Review: Essence Ballerina Backstage Eye Souffle

A little while ago I saw Emma & Michelle talking about the Essence Eye Souffles and how great they were. So I knew I had to go down to Target and get my hands on some of these. I went into target and couldn't find the Backstage Ballerina collection with the rest of the Essence products i thought I had missed out. But I scoured the makeup section of my Target and finally found them shoved on a shelf no where near the other Essence products and the section itself was an absolute mess. When I opened up the first 'Pas Des Copper' someone had already put their fingers in it and ruined the product - typical! There was only one other left in this shade and thankfully it wasn't touched or I would have been pretty disappointed. There was only one of 'Dance The Swan Lake' left as well - the actual product was fine but someone had dropped it and it had a big chip out of the bottom glass. I decided to get it anyway because it was the last one left. I ended up asking for a discount at the checkout and got it for the ridiculously cheap rice of $2.00 which was a bonus and made up for the annoying shopping experience. 

 

The products themselves are lovely, they're so creamy and smooth and I actually find them pretty pigmented and easily buildable for even more colour.

Pas De Copper is a beautiful shimmery copper colour that looks great on the eye by itself or under shadows as a base. I found if I wore this with a primer it lasted most of the day on my eyelids. I think this product has actually become one of my favourites especially because it's so quick and easy to apply. I think it should be a staple in everyones makeup collection especially if you like to keep it quick and simple.  

Dance The Swan Lake is a creamy white that may lean a little pink on some skin tones. I mostly use this shadow as a base for other shadows. I love the consistency of these products they're so creamy and smooth - this one especially. Dance The Swan Lake's lasting time is also pretty good, it helped make my shadows on top last all day and look nice and vibrant. 

I love the simple packaging of these products and it's nice and simple and not tacky like other really cheap products they kinda remind me of the MAC Paint Pot Packaging. I think the packaging is quite sturdy and the glass and lid seem to be pretty strong. (obviously they will chip if you drop them haha) 

I highly recommend checking out Essence and their other products, these eye souffles retail at $4.99 AUD but I got mine at Target on sale for $4.50 and $2.00 (due to damaged packaging) which is ridiculously cheap compared to MAC paint pot or other creamy eyeshadows. 

Has anyone else had a bad experience with a messy store and damaged products? Have you tried any Essence products? Let me know! 

These products were 100% purchased by me! 

Lust Have It! May 2012

Above are the contents that we received in our May Lust Have It! beauty box/bag (mine is the top photo and Katelyn's is bottom).

I am sure by now everyone knows about the monthly beauty boxes. We are both subscribed to Lust Have It! and were really excited about this month's box because this is the first month after Lust Have It! combined forces with Glossybox Australia.

Both Katelyn and I were quite impressed with the samples this month. We are so happy that they are samples that we will actually use and were really excited to see a full size lipgloss. We also like the idea of the products coming in the makeup bag, although we will end up with a collection of them by the end of the year, it's still a good idea.

Onto what we thought of the products....

ModelCo Lipgloss: Katelyn and I both received the lipgloss. There was an option of a lipstick too. We both tried the gloss as soon as we opened the bag. We really loved the smell of both glosses and it felt really nice on our lips. It was also the only full size product this month.

Evo The Therapist Calming Shampoo & Conditioner: The shampoo & conditioner are pretty good size samples, the only thing wrong with them is the packaging. I know Katelyn is actually excited to try these out. I am not as excited as I am loving what I am using at the moment so I might just give them to her if she ends up liking them.

Bioderma Crealine H2O Makeup Remover: This is the product we were so excited about seeing in this month's little bag. The sample is so cute and I have seen so many amazing reviews of this makeup remover. I haven't tried this yet but I'm sure I will love it.

Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty Perfume: I always love getting miniature samples of perfumes because they last quite a while. I wasn't a real fan of the scent of this though but Katelyn was happy to take it off my hands.

Lush "Lust" or "Dirty" soap: Everyone knows we are massive fans of Lush so that was nice to see it sitting in the bag when we opened it. They both smell really good, like everything from Lush. We will both be using these up.

Caron Laboratories Bump eRasier Medi Paste: A great product to have in the bathroom if you are prone to getting ingrowns. I don't often (or ever) get ingrown hairs but if I ever do, I will let you know if this works or not.

Nicole by OPI nail polish: How cute is this?! We both love it. It is a purpley/glittery polish and is super pretty but the name of it is no where to be seen. I have noticed with all the OPI mini's they never have the name on them. Oh well.

All in all we were very pleased with the May samples.


Are you subscribed to any beauty boxes? Do you think they are worth it?

Get the look: Burgundy Lips

So if you've been around the beauty/fashion blogosphere lately you would have seen all the photos from the Met Ball. One thing I noticed amongst all the beautiful gowns was the dark red lips a lot of ladies were wearing and I absolutely love this trend. It's perfect timing for our winter months here in Australia. Here's how to get the burgundy lip! 

For the first step you want to make sure your skin is nice and glowy, I mixed an 

illuminator with Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation to get a dewy complexion. 

The next thing you'll need to get this look is a nice soft highlight and a winged eyeliner. Keeping it nice and simple so you're not overdoing it with the dark lips. I used Mac's Soft and Gentle highlighter and Loreal's Hip Black Gel Liner. Apply your highlighter to the tops of your cheekbones and then just wing the liner out as much as you like, also apply your favourite mascara. 

Now for the fun part, I found it's probably best to line your lips when using such a dark colour so it doesn't run and ruin the look. You can even conceal your lips first if you like to make the colour as bold as possible. I lined all of my lips and filled them in with a Savvy lip pencil - if you're not looking for something too crazy you can just add a gloss over the liner for a more subtle dark lip. I did choose to use a lipstick though as I really like the dark lip. I used a  Maybelline lipstick in the shade Plum Perfect, I've had this for the longest time and I used to wear it a lot last winter. Just apply the lipstick as you normally do and fix up any messy edges with a cotton tip, and you're done! 

This is the final look, as I said I like to keep the rest of the face simple, but if you want you can add a blush or darker eyes. I hope you all liked this little how to, even though it's pretty simple. 

Let me know what you think of this look! 

Do you like the dark lip trend? Who was your favourite from the Met Gala? 

Benefit Watt's Up Highlighter

As you may know, Katelyn and I are big fans of Benefit cosmetics. While we were in Sydney in March we were at the the Benefit counter in Myer and we were both wanting the Watt's Up highlighter. One of the ladies at the counter tried some product on me and I knew then that I need it. This is what I think of Watt's Up...

Packaging: The packaging of this products is quite unique (like most Benefit products). It's a metallic purple/bluey colour with the wind up highlighter at one end and a sponge tip applicator at the other end. I have actually never used the sponge tip end as I usually use my fingers to blend it out but I think if you were on the go it could be handy.

Product: This is a champagne coloured cream-to-powder finish highlighter. It is also "soft focus" meaning it won't accentuate your pores like a lot of other powder highlighters seem to do. It apply's really smoothly and has great pigmentation.

Cost: I think it cost me around $50.00 in Australia. You can also buy it from here.

Overall: Watt's Up is a gorgeous highlighter that would suit any skin tone. It has a nice texture and a good amount of wear time. Watt more could you want?


Have you tried Watt's Up?

Wolves & Velvet

 

Sweater: Jay Jays
Blouse: Sportsgirl
Shorts: Cotton On
Shoes: ASOS
Hair Cuff: Open Closet

It's finally cold enough to start wearing sweaters, which I'm actually so excited about because I've had this for a few weeks now but it's been too hot to wear unless I'm in the airconditioning all day. I couldn't believe how cool this sweater was when I saw it at Jay Jays of all places, they actually have some really great knits at the moment so I had to get it.

I wore this outfit to lunch on Monday as we had a public holiday which was an awesome way to end my Birthday weekend. I kept it relatively simple in terms of colour because I didn't want to overpower the shoes - which by the way I a completely obsessed with. The shoes make up for the fact that this outfit is mostly all black with the exception of the blouse. I think this is a really fun casual outfit and I can definitely see myself wearing this sweater a lot in winter.

I forgot to mention that I received the hair cuff as a gift from Megan and I've worn it everyday since, I think it goes with pretty much everything I own which is a huge bonus because I feel like it dresses up any outfit.

On a side note we have made some changes to our blog but we are still trying to make it just the way we want it so if you come on here and it looks a mess that's why.  I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far - let me know what you think about this outfit and don't forget to leave your blog links so I can check out your blog!

Much love xx