Benefit Pretty Party

It was my birthday on Monday, and as a part of my present, my bestie got us tickets to the Benefit Pretty Party! This was the first make-up party/event thing I've ever attended, so I was really excited to see what it was all about! I've seen events like this for brands such as Napoleon Perdis, but never felt the need to go because there wasn't anything I REALLY wanted. I have been itching to buy the Benefit High Beam for sooo long (stupid spending ban!), and they had the high beam and tints in a cute little set! When the saleslady mentioned this event at Myer, I just knew it was fate. It was $50 for a ticket (redeemable on products during the night), sandwiches and macarons, bubbly and best of all, GOODY BAGS! I don't know about you, but I LOVE goody bags! Always have, always will. 

Our workstations! There were enough products for everyone to sample :)

The girls at Benefit were super nice, and they set up tables of 5-6 laden with all their products! They went through all their products, and we spent the night trying out all the Benefit products and learning the best way to apply them. This was really helpful since my make-up application skills are crap not up to scratch! I learnt how to apply a smokey eye look (FINALLY), and got my colour match for their Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow (Honey). Best of all, they had an awesome deal: if we bought 4 items, they would throw in a complimentary bottle of the So Hooked On Carmella fragrance (RRP $59)!

Naturally, I took advantage of this awesome deal, spending ban be damned!

My Benefit Haul!

Bestie & my Haul! Looks more impressive when we group it together :P

Go TROPICORAL

The real reason I went to this event in the first place. Chachatint is a cute mango-tinted lip and cheek stain. I works wonders with my skin tone, and it just so happens that I have a new-found obsession with CORAL :) I had intended on only buying this set with the redeemable credit, but somehow managed to buy 4 items (for the GWP of course!).

High Beam

Yay! I finally own this beautiful little bottle of awesomeness :P Ever since I tried it at the Benefit Bar, I've been lusting after it like no tomorrow. I've tried to use cheaper alternative brands, but nothing lives up to this. The girls at Benefit showed use how to apply it without excess wastage - all you need are three drops on your cheekbones, and blend away! I was told that this bottle will last for a long time :)

Posietint

I never thought I would like this tint! This is a lovely poppy-pink tint that adds a gorgeous pink flush to the cheeks. I absolutely love it on my lips as well!

They're Real Mascara

To be honest, when I saw the before/after photos of this mascara, I did not believe it at all! But this mascara was AMAZING. Made my stumpy little lashes look so long and full, and holds a curl very nicely. This product caught my by surprise, and I just knew I needed to own it!

So Hooked On Carmella

How cute is the packaging?!

I didn't even know that Benefit had a line of perfumes! I loved this scent, and was glad this was the GWP for the night. It is a very feminine smell, and they described it as a floral vanilla. I can definitely detect the vanilla in this scent, which makes it so sweet and yummy! This might not be the kind of fragrance for everyone, but I adore sweet smells! This smell reminds me of a cake bakery! Another scent I enjoyed was the Garden of Good & Eva - it was a citrus floral smell. Not the overpowering grandma floral smell, but a subtle floral smell, and the citrus gives it a fresh kick, perfect for summer! Another one I liked was the Ring My Bella - its described as a fruity floral, and somehow reminded me of apples? I would definitely recommend a trip to Benefit to check out these fragrances - they have a total of six!

Goody Bag!!

Contents of the goody bag!

As mentioned before, I LOVE goody bags! This bag was so cute, and contained:

• a copy of the Marvel Spygirl comic
• various brochures 
• samples of Triple Performing Facial Emulsion, Total Moisture Face Cream and It's Potent! Eye Cream
• Full size Silky-Finish Lipstick in Breathless (RRP$34)

Silky-Finish Lipstick

Swatch of Breathless Lipstick

This was such a nice surprise, as I did not expect to see a full sized product in the goody bag! Breathless is a pearly pink/mauve colour, and applies so smoothly. It feels very hydrating but seems more like a fall colour, which is unfortunate as I won't get much of a chance to wear it out. It has a sheer coverage that's build-able, which reminds me a of the Chanel Rouge Coco Shine! 

Wow, this post was quite a long and picture heavy post. Ooops :P I guess I was just super excited to share my night with you!

Mini MUA Haul!

My MUA came in the post today! YAY! So excited :)

I am supposed to be on a spending ban, but the bargain hunter in me could not resist the free shipping and 35% off! This is order #1 (I had to make two orders since I forgot a few items in my rush to nab a bargain :P), and I'm very happy with what I got!

Eyes:
Waterproof Eyeliner
This was a great buy (worked out to be about 1.53!), and its quite a good eyeliner! Very easy to use, and once it dries, its completely smudge proof! YAY :)

Eye Primer
Non greasy, easy to apply and it seems to brighten up my eye area! Not sure how well it holds the eyeshadow (haven't had the time to really test it out) but so far so good.

Undressed Palette
I have seen so many reviews and swatches about how this is an amazing dupe of the UD Naked palette, and this is the product I was most excited to receive! Cannot believe how pigmented and smooth the eyeshadows were, however it was a bit powdery, and I experienced a little fall out (could also be because I kind of just chucked it on my face in sheer excitement!).

Lips:
I have recently started my obsession with all things coral again, so I decided to get the lipsticks in 14, 15 and 16. I also got the lipstick in 4 because who can resist pink, right?

Lipstick Shade 4

This one was a bit of a disappointment for me, it was a very sheer pink, and I think the Carmex Moisture Plus Lip tint had a better colour payoff.

Lipstick Shade 14: Bare

A beautiful nude colour, and I'm so glad I found a nude lip colour that doesn't make me look I'm a zombie!

Lipstick Shade 15: Juicy

Definitely my favourite of the four. Its this gorgeous peachy/coral colour that looks perfect for summer, and very wearable.

Lipstick Shade 16:Nectar

This is a more orange version of 15. I don't think I will be wearing this colour everyday, but I still love it :)

Napoleon Sale!

OMG Just saw this email in my inbox! The site is a bit slow but the sales are pretty good..I just wish I remembered which colour I was for foundations!! I've already got 5 products in my shopping cart and I'm not done yet! Check it out here! Might need to refresh your page a few times, but at least its working! :)

Adorn samples

My October Bellabox had a $15 Adorn Mineral Cosmetics voucher, which is meant to be 100% natural, eco-friendly and sustainable. I had not heard about Adorn before Bellabox, so I decided to use my voucher to buy samples ($2.50 each). I ordered a sample of the Liquid Foundation in Medium, Loose Foundation in Medium, two lipstick shades in Berry Pink and Coral, and a sample of the Illuminiser in Natural. The samples came within a week, and sadly, were teeny tiny scrapings in the sample pots! There were a lot of unsatisfied customers, and even more complaints on their Facebook page - mostly about the sample sizes, but even complaints about how the labels were attached and issues with how to apply the lipstick samples!

Adorn Mineral Cosmetics were nice enough to send replacement samples, and I loved that they listened to their customers! The replacement samples arrived today, and I really liked that they listened to all the complaints! The sample pots for the foundations were full to the brim, and there was a sizeable sample of lipstick and illuminator this time. The labels for the sample pots were printed on clear labels that were attached to the bottom of the pots and the lipsticks came with those disposable lipgloss applicators! Very impressed with their response to feedback and criticism.

Samples on the left were the original size, and the ones on the right were the replacements

As you can see, the samples are significantly larger than before. I'm especially happy about the illuminator sample! When I first received it, I couldn't even apply it because the sample was so small! Now I get a chance to try it out! :) I also did a swatch of the lipstick samples (sorry for the bad quality, they were taken on my phone!)

It didn't come out so well in the picture above, but the Coral is a bit brighter, and I love it! I think its perfect for summer, and will be on my to-buy list as soon as I finish all my Christmas shopping!

First post!

Hi I’m Amy, and I’ve wanted to start a blog for so long. I told myself that it wasn’t just so I could procrastinate from studying, so I made a deal with myself to start this blog after my exams finished. Lo and behold, exams came and went, and I was busy with my new free time doing nothing chilling out. I now have 2 major essays due (for a unit that I picked because it had no exams!!) this Friday, so I decided that now, before I begin my two big essays, would be the perfect time to start a blog!

I basically started reading blogs early this year to help me make decisions about which beauty products to buy, as well as have a little sneak peak at what people got in their Bellabox and LHI! I’m one of those people that never shut up about anything, and since my friends are sick of me spewing on about all the products I love and hate, I though a blog would be great for me to offload all my thoughts and ramblings. To be honest, one major reason why I haven’t started a blog before now is because I can’t seem to find a suitable blog name. I’ve always had this issue with everything – including deciding on usernames for games, emails, twitter…I’m just so indecisive, and when I think I finally found the perfect name, SOMEONE HAS ALREADY THOUGHT OF IT :( So after an entire day of procrastinating (I’ve been sitting at my desk for at least 10 hours, and I’ve only written 3 sentences!), I just decided to bite the bullet and used a random weblog name generator which spits out 2 random words at a time. The word babbling came up and I immediately thought of bubbles for some reason, so that’s how the name came about. HAHA I just hope I don’t regret this random name (like I regret my grade 5 email address!)

Anyways, I don’t know how long I will keep this blog going (I have a bad habit of starting projects and then never finishing them!), or if anyone is going to read this, but if you do drop by my blog, I hope you enjoy it!!