3 pins in a vertical line to display my longer earrings, because I literally only have three!!

3⃣ To display my rings I used a cardboard dish that I got when I purchased a notebook, but you can use any dish or even a frame that you like. 

I separated my rings into silver and gold and put my midis at the front and my more chunky rings at the back :-) 

4⃣ To display my bracelets I used a cup and saucer that I got for Valentine's Day that I find way to cute to use!! 

I put some of my less used bracelets into the cup and put my only 2 watches on top! I draped my other bracelets around the cup and on the saucer. I love the way this looks!! 

5⃣ I also used push pins and a string tied around the pins to display my sunglasses. Make sure the string is strong enough to hold all of your sunglasses and that you tie it nice and tight to the push pins :-) 

6⃣ I added in some of my necklace boxes at the back that contain my expensive jewellery and some sentimental bits and behind those I put my earrings because I possibly only wear earrings like once in a blue moon! 

This is my final organisational display for all my jewellery :-) 

I love it! It's a definite better use of the space I have and now I can see everything I own clearly :-) 

I hope you guys enjoyed this first instalment of my journey to a more organised room. Don't forget to leave a comment below with your own tips and tricks for organising jewellery, I'd love to hear your ideas :-) 

Love & Hugs, Lora xo 

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How to Make Your Makeup Last Longer

It can be difficult to get your make up to stay in place all day at the best of times, never mind when the weather gets hotter! Here are a few tips and tricks to staying flawless and shine free all day :-) 

You can use each of these ideas combined if you want to or if you are prone to getting super shiny throughout the day, or you can opt for just one or two if you feel the need, remember these are suggestions and you should always go for what is best for your skin type and skin needs :-) 

1⃣ Primer!

Always begin with a primer! A mattifying primer like the Loreal Infallible Mattifying Base will work at keeping the shine at bay. If you have larger pores you can always opt for a silicone based primer like the Benefit Porefessional or the Loreal Resurfacing primer, this will fill in the look of larger pores as well as keep you shine free all day :-) 

 

2⃣ Matte Foundation!

Applying a matte foundation will stop you from looking shiny and ensure that the oil stays at bay! A fab drugstore option is the Loreal Infallible 24H Matte Foundation which works wonders for oily/combination skin :-) This foundation also has a super light colour option that's perfect for my pale Irish ladies ;-) 

3⃣Powder!

Setting your foundation with a powder will ensure a matte finish. I find that the Rimmel Stay Matte powder is one of the best drugstore powders for keeping the shine at bay ;-) 

I'm currently using the Clear Complexion Clarifying powder also by Rimmel and as you can see I have seriously hit pan on this one, it works just as well as the Stay Matte powder and is perfect if you are prone to the odd breakout :-) 

4⃣ Setting Spray!

You can apply a setting spray on top of your powder or use it instead of a powder, whatever you feel necessary for your particular skin! :-) I have combination skin so when my skin is looking a bit dry I tend to skip the powder and just apply a mattifying setting spray as powder can sometimes cling to dry patches! The setting spray I use is the NYX Matte Finish Setting Spray, another great affordable drugstore product ;-) 

5⃣ Blotting Sheets!

Another great idea for illiminating shine throughout the day is oil blotting sheets. These are thin sheets of paper that you can pat onto any oily areas on your skin to immediately lift the oil off of your skin without affecting your make up, which is always a plus ;-) 

The blotting sheets I use are the Catrice Mattifying Oil Control Sheets and they are super affordable and work perfectly well :-) 

I hope you guys find these tips and tricks helpful, let me know down below in the comments if you have any more ideas on how to stay shine free all day, I would love to hear from you :-) 

Love & Hugs, Lora xo 

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What's in My Summer Make up bag!

With the hotter weather fast approaching I thought it would be fun to show you guys what's in my Summer make up bag! Everything you see here is what I use to keep any shine under control as well as to keep me looking like a bronzed and glowing goddess! ;-)

Firstly I though I would show you my makeup bag. I got this in a magazine last summer and it's the perfect size for all my necessities :-)

The first thing I use to keep my skin matte and under control is the Porefessional Primer by Benefit. This is just my third sample of this primer, I will one day buy the full product but my tiny samples just last me so long!! It fills in my pores and keeps me shine and oil free all day. You can check out my review for it here ;-)

The foundation I find really good for keeping me matte all day is the Rimmel 25hr Lasting Finish foundation. This stuff lasts all day for me and doesn't break up on my skin. It's also very lightweight for such a full coverage foundation, and it never clings to any dry patches. It also gives a really dewy look to the skin when its not set with powder :-) And the best part is, it comes with SPF 20 ;)

Instead of powder I use the NXY matte setting spray for a more dewy finish. It keeps my skin from looking oily but it still has a bit of life to it and some dewiness. This trick works wonders for my dry patches as powder tends to cling to it and make it look 10 times worse!

For Bronzer I tend to gravitate to Benefit's Hoola as it is a perfect not-to-warm, not-to-cool brown tone that looks great on light skin tones. The one I own is a sample size and it has still lasted me so long. See, I haven't even hit pan yet in the 6 months I've had it ;-)

To hight light I use the hight light shade from the Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 palette. I find the slight shimmery glow it leaves perfect for my skin tone. I also use the brown tones in this palette as a light crease colour for my no-make up make up days. So I get great use out of this palette!

My got to mascara in the summer is the Essence Get Big Lashes mascara in waterproof. Its fantastic at holding a curl in your lashes and I never get any fall out with it. And the brush is MASSIVE, which I always look for in a mascara :-)

For lips I either use my Nivea Raspberry lip balm or a nude/neutral shade like Pure Hollywood by Anastasia Beverly Hills (you can check out my review for this here) or number 03 Come Naturally by Essence.

My brow go to product for the Summer is Rimmel's Brow This Way. It gives such a natural tint to the brow hairs and holds them in place all day. It also never smudges or falls out so for such a cheap price it's absolutely amazing :-)

That's everything I keep in my make up bag over summer. You may have noticed that I didn't add blush, I can literally count the amount of times I've worn blush in the last few years! I'm just so not into blush, I only own 2 blushes!! :-) I hope you guys enjoyed this post and are having a fabulous week ;-) Feel Free to comment below with your go-to summer products!

Love & Hugs, Lora xo

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Birthday Haul! New Look, Forever 21, & Lush

I went clothes shopping in Dublin this week, something I haven't done in sooo long! So naturally, I decided to treat myself ;-)

First I went to Forever 21. I forgot how amazing this shop is, fab clothes for such an affordable price!
This is what I got...

I got these for €15, but you can get them on the website for €10 here ;-)
This is how I will be styling it.

Top & Jewlwery: Penneys/Primark

I also got these jeans for €16, you can get something similar on the website here :-)

I also decided to style this with a white top. I'm obsessing over the colour white at the minute!

Top & Sunglasses: Penneys/Primark

Necklace: eBay

The shoes! I love these so much, I haven't worn them out yet but they are so stylish yet so practical! The wedge flatform will be soo easy to walk in and spend all night in :-) I already know I will get so much wear out of these bad boys! These are €26, and you can get them on the website here :-)

Moving onto New Look, I got this gorge baby pink oversized crop top for €14.99.
I also fell in love with these high waist blonde denim shorts (€22.99) and I though they would go perfectly with the baby pink top :-)

Sunglasses: Etsy.com

Necklace: Primark/Penneys

Watch: eBay

Finally, I had my first trip to Lush this week too! I got the self preserving Mask of Magnaminty and I'm already obsessing over it. I've used it 3 times this week and plan to do a review for you guys when its nearly empty :-)

That's everything I got on my birthday shopping trip to Dublin. Hope you guys enjoyed this post and have a fab weekend :-)

Love & Hugs, Lora xo

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Outfit & Make up of the Night - My 21st Birthday

So this week I celebrated my 21st birthday. I had the most amazing time and I still can't get over how kind everyone is :-)

Naturally, I decided to throw a big party for my big birthday and I thought some of you might like to see my outfit and make up of the night for possible inspiration or just plain interest ;-) 

This is my outfit ;-) A gorge midi off the shoulder dress and a pair of red T bar heels with a gold skull pendant on the toe! LOVE!

Dress: Boutique of Molly

Shoes: Everythig5pounds.com

I wanted to do something a little different for my eye make up so I played around with a few things and this is what I came up with ;-) Sorry the liner is so bad, this pic was actually taken at the end of the night! It lasted well I must say :-)

Products used: 

Eyes: Urban Decay Naked Basics 2,

Collections Fast Stroke liquid Liner,

Front Cover gold eye glitter,

Essence Big Lash waterproof Mascara,

Brows: Elf Studio Eyebrow Kit in Dark Brown,

& Rimmel Brow This Way.

I also used my Morphe cream contour/concealer palette and Loreal Infallible Foundation with the NYX matte setting spray, and Benefit High Beam to highlight.  

I have Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipstick in Pure Hollywood on my lips, which I did a review for here ;-)
By the way, this selfie was taken in my PJs before I got dressed, in case anyone was wondering why my outfit looks different ;-)

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday over on Instagram and Twitter, Love you guys! 

If anyone would like a tutorial on this look or a review of any of the products mentioned don't hesitate to ask :-) 

Hope you guys enjoyed this post and has a fabulous weekend :-) 

Love & Hugs, Lora xo 

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