Antipodean Beauties - My Favourite Lipstick

Very recently I just joined the Antipodean Beauties group where we have a new makeup challenge every week. This week's challenge is 'my favourite lipstick'.  You would think this would be an easy challenge...but in fact it was quite a hard one... I love all lip products from lipstick to lip gloss. I have so many that I had so much trouble deciding my favourite.

I have had a look at my lipstick collection and I did have over 10 lipsticks (note: be aware though that these are only lipsticks...not incl lip gloss or lip tars etc). And also these are the ones that I have kept all in one place, I'm sure I have several other lipsticks that I have placed elsewhere I can't find.

Here is my collection:

So after having a long hard think about what my favourite lipstick is I decided that my favourite lipstick that has been my go-to everyday lipstick is the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in the colour Adore. I know that this may not be a lipstick..but may be considered more as a lip balm but I love it. The colour is gorgeous. It's red but it's not a full on bright red and it's perfect for everyday wear day or night. I love it so much that I've actually used it up so I need to buy another one! You can see my review and swatch on the Revlon Adore here.

If this was not considered a lipstick then my next favourite would be Dior Addict in 554. It's a lovely gorgeous bright pink! 

And now see below for the link to the other bloggers participating in this make up challenge.

Natural No Makeup Look

So today is a Sunday. And Sunday is pretty much my only day off as I work full time 5 days a week and I also work a second job on Saturdays. Because this is my only day off this is usually my lazy day. And especially in cold Canberra winter, all I want to do is snuggle up in a blanket all day and just relax. 

However, today I had some visitors coming over, so I couldn't just snuggle up all day long.

Eventually I had to get ready and look at least presentable. 

My skin is usually quite good but today it was looking a bit blotchy and uneven so I decided to apply a bit of makeup, but very minimal. I wanted to go for a natural, "no makeup" look. 

I didn't use too many products since it was a very minimal natural makeup. For the eyes I only applied a couple of coats of mascara.

For my face, I used the following products:

• Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation in Natural Beige
• MUA Bronzed Perfection Bronzer
• MAC Lilicent Blushcreme (Cream Blush)

The whole look took me around 5 minutes so it's a really quick look if you want to go out with minimal  and natural makeup. 

First Giveaway! - Giveaway CLOSED - WINNER ANNOUNCED

So my blog has been active for a year now, but I only started blogging actively in the last 6 - 7 months.

Anyway, I wanted to do a giveaway to reward my followers.

The giveaway will be a package of 3 products:

• Antipodes Kiwi Seed Oil Eye Cream (http://www.antipodesnature.com/shop-skincare,shop,8,1,12.html) 
• Elixia Tinted Multi V Moisturiser SPF 12
• Sarah Jessica Parker Endless Perfume

Because I've been trying to get into more organic skincare I wanted to give away natural skincare products free of parabens and nasties.

Now to enter the giveaway you need to comment below answering the following question: "Are you currently using any organic or natural skin care/makeup? If so, why did you decide to go the organic natural way?"

You will also need to follow me via Google Friend Connect or BlogLovin and include in your comment your GFC or Blog Lovin name.

The competition will be open for 2 weeks and will close at 5pm on Friday 9th August and winners will be drawn at random.

I will announce the winner on the following Sunday. You will need to contact me within 48 hours after the announcement. 

NOTE: This giveaway is only open to Australian residents.

GIVEAWAY is now closed. Winner will be announced this Sunday 10 August. Keep watching to see if you are a winner.

----

So the winner has been drawn. I decided to draw the winner by putting everyone's name on a piece of paper, folding them and putting them in a bowl.

I was filming the draw and was putting the bowl on the floor and then my dog Mac decided that it's a good idea to eat the papers! I had to get it off him and I thought I might as well choose the winner that way... so... the winner is.......

Jess J

Congratulations!! 

The Liebster Blog Award

Thank you for the lovely Mary from "Made in Marcelle" who nominated me for the Liebster Award.

I actually haven't heard of this award until Mary tagged me. So naturally I explored the world wide web to learn more about it, however I couldn't really find the origins of it. But what I found was "Liebster" translates into english as "Dearest". The purpose of the Liebster Blog Award is to tag or recognise bloggers with less than 200 followers. The bloggers who are tagged then pass it on to other bloggers that they think should be recognised and there are several rules that comes with this award,

The rules of the Liebster Blog Award are:

• You must link back the person who nominated you
• You must answer 10 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee before you
• You must pick 10 bloggers to be nominated for the award with under 200 followers
• You must come up with 10 questions for your nominees to answer
• You us go to their blogs and notify your nominees

So here are the 10 Liebster Questions from Mary:

1. 5 things you cannot live without (doesn't have to be beauty related): 

• My family, which include my 2 gorgeous dogs Jaffa and Mac;
• My friends; 
• Water and food of course! 
• Money; and 
• My phone

2. How do you choose what beauty products that you buy?

I choose the beauty products I buy from either previous experience, recommendation from friends, reading reviews from other bloggers and Beauty Heaven reviews and forums. I always try to research products before I buy and especially with skin care now, I try to use ones with all organic or natural ingredients that doesn't contain nasties.

3.  What is your worst habit that you would like to change?

I think one bad habit that I would like to change is eating too much sweets and chocolate. I am trying to not eat too much but I just get cravings for something sweet every day!

4. How has the beauty world changed your life?

I think it has made me feel more confident about myself.

5. If you can only leave the house wearing only one product, what would it be?

Oooh this is a hard question. I had to think hard and long about this....  and I had trouble deciding.

If it's only 1 skin care product it would be a moisturiser with SPF. If it is makeup it would be mascara.

6. If you were to blog about something else, what would it be?

Photography. This is my other passion/hobby. I actually do a bit of photography on the side. I have a website "Ina J Photography" but no blog so this may be an option in the future!

7. What is your opinion on plastic surgery?

I think it is unnecessary, especially for younger people. I know some want plastic surgery to boost their confidence better but I think there are other ways that can help boost self confidence. I do not consider myself the prettiest or the best looking and I am not perfect, but I don't think I need to have plastic surgery.

8. What was the hardest beauty thing that you had to learn to do properly?

The hardest beauty thing that I had to learn to do properly was contouring. I have now sort of mastered this technique.

9. What is your utmost HG (holy grail) product?

This is another hard question. I don't think I have one HG product but maybe a few under different categories. My current HG product for skincare is Botani Olive skin serum. It really hydrates my skin and keeps it soft and moisturised. 

10. What do you hope to see in your blog in the future?

In the future, I hope to see my blog develop, be recognised and known to more people and have more followers because I want to share what I love about all things beauty!

My 10 nominations:

Mushii's Cozy World - Laura
The beauty in life
Hissycat Krissy - Krissy
Eleni May Lifestyle - Eleni May
All her pretty little things - Sarah
Confessions of a beauty addict - Chels
Jasmine Cara
Hui the Yogini - Hui
Eyes for Makeup  - Sandy
Dolce Beauty - Maddi


My 10 question for the above nominees:

1. Where do you think you'll be 2 years from now?
2. What is your favourite makeup look?
3. Do you have a bucket list, and if so, what are the top 5 or top 10 things on that bucket list?
4. Where do you get your beauty inspiration from?
5. Why did you start blogging and what do you love about it?
6. List your top 5 countries or cities that you would love to visit?
7. If you only had to choose to have only 2 products, skincare or makeup (or both), what would they be? 
8. What is your guilty pleasure?
9. What is your view on the perfect first date?
10. What are the 5 most important things to you in your life (doesn't have to be beauty related)?

Wow, it's actually quite tough thinking about these 10 questions and also answering Mary's questions above but it was heaps of fun!

Bomb Cosmetics Haul and Review!

So I have been bad once again. I was not going to buy any more things online but then I went on BeautyHeaven forums and there was a dedicated thread to Bomb Cosmetics. Of course I was curious as I have not heard of this brand before. So I followed this thread for a few days. Then I found out that Beauty Heaven members got a special offer (Free shipping and spend over $50 and get 6 free bath creamers and mallows) from GetDrenched.com.au, Bomb Cosmetics Australian stockist. I was more curious because I read really good reviews and raves about their products. So I gave in and decided to take up the offer.

So here is my first haul (Note "first" which meant I went back for more lol):

The products that I ordered were:

• Frankincense organic face treatment 30ml - $24.95
• Skin Therapy solid shower butter bar - $11.95
• Mandarin & Orange Cleansing Shower Butter 275g - $18.95

Because I spent just over $50, Bomb Cosmetics included 6 free bath creamers and mallows with my order.  I'm still trying to figure out what they all were but I could only identify a few of them. From top to bottom, left to right: 1. Lemon Express Bath Mallow;  4. Feel the Love Bath Creamer; 5. Blackberry Bath Creamer; 6. Crazy after dark Bath Blaster.

I also think the 3rd one on the top is Pearly King Bath Creamer because I have used that one because there were bits of pearls and juniper berries in my bath when I used it. I really loved Bomb Cosmetics bath creamers. They are full of beautiful essential oils, cocoa and shea butter and once you drop them in the warm bath it slowly releases its moisturising properties. The fragrance is subtle but still enough for you to smell the beautiful oils and relax as you bath in hot warm creamy water. Once I got out of the bath my skin felt so moisturised and soft. Prior to having a bath last weekend, I have not used my bath tub for years because I didn't have time and didn't think I enjoyed bath that much. However, after using Bomb Cosmetics bath creamers, I can't wait to jump in the bath tub again!

Now, on to the 3 products I ordered. 

First, the Skin Therapy solid butter bar. What can I say - this is an AMAZING product! I really love this nourishing solid butter bar. It might not be clear from the picture but I love that it has a ribbon attached to it so I can hang it in the shower. I apply this solid butter bar all over my body while I'm in the shower with the water running. As you apply it, the butter slowly melts onto the skin and you can see water beads run over the skin. This solid butter bar also contains small cranberry seed which just washes off as you apply it in the shower. This solid butter bar is very moisturising. My skin, especially my legs are really dry and in winter it gets even drier, flaky and scaly. However after using this butter bar my skin is moisturised all day long without the need of applying additional moisturiser. 

I purchased the Frankincese organic face treatment to add to my night time skin care routine. I have only just used it for 2 days so I can't comment much yet on it.  However I do love this product. It is organic and contains all natural ingredients. This face treatment is an oil treatment which is applied at night after cleansing. The treatment oil contains many kinds of oils including macadamia nut, evening primrose, frankincense, lavender and neroli oils. This treatment may be a bit too greasy for those with oily skin but perfect for those with dry skin. This oil really hydrates my dry skin leaving my skin soft, smooth and supple.

Lastly, the Mandarin & Orange Cleansing Shower Butter isn't like your normal shower gel. The consistency is semi-solid, like butter but it is easily scoopable with your fingers. I only need to scoop a tiny amount and put it on my loofah and it foams really nicely. Now the fragrance wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting more citrusy smell but I found the fragrance was more like a room fragrance spray. Other than this I love everything else about the product. Because Get Drenched has such a wonderful customer service, the owners Paul & Liz have offered to provide me with another choice of cleansing shower butter. I decided to go with Pina Colada as I love the smell of pineapple and coconut. I will be reviewing this in another post.

So I am really happy with my order from GetDrenched.com.au. As I said the customer service is just amazing. Paul and Liz are very quick to respond to my emails and answered all my questions. I just love buying from GetDrenched because of the customer service and the amazing products that they offer. I am sure I will be making more purchases by the end of this month to take up their amazing offer.

Have you tried Bomb Cosmetics?