Review & Swatches: Ciate Cookies and Cream

I love this colour! I am so surprised. I was never into the nude look because I thought it would just make your hands look dead and flat.  Of course it doesn't make your hands look as alive as a nice pink or red would, but it still looks pulled together and clean.

Cookies and Cream is a beigey nude colour with a bit of a greyish tone.  It is a creme polish (no shimmer at all), has a smooth easy-to-apply formula and is opaque in 2 thick coats (pictured above).

Moisturiser Intervention

I'm sure everyone has this issue. Using something, having that itch to buy something new, buying a new item and abandoning the other. I've been having this issue with my moisturisers (amongst other things, but let's just ignore that lol).

Since I keep buying and using new ones, I've ended up accumulating a few that have a little bit of product left in them, but I've just never gotten around to finishing them. My skin type has changed a bit lately so I really want to try some new stuff, but I'm forcing myself to use these up before opening any new ones that I've already bought or going and buying some more. I figured posting this would make it more official and hence make me keep my word.

Here's the line-up:

• Neutrogena Oil-Free Moisture for Combination Skin
• Murad Skin Perfecting Lotion
• Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clearing Moisturizer (sample)
• Avene Rich Compensating Cream
• Olay Moisturizing Cream for Sensitive Skin
• Olay Eye Gel

I'll probably write a short review for each as I finish them.

Holiday to Vietnam & Hong Kong: Part 2

So here is Part 2 of my holiday earlier this year.  Enjoy.

Hong Kong

This was my first time to Hong Kong.  I didn't really know what to expect.  All I knew was that the shopping was apparently amazing (which I can now confirm is true).  On arrival, I was just stunned by how big, modern, clean and efficient the airport was.  So first impressions were a massive tick haha.  Prior to this, I had only been to two other countries in Asia: Vietnam and Cambodia.  Hong Kong was completely different.


We didn't join a tour group and just wandered around ourselves.  We did a lot of the typical tourist things such as riding the Peak Tram, visiting the Madame Tussauds museum, going to the Ladies' and Men's Markets and checking out the spectacular Hong Kong sky line from the Sky Terrace 428.


Now of course I did some shopping. We didn't have that much time though. There were shops and shopping centres everywhere!

Here's a photo of me in Times Square.  Hong Kong definitely lives by night.


We also took a day trip over to Macau a.k.a gambling central lol.  None of us gamble, we just visited a couple of the casinos to see what all the fuss was about.  We visited The Venetian (bottom 3 photos) and Galaxy Casino (top 2 photos).  Hands down, they were way prettier than the casino in Melbourne.


I absolutely loved Hong Kong. Definitely want to go back for a longer holiday and also reserve a lot more time for shopping.

Holiday to Vietnam & Hong Kong: Part 1

From 18th February to 2nd March my parents and I squished in a quick overseas trip to Vietnam and Hong Kong.  Unfortunately my sister couldn't come because she had to work.  We couldn't have a longer holiday because the only free time we had together was a slot between me finishing an internship and uni starting up again.  It was pretty hectic trying to do as much as we could in the time, but worth it.  Anyway, I finally went through all the photos, so here's a snapshot of my trip!

Vietnam

I have been to Vietnam before, but only the south. This time we went to the north and went on a tour.


Hanoi has a lot of historic sights so it was pretty cool to finally see some of the places I learnt about at Vietnamese school when I was little.


My absolute favorite part of the Vietnam trip was the last couple of days of the tour. The second last day we went to Trang An in Ninh Binh, where we went on a 2-3 hour boat ride in these little boats rowed by Vietnamese women. The scenery was just spectacular, looked like a scene out of a movie. It was so incredibly relaxing and just felt surreal. We went by mountains and through some low hanging caves. It was absolutely beautiful, the photos do not do it justice.



On the final day of the tour we went to the famous Ha Long Bay which is now a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site. We got on a ferry that took us around the bay then got off to explore the caves. Talk about wow factor, it was amazing! The caves were lit with coloured lights which made it look stunning. You can get a bit of an idea of just how huge they were by comparing the size of the people in the bottom-left of the photo. 


I'll be uploading photos from the Hong Kong part of the trip next!

Easter Haul 2013

Over the Easter long weekend, I went shopping at Highpoint.  The end of season sales were winding up so I managed to get my hands on some pretty awesome bargains.


Lime peplum top from Bardot - Was $59.95  Now $20
"Hi my name is Pauline and I'm addicted to peplum tops."  I can't get enough of them, I probably have about 5 tops with peplum detailing.  I love the colour, it looks great with my skin tone.  The neckline looks so darn good too haha.  I've only ever tried this neckline once on a dress and it looked terrible, but for some reason this one looks great.

Riders by Lee skinny jeans from Myer - Was $109.95  Now $42
I already had a pair of Riders by Lee jeans and they were so comfortable and super stretchy.  So this purchase was a no brainer with the sale price.

Gold and blue statement necklaces from Equip -
(top) Was $16.99  Now $4.25        (bottom) Was $14.99  Now $3.25
These discounts are ridiculous!!  End of season sales in fashion jewellery stores like Diva used to be awesome with huge markdowns, but in recent years, they've been pretty stingey (I would know, I used to work there =P).  So I was mind-blown when I saw these prices at Equip.  I probably need to pay Equip a visit more often.

Now for la pièce de résistance, I actually bought these before the long weekend.  My friend had a $50 off voucher for Jo Mercer which she didn't want and I'm a Jo Mercer kind of gal.  Put 2 and 2 together and I came home with a new pair of boots haha.

'Charity' ankle boots from Jo Mercer - Was $179.95   With voucher $129.95

Illamasqua Australia Fight for a Fair Beauty Price

I'm pretty late on the bandwagon for this campaign. I believe it started about 8 months ago. So for those of you who haven't heard about it, Illamasqua is basically campaigning against the ridiculously high prices that us Aussies have to pay for beauty products in comparison to other countries. They have started a petition to put pressure on other cosmetic giants to lower their prices have also slashed the prices of their own products in Australia permanently.  (Click here to learn more and to sign the petition.)

Personally I think that this is a fantastic campaign. I completely agree that Aussies are paying far too much relative to the rest of the world. Plus it seems even more ridiculous at the moment when the Australian Dollar is performing so well and is worth more than the USD (conversion rate 9 April 2013: USD$1.00=AUD$1.04). Here's what I mean:

Prices as at 3 April 2013

Product	US Price	Aus Price
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick	USD$7.99	AUD$21.95
Revlon Colorstay Makeup (Foundation)	USD$13.00	AUD$34.95
MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation	USD$27.00	AUD$49.00
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit	USD$33.00	AUD$60.00

Some have called this campaign a marketing stunt and if they truly believed in the cause, they would just reduce their prices without all this attention-seeking publicity. Well, why not make some noise about it? Bring it to the attention of the public and unite those with the same belief. And most importantly, they slashed their prices! I don't know about you, but I sure as hell would want to know about that.

Others have also called this a scam because there is a line in the petition that says "If...the petition is successful I promise to continue to buy Illamasqua products in Australia." i.e. By signing, you have signed away your soul and now must buy their stuff. Come on, I highly doubt that Illamasqua is going to send a little Cosmetics Policeman over to Australia to ensure you keep this promise. If you want to buy some Illamasqua products at a reduced price, go for it. If you don't, then don't buy anything. You can still sign the petition and support the cause without the weight of the law coming down on you. Chill.

Bottom line, Illamasqua is still a business, marketing = sales, cheap prices = sales.

I strongly support the cause and now I can try some of their products (which I've been wanting to do) at reasonable prices. I ain't complaining.

DIY: Broderie/Lace Hem Shorts

This is a really simple and easy way to change up the look of some basic shorts, or in my case, to make my denim short shorts a bit longer to help cover up my saggy butt action which was peaking out the bottom (not a good look lol).

You can also use this technique on skirt hems, sleeves, anything!

All you will need is:

• Pair of shorts
• Length of lace or broderie (I chose broderie because I thought it would be a bit more durable than lace. I bought mine from Lincraft.)
• Tape measure
• Needle and thread/sewing machine
• Pins

Preparing the broderie/lace
 
1.  Measure the circumference of the leg of your shorts and cut a length of broderie/lace which is about 3cm longer.
2.  As you can see, the top edge of the broderie hasn't been finished off and so is fraying, so I needed to fix that up.  (To save time you can just buy some lace/broderie where the edge is already cleaned up)
Fold the top edge over twice, pin it in place and iron it so the edge is crisp (as shown in the picture below).  I also did this to the 2 ends of the broderie.


3.  Using a sewing machine, sew in a straight line on the edge of the folded parts to secure it down.

Attaching the broderie/lace to the shorts 

4.  Turn your shorts inside-out.
5.  Pin the broderie in place
6.  Sew the broderie onto the bottom edge of your shorts.  I chose to do this by hand with a zig-zag kind of stitch (sorry I don't know technical names lol) so that the stitching wouldn't be visible from the outside.


7.  Turn your shorts back the right-side-out and you're done!