Essence Ticket To Paradise/Beauty Beats

It's been a while since we looked at Essence's new Trend Editions, it took me a while because honestly neither of these collections really did much for me. Let's have a look anyway.

Ticket to Paradise (available in Priceline)

A nice enough summery edition, I picked up the pink lip liner and gloss and I do quite like the liner. the gloss is okay, it has a nice sweet scent but isn't amazing in any way. The shimmer gloss is good if you didn't pick one up from an earlier collection ( i got one from the Breaking Dawn edition last year). I like the teal polish but the eye shadows are sadly disappointing, I always hope they will be like the amazing ones which featured in the Ballerina collection but alas it is not be.

Eye Shadow - 01 dive with me to the island, 02 deep sea baby,and 03 tropical heat

Lip Gloss - 01 sun said red, 02 my treasure island, and 03 dive with me to the island

Lip Liner - 01 sun said red, 02 my treasure island

Nail Polish - 01 dive with me to the island, 02 tropical heat, 03 sun said red, and 04 my treasure island 

Shimmer Powder - 01 tropical heat

Hair Mascara - 01 rumble in the jungle, and 02 dive with me to the island

Beauty Beats (available in Priceline)

Really not my think, the gray nail polish is vaguely interesting but nothing else here really does much for me. I'm sure fans of Justin Bieber will like it but it's not appealing to me. The hair ties are quite good though.

Shimmer Powder - 01 Swaaag! 

Lipgloss - 01 Groupie At Heart, 02 Eenie Meenie and 03 I'm Backstage 

Blush -  01 Groupie At Heart

Nail Polish - 1 Groupie at heart, 02 As long as you love me, 03 I'm Backstage, and 04 Baby, Baby, ooh 

Eyeshadow - 01 Baby, Baby, Ooh!, 02 I'm Backstage and 03 As Long As You Love Me.

Manicure Design transfer solution - and paper print design with pictures of Bieber 

2 in1  eyeliner - 01 The Biggest Fan

Hair ties

Review: Burjois Healthy Mix Serum

I've been wanting to try this foundation for ages, I think every blogger and youtube guru that i follow has had this show up at one point or another but I alway kind of balked at the $32 price point, without being sure if i would like it. I also has a bad experience with their flower perfection foundation. (I got a sample and loved it, bought it and it was the heaviest most difficult foundation I have ever used). Still the entire Internet probably couldn't be wrong and I would always pick this up and put it back down every time i went into Priceline. However last week i went into a Friendlies Chemist near my mum's place and there it was, discounted being discontinued at the store and all for the low price of $15! I was a tad concerned it would be too dark (52) rather then my usual 51, but it turned out perfectly fine. That I could work with, so here we are. Discounts like that make me very happy and I'm thrilled to give this a shot.

Being super excited about this I wasted no time trying his on, and have worn it now almost every day for about a week. Admittedly this might not have been the best time to do as it's been one of the hottest heat waves in Perth for a while. However I'm happy to say that despite these less then ideal conditions this foundation withstood the test. It's very smooth, almost watery texture that feels a bit more "silicon smooth" then a liquid foundation. It's not streaky or patchy and I get a great effect with the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, it's buffs in quickly and smoothly. 

As you may know I'm a fan of bb creams over foundation as I prefer a lighter coverage, and this fits in so well with that as it is quite a sheer foundation so those with problem skin might want to avoid, I think if your skin leans towards a drier combination this might be a nice one too as i think the gel combined with oily skin might mean the whole thing just slides off.  My skin used to be oily but is now mostly normal with some days leaning towards oily and others towards dry and this works quite well.

Another thing that's great about this is how easy it to use, all the problems I had with their flower perfection foundation are non existent here. In fact it's the exact opposite as it applies like a breeze with a brush, sponge or fingertips and if you have the right color match it will be difficult to cause any mistakes.

I will repurchase this again, though hopefully at a sale price because I still think $32 is a bit much for 30 ml of product, however if it lasts me well then I will consider it turns out you do not need very much as the nice hygienic pump makes it super easy to control how much your using.

Review: Glossy Lip Crayons from Face of Australia

Last year the Sheer Gloss Crayons came out in a cute little 4 pack and I quite liked them for their super glossy texture and how they can just glide onto the lips, undoubtedly the smoothest lip product I own. I admit I kind of forgot about these after the Revlon Kissable balms came out but they really are two different creatures. Now however FoA has brought out some new shades and I just had to try some out. I picked up 4 of the shades that were the most appealing to me; these being the 2 darker somewhat brownish shades, the coral/nude and pink. There's is also a berry purple which i wanted (was sold out)  and a apple red.

Each one smells like a bit like vanilla and last around 2-3 hours but doesn't fade into a dry lip or into patches as it mostly just disappears with no ill effects. Their wind up crayons so there is no issue with wasting product. I think these are awesome for carrying around in your purse as easy out and about application as they are quite sheer so it's difficult to make any mistakes if you don't have a mirror.

Below are swatches of the ones I picked up;

Pecan Pie is very similar  to Sunday from the original collection although comparing the two side by side this one is slightly more Pink where as Sunday was a bit more brown based. Both make perfect my lips but better colors and are great for an everyday neutral look.

Perhaps my favorite of the lot it's like a glossy  balm version of my Illamasqua lipstick in Growl (see a swatch here). It's dark and a little bit goth but it's sheer enough that's it;s not off putting and so easy to wear in this format.

Peach Parafait is a coral/nude shade that is also the only one which has some shimmer to it, it sticks to dry bits on the lips a tad because of that but it still a great neutral color to wear.

Lastly I picked up Raspberry Coulis, which is really more Strawberries and Cream rather then raspberry. By that I mean that it leans much more pink then purple. A nice color for the summer.

Review: Revlon Nearly Naked Mineral Powder Foundation

I've been a little interested in trying some mineral powders after my first foray into them years ago left me with a bit of a diastase for it, but it's been a while and I thought I would give it another try, hence I picked up the Nearly Naked Mineral Powder Foundation during the Priceline 40% off sale in November. I've since been using it on and off, every other day either with my Ponds BB cream or by itself when it's warmer and I need less coverage.

This powder is supposed to be paraben free, fragrance free and and talc free while being SPF 15 and containing  vitamins and minerals. The powder comes in 5 shades; fair, light, medium, medium deep and deep. I picked up fair, the lightest shade as light seemed a little too dusky for my skin tone. This isn't a high coverage foundation, it is very light and if that's what you need it for then it's amazing but don't expect it to be more then that. The spf is nice but i think it's the reason why this foundation has a slightly metallic scent which is the one thing I don't enjoy about it.

 I find the powder brush that comes with it is okay for application but i perfer using my Real Techniques expert face brush as I feel it does a much better job of buffing the powder into the skin rather then just applying a powder layer on the face.

It's also okay over a cream or liquid foundation or a bb cream but if used t quickly over a wet surface it will tend to absorb some of the liquid and cause streaks or patches so care needs to be taken. Plus it's not transparent so it might not be great as a setting powder. It is after all a foundation. I would repurchase this but I think I still enjoy bb cream + setting powder much better.

Review: Maybelline the Rocket

Hello, I  wasn't planning another Mascara review so soon but the day after i put up the Covergirl Flame Out Mascara my mum came home from a trip to Thailand and Singapore and gifted me this one, the Maybelline "the Rocket" Volum (? what's with the weird spelling?) mascara. This is another one that I've hear about quite a bit from UK and US beauty blogs but it's yet to hit our shores. However it was favorably compared to both Flame Out and The Falsies mascaras. Unlike the Covergirl mascara this one is supposed to add volume rather then length.

The packaging is very similar to The Falsies but just blue rather then purple, and peaked at the top to I guess resemble a rocket shape. The brush is like a wider version of the L'Oreal Telescopic, same small "spikes" but a rather large base. Personally I find that it does indeed add volume but it's also quite thick and therefore difficult to remove at night, it tends to clump a bit in corners or among the lashes, almost as if it was a bit sticky. The other issue is that the fatness of the brush base makes it difficult to reach the very base of your lashes, however despite those (numerous) issues the formula does in fact add a lot of blackness and volume and I would personaly probably use it with a different mascara wand or put the formula on a eyelash brush/Brow brush and use that to comb through the lashes without the clumping issue. However that's a lot of work and there are better mascaras out there.

Review: Satsuma Perfume from Body Shop

The Satsuma range at the Body Shop can be an elusive beast, but it made it's appearance this year on Boxing day much to my good mood as it's a wonderful scent for starting the new year with; it's a fresh fruity smell that's just bursting with citrus overtones. The strongest scent is Tangerine but it's so much more then that, it's such a rich scent that seems almost alive - like it might burst out of the bottle. 

This is the first time I've seen it as a perfume but there is a whole range of products; shower gel, soap, body butter, body polish, and body lotion. It's a gorgeous scent and is perfect for this time of year, though I do which it would stay around a bit longer. I usually get maybe 3-4 hours out of it.

Review: Physician's Formula Powder Palette Mineral Glow Pearls

During Priceline's 40% off sale at the end of last year I picked up a few products including this Powder Palette Mineral Glow Pearls in Translucent Pearl from Physician's Formula.  I always eye off the PF stand whenever I head in there but it's always just too expensive for regular purchasing on any kind of regular basis. I picked up Translucent but also available are Beige Pearl, Bronze Pearl  and Light Bronze Pearl. The second two being bronzer not highlighters. Also available is Rose Pearl and  Neutral Pearl which are blushes. Though not all seem to be easily available in Australia.

It's a highlighter pressed in a very pretty pearl/bump pattern, and there's even a cute little fake pearl on the plastic cover of the container. The pearl "sheen" comes off after the first few uses and your left with a shimmery pale pink and white shimmery powder.

It has a container in the bottom that includes a flat half circle brush and mirror which frankly I never use, it gives quite good "shimmer" pay off and it probably the nicest highlighter I've worked with, though I'm still not convinces about the usefulness of such a product. Still it makes a nice makeup look that little bit more polishes but I don't see a use of it for any kind of everyday look.

Review: Covergirl Flame Out Mascara

To welcome in the new year (Happy New Year btw) here is my first purchase of the year, and one I was quite excited to see as I first saw this product on Youtube about 6 or 7 months ago when it was getting quite a bit of Hype in the US. It also has the honor of being the first mascara review on this blog (I tend to have long lashes anyway so I don't know how useful it is for me to demonstrate them, hence their lack of presence).

It's a mascara designed to give a bold and voluminous look, it has an hourglass shaped brush which can be a bit unwieldy but with a bit of practice is actually quite dexterous as you can just use the first "bulb" to do your lower lashes if that's your thing. However getting your conner lashes can prove a little problematic. I find it quite good at separating my lashes and holds a strong curl.

Here's a before and after shot; as you can see it doesn't add any length but it has volume and separation in spades. I would probably rather this as my third favorite mascara which I have tried after L'Oreal 'Telescopic', and Maybelline 'The Falsies'.