OPI 2014 Brazil Collection Preview

Over the past two weeks a certain nail polish line has been popping up on my facebook a lot and it did not take long before i was infatuated. I'm not sure if theses are even out here in Oz yet but i will be checking next time i head to the city and hopefully pick up at least one of these lovely shades. So without further ado here is the OPI 2014 Brazil collection;

Next Stop…The Bikini Zone: A purple/pewter duo chrome

Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around: A baby pink toned neutral cream

Taupe-less Beach: A slightly rosey taupe cream

I São Paulo Over There: Another taupe this time with chocolate brown tones.

OPI Scores a Goal!:  A chocolate/burgundy cream.

AmazON…AmazOFF:  An impressive teal with very vivid green and blue tones. A shimmer not a cream.

I Just Can’t Cope-acabana: A bright yellow polish. Nothing hiding in there.

Where Did Suzi’s Man-go?:  A orange/yellow mix cream.

Toucan Do It If You Try: A blood orange color, a mix of orange and deep pink.

Kiss Me I’m Brazilian: A slightly cool toned but still vibrant pink.

Live.Love.Carnaval: A seriously vivid "coral" that borders on red.

Red Hot Rio: Can't have a Brazil collection without a a luscious vivid red.

The ones calling my name are; Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, Taupe-less Beach, and Live.Love.Carnava, how about you?

Review: L'Oreal Studio Secrets Professional Eye Shadow Quad

Today we are looking at the L'Oreal  Studio Secrets Professional Eye Shadow Quad in Desert Sunrise which i picked up last week for all of $5 at a Terry White Chemist which seems to be trying to get ride of a bunch of makeup which were a part of Christmas deals. I spotted this one and was quite taken by shade 1, it was a lovely shimmery peach with slight taupe undertones.

106 Desert Sunrise

It's a very nice neutral pallet (especially for the price) the colors are; 

1 - A shimmery pink/peach with a slightly taupe or purple undertone. Very soft and blends incredibly well

2 - A satin like shade that's more creamy then white but is actually quite pale

3 - A pale brown matte that's very similar to MAC Wedge, a great blending/transition color

4 - A dark brown matte that's great as an eyeliner or eyebrow color. it also works very well with a damp brush if you want to up the intensity.

Without Primer

All the colors are quite pigmented and not very chalky, this is a great everyday pallet which I have used everyday since purchase, my favorite look with this is:

Do you have a favorite low end neutrals quad you love?

Review: Ben Nye Luxury Powder in Cameo

You may or may not have heard of the Ben Nye Luxury Powders, as it's gained some traction as being the one which Kim Kardashian uses. She uses the shade "Banana" which is quickly becoming Ben Nye most sought after product. However Ben Nye products have been known in Hollywood land long before the Kardashians dating back to classics like the King & I.

The Luxary Powders were once upon a time called Visage Poudre Luxry are the brands neural translucent powders with just a hint of color. They are micro milled and blend incredibly well, plus there is a large range so it shouldn't be to difficult to find a skin match. I picked up Cameo; a translucent pink toned beige.  The famous Banana shade is quite similar but more yellow toned then pink.

The main idea is that the powders brighten, neutralize and set your makeup like nobody's business. Indeed for that they are certainly worth the hype, I am however not a fan of the package as I find it difficult to control the amount of powder released resulting in a big powder cloud and is also hard to get excess powder back into the bottle. I feel that a wider more traditional powder container would be a bit easier to work with and I'm in the process of trying to find a appropriate container to decant mine into.

For Luxury powders of such re known they are actually surprisingly inexpensive and you can buy them from Australian based websites. I picked mine up from faceagency and it arrived in under a week for only $18 (the price has gone up a little since i got it). But it's going to take me an age to finish the bottle (42g) so well worth an investment.

Review: Illamasqua Duo Blush (2)

Through circumstance and some very bad luck in my case i ended up with this beautiful duo Illamasqua blush. My mum recently went on a Valentines trip to Melbourne so I jumped on the chance and asked her for a either Illamasqua's powder blush in Tremble or Illamasqua's Reflections pallet. Both were sold out so mum bought me this duo because the counter assistant said the light pink color was Tremble. It's not, it's Katie - the one I own as a full blush. Oh well, when my Katie blush ran out I was going to pick it up again anyway so it's not a huge deal but it would have been nice to have something new to try.

Katie powder blush sitting on top of the duo blush

Housed in a somewhat chunkier case then their regular cream/powder/velvet blushes. I believe it's the same as their eyeshadow palette case but I can't check.

This duo blush contains:

Katie - the lovely matte light baby pink.  My favorite blush of all time. It's very pale and medium skinned girls might have a bit of trouble having this show up.

Ambition -  sparky peachy/plum pink shade with golden shimmer. It's quite beautiful and creates a lot of dimension on the face.

Both colors are super pigmented and smell amazing, I usually pick Katie in the mornings because it smells so good and lifts up the whole experience but now I have two to choose from. This duo is awesome for traveling as well and will certainly be easier to carry around when I go back to Melbourne in November!

I love these so much, and have trouble choosing my other many blushes, even my NARS blushes sit in a drawer because these are just so nice. I can't wait to get a few more, hopefully next time Tremble will actually be in stock. What's your favorite blush/brand?

Review: Australis Neon Crush Blush

Been keeping an eye out for the eon collection from Australis for the past few weeks and when I saw it this blush was the one that really stood out to me, especially when I swatched the shimmery  side on the in-store tester. The packaging is (obviously)  super bright and crazy looking, and it does stand out but it won't be everyones cup of tea.

One side is shimmer(left) and the other is matte (right) but they are largely a very similar color though the shimmer side is a little lighter and with a very slight peach tone to it, but as you can see in the swatch below they end up looking very similar.

It doesn't have any "scented" flavor and the smell is a bit powdery and reminds me of older cosmetic scents, and it's certainly not a plus. One of the reasons I love my Illamasqua blush is the slightly sweet rosy smell which makes me happy just to put it on, you don't get any of that here.

The shimmery peach side is the stand out color, the lasting power is average at around 4-6 hours a bit better for the matte side. It costs $12.95 and in the collections is also a bronzer,nail polishes, some lip crayons, and eyeshadow but the neon scared me of  bit as I already have too much stuff without adding something utterly unwearable to the collection though I'm sure their just tints not actually opaque colors of neon pinks and other colors. I think this is a nice blush if your looking to try out something with more peach tones but this is very much a youth oriented product and you can probably get something a bit more wearable and a little nicer quality no matter what your market.The collection is pretty but a little to loud for me. How about you?

Here are pics of the other stuff from the collection cutesy of the Australis homepage:

Lush/iHerb Haul

Hello all, here's something a little different: a mini haul - half from Lush and half from iHerb (btw my code for iHerb is KRN216 if you want discounts and such). This originally wasn't going to be a haul but when my iHerb order arrived on the same day that my boyfriend presented with a some Valentines Lush stuff it seemed like destiny.

Let's start with iHerb, I usually only use iHerb for shopping for makeup brushes, all my Real Tech brushes cam from iHerb and some of my ecotools too, even with shipping it's just so much cheaper then trying to buy them in Priceline. This time around I was waiting for the RT miracle complex sponge and decided to try the famous Queen Helene Mint Julep masque as well. While I was looking at the range, being a fan of face masks I decided to also pick up the Queen Helene Grape Seed Extract mask as well and since it seemed interesting I also picked up some African Black Soap (good for thinning fine lines, evening out dark spots, eczema, razor bumps and eliminating blemishes) .

I knew that the Valentine stuff would be coming out any day now and asked my partner to keep an eye out since he works in the city and can get into Lush much more easily then I can, he usually goes in once every 2-3 weeks to fil up our stash of Fresh Farmacy, my HG cleanser of all time and the product to which I attribute my acne-free skin too. So he came home that same day with a few little surprises which are still available until at least Valentines day but the limited edition stuff always seems to sell out quick to if your interested go right now. Here is the stuff I got:

Prince Charming Body Wash - Pomegranate juice, Marshmallow root, Grapefruit, Sandalwood and Vanilla. However personally i only really smell Pomegranate and it is quite a strong scent especially when mixed with hot water and steam. After use my entire bathroom smells like Pomegranate for a good few hours. It's great but It makes me miss Rose Jam.

Neon Love Soap - This one is a mix of Rosewood, Bergamot, Figs, Passion Fruit juice and Soya yogurt and it smells divine! I love it probably more then the body wash which is unusual for me.

Lust Solid Perfume - This isn't part of the Valentines collection but it certainly fits the theme, I asked for this one because I've been missing the Lust soap that Lush discontinued which was one of my favorites and this smells the same. Awesome and so easy to carry around and I think a perfect scent for Valentines day - not in a soft sweet kind of way but more the hot and heavy side of Valentines day.

Lush has heaps of other Valentines stuff, bath bombs and lip products if your still interested. Happy Valentines day everyone!

Review: Revlon Scented Prefumerie Nail Polishes

On a recent trip to Priceline I was immediately drawn to the shiny new Revlon Prefumerie Nail Polishes, their unique square bottles and round tops really made this collection stand out. There are 16 scents/polishes all together divided into three sections; fresh, fruits & florals, and sweets & spices. Priceline  has an introductory offer of 2 for $20, plus if you spend over $30 on Revlon products you get a gift worth $45. I picked out two that looked particularly interesting; watermint and autumn spice, but based on these two it's going to be hard to resist getting a few more.

Autumn Spice -  This one was a super eye catching polish right in the bottle, and the scent sounded was really amazing. It's a shimmery brown based duo chrome with flecks of gold, red, copper and the color shift is somewhere between green and bronze. The scent is a mix of Pumpkin, Cinnamon and Nutmeg. Super yummy. A must have for any collection.

Watermint - This was the first one I spotted and could not put it down, literally could not take my eyes of it. A dupe for Debborah Lippmann's Mermaid Dream, it's a light green-blue base with round sky blue glitter that dries a little gritty but oh gosh does it smell amazing. It's a light sweet mint that's much more spearmint then peppermint. 4 days of wear and I can still smell it faintly and there is not a crack , scratch, or even tip wear. I'm incredibly impressed that without a base coat or top coat it's lasted so long,  it's amazing.

These are amazing, and I hope that the price drops down a little so I can get more of these babies.