SEE: L'oreal Paris powder blush review, loving these shades..

As I sort of promised, another blog today. Let’s see how long I can keep this going before I go MIA again.

I absolutely love this cold weather, the trench coats, ugg boots, everything but getting sick, gross.

One of my favourite makeup applications for winter is blush. It always seems to give you that nice pop of colour when your skin is looking dull, especially when you get the colour match right for your skin tone.

Another one of my purchases I went a little bit crazy on was finding a blush that was inexpensive but still looked good and lasts long.

Here’s a tip…

A quick tip that I find really works is if you want your blush to last that much longer and give it more staying power, try first applying a cream blush to the apples of the check and blend it out, then after apply the powder blush on top of it.

[cheat sheet] I’ve even used my bright pink lipstick when I didn’t have cream blush on me, works just as well.

LEFT: 125 rose nude/nude pink TOP: 150 candy cane pink BOTTOM: 365 Nude brown RIGHT: 120 sandal wood pink

Blush when applied should look natural and be the colour your cheeks would usually turn when you’re out in the cold.

The brand and shades..

L’oreal Paris makes some beautiful powder blushes and when applying it, it looked natural and lasted me a good 6 hours before it started fading.

With L‘oreal Paris the blush collection was amazing, it had a variety of colours and made it so easy for you to match your skin tone to the colour of the blush. I’m not kidding it was that easy to pick up a blush that looked good for any skin tone.

For example, for fair skin tones, they had 2 types of rose coloured blush. One blush was slightly darker in a deep nude and the other a nice bright, earthy, pink colour. I thought this was so great, I see some people who overdo their makeup especially when it comes to blush and contouring the cheeks and I just want to wipe it all off  but I’ve always liked that natural look, maybe that’s just me.

LEFT: 125 rose nude/nude pink RIGHT: 120 rose santal/sandal wood pink

Why I love it..

This blush collection made it so easy for me to find a blush colour and there were 2 types of pink for medium and dark skin tones as well.

cute little compact with your own blush brush
and mirror, so convenient 

The compact little case is so cute and so convenient. It’s got the powder blush, flip it open, it’s got a little mirror and a nice blush brush in there for you, so your quick touch ups are just so easy.

Did I also mention the staying power on this powder blush really surprised me. I definitely was not expecting it to last as long as a blush that I purchased from Shiseido or Clinique, it definitely proved me wrong and goes to show that all these products are about trial and error, not one brand will have every product perfect for that makeup look you’re going for.

Money time..

Alright don’t freak out but it’s your call if you think this is pricey or not. I personally think it is a bit pricey only because I bought so many to use on clients and having to have every different shade to match someone’s skin tone is important to me, I never want to go somewhere and say sorry I actually don’t have that colour to match your skin tone.

If this blush purchase is for personal use then I would say yes, it is worth it as it does come in a compact case including a mirror and blush brush and it’s for your own personal use.

The first 2 I got, I purchased at Target for around $16 discounted price at the time, original price I believe is about $25 give or take a dollar, which is a reasonable price compared to your other brands and then I walked into Priceline and it was buy 1 get 1 free so yeah I got another 2, come to think of it, I wish I got all the shades now.

If anything, just shop around or wait for sales if you don’t want to spend too much money, that’s my best advice. 

Long time no blog, well 3 weeks..

Why hi there blogging world, excuse me for this huge delay in blog posts for 3 weeks now, time got the better of me. In a nutshell I’ve just been so busy with makeup trials, was sick just a few days ago, working, catching up with friends and yeah playing computer games and 3 weeks later here I am, ready to blog.

At least in these 3 weeks I have a heap of new products ready to try out for you all so I mean it’s not that bad.

Okay so I think the best part of shopping is buying something useful, something that might be a bit pricey but is just so convenient.

I love shopping at wholesalers, they just have so much stuff and it’s heaps cheaper, especially if you find a store that is a wholesaler and a retailer, so great! Disposable mascara wands in bulk anyone? Yes please.

A lot of beauty supplies you find out there today can really substitute for some makeup tools.

For example, I have a metal spatula that I use to dig out products like foundation and lipstick and concealer and all that but after every use, you’re going to have to wipe it before you dip it into another product. So say you were doing a bridal party by yourself and time is of the essence, little sticks that beauty therapists use for waxing the eyebrows can be really handy and so cheap, I got 100 pieces for $1.50. Once you’ve used it just throw it out, inexpensive and saves time.

It’s not always about having the right tool for a product. You don’t need a proper spatula to dig out your products, disposable paddle pop sticks can even work, ensuring they are clean of course. It’s about being smart about the tools you use and saving some money where it doesn’t need to be spent.

Another thing I got which I love and have been looking everywhere for is this liquid pump metal top. You’ve probably seen these in the nail salons for whenever you get acrylics done or whatever, it’s just a quick way to get the product out when you’re working with something that has a quick drying time.

For any of you sculpters out there, this is also great for putting the alcohol in there to help smooth out the clay without the alcohol just sitting there and giving you a headache you only need to pump it for the liquid to come out.

The reason I got this was so I could use it as my brush cleaner on makeup jobs when I have more than 2 people to do by myself. It’s just so convenient and makes it so much easier when you’re in a rush. It’s really easy to use, you just pour in your brush cleaner and secure the lid and pump the lid, you’ll find that it’ll leave a little pool of liquid on top for you to easily dip your brush into it and when you need more, just pump it. The best part is once you’ve pumped that liquid out, it doesn’t go back in, so no need to worry about it getting contaminated.

And if any of you were wondering this was super cheap I picked it up for $7.95.

Until next blog post, hopefully tomorrow. =) have a great day.

LOVE LOVE LOVE caroline.

FEEL: Aveeno positively radiant daily moisturiser

Good morning world! Well semi afternoon here for me. I feel so happy today, I think it’s because I got to sleep in today after a total of 12 hours sleep over the weekend, I feel so energized.

I actually woke up to a gorgeous sunny day for winter and while I’m waiting for a friend to get back to me so we can have some lunch, I wanted to do a quick review on why I absolutely LOVE Aveeno positively radiant daily moisturiser.

I’m a sucker for those ads where they say this product will make your skin look smooth, even out your skin tone and when you’re just having a bad day about your skin and you see some advertisement on the tv or in a magazine you’re just like OMG WOW I want that! And then you go tell you friends, this product does this and it does that and well maybe you don’t but you get the point.

With the sun and the wind, your skin is going to need all the protection it can get and this product works a treat.

Why I love it..

When I woke up today, my face was looking so dull and dry, it was pretty gross. As soon as I applied this moisturiser, it was like an instant wake up call for my face that is. Improvements to my skin happened in a matter of seconds. It went from being dull to being full of moisture, it brightened up my skin and it made it look radiant, like the name says.

When I bought this, I wasn’t a big fan of it to start off with, it felt weird on my skin, I hated the smell. I just wanted to wipe it off because it felt heavy and it just felt uncomfortable. However, I kept using it because what am I going to do throw it away, something brand new, don’t think so.

Since forcing myself to use it, I’ve really grown a liking to it, well actually I genuinely love this thing. It makes your face look brighter and I think that’s why I feel so happy today, my skin feels and looks great. If you happen to have this sitting somewhere on your makeup table just use it, hopefully you’ll love it as much as I do.

The only reason why it felt heavy for me was because I wasn’t used to putting on moisturiser at all on my face, but it has such a light feel to it and you can just see the improvements, it’s great.

The benefits..

I’ve been using this product for some time now I would say about 2 months and people have even complimented that my skin looks brighter which is great, who doesn’t want that natural glow.

It’s even meant to even out skin tone and texture and I have a couple of dark spots on my skin and the lighter dark spots have definitely faded which is amazing and has that added benefit of SPF15.

Alright, I’m off to lunch now, byeeeeeeeeee have a great day everyone!

Dear diary: When customers are rude...

Dear world,

Who needs friends to vent to when you can just blog about it? I’m kidding! I love my friends but sometimes they’re busy and I need someone to talk to and I’m sad so I’m going to tell you all what happened today.

For anybody who works in retail, I’m sure you’ve dealt with this. Of course like any job it’s going to have its ups and downs but here’s the thing, I actually like retail despite what some people might think of it. I enjoy it, my customers are great especially the mature ones, great stories and I’m not being sarcastic.

Today really made me upset and I’m not going to lie, everybody’s temper is going to flare up here and there, but I was having a good day until this lady started giving me attitude.

It started off fine, I greeted her, I asked if she needed any help, I showed her 2 different sizes of clothing, which one would be a better fit for her daughter, it was going great until we got to the checkout. She decided to buy the 2 pieces of clothing and instead of being 2 for $15, which was for the children’s size, it was 2 for $20 (ladies size). I told her that because this is no longer a children’s size, the price is different.

She was fine with it and she was like “Oh okay next time I have to ask the price beforehand” and I was like okay, but the sign with the price on it was right there, she saw it that’s why she was confused with the change I gave her, instead of giving her $35 change I gave her $30 from a 50. I went off to do something else and within a few seconds I’m talking 10 seconds she totally just lost it on me.

She started from being calm and understanding to raising her voice and saying, “Excuse me, I thought it was 2 for $15 because then where I live I can go buy it for the same price and I don’t want to buy this from you and I want my money back, so I’m going to give it back to you and you give me my money!” I was like okay, nodding my head, yeah, bring it back (because her daughter took it somewhere) and I’ll give your money back.

She started walking off and mumbling to herself giving me a death stare may I just add.

Because that is such a HUGE problem she had to get THAT mad. My head hurts thinking about it.

I was so shocked because it was fine, I totally did not get where the attitude came from, I was fine with the whole refunding of the money but it was the way she said it. She could have just said, Oh sorry, I’ve changed my mind, is it alright if I can get a refund. Seriously it’s all about the delivery. If you don’t want people to be rude to you, then don’t be so rude to start off with.

I’m so proud of myself though, because I think if it was me 1 year ago, I would be yelling back at her because she started yelling at me, but I kept my cool and it’s just a real shame that people don’t understand that it doesn’t matter what job you have, you should treat everybody with respect and speak in a calm manner. I get that working in retail you are the customer, but I’m a human being too, I just might be a bit more lady like than you.

Okay I’m done venting now, thanks for reading guys, I feel better. =) Just remember, if you ever get a rude customer BE CALM (I know it’s hard) but it totally makes them second guess themselves and realise that they’re being really rude and if not, they’re most likely having a bad day.

And by the way, can we all just be a little bit nicer to one another. Dealing with negative people just makes me feel so bad about myself.