Can't afford a face brush?

Why not try Cellulose sponges by Manicare instead?

I am lusting big time over a Clarisonic but can't justify the $300+ price tag in David Jones here in Oz. So instead I was on the look out for just a soft face brush I could use to help clean my face a bit better than using my fingers.

However to my surprise I could not find one anywhere! There were plenty of nail brushes but no face brushes in sight. My last resort was Manicare but still no face brushes :( Instead I saw these funny looking sponges and for $4.95 (2 pack) I thought I may as well give them a try since it didn't look like I would find a brush.

I also picked up one of the new cleansers by Dove for ~$6. It's a cleanser and toner in one - great for us lazy girls and is for all skin types. 

So the next morning I used these two products together and was very impressed! The sponge lathered up perfectly and didn't feel rough on the skin but still felt like it was giving my face a really good clean. You only need a tiny bit of cleanser on this sponge to throughly clean your face too which is another plus.

I've been using it every morning since and I have to say my skin's texture has definitely improved. It's a lot smoother and I have even noticed my skin has been a bit clearer. 

I tried the sponge with my St Ives exfoliater but that didn't seem to work as well probably because it didn't lather up enough so I suggest using a cleanser that lathers a little bit for it to work its best.

I would definitely recommend trying these sponges if you want a deeper clean than your fingers can provide. And for $4.95 for 2 it is a lot cheaper than $300+ for a Clarisonic (although I'm definitely not claiming it works as well). You will need to replace these sponges every so often of course but I still think they are worth the 5 bucks. 

I am also really loving the Dove cleanser. It's definitely a more gentle cleanser so it would be good for those with sensitive skin. 

Sponges available anywhere that stocks Manicare, such as chemists, supermarkets, Myer and Priceline.

It also has Blake's tick of approval...he says "it's glorious" haha

Have you tried these sponges? Or have you invested in a Clarisonic or another face brush and you think its worth the money??

Looking for some inspiration??

Why not make an beauty look-book like me?? 

In my house there is always stacks and stacks of magazines (I work at a newsagent so it comes with the territory). The other day I had an idea to troll through all the mags for makeup looks that I loved and stick them all in a book. So on days where I want to do something fun with my makeup but am lacking some inspiration I can have a flip through this book and hopefully find a new look to try or just give myself that boost of creativity. Even on days where I want to create a neutral look it gives me a picture to work off for something a little different to my everyday looks.

It's also just really pretty to flip through.... have a look and see for yourself!

See what happens when I am deprived from internet?? Haha at least the result is pretty and useful!

And if you have a stack of mags lying around that you aren't reading at the moment but for some reason you can't bear to through them out then it's a useful way of condensing them into one book :) 

Speaking of giveaways...

To my surprise I recently won Lilit from Makeup and Macaroon's giveaway :) I was so excited when I got the message from Lilit as I'd never won anything before and her blog was one of the first I started following.

So here is what I got :) Everything is gorgeous and I felt very lucky opening up this package.

1x Barry M Nail Paint in 304 Mint Green - Was very excited to receive this as I have never tried a Barry M nail polish and I have heard such good things. 

1x Facelove Nail Polish in 038 Blue Cubic - This nail polish is gorgeous, from the corset packaging to the gorgeous colour with tonnes of sparkles.

2x Revlon Lipglosses in Power Walk Pink - A gorgeous bright pink colour that I can see getting a lot of use and one in Coffee Bean - which is a brown colour with a lot of shimmer, I'm very interested to try this one as I don't own a brown lipgloss and it looks so pretty in the tube.

1x MAC Lipglass in Viva Glam V - I was also very excited to receive this as it's my first MAC lipglass. I've tried this and I am in love! The colour is just gorgeous on my lips and the vanilla smell is soooo yummy!!

2x Leezi Eyeshadow Trios in Number 01 and Number 08. I've never heard of this brand before but the palettes are so cute and the colours are very pigmented and beautiful so I must look into it some more. 

Lastly I received a very cute sequinned makeup bag and 3x Jurlique samples, which I was not expecting and am excited to try.

Have you won any giveaways? What's the best thing you've received? 

Hey guys!

So I am still alive :)

We only just got internet back fully at our new place so I will be back posting regularly soon. In the meantime I wanted to share a giveaway that Makeup Diary is holding.

You definitely need to check this out! Look at all that makeup!

Hope you are having a great start to the week and I will talk to you very soon. So happy to have my internet back, especially seeing as the new season of True Blood has come out!!

Hannah xox

Tag: A to Z of me

I'm currently in the middle of moving house! Exciting but exhausting and I won't have internet for about 2 weeks (atm I am using one of those broadband sticks but the d/l is very low so I can't upload any pics). Therefore I may not be posting much at the moment sorry. 

I thought I would do this tag post that I've seen around, the A to Z of me :)

A. Age: 22

B. Bed size: Double - we definitely need to upgrade though, double just isn't big enough for 2!

C. Chore you hate: Soon it will be doing dishes! As we've just moved to a house without a dishwasher :(

D.Day: Probably Saturday, because its the weekend but you still have the next day off, on Sunday I feel it's a bit bittersweet because you know you have to go to work the next day haha

E. Essential start to your day: A coffee and a cuddle from my puppy :) and a kiss from the bf haha but more importantly puppy cuddles!!

F. Favourite colour: It's always been green, but lately I have been very into peach shades.

G. Gold or Silver: Used to always be silver but now I can go either way.

H. Height: About 5'8" It's good but I can't really wear heels because my bf is about the same height as me and all my friends are shorter than me so it just looks weird haha

I. Instruments: I used to play the flute when I was younger and no I didn't go to band camp :P haha

J. Job Title: Senior Salesperson....I work in customer service at the moment

K. Kids: Only a gorgeous dog...

L. Lives: 700m from one of the best beaches in the world I think! haha 

M. Mum's name: Heather

N. Nicknames: I never really had a nickname growing up which makes me sad! But lately the bf has started calling me Handorf...I'm not sure I want a nickname anymore haha

O. Overnight hospital stays: Not sure about when I was younger but I spent a night in hospital recently with what they thought was appendicitis I have since learnt I might have a stomach ulcer :(

P. Pet peeve: Unreliableness for sure, I can't stand when people say they will do something and don't!

Q. Quote from a movie: I don't really have any favourite movie quotes that come to mind...about from "stroke the furry wall" haha

R. Right or left handed: Right handed

S. Siblings: 1 sister, 2 years older than me. 

T. Time you wake up: 6.30am on weekdays about 8am on weekends

U. Underwear: Always, bonds all the way!!

V. Vegetables you dislike: Pumpkin, Sweet Potato (to me they taste the same!)

W. What makes you run late: Nothing! I hate being late to anything, if I am even running 5 minutes late I start getting anxiety haha weird yeah

X. X-Rays you've had: Only teeth that I can remember, I've never broken a bone (yay! *touching wood*)

Y. Yummy food you make: Anything that doesn't require cooking....I have a tendency to let the smoke alarm off every time I step near an oven...or toaster

Z. Zoo: I love the zoo! It's one of my favourite places to go. Any zoo that has tasmanian devils is a great zoo! When I lived in Adelaide I used to go to the zoo all the time as it was right across from the uni haha

Hope you are all having a great weekend :) Hopefully I will be back online soon!!

Bargain Beauty: 10 Pan Blush Palette

I've seen these 10 pan blush palettes on multiple websites such as Costal Scents and BH Cosmetics for around $15-16. I heard that you could get them on ebay for a lot cheaper and that they were the same palettes just in plain packaging without the companies logo on it.

So I did a bit of searching and I found one for $1.40! on ebay from this seller. Postage was $7.99 which I thought was quite reasonable as it was coming from overseas and it was packaged very well with lots of bubble wrap and in between two foam pads so the blushes wouldn't shatter.

Now onto the palette...

Mind the glue..haha

The Pros;

• The price..you can't beat $1.40 for 10 blushes. That's 14c a blush, I mean seriously?!
• The range of colours you get is great.
• The packaging is better than expected, reminding me a lot of a MAC palette (although mine had some glue stuck to one side, as u can see above)
• The pigmentation of these blushes is quite good. 
• Mixture of shimmery and matte shades.

And with a product this cheap I bet you are expecting a con list as long as me, but I could only really find two problems with this palette. 

The Cons;

• They have a very strong face-paint smell, however once applied you can't smell it.
• They are quite powdery in texture but are still blendable and look good on the cheeks

Here are the swatches;

Can you guess which shades are my favourite?? The peachy ones of course. Today I was wearing the third colour from the left in the top picture. It's a light peachy colour with a bit of shimmer in it. Here it is on my cheek.

The light peachy blush on my cheek.

I think this palette is a great addition to my collection as it broadens the amount of colours I have to play around with. I think it would also be great for someone who is just starting their collection as it is inexpensive and you do get a wide range of colours. 

Have you bought this palette? What did you think of it?

NOTD: China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

I have never been very good at applying nail polish so doing a NOTD post is very frightening to me! But today I purchased such a beautiful nail colour I just had to share it with you guys!!

It's China Glaze's "Re-fresh Mint". A beautiful mint green matte colour, which is quite on-trend at the moment. It would be a gorgeous colour for summer and even though we are heading into winter now in Oz I am still loving having it on my nails.

My Shonky Nail Job - 2 coats of Re-Fresh Mint

This photo shows the polish with 2 coats and no top coat. This polish is really opaque and you could even wear it with 1 coat but I just prefer the look of two coats.

With Top Coat

And here it is with the Maybelline Express Finish Top Coat over the top. It adds an extra shine to the polish which I quite like. 

This was my first China Glaze polish, I could never find them here in Perth for a reasonable price. However, today by accident my mum and I stumbled across a hair and beauty warehouse that stocks China Glaze and even better the $9.95 price tag!! I couldn't believe it when I saw them. 

For those of you in Perth wanting to purchase China Glaze polishes I strongly recommend heading to this store, they had a wide range of colours as well as a tonne of other cool hair products. It's called Hairsupplies and is located at 89 Petra St, East Freo. 

For everyone else you can get them in stores that stock China Glaze or for you other aussie's you can find them online at Transdesign.