Nordstrom Haul!

Hi guys! I am back with a little Nordstrom haul to share. :)


Recently I discovered that Nordstrom's online site ships to Australia. They don't ship everything, unfortunately, but they do ship a lot of major beauty brands and the prices are much more affordable than what we pay in Australia. The difference in price of a Dior mascara in America and in Australia is absolutely crazy, so I got to shopping and yesterday a little brown box arrived on my doorstep.

The only thing I don't like about buying from overseas is the shipping costs. I paid rather a lot of money to have my products shipped here; and while I understand that it is a long distance for postage, I do wish it was slightly more affordable, because I would have bought a heap more stuff.

But enough of that, on with the haul!


I started out with about 20 items in my cart, and edited down from there (which, for me, means shifting things from Cart to Wishlist, hehe). I ended up with four products, all of which I am super excited about.

eeeeeep!

 

 

So, from left to right: Christian Dior, Diorshow "New Look" mascara in 090 Black. Yves Saint Laurent Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils "Shocking" felt-tip eyeliner in Black. Yves Saint Laurent Rebel Nudes Glossy Stain in 110 Reckless Pink. Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte lipstick in 7 Lingerie Pink.

 

 

I cannot even tell you guys how long I have waited for some of these products. It is ridiculous. The YSL eyeliner and Rebel Nude glossy stain are new to me and were slightly impulse purchases, but I have a story about both the Dior mascara and the YSL lipstick.

 

So, a pretty long time ago, I went to the Dior counter in Myer in search of a new mascara; and I was pretty much set on the Diorshow New Look. I am an enormous fan of the 1947 Dior New Look collections and pretty much anything Christian Dior and anything vintage, so I was excited about this mascara. But when I asked the lady at the counter, she pretty much did whatever she could to talk me out of it and talk me into a different mascara (the silver tube kind? I forget what it's called now). So I bought the one she recommended, but I never forgot about the New Look one. I generally don't get talked out of or into products anymore because as I've gotten older, I've gotten more sure of myself and assertive, but in this instance I was shopping with my mum and I didn't want to make trouble, I guess. So when I saw this mascara on the Nordstrom website for really affordable, I had to pick it up and I am so happy that I did. One of the things I love about online shopping is that you don't have to deal with sales associates who try to talk you out of things or into other things. Lol!

 

My story with the YSL Rouge Volupte in 7 actually takes place at the same counter, with the same sales associate, but much later on. I had seen the colour in one of Elle Fowler's videos and I really, really wanted it. I checked the YSL website and saw it there, so I went in to Myer and asked for the colour 7, Lingerie Pink. The sales associate pretty much just stared at me for a moment and told me that there was no such colour. It doesn't exist, she was telling me. And when I told her that I had seen it with my own eyes, she wasn't having it. She was convinced that there has never been a #7. When I was back home in Melbourne about a month ago (stay tuned for my Melbourne haul, it is coming!), I asked a sales associate at another YSL counter if she had ever heard of it, and she told me she had, but that it was very difficult to buy. So while I was on the Nordstrom site, I thought I would have a look and, sure enough, there it was: #7, Lingerie Pink. So I think out of all the products I bought, this lipstick is the one I am most proud to have purchased.

 

Diorshow New Look, YSL Rebel Nudes Glossy Stain, Rouge Volupte 7, Shocking Faux Cils eyeliner.

So those are the products that I picked up from the Nordstrom website, I hope you enjoyed this post. Keep checking back to see my long-overdue Melbourne haul as well as some collective hauls I have planned, an updated skincare routine and some more bits and bobs!

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

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

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?