New found product I'm Loving - STILA perfectly poreless putty perfector

Despite the ridiculous tongue twister of a name, I have kinda fallen in love with this product.  On a recent little trip to Mecca, aimlessly wandering around, painting the back of my hand in swatches of everything that looked pretty, I accidentally stumbled on this.
I was looking for lipstick that day actually, but touching anything else that took my fancy.  And there it was in the Stila section.
I was intrigued - was it a powder, a foundation a primer?  It felt weird (hence being called putty, I guess).  I swatched in on the back of my hand, and BOOM!!! Poreless perfection!

I grabbed the correct shade and headed for the checkout - went home, removed my existing makeup and went to work.

OK so the coverage - medium ish, not necessarily the best, but the coverage of pores...excellent!!!

The shade range is also disappointing only 5, I believe and there is not much product in the pan. Although it does seem as though it may take a while to use given the putty formula.

Its only been a couple of days, but so far really enjoying it
https://www.stilacosmetics.com/products/perfectly-poreless-putty-perfector
http://www.mecca.com.au/stila/perfectly-poreless-putty-perfector/V-022163.html

The struggle for the Holy Grail

While I will admit to being a makeup junkie, there is one product that is my true weakness - Foundation.  I just cant seem to get enough of the stuff, literally.  At the moment I believe I own;

• MAC studio skin
• MAC mineralise
• Lancome teint idol
• Laura Mercier silk creme
• Smashbox Studio Skin
• Stila Stay All Day
• Maybelline dream fluid
• Cinema Secrets
• Revlon Colourstay
• NARS sheer glow

Just to name a few (seriously I have more).  Some of this is for everyday wear, changing skin issues, but most recently the obsession is from being on the hunt for the Holy Grail foundation to wear on my wedding day.

Yep that's right I'm doing my own makeup.  Why?  Well a couple disastrous trails and a rather stubborn belief that i can do it better.  That and it makes for a great excuse to purchase more products.

Ive narrowed the field to Smashbox, Stila and NARS and am trialling them all at the moment to see how they react with my skin etc.

Its such a hard decision, especially for the most photographed day of your life!!

Urban Decay!!!!

It is with absolute delight that I can now say that I own an Urban Decay Naked Palette (Naked 2, to be exact).  Mecca Maxima has made me one happy makeup junkie by bringing the cult brand to Australia (finally).  I can't believe that it's taken this long for Aussie's to be able to get their hands on this brand, a little unfair on us really.
Mecca released Urban Decay on Friday 27th March, and while I really wanted to be there on launch day, I couldn't get the day off work (excuse me boss, can I please have Friday off to buy makeup - didn't really seem plausible.)  So I waited until the following Monday and off I went.  Best Day Ever!
Wow thats sad, but really a little true.  My fellow makeup junkie friend and I were so excited wandering around the store touching and playing with every product, after grabbing a Naked palette for fear they'd sell out while we were in the store.

Now I only walked away with a few products - well only 3 actually.  My Naked 2 palette, All Nighter makeup spray and Naked Flushed Palette.  I have a wedding coming up, so can't be making too big purchases right now.

So far I have to say that I really am loving the Naked 2 palette, the colours are beautiful, they blend really well and definitely live up to their hype.  Im still playing with colour combinations, trying to find out what I like and what works for everyday and for nights out etc, and will post a tutorial soon.

As for the All Nighter spray, Im still on the fence here to be honest.  Its definitely better than Mac Fix +, but it seems to work just as well as my NYX matte makeup spray.  Although I'm still in the testing phase so we'll see how it compares soon.

The Naked Flushed Palette is also really awesome.  A great blush, a highlighter and a bronzer.  Im loving the blush and the highlighter, but I find I'm still reaching for my Benefit Hoola Bronzer and the Urban Decay one has just a slight shimmer in it - Not disco ball shimmer by any means, but too much for my liking when it comes to contouring - great if it is being used as a bronzer though.

All in all, LOVING Urban Decay and can't wait to try some more products

Maybelline Dream Wonder Foundation

I'm not usually one for liquid foundations, especially not drugstore ones.  But WOW, this stuff is actually really good.  Back in my teens and early twenties, Maybelline was my favourite brand (still is for Mascara and eyeliner), but I stopped using their foundation in favour of higher end brands like MAC and Laura Mercier.

I am so glad I decided to give this stuff a go though.  It is light and creamy, easy to blend and the colour match is pretty good for my rather hard to match, sometimes yellow, sometimes pink undertoned skin.  It really does dry to a powder finish and just makes the skin look fresh and beautiful.

For a fraction of the price of high end foundations this is definitely worth it!

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Tutorial

After a very long and arduous search for Urban Decay Naked Palette's in Australia for a reasonable price, I gave up.  Luckily on a shopping trip with friends I came across Too Faced Chocolate bar.
The palette is seriously cute; it looks just like a chocolate bar, colours are amazing and as a nice bonus it smells like cocoa!

Anyway I've been playing with this palette for around 3 weeks nows, experimenting with my own colours and ideas as well as doing the suggested looks that come with the palette.  Here is one of my favourites which is a nice warm smokey eye that is perfect for daytime.

STEP 1:  Cover entire eye (right up to brow bone) with White Chocolate - this is a beautiful light colour (that incidentally almost completely matches my skin tone)

STEP 2:  Sweep marzipan over eyelid
STEP 3:  Use Black Forest Truffle in the outer corner.
STEP 4:  Blend Semi Sweet into the crease and use to line the lower lash line
STEP 5:  Use Champagne Truffle to highlight the inner corner of the eye.

Its a really pretty but subtle eye look - perfect for during the day

Ponds Age Miracle

So despite the fact that I still feel young (in that I get intimated in a room full of people only slightly older than me at work) my face is starting to think otherwise.  Most notably in wrinkles appearing on my forehead and not just little ones - ones that I notice quite a lot!
So me and my vein little self decided something needed to be done before this ends in the Grand Canyon in my forehead.  A friend told me she had begun using the Ponds Age Miracle products and that they were doing wonders for her skin.  Well what did I have to loose? And the bonus was that they were currently 40% at my trusty Priceline store.

I purchased the Day Cream ($25.99), Night Cream ($25.99), Serum ($29.99) and BB Cream ($13.99).  

Now I have never been one for a religious skin care routine.  I mean I cleanse my face every night and moisturise day and night, but in terms of products I am constantly changing them, so sticking to a routine for the 2 weeks I trialled this was somewhat difficult for me.

So after the 2 weeks I can honestly say this made no difference to my skin nor did it decrease my visible signs of ageing.  I did quite like the Night Cream, its really thick and creamy and feels super moisturising.  I also loved the BB cream, it blended into my skin and evened out my skin tone like a dream.

As for the serum and the Day Cream well quite frankly they made my skin feel rather greasy - not great considering I have rather oily skin to begin with.

Do I think this was worth it?

Well at 40% off it wasn't too bad.  At full retail, no.  I will most likely repurchase the BB cream as I really did like this, as for the other items I think there are just as good products out there for less.