Laid Back Sample Project - Update 1

I feel like I made the right decision with this 'laid back' type of project, and it is really working well for me so far. I'm enjoying trying out new things without the commitment of promising to finish them, and it has made me fall in love with the essence of blogging once more - honest opinions about stuff! Hurrah!

Versace Bright Crystal Absolu
I wore this to work and loved how it smelt - quite sweet but I could tell it wasn't a typical celebrity scent and that it came from a luxe brand. I've never tried anything from Versace before and now I'm tempted to check out more of the range!

Lush Yummy Mummy Body Conditioner*
I really like the Lush body conditioner formula, and adore the Ro's Argan scent which was the first from Lush. Now they've released this one which should please the non-rose/jam lovers out there - it's cocoa with a hint of floral and I really enjoyed using it.

Dior Addict Eau Delice EDT
This fragrance sample was all cranberry on me - but sadly it didn't last or make enough of an impact to make me want to buy a bottle. Kinda made me sad because I love the Dior packaging on the bottle, so sleek and elegant.

LaGaia Body Balm
The citrus scent was nice and it seems like a pretty solid brand, but the whole oil balm formula combined with a foil sachet just didn't work out. I think a mini tub of this would've been the go for a trial, but there you go.

-Emma

*Provided for consideration. Which is the nature of all of these samples now that I think about it...

Weekend Makeup Bag

Over the weekend we took Charlie away for a little holiday at the beach house, after his photoshoot which we won from Max and Molly (pet division of StudioMax) Here's a peek at the products that I packed for the 4 days.

Forget low key makeup for a relaxing weekend - I prefer to use time away from home to play around with different looks and I tend to bring along products that are exciting to me. My base was the usual Covergirl Outlast Foundation and MAC MSFN (still not 100% in love, but happy to use it up) I brought my essence Metal Glam highlighter in Gold Digger because it's actually really impressing me right now and I quite like a strong highlight when we go out for dinner. As an aside, I can vouch for Paul Loueys Chinese restaurant for some yummy food (probably quite Western but so am I!)

Lip options were all glossy with my new essence goodies being quite prominent, as was Dior naturally. Only two blushes made the cut (that was me showing control, you see?) with Hourglass Ambient Blush in Radiant Magenta and Tarte Exposed being tossed into my makeup bag.

I stuck with two eyeshadow palettes with my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and the new arrival, Wet & Wild's Comfort Zone palette which I just nabbed off eBay. Only one mascara came with me, the Revlon Lash Potion which I am still really enjoying.

I actually ended up using pretty much everything that I brought along with me, which for me is the sign of successful packing!

Are you a chronic over-packer, or are you talented at narrowing your needs down?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

Festive Dior

 

 The festive season is upon us, and I'm in the mood for some glittery eyes! I'd been using Sidecar from the Urban Decay Naked palette when I remembered how much I'd used the Dior Fairy Golds palette this time last year. It screams Christmas time to me, so into the daily stash it went to sit alongside the other Dior loves of mine. Looking at all of the luxe navy and pink made me want to create a look entirely made of Dior products, so that is what I present to you now.

I used my Dior Diorskin BB Crème sample in Light for the first time, and was really impressed with the finish. I think this is one of the only times this year I haven't powdered my face as I was happy with the oil control and not-too-dewy finish that this gave my skin. I went in with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush and Dior Crème Blush in Bikini, which I think is beautiful but I perhaps should have gone for another shade when I purchased this. I used my Ecotools Fan Brush* to sweep some Amber Diamond on my cheekbones, and the base was done!



As I said, the Fairy Golds palette was the catalyst for this look, and I used the top left beige shade all over the lid with the chocolate brown through the crease. I topped the centre of my lid with the glittery gold shade, and used the centre white glitter for my inner corner highlight. I didn't end up putting mascara on with this look after being inspired by Larie's latest post, and I think it added to the soft and relaxed overall look. I only have two Dior lip products (so far!) so obviously I had to use those to complete the look. I patted the Dior Addict in Exotique lightly onto the lips and blotted it, before topping it with loads of Dior Addict Gloss in Princess which is a beautiful shimmery pale pink shade - fit for a princess!

 

So there you have it - a luxe and glittery festive look created with some beautiful Dior beauty products.

What products do you turn to for the festive season?
Do you have a lot of Dior products, or does another brand have your heart?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

 

Dior Bird of Paradise Collection // Spring-Summer 2013

 

It seems that a new brand has captured my attention, and now every time Dior releases a new collection I am all over it! The latest is probably my favourite so far in terms of overall presentation; I applaud the way that Dior approached the Bird of Paradise collection with bright colours that still remain wearable. Inspired by the vibrant colours of Latin America, this is what Dior has to say:

The Bird of Paradise collection embraces the vibrancy of nature and translates to versatile, wearable color for summer. Lips are inspired by tropic temperatures, while eyeshadow palettes feature a spectrum of luminous, marine blues, bamboo greens, and subtle accents of soft yellow for dramatic, shimmering lids inspired by the plumage of an exotic bird. A combination of bright pigments and rich textures celebrate summer’s energetic mix.

 

I definitely had my eyes on the Jelly lip pens, but once I saw the Addict lipsticks I decided that those were the ones for me, as they are more pigmented and I’ve heard great things about the formulation. The Jelly Lip Pens are quite sheer but apply rather smooth, and I do love a good lip crayon so I’d suggest swatching them on counter if you can. I ended up only getting one Addict, and have a post with detailed images coming up shortly. I also love the look of the glosses, and will be checking them out next time I make it to a Dior counter (am hopefully going to fit in a Dior makeover soon)

 

 

I adore the idea of small pairs of polishes, the pair in the image below is the most tempting for me and I could definitely see myself wearing both of the shades. I am also contemplating picking up one of the eye shadow quints, though I only have one in my collection (Fairy Golds, for the record) I love the quality and think that I could make these work for me.

 

One of the most impressive and talked about products from the Dior Bird of Paradise collection is definitely the Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise blush/bronzer pans! With a mix of shades you get more versatility with a product like this, so I can see why it is so popular (see Amarixe here!) I wasn’t totally drawn to it though, so gave it a miss and kept my focus on the lip products instead. I also had a look at the Nude Tan BB Crème, but my oh my they are dark! I am going to try the proper BB crème during my makeover, as the lightest shade of this is far too dark for me to even contemplate.

Overall I love the aesthetic of this collection, and I think that the products are of a wonderful quality and definitely worth checking out on counter. I will be checking out the lip products and perhaps the quints next time I pass by.

What products stand out to you from this collection?

What luxury brand has captured your heart?

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?

 

 

 

Dior Fairy Golds Eyeshadow Palette // Grand Bal Collection

Each time the holiday season rolls around, the luxe makeup brands whip up some pretty limited edition goodies that never fail to tempt me. I tend to hold back and spend all of my extra cash on all the kidlets in my life at this time of the year, but when I locked eyes with the new Dior Grand Bal collection, I knew it was made for me. The two quints were the most exciting aspect of the new CD stash in my eyes. I spent quite a while swatching and considering whether my love for the darker palette (Night Golds) would prevail, or my love for the lighter palette (Fairy Golds) would win my heart. Ultimately they were too similar to both come home to chez Emma, so Fairy Golds flew into my makeup drawers and has been getting a lot of love ever since.

 

 

I’ve found that the mix of shades in this palette can make the perfect transition from daytime look into a festive night look, but the shades are something I will definitely be wearing all year round. From the top left, the first shade is a pinky tinged champagne beige that reminds me of Urban Decay Sin, but is lighter. The shade is soft and buttery, and I’ve been wearing it all over the lid with a darker crease colour quite a bit lately. The second shade along is the glitterbomb of the palette, and is almost like a stack of gold leaf pressed down into a shadow. Applies better than I expected it to, and is a paler gold when compared to something like the gold within the Clarins Odyssey palette. The shade is closer to L’Oreal Infallible 027 Goldmine but less buttery, and more sparkly in an almost overlay sort of effect.

 

The darkest shade in the palette is a a deep chocolately brown with red undertones, brilliant pigmentation and one I will use often. I hardly have any red toned dark brown shades in my collection to compare with this, and I am really impressed with how a light touch can produce such a deep colour. The next shade along in the bottom left hand corner is what I call the taupe of the palette! A mauvey neutral shade, it reminds me of Urban Decay’s Sidecar, but when I swatched them side by side I saw that they are very different. Dior's is much lighter and Sidecar is much more brown in comparison. This shade is my favourite in the palette by far, and was the deciding factor in my palette choice.

 

 

The last and centre shade is a pink tinged white which is very glittery and somewhat chunky in the pan, but applies well and is pretty as an inner corner highlight for dramatic looks. I do wish they had’ve put a matte highlight shade in this palette, which was also noted by Christine of Temptalia, but I suppose you can't fit everything into a quint.

 

The shades are much more vibrant and pigmented in reality, they just blend so well into the skin!

 

Direct sunlight.

 

Indoor swatch, window lighting.

 

 

I find Fairy Golds to be very wearable and lovely quality, and seeing as it is my first Dior eyeshadow purchase I am very pleased with it. I’ve been calling it my ‘festive season palette’, as I can throw the shades on before a long shift at work and they last without creasing longer than any shadow I’ve used before.

Fairy Golds retails for $59 USD and $99 AUD and in Australia is available from Myer and David Jones.

Have you deemed some makeup your 'festive makeup'? Do you tend to wear similar looks now that it is the festive season, or are you one of those lucky ones who gets holidays at this this time of the year?

 

Vamp Nails // Alice Had a Vision-Again // essence Twilight BreakingDawn Part Two

I picked up all four essence Twilight nail shades (as I mentioned in this haul) and thefirst one I chose to do a full mani with was Alice Had a Vision-Again. A blackbased filled with purple flecks and the odd aqua fleck as well, this is reallydark but shines purple when it hits the light. The flecks seem embedded in thenail and spread really evenly when painting it on, which made this a reallyeasy polish to work with.

 

 

 

 

I’ve also snuck some sneaky Dior holiday swatches into that last image, just in case you thought my hands were dirty. I’m tossingup between the two quints at the moment, and just can’t decide!

 

I really like the deep vampy purple of Alice Had aVision-Again and the flecks of aqua and purple are particularly beautiful indirect sunlight. I would recommend all of the new essence Twilight shades, eventhough I’m not a big Twilight fan the colours are gorgeous.

Are you going to watch the new Twilight film?

What new holiday collections are you lemming?

Dior Amber Diamond // Swatch, Photo, Review

The famous Dior Amber Diamond highlighter is spoken of quite often in the beauty world, but it was only when I heard that it was being discontinuted that I decided to bring it into my collection. A golden peachy sort of champagne highlighter, I find this to be a well used weapon in my makeup arsenal.

 Packaging, whether it should or not, makes a difference when it comes to my love for a cosmetic product. If a highlighter comes in flimsy packaging and isn't appealing to the eye, I admit that I would find it harder to love. Luckily, Amber Diamond is packaged beautifully in a sturdy navy blue compact, marked with Dior logos, and comes tucked nicely in a velvet sleeve.

 Though I am at the very fair end of the complexion scale, the tan section in this highlighter isn't too dark for me, though I do tend to wear this when I have a bit of bronzer on as I find it goes well with it. Like the Bobbi Brown shimmer strips you can lean towards certain colours as they are separated within the compact. From what I understand, however, the Dior offering is less frosty on the skin than BB's.

 My favourite way to apply this is with a Real Techniques Contour Brush (which comes in the core collection) and I use it along my cheekbones, down the centre of my nose and sometimes on my cupids bow if I'm really taking my time doing my makeup. It leaves a soft and diffused sort of finish on the skin, and when I know I'll be photographed I use it because I know it makes me look glowy and healthy.

 

 As I mentioned earlier, from what I understand the Dior Amber Diamond highlighter has been discontinued in some countries, so if it is something you're interested in I would hop down to your local counter, or try any online Dior sources you know of.

 

I am really happy to have this in my collection, I've seen this in the HG status of many prolific bloggers and though I have a plethora of highlighters, this is one of my favourites.

 

Have you tried Amber Diamond?

How important is packaging to you?

 

*I purchased this item with my own money. Honesty, always.



Current Favourites

Time to share my current beauty loves with you all!

Illamasqua Blush in Sophie*

 This coral shade has golden shimmer in it which just adds a glow to the skin, without making my cheeks look like chubby glitter pillows! I love the shimmer blushes from Illamasqua, so far they've only made a few shades in the shimmer formula but wow they like to do it right.

 

Dior Amber Diamond

I think everyone in the beauty world knows of this beauty! I love the way this blends so easily into the cheekbones, and makes me look awake in a natural way. I love to pair this with Sophie and the Clinique bronzer to create a pretty, sunny look, even on my fair bear face.

 

Victoria's Secret Amber Romance Body Lotion

I bought this in the airport on the way back from IMATS and BBU, and I am addicted to the scent. I don't think I've tried anything with amber before, and I suspect I may be a fan. The bottle is shimmery and pretty, and I can't wait to keep this on my desk when I set up my new makeup area.

Clinique Superbalanced Bronzer*

Usually not one for bronzer, I've been dusting this on almost every day for the past couple of weeks! I like that it suits my pale complexion, but is also buildable so would work for medium complexions as well. I get a real thrill when I shave off some of this sunshine in a pot, it actually makes me look forward to doing my makeup a little bit more.

 

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I've had this for an age, and go through stages where I use it non-stop and lately, that has been the trend. My favourites shadows from it are (obviously) Virgin, which I use to highlight, and Sin, which I either use all over or in my inner corner. Smog, Darkhorse and Toasted are other favourites that I've been using a heap lately.

 

Laura Mercier Eye & Cheek Palette

Have been obsessed with the African Violet eyeshadow from this palette, but every shade has graced my lids of late. Black Plum is a most beautiful colour for a wee smoky eye of an evening.

 

 

 

What are your current favourites?

Do you wear makeup every day, or just on special occasions?

 

*Marked products were provided, but are honest favourites of mine right now.



glowing guest

There is nothing I like better than a luxurious high end beauty product that makes me glow. Though I will be doing an in depth review of Dior's now discontinued Amber Diamond here soon, I have shared my thoughts on MSodaPop's guest blogger spot here. I've also shared a bit about myself and why I blog. I'd love for you to let me know what you think of it!

Empties for July

I thought I hadn't used up many products this month, but it turns out I did alright.

Lancome Tresor Midnight Rose
I love the blackcurrant edge that this has over the other Tresor varieties, it lasts quite well on me but until I finish up some of my other perfumes, I won't be purchasing this. A customer came into work wearing this last week and it smelt so good, which is why I pulled this out to finish it up.

Ardell Sculpting Brow Gel
This still has product left in it but it's so scungy now that it just had to go. It's affordable and easy to find, so I will repurchase after I finish the brow gel I am currently using.

DermaVeen Oatmeal shampoo
I was so excited to try out the sample of this shampoo (the matching conditioner will be in my next empties post) but sadly this did nothing for me but make my dandruff worse. My scalp is still itchy and distressed after using this, I've only found one anti-dandruff shampoo that works (Garnier) so I'm sticking with that one.

Australis 3 in 1 wipes

These are nice enough, I buy them when they are on sale and use them for swatching.

Dove Tinted Moisturiser

I love this TM, Chris' Mum gave it to me but it has started to smell and has gone off. I've repurchased a fresh one!

Ethnique nail polish

I have no idea how I came to own this, but it is pretty much solid now.

Crabtree & Evelyn Nantucket Briar shower gel

I love Crabtree, this was a bit too 'nanna' even for me, but I still liked it.

Impulse Paris body mist

I love this body mist, I use it as a room spray and occasionally as a body mist. It is very similar to Miss Dior Cherie, and I have already repurchased.

Kiehl's Coriander liquid body cleanser*

This was such a strangely enjoyable scent, it was herby but somewhat sweet, and unlike anything my nose has come across before. I don't like it enough to repurchase, though I did enjoy using it.

Face of Australia Gentle Make-up Remover

I remembered loving this more than I now do, I think since trying Bioderma all makeup removers will let me down in comparison. I would still repurchase, as it does a good job and is affordable.

Rexona Girl Free Spirit Deodorant

I usually buy the Tropical Energy version of this (my ultimate fave) but thought I'd see what this version was like. I liked the scent, but not as much as the Tropical Energy one. I would repurchase in the future, just to change it up a bit.

QV Gentle Conditioner*

This was woeful, I am sorry to say. Hardly moisturised my hair and the build up was atrocious. The matching shampoo was just as bad, so this is definitely not being repurchased.

Coles Make-up Removal Pads

Done the job, they fall apart easily but I'm not bothered by that as they are cheap as chips.

Have you tried any of these products?

How much did you use up in July?