♥ Birthday Wish List ♥

This watch deserves its own dedicated post! Just look at how gorgeous it is, ever since I seen it in the display window at American Swiss I have been obsessing over getting it. I find myself walking past their store every time just so I can make sure its still there! It is available in silver, gold and rose gold, but the gold one holds my heart. Where is a shooting star when you need it!

M.A.C Kelly & Sharon Osbourne Collection - Review

After months of waiting the Osbourne collection was finally released in stores on the 15th of August. I was one of those stalker people and phoned the counter the whole week making sure that the Friday launch was still on track (DONT LIE, you all know I wasn't the only one) I rushed to the store and managed to pick up a couple of the items before all the products were sold out. The Kelly collection is aimed more for lighter skin tones while the Sharon collection is aimed more for Medium to darker skin tones. I decided to pick up Sharons blush and Mineralized skin finish but the packaging of the Kelly collections lipsticks were just to die for so I decided to go for one of those instead (The Kelly Yum Yum and Dodgy Girl are still on my list because I could only take one)

Sharons blush is called Peaches & Cream which honestly doesn't make any sense, I would have understood strawberries and cream a little better because on my skin there was no peach at all not even the slightest undertone of it. MAC describes it as a mid tone peach/rose with a satin finish, I think the only part they got right was the rose. I would describe it as just that a mid tone rose pink. It looks a little dry and chalky in the pan but does not apply this way at all. Its very silky and dare I even say "creamy" when applied it blends really easily and is highly pigmented. I found myself having to knock some product off when applying as the pigmentation is quite intense and you need to have a really light hand when applying. I was so impressed at the amazing staying power, it lasted a full 8 - 9 hours on my skin, it did fade a little but over all was still perfectly visible. Blush retailed for R300,00

Sharon Mineralized Skin Finish Duo in Refresh contains two shades which is best described as a high lighter and a bronzer. 

MAC describes the highlighter as a high-frost metallic golden pink. Can we just take a moment to appreciate this beauty, I fail to understand why we can't get an entire pan of this shade? The highlighter is less than one third of the pan while the rest is the bronzer. It is a frosted pink with a slight gold sheen, this shade works amazing to highlight the arch of the brows as well as on the cheek bones but looks a bit out of place down the ridge of the nose, however with a warm skin tone this looks amazing everywhere when blended correctly.

MAC describes the bronzer as a light peach/tan. This bronzer is a bit on the peachy side and if over applied can leave you looking a bit orange. It is easy to blend though and can be used over the whole face to give a subtle golden glow or as a bronzer to give a more defined look. In the pan the bronzer has a slight shimmer but when applied none of this shimmer transfers. It has a matte finish and doesn't look chalky at all on the skin and is easy to blend in. The MSF retailed for R400,00

Kelly's lipstick in Strip Poker is described by MAC as a light nude with a matte finish. I would describe it as a whitish beige with pink undertones and a matte finish. I have yet to be able to wear this lipstick on its own, I always wear a colour lip pencil under it as the beige is just a bit to harsh for me. It has full opaque colour coverage and is really creamy and easy to apply. With a pencil it lasted around 3 hours on me but I can't speak for how it wears on its own. The Lipstick retailed for R250,00

From Left: Kelly Lipstick in Strip poker, Sharon blush in peaches and cream,

Sharon Mineralized Skin Finish Duo in Refresh bronzer then highlighter.

Sharons collections packaging comes in red with her signature in lilac while Kellys collection comes in lilac with her signature in red. I thought this was a really nice touch in tying the two collections together. I would still love to purchase more of the Kelly lipstick and even the blush and MFS if I am able to. This is really a collection worth getting.

♥ Birthday Wish List ♥

I've become so obsessed with bronzers, foundations and lipsticks lately that I've actually forgotten they sell other makeup as well! I am seriously slacking on my highlighter game and have been obsessing over getting some mineralized skin finishes from MAC and also the Revlon shimmer bricks have finally launched (does a happy dance) These are things that are currently on my wish list, have you tried any of these let me know in the comments section would also love to hear what is on yours?

♥ 1. Mac Mineralized Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle ♥ 2. L'oreal Nude Magic Blur Cream

♥ 3. Revlon Shimmer Bricks ♥ 4. MAC Lip Pencil in Whirl

♥ 5. Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfecter, the nude a pink colors are amazing

♥ 6. Chanel Blush Brush ♥ 7. Chanel Angled Powder Brush

♥ 8. MAC Blush in Desert Rose 

E.L.F Golden Bronzer - Review

When I finally got to go to Target for myself! (I live in South Africa and we do not have this luxury here, I had to take advantage on my recent trip to Los Angeles) One of the brands I was most excited about was ELF. I picked up a few things that was on my list and the Golden Bronzer was one of them. As much as I now love this product when I opened it I was totally disappointed. Let me explain, on the ELF and Target website this product is listed as a bronzer one of the only reason I picked it up, but this is the furthest thing from a bronzer ever. Honestly this leans more toward being an illuminator and that's what I have been using it as. If they marketed it as an illuminator I would fully understand and I would still love it but the fact that it is supposed to be a bronzer and was not what I bought has me a little bummed out. On the upside however it has become one of my go to highlighters and I find myself reaching for it on a daily basis. So from now on its referred to as a golden highlighter and not a bronzer

What Elf Says: Create a healthy looking glow all year round! The sheer soft powders provide the perfect hue of color. Blend all 4 colors together to achieve a blend of perfection or choose your favorite color or colors to mix, match and blend. 

There are 3 shades available:

Warm Bronzer: The warm shimmer that will bring a glow to your face. Ideal for summer or year-round.

Cool Bronzer: The ideal selection of matte colors to achieve a natural looking tan. Ideal for winter or year-round.

Golden Bronzer: An illuminating shimmer that is subtle and radiant. Ideal for summer or year-round.

I went with the Golden bronzer because I have somewhat of a natural tan all year round and I thought this would be a better fit to just brighten what was already there. Unfortunately this highlighter does not bring out any natural highlight, its exactly what it says a really golden color so if your going for a tanned golden look then this highlighter will work perfect for that. I apply it along my cheek bone, done the ridge on my nose and on my cupids bow and it does an amazing job of reflecting the light in those areas. When I say its more on the golden side what I mean is that it leans more toward a golden sheen its not shimmery at all and does help to give a more natural golden highlight. I love this as a everyday highlighter to help maintain the natural golden tanned look.

It comes in a black plastic compact like most of the Elf products and has a fairly large mirror on the inside which is always handy. I picked this up at Target for $3 before tax.

MAC Look In A Box Now Available Online

Ever since spotting these online a couple of weeks ago I have secretly been stalking these box eagerly waiting for them to land in South Africa. The fact that its landed the same month as the Osbourne collection is a little depressing because I cant have both. But hopefully they stick around a little longer so maybe just maybe I can get one for my birthday! These are the boxes that are already available on the MAC website.

These are the all about nude, all about pink and all about coral boxes these retail for R800,00 per box.

These are the palette boxes in all about beige and all about plum they retail for R810,00 per box.

These are the brush sets they come in the basic brush kit and the advanced brush kit both retail for R750,00 per box.

Are there any that you have your eye on let me know in the comments section.

MAC Lorde Lipstick in Pure Heroine

I'm pretty sure that there isn't a makeup lover out there that hasn't heard of MAC's heroine lipstick. It's the one lipstick that I'm both afraid of and obsessed with at the same time. For the longest time I've only ever seen it online, it's the one shade MAC does not carry testers of. It finally became part of the permanent collection but still MAC never carries any stock. Then a few months ago Lorde did a collaboration with MAC for a very small collection that only consists of a lipstick and eyeliner. I found it a bit weird and honestly feel like I was robbed that she didn't design her own packaging or come up with her own colour. I feel like she kinda just stood in a store and chose what she liked and bam it was a limited edition and yes sold at more than the average price.

So when heroine became available again under her collection, I jumped at the chance to finally get this shade in my stash. The day I ordered it I actually got to swatch a friends heroine and the colour scared me even more. Honestly if you asked me to describe it I'd say it's like a neon purple. So when my package finally arrived, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't the same colour and that it had the same old packaging (not even a signature or some personalized touch honestly MAC I feel a little robbed here) but with further inspection I did noticed that the Lorde lipstick was in fact Pure Heroine which is different from the normal Heroine.

MAC describes pure heroin as a deep plum with a amplified finish. When I opened the tube I expected it to be a really dark black plum but it wasn't, its more of a deep purple with very bright pink undertones. It reminds me of a plum red wine. It's not a bright in you face purple, and honestly I feel a little more wearable than heroin. On myself however I do feel this lipstick strongly needs a lip liner under it because boy does it bleed!! Its honestly a really nice shade and I am glad I purchased it even of the disappointment of it not being the right shade but I do feel that some effort could have been put into this range.

The Lorde Lipstick was available only online for R220,00

♥ Birthday Wish List ♥

I think online and window shopping is one of the worst things I do to myself. When I start browsing blogs and stores it always leads me to browsing products I really want to try. These are a few of the things I really wanna get my hands on.

1. Stila Shimmer Duo in Kitten 

2. L'oreal Magic Lumi Primer

3. Chanel Mat Lumiere Perfection Powder 

4. MAC Prep & Prime Skin Refined Zone Treatment

5. Stila Custom Color Self Adjusting Bronzer

6. YSL Nude Lipstick (one I tried in store wasn't a nude and I hated it but I still want the nude)

7. MAC Lipstick in Twig 

8. YSL Touche Eclat (you know the clicky pen thingy)

Style Bar and Swarzkopf BC Bonacure Hairtherapy Relaunch

Last Thursday I attended the media relaunch of the Swarzkopf BC Bonacure Hairtherapy range that was held at the Style Bar in Tygervalley. The event was split into 3 different time slots and because I attended the evening event I got sneak peaks as to what we could all expect on Instagram and Twitter (don't you just love social media?)

When we got there, there was the prettiest display of snacks. A rainbow cake, macaroons, cake pops, fruit, jelly beans and of course a supply of champagne and fruit juice.  

As with all events we mingled a little and then of course got to snap all our pictures and selfies before we were introduced to the range.

We were first show a short presentation on some of the sister brands before being introduced to what is the BC Bonacure range. The secret in the BC Hairtherapy range is in the cell perfector technology, what is this magic you may be asking well let me explain. Cell perfector technology is designed to replenish the hair's surface to help rebuild the hair's structure deep inside the hair's cells. In its natural "virgin" state hair has a lipid protection layer which consists of molecues with a chain of 21 carbons. External stress, chemical treatments and heat styling harms the surface of the hair and the entire chain erodes.  The technology in the BC Hairtherapy range helps to repair and refill 18 of those carbons and repairs the hairs surface bringing it back as close to its natural state. 

What does it mean to us normal folk, well all that damage and abuse we put our hair through you know one minute we want it straight then curly and changing our hair colour to every colour of the rainbow, well this range helps repair that and bring our hair back to its healthy natural state. 

We were each assigned to our own stylist who then checked our hair out and gave us our own tailored "prescription" I am pleased to announce that I have healthy hair haha aside from my split ends which I am more than happy to live with. The only problems I addressed were hair loss which honey I could supply you with a wig and then to target the colouring and heat styling damage which was very minimal. We were then treated to washes and blow drys! 

I received shampoo from the hair activator range for thinning hair to help target my hair fall out. The spray leave in conditioner from the moisture kick range for a extra boost of moisture. The treatment from the colour freeze range for colour treated hair and then the end sealer from the repair rescue range for my split ends and to help protect from heat styling. 

The range can be bought on the Retail Box Website as well as in store, I have only used this range twice now and I am already loving everything! I will using it a little longer before I do a full review but I want to thank everyone at the Style bar for an amazing even. 

M.A.C Sharon & Kelly Osbourne Collection

So we are in August already, Ill let it sink in that 2014 is almost over! I know everyone says this and its a saying that annoys me but this year has literally flown by. It feels like yesterday we were counting down the months to our wedding and Gavin and I are already nearing the two year mark its scary how quick time is slipping away. So much amazing things have happened since then though that I cant be sad, I cant wait to see what the rest of this year has in store.

August see's the release of yet another "Limited Edition" collection being released by M.A.C. These collections are awesome but lets be real now every time I blink I feel like another limited edition line is being released. I'm starting to feel like its part of their master plan, cause lets face it when something is limited edition we all just HAVE to own it.

Ill admit though that this is one collection I have been looking forward to, at first I was liking the Kelly collection probably cause of how pretty it looks but after seeing the collections online and reading some of the reviews I can honestly say I am in love with some of the Sharon pieces. 

From what I have heard the Osbourne collections will be in stores on the 7th of August. Prices range from R180.00 to R650.00

Correction apparently these are being released on the 15th of August and not the 7th booooo