Wide-Eyed and Blind: Having A Snoop At Another Beauty Blogger's Handbag Essentials

Blogging isn't the friendliest scene in Dublin. I've never, personally, had a bad experience and get along with everyone but I have witnessed nastiness and I had never made any close friends that are bloggers. I'm friendly with lots of people but there wasn't anyone that I had clicked with or knew well and that was partly my own fault for being too shy to put myself out there more.

And then, one event, I ended up talking to Emma of Ol' Green Eyes. We had often hung out at events before and I genuinely really liked her and whatever got into me that day, I did put myself out there: I asked her if she wanted to hang out sometime. This doesn't seem like that big a deal but making new friends as an adult isn't easy! She agreed, we went for coffee and I put forward the idea of doing a collab, which is how we ended up in Dublin's trendiest new eatery and bar with both of our makeup bags spilled out across the table.

Both curious about Roberta's, we headed there last week to grab a cocktail and some fries (Lesson learned: they may give you fries to snack on with your drinks so hold off on ordering unless you want to end up with three portions, like us. If you do want that, go ahead.) and compare our handbag essentials. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a creep at what others deem must-haves, right?

Once we had our food and drinks and had chatted a bit, Emma started unpacking her products and spreading them out before us in an aesthetically pleasing manner, much to the amusement of our very friendly waitress. I immediately spotted Escentric's Molecule 01 perfume and had many questions. Did it really smell different on different people? (A little, apparently) Could you really not smell it on yourself? (Only immediately after application for a while) And most importantly: Is it worth the hype? According to Emma, her whole office had it first and she kept asking what they were wearing, loving it. Then she gave in and bought the (much more reasonable/affordable) refillable 30ml bottle, only to be met by others grabbing her wrist and wondering what she, too, was wearing. So, not hype without fire then. While it is one of her go-to scents now, she does admit that it is partially only in her bag atm because of its handy size.

Another non-makeup essential that Emma totes around is Rituals' Indian Rose and Sweet Almond hand cream. Ritual is one of her favourite bodycare brands as it stands but this is an essential. Not only does it smell delicious (and it does) but she swears by its effectiveness. In fact, after flying to New York recently and washing her hands with the harsh soap on the plane multiple times, they were in need of some TLC and her first stop upon landing was the Rituals store.

If we're talking lifesavers and skincare rescues, then YSL's Lip Perfector needs a mention as it is another item Emma swears by. In fact, in the slew of lip products (why does every beauty blogger always have, like, ten lip products on them at any given time - this coming from someone who doesn't wear much makeup very often and who still does the same?), this was the key item. Under matte lip products, it is a lifesaver and as a lip balm, it is perfect. Plus, Emma says she uses it at least twice a day and has been using the same tube since last year - that's some long-lasting product!

Emma is a woman after my own heart in many ways and doesn't like to have to re-do her whole face on the go. Instead, she tries to ease the process of makeup wearing off over the course of the day. As such, many of her must-haves were key to preserving and cleaning up makeup. For sorting out oiliness, she swears by Essence's oil paper that may come in a tatty little cardboard box but does exactly what it needs to and for just over a euro. After stealing it from her sister constantly, she began to carry some around all the time and has yet to be swayed by any more expensive alternatives. A bargain and effective? The dream, right? Finally, Emma has only recently discovered Mac's iconic Fix + and has fallen in love. She uses it to revive her face and makeup throughout the day and says she totally gets the hype now.

There was plenty of other stuff in Emma's makeup bag to rummage through - Mac's Lady Danger and a genius lip brush from Sephora, among other things - but the above items were the ones that seemed really to be her ride or die products. And once we had adequately made a show of ourselves photographing the place and endless beauty products we had covering the table, we finished all of the fries and swanned out of there, a little bit closer for having revealed our deepest, not-so-darkest beauty secrets.