Thanks, I got it in Penney's! - Penney's Favourites

I don't know how many times in the last few months I've wandered into Penney's aimlessly only to come out with a bag full of stuff. I'm sure this is the same for most people in Ireland. Recently Penney's has stepped up their game with a lot of things. The clothes are a much higher quality, they have a really nice beauty section, and the accessories and random bits and bobs are surprisingly deadly. I thought I'd share some of my favourites from Penney's with you lovely people. #notanad #notsponsored ;)

Makeup Brush Cleaners

Penney's have a Blend & Cleanse line that has makeup brush cleaners which are really good. I have the Makeup Brush Cleaning Spray and the Makeup Sponge Cleaner. I was so surprised when I first tried these how well they actually work. I use the brush cleaner spray for spot cleaning my brushes which is usually my eyeshadow brushes. It gets them clean again without deep cleaning and it's so handy because it only takes about a half a minute. I also love the soapy brush cleaner (which is meant for beauty sponges but I use it to deep clean all of my brushes. I use warm water and swirl my brush in the soap and it gets rid of all the product in the brushes. It's so good for really dense foundation brushes too and of course beauty sponges. And for €2.50 each you can't go wrong.
They also have a little pad you can use to clean your brushes with too which speeds up the process and you can really get into the more dense brushes easier.

Makeup Brushes 

They have a regular and Pro range of brushes which are of really good quality and are only a few euro. I love the contour brush for foundation because I love a fluffy brush for liquid foundation and it's so soft. I also have a fluffy brush which I use for highlight, double ended a concealer brush... The list goes on. I'd highly recommend. 

Face Wipes

Penney's have a whole range of face wipes for different skin types that I have been using to take off my makeup. I personally go through face wipes like there's no tomorrow and you can get two packs for €1.50 which is grrreat. My favourite is the blue packet enriched with argan oil. It's the most moist of the ones I've tried and that's something I like in a face wipe. I haven't broken out with spots from using them and they do a good job of taking off makeup or sharpening a wing or cleaning up lines etc.

Lashes

I'm not sure I even need to expand on this heading. Get into Penney's and go over to the lashes section. Ah-maze-ing. The Vixen ones are my favourite because they're winged out which suits my eye shape and super fluffy.

Catrice HD Foundation and Concealer

This is my favourite foundation and concealer combination for the last while. I could actually go on and on about these two and why I love them in a separate blog post because they're products that just make me excited. To break it down there's a few things I look for in a foundation which are:

• Coverage - If the foundation isn't full coverage I'll pretty much put it back. What can I say, I'm a full coverage kinda girl. At the very least I'd like a foundation to be medium but buildable to full. My thought is that if I'm going to wear makeup (and go through the trouble of taking it off) I might as well go all out. So full coverage it is.
• Finish - I love a satin finish foundation. Dewy doesn't work on me because of my tendency to get oily throughout the day; and full matte is drying looking in my opinion.
• Longevity - If I'm doing my makeup I'm probably going to have it on for a full day or full night and I want to know that it will last without wearing off or becoming patchy. True confidence comes from knowing you don't have to reapply or worry about your foundation coming off after you have applied it so this is key.
• Shade - I, Sophie Wicks, who wrote a blog post about tanning, has stopped wearing tan. I know, who am I? Well I'm back to being a ghostly shade of white and I find it difficult enough to match foundation to my face and neck without it looking orange. This is something I struggle to find in most foundations but I feel like I have struck gold if it works out. 

On the back of those extensive bullet points... The foundation measures up above and beyond what I look for. The only thing I would say is that it's slightly dark for me (I use the lightest shade - 010) but I don't mind because I can blend it down my neck. Having said that, it's still lighter than most other drugstore foundations out there. Its full coverage. It dries to a satin finish and lasts until I take it off and does not budge until then. The Rimmel setting spray on top of this foundation seals the deal and it's a struggle to take off people!



The concealer is fab too - it's full coverage, and so inexpensive. I bought two the last time in case I ran out. Trust me on these two, you need them in your life.

If you got to the end of this post - thank you so much for reading. I'm hoping to be more active with this blog in the future also so stay tuned!

See ya in Penney's hun!
Sophie