Get Ready With Me - NYE edition!

Hi again!

So when I uploaded my boxing night look I mentioned I would explain in more detail, a more of a step by step of how I achieved this smokey eye look - so here it is...

I pictured this step by step look while getting ready to go out for New Years Eve and I got lots of compliments on my eye make up which is fab as the smokey eye is one of my favourite make up looks.  It's when I find it the most difficult to choose between a heavy lip and a heavy eye as I am a total eyeshadow and lipstick/gloss/stain obsessive!

First thing I did was apply my base- I find we all have our own foundation which suits us best so you can use whatever fits you for your base; however, if you are still looking for one, my go to fail-safe for my somewhat oily(eek of anyone has any tips on helping to control this I would love to hear in the comments below) is Rimmel 23hour stay foundation in shade 200. I find this gives me a really full coverage which is what I aim for on nights like these with this make up look, and doesn't come off. It's also super cheap and you can pick it up for about 6.99 in any of your local drugstores. Superdrug usually do a really good 3 for 2 on Rimmel products so this might be useful of your picking up a few bits. 

The next step for me was gettin straight into my eyeshadow. It's my most favourite part of doing my make up I could spend hours on it if that amount o shadow was willing to stay on my eyes! I used my naked 2 eyeshadow pallette for all the eye make up I done. 

I started with the darkest shadow in the pallette which is almost like a sparkly black called blackout and I swerved this across my entire lid. On top of this I used a real techniques crease brush to dust the colour 'tease' across the crease and in upward motions. 

Now. Here is the funny thing. When I do this- I'm not sure about anyone else, and I would love to know.. But I just look like I've dropped eyeshadow all over my face. It looks a mess! A few years ago when I was trying a similar look with such dark black I ended up wiping it off at this point and freaking out.

However I have recently uncovered the not so well kept secret- blending! I though pfft it couldn't make that much of a difference but it really does. After putting these shades on my eye this is the process from adding to blending to then applying mascara and fixing my eyebrows... 

I then used my Rimmel lash accelerator mascara in black ( I swear by this mascar from the day I used it none others would measure- I have now got friends hooked!) 

Added a slick of soap and glory sexy mother pucker lip gloss in Yummy plum and I was ready to go do my hair! Eep! 

For NYE I went to a really fantastic Hotel called the Clanree which is in Letterkenny, Ireland. It has recently been refurbished and the bar was amazing! I will definitely be making a return trip! Here I am partying under the midnight chimes 

I would love to hear about your NYE make up or your favourite part of doing your make up!

Happy New Year

Love

Air of Eire 

Xo

Erin Condren life planner 2015

-Hi all! 

Welcome to another blog post.

One of my personal favourite things about a new year (or any other time I can possibly get my hands on it) is a new diary/ planner! 

It all started back in the summer months when I got a beautiful new filofax and then decided to hashtag this on Instagram to have a look at some others! What happened next was life changing. I was introduced to the planner addict world!

You should see what people do with these things, the different types you can have... This was just a diary anymore this was a work of art planner! There are so many types.. Most popular I have come across being 

-Filofax

-Erin Condren Life Planner

-Emily Ley

-Whitney English

After seeing these different types and doing SO much planner research into pros/cons/price etc. I decided I would order my Erin Condren life planner in September- ready for January 2015 start.

The process of ordering and choosing The Erin Condren Life Planner or ECLP for short- is almost as exciting as having one!

It's by no means a long process- but one you will want to spend time on to make sure you get right as there is one downside to the ECLP.

It is expensive!

As well as generally being an expensive planner (around $52), I am also in the UK therefore shipping was a LOT on top of this. I ended up spending around £70 in total. Eeek.

In my opinion though- worth it!

Anyway to the planner itself- you can order from a huge array of covers and colours, and if none of these takes your fancy, you can design your own. It really can be as personalised a planner as you wish!

The cover I chose was a simple but beautiful design (I didn't want any pictures etc for working reasons) and I got my name printed on the front! 

One of the newest features of this years Erin Condren are the interchangeable covers! You heard me right! You can snap them off and back on again. I think this is an amazing feature as it is what made me so bored of my filofax. With the ECLP, and if your like me, you can order yourself a new design or colour to keep it fresh and you will never get bored.  A drawback for me is that I didn't do this when I was ordering and I don't fancy paying £30 shipping for 1 cover so I am keeping my eyes peeled for etsy shops that do these. If you know any please comment below!

The planner itself includes 

• 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 yearly calendars
• Monthly calendar with tabs
• Weekly calendar
• Notes section with both lined and plain paper
• 4 pages of stickers (2 pre-printed, 2 blank)
• Double-sided folder with pocket
• Zip Pouch
• Accessories like a ruler, paperclip, labels, etc.

Amazing, right? 

However, What's inside the planner is what sold me on the ECLP over all the other planners. It includes the most beautiful colours and quotes as well as your day being split up into 3sections- morning, afternoon and night! 

This will be fit my no end as with a filofax you kind of write where you can.. The ECLP does the organising for you- enabling you to have THE most organised year! 

Yep! That's another bonus you can see!free stickers. Some premise and some you can write on yourself. The best thing about these is that they are removeable. If you have a cancellation or change of appointment you campers it off and olace it where it needs to be! No more messy lines in our beautiful planners. I also ordered some pre-personalised stickers of my own 

However looking back I don't think I would have done this if if have known just how many stickers you receive for free.

One thing I regret not ordering from the EC site is the stretchy bands you can buy to keep your planner closed. 

however, you can get these on Etsy for around £2.50 so I think I'll be doing that once I have started passing out my planner.

The back of the planner has an unusual zippy wallet and perpetual calendar. While I'm excited about the zippy wallet as it will be nice to keep my stickers etc that I plan on using in this planner together, I'm not the biggest fan of the perpetual calendar, maybe I just haven't worked out how best to use this however there are hundreds of ideas and ways online, I will just need to find one to suit me! 

I haven't started utilising my planner yet as it is only the first of Jan however, I will post updates of how I am finding my planner, how I have decorated it and I will also post links of any etsy shops I have found that do ECLP accessories and deliver locally to the UK.

Any questions about my planner please let me know and I will get right back to you :)

Happy New Year and Happy Planning.

Air of Eire 

Xo

Boxing Day make up look

Hi guys! A bit interest of mine is in make up looks. I'm not one to sit for hours everyday and do it as I simply don't have time, however when it comes to a special occasion I get excited about doing make up, choosing my look, the colours, matching to my outfit and just generally trying to put lots of thought in to it and I thought I would share my most recent look with you all!

I didn't take too many close ups or do a step by step as I didn't plan on sharing however I will be going for something similar on NYE and will do a more detailed post then.

The make up I used for this look was:

Foundation: Rimmel 23hour wear in 200, natural beige 

Face: the naked blush palette with the bronzer added to the cheeks as well as Nose for contouring, and the highlighter from the naked palette for my cheekbones and nose.

Eyes: naked 3 palette with black heart all over the lid and limit on the brow bone... With about 5 minutes of consistent blending! Blending is key :)

Lips: Mac taupe ( my staple fave)!

So there you have it.. The really basic make up I used for this dramatic eye look. I will do a more detailed post after NYE showing my make up look from them!

If there's anything you think I should add to this to improve the look before then please comment and let me know!

Air of Eire 

Xo

The Christmas Party - Carole Matthews

I read a lot of books so this is a pre-warning, or maybe excitement for some of you who are like me, that this is the first of many! 

So while doing my monthly book haul I knew I needed something that was different from my usual preferred genre of crime/mystery/thriller, and since I was feeling Christmassy- I picked up the most enticing looking cover on the shelf - The Christmas Party. I knew I would be busy over Christmas so i was hoping it would be something easy to pick up, get into and not too complicated. I got exactly that!

While The Christmas Party was quite obvious - I knew where it was headed! There were a few twists and turns with not so central characters which made it all the better for me as I found them the most interesting.

What was good about the writing was the characters- thy were spot on! I don't work in an office but in any work place you know people like these and therefore they were all instantly relatable. They were described so well and you had a picture in your head of these characters from the minute you met them. It also meant that you were supporting them throughout the book in the hope for a happy ending!

I would give the book 3.5 out of 5 because the characters made it for me, while the predictability was the mor riff putting.

In saying that it was exactly what I was looking for this Christmas and was a fantastic way of getting lost in you own busy Christmas festivities!

I would love to read more from this author as I really enjoyed the general way she wrote her books. If anyone can recommend anything by Carole Matthews I am open to reading and writing more reviews on my thoughts :)

Air of Eire 

Xo 

Tesco Beauty Advent Calendar 2014

Hello!

Welcome to my first ever blog post 

I have decided through (not much) deliberation that my first blog post should be relevant to the times and something that is really interesting me right now!
My Advent Calendar.

I know, how boring – an advent calendar. But its not just an advent calendar with chocolates.  This is a beauty advent calendar with one amazing beauty treat a day!
I am one of these people who gets an idea in their heads about something to buy, something to do, and will not stop until I have it.  So a day where I can have a gift daily should surely help me stop my random crazy spending as I had something to look forward to.  Right?

WRONG! Its the 8th of December and today I have decided to open my whole advent calendar! Eeek!

Anyhow… Lucky for me I have decided to blog today and its given me the perfect platform.

This advent calendar is beautifully presented and comes in large white packaging. It doesn’t look like it’s from – Tesco! It is RRP £50 however, from Black Friday onwards it was half price so I got £125 worth of beauty goodies for £25.  I myself am chuffed with this!
Here is a list of all the goodies and treats inside:

Katy Perry Meow Solid Locket
Stylefile
Sue Moxley Light Up Lipgloss
Pro Formula peel off face mask
Vaseline Lip Therapy
Dead Sea Magik Delicate Boosting Mask
Eylure False Eye Lashes
Korres Citrus Shower Gel
Little Soap Company Soap
Moroccan Oil Conditioner
Ghost 15ml
Denman Mini brush
Paul Smith Extreme Female 5ml
Candy Kittens Turquoise 20ml EDT
Natio Spa Heavenly Hand Cream 20ml
So Eco Foundation Brush
Manuka Api Nourish Face Mask 50ml
Dr Lewinns Renunail Triple Strength Pomegranate 14ml
Baylis & Harding Body Lotion 30ml
Baylis & Harding Bath & Shower Gel 30ml
Tayna Burr Midnight Sparkles Nail Polish
NIP+FAB Eye Cream
Elizabeth Arden Red Door 5ml
Compact Mirror

..so YES! Tonnes of things!
My top 5 from the advent beauty calendar would have to be
Eyelure eyelashes
Foundation brush
Vaseline
Nip and Fab (bee sting eye cream!!!) and
Tanya Burr nail polish (its the most beautiful deep purple).

Next year I’ll be on the waiting list for Tesco Beauty Advent calendar 2015!

Leave a comment down below if theres any of these products you would like me to review or discuss in more detail.

Love and Kisses
Air of Eire x