Things to remember...

I have written this list of things it is more for myself than anyone else. To remind me of the ways I should be as opposed to the way I am.

1. The older you get the harder it is to give yourself to someone and the looser the elasticity is in your heart. It does not spring back or heal as easily. 
2. Getting one part of your life right only makes you want to get it ALL right even more. I am pretty sure that is impossible.
3. Even though nice girls finish last,  trying to be someone you are not is excruciating, so be the one who comes in last, if that is who you are and be happy with it because at least you are not living a lie. 
4. TRY to make peace with the fact that people will try to walk all over you, manipulate you, tear you down because you are so damned fabulous!! Leave them to it and don't do anything for them. 
5. Try to say no if you can. 
6. Don't try and be everything to everyone, if you can help it, because no one will try to be that for you. 
7. Put your whole self into something you love and do it with everything you have because in the end you know you have tried your ABSOLUTE best and the rewards, though perhaps not the ones you foresee or expect, will be much more worthwhile. 
8. Don't hold things in. It is unhealthy and ultimately will make you colossally miserable but try choose a good time. I say try because sometimes you are fit to burst before your "perfect" opportunity arises and most times this doesn't exist anyway. Don't berate yourself if this happens. 
9. Sometimes you have to make an idiot out of yourself. Life is about taking chances and we all love at least one or two idiots in our time.
10. You have little or no control over your own life so make sure to exert what control you do have over it.
11. If you are unhappy, change the parts you can, try to accept the things you cannot change... something, something, God grant me the serenity, something, something. (Flash backs to assembly in school but it is SO true)
12. If you are frustrated, or annoyed instead of kicking something, create something. Paint, write, sew, bake anything that will give you a feeling of accomplishment. 
13. Never stand by and watch someone suffer or be mistreated but remember to leave before you give too much of yourself away. 
14. As the Dalai Lama said "Approach both love and cooking with reckless abandon" 
15. Tell people you love them as often as you can. You never know when you wont be able to do so again.
16. Try to believe in your own capabilities and uniqueness. 
17. They say you shouldn't have to apologise for feeling whatever way you do... I don't know, sometimes I think you have to take responsibility for things that you feel that hurt and upset other people. Tread a fine line.
18. On the rare occasion that you feel it necessary, let your heart rule your head. Sometimes we are too cautious with our hearts. 
19. Let yourself be completely consumed by passion sometimes. 
20. Do not let your life pass you by. 
21. People will come and go from your life but if neither of you are bothered to fight for the friendship/relationship then perhaps you should make peace that they are meant to go and not upset yourself. 

I'm head over heels... with Inglot!!! (Photo and Swatch Heavy)

Yesterday the new Inglot shop in Jervis Street Dublin had a 10% off sale and demonstration with Little Kiva so myself and Cornflake Girl pottered in for a browse. Who are we kidding, my birthday money was burning a hole in my pocket and I was dying to get my hands on their Waterproof Gel Eye Liner.

I will start with my pride and joy my ten palette. It costs €55 and you can choose any colours to put in it and I decided to go for brights because I have so many browns and mauves. Some of them are a bit out there but I was dying to get my hands on some lovely reds and blues. I asked them to not put them into the palette so I could tell you what numbers they are.

Without further waffling here is my beauty.

So from Top Left they are:

Matte 367

Matte 371

Matte 322

Matte 382

Pearl 450

Bottom row from left: 

DS 504 (DS stands for Double Sparkle if, like me, you needed to know)

Matte 338

Pearl 414

Pearl 403

Matte 302

Now for the swatches: 

Top row: 

Bottom Row: 

The pigmentation in these shadows is unbelievable and they are even brighter in real life but I just am shite with a camera! 

Then I went for a Lipstick in shade 45. It is €14.

And this is how it looks on my lips. 

I then went a bit mental and got myself their Waterproof Eye Liner in 77 (Black) and their number 31T angled brush. 

This ladies is AMAZING stuff. It is completely waterproof. I put it on last night and tried taking it off with a wipe but couldn't. Got in the shower after a face mask  and a scrub and the bloody stuff was still on. The only thing I could get it all off with was Lancome's Bi-Facil. The Brush allows easy application and makes the cat eye flick very easy to do too.  The liner was €14 and the brush was €12.

Here is a pic so you can see how dark the black is and that the line can be very thin too with the brush. Look at his wee forehead. 

As we were lucky enough to be one of the first 30 people in the store at 12 we received a gorgeous little goody bag. We got all these beauties in it....

Very generous of them to say the least.

The Nail Varnish is shade 183 and the sachet is a sample of their primer.

The pot on the left of the photo is a blush in Shade 40 and it looks kinda scary but it blends out to this...

The little pot of blue is an eye shadow in shade 478. Here it is swatched beside the unblended blush.

Last but not least is the gloss they gave me which, I am not sure if you can make out, is kinda holographic. I am not a fan of glosses but this looks lovely, if a bit pale for my lips/taste.

I'm completely an Inglot convert and I am dying to get my hands on their eyeliner in a few different shades.

Are you coveting any Inglot products?

Eye Brow Threading - Elysian Brows.

My Eye Brow History: 

I am pretty sure I could count how many times anyone (including myself) has plucked or done anything to my eyebrows on my fingers and toes and still have some free. I haven't the pain threshold for waxing ANYTHING and I cannot pluck my brows myself because I just can't inflict that pain n myself. So I relied on my best friends Cecile and Anna (Hey Girls!) to do my brows every so often.

So when I won an eye brow threading session with Elysian Brows on Dawson Street from the lovely Emma at Fluff and Fripperies I was happy but petrified.

I was going to a family wedding a few weeks after so I decided to have it done before that so my brows were pretty.

The lady who did my threading was Hema and she was lovely. She took my brow history and had a look at them. She really put me at my ease and made me feel really comfortable, even though I wanted to run out of the place. (I am really terrified about eye brow pain - sap I know but hey - ho! That's how I am)

I had never really heard of threading before but basically it is twisted thread rolled over the hair that plucks it out. Basically you can steer it to take off rows of hairs at a time which makes it a faster removal than plucking.

I was so shocked! It was so quick and ok, so I can't say it was painless but it was over so fast that the pain was grand. Like ripping off a plaster. I was a little red straight after but the ladies were rally lovely and let me use the medicated foundation as I was going to meet my parents for lunch.

Will I do it again? Absolutely? I need to go again soon and Cecile and Anna are off the hook too!

Would I recommend it? Definitely! I got my sister in law a voucher for there because they were lovely and it is always nice to feel like you are being treated.

Warning: Blood shot eye shot coming up!!!

Here is a shot of my brow after threading. This is actually on the day so that little bit of swelling went down grand after a couple of hours.

Eye Brow Threading Prices @ Elysian Brows

Brow Shape and Consultation - €30

Brow Tidy/Maintenance (2/3 Weeks Growth) - €20

They offer a whole host of other treatments. Check out their website: http://www.elysianbrows.ie/index.html

What do you do for your eye brows? Have you tried Threading? How did you find it?

Ipod Shuffle Tag!

I seem to have broken a blogging barrier tonight so I am just going to go with it. I saw this tag type thing on Cornflakegir'ls Musings and decided to do it for the craic. 

The idea is that you put your iPod/mp3 player/whatever on shuffle, ask a question and then forward to get the answer. Now, there'll be no cheating I'll have you know, whatever song is played is the answer. No skipping forward and back til you find a specific one.

Questions:

How am I feeling today?

Where is Your Heart - Kelly Clarkson

Will I get far in life?

Hotel Song - Regina Spektor

How do my friends see me?

Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson

Where will I get married?

Don't Rain on my Parade - Glee

What is my theme song?

Call Your Girlfriend  - Megan Tonges (Robyn Cover)

What is the story of my life?

Catch 22 - Pink

What was High School like?

Use Somebody - Paramore

How can I get ahead in life?

I don't like Mondays - Tori Amos

What is the best thing about me?

Fidelity - Regina Spektor

How is today going to be?

Tell Everybody - Roisin Murphy

What's in store this weekend?

Who will Comfort me - Melody Gardot

What song describes my parents?

Blinding - Florence and the Machine

What song describes my sister? (Same as Cornflake girl about my brothers cause I ave no sister)

ET - Meghan Tonjes (Katy Perry Cover)

How is my life going?

God - Tori Amos

What song will they play at my funeral?

China - Tori Amos

How does the world see me?

Je Ne Suis Pas Elle - Amel Bent

Will I have a happy life?

Mayhem - Imelda May (EEK!)

What do my friends really think of me?

Lady - Regina Spektor

Do people secretly lust after me?

Untouched - The Veronicas

How can I make myself happy?

Centrefold - Pink

What should I do with my life?

Rattlesnakes - Tori Amos

What is some good advice for me?

Hurricane Drunk - Florence and the Machine 

How will I be remembered?

Head over Feet - Alanis Morisette

What is my signature gig song?

Pull Shapes - The Pipetts

What do I think my theme song is?

Floorplan - Tegan and Sara

What does everyone else think my theme song is?

Are you ten years ago - Tegan and Sara

Face of The Night - Steampunk Night

You can see from the time on the camera that this was at the end of the night and I apologise for the rest of the photos being taken half through the night. I need to start taking photos before I leave the house but, yeah, so please ignore the shiny bits and the bad photography!  

Here is a terrible close up of the eyes! 

• I used MAC Goldmine in the inner half of the eye and up into the inner crease.
• Then I used MAC Embark on the outer half of the lid and up into the crease.
• I then used MUA eye shadow in 11... Which looks like this swatched: 

And I absolutely ADORE it. 

• I darkened up the outer part of the crease with a Black matt eye shadow.
• Then I blended out the edges with Urban Decays Buck from the NAKED pallet.
• I lined the upper lid with Essence Waterproof Liquid Eye liner and the bottom waterline with Maybelline's Gel Liner. 
• As a highlight under the brows I used Urban Decay's Virgin from the NAKED pallet. 

And of course the most important part of this look is the Lashes. 

I got them in the Art and Hobby shop in The Jervis Street Shopping Centre. They were about €6/7. I hadn't had the nerve to wear them before this night but because it was a dress up night I felt I could try them. You can see them here. They do some really out there lashes. 

The look was finished with my favourite lipstick which is MUA In Shade 1. 

Here is another photo of the look: 

I think the next look of the day I will do is a zombie look in a few weeks. Anyone got any zombification tips for me? 

Graves' Disease - My Story (Part One)

I want to preface this by firstly apologising that this is not about beauty but I think this post has been playing on my mind for the last while and I just need to get it out of me. I also want to say that I am not a health professional at all and I am most definitely writing this as my experience and opinion and nothing more. I am sharing this story so that people who are going through this don't feel so alone. 

I have been sick for years and only in the last few years did anyone figure out what was going on. 

When I say sick I don't mean anything visable or audable. I mean I have one of those diseases that other people can't see and so can't be expected to understand, unless of course they have gone through it. 

I have Graves Disease. An auto immune diesase, which basically means that my body was/is attacking itself. 

I know if you want all the facts about this disease there are better places to find facts than this blog but these are my experiences. 

It started when I was in college, many, many moons ago. I started to collapse, totally black out on the floor collapse. Now this isn't a documented symptom of Graves Disease but it was the first indication to me that things were awry. I will try to describe the feeling for you, I would feel short of breath, dizzy, nauseous, disoriented and generally out of my head. I would then usually get sick and collapse. How long I was out I have no idea because I would always be alone because of course I was getting sick.

Of course at this point it looked to everyone like I was having panic attacks and it felt like it too. I was hospitalised for tests where the doctors after weeks of poking and probing told me I was stressed and that I should try to keep my stress in check by doing things like Yoga. Not being a doctor myself, I had no choice but to take his advice and go on with my life. I felt crazy, like I was losing the plot because I was sure there had to be something more wrong with me. 

Hand in hand with the collapsing came severe mania and depression. I went from not wanting to be involved with living at all, to running  myself into the ground by being so active and well, a bit of a lunatic. I completely lost the run of myself and a lot of things/people in my life couldn't cope with me, almost as much as I couldn't cope with myself. For all intents and purposes I looked like I was bi polar and again I felt completely crazy, Like I was watching myself do things. I have described it before as having absolutely no control over yourself. Like you are being taken over/poessed but you can see yourself and you are screaming at yourself and you know you are not this person but you are powerless to stop yourself.

Then came the over heating. This was so scary. My face and chest would go bright red and scorching to the touch. I remember in college melting ice cubes on my chest to try and cool myself down and it having no effect. This wasn't all the time but it was often enough to be frightening. Again my doctors saw these symptoms and treated them as other thing. The over heating was apparently septicaemia and by the time I had finished the antibiotics the symptoms were gone again. 

Emotionally I couldn't deal with anything. I could go from really happy to bawling crying over nothing. I remember one day breaking a cup and sobbing while trying to pick up the pieces. I would get so angry over nothing. I would get a notion and then all of a sudden I would be picking fights with people. I was so unhappy and seriously afraid that I was actually crazy. 

The next thing was the heart pounding. I will never forget the nights I would be kept awake because my heart was racing. I felt as though it was going to jump from my chest. The thud thud thud thud thud over and over again so fast and manic. It was at this point I was given a heart monitor to use. I was only to turn it on when I felt I was about to collapse. So I spent two weeks living my life but with a whole load of wires stuck to my chest. Of course I couldn't turn the fecking thing on quick enough each time I collapsed. So they couldn't say it was anything to do with my heart. 

I had lumps in my throat (Goitres) I could feel the blood rushing through them all the time. Especially at night. Sometimes I felt like my throat was going to close completely over. It was so scary.

I got these horrendous rashes (pretibial myxedema)on my legs. Nothing would get rid of them. They got so bad I had to wear three pairs of tights to be comfortable wearing a skirt and even then they were still visible. They were itchy and sore and disgusting.

My eyesight was getting really bad too. My eyes were puffing out, I looked like a bug, a fly added to this was what I like to call fat neck. My neck was so swollen and puffy I looked like I had been inflated. I felt like I looked horrible.  I was shaky all the time. I couldn't carry a pot of water from the sink to the cooker without spilling it I was that shaky. I was also losing my hair at an alarming rate.

I lost three and a half stone in two and a half months even though I was eating more than I ever had before and that is when my doctor found that I had Graves Disease.  I was sent to an endocrinologist who prescribed me something to keep the thyroid under control. I only saw this guy once every six months so I had no real thyroid care in those six months. Nothing was getting better in fact I was feeling worse.

After that things started to get worse. My personal life got un-liveable. My moods and craziness sabotaged pretty much every relationship I had, family, friends, work, girlfriends, you name it I was messing  it all up left right and centre all the while feeling totally out of control. 

My breaking point was when my whole life crumbled. I had no one, no job, no health and had ostracised most of my friends. (I didn't know how emotional this post would make me.) 

I am going to break this story in two here because I am aware how long and depressing this all is. 

I was going to disable comments on this post but I wont. Just please respect that it has been very hard to share this with you. 

If you have any questions on any of my experiences please let me know. I wont, however, give people medical advise or anything. 

New Twitter Details

Just to let you all know that I set up a new twitter for beauty rambling purposes because I was wrecking all my personal friends heads with my posting about beauty and now I don't have to worry. If you would like to follow me it is @aphrosiebeauty.

Looking forward to not censoring my beauty ramblings! :)

xx

Product Rave!! Herbal Essences - Tousle me Softly Finishing Touch Cream

Oh my god you guys! I am so happy that on a whim I picked this up in Boots the other day. I have a natural kink in my hair and usually it requires a good bit of work to get the volumised curls I like. I am not sure this would work on naturally poker straight hair but I will be testing it on my friends to find out and will let you know how we get on! 

This is the only product I had in my hair in my Masquerade Ball Make-up post.

This product gives me everything I want without the need for anything else apart from a little spritz of hairspray. 

You can use this on wet or dry hair. I have tried both and I have to say it works brilliantly either way. It has a sticky consistency but unlike most other products with this consistency it doesn't harden when it dries. Your hair is left feeling like hair, not hay. It has a beautiful  scent of violets, which as you know I have a bit of an obsession with.  The curls hold wonderfully and only require a shake of the head upside down to add a wee bit of volume when you have been dancing for ages. 

All in all I am highly impressed with this product and will continue to use it for a very long time, I would say and I can't wait to try the rest of the products in the Tousle me Softly range. 

Face of the day - Masquerade Ball Make Up

I apologise for the glare on my forehead the lighting wasn't very flattering but this is my first face of the day/night post.

For my face I have used:

1. MAC Studio Sculpt  Foundation in NC20
2. MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW 20 - for my under eye bags.
3. Benefit High Beam - Just under the mask.
4. Benefit Cha Cha Tint - on the cheek. 
5. MAC Powder Blush in Style. 
6. MAC Mineralised Skin Finish Natural in Medium/Dark.

For the eyes I have used: 

1. NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk in the inner corner.
2. Gunmetal from the Urban Decay NAKED Palette on the inner third of the lid.
3. MAC Club on the outer two thirds of the lid.
4. Glamour Doll Eyes shadow in Undead in the crease and outer V. (because I was going to wear a mask I made sure to put the mask on after I had done the shadow so I could see what parts were not covered by the shadow and I filled that space in while wearing the mask which left a very fun V shape on my eye.)
5. Virgin  from the Urban Decay NAKED Palette - just below the inner top corner of the mask to blend out the crease colour and give that highlight you can see in the picture.
6. Essence Liquid Eyeliner  Waterproof on my top lid.
7. Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner on the bottom lash line and in the waterline. 
8. MUA  (Make Up Academy) Eye Shadow in Shade 20 (Black) - Matt to seal and smudge the Gel liner. 
9. Maybelline The Falsies Volum' Express Waterproof Mascara

AND for my lips I used MUA (Make Up Academy) Lipstick in shade 1.

Here is a closer (not as wonderful as I would have liked) shot of the eyes. 

And another one just for the craic:

Let me know what you think or if any of the products I have mentioned you would like a review on.  Also I do apologise for the photo quality but they were taken on my iPhone as I never thought I would put up a photo of my face ever! 

My Festival Make Up Bag and Necessities.

So some of you may know that I was at my very first festival the weekend just gone by and boy was it an experience. I just wanted to share with you what I brought with me in my make up bag and what I couldn't have gotten by without.

1. First and foremost is Hand Sanitiser.

I got this Carex one because it has a nice scent and if I was going to smell it for the whole weekend I needed it to be nice.

2. Waterproof Mascara.

This is the one I use all the time anyway due to my weepy eyes. It is Maybeline Falsies Waterproof

3. Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner. 

Again my usual eye liner anyway but I would suggest you bring something at least smudge proof because once it's on you don't want it to budge. The one I use is Essence Liquid Eye Liner Waterproof.

4. Small bottle of Foundation.


I wasn't going to be too fussy about what one I brought because I really couldn't afford to bring one of my good ones and lose it. This was a sample of Lancome's Teint Miracle I got ages ago and had kept in my travel box.

5. Thank God for Glamour Magazine. 


I brought all three of the samples from Glamour Magazine this month. I used the High Beam for highlighting, Bene Tint as a lip stain and Posie Tint as blush. I just couldn't have gotten through the weekend without them.

6. Collection 200 Perfecting Minerals & Victoria Jackson Terra Glow Bronzing Powder.


Not to sound horrible, or whatever, but I brought these because I wouldn't be upset if I lost or broke them and to be honest they did the  trick and I luckily managed to keep them intact.

7. L'Occitane Rose Solid Perfume.

Again not wanting to bring a big bottle of perfume I went for this little gem. I would have been very upset had I not brought this home with me as I love the smell of it. 

8. 17 Eye Shadow Trio in Smoky Quartz and MUA Shade 20 - Matt

I decided before I left on a smokey eye for the duration of the festival that I could dramatise for night time so I used the grey in the Trio as an all over colour and the MUA Shade 20 as an outer V and crease colour. I blended it out loads for daytime and put a bit more on for night. It worked out quite nicely. 

9. Vaseline.

Being out all day in the elements can make your lips very dry and this is great over Bene Tine on your lips so I would definitely recommend it. 

Now to the other things I couldn't have gotten through the weekend without: 

10: Zip Lock Bags and Black Sacks.

I packed absolutely EVERYTHING into Zip Lock bags to keep all my clothes, socks, shoes, everything dry and I used the Black Sacks/Bin liners to tie up my bedding when I left the tent. 

11. Torch and Extra Batteries.

Not having batteries in your torch in the middle of the night and needing to use the portaloo is a dangerous position to be in. 

12. Loo Roll.

I presume this is self explanatory. There is NEVER any toilet roll in portaloos. 

13. Baby Wipes.

For cleaning EVERYTHING!

14. Sunscreen.

Getting burnt and sleeping on the ground is not a fun experience. 

15. Dry Shampoo.

I have to say I actually hate the idea of this stuff but I had no choice over the weekend and it was grand. I used the Batiste one for dark hair. 

16: Rain Jacket, Rain Trousers and Wellies.

It Doesn't mater if it is forecast to be sunny all weekend. You will need your wellies to be able to actually let go and enjoy the festival. If you are concerned about your shoes you are not going to have fun. 

17. Painkillers & Medication you need... Maybe Antihistamines if you are prone to insect bites.

Lack of sleep and eating at all odd hours of the day and night and serious loudness all can give you headaches and such so pain killers of any type are important. 

18. Loads of thick, warm socks. 

I had WAY too many with me but it would have been horrible for all my socks to be wet. So bring loads of socks. 

19.  Hat and Sunglasses.

Keep that sun away from your make up and delicate skin! 

20. Sleeping bag, Fleece Blanket, Cushion or as much bedding as you can strap to your rucksack. 

In Ireland in June at 4 in the morning it is REALLY cold. I had to cover my head with a blanket to even dream of getting any sleep. So bring as much as you can. If you are driving and think about extra bedding, bring it, just in case. 

21. Hair Bobbins, hair grips and a comb. 

That's about all you are going to be bothered with. 

22. A padlock.

I am so glad I brought this because when I came back to my tent I knew for sure that no one had been in it. It wasn't to make sure no one steals anything but more for my own peace of mind. 

23. A hand Towel, swim suit and flip flops.

You never know if you will manage to get some sort of shower. A girl can dream. 

24. Deodorant.

I have said something about everything else but I wont insult your intelligence by explaining this.

25.  Your Sense of humour and fun. 

These things are notoriously crazy, weird, random and fun. It is likely something wont go your way. Relax and smile and shrug it off because you are there for fun and not to be stressing about the small things. 

This is what I wore for the majority of the festival. It is a dungaree dress from Penny's that I got for €19. 

Whatever you do DO NOT be the person who turns up WITHOUT a TENT or SLEEPING BAG! 

Happy Festival Season guys and let me know if you are going to any or if I have left anything off my list. 

xx

MUA Lipsticks! Little £1 Gems!

While I was in London recently I picked up some more of these Make Up Academy lipsticks. I have one and I love it very much. I have included Shade 9 in this haul post. I thought the best thing about these products was that they were £1 but actually after purchasing  more of these I am even more impressed.

L - R: Shade 9, Shade 3 and Shade 13

So I went for much bolder colours this time as you can see from the picture above. I said in the last post on shade 9 that it wasn't very pigmented. That was obviously just the shade I picked up because have a look at these one swipe swatches...

L - R: Shade 9, Shade 3 and Shade 13

Too good to be true? Nope they are absolutely amazing. 

BE WARNED they do stain but I prefer lipsticks to stain because I am very hard wearing on my lips so having a bit of a stain, while a pain during application, is good for me.

And another plus: 

Shade 1

The bottom is a little tiny tub of gloss. Now when I say gloss, don't expect a thin sticky type substance. It is almost the same consistency to the lipstick and is exactly the same shade as the lipstick too.

All in all I can't praise these products enough for me. They have just released a MUA Pro Collection which I am actually dying to get my mitts on. 

(I also have Shade 13 as part of a give away that I will hopefully be posting up later this week) 

Sleek Blushes Flamingo and Pixie Pink

So while I was in London I picked up a lot of things in Superdrug and these were two of the blushes I got. 

I left my reciept for my Superdrug haul in Dublin but these are available from the Sleek website for €6. For the price there is a grand amount of product in the package and they have a lovely mirror and all. I love the packaging a lot! 

Flamingo is a VERY bright pink while Pixie pink is a beautiful almost dusty baby pink. 

If you have used  any Sleek powder Products before you will know what I mean when I say they have a beautiful soft texture. Almost a creamy powder if you get me? They also blend very well and are very highly pigmented. 

Although Pixie Pink was a bit less pigmented than Flamingo it is a beautiful pink for paler ladies.  

I would recommend using a light hand with Flamingo. 

I am planning on trying some of the other shades next time I get to a Superdrug. 

Has anyone tried these? How did you find them? 

Top: Pixie Pink Bottom: Flamingo