Lust Have It - September

I finally received my September "Lust Have It" box!

I was getting so jealous reading all the blogs and forums out there with everyone receiving their boxes.. so I was just a little more than ecstatic when my box was finally delivered to me at work this week :)

So here's the box (the box itself was a bit smaller than I expected, but as they say, good things come in small packages)..

Now let's open the box..

Squee!

Contents of the September "Lust Have It" box:

* Lancome - Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara

I was most excited to try this product as I have typically short and poker-straight Asian eyelashes and I must say, this does not disappoint! The conical brush is amazing. A breakthrough. A miracle. A revolution. You get the picture! All mascaras should have a brush like this! Definitely a repurchase - and I don't usually buy expensive mascaras. My favourite product in this month's box.

* Pure Fiji - Coconut Milk Shower Gel

Smells divine. I'm not the biggest fan of coconut though, so unsure if I will use it all.

* Kerastase - Elixir Ultime

I have extremely dry ends on my hair thanks to years of colouring, so looking forward to trying this :)

* Urban Rituelle - Flourish Organics Hand Cream

This is also going to be a repurchase. This smells amazing! The one that I received is "...infused with natural lemongrass, lemon myrtle, grapefruit and eucalyptus essential oils". You don't need a huge amount of the cream and the best thing is that it doesn't leave your hands with the gluggy, greasy, need-to-wash-your-hands-again feeling. It has such a fresh and uplifting scent as well, which isn't overpowering - I think this is going to be part of Christmas beauty gift hampers for all the special ladies in my life! And affordable too, with a RRP of $20.95 for 125ml.

* Nicole by OPI - Ultimate Trend Setter's Lacquer

Two cute little itty-bitty bottles - they do not have the names of the polish on the bottle (only shade codes) but a quick Google search revealed that I have been sent OPI Designer Series DS Radiance and Prized Possession from the Justin Bieber collection (my first Bieber-related product. Ever.). Prized Possession looks a LOT darker in the bottle than it does on the website though, but I will swatch it this weekend so you can see what the true colour is.

Overall I am really impressed with my first "Lust Have It" box - in fact my first beauty box! Well worth the $14.95/month so far. Sign up at http://www.lusthaveit.com.au/

What was your favourite product in your September "Lust Have It" box? Or what would you love to see in your next box?

What's On My Nails - Ulta3 Pacific Fever

I actually did my nails on Monday night while watching the Emmy Awards and enjoying all the fashion - am I the only one who prefers watching the red carpet arrivals to the actual awards show? How amazing were some of the dresses! I don't think there were any super-bad dresses this year, though there were a few fashion faux pas (did Paula Abdul look in a mirror prior to walking down the red carpet? I like the dress, but did no one think to tell her it was off-centre all night long?).

Anyway, on to my nails - please pardon the messiness, I don't have a nail polish clean-up pen thingy yet! And cotton buds dipped in nail polish remover just doesn't cut it..

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat

Colour: 2 coats of Ulta3 Pacific Fever

Decoration: Cute little Glossyblossom diamante flower

Top Coat: Revitanail Top Coat

This is my first time applying my own nail art and I was surprised at how easy it was - all it took was a satay stick (a cuticle stick or toothpick would have worked too) and some extra top coat. It never occurred to me that I needed to be careful with diamantes on my nails - those little things hurt when you do normal everyday things such as scratching your nose or rubbing your eyes in the morning!

I love this look overall and have gotten a few comments from colleagues and clients about my nails which is great! I think everyone is still getting used to my nails being painted all the time now, rather than on special occassions. I wasn't overly impressed with the formula of this particular Ulta3 polish - I have used other colours in previous weeks and they were lovely and creamy. This one was slightly more gluggy and did not apply as smoothly, two coats looks a bit smeared and I would probably go with a third coat next time just to even everything out. It also began to chip today (only my second day in) but I do a lot of typing, so perhaps a third coat would have been the way to go.

The colour is gorgeous though and has a little touch of shimmer (I am still loving shimmer polishes). I wish that the colour was just that little bit lighter so it looks more like the Tiffany & Co's colour (every girl's favourite shade of blue!) which would have made the little diamante stand out more. If anyone knows of polish in a Tiffany & Co. shade - please let me know!

What's on your nails today?

brandsExclusive - Ihana Make-Up Brush Sets

Note to self: I need to burn my credit card. Shred it, freeze it, bury it.. I need to do whatever it takes to stop me spending any more money this month!

brandsExclusive is having a sale on Ihana make-up brush sets until Thursday 22 September 2011 @ 3:00am Perth time (5:00am AEST). Now I need would-very-much-like a proper set of make-up brushes; I should have purchased a good set when I was at Sephora in LA last month but I umm-ed and ahh-ed about it at the time and only ended up picking a crappy little generic 5-piece brush travel set which wasn't of very high quality as it turned out.

So I've bitten the bullet and purchased the Ihana Professional 24-piece Brush Set in Black Silver (AUD$99.99 on brandsExclusive - retails for AUD$299.00 on the Ihana website) which comes in a faux leather case and is made with goat and pony hair (synthetic where required). There is also a cheaper 17-piece vegan brush set (AUD$72.99 - retails for AUD$179.00 on the Ihana website) if you prefer. I felt the pricing was very reasonable, considering how much some high-end make-up brands charge for their individual brushes.

I currently only own one "expensive" brush - the Hourglass No. 2 Blush Brush from Mecca - which I use for liquid foundation or powder application and it is absolutely amazing. The brush is so soft and gives such an even foundation coverage on my face with no streaks or smudges. It did cost AUD$88.00 though, so I am definitely on the look-out for something a little bit more affordable for my next purchase.

I admit I don't know very much about Ihana (I Google-d reviews on their brushes but only managed to find one) - I believe they are an Australian brand, targeted towards professional MUAs and from what I can gather, their brushes are of a high quality. I am hoping this will be a good long-term investment for me. I will definitely do a review on the brushes when I receive my package!

What are your favourite brushes?

MAC Haul

No trip to Myer would be complete without a bit of a look through the beauty department. There's no harm in just looking, is there?

I was so good too - I walked past all the Essie polishes (must come back for Coat Azure.. love!), all the fake lashes and eyeshadows, the myriad of lip glosses and new fragrances..

Then I remembered that I needed new foundation and I wanted to try another brand other than my normal brand (my skin has decided to go all "teenage" on me since I went off the pill 4 months ago and nothing seems to be able to control my shine issue - but I digress). And my local Myer has recently put in a MAC counter..

Umm, yeah.

From left to right - MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NC35 (9ml) $32.00; MAC Pro Longwear SPF 10 Foundation in NC35 (30ml) $54.00; MAC Fluidline Eyeliner in Blacktrack (3g) $32.00

Can you believe these are my first-ever MAC purchases? I am particularly excited about the Fluidline as I have seen it being raved about on so many beauty blogs (hollyannaeree uses it in a lot of her make-up tutorials). The MUA gave me a quick guide on how to use it and gave me the most effortless and fantastic winged eye. I should have taken a photo - the challenge now is to re-create the same look myself at home :)

I really like the foundation as well - I had it applied at around 3:00pm and didn't have to re-powder for the rest of the day (I took my make-up off at 11:00pm that night!). It didn't feel cakey or streaky on my skin and it gave me a medium coverage. Could this be my new favourite foundation? I am still mourning the discontinuation of Prescriptives Mineral Foundation from 2010!

What is your favourite foundation?

Hello World!

Welcome  to my little patch of cyberspace!

My name is Tracey, I live in Perth’s southern surburbia with my new hubby of nearly a year and our furbaby, Corey (he is a 6-year-old Bundle of Destruction with Legs Staffy, who is also the love of our lives).

I am re-discovering my love of beauty and fashion (once lost somewhere in my younger, slimmer years) after 4 and a half years of spending a large majority of my week in a rather monochromatic work uniform. Speaking of work, I work in my perfect job as a travel agent and thus try to spend a lot of time travelling, or at least dreaming of destinations to travel to next – not difficult as I am surrounded by travel all day long.

I also love crafting – mainly beading, cross-stitch, crochet and card-making but I jump from one to another depending on my mood and motivation, but always looking to try new creative pursuits. I love food and cooking, I’m attempting to grow a small vegetable/herb garden and I am always trying to be a better wife, home-maker, all-round-good-person-in-general. Oh and I am obsessed with stationery. And True Blood.

Hopefully through this blog journey, I will make new friends, pick up new ideas and skills, develop those creative sparks and become that better all-round-good-person-in-general that I aim to be.

That’s it for my introduction, at the risk of boring you all to death.. plus I still have to retain an element of mystery somewhere! I wouldn’t like to call my blog a beauty-blog, craft-blog, food-blog as it wouldn’t be fair to all those amazing blogs and bloggers who specialise in their respective fields.. I am more an all-over-the-shop blogger who just wants to share the snippets from my little patch of the universe. I look forward to sharing our little journey with you all :)

P/S: I’m new to this whole blogging thing (long-time reader, first-time blogger) so please be patient with me if things don’t go the way they are  meant to in blog-land initially!