Thursday 7 November 2013

October Favourites!


I know I'm eight days overdue for the October favourites rif-raf but I've been ill, so I'm doing it late, ok? 

Over the month of October, I actually found myself not wearing makeup as often as usual, which means that picking my favourites was tricky, and I had to cheat a little bit.

But, moving on!

Face Favourites:

 This month I've really been loving a few new additions to my collection. The Collection Lasting Perfection concealer (Fair 1) has become one of my staples. It is fantastic. It has great coverage, it lasts really well and it's so easy to blend!
Another newbie is my Sleek Face Contour Kit in Light. I'd seen many YouTube beauty gurus use this, and found it on eBay for $15, so I bought it and it is fabulous.
If, like me, you're new to contouring, then this is a great way to start, because in the box it gives the usual places to put the darker and lighter powders :)

The last new product in my face faves is the Benefit Dandelion blusher. Now, to be honest, I'm starting to wonder whether it could be a fake (I bought it at a market, thinking it was an awesome bargain) but either way it's a lovely light pinky peach colour and looks lovely.

The next two are my Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream in light and the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in Vanilla. The BB cream was great for days where I was feeling lazy, and I'd just use a bit of this and mascara and head out. The healthy mix foundation is great for days when you want lighter coverage, but still want that healthy glow. It is a tad too dark for my skin, but after putting powder on top it blends fine!

Eye Favourites:

As I mentioned earlier, I have been pretty lazy with makeup the last month, so for eyes, I've pretty much kept it at a bare minimum. 
This is also where I cheat a little, because the Essence Eye brow stylist set was purchased at the start of November, but it was so close to October and I fell in love straight away, so I couldn't wait to brag!
I have been looking for a good eyebrow powder for so long. I'd been using an eyeshadow (which had shimmer in it, oh dear!) for ages, but I found this in Priceline for $3.50 and couldn't leave it. It matches my brows well, isn't too hard to blend and I'm just so happy I found one!

Mascara is always a must-have, and I've been absolutely loving the Covergirl Clump Crusher Extensions lash blast mascara. It honestly makes it look like I'm wearing false eye lashes. It definitely tops the Maybelline Falsies (sorry to all the Falsies lovers out there). 
Last but not least is one of the Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo thingos. I've got it in the colour 'Tough as Taupe' which is a lovely nude browny bronze colour. I use this either as a shadow or an eyeliner. I've used it more as a liner - it looks soft and natural.

Lip Favourites:

Only one lip fave this month. I know what you're thinking: how can you - lip product hoarder - only have one favourite?
Well, you see, I was so absolutely taken away by how good this actually looks on my lips, I couldn't even think of anything else to put next to it, in it's shadow.

This is my Rimmel Kate Moss lip stick in 'Kiss of Life'. A beautiful deep fiery red. 
I never used bright lip sticks, usually sticking to a sheer lip gloss or balm, but one night I thought "sod it" and I put my red lippy on. Oh boy!
I love it! It smells nice, it feels nice, it looks nice. Mmmm! The joys of feeling good in a bright red lip!

So anyway, there's my rant about loving red lipstick... Either way, I think I'll be wearing this more often!



Other Favourites:

I made my first purchase of a Real Techniques brush set not that long ago, but I just fell in love. I ended up splurging on the Expert Face Brush as well, and now I have a small collection of Real Techniques brushes happening, and  it just feels so good...

These two have been my favourites so far. The Expert Face Brush, which I use for foundation, and the Domed Shadow Brush, which I use for concealer and sometimes eyeshadow.

They bristles are hard but soft so you get even coverage without the streaks. They're easy to wash too - the white tipped bristles make it easy to see if they are clean of all the makeup.

I'm definitely going to be investing in more of these brushes, they are fantastic. I'm still in love with my Eco Tools brushes too, though. They have done me very well.


Do you have any good brushes that you can recommend? I don't even know where to start!

Happy November (Movember to all you fellas)! 

xx



Tuesday 5 November 2013

Lust Have It! October box review!

So, funny story actually, I wasn't supposed to get the October box at all. After I had placed the order, I got an e-mail a week or so later saying that the box had sold out, which was a bummer, but that they would hold the payment and send me the next month's one instead.

That was fine with me, but what was interesting was that I got home about two days later and saw two packages at the front door. 
They had, instead of not sending me a box, sent me two of them. Two free ones? I'm not complaining!

(My mum ended up with one of them!)

Anyway, so I thought I'd give my thoughts on what was in it...

The first thing I tried was the Evo Ritual Salvation shampoo and conditioner. I found them all a bit strange. The messages on the bottles were...odd, to say the least, and left me a bit baffled and actually a bit annoyed. But I used them anyway, and I found that my hair was silky and soft, but it weighed it down too much, and by the next morning my hair was oily again.
I'll give it another shot, but there's no way I'll be buying this for myself, especially not for $25 for a 300mL bottle!




The next thing I tried was the Inika Vegan Lip Whip in Melon. It's a lovely berry purple colour - not very fitting to the season, but nice either way - and is vegan, which for some reason makes me feel better...? Well anyway, as far as lip glosses go it is nice. Not very tacky and only a little bit sticky, but it also doesn't last too well. But overall, a nice one to keep in the handbag.

Next one is one I'm using as I write this now actually - and it's the Princesse Skincare Hyaluronic Acid Mask. It is supposed to help put more moisture back into the skin, refresh and help maintain the skin's youthfulness basically.
When I first put it on it felt quite cooling and nice. It then started to make my skin feel like it was burning, and now is okay again.
Hold on...I should probably take this off now...
Oh dear. You know that disgusting residue left from cloth face masks? And it makes you look like your skin isn't your skin? Yeah.... ew.

Anyway, my face feels good and if I'm not mistaken I think it looks more refreshed and healthy!
$25 for 110mL? Wait, is that for one mask, or do you get a bottle of it? What?


The other two I haven't technically tried yet, but I sprayed a little bit of the Le Tan Wash Off spray tan before and it look pretty good. The more I rubbed it in, the better it blended into my skin. So I'm really looking forward to trying this all over my legs and body!

As for the ModelCo colourbox lip pencil with in-built sharpener, it looks like a nice colour, but I'm not big on lip liner for some reason. But it's in the colour pomegranate which sounds yummy. I'll give it a shot but if I use a lip liner, which isn't often, I use a nude coloured one. 


So that's it for this month's Lust Have It! box! Can't wait for next month's!
Did you find anything in this one you really enjoyed? 
Will you go and buy any of these?

I'm thinking that Hyaluronic Acid maks was pretty nifty...

Ciao bella!


Sickness and Exhaustion

Update on my absence...

I feel so terrible about not making a post for the last week or so, and I've been really wanting to, but unfortunately I've had the bad luck of health and was in hospital for a few nights with suspected pancreatitus.

It turns out it wasn't that but just an abnormality of my pancreas.

Either way the night I went into hospital was scary, painful and I was terrified. It's not often I vomit or have any type of illness that goes beyond a sniffle and a sore throat, so I'm sure you can understand my terror.

I was out after two nights, and in that time I ate one meal. One meal out of the six I should have had.

So after leaving I found myself extremely weak and unable to do much except sleep and eat and drink a lot of water.

I'm finally okay now! Still tired, but my body was in such shock from what happened, I'm not surprised how long it's taken.

So, I'll be trying my very hardest to write something up tonight or tomorrow, and hopefully life gets back to normal!


Talk soon! xx