Tempting...

I'm loving these Vans, not that I need another pair of shoes. Should I or shouldn't I? Hmm...

Nonpareil Boutique haul!

How did you spend your Christmas morning? I spent mine swatching and playing with my purchases from NonpareilBoutique.com! It was a great way to start off what was a great Christmas!

I've been wanting to try NYX and E.L.F products for a long time. We don't have an equivalent of either brands in Australia. Though the Australian based webstore CrushCosmetics.com.au have some NYX and E.L.F products, the range is limited and the products that I do want to try are often out of stock. I decided that to treat myself, I was going to have to turn to the US-based NonparielBoutique.com instead and pay extra for shipping if it meant getting all the items I wanted from the one place. Overall, I'm really impressed at the quality and pigmentation of the products I purchased! Not only that, but shipping time was reasonable considering the distance and none of my items were damaged or lost. Christmas has been great so far! Now, here come the swatches... click on the picture to see them bigger. The files took ages to put up because they're so big!

E.L.F All Over Colour Stick in Pink Lemonade.

When I saw Lisa Eldridge use this in her Morning After Makeup videos (parts 1 & 2) I knew I had to try it. I'm pretty sure it only costs US$1 and the amount you get is tiny but it's so pigmented that I think it will last me a while. Great for achieving a dewey face, which is my daily look. Twisty mechanism is pretty pathetic but the product inside is great. Does smell of sickly sweet, fake oranges which isn't great, but considering how much I paid for it I can let that slip. I wore this today for Christmas and stopped noticing it after a while.

NYX Cream Blush in Tea Rose

I think I'm going to have to get more of these in other colours! Probably wouldn't be good for acne prone, oily skin but the texture is creamy and easily blended. Super pigmented, this shade is a great tawny, apricot one which I have been missing from my blush collection. I love this.

NYX Slim Eye Pencils in (l-r) White Pearl, Sapphire, Velvet and Charcoal.

These pencils go on really smooth. Velvet was a bit more gold-y than I expected but I think it's my favourite out of the 4 pencils - would be great to brighten up a smokey look in the inner corners! Will be using Charcoal for during the day as black can sometimes look a bit heavy in my opinion.

NYX Single Eyeshadow in (t-b) Black, Charcoal Brown and Nude.

I cannot believe how fine the powder is in these eyeshadows. I only used my fingers to swatch these and you can already see how pigmented they are! I'm not sure I was able to capture the pearl finish on the Nude but it is a great match for my skin tone and would be a great highlight for my brow bone or even my cheek bones, I think! I think Charcoal Brown would be great for filling in brows as well as it is a good mix of ash and brown.

(T-b) NYX Round Lipstick in Snow White, NYX Tinted Lip Spa in Juicy and Vintage.

I think I have just found my holy grail in red lipsticks. I cannot believe how creamy Snow White is and it's the perfect bluish, blood red shade that I've been trying to find for ages! I also have to point out how much harder I had to scrub to get the lipstick off my arm!
I've been interested in the tinted lip spas for a while and wore Vintage for Christmas because I didn't want to be worried about my lipcolour between meals. It went on really smooth and the colour is buildable. Not crazy about how they taste but they do condition the lips really well. Cannot wait to wear Juicy to work tomorrow! Such a pretty colour! I would definitely recommend the lips spas for people with dry lips who want to experiment with bright colours for everyday but either don't have the guts (like me!) or need them not to be the focus of their face.

E.L.F Mineral Blemish Powder with Brush.

I've been keen to try this powder for a while after reading reviews on MakeUpAlley.com. The brush it comes with is absolutely horrible and I threw it out not long after taking this picture. I plan to use the blending brush from the EcoTools 5 piece eye brush set instead, as it is too big for blending eye makeup but really good for patting on powder on areas of the face, like under the eyes. I patted this powder on top of my blemishes (of which I had plenty!) underneath my regular powder and I swear, my pimples HAVE gone down. Not sure what it will be like in the long term but so far, I love it. For US$8, I cannot rave about this enough!

Last but not least... Tweezerman Tweezerettes in Red.

This is super cute and really does pick up every hair! I didn't really NEED new tweezers per say - mine were doing ok but couldn't really pick up particularly stubborn ones and I bought these because they were red (!). I'm really loving these so far - it'll pick up hairs I don't even see and because they're red, I won't lose them as easily!

So I hope you enjoyed my first ever swatching. It gave me a chance to practice my photography skills which are neither plentiful nor praiseworthy... but I am working on it!

This is a pic of me just as I was running off to have Christmas lunch with my boyfriend's family after doing the swatches. My fringe wasn't doing what it wanted, but hey, my skin was looking good (thanks to some of the products featured in this post!) and that's all I cared about! I hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas as I did - I'm about to burst for all the food I consumed!

EDIT: E.L.F have an Australian website! The range available is very limited - checked it out and none of the products I purchased from Nonpareil were there. Hopefully as word of mouth spreads, the range made available here will expand, fingers crossed!

Dear Santa.

I really have tried being a good girl this year. And while I realise I have been very blessed this year (ending my degree, finding a new job), maybe I can be rewarded with a delivery of the following goodies?

La Rose Deco blush in 001 from Lancome.

Jeffrey Campbell Loggins Lace-Up Boots from SoleStruck.

Watchmen Absolute Edition.

From Chanel, blush in Tweed Corail.

...or Fuchsia!

MAC's Lipstick in Lady Danger (as well as the courage to wear bold lip colours).

A Canon PowerShot SX210is to facilitate my desire to start taking more pictures.

If this is not possible, then a very warm, safe and joyful holiday season for one and all would also make mine very special indeed.

Yours sincerely,
Karen Eap.

Yes.

I received one of the best compliments from one of my workmates the other day. She said she couldn't tell I was wearing makeup, even though I was wearing foundation, concealer, powder, blush and mascara. For someone who has only been wearing makeup for the past couple of months, it felt pretty good hearing that.

Anyway, just wanted to boast. I shall now leave you with grumpy Christmas cat.

Favourites #4

Too Faced Primed and Poreless Powder.

Great translucent powder with a beige tinge to prevent white cast. Light and fine, produces a flawless finish that can be used under and over makeup. I've been using this just to set my concealer as the hot weather we've been having in Melbourne lately has really helped to clear my skin!

IQQU Advanced Sunscreen SPF 50.

I LOVE this new formula! This mousse texture is less drying than the SPF 30 and is great for making the skin matte and ready for foundation. I've been using it on it's own under concealer after my skincare routine and protects my skin from the harsh Australian sun. I haven't been wearing foundation or BB Cream lately as it's been too hot and my skin hasn't been bad. That said, this is also great for evening out the skintone too!

Peter Thomas Roth Mineral SPF 30

I have a few gripes about the packaging and the quality of the brush, but I love the idea of this mineral powder by Peter Thomas Roth. It's too fine to cake up and is great for a reapplication of sun protection without messing up your makeup. However, the brush is a bit scratchy and you have no idea how much of the product you have used but otherwise, the powder inside is amazing and is definitely worth looking  into if you're obsessed with sun protection too!

30 Odd Foot Of Pod (TOFOP)

Image from TOFOP's Facebook page.

It's hard to find a god Podcast to subscribe to, especially when you're used to the genius of Get This or The Ricky Gervais Show, but this gem from Australian comedian Wil Anderson and his actor friend Charlie Clausen has had me laughing out loud in inappropriate places for the past couple of months. Crass and shameless, the boys cover everything from more high-brow topics like time travel and music to slightly questionable debates about bodily fluids from various sources. Only unfunny if you are uptight and boring (in which case... what the hell are you doing here?).

America's Next Top Model Cycle 15.

Ok so, neither of my favourites (Chelsey and Kayla) won this cycle but who doesn't love the drama?

"Adventure is out there!"

No other movie is this universally beautiful.