June Favourites!

Well, June went fast! And it got cold, which is super exciting because I can finally pull out my scarf and coat for the first time since I was in Copenhagen. Yay for a second winter! It also means it's finally snowing on the ski fields of NSW, so the boy and I will be heading up for the day on Monday! Exciting times! Especially because it will be the 3rd country we've skied in this year! Anyway, I kept to a pretty boring routine this month with my make up, but it meant I have some clear favourites...

This month it's been all about the eyes. I've put way more effort into doing my brows this month with the help of Maybelline Master Shape brow pencil in Soft Brown. I find the spooly on the end is something I reach for regardless of what product I'm using, and I end up touching them up with the pencil anyway. I talked about the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette earlier this week, but I had to mention it again in this post! I've seriously reached for it almost every day this month. As for mascara, I had a hard time saying goodbye to my Covergirl Clump Crusher mascara. It's been too long, it needs to be chucked in the bin. I didn't want to buy the same mascara again, and I haven't seen Covergirl mascaras on sale yet, so I've been trying to make the most of the Rimmel mascaras I've recently opened. They're fantastic for when I want a dramatic look, but not so good for every day, especially for work. I picked up the Maybelline The Collosal Volum' Express Cat Eye mascara last month when it was half price at a local chemist. Apart from having one of the longest names in history, it's actually a pretty fantastic mascara. It's doesn't do much for volume, but it's pretty good for length. If you want drama, go for something else. If you want an every day mascara, this is your guy. It's also easy to remove, which is also a plus for an every day mascara.

I recently decided to hop on the Lime Crime train. And I'm so glad I did. This month I have almost exclusively worn Lime Crime Airborne Unicorn on my lips. I love the other colours I've ordered, and I'll give props to Poisonberry for being absolutely fantastic, but Airborne Unicorn is such a wearable purple.

My go to for skincare this month has surprisingly been good old Redwin Sorbolene. I've been using this as a moisturiser since I was a kid, and it's great, especially because it's so cheap. Not only is it good for an all over body and face moisturiser, it's a great shaving cream, and what I've recently discovered is it's a pretty good make up remover too! My skin is dry, and I never have problem with oil or blemishes, so I don't find I need anything else for my face. It's not fantastic with waterproof mascara or eyeliner, but it will take off my regular every day make up just fine!

Props to: Australis 10hr waterproof eye pencil in bombastic bronze for being a great every day brown eyeliner, Essence I love Punk jumbo eyeliner pen for making good winged liner, Real Techniques starter kit for stepping up to replace my one double ended eyeshadow brush and doing a damn fine job too, and Haribo gummy bears for being delicious.

Do you love any of these products? What have you been loving this month?

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.

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.

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?

What I won!

A few Wednesday's ago I found out that I not only won an awesome giveaway from Jasmine from My Cup of Tequila, but I also won Ulta3's Valentines day competition!

My prize from Jasmine arrived on that Friday, so quick! Her giveaway prize was a few products she picked up when she was in Asia recently. I won 2 new colour Baby Lips in coral flush and pink lolita, a paprika hand cream and a BB cream.

Of course I've already lost one of the Baby Lips because I always manage to lose my lip balms. I'm sure it's in the house somewhere - or at the boyfriends house. A lot of other people have reviewed these already, so I wont bother. I will say I really like them, even though they're super sheer they do leave a lovely colour on my lips. The Paprika moisture hand cream is a lovely hand cream and sinks into the skin super quick. I haven't used the BB cream much, but I can tell you already that it's infinitely better than the Nude by Nature BB cream I own.

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.

Review: Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer

This is something I've been meaning to review for a while! I picked this up from Priceline during the boxing day sales in the shade Ivory. I heard a few great reviews about this - especially when compared to the YSL Touche Éclat Radiant Touch. I thought I'd give it a go since it was down to around $12 and I don't have a decent concealer (in fact I have one other, a Nude by Nature one, which is pretty crap!)

Now, as you can see from the photos I don't have much of a problem with under eye circles (I think they've gotten better since I've finished uni, haha). I just wanted something to brighten up under my eyes. This product aims to do just that, and I think it does a pretty damn good job at it! It wouldn't be good for someone with dark circles, but for girls like me who just want a little help looking more awake, it's perfect. Neither would it be useful for blemishes (I'm lucky enough not to have any). I've been using this almost every day. I use it under powder foundation if I'm just using my Body Shop virgin minerals, or over liquid foundation when I'm using my Bourjois Healthy Mix. I quite like the twisty bottom and the brush applicator. I find 2 clicks is enough for both eyes, with the brush applicator good to gently brush it under the eye, then blending it in with a finger. I also really like using this on my upper eyelid when I'm not wearing eyeshadow.

Brush applicator

I've had it for just over a month, and you can see I've already used a decent amount! Hopefully I can get another 2 or so months out of the rest of it (I'll probably start using it sparingly to make it last longer, haha). Even though I do really like this product, I wouldn't repurchase (especially at full price), because I'd like to try some other highlighting concealers available. I know Rimmel and Bourjois have some to go with the Wake Me Up and Healthy Mix ranges. Essence also have one which would be interesting to test out. I love the idea of a highlighting concealer and think it's going to be a permanent addition to my make up routine (until I need something with a bit more coverage).

Bare faced (you can see a little bruising above the eye on the right thanks to my face hitting cement while trying to skateboard!)

Dream Lumi Touch on the eye on the right (my left eye)

Dream Lumi Touch on both eyes, without any other make up (you can see it's covered my bruise pretty well)

Swatched on my arm heavily and blended.

Do you use a highlighting concealer? If yes, what's your favourite?

January Empties

This month is the first month I've actually had something interesting to post about as an empties post. I've been aiming to use up a lot of things, as I don't want to have a lot of stuff (especially skincare) lying around here while I'm in the UK for 7 months! I mostly used up a bunch of samples from subscription boxes.

Lots of Mascaras
Rimmel X volume Flash, Australis Lash TLC conditioning mascara, Maybelline One by One Volum' Express and Rimmel Scandaleyes Show Off. 
Not shown: Maybelline waterproof define-a-lash.
These mascaras were the main reason I did this post. I didn't actually empty them, I just threw them all out! I somehow managed to accumulate a lot of mascaras last year, most of them I didn't actually purchase - winning them or getting them in a subscription box. Most of these are hardly touched, but I never use them so they're just sitting around wasting space. These were either really clumpy or dry. I did use the Rimmel Scandeleyes and the Maybelline One by One for a few weeks, but then I got the Covergirl LashBlast Volume and started using that every day. I threw out another this month, the Maybelline waterproof define-a-lash. I used to LOVE Maybelline mascaras all through high school, (this one and Great lLash) but this one was pretty awful. Maybe it was because I had it for a while, but I do remember first opening it and not being as impressed as I used to be.
I wouldn't repurchase any of these, seeing as Covergirl LashBlast Volume mascara is way better!

Brushes - Rimmel X Volume Flash, Australis TLC, Maybelline One by One and Rimmel Scandaleyes

Maybelline Baby Lips Cherry Velvet
This is the first lip balm I've actually managed to use all up! I have a habit of loosing them. This one I may have had some help finishing from the washing machine...
I really love baby lips lipbalm and I'll definitely repurchase.

Sally Hansen Maximum Growth
When I first bought this I used it as a treatment (applying every day for 7 days) and it worked ok, except I got impatient and peeled it off a lot. Then I got lazy and just wanted to use it as a base coat. It's not really empty but it's too old to keep using. I would repurchase this again, but for the time being I need something a little more stronger and I'm trying the Diamond Strength top and base coat.

4me nail polish remover
I got this in a bellabox and love them. Usually removing nail polish for me is a nightmare but these are pretty great. I can usually manage to take off glittery polish using just one pad (it is a struggle though!).
I would definitely repurchase - once bellabox restock them!

Swisspers make up pads
I don't really need to talk about these, everyone knows why you need them and of course I'll be repurchasing - this, or whatever brand is cheapest at priceline.

Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream sample

I got this sample when I did an order before Christmas and it's the best facecream I've used. I would love to repurchase this but it's a little too expensive!

Swisse and Allegra Rhodes Ocean Mist handcream samples
These were both great creams and both smelt nice. The sample size of the Swisse one meant I got to try more of that so liked it better. I also like it's price tag better and would be more likely to repurchase that! I may use my bellabox points to buy a full size of the Allegra Rhodes but it's big and doesn't seem like it would be a good container for travelling.

Bioderma Créaline H2O sample
This stuff was great at removing heavy eye makeup with ease. I would repurchase, but not for the Australian RRP. Maybe I can find some cheap when I travel!

USPA Supernatural Wheatgrass Solar Energy Leave-In Serum sample
A leave in conditioner. Good for the hair but it doesn't smell very nice. I wouldn't repurchase as there are plenty of other haircare products I could buy that smell better than this!

Not pictured: Palmolive Strawberry Soother body wash (which I loved and would repurchase if I ever ran out of body washes!), Yankee Candle Autumn Fruits (I'm going to buy a ton of Yankee Candles when I'm in the UK) and some toothpaste (Had to repurchase for obvious reasons. Have you ever had to buy toothpaste? There are so many options!)

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.