Today I have a special guest for you, my mother! When Naive Beauty offered to send me some under eye algae masks to combat puffy bags under the eyes I initially was about the decline because I (thankfully *touch wood*) do not suffer from puffy under eyes.

But then I remembered, my mother does and is constantly scouting for help in this area. Keep in mind my mother is 63 years old! Personally I think she looks fabulous for her age, but then again people always think she’s much younger than her actual age (I hope it’s genetic!!) My mum has always been a skin care junkie, so she was quite excited to take part in my experiment when I asked her to try these eye masks

These are some of her comments:

• You need to lie down when wearing these masks, because they keep slipping off my face!
• The eye masks feel cooling upon application and feel very comfortable.
• I found a slight difference after 30 minutes, the puffiness seems to have gone down a bit, but not completely.
• This is not a mask you can wear whilst doing work, but it is something nice to do occasionally when you want a 30 minute break.
• It’s a nice to have, but not a must. The difference isn’t huge enough for me to lie around for 30 minutes during the day.

The proof is in the photos (those the after shot is a bit blurry, my fault sorry ), I was surprised that there was any difference at all (I have a very pessimistic view on eye creams / treatments in general), so it was a pleasant surprise and I’m glad my mum enjoyed it.

Overall, these aren’t the magical cure to puffy eyes so if you want something that gets rid of them completely keep searching (or get surgery?) but it’s a nice thing to do when you’ve got the time and want a minor change.

You get a pack of 10 pairs for $27.00AU from Naive Beauty, which isn’t too bad~ I may be tempted to give these a shot the next time I manage to wake up with bad eye circles thanks to lack of sleep

Pros:

• Smooth even coverage
• Hygienic dispenser
• Organic & Vegan

Cons:

• Strong herbal / rose scent
• Feels thick on the skin

Price: $59.95AU

Rating:

Where: Inika.

I’m a bit of a foundation junkie, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to honestly tell you how many foundations I already own, so when Inika offered to send me their new Liquid Mineral Foundation I couldn’t turn it down.

The first thing I noticed about this foundation is how strong the rose / herbal scent is, and it seems to last the entire time you’re wearing it though you notice it less throughout the day (maybe getting used to it?). A big plus is that this foundation comes with a pump, so it’s hygienic to use and even to share!

The foundation provides light coverage, very similar to what a tinted moisturiser would give, but it feels a bit heavier than what I’d like in an everyday foundation. It leaves a dewy finish with a subtle glow, and after a few hours I needed to pat it down with either a translucent powder or blotting paper to remove the shine as I have combo / oily skin (so it may perform differently for dry skins). You need about 1 full pump to cover the entire face.

One of the things that stood out to me regarding this foundation was actually the fact that it is organic and vegan. Now I’m neither vegan nor a person who exclusively eats organic foods, but I have a lot of friends on Live Journal (as well as family) who follow this type of lifestyle religiously so it really did stick out to me, especially now I have a brand I can recommend them. Inika claims that the foundation is great for people with sensitive skin, I personally have semi-sensitive skin and didn’t experience any problems with it.

Overall, whilst I really enjoyed the foundation for its formula and application, I mainly knocked down the rating thanks to it’s strong scent and heavy feel, if I’m using something that gives me a light coverage I’d more inclined to use it everyday. If the product gives heavy coverage, I’d use it for photo shoots, which is when I don’t mind wearing heavy foundations given how heavy everything else will be. I’d recommend mixing a bit of moisturiser into the foundation if you want it to feel lighter.

Pros:

• No smudging
• Long easy to use wand

Cons:

• Neither volumising nor lengthening
• Contaminated brush
• Chemical smell

Price: $4.75AU

Rating:

Where: K-Mart and The Reject Shop.

I’ve been keen to get my hands on some BYS products ever since I learnt it was an Australian brand, and after discovering Savvy by DB I thought this could be another great discovery waiting to happen. And it looks like it may need to wait a while longer because I don’t have many positives to give the mascara.

This is their Extreme Volume and Lengthening Mascara in Black, and it didn’t deliver at all in terms of volume nor length. Just judging from my swatch photo, the mascara really didn’t do anything except clump my natural lashes together to simulate definition, which means it actually doesn’t provide any real definition at all.

One of the things that seriously grossed me out was how contaminated the formula seemed to be, as you can see below the brush was just coated in random fluff. I had to clean the brush a few times before I dared swatch this mascara.

A positive is that this mascara doesn’t smudge at all, it lasted an entire day without coming off. But honestly, there are plenty of other mascara that won’t smudge and at least gives some volume and length.

Overall, skip this mascara. I know the price may be tempting, but it will only be a waste of money.

Style Queen Pretty Purples

Pros:

• Great pigmentation
• Easy application
• No brush required

Cons:

• Expensive
• Little variety
• Packaging can damage product

Price: $14.95AU

Rating:

Where: Target, Myer and various pharmacies.

I’ve seen these types of eye shadows littered across the internet for several months now, so when I spotted these in Target I knew I had to give them a go.

Basically this is called instant eye shadow, where you take one of the foam pieces, press it against your eyelid and sweep it outwardly. You receive a total of seven applications. Despite my initial concerns with application, these applied very easily. The instructions said the foam piece which applied the eye shadow to blend it out. Which again it did very well.

This is a good option for someone who doesn’t wear makeup very often and is not comfortable with traditional makeup application.

However keep in mind, that for $14.95 you could probably get a trio eye shadow palette that could last beyond the seven application this product gives you. Plus one of the things that annoyed me was if you’re not careful, the very packaging this product comes in can damage the eye shadow powder. Not that it’s a big deal, the sweeping motion will makeup for any shadow loss.

The colours are more suitable for special events / evenings as opposed to everyday as the colours are more shimmery and vibrant.

Personally, I don’t see myself repurchasing this, but it was certainly a fun product to play with and put my curiosity to rest. It’s more a novelty than a makeup kit essential

Carnation, Natural, Tulip, Poppy, Cosmos

Pros:

• Great pigmentation
• Easy to sharpen
• Strong staying power

Cons:

• Very drying
• Drags the skin a lot (hard pencil)
• Limited colour range

Price: $2.99AU

Rating:

Where: Exclusively at Priceline

Yay! It’s been a while since I did a Local Luxe entry I should have a couple more in the pipe line coming soon~

One thing I love about Savvy by DB are those cheap bins you sometimes see around Priceline, where every product goes got $2.99 each The lipliners were one of them, so I snapped some up. I actually don’t really use lipliners for lining my lips, I use them for giving my lips some colour, whilst topping them off with either my lip balm or semi-opaque gloss.

Despite Savvy by DB’s great Eye Liners, I think their lipliners fall short I found them almost painful to use unless I “pre-heated” them (lying them next to a heater before hand) since the pencil was naturally very stiff / hard, I had to really go over my lips several times to get any level of pigmentation. And when I did, it left my lips feeling very dry

The exception should be Cosmos, it was one of the liner that applied pretty smoothly, but given I’m more a Natural personal, I can’t see myself using Cosmos daily.

Still with either a gloss or lipstick applied over, this stuff gives great pigmentation and long lasting power So maybe if you can be bothered to pre-heat them, it might be worth a go. But personally, I’d rather the MAC lip pencils, which just glide across my lips.

Shimmering Slate, Illuminating Indigo, Glistening Green, Brilliant Bronze, Pearlescent Plum

Pros:

• Fantastic price
• Very pigmented
• Smooth application
• Strong staying power

Cons:

• Can flake off under warm water
• Sharpening can be messy

Price: $7.95AU

Where: Priceline

One of the problems with reading primarily American / British beauty blogs is that half the products they talk about, I can’t easily test / try out without buying it online (and even that can present it’s own set of obstacles). So when I made my weekly voyage into Priceline, I was talking to one of the SA about trying to find a creamy pencil liner that doesn’t budge. She recommended this.

Saavy by DB is a local brand, made in Germany, but distributed within Victoria (state loyalty!)

What I loved most about this liner is how it glides on my lids, absolutely no tugging at all (a personal pet peeve of mine, looking at you NYX pencil eye liners ). The colour pay off is amazing, exactly how it appears on the pencil. It goes on very creamy, and after about 20 seconds it dries and is almost impossible to budge. I wear mine to work, 14 hours later, you will notice hardly any wear.

And the best part is how cheap it is! The average MAC liner is around $30 – 35ish, so these are amazing! In fact after trying out the black, I had to go back and buy every colour, I’m a bit of a collector at heart.

My only complaint would be sharpening them, I personally haven’t done so yet (a little goes a long way), but given how soft and creamy the colour is, I think you could run into quite a bit of wastage during sharpening. Still, for $8, totally worth it

P.S: Since discovering Savvy by DB, I thought it would be cool start a Local Luxe series and include more local / Australian makeup brands on my blog So I will try my best to hunt them down, try them out and let you guys know whether they measure up Feel free to recommend brands if you know of any!