Thursday 31 October 2013

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

Tuesday 29 October 2013

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

Wednesday 2 October 2013

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?