What's in my bag

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Hey girlies,

I can't help but wonder what people carry around in their handbags. Peeking inside someone's handbag offers so much about the owners personality and style. So here is a sticky beak inside of my handbag.

I have my handbags on high rotation but this happens to be that one I have been making use of the past few days. The bag is inspired by the McQueen bag. It's the perfect day bag which has all the pockets and contraptions to keep all my mumbo jumbo in order.

The contents of my bag varies from day to day but these are the staples. My daily must haves are:
Wallet
Umbrella
iPhone & earphones

Sunnies

 Snake Print notebook - I am a massive list maker
Lispstick pen
Usb

Becca Beach tint in Watermelon - amazing multipurpose product, love it!
Camera

Georgio Armani Diamonds Perfume
Watch - I don't often wear a watch but for some reason I often have one floating around in my bag
Lucas' Paw Paw
Carmex - because dry lips suck!
and keys complete with my delightfully tacky fur keyring!

And that's it! Pretty standard, what are the staples in your handbag?

Imogen x

blush crush: benefit hervana

benefit hervana blush

Saw this blush a few weeks again and was lamenting that fact that I really shouldn’t splurge. So imagine my excitement when my sister came home with it! Anyway, Hervana (her + Nirvana, eeee) is, an ‘orchid-blossom blush for a heavenly flush of enlightenment’ Sounds cute huh? I think I agree, it’s natural, beautiful and I feel very pretty wearing it!

The product, which was launched in Australia just this month, follows on from Sugar bomb with the swirl of different colours. This one has four shades; lucky shell, divine peach, heavenly rise and berry delight. I love the effect of all four swirled together and there is something about actually swirling the blush around that I love.


The shades in Nervana are quite different from my staple blushes which is a good thing. I mainly go for your more peachy tones or brighter pinks but this one almost has a cool pick, mauve undertone which is really flattering (especially for those pale skinned ladies!). With winter coming up I think it will add a great pop of colour but still with a muted, angelic look.  It has the slightest amount of shimmer but nothing over the top so it’s definitely day time approved.

Onto the packaging. For those benefit blush buffs you will have noticed the lid is not completely removable like most other benefit blushes. This is my first benefit blush with the new box and I am a fan. Hoping they eventually change all the packaging over. Even better is the new brush which although is still not ahhhmazing, it a hell of a lot better than the old one and you might actually want to use it, especially on the go. 

in action 

I am a fan of this little box. It's not like any other in my collection and makes my cheeks feel oh so pretty, hehe. 

So what are your thoughts? Will you be rocking Nirvana or are you going to give it a miss. Personally I am a complete sucker for Benefit blushes!

Lush Toothy Tabs - Get your grill squeaky clean!

Toothy Tabs, if you don’t already know are a new alternative to toothpaste. Intriguing right?! I live for innovative and new products and I think Lush have taken this one to a whole new level! I was totally keen to give them a try. 

What are toothy tabs?

Available in 6 different flavours (although Dirty is the only available flavour in Australia at the moment) they are tiny little tabs which come in a little box and are AUD$3.95 a pop. Dirty is spearmint and definitely the most ‘normal’ of the flavours and leaves your mouth in a  spearminty fresh way. The other flavours are;

♥ Atomic – Coffee clove & ginger

♥ Aquatic – Lime, jasmine & earl grey

♥ Breath of God – Sandalwood

♥ Sparkle – Vanilla, lemon, grapefruit & black pepper

♥ Ultrablast – triple mint, wasabi & lavender 
Having also tried Sparkle and Breath of God, Dirty gets the thumbs up from me.

How to use toothy tabs
You simply pop one tab in your mouth, crush it up a bit, get your tooth brush wet and brush away. I wasn’t expecting them to foam up nearly as much as they did and was super impressed with how clean my teeth felt after the first time I used them.

The main ingredient is siodum bicarbionate which cleans your teeth while cream of tartar works to whiten them and unlike some toothpastes they contain no artificial sweeteners or dyes. 

Thoughts 

I’m not going to lie, at first the whole thing seems a bit unusual. I think it’s the fact that using normal toothpaste is such an ingrained habit but when you think about it an alternative is kinda cool. You might feel an initial “erghh” when you start using them but the results are pretty fantastic! I have a feeling that these are definitely not a product for everyone and I can imagine many people not feelin the love for them, which I totally understand. Some of the flavours are definitely not for the fainthearted.

As for me I am a sucker for them. I am totally obsessed and will not stop raving about them/convincing people to buy them. I think my flatmate wants to kick me out because of my non stop talk of them. I think the whole concept is genius. I do have to admit that as they don’t contain fluoride I only use them in the morning and I still do brush with toothpaste in the evening just to make sure my teeth are in tip top shape. What I absolutely LOVE about these babies is the fact that they are cruelty free, vegan and environmentally friendly and contain a ton of natural ingredients. Each year 1 billion toothpaste tubes end up in landfill so by using a 100% recyclable box we you are helping the environment. Win win win. Plus the boxes all come with silly little mouths. Enter cheesy snap. . .

Would love to hear your thoughts :)

 Have you tried them yet? Love them or hate them?

Back with a bang!

Hello lovely readers!

After a very bumpy 6 months I am finally settled down and can't wait to get back to blogging. Here is a little snapshot of the last 6 months; 

♥  I moved to Melbourne into a new place which is 7 hours away from my home
♥  I started a visual merchandising course  
♥ Got a new job as well as starting an intern position
♥  Moved house twice
♥  Started another job (hello juggling act) 
♥  As well dealing with everyday life whilst having no internet (dying!)

It's been a whirlwind but it has been great and for the first time in a while I'm finally feeling on top of everything. I'm definitely back to blogging with a bang and I thought this would be an appropriate NOTD for this post. 

Obviously the inspiration for these came from the one and only WAH nails (cannot get enough!) It was the sort of pattern that I thought I would never ever be able to do but I surprised myself. It was a lot of fun and got a ton of nice comments. If you are going to give it a go yourself, which you definitely should, my only advice is leave yourself lots of time and if you're anything like me recruit a friend for the words on the right hand if you're right-handed and vice versa. 

Let me know what you think :)

I hope everyone had everyone is having a wonderful 2012 and I look forward to catching up on the latest in blog land.

x

Tutorial: Neutral leopard print

Here is my latest NOTD. Having to keep it tame for work so I like to think of it as subtle leopard print.  It's so simple to do yet I got lots of compliments so I thought I may as well do a step by step guide despite the fact that you have probably seen it 1000+ times before :)  Trust me, anyone can do this!

All you need is three things. A base colour, a nail art pen (or fine paintbrush and top colour) and a clear top coat. I used Essie's Chinchilly as my base coat which is a lovely greige! For the leopard pattern i whipped out my trusty Sally Hansen nail art pen in black (don't know what I would do without it)I finished it all off with my favourite Chanel top coat. Viola.

All you do is apply the base coat and wait for it to dry. On top of that draw leopard spots (or attempt to like me) I embraced the messy spots! Apply the clear top coat and you are done.

Rawr!  Told you it was easy!

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday :)

(Also I have a GREAT tutorial heading your direction so watch out)

Dasio Haul

Hello gorgeous readers, 

Sorry for the blogging gap. I seem to have been overwhelmed lately that combined with issues logging into my account mean I have been MIA BUT I am now back and ready to rock & roll. Lots of exciting posts to come. Thanks for sticking around :)


I very excitedly went the the new Daiso store the other week. If you're not familiar with Daiso they are a Japanese chain all around the wall with thousands of products all for $2.80. Yes that's right everything is $2.80! I was like a kid in a candy shop just throwing everything into my basket. I was actually quite tame and could have bought so much more. If you live near one I would definitely suggest you check it out. It was good fun. I managed to fill up my basket with plenty of goodies as you can see below. Everything came to a grand total of $47.60 which considering how much I got is a bargain. I left with a massive bag, it felt like Christmas!

Liquid eyeliner, Eyelash curler, Black mascara

Eyebrow coat, Fibre eyebrows, Make-up corrector 

False eyelashes! 

Blotting paper, Charcoal face mask, Face washing brush 

Collagen mask, Face masks, Eye, masks 

Head towel, Keyring lipgloss

So far I have only used a few things but can't wait to try the rest. I really like the liquid eyeliner. It has a thin brush and probably wouldn't be the best for a novice but it does last really well and I can get a perfect flick. The eyelash curler also rocks! Shall keep you posted. 

Have you had the Daiso experience?

NOTD + Tutorial - Basketcase nails

Hey Dolls, 

You may or may not already know I am completely obsessed with WAH nails. As usual I was browsing the WAH site for inspiration and came across this pattern called 'basketcase' and had to try it. If you are bored and want nail inspiration I definitely suggest you check it out, they have amazing designs. Come to Australia WAH!

The original pictures I saw were in black and white but I decided to use pinky purpley colours. This would looks amazing in any colours, black and gold is my what I'm thinking next time. As usual my attempt is a bit dodgey and needs work but I love it! The design was relatively easy although as usual my right hand is not quite perfect. Hope that you like it!

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to get this pattern...

All you need two colours. A base colour and a colour for the stripes. You can either use a nail art polish or pen or alternatively you can buy a fine paintbrush and use any nail polish.

The first step is to simply paint your nails with the base colour. I used Revlon's Lilac Pastelle.

Once the base coat has dried completely draw a thin diagonal line with the nail art polish from the bottom corner to the opposite top corner.

Then continue to draw parallel thin lines to fill in the bottom section.

Next is to paint a diagonal line in the opposite direction and fill in the section section of the nail.

The final step is to fill in the top section of the nail with horizontal lines. Follow this with a clear top coat and you are done!

Here here we have the finished result. Trust me it's not too hard.

 If you love it, give it a go.


:)

First ever Beauty Box!

Happy hump day!

The Beauty box is finally here! For those of us who live in Australia this is a very exciting occurence as the is the ever Beauty Box. After noticing that a few of these beauty sample box concepts starting up I was over the moon and lept at the chance to sign up. After a long few months waiting for it to launch my Beauty Box finally landed on my doorstep to a very  excited (that might be an understatement) recipient on Monday morning!

If you are not famliar with the concept, which I sure most of your beauty lovers are, it's bascially a box of different beauty samples which you recieve in the mail every month for $14.95. Partnering with great brands such as YSL, Shu Uemera, Bobbi Brown & Garnier to name a few, the Beauty Box sounds promising.

I was impressed with Beauty Box from the beginning and was not disappointed when this gorgeous pink box arrived. I am a massive sucker for packaging and pink (if you haven;t noticed from the masses of it on my blog haha)  so as you can imagine this was right up my alley. Inside the pink box was a black box with a pink ribbon and inside wrapped in tissue paper was the goodies. The box also conatined a lovely card with a description of all the products. Overall the packaging gets a huge tick from me, loved it!

So onto the important stuff... what is actually in the box!

The September Beauty Box contained 5 different sample products which were; 

♥  Shu Uemura High Performance Cleasning Oil - Cleanses & gently maintains skin's delicate moisture balance with a combination of botanical oils. Suitable for all skin types. Removes make-up instantly. 

♥  Playboy Play it Spicy Body Spray - The final step in seduction demands an irresistible playboy confidence. Glowy skin, gorgeous hair, feeling spicy? Check, check, check! 

♥  YSL Beauty Sleep - A gentle resurfacing & re texturing concentrate to smooth the skin's micro-texture, plump the skin and reveal the radiance of the complexion in the morning.  

♥  Marc Jacobs Oh! Lola! - Vibrant and playful . Irresistible sophistication. A sparkly fruity floral, with key notes of raspberry, peony & vanilla. 

♥  Sally Hansen Nail File - The ideal filing surface - for nails not too hard, not too soft. Smoothed & shaped nails are essential to a perfect manicure. Designed specifically for medium & normal strength nails. 

So onto my thoughts...

I love Marc Jacobs Oh! Lola! & the cute sample sprays are perfect to throw in my handbag. The cleansing oil is also a winner. However it kind of bugged me that they refer to the YSL Beauty Sleep as a special treat. I feel like it's a bit of  joke as it should have just been included in the box anyway. Without it the box would have been even more of  flop so I don't see why they insist on making out that it is this great treat we are receiving. I think the nail file is handy but I was expecting samples a little less dull and the Playboy fragrance smells nice  although it does take me back to high school when I actually used aerosols!

Overall I am disappointed with the Beauty Box. I'm not sure if my hopes were too high but I felt like it the products in the box weren't that exciting and it needed more oomph especially as they have partnered with such great brands. I also thought that as it was the first box they might have made it bigger and better or maybe it's just me. I mean the products are alright but nothing jumps out. 

I love the concept of the box, I love the packaging of the box & really did want to love it more but I just can't rave about it. Although I'm not over the moon with this particular box I am nore than happy to stay signed up and see what happens over the next few months especially as they have just partnered with Essie.  And anyway who doesn't love packages right?!

What are your thoughts on this box?

Lush Haul

Hope everyone is having a splendid weekend :)

In my attempt to start incorporating more natural and gentler products into hair and skincare routine I have become a teeny tiny bit obsessed with Lush. Here are some of the latest goodies I have picked up...

♥  Aromaco Deodorant - Aromaco is a solid deodorant with a patchouli scent. It's not actually an anti-perspirant but masks the smell. I have to say I am a little bit sceptical about this but am more than happy to give it a whirl. 

♥  H'Suan Wen Hua Hair Treatment - My hair has not been in great condition lately so I' m hoping this will help it out. You apply it before shampooing and conditioning and it's meant to add a ton of moisture to the hair. I have it in right now so I shall keep you posted.

♥  Dirty toothy tabs - I won't rave on too much about these now as I have a whole blog post coming about what a convert I am!

♥  BB Seaweed fresh face mask - I was after a face mask which simply cleaned and detoxified the skin and the LOVELY lush ladies suggested this. I have already used this and it left my skin feeling fresh, smooth, clean and glowing. 

♥  Buffy Body Butter - I have already blogged about this here. This is a repurchase so you know how much I love it. 

♥  Lemony Flutter Cuticle butter - My cuticles are not brilliant and I have been on the hunt for a great cuticle butter and I'm hoping this is it! It's a thick creamy product with a scent I like and I think a little will go a looooong way. You can also use it on your elbows and other areas with really dry skin which is an added bonus. Review to come on this once I have tested it out. 

This is just the beginning of new products I have been testing out. I have sensitive skin and decided that taking more natural, gentler, safer & animal friendly approach to my routine may not be such a bad thing. Post to come of my progress and all the new & wonderful products I have been using. 

Would love to know your Lush product suggestions that I need in my life

x

Where have you been all my life Tom Ford?

Why, hello Tom Ford’s Lip Colour in True Coral lipstick. This lipstick is spectacular… it’s like happiness in a tiny tube!

Where do I begin?!

The packaging is to die for. A sleek  and simple tube with gold trim. I almost want to pull it out of my bag when I’m out and about just to flash this baby about. It doesn’t get much better than this.  

It took a lot of effort to even begin using the lipstick because I couldn’t bring myself  to touch the TF mark. Sigh. BUT it was most definitely worth it. 

True coral is a vibrant bright red-coral, just like its name! Unlike the more common orangey coral this is most definitely a devilish toned lippie. It instantly warms and brightens my complexion...

  

Formula-wise, True Coral is highly pigmented which means in just one swipe you can have a gorgeous opaque pop of coral. The texture is beautifully creamy  and the colour is true to tube. And despite the creaminess it does actually have staying power without excessive drying and flaking. It lasts and lasts, seriously. Boom! Apart from eating and drinking this lipstick will stick around which considering what a bright colour it is is a major plus in my book. 

If you want a semi matte, bold, pop of colour and want to splurge, this baby is it! At AU$65 a pop this lipstick is pricey but worth every $. The quality is amazing… great colour payoff, super pigmented & super creamy. So much brilliance in such a small tube!



I’m in lipstick looove <3

Blush Crush: Benefit's Coralista

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Hey beauties,

I'm back with another blush crush. This time I'm loving Coralista by Benefit.

Coralista is a gorgeous corally pink. It gives me a bright sunny look (which I need as the weather is unpleasant at the moment!).  There is some shimmer but not too much, just enough to give the cheeks a gorgeous glow. You can build definitely up the intensity but as I'm pale I use a light hand. I really think this is a blush that would be flattering on sooo many skin tones too. Really that about sums it up; it's just a fabulous blush..

Applied heavily on the left & lightly on the right.

Here is this baby in action!

Do you have a current blush crush? I would love to know, I always love blush recommendations!



xxx

NOTD: Wild Berry

Good Afternoon gorgeous girlies, 

I am currently sporting this brand new polish which is Wild Berry by Ulta3. Yes the name of this nail polish is Wild Berry... personally I don't think it hits the spot but name aside I like this polish. It's a blue based grey which applied beautifully. It was smooth and just needed two coats. It's a wintery kind of colour so perfect for this time of year and unfortunately especially appropriate today where the weather is miserable. It's one of those non black colours which I love and need more of in my life! I find it has a bit warmth to it which is flattering and I have even managed to rack up some compliments so go Wild Berry!

What is currently on your tips? 

I am planning on a bit of a nail polish shopping spree soon so would love your suggestions on some new colours to get!

:)

NOTD: Karpati Dito nail polish

This is the latest nail polish to join my collection. I found it buried in a discounted bin and had to have it! Admittedly I bought it for the bottle rather than the colour. I have never really seen anything like this before and couldn't resist giving it a whirl. It's by an Australian brand Karpati and the colour is in Lily Crown. 

As great as the packaging looks it does have it's faults; once you open it you can't put it down, the brush and handle is not long enough, the lid doesn't screw on very tightly and the solid packaging colour makes it hard to see that actual colour of the polish. 

I have never come across this brand before, after doing some research on their website (and being bombarded with  an unnecessary amount pictures of the founder!) I found out that their nail polishes are free of unnecessary chemicals including toluene, formaldehyde and Dibutyl Phthalate, which is a big plus however the nail polish itself was rubbish. It may have something to do with the pale colour but it was thin and runny and I needed way to many coats to get a decent result. 

 

This was the only colour left but I would be interested in trying some of the other colours in the range if I came across them but there is no way I would pay $22 for them. Props for creating a safe nail polish in a unique bottle which differentiates itself in the market but I think there needs to be a lot of tweaks to make this polish worthwhile. 

What are your thoughts on this style bottle? Have you used one like this before?

x Imogen