Bellabox December 2013 Opening - What's in my box this month? ;)

Bellabox Opening - December 2013

I was so glad to hear that Bellabox would be making it's way to me before Christmas.  The problem is that it sat with Australia Post for a week! I know it's near Christmas but I think that's a little excessive.  So this post is very late.

If you would like to know more about Bellabox, my original post is here and if you would like to sign up, please visit here.

Bellabox December

Bellabox had a limited number of Benefit POREfessional samples to give out this month so I had my fingers crossed, but I wasn't lucky enough to receive one.  I don't think it's right to advertise that they have teamed up with Benefit and then only send a few members Benefit products.   I also thought being December they would have done a Christmas themed box, however that was not the case. 

Last Minute Beauty Gifts for Christmas in Australia

Last Minute DIY Christmas Gifts

Last minute personalised beauty gifts from $20 - $70.
These are all products from my personal collection that I use and love.

I know not everyone has completed their Christmas shopping, so I wanted to give you a few ideas for some last minute shopping.  Everything in these suggestions are items that you can purchase in Australia in a physical store.  I wanted to make each item fairly affordable and personalised.

Each gift requires little effort but they look like you've put a lot of time, effort and thought into them.

DIY Nail Kit in a Jar

This is so simple to put together and looks really thoughtful.  

You can personalise it to the person you have in mind.  

I bought the jar from a dollar store for about $4.

I placed all the products around the inside of the jar, touching the glass and placed cotton squares in the middle to prop them up.

Bellabox Pout Pencil Replacement

Bellabox Pout Pencil - Ruby Tuesday

In the November Bellabox (post here) I had received a broken pout pencil.  Bellabox then contact me via Facebook after seeing my blog post and advised me to contact them in regards to the broken pencil.  I thought that it was great of them to reach out and get in contact with me.  I sent them an email as requested, they apologised for the broken pencil, advised that some of the pencils were faulty and would be sending me a new one.  

I received the replacement and it winds up and back down fine, so there is no issue with this one.  I'm really happy with the Bellabox social media and customer service representatives.  They have been really lovely every time I have spoken to them.

Cheap Dollar Store Christmas Decor - Waterless Snow Globes

Finished Christmas Decor

Okay, okay so it's not about makeup but I love crafty/DIY stuff and thought I'd share some tips with you, I hope you don't mind.

With this time of year it can be hard enough trying to find money for presents, food/drinks and all those other little things.  Let alone having to worry about finding money for decorations and if you're trying to stick to a colour theme it can get quite expensive.  So I wanted to share with you some of my favourite festive decorating tips that your wallet won't hate you for. 

Items you will need: 
Glass Jars:  Apothecary, candy, vases or whatever you have.
Ornaments: I use the spare smaller baubles, you could use candy canes or even bows.
Figurines: Or figurine ornaments.
Fake snow: From the dollar store.  You could use cotton wool, glitter, desiccated coconut.
Ribbons or bows: You could even use the self adhesive type or leave them off completely. You could also use tinsel, bells or garland if you prefer.

This can be really budget friendly if you use items you already have at home.  You could use old ornaments or decorations, old candle or pasta sauce jars etc etc.

I think these jars look lovely as a centerpiece, on the coffee table or on a desk or cabinet that could use some festiveness.

Easy Candy Cane Christmas Nail Art Tutorial

The finished Candy Cane Nails

 As it's early December I thought I'd get right into the holiday spirit and pimp out my nails, candy cane style.  It is pretty simple to achieve, although it's a little fiddly and takes time.

To achieve this look you will need: 

TBase Coat - Sally Hansen Miracle Cure

TRed Nail Polish - OPI  The Spy Who Loved Me (Skyfall collection)

TWhite Nail Polish - L.A. Colors Art Deco White

TTop Coat - Seche Vite

TSticky Tape

NYX Range In Target Australia And Where To Buy NYX Online

NYX Cosmetics in Australia at Target
(Sunshine Plaza Maroochydore, QLD)

+NYX Cosmetics  has made it down under!  Sadly they are not at my local +Target  until January :(  
But I was in Maroochydore the last weekend and spotted the range.  They are now also on the Target website here.   

You can also see my top 10 NYX picks here.

I thought I'd give you a break down of the range, colours and prices of the products available so that you can make an informed decision of how you spend your money on NYX. 

 EYES

Photos from Target website here

*US Recommended Retail Prices were from the NYX Cosmetics website here.

Bellabox - November 2013 - What's in my box this month? ;)

Bellabox November Opening

Something a little different for Bellabox this month, all the items arrived in a makeup bag.  I haven't heard anything about this new packaging so I'm not sure if it's a once off or if I should start calling them Bellabag? The bag is a nice size and would be great for the handbag.   

If you would like to know more about Bellabox, my original post is here and if you would like to sign up, please visit here.

The November Bellabox theme is refreshing beauty and I think the products team with the theme. 

NYX Cherry Culture Haul & First Impressions

NYX Haul

A few weeks ago Cherry Culture had a 25% off NYX sale.  I posted my ten picks from the sale here.  These were two items on the list that I didn't already own.  

NYX Jumbo Pencil Set - Center Stage

I love NYX Jumbo Pencils as they are so creamy, pigmented and can be used in a variety of ways.  I use them mainly for eyeshadow bases to deepen colours, make them truer to the colour they are in the pan, or make them brighter.  They do need to be applied in a thin layer and blended out, otherwise they can crease.

I even used them in my Halloween Skull Makeup Tutorial here.

Huge Priceline Sale!

Priceline Australia Sale

40% OFF All Cosmetics, in store and online +Priceline Australia website here November 19th & 20th. 

Standard shipping is only $5.95 compared to the standard $9.95.  

What do you have your eyes on from the sale?

Mirenesse Glamm Box - November 2013

Mirenesse Glamm Box November

Well guys, I got suckered in again.  Mirenesse were having another free shipping deal so I couldn't resist getting another Glamm Box.  (See my September Glamm Box post here.  Mirenesse Glamm Boxes here).  I was impressed with the last Glamm Box I received as it was three full sized products for $19.95.  

I chose the makeup only box again, obviously ;)  I thought that maybe I was lucky to get three full sized items last time and that my luck probably wouldn't stretch that far this time.  I also considered the fact that I might get items repeated but that wasn't the case at all.

Mirenesse Concealer

Australian Bourjois Haul

Hey! Wanted to share with you some Bourjois products  that I purchased from ASOS during a Bourjois sale.  

Healthy Mix Foundation - Vanilla 

I have tried the serum version before but not the regular version.  Basically the serum formula is a gel and this is a liquid.  I obviously haven't tried this yet so I can't tell you other similarities/differences.  This retails at Priceline for $32 which I refuse to pay for a Priceline foundation.  It's $18.97 at ASOS, I'd highly recommend ASOS for Bourjois and Rimmel.  They often have sales on both too.

NYX Depotted Eyeshadow Palette

I wanted to share with you the NYX eyeshadows that I own while the sale at Cherry Culture is still on, see my post (here).  

I'm going to discuss with you how I made this palette and pressed these eyeshadows, but if you are only interested in the swatches you can scroll down.

I was tired of having all eighteen eyeshadows in the separate containers/trios they came in and found that I never really reached for them because of it. 

My Pressed NYX Eyeshadow Palette - I placed a rub on design and used the NYX word from the sticker on the back of one of the eyeshadows.

Mirenesse Free Shipping Offer

If any of you have read my post on the Mirenesse Glamm Box (here) you'll know that at the time they were offering free shipping and it's the main reason I picked it up.  I wanted to put this post up right away to let you know that are currently offering free shipping now! (Not sure how long this will last) It's a great opportunity to pick up the November Mirenesse Glamm Box for $19.95 or anything else you've got your eye on.

If you want to know more about the Mirenesse Glamm Boxes or my thoughts on them you can see my post here or go to the Mirenesse website here.

What do you think of the Mirenesse Glamm Boxes?  What products are you interested in trying?

Rimmel Sale November 2013 ASOS

ASOS Rimmel Sale 40% OFF November 2013

Hey! Just a quick post to let you know that you can get 40% off Rimmel at ASOS here (use code NOVEMBER10 at checkout).  It's 30% off but you can also get an extra 10% OFF by using code NOVEMBER10.  ASOS has FREE SHIPPING to Australia with no minimum purchase.  Do you need any more convincing? ;) I recently shopped their last Rimmel sale, you can see my haul here. 

What will you pick up from the sale?  What are your favourite Rimmel products? 

Best Of NYX Cherry Culture Sale

Photo from Cherry Culture sale here

Cherry Culture currently have 25% off all NYX products here, so I thought it would be a great time to share with you some of my favourite NYX products, many I've been using for years.  I'm not affiliated with NYX or Cherry Culture, they have no idea I'm doing this.  I wish ;)  

Here are my top ten products from NYX: 

Cheap Makeup Brush Cleaner

The good thing about having a lot of makeup brushes is that you can have enough brushes to do your own makeup and enough to do other peoples makeup.  The bad thing about having a lot of makeup brushes, is that when you use them all you have to clean them all! 

I have been putting off cleaning them, I usually try to clean them every 1-2 weeks, but some of them have been used for Halloween looks and are now extremely dirty! So what better opportunity for me to show you how I clean my makeup brushes and a few tips I've picked up along the way.

Halloween Skull Makeup Tutorial

With Halloween in a few days I thought I would share a tutorial with you all.  I wanted a more realistic skull rather than the more cartoon skulls or day of the dead skulls.  I didn't want to stick with the plain black and white.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out so let me show you how I did it.

Halloween Glow In The Dark Nail Art Tutorial

Halloween is my favourite holiday hands down...pun intended.  It's a shame that it's not really celebrated in Australia but I think each year I see more and more Halloween items in stores.  It seems to bring out the creativity in people and takes them out of their comfort zone if only for one night.  

I'm a little old for trick or treating but I celebrate it every year and this years theme is skulls.  So I hope you enjoy my tutorial for glow in the dark Halloween skull nails. ☠

Bellabox - 2nd Birthday - October 2013 - What's in my box this month? ;)

It's that time of the month....Bellabox opening time ;)  October celebrates the second year of Bellabox. Happy Birthday!  They also teamed up with the stylish girls at They All Hate Us and included at least one of their five favourite beauty products in each Bellabox.   

Bellabox is a $15 monthly beauty subscription box and if you would like to sign up or know more visit here.

Makeup Remover Wipes - How much money are you throwing away?

Image created by Mel for littleblacklipstick ©

A few years ago I purchased makeup remover wipes about once a month.  I tried different brands at different price points and then settled on the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes, Night Calming 25 pack, these were the ones that were said to remove waterproof mascara.  I found that, for me, they did the best job of removing my makeup but they didn't remove everything. I would still follow up with a cleanser.  

November InStyle magazine with bonus Napolean Perdis blush, lip gloss and mascara!

Just letting you fellow Aussies know that the November edition of InStyle magazine comes with bonus three full size Napoleon Perdis products valued at $82!  That's a pretty amazing deal for the cost of the magazine which is $12.95.  The sealed issue contains a Napoleon Perdis light peach/pink cream blush (no shade names), light peach/pink lip gloss and  a lashes to lashes black mascara.  All the products come in their own plastic protective packaging and these are the only colour selections available with the magazine.  

Rimmel Haul

Hey guys! Hope you all had a great weekend!  Just a small Rimmel haul for you today.  A little while ago asos.com where having 30% off all Rimmel products so I decided to pick a few things up. 

iHerb Haul

Hey guys!  Hope you're all doing well.  Just a small haul for you today but I also wanted to talk to you about one of my favourite online stores.  iHerb sell nutritional supplements, healthy products and more importantly, makeup.  Some of the brands sold at iHerb include:

• Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman (here)
• elf Cosmetics (here)
• Physicians Formula (here)
• Eco Tools (here)
  

$5 MAC Rebel Lipstick Dupe!

Hey guys!  On the weekend I found myself in Kmart and made a beeline to the cosmetics as every makeup junkie does.  I saw that they had all Rimmel Lasting Finish lipsticks on special for $5.00 (this special ends on the 16th of October 2013. Usual price $9-$12).  Rimmel lipsticks are one of my favourites so there was no way that one of them wasn't coming home with me!

I scanned the available colours and decided on #120 Cutting Edge a beautiful dark berry shade.  I arrived home, applied it and thought "this reminds me of my MAC Rebel lipstick!"  I quickly grabbed my MAC lipstick and swatched them.

What's In My Makeup Bag? Weekend Away

The weekend just passed was the Labour Day long weekend and the perfect excuse to squeeze in a little weekend getaway.  I thought you might like to take a peek in my makeup bag and see what I took with me. 

It was more of a chilled out weekend in so I didn't need a lot of makeup.  I have to say I'm impressed with myself as seventeen makeup products are nothing compared to what I would usually take away with me.  This has to be some kind of record so I thought I would document it! ;)

Mirenesse Glamm Box - September 2013

Mirenesse is an Australian brand that specialises in makeup and skincare.  I have not tried anything from the brand but have wanted to try a few things from them.  I had heard about their Glamm Boxes a while ago but considering that I had a Lust Have It subscription (which has now lapsed) and now more recently a Bellabox subscription (see my September Bellabox review here), I thought it was a little excessive to throw in yet another subscription. 

Bellabox - September 2013

Want to see what I've got in my box this month? ;)

Bellabox advised that this months box would be late in order to provide members with the October issue of Cleo.  Mine arrived on the 26th, but I'm happy to wait if it's jam packed like this months box was!  Before I even open the box I have a magazine, razor and a foot exfoliator and that is the price of the box paid for right there.  As you can see they were so generous it couldn't even fit in the box!