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What's in my bag 2013

Reaching the end of 2013, I've been wanting to pick up a new everyday handbag, something that better suits what I think will work for me. So, might as well see what's in my current bag that I can transfer to a possible new one. I've been using a tote bag that my mother got me from Canada (that my dad apparently chose), a Danier Genuine Leather handbag, but it's starting to get a bit of wear now, so time to empty and move to the next one. 

The bag itself has held up pretty well, considering my use of it. I love the pockets on the side and front, and inside there is a pocket for pens and a pocket for my phone too. It would get quite heavy, because this is a medium to larger sized bag, so I would tend to just fill it up with whatever and not empty things out. For now, it's been a bit better due to the fact that I have to now travel further for work, so I don't want to have a big, heavy bag slung on my shoulder.

The basics, of course. Keys (house in my wallet and car keys), a wallet that also contains my phone, a pink bear-shaped coin purse (because I don't like coins in my wallet) and my glasses. Granny-style glasses that had the optometrist pretty shocked that he asked to ask if it was really 19-year-old me that picked them. The wallet is also Danier, also a gift from the parents in Canada; my sister-in-law has the same one and I always start to grab for hers, but then realise that it's not mine.

What beauty addict doesn't have a plethora of lip products in their bag? This is pretty much standard, give or take about two or three products. The newest 3CE lip laquer in Super Coral that I acquired recently, two of the Shu Uemura Lip and Cheek Tints (the plum one and the fuschia one), a YSL glossy stain in beige anarchiste, a MAC lipstick in lovelorn (my new favourite shade) and two sample sized products: Too Faced Lip Injection Extreme and Clinique All About Eyes Serum (which obviously is an eye serum and not a lip product, but still). 

A little bit more interesting now. Can you tell I work in tech? There is a micro USB cord (not too techy), but then three USBs. I usually have four, but one is in use at the moment, so not in my bag. My external harddrive would be added to that pile, but thank god for cloud. A hand sanitizer by Fortune Cookie Soap (from the Tribute range, I think it was called; this one smells like bread), keys to my parents place and two nail glues, one Nailene and the other IBD. I do keep the nail glue just in case I need to stick down a loose false nail, but also as a quick super glue fix, say, for a broken heel on my shoe. Handy and effective!

And the last dregs of my handbag: a pencil case with pens etc. inside, a ear phone plug by Shu Uemura for their Christmas 2013 range that came with the Lip and Cheek Tints I purchased, female sanitary items (the box spilled in my bag), a couple of bags of ballerina tea and some fragrance tester papers with the new Estee Lauder Modern Muse and the other new one by Roberto Cavalli (I don't know what this one is called, it was just handed to me when I entered Myer the other day). Of course there is additional rubbish like receipts and candy wrappers... An embarrassing amount of candy wrappers to be honest, as my boyfriend found when I asked him to grab something from my bag. His giggles said it all. 

I've got my eye on what type of bag I want next: one that's small to medium sized, with compartments, like a zip in the middle with two openings on either side (if that makes sense). I don't know why, but the kitty seems to like the current bag (constantly dipping his head into it, sometimes even napping on it), so perhaps I will pass it onto him rather than tossing it out. I actually had a browse in David Jones the other day for a new bag, and I absolutely fell in love with a certain Annapelle bag that was not only the exact functional bag that I wanted, but so stylish too. Alas, it was a bit of my price range (AU$249 to be exact), so I might have to browse around for a more affordable option (and perfect like that Annapelle bag (I have a bit of a grudge)).

Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette Complete Overview

It really has taken me quite a bit of time to get around to doing a whole overview of the Beach Life Palette by Em Cosmetics, the makeup line that took two years to create by famed youtube beauty guru Michelle Phan. 

In this massive palette, you receive 24 eyeshadows, eight lip products and four blushes. Each quadrant is separated into different possible looks that you can achieve; that is, the more complimentary colours go together in each section. Essentially, it's four different palettes put together to make one big customizable one. I don't want to talk about each quadrant individually, as I have done whole posts on each section already, but more of some thoughts about the entire palette in general.

I honestly having been using this palette all too often since I got it, it is quiet large and, to be honest, I haven't been too chuffed on some of the results. However, I will say that it is a nifty idea with the travel palette being included as well as the depotting tool to access your favourite colours easier or have the shades for a certain look. The packaging is a lot more sturdy than a lot of people think, but it's still doesn't reach that "luxurious" quality it's supposedly meant to have.

To start with the eyeshadows: they're pretty much (VERY much) hit or miss. In order to get consistent swatches, I had to either swatch once (mostly the brighter colours with shimmer), or had to continually go over the same swatch again and again (mostly the darker, or matte shades). I even had to scrape a couple in order to get any pay off at all (mostly matte shades again). So the shimmery bright colours were the best, the neutral shades not as much, but I feel like some of the shadows have been pressed particularly hard. Like, while some are soft, a few are very hard to the touch. Most tend to be smooth though, so that's alright; nothing really clumps or balls up. The shadows apply a lot better with natural fibre brushes and do fare better on the actual application rather than swatches. They all blend very nicely though, par for maybe one or two highlight shades, but, again, I think that may be due to the hardness of the shadow.

The lip glosses and the lip sticks... I do not like at all. They're sticky, the colour payoff is pretty meager and the lasting power is less than favourable. To be fair, I have heard that the bullet form lipsticks are actually amazing, but the ones in the pans are just terrible. They just feel so goopy too and considering the proximity to the powder products in the palette, it is not a good idea. A lot of people wonder about mixing cream or liquid products in a palette with pressed powder products, and I think it is indeed a bit of an issue in this palette, especially considering that dark eyeshadows tend to be the closest to the glosses. 

The blushes are the redeeming factor of the entire Life Palette. These blushes are really, really nice. Smooth, pigmented but easy to blend, why can't the shadows have the same texture and properties as the blushes? They're quite soft too, but not too soft. I think I love them so much due to how smooth they are, so I definitely recommend the blushes. Not one of them was hard to work with too. 

For US$75 (I actually ended up paying a total of about $150 due to using a forward shipping company to get it into Australia; Em does not currently ship internationally), it is quite a big portion of anyone's budget considering what you get. I still think the palette idea is pretty good, but so far, they don't have individual pans out on sale, so there's not really an incentive of to purchase the whole Life Palette due to the inconsistent eyeshadows, and the not-so-great lip products. You would think that considering the quality and the look of the palette, that this could be geared towards a newbie to makeup so they have a number of choices and options to get started and see what looks they like... But the cost is just too much to be able to justify it. 

I'm not actually too sure how well Em Cosmetics are going, but I've heard they've had quite a few sales lately, so maybe not as well as some would have hoped. While they tote themselves as a "luxury brand at affordable price" or something along those lines, I see neither characteristic really fulfilled. So, unless you're a die hard Michelle Phan fan, or want to test out and own all the makeup the world has to offer, I'd probably skip by this particular palette. But that's not to say that it's all not worth it, the best way to find out how a product performs is to try it out for yourself!

To see the individual reviews of each section, click the links below:

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

And more pretty pictures/an unboxing post:

First impression

Australis Velourlips

What's this? What's this amazing offering that I am giving a review of today? I love matte make up. I love a matte face, matte eyeshadows and especially matte lips. And, while I can't get my hands too easily on the famous NYX Matte Lip Creams or the Sephora equivalent (can't remember to name off the top of my head, lip cream stain?), I was enticed to look into the Velourlips Matte Lip Cream by Australis after I watched a favourites video by Sharon Farrell.

These come in five different shades, but I picked up the nude shade (PAR-EE) and the fluoro-pink shade (MAL-I-BOO). I first got the nude shade, but then I fell in love with the finish and the lasting power and the scent and the price, oh god, just everything really. So I had to pick up another one, of course. I wasn't feeling the bright orange too much, nor the red; I already had a pretty purple matte cream lip product. Well, I love pink, so why not go fluoro, right? The tube is a nice size that comes with a doe-foot applicator, but it doesn't dispense too much product which is a tendency of a number of lip lacquers. The scent (that I've already said I love) is somewhat fruity but still makeup-y. I don't know, there is something about it that I like. 

MAL-I-BOO

PAR-EE

left to right, without flash: mal-i-boo, par-ee

With Flash

This product is fully opaque in one swatch. It dries completely matte, but somehow has this slightly weird texture where it's a tad sticky but it's not drying and doesn't make your lips flake. The lasting power is absolutely fantastic too; I really don't need to touch this up at all. I mean, I go to touch up out of habit and then find myself maybe dabbing on a half millimeter of product. It even holds up pretty damn well through eating too, and it a tad tricky to take off at the end of the night as it does stain a bit. However, I suppose that is a bit to be expected considering the amazing opacity and lasting power. 

God, I can't praise this Velourlips enough, I've even recommended them to my sister-in-law (possibly picking her up a couple for Christmas!). The texture, finish, colour payoff and lasting power is just fantastic, hitting all the points that you really want in a product. I never really looked in to Australis because it was a "drugstore" brand, and Australian which was incredibly foolish of me. I always preferred to use Asian cosmetics and mostly US, but how can you say you love makeup without giving it all a go? I've actually starting looking more into other products from Australis as well as other Aussie brands. Go homegrown.