Empties #1

Believe it or not, my last empties post was back in February last year. Out of the 2 I've done, they began as a monthly empties but lets face it, I cant finish a product quick and majority of my products will last a couple of months so I thought why not not just start afresh and do a Empties post whenever my "empties" box starts to become full.

You can see that the one thing Im good at is using up conditioners, I honestly load on hella amounts of conditioner on the ends of my hair and leave it on for as long as I can just so my hair will get the full deal of moisture. The Schwarzkopf Marrakesh Oil & Coconut Conditioner was only one of my favs due to the smell and the fact that it did contain some argan oil. Even though it wasnt the best at making my hair healthy, I liked to think that the argan oil helped. 

The two Tresemme conditioners I got from Woolies on a sale shelf that marked them down to $3 each, I didnt think much when I got them but they were surprisingly good. The Deep Conditioning treatment was my favourite out of the two as it did make my hair feel a lot more smooth. The Strengthen & Protect conditioner was just a great daily conditioner.

Would I repurchase?: Mostly likely not, was great to try them out though.

Completely forgotten where I got the Simple cleansing wipes, but I found that I got great use out of them from removing my lipsticks and also swatches on my arm, I reach more for my Wotnot makeup wipes as it is more soaked with makeup remover.

The Garnier Make-Up Remover is my hg makeup remover! Removes waterproof makeup well, doesnt break me out but the only downside is the oily residue. Will be getting my hands on it once a sale hits.

All round great daily facial cleanser, the Clearasil Daily Clear Daily Wash*. Made my skin feel so clean and a little did go a long way! Honestly felt so lost without it when I finished up the product. Will most likely repurchase after I finish up my other cleaners!

Super cheap and oh my gosh, cotton rounds that dont leave cotton on your face! The Ophelia Makeup Rounds, I got from Aldi for $1 and something cents, but under $1.50!!  Such a bargain, I think they may have changed the cotton rounds a bit, or maybe I bought the wrong version but one of the packs had edges that were closed (the best, imo) and the other pack had edges that showed the cotton and wasnt that great but didnt leave cotton dangling off my face thankfully! Have repurchased these and will be doing so again!

Ive already repurchased this one but its the Lucas Papaw Ointment, hands down the best lip balm I've used and also such a versatile product, I have used it to cure flaky skin around the nose during winter and also great to use on rashes.

I've featured this in my monthly favourites before and its the Crabtree & Evelyn Pomegranate Hand Therapy, my favourite scent out of all the hand therapies! I've already got a backup that is waiting to be used up.

There was a time when I bought every singe Nivea lip balm to try them out and all of it besides the Essential care one just did not win me over. This one included, the Nivea Hydrocare. My friends have raved about this one but it just does not work for me, it feels like Im applying a layer of nothingness that obviously does nothing to my lips.

Last but not least, the Etude House Collagen Moistfull Cream Sample. Been trying to finish off my samples and this one made me want to try out the full sized one. I used this when I came back from ski camp with my face completely dry, dehydrated and flaky (not even exaggerating here). I saw someone at camp use the full sized one at camp and realised I actually had the sample sized so I tried it out and it did make my skin slightly better, compared with my other moisturizers that did nothing to my skin. Will be purchasing this one in the future!

*Products marked with a * were sent to me for consideration 

TAG You're It!

Just a tad late in writing this up, but was tagged by my gorgeous friend Karyn from Rynspiration! 

I actually love reading and doing tags so thanks girl!!

1. What is a product that you've wanted for the longest time?
I have no idea why I havent even tried the brand yet but its basically all of the brow products from Anastasia! I'm a sucker for brows and nothing makes me more happy than good looking brows. I've been eyeing their Dipbrow for ages when I first heard about it and their brow wiz!
I'm also dying to try the Kat Von D Liquid liner which will hopefully soon be easily available in Australia. Heard it will be sold in Sephora once it opens in Melbourne!

2. If you had to wear only one foundation for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
I actually dont own any foundations but BB creams will be exception, so if it were a choice of one bb cream then it would be the Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector for Combo to Oily Skin. To be honest, its not the best but it is the perfect amount of coverage for me.

3. Your house is burning down, which product do you grab first?
Such a tough question! I dont own a ridiculously expensive product to save but i think i would go for my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, if I lost all my products I would probably buy an eyeliner first and without primer underneath I would rather go bare faced. But lets face it, during a house fire I would take my entire makeup drawer or just grab a handful of whatever makeup I would get or just run out the house with nothing.

4. What's your latest "empty" product?
Will be putting up an empties post soon but it is the Nivea Hydrocare lipbalm! 

5. What is a quote(s) you live by? 
I love quotes that relates to being happy or jsut not regretting anything, as corny as it sounds. But one I love is a Dr Suess one "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" and I actually found this quote when I opened up a fortune cookie and it was during the time when I wasnt exactly the brightest nor the happiest but it was one quote that has stuck to me since then.
I also live by quotes that mean "no regrets" I jsut believe in that sort of thing. 

6. If you could only buy makeup from one brand, which brand would you buy from?
TOUGH CHOICES, as I dont have a favourite brand, but I will have to go for either Maybelline or Rimmel, both are all-round good brands and majority of their products are actually good!

7. Which type of beauty product do you buy the most of? (ie. lippies, blushes, bronzers)
Surprisingly lipsticks, Im not even the type to wear it every single day but there is something about its packaging and the range of shades that suck me in! Massive lipstick hoarder right here...

9. How long have you been wearing makeup for?
I think since I was 13, I started off with black pencil liner on the waterline and it gradually expanded to different eyeliners and products that i dont even remember starting to use.

10. If you had to be any mythical creature, what would you be?
Loving this random question! But obviously a unicorn, like who wouldnt want to fly around with sparkles following you around while shooting rainbows out of your butt?!

Im going to tag whoever is reading this right now! Or just comment some of your answers as I will love to read them :)

Simple Eye Make-Up Remover

Simple has been one of those brands that dont speak out to me. I was always one to walk past their little space in the shelves at Priceline and even the supermarkets. I was running low on my current makeup removers at the time (Garnier & Maybelline) so I thought why not purchase a new one!? 

I purchased the Simple Makeup remover at Woolies when it was on sale hoping it to be a complete change as this is my first makeup remover that I've tried that isnt the whole half oil, half liquid business. But honestly guys, oil really does remove makeup well and this makeup remover just made me appreciate makeup removal with oil even more. 

I know the number one problem with oil based makeup removers is the greasy residue that we all hate. I hate the residue it leaves on my eyes and fingers with a passion, but I did find with the combination of either using micellar water to get rid of it or just cleansing the face right after it doesnt bother me as long as my makeup is gone off my eyes.

With the Simple makeup remover it doesnt leave an oily residue obviously but I do find that it reminds me of using micellar water, it's basically a water-like makeup remover for the eyes (but I assume with more chemicals).

It claims to "remove even waterproof mascara" which I have tested including the eyeliner that is a pain to remove, the Benefit Push-up liner. There is pictures of that along with the Benefit They're Real Mascara combination removal below.

Benefit They're Real Push up liner & They're Real Mascara

If the picture has won you over from the very last picture trust me it's not that great at removing waterproof makeup, I mean yeah it did get probably 95% of it off but with an oil based makeup remover it would take a third of the time it took removing it with Simple's one.

I left the cotton round on my eye for around 30 secs-a minute and only half of the makeup dissolved, the eyeliner just crumbled away but the other half stayed until I had to go in with round 2 and 3 to get it completely off, but even so there was still some eyeliner left on the lashline and some flakey bits on the bottom lashline. And up until that point my eye wanted to be left alone from the makeup removal.

I will say that this makeup removal is definitely great at removing the non-waterproof makeup, especially ones that are weak with water and I have been using it just for that. But if you are looking for a makeup remover for waterproof makeup, this may not be the one for you.

Blackout || Revlon Colourstay Skinny Liquid Liner

After 4 years of being an eyeliner junkie, I'm still on the quest of finding my "holy grail" perfect eyeliner, the one that can resist my super oily lids and super watery eyes.

All the ones I've tried have either gave me the ring of death (raccoon eyes), separated on the ends (due to watery eyes) or flaked into my eye or under my eye. 

I bought the Revlon Skinny Liquid Liner at Mychemist during one of the 50% sales in hope that this could potentially be a decent one for daily use or even one of my favourite eyeliners, I did give this high expectations as I see Revlon as a pretty good brand but sadly this eyeliner was just not the one for me.

 The Revlon Skinny Liquid Liner is what I assume to be one of their typical liner formulas but with a skinnier brush, I may be wrong with the formula being the same but the felt tip brush is definitely skinny. Im going to go straight to the point and just say Im not a big fan of felt tip liners, as much as they are easy to use I hate the precision it gives. I find with felt tip applicators, they start of in a nice shape and gradually becomes horrid, the tip is never in perfect condition which bothers me greatly as I do love a good wing but aside from that problem it is a skinny long brush which is one of the pluses as I can line the inner of my eyes quick but drawing in the wing is a big problem with this one so I do have to use my k-palette liquid liner to pre-draw my wing.

The pigmentation I would say is fairly average, it isnt the blackest eyeliner out there but it isnt surprising as this is a matte finish and I find that glossy liners have the best pigmentation.

You can get away with a layer of this on the lids but you can definitely put on a second layer no harm done.

L-R: Thinnest application || Thickest application || 2 layers done

The main issue I had with this liner was that my lids started to burn a tad when I applied it to the inner parts of my lid, it wasnt a painful burn but it was noticable, I am still using it and the burn is still there until the liner dries but my lids have not changed though I should probably stop using this liner incase. 

Other than that, the liner was typically like the ones I used before, it flaked, smudged a bit and separated on the wings at the end of the day. With a primer it does do all that but less so I find that I dont really bother with primer. 

With experimenting I made my eyeliner different to how I do it (pictured below), just to avoid the eyeliner separating.

Flaking and smudging at the bottom

Flaking, slight smudge and a hella load of separation there 

What are your thoughts on Revlon Liners?

September Favourites!

To be honest it's been kind of exciting to have tried some new things out last month. As I do love change and trying out different things. It just makes everything a lot more exciting and "new" even though its just a change in products. Lucky for me there wasnt much things I hated or regretted trying out last month, I did use them frequently hence why they've hit in my September Favourites!

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I ran out of my favourite makeup remover (the Garnier 2 in 1 MakeUp Remover) and I was looking at every single store for a cheap makeup remover that was good enough to remove waterproof mascara and eyeliner. I do love a good bargain, and Olive Oil is probably the best eye makeup remover let alone a cheaper alternative. I remember watching Michelle Phans old video of using Extra Virgin Olive Oil to remove her makeup and I just never tried it out because I have oily skin and I actually hate using oil or even touching it. I only use this method of removing eye makeup if I use a gel liner or a waterproof mascara, also I have to use the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water to remove the oil residue left on the eye after.

MAC LoveLorn

I did a review on this recently and I just love how wearable it is on an everyday basis!

It doesnt last long on the lips for me but when I put it on its such a smooth application and gives me a "My lips but better" colour. I personally dont reapply makeup and I hate it when lipsticks give you that lipliner affect after fading, luckily this one doesnt do that.

I've been using this lip colour every time I go out, I would say it's the perfect time to use this since the sun is finally shining!

Review [here]

Essano Moisture Restorative Night Creme

My skin was suffering pretty badly after ski camp back in late August and I was on the hunt for a night creme just to battle my super dehydrated and flaky skin. It came in the Essano Treat Your Skin Pack at Priceline which included 5 products that had Rose Hip Oil in them. 

And oh my gosh this is the best night creme ive tried. A little goes a long way and I always wake up with the softest skin, it makes your skin feel like velvet when you apply it.

Crabtree & Evelyn Pomegranate Hand Therapy

Last month I was trying to finish products to make room for the new and I managed to finish up the C&E Pomegranate Hand Cream (The back up one is the new packaging on the right)! It's my favourite scent out of all the hand therapies. My hands are very low maintenance as I find that they never appear dry and cracked, but I just use this hand cream for the sake of the scent.  

Angel Wing Arrow

I got this as a late birthday present from one of my friends and I've been wearing it with most of my outfits. Im a sucker for simple necklaces and this one has been one of my favs. What I love about it is that it has Angel wings as the tip and for obvious reasons it just makes it more personal to me. 

Pink Hair!

I was waiting until the school holidays were going to start just to dye my ombre pink.

I was a bit hesitant to do it because I though a bright pink wouldnt look good but I ended up loving it! I used half of Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink, a quarter mixed with conditioner as a base and then another quarter to cover the ends. I though I could somehow incorporate an ombre with that but didnt work as planned. My end results did somewhat fail as some pieces looked  like brownish pink highlights, it was due to the fact that I didnt section my hair and for those who are going to colour hair...section your hair and learn from my mistake.

So far after 11 days I do still have pink tips,  but the rest of my hair has faded into a dusty pinky/brown colour.

If there was a permanent pink hair dye, I would actually cry in excitement. 

Benefit They're Real Push-Up Liner

When I heard about the new Benefit Push Up liner releasing, it was one of those makeup products that hit number 1 on my wishlist instantly. Being an eyeliner junkie the thought that a gel liner in a pen form was the most exciting thing to have been invented, no more brush to wash and the struggles of dipping the brush in constantly. 

I was lucky enough to get this on my birthday from my brother which wasnt surprising as I kept pestering him about it and how amazing it is even though I never tried it before.

Yes, I am aware that Maybelline did come out with the first gel liner in pen form which I am super tempted to try as the Benefit Push-Up Liner wasnt exactly the "holy grail eyeliner" that I though it would be.

Firstly with the packaging, I am actually a big fan of! With a twist off lid its a lot more easier to open compared with the KPalette liner which requires me to use a crap load of pressure to remove and even if my fingers arent grippy or if they're covered in hand cream. the cap twists off nicely without much trouble.

The body is in similar shape with the They're Real Mascara which is also a nifty design to hold onto and also makes the liner look a whole lot appealing.

When you first open the lid there will be a plug/stopper thats in the tip which Im assuming is to prevent the liner from drying out too quick, but I was lazy in taking the stopper and putting it back in as it became too messy and annoying so I ended up just never plugging the tip and also losing it of course.

Im sure most of you know about the angled accuflex tip which is the main focus of this eyeliner. You twist the base and the gel liner comes out of the tip.

I found the tip to be surprisingly easy to use, its like using an angled eyeliner brush but smaller and controlled. 

I know there were definitely some problems with the tip such as twisting too much and having to wipe of the excess liner. Even when you close the lid and you open it back up the next day, sometimes 1-millimeters of eyeliner comes out (might not be the same if you left the stopper in) which is also a waste but the biggest problem was that you do sometimes have to twist extra liner out and wipe it on a tissue or the back of your hand when you use it the next day because there will be a layer of dried liner or at least not smooth compared to when it was freshly twisted out. but that could also be the problem of not leaving the stopper in. 

Benefit claims that this eyeliner doesnt smudge, budge and that its waterproof. which won me over along with many raves and positives reviews I saw on this liner.

I knew the ultimate test for the eyeliner would be during a school day which is usually the time when most of my eyeliners with either smudge and/or separate at the ends.

Sadly this eyeliner was probably the biggest pain in the butt, it smudged and transferred under my eyes and what made it worse was that this eyeliner actually a pain to remove so having to remove the black ring around my eyes took a lot of scrubbing and constant wiping. It wasnt even a hot day aswell, literally a cold winters day and the smudging was horrible. 

I tested this liner out on a work day which is pretty much either 3 or 5 hours of standing rarely any sweat seeps through and it still smudged on me but luckily it wasnt anything major.

After all the smudging I ditched this liner but then gave it a second change with the Too Face Shadow Insurance primer underneath and the smudging is massively reduced, though I find it to still smudge at the end of the day  but nothing too raccoon-ish.

Though I can say on the plus side that this is the most pigmented gel liner I have came across and also the smoothest. The application of this is definitely the fun part but there can be times when the accuflex tip drags on the skin and doesnt create a smooth line. 

I have been using olive oil to remove this liner and it does the job well. I would say that this eyeliner is water resistant but probably not so waterproof. I have tested this in the rain and there was no smudging whatsoever but I wouldnt trust it enough to go underwater with it.

It was a shame that this wasnt the holy grail eyeliner that I have still yet to find but Ill still be using this when Im going out for a short period of time, obviously using a primer underneath!

What's your thoughts on the Push-Up Liner?

Mac Lovelorn || LOTD

I've been trying to get into lipsticks more as it is one of those products I hoard so Im trying my best to use them up. For my birthday my brother got me a MAC lipstick (with the help of his girlfriend ofc) and I was surprised that they picked a colour that I would use as an everyday lippie.

I do have a slight obsession with MAC lipsticks as the packaging wins me over, its famous slate grey and silver packing in the shape of a bullet  and its range of colours you can choose from. I now have 3 MAC lipsticks which Im hoping to extend someday soon.

Lovelorn is a lustre finish which is demi-sheer finish. I have a thing for applying my lipsticks on quite sheer, because I just love the natural look, Im also too much of a wuss to put on a lipstick at its full colour since I get paranoid when the lipstick starts to fade in the middle which always happens to me.

Swatched on the hands, you will automatically thing that this is a sheer baby pink lipstick but on the lips it is just one of those MLBB (my lips but better) lipsticks, but with a hint of pink.

I've been using this as my go-to lipstick, when im going out, work and sometimes school. 

I find that it starts to fade around the 3 hour mark but you cant notice it as it until you decide to reapply the lipstick and the colour comes back to life.

I find that if my lips arent exfoliated well, the colour will stick onto the dry patches but it wont be noticable compared to matte lipsticks. This lipstick sadly is a tad drying for me but a good lipbalm makes everything better.

Whats your go-to MLBB lippie?!