Love That Look - Smoke & Mirrors

Last year I went a little overboard with the MAC holiday collection. Ordered both of the lip bags, and the eye bag with black liner, and the Smoke & Mirrors palette (to start with...) Photos of these are actually on my flickr badge on the side.

Well I was initially disappointed with the Smoke & Mirrors eye shadow palette:

• Fire In Here Eyes (F)


• Wide-eyed Wonder (F)


• Black Magique (V)


• Spell No. 9 (S)


• Deception (F)


• Smoke & Mirrors (S)

The colours were so sheer, so brown, it didn't really seem all that smokey appealing to me. I used the top row today and although flash washes out colour, you get the idea. It really was a good brown smokey eye.





Products used: Benefit F.Y. Eye primer, Fire In Here Eyes all over the lid (and really coat that lid, it IS that sheer), Benefit Eye Bright in the corner of the eye, Wide-eyed Wonder in the crease, and Black Magique as a liner on the outer half. Wouldn't really say it was black though... black brown and that shimmer disappears on the lid/brush/finger/anything but the palette... In all honesty the colours individually didn't do much for me, but the combo had me going 'ooh pretty' in the mirror randomly throughout the day. Hence my very first 'Love That Look' post. Hopefully there will be many more to come, especially after my latest MAC Haul arrives...

OPI Happy Anniversary! ... and flashbulb fuchsia dupe?

Firstly, Happy Australia Day! It's bloody hot outside so I'm hiding inside with the air conditioning on, having a nice drink. Anyway, this isn't a particularly aussie themed nail polish but I have been dying to wear OPI's Happy Anniversary:



I saw the swatch of it in David Jones but they didn't have any in stock! So I whinged and whined about it for a while and watched a couple on ebay but never bought any. My boyfriend ended up finding one for me for Christmas (along with Flashbulb Fucshia :) So I put it on Sunday night:



I must say I love this nail polish. It's sparkly yet subtle. I wish I had peach and pink toned versions of this. Do they exist? I have no idea. I was discussing these nail polishes with the bf and he said 'you know, when I first looked for flashbulb fuchsia, they were sold out but the sales assistant told me there was a similar Rimmel version.. but I was like no way man, OPI all the way' (heh, he's such a good boy). But it got me thinking. I DO have a few Rimmel nail polishes, and knowing me, I probably already have it because I mostly bought pinks in Rimmel. Turns out I do have the so called 'dupe' she was referring to:



Heh whoopsie. Can't really feel bad though, I'm so attracted to this colour, it always reminds me of my formal dress. And because my boyfriend is such a good sport, he tried the colours as my happy anniversary nails were still in mint condition:



On the left is 2 coats of Rimmel 292 Magenta, next to 1 coat of OPI Flashbulb Fuchsia. Obviously the Rimmel one contains less product (by 3mL to be exact) but for probably half the price of the OPI... it's a good substitute. I must say though the OPI is definitely more on the purple/fuchsia side and the Rimmel is more reddish pink.

Product Review: Kevin Murphy Body.Guard

I was first introduced to Kevin Murphy last year. I found a new hairdresser/salon and when I went for my first wash and cut, they used a range of Kevin Murphy products. My hairdresser told me they loved Kevin Murphy because their products were largely based on natural ingredients and they smell divine. It's definitely a strong smell and I imagine it's not for everyone as it's quite different, but I really like it. Maybe sweet citrus? Hard to describe. Seriously though, even though I don't need my hair washed when I get a haircut (I wash my hair daily), I get it done just so I can have all the Kevin Murphy products :-)



The product I wanted to blog about today is the Kevin Murphy Body.Guard. It is a leave in cream that you use prior to styling (e.g. blow drying, straightening, etc). I love the smooth satin finish your hair has after using this product. I bought mine on ebay (bargain hunting as usual) even though they stocked it in the salon. Adore beauty also stocks Kevin Murphy (but can only be shipped to Australia).



I've tried a number of different heat protectors/styling products and I'm loving this one the most right now. I want to try their daily shampoo and conditioner, as I'm still using this body.guard fairly regularly. Although I'm trying not to so it doesn't run out! Hopefully another review to come!

OPI Flashbulb Fuchsia

When I picked up Mauving to Manitoba late last year, I chose it over Flashbulb Fuchsia. I told myself it was too bright, too pink. Yes it is, but I love it :-) I received it for Christmas and have just gotten around to wearing it:



Ahem. Don't mind the Lush Angel's Delight Soap in the background. Anyway, I may even love this colour more than Purple With a Purpose. When you find yourself sitting at work, going 'oooh pretty' at your nails rather than working, you've found a nice nail colour! Hard to capture the colour, it's really so much prettier than shown here:



Yes messy nails but I was in a hurry. The only colour I regret not picking up was a lovely pink OPI... called Mod about You. I couldn't take my eyes off it in the store and I kept going back to pick it up but they didn't have a nail swatch for it. So I left. I bought Curry Up Don't Be Late instead. I'm tempted by the Matte OPI colours but I don't know which one is a 'safe' colour to get... ?

Eeeek I just went to the OPI site and the Alice in Wonderland colours are up. Ok I NEED Absolutely Alice, it's gorgeous!

Lush Holiday goodies

I know it's a little late, but after my last Lush post re: wanting the 2009 holiday gift set, I FORGOT to go back and buy one :-| Then I went to the local shop here on the weekend, but because of their buy 1 get 1 free deal they had sold out of Snow Fairy :-( So I bought it online (and still got the buy 1 get 1 free deal :-)



I purchased the Snow Fairy gift set and my free Christmas item was a 250g of the Snow Fairy shower gel. And I got a free sample of karma soap :-) It smells divine! Actually it just smells like lush :-P But not any of the BAD lush!



What's included in the Snow Fairy gift set:

• 100g Snow Fairy Shower Gel
  
• 30g Iridescent Glitterbug massage bar
  
• 100g Angel's Delight soap
  

I notice that the Angel's Delight soap has gotten a glittery make over this year. Last year it was just red :-) Now it's pink and glittery with stars! It smells so fruity, I love it. I just hope the glitter doesn't annoy me. I'm sure all us lush addicts have had an incident where a lush glitter product has resulted in the entire household being covered in glitter :-| Well I know I have!

Anyway, pretty happy that I got a $16.50 shower gel free :-) If you're game enough to wait until the after xmas sales, it's worth it!

On a side note, I received a lovely handmade gift from the bf for xmas - a makeup storage shelf:



He made it so it would fit perfectly between my vanity and the wall (I don't have a lot of space in there!) I can also rearrange the shelves to different heights. I absolutely love it. I used some mugs I bought on sale and the I <3 NY mugs a friend brought back from the US recently:



I have my makeup on the shelves below (shadows, blushes, glosses, etc). He wants to make me another one for the other side! Lucky I bought two of those polka dot mugs :-) I received the email notification of the Love Lace/Warm and Cozy collections from MAC today. I hate the delay Australia has but it gives me time to peruse all the swatches on YT/blogger first :-) My point is that I'm resisting buying more make up! I must stop and save for my Hawaii trip this June! Argh!!

Benefit Goodies

I wanted to try some Benefit products but in Australia, I don't have easy access to the brand. I think the main website posts internationally, but I did a google search and came across an Australian site, adorebeauty.com.au Yay for new online shopping find!

Although it's annoying having to get different brands from different sites. If I want NARS, Stila, By Terry, I need to go to Mecca. If I want Benefit, Laura Mercier, Smashbox, id Bare Escentuals, I can go to adorebeauty. The website was a little out dated and I did order during the christmas break, but they promptly processed my order start of Jan :-) AND I got a free choccy! That was hilarious. Onto my purchases:



The Benefit FY Eye primer. At first look all I could think was 'omg it's so orange!' But it really doesn't come out that way when you apply it. And it's a blistering 37 degrees today (er, 98F according to google) so we will see how this goes for creasing :-P



Ok I'm such a sucker for gift packs. Especially when they come in cute cases and have accessories like compact mirrors. Anyway I could justify this, I have no blue mascara, or face primer. Yes I have highlights but I don't have a pink highlight :-)



And yes the Benefit Bad Gal blue mascara is quite blue:



Overall another happy purchase. Yet to try the face primer, I already have make up on today. We'll see how that goes. The Benefit Eye Bright is nice and I see me using that quite a bit - it'll be a change from the Clinique white frost shadow I'm obsessed with.

Oh. My blue mascara isn't looking so blue anymore. Maybe I need a primer? Anyway, onto my after Xmas sales purchase. Or was it just a sale? Can't remember. Purple snake skin heels. Who doesn't need that?



Sadly they're half a size too big. And I thought I had my Tony Bianco shoe size figured out! Grr! They were cheap though.

Chanel Nails - Lilac Sky

So I'm not really a Chanel person. I'm not a fan of most of their perfumes (my mum is though!) but I was home for Christmas when I spotted a new Chanel stand at the local chemist. I was impressed, we don't normally have that type of thing in my home town :-P So I perused the small selection of nail polishes and Lilac Sky caught my eye!

Anyway I love how the chemist always gives you free samples. And they *should* with the price of those Chanel nail polishes :-|



Yeah I think the men's facial scrub was due to the presence of my bf but let me tell you right now it's crap. Too rough and not effective. And I'm not particularly certain of the shade of the Estée Lauder lipstick (since I gave it to my mum), but hey, free lippie! :-D

I took an iPhone photo on Christmas day when I wore this nail colour:



I regretted not getting some of the OPI lilac colours so this makes up for it.

MAC Nails - Lucky Number

Well I'm back from sunny Queensland. I had a few days home with the family and then a short island vacation (pre-Hawaii trip to see if I really DO like the tropical beach getaway :-P)

I got a few nice things for Christmas, one of which was the MAC nail polish in Lucky Number (from the Holiday collection). It's a frost and quite nice:



I only did one coat and it was almost perfect:



I really like this nail colour, however purple is my favourite colour so I'm slightly biased (although it's described as blue pink, to me it's a shade of purple).

Sadly my holiday is almost over and it's back to work Monday :-( Boo.