SparklesandBows

My Vintage Blazer

2011-06-20T09:53:00.000+10:00

Last night I went for dinner at Katsuya in Hollywood (btw that was an amazing restaurant and not too expensive unless you add cocktails to your order because they are more than the food!) and walking back down Hollywood Boulevard I walked past a vintage store called Iguana Vintage Clothing. Now I had no intention of going inside to have a look but this beautiful blue blazer on the mannequin looked so nice I just had to check it out!

Without too much thought I got the sales assistant to take it off the mannequin for me and I tried it on, perhaps a little small around the waist area especially after gaining some American Holiday weight :S it still sat nicely and looked sharp.

Now the gorgeous shade of blue which you can see on the outside is not the only thing that makes this a pretty piece for my wardrobe, the lovely pale pink lining on the inside is gorgeous and had me sold. I wore it today with the sleeves rolled up once to give a flash of the pink and to make it feel a little bit more casual.

This is my first ever vintage piece I am adding to my wardrobe and will certainly not be my last! I started this vacation with zero blazers and will now go home with three, the others are from H&M and I don't dare go into Zara because the blazers in there are to die for.

Do you have any vintage pieces you have found that are new loves in your life???

PS.

Watch - Michael Kors

Necklace - Tiffany and Co

Shirt - H&M

Jeans - Jay Jays

Nail Polish - From a nail salon, don't know the brand or colour name!

Photos taken inside my hotel room at the Roosevelt Hotel - Hollywood

Huge Sephora Haul

2011-06-18T11:04:00.000+10:00

After years of watching people in the US show what they purchased at Sephora I finally had the opportunity this afternoon to have my own visit in store. I had a few things on my shopping list and the others I picked up on impulse which led me to spend more than intended! My excuse? We don't have Sephora in Australia!

What did I get?
- Bliss Triple Oxygen Facial Mask

- Clarisonic Mia in white

- Benefit trio

- Urban Decay Naked Palette

- Sephora Foundation Brush

- Bare Escentuals Gold Face Powder

- Buxom Lip Crayon

- Nars Laguna Bronzer

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

Expect some reviews on these products!

Sorry for the delay of posts while im on holiday :)

My Mac Eyeshadow Palette

2011-06-06T22:19:00.001+10:00

The other day I posted my Mac Blush Palette post which you can view here. I have been sharing with you girls the top picks I have brought away with me on my 4 week overseas holiday. Similarly to my blush palettes, I also have 2 Mac shadow palettes at home full of a variety of different colours. But this post is going to show you my favourites that I have put together in the one palette for this trip!

You can see that predominately I love neutrals and being realistic to what I am more likely to reach for this holiday, I have stuck with the neutrals and left 1 bright colour! The varity of colours I have included allow me to do anything from a simple day time look to a dramatic evening smokey eye!

Now lets get to the colours! In order of appearance left to right :

Top Row : Antiqued, Satin Taupe, Carbon, Shale, Naked Lunch

Middle Row : All That Glitters, Smoke & Diamonds, Sable, Retrospeck, Mystery

Bottom Row : Honey Lust, Cork, Crystal Avalanche, Steamy, Texture

Summer Party Look - Makeup and Outfit

2011-06-05T23:26:00.000+10:00

It's that time of the year where even though it is cold(ish) back home in Australia, the weather here in Copenhagen, and I am sure most of Europe, is lovely and many people are having Summer parties. Now the outfit below might be more for a cooler evening party but the makeup I have chosen is perfect for any day time Summer party, or maybe you're just going shopping!

Face :

Revlon Photo Ready Foundation (Medium Beige)

Mac Studio Fix Powder (C3)

Chanel Tan de Soleil (TIP: I apply this after my foundation and before my powder. I use the powder to help buff it in and make it look like more of a natural tan/contour, I will do a post on this)

Nars Albatross Highlighter

Nars Orgasm Blush

Eyes :

Mac Perky Paint Pot

Mac eyeshadows in : All that Glitters, Naked Lunch and Mystery to darken the outer corner

Revlon Colourstay Liquid Eyeliner

Diorshow Extase Mascara

Eyelashed curled with Shisheido eyelash curler

On the lips I am wearing Chanel Sirop Glossimer

The outfit is a little more warmer than your typical Summer party dress, but this makes it wearable for a nice cool Summer evening, or even an Autumn/Spring look during another time of the year.

I ended up pairing this with a silver pair of sandles.

Top/H&M Jeans/Jay Jays

Glitzy Glam Waffle Weave Makeup Bag

2011-06-04T06:40:00.000+10:00

Now I have had this lovely addition for over a year now and I thought it was about time I got around to sharing my views on it with you all!

So we all know who Elle and Blair are right? And we all know about their online store Glitzy Glam? Well it is full of all sorts of cute personalized girly things that make great gifts ~~to your friends~~ to your self!

I was a bit hesitant to purchase something off the site at first because I was skeptical about the quality and of course just skeptical about the entire website! But I realy really really wanted one of these makeup bags so I took the plunge and look what I got!

I love that I pretty much designed the look of my bag. You can choose a colour combo, the font you want, the pattern on your ribbon, if you want your entire name or just an initial and I saw that you can also choose between the waffle weave and terry (which was not an option when I ordered this a while back!)

I went with Black & White because I really do love all things plain and pretty. The colours are classic and to be honest I get bored of pink sometimes and I am a bit too old for a polka dot ribbon (though I don't dare judge if you're older and like them!)

Now one hugeeeee benefit of this make up bag? It's not just a makeup bag! Its a ginormous makeup bag that you could fit enough crap in there to weigh down a hippo. It is certainly big enough to fit one of those 88 palettes, you can see from my pictures I have 2 mac palettes in there plus all my other bits and pieces that I need for 4 weeks of travel!

The lining on the inside makes it very easy to clean, after over a year of use I think I ought to do something about cleaning mine! But all in all I am very impressed with the quality of the product and I can see me using this for years to come (and holiday after holiday)!

What more is there to say?! I recommend it as a gift to yourself or a gift for a girlfriend or sister or even Mum! In terms of shipping etc, I received it from USA to Australia in less than 2 weeks, it came gorgeous wrapped in clear plastic with a bow on it like a gift and service has been great. I also was emailing them about another product they used to have listed and I think it was Elle and Blairs Mum who was responding and she was very prompt and extremely helpful!

You can purchase the makeup bag HERE.

My Mac Blush Palette

2011-06-04T05:07:00.001+10:00

For this holiday, it was hard to choose which blushes I wanted to bring along with me! Last year I threw in my makeup bag lots of individual blushes from a variety of companies, and yeah it was variety, but it was not convenience. Which is exactly what Mac Palettes are, a convenient way of storing your blushes! You can either buy them already in the pan, or depot them yourself and then store them in the palettes!

In my entire makeup collection, I have 2 palettes, so this also meant I got to mix and match what colours came along with me! (If I am completely honest, I also brought my Nars Albatross/Orgasm duo with me because that blush never fails to disappoint and I wanted that highlighter!)

From left to right in order of the blush palette!

Top Row : Peachykeen, Pink Swoon & Plumfoolery

Bottom Row : Ambering Rose, Springsheen & Ladyblush (creme)

Top Row : Ambering Rose & Peachykeen

Middle Row : Springsheen & Pink Swoon

Bottom Row : Ladyblush (creme) & Plumfoolery

And there you have it! My top Mac blushes! I am going to try and do a lot of FOTD/FOTN's over time and show you the colours in action.

P.S I am always on the hunt for new colours to add! What are your recommendations?!

Meet my Longchamp Le Pliage (Large)

2011-05-31T01:43:00.002+10:00

About a week before I left to come overseas, I wanted a new bag to bring with me, any excuse will do ;)

I had been eyeing the Longchamp Le Pliage for a while on various blogs. Some of my favourite blogs to read are European fashion blogs belonging to women who have a very classic and chic style. This bag is a popular one among these blogs and after seeing it used in various looks, I knew I needed to get one.

The next question was which colour would I choose? This bag comes in black, white, red, green, light blue, navy blue (like mine), patterned versions, even Kate Moss has a line out. Since the majority of my bags are either black, white or cream, navy seemed like the perfect choice. Even though now I am wishing I went with the black because navy can be hard to match!

In many ways, when you look at the bag at first glance, it can look a bit plain or boring or even a bit old ladyish, but I love that it is classic and these bags are meant to last for years and years. I have already decided that this will not be my last Longchamp bag!

What are your thoughts on the Le Pliage?

21st Birthday Dress

2011-05-30T00:02:00.000+10:00

By coincidence I found the perfect dress for my Birthday in Las Vegas in Zara the other day! I was in there in a complete rush, I had the boyfriend with me you said "no trying on anything, we are just here to buy a scarf"! When he lays down the rules shopping, I stick with them, but when he saw this dress, he allowed me to bend the rules because it caught his eye at the same time it caught mine!

Cue picture here : (image from Zara)

Now what I love about this dress is the pleated design. Even though it is white around the stomach area, I am still going to be able to enjoy a big meal for my Birthday dinner and you wont be able to see it ;)

The black and white colouring is timeless and classic. Neutral colours have become a new favourite of mine and this is dress fits that perfectly.

I plan to wear it with some sort of black heels or wedges and my hair curled and maybe if I am brace, a lovely red lip. Perhaps Viva Glam Cyndi?

Some of my own pics...

I look forward to sharing some pics from the night of my birthday which is just over 1 week away!

Europe time again!

2011-05-24T22:50:00.001+10:00

I am sitting here in a cosy apartment in Copenhagen thinking about how long it has been since I have written a blog post. With all the duty free shopping I have already done and I am going to do, especially when I get to Vegas in a couple of weeks, I am going to have so much to share with you all.

To start the posts off again, here are some pictures showing you what I have been getting up to in this beautiful city...

Huge Lush Haul - New Years Sale

2011-01-05T22:03:00.000+10:00

My YouTube channel has been terribly neglected in the past 6 months. I have had an itch to get back into videos and had so many things I have wanted to film about!

I bought so many Lush items in the past couple of weeks in the sales and felt guilty if I didn't do a video!

Here is the video and see below for a list of items I bought!

Items I purchased:
Snow Globe Soap
Bohemian Soap
Sexy Peel Soap
Vanilla in the Mist Soap
Nou Bar Soap
Angels Delight Soap
Honey I Washed The Kids Soap
I Should Coco Soap
Glogg Shower Gel
Grass Shower Gel
Happy Hippy Shower Gel
Juicy Liquid Shampoo
Marilyn Conditioner
Candy Cane Bubble Bar
Gingerbread House Bubble Bar
Bearded Lady Bubble Bar
Creme Anglaise Body Lotion
Running to the Embassy Body Butter
You Snap the Whip Body Butter
Snow Fairy Lip Tint
Lip Dip
Bubblegum Lip Treatment
Coulour Supplmement - Dark Pink

Essie Lilacism - Swatch & Review

2011-01-02T09:04:00.000+10:00

This is my polish of choice for the start of the New Year. It is the gorgeous Lilacism by Essie. As the name suggests, it is a lovely shade of lilac.

This polish goes on extremely smooth, one coat gives you a sheer lilac and two coats give you the creamy luscious finish.

I find this colour is very pastel and pretty for spring/summer, as we are in right now in Australia, but could also be a pop of colour to any winter outfit.

I adore this polish and highly recommend it to anyone who loves their pretty pastels, or just wants a nice lilac in their collection.

New Years Resolutions & Happy 2011

2011-01-01T21:08:00.000+10:00

So it's that time of the year, the beginning of the year, where we make promises to ourself which we hope to keep throughout the duration of the year. In light to this, I am going to share my resolutions from the different aspects of my life with you and this is the first post of many to come this year, this month, this week. :)

Blog:

- Maintain my blog regularly and this means daily posts or every other day. - No more studies means time to get blogging!

- Have a variety of posts, from fashion, hauling, reviews and swatches.

You Tube:

- I'm planning, fingers crossed, to film a HUGE Lush haul tomorrow. It should be massive and this will be the first to regular videos again.

Health:

- Lose weight! Sorry to be predictable but this will be the biggest challenge for me this year. I am going to be celebrating my 21st birthday in Vegas with my family, and ultimately I want to be wearing a lovely dress that can be fitted if I want it to be with out worry of showing any of those gross lumps and bumps!

- Eat in moderation. This goes hand in hand with weight loss. I need to learn to have smaller portions, and enjoy my guilty pleasures on the rare occasion.

- Much. Less. Salt. I am addicted to salt. It goes on everything I eat and in everything I cook.

- Exercise daily. This includes swimming in my pool, swimming and walking at the beach, using the treadmill that sits in my lounge room, trying bikram yoga and setting up my X Box Kinect Your Shape!

Beauty:

- Change it up. No getting stuck in ruts with my makeup, its time to experiment and then blog about it.

- Buy products which I don't have anything similar to and once again, experiment.

- Follow my skincare routine TWICE a day, no exceptions!

- Make my hair into the silkiness it has potential to have, like my Mums!

Travel:

- Go to new places.

- Do things I wouldn't normally do, like snorkel in Fiji (give me 13 days and I'll be there)

And most importantly, have fun, stress less and enjoy life!

Kate Middleton Inspired Makeup

2010-11-25T20:21:00.000+10:00

So I have obviously been seeing a lot of Kate Middleton recently and I love her elegance and simplicity, even though everyone might be over it by now - i'm not!

So last night when Panancea81 uploaded this video with a tutorial on how to achieve simple Kate Middleton makeup, I had to do my own version today for work!

Overall, I am very impresed with how easy this look is to achieve, but at the same time looks lovely for a day at work. Kate seems to be very natural and very highlighted, so this is what the tutorial aimed at doing. Keep reading for a list of products I used!

Face:

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Tawny

Australis Ready Set Go Translucent finishing powder

Mac blush in Peachykeen

28 neutral palette whitest shase (same as eyes) used as inner cheek highlight

Eyes:

Mac Bare Study paint pot

Coastal Scents 28 nutural palette, a blend of the lightest shades all over the lid, and the whitest shade for highlight

Benefit Bad Gal eyeliner - I used this on the upper and lower water lines as well as lining the normal areas of my eyes, I then set this with the black from the 28 neutral palette

Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara

Lips:

Mac C-Thru Lipglass

So what do you think? Easy? Elegant? Fast?

Would you do this?

I don't think you have to be engaged to a Prince to try to look like a Princess.

Interviewing on the Red Carpet...

2010-11-20T18:36:00.000+10:00

I had such a fabulous night a couple of weeks ago doing the red carpet interviews for the opening night of the Gold Coast Film Festival. It was a fantastic evening with the opening film and the after party. I have been interning with a PR company here throughout the semester and this night she threw me in the deep end to interview the stars on camera. A lot of you wont know the stars as they are mostly Australia, a lot of Home and Away and Neighbors actors and more, but an actor some of you may know is Xavier Samuels from Eclipse. Photo below.

The red carpet seemed to be testosterone filled and there weren't many female stars there showing off there looks, however this actress looks fabulous in her nude heels and her skirt and tucked in top combo.

After a nervous evening acting like a bit of an entertainment journalist, I got to attend the after party, have a champagne and then go home and write up some stories.

This was also the premiere night for my clip in extensions, which you can't really see but I will do a separate on those!

Just thought I'd share my lovely evening with you! And welcome any new followers! Look forward to frequent posts now I have finished with my degree.

Diva Deal

2010-11-16T19:49:00.000+10:00

I have become slightly obsessed with cute, feminine style pieces of jewelry lately. I walked in to Diva and they were having a 4 for $10 sales! I picked up 4 pairs that I could not resist and they are now mine!

I love little deals like this, they make me happy and now I have 4 new sets of earrings in collection :)

What do you think? Good deal? Have you found any other great little pieces lately?

I got Tumblr!

2010-11-02T21:35:00.001+10:00

Hi everyone!
I'm so so so excited because my new laptop arrived today.
This means endless blogging opportunities and a new webcam to try and film some videos on too! October faves perhaps?

But first I want to share my Tumblr account with you all.
Click HERE.
If you have Tumblr, why not follow me? And send me your link and I'll follow you too!
Also if you aren't already, be sure to follow me on Twitter as well.

New post tomorrow!

Exams. Graduation. Stress.

2010-10-26T21:21:00.001+10:00

Oh how I wish I could spend my evenings putting together fabulous desserts right now... chocolate cake, cookies, pie... all vegan of course. Instead I am doing the backward meaning and I am stressing out!

In the next few weeks I have FOUR exams and one assignment due. At the end of this I'll be finished my semester and also finished university forever. OMG. I can't believe I am about to graduate, this is crazy!

Basically, this blog has a lot in stall for any date after the 18th November. After that final exam, me and my new laptop (on her way to me in the mail) will be blogging a lot and recording new You Tube videos! I have a list so long of products to review, makeup tutorial series and more which I am excited to get out to you all! But for now priority numero uno is to succeed in my exams and graduate with my Bachelor of Journalism. And then who knows... I know that working and saving the $$$ is the next step to get overseas again!

But I promise, there is going to be a bombardment of posts coming in less than a month!!!

On my wishlist - Dior Glossy Sunglasses

2010-10-09T17:12:00.001+10:00

Currently on my wishlist are these beautiful Dior Glossy sunglasses. On a recent trip to Melbourne I tried them on and LOVED them! I m definitely going to pick them up before Summer gets here in a couple of months. They are perfect over sized sunglasses and are also big with the celebs!

What do you think of them?

Asos - Boyfriend Style Watch

2010-10-03T17:46:00.000+10:00

About one and a half weeks ago I ordered this watch from asos.com, you can see it listed here.

The watch is the fabulous and stylish boyfriend style and I must admit I have worn my boyfriends watches before to achieve the look. Asos describe it as two tone metal watch with a retro face.

I love that this watch is both gold and silver as I have been so inspired to mix my jewelry lately (thanks to thecurrentcustom.com) and thus I needed a watch that went with both looks.

This watch retails for approx 22 pounds and shipping to Australia is about another 10, but well worth it! The only thing I don't like is the fact that it doesn't even say Asos on the face, it kind if looks a bit no name? Shipped quickly and I am so happy with the result!

Have you been sporting the Boyfriend watch trend???

O.P.I Charged Up Cherry

2010-09-09T17:07:00.000+10:00

I routinely get my acrylic nails done now and I get so excited each time to pick which colour I m going to have. I decided to go with something fun and bright because I usually stick to the pales. This colour stood out quickly and I am so happy I got it!

The other fabulous thing about this colour is that it is a bit of red and a bit of pink and for me who doesn't like wearing red and pink together (even pink nails and a red top) this colour allows me to do that!

Im considering ordering it for my own collection, to go along with the Essie order I am awaiting from Ebay!

Im back and in a new home

2010-09-01T21:40:00.000+10:00

I know it has been a while (long while) since my last post. I went through such a good phase of regular blogging while I was over in Europe and then I started to enjoy my holiday a bit more and just relaxed and then I came home and took a week to get over jet lag then looked for a new apartment and now here I am in my new place finally settling in!

Blogging is a nice hobby for me, I sit down with a cup of tea and write away. I have a few posts planned in my head. A mini haul should be coming up, some fashion posts and some FOTD's. I am sure some random posts will get in there too.

I took these 2 photos of some parts of the apartment I have been working on. The new place is great, it is 2 story, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom and a biiiiiiiig kitchen (yay!).

Under the stairs is this little cut out infront of the dining room. The bf placed shells there and I put some flowers and tealight candles from Ikea. I think it is so cute!

These bookshelves were finally put together this afternoon! I looooooove reading and I have been sick of storing all these books around random places. Now they have one home in the cosy coner of our loungeroom.

That is all for now but expect a new post soon!

Blog LOVE

2010-07-10T19:56:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone!

Lately I have been on a blogging spree and posting almost everyday! I don't plan to stop this anytime soon either, I love blogging! But apart from this I have also been reading so many blogs too and therefore it is time to do a post about the blogs I love!

The Lip Print

Stefanie is a fellow Aussie blogger and has a fantastic blog. She does regular product reviews, especially on perfume. She also has talented looks posted and she sets her self challenges such as the "50 days of lip products" challenge!

SuperficialGirl

This is a great blog for variety. You get fashion, makeup, gossip and the odd recipe here too. And on top of that, it is updated daily!

A Little Obsessed

Sabrina, who writes this blog, has been a good friend of mine for over a year now. I even got to meet up with her on a recent trip to London and go shopping together!

Her blog is full of reviews, great drugstore finds, fashion posts, hauls and on top of that little creative pieces which Sabrina makes herself! A must have on your blog list!

Faye Cavania

Faye has such a cute blog! The blog has hauls, product swatches/reviews, fashion posts and really cute posts and pictures! Definitely a great read and place to visit!

So that is it for this installment. As I have more and more recommendations, you will see more posts like this one! I think this is the best way to find new blogs!

Happy following girls!

Rimmel 'Airy Fairy' Lipstick

2010-07-09T20:08:00.000+10:00

This was definitley a YouTube made me do it lipstick as I have seen it in various videos and on various blogs too. I have to admit this lipstick would be in my top 5 lipsticks EVER. It is a nice mauve/pink colour and the consistency on this product is amazingly creamy. I find that so many of my lipsticks show up and dry skin cells I may have whereas the creaminess of this one covers it completely. And best of all you can find it for under $10 in your local drugstore. Way to go Rimmel! I think I might branch out and try another colour!

To see this lipstick in a FOTD click here.

Do you own this colour? Have you tried and other Rimmel lipsticks?

Coral Crepe Paint Pot as a Cream Blush

2010-07-07T07:44:00.000+10:00

I know a lot of people picked up the gorgeous Coral Crepe Paintpot from Mac's Pret-a-papier collection so I thought this post might be useful. When rushing to do my makeup one day I pulled out this paint pot and insted of putting it on my eyes, I realised that it would be a lovely blush colour too! So I got it on my finger and started blending it in and Voila! I had a lovely coral sheen on my cheeks that no blush I have could ever match!

I love making products I already have more versatile, the only problem is this colour is Limetid Edition so if I use it too often I will run out!

What do you think of this idea?

Benefit Eye Bright

2010-07-06T05:57:00.000+10:00

When I was in London I was lucky enough to be there when Glamour magazine were having the Benefit giveaway. I of course bought all three magazines and got the three different pencils. I am going to be reviewing each one and to start with I chose Eye Bright which primarily brightens your eyes making you look more away.

Lets take a look at the packaging:

Swatched onto my skin it comes out a very pearly white. I think it is comparible to Milk or Cottage Cheese by NYX though they are back in Australia and I can't show you.

I find it can be worn three ways. As an inner corner highlight and on the water line to brighten your eyes and it is also a quick simple brow highlight that you can easiæy rub in with your finger when you are in a rush. I wore nothing but som mascara and the Eye Bright in the following photo to give you an idea.

Thoughts?

On Sephora.com it retails for US $20 which I find to be a bit overpriced. In the end it really is just an oversized white eye pencil with a pearly finish. If you have the money to spend then why not buy it but if you can grab an NYX jumbo pencil then take that one instead. But I do like the idea of an eye brightening pencil and I think it can definitley make you look fresh and awake.

Here is a FOTD for you as well:

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation mixed with Dior Skin Nude Foundation

Mac Powder

Nars Casino Bronzer

Mac Dollymix Blush

Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara

Benefit Eye Bright

Rimmel Lipstick in Airy Fairy