New Years Resolution

I am terrible with holding New Years Resolutions and I usually forget about them pretty quickly. This year though, I have one yearly goal and I will also be doing a different goal every month. The yearly goal is pretty simple: Prioritising travel. Earlier this year I went on an amazing holiday in Europe and it was so much fun and this year I would like to start the year off with more experiences like that. Seeing as I am currently in New Zealand I am at least starting the resolution off well. What I will need to do is spend less, save more and plan holidays. Easy right?

When it comes to the monthly goals I have decided that January will be a no beauty-spend month. February will become Fituary which will involve doing exercise for at least one hour every single day. I am going to do the SMH half marathon (22km) in May so I want to get motivated and prepared. I haven't worked out the other months quite yet but I will keep you updated.

Since I was running out of time for beauty spend I had to do a little splurging before I left on the holiday.
I have already finished my mini-sized O&M bottle of Atonic so I had to get the big size and I also wanted to try the Surf Bomb spray.

Next I stopped at Priceline for the last time in a long time. I truly have everything I need, I just run out of basics quite frequently. I am sure I'm not the only one. I also wanted to try Heidi Klum's new range for Schwarzkopf including a volumising powder thanks to Andrea at Fox in Flats. Since I needed a new rosehip oil I got a little gift pack from Trilogy which included a moisturiser and cleanser for a few dollars extra. Score:)

That's it folks, no more beauty spend for January. And maybe February too if I'm brave enough. I am sure my wallet would love me for it.

Do you have any resolutions? Where are you celebrating NYE?

xx

Christmas-Party Look

Earlier in December I went to a really nice Christmas party which was on a boat sailing in Sydney Harbour. I wanted to make sure my hair was party-ready so I got my Remington out.

I always do the fringe last - it's a sign I'm nearly done. 

I then bobby-pinned the fringe back so it could cool down away from my face. It's a great way of ensuring your fringe won't drop down in front of your eyes.

See how the fringe now looks perfect? I also needed some illuminator to make those dark circles take a hike.

I used a Revlon Customeyes palette to get a soft and brown smokey eye.

Tada! Ready for a party and lots of wine.

The boat we went on was called Soren Larsen. I approve of all things Scandinavian of course.

Even though I have lived in Sydney for over 5 years I can never resist a touristy photo of the Opera house. We had such a great night and the weather was beautiful.

Did you go to any fun Christmas-parties in December? What's your go-to party look?

xx

Post-Christmas Blues

Every year I suffer Post-Christmas Blues because I am always so excited for it to happen and then it goes so quickly and I have to wait another year for fun times, good food and presents. I was really lucky this year and I received some amazing presents, I feel so spoilt!

What was really funny was that I had given a gift voucher to my boyfriend's sister for a shellac manicure and secretly she had organised the same for me so now we have a shellac-date.

Did you receive anything exciting? I hope you had some great days xx

I'm Going to New Zealand!

This evening my boyfriend and I are going to New Zealand for one week. We fly in and out of Christchurch and will be spending New Years Eve on Fox Glacier and the next few days in Queenstown where a lovely wine tour has been booked for us. To say I am excited would be an understatement. I have pre-written a few blog entries which will be released over the next few days.

The only thing I don't like about travelling is packing of course, it is so hard to assess what I will be needing in terms of clothes, shoes and beauty products. I was going to try and just bring one ziplock bag with me but I will have to "borrow" my boyfriend's allowance and use his ziplock bag too. It's pretty bad.

 One bag was never going to cut it.

If you look at it clockwise I am bringing Estee Lauder's Cooling Eye Illuminator, the Garnier Roll On concealer, Pure Fiji showergel, MooGoo Fresh Cream Deodorant, L'Oreal's UV Perfect SPF30+, John Frieda's Fly Away Tamer, Origins Modern Friction exfoliator, Jurlique's Moisturising Hand Sanitiser, a Napoleon Perdis mascara/lipgloss combo, Ojon Hair Oil, Clinique's liquid facial soap, Jurlique's Ultra Firm and Lift cream (I will use it as a night cream), Ole Henriksen truth serum collagen booster, Chanel's comfort cleanser, OPI Nail Lacquer in Skull & Glassbones, Estee Lauder's pleasures perfume, Sportsgirl sunscreen (repackaged since the bottle was over 150 ml, b collection by Bloom brow box, various Kerastase-samples, OPI's Nail Envy to make my nails stronger, Triple Action Cleanser from Alpha-H, Kielh's Creme de Corps body lotion, Dr Lewinn's Spot Clear Gel and lucky last - John Frieda's Frizz-Ease.

Even though it looks like I have everything I could possibly need I have actually managed to forget lipbalm so I will have to sneak it in somewhere.

Do you think I've packed too much? Are you a super packer?

xx

Untangling hair thanks to O&M's No Knot & Orofluido

Please don't judge me but I haven't brushed my hair for 3 days. Thanks to the Remington Perfect Curls I made at 5 am on Christmas Eve, my hair has stayed voluminous and curly until now. During Christmas I was working every day and then I went to my boyfriend's family to stay every night. I forgot my hairbrush at usual so I just let my hair do what it wanted to do. My hair is very tangly in its natural state but with the curls and the styling products I knew it was getting pretty knotty. Since I was also very sleep-deprived I let my skin breathe yesterday (fancy excuse for not being bothered to apply or remove makeup:p)

I really wasn't looking forward to brushing it out but thanks to the tools I used it ended up not being so bad. I used a Moroccan Oil paddle brush (I find paddle brushes to be the most comfortable for me), Orofluido hair oil and Original & Mineral's No Knot Conditioning Detangler.

I spritzed lots of No Knot on my hair and gently brushed it out. In the areas where it was more knotty I sprayed an extra round. There were no tears and it didn't hurt.

I then applied Orofluido to my whole hair (you are only meant to use it on the ends) because my hair needed some conditioning. I then put it in a high bun and left it like that for about an hour. 

When I showered my hair was so soft and conditioned, it was amazing. But I promise not to neglect my hair like that again.

Do you ever neglect your hair or is it just me? 

xx

Adorn Mineral Cosmetics

In December's I Love This Box I received a small sample of Adorn Mineral Cosmetics' Summer Bronzer/Eye Shadow. I do love a good bronzer and I simply had to put it to the test immediately. I have to admit I was not familiar with the brand but I am a fan of anything mineral. Adorn is also cruelty-free which I really like. I have also found out that they do a free customised colour matching service online.

Since I have been so diligent in applying sunscreen to my face every morning I have literally no colour at all on my little mug:)

I knew I would need some colour to give my face some glow but I didn't think little Adorn would have what it takes. Boy was I wrong - it really packs a punch!

I applied a little bit to my Body Shop face and body brush (also cruelty-free) which is massive in comparison to this little pot of gold.

I only used a little bit and the result was super-strong. The amount above is all I used for both my cheeks and I had to blend blend and blend again because it truly is a dark bronzer. I really liked the way it looked and it will definitely be part of my new party look from now on. 

I hope you have had a great time off so far. I did some shopping this afternoon and bought a new camera (as a presents from my parents) so hopefully my pictures will be super-nice from now on...: ) The salesman won some points since he commented on my nails, he was very impressed.

xx

Remington Perfect Curl - for which hairlength?

First of all - Merry Christmas again! I truly don't think it can be said too many times. I know I for one can't wait to open my presents but I have to wait until this afternoon since I am working today.

I have had a few questions from readers regarding whether the Remington Perfect Curl is suitable for their hairlength. You may remember that I was wowed by Ms Remington after my first use of it because it is super easy to use and the result is so even. I have been curling my hair a lot lately because it is fun to do something new, it's an easy way to glam up my look and I also get more volume in my hair which is always a bonus!

My hair is getting a little long, I would say it is about 10-15 cm below shoulder-lenght. I have never had it so long before and I sometimes dream of lobbing it off. But not yet - I am not ready. Remington works perfectly on my hair because I like loose, even curls and it gives me that. As you can see in the photo below (taken at 5am yesterday - no wonder I look tired!), the curler would work well for short hair as you don't need to fill it up all the way. So if you have a lob/bob you only need to use a little bit of the curler. The result will be just as good. You will not burn yourself either because of the protective guard. However, if you have very long hair Remington might not be right for you because it will only curl half your hair.

Since it costs less than a blowdry ($40) you won't miss out too much by giving it a try - it is such a great product and pretty much fail-proof. If that's a word.

Hope you have an amazing day and that you are spoilt rotten xx

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read, and for your comments, they have been a pleasure to read and respond to. I will still be blogging because I am working through until 28th December so it will be a pleasure to keep you company.

Since it is Christmas I needed to make sure my nails were very festive. My last attempt at the Sally Hansen nail stickers was not very successful but I was adament to give them another try. I had the Snowbunny design and armed with a great tip of ensuring the use of both a base and top coat I was sure second time around would be better. I used my new Sally Hansen base & top coat and I didn't have any air bubbles this time.

I really like the result although I probably won't be using them again because some of the strips don't fit my nails - they are either too large or too small but they do give you 4 thumnail-sized strips which I think is unnecessary. I also think at the cost of $10-$15 I can't justify it for more than special occassions.

Merrry Merry Christmas xxxx

New Purchase: OPI

In the hope of finishing all the Christmas shopping we went to Westfield yesterday morning. All the presents were bought and I was also able to sneak in a few presents for myself. David Jones has a really good range of OPI products and I know myself well enough to know that I shouldn't go in there because I never leave empty handed.

First I bought the OPI Original Nail Envy which is a nail strengthener. It also came with a free nail polish remover and remover pads which are perfect if you're lazy like me or are going travelling.

Next I got a Sweet Sensations handcream pack which includes 6 handcreams and they all smell delicous. It will be hard to give them away. I have made a gift pack with these and a gift voucher to my favourite nail salon for a shellac manicure.

I am most excited about this find. It is a set of OPI's 10 most popular shades in cute mini bottles. The pro-brush technology remains the same so it is still easy to apply. I can't wait to start experimenting!

Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Are you excited for presents, food and good company?

xx

December I Love This Box

This was the second month of the I Love This Box and my first month as a subscriber. My expectations were high as I had seen what was in the first box and it looked amazing and such great value for money. I understand that the boxes can't be the same every month but last month had several full-size products and this month there was none unless you count the lip balm.

When it comes to presentation the pink box is very cute, but the main box had not been sealed which is a security issue. They were also meant to send a Merry Christmas sticker which you could stick on top of the logo if you wanted to gift the box to someone at Christmas but I didn't receive it.

As it is a Christmas-themed box it was appropriately wrapped in green paper and with red paperstreams inside.

And this is what greeted me when I opened the box. Very festive but there was no card describing the contents so I don't know the RRP of anything or how big the full sizes should be.

The samples were as follows: Simply Organic Every Day Hair & Scalp Wash & Rinse, Simply Organic Lip Balm (I love organic products so can't wait to try them out), a Gatineau Exfoliating Body Gel and two samples of Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck fragrance (I am not a celebrity fragrance fan) and an Adorn bronzer/eyeshadow.

I then also received a bauble for my Christmas tree, a snowflake pendant from Magnolia and a $10 discount voucher.

All in all I can't make up my mind about this box, on the upside it was nice and festive and I do want to try the organic samples + mineral bronzer. The Gatineau sample is tiny though and will only cover one application and there was also attention to detail missing in relation to the information sheet and sticker not being there. I will keep my subscription for one more month so hopefully next box will be more exciting.

Update: I Love This Box were very quick to respond to me and have sent me the sticker and emailed me the detail sheet. I am very appreciative of this as good service is very important to me.

Update 2: I have now tried the Adorn bronzer and I love it. Here is the result. I am so grateful to I Love This Box for showing me this amazing mineral brand.

xx

How to: Pack for a sleepover

I am officially the worst packer in the world. I always do it last minute and bring too much stuff. It is just so boring. Even when I moved from Norway to Australia I packed in the morning and my flight was at 10am! I ended up with a bag that was 5kg overweight and I don't even want to mention my carryon, it was so heavy. I am starting to improve on my packing skills but I still have a long way to go.

Earlier this week I was staying at a girlfriend's place and I was determined to not bring too much since I was just staying overnight. I was working the next day though and didn't want to go home in between so I had to be really smart with my packing. My bag couldn't be too heavy to lug around either so I had to repack it a few times and then run out the door since I was late. My bag was full of randomness as usual.

I made sure all my beauty stuff minus lip-products were packed in my little gold Mimco toiletry bag.

I was able to jam-pack it with necessary products and I used them all. If we go clockwise we start with Colgate's Sensitive Pro Relief which is the perfect toothpase for me since the teeth-whitening. Then there is a small sample size of Benefit's universally flattering Coralista blush, Estee Lauder's Sumptuos mascara, Benefit's Posie Tint, the cute sample I received of Thierry Mugler's Angel Eau de Toilette which smells great, Estee Lauder's Time Zone eye cream, John Frieda's Frizz Ease Finishing Creme which came in this month's GlossyBox, the UV Silk Shield Foundation from Invisible Zinc (one of my favourite sun protection products), Natio's Glow Skin Brightening Face Balm, Clinique's liquid facial soap in extra-mild which also works as a makeup remover, b collection by Bloom Quick Fix kit which has 6 concealer shades in it and lucky last, Natio's Brow Kit for beautiful brows.

Bringing the IZ foundation was really clever since my moisturiser did not contain spf. I also used the Benefit Coralista blush as an eyeshadow which I applied with my fingers. Posie Tint went on my cheeks and I used the concealer where I needed it. Since I managed to forget my hairbrush, the John Freida finishing creme was perfect to tame my hair. Here is the result:

I hope it's not just my face that goes red after too much red wine the night before! 

What do you bring for sleepovers? Are you a great packer which can give me some much needed inspiration? 

xx

Sally Hansen Digital Nails

This morning I wanted to try my brand new Sally Hansen Diamond Shine base and top coat which I received in December's GlossyBox. I also had a Sally Hansen Hi-Definition Nail Colour in the shade Digital 06. It's really hot pink and fun!

I really like that the base and top coat is combined as it streamlines the process. I did find it hard to apply the nail colour because the brush is quite long. It was difficult to not either use too little polish or too much. I do think I found the right balance but I'm not a fan. I am too used to OPI & Chanel's brushes. I used two coats of Digital and the result was really good.

Now the name Diamond Shine doesn't lie, your nails will be very very shiny. It was actually hard taking photos of them without too much glare appearing. The main problem I experienced was that 4 out of 10 nails had air bubbles which I really don't like. I haven't had bubbles in my nails for a long time so it is either the top coat or that my apartment was really warm when I applied the top coat so that my nails didn't dry properly. 

Can you spot the air bubbles? Overall I think I will be using the Diamond shine as a base coat only and my usual OPI Rapid-dry top coat to make sure I get no bubbles. 

What's your favourite nail polish brand? What colour are you rocking on your nails at the moment?

xx

December GlossyBox

At first I didn't even realise that December's GlossyBox had arrived. Thankfully an honest neighbour had let me know because it had been left downstairs by the apartment entrance and I had completely missed it yesterday so I received a nice suprise this morning! My expectations of the box were pretty high since I was so satisfied with November's box.

I still think the packaging is so gorgeous!

There were 5 products in this months box. 

First I'll show you the samples; Clinique's Turnaround Overnight Radiant Moisturizer (rrp$90) and John Frieda's Frizz-Ease Secret Weapon Flawless Finishing Creme (rrp $16.99). I really like some Clinique products and then there are others that just don't work on me but I will be giving this moisturiser a try. Probably on my upcoming 1 week holiday because it's the perfect travel-size of 7ml. My love affair with John Frieda's Fly Away Tamer is well documented so I really look forward to trying this secret weapon! I am a frizz-fighting champion and always ready to try new products to win the battle. There is also a card from Clinique which gives you a consulation at any of their Myer and David Jones Stores, they will analyse your skin and give you a 7-day sample of your perfect foundation.

As this was a special box just in time for Christmas (and it also included a candy cane but it broke), GlossyBox had brought out the big guns and added three full-size products which is just exceptional value for money.

I received Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength Diamond Shine Base and Top Coat (rrp $16.45) which I've actually used before and had really good experiences with. It's also a great combination product since you only need one bottle for the base and top coat. You can also apply this every other day to your manicure to extend the life of your polish.  Next was a Gorgeous Cosmetics Lip Pencil (rrp $25) in the shade Entourage which conveniently is my favourite TV show. I have never tried any of their products so I really look forward to seeing if the lip liner will go the distance. Lucky last is a blue gem from Tigi Haircare called Manipulator by Bed Head (rrp $23.95). It is a texturiser which adds volume so I'll be interested to see how it works in my knotty hair. What I know for now is that it smells so delicious of bubblegum and the gunky product is light blue. I hope I won't end up with blue hair; ) 

I am again really excited by this months box - I will use most of the products, although I am still not convinced of how the Manipulator will work in my hair. That's the fun thing about these sample boxes because even if it doesn't work, I've only paid $14.95 including shipping so I am still satisified. 

Have you received any sample boxes this month? What would you like to try out of these products? 

Update: I have now tried the Diamond Shine base and top coat and the result is here.

xx

Spectacle-Worthy Makeup

I am an occassional spectacle-wearer. I am near sighted so only need to use them when I watch tv or at the movies. I do wear them at work too from time to time when I just need a break from the glare on the computer screen. When I know I'll be wearing glasses I usually just want my makeup to be pretty simple.

My daily makeup routine includes concealer, illuminator, mineral foundation and bronzer, eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss. Sometimes lip stick if I want to be fancy. Today's eyeshadow is from Napoleon.

Having neutral makeup lets the glasses shine, don't you think?

Nothing is as important as keeping your glasses clean and I found some really handy wipes at Priceline for $5 the other day.

Do you wear glasses? What is your favourite makeup look when wearing them?

xx