New dream mascara alert..

Now, I don't want to say anything rash here but I think I may have found something special. We're talking Benefit They're Real special. The newest offering from 17, the Falsifeye HD mascara, claims to lengthen and add volume to lashes creating something pretty special. I'll admit, the before and after picture on the box sold it to me (yep, an ex advertising student being sucked in my the packaging…awkward). 

The actual mascara packaging is spot on. Sleek, black, simple, nice and substantial. The wand is everything I love from a mascara wand. Plastic, short bristles, easily loaded up with loads of product to make a quick 'one swipe' mascara job a real possibility. The wand reminds me a lot of They're Real, minus the spiky ball on the end, but this one tapers down to a nice fine point which makes it really easy to get into the inner lashes and coat the bottom lashes nice and easily without making one big mess.

So, to business. Bare lashes on the right, two coats on the left. I've since loaded up with three to four coats of this stuff and, thanks to the wand, it doesn't clump at all. It's super black, easily to manoeuvre the wand around the upper and lower lashes and get right into the roots thanks to the super spiky wand. I saw no signs of flaking or smudging, and I've done the ultimate test of sweating it out in the gym for a solid hour after an 8 hour shift at work and it looked just as perfect as when I'd applied it at 5am in the morning. And at around the £6 mark (they always have offers on so you can probably pick it up a bit cheaper) it's probably my new favourite find and a staple in my makeup bag.

Winner

What other drugstore mascaras does everyone love?

Loves

xxx

Sportsgirl lip stuff haul...

So my spending ban went for all of a week! Ultimate fail, but when I was killing time waiting for my bus I popped into my favourite shop over here in Australia, Sportsgirl. It's kind of a Topshop-ish shop, selling clothes, accessories, shoes and makeup and hitting the same kind of price point. I'm already well and truly in love with their nail varnishes, so I thought it only fair to give their lipsticks a trial (right?). 

Wanderlust is quite a matte lilac which I think will look cute when I finally get some sort of tan. I fell in love with Powder Puff which is actually a bit lighter than it appears here, it's a gorgeous sheeny pink that will be beautiful for an every day look. Finally my favourite, a take on the Topshop lip crayons, in a matte peachy pink. The shade was on the label which I of course took off, but I'm almost sure this is called Beauty Queen. I popped this on as soon as I got home from the shops and it stayed for AGES! A little drying, but nothing a lip balm as a base coat won't sort out. 

L-R Wanderlust, Powder Puff, Beauty Queen

Any other colours you've tried from the Sportsgirl range that I should try??

Loves

xxx

My thoughts on Inglot....

So I mentioned in a previous post that my boyfriend took me to Inglot to choose some makeup for my birthday last week. It was the first time I'd experienced an Inglot store and I first of all have to mention how incredibly friendly and helpful the sales assistants were in the store I went to (Chermside in Brisbane, Australia). 

In case you don't know about the Freedom system palettes from Inglot, basically you purchase a palette from a range of different sizes (I went for 5) and then fill them with blushes, concealers, lipsticks, eyeshadows, basically whatever you want in whatever colours suit you. I played it safe with eyeshadows and here's my pick...

A shimmery pink shade, and a completely matte pinky peach which looks great as a crease colour.

An incredible peachy gold shimmer which looks like the eyeshadow version of The Balm Big Mama blush.

A shimmery brown that looks great smoked out through the outer third of the eye and up and above the crease, and finally a matte deep brown which is great to do a dramatic cut crease or use as a nice alternative to a black liner.

They give you a magnetised board to stick your shade selection to which lets you play around with the different shade combinations and the order you would like them in the palette, then just take this too the sales assistant at the end and she makes up your palette for you. Simple. 

The only one (tiny) downside of the system is that the shade numbers are on the back of the shadows, and I've seen and heard some horror stories about people getting the shadows in and out of the palettes so unfortunately I've not been brave enough and have no idea what shade numbers I have!

In terms of quality, the packaging is the best (in my opinion) of any brand, a nice sturdy magnetised case that's still streamline and slides into my makeup bag nicely! As for quality (considering the price) these are equal to Mac, however don't beat my beloved Urban Decay shadows.

Has anyone else tried Inglot makeup? What did you guys think?

Loves

xxx

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Barely Branded...

I'll admit it, I'm lazy. I love the ease of sweeping a cream eyeshadow across my lid and generously applying a few coats of mascara before flying out of the door. That's where the likes of my Mac Paint Pots and Benefit cream shadows come in, but if there was ever a chance for a cheaper alternative, I'll take it! 

My first experience with the Maybelline Colour Tattoo's was the taupe shade and, well, I hated it. It was a horrible consistency, didn't blend well, and creased like a bitch. I gave them another chance and picked up Bad To The Bronze which is now my go-to everyday eye colour of choice, so when I saw yet another "me" shade sitting on the shelves, and in a shade conspicuously like my trusty Mac Bare Study, who was I to say no??

Barely There is a pinky gold champagne shade that I'd say is more on the golden shade of Bare Study. It does look great on the lid alone, but I've been in love with wearing it underneath a really shimmery pink shadow with a mid tone matte brown through the crease. All in all, a great easy to wear product, and a much cheaper alternative for Mac Bare Study paint pot if you're in the market for something similar.

What other shades do I need to pick up from this range?

Loves

xxx

Sax Eye Delight eyeshadow palette review...

Browsing in a pharmacy before I came back from Australia I spotted a brand called Sax....sleek packaging, great colours, strong pigmentation and a reasonable price. I had to pick a few bits up to try them out, and as I was short of eyeshadows while overseas, I thought their palette was a good start.

The packaging is very much like Nars, with a slight rubbery finish that gets dirty very quickly, but does give it more of a high end feel. 

Six great neutral shades, all with a slight shimmer and a variety of highlight, lid, crease and outer corner colours. It've found it a very easy palette to create a subtle smokey eye, an evening look, or even to use the lighter colours for a solid wash of colour across the lid. 

Sax is an Australian company, stocked in both Aus and NZ but if you want to check them out head to the website and click on Stockist where there's a contact email for anybody overseas looking to find out more about the brand. The palette retails at 19.95 Australian dollars, great value for that price!

Loves

xxx

My Perfume Collection...

OK so that title is a little lie. Half of my perfumes are, of course, back home in the UK, so this is just the few perfumes I've collected while I've been over in Australia. Now it's not a huge great big fancy collection, but I'm excited to show it off because I LOVE every single one of them. Oh and if you're expecting a fancy review of the 'notes' then you'll be severely disappointing. I know nothing about foundations further than 'Ooooo that smells nice'.

(left to right) Vera Wang Rock Princess, Vera Wang Lovestruck, Givenchy Play, Vera Wang Princess, Nicki Minaj Pink Friday

Vera Wang Rock Princess: probably my least favorite of my collection - not to say I don't like it but the smell doesn't really stick around too long, and it's not really one of those 'distinctive' scents that someone walking past would recognize, but it is a very nice day to day perfume.

Vera Wang Lovestruck: Well first of all, hello pretty, gorgeous, amazingly impractical bottle. OK so I know it's not really a throw in your handbag sort of perfume bottle but luckily the scent sticks around for a while, only a few sprays and you're set for the day. It's a grown up floral smell without being too girly, and I'd say there will be a repeat purchase as soon as this bottle is finished. 

Givenchy Play: now I never actually chose this one myself, it was a present from my boyfriend when he came back from overseas. It is STRONG, in a good way, but you really only need two sprays to last you the entire day. It's got a bit of a musky scent but still stays on the side of the summer perfume fence. Unfortunately this is rapidly running out but it has lasted a good while.

Vera Wang Princess: yes you can see a theme appearing here, I am a bit in love with Vera Wang perfumes. This one is, for want of a better phrase, possible a 'signature scent' of mine. I used to wear it back in the UK and just had to re-purchase it over here, for no other reason than I love it and it reminds me from home. Sentimental yes, worth the fairly hefty price tag? Also yes. 

Nicki Minaj Pink Friday: This one is the latest in the collection, again a gift from the boyfriend, and there's pretty much only two things I need to mention here. Number one is the awesomely incredible bottle, the second is that it smells EXACTLY like Viva La Juicy. As I said I'm no perfume expert but jeez I feel like she's just emptied a bottle of the Juicy Couture perfume into her own, fancier bottle. This isn't a complaint; Viva La Juicy is one of my all time favorite perfumes and is quite hard to get hold of over here, but yeah....crazy dupe alert!

Loves

xxx

Top five highlighters....

I recently had a bit of a sort out of my makeup and discovered a LOT of products I didn't realise I had, and decided to sort out the good from the bad, so here comes a series of 'Top 5' products in my collection, this time it's going to be highlighters. 

(l -r  Sleek Contour Kit, Me Me Me Beat the Blues, Body Shop Baked Bronzer in light)

(l-r Famous by Sue Moxley in pale pink, Vivo highlighter)

I tend to swap and change between these five at the moment, my current favourite is the Famous by Sue Moxley one, I think this was originally supposed to be a blush but as you can see from the swatches underneath, it's far too light for that on my skin tone. 

The Sleek contour kit is quite a harsh highlight, but it's my favourite for a night out. 

Me Me Me Beat the Blues is an amazing dupe of Benefit High Beam and I love it under my brow bone to really highlight my eyes. 

Again, the Body Shop bronzer was initially supposed to be a bronzer but I bought the light version by accident and discovered it made a gorgeous highlight, although maybe more of a summery bronze highlight than one for the winter months. 

Finally, my latest discovery is the Vivo highlight, which for the price (I think it was around £6) and the size of the tube, is amazing value for money and such a gorgeous shimmery cream highlight with a subtle gold/pink shimmer.

(l -r Sleek Contour Kit, Me Me Me Beat the Blues, Body Shop Baked Bronzer in light)

(l r Famous by Sue Moxley in pale pink, Vivo highlighter)

What are your favourite highlighters?

Loves

xxx