Review: Lidl's Miomare Brushes

I was having a look around Lidl as I do every Friday night (wild, I know) and came across some makeup brushes. I assumed they'd be really poor quality, but I can't walk past a brush without some investigation. I found one that had been removed from the packaging and I'm not sure I've ever felt anything softer in my life. I ended up buying three different brushes. None of which I needed, but when has that ever stopped any of us? 

I bought an angled face brush, a powder brush, and an eye brush. 

The angled brush is soft, as are all the brushes, but it's also short and dense enough to hold its shape. I find this perfect for contouring. I had been using the Real Techniques Contour Brush and the Sephora Angled Blush brush but I found the Contour Brush too small to be effective; it took more work than needed, and the Angled Blush brush was too big and too soft; it didn't apply enough product, and there wasn't enough control. This is exactly like the Sephora brush, but shorter and slightly smaller. It's by no means stiff, but it's dense enough that you can push it up against the underside of your cheekbone to contour, and rather than splaying, it softly pushes the colour on to your skin exactly where you want it. It's also fluffy enough to be able to blend with it too so you don't need to switch to another brush. Perfect! 

The powder brush is wide, and flat. I would best describe it as a slightly narrower, slightly thicker version of a fan brush. Or like a non-angled, longer version of the angled brush. I think the small surface area on the top would make this annoying to powder all over with, but you could certainly use it for powdering specific areas like the T-zone. I find the way it's relatively thin for a powder brush makes it good for applying powder to smaller areas like the cheeks or around the hairline, so I use this for bronzer. 

The eye brush, although it's nothing special, is quite nice. It's a double ended brush, and both sides are the same shape, but one is smaller. It's very similar to the smaller end of the brushes that come with the Urban Decay Naked palettes. It's great for packing shadow on to the lid and my Urban Decay brushes are somehow never clean. 

I've washed them a few times and they held up really well. I think the angled and powder brushes cost €2.99 each and the eye brush was €1.99. The only problem is that Lidl only stocks their special products occasionally so they're not there at the moment, but keep an eye out for them, they're a great bargain. 

Review: Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm

Due to a combination of far too many drying lipsticks and bad weather my lips have been in desperate condition lately. Even the lip balms that usually rescue my lips weren't doing the job so something had to be done. I then saw Nuxe Reve de Miel on cloud10beauty.com. I'd read many good things about it on various blogs so I decided to give it a go. Also, it's French, and the French do really good skincare. I'd heard it was expensive and was prepared to shell out up to €20, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was only €11.50. 

It says on the packaging that the scent is grapefruit, but it reminds me exactly of the smell of orange essence. Not a real orange, but definitely citrusy. 

The consistency is the strangest I've ever come across. It calls itself a lip balm but I think to describe it as a paste would be more accurate. It's a muted, dull yellow colour, and it's thick and opaque. Sometimes when you put a lot on you feel tiny lumps in it. It's not shiny at all like most lip balms, and it leaves a matte finish rather than glossy. When I first tried to swirl my finger on the top nothing happened and I thought it was going to be a dud product, but once you get through the initial layer it's much easier to apply. And it's even easier when it's slightly warm, as it usually is in my handbag or pocket.

I haven't exfoliated my lips since I started using this because I haven't felt the need to. It's like it moisturises so deeply that the dead tissue just can't stick to the lips. I put some on before I go to bed, and when I wake up I wipe my lips with a tissue, put some more on before I start my makeup and my lips are ready to go when it gets to lipstick time. 

Sometimes I like to apply some lip balm over my lipstick during the day, especially if I'm wearing a matte lipstick. With shiny lip balms, I hate to reapply them over a lip colour because the shininess, or I would presume the oily ingredients that give them their shininess, tend to break down the lip colour. This doesn't break them down at all, and because it leaves a matte finish too it doesn't look like you've put anything on. 

The glass pot just makes it seem so luxurious. It's obviously only a minor thing in comparison to how it works, but it's definitely an added bonus. 

My lips are now in excellent condition. They don't crack or peel anymore, and I'm confident you could wear a matte lip colour everyday and your lips wouldn't be any the worse for it. 

Bottom line: this works. My lips have never been better. I haven't read of anyone using this and not liking it or it not working for them. That's not to say it's 100% guaranteed to work for you, but I'd guess 99%. It is slightly pricier than the usual lip balm, but think about how many lip balms you've bought that didn't work. I'm sure it adds up to more than the cost of this. As well as that, it's in a heavy glass jar so I think the chances of losing it as you would a tin of Vaseline are greatly reduced. I will 100% repurchase this when I run out. In fact, I'll buy one before I run out, because I don't think I could be without it for a day!

The most readily available place I know to get it in Ireland is cloud10beauty.com. Orders can take maybe up to a week, but it's free shipping over €15 and it's ridiculously well packaged, so there's no fear of the glass jar breaking in transit. As well as that they often have deals for payday or holidays so keep an eye out and you could get it for less than a tenner!

L'Oréal True Match: Review

I'd heard great things about L'Oréal True Match, and there was a lot of hype about it online. A lot of people say it's their Holy Grail so I had to try it. I had 7 at least half full bottles of foundation so I couldn't justify buying another one until some of those were gone. That was until I came across it for €8 in the exact shade I wanted in a Christmas Sale. It was almost half price, it would've been rude not to buy it! 

With regard to coverage I'd say it's medium to full, buildable. It's similar to Revlon ColorStay, but it feels so much lighter on the skin. Because it's a thinner consistency I think the coverage starts slightly lighter than ColorStay, but only slightly, and it's easily buildable to the same level. It doesn't go patchy during the day, and with my commute to work I easily wear this for over 12 hours a day and I'm always happy with it by the time I'm taking it off. 

Initially I had a problem with it which I'd never experienced with any other foundation. It applied fine in the morning, but by evening my face was quite oily, and the colour had oxidised and darkened a little. My skin is normal to combination so this was very unusual. I'd been using my Bourjois Healthy Balance powder which is a very fine, light powder, so I switched to Rimmel Stay Matte which is a good bit heavier and now it's perfect! It doesn't go oily at all, and it’s the exact same colour when I put it on as it is when I take it off. You may not have this problem, but if you do then try a slightly heavier, more mattifying powder, that will probably solve it. However, I would be inclined to think this wouldn't work for oily skins at all. 

Another thing that intrigued me about this was the colour range. I love the idea of the colours being divided into ranges of cool, neutral, and warm undertones. Far too often I've bought a foundation thinking it's the right colour, only to find out in natural light it's actually too cool/pink for me. I wish every company would name their colours like this, it would save so much heartache. 

I guessed I'd be neutral and I was right. I initially bought the colour N4, which is perfect with a decent tan, but as it got closer to Christmas I got lazier and lazier, and my tan application was getting lighter by the week. I then bought the colour N3 and this is perfect for now. I like that I can now mix two of the same foundation to get the right colour without compromising the formula. like that I can now mix two of the same foundation to get the right colour without compromising the formula. 

Overall this is an excellent foundation, and absolutely deserves Holy Grail status. I thought I loved Revlon ColorStay and then I met this. Medium to full coverage but feels light, it's very affordable at €14.99 in most places, and with this genius new way of specifying colours I'd bet anyone who knows their own skin could easily find their colour in seconds. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with dry, normal, or even combination skin. 

Essence Lip Liners: Review & Swatches

I am in love! Essence Lip Liners are amazing. They're only €1.29 and they're just unbelievable quality. They're quite short if you compare them to MAC or Wet 'n' Wild lip liners, but I don't think this should deter you. They are ridiculously cheap so even buying several wouldn't cost half as much as a MAC one. They're very creamy, and they don't dry your lips out at all. You can even wear them alone as a matte colour and they don't feel drying at all. The colour range is actually quite good as well. I don't yet have all of them but at that price I soon will. I have Soft Berry, Satin Mauve, Red Blush, In The Nude, Wish Me A Rose, and Honey Berry. The main lipsticks I wear these with are my MAC lipsticks so I've listed what I wear with each one.

Honey Berry is a deep pink. It's a perfect match for Girl About Town, but I also wear it under Heroine and that works really well too. I think it's because Heroine has a fuchsia base, have you ever noticed when it wears off it looks like you were wearing a bright pink rather than a purple?

Wish Me A Rose is a pale cool pink and it goes perfectly with Pink Plaid, perfectly. It's similar to MAC Hip 'n' Happy lip liner.

Red Blush is a great one for Brave Red, which I don't wear often enough, but I'm hoping this lip liner will encourage me to wear it more often. I think it might also work with Diva, but I haven't tried that yet.

In the Nude is exactly as imagined, so from my humble collection it would be best with 

Blankety or Velvet Teddy.

Soft Berry is a muted berry colour, if muted and berry could go in the same sentence. Strangely, I like to wear this with Velvet Teddy, blended very well of course. And also on its own, it makes a lovely matte, muted brown lip.

And finally, Satin Mauve, my baby. This is the nicest lip liner I think I've ever had. I love it on its own, and I love it with Blankety; I wear it as kind of an ombre lip, with Satin Mauve on the outside blended in, and then Blankety in the centre. It also goes really well with my newest love L'Oréal Color Riche Lipstick in 302 Bois de Rose.

On a slightly related note, having experienced the glory of these lip liners I bought a black Essence Kajal eyeliner and I find that equally lovely. It's the same price €1.29. Moral of the story: Essence Liners are amazeballs, go buy some!

A Little Intro

Hi, my name is Aisling. I’m 21, I live in Ireland and I work in I.T. I’ve been considering starting my own blog for a while now, probably two years. I’ve written numerous blog posts but never published them, or published and then removed them because I wasn’t entirely happy with the post, or the site, or something. Blogging is a very time consuming thing. You have to constantly be updating the site or people lose interest. It will be a big time investment, but I’ve decided it will be worth it, and I’m very excited to finally start this. It will be a work in progress for some time. The name will change, the format will change, the layout will change, but this will all be part of the fun. I know there are millions of beauty blogs out there, many of which are well established and have a huge following, but if even one person reads this I’ll be happy.

I love to read beauty blogs but I feel, for the most part, there isn’t enough information given. I love emilynoel83’s approach to the online beauty world. She doesn’t claim to be a makeup artist or to be an expert, she just gives honest and thorough reviews of beauty products. I don’t enjoy blogs which just consist of pictures of a person’s makeup, either boasting of how much they have or pictures of products with black and white packaging because it’s pleasing to the eye; there’s no substance. I think when it comes to makeup, people want information. They want to know if something is worth their hard earned cash. If we say a lipstick costs €10 that’s probably what most people earn in an hour. If you buy a lipstick you hate and never use then you’ve just thrown away an hour of your life. Makeup can be an enjoyable way to spend your money, but buying something that doesn’t work for you is heartbreaking. Like Emily, I don’t claim to know an awful lot, I’m just going to share my experience with certain products and hope that someone finds it useful. :)

As I said, there’ll probably be a lot of change for a while as I make mistakes and (hopefully) improve, but if I waited until I was happy with everything I’d never begin. Constructive criticism is always welcome, and I would appreciate suggestions on how to improve. Thanks for reading and if you like you could follow me on bloglovin, I'd really appreciate it.