Giveaway Winner Announced!!

Thankyou everyone for your feedback from the Kerastase and MUA giveaway. It seems far and away that haul and review posts are the most popular, so see more of those coming soon!!

And the winner is.....

April Faves 2013

I am pretty excited to be posting this favourites post while it's still actually April! Yay for timely posts.

L'oreal Lineur Intense - Earthen Rock Brown

If you have seen my Drugstore Makeup Tag video, you may be aware that I am not a huge fan of the L'oreal Lineur Intense liquid eyeliner in Carbon Black. I am, however, quite a fan of the Earthen Rock Brown version.

The "I don't need an excuse" Giveaway!

I have had these goodies kicking around for a while, waiting for a milestone so that I could do a giveaway. But you know what? I don't need an excuse. I would just really like to do a giveaway to thank everyone for their support of my blog thus far. The giveaway includes the Kerastase Cristalliste Shampoo and Conditioner, which are amazing for volume, shine and smoothness. Also included is the MUA Undress Me Too palette, which is touted as a great dupe for the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. Lastly, there are 2 liquid and 2 pencil eyeliners in the most popular colours this season, green and turquoise.

March Faves 2013

How to follow blogs without Google Reader

So Google Reader is going the way of the Dodo and I haven't been able to totally figure out what this means for Google Friend Connect (GFC, or all those smiling faces in the sidebar). I am going to assume that this will be ripped from our desperate grasp too.

As an alternative, I really like to follow blogs with Bloglovin'. It appears that Bloglovin' is the winner with the whole Google Reader fiasco because most people are encouraging their readers to switch to this platform. I encourage you to do so too! I find the interface a lot easier to use than Google Reader and much more aesthetically pleasing.

I have a lovely naked lady on my sidebar if you'd like to click her to start following me via Bloglovin'.

What's your favourite way to follow blogs?

What I Ate Wednesday

I have slowly been making changes to my diet in the past 6 months in an effort to generally get healthier. It was mostly spurred on by hormonal issues and terrible acne. So most of the foods I try to eat show benefits for skin health and also balancing blood sugar levels.

I thought I would start a new series that was inspired by various food and health bloggers I have seen around the traps that document what they eat for a day. I think this will also inspire me to mix it up a bit so I don't end up showing exactly the same foods every wednesday!

My Morning Skincare Routine

So here is the morning half of my skincare routine that has really helped clear up my skin. My acne has mostly disappeared (apart from a nasty outbreak I've just gotten after having a virus). I don't have major sensitivity issues and the redness in my face has pretty much disappeared.

I start by cleansing my face in the shower with the oddly non-foaming cleansing gel from Alpha-H, the Triple Action Cleanser. Some very mild cleansing agents with a dash of anti-bacterial Thyme make this a winner. I jump out of the shower and shake a bit of Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid onto a cotton pad and swipe it over the areas of my face prone to congestion to exfoliate them. Next up is Ole Henriksen's Truth Serum. One pump of this vitamin C serum covers my whole face to help treat hyper pigmentation. A dab of Bobbi Brown EXTRA Eye Repair Cream keeps my fine lines plumped. Finally, a pump of Alpha-H Daily Essential Moisturiser SPF30+ protects my face from the hot summer sun.

To go natural or not to go natural - that is the question.

So sometime last year I read a book by Dr Perricone that talks all about the influence of diet on your skin. I don't follow all the guidelines in this book. Let's be honest I can't eat that much salmon! The book did however make me think a lot about how my diet might be affecting my skin. Well not only my skin, but my entire body. I've been blessed with some lovely hormonal issues that affect lots of things, but the easiest one to see when I look in the mirror every morning is my skin. I had some awful cystic acne crop up around 18 months ago, which along with other things in my life that were going on, really shocked my confidence. Moving on, because this isn't a big sop story. The point is that I looked at my diet and made the following changes because they might help with the hormonal and skin issues:

Lovin' the drugstore makeup!

I love drugstore makeup. Really I do. It's funny because before I started getting into blogging I hadn't visited a Priceline in years. Now I can't get enough of the stuf!!

I ♥ Drugstore Makeup Tag

First Impressions: MAC Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation 2013

MAC have released a new foundation for 2013, the Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation.

MAC says:

An innovative, gorgeous new formula, full of extraordinary benefits. Its lightweight lush texture feeds skin instantly with mineral-rich nourishing hydration, all day long. The uniquely creamy fluid, ideal for dry skin, blends beautifully, providing light-to-medium buildable coverage. Features our 77-Mineral Complex including Shea Butter, emollients and conditioning extracts to keep the face soft and supple.

In anticipation of the coming winter I ordered both the foundation and mineralize concealer in NC15 to deal with dry, winter skin. I had heard the concealer is similar to Maybelline FitMe, which I really like the consistency of but can't find a colour match.

Dermalogica joins the pack

Dermalogica is the latest to reduce their Australian prices. It looks to be roughly 10-20% cheaper across the board. They have a list of the price changes on their website.

Dermalogica's Website

I've had my eye on the Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque. What about you?

Hello 2013!!!!

So it has been months since I've last posted anything. First and foremost... sorry.

I have been so busy over the past few months with life and study. I really should have made a post explaining my absence, but I just never got around to it. Pretty arsehole really.

Things are turning around. I am still pretty stressed out because I am writing up my thesis at the moment, but things have calmed down considerably and I am not running around highly strung and tearing my hair out.

I really want to communicate with others about my silly beauty related obsessions, but the blogging thing never 100% gelled with me. I like communicating with you guys but I find the actual writing of posts quite tedious. I've decided to try something different and mix it up with some videos instead because I might find the format a little easier.

We shall see how we go. So here's my January favourites in video format!! Let me know what you think. I still haven't decided if I'm mortally embarrassed posting this or not.