MAC Haulin'

Man oh man, if there were an award for the most pathetic sad excuse for a blogger I would win that award with flying colours, hands down. I'm so sorry that I haven't been posting in God knows how long, but real life kept me back a bit this month! So I thought what better way to get back into the swing of things than by sharing some of my most recent MAC splurges.

My MAC haul this time around consists of a few repurchases of some good old favourites of mine. The Studio Fix Plus Liquid Foundation and Powder have been life long favourites. I get both the liquid and powder in the shade NW20. While they do tend lean on the medium to full coverage side of things, I find these two to be great in terms of covering those pesky blemishes and on nights where I need my foundation to do the hard yards. Some people hate how full coverage these two are, but I honestly adore them, especially the powder. I have tried various other powders in my time but I always seem to come back to this. I think it's love. 

I also repurchased the trusty MAC Brush Cleanser. I definitely don't wash my brushes as often as I should (I know, how naughty of me) but when I do, this stuff makes it so much easier. I highly recommend this for cleaning brushes. I had a brief stint with baby shampoo, but nothing I find cleans and maintains the quality of my brushes as good as this does. Worth all the money for sure. 

At the time I did my little MAC spree, the A Fantasy of Flowers collection was just released online in Australia (late to the game again, as always) so I picked up a few products from that collection as well. I felt that I was obliged to repurchase the Mineralise Skinfinish in 'Stereo Rose' as it was finally re-released in this collection. I did manage to snag one the last time it was around but I use mine quite often and I feared I would run out one day without a back up (as if I don't own enough blushes in similar shades anyway, heaven forbid). I believe this blush is worth every bit of hype it receives, it's the perfect peachy pink with just a touch of shimmer. I also got a lipstick in the shade 'Dreaming Dahlia' which is such a lovely red coral. It is a bit on the sheer side, but I think it's a nice pop of colour that can be used in a daytime look. Lastly from the collection, I got a Cremesheen Glass in the shade 'Nectarsweet' which is pretty much a light peach gloss.

Of course no MAC haul would be complete without a few lippies. I felt my little collection was severely lacking in nude peach shades (but rather abundant in corals might I add) and I needed a new shade for winter so I went for the all time favourites, 'Shy Girl,' 'Patisserie' and 'Syrup.' At the moment I am in love with Patisserie, it's such a nice 'my lips but nicer' shade. AND lastly, I also purchased a Mineralize Blush in the shade 'Warm Soul' which I regret just a teeny tad as it is so similar to NARS Lustre. However, I do love that shade so I feel like this will get some use from me eventually... 

What do you think of some of the products I've mentioned? Any favourites? Let me know! 

Chantalle x

Currently Loving #2 | April Favourites

Ahhh it is that time of the year where we yet again say goodbye to another month. I am not even going to say how fast this year is because I honestly can't even fathom it, I seriously just need some device that stops time because soon it will be 2015 and won't even know where 2014 went! Last month I would say a had quite a few products that I was loving (including a tea), some are new and some are old favourites re-visited!

Nivea In-Shower Rich Body Lotion for very dry skin - I've read a lot of mixed reviews about this skin conditioner from the blogging community, to me it seems like you either love it or you hate it! Personally, I like it a lot especially if I am having a lazy day and have no time to apply lotion after my shower. I also like it because it makes so much easier to moisturise my skin in humid weather (I hate using lotion when it is humid, so gross) and we experienced a lot of humid weather in Sydney this month so this gets a thumbs up from me! If you would like a more detailed review of this give me a hollahhh, though I am sure there are plenty of reviews already out there!

Alpha-H Liquid Gold- I recently did a review on this that you can check out here so I'll leave this short and sweet, I love this and I have been using it a lot in March.

St Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse - For those who don't know me, I am extremely pale. My friends give me a lot of shit about it and while I am not bothered by it too much, getting a tan is so very hard (any other pale girls out there, do ya feel me?!) That's where this product comes in. In March I experimented a lot with fake tan and I found this one to be the best in terms of giving me a nice healthy glow (because who I am kidding it wouldn't even be considered a tan) without looking orange or overly fake. I will be bringing this back out when Spring rolls around again.

Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions Foundation - As someone that suffered from horrible acne and still gets blemishes I am always looking for foundation that doesn't breakout my skin and provides flawless coverage without looking cakey. During the whole of March, this was my go to foundation. It doesn't give me breakouts at all and leaves my skin looking oil free all day. I can see this becoming a life long favourite.

Bourjois Happy Light matte primer - Like foundation, I like to experiment with primers. This one I found myself using quite a lot this month. Not my favourite of all time, but definitely  kept my skin looking matte all month long.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Kohl Kajal in Nude - I have been looking for this shade for so long and honestly when I finally found it I was almost jumping up and down in Priceline (no joke). I use it for my waterline on days where I have very little to no sleep and it honestly makes me look that much more awake, fresh and wide eyed. Love love love it.

Dermalogica Multi Active Toner - Just a little something I used on warmer days to make my skin feel more refreshed. It is supposed to be used after cleansing to help moisturiser absorb better. I can't say it helped in that respect but I did enjoy using it.

L'Oreal Super Liner Blackbuster marker eyeliner - This is a fairly new release in Australia and I loved using it for cat eye liner. The thin marker tip made creating the flick so easy peasy.

Qi Organic Green Tea Detox tea - Last but not least I've been drinking this tea a lot! I love the taste and I seriously so much less bloated and gross after drinking this.

What have you been loving lately? Have you tried any of these products?

Chantalle x

Blogger Love #1

For as long as I can remember (since the birth of the wonderful thing called the Internet anyway) I have always enjoyed reading blogs of some shape or form. I remember being in high school and spending an excessive amount of time that should have been spent on studying trolling through various Live Journal sites - I was really into personal blogs at that time. That soon moved on to Tumblr where I first started blogging myself, and it wasn't until I found Estee's blog that I was introduced to the wonderful world of beauty blogging - and I haven't looked back since.

Despite the copious and arguably ridiculous amounts of time that I spend online reading beauty and fashion blogs I have failed to share my love for my favourites and daily reads, shame on me. So when I was tagged recently by the lovely Tamira from The Guilty Girl, I decided it was finally time to share a little bit of lovin'. Instead of answering questions (because God knows how indecisive I can be) I've decided to just name a few of my faves for you guys to check out if you haven't already (but you probably have, because let's face it you probably spend as much time on here as me).

I'll start with the regular favourites, but these were the gals that really inspired me to start my own blog and share my love for all thangs beauty. As mentioned I love myself some Essiebutton, she is so down to earth and absolutely hilarious, I always seem to find myself cackling while watching her videos. Not to mention that girl could probably persuade to buy almost anything, and I mean anything, she also has some great lifestyle posts!

Another enabler would probably be the good old duo, Lily from Lily Pebbles and Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup. I just love their friendship and obviously their blogs. I seem to have a thing from bloggers from the UK, one of the first few blogs I started following was Alix's blog I COVET THEE and Kate from Gh0stparties. These girls are just gorgeous and seriously makes me envy those UK girls.

Of course I also need to mention my Aussie girls, Brodie from Brodie Jay, Sarah from More than Adored, Ash from Actually Ash, Laura from Breton & Blush, Tenneil from Like Neon Love and Nhi from Miss Blushaholic. Don't get me wrong, I love reading international blogs but sometimes it's hard reading about the products we can't or will never get, not to mention being in different seasons!! But that doesn't mean I don't love them so! A shout out to Celina from The Celution, Tamira from The Guilty Girl, Claire from Clairabelle0306, and Kirsty from Behind These Closed Eyes.

Lately I have really been inspired by and loving the posts by lipstick with somesunshine, From Roses, and Sleep and Water. Their posts are so great to read and their photography and blog layout is beyond amazing!  

There are SO MANY blogs that I want to mention and I'm sure I have missed out on so many blogs! These are just the ones that I can think of from the top of my head! I will hopefully do more editions of this post in the future because I am always finding great new blogs to follow pretty much everyday!

What are some of your favourite blogs?

Chantalle x