December 31, 2010

BYS cosmetics haul


First off, I'd like to wish everyone a Safe and Happy New Year. I hope you all have a fantasic year and  all the wishes that didn't get realised in 2010 get realised in 2011.

In 2011 I'll be minimising my make-up stash, until then here's another make-up haul from one of my favourite budget brands, BYS. BYS is an Australian brand, but they are also stocked internationally, including in the UK. For international stockist details click here.

Anyway this is what I picked up the other day, 3 x blushes and 3 x lipsticks all for the grand total price of $23.70AUD (they're $3.95 each). Bargain!
  
Blush colours L to R - Candyfloss, Coral, Fierce Fuschia
The blushes are soooo beautifully pigmented, and have a lovely sheen to them even Candyfloss which looks kind of pale in comparison to the others. They stay on all day, and give my skin a beautiful glow. I'm wearing a very light dusting of Coral in the pic below.


My fringe is getting a bit out of control... I'm still trying to decide whether to grow it or get it cut again in a straight style.

And now for the lipsticks... all are beautifully pigmented, are fairly long lasting but you will need to reapply after eating.  The only thing I don't like about the lipsticks is the packaging, which I feel will break any time soon although none of my past BYS lippies have broken.


L to R - Fuschia Surprise, Coral Kiss, Flamingo Pink.



Fuschia Suprise
...hmmm, I really need to do something about the hair on the upper lip! LOL
   
Coral Kiss (this colour is a bit dry so I'm wearing clear lipgloss on top)

Flamingo Pink

Have you tried BYS before? what do you think? Do you give bargain make-up brands a chance or are you a high end cosmetics convert?



December 30, 2010

Lavender nail polish and an unplanned FOTD

Hi girls, just thought I'd share with you my favourite nailpolish of the week...  It's this gorgeous colour from Sportsgirl!

Initially I thought that OPI Dim Sum Plum would be a good dupe, as reviewed by the lovely Sandra in her blog but the OPI one is much brighter and redder and upon looking at her swatches again it looks nothing like mine!

But never fear, I did some googling and Essie Splash of Grenadine was definitely a close dupe!
Sportsgirl Nail It Nailpolish in Lavender - $7.95AUD

It's a creme colour and 2 coats is all you need to get a nice streak free coverage. They're also fairly long lasting, upto a week without chips if I do the proper base/top coat.

Soft flash, indoors


No flash, hand held directly in front of window so almost under natural light
I love the colour sooo much that I even found a lipstick that matches it, and I wore it on Christmas day. The colour of the lipstick is called Flamingo Pink by BYS (I'll review it later and try to find dupes for non-Australian readers who don't have BYS sold near them). Here's a pic.

Can you tell it was a hot day?! That "glow" is not deliberate!

Let me know what you think, and also what are some of your fave shades right now.

Lilit
xoxo

December 29, 2010

What's your lipstick personality?

Hi all, some of you may have already seen this personality test in the past... but given I did a review of my collection of lipsticks recently I thought it timely to re-visit this test.

The test basically tells you your personality depending on the shape of your lipsticks! There're 8 to choose from. Mine's number 4 and I would say it is pretty accurate!

Note: all images are from google images. I did not write this test, I don't know who did, but they are all over google if you want more info.



1. Slant close to original shape
Abides by the rules
Great follower
Doesn’t like too much attention
A little self-conscious, reserved
Schedule driven
May occasionally dye hair to attract attention.


2. Smooth rounded tip
Easy-going
Peacemaker
Even tempered
Steady
Likeable
Generous



3. Sharp angle tip
Opinionated
High-spirited
Dislikes schedules
Selective of friends
Outgoing likes attention
Argumentive


4. Sharp angle curved tip
Creative
Enthusiastic
Energetic
Talkative
Loves attention
Falls in love easily
Helpful 
Dislikes schedules but needs one


5. Tip rounded to a point
Loveable
Family oriented, domestic
A “doer”
Stubborn over little things
Exaggerates
Needs people around

6. Flat top
To the point
High morals
Very dependable
Quick minded
Loves challenges
Careful about appearances

7. Flat top concave
A great detective
Makes friends easily
Inquisitive
Adventurous
Complex
Exciting


8. Sharp angles both sides
Spiritual
Curious
Seeks attention
Mysterious
Loves life
Big ego

Did you find a shape that resembles yours? What does your lipstick say about you?







December 28, 2010

Review - Elf All Over Cover Stick

I love love love this product! That said, I'd never heard of elf cosmetics before I started reading beauty blogs.


I found this one online at crush cosmetics when I was buying the Contour Palette reviewed here  and since it was only  $AU4.95 I thought I'll give it a go.

I bought it in the colour Apricot Beige, which is the lightest one available. It looks really light in the swatch above but it blended away invisibily on my skintone, which is a MAC NC25.

I'm quite impressed by it. I used it under my eyes, and it stayed put all day with no creasing whatsoever. It's quite thick and requires some blending to make sure it's not cakey, but the end result is worth it. See for yourself.

Below photos are taken under natural light.

no concealer
with elf concealer

The below photos are taken under artificial lighting.

no concealer
with elf concealer
                         
I would definitely purchase this again! And I do hope that shops in Sydney start stocking elf products too because if this concealer is anything to go by then I want to try other products too.

Have you tried elf before? And Aussie readers, if you know of a shop that stocks elf let me know please!

December 27, 2010

Sales shopping haul

What's a girl to do on a rainy Monday when she doesn't have to go to work? Go shopping instead! The post-Christmas sales started yesterday, but I decided to wait one day before braving the crowds.

 
I went with my mum, which is always dangerous because I always end up buying a lot, but that's because she's a fantastic bargain hunter. Mum's shopping style: trawl through every rack, every stall, every nook and cranny until she unearths bargains. My shopping style: enter shop, do a quick scan of the racks and the walls, don't see anything that I like, leave within 1 minute of entering.

 
So here's what I ended up getting today.


First stop: Priceline!
  • Maybelline mascara - The Falsies Blackest Black (I've read so many great reviews about Falsies, but today was the only time I saw it at the shops in AU so I'm excited to try it out! I wonder if it will knock my Max Factor False Lash effects off the current pedestal.)
  • Revlon mascara 3D extreme - blackest black (this was reduced to $6.95AUD from $21.95, bargain)
  • Bourjois 10hour Sleep effect foundation in 74 - this is a bit dark for me actually, but I already have #72, and I generally mix my foundations to get the right colour for me, so this will be perfect.
  • Bourjois Healthy Mix anti-fatigue concealer in 51 light radiance - Priceline had all bourjois items at 50% off.
  • Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Flexible Style Hairspray
I will do a proper review of my purchases when I've had a chance to try them out.

Then went to Myer, didn't get inspired to buy anything... oh yeah just bought some new baking sheets and a pizza cutter, but they're not exciting enough to make it into my post!

 
The rest of my purchases today were from Kookai, Portmans, Cotton On and Collette. Here they are...
The earrings were 50% off and were only about $4.50AUD. The ring was full price, a whopping $7.95AUD. I love Collette, it's my new fave place to get cheap jewellery.

 

One-shoulder top from Kookai. Reduced to $30AUD. The colour is a beautiful bright tangerine, which I wasn't really able to capture on film.

 

 

Portmans black t-shirt with shoulder detail, reduced to $19.95AUD. I'll be wearing this with a white pencil skirt to work, but I can always wear it more casual with jeans.

 
Cotton On grey long singlet with black polka dots, reduced to $10AUD. Great for layering.

 

Kookai singlets in aqua and red, reduced to $15AUD. Great worn under blazers.

I also went to borders and bought a couple of travel books (I love travel writing), and also bought some shorts for my husband from Cotton On just so he doesn't think all I ever buy is stuff for me, LOL.

All up I'm quite happy with the bargains I got! Have you done any post-christmas sales shopping yet? what bargains did you get?

Choc mint macaroons

Hi all, as I mentioned earlier in the week I decided to make some macaroons and package them up to take to my in-laws' place for Christmas. I made some choc mint ones, and some rosewater ones. The below recipe is just for the mint version, the recipe for the rosewater can be found here.


Here is the recipe and photo instructions... sorry, pic heavy!


The ingredients for the macaroon shells... note the black/white mug on the left, that's what I used as a measuring cup.

Macaroon shells
  • 4 eggwhites separated the night before and left out overnight
  • 2 x mugs icing (confectioners) sugar - see the size of the coffee mug in the above pic (it should work out to be abt 500gr
  • 1 x mug almond meal
  • 4.5tbs fine caster sugar
  • 2 drops of green food colouring.

To make the macaroon shells
  • Sift the almond meal and icing sugar together to combine
  • Beat the eggwhites and caster sugar together until very stiff peaks form like below. 


  • Fold the icing sugar/almond meal mixture into the eggwhites.


  • Quickly stir to combine, being careful not to overmix as the batter will end up too runny


  • Add the food colouring and stir to combine. In the pic below I'd divided the batter into 2 parts as I wanted half green and half pink.


  • Pipe 2cm round circles on a baking tray, leaving some space in between. If you're like me and can't find where your piping thing is (what's it called anyway?), just use a teaspoon to put some batter on the paper in a circular shape. The batter will settle into a nice shape soon enough anyway, as it's somewhat runny.
  • Leave the piped macaroons on the tray for 15mins before putting in the oven to develop a shell.


  • Bake for 15mins in a pre-heated oven at 160degrees celsius for fan-forced, or 180 degrees in an oven without a fan.
  • Take out of the oven, leave to cool then remove from tray.
  • If you find the macaroons don't come off easily just use a sharp knife to slice them off the paper.

Choc mint ganache
  • A block of mint chocolate (I used Lindt 70% mint intense)
  • 2 tbs thickened cream

You can either make the ganache the hard way, like in the rosewater version, or the easy way using a microwave!

To make the ganache

  • Chop the chocolate into small chunks and place in a microwave safe bowl.
  • Melt the chocolate for 1minute at a time (stirring in between) until completely melted. It took me about 3 mins.


  • Add the cream and stir to combine
 

  •  The ganache should look smooth and shiny, like so.

  • Use some ganache to sandwich together 2 macaroons, as below.
Note the pink food colouring on my index finger! I'm a bit messy sometimes.

Your macaroon is ready for eating.

I find that the macaroons taste best the next day as the  flavours fully develop.
Keep the macaroons in an airtight container in the fridge, taking it out of the fridge 15mins before eating.
  

The end resut
Makes 25 - 30

I hope you enjoyed it, and if you decide to give this recipe a try I'd love to hear about it.

December 26, 2010

Lipstick collecton - corals

Hi girls, this is the final of my lipstick collection...

I don't have too many coral / peachy lipsticks and I probably don't need any either considering I have sooo many lipsticks in other colours that I don't know when I'll get around to wearing them all... In fact doing this collection made me realise how many lipsticks I actually do own! and that's not even counting my lipglosses!

Anyway here are my corals (some are more orange and some are more pink, so without knowing what's the best word to describe them I'm using the broad term "corals").

With flash

With flash


No flash
Below are swatches of how they look on the lips. I haven't used lipgloss or lipliner on any of them.

1. Bloom sheer colour cream - Coy (this is actually a cream cheek colour but I find it too oily for my cheeks, so I use it on my lips instead. It has a lovely lavender scent, and I know isn't really coral, but in certain lighting it's in the coral family. I just use my finger to apply, but I suppose you can use a brush if you want a neater line)





















2. Nyx round lipstick - Vitamin




















3. Inglot lipstick - 104 (this is a new favourite summer shade)



















4. Revlon vital radiance - Melon


















I like to layer my lipsticks sometimes, and below is what #1 looks like layered over #3, which is a favourite combo that I often do.

















I'd love to hear what your favourite corals are, even though I'm trying NOT to buy any more lipsticks. 

PS: Hope you enjoyed my lipstick collection, if you've done collections like this of your own let me know, I'd love to check them out.

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