November Empties/Products I've Used Up!

 

Hi everyone! Earlier in the month I decided that I would start doing some "Product Empties" posts. I love these on YouTube, so I am going to have a go at my own blog versions. I've been trying to make an effort to use up a bunch of products that I've had for quite a while. I have forgotten to take pictures of quite a few products before I threw away the packaging, but I will list them at the end.

 

So, without further ado, these are some of the products I have used up in November.

 

 

 

I used up my Christian Dior gentle toning lotion, which was kind of sad for me because I bought this while I was in Vegas (along with quite a few other products) and I absolutely love it. I'm not even sure if I can buy this in Australia, which is also really quite sad. I love that this is good for sensitive skin, because my skin really is very, very, very sensitive. It also has velvet and peony extract, which makes it smell really nice and feel really nice on my face. If I can find this product again, I will most definitely be repurchasing it.

 

I used up a lot of perfumes this month. I used up a bottle of Vera Wang, Princess, which I have had a few times now and I never get sick of it. I will probably repurchase this because I love it so much.

 

I also used up a bottle of Jimmy Choo EDP, which is a very interesting fragrance and I can never quite put my finger on what exactly it smells like. The small bottle at the bottom of the picture is a miniature Miss Dior Chérie, which I used up this month as well.

 

I used up my Chanel, Chance perfume this month. This is a lovely fragrance for spring, and I suppose it's quite fitting that I used it up on the second-last day of spring for the year.

 

I used up a full-sized Miss Dior Chérie this month, but I had to throw it away with a tiny bit left in it because it was starting to make my skin break out in a rash. :( I suspect that it was just getting a bit old, because I've never had a reaction to this perfume.

 

Another very sad moment for me this month was the day I used up the last of my Mango Temptation fragrance mist from Victoria's Secret. I LOVE this fragrance, and I have been using it so sparingly since I bought it in Vegas (in 2011). I was sad to see this go, because obviously we don't have Victoria's Secret in Australia. I guess I'll just have to go back again soon to stock up!

 

 

Other Products I Used Up This Month (Not Pictured):

 

One tube of Lucas Paw Paw Ointment (essential product, will definitely repurchase)

A tube of Veet bladeless hair removal cream

Coconut body scrub from the Body Shop

One bottle of Brazil Nut shower cream from the Body Shop

One Chanel mascara, in black

 

 

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I'm saving up for a video camera at the moment, so hopefully I'll be able to start making some YouTube videos to complement these blog posts as well. :-)

 

Love and Light,

 

xoxo

Christmas Haul!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

These are some of the bits and pieces I have picked up for this Christmas!

I am totally in love with these wristbands, I am going to be wearing a different one to work each day until Christmas. :-) These teddy bear earrings are super cute as well; and I absolutely adore my smiley snowman mug. I'm going to drink my coffee out of that on Christmas morning.

 

I may have gone a little crazy at Dusk, buying candles this past couple of weeks. But these were so yummy, I couldn't not pick them up! The candle on the left is called "Red Velvet Cake," and it really does smell exactly like a red velvet cake (funnily enough). I actually have this candle burning right now; and my entire bedroom smells like a yummy cake. I know it's not specifically a Christmas candle, but who doesn't love dessert smells?

 

The candle on the right is a Christmas candle with a double wick. It is gingerbread and orange peel. I adore the smell of this candle, and I really like that it's made from soy. I prefer to have soy candles, and this one smells absolutely amazing. It smells like freshly baked gingerbread. I haven't burned this one yet, because I'm saving it for Christmas. The packaging is really gorgeous as well, I love the purple jar and the beautiful patterns.

 

The next two things I bought were these candles, also from Dusk. I got Pink Butter Icing, which again is not a Christmas candle, but it smells like a patisserie and it's pink... Need I say more? Even though Christmastime is really hot here in Australia, I still like the idea of burning yummy candles to get into the Christmas spirit. I have burned this one quite a few times, and it's a really nice sweet fragrance, but not as strong as the Red Velvet Cake candle.

 

The last candle for this haul is a Christmas candle, called Candy Cane. This lovely candle also comes in the large size with a double wick, but on the particular day that I went shopping, I didn't have very much money so I settled for the smaller size. Knowing me, though, I will probably go back to get the large size because this candle smells very strongly of peppermint; and I LOVE peppermint. I haven't burned this one yet, because as I said, I'm waiting until it gets a bit closer to Christmas to burn my Christmas-specific candles, but I can't wait for my room to be filled with this amazing smell.

 

This is a tealight holder that I bought as a Christmas present for my mum. I saw it in Dusk on my trip there last week and loved it, so when I went back this week I decided to pick it up. It wasn't overly expensive, either, so I might get a couple more to give to her. It has a lovely pattern of reindeer, swirly trees and snowflakes, which I think my mum will really like.

 

 

 

I am proud to say that I have indeed finished my Christmas shopping, however I tend to pick up a few extra things for people in the lead up to Christmas. I do want to get something extra for my dad, I'm just having a really difficult time figuring out what. And I want to get a couple more things for my mum and my best friend. Again, I'm not sure what those things will be.

 

 

So that's what I've hauled so far for Christmastime, I hope you guys are having an amazing day/night wherever you are.

Love and Light.

xoxo

Outfit of the Day!

Hi guys!

I really liked my outfit today, so I thought I would do an Outfit of the Day post!

I have been getting so sick of wearing black all the time (at my jobs), so today I decided to put on a little red dress and feel a bit more summer-y. I curled my hair on Saturday and now it's Wednesday (I only wash my hair once a week... Don't judge me), so this is a very messy, undone hairstyle but I think that's okay. Nothing I'm wearing here was very expensive, apart from my makeup. It just goes to show that sometimes you can put together a really cute outfit on a small budget!

Outfit:

Dress: Kmart
Watch: Forever New
Shoes: Kmart (I'm sensing a theme here, hahaha)

Beauty Notes:

Nail Polish: Australis
Foundation: Yves Saint Laurent
Lip Gloss: Bonne Bell, Vanilla Frosting
Eyeshadow: Nars 'Isolde' duo
Mascara: Yves Saint Laurent, Noir Radical in black
Eyeliner: Napoleon Perdis kohl eyeliner in black
Bronzer: Nars, 'Laguna'
Tan: Kate Somerville tanning towellettes


I hope you guys enjoyed this OOTD, let me know in the comments if you would like to see more of these!

Love and Light

xoxo

Does Size Matter? (Or, How Much Makeup is Too Much Makeup?)

Lately, I have been watching a lot of beauty videos on YouTube. I particularly like the ones where the YouTuber does a tour of their makeup collections, so I have been watching quite a few of those. And it got me thinking, how much makeup is too much makeup?

I thought that I had a lot of makeup, but when I started watching beauty vloggers on YouTube and seeing how much makeup they purchase on a regular basis, and witnessing the enormity of their makeup collections, my own collection started to feel very small.

 I am in no way judging these girls, I think their collections are amazing and I don't think there is anything wrong with having a large collection of something that you love. It is just a concept that I find curious. How much makeup can one person realistically use?

There are all kinds of varying "rules" about how long a makeup product lasts for. Some people say you shouldn't keep a mascara longer than six months; and others say three months is the absolute maximum. Personally, I have used certain mascaras for over a year and not had any problems. Creams don't tend to have as long a shelf life as powders, but should we really throw them away just because we've had them for longer than six months? That seems silly and wasteful to me. I take care of my makeup; and if it still smells and looks as good as the day I bought it, I'm not going to throw it away. My makeup collection is carefully and deliberately constructed. I don't just buy makeup because it's there, so if I spend my money on a product, I want to use it until it's finished, not until some magazine or blogger on the internet says I should throw it away.

But in saying all of that, I have to wonder: If a product has been in your makeup collection for three or four years and you blatantly state that you never use it and will probably never use it, is it really worth holding on to? Makeup can carry sentimental value, certainly the red Chanel lipstick my mum gave me for my birthday many years ago holds a lot of sentimental value for me and I still have it. But it also hasn't dried up, it still works, and I still love the colour. But what about makeup that vloggers point out in their collections and say, "I don't really like this product," or "I never use this/will never use this"? Do those products really belong in your collection, if that's the way you feel about them?

In the spirit of not being wasteful, you could give away the products you don't use/like, provided that it's hygienic. A liquid foundation with a pump, a lip gloss you've never, ever touched, and any kind of powder is perfectly okay to be given away to somebody who might love it. I don't recommend giving away used mascaras, eyeliners or lip products that you have used on yourself, though. You could gather all of your untouched, hygienic products and get together with a group of friends for a swap.

I recently purged my makeup collection, cleaned up some palettes and gave a whole bunch of stuff to my mum. I wasn't really using them, or felt like I would never be able to use them all up, so I gave them to my mum. I gave her a bunch of powder eyeshadows, a powder blush, things like that. It was all perfectly safe to share; and they look much nicer on her than they did on me!

The added bonus is the fact that now I have heaps more room for new makeup. ;-)

So, with all of these things in mind, I'm still left to wonder what constitutes "too much makeup." The best I can figure is that it's different for everybody. Everybody who has a makeup collection should be content and comfortable with the amount that they have. I am content to have a relatively small-to-medium sized collection of lovingly collected, carefully selected products which make me happy every time I look at my vanity or open my makeup bags. Other people are content to amass hundreds of products, just because they can, regardless of whether or not they like them. All I can say to that is, it must be nice to have that much money!

What do you guys think? Is there such a thing as having "too much makeup"? What do you consider to be excessive? How big is your makeup collection? Drop me a comment below, I'm curious. :-)

Until next time,

Love and light.

xoxo

New makeup!

Well, I finally went out and bought some new makeup, which I have been wanting to do for a long time now. Unfortunately, my trip to Mecca Cosmetica did not go well at all, because they didn't have what I went in for, so I gave up on that for the moment. Also, despite being the only customer in the shop, once the salesgirl informed me that they didn't have the specific eyeshadow I had requested (Nars Bombshell, which I want quite desperately but cannot find anywhere), she went back behind her desk and that was that. So even though there were a couple of other products I quite liked, I left the shop right away because I felt so uncomfortable.

But then I went to Myer and had a wander around the makeup counters. I passed over Chanel because there was a very snooty salesgirl there and I wasn't interested in being made to feel unimportant. But I did stop for a while at Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, where I did have a very nice interaction with the ladies at those counters.

In the end, I didn't have as much money to spend as I would have liked, but I did pick up two really lovely products. The first thing I bought was a Christian Dior lipstick, in Rose Dèclamation.

Rose Dèclamation

 

 

 I have worn this lipstick a couple of times since I bought it, and I absolutely adore it. It's a gorgeous soft rose-pink and it is quite rich and creamy to apply. It feels very luxurious and it lasts ages on the lips. I have always loved Dior lipsticks and this one is a lovely addition to my collection.

The other product I picked up was a limited edition Yves Saint Laurent eyeshadow quad; and oh my goodness. I had told myself that I would finally cave and buy bronze, gold and brown eyeshadows, because I have blue eyes and those colours tend to make my eyes really pop. But I never seem to buy the things that I set out to buy, especially when I go makeup shopping, so I ended up coming home with this:

Wow. What can I even say besides that?

I'm not sure what it is with me and blues, greens, pinks and purples, but the majority of the eyeshadows that I buy and like are usually one of those four colours.

I haven't tried this on my eyes yet (I'm almost afraid to use it because it's so perfect and beautiful), but I did try the colours on my wrist in the shop and I totally fell in love with it. It was very expensive, but then everything is, here in Australia; and it was totally worth it. The colours are stunning and I think they will look especially nice with my new rose pink lipstick.

My two beautiful makeup purchases, all cuddled up in prettiness

I used to have this thing with keeping the boxes for my cosmetics, but I don't do that anymore. I do, however, take pictures before I throw the boxes away! Am I the only one?

I also think the packaging is really gorgeous!

So those are the only two makeup products of note that I have bought recently. Hopefully after Christmas I will be able to do one really big makeup and beauty splurge and have a more interesting collection of products to show. In the meantime, I will post some smaller haul posts and reviews of various products. One of my previous posts, about my makeup collection and the process I was going through of cleaning it out, got quite a lot of attention, so I might do some more posts in a similar vein to that one. If anybody is interested in seeing an update on my decluttering adventures (I have had many!), please do let me know in the comments. :-)

I'm also looking at buying a video camera and starting a YouTube channel, possibly as a combination of books, beauty, fitness and ballet, similar to my tumblr. Of course, that means I will have to get over my hatred of the sound of my own voice, but nevertheless, stay tuned for updates on that front as well!

Thank you so much for reading, goodnight!

xoxo

Mini Drugstore Haul

In the spirit of Halloween, I went out yesterday and picked up a few beauty-related things, so I finally have something to share with you all!

Yayyyy!

L-R: Glam Eyes "Gwen" eyelashes, red face & body paint, She Aromatherapy body glitter, She Aromatherapy dusting powder in "Nymph" and Revlon nail varnish in "Cherries in the Snow"

 

 So obviously the body paint is Halloween-specific, and I will put up some photos of my Halloween makeup looks after the weekend.

She Aromatherapy is a brand that I had never seen or heard of before until yesterday's expedition to Priceline. They are an Australian cruelty-free brand of mineral makeup and natural body products. You can check them out here

The body glitter has a cooling gel texture and an opalescent shine. It contains no alcohol, which is good for me and my sensitive skin. It provides a subtle sparkle and a lovely, ethereal shimmer. I can't wait to wear it. I always loved body glitter when I was younger; and it seems to be very difficult to find in shops in W.A. Maybe Victoria is just more of a body glitter sort of place.

The next thing I bought is the loose dusting powder, also from She Aromatherapy. The colour is "Nymph," which was just so perfect that I had to have it. I like to wear shimmery loose powders when I do special effect makeup, but they can be equally lovely with a neutral palette. I haven't tried this product yet but I'm excited. I will probably wear it to work tonight.

And the last thing I bought was the Revlon nail polish. I have been wanting "Cherries in the Snow" for a long time now; and when I saw that Priceline had reduced the price of all Revlon nail polishes to nine dollars, I just had to snap this one up. It's a gorgeous red which reminds me of Old Hollywood movie stars. I'm excited to wear it.


So that concludes my mini beauty haul, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have tried any of these products or would like to see some proper reviews of the products, please leave me a comment below. Have a wonderful day!

xoxo

Woefully neglectful!

I have been so neglectful of my beauty blog. And what's worse is that I really have no excuse. None whatsoever.

I suppose the major reason I haven't updated this blog is because I have been feeling somewhat disheartened with it. I also must admit that I haven't been buying any makeup or beauty products. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I have been spending a lot of time decluttering and trying to streamline my collection. And to that end, I have recently been able to reduce the products in my bathroom to the point where they now all fit onto one shelf. One shelf!

That was a proud moment in my life.

What I have been buying a lot of lately is books. I have bought oh-so many books. Ridiculous amounts of them. And if this were a book blog, I would have uploaded endless pictures of the books as they arrived (I buy my books almost exclusively from The Book Depository). But this is a beauty blog; and I told myself when I created it that I would try to keep myself as focused as I possibly could. Which I will do!

So, in the absence of any new makeup or beauty products to 'haul,' as such, what I am going to share with you today is my current beauty wishlist! (Yayyyy!)

I've been saving up for a while now to go on a massive beauty shopping splurge (to undo some of the hard work I did decluttering, because really, isn't the whole point of decluttering to make room for new stuff?). Hopefully I will be able to do that soon and have a whole bunch of new products to show & tell. These are some of the products that I hope to pick up when I go shopping:

Nars lipgloss in "Angelika"

 

I really like Nars lipgloss; and I love any kind of bright pink makeup, so I think this will be just perfect.

 

Nars eyeshadow in "Bombshell"

 

Very self-explanatory.

Nars Bombshell in "Blondie"

 

I need a new brown/beige eyeshadow; and this one looks just right!

 

Nars Illuminator in "Orgasm"

 

Tee hee.

 

 

Chantecaille Pure Rosewater

 

I don't really know if I can justify the extravagant price tag on this, but it looks and sounds so amazing that I feel like I need to at least try it.

Chanel lipstick in Ingenue

 

Or some other kind of pretty nude colour with a nice name.

 

Because of reasons.

 

 

 

So that's a very small collection of just a couple of the endless products on my wishlist. Hopefully I will get around to beauty shopping very soon and be able to do a little haul for you guys.

 

In the meantime, leave me some comments and let me know what's on your makeup wishlist, what you've been buying lately, and what you would like to see in my future posts! :)

 

 

 

 

xoxo

Samples at the Makeup Counter

Today, whilst out with my mum, I visited Myer and I made a beeline for Estée Lauder, because I really wanted to pick up some Advanced Time Zone moisturiser. I had such a lovely interaction with the girl at the counter, which is really important to me. I don't like to buy things (especially expensive things) from sales assistants who are not nice, or who talk down to me. But this girl was just so sweet. She was friendly and helpful and had a chat with me about non-product related things. It was just generally a very nice interaction. And along with the cream that I bought, she gave me three very generous samples, which really made my morning. Hobbling around with broken ribs is not very much fun, and I certainly didn't look my best (no makeup + big dark bruises under both my eyes), but she made my morning so much nicer. I appreciated that a lot.

My new face cream, feat. samples of Advanced Night Repair and Daywear serums.

The next counter I visited was Lancome, which I have never even given a second glance to. But since animal testing is now banned across Europe, I thought I would have a look. Also, I have been seeing a lot of their serums in Vogue and other fashion magazines lately, so I wanted to check them out. My skin has a variety of concerns, the major one being that it is hypersensitive. But aside from that, there is the slight redness that comes with pale, Nordic-looking skin (God bless you, fake tan) and also I have some pores that I'm a bit shy about. So I went to look at these pore-refining, colour-correcting serums that people seem to be raving about. And not only was I met with two quite rude older women at the counter, but when I asked if I could possibly please sample the serums, one of the women informed me quite rudely that, "We do not give out any samples when we're on gift because we have to sit down and have a consultation. You can come back in two weeks."

Um, how about no.

Okay, fair enough you have a gift-with-purchase promotion. That's fine. But is there really any need to be rude to me? It has taken me six years of shopping at department store beauty counters to even work up the courage to ask for a sample (generally trying something in the shop and then discovering that I'm allergic to its ingredients is very unpleasant. I would much rather try it at home, in private, where my anti-inflammatry products are). I started buying products from the counters when I was sixteen going on seventeen; and I'm twenty-three now. In the beginning, I was completely lost and had to learn by trial-and-error. I was also embarrassingly shy and even now, I have trouble approaching a counter if the staff look unwelcoming. But I'm a grownup now, and I have learned that it is okay to ask for samples, particularly if you are buying something else. I would have happily spent money with them if the products worked for my skin. I have delicate skin, that is not my fault. And just because I look young, doesn't mean I can't afford to buy expensive skincare and makeup. I prefer to buy the brands I know work for me (Dior, Chanel, Estée Lauder, Yves Saint Laurent) but I also like to experiment a little bit.

My favourite beauty counter salespeople have always been the friendly ones, the ones who don't treat you like you're wasting your time, and yes, who give you samples. Samples build customer loyalty. That customer doesn't just remember the brand, they remember you. You, as a salesperson, hold a lot more power than you think you do. I have not shopped at one particular branch of David Jones in about five years, simply because the staff they had the last time I was there, were horrible. And yet, I would drive forty-five minutes out of my way to visit one specific salesgirl at Yves Saint Laurent because the last time I bought things from her, she gave me a whole bunch of samples that I ended up going back and buying later.

When I worked for The Body Shop, I used to give samples to people all the time. And so often, they would come back to me and say, "Do you remember that sample you gave me last time? I loved it."

Samples build repeat business and customer loyalty. In my opinion, at least. I am much more likely to return to a shop, a counter, a salesperson, simply because the experience I had while I was there was so good. I prefer to spend my hard-earned money with people who are nice and who make my day nicer.


What about you? Do samples bring you back to a place?

Review of Tigi Your Highness Elevating Shampoo

I bought a new shampoo a few weeks ago, and I used it for the first time today. I tend to shy away from trying new shampoos. I’m really, really, super-attached to my De Lorenzo silver shampoo, but I decided it was time to be brave and try something else as well. This particular shampoo is part of the Tigi Catwalk Collection, and it comes packaged in an ultra-glam black and purple bottle. In true Tigi fashion, it has a fun name that made me smile when I bought it: Your Highness. It is so named because the function of this shampoo is to give your hair volume, body and height. Whoever coined the phrase, “The higher the hair, the closer to God,” must be a big fan of this shampoo.

 

 

Part of the reason that Tigi as a brand appeals to me is because of their sense of humour. It even says on the back of their bottles: “You must have a sense of humour to use our products.” Add that to the brightly coloured packaging and funny/cheeky/suggestive product names, and you, sirs and madams, have won me over. I shall buy your products. It also helps that they do not test on animals (very important to me); and it’s a total bonus that the products actually work.

I jumped into the shower, excited to try my new shampoo and contemplating the fact that pretty much every kind of shampoo I buy is purple or has purple on the packaging. I wonder what that means… But I digress.

The first thing I noticed about the bottle is its simplicity. You literally twist off the lid, and away you go. You can squeeze the product directly onto your hand, without having to fiddle around with a pump (pumps on shampoo bottles drive me crazy. It should not be that difficult to use shampoo!), and you also can’t accidentally squeeze out half the bottle when you tilt it towards your palm.

Another thing I loved about this product was that you don’t need to use very much of it, which makes it super economical. I don’t know about anybody else, but my hair is extremely long and thick (and no, I don’t have hair extensions), so I tend to use up a lot of shampoo and conditioner, just to cover all of my hair. Not so, with this one! I was super impressed with how a little went such a long way.

My favourite thing about Your Highness is the fragrance. I admit it, I am a total girl about haircare products- If it doesn’t smell good, I won’t use it. I don’t care how good it is for my hair, it has to smell good. And oh, how this one does. Your Highness combines jasmine, wisteria, lavender and violet to create one of the most amazing smelling shampoos I have ever tried. Even now, I can’t help smelling my hair (don’t judge me- I know I can’t be the only one who does this) and breathing a contented sigh. It smells like romance, the first flowers of spring and fairy lights.

As I mentioned, I have extremely long and very thick hair, with no layers cut into it, so I have a hard time getting my hair to show signs of life. I long for bouncy hair with lots of body and a sassy attitude, and I have searched far and wide to find products which help me achieve this. Your Highness most certainly does. And so, I bow down before it and praise its magical volumising powers.

Review of Chantecaille Flower-Infused Cleansing Milk

Last week, I ordered some makeup through Mecca Cosmetica online, and one of the samples they sent me was Chantecaille Flower Infused Cleansing Milk.

Sample size- Thanks so much, Mecca Cosmetica! You guys rock.

 

I had never heard of Chantecaille before, but I was delighted to discover that it is a lovely, cruelty-free brand which promotes kindness to the environment and incorporates tons of natural ingredients into their products. So before I even put the product on my skin, I liked this brand.

I followed the instructions on the back of the sample packet and used a cotton pad to apply the cleanser to my skin. I was really impressed (and slightly embarrassed) by how much dirt it removed. This cleanser would make an awesome makeup remover as well.

Gorgeous natural ingredients make this product like aromatherapy for your face!

 

Despite the tendency of some cream cleansers/cleansing milks to be sticky and gooey, Chantecaille seem to have perfected the ultimate gentle texture. Delicately fragranced with rose, jasmine and mimosa, this cleanser is gentle and very soothing, even on my extra-hypersensitive skin. It also contains mallow and chamomile, which are natural anti-inflammatries, so there was no stinging or redness when I used this product.

At no point did I find the texture to be sticky, heavy or clogged and once I washed it off my face with cold water, I felt fresh, clean and springtime pretty. It was really refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I definitely recommend this product, especially to my fellow sensitive-skinned sisters. When your skin is as sensitive as mine, you really do have to be so careful, but this is a lovely cleanser which I definitely recommend to anybody who looks for natural ingredients and eco-friendly, cruelty-free beauty products, as well as anybody who needs a gentle, soothing cleanser that still gives your skin a deep clean. Perfect for springtime, Chantecaille Flower-Infused Cleansing Milk will make your skin glow with dewy, sunshine-y happiness.

 

 

 

If you live in the USA, you can shop for Chantecaille products here: http://www.chantecaille.com

Australian beauties can buy Chantecaille here: http://www.meccacosmetica.com.au/Chantecaille/

Part Two: Makeup

So this is part two of yesterday's reorganising adventures: The makeup edition.

I have so much makeup and until yesterday afternoon, it was literally scattered all over the place, making it hard to find things when I need them. A while back, I was hoping to become a makeup artist and I started collecting bits and pieces to use on clients. I was keeping these things in my hot pink Kate Hill cosmetics travel case that my parents lovingly bought for me a couple of years ago. It’s perfect because it has a little coathanger inside it so you can hang up your makeup case in your hotel room and see everything at a glance. Amazing! Anyway, I have since realised that I should probably focus on my career in psychology (whenever that starts…) and sort of gave up on the makeup thing for now. So I went through this case first of all and worked out what I would keep and throw away. When I opened it up, I was confronted with my first dysfunctional makeup habit: Keeping cotton tips that have only been slightly used for smudged eyeliner.

Yeah, take a second to process that one.

WHAT.

So these cotton tips had a small amount of eyeliner smudge on one end, and were clean on the other end. And not only that, but I realised that I have cotton tips all over the fucking place. Like a squirrel hiding acorns in different locations. I am officially crazy. I have cotton tips in my bathroom cupboard where they belong, in my travel case, in my handbag, in one of my makeup bags… What the fuck am I doing?

So once I threw away all of my half-used cotton tips and put the clean ones in their proper place in the bathroom, I emptied the whole case, zipped it up and put it away so I couldn’t be tempted to squirrel away anything else inside it. I found a bobby pin (one single bobby pin. Why?), a really old MAC lipstick that I remember buying thinking I was getting a certain colour, then getting all the way home and realising they gave me the wrong colour and being too timid to go back and exchange it, an empty perfume bottle, an almost empty bottle of Emporio Armani Diamonds, an unopened, unused Chi Chi eyeshadow palette called “Fashionista,” a bottle of shimmery highlighting fluid that belonged to my mum, a couple of Napoleon Perdis colour discs (the really old kind, one bright yellow and the other bright orange), an almost empty jar of Body Shop radiance beads and a sparkly dark purple Avon nail polish that my mum ordered from my ex-boyfriend’s mum who is an Avon lady. And after all that, she didn’t even like the colour, so she gave it to me. I attach so many stories to all my products, I think that is why I have a hard time writing concisely about them and why I’ve put it off for so long!

I threw away the empty perfume bottle, radiance beads and MAC lipstick (it was getting old and gross and the colour never suited me anyway), put the highlighter back in my mum’s makeup drawer; and took the rest of the products to the bathroom for sorting. In hindsight, I could have done all of this whilst sitting down and resting my broken ribs, but I’m stubborn.

I currently have in my possession five makeup bags (not including my travel case), and four more coming in the mail. I use all of them for something. One of them is so pretty that I keep it decoratively in my room and it holds two sets of fake eyelashes, a long string of pearls and a garter. One is a glittery pink Victoria’s Secret one which I used to carry in my handbag but it molts sparkles worse than I molt hair so I have found a new use for it. One is a tall, clear plastic one with hot pink sparkly edges, one is an old silver Christian Dior Parfum makeup bag and my favourite of all is my black vintage lace with pink satin lining Peter Alexander cosmetics bag that my mum got me for Christmas one year. The Peter Alexander one houses only my most expensive, most special designer makeup (mostly Christian Dior, a bit of Chanel and, as of yesterday, Nars), and this has not changed, however I have taken a couple of things out of it. I reorganised the contents of each of these bags and I now use my Dior bag mostly for nail polish, but also for perfume samples, smaller half-empty perfume bottles and a few of my cheaper lipsticks (Chi Chi and Revlon, and all of them are some sort of pink). In my clear makeup bag (which is a perfect bag for hand luggage when travelling, just as a side note) I put all my makeup brushes (there aren’t many of these and I really need to invest in some new ones), my toothbrush and my toothpaste.

I only own two foundations, although I really need at least two more (one for when I’m tanned darker and one for work). I use Diorskin Forever because it’s super lightweight (although it doesn’t give as much coverage as I need for work at the nightclub, which is why I need a heavier one) and a YSL foundation which I love for the same reasons but it’s a slightly different shade than my Dior one. I put these on my dresser, along with my gold YSL powder compact. I love the way these two simple, elegant bottles look sitting on my dresser, it looks so old fashioned and that makes me happy.

My two foundations and my powder. Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent are my favourites.

I found my Victoria’s Secret makeup bag sitting on a pile of my scrapbooking supplies in my room and when I opened it, I found the comb I had spent the last three months wondering where in hell I’d lost, my mini gold YSL mirror, a black hair tie which I also thought I had lost, a bobby pin (clearly these are my other kind of acorns, along with cotton tips) and a bunch more cotton tips (surprise). I emptied these things out and decided that my temporary everyday makeup bag would be a simple black fabric clutch that I usually use as an evening bag. I put my mirror into my current day bag, the comb into my makeshift cosmetics bag, and the rest of the things away in their proper place in my newly organised bathroom cupboard. Then I covered the bathroom counter with all of my cheaper makeup, and started picking through it. I decided to throw away my Body Shop bronzer because I’m over it, my half-empty Nivea tinted moisturiser because it doesn’t suit my skin tone and I never wear it anyway (it had been banished to the back of my cupboard along with the old moisturiser I forgot I had) and my Body Shop concealer.

I also did something that I should have done months ago, and threw out the packaging/boxes from some of my makeup. For example, my Napoleon Perdis bronzer came in a really pretty box and I kept it despite the fact that it was broken and the bronzer slips out the bottom. And I have a Chi Chi lipstick in a box as well. So I got rid of all these things and felt much better afterwards. They take up so much space!

I learned today that my makeup collection is slightly out of proportion in terms of its contents. For example, I have two foundations and two mascaras (one for everyday wear and one for very special occasions only); but I also have three liquid eyeliners (one extra special one and two of the exact same brand and colour because I wear it all the time and I never want to run out of it) and only one kohl eyeliner, which is extremely short and needs replacing but I’ve had it since I was seventeen and I’m twenty-three now, so it lasted a really long time. I only have one lip liner and it is bight red, despite the growing population of pink lipsticks in my makeup collection.

I also discovered that I have amassed a gigantic collection of eyeshadows. I have six individual Napoleon Perdis colour discs (hot pink, black, cream, dark brown, bright yellow and bright orange) and one Napoleon Perdis jar of creamy, glittery stuff that I generally use when I’m wearing a costume. I have one Chanel eyeshadow palette with dark brown, cream, pinky-peachy-sparkliness and soft green. It’s my springtime fairy palette. I have a pale lilac shimmer dust from Revlon called Diamond Lust. There is the brand new Chi Chi eyeshadow palette that I discovered in my room, along with a small glittery rose coloured shadow (also Chi Chi). I have two individual Christian Dior eyeshadows (light blue and light green). And my favourite of all is my Christian Dior eyeshadow palette which has so many gorgeous colours that I will never run out of it. My favourites in that palette are pale lilac and navy blue.

Another thing I seem to have a lot of is blusher. I have three Dior blushers and two Nars ones. In fact, I have two Dior ones that are exactly the same colour. One of them I haven’t ever used. This was an accident, I went to buy a new one and I accidentally purchased one the same colour as I already had. Silly rabbit. My favourite colour of blush is pink. I love any kind of pretty pink blush. I recently purchased Nars “Gaiety” which is a gorgeous candy pink with hints of lilac and lavender. I also just bought Nars “Orgasm,” partly because its name made me giggle (and blush!) and partly because I felt that it was time to try something other than just pink. Orgasm is a lovely peach colour with golden sparkles. I’m excited to try it, especially when I’m tanned.

My current blush collection! Can't you see why I need more?

I got into bronzers quite late. I had a brief flirtation with a Napoleon Perdis one when I was seventeen and first getting into higher end makeup, but from eighteen til twenty two I mostly stuck to the same formula of matte face + bright pink blush + babydoll eyes + bright lipstick. As I said before, I had a Body Shop bronzer which I threw away today, which leaves me now with exactly one bronzer. It’s Napoleon Perdis Blush Patrol and I love it because I can use it whether I’m tanned or not and it still looks nice. I intend to purchase some more bronzers as it gets closer to summer.

Napoleon Perdis Blush Patrol bronzer, feat. Whipped Dream Tan Enhancer.

I don’t use concealer, so I don’t have any. The one I threw out today hadn’t been touched in probably a year, so into the bin it went. It’s not like I paid for it (the only thing I miss about that store- free castoffs from the hygiene kit). I also don’t use much in the way of highlighters or radiance fluids. I do, however, have a Chi Chi product that my mum gave me from her makeup collection, which is sort of a sparkly powder, bronze coloured but it pats on just like a soft, almost colour-less shimmer. I have no idea what it’s called but it comes in a hot pink ball shape with a teeny tiny powder puff and my favourite thing about it is that it looks like a Poké Ball.

As far as powder, I have two. I have an Yves Saint Laurent powder compact which I save for special occasions, and another castoff from my mum’s makeup, a Nutrimetics translucent finishing powder which I wear almost every time I put on makeup.

I don’t use primer anymore (I used to, but I’ve become pretty low maintenance compared to how I used to be- I can do a full face of makeup in fifteen minutes now, ten if I’m feeling particularly low maintenance), but I do have a Napoleon Perdis eye primer which works really well and is especially good for when I want to put on glitter or shimmer dust because it sticks to the primer and doesn’t fall all over my cheeks.

And then, we come to the last category in my makeup collection: Lip products. I have an interesting relationship with lip products. I have somehow managed to collect roughly seventeen lip products. I used to have more, I’m not entirely sure where all my Lip Smackers disappeared to, but suddenly I don’t have any left. So this is what I have in terms of lip products: Nine lipsticks, two flavoured lip glosses, two coloured lip glosses, one lip lacquer, one lip scrub, one lip liner and one tub of lip balm. In my handbag I always carry at least one tube of paw paw ointment, but I don’t consider this lip-specific because I use it on fresh tattoos, rashes, scrapes etc as well.

Of my seventeen(ish) specific lip products:

·         Five are different shades of red

·         Six are different shades of pink

·         One is dark plum coloured lipstick

·         One is vanilla flavour

·         One is cinnamon buns flavour and glittery

·         One is cotton candy flavour

·         One is a browny-pink sort of colour

·         One is an edible bubblegum flavoured lip exfoliant (and also pink)

·         Six are Christian Dior

·         One is MAC

·         One is Chanel

And they all go temporarily missing the instant I put them into a handbag.

The funny thing is, I have worn all of them. I use my lip balms on a regular basis, I wear my pink lipsticks and lip glosses to work in rotation, I exfoliate my lips with my Lush bubblegum scrub almost every day, sometimes more than once a day. I don’t often wear red or plum anymore, because I never go out, but I used to wear them all the time. There was once a time when the only colour I wore on my lips was red. Now I save them for special occasions and dress-up nights at work.

I can justify having every single one of these products, and I can justify why I want more. I can do that with all of my makeup. I am running out of all my cream eyeshadows, so I clearly need to buy a new one, and I know exactly what I want to go and buy. With regards to lips, I need multiple lip balms because I always carry lip balm with me and I like to have backups. I need multiple lipsticks because if I have lots of them, I never run out of my other ones. I have different kinds of flavoured lip gloss because I have too many favourite flavours to just have one. I really need to get a lip liner that isn’t red because these days, I rarely wear red lipstick. I need a heavier foundation for work and a darker one for when I’m tanned. I need to buy an eyebrow pencil because I don’t have one. I’ve never owned one, I’ve just borrowed my mum’s. I need to replace my kohl eyeliner because it’s almost all gone. I can literally give you a reason for exactly why I have what I have, and exactly why I need to buy the things on my makeup shopping list.

A girl can just never have too much makeup!

So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed your tour through my makeup collection. I can't wait to watch it grow, and share it with you again!

Love and light,


xoxo

Recent Adventures in Decluttering

So yesterday I went a little bit crazy...

And I cleaned out and re-organised my bathroom cupboard, because what else am I going to do when I have broken ribs and can't drive or go outside or go to work?

I am physically incapable of sitting still all day. So when I got out of the shower I decided I would give my skin a bit of pampering. I washed my face with cleanser, then I put on a deep-cleansing/exfoliating mask, when that was all washed off I used witch hazel toner, then I used a sample of Dr. Brandt "Dark Circles Away" collagen eye serum that I got from Mecca Cosmetica and after that I used Estée Lauder's Advanced Time Zone age repair moisturiser. I only had a sample of that moisturiser and seriously, it's amazing. I have to be super careful with what I use on my face and body because my skin is hyper-sensitive and I've had allergic reactions to so many products, so I have a bit of anxiety when I try a new moisturiser, but I would honestly go out to the store right now and buy a jar of this one.

So now my skin feels super soft and smooth and it actually sort of glows. Not in a shiny, oily, I-need-washing-why-are-you-letting-me-be-dirty way, more of like the I-am-so-happy-right-now-thank-you-for-using-those-amazing-products-on-me way.

Like a porcelain doll! No makeup. Also, my eyes are blue, although they look green here.

And after that I realised my whole bathroom cupboard was a big mess and I hadn't done a product purge in a while, so I set to work on fixing that. And in the process, I discovered a few peculiar beauty-related habits that I have.

I started by throwing away my empty body spray/perfume bottles.

Why do I keep these, knowing full well that they're empty?

I could just go out and buy a new one, instead of letting the empty bottles clutter up my cupboard. No wonder I never have any storage space!

Once I had done that (farewell, Body Shop coconut spray and Vera Wang Preppy Princess), I hunted around for something to keep my cotton pads in. I was getting really tired of having an ugly, long plastic bag of cotton pads in my cupboard and the opening to pull them out of was too narrow anyway. Eventually I found an old Napoleon Perdis box that was the packaging for a powder puff (which now sits on top of the chest of drawers in my dressing room). It's cute, with black and white stripes on the outside and pink on the inside, small and much more aesthetically pleasing than a plastic tube-shaped bag. I also put my heart-shaped container of cotton tips into a black velvety candleholder that I bought in Copenhagen. I could have taken them out of the container first, but I wanted them to be kept clean because they will sit in the cupboard and not on the counter (Mantra for this exercise: Declutter, declutter, declutter!)

The next thing I learned about myself is that yes, I have a lot of beauty products, but I don't have many that don't get used. I don't really have anything that I don't use on a regular basis. For example:

I have two cleansers. They are both Chanel, and one is almost empty, but they are for different things. I have one for when my skin is dry (this is the almost empty one) and one for when my skin is a little more oily. This is perfectly logical to me, because cleansers are not all created equal. They are designed for different things.

I also have two toners. One is Christian Dior and I bought it super cheap in Sephora when I was in Las Vegas two years ago. Two years ago. It has lasted me that long. And the reason it has lasted so long, is because I use it as sort of a treat product. I don't use it every day. My everyday toner is Witch Hazel. I have been using it on and off since I was about fourteen, and in between I have tried Clinique (burned my skin), Chanel (amazing but really very expensive for what it is), and various ones from the Body Shop which I only used because I worked there and I had to try things. They were horrible for my delicate skin so I stopped using them. But I always come back to my good old-fashioned $6 Witch Hazel toner from the supermarket. If it ain't broke...

Moisturisers are a tricky thing. Like I mentioned, I have supersensitive skin and the two main things my face will react very severely to, are cleansers and moisturisers. I have tried lots of different moisturisers and the only brand I have found thus far that is really good for my skin, is Chanel (and now, Estée Lauder- I can't wait to buy some more). I've tried all sorts of moisturisers, and I currently own three: Two in the bathroom cupboard and one on my dresser. The one on my dresser is Chanel. It's a gel instead of a thick cream and I absolutely adore it. It will probably be my staple for the rest of my life. Then in my cupboard I have a half-used tube of Body Shop brand "Nutriganics" which smells really nice but it's not great for my skin. I don't really know why I keep it; I should probably throw it away. Maybe next purge. The other cream I have in my cupboard is a Nature's Organics one that I actually forgot I had. I pulled it out from the very back of the bottom shelf and went, "Oh. I forgot I had this." It's a nice moisturiser and I like that it's an inexpensive cruelty-free brand, but it's much too thick and heavy for my skin. I kept it in the cupboard for summertime when I inevitably come home from the beach with little sunburned spots (I always manage to miss small areas). It's some sort of sorbelene and really, who says you can't use a facial moisturiser on your body?

My current everyday cleanser and moisturiser.

Another product I have more than one of is fake tan. I have two kinds of Bondi Sands tan, one light and one dark. The dark one is my favourite of the two, but I sort of feel like I should use up the light one before I throw it away. I guess that's another one of my peculiar beauty habits- I have a hard time throwing things away before they're all used up. I have been known to carry multiple perfumes, Lip Smackers and body lotions around in my handbag and using them excessively, just to use them up and feel justified in throwing them away and buying another one. There isn't too much left in either of my tanning lotion bottles, though, so I'll just carry on using them up before I buy more (cut to me in two weeks, buying more anyway :P).

One product that I definitely do hoard is Pond's Cold Cream. I currently have three jars of this in my cupboard and two of them have never been opened. Again, I can rationalise this. I adore this product. I love everything about it: The old-fashioned packaging (this is original stuff, not the new Pond's with its flashy metallic bottles. This is the old white plastic tub with the light green lid), the smell (it reminds me of being a young ballerina and taking off my stage makeup), the cooling sensation it leaves on my skin, the way it makes me feel like a lady in the 1940s whenever I use it. And I can't find it in shops, so when I found it online for $7 per large jar, I stocked up. I bought three of them at once. I will probably buy a bunch more the next time I go to that website and stock up on beauty products. I need to hoard this product. What if they stop stocking it? What will I do then? You don't even understand how much I need my cold cream. Don't judge me.

My stash of Pond's cold cream

For a long time, I have thought that I was a really big beauty product hoarder. But after jumping on Google and seeing pictures of other people's bathrooms, with literally ten to fifteen bottles of just shampoo and conditioner in people's showers or around their bathtubs, I feel almost like a minimalist. Perhaps it's because I clean out my collection so often and try to use things up that I've had for quite a while. Products go bad, you know. I just threw away an eyelash adhesive that I have never opened because it turns out that if you don't use that stuff, it goes off. It goes all clumpy and solid and turns yellow. Ew. I also threw away some fake eyelashes today that I have never worn. I don't really know why I even bought them (I was seventeen; I don't know why I bought a few different things. Why did I wear four inches of eyeliner? I chalk it up to lack of experience). They looked like drag queen eyelashes. I am not a drag queen. Best to leave it to the professionals, I think.

Shower products: At the moment, I have one shower gel in my shower, and one in my cupboard. I have two because I don’t like running out of shower gel and having to go to the store, just to buy another one. I’m usually a very busy person, I don’t have that kind of time to waste. So I keep a backup one and that way, I never run out! I think that’s clever. I also have one jar of coconut body scrub, which I don’t use all the time. Like my Dior toner, it’s a treat product. Also, it’s not good to over-exfoliate your skin and most of my shower gels are gentle exfoliators, so on a daily basis that’s enough. Once a week is good for deep exfoliation (but I often don’t have time… So I don’t use my scrub as often as that). So I guess I don’t really hoard shower products either, although I used to. When I worked at the Body Shop, I literally bought five shower gels at once and kept them all in my cupboard, choosing a different one each day. Which was really fun, but I was living in a house with a bigger bathroom cupboard at that time, so I had space for them all. I don’t have as much space anymore. And that’s probably a good thing, because what kind of crazy person needs five different kinds of shower gel? I guess I felt like I did at the time. So for body-washing products, we have a total of three. Surely that’s not hoarding behaviour.

In terms of shampoo and conditioner, I currently have exactly two of each. I have a DeLorenzo silver shampoo, which is actually purple but it keeps my hair nice and white, just the way I like it. I love this shampoo and I always buy it because it's packed with gorgeous natural ingredients like flowers, it's vegan friendly and cruelty-free, and it's the best silver shampoo I've ever used. I also have a Tigi Bedhead volumising shampoo which I recently bought. My hair is so super-long and I don't have it layered so I'm hoping this shampoo will help give my hair lots of volume. The conditioners I have are Redken All Soft to keep my thirsty hair nice and hydrated and silky, and Organix vanilla. Because it's vanilla.

I have exactly one rinse-out hair treatment. It is a Wella Salon Professional Repair Mask that a hairdresser friend introduced me to, many years ago. It's one of the best masks I've ever used. It's starting to run out now, so I'll definitely buy another one soon. I used to always buy the Macadamia Oil hair mask and I'll probably start buying that again also. I love hair treatments and my hair definitely appreciates it when I use them. But yeah, I definitely don't hoard as many hair products as some girls!

I currently have two facial masks and, as with my cleansers, they both serve different skin conditions. One is a breakout-soothing peppermint and coconut mask, for those times when I have an angry red flare-up on my fragile little face and the other is a deep-cleansing pore exfoliator for blackheads and pimples and general muck-removing. I think that's pretty rational.

My next collection is body sprays/mists/perfumes/deodorants. In terms of general, everyday deodorants I have only one. It is a Nivea roll-on, anti-white marks, garden variety deodorant. It works really well and it usually lives in whichever day bag I'm living out of at the time (gym bag, handbag, it travels between the two). But then we come to my collection of fragrances. This, I will admit, I am guilty of hoarding. But they're different smells! That makes sense, right? Sure. But what doesn't make sense, is why I pulled an empty can of Impulse "Tease" out from the back of my cupboard. Why? Why do I do this?

My gigantic fragrance collection is too big and vast to go into detail with, but I might put up some photos later if anyone wants to see just how many different kinds I have. It’s a collection, okay, it’s not hoarding. And I will continue to tell myself that.


In terms of miscellaneous things, I have one toothbrush, one tube of toothpaste (which reminds me, I need to get some more of that soon, I’m running out), two hairbrushes (one flat brush and one round brush- Hairbrushes do different things, okay! I need two different kinds), two combs (one lives in my handbag and goes mostly everywhere with me and the other lives in my bathroom), a fake tanning mitt, a bottle of Le Tan coconut-scented sunscreen, a green tea after sun gel, one hairdryer, one straightener, one curling iron, a tub of bobby pins (blonde), the various kinds of hair clips that came with my set of hot rollers (the hot rollers themselves live in my bedroom and I love them), one set of pink foam rollers/curlers, a jar of developer, a packet of powder bleach, half a bottle of pink acetone-free nail polish remover, a box of Epsom Salts, a leopard print hair colour mixing bowl, a good hair colour application brush, a half-used jar of Manic Panic “Virgin Snow” toner, a measuring tape (it’s best not to ask why I keep this in my bathroom), cotton tips and cotton pads (which I mentioned earlier), one packet of in-shower hair removal cream and the bladeless razor thing that comes with it. I had an old one as well but I threw that away. I am ridiculous with those things. Every time you buy a new packet, it comes with its own razor. At one point I actually had five or six of them. Whatever was wrong with me back then has clearly been fixed. Now I only have one. I also have one eyelash curler, one pair of nail scissors (which I also use to trim my hair because I’m too lazy to buy proper hair scissors and I only cut my fringe anyway), and one pair of tweezers. My hair styling tools live in one of those plastic trays that my mum bought when she was on a storage-organisation kick and my little things like the hair clips, smaller tools, etc live in a black and pink striped Juicy Couture gift box.

I am a bit of a fiend for haircare products, and this is because I have extremely long blonde hair which requires a lot of maintenance. So I do have rather a lot of products that I use on a regular basis to keep my hair soft and healthy and in good condition (nothing is worse than dry, dead hair). For the most part, I just brush my hair and use these leave-in products and avoid using heat on my hair. I only curl or straighten it when I’m working at the nightclub and I only blow-dry my hair once a week (I only wash it once a week, twice at most). This is part of the reason that my hair is so naturally long and healthy. I have the following products in my bathroom at the moment:

·         Macadamia Oil nourishing leave-in cream, which is a huge pump bottle and even though I use it all the time, it never seems to run out.

·         Brazil Nut anti-frizz smoothing curl cream, which smells incredible and also protects my hair from heat when I’m curling it.

·         GHD root lift spray, which I use after I wash my hair to create volume at the roots and also when I want to create extra volume when my hair is dry.

·         Tigi Bedhead “Ego Boost” split-end mender, which comes in an adorable hot pink and bright green pump bottle and has a funny name, which always appeals to me.

                             

Even that doesn’t sound like too much to me. Four products is pretty streamlined, I think, especially considering that my hair is as long as it is and requires as much attention as it does. I also have one can of hair lacquer (which is a really old fashioned kind of hairspray, if you’re wondering) which lives in my dressing room.

I used to be a really big hoarder of body lotions. I could never get enough of creams and lotions and yummy-smelling things. When I worked at the Body Shop I always had hundreds of little sample pots of various things, but the main one was body lotion. I have also received many different body lotions as gifts over the years and I’ve always had a hard time finishing them. Perhaps that is because I have become so busy and my schedule has become so hectic that I have less time, I don’t know. But I have slowly worked my way through the mass and last week I gave my almost-full tub of mango body butter to one of my girl friends because I can’t use it without thinking of the guy who bought it for me (not fun) and over time I have managed to whittle my collection down to the following products:

·         Body Shop strawberry body butter (almost all gone, sadly)

·         Body Shop coconut body butter (which I use so sparingly that I’ve had it since last April/May and still have most of it left. It’s my favourite)

·         Body Shop coconut shimmer lotion (same principle- I use it sparingly and still have most of it left)

·         An almost-empty jar of marshmallow flavoured “Baby Doll” body soufflé that one of my best girl friends gave me for Christmas almost two years ago and it has a gorgeous pin-up on the lid and it’s generally lovely. I have moved this into my day bag so I can force myself to apply body lotion more regularly.

Another thing I love is samples. I can’t help it, I just love them. I love to collect small products to try at home before I commit to the whole bottle. Space in my bathroom is highly limited and I don’t like to have too much clutter (which is funny, considering how much stuff I actually do use). However, I feel the need to clarify that I am not a serial sampler (Serial Sampler: A person who goes store to store, collecting samples and never buying anything). All of the samples that I collect are done so while I’m making a purchase of something else. I mentioned before that I just used my samples of the Estée Lauder moisturiser and Dr. Brandt dark circle corrector (which was nice but I won’t be spending $82 on the whole product). I also just threw away the remainder of my Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat highlighter because it was getting a little bit old. Whilst hunting through one of my makeup bags I also found tiny little perfume samples of Dior Hypnotic Poison, Chanel Eau Premiere, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb and YSL Parisienne. I also have a sample of a Chanel eye gel which I got when I was last at a Chanel counter, buying my moisturiser. It’s really lovely and gentle and I am considering buying a full-size one. I also have a sample of Chanteille cleansing milk which I am excited to try because it’s vegan, cruelty-free and full of pretty natural ingredients. I love that Mecca Cosmetica send you samples when you buy things from them online, I think that’s a really lovely touch. Why should you miss out on samples just because you didn’t purchase your products in a store? What a great way to build brand loyalty.

So that’s pretty much most of my beauty product collection, as well as a sort of confessional about my peculiar beauty habits. I hope you found this interesting! Stay tuned for Part Two: Makeup.



xoxo