Review: twotreehouse Matchbox Lip Balms*

Hey Guys

Today I have a review of some lip balms to share with you, the twotreehouse Matchbox Lip Balms*. I was sent these lip balms to try out and I wanted to share my thoughts with you guys. 

First off, how cute are these little lip balms?! The bestselling matchbox lip balms are sold in packs of 3 with 2 different flavour choices. I chose the tropical set which contains a mango, passionfruit and pineapple lip balms, however there is also the original set which contains a tangerine, mint and strawberry lip balm. The lip balms are packaged in a very cute mini matchbox and there are a heap of awesome designs to chose from. The lip balms contain approximately 3g of product each and are said to last around 2-3 months depending on your usage. 

The lip balms are all handmade and contain no harmful preservatives. The ingredients are as follows: coconut oil, honey, beeswax, sweet almond oil, evening primrose oil, vitamin e, essential/flavour oils, mica. 

I really love the scents of these, they smell like the real fruit and not that strong fake smell that you can sometimes get.  I find that the balms are very hydrating on my lips and leave a nice glossy look as well. I would not recommend applying these balms before lipstick as they do seem a bit oily on the lips and so I feel like my lipstick would just slip off. But these are perfect for non lipstick days (which is the majority of the time for me) plus they are the perfect size to just throw in your bag.

Twotreehouse is founded by the lovely Mayni Lim who is now based in Sydney. Twotreehouse sells a range of items, which includes lip balms, bracelets, candles (the candles look absolutely gorgeous) and sugar scrubs. There is actually a funny story behind how the lip balms came to be, Mayni accidentally purchased beeswax by mistake and decided not to waste it and came up with the idea of lip balms!

The Matchbox Lip Balms retail for $15AU and can be found on the twotreehouse website here (with FREE shipping worldwide), or alternatively they are sold at 30 boutiques across Australia.

Love Liz xx

*This product was provided for review, but my opinion is my own

Review: Korres Pomegranate Lip Butter

Hey Lovelies

I wanted to share with you today my thoughts on this Korres Lip Butter in the shade/flavour pomegranate. I purchased this while on my holiday at a discount beauty store for only $5 AUD. I have seen these on ASOS for around $15 AUD before so I was surprised to see them so cheap. I was unsure whether it was fake or old or something along those lines but I figured it was worth trying for just $5. And I am so glad that I did.

The packaging is a plastic pot with a screw on lid, not the most hygienic of products so I would never take mine out in my handbag because I would prefer to use it at home when I have clean hands and can wash my hands after using it. There seems to be a decent amount of product inside so I think that this will last me a while as long as it stays clean. 

I actually really love this lip butter. I find it is very mositurising and doesn't leave me with dried up patches later like a lot of other lip products do to me. It also leaves a nice pinky/red tint to my lips and also a bit of a glossy look. I do love this product but I am not sure if I would pay the full $15 for it!

Love Liz xx

Some Lip Love

Hey my very patient lovelies

It has been so long and I am extremely apologetic about that, I have been putting my time towards studying for my super important exams, I really need to pass my units in order to finish on time! But I finished my last exam today and have a month off before next semester begins. I will be up to some shopping on my break so look out for some haul posts.

Anyways today I wanted to share with you a few of my latest lip products from a brand that has been upping their game.. I present to you ChapStick! I had forgotten about ChapSticks in favour of my Lanolips (which still has a place in my heart) but recently they have been all over Instagram and I just had to jump on the bandwagon. Priceline had a buy 2 and receive 30% off offer so I took advantage and picked up two items I had been lusting for, ChapStick Day & Night and ChapStick Mixstix. 

ChapStick Day & Night is designed to give you 24 hour moisture through the use of two different tubes. One is the day formula which contains aloe vera and vitamin E with SPF 15. The night one is a repair lip treatment. I really like the idea of two different formulas for different times of the day. There is no need for SPF at night and you can really use a thicker moisturiser formula at night. This retails for $7.99 AU at Priceline.

ChapSticks Mixstix is a limited edition twin lip balm mix which contains two sticks with two ends on each so ultimately you get four different flavones. One stick contains Strawberry Banana Smoothie which is one side strawberry and one side banana, the other stick is Lemon Berry Sorbet with one side lemon the other side berry. The idea is that you can mix the sides to get different flavours. The packaging feels a bit cheap and flimsy but I really like this idea and suggest you get your hands on this ASAP before it's too late! I can't find the price of these online but I believe it was around $7-8. 

The other thing I am dying to get my hands on from ChapStick is their soon to be released Cake Batter ChapStick. It is in their All Things Sweet collectible tins which I will be picking up as soon as they reply to my message about where they are stocked near me!

Have you been loving ChapStick as much as I have? 

Love Liz xx

March Monthly Favourites

Hey Guys

This is a bit late I know, but I have never done a monthly favourites before and I really wanted to start it but couldn't get my act together to chose everything I have been loving the past month. Better late than never I believe in this case!

March has absolutely flown by and April will be jam packed for me! I have multiple assessments due, a week holiday, a rental inspection, an upcoming hair appointment and another vet trip. I have also chosen to participate in the 30 Days of Beauty Challenge that is currently making its way around Instagram, I have never been one to take heaps of photos so it will be interesting having to post a photo a day but I am looking forward to participating more in the social side of beauty blogging. 

On to my favourites for the month though..

It has been a beauty heavy favourite month this month, my skincare has been the same for a while as my skin can be fairly sensitive to some products so I am scared of breakouts if I try to switch up my routine too much. One good new product I have been using on my skin is the Sukin Certified Organic Rose Hip Oil which I mentioned in a blog post here, back in February. I try to use treatments every other night and an oil in between, when I use this Rose hip Oil I tend to wake up in the morning with much smoother and plumper skin. The only other sort of skincare product I have been using constantly this past month is the Lanolips Lemonaid Lip Aid with Lemon Oil. My lips are fairly dry and cracked a lot of the time (might have something to do with a nervous habit I have of biting my lips) so I like to keep this on hand to use. It is travel friendly and smells fantastic!

I have been using the Maybelline New York Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Treatment Concealer under my foundation and then placing a cream concealer on top, that is just how bad my under eye area is at the moment. I really like this product and on a good day this is more than enough to cover and conceal everything. I also enjoy that it aims to conceal AND treat your puffy and dark under eye area. The base that I have been loving lately after repurchasing is the Revlon Colorstay Makeup for Oily/Combination Skin, I was a little concerned that this was breaking me out, but I believe I have narrowed that down to a primer I was wearing. I really hope this isn't breaking out my skin as I absolutely love this foundation. It is the only low end foundation I have found that stays on my skin all day and will look relatively the same at night as when I put it on in the morning. I have shade 220 Natural Beige which is a good match for my skin colour at the moment. 

The only cheek product I have been wearing lately is a light sweeping of BYS Compact Blusher in shade Coral. This is really pigmented and very cheap so I love to use this on a daily basis, I don't have to feel guilty if I use it all up. It is coming up to colder months now so I should probably stop wearing coral products but I absolutely love this blush so I probably wont be giving up using it any time soon. On my eyes I have mainly been using the Essence Quattro Eyeshadow in shade 05 to die for, I reviewed this product fully here. I really enjoy using this eyeshadow quad, the shades are lovely and the formula is really good, they are not chalky and are quite buttery smooth. You can create a few looks from just the four shades, but I mainly just stick with the same one, if it aint broke don't fix it.

There is all the products I have been really loving this past month. What have you been loving?

Love Liz xx 

Wishing For #02

Hey Everyone

I am trying to save money for my holiday coming up at the end of next month so my spending has been limited lately (apart from the slip up with Priceline's 40% off sale). As a result of this I have been wishing for a lot of products.. Shame my birthday is not for another couple of months!

So here are the products I have been wishing for lately..

Maybelline New York SuperStay Better Skin Foundation

This is a fairly recent release in the UK from Maybelline, I have read a few reviews online about it when it first came out and I quickly emailed Australian Maybelline to find out if it would be making an appearance here, unfortunately they couldn't give me an answer which is fair enough but I have been waiting for it to trickle onto eBay so I can snap it up but no luck yet. I don't really need another foundation but I like to try all the ones I can to try and find the best match for my skin.

Clarins Gentle Exfoliator Brightening Toner

After reading about the benefits of using an exfoliating toner from many people (thank you Ms Hirons) I have really been wanting to try this one from Clarins. I can't find it on the Clarins website but I have found it on the adore beauty website for $40.50 AU. I really hate using abrasive exfoliators and much prefer using chemicals such as the Liquid Gold by Alpha H so I think this would be a good exfoliator to add into my routine.

Nuxe Paris Reve De Meil Lip Balm

Everyone has been raving about this lip balm and I really want to join the band wagon and try it out. According to the Nuxe website one of these lip balms are sold every 28 seconds in the world. How insane is that!! I have been waiting for a bit more money in my bank account before I snap this up, it retails for $19.95 AU on Adorebeauty.

What have you been wishing for?

Love Liz xx

Asos Beauty Haul

I recently purchased a few items from asos while they were having a sale on some of their beauty products,. Technically this is a late valentines day present as the boy and I dont really do presents on valentines day, but my paypal wasn't working (it actually wasn't) so I used his paypal and just never paid him back. Rimmel London products must be moving up in the ranks for me as everything but one purchase was all Rimmel, so sorry that this is a Rimmel heavy haul but I could not resist the sale prices. So here is a mini review of all the products I grabbed, I plan on doing full reviews on the products as soon as possible. 

Carmex Cherry Lip Tube

I always have dry lips and I have a lot of lip balms as a result. However it seems that most of my lip balms are large tubes or pots were you have to use your fingers, which can be unhygienic and so I have been looking for tubes that I can pop straight on my lips and not have to worry about cleaning my hands. I love the fake cherry smell of most beauty products and this strong smell reminds me of old Lip Smackers and lollies. I purchased this for $3.04 AU and I cant find an online price in Australia but the same 10g tube in the original flavour retails for $6.49 AU. 

Rimmel Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Paint

I cant actually find this on the Australian Rimmel London website or Priceline so I think that this hasnt been released in Australia yet. I got this in the shade 006 Rich Russet which I have heard UK beauty blogger, Lily Pebbles rave about, see here. I had to try it out for myself and could not resist at $6.08 AU, it typically retails for $9.78 AU on asos, but I can assume it would retail for more here in Australia. Lily claims that these have extreme lasting power so you have to blend them quickly before they set. I am excited to try this out as it seems like a lovely golden taupe colour. 

Rimmel Stay Matte Dual Action Concealer

I was after a new cream concealer and I have always liked the Rimmel Hide the Blemish Concealer, so I was interested to try something else from their concealer line. Rimmel states that this is a:

Blendable dual action concealer [that] covers imperfections without clogging the pores [while] the inner core gently treats blemishes.

Sorry for the blurriness!

The American version of this (the one I have) comes in 4 shades, soft ivory, soft beige, classic beige, and ivory. I picked up 030 Classic Beige, this seems an adequate match for me but I always struggle picking my shade from an online picture. In Australia you can only purchase this in 2 shades, ivory and soft beige. It retails for $11.95 AU but I purchased it for $6.08 AU.

Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder

I have actually purchased this a few times before, back when I was in high school so probably around 5 or 6 years ago (eeek), I just cannot remember what colour I used to purchase this in, but I think it was probably a bit pink for my skin. I have purchased the translucent powder as I have a translucent loose powder but not a pressed one and I think that translucent powders are great for my skin as they keep my skin oil free without adding another colour to my face. 

This is available in 6 colours on asos, but only available in peach glow, silky beige, sandstorm and translucent. The shade I purchased, 001 transparent would be equivalent to translucent in Australia. I purchased this for $5.07 AU but it retails here for $12.95 AU. 

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation

This foundation is supposed to be a really good dupe for Estee Lauder double wear which I already own and love so I am very excited to try this out. I really hope I purchased this in a shade close to my skin colour, it looks a bit light but I am hoping that it will be a good winter colour for me. I purchased this in the shade 103 True Ivory. This retails for $17.95 AU but I purchased it for $9.12 AU. 

Love Liz xx

Weekly Loves #03

Hey Guys

Its the time of week again where I share with you what I have been loving this week. Mainly all beauty products this week and one haircare product managed to slip in.

Michael Mercier Hair Brush

I had first heard about these brushes from UK bloggers and was intrigued about them, I have fairly frizzy tangled hair now thanks to my constant need to change my hair colour so I was definitely interested in a brush that claimed to detangle easily and result in less hair fallout. I love this brush and it gets the tangles out of my hair like no other. It retails for $20.95 here in Oz but Priceline will usually have a 20% off sale every so often. There is three different brushes dependant on your hair thickness, so there one for thin, normal and thick hair. I of course own the thick hair one which is the blue one. 

Lanolips Lemonaid Lip Aid

I think this is a great lip balm/treatment; it smells amazing, tastes alright, and is very hydrating on the lips. Lanolips describe this as:

An ultra rich and creamy whipped lanolin lip treatment with organic lemon oil to naturally exfoliate, leaving lips fresh, soft and moist. The citric acid in the organic lemon oil acts as a natural exfoliator on dry, dead skin; when applied there may be a slight tingling on the lips as it works. 

I don't find this very exfoliating, maybe a little as I have found it to be a bit tingly on my lips. The claim that it is hydrating is spot on though, I typically have quite flaky and dry lips but using this frequently I have found that my lips are no where near as bad as normal. This is a range of the many Lanolips products, this retails for $15.95 AU. 

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24 HR Cream Gel Shadow

I have 3 of these Color Tattoo's in shades, Bad to the Bronze, Tough as Taupe and Inked in Pink. I have featured the shade Bad to Bronze in this weeks loved items as I still cannot get over how much I love this. I love everything, the shade, the wear time, the texture, the fact that you can wear this alone or as a primer for similar coloured eye shadows. I highly recommend these to anyone who wants a long lasting eyeshadow that looks great on its on but can double as a primer. These retail for $11.95 AU but are typically on sale for at least 20% off or part of a buy 2 get 1 free deal. 

Revlon Lash Potion Volume + Length Mascara

This mascara is definitely growing on me, I was not too fond of it at first but after continued use of it I have grown to love it. I purchased this in the black formula and not the waterproof version, I don't typically have any need for waterproof mascara and I hate the extra effort of scrubbing it off my eyes at the end of the day. I have very short and thin lashes but this elongates and gives them volume without clumping. I use a wiggle kind of technique at the roots and then brush up and this technique seems to work best with this mascara. This retails for $21.95 AU and does come in a waterproof formula and in a brown shade. 

What have you been loving?

Love Liz xx