April Favourites!

This month I found it really hard to stick to 5 products, because I've been loving using so many products this month. So I cheated a little bit, and found 5 groups of products, hehe. I know a lot of these products are really new, but they're so great they've definitely earn their place in this list.

Weekly Nail: Precious Blue

After a week of going bare nailed, I really had to get some colour on my nails. I probably should go a little longer without painting them to try and get them a bit stronger.

I used Ulta3's Precious and the blue from the Be Mine mini set. After reading a review on a lovely bronze polish from Orly on Mishelle's Sleepy Time, I really wanted to use a bronze glitter. Alas, I don't own one and I couldn't find the new Face of Australia Glitterati polishes during the Priceline sale (I was keen to get Studio 54 to go over the blue), so I had to settle for gold. I really like the combination, but I would have rather have used chevron shaped stickers instead of the circular ones, but I couldn't find them. I did this for Groovin the Moo which was on Sunday because I wanted nails that stood out, and I think I succeeded.

As of today there are only 23 days until I leave the country! I'm getting kind of nervous, but I'm still super excited. I don't know how I'm going to go 8 months without seeing my dogs, eating Zamberos, or watching CTFxC every day, but I hope I'll be having to much fun to notice. I went shopping with Mum yesterday and she bought me an iPad mini for a graduation/birthday present! I haven't even opened it yet because I'm waiting to get a case and screen protector for it. I ended up buying a Batman case off ebay for it, because the boyfriend didn't want to be using an ipad with a pink polka dot case.

There's still so much to do, but and I'm working 5-6 shifts a week at the moment so on my days off I'm not too keen on the idea of cleaning up my room, packing, or anything that doesn't involve lying in bed watching TV (especially now it's getting cooler!)

My First Real Techniques Brushes

So, I finally bit the bullet and placed an order on iHerb for some Real Techniques brushes. After careful consideration, and a few chats with Mishelle from Mishelle's Sleepy Time on twitter, I decided on getting 3 brushes. I really could have got the whole lot, but that probably wouldn't have been so practical seeing as I would have room to take them all with me to England.

Expert Face Brush, Stippling Brush and Setting Brush.

I knew I wanted to get the Expert Face Brush, and it was the main reason I placed the order. I was getting a bit sick of having to use my fingers to apply foundation, and I really didn't like using my Priceline foundation brush. I've steered clear of cream blushers because I had nothing to apply them with, and thought it was about time to buy a brush to apply them with and the Stippling brush seemed right for that. I was going to buy the blush brush as well, but Mishelle recommended the setting brush. I'm perfectly happy at the moment applying my blush with a kabuki, but I don't have a small brush I can apply a highlight with, so I decided to go with the Setting Brush.

Why were these not in my life earlier?! They are amazing! I'm seriously so impressed, especially when the whole lot was less than $25 including shipping, and I got them a week after I bought them!

The expert face brush is amazing with my Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation. I'll admit I don't get as much coverage as I do with using my fingers, but I loose about half of the product on my fingers when I put it on that way anyway! I've also found I don't really need to use a powder after to set it either because it's all blended into my skin nicely. I've also been using it to blend in my Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch concealer, which I again usually use my fingers for, and it works a treat.

The stippling brush is a dream for applying the one cream foundation I currently own. I have The Body Shops Lily Cole Lip and Cheek Dome in Pinch Me Pink which I haven't really used much, even though it is such a lovely colour, because I haven't been able to blend it properly. This brush has made me fall in love with it, and I'm so happy to be able to get a good use out of it.

I haven't been able to use the setting brush enough to really test it out yet. The powder highlighters I currently own are the MUA shimmer kisses bronzer and blusher (yes, not really a highligher but that's all I can use them for) and they need a much stiffer brush to be able to pick up enough powder, I usually use a kabuki. I have used it for setting concealer with powder and it's great for that!  

 I can definitely see myself picking up more of these in the future. I'll definitely be getting the blush brush, but I'd also like to get the starter set (although I'm quite content with my eye brushes at the moment, I do only have 4!) 

Have you got any Real Techniques Brushes? Which is your favourite?

Priceline and Lush Haul

I managed to make it to Priceline yesterday to pick up a couple of things during the 40% off cosmetics sale. I was going to do another $10 haul, but I really couldn't limit myself to that much again, and I was with my mum so I had to be quick. I did pick up some bargains though!

First I went into the city to meet my mum, after shopping for my cousins twin baby girls, we stopped off at Lush and I picked up the Melting Marshmallow Moment Bath Melt. Oh my god it smells so good! It's just like the Snow Fairy shower gel which I love, so I can't wait to give it a go!

The shopping centre in the city is currently undergoing renovations, so the Priceline has moved to a temporary location. Unfortunately, the temporary Priceline is pretty terrible. The isles are narrow, and I couldn't even see a Face of Australia or Essence stand! I must commend them for their Australis stand, I finally got to see the new Pout Pastes, as well as their new lipsticks and face and body tint (even though I didn't actually buy any of them). I picked up the Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Instant Nail Hardener and the Manicare 4 way buffer (because this Priceline didn't have the Sally Hansen one!). I'm trying to get my nails into better shape, which is why you didn't see a Weekly Nail post from me this week.

We then went to our local shopping center, and stopped in at their Priceline. I picked up the Face of Australia Face Base Primer 3 in 1, Essence Nail Art Express Dry Drops, Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara, as well as some new shampoo and mouth wash. I'm almost out of my sample Revlon primer, and I've heard some good things about the Face of Australia primers. I decided to get the 3 in 1, as my current foundation doesn't contain any SPF. I've also heard good things about the Essence dry drops, I'm way to impatient to wait for my nail polish to dry most of the time. Quick question, can you put nail colour of these after you've dried your base nail colour? I'd love to use them for nail art, I should just try it out anyway. At the counter I spotted the Clump Crusher mascara, and after a quick discussion with my mum, I decided I should pick up a back up for when my current mascaras go dry and clumpy. It ended up only costing $6, bargain! We went back to the Covergirl stand to decide this, and on the way back to the counter mum decided she wanted a new lipstick, and I recommended a Revlon lip butter! We had to be quick because they were closing, so she ended up with Sugar Plum, a shade I really love.

So, not a very interesting haul. I really could have picked up a lot more, but there's no point of me buying lots of stuff that I can't take with me when I travel, or I'd need to bring a separate suitcase for beauty products! I'm also thinking about buying some high end products during my travels. I would have liked to have gotten some of the new Face of Australia Glitterazi nail polishes, but my local priceline hasn't got them in yet (or ANY of the new Australis products).

 Did you pick up anything good in the 40% off sale? Let me know below (so I can maybe rush off in my break today to get it!)

Wish list: High End

I'm definitely more of a drugstore brand kind of girl. I'm still not totally sold on the idea of paying $40 for a blusher when I can get away with paying $10 for a decent one. I do love my MAC lipsticks, but I'm yet to actually purchase one myself. I wouldn't mind owning a few more high end products, if only for the satisfaction of actually owning them (but I bet I'll find how much better they are and be a total convert!!)

1.  MAC Studio Sculpt foundation      2. MAC Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skin Finish

3. NARS Madly blush    4. Illamasqua Rude cream blush

5. Nars The Happening Palette

MAC Studio Sculpt foundation - I've been using the Bourjois Health Mix as my only foundation for a while now. I love it so haven't found that I need anything else, but lately I've been toying with the idea of getting a foundation with more coverage. I'd love to try out a high end foundation! I have dry skin, and a friend of mine who also has dry skin recently bought her first MAC foundation, and was recommended the Studio Sculpt, and says she loves it, so I think I might have to give it a go! I'm not sure I want a foundation where I have to use my fingers to apply (I've seen a lot of reviews about this, and they all say brushes don't work) so maybe I'll have to look into getting a Beauty Blender as well.

MAC Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skin Finish - This has been featured on a previous wish list, but it really is something I need to add to my collection. I've been using the MUA shimmer kisses bronzer as a highlight a lot, and I'd love something that blends better and doesn't smell cheap and nasty.

NARS Madly blush - I first saw this on Mishelle from Mishelle's Sleepy Time's blog, and I think it's a lovely colour! I have a lot of pink blushers, but no more neutral toned ones yet.

Illamasqua Rude cream blush - Now that I've got a stippling brush, I'd love to try out some cream blushers. This colour is a lovely peachy coral colour that would be perfect to start with, as it wouldn't look too scary while I get the hang of applying cream blush.

NARS The Happening palette - I first noticed this on a wishlist posted by Sarah from More than Adored, and oh my lord it's beautiful! I would love to try orgasm and laguna, and the shadows are perfect, especially the bottom 2 shades! What's more, it would be excellent for traveling! All I'd need to bring is this, some lippy, mascara and foundation and we'd be all set (that is, for travelling while I'm working in the UK)

Have you tried any of these products before? What did you think?

What's at the top of your high end wish list?

Shopping my Stash: Australis Paparazzi Perfect HD Eyeshadow in Snap Attack

As you all know, I'm trying to save (yes, that probably is the millionth time I've said it). This means shopping my stash. I don't have a big collection of makeup, so it's not the most fun thing to do, I'd much rather be shopping Priceline. I have however, pulled this little beauty out of the depths of my makeup draw! The Australis Paparazzi Perfect HD eyeshadow palette in Snap Attack. This was one of my first purchases after discovering the wonderful world of makeup, and it came with a free Australis eyeshadow primer (I think my local Kmart still has these packs, so yours might too!). It got pushed to the depths of my collection after being lucky enough to win the MUA Undressed palette which is my most used neutrals palette.

What I wore: Autumn Leaves

It's finally autumn! The leaves are starting to change to yellow, red and purple, the temperature is staying around 20 degrees during the day and I can finally wear tights comfortably! It seemed like Autumn never wanted to come.

Dress: Red White and Cute Dress from Modcloth, Tights: Factorie (last year), Boots: Kmart (last year)

Bracelets: Cotton On Earrings: Cotton On, Necklace: Lovisa

Rave Review : Rimmel Apocalips Luna and Galaxy!

I'm just going to start off this post by doing a little dance!! They're finally mine!! I've seriously been wanting to get my hands on some of the Rimmel Apocalips since they first debuted over in the UK. Maybe it's because they looked absolutely amazeballs, but I think it was mostly because of their name, Apocalips. I have an unhealthy obsession with all things apocalyptic, so these had to be mine! I placed an order off ASOS when I found out they were back in stock after reading a review on Eliza's blog. After a debacle involving the website telling me my order wasn't placed, soon finding out 2 orders had been placed, and a few too many emails to try and get a refund, my order(s) were on their way to me. I was originally going to wait till I got to England to buy these, and they were going to be the first thing I purchased (seriously!!) but they worked out to be cheaper off ASOS than if I had bought them at Boots. That's how I'm justifying the purchase anyway. These arrived yesterday morning and I was so excited I may have forgotten to put mascara on!

Weekly Nail: Strawberry Ice Cream

Sorry this is a day late! Today is my Friday, and I've had a really busy week at work. I get one day off and then have to get straight back into it! I can't really complain though, gotta work to make money. I wasn't too sure how I was going to do my nails this week. I've been trying to decide what nail polish I should take overseas with me, and now I just need to figure out which pink to take! I have a lot of pinks, so I think I need to use a few to see which is my favourite.

Sailor Klerr's 1st giveaway winner!!

I put everyones names into excel, then used Random.org to generate a random number.

Congratulations Amy!!

Thank you so much everyone who entered, and a super duper thank you to everyone who's ever bothered to read my blog.

$10 haul!!

I mentioned in my last wish list that I just really needed to spend some money! It's been a long time since I bought anything I didn't need that was beauty related, so I was getting a bit itchy to spend mney. So I decided to set myself a budget of $10, and head down to Priceline during my lunch break. I knew it wasn't going to get me much and I was likely going to be restricted to Essence, but I just needed some new makeup to play with!I ended up getting 3 new things to play with! Rimmel I love Lasting Finish in Black Cherries, Essence Party All Night single eyeshadow and Stay All Day Long Lasting Eyeshadow in For Fairies. I ended up spending a little over my budget, with all 3 coming to $10.75.  I was expecting it to be a little bit more, but turns out the Stay All Day eyeshadow was only $2.75! Just incase you've been living under a rock they and many other great Essence products are being discontinued, so if you want to grab one you better hurry as my Priceline was running low!

Feb-March Empties + Giveaway Reminder!

I didn't use up many products in the last 2 months so I thought I'd lump them all together in one post. I did well using up products in January, but the last 2 months it seems I've just been using up things that I'll need to replace! I'm trying to get rid of as much as I can before I travel, so you may end up seeing more not-actually-emtpy products being put into the bin next month, especially a lot of samples that I got from subscription boxes.

Weekly Nail: Watermelon

I've been meaning to get out my Essie Bikini So Teeny collection for a while now, but have pushed it back for pastels. This week I wanted to use Mojito Madness , and decided to pair it with Off the Shoulder. This combination made me immediately think of watermelon and summer! I'm a lot happier with my polka dots this week, and took a bit more time to do them.

Off the Shoulder and Mojito Madness

Wish List: I just need to spend!

This week the fact I haven't been buying makeup has really taken it's toll. I've been good since I did my MUA haul in early Feb, and have only bought a handful of items since, and now I really just want to go into Priceline and buy everything! I'm trying to hold out though, because even though there have been some awesome new releases here, there's even more products over in England for me to buy that we don't have here! I guess I'm just going to have to shop my stash a little longer to get me through (or maybe just buy one little thing?).

1. Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation    2.  Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Makeup
3. Rimmel Lasting Finish Kate Moss Matte lipstick 103 (l) and 107 (r)
4. Real Techniques Expert Face Brush
5. Maybelline Color Tattoo in Painted Purple (l) and Pomegranate Punk (r)

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation - I really want a new foundation. I've been using the same one since late last year and I'm ready to try something new, and definitely something with a little more coverage. I haven't even really looked at this one in the shops, I'm too scared that if I swatch it I'll just want to buy it even more!

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation - The same goes for this, I just want to try more foundations! The ridiculous price definitely stops me, but I've heard so many great reviews and this is full coverage so I'm so tempted to pop into Priceline and get it now during their $25 Revlon foundation sale. I did actually have a look at this in Priceline today and now I want it even more - it blended in so well and gave really good coverage.

Rimmel Kate Moss Matte lipstick - I heard about these a long time ago and for some reason it didn't even click that they weren't available here, I just thought Priceline and Target were being lazy! I'm a bit confused why our colour range is so small - I would have loved to get 110 or 101, but I would definitely settle for 103 or 107 (see swatches on Beauty with the Beautifool here)

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush - I'm sure this has been featured in another of my wishlists, and I still want it. I've said before that I have a very small brush collection, and I really want to make an order for a few Real Techniques brushes off iHerb! I had a look at some buffing/stippling brushes in Priceline today and it just reiterated the fact I want a Real Techniques one! I've just been using my hands for my foundation lately, it does the job but I'm using way more product than I need.

Maybelline Color Tattoos - Pomegranate Punk and Painted Purple - I'm probably the only person in the world now who doesn't own one of these. I've got a couple of Essence Stay All Day long lasting eyeshadows (which are being discontinued!) which I like, but would love some of the colours available in this range, and to be honest I just want to experience the hype! Pomegranate Punk seems really close to MAC's Cranberry eyeshadow and I think they'd work really well together.

Do you ever get those moments where you just need to spend money?

What's on your wishlist at the moment?

Battle of the BB creams Feat. Nude by Nature, MUA and Pond's!

I'm here today to share with you all my BB cream collection. My collection is quite small, and is composed of mostly not so well known BB creams within the Australian beauty blogging community! Or in fact, maybe they're not so well known at all? I haven't really seen reviews on these, so I thought that it's my job to tell you all about them.

First up, Nude by Nature. This was my first BB cream, and to be honest, it was a real let down. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not putting enough on (although I thought the idea was to use only a little?) but this just doesn't work. It's kind of thick, and doesn't blend in at all. When you try and bend it in, it leaves streaky lines, and when you try and blend those in it just ends up coming off. If you're having a good skin day - I'm talking perfect skin here (I have dry skin so usually I have a few dry patches), it does blend in ok, but it really has no coverage and looks like you're not wearing anything at all - in a 'you're actually not wearing makeup' kinda way, not the good kind. I really wanted to love this product, but it just did not work for me. I do like the scent of this though, so that's a plus?

MUA's All in One Beauty Balm. This really feels like more of a foundation than a bb cream. It's very thick and gives about a medium coverage (although this is coming from someone who has owned all of 4 foundations in my life, 2 of which were when I was in high school and didn't know anything about makeup!). Unfortunately, sometimes this goes on very streaky and can be very difficult to work in, and can even accentuate the little hairs on your face! No one wants that! Luckily I've managed to use this without problems more often than not, so it's not a complete waste. It does leave your skin a little dewy, and evens out skintone (by covering everything up!). I bought this in the lightest shade - light - and found it was a little bit too light for me, which I was pretty surprised with seeing as I'm usually the lightest shade in foundations. For £3 (about $4.37 Australian at the moment) you can't really complain! I don't think it's possible to get any face product for that price here!

Pond's Age Miracle BB- I won this BB cream from a giveaway, and Jasmine got this in Indonesia. Hallelujah! This is what a BB cream is supposed to be like. It has the thinest consistency of the 3, and is the easiest to work into the skin. I found I need a decent amount of this to get it over the face, but I use my fingers to apply so you could probably get away with less if you were to use a brush. I found this was slightly grey toned, but that was fine for my pale ass skin. You can tell from the pictures that this is the darkest of the 3, but it definitely works with my skin.

I've included some swatches. I apologise that they probably aren't the greatest photos to accompany this, but you get the general idea of the consistency and colour of the creams here. I wanted to include blended swatches, but because they're BB creams, blended in they kind of disappear because their aim is more skin perfecter rather than coverage. In the top photo there is blended product below the swatches, and the bottom has blending above (which you can see a bit better).

(l-r) Nude by Nature, MUA, Pond's

Valentines day beauty bloggers swap!

Valentines day? Wasn't that like, 2 months ago? Yep, I'm a bit late with this one. Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty kindly organised this swap after a successful Christmas swap. I was paired with Cheryl from Singapore, who has since made her blog private. We were both a little busy around Valentines day so we decided to push the deadline back a month, but didn't actually mange to get our packages sent out until late last month.

Here's what I got sent. Cheryl sent everything in a cute red polka dot makeup bag (which will be super handy for when I go traveling!)

Ginvera Aqua Whitening Cream: This is supposed to reduce excess il, provide all day hydration, lighten spots and acne marks. I think if my face got any more whiter, it would actually be white. I do have freckles which I kinda like, but I also have redness, so I'll give this a go to get rid of that.

Keratin Hair Pack: This 'repairs all the damage caused by herms, tinting, straightening, exposure to the sun or excessive blow drying'. My hair is super frizzy so this is exactly what I need! Although all the instructions on the back are written in Korean, so I have no idea how to use it! I'll have to do some googling.

L'egere BB cream: This bb cream is a bit too dark for my skin, but Cheryl pointed out it could be used as a bronzer/contour too.

Canmake Gradiaton Wink eyeshadow: From the looks of the pictures on the back, the idea of this is that you can run your finger along the pan,  and then apply it by running your finger along your lid. I'm not too sure if that'd be the best way to apply it, I'll give it a go but I'd prefer to just use a brush. The colours are lovely! I don't have any decent purple shadows.

Stila lipglaze in Smooch: Yes! My first Stila product! This colour is so lovely and perfect for autumn! It's sheer, and not very sticky. I don't us a lot of lipglosses but I will be using this one.

(l-r) BB cream, Lipgloss and Concealer.

She also sent me some samples!

L'egere White C revitalizing Collagen Essence and Water Gel Cream, A mediheal Energy Nutrition Mask, a velcro strip to put your hair back with and an Everyday Minerals Sunlight concealer (this seems very similar to the Ben Nye Banana Powder, so it's great to have this. The area around my eyes has been really dry lately so I'll have to fix that before I can use this unfortunately)

Did you participate in the Valentines day swap? What did you get from your partner?

Weekly Nail: Pastel Spots

I guess this is really similar to the nail art I did a few weeks ago, but I really liked it so I thought I'd give it another go!