Beauty

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…)

Australis Bombastic Bronze Eyeliner – You need this in your makeup bag!

Australis 10hr eyeliner Bombastic BronzeIf you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know I get very excited when I chance upon makeup that’s both seriously inexpensive – and seriously good.

First though a point to clarify: Something in my book that is ‘seriously inexpensive’ is something under NZ$15. If you are in the USA and reading this, yes, I can hear you gasping: I’m aware the NZ$ equivalent of US$15 will get you big bang for beauty buck in the USA. However, bear in mind that, whilst I am cognisant that I’m truly blessed to live, arguably, in one of the world’s most beautiful countries, we are not blessed by our cost of living, nor makeup prices. Both subjects, incidentally, see me getting quickly up on my soap box so I’d better change the subject, stat. Anyhow, there’s my Lou Logic for arriving at NZ$15 and under as my ‘seriously inexpensive’ beauty find price point…

I stumbled across Australis’ 10 hour waterproof eyeliner in Kmart and I was hooked for two reasons: 1) NZ$13.50 is a price point that sings to me and 2) It’s waterproof, so it’s likely to live up to the 10 hour sustainability promise.  As I tried out the testers of the three available colours in the 10 hour wear range I thought to myself that the Bombastic Bronze colour reminded me of MAC’s Teddy eyeliner, one of my favourite dark brown eyeliners. Like Teddy,  Bombastic Bronze has has a shimmer with faint gold flecks running through it, so it’s not just a matt brown, it’s got the X Factor. (more…)

Benefit Gimme Brow – Does it live up to the hype?

Benefit Gimme Brow ReviewA few months back I read with with interest the beauty blogger hype around Benefit’s new(ish) brow product, Gimme Brow. This product promises, with a few brush strokes, to deliver slightly fuller brows that stay in place all day. Seeing as I’m a bit partial to a brow product (in case you hadn’t noticed) I figured this was a product I needed to get my paws on. Conveniently my mate Toni was heading through Auckland Duty Free so I asked her if she’d do me a favour and visit the Benefit counter (living in the provinces is not conducive to visiting Benefit or MAC in person – that’s probably just as well). Anyway, fortunately Toni folded like a cheap pocket knife, she loves beauty as much as I do, and off she skipped to the Benefit stand. (more…)

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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Makeup Geek Goodies – Review

makeup geek enchanted pigment review

I was pretty excited recently when Makeup Geek finally restocked their ‘shelves’ (theoretcial shelves: They are an online store). I’ve been wanting to get their Creme Brulee and Peach Smoothie eyeshadows for a while, but they are constantly sold out: Clearly a sign of serious popularity! They were back in stock recently so I leapt into action, snapping up these along with a few other coveted goodies. I was super pleased I did: They were out of stock again a few days later! (Note, at the time of writing this blog post they were in stock again).

Here’s a quick run down on these two highly sought-after eyeshadows, a Z Palette,  Makeup Geek’s Enchanted loose pigment, as well as a couple of eyeshadow brushes that I got at the same time.

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My Holiday Makeup Bag – a Sneaky Peak

My holiday makeup bagI love reading ‘What’s in my makeup bag?’ articles from other bloggers so I thought “why not do one of my own?”

If you follow me on Facebook you’ll know that I just can’t pack light  in the makeup department. I try: But I really struggle….Well, I’ll have you know: I dug really deep packing for my holiday to Rarotonga and challenged myself to be sensible! Here’s what I packed.   Note:  I’m mindful that whilst I may have packed light for me, the makeup I’m taking on holiday is probably still the contents of a lot of people’s entire makeup collection! Oh well, a girl has to have a passion in life.

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