My Night Routine. Potions & Lotions & Oils Galore.
/Every year on my birthday in August I swear to myself that this year I'm definitely going to stop going to bed with makeup on, and I will endeavour to moisturise too.
Every year I still ended up going to bed in mascara and tinted moisturiser, which used to be all I wore. This summer when I turned 35, I had already started my journey towards being a makeup addict, so I've a little routine at last!
Every proper beauty blogger in the land will be screaming, 'noooooooo!' at the photo below. Apparently using any sort of baby wipe type product on your face is a bad idea. I'm a sucker for how easy they are though.
Sera from The Style Guide Blog suggested the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. I use it on a wipe to take off everything except my eye makeup. I can't help but think 'is this just tap water though?' as the Micellar water has no fragrance either.
Then I use another wipe loaded with Simple Kind to Eyes, Eye Makeup Remover. It does the job and doesn't irritate the skin or my eyes in any way.
At the weekend of late, my son and I like to have a silly pamper night. We do face masks, soothing eye pads, I even let him put my makeup on me for fun sometimes. Poor child is feeling my lack of daughter to do these things with!
Tonight I used a peel off mask for once, 'cause they have always been fun in a satisfying peel-y way. The brand is Petal Fresh Botanicals, and this is their Invigorating Aloe & Cucumber mask. The full size product with enough for many, many masks, was only £1.29.
It dries easily, but follow the instructions about not putting it near your eyes. I had it stuck on the area under my eyes where your bags are, and it hurt like hell trying to peel that section off!
Also my skin felt strangely dry afterward. You would want to moisturise after peeling it all off.
My regular night products are No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Serum. A small amount of that, which absorbs easily, then a 'top coat' of the matching line's Intense Night Cream.
I've a couple of samples I'm sometimes using instead at the moment. Puff Off! from Benefit for eye bags, and their Instant Comeback Facial Serum. Those products are okay, but I don't think they'll tear me away from my No7 products I use long term.
The other little bottle on the right there I HAVE been very impressed by, and I'll be buying the full size product when the sample runs out.
Its the Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil. The thought of using a straight oil on your face may seem daunting if you're prone to shine, but somehow it doesn't effect my skin in that way. Yes I've a big shiny face when I apply it, but I haven't found the days after I've slept in it have been any extra shiny or greasy when I've my daily makeup on.
It comes with a tiny dropper and I use three lots all over my face. It doesn't feel greasy, it definitely feels intense. It will be a great product to use now Autumn is drawing in and the heating plus cold outside plays havoc with your skin.
So that's my night time routine. I've the intensive oil on in this photo and you can see my skin isn't oily looking at all. I've a feeling a little gold bottle of pure oil from The Body Shop is going to be fairly expensive.... maybe I'll keep it for my Christmas list.
Happy European Languages Day! Here's My Son Dressed As a Pizza!
/Michael was a pizza and his friend Connie was the Italian chef! They won first place in their class for their inventive national dress.
Could You Dress a Bridal Beauty? One Week Left to Enter the Young Designer of the Year Competition.
/
Calling all budding designers! There is one week left to get your entry in for the Young Designer of the Year competition, you have until Wednesday 30th September 2015.
The annual competition is open to all creative individuals, young designers and fashion students across Ireland, under the age of 25. This is a fantastic opportunity to potentially showcase your work in front thousands of people and the big names in the bridal industry.
All shortlisted finalists’ dresses will be displayed on weddingjournalonline.com, across their social media platforms, and on the catwalk runway at The Wedding Journal Shows – viewed by more than 20,000 visitors and the key players in bridal. The Wedding Journal Shows will take place in Dublin and Belfast, January 2016.
The winning Young Designer of the year will receive:
• An exclusive interview feature in Wedding Journal magazine
• A professional photo shoot
• A certificate
• Publicity in local press and media
How to enter:
Submit your ideas in the form of an A3 mood board by Wednesday 30th September with your contact details. Entries should be sent to: Catriona Doherty, Ireland’s Wedding Journal, Penton Publications, 38 Heron Road, Belfast, BT3 9LE.
This could be you!
Young Designer of the Year finalists will be announced on Monday 5th October. Finalists’ mood boards will be entered into an online voting competition where the public will pick their favourite design. Finalists will have two months to create their dresses as depicted on mood board designs.
Wedding Journal magazine will pay £100/€125 towards the cost of materials. All dresses must be completed by 4pm Friday 8th January and delivered to the Wedding Journal Belfast office (see the address above).
Good luck!
For further information, please email Catriona: catriona.doherty@pentonpublications.co.uk.
Vintage Rocks, The Time Travelling Hair Parlour is Making Me Nineties
/
One of the things I love about Vintage Rocks Hair Parlour in Belfast is that if you give them a hair idea, or colour, no matter what it is, you can be confident that when you leave after your appointment, what's on your head will be exactly what you had inside it before you walked in.
I emailed the main woman herself, Clare, and asked her could it be possible to give me an all over, choppy, obviously a fake effect, head of highlights. Now many hairdressers would say yes then go ahead and try to give you a more natural look, they'll assume that's what you really would prefer. With Clare and her team however, they'll do exactly what you want. If that means a full head of mermaid colour, like my friend Claire got recently shown below, then that's what you'll get.
So when Clare saw my ideas, big, choppy, artificial highlights, she knew what I meant and what I was showing her was what I actually wanted done.
She said it was a 1990s' look that was coming back into fashion. I hadn't realised that, but that makes it even cooler- retro hair! The prime suspect for making this type of highlight a hit was Jennifer Aniston, so maybe I should go the whole hog and get the cut too. Excited to get along and have it done very soon.
In the 90s' we all crimped our hair, soaked it with Sun-In that never worked, and thought we were the bee's knees when we used a pack of semipermanent Glints hair dye. Hair mascara was another short term colouring product, which mostly just made you look like a bird had pooed on your head.
Hopefully most of you escaped the spiral perm though, a sneaky roll over from the 80s' which should have stayed there. Perms are bound to make a comeback soon, so don't try to hide if you had one- even Posh Spice did.
The Ugglys' Pet Shop is Stackable Grossness
/Its not too long until we will be hunting for stocking fillers & presents for friend's and relative's kids. The Ugglys' Pet Store is a stackable base for collecting the separate blocks that double as pet homes for Ugglys pets.
It makes fart noises, so obviously it sets kids off with the giggles as soon as they get their hands on it.
The theme of Ugglys is as you would imagine, totally gross animals. Our favourite from the original series had to be the horrible pet fish called 'The Rank Tank'! He's gone on the Christmas list. He'll probably last longer than any real goldfish we've ever owned.
As you'd imagine, kids love these things. We had Garbage Pail Kids in the 80s so this is a bit like the animal version of those. You can buy them as single toys, or in multipacks, with 101 pets to collect. Some of the sets include blind bag surprise toys, which are the big thing these days.
Michael loved the pet shop, so I'll be hunting down some individual Ugglys for stocking fillers.
Twisted Twee For the Coolest Kids on the Block
/When I had Michael almost eight years ago I got really frustrated at the lack of cool clothes for baby boys.
Back then the only H&M was in Ballymena, so every two months or so I would make the hour's trip to stock up on decently quirky & unusual onesie vests and baby clothing.
I also would buy Gymboree items off eBay. I worked for them when I was a student and loved their designs, but by 2007 they had pulled out of Northern Ireland so the only way to buy their clothes was eBay, usually from US sellers. That made the postage expensive on top of prices similar to Baby Gap. However from working for Gymboree I knew the quality was worth paying extra. Gymboree clothing washes so well, in fact I was able to sell them on eBay all over again when Michael had outgrown each sizing.
If you have a baby I would recommend searching eBay for the jumpers especially. Try purchasing one & you'll be hooked. They always do an absolutely beautiful Christmas range of clothing each year. About ten years ago the Christmas theme was gingerbread. I managed to get the baby blanket on eBay and I still have it in a box somewhere, I couldnt part with it cause it's so cute.
With a lack of cool baby clothing around for boys, sometimes I even took it upon myself to make my own. Amongst these vests made with photographic printing paper, was this Boba Fett design. Michael looks like he just loved it, doesn't he?
There is one UK brand who I found who actually did sell inventive and unique baby items you just wouldn't see elsewhere and that was Twisted Twee. I love their designs and this will actually be my fourth blog post about the brand. I'm featuring them again for any newer readers, or anyone who might now have their own new addition since the last time Twisted Twee was on The World of Kitsch.
Enjoy!
This design with a saddle for Dad's back is fashion genius
Make Everyone Jealous of Your Amazing Muff.
/On Saturdays Michael and I are making a habit and tradition of going for cake in Bob & Bert's in Menary's Bangor. I can usually get away with a quick whizz round Menarys's beauty hall and Tempest's fashion department with very little complaints from Michael, with the promise of cake ahead.
Yesterday we found a new brand in Menary's accessories department, Powder Socks. Both of us were drawn to the bright colours and quirky designs. Michael says he's going to buy me the lime green pair for Christmas.
When I got home I Googled the brand and discovered their other products. Gorgeous felt hats, ladylike gloves with a modern twist, and MUFFS.
Powder's fake fur collection includes four cosy muffs, at £30 each. The cute little bow is so sweet. I reckon a muff would make an excellent Christmas present. It's the sort of item your always wanted, but might not buy yourself, so gifting one would be a cool idea.
But remember! A muff is for life, not just for Christmas!
