Competition: Win “The Beaut.ie Guide to Gorgeous”

Posted on 29 November 2009

by Aisling McDermott

Who better to pen Ireland’s first beauty bible than Aisling McDermott? Along with her sister Kirstie she founded the Beaut.ie blog in 2006. Beaut.ie was a winner at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 blog awards and now  gets 15,000 visitors a day. The blog’s success has surpassed any expectations the girls might have had, when one day over lunch they casually decided to start a beauty blog.  The Beaut.ie Guide to Gorgeous, a collection of the best of the blog and more was launched in October 2009. Although Beaut.ie is their hobby and both girls have ‘real jobs’ too, Aisling works in the library at DCU while Kirstie works in the marketing department at Dyflin publications, the blog is their passion and not a day goes by without their posting more witty musings on the beauty world.

As the girls try to recall when this passion began, they remember Beaut.ie Mammy zipping them into identical cerise pink, velour jumpsuits. When they grew too big for their jump suits Beaut.ie Mammy simply sewed white curtain fringes round the bottom of them. Easy to see where the inspiration for their popular beauty DIY tips comes from! The Beaut.ie Guide to Gorgeous includes advice from Teddy Bobs, the Eddie Hobbs of the beauty world, DIY beauty recipes and advice on when to save and when to splurge. It’s what’s known as ‘beaut.ienomics’ and couldn’t be more welcome in these recessionary times.

Aisling cites those early fashion faux pas’ as an influence on the makeup mistakes she went on to make in her teenage years. She kicked off her makeup adventures with a yellow and blue eye shadow duo. Okay, it was found in the bargain basket by the till in the chemist, it cost 10p and was composed mostly of talc, but she was hooked. And so it began. If it wasn’t Anne French cleansing milk or Clearasil spot cream it was  allergy-inducing cheapo face mask sachets. Aisling and Kirstie had a love affair with The Body Shop and knocked everyone out with the overpowering stench of Fuzzy Peach (Aisling) and Dewberry (Kirstie). They’d take the bus home from town clutching bags full of total rubbish and convince themselves they were the hottest things since sliced bread. These ‘products of yore’ are all fondly recalled in The Beaut.ie Guide to Gorgeous.

Thankfully once the McDermott girls started working they had more cash at their disposal, that is, more money to buy products with. From budget to break-the-bank, they have tried everything. Their catalogue of cosmetic crimes and humiliations mean they are well placed to shield their readers from a similar fate in their quest to find a beauty routine that works. Whether it’s fake tan, blush, hair removal methods, colonic irrigation or chemical peels – they’ve tried them all.

The number of ladies reading and contributing to Beaut.ie every day is testament to what a brilliant resource it is. This collection of the best beauty advice from the blog will bring Beaut.ie to a whole new audience.  Three years ago when Aisling said ‘sure, why not’ to Kirsty’s suggestion to start a blog (she didn’t actually know what a blog was then) she could never have imagined that one day they’d be launching their very own Beaut.ie book and that the launch would take place in their ‘Temple of Worship’, Brown Thomas. Their adored cosmetics hall played host to the launch of the beauty bible for every Irish woman in October 2009.

To win a copy simply answer the following question:

In what year was the Beaut.ie blog started?

Send your answer along with your full contact details on a postcard to: Beaut.ie Competition, Coast & Country Magazine, Shannon House, Connolly Street, Bandon, Co. Cork. Closing date: December 31st.