My recent Skincare Essentials!

Hey guys! How is everyone on this dark and dreary Saturday?

If you're like me then you'll be blooming freezing!

 So on to the good stuff, I've just found two new skincare gems that I've fallen in love with and I think I've finally decided on what works for my skin and what doesn't, so in hope of inspiring some of you skincare guru's, like myself, into trying a new product or two I've done a quick Skincare Essentials post!

Also every product is under ten euro and super high-street affordable.

Body

Okay, Okay, I know it seems like I never stop talking about Cocoa Brown, and to be quite honest, I don't think I ever do. I mention this brand at least twice a day to somebody, but It honestly is one of my favourites!

Tough Stuff is my favourite product from the CB range! I use it two to three times a week in the shower even when I don't have tan on! It leaves my skin feeling fresh and I honestly don't know how I ever lived without it all those years.

Chocolate Whip, not only does is smell great but leaves your skin silky smooth and nourished after scrubbing away that old than and skin! I love chocolate and this body moisturiser not only looks like you're smearing nutella on your body, (Don't worry it dries clear) but it also smells like that fresh box of cadbury's chocolates that you've been saving up from Valentines Day. Okay, lets get real, nobody has saved that box of chocolates, but this moisturiser is amazing, it gives your skin a nice glow and penetrates deep within the layers giving you that silky soft feeling. It's great to use with your cocoa brown tan or even when you don't have your tan on to just give your body a nourishing layer after your body scrub!

Face

The Base

I'm a major Garnier fan, their entire range of products just makes my insides all fuzzy and warm, not only for the price but because they actually work! Best high street buy out there, for me at least.

I use Garnier Micellar cleansing water to remove my make up daily, but I also use it in the morning before I wash my face and just before I go to bed and moisturise. It's available from boots nationwide.

Garnier Fresh Clarifying Wash is one of my favourite face washes. Now I have a good few favourites but as of the past few months I've been running to this one just because of how fresh my skin feels. Most of my experiences with face washes have been negative as they are either too harsh or heavy on my skin, but this is all natural feeling, it's a thin clear layer on your skin and then you just massage till its nearly white and splash off with warm water. I use this straight after the Micellar water. My skin isn't that oily, so I didn't buy it for that purpose, I actually used it in a friends house last year and fell in love.

The Process

I'm a face mask junkie. I love nothing but a good face mask, an episode of gossip girl or a chick flick and some hot chocolate on a cold night, but recently I've fallen out of love with my trusty face masks.

Then when shopping with my lovely mother, she picked up this Simply Sensitive Deep Cleansing Face Mask. I was actually looking for a face mask during last week. So this is a new find for me, and I've only used it once, but it is seriously a new love and for the price it was I'm still shocked at how good it is.

I usually spend 20 euro plus on a face mask so for under a tenner, you can't go wrong. It's for sensitive skin and has different number of applications you should do just in case your skin is dry and de-hydrated. This mask not only de-clogs the pores but will moisturise too, so once your skin is back to normal you can up the face mask anti.

I highly recommend this as I had a break out recently, and with the combination of my over night gel, which I'll mention next, it disappeared over night. Not a spot in sight!

The Soothing Finish

Nivea Daily Essentials rich moisturising day cream is something I have been using for over a year now, roughly. It got rid of my dry skin all that time ago and it's been in my skincare drawer ever since. It's a great product, have SPF 15 also in it, which is great because even though it's Ireland and we don't get sun, those harmful rays shine through the clouds and still effect our skin.

I apply this straight after I use my clarifying face wash show above in the mornings and if I'm having a make up free day I'll top up in the late afternoon.

Now, Tea tree and witch hazel Night Treatment Gel, where do I begin. I found this gem, yes I'm giving away my mega love for this product already but it is a hidden gem within the aisle's of boots.

I was originally looking for a new night moisturiser and when I found the face mask I saw this product a few rows down, so I said hey, it's not that expensive so lets give it a go. Aren't I glad I tried this out! 

I used it straight after the face mask the other night and wow, wow, wow. I think this helped combat my break out majorly! It does say on the bottle it is a protective layer that penetrates the skin and helps protect over night. I have found a new love, the only problem with this product I have is the smell, but I mean, the ingredients are naturally smelly, so I can't really complain, especially for the price and effect it has had.

So that's it, my recent skincare buys, products, loves, mini explanation of my routine and all the stuff in between. I will give an update on my new loves, the face mask and night treatment gel in a few weeks time and see if my verdict is still the same as first impressions!

Watch out over the next week I'll have two vlogs and lots of posts!

Stay Fab!
-Melody x

YOUTUBE CHANNEL - TheBuenoBar
TWITTER - @MelodyAnnLouisa
FACEBOOK- N/A -Available March 2015

No7 | Beautiful Skin, Hot Cloth Cleanser- Review

Hello Dolls! I received this wonderful product recently as a gift/prize and I fell in love.

I'm obsessed with skincare, cleansing my skin, trying new products and enjoying a face mask every now and again, so anything that promises to relax, cleanse and de-clog my pores usually wins me over, if it works of course.

No7 is one of my favourite brands make up wise so trying out this product I was quite excited.

This hot cloth cleanser promises to give you a spa facial at home and the standard box, 200ml bottle of cleanser, also comes with a muslin cloth to relax, steam and cleanse the face.

You're instructed to apply the product onto a dry face and run the muslin cloth under hot water, wring out and then place over the face and relax for a few minutes, leaving the product and steam to work it's magic.

The Verdict:
After one use I could already feel a difference in my skin but as I usually have this reaction with most products I decided to continue using the product for a solid two weeks before making a judgement. It's now been a month since I received the product and I have continued to use it.

My skin is prone to spots on my chin and after using this hot cloth cleanser for two weeks the difference was significant and my breakouts have reduced greatly. My skin is softer, there's less redness and when using the product it actually feels like a proper facial, which it advertises.

It's a great luxury to have and really helps the skin, I've also noticed that my dry patches around my nose have cleared up.

The only downside is your face feels a little tight and dry afterwards but of course that is why they recommend a good moisturiser, so make sure you don't do what I do and leave the face for ten minutes without applying a layer of moisturiser afterwards. *Silly Melody*

This product is available in boots nationwide or online and retails at a bargain price of €12.95!

Stay Fab!
Melody x

The Cocoa Brown Oscars!

Hello Lovelies! Last night I had the wonderful privilege of attending The Cocoa Brown Oscars event to celebrate the 87th Academy Awards! 

It took place in the IFI Dublin and was a complete 1940's glamour themed night full of goodies, photo's, champagne, style and of course a private screening of the 1940's classic and one of my favourite films, The Philadelphia Story.

The Cocoa Brown Team were all there including the wonderful Marissa who looked stunning in a royal blue dress! All the Cocoa ladies rocked 1940's glamour!

How stunning does @CarterMarissa look at the #CocoaBrownOscars 🎥💕 pic.twitter.com/ThdRuibIcE
— Cocoa Brown (@CocoaBrownTan) February 19, 2015

Post by Cocoa Brown.

Thank you to the girls who put so much hard work into organising such a wonderful event!

We were given some sweet treats heading into the movie and greeted with goodie bags at our seats.

Thank you Cocoa Brown for the wonderful goodie bags!

As you may have guessed by now the dress code for this event was 1940's and as I'm not one for long skirts and over the top glitz I decided to take my own spin on the 1940's and go for a minimal rock glam look.

Outfit details: 

Jeans- River Island

Black Turtle Neck top- Penny's/Primark

Coat- Jasper Conran

Bag- Penny's/Primark

Shoes- Penny's/Primark 

Pearls- Penny's/Primark

Scarf- H&M

Face/Hair: 

Foundation- L'oreal True Match

Bronzer- Wet' N Wild Glo

Primer/set- Gosh Prime' N Set

Eyes- W7 Lightly Toasted Palette

Lips- Essence lip liner in wine/ Maybelline Lipstick Original Red

Hair- Babyliss Barrel Curl's, Curler 

Products- Tressemme Heat protect spray

All make up products can be found in my recent 'what's in my make up bag' post with pricing. 

Also a massive congratulations to Cocoa Brown as they have finally made it to NY! 

It's available from Ricky's NYC stores & Online! 

Until next time, 

Stay Fab-

Melody

What's in my Make Up bag?

Hello again! Today is just a quick post about my make up bag and everyday essentials! So here's a quick sneak peek into what I carry around with me and wear everyday! There's lots of old favourites and some new items that will be reviewed in the coming weeks! 

Face

L'Oreal Paris True Match Foundation in Ivory
Available Here

Rimmel London Stay Matte, Long Lasting Pressed Powder in SandStorm
Available Here

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Concealer in True Ivory
Available Here

Wet 'N Wild Mega-Glo Illuminating Powder in Starlight Bronze
Available Here

Catrice Defining Blush in Pink Charming
Available Here

Gosh Prime 'N Set, Primer & Mattifying Powder
Not Available 

Eyes

Palettes-

W7 In The Buff Eye palette
Available Here

W7 In The Buff: Lightly Toasted Palette
Available Here 

Mascaras-

Revlon Lash Potion Mascara in Blackened Brown
Available Here

Gosh Growth Mascara in Black
Available Here

Lips

From Left 

Miss Sporty Lipstick in the colour Seduction
Available Here

Wet 'N Wild Lipstick in the colour Think Pink
Available Here

Maybelline New York Lipstick in the colour Fatal Red (Or Neon Red in new range)
Available Here

NYC Liquid Lipshine in the colour Prospect Pink
Available Here

Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub
Available Here

Gosh Lip Laquer in the colour 003
Not Available For Online Purchase

Essence Lip Liner in the colour Red Blush
Available Here

Wet' N Wild Color icon (Liner) in the colour Willow
Available Here 

There you go guys! I'll have a palette collection post coming up soon and all the details on where to get them cheapest etc!

Until next time
Stay Fab!
- Melody x

SS15 Launch- iClothing, Gosh Cosmetics and Saphir Perfume!

Hello Lovelies! So today I got to go to a wonderful event at the fabulous Dylan Hotel, Dublin, for iClothing, Gosh Cosmetics and Saphir Perfume for the SS15 collections! Not only was the hotel fancy and I got to share it with these three fabulous girls (Eleanor, Cat & Beckah), but I also received some fabulous goodies and spoke to some great fellow bloggers. So here's the low down on all the gossip and sneak peeks! *Squeals* 

First up was Saphir Perfume. The ladies were absolutely lovely and so helpful, they informed us about the brands history, details on the scents and gave us goody bags with three bottles, testers and even men's aftershave, which I was surprised at but they thought of everything!

Saphir is over 50 years old and originally from Spain. They have been in Ireland for just over 13 months now. 

It's 'handbag' sized bottles retail at 7.99 for 25/30ml and their 200ml bottles retail at 24.99. They have over 47 scents for women and 30 scents for men!

I love the details on the bottle and I will be reviewing the scents, lasting wear and all the stuff in between very soon. You can find local stockist on their site and they also have an online store so don't worry if you don't have a stockist near you, just order online and you'll be Saphir-ed very soon!

Next up was the Gosh section! My excitement was high at this point because I'm a make up lover, of course, but I was dying to get a look at the SS15 collection! 

I've heard about the BB cream and powder before and I'm not too found of BB/CC creams but the coverage the BB powder gives is really a blessing! It's silky smooth and lightweight! The main event at the Gosh stand was the Prime'nSet powder! The make up artist gave myself and Elle a quick tester of the product and some tips on where and how you can use it before handing us our goody bags and letting us flick through the collection ourselves.

I will review all products below over the next few weeks!

Below is the new 9 Shades SS15 palette's which are available from Gosh as of today! 

Note* You can not order this product online.

Lastly was iClothing, one of my favourite online brands. When I found out that iClothing would be giving us a preview of the SS15 collection just before they launched on the site, my little fashion heart could not contain it's excitement. 

As you can see from the photo's above, lots of pink and blues throughout the collection this SS15!

I am super excited about their statement necklaces.

 I was speaking to iClothing's buyer about the previous Autumn/Winter line and mentioned that I was going home to buy one of the necklaces when she checked my goody bag and then swapped the necklace I had received for the one I was going to buy. So thank you so much iClothing for your great hospitality and kindness!

Below is the piece I fell in love with.

There's some fabulous prints this season and I may have fallen in love with a pair of trousers and crop top that I am totally buying for Summer as a goal outfit!

Below are some peeks of my favourites from collection, which is now available online. 

If you see anything here you like and can't find online just message me on twitter or email and I'll happily get all the details for you! 

Massive thank you to the wonderful organisers again and the Dylan Hotel for it's hospitality!

Stay Fab

-Melody x

Cute Valentines Breakfast Idea!

Source

If you're not up for the typical romantic dinner this valentines day or you just want to lay in bed and eat and watch films with your loved one (or yourself), here's a cute breakfast idea for you to test out for yourself and enjoy!

You’ll need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups milk

2 Tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp red food colouring

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup salted butter, melted

Fresh raspberries and mint leaves, for garnish (optional)

What to do:

Preheat pan, medium heat.

Whisk together, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

Measure out milk into a liquid measuring cup and whisk in vinegar, allow mixture to rest for 2 minutes.

Pour milk mixture into a separate mixing bowl and add in sugar, eggs, red food colouring, vanilla and melted butter.

Whisk mixture, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until a pancake batter has formed.

Butter pan if necessary and pour about a 1/4 of the mixture into the pan.

Cook until bubbles begin to appear on the top surface of the pancakes then flip and cook opposite side until pancake is cooked.

Serve warm with whipped cream and raspberries or topping of your choice.

THE LIEBSTER AWARD!

Hello Lovelies! I've been nominated for The Liebster Award! Thank you to the wonderful Beckah! This is the forth award I've been nominated for in the past two months! So thank you to everyone!
So I'll keep this short and sweet and move onto the rules!

Rules

• Thank the person that has nominated you
• Answer the questions that the nominator has given you.
• Nominate 11 other bloggers and link them.
• Create 11 new questions!
• Tell the nominates that you've nominated them!

If you want to know more about this award, just visit their site. 

Nominations: 
Lisa from Four Walls Rainy Days
Elle from Elleganze
Effi from EffiMai
Kristin from Pretty Loved
Cat from Mentally Beautiful 
Nicole from Nicolette
Rebecca from Blue Eyed Fashion 
Amy from Batwings and Lashes 
Rachel from rayraybabe
Abbie from kittnsintophats 
Immy from immyop

1) How has blogging affected your life?
Blogging has affected my life greatly! My blog is only about five months old now and so many great things have come from it. I've met some great people and have been invited to lots of great places and events! It's helped me focus through tough times as I love writing and sharing my thoughts!

2) which bloggers do you look up too?
I really love reading Cat's blog posts from Mentally Beautiful , she's such a lovely person and I love the view she takes on life! Everyone I nominated I read on a daily basis, checking for updates but there's also the bigger bloggers such as So Sue Me, since she's Irish, I admire her skill and how she blew up! I'm part of this Irish Blogger group and there's lots of experienced bloggers in that group, I think I look up to anyone who's honest and I connect with, which is the majority of blogs I read!

3) what is you’re favourite song at the moment?
My favourite song has got to be Nicki Minaj, All things go at the moment, her entire third album is amazing and on repeat atm! She is my idol because of her business mind, her attitude and how hard she works, lots of people think it's crazy to have her as an idol but I have my reasons and she is a powerful business woman! She knows how to run her stuff! 

4) If you could have any product what would it be?
At the moment I'm craving a new eye shadow palette! As I'm loving the W7 palette's I think my next one I want will definitely be in the night as I'm in love with the purple tones! 

5) what was your favourite thing to do as a child?
As a child I loved playing with my baby dolls, so my baby choo choo was my life. I 'fed her' everyday, changed her nappy like a real baby, and even sometimes in the middle of the night I'd wake up and have to check her in the cot. She never got a new name, but she was literally my child. I also loved my barbie dolls! I had roughly 200 Barbie's and ken, a beach hour, summer pool, giant barbie air plane, safari jeep and a nice roofless car and bits and bobs, I still love Barbie to this day!

6) If you could pick between WordPress or blogger which one would you pick?
Blogger, I find it easier to edit, customize and the layout is crisp and clear. I've tried wordpress but I'm more hands on when it comes to coding and graphics so blogger suits me more and I don't think I would ever switch over. 

7) What advice would you give to new bloggers?
I'm fairly new myself, but as I'm now getting into the swing of things, I could give advice on how to handle the first few months. I like planning posts and I find it easier once you have a brief Idea of what you're writing. There's nothing worse then sitting down to try and think of a blog post. I use to have days I would upload but I fell out of that habit quickly because of my schedule. I would also say, keep things simple design wise, nothing worse then trying to navigate through a rainbow blog!, Most importantly be yourself and honest, let your personality shine through your work, if you want to be chatty then be chatty, or if you life being more formal then do that, don't write for the people, write for yourself and what you want to put out there! 

8) what has been your favourite product that you've bought?
I swear buy my L'Oreal True Match foundation, and I will swear by it till this day. It was the best buy I ever made and I don't think I've regretted it ever. It has amazing coverage and everyone I recommended it to has loved it. 

9) Does you’re family know that you blog?
My family and friends all know that I blog, as it was originally linked with college, but I always wanted to set one up just never had the confidence too. My family are very supportive, always sharing and saying how proud they are of me! Sometimes I'm a little wary sharing things that I don't write for my blog but for other blogs and sites, just because of the content and I don't want to offend family members, but they all believe in me and my writing so there's been no problems! They're great!

10) Do you have a YouTube that runs along you’re blog?
I set one up awhile ago but I never used it, but there could be a possible youtube journey starting very soon for me, secrets will be revealed very soon!

11) Is this the first award you've been nominated for?
I've been nominated for The versatile blogger award and most recently I was nominated for two awards Best Beauty Blogger and Newcomer of the year at the 2015 Irish Beauty Blog Awards!  It's crazy because I never expected to be nominated for any awards and they seemed to all happen one after the other, but it's great, it gives you reassurance that your blog isn't just words on the Internet and people actually read it! So thank you to everyone who's nominated me for the awards! Hopefully I can find a way to pay you all back soon. 

Questions for my nominee's:
1) What's your favourite haircare product?
2) What's your dream job?
3) How did you decide on your blog url?
4) What's the one item of clothing you couldn't live without?
5) Who's your idol?
6) What's was your first album? 
7) What's your favourite band?
8) What's your favourite make up brands at the moment?
9) Do you have any fashion regrets from over the years?
10) If you had the chance to be invisible for a day or fly what would you choose?
11) What advice would you give young girls or boys looking to enter the blogging world?

Thank you once again and..
Stay Fab!
-Melody x