"I Love Lipstick" Tag :)

It's no surprise or even news when I say "I love lipsticks"!!! So I saw this tag on both Heather's Blog and on My Newest Addiction , so I thought I'll give this a go too. If you haven't checked these fantastic blogs out, make sure you do...you wouldn't want to miss a great beauty blog, now would you? :P 

1. How many lipsticks do you have?

Forty bloody six (46)! Please help me God, hubby doesn’t see this, or else…I’ll have to steal & lie the next time I’m buying another one. Ooops!

2. What was the first lipstick that you ever bought?

Well, since I’ve started my affair with makeup at about 16 y.o., it would be quite unfair to submit me to this type of memory exercise, don’t you think? In other simple words 'I dunno!' :P

3. Which is your newest lipstick?

My latest purchase was Barbara Daly’s Lipstick in ‘Rose’

4. What is your favourite lipstick brand?

I have one high end and one drugstore:

1)      Yves Saint Laurent – Because they never let me down & I always get what I pay for

2)      Rimmel London – Because their lipsticks are simply fabulous, high end quality at low prices, now who can ask for more?

5. Favourite Pink?

’17’ Lipstick in “Pink Power”

6. Favourite Nude?

Estee Lauder Signature Lipstick in ‘Venetian Rose’

7. Favourite Peach/Coral?

Revlon Matte in ‘Strawberry Suede’

8. Favourite Red?

Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte in ‘17’- ‘Red Muse’

9. Favourite Hot Pink?
Rimmel London Colour Show Off Lipstick in ‘Shocking Pink’

10. Favourite Brown?

Estee Lauder Long Lasting Lipstick in ‘Rose Tea’

11. Favourite Rosewood?

Barbara Daly Lipstick in ‘Rose’

12. Favourite Plum?

Stila Shine Lip Colour Lipstick in ‘Sonia’

13. Other Favourite Lipsticks?

1. YSL Rouge Pure Shine in ’31 – Tuxedo Pink’
2. Clinique High Impact Lipstick in ’17 – Rosette’
3. Elizabeth Arden Exceptional Lipstick in ‘Red Diamond’
4. Calvin Klein Delicious Truth Lipstick in ‘Trendsetter’

14. Favourite Lipglosses?

- Not a massive fan of lipglosses, but these would be my favourites:

1. Catrice Colour Show in ‘Little Red Dress’

2. NYC Kiss Gloss in ‘B’way Berry’

The End...

I tag whoever wishes to oblige, and if you're a lipstick lover,  I'm sure you'll want to do this!

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Benefit 'Cha Cha' Tint

I finally did it! I bought this little fella yesterday, the same day it launched in Ireland, in Brown Thomas Dublin. How desperate am I?

I was eager to go to this particular launch simply because it was hosted by Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson, daughters of co-founder Jean Ford and Benefit’s makeup trend artists and brand authorities, together with the two fabulous sisters from Beaut.ie, Kirstie and Aisling, also known as the 'commanders-in-chief' of all Irish beauty websites and blogs (I guess you can tell I'm a huge fan of them, and trust me...I am not the 'fan' kind of person in general).

It was a fantastic event where I finally got the chance to meet a lot of beauty bloggers I've been anxious to meet, and also I got the chance once again to spend a lovely/chatty afternoon with Karen.

Now, onto the belle of the ball, here's the new lip and cheek tint from Benefit, in all its glory:

If you own or ever tried 'Posietient' from Benefit, this is its coral sister, that has the same gel-based formulation, with the same properties...You can use it on your cheeks, or on your lips, and I have to say these formulas are the least drying lip stains I ever tried, they don't give you that feeling of tightness whatsoever, and for that reason I love them. I'm still in the process of learning how to use them on my cheeks, but  hopefully practice will improve the technique in time! 

 Cha Cha Tint on my lips :D

I have to say I absolutely love Posietint, which is a gorgeous baby pink, and Cha Cha is right UP there with its sister in the lip tint ranking.

It is however a pricey product for me at 33.50Euro I have to say, I usually pay that amount of money on foundations or makeup palettes only, but I thought I'll treat myself with this, besides- for booking an appointment on the day of the launch, you had to pay a 30Euro ticket fee, fully redeemable against Benefit products, and we also received a goody bag containing a 'Tweezerman for Benefit' tweezer, two 'B.Right' skincare products samples and an Ultra Shines Lip Shine, so it was all worth it, right? Yes, it was I tell ya'!!!

Here's tiny moi - standing on a step :) with the modelesque beauties,

 Annie and Maggie Ford Danielson

Very happy with my purchase, money well spent on this fabulous product! Will you be doing the same? Or maybe it's not something you'll go for???

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Recession Make-Up - N.Y.C. Favourites

Since we're kind of in the N.Y.C. week (at least I am), I now need to dedicate a post to the beloved New York Color Cosmetics. In my pathetic attempts to create a video for the insane NYC/U Magazine competition, I must say I failed a few times...three times to be more precise :(. So, looking into my 'blog' folder, I found these photos I took in one of those attempts, and so, I will show you my absolute favourite make-up products from N.Y.C., at the minute at least.

First, y'all know I cannot stand lip glosses, however...I was sent for review purposes, a really, really pretty one from N.Y.C., that doesn't make me wanna rush to grab a tissue and wipe the son of a ***** off!

And it's this little gem here:

N.Y.C.  Kiss Gloss in '537 B'way Berry'

I know, I know...it's pretty, but how come I love it? Well first of all, you can tell that this is so much my colour, this beautiful raspberry shade looks good enough to eat, right? And then, it is a thick gloss, none of those oily 'not-good-for-anything' lipglosses, it's very sticky as well, so, I guess...I like that! Well who knew? I have been using this a lot, very impressed with it!

Because I was sent this product, I don't know what the price of it is, but I would imagine somewhere around 2Euros maybe? Apologies for being so unprepared :(, this is a 'pop-up post' :D!

And now, it's time for these babies to come into the picture:

Ladies, let me introduce you to N.Y.C. Sparkle Eye Dusts in 'Champagne' and 'Smokey Topaz'! These are beautiful loose pigments that I purchased myself for the purpose of my competition entry, and I love them :D! I truly do! The packaging is very pretty, but even more so, it's very smart, meaning that the system is perfectly built to store the product without having it spread all over your carpet or God knows where else, whilst trying to open it and use it!

See proof below:  

After removing the little brush, there's kind of a cone shaped container that actually stores the product at the bottom of the plastic jar, so it's a very clever packaging, I must say!


And this is how the pigments look on me:

That's too pretty! The brush that comes with it is obviously not of great quality and it does shed it's 'hairstyle', but I guess it's a great addition when you're on the go, just pop it into your makeup bag and it's all good! Their staying power is quite good, I even used Champagne on the top of my cheeks as a highlighter and it work wonders I tell you! Fabulous products, and best of all, the price is 2.99!!!

The only downside is that I could only find a few lighter shades available on the AWear NYC stand, so I would love a greater selection of shades, because I'll definitely buy more, at 2.99 you just try and stop me :D!



Here's a proper N.Y.C. mug shot, that shows the products mentioned above:

PS: All products used on my face, are N.Y.C., as mentioned, this was part of a competition entry attempt :)!

What do you love from N.Y.C? Anything I should be hunting for, next time?

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

My Interview on the 'Shopaholic' Website

I was interviewed...there, I said it, I kept thinking about a fancy intro and I settled for this one instead, how original am I?

Seriously, I'm delighted to have been interviewed by the lovely crowd at http://shopaholic.become.co.uk/category/beauty/ .

For everyone that hasn't heard of them before, this is a shopping blog  that covers everything from contemporary beauty and fashion to vintage clothing and accessories. It' s a very useful one too, with lots of tips and beauty reviews, just what we girls are looking for. I admit, the first time I heard about the website was via Natalya's blog from 'Filthy Gorgeous Makeup' who was interviewed as well, but having a browse through it, I must say it's a proper blog directed towards shopaholics like us, hence the name...just what we all needed, another website to enable our beauty cravings, right? Go and have a browse if you so wish :D!

Ok, onto my interview, you can check this out here , at the bottom of the page, and while you're there, do check out my fabulous friend's interview too, Andreea's from YourBeauty.ie.

Thank you for reading everyone!!!

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

NYC Competition Entry Video

Hey chicas!!!

I wanted to share with you, my competition entry for the NYC/U Magazine/Makeup Fablicious Competition (see details here), so here goes... hope you enjoy watching it :D!

Lots of love...


Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Summer Lovin' Beauty Products

Apparently it's summer! Yeah right!!! Not for us on our little green island it's not! And yet, I seem to take out my coral lippies, turquoise eyeshadows, fresh perfumes and so on and so forth. Don't ask why, for I am still wearing my boots sometimes! Yes, you read that right, I am the only person in Ireland to still wear her autumn / winter / rainy days boots!!!

So, I guess the last person you would want to see what she likes / wears during summer months, would be me! But judge not my little friends, for I can still escape the bloody rain and not only with the help of my umbrella! I can still pretend it's summer, with my bright lips and sun-kissed look, with my peachy blusher and waterproof mascara...and obviously my 'summer' boots :D

So here are my top beauty products that scream 'summer', that have a great influence on me and play tricks with my mind/eyes & nose: 

I'm the 'Pasty Goddess' and these are my servants:

Let's start with the top row (would be weird to start with the bottom row, right?):

L to R:

1. The Body Shop Shimmering Dry Oil - I only received it a few months ago, but I can tell it's going to be a winning product. It gives you the glow, without the show, so I don't end up looking like a disco ball. It has just a tiny amount of tint and shimmer in it, just enough to enhance a tanned body!

2. Benefit 'Bathina'  - This is the older version of 'Bathina', and it's a light pink shimmering body balm, it's the perfect highlighter for your decoletage, arms, knees, etc. It's a total winner and I absolutely love the smell of it.

3. Lancaster Blush Variations in 'Sunny'  - I don't do peachy/coraley blushers unless it's summer. I tend to wear pinks during colder seasons, I don't know why actually. Do you find this normal? This particular blusher is amazing, my love for Lancaster has no limits, it's the same blusher I used on my eyes in my 'Mango &Passion Fruit Cheesecake Look' post.

4. Agatha Ruiz de la Prada 'Cereza' Lip Balm - Oh My God! This smells so amazing it's mental! It's a cherry lip balm, a very soft one, good enough to eat! Beware, men love this, actually my man loves this I don't really know about yours *winks*. 

5. Agatha Ruiz de la Prada 'Gotas de Color' Perfume  - Yes, you got it right! I have a thing for her products, hell even my purse is from A.R.D.L.P. I received this as a pressie from my cool boss, when he retuned from his holiday in Spain two years ago. And it smells just like Dolce&Gabbana's 'Light Blue', seriously, this takes me back not on the beach, but at the hotel's poolside in Faro, Portugal, the lazy man's beach :D.

6. Avon Speed Dry Nail Polish in 'Mambo Melon' - Now I own a lot of crazy coloured nail polishes, but this one just tops them. It's an insane coral shade with little bits of glitter through it. If that's not summer, I don't know what else is.

7. '17' Eyeshadow - I can't fint this one in my ever so growing makeup stash at the minute, so I don't know the name of the shade, but it's as you can probably tell, a gorgeous turquoise, very pigmented and easy to work with. I love this one particularly because it's screams 'summer', you wouldn't cath me dead wearing it in winter, that would be insane for me!

 And that was all y'all! What products scream 'summer' to you? Please share, I shared :(!

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo 

Revlon 'Just Bitten' Lipstain Review

I said to myself I won't do this today, but I will totally post about it now! I bought the Revlon 'Just Bitten' yesterday in the shade 'Flame' and I just had to show you guys. 

This one is a bit different to the other ones I own, first of all it's coral and it's the only one in my collection, and second of all it has a lip balm at one end, and the marker type applicator at the other. If it looks like a marker then let me tell you... it feels like a marker when you apply it! It's extremely   and the applicator is highly precise, by far the easiest one to use out of my entire collection, which you can see here .

It is of course a drying lip product, but having the lip balm at one end sure does help. And it comes in handy to have a two in one sometimes. I also love the other shades that Revlon has created and I will definitely  purchase more of these babies soon.   

I wore this today, for circa 9 hours and it performed beautifully. I didn't have to re-apply once, I just balmed my lips from time to time to keep them properly moisturised. So I have to say it's a brilliant product to have in your makeup bag, it does what it says on the tube :D.



Here's how it looks on me:

It currently retails at 8 Euro in Boots on a 3Euro off promotion, so obviously the price of this will be at 11Euro, which will not break the bank and it does perform at high standards.


Have you purchased any of the 'Just Bitten' lipstains? How do you feel about them?


Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

L’OREAL PROFESSIONNEL COLOUR TROPHY AWARDS -Part 2

Oh, I'm such a nerd! I thought I would get around to do this post yesterday evening, as it turned out, I didn't. So here I am with part two, where all the glamour and beauty kicks in :D.

The L'Oreal Professionnel Colour Trophy Awards 2011 took place at the O'Reilly Hall in UCD. O'Leary PR was responsible with the marketing for this event, and via them and especially the beauties that are Aoife and Claire, I got invited myself. Without the fact that I felt like a Cinderella in this entourage, I cannot and will not say I didn't fit in!!! I did, and more so, I loved every minute of it!

This year's theme was 'Hair inspired by fashion', so the salons had the chance to be creative, go wild and achieved that through teamwork, and what a fantastic show they've given us, and for that sincere congratulations to everyone involved in the show, organizers, promoters & contestants!!!

Now onto the awards show, this is what happened there:

The posh table centrepiece and my name card (which I  totally kept by the way...such a nerd, hehe)

Photos from personal collection

WINNERS OF THE L’OREAL PROFESSIONNEL COLOUR TROPHY AWARDS 2011:

Photos courtesy of O'Leary PR

****Massive 'Congrats' to PETER MARK COLLEGE, South William Street ****

Also huge 'Congratulations' to the Winners of the following categories:

House of Colour, Middle Abbey Street for snappinng The Men's Image Awards
Peter Mark, Dundrum - The Irish Tatler Award 
Hession Hairdressing, Clontarf  - The Young Colourist Award 2011 



I was lucky enough to be in the company of these beauties, don't they look fabulous???

Photo courtesy of O'Leary PR

The show was amazing I tell you, if you ever get the chance to be invited, oh do make sure you attend, it's such a professional and unique event, I honestly don't know how I got in there :D!

The room was filled with talented hairstylists, makeup artists, celebrities, and of course journalists. I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with our one and only Kirstie from Beaut.ie, whom I could listen to all day long! The sweet, smart and funny Karen was seated beside me at the table, which was a delight of course because we ended up chatting and giggling throughout the night.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

O'Leary PR

Aoife

Claire

Karen

Dee

Sinead

& last but certainly not least to Kirstie ( for being so utterly kind and genuine)

A show to remember for many years to come...

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

 

L’OREAL PROFESSIONNEL COLOUR TROPHY AWARDS -Part 1

Oh you guys!!! The most amazing thing happened to me yesterday! I attended the L'Oreal Proffessionel Colour Awards last night, along with  Karen, Sinead and Dee. And let me tell you:  "I haaad....the time of my liiife...no I never felt this way before..." :D!!! Such an amazing night, more to come about the event itself in another post, in a jiffy :D. 

I'll share what I wore and the make-up of the day with you, if you're curious to see.

That my lovelies, is make-up on top of make-up! I came home from work thinking I'll have no time for a proper make-up session, so I cheated and went straight into adding more on top of the already there slap! And I liked it that way! Sure, as it turned out I was ready an hour in advance before leaving, but I was happy with the heavy result. I opted for a shhhmokey eye look paired with subtle coral-ey lips. I had to go for subtle lips, for my dress was insanely orange!!!  I mean, look at it!!! 

I told you so!

That was all for 'Part 1', if you wish to take a look at the fabulous event that the L'Oreal Proffessionel Colour Awards 2011 was, I'll meet you back here shortly!


Lots of kisses!

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Look of the Day - Revlon

Hey chicks!!! How are you all keeping? I am keeping well (thanks for asking :P). 

Today I tried the Revlon products purchased here, nothing fancy, and I have to say I am loving them. The pictures posted below show just a fraction of the intensity the look has in real life, and as usual, I blame my camera :D. Also, I used the blusher on both my eyes and cheeks, as seen below. It is highly pigmented and you need a tiny bit of product on the brush, so a very light hand is needed with this, but it's a gorgeous blusher and I'm totally loving it! 

As seen below:

The eyeshadows are very easy to work with, pigmented and don't result in fall-outs, and the consistency is not powdery or flaky, just perfect!    

'Tango with Mango' Lip Palette (coral shade)

(lip balm consistency)

Apologies for the different lightings in the photos above, you can see the real intensity of the eye shadows and blusher, below:

FINISHED RESULT:

Large photos so you can see the blusher better :)

Lots of kisses to you darlings!!!

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo