Sportsgirl Lipstick in Violet Crumble - definitely worth a try!

It's been years since I've actually bought clothes from Sportsgirl. The styles don't seem to appeal to me anymore (am I getting too old? too uncool?), and truth be told I do find them quite overpriced for what they are. However, something that isn't overpriced is their cosmetics line! Especially the lipsticks. Even though I don't buy clothes from there anymore, I do tend to drop in every now and again to check out their accessories and yes, maybe even see if there's anything there I'd like to wear. On one such occasion I happened to pass the lipstick counter and this shade just caught my eye. It's called Violet Crumble.

It's a matte violet purple which is very wearable as there's still quite a lot of warmth in it. It's the perfect transitional shade to take you from summer to autumn, and even winter. It's bright enough for summer, but subdued enough not to scream unnaturally on a dark gloomy autumn's day. It costs $9.95AUD and the choice of colours is just amazing. And I even spotted quite a few dupes of lipsticks from a certain brand starting with M ending in AC.

Wearing Sportsgirl lipstick in Violet Crumble

If you haven't tried any of the Sportsgirl lipsticks, go into the store, check them out, and guaranteed you'll fall in love with one of them.

Have you tried any cosmetics from Sportsgirl? Do you shop there?

Operation Healthy Hair: The Beginning

BACKGROUND
I normally have fairly dry hair, but lately it has become even drier, the split ends more noticeable and more prone to frizz. And if you read my Beauty Confessions post then you might remember that I don't treat my hair very kindly either. I wash it every day, heat style it every day, but worst of all I play with it all the time, twisting and twirling it till sometimes the ends break off. So really, I have no one to blame for the condition of my hair but me. And perhaps my mum, because I inherited my hair twisting habit from her. Nice one mum!

Look how dry my ends are! And so dull :(

A RAY OF HOPE
Anyway, I was doing my research on hair treatments when just by coincidence Tine posted about how coconut oil had saved her hair! Of course, coconut oil! I used to use it all the time! In fact I probably still had a half-full jar in the bathroom somewhere. I used to apply it on my hair a couple of hours before showering, sometimes even overnight, then wash it off in the shower. But I stopped using it when my son was born because the first 3 months of having a baby it was like, shower? what shower? you take it when you can. And I promptly forgot about my coconut oil treatments. That is until Tine posted about hers! Helloooo coconut oil!

A NEW BEGINNING
Last week I went and got a trim to get rid of the scraggly ends of my hair, and now I will make a conscious effort to not only use a coconut oil treatment frequently but also stop playing with my hair constantly. Or at least reduce it considerably. The hairdresser also recommended the L'Oreal Mythic Oil Shampoo, Conditioner & Leave-in oil to help soften my dry hair so I'll also be using this. The coconut oil I have is by Spiral Organics which from memory I picked  up from the health food isle of my supermarket for less than $10 but that was a couple of years ago so I don't know if the brand is still available. Also, I'm not going to recommend this brand over any others because I don't think it matters, as long as you get pure coconut oil (preferably extra virgin) then you're good to go. By the way, did you know coconut oil is solid in room temperature but turns to liquid when temperatures go above 24C? You can see it in the pic below how it's starting to melt in the palm of my hand.

OPERATION HEALTHY HAIR
My plan is to wash my hair only every second day (I may need to get a good quality dry shampoo), use coconut oil as a deep treatment once a week, and NOT play with my hair so much! I'll check back in again after a month to let you know how Operation Healthy Hair is going. Now that it's on the blog I have to stick with it, right?

Have you ever used coconut oil for your hair? Have you had success with it?

International Beauty: Puerto Rico

Welcome to another instalment of International Beauty, where I ask a blogger from a different country to name 3 cult products unique to their land. Today we have the stunning Coco from The Beauty Milk here to tell us about some must have items from Puerto Rico.

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Seeing as Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory, we mostly stock beauty items that you would also be able to find in drugstores at the States. However, we do have two local brands exclusive to P.R. One of them is a mid-end brand similar to MAC called BTCH Cosmetics which is sold at their free-standing store. BTCH stands for Beautiful Trends Cosmetics House. You can browse their skincare and makeup items on their website. 

The other brand, which is the one I will be showcasing today, is Bettina. Bettina started as a nail polish brand sold at local drugstores but recently expanded their line to include makeup. Their products are very affordable and most of them retail for under $10. I love their mascaras, but if you happen to be in Puerto Rico I highly suggest take a look at their blushes and brushes. Retailing for around $4, Bettina blushes are pigmented and easy to blend. 

They come in 11 shades, some matte and some satin. The colors shown are Petal, a soft pink-y peach, and Azaela, a light berry. You can browse all of Bettina's offerings on their website. 

Bettina blushes in Petal and Azalea  

Swatches in same order as above

Thank you Coco, those blushes look amazing! And such bargain prices too.

You can read more from Coco on her blog The Beauty Milk where she shares her product reviews and amazing FOTDs, and also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Femme Boulevard - Monochrome FOTD

For this month the Femme Boulevard girls decided on Monochrome as our theme for a makeup look. Monochrome literally means One (mono) Colour (chrome), which means for this look we had to pick a single shade and use it on eyes, lips and cheeks. For my one colour look I decided on coral. I was tempted to use cranberry, but we'd been having beautiful sunny days here in Sydney and coral was the shade that beckoned.  Maybe I'll do a cranberry look at some other time. But for now, here's my monochrome look in coral.

White nails

There's something about having crisp white nails. It looks so fresh, so clean, and the right shade can make your hands look super tanned. Snow Me White by Sinful Colors is such a shade. I picked it up the other day from Target for $4.95 and it's love. Fully opaque in 2 coats, no streaking, fast drying, yes please! I've only had this on for 2 days so I can't comment on longevity, but all my other Sinful Colors polishes last around 4 - 5 days without chipping. And I have topped off my mani with Sally Hansen Diamond Strength top coat so hopefully this will give me a long wear.

Do you like white on your nails? Any favourite brands and colours?

FOTD with Green Smokey Eyes and Nude Glossy lips

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last blogged! We actually went away for a little family holiday up to the Gold Coast and even though I had this FOTD all ready for posting, I forgot to press publish. Oops. The holiday itself was fantastic though, our toddler son was so well behaved and he had a great time too, in fact it actually felt very relaxing which is unlike all previous holidays with our energetic boy. I will write about our break later, including an easy holiday FOTD that I did while there. 

Well, onto the post now. 

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Lately I've been obsessed with green smokey eyes. I blame all those wonderfully talented MUAs I follow on Instagram who post the most amazing makeup looks, and green seems to be a theme that's showed up a lot lately. Anyway, here's a green smokey eye that I did which hopefully you won't find too OTT. The green isn't bright, it's quite muted and in some lights it shows up greyish. Generally whenever I'm wearing colour on my eyes I like to keep my cheeks and lips fairly neutral, so I paired the look with a pale apricot blush and a nude glossy lip.

THEN & NOW: Benefit Hoola

I thought it would be fun to look back at products I have reviewed on the blog in the past and see if I still feel the same way about them, whether good or bad. People's opinions change, circumstances change, so what we like now we may not like in 2 months time, or vice versa. For example when I first used and reviewed the MUFE HD Foundation I really disliked it, but then after trying it again a few months later I loved it. So with that in mind let's take a look back at a bronzing powder that I raved about 3 years ago, Benefit Hoola.

I can't believe 3 years have passed since I first reviewed this bronzing powder in February 2011. I loved it then, and I love it now, which I'm sure you can guess looking at the almost finished pan. I use this almost daily to contour my face with, it's the perfect shade to give you cheekbones where there are none. It's finely milled, smooth and easy to blend. In Australia this retails for over $50AUD, but considering it has lasted me 3 years of constant use, I'd say it's good value. And notice how the top corner of the box in the Now picture looks like it's been nibbled on? Well, that's because it has! My toddler son had managed to get into my makeup draw and clearly found the box irresistible.

Final Verdict: Still love it! 

I really enjoyed looking back at this product and sort of re-reviewing it, I'm thinking I might even make this into a series, so hopefully you enjoyed this post.

International Beauty: England

Welcome to the 3rd instalment of International Beauty, where I ask a beauty blogger from various countries to pick 3 must have products that is either made or only available in their country. This time around we are heading over to England where we have Gaelle from Lipstick Ego Sum giving us her picks.

One of the things I love about living in England is how much high street/ drugstore make up is available. I love that you can get some really good quality products at affordable prices.  You have no idea how difficult it was to limit myself to three items.The three picks I wanted to share are items that I reach for on a very regular basis despite owning a lot (too much) higher end make up.

1. 17 Miracle Matte Foundation:  Promises a ‘Matte Satin Flawless Finish’ and that’s exactly what it does. It manages to control shine while not looking flat or cakey and offering medium coverage. All that for £5.99! You can’t really go wrong with this one.

2. Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer: This one is a bit of a cult product over here. And rightly so. It does everything you want a concealer to do and never ever creases or separates... It’s thick but doesn’t look heavy and can be used for blemishes and under the eyes. Again this is a bargain at £4.

3. MUA Professional palettes: Ever looked at Urban Decay palettes and then looked away because of the price? This is where MUA have been really clever. They recreate similar palettes to the Urban Decay ones at a fraction of the price. The Smokin’ palette is an almost perfect dupe for the Smoked palette and the Undressed one is a dupe for the famous Naked palette. I’m not going to lie to you and pretend that they are as pigmented as the UD ones but they are really really good still and only £6 and £4.

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Thanks for your picks Gaelle! I've got my eyes on those MUA palettes so if I visit England you bet I'll be stocking up on those!

If you'd like to know from Gaelle, she writes beauty posts over at Lipstick Ergo Sum. She is a teacher specialising in Special Needs and enjoys blogging as a hobby as a way to let off steam. You can also find her on her TWITTER and INSTAGRAM.

The Inner Corner Highlight OR How To Get Eyes Like a Victoria's Secret Angel

I love the eye makeup of the Victoria's Secret Angels - it's glamorous, sexy yet wearable. And not that the Angels need any help in this department, it makes them look bright eyed and awake. What's their trick? Have a look at the photos below of three of my favourite angels. Yep, they all have highlighted inner corner of eyes. Doesn't it make their eyes just pop? And that little trick works on us mere mortals too, you don't have to be an Angel to be bright eyed and bushy tailed!

L/R - Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Doutzen Kroues.

My morning makeup routine & Luca makes an appearance

I thought I'd give you a glimpse into my morning makeup routine, the steps I take to get ready for the day. Yes, I am one of those people that don't feel ready to face the day until my makeup is done. While the steps each day are the same, the length of time it takes varies everyday as a lot of it depends on whether my husband is around to look after our 18 month old boy while I get ready, or if I need to entertain our toddler in between brush strokes. On this particular day that I took photos for this tutorial, the son and the husband were playing in the backyard so I had a lot of time to get ready AND take pics! Oh and yes, that IS a towel on my head. I had just washed my hair but not dried it yet.