NOTD: Revlon Plum Attraction

Hi everyone!
On my nails today I have Revlon 762 Plum Attraction.  It's a gorgeous red-toned purple-y plum colour.  The formula seemed thin and it did apply a little streaky to begin with but it turned out alright in three coats (plus a top coat).  The one thing I hate about dark colours is that clean up is much more of a pain (and I am very messy, especially on my right hand - I'm a lefty).

Picture:

With flash.

It's really gloomy outside so I didn't manage to get a decent picture in natural light, but I think the photo with flash is a fairly true respresentation of the actual colour.

Thanks for reading!

Perfume Wishlist + P20P update

Let me start by saying I love perfume!  In the past 1-2 years I have built up quite a collection, and I plan to do an overview of my collection in the near future (i.e. after exams), but for now, here are a few on my current wishlist....

Viktor and Rolf Eau Mega

Lancome Tresor In Love

Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne

Ralph Lauren Romance Always Yours

Dior Miss Dior Cherie L'eau

Images sourced from FragranceNet.com

Obviously these are planned purchases for a long way down the track, when I have finished off a few of my current perfumes.

In other news, yesterday, I finished product no. 4 of my Project 20 Pan, only 16 to go!  No 4. was a Covergirl pressed powder.

Have a great weekend!

Eyelid Primer Swatches

Hello everyone!
Today, I've swatched a few different eyeshadow bases, including two of the NYX ones (in skin tone and white).

Natural light, no flash

Flash

Left to right (or top to bottom): Almay Bright Eyes Eye Base/Concealer; MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing; NYX Jumbo Pencils in Pots and Pans,Cottage Cheese and Black Bean; Art Deco Eyeshadow Base; NYX Eyeshadow Bases in Skin Tone and  White.

The Almay one is alright as a concealer but I don't really use it as a lid primer.  I'm also not a fan of the applicator (one of those squeezy brush type arrangements), I just find it to be really messy and I always squeeze really hard because nothing's coming out and then you end up squeezing half the tube out at once.  Wouldn't really recommend.

I use the MAC Shadestick a lot, however it does have shimmer so if you are going for a matte look, I wouldn't recommend this one.  I do find this does crease a little as well, towards the end of the day.  I only use this as a base (i.e. set with a powder shadow), not on it's own as on it's own it creases like crazy!

NYX Jumbo pencils - similar to the MAC Shadestick, but a creamier consistency.  These come in a lot of different colours too and are great for putting under coloured shadows if ou want a really intense colour.

I use the Art Deco base a lot as well, however it does have a slight shimmer, as you can see in the photos.  My main criticism of this one is the smell - it's smells like men's perfume (weird!!) but the smell does wear off once you blend it out (i.e. you won't smell like a man all day).  I think it's mainly if you smell it in the little pot.

NYX bases - the skin tone base is VERY dark as you can see, compared to my pale skin, but I think it blends out well and once I put a shadow over the top it doesn't really bother me.  These have a similar consistency to a cream concealer type product.  I find they wear very well and (apart from the Jumbo pencils) are probably the most affordable option.

I purchased all of my NYX things on eBay.  Art Deco is available from some pharmacies and hair/beauty salons in Australia, here is the link to their Australian website: Art Deco Stockists in Australia

Hope this is helpful to some people!

NOTD: Revlon Gray Suede

This is Revlon 705 Gray Suede.  It was part of the Daydreamer collection released earlier this year (for Spring, I think).  I had trouble getting a good picture of this, I think it looks a bit more pink than the pictures showed.  It's a really pretty neutral colour and would be great for work or school (or any other environment where bright nails are a no-no).  Onto the pictures.....

Flash

No Flash

This was three coats plus a top coat.  Thanks for reading!

Outfit of the Day

This is really an outfit of the night, I just threw this on to go to a meeting (I'm a St John's Ambulance volunteer and we have training meetings every Tuesday night).

The scarf and jacket are both from Dotti.  The jacket had some kind of ugly badge/faux army decoration thing on the sleeve so I just unpicked it, rolled over it with a lint roller to get rid of all the fluff and ironed over where the stitching was - problem solved!!  I really like this scarf, I wear it all the time haha!  Pink and grey is such a nice colour combination.

Thanks for reading! :-)

Free Hand Wash, Body Wash or Body Lotion from Priceline

Hi everyone,
I love scouring the internet for samples and giveaways, and today I stumbled upon some vouchers from Priceline.  The following is for a full size (I believe) hand wash or body wash/lotion.  May require a clubcard but you can sign up for free in the store.  Enjoy!
Free Body Wash Voucher

There is also one for a sample size hair styling wax.
Free Hair Styling Wax Sample

Both valid until November 13!

Burt's Bees Sun Protecting Lip Balm

I received this a while ago when Burt's Bees had a promotion that if you signed up to their mailing list you got a free lip balm.  I wasn't that impressed to begin with as it had an odd grainy texture (similar to the Nivea Light Kiss balm I referred to previously).  I also had a bit of an accident which resulted in the end becoming all smooshed.

It did feel quite moisturing though and it is nicely scented (passionfruit!! yummy!!) so I decided to see if I could fix the grainy texture by remelting it.  It seems to have worked.  Obviously as this balm is in tube form, you need a suitable container to melt it in.  I just washed out the empty pot from the Nivea balm I have just finished.

Hmm, not sure why this is sideways....

It is only SPF 8 though, so I will probably switch to something with a higher SPF in Summer.

NOTD: Ulta3 Envy Nail polish

I love this nail polish!  Up close and in the bottle it has a kind of gold/bronze tone (sorry, I’m really bad at describing colours), but from further away it looks more silver.  What do you think?  In any case, I really like it.  This is three coats plus top coat.

My sister described this as "super robotic and futuristic" and then asked me if I was familiar with over 600 dance moves...hahaha, Eurotrip reference!  I love that movie.  Anyways, moving on to the pictures....

First pic is with flash, second pic is without. Please excuse my super short nails, I had a few broken nails so I filed most of them right down.

With flash.

Without flash.

Project 20 Pan

My interest in makeup and perfume is relatively recent (last 2-3 years) and I have amassed a reasonable collection in this amount of time.  I’d rather not think about how much I’ve spent haha!  I think in the beginning I was very “noob” about it and tended to go for quantity rather than quality.  Also, as I was very new to makeup, I tended to buy a lot of different brands just to try them out.  Now, I’d rather narrow down my collection to a smaller amount of products which I really enjoy using and use on a regular basis.  Also, I think my tastes, especially in eye makeup, have changed.  I used to wear a lot of colour and now I’m much more into more natural looks.  So some of the products which I have now don’t really suit me any more.  I’ll still probably purchase mostly “drugstore” brands (e.g. Revlon, Maybelline, Covergirl etc) as I’m still at uni and on a very limited budget, but I would like to save up for a few “splurge” type purchases as well.  Also, being in Australia, even brands like L’Oreal and Revlon get expensive (relative to my teeny-tiny uni student income).  “High end” brands (department store brands like MAC etc.) are just hideously expensive (unless purchased over the net – hooray strong Aussie dollar!)

I’ve gotten rid of a lot of things through the Vogue Forum Free for All thread (I like the idea of things I don’t want finding a new home rather than me just throwing them in the bin).  Perhaps the next time I do a cull I will do some kind of blog give away.

As a way for me to curb my spending on makeup, and also use up some products that have been lying around for a long time, I’ve decided to undertake Project 20 Pan (inspired by the Project 10 Pan, which I believe was coined by lollipop26 but has since been repeated in some shape or form by just about every beauty blogger).  So I am committing to not buying any new products until I have used up 20 items which are currently in my collection.  I’ve decided that the items may include makeup, perfume, nail polish and skincare, but not things like shampoo/conditioner, soap and face wipes etc (as I have seen on some blogs....seriously, what next? Toilet paper??)  The only exceptions will be if I completely run out of something (I think I may possibly run out of lip balm, but that’s not a very expensive item anyway).

I’m hoping that as well as helping to downsize my collection, this spending ban might also help me curb my addiction to buying new things (and save a bit of $$ as well).

So, after all that, what have I used up so far?

1.  Natio Ageless Brightening Eyecream

2. Vera Wang Princess Perfume

3. Nivea Light Kiss lip balm

My thoughts on these products:

Natio Eyecream – I really liked this and will probably re-purchase after I’ve finished P20P.  It has tiny light reflecting particles, kind of like glitter, but not actually glitter.  So it gives a kind of radiant look without making you look like a disco ball.

Princess Perfume – I love this perfume.  I bought it in a 30ml to use as my “handbag perfume” and I get a lot of compliments on it.  I bought a 100ml as a backup and am going to try to decant it into the 30ml bottle so I can keep it in my handbag (I don’t fancy lugging around a 100ml bottle of perfume in my handbag).  I would really recommend this fragrance, and best of all, it’s pretty cheap!  If you can get it on sale (at Priceline or My Chemist etc.) it’s usually around $30 or 30ml or $50 for 50ml.

Nivea Light Kiss – as I mentioned in the tag questionnaire, I didn’t really like this.  I think I bought it because it was on special at Priceline for like $1 or something.  Anyway, I’m not a huge fan of pot lip balms as I think they’re not very hygienic and you always get balm under your fingernails – gross!  Also, this seemed to separate after a few days of using it and had these funny little grains (of wax, I think) in it.  Remelting in the microwave fixed it, but I had to keep remelting it every week or so.  I definitely wouldn’t be repurchasing this (I think it might even be discontinued anyway).

The empties:

I cut the Natio Eyecream tube in half to get the dregs out of it - this is a great idea for making any products in tubes last a little bit longer.  I usually find I can get at least another week's worth of use out of things by cutting them open. 

Phew, that was a long post.  Thanks for reading (if anyone made it all the way to the end haha!)

Priceline - 20% all Cosmetics and Skincare, October 26-27th

I love a sale just as much as the next tightarse (haha!) and Priceline is having 20% off all cosmetics and skincare for two days starting tomorrow.  I will be giving this one a miss as I am on a spending ban and couped up at home studying for exams (note to self: get back to work!!!!), but I would definitely be paying a visit to stock up on some essentials if I wasn't!

LINK:
20% off Cosmetics and Skincare

Couch to 5km program/my weight loss journey

I have recently completed the Couch to 5km program so I thought I would do a mini-review/opinion post on it as well as a brief overview of my weight loss journey this year.

To start from the beginning, I was always a bit of a tubby in primary/high school (not obese or anything, just not skinny and not really interested in sports).  I blame this partially on my primary school PE teacher who was not very nice haha!  Anyway, I was the type of person who would say they had their period for every swimming class, would always “feel sick” on every school athletics day or always offer to help out and be an “official” (recording times etc.) for school sports events to get out of actually participating.  In about Year 9 I lost quite a bit of weight by dieting and exercising (mostly walking, but I would go for like 1 -2 hour walks most days of the week), but I honestly can’t remember how long I kept it off (not very long).  Then between year 10 and 11 I went on exchange to Germany and I lost weight then as well (maybe 3-4 kgs, can’t remember exactly), probably just because it was cold all the time and I did a lot of walking as well.  Between year 11 and 12 I lost a bit of weight again because I went on a school hiking trip over the summer and for “training” for that I did a lot of swimming and walking with a heavy pack (15-20 kgs), and then there was the actual hike itself as well.  I was really proud of myself for doing this hike because I signed up for it to challenge myself and push myself out of my comfort zone which I think I did do.  Then at the end of year 12 I lost some more weight when we went to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia because I got sick (I think I had a really bad reaction to the anti-malaria prophylaxis medication I was taking).  This was pretty temporary though, once I stopped vomiting/having diarrhoea (TMI? Sorry!!) and was able to eat properly I probably put it all back on.

Once I got to uni, I kind of stopped exercising (I would occasionally feel like exercising and randomly go for a walk or bike ride or something, but didn’t do anything regularly) and I think my weight slowly crept up on me until about March this year probably (the start of my third year of uni).  I think I weighed around 63-64 kgs (I’m 163.5cm tall for reference) and I found that clothes were fitting a lot tighter and my mum remarked that I’d put on weight.  So I decided to try to do something about it.  Initially, I just tried to make an effort to eat healthier (i.e. avoid junk food etc.) and I think that helped me loose maybe 2-3 kgs over a few months.  I did try using some of those protein meal replacements but most of them tasted fairly average and I honestly didn’t find them to be all that filling either.  Plus I think a lot of them contain protein derived from animals blood products (gross).  So then I decided that I should probably do some form of exercise.  A few years ago I made an attempt at trying the Couch to 5km program.  I think I did one work out lol!  But this was before the age of iPods and I was just estimating distances which didn't really work very well.  I think I also wore Dunlop Volleys and had really sore feet afterwards - idiot!! Hahaha!

So this time I decided to wear proper shoes (haha!) and purchase the app for my iPod touch ($2.49 well spent!).  I really like the app as it gives cues when you need to run and walk.  Also, I found the countdown cues really helpful when you start doing the longer runs (e.g. the ones that say 10 minutes left, 5 minutes left etc.)  I ended up taking a LOT longer than the 9 weeks recommended.  I started at the end of May and finished in mid-October (so probably around 14-15 weeks in total) as I repeated a few weeks if I felt that I didn’t manage very well.  It would have been nice to finish in 9 weeks, but I’d rather take longer and actually finish than push myself too hard and fail and then just give up.  Also, I think the three workouts a week they recommend is not enough.  Most weeks I did at least four workouts, some weeks I even did 5 or 6 (I never tried to do two weeks worth of workouts in one week, I would just do an extra lot of the same week i.e. I would do 6x week 3 workouts, not do week 3 and week 4 of the program in one week).

So, what now?  Well, at the moment I’m jogging/running for 30 minutes at least 3 times per week.  I’m not running 5km yet in the 30 minutes yet (I only run about 4km), so I’m going to work on getting a little bit faster to get to 5km in the 30 minutes.  Also, my sister has expressed some interest in trying this program so I’ve done a few of the early weeks (since finishing) with her.  This has helped me notice the difference in my fitness – when I started out myself I was struggling even with week 1.  Now, I can do a week 1 workout and I’m barely even puffing at all!

So did I lose any weight?  Only around 2kgs, which seems disappointing, but I think what I have lost is inches.  I’ve dropped a pants size, can fit into things that I haven’t been able to for a while and people have commented to me that I look like I’ve lost weight.  I have Biggest Loser style before photos (in my underwear) and I’ll get around to taking some after ones soon.  I’m not sure if I’m game enough to put them on the internet though?  I’d still like to lose another 2.5-3 kgs and I’m thinking about doing something like swimming or cycling as well as jogging, during the holidays.

Hope this was of interest to some people.  Feel free to comment and tell me about your experience with C25K or any other similar jogging for beginners program.

NB. I am not claiming to be any kind of expert on any of the material contained in this post.  Please ensure that you seek proper advice from relevant professionals before undertaking any kind of diet/exercise regimen.

Tag Questionnaire

For my first real post (still procrastinating), I thought I'd give this tag questionnaire a go.  Seems to be floating around the "blogosphere" (hate that word, lol!) of late.

Face
01. Cleanser: Whatever is on special at the supermarket haha! I don't stick to a particular one.
02. Toner/lotion: A Garnier one at the moment.
03. Cream/moisturizer: Trilogy Rosehip Vital moisture cream or something like that.
04. Facial mask: None
05. Exfoliator: Tend to try different ones, a 10.0.6 one at the moment.
06. Make-up remover: I'm lazy so I use Nivea cleansing facial wipes.

Body
07. Shower gels/soaps: Dove soap or similar non-soap bar
08. Body lotions/creams: Nothing really.  Summer is coming so I might start using a gradual tanning one again soon.
09. Anticellulite/firming treatment: None
10. Body exfoliator: None, just use one of those glove things.
11. Hand cream: The Body Shop Brazil Nut Body Butter
12. Lip balm or lip treatment: Currently trying to use up Nivea Light Kiss (would not recommend at all!!!  It seems to separate or do something else weird and goes all grainy and gross after about a week.  Remelting it in the microwave fixes it, but I don't really like having to do this every week or so).  My HG lip balm is Nivea Hydrocare.
13. Perfume: Currently trying to finish up a few almost empties: Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger, Romance by Ralph Lauren and Princess by Vera Wang.  I really like Princess and have a back up of it.
Hair
14. Shampoo/conditioner: Herbal Essences Drama Clean Shampoo and Conditioner
15. Mask or other treatments: Herbal Essences Long-term Relationship mask

Make-up
16. Foundation: Mixture of NYX Liquid Makeup and Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, both in the lightest shades.  The NYX one is too light and a little bit pink and the Bourjois one is too dark and yellow so I mix them together to get a good match.  I'm trying to spend less on makeup so I'm trying to be more creative about using up products which don't really work for me.
17. Powder: Covergirl pressed powder (the only "drugstore" brand that makes anything light enough for me).
18. Blush: Maybelline Mineral Power Blush in Soft Mauve - trying to use this up and it's taking FOREVER!!!!  I like that this blush is a mauve-y shade (as opposed to pink) as I have very pink toned skin anyway and some pink blushes can make me look a bit clown-ish.
19. Mascara: Coverbirl Lashblast Length in Black Brown or Bourjois one in black (can't remember the name but it's a lengthening one)
20. Lipstick/lipgloss: Varies
21. Eyeshadow: Varies, but I have been very CBF with eyeshadow as of late.
22. Eyeliner: I often don't bother with eyeliner, especially if I'm wearing brown mascara and going for a more natural look, but I do like the Revlon Luxurious Kohl liners.  I'm also trying to teach myself to use liquid liner.  I have a Maybelline felt tip one (the texta type ones) and a Prestige one (also a felt tip, but one that dips into a pot/bottle/whatever of the liquid liner).  I am so uncoordinated at applying it.  I'm pretty sure I've watched more than a dozen Youtube tutorials and I still suck at it.  *sad face*

And because this quiz missed out on a few products that I use on a regular basis...
Concealer: Maybelline stick concealer
Colour corrector: Red Earth four colour pallette
Face primer: Covergirl Olay primer
Eye primer: Art Deco eyeshadow base
Makeup brushes: I use Eco Tools brushes for my face and for eye makeup I have a few of the Manicare Artiste brushes as well as a Stila brush.
Under eye cream: just finished a Natio Ageless one which I really liked and have moved onto a L'Oreal Revitalift one.
Pore strips: Biore Pore strips.  I would like to try the homemade ones on Michelle Phan's Youtube, but I'm a vegetarian so I'm not really keen on slathering gelatin all over my face.  Maybe during my holidays I might try this with agar instead of gelatin to see if it has similar results.

New Blog

Given that I have exams coming up in around a week I am naturally not studying and therfore procrastinating by making this blog.  Having said that, I don't really want to fail my exams so I will probably be back after they have finished.  Not quite sure what I will post about, most likely random fashion/makeup/perfume related ramblings.  Maybe I'll talk about my perfume collection first....we'll see.

Other things which may appear on this blog:
 - cooking (vegetarian recipies, baking)
- craft activities (I used to be really into crafting but I never seem to find the time anymore, but this is something that I would like to get back into)
- fitness/exercise (I have recently finished the C25K program and would like to continue running/jogging and hopefully be able to participate in some kind of fun run type events next year)
- whatever else pops into my head!!