My Love for Femme Fatale

After being introduced to Femme Fatale through Kat's blog (check it out here, it's fantastic), I knew I had to order a few of their nail polishes. They also have samples of their other mineral products you can purchase. I highly recommend doing this before committing to a full size product.

I ordered three nail polishes: Winter Hyacinth, A Tisket, A Tasket and Star's Lament. I decided to get the smaller sizes in case I didn't end up loving them. I have only tried Winter Hyacinth so far and I loved it so much, I have already ordered the full size (however, it is horrid to remove). The other two are wrapped under the tree.

The formula is very sheer and this is four coats. You may choose to use a base coat to reduce these. With that said, I do love the layering effect you get when you continue adding layers. This nail polish has a beautiful combination of teal and fuchsia. The fuchsia and red glitter is awesome, but my favourite part is the inclusion of white diamonds and hexes.

In addition to the nail polishes, I also wanted to try their blush and eye shadow. I ordered samples of Archangel and Starcaller (both eye shadows) and Fire Bloom and Velvet Cupcake (both blushes). There were also surprise samples of Amber Eyes and Enchanted (both eye shadows). The samples come in plastic bags which can get a bit messy; however, there is a fair amount of product included.

I will start with the blushes, because I am far more obsessed with them than I am with eye shadow.  Femme Fatale has 12 different blushes to choose from and are quite unique in comparison to the blushes I currently possess.  In their descriptions, it gives recommendations for which skin types (i.e. fair, olive, dark, etc) the blush is best suited for.

L: Fire Bloom, Right: Velvet Cupcake

Fire Bloom:  This is a beautiful rose and coral blush.  It is buildable, which allows for versatility when wearing it.  It can look like a modest glow to a pretty dynamic look.  It has a lot of gold shimmer in it, so if you're not a fan of shimmer, this probably isn't for you.  

Velvet Cupcake:  I love this blush!  It's extremely different from anything I own and it is super fun!  It looks like it will be candy-like than it actually is.  It shows up as a bright pink on the cheeks.  I wore it to the Nicki Minaj concert (see here) because I thought it really fit the mood. :)  It doesn't have any noticeable shimmer, which I think it good considering its vibrancy.  I will be picking this up once my sample runs out.

Femme Fatale has a large range of eye shadows.  They have around 90 different shades available on their website.  I was quite surprised by their eye shadows. I ended up liking the free colours better than the ones I had chosen, which only reinforces the need to sample!

Indirect Sunlight: L to R: Archangel, Amber Eyes, Starcaller, Enchanted

Archangel:  Browsing the website, this was my favourite shade.  I love champagne-looking colours, but this one fell a bit flat.  It didn't look great on my skin and I think that is partly due to its translucent nature.  However, in direct sunlight, you can see the violet shimmer it has, which is pretty sweet.  In the end, I'm still undecided about this one.

Amber Eyes:  I didn't really give this one too much thought, but I am so happy that I received it!  It is my favourite of the four colours and reads peachy.  In direct sunlight, you can see some green and pink shimmer.  The green surprised me and I may purchase this when I run out of the sample.  I love how complex each of these eye shadows is.

Direct Sunlight: L to R: Archangel, Amber Eyes, Starcaller, Enchanted

Starcaller:  This one didn't do it for me.  I didn't look nice on my skin and I just wasn't impressed with it (perhaps, because I liked all the others better).  In sunlight, you can see some subtle pink shimmer, but it didn't do enough for me to like it.

Enchanted: Again, I hadn't really looked at this colour when I was placing my order, but wow!  I like it.  This is a dusky pink with a red/coral duochrome.  I'm not sure how often I would use this colour, but I'm definitely considering purchasing this one. 

Femme Fatale is an Australian small business. I love supporting local brands, especially those who are also Eco-friendly. On each sample it says if the products are vegan or not. Being a strict vegetarian (cheese is the only animal product in my diet. I am too selfish to give it up), this is very comforting. Definitely give them a try!

Check them out here: http://femmefatalecosmetics.com.au/ 

Oz Sale Haul: Revlon Edition

A few weeks ago (it seems like ages) I placed an impulsive order with Oz Sale since they had four or five make-up brands up for grabs (see the first order I received here).  My first order was for a bunch of Revlon products; however, it was the last to arrive.  The others all under my Christmas tree as I felt quite guilty in purchasing all of them.

I haven't had a chance to use most of these products, but I have tested them all to validate my spending.  Up until now, I've only bought one bottle of Revlon nail polish.  I really liked it, but for some reason, I just never purchased any others.  I chose these two colours because I don't have any purple nail polish and Royal Cloak looked pretty sweet (I'm not a big fan of purple).  Black with Envy is supposed to be a pretty close dupe for Chanel's Black Pearl and the swatches I have seen look fantastic.  I adore black nail polishes and this charcoal grey suits me just fine.

L to R: Royal Cloak and Black with Envy

To be honest, I haven't been a huge fan of eye shadows.  I tend to stick with neutrals and neutrals.  Lately, I have been trying to incorporate more colour into my small, but growing collection.  The third colour in this palette drew me in and I'm so glad I purchased it.  The palette is the Revlon Colorstay 12 Hour Eye Shadow in Lavender Meadow.  The formula is smooth and creamy with great pigmentation and reminded me how dry my other Revlon quad is (see post here).  I do believe this product has been discontinued, which explains why it was so cheap on Oz Sale; however, if you come across it, I would definitely pick it up.  The colours are beautiful.

Packaging

Close up of the gorgeousness of these colours

Shades swatched from top to bottom

Now onto the lip products I purchased.  There were a lot of pretty cheap lip glosses and lip sticks and I didn't really know what to pick up.  So I decided to get whatever looked unique and colours that I don't already own. 

L to R: Colorburst in Rosegold and Liquid Lipstick in Grand Garnet

I don't own too many lip glosses because many I've tried tend to be thick and sticky, which I cannot stand.  I didn't look up any reviews of the two lip glosses I chose, I just took a chance.  (If I didn't like them, I was just going to send them to my mom :)  The first one I chose was Revlon Colorburst in Rosegold.  To start with, I really really like the packaging.  To me, this is a great nude.  It has the right amount of pink mixed in with nice bronze shade.  I wasn't sure if I would like the shimmer it has, but it is quite subtle unless in direct sunlight.  The formula is fairly thin, but it definitely leans towards that thick-ish consistency I'm not fond of; however, it is really smooth on my lips.  I really like it.

The other lip gloss I selected, ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Grand Garnet, isn't really a lip gloss, but rather liquid lipstick and that it truly is.  It lasts quite a long time and stained my arm when I swatched it (see swatches below).  First impression, wow!  It is super thin, super lightweight and super pigmented.  Plus, it dries super quickly, so be sure to fix any errors otherwise they will be there for a while.  The colour is a bright burgundy, but is not too bold for those who are weary of red lipstick.  Again, I'm very pleased with this 'gloss' as well.

L to R: Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti, Lip Butter in Cherry Tart, Moon Drops in Goldmist Bronze

The next products I chose were the Lip Butters.  I know, I am so behind on this trend.  I was totally never going to buy them at Australia prices so I had resigned myself to waiting.  However, when I saw them on Oz Sale, I decided to cave and get two, Tutti Frutti and Cherry Tart.  I knew I wanted Tutti Frutti because I love orange coloured lip products (so great for sumemr).  I debated for a while whether I wanted Cherry Tart or Candy Apple and I ended up doing eeny, meeny, miny, moe to decide.  (I've asked my family who are Stateside for Candy Apple.)

The other lipstick I chose was Revlon Moon Drops Frost in Goldmist Bronze.  I'm not entirely sure who named this lipstick, because I don't think it is anyway 'gold' or 'bronze.'  As you can see from the swatch, it is a fairly bright fuchsia, pink.  I think my favourite part about it is the smell.  It reminds me of my grandma's lipsticks and playing with them as a kid.

Swatches, L to R: Colorbust in Rosegold, Liquid Lipstick in Grand Garnet, Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti, Lip Butter in Cherry Tart and Moon Drops in Goldmist Bronze

Have you received any sweet hauls in the post or in-store?  Leave a link, I'd love to check them out!

NOTD: Wine and Sparkle

I bought OPI The Living Daylights from the new Skyfall collection and I've been dying to try it out.  It's an amazing glitter polish that immediately caught my eye.  I've received several compliments on it (and I've only been wearing it for a day and a half).

I used it for my feature nail.  I was really happy with the formula.  It applied really smoothly, much better than Australis Fairy Bread which I tried out a while ago (review here).

On my other nails I used Rimmel's Wine Not.  I wasn't as happy with this polish.  It was far too runny for my liking and it was messy to apply.  The colour is nice though...

Each nail has two coats of polish with a top coat.

I am tempted to try some other polishes in the Skyfall collection.  Any suggestions?

Recent Hauls Part 1: Priceline and Target (and Myer)

Recently, I have been spending far too much on beauty products.  School holidays and online shopping the main culprits to blame.  I am thinking about a spending ban, but I don't think it can be cold turkey; there have to be clauses and loop-holes, so stay tuned for the outcome of that.

A week or so ago I went to Priceline and Target just to browse and pick up some red hair dye.  However, I ended up with this:

Here's the break down:

Priceline:

- Bourjois Blushes in 34 Rose d'Or and 16 Rose coup de Foudre (30% off--can't resist that!)
- L'Oreal Prefernce Hair Dye (necessary for my Amy Pond outfit for the Ramble)
- Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 12 and 16 (Buy one get one free)
- Face of Australia Nail Polish in Mystic Iris
- Australis Nail Polish in Fairy Bread (I have done a NOTD with this and Iris here)
- Cedel Blow Dry Faster (This was on-sale and it is AMAZING! Stay tuned for a review)
- Cedel Dry Shampoo (On-sale and I've been dying to try a dry shampoo)

Target:

- Rimmel Nail Polish in Disco Ball and Wine (I really wanted Disco Ball and it was buy one get one 50% off)

Myer:

-Lancome Foundation Teint Idole in 010 (This was a free sample and so far, I really like this!  I'm not sure if I can justify spending so much money on it.  Maybe the next time I'm in America)

NOTD: Purple and Glitter

In preparation for the Rotary Ramble (a super awesome scavenger hunt/amazing race style event) held in Perth, I have painted my nails a beautiful purple colour.  As I have mentioned, purple is not one of my favourite colours; however, Amy Pond has purple nails in 'Flesh and Stone.'  I adore Doctor Who and decided to dress as Amy for the Ramble.  I will have a post with my outfit later this week.

Anyway, back to the nails (sorry that the photos are a bit dark):

L: Australis- Fairy Bread  R: Face of Australia-

 

Feature nail as always

I was really happy with the Face of Australia nail polish.  The above picture has one coat of nail polish on with a top coat.  It's a really nice formula.

I am getting into the glitter craze.  Fairy Bread was more difficult to deal with than others I have played around with, but I think it's mainly due to the size of the glitter.  There are some really big hexagon pieces.  I really want OPI Rainbow Connections, so this is my way of coping until I get it.  Someday.

Have you tried any other colours by these two brands?  Any recommendations?

NOTD: OPI Nicki Minaj Pink Friday and Save Me

I used to be obsessed with nail polish but it hasn't been until recently that I have regained that interest and excitement.  A week or so ago, I went on a mini OPI shopping spree at David Jones.  Who can pass up by two items get the third free?  Gifts with purchases are my weakness.  Here is a shot of my haul:

I love mini things.  Especially nail polish.  I find I can never get through a whole bottle anyways and I think it's more fun to have lots of shades for the price of one (especially considering the prices here in Australia).  I chose to get the Nicki Minaj collection (like seriously, was there any option not to?), the Holland collection (I've been dying to try 'I have a herring problem') and the So So Skullicious collection because Halloween is fast approaching (and I wanted an orange nail polish).

Here are the two polishes I used today: 'Pink Friday' and 'Save Me' from the Nicki Minaj collection.

 L: 'Save Me'  R: 'Pink Friday'

I really like these two colours.  'Save Me' is definitely my favourite of the two.  It's a lovely glitter polish that has really fine silver glitter and thin strips of blue and gold glitter.  It applies really smoothly and looks great on its own.  'Pink Friday' is a great light pink.  It is bright, but not in-your-face if you get what I mean.  It's subtle.  The only thing I'm not too fond of is how it looks with my skin.  I am quite fair-skinned so the pink sort of blends in, but this wouldn't be applicable to a majority of the population.  

With Flash

I am loving the feature nail trend, so you will see that quite often in my NOTDs.  It's fun and let's me subtly use two nail polishes.  I have only applied two coats of each of the nail polishes.  A third would make it perfectly opaque, but I was content with two coats.

No Flash

I am looking forward to playing with 'Save Me' again in the future.

What do you think of these colours?  Do you have any others in the Nicki Minaj collection?  I cannot wait to try out 'Fly' and 'Did it on 'Em'.