Category Archives: Reviews

Garnier Micellar Water ♥

Posted in Face, Reviews by

Garnier Micellar Water review

Good morning class,

This is how the Garnier Micellar Water makes me feel –

giphy

If there’s ever a time that I’ve felt like a beauty product has been sent to me by God himself it’s right now. Just as I’d been thinking about the Garnier Micellar Water and if it was actually going to be good – doesn’t it just look exactly like water? How could micellar water take off my makeup any better than water? What the heck is Micellar water anyway?  Will I even ever be able to get my hands on this product? I bet it will cost like a bazillion dollars in NZ… etc etc I got an email from the lovely ladies over at Beauty Review telling me that I was invited to trial this product! Uhhh, yes please! Hey-yo!

So, for the past month (?) I’ve been testing out this bad boy for you (and for Beauty Review) because I know you’ll all have questions about it just like I did. Here are the answers!!

First of all, yes this water is actually made of unicorn tears and God’s spit. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Bible, but I read a story to my children last week and it’s the one where Jesus heals a blind beggar. Basically, he gets some dirt from the ground, spits in it, makes it mud, smears it on this dude’s eyes and washes it off in a river. Voila! He can see! I’m almost certain he’s spat into this water as well because it magically takes off my makeup like nothing I’ve ever used before.

I am blown away with the effectiveness of this product. It’s unreal. I usually use makeup wipes to take my makeup off and I know it’s naughty but I’m kinda lazy at night time because I’m usually so tired. This stuff however takes off your makeup with ONE SWIPE. Like, I know it says that on the bottle but I swear to you, it’s literally one swipe. And I am a total cake face. I promise I’m not exaggerating!

I use a wee bit on a Kmart Makeup Remover pad and swipe it across my face or eye or whatever and then I look down at my pad to see my face staring up at me. The beauty about this compared to makeup wipes is that there’s no rubbing involved! I also usually pull out like 5 eye lashes each time I use a makeup wipe but that doesn’t happen with this product! It doesn’t sting my eyes either.

The ONLY downside is that I use like 10 of the Makeup remover pads because I wear too much makeup. The upside to that is that the pads cost like $3 for 200 so it’s no biggie. I suppose you could probably fork out on thicker pads too like some fancy Swisspers ones or something but I can’t be bothered with that.

All in all, I think that this stuff is a must-buy! It’s $12 at your local supermarket – and even if you don’t end up liking it, for $12 it’s worth a try! I 100% recommend it

Please let me know if you’ve tried it and what you thought! Or go and buy it and try it and tell me how it’s changed your life!

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Must-have Drugstore or affordable beauty products! ♥

Posted in Face, Lips, Reviews by

Drugstore Must Haves

Good morning class,

I’ve had a bit of a mind-blank regarding blog content recently. I’ve been super busy with school, being sick in bed, and preparing to move house that I’ve barely had a moment to think about anything blog-related! Although I did get a nice surprise when I finally checked in to my blog and realized that my blog views had increased daily (and I’ve hit 2,000 overall!).

Anyway, I pondered – “What would my amazing readers like to read about?”. Then it hit me. I speak a lot about products bought overseas or online or products which are expensive. I barely talk about things that we can buy from our local Farmers or Life Pharmacy etc. I know a lot of you are both from New Zealand and probably also not into makeup enough to warrant spending $40 on a Mac lipstick in-store. So, I’ve decided to tell you all about my favourite drugstore products that you can buy from your local mall! (If you weren’t sure what drugstore means,  it’s an American term which is basically referring to affordable products that you can buy at a drugstore (or a pharmacy in NZ)).

In no specific order,

First up, the Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation

Rimmel Stay Matte Ivory

This is a new discovery! I mean I’ve had it in my collection for a while now, but I’ve only recently started using it! Don’t even ask why. Anyway, this foundation is amazing! It’s unlike any mousse-like product I’ve used before. It’s the most gorgeous texture, super light and feathery, it blends like an absolute dream and unlike I would’ve expected it doesn’t slide around my oil-slick of a face. Ivory is the perfect colour for me, and it actually lasts all day really well! I set mine with my Australis powder and it’s super matte and fab coverage! (I dewify my face with some highlighter, blush and setting spray).

Maybelline Falsies Mascara 

Drugstore favorites Maybelline Falsies

Maybelline will forever be my go-to brand for mascaras. As much as I love my Better Than Sex mascara, or the They’re Real by Benefit. Maybelline is a brand that I can ALWAYS rely on to produce something super afforable, easy to find and does a fantastic job. I’ve never tried a Maybelline mascara that I didn’t like, and not only that but my first ever mascara was by Maybelline! The Falsies is my favourite because I like my lashes thick and dark – and The Falsies does just that! You don’t need lots of coats of this black magic, one coat and your lashes are thick and dark and mysterious. Best of all, you can usually find this wee gem on special at Farmers or Life Pharmacy or wherever – so keep and eye out and pick one up as a back-up!

Chi Chi Lip liner in “Totally Nude” 

Chi Chi Totally Nude swatchChi Chi Lip Liner totally nude

Okay, I don’t know anything about other Chi Chi lip liner as this one was recommended to me and it’s the only one I’ve tried. However, if it’s ANYTHING like this magic stick then go ahead and buy one right now please in all of the colours. This magic stick as it will be referred to from now on is truely magical. Not only is it THE most perfect nude magic stick I’ve ever met in my life, but it’s also cheap, creamy as a mofo, and it’s WIND UP! Seriously, wind up magic sticks are my life. Ain’t nobody got time to sharpen pencils. I get grumpy enough when children insist on sharpening pencils at school that I couldn’t stand to be sharpening that shizz at home.

All I need to say is – it’s THE most perfect nude magic stick/lip liner ever.

Revlon “Top Speed” nail polish

Drugstore favorites Revlon Top Speed

Another “Ain’t nobody got time for that” moment. I am a lazy being. Seriously, what is the point in wasting time on something if you can do it just as good, quicker, another way. Nail polish is something I’m not huge on. I bite my nails which makes it hard to want to paint them because I’m also semi un-coordinated and can’t paint my wee stubs very nicely. Also my fingers are double jointed and I don’t like to draw attention to them! However, I would say the main reason why I never paint my nails is because I severely dislike waiting for the nail polish to dry. It takes forever, and then you think it’s dry but it’s not and you ruin it completely.

This stuff is amazing. One coat is all you need because it’s nice and pigmented + it dries in like 2 minutes! You don’t have to be waving your hands around like a maniac. It also comes in a huge range of colours (I own two, although I’d be up for purchasing more in the future). $17 fiddy at Life Pharmacy – can you go wrong? It’s probably on special at Farmers too – go and scope it out. My GO-TO nail polish, seriously.

Lastly, I wanted to mention a few products which are cheap and cheerful here in NZ that are also my must-haves, however I’ve already posted about them before!!

The Australis Fresh & Flawless powder is literally the best powder in the entire world full stop. Read about it here.

The Collection Lasting Perfection concealer is my favourite concealer ever and it’s super duper cheap! Read about that one here.

The Australis Velour lips are bloody good. Check them out here.

+ there’s a whole lot of amazing skin care which I use EVERYDAY and could literally not live without. The Lush Dark Angels fresh cleanser – legit THE BEST and Trilogy Rosehip oil which makes my face feel like the Queen it is. Read here.

 

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Mellow Cosmetics First Impressions ♥

Posted in Hauls, Lips, Reviews by

Mellow Cosmetics Review

 

Good morning class,

I am the luckiest girl alive. This week was a stressful week to say the least but I was lucky enough to be sent an amazing package from the ladies at Mellow Cosmetics for me to have a try of. Mellow Cosmetics are a new brand to emerge in the lovely little New Zealand. They sell a “range of high-quality cosmetics at affordable prices”. They are cruelty-free, paraben-free, made of natural minerals and are all made and tested in New Zealand! They have free shipping to NZ and Australia on orders over $40 and ship internationally for a FLAT RATE OF $12!? Like, are you serious? Order with a friend! You can also pay with PayPal which is something I value in an online shopping website after the whole Lime Crime debacle.

I was sent four Creamy Matte Lipsticks, a Gel Eyeliner, two Baked Eye shadows and one gorgeous Blush. I was absolutely spoilt and I love every thing I received!

Mellow Cosmetics Swatches

To the left I’ve added swatches of all the products I got. I thought it would be easier to see them all swatched together, although I’ll talk about them separately. As you can see – the pigmentation of EVERYTHING is simply amazing! I am so impressed.

The lipsticks are the first four swatches. To be completely honest – the packaging of their lipsticks is very tinny and cheap-feeling. It feels as though if I drop it, it will shatter into a million pieces which makes me nervous. However, I hear through the grapevine that they are changing their lipstick packaging! So thank goodness for that.

I wore Candy Floss to school the other day and found it wore beautifully. It lasted a good few hours without reapplying, and it was easy enough to reapply over the top without it getting gross. A+

Nude reminds me SO much of Lime Crime Cashmere – and with the debacle surrounding Lime Crime at the moment – a dupe is exactly what you want!

Danger Zone is gorgeous – actually a little bit like Suedeberry by Lime Crime – a pinky red.

Atomic Rose is more of a true red and reminds me of old school Rose McGowan (anyone?). That was weird.

The lipsticks are creamy and are just the right amount of matte – of that makes any sense at all. They’re not matte, matte. Like ‘drying out your lips’ matte, but they’re more like ‘not shiny or frosty and lasts for ages’ matte. Which is the type of matte I like. Continue reading →

Mac Toledo Collection & Miley Viva Glam review, swatches & dupes! ♥

Posted in Lips, Makeup, Reviews by

Mac Toledo Oxblood Viva Glam Miley

 

Good morning class,

Oh. My. Goodness. Inside this post you’re going to find swatches galore, dupes, photos, love, raving, and awesome packaging. A few weeks ago my lovely, amazing friend xlivlovesmakeup from YouTube (Check her out if you haven’t already!) stayed up late and ordered us these goodies from Mac. I was poor that week unfortunately so I was only able to pick up these two lipsticks, but I am in LOVE. Continue reading →

Colourpop update – my thoughts after using the products for two weeks ♥

Posted in Face, Lips, Makeup, Reviews by

Colourpop Review swatches

Good morning class,

I have been so obsessed with my Colourpop haul that I just HAD to write another post about the products because I felt like there was so much more I needed to tell you about them.

Colourpop is actually amazing. The Super Shock Eye Shadows, Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencils are all $5 US each, and the Blushes are $8 US each. Like what!? Excuse me but that is a seriously good price. At first I thought the products would be average because the price is simply so low. I would pay more for these products hands down (not that I want to Colourpop… so don’t get any ideas!). However the products, especially for the price, are (in a word) amazing. There’s no other way to describe them. Ladies and Gents – The hype is real. Continue reading →

Colourpop Haul – I am now obsessed… ♥

Posted in Hauls, Reviews by

Colourpop haul

Good morning class,

Yay! Another haul! I know you all love hauls, because I absolutely love them as well. It’s interesting to see what other people buy and then get jealous over it and make a shopping cart ourselves… don’t tell me I’m the only person who does this.

Anyway – make a cart yourself after reading this one because you won’t be jealous! The Colourpop range of Super Shock Eye Shadows, Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencils are only $5 each! $5US! Crazy talk! Plus they have just released some gorgeous blush products which are $8 – and they’re double the size of the eye shadows so sweet deal!

I picked up four Super Shock Eye Shadows and three Lippie Stix. I didn’t get any of the Pencils… but instant regret! I wish I did and they’re already in my cart for my next purchase (which will probably be tomorrow).

Continue reading →

MAC Cosmetics Haul/review! ♥

Posted in Hauls, Reviews by

MAC Cosmetics Haul

Good morning class,

Eeeeep I am so excited to write this post! I’m sorry it’s so late but I wanted to use the products a little before I wrote about them – plus their arrival coincided with the start of the school year so it’s been a little hectic thus far. But here I am, ready to rave and tell you all about my wee haul.

Basically, I bought two eyeshadow pans and a quad a wee while ago and I’ve been dying to fill up the other two spaces in the quad ever since. I used this as an excuse to order from www.maccosmetics.com  of course! I used YouShop to get the products to NZ and I had absolutely no problems. My friend and I ordered quite a bit of stuff and we only got charged $9 each in shipping which was ideal. I would 100% recommend YouShop as a way of getting makeup or other packages from the US to NZ.

If you’re not from NZ or the US then have a look out for other forwarding sites where you can send your goodies. Mac in the US is so much cheaper than Mac in New Zealand! I would be spending over double the price if I purchased here!

Continue reading →

How I got clear skin! (Finally) ♥

Posted in Face, Reviews, Skin by

 

Good morning class,

Today I’d like to chat about skin.

I haven’t really done any posts about skin before, and this is due to the fact that I am a self-confessed skin n00b (as they say on the internet). I suck at skin. I hate spending money on it cause it’s not as exciting as makeup and I just don’t “get” skin.

However, after much struggle, research (on Makeup Obsessives) and dreaded chin pimps I have finally found a routine that suits my oil slick of a face. Joy!

Lucky for you I’ve decided to share it with you! I think the time that made me realize I need to sort out my skin was when I started teaching I touched my face all the time and got pimples on my chin quite often. A 5 year old (bless) tried to touch my chin and was like “What are those bumps Miss White?”. Shame. I went to Lush on the way home.

I’ve always used makeup remover wipes to take off my makeup each night, and although I do still use those every second day, I realize they aren’t really ideal for cleansing alone. (I use the Kmart ones – on sale for $2 at the moment! Craaazy!?).

Okay before I start rambling about skin I’m going to talk about my daily routine, show you the products I use and talk about which I use each one for, and show a picture of my skin. It’s not perfect yet, as I am only human, and it’s not suuuuper recent because I’ve got a few hormonal pimples at the moment (I think it’s from a couple of weeks ago). As I say to the kids at school, deal with it.

The Body Shop Trilogy Rosehip oil Lush Karen

 

Continue reading →

Current concealer loves ♥

Posted in Face, Reviews by

Swatches concealers NARS Radiant Creamy concealer MAC Pro Long Wear in NC15 LA Girl Pro Conceal Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Light01

Good morning class,

Wow, there is a whole world of concealers out there that I never knew about! I’d like to chat about a fairly recent beauty item discovery. I say that simply because everyone seems to be obsessed with concealers! Obviously I always knew what they were and what they did, however I didn’t really start using concealer till perhaps a year ago? (What did I do with my life before then!?) So I’m still finding my feet in the concealer world and have been testing out different products over the past year, and now I think I’ve found my faves!

 

And here we have it ladies and gentleman – I’ve narrowed it down… these are my four faves!  The LA Girl Pro Conceal in Classic Ivory (a Shaanxo favourite!), the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Fair 01 (I probably use this most often), MAC Pro Long Wear concealer in NC15, and the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla. Da Daa! I’m sure you’ve heard of all these before as they’re some of the most popular, but here’s what I think of them + a bit of a comparison.

Continue reading →

Trust me, They’re Real! ♥

Posted in Eyes, Reviews by

IMG_2555

Good morning class,

I have been so lucky to receive some goodies from the lovely ladies at Benefit NZ and I’ve taken a few weeks to get to know them, try them out, so that I can give you my honest opinions on them. You know that I wouldn’t review something on this blog if I didn’t like it. Whether I have received it for free, or if I had been paid to talk about it, if I didn’t like the product I would not mention it at all. I have already been approached by a brand who’s products I did not believe in. They will not be featured on this blog.

However, the products I am here to chat about today I do believe in. In fact, one of them especially is a miracle worker, a Saviour and has become like a good friend. I received the Benefit They’re Real Remover and the They’re Real Push-Up Liner two weeks ago and haven’t looked back.

Continue reading →