Sunday 31 March 2013

Essence Circus Circus Review

Previews here here are some swatches and my thoughts about the items i picked up from Essence's Circus Circus collection. So i got my hands on the Circus Circus collection from Essence, a almost completely untouched stand which when i went back yesterday had been picked clean!

Now i feel like i own a lot of nail polish a the moment so i wasn't to hyped about them, but i have been more focused on eyeshadow and eye makeup in general so i grabbed all the eyeshadow and the sweet looking perfume.


The packaging on these babies is hot! I love the colors, the stripes, the vintage-ness (is that thing?)

Thr Perfume is honestly not great; it's sweet, it's pink and light, but mostly it's inoffensive and pretty. But i love the bottle and after i'm done with it i will reuse it for other perfumes i like or just use it as decoration since it's so darned cute.

I like the cream eyeshadow that Essence offers in their limited editions, they seem much better then their standard collection which i hear is now being discontinued along with a few of the powder eye shadows, the eyeshadow base, some nail polish colors and some lip colors (so if you love those products go grab em before they run off).

I picked up all three eyeshadow on offer and I'm pretty happy with two of them, and the swatch below probably shows why; It's Magic and Raise the Curtain are awesome creamy and smooth and easy to apply, but My Sparkling Acrobat needs a bit of work; it's not very pigmented and is dryer then the other two. It has shimmers in the tub but they don't come across when you swatch it or try it on your eyes. It can do the job but it needs a bit more effort.


It's magic reminds me a lot of the eyeshadow snuffles they had in the Ballerina collection which i loved so hard and really hope they bring back in some form. But overall I'm happy and the packaging is win, though i kinda wish the eyeshadow domes could stack but it's not necessary for my current organization scheme.

So did you pick anything up?

Monday 25 March 2013

Review: For Audrey by China Glaze


Hey today i thought i would share one of my favorite China Glaze polishes with you "For Audrey" famously modeled after the Tiffany's jewelery box color. I decided to wear this recently after i finished the season 3 finally of Haven and it seemed appropriate. (The main character is called Audrey). It's a creamy, opaque cream that i would probably describe as Teal and is one of my favorite colors.


I prefer OPI brushes but China Glaze one's are serviceable, the formula leans slightly thick but not anything problematic. It's opaque in a single coat but you probably want another to make the color really pop. Oddly the bottle was a little disappointing when i first got it as it looks a little muted but once on the nail it really shines. Highly recommended.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Review: Nivea Lip Butters (Carmel Cream & Vanilla and Macadamia)


Recently released in Australia (15/3) are the Nivea Lip Butters in Original (unscented), Caramel Cream and Vanilla and Macadamia, for whatever reason we are missing the very popular 4th scent which is Raspberry Rose. These have been out for a while now in the US and UK (as usual) but now that they are finally here i couldn't wait for them. I picked up the two scented ones because unscented is boring to me.

Honestly I'm not the biggest lip balm fanatic, for the most part i don't bother or i forget; but it's hard to forget when it smells so damn good. I want to eat this, or...i want there to be food that smells this delicious. I'm not sure exactly..i just know i want more of it and for "it" to be edible somehow.


These cool new lip butters come in completely cute and totally unhygienic matte metal tins, it doesn't really bother me but i know some people hate tin and really prefer them in sticks; i guess if it bugs you use a lip brush or something because you don't want to miss these!

They little tins can initially be a little hard to open but you get the hang of it quickly, the first i almost gouged a chunk out of the Caramel Cream, so be careful the first few times. They are quite slick and not very heavy, perfectly smooth with no grit and slide easily onto your lips and aren't sticky at all.

I don't have particularly dry lips so for me these are amazing, i guess maybe they might not have enough umph for someone with commonly dry or chapped list but your regular users will find this a dream. It also makes a pretty killer overnight treatment if you apply it a little thicker; i woke up with the smoothest lips i;ve ever had and it made lipstick a breeze.

They smell, oh my god, i could just talk about it all day long; the caramel is a light creamy scent that almost reminds me a little of cream honey while the Macadamia is slightly nutty with just a hint of vanilla bean rather then the common synthetic vanilla essence so common to cosmetics. Love it!


I love these cute little tins of deliciousness and sincerely hope that they release Raspberry Rose here too!

Thursday 21 March 2013

Price Comparisons

I recently went shopping for my first MAC eyeshadow and realized all over again how terrible our Australian prices are, if your curious i was looking for the eyeshadow "Violet Star" and was planning on purchasing a refill ($22AUD) however in Western Australia there are no MAC 'stores" only counters. Counters as i found out do not sell refills meaning my only choice is to buy offline. Here's the kicker; buying a refill online costs $22 + $10 shipping = $32 OR i could buy the same eyeshadow, as a full size product in pot for $33 at the counter. CRAZY! Why would i ever do that? Not to mention the absurdity of a eyeshadow even costing that much?

 So i thought i would like to take a look at how drastic some of the price changes are, how by crossing international waters products somehow magically gain extra value, here is a breakdown of a few of the most common/most popular products and the price difference which we are forced to endure. 

I think looking at the chart below it's clear MAC and OPI are clearly the worst offenders and LUSH is probably the least terrible, overall though we are getting very much ripped off; there is no reason why the exact same nail polish is worth $20 in Australia and only half that price in the US. Does it magically gain some sort of properties that mean it should cost a customer double the original amount? Keep these prices in mind next time you want to buy these products at a local level.


For reference $10 AUD equals to $10.30 (usd) or £6.80 (atm)



* All prices based on official sites from that country or Priceline (AUD) Ulta or Saphora (USA) and Boots (UK)

By the way, i did not end up buying the eyeshadow; i'll wait till mum goes to Singapore this month to pick it up for $10 less then it costs here.

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Review Maybelline Color Whisper by Color Sensational

Color whisper in Coral Ambition

Ah, Maybelline's answer to Revlon's Lip Butters. Not currently available in Australia, sadly, are the Maybelline Color Whispers. Now i liked the Lip Butters, i loved the lip stains even more, and now it seems I'm doomed to like this product too. Which is a shame, i kind of wanted to hate it; my lippy draw if full of Revlon at the moment, i don't have space for another pile of these when they (hopefully) eventually make it down here.


So what's good about these and how do they compare? Firstly their much more long lasting and sturdy then the lip butters, they feel more like balms with some color tint but are very build able. My biggest issue with the lip butters is that as great as they feel, on me they disappear very quickly and the sticks themselves are very soft. These, well a different if similar kettle of fish; their sturdy, they don't melt anywhere as easily, they are in fact much more similar to actual lipstick. Indeed i would probably put them in the sheer lipstick category rather then lip balm (like the butters).

They also build up much easier then the lip butters, you have a lot of control over how pigmented you want the color to be. It applies really well too. Even if these never make it to our shores I'm going to try get a few more shades, something a bit darker as i wanted to try a color a bit different from my usual experience.




Friday 15 March 2013

Essence Circus Circus Edition Preview


Available now in Priceline (in Australia) is the Essence Circus Circus Edition from Essence, and it's definitely got some interesting stuff in there. It's probably the coolest, in my opinion, since the Breaking Dawn edition, Color Arts and Blossom just didn't excite me very much. But this i really like, especially the colors on the branding; super cool. Plus, since I've been following the brand this is the first perfume i have seen from them, so very interested in that. Let's take a closer look below; beware, this one will go fast.


The eye-shadows are probably the part of this set I'm most interested in, because i was so in love with their eye suffles fro mthe Ballerina collection, though their regular line of cream eye-shadows really does nothing for me. The lids are like the regular line but have a cute Circus emblem embedded in the lid. The shades are 01 It’s Magic (gold), 02 Raise the Curtain (bronze/champaign) and 03 My Sparkling Acrobat (the graphite/gray).

Ah the perfume! It's so cute i almost don't even care what it smells like! From the official descriptions it's 50ml and is quite sweet and sugary. I'm okay with that. For only $10 this seems like a cool purchase and i will very much consider it if i like the scent. Other editions also included the $7 small spray bottle but it seems to be missing in our Australian promos. As is the glittery purse;


However all the nail polishes are here; 01 My Sparkling Acrobat (see top picture), 02 Don’t Feed the Tiger (gold and black and gold glitter), 03 Applause Applause (red) and 04 Cotton Candy (pink). These look really nice but honestly i feel like i could make these combinations myself from my personal polish stash. I love the look though.



Or if nail polish is not your thing, perhaps the nail fashion stickers are more up your ally; the patterns are 01 Come in, One and all (left) and 02 Big Top (right). I like the names :)


There is also the two liquid eyeliners in 01 its magic(gold) and 02 my sparkling acrobat (graphite) as well as a highlighting powder similar to the one we saw in the breaking dawn collection available in 01 its magic. It seems to be mostly a brighting/highlighting type powder.

EDIT: The two eyeliners also seem to be missing from the Australian edition. Sad face


And last are the pearly gold lip topper, basically a gloss in 01 It's Magic, and two lip glosses in 01 applause (the red) , applause and 02 my glammy acrobat (the pink). So what are you looking forward to the most?








Saturday 9 March 2013

Review: Lush Honey I Washed the Kids Shower Gel



If you are familiar with the "I washed the Kids" Honey soap from Lush then this product will be no stranger; this is the exact same soap you know and love but in a handy gel form. Now, if you haven't tried the soap/gel then you have probably been living under a rock, as besides maybe godmother/snow fairy it's their most popular soap and has been one of mine since i first set foot in the store.

I'm quite excited about the release of this gel version as i sometimes find their soaps don't bubble as well as i would like, the unfortunate side effect of the eco-friendly step of removing the palm oil from the process. 



For a shower gel this one is slightly on the thicker side but nothing to a level that's truly bothersome, it has a lovely yet sedate honey smell, it's not anywhere near being overly sweet, almost a flowery honey scent is probably the best description i can give you.

On another note it can be used both as a shower gel and shampoo, which i normally don't do but figured for reviewing purposes i would give it a shot; and it was surprisingly awesome. Well maybe not so surprising, honey is awesome for pretty much every part of you so it shouldn't be too strange that my hair loved it. My hair is currently dyed black and it didn't strip any color and seemed to actually give back a lot of moisture.

If you haven't tried this delectable scent yet, in soap or gel form, now is a good time to try it!



Wednesday 6 March 2013

Review: Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Eye Shadow Set 2


So it isn't news that I'm a fan of the Maybelline Eye Tattoo Eyeshadow; so a few weeks ago i began hunting around and looking at some of the shades not released here and came across two that i could not live without. Those shades being Inked in Pink; a light rosy shade and Barley Branded a warm slightly peachy cream. They arrived just a little while and I'm totally hooked.


The texture of these seems quite a bit smoother then the original release versions and doesn't seem quite as dry so it goes on a bit easier even then the first set! The colors are beautiful and so very wearable. I hope these get released here sooner rather than later but so far i haven't heard anything about them being released here which would be quite sad. I would say that with these practice has made perfect because they seem just that little bit better then their predecessors, so if you can get a hold of them i very much recommend doing so. I hope they also bring out the limited edition jewel tone colors but i kind of doubt it.


As you can see i have quite the set of these now, so take that as proof of how good they are. Personally i need a little eye base to make them not slide around but most people don't seem to need that additional step.

What's your favorite color? I think mine is going to have to Inked in Pink at the moment.

Friday 1 March 2013

House of Gloi Soaps Review


A few months ago, my boyfriend and i both fell head over heels for the House of Gloi soaps, and Ive been carefully waiting for them to come back into stock so we could see if it was accidental awesomeness or had we actually struck gold?

In the past I've been quite vocal about the awesomeness of their scrubs, pumpkin butters, and so on. I was following a trend here really, i had never seen a review for one of their soaps. It takes me a long time to go through scrubs or butters (I've yet to finish a single Body Shop butter) as things like that are not part of my usual routine. But soap is, indeed since discovering Lush about two years ago now my boyfriend and i have become soap snobs, we always have some Lush soap on hand. Why not? It smells amazing (i like Honey i washed the kids and Godfairy) and they work very well, though seem don't scrub up the best because they don't use Palm oil.


So I ended up trying one of their soaps, in the scent Satyr (which you may remember is also the same scent i tried their bubbling scrub in) which is vanilla and blood orange, and it was amazing, literally all you could ask for in a soap - soft, bubbling, sweet scented, lasting but not overwhelming scent, cleaning!

This is unlike other soaps i have ever tried, when using it, it almost seems to leave a very thin almost oily/creamy substance on your skin when you was it which seem to moisturize your skin like crazy. At first i was a little weirded out by this but when i woke up the next morning with super soft skin i was a convert.


This time around i ordered two of the Satyr and Litchi Milk Tea, which seems to be also be very good, the little black circles you see poking out from under the label add a little roughness to wash, like a mini exfoliator. I will keep trying others, as they seem fabulous, but i officially name Satyr the most awesome number 1 soap in existence. A must have. 


Oh, I also ordered one of their Valantines perfumes in "Who Needs Love" and it smells like chocolate and raspberries, it's quite a heavy scent but very lovely and makes you smell like a candy bar. Recommended