My Summer Essentials

It took a minute, but summer is well and truly in full swing in Brisbane! The sun be swelterin' and the sweat be drippin'. I figured now was a good a time as any to share some of my essential products for combatting the hot weather (or rather making it more bearable!). 

Five Spring Nail Polishes

Seeing as spring is basically in full swing, I thought I'd better start getting in the mood for it! When it comes to spring, the very first thing that pops into my head is pastel nail polish! I haven't done a nail related post in a HOT minute, but I've still been wearing nail polish constantly (just not changing it every four days like I used to...wow I've gotten lazy!) and the pastel shades have been a go to (even in the dead of winter :P )! I've also thrown in a couple of brighter shades just so it wasn't all pastel! Let's go!

Remedying Winter Woes

Though it had a sluggish start, winter has well and truly hit us in Brisbane! The past few weeks have been quite chilly, and to make things worse, quite wet as well. There was crazy rain the other weekend that caused flash flooding - you'd think it was summer! Anyway, as always, with the colder weather comes drier skin! I did a similar post last year and still highly recommend those products. The products I'm featuring today are the ones I'm currently loving and are saving my drier, more dull skin!

We're Cool for the Summer

Spring is almost over and Summer is upon us. Though, here in Brisbane Spring and Summer always seem to muddle up with each other! The weather of late has been hella rowdydowdy (yeah that's actually a word). It's basically been a series of suuuuper hot, humid days, followed by intense thunder and rain storms. It's been hot and cold and wet and just damn INDECISIVE. Figure yoself out weather. Anyway - I've managed to round up a few of what you could call my "Summer essentials". I tend to wear whatever makeup I want regardless of the season, but I think these products lend themselves particularly well to hot weather! 

Lipstick Lineup | Autumn

Today I have another Autumn themed post with regards to the lips! My last post was my top 5 Autumn nail polishes, so today I have my five favourite lipsticks for Autumn to share.

Berry Smoothie, Blushing Nude, Berry Kiss, Soft Amethyst, Desire

I have chosen lippies ranging from wearable nudes to deeper vampy shades. My collection isn't very extensive, but these are just the shades I typically gravitate towards during the cooler months!

Clockwise from top left: Berry Kiss, Soft Amethyst, Desire, Blushing Nude, Berry Smoothie

First up is the Revlon lip butter in the shade 050 Berry Smoothie. I chose this particular product because it is really pretty for everyday wear and it dips your toes into the 'berry' pool with its easy sheer and hydrating formula. I have a full review here.

My Nude pick of the bunch is Clinique's Long Last lipstick in Blushing Nude. It is a deeper nude that is more of a pinky-brown. For my skintone and rather pigmented lips, this is a pretty good nude or MLBB (My Lips But Better) shade. For others this might be nice to switch to during the cooler seasons.

Sadly, I believe this next shade has been discontinued. It's another Long Last lipstick from Clinique, but in the shade 09 Berry Kiss. It's a really pretty berry red and in my eyes very warm, and seasonally appropriate. I do believe this shade is quite common though, so a dupe is probably out there!

Moving into the more purply tones, 21 Soft Amethyst from Estee Lauder's Signature Hydralustre line, is a beautiful deeper lilac shade which pulls quite mauve. It is obviously purple though. I think it is a really pretty and wearable shade perfect for daytime wear. The formula on this lipstick is amazing! It is super creamy and opaque, whilst still being shiny. It's also very comfortable of the lips!

Lastly, rounding off to my deepest lipstick shade is MAC's Desire which has a lustre finish. Keeping in mind that this has a lustre finish, therefore being quite sheer and shiny, it is a lot more wearable than its more opaque counterparts like Rebel or Dark Side. It is a plummy brown which looks really nice on the lips. It can be sheered out or built up, but you won't achieve the colour of the bullet on the lips. It's a really nice option if you're just getting into deeper shades!

Berry Smoothie, Blushing Nude, Berry Kiss, Soft Amethyst, Desire

Hope y'all enjoyed this post! I'm looking forward to slapping some of these shades on my lips for Autumn!

Fresh Nails | Autumn

Hello! With Summer in the past and Autumn rolling around I thought I would do a post on my top 5 favourite Autumnal nail polishes! Of course you can wear whatever colours, whenever but these are just some Autumn 'appropriate' shades in my stash.

First up is Revlon Colorstay Nail Enamel in the shade 190 Spanish Moss. It is a really mossy type sage green. It is nicely muted so very, in my opinion, Autumn appropriate and it has an almost 'dusty' quality. It also has a slight silver sheen running throughout but it isn't all too noticeable on the nails. It applies really nicely, opaque in two coats and lasts really well (as the name would suggest...). 

Nicole by OPI Shoot for the Maroon, is a lovely deep maroon with gold shimmer. In the bottle it almost looks duochromatic, but on the nails the shimmer/small glitter particles take on much more of a purple/burgundy shade. Again, lovely formula, two coats to opacity.

OPI Pros and Bronze is an absolutely beautiful bronzey-copper shade. It does not have a base colour but instead is heavily packed with individual shimmer particles of gold, copper and even some pink thrown in. It has an absolutely stunning effect on the nail! It somehow reminds me of the falling leaves, though we don't experience that in Australia! It takes three coats for opacity, there is some Visible Nail Line (VNL) in the photos but that's just macro, it looks great in person!

Next up is Orly Fowl Play. A really complex shade with a deep purple jelly base and a whole bunch of duochromatic flakies thrown in, glitter and shimmer! Quite Autumn and Winter appropriate! Opaque in two coats!

Lastly is a mini Witchery polish which is actually unnamed, it came in a trio which was called Twilight. This is a very common shade and one of the basics for Autumn. It's a maroon-wine shade with a creme finish. Very wearable and it has a lovely formula, almost a one-coater! It also dries very shiny. 

Thumb to pinky: Spanish Moss, Shoot for the Maroon, Pros and Bronze, Fowl Play, Witchery Polish

Those are my picks for Autumn, hope you enjoyed! What shades do you guys like for Autumn?

Most Worn Things TAG | Summer

Today I have a TAG to share with you! I was tagged by Cherie to do the Most Worn Things for Summer Tag. For me, a third of this past summer was spent travelling, and for a lot of the rest of it was pretty dreary! It rained quite a lot over here and it really dampened the Summer! Anyhoo, here are the things I wore most for the past 3 months!

1. Most worn Nail Polish

Being such a nail polish junkie, I couldn't just pick one! Throughout Summer I wore Ulta3 Watermelon (a wonderful pinky-coral), China Glaze For Audrey (Signature Tiffany-blue) and Orly Rage (silvered rose gold) most often. I actually took Watermelon and Rage with me travelling. 

Rage, For Audrey, Watermelon

2. Most worn Hair Product

I don't often style my hair as it is pretty low maintenance but I am all about trying to prevent damage and especially split ends and just making it look smooth and shiny. The Matrix Break Fix Leave-in Elixir was my most used leave-in conditioner. It helped make my hair soft, smooth and just better in general! You obviously can't repair split ends but I think it has helped prevent them.

3. Most worn Bag

My most worn bag is probably this Sportsgirl one. I typically use smaller bags as I don't carry a ton around with me and this is the perfect size and is quite deceiving in how much it can hold! It goes with everything and I actually took it travelling with me.

4. Most worn Shoes

These Studded loafers which I purchased in South Africa are amazing! They're pretty comfy, super cheap and go with most things for a casual but trendy look.

5. Most worn Clothing Item

These are some floral cherry blossom, scalloped, high-waisted shorts from Forever New. I don't believe you can get this print anymore but they always bring back the same style in heaps of different colours. I took these also on my holiday for a casual but also put-together outfit and they are exactly my style.

6. Most worn Accessory

My most worn accessory is probably this rose gold hair cuff from Sportsgirl. I am always wearing my hair in ponytails and this just makes it a bit more snazzy!

7. Most worn Foundation

My most worn 'foundation' is my Garnier BB Cream for oily/combo skin. I really like this for light coverage, matte finish, SPF, and it's just a really nice product.

8. Most worn Bronzer and/or Blush

My most worn Bronzer is the Essence Sun Club Bronzer in 02 Sunny. It's completely matte and nice for natural contouring.

For Blush it has to be my Clinique Young Face Powder blush in Warm Blush/Honey Blush. This product is discontinued but I used this basically everyday also because I took it travelling. It has a shimmery rose pink and a matte, 'dirty' peach. 

9. Most worn Lip Product

Besides lip balm, I wore this Estee Lauder Signature lipstick in Venetian Rose a lot. It is discontinued (I think) but it is a really pretty, dark, 'dirty' peach. I really like it on my skintone.

10. Most worn Mascara

My most worn mascara is probably Maybelline's Volum' Express The Colossal. I really like this mascara, it  gives good length, volume and doesn't clump up my lashes. The wand is a little too big for my liking but it does the job.

11. Most worn Eyeshadow

My go-to is the Clinique colour surge eyeshadow duo in Like Mink. It contains two easy, no-brainer shades. A really pretty champagne and a brown with golden shimmer. This is still available, just in the revamped packaging.

12. Most worn Fragrance

My scent for Summer was definitely MOR Perfume oil in Lychee Flower. I suck at describing scents but it's just a really 'pretty' floral and sweet scent. It is in roller ball form so super easy to apply and throw in your bag, lasts a long time and is pretty cheap considering it doesn't even look like I've used much at all!

Sunny Bronzer, Warm Blush, Honey Blush, Venetian Rose lipstick, Like Mink duo

Hope you guys enjoyed the tag! Thanks Cherie for tagging me and it was really fun to do!