Spring Peaches

It finally feels like spring is actually upon us, and I've been taking advantage by spending as much time as I can outside with the dogs and soaking up some much-needed Vitamin D! Being heavily pregnant has meant walks are short and very tiring so I've just been popping a chair in the garden and letting the boys run around while I relax- never have I appreciated our front fence more! The fresh air has been lifting my spirits and I've also gotten some reading done which has been lovely. I was also inspired to dig through my makeup drawers a little and came up with some products I haven't used in a while to freshen up my everyday look - I was very much drawn to peach tones! 

The Too Faced Sweet Peach palette has a lot of mixed reviews from what I've seen online, but I really like it and appreciate that there are some easy to wear neutral shades in it that I can just throw on when I'm tired. I do wish the green shade shone through more when I put it on my lids but it's still lovely and I've been getting a fair bit of use from it lately. I also pulled out my favourite peachy gloss Revlon Pango Peach which I adore as I don't need a mirror to apply it, which makes it so easy to reapply while I'm out and about. Possibly the most exciting additions to my routine are MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque (which never fails to remind me of Ingrid Nilsen aka Miss Glamorazzi, who introduced me to the shade on her YouTube channel!) and MAC Springsheen Blush which is a darker orange-peach shade. I haven't bought anything from MAC in the longest time but have been enjoying exploring my old favourites from the brand - such a throwback! 

Have you thrown anything new into your routine with the change in weather? When is the last time you purchased from MAC?

-Emma 

2016 Empties - Fourth Quarter

Finishing my 2016 empties series with a bang - I'm quite proud of the empties this quarter and also of the things I'm choosing to toss into the bin! I definitely need to streamline my beauty stash in 2017 and alongside gifting out items I think my emptying habits will serve me well for this.

SKINCARE

I think it's quite evident that my face was kept clean in the final quarter of 2016 - I finished off a 250ml bottle of Bioderma Sensibio* which I adore, a tube of Olay Regenerist Luminous Brightening Cream Cleanser* and Griffin + Row Cleanser* which will be reviewed shortly, and two sample sized cleansers (Philosophy Purity* which I'm not a fan of and Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Cleanser* which was a bit too squeaky for me but overall decent) Also leaving my stash is a tube of the Paula's Choice Hydralight Moisture-Infusing Lotion that I won from The Belle Lumiere, unfortunately I just couldn't get past the strong scent and even when I gave it to Mr to finish up the smell drove me crazy, but I'm happy that I gave it a go and used most of it up anyway. The Cetaphil DermaControl SPF30+ Moisturiser* is only being tossed as it has expired, but I've bought another fresh bottle for this summer. 

HAIRCARE

Evidently nothing exciting happened in the realm of hair this quarter - I used up a bottle of my new staple Cedel Anti-Dandruff Medicated Shampoo (Garnier discontinued my previous staple anti-dandruff shampoo!) and a tub of the Garner Fructis Grow Strong hair mask, which was quite nice.

SHOWER & BODY

All the body washes, cleanliness is king! Palmolive Heavenly Vanilla Body Wash is thick and smelt divine as you would expect, Lush Ponche* really did smell like a cocktail, Original Source Daily Scrub in Cranberry and Honey is much more of a body wash than anything else, and the Bath & Body Works Oahu travel sized shower gel was a fun wash I took away for our anniversary to try and drum up some Hawaiian vibes while on the Mornington Peninsula...I also used up a sample sachet of Natralus Paw Paw Moisturiser* which I am really enjoying at the moment!

MAKEUP

This is definitely the category I am most proud of this quarter! I finished up two bases that I adored (Rimmel Matte BB Cream in Light* and Revlon Whipped Creme Foundation) and a gorgeous champagne coloured eye pencil, NYX Retractable Eye Liner in Silky Cashmere. I was happy to see the end of an eyeliner but was also planning on repurchasing this shade, but I believe it has been discontinued so am heartbroken! Does anyone have a good champagne liner recommendation for my lower lashline?!

I finished a Covergirl Full Lash Bloom mascara, Rimmel Fix & Protect SPF25 Makeup Primer* which was a nice daily base for foundation and am tossing a melted and bashed up Tarte lip crayon in the shade Achiote. 

Last but certainly not least...I finished a blush! Fellow blush fiends and beauty addicts in general will rejoice with me for this one, it's not the first I've finished but it sure felt great to finish it at a faster pace than I normally would. It's the Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in Nude Mauve and it was a brilliant product, I wore it to work all the time and the lasting power was impressive, but I think that this too has been discontinued so that is a bummer!

That's it for my 2016 empties - I've already made a start on the next lot of empties, hurrah!

-Emma x 

*Products provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Face of the Day // The January Look

I've just sat down to blog after a lovely brunch with a girlfriend from work, and I thought it worth documenting my makeup look since it was primarily based on the products that I wore throughout the month of January (seen here in this post!) I'm about to switch out my everyday makeup drawer to save things getting repetitive, but in an effort to use up some staple liquid products (like primer and foundation etc) I'll be keeping those in rotation so I can use them up. I want to switch out eyeshadows and blushes mainly, since I tend to gravitate towards the same bunch all of the time and I want to show some love to the rest of my makeup collection. I'll have a post up on what I decide to switch out next week, but for now here is the makeup look I wore today for a casual brunch with a friend.

Products:
Face of Australia Face Base Primer (Napoleon Perdis dupe alert)
Revlon Colorstay Whipped Crème Foundation (repurchase, yay!)
Rimmel Lasting Finish 25HR Powder Foundation* (always worn as a finishing powder)
Chanel Joues Contraste 'Jersey' (my true blush love)
Inglot Freedom System Neutral Trio (can't stop using this, argh)
Maybelline Master Graphic Liquid Liner* (finally back into black liner)
Covergirl Full Lash Bloom Mascara (why is this so hard to remove?)
Smashbox Overexposed Lip Gloss* (still a firm favourite for me)

-------------------

I recently painfully broke my toe after a spate of bad luck in our household, and so I've been loving Netflix (how good is Making a Murderer?!) and just finished reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty which I really enjoyed. What are you watching and reading at the moment? Would love some recommendations!
-Emma


*Product provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

What I Wore // January 2016

For a chunk of January I was away with friends in Canggu, Bali having the time of my life and enjoying a bare face, but when I have worn makeup after the new year ticked over, this has been the face of choice. I have been enjoying playing with some other blush shades and will have a post up on those soon, but in general these were the staples I relied on during the month of January!

Inglot Freedom Palette Trio - perhaps the best fluke ever, these colours are utter perfection and were just chosen on a whim at Inglot after they applied my makeup for an event. January saw me using the third and lightest colour all over the lid, and the matte chocolate shade thrown through the crease if the need arose for something a bit more 'done up' 

Revlon Colorstay Whipped Crème Foundation - I caved in and repurchased this after seeing that it was half price at Chemist Warehouse, and I don't know how I managed without it for so long! I'll have to drum up a full review of this at some point as it's just so good. 

Chanel Jersey Joues Contraste - Chanel, need I say more? But in all seriousness, this has become my favourite go-to blush and I took it away on both of my recent overseas trips as it goes with every look you can think of!

Covergirl Full Lash Bloom Mascara -  I usually only have a mascara or two open at any given time and right now this is the one I'm trying out. Love the cute packaging and it works quite well with my lashes, but it does seem a bit harder to remove than some of my other mascaras so I'm still undecided about it.

Maybelline Master Graphic Liquid Liner* - This is a surprising winner in my books, and has gotten me back into liquid lining, and black liner in general after my long stint with chocolate eyeliner crayons. It has a slanted sharpie-esque tip that I find really easy to manoeuvre, and I'm finding it faster to apply than my Face of Australia brush tip liner, so that's a definite plus.

Inglot Trio &
Chanel Jersey Joues Contraste

I have a heap of new goodies to play with after our holiday as well as my usual trial products, so I'm looking forward to changing things up and getting creative with my makeup again. I'd love to know what eyeshadow/palette you've been loving this year, too, so let me know!
-Emma

*Product provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Final Empties for 2014

Though I thought my efforts at finishing products like skincare was decent in 2014, overall there was not a lot of makeup coming through and my aim for the New Year is to change that around. Committing to finishing something like a cleanser or moisturiser is evidently easier for me than finishing a blush pan or a lipgloss, so I plan on not only giving away a lot of unloved makeup this year but using up ‘almost done’ products to create some breathing room in my collection. I have a post detailing this coming up soon, but for now here are more of the products I finished off in 2014!

 

Shower Products

Dove Go Fresh Shower Gel* - The scent of this was lovely and once I’ve finished a few more body washes I will be exploring the Dove line a bit further.

L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil* - I can’t speak highly enough of this stuff, truly luxurious and worthy of all the hype it has in the beauty community.

Garnier Fructis Anti-Dandruff Shampoo (Sensitive + Classic) - My standard shampoo, as it is the only one my scalp will tolerate. I’m hoping to find another anti-dandruff shampoo in 2015 but the process of trying them out scares my poor scalp…

The Body Shop Japanese Cherry Blossom Shower Gel - Though I adore the TBS shower gel formulation, this scent did nothing for me.

L’Oreal  Elvive Fibralogy Thickening Conditioner - I didn’t mind this, though it was the pretty packaging rather than the promise of thickened hair that persuaded me to make the purchase. It became hard to get out of the tube at the end though so I’m not sure if I will repurchase at this stage.

Garnier Body Beauty Oil Scrub* - Heavenly, and the only reason I haven’t given this the full review it deserves is because Mister Bovary burned through it thinking it was a simple body wash! I need to pick up another tube to enjoy, review and ultimately hide from the husband…

Body Products

Rexona Deodorant x3 - Rexona is the Bovary household jam, we love the stuff (particularly the Tropical Energy scent, lovely!)

Old Spice ‘Fiji’ Deodorant - Mister and I bought new deodorants in CVS as we didn’t want to fly the first long haul flight with aerosols, and we each chose a stick deodorant - do American’s not have aerosol deo’s? We couldn’t find any! This was his choice and the scent was off the chain - I’m going to buy the body spray for our daily use next time I’m out shopping.

Endota Spa Lavender & Alpine Pepper Hand Cream* - My very favourite hand cream, the scent is lovely and the formula top notch.

Burberry Weekend Perfume Sample - Don’t remember too much about this scent, I want to burn through some of my samples though.

Face Products

Dermalogica Oil-Free Matte SPF30 Sunscreen* - I’ve often raved about how much I love this, the protection is nice and high and the citrus scent is so appealing to me. I love using this under make-up as it is a great daytime primer!

Bioderma Crealine h20 (travel size) - I’ve moved onto the much cheaper Garnier for my cleansing water but have a few of these floating around from the Priceline 40% skincare sale.

Covergirl Outlast Foundation - This is one of the best foundations I’ve tried thus far and I will definitely repurchase.

TheBalm Time Balm White Tea Rose Face Cleanser* - I have a full review of this coming!

La Mav Hyaluronic Daily Moisture Crème* - This was a bit too light for my skin which has become a bit drier lately, so Mister ended up finishing this and liked it quite a lot.

Jurlique Intense Recovery Mask* - This was tingly and refreshing and the sample tube lasted an age.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Make-Up Remover* - Really wasn’t a fan of this, this opinion was cemented when I moved onto the next bottle in my stash (a Maybelline one) and it knocked the socks off of this one.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo - My beloved HG serum, saves my skin daily.

Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant* - Once upon a time I preferred the Alpha H exfoliant to this, but then my opinion flipped and this came out on top. A really great staple from the skincare giants!

Apivita Express Beauty Mask with Pink Clay* - This was a nice clay-based mask, I used it in conjunction with a few others and think the sachets are cute if a little awkward to use effectively.

I’m quite proud of finishing up skincare during 2014, I once chopped and changed so often that product went to waste but now I think I’ve turned that all around. Sad to think that my pricy and beloved Lancome Dreamtone will be in the next empties post though…

Emma x

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

The Lip Product Addict Tag

I’ve watched so many of these videos on YouTube and decided I needed to join in the fun! It originally started with this video and just kept on rolling through my favourite YouTubers (check Jessica’s here, my favourite!) I couldn’t stick to just single product answers though, so settle in for some lip product musing!

 

Favourite balm/treatment?
I didn’t think I had this many favourites, you’d think having this many I’d have softer lips than I do! Before bed I like to use my Korres Jasmine Lip Butter which smells amazing and is thick and nourishing. During the day at home I’ll often use one of my Jack Black lip balms, right now my scent of choice is Black Tea + Blackberry but the Lavender is #1 in my books. I keep my Maybelline Baby Lips Energizing Orange in my handbag (cute packaging is a win!) and the one I couldn’t leave out was Carmex Moisture Plus – pictured is Sheer Pink Tint* but any of the varieties are loves of mine, even the original clear one.

Best eye-catching red?

Natural Compatibles ‘Berry’* really knocks it out of the park for me, it’s deep and bold and makes me feel like I can do anything when I wear it.

 

Best luxury& best drugstore?
Lately I’ve dipped my toe into some luxury lip products that I hadn’t tried before, but the luxury line I know best is from YSL and their Rouge Pur Couture in Rose Bergamasque is an incredible lipstick. For drugstore, the first line that came to mind was the Covergirl Jumbo Gloss Balms – they are pigmented, give a great satin sheen and are comfortable on the lips. Haute Pink Twist* is probably my favourite shade from the line so far!

Best MAC lipstick?
MAC Girl About Town is my favourite show stopping pink and I love to whip it out in the dead of winter with a cute beanie – I have a photo on my fridge of Mister and I and I have Girl About Town on, makes me smile every time. Viva Glam Cyndi is another amazing lipstick from MAC that is one of my favourite lipsticks – what can I say, the brand is good when it comes to lippies!

The most disappointing?
Illamasqua Maiden* is so opaque, it felt like I was applying acrylic paint to my lips. The colour in the tube looks really nice but the intense formula is just not for me with Illamasqua, sheer glosses and opaque lipsticks are definitely the way to go with this brand. The Rimmel Vinyl glosses are my sisters favourite but are disappointing to me because they go off so quickly! It isn’t a problem for her though because she always loses them before they turn…

Liner - yes or no?
Far too lazy to use lipliner – I think I only own a red and nude toned one, but I don’t remember ever using them.

Best gloss?
Dior makes the prettiest glosses, though I often wish they had more crème options as a lot of the shades I love have quite a bit of shimmer in them, which makes them a bit harder to wear. I also adore the Nars gloss formulation, though I’ve only tried the old version and not the revamped one so I can’t speak much about that. I bought a mini gloss pack from Mecca Maxima a few years ago and have loved it hard!

Something extra!

The lip products I’ve used lately! These are the tubes that have been kicking around in my Muji or in my handbag for the past little while – a beautiful Sisley Phyto Lip-Twist crayon in a gorgeous pink shade, a sheer red essence gloss and two of the new Maybelline Colour Elixir’s!

I hope you enjoyed my lip product addict tag, I would love to see your answers so feel free to copy + paste and link me up to your posts if you don't feel like writing it into the comments.

Emma x

------------------------------------------------------

Favourite balm/treatment?

Best eye-catching red?

Best luxury and best drugstore?

Best MAC lipstick?

The most disappointing?

Liner- yes or no?

Best gloss?

Something extra!

--------------------------------------------------------

Date Night Chocolate Smoky Eye

I have to admit that most of the Bovary household date nights are mainly coffee dates that are short and sweet, rather than my ideal dinner and movie combo (yes I am that much of a cliché, what can I say my minor at uni was cinema!) This look was created for a night out at China Bar, which is an amazing all-you-can-eat Asian Buffet place that we'd never tried before but ended up really loving! I pretty much ate my body weight in prawns and spicy calamari, but I like the think that my smoky eye added a little elegance to our face-stuffing session!

This makeup look could also serve as a favourites post of sorts, such is my love for many of the products I ended up using. I am a big fan of a chocolate smoky eye and sometimes wish that I felt more comfortable wearing a deep chocolate shade for daytime wear (that way I would get a lot more use from many of my makeup palettes, for sure!) I used a mix of the brown shades from my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette to create this easy smoky eye, and finished off the look by tapping some of that golden shade onto the centre of my lid to create some depth.

While I was waiting for the Revlon Lacquer Balms and Matte Balms to be released in Australia, I had this idea in my head that I would pick up heaps of them and add them to my Colourburst Crayon collection (which contains almost all of the original shades released!) Then I realised that I only wear my very favourites from the line up anyway, and so the sensible side of me won and I only grabbed one Lacquer Balm to enjoy. Ingenue is simply beautiful, a great nude that I find easy to wear.

Products Used:
Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette
Rimmel Scandaleyes Rockin' Curves mascara*
Covergirl Outlast foundation in 810
Physician's Formula highlighter
MAC Mineralise Skin Finish Natural in Light
Tarte Exposed blush
Revlon Lacquer Balm in Ingenue
Beyoncé Rise perfume*

photographer is obvs a fan of moon face close ups...

Do you have any cool date ideas for us?
What chocolate eye shadows do you love?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

The Easter Face

It felt so good to get back into bright makeup to celebrate Easter! We had an amazing Greek feast with Mister Bovary's side of the family today, and it was nice to sit and colour in Easter pictures with the niece's and nephew's and to enjoy such delicious food. I was the favourite of the day for the kids, and as I sat at the kids table to eat I was surprised to hear our nephew pipe up with 'Aunty Em, I really like the green and purple on your eyes' - all of the little boys chimed in with approval, saying it was 'cool like a zombie'. I should take that as a compliment from a 7 year old boy, right...?

I wasn't able to capture how bright the look was in the flesh, but this gives you an idea of what I wore on Easter Sunday! I didn't mean to create a MAC-centric look, but lately it is all I've wanted to wear and so I ended up using one shade out of 4 different MAC palettes for this look!

 Can we stop for a moment to marvel at the creativity of MAC packaging?

*MAC Royal Assets Warm Eyes palette : Sunday Best to highlight the brow bone
*MAC Bare My Soul palette : Bare My Soul along the lower lashline and inner corner
*MAC Royal Tour trio : Dame's Desire for the outer half of the lid
*MAC Twists of Tartan Palette : High Spirits for the inner half of the lid

*Covergirl Outlast foundation in 810
*L'Oreal Project Runway blush in 326 The Muse's Blush
*Revlon Lash Potion Mascara in Blackest Black

The constant photo-bomber - Mr Charlie Bovary!

I hope you all had a marvellous Easter with lots of love and too much chocolate. I'm tucked up on the couch with Mister Bovary watching AFL with a tube of Cadbury Mini Eggs - safe to say I had a wonderful Easter!

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

The Movie Date Face



I'm a little bit obsessed with pink glossy lips at the moment, and seem to be basing many of my makeup looks around this key component. The Covergirl Jumbo Gloss Balm in Haute Pink Twist* has earned a permanent spot in my makeup bag, and when I went out with a girlfriend for lunch at Schnitz and to see Walking With Dinosaurs, this is what I wore. (Yes, two adults went to see a dinosaur movie, and were the only ones there without children!)

I pulled out my Too Faced Pretty Rebel palette and used a few shades to create my eye look for the day. I popped a bit of the bright pink Totally Fetch in the centre of my lid, and then dabbed some of the pearly peach Ringleader on either side of it - as an aside, Ringleader is fast becoming my favourite shade because it is so much prettier on the eye than it looks in the pan! I then decided that it looked like crap, so randomly went in with some of the shimmery brown Gangsta shade in the crease, which then made me love the look a little bit. Dainty was my matte brow highlight, and I popped some Designer Brands Absolute Liquid Eyeliner on my top lashline. I finished it all off with a few coats of the new Covergirl Flamed Out mascara*!

I'm pretty obsessed with my shimmery baked Etude House blushes, and for this look I stuck with Sugar Cookie Blush in 002 pink and loved how my cheeks were glowy all day long!

Are you a fan of kids movies, too?
What is the last film you watched, and would you recommend it?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Living in an Orange Oasis with Covergirl

I think it is fair to say that I am not a summer loving girl at heart. Sure, I enjoy the odd beach trip and daily dose of sunshine, but I'd much rather a big coat and boots than a melting hot day where my lipstick isn't safe in my handbag. One part of summer I do enjoy is being able to work out outdoors more often, and another is the bright and happy polishes that seem to crop up more often! Orange is my weak spot (seriously, even my coffee machine is orange!) and when the new Covergirl Outlast Glosstini in Orange Oasis* hit my desk I was very excited to jump back into the bright nail game!

This took three thin coats to become opaque, and there were some bald spot issues which were a little bit frustrating. Luckily the perfect orange shade made it worthwhile, and I am pleased to say that this seems to really flatter my fair skin, but I can also envision it rocking darker skin tones as well - orange is a multi-tasker, what can I say!?

After being on a glitter nail kick followed by a deep metallic kick, it feels nice to return to an old favourite in orange. I don't see colours like this on many people, I notice a lot of bright pink or blue this summer, but I urge you to grab a mini bottle of polish and give a scary colour a go - that is the beauty of small sizes, people!

I absolutely loving wearing a jolt of summer on my nails, even though the formula needs a bit of work. What nail colour screams summer to you?!

The Covergirl Outlast Glosstini's come in a range of shades, and are only $4.95 for 3.5ml.

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

I've Been Shopping! - A Collective Haul

I’ve picked up some pretty lovely things lately, and even though a few online orders are yet to arrive it is time to share my new stash items with you.  Most are from Priceline and the supermarket, but I forgot to include my Clinique products (and GWP!) so they’ll have to feature in the next round up instead. Moving is messing with my mojo, but we’ll get there eventually.

Covergirl seems to be my Achilles heel this month, and I found all 3 of these trios on sale at various points of the month and treated myself to them. No restraint there, I tell ya! Majestic Hazels (bottom left) has a really nice mix of browns along with a mint and a cream shade, and I think I am going to really enjoy playing around with it and finding new combinations. Country Woods (bottom right) had caught my eye a few times, and those neutrals needed to be mine. Blossoms (top palette) is not something I thought I’d buy, but I love the intense mix of pink and purple as they are so pretty.

 

The Innoxa blush duo might have been a silly purchase as I really don’t need another blush and I definitely don’t need two but the purchase happened, and the free kabuki brush was procured. The BOE products I believe are Big W exclusive, and I couldn’t help treating myself to a matte lip cream and two lip lacquers for the pricely sum of $2 each! The lip loving trend continues with a Pink Lolita tinted Baby Lips by Maybelline hopping into my Priceline basket, along with a slew of new lip products that I don’t regret and am still swooning over.

 

The Covergirl Jumbo Gloss Balms in Watermelon Twist + Plum Twist were inevitable purchases – one inspired by Ingrid from Miss Glamorazzi and the other a nod to a vampy side of me that needs some attention. The final lip crayon to enter my overloaded crayon collection is the Bourjois Colour Boost Glossy Finish crayon in Peach at the Beach. Could it be the cutest name ever? My vote is a yes at the moment, since I am so smitten with this shade. I am so tempted to head back for another shade, but on principle I’m waiting for a Bourjois sale. Stares intently at watch.

 

La Roche Posay’s Effaclar Duo is an absolue miracle for my skin, and now that it is available at Priceline I was able to repurchase and avoid a skin meltdown - crisis averted! I read about the Nivea In-Shower Body Lotion first on Styling You, and the very next day I popped into Big W and bought it on sale for $5! I’m yet to try it as I’m saving it for my new place it’s the little things, but 5 of my family and friends have since bought it and have been quite impressed! The Grown Body Exfoliant and Facial Moisturiser were spotted for $5 on a clearance shelf at Priceline, and I love the aesthetic of the brand so much that I just had to buy them.

 

That rounds up (most of) my collective haul! I’d love to know what you think of the products I chose, or what you have picked up lately that you think I should check out.

Happy hump day!

Cheeky April Purchases

I was a little better with shopping this month, though I did go way overboard in the nail polish section…for some reason I feel less guilt when I buy polishes, so even though I bought a lot I’m happy to say that most of the nail polishes were on sale!

I’d been lusting over the newly released Dior Addict glosses that have been reformulated and Chris decided to treat me to Princess to celebrate my first few weeks of student teaching. The Dior lady was lovely and let me try on a few of the shades before I settled on Princess, and threw in a stack of fragrance samples for us to try! I will definitely be returning to purchase from her from now on, a great Myer experience can sometimes be hard to find. I posted about my essence haul here, and I’m loving the two beautiful blushes that I picked up.

The essence shadow is a matte white that I picked up to use as a brow bone shade, and I’ve been using it every day to blend out my eyeshadow. The Rimmel Match Perfection cream gel was a score from Cosmetics Direct, it was on sale for $8 as it has sadly been discontinued. I’m hoping to make a stockpile of these as it is my very favourite foundation formula, and I also picked up a nude NYC lipgloss which is floating in a handbag somewhere!

It is quite evident that nail polish was my weakness this month, with far too many bottles entering my collection. At this rate, I’ll need a Helmer (or two!) to store them all! I was struck by the Covergirl polish in Midnight Magic and took it home with me as soon as I came across the newly launched stand. Sadly they are now BOGO so I missed out in that respect, but I am still happy to have had this little guy come home with me.

The OPI polishes weren’t purchased by me, but came to me by way of a voucher I won from MyHairCare.com on Don’t They Know Who I Am? I had my eye on a few of the new OPI collections and so chose to grab a shade from each to satisfy my polish appetite. I hardly ever treat myself to OPI (since they are $20 a bottle here) and so I was elated to get my hands on Which is Witch from the Oz collection, You’re Such a Budapest from the Euro Centrale collection and Pink Yet Lavender from the Mariah Carey launch. The rest of the loot are a mixture of Priceline's 40% sale and some gifts from Chris.

 

I am a huge fan of the Bloom nail polish formulation, so when I spotted the stand selling for $0.83c a piece, I jumped in and filled up my basket! A stack of ‘similar in the bottle but different on the nail’ shades came home with me, and I’m excited to use the lighter shades to brighten up some of my dark winter outfits as well. I love that these are all named after places around the world, and I hope that these are just discontinued shades and that Target aren’t pulling the brand from their stores (like they have with Australis, sadly!)

 A few random buys to round off the month! An Olay Touch of Sun face lotion and a terrible Rexona parallel import from The Reject Shop, along with a beautiful faceted bead statement necklace from Diva. I’ve been eyeing off a similar piece from Lovisa that refuses to go on sale, so I snapped this one up to wear while I wait.

What did you purchase in April?