RiRi hearts MAC fall collection mini haul

So frantic was I to make sure I did not miss out on the Riri <3 MAC fall 2013 collection that I was checking Australian blogs, checking the MAC online store constantly, calling up retailers and asking my boyfriend to go in store and confirm the release date... All on the day before the release, that is, the day before October 3rd. But, I had good reason to, I read on The Best Beauty Blog that it was being released October 3rd, as listed in the press release (thanks, Ling for being so helpful and nice with all my questions!), so of course I called up the closest Myers to check... And they told me it was coming out Monday, hence all the frantic behaviour. Well, the collection did come out October 3rd, but it was only online, and I figured, if it was going to be instores on Monday, I might as well wait until Monday and then I won't have to wonder when my package will arrive. Thank god I asked the MAC lady to hold some items for me, the majority, if not all, of the products was sold out when I checked today.

As you can see, I only picked up two items: the blush powder in Hibiscus Kiss and the matte lipstick in Nude. When I went to the counter today, of course I looked at the other products, but what with budget and all, I only grabbed these two. I'm almost kicking myself for not grabbing the lip liner in Talk That Talk and the Extended Play Lash mascara in Gigablack. But hindsight is 20/20 and maybe I can convince my boyfriend to pick them up for me tomorrow, if they hopefully still have them in stock. But either way, these two items were the ones that I definitely had to have from the RiRi collection.

The Hibiscus Kiss duo was released back in the first RiRi collection at the start of the year, and, while I was curious about it, I wasn't overly sold. But dammit if hype and cute packaging doesn't push me over, and I'm quite glad it did. I am quite the fan of MAC's matte bronze bronzing powder and this one is quiet similar, but maybe the tiniest bit smoother.The blush part of the duo is a nice bright pink shade, which would make me look quite a bit more youthful considering my usual dark neutral type makeup. This can be considered to be a universal duo, but maybe not for those with very deep skintones. 

When I called Myers and asked them to put the Nude lipstick on hold, the girl asked me if I had seen it in person, and warned me that it was quite dark and quite unusual. Which is why I wanted it. It really is a perfect nude for those with deeper skintones, but even on my NC30 skintone, I quite like the look of it. It is indeed quite an unusual shade, I don't see many dupes for this one being discovered, but I love the look it gives. It's muted and not too pink at all, maybe a tiny hint of berry. Pretty much a soft brown, and it the creamiest matte lipstick I have ever experienced. It applies so smoothly and I can see myself wearing this quite often. Honestly, I think this is a brilliant nude, much better than those concealer-looking type ones (though, I must say, I'm a wearer of those too. I just like this better).

left to right, without flash: Hibiscus Kiss, Nude

With Flash

Good picks. I got some good picks. But when you like something, you want more right? Even if these end up being the only purchases I get from the RiRi hearts MAC collection, I would be happy. I took my time to think it over what I wanted and I'm glad I didn't get too suckered in by the packaging, although it is a winner. I do recommend checking these out in store if you still have the chance, some might not turn out like how you would expect them to be (e.g. the Diamonds cream colour base is freaking glittery as all hell. Pretty. But glittery). Goddamn did MAC do some good advertising up in here though. 

KORRES Festival Kit

The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining, who's up for being fresh and bohemian? I was just browsing asos and thinking how much I love kit pieces (my mind is already on upcoming Christmas gift sets) and oh hello. I spy, a KORRES Festival Kit. Nice. I've only had two different products by KORRES before, their Lip Butters and one of their Showergels. I've been quite pleased with the quality (and of course, the amazing scents) of these products, and always been intrigued by homeopathic bath and body care, so when a five-piece KORRES set comes my way (and I get a 10% student discount), hold on bank account. This won't hurt at all.

The back of the pack, a bit about the KORRES company.

What a cool spacey zip-lock bag, right? This would be handy for, well, festivals. It contains a full-size milk proteins cleansing & make up removing wipes for face and eyes, mini Citrus showergel with Wheat proteins and mini Citrus little body milk, a full-size mandarin lip butter stick SPF15, and two sachets of the wild rose 24-hour moisturising & brightening cream/SPF6. And what cool packaging it has too, right?!

Always love me some face wipes, these ones are meant to be quite moisturizing and gentle on the skin. It doesn't have much of a scent, but it the very faint milky scent it has is pleasing. The Citrus body milk and the showergel are of pretty good size at 50mL each. I know I already really like their showergels, but I love the concept of a body milk. I prefer lighter options for moisture, like oils rather than creams or butters. They both smell very fresh, but very boyish too. Might be passing these onto the boyfie (he can use the face wipes too because he likes them), but the scent from my other showergels don't tend to linger. We'll see. The lip butter stick has got the cutest packaging for a lip balm that I've ever seen. It smells quite nice too, not quite mandarin-y, but more of a sugary scent. I don't think that it's as moisturizing as the lip butters in the pot, but the size is handy and more hygienic. And, finally the wild rose cream. I'm not a big fan of sachets, but I suppose it's better for travelling. Hoping this will be good too, as I've heard wild rose is good for dry or more mature skin. 

And so, first impression is pretty okay. Nothing that has really wowed me, but I like these kits or sets that allow me to try a number of products from a certain brand, especially if I haven't tried much of what they offer before. So far, the milk proteins cleansing & make up removing wipes for face and eyes and the Citrus showergel with Wheat proteins seems like the best out of this kit, but we'll see how things turn out.

The "interview went well but let's not jinx it, I'm still happy though" haul.

So I had an interview today, in fact, a third interview with the same company. Boy, are these guys thorough, but I am very, very hopeful in landing a place. I put a lot of effort into my makeup beforehand, A LOT. I mean, like, almost an hour. And then a lot of fussing over and over about the foundation and about the eyeshadow. The eyeshadow was fixed easily, should have just kept it basic with the Blue Brown duo-chrome Pigment by MAC and that solved everything, but I was really self-conscious of my skin. I was pretty well covered using a mix of NARS Sheer Glow and MAC Studio Fix Fluid, but you could still see some hyperpigmentation, old acne scars, a tad bit of redness peaking through. But the interview went well. Really well. I don't want to jinx it, but damn I was quite happy walking out. And so a treat was clearly in order, right?

I picked up a humble three items, first stopping in at the Estée Lauder counter and decided to test out the ever raved about Double Wear foundation. Oh my god, more on that in a second, but let's just say I was impressed. And then I stopped over at The Balm section of David Jones, and played around a bit and picked up a blending brush. 

left to right, without flash: stay-in-place heavy swatch, stay-in-place blended, mineral rich loose powder heavy swatch, mineral rich loose powder blended

With Flash

Okay, Estée Lauder. First, let me say the gentleman, Ben, was so nice and helpful. I've never been to the Estée Lauder counter for myself, usual just go with my mum and get whatever GWP that she gets, but what with my fretting about my base today, I gave in and went to go have a look-see. I had a brief look at how the shades work, it goes 1 for the lightest intensity to (I think) up to 4 (maybe 6 in North America) for the deepest intensity and then have cool, warm or neutral shades in each. And then some other number at the end, which is indicates the undertone strength. Ben helped match me to Cashew (3W2) in the Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup, and Intensity 3.0 in Double Wear Mineral Rich Loose Powder Makeup.

Literally, my reaction when he held up the mirror was "wow". It matched wonderfully, and it seriously covered up my hyperpigmentation, acne scars, redness. My skin looked so glorious and just so even and I couldn't stop smiling. Why the hell did it take me so long to dip in?! And, from what I've read, the all day claim really rings true: your makeup will look the same as it did in the morning. Goddamn, this is a damn good foundation, and the packaging is nifty and cute too. I feel so stylish and professional and grown up. 

Ben even put blush on me and everything, just so lovely the whole time. And even chucked in 5 samples of their Advanced Night Repair serum in the bag too. Good god will I be going back to Estée Lauder to investigate other amazing products, the service was so excellent too.

And how am I meant to apply this wonderful foundation without a brush? I wasn't even that interested in the brush range by theBalm considering what I had seen were basically just double ended brushes. Not too keen on those, I mean, how do you store them? But, I saw this dome shaped brush peek out and I grabbed at it and, ooh, not double ended, first hurdle passed. Dome shaped? Good, looking for one of those, don't have one of those. Sturdy AND super soft? OH MY GOD, where do I pay? The downside of this brush (and thank god this brush will only be in my brush holder at home), the... "artwork" on it is so not my style. Bright green saying Blend a Hand indicating the brush name, and on the other side, sunburst ochre and beige with hands holding up various brushes? Not even the Blend a Hand brush. If this wasn't so soft and nicely shaped and appropriately priced, I could have probably shelled out the money for a Wayne Goss or MAC domed brush. But I like the shape and density very much, I can apply foundation in the nooks and cranies, and use for contouring too.

Overall, I think this was a very justifiable haul, I mean. How can you reason someone not needed a fabulous foundation and powder and a great brush? My confidence (although not entirely vectored upon my appearance, makeup definitely helps) will increase when I put this on. God, even just thinking about when I can use these babies gets me giddy.

September Favourites

Already October, and not only does that mean Halloween is coming up but also exams. This month, I have not had all that much time to slap some on my face, so I've been more focused on evening out my skintone so that I could go out minus some colour. A smooth fresh face was what I was going for the majority of September, and these products have really helped me reach that goal.

I was hoping for that fresh and away, but very natural looking face, so there are two face bases this month and one matte bronzer that I used as a contour to add a bit of depth. And a newly discovered, natural looking mascara too. And what good face wouldn't be complete without some good skincare products, I have one cleanser and two, I guess you could call them, moisturizers this month to add to the mix.

MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC30
I know that this really isn't a natural foundation, but it's a newbie to me this month and also a winner. I recently got rematched and it was decided that NC30 was the best match for me, I'm still a bit of an in-betweener, but I am quite tan on the rest of my body, so this one would help to match my paler face. Good lord, I love the effect of this baby on the skin. This is the fullest coverage foundation that I have, yet it doesn't look cakey. I will say, though, that you can tell you are wearing makeup when you use this, but if you blend with care and use sparingly, it's pretty versatile.

Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream in Medium
After seeing the Westerner's take on BB creams, it seems that most are just glorified tinted moisturisers. But I saw this in Priceline and it was on sale, and it looked cute... And don't judge me, okay? When I first applied this, I was pretty let down. It was very much on the pinkier side, and didn't have much coverage at all. But here is where Maybelline steps up, and to my surprise, this acted like a real BB does, slowly adjusting to our skin and I think maybe improving it a bit? I did get the one for oily skin, it has a small percentage of salicylic acid in it, but I am quite impressed. The lasting power on this is even okay, it won't last all day if you push it, but maybe a uni day or so.

MAC Bronzing Powder in Matte Bronze
I featured this product in a previous post about breaking out old favoured products, and I am so glad I put this one back in rotation. I really do love this bronzer, so much. It's subtle, but not too subtle, it's matte and it really lasts - on your face and in the pan! There's not much more to say about it, but I think this is really an underrated product. Go get you some.

Maybelline  Full 'n Soft mascara
I think this may actually make it to a favourite mascara status. I've never been too chuffed about mascaras, simply because my lashes are quite straight and relatively short and sparse. But this one. Ooh. It's quite the goopy formula, but it is black and won't leave clumps. It gives a really natural look, yet somehow, the definition and curl is amazing, giving that "oh, my lashes are just naturally luscious" look. The only downside is that this does tend to smudge on me, but nowhere near as much as Revlon Grow Luscious or Benefit Bad Gal. I might pick up the waterproof net time and give it a go. 

Tony Moly Broccoli Sprout Cleansing Cream
I have been using this every single night since I got it. At the end of the day when I want to remove my makeup and cleanse my face, I just get a scoop of this and rub it all around my cheeks, eyes, lips. Rinse off with water and then follow up with a cleanser. It really helps to dissolve and break down any gunk that has collected on my face, whether or not I put it there myself, and I think that the creaminess has helped to moisturise my skin some and make it smoother. You definitely need a cleanser to follow this one up though, lest you want the oiliness to stay and clog your pores, but used correctly, a definite winner.

Indeed Laboratories Hydraluron
I was quite skeptical when I first started using this. You apply it after your cleanser and toner and before you moisturise and it is meant to help your skin retain the moisture better due to the hyaluronic acid content. I didn't think I even really needed this, but now my face cries out for it when I've left it too long to apply moisturizer after cleansing. It really helps especially around my mouth and chin area, and also my forehead which will  tend to need the most moisture, and I think it really does work if you give it a bit of time. 

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo
I was also skeptical of this baby. I've seen it on a number of blogs and heard it mentioned by a number of beauty gurus, but it seems like it has a lot to live up to. This is meant to be pretty much a skin saviour, in that it moisturises, reduced congestion and any other imperfections in your skin too. It's taken a while for me to realise, but I think that this product has actually been helping my skin quite a bit. I rarely get a spot anymore, and if I do, it's usually a blocked pore or hormonal acne. I will say, that the scent of this is quite soapy, maybe a tad over-powering, and it may sting a bit on your face, but if you can get past that it absorbs in nicely and makes your skin fresh.

And there we have my favourites for the month of September, the calm before the storm. Might as well get the skin prepared with a tried and true arsenal to look fresh and perky, even when not feeling it. Although, with Halloween being perfectly placed at the end of the month, a few ghastly undereye circles won't be minded.