Who, what, where, when?

Okay so where to even begin....? Hi I guess! How are you all? Yes I know, here she goes again with another come back post blah, blah, blah. I've been horrendous, I'm aware. My last post here was over eight months ago and my God a lot has happened, so here we go.

Where have I been?
No where. I've been here in Galway. I didn't just decide to stop blogging and run off to find myself in Connemara. I left my job at Cara back in July and started working with Lancome and Clarins in Matt O'Flahertys. 

Why did I stop posting?
Well, a number of reasons really. 1) I was so uninspired and unmotivated. I promised myself from the day I started this little blog that I would never force myself to post things just for the sake of it. 2) I realised pretty early on that I wasn't happy in Cara and I suppose that contributed to the lack of inspiration/motivation. 3) When I started looking for new work, I very quickly realised that having a blog was seen as something to "control" by employers. I can see where they were coming from in a way. I work in the cosmetics industry so I'm lucky in the sense that I get to try out a lot of new things. Obviously I wasn't going to like everything and naturally, they didn't want to have an employee giving a bad review to one of the products/brands that was carried by the business. I didn't want to lose out on an opportunity from having a blog so I pushed it to the side.

What am I doing?
The answer to that my friends is that I have absolutely no idea. Well, sort of. I left Cara and started working for Matt O'Flahertys. I'm not going to lie to you, Matt's was such a good move. Almost instantly they started teaching me things and had a genuine interest in developing me as an experienced consultant. I was a lot more content but that quickly went away. I thought the problem was just the job. It wasn't. I realised that even though I was out of Cara, I was still looking for something bigger and better. Just for fun, I started looking at jobs in Dublin. Before I knew it I was making it through 2, 3 or 4 rounds of interviews for different brands. Which brings us to now. Almost three weeks ago I was offered a job as a Cosmetic Team Manager for a fantastic brand. I've decided not to mention the name of the brand publicly just from how I've seen employers react to blogs in the past. Those of you who know me personally (which is most of you) will know any way. 

Where am I going?
I will be moving to Leopardstown, Dublin in two weeks to start my new (scary) life. My boyfriend lives up there and I have a good friend who's been living up there for a while so I won't be entirely alone. Again not going to lie, I cried every night for the first two weeks after getting the job. If it wasn't the stress of finding a place it was the thoughts of leaving everyone I loved, what if I wasn't good enough, what if I didn't have enough money, etc. I have since calmed down and realised that I will, in time, be fine.

Why have I started posting again?
I guess it's because that for the first time in quite a while I am fully content. Yes I wake up at night and panic slightly over the prospects of my impending future but it's the kind of fear I think I've needed for a while. As horrible as this is going to sound, things here in Galway were just too easy and I'm a person who needs to be constantly challenged in order to develop. I could also feel myself settling. I very quickly got scared of becoming that person who spent their evening looking on their facebook timeline at all their "friends" doing exciting things and thinking to myself "I could have done that". 

So there you go. I can't promise scheduled postings or consistency because the truth is that I have no idea what the future holds. I'm just going to let myself feel the flow and try to live in the moment. And if all that leads to some interesting blog entries then I guess we'll all be in for a little laugh. I do have some ideas for posts that I think that a lot of you enjoy (considering that they're brutally honest). So here's to the next couple of months!

Much Love,

Shannon.

xoxo 

Brand of the Month

Welcome back my loves! So today is the beginning of a monthly series I will be doing on a brand that I have been loving over the last month (makeup/skincare/fashion/accessories/etc). This month I will be talking about a makeup brand that I have very quickly become obsessed with. I'm talking about Catrice Cosmetics.

One of the perks of my job is getting to really know the products. I try to pick up a few new things every week and give them a go considering that I need to be able to recommend them. I don't know what it was but I was really drawn to Catrice in my first couple of weeks. I've bought all of their concealers so far as well as the eye shadow primer, brow gel and a few lip liners. All the products are AMAZING! I'll talk about the concealers first. My first purchase was the Camouflage High Coverage Concealer. I won't harp on about the ingredients, consistency, etc. It literally does exactly what it says on the tin! The coverage is unbelievable and it blends like a dream. I got it in the shade 010 Porcellain because I wanted to use it as an under eye highlight and to cover the dark circles. It stays all day and doesn't settle into fine lines as long as you use a setting powder. 

I then went and bought the All Round Concealer Palette and the Camouflage cream together. Again, not going to bore you with the in depth details. The palette is fabulous. The green is great at getting rid of any redness (I use it around my nostril area), the red makes those dark circles under your eyes seem like yesterdays problem, the darker concealer shade is a really nice subtle cream contour for my skin colour and the last two lighter shades are really nice for either highlighting or concealing. They're so creamy and blendable! The cream pot is a dupe for benefits boing concealer and it is equally as fabulous. It literally covers up any blemish and is invisible under only one layer of foundation.

The lip products below are really handy to have in your makeup bag. The lip volumizer is so moisturising and does make your lips look plumper. Not like Kylie Jenner plump but it gives my lips just enough for my liking. The lip pencils are ones that I go in between on a weekly basis. They stay all day and blend beautifully with whatever you use after them.

And lastly, we have the eye shadow primer and brow wax. I use thes products everyday for work and I don't have to worry one but about my shadow or brows falling off my face. They look the same at the end of the day as they did from when I applied all of it nine or ten hours before hand. The primer doesn't crease which is a winner for me considering I have hooded eyelids. 

You can find all of these products in Cara Pharmacy in Edwards Square, Galway. Let me know what you've used from Catrice and if you buy any of these products, let me know if you agree. I can't remember exactly how much all of these products were but they were all definitely under six euro!

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Much Love,

Shannon.

x

Hello, it's me!

Oh my goodness it's nearly been nine months since my last post...... SCANDALOUS. But here, life has been kicking my ass lately. Sure everyone has times like that and I just needed to take a step back. Guys, being an adult is hard and I'm still living at home! 

So why did I take such a long break from blogging? Okay, first of all I was really unhappy with the layout/design of my blog and had absolutely no idea what direction I wanted to go with in terms of colours, etc. Thanks to my technically skilled boyfriend I am thrilled with the new look! I was going to go all white and classy but it just wasn't me. I had to have a splash of pink and sparkle in there because, well, how could I not? Secondly, I felt as though my posts weren't as genuine as I wanted them to be. I started writing about things just because other people were and actually realised that I wasn't enjoying it at all so that lead to some severe writers block! And lastly, my life has completely changed. If you've been here for a while then you'll know that I went back to college in September. Long story short, it wasn't the course that I had worked so hard to do and I was so unhappy. I made the choice to leave both college and my part time job at Next. Making the choice to leave college was hard, but making the choice to leave the family I had at Next was a much harder one. They took me in as a teenager with no experience or knowledge and gave me a confidence I never knew I could have. They were the best friends I never got to make in college and we still remain close. Where am I now? I'm in Cara learning about all the things a girly girl like me would want to know about makeup and beauty. Not to mention its full time! WHOOOOO!

Where does this leave me at present? Well myself and my other half are taking the plunge after nearly seven years and moving in together in May or June! It's something I'm very ready for and very excited about considering I've never lived away from home before. Other than that, I don't know what this year will hold for me but I'm excited to find out. I'm also really happy to be back in the blogosphere with my new look, new ideas and new confidence.

So thank you to all of you who have been baring with me and staying caught up on my facebook page and instagram. You're the best!

Feeling social? Follow me on:

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And on snapchat at shannypoo94

Much Love,
Shannon
x