TAG: My desert island beauty products

I am surrounded by beautiful makeup and beauty products all the time and am constantly updating my collection with the newest releases! But what products could I not "live without"??? In this post I will give you the answers while at the same time give you an insight into why I find these products so fantastic. 

So here we go, I have categorised this to make it an easy read...if I don't have a desert island product I will simply not put one in this post.......honesty is the best policy after all!!

Favourite Face Primer: Has to be hands down Benefits Porefessional. I have bought tubes of this stuff and always go back to it. It really smooths out my complexions and makes my makeup last all day

Favourite Foundation: Do you have to ask?? Of course its Rimmel's Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation (review here). I honestly cannot find a foundation as good as this and I have tried really high end products. This is definitely the best beauty find of 2013 for me.

Favourite Face Powder: AHHH Mac's Mineralized Skin finish natural. Leaves your skin flawless and perfected looking.

Favourite Blush: Very easy for me. Mac's Melba Blush. This is just the perfect peachy toned blush that looks amazing on everyone. A staple in anyone's collection I think.

Favourite Bronzer: I like many powder bronzers but one product that stands out to me is a cream based product and it is Boujours Bronzing Primer (Review Here). No matter how much or how little makeup I am wearing I always use this. It just adds a subtle warmt to the face that makes even the palest skin look naturally bronzed. 

Favourite Highlighter: The Balms Mary Lou Manizer. This is by far the nicest highlighter I have used. It gives your skin a glow but without looking overly glittery. A little goes a very long way so be light handed with this one!

Favourite Lipstick: Sarah G Cosmetics in 107 Pink Lady (review here). This to me is the perfect shade of pink and lasts so long on the lips.

Favourite Lipgloss: Mac's Cultured Lipglass. This paired with Pink Lady by Sarah G is my go to lip combo. Amazing pout at your finger tips.

Favourite Fake Tan: Oh this is a tough one. Its either between Karora's express bronzing mousse (Review here) or Cocoa Brown's 1 hour tan. (Review here) Both these tans give you a beautiful glow in a matter of hours and are so easy to use. Sorry but I cannot choose between these.

Favourite Body Scrub: I have never tried a body scrub so effective as Cocoa Brown's Tough Stuff (Review here). This is remarkable and doesn't leave any residue on your skin which to me is essential if you want your tan to be impeccable!

Favourite Perfume: Paco Rabanne Lady Millions. Everyone comments on this scent when I wear it. It's beautiful for every occasion I feel. If you haven't tried this you are definitely missing out.

Favourite Face Palette: Sarah G's "Face Kit" is a definite winner in this category (Review here). The blush and bronzer are some of my favourites and the eye shadows are perfect for creating a soft look or a more dramatic evening look. 

Favourite Eyeshadows: Urban Decay's Vice 2 Palette. This has everything you need for a day time look or a more colourful smoky eye. If all my eye makeup disappeared and I had to repurchase one product it would be this as it has every colour you would need for any occasion.

Favourite Eyeliner: In general the Inglot Gel liners are amazing and in particular no 77 (Black) and 90 (Brown). I wear one of these two almost every day.

Favourite Brow Product: MUA Pro Brow kit. This is so reasonably priced and has everything you need for perfect brows. 

Favourite Tool:  Shu Uemera eyelashes curlers. I never thought curling my eyelashes was so important until I used this. It transforms the look of your eyes and makes you look bright eyed and beautiful.

Well I think that is it for now!! I called this post my desert island products but I would need a suitcase for just these items if I was going to a desert island but you get the idea!? These are the products that are and have been staples in my collection for awhile and that I would repurchase over and over again.

What are your desert island products? What products could you not "live without"??? Leave a comment below.

I TAG ANY beauty blogger out there who is as much of a beautyaholic as I am! Leave a link to your blog down below. I would love to see what you are loving and get some recommendations on new products to try. Also please feel free to add in some products. I just left some out, like concealer and mascara as I haven't yet found my desert island products.

Have a wonderful day everyone. 

Anita xxx

October '13 Beauty Favourites

Yep another month has come and gone and because I didn't do a favourites post last month I have alot to share with you all this month so I will get straight into it.

Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation

I was and am still loving Matte skin. It just makes me so happy when my makeup stays flawless all day long. To achieve this my go to foundation was definitely Rimmel's Stay Matte Liquid Mousse. Absolutely adore this foundation because it gives great coverage and is so easy and beautiful to apply. You can read my full in depth review here.

Benefit's The POREfessional Primer

I am testing lots of new primers at the moment (stay tuned for a primer post) and so far my favourite is benefits Porefessional Primer. This claims to minimise the appearance of pores and fine lines while at the same time create a flawless canvas for your makeup to stay in place all day. I am not sure if it actually helps prevent or reduce with fine lines and pores but it definitely masks them and my makeup does definitely stay on longer when I use this. Very impressed so far!!

Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette

I got the Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette less than 2 weeks ago but I literally haven't used any other palette since getting this. It has such a huge variety of colours in it and you can create endless looks with it. The pigmentation of the shadows are amazing, they go on like cream but last so long. I just wish there were more matte shades in this palette because it can be shimmer overkill at times but other than that its great. Be sure to use a primer on your eyes to get the most from these shadows.

Gosh Growth Mascara

Staying with eyes I am loving Gosh's Growth Mascara. This makes my lashes look really voluminous and intense and doesn't smudge at all during the day. I did a review this month on this so for more info please take a look here .

Maybelline Masterdrama Eyeliner

I have been a fan of Avon's supershock gel pencil liner for years but when Avon was discontinued from Ireland I was on the hunt for a really intense black pencil liner, that looked like gel and lasts all day long. I think I may have found it. Maybelline's masterdrama eye liner is fantastic. The colour is super black and this will not budge throughout the day. I use this on my upper lid as eyeliner. I have also tried it in my waterline but it doesn't last as well there.

Urban Decay Venom Revolution Lipstick

I have been varying my lip colours a little this month. I adore Lime Crime's Lipstick in Geranium which is a pinky coraly colour but at the same time I am loving the berry lips this season and my favourite lipstick to achieve this look is either Mac's Rebel or Urban Decay's Venom. Both are really beautiful takes on this A/W trend and are definite staples in my lipstick collection for Autumn and Winter.

Karora's Express Bronzing Mousse

My favourite Fake Tan of the month has to be Karora's Express Bronzing Mousse. This gives the nicest glow to the skin without looking unnatural. It also wear extremely well and is so easy and fuss free to use. I have a full review here if you want to have a look see.

Indeed Labs Pepta-bright

I have been on a mission lately to finally get my skincare in line and to start working on my acne scarring. Indeed labs Pepti-bright has really made a difference to my skin. It is amazing to say the least. Again you can read my full review here. This is definitely my holy grail skin serum.

Pixy Lime Sorbet Shower Mousse

Finally I have been loving taking long shower or hot baths for the last few weeks now that the weather is getting colder and my two all time favourite products to help me on my way to bath time bliss are from the great Irish Brand Pixy.


For the shower I am literally obsessed with their Lime Sorbet Shower Mousse. This is a glass jar that has some semi solid product in the end and a shower puff which you wet and lift the product up then rub all over your body and it foams up to a beautiful creamy feeling foam that really hydrates, freshens and invigorates the skin. It is amazing to use in the morning time to wake up the senses.

Pixy Sensual Bath Oil

When I want to relax I reach for Pixys Bath Oils. You add a few drops to a warm bath and they tranform your bath into a luxury treat. Your skin feels wonderful after using these in your bath. Adding one of Pixy's bath bombs is great if you want that little something extra. Oh Bliss.

Well that's it for this months favourites. Thank you all for taking the time out to read my blog and please let me know what your favourite products are for October or if you have done a blogpost on these or Youtube video please leave the link down below.

Have a wonderful day
Take Care
Anita xxx

Karora's Express Bronzing Mousse.......... Rave Review

So let's face it, we all want to look our best at all times and that includes having a bronzed and beautiful body but most of us just don't have the time to primp and preen ourselves for hours. Well I have recently discovered a tan that gives you really amazing colour in minimal time. Interested? Keep reading my lovely....

Introducing one of the latest products from the Irish brand Karora. Their new Express Bronzing Mousse is described as "a new breed of luxury tanning mousse with skincare status and a development time quicker than ever before where you decide your personalised shade of bronze". Sounds good??

Love the packaging of this product.

Well in my opinion it is bloody well fantastic.....

First off I have to give some attention to the great packaging of this product. If you like expensive looking products that don't resemble tack in any way then this is a winner for you. The deep purple packaging with a hint of pink and gold peeping through screams velvet luxury. As this is a mousse consistency the pumps can often be hit or miss on these products but Karora has this one spot on. It isn't an aerosol type can but instead its a pump that dispenses the product perfectly and without any fuss. This tan is part of the Skinwear range from Karora which is a really big range of products that are perfect for getting you ready to bare all. This range includes a few new launches including a CC Cream aswell as some of their original products in new funky packaging. Their Original and Dark tanning mists are a favourite of mine and featured in my Current Fake Tan Favs post months back. You can read this here.

Fuss free pump. A great little addition.

The consistency of this tan is beautiful, it is a mousse but it is so velvety and smooth to apply. It goes on effortlessly with a mitt meaning that you don't have to buff it into the skin at all. However, it does give you enough time to mess around with the product to ensure you cover all areas. When you first apply it it smells to me like citrus. However, as the tan develops you do get a hint of the nasty tan smell which I am not a fan but because you only leave this on for a short time its not so bad. The smell isn't overpowering like other tans though.

You can leave this on for one hour, two hours or three hours and customise your tan to suit you. The longer you leave it on the deeper the tan will be. This is fantastic as it allows you to have a light tan for midweek and a beautiful bronzed deeper tan for the weekend. So no need to buy separate tans for different occasions. Of course me being a tanaholic I left this on for the full 3 hours and before I washed it off I looked radiant, however when I washed it off I was very disappointed that I didn't look any darker than before applying (see second picture below). So I got out of the shower moisturised and went about my business. Then after around an hour I noticed that my skin was a beautiful bronzed colour (see third picture below), it must have taken longer to develop on me than three hours and it states on the packaging that the colour continues to develop after rinsing and this is exactly what it did. So what did I think of the tan when it did develop??

1)Before Application
2) After washing off after 3 hours
3) After rinsing I left for around 1 hour and this was the result

To say it was the nicest bronzed exotic looking tan I have ever used is not an understatement. It gave me a really deep but very natural looking tan, almost like I was just back from a week in the sun. I was so happy with the results. It lasted perfectly well for around 5 days and began to fade after that but very evenly and no streaking at all. I wanted to thoroughly test this tan and so I packed the product on my feet to see if it would cling to any drier areas. I was very happy to see that it was slightly darker in the drier areas but didn't look in any way unnatural or cakey, you could easily get away with wearing open sandals even after I applied it in this way.

The only thing I can say that I didn't like about this tan was that after application I knew the product had soaked into my skin but yet I felt sticky in place for the three hours until I washed it off. I thought it was just me the first time but then I tried it for the second time and it was the same again. It was a little disappointing in this regard. However, if you are happy to sit and wait for the tan to develop then it is definitely worth it because the results are damn right amazing.

Like all of Karora's range of products this tan is free from any nasty chemicals and has added skincare benefits that leave your skin looking plump, perfected and very well hydrated. I think this is why the tan looks so well because it leaves your skin so hydrated that this, mixed with the beautiful bronzed look makes your skin look youthful and just simply glowing. Honestly, the more I use this product the more I fall in love with it. It gives me such a beautiful but natural tan. 

Finally, the best thing about this tan is that is it is safe to use during pregnancy as it is all natural and free from all those nasty things that irritate sensitive skin. There is some essential oils in this but they are only used in minimal amounts so are not harmful at all. That comes straight from Karora's mouth too!! 
Have I talked enough? I tend to do that sometimes. Here are the details of where to buy this product:
You can get this product in Lloyd's pharmacies nationwide, Mccabes Blanchardstown and Dundrum, Sam McCauley chemist and pharmacies nationwide.This will set you back €29.99 for 150ml which may be a little pricey for some people but you do definitely get what you pay for.

Have you tried any products from Karora's new Skinwear range? What is your current Fake tanning essentials? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Have a wonderful day my lovelies.

Anita xxx



***This product was sent to me for review but this has in no way affected my opinion. My opinion is 100% honest and trustworthy. I would not recommend a product that I would not purchase myself.xxx

My Current Fake Tan Favs!!!

My busy schedule doesn't allow me apply fake tan every two to three days, or maybe I am just too darn lazy to do that so when I look for a tan I want something that's easy to apply, doesn't streak, gives me a goddess glow and fades off evenly so that I don't look like I haven't washed in weeks (not the look I am going for right now). Impossible I hear you say???? Well......actually I think I may have found the "perfect" tanning products......Drum Roll please!!!!!!!

Introducing Karora Self Tanning Mist and Clairns Liquid Bronze self tanning for Face and Decollete.These two little babies are great products and have not yet failed me....I have used them both for a long time and I have NEVER even had a lickle streak from them....not even once!! That must be a first for me!!!! Want to know more??? Ok, lets be having ya!!

For a natural, sunkissed glow I use Karora Self Tanning Mist Original on all parts of my body (apart from my face and neck.....we will deal with that later). At first I was sceptical because I had only ever tried cream or mousse type tans. Karora Mist as the name suggests is a lightwieght Liquid Mist! Karora claims that this mist is a tan that "glides on skin effortlessly, dries instantly and delivers an even rich golden tan lasting up to 7 days" I would have to agree with this, I am amazed at how quick this tan dries in. It reminds me of the feeling of a spray tan and I have to say it looks like one too. Everytime I apply this tan it looks like a professional beautician has applied it as I am streak free and evenly tanned. What more could you want??? Well if you are fussy like me you would want more and guess what Karora gives us more... Not only does it have skin firming benefits but it is "fused with a propritary blend of pure active botanicals, vitamins and essentials oils of Acai berry and Argan". So a botancial based tan with skincare benefits, that keeps you glowing for days, that doesn't streak, has sleek and sassy packaging and best of all is Irish made, seriously there is nothing else to say. Karora has it sorted!!!

The instructions advise to use rubber gloves and blend the tan into your skin in circular motions. Although I do agree with the latter I feel the best way to apply this is with a tanning mitt. I have done this right from day one and have never had a problem. Karora also state that this product has a delicate fragrance which it does however unfortunately like all products that contain DHA (what makes the tan develop) there will be a slight pong...but its not half as bad as other tans I have used.

As I use the Original version of this tan for the most part it doesn't give a really dark colour at all. It just gives a natural glowing bronzed colour that is in no way orange. You can however apply the tan for a few days to build up to your desired colour but for everyday use I love just one layer of this as you just look simply radiant and healthy....now that's the look I desire!! Karora Original is €24.99 for 200ml or €14.99 for 100ml and is available pharmacies and salons nationwide. I buy mine from the local Doc Morris Pharmacy. It can also be purchased online.

I did use Karora on my face and neck previously but because I am on a skincare buzz at the moment I decided to use a self tanner specifically designed for this area as I did feel the Karora was causing breakouts on my SUPER sensitive skin. I used Clairns Liquid Bronze tan for face before and remembered loving it so I recently repurchased it and now I don't know why I ever stopped using this in the first place...its the business! I love the texture of this product, its like a milk formulation that literally dries in instantly so there is no waiting around. I have often applied my foundation straight after this and it develops a really lovely tan under your foundation and best of all it doesn't break me out....Whoop Whoop. 

Clairns do recommend using a cotton pad to apply this but personally I apply it with my finger tips and be sure to scrub my hands afterwards! Like the Karora original this can be used for a few days to build up the intensity of the colour. 

There is no doubt that I will be using this product for a long time to come, because to date this is the best facial tanner I have ever tried...WOW thats a steep statement but a true one none the less. Also the sheer size of the bottle (125ml for a facial tanner is pretty huge) means this baby will be part of my tanning collection for awhile yet. 

The main things I love about this product is how quick it dries, how natural it looks on the skin and it doesn't stink too bad at all which is always a great trait. 
IF I did have one thing to say about this tan combo it would be that after one application the facial tanner seems to develop darker than the body one so I usually either apply the Karora(body) for two days and on the second day skip the Clairns(face) or if I only want one application I will slightly exfoliate my face the morning after I apply the Clairns. There is a seriously minor difference in the colours but I am just being fussy here. Clairns Liquid bronze self tanning for face and decollete is €26 for 125ml (I bought mine from Boots), this little gem will last a long time as you need the tinniest amount.

Karora do have other products in their current range. These include a Karora Self Tanning Mist in Dark which is the darker version of the Original one. This is considerably darker but is great for nights out as it gives an intense colour. I have only ever seen this in the 100ml size which is the same price as the Original formulation. The Original tan is a tinted mist which can be used as a colour guide but the Dark one gives an instant colour so you can have your glow instantly and then the tan will develop as the hours go by. They also have a Gradual Bronzing Moisturiser with SPF 15 which is €19.99 for 125ml. This is like the Johnsons holiday skin phenomena that once was only a zillion times better. Its a really luxurious body cream that has some self tanning agents in it that allows you to layer this product for a few days to create a natural looking tan. This is great for fake tan virgins or personally I sometimes apply this if I want to extend the life of my Original mist. As if this wasn't enough Karora have mastered the art of instant fake tan also. This beautiful product is great for days when you didn't have time to use tan that develops over a few hours or if you just prefer to have a tan for one day rather than a few. I also adore this for applying over my tan on nights out to give a beautiful sheen to the skin and add some extra colour, especially on my legs and arms. A little gem in my eyes, this product is €14.99 for 125ml. Karora also offers the smooth operator micro peel which is a grain free exfoliator that is supposed to be amazing for removing dead skin cells and could even be used to remove the last of your old tan before bronzing up again. I haven't used this product yet so I don't have an opinion on it at the moment but it is on my wishlist and I will be sure to share my thoughts with you all when I do get my hands on it, this retails for €12.99(I think) for 100ml.

Well ladies thats all for the moment. I hope you found this post informative and I will be sure to fill you in with any new tanning favourites in the future although for the foreseeable future i do think I have found my tanning holy grail. Have a beautiful sun-kissed day. Take care.

Anita xxxx



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