Weekly Nail: Pink Glitter

I've been wanting to try something like this for quite a while, after seeing a manicure similar to it on Tumblr a while ago. I was really keen to paint my nails pastel pink.

I used Bourjois number 13, and Ulta3 Lollypop Lilac. The bourjois polish is really sheer, and I needed 4 coats to get it this opaque. You could still kinda see through the tips of my nails, but that's not really an issue because I was painting over the tips. My bottle of lollypop lilac is getting really gluggy, which meant my tips weren't smooth at all. That could also be because I used super long nail stickers and managed to wipe 3 tips off while taking the stickers off!

There's only 2 weeks till we leave for England now! I'm getting kinda nervous! We're going to be gone for about 8 months!

I've been thinking about what it's going to mean for blogging too. The boyfriend doesn't really 'get' blogging, so I don't know how he'll feel if I spend a few hours a week on it! I got an ipad mini, so I should be able to write up quick blogs on there, but I'll probably end up writing more about our travels than beauty products (even though I would love to write about all the new products I'll be able to get over there!) I'm still unsure whether I want to start a new blog all together, so I can properly document our travels and I'll feel less weird about letting friends and family read it.

I'm probably not going to get much time to blog between now and when I leave, even though I have a few things I want to post about (I want to show you all the makeup I'm taking with me, because I'm pretty proud of how little I'm taking). So sorry in advance!

 

What I wore: Confetti dress

excuse the duck face

I bought this dress towards the end of last year off Modcloth and I really love it. It was reduced from like $90, and I was contemplating buying it at full price, but then it went on sale for half price! I had to get it then, but left it too late and they had sold out of my size. Just when I was about to order it a size down, my size came back on sale! Fate! It is a little frumpy, the bust is huuuge! I could probably get it tailored but I don't really mind. Possibly the best thing about it, after the awesome print that makes me think of confetti, is that it has pockets! It's still been reasonably warm here. We had a nice week where it was really cool, but now it's hot again. I really really cant wait for the weather to cool down more so I can start wearing tights and cardigans again (I bought some lovely scarfs and a granny jumper that reminds me of Grifindor from work recently and I can't wait to be able to wear them!).

Products:

Nude by Nature Undercover Airbrush Mineral Primer

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 51

Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Peach Glow

Essence Renesmee Red Blush

MUA Shimmer Kisses Bronzer

MUA Pro-Brow eyebrow kit

L'Oreal Color Infallible Tender Caramel

MUA Undressed palette shade 1 and 4

MUA single matte shadow shade 19

Revlon Photoready 3D volume Mascara

Ulta3 Lipliner in Honey Bun

MAC Angel

This is basically what I've been doing with my face lately! Neutral eyes and lip, no liner, bronzer. I dug Tender Caramel out recently because for some reason I didn't get much use from it after i bought it and I've been loving it lately! Same goes for the Revlon 3D volume mascara, for some reason it sat in my draw unloved... but it gives amazing length (not so sure about volume though). The formula is a little wet and I've managed to poke my eye with it more than once, so it took a little to warm up to it. I've also dug out my Essence Renesmee Red blush from the Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 collection, which I hid because it's scary lookin'. Candice from YouReview inspired me to give it another go after reading this post and I've been applying it with a very light hand and we've been getting along ever since. The Rimmel Stay Matte is a new purchase and so far, so good!

Today I'm going to my university graduation! 3 years of hard work (ok, just work) and I get a degree! Yipee!

What have you been wearing a lot lately?

Win the MUA shimmer kisses bronzer and undressed palette in my giveaway!

Sale haul pt 2.

The second half of my sale haul came in the mail recently. I ordered some things from Priceline while they had free shipping and double points (and went into the store and bought a bit more the next day, woops), and also bought some polishes from Gloss N' Sparkle when they had their post-Christmas sale.

What I bought online:

Bourjois Clubbing Waterproof Eyeliner. I originally wanted to buy Rimmel's Scandal'Eyes Waterproof Eyeliner, but the black one had sold out. I decided, after looking at a few reviews, to get Bourjois clubbing eyeliner instead.  I paid $14.70 for this.
Maybelline Colorama nail colour in Marshmellow. I'd been after a white polish for a while, and got this without looking at swatches. This is more of a pearl colour than white, and although I haven't used it yet I doubt I'm going to like the colour.
Priceline Eyelash Curler. I've been meaning to get an eyelash curler for a while, so I finally decided to get one. This was $6.29, and does the job.
Essence My Base illuminating make up base (which I forgot to photograph, whoops, sorry!!) . I've been looking at Benefits That Gal for a while, but was reluctant to spend $30 on something I wasn't sure about. This is the same kind of product. It was a bit pricey for an Essence product, at $7.50. Used under makeup it gives me a little bit of an Edward Cullen look, which I'm not actually that upset about. It does an ok job at being a primer, but it's probably not something I'll pay $7.50 for again.

What I bought in store:

Innoxa Summer Matte Watermelon. This was in a sale bin for $7.95, so I snapped it up right away. I've been wanting to try Innoxa's lipsticks for a while and this is a colour I love. I'll post a swatch of this later in the week.

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch highlighting concealer. This is my second concealer (my other is a NBN one that I'm not a fan of). I only use it for under my eyes, and this works like a dream (haha!). I wouldn't have bought this full price but I do really like it. I paid $12.56 for it.
Swissper Aloe Wipes. I needed some new makeup remover wipes, after I powered through my last lot because they made my skin sting. These ones aren't much better unfortunately.

Polishes from Gloss N' Sparkle:

Unicorn Droppings and They did the Monster Mash.

Unicorn Droppings seems to be one of Gloss n' Sparkle's most popular polishes, with it's white base with colourful glitters, and They did the Monster Mash is a lovely blue with lots of green, purple and black glitters of all shapes and sizes. So far I've only gotten to try out Unicorn Droppings, and I'm a little bit dissapointed. I'll be sure to do a post when I get a chance to use They did the Monster Mash too.

What I won: Blog giveaway!

A few weeks ago Kat from Kitch Snitch had her 100 follower giveaway! I was lucky enough to be the winner of the first prize pack which included Escada Moon Sparkle Shower Gel and Body Lotion, Laura Mercier Illuminating stick in Golden Honey Glow, Korres Wild Rose Lip Butter, Bourjous 10 day no chip nail polish in shade 13 and 19, and my favourite part of the prize, MUA Undressed palette.

         

Lip butter (l), heavily swatched illuminator, and blended (r)

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to test out most of these prizes. I do love the lip butter though. It's a nice red shade and I was impressed at how long lasting it was for a lip butter! Unfortunately the illuminating stick came to me a little broken (all of the product had gotten stuck in the lid!) but I managed to save almost all of it. It might end up being too dark to use for my skin, but it will probably end up working in summer. The shower gel and lotion smell really nice too. I do love the colours of the nail polishes, but I've been trying to get through all the polish I've bought and haven't used so I haven't had a chance to use it yet... I have high hopes for it though.

MUA Undressed

Shades 1, 2, 3 & 4

Shades 5, 6, 7 & 8

Shades 9, 10, 11 and 12.

This part of the prize was the reason I was so happy I won this giveaway. Obviously I've seen a lot of good things about the Naked palettes, but I would never be able to justify buying one myself. I heard this was a great dupe so was stoked to win it. Regardless of whether it's a dupe or not, this is a great palette! They're all really wearable shades. So far I've gotten the most use out of shades 1, which is a great highlight, and 9 and 10, which give a lovely pinky-gold smokey eye look. I'm very happy with these shadows, they're a lovely texture and they stay very well (with the help of Australis' eye primer). I'm definitely thinking about buying more MUA palettes in the future (I have my eyes on pretty pastels and glamour days for when they have their next sale. They have a 35% off sale at the moment on their website, but I'm saving for Christmas at the moment).

Wish list: Blush

1. Benefit Hervana face powder   2. Benefit ChaCha tint lip & cheek stain
   3. Australis High Lights mineral face highligher in Pearl
4. Essence Breaking Dawn pt 2 Blush in Renesmee Red   5. Bourjois little round pot blush in Rose D'or.

So I might want to buy all of Benefit's box o' powders, but that would be silly, right? Hervana looks like the prettiest to me, and when I do a Benefit order in the near future this will be the first thing in my cart. I also love the colour of ChaCha Tint. I'm totally digging coral right now. But I'm not sure how great I'd go at using a cheek stain so I'll just stick to powders for now. I blogged recently about the Australis High Lights mineral face highlighter I won in gold recently, and this is their other shade. Pearl is a lighter, pink colour which I think would suit me a lot better (or at least I would feel more comfortable using). The essence blush is from their Breaking Dawn pt 2 collection and is called Renesmee Red. I think the only reason I want this (and pretty much the entire collection) is because it's Twilight and I used to be a massive fan of Twilight (ok, kinda still am a little...). Regardless, this blush looks a little dark and scary but I will probably end up buying it (and the entire collection) anyway. I'll make sure I give a review when I do! I've heard so many good things about Bourjois blushes but I am yet to buy one for myself and try it out. There are so many shades it's hard to pick a favourite but rose d'or looks like a really nice light pink.

I would also like to add that Rimmel's wake me up instant radiance shimmer touch in peach glow is another illuminator I'd like to try. It's such a pretty colour, but it's a little too close to my Nude by Nature illuminator that it's not worth the purchase. Also, I can't seem to find a picture of that shade on the internet! What's with that? I think it's the nicest of the 4 available shades.