Thoughts and Reviews

It has been a while since I've been using these products. And I gotta say, I'm relatively impressed. Now that it's winter, my Antipodes Hosanna serum isn't cutting it for me because my skin sucks up the serum and still craves some more - and I'm not using 1/10 of a bottle in one go to satisfy my thirsty skin.

The moreish one is mostly natural ingredients which seem to work really well for my skin. Sunflower seed oil, meadowfoam seed oil and argan oil give it the thicker luxurious moisture and I think the cucumber and chamomile make it suitable for sensitive skin. It certainly hasn't caused any reactions or problems for me.

The eye cream on the other hand - all I can say is that I'm just using it because I think I should be using it. To be honest I don't know if it does anything beside make my under-eyes more hydrated and prepped for concealer, and it feels nice to put something and massage it into my skin. It hasn't irritated or cause any problems!

Speaking of concealer, I've developed a solid opinion on the Rimmel's Wake Me Up concealer. I LOVE IT! I actually think it's really similar to the Age Rewind in terms of colour, texture and coverage. But the doe foot applicator makes it a bit easier to control how much I use. Sometimes with the Age Rewind, because you wipe the entire sponge applicator on your under-eyes you can't really control how much to use. Also, the doe foot applicator makes it easier to put TEENIE TINY dots onto small blemishes to conceal vs. patting the whole rounded sponge top onto the spot with the Age Rewind.

I don't know if it's because I have been using more translucent powder to set my concealer, but I find that the Wake Me Up one causes some weird patches/clinging onto some patches on my under-eyes. It's really not that visible until you are 5cm away from the mirror, but it does bother me sometimes. The Age Rewind concealer though, creased without any setting powder whereas the Wake Me Up doesn't. So I'd say they are on par with eachother!

Onto a long-term use of a lot of these lip products and my recent additions - I have realised that I am a very dry-lipped person. I really can't be bothered to top up my lip balm or forget my chapstick etc so my lips are dry a lot, and makes it hard to even wear lipstick in the first place.

1. Starting from the left - is Revlon super lustrous lipstick in a creme 'Pink in the Afternoon' shade - a very nice pinky your-lips-but-better colour. It's nice to apply and doesn't look that weird when I have it on chapped lips. Doesn't taste that good though and also doesn't last that long (I'm always eating so hmmm I don't know about that).

2 & 3. Barry M lip paints - first in 'Sunset', and then the pink-cased one in a moisturising lip paint version in 'Black Cherry'. I'm not a fan of the bright coral colour, I think it doesn't quite suit my skin tone because I'm already yellowish, and bright orange on yellow skin is questionable. I love the vampy cherry one, and it goes on ALOT smoother and glossier than the non-moisturising partner. It's sheer though, but I found it good for swiping a thin layer for a plum colour or building it up for the whole vampy shebang lip-do. However, it makes it really obvious when my lips are flaky!

4. My recent purchase - the Maybelline Colorsensational in 'Totally Toffee' is good for dry lips because it's moisturising and buttery. It doesn't last AS long because of the fluidness/glossiness but I like it, and it pretty much suits any look.

5. And finally the Revlon Colorburst crayon in 'Sultry Sulfureuse', LOVE the colour, love the applicator (it's basically a lip liner and lipstick in one) but hate how it dries out my lips - or doesn't go on too well on dry lips. I guess that's the downside with matte lip products, but as long as my lips are well moisturised then it's a-okay.

Also, excuse my for not winding the lipsticks up all the way to really see the colour - I have an irrational fear that winding it up combined with my bad luck will result in tears and slabs of lipstick snapping off and falling on the floor.

Figuier Osmanthus Eau De Toilette by L'Occitane - A Dupe?

A few days ago, I saw a blog post  by A Model Recommends about Roger & Gallet and L'Occitane's new 'fig' fragrance launches and FleurDeForce talking about the Roger & Gallet one as well. I'm not that familiar with Roger & Gallet because I have never seen them in Australian stores, but I didn't realise the L'Occitane one was available in stores right away in Australia as well (since we're pretty slow in getting anything in, if not at all), and working right next to the L'Occitane store, I gave it a sniff.

First things first, I really like woody, musky and greeny scents that fig scents have - if you have ever eaten a fresh fig you will know what I mean when it say it tastes/smells like some kind of sweet tree nectar. Apparently most fig scents out there are predominantly woody smelling (well, that's literally what a fig smells like to me). And so, this new scent is supposedly meant to be a girlier and fruitier version of these strong, woody, fig smells.

The one and only thing that came to my mind when I first smelled it was Jo Malone's Nectarine Blossom and Honey perfume. I HONESTLY thought (and I still think it's pretty damn close) this was a replica of the very pricey Jo Malone perfume - it was uncanny because this literally smelled like peaches/nectarines. I don't know if it's just me.

At the first spritz, you can definitely smell the green woody fig scent, which disappears into this peachy-osmanthus scent (I also think osmanthus flowers smell peachy! And you can really smell if you have ever had osmanthus tea).

According to L'Occitane:

The fragrance opens with soaring notes of bergamot and blackcurrant, paired with a ripe,fruity fig.
The heart reveals another facet of the fig through its green leaves,
heightened by apricot tinted notes of the Osmanthus flower.
A warm base rounds off this delicious scent and leaves behind a woody trail of cedar and musk.

I had a little look online comparing these two perfumes, and turns out they both have a blackcurrant top note and an apricot/nectarine middle notes. I think 'Nectarine Blossom' comes pretty close to the osmanthus scent.

It smelled a lot girlier/fruitier than I thought, because I was really wanting a musky woody fig smell. But, I still really love it because it's not one of those sickly sweet smells, a little bit girly but also a little bit musky AND it actually lasted quite a few hours on my skin. And of course, the Jo Malone perfume smells wonderful as well, so being pretty similar this one smells amazing too.

Lo and behold what I think is an excellent dupe for the Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom and Honey perfume! The new fig & osmanthus perfume is $40 for 30ml, vs $90 for 30ml from Jo Malone. That's more than 50% off the price of Ms Malone's version! 

Drugstore Finds

-Walks into drugstore to restock on concealer-

-Walks out with a bagful of random stuff-

Story of my life.

I have to say, Australian "High Street" prices are basically US/UK speciality store prices. A standard foundation or a lipstick costs $20-$30, and other things like blushes, powders, bronzers are roughly $15-$35. It's still a lot more affordable than walking into a department store like David Jones/Myer or Mecca, where a foundation will cost $60-$100+!

I'm always on the hunt for bargains - most skincare products I manage to snag off feelunique, and makeup bits are really cheap at Chemist Warehouse. They're usually 30-50% off cheaper than regular drugstore prices.

I finished the Age Rewind concealer, which costs $18/$19 at the drugstore, or $13 at Chemist Warehouse. Other people seemed to have figured out this sweet deal that I can never find the Age Rewind Concealer in Light/Pale!

I don't have a lot of experience with concealer, but I don't think I'll need to experiment because this seems to work really well. It's slightly prone to creasing (but the shape of my undereye is just asking for it) but it doesn't if you set it with some powder.

Since I couldn't get my hands on my shade, I got the Rimmel Wake Me Up concealer (for $7.50 at half price) to test out - I have heard good things about it so I have high expectations just like I did for the Age Rewind.

I recently purchased the Bourjois Bronzer and Highlighter from feelunique during their 30% sale hehe. I don't think its the best quality bronzer, because the bronzer is a bit orange and the highlighter have quite large specs of glitter in them. I still like it though because the bronzer is quite matte and not-so-shimmery, and the highlighter is a bit of an extra glow besides my Revlon illuminating cream. I always use these two components separately though because I don't want shimmer in my bronzer.

At chemist warehouse, I saw this Calvin Klein bronzer (I've seen it there for at least over 2 years) and I was able to test it out. It was super pigmented and had close to no shimmer, and also didn't seem to orangey. For $8, it was a super good deal!

Left: Bourjois, Right: Calvin Klein

As you can tell, the Bourjois one looks alot more orange than the CK one. It also took a few good wipes with my finger to get that swatch vs one swipe of the finger with the CK. Pigmented is always good, but not-so-pigmented is just as useful for overall-glow or touching up the entire face as well. I think I will be using both of these equally!

Some light contouring with the Calvin Klein bronzer.

I was so in love with my caramel tinted Burt's Bees lip balm and the nudey creamy look it gave that I ended up getting a lipstick in virtually the same colour - but obviously a lot more pigmented. I got the Maybelline ColorSensational in Totally Toffee (215) for $8.50 (at half price). 

Super creamy with a slight vanillary smell!

I also grabbed one of these"chubby stick" dupes by Revlon Colorburst in a matte berry-mauve colour - Sultry Sulfureus (225). Sulfureus? What.

It has a peppermint scent and applies really nicely - especially because it's in a pencil shape, there's really no need for a lip liner. Feels a little dry, but that's essentially a matte lipstick anyway right? I got it for roughly $9 at half price, so these lip products were an awesome deal!

And finally, I got the Paul Mitchell clarifying shampoo and the original conditioner. I was desperately after a clarifying shampoo because my hair gets so greasy on the second day and makes me feel soooo icky. I used up all my Kevin Murphy shampoo and conditioner I got from Becky (the conditioner was the bomb-diggity), my hair was itchy, it was greasy, and I have to use half a can of Batiste to tame the oily beast every 2nd day.

So far, the clarifying shampoo is fab-u-lous. My hair is WAY less greasy on the second day, and SLIGHTLY less itchy (still hoping for results, fingers crossed!) and feels super squeaky clean after washing. The conditioner on the other hand... I would not buy again. (Both of these were $12.99 each, at half price.) The smell of it is so weird, luckily it doesn't linger. And it isn't as concentrated as the Kevin Murphy conditioner in terms of detangling and application wise. I'd say it's twice as concentrated as a cheap conditioner, and the KM conditioner is three times as concentrated as a cheap one. I guess it's not too bad because its equivalent to 600ml for $13, but it didn't seem to do any magical things to my hair, so meh.

Also, I had a little research investigation into the hardness of water in Brisbane, it is 100ppm. Significantly higher than Melbourne and Sydney's! WHAT? It's actually not too bad compared to other cities around the world where it's twice as concentrated though.

Hardness means the amount of bicarbonate minerals (calcium and magnesium elements) in the water. It's not dangerous to drink or anything, but makes it more difficult to wash your hair properly because the hardness makes your hair rougher (your hair are basically like scales, and these "scales" stick out in hard water) and clings onto soap you can't wash out. Clarifying shampoos help REALLY wash your hair basically.


Also. I found the maybelline illegal length mascara there as well!!! It was $9? So half price again. Finally, I can replace my old used up one that feels super dry and crusty (EW).