micellar cleansing water

My hand is well and truly flung up for the *who can't, and probably never will be able to, afford the Bioderma Crealine 'Micellaire' Water?*. If you can't either, Garnier's got yo' back.

Kind of.

I don't actually know how good of a dupe this product is, since I've never had the loose change (or you know; hefty hedge fund) required to step foot into a french pharmacy, or buy the thing with $$$ extra taxes and whatnot here in the isolated/lonely/semi-forgotten land that appears to be Australia, at least where beauty and skincare brands are concerned.

So I eyed this bottle and its 50 sisters/clones on the shelf shelf suspiciously, dubiously pondering "as if you phony." But then I realized how very not rich as I was (am) and decided what the heck, if this glorified water turns out effective IT WILL WORTH THE $12.

And it was.

Though it might be important to note that up until this point, I'd been stubbornly scraping off the BB cream + eyeliner off my face with baby wipes following the logic of 'if it's good enough for an infant butt, it should be good enough for my face'. I really don't know what kind of education I'm really getting, but that train of thought it sketchy and best, and this micellar water thing is definitely an improvement on that. 

new year new things

A new year is always a  fresh start.

Sometimes my brain can get overrun with thoughts, being a naturally neurotic person, but writing everything down always helps. This beautiful mint journal with gold polka dots is a nice place to do that.

Smith's rosebud salve is something I've always been meaning to try, being a much loved cult classic and I can confirm it's amazing.

My bottle of rimmel's wake me up was on it's last legs, so I thought I'd try something new and after reading somewhere that l'oreal's lumi magique was a decent dupe for giorgio armani's maestro (which is way out of my price range) seemed a good a pick as any. It is a little more pink toned than my natural natural skin, but the formula goes on effortlessly with light to medium coverage, and I'm enjoying using it through summer.

Here's to another year of goals achieved, laughter and good food.

x

p.s. lush bath bombs are the best way to turn around a not-so-great day ..

Festive lipsticks

The festive season is well and truly upon us and around this time every year, everyone (me included) start to panic about the most dreaded question of all "What to wear?!".

Fear not I'm here to slightly ease your troubles.

Presenting my two well-loved weapons of choice. Rimmel's Kate 107 and Mac Ruby Woo. I love these colours through all the seasons, but around Christmas-time is when they really come out to shine. One of the two will match any outfit you choose; velvet, sequins, chiffon you name it. They are both matte, and last eons, all the better to grab the lucky guy and find some mistletoe already!

Or you know, sip on as many glasses of mulled wine and munch as many mince pies as you want. :) Now all you have to do is find a pretty dress..

Moroccan Oil Dupe

left- original, right- dupe

Moroccan oil is the widely heralded hero of the hair world. It tames, de-frizzes and adds shine to brittle lack lustre hair. Sounds like a god-send doesn't it? Unfortunately, quality costs money (most of the time) and and excess of money is one thing I sure ain't got. With the original Moroccan oil racking in at the hefty price of anywhere from $20-$50 dollars, it causes me almost physical pain every time I finish up yet another bottle.

Never fear, budget friendly Aldi is here!

But how does the bank balance friendly $7 dupe compare, quality wise? First the differences

• The bottle is significantly smaller (200ml vs 100ml) and packaged in plastic, unlike the original's snazzy glass.
• The product itself is a little colour. The original is a rich amber, whilst aldi's version is  bears more resemblance to that of cooking oils. 
• The dupe has a considerably weaker scent.

Now for the similarities. They both absorb into hair equally well, leaving no slippery residue on your hands. They both, fundamentally do the same job, albeit one a little less effectively that then other. 

The verdict?

A good alternative option if you're a bit hard for cash but that pesky old saying money for value is probably true I'm afraid (in this case at least). 

Have you tried either of these moroccan oils, how did you find them?

Berry Smoothie

I am ridiculously late to the party that is revlon colour-burst lip butters but when the initial hype was all over the blogosphere and  I excitedly rushed out to grab one for myself,  none of the ones I'd tried suited my skintone.

That is until the other day I was dropping in to priceline to pick up some bobby pins (that's how all these stories start aye) when I decided to give lip butters another go, swatching all the ones I ignored the first time round. Berry smoothie's tube is not very eye-catching, it just looks like just another generic purply pink, but it's so much more than that. It doesn't look very special in the tube, but it's amazingly flattering on. I have officially been converted, even though I am quite un-fashionably late.. 

The Comforter

I may have only recently dipped by toe into the wondrous world of lush, but I'm well and truly addicted.

They do quite a diverse range of products, but so far, I've only given the bath bombs a try, though I'll definitely be branching out and giving the rest of their skincare a go as soon as my piggy bank is a little less empty.

The comforter, is a big 'ol swirl of blackcurrant creaminess which is, as the name suggests endlessly comforting on a chilly winter evening. The best bit about comforter bars, is you get to use it multiple times, breaking bits off to foam up your bath; one bar will give you about 5-6 decent baths. When it's not making your bath all foam-y and blackcurrant-y it sits in your room making everything smell positively delicious and fruity.

Think Pink

A few weeks ago, I bought my very first lush bath bomb, nay lush product EVER, which was think pink. I don't know why it's taken me so long to dip into the wonderful world of lush, but now that I've given it a try, I must say I'm addicted. Another visit is definitely in order very soon.

The best thing about lush bath bombs, is that only will they make your bath feel super special, but how great they make your room smell just sat on the shelf! It makes your whole room smell lovely and fragrant; no wonder lush shops always smell so good.

When you put it into the water, Think Pink starts fizzing (always good fun to watch) and the three little flowers up top dissolve releasing pink confetti hearts which is always a nice surprise. Not only is it so darn adorable (just look at it!) it also leaves your skin really moisturised and smelling amazing.

They are quite pricey though, so I think bath bombs will have to be a special treat when I'm feeling especially stressed.  

A few new things

This plate is bigger than it looks, I couldn't even finish it! 

Buy one get one free, yes! 

How amazing does Lauren Conrad look?

Here are some of the new things which I've bought in the last week or so. For some weird reason, now that it's Autumn, I've suddenly realised how amazing pastel nail polishes are. I think it's because since most of the world's population live in the northern hemisphere and have opposite seasons, I've tricked myself into getting excited for spring..?

This might have something to do with the fact that I picked up some pretty tortoiseshell sunglasses..Although since Sydney is still sunny 60% of the time, even in the dead of winter, I'll still have plenty of opportunities to wear them. Don't be too jealous of our winter sun though, we never ever get snow, not even a little bit. I have actually touched snow and am always oh-so-jealous of people who get to enjoy a white christmas. *sad face*. Note to self; stop going through pinterest boards dedicated to the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere and concentrate about being glad about autumn instead.

I also finally go my hands on the gorgeous Lauren Conrad's Beauty book. It never fails to amaze me how she always managed to look amazingly-put-together every time she steps out the door and hopefully I'll get a few pointers!! :)

*The lighting in the first picture is different to that in the rest because I was playing around with my lighting and somehow didn't realise it was drastically different until I was editing, and by then it was too late. Sorry if it bothers you! 

Rosehip

It's the last day of term 1 and I should be at school right now, but I'm sitting in my bed as I have a terrible, terrible cold. You know that really horrible kind of flu where you get feverish one minute and chills the next? Yeah.. and don't even get me started on my voice. It's actually pretty funny, whenever I try to speak I sound like Cameron Diaz's character when she sings in My Best Friend's Wedding. It's that bad.

As I sip my cranberry tea and generally feel sorry for myself, I though I'd share with you this little miracle worker; trilogy's rosehip oil. If you don't currently don't know what it does, or what it's for, then you'll be pretty confused right now.

"Oil?!!" I hear you ask in bewilderment? "Is this aroma therapy? What is this for?"

My friends, this is not for making candles, this is in fact oil which you put on your face. That sounds like a ridiculous concept, but it's really quite simple once you get used to it. Rosehip oil is amazing at helping scars (be it annoying spot scars, burns, or stretch marks) heal.

I normally use it for my spot scars. At first I applied it directly, but found it was too oily and would cause breakouts instead of help fix them. The best way is to squirt one or two drops into your moisturiser every night and it works wonders!

Maybelline BB cream

BB creams have literally exploded onto the beauty/skincare market and almost every high-street and high-end beauty brand has popped one out.

With promises of "blemish coverage", "increased radiance" and Maybellines own "Make everyday a good skin day" they are just too hard to resist taking home from Priceline. I've personally tried two BB creams in my time, the garnier one (which I'm pretty sure was the first one to land in Australia) and the one in the (pretty shoddy since all the colours on the packaging are so light) photo above. So here's my two cents on them both;

The garnier one is pretty thick, and on the oily side since it contains the added benefit of SPF 15. So that would be a good choice if your skin is quite dry. My face however is definitely on the combination/oily side of the spectrum so that didn't work out too well for me. I did not lose faith in BB creams in general however and picked up new Maybelline one; partly because of the pretty packaging I confess..

This one is very watery, so much so that I was initially worriedly mine was just faulty! Because of this, the coverage is very light. Perfect for say, a day at the beach where you don't want heavy makeup but I'd like a bit more coverage for everyday wear.

Alas the quest for the perfect BB cream continues! Next, I'll be trying the Rimmel one. What are your thoughts on BB creams?

Lacura Beauty

Ladies and gentlemen, the above mascara is from Aldi! Yes you read right, ALDI.

As you probably know, I live in Sydney, and since Australia is that huge island in the Southern hemisphere with those amazing beaches and stuff, our beauty products are bloody expensive!

I've been watching beauty videos on youtube and reading beauty blogs written by lovely ladies who live in the UK/America for a while now and I've only recently noticed that everything is so much cheaper there.

Here's a little example. Mascara over here costs an average of about $15.00 and I'm not even talking about high end brands, this is just drug-store Maybelline. With nicer ones like L'oreal selling at anywhere from $20-$30. Which is absolutely ridiculous if you ask me. Especially since I've realised that mascara only costs about 5 to 8 pounds in the UK and normally even less in the US!

Which is why I got  so excited in Aldi. If you've ever been to Aldi, you most likely have seen that shelf at the end of the aisles with the deodorants, and other bits and pieces. They also have their own range of beauty products called Lacura Beauty. That's nothing very special of course, but what is, is the price. Their mascara is only $5.

So of course I quickly grabbed one to try out. Imagine how much you could save! So the  review;

They aren't exactly the very best mascara on the market, but do their job pretty well; considering the price. They smell pretty iffy, but thankfully that fades once it dries. All in all, a pretty good mascara for everyday use.

Wake me up

I'm been looking for a good quality 'drugstore' foundation for a while now, and I think I'm finally found a winner! The thing I love most about this foundation in particular is the smell.

Whilst most foundations have that distinctly powery foundation smell (anyone who has ever used foundation will know what I'm talking about), Rimmel Wake Me Up smells pleasantly fresh and vaguely fruity. In a good way.

I'm not the first to jump of the wake-me-up bandwagon, as many, many bloggers have written rave reviews, and I guess I'll just add this one to that already very long list.

You may have also heard about the sparkly qualities. This put me off for a while because although everyone loves a nice glow, no one wants to look like Edward Cullen, but the shimmery effect isn't at all noticeable under daylight and you can only really see it if you hold it up under artificial lighting and squint.

What's your favourite foundation?

Original Source Mint

Sorry for my lack of posting lately! I've just moved and it took about a week for the internet company to transfer the wifi.

But enough about that; so I was wandering around the shopping aisles in Coles the other day (the 'beauty, skincare, and hygiene section) and on the ORIGINAL SOURCE shower gel shelf, there was one of those big yellow in-your-face SPECIAL signs. So then what else was there to do but start sniffing them? They actually smell really good by the way. Well at least the Shea Butter and Mint ones smell good. I'm not a real fan of lavender in general so that one didn't appeal to me.

But since I've just gone through a bottle of the Palmolive Shea Butter shower gel, and the Original Source one smells exactly the same, I decided on the Mint and Tea Tree flavour(?). I thought since Summer's here and everything mint would be a very refreshing smell to smell of. : )

Sukin facial cleanser

Sukin's foaming facial cleanser is the new face wash that I have been using for the last few weeks now, and I've really been enjoying the fresh herbal fragrance and now very gently it washes your skin. Unlike a lot of other cleansers I've used that completely strip your face of all the essential oils and leaves you feeling very tight and uncomfortable, it's very gentle and takes off all the dirt and oil, leaving all your natural moisture. It's also free of many harmful chemicals and is environmentally friendly! :)

What are your favourite skincare products?

A little lipstick

A few days ago, I purchased this beautiful lipstick. It's the Kate Moss for Rimmel London #12 and it's a pretty warm, orange red. The colour just warms up my face and I love it.

What's your favourite shade of lipstick or lipgloss?