I am SO excited because it is Spring again here in the Southern Hemisphere. Spring is my favourite season because my birthday is in October and the weather is beginning to become so beautiful.

When it comes to lipsticks, I'm usually very boring. We all know that my everyday lip colour is typically a brown, mauvey, rose type of colour but as soon as a new season pops up, I become determined.

This post is for you mainly so you have some lip inspo but it's also a reminder and 'note to self' to actually be a little bit different with my colour choices. I know I still included one nude shade but I honestly can't help it.

NYX Lip Lingerie in Ruffle Trim is such a great matte liquid lipstick. It's the first one that I've ever tried and I think that it's my favourite formula too. It isn't the type of liquid lipstick that will stay on after eating so it does need a touch up. But, the longevity is pretty damn good if you're out and about. The formula is mighty comfortable on the lips and I think this is perfect for spring because if you leave the house for a few hours you won't have to touch up all of the time.

A super easy lip crayon with a great formula and lovely shade is the Covergirl Jumbo Gloss Balm in 290 Berries N' Cream. This is definitely the easiest to touch up on the go. The colour is a light, pink berry mauve shade with a nice glossy apperance. It makes lips look juicy and spring time fresh.

It's been a while since I've worn the Arbonne Creamy Lipstick in Rose*. It's a little like a neutral, rosey, purple type shade and I love it during spring and summer. It's still close to my comfort zone but slightly different. I think trying something super similar to a shade you love with a twist is a great way to begin experimenting with new colours for seasons.

Becoming a bit more bold now with choices, I've picked two Maybelline Color Blur* shades. The formula of these products is very, very, very, very smooth. I absolutely love this range and if you'd like to see all Maybelline Color Blur Matte Pencils swatched and reviewed click here. I ofcourse usually use the more subtle colours, but I picked out #15 Berry Misbehaved and #20 Orange Ya Glad. Both shades are stunning and bold but if you're scared like me, you can dull them down by blotting your lips with a tissue.

Last up, I had to include an Urban Decay Vice Lipstick. If you saw my review and swatches on 19 of the shades here, you'd know that I can't get enough of the Creamy formula. I decided on Wired*. It's a bright, coral, almost flurescent pink / orange colour and I think it will be stunning in spring.

Oh and to all of my Northern Hemisphere readers, if you'd like me to create a post of my 6 favourite lip colours for fall / autumn, let me know!

What are some of your favourite colours to wear during spring?


*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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Because I wanted to take quite the dip into Clinique's Makeup, I decided to pick a couple of lip and cheek goodies, plus one contour product.

Starting with lips, I received the Pop Lip Colour and Primer in #14 Plum Pop* and Chubby Stick Intense in #10 Grandest Guava*. Both products as you can see are very pigmented and smooth.

Plum Pop is a beautiful dark berry lipstick. I haven't worn a berry shade in a long time and after wearing this, I can't remember why! This colour looks so lovely on me and I feel like it's the type of berry shade that would look lovely on a range of skin tones.

Grandest Guava is a lip crayon and is what I'd describe as a very pigmented, lip balm. It's very comfortable to wear and you can easily touch up during the day without a mirror. The colour is a little like a dark burnt orange with small amount of a very small sized sparkle.

Clinique's Cheek Pop's are something that I have seen a lot of online. The blushes have a gorgeous pattern imprinted into them and the colours look very bold. I was actually surprised to find out that the cheek pop's are actually on the more subtle side of blushes. They give your cheeks I guess, well, a 'pop' or flush of colour. Nice, natural and easy to work with.

The Cheek Pop's that I ended up picking up were Melon Pop* and Peach Pop*. Both of these shades are gorgeous but my favourite is Peach Pop because I'm a sucker for peach and coral blushes. For my next cheek pop, my eyes are locked on Rosy Pop.

The last product I decided on is Clinique's #01 Curvy Contour Chubby Stick*. I was so intrigued to see how it would work because I haven't ever used anything like it before. The formula itself applies really easily to the hollows of my cheek and blends like an absolute dream. Unfortunately it is a little too warm for my olive skin complexion. I think if you had light to medium skin, this would look great on you.

Overall, I'm really impressed. I love that Clinique is really accessible because now I can go instore, swatch everything and unfortunately spend lots of my money - oopsies haha!

What Clinique makeup products have you used?
Have you tried any Clinique skincare?
*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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The month of August flew by for me. Time keeps disappearing what seems like so quickly and I can't believe my birthday is already almost back around. Crazy stuff!

My August Favourites are a bit of a surprise for me because this time in July I wouldn't have dreamt of many of these products.




  
Last month I wrote a review on all of Benefit's New Eyebrow Products here and a couple of them crept their way into my July Favourites here. This month. a few things changed and I'm back to my beloved Gimme Brow*. But now, I have a new product which I love to use along side it which is Booki Brow's Trio Eyebrow Powder and Highlighter. This powder is the most smooth and luxurious eyebrow powder I've ever used, even compared to my Anastasia Brow Duo. The shade I use is Light Brown / Blonde and the middle shade is my perfect match. I first apply the powder and top it all off with Gimme Brow to set my brows down.

When it comes to lip products, I didn't own any of these products last month. They're all new to my life but I am definitely hooked. They're all liquid lipsticks and I imagined them to be drying, but they aren't. They feel like a comfortable mousse, yet last a long time on my lips too.

The three lip products are NYX's Lip Lingerie in Lingerie in 04 Ruffle Trim, ColourPop's Ultra Satin Lip in Alyssa and lastly, ColourPop's Ultra Matte Lip in Beeper. If I HAD to choose one, I'd probably say Beeper is my #1 favourite for this month when it comes to lips. But, I honestly love all three.

As we all know, waiting for our nails to dry is one of the biggest 'struggles' we have in our beauty routines. I'm usually quite good with not touching my nails but sometimes, I do nothing but ruin them in the space of 2 minutes. I've tried many products before to help my nail polish dry quicker in the past but none have worked quite as well as the Revitanail Instant Dry Drops*.

Unlike other products I've tried, Revitanail's is in what I can only describe as an eye drop packaging style. A couple drops later, I wash off the excess, and my nail is dry! Compared to other brands, the dry drops don't lessen the longevity of my nail polish or make my nails a weird texture. Virtually straight after using the dry drops the first time, I accidentally bumped my nails on the bench in my bathroom and I had no damage, at all.

These two hair goodies have been ALL that I have used. I posted a really large, in depth hair care routine post a couple months ago. Now, this is it. No elaborate steps at all. As soon as I hop out of the shower and slightly towel dry my hair, I apply a pea size amount of the L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil-In-Cream*. When I use heat on my hair, I also add in the L'Oreal Elvive Smooth Intense Heat Protect Cream*. Both of these products have resulted in my hair looking the healthiest it has been in years. Besides that, I can't believe how easy, accessible and affordable they are.

Last up is something that might seem quite random but I am entirely hooked. Welcome to my Bullet Journal. It's a lined diary from Kikki K which I have decked out to fit meee! If you don't know what Bullet Journaling is, have a quick Google or check on Pinterest. Essentially, you buy a diary and you customise it yourself. You know the feeling of when you buy a diary, love it for the first two months and then hate it? This gets rid of that! Instead of being told you have 3 lines to write about your Monday, you can honestly make it one page long or however long you want. It's so much fun and I just feel incredibly inspired and organised.

What were some of your favourites for the month of August?
Have you tried any of these products?
Do you like Bullet Journaling?

*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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Releasing a few gorgeous lipsticks is one thing, but when Urban Decay releases 100 of them at once, you know that Christmas has come early. If that wasn't enough, they are also releasing 50 of their lip liners.

Let me quickly address the few questions you're probably thinking right now. 'Where, when and how much!?' August 23rd marks the release date for the Urban Decay Vice Lipsticks and 24/7 Glide-On Lip Liners at Mecca Maxima. The lipsticks will be priced at $28AUD while the lip liners will be $32AUD, which I think is an incredibly low price for such high quality, high end products.

Formalities aside, let's get into the goodness now.

URBAN DECAY VICE LIPSTICK* comes in 100 shades. No, that wasn't a typo that you saw at the beginning of the post. This. Is. Legit. I was blessed with 19 gorgeous shades in a variety of formulas.


In my experience, it is really rare for brands to have multiple hero products from various categories. For example, when someone mentions the words 'Urban Decay', I would have immediately thought of eyeshadows, more specifically their Naked Palettes. With 6 different lipstick formulas, I was also sceptical that there wouldn't be clear differences. I wasn't sure if the formulas would feel good, look good, wear good... But, Urban Decay surprised me every single time. These lipsticks are on another level and are all great.

Starting with the lightest formulas, we have Sheer and Sheer Shimmer. As you'd assume by their names, these lipsticks are thin and light weight. The overall transparency is the same for both formulas, yet the Sheer Shimmer formula obviously has little shimmer flecks and adds an extra dimension to a lip look. I assume that you wouldn't use this formula on it's own because it isn't strong enough to show up. But, it would be great to layer on top of one of your favourite colours. Sheer on the other hand can definitely be worn alone and you can use it for a little flush of colour on the lips which I think is perfect for day time or a more natural makeup look.

The most comfortable formula for me is of course Cream. I am an absolute sucker for smooth, bold, lip colours and this formula delivers. As you can see from the swatches, all of the colours are incredibly pigmented and I usually keep my swatch size pretty small, but the formula was just soooo smooth that I wanted to really go overboard. I would suggest this formula to everyone that loves lipsticks full stop.

Moving onto something that is definitely different for me, let's talk about the Metallized Formula. This formula is sunning and it's not something that I would typically look for, but it excites me. Imagine a gorgeously pigmented lip colour, with some added drama and a bit of a frost appearance (but a cool frost). I'd also say it's a combination between the Cream and Sheer Shimmer formula. I imagine that if you used a cream and continuously layered a Sheer Shimmer shade, you'd end up somewhere near Metallized.

There are two matte formulas in this range being Comfort Matte and Mega Matte. The formulas are equally as comfortable and the longevity is also almost identical. They are both 'matte' shades however Comfort Matte reminds me of the cream formula but 80% matte. Mega Matte on the other hand is 100% matte.

I really think that no matter what type of lipstick you're into, you'll probably find it in this range. Formula aside, this is only 1/5th of the possible shades. For example, there's also an incredible black shade called Perversion, a bold gold called Trick and a bad ass dark navy blue called Heroine.

You obviously don't need every single shade (unless you really LOVE lipsticks that much), and I do prefer the Cream and Matte formula's over the sheer ones because of self preference, but I can genuinely say that every colour impressed me in some shape or form.

What are my favourite colours? I'm fairly sure that you could have guessed which ones they were if you've been a reader for a while. Of course I love Ravenswood, Hitch Hike and Rush.

URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE-ON LIP LINER* comes in 50 shades and I was kindly gifted 6.

I really havent used many lip liners in my day and that's because I've found that nearly everyone I've tried has been chalky and quite rough on my lips. They've just felt wrong on my lips or I haven't used any colours bold enough to actually require a liner.

What I can say is that this formula does not drag on the lips and if you really loved these colours, you could wear them as a lipstick (no one would ever know).

Even though these are lip liners, there's still a variety of finishes. As you can see, Cruel looks like it's along the lines of a Metallized formula whilst Wonderland is similar to something like a Mega Matte.

Out of all of these colours, my favourite for the moment is Blackmail because I have noticed that sometimes when I rock a bolder lip colour, I do get a little bit of bleeding.

It's new days for me with these liners, but I am really enjoying them so far so I will keep you updated.

Are you going to pick up any of the Urban Decay Vice Lipsticks or 24-7 Glide-On Lip Liners?
What's your favourite Urban Decay product?
*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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Oh ColourPop. So many gorgeous colours and formulas to choose from but you are so difficult to get your hands on in Australia. Fortunately for me a few of my friends and I placed finally an order together and split the shipping.

This is definitely an impromptu post because I only got my hands on these babies a couple days ago. After all of the anticipation and excitement, of course I started using them right away. I also decided to chuck my initial scheduled post for today out the window (just kidding, I'll post it in the next couple of weeks), and upload this instead - A Quick Look Into My ColourPop Lip Collection.


Something that I found fascinating about these products is that they all relatively look similar to one another when they're in the packaging. When swatched and worn on the lips however, they completely change. Because I am terrible at describing colours, I'm not going to in this post because I would honestly be clutching at straws. I think the swatches speak for themselves!

COLOURPOP ULTRA MATTE LIP
I have no idea what has happened to me. This time last month I didn't own one matte liquid lip product. Now I somehow have 5 and 3 are from ColourPop. Anyway, the reason why I was so hesitant is because I hate the feeling of cracked or stiff lips.

With ColourPop's formula, that honestly isn't a problem. The formula is smooth to apply, very pigmented and feels quite comfortable on the lips. Out of the three that I bought however I do notice that the formula for Trap is slightly runnier than the other two.

All of the colours that I decided to get seem to be cult favourites and that was pretty much the reason why I was curious. I've particularly had my eyes locked onto Beeper for quite a long time. The ultra matte formula is also by far the best for longevity.

Links to: Trap | Beeper | Tulle

COLOURPOP ULTRA SATIN LIP 
This product is sumthin special. Don't get me wrong, I love their Ultra Matte Lip, but this formula is slightly more creamy and moisturising, whilst giving a very similar finished lip look. Of course the Satin formula isn't as matte, but I definitely comes close.

I ended up picking up two colours from Kathleen Lights' new range just because I thought I might as well try something different. In terms of longevity, you will need to reapply some product after eating but not that much. Only a little bit comes off.

Links to: Alyssa | November

COLOURPOP LIPPIE STIX
For these purchases I completely blame YouTube. I feel like most YouTubers who have used ColourPop have both of these particular shades. I find the formula to be really great but that the matte formula is slightly smoother. This range has the least longevity of the bunch.

Links to: Lumiere | Bound

Have you tried ColourPop before?
What's one brand of products you wish you could try but you can't easily get?



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I love July because it marks the beginning of a beautiful time where companies have new releases left, right and center. One of the most exciting releases in my opinion is the Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid* lip colours.

Vivid Matte Liquid is a part of the Maybelline Colorsensational range and I can definitely see why. Every single shade is incredibly pigmented and applies evenly. This isn't the type of situation where you have some great shades and a couple eh ones, they're all great.


Like many of you, the word 'matte' seems a little scary to me. Matte lip products and myself don't really go hand in hand, especially in winter. My lips crack like crazy and I'm always worried of lip products being flakey.  This is pretty much why I barely own any.

On the other hand, the Vivid Matte's range and I actually get a long really well. One thing that I really like about these products is that they are versatile. I've done a variety of swatches to help show this. But as you can see, you have a choice.

If you love the colours but you aren't a fan of matte lips, apply the product on thickly. The formula won't dry matte, and you can wear it as a very pigmented gloss. To try and achieve a matte lip look, I'd suggest applying a thin layer of the product. Even then however, I don't think that this product dries completely matte, so keep that in mind.

They feel quite smooth and nourishing on the lips, so there is definitely no dry flakiness to be seen. It's currently winter and you'd be glad to know they aren't settling in my lip cracks. I think that Maybelline is actually doing a really good job at making their matte / semi-matte products feel comfortable. For example, I also loved their Colour Sensational Creamy Mattes range, which they launched earlier this year. If you're curious about the creamy matte lipstick range, I have a full swatch and review post here.

One of the sad things about this product is transferring. For example, when eating I definitely encounter a fair bit of transfer trouble. At an event I was eating macaroons and the lip colour was moving around the place to my fingers and also the macaroon. You will need to reapply after eating or drinking.

My two favourite shades are 45 Posessed Plum and 50 Nude Thrill.

You can find the Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lip Colours in Coles and Woolworths. They are also currently being rolled out in Priceline. If you can, try get into Priceline and swatch them on your hands. See how you can pick either a matte or semi matte finish, and fall in love with the formula like I have.

What do you think of Maybelline's Vivid Mattes?
What's one of the most exciting launches for the next half of the year for you?

*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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Let me first apologise for my slackness when it comes to monthly favourites. I haven't posted one since March. But, I guess you could also see this as a good thing because I wanted to wait until I had products that I really loved. Thanks June!

To kick things off, I'll talk about Essie Island Hopping nail polish. I'm definitely a sucker for Essie nail polishes and I've been looking for a colour like this for a very long time. I own lots of red and purple nail polishes but I was looking for something where the two colours combined, a little muted and more washy. I saw this in Priceline and instantly knew it was what I needed. It's perfect for any time of the year in my opinion, so just know that you'll see me using it quite a lot.

A foundation that I fell head over heels with recently is the Avon Luxe Silken Foundation*. I don't think I can really express how much I love this foundation. It just works so damn good on my oily skin. I did an entire review on the Avon Luxe range which you can read here. I give you all of my thoughts on the foundation but I basically think it will work incredibly no matter your skin type and it feels so lightweight - ah perfection.

Now this product has been a holy grail of mine for what seems like forever. I always go back to it. It's the Maybelline Colour Elixir in Caramel. I love how it looks freshly applied, it has an amazing scent, fades nicely and just works with every outfit and every makeup look. The whole Colour Elixir range is amazing, but I definitely think you have to swatch Caramel next time you're in Priceline.

For months on end my highlighter routine consisted of Benefit Cosmetics Watts Up, which I then set with the highlighter from the Face of Australia Glamazon Duo. Both of these products are holy grails. But, I introduced the Becca Cosmetics Shimmering Skin Perfector Opal (Pressed)* into my routine and haven't been able to go back. Opal is stunning. I've actually had it sitting in my drawer for a while so I have no idea why it took me so long to try it. It's a gorgeous shade that so far from what I've heard looks great on everyone. I have a whole post on Becca Cosmetics Opal as well as a comparison of the Pressed, Poured and Liquid formulas which you can read here.

Moving onto skincare, there are two products that have definitely transformed my skin. The first being the Philosophy Cream Cleanser*. I took this cleanser with me to Europe and my skin did not break out, at all. That's after 24 hours on the plane, both to Europe and home from Europe, changing climates - everything. My skin reacted so lovely with this cleanser. It foams up and lathers quite a bit and feels incredible on my skin. My skin also didn't dry out or become overly oily. It just left my skin so happy.

The second skincare product I've been obsessed with is the La Roche Posay Serozinc* Spray. It's essentially magical water in a spray bottle which you use as a toner. Not only is it insanely refreshing but it's really helped lessen the amount of oil that my skin produces. I also find it really great to help my rosehip oil sink into my skin, so in a way this product has also helped reduce my redness. I've also been trying a couple of La Roche Posay products in conjunction with Serozinc which I also love, so I'm thinking of doing an entire post on the three shortly.

Last up, I have to talk about a candle. This particular candle, oh my. It is none other than Glasshouse Fragrances Tahaa*. If you don't own this candle, then I really feel like you don't know what a real candle is. Tahaa is the perfect combination of caramel and vanilla, which is something I really appreciate during the cooler months. You can find it in David Jones so PLEASE go in store and give it a whiff. It's one of those scents which you can smell even when you put the glass lid on or after you've blown the flame out, hours later. It lingers and it's gorgeous.

What were some of your June favourites?

*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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Lately Melbourne has been quite cold and I've noticed a few parts of my makeup routine shifting. Today, I'll be talking about my 6 favourite cooler weather lip products. Later on in the week, I'll be sharing my cooler weather nail polish faves & hair products to help dry winter hair. 
For quite some time I have been a little scared to use darker lip colours. I just haven't been able to pull myself away from my lips but better shades. Infact, taking a peep back at old posts, I think the last time I rocked a darker lip was around June last year. But since having my hair cut much shorter and the weather becoming cooler, I've felt more confident rocking something a little more bold and edgy.

Left to right: L'Oreal Who's The Boss | Rimmel Cutting Edge |  Burts Bees Juniper Water | Laura Mercier Merlot |  Burts Bees Russet River | Maybelline Divine Wine
L'Oreal Infallible Long Wear Lipgloss in #107 Who's The Boss* is a gorgeous berry, grape shade. I love the formula of these L'oreal lipglosses because they fade quite gracefully on the lips throughout the day and aren't overly sticky. This shade in particular applies very evenly and I love putting it on top of any similar lipstick shade. 
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in #120 Cutting Edge has been a favourite of mine for a very, very long time. To take a wild guess, maybe 2 and a half years. I'm not even quite sure if this is still available, but its great. It looks a bit lighter in the swatch but it can also appear a much darker purple in some light. The formula is super comfortable on my lips and it doesn't flake off during the day, making re-application smooth and easy.
Burts Bees Lipsticks in #531 Juniper Water* & #532 Russet River* are amazing. They're the newest lip products of this post but I'm absolutely loving them. They can be sheer or medium which is like what you see in the swatches, or you can really build them up in pigmentation. I've been especially loving Juniper Water on nights out and wearing a nice choker, feels like it makes me look pretty #badass if I do say myself. 
Laura Mercier Creme Smooth Lip Colour in Merlot* is not new to the blog. You all know I love it and I love other Creme Smooth Lip Colour shades too. This is probably the smoothest lipstick out of all of these and it just feels really luxurious on my lips. The colour of Merlot is also buildable and the more pigmented it becomes, it turns to a darker, brown toned red. 
Last but not least, Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte in Divine Wine*. Divine Wine is a gorgeous dark... well.. red wine colour. It's more of a cool toned colour so it'll make your teeth look nice and white. I also think this colour suits most skin colours. But in all honesty, this is range is probably one of the only matte lipsticks I can wear. I'm a firm believer in price tags not determining the quality of a product and this range just proves that you can find amazing makeup in a 'drugstore'. To see eight of the shades swatched and reviewed more indepth, have a read of my post here.
What lip colours do you love wearing when the weather is cooler?
*Products marked with an asterisk have been provided for editorial consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.



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