dolling up a little one

My beautiful niece turned 7 over the weekend, and celebrated with a glamour party with all of her friends. My sister set up a (fake) tattoo parlour, hair curling, coloured hair spray, a nail salon and a makeup spot for the kids to explore, with someone manning each section. Can you guess which I was in charge of?

I gave the kidlets choice when adding some sparkle to their party looks (and don't worry, everything was sanitized and no sticky fingers smooshed my makeup-phew!) They liked having the power to decide what they could wear, and I think overall it went well.

Biggest hit was definitely the BYS Diamond Shadow palette in Miami Beats*, which is chock-full of glitterific pastel shades (the kids went nuts for the pink, lo and behold) The essence Swirlpool blush also went down well, the sheen this gives is a sight to see, one of the prettiest blushes I own for sure. No love for MAC's Full Of Joy blush, the kids aren't fond of lavender it turns out. You learn something new every day!

The only ones who went for the Clinique Strawberry Fudge palette were my older niece and her friend, who weren't excited by the glitter and wanted to wear ladylike shades. The Gold Rush shade in the bottom left hand corner is such a stunner, FYI.

I gave all of the kids the choice of two Vera Wang perfumes (Princess and Glam Princess) and four lipglosses (which I applied onto the back of my hand and then onto their lips with a sanitised brush) The only one that wasn't chosen was the Mirenesse shade, they all wanted brighter pink shades so this fell by the wayside. Hello Kitty's Baby Lip looked great on, and as always my love for the essence stay with me glosses knows no bounds.

What would a 7 year old makeover be without a ton of shimmer? The new L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate Shimmering Powder* comes out with the nicest little 'puff' and the kids thought it was awesome (I think it is awesome as well!) The Vani-T Diamond Dust in Moon & Stars* is something I use on my cheekbones, and when I was finished with them the kids were all glowing like little rays of golden sunshine!

What would you do if asked to make over 30 children?

How often do you shimmer up your makeup routine?

*Marked products were provided, but used in this makeover because they are lovely and suited to occasion perfectly. Honesty, always.



Hauling!

I have slowed down my shopping recently in preparation for our engagement party and saving money in general, but thought I'd show you a few of the things I've treated myself to lately.

I had been meaning to pick up the Dior Amber Diamond highlighter, and when I heard that it had been discontinued I knew the time had come. I picked it up on Strawberrynet for around $46 as they had a 10% makeup promotion at the time. I've used it quite a bit since and have a proper review of it in the pipeline, but for now I will say that it is worth hunting for!

A while ago Priceline had a promotion on for Maybelline products in which you could buy any 3 face products for $30 AUD. I needed to pick up my beloved Dream Matte Powder, and threw in a 24hr Stay concealer as I didn't have a concealer in my collection. I also chose the Dream Liquid Mousse foundation as I had seen Lilit mention that it was her HG foundation here and thought it sounded nice. I'm quite happy with all of these so far!

After work the other night I popped into Kmart for a wander, and came out with some Rimmel goodies in hand. The Punchy Taupe shadow was something I thought would be a good addition to my collection, and I couldn't go past the bright blue shade in Celestial Sapphire either. I didn't own a white eyeliner so was pleased to grab this Pure White one, and the Stormy Grey shade just for something different.

I am a sucker for a good blog sale, and managed to snaffle a few MAC pieces from Jen's blog sale here. I had been looking at the Russian Red lipstick, lipglass and limited edition nail colour which is coming out with the MAC Fashion Sets collection, and lo and behold up popped the lipglass, cheap as chips! Still want to get my hands on the lipstick, though. I thought the Nylon pan would be good for adding to my MAC collection (see my MAC palette here) and I have been wanting a bright yellow shadow, and Chrome Yellow certainly fits the bill!

Ah, YSL, my weakness. This Rouge Pur Couture in Rose Bergamasque has already crept its way into my favourite lipstick list, and I have Jessica to thank for spurring on the purchase! It's a stunning, wearable shade that I have been using quite a bit lately, and I have a whole post on this little beauty coming up real soon.

Amber Diamond, Dream Liquid Mousse Foundation, 24 Hour Stay Concealer, Rose Bergamasque, Chrome Yellow, Nylon, Russian Red, Pure White, Stormy Grey, Celestial Sapphire, Punchy Taupe.

What do you think of my haul?

What was your last beauty purchase?

I'm engaged!

Just a quick post to share my happy news with my blog family- Mister Christopher popped the question, and I said YES!

setting the scene

He took me out to dinner on Friday night for my 21st birthday (which was on Monday 2nd) to a chocolate lounge which is also a restaurant. We had the best time eating, chatting and giggling our heads off, and left with a takeaway nougat hot chocolate and some gourmet chocolates. He seemed a little distracted, but I didn't think anything of it, and when we got back into the car he took his time taking off...there were some guys walking to another restaurant nearby and I said to him for us to hurry and go (the nervous nelly I am!) He was about to propose to me-d'oh!We were driving down the main road and he told me he had another birthday present he wanted to give me before we got home, and I immediately thought he was going to buy me flowers! So when we passed all of the florists, I was hella confused. He said 'Oh I don't know when I'm going to give you your present, don't worry' and I was all 'aww but I was all excited for it!' little did I know!



image via pinterest



the proposal

He pulled over on a side street close to home, and leaned in for a kiss. I was all 'whoa, can't we kiss at home' as he's never done that before. He said he wanted to marry me, and I said I did too (not realising it wasn't 'dream' talk, it was 'real' talk!) He fumbled in the side panel of the car door, and pulled out the box. Don't ask me why, but in my head I thought 'ooh, earrings?' That was when I saw the tears in his eyes, and the serious expression on his face, and my heart sped up and I quickly put the hot chocolate into the cup holder. The mushy talk continued, and I was shaking like a leaf 'omg.omg.omg. are you serious?omg.omg.omg' then out it came.

Emma, will you marry me?

Pretty sure the kiss I gave him at that point almost knocked his lips off! Then he opened the box, and there is was- a little circle full of diamonds that has cemented our love. I am head over heels for both Chris AND the ring now!

*

just so could see my mani- I will forever love Orly Rage!

We had been looking at rings for a while and both fell in love with this one, but I had no idea he was anywhere near buying it! It's exactly what I wanted, with a thick band, cluster top and brilliant cut stones on the shoulders. My dream ring :)

 He asked my Dad for my hand on Thursday and he said it was much more nerve wracking than asking me was! My dad cried and they had a moment, which was nice. After he slipped the ring on my finger (I asked whether he'd asked my Dad first, aren't I a good girl!) I said 'Can I go to my Mum!?' so he drove me over there. The car hadn't even stopped and I had jumped out and was running towards the back yard as I could hear her there- poor Chris was left behind! I heard her say 'she's here' in a loud whisper and when I turned the corner I saw my parents and Chris' parents sitting waiting for us! So I really was the last to know about all of it, I didn't even suspect a thing! They bought us a cake and we popped a bottle of Moet and had a happy cry together, as a newly formed family. It really was the perfect proposal for us, I had always maintained that I wanted it to be just the two of us and not overly 'romantic' as we just aren't like that. I am so happy and can't wipe the smile from my face, we announced it to my family + friends at my 21st party the following night (post to come) and it was so nice to be able to share it with everyone we knew.

I'm so lucky to have all of my twitter/blog family sending me love and support and congratulations- you all mean the world to me, and I'm so glad we can share this special moment in our lives with you.



a little collage of our lives together thus far



Love you all!