My Daily Face Routine

Hi everyone,
I love reading these types of things on other people's blogs, so I thought I should have a go myself.  This really doesn't change much on a day-to-day basis, although I might add in a highlighter or a more shimmery blush if I'm going out, especially at night.

I always start my routine by moisturising.  I'm very pale so I like to use something with SPF to protect myself from the sun.  At the moment I'm using Natio's Daily Protection moisturiser which is SPF 15.  On days when I know I'll be spending a long time out in the sun, I use a 30+ sunscreen as well: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunscreen Lotion.  This gives a nice, matte, non-greasy finish but the formula is quite thick, so I usually mix in some moisturiser to make it blend more easily.

Back: Neutrogena Sunscreen, Natio Moisturiser; Front: Red Earth Primer

Top: Neutrogena Suncreen; Bottom: Natio Moisturiser, Red Earth Primer

Next step is primer, although if I wear sunscreen I don't wear primer as it can get a bit cakey if I layer too many products on.  I usually go for a silicon based primer to help absorb any oiliness throughout the day.  At the moment, I'm using the Red Earth Mattifying Makeup Base (although I think Red Earth has been discontinued from Priceline, so I'll have to try something else once this is finished).  I cut the tube open to get the remaining dregs out of it (this is a great tip for saving on beauty and skincare products and I do this for anything that comes in a tube, including hair conditioner; I can usually get an extra weeks worth of use out of them).  I usually leave around two - three minutes after applying both moisturiser and primer to allow them to soak in.

The next thing I do is colour corrector.  I tend to have very dark under eye circles, so I use yellow and/or orange corrector to correct them.  At the moment, I'm using this corrector palette, also from Red Earth.  I use the pink as a general concealer, mixed with a bit of orange to give a normal skin tone shade and the green if I have any redness from breakouts or around my nose.

Red Earth Colour Corrector Palette

Red Earth Colour Corrector - swatches

For foundation, I use a mixture of Bourjois Healthy Mix in shade 51 and NYX Liquid Foundation in shade 01.  The Bourjois foundation is a bit too sheer in terms of coverage and the shade is a bit dark and yellow toned for me.  The NYX foundation is a bit heavy, too light and too pink, so mixed together, they give quite a good match for my skin, with the amount of coverage I want.  I'm bad and normally just use my (clean) fingers to blend.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, NYX Liquid Foundation

NYX Liquid Foundation and Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation - swatches

Then I do a light dusting of loose powder to set (at the moment, I'm using Face of Australia in Outback Translucent) and a bit of blush (I'm working my way through a Maybelline Mineral Power Blush in Soft Maueve currently), concentrated on the apples of my cheeks and blended up just a little towards my temples.

Maybelline Mineral Power Blush, Face of Australia Loose Powder, The Body Shop Cream Blush

Maybelline Mineral Power Blush in Soft Mauve, Face of Australia Loose Powder in Outback Translucent

And that's it!  If I'm going out, I sometimes like to use a Body Shop cream blush in Golden Pink for a bit of a shimmery glow and maybe a bit of a highlight on my cheek bones.

The Body Shop Cream Blush in Golden Pink, unblended on the left, blended on the right

 Hope this was interesting for some of you!

Project 20 Pan items 15 - 17

Hello everyone!  Just a quick post tonight to share my thoughts on the latest three items I've finished for my Project 20 Pan.

Nivea Hydrocare Lip Balm; Palmer's Cocoa Butter Concentrated Cream; Covergirl Lashblast Length Mascara

Number 15 was a Covergirl Lashblast Length Mascara in Black Brown.  I usually alternate between a brown mascara for more natural looks and black if I go for something more dramatic/evening-ish.  And if I'm feeling lazy and skip eyeshadow altogether, I'll just use a brown mascara to darken my lashes a bit.  I quite liked this mascara - it gives good definition (a must for me) and really just makes my lashes darker and longer, without making them look much thicker.  This is pretty much my exact criteria for a good mascara (I don't like the look of really thick lashes on me) so I will be re-purchasing this for sure.

Item number 16 was another HG product of mine, Nivea's Hydrocare Lip Balm.  I don't have a backup of this so I was hoping it would last until the end of P20P.  At the moment I'm using a Palmer's Lip Butter to tide me over until I can repurchase a Nivea one.  It's very moisturising but without feeling sticky and I like the tube style packaging (more hygenic than dipping your finger into a pot and getting lip balm under your fingernails...yucky!), it doesn't have a fragrance (I dislike overpowering fruity fragrances lip balms) and I have been through more tubes of this than I can remember.  The only downside is it doesn't have SPF so I tend to use this during Winter and then in Summer at night, but switch to an SPF balm during the day in Summer.


Number 17 was a Palmer's Cocoa Butter Concentrated Cream.  I was using this as a hand cream after the Body Shop one ran out.  It is nice and moisturising, like most Palmer's products I have found, however can take a while to absorb into the skin and can leave a bit of greasy residue.  Also, the fragrance of this is quite strong.  I do generally like Palmer's products, but probably wouldn't repurchase this particular cream as I found the "concentrated" formula to be too greasy.  For a cocoa butter product, I would prefer something with a more "lotion" like consistency.

Not long to go now- only three items!!  Although, to fulfill the requirements of at least 10 makeup items, all three remaining items have to be makeup!  I'm almost finished another perfume though, and am quite a way away from finishing any makeup so perhaps I will end up doing project 21 or 22 pan.

Project 20 Pan items 4 + 5

The fourth and fifth items I have used up for my project 20 pan were a Covergirl pressed powder and a Body Shop Body Butter.

No. 4 & 5 empties.

As I’ve mentioned I’m a uni student on a pretty tight budget so I tend to purchase most of my makeup items from places like Target, Priceline etc.  A major downside of this is that the range of shades is usually quite limited (compared to some department store brands), especially for a fair skinned person like me.  This Covergirl pressed powder is one of the only powders thus far that I have found at Priceline that comes in a shade light enough.  I think Maybelline used to have a shade in the DreamMatte powder that was really light but I haven’t been able to find it recently so perhaps it was discontinued.  I also have a Bourjois mineral pressed powder to try out as well, which looks promising.  Apart from being a good match for my skin tone, I found the Covergirl powder to be really neither here nor there.  I just use it for setting my liquid foundation.  My major criticism is the smell – it’s really heavily fragranced, but an “old lady makeup” smell, if you know what I mean.  I’ve noticed the packaging of this has changed since I bought it so perhaps they have changed the formula as well and gotten rid of the smell– I hope so, because I will probably repurchase this after P20P is finished.

The Body Shop Body Butter was in the flavour (or fragrance, seeing as you’re not supposed to eat them!) Brazil Nut.  I used this as a hand cream as it was quite a small tub and would probably last very long if I used it over my whole body.  I actually quite like this kind of container for a hand cream as I can just chuck it in my handbag without worrying about a tube exploding or leaking all over the inside of my bag, which has happened to me before, and it is such a mess to clean up!  It is really moisturising and leaves my hands nice and smooth.  I have problems with dry skin on my hands due to using alcohol based hand sanitisers at work, which are very drying, but this really does the trick!  The other thing which I really like about this product is the smell – it’s a sweet, nutty fragrance which is nice and subtle and not overpowering – there is nothing worse than using a overwhelmingly fragranced hand cream which completely overpowers the perfume you are wearing.  I plan on purchasing another Body Shop Body Butter to replace this once I’ve finished the Palmer’s cream that I have moved onto, but I think I might try one of the other fragrances just for a change.  Let me know if you have any recommendations!

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!

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

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.