Tag Archives: Skincare

Holos – This is More

06 Wednesday Dec 2017

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Holos Skincare, based in Co.Wexford recently launched a new range to the brand. I was lucky enough to get to go to the blogger launch and find out about the new products. The This is More range has 3 products in the range:

  1. Multi-Use Plant Oil – €39.99
  2. Facial and Eye Serum – €41.99
  3. Get Better Butter – €37.99

The great thing about these products, they aren’t targeted for one area. They can be used in multiple areas, and I will explain this as I go through each of the products below. I was lucky enough to have been given the 3 products to try and will do a full review after I have tried them for a few weeks.

Multi-Use Plant Oil

This product looks amazing and has multiple uses including, makeup removal, hair oil, body oil and many more uses. It would be brilliant for travelling as one bottle can be used for all the above and more, and it also comes in a 100ml bottle so no issues with carry on luggage for travelling! It contains sweet almond oil, rosehip, calendula and cocunut oils, so it is definitely going to leave your skin feeling soft and clean. Unfortunately I am allergic to almonds, so I won’t get to try this one 😦

Facial and Eye Serum

Now that I am in my 30’s 😦 I definitely have become more conscious of lines around my eyes and I have gotten into a nightly routine of using eye creams. Normally from my experience most products for your face can’t be used around the eyes, as the skin is very sensitive in that area and also heavy products designed for your face aren’t gentle enough for the eye area. This contains hyaluronic acid, the new go to product for skincare :). 1 gramme of hyaluronic acid holds up to 6 litres of water, which is takes from its environment and absorbs into the skin. What I didn’t know though was if you are in a dry, air-conditioned environment it will pull this into your skin so try to have a window opened to ensure some moisture is coming into the room. This can also be used for scar tissue and dry patches, I know definitely get some dry patches during the winter. I can’t wait to try this product out and I will let you know how I get on 🙂

Get Better Butter

Another brilliant travel product, again in a 100ml container so fine for carry on, is the Get Better Butter. It is a buttery cream that can be used on your face, hands and more so along with the Multi-Use Plant Oil you would have two products that cover all the cleansing and moisturising that I can think of. This product contains Organic Shea & Cocoa butters and smells amazing! It also says that it can be used for Eczema & Psoriasis. I have suffered with my elbows over the past few years when on holidays in the sun, I get small blisters on my elbows, which when I return home my elbows go really dry. So after our mini honeymoon at the start of the moment I am suffering a little bit and will be trying this out on my elbows.

Click here for more details on all of the products from Holos!

Amanda xxx

*I was given these products at the Holos launch to try but views are all my own.

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Buff Day Spa – Dublin 

05 Wednesday Jul 2017

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A few weeks back I was invited to an open evening in Buff Day Spa. For any of you who don’t know the Buff Day Spa it is located on King Street, Dublin 2 (not far from Zara 😍). 

I couldn’t believe how big the spa was! It seemed to go on forever when I was going around on the tour, but my favourite part..the quietness. Considering it is just off Grafton St and on a pretty busy street you couldn’t hear anything. It swas quiet, and relaxing and strangely it felt more relaxing as you know you are so close to crowds of people.

Whilst I was there they did a few different treatments. I had a look at laser hair removal being done, something I have always considered so I really wanted to see what it was like. They have a new method of doing it, Super Hair Removal.

They also do micro needling and they demonstrated this on the night. Numbing cream is applied and you are left for 20mins for this to take effect. The face was then cleansed and a micro needle roller was used on the face. For anybody squeamish there is some blood… they then used an Image mask on the face for the skin to absorb. The idea of micro needling is that it is a controlled injury, so the skin then tries to repair itself. After the treatment the skin will be red and require a few days to relax and repair itself, makeup is not reccomended.

I am not going to lie, I don’t think this is a treatment for me. I met a few girls there who had the treatment before and raved about it and you could see the difference in their skin from it. I am a bit of a chicken and the micro needle roller scares me, but don’t let me put you off it definitely look into if you are interested in it! 

They gave us shots of the Image Collagen Shot to try, it actually tasted pretty good 😀

Buff Day Spa also do other facials and treatments, if your treatment costs more than €50 you can arrive an hour early and use the relaxation room and sauna, go on spoil yourself 😁, I know I will!

Amanda xxx

April Favourites

06 Friday May 2016

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I am just back from New York (there will be loads of posts..apologies if I overdo it!) and I wanted to do a post on some of my favourite beauty products lately.

My skin felt terrible when I got back after the flight, it was all dried out and I was breaking out in spots. I decided to try the Declaré cleansing powder and Multilift contouring cream I got at the Declaré skincare event last month. I only used both products about 2 or 3 times but my skin feels smooth, soft and clean and all the dry skin is gone! The dried out skin was gone after using it once!

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The cleansing powder is also brilliant for taking off a full face of makeup, and just use a eye makeup remover aswell and you are makeup free nearly as quick as using a makeup remover wipe. We all know makeup remover wipes are terrible for the skin (I will admit I use them a lot more than I should!)

You just put a little bit of the powder in your hand and then add a few drops of water and mix until you get a foam.

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Another product I am in love with is the L’Oreal Mythic Oil, this is a radiance oil for colour treated hair.

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The bottom of my hair still has some colour in it from a bad attempt at a balyage a few years ago (not done by me) and my hair is quite dry out. The great hairdresser Kelsey in House of Colour is trying to get rid of as much of it at each cut I go for that it is barely noticeable now. Otherwise my hair is my natural colour, for the next year or two anyway before the greys takeover 😢.

I put about 2-3 pumps of this into my hair after washing and leave it for as long as possible before drying to get if time to soak into my hair. My hair feels great since I started using it. It doesn’t leave my hair dry and heavy with product but leaves it silky and shiny.

Hope you like these products 🤗

Amanda xxx

Declare Ireland

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Still can’t believe I got invited to this event, it was brilliant!! Elke who is the training manager was there to keep us entertained and she definitely did!! She kept everyones attention for the duration of the talk with her great knowledge, sense of humour, and her skin!!

To be honest I never knew too much about the Declare brand, just really thought of it as a brand that I couldn’t really afford. After checking out some of their products tonight I am definitely interested in using their products. I know everybody is probably thinking, typical blogger goes to an event and praises the product after. We got to sample loads of their products and they all smell gorgeous, the texture also feels silky on your hand. It really feels like it soaks into your skin. We were told to only ever use the cream that caters for your skin. Don’t use anti-ageing too early as your skin only takes out of the products what it needs.

One of the great things about the Declare products is that the first part of the research on a new product is based on the sensitivity of the skin and then they focus on what the product will be targeted at.

We got a sample of the cleansing powder at the event. Cleansing powder is great for travelling as it is really light in weight so you aren’t adding a heavy bottle of cleanser to your bag. You basically add a little bit of water to the powder and mix until you get a foam. The cleansing powder retails at about €24.50.

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Next up we got a sample of the multi lift re-modling contour face cream, this cream is thick and rich and really feels like it is soaking in and nourishing the skin! A majority of the cream range at €49.50.

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The main product of the event is the new Multi Lift Contour Serum. We tried it out at the event on skin between yout thumb and the forefinger. This skin always feels dry and hard and it felt really soft after, you could see a slight difference between both hands. This product is also used for the reduction of age spots. This will retail at €59.50.

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Declare do a large range of skincare products and a sunscreen range.
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You can keep update on Declare Ireland on their Facebook page.

One question that came up at the event is why do people use the skincare brand that they use. Is it a product that works for your skin? Do you use it just because you think it is a good brand?

I am not going to lie, I skip between different products. Generally when I try a sample and if I like it I will buy the product. I used simple for years, and I have since changed to Ren. After trying out Declare it is definitely a brand I will try and see how if it works for my skin. We tried all the samples on our hands and my hands feel good after, and no sign of an allergy either 😆

We also got spoilt with great food and prosecco at the event which was held in the Fitzwilliam hotel, Dublin.

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Amanda xxx

Poor hands don’t like the cold!!

28 Sunday Feb 2016

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Anybody else suffering from dry, sore hands with the weather lately! I wanted to share my two favourite hand creams that definitely are making a difference and protecting my hands.

First up is the hand cream from the Holos range. Holos is a natural plant-based, aromatherapy range started by Niamh in Ireland. I was gifted the hand cream and it contains Rose, Palmerosa, Benzoin & Frankincense. I love this product, and as it is natural I feel comfortable putting it on my skin when it is dried out from the cold. It is available to purchase on the Holos site for €15.90 and selected stockist (list available here)

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Next up is the hand cream from L’Occitane. I bought the Rose cream, L’Occitane do a famous cream, however unfortunately I am allergic to almonds and almond oil seems to be new ingredient for a majority of skin care products. I love the smell of this cream and it is another product to keep my hands soft. It is available to purchase for €16.90 (click here)

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Having two products is handy, one at home and one at my desk in work.

Amanda xxx

A perfect product for perfect skin 😆

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

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I came across Ren skincare at the start of this year, I received a sample of it I think at Pippas Fashion Factory and I love it. The sample bottles are pretty good and range from about 5mls up to 15mls. After two weeks of using it I definitely felt like I could notice a difference with lines and my skin in general. Ever since then I have been pretty hooked and seriously stocked up on my Christmas list 😅.

I got a set for sensitive skin, stop being so sensitive. there was a large bottle of the evercalm cleansing balm and evercalm day cream moisturiser in the bag. It also included the evercalm anti redness serum and a night cream. This retails at £34.00/approx €50 on their site.

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Another one on my Christmas list was this set, it contained the below two products and I think it was about €21. It included the Glycolactic Radiance Renewal mask and the Flash Rinse 1 minute Facial . The mask is sold every 12 seconds so it definitely must be good!!
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This is the full size of the first sample I received from Ren and I can’t wait to start using it (trying to use one at a time) I found the Ultra Moisture Day Cream brilliant and this was the one that I noticed a difference to my skin in two weeks.

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Ren can be purchased on their own site (click here). You can also purchase it on Cloud 10 Beauty (click here). The best thing is both sites offer free samples also brilliant!!
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Amanda xxx

L’Occitane Skincare

04 Sunday Oct 2015

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On Wednesday I went to a L’Occitane event in Dublin city centre. I came across this event on the Irish Tatler magazine twitter account, tickets were only €10 so I figured I would go along and see what it was about.

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It started at 6.30 so I went around the city for a while and checked out the new autumn/winter range in Zara. When I got to L’Occitane I was greeted with champagne or peppermint tea. They had hand massages and skin consultations.

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I had a hand massage and my hands felt so soft after! I am allergic to almonds so they changed the skincare products and they used a selection of products from their rose range. They have a a number one selling hand cream, that I really wanted to try but it has almond oil in it 😦

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The girls were brilliant and knew their stuff. I bought a rose hand cream as the winter is coming and like most people my hands get really dry!!

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They had brilliant goodie bags as well for the event and these were worth €55!
There is so many products in it and can’t wait to try them out 🙂

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Amanda xxx

July Favourites

08 Saturday Aug 2015

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I keep planning on doing a favourite beauty items every month and next thing you know it is the end of the following month.

So my first favourite is from Cocoa Brown Tan, I have the 1 Hour Tan Mousse in Dark, Normal and Lovely Legs.

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I used the Lovely Legs tan a few weeks ago as a very last minute tanning decision and stuck it on my arms, yeah I know it is meant to be for legs but sure it was an extra challenge for it 🙂  When I sprayed the tan on first I was like oh god it is orange, but once you rub it in it comes out really nice and it is very easy to blend. Here is a picture of the tan on one arm, I love a bit of colour! (Ignore my hairy arms)

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I used the 1 Hour Tan Mousse in Dark for a wedding recently, I had the normal version of this before and just didn’t get the colour I wanted from one go.  I decided to give the dark a chance and I love it, I left it on overnight and it came out really well!!  The two things I love about this tan is that it doesn’t have any smell and the best thing, it looks really natural!!  Also as it is a mousse it is so easy to put on, goodbye streaks!!

My next favourite is the Magnitone Lucid Cleansing & Exfoliation Brush, it is so good!  I am using it with my own Clarins cleanser and I use it about two to three times a week. There are two settings on it, I use the lighter setting so it is a bit more gentle on my skin. It also gives a warning every 20seconds to move to a different section of your face and turns off after one minute. My favourite thing about it is that you can use it in the shower!! This is so handy so I can forget worrying about getting cleanser in my hair.

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Like everybody seems to be blogging about the Botanics range from Boots. I have been using the micellar water for about 6months now and I love it,it literally melts away your makeup. I previously posted about this here. The product this month that I tried is the Radiance Balm, it is the only one I have ever used so I can’t compare it to the other brands.
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It gives your skin a subtle glow and this comes through your foundation. I have heard of other bloggers mixing it with your foundation. I found my foundation went on a lot better and smoother, and even used less foundation then normal. It is definitely worth a purchase and Boots have it on offer a lot. Just to warn you it can be pretty hard to find in store though, it is always out of stock!!

I got a new face cream at the Into the West Blogger Network event in May from Boots, the No7 Early Defence Cream.
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It is a light cream and normally I don’t like light creams because I don’t feel like they don’t absorb as good as the thicker creams. This cream absorbs really well and my skin does feel amazing after using it, I am using it about a month now and combined with the Magnitone Lucid my skin feels great as they both work great together.  One thing that is putting me slightly off buying this cream again is that I have very sensitive eyes and I feel that the scent is making them water a lot (but this could also be linked to hayfever).  However I definitely will be looking into the No7 range from Boots and see if there is other creams that might be more suitable for me.

That is a few of my favourite products that I have used over the past month and wanted to share with everybody!

Amanda xxx

Benefit Beauty Bash

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

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Hello again,

So last night I went to the Benefit Beauty Bash in Zaragoza in Dublin. The event was sponsored by U magazine and it was a brilliant night! It started at 6.30pm and got there way too early, we weren’t the only ones though there was plenty of glamorous women waiting outside.

When we entered the restaurant, our coats were taken, given a glass of cava and shown to our tables. All the tables had loads of bits and pieces on them:

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The night also included a four course tapas meal and the food was amazing, apologies I don’t have more pictures of the food as I couldn’t wait to taste everything!! Here is a picture of the first course, the cheese in breadcrumbs with orange and cranberry which was amazing, check out their website on http://www.zaragozadublin.com

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The cocktails looked amazing and the staff were kept pretty busy with the drink orders!!

Benefit had also set up a pop shop in a section of the restaurant where you could buy their products at 10per cent off. We all also got a voucher for €10 off products on the night so serious bargains to be had. We went up to the shop after the starter and I got a lovely set that had a few products in it that I wanted to try:
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I can’t wait to try these out and I am really excited about the eyeshadow primer 😆

Benefit also had a makeup and hair demonstration, their store is next doors to the restaurant on South William Street, they provide a range of beauty and hair services, check out their page on facebook, Benefit Cosmetics Ireland.

The lovely Jennifer Stevens from U Magazine and Mark Rogers from Benefit held a competition for the best dressed of the night. Five lovely girls were picked and the winner won a Benefit hamper.

The night finished off with a cocktail masterclass. The cocktails all looked amazing and will definitely be back to try them 🙂

We all got some lovely goodies as well 😆
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I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next event!

Amanda xxx

Favourite Skincare Products!!

21 Saturday Mar 2015

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Below are a few of my favourite skincare products at the moment!

The first is Botanics Miscellar 3 in 1 Cleansing Solution.  I first heard of this in January at Pippa O’Connors Fashion Factory and I am in love with it. It is so handy when I am having a lazy night and can’t face taking my makeup off.  It melts the makeup off and my skin feels great after it!

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I bought L’oreal Youth Code day cream in the airport at Christmas, I am pretty sure it was on offer as it was about a third of the price then on the high street (why didn’t I buy loads). I think it is great and after using the whole tub I actually feel that I can notice a difference in the condition of my skin and wrinkles 😯

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As much as I love the youth code moisturer, over the past couple of months I have started a serious habit of buying creams and need to use the other creams first before I buy more. I started using Clarins daily energizer cream this week and love the smell.  The cream is thick and absorbs quickly into your skin.

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Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Amanda xxx