Monday 18 December 2017

My Winter Favourites 2017


Hello beauties! Welcome back to Sense Of Beauty. It's been quite some time since I've sat down to write a blogpost and I want to apologise! Life has been hectic; working in retail during the festive period, travelling and enjoying family time! Today I am back with my favourites during the Winter. Today's favourites include beauty, skincare, fashion and lifestyle. To read all about my recent favourites, make sure to keep scrolling. 

| B E A U T Y |


My very first beauty favourite is the Catrice Liquid Camouflage Concealer. I picked this up in work for only a couple of euro in the shade 005 (the palest shade). This concealer is an amazing drugstore concealer; the coverage and durability is brilliant. It blends into my foundation perfectly and I really like to wear this concealer on days when I'm not wearing foundation too. This needs to be a new addition to your makeup bag! I will definitely be re-purchasing this affordable gem!



Fenty Beauty has been a massive phenomenon all over my social media. They launched a foundation brush with their foundations which was shaped similar to the Real Techniques Bold Metals Flat Contour Brush. We also held a Benefit Masterclass in work recently and we had local Makeup Artist Selina G demonstrate some of her top tips and tricks. I was fortunate enough to have been picked to be the model, Selina used a similar brush to this for my foundation and I was really intrigued. I wanted to try using this Real Techniques Bold Metals Flat Contour Brush to apply my foundation and I was extremely happy with the outcome. It blended the foundation beautifully and didn't blend away the coverage of the foundation. I could have purchased the Fenty Beauty brush or the exact brush that Selina used on me but instead I tried to use my own resources and I was delighted. 


| S K I N C A R E | 


The weather is getting colder and our skin is becoming drier. Skincare should be an important step in your morning and night routine year-round but especially during the winter months. Removing your makeup before you go to sleep at night is very important. Sleeping with your makeup on at night can age your skin by 9 days!! Cleansing oils have become very popular in the skincare market. I spotted this Simple one in work and decided to pick it up and give it a go and I have been pleasantly surprised. It melts away your makeup, including mascara! I demonstrate how I use this in my Skincare Routine, check out the video here!



To link in with my previous favourite, I have been really enjoying the Cleanse Off Mitt. I purchased this at the beginning of October and I have really enjoyed using it since then. I've enjoyed using it so much that I brought it with me to Edinburgh in my toiletry bag. I use it to remove my Cleansing Oil and Cleanser off my face. To wash the cloth, I use a Simple bar of soap under running warm water. I make sure to clean the mitt every time I use it. When the mitt needs a deeper clean, I turn it inside out and throw it into the washing machine in a 30 degrees wash. It's super affordable too! 


The Blistex Relief Cream has been a holy grail product in my makeup bag. I use this cream daily as my lips are becoming so dry and cracked from the cold weather. This stuff is amazing for relieving your dry, cracked lips. I am not going to lie, this stuff can make your lips burn for about 30 seconds but then it disappears. I like to apply this to my lips before I apply any liquid lipsticks too as it hydrates them and prepares them for the dry texture of the liquid lipstick. 

| F A S H I O N | 


Wonder Woman was one of my favourite movies of 2017. When I was in Amsterdam, I found this Wonder Woman purse in a shop called 'Pop Cult' and immediately picked it up for myself. I've used it everyday since then and I absolutely love it. Pop Cult is a shop in Amsterdam which sold all things comics. We found a couple over there and browsed each one. 


So I may have a slight obession with superheroes haha! :P This is a Captain America shield backpack which I bought off ebay and love it! I brought it with me to London during the summer and recently brought it to Edinburgh with me. Backpacks are so handy to travel with; they keep your hands free and are much more comfortable to carry than a handbag on your shoulder. 


| M I S C E L L A N E O U S |


Absolutely nothing beats Yankee Candles at Christmas time. It's the only time I purchase a Yankee candle because their sccents are just too yummy. This year I purchased Red Apple Wreath and Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was my favourite last year. This candle is exactly what Christmas smells like and my bedroom smells amazing when I burn this. 



I purchased my very first pair of Dr Dre Beats when I was in TY in Secondary School (which was 7 years ago) and they are still working. I wanted to buy myself some new Beats which were bluetooth. These are incredible; they are so much handier than regular wired headphones and the music quality is incredible. I decided to get the Gold Beats as I have the Gold iPhone (OCD much?!). They come with an AUX lead, a charging cable and a small carrier bag which I carry in my handbag. 



Spotlight is an incredible Irish brand founded by two sisters. I tried the Whitening Strips about a year ago and I was intrigued to try the toothpaste when it was launched. I loved the Beverly Hills Charcoal Toothpaste but I found it difficult to find so I decided to give this a go. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried this; my teeth have definitely become whiter and it leaves my teeth feeling very clean. 


| F I L M S & N E T F L I X |


I recently re-watched the Harry Potter series (still need to watch the final two) and have fallen in love with the series AGAIN! I have started reading the first Harry Potter book just before Edinburgh and I have been really enjoying it. When we visited Edinburgh, we found the White Elephant Cafe where JK Rowling wrote the books and the grave of Thomas Riddell. If you would like to see us explore Edinburgh, make sure to click here!




Thor Ragnarok was an incredible movie and definitely topped the list for movies this year. The special effects were amazing, the comedy was hilarious and Chris Hemsworth is a TOTAL BABE! The story-line is very interesting and I was sitting on the edge of my seat for the whole movie. I will 100% be purchasing this movie. 


I am late on the Stranger Things band wagon. I decided to finally watch the series because so many of the girls recommended it. I really enjoyed it but now I have to sit down and watch the second series. The characters and story-line is extremely interesting and I may have a TOTAL CRUSH on Steve (Joe Keery).


I have become obsessed with Crossfit over the past month. I watched the Fittest On Earth documentaries on Netflix and I am hooked. I have watched the Rich Froning documentary on Netflix and I have watched hours of Crossfit videos and vlogs on youtube. I am so intrigued by the sport and really want to try it. Hopefully I will be able to try the sport in 2018. 

So that's the end of my Winter Favourites. I really hope you enjoyed today's long blogpost. I am going to try and post more frequently on here and my youtube. Make sure you're subscribed to my youtube to be notified when I upload a new video! 

Check out my latest video, my Edinburgh Vlog! <3


Thanks so much for stopping by. 
See you in my next blogpost! 
XO, Siobh


Saturday 28 October 2017

AMSTERDAM | Travel Vlog & Photographs | Sense Of Beauty Vlogs


Welcome back to Sense Of Beauty! It's been a while since I posted my last blogpost. I surprised my mum with a short citybreak to Amsterdam for her birthday. I took my Canon 700D camera with me and tried to capture some of the beauty of Amsterdam. If you want to take a quick glance into the city of Amsterdam make sure to scroll down to see the pictures we took. 

Amsterdam is such a breathtaking city. The architecture is incredible, the people are so friendly and the atmosphere is amazing. I will definitely be returning to Amsterdam as soon as possible! 

I vlogged part of our trip too! If you would like to check out our vlog, make sure to click the video below! :)


If you enjoyed the vlog, make sure to subscribe to my channel for more videos! :)

Now, let's get onto the pictures! :D

Day One: 

On Day One, we travelled from Dublin Airport to Amsterdam Airport. We checked into our hotel and took a (long) stroll into the city centre. We passed the Anne Frank Museum and had lunch in a lovely little restaurant called the 'Pancake Bakery'. After lunch, mum and I strolled to the Adam Lookout Tower. This was an incredible experience where you could swing over the edge of a building and overlook the city of Amsterdam. After the Lookout Tower, we walked to the Dam Square and took to the shops. 



















Day Two:

I booked tickets for the Anne Frank Museum for 11:30am, this was our first excursion of the day. The Anne Frank Museum was definitely my favourite thing we did in Amsterdam. It was a total eye-opening experience. I bought the diary after the tour and I am going to start this book once I finish my current read. Mum and I have added Poland to our bucket list of places to go as we would love to complete the story of Anne Frank and visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. After exploring the Anne Frank Museum, Mum and I walked back to the Dam Square where we shopped again and then to Madame Tussauds. I have never been to Madame Tussauds so this was a completely new experience. We had dinner in a Steak House located a few minutes from the Dam Square and then strolled down the streets towards the Red Light District. 















Day Three:

Day Three was our final day in Amsterdam. We checked out of our Hotel in the morning and took a tram to the Heineken Brewery. We had breakfast in a quaint restaurant. After breakfast, we walked towards the Amsterdam sign. We had a fit of giggles at the Amsterdam sign as we 'tried' to take professional photos. We had a canal cruise booked which started just outside the Heineken Brewery. This was a lovely experience. We got to explore Amsterdam as an on-looker, watching people is definitely one of my favourite things to do when travelling. After our canal cruise, we walked back to the Dam Square and shopped till we dropped. We picked up some presents for the family and had something to eat. We took the tram back to our hotel to collect our luggage and then we went to the Airport. The Airport had a shopping centre connected to it which was amazing. We spent an hour or two browsing through these shops and then went through security to explore duty free. The Amsterdam Airport is incredible. The duty free was amazing and it was so clean and bright. We took our flight at 22:05 and arrived to Dublin at about 11pm (Irish Time). We got our luggage and drove home. 













Looking back at these photographs makes me want to book another trip to Amsterdam as soon as possible. I had an amazing time with my favourite travel partner. I recommend everyone to take a short trip to Amsterdam; the atmosphere, the food, the people, the entire holiday was incredible. 

It wasn't a goodbye I said when leaving Amsterdam, it was a see you later! :D

I really hope you enjoyed today's video and blogpost!
Don't forget to subscribe to my youtube channel! :)
See you in my next blogpost!
XO, Siobhán