Taking a break

I've decided to take a break from blogging. I have really enjoyed it over the few months I've been doing it, but unfortunately I have too much going on in my life that I just can't find the time to sit down and blog and things! I'm building a house and have taken on more work at work so I'm focused on that at the moment.

I'll still be on Beauty Heaven where I'll post my beauty hauls and products that finish up using, but that's about it for the moment.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my blog since I started, its been a lot of fun and I've learnt a lot.

Hopefully next year I'll be able to pick up the blogging again and share with you bits from my life!

My weekend face!

In addition to 'My every day face' post i've got a 'My weekend face'. A similar concept except these are the products I wore on the weekend, nothing fancy. Sometimes I wear them during the week too.

I've been playing around with my new products and I really wanted to try the Dreamtone by Lancome, when I saw it was for evening out skintone, I thought i'd never use it as that was something that I found to be a problem with my skin. But after I read lots of reviews, it seems it also just makes the skin look bright and more awake, so i decided to give it ago.

I recieved the number 2 which is for medium skin tone, which i don't really have but it didn't seem to make much difference in that aspect. I have to say when I first applied it my skin appeared a lot more 'awake' I could have even gone without any make up, but I didn't. I applied my Clinique Moisture Surge Intense moisturiser after the serum and then put on the rest of my make up for the day.

For the long weekend I used my MAC BB Cream in light. I really like this BB cream, I find it applies better if I use a brush like the Real Techniques Expert Brush (I've recently washed the brush and its so so soft!). I also applied my L'Oreal Touche Magique in Light to under my eyes, along the bridge of my nose, my smile lines and across my forehead and chin!

For my eyes I keep these fairly simple on days I'm not doing much, I applied my MAC Paintpot in Groundwork to the lid and blended the edges just with my fingers. For my lashes, of course I used my Chanel Inimitable Intense mascara! 

And finally, not pictured, but I applied the Benefit Rockateur to my cheeks for a bit of colour and a light flush!

This look is really simple and doesn't require a lot of effort at all! You could spice it up with a bright lippy, which I might do if I go out of the house or anywhere in public!

What is your go-to look for the weekends? 

May empties!

I thought it was time for an empties post! Especially as the basket I keep my empties in was over-flowing! This month's empties is mostly hair care and a few skin products! I also feature some not so empty-empties, but you'll know more about them at the end!

I love empties because it means I can move on to a new product! I thought I would have had more samples/sachets but I think I must have thrown those out! I'd also like to quickly mention an empty product I know I threw out before photographing, Batise Coconut Dry Shampoo Sample Size. This baby was perfect for my overnight bag, and I got a lot of use out of it! The scent is amazing, nice and coconutty, but i have since received a full size of the Cherry version, and this scent is a lot more delicious! Sweet and Cheeky!

This months empties includes John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Conditioner. This was my favourite conditioner for pretty much as long as I can remember. Its a very light pearlescent colour and it's designed to leave Brunette hair will a brilliant shine! This conditioner was great for doing exactly that!
Repurchase?  Maybe, at the moment I love Herbal Essences!

Another hair care product is the Toni & Guy Cleanse Shampoo for Brunette. Another great shampoo that did the job! This shampoo had a slight brown tinge to it, so i'm not sure if it's one of those ones that gradually colour your hair, so I haven't repurchased because of this.
Repurchase? Probably not! I'm enjoying other brands at the moment.

I love samples as it's a great way to experience products you generally wouldn't purchase. Here we have the Origin and Minerals Maintain the Mane Conditioner! This did a great job at leaving my hair tangle free, but now i'm after conditioner that hydrate my hair and keep it strong.
Repurchase? Probably not this product but I would purchase more products from O&M.

Clear Total Nourishing Care. I purchased this because I wanted to nourish my scalp a bit more, at the time it was pretty dry, flakey and itchy! At the time it helped, but it was that long ago I can't remember exactly! The Clear range is great though, as it nourishes the hair from the scalp.
Repurchase? Probably not.

I have also used up a lot of cotton pads, here we have two lots of Swisspers wipes and one lot of Priceline brand wipes. The Priceline ones are ok, I purchase these if they are on sale or they are out of the Swippers ones. Generally I prefer Swisspers over all brands, including Johnson & Johnson which I am currently using. Repurchase? Yes to both.

You may also see a little box featured, this housed my Hope's Relief Cleansing Bar. I haven't finished the bar yet, but it's been really great on my sensitive stomach as it has zero sulphates! I'd definitely repurchase

The following are products that I have had for awhile, and have used on and off but now they have probably passed their use by dates so it's safer to throw them out. First up we have the L'oreal Elvive Anti-Breakage, I mainly used this to tame my fly-aways! It does a good job of taming fly aways, but honestly I can't comment on how it works for anti-breakage as I always use a heat protectant. But keeping that in mind I have always had pretty strong hair, so it could be linked to using this product weekly.

The only body product featured this month is The Body Shop Strawberry Body Lotion. This is really a great product and smells delicious. I used it constantly when I first purchased it, but obviously I bought other products as this got pushed away. I love The Body Shop products, they always smell delicious and this one is no exception.
Repurchase? Quite possibly!

Two face products featured this month are both from Kora Organics, and are both fabulous products in their own right, the Cream Cleanser and Clay Mask. I love the Clay Mask especially, but as I bought this online in a sale, it had a short expiry date so I didn't get to finish it all. As Kora are organic products I didn't want to risk putting it on my face after the expiry date. The cream cleanser is also good, but not one of my favourite cleansers so it got pushed to the back burner and eventually the expiry date was up on that one too!

There you have this months empties! I'm sure i'll have a few more products to talk about next time, and i'll be sure to save my sample packets!

What have you finished recently?

My top products under $10

When I was a high school/college kid I didn’t have a lot of money, I worked some weekends but I earnt about $7 an hour so for me it was all about the cheap affordable product. Now that I am a working girl, I wouldn’t sneeze at paying $20+ for a shampoo or $50+ for a foundation, but I do still appreciate those quality products for under $20 or $10.

So today I’d like to share with you my favourite products that are under $10!

I love expensive shampoo, it smells good and makes my hair look at feel great, well most of them do. But I have recently gained appreciation for the cheaper shampoos, enter Herbal Essences. I used to buy this when I was younger and it seems now they’ve got a whole lot of other variations to suit all types of hair! As mentioned before I received the Honey, I’m strong Shampoo and Conditioner in my Glosscars prize packs, so far I’ve used the conditioner and love it! I can’t wait to finish off my other shampoos so I can use the Herbal Essence one! Move over salon brands, this baby is only $5.99!

Now to be honest I wasn’t much of a makeup girl when I was in High school or college, I think I literally used a concealer stick to cover my entire face, goes to show how much I knew back then! But I think if we had the cheaper brands back then as we do now I would have been more make up savvy, we needed Essence and NYX cosmetics back then! So some of my favourite products from these brands include the Essence Silky Touch Blush ($4.95) NYX Butter Gloss ($9.95) Eyebrow Cake Powder ($9.95) Jumbo Eye Pencil ($9.95)

It was hard for me to think of a shower body product that was under $10 as I’m obsessed with Pure Fiji products, and technically the full size products aren’t under $10 but the travel sized items are! I’ve raved about these before so I won’t go into it, but they are deliciously scented and super moisturising! For a full size product that’s under $10 and smell delicious, I’d go for the Lush soaps, particularly The Godmother Soap ($6.50/100g) and Sexy Peel ($5.95/100g)!

For some heavy duty body moisturising that won’t break the bank or leave your legs feeling like a grease ball I recommend the Dirty Works Supreme Body Cream! Absorbs instantly and provides great moisturising and it’s only $9.95 for a huge 300ml tub!

Lastly, a product that’s easy on the pocket but gentle on the face is the Palmers Cocoa Body Purifying Mask ($9.99). This gem draws out the impurities, clears out your pores and leaves your face feeling soft and glowing! A great product to have in the cupboard especially for those days pesky blemishes raise their heads!

Here you have my favourite products for under $10! Let me know if you have anything I haven’t mentioned, or I don’t know about!

My every day face

I don't think i've done a post like this for awhile, but i'm going to share with you what i've been wearing on my face mostly this week. I have been switching it up between two different foundations but i'll share both of those with you.

Most of this week I haven't been wearing a primer, mainly because I wanted to see if it was my skin that's being oily or my primer. Im still not sure which yet, but i'll update you. For my base i've been mixing it up with Chanel Mat Lumiere in Clair, and Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous in Buff Beige. They are both very different and provide completely different coverage, Chanel is more of a light/natural coverage whilst Covergirl is more of a medium/natural coverage. I am really liking the Covergirl at the moment though, the colour seems to be more suited to my skin tone than the Chanel.

I've been using two different concealers, the Maybelline Fit Me and the Maybelline Dream Lumi. Both are useful for different reasons. I use them both under my eyes Fit Me and then Dream Lumi, and I use Dream Lumi as a bit of a highlighter as well on my smile lines, forehead and chin!

I've been crazy about the Benefit Rockateur Blush this week! I use my Real Techniques Duo Fibre Contour brush with it though as it provides more of a natural finish and is easier to blend than the one that it comes with. A great natural blush with a fantastic finish!

I've been priming my lids with my E.L.F primer, and topping it off with some shades from my Naked 2 Palette. The shades vary, but you'll find my everyday eye look here.

I finish my look with the Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner followed by my trusty Chanel Inimitable Intense Mascara, and a dash of my Dior lipstick in Dior Kiss.