Daiso > Makeup/Brush Storage

If you don't know what Daiso is, it's a Japanese variety store where everything is $2.80 each. They sell anything from kitchenware, stationery, makeup to gardening tools.

Anyway, I've been a fan of Daiso since they opened their store in Richmond. But since that store is pretty far away from where I live, I didn't visit them often. But then they opened their Melbourne CBD store in August earlier this year and I totally flipped out lol (one just opened in Highpoint too). It has to be one of the best places to just explore and kill time. I don't think I've ever left empty handed.

A couple of months back I found these containers which are perfect for storing makeup. I was stoked since these were cheap and pretty good quality.

This first one I got has 2 rows which are further divided up. (Beads not included). Perfect for my brushes.




This next one comes with 3 dividers which are removable and you can adjust them to change the size of the 4 sections. Here I have a tiny section on the left for my lip pencils and brush, then my eyeliners and eye primer, then lipbalms, my eye primer and regular mascaras and on the right I have my waterproof mascaras.



So if you are looking for storage ideas, or anything for that matter, go check out Daiso. Not everything for the $2.80 price tag is worth it and I'm sure you can find similar items for cheaper, but there are definitely a lot of things which are an absolute steal. Just be careful, it's addictive.

Most Worn Winter Things Tag 2012

The 'Most Worn Summer Things Tag' has been circulating a lot recently, but since it's been winter over here, I thought I'd do a winter version.

1.  Most worn nail polish

 OPI Designer...De Better.  It is from the Muppets Collection that I think was released sometime last year.  I really like glittery/metallic/foiled finish polishes and this polish, when you look up close is such a unique colour.  It's a warm silvery colour with copper flecks through it.




2.  Most worn scent

I haven't been wearing perfumes much this season.  But I guess I could say my favourite scent has been, strangely, my hairspray.  (More on it below)

3.  Most worn hair product

Davines No 7 Crystal Fixative Lacquer.  This hairspray was so freaking expensive, I got it from a hair salon for $35.  I have never bought pricey hair products before but decided to get this since I had a $20 voucher to spend on product with my hair cut.  I use hairsprway on a daily basis just to keep my fringe in place.  You don't need much of this at all for great hold, plus it doesn't give your hair that fake looking shine like some hairsprays do.  Normally, I probably wouldn't repurchase this because it is so darn expensive.  (You can find it online for around $20, but even that is still pretty pricey.)  But the thing that has absolutely sold me on the product, is the scent.   It's kind of a vanilla, sweet, maybe coconut, soft scent.  If someone made a perfume with this scent, I would be all over it.  And in any case, it takes me ages to finish a bottle of hairspray since I only use a little everyday, so I do get my money's worth.




4.  Most worn bag

I got this bag from an op shop a while ago for about $7.  I've worn it to death and it's starting to fall apart.  It's just a basic black bag, nothing flashy or particularly trendy.  It's a great size and easily fits all my essentials.


5.  Most worn shoes

Brown western style ankle boots from ASOS.  I got these last winter and I've just worn them so much that I've completely worn out the heel cap and into the wooden part of the heel.  They're not too tall and are quite wide so they accommodate my fat feet.  They are easy to match with anything, plus they're wide around the ankle so you can tuck jeans in.  

6.  Most worn accessory

Fossil rose gold watch (model:ES 2859).  I've worn this almost everyday since I got it which was over a year ago.  I just love it.  The face is the perfect size for my wrist.  It's big enough to give me the 'men's style' look, but not too big where it looks like it's swallowing my hand.  I just love everything about it and I always get so many compliments on it.


Thin collar necklaces from Diva.  I bought both the gold and rose gold version.  I like that it's not too chunky or thick, which is what a lot of collar necklaces seem to be at the moment.  They look great on a variety of necklines, so I've worn them with just about everything.  Recently I've been loving how they look under collared shirts.




7.  Most worn clothing item

Sportsgirl black coat.  This winter was absolutely freezing.  I've been throwing this on, over any outfit and I'd be set for the ridiculous weather.


8.  Most worn foundation

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder (beige).  This is a most worn product all year round really.  I don't use liquid foundation daily, I just throw on some concealer and then powder my whole face with this.  I've gone through at least 3 of these, and I've majorly hit pan on this one.  It has good coverage and stays matte the longest out of all the powders I've tried and is a good price.  My only issue is that it isn't the right colour for me, it's a touch too pink.


Maybelline Superstay 24 Hr Makeup (Classic beige).  I only wear liquid foundation when I go to work or to an event.  I rediscovered this foundation this season.  This foundation isn't as good as my other ones at staying matte and fresh for a long time.  But since it's been so cold, my oiliness hasn't been as bad, so this foundation doesn't break down as quickly.  This foundation is matte, but I don't think as matte as MAC Studio Fix Fluid, so it's better for winter since it gives my face a bit more dimension.  It's really smooth and easy to blend.  However, this foundation isn't the perfect shade for me.  I have yellow undertones and this foundation is a bit more neutral and dries down a bit darker than it applies.  Still on the hunt for the perfect colour low end foundation.  I tend to reserve my higher end foundations for special events.


9.  Most worn blush/bronzer

Nars Desire.  I've been wearing this blush almost everyday.  It's bright,matte, really pigmented and just makes you look alive.


10.  Most worn lip product

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Blush.  Again this is another of my all-year-round most worn products.  This shade is basically my lips but better.  I keep it in my bag almost all the time.  It's really subtle and goes with everything.  


11.  Most worn mascara

Max Factor Aqua Lash.  This was one of my favourites a while ago but I kind of forgot about it then rediscovered it this winter.  This mascara is great for volume but average for length.  Max Factor has recently revamped their mascara collection so this mascara along with a couple others have been discontinued.


12.  Most worn eyeshadow

Too Faced Matte Eyeshadow Palette.  My most worn colour specifically has been Tufted Suede (top left).  It looks like a pretty boring colour, a light brown, warm shade.  But I've been reaching for this a lot as a subtle crease colour and as a blending colour between my lid and brow bone.  A good staple to have.

Lush > Haul & Review

About a month ago, after my semester 1 exams finished, weary me wandered off to Lush on Swanston St to unwind lol. This was my first time purchasing Lush products. I was served by a lovely sales assistant named Mel. She was extremely bubbly and helpful and introduced me to a lot of products.

In the end, I walked away with 3 products: Mask of Magnaminty, Tea Tree Water and Charity Pot.

Mask of Magnaminty (face mask)

125g $15.95

Over the past few months my skin has been playing up, I've been getting big blind pimples much more regularly .  This mask is aimed at deep cleansing and unclogging pores and the sales assistant told me that this mask also targets blind pimples well.
This mask has a strong smell of peppermint mixed with a hint of tiger balm (lol).  Once on your face, it gives your skin an extreme cooling sensation.  The first time I used the mask, the cooling was almost painful, but now I'm used to it.
I've used this once a week for 5 weeks now.  I cleanse my face, apply the mask and leave it on for about 10-15 min then jump in the shower and wash it off.  I haven't noticed any improvement with my blackheads or any decrease in my regular breakouts.  As for the blind pimples, I think they have reduced slightly.  It removes all the dead skin and exfoliates well.  It definitely leaves my skin feeling very fresh, soft and clean.
I will continue to use up the tub, but I'm undecided whether I will repurchase it since it hasn't helped my pimple issues much but I do really like how it leaves my skin soft and fresh.



Tea Tree Water (toner)
100g $7.95
I'm not a huge fan of the tea tree scent so thank goodness this only has a mild scent.  It's a very gentle toner, doesn't sting, even around my eyes.
I apply it by spraying it about 3 times onto a cotton pad and wiping it over my face after cleansing.  It hasn't really helped with my blemishes but I have noticed my skin getting less oily which is great.  Although it is mid-winter at the moment, so the real test will be when summer comes around.

Charity Pot (hand and body lotion)
Mini size $2
This stuff smells soo good.  It's cocoa-y, creamy, light scent.  A good basic body lotion.


In addition to those 3 products, Mel also gave me samples of 2 products that I was really interested in but held back just because I didn't want to get too many Lush products at once and I was doing lots more shopping that day lol.  I got samples of: Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter and Ro's Argan Body Conditioner.


Ro's Argan Body Conditioner
I loved the idea of this product. It's meant to be used like a hair conditioner, but for your body. So you apply it all over your body while in the shower then rinse it off. I am really lazy when it comes to moisturising my body, I almost never do. So this seemed like a faster and easier way to moisturise. However, I found it wasn't very moisturising at all which is a shame since the smell is so lovely and floral.

Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter
This is aimed at softening cuticles and any other areas with harder skin. It is a really rich thick butter. The sales assistant gave me a mini hand massage with it in store which felt amazing. Despite how rich it is, I don't think it is a miracle product that will soften all the tough skin around your nails, nonetheless, I love it. I use it has a hand cream just before I go to bed. I don't usually like lemon scents, but for some reason I like this. I will definitely be buying the full size.

Overall a good first Lush experience. Will definitely be heading back.

Colgate Max White One Ice > Review

I saw heaps of ads about this product. It claims that if you brushed with it 3 times a day, you would end up with whiter teeth after 7 days. I used the product twice a day (since that's more convenient for me) for about 3 weeks.

I don't think it made my teeth any whiter. It may have a tiny bit but not significant enough for me to really notice. The weirdest thing was that it reacted with the inside of my mouth and made it peel. Yes...peeled the inside of my mouth! It wasn't painful at all, it was just weird. Like an hour after brushing my teeth I would notice...I guess you could say it was like residue on the inside of my lip, which I realised was a layer of the inside of my mouth because when I went to wipe it off, it was still attached to my mouth. It's really hard to explain. But like I said, it wasn't painful at all, so I did continue to use the toothpaste for 3 weeks before stopping.

The only good thing I can say about this toothpaste is that it leaves a very strong minty sensation (I used the "Ice" flavour) and makes your teeth feel really clean.

Definitely not a product for me.

OPI At First Sight

I finished Sem 1 exams on Tuesday (Thank goodness!), still haven't recovered from my sleep deprivation though, since I worked Wednesday-Saturday straight, I finally have some down time.  But I now have a cold...how convenient...  Anyway thought it would be a good time to write a review while I'm stuck in bed all day.


OPI At First Sight is a pale nude kind of colour with very subtly gold shimmer. It practically looks like a creme finish polish. The gold shimmer is only noticeable under direct light.

I have 2 coats on in the photos. It is a sheer polish. As you can see, you can still see the tips of my nails. But by no means is it one of those horribly sheer ones that look like you have nothing but a clear polish on. A 3rd coat would get you pretty close to an opaque finish.

I really like this colour. It looks really clean. A good alternative to pale pinks. The shimmer adds some extra subtle dimension to it and warms it up so it looks good on my yellow toned skin.

NEW Hair, NEW Age, NEW Job

Over the past month, quite a few things have happened. Felt like a rather significant time for me (as lame as that sounds lol) since I'm the kind of person who likes consistency and stability.

Firstly, it was my birthday on the 10th of May.  I turned 22.  The novelty of being 21 was over and I guess you could say I'm comfortably in my 'early twenties' now lol.  Feeling a little wiser haha.


I got a hair cut!  If you've been reading my blog for a while, a few months ago, I cut my long hair off and got a basic shorter style, well that had grown out a fair bit and it was in its in-between-meh-nothingness stage.  I don't feel comfortable spending heaps on a hair cut, so I bought one of those discount vouchers off OurDeal for a cut at Salon Te Pura in Ascot Vale which also included wash, treatment and blow wave. 

My hairdresser was George and I found out he was the manager of the salon.  I pretty much always go into a hair salon with photos of what I want but for some reason I didn't this time.  I told George that I wanted my hair shorter and just touch my shoulders and a side fringe. He suggested I get a more 'solid' style (as opposed to my layers) and have the back shorter and have it subtly and gradually get longer in the front.  I was definitely a bit concerned with the idea as it's different to any other style I've had in the past but he convinced me it would be a lot more flattering.  He was right lol.  It's a bit edgier and fuller with more volume.  I love love love the cut!  It really does flatter my face much more than what I had before.  So I was over the moon about most of my hair but what I didn't like was how he cut my fringe and particularly how he styled it.  I was put off by the fringe so much that I had to pin it back for the rest of the day (since I got the haircut in the morning) and I never pin my fringe back.  I really don't know what he was thinking there...but the day after I fixed and re-styled my fringe and it was fine.  Here are a couple of pics a couple days after the cut. 

Note to self: need to learn how to blow dry my hair as good as a pro lol.  Couldn't even get close to the volume and shape he achieved on me.


Lastly, retail and Diva have been a huge part of my life.  It was my first job ever and I'd been there for 3 years.  Resigning was a tough decision for me but I did and started working at Nine West late April.  It definitely felt like a shock at first and quite frustrating, since I was going from being a veteran who knew how every little thing worked, to a total newbie.  I'm settling in well now and getting used to it all.  (I'll definitely be doing a post of all the Diva goodies I bought before leaving, there's a lot lol.)


Anyway, just hit midnight.  Need to catch up on sleep! Studying for exams is a bitch... Goodnight!

The Body Shop Facial Brush > OUCH!

With all the craze going on about the Clarisonic, I bought this facial brush thinking it would be a cheap alternative plus my skin has been going through a bad patch. It was only $4.95 so couldn't hurt to give it a shot.  I was wrong it DID hurt, literally!

This thing is so small and cute but it is deceiving.  I don't have sensitive skin and I am happy to try the roughest of exfoliaters, but this thing scratches like crazy!  I tried it a few times to make sure I wasn't being a wuss and to see if there were any noticeable results from using it.  I did notice that my skin was a bit smoother but not enough to justify going through the pain.  Definitely a disappointing purchase.

I think it might be good as a body brush or at the very most it could be used on the less sensitive areas of your face like your nose or chin.

MAC Lustering lipstick > My staple hot pink

I got this lipstick not too long ago, but I had bought/received a few others around that time as well, so this one kind of just fell into the background.  But recently I was on a bright lip kick and this lipstick lived in my makeup bag.

Lustering is a lustre finish and is a bright, hot pink colour.  I think it falls pretty darn close to the middle between a yellow toned and blue toned pink, but leans just a touch more into the blue zone.  Many hot pinks tend to lean too far into the blue toned spectrum which washes me out, but Lustering does not.  This is probably as far into blue toned pinks as I can go with my skin tone.


This is such a versatile lipstick.  You can put one swipe of it and get a nice gentle shot of colour.  Layer it on and you can get quite a punchy bright lip.

 bare lips 
one layer 
layered up  Since it's a lustre, it is sheerer and has a glossy look.  It's sheerness makes it a very wearable bright colour, not too in your face and no need to fuss around with a lipliner.  I also just love that juicy look that lustres tend to achieve.  It feels smooth, doesn't dry out your lips and doesn't emphasise all those dry flakey bits for those who have dry lips.

I love this colour and highly recommend it.

Haul: Gmarket Korean Skincare

Recently I decided to give my skin a bit more attention. I had been using pretty much the same products for a while and not seeing many results. So it was time to change things up. I have never really gotten into Asian cosmetics or skincare. But my friend is an absolute Asian product junkie (yes, you know who you are lol). So she convinced me to give it a try, plus it was all pretty cheap.

Anyway, so we bought a bunch of stuff off Gmarket. It's a site that sells all kinds of Korean products including makeup, skincare, clothes, shoes, food, etc. From what I understand, Gmarket is a site that makes all different brands available to consumers in the one place. So when you order things from say Brand A and Brand B, those companies will ship your products to Gmarket, which will then put everything together in one box and ship it out to you.

I purchased 5 skincare items and threw in a couple of makeup items. I also received a few samples but forgot to take photos of those.

• Tony Moly Dear Me Balancing Lotion
• Tony Moly Dear Me Balancing Skin (toner)
• Tony Moly Floria Pore - Tightening Toner
• Tony Moly Floria Pore - Tightening Emulsion (moisturiser)
• It's Skin Power 10 Formula VB Effector (serum)
• Etude House Apricot Stick #3
• Etude House Wonder Volume Lashes

I've started using the two products from the Dear Me line, the It's Skin serum and the Etude House Apricot Stick. I'll do separate posts on what I think about the products further down the track.
Shipping time wasn't too bad. Don't quite remember how long it took, I think it was around 2-3 weeks. The packaging was definitely a bit excessive. The box it came in was massive, so was only like a third full (it was not fun carrying that on the bus, believe me lol). There were heaps of little boxes (from all different brands) inside and a ridiculous amount of bubble wrap lol. But at least that meant everything arrived safely.


Anyway I should stop procrastinating. This mid-semester break went by WAY too fast.

Cutex Long Wear Top Coat - Review

This top coat is pretty cheap, leaves a nice glossy finish, helps your nail polish last a fraction longer but that's where the good things stop.

Firstly, I do not like the brush. I find the bristles to be too hard and scratchy. So after slaving over your nails and making sure your nail polish goes on perfectly smooth, you go in with this top coat and it rubs it off! Where you apply only one coat of polish, you are sometimes left with lines of your bare nail peaking through due to the roughness of the brush.

A few days after applying the top coat, I find that these weird kind of cracks/wrinkles start appearing on the tips of my nails. It's hard to describe, but it just makes your nails look terrible.

Lastly, I find that it takes so long to dry. When I first starting using this top coat, it took a decent time to dry, no biggie. But as the bottle got older and I used it more, the consistency of the top coat was fine (it didn't go thick and gluggy) but the drying time was ridiculous! I would finish doing my nails, wait 1-2 hours, go to bed and in the morning they're all dented and uneven! It just made painting my nails such a chore because I would have to plan when I wanted to do my nails and sit around for hours, waiting for it to dry.

Definitely not repurchasing.