taking care of yourself
Today was my birthday!
For my birthday a lot of my friends and family pitched in for my styling suite session at Sussan to buy some outfits as I was really excited about it. When I get my layby back and I have all my outfits I am going to do a full write up on the whole experience, but I wanted to share my new top and jacket in this photo for a sneak peek 
I’ve had my eye on getting this for ages. I am pathetic with remembering to reapply lipstick and lipgloss so something that’s more of a stain is better for me if I’m going for specific colours for a look.
I got given some money from family in exchange for cupcakes (hehe) so I decided to splurge and grab this finally. I had tested it a few weeks earlier and it took AGES to come off my hand so I knew the stain part would be good.
It comes with the stain side and a balm side (pictured above)
Great long lasting colour.
But… It’s like drawing on your lips with a permanent texta and hard to even out when you stuff up or need to fill in a spot you missed. It dries FAST.
If you take off the lid on the balm and pull to one side, you’ll break the balm stick. Like I did. It’s broken in the picture above, you can see where it broke at the base.
The expert tips for application according to Revlon is to apply it to clean bare lips and wait 30 seconds, then build coverage as desired. Thing is, it doesn’t seem to build the coverage very well, so if you miss spots, your lips look a bit patchy. I’ll have to keep trying it.
In 2012 I stumbled across this dress made by an Adelaide designer. It’s called the Mushroom Kingdom dress. It’s amazing!! They were retiring the print and final orders were to be made in November, and thanks to someone who was able to make an investment in me (haha) I was able to put down a deposit before orders closed forever.
They also made it in a skirt, but dresses suit me better, so I forked over the money for my beloved dress.
There were loads of problems along the way though. When the printed material was sent to the designer, there was quality issues, so we had to wait for a new supplier to provide the new material, and then there was assembly issues too. Pleased to say though, at the beginning of April, I finally got the dress.
The reason I love this so much is because it’s everything about my childhood in a fully awesome dress. The quality of the material is excellent too, its silky, and the print doesn’t repeat – there’s something different on every side! I can wear this to geeky things and I can wear this for the hell of it too.
This is a photo of me wearing the dress last weekend at a friends engagement on their request I would have had a full photo but it was cold and dark so cardigans were required! It was definitely popular, I had lots of comments.
The print is retired now so it’s not available for order anymore, but the designer makes lots of other cool things and releases other great prints like this, so go and say hello to Vitae Clothing.
I try to ignore a lot of the newsletters and press releases (keyword here being TRY) so I don’t spend any more money than I need to, but I think Illamasqua has got me good this week with their new Paranormal collection.
It was the Paranormal palette that caught my eye. Just look at that glorious colour combination.. and they’re water resistant as well! It works out to be approximately $51AUD after currency conversion…
After all, why be normal, when you can be Paranormal?
Something I also noticed is that they have How To and Swatch videos on the page for the palette which for beginners is very, very helpful. For years I took all of my knowledge of applying eyeshadow from high school where it was apparently cool to have blue eyeshadow all the way up to your eyebrows. Oh please, someone slap past me.
See and buy the new collection here, including UV Glow Nail Varnishes and some seriously awesome lipstick colours.
They can’t come to Adelaide soon enough!
In February I placed an order for the first time with Sugarpill Cosmetics for these glorious eyeshadows. It took a while to get here but now I finally have them to show you!
(palette photo from the Sugarpill website)
I got the four colour palette from the Addicted to Pretty collection called Sweetheart. This has the colours Dollipop, Afterparty, Midori, and Tako.
This is a swatch of all four colours. I haven’t really tested these out on myself apart from the swatch (been SO busy), but I really love how bold the colours are, especially the white. Fantastic.
I also got the Atomic Loose Eyeshadow Trio, which is three of the loose shadow pots shipped in a set. Had to be careful not to breathe when opening this so I didn’t spill any! These swatches are all taken from the LIDS which shows how bright they are. And sparkly!
As you can see the atomic shadows have a shimmer, and the palette is very matte in comparison. It’s good to have a bit of both in your life You can layer up too! A white matte base with a sparkle over the top would be nice.
The products are excellent quality. Everything absolutely lives up to the hype, great packaging and excellent bright colours. All of Sugarpill Cosmetics is cruelty free and most is vegan too, which makes it a feel good brand to purchase from.
However… in our order (we went in for a group buy) we had to wait 6 weeks for it to arrive in Australia, and when it finally arrived most of the order was missing. Customer service replied to the email after a few days, and the rest of it came within a fortnight after the mistake was alerted to them. It might have just been a busy order period oversight when it was initally shipped, but a friend who also ordered at the same time still doesn’t have her order. There was no real explanation for most of our order being missing as the rest of it arrived fine so I considered that a very big mistake ™.
I love the products, but I live in the world of instant gratification thanks to the internet, and waiting 6+ weeks for something that might not all turn up at once is just unbearable. We’re in Australia, not Neptune! 
Review Scores
Products: 4.5/5 (great quality, pigment, and packaging)
Shipping/Cust Service Experience 2/5
Total: 6.5/10
As part of my invitation to the Sussan VIP Launch a few weeks ago, I got to take home a few bonus items which was super exciting, and I decided to choose two pairs of their 120D tights to try out as I knew Winter was coming (haha).
Tights and I generally don’t have a good relationship. I have large thighs and calves, so think of me when you’re buying your $15 boots from Kmart as I can’t fit into those unless I get size 10+ and then what’s the point? Genetically blessed!
As a result, sometimes even extra tall hosiery doesn’t really fit quite well, but the plus size stuff doesn’t fit my legs either so I’m stuck in the middle.
These tights from Sussan aren’t able to be tried on as they’re in cardboard packaging, but I like to give things a go. I got some in a dark grey and the cobalt blue and they are quite comfortable with a high waist with a nice stretch so they fit perfectly!
My only negative about these is the very thick seam down the front which makes my stomach itch. I’m not too bothered about the thick seam across my toes but I know Neena found this a bit of a frustration.
Great quality and nice colours, and good pricing. I think the positives outweigh the negatives.
RRP $16.95, currently $10 off. Buy them here or in store.
Disclaimer: These tights were provided as part of my invitation to the Sussan VIP launch in Rundle Place. All views are my own!
I left my subscription on for Bellabox so I got the April one delivered last week! To be honest it’s really nice having presents delivered that aren’t for work.
This month:
Now that I’ve had a chance to review this box, it wasn’t as bad as I thought when I opened it. At first I was a bit disappointed! Never mind, it turned out well:
- The Micellar Lotion is a three in one cleanser, toner and make up remover that is also no rinse. The name doesn’t really give that description away, so after I did a bit of research into the product, this seemed good. I have been using it when I remember, it removes makeup well. I do have concerns about it causing breakouts in some skin types considering it is no rinse, but we will see.
- Lady Gaga’s Fame perfume is actually a lot nicer than I thought. I knew of this before this month’s Bellabox of course but didn’t know the scent. I think black liquid that sprays clear is something new and exciting in perfume land, and we all know after years of the same boring stuff this is sorely needed in this industry.
- Lash Cards! Oh boy this is great. They are designed to stop your mascara smudging onto your skin by holding the card behind your lashes. In the simplest form it’s basically a shaped piece of cardboard but still super handy if you’re clumsy or smudgey like I am. I got two in the sample but 10 for $7.95 isn’t that bad considering you can use them a few times.
- Sally Hansen has a great reputation, but maybe I just lucked out with a bad nail polish colour. It’s basically black. We couldn’t get the magnetic effect to work. Not sure what happened! I’ll give that one to my mother (she has acrylics)
That’s pretty much all I’ve had the chance to try out so far as I’ve been SO busy with helping at the cafe! We opened a cafe last Thursday and it has been go go go since then, plus job interviews and also my own job up until now. That also explains a bit of the silence here! More posts coming this week, LOTS in the queue!
I was extremely lucky to be invited to the Sussan Rundle Place VIP night a couple of weeks ago. The store has been open for nearly a month now. I think Sussan wanted to dedicate a separate time to their VIP guests aside from the Rundle Place opening to show off the store. I was invited to bring a guest also, so I asked my mother to join me, and I knew a few friends who were going along.
The store is very bright and colourful. I love modern, crisp and clean decor and lots of bold colour accent. They have an excellent shop anchorage in Rundle Place, only one shop away from the main mall entrance into Rundle Place, and directly facing Rundle Mall itself.
After a little bit of a look around, we met the staff of the store and also the head office staff from Melbourne who were here for the event, and they explained a little about their new stylist room. You can book in to the room with a professional stylist for one hour who will walk you through the clothes that will suit you and your body type. Straight away this has impressed me about a hundred fold. There is no obligation and the session is free, but you have to book in in advance. The service is available full time while the store is open.
I am seriously impressed. There are a lot of very unstylish outfits out there, and up until a little while ago I would be one of them! I have started buying from online high end fashion websites in the last 12 months so feel a little “with the times” now, but could definitely use some help with picking colours that suit me, and what I should wear for the extreme pear shape I have.
I found out from Celeste that another store has offered this before but they are not Adelaide based, so I am not sure if this is a first for Adelaide, but it is definitely the first I have heard of it being here. We are getting with the times!
The night went over to InStyle who was there showing off this seasons new trends, and then I did a LOT of browsing.
I didn’t take home any huge pieces of clothing but I did pick up two pairs of tights, some leggings and a citrus coloured necklace that suited my navy dress that I was wearing very nicely! On the way out we were also offered a goodie bag which was very unexpected but lovely, and I was pleased to find a copy of the current trends brochure in there (as I sometimes have the mind of a sieve).
I will be back with some savings very soon to book in for a stylist session, and being that they are no obligation, I would suggest treating yourself to one too. Though – I know you won’t be able to resist buying some of the pieces you are recommended, and I think that’s the whole point! Or at least then you have some items to work towards, if you can’t buy them on the day. Honestly, if I’m told something is good for my body type, and I like it too, of COURSE I’ll buy it!
Best tights selection ever! Can’t wait for Winter.
A brief review on the products I was provided will be up on the blog shortly, and were all very kindly supplied by PR. All views are 100% my own!
I bought this over a year ago when I wanted to take my mineral powder out with me to touch up as I wasn’t wearing any liquid foundation for a while. I also wanted to try and avoid the huge mess I was making with my mineral powder because I was getting it everywhere, and thought a travel brush like this could help waste.
I just could not figure this out for the life of me though. I miss the other type of brushes with the pump button, but the brushes on those ones are not soft enough for my liking. Can they just combine the two?
Maybe I’m just not using it enough for it to dispense through, and there is definitely enough powder in there, but it just never seemed that much of the powder was filtering down into the brush.
Pros:
Cons:
Currently on special (and usually on special as I bought it at this price) at Priceline for $15.96.
The cut provides a smudged line for a soft, smoky eye while the other side comes with a convenient sharpener that collects shavings to keep your pencil tips fresh and your vanity mess-free.
Our smudge brush features soft, cruelty-free taklon bristles, a recycled aluminum ferrule, and a sleek, bamboo handle. This brush is packaged in a zip-top reusable pouch.
Eeeehhhhh. I have a feeling the other Ecotools brushes are probably great, but this one misses the mark.
My experience to date with eyeliner smudging brushes hasn’t been great. I am running with three brands of eyeliner at the moment, and the Natio eyeliner has an inbuilt sponge smudger on the top that has been the best solution for the smudge look so far.
Pros:
Cons:
You can buy it at Priceline for $8.99 or iHerb.com for $3.50.
Disclaimer: This product was provided for consideration. Views are my own.
Back in 2008 when Dry Shampoo was first appearing on the market, there was only one brand you could buy – Klorane (the white can with the green writing). Now there are about a dozen different brands. Some do work better than others, and have ingredients that claim to make it softer or for different types of hair.. Not reeeally sure how that works, but okay then.
Normally I will use the Batiste brand because it’s the largest can that available at the moment and the best priced for the size.
While I was in Sydney last month I noticed that there was a new brand with a dry shampoo out and funnily enough it’s by Designer Brands. I have noticed that DB are branching out into all sorts of beauty products now, they have a BB cream, HD foundation, body lotions and fragrances! I decided to pick up a can to spruce up my hair before the wedding – it was very humid over there and didn’t want to risk a wash with all my saviour hair products being back in Adelaide.
The description says…
Designer Brands Dry Shampoo & Volumiser is formulated with natural Rice Starch which absorbs and removes excess oils, dirt and other particles that build up in the hair. Simply spray, brush & go!
Hair is left cleansed and deodorised with added volume & bounce! For use in between washing and suitable for all hair types.
I have a good hair type that it doesn’t need daily washing (can get away with every 3-4 days) but sometimes my fringe just needs a bit of a boost, which is where dry shampoo works so well. My hair is a super thick wave frizz, so if I can prolong a wash so I don’t have to restart the long process all over again of getting it manageable I’m thrilled.
Pros:
Cons:
Can’t fault this one too much at the moment, I’m pleased there’s more dry shampoo products on the market now, makes a big change from five years ago!
You can buy it at most chemists – I’ve seen it at UDC, Priceline and Chemist Works so far, but I’m sure there’s more. Retailing at $7.99, you can also buy it online from the DB website here.
Here’s a mystery for you: I can’t find this palette ANYWHERE on the internet. Not even on their website. I have a feeling it must have been discontinued.. Boo! However, I do have a solution!
This is a Designer Brands travel palette I picked up from a chemist in Sydney in March. They were $5.00 and I thought it was a great bargain! Now I don’t know if they actually still sell these or not as I can’t find it online. It kind of reminds me of the Glam Palette in function, as both have a mirror and lip/cheek/eye products, so I think that replaces this palette.
Eyeshadow swatch left to right, top to bottom (to match rows on palette)
Lipgloss, lipstick and blush/bronzer swatches, to match layout on palette (blush/bronzer on the bottom)
I say blush/bronzer above, because it’s a shade that could be used for both. Built up on your cheeks it’s a nice muted blush, but can also easily be used as a bronzer which makes this a great travel palette.
The eyeshadows are a bit brighter than I expected considering what I paid, so this is a plus. I don’t own many eyeshadows at the moment, so am trying to build up a bit of a collection. The darkest (brightest) purple is very bright once on!
Pros:
Cons:
Here’s where I’d normally link you to the product, but like I’ve mentioned, you might be looking for the Glam Palette instead (which is $12.99RRP). Either way, Designer Brands is a decent quality drugstore brand here in Australia, so I’m looking forward to purchasing more of their products to try out.
Two weeks ago, I came across a half price subscription deal to Bellabox. There are a few monthly subscription based “beauty boxes” that are floating around that have beauty products to try (full size or sample, depending on the box). The prices vary, but Bellabox, the one I subscribed to, is $15.00. I paid $7.50 as part of a new subscriber special for March, and I thought this was a fair price to give the box a go.
The box is dispatched towards the end of each month, so I subscribed just before this box went out, which was a great present to come back to Adelaide for. They have a listing on their website of all the products that go out each month, which you can see here. However, this is what came in my box this month:
The Suigo Shampoo and Conditioner Samples are 30% of the full size, so this works out to be valued at $6.75 each. This makes the products in this box worth $35.78.
First Impressions of Bellabox
Notable Product Impressions
Would I stay on board for another month of Bellabox?
This product was paid for by me and was reviewed in accordance with my policies.
In Mid February I ordered a huge amount of Real Techniques brushes from the US. I’ve had them now for six weeks and want to briefly talk about the three brushes I have been using the most, the Stippling, Blush and Powder Brushes.
A lot of the RT brushes seem to overlap each other with their functions as you will soon discover, but I’m a bit of a compulsive collector and ordered everything while I had the chance to have a nice set of brushes.
All of these reviews are written as a “I have absolutely no idea about makeup brushes and what they do” so I hope this helps you if you have stumbled across this page and have no real technical understanding of makeup brushes and just use a sponge/random brush for your foundation
I wasn’t really sure what a Stippling Brush seemed to do because there’s so many different brushes for makeup, surely you only need 1-2 to do everything?
The difference is the bristles of the brush thin out at the very ends, so the product you are brushing on is absorbed into the thicker bristles, and then the thin ends help to distribute your foundation evenly and also avoid any brush strokes. It is supposed to help achieve an airbrushed finish. I do like this brush a lot, but because it is thin at the ends, you do need to take some time with this as buffing out your foundation after applying is not really a quick task with this brush.
Also a good point to note is that because of the shape of the bristles on the end of the brush, this is a great brush to get into corners and areas that are hard to get coverage.
A large super soft brush to me seems like the ultimate tool for applying blush without it being too harsh on your face. I only wear a tiny amount of blush so a small bounce with the brush on my blush compact is enough to do both cheeks. I love this brush because of how soft it is so it’s funny that it is the least used one out of the three!
I use this brush for mineral powder foundation to set areas that need a bit more coverage than just liquid alone, or where I don’t want to apply liquid (like my forehead). I still go pretty light on my coverage to get close to an airbrushed finish. This is a really big soft brush so it’s really good for an even powder coverage without caking it on all over the place.
You can purchase Real Techniques brushes at Priceline or through iHerb.com (click on the brush titles to go direct to the pages). I will be reviewing the eye brushes next post!
I was very spoilt the day after Valentine’s Day as my best buddies Leni and Neena bought me an ASOS voucher that I woke up to… At first, thinking it was spam! Whoops. I woke up a bit and read it properly and was very shocked and surprised! I know you all probably do not need reminding that ASOS exists… I hear my wallet running away from me.
This is one of the things I bought with my voucher.. IT’S A SWAN DRESS AAAHHH!
A few days earlier, Neena and I went in together on getting some Real Techniques brushes shipped here from iHerb in the US. They have them less than 50% of the Australian RRP, and they are great affordable brushes. Soooo, I bought… all of them. Well, all the ones I didn’t already own.
I’ll be reviewing some of these as time goes along, I’ve still really got to watch all of the tutorials on how to use all of them, but I am really getting into makeup now!
On iHerb, you can use the code GRQ095 to receive $5 off for orders under $40, and $10 off for orders over $40. Only applicable to first orders. Shipping to Australia is $12 using DHL Express, but it goes down if you spend over $60. I think we paid $8 shipping for over $100 of products and it was here in three business days!
