Favourite Products!

Lou’s Faves – May

Is it just me, or do these monthly favourite blog posts rock around super fast?

Jordana Blackberry Lipstick

Jordana blackberry lipstick
I slipped putting the lid back on the lipstick. Forgive me for the slightly dodgy shape!

Right, let’s get this out of the way, yes, I bought a $4 lipstick from my local 1,2,3 Shop (i.e. $2 shop) and it’s CRANKING HOT. It’s so good my work colleague Lauren went and bought one as well and she’s rocking it daily. It’s the perfect winter shade, it’s a deep berry colour with a slight sheen finish to it and it applies smooth and pigmented. It’s also got a scent that is reminiscent of my youth when I played with Strawberry Shortcake dolls (but I can’t remember which doll). I mention this as some people will be put off by this.. Oh and the packaging is as you’d expect for $4 (pretty shoddy). Skin tone wise Blackberry is pretty versatile: It looks great on my super ghostly winter complexion and Lauren looks like a supermodel wearing it with her deep tanned olive skin tone. Beauty on a bargain. Happy times. PS I reckon lovers of MAC’s Rebel lipstick will adore Blackberry. Price: NZ$4. Available: Keep an eye out for a Jordana stand at your local $2 or 1,2,3 Shop.

Jordana Blackberry lipstick
Jordana lippy and Motion Lotion in my wavy hair (I did the latter with my hair straighteners, I’m rapt I’ve finally learnt how to do it – I’ve been trying to master the ‘wave technique’ for years!)

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Lou’s April Favourites

Here’s the round-up of my beauty and foodie favourites for the month of April!

MAC Whole Lotta Love Pro Longwear Blush

I’ve had this hot pink/red blush for ages, lost it, refound it again (under the passenger seat of my car) and I’m not letting it out of my sight. Whole Lotta Love is a Pro Longwear blush that was recommended to me at Britomart’s Pro Mac store.  I mentioned to the sales assistant that I was in the market for a new blush, something that had no coral or peach tones (as I seem to own a tonne of these). I was steered in the direction of some bright pink in the form of Whole Lotta Love. I was nervous I’d ended up looking like a dolly, but clearly, I didn’t.  Certainly a super light hand is needed with this bright pink blush, but I love the ‘just got back from exercise’ look it gives my complexion, along with the awesome pigmentation and long lasting wear. This is my first Pro Longwear Blush – and I’m going to predict it won’t be my last. Note the pic below doesn’t quite show how vibrant it is!mac whole lotta love blush review

 

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Lou Loves – January Favourites

I’m sure I only just hit ‘publish’ on my 2015 favourites – and now it’s time for January’s faves! I struggled to limit what made my ultimate favourites this month, as there’s been loads of makeup I’m loving, partly as a result of my USA haul arriving when my little brother paid a courier delivery man on his holiday home to NZ. I tried to talk my brother into becoming a courier so he could deliver all of my goods himself on the regular. I even found him a cheap van and hire and reward van insurance but he was having none of it. He pulled through in the end by finding this man, though! Here’s what made my relentless cull!

L’oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara (waterproof)

I’ve had a few doozies with impulse purchase mascaras in the last year, but I hit the jackpot this time with Volume Million Lashes Mascara: It’s a game-changer that has BOOTED Maybelline’s Falsies Mascara out of my first place ranking. Why? We’ve had a hot and muggy summer here in Hawke’s Bay and even with the Falsies (waterproof), I’ve got unattractive black mascara smudges up around my browbone (cheers mugginess and oily eyelids). I had resigned myself to just putting up with smudging in the summer. Cue Volume Million lashes: Boom! No smudging, no budging: This stuff stays put all day and I have long spidery and super volumised lashes!

Oh, I also love how it applies quite dry. Let me explain: Have you encountered how some new mascaras apply really wet and you end up with it everywhere? This drives me nuts: With new mascara I always wipe excess mascara off the wand with a tissue, which upsets me because it’s super wasteful. Anyhow, with Volume Million Lashes you kind of have to yank the (anti-clump) wand out of the mascara tube and, ah, because it’s got a really tight hole you don’t end up with a truckload of mascara on the wand. Genius. I can’t wax lyrical about this mascara enough. I even love the packaging. Be warned though, you need a good waterproof eye makeup remover to get this waterproof goodness off (Neutrogena is great, Clinique’s Take The Day Off Balm is even better). Price: NZ$35 (9ml tube). Get it from Farmers, Kmart, Pharmacies, etc.

volume million lashes loreal review

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Lou’s 2015 Beauty Favourites

Alrighty, this is a big blog post! Rather than do my usual December favourites round-up of beauty foodie items that are spinning my wheels, I’ve done a serious navel gaze and come up with my Tip Top Beauty Faves for 2015 (and a few books). Upon reflection, I’m surprised, yet really pleased, at how many products fall into the ‘super affordable’ category. It just goes to show – it pays to shop around to get beauty bang for buck. Note, I toyed with including foodie faves in here: But the post is already bigger than Ben Hur. So beauties: Enjoy!

Hair

Remington Hot Pink Curl It ReviewRemington Hot Pink Curl it – I’ve got a blog post coming soon on this ceramic conical hair curling contraption. Frankly, it deserves a full write-up as this impulse purchase has me grinning like a Cheshire cat. It’s got 10 heat settings, ranging from 120C to a high heat setting of 210C. Simply by winding your hair around the tong you get a stunning shiny curl in 7-10 seconds. Since having lots of my hair lopped off I can get a head full of bouncy curls in under 10 minutes. The girls at work were admiring my curly locks recently and asked me to take this into the office to do a demo. They were sold and I understand this affordable hair gadget made a few wish Christmas wish-lists! NZ$53 from Briscoes in one of their mega sales (I point blank refuse to pay full price for anything at Briscoes). (more…)

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Lou Loves – November favourites

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Check. Out. This. Stash.

November. What a whirlwind that was. I was in my element zooming around the countryside, largely with work, loving every minute of it. For someone who has an office-based role, I’ve done a damn good job recently of not spending much time actually in the office! We also got a new bathroom at home, which meant for three looonnng weeks we were trudging backwards and forwards to Mum’s house to shower (my work trips were timely, I was sending home texts that said “just had a lovely bath” – meanie, eh?!). Make sure you find yourself a good plumber like Valley Service if you plan on doing a bathroom renovation like this, as it is super difficult being without a bathroom so you want to make sure it is done as quickly as possible! Additionally, some homeowners might also want to consider sourcing an experienced bathroom remodel company to help them. That should speed up the process even more as they will be able to get on with the job. Perhaps that’s something we should’ve considered. Finally, the most important thing when you get a bathroom remodelled is to make sure that you have a home warranty plan to protect you from having to pay a lot of money if anything goes wrong with the plumbing or electrics. You can navigate to this resource to find out about one home warranty service and how they can protect you from high costs and slow services. Anyway, on a negative note, my blog suffered a little bit, I hope nobody noticed too much – for a wee while there I was posting once a week, that was about all I could manage without going cuckoo! Eek. As for December and Christmas – I’m in complete denial, I haven’t done anything, no planning, no present buying: Nothing. I’m not sure I’ll start for another week or so either, there’s too much happening! (more…)

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Lou Loves – October Favourites

Here’s my round up of things that have been been spinning my wheels since we last chatted! I’m not full on into Christmas shopping mode yet, but, if you are, then everything I’ve mentioned in here are great gift ideas for beauty or foodies in your life! I love nothing more than finding the most recent, Best Kitchen Gadgets – some of the things I have found have been so useful, and such a life saver! A few people have also been asking me what kitchen gadget I use to make zoodles – keep reading, all is revealed!

Vanilla & Almond Macaroons from Little Bird Organics: These morsels are raw food at their best and bliss ball lovers will totally goof off from the first mouthful. I discovered these on a trip to Little Bird’s Unbakery in Kingsland, Auckland during Sugar Free September. I was desperate for a sugar free treat so I bought two packets, Vanilla & Almond and Chocolate. Long story short: We got hooked (hubby prefers the Chocolate ones). I actually bought this packet as a thank you present for a friend, except they taunted us so badly we had to eat ’em… and I had to go buy some more. These are delish with a cup of tea/coffee. Price around NZ$11.00, available from organic shops, or online at Little Bird Organics. I’m so obsessed with these I’ve been playing around in the kitchen trying to recreate them. I’m getting close. One more batch and I’ll nail it. Brace yourselves.

vanilla and almond macaroons little bird

 

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