Lunch or makeup?

Sometimes I end up buying  makeup with my lunch money. Do you? I really wanted to check out the Essence Dark Romance collection so I popped into Priceline today. Unfortunately, the store I went to was fairly wiped out. But I've seen so many blog posts on the collection that I knew what I wanted.

Essence Dark Romance Velvet Mousse Blush in '02 Red Romance'

Essence Lipstick in 'Wear Berries'

Dark Romance Blush

I've never even seen a mousse blush before! It kind of reminds me of red velvet icing. It was only $4.50 so I couldn't pass it up. I don't have a colour like this in my collection, it's a bit scary but hopefully I can make it work...

Essence Lipstick

This isn't part of the DR collection (all the DR lippies were gone!) but I've seen this shade doing the rounds on various blogs so I had to grab it. I love how pretty it is and the packaging is gorgeous. Absolute bargain for the $4.10 (I think?) that I paid for it! I can't wait to use it.

What do you think of Essence products? Have you checked out the new collection?

Current Favourites

I normally don't do favourites posts, but a few things have really been getting my attention lately!

Palmer's Moisturising Cocoa Butter Body Wash

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation

MAC Lipstick in 'Plumful'

Sleek blush in 'Pomegranate'

Palmer's Body Wash

This is amazing, it smells divine and is so luschiously creamy. It smells like sweet chocolatey coconuts and it leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth because of the moisturising properties. I'm excited to try out more of the Palmer's range.

Rimmel Foundation

I use this everyday as my uni foundation. It's light coverage but it gives a great finish and looks really natural, like I'm not wearing anything, but evens out my skintone and hides redness. While it isn't super long lasting, I don't mind because I only wear it to uni. When I first bought this, I didn't really like it because it was so runny...look how far we've come!

MAC 'Plumful'

This is a gorgeous plum shade that many bloggers rave about, rightfully so. It's the perfect winter shade. Check out a FOTD of me wearing it.

Sleek 'Pomegranate' blush

This is a purple-red toned blush that I've also been loving for winter. Sleek blushes are amongst the best I've tried and at such a great price point. If you haven't tried them, you're missing out! Another FOTD here.

So these are my current favourites that I've been absolutely loving over the past few weeks! What are your thoughts on these products?

Makeup Graveyard

Instead of doing an empties post for last month, I thought I would do a 'makeup graveyard' post. I got this idea from Loz over at Polish and Patterns! I didn't really have many empties last month, and certainly nothing noteworthy (just the usual, Seche Vite, polish remover etc).

So let's see what I've decided to eliminate from my collection this month...

Kleancolor Baked Eyeshadow

Rimmel BB Cream

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 'Temptation'

Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in '07

Nivea Pure & Natural Moisturising Day Cream

Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in 'Heather Shimmer'

Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in 'A Drop of Sherry'

Kleancolor Eyeshadow

I bought this a few years off, off Beautyjoint, for a few dollars. It was pretty good, but I'm not really into using single shadows these days, I prefer palettes.

Rimmel BB Cream

I could never worked out if I liked this or not. I think I tried to force myself to like it. It's about half full still, but I can't be bothered trying anymore. Luckily, the other Rimmel base products I have are awesome (the Stay Matte and Match Perfection foundations) so I won't hold a grudge against this!

Rimmel Lipsticks

These lipsticks were amongst the first that I bought when I was getting into lipstick, about 3 years ago. I don't really use these shades anymore. I never actually used 07 at all because I just can't seem to do nudes. Throwing these out wasn't too hard; if I ever feel compelled to repurchase, they're only around the $12 mark!

Nivea Day Cream

I also have the sensitive version which I much prefer, so I'm getting rid of the 'moisturising' version because I find it too heavy and we didn't really get along.

So those are a few things I've culled, in order to downsize my makeup/beauty collection because it was actually making me a bit stressed out how much stuff I had and that I was running out of storage space. Hopefully I'll do another one of these posts in the next few months, so stay tuned.

Have you done a clean out of your collection recently?

Lust Have It! June 2014

Yeah, it's July. I received the June LHI* box/bag on the 2nd of July. Seeing as I am not a subscriber, I'm not bothered by when it arrives, but I can understand the frustration for regular subscribers. Anyway, moving on to the contents...

The new packaging has returned! I'm really glad, I've accumulated too many of the boxes and I actually threw out a few the other day because I'm short on space.

Description

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo

John Plunkett Glyco Peel

Teez Trendy Cosmetics Nail Lacquer

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo RRP $27.95 (sample size)

I've never tried this brand, but I see it everywhere. I'm interested in giving this a try.

John Plunkett Glyo Peel RRP $29.95 (full size)

I'm verrry interested in this. I'm wondering if it can be used as a spot treatment, because I've been trying to fade the dark spot on my face left over from a spider bite (with glycolic acid). I've heard that it can sting on application, at least I know beforehand, so I don't get a rude shock when I try it.

Teez Trendy Nail Lacquer RRP $18 (full size)

Of course a nail polish inclusion will impress me! I've never heard of this brand, and I don't have a colour like this in my collection so its an exciting product to receive. The bottle is an interesting shape.

Hello Fresh Voucher

Nuxe sachet samples

Orly nail files and toe separator 

Hello Fresh Voucher

Hello disappointment? I've seen this before in a previous LHI box. I checked it out and it was fairly overpriced, so the $30 doesn't really go that far. 

Nuxe sachet samples (RRP $44.99-49.99 for two different products)

SACHETS. Sigh. It's a shame because I've really wanted to try Nuxe, but I guess I will try and over look that they're sachets.

Orly mini nail files RRP $1.65 and toe separator RRP $4.95

I'm unimpressed by these. Mostly because they have a bright red sticker on them saying 'FREE with every 2 Orly mini polishes'. Well, at least give us the polishes? Don't get me wrong, these are useful products (I can pop the nail files in my handbag), but they're not exciting. 

Overall this box is alright. I'm not raving about it, but I don't hate it. 

What are your thoughts on this months box?

*product was provided for consideration and has been reviewed in accordance with my disclosure policy

Sneaky nail polish treat...

Well, it's been an exhausting week...but I don't really need an excuse to pick up new polishes, do I? I made a quick trip to Priceline today. I actually haven't had much of an interest in buying new makeup lately, so it's been a while since I've visited Priceline. At the moment, I feel like I've shifted my interest (and money) into buying new clothes and shoes! The Iconic, Myer and Forever New are starting to empty out my bank account...

Anyway...

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Pacific Blue'

Essence Effect Nail Polish 'Baby, you're a firework'

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Lightshow'

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

I feel like this shade is pretty well known in the nail polish world. I'm a huge fan of the Xtreme Wear range; if you've been following my monthly nail art posts, you would have seen these pop up quite a bit. This colour doesn't seem particularly exciting from the bottle, but all the swatches I've seen make it look gorgeous.

Essence 'Baby you're a firework'

So I think this is new line from Essence, and probably limited edition too. Of course I went for the pink one :) to be honest, I haven't had much luck in the past with Essence polishes - I've usually been unimpressed with the formula and passed them on to someone else. I hope this won't disappoint, because it looks really pretty.

Sally Hansen 'Lightshow'

And this is possibly limited edition too? How pretty does it look! I'm not a fool though, I know that to get it to look that good on my nails, I'll definitely have to 'fish' for the big glitter particles. I'm not complaining though, this is usually the case with hexagonal glitter polishes! 

Have you tried any of these polishes?

FOTN: Saturday night drinks

Did you read the story behind my last FOTN post? If not, you can check it out here. Anyway, some of you were quite intrigued, so let me continue my story further. I had a few drinks on Saturday night with a new bunch of friends. That guy I went on a date with, yep, I got to meet some of his friends. I'd say that's a good indicator that things are progressing nicely :)

Sleek Blush in 'Pomegranate'

Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation 

Benefit High Beam

Benefit They're Real

Face of Australia Liquid Liner

I really did want to use my Elf blush, but variety seemed like a good idea. I actually bought this Sleek blush because it looked like a similar colour. This one is more of a red tone, whereas my beloved Berry Merry leans towards plum/purple. I've only used the Benefit High Beam a few times, but I'm loving it. Also, I just realised I forgot to photograph the lipstick I wore - total blonde moment! But some of you will be able to figure it out from the photo below...

Yep, it's MAC's Girl About Town!

So how was the night? It was great! I had a really fun time. Also, I think we *might* actually be an item now. How exciting!!!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates on my love life ;) xx

Garnier Radiant Boosting Scrub review

How many times have you seen something that you want to try, but you know you shouldn't? My supply of skincare products is certainly not in short supply, but I saw this on sale the other week for $6ish so I thought why not! 

Garnier Radiance Boosting Scrub

On first impressions, I wasn't overly impressed. The gel is quite thick, with the scrub particles being really small and sparsely dispersed. So if you're looking for a more exfoliating scrub, this is not it. It's a bit hard to massage it properly as its so thick, and as a result, it takes more effort to wash it off. However, all is not lost - it smells like a flowery citrus scent that I find super refreshing and definitely does give me a bit of a morning boost. It's a pretty good pick me up if you're hungover, by the way ;)

So, overall, I think this is a nice addition to have in my bathroom, to change things up from using the Clearasil Vitamins & Extracts scrub every day. If you're looking for a very-mild scrub with a refreshing scent, this might interest you.

Have you tried this before?