Thursday 24 January 2013

Ciaté Paint Pot in Cabaret

Ciaté paint pot, Cabaret

I'm a bit of a nail polish fiend, and this Ciaté Paint Pot in Cabaret is right up my alley. It's a gorgeous plumy purple creme with quite a lot of magenta in it.

Ciaté paint pot, Cabaret, swatch
The colour was pretty hard to photograph properly; I tried to colour match it as accurately as I could in Photoshop.

It's the first Ciaté nail polish that I've tried and I'm really impressed; it goes on so smooth and evenly and is opaque in 2 coats, though you could easily get away with 1 if you were in a pinch. I've been wearing it for two days and have only got minor tip wear, which is unheard of for me, especially with darker colours.

Ciaté paint pot, Cabaret, swatch, Korres Lip Butter
Coincidentally, I noticed that it's almost an exact match for the colour of the lid of the Korres plum lip butter that I bought on the same day. I must have been in a real purple mood.

Have you tried any Ciaté nail polishes? How much do you just love this colour? I can't keep my eyes off it.

Haul time

I know, I know. I said that I wouldn't buy anything until I'm in New York... The truth is, I was afraid that I might do something stupid like buy a very expensive pair of shoes in NY if I didn't release some of my no-shopping tension now (consumer whore).

In my bags were: Ciaté Paint Pot in Cabaret; Origins Clear Improvements active charcoal mask; Clarins Eye Contour Gel; Soap & Glory foot buffer; and Korres Lip Butter in Plum. I also got a Lush Avobath bath ballistic and a Sunny Side bubble bar, but I didn't take photos of them cause they were a bit crushed and crumbled by the time I got home. I'll have a bunch of reviews for you in the coming days/weeks.

I'm really looking forward to trying the Origins mask and the Lush bath stuff. I'm going to Big Day Out on Saturday, so a long, soaking bath will be much needed after shakin' ma thang (read: awkwardly nodding and waving my arms around a bit) to the Killers... 

Are any of you going to Big Day Out or any other festivals this summer? Who are you most looking forward to seeing? (for me it's the Stone Roses at Future Music Festival)

Well that's it. Spending ban is back on. I think I can deal with it; it's only another 2 weeks until I leave.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Review: Honey'do shampoo and conditioner

I used to always love those bear shaped honey bottles when I was little, but much to my disappointment, I could never find any when I went to the supermarket with my mum. So you can imagine how excited I was when I came across this super cute set of A Beautiful Life Honey'do shampoo and conditioner. Childhood wish fulfilled.
Described as "a gentle yet thorough all natural shampoo made with organic honey that delivers amazing bounce and shine", and are free of parabens and sulfates.

A Beautiful Life, Honey'do shampoo, Honey'do conditioner, review
























They smell like honey and barley sugar lollies to me, which I really love but might be a bit too sweet for some. I love the consistency of the shampoo - it's almost like a gel and it keeps its shape when you squeeze some onto your hand. Random, but I enjoy it.

The conditioner can be pretty hard to get out of the bottle. It's very thick and the bottle doesn't squeeze easily, so I had to scoop some out with a finger until I could thin it down with some water.

They would probably be best for some one with normal-dry hair because the shampoo doesn't strip your hair and the conditioner is nice and rich. My hair's more on the oily side, so I find these a bit lacking in the cleaning department. After about 1 1/2 days my hair starts to look a bit greasy and by the end of the second day it looks pretty gross (to be fair though, I get that with most shampoos). Having said that though, they do leave my hair feeling really soft and faintly smelling of honey, so I'll definitely use the rest of them up.

Once I finished with them I'll need to find something to do with the bottles - they're just way too cute to throw away!

A Beautiful Life Honey'do Shampoos and Conditioners are available at Mecca Cosmetica and are $20 each.

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So that was my first ever review! Are there any other types of information that you'd like to see in my reviews, or any that you thought I could do without? Let me know what you think :)

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Black black black...

Skirt from Balmain, top from Topshop, bag from the Cambridge Satchel Company, Bracelet from Asos, shoes from Topshop

While browsing/day dreaming about Net-A-Porter today, I fell in love with this Balmain skirt. It has so many lovely details like the zips and straps converging. So I thought I'd show you what I think would look nice with it. I especially love the bell sleeved top. I've been dreaming about bell sleeves ever since Megan's Zou Bisou Bisou dress in the last season of Mad Men.


While on Net-A-Porter, I saw this fab blue Carven dress. Doesn't it remind you of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz?


Dress from Carven, shirt from Topshop, shoes from Solestruck, socks from Target, Kate Spade bag from Amazon, ribbon from Arts & Craft Riot

Saturday 12 January 2013

New York Wishlist

In preparation for a trip to New York in February (oh my God, I'm excited!), I decided to impose a spending ban on myself that started on Christmas. I caved. Within two days. I've been pretty good since, only splurging on cocktails with some old friends and a haircut to repair the damage that an apprentice hairdresser inflicted.

Anyway, the lack of shopping has sent me into a list making frenzy. I have spent hours pouring over makeupalley.com reviews and makeup blogs, compiling a list as long as my arm (I think I've been on holidays too long...) of makeup that I would like to get in New York. I thought I'd share with you some of things that I'm particularly yearning for.




1. My old MAC Select foundation is nearly out and I get so much skin-envy for models with glowy, dewey complexions that I think it's about time I tried NARS Sheer Glow. I'd also really like to try out Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua, but I'm worried that they won't have a shade to match my pallor.

2. This is my all time favourite mascara and I need to stock up. As with all make up it's nearly twice the price in Australia. I managed to find some at Chemist Warehouse for about $40 once. Anyway, Diorshow Black Out makes my eyelashes so thick and long and beautiful it's ridiculous. I much prefer it to the original Diorshow, which became really flakey after a few weeks (I was horrified one afternoon when I looked in the mirror and saw that my eyelashes had snowed black particles of mascara all down my cheeks).

3. I'm a bit of a newby when it comes to blush, but this stuff's revered, so how could I go wrong? I'm fairly confident that Deep Throat will suit my skin tone (extremely pale with neutral undertones). What are your favourite blushes for pale skin?

4. The only new year's resolution I have made this year is to wear more lip stains. I am completely head over heels in love with them. Something about their not-quite-lipstick sheerness and gorgeous berry colours makes them so easy to wear. This Chubby Stick is at the top of my lip stain list, because wow, that's a nice colour.

5. Don't you just hate it when you come home from work or university to find that all your foundation has disappeared from your face, except for where it's clung to your dry patches? I've never used a finishing powder or a primer before and it's something that I'd really like to try out.

So there's a tiny part of my ever-expanding makeup wishlist. What do you think of these products? What are your favourite blushes for pale skin?

Friday 11 January 2013

Argh! I've started a blog!

I can't believe I've actually started a blog. I barely even post anything on Facebook and don't go anywhere near Twitter. So please don't judge me if I come off as weird! I'm not used to communicating with strangers on the internet! Haha. This certainly will be a learning curve...

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a few months now. I've been hesitating because I'm interested in a lot of things, but definitely NOT an expert at anything. Do I have anything interesting to say, or new to add? No, not likely. But whatever, I'll just go ahead and bore you anyway.

A little bit about myself: I am a 20 year old student living in Melbourne. I adore fashion, music, design, food, makeup, movies, books, and words. When I grow up I want to be a graphic designer working for a fashion magazine. I love to play dress ups in my room when I can't get to sleep. I enjoy eating ludicrous quantities of cheese and have read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone over 20 times (hello, geek). I don't really know what else to say... I suppose I'll divulge more of myself as this blog goes on.

So enough of the the preamble! This blog will probably be mainly about, but by no means limited to, fashion and makeup. I'm not an expert in either field, but we've all got to start somewhere.