My New York Beauty Haul!

Hi lovelies!

I'm sorry for the absence of late...2015 has been such a topsy turvy year for me and it's been hard to keep up a consistent blog schedule without a regular routine! Hopefully 2016 will be more consistent so I can get back to my regular blogging routine. Thank you all for bearing with me this whole time and still bothering to read my posts!

In the meantime, I was recently in New York for a whirlwind ten days with a group of friends at the end of November. It was an amazing trip and I really loved New York, I could actually see myself moving there if it wasn't for the extreme cold and the incredibly long flights! It was a bit of a dream come true to be able to see the Big Apple, and naturally, to be able to do a bit of beauty shopping! The exchange rate is a bit of a killer at the moment, but a lot of the prices were still better than what we get in Australia, and also, it was amazing to be able to shop at Sephora. The first time I entered a Sephora, I felt like a kid in a candy store! The sales assistants were incredibly lovely, and so excited when they learned I was a beauty blogger/makeup fanatic from Australia. We spent quite a while excitedly discussing makeup! I even got my makeup done there once. Like all makeup counters, the makeover was redeemable on products purchased so it was good fun and I got to try out a whole bunch of products I had my eye on.

I promised to share photos of my makeup haul, so here it is! I'll apologise in advance for the lack of photo quality, I'm currently in Malaysia without my laptop or any of my blogging paraphernalia, so these flatlays are a bit rough! I stocked up pretty heavily on fragrances as you can't order these through mail forwarding companies due to the hazardous materials restrictions on fragrances and nail polishes.

First up, here are the four Black Friday deals I picked up. Each of these were $10 each. I initially ordered three packs as a trial and had it shipped to the apartment we were staying at, thinking the order would probably get cancelled, but it went through! I ended up returning one of the packs (the Smashbox primer duo pack) as it was a lot smaller than I had initially thought, and then picked up a further two packs in store from the limited stock they still had left.

NEST EDP rollerball trio pack (Verde, Dahlia, Indigo)
Tokyomilk Dark Femme Fatale pack with salted caramel lip balm and mini Tainted Love No. 62 perfume
CLEAN rollerball layering trio pack (Skin, Warm Cotton, Cashmere)
BUXOM Strut Your Stuff trio pack containing a deluxe Full-On Lipstick in Brooklyn, Lip Gloss in Rose Julep and eyeliner in Come Over.

I've always wanted to try the CLEAN and NEST perfumes, plus I adore Tokyomilk products, so I was very excited to pick these packs up for a bargain price.

Keep reading after the jump!

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed, Spotlights and The One Brush Review + Swatches (and Giveaway)!!!

Hi lovelies!

Boy, do I have a fun treat in store for all of you! I've officially been running this blog for about 4 years now, so thank you all for sticking with me through everything. In keeping with tradition, I've got a review of some fab goodies, and then a blogiversary GIVEAWAY to share!

I've been obsessed with the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors since I tried the pressed highlighter in Opal (reviewed here), so I was thrilled when I was given the opportunity to trial the pressed highlighters in Moonstone and Topaz...as well as the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Spotlights (a trio of mini cream highlighters in shades Opal, Pearl and Champagne Gold). Champagne Pop is the collaboration shade that Becca released in conjunction with popular YouTube Guru Jaclyn Hill (which I bought as soon as it hit the market), so I thought I'd include swatches of that shade too.

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Moonstone, Champagne Pop, Opal and Topaz, and Spotlights in Opal, Pearl and Champagne Gold.

I was also provided with the Becca The One Perfecting brush, a multitasking makeup brush that's supposed to be perfect for applying everything, including primer, foundation, highlighter and contour! Read on to see what I thought of these products...and then enter the giveaway that the lovely people at Ry.com.au were kind enough to provide for my readers to help celebrate the blog birthday!

Keep reading after the jump!

Halloween 2015 Nails!

Hi lovelies,

I do apologise for the lack of posts on the blog lately...somehow time has just gotten away from me! I promise to do better, and I have something very exciting coming up in the next couple of days...so do keep an eye out for it!

In the meantime, I couldn't let Halloween pass by without doing my nails in a simple look I'll call an arty take on your typical Halloween shades. I chose Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy colours in Hot Hand (orange) and BlackJack (black), using this technique described here.

 
Keep reading after the jump!

August 2015 (Birthday Box) Lust Have It Review!

Hi lovelies!

In case you've been avidly following my blog and are wondering where the July LHI review went...I'm afraid I ran out of time to write it before the birthday box showed up. *shamefaced look* (read why here). The August box marks LHI's birthday, so it's extra special! Here's what I received in my August box:

Red Carpet Kolour Body Glow in Medium (full sized)

Reed Orange and Poppy Seed Scrub (full sized)

Mellow Cosmetics Baked Eyeshadow in Olive (fill sized)

Mellow Cosmetics Mineral Auto Twist Liner in Navy (full sized)

Ulta3 Volume & Length Mascara (full sized)

All in all, with five full sized products in this month's box/bag, I think it's great value, and has a fun selection of products too! Let's take a look at some photos.

August 2015 Lust Have It Box.

Keep reading after the jump!

M.A.C. Haute Dogs Collection Review.

Hi lovelies,

This post was meant to go live late last week, but I've been busy battling a few things that haven't left much energy for blogging! My credit card was compromised while traveling interstate so I lost almost $3k to scammers, I'm still in the process of trying to sort out a dispute with my bank. I also had a guy in a hire van hit my parked car a couple of weeks ago, so I've been busy trying to sort out car insurance/car repairs...and then my shower sprung a leak and I didn't have hot water, and naturally it had to happen over a weekend so I couldn't get it fixed until the Monday! There were also a few other niggling little issues that happened in between, so it's been a bit eventful of late!

Anyhow, without further ado, did you know that M.A.C. came up with a cute collection called Haute Dogs, which launched in Australia on the 7th of September? I thought it was the most adorable thing ever, and as a dog lover, I was thrilled to receive a few products to play with! The Haute Dogs Collection is from the Mineralize range, there are baked eyeshadow quads, fluidline liners, nail lacquers, lipsticks, lip pencils, lip glasses and brow pencils, as well as several face products and brushes. I think the cover photo is really interesting, don't you?

Image sourced from M.A.C. Cosmetics Australia.

I was fortunate enough to be sent two eyeshadow quads, Posh Pedigree and Pure Bred, as well as a nude lipstick in Rare Breed. A word of warning, this is going to be a very photo-heavy post!

There are a total of three quads in this collection, and I received Pure Bred, which is a collection of brown/plum shades, and Posh Pedigree, which is a collection of taupes/greys. Both quads are gorgeous and I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite. Rare Breed is a pretty rosy nude brown lipstick.

Keep reading after the jump!

Eye of Horus Babylon Brown Liquid Define and Nile Dual Brow Perfect Review.

Hi lovelies,

I apologise for being a bit quiet on the blog over the past couple of weeks. A friend of mine got married interstate and so a few of us made the trip out, it was such a gorgeous wedding!

Anyhow, I wanted to share a gorgeous parcel I received from one of my favourite beauty brands, Eye of Horus Cosmetics (you can read my review of their eye pencils here). They sent me a pack containing two beautiful necklaces, as well as two of their recently released products; the Babylon Brown liquid define (liquid eyeliner) and the Nile Dual Brow Perfect (dark brown pencil and brow gel).

Now, if you know me at all, you'll know that I never leave home without having my brows done and eyeliner on. I also have an obsession with liquid liner, so I was really excited to try these!

Eye of Horus Goddess Pack.

Keep reading after the jump!