B by Bloom Mineral Tool Kit

A quick post to show off what I think is an amazing bargain that I got today!

Image taken from Bloom website because my phone is crap at taking pics at night :P

I was walking around Target today with the intention of buying space bags and then leaving, but ended up looking through the beauty section (surprise, surprise). I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, but found a little Bloom mineral tool kit in the clearance section. Bloom was actually discontinued at Target sometime last year, and I took that opportunity to stock up on Bloom products :P Naturally, I took it to the price check and to my surprise I found the kit to be a mere $5! I just looked up the kit online and it's $39.95!

The Dual Mineral Brush is designed for powder foundation and concealer! The foundation brush is very dense and fluffy, and I just love fluffy brushes! It actually retails for $19.95! The Bloom Primer I've actually purchased before, and I quite like it. It has a very light texture (which I found similar to the FOA primer) and feels very hydrating. Alone, it retails for $29.95 which in my opinion is a bit steep, considering you can get much better primers for that price, if not less!

Nonetheless, I cannot get over the price of $5 for those two items! There were 2 of these kits left, and they also had very cute nail polish trios for $5, one trio was a collection of bright neons (pink, coral and green) and another set had what I would describe as colours from a smoky eye palette (Deep purple, very pale pink and a silver glitter) which I would have also purchased but I think I already have those colours :P I would definitely recommend a quick look at your local Target if you like Bloom products :)

Clinique Gift Time!

Hi everyone - ugh I've still been very bad with my blogging haha
Anyways...Myer was doing the Clinique GWP this week (spend $60 and get a make up bag of deluxe samples), and I wasn't planning on buying anything, but then I realised I want need more moisturiser so perfect timing :P

  

I decided to go with a different moisturiser this time around. I recently purchased step 1 and 2 of the 3 step Clinique skincare range, but opted out of buying step 3, the moisturiser, because I didn't like the heavy creamy texture. However, the lady at the Clinique bar showed me that there was a moisturizing gel, which has a very similar texture to the Clinique Moisture Surge which I absolutely love, so I caved and got the moisturizing gel! As you can see from the image above, its a very lightweight texture that feels amazing - I can't wait to start using it with the face wash and toner. I don't know why, but I have always liked using an entire skincare range, as opposed to using products from different ranges and brands!

Now onto the GWP :) There were six deluxe samples with this GWP, and I was excited to see that half the products were makeup! YAY :)

Youth Surge Night and Day cream
I'm very excited to try out the Night cream, as I don't currently use any night creams. I've used the day cream before, but wasn't too fond of the texture or smell :( It's great that it has SPF though, so I usually keep it in my beach bag.

Take The Day Off Makeup Remover
YAY I love this product! Its very very similar to the Bioderma cleansing water, but as it is catered especially for eye-makeup, I find that it removes my stubborn waterproof mascara off better!

High Impact Mascara
They seem to always include this mascara in the GWP, but I don't mind because I love it! It is the perfect handbag sized mascara - and fits in my tiny clutches too! Only downside is that it's not waterproof

Chubby Stick in Mega Melon
I was super duper excited to receive a chubby stick in the GWP! I was always envious of the GWP in USA because they always included chubby sticks and now we finally have it! I already own a few chubby sticks, but luckily I haven't got Mega Melon - in the image below I compared the size of the sample to the original sized chubby stick, and I must admit I am impressed with the size. The sample is only approximately 2cm shorter than the original sized chubby sticks, and the only difference in the packaging is that it has a clear lid (the original has a silver lid). I am so happy with this because I've always liked Mega Melon!

 Quickliner For Eyes Intense
YAY another product I was stoked to receive! Check out the image below of my original sized eyeliner compared to the sample! They are basically the same size, the only difference is that the original sized eyeliner has the smudging tool! I love this eyeliner so much, it has a great formula and good pigmentation! I purchased the intense plum eyeliner, so I'm so glad I got the black eyeliner with the GWP!

Swatches of the eyeliner and chubby stick

MUA Haul

I have been very bad with updating my blog. I started a new, full time position for the first time a few weeks ago and I've been so busy with it since then that I only find the time to blog sporadically! Working is great - means I am keeping busy, and it also means that my budget has increased considerably. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to go spending it so I do a lot of online shopping - I've actually got boxes of makeup and other things that I buy online that I haven't even had the time to open up, let alone review!

Onto the haul products! MUA had a 50% off sale with free shipping, and clearly I couldn't resist! There was actually a lot more products in my cart but by the time I got home from work and got the page loaded, half the things were sold out (mostly the brushes nooo). I find that MUA products are quite decent, especially for the price you pay for these things. With the discount I think I paid an average of $1.50 per product! Not bad huh?

To be honest, I haven't had the time to try out all the eyeshadow colours, but I have used the primer, lip balm and blushes a lot and I really love the blushes! They are very pigmented and worked out to be 75 cents! How crazy is that. I also got lip liners - something I've never used before but I figured why not try it? They are very smooth and easy to work with, and last quite long. The mosaic bronzer is also quite good, but nothing beats my ultimate favourite Benefit Hoola bronzer :P

Anyways, just wanted to share my MUA products, and hopefully I will have the time to do a more detailed review (with more pictures!) soon!

Priceline Hair Goody Bag!

Just a quick post about the promotion priceline is doing at the moment! If you spend $50 on hair products, you get a goody bag worth $190! I love it when they do these kinds of promotion. It's on til Feb 25th, so get on it! I just went and bought $50 worth of shampoo and conditioner, because you always need shampoo right?! HAHA The most exciting thing in that bag for me was the Argan oil! YAY I finially get to try it. The worse thing about that bag was that my Lee Stafford heat protection mist leaked all over my bag :( I'm so excited to try out all the prodcuts I don't even know where to start!!!

Valentine's Day Swap!

I participated in my first swap hosted by the lovely Jasmine! Thank you Jasmine for organising this swap, and a big thanks to my awesome swap partner, Amber! Amber was the perfect swap partner, and made the entire experience so enjoyable.. she spoilt me heaps too! Without further ado, lets look at all the goodies I received! :)

Everything was in this silver parcel box, and packaged so nicely! Auspost decided to seal off the entire box with the "Auspost Repaired" sticky tape, and it made it such a struggle to tear it open :P 

Throughout the swap, we had a few chats about our likes and dislikes, and Amber really listened to me! I told her the products I prefer to use, and since I don't have much on my wishlist right now, I asked her to surprise me with the things she loved, and everything she got me was perfect! She even wrote these cute little notes explaining why she loved the products so much! 

NAILS:

Loreal Color Riche in Monaco Roses and Perle de Jade

The first thing I happened to pull out of the parcel were these gorgeous nail polishes!l I think she read my mind! I actually saw the stand for this range of nail polishes in priceline, however, it was empty, and I have been searching for these nail polishes for ages! I love the formula and especially love the colours! I couldn't decide which one I loved more so I tried them both out! :)

FACE:

Scentio Raspberry Yoghurt Pack and Honey Facial Mask

One of the things I absolutely love is face masks, and now I have new face masks to play with! YAY :) Amber told me that she first heard of this brand when she went to Thailand, and I'm so glad she included these, because I love trying out new face masks (and I always think Asian face masks are better hehe)! Cannot wait to try these out! The raspberry yoghurt pack is a gel-like face mask with little beads that promise to be moisturising, nourishing and a skin refiner. The honey mask is a super thick cream hydrates the skin! So super excited to try these out :)

Target Naturals Toner

Amber says that this toner is one of her favourites, and so I'm very keen to try it out! I have about a quarter of a bottle left of my toner, so I will start using it as soon as mine runs out :)

EYES:

Essence Get BIG Lashes

I've actually never tried many essence products, but have seen plenty of positive reviews about this brand! This mascara tube is very thick and the wand reminds me of the Maybelline Colossal Mascara!

Rimmel Scandaleyes in Sparkling Black

This product was actually on my to-buy list, since I've seen a few reviews that rave about this product. I love Rimmel eyeliners, and have used the Rimmel Soft Kohl Eye Pencil since forever! I can't wait to try this out next time I go out!

Essence Cherry Blossom Girl Eyeliner

I wanted to get something from this range since I saw it in everyones blog posts! I'm so glad she got me the eye liner, and I love the concept of having a thick and thin pen tip. So far, I find this eyeliner to be super pigmented and smudge proof! Not sure about the lasting power, but judging from the swatch I drew on my hand, I think its safe to say that this baby will last all night!

Essence Eyeshadow in Party All Night

Yay for gold eye shadow. Of all the colour eye shadows that she could have gotten me, Amber chose the one colour I don't own! This shadow is super pigmented and sparkly, and I can see why everyone raves about Essence!

LIPS:

I told Amber that the one thing I love most is lip products, and she spoiled me with SIX lip products!

Kate Lipstick in Rosette

This is the perfect matte pink for me! I am in love (I feel like I've said that so much during this post that it's lost its meaning :S ...but its true love I promise). Perfect pout for going out with the girls!

Loreal Studio Secrets in Nude

This is a lovely nude lipstick, with just a hint of a shimmer. Great for everyday!!

Essence Stay with me Lipgloss

I love lipglosses, and this one is no exception! I love that Amber got me the pinks and nudes, since that is what I've been reaching for everyday these past few months! :)

Essence in All About Cupcake

Ok, I will admit that when I first heard about this lipstick I thought this looked rather drab... it wasn't until I tried it and found that I was proven wrong, because this lipstick gives such a gorgeous, natural pink! I actually already have this lipstick, but now I can carry one with me without the fear of losing it (do you know how hard it is to find this colour?!) I can't get over how lovely this shade is when it is on! 

Hehe couldn't help but swatch the essence All About Cupcake - how pretty is that colour!?

Babylips ♥ Color in Pink Lolita and Berry Crush

I didn't even know the tinted babylips were out in Australia already (shame on me, right?) Haha I loved the babylips range, and I'm sure I'll love these even more! 

I got so ridiculously spoilt by Amber, and I'm so glad she was my partner in my first swap! She made my experience so enjoyable and fun, and I can't wait to participate in more swaps in the future! Make sure to check out her post about what I got her here! :)

January Lust Have It

I finally received my LHI today! YAY :)
I can never resist checking out what other people got, and unfortunately, I got the worse box (in my opinion) combination :( Not only did I receive the dark BB cream ( I need light!!), but I got the box with the sachets and Avene products. As much as I like Avene, I am getting sick of these samples. I really like the kabuki brush though, and actually needed it so it came at a good time. One other issue I had with this box was the lipgloss! I was excited to see a full sized lip gloss, but noticed that it has big chunks of what I assume is glitter in it, which reminds me a little too much of the lip glosses I used to have as a kid!

As much as I complained though, I think this box has great value. It was unfortunate that I got the wrong colour BB cream, and I am hoping to find someone to swap with me, otherwise I will gift it to a friend. Oh and I LOVE the new packaging!

January Favourites

Since I made a new years resolution to start blogging more, I thought I would share my Jan faves with you all!

The picture above is a swatch of my favourite chubby stick at the moment - Chunky Cherry!  It's a gorgeous bright red colour that I love for summer. It's super moisturizing, and I love the packaging of this. I know there are now a lot of lip crayons and lip balms, but I loved the Clinique version the minute I tried it!

 I love the Too Faced Primed & Poreless so so much! I find that it is actually very similar to Benefits Porefessional, but I like this smell better, and it feels much more moisturizing than the Porefessional. However, it has the same texture as the Porefessional, which I love! I'm almost out of this tube so I am using Porefessional again while I wait for this primer to arrive in the mail!

 My absolute favourite nail colour for summer! This is Essie's Bikini so Teeny - I actually have it on in this picture!

 This was a sample I received from Kit since they were sold out of the whitening mask when I went :( This mask is a clay mask that smells amazing - it smells like raspberries!

 My favourite blush at the moment - I've been using this non stop because it gives such a gorgeous pink flush, and it smells nice too!

 This is my ultimate favourite moisturiser of all time! I've been using Clinique's Moisture Surge for almost 8 years now! This is the HUGE limited edition jar (its 125mL!) that my parents brought back for me from their recent trip overseas!

I love the Australis Make-up Finish Spritz so much this is actually the new bottle I just got to replace my old one! It smells so nice (that seems to be a trend haha) and feels so refreshing. To be honest, I don't notice my make-up lasting longer, but it feels nice to spray on, especially during those ridiculously hot days, that I  just keep it in my bag and spritz away whenever I feel too hot! I have always loved facial mists, but the ones I want always cost too much to justify - this Australis one is really affordable, and its pink too! Double win!

OMG I ALMOST FORGOT TO INCLUDE MY ULTIMATE FAVOURITE PRODUCTS FOR 2013! The Body Shop Vintage Peach Body Wash and Body Butter! Wow I can't believe I almost forgot, because I use these products daily! I've actually got a stock pile of the body wash and body butter because I was told by the sales lady that they may not restock these products!! I absolutely adore the peach scent, and I hope they never ever ever stop making these, because if they do, I would be so sad! To be honest, the body wash is quite average as far as body washes go, and I only use it for the scent but the body butter is amazing! I have stupid dry, scaly skin, especially on my legs and the body butter made it disappear!