It's Love

The thought of doing a favourites post last month totally didn't appeal, so I just left it aside and decided to wait until I had the urge before posting some lovely things. I have been in a bit of a blah mood lately and have been chilling at home makeup-free with Charlie most days, but these have still been very loved by my face tummy and heart!

My recent breakout is still clearing up so I've been wearing my beloved Rimmel Match Perfection Cream Gel foundation with some Maybelline Dream Matte for a bit of extra coverage on the red areas. This has way better oil control than any other powder I've used - and matte crappy skin looks better than shiny crappy skin, in my experience!

I've been absolutely obsessed with my essence Long Lasting eye pencil in 02 Hot Chocolate, run quickly along my upper lash line to give it a bit of oomph. I've been using my Urban Decay Naked Palette (and can't wait to get my hands on Naked 3!) and also this little quad that my beautiful cousin Claire bought me from the U.K. - the Topshop Smokey Eye Palette in Tawny. Lazy days were made for that pale champagne shade, let me tell you!

Estee Lauder Modern Muse - stretching this vial as long as I can, and adore the scent. Lips have been loving the Carmex Moisture Plus in Clear*, which as you all should know is the bees knees of my lip stash. Now come the random loves of late! Slim Secrets Snack-Attack (caramel!) bars are delish, though my favourite flavour is definitely the Craving Crusher which is Cookies + Cream. I sneak these into the grocery basket every single week, and they are great for on the run to stop myself from eating crap at the shops. Having said that...the other day I had a fun size Mars Bar, and it was the highlight of my day! The other highlight of that day? Suffering through a work meeting but being treated to a cute little Christmas ornament at the end of it - woo hoo! And last but not least...

We welcomed our little King Charles Cavalier Charlie into our family almost a week ago, and now I can't remember being without him <3 He is going really well with toilet training and is sleeping through the night which is so good. He is an absolute smooch and a mumma's boy, and his favourite spot is sitting on my lap as I sit on the floor to write blog posts!


What are you loving right now?
Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

What's On My Face // a whisper of spring

 

I’ve sort of fallen into a nice routine during the holidays, getting up nice and early when Mister Bovary leaves for work before settling in for a day of writing, studying and cleaning the house. I’m at that stage where living in this house is still so exciting and new, and I’m surprised at how much I enjoy the chores that I’ve never had to do before! Having said that, I’ve also been indulging in some guilty television watching (which I never used to do while living at home- I didn’t switch my TV on for 2 years before we moved!) Laverne + Shirley, Happy Days and The Brady Bunch are all on high rotation at the moment – if that isn’t a reason to blush, I don’t know what is!

Keeping in line with the laid back (but studious!) lifestyle I’ve adopted in recent weeks, one of the looks in my arsenal is this easy and fresh-faced look using some brand new products alongside some stash-shopping finds.

A variation of the eyes is something I find pretty easy to come up with my abundance of eye shadows, which is a good thing since this particular combination (Topshop cream eye shadow + Natural Compatibles powder) didn’t hold up as long as I would’ve liked it to. I love the shades and the way they make the green in my eyes pop, but creases are a no-no so I’m going to have to play around to see what makes these work. The new Maybelline Mega Plush Volum’ Express mascara* also wasn’t an impressive new find, I don’t mind the formula but the floppy brush was much too hard for this uncoordinated blogger to work with.

Something new from Maybelline that is definitely impressing me is the Dream Pure BB Cream*, which is specifically made for blemish-prone skin and contains 2% Salicylic Acid to ward off breakouts as it covers them up. I was so impressed with this press sample that I bought a backup when Maybelline was half-price recently (for a beauty blogger that is a serious endorsement!) I reached into the depths of my blush drawer to use my ethically lovely Vapour Organics Aura Multi-Use Blush in Whisper* for this look. I grabbed the product description from their website, in case you were interested in finding out more about this nifty blush stick.

Get a lit–from–within glamour with this multi–tasking superstar. Aura Multi-Use Blush—Radiant will highlight and define your cheeks, lips, and eyes with soft shimmering sophistication. Shades are designed to work with every skin tone and every age. Fun on shoulders and décolletage too.

Aura Multi-Use Blush is made with 70% Certified Organic ingredients and 30% mineral pigments and vitamins. Aura nourishes with Vapour’s face specific infusion of anti-inflammatory Frankincense, antioxidant Tulsi and moisturizing and calming Lotus Flowers.

Professional performance with none of the chemicals.

I think I’ll keep this pink shade away from my shoulders and décolletage, but for my cheeks I’m happy with how this makes my skin seem to glow. I'm not normally one to specifically go for organic or natural beauty, but when they perform just as well as any other brand I don't see why I shouldn't! They say that this blush works best when applied with fingertips, but I always prefer to use my Real Techniques Stippling Brush for products like this, as I find it helps the pigment stay vibrant as it buffs the product into the skin.

Last but not least for this fresh-faced makeup look is one of my new favourite lip products, the pigmented and glossy Pink Possibilities Colour Whisper* from Maybelline. I initially picked up Are You Red-dy when they the Colour Whispers launched, and was elated when a giant advent calendar filled with new Maybelline goodies arrived at my doorstep with the rest of the new shades. I find this formula really comfortable and nicely pigmented, and ultimately what I wished the Revlon Lip Butters to be when they first launched.

 

A fresh-faced look for spring? How adventurous! What products do you turn to when the weather warms up?

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

 

a golden guest

A make up artist by no means, I still love to slap some of my collection onto other peoples faces for fun. My girl Candice and I were getting ready to go to a hen's night (we had to look good, I was maid of honour!!) and she let me do her up.

Candice's dress had golden tones in it, so we went with a full on eye (compared to what she normally wears, anyway)

I laid out the Urban Decay Naked palette before her and let her have free reign. Half-Baked it was, and I snuck Virgin as her highlight and chose Mercury from TopShop for her crease (amazing colour, post up ASAP!)

I made Candice line her own eyes as I wasn't confident of my capability to liquid line someone elses eye, and she used Maybelline Line Define (which has been discontinued, to her horror) and a Maybelline mascara, too.

I think her eye shape and skin tone works really well with this look, and the smudge of Half-Baked under her eye makes such a dramatic difference to her normal eye look. I'm not sure what made me pair Mercury with the golden tones, but I really like the contrast and it made her eyes really pop. She wore a nude lip gloss with this look, and the face looked just as good on the way home in the early hours of the morning as it did when we left for the hen's night!

You can't really see how nice her eyes look when they're all scrunched up, but you can most definitely see how much of a cutie she is! And don't mind my pose, it comes naturally after a champagne or two! I am super washed out in this photo but I love it anyway, it was taken on the party bus on the way to the second or third club.

What night look do you lean toward?

Are you a bright lip-lover or smoky eye wearer?

February Favourites (Holiday Edition!)

For the better part of February I spend my days lounging around a resort in Thailand, soaking up sun (slathered in SPF of course!) and enjoying quite a few blue cocktails. My favourites have a distinctly tropical feel, naturally.

*

My Thailand staple scent has always been MOR's Lychee Roll-On Oil* (review here)so I made sure it came along with me on this trip. I enjoyed Tresor Midnight Rose quite a bit also, it seemed to suit the humid climate better than it suits Melbourne weather for me.

Basic face was all I could muster due to high heat and water activities, so I leant on my sample of Invisible Zinc Tinted Daywear which has an SPF of 30+. I set this with powder as it is quite thick and shiny in appearance, but the coverage was perfect for me and I really enjoyed using this! I scrubbed my face (and Chris') a fair bit so that the residual creams didn't build up and clog pores, and took along my sample of Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant for the job. I am still undecided as to whether I like my Alpha-H exfoliant better as this one smells much more strongly, but it worked amazingly on this trip so it made it into my favourites. The Ardell brow gel was a must, my brows have been nuts lately.

This holiday was definitely all about the lips! I didn't mind having bare eyes while away (which surprised me) but with all the photos being taken of me, I needed a pop of colour on my lips to look alive. I found these shades a lot of fun, and will keep wearing them now that I'm home.

The Estee Lauder Berry gloss came from a travel set that Chris' Mum bought a few holidays ago and shared with me. I wear it all the time, it's so flattering and non-sticky. This is what I wore when I couldn't be bothered thinking. The Hissyfit Lip Service is the bomb, I felt great knowing that my lips AND my face were protected with SPF30+ and Chris used this every now and again too (when the Softlips went walkabout. FYI, he broke two this holiday ><)

Revlon Coral Reef is amazing, but you should already know that. I took Smashbox Overexposed gloss(review here) because it can never leave my sight, I love it that much. Plain lips with a vanillery amazingness is necessary on holiday, ya know.

These mini MAC glosses came from the limited edition Christmas bauble for the season just gone, I am so happy I picked it up. Like Venus Dazzleglass is a sparkly pink gloss chock-ful of pink and golden sparkles, with a distinctly purple tinge to it. Petite Indulgence Cremesheen Glass is a lovely formulation, and a mid tone pink shade which suits me so well, if I do say so myself. Compliments were thrown at me every time I wore this, so it had to be in my favourites.

Topshop eye shadow in Mercury is one that I wore when out at night in Thailand, and it definitely deserves it's own review. In short, it's amazing, and makes me feel like a million dollars when I wear it.

What is your dream holiday destination?

Have you tried any of my favourites?