The Melbourne Beauty Blogger/Vlogger Meetup 25/1/14

Hey guys,

A few weeks back Melissa from Bbubbles16 posted on her blog an invitation to meetup with bloggers and vloggers in Melbourne. The day chosen was the 25th of January which was just last Saturday. I was a little apprehensive at first because I am very shy when it comes to meeting people but I really wanted to meet all of these cool girls who blog and make youtube videos.

 I was very warmly welcomed by all of them and instantly we all chatted away. After some food and drinks Melissa had organized a Beauty quiz which had 3 prizes to be won. Claire from Missthisandthat blog came first, I came second and Jasmine from Sweetaholic Beauty came third. 

Anita from The Beauty Show talked about her website and the future plans for it. Can't wait to see it all coming together.

All the bloggers present are listed below, please do go and check their blogs out. They are all really very sweet girls and I had a great time with them.

Anita from the beauty show

Cody from codys fairytale

Claire from ms this n that blog

Erin from the beauty box

Evelyn from cotton candy diva

Jasmine from sweetaholic beauty

Kat from kitsch snitch

Melissa from Bbubbles16

Michelle from mishelle sleepy time

Nalini from the madeup maiden

Rhian from Rhian Autumn

Sue from sue love xx

The Gang ❤

The products I won :) 

I would like to thank Melissa for organizing such an amazing meet up and I honestly can't wait for more. 

#bbvmelbmeet

My YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Collection

Disclaimer: I am not bragging in any way. I just wanted to post swatches up so it would be easier for people to see what each colour would look like on a medium skin tone. I have been collecting these since last year and absolutely feel these are not a necessity, but would definitely make a great gift for yourself or to your loved ones. 

My YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Collection:

As the above disclaimer stated I have been collecting these since last year and most of them have been gifts from friends and family who asked me what I wanted for various occasions. I have 13 shades out of the 19 that are available in store at Myer and David Jones. I absolutely adore each and every one of them and wanted to share my thoughts about them with you.

What YSL says:

Introducing Rouge Volupté Shine.  Give in to the temptation of dazzling color. Succumb to a unique sensorial experience with extreme comfort and luminous shine.  Hyaluronic acid microspheres help seal in moisture for 8 hours of hydration. Anti-oxidants and emollients help condition and soften lips.

I absolutely agree with the claims of extreme comfort and luminous shine but it does not last 8 hours on me. If I am not eating or drinking anything it would last about 4 hours and if I do eat or drink then less than 3 hours. I would not mind touching up in public because of the gorgeous packaging. The colour payoff depends on the colours, some darker colours have a pigmented pay off, and the others are sheer. They retail for $55 in Myer and David Jones. You can also buy them for a little cheaper from StrawberryNet or Amazon.

Hope you found this post helpful. If you would like me to do a swatch post on my Rouge Volupte collection please do let me know in the comments below.

40% off Skincare Haul from Priceline

Hey Guys,

Priceline recently had a 40% off Skincare sale and I picked up a few new products and some old favourites too. I just thought of sharing them with you and doing a mini review on the products I have used.

Pepta Bright by Indeed labs: RRP $34.99 after discount $20.99

This is a new product that hit the Australian shelves only a couple of months ago.  It is a brightening cream used before your moisturizer. I apply the Hydraluron and then over that the Pepta Bright. I have been using it for the past two weeks and noticed that it has not faded my acne scars but keeps my face looking bright and radiant. I will have to use it for some more time to see if it actually reduces scarring.

La Roche Posay Effaclar Purifying Cleanser: RRP $19.99 after discount $12

I have not used this product yet but its basically a gel cleanser suitable for oily, acne prone skin. I am going to give this a go when I run out of my current cleanser and see how it works.

Bioderma Sebium Foaming Gel: RRP $24.99 after discount $14.99

I received a sample of this in a Lust have it! pack and instantly fell in love with this cleanser. I bought a full size about 2 months ago and have been using it since then. I will be running out of it soon so while it was on sale I purchased a back up. This soap free cleanser is very gentle on the skin and also does not leave the skin with that tight feeling. I completely love this product and highly recommend it. 

Invite Vitamin E oil: RRP $16.99 after discount $10.19

I have heard a lot of benefits of Vitamin E oil so thought of giving it a go for my skin. It is a very heavy sticky oil and its really hard to apply on the skin so I am going to be taking this orally. Yes, you can take this product orally. It is very good for burns, dry skin, stretch marks, sunburn, rashes etc.

Hydraluron by Indeed labs: RRP $34.99 after discount $21

This product is hands down the only product I am going to keep repurchasing till I die or till they stop making it. It is a hydration boosting serum for the skin and actually does the job. This is my 3rd tube and I absolutely love it. My fellow blogger Tried and Tested did a blog post on this product and I totally second her. You can read her review here.

Total purchase =$79.17      Savings=$52.78

These Priceline sales are a great way of stocking up on products you use regularly or some of those products you want to try but don't want to pay full price. 

That was all the products that I bought from Priceline and have been loving. 

Did you pick up any of these products recently? What do you think of them?

Riri Hearts Mac Lipsticks Swatches and Possible Dupes

Hey guys,

Recently M.A.C came out with a collection called Riri Hearts Mac Holiday which featured some beautiful products. I managed to get hold of two limited edition shades of lipsticks from the collection.

'Rihanna's latest creative collaboration with M.A.C is a series of stunning looks for lips, eyes and face in shades of metallic majesty and confident colour. This limited edition collection is encased in an exclusive white-pearl packaging of Riri's iconic rose gold detailing. '

The lipsticks I got were Pleasure Bomb- A matte fuschia and Bad Girl Riri- a matte taupey nude. 

Both these lipsticks are a matte finish but don't dry out your lips. They are very creamy and soft to apply and don't tug on your lips like most matte lipsticks do. The Pleasure bomb lasted about six hours on me with slight fading and Bad Girl Riri lasted about five and a half hours. I bought them from MAC's website for $38 and they may still be available at some MAC counters in Myer and David Jones.

I have put together some swatches of lipsticks I had in my collection that looked similar to the MAC lipsticks as they are limited edition and may not come back in stock again. The lipsticks I chose to compare are from both drugstore and high end brands and are permanently available.

L-R Bad Girl Riri, Revlon Colourburst in Rosy Nude, MAC Creme in your coffee, Laura Mercier Creme Smooth lipcolour in Rosewood.

L-R Bad Girl Riri, Revlon Colourburst in Rosy Nude, MAC Creme in your coffee, Laura Mercier Creme Smooth lipcolour in Rosewood.

The closest dupe I found for Bad Girl Riri was MAC's Creme in your coffee which is a Cremesheen finish. You can mattify it by dusting some loose powder over.

L-R Pleasure Bomb, YSL Rouge Volupte in Rose Culte, YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats in Rose Crazy, Maybelline Vivid Rose, Revlon Super Lustrous in Cherries in the Snow, Revlon Colourburst Lip butter in Sorbet

L-R Pleasure Bomb, YSL Rouge Volupte in Rose Culte, YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats in Rose Crazy, Maybelline Vivid Rose, Revlon Super Lustrous in Cherries in the Snow, Revlon Colourburst Lip butter in Sorbet

L-R Mixture of Vivid Rose and Cherries in the Snow, Pleasure Bomb

The closest dupe I found for the Pleasure Bomb lipstick is by mixing Revlon's Cherries in the Snow and Maybelline's Vivid Rose. Again its not a matte finish but that can be changed by the loose powder trick.

Did any of you purchase anything from the Riri Hearts Mac collection??? What do you think of them?

My Essence Collection- Part 1 Eyeshadows

Hey Guys,

I was going through my make up collection and found that there were so many products from the brand Essence that I have collected in a couple of years and that I absolutely love and recommend. I love reading one brand posts and thought it would be fun to write about it too. I will talk about the products in 4 posts starting with eyeshadows then lip products, face products and random. 

Today's post is going to be all about Essence Eyeshadows. I absolutely love all Essence products and they make some of the best quality eyeshadows. I have a couple of their regular eyeshadows and some from different trend editions. 

With all Essence eyeshadows the pigmentation is amazing. The eyeshadows are super soft and easy to blend. Even with the new metal glam eyeshadows, they have a glittery overspray but there is no grittiness to the texture. They remain crease free for a long time too. Even without an eyeshadow primer, they are true to colour and what you see in the pan is what you get on your eyes. Some of them are a little powdery, but by tapping off the excess you don't get any fall out. 

They retail from $2.85 to $5.25 for some special edition eyeshadows. For the price I honestly did not expect such awesome quality but all the Essence products AMAZING!!

L-R Olive Garden, Metropolitan, Baby Baby Oh, Frosted apple, Coffee to glow, I'm a marine girl (1), I'm a marine girl (2)

{All swatches are without using any base or primer}

L-R: Olive Garden, Metropolitan, Baby Baby Oh, Frosted apple, Coffee to glow, I'm a marine girl (1), I'm a marine girl (2)

{All swatches are without using any base or primer}

My favourite picks are Olive Garden, Baby Baby Oh and Frosted Apple. But I still like all the other shades too. If you are looking for a really cheap, good quality, pigmented eyeshadow then do check out the Essence line either from Priceline or Target in Australia. 

Also if you liked this post and would like me to do more one brand posts please do let me know in the comments below.

Lush Boxing Day Haul

Hey guys,

I just wanted to share with you some goodies I bought from Lush just after Christmas. All of their Christmas lines and a few other products were 50% off so I grabbed some items just before they were gone for the year.

Fun Gold :

A limited edition multi-purpose, mouldable soap for body, hair, bath and fun. This particular one comes in a golden lustre and with the scent of Lush's famous Honey, I washed the kids fragrance. Its like play dough for adults. 

Santa's Lip Scrub: 

I love Lush's lip scrubs and when I knew this one smelt of Cola I had to grab it. It is made out of caster sugar and extra virgin olive oil and is a great way to exfoliate your lips without being too harsh.

Sandy Santa Scrub:

This is a body scrub made out of Sugar, Shea Butter, Coconut oil etc. It smells great too thats why I bought two of these. They also last about 2-3 washes so I will be using up both pretty soon. This is a great way to exfoliate and moisturize at the same time.

I love using products from Lush because they not only do the job but also smell great. Another very big advantage is that their products are made using natural ingredients and are cruelty free. You can buy their products from here.

Have you guys tried any of these products before? What do you think of them?

The Resolutions Tag 2013

Hey guys,

Its been such a long time since I have written here. I am really very sorry but life's been very hectic with work and family. Christmas is a very hectic season and all those working in retail will agree with me plus I had some family over for their holidays, so showing them around was taking up most of my time.  Anyways I am going to stop blabbing and start with the tag.

This tag was done by Kat from Kitschsnitch and tagged Melissa from BBubbles16, where I read about this tag. I have not been officially tagged to do this but I really wanted to, so here goes.

1) Name 3 things that you did this year that you are proud of.

         I started this blog

         Got promoted at work

         Learnt to cook some amazing food

2) Name 1 thing that you world have done differently.

        

         Organizing my time

3) What was the biggest highlight this year?

  

         I got married!! Its going to be one whole year this February.

4) What was your favorite beauty product this year?

         YSL lipsticks

5) What was your least favorite beauty product this year?

          A lot of people love this product and I would have loved it too if it was not for the scent- Rimmel Apocolips lip lacquers

6) Who do you want to thank for being amazing this year?

          God

    Resolutions

7 ) What makeup/ beauty resolutions do you have this year?

           To use up what I have before buying stuff unnecessarily.

8) What are your Fashion resolutions?

            To get some colour into my life!! I wear black all the time!!!

9) Personal Resolutions?

             Save up! I plan to buy a house soon so need to save up for that
Be more time efficient and also more active in the blogosphere.

10) Name one thing you want to check off your bucket list.

              I don't have a list :(

I tag 

Tried and Tested : https://triedandtestedblog.wordpress.com/

Evelyn : http://www.cottoncandydiva.com/

Balmer : http://beautybalmer.blogspot.com.au/

Amy : http://bubblesandblush.wordpress.com/

Kate : http://www.themintedbeauty.com/

Vita : http://makeup4myage.blogspot.com.au/

If any one else wishes to do this tag feel free to do so and leave me a comment so I can check it out.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are having a great new year!

❤❤❤