Guest post: Perfume Collection Part II (my sister's collection)

Hi everyone!

I've mentioned a few times that I have a twin sister.  We're very close and do a lot of things together.  We also share a lot of things like clothes, shoes, bags etc and also perfume!  So continuing on from my previous perfume collection post, I thought I'd do a quick review of the perfumes in her collection as well.

L-R: Moschino Couture (back); Cacharel Scarlett (front); DKNY Delicious Night (top); Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb (bottom); Gucci Envy Me (back); Salvador Dali Purple Lips (front); Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy; Cacharel Liberté; YSL Young Sexy Lovely (top); DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom (bottom); DKNY Be Delicious (top); DKNY Delicious Candy Apples Sweet Caramel (bottom)

I've already reviewed Flowerbomb, Viva La Juicy and Young Sexy Lovely in my original perfume collection post so I won't repeat myself!  Feel free to read back over the original post if you are interested in my thoughts on these fragrances.

As you can see, my sister is quite fond of the DKNY Delicious fragrances.  In fact, if I recall correctly, Be Delicious (the original one) was her first real "grown up" perfume, a Christmas present from our parents a few years ago.  So I guess I should start with these.

Be Delicious is a nice light fragrance with a very fruity note to it.  It's quite crisp and fresh so it's perfect for hot Summer days when you want a fragrance that is not too heavy.

She describes Fresh Blossom as one of her favourites.  It is more floral than the original with a strong scent of rose, but still very light and great for everyday wear as well.

Delicious Night is a much spicier, heavier fragrance which is great for night-time wear.

Finally, Candy Apples Sweet Caramel is a warmer version of the original with notes of vanilla and caramel.  This is quite sweet, but still light enough for everyday wear.

She also has a few Cacharel perfumes.  I know most people probably think of Anais Anais (and their grandma!!) when they think of Cacharel, but Liberté and Scarlett are much younger fragrances suited for younger ladies and they are certainly very affordable.

Liberté is quite floral and citrus-y to begin with but dries on the skin to reveal soft vanilla and patchouli undertones.  Light enough for everyday wear.

Scarlett is an interesting fragrance, combining fruity orange blossom and woody sandalwood for a great everyday perfume.  The bottle of Scarlett is gorgeous too!  I'm told this was a steal for only $16!!

Purple Lips by Salvador Dali opens with a strong scent of violet and dries with notes of sandalwood and musk.  This is a more wintery fragrance but still light enough for everyday wear.

Gucci Envy Me is a nice sweet, floral which is suited for day wear in Summer.  I think the bottle design of this is really cute too!

Finally, we have Moschino Couture, which is quite a heavy, spicy fragrance with strong hints of vanilla and bergamot.  She recommends this for daywear in Winter time.

Sometimes, the thing I love most about perfumes is the bottle design....so here are a few from my sister's collection.

Cacharel Liberte; Gucci Envy Me

Cacharel Scarlett; YSL Young Sexy Lovely (limited edition bottle design)

DKNY Candy Apples Sweet Caramel; Salvador Dali Purple Lips

Hope this is interesting for some of you, thanks for reading!

Recent Outfits

Hi everyone!

I haven't posted an outfit in a while so here is a random selection of things I've worn recently.

Top - Friends of Couture; Jeans- MNG; Flats - Witchery; Bracelet - Etsy

The top has a cute floral fabric bow detail thingy around the neckline.

Friends of Couture floral bow detail

And then today I wore this:

Top - Dotti; Cardi - Temt; Jeans - MNG; Sandals - Sportsgirl; Bracelet - Mimco

Dotti lace detail top

I bought this top over a year ago, but apparently Poh from Poh's Kitchen was wearing the same top in watermelon on tonights episode (I wasn't home tonight so I didn't see it).  What a freaky coincidence!!

I think my MNG jeans might be going to denim heaven very soon, they are wearing quite thin behind the knees.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: I forgot to credit my sister for taking the photos!  She takes all of the photos for my outfit posts - thank you!!!!

Project 20 Pan: items 18 - 20

Hi everyone!

Today I'll be sharing my thoughts on items 18 - 20 of my project 20 pan.  Although I have finished 20 items, I'm not considering myself officially done yet, as I did say that I wanted to finish ten makeup items as part of the 20 and so far I've only finished nine.

L-R: YSL Young Sexy Lovely perfume; Red Earth Mattifying Makeup Base; Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation

Number 18 was a perfume, YSL's Young Sexy Lovely.  This has been discontinued so it was a bit sad to finish it, although I'm certain you can still get it at Priceline and maybe MyChemist or similar (plus I'm sure I could find it online as well).  I had this in my handbag as my everyday fragrance.  It's a nice light floral fragrance, and I get quite a strong citrus-y note from this as well.

The next product I finished was a primer, Red Earth's Mattifying Makeup Base.  I swatched this in my daily face routine post.  It's a silicon based primer so great for absorbing any oiliness which I sometimes get throughout the day.  I found this helped me achieve a matte finish which stayed in place for a reasonable amount of time (say 6-8 hours, if I wasn't doing anything too sweaty).  I think this has been discontinued though as Red Earth is not stocked in Priceline anymore (to my knowledge) and I haven't seen it elsewhere since it was discontinued from Priceline.

My 20th item was a Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation.  This was the lightest shade it comes in (light vanilla) and still way too dark for me, so I mixed this with my NYX foundation which is super light.  Apart from the limited colour range for pale skinned people like myself, I quite like this.  It has a fresh, fruity fragrance (but not too overpowering), blends quite nicely and doesn't feel heavy or cakey.  It apparently contains "Radiance Boosting Fruit Therapy" whatever that means....sounds like a bit of a gimmick to me, haha!  But overall, I quite liked this (apart from it being too dark).

For my final item(s), I am currently chippping away at a Revlon eyeliner and a Revlon lipgloss.  Hopefully I'll be finished by the end of February (which will mean a total of around six months without any new purchases).

Revlon lipgloss; Revlon eyeliner

Thanks for reading!

NOTD: Ulta3 Plum Violet

Hello everyone, hope you've all had a great weekend!

It seems that Summer has well and truly arrived (after some unseasonably cold weather) here in Melbourne so I did some bright nails to match the sunny weather.

This is Ulta3 Plum Violet (a present from my lovely sister - thank you!), three coats.

Ulta3 Plum Violet

This is so fun and bright, perfect for Summer!!  Thanks for reading!

High Tea at the Hotel Windsor

Hello again!

Today, two lovely friends took my sister and I out for afternoon tea at the Hotel Windsor on Spring Street as a belated birthday treat (our birthday was almost three months ago, but it was impossible to find a weekday afternoon when everyone was free).

The Hotel Windsor - High Tea

It was a delightful experience (I feel like I have to use posh words to describe it, haha!); the hotel itself is amazing and the afternoon tea was fantastic as well!  Normally, they use a different room (according to the waiter), but today, the tea was served in the Grand Ballroom which is just beautiful!

The Hotel Windsor - inside the Grand Ballroom

We began the afternoon with a glass of bubbles and some macarons (pistachio and choc-hazlenut) while we waited for the rest of the food to be served.

Macarons: Pistachio & Choc-Hazlenut

We started out with finger snadwiches.  I was really impressed with the sandwiches we had - three out the four of us are vegetarians and they prepared some extra vegtetarian options especially for us!  The sandwich fillings were egg & snow pea tendrils; cucumber & sour cream; cheese & tomato; roasted eggplant & salad greens; and roasted capsicum & parmesan.  My sister (non-vego) also had smoked salmon and chicken sandwiches.

Finger sandwiches

Next, we had scones.  It would have been nice if they were served warm, but I guess with the large number of guests this might have been difficult.  We each had a plain scone and a raisin scone.  They were both nice, but I'm not a huge fan of raisins so I enjoyed the plain one more.  Scones are served with a choice of strawberry or summer berry jam and double cream.  I'm not sure if they maybe use yeast to make the scones rise as they had an almost bread-like texture - quite different to most scones I have had before.  They were nice and fluffy though.

Plain and raisin scones

Finally, there was a selection of mini-cakes as well.  The layered one was a peanut butter and jam (or jelly) inspired number which was quite nice; the yellow cake was some kind of lemon & passionfruit mousse served atop a thin biscuit base with a white chocolate decoration; the white chocolate cone was filled with a white chocolate mousse and a fresh raspberry on top of a cake base; and the chocolate cake was like a mousse with a fruit sauce (I think it was apricot) in the middle and a tiny piece of edible gold foil on top (very fancy!).  The lemon & passionfruit cake was my favourite!  We were all so full by the end though, haha!

Cake selection

Of course High Tea wouldn't be complete without a nice cuppa!  There is quite a good selection of tea, ranging from the traditional Earl Grey, English Breakfast etc. to some herbal and floral inspired teas as well.  I started off with the Hotel Windsor Blend which was nice but quite similar to English Breakfast.  Next, I tried Earl Grey Twist.  This was also nice, but I think I missed the "twist" as to me, this just tasted like Earl Grey.  The twist is supposed to be lemon myrtle.  I could taste a bit of citrus but it was very subtle.  But like I said, this was nice nonetheless.  I finished up with a pot of Sultry Chai which I really enjoyed.  I quite like drinking proper brewed chai tea that is peppery and spicey, much better than the overly sweet, flavourless powdered stuff!  I wanted to try the Orange Pekoe and the Chamomile & Orange Blossom as well, but I guess they will have to wait for next time.  In case you haven't guessed by now, I am a hopeless tea addict, haha!

High Tea

Last but not least, this is what I wore.

High Tea Outfit

 Blouse - Valleygirl; Pants - Forever New; Heels - Rubi; Braclets - Mimco and Etsy

This was my first high tea experience so I was a little unsure of the dresscode.  I had planned to wear a skirt but that fell through when I realised that the skirt I wanted to wear is way to big for me now and needs to be taken in.  In the end, I felt ok wearing pants though, in fact one of my friends said I was probably the most dressed up of all of us (not sure if that was true though).

I would definitely love to go for High Tea again and I think it would be interesting to try out a few different places.  The tea at Hotel Windsor is quite traditional, but I think there are hotels that do a more modern twist as well.  I'd also love to go back to the Windsor on the weekend for the dessert buffet which does look fantastic from what I've seen on various blogs, but I think I'd probably need to fast for at least a week before, and probably after as well, haha!

Thanks for reading!