Loverdose by Diesel review

Look at that pink pretty box. So bright and bold and a little flirty. Seriously my fully sick photography skills can't do this gorgeous box justice. I just love the shade. Wanna take a look inside my box? Sure you do!

*DO NOT replace the word 'box' with any lingo for lady parts like I just did in my mind. It will take you to place you cannot return from. Pink box. See?

ZOMG pretty!

Okay, dude, game over. I don't even have to smell this thing. I have been carried away by the bottle lust fairies once again. Actually, if it smells shocking, then I don't have to worry about storing it correctly, and can display it proudly on my desk. Win/win, right?

Sohum Perfume Rollette in Grandiflora review

From previous posts, you might have realised that I lurve gardenia scents. If you haven't realised, go and read my gardenia based posts, because gardenia is da bomb. I'll wait.


 Anyway, I saw that through some sort of post-Christmas sales black witchcraft, Myers was selling Sohum purse sprays for around A$14, I nommed one in Grandiflora like a Surry Hills Instagramer on vintage brickwork (seriously guys, stop taking photos of wall. They.Are.Boring!). My excitement is entirely based on the notes, listed as white gardenia,  hyacinthe (sic), monai and jasmine sambac. At first it is allllllll gardenia, baby. Not a creamy, sometimes aging big white floral, but a sweet, mass-appealing bloom. Jasmine kicks in and it dies very quickly to a gentle blend of white florals. There is fragapani there, but not the manoi I know, which is fragapani petals soaked in a coconut oil. It's more intense and with a milky creaminess not felt in the note presented in this blend. Likewise I think I can pick out a lily of the valley note in the dry-down, but not the similar but more earthier hyacinth (no idea why Sohum spells it with an 'e'). Sillage is medium, but lasting power is only a few hours.

Aw, it contains a double dose of love

Revlon Top Speed in Wind Fall review and swatch

Okay, I'll admit it. I got horribly sucked in by another OzSale.com nail polish sale and bought several (12!) bottles of Revlon and Sally Hansen lovelies at about $4 a pop. At that teeny weeny price I would have been basically losing money if I didn't buy them right? Right!

Pretty colour, godawful nails

Wind Fall is a gorgeous jade creme, with a hint of silver shimmer in the bottle that doesn't translate to nail. With two coats, it's an intense creamy aqua-green which I actually love. I scored my share of compliments on the colour from coworkers, the guy who makes me four coffees a day and a talkative bus driver. It's unusual enough to be a statement nail, but not such a bright green that I look like I have monster claws or have an icky cuticle infection. Yep, all class here.

I of course managed to smudge it after doing two coats, but other than that the formula has worn well. I'm seeing a little fading and wear on the tips after four days.

I bought this for an ultra sweet $3.50, but the RRP is $15.95 for all you not hopelessly addicted to discount sale sites.

Australia Day green n' gold eyes

G'day to every Bazza, Dazza and Sheila out there who is enjoying a patriotic sickie today. I worked today, but still feeling relaxed, especially with the real weekend popping up in about three hours.

Even though I had a lazy Australia Day at home (movie, cider and a can of condensed milk), I still made up a green and gold themed lid for my own amusement and the deep seated horror of the 9pm Woolworth's patrons (did I mention I only did one eye?).

It was a great excuse to use some shades from an ancient Chi Chi gift with purchase palette and a pretty pale green shimmer single from Estee Lauder.

The Chi Chi shadows are a cheap and cheerful, quite pigmented, but with zero staying power. You can see it's already started to crease in the photos.

I smoothed the EL all over my lid, up to the brow, then used the green in the right side palette over the lid. I then wet a brush and lined my top lash line with the dark forest green in the left hand side palette, flicking out slightly on the outer corner. I lined my undereye and inner cormer with the gold in the same palette, and also traced over my brow in gold because why the frick not?

I finished off with two coats of Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara. My lashes are stumpy little insect legs because sadly I couldn't curl my lashes prior as my curlers have gone walkies and I still haven't found them.

Bonus update - the ricotta hotcakes with green n' gold sauce (kiwi, ginger, mint and passionfruit) I made for brekky!

Hope you had a most excellent day Oz Day!

Face of Australia Lip Quench SPF30+ in Lychee Crush review and swatches

Let's not prolong the suspense. I love this lipstick. You probably already love this lipstick. My boyfriend doesn't like this lipstick, then again he doesn't like wearing lipstick full stop. He does however love it on me.

A+ for penmanship 

It's a peachy nude shade with a great sheer but buildable coverage and a slight sheen. The SPF30+ makes it perfect for summer and the natural shade means it's a super foil for smoky bedroom eyes at night.

I've avoid pale shades in the past due to my extreme whiteness (seriously I've had Japanese tourists have their photo taken with me because of it) as I don't want to look even more washed out. However I think the slight apricot tones encourage warmth in my face, rather than waxy vamp skin. It didn't dry out my lips, but in return need to be reapplied several times throughout the day as it melts into my lips.


There is a slight sunscreen smell when applied, but it disappears for me within a few minutes.


Adding to the lemmingness of this lippy is the great posts some of my favourite Aussie beauty bloggers are jotting out on the subject.


Rosemary from Lashes & Lattes did an enchanting Disney Princess homage to Beauty and the Beast's Belle, with the subtle colour complimenting her wide eyes and the best brows I've ever seen. She's also pulled it off with a tan!


Tegan from Tegania's Thoughts used hers to enhance a mid-holiday glow (and boy, does she glow! Gorgeous.) and peachy cheeks. 


Stacey from Add to Cart gives some helpful examples of similar shades from other brands if you're still on the fence about going nude and need a point of comparison. She has great shots of the product, much better than my hack efforts.

Yes, the loose hairs on my left side appear to be escaping to the light. You ain't going anywhere, guys.

Here's a previous Face of the Day I did for work. I was too lazy to open the blinds, so let's just pretend the shadow and light imbalance is just me being 'arty'. Face of Australia lipsticks are available in Target, Big W and chemists. I like to get mine from Priceline because they often have sweetass deals and because I work across the street from one. I bought mine for the RRP of $9.45 because I just couldn't wait for a sale and will most definitely be trying more from the Lip Quench line.

Puretopia Soft & Smooth Body Lotion review

The good news? According to the Puretopia Soft & Smooth Body Lotion tube, this "hydrating and skin plumping" formula is free of animal testing, synthetic fragrances, parabens, sulfate cleansers, artificial colours, propylene glycol, DEA, TEA and silicones. It also has a really nice lemon cream kind of scent, unusual for a natural body lotion. On second sniff, it actually smells a lot like lemon myrtle, with that sweet green note.

It's even guaranteed

Bad news? Total bitch to rub in. It's a heavy cream that leaves a white cast on my skin and takes forever to absorb. I've been using it at night, because it's annoying to use during the day as it leaves residue even when I use the teeniest dab.


Despite the shortcomings in soaking in, it does moisturise well and keeps my legs soft and smooth, so I guess the name is about right.


I've got a Puretopia face moisturiser and eye cream stashed away which I'll try out soon. Hopefully they smooth in better than their body brethren.


I do really like the smell, and would try their shower gel or shampoo if they had the same scent, but I don't think I'll repurchase this particular lotion. It retails for $14.95.

Chanel Le Vernis in June review, swatch and rant

Chanel polishes are a cruel mistress. They look so alluring in their neat little bottle, so glossy, so pretty, so different. But as soon as I try to slick them on, they turn on me, pointing out all my nail insecurities,  shimmer glinting sacastically. "You have manky cuticles!" they snigger. "There's weird ridges everywhere! How do you even get polish in your ear, you klutz?!" They pick up on every bump and dip on my poor nails and cling to them in the most unflattering way possible. Then being their bad smudgey selves, they refuse to dry, leave bald patches even after three coats and chip more than the Gobbledegook (bonus points if you were scared of that thing). Admitedly I'm not the sharpest crayon in the cookie jar with nailpolish, and my handiwork is shaky, but I think Chanel needs to work on their thin formulas and match performance to the otherwise fab in-the-bottle palettes.

Ignore the scrungy nails, just look at what technically should be a good colour

I wanted to love June so hard, but June didn't love me. It's a creamy orange, quite sheer and surprisingly without much of that shimmer previous Chanel pastels have boasted. Sucks to pay $39 for a shade that honestly was done better by Sportsgirl last year. I've been wearing it for less than 24 hours and it's worn off the tips and edges.

The only thing keeping my faith in the Le Vernis line is the amazing Black Pearl, Graphite, Dragon and my favourite, Peridot shades, all dark and some metallic. I'll be avoiding pale colours from the interlocked Cs from now on, after the disappointing June and earlier, Mimosa (flooded my cuticles, zero staying-power) and Minstrel (boring shade and streaky). I love everything else you do, Chanel, so why can't you get this right? Don't make me set Tom Ford on you!

Burberry Lip Cover in Golden Peach No. 29 swatch and review

Burberry launched their cosmetics line in Australia last year, and so far I've only heard good things in the way of quality, colour choices and pricing (for a high-end range). I picked up a Lip Cover  in Golden Peach (shade No. 29) to test them out myself.

Matching nails are a total coincidence

The packaging is fantastic, it feels 'expensive' with a little weight behind it. I also love the argyle print embossed on the side of the stick. 

USE ALL THE PERFUME! Confessions of a perfume tragic

Or how about parfum tragique? It sounds a little more fancy, mais non? Anyway, I had this conversation today with a coworker after a top up bottle of Gardenia by Elizabeth Taylor I'd ordered late last year finally arrived on my desk.

CO-WORKER: So how many bottles of perfume do you have anyway? Like ten or fifteen?

MICHAELA: Fifteen?! Oh...yeah, like about that number, maybe more mumblemumblemumblehundredish.

CO: That soun-wait,did you say ONE HUNDRED BOTTLES OF PERFUME?! THAT YOU OWN!!!!! 

M: It's a totally normal amount, I bet you have at least half that amount.

CO: I have four....are you...can you stop caressing the bottle? It's making me uncomfortable.

fin

Sigh, sometimes  I admit to myself that i have maybe a few too many bottles. I pulled out some of my bottles which normally live under my bed  and spotted a few I had totally forgot about, and who do not deserve that kind of treatment. Even the five Harajuku scents I keep on my work desk (okay, and the five-eight bottles inside my desk drawer) get their spray on regularly. I'm not even going to touch on the shoebox of samples and testers and vials and solid scents. 

Some people have children. I have perfumes. And I won't neglect my babies any longer! 

Maybe I could even dismiss the scrubbers from my collection because I gotta make room for the 2012 releases if you don't enjoy something,why keep it around? Furthermore, I won't buy any more perfumes except ones on sale, and online and ones I really love or that have a pretty bottle without trying a sample or dram first to decide if I really need it or already have something similar. And no more flankers. No, I'm not falling for your flirty charms this time, pretty Stella McCartney Limited Edition bottles!

But how can you say no to these little faces. And I always wanted a big family...

Wish me luck!

Lavender Palm by Tom Ford - fragrance review

We're all friends here right? I like you (thanks for reading my blog!), you like me (because you're reading my blog, right? RIGHT!) and I feel that I can be really honest with you. Y'know just really open up and share my feelings. Mostly my feelings on Tom Ford. I mean,I love the guy! I love his suits on my tv boyfriends (Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, for those keeping tally. Ryan Gosling has dropped out of my favour. Sorry Ry-bunny). I love Tom's sexy make-up ranges and even his sexy sexy mcsexing it up sexy ads. I love most of his perfumes. Hell, I cried when my bottle of Santal Blush broke. However I do not like his ode to Los Angeles and Rodeo Drive, Lavender Palm. Not. At. All.

We get it, Tom. Sex.

Let's start with Mr Ford's association with Lavender and LA. Seriously dude? I'd understand if this is a reinvention of the most beloved granny floral, but it's not. It's laundry detergent and undies drawer lines. Nothing that reminds me of LA. It's nice that he didn't take the cliche route of sun tan oil and moneyed up second wives, but c'mon!

Gorilla Perfume by Lush Imogen Rose Solid Perfume - review

Two of my favourite things are travelling and perfume. Sadly the two don't seem to mix, as the many shattered,chipped and split bottles I've sent straight to scent heaven (or in the Paris Hilton I was rocking aged sixteen's case,down to the third ring of hell. Yeech!) can attest to. I know there's travel bottles, but I have a few and they always seem to wiggle out of their case and into my toiletries case or handbag (a TF Black Orchid scented iPhone is not a good thing).

Please note lack of spillage.
SO FAR....

Due to my frequent accidents, I've turned to solid fragrance, in particular Gorilla Perfume's range from Lush. I've spent the last two weeks travelling from Adelaide to Sydney, and have pulled out their Imogen Rose scent over and over to slick on in the morning and for touch ups during the day.

It's a lovely casual scent that reminds me of those old English roses, on the very cusp of wilting and warmed by a late afternoon sun. Joining the garden party is a side of Turkish Delight, with a bite of musk sticks tied together with a strand of ivy, spiked with patchouli. Sweet, powdery and a pink warmth, with a hint of fuzzy green. It wears close to the skin, but lasts at least five hours on my wrist.