The Procrastinating Beauty Blogger Tag

I saw this on Tine's blog and since I am all about procrastination at the moment, thought I'd do it (I'm using it as an excuse not to change the sheets, fold the washing and finish unpacking, perfect).


1. Name a beauty regime that you rarely do?
Use a face mask. This is so bad! At my age I really need to start using face masks regularly but I just don't get the time. I've even put one in the shower to use but I still don't use it!

2. Is washing your make-up brushes something that you do regularly?
Not as regularly as I should, bad beauty blogger!
 

3. How long will you last with chipped nail polish?
Only until I get home, I hate chipped nail polish. I've been known to remove my nail polish with sticky tape when I was at work and didn't have any nail polish remover. 


4. How long will you put off buying/replacing a beauty product, even if you need it?
Hahaha, is this a trick question? I'm a beauty blogger, I always have spares and back-ups in my cupboard. 


5. What is your worst beauty habit?
Hmmm, I really had trouble thinking of one which is strange as I'm sure I have many bad beauty habits. I'd have to say neglecting my hair. Since having Chai I've been so lazy with my hair. I rarely get it trimmed, never colour it and never blow dry or straighten it. Lazy.


6. Name something non-beauty related that you put off doing all the time?
Washing the windows. It's one of my least favourite jobs because as soon I clean the windows Chai puts his dirty hands all over them.


7. When going out somewhere, do you leave getting ready to the last minute?
No, I love getting ready and like to take my time about it. 


8. Can you commit to spending bans?
Yes, I have several times however I hate them and don't want to do another one for ages.


9. How organised are your make-up and nail polish collections?
At the moment, not at all. We've just moved so I've got things all over the place at the moment, which I find really annoying because I have to hunt through everything to find what I'm looking for. 


I tag anyone who wants to do this tag. If you do, please post the link below so I can read it and thus continue my procrastination.

FFS Friday - What not to say to your pregnant wife

This week I discovered that Chai has the ability to wake the baby up and it's not even born yet! FFS.

This does not bode well for when the baby is born. FFS.


Tuesday morning when I woke up Tiger informed me I did a fart so bad that it woke him up. FFS.

That goes on the list of things not to say to your pregnant, hormonal wife. FFS.

Wednesday I went to the farmers market and bought a whole pile of glorious fresh fruit and veggies, including a watermelon for Chai. Not FFS.





When we got home I was washing it all and Chai was sitting on the bench helping. Before I could stop him he got the watermelon and rolled it off the bench onto the floor. FFS.


On the way down it hit his toy box. FFS.


As you can imagine, there was watermelon everywhere, it looked like strawberry shortcake had been brutally murdered. FFS.


Our property manager called yesterday to let us know that our house (which we only moved into five weeks ago) is now for sale. FFS.

You have to be fucking kidding me! I was just starting to feel settled and now this. FFS.

I know we have a lease so we are fine for twelve months, however the last thing I need is people looking through our house all the time. FFS.

After four months of weekly home opens, if they think I'm going through that again they are going to get a very rude shock. FFS.

I checked the tenancy act and I have to let them show people through the house, providing they give 'reasonable' notice, however 'reasonable' is not defined. FFS.

Frankly after the stress of selling our own home, moving, unpacking whilst being pregnant with a fifo husband and a two year old, I don't find people coming through the house reasonable at all. FFS.

It certainly won't be reasonable when I have a newborn! FFS.

There is no way I'm going to be cleaning the house and trying to keep it spotless all the time, they will just have to see the house as it is, dirty dishes, toys everywhere etc. FFS.

The selling agent has already contacted us wanting to arrange a time to come through to take photos. FFS.

Considering two of the rooms are full of boxes, he's going to have a lot of fun trying to take decent photos. Not my problem. FFS.

And that's my whinge for the week. As you read this I will be in Perth enjoying a relaxing time with Tiger and Chai before Tiger flies out again for who knows how long. Have a beautiful weekend everyone. 

If you'd like to read more FFS Friday posts, head over to Sarah's blog. 
 

My Everyday Face

I'm so nervous about posting this, my first FOTD post! I haven't posted any FOTDs in the past because unlike a lot of beauty bloggers I don't often wear dramatic makeup so it really isn't that noticeable. However, I realised that there are probably a lot of other women like me who wear natural makeup most of the time, so I decided to get brave and post a FOTD.

For the last few month I've been wearing pretty much the same look every day. It's quick and easy and it makes me look presentable instead of half asleep. Unlike my childless days when I could take as long as I wanted to do my makeup, now I usually have less than five minutes to make myself look decent and often I'm attempting to do this with Chai trying to grab all my products or pushing my legs because he wants to be picked up or played with. 

What I used:

Models Prefer All-In-One BB Cream, Covergirl Lashblast Fusion mascara, Nars Frivolous Velvet Gloss lip pencil, Ardell Clear Brow Sculpting Gel, Physician's Formula Deep Brown Eye Booster (from iHerb, discount code in the sidebar), MAC Taupe Impeccable Brow penci, Becca Baroque Eye Tint, MAC Summer Rose Beauty Powder. Chai was being very demanding this day so I didn't bother using concealer or powder, which I usually do.

I'm in love with this Models Prefer BB, it's as good as my HG BB from The Face Shop.

I have a love/hate relationship with Becca Eye Tints but I persist with them because I love the sheer wash of stay all day colour.

 One more look at the end result.

Red Earth

 

In the 90's I loved Red Earth products, it was my favourite brand and I was so disappointed when they were discontinued. They used to have a gorgeous perfume that came in a round purple bottle, it was so nice. To my great delight Red Earth are back! 

During my P100P blow out I purchased a few products and I was also sent some to try. To my great delight they are all amazing. I will review everything fully soon, but for now here is a quick overview of what I got. 

Sheer Canvas Moisturising BB Cream - This is very light and yet hydrating at the same time. It will be perfect for summer. 

Expert Touch Silky Hydrating Concealer* - I mentioned this in my April Favourites post. It is now one of my top three favourite concealers. 

Lip Passion Premium Plumping gloss in Blush - A beautiful mlbb shade that I've been wearing a lot since I got it.

Lip Nectar Lip Balm in Pomegranate - Another beautiful mlbb shade, I'm planning on getting the clear version too.

Blush Pearl* and Desert Rose* Pure Colour Hydra Luxe Gloss lipsticks. Jubilee Pure Colour Hydra Luxe Sheer lipstick - These are all beautiful, very wearable shades. Whilst they look bright in the tube they go on sheer and lovely.

Colour Rush Baked Eyeshadow in Lunar Eclipse - I don't usually buy baked eyeshadows as I find the colour payoff to be really bad, but this is the exception. The colours are sheer but that makes them wearable. The brown looks dark but goes on lightly to make a great everyday shade.

Natures Child Illuminating Colour Stick in Sunbeam - I was a little worried that this would be too shimmery but it's not, it's a gorgeous, natural flush of pink. I've used this on my cheeks and lips and it works well for both. I can see this tube lasting me forever. 

All the Red Earth products are very reasonably priced and they have free shipping on orders over $75 or flat rate shipping of $5 for orders under $75. The shipping is amazingly fast. I placed my order on Friday afternoon and the products were in Perth on Monday!

You can purchase Red Earth products from their website.
I have my eye on a few more products so I'll post about them once I've ordered.

Products market with a * were provided for review.

Who is on Bloglovin?

I'm a bit slow on the uptake here, but now that Google Reader is gone I've switched over to using Bloglovin. I've followed as many of you as I can think of, however if you are on Bloglovin please paste the link below so that I can make sure I'm following you. 

If you'd like to follow me, click here.

FFS Friday - The Never Ending Telstra Saga

I mentioned before that my phone was in for repairs. I've been lost without it. FFS.

The phone I've been using is a crappy prepaid phone with a 2mp camera that can't even do video calls. FFS.

Last Friday I called the Telstra store to see if my phone was fixed. They didn't answer the phone. FFS.

Instead I got put through to the call centre. FFS.

I spoke to the call centre who told me that the phone had been sent to the store and gave me their direct number so I could call and ask if it was there. The number they gave me was disconnected. FFS.

I tried calling the store with the number in the white pages and again they didn't answer. FFS.

Undeterred (I was determined to find out where my phone was!) I rang the call centre back. After going through the whole process again the lady I spoke to told me that my phone had only been sent to the store that day so they wouldn't have received it yet. FFS.

I had to go past the Telstra store whilst I was out that morning and contemplated popping in to check if my phone was there however the size of the queue put me off. FFS.

I'd been home ten minutes when I got a call from the Telstra store telling me my phone was there. FFS.

When Chai woke up from his nap I went in, stood in line for 20 minutes listening to the guy who takes care of the queue be rude to his customers, picked up my phone and went home. When I got home the phone froze five times in ten minutes which is worse than it was before it was fixed! FFS.

I also noticed that it wasn't capable of making phone calls! FFS.

I called the Telstra shop. By some miracle they answered the phone and told me that I had to go back down there to get a new sim card. FFS.

It was 4.30pm by that time so I threw Chai in the car, raced down there and got a new sim card. FFS.

I hoped I wouldn't have to go back there any time soon! FFS.

Remember the fiasco with the auto electrical place last week? Well there's more to the story. 

I called the dealership (North City Holden) where we bought our car and asked them if they could get the part for me. They said that it'd take a few weeks and that they'd order it. They called me last Friday and said that they'd found me a part in Albany and it was ready whenever I wanted to bring the car up. Not FFS.

Guess how much it cost to repair? Nothing. It's under warranty. Not FFS.

Unsurprisingly the Telstra saga continues. FFS.

I'm really amazed at the difference in service you get from Telstra. Their phone staff are amazing, so helpful, easy to deal with and pleasant. Not FFS.

Their store staff are unhelpful, never seem to know what they are doing and make everything so difficult. FFS.

My phone has been getting worse and worse since it was fixed. Instead of just freezing it is now turning itself off (and sometimes on again) at random intervals and I regularly can't unlock the screen. As our home phone is not working (that's another FFS), I really need my mobile to work. FFS.

I called Telstra on Saturday and arranged to get a new phone. Without me asking they offered to waive the $900 contract cancellation fee and said that all I needed to do was pay off the phone (which was only $200) and I could get a new phone. Not FFS.

I tried calling the Bunbury Telstra store to see if they have the phone I want in stock, but as usual they didn't answer the phone. FFS.

Their answering machine message says that if you leave your details they will call you back by close of business that same day. They didn't call me back. FFS.

It's now a week later and they still haven't returned my call. FFS.

I had to do some food shopping so decided I'd head to the Telstra store on Monday and get a new phone. I waited in line for 15 minutes and spoke to the rude man (who was surprisingly pleasant), told him I want to upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy S4. He asked me to wait over in another part of the store whilst he dealt with the rest of the queue. After another 10 minutes waiting he came over and once again I told him I wanted to upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy S4. He told me no-one could help me with that for another hour. FFS.

I did my shopping and wandered around the shops with a very well behaved Chai for an hour then went back to the Telstra store. After another 10 minute wait someone came to help me. As soon as I told her I wanted to upgrade to a Galaxy S4 she told me they don't have any in stock, don't know when they'll be in stock and aren't taking orders or calling people when they arrive. FFS.

It turns out the man who handles the queue is the manager, so it's pretty disgusting that he didn't know what phones are in stock. FFS.

Wednesday Tiger called Telstra and explained everything to them and they are sending the phones out to us. Not FFS.

In future I will only deal with the call centre wherever possible. 

I am seriously contemplating opening up a Telstra store in Bunbury. I bet if I was nice to the customers and provided decent service no-one would ever go to the other store again. 

Now that you've read about my weekly mishaps, head over to Sarah's blog and see what everyone else has been up to this week. 

Mothers Day Wishlist

It's mothers day on Sunday. Who still hasn't bought their Mum a present? If you haven't here is my last minute gift guide (aka, what I'd like to receive!)

Pana chocolate I Love You Mum gift box - This is available for the bargain price of $28.95 and it contains the Rose chocolate which I'm dying to try. 

Sukin products - I'd be delighted to receive anything by Sukin, their skincare is amazing and it's so reasonably priced. I've got my eye on their Purely Ageless range and Hydrating Body Lotion amongst other things. As an added bonus they are currently 20% off at Priceline.


Narciso Rodriguez perfume - This is one of my all time favourite perfumes. I finished my bottle about a year ago and haven't repurchased it yet. 

Time out and cash- I would love to have $200 and a whole day to myself. Since Chai was born I haven't had more than a few hours alone, having a whole day to myself would be amazing.

A magazine subscription - I love magazines but rarely buy them anymore, usually because I don't get the time to browse the magazine aisle. It'd be great to receive a subscription so that I could still get my monthly magazine fix. 

Breakfast or lunch out with the girls - I don't remember the last time I got together with a bunch of my girlfriends for a meal and a chat. 

Benefit Fakeup - I'm a concealerholic so would love to try Benefit's new concealer.

An Audra James gift voucher - I love Audra's products so a gift voucher for her store would be lovely. 

Anything from Illamasqua - We don't have an Illamasqua counter in WA, I really wish we did.  

Jane Iredale and Nvey Eco products - I've tried a few things from both ranges and would love to try more.

Or for something really simple and easy, flowers and chocolate would be lovely too. 

I hope all the lovely mothers out there have a wonderful day.

Clarins BB Skin Perfecting Cream

BB's are all the rage at the moment, it seems like every week there is another one launched. One of my favourite skin care brands, Clarins, has recently released one and I was lucky enough to have one sent for review. 

Skin Perfecting Cream comes in three shades, light, medium and dark. The bad news for those of us with pale skin is that it's probably going to be too dark. Light is too dark for my MAC NC20 skin (see the My Colour Matches page for more of my colour matches if you don't know your MAC shade). 

You can see in the photo's below that even when I rub this in it's very noticeable on my skin. I tried mixing it with moisturiser and could just get away with it, but in my opinion that defeats the purpose of wearing a BB.

Not rubbed in.

Rubbed in.

I gave this to one of my friends to use and am now very jealous that I can't wear it because it looks amazing on her. When she wears it her skin looks naturally flawless. I couldn't tell that she was wearing anything, she just looked fresh and healthy.

 

On the right skin tone Skin Perfecting Cream is undetectable, it makes the skin look luminous and flawless. Of all the Western BB's that I've tried this would have to be one of the closest in texture and finish to the Asian BB creams, which makes me more disappointed that I can't wear it!

Ingredients:

Carmex Peach Moisture Plus Lip Balm

It's no secret that Carmex is one of my favourite lip balms. I remember many, many years ago it was the first balm I found that healed my very dry, cracked lips. I'd tried every lip balm at the chemist and it wasn't until I asked the chemist if there was anything else I could use that he produced this pot of magic from behind the counter. It's been a staple in my collection ever since.

I love the new Moisture Plus balms and always have one in my handbag. (You can read my review of the clear and pink versions here.) I've been hoping that we would get more of the colours in Australia and now we have! I'm hoping we'll get the plum and berry versions soon too.

 

I usually can't wear peach tones however this version is very wearable. Instead of being a very bright peach it's a subtle peach with a slight coolness to it.

I'll update my post soon with a photo of Peach Tint on my lips. The photo that I took turned out all blurry and in the move I've misplaced my balm so can't retake the photos. Hopefully it will turn up soon! I suspect that Chai may have snaffled it as he is a lip balm addict just like his mummy.

Moisture Plus Lip Balm can be purchased for $8.95 from Chemists, Priceline and Supermarkets.

 Ingredients:

Project 100 Pan is Over!!!!!

I AM DONE!!!!! I'm so proud of myself. It's been a long and difficult journey but I have finally finished Project 100 Pan. I was expecting to take a few more weeks however this morning I finished three products and now I'm done!

It's a happy coincidence that I'm going to Perth tomorrow so I may purchase a few things I've had my eye on for a while, but I'm not planning a huge haul.

 

91. Matthew James Root Lift
92. Echolife Calcium Bentonite Clay
93. Palmolive Thermal Spa Firming shower gel
94. Auscreen Everyday sunscreen lotion
95. Busby Pure Tissue Oil
96. Healthy Care Super Body Oil
97. Ardell Brow Scuplting Gel
98. Firebird Almond Milk Perfume Oil
99. Lendan Beauty Flash
100. WotNot Travel Facial Wipes

If you read my FFS Friday posts you'll know that I broke P100P a little while ago. I did consider adding those products onto P100P but I decided not to, I think I've gone long enough and I really want this endless P100P to be over.

Where to now? We've moved towns so I no longer have easy access to products, if I want something I have to order it online and I am much less likely to do that as I am an impulse shopper. When we moved I got to see how huge my collection is, it's crazy. I don't have as much make-up as I thought I did, however I have a huge amount of lipsticks which I'll never get through before they go off. What really surprised me is the bath, body and skincare products I have. I didn't realise that I had so many. 

I'm going to organise them into categories and take photo's of everything so that I can use up what I've got. I think I've run out of something so replace it, when in reality I've already got it but don't realise. I am also considering listing everything so that I get to cross products off my list as I use them. 

Another thing I'm going to do is give away or throw out products that I don't like or don't work for me. That's half my problem. I'll buy something, use it and find I don't like it, but I think it's a waste to throw it out so I keep it. That's pointless and just means I end up with a heap of products sitting around. Now that I've moved I have more people I can give my unwanted products to, so I'm going to keep them in a box and when someone comes over they can go through the box. After a while anything that's left will go in the bin. 

As I photograph and list everything I'm also going to go through and have a good clean out. Anything that I don't like, don't use or is off will go. It's time to get strict and get rid of things. Plus, I don't want to have to move everything a second time when we move in a year. Hopefully by the time we move next I will only have one box of products. 

That's it. I'm done and don't plan on doing another project pan for a while. I shouldn't say that though because last time I did I started P100P the next day!