She's so... Jetset! by Benefit

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In our carefree, childfree days the husband and I used to travel quite a lot. So it goes without saying that I became quite good at packing my suitcase. I pretty much always took just the right amount of clothes and shoes to allow me to have a few changes of outfits and still leave space for lots of shopping. But this good packing skill does not extend to my makeup bag.

For example on a short European trip I took 16 lipsticks with me! That's right. Sixteen lipsticks. Five of them were red. How many lipsticks do you think I actually used? One. Revlon Pink Pout, as seen in the below pic.

My standard holiday look... Revlon Pink Pout lippie, large sunnies, bright earrings.

Oh and once, only once, I actually wore one of the 5 red lippies that I took... can I just add though, wearing red lipstick while eating crustaceans is not a good idea!

Hands up who else loves mussels!

I won't even mention how many eyeshadows and blushes I took with me which remained unused. So as you gathered I'm quite hopeless when it comes to packing makeup for travel, which is why something like this kit from the Benefit 2012 Holiday collection would have been perfect for me.

Benefit She's So Jetset Holiday 2012 collection

The kit comes in a sturdy cardboard box with a decent sized mirror under the lid and includes:
· 4 eyeshadows – Champagne Please, Gold Card, Pretty In Mink, Elegant Espresso
· Porefessonal balm – 7.5ml
· First Class Face Powder/Blush
· They’re Real Mascara – 4gr (I'm wearing the mascara in THIS post)
· Life On The A List lipgloss – 5.2 ml
· Mini blush brush & sponge tipped applicator

Swatches from the She's So Jetset palette

The eyeshadow colours are lovely neutral shades that can take you from day to night. The lipgloss is a perfect pale creamy pink for everyday wear, and the mini sized tube of mascara will last you a 3-4 week holiday for sure! The blush might be too light for those with a darker complexion (in fact it’s quite light even on my NC25 skintone), but it can be used as a highlight powder instead as it has some sheen to it. The only thing missing from this kit is a mini-eyeliner. That would definitely have made this a perfect travel kit.

In Australia this retails for AUD $89 at Myer.

What do you think of this palette? Is this enough for you to take on holidays or would you need more products (not including foundation)?

*PR sample provided for consideration

Help, my hair is falling out... and I bought mum jeans

So ummm... which do you want to hear of first? The hair fall out? or the fact that I bought mum jeans? How about before talking about both I let you have a peek at my adorable 3 month old, who is really the reason for both the hair and the jean issues!

Ok first the hair issues...

When you're pregnant something magical happens to your hair. It gets luscious, shiny and thick. It's actually not magical at all. You know how it's normal for you to lose about 100 hairs a day? It is. Trust me. Well when you're preggers you actually don't lose those 100 or so hairs because of all the hormones. And the result? Thick voluminous hair for the entire pregnancy.

This photo is of me 3 days before I had Luca. See... thick, wavy hair. Bliss.

40 weeks pregnant... see original post HERE

But a couple of months after you have the baby, those 100 hairs per day that you should have lost the past 9 months? Well you start losing them now. BIG TIME. In chunks! In the shower. On the hairbrush. In the baby's tight grip. I know it's normal, but I can't help that worry that maybe I'm losing more than just the amount I should have lost before. I haven't got any bold patches or anything, but I hope it doesn't get that bad! So if anyone has been through this post-birth hair loss, let me know how long till it all went back to normal. Oh and you know how I'm always complaining about my hair being incredibly dry and dehydrated? Well scrap that. My hair is now O.I.L.Y. Or maybe just my scalp is. I'm blaming the post-giving-birth thing again.

See below, how oily and lanky does my hair look now? Aaaghhhh! Oh and do you love the bags under the eyes and the chipped nail polish? Yeah, no time to do my nails or even use my favourite concealer to hide the bags. And you know how in that first photo holding Luca I'm wearing a bright lippy? Yeah that doesn't happen often either. Not unless I want red stains all over the baby's head.

Now to the most troubling issue...  Mum jeans!

Yes I know I'm a mum now, but seriously, I thought I was a lot more fashionable than to buy mum-jeans. But no, I clearly am not. A couple of weeks ago I bought these mum jeans from the ultimate mum store - Katies!

Photo from Katies website

They don't look too bad do they? It's a nice stretchy slim fit jean. But have a look at the waist.

It's elastic! In my defense it makes getting dressed in the mornings at least 5 seconds faster as I don't have to worry about zippers and buttons. And how about all the time saved when I have to go to the loo? Oh yeah! That's a good 30 - 45 seconds saved per day! Geez I should start a hobby with all that time I'm saving. Plus I figured I always wear longish tops with it so it's not like anyone will know. Unless of course you read my blog, which means everytime you see me now you're going to wonder if those are mum-jeans I have on.

And you know what else is fab about these jeans? Because Katies sizes seem to measure large, I'm actually wearing my usual pre-pregnancy size and that makes this new mama feel good :) So good in fact that the day after I bought these jeans I went back and bought another pair. My name is Lilit, and I'm a mum-jeansaholic.

Have you had post pregnancy hair loss? Let me know when it all went back to normal for you. What about mum jeans? Am I the only one actually enjoying wearing high elastic wasted jeans?

MAC Basics Haul, Swatches & EOTD

I think sometimes we get so carried away by new MAC collections that we end up ignoring the gems in the permanent lines. At least I do anyway. But this time when I was browsing the MAC AU website, besides adding the Marilyn Monroe Love Goddess (review HERE) lipstick to my cart, the only things I bought were some basics that are from the regular line. A couple of them are repurchases, and a couple are colours I'd wanted to try but didn't get around to.

MAC MSFN and Eyeshadow haul

Here's what I bought:

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium -  It's the best pressed powder I've used in a long time and I keep repurchasing it everytime I finish a pan. This is actually my 5th pan. It's silky smooth, helps set my foundation and above all it looks natural on my skin without giving a powdery finish.

MAC Retrospeck eyeshadow - I'd wanted this colour for a long time but everytime I went to buy it I kept talking myself out of it as it's too similar to a lot of other shades I have. This time I bit the bullet and got it anyway. Is it unique? No. Do I own similar shades? Yes. Do I regret getting it? No. It's a lovely white gold shade that's perfect as a highlight colour. It's definitely not a must have, but I'm glad I bought it as it has a lovely finish.

MAC Sketch eyeshadow - This was a last minute add to my cart. I'd seen a swatch of it on a blog (I forget where) and loved it, so decided to give it a try. And I'm so glad I did! It's a plummy/burgundy/brown shade with tiny bits of sparkle in the pan (which doesn't show on skin). It's a great alternative for doing smokey eyes. It looks great with brown eyes/olive skin, but I suspect if you have lighter colour eyes/skin it may make you look like you have a bruise. Swatch it first before buying.

MAC Vex eyeshadow - This is also a repurchase. It looks like a boring gray in the pan but it has a lovely duochrome finish with shimmery silver/pink through it. A great colour for highlighting or wearing all over the lid.

Here's a picture of the eyeshadows with flash as I feel in the pic above without flash you can't really see the true beauty of the shades. 

 

Here's what the eyeshadows look like swatched.

Swatches of MAC eyeshadows in Retrospeck, Sketch & Vex

And a quick EOTD wearing Retrospeck on the lid and Sketch in the crease.

Do you own any of the colours I've bought? 

Do you also get carried away with new collections and ignore the permanent lines?

A perfect match - Lancome meet Bourjois

I love matching things - you know, shoes and handbags, scarves and belts, nail polish and lipstick. Here is my latest favourite colour match. Lancome Rouge In Love lipstick in Rose Boudoir (340B) and Bourjois Anti Choc No Chips nail polish in #25.

Bourjois nailpolish in #25; Lancome Rouge in Love lipstick in  Rose Boudoir

I'm really loving the Bourjois Anti Choc No Chips range of polishes as they seriously last a long time on my nails without chipping. I get 7 days of wear without any chips and only the occasional wear around the tips. Love it. In real life this colour has a lot more pink to it than I was able to capture in the photos, it's a cool toned pinkish coral which goes on totally opaque in 2 coats.

The Lancome Rouge In Love lipsticks have absolutely beautiful formulas, so moist and creamy and Rose Boudoir is no exception. I've already reviewed this lipstick in the past, but I love it so much it's getting another mention here on the blog!

Do you like to match your lips and nails? 

Or am I just a dag with my matchy-matchiness?

MAC Marilyn Monroe Lipstick in Love Goddess

MAC Love Goddess

The other day I had to put in an order for a few MAC staples that I'd ran out of (more on that later) when I noticed that the AUS MAC website had started selling the Marilyn Monroe collection. To be quite honest not much really caught my eye except for the lipstick in Love Goddess.

Love Goddess is a satin formula, which is slightly less drying than the matte formula but is equally long lasting. It's quite opaque and one swipe is all that's needed for an even coverage no matter how pigmented your natural lip colour. It's best that you moisturise your lips before applying this lipstick as it has a tendency to emphasise dryness.

The colour is described by MAC as a mid toned pink red and I'd have to agree with that. It's bright but more toned down. It's definitely a grown up colour which looks different depending on lighting conditions as per my lip swatches below.

Swatches of MAC Love Goddess lipstick in different lighting conditions

If you've been eyeing off this colour but are too scared to try it, why not check out my post five tips for wearing bright lipsticks.

Have you bought anything from the MAC Marilyn Monroe collection? 

Are you going to?

Veet Easy Wax Electrical Roll On Kit review

I'm normally a DIY girl... I dye my own hair, pluck my own eyebrows and do my own mani. And I'd say I'm pretty good at those. But I'm bad at waxing my own legs. Reason? I always either overheat the wax (potential to burn!) or not heat it enough so end up with a thick gluggy mess that sticks to my skin and instead of pulling out the hairs it pulls at my skin making it red raw.

That's why this Veet Easy Wax Electrical Roll On Kit* is perfect as you get the right temperature and right consistency every single time.

In the kit you get
- Waxing device
- Electrical cable and docking station to plug the waxing device into
- Wax refill
- Cloth strips
- Perfect finish wipes

To use
- insert the wax refill into the device
- plug the electrical cable into the device and into the socket
- leave for 20 minutes for the wax to melt and achieve the right consistency
- start waxing! (you know the drill, apply in direction of hair growth, press strip over it, pull strip back from opposite end)

Thoughts
- Extremely easy and simple to use
- Because the wax is the perfect temperature/consistency, it just rolls on the skin in a smooth thin layer
- Absolutely no mess as the roll on applicator means no more dipping a paddle pop stick in gooey wax then getting the
  wax all over your fingers
- The wax doesn't really have a smell as such... maybe a slight plastic-y smell.
- Yep, it's still painful. But this just depends on your own pain threshold and the type of hair you have (I'm from an ethnic         
   background, I have thick dark hair with huge roots... IT HURTS!)
- Any wax residue will not wash off with water, that's why you have to use the included cleansing wipes
- Each wax refill is meant to give you 4 applications but realistically I think you'd get maybe 2 depending on the area you're
  waxing.
- At $39.95 for the kit (which includes 1 wax cartridge worth $14.95 if bought individually) it is more expensive than other
  home waxes but it's much cheaper than a salon wax.

This kit is available now at leading supermarkets, pharmacies and Priceline. 

What's you preferred method of hair removal? Do you DIY or prefer the salon?

*PR Sample as per my disclosure statement

Ben Nye Eyeshadow & Blush - Review, Swatches & Photos

I'd always wanted to try Ben Nye products but didn't know where to buy them. So when I saw them on sale at IMATS via Scotty's Makeup I bought a couple of products to try out.

Ben Nye Pressed Eyeshadow in Deep Violet
This is a rich deep purple shade with warm undertones. When swatched or worn the colour doesn't translate as vibrant as it is in the pan. It's a heavily pigmented matte formula, but unlike most mattes it is quite easy to blend. The only problem is that it has quite a bit of fallout so I would recommend applying this before you apply concealer/foundation so you can clean up any mess that it makes. The shade is perfect for a smokey eye.

Deep Violet

Ben Nye Powder Rouge in Vintage Rose
This is a perfect peachy pink shade, very subtle and daytime appropriate. It's completely matte, and just like the eyeshadow it's very pigmented. It's quite soft to the touch and very easy to blend on the apples of your cheeks for a neutral flush. You can also use it for light contouring. Unlike the eyeshadow this didn't have as much fallout (or maybe it did, but because the colour is so light it wasn't as noticeable!)

Vintage Rose

Swatches & Look

Wearing Ben Nye e/s in Deep Violet all over the lid and below lashline, blush in Vintage Rose on apples of cheeks and on lips NYX Paris

They were $10 each at IMATS, but their usual price is $15 each at Scotty's. I'm still unsure whether I'll purchase more of these shadows/blushes as I wasn't too impressed with the fallout. The pigmentation is absolutely lovely, but I have tonnes of other products in my stash that are heavily pigmented minus the fallout.

Have you tried Ben Nye products before?

Innoxa Long Lasting Foundation Review & Photos

Regular readers of my blog will know about my issues with dry skin - it's dehydrated and flaky and I usually need extra creamy foundations to cover up the flakiness.  And as much as I love the idea of long lasting foundations I don't have good experience with those as they tend to make my skin look even drier. 

A while back I was sent this Innoxa foundation for review purposes and when I noticed it was long lasting I didn't have high hopes from it at all. But I will let you know that up until recently I wore this pretty much everyday.  The only reason I stopped wearing it is because I got a bit of a tan from taking long walks outside with the pram so the colour is too light for me now.  I actually haven't tried much from Innoxa before besides their matte lipsticks (I own so many of them, I love them!), so the foundation was a pleasant surprise.

Innoxa Long Lasting Foundation in Natural

What they say
Innoxa's Long Lasting Foundation is a silky medium coverage foundation that lasts for up to 16 hours. Containing a powerful blend of long wearing ingredients and light reflecting pigments this foundation stays fresh and natural making it the ideal addition to your daily beauty regime.  Enriched with Vitamins and Anti Oxidants to help firm skin and reduce fine lines, Innoxa Long Lasting Foundation infuses moisture into the deep layers of the skin, maintaining skin moisture balance.

What I say

• A long lasting foundation that claims to "infuse moisture into skin"? - yep, absolutely true! You can see how moisturised my skin looks in the pic at the end of the post. 
• It provides medium to full coverage depending on whether you apply with a brush (medium) or fingers (full coverage). 
• As I have dry skin, upon initial application it looks a bit powdery on my skin but after about 30 minutes it "settles" and looks natural. 
• This claims to last for 16 hours, but I've never worn it for that long. However it has lasted a 10 hour day for me with no issues.
• I love the tube it comes in - it's very easy to squirt just the right amount of foundation without any wastage. Two squirts is enough for full coverage.

How does it look on the face?
As you can see from the photo below it provides pretty good coverage with slight powdery feel around my cheeks. However the powdery look goes away in 30 minutes or so.

The photo below is how Innoxa Long Lasting Foundation looks on my face after about 8 hours of wear. I wore it to a friend's wedding and as you can see it still looks pretty decent on, even though I did get a bit shiny due to being out in sun a lot that day.

Photo with flash

Available from Myer, Priceline and selected pharmacies.
Available in 5 shades - for details on available shades see website HERE.
RRP $29.95

Have you tried anything from Innoxa before?

*PR Sample as per my disclosure statement

IMATS 2012 wrap up

Two Saturdays ago I put away my mummy uniform of comfy jeans and loose T-shirt, cleaned up the baby vomit from the shoulder of my favourite green blazer (seriously!), applied MAC Impassioned and headed off to IMATS which was held in Sydney's Darling Harbour. I left the baby with the husband, and can I just say - the baby hardly takes daytime naps longer than 30mins, but on the day the husband is taking care of him he takes a 3 hour nap! What the?!

I listened to my own advice and went with my friend E who blogs over at The Four Of Us. I forgot to take a photo with her on the day but HERE you can see a pic of her wearing one of my favourite MAC lipsticks. She flew up from Melbourne especially for IMATS so I do hope she enjoyed it!

Colour cosmetics at the Ben Nye stand

To tell you the truth I was a little bit disappointed this year. Illamasqua and NYX, the two brands whose stands I was definitely planning on visiting had pulled out despite their names being on the list of vendors initially. I walked around aimlessly for a while as I couldn't decide what to buy. I guess I felt a bit like a kid in a lolly shop, it was all too much and I didn't know where to start!

The Inglot stand was crazy, just like last year. After attempting to queue there for about 15 mins I decided the savings weren't worth it and left the queue to look around the other stands.

I ended up buying a few things, but didn't spend anywhere near what I had budgeted for. Here are the things I bought.

Clockwise from top left

• Kuu Konjac sponges - I'd been sent some of these before to try out and loved it so much I ended up buying 3 more of them at IMATS.
• Neutral Palette 28 - there is no brand name, but it's similar to the Coastal Scents ones. I bought two of these for $50, one for me and one for my mum who is also a make up addict!\
• Girlee Cosmetics Velvet Primer - I love love love this primer, unfortunately I don't know where I can buy this when it runs out, as Girlee seem to be a wholesaler only. It also came with a free brush pictured to the left.
• Girlee Cosmetics Cream Compact Foundation in Medium/Light - Love it! Would love to repurchase IF I can somehow find a stockist.
• Girlee Cosmetics Mineral Powder in Medium
• Ben Nye blush in Vintage Rose
• Ben Nye eyeshadow in Deep Violet
• Ben Nye blush in Nectar Peach

After some shopping I headed upstairs to the Royal and Langnickel press room where I ran into my blogger friends, some of whom I hadn't seen since the ABBW last year.

1. With Tine from Beautyholics Anonymous
2. Angie from An Obsession With the Fabulous and Megan from Beauty In The Sky
3. Ling from The Best Beauty Blog
4. With Angie
5. Michaela's new mani
6. Michaela from Lather Rinse Repeat getting a mani, & Stacey from Add To Cart getting a massage!
7. With Megan
8. Some of the new R&L brushes on display at the press room

My friend and I finished the day by having lunch at a little cafe in Darling Harbour before she flew home to Melbourne and went home to find the husband watching the AFL grand final and the baby in the middle of a 3 hour nap.

Did you go to IMATS this year? What did you think? 

Recipe - Quick and easy coffee & almond cookies

I have a confession to make. I can't follow recipes. Not that I don't know how to follow recipes. It's just that I always end up substituting ingredients, adding bits, taking off bits. Sometimes it works great (like when I made my Olive & Rosemary bread), and sometimes not so great.

Anyway the point is yesterday I felt like some kind of a sweet treat, similar to almond amaretti cookies, and after looking at many recipes I chopped and changed and ended up with the following recipe. I'm happy to say they turned out great! I'll definitely be making these again, especially since they're relatively low in fat and carbs and took less than 30 minutes start to finish. 

Bite sized coffee & almond cookies... nom nom nom

Ingredients
1 cup almond flour (also known as almond meal)
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
4 teaspoons of butter at room temperature (about 25grams)
2  drops of coffee essence
Optional - coarse brown sugar 3tbs to sprinkle over the top

How to
- Combine all ingredients together in a bowl
- Mix with a spatula or a spoon until combined and you have a sticky dough
- Roll into 3cm balls (you may need to add some more flour if the dough is too sticky)
- Optional - sprinkle coarse brown sugar on top
- Bake for 15 mins at 200C (400F) - rotate sheet from front to back half way through baking
- Makes 20 bite sized cookies


How do the turn out?
Hard & crusty on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.

Nom nom nom.

Enjoy!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Vivid Shine Eyeshadow & Lipsticks

If you've been a follower of my blog for any length of time then you'll know that I love vivid, bold colours. The latest collection by Estée Lauder, Pure Color Vivid Shine, is perfect if like me you prefer your colours bold and full of impact.

As a makeup artist, I need vivid color. 
Vivid Shine is inspired by the models and women I work with in Fashion.
I created this collection so every woman could play with color that is vibrant and alive.

Tom Pecheux, Creative Makeup Director, Estée Lauder

I have three products* to show you today from the Pure Color Vivid Shine range which were recently sent to me for review.

Pure Color Gelee Powder EyeShadow in "Cyber Copper"
Possibly the most pigmented eyeshadow I've ever used. It's very finely milled and is a dream to blend. It can be worn dry or wet (for a more intense colour). In the look below I'm wearing it dry, simply blended all over the eyelid. Because of the slight shimmer, it's one of those shades that can be worn on its own without needing any other accent colours. Above all, this has no fallout, no creasing and no fading. It's available HERE in 6 Limited Edition Vivid Shine shades, and 10 Cyber Metallic Shades. RRP $42AUD.

Pure Color Vivid Shine Lipsticks in "Power Pink" & "Poppy Love"
According to Estee Lauder each of the lipstick shades contain "silver and gold sparkle pearls which neutralise lips, making them look beautiful on all skin tones for a faceted, sequined shine that sparkles". I don't know about neutralising lips, but I do know that the silver and gold sparkles go a long way in making lips look fuller. They are available HERE in 16 vivid shades. RRP $45AUD

Power Pink is a pale pink that's perfect for daytime. It's the type of colour you wear with floaty pastel dresses, or for a day out at the Spring Races.

Wearing Estee Lauder lipstick in Power Pink

Poppy Love is intense raspberry pink. It's bold, it's striking, and the type of colour to wear during a dinner date. If you look closely at the picture below you can see the tiny little silver and gold sparkles. Far from being glittery on the lips, it instead gives lips the shine of a gloss with the longevity of a long lasting lipstick.

Wearing Estee Lauder lipstick in Poppy Love

This collection is available now at selected Estée Lauder counters nationwide and online at www.esteelauder.com.au

 What are some of your favourite products from Estée Lauder?

*PR Samples