Seven Deadly Sins of Beauty

There has been the “Seven Deadly Sins of Beauty” tag going around with You Tubers and Bloggers for quite a few months and I thought I’d share mine:
 

1.      Greed – What is your most inexpensive beauty item?  What is your most expensive?

Inexpensive – elf Day 2 Night quad – only $2.95 from Crush Cosmetics – all four colours in the quad work so well together and you can create an easy day look or a smoked out night look with it too:)

Expensive – Urban Decay Naked2 Palette – I bought this not long after it was released in the US – through an eBay seller in the US so I paid about AUS$100.00 for it and waited 2 weeks – It was worth it!

 

2.      Wrath – What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Liquid Eyeliner – some days it works, some days it doesn’t – I wish I could put it on myself as good as I can on my clients!  (boy am I glad there’s gel eyeliner though!)

3.      Gluttony – What are your most delicious beauty products?

The Body Shop Strawberry range – using the shower gel, body polish and then the body butter just makes me smell all strawberry-ish and then the bathroom smells like it too!

4.      Sloth – What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness?

Heat protectant when I’m curling or straightening my hair – I always forget to spray it in and only remember when I’m halfway through!

5.      Pride – What beauty product gives you the most self-confidence?

Foundation or a Tinted Moisturiser – when my skin looks good I feel confident as well.

6.        Lust – What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?

Tall, funny, dark hair and family man – all attributes my hubby has!

7.        Envy – What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

NARS Danmari All About Cheeks Palette – 6 NARS blush/bronzer/highlighter in one palette!  It features favourites like Laguna Bronzer, Orgasm Blush and Hungry Heart Highlighter.  Unfortunately this was a limited edition palette and everywhere I’ve looked it’s not available:(  So second choice would have to be a Z-Palette filled with MAC eyeshadows or an Inglot Freedom System Palette:)

My Envy!

What are your Seven Deadly Sins of Beauty?

x

L'oreal Eyeshadows....Infallible and ColorAppeal

“I’m not infallible but my eyeshadow is” 

This is the catchphrase of these unique eyeshadows, they are ultra concentrated and the pigmentation is amazing.  L’oreal states that additional binders (oils) coat and magnify the colour pigments to reveal beautiful shimmer and maximised colour.  The colour adheres to the eyelid as durable and comfortably as a second skin and lasts for up to 24 hours. 

I haven’t tested them out for 24 hours and I’m not sure I’d like to be wearing my eyeshadow (or make up!) for 24 hours straight either.  But for the periods I have worn these there has been no smudging, creasing or fading, usually 8-10 hours of wear.

Available in 9 velvety shades, of which I have 6 in my collection.

Hourglass Beige – a creamy beige
Flashback Silver – a glamorous darker silver
Purple Obsession – a dark purple-black
All Night Blue – an amazing midnight blue
Endless Chocolate – a true dark brown
Permanent Kaki – a divine army green

The packaging is quite glamorous and you can see the colour through the lid, which I always find appealing.  You turn the pot over and unscrew the lid (this is a little different as the lid is on the back of the pot and ultimately are dipping into what seems like the bottom of the product).  There is a little “cap” to hold the eyeshadow in the pot, it’s best to keep this little cap as the eyeshadow is like a mixture of cream and powder and as far as I can see the cap maintains the eyeshadow in its pressed form. 

Now for some swatches…..

Hourglass  Beige and Flashback Silver

Purple Obsession and All Night Blue

Endless Chocolate and Permanent Kaki

I’ve also used some of the shades to create two looks below…..

Hourglass Beige used on the inner corner and upper
two thirds of the lid and lower third and
Endless Chocolate used on the outer third and lower
two thirds and also smudged along the upper
lashline and waterline
Mascara - L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black
Brows - The Body Shop Brow Kit in Brunette

Hourglass Beige used on the inner corner, Permanent Kaki used on
the inner third, Purple Obsession used on the outer third and
All Night Blue used to deepen the outer edge and crease. 
All colours used in the same order on the lower lashline and
Purple Obsession was used on the waterline
Mascara - L'oreal Voluminous Carbon Black
Brows - The Body Shop Brow Kit in Brunette

When I was picking up Purple Obsession, a couple of other colours from the ColorAppeal range caught my eye, so of course I had to pick up two of those too.

The ColorAppeal eyeshadow collections have been specially designed to offer women everywhere made-to-measure shades that enhance the colour of their eyes.  They have 3 ranges within the range being Chrome Shine, Chrome Intensity and of course Color Appeal.  I picked up ColorAppeal in Beige Platinum and a Chrome Intensity in Purple Obsession. 

 Here’s some swatches…..

The Beige Platinum will be a lovely colour used to highlight the brow and inner corner, as well as an all over wash of colour to the lid.

The Purple Obsession is a duo chrome finish of purple, blue and pink and is unlike anything I have in my collection.  However, I was a bit disappointed that it was not as pigmented as the infallible shadows.  Although I can’t wait to layer this over a black base!

All of these L’oreal eyeshadows do have a shimmer or satin look, so if you are concerned about fine lines or crepey eyelids then maybe you’ll have to give them a skip.

The Infallible and ColorAppeal eyeshadows retail for around AUS$15.00 each. 

Are you tempted to try these? 

x

Cobalt Blue Blazer - Day to Night

Hi everyone!!  Sometimes you find a perfect jacket that can be worn day and night....in this case my cousin Jo is wearing her cobalt blue blazer and come up with two different ways to  wear it, one for day and one for night.  She has also made it a simple change so that if you're at work you only need a quick change to dress it up for night, this is fantastic for those times when you don't have time to go home after work....

DAY



Cobalt Blue Blazer from eBay
Plain black singlet
Collar necklace from Collette
Red skinny jeans from BigW
Black canvas shoes from KMart



NIGHT

Cobalt Blue Blazer from EBay
Plain Black Singlet
Collar necklace from Collette
Blue skinny jeans from DeBomb Fashion
Hot pink heels from Payless Shoes

One thing I've learned is that true fashion does not have to cost a fortune and the day outfit was less than $100.00 and the night outfit was less than $200.00. 

What is the best item you've bought that can be mixed and matched?

Root Lifting Powders feat. my guest blogger Jo

Do you have fine limp hair? Then this is the product for you!!!!!


Root lifting powders are for those clients with fine hair, hair that doesn’t hold body and hair that gets oily and limp quickly. There are numerous on the market at the moment. I have used 2 quite frequently- Schwarzkopf OSIS Dust It and Redken Powder Grip 03. Both of these are incredibly simple and easy to use.

Basically you can either shake the powder onto your hands and massage through roots of hair or shake directly on the scalp. Less is definitely more!!! The first thing you will notice is texture and separation of the hair, fabulous for those of you who love BIG hairdo's, or just those of you with finer hair and are craving some body!  

You can still tease for added fullness. Also this powder will absorb moisture so if your hair gets oily on the second day, shake on your root lifting powder and you will find it will really freshen up your look!!!  I also love this product for up styling as the separation it gives to a messy textured bun is amazing! I would recommend this product to anyone who is in need of a new styling product, especially those of you who struggle getting root lift and volume in your hair.   What I love most about it though is that you just shake it on and go. Easy as that - :) Happy styling!!!

Thanks so much to Jo for providing the review and information on the above products - Kate

Nail of the Day Revlon's "Popular"

I recently purchased a new nail polish from Revlon called "Popular".  I was drawn to this colour as I didn't have anything else in my collection like it.  From the bottle it looked like a pastel lavender with silver micro glitter and larger silver hexagonal glitter.

Once my nails were painted, the base turned more of a pastel pink than the pastel lavender that the bottle depicted, so I was a little disappointed.  I used 2 coats of the polish to achieve the look below, however I think a 3rd coat would have given more opaque coverage.  As usual I used my Seche Vite Base and Ridge Filler and Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

I picked this up from Costigans Good Price Pharmacy for just under $14.00.

Would you wear this colour?

x

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter

Revlon has released a new line of lip products, called Lip Butters.  They have been available in the US since November 2011 and I was able to obtain the colours below via eBay in November as well.  They were garnering rave reviews from lots of You Tube gurus and beauty bloggers so I just had to get on the bandwagon and try them out!  I was also very interested to see how long it would take for a “drugstore” product released in the US to be released in Australia…..6 months!!  You may have now seen the advertisements in magazines (pictured below) and on television featuring the actress Emma Stone.  There are 20 shades available in a wide variety of colours.  My current Lip Butter accumulation is 10 - for now!

As you can see, the packaging looks similar to the Revlon Colorburst lipsticks, but the actual lipstick itself is flush in shape to the applicator.  The packaging is also clear on the top so you can actually see what colour the lipstick is going to be, which is always good when you don’t have access to a tester.  The casing colour also represents the colour of the lipstick too.

Swatches

The three nude shades I chose are Creme Brulee, Pink Truffle and Brown Sugar (left to right).

The three light pink shades I chose are Strawberry Shortcake, Sweet Tart and Peach Parfait (left to right).

The two bright pink shades I chose are Raspberry Pie and Lollipop (left to right).

And finally the two darkest shades I chose are Candy Apple and Red Velvet.

I am SO impressed with the pigmentation and the colour payoff is the same as an actual lipstick, but so much more moisturising and creamy.  They glide onto your lips and are so easy to apply and there is no need to wear any gloss over the top!

If you haven’t already noticed the names of the butters are all sweets related!  Yummy!!

Overall, I definitely think you need to try one of these!!  They are absolutely amazing and so easy to use. Because they are a lip butter and I don't get more than 2-3 hours of wear before needing to reapply, but I don't mind touching up because they apply like a balm (no mess!). If you like wearing moisturising colour on your lips, these are for you.

I bought these on eBay and only paid around $11.00 for each of them (plus postage – I bought mine in bulk so postage was a lot less than buying just 1), so if you don’t mind waiting a little longer (not to mention saving a few bucks!) for the product then get on eBay stat!  Otherwise, head on down to your local chemist or department store and pick up 1, 2 or all 20!!

 Which colour is your favourite??

x

"Queenslander" Nail Polish

Tonight is State of Origin Game 1……so I decided to paint my toes to show my team spirit (Queensland supporter of course!).  As maroon is the colour for Queensland I decided to put my own twist on maroon and picked a new colour from Revlon called Scandalous.  It’s a grey-black based polish with purple micro glitter and larger purple hexagon glitter.  It took two coats to achieve opaque coverage. 

I purchased the Revlon Scandalous nail polish from Costigans Good Price Pharmacy for under $14.00, this will definitely be one of those polishes I will be wearing a lot!

I also apply a base coat with ridge filler (this is great to stop polish from staining your nails) and a quick dry top coat  - both of these are from Seche Vite; which can be purchased online from Crush Cosmetics for around $14.00 each.

Will you be painting your nails for State of Origin?  If so what colour are you choosing??

Stay tuned for swatches and review of the new Revlon Colourburst Lip Butters.....

My Winter Staples

It's starting to get cooler now so I'm starting to sort out my style for this winter, my staples are:

* Skinny Jeans – dark wash and sandblasted are my go to washes.

* Coloured Jeans – they are hot this winter – I have them in tomato red, cobalt blue and I’ve just ordered a hot pink pair too!  They are hot when paired with wardrobe staples of white and black singlets and t-shirts!

* Dark Green Military Jacket - from Supre's current season, light enough to layer over singlets and warm enough to get you through winter.  You can roll up the cuffs and zip and button it up too.

* Leather Jacket – I love my black one and I also picked up an off white one from eBay – warm and just a bit biker cool!

* Cardigans (aka Cardys) – I like them in a longer length and my taupe one from last winter is making a comeback!

* Black Leggings – I love thicker ones this season – they are so warm! Plus I can’t go past  my Sass and Bide black pvc rats – so rock star!

* Opaque tights – black, coloured or printed – they all look good with boots and a skirt – just don’t go too short – keep it classy!

* Scarves – plain, printed, long or short – it doesn’t matter just wrap it and go!

* Printed t-shirts – I like mine loose and with a picture or stripes or plain – so easy!

* Orange boyfriend blazer – eBay I love you……this jacket was a bargain and the fit is divine – love rolling up the sleeves…..so I did what every self-respecting fashionista does and ordered another in hot pink and black!

* Denim Jacket – this season I purchased a cropped one from Supre which has rolled up sleeves and cropped – this will take me through to autumn, winter, spring and chilly summer nights!  It’s gonna look hot with a white dress, silver sandals and a (fake) tan in summer!

* Ballet flats – comfy and of course they come in every colour  and style under the sun – I’m loving my leopard print, coral canvas, black embellished, tan embellished and silver peep toe.

* Riding boots – this season I swapped my ruched boots for riding boots – I have them in black and tan.



I have a big wardrobe turnover  so I shop on a bargain, I love hunting down cool items from Big W, Supre, Target, Cotton On and my one true love…eBay! 



What are your winter staples and where do you buy them?

This is me last week rocking my red jeans (from Big W for $18!!) a striped singlet, cropped black jacket and embellished black ballet flats.....

Hi and Welcome....

Hi!!!!  Welcome to my Blog.....if you would like to see reviews on products, fashion and make up bargains, hair products (from a guest haidresser blogger) and anything else in between stay tuned!