LA Girl Gel Liner Pencil - Haul & Review

Hi there

I purchased two of the LA Girl Gel Liner Pencils a while back (Royal Blue & Champagne).
I love using the blue liner on the upper and lower lash-lines and I use the champagne shade on my lower water line to brighten up the eyes and make me look awake.  They offer the quality, look and feel of a gel liner in a convenient and easy to apply pencil. I would definitely love to get more shades.  La Girl cosmetics are exclusive to Dischem.

LA Girl Gel Liner Pencil

Please see shade selection below:

GP369

Whiten

GP368

Silver Streak

GP367

Black Amethyst

GP366

Paradise Purple

GP365

Aquatic

GP364

Mermaid Blue

GP363

Royal Blue

GP362

Gypsy Teal

GP361

Limelight

GP360

Goldmine

GP359

Champagne

GP358

Metallic Copper

GP357

Frosted Taupe

GP356

Brown

GP355

Deep Bronze

GP354

Dark Brown

GP353

Smoky Charcoal

GP352

Black Magic

GP351

Very Black

2014 Birthday Haul

My birthday was on the 19th March.  I did not want to celebrate being a year older, but when you have great friends, they take your mind off thinking about getting older and treat you like a princess for the day.  Thank God for great friends!

They took me out for dinner at a fancy restaurant called Betoua in Mugrave Durban, then we went to Cuba Lounge.

I also received gorgeous gifts which I have to show you guys.

Yardley London Limited Edition 52 Shade Palette.  The palette has 42 Eyeshadows, 6 highlighters, 3 blushers and 1 bronzer.  The shadows have the prettiest flower design on them which I don't want to ruin. Its almost too pretty to use.

Too pretty to touch (lol)

Four shades of the Yardley Wild Summer Create Your Own Eyeshadow Palette.  Shades I receivedare Little Pink Dress, Sunset Smooch, Dream Lover, Moon Beam.
These shadows are designed to slide into one another to create your own custom eye shadow palette. A full review can be found at http://prettypleasecharlie.co.za/2013/09/27/yardley-wild-summer-create-your-own-eyeshadow-palette/

Yardley Stayfast Diamond Strength HD Color Super Longwear Nail Polish in the shade Plum Seduction.  My bff knows I love the colour purple. Its enriched with Diamond Glaze and it has the new one stroke brush fool proof application.

A Paris Hilton Perfume Set which contains 5 perfumes of 15ml each. The Paris Hilton perfumes are as follows:-
Heiress
Siren
Paris Hilton
Tease
Can Can
I can't decide which one I like the most. Its my first time trying Paris Hilton perfumes.

Cosmetic Jewellery  - A bracelet, a chain and three sets of earrings.  My Friends know me well.  This is just my style in Jewellery.

A sexy red dress from my BFF  It has diamanté work on the front bodice of the dress.  Va Va Voom.

Lindt Irresistibly Smooth Extra Dark Swiss Chocolate.  They say dark chocolate is good for slimming LOL.

A gift voucher to receive a treatment of my choice at Perfect 10 Nail & Body Studio in La Lucia Mall. This is a picture of the envelope only, not the actual voucher.

A cute Peplum top from a friend at work.

I also received a home made birthday card from my daughter (pic not shown).

That was my birthday haul from friends.  Thank you for reading.

xoxo
Nats

Essence Colour Flash Volume Macara - Haul & Review

Hi There

I spotted the Essence Colour Flash Volume Mascaras on the Essence stand at Dischem a few weeks ago.  They retail for R49.

Shades
01 miss early green-birdy (the green shade)
02 miss sue blue (the blue shade)
03 miss mary berry (the dark pink berry shade)
04 miss louise turquoise (the turquoise shade)
05 miss lila deleila (the purple shade)

I originally bought every shade except 03 miss mary berry.  The next day I returned the purple and the green shade unopened.  I realised that I was being a bit greedy.

I have worn the blue mascara a few times and have received compliments.  I applied the LA Girl Glide Gel liner Crayon in GP363 Royal Blue on my top and bottom lash-line.  Then I took an angled brush and ran the brush over the liner with an eyeshadow in the same colour as the liner.  This makes the liner stay on even longer and vibrant.  Then I applied at least two to three coats of the blue mascara.  This mascara is very volumising.  It lets you apply a few coats without clumping.  So I am impressed with this mascara.

These are obviously not for everyday wear, but you could definitely brighten up your day every now and again with these beauties.

Are you planning to try these out?

Updated: New way to clean my makeup brushes & sponges

Hi there

I have been using a different product / method to clean my brushes and sponges for months now and wanted to share it with you all.

I follow a number of beauty gurus on YouTube and for the past year they have been raving about the infamous Beauty Blender Cleanser to wash their sponges and brushes, which is a bit pricey.

 I have found an alternative that works for me.....

No, I have never tried the blender cleanser but it gave me the idea to try the Dove Cream Bar.

I was at the supermarket in the soap isle and saw the Dove cream bar on sale for R11 for a double pack.  I thought that if it didn't work, I would have only been out of pocket by R11. 

The nice thing about using this, is that the soap foams up and really gets in there and washes all the foundation out of my foundation sponges used with warm to hot water.  Nothing else has cleaned my sponges so well.  Another trick I have learnt is to put your sponges in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute after washing them.  Yes, sounds crazy, but people actually do this.  Normal kitchen sponges put in to the microwave kills up to 98% of bacteria.  I can see and feel the difference when I do this.  Also, bear in mind, that this is not a permanent solution, as foundation sponges are only meant to be used / kept for a specific amount of time and must be replaced when needed.

As for my brushes, I use the Dove Cream Bar on these as well.  Like I said before, this soap foams up, and it cleans my brushes in a shorter amount of time.  Which is great because washing brushes takes alot of time which I am short of these days.  All foundation and eye-shadow stains are gone.

Also I noticed that the brush hairs are softer and they do not shed.  I guess the cream in the soap is working its magic but does not leave any residue behind whatsoever.   

Overall I am thrilled to discover that I can use Dove Cream Bar for my sponges and brushes.  I do still keep my home-made brush cleanser handy.  For spot cleaning the lazy way, I use a makeup wipe as a temporary measure in case I want to spot clean.

Have you ever seen the makeup brush drying rack:

Please see the picture below.  I was reading a blog and came across this post: The non-patented drying box (which won’t cost you anything if you have a cardboard box lying around).

Try the link below and it will show you how this blogger washes and dries her brushes:
http://cucumpear.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-wash-dry-your-make-up-brushes.html

I know it doesn't look very elegant but I think its a great idea.  Instead of looking for space to set aside my wet brushes.  This way, the water does not loosen the glue in the ferrel as the brushes are upside down.  I have an empty Rotatrim box and I am definitely going to try this out.

Or you could cut out the sides so that more air can get to the brushes to dry faster.

Thanks for reading.

Nats

Review : Beauty Treats Lip Crayon

Hi there

I found the Beauty Treats Lip Crayon while browsing in Dischem.  They sell for R19.95 each.  "Twist-up lip colour, lightweight and hydrates"

A while back I received an Elf Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in a haul which I liked.  It is great to have an all in one twist up lipstick & gloss which is quick and easy to apply to leave in your purse.  The market has blown up with these jumbo lip pencils (NYX, Revlon, Clinique, Elf etc).

I was glad to find a cheaper version of the high end jumbo sticks and wondered if they where any good being R19.95.  I purchased four of six shades the Beauty Treats Lip Crayons.

Product description:
A creamy lip colour that provides build-able coverage with a twist up core so it doesn't require sharpening. Lip crayons come in 6 creamy colours.

The packaging do not have any shade names on it. There was only four of the six shades left on the shelf.  The colours I got are:-
- A pink shade
- A plum shade
- A mauve pink shade
- A Coral Shade

I was pleasantly surprised, I expected these not to have any colour pay-off.  I was going to be honest even if these where not good.  It was just the opposite.  The quality was better than I thought.  The consistently is good.  The colour pay-off is really good, very pigmented.  There is no unpleasant taste or smell.  My favourite one is the plum shade which is most flattering on me.  This one stays in my handbag.  Its quick and easy to apply before meetings.  I apply a lip balm before applying these lip crayons.  I also do not need to apply a lip liner before applying these.



Thanks for reading
Nats