Haul: What I got for Christmas!

Hi lovely people! I'm finally getting back into my jam after these holidays. It's been pretty exciting with so many sales and seasonal products around. I'm totally stuffed with shopping, so I thought I'd share with you all the things I got for Christmas and around Christmas.

(Christmas Presents -  red-eyed dog not included)

Etude House Facial Masks in Green Tea and Lemon.

I haven't tried these yet, but I'm kinda spiffed I have a bit of Etude House in my collection.

Hioki Platforms by ROC Footwear.

I am totally in love with these shoes. A really cute twist on school sandles. They add so much height, they're comfortable and they look good with so many clothes. I couldn't skip out on them when I saw them on sale.

Pore Care Pack from Daiso

Girl, we all need some pore strips in our lives to deal with those nasty blackheads.

L.A. Girl Pro Conceal in Creamy Beige

I hunted down every Makeup Clearance store in Auckland until I finally found this baby in Dress-Smart. So far I'm really, really impressed with this pigmented, full-coverage concealer. Full review coming soon.

MIKI Glitter Liner in Gold

I bought this especially for festive makeup - what's more festive than a little gold glitter on the eyes?

E.L.F. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer

So far, I've been really liking this primer. Really brings out the colours of my eyeshadows and the texture is silky smooth. Review coming! 

QVS Flat Top Powder Brush

I bought this brush to replace my Thin Lizzy kabuki brush that sheds like crazy. It's very dense, very firm and works well with a lot of my foundations. Review coming soon!

MUA Undressed Palette

Ever since I saw Shaanxo's Cara Delevingne tutorial I've been dying-itching-wanting to get Urban Decay's Smog. I found this dupe on Trademe and I really like it. Nice, soft and pigmented eyeshadows. Review coming!

Morgana Cryptoria Lipsticks in Belladonna, Love Lies Bleeding, Azalea Blue and Absinthe

I found this amazing indie brand through Phyrra and ordered these on Black Friday. These are harder and drier than most lipsticks, but this formulation means the colour stays on your lips like glue. And the colours are beautiful and unique. Review coming soon.

Baby Pink BB Cream in Shade No. 2

It's Summer here in NZ and I needed a lightweight and protective base. BB cream was the best answer. I got this from Ippondo in town. It gives light coverage, but still evens out the skin tone. I love how it's SPF 30. Review coming soon.

I've had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I hope all of you have had the same! Wishing you all a great year. Cheers to 2014!

Review: Designer Brands Mineral Concealer

Hey everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and got to chill out and spend time with friends and family.
Tired from partying all night? Splurging on food caused you to break out? We all need a little concealer in our lives to erase those pesky problems. I've bought this Designer Brands concealer a while back because of how inexpensive it was and I wanted to try it out. Does the price point equal to a cheap quality product?

Quick Pros:
♥ Inexpensive ($11!)
♥ Covers up redness and small blemishes
♥ Not cakey
♥ Semi-buildable coverage
♥ Does not break me out
♥ Not greasy
♥ Doe-foot applicator allows you to control how much product you want to use

Quick Cons:
♥ Only available in two light shades
♥ Both shades have a neutral undertone
♥ Doesn't totally conceal dark scarring
♥ Not long lasting

(Concealer in Natural Lighting)

(Concealer in Flash)

I was quite taken aback by the quality of this concealer. It has a thick-ish consistency (but still a liquid) that feels lightweight, but is able to cover up a lot of problems on the face. It's not greasy or dry, and you can build up the coverage you want. One layer is enough to cover small areas of redness and minor pimples and two will hide some darkness around the eyes and larger pimples.

I've tested both shades at the pharmacy and both of them seem to have a neutral undertone. I bought the darker shade since Natural seemed to be too light for my skin tone. It doesn't match my natural skin tone exactly, but over my foundation or BB cream, this concealer will disappear onto my skin,

I like to use this to concealer all over the face since I haven't experienced and creasing with it and it's not heavy or cakey. It layers up quite well if you need the coverage.

An important thing to note about this concealer is this strange oxidising thing it does. If you apply the concealer heavily on the skin and let it sit there, it will start to turn orange. However, if you blend it out the oxidisation does not happen. I'm not too sure why/how this happens.

The lasting power for this concealer is about 3-4 hours, not enough to last a whole day. However, it does not separate or start to cake around the oils on my face. It fades quite evenly, which is a relief.

For $11, I wasn't expecting something amazing but I would definitely compare this concealer to NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. They are both liquids concealers with good coverage, however NARS has a more glowy finish while DB's concealer dries to a matte finish.

I would recommend DB's Mineral Concealer to those who are looking for an inexpensive concealer and don't have a lot to cover. If the concealer matches your skin tone, you're in luck!

Designer Brands is available in most pharmacies throughout New Zealand e.g. Life Pharmacy and Unichem.





Have you tried this product out? What did you think? Leave a comment below! 

FOTD: 90's Revival

I decided to try out a 90's grunge inspired look - brownish red lips, full brows and a grey-brown smokey eye. Totally matte face and no blush needed.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Chocolate Velvet. I purchased this prior to finding out that Revlon was shipping to China. It's a really great colour, however I won't be repurchasing.

Armageddon 2013 + Get Ready With Me

Hey guys! This year I decided to cosplay as Tsubaki Kasugano from Mirai Nikki for Armageddon. I filmed a short Get Ready With Me video. There are parts missing from when my camera ran out of battery >_> I hope you guys don't mind! If anyone went to Armageddon Auckland this year, please tell me how your experience was!

3 Beauty Tricks with Cocoa Powder

When we say cocoa powder, we usually think of chocolate cake and triple chocolate fudge cookies. Of course, cocoa powder makes for a really simple and affordable beauty product for many different uses, including as a mask!

I'm going to show you three really simple ways to use cocoa powder in your beauty/makeup routine. Don't forget to treat yourself to a bit of chocolate after.


1. Contour

Cocoa powder is the perfect brown colour for most skin tones to use as a contour. It's not too orange and just dark enough to create a shadow in areas you want to recede in your face. Cocoa powder is also very pigmented, so use a densely packed brush and a light hand. Add this to below your cheeks, on your temples, your jawline or even the sides of your nose for a bit of a bronzed touch and a chiseled face.

(Before)

(After. My camera doesn't do justice to how pigmented this stuff really is.)

2. Brow Powder

Since cocoa powder could irritate the lids of our sensitive skinned sisters, a safer way to use it on our eyes is on our brows. The chocolate colour is perfect for those of us who have darker hair. Tip: Use an eye primer on your brows before adding powder for stronger pigmentation and lasting power.

3. Dry Shampoo

Greasy locks? Normal dry shampoo giving your gorgeous dark hair a grey cast? Why not use cocoa powder? It smells great, soaks up the oils on the roots of your hair and doesn't live a white residue. You can use this with either a face brush to dab on the roots of your hair or rub a small amount into your scalp. For a full tutorial on how to make your own DIY Dry Shampoo (featuring cocoa powder), click here!

So there you go! Three easy ways to incorporate cocoa powder into your beauty routine. It's cheap and it's pretty effective. I've noticed that the cocoa powder as bronzer lasts on my combination skin for a good couple of hours (4 or 5). Because it's so pigmented, you won't really notice the fade until later on. Brow powders seem to always fade on me (I need a brow pencil!) but for those who have normal/dry skin, it will probably hold up pretty well.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day! I'll see you in my next post.

Have you tried cocoa powder in your beauty routine? Let me know below!

Review: Geo Bella Violet and Eyecandy's

Hey guys! I've got another review for you - this time it's on a pair of circle lenses I purchased off Eyecandy's.

Quick Pros:
♥ Comfortable
♥ Gives dolly-eyed effect, despite being 14mm
♥ Quick shipping

Quick Cons:
♥ Colour is only brightest in direct light

I'll be going to Armageddon at the end of the month and I'll be cosplaying, thus I bought a pair of violet lenses for my cosplay. I also needed another pair of circle lenses because my other black ones aren't that great - big, uncomfortable and have transparent speckles in them (I think they were meant to mimic 'eye sparkles' but it didn't show up that way).

Let's talk about Eyecandy's first. I really liked their service and their wide range of circle lenses. The ordering and billing was quick and easy, plus they had options for credit card payment rather than just Paypal. The shipping was quite quick in my opinion. They came in less than a month. My lenses came with a free lens case and plastic tweezers(yay!), which is part of an offer they're doing right now. This means I don't have to purchase another lens case seperately.

The lenses are awesome. They are soft and comfortable to wear because they have a small diameter (14mm). I really enjoy wearing these lenses for days when I'm going out too, because they're so light. They can go for quite a long time before they start to dry out, but that's usually when I'm supposed to take them out (about 6-8 hours).

The colour is the most vibrant when light is coming from a direct source (e.g. a bright sunny day or from a desk lamp). In darker lit places the lenses just come off as almost black. My eyes are naturally dark, so they do come off darker than in the pictures Eyecandy's provides. They have a black rim around them which gives your eyes a doll-like or anime-like look.

Overall, I really liked Eyecandy's customer service and I am enjoying my contact lenses very much. I will definitely purchase from them again.

If you're looking for a pair of bold violet circle lenses, these are for you!

Have you shopped from Eyecandy's? Or other circle lenses from the Geo Bella Violet range? Please let me know!

Review: EcoTools 6 Piece Essential Eye Set

Looking for some great eye brushes on a budget? Look no further!

Quick Pros:
♥ Budget friendly ^_^
♥ Do not shed
♥ Dense
♥ Soft
♥ Cruelty free
♥ Made with sustainable materials

Quick Cons:
♥ Perhaps they won't last as long as MAC or Sigma brushes? Hm....
♥ Otherwise, none!

I am super impressed with these eyeshadow brushes from EcoTools. After a tedious search for cruelty-free, non animal-hair brushes, I found these. And I'm so glad I found them.
EcoTools's eyeshadow brushes are top quality - made with full, dense bristles for packing on colour, while still being soft enough to blend things out.

The Essential Eye Set comes with 5 brushes and a cloth baggy to keep your brushes in.

Large Eye Brush: A densely packed brush, great for packing your eyeshadow onto your lids. It is quite large, so those who have smaller lids might need to use a smaller brush.

Angled Crease Brush: Another thick and large brush. This one does what it says - it really works to get colour onto your outer-V and crease.

Highlighting Brush: A soft, fluffy brush great for blending out eyeshadows

Petite Eye Shading Brush: A great brush for smaller eyelids, or, adding a highlight to your inner corners.

Smudge Brush: The size is perfect for smudging eyeshadows under the eye.


I honestly have nothing bad to say about these brushes. They don't shed any hairs and they're made with sustainable resources. I love them!




Have you tried this product out? What did you think? Leave a comment below! 

Review: Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips in Nude Eyes

Hey there! I'm back with a review on a lovely little gem I discovered while searching for an Urban Decay Naked Palette dupe.

Quick Pros:
♥ Cheap for a palette of 9 colours (approx. $11 NZD)
♥ Cute packaging!
♥ Gorgeous neutral shades
♥ Shimmery without chunks of glitter in the formula
♥ Blends well
♥ Paraben free
♥ Cruelty free

Quick Cons:
♥ Lighter shadows aren't very pigmented
♥ Not the same buttery, silky texture as TheBalm eyeshadows
♥ All shimmer - no matte shades

(Product swatched over white eyeliner. Hopefully you can see!)

The Urban Decay Naked Palette and it's sister Naked Palette 2 are some of the most sought after eyeshadow palettes in the beauty world. With their strong pigmentation and buttery texture, beauty addicts love this product.

However, I'm just a student with a budge to uphold. I can't really afford to splurge on things, especially when the Naked Palettes are sold at over $100 in New Zealand (cries).I've sought out for some good dupes for the Naked Palette itself, and I found this Physician's Formula palette.

What I love about this palette is the range of shades they offer. For nine shades, you get a selection of cool and warm shades, all which are really nice to blend and don't flake and have much fall out. The finish of these eyeshadows is really great - they aren't some tacky glittery eyeshadow nightmare that we've all seen. These give off a soft shimmery finish - if anything, metallic, without being over the top. I've found myself able to create a wide variety of looks with just this palette (anyone looking for a tutorial?).

This is a great neutral palette for anyone who wishes for some shimmery eyeshadows - seeing as there are no matte shades in this palette.

To top it off, it's paraben-free! Great for those out there who are wary of what goes into their cosmetics.




Have you tried this product out? What did you think? Leave a comment below!