Benefit Cosmetics Blogger Lunch.

Hello lovelies,

If you follow me on Twitter/Instagram, you'll know that I attended a beauty blogger lunch with Benefit Cosmetics last Saturday. It all started when the lovely Gemma from Benefit and I started exchanging emails, and she mentioned that she'd love to catch up with some beauty bloggers in Melbourne. I offered to help her organise it and put out a call out through social media. Kerri (from Beauty and Things), Norlin (from Baubles, Bubbles and Bags), Melissa (from Bubbles on: Beauty, Fashion and Life), Vita (from Making Up 4 My Age), Ling (from Pork Chop's Nest), Jasmine (from Sweetaholic Beauty) and Amy (from Things I Love) all said they'd love to come along, so we all headed down to Myer in the CBD on Saturday to meet Gemma and learn a bit more about Benefit Cosmetics.

Gemma and I.

Here's a little interesting fact, apparently the Benefit counter in Myer Melbourne is one of the top three best selling counters in the whole world! In fact, the counters at Myer Melbourne and Myer Sydney hold two of the top three positions, no small feat when you take into account that there are counters in New York, London, etc!

There are nine brow stations at the Myer Melbourne store, so the drop-in service works very well. If, however, you do want to visit one of the other counters, like Chadstone, you'd be best to call and make an appointment as they are quite small and you might have to wait quite a while.

The Benefit Brow Bar at Myer Melbourne.

First, we were treated to a brow demo, where Jasmine volunteered to be our model for the demonstration. As my regular readers will know, I am a faithful devotee of the Benefit Brow Bar (read all about my first trip there by clicking here). We were talked through the process (signing the disclosure sheet, going through the client's preferences, and measuring out the right arch), then Jasmine sat down in the chair to begin her brow transformation.

The disclosure book you have to sign.

Gemma explained that Benefit always do one side of the face first, so that you can compare the difference between your new brow from the old. While waiting for the brow tint to set, Jasmine had one of Benefit's bestsellers, Posietint, applied to her lips and cheeks in a little makeover.

Jasmine getting Posietint applied.

After her brows had been tinted and waxed, we headed over to the makeup counter, where Jasmine had the redness caused from waxing covered up with concealer and powder.

The Benefit makeup counter at Myer Melbourne.

Next up was a makeup demonstration. I volunteered to be the makeover model, so I sat down in the chair for a little makeover. I had my makeup removed, and we all got to learn more about each of the products used, including the skincare, primers (Porefessional, That Gal and Stay Don't Stray), foundation (Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow), concealer (Boi-ing and the new Fake-Up), brows (BrowZings and High Brow Glow), blush (Benetint was applied to my lips and cheeks) and had some of the new creaseless shadows and pressed shadows applied in a soft, smokey eye (they are part of the new colour collection launched just two weeks ago). The look was finished off with They're Real mascara applied to my lashes.

Getting my makeup done.
(Thanks to Ling for this photo)

Getting my makeup done.
(Thanks to Ling for this photo)

You can actually get a complimentary makeupper mini service by asking one of the Benefit counter girls. This won't be a full makeover, but you can get your eyes or similar done. Alternatively, you can book in for a full makeover, which I believe is priced at $50, redeemable on products.

With Lina and Melissa.

Bloggers posing with the Benefit counter girls!

Here's another interesting fact, the They're Real mascara is actually the top selling makeup product in Myer! This includes beating out the Touche Éclat from YSL, and other cult icons! Isn't that fascinating?

After that, it was time to head down to lunch at Collins Quarter, where we were also given the chance to play with some of Benefit's most popular products, including the newly launched creaseless eyeshadows, pressed shadows, Fine-One-One (three-in-one sheer colour for lips and cheeks), Fake-Up (the cult new cream concealer), Porefessional (primer), Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow (foundation), Benetint (red lip and cheek tint), BrowZings (brow powder and wax) and High Beam (illuminator).

Gemma explaining some products to us.

Benefit Fine-One-One.

They're Real, creaseless shadow, High Beam, Benetint and
pressed shadow.

Swatches of some of the creaseless shadows
and the pressed shadow.

We were also served with some really delicious food and wine, and had plenty of chances to play with the products and ask Gemma questions.

Mini goat's cheese and cherry tomatoes bruschetta.

Quinoa and eggplant dish.

Spicy pork on mini pide.

Garden salad with chunky chips.

I can safely say that I've added quite a few things to my wishlist, I really want BrowZings, High Brow Glow, and some of the new creaseless shadows!

I leave you with a quick snap of my makeup from the Benefit counter (lipstick is my own).

It really was a lovely lunch and I, for one, feel like we learned a lot! We were also gifted with our own They're Real mascara to take home and experiment with. A big thank you to Gemma and Benefit Cosmetics for having us!

Have you tried Benefit Cosmetics before, lovelies? Which products do you love best?

Much love,
MM.
x

Product Review: Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Lilac Rose Collection (and swatches).

Hello lovelies!

It's been a cold and rainy day in Melbourne today, and yours truly did a really silly thing! I wasn't sure if I had turned off my heater properly so I actually left work at lunch time and came home to check, and then just worked from home for the rest of the time. Naturally, it WAS off! Does anyone else do silly things like that? Best safe than sorry though!

I have two pretty things to share with you today, which are perfect for wearing in the colder autumn and winter months! Let me introduce you to the gorgeous lilac sparkle shadow and lilac rose shimmer brick compact (first mentioned in this post) from the new Bobbi Brown limited edition Lilac Rose collection (did I mention that's it's limited edition?)! I have a thing for limited edition products...I love limited edition products because of the exclusivity factor, but it's a double edged sword because if you fall in love with it, what happens when they no longer make it?! Anyway, I digress, back to the products at hand...

The lilac shadow is one of the prettiest shadows I've seen for a while. The soft, almost frosty shade would go beautifully on most skintones, and it's such a smooth and silky shadow given that it's a glitter! It's meant to be worn both day and night, I would wear it as a soft wash across the mobile eyelid for daytime and built up for 'wow' factor at night. You can get added impact by using a damp brush, or by using a cream shadow as a base underneath. It's the classy, adult way to wear glitter, perfect for ladies who want to wear glitter but don't want to look like a disco ball.

Bobbi Brown Lilac Sparkle Shadow

Bobbi Brown Lilac Sparkle Shadow

Bobbi Brown Lilac Sparkle Shadow

The shimmer brick is also a lovely choice for ladies who love sheer, pretty colour. It's packaged in a sturdy push lock black case, standard (but classy) Bobbi Brown packaging. Each strip can be used separately for a subtle eye look (lovely when paired with a statement lip), but you can also swirl a brush over the lot and dust some along your cheekbones as a highlighter. I used to own a bronze version of this and used mine to death, and what I loved is that the shades remained pigmented even a year later! Just quietly, I love that it comes with a mirror, it always comes in handy for travelling with!

Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Lilac Rose Shimmer Brick

Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Lilac Rose Shimmer Brick

Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Lilac Rose Shimmer Brick

On to swatches, the leftmost shade is the lilac rose sparkle shadow while the other five shades are from the shimmer quad (swatched top to bottom, moving left to right).

The sparkle shadow retails for $44 (shop it here) while the shimmer brick retails for $85 (shop it here). If you spend over $100 on the official Bobbi Brown website, you score free shipping and a free dark circle emergency kit! Bobbi Brown is also available from David Jones and Myer.

The full collection has a gorgeous eyeshadow palette with eight shadows, nail polish, blush and several glosses, including an online exclusive featuring a dual ended brush, cleansing oil sample, cream shadow and gel liner (which my lovely blog friend Ingrid reviewed here on her blog). View the whole collection here.

(image taken from the Bobbi Brown website)

What do you think, lovelies, do any of the items from this collection take your fancy? If so, get in quick as it might not be around for long! I'm loving the look of the blush, eye palette, and glosses in particular!

Much love,
MM.
x


Note: These products were kindly provided for my consideration. This has not affected my opinion in any way. I was not obliged to blog about it in any way but am choosing to do so at my own discretion. For more information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Adore Beauty Best of the Best Samplers.

Hello lovelies,

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend! I was quite busy on Friday night and Saturday (attended a Benefit blog event yesterday, stay tuned for an upcoming post), so spent today catching up on my rest, doing boring household chores and doing some domestic goddess cooking (I tried making kale chips, they were yummy)! I'm already having the blues about work tomorrow though, Monday is my least favourite day of the week!

Now if you know me at all, you'll know that I love samples/travel sized beauty products because it's important to try things out and see how they work before investing in a full sized set (and also because it seems to take me ages to finish anything, which is why you never see any 'empties' posts on this blog). I saw an amazing deal being offered by Adore Beauty and thought I'd share it with my gorgeous readers!

Adore Beauty have come up with two great sampler packs retailing at $34.95 each, similar to the lovely packs that Sephora offers! There's a skincare and haircare pack, and a skincare and makeup pack. Both packs contain seven samples, thoughtfully packaged in an Adore Beauty travel bag, and you also get a voucher entitling you to 10% off any full sized product in the pack!

Adore Beauty Best of the Best Skincare and Haircare

The skincare and haircare pack contains:

Kevin Murphy Angel Wash 40ml
Kevin Murphy Angel Rinse 40ml
Lanolips Rose Balm intense for Very Dry hands 25ml
Terax crema conditioner 60ml
Smith’s Rosebud Balm (mixed)
Philosophy purity 30ml
Alpha-h Liquid Gold 5ml

Adore Beauty Best of the Best Skincare and Makeup

The skincare and makeup pack contains:

Bioderma crealine 20ml (most amazing makeup remover, ever)
Philosophy purity 30ml
Napoleon perdis Auto pilot pre-Foundation primer 15ml
St Tropez Skin illuminator 30ml
theBalm Hot Mama! 1g
Lanolips Rose Balm intense for Very Dry hands 25ml
Benefit They’re Real! mascara 3g

I must say I'm pretty tempted by the skincare and makeup pack! They would make great gift ideas too! What about you, are you tempted?

Shop the skincare and haircare pack here and the skincare and makeup pack here. I love that each order comes with a little chocolate bar, such a special touch. :)


Much love,
MM.
x

Five minutes of fame - Maybelline M:Edition May 2013 Eye Studio.

Hi lovelies!

Happy Thursday! One day till the weekend, yay!

Just popping in quickly to share some great news with my dear readers, I've done an eye makeup tutorial for Maybelline New York's online magazine, M:Edition!

It was such an honour to be asked and I was thrilled to participate (although a little daunted too, it's my first ever eye tutorial, eep)!

See what you think by clicking here, and don't forget to sign up if you haven't already, it's packed full of great tips and information, plus the latest competitions on offer!

Here's a quick snap if you aren't able to click on the link.

So very excited to have been featured, thank you so much for having me, Maybelline New York!

Much love,
MM.
x

Product Review: Australis Pout Pastes.

Hello lovelies,

Happy hump day! I seem to be running perpetually behind this week (work has been insanely busy), and I think the cold weather we're having in Melbourne is making me really sluggish, so I skipped this week's makeup tag. Instead, I bring you a review of one of my new favourite glosses/stains/liquid lipsticks, the Australis Pout Pastes!

Australis Pout Pastes.

These gorgeously pigmented beauties were launched last month and I jumped at the chance to try them as they remind me a little bit of the fabled OCC lip tars or my much beloved Mirenesse lip bombs! I have a love/hate relationship with glosses as my lips have a natural lip line, and I need a product that's opaque enough to cover my natural pigmentation.

Australis Pout Pastes.

The Pout Pastes come in three shades:

• Berry Nice Kiss - a pretty purple that looks more grape than berry in tone.
• Pash Me Pink - a soft Barbie pink.
• Love Bites - a very glossy red.

They are packaged in a squeeze tube, with a doe-foot applicator, which I find very handy as it's very travel-friendly - you won't have to pack a lip brush to apply it. Each tube is clear, which is great as you can easily identify which gloss you've picked up.

The doe-foot applicator of the Australis Pout Pastes.

The doe-foot applicator of the Australis Pout Pastes.

The Pout Pastes have a slight floral scent which I personally find very pleasant. What I love most about these glosses, though, is how brilliantly buildable they are. One light swipe gives you pretty, sheer colour (which is still pigmented enough to cover my natural pigmentation), yet you can apply a few layers to get deep, opaque colour, much like a lipstick but with added shine. A reader asked me if these feel 'goopy' on the lips, the answer is no; because of how glossy they are, they can feel a little sticky but not tacky. The consistency is quite smooth and thin, so it's not thick or uncomfortable to wear.

Light application of the Australis Pout Pastes - blended out.
L-R: Pash Me Pink, Berry Nice Kiss and Love Bites.

Heavy application of the Australis Pout Pastes in natural daylight.
L-R: Pash Me Pink, Berry Nice Kiss and Love Bites.

Heavy application of the Australis Pout Pastes in shade.
L-R: Pash Me Pink, Berry Nice Kiss and Love Bites.

Overall, if you like shine and buildable colour, you really need to try these out! They aren't the best choice for a windy day (unless you don't mind your hair getting stuck to your lips) but would be perfect for wearing to work when you know you're heading out after, as they can take you from a day look to a night look very effortlessly! The fun thing about the Pout Pastes is you can mix-and-match the shades to create your own custom shade, rather handy when you want something in between the sweet pink of Pash Me Pink and the traffic-stopping-red of Love Bites!

My favourite shade in the bunch is Berry Nice Kiss; it's such a versatile shade that a light swipe of colour gives you a natural look, while you can really build up the colour for a statement lip. The Pout Pastes last quite a few hours on me without bleeding or the need for touching up, but I do find that it's best not to eat a sandwich with these on, as the colour transfers quite easily. You'd be better off wiping it off and reapplying a fresh layer after lunch.

The only downside? I wish they had more colours in the range!

The Australis Pout Pastes are available for $12.95 from standard Australis stockists like Priceline, Kmart, BigW and selected pharmacies.

Have you tried these, lovelies? Which shade is your favourite?

Much love,
MM.
x


Note: These products were kindly provided for my consideration. This has not affected my opinion in any way. I was not obliged to blog about it in any way but am choosing to do so at my own discretion. For more information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Review: Decant Shop.

Hi lovelies!

One day to go to Mother's Day! What are you doing with/for your mum? I sent mine flowers, it's been quite nerve-wrecking waiting for them to be delivered!

Another thing I often give my mum is perfume; we both adore it and love trying new scents, which brings me to the topic of today's post! There's nothing worse than buying a perfume that smells great on a tester card, only to find that it smells completely different on you because of your body chemistry, or worse, finding that it completely disappears on you after a while. That's why I love getting perfume samples to try out, but they can often be hard to come by for the scents that you're specifically looking for.

Imagine my delight when I browsing the forums on one of my favourite websites, BeautyHeaven, and came across a mention for a site called Decant Shop. Decant Shop are quite a new company; based in the US, they specialise in selling hand-decanted, original perfume samples. They are a great way to try out a new scent you've been eyeing for a while or to get a scent that you already own so you can pop it in your bag for touch-ups. I thought I'd share my experience with them as there wasn't much information out there when I placed my order, and I thought my experience might be of use to someone planning on making a purchase with them.

I ordered four large samples in various scents, as listed below:

Tom Ford Black Orchid 5 ml
Thierry Mugler Alien 5 ml
Gucci Guilty Intense 3 ml
Chanel Coco Noir 3 ml

I ordered Black Orchid because it's quite a luxury fragrance, and I wanted to be sure I really liked wearing it often before I decided to purchase a full-sized bottle, which is why I got a generous 5 ml sample. I got Alien because I own a full-sized bottle, but couldn't decant it into my Travalo (as I normally would), due to the design of the bottle, so I decided it would be handy for my handbag. I can attest that the scent of the sample is exactly the same as the one from my bottle, so you know it's original! Gucci Guilty Intense and Coco Noir were scents I was curious about, so I selected a 3 ml sample of each. All four samples arrived in cute and handy spray vials with clearly marked labels, which is perfect for spritzing on the go. I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of miniature perfume bottles because you always have to pull off the lids and dab them on, I much prefer a spray! Each vial also comes with a lid to keep it secure.

These samples cost me approximately $45 USD, plus an additional $5.99 for shipping and handling, but due to a 15% off promotion at the time, I paid just under $45 for the whole order, which was shipped using USPS First-Class Mail. Decant Shop were also kind enough to throw in a few samples (these were packaged in little vials with a stop-cap), which were:

Creed Millesime Imperial 1 ml (always wanted to try it but Creed are so hard to get in Australia!)
Gucci by Gucci Premiere 1 ml
Guerlain Shalimar 1 ml

I ordered my samples on March 21st and received them on April 3rd, which is just under two weeks (pretty good for international shipping, I reckon). My samples were packaged prettily in a little purple bag, and well-padded to prevent breakage.

Customer service was also really delightful; the site is run by Roy and Adriana, and Roy, in particular, was a pleasure to deal with, he actually emailed me a couple of times to see if I'd received my order yet! Great customer service is always a delight, it gives you a lot of faith in a company and ensures repeat business besides.

Overall, I was really pleased with my experience, and I will definitely be purchasing more samples in the future! I've fallen completely head over heels with Black Orchid (and have already put in an order for a full sized bottle), and Millesime Imperial is also a stunning, unique and long-lasting scent that I'm thinking of buying!

Best of all, lovelies, Decant Shop are offering a 16% discount on all women's and unisex fragrances in conjunction with Mother's Day (sorry gents, but stay tuned, they have discounts quite often)! All you have to do is enter code MD16 at checkout, and your discount will be automatically subtracted from your order, but hurry, as this sale ends tomorrow night at 12 am (US Central Time Zone)! You can visit their site by clicking here and stalk them on Facebook by clicking here. They have free shipping for all US and Canada orders over $50 (lucky things), and for international orders over $75!

Happy shopping, lovelies!

Do you think you'll be checking them out? Are there any perfumes you're lusting after now that you think I should check out?

Much love,
MM.
x


Note: I have not been compensated for sharing this post in any way, but am choosing to do so solely at my own discretion.  For more information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.