Gem and Jo's Valentine's Polish Picks

To go along with our Valentine's eye shadow looks we decided to keep up the trend and show you guys our Valentine's Day polish picks. 

We would like to point out that we were approximately 163Km apart when we painted our nails, it was a very strange coincidence that we happened to do practically the same pattern! Weird best friend telepathy going on up in here!

Gem's Pick

You will never guess how much I paid for this polish! Never!! What's that? You wanna know how much I paid? Okay then, are you ready? Are you ready for this jelly?

Here it comes....

I paid 50c!!

And the best part? It's a matte polish!!!!! I love Primark!

I only applied one coat of the matte grey/purple shade because if you apply any more it tends to crack way more easily. One coat is plenty anyway as it gives a fully opaque look which is what we all strive for, am I right? 

The formula is a little thick and getting it to cover your entire nail without streaking is a bit of a challenge but hard work pays off! 

I added a matte top coat from H&M to seal the deal before I added a little purple heart on my accent nail to give the look some Valentines feels! If you look at this picture close enough you can tell my heart is god awful and I cannot paint freestyle for my life. Ah well, everyone loves a trier, right? (Is that the right saying? It doesn't sound right...oops!)

Jo's Pick

I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret, but before I do please no judgement. I personally am not a big fan of pink. I know I know, I'm practically betraying Barbie herself here, but who says you need to be covered head to toe in pink to show a little Valentine's spirit?

So for my Valentine's day nails, I chose to be a little different (or so I thought until I saw Gemma's nails and realized that we  must actually share a brain!). I first painted a coat of Topshop's Easy Peasy on all but my middle finger. This polish is great, has fantastic staying power and brilliant shine. 

Next to jazz them up a little and add a wee bit of Valentine's flair, I painted my middle finger with this pretty purple pink colour from Primark, which I purchased for €2.00. I then used a piece of Sellotape to make a love heart stencil on my ring finger. Trés Valentines(y) if I do say so myself. This polish applies really smoothly and has a large brush for easy application. 

This look would be great for anyone who wants to get into the Valentine's Day spirit without dousing themselves in pink sparkles and and red love hearts!

What's your polish picks for this Valentine's Day?

Until next time, 

Gem and Jo's Valentine's Eyes.

This week is an important one for most girls, all the planning, stressing and preparation for one of the most romantic days of the year: Valentine's Day. Now as we are currently lonely, desperate single people, we decided to bestow our knowledge (albeit limited knowledge we may add) of the looks you can create without the need for a fantastic makeup artist. Today we're talking eye shadow, specifically Sleek I-Divine palettes.
If you haven't heard of Sleek, you need to Google it right now, like right now! Their palettes are amazing, incredible pigmentation and a great range of colours, plus they are only €9.99!! For 12 shades per palette!! We've picked out 2 palettes which we feel are the best suited for this occasion, one a flirty, cutesy look which is perfect for younger girls and the other a dramatic, sultry look for someone looking to seduce their man, woman, mineral or vegetable.

Oh So Special

The Oh So Special palette by Sleek is the perfect tool for creating a soft, girly and flirty look, which is perfect for Valentines. The shades you get can create a really pretty look which is guaranteed to reel that someone special in! 

The palette comes with some really cutesy shadows, some of which are their infamous shimmer shades! Plus you get some nice darker colours which can be used to create an intense, more sultry look. Personally Organza and Wrapped Up are some of my favourites and together they can be used for a quick 2 shadow look. 

For this Valentines, if your looking to be more flirty than sexy, the Oh So Special palette is perfect, using Bow as a base colour (it's such a nice neutral shade for most skin tones) you can carefully blend Wrapped Up into the crease, the last 2/3 of your eyelid and a little underneath the lower lash line. You need to be careful with the darker shades as they are super pigmented and can come out waayy too dark! A little goes a long way in this case. Once your sufficiently blended, pat Pamper onto the center and inner lid and cover over it with Organza for a little glitz! Use Bow again to highlight the inner corner and voila! A pretty, girly look that's perfect for fluttering your lashes! 

Top Tip: Add a set of flirty, but not over the top lashes to make this look really pop!

Vintage Romance

For a valentines night you can't really go wrong with the Vintage Romance palette from Sleek cosmetics. Even the name conjures up images of love hearts, strawberries and the awkward moment when you are trying to make small talk with your date as you guys are waiting for your meal (We've all been there).  

All of the shadows in this palette are super pigmented and blend really well. Plus they have really cute names which, lets face it, means more than we'd like to admit. I mean you can't not feel all romantic and gooey while sweeping Forever in Florence across your outer corner. 

For a sultry night time look sure to wow your date and emphasize your pretty peepers; sweep Meet in Madrid over the lid, blend Propose in Prague into the crease to warm up your look. Next place a small amount of Honeymoon in Hollywood into the outer two thirds of your crease and blend some of Bliss in Barcelona into the outer corner to darken up your look. Sweep on a subtle lip and you're good to go. 

What's your makeup plan for this weekend? Are you going flirty or sultry? 

Until next time,

Gem and Jo's Water of the Week - Raspberry and Apple.

It's February which means that by now most of us have totally failed or forgotten about our new years resolutions. But who says you need the start of a new year to make a healthy change? So what's on our agenda you may ask.... Water. You've probably heard hundreds of times that drinking water is the first step to a healthy lifestyle. It helps to improve your skin, maintain your muscles and fight fatigue. "But water is soo boring!!" we hear you say. Well we're here to show you how to spice up your water and add some extra vitamins!
Valentine's day is just around the corner and what says Valentine's Day more than PINK! Here's our water of the week, Apple and Raspberry Infused Water.

Here's what you need:

A Pink Lady Apple!

Some frozen Raspberries!

A jug, some water (duh!) and ice in a cute glass. 

All you need to do is chop your apple up into thin slices (avoid loosing a limb during the process) and chuck everything into the water! Simples! 

Let your water sit for a few minutes, to infuse all the goodness and you are good to go! Stick it in a cute little glass or in a bottle and bring it along with you during the day! 

How cute is our little love heart wooden spoon?

Here's why this combo of fruit and water is so good for you!

• Apples are a great source of immune boosting vitamin C
• Apples are a great source of antioxidants which help fight free radicals
• Raspberries = great for your brain health
• Raspberries also contain the the antioxidant zeaxanthin which helps with retina (eye) health. 
• The vitamin C in Raspberries and Apples help to keep your eyes healthy in general. 

So with such an extensive list of benefits to this tasty drink, why wouldn't you go out and get yourselves some raspberries and apples! And, buying a couple of raspberries and a couple of apples is a lot cheaper than shelling out for a new bottle of juice each day! Yay for benefits! 

Also did we mention it's cute and it's pink? Who doesn't love cute and pink? 

Have you ever tried fruit infused waters? What's your favourite flavours? 

Until next time,
 

Gem and Jo's First Impressions: Real Techniques Nic's Picks.

Aaaaannd we're back! Those university exams killed us, we are just empty shells of people after them. Exams = despicable torture. Perhaps some new makeup products will cheer us up. Of course it will!!
What new makeup did we get? Only some of the most notable makeup brushes on the market: Real Techniques! Plus, we managed to get our hands on the Limited Edition Nic's Picks brush set which means excellent brushes and they're silver and dual-fiber!! What more can a girl ask for? (maybe some of their new Bold Metals collection...hint hint.)

First off, the packaging. You guys we didn't even want to open them! It's sleek and cute and neat and just so pretty. Alas we had to open it at some stage and we were pleasantly surprised that the brushes are encased in a soft, protective foam material thing, almost memory foam-y. No risk of brush damage here!

Practically everyone knows that real techniques are one of the top ranges of brushes out there today, and the quality of these beauties does not disappoint. They are soo soft and thanks to their dual-fiber-ness they pick up the minimal amount of product which means no waste and no risk of over-doing it on the powder front. Despite being a 'professional' brush range, they really help ordinary folk such as ourselves to get the best look possible.
Take a look at each brush in the set below!

Duo-fiber Face Brush. 

This brush is for lightweight application and blending of face powder!

Cheek Brush - Exclusive cut. 

This brush evenly applies makeup across cheekbones for a more dramatic look.

 Angled Shadow Brush - Exclusive cut.

This is perfect for layering eye shadow in the crease of your eye

Base Shadow Brush

This brush applies a smooth and flawless foundation of colour to your eyelid. 

 Eyeliner Brush - Exclusive cut

This is a firm, angled brush which is optimal for applying product along the lash line!

(We're planning on using it for our eyebrows though!)

Do you have any Real Techniques brushes? What do you love/hate about them? 

Check out their website here

Buy Nic's Picks here

Shop the Bold Metals Collection here

Until next time,

Gem and Jo's Makeup Academy (MUA) Haul

Oh yeah! What better feeling is there than receiving new makeup on a day like today?
We're in the midst of our final year university exams and we are feeling a little sorry for ourselves therefore new makeup was purchased. At sale price we may add! Makeup Academy had a 35% off winter sale during the end of 2014 and into January and we took full advantage of it!

Take a look at what we got below and don't forget to keep an eye out for our reviews of each product coming soon!

FACE: 
Matte Perfect Primer (€3.32) and Loose Translucent Powder (€1.92)

Matte Foundation - Soft Sand (€1.28)

Blusher - Shade 2 (€0.83)

EYES:
Undress Me Too Palette (€3.32)

All Matte Palette (€3.32)

Pearl and Matte Eyeshadow - Champagne and Fudge (€0.83)

False Lashes - Flair (€1.28)

LIPS:
Matte Lipstick - Pouty Pink (€0.83)

Kissalicious Lip Stain (€2.49)

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer - Dare and Serene (€2.49)

Dare is dark and Serene is light! 

Lipstick - Shade 5 (€0.83)

Lipstick - Shade 12 (€0.83)

There ya have it, a good ole fashioned haul! Don't forget to stick around for reviews on these products, we're debating which ones we'll do first, why don't you help us choose! Let us know what product reviews you want to see in the comments below!

 Have you tried Makeup Academy products? Which is your favourite? 

Until next time,

*all prices supplied are prices we paid at time of purchase, these are subject to change.