I'm Having a Giveaway on My Instagram!

Exciting news! I'm hosting a giveaway over on my instagram which is @georgialeebeauty ! I've received heaps of support from lots of lovely people over there so I thought it was about time I gave a little back. Plus, it's Christmas so it's the time for giving. Here's what you have a chance to win:

• Beauty Essentials 10 Shade Natural Eyeshadow palette
• Philosophy Mini Shower Gel Trio - Buttered Rum, Old-Fashioned Eggnog, Peppermint Bark
• ChapStick Collector's Edition Christmas Tin which includes three lip balms - 2 x Candy Cane and 1 x Velvet Cupcake
• Avocado Sheet Mask from The Face Shop 
• Lush LE Christmas Snowman Shower Jelly 
• Lush LE Christmas Snowcake Soap
• Lush LE Christmas Holly Golightly Bubble Bar
• Daiso Lash Set
• Set of 5 Chi Chi Mini Gel Eyeliner Pencils - Dream Lover, Like a Virgin, Beauty School Dropout, Black is Black, Lo Cal Chocolate.
• Australis Lip Treatment Trio
• Manicare Artiste No. 55 Contour Brush

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• Australian entries only. Apologies for this to you international beauties, but this is quite a heavy lot of stuff and the shipping would just be insane!
• No giveaway accounts.
• You can only enter once from any given account. Anyone seen to have entered multiple times will be disqualified.
• Must be the holder of an active instagram account. Doesn't necessarily have to be a beauty account though.
• Competition begins 12/11/14 and ends 30/11/14 at 8pm EST. Any entries after this time will not be counted.
• My account @georgialeebeauty must be tagged in the photo in order for your entry to be counted. I must also be tagged in the caption. 
• You must be following my account @georgialeebeauty
• Also must have liked the original giveaway image posted. 

HOW TO ENTER

 

• Repost the giveaway photo that is on my instagram and tag me (@georgialeebeauty) in both the photo and in your caption. 
• Like the original giveaway image. 
• You also must be a follower in order to win.
• ALL OF THESE MUST BE DONE FOR YOUR ENTRY TO COUNT.
• Sit and wait to see if you won!

Good Luck Beauties!

xx

Lush Christmas and Halloween Goodies Part One

Those of you who follow me on instagram (@georgialeebeauty) will know that I was very excited for the release of Lush's Christmas and Halloween products and I hit my local store the day they came out, which was yesterday. I love Lush, so much so that I have over thirty bath bombs and bubble bars in my collection currently. Onto the new stuff though, some lovely stuff came out this year, with quite a few new, never before seen products hitting our shelves. Unfortunately though, my store didn't have all the stock yet, so I'm going to check back every week as they get new shipments in. So without further ado, here's the haul.

Bath Ballistics

I only picked up one and these are my favourite type of product!

Butterbear Bath Bomb - $5.50 As you might expect, this one is basically a bear shaped version of butterball. It smells sweet, like creamy toffee and ever so slightly chocolatey. His little label says 'This sweet-smelling bear is packed with nourishing cocoa butter and comforting fair trade vanilla. Perfect for anyone that loves a good bear hug.' 

Bubble Bars

Wizard Bubble Bar - $6.95 The design of this little dude reminds me of Adventure Time weirdly enough, it's really cute! Part of the Halloween collection,  the Wizard smells like a very muted citrus mixed with something herby. I clearly know my scents. I love the faint shimmer over this one, it's not too full on like many of the Christmas bubble bars are. They didn't have a label for this one at the store, so the website says 'With a crackle of popping candy, the energising tangerine oil and purifying juniperberry and fennel essential oils, the Wizard banishes stress and helps you recover.'

Christmas Penguin Bubble Bar - $6.95 Christmas Penguin smells really similar to another Lush bath product but I'm not sure which one, maybe Sakura Bath Bomb? It features very citrus ingredients such as mandarin and lemon oils and orange flower absolute, however I wouldn't say it is a massively citrus-y scent in my opinion. 'Crumble this fellow under running water for masses of bubbles. Inspired by the smallest penguins in the world which are blue and from Phillip Island in Australia.'

Holly Go Lightly Bubble Bar - $10.50 This is Christmas in a bubble bar. I mean, maybe not hot summer days, Australian Christmas but if I had a white Christmas I imagine this is what it would smell like. It's spicy and warm, featuring notes of clove, patchouli and cinnamon, not my typical scent but I think I'll save it for next winter. I managed to pick out the hugest of the bunch so I think this will last me many, many baths. 'A generously sized pudding to wrap yourself up in a comforting Christmas blanket of lime oil, patchouli oil and cinnamon leaf oil. Its festive spice fragrance is like bathing in a hot toddy.'

Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar - $6.95 The pumpkin is so pretty. It reminds me of the third Harry Potter movie with massive fall vibes. The smell is a little bit floral, quite sweet and soft, with juniperberry, lime and grapefruit oils. Again, I didn't get a sticker for this one but the website says 'Perfect for a long, lingering soak, just make sure you get out of your bath by midnight...'

The Christmas Hedgehog Bubble Bar - $6.95 How cute is this little thing? I love the colours as well, that minty blue is my favourite! This one is supposed to be hugely moisturising, so much so that it starts to melt when you hold it. Scent-wise it's quite similar to many of the other ones, however that could just be because it's been sitting in the bag with heaps of strong scented products! 'Crumble under running water and unfurl in the silky waters as the rose absolute and ylang ylang essential oils get to work on Christmas stress and soften your skin ready for the festivities!'

Drummers Drumming Reusable Bubble Bar - $9.95 First up, I really wanted this one to be called 'Little Drummer Boy' how cute would've that been? This one is reusable so basically it comes on a little stick that you swoosh around your bath water and it just gets smaller and smaller as you use it. A+ on the packaging for this one Lush, the little bells are a super cute addition and they work as well! Scented like the massage bar Strawberry Feels Forever, this one is sweet and fruity, which means I love it. 'Drum up some energy with our first musical bubble bar! Made with refreshing and uplifting bergamot, geranium and olibanum oil with the sweet smell of fresh strawberries.'

Bath Melts

Snow Angel Bath Melt - $8.50 Yum, this one smells really lovely, like almond flavouring (not too strong) and just creamy goodness. My mum pointed out that this one seriously looks like a cheesecake, biscuit base with white on top; how legit is that? This one is super nice, I'm looking forward to using it. 'This spectacular new bath time addition offers the fizz of our bath bombs and smoothness of our bath melts. The golden layer slowly melts away leaving a sparkly layer of PET free lustre giving you a golden glow.' 

Melting Snowman Bath Melt - $5.50 This one has quite a traditional Christmas-scent spice, like Holly Go Lightly. It has little chocolate buttons for eyes which I think is such a cute addition. 'Cocoa butter and almond oil nourish and soften the skin while the cinnamon leaf oil invigorates and helps shake off fatigue after a few too many Christmas parties.'

Soaps and Body Washes

Yog Nog Soap - $6.90/100 grams Holy wow Lush is so on point with their soap scents this Christmas season. Yog Nog is the most amazing thing I have ever smelled. To me it's like a creamy, maple syrup and gingerbread scent, totally divine. I want to eat this, I licked it and it tasted so good! 'A creamy, Christmas tipple made with moisturising soya yoghurt and a dash of festive spice.' It's also 100% palm free!

Reindeer Rock Soap - $6.50/100 grams This smells like the Comforter Bubble Bar and is therefore the most incredible smelling, strawberries and cream, gorgeous scent. I want to rub this all over my body. Both of these soaps are squishy and almost jelly like which is slightly different to the typical Lush soap. 'Based on the Scandinavian ancient rock carvings, you will see reindeer galloping across your soap. Packed with dried lingonberries, which helps to rejuvenate the skin and improve elasticity.' 

Snowman Shower Jelly - $6.95 I'm not gonna lie, I just bought this one because it's so cute! I'm not a massive fan of the smell, it's apparently the same as the carrot soap that was released at Easter. Before I found that out I actually liked the scent, but now I can only smell that carrot smell which I wasn't a lover of. 'This snowman is more than a little bit fruity, with blackcurranty buchu oil and nourishing carrot oil.'

So White Shower Gel - $29.95/500 grams The lovely girls at Lush gave me a sizeable sample of this shower gel which was so nice of them! So White is also a bath bomb and both the bomb and the gel have a very clean, crisp, subtle apple smell. It has little white shimmers in it as well which are a really nice touch. 'A crisp apple shower gel to leave you feeling the fairest of them all' 

So that's that! A pretty massive haul and that's not even all the stuff I wanted to get! I was a little disappointed that my Lush didn't have everything in yet, but it just gives me an excuse to keep visiting over the next few weeks and buy more stuff to show you guys. I always have so much fun in the Lush store because all the people that work there are so welcoming and helpful. Bath bombs are my favourite sort of bath product as I mentioned before, and sadly my Lush only had like 3 of the 11 that are meant to come out, but hopefully I can pick them up later! Let me know if you guys like these Lush posts, they're probably some of my favourite to do. Would you be interested in a Lush Collection post? Let me know!

xx

talk soon

Palette Profile: Lorac Pro Palette

The Stats

Brand: Lorac

Name: Pro Palette

Contents: 16 Eyeshadows, 8 Matte Shades and 8 Shimmer Shades

Available From: Amazon

Price: $42 AUD

The Breakdown

As with many of the palettes I've reviewed previously, this one is famous for being pretty incredible, every man and his dog has ranted and raved about how amazing this palette is. And seriously, it really is beautifully curated with each shade contributing to a huge variety of looks, despite the neutrality of the palette. I think that's one of the great things about it, you can create a very neutral, put-together look, or a dark, smokey night-appropriate eye all using the one palette, which means that this one is great for beginners looking to just buy one all-rounder product.

The shadows in this palette are insanely pigmented, to the point where they are almost too pigmented, it takes a careful hand and a bit of blending skill to get used to. Usually I find matte shades a little chalky and very sheer but in the Lorac Pro they are pretty close to flawless. However it is the shimmer shades that truly bring this palette to life. Perfectly metallic, pigmented and in shades that are just so unexpectedly gorgeous, I'm a sucker for the bottom half of this palette.

So here are the mattes, perfect for daytime and night-time when you throw in those darker shades like Sable and Espresso. As I said before, it's damn tough to find a good quality matte eye shadow, which is something that initially drew me to this palette. They live up to the hype too, they're literally perfect as far as matte shadows go, the pigmentation is great, although funnily enough, as you might be able to see, the black isn't actually that pigmented compared to the other shades. Oh, and as usual, all the shadows have been swatched over NYX White Eyeshadow Base.

Ahh look at these beauties! I still can't get over how gorgeous these shadows are. The colour range is incredible and obviously the pigmentation is insane, plus the shadows are so smooth and buttery. My only complaint about these is that the purple comes off far more black than it does in the pan. In the palette it's a gorgeous plummy purple but once swatched it loses a lot of that and becomes a more burgundy black which is a little disappointing but still a nice colour nonetheless. As well as this, I found the Champagne colour a little less smooth than the others and a bit chalky honestly. Very minor nit-picky complaints though. 

The Look

Here's a very warm bronze-y look I created using the Lorac Pro Palette, it's so unbelievably pretty and easy to work with. This is just one of the multitude of looks that can be created using this palette. These colours blended beautifully and applied flawlessly. It's just a great palette to work with.

The Verdict

I think it's pretty obvious that I am in love with this palette. It's extremely cheap for the quality and quantity of product and the quality is so consistent across the whole palette. I'd say it trumps many of the top palettes from top brands. 

The mattes are even better than I expected, I'd seriously given up hope on finding decent matte shadows until I found this palette, standouts are Mauve and Cream. Shimmers are my weakness, these ones are no exception, my favourites are Gold and Garnet. I love me some copper tones. 

All in all, if you have access to this palette, buy it, for the price it is seriously incredible. I know that since I got it, this palette has been almost the only one I've used, and I have an enormous slew of other great palettes, that's a testament to how fantastic it is. Go get you some!

xx

talk soon

Urban Outfitters Haul

Hello and welcome to the home of the worst blogger in the world. It has been eons since I last posted and I have no excuse other than life being generally hectic. I only have a small post today, but, there is some exciting stuff to come, including a birthday haul and some very exciting palette posts (think new Stila and M.A.C). This post is about some stuff I picked up from the Urban Outfitters website when they had free shipping to Australia, I always try to make the most of those deals when they pop up.

First I picked up this LMNT Portable Phone Charger because lets face it, the iPhone batteries suck, and mine isn't even one of the faulty ones. This one was $24 which I thought was pretty decent, plus it's cute and handy to keep in my bag if I know I'm going to be out all day and night.

I've been wanting one of these hair brushes for ages so I was stoked to grab one of the Tangle Teezer Salon Elite brushes. Every man and his dog has raved about this brush and the one I got is sky blue and hot pink which has got to be the best colour combo ever. This one was $16 so a little cheaper than the ones you can grab at Priceline.

The thing I was most excited about in this order were the two Z-Palettes I finally got my hands on. I've been trying to get a Z-Palette for ages but had been knocked back on a couple of websites that couldn't ship them to Australia for whatever reason. If you haven't heard of Z-Palette before, it's basically a magnetic, empty palette that you can put de-potted eye shadow pans in. I depotted all the shadows from the ModelsPrefer Sweet Kisses palette that I reviewed a while back, because the tin they came in took up way too much room. Depotting can be a tricky process but the result - saving heaps of storage - is definitely worth it. These were $17 each.

Now, onto the lipsticks! I've been dying to try the NYX Butter Lipsticks so I grabbed Hot Tamale ($6) as a very bright, orange introduction to the formula of these lipsticks, which is very smooth and sleek. I haven't worn this one for any length of time yet, but I get the feeling it would slip around a bit on my lips.

Secondly I got a Heartful Silky Lipstick in Baby Doll from Korean brand Holika Holika which may or may not be purely because it looks so terribly cute. This one was $12 and though I'm not sure the colour suits me, the formula is quite nice - pigmented but creamy. Finally for the lipsticks, I caved and picked up No She Didn't from Lime Crime for $18. Now, I don't completely agree with the ethics of the company (there's a lot of contention surrounding the legitimacy of their items and the integrity of the company etc.) but it's so difficult to find "alternative" coloured lipsticks in Australia! If anyone knows any brands available in Aus that make coloured lipsticks let me know! This lipstick is very opaque and matte, it does tug on the lips a little on application but the finish is even. It would be interesting to see what the other colours are like.

So that's my whole haul! Again, sorry for being so absent, I'm really going to try harder but I do have a lot of assessments  at the moment. My lovely boyfriend got me a tripod for my birthday so perhaps I'll have some fashion posts up soon! Hope you're all well.

talk soon
xx

Small Priceline Haul!

Recently I have been on a complete no-buy after coming to the realisation that my spending was way out of control. I went for about a month without buying any makeup, sated by the arrival of my Lorac Pro Palette (post coming soon) about three quarters of the way through the month. Today I picked up a few things from Priceline because there were some awesome deals going (literally everything I bought was on sale!) and I figured getting a few things couldn't hurt, the no-buy is reinforced now though!

Renewing Argan Oil of Morocco Penetrating Oil If you saw my empties post, you might remember that I'd used up some Argan Oil samples and I really, really liked the way it made my hair feel, so I thought I'd give this one a go. Organix makes a whole range of different hair products and I've heard good things about them previously, so I went for this brand. The product smells nice which is something I always look for in hair products as your hair is constantly swishing about your nose and it's better to enjoy it. Original Price: $24.99 I paid $18.74

Physicians Formula Super BB in Light/Medium This product claims to be an all-in-1 beauty balm powder that has over 10 beauty benefits. It can be worn over foundation or on its own and though I haven't tried it yet, it does feel lovely and smooth in the pan. It is supposed to help with smoothing, perfecting, protecting, oil control, pore minimising, airbrushing, line-softening, concealing, setting and long wearing - a long list of claims. I'm not too sure why, but this was in the sale section at Priceline for ridiculously cheap. Original Price: $16.95 USD (on Amazon) I paid: $4.50

Bourjois Délice de Soleil Bronzing Powder in Fair/Medium Skin I had never seen this in Priceline before, and I thought it might be the closest I could get to Bourjois' famous chocolate bronzer which just doesn't seem to exist in Australia. This smells nice, I think it reminds me of the Lush Oatfix fresh face mask, a sort of cake-y, floral smell (weird I know). The cocoa bean and orange blossom extract promise radiance and hydration, as well as the product offering SPF 15 to protect against the sun, which is important, but I'm not sure how necessary it is within a bronzer that I know I definitely won't be putting all over my face. At least my contour will be sun smart! Original Price: $30 I paid: $24

Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter in 047 Pink Lemonade I've been looking for some more natural looking, light pink lip colours that I can just whack on when I've got a more full-on eye shadow look happening, which is honestly most of the time. These lip butters were massive a couple of years back and I figure it has to be for a reason; so, considering they were on super sale I grabbed this one which is a pretty light pink with a little bit of shimmer. I also love the packaging on these, the colours are fun but the styling is classic. Original Price: $21.95 I paid: $10

Revlon Colourburst Balm Stain in Honey My favourite blogger/youtuber Estée used to rave about this balm stain all the time but I always sort of just glanced past it thinking that it was a bit of a nothing colour. I was wrong, in the tube, this actually looks quite scary and dark, ditto for when you swatch it but it works perfectly as a wash of colour without looking like a wash of colour, like a MLBB (my lips but better) but a wee bit darker. I think I might be in love. Original Price: $17.95 I paid: $10

There you go! I'm a little disappointed in myself for breaking my no-buy but at least I got everything on sale! At full price all this would have cost over $100 and I only spent $67.24 which is pretty damn great. I'm not going to lie, I'm not sure I'll be able to stay away from the cosmetics sections, I'm planning on heading to David Jones tomorrow.... 

talk soon
xx

Winter Handbag Essentials 2014

All my fellow Aussie beauties will be able to back me up when I say that this winter has been extremely cold and windy. My skin is not loving it in any way, shape or form but I'm not going to lie, I sort of love winter. I don't deal very well with heat, plus winter is the perfect time for vampy lips and my deathly pale skin gets the chance to shine. There are some definite hand bag necessities to combat winter and I'm going to show you what mine are.

Lanolips Golden Ointment is described as a 'Super Moisturiser and Skin Protectant' which makes it perfect for the harsh winter air. My nose gets extremely dry so I use this stuff when it's especially bad and it tends to clear my dry patches right up.

Perfume Atomiser This little silver baby is lovely for carrying around whatever fragrance I'm wearing, which at the moment is the Katy Perry Killer Queen perfume. The reason I love this in winter is because when I'm wearing a scarf, I love to smell my perfume on it. Plus I feel as though sometimes fragrances can get lost in all the layers of clothing so it's nice to be able to touch up.

Maybelline One by One Volum' Express Mascara in Blackest Black On winter mornings I am incredibly unwilling to get out of bed which means I'm often rolling out at the last second and dashing to the bus stop without putting on any makeup. I like to have a mascara with me for when I get to work and look a bit dead, some nice lashes lift your whole face. This mascara is extremely natural and has a standard brush shape so it's easy for quick application on the go.

Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm I go on and on and on about this lip balm all the time, you know I love it. It is the best, 'nuff said.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in Fair In a similar vein to the mascara, this is for when I rush out of the house without throwing anything on my face. Useful for covering up the dark circles that plague me after a few early mornings.

e.l.f Shine Eraser Oil Blotting Sheets I'm not a very oily person, my skin definitely tends towards the dry side of things but air conditioning and heaters tend to wreak havoc on skin so it's nice to have the option.

Hair Ties and Bobby Pins Some days you go out with your hair looking super fierce and fab and then the wind gets all up in it and messes up your hair really bad. In these situations I generally like to just chuck my hair up in a pony tail, I'm not very good at dealing with bad hair.

Revlon Colourburst Lacquer Balm in Demure This is a great natural lip colour for everyday wear so it's a really easy one to have in my bag to chuck on when I want a slightly more put together look.

Ulta3 Lipstick in Winter Plum The name of this colour says it all, I mean it's made for this season! I'm not super brave with dark lip colours, but I love this one. It sort of serves the same purpose as the last product but this one is for when I'm feeling a little more brave or if I'm going out after work.

L'Occitane En Provence Pivoire Flora Hand Cream My hands get hit the worst by the winter air, they get ridiculously dry and scaly. This hand cream smells lovely and does the job of keeping my hands from cracking right up.

Nivea Invisible Anti-Perspirant I've been layering up with lots of jumpers and coats, which work great outside, but as soon as I get into a building the heating makes it ridiculously warm. It's handy to keep deodorant in my bag to accommodate the ridiculous fluctuating temperatures.

Palmolive Hand Sanitiser in Raspberry There are tonnes of advertisements at the moment about influenza and how rife it is at this time of year. Working in retail I touch so many people's hands and money, so I've got to be really careful in terms of keeping my hands clean. It's also important for before putting makeup on, so that you're not rubbing bacteria onto your face!

I keep all of this stuff in this cute little makeup bag I got from Typo, there's a bunch of other designs as well. This one is a cute little size perfect for my handbag. I really enjoyed making this post, so I think I might do this sort of thing for the other seasons as well. Let me know what you think!

xx
talk soon

Palette Profile: Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette

The Stats

Brand: Urban Decay

Name: Naked 2

Contents: 12 Shadows; 3 matte shades and 9 shimmery shades with varying amounts of glitter. Double ended brush with a flat side and a fluffy blending side.

Available From: BeautyBay

Price: AUD$80.60

The Breakdown

You guys all know the Urban Decay Naked palettes are gorgeous, it is a well-established fact. I'm not going to tell you any different; the quality of this palette is amazing, you can tell from the swatches below that the shadows are pigmented, buttery and beautifully coloured. But as with many Urban Decay shadows, there can be some issues with fallout although I will say that it doesn't seem to be as much of an problem as it is with the original Naked palette.

 I'm not going to go through each shade individually, as there is tonnes of reviews and blogposts about this palette but I'll talk a bit about a few of the shades. In the pan, the standout shadow for me is YDK, a gorgeous rose gold metallic shade. Even when swatched it is extremely eye catching but because of its slight foil finish it is a difficult one to pull off and finding a colour to match with it is a challenge.

In my opinion the main issue with this palette is that it lacks lighter shades that work as an all-over lid colour for a subtle look. Yes there is Foxy and Booty Call but they're more highlight shades rather than lid colours. The first half of the palette is very warm leaning with the second half being far cooler. Again, I think this maybe takes away from making the palette cohesive as a whole. 

As you can see, there are some definitely very similar shades between the first two naked palettes. I love Taupe from Naked 2 as a crease shade although it does go on much darker than it looks in the pan. I think that the Naked 2 palette is more capable of creating night time appropriate looks as it is definitely slightly cooler in tone than the first Naked palette.

The Look

Verve on the inner two thirds of the lid, Busted on the outer third and onto the lower lash line with Suspect blended through the crease and Foxy as a brow bone highlight. This combination was suggested to me by my lovely friend Jess who actually loaned me the palette to try it out, to see if I wanted to purchase it myself. This look is super pretty and the shadows blend gorgeously.

The Verdict

My experience with this palette is limited as I only got to test it out for a little while, but from this I can say that it is what you would expect - amazing quality shadows. I'd have to say that in general I prefer the original Naked palette but this could come down to the fact that I've had a lot more time to put together looks from the first palette. I would love to have more of a play with Naked 2. 

Wil I be buying this palette? Not right away but one day I'd love to own all three of the Naked palettes (I already own the first). This palette is really pretty and the colours are similar but also extremely different to the first palette which I think is important when a company is putting out a sequel. Urban Decay definitely improved on the issues with glittery fallout that the first Naked palette had, it can still be a problem but it's easily combatted with a little makeup remover or by powdering the under eye area prior to application. If you're looking for a palette that creates flawless night time looks this might just be the one for you.

xx

talk soon

Priceline Haul feat. Essence Dark Romance, Face of Australia Dark Side and more!

If you follow me on instagram you might have seen parts of this haul already, but I figured it was worth a little post to have a talk about the lot of it. I headed into Priceline to check out the new Essence collection as well as the Face of Australia nail polishes and then there was a few other good sales going on that I couldn't pass up. 

First up is the few random bits I picked up which includes this Puretopia Purify and Revive Deep Cleansing Clay Mask. I've never tried anything from Puretopia before but when Hannah of Youtube channel hannahyep mentioned that she really liked the brand in her latest empties video I figured it was worth a try (P.S. You should check her out, she's fab). Before I've even tried the product I can name three great things about the product and the brand; 1) It's sulfate and paraben free. 2) Australian made and owned. And 3) They're against animal testing. Plus the brand is on sale at Priceline at the moment! I chose this mask because it's not a product that I have a whole heap of, so it's something nice and new. The swatch on the left is this, it's quite like a moisturiser so it'll be interesting to see how it sets on the face. 

I also picked up the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in the shade 010 Ivory because I've heard a hell of a lot of people rave about this one, I'm a little undecided on how I feel about it. As you can see in the swatches (right is blended, left is straight on) it's quite orange toned despite the fact it's ivory, the lightest shade available. However, the yellow tones in this do work well on dark under eye circles which explains why it is such a peachy toned product - it's best to use it for this more than covering blemishes I find.

Every time I go into Priceline I eye off colours that are just like this Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Nail Polish in 007 Scarab, I'm naturally really drawn to duochrome blue colours so when I saw this one in the sale bin for $2 I made a beeline and snatched it up.

There has been a lot of discussion around the benefits of Rosehip oil recently so I decided to pick up this Essano Rosehip Treat Your Skin Pack so I could try out a few different products without spending a lot of money. I'm planning a blogpost discussing Rosehip so I won't talk too much about it now but this pack is a great chance to try out the brand. 

After seeing swatches of these beauties on the Face of Australia blog, I knew I had to head in store to check them out and what better time to pick them up than when FOA is 20% off! These Face of Australia Dark Side Nail Polishes are inspired by evil villains which is a theme I love and the names are so perfect! Top row from left to right is Maleficent, Wicked Witch of the West, and Mystique and the bottom row is Voldemort and Magneto. This week I wore Mystique with Voldemort over the top which looked badass but I was a little disappointed because the polishes chipped within a few days when I can usually get at least five days out of my nails with no chips. I did work a lot this week though, so that could have been part of the problem, I'll test some of the other colours and let you know.

L to R: Lipgloss effects in Black Shadow, Lipstick in Red Romance, Cream Highlighter in Light Up!, Velvet Mousse Blush in Painted Love, Glitter Eye Pencils in Black Shadow and Foggy Love.

Finally we have the Essence goodies! I think it's pretty funny that both Essence and Face of Australia have 'dark' themed collections at the moment, perhaps because it's winter? Speaking of, holy hell is this winter cold, 10 degrees is not okay! Back to the collection, I decided to pick up quite a bit from essence, because it's so cheap and I find it a great way to try out products that I usually wouldn't. To start off with the disappointing products we have the Glitter Eye Pencils in Black Shadow and Foggy Love. I was expecting a sort of creamy, metallic eye pencil but instead I got a dry formula with chunky bits of glitter that are hugely sparse and hardly show. In fairness, these cost $2.35 which is nothing but usually essence stuff is decent quality so these were a bit disappointing.

Another slightly weird product is the Velvet Mousse Blush which I have in the shade 01 Painted Love. Now to me, in the pot this looks like Play Doh but I haven't tried it on my face yet so I can't testify as to whether it is any good but I am bloody intrigued. That's the thing I love about Essence, you can try products that you might not otherwise, but even if they suck, it's okay because they're so cheap! I'll keep you updated on this one.

Now, you might know that I hate lipgloss but I bought the Lipgloss Effects in Black Shadow anyway, because it seemed really interesting to me, I mean, a black lipgloss? I believe Smashbox actually make a similar product. It's probably hella sticky but it smells like delicious watermelon so I think I can live with it, plus it's mostly to experiment with.

While on the topic of lip products, this Lipstick in Red Romance is such a perfect winter colour, a beautiful plummy, wine. It's not matte finish, more of a satin, slightly sheer colour, quite wearable. I'm looking forward to working this one into my routine. The Matt (their spelling not mine) Nailpolish in Red Romance is pretty much the same colour, in look as well as name, basically just the nail polish version of the lipstick. It's such a nice colour, I've yet to find out the wear time, but since it's a great colour for the cold weather I'm sure I'll try it soon.

This Cream Highlighter is so freaking pretty; it's iridescent/duochrome with a gorgeous pink-purple sheen. This is probably my favourite product from the line so far but I haven't tried a lot of it out yet. I seriously can't stop looking at it, even if you don't buy it, just go into Priceline to check it out.

That's the whole lot! And now I'm on a no-buy for a little while. I don't have a problem with spending money on make up, in fact I love it but I think it's time for me to show a little love to the products I already have because there's some serious gems in my collection. But if anything Limited Edition comes out, I'm so there!

I've been posting on my instagram heaps, you can find me @georgialeebeauty for little beauty updates throughout the week, there's so many fab people that are part of the instagram beauty community, it's definitely worth having a look.

That's all folks!

xx
talk soon

Empties #2

When I did my first empties post, I thought it would be ages until I did the next one, purely because it takes me forever to get through products, or so I thought. Admittedly, some of this stuff is actually not finished, it's either gone bad or I've had it so long that I don't remember where it came from - never a good thing for products you plan to use on your body, face or hair.

Bioderma Créaline H₂O Solution Micellaire Priceline sells this stuff for a hefty fee but my bottle was straight from a pharmacie in France, though, if we're being honest, I actually got ripped off there too - never buy from the Champs-Elysées what you can get elsewhere. You've heard every beauty blogger and their mother talk about this magical elixir, it removes make up, dirt and everything else from your face without leaving it greasy or gross.

Garnier Skin Naturals Micellar Cleansing Water All in 1 Though I love Bioderma, don't buy it unless you can get it for the right price. If you live in Australia, or anywhere besides France basically, buy this instead. It's the exact same thing, in fact this Garnier Micellar Water might just be better. Such a sneaky one making the packaging so similar, I'm onto you Garnier! This gets a big red cross though because Garnier allows testing on animals.

Covergirl Clump Crusher Mascara First I hated this, then I loved it - mascaras tend to grow on me once they dry out a little, I hate super wet formulas. This mascara is pretty great plus it's cheap. I tend to think that personal experience varies with mascara but personally I really like this one.

Colgate Mint Dental Floss I don't even know why I'm including this, but it sort of ended up in the photo without me even realising. I got it free from the dentist and it did its job well.

First Aid Beauty Daily Face Cream This smelled nasty but it worked wonderfully. It moisturised my skin without making it greasy plus it sunk in super quickly. I'll probably repurchase this one but it's pretty expensive and there are excellent cheaper alternatives that I'll be sticking with for now.

Lush Happy Hippy Shower Gel This smells like grapefruit and citrus and delicious. I love zesty scents so I quite enjoyed this one. A shower gel is a shower gel though and this one served its purpose. It wasn't especially moisturising or drying or anything like that, just a good solid product.

Agadir Argan Oil Hair Treatment My mum got two of these samples for free from a fundraiser she went to and I tossed them into one of my drawers without much thought. I found them a while later and decided to give the world of hair oils a go. This smells heavenly, and I love the effects it had on my hair. After washing my hair I would put some of this in the ends, let it dry a little and then plait my hair and go to sleep like that. When I woke up in the morning my hair had nice little waves that lasted for days without using any heat. I'm looking into purchasing this for sure.

Bodycology Cucumber Melon Body Cream I loved this stuff when I first got it, it smelled amazing and was pretty moisturising. However, I'm so lazy when it comes to moisturising my body and as such, this has sat in my cupboard for a few years only getting used every so often. I got through about three quarters of this, but last time I used it it just didn't smell quite right plus I have a billion other moisturisers to get through so I thought it was time for this one to go. This used to be for sale at Priceline but I'm unsure if they sell it anymore.

Philosophy Cinnamon Buns Shower Gel Such a yummy smelling product! Incredibly creamy and moisturising, I really enjoyed this product. My main complaint is that it came as part of a Christmas baking-themed set and I hated the smell of all the other body washes. Definitely more of a winter appropriate scent as well, it lingers and I find something more refreshing to be better for summer.

Sexy Hair Concepts Short Sexy Hair Shatter Finishing Spray As you may have noticed, I don't have short hair. Three years ago I got my hair cut really short which is when I got this styling product. At the time I liked it, although from memory it did make my hair a little crunchy, I think the nozzle would have been better if it dispersed a finer mist. I didn't actually finish this, the nozzle clogged up and then I noticed that it suggested a 12 month use by date, well past at this point.

Girlz Only Haircare Party Nights Dry Shampoo At only $2 a can, this stuff is fantastic, doing all the things a good dry shampoo should. It can leave a little white residue in your hair but this is easily remedied by some finger-combing. 

Sunsilk Summer Care Leave-in Sun Protection Spray I don't even know how old this stuff is, like we're talking 5+ years. It got handed to me when we renovated our bathroom. I can't really comment on whether it works or not, but it smells nice and the concept is interesting, if this product still exists I'd like to try it out!

Andrew Collinge Salon Solutions Weightless Volume Thickening Hairspray This is another one that I've had for years and has been used for countless dance concerts and musicals. I've never used hair spray for anything besides performance but in terms of keeping hairs in place, this is great although it does bring a definite crunch factor.

Lush Christmas Eve Bubble Bar I finally used this up! I legitimately must have gotten at least 4 baths out of this product, if not more and it wasn't even a huge bubble bar! It smelled lovely and made for a really relaxing bath, plus produced tonnes of bubbles. 

Funtime Aqua Splash Bubble Bath with Chamomile Extract Another cheap and cheerful product, this got bought while on holiday years ago because I didn't have any bubbles for my bath. Plenty of bubbles with that familiar childhood bath time smell.

Nivea Body Shimmering Body Lotion I don't know where this product came from, I have the feeling it was from childhood dance concerts, used to add some shimmer to my seriously pale body. Haven't used it for years but it's definitely an interesting idea.

Nivea Pearl and Beauty Anti-Perspirant This is my favourite deodorant, I love the smell and I've gone through quite a few cans of the stuff. It's inexpensive and does the trick to keep smelly pits away.

So there we go, a mammoth lot of empties! I managed to take a bunch of photos for my blog the other day, so hopefully I'll be posting a little bit more frequently. Have you guys used any of this stuff, and if so, what did you think?

xx
talk soon

Palette Profile: NYX Butt "Naked" Turn The Other Cheek Nude Makeup Palette

The Stats

Brand: NYX Cosmetics

Name: Butt "Naked" Turn the Other Cheek

Contents: 15 Powder Shadows: 7 Sparkle and 8 Satin Finish. 4 Blushes: 2 Matte, 2 Shimmer. 3 Illuminators.

Purchased from: Target

Price: AUD$39

I picked this sweet little palette up a few months ago when it was first released to Target in Australia. I tried to resist buying it for a while because I mean, how many nudes can a girl really need? A question that we may never know the answer to. I like the packaging of this palette; it's compact, sleek and economical with its space usage, plus I think the little slide out drawer and flip top is pretty neat. It manages to fit fifteen full size shadows, four blushes and three highlighters in a pretty small amount of space, which is always good AND makes this palette practical for travel. 

The Breakdown

These shadows vary in quality and feel, I'll go through each one individually below. One thing I will say is that I don't like it when colours don't have names because a) I'm a sucker for a funny/punny name and b) it makes it really difficult to talk about individual colours within the palette. For this reason I've numbered the shadows one through fifteen for the purpose of this post. All the below swatches are over NYX's Jumbo Shadow Stick in Milk (of course).

1 The palette starts on a low note of sorts with one of the few light shades within this palette. Many eyeshadows that are this light struggle with pigmentation and this palette is no exception, the light shades are barely visible both when swatched and on the eyelid. 

2 This colour and the one next to it look incredibly similar within the palette however in the swatch you can see that this colour is much warmer-toned despite its cool appearance in the pan. I'd say this is one of the better shades in the palette.

3 This colour is a reasonable dupe for Urban Decay's Naked from the first Naked Palette, a cool, grey-toned light brown. It is versatile, working both as an eye shadow and for brow filling.

4 Black and gold always go well together and this shade is no exception. A black satin eyeshadow with obvious gold glitters, this one is surprisingly buttery for a glitter shadow which I usually find to be quite chalky and coarse. A well executed shadow for sure.

5 This rose gold hue is gorgeous in the pan and though it does look quite orange in this full-sun swatch, in a slightly more shadowed environment the pink does shine through. This shadow is smooth and buttery, a definite standout within the palette however it is a colour that when worn on the lids can be almost too subtle. Perfect for a nude eye look with some sparkle.

  
6 This shade is the warmest within the palette, but it's coming off a lot more orange in this  swatch than it is in real life. I've also experimented using this one as a contour and I'm a pale, pink-toned skin colour so I wouldn't say it's orange at all.

7 This is your standard 'dark brown that is almost black' colour, a matte version of  colour 10. I want to have more of a play around with this shadow as I think it has great potential within a brown smoky eye.

8 This is another light shadow but this one swatches about ten thousand times better than the first. This is a creamy light pink, soft and smooth, excellent for a highlight or very subtle lid colour.

9 Gold shadows are all usually pretty similar but this one is more subtle than other golds I have loved before, it's almost a hybrid of a gold and a champagne colour. I like the way it would be warn quite neutral because of the nude undertones in the colour.

10 This warm chocolate brown colour is really gorgeous, especially with the shimmer in it, which is gold toned. I really love how it's a perfect balance between warm and cool tones and the way the shimmer spreads through the brown is so pretty. On the downside, like many glitter shadows the pigmentation of the base colour is not as good as it could be, but this lets the glitter shine through.

11 A matte black with very subtle shimmer, like almost invisible. Pretty much every palette has some variation of this colour, it's a staple. I have to say though, because I have so many palettes containing this colour, I wish that they wouldn't waste the space with it anymore. I'd much rather a more interesting or unique colour because I'm never going to struggle to find this sort of shade within my collection. That being said, the formula of this isn't bad.

12 This colour leans on the cream side, where #1 leant towards more of a white tone. I know this is a nude palette, but again this seems like wasted space, is it really necessary to have cream and white in the palette? If they were different finishes it would be more understandable, but they're both matte.

13 This one is more of a true champagne with warm undertones. It's a pretty colour however when blended you lose all sense of colour and are just left with a shimmery finish. It would make a good highlighter if you were looking for super glowy cheek bones.

14 This is a very orange-y, bronzed gold, super warm toned. It's pretty but I'm not sure how wearable a colour like this is, it's not bright enough to be a bold, obvious statement, so potentially you could just end up looking like you have pink eye, not a look likely to come into fashion any time soon.

15 This shadow reminds me of snow, it's perfectly white and shimmery, but as you can see (or rather not see) the swatch is pretty much invisible, this colour doesn't transfer well from pan to skin. With a good base and by patting the shadow on, you could perhaps achieve its full potential, but within a 'nudes' palette, you ideally want all the colours to be quick and easy to work with.

Moving on to the blushes and highlighters, there's a variety of finishes in the blush, both matte and shimmery and with the highlighters you essentially get 3 full-size products which is generous.

Blush 1 This is a perfect Barbie pink. From a matte finish blush I would expect the pigmentation to be a little better than it is, but because it's such a bright pink this works in its favour because it's buildable rather than being overwhelming upon first application.

Blush 2 Such a pretty coral colour! This is my favourite blush within the palette because colours like this tend to work well with my pale complexion. This one gives you a super pretty glow.

Blush 3 This colour is a lighter version of blush #1, like it's literally the same colour which makes me question why they felt the need to include it twice. It's a little more pigmented than its darker counterpart which is nice.

Blush 4 A shimmery version of Blush 3. The pigmentation is very good, so a light-hand is a must when applying this blush. It's very pretty in the pan, but again, it's so similar to the others.

From bottom to top:

Highlight 1 I would almost call this one a blush because the warm orange within the highlight is quite prominent. This is very shimmery, combined with its warmth it's perfect for a glowy look.

Highlight 2 This is a light pink highlight, the colour actually reminds me of Benefit's High Beam. This is a more subtle, and in my opinion, prettier version of highlight 1. 

Highlight 3 Colour-wise this is very similar to The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer, a golden-yellow highlight. In my opinion this is the best highlight in the palette but I steer away from pink undertones in highlighter because my cheeks are very pink naturally, they don't need any help.

Looks Created Using This Palette

Daytime Look

This look is super subtle and shimmery. I used #13 all over my lid with #3 in the crease. I used NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk as a base to allow these shadows to show their full potential. I used Maybelline's One by One Mascara for  subtle lashes. 

As you can see, there isn't a lot of colour within this look, with the glittery shades in this palette, they're very glittery with little to no pigmentation which is disappointing. Layered with a matte shade in the crease you get a little more pigmentation which looks nice, but overall the look is overwhelmingly glittery.

Night Time Look

I used NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk as a base and then put #9 all over my lid and blended #4 into my outer 'v' and onto my lower lash line. Maybelline's The Falsies Flared Mascara gives my eyelashes lots of volume and length for a night-appropriate look. 

I love this eye look and I would happily wear it on a night out. I think the gold and black look really classy and flawless together. They also blend really well because of the gold glitter in the #4 shadow. I do with that #9 was a tiny bit more gold-pigmented though, just to balance out the glitter.

The Verdict

In theory I think this palette is great - a nude palette with shadows in a variety of finishes plus blush and highlighter for a full look. In practice though, I feel that there are little changes that could have been made that would vastly improve this palette. Firstly, a little more variety within the shadows would be great, rather than having four matte browns that look very similar, we could have seen a variety of finishes and more difference in tones, same goes for the light shades. Secondly, pigmentation is a slight issue with both the glittery shades and some of the matte ones, but for the most part this is easily remedied by using a good base. Also, the shimmer shades could be slightly less glitter bomb-y. This is super petty, but I feel that the colour order of the shadows isn't very cohesive, the palette doesn't have very good flow colour-wise. It could have benefitted from a different layout.

Onto the second part of the palette, the face section, this is where I think the most vast improvement could occur. Out of four blushes, three are really similar. They only needed one of the super pink shades and could have included perhaps a red-toned shade and a mauve-pink similar to their powder blush in Dusty Rose. Who needs three jumbo size highlighters in one palette?! One of these spaces could have easily been filled with a bronzer which would then make this palette a true all-rounder, and in my opinion, better value. Plus, you just don't need a highlight this large, it's unnecessary. It would have made more sense to put the blush in the big spots, or to make all the sections equal rather than having illuminators that are literally double the size of the blushes.

For the price (AUD$39) you do get a decent amount of product but I'd feel better about this frankly quite high price tag if there was a little more variety in the palette, I understand it's a nude palette, but nude doesn't need to mean boring, or exactly the same. On the plus side this palette is cruelty free which is something I'm becoming increasingly conscious of lately. Check out this website to view a list of companies that test on animals. All in all, I'd say this product is a good starting point for make up beginners, although the price makes it a little bit of a splurge for a beginner, despite the fact is comes with a lot of product. Definitely not a must-have but a nice little addition for travel because it is quite compact and sturdy.

Finally, apologies that this post was delayed, our internet has been very temperamental lately!

xx

talk soon