Left to right: #Hello Dolly, #O Peachy!
Looking for an inexpensive powder blush that delivers pigment, has longevity and is flattering? Face of Australia actually has some pretty impressive blushes that fits the bill. Today I am swatching two blushes, a pink one and a peachy one.
On the left, we have #Hello Dolly blush is a matte blush with no shimmery particle in it, perfect for day especially those who don’t like shimmer in their blush. The pink blush adds a pop to your cheeks and if blended with a fluffy blush brush, this will blend in nicely without looking OTT. Personally, I think this would suit someone with a fairer skin tone better.
On the right, we have #O Peachy! a shimmery peach shade. Great to freshen any tired look and add a punch of colour to cheeks. I’d recommend this for all skin tones and do remember to blend it well and start with light application and proceed with layers to build up to the intensity that you like.
RRP AUD$9.95 each
Available on Face of Australia counters now
Top pic, left to right: White Gold, Foxy Roxy, Show Off, Flaming Lava & Ocean Villa
Back in October 2012, Face of Australia released 6 new shades to the existing Colour Pro Nail Enamel. This collection is rich and smooth to apply especially the solid colour ones. The solid colour shades were easy to apply and shows up beautifully on nails with a glossy finish; however, the metallic finish ones can appear streaky hence I didn’t bother swatching the dark metallic red Flaming Lava shade. The polishes dries fairly quickly with a vibrant finish.
Overall, I am loving the smooth, glossy colours especially #Ocean Villa (bright blue) and #Foxy Roxy (taupe grey).
RRP AUD$6.95 each
Available in Face of Australia counters now
Pastels nails are like classic red nails, they never go out of season and I keep seeing them coming back each year in different variation. They are a hit when it comes to instagram/pinterest pictures coming right up and close next to macarons. Recently, Face of Australia released the Pretty Pastels collection that has eight shades of pastel goodness.
Pretty isn’t it? Totally wearable and girly. These polishes dry fairly quickly but do be careful and not over pile the colours as they will then become too thick and takes longer to dry. I did however find that some polishes apply better than others this could due to the various pastel pigments, some goes on amazingly in one – two coats, some took 3 coats and still appeared blotchy.
#Would You Like Some Orange Sherbet – A nude-ish orange shade, also a dream to apply.
#Boys ‘n’ Berries – The perfect lavender shade that has a creme finish to it.
#I’ll Take You To The Candy Shop – A washed down baby pink shade I think this is a great shade for nail arts.
#Have Your Cupcake & Eat It Too – A pink shade that comes off with a hint of violet in it.
#Castle on a cloud – A light grey taupe shade, I have to admit I didn’t think this would look good on me but I am in love with this.
#After Dinner Mint – I have never been a fan of neon or mint shades, for some reason I just felt that they don’t suit my skin tone.
#Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy – Again, not a fan of yellow either.
#Once in a Blue Moon – Now this is a blue shade I approve. This was applied with two careful coats, I think a third coat is needed to even out the uneven pigments.
Also check out Face of Australia blog who did a collaboration with the very talented Cosmetic Cupcake with some DIY nail art you can do at home.
RRP AUD$4.95 each
Available on Priceline, Big W, Kmart & selected pharmacies now
Remember this image because you will be picking up this box of treat when you’re done reading this post. You see, my dear friend who is equally “beauty” obsessed like me; researched, reviewed and formulated these gorgeous lip crayons. In addition, their names are the cutest ever!
Say hello to cupcake, sundae, macaron! These smart sticks are self wind up pen so no sharpening required (score!) and the colours are exactly what everyone needs. A pink, a neutral and a red for all lip occasional. Well, I am trying not to sound bias here but how often do you find lip goodies in a pack that has every shade that you could see yourself wearing in?
From left: Cupcake, Macaron, Sundae
Texture wise, these sheer gloss are a breeze to apply. As you can see from the swatch above, it is shiny, non tacky and certainly non sticky. I know one would ask is this similar to Clinique’s Chubby Stick? The answer is YES, from sizing, shape, packaging to the actual product itself so definitely its a bargain to bag these three for the price of less than one half of a Chubby Stick!
Pigment wise I have medium coloured lips so these gloss appear quite sheer to the lips but I am okay with it as most days I truly only need a sheer wash of colour over my lips instead of a fully done up lips. I loved #macaron shade so much I brought it with me to my overseas trip recently including Paris and loved how easy and effortless it is to apply and to reapply during my trip.
Additional info:
RRP AUD$14.95
Made in Taiwan
Against animal testing
Last year, MBBEs did a collab with Face of Australia. This collection can truly be said, tested on beauty bloggers and not animals! May I present you the Barbados collection.
Face of Australia Barbados Nail Enamel is a collection of 8 nail polishes with a shimmering pearl finish that dries in 60 seconds. I have swatched all of the colours and I must say they are easy to apply, streak free and lasted the whole week for me. Some of these shades are also named by You’ve Got Nail!
A lovely plum pink shade that has a hint of purple hue in it. One of my favourite from the collection!
The perfect orange shade that I insisted to include in this collection.
This I call it the mature orange, not the fluro orange nonsense.
Perfect for Summer!
A red shade that won’t look dated on your skin at all.
The polish is a little watery and requires two coats for colour to show.
Metallic gold that is timeless.
If there should be a star of a group, this would be it. A gorgeous shimmery blue-green shade.
I am sure you’ve seen all the craze about it amongst the beauty bloggers, it is as pretty in real life as it does in pictures.
A twist to your usual metallic grey shade, it’s shimmery!
This blue shade has alot of metallic shimmer on it.
While I’m not a fan of metallic hue, the gorgeous blue is definitely great for party digits!
I am in love with this jelly pink shade. Another favourite shade from the collection.
How can you not like jelly pink??!!
PS. While I have included all the pictures into collages, I have to say none of the pictures were tampered or filtered.
AUD $4.95 each
Available on counters now
One lucky winner can win the full set of Face of Australia Barbados collection. All eight bottles of it!
How to win it:
Leave a comment (in this post or facebook page) and let me know which shade(s) is/are your favourites.
- Competition starts today 1st March 2012 and will run until 8th March 2012, 6pm (Melbourne time)
- Winner will be announced on the 9th March 2012, be sure to check back to see if you’ve won!
- Competition is only open to Australia residing readers only
- Each user can only send through their entry once.
Regardless of the price, the quality and the brand; lipsticks always dry our lips out. Which is why, when I am given a choice I always pick lipsticks that are known to be moisturising and always prep my dry, chapped lips with lip exfoliation and lip balm prior to lip stick application.
From left: #Malibu Barbie, #Forbidden Fruit, #Pink Champagne (all new shades)
Face of Australia released 6 new shades to their existing Lip Quench Moisturising Lipstick SPF30+ (existing 8 shades). These lipsticks moisturises lips with natural emollients like Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E & Shea Butter. Not forgetting our lips being one of the most vulnerable area to sun damages, these Face of Australia Lip Quench SPF30+ also provides broad spectrum sun protection.
Consistency for these lipsticks are creamy and very smooth to apply. Here are the swatches in natural morning sun light with no flash.
#Forbidden Fruit – Favourite colour of the lot. It’s rich, creamy and compliments my skin colour really well. Doesn’t accentuate the fine lines or seep into my lip lines. I also got quite a few compliments when I wore this to work the other day.
#Pink Champagne – Probably my least favourite. The colour washes my skin tone out and magnifies my lip problems (chapping lips and lip lines). This colour will probably suit someone with no lip problems like I do and someone with a cool skin tone. Oh, how I wish this work for me as the colour looks so good on the tube.
#Malibu Barbie – This was the colour I looked forward the most prior to the launch. It screams BARBIE, it stands out, it is unique and is HOT. Due to the colour being lighter, I have to apply layers of this to avoid seeing my lip lines (yes it is that bad) and have to take extra time to prep my lips to ensure there’s no dryness or flakiness prior to applying this or it will have the tendency to accentuate flaws.
All in all, I love the colours from these lipsticks, they are fun, demands for compliments and doesn’t dry my lips out as much as I think it would. Highly recommend #Forbidden Fruit and #Malibu Barbie.
RRP AUD$9.95 each
Available on Face of Australia counters now
Stockist: Priceline, Kmart, Big W, Selected Pharmacies or call 03 9338 5222
For glowy healthy skin and make up to last, here are some of the trialled and tested handy tips that has worked for me and helped me overcome skin issues. Hopefully you’ll find it useful during this silly season.
1) Wear a primer
One for the face and one for the eyes. Especially if you have oily eyelids NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base is god sent. Whatever you do, don’t put silicon based primer on your eye lids or else even the toughest long wearing shadows won’t be able to stay in place.
Other primer recommendations include - Benefit Stay Don’t Stray Primer $45, Napoleon Perdis Autopilot Pre Foundation Skin Primer $55, Face of Australia Face Base Primer $11.95, NP Set – Pre Foundation Brightening Primer/Calming Primer $33 each
2) Use mask regularly
5 years ago, I banged on about my obsession with facial masks. 5 years later, I still do and commit time and effort to do at the very least two facial mask sessions a week. Be it cream, gel, facial cloth, clay variation I make sure I do masks according to my skin’s need.
Facial masks that I recommend – Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask (for boosting), Rodial Snake Mask $85 (for tightening), Shu Uemura Depsea Hydrability Intense Moisture Filling Mask $95 (for moisture), Jan Marini Skin Zyme Mask (for brightening)
3) Use lash strengthening products
With sparse eyelashes like mine and daily abuse (curling, mascara, make up removal), I find my lashes fall out faster than they can replenish that was until I met lash boosting products. These products not only work for lashes so if you have brow sparseness you can use it too. It helps to prevent lash prematurely breakage and to keep lashes healthy, strong and boosts the length.
Highly recommend – Rapid Lash Eyelash Renewal Serum $65, Xtreme Lash Amplif Eye Lash & Brow Fortifier $129, MAC Prep + Prime Future Lash Serum $60
4) Never neglect eye cream
It worked for me and I firmly believe eye cream works. With new technologies, eye cream helps to de-puff, tightens, reduce dark eye circles and plump up the eye area.
Try: Garnier Skin Naturals Caffeine Eye Roll-On $17.95, Estee Lauder Idealist Cooling Eye Illuminator $95, AUM Anti Age Organics Firming Eye Cream $26.95, StriVectin-SD Eye Concentrate for Wrinkles $69
5) Arm yourself with make up spray
Think of it as your “hairspray” for your face. Helps to lock in moisture, make up and to help blend everything together. Usually just spray 2-4 pumps all over face after make up is done and gently pat everything in place and viola, long lasting makeup all day!
Love: Skindinavia Makeup Finishing Spray $29.95, Clarins Fix Make-up Mist $34, Kora Balancing Rose Mist
Pantene Clinicare Micro-Repair Revitalizing Split End Fuser 10 x 5ml
RRP AUD$19.99
If you are a frequent abuser of heat styling, you’ll have those horrid dry, split ends on the end of the hair. We all do, Pantene recently released the Split End Fuser to temporarily (nothing can fix split ends unless you chop them off) seal in hair making it healthy and preventing further damage.
Clairol Herbal Essences Set Me Up Super Size Hairspray
RRP AUD$8.99
Containing floral lily fragrance and boost shine to the hair while setting the hair in place, this hairspray dry quickly to help finish look instantly! Spray away in this super size!
Rimmel Glam’Eyes Day2Night Mascara
RRP AUD$16.95
Definitely a first for me, one mascara with double cap effectively enabling me to have both lengthening and volumizing effect. All you need is one mascara for day to night. Brush wise, it is big so the whole application process is really quick and the mascara texture is more of the ‘wet’ type that keep lashes soft not dry and brittled.
Face of Australia – Mineral Therapy Illuminator
RRP AUD$14.95
These multi functional illuminator comes in such a huge tube (50ml each) making it great for face and body. The way to use these are endless. You can apply directly for face and body as highlighter, mix with foundation for the overall glow, use the darker shade by itself as a blush and mix with your tanning product to achieve a temporary tan.
My personal favourite shade is #angel mist (the pearl white one). I predominately use this as a highlighter and mixing it with my body lotion for body glow for night outs.
StriVectin-SD Eye Concentrate for Wrinkles
RRP AUD$69 (30ml)
This eye cream has cult status among beauty bloggers worldwide. It contains all these scientific proven ingredients to improve cellular renewal, diminish dark circles, improve firmness, tones the eye area and most importantly delay the signs of ageing. You’re guaranteed results in 2-8 weeks.
Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
RRP AUD$60 (50ml)
Oldie but a goodie, This beauty booster instantly brightens and tightens skin appearance for a quick “pick-me-up”. Good for both face and decollete area as it is non-only and lightweight. It’s all in the gentle sweeping movements. No rubbing in!
Aquim Antibacterial Hand Sanitiser
RRP AUD$2.99 (70ml)
This goes without saying, pick one up and stuff it in your handbag. This hospital strength hand sanitiser is great to keep germs at bay and to prevent the nasties from spreading. Good for every day at home/office, gym, airports, travelling, parties, music festivals, you get the drill. Best of all? It doesn’t dry out the paws too!
Evian Facial Mist (Limited Edition)
RRP AUD$11.95 (50ml)
To refresh, stay hydrated with its unique mineral balance and neutral pH.
Instantly absorbs and moisturises hot thristy skin.
