Bite Holiday Lip Set 2014 vs 2015

Last year the Bite holiday lip set came in a small red matte tin with 4 High Pigment Pencils in Winterberry, Rhubarb, Sable and Pomergranate. The name speaks for itself, they are highly pigmented. I love the high pigment pencils hence why I got the set. The colour range is okay, it's not that broad but it's alright. In the set you get two nudes and two reds, both are different shades from each other. The reds aren't the same but it does fit with the holiday theme.

As for the 2015 holiday lip set. It comes in a slightly larger shiny red tin. This time instead of high pigment pencils, we got 4 matte creme lip crayons. The shades included were Aubergine, Cafe, Coulis and Torte. The colour range is highly similar to last year's range except it falls a little bit more into this years 'on trend' lip colours for the holidays. The nudes are extremely similar to last years, the only difference is that this year's are matte. The reds however are more darker and vampy. Aubergine is quite literally the colour you'd expect, it's a dark purple-red, perfect for the fall, not quite an Australian summer shade but the nudes are perfect.

To wrap up, if you missed out on last years lip set you didn't miss out on too much. However if you have last years set and were thinking about buying this one, I say go ahead. The colours are ever so slightly different but you are getting a completely different finish and product type.

On the left side is the 2015 set and on the right is the 2014 set.

Oops forgot to post it earlier but here are some swatch comparisons:

On the left is the 2014 set and on the right is the 2015 set.

Chi Chi Boxing Day Sale Haul

I'm not really one for the Boxing Day sales, especially trying to find a parking spot which is damn near impossible. For those of you who don't live in Australia, Boxing Day is like Black Friday without the violence. I saw that someone posted on a facebook group that Sephora had the Lolita mini set in stock but as soon as I got there, there was literally no sign that they were even there. I made a little Chi Chi wish list of some of the gift sets that I wanted. I do believe Myer's had most of the sets for 30% off.

I ended up getting the Paris nail polish set, fragrance collection, glitter eyeliner set and the glamorous makeup collection in 'Summer'. I've already used some of the nail polishes in Going Round In Circles At The Arc De Triomphe and Taking A Selfie At The Eiffel Tower. Let me just say holy crap they are pigmented. I did two coats but you could absolutely go with just one. I do prefer the mono colour as opposed to the 'confetti' type but both are beautiful. They have an almost gel like finish and are scented. Each nail polish is scented with something that's listed on the box, not on the bottle. The price for them was $14 for 8 bottles, not that bad of a deal if you ask me, especially seeing as an Essie nail polish is $17 for one. The shades it comes with are Strolling Down Champs Elysees, Window Shopping In The Marais, Visiting Mona At The Louvre, Crepes Suzette In The Latin Quarter, Frogs Legs Anyone?, Climbing The Steps At Notre Dame and the other two I mentioned. The entire range are all pastel type colours.

Next up is the fragrance collection. I love the Chi Chi perfumes, I think they smell delicious and aren't too heavy. Chi Chi have very fruity and sweet type scents, so keep that in mind. The scents the pack came with are Warm Vanilla Sugar, Coconut and Lime, Pink Grapefruit, Blueberry, Tutti Frutti, Vanilla Spice, Berries and Cream, Strawberry and Violet. They are sample sizes (10mls) but they aren't rollerballs, they have pump sprays. My favourite scent in the pack is Pink Grapefruit though is was really difficult to choose. This set was one of the two that wasn't on sale, I got it for $25 which I think is still pretty cheap. One full sized bottle is 50mls for $19.95 whereas the pack comes with 8. If you couldn't be bothered to do the math, you'd need to buy another 4 packs to get one full sized perfume of a singular scent. In the end you'd be paying about $15 for a full size. The reason why I really wanted this set was because it is absolutely perfect for traveling with. I'm going on a trip soon and this was the perfect thing to get for it.

I wasn't going to get the glitter eyeliners but I'm glad I did. It was on my wish list however, for one particular reason. What persuaded me was watching Shaaanxo's recent Chi Chi haul and I fell in love. I know this is the second time I've mentioned her in a row but what can I say? She's influential. I've already experimented with the eyeliners and I'm living for the light blue one. They don't have names, so I'm working off descriptions. I'm already working on something with them for you, a particular look which I think you'll love. This was the other pack which wasn't on sale, it was $20 for 6 eyeliners.

The last thing I got was the glamorous makeup collection in 'Summer', they had another one which I think was called 'Bronzed' but don't quote me on that. If you haven't got much from Chi Chi then I would definitely get this pack, it comes with a jumbo bronzer, a mosaic blush in Pink Peach and a limited edition Summer eyeshadow palette. The pack was on sale for $21 and it's definitely worth taking a look at.

To anyone who wants to purchase Chi Chi but don't live in Australia/New Zealand, then you can purchase Chi Chi from their website which ships worldwide.

I also want to say that this is in no way sponsored, I bought this all with my own money and this is an honest review.

Side note: I will not be posting during certain times in January like New Years, around the 11th and other dates.

Christmas Beauty Haul

Santa treated me more than well this year. Partially from myself but also from others. So far I've tested out quite a few of the products already but I wanted to give you my review as early as possible, as some of these items are limited editions and some have codes.

Pictured above: Kat Von D - Mi Vida Loca lip set, Lime Crime - Limited Edition Velvetine trio, Venus eyeshadow palette bundle, Lush - Home for Christmas set, Vanity Planet - spa set and assorted lip balms.

The Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca lip set was something that I had been waiting for forever to arrive to Australia. My god it was worth the wait, it was also a present from someone. The thing that attracted me to it the most was the white limited edition 'Gold Blooded' lipstick. Isn't she pretty? I have to say that I really do love the Kat Von D mini's as well. The shade range is so good, from bright oranges to lilacs and a sparkly black. I wasn't too excited about the eyeshadow palette but this was right up my Christmas wish list. The formula is the same as the normal Studded Kiss Lipsticks, I don't really have much else to report about them but I suspect some swatches will arise.

Lime Crime: Venus and Venus II palettes, also the limited edition velvetine trio.

I was so excited to see these released, I do believe they were released around Black Friday, though it could have been released earlier. I hadn't previously owned any Lime Crime eyeshadows but my god these rocked my world. I got them in the Venus bundle when it came back in stock for $49 from the website. It's still in stock and it's good value for money. The palettes are highly pigmented, and do kick up some powder. The first palette is amazing if you love the burnt red, burgundy eyeshadow look. The second palette is amazing if you want really unique shades, really unique.

The velvetine trio are freaking amazing. The shades, Peacock (dark teal), Beet It (purple wine shade) and Buffy (brown based nude). Despite people's thoughts, it's Beet It, not Bee Tit. The pack was $44 on the site and is still available. I really do believe that these are unique shades to the liquid lipstick range, Beet It is an amazing holiday shade, or fall shade for you Americans. The formula is the same as the normal velvetine range. This was a gift to myself and seeing as it was the holidays, it was fast shipping too.

This lush set was a gift from someone and it's part of their christmas gift set range. This was the Home For Christmas gift set, the gift set includes the Rose Jam shower gel, Porridge soap, Dream Cream body lotion. The set all together smells amazing, so do the pieces individually. To see actual results I would need to post a review later after I've used the products some more. But currently I haven't got anything bad to say about these products except that I haven't stopped smelling them.

This lipbalms were stocking gifts and I freaking love them. They are cute novelty gifts that are perfect for someone with chapped lips. I've currently tried the normal Mountain Dew lipbalm, its not quite moisturising the same as one that more directed at healing your lips, but if your lips don't need fixing, these taste/smell amazing. I'm definitely interested to see what the rest of these are like but if you're in need of some serious lip repairing, I probably wouldn't reach for these.

I've seen these everywhere, probably the most popular and the most expensive I've seen on the market, are the Clarisonic ones. They typically go for $150-$250, I don't know about you but that is just a little bit too freaking much. This one however from Vanity Planet, is typically $125. It's the Ultimate Skin Spa System, this came to my attention after it appeared in Shaaanxo's video about her night time routine. She had the code 'Shaaanxo' for 70% off, also for every time someone uses that code, Vanity Planet donate to a New Zealand charity. I can't quite remember which one but I do like that about VP. I do have to say this is freaking life-changing, or skin changing should I say. I saw changes in my skin instantly, god it felt amazing. I would definitely check it out.

The last thing isn't a beauty item but I just wanted to share it because I thought it was really cool, another present from someone. The FitBit, Charge HR. One really cool aspect is that if you have it linked up to your phone and someone is calling you, the Fit Bit lets you know. Some other really cool aspects is the challenges with friends, the sleep tracker and the BPM monitor. If you wanna find out more you can check out their website, but they ain't cheap. 

IMATS - Haul and Run Down

For those of you who don't know, IMATS is the International Makeup Artist Trading Show. IMATS is a giant makeup expo where you can purchase makeup from big brands (some not easily available in Australia) at a discounted price. There are talks done by professionals, body paint competitions, and so much more.

I was fairly excited, it was my first ever IMATS and so many brands were going to be there, that had my wallet crying. Although I thought I had posted a blogpost earlier describing my IMATS wishlist, I was wrong. I'll post it now so that you can see what I intended to get, versus what I actually got. I will also list the prices of things (from what I can remember).

Wishlist:


I posted my haul from the Saturday (I went both days) on Instagram, so if you follow me there, you probably saw it.

I didn't buy much on the second day except for a couple liquid lipsticks so you didn't miss out on much. I do have a few pointers if you are a first-timer at IMATS. If you want a lot of products, go on the Saturday, most of the stalls will have sold out of products by closing time Saturday. Even if you are the first person at that stall on Sunday, they will have most likely sold out of the thing you want. I do know this was a big factor for Makeupnet, Jeffree Star's holiday liquid lipstick in Androgyny sold out, and most of the Morphe Brush palettes did too. On the Saturday, Morphe had every palette out and ready to be sold, on Sunday morning however, only 3 eyeshadow palettes were available.

But if you really hate waiting in copious amounts of lines... then going on Sunday is better for you. While the odd store like Sigma, Jeffree Star and MAC had lines regardless of which day, you have better luck going on Sunday to avoid a giant crowd.

Before I get started on the reviews, I want to mention some little tid bits I thought were pretty cool.

• Even though I missed both of them, Jeffree Star and MessyDownUnder were both there. (I did however see Jeffree and snap some photos of him from the Morphe line). 
• I didn't realise it but some brands I didn't think would be going did, like Viseart and Coverfx. 
• I can't remember what brand it was but one of the false eyelash brands had a dollar lash bin.
• If you want a vanity mirror, a couple places were selling the 'Hollywood' style mirrors with lights on the outside. 
• There were quite a few different makeup travel case options for all the freelancers out there. 

Okay so onto the main event - I will try to go in order of what I bought.

First, I hauled my ass over to Jeffree Star. I was making damned sure I was getting my hands on that holiday set, seeing as I purposely didn't buy it from the website. The holiday shades came in limited edition packaging, rose gold stars with a white base. The shade names are Mistletoe (A pure green, a little on the dark side), Hoe Hoe Hoe (a blue based hot red with purple reflects), Drug Lord (a pure white, great for making ombre lips), Androgyny (the crowd favourite, described as a 'plumy mauve' but it me its a dark mauve), and my personal favourite, Dollparts (a pink based mauve). Androgyny was the first to sell out in this collection (both online and at IMATS) and is definitely the most requested one, so much so in fact that Jeffree has stated he is bringing it back as a permanent in Feb 2016, in the original hot pink packaging. My two personal favourites from this collection are Dollparts and Hoe Hoe Hoe. Though the lip scrubs were there, I didn't purchase any.

Each liquid lipstick was $24 AUD.

The next place I ventured off to was Sugar Pill Cosmetics. I had their products on my list from day one and I was not going to miss out. The Sugar Pill team had a much more efficent of doing things, once was got to the front of the stall, an individual worker would take your order, write down your name and put you next in line for the register. I personally liked this approach and sped up the process of doing things. Instead of waiting half an hour like at the JS line, I waited barely 10 minutes at Sugar Pill. I also must inform you guys that my purchase was influenced from an announcement on Instagram that there two new lipsticks were going to be exclusive to IMATS Sydney until their online release in January... That obviously meant I had to get them. I ended up getting both, Nurse (a hot blue based red), and Girl Crush (a hot magenta). I know the first SP product that ended up on my list was the Sugar Baby palette. A beautiful pastel eyeshadow palette. The last thing I got were the Shady Lane lashes. I know they may seem extreme for most people but its actually for an upcoming Cosplay tutorial. I didn't get the Edward Scissor Hands palette but my budget couldn't allow it.

Lashes - $7 AUD

Lipsticks - $28 AUD

Eyeshadow Palette - $40 AUD

I trodded off to Dose Of Colors, I knew they were bringing back the Terra collection and the line looked long enough so I joined it. Little did I know that I joined just in time, because the line literally caught up with JS. I did end up getting Truffle (a beautiful brown nude) and Stone (almost identical to truffle except more pink based). I also might have impluse bought the Pearl Dust highlighter because it was unbelieavbly beautiful. It is actually in my top two highlighters. Unfortunately I found out that they only brought back Stone and Sand from the Terra collection and Sand looks like concealer lips on a skin tone like me. On Sunday I did go back to Dose of Colors and pick up Merlot (a pink based red).
Liquid Lipsticks - $28 AUD
Highlighter - $40 AUD

Lasplash Cosmetics was next. I pretty much wanted every single thing that they had on offer but I limited myself to only getting a select few. I ended up getting Severo (Mint green), Livius (Light blue), Lavender B (Neon lavender/lilac), Hermes (Dusty rose, pink based), Gigi (Orange-y brown nude). Those were all the Smitten Liptint Mousse's I got. I also went back on the Sunday to get their famous Lip Couture in Ghoulish. A lot of people have said that it's a dupe for Limecrime's Cashmere... but we'll see.
Bundle of 5 - $85
Single - $19

Shortly after looking around some, I got Ben Nye's banana powder. I don't really know what to add to that haha.
$25 for the big size.

And lucky last was Morphe Brushes. I didn't know if I wanted anything there. They weren't selling individual brushes, only the sets, which I wasn't after. I did know that I wanted some of their eyeshadow palettes but the crowd was so big that you could barely see any. I did manage to see over people's shoulders and pick out two ones that I wanted. I got the 35N and 35U, I was actually quite happy with them and I still am.
Eyeshadow palette - $35 each.

Let me know in the comments below if you want me to review the products more in depth and I'll do my best.

Can't wait to see you guys at IMATS next year!

Champagne Pop - Is it worth the hype?

For those of you who don’t know what the hell a Champagne Pop is, Jaclyn Hill recently collaborated with Becca Cosmetics to create a highlighter called Champagne Pop. Well I bought it a while ago and it finally arrived.

Also I should note before I go on, I bought it through the american Sephora and used a forwarding service to get it here. You can buy it at the two Sydney Sephora’s or through Becca :)

A few people had reviewed it after I bought it but not before receiving it, saying the product was definitely not worth the hype, it didn’t live up to their expectations, didn’t go well with their skin tone etc etc. Jaclyn had actually said herself that she tried to make it as universal as possible for every skin tone.

Upon its arrival I had to swatch it immediately and I… loved it! It’s a perfect golden shade that doesn’t look tacky and doesn’t paint my face yellow. It has just the right amount of shimmer that gives me that glowing from the inside look. I am terribly sorry about the atrocious quality of the photos, they really don’t do it justice… HOWEVER you can find a dupe for Champagne Pop by mixing Opal and Moonstone together (also highlighters from Becca). It does cost more obviously but if you already have them but don’t want to dish out on more money for CP then maybe try mixing those two together. It will turn out differently depending on how much Opal you use and how much Moonstone you use.

*I am so sorry this post was supposed to go up about a month ago but never did. Oh well, better late than never right?

Holy Moly he is a God. | Mecca VIP Nars Event

Francois Nars is one of the most beautiful men that God has ever created, if you believe in him that is. God, not Mr. Nars.

I should probably explain this a little. So I got an email from Mecca a couple of weeks ago asking if I wanted to come to an exclusive VIP Nars event. The entire Steven Klein collection would be there, along with the lip crayon bullet collection, that was there for that night only. It was on the 12th of November at Double Bay. There’s also one in Melbourne soon. They would be serving champagne and canapés as well as general socialising. It was $50 to book but you could redeem that $50 on any purchase you make this included general Nars things too. Mecca also promised that they would be giving out the new Nars Audacious mascara in Black Moon and the Nars kohl eyeliner in Minorque as a gift. The best bit was that any purchase you make would go towards your beauty loop account. I was so excited by that the time I got to the event I was like Jennifer Lawrence peeing herself, except I didn’t piss my pants. Only a little.

This was a huge deal. I mean I was even freaking out over whether I was wearing the right clothes or not. It seemed like a pretty formal event but what if I was the only one who was in a freaking ball gown. That was not happening. I got off the ferry that took me to Double Bay wharf and it was bloody cold. It was windy as hell and not to mention, raining. I was not having it. If my hair down and styled looked fabulous before, it certainly didn’t now. I pulled out an umbrella that of course instantly went inside out from the incredible freaking wind. I headed towards where I needed to go, determined to get this freaking umbrella the right way when I forgot I needed to tap off (my opal card that is). Crap. So reaching into my handbag, my hair flying in around, umbrella inside out, I whipped it out… and it nearly fell into the goddamn ocean. Just a little insight as to why I was nervous as hell.

Lining up I was about 4th in line, I got there on time so I was pretty shocked to see not that many people there. The mecca ladies were all so nice about everything and were pumping us up. After a couple girls lined up behind me I started chatting to them, lovely girls they were. A mecca lady came along and asked us if we were all wearing Nars lipsticks, I said of course and so did another girl but one was not. I was shocked to say the least haha. The mecca lady asked me if I was wearing Vienna which I wasn’t, I was wearing the only Nars lipstick I could imagine wearing to an event like this, Scarlett Empress. Which of course looks different on me than everyone else because I have the skin tone of a freaking snow man.

We waited a little while only about 10 minutes before they trickled us in, which I liked because it wasn’t so over whelming and we could take our time looking around. They checked our names off the list and I went straight for the lip bullet, there was no way in hell that that beauty was escaping me tonight. I looked around and seriously considered getting the One Shocking Moment palette had IMATS not been around the corner. But I will be revisiting Mecca soon. I will not let it escape me either.

The bullet looks beautiful if you haven’t seen it by the way. It has a pop off lid, inside it has a little lip crayon stand/holder. The lip crayons are in the shades BKLR (a sparkle-y magenta), Dragon Girl (a hot red) and Sex Machine (sparkle-y pale pink). 

Something else surprised me, they had Nars candles and Francois’ book there for sale too. I was in love with the candles but couldn’t get them :( They had the typical Nars packing, the rubbery-matte with the ingrained Nars written across. They had a black one, which had notes of Vanilla and Sandalwood (I was dying) and a white one that had floral notes. The workers didn’t exactly know what was in them but I knew they were beautiful.

The big event of the night of course was Francois himself being there. After gushing over the candles, I was about 4th in line to meet him. Francois and his manager? were there and they were both so lovely, they complemented my hair and asked me if I was enjoying myself. I asked Mr. Nars if he liked Sydney and he loved it. He signed my bullet and a mecca worker took a photo of us together. It was magical.

Although the event went on for another two hours, I had gotten everything I wanted so I left feeling elated. Mecca really could not have hosted a better event and I was so lucky to have been invited.

- I also forgot to include that when you made a purchase, they gave you a special vinyl tote bag that had the Nars logo with Steven Klein written on it, and had the mascara and kohl eyeliner in it.

The So Called ‘Deluxe’ Sample Size

So benefit had a little event at the Queen Victoria Building and at World Square in Sydney on the 21st of August. On instagram they had said you can pick up a free ‘deluxe’ sample of the porefessional and receive a voucher for a free make-upper(?). This supposed ‘deluxe’ sample however is 0.1 oz, although the general sample size they have in Christmas kits and things alike are 0.25 oz. That size is considered the norm size of the product’s sample size.

Normal sample size on the left, 'Deluxe' size on the right.

Now I’m not complaining, I mean it’s free makeup, its actually my most used primer so I’m pretty ecstatic when I don’t have to pay for it. I’m just wondering if it’s false advertising to say deluxe samples when it’s in fact smaller?

Let me know down in the comments if you agree or if you think I’m just nit-picking, which I probably am.

Laters,
Amber

Taking a break and updates

I’m ever so sorry that I haven’t been posting without an explanation, I feel like that’s very shitty of me and I wanted to apologise. Some stuff has been going on in my life yatta yatta, you’ve heard it all before. Anyway I have some very excited posts coming up for you guys that include pictures as well :) I am happy to say that I’ll be returning to my old schedule and posting at 12:30 EST on weekdays.

Lately some exciting things have been happening asides from the usual new releases in the makeup world (How freaking cool does JS’s new liquid lipstick look?!), last thursday I was able to go to the grand opening of the second ever Sephora here in Australia. And when I say grand, I mean grand. They went all out giving out huge goodie bags, $50 vouchers for their store, Krispy Kreme donuts and coconut water. Not to mention the balloons and Benefit gorilla handing out chocolates. The music was pumping, the crowd wasn’t too horrible, all in all a very fun and exciting time.

I woke up at 4:30, was out of the house at 5AM and got to Macquarie Centre at 6AM. I was about 6th in line so I didn’t have to count if I was in the first 200 which was nice. The two people behind me were Miss Billy and MessyDownUnder which you may know from the YouTube community. I was so excited to meet them and talk to them throughout the day. They even managed to convince me to get the Kat Von D shade and light eye palette. Also The Missing Piece cafe staff were nice enough to come down to the line and take orders for $2.

There was a rumour that the Macquarie sephora had more stock than the Sydney one including brands that aren’t in the first store and I can vouch that that is very much true. Even the new Kat Von D liquid lipsticks and single eyeshadows are there. They handed us so many freebies that I didn’t bother to go crazy on buying much though. I did get, obviously the Shade + Light eye palette, Re(Marc)able foundation, Kat Von D Lolita liquid lipstick and the Sephora Collection Chocolate body wash.

However the fun did not stop there. Every shop had its A game on today because of the sephora opening, MAC’s scented Fix + had come out (although I didn’t get any), Mecca had guys standing out front of the store handing out Mecca goodie bags as well; which included a Mecca labeled water bottle, a lollipop and a pamphlet that said if you spent $50+ at Mecca, you could choose any deluxe sample. (Samples included UD eyeshadows, a Nars lip pencil, a Clinique lip crayon, UD setting spray, Too Faced melted lipstick and some others that I can’t remember off the top of my head haha. So naturally I had to spend some money there. (At this point I should mention that my grandmother was with me for majority of the day as well.) Because I had decided to get the YSL Touche Eclat Blur Perfector, UD Shadowbox palette and the mini Hourglass Dim Light highlighter, which equals over $100. My grandmother and I went up separately as to get 2 samples, of which I got the Too Faced mini Melted Peony and the UD eyeshadow samples.

A couple other stores had their A Game on too like Pandora with sales and candy bars but I wasn’t too interested.

All in all, if you have the opportunity to go to a Sephora opening, I would highly recommend them. Go big or go home Sephora.

Laters,

Amber

New Palette from TheBalm

Last week I saw a photo on Facebook of something from the David Jones catalogue and it made me literally bounce with joy. Low and behold there was a special TheBalm palette which included a highlighter, blush and two eyeshadows. I was so excited and as I am graduating, my mum thought it would be a great present for me…

However you did have to spend $29 or more on TheBalm and you’d get it for free. I was a little worried because the last time I went to David Jones all TheBalm products were reduced and hidden away. There was barely any left as well. So I was worried that the city David Jones wouldn’t stock it. However there was a clear container with about 20 Mary-Lou’s in there. My eyes lit up like I had found the jackpot. The cult item of TheBalm and they had so many! It was $29.95 off memory so I thought it was perfect. I picked it up and took it to the counter. The woman scanned it and I asked if I was eligible for the palette, she said they had them but it was currently 30% off all TheBalm products. (Later I had found out that it was for the Vogue Fashion thingo mo bob) but I was like crap, I didn’t see anything else except the Mary-Lou, I didn’t really want to get two but the woman had led me over to a different spot.

OH MY GOD, the motherload was in front of me. I had never seen so many TheBalm products that I could hold myself. They had everything. I ended up picking up something from my wishlist, the Shwing black liquid eyeliner. I’ve posted pictures of all three products on my instagram but I will try and put up some swatches and blog pictures up tonight.

If you got anything from TheBalm let me know down below xx

My Hunt for Burgundy Eyeshadows

All I wanted was a eyeshadow to match my Nars Scarlet Empress lipstick but do you think I could find one? No of course not because in the beauty world you need to pay an arm and a leg for something so small. Then you may even have to sell your organs on the black market for postage.

So no, paying $12 USD for a ABH eyeshadow that when converted would probably cost me $24 AUD, not to mention paying for a forwarding service because ABH stopped shipping internationally.

I was also not going to waste my time sitting down and going through 140 MAC eyeshadows because believe it or not, I do have a life. Plus they don’t really have all of the eyeshadows in the Australian stores and if you want just the pan, not the compact, you’d have to go to a Pro store, of which I am not near. So ABH and MAC were out of the question.

But what’s this I see on my instagram feed from BeautyHaul411 - a coupon code for free international shipping for Makeup Geek. Oh thank you Lord Jesus Christ. I had been obsessed with the colour ‘Bitten’ ever since I saw it on their site but postage was always my buzzkill. HOWEVER that coupon saved my life. If you’re wondering what it is it’s FREESHIP2015ABZ although it does end today so better get in quick if you want it.

I will post pictures once I receive them, I should let you know I bought six (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Poolside, Bitten, Pop Culture and Peach Smoothie). So my days of keeping Bitten only in the cart and spending hours on Pinterest trying to find my perfect Burgundy are over :)

Colourpop - Your introduction

There’s been a lot of youtubers and beauty guru’s talking about the brand Colourpop, including me. I have done about 5 orders from Colourpop and I’ve had a feel for all their products. In case you’re a Colourpop newbie and you’re looking to pop your cherry, I’ve compiled a list of all the Colourpop collections/items you should get on your first go around.

There are a couple things you should know before buying Colourpop:

• The lippie stix are in long tube forms, they aren’t the typical MAC bullet.
• The eyeshadows/blushes/highlighters/bronzers all have a creamy feel to it but finish like a powder
• It’s cheap as hell for their products :D

The first thing you need to get is the Forget The Fruit Cake lippie stix collection.

It’s $30 USD and it comes with 6 lippie stixs. It gives you a great colour range from nude to pink to red to 3 darker plum shades. You really get a feel of their different finishes (matte and hyper-glossy).

Next I suggest the In Bloom collection for $39 USD.

This gives you a feel for their blushes, highlighters and lippie stixs. The blushes include a coral blush and a more pinky/plumy blush. Both of which have great pigmentation when applied with a stippling brush. There are 3 lippie stixs and the lip colours are a little more on the pinker side but now you have cream finishes in your collection. The highlighter may be a little dark on really pale people but it’s a great one to experiment with nonetheless, you could definitely use it for ‘strobing’.

This one is great if you love neutral eyeshadows and are a big fan of the Youtuber Shaaanxo. This is her collab with Colourpop and its own $20 USD for 4 eyeshadows. You get a champagne colour, mid-tone brown, khaki green and a more rusty brown. These are a mix of pearlised finishes and matte finishes. You can great so many different looks using these eyeshadows and you can follow her own tutorial using them on her channel.

A couple products I haven’t covered by the collections above I’ll list my favourites below:

• Bronzer - Carry on (recommended for medium to dark skin tones, however a light hand makes it perfect for pale people). Also a matte finish and is only $8 USD

• Lip pencil - Lumiere $5USD - No finish but it leans more on the matte side.

• Ultra Matte Lip - Midi, Lychee and LAX - All $5 USD each and are a matte liquid lipstick, I recommended 3 so you get to try a range of colours.

 MidiLychee

 LAX

*Gollum Voice* My Precious!

What is it with limited editions? I can’t get over them. Its almost like this urge to own as many limited edition items as possible, even ones that currently don’t really exist anymore sadly like the Too Faced Leopard Love palette, although that doesn’t stop my inevitable need to track it down like a bitch in heat. So my question to you is, what’s your perspective on LE’s? I know a friend of mine doesn’t like LE stuff purely because they mark up prices and it's just another consumerist scheme to dish more money out of our pockets but, to me, that’s the appeal. Its the fact that I could own a thing which is unique. We all know the typical MAC black lipstick bullet, but once it changes colour, shape or texture we all go nuts. Same with any other MAC LE and I think it’s for a good reason, we’re all consumerists stuck in our little mindsets of “I need to own this item before it is gone forever!”

I know some of you will disagree, simply because of the fact that you actually want and like the product, whether it happens to be limited edition or not. I mean I did not hunt down a cheap but authentic Nars Virtual Domination palette for a year and a half because I liked the packing, no I actually wanted the palette because it was versatile and beautiful as I’m sure many of you would agree.

A few of my favourite LE’s ever, you’ll notice quite a few MAC products but really nobody does LE’s like MAC do:

• The Nars Virtual Domination Palette: it’s handy to travel with, the colours and pigmentation alone are worth the money and it has every cheek product you could need.
• MAC Simpson’s blush in Sideshow You: Let’s be honest, who didn’t watch the Simpsons as a kid common, this one was a given. While the blush alone is a great product, the packaging nailed it for me. I was disappointed that they had brought out lipglasses instead of lipsticks for the collection but oh well, you win some you lose some
• MAC Cinderella Iridescent Pressed Powder in Coupe d’Chic: Boy this one was a tough call because the collection actually included lipsticks! However they were super sheen which barely shows up on my lips and I hate that. So I chose the thing I use the most out of the collection although I did buy a few things from this collection, I chose this powder because it was freaking beautiful, it really does give your skin a pearly glow to it.
• The RiRi Hearts Mac Brush in 187SE: I freaking love this brush with all my heart (haha get it?) but I don’t dare touch it because the packaging is too beautiful! It’s hard for me to use products that change the way it looks and the same goes for brushes.
• Dose of Colours Black Rose: Oh lord, for those of you who don’t know me well yet, I love matte liquid lipsticks. I have draws dedicated to just liquid lipsticks, not even just normal lipsticks, but specifically liquid to matte ones. So I think it’s pretty awesome when one of them makes it onto yet another one of my favourites list, but this special one deserves this because my mummy dearest got it for my birthday, it does happen to be a beautiful dark burgundy colour that is so rich and dark that it almost sounds like a cake. But sadly, it was only for a limited time.
• ColourPop Tie Dye Eyeshadow in Rip Tide: This was part of the Tie Dye collection that came out for 1 weekend. The collection consisted of 4 pieces but this one by far was my favourite. Am I the only one who thinks that Rip Tide and Flamingo should have swapped their names around?

Sunday’s MOTD

I shared this with you guys on instagram on Sunday but incase you were wondering how I got the look, I thought I’d write it all down for you guys, that is if you can’t wait for the video to be out, and that will be a while I can tell you that.

So first we’ll start off with the base, I used:

• Smashbox photo finish primer water
• Hourglass veil primer
• Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser in nude
• Mac select moisturecover concealer in NW15
• Crop concealer pencil
• BYS translucent loose powder in light

Then for the face, I used:

• Kat Von D shade + light palette
• Mac bronzer in golden
• TheBalm instain blush in lace
• Hourglass ambient lighting palette in radiant light
• Colourpop highlighter in double dip

For the eyes, I used:

• Limecrime brightening eyeshadow primer
• Mac eyeshadow quad in shop and drop
• ABH Artist palette
• Essence eyeshadow in Irisistable purr-ple
• Essence eyeshadow in Purple orchids

And lucky last, for the lips, I used:

• Chi chi lip liner in it girl
• Mac lipstick in velvet teddy
• Colourpop lippie stix in cookie

Then the UD all nighter setting spray all over.