Lively Lilac // Rimmel Lasting Finish NOTD

Lately I have been loving lilac in all of its forms, and most of all adorning the tips of my fingers! I bought a few of the Lasting Finish shades when I hauled polish a while ago, and my favourite from the lot is definitely this one. Lively Lilac is a creme two coater that goes on easily and is the perfect spring or summer shade to brighten up fingers without being a neon. For some reason I adore lilac or periwinkle shades right now, and think they flatter most skin tones from pale (like me!) to deeper complexions.

What nail shades are you loving right now?

Do you wear lilac on your nails?

 

 



A Morrocan Spa Experience // Fleur de Lys Medispa

Around this time last year I found myself in Sydney for the first time, getting ready for ABBW with Melissa. We were lucky enough to be invited along to the Fleur de Lys medispa in Woollahra for a complimentary treatment, and we chose to have our hands pampered with a scrub, massage and manicure.

*photo taken from the Fleur de Lys website and is not the property of emmabovarybeauty

The spa offers a wide array of services, most notably their Moroccan Hammam treatment which is based on ancient traditional bathing rituals. I'm not one to get pampered regularly as I tend to do facial masks and body scrubs at home, so when I do treat myself I want the spa to be something really special and luxurious. When I first stepped into Fleur de Lys I was instantly calm, the beautiful stone work and the natural light floods into the main entrance and the friendly staff immediately put me at ease. We were shown around the spa, and let me tell you, the rooms are so nice I could easily spend a whole day their relaxing and soaking up the peaceful vibes.

Now that I'm heading back to Sydney for IMATS and the Beauty Bloggers Utopia, I am hoping to squeeze in a visit to Fleur de Lys and really treat myself to a good body scrub or facial. Chris and I are heading up to Sydney for a week (!) as IMATS falls on the same weekend as the rugby grand final, so we decided to make a week of it!

Being a Sydney newbie, I'd love tips on where to eat, shop and sightsee, so please leave recommendations in the comments below!

How often do you treat yourself to a spa visit?
Will I see you in Sydney on IMATS weekend, Sep 29th-30th?

Fleur de Lys is located at 2A Queen St, Woollahra, really close to the heart of Oxford Street.

*This post is not sponsored, I just think this is a great spa and one worth visiting if you are around Sydney for IMATS like I will be!

 



What's in my Makeup Bag // August 2012

A while ago I tweeted that my goal for the day was to find the perfect makeup bag for my handbag, and on my lunch break the next day I ran into this Sugar Baby Hibiscus print darling. It's a great size but quite stiff and hard to get into sometimes, so I will be buying one off Etsy soon to interchange with it, but for now I am a happy camper. I thought it would be a great time to share what I tote along with me every day!

It fits exactly what I need on a day to day basis, but any more than that won't fit without it being cumbersome and hard to close. I've worked out how I like everything to sit in there, and it is quite snug.

As you can see I like to keep a few lip options on hand at all times, and I can't see that changing in the near future.

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy- using this up so I keep it on hand to remind me to use it.

MAC lipstick in Patisserie-a great nude that really works for my skintone.

Urban Rituelle Petit Parfum in Cotton Candy- review of this up this week

Australis Lash Length Extension mascara-I've now switched this out to my new mascara as this was finished, but I loved it.

Natural Compatibles lipstick in Berry- favourite lippy, keep it with me in case I need to feel tough

essence stay with me gloss in Deep Rose-goes with everything and can be worn on top of any of the above lipsticks to switch it up a bit.

Urban Rituelle Lemongrass & Lemon Myrtle hand cream- I love the smell of lemongrass and this is a nice hand cream formulation, I also appreciate the thin packaging which sits nicely in the makeup bag.

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder- my favourite setting powder, I like having this on hand for extra coverage when I touch up during the day.

essence Oil Control Paper- I love the sturdy dispenser that these blotting papers came with in the long discontinued Return to Paradise collection.

 

What do you carry with you each day?

 

 

 

 



Falling Leaves & Sunsets // FOTD ft. TheBalm

Spring has sprung, yet I am feeling autumnal in my makeup choices. This in-between sort of weather has my face confused, so I've just been reaching for pretties in my collection without caring about season.

I didn't have a direction for this look, but daydreamed about falling autumn leaves (can you tell I watch a lot of U.S. based YouTubers?) What eventuated was this look that mixed khaki green with a golden amber sort of shade, to create a fall style look. On a side note, I am trying to talk my mother into hitting up a Bath & Body Works while she is in America purely to snaffle me a 'Leaves' candle!

Chris kept complementing me when I wore this look, which of course made me feel a million dollars. Nothing better than a compliment when you try out something new! 

 Face:

Face of Australia Face Base primer

Bourjois 123 Perfect foundation in 51

The Body Shop Honeycomb bronzer (lightest shade)

Benefit Dallas blush

 

Eyes:

MAC Painterly paint pot

TheBalm Mischievous Marissa & Makeout Mary (here)

TheBalm Tempting Tara (inner corner & brow highlight)

Revlon Grow Luscious mascara in Shimmering Black

Smashbox Photo Op Undereye Brightener

 

Lips:

Face of Australia Divine Shine lip plumper in Lavish Instinct

 

Do you base your looks on season?

What do you think of this khaki and amber combination?

I wish TheBalm shadows didn't blend out as easily as they do, I find it hard to keep the colours as vibrant as they swatch!

 

theBalm Shady Lady Vol.2 // swatches, photos, review

 The first thing I indulged in when I saw that TheBalm had hit Australian shores was their Shady Lady palette in its second volume, which contains a mix of different shades without too much direction.

I loved how many possibilities this random grouping presented to me, and because of that I would recommend this as a travel palette if someone was a fan of the shades included. There aren't any matte shades in the palette, so some may feel the need to bring along some blending or highlighting shades if they were taking this away with them. The packaging is light and slim, which is another plus in my opinion.

Of these three darker shades I have worn Insane Jane quite a bit by itself all over the lid. I love the chocolately tones of Caught in the Act Courtney and now that I'm getting into purple eyes, I am planning on wearing Feisty Felicia in the crease with some of my favourite pale purple shades.

Though the first two glittery shades seem quite sheer, they can be built up easily and appear much nicer in person than these swatches would have you believe. Insane Jane is a satin finish and glides on the lid really easily.

The shades begin to lighten as you move down the palette, and I like having a deep blue shade like Bossy Bobbi in the palette as I lean towards blue shadows when creating smokey looks. Makeout Mary is something I wear during the day quite a bit, and Just This Once Jamie is getting me onto the purple shadow bandwagon, it is such a wearable taupey shade.

Looking at these swatches makes me want to pair Jamie and Mary together, for reals.

 The lightest shade sit at the bottom of Shady Lady Vol.2, and I find these good to mix in with the brighter shades to create a whole look. I like to use Mischievous Marissa all over the lid or with the khaki Makeout Mary (this FOTD is coming up tomorrow!) I generally use Tempting Tara as an inner corner highlight, and Devilish Danielle either as a brow highlight or all over the lid.

Mischievous Marissa is really beautiful when swatched, I wasnt't expecting to like it as much as I did.

Overall I think this palette is a beauty. If I were to hand pick the shades, I may swap in different finishes for the first two shades and the last two (Courtney, Felicia, Tara and Danielle) as I find them to be less wearable and not as silky as the rest of the bunch. I also love the risque names of the shades, there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to name the shade you are raving about and I think this type of cheek is better than the flat out sexual Nars style.

 

TheBalm's Shady Lady Volume 2 retails for $49.95 AUD and is available from David Jones nationally. Get ready for more TheBalm posts as I placed an order on Ozsale and am eagerly waiting for it to arrive.

 

Have you tried anything from TheBalm?

Which shades stand out to you from this palette?

 

 

 

 



Sunday Survey // 01

Playing around with my new camera!

01 Mood: Excited but apprehensive- Chris and I are in charge of my parents place now that they've gone overseas, and it is the first time we have to really fend for ourselves. Plus, I'm coming down with something, and have a feeling being sick without Mum's comfort is going to suck.

02 Best thing about this weekend: I went to Doncaster to swatch some Laura Mercier and eat Sumo Salad with my man. I say 'swatch' and 'eat' but I really mean haul and maul ;)

03 Last movie I saw: Natonal Lampoons European Vacation, which was a nice funny movie for a Saturday night.

04 What I’m watching: Right now I'm watching Miss Glamorazzi on YouTube. She is one of my favourites and so easy to watch, she is so upbeat and positive.

05 Skincare lust: I'm lusting over some Antipodes and Grown products, but in terms of what I'm using right now I am loving my Kiehls Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate. I haven't seen major results just yet but I love the warming feeling when I apply it, and I hope that this will help my fine lines.

06 Listening to: T.I. on my iPhone on the train, and Chris' old phone mix in the car, which is full of old school RNB and rap songs that we both love to sing along to.

07 Favourite recent purchase: Chris bought me the new Laura Mercier palette for Cheeks and Eyes today, from the recent Lingerie collection. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about makeup!

08 What I’m reading: I just finished reading the whole Harry Potter series and have moved onto Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5. I am into war novels at the moment, so have a few lined up including Pat Barker's works.

09 I want: To haul some Haus of Gloi for the first time!

10 Aim for this week: To keep learning how to cook dinner now that we have the house to tend to, and to get active and start to drop some of this uncomfortable weight that has crept up on me.

How about you?
How was your weekend?

Trialling This Week // Kerastase Nectar Thermique

I have decided to implement a new feature on 'emmabovarybeauty' entitled 'Trialling This Week'. Things like small sample sachets or tubes are hard to give a full review of, so this will see me tell you my first impressions of products and my general opinions about them.

 

First up is a haircare product, which for me is strange in itself as I am generally quite lazy about taking care of my locks. Washing and chucking it into a pony or a bun is normally as far as I get, but last week I had a revelation and decided to start caring about my hair.

 

I'll preface this by mentioning that I have super thick hair that is at that annoying midway point between straight and wavy, so that I always have to 'do' my hair and it looks crap naturally. I decided that I would put the effort in and straighten my hair, so after I washed it I threw a blob (yes, a blob) of the Kerastase Nectar Thermique through the mids to the ends of my hair. I combed it through, then sat down with my laptop and blogged away, letting it dry naturally because blow drying takes too long and hurts my arms.

 

Lazy, I told ya!

 

After my hair has air dried I turn on my straightener and section my hair roughly, into four around my head. I let loose with the straightener (am using a Vidal Sassoon right now, but lusting over a GHD) and let me tell you... Normally it takes forever to get my hair sitting nicely, but this speeds it up like nothing I've tried before. My hair is tamed quickly and I'm out the door, swishing my head around like I'm a supermodel.

 

A bit of a blurry picture, but even Chris complimented my hair that day!

Granted, my regrowth is ridic because my hairdresser has peer pressured me into going back to 'virgin hair' and the crown is frizzy and won't sit for some unknown reason, but this heat protectant with 'nourishing care' has my hair protected, soft and sleeker than it's been in a long time. I am a happy camper, and though I have a ton of hair stuff to use up I will be repurchasing this stuff.

 

*Cannot remember how I came to possess this sample, but since it is a sample I know I didn't pay for it so there you go! Honesty, always.