Yummy Guacamole

I don’t know where guacamole has been all my life, but now that I have tried it,  I can’t seem to stop eating them. They are so versatile and add such a wonderful texture and flavour to your meal and snacks. I use guacamole  as a dip with corn chips, as a side dish to tacos or burritos, or mixed inside chicken wraps for a quick healthy lunch.

I like my guacamole to have texture and a bit more flavour than your average mashed avocado. So here is my  recipe for home-made guacamole. It is so simple and yet very addictive.

Ingredients: 

– Two avocados

– One tomato

– One Spanish onion

– One lime

– Salt

I also use a mortar and pestle for easy mashing of avocado

Method:

1. Peel and carved out two avocados. Mash until the texture and smooth. If you prefer a more chunky texture, you can vary this step and mash very lightly until you get the desired texture.

2. Finely diced the tomato and Spanish onion.

 3. Add the tomato and Spanish onion to the avocado, squeeze in half a lime and add a pinch of salt. Add more lime if required.

4. Mix everything together and serve. Here I have the guacamole served with chicken burrito.

Spring Nail Colours

I am not usually someone who paints her nails – mainly because my nails take a lot of effort to maintain and the colours never seem to last very long. Nonetheless, spring is finally here! And I am super excited about it!  I decided to paint my nails with some floral, flirty, and girly shades to celebrate the season of Spring. My favourite season.

Nail Polish featured: Revlon- Plum Seduction and Lilac Pastelle.

Revlon – Plum Seduction

Revlon – Lilac Pastelle

I love the Revlon nail polishes. I own more Revlon polishes more than any other brands. The brush are thick enough to pick up  the right amount of products but it is flexible and stiff enough to give you control when painting the nails. The polishes have good consistencies and they don’t dry up easy like most other brands. Each coats dries within the minute and I added some extra quick dry drops to speed up the process. I layered the nails with an additional top coat for longer wear and a bit of shine.

Beauty Haul – Make Up Geek ,Beauty Bay & Lookfantastic

I went on a little bit of a shopping splurge and treated myself to some products that I have been eyeing for a while. It’s hard to love beauty products and not have a wish list that constantly gets update.

These were picked up for me by sister whilst in New York. There was a sale on and I have been wanting to try these blushes for a very long time so I was very excited to get my hands on these!

1. Urban Decay – After Glow Glide On Cheek Tint in Bang

These are now further discounted on the Urban Decay website so I am not sure if they are being discontinued. If they are it would be a shame because they are so smooth and glowy and I absolutely love them.

2. Tarte – Amazonian Clay 12 Hr Blush in Tipsy

BEAUTY BAY & LOOK FANTASTIC

Beauty Bay and Lookfantastic are based in the UK. Beauty Bay stocks some hard to find brands such as Urban Decay, Cargo and Ellis Faas.

Lookfantastic regularly have sales of 10% to 15% off or have offers of gifts with purchases. Prices may not be comparable to US prices but are still cheaper than that in Australia. Delivery is free workwide so may be a good option if you live in countries where make up prices are ridiculously expensive or if some make up brands are hard to find.

beautybay.com

lookfantastic.com

1.  Urban Decay – De-Slick Mattifying Powder

2. Too Faced – Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzing Powder

1. Daniel Sandler – Creme Bronzer in Fiji

2. Eyeko – Skinny Liquid Eyeliner

MAKE UP GEEK 

Started by Marlena who has a huge youtbe following, Make Up Geek aims to create eyeshadows which are affordable without compromising the quality. The MUG eyeshadows have been raved about by many bloggers and Youtubers and have  been compared to M.A.C but costs a fraction of the price. So of course I had to try it out myself. Shipping is worldwide is so surprisingly cheap ($4 – $7).

1. Z-Pallette (customizable eye shadow palette)

2.  I purchased 4 shades – Peach Smoothie, Beaches and Cream, Creme Brulee & Frappe.

I have been using these products for a few weeks now and is very happy with all of them. I tend to read reviews and research on prizes before I buy so there’s nothing I would dislike more than spending a fortune on makeup that I can’t use or won’t use. I will continue to use these for a while longer and hope to give you a more in depth review on these products very soon!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sigma Haul

Recently Sigma had a 20% off all purchases and I decided to take advantage of the offer and try out some of their best selling brushes.  Shipping is worldwide but it does add up if you live outside of the United States.

I was super excited to for the arrival of these brushes and could not wait to try them out.

The brushes came in a beautifully packaged gift box and there’s a additional mini spa glove for any purchases over $30. I purchased three of best selling brushes that I have read/heard so many good reviews about.

From top to bottom:

1. F80 – Flat kabuki brush 

Dense synthetic brush with a flat top. This is great for applying foundation as it covers a larger area of your face and make for very quick application. The density helps to smooth out the foundation and creates a nice flawless look. I use this on more liquidy foundation that requires blending. Because of its thickness I would not suggest this for more matt/drying foundation which sets quickly as it doesn’t glides too well over the skin.

2. E40 – Tapered blending brush

My first reaction was that this brush is too big for the eyes. It would possibly cover the entire surface of my eyes so I wasn’t sure how it could be use for blending for areas such as the creases. However, I was pleasantly surprised, not only does not smudge the eyeshadow over unwanted areas, it blends it in smoothly and seamlessly. It works great for the creases and the outer V of the eyes. I’m really enjoying using this everyday.

3. P80 – Precision Flat brush

Emily Noel from Youtube suggested this brush for concealers. It is the mini version to the F80 which is great for small areas which require precision. I have tried various brushes over the years for under eyes concealers, but due to my under eye area being extremely dry, it never gave me the finish that I wanted. Again, I was very pleasantly surprised that this blends in under eye concealers so smoothly. It doesn’t cake up the product and helps to push the product into the skin which made it stayed all day long! And under eyes concealer is one product that I most definitely want to stay on all day long. This is my favourite product out of the whole purchase. It totally change the way I apply my concealers and boy am I glad.

I have yet to try to mini spa gloves which is to be used for cleaning your brushes. This is a simplified version of the Sigma Spa Brush Cleaning Gloves. There’s different ridges over the gloves which is designed for different brush type and brush density. The cleaning glove is ideal if you have many many brushes to clean. For the time been, I shall stick to this small version and see how it will work out.

—————————————————————————————————————-

You can purchase sigma brushes at: http://www.sigmabeauty.com

Most you tube channels has links to 10% off total purchases so I highly recommend you use them before paying full price.

After this purchase I definitely will be looking to buy try a few more of their products so watch this space for additional sigma hauls.

Smudge proof, budge proof eyeliners

I realise that it is summer in some parts of the world and that the heat will wreck havoc on your makeup. The last thing you want is to walk out of the house with you flawless face only to have your makeup smudging or running by the end of the day.

Here are some of my favourite smudge proof, budge proof, long wearing eyeliners:

From top to bottom:

Revlon – Color Stay Liquid Liner

Felt tip that release consistent liquid for a perfect line everytime

Stila – Stay all day waterproof liquid eyeliner

Super pigmented and easy to use rush tip. This is waterproof but still very easy to take off at the end of the day with eye makeup remover

Nyx – Slide on Pencil

Soft creamy formula that glides on easily and won’t budge

Maybelline – Master drama eyeliner

Slight waxy formula that sets quickly and stays all day

Milani – Liquid Eye

Pigmented and wet finish that looks like a liquid eyeliner but packaged in an easy to control pencil 

From left to right: Revlon – Color Stay Liquid Liner, Stila – Stay all day waterproof liquid eyeliner, Nyx – Slide on Pencil, Maybelline – Master drama eyeliner and Milani – Liquid Eye.

The concealer diary

My journey with makeup started with concealer and my forever quest to find the perfect concealer for my dark under eye circles. Over the years I have tried and tested more concealers than I could remember.

Depending on your skin type and skin tone, not every concealer mention here will work for you. Even with my large collection of concealers, I also have my favourite and regular picks. Depending on the season and how dark/light my skin tone is and depending on how dry or normal my skin feel, this determine the concealer that I gravitate towards for a particular day. Finding the right concealer consistency and shade is a hard task! So here I share with you my current collection and some quick reviews:

Concealer Palette

Coastal Scents 15 concealers palette. Contains a good mix of colours great to cover redness and spots. A good option for the change in skin tones throughout the seasons as you can mix the shades each time you use.

Concealer compact

From left to right: Ultraflesh Ultra Cover the ultimate fast-fix concealer, Jouer – Age Repairing concealer,  Becca – Compact concealer & Paula Dorf – Eye Primer (This is so pigmented and long lasting I have been using this to even out the discolouration over my eyelids and under eyes).

These compacts are very creamy and opaque and are a great option for discoloured eyelids, covering dark veins under the eyes and covering acne scars and blemishes.

Concealer Tube

From left to right: Bright Eyed – Eye Brightener, Australis – Paparazzi Perfect HD concealer, Helena Rubinstein – Magic concealer, Smashbox – High Definition concealer, and  IT Cosmetics – Bye Bye under eye concealer.

These tube concealers are light weight and very bendable. Other than the IT Cosmetics concealer, the other four are great for spot concealing . The Helena Rubinstein and IT Cosmetic concealers are great for under the eyes. They are very long lasting and provides medium to full coverage.

Concealer Tub:

From top to bottom: Bare Minerals – Broad spectrum SPF 20 concealer and DuWop – Circle block.

Bare Mineral concealer is great to use alone or as a light setting powder under the eyes to give that extra coverage. The DuWop concealer comes with a pink tone neutraliser which is use to apply over dark eye circles and before the concealer itself.

Concealer tube with applicator/pencil

From left to right: Collection – Lasting Perfection, Ultimate Wear Concealer (I have this in dark and a medium colour as pictured above), Maybelline – Dream Lumi concealer, NYX – Wonder Pencil and Maybelline – Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle.

These concealers are super affordable and the quality is outstanding. Very long lasting and bendable and is a good choice for everyday use. The NYX wonder pencil is great for spot concealing and also a good option for lining the water line to brighten the eyes.

If you have tried some great concealers please share your thoughts and recommendations 🙂

Faking big voluminous hair

I have been forever suffering from flat limp hair. I have been curling my hair for as long as I can remember so it gives the illusion of volume and thickness. It’s really quite a chore to do it daily, but hey, what’s a girl without vanity about her hair?

So after many trials and errors…(mostly errors), I have narrowed down my top picks for faking big voluminous hair (I am calling it faking because frankly my natural hair is anything but big and voluminous!).

If you got an event coming up, and you have time to prepare for your big voluminous hair. The recipes are as follow:

From left to right: Lush – BIG sea salt shampoo, Sunsilk – Daring volume and Klorane – Dry shampoo.

Lush – Big Shampoo

Wash your hair with this before any big event and the sea salt will thicken up your roots and give you thicker more luxurious hair instantly. Product contains coarse sea salt, extra virgin coconut oil, madarin oil, orange flower absolute and organic lime juice. It is preservatives free and 100% vegan. Product comes in a liquid formula with coarse sea salt which you have to rub into the scalp. The smell is not too fantastic but this product works! It is a little on the pricey side so I usually save this for a special occasion.

Sunsilk – Daring Volume

After washing your hair , spray some Sunsilk Daring Volume into the roots, massage in the scalp and blow dry as usual. The formula is light weight and thickens up the hair instantly. A nice little tip is to blow dry your hair upside down and allow the formula to absorb while your hair is freely hanging. For the low price tag, this product is great in value and works every time.

Klorane – Dry Shampoo with oat milk.

I have tried a lot of dry shampoo. And I meant A LOT!  But this is by far my favourite (unfortunately also most expensive). This product is paraben free, sulfate and colourant free. It doesn’t leave a white cast and smells fresh without leaving that lingering spray can smell.

Dry shampoo are perfect to finish off any looks. I spray this lightly on my roots for extra hold and volume. Great also on second day hair, first day hair, any day hair. It gives instant volume without weighing down the hair.

—————————————-

The above have been tried and tested many times. The shampoo and volumising spray require effort and preparation. But when there’s no time and you’re in a rush to get out the door, there’s a fantastic alternative:

Schwarzkopf – Instant Volume Powder

Rub a small amount onto your palm and massage into the roots and scalp. Tip your head upside down and shake. And viola!…instant volume. This product is like a miracle worker. The volume it creates is long lasting and the formula is lightweight and odourless.

Sleek Blush and Lipsticks

I am amazed at how extremely pigmented the products from the Sleek cosmetic line are and yet they are so affordable. Sleek is a UK company but they ship worldwide, which is great option for those of us that loves quality cosmetics at a bargain.

Blush by 3

Wow these blushes are so pigmented. A little goes a long way and the colour stays on all day. The compact comes with a generous size mirror and contains three blushes for every ocassion. Don’ be discouraged by the colour, when apply with a light hand, they can be sheered out and gives a very natural finish to your complexion.

I got mine in the colour pumpkin which contains (from furthest left): Lantern, Squash and P Pie.

True Colour Lipstick

Due to my dry lips I don’t usually wear a ton of lipsticks. But boy the colours of  these lipsticks are beautiful. From further left: Bare All (matt finish) and Succumb (sheen finish).

Bare all is a beautiful nude colour, great for everyday wear. I apply this over a lip primer so it doesn’t dry out. Succumb is very creamy and moisturising on the lips. It’s a very close match to my lip colour and has the nicest sheen without being overly glossy.

Top from left to right: Bare All and Succumb

Bottom from left to right: Lantern, Squash and P Pie.

Check out Sleek cosmetics at: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/

Treat dry chapped lips

For as long as I can remember, my lips have always been a constant source of problems. If it is not peeling one day, it will dry and chalky the next. It is incredibly hard to wear any kind of lipsticks and I can never take a good photo with my lips looking as obviously dry as they did.

I have tried numerous lip balms, chapsticks, lip treatment, natural remedies, you name it. Fortunately, my quest has been paid off and I now share with you ways you can treat dry chapped lips and how you can keep your lips looking smooth and soft.

Clockwise from left to right – Eucerin – Aquaphor Healing Ointment, Lush – Mint Julips lip scrub, Bonne Bell – Moisture repair lip balm; and Weleda – Everon lip balm.

Exfoliate you lips daily: 

Just as the skin on your face require regular exfoliation, so does your lips. If you have dry chapped lips I recommend doing this daily or at least two, three times a week. As your lips gets drier, the skin will begin to flake off and using a regular lip balm will not remedy this. Scrubbing your lips daily will help to remove dead surface skin on your lips and brings soft smooth skin to the surface. I recommend using a gentle sugar scrub like Lush lip scrub in mint julips. It does the job perfectly and smell absolutely delicious.

Using the sugar lip scrub, rub your lips in circular motion and leave it on your lips for a minute so the oil from the scrub can sink in and moisturise the lips. Another alternative or an additional step is to exfoliate your lips with a small hand towel. After exfoliating my lips, I would use a small hand towel to dry off any moisture. While using the towel,  I once again use a circular motion to scrub away any excess skin that hasn’t been removed by the lip scrub. I find this extra step very useful and helps a lot in softening the lips.

Nightly treatment 

The best time to use an intensive treatment on your lips is at night, when your body is at rest and the treatment go to work.

I discovered Eurcerin Acquaphor a little while ago and was at first very sceptical about it. Firstly it is not a lip balm. It is a healing ointment which is mainly used for dry, cracked and irritated skin and make no mention that it is a lip balm or treatment. But I decided that my lips were dry, cracked and irritated anyway so why not?

I use a thin layer of this over my lips every night without fail and I wake every morning to soft looking lips. A caution with this product is to not overuse it. I used to carry around a small amount to apply to my lips during the day and use it also at night and this has made my lips looking cracked and chapped more than it did before. So use it in moderation and you will see amazing results.

The product comes in a huge tub (3.05 oz) so it will last a very long time.

Hydrate and moisture your lips throughout the day

Did you know that there is a difference between moisturising your lips and hydrating your lips. Most regular lip balm that you buy will only moisturise your lips. But if your lips are not hydrated from the inside, the extra moisture applied will only be just that, an extra layer on top. It does not help to improve to condition of your lips from the inside out. So here’s are some tips and products you can use to moisturise and hydrate the lips

1. Drink plenty of water – I know everyone says this but trust me it really helps.

2. Use a hydrating lip balm with natural ingredients like shea butter, vitamin E and natural oil like jojoba, sunflower and sweet almond oil. I like Weleda Everon lip balm as pictured above. It does not contain all these ingredients but does a great job at hydrating my lips.

3. Moisturise and protect your lips. Choose a lip balm that is not sticky and contains no artificial flavours. I love Bonne Bell moisture lip balm with SPF 15 and Vitamin E. This is perfect for extra moisturisation as well as sun protection.

Here are my top five lip balms to use during the day:

Clockwise from left to right: Weleda – Everon lip balm, Bonne Bell – Moisture repair lip balm, Maybelline – Baby lips in cherry, All Natural – Paw Paw lip balm and Nivea – Lip Butter.

Related articles

• Lip Balm Guide (dailybeautybee.wordpress.com)
• My lips are thristy. (holyorganic.wordpress.com)
• Lip Service: How to Shop for Lip Balms (mrsdodd2u.wordpress.com)

Love Lemon

I love lemons. The fragrance, the freshness and the zing that it adds to everything. And lemon in beauty products are no exception.

I share with you lovely readers some of my favourite beauty products featuring, you guessed it….lemons!

Clockwise from left right:

1. Dusk candle in lemon zest (ok so this is not exactly a beauty product. Candles are so relaxing and is a huge part of my relaxation and therefore my beauty regime)

2. Original Source – Lemon Tea Trea Shower Gel

3. Michael Todd – Organic Lemon Toner

4. Oil of Tara (Contains lemon grass which is also very refreshing. Great for scars, spider veins and moisturisation)

5. EOS lip balm – Lemon Drop

Anything with lemon just reminds me of summer, shining sun and fresh air. It is great for refreshing and awakening the senses. Try a beauty product with lemon the next time you are having a dull day and be amaze at how much it can help.