WHERE have I been?

I am SO SORRY! I have finally stumbled back to this blog with my tail between my legs and realised that I have NOT blogged here since November 2011!

NOVEMBER 2011 people!

That is SO bad of me! I am seriously sorry – you’ve probably all left me and now do not even bother to check this prettily pink blogL and why would you? But fear not – I am FINALLY here and whilst a LOT of both time and events have passed I am here now and will try, promise, endeavour and yearn to blog more frequently!

Rather than me go into a LONG winded story =and possible numerous blog posts= explaining why I’ve been MIA (and thus possibly boring you all) I think I’ll just be super-efficient and pop it all into dot points!

v  We (i) got pregnant in February 2012 – after months of trying and 1 miscarriage we were going to be pregnant! Eeek!

v  The house we were building was FINALLY moving along from a snail’s pace to being almost done – OMG, mortgage repayments!

v  We (read: husband) had to get house organised as I was seriously pregnant by this stage

v  I became swamped at work with maternity leave being imminent and desperately wanted to finish/finalise my workload

v  We moved into our house in my last trimester… enter:

v  We had to purchase goods for our house/unpack items/organise ‘stuff’

v  Buying/organising and sorting stuff for baby

v  Being VERY tired home from work

v  We then on 31 October met our beautiful, amazing little girl (we are totally bias though)!

v  Enter trying to find a sense of equilibrium with managing a house + baby + family etc

v  I finally went back to part-time work after 8 mths maternity leave (3 days)

We finally got with the 21^st century and sorted out our Wifi and got a notebook!

And here I am…

Back again!

You will hear a lot more from me now… I hope you’re ready for the possible barrage!

Review: Sunsilk Plumped Up Volume Hairspray

I used to think that hairspray was hairspray was hairspray… and then I started using the stuff more often! I must admit that I don’t wash my hair every day… in fact I don’t even wash it every other day! I have curly hair and in order to avoid frizz whilst maintaining my curls + natural oils I will wash my air every 3^rd day (and I never blow dry – I think this is a combination of me not liking to use a hairdryer + noise and sheer laziness)! I maintain this perfect balance so stringently that I have been known to make my husband go out without me so that I can wash my hair on those 3^rd days (I wash my hair in the evening and then go about making/having dinner then watching TV and then going to sleep with it half dry/slightly damp. but the time I wake up I have curls AND volume).

Whilst my hair IS curly it is actually rather fine – the issue with this is I LOVE volume when having my hair out (what can i say - I'm ethnic and therefore have a major penchant for big hair!) – I adore that ‘just got outta bed, tousled hair’ look that clearly was not done by just jumping out of bed! So in order to aid the volume I will pop my hair up with a clip (while getting ready) and spray hairspray on the sides + back + front part of my hair = VOLUME (once I take out said clip) & it keeps the hair off my face while getting ready.

BUT doing this also creates one issue that I have recently found and I LOATHE it… hairspray buildup!

So I bought Sunsilk Plumped Up Volume Hairspray the other day at Priceline. This hairspray has (apparently) been co-created with Teddy Charles and is claimed to be Sunsilk’s most advanced plumped up volume….

I don’t like it.

I really don’t like it...

It did NOT give me the volume I usually see… AND after JUST one application I had heinous white buildup…

I don’t like it at all – I am very disappointed and will definitely not be repurchasing! I never return bad hair product(s) etc as I just cannot be bothered in most cases but I WILL be hunting for said receipt of this to exchange!

If there is something good about it i must say that i DO like the smell... but once the fragrance is gone what i have left is not worth mentioning!

Target Purchase – CHEAP New MAKE UP Products!

I went into Target on my lunch break and noticed that they had these new products in their makeup section called BA; honestly – I did not even notice the brand; I was more attracted to the fact that they were $3 each! What a STEAL! 

At first I thought I would just get some polish as they seem to have a rather small range but then noticed a few other bits and pieces like blusher and bronze tint ‘sticks’ and some eye shadows and heaps of eye pencils in what looked like 12 different colours! I was a little annoyed that they didn’t have any testers but for $3 I suppose I could more than risk the hit or miss of it all!

So here is what I bought: 

A) 2 eye colours (“smokey” – which is a black colour and “silver” which is actually more of a shimmery taupe/champagne colour)

B) 2 Tints (“bronze” which is a shimmery taupe bronze stick and “blush” a faint pink shimmer stick)

Here are the swatches:

Firstly, I have to say that the eyeshadow colours are really pigmented! I am amazed that the colour goes on quite well. The black is a matte colour and the champagne coloured one is obviously shimmery - but not powdery at all! I used the black one this morning to 'set' the colour on my waterline and I am rather happy with it and have used the champagne/taupe one for highlighting my brow bone. I am rather impressed with the $3 price – the shimmer particles are really fine and it looks lovely when I swatched it! I will say that I am not a fan of the packaging OR the brand title (I mean really, "BA" – wtf?) but I think the product itself is ok!

The tint sticks is what I was most interested in; I HOPED that it wouldn't leave my skin MORE shiny by the end of the day (as i have said before - i have very oily skin!). I have never used a cream blush before; I think its because my skin gets so oily throughout the day that I've always thought it wouldn't have much lasting power. I got the bronze one to use as a highlighter along my cheekbones – I am not too sure about the “Blush” coloured one as it is really sheer - in the pic below after I used the tint i went over it lightly with my Bobbi Brown Shimmer Tint (i have it in the red/peachy/coral one). On the swatch in the pic (right) I had the run the stick up and down in the same spot 3-4 times before I got that colour!

Overall - I like the eyeshadows; their pigment and the colour intensity and the lack of fall out. I am not a fan of the blush as it is too sheer - i do like the bronzer tint as i think it looked really nice one applied and pretty much all through the day!

PS. The brand also has a large range of eye pencils; including a white one that I was REALLY curious about! But I am wary of purchasing cheap eyeliner pencils without trying as they can be really hard and thus bad for the skin around the eye.

Stats

Brand: BA (I don’t know if it stands for anything – the bottom other product does not tell me)

Purchased from: Target Stores

Cost: AU$3

Here is a photo of the tint sticks on my cheeks:

FYI: These pics are after a WHOLE day of wear and i had blotted my makeup at lunchtime so by the time i took these pics i was beginning to look a little shiny! BUT all in all; I'd say that for colour that was applied at 7am this morning this is pretty good!

f
x 

Models Prefer Mattifying Primer - Review

I went to Priceline the other day and they are having a “3 for 2” promo with the Models Prefer (eye) range. Over the last couple months I have bought a few of their products and have been really impressed with them (I bought a few brushes that were seriously good quality and so affordable!) – They had a limited edition smokey eye set for $14.95 (which included 4 brushes and a case) and since I wanted to get a new angled eye liner brush anyway I thought I’d get more bang for my buck in paying the extra $4.95!

Anyway – when I first looked at the Models Prefer rang they didn’t have a primer; but this time around I noticed that they had 3:

1: A clear Mattifying Primer

2: An Illuminating Primer (slightly pinkish in colour)

3: A Correcting Primer (slightly greenish in colour)

Being that I have MAD oily skin I bought A: the Mattifying Primer. Its housed in a frosted glass bottle with this cute black pump; it’s a great travel size – which is the reason I bought it in the first place!

I am heading off to Bali in 2 weeks and last time I went I bought the Body Shop’s Skin Matte It Primer which I really liked and thought I would repurchase for this holiday + summer (as I wear MAC’s Prep & Prime Visage outside of summer as it does have illuminating particles) but saw this and thought I would give this a go… and at AU$13 it is a veritable STEAL! Definitely worth a shot!

I was going to wait until I went away on holiday before trying it but had visions of an oil slick on my face due to not trialling and KNEW that I would kick myself for not trying it first! So this is my first day of trying it out…

Applying was easy – I usually apply primer with my fingers and this was no different; it felt really smooth going on and like most clear primers is silicone based and so does have that ‘gel-like’ consistency to it (which I don’t mind). I would say that when applying it I used the same small amount as I did with the Body Shop’s ‘Matte It’. The consistency and thickness is also as per The Body shop’s ‘Matte It’ or the Model Co Primer ‘Face Base’.

With either the MAC Prep & Prime or the Matte It I find that I do need to blot midway through the day (I don’t when on holiday as I seriously cannot be bothered!) but that is pretty much it – which is great because my skin is SUPER Oily! I did find that I was oily first around the nose and forehead (the usual culprits) and did have to blot that area at about 2ish; which isn’t bad when you’ve had it on since 7am! Overall I think the true test will be to see how it fares in a tropical climate (hence Bali!) so I will do an updated review then! In saying that I DO think that it is AS good as The Body Shop’s Matte It Primer!

Oh and whilst this may not seem important – I read the bottom of the bottle to see where it was made; Made in Italy people!!! WOW!

Stats

Brand: Models Prefer

Product: Mattifying Primer

Cost: $12.99

Available at: Priceline (nationwide)

 PS. Sorry about my nails in the pic - i know they look terrible but i haven't had them redone (i am doing that this Thursday - YAY!)

f

x

On The Hunt....

I am presently searching for a new blazer - if truth be told i am actually on the hunt for TWO new blazers:

A bright pink or purple one
&
A light beige one...

I have seen a bright ink one in Bardot - but i think i may see if i can find a bright coloured one someplace cheaper.... i don't spending a little more on a beige on or even if i saw a gorgeous black one because those colours are more of an investment and i know that i will wear it HEAPS...

I will keep you posted!

f.
xx

The Clutch that Farah Bought... From Colette

Remember how I mentioned I bought a cute little clutch last week? Well here it is - I got it from Colette in Hay St Mall for $24.95. I didn't measure how long it is but I did make sure it would fit my iPhone + compact + (some) cash & gloss! All the important stuff clearly.

I love that even though it's silver metallic it's not crazy shiny - in fact it's a matte silver metallic!

So there are quite a few Colette stores around Western Australia; they are an accessories store that (similarly to Love Couture) have a bevvy of necklaces, earrings and bags to drool over (actually, i think Colette have more bags to chose from; but they don't stock shoes!) - the stores, whilst similar are actually quite different... but i like to mix it up!

Anyway; The bag comes in this color and in black, but as i already have a black little beaded clutch i thought this color would be well used this summer!

I must admit that when i left the store that there was a few other items that i HAD to demonstrate restraint over: I am coveting their vibrant grape clutch AND their bright (grass) green clutch... Oh so many clutches that i want... but seriously, how many can i get... in the one purchase?

Head to Colette guys - have a look: http://www.colette.com.au/


f.
xx