March Favourites

I discovered a few new products in March so thought since its a start to a new month I would jump on the 'Favourites' bandwagon. All of these except for 2 are completely new products to me that I purchased in March.

O.P.I Avojuice Skin Quenchers in Hibiscus Blossom (hand and body lotion), I brought 2 small bottles of this handcream a few months back (in different scents) and loved them so much in my handbag that i wanted a big bottle for beside my bed. It smells devine and sinks into my skin super quick and doesn't leave a greasy residue. I love it!

Aussie Mircale Recharge 'Take The Heat' Conditioning Spray, I purchased this with some Aussie shampoo and conditioner, plus the 3 minute miracle deep conditioner at the start of March and I am absolutely in love with them all. Really they should all be in this post as I adore them! The scent of the Aussie products are to die for! This spray in particular though has been super handy. I have been using it as my heat defense spray before straightening and curling my hair. It can be sprayed in dry or wet hair but so far I've been using it in dry. I spray (quite a bit) throught out my hair and then straighten. It leaves my hair so smooth and conditioned. It makes my hair frizz free and i don't get any fly aways. I've noticed a huge change in my hair when i use this. Love it to bits! I purchased mine from www.feelunique.com they have free delivery and is the only place I've found that stocks Aussie products and sends internationally. Its such a great affordable brand.

Moreish Eye Cream I've been really enjoying this eye cream, it definitely makes my eye area feel more firm and hydrated. It contains Moroccan Argan Oil and antioxidants extracted from New Zealand Kiwifruit skins and grape seeds (pretty fancy huh) I really like it! Its reasonably priced for 30mls of product. The pump is slighly annoying as it dispenses not enough product in one squirt and too much in two squirts... typical! This kind of packaging annoys me as you can't put back excess product.

Lioele Fresh Dewy Mist I've been really enjoying this product lately, its an old favourite that I've had for about a year maybe. It sprays a super fine mist that sets or refreshes your make up and skin. It leaves my face with a fresh dewy finish. I can't fault it! It must be coming to an end soon though as i've used it so much, so i really need to repurchase this! I brought mine from hikonsencara and have just checked and it is currently on special.

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in shade SB08, I had preivously owned this foundation in a lighter shade but needed it darker due to summer. Its a great foundation! Its formulated to be like a BB cream but with foundation coverage. Its slighlty on the expensive side but its worth it to me. It blends in beautifully and leaves your skin looking like skin, not cakey, but provides coverage that is buildable. I brought mine direct from Illamasqua

Australis Fresh & Flawless pressed powder I brought this nearer the end of the month but am completely addicted to it. I like a more dewy look to my make up so am weary of pressed powders eliminating that effect. I use products like L'Oreal Lumi Magique primer and foundation to achieve that look. I had been using a Lioele pressed powder for sometime as it was great at keeping that dewy look but still setting my make up. But as a complete addict to new and 'better' products i wanted to give this a try after seeing reviews that compared it to a MAC product. This pressed powder sets your make up, provides extra coverage while still maintaining that dewy look (if worked with illuminating products like I use). I use it with my Real Techniques kabuki brush and find it picks up the perfect amount of product and it never seems to look cakey. Its fantastic! I brought mine from Farmers.

NYX Blush in Taupe This only just fits into March! I recently got this to try as a contour shade for the upcoming winter as sometimes I find bronzer to be too much. This is great to use for a casual/softer day look. Only criticism i have is i really need to work my brush in it to get enough product as its so hard pressed. I tried it originally on my Real Techniques Contour brush but found the brush to be too soft so gave it a go on my Sigma F88 (flat angled kabuki) which worked a lot better.

Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso This is a beautiful blush that also provides a slight highlight. It has a shimmer but isn't over the top, gives a lovely glow to the checks. Its a colour that would suit many skin shades. I brought mine from Beauty Joint

Tea Tree Blemish Gel for most of March i was dealing with terrible skin, I have been blaming it on my little stint in Oil Pulling, something I plan on trying again but I think it caused my skin to purge. I was getting pretty annoyed so while shopping I went into The Body Shop and grabbed this spot treatment. I'm thinking plain old tea tree is probably just as good and cheaper but this treatment has definitely helped stop any up and coming spots, so for this I'm extremely grateful and have given it a special spot on this list.

Limecrime Glamour 101 lipstick I brought this from Beauty Joint and have been in love with it. It is a really beautifully old school colour that would suit so many people. Its actually the first Limecrime colour I have tried that is actually wearable in my opinion (for myself anyway!) It has a great formula and is long lasting and easy to apply.  I'll insert a swatch and selfie:

Australis Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick in Gangsta Rap How awesome is the name to this lippy?! Purple seems to be pretty big at the moment so I wanted to jump on that train and thought I'd give this shade a go. Its pretty bright and obnoxious but i think its totally wearable even to scaredy cats like me. This lippy is easy to apply, creamy and non drying. Its not the longest lasting lipstick but its quite affordable so I forgive it. Heres another swatch and selfie:

So that concludes my March favourites! Hope someone found some use in these mini reviews!

Hope you are all having a great day
Cat

Candle Crush Soy Melts

I have a new non-makeup addiction.... candle melts! It started off with a Christmas gift containing Ecoya melts which are absolutely beautiful but horribly expensive! Then recently I came across a New Zealand brand called CandleCrush (their site) They have candles and melts available and are really nicely priced. Every week they have a 'scent of the week' deal where you can get their 'scent of the week' candle for $19.95 instead of $29.95 and their melts for $2.95 instead of $3.95. This week it is currently Italian Stallion one of their more masculine scents. I have yet to try their full size candles and have just been testing out their scents by nearly having all of their melts. I think I am missing 'Smokin Hot Chocolate' 'Stealing the Limelight' and 'Round and Round The Garden' (aren't they awesome names!?)

The melts are stated to have up to 8 hours scent time, I've found this to be pretty spot on but some have had a lot less unfortunately. While i haven't had enough time to burn them all (some only arrived the other day) I can say while I loved the scent 'Like A Kid In A Candy Store' the melt didn't have much of a scent burn off, not sure if mine was a dud, whereas 'Lions And Tigers and Pears - Oh My' filled my entire house with its scent. They come in a really nice tin, which i think is great considering the price.

So far I'm considering buying the candles for 'Lions And Tigers and Pears - Oh My', 'Alexander The Grape' and 'If you Like Pina Colada'. The Pina Colada one i found really interesting as it went from a mainly pineapple scent to a coconut. 'Just...One...More Cookie!' was bad news, just for the fact that it made me want to eat it! It smelled just like it states 'freshly baked buttery cookie'!

Hope you are all having a great day
Cat

Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Swatches and Review

Last week I received an exciting package in the mail. I had been waiting 3 weeks for it to arrive so i was quick to rip it open!

I had ordered 12 eyeshadow pans and a Z palette from Makeup Geek. They were created by blogger (Simply Marlena) and YouTuber, Marlena. I had seen various reviews floating around on YouTube and they were all wonderful.  I have been wanting to put together a custom palette, these being cheaper then MAC shadows I decided to give them a go. The site also sells the Z palette, this is the large which cost US$20 and fits 27 Makeup Geek pans. They have various sizes (and colors) including a 4 pan which could be handy when travelling. I love this one as it can hold a few brushes, its sturdy and the magnetic closure is very secure. 

Starting with 12 shadows, I have already decided I need more and have created a wish list for my next order! The site makes it really easy to pick your shadows as they have swatches (a lot are swatched next to their MAC dupe) and they are very true to color in real life. I have only got some neutral colors but there are all kinds of beautiful colors available (63 shades in total).

They are creamy, pigmented and longlasting. I usually need a primer with my shadows but have found these amazing as they last even on my unprimed lids! The shimmery shades are gorgeous, no chunky glitter and minimal, if any, fall out. They blend like a dream too. I seriously can not fault these.

Here are some swatches that don't really do them justice, but I only have an iphone 4S camera :(

My standout favorites would be hard to pick, but so far I've been using Taupe Notch and Shimma Shimma alot. Burlesque is SUPER pigmented and beautiful. Corrupt is a brilliantly pigmented black that has been so useful to press into my lash line. Latte is probably one I'm finding a little hard to work with, but its handy to have a matte light brown for the crease line.

Delivery to NZ was very affordable too at US$14 for my 12 shadows and palette. The shadows are US$5.99 each. They have a startup kit available with 9 shadows for US$49.99 (no Z palette) or a complete startup kit in a 9 shadow Z palette for US$61.99 or there is a Ultimate kit for US$159.99, which could be a brilliant birthday present for a make up fanatic!

I hope you are all having a great day
Cat

Chi Chi Cosmetics - A Collective Review

I'm relatively late to the Chi Chi brand, its only in the last few months that I've started to pick up pieces and I am really impressed with the quality of the product. While the packaging in some areas could do with some improvement the actual formulas are brilliant, super pigmented with a wide variety of fun modern colours with quirky names to match.

Chi Chi is an Australia brand, in New Zealand I have only seen them stocked in Farmers but they do have an online store that delivers internationally (but super expensive delivery in my opinion!) Here is their site link. They do not test on animals (only friends and family they state) which is fantastic.

Ok, so I'll start with the eye shadow palette I own.

Its called Sultry and is in a collection of palettes in their 'Glamourous Eye Palette' range, which include others called Nudes, Bronzes, Bases, Classics, Rich Gems, Oasis and Brights. Pretty much covers any type of palette you are after. I should mention, I picked up Bases but ended up passing it on as while it was nice and pigmented, it wasn't really necessary for me, it was an impulse buy and not well thought out. It contained quite a few light 'base' colours which I tend to have in all my other palettes anyway. BUT back to this one Sultry! The swatches taken were achieved just by swiping my finger once, maybe twice for the lighter colours (so they would show for the camera) They are super pigmented and creamy. There is hardly any fall out which is great. This palette has great colours to create a number of different eye looks and the shades are so beautiful and would compliment any skin tone. I love these shadows, There are mattes and shimmers. The shimmers are beautiful, no chunky glitter, they just have a beautiful  sheen to them. The biggest downfall is with the packaging. I find it tacky and ugly. With such great shadows its a shame they couldn't create a nicer package.

Next I have two different lip products, one is a Dramatic Lip Lacquer in Bombshell, and the other is a Creamy Matte Liquid Lipstick.

I had heard so many rave reviews on the matte liquid lipsticks but to be honest when I looked at the range all the bright colours scared me off! So originally i just picked up the Dramatic Lip Lacquer in Bombshell (Dusty pink nude brown) as i had a lipstick in a similar shade which is a great nude for me. But last time i was in Farmers, I was feeling extremely brave and picked out what must be their brightest shade (but probably isn't) in She's Not Me which is described as raspberry.

The matte lipstick is super pigmented, long lasting and smells yummy! It doesn't actually dry completely matte. If you were to compare it to Limecrime Velvetines or Australis Velourlips it doesn't come anywhere near as matte as those. Which suits me as I don't care for either of those products. One swipe of this delivers enough colour and product to your lips while not being difficult to apply. I personally find the Velvetines a nightmare to apply so this was a pleasant experience after dealing with those! It is super creamy and tends to stay that way on your lips, it doesn't dry out. Because of this you do get a little bit of transfer but i'm not bothered by this, i see this as more of a liquid lipstick (not a matte) so treat it as such.

The Dramatic Lip Lacquer is also super pigmented as you can see by the swatch. It is long lasting too but not as much as the matte one. Overall I love them both and will be purchasing more colours!

And lastly the lipsticks!

I only have four *sadface* but do plan on purchasing more! The formulas are great! Long lasting, non drying, super pigmented. The packaging is really pretty and unique. I do find that while the packaging is pretty you can get a dodgy one, my first and favorite shade fall apart as soon as i took it out of its box. But i stuck it back together and haven't had a problem so far, but i keep this in mind when i have it in my bag.

I apologize for my photos being out of order to the swatches, I took the swatches on a different day. I've been finding it hard to sit down and blog (hence some months since my last post) but going by the swatches left to right: Hot Stuff (Soft Orange Coral) which is a cream formula. Social Climber (rosy beige nude) in a matte formula. Sex Bomb (dusty mauve nude) my favourite in a matte formula, and lastly Lady Bump which is a vampy bright purple berry colour in a matte formula.

I want to mention that I also own a lip pencil in Fly Girl, its really really good and I need to buy more colours! Its in a retractable pencil style and the formula is so easy to work with, it's a nice and creamy pencil but is long lasting making it a dream to work with.

So overall I haven't been disappointed in any of my Chi Chi purchases. They are reasonable prices, i wouldn't say very affordable but Farmers do have sales often so that is the best time to purchase if in NZ. Online they are definitely better priced but that delivery fee is a bit shocking.

Have a great day!
Cat