China Glaze Beauty & The Beach... & Shattered!

This is a new China Glaze polish I picked up... yes the colour is pretty but I mainly got it because of the name. I love Beauty & The Beast (Disney movie...although that tv series in the 80s was pretty cool too!) However if were talking Disney this reminds me more of a Little Mermaid colour (my number 1 Disney movie for those playing at home)

Enough about Disney, lets look at the polish!





Something else you guys need to know about.... you probably already do and have noticed it's sold out so I apologize if this creates an even bigger lemming.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bottle of OPI Black Shatter polish from the new Katy Perry collection.... so it's.... AMAZING!!! I am finding myself doing a regular manicure, wearing that for a few days and then popping Black Shatter over the top to just see how it looks. This is the polish I was wearing when it came and wow... what a combo!

This mani also packed a punch in the longevity stakes as well lasting a week with only a couple of very slight chips.



China Glaze can be purchased from Crush Cosmetics website or any nail e-tailers if your savvy and know the best ones :)

OPI can be purchased at David Jones and again e-tailers... Black Shatter is super hard to come by but if your desperate there are a few bottles on Ebay going for crazy prices

Blogger Challenge set by cclarebear.com

The lovely Clare of cclarebear.com has set a blogger challenge, and being the type who loves a challenge I knew I had to participate.

Plus it was all about finding bargains which I'm pretty good at :)

So the challenge at hand was to stock a makeup kit up for $100 for her friend Lucy. There were a few requests and some background info (images and quote taken from cclarebear.com) -



"Lucy is a wife, and mum of a super cute 15 month old boy, and has just returned to work from maternity leave.

Here’s what Lucy has to say about her current makeup situation from this post:

So I don’t really have all that much. I have run out of mascara, nearly out of powder, the only eye palettes I have are shimmery night ones, so I need a real daytime look. I am kind of ashamed of my makeup stash, it’s just cheap crap I’ve picked up over the years before big events – ie a visit to Gloss to pick up a bright blue eyeshadow that goes with the top I bought specifically for the occasion and have never worn again ROFL

So I prefer powder foundation, as I said, need a primer or something, definitely need a good concealer and something for the lips. Blush if it’s required



btw I have just bought some Olay Regenerist for my skin and I LOVE it!!!"

So how did I go? Well first stop was one of my favourite online makeup stores crushcosmetics.com and then I threw in a couple of items she can find practically anywhere that I totally love :) Clare also allowed us to choose one additional "must have" item so keep reading to find out what I chose.

http://www.crushcosmetics.com.au -

NYX Concealer Jar - $9.95AUD



Elf Pressed Powder - $7.95AUD



NYX Nude on Nude Natural Look Kit (I love their shadows!) - $19.95AUD



NYX Powder Blush in Peach (this is one of my everyday go-to blushes) - $11.15AUD



NYX Round Lipstick in Tea Rose (great everyday colour and great formulation) - $5.25AUD



I also think brushes are essential, so here are a few I picked off the website as well



Elf Eyeshadow C Brush - $7.95AUD, Elf Blushing, Bronzing, Contouring Brush - $4.95AUD, Coastal Scents Blending Brush - $10.95AUD

TOTAL - $78.10AUD (includes free shipping over $60... WIN!)

(images all taken from http://www.crushcosmetics.com.au)

A couple of items you can find in most department stores, Priceline & Supermarkets

Face of Australia Primer - approx $8AUD



Covergirl Lashblast Mascara - RRP $17.95AUD



GRAND TOTAL - $104.05

So I did go a little over, but you could always omit the lipstick because there are 2 lip colours in the eyeshadow palette.

Now for my must have product, this can also be purchased from Crush Cosmetics and is an absolute lifesaver of mine!

Urban Decay Primer Potion - $31.95



This was a really fun challenge! If your a blogger give it a go, or even if your not maybe make some suggestions for Lucy on Clare's post.

Maybelline does Gel Eyeliner

In my last review on the Maybelline Colossal Mascara review I mentioned how I picked up a few other products because of the 3 for 2 promotion. This is one of the other products I got.

I'd actually been excited when I first heard Maybelline were bringing out their very own gel eyeliner, something i've never seen in a cheaper brand. So did it live up to the hype for me?

I've only tried a couple of gel eyeliners before, the Coastal Scents one and the Stila smudgepots (I think they're classed as gel eyeliner?) in my opinion both of these products are great! I picked up the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in the eggplant colour because it was a colour I didn't already have in my collection and I knew I had the perfect eyeshadow to pair it with.

When I applied the eyeliner I used the little eyeliner brush provided just to see how it went, I didn't particularly like the brush at all as it didn't give a fine enough line for me. So I gave it a go with one of my angled eyeliner brushes the line was fine but the pigmentation was just not there... I expected a dark purple eggplant like in the jar but that's not what I got. It also didn't seem to apply evenly and doesn't even really feel gel like at all it felt quite dry (not like my other gel liners)

So overall I am not really a fan of this as an eyeliner because I like my liner to be quite dark and noticeable but I think it can probably be used as an eyeshadow base or a smudgey below lash liner. This may just be the eggplant, the black etc may be much more pigmented and easier to work with.

My pictures below show it applied with the provided brush, as not everyone has other brushes handy I wanted to give a true representation of it. I also put a picture of what they think it should look like from the packaging... what do you think? close or not so much?

You can pick this up at any of the regular Maybelline stockists for a RRP of $16.95AUD

Lush Valentines Day Giveaway - WINNER!

Before I tell you all the lucky winner, I just want to say thank you to everyone for taking the time to enter. The response was overwhelming! Thank you x 1000000

So onto the winner, I entered everyones names into an excel spreadsheet for every entry they had and then used a random number generator to reveal the winner



Who was lucky number 15?



GILLIAN! Congratulations! I know you'll love this because you're a total Lushie as well :)

If you could either email me or dm me on twitter your address details, I'll pass them onto Lush HQ to send out your prize!

Giveaway!!! Lush Valentines Day

COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED! Thanks everyone for your entries, I will be drawing a winner and posting it up soon.

Like Big Kev used to say... I'M EXCITED!

Lush have kindly let me host a Valentines Day giveaway on their behalf to celebrate the current limited edition Valentines Day products in store now!

Win a romantic prize pack from Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics.  The prize consists of the deliciously sweet It’s Raining Men shower gel, an irresistibly cute Frog Prince bath ballistic (which turns into your very own Prince!), a piece of delicate Love Birds soap, and a brand new It Started With A Kiss tinted lip balm.

All you have to do to enter is comment below and tell me What makes your Valentines Day so Lush?

If you are also a follower of my blog, i'll chuck in an extra entry for you (just let me know your username so I can look it up)

If you tweet about it, let me know and you'll get another entry! (That's the potential for 3 entries! odds are good people!)

I will be picking the winning entry randomly using a number generator on V-Day aka the 14th of February so make sure to get your entries in by then.

I'm sorry but this competition is only open to Australian Residents, and your prize will be sent directly to you from Lush HQ.

So get entering! Since I can't enter myself I'm going to order myself some It's Raining Men (did you know it smells like Honey I Washed The Kids?)


Since I like sharing the love, you can get a few extra chances to win by checking out these other wonderful blogs also holding the competition (Thanks Lush!) head on over to The Lip Print & The Belle Lumiere & You've Got Nail for an extra chance at the goodies (P.S. If you win twice, i'll happily take one off your hands)

Maybelline Colossal Mascara... a new favourite?

As you might already know I have a pretty not so secret love affair with Covergirl Lash Blast mascara, its the mascara I recommend to everyone I meet (even if they don't ask sometimes!)

So could it be possible i've found a mascara in a similar price range, which I kinda maybe love a little more... the answer is yes.

I recently went on a trip to Priceline (suprise, suprise) with the lovely Jadegrrrl and on that day they had a 3 for the price of 2 Maybelline special so I picked a few things up (to be reviewed soon!) including the Maybelline Colossal Volume Express Mascara as i'd heard some great things about it on other blogs.



I could waffle on about how great the formula is, how it doesn't clump and how it's easy to remove, doesn't flake during the day etc etc. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves in this case.

I am wearing the colour Glam Black (not sure how that is different from regular Black) RRP for the mascara is $19.25AUD but as always you can scout around and find a bargain

Before -



After -