October Empties

DR HAUSCHKA Rose Nurturing Body Wash
Smelt lovely but it is a very expensive body wash.
Repurchase? Due to the price no, unless it was on sale at a very discounted price.

ARBONNE FC5 Nourishing Daily Shampoo and Conditioner
I love these hair products and plan on buying them again soon. I have eczema that spreads onto my scalp so I have issues with shampoo and conditioners burning my scalp, having a itchy an flaky scalp.  These literally fixed my scalp issues and I will be writing a full review soon.
Repurchase? YES, this is the best shampoo and conditioner that I have ever used on my scalp. I will be buying this again in the future.

SERAPHINA Happy Go Lovely Body Custard
I loved the smell and it was a nice rich cream.
Repurchase? I like it but no, at $50 it is way too expensive for a body cream

PAULA'S CHOICE Skin Perfecting 8% AHA Gel Glycolic Acid Exfoliant (sample)
Before I used this I had a break out of pimples and after a couple of days my skin cleared up. I think this works well since I hardly had any pimples during the time I was using this once a day. However the AHA in this exfoliant makes you more sensitive to the sun and I did manage to get sun burnt once where I missed putting sunscreen on. I will be writing a full review of this product soon.
Repurchase? Maybe, but I would only use it during winter.

GAIA Rose Otto & Lavender Refreshing Toner
To be honest I am a bit indifferent to toners, I mainly just use them because I know that I am suppose to. This one seem okay, it is nice and refreshing. 
Repurchase? Maybe.

SECRET KEY Petit No. 4 Hand Cream
This was okay but I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting it to be a heavily scented hand cream (since I received this in a scent themed beauty box).
Repurchase? No.

PELACTIV Gentle Foaming Cleanser (sample)
I thought this was okay but nothing special.
Repurchase? No.

GAIA Pink Grapefruit and Jasmine Foaming Cleanser
I have used several of these bottles and am quite happy with this cleanser, it feels very refreshing.
Repurchase? Yes.

OLAY Regenerist Hydrating Moisturiser SPF 15 (sample)
It felt very rich which was expected since it is an anti ageing cream. I liked that this came in small sample pot, it meant that I had jar of SPF 15 sunscreen that was easy to carry around in my hand bag
Repurchase? I don't really need anti ageing creams yet, but it the future I might buy this. 

SO SUSAN Flutter Mascara
I did not like this mascara it took a long time to dry. I only used this a couple of times before throwing it out, since there are just so many decent mascara out there that I don't want to waste my time with this one.
Repurchase? No.

BEAUTY CARE Makeup remover pads
These were very cheap and came from Kmart. I am using a brand from Big W at the moment and in comparison I prefer the Kmart one.
Repurchase? Yes, and I have already a couple of back ups. 

Sally's Box Friendly Cherry Blossom Hand Mask review

I received this Sally's Box hand mask in a Meme Box (a Korean Beauty Box Service). I have never tried a hand mask product before and I was interested in seeing if it would make my hands nice and soft. After many years of hand washing dishes and having a child (lots of hand washing involved) my hands are not in the best of shape, and lately I have needed to use a fair bit of hand cream.

Sally's Box is a Korean skin care brand, and luckily for me they had both Korean and English  instructions and ingredients on the back. The process of using this hand mask involved; washing and drying your hands, taking the mask out of the packaging and cutting along the dotted lines. After placing your hands in the mask you are suppose to rub your hands together to help absorb the treatment, after 10 to 15 minutes you can remove mask and lightly pat until all the treatment is absorbed.

 My hand inside the hand mask glove

I had been putting off using this hand mask because I wasn't sure I could go 10 to 15 minutes without using my hands ha ha. It did feel a bit strange having my hands in those big gloves, but I was somewhat able to continue with normal activities. While wearing the hand mask I was able to eat cheesecake and used my laptop, however typing with those gloves is not an easy task. 

After I used this product and had rubbed the rest of the treatment into my hands, my hands felt nice and soft. However in saying that I don't think it was any different than using a regular hand cream. The day after my hands feel pretty much the same, perhaps I would see more of an affect if I regularly used hand masks. As a result I am a little bit undecided on whether hand masks are worth buying or not.

My October favourites

Sorry I realise that I am pretty behind with some of my posts (had a death in the family a month ago) but hopefully I will be able to get back on track soon.

My top 3 favourite products were;  Ingobeau Ultra Skin Power Z Cream, J Cat Wonder Lip Paint, and Lailly +36.5 Steam Pore Pack. Oddly enough these are all items I have received from oversea make up box services, and probably won't be able to repurchase without some difficult in Australia.

INGOBEAU Ultra Skin Power Z Cream
This is a lovely rich moisturiser cream which I have been using as a night cream. It is also an anti wrinkle cream, which normally break me out a bit but has not. I have really enjoyed using this but sadly when I received this product it had a short shelf life remaining. As a result I have been very liberal with my use of this cream (I've even been using it on my knees occasionally), it is a bit of a shame that I have to get through this item quickly.

J CAT Wonder Lip Paint in 'Always Late, Rabbit'
I love this purple colour and received some lovely comments when I wore it which is always nice. I tried this on for Halloween because I thought if there was any day I could get away with wearing bright purple it would be Halloween. I thought that this wore well, and loved the colour. I am pretty sure that this is a cheaper version of the OCC lip tars, which I haven't used so I can't compare them to each other.

LAILLY +36.5 Steam Pore Pack
This is an amazing facial mask, which gives a hot steam effect to open up your pores and clean them out.When I use this product my face feels tingly and warm, not something that I have ever experience with any other face mask treatment and afterwards my face feels so clean. I received this in a Memebox (Korean makeup box service) and love it, however I don't know how I am going to find another one these to purchase since I live in Australia and Korean beauty products can be a bit tricky to find over here.

Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer Review: Apocaliptic and Phenomenon

Swatch of the shades Apocaliptic and Phenomenon in natural light(top to bottom).

I've been meaning to do this review for a while, and when I received another lip lacquer in a different shade in a beauty subscription box I was finally motivated to write this up.

Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer retail for $15.95 AUD and are claimed to be a 'long lasting ultra-comfortable lacquered liquid lipstick formula.' The two shades of Apocalips lacquers that I possess are 303 Apocaliptic a bright fuchsia pink, and 100 Phenomenon a nude lip colour. 

303 Apocaliptic in natural light.After wearing this for 15 minutes 

303 Apocaliptic is a beautiful bright fuchsia colour, and the colour pay off it quite impressive. There is a odd smell to this product, but it does go away after you have applied it. When I first applied it I loved it and could see myself wearing it a lot when I go out. However after 5 minutes I glanced at my reflection to find that the lip colour had smudged on to my chin, which is never a good look. I don't recall touching my lips or face, so seeing that smudge was very disappointing. After a little bit of further testing it would seem that Apocalips do not dry and transfers easily, which puts me off using this product.You can see from the photographer that it is bleeding a bit. I didn't use a lip liner (even with one I think it would still transfer).

100 Phenomenon in natural light.

100 Phenomenon is a nude lip lacquer that I received in my October Bella Box. I am going to admit straight up that when I saw this product I thought I was going to hate it, due to my experience with the Apocaliptic product and that nude colours hardly even work for me. I have an olive complexion so most nude colours wash me out and look terrible (mid tone nudes are sometimes workable). I am sure it would look better on people with fairer skin. This product also has an odd smell to it. 

Yesterday I gave this a try and if I really made the effort to blend it in a lot, so I could make it look passable. Despite that I still don't like it and considering all the other lip products I have I will not be using this in the future. I wore it for a while and I do not consider this to be a long lasting product I had to reapply within a hour. I can't really comment on whether this shade would transfer as much as the Apocaliptic shade because the colour blended in with my skin, so any smudging would have not been that noticeable.

Verdict:
Normally I am a big fan of Rimmel products, most of them are fantastic products and are very affordable. Unfortunately I am disappointed in these Apocalips lip lacquers, for my beauty needs and preferences they just smudges too much. The colour pay off is lovely regarding the Apocaliptic shade, however the prospect that this product would end up on other parts of my face is just not very appealing. Frankly I think these lip lacquers seems like too much effort if you were going to maintain your look through out the day, when there are heaps of other lip products on the market that stay put. 

Bellabox November 2014 Unboxing

Bellabox is an Australian beauty subscription box which costs $15 AUD per month, and provides subscribers with at least 5-6 beauty samples to try out.

What was in my November Box:

COASTAL SCENTS Revealed Palette Sampler (Full palette RRP $34 AUD) Sample 4 shades
I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, but I think it looks great. I'm not much of a eye shadow person but want I do happen to wear it I like neutral/nude shade which these are so I am happy about that.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (RRP $9.95 AUD) Full size product
I have actually been thinking about buying a white eyeliner to brighten up my eyes with, so this came at a perfect time. I have used this yesterday as a eyeliner on my water line. My only issue it that this pencil is probably a bit big for that purpose, but it is something I can work around.

LE TAN Wash Off (RRP $14.99 AUD) Sample size
I don't really use tanning products because I have olive skin so I don't feel the need to, also I tend to get darker in summer naturally. I got the darker shade, which is fine for my skin colour. I did give this a quick try out the other day and it seemed alright, I do like that it washes off with water. I will probably do proper review later on.

PALMERS Multi-effect Perfecting Facial Oil (RRP $19.99 AUD) Sample size
I look forward to trying this out soon, I have only just started got into using facial oils so I am curious to see how this one goes.

ALLEGRA RHODES Hand and Nail Cream (RRP $32.95 AUD) Sample size 5ml
I love the smell of cherry blossoms of I think the smell is lovely. Sadly I think this sample is much to small to get a decent feel for the product. At the moment I think it is okay, but I wouldn't pay that much money for a hand cream.

COMPEED Blister Patch (RRP $12.95 AUD pack of 5) 1 patch
I have used these in the passed and they are great, so I don't mind getting this. My daughter actually had a blister on her foot the other day and I used this patch. These are much better to use on blisters than band aids, they cushion the blister and stay on longer.

Verdict:
I thought this box was just okay, the eye palette sampler and eye liner made this box passable in my opinion. I do enjoy getting Bellabox because it is cheap for a subscription box, and I like getting new things to try out.

The only thing that slightly disappoints me is the huge difference in variation of box values. For example this month some subscribers received Nail Gel light kits which is awesome, but not so awesome if you had a very low value box in comparison. It doesn't bother me so much that some people get amazing products some months, but it does annoy me when the other items in their box are also quite nice as well (some people with the nail kits also received 24K gold eye masks which are pricey too). I just think they should share the love around a bit more evenly, and I think other subscribers would prefer that too.

September Empties

Sorry again I have been a bit slack with my blog posts lately, life just gets in the way sometimes.

I'm going to share my my thoughts about the beauty products that I finished using during the month of September.

CUSSONS PURE Sensitive cucumber and aloe Body wash
I brought this on special and it worked like other body washes. It smells like cucumber, which was okay but not super appealing to me. 
Repurchase? I wouldn't mind buying this again in the future.

GARNIER BB CREAM Miracle Skin Perfector in Medium (Sensitive Skin)
When I first tried this product I was a bit disappointed because I had tried a sample of another BB cream and had loved that product. I later realised that that the other BB cream was designed for oily skin so that was probably why it worked a lot better for me. Apart from making me a bit shiny (nothing a little bit of powder can't fix) this is a decent BB cream.
Repurchase? Maybe I would buy a version for oily skin next time.

DOVE Beauty Moisture Facial Cleanser
I brought this on sale, but I think normally this is very cheap anyway. I don't like to use soap on my face, so I used this as my cleanser in the shower. For that purpose this worked fine, I never tried to take make up off with it so I can't vouch for it's effectiveness in that area.
Repurchase? Maybe.

LA Splash Mineral Blush in #22025 ring of fire
I am not a big blush fan, so when I received this blush in a beauty subscription box I was not happy with getting a dark red colour. Then when I saw that it had lots of shimmer I knew I was just going to end up throwing this in the bin, since I really dislike shimmer/glitter in most make up products.
Repurchase? No way, it is just not my sort of blush.

 BIODERMA Crealine H20 solution Micellaire
This is the first micellar cleansing water product that I have used, and I was so impressed  with it that I brought a full size version (by a different brand that was cheaper).
Repurchase? This particular brand is expensive, but I have brought a similar product.

MODELS PREFER BB Cream all in one skin perfector with MP aquaflex, in Light
I brought this when it was clearance for a couple of dollars, knowing that it would probably be too light for my skin since it was in the shade light. After trying it out even during the winter this just too light for me, so I can't really judge how it performs as a product.
Repurchase? I would consider buying this in a darker shade, just so I could at least give it a proper try.

 OGX Coconut Milk Shampoo and Conditioner
These were little 60ml samples that I really loved the smell of. I think it made my hair feel slightly more softer.
Repurchase? Maybe but I think they are a bit for pricey for what they are.

REVLON ColorStay Ultimate Lipcolor 095 Royal Rasin
I brought this at a Revlon Factory sale before I had really got into make up, and this with the lipstick that made me like lipsticks. I use to be a lip balm/gloss person but after trying this and seeing how long it stayed on, I started buying lipsticks. I am not a big fan of this particular colour since I think it is a bit too dark for me. This is been thrown out because it is getting too old.
Repurchase? I would probably buy a different shade

NUDE BY NATURE Nude Oil with Tamanu Oil
I think this is the first oil that I used regularly on my face so I can't really compare it to other facial oils. I thought it was fine, and over time my skin did improved but that might have also been because I was getting into a better skin care routine at the time.
Repurchase? Maybe, but I would like to try other facial oils first. 

RIMMEL LONDON Lasting Finish Nail Polish 061 Exotica
This was an alright nail polish. I am only throwing this out because I have had it for so long that it starting to go clumpy.
Repurchase? Yes, if there was a shade that I liked. 

MAYBELLINE Colossal Volume Express Mascara
I thought this was okay but nothing special.
Repurchase? No, I prefer other mascaras.

SUKIN Protein Hair Treatment
I am a big fan of Sukin skin care products so I was excited about using one of their hair products for the first time. I thought this worked okay, but I couldn't see much difference in my hair. However to be honest I do have pretty nice hair at the moment and I don't see much of a change with using any kind of hair treatments.
Repurchase? Possibly, if I was inclined to buy a hair treatment product I might lean towards this because it is organic.

September favourites

Sorry everyone that I have not posted anything for the last few weeks. On a personal note my father passed away last month. I was either too busy with my family or was simply not in the mood to post again until now.

In keeping up with my monthly favourites posts, here are my favourite 3 products for September 2014.

SHANGHAI SUZI Lipsticks:
Honestly for this post I was tempted to just photograph my entire collection of 7 Shaghai Suzy lipsticks, because during September I was obessed with them. These lipsticks are amazing and are also very affordable at $12.95 each. I love wearing lipstick and consider these to be better or equal to lipsticks that are more expensive. I am planning to write up a detailed review on these lipsticks soon.

GARNIER Micellar Cleansing Water
At first I thought the idea of miceallar cleansing water was a bit silly, but after trying a sample of the Bioderma version I became a fan. It is more than just ordinary water and is great to take off make up with (however some waterproof mascaras can be a bit tough to remove). I like that you don't have to rinse your face after using this, so I tend to use it when I am lazy and need to wash my face before going to bed. I found the Bioderma and Garnier versions to be comparable so I think I will stick to the Garnier product since it is cheaper.

PALLADIO Brow Fix
This is a clear wax eyebrow fixing pencil that I received in a Lip Factory subscription box. Before this eyebrow pencil I never bothered eyebrow products, but now I use this product almost every single time I leave the house. I think that it makes my eyebrows look neater, and that it is great that it only takes a few seconds to apply with hardly any effort.