Binned Things June 2014!

Empties! They just seem to sprout and grow and spread! Here's everything I finished in the month of June - I should probably use LESS stuff, so there's less for me to write up, because, man, it's exhausting!

1) Dove Antiperspirant Invisible Dry Deodorant - Staple, staple, staple. Did I mention - staple?

Repurchase? Heck yes!

2) Sanctuary Spa Body Scrub - This has a bit of a strong scent, but nice big granules for when a small granule scrub just wouldn't do. Not the best, but quite enjoyable all the same.

Repurchase? Maybe

3) Dove Clinical Protection Deodorant - LOVE this. Can see myself using this for ages!

Repurchase? Yes 

4) Listerine Total Care Mouthwash - Yet another staple!

Repurchase? Done!

5) Nude by Nature 24 Hour Anti-ageing Moisturiser - I didn't enjoy this on my face at all - it got all ball-y and weird on my skin, but worked well on my body.

Repurchase? No

6) Puretopia Smooth and Renew Gentle Exfoliating Face Scrub - Really liked using this! I was sad when I finished it. Thank goodness I got another one in this year's Priceline bag!

Repurchase? Yes!

7) Nude by Nature Anti-oxidant Foaming Cleanser - A bit of a nothing special cleanser.

Repurchase? No

8) Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus - This serum is amazing! Really enjoyed using this - I thought this made my skin glow.

Repurchase? Would love to!

9) Polished London Dry Shampoo in Blighty Brunette - Read full review here.

Repurchase? Already have!

10) Lonvitalite Collagen Firming and Moisturising Facial Mask - read full review here.

Repurchase? No

11) The Face Shop Real Nature Mask Blueberry - read full review here.
Repurchase? Maybe

12) Montagne Jeunesse Dry Skin Mask - This is an interesting one! Souffle texture, berry scented and it left my face feeling all sorts of soft and lovely! Definitely my favourite from the entire range!
Repurchase? Yes!

13) Appelles Rosemary Body Bar - It's a nice bar of soap, but I'm not a bar soap kinda gal.

Repurchase? No

14) So...? Kiss Me - see full review here. In short, my favourite of the lot!
Repurchase? Yes

15) Indeed Labs Hydraluron - One word: AMAZING. See full review here.
Repurchase? Already done!

16) Etude House Hand Cream - Seriously adorable hand cream with a lovely fruity scent, but not quite hydrating enough.
Repurchase? Don't think so

17) Manicare Nail Polish Remover - Fairly standard nail polish remover, does a good enough job.
Repurchase? Yes

18) La Mav Jojoba Beads and Argan Oil Exfoliating Scrub - For a scrub, I just didn't find this exfoliating enough, but it was pleasant.
Repurchase? No

19) Essence Cosmetics 50's Girl Translucent Powder - A cute little packaging for their matte powder, I liked using this to seal my makeup. From a limited edition range, but there was something similar in their regular range. 

Repurchase? Yes!

24) Lush Immaculate Eggception Bath Bomb - A limited edition item from Lush for Easter, I really liked this. It was a gorgeous, fruity explosion in my bath tub!
Repurchase? Would love to!

25) Woolworth's Homebrand Makeup Remover Pads - Excellent staple! Not too thin, and thick enough to be effective.
Repurchase? Always!

26) Biore Pore Strip - I really should be using more of them! Great for getting rid of blackheads - I just need to use it more often!
Repurchase? Yes

27) Etude House I need you, honey! and I need you, yoghurt! masks - fun masks to use. I do prefer the yoghurt one over the honey mask, though. It's softer on my skin.
Repurchase? Yoghurt, yes. Honey, maybe.

As for the not quite empties, but the 'too old to try and keep despite feeling sentimental towards it', I have:

1) Revlon Palette - Not old - just plain old not good. 

2) Chanel Palette containing two eye shadows and a gel liner - An old one from my sister.

3) Duwop Lip Venom Lip Gloss - One of my first Sephora purchases!

4) MAC lip gloss - Loved this colour, but couldn't hang on to the dregs of it anymore.

Stand out products for the sample sizes would include the Lapurete cleanser and night cream, both obtained through BeautyHeaven during their last Beautorium.

And that's all, folks! What did you get through last month? What made you sad to see it go?

Review: L'Oreal Infallible 24 HR Stay Fresh Foundation, Powder and Concealer *

I will be the first to admit that foundation scares me. No, really, it does. All those times I've witnessed women wearing a totally wrong shade to what they should have put on instead, mismatching necks and faces, the change in seasons resulting in wearing a different colour to what you happen to be then, not to mention powdery brows and occasional moments of trying on clothes only to find a swatch of foundation around the neckline inches away from your own face... Foundation is something that shouldn't be treated lightly! 

That said, I've been very lucky with my skin in that I haven't had much need for coverage, and as such, haven't had to worry for many years.

At a recent BeautyHeaven event, I was colour matched to the L'Oreal Infallible Foundation, thus taking a lot of variables out of 'THE FEAR', and I'm here to talk about a few products from the range - most importantly, do they live up to the hype?

This little concealer is in the form of a stick, and winds up out of the stick. This isn't as creamy as I'd like it to be, but it does warm up a little when using fingertips to help spread it, and as such, this is quite suitable for helping with covering up my dark circles under the eyes.

This ends up blending quite well, and being relatively efficient.

This... THIS! While not as blendable as some of the other foundations from L'Oreal (True Match, I'm looking at you, you little beauty, you!), this has, by far, been one of the best foundations for holding power. I've been using this over primer, warming up the formula with my fingertips before dotting it all over my face, then wearing it for at least 16 hours sometimes, and on a few occasions, 9 hours of work, followed by 3 hours of exercise - AND IT'S STILL ALL THERE!

This provides a matte finish and full coverage. I find that this doesn't have a terrible, pancakey effect. This ends up being flawless and while not pancake-like, this can be a little heavier on the face. This lasts for hours, however, and is as budge proof as it gets.

Yes, I know infallible is spelled wrongly on this! For that final touch, I place a light dusting of this over the top of my liquid foundation, and this sets it really, really well. This also provides a matte finish, and is perfect for long days at work.

Have you tried any of them before? Are you interested in the range?

*These products were kindly sent to me via Beauty Heaven for my consideration

What's In My Bag: Going to New Zealand

So this weekend, I'm leaving the safety and comfort of my home (and all the recent sunshine!) and trading it for the snowy landscape of Queenstown!

What's in the bag, you ask? It's my mostly non-beauty toiletries. The beauty part is hard, because I have so many things to choose from. What if it doesn't suit my mood that day? Or, perish forbid, my outfit?

This is where all my handy little samples from beauty boxes come into play! I even have a few masks to help with the super dry plane air and all the Wintry madness in New Zealand.

Can you spot anything here that you've taken away before? Do you have any recommendations for travel size products?

Blogiversary Winner Announced!

Hi everyone! Thanks to all those who entered my blogiversary giveaway! I'm happy to announce that the winner is:

Stephanie

The winner has been contacted. For those who missed out, you can try your hand at the next giveaway, which will be coming up soon, so stay tuned!

High Tea at The Wooden Spoon and Bar, Cremorne, Sydney

Hello lovelies! What did you lot get up to over the weekend? It was super sunny here in Sydney, so I managed to get a lot of laundry done (exciting!), and had dinner at Sepia on Saturday night, which was awesome, and I also got the chance to go to high tea on Sunday, which made the weekend an entirely foodie event! Yum, yum, yum...

For high tea, I kept things simple, pairing a Portmans knit with Glassons leggings and Airflex boots. All the better to hide food babies with!

The Wooden Spoon and Bar is located in Cremorne, on Military Road. When we arrived, we were shown to an atrium-like area within the building. 

It's a little hard to describe, but essentially, it's still indoors, with high ceilings, a glass roof and lots of gorgeous sunlight streaming through. 

As we sat there, it was clear to us that it was going to be a pretty packed afternoon, with the number of settings they had, all spaced out.

 

We started off with a glass of bubbly each, and while we waited, we noticed that there was only 1 waiter to the 10 tables that were brimming with people, and the waiter never once faltered! The service was steady and always with a smile - he was brilliant!

Instead of 3 tiers, our food was served to us on 2 tiers, with the savouries at the bottom and deserts on the top. 

We worked our way through the sandwiches at the bottom, from the egg/mayo/spinach, to the smoked trout, roast beef, seafood tart, frittata and chicken rice paper roll. 

The sweets! Ahh, the sweets... The melting moments was the stand out desert, as was the banoffee pie/tart. I found the caramel pudding to have an interesting flavour, which Mr Prince pointed out to be lemongrass, an interesting fusion, and the Japanese doughnut and green tea slice were both reasonably tasty.

I didn't think much of their jam, to be honest. It certainly wasn't anything amazing, but the cream was ok.

We finished our meal by having a chamomile tea for me, and flat white for him. It was a very satisfying meal and while it was quite busy the entire time we were there, the service was excellent. I would have preferred for the tea have been present while we were eating, but as it worked out, this was pretty good too.

Overall, for a high tea in a restaurant/bar, this was, on the whole quite tasty and reasonably interesting.

I would rate this:

8/10

Face of Australia: Dark Side Limited Edition Nail Collection!

Ok, ok, ok... So, please tell me that I'm not the only one who displays the following signs when I hear about a new limited edition range from Face of Australia? I start to:

1) get sweaty palms

2) palpitations

3) dry mouth

like any good beauty addict? Yes, I realise I have a problem, and I'm ok with it!

So, obviously, when I got wind of a new limited edition collection from Face of Australia, I popped into my nearest Priceline and grabbed each and every one of them, and here they are in their full glory!

The theme this time is the Dark Side, conjuring images of anti-heroes, enemies and a dark nemesis, perfect colours, in other words, for the Australian Winter.  

Jafar, the evil wizard in Aladdin, is a dark, dark red, and this is about the colour that comes to mind when I think about vampy, scary women. 

Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty's evil witch, is a reddish brown, and looks more brown than red. This, in fact, reminds me of Essie's Wicked.

Ursula, and who wouldn't know her, is perfectly represented by this purple shade.

Magneto is an aptly named metallic duochrome purple. 

Darth Vader looks almost too pretty to be evil! This conjures images of galaxies, far, far away, and contains flecks of purple glitter.

Voldemort has gorgeous green glitter in varying shades throughout it - I imagine this would look amazing over black nail polish.

Wicked Witch of the West - green, green, green! This solid green is a little brighter than the rest of the range, but no less wicked.

Finally, there's Mystique, a brighter than expected blue that would go nicely as a feature nail with the Wicked Witch of the West. 

And that's the entire collection! You can certainly see why I couldn't resist getting the whole lot! The next time you're feeling a little wicked, make sure you get some of it on your fingertips! 

Don't forget to join my giveaway for my blogiversary! Hop over here for more details! 

Are you interested in this range? Which one would you get?

Minor Haul From Dirty Works and Essence Cosmetics + New Essence Collection!

Hello, my lovelies! I was a little naughty recently, and hopped into Coles and Priceline to pick up some new playthings!

I swear, I didn't mean to buy any body products, but this was on sale at 50% off! With it's usual RRP at $9, but on sale for $4.50, I just HAD to buy it! This Dirty Words Buff Your Stuff Body Scrub comes in a 200ml tube, and looks just divine! As a fan of their buttery salt scrub, I wanted to see what this one was like. Let's see if it makes it's way to my favourites list!

While I was out and about, I popped into Priceline and swooped down onto their new limited edition range, which is called Dark Romance, and I was very well behaved, or at least for me, I thought I was! I only picked up 3 items, as pictured above.

This black eyeliner, in Black Shadow, has flecks of glitter throughout it, and I can't wait to see what it looks like, if it's particularly pigmented and the stay power. I may report back about it!

I found this the hardest one to pick - which lip product? I ended up getting a lipstick in Painted Love, a deep berry red. I've definitely be gravitating towards lots and lots of lipsticks recently, and this one is gorgeous! It's quite a smooth formula and relatively buildable.

Last but not least, I also HAD to buy a nail polish, and I while I ummed and ahhed over it a little, I finally decided to get Moonless Night, which apparently has a suede finish. Not having had anything other than a glossy finish on my nails, I don't know how I'm going to take it, but this will be a step out of my comfort zone for sure!

Have you bought anything new recently? What do you think of the Essence range?