December's farewelled products and the final 2014 empties tallies by category!

Are you ready for my final 2014 empties post? Seeing as I was in the mood for summing up the year I've included yearly tallies at the end of the post too - I wanted to know what things I got through the most and see if there were any surprises...

 

Skin care

 

132) Renew You Q10 & Hyaluronic Acid Intense Hydration Hydrogel Masque (1 treatment) - This is the most unusual sheet mask I've tried because it's a 2-piece mask, and rather than tissue or cloth it's a slippery, rubbery gel-like mask which I actually found a little claustrophobic on my face.  I could feel the slight tingle of acids working their magic on my skin and my skin definitely felt smoother after one treatment. Truth be told though - because I found the experience more claustrophobic than relaxing I won't be buying this particular sheet mask again.

 

133) Kirkland Daily Facial Cleansing Towelettes (30 towelettes) - Forgive me but I still have two more packs of these to finish.  Not bad but nowhere near the HG of cleansing clothes. I'm actually starting to wean myself off the habit so it's probably going to be a while before I finish them.

 

 

134) Chu Lip Balm (Tokyo Mode Night) - You probably think I ate this because I got through it so quickly! This Japanese lip balm wins on cute packaging alone but the honey, lemon tea and bergamot scent was very appealing to me also.  This balm was not at all waxy and melted onto the lips so it wasn't a surprise I finished it in under two months.  Still, I wish I'd bought more of the six scents/flavours to try and I wouldn't need my arm twisted too hard to order some online from the Japan Trend Shop! (Sorry Liz I forgot to draw on the eyes and nose for this shot :p)

 

135)  Face of Australia Gentle Make-up Remover (125ml/4.23 fl.oz) - I'm onto another backup of this gentle remover which takes off waterproof eye makeup and more recently it's passed the test on long-lasting lip colours too.

 



Hand and body care

 

136) Bath & BodyWorks Warm Vanilla Sugar Shea & Vitamin E Shower Gel (3 fl.oz/88 ml) -  I am literally KICKING myself for not loading up my luggage (or at least buying the full size) of this cosy scented shower gel when I was in Hawaii. This shower gel foams up so well it's like taking a standing up bubble bath and leaves my skin delicately scented and moisturised - Gimme more! Thanks again Liz for introducing me to this delicious scent!

 

137) Natio Wellness Body Scrub (450g/15.8oz) - I enjoy this scrub in a tub. See a more detailed review here.

 

 

138) Natio Meditate Body Butter (Yoga Scent Narcissus Attar 100g/3.5oz) - Scented with Narcissus Jonquilla Flower oil, this body butter smelt heavenly but is unfortunately discontinued.

 

139) Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Concentrated Cream (30g/1.1oz) - I'd actually packed this for my overseas trip a few months ago but a little goes a long way so it made its way back home again.  A little squeeze of the tube is all that's needed to get enough of this rich cream to deeply moisturise my elbows or feet and it absorbs in seconds.

 

140) Palmer's Anti-Aging Smoothing Lotion 250ml/8.5 fl.oz)* - This is one of my favourite body lotions because it exfoliates and smooths the keratosis on my skin in addition to moisturising.  I have quite a stash of body moisturisers to get through at the moment but this will be at the top of my repurchase list.

 

 

140) OPI Expert Touch Lacquer Remover (120ml/4 fl.oz) - Surprise! Surprise! NOT! Another empty bottle of OPI remover to add to the tally.

 

Cosmetics

 

141) Models Prefer BB Pressed Powder (Light/Medium) - One of the disappointments for the year.  Despite its claims this BB powder offered very minimal coverage when worn alone and I resorted to using it as a finishing powder although it wasn't great at mattifying either.  Will. Not. Repurchase.

 



Fragrance

 

142) Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire EDT (1 ml/.03 oz. sample) - This sweet fragrance does smell PRETTY and youthful, perfect for the wearer of a cute little black dress like that illustrated on the vial. I did enjoy it though and remain hopeful that it's not too young for me just yet! Top notes are black cherry, bergamot, red berries and almond. Mid notes are Bulgarian and Turkish roses, licorice and smoked black tea. Aniseed, tonka bean, vanilla, iris and patchouli form the base.

 

143) Witchery Fresh Blossom rollerball (12ml/0.4 fl.oz) - Australian fashion brand Witchery describe this as "sensuous and uncomplicated" and l liked the slightly syrupy citrusy scent for everyday wear - don't laugh but it reminds me of orange syrup cake!  Still it's very subtle and soft, and unlikely to offend anyone. I bought this fragrance from a warehouse store and can't find anything online about it so I'm sure it's been discontinued.  

 

 

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So THAT comes to a grand total of 143 products emptied for the year comprising of the following sorted by category.  Keep reading if you're into the numbers...

 

 

 

Skin care:

• 10 packs of cleansing wipes (this will not continue on the same scale!)
• 7 full sized (and 1 travel size) makeup removers
• 4 sheet masks
• 3 full sized (and 1 travel size) day creams
• 3 lip treatments/balms
• 2 full sized (and 4 travel sized) facial cleansers
• 2 full sized (and 1 travel size) serums
• 2 peel off mask sachets
• 1 full size (and 2 travel sized) night cream
• 1 facial scrub
• 1 cleansing (micellar) water
• 1 face mask tube
• 1 papaw ointment tube
• 2 sample tubes eye cream  

 

 

Hand and body care:

• 11 nail polish removers
• 9 hand creams
• 6 body butters
• 5 body scrubs
• 4 full sized (and 1 travel sized) body washes
• 3 full sized (and 2 travel sized) body lotions
• 3 hand washes
• 1 foot cream
• 1 nail polish top coat
• 1 body exfoliating towelette

 

 

Cosmetics:

• 6 lipsticks
• 6 tubes of mascara
• 5 lip glosses
• 3 concealers
• 2 BB powders
• 1 full sized (and 2 travel sized) eye primers
• 1 eye shadow palette
• 1 eye shadow single
• 1 eyeliner pencil
• 1 mineral foundation
• 1 powder blush
• 1 pressed powder
• 1 primer

(I also culled 6 additional lipsticks, an eye shadow palette, mascara and tinted sunscreen although these did not count towards the empties tally. I hope for much more culling this year!)

 

 

Haircare: 

• 1 full sized (and 1 travel sized) shampoo
• 1 full sized (and 1 travel sized) conditioner
• 1 volumizing spray

(Haircare was the least accurate category of all as I only counted shampoos and conditioners I reviewed last year. I don't know if you guys are interested in my usual shampooing routine in 2015??)

 

 

Fragrance:

• 5 full sized bottles
• 9 sample vials

 

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And OMG that was the FULL story for 2014! 





 

 

 (Products marked * were provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

Witchery: Bronze

 Happy Hump Day lovelies!  I'm always happy to get the first half of the week out of the way :)

I wore this polish to go with a special outfit last Saturday night but straight up I've got to tell you it was a disappointment.  Australian fashion chain Witchery bring out seasonal nail polish and makeup collections to coordinate with their clothes and accessories and I bought Bronze to match a silk shirt I'd bought on sale at the same time.  So, the plan was this polish would accent beautifully with my new shirt, and another rust coloured knit dress in my wardrobe.  However...Bronze is lighter than I expected which makes it look more rose gold than bronze which is still okay-ish BUT it was very thick and brush-strokey.  This metallic polish just didn't work for me. Not loving this one unfortunately.

Now for some cloudy day pictures:

 

Until next time.

Vita :)

Stash diving for a MAC Shroom dupe...

My beloved multi-tasker eyeshadow Shroom is rapidly heading towards empty.  It's no surprise to me because I'll wear it every other day, either as a brow highlight, inner eye highlight or a wash all over the lid for a naturally bright eyed look.  I can't remember if this is my second or third emptied pan so that tells you just how much I love it!

For once I've decided to be a little practical and search my overflowing stash for a suitable dupe before I go back to the MAC counter and make the obvious repurchase and - Woo hoo! - I came up with three alternatives.  They're not 100% dupes but close enough to create a very similar look and I think I may just have a winner.  Lined up against Shroom in the picture below they do all look pretty similar...

Left - Right:

Witchery - unlabelled neutral quad (highlight shade)

Wet'n'Wild Coloricon trio - Walking on Eggshells (browbone shade)

Essence shimmer effect - Cappucino, please!

MAC satin - Shroom 

 

 

Of course as 'they say' the proof is in the swatching and these are a bit more telling.  The swatches are in the same order as above:

 Indirect daylight indoors

Direct sunlight

 I can see why I keep repurchasing Shroom because it actually is quite unique in its own neutral way.  It's the subtle pink undertone which sets it apart from the other shimmery beige eyeshadows.  I'd best describe it as a mushroom pink so Shroom is the perfect name for this MAC shadow. 

I'd seen Wet'n'Wild's Walking on Eggshells browbone shade (second from left) presented as a dupe for Shroom on other blogs but of the three shadows I've posted I'd say this is the least similar.  It's more of a heavy gold-toned beige frost in the swatch and lacks any of the pink undertone of Shroom.  I put it to the wear test too and found it looked a lot more stark on my browbone than Shroom.

Going up the scale I think the Witchery shade (on the far left) is a closer dupe than Walking on Eggshells.  It certainly looks like a dupe in the pan although it was still about a shade lighter when swatched.  At a pinch though I would happily go for this as an emergency backup and I think it's about time I showed the anonymous old palette some love anyway.

So, do we have a winner?  Essence's Cappucino, please! (second from right) isn't an exact dupe either but it's pretty darn close in terms of shade and texture and is my pick of the lot.  It's more satiny than the other two dupe contenders and is close to my skintone, much like Shroom.  This is the one I'll be wearing as soon as my old faithful runs out - which is an any day now proposition!  For the bargainistas out there this is a pretty good alternative too as this Essence shadow retails at around $3.25AUD compared to MAC at a relatively whopping $33AUD locally.

So, have you come across any good dupes lately?

I'm all eyes and ears!!!

Until next time.

Vita :)

Bling with a purpose: Witchery raises money for ovarian cancer research

Here's a quick post to show you this simple set of silver stacking rings I bought from Witchery last week...

I bought them because they're gorgeous in their own right but these rings are also a worthy purchase as $5AUD from these go towards ovarian cancer research. Every year Witchery runs a special campaign to raise funds for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation (OCRF) and have raised in excess of 2 million dollars to date.

To find out more about Witchery's OCRF support campaign click  here.

Until my next post.

Vita :)

NOTD: Witchery - Dusk

My nails have been wearing my new Witchery Dusk polish to work this week.  As Witchery is primarily a fashion and accessories store, their cosmetics are very seasonal and the colours complement their clothing lines - Dusk is no exception.

Dusk is a semi matte lilac-tinged silver.  It's almost a metallic 'neutral' I think and coordinates well with the winter wardrobe of blacks, greys and plums.  The nail polish formula provides great coverage and I could have got away with wearing a single coat of colour although I did apply my usual two. This shade is safe for the office but still a little edgy.

All of these pictures were taken in late afternoon sunlight which warms the tone of the polish:

Until my next post.

Vita :)

Haul post: Just a few more bottles of polish...

I bought these polishes while I was away on my interstate business trip a few weeks ago.

I've never heard of the brand Nabi before.  Funnily enough the blurb on the front of the bottle says, "The best nail polish I've ever used". These are manufactured in China and distributed by Nabi Cosmetics, USA.  I found these at a discount cosmetics store called House of Cosmetics and was attracted by the pretty colours and the cheap price (less than $4AUD each).

The chic silver-lidded bottle on the right is from Witchery and I bought it at the airport for around three times the price.

L - R:

Nabi:  Blue Away, Velvet, Lavender

Witchery:  Dusk

Here are some quick tape swatches in sunlight:

I'm already wondering if two of the three Nabi polishes were a waste of money because of their watery formula.  The only swatch that looks promising is Lavender.  The other issue was the positively toxic smell on application - strong and unpleasant.  By comparison the Witchery dusk swatch applied like a dream so I look forward to wearing it.

Have any of you heard of or used Nabi nail polish before?   

Until my next post.

Vita :)

EOTD: Witchery palette

Wow!  My How much is your face worth? post certainly provoked a lot of interest - Great!

I thought I'd push it a bit further with a few more posts along this theme. The first one will be on the cost of my weekday (office) face just to scare you girls a bit more about the price of beauty *sniggers*. The other post will be a personal challenge post to see how low I can go in price without skimping on quality.  This one will be a retail rather than online purchase challenge just because I like to try and then buy on the spot!


Anyway, moving on to today's post.   I was having a girly afternoon with some close friends a few weekends ago.  You know what I mean - a long lazy gossipy lunch, followed by wandering in and out of stores, finding little treasures long the way...

We were browsing around the Witchery women's fashion store when I spied their eyeshadow palettes at the checkout register selling at $19.95AUD.  I love chic packaging, so I fell in love with the minimalist presentation of this palette and the neutral shades:

Unfortunately this palette has no name!

I created a quick daytime look using a combination of all of these shades over eye base and this was the result:

I was reasonably happy with the soft neutral look but found that this eyeshadow had creased a little at the end of the day (even with eye base). Hmmm.

I also picked up some bling in the form of yet another pair of silver earrings!!  These cost $12.95AUD.

Funnily enough, I didn't actually buy any clothes!
That's all for now.

Vita :)