Woohoo I love the mail :D

Although she isn't posting anymore, I wanted to thank Amalia from Dear Makeup Diary for the package she sent with items from her blog sale. It was wonderfully packed & nothing came damaged, like we were worried about!
When I came home from work, mum forgot to give it to me straight away so we were sitting outside having a few drinks when she brought it out. I pretty much screamed & ripped it open straight away :P

Everything (minus one) with a heap of samples. yay! look at that mini TFSI, isn't it cute??!

Stila Palettes, left one is Barbie<3 Stila which includes kitten (yay!) & the one on the right is Italian Ices

L/S.. Mac Crosswires, Hue, Inglot 148, Elizabeth Arden Pink Punch

UD Midnight Cowboy lip liner... forgot to include in main pic

& Finally, the naked palette! At last :) oh & d.w about the mirror, Amalia had told me about it so it didn't come cracked!

so a big thanks to Amalia for everything!
Pleaase note, I don't want you to think that I am bragging, I am simply sharing pics of my new goodies :D
Oh & if you are interested,my nail polish is Australis Paint The Town Buns of Steel (silvery blue) with O.P.I Black shatter over the top.

Giveaway @ FACE:PAINT

woohoo so you have 2x the chances to win something..

1st prize includes Sigma + E.L.F brushes amongst other things
& the 2nd prize is a Sigma Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki Brush! Click *here* to enter!
Closes July 28

Heather Does Makeup: Topshop Giveaway

The gorgeous & talented Heather is holding a small giveaway which includes 2x Topshop products. I have heard great things about this brand so I'm excited for the chance to win!
enter here

Closes July 29

Engagement Party Makeup: Glittery Gold & Black

So, the engagement party is all over, which I'm kinda sad but happy about it, mainly because it was so fun to do all the decorations (which took only 2 days haha- 1 hour to clean the majority up with about 10 people) but now the stress is over! Time to relax, even though it was a great night. The shed had never ever been that decorated before and without my future M.I.L and her friends' help it wouldn't have happened. Anyhoo...

I got my hair curled that afternoon, and when it came to my makeup I didn't really have anything planned! But I knew I wanted it to stand out, so I went for gold glitter as you will see in the pics.

Damn lashes in the 2nd pic, sorry!!

Before getting changed- I took too many damn photos to choose from. some with eyes only, some before changed then heaps after changed. lol

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My hair from the back- taken earlier on in the day

 Face- MAC Strobe Cream (after primer).
Nude by Natural Mineral Makeup. I used this coz I knew there would be lots of photos so I didn't want anything with SPF. However, the flash on my camera made everybody look really pale :@
Nars Orgasm blush- Just a hint for a nice glow

Eyes- TFSI
Slate JEP on outer corner & lower lashline only.
Bronze on most of the lid with black overlapping on the outer corner + lower lash line.
Skin colour blended into crease
Pixie Epoxy patted over bronze. Nyx Gold Glitter over that & a tiny bit used on the inner lash line.
Nyx Pearl Pigment in Nude for inner corner.
Cheap lashes from ebay- Cut in half. Criss-Cross on outer half and normal half ones just overlapping them, going in a bit more.

Lips- Nyx Rose l/l
Nyx Fig L/S

~More Pics~

In my dress- bought from Phuket. Cardi from Target. Earrings from Diva

With the DF(dear fiance) at the party (lipstick worn off, had no time to reapply!)

Tables not set up but you can see the gist of the decorations

Gift Table with a photo board we had only made earlier that day! Was a last minute decision, we got the photos copied/ printed the night before & picked them up that day.

How we decorated the driveway. These were tea lights in paper bags that were filled with sand. We weren't going to do these because the weather had been horrible the past few days, but was great that night (except it was freezing!) I am so glad that we did though because it looked really good in real life.

With some friends :)

A bit later on with the music up doing "The Creep" loll

 So yeah that's basically it, we had a great night with family & friends with plenty of food & wine :)

Thanks for looking!! <3

My Hair routine

Hey bloggers :) I’ve been busy busy this past week, planning our engagement party & decorating, so I haven’t had too much time to spare although I wanted to share my hair routine, just coz I have been growing out my hair ever since I got it cut shoulder length, lol. I even bought extensions but haven’t worn them much… =/

As you can see i didn't properly style my hair, I just blow dried the majority of it with my fingers :)

To wash- (also see here for hair washing tips)

I use a Tresemme Colour Protector conditioner & a Pantene colour therapy conditioner (my aunty gave me heaps so I haven’t bought any & wont need to in ages!)

I leave the conditioner in for a bout 2 minutes with a hair clip while I wash my face etc. Massage in while I’m rinsing it out. I pretty much always rinse with cold water (yep, even in winter!) after to close the hair cuticles which makes your hair shinier.

I pat/ squeeze with towel (my hair holds alottt of water so I have to squeeze for ages). After that I apply Wella Bio Touch Colour Protection conditioning spray to damp hair & brush with a comb (use combs only for wet hair!!)This makes my hair sooo soft!
I apply Moroccan oil mainly to the ends & some on top to stop frizz. You can stop there if you prefer to air dry, but my hair takes a day and a half to do that properly lol.

When I blow dry it I use a Tresemme heat protectant all over my hair. I blow dry on the 2nd warm hair setting with my hair dryer. If I don't want to style my hair I just use my fingers. Otherwise I will add some product in (whatever look I wanna achieve)

If styling with blow dryer I put my hair into sections & spray each with heat protector. I usually use a round brush that keeps my hair sleek but not completely straight.

Anyway I hope that was helpful to someone :)
I find that the Moroccan Oil makes the biggest difference to my hair with the shine :) I try not to use heat too much & if I blow dry I only do it no more than 2x a week.
Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Sigma f80 Giveaway thanks to Being Your Own Beauty

You beauty! haha :P Kristina @ Being your own beauty is holding a giveaway to win a sigma f80 brush! She also has a review on it! To enter & see the review click here.
Closes July 31st!

My Skin Revolution. Facial peel + Then & now pics

My skin has been on (what I like to call) a journey. So I have been collecting some photos for a while now, & looking back my skin has improved soo much that now I don't feel self-conscious when I go out of the house without makeup.
The 2 factors of this transformation would be going on the BCP which took a while to take effect on my skin, & getting a facial peel which has been the BAM that my skin needed. Lol =)
Before we get to the pics I want to talk a bit about this peel.

The name of this is  2B Bio Peel. You do 4 treatments (1 a week) which can only get done every 6 months (so that's 2x 4 treatments a year, hope I'm being confusing).  I wouldn't want it anymore than that because I found it quite painful, and if you had done it too often I imagine it would be too damaging for your skin. It can also be done on your neck & decolletage if needed.
My fiance's mother has been doing my facial peel, which is $150 a session (prices will probably vary), however since she has been taking before & after pictures it has been a little gift ;)
I should mention that this peel works on different things for all ages- from acne, blackheads & scarring to pigmentation, wrinkles & sun damage. It actually injects little needles in your skin that keeps it working after the stuff has been taken off.

Anyway- before they apply the compound (while it is heating up) they will cleanse & prep your skin. & when the compound is applied they very gently rub it all over the skin (avoiding the eye area which is protected by Vaseline as well as the nostrils & mouth.) It stays on your skin for a few minutes depending on how sensitive your skin is & then it is wiped off. It doesn't take long for my skin to start tingling & slightly burn in some areas. Nothing is worse than when it gets itchy, though :P The pain is bearable & goes away after it is taken off. Although your face will feel prickly for sometime after. After that a mask is applied that soothes & cools down the skin, and that stays on for about 10-15 minutes. In this time you sleep :P
Once that is all done it takes about 40 mins from prep to end. It is important to wear sunscreen if you will be in the sun for as soon as it is over until the next 3-4 days. Also in that time your skin should peel (I found this wasn't too bad, it wasn't coming off in chunks or anything) & you know that it is working.
*phew- if you read all that, pat yourself on the back*

So now I am 3 weeks into part 2 of my facial & I wanted to share this in photos =)

Warning- Pic Heavy. You may not want to look too closely if pimples skeeve you out. You can also click on any pics to enlarge them. Apologies for the different sizing of the pics!



Before  -All around the start/ middle of 2010

No makeup. Scarring, active pimples, quite red, blackheads that are hard to see.

With makeup on- you can see the bumps.

Ignore the bad makeup!! You can clearly see how horrible my skin is here, and the unevenness of the texture.

First Session Ever Of Peel -middle of November 2010

Pic on left is taken straight after first peel. Angry skin! Pic on left is from the week after ( I think)

So I didn't really get too many pictures from the first 4 weeks, or if I did I am not sure which ones are from where, lol, but you can see my skin is bad. The redness after each peel after this photo slowly gets better, & only lasts for about 1 hour. My skin gets quite itchy so I actually scratch it off, rather then let it peel =/
I also want to add that during the 1st few weeks of getting the peel done, some pimples may pop up because the peel is speeding up the process. So it may look like it's getting worse before it gets better.

Then & Now

 Chin- Top pic is just before the peel. Bottom pic is now. Scars have faded heaps

 Forehead- Just look how much more smoother it is now! ^.^

Right Cheek- you can just see the difference. 1st is before peels, 2nd is the 2nd week of part 2, & last pic is now (which is only 2 weeks after the middle pic)

Left Cheek- Not as bad as the right cheek, but a huge improvement.

Straight after part 2 week 2. Definitely not as red as what it used to get to!

With & Without Makeup. Week 3

 

 I had to go into work that afternoon & I didn't want to go in with a red face. I used Nude By Nature MMU with no concealer underneath. You can see in the 2nd pic I did mostly half & you can see how amazing it covered up the redness!

 Makeup complete- Hard to tell that my skin was flaming red! I also applied Aloe Vera after sun gel to my face to help soothe it before applying the primer.

Lastly- Now. No makeup

The lighting in the first pic makes it hard to see the little amount of scars I still have.

Comparison

 mmm well I can honestly say, my skin has come along way!! No guarantees that it will stay perfect, but If I stick to my cleansing routine (which has also changed drastically since the beginning of time :P) & regular aspirin masks, I hope it goes well! I also still have one more session to go, usually I do them consecutively but due to being busy last week I couldn't.

Random- Yoghurt Face! LOL :P

 Anyway, that's my somewhat personal skin journey. Thanks if you got through all of that!! Please let me know if you have any questions & I will try to answer them!