FOTN: Cultural gatherings

My family is Bengali, as some of you may know, but it's not very often that I get to dress up in traditional clothing. The Bengali community had a gathering over the weekend and I wore a sari, of course it goes without saying that I had some fun with my makeup too...

Sleek Vintage Romance palette
MAC Lipstick in 'Rebel'
Elf blush in 'Berry Merry'
Ardell Demi Wispies
Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation
Mary Lou Manizer

I've used a few barely used products here. The Sleek Vintage Romance palette and MAC lipstick are ones I hardly reach for, not because I don't like them, but because I don't find them suited to everyday use for me. I love the lipstick, its such a beautiful colour and it lasted all night, through eating and drinking. The palette is also lovely, I've used the 2nd shade as the main lid colour and a mixture of the purple and black to deepen the crease/outer corner. Now as for the Ardell demi wispies, these are definitely my favourite falsies that I've ever tried! Application is easier than with others (in my opinion) and they feel light and natural to wear. 

Me and a friend rocking our sari's!

I included a full body shot so you can see my sari :)

Thanks for reading! xx

Lust Have It! July 2014

I have been absent for a little while as I was away doing my rural placement for uni for 2 weeks, but now I'm home and exams are looming :( anyway, I'm glad to be able to blog again! I'm not sure when this bag/box arrived as I wasn't home, but apparently it did arrive in July so that's a bonus. Let's check out the contents...

This bag is actually really cute! It's much better than the previous plastic ones. I took one of those away with me for my makeup and the zip was super annoying. The improvement is definitely welcome.

Box contents

Ardell Self Adhesive Lashes

Aveda Botanical Kinetics Hydrating Lotion

Mary Kay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover

Marsk Mineral Eyeshadow

Designer Brands Nail Polish

Ardell Self Adhesive Lashes RRP $9.99

I love Ardell lashes! Admittedly I haven't worn falsies in quite some time because I do struggle with applying them, but maybe these ones will be easier to apply. I always find myself carrying glue and mascara in my purse when I'm wearing falsies so I hope these will eliminate that need! 

Aveda Botanical Kinetics Hydrating Lotion (sample)

I've seen this before...I wasn't sold on it last time, so I'm not too excited to see it again. 

Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover RRP $22

I remember getting a sample size of this in the past? Anyway I gave that away so I might keep this one and give it a go. My current mascara is waterproof (I accidentally bought waterproof) and I find its so annoying to remove so hopefully this will ease my pain.

Marsk Mineral Eyeshadow RRP $24.95

Never heard of this brand, but I'm always happy to give new brands a go :) I received the yellow-gold colour called 'Rich List'. It looks really pretty and sparkly which I like. I haven't been wearing eyeshadow much at all lately so maybe this will motivate me to start using it again.

Designer Brands Nail Polish RRP $6.99

Ok, I have to admit that DB makes me cringe a little. I've never tried their polishes and it reminds me of polishes I used when I was younger. The colour I received is called 'Glitterama' and it's actually quite pretty and something I don't have in my collection so I'll definitely give this a go.

Overall I think this box is decent with the inclusion of several full size items. I'm most excited about the lashes and eyeshadow which I feel I will definitely get some use out of. 

What are your thoughts on this box?

Don't forget, I have a discount code which will take $5 off your first box if you wish to subscribe :)

FOTN: Girls Night Out

It's always good to have a girls night out and forget about men dramas for a bit! I went out for dinner and drinks with a few of my girlfriends, here is what was involved...

 Mary Lou Manizer

Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 'Smitten'

Essence Dark Romance Velvet Mousse Blush in 'Red Romance'

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadow in 'Ebloui'

Maybelline Colossal Volum' Express Mascara (not pictured)

Face of Australia Liquid Liner (not pictured)

I really like how I managed to throw in a few more high end products in with my usual drugstore goodies. The blush is a recent purchase and I am in LOVE! It feels so light weight and blends like a dream. I was blown away by the amazing quality of it. The colour looks a bit scary in pan, but it blends out to a gorgeous red-berry tone. The eyeshadow is also new(ish), I've had it for a while but this is the first time I used it. It's a lot softer than the Maybelline Color Tattoos so I find it easier to work with. The colour is sheer, but buildable, and this one has quite a lot of shimmer. It looks a little bit more cranberry coloured in pan, but it comes out as a more brown based colour. I think I'll be able to wear this a lot! As for the balm stain, I love the gorgeous deep pink it is (brighter than pictured below) and it has really good staying power. 

And here is the finished look! I based my makeup around my outfit choice, more specifically the red wine/plum coloured top I was wearing. My drinks for the night also matched ;)

Thanks for reading! Oh, and just a heads up - this weekend, I'm going away to Taree for 2+ weeks to do my uni prac. My schedule will be very busy so I probably won't be able to blog at all, but afterwards hopefully I'll have some exciting topics for you xx

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