French Musings for Arles - L'Occitane Arlesienne Shower Cream

I love nothing more than a good backstory or inspiration tale attached to a high quality beauty product, and it seems that L'Occitane share that enthusiasm as there is always a swirl of information surrounding each new release. I am a true Francophile at heart, despite my obsession with France waning as reality and responsibilities take hold over my day to day life. Being able to spend even the shortest while wrapped up in fantasy-land in France makes me feel such contentment. I recently watched Le Week-End (dir. Roger Michell) and truly felt my passion for Paris take hold of me, and when I eked out the last of my L'Occitane Arlesienne Shower Cream* later that night I felt truly wrapped in French brilliance at work.

Arles is a city in the South of France and Arlesienne bases itself on the art of Vincent Van Gogh and his series of paintings completed in Arles, on the woman of Arles. I love the romance and mysterious element to the history of this and having taken inspiration from such beautiful paintings, it is no surprise that the packaging of this collection (and in particular the shower cream) is stellar. I love the functional aspect of the push top, the shape that fits perfectly in my shower caddy and most of all, the touch of rose gold on the lid. It screams modern luxe to me personally, and the scent matches that as it's not a straight up floral but has notes of mandarin, saffron and lily of the valley to balance it all out. I can definitely tell that I'm not using a supermarket shower product when I use this and the scent fills the ensuite after every use - so I'm going out on a limb and saying that the price of this is easier to cope with if you think of it as a room fragrance also ;)

the woman of Arles

This L'Occitane Shower Cream retails for $28AUD/250ml and is available at Adore Beauty. The collection is an extensive one and to see the rest of the products you can check out the L'Occitane Australia website here.

What country inspires the passionate side of you? I can't wait for the day when Mister and I wander through France together enjoying every little thing about life that we often take for granted. Weekly daydream session sorted!
-Emma

*This product was provided for consideration at a launch event. Honesty, always.

New Hair Style Savers

It’s been a very long time since I’ve made any drastic decisions when it comes to my hair, which is generally left long and air-dried since I’m too lazy for constant heat styling and can’t braid to save my life. I’ve even stopped colouring my hair late last year, after I received compliments on the ‘lighter colour’ when I actually just hadn’t dyed it since before my wedding!  The few grey hairs are still pesky (yes, I’m a young woman with silver strands of wisdom in my mop!) but overall nothing was really happening with my hair until I succumbed to my lust for a blunt fringe! The hairdresser was hesitant but I was adamant and I love how it’s made me care about my hair a bit more, and start using product more regularly.

I wake up each morning with the craziest looking fringe ever, so I generally wet it a little bit and then comb it down with my Tangle Teezer* (I have the Watermelon version, isn't it adorable?!) or my Lady Jayne Tangleze On-The-Go Detangling Brush*. After it's dried I either straighten it or just spray a mist of L'Oreal Elnett Satin Normal Hairspray* (this is the mini can!) which takes the spot of top hairspray so far throughout my trials (currently trialling some more to compare for you!) If I find that my fringe is a bit piecey and won't stop separating, my mini can of Batiste Tropical Dry Shampoo fixes it up. I also use the Girlz Only Dry Shampoo and am going to give the Tresemme Dry Shampoo a whirl next as I've heard it's pretty decent and it's on sale at Coles this week.

Having a fringe can be frustrating at times and isn't entirely low maintenance but so far I'm really happy with the change - I sometimes pin it back for work and it blends in with ease, so I can opt out of effort if I want to. My initial chop gave me a wispier fringe than I intended so we made it more blunt the second time around (picture on the top left is the most recent!) I have a few more hair posts in the pipeline and I would love to see your product recommendations in the comments as I'm a bit of a hair noob!

-Emma xx

*Products provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

March Eats

March was a bit of a quiet month in the food stakes, we relied on a lot of our staple dinner recipes and only tried a few new things. We're saving for a trip to Bali so eating out was a rare occurrence in the Bovary household, but I did perfect an easy dessert that Mister is obsessed with and tried a new cereal that is my new morning love, so they were pretty good developments!

Dominos Pizza
Cornflake Crumbed Chicken with Greek Lemon Potatoes
Slow Cooker Curry on the way!
Spicy Capsicum Dip with Water Crackers and Carrot Sticks

Dominos pizza is a treat that the Bovary household is a big fan of - it's a bit pricy for pizza so we don't eat it too often though. I make my own 'Designa' pizza, because there is nothing better than feta and prawns on a crème fraiche base! In terms of homemade dinners, my favourite for the month was definitely my cornflake crumbed chicken - the sweetness from the cornflakes makes for the tastiest crumb and I can't wait to make this one again.

Microwave Golden Vanilla Pudding
Chocolate Cupcakes with Confetti Sprinkles
Uncle Toby's Plus Iron
Sweet Milo Slice

A regular instalment after dinner in March was this awesome microwave pudding - I use a base of golden syrup and serve it with scoops of vanilla ice cream (I use this recipe for it, super easy!) A big fail was the milo slice, I followed a recipe I found online when I was poking around for new things to make with milo but it was really hard and didn't have a great flavour - should have stuck to dumping the milo into cold milk like I usually do! My best new find of the month was Uncle Toby's Plus Iron - I tried this sample pack and then bought a full size, such was my immediate love for it! I've since finished that and have bought two more because I found it on sale and wanted a back-up. Having a food back-up reminds me of Papa Bovary who buys everything in bulk, it makes me laugh!

 

How exciting was your March Eats? Any recipes I should give a whirl?

-Emma xx

The Weekend Vibe



Is there anything more delicious than a lazy Sunday morning? I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than a cheeky sleep in, a big (and I mean BIG!) mug of coffee and nothing on the agenda for the day but tidying up the house, watching Catfish with Mister and perhaps a sneaky trip to Masters! Often I’ll roll around on the Sunday bare-faced, but other times I feel like playing around with makeup (or we’re heading out to the local café for breakfast and I need to look alive!) I’ve been really enjoying throwing my new and shiny products in with old staples to simultaneously put a dent in some pans and spice up my routine for the weekend! Here is my weekend face…

 

 

A major trim fringe occurred during the week by the way– still a bit springy but I’m loving the way it frames my face differently than before I had it chopped! So back to the makeup – I’m still working on my bottle of Illamasqua Skin Base (which is part of my Project Use It Up) and I’m getting a bit frustrated that I can’t see how much more I have to go before it’s done, but I’m persisting and teamed it with my forgotten tube of Maybelline SuperStay 24HR Concealer – this stuff really packs a punch when it comes to coverage! For eyes I went with my current go-to team: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze + MAC Jaunty + MAC Coquette – long-lasting and a fallback when I’m focusing on the blush colour over all else!

I picked up the Hourglass Ambient Blush Palette when I first hit up Sephora in Las Vegas, and I was so excited about making the purchase that the kind sales assistant opened up each and every palette so that we could select which variation of the marbled blush shades would best suit me (Sephora, I heart you big time) When I landed in Australia I promptly avoided using it as I sometimes get this crazy fear of disappointment - #beautybloggerproblems? It turns out I had nothing to worry about, the quality of this blush formula is insane (see Radiant Magenta in my 2014 Favourites here) and I’m loving the way Incandescent Electra is a glowy and easy to wear orange shade for me.

What is involved in your perfect Sunday? Does it pain you to think about the weekend on a Monday, or does it help you push through the week like it does for me?

-Emma xx

March Purchases + Pick-Ups

Another round up of purchases and pick-ups are ahead – I used some gift cards in March and treated myself to a few new beauty bits to spice up my routine, and I’m quite pleased with everything I chose.

PURCHASES!

Sugarpill 'Midori'



Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette 'Colour Field'

I picked up just one product from my visit to Salon Melbourne, a Sugarpill Single Shadow in Midori which I’ve used briefly during the month. The green theme continued when I picked up the Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Colour Field with a Myer gift card I had left over from Christmas – I didn’t intend to fill my drawers with new green products but it seems my green nail polish obsession is transferring over to other beauty items as well!

essence lipliners - wish me a rose + in the nude



Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous Foundation



essence 'Good Girls Wear Peach' Blush

I spiced up my lip colour stash with more shades of the essence Lipliners, which are such amazing quality (especially considering the $2 price tag!) I now have the whole range since I picked up the last two – 11 In the Nude and 12 Wish Me a Rose.  I mentioned in my New on Shelf post that I finally nabbed the Covergirl Ready Set Gorgeous Foundation after failing to find my pale shade in Hawaii – so far I like the formula, but it hasn’t knocked the Covergirl Outlast Foundation off the top spot. The last makeup bit I grabbed in March is something I haven’t even swatched yet – bit of a fail as a beauty blogger, right? The essence blush ‘Good Girls Wear Peach’ from the Good Girl Bad Girl collection is quite pretty and I think that it will look gorgeous over a matte peach blush…even if they formula isn’t great I collect these limited edition blushes, so it will still be worth it.

PICK-UPS!

 

Sisley goodies!



Katy Perry - Killer Queen's Spring Reign



Rimmel Apocalips Matte Lip Velvet

Some exciting Sisley* bits hit my desk in March, and I am so pumped to have another of the fabulous Phyto Lip Twists* to stash in my handbag. A new spring scent came through to brighten up this dreary autumn weather in the form of Katy Perry’s Killer Queen's Spring Reign * (Mister and I are huge KP fans, she is a total babe!) I’ve also just started trialling the new take on the famous Rimmel Apocalips – the Matte Lip Velvet* version! I adore a good matte lip right now (bit of an obsession actually) so fingers crossed these adhere nicely to the lips.

The Body Shops Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask



OPI Hawaii mini pack

 

The press sample that has excited me most this month? The Body Shop Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask*! I love love love a good overnight mask (it was top of my wishlist!) and can’t wait to trial this one for the blog. I also squealed a little bit when the OPI Hawaii mini pack of polishes arrived – I think the juicy Aloha From OPI will be the first to hit my nails from this tropical collection.

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I received a few other bits and bobs that will be posted about in more detail during the month – so many lovely new bits in my stash right now and I’m loving it! I am currently lemming a new blush though (not a particular blush, I just really want a new one!) so I think that might be what I look to purchase in April.

What have you hauled recently?

-Emma x

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

 

Gilded Ganache - Chocolate Makeup Look

Riding that Easter cliché right out with a chocolate inspired makeup look! I’m generally much more inclined to indulge in a nice creamy wedge of cheese before I scoff some chocolate, but when it comes to makeup products I’m all about the rich browns. Around this time of year I do like to partake in the consumption of too many mini Dairy Milk eggs (chocolate for breakfast is alright on the Easter long weekend, right?) so my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette (that is cocoa scented!) was screaming to be pulled out for a quick and easy rich chocolate makeup look!

 

I basically scrounged in my big makeup drawers trying to pull out shades that reminded me of chocolate, and I figured that since they’d all be neutral they would create a pretty harmonious look no matter what I chose, so the freedom was all mine! I knew I wanted to incorporate bronzer into the look, something I don’t use on a regular basis despite having a horribly large stash of them in my possession. The Colour Theory Bronzer  ‘Sun Kissed’ is really nice and the embossing on the powder certainly suggests a higher price tag than a measly $8 which is what this pan costs.  I like the way it adds warmth and a teensy bit of dimension to my round face – I topped the apples of my cheeks with D&G Blush ‘Caramel’, which I think tied in with the ‘sweet’ theme of this look perfectly! It certainly upped the average cost of the products for this look though, in stark contrast to the bronzer…

 

For this easy neutral look I chose the Face of Australia Lip Crayon ‘Sundae’ for a glossy lip (PSA: FOA is half off here right now!) and Before all of the face colour went on I tried to switch up my standard base for fun. I used the Napoleon Perdis Stroke of Genius Liquid Cashmere Foundation in Look 1* and then went over a few blemishes and my under-eye area with a teensy dot of the Clarins Instant Concealer*.

 

I wanted to use shadows in the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette that I hadn’t given much love to previously, so I swept Gilded Ganache over my lid and some Cherry Cordial into the crease, then blended like mad for soft focus edges. I highlighted my brow bone with the matte White Chocolate, my inner corner with Champagne Truffle. I mixed a few shades in my brush to create a semi-golden look on my lower lashline, and finished it all off with essence Hot Chocolate Eyeliner and YSL Faux Cils Mascara*.

 

I’m off to enjoy the rest of this Good Friday with Mister and Charlie now – I’ve been snuggled up on the couch having some intense laptop time this morning and it’s been lovely! Now I think it’s time for a coffee wander before we head out to celebrate my brother in laws birthday later tonight. What do you have planned for the Easter long weekend?

-Emma

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

 

 

Sugar High

My nails have been bare for a while now and I felt like jazzing them up with some pretty colours in time for Easter. After heading out to buy Easter Eggs for all of my nieces and nephews I was in the mood to indulge in some Easter fun while I had the chance! I didn’t want to go back down the super pastel/easter egg look as I’ve done them in the past (speckled nails and a pastel skittle mani!) so I pulled out some brighter shades for a spotty sugary look!

 

I started with a base of China Glaze ‘Sugar High’ and was mighty tempted to leave it be as the bright pink shade is so stunning by itself, but I couldn’t stop myself heading back in with my dotting tools to play around! I covered each nail in dots with essence ‘Grab This Hype’ from the ‘Yes, We Pop’ nail collection (check out this Cosmetic Cupcake post about that!) and I love how the bright teal looks against the pink! I then made the mistake of placing smaller dots on top of the teal with Hello Kitty ‘Lola Lilas’ which is a pale lavender toned pink shade – I wanted to add pastel into the mix but I think it’s too weak to stand against such a bright clash of shades.

 

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I’m hoping to see some gorgeous Easter nail looks on Instagram this year, and indulge in some more delicious plain Cadbury mini-eggs too - they are the perfect sized treat for a non-chocolate lover like me! I love spending time with family over Easter but will be pretty busy this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing how other families celebrate this occasion on Instagram and Twitter.

What traditions do you have for Easter? What chocolate treat is your favourite for this occasion?

-Emma