Michika Mask Giveaway Winners!

The Michika Mask giveaway has finished up today! Thanks for entering and for supporting Larisa :)

Click here to go to the Michika website

The winners are:

1. Mahdi M

2. Abigail A

3. Tasha Y

4. Jess J

5. Ivy

6. Ross S

I've forwarded your email details to Larisa who will be in contact with you :)

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LUSH Mask of Magnaminty

I've been really getting into masks recently and this week, I used the LUSH Mask of Magnaminty. It's a mask that deep cleanses both your face and your back (especially good for people who get break outs on their back!). The two things that jumped out at me most about the mask is the China clay and the peppermint oil in this mask. The China clay pulls out the nasties from your pores and the peppermint oil is so evident in the mask from both the smell and that cold menthol like feeling on your face when the mask is on. The mask also has ground aduki beans and evening primrose seeds in it for exfoliation and it's super thick.

LUSH Mask of Magnaminty

The mask is meant to stay on for 5-10 minutes but I think some people might struggle a little bit to make it to 10 minutes. When you've got the mask on, your face just starts to get colder and colder and I felt like my face had been stuck in a freezer! It's not a completely unpleasant feeling but it does make it a lot more satisfying when I wash it off with warm water as feels SO GOOD! The feeling of washing it off is kind of like having a hot shower in winter. It just feels so amazing.

LUSH Mask of Magnaminty

It's time to wash it off when the mask starts to harden a little bit and it becomes a little difficult to crack a smile. When I'm washing it off, my face just feels so soft and that cold feeling lingers a little bit afterwards. It makes it feel like the mask is doing its job.

The best part of the mask is that after using it, my face doesn't feel tight at all and it's super soft. My face just feels clean and looks...... glowy. As silly as that sounds, you really do get that feeling like you've done an amazing job at cleaning your face (even though you haven't really since the mask did everything :P).

Feeling like I'm in a horror movie :P

The only negative about the mask is that it only has a shelf life of 3 months so I'd advise that you buy it as close as possible to the "made on" date. The tub will have a sticker that tells you the "made on" and the "use by" dates. This is actually my second tub as my first one reached the use by date before I got to use most of it. I was really upset but then I just repurposed it as a foot scrub :P (it was only a few days past the use by date). However, I do like that it doesn't need to be refrigerated.

The mask retails for $16.95 for a 125g tub.

Are there any LUSH masks that you've tried and can recommend?

Limited Edition MAC lipstick giveaway winner!

Thanks guys for entering my Limited Edition MAC lipstick giveaway! I loved doing this giveaway to celebrate my new blog design :) I'm falling in love with it more and more each day and I'm so happy to have found an amazing blog designer! If you're in the market for a new blog design, check her out, her link is in my sidebar (Disclaimer: I didn't get my blog design for free, I paid for her services). My 1 year blogiversary is also coming up so keep your eye out for my next giveaway in about 2 weeks :) Now onto the giveaway winner:
Congratulations Theresia Syanli!
I've sent you an email so please respond within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest post by the Boyfriend on his makeup shopping experience.

So Jenny has wanted me to participate in her blog for a long time now. So the other day she took me to Priceline and told me to get anything I thought she would want, with a budget of $20. I normally don’t approve of her wasting her money on makeup because she never actually uses everything she buys…But I must say I was actually surprised how cheap makeup was… regardless the woman has far too much!

Now apparently she got the idea off some friends, they were wondering if their partners were able to buy makeup for them. I’m pretty sure she thought I would fail epically….

So we were at Priceline and I soon realised that I had expensive tastes…everything I looked at was way over the budget. In the end I tried to find some things I though she would like and she pointed out the cheaper brands for me. So I came up with the following items

His pick of products for $20

1. Nivea Lip Butter in Caramel Cream ($4.55): I know she has this weird obsession with lip balms…I think at one point she had like 20 in her bag. She also loves caramel. So the moment I saw it, I knew she would want it.

2. Rimmel Kate Lipstick in number 16 ($7.96): She also loves her lipsticks, so I couldn’t leave without one. She’s always screaming “omg I love this colour,” “it’s so cute,” or just “OMG,” whenever we walked past something in certain shades of pinks and purples. So it was easy to pick a colour. There were no new ones left, so we took a photo of the tester.

3. Rimmel I Love Lasting Finish Nail Polish in Lilac ($4.76):  I wanted to pick a nail polish because she’s always looking at (and buying) nail polishes even though she paints her nails like once a year...the colour was also a typical Jenny colour.

4. Nivea Facial Cleaning Wipes ($7.49): I didn’t have much money left or time (apparently I was taking too long…although I am really competitive and the type of person that takes 6 years to make a decision) so I just went to the Nivea section, I knew she used this brand so I looked for anything that was around $8.  Removes Makeup, cleanses, tones AND hydrates AND also for all skin types…I couldn’t go wrong with this.

So it was judgment time…and I can officially say that I can buy makeup for her.

Although it’s not that hard when she sends hordes of makeup to my house every week…you start to notice things.

She told me she was really impressed with what I chose. However…she also told me that she owned everything I picked out already, which wasn’t surprising since she owns like half of the stuff in Priceline.

Maybelline Colossal Mascara

I did wish I stuck with my gut and got the Maybelline Colossal mascara, apparently it was one of the things she didn’t own already. But in my defense she JUST bought 2 mascaras that did the exact same thing…and I mean the EXACT same thing….

In the end I actually did have fun and maybe next time we will try clothes or shoes. (She sends hordes of that to my house as well…)

August Favourites!

It's the end of another month which means that it's time for another favourites post! :D It's crazy how fast the year is going and I really wish it would slow down but we're another month closer to Christmas which is probably my favourite time of the year :D I love all the shopping and the sales and the amazing gift sets that come out in the beauty sections of our department stores :)

August Favourites

This month has been really crazy for me in terms of making plans for next year (I graduate from uni at the end of this year) and just life in general but I did take the time out to focus on choosing my favourite makeup products for this month. There's no skincare in this months post as I'm trialling out some new stuff but keep an eye out for it next month :) (hint: I'm loving the Kiehl's creamy eye treatment with avocado!)

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in ethereal,
Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer and
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in ethereal:

I use the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder if I'm doing my makeup to go out at night or to go to an event as I don't really see a difference when I use this during the day but if I use this and I go to an event where the lightning is a bit dim, I feel like my face is just a bit.... brighter? It might just all be in my head but I really like using this when I don't really want to set my foundation with powder but I still want something on my face to get rid of that "sticky" foundation feel.

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer:

This is one of those primers that goes on liquidy and dries to a powderish finish. It makes it a lot easier for me to blend in my foundation and I also use a lot less foundation when I use this primer. I love that the slightly heavy glass-like packaging makes it feel really luxurious and a little primer goes a long way! I do have to powder my t-zone a little bit more often during the day though but I don't mind too much.

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20:

I've been using this on blemishes closer to my jawline as the skin there is slightly lighter than the rest of my face. I STILL don't understand why MAC skipped NC25 so I ended up getting NC20 and prayed that it would match. It's probably a tad too light but I just blend it out until it looks ok. I just love the little container it comes in and I can't wait until I finish it all up! I have this obsession over the little mac pots.

MAC lipstick in Flamingo:

I did a review here if you want to find out more about it but it's basically the perfect pink lipstick for me :) It's a really nice pale pink that doesn't wash me out or make me look like a clown.

Clarins Eclat Minute Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in Rose:

Now to be honest, I've always thought of Clarins to be like an "old lady" brand and I've never been interested in it at all. I used to always walk past and never even give it a second thought as it just didn't appeal to me at all. I saw this lip gloss in a video on YouTube by Essie Button and I decided that I HAD to have it. It's an absolutely gorgeous, sheer pale pink lip gloss that feels really hydrating and just blends into my lips really well. The only thing I don't like about it is the spongey doe foot applicator which I think will get really gross over time so I always try to wipe all the excess off it when I'm done.

Left to right: MAC lipstick in Flamingo and Clarins Eclat Minute Instant
Light Natural Lip  Perfector in Rose swatches

If you have a blog, please link me if you've done an August favourites post :) I love reading them!

Don't forget to enter my Michika Facial Mask Giveaway! :)

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The mask that started my addiction!

I've always loved the concept of masks and the thought of how relaxing it would be to sit back with a face mask on and let my face absorb some of the good stuff but as I'm sure you know by now, I'm one of the laziest people when it comes to skincare. And that's the reason why every time I went out shopping and saw a mask that I liked, I would always put it back as I didn't want to waste money on something that I was too lazy for.

Being a blogger, I often get asked to trial products but something that you might not know about me is that I'm super picky with what I like and I hate to waste people's time so I generally turn down offers. However, I was really excited about one product that I was offered to try so I said yes and it started a mask addiction! I used to be too lazy but now I genuinely take the time out to use masks :)

Obligatory face mask selfie :P

The product is called the Michika Complexion Synergist 3-in-1 mask. The 3-in-1 refers to the moisturiser, toner and boosting serum qualities of the mask. It claims to simplify your skin care ritual if you use the mask instead of doing the 3 things (moisturising, toning, applying serum). I'm a bit iffy about that as I'm quite particular about my skincare and I can't not moisturise and do my normal routine so I've been using the mask at the start of my skincare routine. Obviously this would be really good for some people and it's really down to personal preference. One tip I have for you for this mask is to wait a few minutes after you take it off for the serum to really sink in as the mask leaves a fair bit of it behind.

Michika Facial Mask

One thing that I'm not too sure that I like about the mask is the green tea fragrance in the ingredient list. When Larisa (the owner of Michika) contacted me about the mask, I jumped on the opportunity as I'm a sucker for all green tea related things (especially green tea ice cream!) so I couldn't resist a green tea mask. Obviously, they're green tea scented but I generally avoid skincare that contains fragrance. If something has fragrance listed in the ingredients list, I won't buy it. I find that skincare that is perfumed really irritates my skin. Luckily, my skin was fine with this mask but if anyone knows anything about about different types of fragrances (and if they're good or not), please leave a comment for me :) I'd love to learn more about it!

Onto the good things about the mask! I've loved how moisturising it is and it makes my skin feel so supple. One of the great things about the mask is that it has just the right amount serum on it so that it doesn't drip everywhere (something I hate!) or feel dry.

The selling feature of this mask though was the instructions on the box that advise you to run the mask (before you open it) under hot water before using it. I used to be lazy with masks because I hated that sudden cold feeling on my face from a cold mask. Running it under hot water warmed it up a little bit so that it was a lot more comfortable to wear. It feels like Larisa really took into consideration the small details when she created this mask and the instructions.

The instructions told me to relax and leave the mask on for 20 minutes but I got bored after like 2 minutes so I spent the time on my laptop blogging and watching youtube. Obviously, I was sitting up so it also passed what I call the "sliding off the face" test. One of the most annoying things about cloth masks is that they can start to really slide off the face if you sit up but this stayed relatively in place (with a few adjustments here and there for my eyes). The mask even has eye patches if you want to use them which I thought was handy.

It's obviously hard to take a photo when you
can't see :P

Now the cost of these masks is $28.30 for a pack of 5 masks (including shipping in Australia. Larisa also ships overseas). However, I was just on her website and noticed that she has a crazy sale on and is selling a pack of masks for $7.90 + $7.50 shipping (in Australia, $12.50 for overseas customers). That works out to be $15.40 for 5 masks which is a pretty good deal :)

Now, Larisa has also generously offered to hold a giveaway so that 6 of my readers will be able to try out her masks! This giveaway is for Australian residents only (sorry international readers!).

The terms and conditions of this giveaway are:

1. Winners will be generated by random through Rafflecopter

2. This giveaway is open for Australian residents only

3. You must be 18 years old or older to enter

4. Prizes to winners will be shipped after you provide your shipping address (I will forward your email details to Larisa who will be in contact with you)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Amazing Benefit deal!

I love Benefit products and their super cute packaging but the thing that really sets Benefit aside from other companies is their willingness to ship their products to Australia at US prices. Pretty much all makeup companies refuse to let their products be sold to Aussies at the US price so we're stuck paying ridiculous prices for makeup.

The Benefit website ships to Australia and has free shipping for orders over $125. The shippings costs are actually very reasonable for any orders under $125 as well. It's great for people like me who hate paying for shipping :)

At the moment, Benefit are letting you create your own custom makeup kit and are throwing in a free gift and a makeup bag as well :) I'm not going to lie but the makeup bag was basically what drew me in as it's absolutely gorgeous!

Benefit makeup bag

You basically choose one product in each category of complexion (face products), cheeks and eyes and then you choose a free gift. There are so many options in each category and I'm kicking myself for not realising when I ordered mine. I thought that each category only had 3 items to choose from but there are actually multiple pages. But I'm not kicking myself too hard as the entire makeup kit only costs $79!

Makeup Kit Maker

My makeup kit

If I purchased the Porefessional, Fake Up and Fine One One in Australia, the total cost would have been AUS$132. The free Creaseless Cream Shadow retails for AUS$29! I think that I got an amazing bargain :) (even when I take into account that the AUS dollar is no longer on parity with the US dollar).

Check it out and have a play around with making your own kit on www.benefitcosmetics.com but don't hold me accountable if you give in and buy a makeup kit :P I'd love to know what you got though!