Wishlist May 2011

Wishlist May 2011 by aussiebeautyreviews on Polyvore.com

Can you believe I only just discovered Polyvore?? Haha and I call myself a beauty blogger! I love this site, it lets me keep track of all the products I'm lusting over *sigh*

BYS Review: Blushes

It's blush time people! This is the next review in my brand overview of the Aussie brand BYS.

Top L-R: Peach Sundae, Candyfloss, Baked in Peachy
Bottom L-R: Pink Velvet, Pretty in Pink, Coral

I own 5 of the regular powder blushes by BYS and 1 of the baked blushes. The baked blush is nice but it's only 3g (the regular ones are 5g) and from memory I think they are a tad more expensive.

I often reach for these blushes over my higher-end blushes and I am not disappointed when I do.

So what's good about these blushes?

• The price! $3.95 for one.
• Great pigmentation
• Great classic colours
• Blend nicely
• Last a considerable amount of time on the cheeks.

What's not so good?

• Not much...if I was going to pick something it would be I wish they had more colours! 
• The texture of the blushes isn't as nice as I'd hope but it's still very workable and at the price I can't really complain. 

Swatches L-R: Baked Blush in Peachy, Peach Sundae, Coral,
Candyfloss, Pretty in Pink and Pink Velvet.

As you can see from the swatches the blushes are beautiful and so so pigmented. My favourite colours are of course the peach shades. Coral would have to be my favourite but I also use Peach Sundae a lot as a highlight colour. It adds a beautiful sheen to the cheekbones, I even had to repurchase this after hitting pan on my first one!!

These blushes are available from anywhere that stocks BYS including Gloss cosmetics, Ice accessories, K-mart, The Reject Shop or online at Fashion Addict.

Have any of you tried theses blushes? If so what did you think?? 

Hope you've had a great weekend xo

Old Tag Revived: 40 Beauty Questions!! (but really 42Q's)

So here is an old beauty tag I found....I'm bored but it's not a nice enough day to take pics so I decided to do a tag :) This is the 40 Beauty Questions tag that was going around a while back.

SKINCARE;

1. How many times do you wash your face daily? At least once but more often than not twice. I always wash it when I have a shower in the morning but I can get a bit lazy at night, so sometimes I will just use a makeup wipe and then rinse my face and put moisturiser on. 

2. What type of skin do you have? I would say I have normal to dry skin. It can get dry in places but mostly its quite normal all over so that is a positive. Some of you with oily skin might kill me for this but I never find I need to touch up my makeup during the day (esp when using long-lasting products).

3. What is your current facial wash? Recently I have been using the St Ives Green Tea face cleanser, which I really like. It smells so sweet and yummy (nothing like green tea!) and I find that it helps to calm my redness. 

4. Do you exfoilate? Yes I do, probably about 2-3 times a week when I am in a good routine.

5. What brand do you use? I usually use the Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash Daily Scrub one as I find it really clears away the dead skin.

6. What moisturiser do you use? It depends if I am feeling cheap or expensive haha When I am feeling cheap I use the Nivea one for young skin in the blue container. However when I have that little bit extra to spend I like to use the Shiseido Men's Moisturising Emulsion - I use the men's one as I find it to be exactly the same as the woman's and you get 100ml in the men's for ~$60 and only 40ml in the woman's for pretty much the same price. 

7. Do you have freckles? Yes, a lot and I think they are great! Although when I wear makeup you can't see them as much of course.

8. Do you use eye cream? I like to think I am young enough that I don't really need it, however when I can be bothered I will put some on, nothing fancy though just a nivea one.

9. Did you or do you have acne prone skin? Yes I do. For me it started when I was in about yr 11 or 12 and I still have acne now (I'm 23 this year). I tend to get the more cystic acne though, which is painful and quite difficult to cover. 

10. Did you ever have to use Pro-activ? No I have never used it, I have always been curious to try it but I didn't think for the price it was worth it, I'm happy just using my supermarket brand cleansers for the moment. 

MAKEUP;

11. What foundation do you use? This changes regularly but my faves are Nars Sheer Glow, Revlon Colourstay and Covergirl Tru Blend.

12. How about concealer? Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer by far!! 

13. Do you know your undertone colour? Definitely yellow

14. What do you think of fake eyelashes? I wish I could apply them properly! haha I think they are a bit impracticable for everyday but for special occasions they are great. 

15. Did you know that you are supposed to change your mascara every 3 months? Yes but I am a bit slack with this one, probably because I have never actually fully used up a mascara haha

16. What brand of mascara do you use? Mostly maybelline, they are cheap and consistently good I find. 

17. Sephora or MAC? I've never been to a Sephora :( we don't have them in Oz but from what I have seen I think I would definitely pick Sephora.

18. Do you have a MAC pro card? haha nope I don't even think we have one in Perth

19. What makeup tools do you use in makeup application? Brushes for sure, I use Sigma brushes. Would love some other higher-end brands but can't justify the price at the moment. Other tools include; eyelash curler, spoolies - they are my fave!! and sponges.

20. Do you use makeup base/primer for the eyes? Yes, either mac paint pot or urban decay primer potion which I got recently with my naked palette and thats prob my fave. 

21. For the face? I have before but I personally don't see a difference from when I use it to when I don't and it's just another layer I'd prefer not to add. 

22. What is your favourite eyeshadow? (colour or shade) Urban Decay in Sin and Sidecar are my current faves.

23. Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner? Both, pencil for the waterline and tightline and liquid/gel for lash line.

24. How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil? Not very often, I sometimes get myself in the eye with my powder brush (weird I know). I think its coz I wear contacts and my eyes have become desensitised to things coming at them haha

25. What do you think of pigment eyeshadows? Probably the same as everyone else...very impracticable even though most of them are beautiful.

26. Do you use mineral makeup? Not really, never really appealed that much to me probably because of the mess factor.

27. What is your favourite lipstick? I've only recently got into lipsticks so I can't really say I have a favourite but orangey coral would have to be my fave colour lipstick. 

28. How about lipgloss? Nars Chihuahua for sure!

29. What is your favourite blush to use? This is such a hard question! Probably Nars Orgasm at the moment but its too hard to choose a forever favourite. 

30. Do you buy your makeup on ebay? Only the cheaper stuff, like the big colour eyeshadow palettes and the blush palettes. 

31. Do you like drugstore makeup? Yes! Some of it is really great, like Covergirl's Tru Blend foundation and maybelline dream mousse concealer as well as mascaras. 

32. Do you go to CCO's (cosmetic company outlets)? I wish I could! I don't think they exist in Oz let alone Perth..

33. Did you ever consider taking makeup classes? Yes, I am taking one with my sis in a couple of months that she bought off one of those deal websites. I'm also considering going to beauty school but not sure yet.

34. Are you clumsy in putting on makeup? Only when I can't be bothered...

35. Name a makeup crime you hate? Unblended foundation lines and fake looking organgey bronzer would have to be the worst wouldn't they??

36. Do you like colourful shades of makeup or neutral ones? I used to only wear colours but as I have gotten older I have gotten into the neutral shades. But I still like wearing bright colours.

37. Which celebrity always has great makeup? I like Evan Rachel Wood's makeup (esp in the gucci ads and in true blood) and also Oliver Wilde's and of course the Kardashians, although I think Kim's overdone the eyelash extensions!

38. If you could leave the house using just ONE makeup item, what would you use? Concealer for sure.

39. Could you ever leave the house without makeup on? Yeah for sure, I think everyone needs to be able to do this but I definitely prefer wearing it. 

40. Do you think you look good without any makeup on? Depends on the day but generally I do.

41. In your opinion what is the best makeup line? I haven't tried all the higher end brands yet but from what I have tried I would have to say Nars. But my fave eyeshadows are Urban Decay.

42. What do you think of make-up? Obviously I enjoy it, it's great to play around with but also gives me confidence. 

Let me know if you do this tag!! xox

Haul Time!!

So I just got back from shopping...I know I know I shouldn't be shopping when I'm technically going to be unemployed in 2 weeks but hey I needed to get some clothes for my "potential" job interviews and it's not my fault that the beauty sections of the shops were right next to the clothes...plus I got some great deals :)

As you can see in the pic I went a bit nuts at Priceline and bought 3 Maybelline Dream Mousse concealers - but I have reasoning. They were only $6.38 each, probably because it's being discontinued but it's my HG concealer so I thought I would stockpile a few while they are cheap.

Next stop Target where Bourjois was 3 for 2. So I finally picked up the much talked about "chocolate bronzer" ($30), the volumizer mascara ($24) and a metallic waterproof eyeliner in #53 ($16).

The bronzer is gorgeous! The packaging, the smell (like very sweet chocolate), the texture (so silky) and the colour are all great. Definitely pick this up if you haven't already.

This mascara is one that I would always stop at while in Priceline. I've been wanting to try it for ages so with the 3 for 2 deal I thought why not. I haven't given this a go yet but it looks promising. It's one of those mascaras with the 2 steps, one skinnier defining brush and then a fat volumising brush. 

Step one brush

Step two brush

My last Bourjois item was a toss up between one of their foundations and an eyeliner...I tested the foundations and they didn't really impress me so I decided to get an eyeliner. I got one of the metallic waterproof ones in a golden bronzey colour that I plan to use on my waterline. 

The last product I got was one I was looking at while waiting for my script at the chemist to be done (always a high risk time for beauty buying!!). 

It's Cetaphil's moisturising cream for dry sensitive skin. I got this because I had heard good things about it on youtube and I am in need of a good moisturiser as we are getting into winter and my skin has been getting really dry. I tested it out in the store and this is super moisturising and isn't greasy or sticky so I decided why not!

Here are the swatches of all my new swag :)

No flash from L to R: Bronzer, Eyeliner, Concealer & Moisturiser.

Have you tried any of these products? Let me know what you think of them :)

****Also when I was in Priceline I saw them putting up the new Model's Own stand and I felt some of their brushes. They felt AMAZING! They were super soft and dense too. I was going to buy the contour eye brush but I felt too guilty about it haha Let me know if you have seen these or if you have bought any.

Hope your having a great day so far xoxo

Wishlist time!!!

Here are the products I'm lusting over currently :) Enjoy!!

Nars Copacabana Illuminator

Image sourced from here

I have the original Orgasm Illuminator and I love it! From what I have seen in the blogoshpere Copacabana not only has an awesome name, it is just beautiful on the skin. Actually Laguna looks pretty awesome too....

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes

Image sourced from here

These blushes have such a buzz around them at the moment and I want to find out why!! My pick of colours are Exposed (a tan colour), Tipsy (a coral) and Blissful (a peach). Plus the packaging is so adorable and useful, the colour matches the shade of the blush!!

Illamasqua Lover Powder Blush

Image sourced from here

Can you tell I am a little bit obsessed with blushes?? Well I am...especially peach coloured blushes at the moment. I haven't got any Illamasqua products yet either and this looks beautiful to me, the packaging is gorgeous!!

Makeup Forever Smokey Lash

Image sourced from here

I have been wanting to try this mascara for AGESSSSS but cannot justify the price ($22USD) and the cost of shipping it over from the US.

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation

Image sourced from here

I've never tried a Chanel foundation before, mostly because I have never had that much spare cash to spend on a foundation. This particular one is quite light-weight which appeals to me. Personally I blame Pixiwoo for my lust over Chanel foundations!


Well that's enough for one wishlist! Let me know what your lusting over :)

Hope your having a good night xox

April Faves :)

April was a pretty blah month for me, I spent most of it quite ill and a part of it in hospital with what the doctors think was a bad case of gastro...and I found out I need to get a new job as the owners of the shop I work at now have decided to sell it and the new owners don't want a full-timer :( 

But amongst all the crapiness these products kept me semi-beautiful (obviously when I was sick I wasn't the most attractive thing in the world haha)...now to my saviours!

The first product is a very popular aussie product, loved by pretty much everyone I have ever met, Lucas' Papaw Ointment. This stuff is a lifesaver for lips! It is so moisturising and makes your lips feel so good. When I was sick I was extremely dehydrated and this stuff saved my lips. I put it on before bed and it was still on my lips when I woke up, which is just crazy!

The next is a new foundation I have been trying out, as I just can't afford to keep purchasing my beloved Nars Sheer Glow especially when I'm job-hunting! It is Covergirl's Trublend Foundation in ivory. I love this foundation the packaging is great, its in a glass bottle and it has a pump which gives you the perfect amount each time. It matches my pale skin and it blends really nicely and doesn't feel heavy at all. The only downside is that it doesn't last all day, however I have been mixing it with a little bit of Revlon Colourstay and that has helped it last a lot longer.

Third is my Nars blush in Orgasm, this has been on my cheeks for about two thirds of this month which is crazy as I usually change up my blush everyday. Not sure why I'm so attached to it this month, maybe it has been helping me look a little healthier.

And my next fave is what I have started to apply my blushes with and its my Sigma Duo Fibre F50 brush. For some reason I never tried using this brush for blush until this month...crazy I know as it works so well, especially with highly pigmented blushes as it doesn't grab too much product.

This next fave I have been lusting over for sooooooooooooo long! It was given to me by my mum who has been in Europe this month and I can't believe I now own it. It's the Urban Decay Naked Palette. This palette is as good as everyone describes it. The colours are AMAZING and you can create so many different looks with this one palette. The packaging is gorgeous too and it's perfect for travel as you have everything you need for your eyes in the one palette. Since getting this I haven't touched another eyeshadow from my collection so it definitely deserves a spot here.

RPR Treatment Repair my Hair Mask is my favourite product this month for my hair. I used this for the first time this month and my hair was soooooo soft and felt so healthy. It has an amazing coconut smell that lasts on your hair, so if your not a coconut fan steer clear but I am and I love the smell of this.

The next product I had heard mentioned in a youtube video once briefly about clearing your skin. It is Witch Hazel. It is pretty potent, containing 14% alcohol, which you can definitely smell! The smell of this is horrible (Don't use when your hungover! haha) but it goes away within about a minute after application. I just dot this on the spots on my skin and it dries them out and makes them disappear a lot quicker. I don't know how good this is for your skin and I definitely wouldn't use it all over or on a regular basis as it is very drying but on the occasional spot it seems to work well.

Revlon Fabulash is my fave mascara for the month of April and has been on my lashes pretty much every day this month. I dunno why but I haven't heard much about this mascara online but I really like it, it makes my lashes look super full and fluttery.

Nars Chihuahua lipgloss has been on my lips when I felt the need for a bit more colour. This colour is a beautiful pink that is a touch darker than my natural lip colour so it makes them stand out just that little bit more without being too much.

And what have I been smelling like all month??? My new fave perfume Gucci Guilty. This perfume is the sexiest scent I have ever owed and I love it. The packaging is just gorgeous and I love seeing it on my counter.

Have you tried any of these products? What are your faves for the month of April??

My Fave Youtube Beauty Gurus

Discovering the beauty community on Youtube has got to be one of the best things I have ever done (although my boyfriend might disagree). I have learnt so much about make-up and beauty from watching all the tutorials and reviews that I was never taught or knew. I'll admit now that I am a tiiiiiny bit addicted...well a lot addicted to watching videos and am currently subscribed to about 120 girls and guys.

My friends aren't all that interested in make-up and beauty items so I think thats what attracts me to the online beauty community, finally having a place to share my interests and people that understand that it's ok to be obsessed about that latest holy grail must have makeup item.

So here they are my favourite youtube "gurus";

1. Pixiwoo - 2 sisters who are MUA's in the UK. They have got to be the best on youtube by far I think, their tutorials are always AMAZING! and they just seem like good people.

2. LegallyBrunette214 - Her name is Nikki and she definitely deserves more subscribers! Her tutorials are always beautiful and easy to follow. She's American and a budding MUA in the works (she's still young - only 19 I think which is crazy for the amount of talent she has).

3. Carly Cristman - I love this girl! She is one of the most stylish girls on youtube and her outfit of the day videos are always great. Her videos are more to do with style than beauty but she has some reviews and tutorials occasionally.

4. MakeupbyTiffanyD - I'm sure you are already subbed to Tiffany but just in case definitely look her up. Her tutorials are great and very easy to follow. She also has the most amazing eyelashes you will ever see!

5. MakeupGeekTv - Marlena is one of the sweetest girls (i feel weird saying girl because she's older than me but lady or woman doesn't feel right haha) on youtube. She is actually a MUA and does a lot of great tutorials and reviews.

6. FleurDeForce - She's a very sweet UK girl who loves makeup, I'm not sure what she does but she's not a MUA. She is quite young too I think but does some great reviews.

7. Goss Makeup Artist - He is a makeup artist from the UK. His videos are all quite short and to the point which is good and he gives great tips.

8. Carahamelie - She's a twenty-something girl from the states who is really sweet and you can tell is genuinely nice. She's a makeup artist in a small town and does a lot of makeup and hair tutorials as well as outfit idea videos. She's currently pregnant and does vlogs about it, which I never thought I would get into watching but she is so excited about it that whenever I watch one it makes me smile.

9. Frmheadtotoe - Jen is a US born Korean makeup artist and designer who does great tutorials and fashion vids, she's really cute and REALLY TINY!

10. JLovesMac1 - This girl cracks me up everytime, i don't necessarily watch her videos for the tutorials or anything but just to watch her because she's so funny.

So there you have it my top 10 :) It was hard to only choose ten as there are so many talented girls and guys on youtube these days! Let me know who your fave people are to watch :)

Hope your having a great weekend!! xox