Loving.... Face Of Australia Mineral Therapy Illuminator in Angel Fire (NARS ORGASM DUPE ALERT!!)

I've pretty much said everything in the title of this post!

I love this product, it's by Face of Australia and it's a total dupe for the NARS Orgasm Illuminator!

This is a limited edition product, so if your looking to pick it up.. get thee to store now!



When I first swatched this in Priceline I ummm'ed and ahhh'ed over it, would I really use a highlighter that's pigmented and not really a traditional highlighter colour? Then I couldn't stop thinking about it and imagined how I would use it, now I can't see myself without it (and i'm tempted to go buy the rest of the colours).



The consistancy of the product is quite thin, but it is very pigmented and easy to blend into the skin. You do have to be careful though because you may get a bit of product overload come out (see swatches below for a great example!).



The colour though, wowza! If you're a fan of NARS Orgasm get this! It is an absolutely gorgeous peachy pink with a fine gold shimmer. I think it's one of those colours that universally suits all skin tones.

I find the best way to wear it is more as an enhancement on my blush, so i'll put on my blush and then dot a bit of the Illuminator on the top points of my blush and blend in. I have no idea if this is what you're meant to do but it works for me.

Let's see this bad boy (or girl) in action. This is a photo I took in the car on NYE my first outing with the Illuminator on. Yeah I like heavy blush :)



Details!!!

There are 4 colours in this range, and as said earlier they are limited edition! You can pick them up for RRP $14.95AUD from all the usual Face of Australia stockists.

Here is a recent FOTD using the Mineral Therapy Illuminator



Products Used -

Foundation - Illamasqua Skin Base in 07 & Boujois Healthy Mix in 02

Eyes - Naked Palette (Sin on eyelid, Virgin on brow bone, Buck in crease, Half Baked in the middle of the eyelid, Creep in the outer corner), Face of Australia Liquid Eyeliner, Maybelline Colossal Volume Mascara)

Cheeks - NYX Glow & Face of Australia Mineral Therapy Illuminator in Angel Fire

Lips - Revlon Carnation

Product was purchased by me at P to the riceline :) 

 

Revlon Moon Drops Lipstick in Blase Apricot & Lilac Champagne - Rare Find!

I found these lipsticks hanging about in a discount beauty store (Cosmo Cosmetics, i'll put where they are at the end of this post). They only cost me $7.00 each!

The Revlon Moon Drops lipsticks aren't readily available in Australia but they seem to be available in the US, so if you can get your hands on them, lucky you!

The lipsticks themselves are moisturising and long lasting, the pink colour especially lasted ages on me even to the point it kind of stained my lips.

The one thing I don't like is the smell, they smell a bit "older lady" to me, it's a small thing but I thought i'd better mention it.

The 2 colours I got were brights from the range...surprise surprise! It seemed my local Cosmo Cosmetics had quite a good range of colours as well so I may go back and get a few more!

The colours I picked up were Blase Apricot & Lilac Champagne









You can find Cosmo Cosmetics at these locations (I'm not entirely sure if they all sell the same products though, sorry!)

Also, I'm just getting these locations from google so if the stores are no longer there... oops! I do know for sure the Parramatta and Merrylands stores are open :)

Cosmo Cosmetics - Parramatta

256 Church Street

Parramatta NSW
(02)9633 1522

Cosmo Cosmetics - Merrylands

Stockland Mall, Merrylands

Cosmo Cosmetics - Hornsby

Pacific Hwy
Hornsby NSW
(02) 9482 4988

Cosmo Cosmetics - Sydney City

Met Centre, George Street

Sydney

 

So so so wrong...Kelly Osbourne!

This is an unusual type post for me but I just saw these pictures of Kelly Osbourne from the Art Of Elysium's Gala and had to share them with you.

Poor Kelly Osbourne...

This is all kinds of wrong, from the foundation to the hair and even the dress is not flattering! Girl has worked hard for her current figure and this dress just completely drowns her.

I cannot get over the foundation though, perhaps its the lighting/flash but you'd think these celebrity makeup artists would have that down pat (assuming she had a makeup artist and didn't do this to herself). She's a pale girl why try and make her look so tan. Perhaps if she was her normal colour the grey hair may work a bit better for her?







Images taken from The Superficial

Link Love & Random Shizz!

I haven't done a Link Love post in eons... actually I think my last one was way back in January 2011..A YEAR AGO!! I typically did them on Fridays and was actually planning to get this up on Friday but hey I had social commitments :P

The good news is i'm fully caught up in my google reader so have managed to put together a little list of blog posts i've enjoyed over the past couple of weeks!

Enjoy!!

This is a bit of an upsetting one but one of my favourite bloggy gals Jacie from You've Got Nail is shutting up shop for awhile, she is an amazing asset to the Australian blogging community and it'll be sad not seeing her updates every week but she works so hard and sometimes taking a break is for the best. However give her some love as she is keeping the blog open so we still have access to all her wonderful and witty posts.

Jess from All I Want Is Everything has a NARS blush collection so drool worthy it makes me want to go on a major NARS shopping spree! She has kindly swatched her collecti0n so go have a squizz, don't blame me though if you end up buying a few. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Kimmi from The Plastic Diaries has made us a list of 11 Online Beauty Stores we need to check out! Are your pockets burning yet?

Tine from Beautyholics Anonymous lets everyone know what it's like being a beauty blogger, it ain't all champagne and lipsticks :P

Jen from The Nail Polish Project & my fellow Pro Nail Supply shopper does an amazing lightning bolt tape manicure,  I love the colours she's used!

Tegan from Tegania's Thoughts rocks some awesome Lime Crime lipsticks, I think the red is her colour, do you agree?

Chelle from Cosmetic Cupcake is awesome... full stop! Check out this amazing lace manicure she did, I reckon this would be awesome to rock at a Burlesque club!

Sarah from Dempeaux shows us how to do wing eyeliner, I've been practicing and I think I ALMOST have it down pat thanks to this tutorial!

Now for some photos etc I've been liking all around the place (all photos have been snatched from either my tumblr or pinterest)















A couple of songs i'm loving right now -


 



And lastly... something I'm lusting after, I want a rose gold watch!



 

Product Review - Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector AKA Garniers BB Cream

It seems Australia is catching onto the BB cream bandwagon, and i'm kinda glad because I don't think I would have ever tried them out otherwise. I was lucky when I picked this product up in Priceline it was a cheap introductory price of around $10, not that the full price is too hard on the pockets but I sometimes like to save a bit especially if i'm just trying out a product. I got it in the Light colour as well.



Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector makes a lot of claims...

Discover the BB Cream secret - a new generation of skincare that combines the best of skincare with the benefits of make-up in one application! New Miracle Skin Perfector has a lightweight formula with vitamin C and mineral pigments to deliver long-lasting hydrating care with SPF15 UV filters and a light touch of make-up for instantly visible, radiant results. Quickly & perfectly it unifies, corrects, brightens, moisturises & protects! - from the Garnier website



Initially when I tried this product, i'll be honest I hated it! I even had that dread that I was going to have to write a bad review about it, then I decided to give it another go in a different way. Okay so as a everyday cream/foundation type thing this product does not work for me as it gives me NO coverage whatsoever not even a tiny bit. How does it shine? As a primer!! Yep, put this baby on underneath your foundation and see your skin glow, especially perfect for my fellow dry skin girls out there. So thankfully this one isn't going to see the inside of my bin.



See...no coverage :)

Would you like to buy it? Well it's available at all the usual Garnier stockists for a RRP $13.95AUD

 

Essence Hauling! Eyeshadows - Disco Diva, Party All Night & Taupe of the Pops

Essence is a fairly new brand the Australian market and luckily for us it's one of those brands that has come out here and not been overly marked up beyond the point of purchasing. It's still nice and cheap so when you need a quick beauty fix, it's a great place to start! They are stocked in Target locations in Australia (not 100% if all Targets stock them but the ones i've been to have all had it).

I picked up a few things to try out and so far i'm pretty impressed, so much so I want to go and try some more of their products.

Let's start with eyeshadows, I kind of stayed in my comfort zone with 2 neutrals and I picked one brighter colour since it's my aim to add more brighter eye looks to my makeup routine.



As for size, they are 2.5g and the pan is pretty much the size of a Stila pan which comes in at 2.6g.









As far as quality goes, these are pretty good! The colour payoff is great and they are super smooth, however I do think Disco Diva is a bit of a harder shadow to work with when I used it I needed to pack it onto my brush a bit more then the other colours.

The wear is also good, however I always use an eyeshadow primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion) but the colours didn't crease on me at all.

Best part? They cost $3.25each! That's cheaper then a Latte!

Okay are you ready for my pop of colour? Here is a look I did using Disco Diva!



Eye Breakdown -

Lid - Virgin (Urban Decay Naked Palette)

Crease & Blended out above crease - Essence Disco Diva

Lashline - Purple from Stila Creme Bouquet Palette

Lower Lashline - As above with Essence Disco Diva smudged on top

Outer Corner - Creep (Urban Decay Naked Palette)

Browbone - Virgin (Urban Decay Naked Palette)

Manicure Monday - It's Festival Season!! Feat. Picture Polish Festival Flakie

Don't you love when January hits it generally means all the great Music Festivals are starting, well this nail polish besides being called Festival is perfect for those summer days seeing music you love all the while admiring your gorgeous nails in the sunlight (am I the only one that does that with glitters & flakies?)

Festival by Picture Polish is there foray into flakie polishes, when I saw Festival a multi coloured flakie in my inbox and a pre-order was available I was all over it.

I've only just had a chance to get it on my nails after receiving it a few weeks ago and decided to do a swatcheroo with a few different base polishes to see which handles it the best.  So in true festival tradition...

The support acts -

China Glaze - Shocking Pink, China Glaze - For Audrey, Illamasqua - Boosh, OPI - Skull & Glossbones

I must apologize for my crap-tacular swatching you are about to see, The clouds were looming and it was about to storm but i'd already painted up my hands so had to take the picture... Seriously go Here, Here and Here for better swatches of this polish then mine.

 

Here is the headliner!





 I only have 1 other flakie (Nubar 2010) in my collection to compare this to but I found the colour was amazing especially over black there are so many different facets of colour, so this will definitely be one to go over my darker polishes. The actual flakies were quite spaced out so I had to do 2 coats and the formula is quite thick so this can become quite a time consumer especially when it comes to drying time. Even with my beloved Seche Vite on top it took ages to dry. I do love the effect though and look forward to wearing it more!

You can purchase Festival from the Picture Polish website for $11.90AUD and there are also 2 other flakies in the collection and I believe more to come!

I also recommend signing up to the Picture Polish mailing list as you get advised of new colours coming out (like I did with this one) and they also do free shipping deals sometimes!

This product was purchased by moi!  

 

 

Product Review - Covergirl NatureLuxe Foundation

**This post has been bumped in front of a few others in my posting schedule mainly because it's available at Priceline at the moment for $10! All Covergirl foundations are only $10 this week at Priceline until 16th January**

Onto the review!

The main reason I picked up this foundation was because of the cheap price at Priceline, sometimes it can get expensive being a beauty blogger and finding products so heavily discounted is always a great thing! I'd also read about it on The Beauty Department in a splurge or steal blog post (it was the steal obviously).

This is what Covergirl have to say about this particular foundation - Redefine natural beauty with our lightweight silk foundation. With a touch of cucumber water and a hint of jojoba and rose hip extracts, our light yet luxurious formula takes heavy weight out of your polished finish.

First off let me say I love the packaging, the little squeeze bottle holds 30mls which is pretty much the standard size of a foundation anyway but it's so small and not encased in massive glass bottle packaging that it's something you can easily slip into your makeup bag on the go.



One downfall is that the colour selection isn't great, There are only 5 shades to choose from. I matched myself to Bamboo 315 which is the 2nd lightest in the shades. Unfortunately my Priceline was also missing samples of the lighter shade so I couldn't compare them and see if it was going to be good for the very pale girls but Bamboo seems to match my skin perfectly at the moment (I have a little bit more colour since it's summer).



Another great thing about this foundation is that it contains SPF10, while that's certainly not enough protection for outdoors it's a good starting point and i'm glad Covergirl have included it.

The feel of the foundation is light and almost mousse like, it's blends into the skin really easily and didn't stick to my dry patches (even later in the day, which is when it usually slips). The scent of the foundation is quite strong so if your not a fan of that then you may want to pass on this one. The wear is actually very very good, I've been wearing it today for almost 7hrs and have no need to touch up or even powder.

The coverage is definitely medium but I think it'd also be quite buildable because it is so light. My skin isn't overly bad but my main concern is redness on my cheeks and nose and this covered it up quite well without the need for a concealer.

I'd liken it to my Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum which was noted as one of my favourites for last year, the difference I notice is that this has more of a matte finish then the Healthy Mix.

Overall for a drug store brand foundation this is actually a really nice product! The RRP of this is $18.95AUD which is still a very affordable price, but if you can get to Priceline before the 16th of January try and grab it for $10.00 :)

Here is a before and after, This is with just the foundation on after my skin has been moisturised (all the usual jazz)



Since that was a little scary here is it with my face done and a breakdown of my products used, a FOTD if you will :)



Foundation - Covergirl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation (Shade: Bamboo 315)

Concealer - Maybelline Dream Lumi Concealer (Shade: Nude)

Powder - MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (Shade: Light Medium)

Eyeliner - Face of Australia Liquid Eyeliner (Shade: Black)*

Mascara - Maybelline The Colossal Volume Mascara (Shade: Black)

Blush - NYX Creme Blush (Shade: Glow)

Lipstick - MAC (Shade: Hibiscus) Limited Edition...sorry!

Please note * indicates products received for my consideration. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

Video: Favourite Products of 2011

Here is a round up of my favourite products of last year! Hope you enjoy!

 



Some of the products mentioned were provided for my consideration, please read my disclosure policy for more details.

Budget Beauty - DIY Blonde Highlighting

Most people who get their hair highlighted and especially blondes will tell you it's quite an expensive thing to upkeep, when it came time that my roots were a little out of control it needed to be done but I didn't quite have the spare cash to do it I decided to give at home highlighting a go.

So a bit about how I usually get my hair highlighted, I generally switch between half and full heads of foils and in winter get a few darker blonde bits foiled through and in summer have it all the same lighter blonde. Generally my hair can cost me anywhere between $185-$250 a time.

This is the kit I decided to use



It cost me about $18 from Coles, I've also seen it in Priceline etc. I chose this one because it seemed like the most fail safe and I didn't really want to go about trying to foil my own hair or doing an all over blonde colour. The kit includes a streaking cap, hook, the colour & developer etc and a conditioner to use afterwards.

I also bought a couple of additional things - Tinting Brush (cost me around $3 from priceline) since I was only doing regrowth I wanted to be quite precise, Metal Streaking Cap Hook ($4 from Hairhouse Warehouse) LIFESAVER! The plastic hook provided in the kit is a piece of shit, seriously if you intend on trying a kit like this buy a metal hook! I also made sure I had a few old towels and tons of hair clips to section the hair as well.

Hair Before -



So what you need to do is put the cap on and pull your hair through the holes, there are indicators on the cap for if you only want to highlight a certain part of your hair, since my hair is quite blonde all over I decided at first i'd do the whole cap... This was until I actually started pulling my hair through (by myself). It was taking fricken forever so I ended up just doing the top part and sides and left the underneath.

IMPORTANT! You need to make sure you pull out the entire strand of hair or you end up with what I have now fondly called tiger stripes...sadly I did make this mistake on a few strands of my hair... Lesson learnt!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="588" caption="Hair pulled through, no makeup and not a happy face after this took forever!"][/caption]

Once your hair is pulled through (properly!) I combed through the hair to make sure no pieces were snagged and then mixed my colour and applied it to my roots only.

I waited around 40mins and then applied some more colour to my ends (so it'd look even). I'd read when it was the colour of the inside of a banana skin that's when it's done so I went by this and washed it out at around 50mins.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="588" caption="Waiting... Waiting.."][/caption]

Then it was time to wash out.. HURRAH! I decided to wash my hair with the cap still on and also condition it so it would slide out a bit easier, it was still a bit of a bitch to get off but wasn't too terrible. Then after drying my hair came the moment of truth...did it work? was it perfect? Yes and No. My regrowth obviously wasn't as noticable but the strands i'd dyed around the crown of my head weren't great, in fact I think I was being a little conservative with how much I was pulling through because when I checked the sides of my hair it was perfect and that's where i was getting a little more careless and pulling through more hair.

So my lessons learnt - Make sure hair is pulled through properly (yep I have some tiger stipes...ROAR!), Pull through more hair in the crown so it's more noticable in the part.

Will I do it again? Most likely, I may use it as an option in between salon highlights just to try and keep the costs down, however I do kind of want to perfect it... that's the Virgo in me talking!

RESULTS! As you can see...not 100% but as a first attempt i'm not overly concerned and it's definitely given me a bit more time to save up for a salon trip :)



 

 

 

 

 

 

A Pink That Packs A Punch? Enter! Face of Australia - Malibu Barbie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

First of all I want to wish everyone a wonderful 2012, I'm hoping to try and be a little more consistant with my posts this year and try and get back into the swing of things as much as possible. I don't really believe in new years resolutions, I feel goal setting should be something you do all year but I do want to try and concentrate on my blog again.. I'm coming up to 2 years this month!

ONTO THE REVIEW!

I actually got a sneak peek of this lipstick back in September at the ABBW (Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend) and as soon as I saw it I knew as soon as it hit the shelves I needed it in my collection, well I'm not sure I got it as soon as it hit the shelves but I did get it as soon as i saw it.

Malibu Barbie is part of the Lip Quench range of lipsticks from Face of Australia. A lipstick range which not only provides a smack of colour but also provides some pretty rad lip treatment qualities as well (Double the win!) It contains Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E, Shea butter and SPF 30+.. Yep, SPF 30+ seriously bright and protected lips!



The colour of this lipstick is what really gets me, the name says it all Malibu Barbie is a bright cool toned pink it really is the ultimate Barbie pink, it's a gorgeous pop of colour that instantly brightens the face. I personally love colours like this because I feel like I don't have to do a whole lot else with my makeup, keeping it simple and making this sort of lip colour the focus is how I like to wear it.

In fact I wore it last night for New Years Eve!

Ready for some swatchy goodness? My lips are a bit dry in this picture, so the moisturizing properties of this lipstick were kind of perfect.





The Details!

RRP $9.45AUD

You can purchase this product from Priceline, Department Stores and various Chemists. Face of Australia products can also be purchased online from Fashion Addict.