The ABCs of BB and CC Creams

Are you confused with the recent influx of double-alpha base makeup this year?
It was BB creams making waves last year that gave way to even more offerings this year and just as you’ve only gotten your head around the new product, the beauty market moves onto the CC cream craze.

Before we go into the actual products, let’s do a recap first.

• BB Cream fondly known as beauty balms or blemish balms has a primary function as a makeup base that provides flawless natural coverage with skincare benefits. 
• It’s generally multi-purpose acting as a all-in-one primer, concealer and medium coverage foundation product to provide a natural and flaw finish to skin
• BB creams generally have a gel-like texture and have a dry to touch finish. 
• On top of being a moisturiser, it has additional skincare benefits depending on variety (whitening, healing, anti-ageing)
• It has UV protection often means you don't need a separate sun block. 

Then what is a CC cream?
Being the new cream of the crop, a CC cream is a colour correcting cream and similar to a BB cream being primarily a makeup product but packed with additional skincare benefits like vitamin C and E that focuses on improving skin clarity and tone. CC creams normally contain colour pigment that specially correct redness, pigmentation and broken capillaries as well as higher concentration of skincare

Today I’ll look at a few a bunch of BB creams and one of the CC cream released this year. Let’s start with the latest BB cream offerings.

Clarins Skin Perfecting BB Cream - RRP A$50 45ml 
Texture:  light weight cream with floral scent very easy to blend
Finish: semi matte finish and contains optical pigment to created radiant (not shiny) skin.
Coverage: medium buildable coverage that is long lasting
Benefits: broad spectrum SPF 25 mineral sunscreen so don’t need a separate sunscreen when used alone. and contains kiwi extract for anti-oxidants, katafray and hyaluronic acid to restore the skin’s moisture level and improve its softness.
Colour matching: available in 3 shades (light, medium, warm) I tried the medium one which was slightly too dark and I notice that it is more suited for those with red/beige undertones than those with yellow undertone – great to achieve a tanned look in summer for me. I'll be going for the light shade next time.
Best for: anyone looking for a multi tasking base that is moisturising and those with oily skin.
Clarins is available in Clarins counters in Myer, David Jones and online at Adore beauty. 

Face of Australia BB Cream (6 in 1) - RRP A$8.95 50ml
Texture: creamy with a light citrus scent blends without too much effort.
This is more of a tinted moisturiser in texture than what I’m accustomed to in BB, work quite or it will dry up and become gritty during blending. It is also prone to balling up when layered with other skincare or makeup powders.
Finish: natural finish with a healthy glow on skin
Coverage: quite sheer, providing a healthy tint to skin to even out light imperfection and sallowness to enhance your natural complexion.
Benefits: very hydrating, helping to soothe fine lines and protect skin from irritations with aloe vera, vitamin C, green tea and chamomile extract.
Colour matching: available in 2 shades (light/medium, medium/dark) - the light/medium one I tried matches well with beige/neutral skin undertones.
Best for: those with dry skin or those with fine lines as it very hydrating and will fill those lines without settling and those with relatively good skin as it doesn’t provide adequate coverage on its own. You may need more UV protection as it only contain UV filters not enough to achieve an SPF rating.
Face of Australia is available in Priceline, Big W, Kmart and online at Fashion Addict. 

Natio Pure Mineral Skin Perfecting BB Cream SPF15 - RRP A$14.95 50g
Texture: light gel lotion. Takes some time to blend in but worth the effort lightly aromatherapy scented with lavender and ylang ylang.
Finish: provides a natural dry-touch finish with a light glow.
Coverage: light to buildable medium coverage.
Benefits: one of the more lasting hydrating BB creams in this selection with vitamin E, jojoba oil and shea butter. Really effective with soothing redness or blemish marks
Colour matching: available in 3 shades (fair, medium, tan) – I used the fair one and although lighter than my skin colour, it matches quite well once blended in, especially when warmed up with some bronzer on top.
Best for: looking for a light hydrating base that addresses conditions like redness and rosacea.
Natio is available in Myer, David Jones, leading pharmacies and online. 

Garnier BB Cream Miracle Skin Perfector for sensitive skin - RRP A$13.95 50ml
Texture: is a fluid cream that is quite creamy and takes some time to blend and absorb into skin. This is a fragrance free offering to avoid irritating sensitive skin. Unfortunately, this BB cream easily balls up when mixed with other skincare (layered underneath) or foundation (for extra coverage).
Finish: a soft dewy finish with a light glow.
Coverage: quite sheer and is a bit streaky so might need other products over it to provide adequate coverage.
Benefits: with SPF 15, it does a decent job of reducing redness in skin and allows skin to breathe with its light sheer coverage. On oily skin types, it can look greasy within a few hours.
Colour matching: available in 2 shades, light and medium. Both are beige undertone so are more suited to those with pink/cool undertones.
Best for: those looking for good hydration and covering redness on good skin days.
Garnier is available in supermarkets, Priceline, Big W, Kmart and leading pharmacies. 

Clinque Moisture Surge CC Cream - RRP A$45 40ml
Texture: an unscented light gel fluid, it takes some effort to blend.
Finish: provides a natural dry-touch finish with healthy glow.
Coverage: medium finish but on my oily skin, it doesn’t last. About four hours later, my face seems to just eat up the product and I look like I’ve not used any product other than a sheer tinted moisturiser. Setting the product with powder stretches its lasting powder by a couple more hours.
Benefits: with SPF30, this CC cream contains lavender tinted micro beads to help correct sallowness  that instantly brightens up skin and full of hydrating ingredients that includes hyaluronic acid, aloe and trehalose to keep skin supple all day long.
Colour matching: available in 4 shades (very light, light, light/medium, medium/deep). I’m using light and it matches well with my skin tone
Best for: dryer skin types who are wants a light radiant glow.
Clinique is on counters in Myer, David Jones and online. 

I love Natio and Clarins BB creams for meeting all the criteria of a multi-purpose makeup/skincare product, Clinique is nice but seems to not last on oily skin and I suspect those with dryer skin would see more longevity when using it whilst Garnier and FOA were too sheer for my liking but is great for the no make up look for anyone with good skin that just need evening out of skin tones.

Overall thoughts 
Whilst I haven’t tried too many CC creams yet (next on my list is the L'oreal Nude Magique CC cream), I can’t say I see enough differences between CC and BB creams to think that they should be categorised separately. The current CC creams just seems to provide that little bit more coverage than the offerings of BB creams available (excluding the Asian BB creams which gives great medium coverage)  and contains optical pigments to improve the appearance of skintone.

What do you think of BB and CC creams? Have you tried one you like?

Budget Friendly Everyday Minimalist Look

It's been a long time since I have done a look post -  so I thought I'd share with you my typical makeup style these days - the minimalist look. There's not a plethora of products to layer over, just a slick of foundation to even out my skintone, blush and lipstick for some colour, defined brows, mascara on curled lashes over lined and lightly shaded eyes to widen it up and away I go.

For an everyday look, I don't think you need to spend a small fortune (and some of us don't have the disposal income to do so) so I've decided to showcase how to achieve with basic products that are budget friendly and costs less than $20 per item.

Everyday Minimalist Look
First up, the products I used are below:

Face
Rimmel London Match Perfection in shade #102 Light Nude A$17.95*
Face of Australia loose translucent powder A$11.95
BYS Blush Trio in On the Bright Side A$6.95* (reviewed here)

Eyes 
Canmake four shiny eyes eyeshadow palette in #3 Milk Chocolate (bought online for approx A$13 when our currency was above parity)
Face of Australia Impact Curl mascara A$11.95*
Maybelline Master Precise liquid liner in black A$13.95
Daiso Eyebrow pencil in Dark Brown A$2.80

Lips
Rimmel London Kate Moss lipstick in shade #103 A$11.95

All up, the cosmetics will set you back just over A$90 at full price or cheaper if you can pick up some of the items during sale periods (eg. Priceline currently have 50% off Maybelline products).

Minimalist look

As you can see, that's almost a complete essentials set of  makeup products. The only thing that is missing from this essentials kit is a good concealer which is handy if needing to cover blemishes or dark circles (I've yet to find a good one at a budget price so have not featured it here).

How to achieve the look:

1. Dot foundation of moisturised skin and use brush or fingers to blend product into skin (I always use a synthetic flat top brush to do the job). 
2. Apply one, two or all three shades in the blush duo in a "C" shape from the temples down to cheeks and blend with a makeup brush to achieve a natural flushed look. 
3. Set face makeup with loose powder using a fluffy powder brush (I set  my makeup after blush to lock in the colour for longer as well as helping to blend out any harsh lines)
4. Define the brow with this brow pencil by drawing light quick strokes to fill in sparse brows. Use a brow comb on the other end of the Daiso pencil to soften any harsh edges (a cotton tip is also handy to lighten overly draw brows). 
5. 2. layer on the mid colour from eyeshadow palette onto lids with a flat eyeshadow brush or sponge applicator. 
6. Use a crease brush to apply the deepest shade shadow in the palette 1/4 from the outer corner of eyes and then blend the edges to soften the look (sponge applicators won't work here to give that smooth look).  
7. Line eye with this precision eye liner with sharp tips that give fine defined lines that only liquid liners can provide. 
8. Curl lashes and then apply a coat or two of Impact Curl Macara. 
9. Apply lipstick onto lips directly from tube (or if you want well defined lips, use a lip brush), blot with tissue and reapply to make the colour more lasting. 

So you can see, the eye are only slightly enhanced as I've blended away aot of the colour, the cheeks are lightly flushed and lips are just natural pink shade. I usually carry this look to work as it's easy to put on in the mornings and easy to co-ordinate with any outfit without too much thought involved.

These items are products that I actually use regularly, if not everyday basis and just to create this look either as they are good value, and provide great quality. If you don't mind the non-fancy packing, the smaller selection of colours/shades, then you don't need to spend a fortune to look good.

All the products (except Canmake eyeshadow which is an Japanese cosmetic brand and only available online) can be picked up at accessible stores such as Priceline, Big-W, K-Mart or your local pharmacy.

What look do you wear everyday and how much does the products you use to create the look cost?

Products marked * were provided for editorial consideration. The rest were purchased by yours truly. 

Nailing It: Face of Australia Barbados Collection

I haven't been as excited about a nail collection as I have the collection you are about to see. Not least because the shades are beautiful, bright and fun, but the ladies in the MBBE group including yours truly had a hand (and plenty of nails) in helping to select these shades to feature in the collection.

Barbadoes are a set of micronised glitter packed nail colours that just makes your names shimmer and shine in all types of light so your digits are always the centre of attention. Inspired by the island party atmosphere in tropical Barbados, the shades are playful and fun and come with clever names (some of which are chosen by our beautiful Jacie).

Without further ado, let me introduce the shades to you.

Features & Benefits

• Advanced formula that dries in 60seconds (touch dry)
• Stunning shimmery pearl finish
• Long wearing, chip resistant
• T-Free: Toluene-free, Formaldehyde-free and Dibutyl Phthalate-free

Lets Go Scuba Diving 

A bright shimmery teal green shade that reminds me of mermaids in the sea. 

Calyso Gold 

A light champange gold with gold shimmer that is perfect for any celebration

Another Daiquiri Please

A vibrant watermelon pink that just sparkles with pink shimmers. This is by far my favourite shade of the whole collection

I Like to Mauve It

A stunning pinky-mauve shade with silver microshimmty that is both warm & cool and looks great on any fingers. This is another firm favourite.

Orange You Glad You Came

A deep neon orange shade with glittering gold shimmer. It will grab all the attention when paired with the black or dark coloured clothing.  

Bright Light, Pink City

Barbie will be proud with this cool toned bright jelly pink with golden micro-shimmer shade. Also on my highly recommended list.

You Blew Me Away

A Sky blue with silver shimmer that just brightens up my day any day of the week. If you love blue then you need this shade.

Party at the Gap

A steely grey with silver and blue micro-shimmer. This is the perfect statement nail shade for the cooler autumn weather. Really, it's a must-have shade.

I'm mighty impressed with the pearlised finish and the long wear of the polish. The high shine fine shimmer means that the nails polish goes on smoothly and is very easy to apply and I can go 2 days without tip fade (3 coats). With a top coat, I can almost get a whole week of wear before it needs to be taken off . The only shade I had some trouble with application was Calyso Gold as it's the lightest shade, 3 coats were needed to get a even streakfree finish (all the other shades except Another Daiquiri Please & Bright Lights, Pink City are 2 coats in the swatches).

RRP A$4.95 at selected Priceline, Kmart, Big-W and selected pharmacies now (I'm told that these will be in store late next week, so mark your calendars). This is a limited edition and I would definitely not want to miss the versatile shades in the collection if I were you (and that's before my biasness for this collection starts to insist that you go and get all the shades!). 
This featured collection was provided for consideration.

Face Of Australia Mineral Therapy Illuminators

What products do you use to make your skin glow -  not in the messy glittery way but with a pretty and dewy radiance?

My picks are liquid illuminators as they are easy to work with and can be layered onto skin for different levels of intensity. The recent release of a set of new illuminators has won me over and let me tell you they are fast becoming my hottest summer makeup must-have items.

Face of Australia Mineral Therapy Mineral Illuminators

Description
Mineral based liquids with light-reflecting colours. Its formula contains Jojoba, Vitamin C & E and is suitable for sensitive skin and all areas of the face and body.

• These come in massive 50ml tubes, more than enough to last for years if you are only doting small amounts on your face so why not use it on your body as well – highlight those collar bones , shoulders and arms yours during a night out.
• I have 2 shades from the goodie bag received at last years MBBE event. Angel Mist is a mico-shimmery silver white liquid illuminator while Angel Blush is a micro-shimmery with bronze pigment . I found that Angel mist was more watery/runny than Angle blush but it makes it easier to work and blend with. Angel Blush was just as easy to blend despite being a slightly thicker consistency.
• The other two shades in the range is Angel flame (a peachy golden sheen) and angel Glow (a deep bronze) which I don’t have yet but I have full intentions to add to my collection and I can see Angel glow would be perfect for creating the sculpt look for cheekbones.

• I love angel mist above my cheeks and on my brow bones and brigdge of my nose – the glowy dewy look. Angel Blush gives me just the right amount of colour for a healthy sun-kissed look – perfect for faking my healthy glow since I stay away from the sun and don’t have the perfect complexion. 
• In terms of consistency, I think these are comparable to Benefit’s Moonbeam and Highbeam after running to my mini vials from the Valley of Stars kit to do a quick check. 
• Colour wise, Benefit illuminators are quite different as both have an iridescent sheen to them. The price difference between the two ($48 for 13ml vs $14.95 for 50ml) makes it easy to choose Face of Australia as an everyday product to use of if you are just trying out using liquid illuminators and save Benefit’s for special occasion only.

FOA Mineral Therapy Illuminators- R: heavy swatch; L: blended swatch

Here are somes more ways that you can use these coloured illuminators:

1. As a highlighter on brow bones, above your cheek bones using Angel Mist and Angel Blush
2. On the bridge of your nose to lift the nose and above your cupids bow on your lips to accentuate your pouts using Angel Mist
3. On your collarbones to show off that great bone structure of yours using Angel Mist
4. As a liquid bronzer for defined sculpt looks using Angel Glow
5. As a liquid blush using Angle blush and Angle Flame.
6. As an eye shadow or a base base for shimmery looking eyes. Angel Mist is particularly good for the inner eye corners for that bright eye look.

Which is your favourite illuminators? Mine is Angel Blush and Angel Flame.

RRP A$14.95 available now for a limited time at Priceline, Big W, Kmart, Independent Pharmacies and Fashion Addict online.
This product was provided at the MBBE event.

Review: Face Of Australia Gentle Makeup Remover

I’m a big fan of dual-phase makeup cleansers whether they be oil-based or otherwise. They just get the job done more effectively with a lot more products get wiped away in one go, thus saving time and causing less irritation on skin by having to go over the area fewer times.

Now I have my favourites but am always looking for a budget friendly alternatives as I can go through an entire bottle in mere weeks given I wear makeup almost every day (barring the Sunday bare face look when I’m lounging at home).

I’ve been using the Face Of Australia one for the past month and this is how it stacks up against my HG makeup remover.

Face Of Australia Gentle Make Up Remover

• This oil-free dual phase formula needs you have to shake the bottle to emulsify 2 different density of liquids to activate it before using. It does look in the bottle to contain oil based ingredients but I checked the ingredients listing and there are none to be found.
• Formulated to be the pH of tears , fragrance free and contains cornflower extract to sooth and reduce redness in eyes, this does not sting or irritate my eyes at all – very important feature as this is the area that I am removing most of the make up from. 
• Tip: I soak a cotton pad with the product, press and hold it against my eyes for 10 seconds before sliding it across the eyes to easily remove the makeup
• Over 85% of product is remove in the first wipe and this was tested against waterproof mascaras and hard-to-budge smudge-proof liquid eye liners. Another wipe across the eye area with the same cotton pad and the remaining product is usually removed. Long wear foundations are easily removed with this.  Whilst this isn’t a one cotton swipe job, I've found no product rarely is (except my HG Lancome Bi-Facil).
• It also does a great job of dissolving eye lash glue to make removal of false lashes a breeze.
• Does not leave face feeling dry or tight and followed up with a facial cleanser for a double cleanser to ensure any remaining traces of residue are washed off and skin is properly cleaned

Face Of Australia Gentle Makeup Remover ingredients

How well does it stacks up to Lancome's Bi-Facil?

Face of Australia is a great budget cleanser that stand up well against the higher end names like my favourite Bi-Facil. Although it doesn’t beat it in terms of swiping makeup off in one go, it comes close and is a fraction of the cost. This remover definitely have a place in my bathroom cupboard and I'll be picking up a new bottle when I run out. 

What makeup removers do you currently use?

RRP A$8.95 at Priceline, Kmart and selected Pharmacies.
This product was provided for consideration.

Look of the Day: Cabaret Girl

Over the weekend, I attended a costume party for a girlfriend's 30th birthday and went as a Cabaret Girl for the evening. The costume itself took relatively little time to put together as I was lucky enough to have various pieces of clothing that went together to give the sexy show girl look (thank you Celina for the satin gloves) and all I had to do on the evening was concentrate on my hair and makeup.

The Hair 
For the hair I decided on soft curls. My straight hair was prepped with heat protectant Moroccan Oil's latest Curl Control Cream to give it a bit more texture and so that the curls would last when used with VS Sasson's Magic Curl styling wand.

Hair was sectioned in 6 parts - bottom, mid and top layers and left and right of each layer. I then put the VS Magic curl stying wand to work at the highest temperature setting for maximum hold and created medium size ringlets by twirling the hair around the wand.

Working from my way up from the bottom layers, I proceeded to curl the hair below the ear length to ensure they didn't become too puffy at the top. When all the hair is curled and brushed into place, copious amounts of hair spray was used to keep the fly aways and curls in check for the night.

Hair Products Used
Frizz-Ease Heat Defeat Protective Styling Spray
Moroccan Oil Curl Control Cream*
Schwarzkopf Strong Styling Hairspray

Moroccan Oil curl control cream is designed to give defined curls for those with curly and wavy hair, add shine, volume and control. It did an amazing job with helping to hold the curls in my normally (permanently) straightened hair throughout the night and the whole of next day, it even survived being slept on - now that's impressive!

The Makeup
I went for a heavier coverage base for a flawless look to allow me to emphasise the eyes and lips. Thick false lashes and firey red lips helped to sex up look whilst keep keeping the rest of my face fairly simple and neutral.

Face 
Dermablends Cover Creme in Chroma 2.13 Natural Beige
Bobbi Brown Concealer in Warm Beige
Milani Minerals Blush #203 Mai-Tai
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Rose
MAC wedge eye shadow as contour powder
Kryolan Anti-Shine powder
NYX loose powder #07 transparent medium

Eyes 
Face of Australia Oppulent Eyes in Endless Nights*
3 trees false lashes #6 design 
ColourSoft eye lash glue
Kiss Me Heroine Smooth Liquid eye liner

Lips 
Illamasqua Box *(layered underneath)
Rimmel London 230 Red Fever applied with a lip liner for precise definitions.

• Moroccan Oil Curl Control cream A$44.50 is available at all good hair salons
• Dermablend Cover Creme A$49.95 is high pigment waterproof makeup and is available at selected Priceline and Pharmacies.
• Kiss Me Heroine Smooth liquid liner is an amazing Japanese smudgeproof eye liner that can be purchased from Sasa.com
• Milani is a US drugstore brand and can be purchased from CherryCulture.com

Products marked * were provided for consideration

Molten Metallics Nail Enamels by Face of Australia

The latest limited edition range from Face of Australia is the highly anticipated Molten Metallics nail enamels.

The range has 8 colours - 4 of them run with a metallic chrome finish whilst the other 4 run in metallic-fine shimmer finish. The names are beautiful and describe the shade perfectly so you don't have to go guessing the colours.

 I was lucky enough to receive the collection last Friday and because they're that good, I've decided to swatch and post pictures on them immediately so you lovely readers can check out the shades and my thoughts on it before it is out in the market in early May.

Metallic Shimmer Finishes

Iron Ore - a granite black shade with silver/blue micro shimmer that shows up under the sun and lights.

Iron Ore: 2 coats - indoor white light

Titanium - a beautiful liquidified silver with with a micro shimmer finish.

Titanium: 2 coats - indoor white light

Gold - a true gold shade with flecks of gold micro shimmer that amplifies its beauty even more.

Gold: 2  coats - indoor white light

Bronze - a metallic shimmer orange copper bronze.

Bronze: 2 coats - indoor white light

Chrome Finishes
White Gold - a  moody metallic beige that transforms from light beige to taupe depending on the light it is viewed.

White Gold: 2 coats - indoor white light

Amethyst - a beautiful amethyst purple shade .

Amethyst: 2 coats - indoor white light

Flaming Lava - a chrome ruby red - it reminds me of Christmas decorations for some reason.

Flaming Lava: 1 coat - natural light

Verdigris - a chrome meadow green. This is one of the more unique shades and would be hard to find a dupe for elsewhere.

Verdigiris: 2 coats - indoor white light

Dazzling and beautiful, I'm partial to the micro-shimmer finishes but love all the shades in this range. The quality is on par with more mid-range lines in terms of ease of application and lasting powers.

Face of Australia continues to impress me with their quality products and any nail lacquer aficionado cannot afford to miss this range when it comes out in May. Mark this in your calendar so you don't forget!

P.S - Tine over at Beautyholics Anonymous has also swatched the collection, so head over there if you want to see more photos and swatches.

RRP A$4.95 at Priceline, K-Mart, Big W and selected pharmacies.
These products were provided for consideration.

Face of Australia Opulent Eyes Palettes

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I received from Face of Australia, the very limited edition eye shadow palette collection called Opulent Eyes. This weekend, I finally had some time to swatch and review them.

Face of Australia Opulent Eye Palettes

• Available in 4 different palettes- each contains 6 strips of baked colours to create complete looks.
• Each palette has shades starting with light colours for highlighting and bold or darker colours for shading and contouring. Except for Saphire Desire, the colours tend to run in the the same colour family.
• Saphire Desires is a kaleidoscope of rainbow colours, Rich and Famous a gold and bronze palette, Diamond and Pearls is a soft romantic pink palette and Endless Nights like a smokey silver blue palette. My Favourite is the Diamond & Pearls and the Endless Night Palette. 
• The pigmentation on each colour is amazing- super rich and vibrant, most are luminous shimmery shades with a pearlescent finish; only one brown colour from the collection is matte in finish. 

Below are the swatches of each palette. They are swatched from right to left on my arm in order of the shades going down the colours of each palette. 

Rich & Famous - NC30 skin in natural light (the brown is matte)

Endless Nights - N30 skin in natural light

Saphire Desire - NC30 skin in natural light

Diamond & Pearls - NC30 skin in natural light

My thoughts on Opulent Eyes

• Smooth and silky, these shadows applies like butter - they glide very effortlessly with either sponge applicators, fingers or brush, I didn't experience any fallout with these shadows. Blending with these was also fuss-free and the colours did not end up looking muddy like some shadows do when blended out too much. 
• They last a good 3-4 hours before fading and creasing on my oily lids. With a primer, they lasted about 7 hours. 
• These can be used wet or dry but personally I prefer them dry as I think they already give enough colour intensity. If you want to ramp it up, go for it with a wet brush. 
• My only small gripe about these palettes is that the strip design whilst very pretty, means sometimes you can accidentally pick up adjacent shades when trying dipping your brush to pick up one shade. I can also imagine them being messy if these shadows were to break or shatter as there is no pan to press it back into. 

Big colour impact and quality at such a small price. I highly recommend you pick up a palette or 2 of these. They are so pretty and you can create many looks with the one palette or mixed with other shades up from the other palettes to create countless more unique looks. Being limited edition means you need to act quick and nab them at your local stores NOW!

Which Opulent Eye palette do you fancy yourself?

RRP A$14.95 at Priceline, K-Mart, Big W and selected pharmacies now.
These items were provided for consideration.

NOTD: Face of Australia Luxe Nail Enamel in Lemon Sorbet

I've been working some crazy hours over the last couple of weeks due to taking up a new role on a very high profile project with some ridiculous time lines for delivery and is squarely in the focus of 2 CIOs (Chief Information Officers) so the pressure is definitely on!

Whilst this situation is likely to continue for the next 2 months, I really need a mid week pick me up. And what better way to do so than to paint my nails with a sunny cheery colour? lemon drops anyone?

Face of Australia Luxe Nail Enamel - Lemon Sorbet

• A pastel lemonade colour this is great summer shade, reminiscent of hot afternoons sipping iced lemon tea and downing gelati - in fact, this is why this gelato yellow is very aptly named lemon sorbet. 
• Although quite pigmented, pastel colours can be hard to apply without it looking streaky, but this one looks even and opaque within 3 coats to give a shiny glossy finish. 
• The Luxe range boast 3 in one formula for base coat, colour and top coat in one - multifunctional and time saving no?
• Luxe is a limited edition range from Face of Australia so snap them quickly if you fancy the shades as when they are gone, they gone for good.  

Face of Australia Lemon Sorbet - 3 coats in indoor white light

What do you do to relax and destress from work?

RRP A$4.95 at Priceline, Kmart, Big W and selected pharmacies in Australia.

This product was provided for consideration.

NOTD: Face of Australia Luxe Nail Enamel in Foxy Roxy & makeup previews

Last week a small group of the MBBE ladies caught up with a wonderful Tina, the tweeter behind Face of Australia Cosmetics and boy were we spoilt.

Not only was the company great (that’s a given when there’s an MBBE catch up), the food was yummy (courtesy to Ghin Khao on Swanston st), Tina also brought us a bunch of new makeup goodies to play with.

We were introduced to the amazingly pigmented and smooth baked and limited edition Opulent Eyes eyeshadows (more on that in an upcoming post with swatches), Mineral Therapy mineral bronzing and illuminating facial beads (which reminds me of Geurlian’s Meteorites) and the new limited Edition Luxe nail enamels collection. 

It was makeup heaven I tell you, there are just too many products to try at one time and I don’t even know where to begin.

As always, I’m a sucker for nails so I couldn’t resist trying on the nail colours first. The one that caught my eyes most was none other than Foxy Roxy 

Luxe Nail Enamel - Foxy Roxy

• A muted muavey, grey, mushroom taupe shade, this is a chameleon and change tones depending on the lighting it's viewed in. 
• Pigmented, you can easily get away with one thick coat, this is a very easy to apply formula with a lot of self levelling properties which makes perfect applications easy to achieve. 
• It was fairly quick drying and the high gloss shine just makes this even pretty. 
• Classy enough to be worn in the office environment yet still edgy and sophisticated enough to be different, mark my words but I think this shade is going to be hot this coming Autumn/Winter. 

Foxy Roxy - more a taupey grey in natural white light

RRP A$4.95 - an absolute bargain! Face of Australia is available at Priceline, Kmart, Big W and selected pharmacies in Australia.

This product was provided for consideration.