Pink Pout

Inspired by a post by Stephanie from Luxury on the Lips, I decided to showcase some of my favourite pink lipsticks too.

In no particular order...

L-R

MUA Shade 7

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Vintage Pink

Clinique Long Last Lipstick in Pink Moon

Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie

MUA Shade 3

L-R

MUA Shade 7

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Vintage Pink

Clinique Long Last Lipstick in Pink Moon

Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie

MUA Shade 3

MUA Shade 7

This is a peachy, salmon kind of pink that has a hint of coral. It's a fairly wearable colour, but I find it can be a little light for my skin tone. As with all MUA lipsticks, the texture is creamy and moisturising with a vanilla scent. I don't find it to last that long but hey, it's so cheap that I don't mind.

Rimmel Vintage Pink

This is more purple than pink. I don't wear this shade often, but I still think it's a beautiful colour.  I think this has blue undertones to it. I love the smell, it's like a vanilla-cake smell. It feels great to wear on the lips, but doesn't last as long as the Lasting Finish lipsticks. Not a huge fan of the tacky packaging either. 

Clinique Pink Moon

A super pigmented bright pink. This contains tiny shimmers that look amazing when applied to the lips. It has no scent and glides on like a dream. In terms of formula, this is probably my favourite of the five. While the colour is pink, it has a slight hint of berry-ish tones. 

Revlon Berry Smoothie

I love this colour so much! At first I was a bit intimidated by how bright it is, but it looks gorgeous. It's not as pigmented as the others (probably because it's not a true lipstick) which is great as it allows you to build it up. This one also has no scent, it can feel a little grainy to apply but it looks amazing. 

MUA Shade 3

BAM pigmentation! One swipe is all you need for a bright burst of fuchsia  This colour is stunning, but certainly not one I could wear every day. In fact, I'm yet to build up the courage to wear it somewhere. But even if I never wear it, that's okay because I only spent $1 something on it.

Do you own any of these shades?

January Empties

Where is time going?! January is almost over, which means February is starting, which means... I'm starting a Masters degree :O 

Anyways, here are my empties...

Biore 4-in-1 Foaming Cleanser
No, I haven't finished this product. But over the past few months I've received some lovely skincare products so this has taken a backseat. While it was a decent face wash, it often did leave my skin feeling quite dry, so it's time to say goodbye. I won't be repurchasing because there are many more products out there, waiting to be tried out.

Garnier Mineral InvisiCalm After Shaving Roll On
This is a great roll on deodorant - long lasting, smells nice and it is gentle on the underarms. I've been trying to switch to natural deodorants but I keep coming back to this. I have repurchased this roll on (although I accidentally picked up the UltraDry one).

Manicare nail Polish Remover
Does the job. Will I repurchase? No, it's $4+ for a tiny 60mL bottle, there are other cheaper brands that have a lot more product. It's not completely finished, but after removing my glittery mani sometime in the next few days, it will be used up.

Face of Australia liquid eyeliner in black
I was actually sad when I realised this was running out! This is my HG liquid eyeliner, I can't fault it at all. I've mentioned it a few times in previous posts. The tip makes application a breeze and it lasts all day without flaking off. I've been trying to find this, but my local FoA stand hasn't had the black shade the last few times I've visited :( I have purchased the Maybelline Master Precise liner (it was on sale) so hopefully that will do an alright job!

Bare Escentuals i.d Lipstick in Couture
Not so much an empty, more so something I massacred. It wasn't working out, we just weren't right for each other. So I cut its head off (and used it to make lip balm and a cream blush).

What have you used up this month?

Seven Deadly Sins Of Beauty

I've seen this post on a few blogs, so I thought it would be fun to give it a go :) 

1. GREED: What are your cheapest and most expensive beauty products?

Well, I'm a student so I have a lot more inexpensive products than expensive ones. I had trouble deciding which product to include as my cheapest, but I think a $1.50 lipstick by MUA wins!

And my most expensive is the Naked palette at around $50. While it's not ridiculously expensive, I have great hesitations at forking out over $50 for a single product.

From the largest price tag to the smallest...

2. WRATH: Which beauty product do you have love/hate relationship with? 

False lashes!! They look so amazing when done right, but that's the problem... I find them so hard to apply, especially getting the inner corner to stick. The last few times I've worn them, I put them on last in my makeup routine...and have ended up being late to where ever I am going because they take so long to get right.

MUA False Lashes in Sassy

1000 Hour Fashion Lashes in Daring Black

3. GLUTTONY: What is your most delicious beauty product?

Oooh, I love this question. I have a soft spot for amazing smelling products. I wanted to include a lot more but I decided to be selective...

Britney Spears Curious - Deliciously Whipped Body Souffle

The Body Shop - Strawberry Lip Balm

Tigi Bedhead Dumb Blonde Smoothing Stuff (smells like strawberries!)

...can you tell I like strawberries? ;)

4. SLOTH: What beauty products do you neglect because of laziness?

My eyeshadows. Especially my Naked palette...why? Because I keep it in the original plastic box, whereas my other palettes I can easily grab. Such a terrible excuse, I know..

5. PRIDE: What beauty product gives you more confidence?

Concealer! Bye bye redness and dark spots :)

Skinfood Dark Circle Concealer Cream

LA Girl Pro Concealer

6. LUST: What traits do you find attractive in the opposite sex?

I should just upload a photo of my bf, that'll answer your question ;)

Okay, well I like dark wavy/curly hair, green eyes and a nice smile! (I just described him anyway)

7. ENVY: What item would you most like to receive as a gift?

Where do I start? There are quite a few palettes I would love to receive, particularly Urban Decay ones. 

Thanks for reading! I'm not going to tag any bloggers because I would love for everyone to do this post :D

Elf Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder - St. Lucia

So I've heard this is a dupe for the NARS Orgasm/Laguna duo, but that's not the reason I bought it. I was after an affordable contour duo that I could try out. I don't own the NARS duo so I'm not going to compare the two.

In the states, this retails for around $3-4. I purchased this for $10 roughly (shipping included) from eBay. 

Was it worth it? I'm leaning towards a no...

The box

Is this really a dupe for the NARS duo?

What I DO like:

The packaging is really good. It's slim and compact. The mirror is HUGE. You get 8g of product.

The bronzer is quite pigmented.

The blush is a nice peachy colour.

So far, I haven't found it to create a powdery mess.

What I DON'T like:

The blush is not very pigmented and looks nicer in the pan.

The bronzer is very dark and I'm not sure if it is suitable for me. I'm not sure of my exact MAC shade but I'd say that right now I'm looking like a NW35. Beware, pale ladies. 

The blush does contain some shimmers. The bronzer does too, but less so.

Swatched on my arm. Uhh...blush where you at? It seems to disappear on my skin. However, the bronzer seems to look darker than it does in the pan?!

I'm going to try and make this work for me, as I really like the concept of it. 

Have you tried this duo?

Beauty tips

So here are a bunch of tips that you may not have known about before. These are little things I've stumbled across myself so hopefully this list will be somewhat unique!

Coconut oil as an eye makeup remover

Waterproof eye makeup? No problem, just smear a small drop of coconut oil on a cotton pad/tissue and gentle wipe off your eye make up. I prefer to use this method when the coconut oil is in solid form but it will melt anyway. I use this to get rid of waterproof gel eyeliner and if I'm wearing a lot of eyeshadow. I'm sure you are aware of benefits of coconut oil for hair, so surely it must do some good for your eyelashes too!

Using a loofah in the shower to remove nail polish on skin

Showering a few hours after a mani to remove excess polish is well known but sometimes I still have residual polish around the edges. Using the loofah, gently buff over any excess polish to remove it.

Bobby-pins for nail art

Dotting tools may be cheap to buy off eBay, but if you have spare bobby pins lying around, they can be used for all sorts of nail art. You can also use toothpicks, the tip of a dried out pen and paperclips. These can also be used as to draw fine lines. Why buy a dotting tool when a bobby pin is almost the same? :)

Mix different lipstick shades together
I have done a separate post on this - if you can mix foundations, surely you can mix lipstick! I buy a lot of my  makeup online so it can be hard to guess how it will look on me, and as a result I've ended up with shades too light/dark. See my experiments here!

Don't sit your brushes upright to dry after cleaning
Place them lying down on a hard surface, otherwise the water will drain downwards which can ruin the integrity of the handle. Also, the water will eat away at the glue meaning the bristles will shed faster thus shortening the lifespan of your brush!

Add eyeshadow to lipstick
I tried this for Halloween, I wanted black lips, but wasn't too keen on buying a lipstick I'd probably only use once. So I used a red lipstick on my lips, then dipped my finger in matte black eyeshadow and rubbed a bit on my lips. This doesn't feel too great (don't lick your lips!) but if you're going to a costume party, this is a good thing to keep in mind. 

Tuck the ends of your hair in
When you are keeping your hair tied up, make sure the ends are tucked in (like how they would be up in a bun). If you have your hair in a ponytail, friction from clothes etc will cause the ends to split faster.

Makeup wipes for spot cleaning brushes
I use makeup wipes for an everyday clean of brushes by wiping them off. I still clean my brushes properly as well (using organic shampoo!).

Thanks for reading, I hope you found something new to try! Feel free to share your tips :)

DIY Sunday: Cream blush

Feeling inspired once again, I thought I'd try out cream blush. There are many many ways of doing this, but here is the method I used..

What you'll need:
Lipstick
Various blushes/bronzers
Moisturiser and/or primer
Empty pan 
Toothpick for mixing
Heat source (such as a hair dryer)

Steps
1. First, add some lipstick into the empty pan and spread it out evenly.
2. Start adding different blushes, lipsticks etc into the pan and mix with the lipstick until you reach the desired colour. I used lipstick, bronzer, blush and a liquid illuminator. 
3. I added some moisturiser to the combination to make it less thick, but you can add primer instead, or both.
4. Once you've smoothed it out as much as you can, apply heat - I used a blow dryer to melt it down.
5. Allow the mixture to set and harden.

6. Enjoy!

What I used

MAC blush in Margin

Sleek blush in Sunrise   (didn't end up using this!)

Bare Escentuals i.d Lipstick in Couture

I also ended up using some Boe Beauty Bronzer.

You can see here I've added the lipstick and am gradually adding in powder.

How it ended up looking after adding moisturiser, blush and Face of Australia's Illuminator in Angel Glow. I have used a blow dryer to smooth it out. I really like the peachy colour, it also has a hint of brown.

Turned out alright, don't you think? Excuse my no makeup Sunday face.

Have you tried doing this before?

DIY Sunday: Lip balm

I'm having a lazy Sunday, and decided that I should get rid of some of my unwanted makeup. I have a few lipsticks that I barely use, because the colours don't suit me.

Instead of throwing them out, I decided to use them to make a tinted lip balm. 

What you'll need
An empty pot - I found an old lip balm pot, scraped out the lip balm and washed out the pot to use.
Vaseline
Lipstick
A small bowl
Spoon
Boiling water
Optional extra - coconut oil

Steps
1. Scrape some Vaseline into the pot
2. Using the spoon, cut off the top of the lipstick - you can vary the amount you use depending on how much colour you want
3. Add the lipstick to the pot and mix together using the end of the spoon
4. Pour some boiling water into the small bowl, and immerse the pot (after you've put the lid back on!) in the boiling water. If you are under 16, please ask an adult to help you! You may need to hold the pot down in the water.
5. After a few minutes, take the pot out of the water. The mixture should have softened by now, so you can mix it again to make it smoother and even. If you wish, you can add coconut oil (this is beneficial for dry lips) into the mixture.
6. Place the pot into the freezer for 20-30 mins to allow to harden.
7. Enjoy!

This is a very simple way to utilise unwanted lipsticks. I've added a few photos to show you how I've done it.

The lipstick, prior to destruction. It's a peachy pink that doesn't suit me that well. Bare Escentuals i.d Lipstick in 'Couture'.

Smooshed lipstick!

Vaseline + lipstick mixed together before being put in water

Just bobbing around in boiling water, casually.

The end result was a sheer lipbalm that had a hint of colour to it. I'm glad I didn't throw out that lipstick, because now it's in a form that it is actually wearable. 

Have you tried this before?

Products that surprise you...

Have you ever bought a product with really high expectations for it, and it turns out to be a dud? Or vice versa, you buy something, not expecting much from it, but it turns out to be amazing.

I've compiled a list of products that have either been a disapointment, or a pleasant surprise...

The disappointments...

Butter London polish in Come to Bed Red

Clinique Long Last Lipgloss

MAC eyeshadow in Swimming

Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Concealer

Butter London polish

To be honest, I bought this because I adored the cheeky name. The colour is a beautiful red, and the formula is decent. The brush is pretty good too. So why did it disappoint, you say? Wear time! It started to chip in under two days...even my Ulta3 polishes do better than that. I've read mixed reviews about Butter London polishes so I'm not the only one with this issue. I doubt I'll buy Butter London polishes again, as they are so expensive, but I'll still use this polish because the colour is amazing.

Clinique Long Last Lipgloss (GWP size)

I do not like sticky lipgloss - the end! I guess this is more of a personal preference thing, I don't know what I was expecting, but it sucks that I don't use this product very much.

MAC eyeshadow - Swimming

I used to get so excited about MAC products, but I completely dismiss them now. This shadow is a lovely colour, but the texture is so grainy...eww. It also has large shimmer particles. The pigmentation of this is average when swatched dry - it looks sickly green, and I'm pretty sure no one ever has looked good with a sickly green gaze. It is also difficult to blend. It would probably work better when swatched wet. 

MAC eyeshadow in Swimming

Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle concealer

First, let me stress that this is NOT a bad product. The problem was that I had very (very very very very) high expectations for this, almost thinking it would be a miracle product. Yes it does the job, and it does a good job, but it's not a magic cure. Either that, or I have terrible dark circles. Who knows? I was tossing between this and Benefit's Erase Paste, but chose this Korean product as it would be better suited to yellow undertones. Definitely set this with powder, it will help a lot. I use this product quite a bit.

This is shade #2

The pleasant surprises

Elf Studio blush in Berry merry

MUA Dusk til Dawn palette

Jordana lipstick in Cranberry

Boe Beauty lipstick in Natural Tea Rose

Elf Studio blush

At first, I wasn't too excited by this blush. But now, I love it! It's a plum sort of berry colour (such a useless description, I know) with gold glitter. This is probably better suited to warmer skin tones. Also, it is similar to NARS's Sin blush. I think these blushes are about $4 from beautyjoint.com, so I'll be ordering a few more with my next order.

(why do my photos keep going in the wrong way?! help!)

Elf Berry Merry swatch

MUA Dusk til Dawn palette

For someone that doesn't wear anything other than neutrals on their eyes, I have been using this palette a bit. Admittedly  the aqua shade doesn't get as much use, but this palette can create a lovely purple/pink smokey eye.

Jordana Lipstick

Cheap packaging, but whatever. The lipstick is a bit dry, so I'd suggest using a lip balm first, and then applying a sticky gloss over the top to help it last. This colour is such a pretty red, but what I love the most is the delicious smell - it smells like juicy cranberries! This cost me something like $1.50 from beauty joint. I wish Australian drug store brands were this cheap/good!

Boe Beauty Lipstick

That nameless lipstick at the bottom is the Boe lipstick. The silver writing (or at least I think it had silver writing...?) has worn away, as it has been living in my handbag for a while and it's been quite warm here (naughty me, I know). For a $2 lipstick, the packaging is not great - it feels very light. But the lipstick is pigmented and a nice colour. It's called 'Natural Tea Rose'...which does not fit the colour at all. I'd expect a tea rose to be a soft rosey pink...this leans towards purple. Anyway, name aside, I have been liking this a lot more than I thought!

Swatches

Left: Boe Beauty Lipstick in Natural Tea Rose

Right: Jordana lipstick in Cranberry

Now, tell me about the products that have surprised you!

Gold!

After seeing a post by Bloomin' Beauty on gold makeup products, I was inspired to do the same! I love gold shadows and polishes.

L-R

Kleancolor Baked Eyeshadow in Taupe

NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in Oro 

MUA Undressed palette which features a few gold shades

L-R

Kleancolor Baked Eyeshadow - Taupe

NYX Ultra Pearl Mania - Oro

MUA Undressed Shade 6 (dupe for UD Half Baked)

Sleek blush in Rose Gold

Face of Australia Illuminator in Angel Flame - this has gold undertones to it!

L-R

Blush swatch

Illuminator blended out

L-R

OPI Goldeneye

Revlon Metallic enamel in Gold Coin

OPI Gold Shatter

Is there a certain colour that features heavily in your makeup collection?

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Lovesick

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain review, as requested by Cindy from Aussie Hearts Beauty (check out her blog, she does great reviews of Australian brands!). I purchased the colour 'Lovesick' from Ebay for less than $10.

There has been so much hype surrounding these lately that I just had to jump on the band wagon, and I'm very glad I did because this product is amazing!

Lovesick is a bright fuschia colour. It is a gorgeous colour, great for a night out, but for someone conservative like me, not really for everyday wear!

Application is super easy and the stain is very moisturising. I found that the crayon tip makes it easy to get a precise application (more so than lipstick). The colour can easily be built up. 

It looks gorgeous when applied, a bright pop of colour. It smells minty, but it is not noticeable after a while.  In its initial glossy stage, the stain will transfer to cups etc, but the colour stays vibrant. After a few hours, when the gloss has worn off, the colour is still as bright as it was when I first applied it (minus the shine, obviously). One thing that really appeals to me about this is that the colour does not fade towards the inner part of the lips (clown lips are so unattractive!). When it does start to fade away, it fades evenly - hooray!

To keep my lips moisturised, I apply a lip balm over the top. After 8 hours, my lips still look bright, and the next morning they still had a hint of the stain left - talk about staying power!

Would I recommend this product? Yes x 1000! If you would like to know which Ebay seller I purchased this from, feel free to ask below :)

Face of Australia Illuminator - Angel Flame

I've already written about the other three shades in this collection (click me), but after seeing a 25% of FOA sale at Big W, I figured I may as well pick up Angel Flame too. The sale price was $10.83. 

I'm wondering why I didn't buy this one before, it's probably my favourite shade of them all. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Yes, I am also showing off my NYE mani here - OPI Diva of Geneva and OPI Goldeneye on the ring finger, in case you were wondering! Anyway, Angel Flame is a gorgeous pink that can be used as blush or a highlighter. It contains shimmer.

Swatches 

(I have no idea why these pictures are inserting upside down! I will try to re-insert the images at a later date so they come up the right way)

Angel Flame is said to be a dupe of NARS Orgasm Illuminator. While I haven't tried it myself, there seems to be a lot of similarity between the two. I think this shade would flatter almost any skin tone. If you're interested in these illuminators, I would recommend this shade the most out of them all because of its versatility - a blush and a highlighter.

Do you own this illuminator? What are your thoughts?

Homemade foundations and BB creams?

I came across this concept when I Googled whether mixing BB creams and foundation was a good idea to achieve a better shade match. Then I read this post about homemade BB creams and I was amazed. Such a simple concept, why had I never thought of it before?

Anyway, to paraphrase the above linked post, mixing moisturiser, foundation, powder, sunscreen, primer etc you can create your own BB Cream. 

First, I started by mixing my Dove Essential Nutrients moisturiser with SPF 15 (I love this moisturiser!) with a mineral powder foundation. This powder foundation is my summer foundation, as it matches my skin when I am a bit darker in the summer months (although, after working so much these holidays I've barely tanned at all). I played around with this a bit and found that depending on how much powder I added, I could control the coverage and thickness of the cream. I applied with my fingers and it looked very natural.

Then I tried mixing moisturiser with my Revlon Colorstay Stay Natural foundation. It seemed to make the foundation turn a lighter colour, but it wasn't noticeable when applied. As this foundation is a light coverage anyway, I didn't think mixing with moisturiser made a huge difference.

BB Creams are said to brighten your face. So I used Face of Australia's Mineral Therapy Illuminator in Angel Glow + moisturiser. When I mixed it on the back of my hand, it looked quite dark, but when applied, it gave a sheer, bronzed look. NB: I would not recommend this for light/pale skin tones as it would be noticeably orange. 

And then, I mixed everything together. 
Rimmel BB Cream in Medium + moisturiser + foundation + illuminator = winner!
I tried to add equal quantities of each product, but you can vary each to suit your needs. The final product was quite thick but it gave good coverage. I will probably do this occasionally in the future, and when I can determine optimal quantities of each product, I'll make up a larger volume and keep it in a fresh jar. 

A dot of moisturiser, foundation and BB Cream (they've turned into one blob) and a touch of illuminator.

You can mix anything you like really, I didn't use sunscreen as the moisturiser, foundation and BB cream themselves contain SPF, and I didn't use primer as I don't own any (yes, you can laugh at me). I've also seen liquid concealer being thrown into the mix, but I wondered if this would be too cake-y.

Have you tried doing this?

Favourites of 2012

Inspired by the many favourites of 2012 posts I've seen, I thought I would jump on the bandwagon. In no particular order...

Face

Elf blush 'Berry Merry' - swatches

Mirenesse Blush Brush

Skinfood Salmon Dark Circle Concealer in #2

Dove Essential Nutrients Moisturiser

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream 

Face of Australia Mineral Therapy Illuminator in Angel Flame (review to come)

Eyes/Lips

Too Faced Shadow Insurance - see more

MUA Undressed Palette - review

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick

Nivea Repair and Protection Lip Balm

MUA Intense Kisses gloss 

Simple Eye makeup remover

Nails

China Glaze - For Audrey

Rimmel 60 Seconds - Green with Envy

Rimmel I Love Lasting Finish - Disco Ball

OPI - Skyfall (its not as orange as it looks here!)

OPI - Gold Shatter

Hair

Batiste brunette dry shampoo

TIGI Bedhead Foxy Curls Contour Cream

Berber Oil Mask

PC Games

Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy - not for the faint at heart, it features a man who is possessed to kill others and you play as his character and the detectives to uncover the truth

Sims 3 Showtime - I am a Sims addict!

Books

Jodi Picoult - Plain Truth: This is about a young unmarried Amish girl who gives birth to a child in her family barn. The child is found dead in the morning, and all fingers point to her as the murderer as she did not want to be shunned by her community. This was a great read as it considers different viewpoints of what the girl did, including the Amish view and the Western legal views.

Nora Roberts - Montana Sky: A rich but heartless man dies and leaves his ranch (worth millions) behind to his three daughters, who have never met. In order to inherit the money, they must all live and work together on the ranch for a year. One of the sisters is relieved, as it is an escape from her stalker ex-husband...but can she really hide from him?

Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower: A beautiful novel about life, love and growing up. If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend it.

If there is a product here that you would like me to review, just ask in the comments section, I'm more than happy to do so!

Happy new year!