A few weeks ago I was kindly invited by the very talented Dean Nixon from Master Makeup to try out his new brush range. It was a fantastic session where I got to spend time with all my friends, catching up, playing with makeup and basically having an amazing time.

Dean is truly an amazing makeup artist with a real skill not just in his craft, but his ability to understand his audience and tailor his classes towards their needs. It was a highly informative session where each of us got to talk about makeup issues we’ve experienced, and Dean would show us how to address them.

Dean’s brush range contain a total of six brushes, designed to create a multitude of looks. Each brush can be used for several uses which is great for those who aren’t keen on growing an enormous brush collection *guilty*.

He kindly gifted me with two of his amazing brushes, the Kabuki Brush and Eyeliner Brush. Two amazing brushes that you will see featured in future videos and makeup tutorials

I recommend you definitely try these out if you get a chance, especially the two I was given. I did pick them for a reason, they are amazing! You can visit Dean’s brush line on his website or check out the different classes he offers

In case you didn’t know, Shu uemura actually offers facials for their customers at various times during the year. For example, just recently their latest skincare line Tsuya was released, and with that came two weeks worth of facials for the public. The thing about the Shu uemura facials is that they don’t publicly advertise them. So the only way to really know about them is to either be personally offered them at the counter, or via word of mouth~ Or bloggers!

The facials work similar to how a lot of other counters run their makeup sessions, you pay $80AU for the facial and can redeem the $80AU on 2 skincare products. Shu uemura was kind enough to offer me the facial for free to try out. I’ll admit to being a bit apprehensive because I have a “touch phobia” in that I really dislike strangers and most men (sorry guys) touching me! It’s weird, but it’s just the way I am

But for the sake of trying new things, and being able to be a good blogger and report back, I set aside my concerns and went for it.

I’m really glad I did, I’ve never had a facial before and it was really great to indulge in one, not to mention I had it after work on a Friday night, so perfect way to slip into the weekend

The facials are held in a separate quite room with soothing music in the background, which was an initial concern of mine. You can’t hear any of the shopping noises outside which is great!

You’ll be asked what your skin care concerns are up front so they can tailor the facials towards your needs. Essentially however they are using products from their range that best suit your needs, which can be limiting if nothing from their range suits a particular need of yours.

So I’d see these facials as being perfect for individuals who are looking to delve further into the Shu uemura skin care line, but aren’t sure where to start. Shu uemura is really great at explaining the purpose and function of each of the products they use on you, giving you various tips and tricks. If you probe a little further, you’ll start to learn a bit more about what is involved regarding facials in general.

For example, best practices for makeup removal, massage techniques, how to apply certain product types (liquids, creams, gels etc) on your face without damaging your skin, all tips which can be universally used with products from other brands.

If you however have a very specific problem, for example persistent acne or eczema, then of course you need to see a specialist.

By the end of the facial I felt very relaxed and walked away with a wealth of new knowledge regarding skin care. So I recommend this for anyone interested in learning which products from the Shu uemura line best suit you, as well as those who are either beginners or skin care amateurs. Despite having this blog, and reading up my fair share regarding skincare I still learnt quite a bit, and I’m sure you will too.

Thanks again Shu uemura for the lovely experience <3 And for finally showing me that facials don't need to be daunting, but can actually be relaxing if you let yourself enjoy it If you're interested, you can consult any Shu uemura counter located in David Jones in the Melbourne CBD or Chadstone.

A little while ago the girls at Shu uemura held an intimate bloggers event to celebrate the release of two new Tsuya products. Tsuya Serum, their latest serum designed to make your skin look more radiant, which apparently can be achieved after 7 days of using this product. And Tsuya Skin, a primer designed to be a smooth bridge between skincare and makeup. Gotta admit, it was such a thrill to finally get a glimpse into the L’Oreal office, and what a glimpse. The view from the cafeteria alone was amazing!

The girls first played a short clip introducing the new serum, which spoke about the history of Shu Uemura, and the steps to achieving radiant beautiful skin.

HT taking iphone photos

I thought it was such a kick that the girls displayed our blog logos up on the LCDs in the room Made us all feel rather special~

The event was held after work so I was grateful to have a little something to eat!

The girls gifted us with a bottle of Tsuya Serum and Tsuya Skin~ I will do another post later on to give you my thoughts

A couple weeks ago Bioderma held a event to celebrate the introduction of their line Sebium into the Australian market. Despite how early the event was (for a weekend) it was really lovely to be welcomed into the salon and fed some delicious french pastries :9 We were also given the opportunity to meet a makeup artist Shella Martin who kindly hosted the event at her beautifully decorated salon called Salon XVI.

Emilie and Shella slowly stepped through each of the products, explaining how and why they work the way they do, and how they both currently use them in both their day to day life and on Shella’s clients.

We were lucky enough to be gifted with three products from the range, I thought I’d do a really quick first impressions of each of them

Sebium H20, which is very similar to Bioderma’s famous Crealine H20 which I love and use every evening when I wear makeup~ It works almost the same way except is not to be used around the eye area, which the Crealine already does a great job of. I’ve used it mostly to remove my foundation around my face and not surprisingly worked just as well as the Crealine. I was given a 100ml bottle which retails for $19.95AU.

Sebium MAT, functions as a mattifying moisturiser, which I’ve been using as a makeup base. It does a great job at reducing the shine my sunscreen usually leaves me in the morning and smells lovely too Available in a 40ml tube for $27.95.

Sebium Exfoliating Gel, I use this as an exfoliator after I’ve removed my makeup. It has a very liquid texture and jam packed with lots of very fine grains. Available in a 100ml tube for $24.95AU.

The entire Sebium line is targeted more towards people with acne prone skin, however there is nothing stopping everyone else from using it. I don’t personally have acne prone skin but still use this line and haven’t found any issues with it.

If you’re keen, check out the Bioderma Facebook page for a list of locations that stock them

With some of the very lovely Melbourne Beauty Bloggers. Left to Right, Val, me, Shizuka, Emma, Shella, Tine, Amy, HT (Jess) and Norlin.

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.

It’s not often us bloggers in Australia get the opportunity to meet bloggers from other countries, let alone someone who is one of the first to make a real mark in the industry like Michelle Phan. So when Lancome invited us to have a private session with her, I couldn’t say no!

Open arriving to Myer’s media room, I could tell it was going to be a glamourous session. The room was beautifully lit with gorgeous flowers, posters of Michelle, delicious macarons and naturally an array of Lancome’s best products.

We managed to spend sometime listening to Michelle’s story, asking her our own questions and some even managed to arrange a one on one Q&A. After watching Michelle’s videos for goodness knows how long (not surprisingly she is one of my inspirations for starting my own channel), it was so wonderful and rather surreal to meet her in the flesh. I was admittedly quiet nervous, finally meeting someone I’ve admired for a long time is not something that happens everyday.

In person she was gorgeous, petite and so down to earth. I have no idea how Michelle managed to remain so positive and perky during our session given how much flying she had been doing over the last week, but she had so much energy and was able to give some great advice to us regarding youtube, skin care, makeup application etc.

Some important notes and interest facts I managed to jot down were:

• Her evening skin care routine takes around 30 minutes, a routine she religious follows every single night
• The longest makeup tutorial she took to make was her Day of the Dead, which was 2 hrs.
• For those looking to make a career out of blogging or youtube, diversification is one of the most important things to look for. All your eggs in one basket will not always bring long term success.

All in all, it was such an amazing opportunity, many thanks to Lancome for arranging it. Michelle is a gorgeous girl whom you most likely already know, but if you don’t, then don’t waste another second, go checkout her YouTube channel <3

As probably everyone and their mum from the beauty / fashion blogging world knows, last week was Fashion week in Sydney! To celebrate Shopbop held a preview session of some items from their latest collection The lovely Gemma escorted me around the room and I managed to grab a few photos to share

Beautiful white roses to greet us! My favourite kind of roses

How great is this? A basics check list! Totally using this next time I go on holiday

This clutch instantly caught my eye when I saw it, I searched the Shopbop website and discovered it is by House of Harlow and can be found here.

Loved this combo, tempted to try incorporating bolder colours in my own look. At least something like this isn’t BAM in your face, but still enough to be eye catching!

Beautiful shoes that should come home with me.

I thought the soles of these shoes were just adorable! A gorgeous design most people will never see!

Moar shoes! I’m really contemplating getting the pink ones at the end…

Much love and thanks to Gemma for kindly inviting me over to checkout the new collection It was so much fun! Now to go shopping~

A couple of weekends ago the lovely people at Oscar Oscar Salons invited MBBE over for some hair demonstrations I feel like I am always running to every event I attend lately, and this was no different. I bumped into Shiz in the parking lot and we pretty much ran all the way to Oscar Oscar! And man, that girl is fit!! I was so puffed out half way through, so ashamed!!

Below are some of the photos I managed to snap up during the event, hope you enjoy

Of course the ever talented Jackie helped demonstrate how to get fabulous voluminous hair!

After Jackie, our own Mel was hand picked from the girls to be the model for the next hair style called “70′s Love Child”, which is essentially gorgeous curls with two braids on the side So pretty, but I don’t think I could ever replicate it myself because I’m incapable of braiding my hair!

Muahaha, all of the MBBE girls bombarding Mel with our cameras (as you do)

My very own darling HT <3 How gorgeous is she??

My makeup for the day, sorry the white balance is completely out I was testing out some new brushes to see how good the application would be.

Gifts from Oscar Oscar Massive paddle brush is massive!

Many thanks to the Oscar Oscar Salon team and Sharona for being the amazing hosts that they are! I had a fantastic time and can’t wait for the next <3 <3

Illamasqua recently released their Human Fundamentalism collection which consists of an array of vibrant shocking colours, typical of most Illamasqua collections. However, this time I’ve noted a twist. For this collection they’ve actually included a neutral palette, which I unfortunately do not have here for you to swatch, but if you’re interested you have check it out here. I have to admit entertaining the idea of purchasing it myself, but then I see all the neutral palettes I already own and can hear mini-me screaming and threatening to jump off a building…

One of the benefits of being in Sydney during the work week is that I can finally get a glimpse into what Sydney blogging events are like, and what a difference there is! I really had to admit that being in Melbourne we are missing out on some really lovely events, to no fault of any company, it’s just down to logistics.

One of the highlights was definitely meeting the Sydney bloggers and meeting some very familiar faces Thank goodness as I had my own reservations about going and knowing no one at first! But I’m so glad I went and even met some new faces!

Illamasqua were kind enough to gift us with a selection of products from the new launch which I’ll swatch below The Fundamental palette is really a gorgeous, true to the brand type of palette! It contains a Silver Liquid Metal, Mint Green Cream Pigment and Yellow & Purple Powder Eyeshadow.

You can see with the powder eye shadows I’ve included swatches with the Sealing Gel is used which creates much stronger pigmentation, unfortunately when swatched with the finger it gives of a bit of a chalky consistency, when used with a brush, especially an eyeliner brush the result is much better. The palette is currently going for $78AU and the Sealing Gel set (you get two) for $26AU.

I’ll review the nail polish and skin base foundation at a later date, but for now if you’re interested Illamasaqua is currently giving 20% off their entire range if you fill in a VIP card at any of their counters most of the month of April, so hop over if you’re keen

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to Tsumiki Design, a cute little Japanese hair and nail salon. They offer a variety of treatments and hair straightening options, but all I wanted for the day was a trim (as I cut my own hair, but obviously not very well…) and to try out some nail art as it’s something I’m completely new to!

Special thanks to Jimmy for providing the far superior photos in this post, my own photos as you can tell are rather crap in comparison But that’s why I posted them!…. to provide contrast, yep!

As you can see, the salon is gorgeous! The decor is very elegant vintage, I absolutely love the mirrored tray with perfumes. It’s something I want for myself one day when I get my own place

You know you’re a cosplay / youtube geek when the first thing you think upon setting your eyes in this salon is “I could do so many photo shoots / film a ton of videos here!!”

Even the bathroom is done up! Check out all these high ended perfumes above the sink in the bathroom… I could have spent ages standing there playing with them… not that it would be awkward or anything to hog the only toilet for 30 mins

Tine, myself and Violet were the first to arrive

Time to start the presentation, the MBBE girls doing what they do best. Admittedly the day was only made better by having these girls around, they never fail to make me laugh

The food was Japanese / French inspired, and delicious! :9 Kindly provided by Triceangle

Thanks to my inability to read emails properly, I thought the event ended at 2pm, when it was actually 5pm. Nice one Celina. Fortunately, Tsumiki were very quick to accommodate me and sent me up first to get my nails done

When I first saw these nail wheels, I thought they were stickers. But nope, they were all done by the very talented Clara, who did them ALL by hand! Call me a nail art noob, but I had no idea how intricate the designs for nails could be. So I asked Clara to give me something with roses, but still make it work appropriate.

I keep my nails naturally on the shorter end as I play piano, which calls for short nails and so I gave Clara very little surface area to work on. Yet, the girl still managed to give me show stopping nail art :O

Can you believe each petal was actually just a tiny ball of acrylic, that she moulded and shaped on my nail? I can’t even figure out who she managed to do this, I was in shock the entire time O_O

Clara and I

Next was time to get my hair trimmed, I was treated by the lovely Mai~ She first shampooed and conditioned my hair, ahh, since I never visit salons this was such a treat To just lie back and have all the work done for me

Stay classy Celina

Mai and I with my hair all done up! I loved it, I’ve never been very good at cutting my own fringe so I was really happy to finally have it done properly! ^___^

Sheena (is who an awesome singer ;D) and I, she organised the entire event and rounded up us bloggers XD I was shamelessly oogling her Louboutins for the longest time… trying to figure out if she was my size >_>

I loved my hair so much I had to take a photo in the car I feel so much more Asian for some reason XD Esp with my new nails.

I had the best time, thank you so much to Tsumiki Design for the lovely invite I really wished I lived closer, I never go to salons because after years of searching I’ve never found a place I felt comfortable in, but I can really see myself feeling at home here, I should look into at least getting my hair maintained here. Leaving it uncut for close to 2-3 years meant I was living in split-end ville >_O

If you’re a fan of Japanese culture and fashion, I highly recommend this salon. Bonus if you have Asian hair as these guys are pros are handling Asian hair