Beauty blog Christmas swap!

A while ago Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty hosted a beauty bloggers Christmas swap, where she partnered girls from around the globe to swap products for Christmas. I was lucky enough to be partnered with Nay Denise from Tres Beau Glamor, who is from the US. We decided to set a limit of $50, and WOW. I was totally shocked with how much was in the box when I opened it!

It's hard to find a place to start, but I'll start with the things I was most excited about when I opened the box, which was the Lancome products. These were an eyeshadow quad, a single eyeshadow, a 'super enhancing mascara base' and some sample sized mascaras. I love all of these products (especially the mascara base with the mascara, so great! and the single eyeshadow is super duper pigmented!)

Lipstick in All Done Up, single eyeshadow in Officially In, and the quad shadows: Pink Pearl, Pink Zinc, Drama and Successorize

Next the lipsticks. I love Covergirl lipsticks, so I was so excited to see 2 lovely shades of these, Fairytale and Delight. The covergirl lipstick I own is super long lasting, and these are no exception. I also got a Revlon colourburst lipstick in Peach, 2 L'Oreal color riche lipsticks in Tickled Pink and Peach Fuzz, Maybeline lipstick in Coral Lustre, a wet n wild lipstick in just peachy and NK lipstick in Orange Tint.

Fairytale, Delight, Peach, Tickled Pink, Peach Fuzz, Coral Lustre, Just Peachy and Orange Tint.

Swatch order as above.

There were also some lipglosses. 3 L.A Colors glossy lips lipglosses in Sweet Treats, Butterscotch and Pink Icing, Elf super glossy lip shine in Watermelon, NK lipshine in Taupe, Milani crystal gloss in fruit punch and a clear Bobby Brown lip gloss. There were also 2 carmex lip balms in original and cherry.

Sweet Treats, Butterscotch, Pink Icing, Watermelon, Taupe, Fruit Punch, Clear, Cherry and Original. 

Next there were a bunch of really pretty single eyeshadows from NK. These are great because I don't own many coloured eyeshadows. I got 3 purples, 2 pinks, a green and two blues (these don't have names, just numbers). I also got 2 wild and crazy eyeshadows in New u Girl (yellow) and Crazy on You (orange).

Order as above.

Ther were also 2 eyeliners from Prestige in Shiraz and Lagoon, a multicolour blush from Kleancolor and an Isis Idel Cosmetics lip conditioner in Innocent.

She also sent me an Avon skin softener in Imari, an Apricot scrub, and a makeup case full of Lancome samples, manicure guides and nail stickers!

Battle of the macarons!

Macarons are a usually a sometimes treat. They're delicious, but too expensive to buy on a regular basis. I started making them myself after I got a kitchenaid mixer for my 21st, and discovered they're not that hard at all! Whenever I make them I bring them to work and everyone seems to really enjoy them (and I get a huge ego boost, haha). For Christmas I decided to make candy cane maracons after mum bought a recipe for them home, and I also made some caramel macarons from Zumbo's packet mix (that you can get from Coles and Woolies and also comes in passionfruit) for my boyfriends mum for Christmas because the last time I tried to make caramel myself it was a disaster, and I wanted to see how good his packet mix was, compared to making them from scratch from his recipe.

Most ingredients and equiptment laid out on the table 

My trusty kitchenaid mixer

To make macarons from scratch, I use Adriano Zumbos recipe (which you can't find on the internet, but I would totally recommend buying his Zumbaron book - SO many good recipes... I got given 2 of these for Christmas!) I don't follow the recipe exactly, I don't use egg white powder in mine and I like to add a little less castor sugar (he says 150g, I usually go between 70g and 90g)

My macaron shells
150g Almond meal
150g Icing sugar
55g egg white
70-150g castor sugar
37.5ml water
55g egg white

Mise en place is really important with making macarons and makes cooking them sooooo much easier, so measure everything out before you start!! Sieve the almond meal and icing sugar then combine with the first lot of egg whites. Add the castor sugar and water to a saucepan and heat till 118˚c (This is soft ball stage and seriously, just go out and get a sugar thermometer instead of trying to figure out when it reaches this stage!). This is also the part where you add any colouring of flavourings, by replacing some of the water you're adding with the dye or flavour. I replaced 2.5ml water with peppermint essence.

sugar syrup in the saucepan with sugar thermometer

While waiting for the sugar syrup, beat the second lot of egg whites until you get froth on top, then when sugar syrup is hot enough, beat the egg white while pouring in the sugar syrup, and then beat until stiff (not quite hard peaks).

glossy Italian meringue

Then you 'sacrifice' about 1/3rd of the meringue and beat it almond and icing sugar mix (this is so you can fold the rest in easily).

finished macaron mixture

Piping the shells with the mat underneath

Fold in the remaining meringue, pop it into a piping bag and pipe onto baking paper. You'll need a stencil underneath, which you find on the internet, or you can buy a macaron mat from a baking shop (I use those, but I still put baking paper on top). You can add stuff to the top of your macarons at this step, like cocoa powder or gold dust, and I added ground candy canes to mine. Bang the tray on the table after you've piped it and let them sit for about 30 minutes (longer if it's humid, they need to form a kind of skin). Heat your oven to 135˚c (fan forced) and when the macarons don't stick when you touch them, whack them in for about 16 minutes.

Crushed candy canes!

The packet mix was a whole lot easier! It came with 3 packets, 1 was a caramel meringue, 1 was caramel almond mix and the other was the caramel filling.

To make these you just beat the meringue mix with some water (exact amount is on the box) until it thickens, then sift in the almond mix (which I would recommend doing before you beat the meringue because it takes a long time) and fold to combine. Put it in a piping bag and pipe onto your baking tray lined with paper. There's also a link to get a template for the macaron shells. For the filling you just need to beat the packet of filling with some butter (and a bit of salt if you want salted caramel.

I found that the packet mix was a little runny and most of my shells stuck to the baking paper. I also preferred the taste of the candy cane ones, but next time I make them I would rather a white chocolate and peppermint ganache (like Zumbos recipe) instead of a buttercream. The macarons I made from scratch are far from perfect looking, but I really enjoy making them, and definitely more than from a packet. The Zumbaron book comes with a whole heap of delicious flavours, and I can't wait to make peach iced tea, and chocolate peanut butter and jelly.

Candy cane on the left and caramel on the right.

Christmas tag

I decided to do this tag after reading it on Jasmine's blog. I'm usually a huge grinch so I'm not sure how interesting this post will be :p

What's Your Favourite Thing About Christmas?

I guess I should talk about Christmas in Australia first, because Christmas in the northern hemisphere is a whole other world! 

I like presents! I like buying presents for people and finding the perfect thing for them (and I love the excuse to go shopping, but I don't like the Christmas crowds!), and of course I love receiving presents. I love the food (more on that later) and now that I'm old enough, the excuse to drink before midday!

I did spend one Christmas in the UK though, which was really magical. We were lucky to have a year with a lot of snow, with my favourite part being the German Christmas markets in Edinburgh.

What's Your Favourite Make Up Look For The Christmas Season? 

Because I'm the grinch, I think doing your make up to look Christmasy is a bit tacky, and I'd prefer to do my make up for the season (summer) instead. I'm loving bright coral and pink lipsticks. However, I have been using Christmasy colours on my nails.

 Real tree or fake tree?

Real!! My family have always had a real living tree, and it lives outside most of the year. They are a bit hard to take care of in Australia because of the summer heat, but I think it's worth it. We are also probably the worst at decorating it, but I prefer having a bunch of multicoloured sentimental ornaments on it than it looking perfect and colour co ordinated. I did buy a small fake pink tree from work this year though, because it was pink.

Giving presents or receiving presents?

Both!

Do you open your presents Christmas Morning or Evening?

Morning! As if I could ever wait till the evening to open them, haha. Although now my sister and I are getting older, it's almost afternoon by the time we get out of bed on Christmas. I do have to wait till the evening to open presents from my boyfriends family though.

Handmade Christmas Cards or Bought?

I really don't have an ounce of creativity so I just buy my cards. I do like to get nice ones though.

What's your all time Favourite Christmas movie?

Love Actually.

Whats your Favourite Christmas Food? 

 I don't like roasts, so I'm not a fan of traditional Christmas foods. I love seafood on Christmas! Especially prawns and baby octopus salad. We also eat potato salad and bean salad. Last year mum made the nicest duck ballotine that had a pork and cherry stuffing, but she managed to lose the recipe for it.

L'Oreal color infallible eyeshadow review +FOTD

If you read my recent wish list, you'll see I've been lusting after one of the eyeshadows from the Miss Candy collection after seeing them on Makeup and Macaroons. After looking in Priceline with no luck, I decided to check out Target. I found their Miss Candy stand fully stocked, AND 25% off! Win! I love all the colours in the collection but decided to go with the 2 most wearable ones, Tender Caramel and Innocent Turquoise. I also managed to pick up an Australis Ready to Mingle set for $5 (Australis has been discontinued from Target and they had heaps of Australis on sale, but most things weren't cheap enough), Maybelline babylips in pink blast (because I've somehow lost the other million babylips I owned) and had an embarrassing moment in the counter where I had accidentally picked up the tester instead of a new eyeshadow (whoops!!). Anyway, onto the actual product.

These eyeshadows are so creamy and pigmented and just all round lovely. They last a long time on your lids without creasing or smudging (They didn't even budge when I had a bit of a cry when my car broke down).  They're both iridescent and Innocent Turquoise has hints of gold through the pan, but they don't show up when used. I've also found that Tender Caramel works great as a base for a neutral smokey eye look.

swatches without flash

swatches with flash

I used both eyeshadows when I went to work the other day, with Tender Caramel all over the lid, and Innocent Turquoise as a liner. I really like using this colour as a liner, and think it adds a nice subtle bit of colour.

What I used

Bourjois healthy mix foundation in 51

Benefit Girl Meets Pearl

Benefit Sugarbomb blush

L'Oreal color infallible eyeshadow in Tender Caramel

L'Oreal color infallible eyeshadow in Innocent Turquoise

Covergirl lashblastvolume mascara

The Body Shop lipstick in 48

Now, I'm in a bit of a pickle here. I really like these eyeshadows and would consider buying more (especially the other's from Miss Candy, if on sale), however I know L'Oreal are known to conduct animal testing. I try to buy cruelty free whenever I can (sometimes I can't resist temptation, which is why I could never be a vegetarian, or rich) but lately I've bought a few products from another brand who don't claim to be cruelty free (Revlon). I've done a lot of reading and it does seem that things surrounding animal testing are a lot better than they used to be (a lot of companies claim they only conduct animal testing when required by law, which I think seems a bit fishy if other companies can manage to be cruelty free). However I would still rather buy from brands that actually have the cruelty free logo on their products (which isn't all that hard, seeing as Australis, Face of Australia and Covergirl are all cruelty free).

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain review

I'm a bit late to the party posting about these, but I guess you can never have too many review about things. This product has had so much hype about it. I usually buy products based on good reviews, so I thought I'd give these a go. Priceline were having a sale for 2 for 1 on Revlon lip and nail products, so I decided that would be the best time to try them out. I ended up with Romantic, Lovesick and Honey (I got a 4th as a present for someone).

(l-r) Lovesick, Romantic (I accidentally wound it up with the lid on, hence no point) and Honey

Firstly, the smell. Everyone seems to be complaining about the minty smell these have. I actually like this smell, and it's definitely not as strong as everyone makes it out to be. They apply the same way as the Face of Australia lip crayons, but with a much more intense colour payoff. I found that these don't apply very evenly and need a few coats to get even. I've also noticed the writing wears off fast. I've kept Lovesick in my handbag for only a few days, and the writing is already coming off!

Lovesick, Romantic and Honey

Lovesick is a bright pink. Romantic is a deep red. I wish it was more of a true red, as I think I'd use it a lot more. Honey seems to be the colour that everyone is talking about, and I actually bought it without swatching it, as there was no tester for it in priceline, and am a bit disappointed. I found it to be a deep pink colour - almost plum like, which isn't really the kind of colour I was after. In hindsight I probably should have bought Cherish.

I found these to be pretty long lasting. I wore lovesick out to dinner (with Sportsgirl bombshell over the top to brighten it up) and when I came home 4 hours later my lips were still red, and lovesick lasted a 5 hour shift at work (only just, but I did put other products on my lips with a light application of the stain). Overall, I'm a little bit disappointed with these and to me they weren't really worth the hype. Maybe I just need to wear them a bit more? However, I would like to get my hands on Rendezvous, and maybe Cherish.

Lovesick with flash (The pictures I took without the flash were so unevenly applied!)

Romantic in natural light

Honey in natural light

Ok, I admit, it looks good here. How come it never looks like this when I wear it out?! 

Have you tried Revlons balmstains yet? What colours do you have and what did you think of them?

Blog giveaways to enter!

There are heaps of rad giveaways going on lately, and I though'd I'd do a post incase you've missed them (and to give myself some extra entries, hehe).

Sweetaholic Beauty's Christmas Giveaway
Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty is holding a Christmas giveaway on her blog at the moment. She's keeping the prize secret however, to be a special christmas suprise for the winner! It ends January 2nd, and open internationally (with an international prize and an Australian prize).

The Shopping Queen's Christmas giveaway
Jen from The Shopping Queen is also doing a Christmas giveaway, with 5 Urban Decay Ink for Eyes in Demolition and a Mac Lipstick in Creme Cup to giveaway! Open internationally, closing the end of December.

Still Blushful's Christmas Giveaway

Tara from Still Blushful is giving away 1 of 8 different high-end products and letting the winer choose their prize! It's a great idea, the only problem being it would be so hard to choose! I'm thinking I'd pick the Stila Sensational Sydney palette. It's open internationally and ends 19th December.

Still Blushful's NARS Giveaway

Tara from Still Blushful is also giving away some NARS products! Up for grabs is a mini Orgasm blush and Laguna bronzer! This is also open internationally and closes 20th December.

Hello Miss Niki's Essie Holiday Giveaway

Niki from Hello Miss Niki is giving away the entire Essie 2012 winter collection, along with Seche Vite top coat and a manicure set! It's open internationally, but be quick as it closes today!

Holly and Polish's China Glaze Giveaway

Holly and Polish are giving away the entire China Glaze Cirque de Soleil Worlds Away Collection!

I'm really loving It's a Trap-Eze. This is international and closes 31st December.

Material Gurl 88's First Blog Giveaway

Sammi from Material Gurl 88 is holding a giveaway to mark 25 followers and her blogs 1 month anniversary. Prizes include some Ulta3 lipsticks, Australis eyeshadow quads, Revlon just kissable balmstain (your choice) and Maybelline 24hr color tattoo (your choice). Open to Australians only and ends 19th December.

Just Plain Delerious' Christmas Giveaway

Just Plain Delirious is giving away 2 prizes! 1st Prize is a Sleek Makeup iDivine palette and blush in your choice, with the 2nd prize being a Real Techniques Travel Essentials brush kit. Ends 25th December.