Olive Skincare* + Giveaway!

Recently I've been trying to avoid purchasing a lot of the skincare brands in stores as most of them do contain harsh chemicals that shouldn't be used on the skin.

Lucky for me I was contacted by the company Olive, to try out a couple of their skincare products.

Whats great is that their products are free from parabens, mineral oils, artificial colourants or fragrances and silicones. Oh and did I mention that its cruelty free?!

The main star of the show is the extra virgin olive oil and olive leaf extract that is contained in their products, which did get me intrigued with their products as it isn't the usual argan or rosehip oil.

Hydrating Facial Toner || $24.95 

Purchase here

If there was one skincare product that I had to choose to bring to an island it would be this buddy.

Toners that come out as a mist will always appear in the monthly favourites during the warmer months as I use it like crazy.

With no exception, this toner has such a refreshing feeling on the face and doesn't drench the face as the mist is light.

The scent is like subtle and citrusy but goes away once it dries.

This toner supposedly tones, refreshes and relieves stress from your skin.

I haven't experienced the toning yet but double tick to the refreshing and relieving side to it.

I did notice that when it dried, my face did feel like a babies butt so I was pretty much touch.ing my face everytime. (spoiler alert: most of their products do this!)

Though with this toner, I used it a lot when it was hotter, but since the weather has died down, this has been collecting dust as I'm not a fan of spraying something cool and refreshing when its cold (anyone else on the same boat?!). But I can say for sure that it is an essential product for the hotter times of the month and I will be packing this in my travel bag when I'll be visiting the hotter places!

Hand Moisturising Cream || $14.95

Purchase here

I have mentioned before in my what's in my work bag blog post, about using hand creams all the time when I'm at work.

You could ask every employee who works in the produce department of a supermarket and i assure you that 99% of them will say their hands are dry from work.

This hand cream has been such the life saver for me as I've been previously bringing the Crabtree & Evelyn hand creams to work but I use them so frequently to the point where I can use it up within the month.

For a similar price and triple the size (yes I use the 25g hand creams) this hand cream has been doing an amazing job. 

I find that before work and during my work breaks, I can apply this hand cream and my hands will not be as dry as the desert for the 9 hour shift.

This hand cream has been coming along with me every day at work and the best thing is that I only need a pea size for it to do the job well.

Highly recommend you try this one out if you suffer from the sand paper hands.

Nourishing Day Cream || $29.95

Purchase here

The nourishing day cream never really caught my attention as I find that Im always a bit 'meh' towards facial creams, other than using them as a prep before applying bb creams/foundations I rarely consider it a HG in my skincare routine.

Though I have to say that I'm a bit on the fence for this moisturiser.

I love how a little goes a long way and it actually feels like it is moisturising your skin for the entire day rather than being sucked up and left to be reapplied.

But I found it hard to apply my makeup which Im assuming is due to it having oil in it, my eyebrow products just applied really streakily and was always slipping around due to this.

I do occasionally use it as a night cream as it does the job moisturising over night and yes it does the best job at making my face feel amazing.

Exfoliating Moisture Body Scrub || $28.95

Purchase here

First off with the packaging of body scrubs, Im not a fan of the tub form as I always tend to get water in the product and sometimes find it hard to open the lid and hold the product with watery hands.

Although I did get water in the product I have to put this out there but I give this a 10/10 for packaging, like finally a body scrub with a matte lid!! 

So with the actual product this is hands down the best body scrub I have ever came across.

I found that this left me with the greatest feeling on my skin ever, like a bun being buttered straight from the oven. 

Whats different is that this scrub doesn't contain the harsh bead-like substances which I actually don't like using.

At first, I thought it did as I felt some fine sugar-like texture being rubbed against my skin but as you continue rubbing the scrub onto your skin it actually starts to all melt which made me fall in love!

It did give me that tingly sensation from the scrubbing but the aftermath and leaving the showered with soft skin is the best.

100% Natural All-Purpose Balm || $22.95

Purchase here

Just like the Lucas Papaw Ointment, everyone needs an all-purpose balm in their household.

Like all multipurpose balms they have so many ways to be used but since I'm the boring kind, i tend to stick with it as a lip balm. 

The balm has a thin oily texture when applied and doesn't require you to dig into the product. 

You don't really need a lot for it to cover your lips as it is like an oil and spreads evenly on the lips.

I wouldn't say that this is the best lip balm I've used but it does the trick especially on the days when i just want to pop something on before I apply lipstick. or If I'm not digging having a thick lip balm on the lips.

It does have a shelf life of 2 years but I can say for sure that I will not be finishing this tub as it does contain a lot!

Olive Leaf Rosehip Oil || $22.95

Purchase here

Leaving my favourite till last, I was excited to be trying this oil out.

I'm not sure if the trend of using facial oils is still hyped up but for myself I'm still looking to find the best oil for myself.

A lot of the oils i've tried, have left my face feeling oily in the way where you look like you dipped your face in oil and it leaves that oily residue on your hands as well (fyi, i dread that), as well as just not doing anything for your skin.

But this oil, my gosh! 

I apply 3 drops to my face every night and rub it in like a moisturiser and it works like a dry oil.

No oily residue at all, not on my face or hands! 

Best of all is that I wake up with soft skin and I don't really need to moisturise after cleansing it off.

I can say for sure that I will be purchasing this one once I run out. 

Giveaway Time!!

Olive was generous enough to give one of my readers a chance to try out some of these products.
What you will be winning are:

1x Olive Hand Moisturising Cream
1x Olive Leaf Rosehip Oil
1x 100% Natural All-purpose Balm
1x Olive Nourishing Day Cream
1x Exfoliating Moisture Body Scrub

So if you are interested in trying them out the rules are:

-This is an Australian giveaway! (As it is a lot easier to arrange delivery for them)

-Enter through the rafflecopter widget below! (if its not working, just write in the comments!)

-Must be following me through GFC or bloglovin!

-Must let me know your email

-optional: comment what your favourite skincare product is!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Products were sent to me to try!

AG Viva Glam & Velvet Teddy || My Experience with Shipito

Late last year I heard about Ariana Grande working with Mac to create a Viva Glam lippie with her. And of course me being a massive fan of her music I was dying to grab my hands on it and it was also a bonus to know that the shade was a dark berry shade which is one of my favourite shade stop wear on a night out if I decide to go all out!

I saw her posting on Instagram a couple months after that her viva glam lipstick had released and I rushed onto the MAC website to go grab it while I could but sadly being in Australia, it is a tad bit slower for new releases to come so I did end up going on the US Mac website to purchase it through Shipito.

For those who don't know, Shipito is a forwarding company that allows you to purchase items from any website that don't ship to your country. They give you one of a few warehouse addresses they own which the items you've purchased gets sent to the address which then gets sent to you.

I've only tried one other forwarding company PriceUSA, which I used to use all the time when I didnt have paypal. You can check out the post I did on my Mac Purchase with PriceUSA here.

So I did get my order last month so excuse the late post on this but it arrived safely in the original Mac postage box.

I forgot to mention while browsing through the Mac website, I was tempted to go buy a couple more shades of lipsticks but held myself down so I ended up just buying 2 lipsticks, Ariana Grandes Viva Glam and Velvet Teddy which I've always wanted to try and see what the hype was about!

I'll be posting more details about these gorgeous lippies in a future post, so there isn't a swatch in this post but I can say they are definitely shades that I won't be dumping at the back of my lipstick collection!

Signing up with Shipito they let you choose between 4 addresses depending on what you want, like shipping rates, photo updates, more storage for more packages and etc. I chose the Hawthorne address which has a lower shipping costs and fast speed. After that I purchased my Mac order on the website and used the Hawthorne address for them to send it there. I had to pay through Paypal which I find is easier for me to track the costs.

Mac took a day to process my order so they sent a day after and arrived at the Shipito warehouse within a week.

I got an email from Shipito saying that the order arrived and they also included a picture of the package which is what I love about it!

After it arrives, you choose the shipping option and there are loads you can choose from. I chose the cheapest shipping which also meant it took up to a month to arrive but you do have the option of more expensive rates for quicker shipping and/or a tracking number.

I don't remember which one I chose but I did choose the shipping that was fairly cheap (under $10) that included tracking and didnt take a long time to arrive.

The package did arrive in 2 weeks though which Im alright with.

The entire thing took 3 weeks to arrive to me from ordering to the shipping which is pretty quick. 

I highly recommend people try out this site as they do send you email updates on when they receive your order, receive payment and when they ship your items to you. 

I found the website to be hella easy to use compared to PriceUSA and you always save money ordering from the US Mac website paying the USD price. Though the more products you buy the more you do save. I personally spent about $58AUD through Shipito which is about $29 per lipstick so I did save $14.

Summary:

14th Jan - Ordered from Mac ($37.06 USD)

15th Jan - Mac shipped to Shipito

20th Jan - Order arrived at Shipito

21st Jan - Shipito shipped order to me ($4.97 USD for postage)

2nd Feb - Arrived at my doorstep

Days: 19 days     Price: $43.03 USD / $58.43 AUD

Have you used a forwarding website? What are your thoughts on Shipito?

Disclaimer: Not sponsered, purchased the Mac products with my own money!

Stay Lean Tea*

Three months have nearly passed and the New Years resolutions of becoming healthier has somewhat been a success yet a fail at the same time, I mean walking everyday and swapping junk food with fruits recently while also having Maccas for dinner a couple days ago?

Any who I was contacted by the lovely company, Stay Lean Tea to try out their 14 day tea detox program which has been a lil trend lately with all the teatoxes, except this tea is a lot different to the usual as it doesnt contain any laxatives, so a tea that is 100% natural and organic is definitely a winner in my books.

The teabags are stored in a brown resealable kraft paper-like pouch, with their company logo on it. And for an ex vis-com student, I honestly love the packaging, its simple and reminds me of something very 'tumblr' especially the tea as you'll see how colourful the 14 day lean cleanse looks!!

Something small to point out as well. The tea bag is made of a cheaper/easily-breakable material but I find these tea bags are made of a fine mesh material that feels really sturdy, so theres no worry that the leaves and what not will come out.

L: 14 day lean cleanse R: 14 day lean burner

For the 14 day detox you have to drink the Lean Burner tea everyday in the morning (pictured on the right) and the Lean Cleanse every second day, with a tea bag in a cup of boiling water for 2-4 minutes.

Starting with the Lean Burner tea, it contains Longjing green leaf, Pu'er Tea Leaf, Dandelion Leaf, Lotus leaf, Lemon Grass, Oolong leaf and Goji Berry. 

I personally found with this tea that taking it in the morning before eating confused the heck out of me. Every morning I usually eat a bowl of cereal which keeps me at bay for a while, yet drinking this tea I didnt feel the need to eat as my appetite was gone, but with the habit of eating cereal pretty much every day  I didnt know whether to drink the tea as my breakfast or have both?! 

I did end up having cereal along with the tea as breakfast is the best meal of the day, which kept me full and not hungry till around late afternoon. Which I thought was great!

Also a lil bonus with this tea is that it tasted a bit like green tea which is one of my favourites, so i had no trouble consuming this even though I was expecting a herbal tea taste.

With the Lean Cleanse it contains Longjing green leaf, Chamomile, Chrysanthemum, Rose flower, Lavender, Roselle and Lemon Grass

To be honest I wasn't a huge fan of this one but i didnt hate it as well. The taste of this was a little more herbal which is what I don't like when it comes to some teas. So I was relieved that I only had to take this every second day, but after a couple cups from this, I did get used to the taste and it just reminds me of the fruity teas you can get at T2.

I found with this tea that it didnt suppress my appetite as much as the other one as i did end up craving food after but you do get quite a shocker when waiting for the tea to steep as you just come back looking at the pinkish tone in your cup of tea. Even with all the leaves and flower in the tea bag the colour looks really pretty, and I have to admit that upon opening the Lean Cleanse I did admire the teabag a lot more than the other.

Day 1- Day 14

For someone like myself who tends to eat quite a lot, I am blessed that I have a high metabolism but sad to say that I do take advantage of that. 

I am someone who craves food 24/7 so Im constantly snacking junk food and having overly sized portioned meals, so you can see above in day 1 how bloated my stomach was.

I have to admit that I kind of made a deal with myself to 'try' and have a better diet plan e.g. not eating all the time etc, when I start the Tea detox, to see if it really did work if you had a balanced diet as well as trying to 'exercise' which in my defence wasn't running around the block and doing weights at the gym, but instead trying to get up and move and walk more rather than sitting infront of the screen, so I did keep up this routine for 14 days but did occasionally have a few cheats of eating unhealthily (keeping it real here!). And I found that the tea did help a lot with the bloating which you can see in the second picture above. 

I didnt record my weight before and after the detox so I'm not sure if i even lost or gained any weight, but Im pretty happy with how the detox worked out, especially with the Lean Burn as it helped with controlling my snacking cravings after breakfast.

I know there are pictures of women with 'bikini bodies' from drinking tea detoxes but Im pretty sure 99.9% that solely relying on a detox will not give you that result if thats what you're looking for

But for those looking for a tea to try that will help with your appetite as well as bloating I can say that it really helped with my little food addiction.

Had to include a picture of the personal touch :')

Stay Lean Tea did kindly give me a 10% off code with any purchase on their store (modelled by my lovely cat Piper), and lucky for you guys they're currently having a sale online so feel free to use the code THANKYOU22 on top of the sales going on now!

Stay Lean Tea

Website

*Disclaimer: This product was sent to me to review

Fairydrops Mascara

I personally believe that "Asian" branded mascaras works wonders for me, I like to think that they inject a special ingredient into the formula so that it works with my lashes (a little crazy, but someone needs to explain how they do it?!)
I remember watching beauty videos on youtube a couple years ago to see that the Fairydrops mascara was the new craze. Hearing about the fibres and the unique wand shape intrigued me as a lil makeup newbie.
Anyways after chucking out my beloved Maybelline Hyper Curl Mascara from using it daily, I finally got the chance of opening my unused Fairydrops mascara that I've been craving to try out. 

As always, packaging to me is like icing on the cake. 

Would ya just look at it?! (hi five to those who get this reference*)

I just love the white cartoonish artworks, it looks like a combination of anime crossed with a cartoon show. And also the metallic pink body is so eye catching, it makes it so much easier spotting the mascara from afar in the clutter of my makeup which really helps when I'm in a rush.

Honestly if there was a line of makeup where they packaged their products with a pink metallic case, I would cry. IT JUST LOOKS SO DAMN GOOD!!

Aside from the lovely packaging, Fairydrops is known for its wand shape (I like to think of it as 3 blobs), as well as the fibers in the formula to create a lengthening effect.

My main concern with my lashes is keeping a curl as well as separating the lashes while keeping it voluminous. But if a mascara can hold a curl, thats still good enough for me even if it doesn't tick the other boxes.

With the Fairydrops Mascara Im proud to say that it ticks everything in the good books for me. The pros outweighs the cons for it.

Top-Bottom: Natural, Curled, Curled +1 coat Fairydrops mascara

Theres something about the way my lashes look with the Fairydrops Mascara that I love. I think its because it holds a friggin curl and separates the lashes without a clump, whats more to love?!

I find that you can build it up for more length without it becoming clumpy as the fibres helps tremendously in lengthening.

The oils on my lids (aka lid sweat) actually cant defeat the formula to this as I'm always coming back home at the end of the day with my lashes looking the same way as it did after applying mascara to them.

Even if you shed tears or have water splashed onto your eyes, this fella will not budge. 

In saying this though, you do need an oil based remover to remove the mascara properly.

Looking at the pictures above, it makes me gush over this mascara. But like I said how the pros outweigh the cons, they really do.

Theres only 2 things about this mascara that I wouldn't say would make it my all round holy grail mascara.

Sadly the wand is a tad too big for me to neatly apply it to my bottom lashes without it smudging. Though working with it slowly while looking closely to a mirror will prevent the smudging, I am a lazy person so if a mascara can do the job quick its a winner but sadly for the Fairydrops its not that great for the bottom lash department.

Lastly one that doesn't really bother me that greatly is the distribution of the fibres. Most of the time it blends in greatly with the top lashes with no problem but for my bottom lashes it doesn't evenly spread across all my bottom lashes. Some days I might get one fibre stuck onto one lash while the other lashes get no fibre, so I usually end up pulling the fibre off in order to make my lashes look even. 

I have been using this as my go-to mascara, as theres no need to think whether this will smudge or not or if my lashes will be curled. Highly recommend this to those who have issues with their mascara not being able to with stand a curl!

Have you tried the Fairydrops Mascara? If so, what are you're thoughts?

Metallic Fashion Tattoos || Wonderstripes*

Summers out which means flash tattoos are back on!

I remember my childhood days where temporary tattoos were the rage. 

I found out about the trend coming back last year which made me rekindle that love for the tattoos, especially when I first saw it being metallic rather than the plan black ones. 

And seeing them everywhere on social media photos in outfits and people rocking them out in parties and in public, I just wanted to get my hands on them.

Classic Set

Colour Set

Wonderstripes contacted me to try out their new (at the time) Metallic Fashion Tattoos that were being released and I was happy to try them out as I have previously worked with Wonderstripes on their infamous Instant Eye Lift tape.

I was sent the two sets of Metallic Tattoos that they have available the 'Classic Set' and 'Colour Set'.

Each set comes with 3 sheets of the tattoos with various designs and patterns.

The Classic Set I find has the more basic designs while the Colour Set has more geometric, fun designs with also some basics.

The process in applying the tattoos is pretty straightforward for those who have done temporary tattoos before. Cutting the design you want, placing it down onto wherever you want it, wetting a towel/tissue and dabbing it on the back of the tattoo until it is wet but not dripping too much water and then pulling the paper off the tattoo.

I haven't tried other Metallic/Flash Tattoos before so I cant compare this with others, but I can say I am in love with the quality of both and the designs in the Colour Set.

I have been mainly using the long designs to wrap around my upper arm just to jazz up my outfit, and the metallic comes up beautifully. 

I get so many compliments from them whenever I use them out and it just works in replacement of jewellery without the hassle of it getting in the way!!

Though the only downside of it is that the tattoos do tend to crack apart after a few days and don't look smooth anymore. It does last up to 3 weeks if I try not to exfoliate over it.

I highly recommend trying these babies out!

RRP: $19.99

Wonderstripes

Website

Facebook

*Product was sent to me for consideration! The review is honest as always~

On Fleek || Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade

You can probably tell which is old and new haha!

Ive been using my current Dipbrow Pomade for quite some time now and with it starting to dry up around the edges and become dry and patchy to apply at times I thought it would be a great excuse to go buy another one, also with me trying to grow out my natural hair colour, my regrowth is halfway down my head and it does look a tad weird having brown brows upon brown/black hair.

So during the Christmas times my brother decided to order a present for his girlfriend on Beautybay and it was the perfect opportunity to buy another dip brow in a black shade. 

Im pretty sad that i didn't get to review this when I first got the chance of having this in my hands, but in saying that, I have to admit I wasn't really a fan of this during the first few times of using it. 

It didn't stay in place during the sweaty months, especially when I itched my brows and forgot I had product on them, but hey, what product will stay on an oily face even when you swipe your finger over it?

Though in the cooler months it did say in place, no fading or smudging and no need to worry in checking your brows during a night out.

I have been using this in place of the usual eyebrow powder and this is the part where I love this product fits in... the way your brows look so much more defined compared to powder. 

I found with powder that I would have to keep layering more on to create a bold brow but with the dip brow it made my brows smack bang nicely shaped.

I have tested the dip brow with different angled brushes and depending on what you want your brows to look, any will work with this product. For myself I prefer a denser brush that will line my brows into the shape i want as well as blend out the product aka The Body Shop Slanted Brush.

I was previously using a smaller angled eyeliner brush (Beautybay) but I found it took more time to use and being the lazy person that I am, a brush that can do the job quick and well is one for me!

Left: Dark Brown Right: Granite/Black

It is quite nice having a new pomade that isn't dried up as the creaminess wins me over.

You do have to be careful when using this as a little goes a long way, so don't go packing your brush with it on unless you want a sharpie brow!! (yes I've learnt this the hard way)

What I usually do is dip my brush once into the product a teeny bit and start to line my brows/draw the shape and fill them in, which is pretty much the same thing as the brow routine post I did, except I fill in the start of my brows more.

I would say that one of the cons that does get to me is the effort + time when using the dip brow, especially for the shape that I like to make them, I would say i spend up to 10 minutes max in perfecting them before moving onto my eye makeup. 

Im personally one of those people who can't leave the house without my brows done so rushing with the dip brow always ends in a crappy looking brow for me compared with using a pencil.

The pomade comes off easily with micellar water/non-oil based makeup removers or just by washing your face if you're lazy like I am.

I have been converted into using cream brow products ever since using this, I just cant think of going back to powder. Would highly recommend trying this for those brow junkies out there!!

What are your thoughts on Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products?!