April Favourites

Hey Guys

April was a fairly busy month for me but May is going to be even crazier with only 3 weeks left in my course and the beginning of my work experience at the end of the month. 

I stopped wearing makeup often as I was only going out once or twice a week, but I had a few firm favourites that I was relying on. 

Wotnot Facial Wipes for oily/sensitive skin*
I was sent these back when Wotnot first released their wipes for oily/sensitive skin and I must say that I have quite enjoyed them. I on the whole try not to use face wipes as I try to properly cleanse my skin but these are great for the times when you just really need to wipe off your makeup. These are very soft wipes that are quite large in size and I find do not make my face sting at all ($2 wipes I am looking at you). I really have enjoyed having these wipes in my stash and I would definitely consider picking up the full size packet when I run out. These retail for $7.99 AU for 25 wipes.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Combination/Oily Skin 
What more can I say about this foundation that hasn't already been said!? I went off this foundation for a while for my Estee Lauder Double Wear but have recently fallen back in love with Revlon. I cannot find another drugstore foundation that lasts all day and offers such high coverage. I am looking forward to Loreal's Infalliable Matte Foundation but sadly that is not available yet in Australia so this will have to make do for now. Currently I have the shade 220 Natural Beige but this may be slightly a bit too light and pink for my skin tone but considering it is almost Winter it should be fine for the next couple of months. This foundation retails for $34.95 AU but you can always find this on sale somewhere.

Nivea Lip Butter in Raspberry Rose

My lips have been ridiculously dry lately,winter is coming! I have made sure to have a lip balm close by and this month it was Nivea's Raspberry Rose which smells amazing! Quite an inexpensive lip balm and does a decent job moisutrising my lips. My only peeve is that it is a tub which can make it somewhat unhygienic and mainly just annoying that you end up with lip balm on your finger afterwards. This retails for $5.69 AU.

Sephora Eyeshadow in Be on the A-list #49

I got this eyeshadow in one of the Sephora kits I purchased back in January. I really love this eyeshadow as a lid colour and sometimes when I am super lazy as an all over sweep of colour. I am really addicted to bronze colours and this is pigmented and easy to blend. 

Face of Australia Blush in Terra

I picked up this blush during the Kmart clearance where it was only $4! I am so glad I did as I have found that this blush is perfect for a bit of colour and slight contour only lazy days. There is a slight amount of shimmer in this blush but it is not too noticeable when on your skin. It is a lovely pinky brown colour and looks great on my olive skin. This retails for $9.45 AU. 

Australis Blemish Buster Acne Fighting Primer

I have been using this primer in conjunction with my Rimmel Stay Matte Primer on days when my skin has been a bit out of control. I tend to use this mainly on the areas with spots as it is quite moisturising and I am always worried that if I used it on my whole face it would turn into an oily mess by mid-day. I find that this does not necessarily help my spots but it definitely does not break me out and I do not find that my spots are worse when I get home after having makeup on for the whole day. This retails for $16.95 AU. 

My month was mainly about makeup that was easy to use and less effort to put on. I do love makeup and I love wearing makeup but sometimes you just need to slap it on and get on with the day :P 

Love Liz xx

Review: Models Prefer Essential Brow Kit

Hey Lovelies

I have had this brow kit for a while so I thought that I should share my thoughts on it with you. I purchased this during a 40% off cosmetics sale at Priceline  (haul here), this retails for $12.99AU but I purchased it for $7.79AU. 

This little kit is quite small so I think it would be great for travel, it feels sort of sturdy but then also like it could accidentally open and you could misplace the tweezers and brush. As mentioned, the kit does come with a super cute mini tweezers and brush which is great if you are using this on the go or for travelling. I would prefer to use my own brush and tweezers at home but this is definitely a great alternative if you have no other options. The kit contains a tinted wax on the left and a powder on the right. 

I picked up the kit in medium to dark however there is light to medium version as well. Obviously this is not going to suit everybody but I am fortunate that the medium to dark does a decent job of matching my brows.  The back of the kit states - 

All the tools you need for perfect eyebrows! Shape brows using the tweezers. Define them using the tinted wax and then fill the sparse areas with the powder.

I could be completely wrong here so please forgive me, but I prefer to fill in my brows with powder and then finish them off with wax as I find that the wax makes them stay in place, I would not want to mess with that by putting powder on top. At least that is the way that I prefer to do my brows, in no means am I an expert, I just go with what I find works best for me personally. 

Overall I do like this kit, I think it is really great for travelling. I probably prefer just using a pencil on my brows because they are quite full so I don't tend to do a lot to them. But it is nice to have this in my drawers for when I feel like doing something different.

Love Liz xx

Priceline 40% off Cosmetics Haul

Hey Lovelies

It is a little late now but I wanted to share with you what I purchased from the recent Priceline 40% off cosmetics sale. 

I absolutely love when Priceline has their 50% off cosmetics sale. I pretty much keep a list of things that I want to try but am not willing to pay full price for so 40% off is a great time to pick up such things. I am trying to curb my spending currently so I feel like I was very restrained during this sale (the first one I went to I spent over $200, whoops haha).

I picked up two blushes in this sale even though I originally had told myself I would be purchasing no more blushes. My blushes no longer all fit in my blush compartment so my addiction is getting a little crazy. Unfortunately for me, the new Max Factor Creme Puff Blush had arrived in Priceline. I had really wanted Nude Mauve but of course that was completely sold out, so rather than purchase it later when it was no longer on sale I opted to pick up Lavish Maude. Lavish Maude is a lovely purple brown pink shade, crazy to describe but looks absolutely stunning in the pan. Despite the name these blushes are actually baked powder blushes and not a cream blush. They retail for $21.95AU but was on sale for $13.17AU. I also went past the Savvy display at Priceline and the blushes caught my eye. They were only $4.99AU regularly! I had to resist from picking them all up but I did grab one in the shade Nude. This was on sale for only $2.99AU. 

I told myself I would purchase no new eye shadows unless they were cream eye shadows, I actually managed to stick with this rule. I picked up another new release from Max Factor which was their Excess Shimmer Eyeshadow. These looked absolutely stunning and seemed like a slightly creamier version of the color tattoos by Maybelline. Shade 20 Copper went straight into my basket. These retail for $19.95AU but was on sale for $11.97AU. 

Australis Fresh and Flawless Pressed Powder really does this even need to be mentioned? I absolutely love this powder and continue to pick up extras when they are on sale. I will always have a back up on hand. Read more about this powder here. This retails for $11.95AU and was on sale for $7.17AU. A new one from Australis however was their Blemish Buster Primer, I am always up for a new primer that will help to keep my skin clear and calm. This retails for $16.95AU but was on sale for $10.17AU.

Lastly I picked up two new brushes from Models Prefer as they were included in the sale and I have a thing going for makeup brushes at the moment, the more the merrier. I wanted a new base brush as my RT buffing brush has seen better days, so I picked up the BB Brush which retails for $22.99AU but was on sale for $13.79AU. Along with the foundation brush I wanted a larger concealer brush for under my eyes, so I felt the Airbrush Concealer Brush was a good choice. That brush retails for $12.99AU but was on sale for $7.80AU.

Did you pick up anything in the Priceline sale?

Love Liz xx

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

February Favourites

Hey Guys

I am so sorry I have been a bit absent from my blog. This post is about 3 weeks late but I figured I should post it regardless! My life has been taken over with tests and assignments and it has just been a little crazy. Which is why I want to try and dedicate some time to my blog so that I can have my own little escape from reality! 

February went by so quickly, I started College and it just flew by, I can't believe I am practically half way through my course, which means all of the assessments are about to become a lot more difficult and more frequently due :( 

Makeup wise I have only been wearing makeup once or twice a week when I go to work or catch up with friends. I have my firm favourites however which I stuck to during February. 

Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Gel Shadow

Bad to the Bronze is my go to eyeshadow if I need something that will last all day and is super easy to do, one swipe over the lids and blended and my eyes look fantastic! Highly recommend these color tattoo's if you are looking for something easy that looks great. These retail for $11.95AU.

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder

Sadly this cant be bought instore in Australia, I purchased mine off ASOS where it retails for around $15.50 AU but can often be found on sale. I really love this bronzing powder, it is a great colour that warms up my skin and if I am feeling lazy I will use it for a little bit of contour as well. This smells like cocoa as well which I think is great, you can't tell once it is on your skin though, just in the pan.

Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer

I have three of these lip lacquers but I think that my favourite shade would be celestial which is a lovely deep but soft pink shade. The new matte versions are now out but honestly I think that they would not work for me, my lips are super dry and I can even find these drying on my lips sometimes. This formula lasts a long time on my lips, a bit shorter with eating and drinking but better than most other formulas I own. These retail for $15.95 AU. 

Essence Eyebrow Designer Pencil

I think this is honestly my favourite brow product. I have the shade 02 Brown which is slightly dark and red for me but because I dye my hair it works. My left brow has quite a few patches of hair missing and this just helps fill in those gaps. This retails for $3.05 AU and is an absolute steal if you can find a shade match.

Models Prefer Soft Touch Mineral Powder

I am so sorry if I have gone on and on about this product but I absolutely adore it. I have been using this practically every time I wear makeup to set and finish my makeup but I have barely made a dent in this. I own two shades, soft focus and photo ready. Soft focus is not listed on the website and is a similar colour to photo ready but not exactly the same. I prefer soft focus as I find it gives a glow to my makeup like I have been airbrushed. I definitely recommend picking this up, it retails for $16.99 AU but will be on sale in next weeks Priceline 40% off cosmetics sale. Run don't walk. 

This was everything I really loved in February. Sorry it was so late! I will try to be better with my March Favourites :)

Love Liz xx