Beauty Brands I Want To Try

Image Credit: Alannah Loves

I'm pretty sure you all know I'm a beauty addict (duh). But there's a fair few brands I haven't explored and would love to try out. Let me know if you have liked the brands I mention.

A Foundation I'm Loving

There's a new foundation in my life, and I'm loving it. I've given L'Oreal True Match the toss, due to it being to watery, pink based, and tested on animals. In its place is the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage Foundation (what a mouthful of a name).

Benefits of Green Tea

My exam block is over, yay! I finally have time to chill out now that it's the holidays. However, constant stressing and studying has taken it's toll, I wasn't sleeping that well and my skin isn't the best either. So, I reached for the secret weapon, Green Tea.

Beauty Inspiration: Hair

        

Part Two! Today it's all about hair, and my number one look at the moment is a textured ponytail. They just look so good. Like last week for beauty, I have a few points about my everyday hairstyle.

1. Keep heat styling to a minimum.

2. Have your hair out of your face.

3. Add a braid to a ponytail for some definition.

4. Use clear hair ties, it makes the look more put together.

5. A little bit of hairspray never goes astray.

6. Go for the messy-chic look.

Beauty Inspiration: Makeup

    

So recently, I've really been looking at my personal style. I figure that I should only buy things/make choices that fit that style, and obviously the place to start is makeup. Makeup is so, so personal and it's amazing that a little bit of 'grown-up-face-painting' can turn a day around.

Priceline Purchases

About a week ago, a pink envelope found itself in my mailbox. Priceline sends out a book of vouchers and a cashback quarterly (maybe annually?) and obviously I had to get over there and pick up a few things I needed.

Goodness Every Morning Moisturiser - Personally I think that if you're only going to have one beauty product, makeup or skincare, make it moisturiser. The Goodness one looked pretty fab, and I love the brand message, no animal testing, bio-degradable packaging and some damn good quality ingredients. So far I've really enjoyed it, it's super lightweight and hydrating ($16.99).

Australis StayPut Eyeliner in Chocolate - Sometimes black is to harsh for eyeliner and you need a softer, more feminine look. I've swapped black for brown for the time being and I like it! Brown liner is better for subtle eye looks, I tried a cat eye but it didn't work too well seeing as it's a pencil formula and not a good deep black. No cat eye doesn't matter, the brown looks so lovely with matte natural shades ($10.45).

Both of the products have worked great since I bought them and for the cheap price, I can definitely see them becoming staples in my beauty routine.

Welcome Back!

Hey there, I'm officially back, yay! I've been away from Em Charlie for 5 and a half weeks, and I've missed blogging quite a lot. So many things have happened since I've been taking a break, I read a few books (Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes is beautiful), performed in my first Shakespeare play, started playing basketball and wrote assignments for senior, sigh. 

Even though I haven't posted anything, I haven't neglected the blog either. I've been working on my photography skills and there's about seven pre-written posts and secret pinterest boards with inspiration and about planning for 30 potential posts in my journal. So, fingers crossed this relaunch goes the distance and I can blog consistently for once!

A Palette I'm Excited About

So I was on the SpaceNK instagram a little while ago and I saw this... Oh My Goodness. This is the preview of this year's holiday palette from Hourglass Cosmetics, a combo of bronzers, blushes and highlighting/finishing powders.

TU-LIPS

You may have read my Little Joys post from Thursday, and I have another one for you all, Fresh Flowers. They're just so lovely and seeing as we had some tulips in the house, I thought I'd share my current lip favourite that happens to be a pretty close shade match to tulips.

MY CURRENT CONCEALER

Today I was planning to do a Makeup Look, but I haven't been too well lately and I didn't really feel like throwing my camera in my face. Apologies loves!

SO LONG PARTNER: NARS SHEER GLOW

I bought Nars Sheer Glow last year in June, because I decided to go high-end after the first two foundations (drugstore) I bought broke me out bad. Now, the beautiful packaging is empty, save a few drops. I loved this foundation so much, it was just that good. So the best thing I could do is let you know my thoughts, and why I'm dreading picking another foundation.
* I took the photo before it ran out, Australian weather is either perfect or horrible.

What I Liked
Colour: I had the shade Deauville (Light 4), which was a total guess but turned out to be perfect for me. Sheer Glow also has a line of 19-20 colours which I think is great, "Good for you Nars-Coco".
Coverage: I'd call it a silky kind of sheer, this foundation is definitely more enhancing than masking. Since my skin is almost completely clear, I loved that it was quite radiant, plus good for photos as there's no SPF (please put on SPF if you're going out though!)
Longevity: As I said, this lasted about eight months and I probably used it everyday, so the value for money is quite good. You only need a tiny bit for your whole face, so I only ever poured out the tiniest bit. I never got the pump, because I went to Mecca Maxima six times over the course of this foundation, and it wasn't in stock, c'est la vie.

What I Didn't Like:

Dry Patches: There's only one thing I disliked about Sheer Glow, and that was that it clung to dry spots around the sides of my nose, however that's more my fault than the foundation's, skincare routine lazy anyone?

Repurchase?

Personally, I would. However, there's so many things on the market, and if you can get better, why wouldn't you? Currently I'm looking at the Urban Decay Naked Skin, Korres Pomegranate and Origins Plantscription Foundations. I'd also like to look at tarte, but there's no way I can buy it at the moment. That being said, if I need nice skin, Sheer Glow's my gal. 

What's your favourite foundation (drugstore or high-end)? Let me know in the comments, and it may be my next HG!

HOW TO FIX BACKLASH

I think we all know the struggle. Every so often our perfectly blended eye shadow is ruined by the mascara wand and we have to start all over again. Well, actually we don't! (also, this wasn't a reconstruction photo, I got distracted and the mascara exploded on me, *cringes*)
I call this backlash, the pun was too good to pass up:

You've got mascara on your eyelid. Dang.

1. Let it Dry. If the mascara is still wet and you start removing it, it will smudge and make it worse.

2. Brush Over it with your Eye Shadow Brush. Sometimes mascara will just flake off, and all you
have to do is dust a little bit of shadow over it and you can keep going!

3. If it's Stubborn: Take a cotton swab dipped in eye makeup remover and start taking off the mascara. It should come away pretty easily.

4. Re-Apply. The makeup remover will take away a bit of the shadow underneath, don't worry! Take the shade that was there before, I had on Sin by Urban Decay, and add a little bit more to finish up.

5. Done!

You can use any products you like, of course, but in-case you were curious, I used:

Eye Shadow: Sin from the Urban Decay Naked Palette
Mascara: Bare Minerals Lash Domination (This is really good, I've gotta get better at putting it on!)
Remover: Garnier Micellar Water
Cotton Swabs: I don't know, any brand will work

So that's all for today! Phew, six posts in a month, challenging to think of content, but I'm loving it so far. Let me know if you get backlash too, and how you fix it. Or share a quick fix of your own,

xx

A TOAST TO ORIGINS DRINK UP

Okay, let me tell you about my skin. It's combination, and it's extremely sensitive. From October to December, I was getting dry patches around my face even though the rest of it was quite alright. But I read (I think it was on That Grace Girl) that your skin can still be dehydrated even if its oily. So, I picked up the Origins Drink Up Intensive Mask and thank goodness I did.

First off the texture is like that of a thick moisturizer. I put a pea-sized amount on right before bed, and it doesn't feel like a clay mask, and there's no film when you wake up in the morning. You're meant to use it twice a week, but I slap it on whenever my skin is feeling a bit sad. Also, it smells like apricot, which I love!

Packaging wise, Drink Up is really, really nice. The tube stand up on its own and it a lovely green colour, a bit lighter that what is pictured. It packs 100ml and considering you only need a tiny bit per application, this should last me for months.

After using it about three times, I noticed a real difference in my skin. It was brighter, I was getting less blemishes and the dry patches were getting a lot smaller. After using it for a month, I have no spots, only some quickly healing scars where they used to be. Personally I think the the mask was the tipping point for better skin, because I have been eating healthier and following my skincare routine better too.

Overall, I love Origins Drink Up. It's done wonders for my skin, and I would say one of my top skincare products. Everyone raise your glasses to nice skin, and let me know what your top skincare tips are!

xx

THE FIRST M.A.C. BULLET

Twelve months of blogging and it's finally happened. Over the Christmas holidays, I was given a gift card and MAC's Syrup was added to the collection.

The lipstick is a lustre finish, so its slightly matte but there's that slight sheen, which I think is really pretty. It feels a lot like a lip balm with one coat, but it can be built up to an opaque finish with three layers. Syrup is really easy to wear, it doesn't look flaky and it stays away from the cracks in your lips.

The colour is described as a 'cloudy pink', which is awesome for me. I like my nude pinks because it stays so natural, its not quite my lip colour but I like it more than my natural one. Like I said, pigmentation is fabulous and its like two lippies in one.

In terms of what eye look I wear with this, usually I'll stick to matte browns to accentuate the lips or a mauve-y smokey eye with liner to bring it back to the eyes.

MAC lipsticks are pricey, especially in Australia ($36!!) so I either want to find some dupes in the drugstore or find someone going overseas to buy them for me.

Have you tried MAC? What are your favourite lipsticks?

WISHLIST #1

I make heaps of wish lists. On my phone, napkins, polyvore... everywhere! This is the current roundup of gorgeous things I'm loving:

First off we have Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow. I mean, just look at it! From what I've heard about its quality, universal shade, and the packaging? Swoon with a capital S! This is what my dream makeup product look like, but the price is a bit of a drawback.

My dream dress at the moment? This Asos dress. It's a shift dress with three quarter sleeves, crisp, minimalist, dreamy. It's so beautiful, and it comes in mustard too, so I may end up with more than one!

Next is the Status Anxiety Phoebe Purse. Not only is it named after the one and only Friends star, it's so lovely. It's got room for all your cards and cash, as well as your phone, plus the colour and design is fab.

Airplants and Terrariums are all over social media, and they look so darn cute! I think it'd be amazing to have some hanging around my desk, and they have mostly no upkeep so it's a win-win scenario.

This one is amazing! Tile is a little disc you stick to your important things so you don't lose things. Considering I'm super forgetful, I'm in need of these babies in my life!

I've heard a lot about the Dr. Jart+ Beauty Balm, and I love the idea of makeup blended with skincare. I've never tried BB Creme, so I think this is gonna be my next base, ( any other suggestions?)

Korres Lip Butters are one of my favourite lip products. They're soft, full of good stuff, and they add a nice wash of colour. Some people think that the pot formulation is a bit gross, but it doesn't bother me. I already own Quince, but I'd really like to try Jasmine or Mango.

So that's my current wish list! I usually revisit them a month later, to see if I'm still as in love with them, and to stop impulse shopping. (a bit of a problem for me!) comment down below what's on your wish list, and I'll see you next Friday.

A Christmassy Makeup Look

Hello Again!

Two posts in one day, what? I'm back to post my first makeup look on Em Charlie! I think this is the first time you've all seen my face so "hello, this is what I look like!" I really like this look for everyday, but you could amp it up with some contouring and eyeliner (liquid/gel recommendations??)

Let's get on to what I put on my face:

Face: It's Skin Lavender Primer (Korean Brand), Nars Sheerglow in Deauville, Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 20, Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer

Eyes: Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half Baked and Smog, Brows in Naked, Bare Minerals Lash Domination Mascara

Lips: Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in Watermelon

Hair: Air Dry and Shwarzkopf Daily Oil Elixir

There you have it! Casual Christmassy Makeup. If you've done a christmas look, post a link in the comments, I'd love to see it,

Em xx

Summer Things

How is it December already? I can hardly believe it but it's finally summer here, and I've got my essentials at the ready.

First up is a good book. I received The Rosie Effect for my birthday and so far I'm loving it, but I won't spoil it for you! It is the second in the series so check out The Rosie Project first. I can't wait to be reading it on a beach somewhere. Sunnies are a must in Australia all year round, and turtleshell cat-eyes are for me. On to a beauty essential, the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in San Paolo. This is a lovely deep pink that really complements any eye look, and the texture is awesome and pretty long-lasting if you let it dry first. Because it's so hot, I really need to get my makeup off as soon as I get home, and I've jumped on the Garnier Micellar Water band wagon. It's good stuff, thumbs up from me! Last thing is music. I'm recommending Built On Glass by Chet Faker, golden songs from a golden artist. Talk is Cheap' is my favourite at the moment. The other album is I Forget Where We Were by Ben Howard. I loved 'Depth Over Distance', and I can't wait to hear more of his records.

That's all for today guys, and don't worry, there's heaps of content on its way throughout this month. Let me know what your summer essentials are, and I'll see you around.

xx

A Hair Shake-Up

Hello Everyone!

Source 1 & 2

A short post today. I'm looking at changing my hair from it's natural colour to one of the two above. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the blonde, but naturally it changes everyday! Let me know which one you like the most in the comments below, and I'll do a follow up post as to which one I end up picking.

Em xx

The School Makeup

Hello Everybody!

I know most schools are pretty shifty about makeup. My school is kind of okay with it, however it must be very natural. I have two products I use, and they work great together ( + matching packaging... win win!). 

On my face: The Body Shop All-In-One BB Cream

This is cool, cause the formula goes on white and blends to your skin tone, which is great as there is no makeup line. The coverage is sheer but just enough to get an even layer.

On my Eyes: Bare Minerals Lash Domination Mascara

I love this one! This mascara lengthens really naturally and just looks like you've tinted your eyelashes. It's not waterproof so I only curl my lashes on sports days.

So there you go! Let me know in the comments what you wear to school, if you wear any. I don't think it is necessary, but I enjoy putting it on.

( + Thank you to those of you who commented on my last post, it was so nice to hear from you!)

Melbourne Haul

Hello Everyone! 

Last weekend I went to Melbourne for a holiday, and some serious shopping went down. Seeing as most of this is beauty-related, I thought I ought to share it with you!

*Disclaimer: I am in no way trying to brag, I saved up for this myself. Tanks*

L-R: The Paris Review, Body Shop Hand Cream, Coconut Revolution Sample, Body Shop Vitamin E Face Sorbet, Kitsch Place Ring & Earrings, Body Shop BB Creme, Aesop Samples, NGV Mirror, Korres Lip Butter and Soap, Page 33 Bath Brew.

Skincare:

I purchased four skincare items while in Melbourne. The fist two are from the Body Shop and they are a Strawberry Hand Cream to put in my bag on the go, and the Vitamin E Face Sorbet. This one is awesome, and I can really describe the texture, but it feels amazing! Next is the samples from Aesop and Coconut Revolution. The Aesop one has a few little bits and bobs that I'll probably review later! The Coconut revolution one is a new brand, and I'm excited to try this out. 

Beauty:

Alright, two things here. 1st, Body Shop BB Creme. This goes on white but blends to your skintone, viola no more foundation lines. The other is the Korres Lip Butter in Quince. I love this because it is hydrating and its a beautiful colour for everyday + Packaging is beautiful.

Other:

The Paris Review, Page 33 Bath Brew, Korres Milk Soap. Haven't used the Soap or Book, but I gave the Bath Brew to my friend Paige for her birthday, and essentially it is a wonderful smelling tea bag for the bath. She loved it! Excited to try the others though. Mirror is from National Gallery of Victoria, and it's the cutest thing.

That's it for this post, Thank you for reading. Below is some photos from the trip, if you'd like to see. Comment down below if you've tried anything above and let me know how you liked it!

xxx