Wednesday 29 October 2014

Product Review


Models Prefer 'Party Glam' Palette


This palette was a spur of the moment buy. My sister and I were in Priceline and we saw it there, but we were annoyed that there wasn't an open one for in-store swatching. I saw that it was only $10AUD and decided that out of the 12 shades there had to be at lease one that I would like, plus this comes with a dual-ended eyeshadow brush so in those thoughts, I quickly justified this purchase to my shopaholic makeup addicted mentality. I am so glad I did though, because I'm going to go back and get the other palettes on offer.

Packaging:
Starting with the box its packaged in: Front and back have a nice clean chic look, nothing too busy to distract the buyer. The ingredients are listed clearly and very easy to read. Nothing too 'fancy' or 'glitzy' for something called the 'party glam' palette. 

Now on to the product itself. Right off the bat, all I can think about is my Urban Decay Naked 2 and 3 palettes. It has the same shape case complete with the mirror, and even similar in colour and it is the same size. (my Naked 2 palette fits in the box) To be honest, I don't care. The Urban Decay packaging is great, and why not copy a good thing? The mirror is a little flimsy but will do the job in a pinch if this was the only mirror you had. The slimline and quality of the case makes it perfect for travel, and with the array of colours included in the palette, you have something for every occasion. I've worn an 'every day' look as well as a 'party' look using only colours from this palette. I also like how well the case closes - with a satisfying 'click'. To me this is important as I don't want it flinging open and damaging the shadows.



Swatches:
And now on the the best part; The swatches! In the image below are all the colours from the palette with NO primer on underneath and they're only ONE swipe in the shadow and onto my skin. The colour pay off is amazing. only minimal fallout from one or two of the shades, easy to blend and very build-able. There are no 'matte' shades in this palette. I'm curious as to know if there are any in some of the other palettes on offer, but in a palette with the name 'Party Glam' I wasn't really expecting anything super matte. 



Colour Descriptions:
I'll now go into a little bit of detail on each of the colours trying my best to describe them, including any pro's or con's I have about them.


  1. Foxy: More of a 'grey'/'cool toned' shimmer, more of a 'silver' rather than a pearly colour. Great for a transition blend and adding depth to the inner corner. 
  2. Envy: Cool toned blue more on the greener side. Beautiful gold toned shimmer. 
  3. Disco Ball: One of my favourites. This is a pearly white shimmer. Perfect for inner corner highlight or even adding shimmer to the brow bone. 
  4. Princess: One of my favourite colours - I used this as the main colour on my eyes in the look below. A very peachy pink similar to that of 'Buzz' and 'Burnout' from the Naked 3 palette. 
  5. Tease: A mix between 'Trick' from Naked3 and 'Half Baked' from Naked 1. An absolutely gorgeous warm gold colour perfect for a pop of colour in the middle of the lid when wearing a neutral eye.
  6. High Heels: Goldy Brown perfect for outer corner / crease. 
  7. Suspect: A beautiful colour - however some might find it hard to pull off. Bright maroons and pinks are quite hard to wear without looking ill. However if blended right, this colour is stunning. Great shimmer and very buildable. Gorgeous transition colour between 'Princess' and 'Mysterious'
  8. Mysterious: More of a brown toned maroon. I wore this in the outer corner into the crease today and it looked beautiful. With 'Suspect' as the transition colour.
  9. Royalty: The name says it all. It is a very regal royal blue. Silver shimmer undertones. Very buildable and easy to work with. I used this along my top lash line and winged it out for simple yet eye catching look. I was wearing a dress similar to that in colour and it tied it all together nicely. (I'll try and find a pic to insert)
  10. Midnight: A nice deep blue would be great for the outer corner blending into 'Royalty' with a touch of 'Disco Ball' and 'Foxy' on the inner corner' (I might re-create that look)
  11. Busted: A beautiful gun metal grey, with a kind of brown/green undertone. Could look quite nice blended into 'High Heels' or on its own.
  12. Blackout: Shimmery dark grey / black. Quite sheer to start with, but, again - very blendable. 
One thing I'd also like to mention, is the names of the colours. Firstly, I love it when companies give names for their colours, its just fun. Secondly, I think the names suit the colours perfectly. 




Get the look:

This eye makeup is using only colours from this palette and after a solid 13 hours of wear AND for some reason I had an irritated eye/hay fever today which meant I was rubbing (shouldn't do that) at my eyes a lot. I'm quite impressed. The colours I used were:
Princess: all over the lid, Foxy: in the inner corner, Disco Ball: blending Foxy and Princess together, Suspect: on the outer third, Mysterious: blending over Suspect and into the outer V/ Crease.

I didn't have any primer on my eyes, and I only used the brush that came with the palette. 

Poor iPhone Quality. But you should be able to see the colour 'Royalty' lining my upper lash line, tying my makeup to my dress. Its obviously a gorgeous colour to contrast against a bright red lip.


Final Words:
I recommend this palette. It has some great dupes for some really high end products and I'm very curious to see what the other palettes in this range have to offer. 

Let me know if you'd like to see some looks with this palette. 

I'll be uploading a video to my YouTube Channel reviewing this and doing a few colour blending examples so stay tuned for that!

Ciao! X

Sunday 26 October 2014

Malteaser Mini Muffins




As the true procrastinator I am. I decided to do everyones favourite type of procrastinating… ProcrastiBaking! Here is the recipe and some pro tips and tricks I've learnt along the way!  



Ingredients - Muffins:
1 1/2  cups (225g) plain flour / 'all purpose' flour
1 cup crushed Maltesers (approx 3 cups whole Maltesers)
24 whole Maltesers (decoration) 
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 TBL baking powder
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter - melted
1/4  cup (60ml) milk
1/2 TSP salt


Ingredients - Icing:
1 1/2 cups (225g) icing sugar
1 TBL milk
2 TBL golden or maple syrup
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
30g unsalted butter - softened at room temperature

Oven: 180C / 350F
  • Pre heat oven and then line your tray with patty pan / cake papers.
  • In one large bowl add the flour,  crushed Maltesers*, caster sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir together  and mix well with a wooden spoon. 
  • In separate bowl, beat together (on low setting) melted butter*, milk, egg and sour cream. Once well combined add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 
  • Mix together well with a wooden spoon (or electric beaters if you prefer) until it has formed a thick 'runny', 'gloopy' dough like mixture. Not quite as runny as a batter.
  • Spoon cake mix into patty pans - fill to half way.
  • Bake for 16 - 20 minutes. 
  • Leave to cool. 
  • To make the icing mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Place in the fridge for 10 - 15 minutes to 'thicken'.
  • Spread icing over the now completely cool mini muffins and decorate with one whole Malteser.
  • Enjoy!
The Final Product!
Pro Tips

*Place whole maltesers into a plastic bag: ziplock back or freezer bag and then crush with wooden spoon until they're a powder.
*To melt butter, place in a microwave safe container and heat for 30seconds on high. Take it out and stir. If it is not fully melted, put back in for 10second intervals until completely melted.

Happy Baking! X





Thursday 9 October 2014

Spring Style

So spring is well and truly here. This post will be a bunch of things that I am already loving this year and can't wait to wear in Spring and Summer!



In this picture we have just a few things that I can guarantee will be getting a lot of use this spring/summer. Some of these I've had for ages, some are new purchases but to me they all scream 'warm weather'.

Now, I'm no fashion icon, but I think these simple additions to your wardrobe will be worth it.

The jewellery: Some of these items I've had for years, some are recent additions, the large flower necklace is the newest piece and I think I picked that up from Target or K-mart for about $10.
The rings I've had for a while and I can say I wouldn't have spent over $5. To be honest, they probably came in some kind of bulk pack. For jewellery such as this - 'costume' jewellery, I don't care much for quality, I shop for what I like. 

The sunglasses are a gorgeous pair of heart framed sunglasses I got online at Forever21. They probably still have them online. They're cute and I get a lot of compliments on them. It's just a bonus they keep the sun out of my eyes. 

The belt I got from Target (I'm gonna estimate) 4 years ago? I've had it for such a long time. It's a simple braided brown leather belt. It goes with everything and I wear it almost everyday. I think a universal piece like this is essential for anyone's closet. 

The sandals are a new edition also, they're cute for the warmer months. Bit also look great with a pair of skinny jeans if the nights are a bit cool. 

Finally, the bag. This is one of my favourite new bags. Usually I carry a large handbag that can hold everything (similar to Hermione's bag from Harry Potter) but on days where I don't need it and only want to fit the essentials. I carry this. It fits my purse, a bottle of water my sunglasses, camera and some snacks. (Usually mixed nuts or a muesli bar) I love that it has a long strap. I like wearing my bags across the body. 

So this brings is to the end of this odd little post. These are some of my must haves for the warmer months. What are yours?  Let me know in the comments. 

Ciao! X






Monday 6 October 2014

Bath Time Routine


So I haven't really posted something like this before, but I strangely get a lot of questions asking me about my 'bath' or 'shower' routine. While for me, shower time is mainly spent washing my hair etc, bath time is the time I take for myself for a little pamper. Something I think everyone should do at least weekly. I try to make every Thursday my 'pamper' day, and usually shower during the week, but on the odd occasion that I do have a bath, I still like it to be nice.  So this is my normal, non pamper bath routine.

The first thing I do when I run a bath is put in some kind of bathbomb, or bath salts, even some good old fashioned bubble bath!

Bath times for me can be quite lengthy so I like to have something in the water to make it smell delicious, and sometimes even benefit my skin!



Tonight I used these bath-salts I picked up from priceline. There was a huge box filled with these and bars of soap, I might go back and stock up on them because they were only $3 for a packet and they packaging is absolutely adorable!





The scent that I got is 'Vanilla and Fig' and honestly, it smells gorgeous. It comes with a little scoop. I put two scoops into my bath tonight and it made it smell delicious. The pack says for you to let it dissolve in the water before you get in, so that's what I did. Honestly, if you're friends with me, you might end up getting this for a birthday gift (Sarah B, I'm thinking of you) (; or maybe even a christmas thing. These make great stocking stuffers (yes, I'm thinking about christmas already)  so get on down and snatch them up while you can! I will be.



While that is dissolving in the bath, I like to put on a face mask. This is one for minimising pores. It smells like strawberry and yarrow. It feels so good on the skin. I have a few masks I interchange but this is my favourite for this week.

I put this on and then get into the bath, It says to leave on for 10ish minutes, I leave it on for the majority of the bath time, to make sure its all dry on my face.







Without further ado I can't go any longer without music. I'll just flick through my music on my phone and play that. I'm currently enjoying the new U2 album that magically showed up on my (and everyone else's) iPhone. I listened to some of that tonight, was quite enjoyable.

Its at this point I'll usually let some water out and put in some more hot water. Does anyone else do that? I can't stand sitting in lukewarm water. It makes me feel un clean like I have to start the whole process over again.

Now that the tunes are on, the face mask is setting and the bath is yet again hot, I can start the exfoliating section of the night can begin.


I have been loving the Sanctuary Spa Salt Body Scrub. I've mentioned it in my August favourites so go ahead and read that if you're interested in knowing about this product. It is SO GOOD! Or if you don't want to read watch it HERE HERE HERE HERE!  I highly recommend this product if you're looking for a new exfoliator. I scrub it into my skin, all over my body then let the oils sink in and enjoy the bath!
Now its been long enough, its time to take off my face mask. Usually I'd do it with warm water and a cloth, but because I am already in the bath, I use this. This is a gentle exfoliator from Olay Regenerist. I put it on the slower setting wet the brush and then remove the mask. Once that is done, I then use the cleanser and finish off the exfoliation process. It seems like a lot of work and harsh exfoliants, but honestly the brush head is so soft I use it every day and only for about 1 or 2 minutes in total. I can say, my skin is looking so much nicer since using this.

This is the last step of the in bath routine. Now I let the water out, dry myself off and finish off the simple routine. This is where it turns into more of my nightly routine. But I'll include it anyway.

Now that my face is all exfoliated and feeling quite smooth, I like to put some toner on a cotton pad and wipe it over my face. I use this to balance my face out and to remove any dead skin or mask residue that might still be on my face. I don't want my pores getting clogged back up again after all this work. This is an alcohol-fee toner by Neutrogena and it is for sensitive skin. Which I have. I love this, because it IS alcohol free it doesn't burn when it gets near my eye, I can wipe this over my eyelid and not have any dramas. Where as with other, my eyes start watering once I open the cap.

 The last step is a moisturising night cream. I am loving this one by Nivea at the moment, It is for dry and sensitive skin, which I most defiantly have. It is such a nice thick consistency, but doesn't feel heavy, and it has quite a nice fresh smell. I put this on five or so minutes before going to bed. Let it sink into my face and then hop into bed.

In the morning I use the day cream by Nivea. Its great, I wake up, wash my face, put it on then go have breakfast, by the time I've finished, it's time for makeup, but I'll leave that for another post.

Let me know if you have a certain bath time routine or any favourite bath products. I'd love to hear them.