Spring Inspiration Board

At the start of every new season, I like to create a sort of mood board and I think that my Spring instalment would have to be one of my favourite, if not my very favourite one because I've made it no secret that Winter is my least favourite season; the day that September rolls around is the day that I look the most forward to, because it marks the beginning of Spring. The beginning of new life, of warmer days and sunshine. Of pastel colours and sweet, floral scents.

I'm definitely at my most inspired come Spring:

fruity quinoa salad | off-the-shoulder outfit | pink and blue eyeshadow

pastel unicorn hair | cherry blossom inspired nails

rainbow inner corner | honey jalapeno pineapple wedges | mint and tulle outfit

What's inspiring you this season?

Friday Finds

Here are a few of my internet finds (and loves) from over the past week:

\\  Yes to all of the pink flamingo sugar cookies!  //
\\  I could deal with many-a bowl of this vegan "BLT" salad.  //
\\  How fun are these chocolate peanut butter beach thumbprint cookies, though?!  //
\\  Grilled peaches with lavender honey whipped ricotta sound so incredibly scrumptious.  //
\\  These punny lunch printables are here for all of your back-to-school needs.  //
\\  Um.. okay, guys. Freakin' apple pie marshmallows! I die.  //


Happy Friday!

My Birthday Wishlist

Yes, I am aware that there are still months until my birthday - two to be precise, but like the narcissistic asshole that I am, this post has been sitting in my drafts since February. I think I did pretty well to wait until now to post this, to be honest.

If anyone wants to buy me a present (see items twelve and thirteen) because, y'know, kindness and all that, I wouldn't object. Promise.

One: Tarte Shape Tape Concealer in either Fair Neutral or Light Neutral | Two: Electric spiralizer

Jeffree Starr Velour Liquid Lipsticks in Three: Pussy Whipped and Four: I'm Shook

Five: Fitbit Charge 2, in black | Six: Champagne and Seven: Music note Pandora charms

Eight: The Island - Elin Hilderbrand and Nine: Sleeping Arrangements - Madeleine Wickham
Ten: Vampire Diaries season 5-7 and Eleven: Pretty Little Liars season 7
A girl can dream about receiving Twelve: Louis Vuitton Neverfull GM and Thirteen: Valentino Rockstud ankle strap pumps | Fourteen: Sigma brush cleaning mat

Friday Finds

Here are a few of my internet finds (and loves) from over the past week:

\\  GUYS! Red wine marshmallows! Are you as turned on as I am right now?  //
\\  Okay, we need to take a minute to appreciate these rainbow macarons.  //

\\  Some garlicky sweet potato noodle "pasta" for dinner every night, please.  //
\\  I think I've died and gone to Prosecco doughnuts heaven.  //
\\  I'm I the only one who waited this long to jump on the space buns trend?  //
\\  These DIY tassel sandals are channelling all of the Summer.  //

Happy Friday!

The Cost of my "Night-Time" Face

After publishing my recent The Cost of my Daily Face post, I was super interested to know just how much my "night-time" face cost. I tend to use predominantly drugstore products when it comes to my everyday face, saving the "good" products and brands for special occasions or nights out. Of course, the amount of make-up that I wear to a night out depends heavily on what I'm doing. This breakdown is of my general, fool-proof night-time face - the look that just works, no matter the season or occasion.

I've linked the stores that I personally buy each product from, prices vary slightly from retailer to retailer, obviously. All prices are in AUD.

Skincare
I truly feel that a good make-up look (day or night) starts with good skincare, and I'm going to start off my saying: I know that my skincare routine may seem like a lot for some people, but dealing with my combination oily/flaky-dry, sensitive, intolerant skin (try saying that three times fast) requires so much effort, it's ridiculous. I've done so much research and have finally found a combination that works well enough to make my skin manageable (pls halp). I tend to take more photos with friends at night rather than during the day, so I like to give my skin the tools that it needs to look its very best.

After my shower, I start my skincare routine with a swipe of Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Nourishing Facial Water ($24.99) over my face with a cotton pad to tone my skin, followed immediately with Benefit's It's Potent! Eye Cream* ($59.00). I've found that the baking I do later on in my routine works much better with a moisturised under eye area. I allow the eye cream to sink in for a minute before massaging a couple of drops of AVON's Nutra Effects Miracle Glow Lightweight Facial Oil ($17.00) over my face with my fingers, focussing on the front of my cheeks, the sides of my nose and my chin. Once the facial oil has absorbed, I spread a dollop of Neutrogena's Hydro Boost Water Gel ($24.99) all over my face, followed by a light layer of The Body Shop's Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream for Dry Skin ($28.00) and allow a minute for everything to sink in nicely.

Makeup
The order in which I apply my make-up is a little convoluted. I suppose everyone has their own preferred order (the age old eyes before foundation vs. foundation before eyes debate, for example) and I've tried applying my make-up in every which way you can think of, but this is the routine that I've found works best for me.

I have quite large pores on the front of my cheeks next to my nose, so I like to really "push" a small amount of Benefit's The POREfessional Primer* ($53.00) in to the pores in that area (it sounds gross) to fill and blur them before smoothing a light layer of Too Faced's Hangover Primer* ($40.66 - converted to AUD), which is amazing to prime and hydrate dry skin, over my whole face. Next comes my Models Prefer Highlight ($9.99) and Contour ($9.99) Sticks (why don't these come as a set?!). I draw a few lines under my cheekbones, under my chin and on the "corners" of my forehead with the contour stick, and then draw a few more lines on the top and underside of my cheek contour, the middle of my forehead, my nose, and the middle of my chin with the highlight stick. I like to leave those lines to "bake" in to the skin while I do my eyes. I honestly have no idea if leaving the cream on for a while even makes a difference to the look of the contour versus to how it'd look if I immediately blended it in, but it's just what I do.

While my cream contour is "sinking in", I blend a little Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer ($18.95) under my eyes to cover dark circles as a concealer base. I say concealer base because it's not overly brightening; I use a more brightening concealer on top to lighten later on. I like to leave that to dry for a moment, so I'll define and fill in my brows with a mixture of Benefit's KA-BROW!* ($42.00) (to define and fill slightly) and Rimmel's Brow This Way Kit ($12.95) (to finish filling and set with powder) in the mean time. As I've mentioned before, I'm a foundation before eyes kind of gal, so next I apply Estée Lauder's Double Wear Foundation* ($54.00) (see my full review here) to my face with a damp beauty blender, blending out my cream highlight and contour as I go, and finish with a light spritz a little Australis Make-up Finishing Spritz ($15.95) to further hydrate and to meld the base products together and in to my skin for a less cakey finish.

Once my foundation is dry, I move on to eye shadow. My go-to look for a night out is a smokey eye and I usually reach for either the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette* or the Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette* (both $48.00) to achieve it. Neither palette has very much fallout, so I don't have to worry about messing up my base too much. It takes me about 99 years to make a semi-satisfactory smokey-looking eye and after that, I'll line my bottom waterline with Rimmel's Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil ($8.95) and spend another 18 hours trying to create even-looking wings with Maybelline's HyperSharp Wing Liquid Liner ($17.95) on my top lash line. After that ordeal, I'll quickly set the eye liner on my waterline with any old black eye shadow that I have on hand (see my eye liner setting hack here) to keep it in place. Next I'll apply two coats of Maybelline's Lash Sensational Waterproof Mascara ($21.95), which I actually prefer to most high-end mascaras. Whilst my lashes are drying, I draw and lightly fill in a triangle of NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer ($44.00) under my eyes and let it sit there for a minute before I blend it out with my damp beauty blender. Whilst my under eyes are sitting, I pat any excess concealer left on my sponge on to my chin and the middle of my forehead to subtly highlight and then proceed to blend out my under eyes, cleaning up any eye shadow, eye liner or finger prints in the area as I go. I find that letting your concealer sit (a hot tip from Jackie) for a minute before blending means that the product has the chance to sink in to the skin before it gets buffed away, giving a more brightened result.

 Once I'm satisfied with my eyes, I lightly bake my under eye area with RCMA's No Colour Powder* ($27.00) to set that concealer down. I do have dry skin, so when I say lightly bake, I mean very lightly bake. While my translucent powder is doing it's thang, I move on to bronzing, dusting a very light amount of The Body Shop's Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder ($25.00) under my cheekbones and the "corners" of my forehead before sweeping a mixture of the two bronzing shades from Too Faced's Cocoa Contour Palette* ($42.00) over the cream contour that I previously placed under my cheekbones to deepen and set the cream. I'll also bake under my cheek contour with a little more of the RCMA powder to make those bad boys pop even further. Once I'm agreeably snatched, I'll wipe away any excess bake with a clean, fluffy brush.

To put the final touches on the whole look, I start by applying a light dusting of Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder ($11.95) to the middle of my forehead, which is the only area of my otherwise desert-dry face that gets a little oily. Next, I brush a light sweeping of Benefit's Gimme Brow* ($39.00) through my brows to add a little volume. I enjoy a very subtle blush, so I'll apply a light sweep of Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Blush ($55.00) to the apples of my cheeks and then dust a generous amount of theBalm's Mary Lou-Manizer Highlighter* ($29.95) to the tops of my cheekbones, sweeping up towards my eyebrows in a curved shape, to my cupid's bow and the tip of my nose.

My lips are almost always coated in a pinky-brown nude shade. The brand and type of lipstick that I use all depends on what I'm feeling at the time, but for the most part, I usually opt for M.A.C. (although I love Jeffree Starr's liquid lipsticks too). I'll line an fill my lips with M.A.C.'s lip liner in the shade "Whirl" ($30.00) and then go over it with the lipstick shade "Velvet Teddy" ($36.00).

With a generous spritzing of Urban Decay's Cooling and Hydrating Setting Spray ($49.00) to set everything in place and remove any potential powdery-ness, I'm ready to hit the town.

Phew!
Total cost = $897.22 AUD - Holy moly!
I was expecting the costing to be pretty high for this one considering that I break out the higher-end brands for a night-time look, but I am absolutely gobsmacked that this is how much it came down to. Of course, The actual cost of doing my face would be much less than this. This total indicates the price for a full-sized bottle /tube/whathaveyou of each product, rather than a breakdown of the cost of each individual squirt, dollop, gram, etc. that gets used on every look.

I really did enjoy writing this post. It was fun to discover exactly how much time and money goes in to being me. Discovering exactly how many products I use without really thinking about it did surprise me, but at the end of the day, I'm an avid lover of make-up and beauty - using these products and creating pretty looks brings me so much joy. Besides, I rarely have a special occasion or night out these days (#adultlife), so it's not like I'm spending this much time and money on my appearance every weekend (could you imagine?!). To me, this is all worth it.

What are some of your go-to make-up products or brands for a night out?

As always, this post has not been sponsored in any way, meaning that none of the items mentioned have been sent to me, endorsed or paid for by anyone other than me, myself and I. This post does, however, contain affiliate links. I will always disclose such information with an asterisk (*) for full disclosure to my readers.
Feel free to find and purchase these products elsewhere if you don't get down like that. :)

Friday Finds

Here are a few of my internet finds (and loves) from over the past week:

\\  I don't know how I feel about this mojito coffee granita, but I do know that I need to try it.  //
\\  I'm in love with this DIY flamingo pool float pillow.  //
\\  This DIY rose almond face cleanser sounds like a lovely introduction to DIY skincare.  //
\\  This creamy avocado and spinach pasta is what all of my green pasta dreams are made of.  //
\\  This DIY pineapple cooler is giving me ALL of the Summer vibes.  //
\\  I cannot get over how magical these DIY unicorn sugar scrubs look!  //


Happy Friday!

July 2017 Beauty Favourites

One: Palmers Coconut Oil Dry Oil Mist

I have quite dry, damaged hair, so I'm always on the look-out for a good treatment spray that doesn't leave the hair looking or feeling greasy and weighed down. I use this in both damp and dry hair and either feels wonderfully light-weight and non-greasy. It contains a whole bunch of natural, healthy oils that work to moisturise the hair, as well as de-frizz, de-tangle, soften and repair damage. My hair is left looking and feeling so healthy and so shiny immediately after a light spritzing. It also has that wonderful coconut oil scent which I am a huge fan of.

Two: Too Faced Hangover Primer*

As I'm sure you know by now, I have desert dry, flaky skin, so I need a lot of hydration before I can even think about using foundation. My regular primers do work well enough for a couple of hours, but by the end the night , those dreaded flaky patches have become apparent. This works to keep those patches hydrated all night long, which of course helps my make-up last to longer and wear better. It has a very light, non-sticky texture that smooths out super easily; the pump is a welcome addition, too. I've even worn this on it's own on multiple occasions to work, as a sort of light treatment - it's full of skin loving ingredients help to improve the skin whilst you're wearing it and it leaves no white cast, so there's no need to cover it up.

Three: Morphe E41 Deluxe Powder Brush

IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GOING TO DIE! My first Morphe brush, holy smokes I'm a bad beauty blogger. I was on the hunt for a big ol' fluffy powder brush and this fits the bill perfectly. It took quite a while to get here (gotta love shipping to Australia), but it was more than worth the wait. It's big, you guys, and super soft and so very dense, meaning that any powder is picked up with ease and diffused over the face evenly. It can be used to contour/bronze, but I personally prefer a slightly smaller brush for that particular job (although this does blend bronzer sosososo flawlessly). This, to me, is the perfect all-over face powder brush.

Four: L'Oréal Lumi Magique Pure Light Primer

I usually like to test out new primers individually over the course of a month so I can get a true indication of how my skin reacts to it, so it's rare for me to play around with two primers during the same month, let alone feature them both in my favourites, but I could not publish this here post without a mention of the Lumi Primer. I actually bought the Lumi Magique Highlighting Pen back when it first came out and was left a little disappointed, so I put off trying this out for such a long time. After reading rave reviews (especially from Roxette), I eventually caved and gave it a try, and I must say.. I'm in love! It provides such a gorgeously luminous and healthy looking base. You cannot use this alone, however. Just don't. The colour of the primer is very white and that white does not sink in to the skin and fade away - so you'll be left with a white cast. My complexion looks healthy, fresh and lit-from-within whenever I wear this. It's  honestly a wonderful drugstore dupe for the BECCA Backlight Priming Filter.

Five: Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Lipstick in "Be My Baby"

I think I've tried just about every drugstore lipstick there is on offer, and I feel as though there are few liquid lipsticks, or even lipsticks in general, from the drugstore that I feel are worth buying. This happens to be one of those few. The new(ish) Stay Matte formula is amazing! It does take a little while to dry down (which I actually prefer if I'm using a few layers), but it is one of the least drying and comfortable to wear liquid lipstick formulas out there. The range has a generous 14 shades, and Be My Baby is a gorgeous brown-y rose nude and the favourite of the few that I have tried. The formula is pretty damn pigmented - I can get away with applying one coat and I'm still rewarded with gorgeous colour and impressive staying power.


What products have you been loving lately?

As always, this post has not been sponsored in any way, meaning that none of the items mentioned have been sent to me, endorsed or paid for by anyone other than me, myself and I. This post does, however, contain affiliate links. I will always disclose such information with an asterisk (*) for full disclosure to my readers.

Feel free to find and purchase these products elsewhere if you don't get down like that. :)

Friday Finds

Here are a few of my internet finds (and loves) from over the past week:

\\  I'm loving the simplicity of these DIY floating terrariums.  //

\\  How adorable are these DIY cactus doughnuts?  //
\\  I need some creamed corn pasta with fried herbs in mah belleh right now.  //
\\  This DIY ombre script pinata would be perfect for any celebration.  //
\\  Okay, can we all just take a second to appreciate these DIY disco ball heels?  //
\\  This fruit wedge bunting is giving me all of the Summery vibes.  //


Happy Friday!

July Look Back and August 2017 Goals

A look back at July's goals:

Exercise as much as possible
"It's official, y'all, we've got the keys to our freshly built home (!!!) and I've taken two weeks off of work to paint, build furniture, move in, die. I always find that I slack when it comes to going to the gym when I'm out of routine, and if I'm not going to work? Forget about it! Although it may be difficult to get to the gym with all that's going on, I'd still like to make time to exercise in different ways as much as I can."

Cross: I got pretty lazy when it came to exercise last month. After full days of painting, the last thing on my mind was going to the gym. Does painting a house count as exercise?

Spend $0 on food
"I'd say that 90% of my paycheck goes to food. Jesse and I are always (I'm talking always) buying snacks and meals and it's not doing good things to my wallet or to my waistline. Obviously, I'm going to buy groceries, but aside from that, I don't want to spend a single cent on snack-runs or takeaway meals. Home cooking all the way. Pls send halp."

Cross: Yeahno. I didn't have high hopes for this one. I did spend less on food than I usually do, but it was definitely more than $0.

Try 1x New Recipe per week
"I hate spending a lot of time cooking, but I really love the satisfaction I get when I prepare a damn good meal, so I thought that this month would be perfect to try a few recipes that I've found on Pinterest, with all that non-takeout that I plan on buying and all."

Tick: I've tried so many new recipes lately, you guys. All this being forced to cook for ourselves business gave me a push in the right direction for sure.

Find a damn coffee table
"One would think that a freakin' coffee table would be the easiest of things to buy. At least, I did. I have been searching for a coffee table that a) isn't ugly b) isn't expensive AF c) Jesse also likes for months on end and do you think I've been able to find one? Nooooo and the fact that we don't have one annoys me to no end. If there's one piece of furniture I'm determined to buy this month, it's a coffee table."

Tick: ALL THE TICKS FOR THIS ONE! Finally.

Goals for August 2017:

Get the front and back yards underway

You may have read about my aversion to the constant sweeping that I've been doing lately, so it's no surprise that goal numero uno this month is to get a damn yard to cover up all of that sand.

Spend less time fussing about the house

From the moment I get home until the moment I fall asleep, I'm either unpacking, cleaning, organizing or fussing about the house in some way and Jesse has already complained. What is the point of living together if we can't both enjoy it? I plan on being more present in the time that we do get to spend alone together.

Get back in to my gym routine

With all that has been going on, I've been forgoing the gym in favour of getting house-related stuff done before bed, which is understandable, but I've learnt that once I get out of routine, I really get out of routine and it's extremely difficult to motivate myself to start again. The sooner I can get back in to my old routine, the easier it's going to be. 

Find a Fathers Day present
Fathers Day falls in September here in Australia, and as the worst present buyer in the world, I need all of the time I can get otherwise it's back to the usual leave-it-too-late-then-panic-the-week-of routine.


What are you hoping to accomplish this month?