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..

OhJoyce

Hey guys,

I joined the beautiful, hilarious sometimes breathtaking world of tumblr ! Take a peek into my brain at:

ohjoyce.tumblr.com

I'm on there quite a bit (at least 3-1000000 times a day) so follow me if you want to see pugs, cups of tea and snarky gifs on your dashboard.

x Joyce 

Beetroot Salad and Beef Sausages

salaaaaaaad

sausages sizzling nicely in the pan

Tonight it was my night to cook dinner and I thought, hey why not share it with you guys? I'm far from an accomplished cook, but I can fumble my way through the basics. Cooking is pretty fun, especially since you get a tasty reward at the end. ;) I also spend a fair bit of my spare time drooling over foodie blogs, and I love learning new (preferably really really easy) recipes I can make and eat at home. This one took about 20 minutes altogether, waiting around time included! Enough rambling, let's get on with the recipe;

SALAD

Ingredients- beetroot, feta cheese and a bag of mixed leaf lettuce

I like to make the salad putting a layer of greens, beetroot + feta, layer of greens etc, that way, you get an even mix of everything throughout

SAUSAGES

Pretty self-explanatory. Make sure you get some decent ones though, organic or grass-fed is best and then just pop them in the pan with a little oil. Wait for about 10 minutes, flip them, another 5 and voila! 

Dinner is served..

If you enjoyed reading this, I might do more of these kinds of posts in the future, leave a comment a tell me what you think! What are your favourite quick go-to meals.

the finished product- YUM!

an extra little close-up I'm sure you're all thankful for

Summer Lovin'

beach by littlemisswat featuring a black swimsuit top

There are few things better than relaxing on the beach on a hot summer's day watching the waves roll in to shore, reading and generously slathered in coconut lotion.

Unfortunately, those days happen much rarer than I would like, with pesky things like school, and work getting in the way. There's nothing wrong with a little daydream though and these pieces make up a pretty ideal beach day situation I think.

Bikinis are little scary at the best of times, but you can't go wrong with a classic black  high-waisted one, one you won't have to chuck out next year for the next new trendy one you'll regret a few weeks later. Add to the mix some tortoiseshell shell sunnies to protect those precious peepers and a light dress to throw over the top when you take a break from sunning on the sand to go for a shop or lunch (hard life eh?).

Now if only maths homework would bugger off for a day or two.. 

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?

Life lately

It's 1:30pm and I'm sat in my dressing gown, cup of tea beside me typing this up. IT'S THE HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

1. Friday mcdonalds treat, the very best way to end the week.

2. Finishing up Papertowns by John Green. To be honest, it wasn't amazing and the plot was a little slow.

3. Taken in the middle of winter when the trees were bare.

4. This one was taken at the end/ beginning of spring, these two photos side by side are a beautiful contrast, nature amazes me sometimes.

5. The Great Gatsby. I completely understand (and agree!) with it's title as the 'great american novel'.

6. Only have time for breakfasts like these on the weekends during the term.

7. Saturday sleep-ins; a very good feeling indeed.

8. 'The world's best burgers' is a very big claim.

9. Grill'd does have the best veggie burger I've ever had though. Try Garden Goodness if there's one of these in your town.

10. Bunting is just so cheery and happy it puts a smile on my face instantly.


Follow me on instagram if you don't already! @joyce_to_the_world Xx

Festivals and food

Florals and neutrals

I've probably mentioned this at least a thousand times, but whooooo it's spring in the southern hemisphere; and spring calls for some sort of a closet turnover. I've packed up all my knits save for one cardigan and scarves and beanies have all been demoted to the back shelves waiting their next turn when autumn rolls around again. I sure will miss snuggling down with in my doona with a cup of tea and book.

I recently decided that I'm going to slowly build up my wardrobe again, but this time with much more basics; and classic colours; navy blue, blush, beige, white and black. The other day I noticed I have countless dresses, tops and skirts in loud, crazy prints which I wear so rarely because they are so hard to co-ordinate, or only go with one other piece in my closet! I've also suddenly become infatuated with stripes and am currently looking for the perfect navy and white breton top. This is proving much harder than I expected, with the ones I've seen lately being the wrong, stripe-width, sleeve length and other harrowing problems. Any suggestions?

Cause i'm a fool for you

 

shirt: Sportsgirl dress: Mum's vintage dotti bag: Collete Bracelet: forever21 

If you follow me on instagram (@joyce_to_the_world) you'll probably already know that I cut my hair. Because of the ombre, and my hair being naturally black and all, my split ends had split ends and it was all getting a bit sad so I've cut most of the bleached tips off. I couldn't bear to part with it all at once though, so I've still got about 3 centimetres of blondish hair left. What do you think?

Today I went out for shopping and lunch at grill'd today, to try out their garden goodness veggie burger and holy moly, it's my new favourite burger. I was reading a article on sydney's top ten burgers and this one was tenth place so I'm looking forward to trying all the other ones.

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.. 

Still alive

Hi everyone! It feels a right age since I last typed in this little space on the internet, so I'm just popping in to say all my vitals are still good. As you've deduced from the photo I've just come back from a lo-va-ly holiday, a cruise actually. There was an online promotion-discount on one of those groupon/livingsocial sites and my mum signed us up a few months ago bless her. A 9 day cruise to New Caledonia and the Pacific Islands was a perfect sunny break from the frosty cold of winter Sydney. Missing a week and a half of school certainly doesn't hurt either.

For those of you who've never been on a cruise, it's like staying in a little secluded (in the best way possible) little village, but a hotel at the same time. The staff were so friendly and there was more amazing food than you could shake a stick at with the choice of a buffet or waterfront restaurant for every meal. Been pretty hard going back to ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch again. Although I was initially worried about being bored on a big 'ol ship with no free wifi, that was banished quickly after discovering the live entertainment provided every night; courtesy of the ship, and meeting some amazing fellow holiday-ers and also the pool. The pool was pretty ordinary in itself, but because it was on the top deck of a moving ship, it become a pretty-god-damn amazing natural wave pool. Wishing I was back there and not studying Macbeth.. 

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.

Instagram lately

 

Been more than a little m.i.a. on the blogging front lately, I'm blaming it on assessment week, but now it's the holidays whooooo. So get ready to see my mug a whole lot more (hopefully). Looking forward immensely to catch up on tv (priorities!) and eating (again, priorities :)). This is a bit of a filler post, basically me popping in and letting you all know I'm still alive. ALSO google reader is ending tomorrow! Please shuffle on over to bloglovin' it's so much easier to use and amazing for reading posts from your favourite bloggers.

Much love!
x Joyce

Pancakes on the rocks

Gorgeous skirts in every print you can think of!

Being the cheesy poser I am.

How adorable are the decorations on this lemonade stand?

Just looking at this makes me simultaneously hungry but also a little sore from the memory of being stuffed to the gills. 

If you've bothered to scroll down so far well hello, and sorry for the sore finger!! I am unfortunately, one of those people who are excruciatingly bad at choosing, not only pictures but in general. So the only possible solution was just to leave everything in..

So last weekend I finally went to Pancakes on the Rocks, at The Rocks for the very first time. EEEEEeeee. this visit has been a long time coming and am I glad I finally went! The hardest thing is choosing which mouthwatering chocolate covered stack to order. After much umming and ahhhing I finally settled on 'chocolate jewel's'; the stuff chocoholics dreams are made of. Impossibly big, and fluffy and topped off with a big 'ol scoop of ice-cream, words cannot convey how amazing these baby's were. I do recommend however sharing with a friend as each pancake is roughly the size of my face and about one and a half centimetres thick. After polishing off the first one I had already grown a substantial food baby but I powered through at managed to get through half of the second one before admitting defeat.

After almost slipping into a food coma, my friend Su and I had a little wander around 'The Rocks' which is I think (correct if I'm wrong fellow Sydney-siders!) the oldest part of Sydney with beautiful old-fashion brick and sandstone buildings. Ahhh they just don't make 'em like that any more. Thank you to Su for taking pictures for me.