Guest Post #8: Battle: SPF Face Moisturisers by Sarah from The Yellow Sunflower Blog

It been some time since I had a Guest Blogger appear on my blog and I am absolutely delighted that Sarah from The yellow Sunflower Blog contacted me asking me could she take part.  Sarah is Irish and Has a great blog that I visit on a regular basis and I hope you pop over to her to see it for yourself :) :) If anyone out there wants to take part in a Guest Blog Post on my Blog your can Contact me by emailing me @ Dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk 

So without further ado heres Sarahs Post 

Hey guys! It's so lovely to be writing a blogpost on Nina's blog! I have been following Nina for years now and love her honest blogposts and reviews and I am thrilled to be writing a guest post for you all here on Nina's blog! Most of you probably don't know who I am, but I am Sarah, from The Yellow Sunflower blog (sarahyellowsunflower.blogspot.ie) and I've been blogging for 2 years now. I love to blog about all things beauty, skincare and cosmetic related and why not throw in some fashion also!?

I'm going to be reviewing and comparing two products I like and discussing a topic that I think everyone needs to be aware of! I hope you enjoy reading it. 

As I've said on numerous occasions on my blog- The Yellow Sunflower it is so important to wear a Sun Protectant Factor (SPF) every day, especially on your face. Your face is always exposed to the sun (even if you don't see it, the rays do come through the clouds), where as the rest of your body may not be (clothes etc.) As a result of this, I feel it is so important to wear an SPF (be it in a moisturiser or your favourite foundation) every single day. There may be clouds in the sky or it may be raining, but the sun is always still in the sky (you may not be able to see it) and the harmful rays do penetrate through the clouds too! Meaning your skin is at risk and is exposed to the rays, so you must wear some protection on your face!

You may be wondering what harm or damage the sun does to your skin? Well, it can do a lot of damage over time, damage that is irreversible!

Some of the main dangers of the sun, to your skin, especially your face include:

* Damaging your skin causing sunburn or redness

* Aging- the sun's harmful rays cause your skin to age and cause premature aging and wrinkles (BIG NO NO!)

* Hyperpigmentation- pigmentation in your skin. Meaning you could have certain areas of your face (cheeks, neck, upper lip) a darker shade than the rest of your face

So because of this, you need to wear an SPF on your face every day. Enter, Nivea's Daily Essentials Light Moisturising Day Cream SPF 15 and Elave's Daily Skin Defence SPF45. I've been using both these products for some time now and I wanted to review them and let you know what I thought about them!

Nivea¦ Light Moisturising Day Cream SPF 15

This moisturiser can be used on a daily basis as it is so light and absorbs into the skin in super quick time! It's a great moisturiser and I've been using it daily under my foundation in the past recent months (Oct-April). It's great to put this on in the morning and I know I'm covered and my face is protected with SPF15. It's for Normal/Combination skin types and it works well for me as I have mainly Normal/Dehydrated skin. You can also get one suited to Oily and Dry skin with a lower SPF of 8, so they're worth checking out if your skin is mainly dry or oily.

The reason I've been using this particular product recently is because during the Winter months and early Spring I feel the lower SPF of 15 is substantial, and then when we come into Summer and warmer weather, where the sun is stronger I opt for the higher SPF of 45, from Elave! On to that in a minute!!

The benefits of this product is that it's so compact and small (easy to throw into your handbag), fast absorption into your skin (ideal for when you're in a rush in the mornings and putting on your makeup) and really lightweight which makes it easy put on.

Elave¦ Daily Skin Defence SPF45

Elave Skincare are an Irish skincare company and one which I only discovered when I got this product. I've actually done a giveaway with the company recently and it had a great response, many people seem to love the company! On to the product, as you can probably tell this has a higher SPF and one which I use in the warmer months (May-Sept). Again, I follow the same routine as above, each morning I apply this under my foundation and then I'm protected and covered for the day. If I'm not wearing foundation on that particular day, I'll use this on its own. If I apply it in the morning, it saves me as I easily forget if I don't!!

This again works well for me and my skin type and provides a much higher SPF rate, which I love! SPF45, it's rare to find a product with this high of SPF. Also both products are really affordable (Nivea: RRP €10 approx. and Elave: RRP €22 approx.). As this has a higher SPF content, it is a richer consistency and is a thicker product, meaning it does take longer to soak into your skin. So be careful not to put too much on your face, or you'll be left with a white residue on your face! This is brilliant for the warmer months and is a great product to bring on your sun holidays as you've got your face protected from the sun with a really high factor!

This product is also handy and ideal for travelling due to it's size (50ml) and can be thrown into your handbag or on the plane (less than 100ml). It does take longer to

absorb into the skin but it's worth it for the higher protection you get with this product.

I like to feel that I'm doing what I can, from a young age, to protect my skin from the harmful rays from the sun. It is beautiful to look at, but the sun does and will cause irreversible damage to your skin if you don't protect it and wear SPF on your face daily. It's never too late to start so why not go out any buy one of these day moisturisers to make sure you're covered and protected. Use under your foundation or if you have a foundation that has an SPF (it'll say on the bottle) be sure to use that!

That's it for today's blog post. I really hope you've found it useful and thank you Nina for this opportunity! I would really appreciate if you checked out my blog The Yellow Sunflower and my Twitter and Instagram pages (@SarahWhelehan). 

My contact details are as follows:

Blog- The Yellow Sunflower (sarahyellowsunflower.blogspot.ie)

Twitter- @SarahWhelehan (https://twitter.com/SarahWhelehan)

Instagram- @SarahWhelehan

Sarah x

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Blogger #7: My Skincare Routine by Tash from Skin Deep

I’m Tash and I blog over on http://skindeep247.blogspot.co.uk/.
 I’m super excited to be here today to talk about my skincare routine and I hope you enjoy the post! :)Ok, so my skincare routine is incredibly simple, I just don’t have time (and frankly I can’t be bothered) to spend hours and hours removing my makeup. So my routine is quick.

So in the morning I cleanse my face with water and then go in with Clean And Clear Morning Energy Skin Energising Facial Wash (and breathe). This is super quick and it just leaves my face feeling really soft and clean. After that I will apply my Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream. I just put a small helping of this onto my face for it be prepped for when I apply my makeup. I will then apply some of the Anatomicals Zap Zap Zap Gets That Chap spot  stick. I just apply the day end onto any spots just to reduce any redness before my makeup. Then finally I slick on a bit of lipbalm. At the moment I am using the Maybelline Baby Lips in Hydrate which I really like. That’s all that I do in the morning which sounds like a lot but I can condense this into 5mins so it’s super quick.

In the evening  I take my Body Shop Seaweed Purifying Cleanser to remove my eye and face makeup. Following that, I take the Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Cleanser to make sure everything’s off my skin. And then I follow with the same moisturiser that I used that morning. Again if I have any spots I will use a spot treatment, at night I tend to use a heavier one so I’m using the Freederm Fast Track Spot Gel which I found really helps clear things up. Lastly, I will put on a lipbalm. I use a heavier one at night and currently I am using the Nivea Lip Butter in Caramel Cream.

 And lastly, I use the Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean Cleanser once or twice a week. 

So that’s it for my skincare routine. It sounds like a lot but when you’re doing it, it’s quite a simple and quick!

If you are interested in doing a Guest Blog Post on Nina's Bargain Beauty All you have to do is email me at dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk and we will work from there :)  Thank you so much Tash for sharing your skin care routine with us :) :)  I loved it :)  Please be sure to check out Natasha's page for more great posts 

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Blog Post #6: A Minty Affair - Nail Art Tutorial by Dellilah's Notebook

Hi everyone. This is D from Dellilahs Notebook.  Recently, all this grey weather left me craving for some spring nail art kind of mood and here I am, with one of my very latest design. Its a beginners level nail art with just one tool. Hope you find it easy. 

• The colors I used are shown below.

• I have traced a guideline of the design that we are going to follow in the picture below.  Using the mint green nail color as a base all you need to do is make a simple flower on each nail. If you find it easy, just start of by making a plus sign ( +) using white nail color and then fill it up. Please excuse my messy brush. 

• Using simple strokes just keep filling the flower making sure all the points meet at the center. Don't worry if they are not perfect, you can apply another coat on them for a neater look afterwards.

• Just keep going

          

• Your finished flower would look something like this. I went over the petals once more with a white nail color.

         

• Using a glitter nail color of your choice, fill the center of the flowers. I used a big drop size and let it dry for a few minutes.
• Clean the sides of the nails using some nail varnish remover making sure you wipe off all the extra nail color.

• Seal the design with a top coat. There, you are done. 

I would like to thank gorgeous Nina for letting me be a part of her Guest Post list. If you like to know more about me, I am found dancing over atwww.dellilahsnotebook.blogspot.com - See you there. Don't forget to bring your dancing shoes. 

Hooyaa!! Its Dellilah. x"

Wow Dellilah This is absolutely stunning I love it and will surely be trying it out.  If you like this post and want to see more pop over to Dellilahs Blog and let her know you popped by :) :)   Plus if you are interested in becoming a Guest Blogger here simply email me and we will have a chat :)  dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk xxxx

Until next time 

Lots of Love Luck and Laughter 

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Blog Post #5: How To Use Your Makeup In Multiple Ways, By Barbie's Beauty Bits

Looking pretty can sure cost a lot sometimes! But, what if I told you, that some of the common makeup products, have multiple uses.  Exciting isn’t it? Plus, it can also help you save money and time. Especially, if it’s one of those days you need to get out the door quickly, while still looking like a million bucks!

Well, today ladies is your lucky day! As I’m going to share with you the many looks that one makeup item can create.

White Eyeliner:  This can be used as highlighter on bridge of your nose, corner of the eyes, and waterline.

Mascara: This has a dual purpose, as it can be applied to both your eyelashes and eyebrows.

Lipstick: Can be used as lipstick and blush.  Depending on the color, it can also be used on your eyes.

Eyeliner Pencil: Use this bad boy as an eyeliner, brow liner and to contour your nose!

Bronzer: This one takes the cake! As it can be used as an eye shadow, to contour, applied to your cheeks, as well as to lengthen eyelashes.

Blush:  Aside from the obvious, which is applying to your cheekbones, this little beauty works wonders on your lips.  You can mix it with a gloss or even layer it with another color to create a shimmer lip color.  It also works fabulous as an eyeshadow.

Face Primer: Use this on your face, lips and eyes!

Eyeshadow: Depending on the color of the shadow, you can create numerous looks with this. 

Dark colors:

• Can be used as an eyeliner
• To hollow your cheeks
• Fill in your eyebrows
• Mix with a gloss for a lipstick
• Blush (if it’s in the brown or pink family)
• Contour cheeks

Light colors:

• A highlighter to both your cheekbone and brow bone

So you see, the possibilities are endless!  All you have to do is be open to try and I guarantee you’ll be sure glad you tried it! Until next time beauties.

If you are interested in doing a Guest Blog Post on Nina's Bargain Beauty All you have to do is email me at dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk and we will work from there :) Thanks so much to Barbie for a great post :)  Make Sure you pop of to her blog Barbie's Beauty Bits to find some more great posts to read you will love her :) 

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Blog Post # 3: My 2013 Makeup Favourites! by Shawna's Beauty Blog

So another year down and another year older! Over the past year I have been trying out a lot of new products and I have made some firm makeup favourites. All the products mentioned are my most used products and they have made their way into my daily makeup routine. I can honestly say that I could not live without these products and I will definitely be repurchasing them if I have not done so already!

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge
I’m sure you all have heard of Sam Chapman from Pixiwoo? The Real Techniques sponge is a great dupe of the Beauty Blender at a more reasonable price. It's sculpted for all facial contours and features. The sponge is a small and convenient size that fits into your hand perfectly. I love this product because it is so versatile and can be used for applying foundation, concealer, cream contouring and cream blush.  It gives a flawless finish and is super easy to use! This product is widely available worldwide for anyone interested. Feel free to read my full review on this product on my blog!

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation
This foundation is light weight and has a light to medium coverage. I particularly love the shade 010 Light Porcelain because it’s light enough for my pale Irish skin! It’s great for an everyday foundation.

Sleek Brow Kit
Defined brows have come into fashion with a bang and this brow kit it perfect for getting that look. It’s a great dupe for the Benefit Brow Zings and it is less than half the price!

Benefit Hoola Bronzer
This bronzer is very famous as I’m sure you know! Its matte, has great pigmentation, cute packaging and is the perfect contour shade.

 Mac Studio Finish Concealer
Best.Concealer.Ever! I can honestly say that I haven’t found another product better! It covers all my blemishes, stays put all day and one little pot of concealer will last you forever!

Sleek Blush in Rose Gold
This blush is the perfect colour for my pale complexion and it has a gorgeous gold shine when it hits the light. This blush is a great dupe for NARS Organism. This blush is highly pigmented and has 5grams of product! I use this every day and I love it!

Maybelline Great Lash
This mascara is great for length and volume. It separates the lashes nicely and doesn’t clump. What more could you want?

Rimmel Moisture Renew in 470 Glam Plum Fulham
I can’t tell you how much I love this lipstick! I’ve worn this so much over the autumn/winter season and I’ve gotten so many compliments on it. For me, plum coloured lipsticks suit me more than red lipsticks. This product is so moisturising and the colour payoff is amazing. Great product.

Too Faced Natural Eye Collection
I love this little compact eyeshadow palette. I always bring this with me when I’m on the go and I can create any eye look with this. The qualities of the shadows are Amazing and are an absolute dream to blend! I got this bad boy when I was visiting the US last year. This was definitely a great buy if I say so myself!

Essence Liquid Ink Eyeliner
This liquid liner is incredible cheap but is a great product. Why would you pay for a high end liquid liner when this one works better? This product is only about €3 and the colour payoff is incredible rich. I’ve gone through numerous tubes of this and it never fails me.

Elf Studio Pressed Powder
I always use this for touch ups on the go. It has a mirror and sponge so it’s perfect for travel. For all you with oily skin, it’s great for controlling shine around the T zone. This has always been a product I’ve repurchased over and over again.

So here you have my 2013 makeup favourites! Stay tuned to my blog (www.shawnabeauty.blogspot.ie) for a tutorial using these products coming very soon. What have been your beauty favourites of 2013?

 I’d like to thank Nina for the guest post on her blog, it has been lovely to feature on such an amazing blog!

Shawna

Xoxo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnasbeautyblog

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShawnaBeauty

Instagram: http://instagram.com/shawnabeauty

Thanks so much to Shawna for her amazing Guest Blog Post on her Favourite Makeup Products of 2013 :) :) Some of which I have to say have been a favourite of mine too :)  I hope you enjoyed Shawna's Post as much as I did.  As she is a newby her blog has raised a brow or two of mine for sure I am pretty impressed with how well she writes and how brilliant her blog looks already wow for me it took some time before I got my blog in order I hope you pay a visit to her and dont forget to follow :) 

Lots of Love Luck and Laughter 

P.S If you are interested in doing a Guest Blog Post on my Blog all you have to is email me dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Blog Post # 2: Textured Nails Using Striping Tape with Enigmatic Rambles

For these nails I began by doing a gradient with A England Ascalon and Sleeping Palace. 
This turned out to be a very subtle gradient.
 I then added some striping tape and used Barry M's textured Countess over the top of the striping tape and then I removed the tape revealing the pattern below.

A England - Sleeping Palace

A England - Ascalon

Barry M - Countess

I hope you enjoyed that and got some ideas :)  There is plenty of links in this post for you all to check out Enigmatic Rambles does a mixture of reviews, hair, makeup and tutorials but 98% of her posts are Nails If you are a nails fan certainly check out her blog.   

Lots of Love Luck and Laughter 



























I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Blog Post #1: Top 5 Highlighters by Lauren Marie

Hi everyone, I'm Lauren from Makeup By Lauren Marie and  I have put together my top 5 highlighters, weather you like to look OTT or just simply glowing, there is something here for everyone.

First up if your on a budget, I highly recommend Bourjois Java Rice powder, this is an illuminating powder that brightens the skin and adds a very subtle glow to the cheeks. Its so finely milled its a dream to wear and looks great applied to the apple of the cheeks and along the temples, I cannot recommend this enough. Still sticking with budget we have Sephora Rose highlighter, this is a little more obvious but still natural. Its a rose gold shimmering powder that looks super divine on the face. This is highly pigmented and for only €13 its a steal.

If you like to spend a little extra, Mac Soft & Gentle is a gorgeous highlighter, this is subtle, but still vivid, I do find that if this is applied and buffed in too much it can turn to glitter, so just sweeping this across your cheekbones and down the bridge of your nose with a light hand is the best way to apply it. This will catch the light and give your face that luminous glow. If you have pale skin and feel as though Rose shaded highlighters are a bit too dark for you, Nars Albatross is the perfect highlighter for you. Albatross is a yellow toned highlighter, that looks really unique, its contains hardly any glitter just shimmer and looks great on the cheeks, this can be applied lightly for a more natural look or it can be applied more heavy handed for a dramatic result. This one is defiantly one to keep an eye out for. Lastly we have the mother of all highlighters and that is The Balm Mary Loumanizer, this is the bomb.com literally. Its creamy, pigmented and looks like your cheeks are bursting with glowiness when its applied. This highlighter is for people who love highlighter so if your not one who likes to stand out, you may want to avoid this one. 

So there you have it, 5 great highlighters ranging from barley there to in your face glow. Have I tempted you into trying any of these? Comment below and tell me your favourite highlighter. 

You can read more from me on my blog www.makeupbylaurenmarie.com

Wow Lauren Some amazing looking Highlighters there :)  They all look fab.  Thanks so much to Lauren for taking part.  Make sure to check out her blog for more amazing posts :)  I really enjoyed my First Guest Blog Post and hopefully there will be many more to come 

If you are interested in becoming a Guest Blogger on my Blog simply email me on 
dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk 
xxxxxxxxxxxx

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Guest Bloggers Wanted on Nina's Bargain Beauty

Hello My beauties :) :) 

Well as promised I am going to start introducing Guest Blog posts on my blog.  

Last year I did a series of Share the Love which was a huge hit on my blog and I loved meeting new bloggers aswell as sharing some of my favourite bloggers to you all.  

This year I have decided to continue with the share the love series only a little different 

This is where you come in...... If you are a blogger old or new and would like to take part by doing a guest post on my blog be it about beauty fashion whatever you write about 

all you have to do is contact me on 

dear-nina@hotmail.co.uk 

Its very simple you literally type up your blog post the way you normally do and email it to me including photos links etc and thats it :) :) as simple as that 

I am so excited about this as im sure I too will meet new bloggers through this and I am also getting the opportunity share bloggers with my readers.  I will post a guest blog post once a week to begin with depending on how many I get.  I really hope you all enjoy this and I cant wait to get started 

Lots of Love Luck and Laughter 

I love love love hearing from you all :) I make it my duty to read each and every one of you comments and every time i get a comment from you it highlights my day thanks so so much to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx