Better late than never

I'm so lazy sorrrrreh, christmas and new year's was far too much to get my head around. But, I have found two new lovers I'd like to share.


Nars laguna bronzer, Nars gilda blush

Yep, that would be Laguna that has shattered. I haven't dropped it or anthing, I'm going to guess it was just rough delivery, but whatever, I can still use it. I'm still a little bit crushed (mind the pun) about it, but I've heard this might happen a lot with NARS bronzers? Anyway, I likey it so far. I steered away from purchasing it for awhile because I thought it would be too dark, well I have NO idea what I was thinking. Even in the gloomy cold depths of winter I think I will be able to pull this off.

My second new found love this christmas is NARS gilda. Yuummm. Such a great, flattering summer shade. I was really excited as I don't own a pure corally blush (mind you there is some pink through this.) It's matte, which I can go with either way. I'm 19 so I'm not too stressed about glitter yet. I think gilda is definitely underrated, and I'm hugely glad I picked it up. Was such a steal too. I think I paid around $25 AUS dollars when they retail for $62 I think it is. -Will not ever pay AUS retail again-

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Gucci eyes

Could not possibly be more in love right now.

MAC refined MSF, Stila bronzer

My new love. Definitely the last thing I'll be purchasing before Christmas (not willing to commit yet) other than presents for family etc. I'm not quite sure why I skipped it in Sugarsweet, but admittedly I've been lemming it ever since, so welcome home.





I also bought Stila sun bronzing powder in shade 02 sometime last week. It does look really dark and orange in the pan, but it does apply sheer and evenly, so I currently have no qualms about it. I probably could have gotten away with shade 01, but it's only just rolling into summer and I always underestimate just how tanned I will get. Anyway, I shall review both of these in more detail when Lindsay Lohan stops pumping her lips (never). I kid.

Things with wings

Chox

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You might need a tissue for the salivation.

Ins and Out

INS!

Christmas Wishlists.
Seriously it's that time of year already! I love christmas jakhdfkjahsdo. I think it's mainly due to the thought of getting everything on my list, but in sheer reality, that never happens. I think this year I'll try and conserve my wishlist down to only a few makeup items, as I'm hearing next year will be quite exciting due to upcoming MAC collections!

Highlighters.
As soon as spring and summer start to roll around, I whip out the Benefit high beam, MAC vanila pigment or a MAC msf and hyperventilate a little. There's nothing more wonderful than glowy looking skin, especially in the warmer months.


Punchy lips.
I love a good bright lip in Spring. With a nude, bare face paired with a punchy lip, thy shan't go wrong!




OUTS!

Strawberrynet.com
Onnnly because I could spend my last pennies there. And that's exactly what I seem to do. So until the new year, be gone!

Heavy foundation.
This is just me, but I can't for the life of me wear a full face of foundation, my skin hates it. I love a light application of foundation on other faces, just not me. So for that reason, caked on, orange foundation has got to go.

Over-bronzing.
I don't understand? So many girls do this where I live, and you can't help but wonder if they got lost on the racing track somewhere. Those stripes are nasty, blend please.

Peach lips

Cute for summer.

Mario Badescu Skincare

About 3 or 4 months ago now I had a terrible breakout. And the bout of junk food didn't help either, so upon hearing and reading so many raves about this range from so many sources, I decided to give it a shot.
I got 4 products, being the drying cream, drying mask, buffering lotion and the healing cream.

Drying cream

It smells really bad. Kind of like a strong mustard? Iunno it'll freak you out for a bit but then you get used to it. This was my favourite product out of all the ones I tried. I felt like it did it's job sufficiently. However if you apply for too many days or too much at one time, you'll end up with a dry flaky patch, so beware. The only gripe I have with this is that it sort of stopped working after awhile. Since I haven't used it in about a month, if I apply a little bit now it works partially as good as originally, but the effect certainly died down for me. Boo.

Drying mask

This smells like rotten cigarettes to me, but again, you'll grow to deal with it. I'm not sure if this really worked for me. Upon advice, I applied some buffering lotion to cystic pimples (yuck) and then waited for it to dry, then put on the drying mask, leave for 15 mins, rinse with warm water, then apply more buffering lotion before moisturising. I mean I suppose it kind of worked, and I will still use it if I get another crazy breakout, but it's not on regular rotation for weekly masks for me. It dries really fast and makes your face feel tight, which I like. But I'm kind of on the fence with this one, I wouldn't say it's necessary and not anything a decent mud mask will do.

Buffering lotion

It was okay. Nothing to rave home about. You need to shake the bottle up so the white stuff sitting on the bottom is completely incorporated into the liquid on top. I think this aswell as the drying cream if applied too many times really dried out my skin, and left an ugly mark where there had been a blemish before. It did work on SOME of my deep, sore blemishes, but not on others. So I didn't really have time for it to be picky and choosy as to which pimple it wanted to dry out and which it didn't.

Healing cream

I liked this for soothing out the stupid dry patches the other products left. It's thick and creamy however I'm not sure about how much healing it was doing. None of the products particularly sped up the drying/healing process immensely. I'll still use this from time to time with the odd monthly pimple now, and it kind of calms the inflammation in ways.


Overall
If it came down to it, I would purchase these products again, because I do feel like they made a significant enough improvement in my skin during the time when it was at it's worst. I'm finding these products are lasting me for ages, and especially with the Australian retail of these, they would want to. My only gripe with these products are, and it's mostly my fault, is they were almost too drying. Mind you, I did purchase 3 out the 4 products to dry out blemishes. So next time I will take that into consideration and up my skins moisture levels if I were to use these full time again.
I think Mario Badescu skincare is sold in Kit stores in Australia, and on their website. I'd suggest maybe looking into purchasing these from the States, just because it's a lot less expensive than Australian retail. I think www.kissandmakeupny.com online store sells mario badescu and ships worldwide, however I don't reccomend getting liquids shipped, I've had the buffering lotion spill out on me.

I would reccomend these products to people who are at their wits end with their skin and want to try something new. I wouldn't reccomend these products for continuos everyday use, especially with sensitive skin types. Keep it as minimal as you can!

Tiny

A few little purchases from a little while ago. I just had a mini freak out, I left the pigment open for about 10 seconds after I took the picture from my incoherent webcam, and my kitten jumped up half on the window sill, with her back paws resting right up against it, tilting over. I snappled that pigment up quick smart though!


NARS desire blush, MAC love rock, MAC lovely lily pigment

I think I made a post a few weeks back on Desire?

Anyway! I purchased MAC love rock blush a few weeks ago from a lovely voguette, and she threw in the pigment as an extra (might I add it's more of a lilac colour, my webcam is silly.) I haven't gotten around to using either of them yet :/ I bought Love rock as sort of a novelty purchase. I just think it's so cute. Although the marbelized side looks kind of glittery, not sheeny. Kinda chunky. Steeeeeeel prretty but.

I've got another pigment coming in the mail which I'm sort of excited about! My other half however is not. Sad face.

All swept up

S-s-sideways.

Sweetheart

For some reason, lately, I've become flustered by sweetheart necklined dresses. And I love that in these pictures, the girls didn't choose to eat a big bowl of giant rack and decide to let their's hang out. Thank you.

Products I'd never give up

Well, when it comes down to it, I'm sure I could live without these. But I'd smother them all over my face first.

1. Concealer.
Because I don't wear foundation, ever, concealer is my lifesaver when I do decide to wear makeup. I'm quite liking MAC studio finish concealer at the moment, but I'm a little skeptical that it will be a little cakey now that summer will be here in less than a month. Really great at hiding any redness or blemishes I'd rather not let hang out for all to see. I think everyone should have concealer in their stash, just because to wear a full face of foundation daily (to me) is just unrealistic, so concealer can just hide small imperfections, and let your natural skin show through.

2. Blush.
Blush is my favourite type of make up. I can't get enough. I think blush kind of brightens and livens the face up moreso than if you weren't to apply any. I have probably 4 or so blushes that I wouldn't give up for anything. Namely, NARS orgasm, Benefit coralista, NARS luster and NARS desire. I think all minus Luster is pretty dupable, but the colours all work greatly for sprucing up a bare face!

3. Highlighter.
Whether it be for the cheekbones, brow bone, inner corners or the cupids bow, highlighter brings out the best of everybodys face. I love the look of dewy skin so I'll sometimes mix either Benefit high beam or MAC vanilla pigment into my moisturiser, or just spot highlight individual areas to make me look glowy without much effort at all. I'm so glad I learnt about highlighting, it makes such a huge difference to an otherwise flat, matte boring face.

4. Bronzer.
Whether for contouring or lightly brushing over the face, bronzer is essential for me. On the days when I'm feeling a little dull or tired, a few sweeps of bronzer makes me look healthy and rejuvinated, as no one likes a ghostly pale face for everyday. I like Benefit Hoola bronzer because it's a matte brown with absolutely no orange or red tones in it whatsoever, which makes great for contouring. Everyone should own a bronzer.

Welcome to the dark side

So I think since MAC brought out their Style Black collection and Illamasqua their Dystopia collection, everyone has gone a little gaga over dark lips.






Not so sure about the jet black lipstick and bare canvas face. But I love a deep plum in the depths of winter.
Shame it's almost summer. Ha!

Two

I want more lipstick now.

Break out the sparkle

I stumbled upon a whole page of these looks at various different fashion shows back in summer 07/08 in an old magazine, I think from Zambesi and Fashionassassin.
I find it kind of cute in a totally unrealistic over the top way.

Ellis Faas

Is anybody not completely smitten and inspired?










Yes please!

NARS desire

Photo courtesy of makeupalley.com

Wow. So bright. I really didn't expect it to be so. I was kind of thinking maybe a duller raspberry shade of pink, but no, it's a bright as bright can be barbie pink blush.
I can't seem to get enough of NARS blushes lately. Orgasm was my first and I thought (since I payed retail - stupidly) that I won't need any more until it runs out. I think I have about 5 or 6 different colours now, and it kind of saddens me that they all don't get used regularly. Desire might be different :)!
It's a totally matte barbie pink. I was kind of sceptical because my skin is olive toned and can get quite tanned during the peak of summer. I'm probably in between an NC25 and NC30 right now, but during summer I'll get to about an NC35. I thought this blush would be really suited for those amazing fair skinned beauties, that would look like they've just been running out in the cold.
Alas, I've found it quite addicting. I think it would suit magnitudes of skin tones, it's not fiddly or requires special needs whilst applying, just a light hand and good blending.



I think this is the closest image I could find that would closely represent how Desire shows up on a similar skin tone to my own. Pretty huh?

I would say if you're after baby doll pink cheeks, definitely check this out!

P.s My cat has been eating cob webs lately, that's bad right?

One for the road

Because I couldn't resist.