Brand Appreciation Week

So I got to thinking the other day about all the brands I have massive love for. While I was in that thought an idea popped into my head for a new topic - Brand Appreciation Week.

 

Each week for the next six weeks I am going to share five of my favourite products from some of my favourite brands.

 

I'll be talking about La Roche Posay, NYC, Vichy, Lancôme, Catrice, Roger & Gallet. It's been hard narrowing down to five products but I hope you enjoy reading about them. I'd also love to hear your favourites from each of these brands.

 

 

Am I Pink or Yellow?

Choosing a foundation is hard enough when trying to find one suitable for you skin type but do you consider if a foundation is suitable for your skin tone?

People are either Pinks or Yellows but it’s tricky to know which you are. Here are some tips to help you through the minefield.

• Have a look at the veins in your wrists. If you have blue veins you have a pink skin tone and should opt with a foundation with pink tones, however if the veins are more of a green colour, you have a yellow skintone and need to choose a foundation with yellow tones.

• Hold something orange up to your face. Does it look good? If it does chances are you have a yellow skintone, if doesn’t look quite right, chances are you have a pink skin tone.

• How does your skin react to the sun? If you’re prone to sunburn, you have a pink skintone whereas if you turn into a tanned goddess you have a yellow skintone

• Pull your hair back into a pony tail or use a head band to keep all of the hair off of your face. Wash your face and then place a white towel around your neck and shoulders. The pure white cloth will reflect skin undertones. If your face looks yellow next to the white towel you have a warm skin tone and if it looks more blue then you have a cool skin tone.

• When you’re standing in front of a makeup stand or counter, choose three or four foundations you feel are closest to your skin tone and test them along your jawline. The one that blends naturally into your jaw line is the one for you.

• Always, go outside into the natural light to see whether the foundation you have decided on really matches. The lights in department stores can be very misleading. 

I am a Pink, what are you?

Dove Compressed Deodorant

I love beauty items that take up very little room in my handbag. I like to have a deodorant in my bag for these hot days but really dislike having to take a full sized one. Enter Dove Compressed Deodorant.

 

First things first, the scent of this is only gorgeous but then again I am a sucker for anything with a pomegranate smell. 

Dove have reduced the original 150ml to 75ml of product without sacrificing quantity. These new babies also feature the Dove 1/4 moisturising cream formula to improve the look and feel of underarms. 

I have found this incredibly handy and keep it close to me at all times. I found in this increasingly hot weather, I have not broken a sweat once while wearing this. 

You can pick this lovely up, along with the other scents in the range in supermarkets and chemists. The RRP is €3.76 but keep your eyes out in Tesco and the likes for special offers. 

 

New Hair at Noel Higgins

My hair has been wrecking my head lately.Last time I got it cut, I really didnt get much length taken off and had it layered. Last week, the length finally got to me so I decided to treat myself to a belated birthday present.

As luck would have it, an email from Deal Rush found its way to me and I saw a salon I had wanted to go to for years had a special offer on. The salon was Noel Higgins Hairdressing in Blackrock,Co.Dublin. The deal was Wash, Restyle and the choice between two treatments for €35. Straight away I ordered it and booked my appointment. 

I also thought this would be the perfect opportunity to lighten up my hair colour. To be honest, I really didnt know much more than that. I toyed with the idea of balayage but wasn't 100% sold on it. The best thing to do in these situations is to take the advice of the colourist.

I arrived for my appointment and was showed to a seat by the lovely receptionist, no sooner was I sitting down, my colourist and stylist for the few hours was introducing herself. Her name was Joanne and we immediately hit it off.

I told her what I was looking for in a hair colour and cut. Working and looking after the little man, I need something relatively low maintenance. I asked about balayage and she recommended it wouldn't be suitable.  Grand by me, so I asked what would she recommend. Highlights were the order of the day, and a fair few of them. Something, I hadn't done in years so I was a bit anxious. Instead of going blonde blonde, I opted for caramels and toffees with a hint of blonde. 

For the treatment, I opted for the Keratherapy Deep Conditioning mask, which I really liked. I can definitely see a difference in that my hair has no frizz in it. 

It turned out gorgeous, I am seriously in love with my hair. I also have the option of adding more highlights if I want to. Here are before and afters

 

As you can see that is a massive difference. I was a bit worried how I would react seeing the brighter hair but it feels like I have always had it. I'm even thinking I may get a few more in.

The salon itself looks tiny from the outside but it is pretty big inside.

.I found any staff I bumped into were lovely. I even had a chat with the man himself about the 12 week blowdry. The entire restyle and colour cost me €115, not a bad price at all considering all I had done. I'll definitely be revisiting the salon asap to get the 12 week blowdry.

If you're looking for a good salon on the south side, I would definitely recommend here to anyone.

New Beauties at Cloud10Beauty

I love getting my newsletter from Cloud 10 Beauty, especially when it tells me of any new arrivals that are making their appearance.

 

So you can imagine how happy I was when I heard they have not one but two new brands on the website

 

Nip + Fab

I've wanted to try some of  the Nip + Fab range for ages now so  I'm delighted it is more easily available. There is so much to chose from in the range but here are the ones my eyes are drawn to

The price point is pretty good on the whole, with the dearest item being €19.95


Red Carpet Manicure

Red Carpet Manicure is an at home gel nails kit but you can also purchase nail polish shades. The kits start at €65 and the polishes cost €13.50

I definitely want to get one of these, I haven't tried any of these long lasting fancy nail polish things and like the idea of having my own set, especially when there is a pretty decent range of shades that I can top it up with.

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