Saturday 30 March 2013

My Life in Pictures #6




1. I went and got some money changed for my trip!
2. Lanterns at my friends 21st last weekend, they were really pretty.
3. The cat from the next street came to say hi one afternoon! I usually only see him at night so it was good to finally be able to get a good photo of him. He really really likes scratches!
4. Graduated!!! Got to wear the funny gown and hat (which I got to keep) and everything. Feels good to finally have a piece of paper to prove all of my hard work, haha.


5. We got coconut, green tea and black sesame ice cream after dinner to celebrate my graduation.
6. The boyfriend and I took the puppies to a nearby oval to let them run around off leash. Sadie spotted some birds and was off straight away, but George likes to make sure he keeps an eye on us.
7. Sadie was pooped after running around! She's so lazy, George could probably keep running forever!
8. Went out to dinner at Smoque to catch up with a friend. I could eat there every day, it's so good!
I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter and the Easter bunny was kind :)

Friday 29 March 2013

March Favourites

This month, even though I've been stuck in a bit of a makeup rut, has found a bunch of new (and a few old) favourites!

Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait
I found this hiding at the boyfriends place late last month after it had been missing since before New Years! I've been using it almost daily since then because it's such a great subtle lip colour.

MUA Shimmer Kisses Bonzer
Yes, I was disappointed in this product but that doesn't stop it from being amazing in a totally different way than what I was expecting. It's a great highlighter!

Ulta3 green mini polish from the Be Mine pack
Holy dooly, I love this polish! I've been after a green like this for ages!

Essie Bikini So Teeny
I've been using this polish quite a bit with my 'nail art' (if you can call painting each nail a different colour nail art) and it's just perfect for it. Ok, maybe I want to just add every polish from this weekly nail to my favourites, but if I had to pick one it would be this blue.

Revlon 3D mascara
I hadn't really given this a fair go until now after getting it in a gif with purchase last year (and not opening it until January). I find that it's really runny and more often than not I end up poking myself in the eye when applying it. But when I actually get it on it's fantastic for lengthening my lashes and the thin brush means I can get really close to the lashline, and in turn not have to bother tightlining (which I never do because I hate doing it).

Non-beauty
Author: John Green.  I read The Fault in Our Stars last month and absolutely adored it. I haven't done much reading in the last few years so it's great to finally find an author I love again. I then read Paper Towns and couldn't put it down! I've been to the local library to try and pick up more of his books, but seems everyone is loving him at the moment and all of his books have a long wait list!

Drink: Cointreau Fizz. I've been loving this drink this month! It's just Cointreau, lime and soda water but it's real delicious! I got the recipe from watching Dita Von Teese on a morning show. I've also been enjoying Southern Comfort and lime over ice (with a teaspoon of sugar stirred in).

What were your favourites this month?

Tuesday 26 March 2013

What I wore: Confetti dress

excuse the duck face






I bought this dress towards the end of last year off Modcloth and I really love it. It was reduced from like $90, and I was contemplating buying it at full price, but then it went on sale for half price! I had to get it then, but left it too late and they had sold out of my size. Just when I was about to order it a size down, my size came back on sale! Fate! It is a little frumpy, the bust is huuuge! I could probably get it tailored but I don't really mind. Possibly the best thing about it, after the awesome print that makes me think of confetti, is that it has pockets! It's still been reasonably warm here. We had a nice week where it was really cool, but now it's hot again. I really really cant wait for the weather to cool down more so I can start wearing tights and cardigans again (I bought some lovely scarfs and a granny jumper that reminds me of Grifindor from work recently and I can't wait to be able to wear them!).

Products:
Nude by Nature Undercover Airbrush Mineral Primer
Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 51
Rimmel Stay Matte powder in Peach Glow
Essence Renesmee Red Blush
MUA Shimmer Kisses Bronzer
MUA Pro-Brow eyebrow kit
L'Oreal Color Infallible Tender Caramel
MUA Undressed palette shade 1 and 4
MUA single matte shadow shade 19
Revlon Photoready 3D volume Mascara
Ulta3 Lipliner in Honey Bun
MAC Angel
This is basically what I've been doing with my face lately! Neutral eyes and lip, no liner, bronzer. I dug Tender Caramel out recently because for some reason I didn't get much use from it after i bought it and I've been loving it lately! Same goes for the Revlon 3D volume mascara, for some reason it sat in my draw unloved... but it gives amazing length (not so sure about volume though). The formula is a little wet and I've managed to poke my eye with it more than once, so it took a little to warm up to it. I've also dug out my Essence Renesmee Red blush from the Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 collection, which I hid because it's scary lookin'. Candice from YouReview inspired me to give it another go after reading this post and I've been applying it with a very light hand and we've been getting along ever since. The Rimmel Stay Matte is a new purchase and so far, so good!

Today I'm going to my university graduation! 3 years of hard work (ok, just work) and I get a degree! Yipee!

What have you been wearing a lot lately?
Win the MUA shimmer kisses bronzer and undressed palette in my giveaway!

Sunday 24 March 2013

Weekly Nail: Pink Army

This week I really wanted to use OPI Stranger Tides from the Pirates Collection. I've really been liking the khaki trend that's in at the moment, but I can't afford to buy any more clothes before I leave for England, so I thought I'd wear the trend on my nails instead!

OPI Stranger Tides and Chapel of Love

I was a bit too lazy this week to bother with nail art, so I decided instead to make my nails a little more interesting by pairing the khaki with a pink! I wasn't sure if I'd like the combination, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks. Chapel of Love is a polish my sister gave me when she moved last week, score! I don't think these photos really do it justice, it's a bit lighter in real life, more corally (my favourite!!) The khaki also fitted with work on Friday, as we're raising money for Fifth Army (a collaboration with Headspace - raising awareness of youth depression, bullying and homophobia). It's a great cause and I'm glad I get to help spread the word.

I'm sorry for my lack of posts lately! I've been super busy working (I did a 6 day week!) and I didn't get any time where I could take photos :( I'm going to try planning a bit better from now on so I have a few posts ready to go. Bad blogger.
It's now exactly 2 months till I arrive in London and I'm getting more and more excited each day. I've been spending a lot of my free time looking up travel websites at all the places we can go to.
Unfortunately we can't actually book anything till we get there, because we're going to be working and haven't found out exactly where yet. We are there for a while so it should be easy to get enough time to organise trips to everywhere we want to go (maybe not everywhere we want to go, because we literally want to go everywhere). We don't have a return date set yet, so we might not come back until we've seen everything. I'm going to try spend my time off this week doing a big clean out and hopefully putting some of my clothing on ebay, or at least getting rid of them!

What are you wearing on your nails?

Friday 22 March 2013

Review: MUA £1 line! Eyeliner shade 3, eyeshadow shade 19 matte and lipstick in Juicy

I got all of these items in my MUA haul last month. These are all from their £1 line (around $1.46 at the moment! The exchange rate is excellent at the moment!).


The liquid eyeliner in shade 3 is a lovely gold shimmery eyeliner. It's got a long thin tip that allows you to draw a really thin line. The length is a little tricky to work with, but should be fine for anyone used to using liquid liner. The colour is quite light, so I prefer to apply this with a thick line. It dries quickly and once dry doesn't budge! Because it's such a light colour, it doesn't tend to stand out against eyeshadows, and I haven't actually tried wearing it on it's own.


The single  matte eyeshadow in 19 is a lovely dark brown shade. I was going to use this as an eyebrow shade, but when I got it I realised it was much too dark. I don't have any matte shades this dark, so I'm definitely getting use out of it anyway. Compared to other MUA matte shadows from the palettes I own, this is a lot more pigmented and way less chalky! It could be because it's darker, but a little goes a long way. Like all of MUA's shadows, this is lovely to apply, easy to blend, and doesn't feel at all like it's £1 price tag! I've actually been using it a lot lately as a crease colour and loving it! Excuse the dint in the pan, I managed to dig my fingernail in there while I was taking photos.

Lastly, their lipstick in Juicy (shade 15) is a lovely bright coraly pink, almost fluro, shade! I really wanted to try one of their lipsticks, and this was definitely my favourite shade. I'm so surprised at the quality. It's super creamy and opaque, and smells nice too. It does accentuate dry patches a lot though! I think this shade is a little weird against my skin tone, so it's found it's way into the depths of my makeup draw (The photos don't show at all how weird it is). Now we're coming into the cooler months I'm not sure how much I'll get to pull it out, especially seeing as I have a mountain of other bright lipsticks I love to wear (like MAC Vegas Volt). It is lovely though and I'll be bringing it to the UK with me so hopefully I can make it work there, and help brighten up any dreary days. I'm giving away this lipstick in my giveaway at the moment! Click here to enter.
Juicy with flash
Juicy natural light
(l-r) thin line of eyeliner, heavy line of eyeliner, eyeshadow and lipstick with flash
same as above, natural light

I'm pretty happy with the quality of all of these products, and I can't wait to try more from their £1 line when I'm in England! I've got my eye on some more of the single eyeshadows and liquid eyeliners.

Have you tried anything from the MUA £1 line? What did you think of them?
Or what would you like to try from the line?

Thursday 21 March 2013

Procrastinating Beauty Blogger TAG

I stole this tag from Sammi from Materialgurl88 (go follow her, and enter her awesome giveaway here!). I've been really slack with blogging lately so this is the perfect post for the moment.

 Rules:
 1. You must copy and paste these 'rules' onto your post when you write it, it doesn't take long!.
 2. You must state that this tag was created by 'The Beau Bow' and link www.thebeaubow.blogspot.com
3. You must thank the person who tagged you at the start of your post (link their blog as well) -follow them if you're feeling nice!, and then at the end of your post state who you tag, and then comment on their blog on their latest post to let them know you tagged them, and link your post so they can see what to do.
4. Title this post 'The Procrastinating Beauty Blogger TAG' so everyone knows what it is about.
5. Have fun! :)

 1. Name a beauty regime that you rarely do? 
I used to be the worst with beauty regimes - I even used to wear my makeup to bed! I'm getting better, I use a primer most days, and I've even fill my eyebrows in most days too! I usually use a cleanser, toner and then moisturise before bed but sometimes I get lazy and just use a makeup remover wipe. I guess I'm really lazy when it comes to shaving my legs and I like to put that off as much as possible, haha
.
Finally remembered to wash my brushes, thanks to this tag! 
2. Is washing your makeup brushes something you do regularly? 
Uh... I'll be honest with you all. You're probably all going to scream in horror but, I've only washed my brushes a few times. Even though I have the tinniest collection of brushes known to man, I still can't remember to do it regularly! It's probably worse because I use mine almost every day because I have so few!
 
3. How long will you last with chipped nail polish?
A few days! It annoys me, but I'm so lazy I can still go a few days before removing it and starting it again. It helps that I can rarely go a day before my nail polish starts to chip. Recently I've gotten into a horrible habit of peeling off my nail polish when it chips that I really need to stop!

4. How long do you put off buying/replacing a beauty or nail polish product even if you need it? (i.e purchasing a new topcoat, or a new foundation etc.)
Usually I've already repurchased the product before it's run out (I picked up a new pressed powder today because mine is running low :( ) but I can get a bit lazy with things like cotton tips and pads and I've managed to go a few weeks without purchasing cotton pads (thank god for my stockpile of makeup remover pads!).

5. What is your worst beauty habit? 
Not washing my brushes I guess! And the chipped nail polish. I rub my face and eyes a lot too, which is a big no no. 

6. Name something non-beauty related that you put off doing all the time?
Ugh, Cleaning!!! I've been really slack at washing my clothes lately and I put that off until I don't have any clean nickers left. Whoops. 

7. When going out somewhere, do you leave getting ready until the last minute or not?
I like to give myself enough time to get ready, I hate rushing. I usually end up rushing though, especially when I only give myself an hour between waking up and having to get out the door. When I go out somewhere nice I like to give myself about an hour and a half to get ready - I like to watch tv or browse blogs while Im doing it :p


8. Can you commit to spending bans? 
Kind of. I wouldn't see the point in me doing it personally, I'd rather just cut back on impulse purchase and really think about what I buy. But I've cut back majorly on my spending since January so it's basically been like I've been on a spending ban, but I've had a few slip ups (My MUA haul, and a few little bits here and there).

Don't worry, I've organised it since this! 
9. How organised is your makeup and nail polish collection? 
For me, it's pretty damn organised, but for other people it's probably not at all. I've got my nail polish in a big bag I got for free at Terry White once when I bought a lot of Ulta3 polishes and really the only organisation there is the fact they're all together and I've swatched them all onto fake nail rounder things. My makeup on the other hand, used to be nice and neat in the bathroom with eyeshadows, face products and lip products all in separate containers, but now most of my lipsticks are lying around my room in various locations, my most used products are sitting in a box next to my mirror, and the rest are thrown around my makeup draw in the bathroom. At least it works for me, haha.


 10. What is the longest amount of time you have gone without writing a blog post? 
Several months! When I first started blogging last year I blogged for a few months, then got caught up with uni and didn't start again until later in the year. Once I found my passion - beauty products, I was able to start blogging regularly and now I don't think it's been much longer than a week between blog posts! I usually have blog posts mostly written up before I post them but I find it hard to find time to take photos for posts, especially because I don't like doing it when there's other people at home. 

 Now I tag all of you to do this tag!! Post a link if you've already done it :)

Monday 18 March 2013

Weekly Nail: Easter Eggs

Recenlty I was inspired by a post from Bellabox on facebook to create lovely pastel nails with a lot of my polish stash. I've managed to try this a couple of times, as you can see from my 'my life in pictures' post from last week. I'm totally in love with doing my nails like this and I still have so many ideas so you haven't seen the last of it yet!!
 I used OPI Italian Love Affair on my thumb, middle finger and spots on my ring finger, Ulta3 lollypop lilac on my pointer, Essie Bikini So Teeny on my ring finger and spots on my thumb, and the bright pink from my Ulta3 mini's set in be mine. I used a bobby pin to get the polka dots, which I think worked quite well.
I've really been loving using Bikini So Teeny and Lollypop Lilac when I'm doing my nails, and this combination especially reminds me of Easter! I also feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with growing my nails. I know, they're still very short, but they feel stronger! The skin around my nails is very irritated at the moment for some reason, so I think a lot of moisturising is in order.I'm still being really boring lately. Really all that's been happening is work, and I've been picking up as many shifts as I can get. I've been really lucky managing to cover shifts for people lately, so I've been stressing about money less. I managed to get some money exchanged to pounds this week too, because the exchange rate is definitely in our favour at the moment (£0.69 per $1 AUD) and hopefully it can stay that way for a while, haha. I'm going to exchange some Euro's soon for traveling too! There's just over 2 months till we leave, which means I'm going to have to start thinking about packing up my room (because I'll want to move out soon after I leave, and so my parents can use my room for whatever while I'm away, haha) and think about what I want to bring with me! I'm also thinking about selling some stuff on ebay (mostly clothes) and maybe have a blog sale for some of my makeup (although it's not really worth anything so I'd be better off just giving it away). I also want to do a lot of baking before I leave because I don't know how much baking I'll get to do in England, and I'd love to do some posts here about what I'm baking (I'm planning on baking a Malteser and Frangellico cheesecake soon!) I've also joined bloglovin' so feel free to follow me there if you haven't already imported all your contacts due to the impending doom of no more google reader/gfc. I'm not actually sure what's going to happen when google reader gets shut down, nor do I really understand/like bloglovin' but I thought I'd give y'all the option!
Don't forget to enter my giveaway here!

Sunday 17 March 2013

Wish List: Obsessions

I have a problem with wanting, no... needing something as soon as I see a good review about it. I'm sure you all know exactly what I'm talking about. Even if it's a product I have never felt any need for before, I need to have it right that second! Luckily, I'm trying to save money for England so I haven't allowed myself to give into the urge to buy these things (don't ask me how, I'm not even sure how I've managed myself!), but all these products are things I've seen and needed, plus a few extra little things I'm lusting after. You may be able to tell I'm keen for winter from this too.
Wish List: Obession

1. MAC Superglass in Fab Frenzy    2. Rimmel Vinyl Max in Obsession    3. Lime Crime Carrousel gloss in Kaleidoscope
4. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder    5. MAC Rebel
6. Rimmel Lycra Pro Nail Polish Knight Flight and Trend Spotting
7. MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle

I saw the MAC Superglass in Fab Frenzy on Kat's blog Kitsch Snitch (post here) recently and fell in love. Ever since I've been a little obsessed over find the perfect purple sparkly lipgloss. The only place I found Fab Frenzy was Strawberrynet, it was cheap but I'm not too convinced about buying from there. I found Rimmel's Vinyl Max in Obsession when on a whim I checked Target for any purple sparkly lip glosses and I'm pretty impressed with how pigmented it is! I think the perfect lipgloss would be Lime Crime's Kaleidoscope Carrousel Lipgloss, but it was limited edition a while ago so I'm not having any luck finding it.
To go with my purple ligploss craze, I'd really like a good dark lipstick. Rebel is a cult favourite with beauty bloggers, and seems like the perfect autumn shade for me. It's more pink based, which means it would probably be a relatively easy to wear dark shade. I spotted this recently on Sophie from Born to Buy's instagram and thought it looked lovely.
I'm running out of my Maybelline Dream Matte powder, and this Rimmel powder seems to be one of everyone's favourites. I've started using my Maybelline powder almost every day over my liquid foundation so I think I can allow myself to at least purchase this.
I found Rimmel's Knight Flight on Dawn from See It, Love it, Swatch it's NOTD post worn under Australis' Speck-tacular top coat, and thought it looked like the perfect purple autumn nail colour. I had a quick look for more posts about it and found the shade Trend Spotting, which is a more pink toned version of Knight Flight.
MAC's Soft and Gentle, like all of their Mineralize Skin Finishes are really popular with the blogging community! If I were to to show you posts I've seen it praised in, we'd seriously be here all day! Lately I've been using my MUA shimmer kisses bronzer as a highlighter, and although it looks lovely, it doesn't blend as well as I would like. I'd love to try a high end highlighter and from all the wonderful things I've read about MAC's MSF, this seems like the perfect product (I'm hoping to pick it up, or any MSF really when I go traveling).

Have you tried any of these products? Aussie ladies: Have you started leaning towards darker shades for autumn yet?
Don't forget to enter my Giveaway!

Monday 11 March 2013

Review: MUA Shimmer Kisses bronzer and blusher


I bought both of these products in my recent MUA haul. I love the idea of multi coloured blushes and bronzers where you swirl the colours together, or can use the colours individually - like the Benefit Hervana and Sugarbomb blushes I own. I don't think I could ever own enough blushes, and while I've never used a bronzer and liked the look I've gotten before, I thought this would be a nice subtle one that I could get right.




Sunday 10 March 2013

Sailor Klerr's 1st Giveaway! Closed!

Today I thought I'd do something a little different to my usual Monday NOTD and finally post my giveaway! I've had this in the works for a while now :)
When I started blogging I really didn't expect anyone to even read my posts! It was just something to do with my spare time (ok, to procrastinate from doing uni work). I've really enjoyed blogging and I want to give something back to my lovely readers by hosting a giveaway.
Unfortunately this giveaway will only be open to Australian residents (sorry!)

Prizes up for grabs! (click links for reviews/swatches of products)
MUA Undressed, Glitterball and Pretty Pastels palettes
MUA Lipstick in Juicy
MUA Shimmer Kisses Bronzer
Surprise nail polishes! I'll buy these based on polishes the winner wants/doesn't have.

Almost all of these products were purchased with my own money - Others are regifted because I have doubles and I want my spares to go to people who really want them or haven't used them before (I though I'd be truthful here, I'm really not trying to be stingy but I do want these items to go to good homes)

How to enter:
You need to follow via GFC OR Bloglovin' and comment below, including the name you follow under, email address and tell me what posts you like seeing here the most in your comment! (3 entries)
Earn extra entries (include what name you follow under and blog address in your comment):
 Follow on twitter: @_klerr (1 entry)
Follow on instagram: @klerr (1 entry)
Add a link to my giveaway on your sidebar using picture above (3 entries!)
Entries close exactly 1 month from today (11th April). The winner will be drawn using random.org, and announced and notified soon after.


Good Luck!!

My Life in Pictures #5

It's been a while since I've done an instagram post, but to be honest it's really just because my life hasn't been all that interesting lately, and when it has I've been to busy enjoying it to worry about trying to take a photo. It's a little annoying because I've always loved photography. My instagram username is @klerr if you want to follow me :)

1. Taking the dogs for a walk with their new lead connecter. I've taken them for walks without this and it's almost impossible because George wants to run everywhere, but he's a lot calmer when he's walking next to Sadie on this. Thank god. It's a little annoying having to go for 2 walks because you can't take them together!
2. View from the plane going up to Brisbane. Pretty, I guess, but I'm terrified of planes so I really didn't enjoy the trip.
3. The aqua loop. This was the first ride we went on at Wet'n'Wild, and it was so scary that I was too terrified to scream, and was shaking when it finished. Never again. The boys seemed to like it though.
4. So there's a public beach/pool at Southbank! I wish I had known about this because we walked there from Queen St mall and it was quite hot so it would have been nice to have a swim! It looked really nice too.

5. I bought these shoes for $9 the day before Soundwave. They're so bright! Well, not anymore because they got covered in dirt, haha.
6. Nail art I did the other day. I used a bobby pin to do the polka dots and I'm so pleased with how they turned out. I'm keen to do my nails like this more often, especially because it means I get to use a lot of my polishes at once!
 7. George being a cutie.
8. Getting ready to go to work. Starting to love the khaki trend that's everywhere at the moment, even though I only bought this dress for a 'camo' day at work.

Thursday 7 March 2013

What I won!

A few Wednesday's ago I found out that I not only won an awesome giveaway from Jasmine from My Cup of Tequila, but I also won Ulta3's Valentines day competition!
My prize from Jasmine arrived on that Friday, so quick! Her giveaway prize was a few products she picked up when she was in Asia recently. I won 2 new colour Baby Lips in coral flush and pink lolita, a paprika hand cream and a BB cream.
Of course I've already lost one of the Baby Lips because I always manage to lose my lip balms. I'm sure it's in the house somewhere - or at the boyfriends house. A lot of other people have reviewed these already, so I wont bother. I will say I really like them, even though they're super sheer they do leave a lovely colour on my lips. The Paprika moisture hand cream is a lovely hand cream and sinks into the skin super quick. I haven't used the BB cream much, but I can tell you already that it's infinitely better than the Nude by Nature BB cream I own.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

My MAC lipsticks! Swatches and comparisons

I've been meaning to do a post about these for a while now. I was given 3 MAC lipsticks for Christmas from my lovely friends and I love each of them! I received Vegas Volt, Angel and Ruby Woo, all of which are colours that were on my wish list. FYI this is going to be a long, picture filled post :)

Sunday 3 March 2013

Weekly Nail: Tea and Ice Cream


This week I knew I wanted to use Earl Grey, but wasn't sure what else I could add. I toyed with the idea of adding some polishes from the Essie Summer collection Bikini So Teeny, but thought they would be too bright. Then I saw this post on The Dainty Squid and knew I needed some gold and pastel blue.

I ended up using Ulta3 Earl Grey and Precious, along with MUA Pistachio Ice Cream. I really love this colour combination! I think I'm getting better at using nail stickers, the lines here are much cleaner than my previous tries. I still need to work on my patience and let the polish dry completely before I do anything so it doesn't go lumpy. I don't think it helped that I put Pistachio Ice Cream over Earl Grey, and Pistachio Ice Cream goes on very streaky, so I needed more coats than I would have liked. I also made it more difficult by using the gold in the middle, and Pistachio Ice Cream wouldn't go on well over Precious so I had to use a whole lot more nail stickers, and time, than I would have liked.





Not much has been going on in my life lately since I got back from Brisbane. I've been working a fair bit which is great as I need all the money I can get for my UK trip, and I caught up with friends over dinner one night which was lovely. I've also been getting back into Tumblr recently, so if you're on there you can see mine here.


What are you wearing on your nails this week?

Friday 1 March 2013

Review: Face of Australia Budge-Proof Gel eyeliner and Glamourous Lashes waterproof mascara

I bought both of these products while in Brisbane for Soundwave. I've wanted to try the Budge-Proof Gel Liner since I found out about them before they were released last month, and I wanted to get a waterproof mascara that I could wear to Soundwave. I didn't want to spend a lot of money and Face of Australia had a sale at Big W.