Image magazine Business of Beauty awards

I was delighted to attend the Image magazine Business of Beauty awards in the Mansion House yesterday. The purpose of the awards are to recognise those who are excelling in their fields of hair, makeup, nails and beauty treatments as well as awarding those brands and products that really go the extra mile in the beauty stakes.

The Mansion House is a stunning location and even though it was a lunch event, the stars were out, making it feel even more special!

Being greeted on arrival with bubbly was pretty special too!

The host for the afternoon was Darren Kennedy who did a great job announcing the winners and keeping guests entertained as well as handing out some very fabulous spot prizes. Special guest presenters included Yvonne Keating who was sporting a new do with a fabulous fringe and was even teenier and more beautiful in real life.

It was lovely to meet the staff from Image, I'm a big fan and it was especially nice to meet Liz Dwyer as I love her features, recommendations and beauty tips in the magazine and on Xpose.

Some of the product winners were all time faves of mine - MAC won for most innovative brand and it was lovely to meet Leslie from MAC who accepted the award. Seavite won best Irish brand which I was delighted with as an excema sufferer as it was created with us in mind! The speech from the founders wife Kaye was lovely as he has sadly passed away. Finally La Roche Posay was another product winner which again, for those people with skin sensitivities, is a life saver!

Lunch was served after the product awards, courtesy of M&S and it was delicious - the desert was amazing (and zero calories of course!)

Some of the individual winners included Best Hair Colourist, Rebecca Fryday from Alan Keville, Best Nail Technican, Pamela Laird of the Beauty Parlour and Best Wax Therapist Jemma Ellison of Essentials who was seated at our table and was super delighted to have won! My favourite winners were for Best Beauty Salon which was Vanity Rooms - they were so excited to win and I loved their speeches, especially when they thanked their husbands for their patience while they spent their evenings building up their business on twitter and facebook!

Kim O Sullivan from Preen won Best Makeup Artist (here's hoping for next year :)) and Best Hairstylist was Elayne Archbold from Brown Sugar. Collette O Sullivan from Cork flew the flag for Munster winning best Tanning Specialist.

The Xpose team were there filming the event for the show and I met the very lovely Lisa Cannon - I even got a lend of the Xpose mic!

Leaving, I was given a bulging goodie bag which was full of gorgeous products from Seavite, E-spa via a beautiful Glossy Box, Loreal, Vichey and Nivea (plus Percy Pigs from M&S that did not fully survive the train journey home!)

Thank you to all the team at Image for a great day!

Wedding makeup inspiration from the Oscars!

This years Oscars was a wedding makeup inspiration fest simply because all the looks were extremely clean and classic with a focus on flawless skin. Almost all eye makeup was neutral with a defined line, although some like Penelope and Kate went slightly darker using golds and chocolate browns. Brows were well defined and strong. Lips were super pale and delicate, with light pinks, beiges and peaches ruling the red carpet so hats off to Kerry Washington for her gothic nod!
Here are my favourite looks, all gorgeously suitable for bridal!

Skincare guide for Mother of the Bride!

When talking about skin care and makeup for Mother of the Bride there really are no set 'rules' anymore. Happily the days of frumpy frocks and matching eyeshadow are gone and MOB's are classic, stylish and contemporary.
Skincare
Poor Mums tend to neglect their skin as they are running around taking care of everyone and making sure everything goes as smoothly as possible on the big day but taking care of skin is extremley important. Time spent on a good regime in the months coming up to the wedding will mean makeup glides on and stays on.
The regime is really the same as that for the bride, its just the products that change. So cleansing is hugely important, whether you wear makeup or not. Cleansing is also about removing debris and dead skin and is the foundation for all the products to come. Next up is exfoliation but I recommend avoiding any abrasive scrub type exfoliants and instead going for 'peel' enzyeme based products. The word peel conjours up images of leaving a layer of skin on the pillow but it just means removing the dead skin layer and revealing fresh new skin. I recommend Ole Henricksen 3 Step Mini Peel system.
Next up is treatment and one of the key concerns I get asked about for MOB's is pigmentation. Now is the time to apply a treatment to address this, some of them are really effective and can help even out the skin tone. I love Cliniques Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector.
Masks for MOB's are all about tightening and firming - not cheap but SK-II's Facial Treatment masks are amazing (Cate Blanchett swears by them!)
Don't neglect the eye area and again I love Clinique Ant-Gravity Firming Eye Lift.
I do recommend both a day cream and night cream - Vicheys LiftActiv is great.
Makeup for Mums next week :)

My favourite Irish skincare and makeup brands!

Its great to see so many fabulous Irish skincare and makeup brands and I thought, seeing as we are heading towards St Patricks weekend and celebrating all things Irish, I would share my favourites.
Pixy is a range of natural, affordable bath and body goodies that are really reasonable but are packed full of skincare goodies like Shea Butter and Vitamin E. I love the Limebody Scrub Cubes which smell amazing and really get every last bit of fake tan off and the Softening Body Oil. Well worth checking out!
Buff makeup comes from the people behind Hession Hair in Dublin and I really love their capsule range in particular their HD foundation. It gives great coverage and is extremely long lasting.
Human + Kind is a another great Irish brand which I love for their All in One Family Remedy cream which is basically the most amazing all purpose cream that you can use on everything from excema to sunburn. I love their pared down, minimalist approach to skincare and their products are multi tasking, back to basics classics.

My current favourite lipsticks!

Those of you who know me will know that I'm not mad about lipgloss, your hair sticks to it, the colour doesn't last, its gloopy and it always seems to stick in the corners of peoples mouths - not a fan! But lipstick, lipstick I love. Possibly its the grá I have for vintage, classic looks but I'm delighted that lipsticks are huge again on the catwalks, in magazines and at our counters. Here are some of my favourites!
Illamasqua lipstick in Brink - Illamasqua make beautiful matte lipsticks that last and last and this one is that perfect peachy pink that literally suits everyone and is my go-to nude.
Lancome Rouge In Love in Rose Boudoir - lovely hydrating lipstick that lasts a decent amount of time for a moisturing product and it has a brilliant range of shades - lipstick but very natural and not too heavy, perfect if you are making the transition from lipgloss.
MAC Ruby Woo - its a classic, red, dramatic, suits most skin tones and makes a statement. All time favourite!