Pret a Party

I'm at that wonderful stage of the festive season when my shopping is complete and I have the freedom to peruse the craziness of the shops without stress - and sneak an extra present or two under the tree for myself, I'm not going to lie! For those who are also being cheeky or the others who are still gathering gifts for their loved ones, I thought this was a ripper of a gift set that might lead you into Myer for a quick gift purchase. Benefit Cosmetics are known for being fun and cheeky and the holiday release of gift sets definitely embodies that - bright and interactive metal tins filled with their staple products! This Pret a Party* tin contains four little goodies that the brand are well known for which I thought was a good idea.

In theory this tin is an entire makeup look in one, albeit a very natural one (safe to say I pack more on than this each day as a blogger!) The 7.5ml POREfessional to smooth the skin and prime, Fakeup Concealer mini in Medium to cover any redness in the skin, full size They're Real Mascara and full size Benetint for your cheeks and lips! Since I've tried a few of these products and the concealer wouldn't match my pale skin tone I gave this to my best friend Candice to enjoy and trial for me, and she was impressed by the tin and said she'd be storing her makeup brushes in it as a way of recycling which I thought was a great idea. They're Real Mascara isn't one that works well with my lashes so I thought it would be interesting to see how it fared on her lovely eyes, since it seems to be a favourite of almost everyone I speak to online! So far she has used the Fakeup and it was a great match so I want to get my hands on the lighter colour for myself one day, along with Porefessional when I finish my current silicone primer.

The Pret a Party tin retails for $69 and is available from Myer. If these products don't float your boat they have a stack of other cute tins like the Party Hopping Kit with High Beam Highlighter, or the Frisky Six Starter Pack which is my personal favourite.

-Emma x

 

*Product provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Natural Supply Co Gift Guide

I'm curled up on the couch enjoying my day off with Charlie (my Cavalier!) and have spent an untold amount of time scrolling through the Natural Supply Co swooning over how lovely everything looks. This isn't a sponsored post or indeed even one that the lovely owners of the online store know about, but this blog was born from my passion (cough, obsession) for shopping and it's been a while since I've perused an online store to window shop. I actually finished my Christmas shopping back in November but am keeping an eye out for bargains just the same, and here are the best products I spotted at the Natural Supply Co!

Bite Beauty 5 Night Fix For Lips ($19.95)

I think this is such an adorable gift, it contains a deluxe mini Whipped Cherry Scrub Stick (genius idea by the way) and a deluxe mini Agave Lip Mask which is something I've always wanted to try. The jar it comes in is pretty adorable for gifting, too...

Lanolips Lemonaid Lip Aid ($15.95)
I actually have a tube of this and adore it - it really does have that lemonade tang to it and it's a lip balm type of product that is gifting worthy in my opinion. I hardly use this in winter as the balm becomes quite hard in the cold, so it's perfect for warmer weather like we Australian's are currently enjoying (okay, enjoying may be a strong word...)

Murchison-Hume Counter Intelligence All-Surface Spray -Original Fig ($13.60)

Now this may be the housewife in me coming out, but I'd love to try out this well-renowned cleaning brand! If you have friends or family who have just moved into a new place this could be perfect as part of a little cleaning pack for them, I love trying luxe cleaning products and fig sounds like a nice festive scent for December/January cleaning!

Kester Black Nail Polish - Forest ($20)

Swinging back around to beauty, I just had to include a shade from this Australian polish brand! Naturally I chose the Forest shade, such is my love and obsession with owning all the green polishes!

Lavanila Body Butter - Pure Vanilla ($19.95)

I've never tried this brand before but see it constantly on blogs and YouTube videos, and the scents are supposed to be delicious. Despite having enough body lotion and butter to sink a ship I'm always tempted by more, and the scent description for Pure Vanilla sounds lovely (though not pure vanilla...?) "The perfect vanilla, the Pure Vanilla scent combines a warm blend of Madagascar vanilla, heliotrope and soft freesia"

Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil - Tulip (36.95)
I am a true fan of Bite Beauty and am currently turning my beauty room upside down to find my beloved Peche matte lip crayon and it's driving me crazy. I'd love to try more of their stuff and this 'soft cherry red' colour looks very pretty indeed, and would make a delightful gift for a sister or Mum!

Frank Green SmartCup ($29.95)

I'm really lusting over this, the colour combination is stunning and I take coffee to work from home everyday so this would be so handy for me. I'm currently using Keep Cups (which I love!) but I want to share the love around with my Moccona Caramel Coffee, ya know?!

Nilly & Booth Mandarin Chamomile Organic Cleansing Balm ($40)
I've saved the best for last - I've heard so much about this skincare brand and this cleansing balm sounds like just the ticket for any skincare enthusiast - I know it's on the top of my wishlist! I finished up my Clinique Cleansing Balm which is a basic staple, and now I want to try a more indulgent balm and this fits the bill perfectly.

How is your Christmas shopping going so far?

Are you feeling festive or burnt out after a long year?

Which product from this gift guide tempts you the most?

-Emma x

*Not sponsored or organised with the company in any way. Just a bit of fun to scratch my shopping itch, help with gift ideas and also kind of write myself a wishlist haha!

Minty Christmas

One thing I love about the festive season is the Christmas scents. Being in the midst of summer means our Christmas differs quite vastly from the experiences of those across the pond, we wear summer dresses rather than Christmas sweaters etc. and it doesn't always feel right to indulge in warm and spicy scents as the air con roars. Instead, I like to partake in a bit of peppermint action as I feel like it's a year round winner for me - creamy warmth if it's cold and a fresh tingle if it's hot = perfect!

Presenting to you, my pepperminty Christmas body product favourites!

I have hoarded my Bath & Body Works stash since our honeymoon in late '14 and brought the Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion out for another round this year. The sweet edge of this makes it more like a sweet peppermint lolly than a spicy mint on the skin which is what makes it so wearable in my opinion. I really regret not buying it in candle and body wash form, I think it would have been amazing for that as well. 

Back in October I purchased the Palmolive Peppermint Crush Body Butter Exfoliating Body Wash to squirrel away for use in December and it's something I always sniff when I'm doing the groceries but had put off buying for some reason. It's seriously delicious and lathers up perfectly with a shower sponge - it's very light on the exfoliation however, so would be great for lovers of light, everyday scrubs but may let heavy-scrub-lovers down if they're buying it for that reason.

I'm off to continue smelling like a walking candy cane thanks to these two beauties - hope your December is shaping up to be a great one!
-Emma

Late to Vamplify

Trust me to hop back onto the crazy MAC train only to forget how fast it moves and fall back off onto my backside! I received this limited edition Vamplify gloss a while ago now and began testing it out immediately, and probably should've rushed my official review post instead of dithering about with it as a permanent fixture in my everyday makeup bag. I mentioned this gloss in my October Favourites and also took it along for my Anniversary Weekend Away, and it has become a staple gloss for work that I'm really enjoying.

The Vamplify collection was released alongside the new shades of Pro Longwear Lip Pencil and even though I was initially most excited about the lip pencils, the gorgeous nude brown shade of Anything But Demure* and the comfortable formula soon won over my heart. I find the slight stickiness helps it adhere to the lips for a decent amount of time for a gloss and I definitely agree with MAC when they mention the high pigment levels in this product - it seriously packs a punch, and I think I'd be too scared to wear a bright shade from the Vamplify line, truth be told!

The elongated doe foot is easy enough to use and I think the packaging is reminiscent of old-school MAC, I once had some long slim tubes of gloss like this but the new formula is infinitely better and definitely worth looking into. Most of my glosses are sheer and silky (Nars old glosses, essence glosses, MAC Cremesheen etc) so having this longer wearing one in a nude shade is perfect for the party season for me - I'm free to go crazy with the eye looks and have this as a fall back option if I don't feel like going for a lip liner. Having said that, I've also worn this over various nude/brown liners to extend the wear and it has worked a treat. I love the Vamplify font and design and think MAC would do well to extend the line of these and create even more wearable shades, as I know I'd be in line for that! Anything But Demure is described by MAC as a 'mauvey nude' but I see quite a bit of Kylie Jenner-esque brown in it personally.

Do you prefer a bit of stick in your gloss, or are silky gliding glosses more your style?
What is your go-to lip when your look is centred around the eyes?
I've got my eye on a few of the holiday lip gloss sets MAC have out at the moment, perhaps Santa will indulge me this year with one!
-Emma


*Product provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Perfume Purge

I have to admit that I adore the freedom that having a large perfume collection allows me, but at this point the range has become overwhelming and I'm slowly but surely using up those heavy glass bottles and making room for some other fragrances. The images below aren't the whole collection, just a selection that sit out on my shelving unit. My collection is made up of a mix of things - PR samples, birthday gifts and bottles I've hinted about to Mister over the years. My favourites have come through all of these avenues to be honest, but I'm not terribly well versed in the crazily priced luxe perfumes that are available so you won't see those here. I've made it my mission to use up these three bottles before Christmas, and as this goes live I'm one fragrance down and doing well!

My sister bought Michael Kors Very Hollywood for my birthday many years ago and I remember being so excited to receive it after sniffing it countless times at the Myer Fragrance Hall. It's a really likable white floral and according to Fragrantica it has notes of "mandarin, frozen bergamot, moist jasmine..." That mix is definitely a first for me, haha. I'm happy to say I've finished up this bottle, so the perfume purge is already going well!

I am quite fond of a rose scent every now and again and Bvlgari Rose Essentielle is probably my favourite one. I love the powdery notes of it (though I can imagine that it would turn some rose-haters off) but the nozzle has become hard to use and I'm looking forward to finishing this one up and turning to another powdery scent in its place.

Last but not least on the chopping block is my travel petite parfum of Urban Rituelle's Cotton Candy (reviewed here, and mentioned here) I still have a full bottle of this and love it to bits, but the nozzle on this petite is also knackered and I need to use it up and move onto other sweet perfumes in my collection.

I have a few perfumes on my Christmas list this year, so I'm really hoping to purge these perfumes this month before the 25th! What new scent do you have your eye (or nose?) on?
-Emma x

Tiny Drugstore Makeup Haul

I showed quite a bit of restraint during the lastest Priceline 40% sale and really only went for items I'd had my eye on for a while and that I knew I wouldn't shove in a drawer and forget about. I could have gone crazy at the essence stand had it not been wiped clean, but I guess paying full price is still a bargain with that brand anyway.

Knowing how much use I'd gotten from my Max Factor Crème Puff Blush in Nude Mauve (it has flattened out quite a bit and I can see myself using it up one day!) I decided to try out another shade from the range and chose Seductive Pink; terrible name, but my what a shade! It swatched so beautifully and I'm looking forward to busting it out soon now that I'm slowly stepping away from natural blushes back into my brights and my pinks!

Speaking of pinks, I spent an age swatching all of the new L'Oreal Infallible Lip Gloss shades before deciding on the bright pink 109 Fight For It. So far I think I quite like the plush formula and shade but I'm not sold on the 'lip shaped applicator' which collects quite a bit more product than I need for a single application. I really prefer liquid lip products once summer hits Melbourne, I've melted too many lipsticks in my handbag to bother even trying again so this was perfect timing for me and in a great summer shade, too.

Last but not least, my favourite pick from this petite makeup haul - Revlon Photoready Eye Art Lid+Line+Lash in 080 Desert Dazzle! It is the most stunning shade of shimmery khaki alongside a gorgeous golden glitter and I've been trying to find it since I fell in love with my first two Eye Arts here. I plan on rocking that glitter for the festive season, yes I do!



L'Oreal Fight For It
Revlon Desert Dazzle
Max Factor Seductive Pink

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Happy 1st of December everyone! I've got the majority of my Christmas décor up and looking pretty, now to tackle the tree whilst cranking Mariah Carey at full volume. Hope you enjoyed seeing my tiny haul, I'm off to caffeinate myself and finish the last 5% of my Christmas shopping today! x