December Empties

Woohoo 2015 is nearly here, I'm so excited! I was very fortunate to receive some awesome christmas beauty goodies this year so I was pretty pleased to get through a good chunk of products this month, here are the items I used up!

1. Pure Goddess Shampoo and Conditioner: I took these samples away with me over Christmas and loved using them, they smell so amazing and leave my hair super soft.

2. Keratase Shampoo and Condtioner: Another sample duo I loved, I felt like a rich person using these haha they just smelt so good!

3. Batiste Blush Dry Shampoo: A staple dry shampoo that works fantastically, I have many back ups!

4. Schwarzkopf Nordic Blonde L101 Dye: I'm forever trying out new box dyes, decided on this one and loved it! Super light blonde and inexpensive, already repurchased.

5. Vagisil Wipes: You guys are sick of seeing these in my empties posts surely, but yep still using them to clean my makeup desk!

6. Lacura Clear Top Coat: Used 90% of this and then it turned gloopy, It did the job but I wouldn't repurchase.

7. Unbranded Lashes: Cheap from Ebay, look great and last multiple uses.

8. Hoity Toity Perfume Body Spray: I've literally had this since I was in high school 3 years ago, finally used it up!

9. Target Naturals Toner: Pretty average toner, used it up for the sake of using It up.

10. Nivea Thermo Cleanser: This cleanser has a cool concept of warming when It hits water claiming to open up your pores and remove impurities more effectively. Sadly It didn't do much for my skin.

11. Simple Cleansing Wipes: Great wipes, I already have repurchased.

12. Trilogy RoseHip Oil: A fantastic oil I use every night, makes my face as soft as a babies bottom. Have a backup that I plan to open after using up some other products.

Thats everything I got through this month. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a fantastic and happy new year!

Monique xx

Christmas Beauty Haul

I had a great christmas this year spending some quality time with friends and family, and I was also very fortunate to receive some gorgeous gifts- the majority of those being beauty related! I did have my eye on a few products which you can view on my 2014 Christmas wish list, very lucky for me I received close to all of them! 

Scents I received were the Stella Honeyed milk candle which smells delicious, as well as the Bath and Body Works Bergamont Woods candle, which has more of a masculine scent - a nice change from every other candle I own lol. I also received the YSL Parisienne perfume which was high on my christmas wish list, it smells amazing and how beautiful is that packaging? Thanks Mum! 

For hands and nails I was ecstatic to receive the OPI Coca Cola 10 pack of style set, it includes 9 miniature bottles and a top coat, so adorable! I also got a I Love Strawberries and Milkshake Hand cream which smells so good you could eat it and a new manicure set which is always handy.

Yay lip products! An EOS lip balm has always been on my wish list and I was so excited to receive one from one of my besties. I also got the Body Shop Born Lippy in Strawberry, holy dooly it smells too good to use. The Bare Minerals Give It a Twirl lip gloss duo was an awesome surprise as I have always wanted to try out their products. I have already used both colours as they're just so pretty, and they have a great formula for a lip gloss! And lastly for lip products my sister got me the Limecrime Velvetine in the shade Utopia, I have been wanting to purchase this for my 21st and nearly did before my boyfriend stopped me and hinted that I may be receiving it for Christmas - not that I'd be complaining if I had two!

My boyfriend was such a sweetheart and got me not only the first Lorac Pro palette but the second one as well! I was in disbelief at first and as you can see I have already made good use of them both. Another thing he got me which I haven't been able to put down are the Nic's Picks Real Techniques brush set, such amazing quality and I will get plenty of use out of them along with the Lorac Palettes. And finally I was gifted the amazing Anastasia Brow Pomade in Taupe, I have wanted this for the longest time and it was definitely worth the wait, such a fantastic product that I'm sure will be seen in my posts a lot.

While I was editing my post I realised that I forgot to include another candle, lip balm and a Maybelline colour tattoo I was gifted! You can see the stunning orange colour tattoo in my previous post if you were interested. Well that's all the beauty related gifts I received from my loved ones this Christmas, I feel really privileged and spoilt to have some amazing friends and family in my life! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Monique xx

FOTD: Sunset Eyes and Coral Lips

Its really beginning to feel like Christmas, It felt more real for me yesterday as I had an early christmas lunch with my partners family. Weirdly enough despite it being a family gathering I decided to try out some new colour combinations I wouldn't normally wear.

• Mixture of CoverGirl Outlast foundation and Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation
• Mac Pro Long Wear Concealer
• Australis Fresh and Flawless powder
• Benefit Hoola Bronzer
• Mac Soft and Gentle Highlighter
• Hard Candy blush in Skinny Dipping
• BareMinerals Marvellous Moxie gloss

• Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Fierce and Tangy all over the lid
• Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette in crease, outer V and brow bone
• Revlon single eyeshadow in Sunlit Sparkle as inner corner highlight
• MUA Glamour Nights Palette red shadow in crease
• Rimmel Wonderful Mascara
• Unbranded individual Lashes
• Elf black liquid liner
• Mac Brow pencil in Lingering
• Lash Control clear lash and brow gel

I really loved the way it turned out and think I think I'll be rocking this look a lot in the hotter months! Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you're enjoying the festive season!

Monique xx

Top Tips For Becoming a Savvy Online Shopper

If you're a savvy online shopper like myself this post will be old news you to, but I know for some the world of online shopping can be a little intimidating. With Christmas fast approaching and the shops getting busier by the day, there isn't a better time to jump online and have your gifts ordered straight to the door - you'll probably save yourself a load of cash too!

1. Make a Paypal account

The first step to becoming a savvy online shopper is feeling at ease and knowing that your money is safe. Many online stores now accept and prefer Paypal as a method of payment, and it very quickly became my favourite method too (lets be honest it definitely beats typing your card details out every time you make a purchase). I have been a user of Paypal for a few years now and it takes away the worry of chasing back your money should your item be damaged or not even turn up. The process is fairy simple to create an account and theres no fees unless you plan on becoming a seller. You can shop online knowing you have a safety net should something go wrong, what have you got to lose!

2. Do Your Research

Dont settle on the first bargain you find online. In my opinion nothing is more annoying than purchasing an item and then seeing it cheaper somewhere else, It pays off to have a look around at different sites. Also if its your first time buying from an online site make sure you check out whether its reliable,  read some customer reviews and see if they provide an estimate delivery time- especially when ordering items in time for Christmas!

3. Ebay It

Yep, Ebay It! Being one of my favourite places to shop I just had to mention Ebay In my post. It may sound silly but when I'm out shopping I will Ebay the item I'm looking at in the shops to see if its cheaper online, and 9 out of 10 times It always Is. Now that you have a Paypal account theres no reason you can't shop confidentially on Ebay, sellers have feedback ratings which can straight away tell you if they are worth buying from or not. If an Ebay seller has 50% positive feedback give them a miss, 90% and above your good to go! Another must for me when using Ebay is selecting the 'worldwide' option on the left hand tab when browsing, often when you start a search for an Item Ebay has a default location setting which only shows the buyer certain products, when you select wordwide all the items then become viewable and in most cases cheaper!

4. Avoid Fakes

Following on from tips two and three, unfortunately replica Items like to float around the internet fooling consumers into thinking their getting the same authentic item at a fraction of the price. This can be especially frustrating for my fellow beauty lovers, although if you stick to some simple guidelines purchasing replica items can be avoided. Although I just preached about my love for Ebay, as a general rule I don't purchase high end beauty products from there as many sellers put replica items up for sale. It can be frustrating on Ebay trying to decide if the seller is putting authentic items up for sale as often the customers buying the products will think its authentic when its not, and therefore leave a positive feedback rating. New customers see the positive ratings and then purchase once again, giving the seller an even higher Ebay rating and the spiral just continues from there. When doing a web search for an expensive item be sure to use words such as 'authentic' and 'genuine' as you'll find it'll actually filter out a lot of the replica websites. Stick to reliable sources for buying expensive items, especially makeup, jewellery and handbags! Although if you don't mind the odd replica item, aliexpress.com is a cool bargain website, who doesn't want a 'naked palette' for $10!

5. Coupons

Honestly, I buy nothing online before checking for a discount or coupon first. It may seem stingy but sometimes you can save 20% and upwards off your order, for example most online stores often send emails out with new discount codes, or in general you can just do a quick google search and you'll find different discount codes being promoted. Even better is using a coupon site that finds all the best deals and discount codes for you, keeping you up to date without the hassle - so much money can be saved with just the click of a button!

Now you've got a Paypal account, you've done your research, got your discount codes and your ready to shop till you drop. Hopefully you find this post somewhat useful, and if you have any online shopping tips yourself please do let me know in the comments!

Monique xx

First Impression: ELF Flawless Finish Foundation

If you love a good bargain like me then you have to try out the ELF Flawless Finish Foundation. I have been testing it out over the last week and I am seriously Impressed, especially when considering the price which is a whole $3!

The foundation came packaged in a plastic box and when I first opened I was super surprised at how great the packaging of the bottle was. The foundation comes housed in a sturdy glass bottle that definitely doesn't feel cheap, I was extra ecstatic to see that It had a pump! So far so good. I applied two pumps to my clean face using a stippling brush. I found it quite easy to blend, and there were no weird patches or streaks on my skin. ELF states that you 'apply on face area to even out skin tone for a beauty semi-matte finish that lasts all day' and I would have to agree with that, the liquid set nicely on my skin and it didn't slide around when I touched my face.

The foundation was a light to medium coverage on my skin and I definitely agree that it helped even out my skin tone and made my blemishes less noticeable. I was happy with the effect after one layer and knew that the real test would be how long the foundation held up on my combination/oily skin. I always use powder to set my makeup and I found that the foundation lasted through a normal day without breaking up or turning more oily than usual on my skin. Unfortunately the colour range is quite limited with to my knowledge there only being 6 shades. Usually I'm the lightest foundation shade in any range and the lightest shade available was 'Porcelain' which definitely isn't very light for us pale folk. Thankfully I have been using the Bondi Sands gradual tanner (review here) on and off, so 'Porcelain' turned out to be a pretty dead on match. If you can make a colour in the range work for you then this foundation is a definite steal!

Pros

• Inexpensive ($3 from Iherb.com)
• Has a pump
• Great formula
• SPF 15

Cons

• Limited Shade range
• Only 23g of product (compared to a standard 30g foundation)

Overall I am pretty impressed by the ELF Flawless Finish Foundation and I'm glad I decided to give it a go as I have really been enjoying using it for everyday. It's just so affordable so I know I'll definitely be repurchasing it when I run out! Elf continue to impresses me with their products so if you have any recommendations from the brand please let me know as I'd love to try it!

Monique xx