What I wore: Winter Daisies

I wore this last week when I had a job interview in a clothing store (didn't work out by the way, boo!). I bought this dress back when it was warm, just after I got home from England. I only got a few wears out of it in the warmer weather, it shrunk a little in the wash so it was a little too short for me to wear without tights. But now it's winter, I can chuck a pair of tights on underneath and a cardigan on and it's perfect. Because this dress is very neutral, I can really go out there with colours for everything else, and I love coloured cardigans and tights. Kmart have a bunch of pink and purple tights at the moment for only $3. I may have gone a little crazy and bought at least one pair of each colour. So far no holes, so I'm pretty happy! You can also see my tattoos through them, which I love. As for the cardigan, both Cotton On and SES had a bunch of coloured cardigans last Autum/Winter, but I haven't seen them this year. Modcloth have a bunch of rad coloured cardigans, but are a little more expensive.

Wish list: Birthday!

This was going to be a wish list for winter, but then I remembered something special that was coming up soon.. My birthday!! I turn big ol' 23 on Tuesday, so can no longer sing 'I'm feeling 22. Poo. It's a bit of a meh birthday to be honest. I'm not doing anything exciting, just going out to dinner with friends, family and the boy. I mean, last year I spent my birthday in Paris (well, traveling to Paris, we didn't get there until late afternoon), so you can't really top that. So here's a bunch of things I'd love for/to wear for my birthday. Even though there's only 1 thing I could actually get by my birthday, haha.

Redwood Black Therapy Shoes c/o FSW $45.99  //  MAC Bloody Brillant Eyeshadow $44US 

MAC Pure Heroine $36  //  Benefit They're Real Push-Up liner $24US

Lime Crime Babette $18US  //  Asos Faux Pearl Triangle Swing Earrings $9.80
All Bands on Deck dress $54.99

It's almost the end of June and I still don't have a good pair of winter boots! I guess it's because it hasn't actually been all that cold. I've have started having a look at boots, and I kinda like these! I've always hated boots with an elastic side like this, they remind me of the boots I had to wear horse riding as a kid which I thought were butt ugly. I haven't been able to fork out money for a new pair of boots yet, but hopefully I can get these soon, especially because they're not pricey at all.
Of course I've managed to find myself wanting items that we can't get in Australia yet. I saw this eyeshadow palette in a pixiwoo video the other day and loved it! I've heard mostly bad things about MAC eyeshadow quads, that they're shadows aren't as good as the single shadows. I don't care. It's pretty! As for Pure Heroine, I'm all about purples! After getting Lime Crime Airborne Unicorn, and then Poisonberry, I'm still after more purples! The darker the better.
I've heard about a thousand good things about this Benefit eyeliner! I have a few eyeliner pens, and a couple of gel liners, but I'm still not satisfied (My Shiseido one is great, but I lack a decent brush to apply it with!). I'm going to have to go to Myer to check this one out though. The last lipstick on my Lime Crime wish list is Babette. It's out of stock everywhere. I won't give up though!
These earrings are super cute! I usually can't wear earrings like this, but these are studs! I love striped dresses, and this dress has a lovely fit too. It would look so cute with a cardigan, stockings, and the boots and earrings shown here.

Mac Blush in Peaches

This was a spur of the moment decision in Gatwick airport just before we hurried to our gate to get on our plane. I had pounds to spend, and if I had more time I probably would have picked up something else like a foundation, but I literally looked at the blushes and picked within a minute. I haven't even really looked into getting a MAC blush before, and I don't regret the split minute decision at all.

Peaches is a lovely peach coloured blush, which I think we all know by now, is my favourite colour of any makeup. It has a very small amount of shimmer to it, which mostly comes up as matte (as shown in the swatch in natural light).

This is one of Mac's sheertone blushes, which means it's not overly pigmented. Which is fine, because it means you can't go in too heavy handed, and layer to get the right amount of colour. It's not chalky and is easy to blend. I don't really find it lasts much longer than any of the drugstore blushes I own, which is a little disappointing, but that might have more to do with the bases I use.

swatch in natural light - heavy (l), blended (r)

Swatch with Flash

Do you have any Mac Blushes? What's your favourite shade?

Wish list: Now I'm home

I've had enough time now to sit down and browse through some blogs. And I think my wallet wishes I hadn't! There's so much I need to catch up on beauty wise, and it couldn't come at a worse time... when I don't have an income!

1. Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette            2. Benefit lollitint
3. L'orel Paris False Lash Butterfly Wings mascara             4. MAC lipstick in Saint Germain  
 5. Nars blush in Gilda

I must have been living under a rock for a month because I have only just noticed the Too Faced Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette. This is seriously pretty! I really love how the 2 highlight shades are bigger, because I end up using up the highlight shades way quicker than any other. The shade range is beautiful. You can never have too many neutral palettes, right?

Lollitint came out a while back now, and I have had a chance to look at it in store. It's gorgeous! I think it's the perfect shade for a tint. Light pink with a hint of lavender. I have one benefit tint, which I don't really use, but I think I would get a good deal of use out of this.

I confess, I'm someone who doesn't throw their mascaras out every 6 months. I throw them out when they start drying up and not working as well as they used to. I'm at a point where most of my mascaras are getting to that stage, so I'm starting to look at a new mascara. This one really caught my eye. I have seen an add for it, and I really wish they wouldn't use fake lashes to advertise mascara! The plastic wand is the type I like, and I love the idea of the winged brush.

I wish I bought more MAC lipsticks overseas, but there weren't any that stuck out as something I needed. Until I got home and decided I need more light pinks. Saint Germain seems like the perfect pink to fill the (rather small) void in my lipstick collection, it just sucks that they're so much more expensive in Australia! I might need to look up some dupes!

Lastly, as you saw in my previous post, I've fallen in love with Nars blushes. A trip to Mecca is in order I think, but I've had a look online and Gilda really stuck out to me. I love orange toned blushes, peaches and corals are my favourite.

Mac Viva Glam Nicki 2

I just wanted to pop up a quick review about this lipstick. This was never on my (rather long) wish list of MAC lipsticks I have, unlike shades like Impassioned, Girl About Town, Candy Yum Yum, or even the first Viva Glam Nicki!  It made its way into my hands in Harrods when they didn't have the pastel purple from the Baking Beauties collection in stock, which I think was a good thing because from swatches ive seen, this lipstick is much prettier! Not only is this the first MAC Lipstick I've purchased myself, almost 100% of the price of these (minus tax) goes to the MAC AIDS fund. Win win!

Viva Glam Nicki 2 is a lovely cool toned, white based lavender lipstick. It's very light and not the most easy to wear lipstick but for some reason I really love wearing it!  Now that its summer where I am at the moment, (I use that word loosely because I've had warmer winter days when visiting Sydney) this is going to be a great lipstick to wear.

It doesn't last very long, as you'd expect from a light coloured lipstick, maybe 3 or so hours. About the same wear time I get from Angel. It does stick to dry patches on the lips and in the lines in your lips, another thing you'd expect from such a light lipstick. It is very creamy and lovely to apply though.

with flash

in sunlight

Have you tried either of the Viva Glam Nicki lipsticks? Which is your favourite?

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?

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!

Wish List: Obsessions

I have a problem with wanting, no... needing something as soon as I see a good review about it. I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about. Even if it's a product I have never felt any need for before, I need to have it right that second! Luckily, I'm trying to save money for England so I haven't allowed myself to give into the urge to buy these things (don't ask me how, I'm not even sure how I've managed myself!), but all these products are things I've seen and needed, plus a few extra little things I'm lusting after. You may be able to tell I'm keen for winter from this too.

1. MAC Superglass in Fab Frenzy    2. Rimmel Vinyl Max in Obsession    3. Lime Crime Carrousel gloss in Kaleidoscope
4. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder    5. MAC Rebel
6. Rimmel Lycra Pro Nail Polish Knight Flight and Trend Spotting
7. MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle

I saw the MAC Superglass in Fab Frenzy on Kat's blog Kitsch Snitch (post here) recently and fell in love. Ever since I've been a little obsessed over find the perfect purple sparkly lipgloss. The only place I found Fab Frenzy was Strawberrynet, it was cheap but I'm not too convinced about buying from there. I found Rimmel's Vinyl Max in Obsession when on a whim I checked Target for any purple sparkly lip glosses and I'm pretty impressed with how pigmented it is! I think the perfect lipgloss would be Lime Crime's Kaleidoscope Carrousel Lipgloss, but it was limited edition a while ago so I'm not having any luck finding it.

To go with my purple ligploss craze, I'd really like a good dark lipstick. Rebel is a cult favourite with beauty bloggers, and seems like the perfect autumn shade for me. It's more pink based, which means it would probably be a relatively easy to wear dark shade. I spotted this recently on Sophie from Born to Buy's instagram and thought it looked lovely.

I'm running out of my Maybelline Dream Matte powder, and this Rimmel powder seems to be one of everyone's favourites. I've started using my Maybelline powder almost every day over my liquid foundation so I think I can allow myself to at least purchase this.

I found Rimmel's Knight Flight on Dawn from See It, Love it, Swatch it's NOTD post worn under Australis' Speck-tacular top coat, and thought it looked like the perfect purple autumn nail colour. I had a quick look for more posts about it and found the shade Trend Spotting, which is a more pink toned version of Knight Flight.

MAC's Soft and Gentle, like all of their Mineralize Skin Finishes are really popular with the blogging community! If I were to to show you posts I've seen it praised in, we'd seriously be here all day! Lately I've been using my MUA shimmer kisses bronzer as a highlighter, and although it looks lovely, it doesn't blend as well as I would like. I'd love to try a high end highlighter and from all the wonderful things I've read about MAC's MSF, this seems like the perfect product (I'm hoping to pick it up, or any MSF really when I go traveling).

Have you tried any of these products? Aussie ladies: Have you started leaning towards darker shades for autumn yet?

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway!

My MAC lipsticks! Swatches and comparisons

I've been meaning to do a post about these for a while now. I was given 3 MAC lipsticks for Christmas from my lovely friends and I love each of them! I received Vegas Volt, Angel and Ruby Woo, all of which are colours that were on my wish list. FYI this is going to be a long, picture filled post :)

February Favourites

This month seems to have flown by! But doesn't every month? For some reason, not many products really stood out for me. For some reason, not purposefully, I ended up using a lot of my stash. I did manage to find 5 products that I really enjoyed using, or used frequently.

Wish list

1. MAC Viva Glam Nicki    2. MAC Party Parrot    3. Urban Decay Fun Palette

   4. Stilla In the Light Palette    5. The Body Shop Vineyard Peach Body Butter 

 6. The Body Shop Lip Gloss in Peach    7. TUK Meow's the Time heels via Modcloth 

8. Salt Water Outer Bank on It sandal in blue via Modcloth

Since I've decided to cut back on my spending, I've somehow gone from lusting over cheaper products, to wanting a whole bunch of high-end products. How did this even happen? I think maybe my Benefit blushes had something to do with it, or maybe it was all the MAC lipsticks I got for Christmas (seriously, 3?! How great are my friends?).

Firstly are 2 more MAC lipsticks. Viva Glam Nicki and Party Parrot from the Strength collection which isn't available in Australia yet. Do I really need to say why I want these? Party Parrot seems like it might be similar to Sportsgirl Catwalk Queen, so it would be interesting to see a comparison of the two once it hits Australia.

I've heard so many good things about Urban Decay eyeshadows. Obviously, I'd like to get my hands on the Naked Palettes, but seeing as I already have a good dupe for the original Naked, and have tones of neutral shadows already, the Fun palette might be the way to go. I love the purples and green in this.

The same goes for the Stila In The Light palette. I've heard great things about their eyeshadows  (especially this palette) and this looks like it's full of shadows I would get a lot of use out of.

I've been loving The Body Shop lately and recently when I went in I had a smell of the new Vineyard Peach range, and it smells so good. I love my Cranberry Joy Body Butter, and use it a couple of times a week because I have really dry skin. Hopefully this range is still available when my Cranberry Joy one runs out. These lip glosses are new, and I'm pretty intrigued by them. I haven't had a chance to look at them in the shop, and I haven't seen any reviews on them either. I'm usually not a lip gloss kinda person, but if these are as good as their other products I'll give them a go.

The last 2 things are some shoes of Modcloth that I'm loving. I have a little bit of an addiction to Modcloth and over the last 2 years my wardrobe has become dominated by dresses from the site. It was also the first website I bought shoes off, and so far I've been able to wear every one (I have really wide, short feet, so usually finding shoes that fit is a nightmare). I own 2 pairs of TUK's already and they're super comfy. And who can go past a pair of shoes that have cats on them?! Not me! I already own a pair of these sandals in yellow that I managed to get on sale for less than half price! They're so great for 

summer, and I'd love go get another pair.

Have you tried any of these products? Or are they on your wish list?

Summer lips

This summer I have really been digging bright lips. After my Coral Polish post, it'll be no surprise that my love for coral has eased it's way into my lipstick collection. Here are a few of the lippies that I've been wearing a lot on my lips lately. I've already posted about most of these so I wont to into too much detail.

Australis Colour Inject mineral lipstick - Honky Tonk. This is the sheerest out of these lipsticks. It was the first corally coloured lippy I got. It's a really wearable light pink coral and can be made more opaque with a heavier application. For such a cheap lipstick it has a surprisingly good wear time (contrary to what my first post on it said, I need to remember to use products more before blogging about them, haha) and will easily last through a 3 hour shift at work (yes, I do those...) and still look great.  See more here.

Sportsgirl Pout about It lipstick - Catwalk Queen - This is an almost fluro pink colour. It's so bright and out there, and is super fun to wear. See review here.

MAC - Vegas Volt. This was my first MAC lippy, and I love love love this colour. It's the perfect orangey colour when you don't want to look too outrageous. It's an amplified finish. See more here.

Innoxa - Watermelon. This is my most recent lippy and the colour is pretty much exactly what the name suggests - a bright pink watermelon colour. This is part of Innoxas summer mattes range, so it is literally made for summer.

Covergirl - Fairytale. I love covergirl lippies because they're super long lasting. This one is matte, bright pink with a hint of coral. I was lucky enough to receive this in a blog swap, and it doesn't look like it's currently available in Australia.

(l-r) Honkey Tonk, Catwalk Queen, Vegas Volt, Watermelon, Fairytale

Not shown - Revlon lip butter in Peach Parfait. I wanted to add this because I love it as a subtle peachy colour, but I seem to have misplaced it. Hopefully I can find it soon!

MAC mini haul

My friend came back from America this week and gave me an early Christmas present, which was a MAC lipstick and eyeshadows! Before she left America I asked her to pick me up a few shades if she had the time (because of how much cheaper they are there), and when I saw her she gave them to me as a Christmas present. I've never used MAC before, but I've been lusting after getting my hands on pretty much anything from MAC. I got Vegas Volt lipstick, and eyeshadow pro pan refills in Cranberry and Sketch. I don't have a pro pan but I intend on picking one up from MAC in Myer ASAP (unless anyone else has a better suggestion?)

Vegas Volt, Sketch (front) and Cranberry (back)

I'm so stoked with these! Vegas Volt is a coral that's perfect for summer (and surprisingly not the same as all the other corals I own). It's so creamy and easy to apply, and quite opaque. It has that nice vanilla scent that everyone says MAC lipsticks have. It's an amplified finish.

The eyeshadows were a bit tricky to choose. I wanted to get a whole lot more, but thought I'd stick to 2 for now. I've seen a lot of bloggers raving about Cranberry lately and thought I'd give it a go (also, I love cranberry juice so it seemed right). It's a lovely dark purpley-red that would give a neutral smokey eye look a real pop. I've been sticking to neutrals lately so this is something different. It's a frost finish. Sketch is a dark brown with red tones with a velvet finish, and will be a great crease colour. These colours go well together, and even though they're more autumny colours, I'm so excited to use them.

Natural Light (l-r): Vegas Volt, Sketch, Cranberry

With flash (l-r) Vegas Volt, Sketch, Cranberry

natural light

with flash

Wish list: Christmas

Christmas isn't too far away, so I thought it would be a good time to put together a wish list.

1. Apple iPad   2. Real Techniques brushes core collection and starter set  3. DKNY Be Delicious
4.  MAC Lipsticks in (l-r) Creme Cup, Angel and Lady Danger   5. Icing bag set and macaron baking mat

The top of my wish list is an iPad. I'm going to the UK for about 6 months next year and will be doing a lot of traveling. An iPad would be the perfect thing to take with me to use the internet while traveling. Of course I'd really like a MAC lipstick. I can't justify buying myself one at the moment so it would be great to get one as a gift. Shades I'd love are creme cup, lady danger or angel. I'd also like some Real Techniques brushes because I don't have any good brushes yet. I've heard good things about the expert face brush and the starter set would also be a great gift. There are a few perfumes that I'd like too, but I think my favourite of them is the DKNY Be Delicious. I got a sample in a subscription box and I really love the scent. I'd also like some baking equipment. I've been using disposable piping bags a lot and think it's time I get my own reusable one. I'd also like my own macaron mat because i've been using my sisters. It would also be handy to have 2 because I find the macarons bake better with a mat under the baking paper.

Wish list: Eyeshadow

Eyeshadows are one product where it seems you can never have enough of. I mean, putting the same shades on every day gets a bit repetitive. Currently I only have 1 decent palette - Australis paparazzi perfect HD in Snap Attack, which I think is pretty fantastic (especially when it came with a free eyeshadow primer), along with 2 essence stay all day creams (both neutrals and great) and a couple of shadows I got with my october bellabox. So it would be nice to be able to choose what colours I wear.

1. Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette   2. MAC pro pan refill in Cranberry   3. MAC pro pan refill in Shroom 
4. MAC pro pan refill in Sketch   5. MUA pretty pastels palette
 6. Revlon ColorStay 12-hour eyeshadow in precious metals.

Ok, so maybe my wishlist is staying towards the neutral side of things. I don't really mind. Of course I have a naked palette on my wishlist, although it's probably something I will never get around to purchasing. The MAC shadows are just 3 that caught my eye, and I think they'd work well together. I would love to pick some up when I travel next year and getting a pro palette seems like the way to go. I know when I do it's going to be tough to decide which shades to buy! The MUA pretty pastels palette is full of really lovely soft colours. They look lovely, but I've heard mixed reviews about how good they actually are. I'm planning on getting this one when they have their 35% off sale (read about that here). This Revlon palette caught my eye when OzSale had a sale on Revlon products. It was only $8, but I decided against getting it because I didn't really need it. I am kicking myself a little bit because they also had lip butters for I think $14? Maybe next time.

Wishlist: Lipstick

I  have a tiny collection of lipsticks. Currently most of my lipsticks are reds - and mostly really cheap ones (except for one Chanel one, which is not even my favourite!). I own 3 other colours, 1 is Australis lick the icing, and the other 2 are bright pink shades that I won (and are pretty much exactly the same).

I feel it's about time to branch out and try something different.

1. Face of Australia lip quench in lychee crush  2. Australis colour inject mineral lipstick in honky tonk  3. MAC lipstick in venus  4. MAC lipstick in vegas volt  5. Lime Crime lipstick in retrofuturist.

I've been really digging nudes and corals lately, and I'm planning to get my hands on lychee crush and honkey tonk in the near future (yep, the staples for Aussie girls. I've been looking for lychee crush everywhere recently and haven't been able to find it). I have a friend who bought her first MAC lipstick recently and raved about it. Right now I'm not willing to spend $36 on a lipstick (yeah what?! $36!? ps I got my Chanel one duty free in Hong Kong). However, when the time comes (ok, when I next travel overseas and can get it duty free/in a cheaper country) these are the two shades I'd love to try, they're not all that different so either would do. They're both lovely corally colours.  Ok, so the last one on the list is another red. But it's such a nice red, and I've heard so many great reviews about it that I could justify adding it to my collection of other reds.