Canon EOS 1100D

Taken with my iPhone 5

I have wanted a DSL camera for a while now and not just to have better photos for my blog. I’ve been taking more and more photos in the past six months with my phone and my little point-and-shoot; before the battery died on me. So I thought now would be a good time to invest in a nice camera.

The Canon EOS 1100D is your baseline model and one of the cheapest on the market that I found in my internet searching. I bought the body from Harvey Norman when they had it on sale and then the 50mm lens from the Good Guys a few days later. This camera is not as easy to use as your standard point-and-shoot or your phone, though it does have an auto focus function. I can’t really explain how it works because I don’t really know but I do know that I am in LOVE with my new camera and I’d like to share with you some of the first photographs I took with it.

Admittedly most of the pictures I’ve taken have been of my dogs but I have also started using them for blog posts (though there will be a few which are using photos from my iPhone because they’re already written and are just awaiting publishing). I’m still playing around with it when it comes to makeup but hopefully this camera will allow me to take photos that actually show the colours so I can move on from just doing reviews.

Until then I will bring you reviews with much nicer pictures.

Nails of the Day

I haven't worn nail polish for a few weeks now. Today I've gone with a purple and gold look with OPI Dutch Ya Love OPI and All Sparkly and Gold. 

Soap and Glory Heel Genius

I’ve tried a multitude of different treatments for my feet ranging from store bought to DIY and so far nothing has worked half as well as this stuff.

I saw this on a Vintage or Tacky video where Cora talked about a few skincare items she’d bought from Soap and Glory so I thought I’d look into it, even though I assumed that I’d never buy it because most of the products I see American beauty vloggers use are so much more expensive here I just don’t want to spend the money. But I look them up anyway. I found this on the Mecca Cosmetica website. It isn’t available online but you can buy it from a bricks and mortar store. There is a Mecca Cosmetica store on Hay Street in Perth but the soap and glory brand is sold from the Myers on Murrey Street (right off Perth train station) why I couldn’t tell you but it is.

So if you manage to work that out you’ll pay around $13-14 for this product, a pretty decent price in my mind. You get 125ml in a tube and so far I’ve gotten around 5-6 uses out of it and I’ve still got plenty left. When I remember to use it my feet feel so much better and slowly over time the cracks in my heels have started to fill in. I often wear this when I’m sleeping or when I put my runners on though most of the time I just wear ballet flats or walk around barefoot because who can really be bothered with socks? Which may also explain the bad feet.

The packaging is pretty cool. Its easy to control how much is dispensed and the writing on it will give you a good chuckle so if you do happen to see it at some point anywhere have a read of the back, if you have a sense of humour you should get a laugh.

For good measure I’ve included a little picture for how to use the product (though it’s pretty self explanatory).

 

I would definitely recommend putting the socks on. I tried it without when I knew I’d be sitting down for a while with my feet up and it was good, the product soaked in quickly and I didn’t slide across the bathroom tiles or anything but when I followed the instructions (not something I usually do as a rule) it worked a million, yes a million, time better.

So now it’s time Pros and Cons!! (I hope you also heard that in a presenters voice).

Pros

• Low cost
• Softens up the feet really well when using socks
• Not too greasy

Cons

• Hard and confusing to find

3 pros to 1 con, I’d say this one is a winner. When it runs out I’ll be going back to Myers and buying some more and maybe even trying another Soap and Glory Product.

Australis Pout Paste

Australis is one of my favourite Australian brands because it’s cheap, available pretty much everywhere and tend to have pretty good quality products. I picked up this particular product from Kmart a few weeks back and thought I’d give it a try. I am a lipstick girl so I didn’t have very high hopes for this lipgloss looking products, especially considering the last lipgloss’s I tried from Australis were so sticky and unpleasant I ended up getting rid of them because I never used them.

This product is really interesting, the packaging makes it look like a lipgloss and looks like it should have one of those ends that you squeeze the product out of but it doesn’t. You use a wand to control you’re application. The tube also includes instructions which I think is a nice touch because most products just have the instructions on the box which no one ever keeps. Unfortunately it doesn’t include the colour name, I think I have Berry Nice or Pash Me Pink. You have two possibilities with this product, a lipstick or a gloss effect.

The top picture (1) is the lipstick application and the bottom (2) is the gloss. I like both applications. You can have a lighter less noticeable colour or a really bold vibrant hot pink. 

The consistency is not very nice, especially if you don’t really like lipgloss like me, but the colour payoff is amazing.

This costs $12.95 and can be found at stores like priceline, Kmart, Big W, Target etc. and it comes in only 3 colours, Berry Nice, Loves Bites and Pash Me Pink.

It is pretty longwearing unless you start eating and drinking but good luck finding something that does last when you are and that doesn’t cost the moon.

So to round up;

Pros

• Controllable application with the wand.
• Great colour payoff.
• Low cost.
• Available anywhere in Australia.

Cons

• Sticky, lipgloss like consistency.
• Only 3 colour choices.

More pros than cons in my book so well worth the buy if you want a lipgloss or lipstick at a low price in one or more of those 3 shades.

Almay Daily Moisturiser for dry skin

I picked up this moisturiser a few months back in Perth at Gloss and thought it sounded pretty good. Usually I just use a vitamin E cream for both day and night because I admit to being pretty bad with my skincare routine (as in I don’t have one). The one thing I do try and be good with though is sunscreen because I have very pale skin and I burn very easily. So the idea of a moisturiser with sunscreen is perfect for me which is one of the reasons I chose to buy this one. The other two reasons are its said to be fore dry skin and it was only $9.95. You get 118mL (4 Fl Oz) for your money which is a pretty good amount.

It is part of a 3 step system but I haven’t been able to find the other two items and I haven’t really looked that hard to be honest (I get a regular Bella Box which has so many skin care products its hardly worth the effort to go out and buy others).

The packaging is great, it looks nice, isn’t bulky, its comfortable to hold and the pump works properly and gives an even and controllable amount of product.

It has a thin consistency and smooths over the really nicely. It does have a slightly stick consistency once applied like most sunscreens but that doesn’t seem to last very long. It smells like sunscreen which is a bummer because lets face it, sunscreen does not smell nice. But like the sticky feeling the smell goes away pretty quickly. I can’t even smell it right now as I write this and I haven’t been wearing it more than 5 minutes. It does leave your skin a little bit shiny looking for a while which usually isn’t a problem for me since I just cover it with makeup anyway.

All in all this moisturiser is more sunscreen like than moisturiser. It doesn’t dry out my skin which is good but I don’t feel it adds moisture either. That being said the sunscreen would help to retain the moisture that is already in my skin. So I would say its an OK moisturiser but a very nice sunscreen.

I would definitely repurchase this product once I’ve finished it.

Palmers Gentle Exfoliating Facial Scrub

Having dry skin means you have to exfoliate a lot, though not so much you give yourself dermatitis (Not good!!) so I’m always looking for a exfoliator that isn’t too harsh but gets the job done. I got this product in a sample size in my February Bella Box and so far I’ve been really liking the results.

The first thing I have to talk about is the smell. Like all Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula products (that I’ve used at least) it smells like it should be on a dessert plate and not your face. Its delicious.

The consistency is nice. The cream part is smooth and soft (weird description but it is) and the little micro-fine cocoa beans (their words not mine) work really well at getting off all that dry, nasty dead skin cells. It is harsher than I usually go for in an exfoliator mostly because I like to give my face a little massage when I use it which you can’t really do with this exfoliator. This is an exfoliator with a purpose, a get in and get it done exfoliator. And did I mention the smell? I did, it’s delicious!

This product is really well priced as well, you 150g for $9.99.

I do love this exfoliator for the results so when this sample size is done I’ll be going and purchasing the full size.

Revlon Color Stay 24Hrs

Revlon Color Stay is probably one of the most popular foundation on the worldwide web, you see almost every youtuber at one point of another raving about it. I’ve had this one for almost a year now so I thought I should at least give it a little shout out.

First things first this is not my favourite foundation, but I don’t hate it. I have the colour 150 Buff which is the second palest shade (for once not the palest!), and is a yellow based foundation which cancels out the redness I get really well.  This is also the dry/normal skin formula.

This is the old formula so it doesn’t have a pump which means that I often pour too much out, but that honestly doesn’t annoy me that much because I’ve never actually finished a foundation.

 

I got myself colour matched at Myer when I bought this so the colour is exactly right for me and doesn’t wash me out like a lot of foundations do. I do have some trouble around my nose where I have particularly dry skin and very large pores which is why I stopped using this foundation for a long time. I have since found a primer that does a fantastic job filling in those pores and I discovered that using a sponge and rolling on the foundation leave the foundation looking very smooth and doesn’t emphasis the pores as much. I have yet to discover a way to stop this foundation emphasising my dry skin though.

What I do like about this foundation is that you can control the level of coverage. I don’t like high coverage foundations for everyday use. Other than redness, dark circles and the occasional pimple or freckle I don’t have any real problems with my skin. I actually like it when you can see through the foundation to some of the imperfections bellow because it looks for natural and if you don’t cover your pimples they tend to go away faster. That being said this foundation can definitely be full coverage if that’s what you prefer.

This foundation is $34.95 in Australia which is a lot for a brand which markets itself as an everyday brand. That being said if $34.95 for an everyday foundation doesn’t bother you I’d say go ahead, it’s not a bad foundation, if it does bother you (like it does me) then there are a lot of cheaper foundations in the market that do the same as this one.

All in all I think I will finish this product but I don’t think I’d repurchase. Its good, it’s not great, at least not for my skin and for the price I expected more, what more I expected I’m not sure but I’ve got a lot cheaper products in my collection which are just as good as this one.

Adventures In Perth–Animal Parks

As you know from last Sunday’s post I have only just moved to Perth in the last few months. Most of my stuff is still in Newcastle waiting to be shipped. So I thought I’d share some of my adventures in my new state. Perth has changes a LOT since I last lived here 9 years ago, so I’ve been enjoying going out and rediscovering it with my adult eyes (I left when I was 14). So here are a few things that I’ve done since I moved here.

Perth Zoo

My sister and I used to go to Perth zoo a few times a year with our cousins before we moved to the east coast so it seemed only right to go back years later with those same cousins and it was a lot of fun. I personally love zoos. I love all animals except snakes and ferrets. The tickets weren’t too expensive either, I got a concession ticket which only cost me $20.50. It hasn’t changed a whole lot since I was last there except the salt water crocodile I used to love going to see died so they’ve got a new one and he’s got a combined indoor and outdoor enclosure now. We spent a good 10-15 minutes watching an elephant have a bath and get stuck in a tire.

She looks so happy

Everybody loves meerkats

AQWA

I remember AQWA when it was called Underwater World and they had dolphin and then seal shows (because all the dolphins died). I went to AQWA with the same cousins I went to the zoo with. I love sea animals, Orca’s are my favourite (I watched Free Willy so many times when I was a kid) but they can’t have them in such a small aquarium like they’ve got here. I loved seeing all the sharks and turtles swimming around. It was pretty expensive compared with most things in Perth, $29 for an adult ticket, but it was still pretty good.




I love animals of any type really so going to zoos and aquariums is definitely my idea of fun.

Maybelline Color Tattoo Review

1. Tough as Taupe
2. Bold Gold
3. Bad to the Bronze
4. Painted Purple
5. Edgy Emerald

You might be able to guess where this blog is going since I have 5 of these to talk about. I really do like the color tattoos, especially the first three.

All of them are smooth and go on without too much hassle. They last a long time on the eyelid and don’t smudge.

I have nothing by praise for 1,2, and 3 on my list Tough as taupe is a really nice soft brown colour (despite the ‘tough’ name). I would describe Bold Gold as a very true gold colour, it’s not too yellow like a lot of gold’s are. Bad to the Bronze is a beautiful bronze which moves closer towards a shimmery brown than the red-y bronzes you often see. I feel like I can wear these three on their own or even combined to give a beautiful everyday look and I often do.

4 and 5 are a bit different. Painted Purple and Edgy Emerald are both stunning colours in the container. They’re jewel toned and I just had to have them when I saw them in Kmart recently but honestly they don’t impress me on the skin like the first 3 did. The colour tones down a lot when you put it on which is a bit of a disappointment so I don’t feel I could wear these without something on top. These are base colours.

I’m torn when it comes to the packaging. It looks great and you can see the colour through the glass bottom and none of the labelling has rubbed off yet so I still know what colours I have. I did have the silver one as well as these 5 but it got dropped in the bathroom and smashed which makes me question if glass was the most practical decision for packaging. That said I haven’t broken another one so I’d just say to be careful if you do your makeup in the bathroom or an area with hard floors.

As you can see in the pictures the 1,2 and 3 have started to dry out and pull from the sides of the container but they are still usable and hopefully I’ll get through most of it before they’re useless.

The price isn’t fantastic but it’s not horrible either in Australia with them costing around $11.95 unless you find them on sale.

All in all I do really like this product and I’m happy with the ones I have.

February Favourites

Its that time of the month (not that time) the time for MONTHLY FAVOURITES! (In my head that was an announcer so I hope it was in your head too).

This is my first time doing a monthly favourites on this blog so I thought I would include a whole range of things, starting with makeup since this is a meant to be a makeup blog (ignore the pitiful amount of makeup related blog posts this month). So here we go;

Makeup Favourites

I haven’t been going all out with makeup this past month because I just haven’t been getting up early enough to do anything. But these products have been making regular occurrences in my day most days this month.

Chi Chi Nudes palette, I reviewed this palette in November last year and I still use it regularly so I’d say that definitely gives it a comfortable place on the favourites list. I usually use the two lightest shades for my lid and inner tear duct and the light brown colour right next to them for my crease to give my eyes some depth.

Model Co Fat Lash Mascara. I got this product in a Bella Box to try out, it’s a nice black mascara that gives me fuller lashes but doesn’t make them longer. This might not suit a lot of people but I have naturally long lashes that hit most sunglasses I wear which is pretty painful if I’m not careful.

Elf High Definition Undereye Setting Powder. ELF recently started selling their products in Kmart across Australia so I naturally went and loaded up on some of their products I hadn’t tried before and so far this is my favourite. I have to wear glasses when I read or use the computer so I have to make sure I set my foundation properly or it rubs off in a very unattractive shape on either side of my nose. This does a perfect job of keeping that makeup in place.

Instant Age Rewind Primer. I have huge pores (from a really bad sunburn when I was in primary school I think) so I have to be very vigilant when putting on my foundation over my nose. This primer is a silicon based primer so it fills in all the pores and leaves my skin pretty smooth. I don’t love the texture but after a while it stops feeling greasy and it certainly doesn’t look greasy.

Natio Eye Makeup Remover Gel. This stuff is great for removing  heavy makeup, liquid liner and mascara. I just put a little bit on a square of toilet paper and all my makeup comes right off. Not sure how it would work with waterproof makeup since I don’t actually wear any.

Revlon Photoready Flushed Blush in Flushed Rougissant 200. I am a big fan of the photoready line by Revlon so when I saw Kmart had 2 of the photoready blushes on sale for $10 I grabbed them. This pink one is the one I use the most. It blends into the skin really smoothly and looks really natural despite looking really bright and scary in the packet.

Hair Favourites


Edward Beale Moroccan Gloss Argan Oil leave in treatment. I put a small (very small) amount in my hair after every shower and combined with product number 2, Moroccan Argan Oil Treatment, from Coles I’ve noticed that my hair is a lot less dry than normal though it is still more dry than it should be.
Other Favourites

I haven’t had a lot of time to read recently because of work so I’ve taken to reading Manga again because it’s quick and easy to read. My favourite Manga has to be Sailor Moon (one of my favourite animes from when I was a kid too). As tends to be the case with TV and anything it bases it’s shows on, the manga is nothing like the anime but I still love both. 



I’ve recently gotten back into quilting after putting it on hold for a few months. I’ve been making this beautiful embroidery Geisha quilt for my mum using various satin fabrics. My favourite part of the whole thing would have to be the cherry blossoms, they’re just so pretty.  



I’m not usually one to take pictures of my food since I’d much rather just eat it but I was very proud of my first attempt at making Omurice which is a Japanese-western combination of fried rice and omelette.  It’s really delicious which is surprising to me since I don’t really like egg (except in cake). 

So that is where I plan to leave this post. What have been some or your favourite things of the month??