Hello Kitty Cosmetics-Collection Overview and Mini Reviews

A few weeks ago I heard a whisper of a Hello Kitty cosmetics line being brought into Priceline stores. I'm not a mad HK fan by any means, but thought the collection would be cute and so dragged Chris down there when we spent the day in the city together last week. I found the collection in the back corner of the Bourke St. Priceline store opposite Myer, the stand was thin and could be easily missed if you don't have eagle eyes.

Clockwise from left we have:

* Eyeliners ($11.95) khol pencil ($9.95) mascaras ($14.95) and balms ($9.95) 

*Bright polishes in front, pale shades behind them ($9.95)

*Hello Kitty plushie/ears with purchase (buy 2 products get gift free)

*lipsticks ($12.95)

*cheeks ($12.95) and powders ($14.95)

*matte lipsticks ($12.95)

*magnetic gloss ($13.95) diamond gloss ($9.95) Diamond Stars Roll On for Face and Body ($9.95)

*eye shadow singles ($9.95) and duos ($11.95)

*whole stand

I chose two pieces from the Hello Kitty collection, and was eligible to choose from the gift of a plush toy or kitty ears. I chose the ears as I figured I would get more use from them (kitty dress up,haha) This is what I took home with me:

A magnetic gloss in the shade 'Baby Lip' and the blush in 'Venise' with my gorgeous ears!

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The blush compact feels really sturdy

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How cute is the dotted Kitty logo on the lid!

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A heavy swatch



Venise is a warm pink shade that would be a perfect winter blush, and though it can be quite pigmented (as shown above) it's also pretty buildable. Will play around with it a little more before commenting on lasting power and other attributes. Am happy with the purchase, it's a very pretty colour in a cute and sturdy compact.

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ooh magnetic *attracts admiring glances thanks to my gloss*

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Love the subtle and cute HK touches on the prodz

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Not 'Baby Lips', just 'Baby Lip' ;)

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The Magnetic Gloss is the star of the collection in my opinion, it feels wonderful on the lips and has a strong lolly-like smell that I personally like (but I'd give the tester a sniff if you're unsure about scented glosses). Baby Lip reminds me of my Nars Orgasm gloss but a little more sparkly, and on the lip it's not a glitter bomb but more akin to a shimmery loveliness that does indeed have a 'magnetic' effect that draws the eye. It isn't sticky but very moisturising, and lasts a long time on my lips. It's the sort of colour you can whack on without a mirror, which I appreciate as I live in front of the uni library computers at the moment. I think Sanrio have hit the nail on the head with the packaging of the collection, I think it's cute but classy and much less 'cheap-looking' than I thought it might be. I especially love the little dotted Hello Kitty faces that adorn the products, I'm happy to whip these out in public without looking like I've stolen from my niece's makeup bag.

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Have you had a look at the Hello Kitty collection at Priceline?

Are you a Hello Kitty fan?

(*All items were purchased with my own money and I am not sponsored by any of the companies mentioned. Honesty, always.)

Pretty In...

PINK!

A kaleidoscope of pink amazingness, and a Girls Night In look! I decided to compile all of my favourite pink goodies and show you the pink look I rocked in October, which as you will know is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! I'm also going to show you the look I created for the Girls Night In even we held for breast cancer awareness.

Some of my favourite pink goodies are for the lips as you can see! My very favourite is the Stay With Me gloss from Essence in me&my icecream which is a sweet pale pink that is really comfy on the lips (review here) Here is what I think about the rest of them.

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*Soap and Glory Hand Food hand cream is a sweet smelling hand cream that reminds me of Miss Cherie Dior perfume (which I am wearing right now!) I wish I had a travel size of this for my bag but it is only available in this size in Australia (available from kit cosmetics)

*MAC Dazzleglass in Internationalist is a glitter bomb of a gloss, a berry pink filled with blue and purple toned glitter. The dazzleglass formula is really sticky but I love them regardless.

*OPI nail polish in Pink-ing of You is a sweet baby pink that I've hardly worn, but I do think it's a lovely shade.

*NYX Peach blush is one I'm sure you've seen me rave about, even though I've never done a formal review. My favourite blush ever, and a very wearable pink shade that I think would suit a range of skintones.

*Sportsgirl Pucker Up lip pencil is one I've been using a lot more lately, I love crayon or chubby pencil type lip products as I find they last a lot longer on me, and I can layer them with a cute gloss.

*My Australis Show Stopper Gloss Stick is hiding behind another gloss, I have it in the shade Fairy Floss :) Adore it, will be reviewing soon and I highly recommend it.

*Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Pink Pop is a super high quality product. I love the formulation of these glosses, they are in my top favourites because they are so pigmented and opaque but not sticky at all.

*The Essence multi-coloured powder is from the new Blossoms etc range, which I am posting about very soon. Cannot get over how amazing Essence is and how very cheap they are. This powder shade is Flower Power, which is very fitting.

*Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Frenzy is one I picked up at IMATS, along with another shade. Have not had a very good play with it yet, but like every other Illamasqua product I'm sure it's top knotch.

*Essence Flowerkissed gloss from the Blossoms etc collectino, such pretty packaging and smells a little like lollies.

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My sister recently held a Girls Night In which is a night to raise awareness about breast cancer as well as raise money for research into the disease. The idea is to donate the amount you would spend on a night out to breast cancer, hence the 'night in' name. She chose a Friday night so that all the ladies could have a drink, and organised a stack of games for us to play, and lots of nice little prizes, too. We ended up raising about $300 which was a pretty good effort as it was only a small group involved. Chris' Mum came as did my best friend Candice, who was nice enough to take photos of the look I created for the night. I finished work only an hour before the event began, so had to rush like mad! I came home to find my youngest niece in the bathroom covering her face in hot pink eyeshadow. Nice!

This is the look I whipped up, sans shadow on the nose and forehead.

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Can't remember exactly what  I used, except that I used a pink eyeshadow from Ulta3 in Blushing all over the lid, intensified it with a random pink from a Napoleon palette, then smoked a hot pink into the crease. The hot pink was the star of the show in my opinion, it was from a BYS palette I have that I'm showing you guys soon. Love that I've found a pink that I feel comfortable wearing! And the liner is Revlon and grr it's not a favourite. But there you have it, my pink look for breast cancer awareness, and yes I am in a candy floss pink wig! Here's another shot of it, I'm with my neice Lara here

Everyone said I suit that sort of hair length, not so sure about the colour for everyday though. I chose this one because it's the only wig I could find that was a 'Nicki Minaj' sort of pink rather than a hot pink one. I love it, was so comfy on!

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Have you posted on Breast Cancer Awareness month? I'd love to see!

MAC Posh Paradise Haul with Swatches

As I mentioned in yesterdays post, I did quite a bit of hauling last week and decided that the MAC products deserved a post of their own! I was a good girl and only took home two paint pots from the Posh Paradise collection, Genuine Treasure and Idyllic.

Woops, the Idyllic box was upside down!

I'd had my eye on the Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Ebloui but had first purchased Epatant from the collection (swatch and review here). When I saw the press images for Posh Paradise, I was excited by the look of Idyllic, which seemed similar to the burgundy shade from Chanel. I first swatched the Posh Paradise shade when I was out shopping with Chris, and held off on purchasing in case I preferred the Chanel burgundy. I went to Myer in Melbourne City and swatched Idyllic and then ran my little legs over to the Chanel counter on the other side of the store. While I still really like the look of Ebloui, the paint pot was a bit more shimmery and pigmented. I love the paint pot formulation and it is $35 compared to Chanel being $48, and those factors ultimately made my decision for me. I still love the Illusion D'Ombre formulation, I just won't be getting that shade as it's too similar (I'll try and get some comparison swatches soon)

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This was taken at 6.45 am to give you an idea of the light I had to work with, but you can see that though it appears quite red toned in the pot it still leans brown quite heavily. I showed this purchase to my friend and she said it looked brown (in artificial light) so I know it isn't just me. I like that it leans brown, it makes the burgundy much more wearable.

I'd still say that these swatches photographed much more brown than red, I'd definitely say it's more burgundy than anything. Compare them to the shots of Genuine Treasure and it's much more red in context. I'm planning on trying a smoky eye with this as suggested by the MAC MUA when I purchased it, she said to pop a black in the corner and crease and I'd get a simple smoky eye. We will see how I go with my skills (or lack thereof) and I'll post on the look.
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At first I hesitated with this shade, as when compared to the others in the Posh Paradise collection it was crazily glittery. I had a look on blogs and everyone seemed to be a fan, so I kept looking at it and envisioned how I could work it. I like shimmer and glitter, don't get me wrong, but this was pretty glittery. What sealed the deal was the MAC MUA Bianca applying it on my eyes for me. She layered it up using a fluffy brush and I was immediately sold. The glitter layers really well and creates an almost wet look on the lid, and the colour flashes gold, copper olive and brown in my eyes.

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This is quite a heavy swatch to show you how beautiful this shade can be when layered, but as the MUA said you can apply a sheer wash under another brown shadow to really make your shadow pop. She also suggested I pair this with khaki toned shadows to bring out the olive when I mentioned that I saw olive in the pot, so watch out MAC Mink & Sable Mumma's coming for ya! I have plans to try this with super golden shades as well as ones like MAC Patina, I think it would look beautiful under that. This will be a lifesaver in summer when I want a dramatic eye but it's too hot for me to be bothered to put effort in- a few swipes of this and boom, done.

In the top of the above image I rubbed my finger right over the swatch to show you what it looks like without being layered or swatched heavily. Not the clearest photo of it but I think it is still a good shot of what it would look like as a sheer base for another shadow.

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I'm very happy with my MAC haul goodies, I'm sure they will feature in looks in the very near future now that I've swatched them and taken off the perfect top layer;) I get excited every time MAC releases new paint pot shades as they hardly do, so hop on this soon if you're interested in them, too.

MAC Paint Pots retail for

 $35 AUD

$17.50 USD

and are available from all your usual MAC retailers, including online MAC sites. I purchased these with my own cash and am not being compensated for this at all.
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Do you like the look of these paint pot shades? Has anything from Posh Paradise caught your eye?

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Wellbeing Wednesday

Gearing up for a test this afternoon, so this post will be my Wellbeing Wednesday update as well as a mishmash of things I've been up to lately!

Image taken by me at Belle Bijoux event, which I blogged about here

This past week has been filled with a lot of study and spotted with a few cheeky hauls. I headed into the city twice, and both times I came home with lots of shopping bags filled with things that have been on my wish list for ages! I'm going to share the piccies with you in a few posts time, I adore reading haul posts so decided to bite the bullet and risk a post on my own. I think sometimes people (myself included) are fearful to post hauls in case they appear indulgent, but as a beauty blogger I think it's well documented that I am indulgent, and it isn't something I am ashamed of. I've been popping money away for a while for these things, and I'm still on a high of happiness with the things I took home:)

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I took an hour out of my day last week after class when the sun was beaming down, and read some of the book I had going while I laid on the grass. A bold little birdy with huge feet came up and said hello, but apart from that it was super peaceful and a nice 'time out' sort of moment. I took a snap to share the serenity with you- I love my uni so hard it hurts, it's amazing

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With no group topic formulated for this past weeks Wellbeing Wednesday, I had only my personal challenge to trudge on with...and yet, still failed. My challenge was to hop on the treadmill at least 4 times, but I only managed 3 and a big walk around the city. A semi fail, right? The first night I alternated between the exercise bike (oww my butt) and the treadmill with Chris and then we went for a walk outside for 35 mins because the weather was so nice. After that I just rocked the treadmill, but then work and social life stole away my nights. I know that is no excuse, so I will be redoing that challenge on top of this weeks.

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Group Challenge (made up by moi): Be active at least 4 times this week! This includes treadmill, walks/jogs, classes, whatever you want to do. Let me know how you go and get me moving,too!

Personal Challenge: Drink at least two bottles of water per day (which I estimate is around 4-5 glasses?) I've been using the cute pink spotted bottle I bought from Daiso in Doncaster and it makes drinking water much more fun! I'll also throw in eat more fruit and veg as a general challenge, my body is craving steamed vegies so badly!

My super pretty Daiso bottle!

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By this time next week I will officially be on uni holidays, which sounds exciting but just means I'll be spending more time at work! I'm looking forward to getting stuck into reading books of my own choice, I have started a GoodReads challenge (see box on left hand sidebar if you want to see how I'm doing!) and have already begun shopping for Christmas presents. I pledge to end the year more organised than I began it! Hope you are having an awesome Wednesday, let me know if you're on for the wellbeing challenges, or what you've been up to this past week.

A Green Look for Depression Awareness

As many of you might know, October has been flooded with pink looks and products to support Breast Cancer Research (My pink post is on the way!) Some may not know that October also is also Depression Awareness Month! An amazing group of bloggers have created green themed looks to tie in with the green ribbon, and I decided to show my support and hop on board. My talents are nothing compared to theirs but I'm happy with how my eye makeup turned out.

The weather in Melbourne is ridiculous, yesterday I was in a summer dress and today I am layered up with a scarf on! So please excuse the low lighting, I took the best pictures I could while in the car on the way to uni (was a passenger, don't worry!) The eyes took about 5 minutes and the rest of my 'getting ready' (clothes,face and didn't do my hair) took about 2 flat. Which, I suppose, is why after my coffee at uni I realised my singlet under my cardi was on back to front! Here is a closer look of the eyes:

PRODUCTS!

*Bourjois HealthyMix Foundation in #52

which I applied with my Rae Morris Radiance brush^

*NYX Peach blush

*Models Prefer Glitz & Glamour Highlighter (review here)

*Nothing on the lips but I later put on Smashbox Overexposed gloss^ (review soon)

EYES!

*MAC Painterly paint pot

*Face of Australia Mini Mousse in Magic Mist (swatched here)

*NYX Algae applied all over the lid

*Shiro Farore's Wind over the top of the whole lid, on top of Algae

*MAC Mink & Sable in crease and blended right into other shades

*Urban Decay Virgin as highlight, from Naked Palette

*B by Bloom collection mascara^ (new, review soon)

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I love the contrast between the grass green of the other shades and the khaki of Mink & Sable- it's fast becoming my all-time favourite shade and I've worn it almost every day this month. I like NYX Algae a lot more once I put the Shiro pigment on top, it's a little too stark by itself on my pale face. I have been using NYX Peach a heap lately, pretty much this whole year it's been my go to and I love the way it goes with green eyes looks perfectly. I'm not sure if it's the amount of steps my eye look contained which made this look crease a little during the day, I have a feeling it's the Shiro pigments but aren't certain just yet. Will let you know if this is the case!

Here are the links to the looks which inspired my look, please refrain from comparing their made skillz to my lack of!

My favourite lady Jerry Dazzlepants!

Wendy!
Kathy!
Helen!
Priscilla!
Robyn!

If you are feeling down and need some help, or know someone who you think may be struggling with life at the moment, let them know you care and direct them to beyond blue, an amazing Australian organisation that supports depression, anxiety and related issues. No-one has to suffer alone, and the more we talk about these issues the less stigma there will be in the world.

All items followed by a '^' were provided for consideration for review, which does not affect my opinion of the product.

Fresh and Innocent- Lara's FOTD

After watching my BareMinerals makeover, my niece Lara asked if I would do a makeover on her! I am always doing up my Mum's face when we're hanging about at home so didn't think anything of it, but I know her Dad (my brother in law) isn't a fan of his little girl growing up too quickly so made sure I kept the look simple and pretty, and appropriate for a 10 year old.
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We went for shimmery eyes (she is a girl after my heart!) and perfect pink lips! I think the effect really enhances her amazing blue eyes and I added the slightest wash of shimmer to her cheeks to excentuate her adorable freckles.

A slighly blurry image but this is here to show you how nice the shimmery eye looks when the light catches it.

I used a thin layer of Face of Australia's Mini Mousse eye colour in Midas Touch over the whole lid, and amped up the shimmer even more by adding the golden champagne shade from the Clinique Strawberry Fudge quad over the top. The quad was a GWP from quite a while ago so I don't know the exact shade, but it can be substituted with any champagne shade you like. I then used Strawberry Fudge itself in the crease of the eye with a fluffy brush to add a little bit of dimension and sweetness to the look. No liner or mascara needed as I think shadow alone is best for this age.

I use these products on myself quite a bit so know that they are really wearable and good quality, so thought they were perfect for my nieces little face.

I've previously reviewed the Face of Australia Divine Shine Lip Plumper, and again you can see how stunning it is! I get compliments every time I wear this and Lara liked that it wasn't too sticky. Rather than being a glittery or sparkly shade, this has a great sheen to it that is natural but in a colour that is incredibly beautiful. For both Australian and International readers, these glosses as well as the rest of the Face of Australia range are available at Fashion Addict for crazily reasonable prices. They have pretty good prices on shipping, including International, so hop over there and check it all out!

Swatches of the products I used on Lara, including:

*Face of Australia Divine Shine Lip Plumper in Sterling Blossom

*Champagne and pink from the Clinique Strawberry Fudge Quad

*Face of Australia mini mousse eye colour in Midas Touch

*BYS loose shimmer in brush (you can barely see the swatch here as it is a very subtle shimmer, but Lara loves this type of packaging!)

How gorgeous does she look?! I believe that young girls don't need cosmetics to be beautiful, but I'll be honest and say I love her fascination with lip gloss and sparkle! She might end up following in her beauty-obsessed aunty's footsteps!

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Do any young ladies in your family share Lara's lipgloss love?

Are you ever roped into doing family makeovers?

emmabovary xx

A Makeup Revolution!

As a liquid foundation lovin' gal, I was dubious when asked to head into Kit Cosmetics for a makeover with BareMinerals by Bare Escentuals. My skin is quite dehydrated and can suffer from the dreaded flakies, and I had always feared powder foundation with a passion. My friend Candice was the polar opposite, and once I led her over to the liquid-foundy-dark-side, I decided to be fair and try this mineral foundation out.

I mosied on down to the Kit counter in Myer Melbourne with my mother and neice in tow, and was greeted by the stunning Leah Capponi, who is the National Makeup Artist for Kit Cosmetics. My Mum promptly fell in love with her, and wouldn't stop commenting on how passionate and attractive Leah was. Leah also made my neice swoon by complimenting her freckles and baby blue eyes, which was really cute, but I put on my blogger hat and got down to learning about BareMinerals.

A makeup revolution? Intriguing! Leah shared the BareMinerals story with me from it's inception, and I was fascinated to learn that if you had to sleep in any makeup, this would be the safest option. As a lazy lady, I appreciate knowing that it I slip up my skin won't hate me as much as it otherwise would. I haven't slept in this (yet?) but it's nice to feel reassured anyway.

Leah went over the two options for the range, which was a matte foundation option or one that creates a more luminous canvas. I went for luminosity, of course, and before that was applied Leah applied the BareMinerals primer on me. I was colour matched to the lighest shade within the range ('Fairly Light') and she mentioned that my Mum would be matched to the darker shade within the light family, simply named 'Light'. As I sipped my Pelegrino, Leah buzzed around me, constantly dropping pearls of wisdom as she buffed me to perfection.

Whilst you have the option to purchase items from the BareMinerals line separately, they have created a starter pack which I think is great value and the easier option (IMO).

The pack contains two versions of a shade, for example my LIGHT kit contains a 'Fairly Light' as well as a 'Light' so it is perfect for those who swing between shades in summer and winter. A sample of the primer helps make sure your application at home goes smoothly (ha!), and a pot of concealer is supplied to let you cover up anything the foundation didn't manage to. I would say this is medium to full coverage foundation, at least it is on my face. The pot of 'Warmth' within the starter pack acts as a bronzer substitute. You use it in the same spots you would a bronzer, but it creates a much more natural and wearable healthy glow to your look (despite it looking scarily dark in pot, it isn't dark at all) A mineral veil adds some highlight and luminous to your face, and voila! You're lookin' good!

With the amazing Leah- stunning, right? And nice. And intelligent. The lady has it all!

Brushes and an instructional DVD are also supplied with the BareMinerals Get Started kit, which enforces the importance of the method with which you are to apply these products. Say it with me now:

SWIRL > TAP > BUFF

Shake a little bit of product into it's lid and swirl your brush all up in it. Tap the brush on the edge to get rid of any unneeded excess, and buff it into your face. When you think you're done buffing? Buff some more. The more you buff, the better it looks, in my experience. I tend to think of it as a free arm workout with my makeup ritual, but it does take a bit longer than my usual slapping on of liquid foundation, so I tend to use this on weekends or days off when I have time to play with makeup looks and take more time with ita all. This is what was in the pack that Kit Cosmetics and BareMinerals kindly gifted me after my makeunder(which was to celebrate the launch of BareMinerals within Kit stores)

The sexy box that it all comes in, information booklets, instructional DVD and 'Prime Time' primer sample.

A face brush, a smaller face brush and concealer brush. Two pots of SPF15 foundation, one pot of 'Warmth', one pot of 'Mineral Veil' and a pot of concealer. See what I meant about value? This is the perfect kit for someone just starting out in makeup as you can get a sheer coverage with it or build it right up, and you get all the tools you need to nail application. For $84.95, I think this would make a really nice Christmas gift, too. I've used these products on my face as well as on my best friend Candice's, and they're lovely. For someone who had a fear of powder, that says a lot.

The BareMinerals range of products is now available at Kit stores Australia wide, click here to find stores near you. The Get Started kit is valued at $144.95 and retails for $84.95

If you are interested in experiencing a 'makeunder' of your very own there are some available in the coming days- click here for more information and to book in with Kit.

( visited Kit Cosmetics as a guest of EGPR and would like to thank them for the invitation. The Starter Kit was provided as a gift but does not affect my opinion or review of the products within.)