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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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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Today's post is something that I am SUPER excited to share. I had a lot of fun creating this post and I actually found it quite inspiring, in a creative way. I felt like 'hey Katina, you got dis. If you ever wanted to make a palette, gurl dis is IT.'

The Create Your Own Eyeshadow Palette Tag was created by the awesome Kat from Kitsch Snitch. You can read all of the info about the tag and see the palette that she wishes she could personally create, here.

I have a confession to make. I am a die hard for neutral palettes. All of the palettes I used in this tag might look similar to you, but for me, they all have their own special shades that I rock on a regular basis. To create my own 12 eyeshadow palette I used:
- Kat Von D's Shade & Light Contour Kit
- Lorac's Pro Palette (#1)
- Urban Decay's Naked 2 and Naked 3 palettes
- Stila's In The Light Palette




The way that I decided to order my eyeshadows were in the way that I would usually apply them to my lids. I started with my under eyebrow highlight, crease transition shades, moving onto all over the lid, then the darker shades I'd use for stronger definition. I wasn't really thinking about the finishes of the product (eg matte, shimmer, etc), but more so overall looks that I feel comfortable wearing.

Naked 2 Foxy is my favourite colour for putting under my brow bone. I feel like it always ties a look together. I usually use this product as the very first and very last product.

Kat Von D Lucid is what I use to set any eye primer or cream eyeshadow base. It's always the base of my eye look.

Stila in the Light Bliss comes number one when it's time to start my transition shade. It's a lovely, light, neutral, brown.

Naked 3 Limit is also a transition shade that I really like. It's more on the mauve side and brings a bit of warmth and rose to my eye look.

Lorac Pro Mauve is a step up from Limit and is a slightly darker mauve that I occasionally use as a transition shade or I might use it for blending later on in my look

Kat Von D Sombre is a cooler toned brown with a little more depth than Bliss.

Stila in the Light Kitten is my first shade that I love to swipe all over the lid. I use this with my finger because I feel like it has the most impact that way. No matter what eye look I decide to go for, I honestly have to try and drag myself away from this colour because I want to use it every single time. I'm probably addicted to this shade, but I'm not too concerned about that.

Naked 2 Verve was by far my first 'signature' eyeshadow. My friends would always know that if we were going out at night time, this would be on my lids. It lasts so long on my lids and the colour looks amazing in photographs.

Naked 3 Mugshot is a rose gold, mauve, shimmery shade. I use this when I want a nice warm eye look, all over the lid.

Kat Von D Shadowplay is something I love to darken up my look. It's subtle, but I like to build up colour slowly.

Stila in the Light Sandstone is what I use for more depth in the outer corner. It is also my personal favourite when it comes to eyeshadow underneath my lower lash line. This makes my eye look really pop, and adds a bit of edginess to the look.

Naked 2 Blackout is my go to black shade. It's matte, pigmented and really bad ass. I really love using this with Verve.

So there we have my eyeshadow palette!

As I said, I LOVED this tag so I'm definitely tagging some of my favourite blogs to take part. I am therefore tagging quite a few of you: Sarah - morethanadored, Sarah - bowsandpleats, Tahana - tahanalee, Daniela - missnewbeauty, Ash - thebeautycollection, Ashley - ashleymareebeauty,
Loi - loreebloom, Hanni - thehanihanii, & Jess - takenbysurprise.



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2015 has been quite the year for beauty releases. I think my obsession with makeup definitely grew this year and my expanding makeup collection probably speaks for itself! 
Here is my Best of Beauty 2015 post. Not all of these products were released in 2015, but they're definitely my favourites for this year.


Whats a yearly favourites or best off post without an eyeshadow palette!? Earlier this year, I was in debate whether to pick up Urban Decay's Naked 3 because I already had Naked 2. After seeing so many tutorials and gorgeous eye looks by my friends, I decided it was time. Since having this palette, I've barely touched my Naked 2 or Lorac Pro. Something about this palette is just so damn gorgeous! Its buttery, pinky, warm, eyeshadow goodness. Definitely recommend it.
Becca Cosmetics Champagne Pop. Do I really need to say more? I'm a creature of habit with my highlighters so I've honestly been using the same one for the past year. But now, oh my gosh. If you own many highlights and you're debating over whether or not to get it, you honestly need to. I've never owned anything as pigmented as this highlighter. I suspect that I'll be using this highlighter for a very, very long time. 
Arbonne Cosmetics Smoothed Over Lipstick in Rose. Despite all the rubbish you hear and see online about their products and a small minority of Arbonne representatives, their products are really good. This lipstick has been my number one go to all of this year. It's a gorgeous purply-pinky colour that I think would look incredible on all skin tones. The texture is ridiculously smooth and as you can see from the swatch, super pigmented.
YSL Fusion Ink Foundation is still my favourite high end foundation. Recently, I attended a few events and I finished applying my makeup at 3pm. After the event, I then went to an outdoor cinema. Came home around midnight, and my makeup was still matte. Considering that I'm 100/10 oily, how incredible is that!? If you want to read more about this foundation and my opinion, read here.
Maxfactor Face Finity Primer is probably the number one product that I've been praising this year. No matter what skin type or who asks me, if anyone ever needs a primer, get this one. It's an amazing moisturising texture so your makeup goes on very smooth, but it sinks into your skin and isn't oily. It also has SPF20 which is always a plus.
Last up, two brushes. Sigma Tapered Highlighter F35 and Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection #30. I found that before these two brushes, all of them were just so-so on my skin. These two brushes pick up the exact right amount of highlighter and dispurse it so evenly and flawlessly. 
What products are in your best of beauty for 2015?
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