OCC Lip Tar - Pageant

Wow I haven't done a post in ages! I've been super busy with work so I haven't really been home during the day to take photos for a blog post. But I had the day off so I've got lots of photos stored for future posts :) (Super sorry about some of the photos! My hand shakes a lot when I take photo's...)

I recently joined Bellabox and as part of a promotion, they sent me a free OCC lip tar! I got the colour pageant which is a super bright barbie pink. I doubt I could pull this off during the day but I love the formula so much that I'm definitely going to pick it up in some other (more wearable) colours.

OCC Lip Tar - Pageant

I found that the lip tar was really runny which was good for application but it kept flowing out of the tube without me squeezing it. It got really messy at one point and went everywhere...

Oops, the photo is out of focus...

All cleaned up...

The lip tar contains 8ml of product and a little bit seriously goes a long way. I found that if I used too much, it would feather or go onto my teeth. Pageant is a bright pink so the application has to be really precise...

Direct sunglight

Indoors

I used my finger to apply the product as I didn't get a lip brush with it (I think a lip brush is included, depending on where you buy it from... but mine was free). I probably used more product than I needed to this way so I would definitely recommend using (any) lip brush!

It wears for a few hours with eating and drinking. I love that you don't really need to reapply during the day as the colour doesn't budge too much. When it fades, it fades evenly so I didn't end up with uneven colour across my lips like I do with the new Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains.

I'm so in love with this and I really want to pick up Divine and Trollop as well! OCC lip tars are marketed as 100% vegan and cruelty free. They retail for about $16 which makes them perfect as a Secret Santa/Kris Kringle present for Christmas :)

Does anyone else love OCC lip tars? Let me know what your recommendations are :)

Australis Totes Smokin' Eyeshadow Palette

I read about this palette on Mishelle's Sleepy Time and I was dying to get it. I've spent the last 2 weeks hunting this down at my local Priceline and Target but it was never in stock. I finally found it today when I was driving around Sydney checking out houses (anyone want a housemate?! I'm trying to move out!) at the Burwood Target store (there's still about 20-25 on the shelves if you live nearby!).

I'm not a big eyeshadow person but it's nice to have some eyeshadow handy.

Packaging

Totes Smokin' Palette

Palette with mirror and brush

I didn't think through the swatches properly so they've been swatched in the opposite order.

Top row swatches

Bottom row swatches

These can be applied both dry and wet. I recommend applying them wet though to get a really nice colour payoff. My photos look a bit washed out but the eyeshadows are actually really pigmented. They're also really soft and easy to work with.

Check out Mishelle's Sleepy Time for some amazing swatches of this palette. She did a comparison of wet and dry swatches. I tried my best but I couldn't get photos as good as hers so if you're interested, follow through on the link and check her blog out!

I picked this up for $10. I'm not sure if it's limited edition or not but it's worth picking up if you can find it!

Blog sale update! More items added.

I have way too much makeup and it's making me stressed looking at it as I know that I don't use it all. So I've decided to do a blog sale to sell some of it.

This sale is open to everyone. Keep in mind though that international shipping can be expensive.

The rules of the sale are:

1. Leave a comment saying what you want and I'll give you a shipping quote. Depending on what you want, shipping will probably be about $6 (more or less - it can cost as little as $2)
2. First come, first serve.
3. I am not responsible for lost or damaged mail. I'll pack everything with bubble wrap and it can be sent by registered mail for an extra $3. If you order a few things, I'll register it for no charge.
4. You can pay by paypal or bank deposit.
5. Sales are final and I don't accept returns.
6. While I tried my best to capture the true colours, I suggest you look online for swatches.

For people in Sydney, we can organise a free pickup :)

Blog Sale:

1. Bourjois flower perfection translucent loose powder (opened but new) $12

2. Innoxa Sheer Blush in Rose $6 - Swatched twice

Innoxa Sheer Blush in Rose

Innoxa Sheer Blush in Rose

Mirror and brush in bottom compartment

3. Benefit Bad Gal Lash mascara $20 - brand new in box.

4. Benefit Benetint $18 - decanted about 10% off it. Usage shown. (SOLD)

5. 1 x Benefit Porefessional (brand new in box) $35 (Pending)

    1 x Benefit Porefessional (used once) $30

6. Lipsticks - various pricing

Left to Right: MUA, Savvy, Estee Lauder

- MUA in shade 6. Swatched once. $2

- Savvy in Guava. Swatched once and has a nick in it due to it bumping against the lid. $2

- Estee Lauder in Rose Petal. Used 2-3 times. $4

7. Lipsticks - various pricing

Left to right: Estee Lauder, Rimmel, Maybelline

- Estee Lauder (already priced above)

- Rimmel in Asia. Swatched once. $4

- Maybelline in 135 Make me pink. Swatched once. $3

8. Estee Lauder lip gloss (used once) $4
Colours in the picture is a bit off. The left hand side is a baby pink gloss and the one on the right hand side is a darkish purply red with gold shimmer in it.

9. Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant $50 - Brand new in box (full sized)

10. Bourjois blushes in Rose D'or and Rose Frisson:

Rose Frisson (brand new): $10

Rose D'or (swatched once): $6

11. Murad Clarifying Cleanser (brand new) 60mL - $5

If you're buying a few items, I'm open for negotiation on the prices :)

I'll also throw in lots of samples :)

Harvest Box Review and haul sneak peek

I received my first Harvest Box yesterday and I promised you a review! I love the idea behind the harvest boxes and I'm really sad that I finished mine already. It was so good!

Harvest Box

The box is really thin. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it but I guessed that it was thin enough to be sent as a large letter via Australia Post rather than as a parcel which means that it was probably only about 2cm tall?

Dried fruit and nut mixes!

They sent me 4 different mixes that were about 1 serving each. I shared mine with a friend and we easily ate these all in one go.

Sail Away was a mix of chocolate, coconut flakes and dried banana. We didn't like the banana in this one as it wasn't the crunchy dried type. It was soft and chewy.

Thai lime & Chilli was cashews coated in thai lime chilli seasoning, sugar, salt, spices and natural kaffir lime flavours. We really liked this and it reminded me of the sweet chill & lime soy crisps.

Hola Hola was absolutely amazing! I really wish I could find this and just buy bucket loads of it! It was made up of lime & chilli roasted cashews, BBQ corn and spicy peas. It was really crunchy and soooo good!

Samba was a mix of dried mango, dried banana, coconut flakes and cashews. Again, the dried banana was soft and chewy (not crunchy) and the mango wasn't your normal dried over processed and sugar laden dried mango. This was like a mango that had been sliced and dried out in an oven.

I'm continuing my subscription as I really enjoyed it! I think it'll be so handy to throw a packet into my bag for uni or work. I've been told that buying dried fruit and nuts at The Nutshack would be cheaper than this subscription but I'm not sure if they sell mixes like the Harvest Box.

If you'd like a free box, I have a code that you can use at the Harvest Box website and sign up for a free box. It's a subscription but you can easily cancel at any time by going to the cancellations section in the members area.

The code is 72226DYBJEW. I bought the Harvest Box with my own money and am not endorsed by them. The free box code is part of a promotion that they're doing at the moment with all their members.

On another note, I'm still doing uni exams at the moment so I haven't done many posts recently. I just wanted to let you know that I haven't chosen a winner for my last giveaway. The reason is that it'll take me time to go through all the entries and make sure that the spam and duplicate entries are removed from the rafflecopter form for a fair draw. I promise that the winner will be chosen soon! You can enter my current giveaway here.

And here's a sneak peek of one of my next posts. It'll be a haul post!

Note that there's 2 boxes! :D

Look at what Abby from the Shrinking Wallet got me :)

The postman arrived on my doorstep today which was really weird as it's a Saturday. I'm not complaining though as he brought me a package from Abby (from the Shrinking Wallet). I approached her around the start of November and asked if she would do a Christmas blog swap with me. We were both really organised and ended up mailing out our packages this week.

I'm super happy with what I got. I feel like she did a way better job than I did! She wrapped everything up really nicely.. I wish I did the same!

Present time!

Freaking love everything!

She got me a few things that I already have (we must have the same taste!) but it's ok as I've found uses for everything :)

She got me:

- Face of Australia Barbados nail polish in you blue me away: I already have this but I've never used it so I think I'll keep the bottle from Abby and give mine away to a friend or something.

- Lancome cleanser for face and eyes: I've never tried Lancome cleansers and it's such a cute travel size so I think I'll leave it at my boyfriends house.

- Benefit mini high beam: I already have this but I was saving mine for a giveaway. Super happy that I got it as I actually wanted to try it :P

- MUA blush in shade 2: I have 2 MUA blushes (shades 1 and 4) so I might do a review someday...

- Almay eyeshadow in 205 cocoa: I've never tried Almay before but I've always wanted to. I don't really wear eyeshadow as I'm way too lazy to put it on every morning (I'm also horrible at applying it!). This is a really neutral colour though so I can't go wrong in applying it :)

- Revlon Grow Luscious eyeliner in espresso: I think I have an eyeliner addiction.... If I go to Priceline, I can't stay away from eyeliners.. (and blush.. and lipsticks..) so I put myself on a ban! Thanks for adding to my supply Abby :) I was going into eyeliner-buying-withdrawal :P

- Shu Uemura gloss: This is a bright red lip gloss. I think this might turn into a holy grail! It's such a pretty colour!

- Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey: I swear this is fate... I was at Priceline today and I picked up Honey but I made myself put it down as I wanted to wait for a buy one get one free offer. This was the first thing that I opened and I was squealing :P

- Bourjois 3D Gloss: This looks really good! How did Abby know that I love lip products so much?!

- Jemma Kidd Strike a Pose Swivel Palette: This has 4 eyeshadows, 1 cream highlighter, 1 cream blush. The mirror also swivels around and around. I'm in love with this!

Jemma Kidd Palette

Revlon balm stain in Honey... Can someone pretty please
buy me lots of these? :P

Thank you so much for this Abby! It's amazing and I love all of it!!! Omg I'm still so excited over the Revlon balm stain! You can see what I got for Abby here.

Blog Swap with Abby from Shrinking Wallet

Sorry for the lack of posts! I'm still in the middle of my uni exams but I finish up next Friday so I'll have heaps of time to do posts after that. I'll try to post a lot and you'll probably get sick of me! :P

In the meantime, I noticed on my giveaway page, people are commenting that they really like to see haul posts. Is that for real? I feel like people are writing that just for the sake of having something to write in the comments for entries but if people actually like them.. I have 1 or 2 haul posts that I can do. After that, I probably won't have any for ages as I'm currently trying to save money.... there's boxing day sales to save for!

I also just want to point you in the direction of Abby's blog, Shrinking Wallet. I approached her around the beginning of November as I wanted to do a Christmas blog swap with someone and she's my favourite blogger (her writing style is so easy to read and makes you laugh). I sent her package off on Thursday and being that we're both from Sydney, she got it today :)

Our limit was $20.... but I knew that she liked nail polish and was really into pastels at the moment so I couldn't help but buy the entire Face of Australia Pastel Nail Polish range for her (it's ok! I shopped really smart and waited for a sale like a good shopaholic). Head over to her post here to read and see the photos of the package that I sent her :)

I'll show you what she got me when the postman comes this week :)

p.s. does anybody know how to stop under eye bags from showing up in photos? I look like I was punched in the right eye :P (I also tend to half close my eyes when the flash goes off, making me look sleepy or drunk...)

Birthday celebrations!

Harvest Box

This is just a quick post to let you guys know of a great concept, The Harvest Box. I signed up tonight after becoming aware of it through the Lust Have It Facebook page and got my first box for half price!

The Harvest Box is a weekly subscription for $7.95 (per box) and they send a box of fruit and nut treats to your home or work. I wanted to wait until I got my first box before I did a post on them but they gave me a code that I could share so that your first box is free! I'm not sure how long the code will last for so here it is:

Harvest box code: 72226DYBJEW

Harvest Box Process
Image source: Harvest Box

I love that you can go through the choices that they offer and say "no thanks", "try me", "like it" and "yes please" so that you don't get things you don't like. You can also cancel at any time.

Some of the selections available
Image Source: Harvest Box

I'm going to try them out for a little while and see how it goes. I'm really excited to get my first box and I'll definitely put up reviews.

Has anyone had any experience with the Harvest Box? I'd love to hear them!

Disclaimer: I paid for The Harvest Box with my own money and was not asked to do this post. If you do use the code to claim a free box, I will benefit by also getting a free box. By using the code, you will be signing up for a subscription that you can cancel at any time.

Edit: I just checked again and while you get a free box by using the code, I don't think I get one too. But that's ok, I just wanted to share the code so people can try them out :)

Confessions of a Beauty Blogger Tag

I was tagged today by Mishelle from Mishelle's Sleepy Time to do the Confessions of a Beauty Blogger Tag. I love Mishelle's blog and I've read every post of hers :) Definitely go check her out if you aren't already following her!

So for the tag, my answers to the questions are:

1. How many hours a week do you spend planning/writing/uploading posts?

It really depends. At the moment, I’m in the middle of uni exams so I haven’t had a lot of time to write posts but I normally spend about an afternoon (so a few hours) once or twice a week, writing 2-3 posts. I generally don’t plan them ahead of time as I blog whenever I get the inspiration to sit down and review some products or take photos.

2. Are you a spender or a saver?

I think everyone who reads my blog would agree that I’m a spender! I love to shop but I also work hard for my money. In saying that, I still make sure that I pay my bills and save some of my paycheck.

3. When is it easiest for you to write your posts?

During the day as I take my photos right before I write the post so I need decent lighting. I’m pretty bad at taking photos though.

4.  What makes writing posts comfortable for you?

I always make sure that what I write is genuine and easy to read. I also like to make sure that I have (half decent) photos as I find posts without photos really boring and I don’t want to do them (or read them!).

In saying that, here's a bad quality photo to break up the mass of text that this post will probably become. It was dark at night and the only decent photo I could take was with my Macbook Pro (and then I took a photo of the photo with my iPhone - which is this photo if that made any sense at all). I'm going to a late Halloween party in 2 weeks and I'm going as a fairy :) I'll be using pink and green eyeshadow as well in the final look. I'll definitely take photos on the day!

In the process of doing my Halloween makeup

5. What’s your worst make up/hair habit?

Makeup: I’m always late in the morning so I have to do what I can on the train to work. I know that some people hate it when they see other people doing their makeup on the train but I normally only wear concealer and eyeliner anyway. Also, sometimes I also get really lazy and can’t be bothered to remove my makeup properly so I’ll just jump in the shower and wash my face under the hot water (so bad for my skin!!!)

Hair: I never brush it. It’s always really knotty and I’ll brush it with my fingers as I’m walking into work. I bought myself the Tangle Teezer hair brush to try to change my attitude towards my hair but I’m too lazy for that as well!

6. What’s one quote you wish the world would live by?

Learn how to say no. Sometimes it's ok to be selfish and take a little bit of time out for yourself. I find that some people don't know how to say no to others and end up being taken advantage of (e.g. always saying yes to family so that favours end up become things that are just expected). It can really impact on your mental health and you deserve to have a bit of a break every now and then.

7. How long do you spend getting ready everyday?

I love my sleep. I really really love my sleep. I can never sleep too much in one day so I normally get up as late as possible so I only have 15 minutes to get ready. I know I take at least 20 minutes but I need my sleep! :P

8. What’s your favourite post on your blog?

I like the post that I did on my Elizabeth Arden lipstick. You can read that here.

9. Who is a beauty blogger that you think deserves more subscribers than they have?

I think Abigail from Shrinking Wallet and Jasmine from My Cup of Tequila both deserve more subscribers than they already have! I really enjoyed reading their blogs before I started my own and I was super excited when they started following me! It seriously made my day when they did!

10. What’s one thing you’re excited about in the coming year?

Graduating uni! I have one more year to go so this time next year, I’ll have finished my degree. I have no idea what I’m going to be doing afterwards though so that part is really scary!

11.  What’s been your favourite blogging moment?

Realising that people actually read my blog and having subscribers who leave comments! I know that I haven't responded to many comments recently but I promise I'll get on top of that when uni is over.

12. How long does it take to prep for a post?

I’m hopeless at taking photos so I’ll take maybe an hour? Most of that time is spent fiddling with cropping my photos and choosing the best ones.

13.  Are you wearing jeans/skirt right now or are you wearing pajama bottoms?

What a weird question haha. I’m wearing pastel blue shorts right now. It’s from Forever 21 and I wish I stocked up as I love it!

14. What are you most proud of in your life?

Working since the age of 14 and 9 months (legal age to work in NSW) so that I could stop relying on my parents as much. I still live at home as my parents are very traditional and believe that girls should live at home until they’re married as “it’s not safe in the big bad world”. I have plans to move out next year though (I have no idea how I’ll break that news to them!). I’m also proud of the job that I hold right now and how much career experience I’ve gained out of it.

I know that it's been a long post but to finish off,

I want to tag:

Abigail from Shrinking Wallet

Jasmine from My Cup of Tequila

Sarah from More Than Adored

Kat from Kitsch Snitch

Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty

Looking forward to their responses :)

And because I don't like posts without photos, here's another one :) I can't believe Christmas is almost here and tomorrow, I'll be revealing my Christmas giveaway!

2011 Christmas at a friend's house