Would you believed I filmed this a total of three times? This is the third time! First time I filmed in Paris and the footage was just terrible, second time I filmed right after work and realised after re-watching I looked like a wreck. Red eyes, big bags under my eyes, terrible!

Third time is a charm! I filmed it close to midnight on a work night, but it gave me time to use eye drops to get rid of the redness, remove my contacts from the day so my eyes could rest and TONS of concealer! Tooons! My makeup face for videos is quite ridiculous!

THAT aside, you’ll noticed I forgot to include my mascara That’s what you get for filming into the wee hours of the morning! I still hope you find the video entertaining / informative Hopefully will have a chapter ready next week ♥

Products featured in the video are:

• NYX Carry All Beauty Bag
• Yaby Best of Both Worlds 40 Palette
• MAC Eye Kohl – Fascinating
• MAC Eye Kohl – Smolder
• Misha BB Cream
• Dior Forever Foundation
• Bourjois Healthy Gel Foundation
• Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation
• Maybelline Metallique Eyeshadow Palette
• NARS Powder Blush – Orgasm
• MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liner
• Revlon ColorStay Concealer
• Maybelline Define a Brow Gel
• Benefit Porefessional
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Stila Smudge Pot
• Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer
• MAC Mineralise Skinfinish – Lightscapade
• Cargo Face Powder
• Bourjois Beige Eyeshadow
• Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder

I can’t remember who recommended this particular blush to me (I’m inclined to point the finger at HT because she tends to enable me a bit too much), but I think Cactus Flower has a bit of a cult following? Not to the same level as NARS’ powder blush in Orgasm, but I think this is one of the more stand out cream blushes from the NARS range.

Either way, it should come as no surprise that I do love this blush. It is incredibly pigmented, in fact you can clearly tell in the photos below that I went a bit too over board and I didn’t even use that much product to begin with! So that’s one thing to keep in mind, use a very gentle hand and start with less then slowly build up on it.

I find it easier to pat the product on with my fingers, rather than rub. Patting should also give you a more natural appearance as it helps sheer the colour out better. I know many people prefer to use a brush which I’ve tried several times, but unfortunately I still find using my fingers better because the warmth from my hands help melts the product more allowing for better blending.

Cream blushes in general are great for warmer weather in my opinion, or days when you don’t intend to wear much makeup. I used to wear a cream blush every Monday when I flew up to Sydney because I’d wear my glasses (so I could sleep on the flight up) and hence didn’t wear any foundation or face products so the blush helped add a little colour.

All in all, I think everyone needs at least one good cream blush in their makeup collection! You can purchase this for $27US at Nordstrom or $45AU from Mecca Cosmetica.

Not sure if you guys are aware of a brand called Guinot, a popular French skin care brand. One of my favourite products from their line is their cleansing water which I will make time to review eventually! I’ve already gone through two bottles :O

Essentially Cosmecology is an environmentally friendly French skin care line created within the same labs as Guinot. So they aren’t really sister brands, but do share a “home”. The name is derived from two words, Cosmetology (for beauty) and Ecology (for the earth)

Cosmecology was recently launched in Australia, and they were lovely enough to host a small get together with the Melbourne bloggers to test their new range. Some of the distinguishing features of this brand is that there is no animal testing, it’s environmentally friendly (so no excessive packaging) and everything in the range is $30AU or below.

That last one really stuck with me, I don’t personally know the prices in France so I can’t compare, but in Australia it is hard to come across French skincare for anything below $40-$50AU.

One interesting tid bit I picked up from the ladies was that if you have good genes, had very little stress in your life, ate well and drank plenty of water, used high quality skin care and were not exposed to the daily pollution you find in most cities, you’d get your first wrinkle at the age of 50. If true, that’s pretty amazing!

They mentioned that our genes only account for 20% of the condition of our skin, with the other 80% due to external factors such as environmental, emotional & physical stress, what we eat and naturally the skin care we use.

But to me this raises an important point, great genes and skin care is all good and well, but I don’t think anyone should expect miracles if you aren’t taking the right precautions in your daily life, such as avoiding the sun, not sitting next to a heater all day, eating bad foods, smoking, not drinking water, not sleeping much etc. All are huge contributing factors to good skin.

Cosmecology gifted each of us with two products, the Peel Skin and the Hydra Skin. In the time between now and the event I’ve managed to use both products and while I can’t comment on any long term changes, I can say that both are very gentle on my skin and not offensive at all. They have a very subtle fruit like fragrance, which I actually liked, I was a bit worried the fragrance might be too strong. I’m sure I’ll be using this all up

If you’re interested, check out their website for more information or call 1300 300 954 for stocklists. Cosmecology have made it a point only to release their products in salons

I’m going to include a list of their prices below because I can’t find them anywhere on their website and I know personally as an online shopper / researcher, I prefer to know in advance how much stuff costs before I even step into a store.

Time for the second giveaway! This time my giveaway will be hosted on Instagram! I am completely obsessed with Instagram lately, and I love checking out everyone’s photos~ So addictive I can’t wait to check out your photos

The prize for this giveaway is a Guerlain Travel Makeup Palette, again I have no idea what the quality is like, because I’ve never opened this! Completely new, just for you

BORING RULES

1. Competition is open internationally!
2. One (1) winner will be selected at random, in the event the original winner does not meet eligibility requirements, the prize will be forfeited and another winner will be drawn at random.
3. The giveaway ends on the 7th of September, 2012 by 5pm Australian Eastern Time
4. I will contact the winner on Instagram (posting a photo and linking their username) within 48hrs of the competition closure. They are required to respond with their postage address within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in the picking of a new winner!
5. I will not be held responsible if the package is lost in the mail, once it leaves my hands it is no longer my responsibility.
6. You must remain a follower for the entirety of the competition to qualify.

I think that’s it! If you have any questions please feel free to let me know Until then, good luck! I’ll open the last giveaway in two weeks

China Glaze’s On Safari nail polish collection was released with twelve shades, I picked out six of my favourite shades that I thought I could get the most use out of. The collection is quite clearly inspired by African Safari, which really excited me as taking a Safari holiday has always been a long term dream of mine!

All the shades reflect the colours of the desert, the sand dunes, trees, animals and more. I think I did a pretty good job at finding shades that could potentially be wearable at work. Perhaps not the glitter shades, but I would certainly wear the rest without hesitation (already have worn Call of the Wild for a week)

All swatches are two coats with one top coat.

Call of the Wild

A dark burnt maroon crème shade with many dupes such as Zoya’s Anja and Essie’s Carry On. Both so similar I couldn’t tell the difference at a general glance.

Desert Sun

A muted desert orange crème, I’m thinking this shade may not work with all skin tones, especially skin tones that align too closely to this. I wasn’t able to find any dupes, after all it’s a pretty unique shade.

I Herd That

A purely glitter polish with red, gold and perhaps orange. Great on its own, better on a base coat in my opinion. This doesn’t dry with a smooth finish, just slightly rough.

I’m Not Lion

This polish at first took me a while to figure out, sometimes I think it looks silver, other times gold. So I’ve settled on the fact that it contains silver, gold and red glitters, without any base shades. Like I Herd That, the finish is slightly gritty.

Jungle Queen

A dark plum purple shade, Zoya’s Lotus is similar only with pink micro shimmer, Zoya’s Neeka is in the same bucket only with silver micro shimmers. I’m tempted to say Chanel Paradoxal is the closest match I could find.

Kalahari Kiss

A yellow based sandy nude crème, this polish is so opaque that one coat would suffice. Zoya’s Farah or Cho could easily dupe this, except they are more peach / orange based.

Long ago, when I first discovered the beauty that is Bourjois, I knew that one of their stand out products were their foundations. So the first foundation I decided to try was their 10 Hour Sleep Effect. It was the one I had heard the most about so I decided to take the plunge, and I’m on the fence regarding this one.

In comparison to a lot of liquid foundations, this one is particularly watery. The coverage reflects this, which is more light than anything else. Close to what a tinted moisturiser would provide. The smell is very similar to most other Bourjois foundations I’ve tried, which is a light rosy scent. Nothing offensive, but may be slightly irritating to those who are very sensitive to scents.

When applied lightly, the skin is left with a lovely dewy finish. Applying a light dusting of face powder leaves your skin completely matte. I wouldn’t recommend trying to apply a thicker layer to get better coverage because you’ll end up feeling greasy instead.

All in all, good foundation for everyday wear, but it won’t even be enough to completely cover freckles if that’s what you are looking for, only lighten them. If you need something more full coverage from the Bourjois line I would recommend the Healthy Mix formula instead.

You can purchase this for $31AU from Priceline or Target, but I recommend you wait for a special to get a big discount, usually up to 50% off

After months of no Book of Fable chapters, I’m finally back to trying to release them.

As mentioned a while back, I’d like to reserve the whole “chapter” title for more interesting / elaborate videos so I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to release chapters, though I doubt it will be every week with work and general commitments. But who knows, only time will tell

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy my revisit of Chapter 39 – Film Noir. Very heavily based of the video game L.A Noire You can see the original chapter here.

The following products were used:

• MAC Prep + Prime – Skin Base Visage
• NARS Sheer Glow Foundation – Gobi
• Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer – Beige
• NARS Loose Powder – Flesh
• Urban Decay Primer Potion – Original
• Prestige Eye Liner – White
• Benefit White Eyeshadow
• Coastal Scents 88 Metal Mania Palette
• Make Up For Ever Diamond Shadow – 307
• Lancome Oscillation Mascara – Black *
• Lunasol Brow Styling Pencil
• Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder – Light
• MAC Mineralize Blush – New Vibe
• Too Faced Absolutely Invisible Candlelight
• e.l.f Eyebrow Kit – Dark
• Stila Smudge Pot – Black
• Savvy by DB Lipliner – Cosmos
• Yves Saint Laurent Lip Twins – 10

Products marked with an * were provided for consideration.

Trust me when I say, you haven’t tried quality eyeshadow until you’ve tried the shadows from Le Métier de Beauté! Unfortunately not available in Australia, I purchased this palette overseas.

I’ve heard of this brand many times online, but the crazy price tag and the fact that I couldn’t try in person before buying always deterred me. However after reading enough raves to last me a life time, I decided to make the plunge and got this Kaleidoscope Eye Kit, and yes I totally bought it based on packaging. How cool is it!?

The kit contains a total of four eyeshadows, that can roll in and out of the base package. You can have all of them roll as shown below, or just roll one out at a time. Not photographed, but the top is actually a lid that contains a mirror.

The pigmentation and quality for this eyeshadows are the best I’ve ever tried, so soft. One thing these shadows truly stand out in are blending. I can take the tiniest amount needed, place it on the outer corner of my eye and blend. And that small bit of product can be completely stretched across my entire lid. I’ve never had shadows that blended so effortlessly (very little pressure is needed), and I feel like I’ve tried them all from MAC, Tom Ford, Inglot and beyond!

A small annoyance regarding these shadows is that I don’t think the individual pans were glued in very well because two out of four of these pans were loose. They are tightly packed so they won’t fall out and shatter, but when I rolled them out I could lift the pans out of their holder. Not a big deal, nothing a bit of craft glue couldn’t fix, but for such high end product I expected better.

These eyeshdaows I know will last me a very long time as the pans are quite large, and for $95US I expect them to! That however is likely the downfall, $95US is a hefty price tag to be paying for a mere 4 eyeshadows (even though I totally think they are worth it because wow, the quality is crazy!), but everyone has a different budget and priority. I don’t think you can specifically purchase Silk Road online anymore, but Nieman Marcus is selling a range of different ones you can buy

Coloured jeans really seems to be a hit with both the northern and southern hemispheres this Summer 2012! Earlier this year I only saw them online, but slowly and surely as Australia’s Summer approaches, I see them popping up everywhere! From Portmans to Target~

This was right up my alley, for the longest time I was never much of a dress / skirt sort of person (I’m trying to change!). But before I discovered coloured jeans that one night as I surfing ASOS… (oh wait that’s every night ), all my outfit posts contained nothing but blue jeans! But now, my wardrobe has been completely taken over by coloured jeans I love it! They are fun, lively and are a great way to break out of the typical blue / black / grey jeans that almost everyone seems to be wearing. (not that there is anything wrong with them! I still own 5 blue jeans, they are classics for a reason )

My goal is to own every colour I can Let the smart shopping (and silly poses) begin!

I don’t know why I still don’t have a review for this mascara online! I’m slightly shocked, because truth me told I am currently on my second tube of this, and already have a third waiting for me! Strange…

Anyways, Lancôme mascaras need no introduction because as you know they are my favourite on the market so far. Hypnose being my current standing HG of all mascaras (because I’m a sucker for volume and dramatic lashes), but Oscillation comes in as a more everyday mascara for me.

The mascara is heavily promoted on the fact that it comes with an oscillating wand, basically you press the button at the top of the handle and the wand vibrates to help coat your lashes. Personally I don’t see how it could actually work, I’ve tried it a few times and I don’t find the mascara works any better than if I just used it without the vibration.

But what I do love about this mascara is the shape of the wand and formula. The formula is not clumpy, it’s smooth and gives great definition, but also adds some volume. And best of all, I don’t experience any smudging, often I’ll pair this with a flick of eye shadow on my lash line (thinking it might be worth actually showing you my everyday makeup for work!) and it lasts all day.

As for the wand, I’m really a fan of thin plastic wands for the fact that it makes it very easy for me to apply mascara on my lower lashes (which are small and almost non-existent!).

All in all, a great mascara that I clearly love~ (given I’m already on my second tube with a third waiting!) You can purchase this at Nordstrom for $35US or $65AU at your local David Jones or Myer.