The Beginnings of Christmas - My First Festive Haul of 2012!

I know some of you will think this is probably about a month premature, but boy oh boy am I excited for Christmas already! 

You can really identify a grinch by their frequent exclamations of horror and annoyance such as "Whaaaaat?! Christmas decorations are up already... but it's only August/September/October!?"

Well I'm here to tell you, WHO CARES IF IT'S ONLY AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER IT'S CHRISTMAS DAMN IT! WHO ARE YOU... THE FUN POLICE!?

Whewww. Glad I got that out of my system.

So anyway, I am excited and already feeling so festive as you can probably tell. Over the course of this week, during many a lunch break from work, I checked out all of the new Christmas product ranges just released this week from many of my favourite brands. And I bought a fair bit for myself too...

So I wanted to show you some of the goodies I bought, and hopefully they will give you some gift buying ideas for your family/friends, or even just for yourself (like these were for me!).


First up we have the most incredible smelling Christmas candle I've ever encountered. It's by the iconic candle brand Glasshouse, who have just released three Christmas candles for the festive season.

I purchased one candle, which was my favourite of the three. It's called Christmas Party, and the scent is described as a "celebratory blend of ground nutmeg, orange and shaved ginger to capture the party spirit". To me it smells like a fresh, sweet, light mix of tangy orange, which is beautifully balanced by the smell of Christmas spices and cooking. It's simply amazing, and not too heavy or laden with deep spices or headache inducing. It lifts the spirits and is a pleasure to smell.

Also how cute is the jar, which you can continue to use long after the last wax has burned out.

They don't come cheap, at a whopping $40 (sadly they don't come in the cheaper smaller size that retails for around $16). But the smell of Christmas and the memories and emotion that evokes... I feel that's pretty priceless :P Also they last for absolutely ages. My last one served me at least a good year of sporadic burning (lasts over 80 hours). And the scent is so strong then even when it isn't burning the whole room smells like the candle, so it's almost unnecessary to burn it lots. I just love the scent so much I'd be happy to use it any time of the year. I purchased this candle from David Jones.



Next up I checked out the Christmas offerings from the gorgeous brand Philosophy. Their new gift packs were so adorable! The one I ended up purchased was called 'The Bake Shoppe'.  The products come in the cutest box, and inside are two of the yummiest sounding body products I've ever seen!

The first body product is a shampoo/shower gel/bubble bath called Christmas Cookie. It actually is like going to a Mrs Fields store, biting into a freshly made vanillary cookie and smelling the delicious smell wafting out of the crumbley goodness. It froths up so well as a shower gel, and it is the most luxurious experience to lather yourself with the foamy cookie bubbles. In the bath it's like being in a hot oven of baking Christmas cookies, with lots of bubbles and froth. I haven't used it as a shampoo yet (have any of you used these type of products as shampoos? Thoughts?).

The second body product is a body lotion called 'Sweet Creamy Frosting'. It smells exactly like vanilla or caramel frosting on a cupcake, and the delicious smell lingers on your body for hours after application. I especially love this lotion because Philopsophy don't seem to offer complementary lotion options of their shower gel type scents. So I had to snap this up while it was available.

This gift pack cost $30, which is the same price as a full bottle of their regular sized shower gels (each of the bottles in this pack is half the size of the big ones). Philosophy is sold in Melbourne only at David Jones on Bourke Street. I think this would make a great gift/Kris Kringle for Christmas, or just a must grab item for yourself :P 
They've also brought out a Candy Cane full size shower gel which would also make a great gift! I just would prefer to bathe in cakes in preference to mint.

Although not technically created for Christmas, I'm also in love with another of Philosophy's products I picked up this week - their Cinnamon Buns shower gel! This is my favourite product by them. It smells exactly like a vanilla chai latte. The lather and foam it creates is like bathing in a mug of chai. I can't adequately convey to you how genius and luxurious and wonderful this product is, only that you must get it. Now.

It's $30 and would make an excellent present for anyone who is as much of a sweet tooth and a stickler for indulgent sweet bath and body products as I am. I just love how each of their products has a recipe on the front of them too!



Next we have a festive foodie item. My sister brought home with her a surprise for us the other day... one of my favourite Christmas snacks! 

They are German Glazed Lebkuchen which you can buy here from Aldi shops. Basically they are soft gingerbread covered with a sugar glaze with a chocolate base and they come in different colours and shapes. They are delicious and very festive and cheap! Get your hands on some if you get the chance.


To finish off on a Christmassy high, check out these festive nails of my sisters:

They remind me of Christmas holly or mistletoe! 

This is how she created them:

-Painted a white base with OPI's Alpine Snow
-Blobbed Essie's Fiesta on the nails for the berries/flowers
-Added dimension to the blobs using Essie's Bahama Mama on a toothpick
-Used Essie's Mint Candy Apple for the leaves
-Added dimension to the leaves using OPI's Fly (Nicki Minaj collection)


So that's it guys! Hope this post got you thinking about some good Christmas ideas and started to get you pumped about the festive season. I had fun typing it and thinking about Christmas!

Which brands Christmas ranges are you most excited about? I'm looking forward to checking out Lush and The Body Shop next. Do you get excited about Christmas as early as me, or do you think I'm crazy? :P

P.S. There are only 58 days until Christmas!!

Haul of the Week

This week I did quite a bit of lunchtime and after work shopping. I went to Chapel St twice this week! For those who don’t know, Chapel St is located a quick 5 minute train ride out of the city and it is the most incredible street packed full of the coolest shops, bars, restaurants, boutiques and everything else under the sun considered trendy. For instance it’s where the first Australian Topshop decided to set up shop, choosing this location in preference to the renowned fashion capital of Melbourne city centre.

So what did I buy this week?

A Haircut

I went to Chapel St to get my hair cut from my new hairdresser who I’ve only been to once before. He considers himself to be a hair stylist rather than a hair cutter, and the way he works on your hair more resembles an artist than man with scissors. He is all about texture and shaping your hair so it’s so full of movement and body.

My hair is naturally very thick, straight and long with grown out long layers. After cutting the basic shape whilst dry, he then washed my hair with incredible products, threw in a scalp massage, and then cut my hair wet and followed that with a blow-dry. My hair was left more layered, with softer ones around my face that frame my features really well. My hair feels so much lighter, sits naturally so much better, and just looks a lot healthier and shinier. I’m really happy with my haircut!

Orofluido Shampoo and Conditioner

When I was there my hairdresser recommended some shampoo and conditioner to me. It contains three natural oils - Argan, Cyperus and Linseed, and is said to leave hair silky, loose and shiny.

I bought it and after one use I’m unsure whether I love it. The packaging is gorgeous and it smells absolutely divine. I was told I only need a small coin sized amount of both, so tried that. But I found that the shampoo formula did not froth or lather up, and due to this, such a small amount just shampooed one small section of my hair. And my hair is so long. I ended up having to use a lot more than that and even when I had a lot it never seemed to froth up! For some reason I felt it didn’t clean as well due to the lack of foaming. 

My hairdresser did say it was a very natural product free from chemicals, and chemicals aid the frothing in the formulation so perhaps this is why. The conditioner felt very moisturizing and conditioning which was a plus. Afterwards, my hair smelt beautiful, shined like no other shampoo has made it before, had minimal frizz and was very sleek, and felt so much lighter and healthier. So I guess it really did work and did what it claimed on the packaging. I think the shampoo just really let down the products, and the actual shampooing experience was less enjoyable than usual with no foaminess! 

I most likely wouldn’t repurchase as at $25 each I feel you can get better products for your money. I’ll let you know in an update on here if I continue to use it and my experience with it improves.

So so shiny!

Topshop Shop

Nail polish - Flamingo Coral 

I love this colour, I’ve been searching for a medium toned peach pink warm pastel for ages, and this one just looked perfect in the bottle. It looks even better on my nails, and somehow makes my pale skin look more tanned which is always a plus! Brilliant Summer/Spring colour, and loving it on my nails right now. It cost about $10 and the colour is Flamingo Coral. Love it, lasts ages with my Seche Vite topcoat, and applies beautifully. Highly recommend.

*Looks slightly more corally peach than here

Earrings trio

I really wanted a few more small earrings that don’t dangle on my ear lobes, and I fell in love with the bigger dusty pink ones in this trio. And for only $12, it was a great buy to get three pairs of earrings. Really happy with them, they're cheap, look great on, go with everything. Very satisfied with this purchase. In general though I really don't like Topshop jewellery, so it was good to finally find something in the range.

MAC All That Glitters Eyeshadow

One of my four pan palettes had one spot free and I’ve been dying to buy a refill pan for it for ages to complete the foursome! After a long peruse in the MAC Pro shop on Chapel St, I managed to narrow it down to this colour. I really wanted a champagne neutral colour that stood out a bit more than a more subtle colour like Naked Lunch. And I loved the swatch of this on the back of my hand. This refill pan cost $26.

I’m quite happy with it, but think it has a slight orange tinge against my pale skin which I don’t entirely appreciate. Perhaps this will look better on me in the upcoming summer with more of a tan. I also think this suits my blue eyed and/or blonde haired friends better than me. I’ll have to keep playing with it and see how it goes, but I’m slightly disappointed. Any suggestions on what you wear this colour with or how you wear it would be appreciated... I really want to love it! 

Tony Bianco Flats

I fell in love with these taupe leather black bowed flats in the store, and even more when I tried them on. They have an incredible cushioned sole which makes them the most comfortable flat I’ve ever worn. I just had to buy them, plus they match my much worn favourite Mimco Taupe bag. I tend to wear pretty flats to work then change into high heels for the day, because my commute does not mix well with heels. So these will be great to wear with my office clothes every day (my office dress is quite semi-formal, and more stylish than full suits etc). These flats cost me $75.

So that's about it! Let me know if you have any comments about any of these purchases, or any recommendations about the All That Glitters eyeshadow - I really want to love it! 

Hope you guys all have a great weekend, and depending on where you are in the world - happy start of Spring/Autumn/Fall! :)

MAC Lunchtime Haul

The other day on one of my work lunch breaks I stopped by the MAC counter and purchased Sable eye shadow and the Teddy eyeliner pencil and sharpener. 

If you recall my August Favourite Beauty Products post I wrote recently, I stated that I hadn’t found my holy grail eyeliner.

WELL... now I can say I think I just may have stumbled across it. Teddy is incredible!

Teddy is a rich and fairly dark gorgeous brown with subtle gold flecks. It is an eye kohl and one of MAC’s softer pencils. It is so smooth and creamy to apply and smudges brilliantly when you need it to, but once it’s on it doesn’t budge all day on my eye lids. It also suits my eye colour really well, bringing out the gold flecks in my eyes. It’s great to apply along my lash lines and smudge into my top lashes, as it makes my lashes look much thicker. The brown is much more flattering on my eyes than black, and Teddy is a great office appropriate choice.

Teddy

Considering I already have some quite similar MAC brown eye shadows, such as Mulch and Satin Taupe, I probably didn’t really ‘need’ Sable. But that’s no fun is it! Sable is a warmer version of Satin Taupe, and it’s more of a reddish coppery medium tone brown. It's a Frost, so it has a pretty pearlescent shine to it rather than shimmer. 

I really like it, particularly as a crease colour with Naked Lunch across my eyelid. It sort of achieves that brown/mauve/pinkish look that I mentioned I was seeking in my Maybelline Haul post a couple of weeks ago. 

Sable

Because everyone seems to want to know how it compares to it’s quite similar Satin Taupe cousin, here are the two of them swatched together:

Top: Satin Taupe; Middle: Sable; Bottom: Teddy

L-R Satin Taupe and Sable

Which do you prefer? Like I said in my Colours Post, I’m a cool toned person, so I think Satin Taupe suits me better as a more prominent colour (i.e. all over my lid), but I much prefer Sable in my crease as it’s so incredibly pretty.

Both Teddy and Sable were $32, and they are available from any MAC counter or store.

Do you own either of these products? If so what are your thoughts on them? 

Maybelline Lunchtime Haul

One of the best things about working in the city is the array of shopping options. I find it really crucial for my sanity to get out and about on my lunch hour, get some Vitamin D, exercise and some retail therapy. In the Winter, it’s literally the only time of the day that you’ll get to see sunlight..how sad is that?

So today at lunch I went to Priceline and did some makeup shopping. This was a Maybelline haul, which is one of my favourite drugstore brands along with Revlon. I tend to buy mainly from higher end cosmetic brands, but occasionally purchase drugstore brands. Priceline was having a 3 for the price of 2 Maybelline deal... hence my overload on their products.

 

 

The Haul:

• Maybelline The Falsies Volume Express Flared Mascara (Blackest Black) - usually $20, but it was $10 due to discount
  
  I received a 50% off voucher in the mail for this mascara so thought I would give it a try. It’s attractively packaged, and I like the cute plumpness of the bottle which makes me feel more confident that it will achieve the volume it claims. I like the shade of purple used, the silver wings on the lid, and how sturdy and long lasting it feels.
  
  The brush itself is nicely shaped and plump. I don’t love curved brushes usually, but this one has one normal plush bristled side, and one slightly curved flatter side. I also like how the brush  stem is flexible and moves, so it assists you in wiggling the product through your lashes. The formulation isn’t too clumpy, and it has a slight perfumed smell to it. I’m really happy and surprised with the volume it gives me, and how it makes my lashes fan out thickly.
  
  I don’t love how it feels slightly heavier than some other mascaras I’ve used on my lashes, and is a bit dry to touch. It sort of makes my eyes feel groggy when I’m already tired. I’ve never found my Holy Grail mascara yet, and although this is surprisingly good and better than a lot of more expensive mascaras, I don’t think this is The One. But it will definitely do for now, and for $10 I definitely got my money’s worth.
  
  Verdict: Cheap, great volume, lashes stay curled up all day, cute packaging.

= A-

• Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation (Light 2, Classic Ivory) - $24.95
  This was a repurchase, because I actually really love this product and use it every day. It’s really easy and quick to buff into your face with the brush that comes with it, and it leaves you with a really evened out, natural, matte looking finish. In under 30 seconds, this foundation gets rid of redness, oily shine and evens out my skin tone. It feels like you are wearing nothing, and it’s especially good for summer because it has SPF in it and it’s great for covering up the hot and sweaty face look that occurs in sweltering conditions.

I’m a fan of the more matte look, I think being too dewy looks like you are sweaty and shiny. My boyfriend’s always like “Did you run here or something?” whenever I’m wearing dewy foundation! Guys don’t get it!

The one thing I’d say about this foundation is to ensure your skin feels well moisturised before applying, because it has a tendency to stick to dry skin and look flakey. I have really dry skin, but I never have any problems with it though because I moisturise regularly.

Verdict: Top buy, lasts for ages, easy for even the laziest of makeup wearers to apply, looks brilliant and is great value.

= A+

• Maybelline Unstoppable Eyeliner (Espresso) - $17.95

Needed a brown eyeliner. Tried in store tester, felt like a good, smooth, fuss free eyeliner. It is a wind up, waterproof stick. As soon as I opened it, the top broke off, and the stick fell out because it was also broken in the middle. Needless to say I was very disappointed. I used the broken stick to try on my eyes to see what it looked like anyway, and it was clunky and messy to apply. It was then enormously hard to remove because it was waterproof, and some of it didn’t budge until the next day even.

Verdict: Returned to store. Horrible product, shouldn’t be sold. Common problem among users according to reviews on Makeupalley.com. Do not buy!

= F

• Maybelline Eye Shadow Quad Palette in Designer Chocolates (this is what I swapped the eyeliner for) - $14.95

I needed something to exchange my broken eyeliner with, and I wasn’t overly enamoured with any of the other Maybelline products. I’ve been looking for a pinky mauve eye shadow for a while and haven’t been able to find anything that I loved or that was flattering to my brown eyes.
This quad had this kind of pinky colour I was after in it as the ‘crease’ colour, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I don’t really like any of the other three colours; the Base is too pale and I have higher quality similar colours, the Lid colour is too chalky and non descript, and the Liner colour is very badly pigmented and hard to apply. I am happy with the mauve colour though, and it looked nice on my eyelid, avoiding that sickly pink eye look you can get with some pink eye shadows. It looks pinky/brown on my eyelid, and I’m pretty happy with it!

Verdict: One good colour out of four, the crease pan is far smaller than the liner and base pans which is frustrating as I only like the crease colour, wouldn’t have bought the palette for this price for just one shade (had to exchange liner for something)

= C

So what is your favourite drug store brand? Have you tried any of these products, and if so what do you think of them? What's your recommendation for the best mascara you've ever used?