Christmas Spoils

Ho Ho Ho! Christmas is just round the corner, and the festive bug is really starting to hit me. I visited my local shopping centre yesterday, and Christmas has pretty much thrown up in every shop! I was going nuts over everything, and ended up splurging a little too much on myself...

Some of my pretty awesome finds were at The Body Shop, which, like many other beauty/self-indulgent stores, has released it's Christmas collection. And boy, oh, boy, did I get hooked.
This collection is filled with cranberry-smelling goods, as well as gingerbread ones, which I immediately reached out for. Dubbed the Gingerbread Sparkle range, The Body Shop describes it as 'featuring sweet and spicy ginger notes', which is pretty much spot on.

Perusing the store, I ended up grabbing the new body butter, fragrance oil, as well as a ceramic oil burner.
If you've seen my post a while back titled Essential Oils, I have a burner of an elephant. It's short and small, and even though it's cute, it wasn't exactly practical. Lighting the tea-light was a pain, since the space for the candle was teeny-tiny, and with the whole thing being short, it meant the oil would burn out super quick...

So, I snatched up the burner at The Body Shop, and is now happily burning away in my room; making it smell of spices and warmth!

Bless The Body Shop for making this oil with the dropper top. It makes life so much easier, since you can precisely put in a few drops into your oil burner. There's some suspension thing going on in the tip, so the drops come out nice and slow, meaning you won't end up tipping excessive amounts into the burner.

Pod Perspective

Served On A Tray

My recent purchase from ASOS; Fat Kiss Ring in silver. It also comes available in gold, which I am currently considering buying as well! Eek.

If you remember from a previous post, I bought the silver collar tips from Sportsgirl for $15 or so, and when I visited the store a while later, I saw that they were on sale! So, I did what any shopping-addict would do.... I quickly snatched up the gold ones! From what I can remember, they were reduced to a mere $7, which I thought were quite the steal. They both are really gorgeous, and easy to put on.

This heart-shaped trinket was a thrifted find, and I think it is really pretty, with the intricate designs on the top. When you flip it open, the inside is a deep-blue crushed velvet, and I just store my earrings in there. I've been considering putting my rings inside instead, but haven't really gotten round to moving them.

I bought this Chloe Signature EDP in 30mL from Myer recently on a whim, and I've pretty much fallen in love with it. I wasn't too sure when I brought it home with me, since I spent $90 for it. It's a soft, sweet and somewhat mature scent, that I find really easy to wear.

You can go here for more information on the parfum.

I picked up this small breakfast tray today on a whim at my local Savers. I'm considering painting it white, but I also really love the natural wood look.
The tray sits on a little stand in front of a full length mirror, and it holds things that I tend to gravitate to when I get ready for a day out. Skincare that I consider to be my essentials also sit on the tray for easy access.

Nail Decals

I've been really into interesting nail designs and art lately, and came across these really nifty decals on ebay. I initially bought the pug decals, which I fell in love with immediately, and visited the site again to repurchase another bunch as well as other designs. The Batman and Superman ones were purchased at the request of my friend, and I have to say they look pretty darn cool.
I like to create a 'feature finger', where I only use a decal on one finger on each hand i.e. the ring fingers, since I think putting them on all my fingers would seem a little much.

These decals are super easy to put on, and with each pack/set you buy, a set of instructions are provided. You really can't go wrong with them, so if you're looking for something fun and cool for your nails, be sure to check out the seller at: http://stores.ebay.com/LuckyStarStyle-Nail-Decals

Essential Oils

Got this cute little elephant oil burner the other week, and I absolutely love it! I bought it from a store called Ishka, and it was closing down in the shopping centre near me, so most of the stock was half-price.

This find only cost about $7! I burn lavender oil in it just about every night :)

Face Me

Clarisonic Mia that I picked up in Myer, the other week. From what I know, Australia only has three colours available: white, pink and lilac.
(Pink is exclusive to Myer, and Lilac is exclusive to David Jones)

Lush's Herbalism face scrub. I was skeptical about this at first, but I quite like using this. It has a pretty strong smell, as most Lush products do, but I don't mind the scent at all. 

I've never talked about my skin on here, but I'm willing to share now! I tried a fair amounts of skincare products that I was hoping would clear up my acne/hyper-pigmentation etc.

I've finally found a bunch of products and a routine that I am determined to follow religiously every morning and night. I'm hoping to do a skincare post soon, so be sure to check back in a little while!

xx

The Eyes Have It

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               





We've all seen it on Alexa, and other takes of it floating around the web, so I finally decided to make a short tute on how I achieved this nail art myself.

HOW TO...

I'm using N.Y.C Color - Casper, The Face Shop - GR503 (aqua colour) & PP408 (lavender colour) & BR802 (nude colour) & #03 Top Coat, The Face Shop - Nail Dot Pen in Black
You can also use a normal black nail polish

Step 1: Grab a plastic pocket and place your hand on top. Spread your fingers, and with your nail (of your free hand), score the width of the your nail that's resting on the plastic. You should end up with something like that of the image on the right.

Step 2: Draw the whites within the lines you scored. Make your brush as thin as possible, while still having polish on the corners of it. Work with the corner of the brush to draw out an outline of the white, and fill in.
Leave to slightly dry, and then outline the whites with the black polish. Having the pen really helps create thin lines, but if you don't have it, you can use normal black nail polish. Just make sure to wipe the brush in the neck of the bottle to thin it, and as before, use the corners of the brush to line the whites.

Step 3: Dab in the irises with whatever colour you want, and then add in a small black dot in the centre. If you're using the normal black bottled polish, get a toothpick and dip the end in, and dab it into the centre of the iris. Draw in the lashes, and leave to dry.

You can paint your fingernails while waiting. A neutral base like a nude polish, or even clear polish, will look best.

Step 4: Once both your nails and eyes have dried, pinch the plastic pocket at the side of the eye, and roll it between your fingers. This partially springs the completed eye from the pocket. Be really careful when you peel the eye off, as the lashes are pretty delicate. I recommend using tweezers to take it fully off the plastic. With the eye still held by the tweezers, hover it over your nail in the position you want it. 

Step 5: Place the eye onto your nail, and press firmly down when you're happy with it's position with the pad of your finger for it to stick properly.
I recommend placing the eye closer to the bottom of the nail, so that you can wear it for a little longer when the nail starts to grow.
When you have all the eyes in place, swipe on a top coat. Be sure to use one that doesn't cause the colours to bleed.

Leave the top coat to dry, and there you have it!

Along the Yarra

Food

Rich and absolutely divine hot chocolate and Sharing Plate at the Lindt Cafe on Collins St.

On a separate day, a friend and I went to try high tea at the Langham Hotel on Southbank. We ordered two servings of the original, and with that, we got club sandwiches (bottom tier), plain and sultana scones (middle), and lastly, an assortment of sweets (top tier).

All drinks were on the house, so we basically went nutso with cappuccinos, lattes, and an assortment of teas.

Spent 4 hrs catching up with my friend, and between us, we managed to go through 2 cups of cappuccinos, 2 lattes, and 6 pots of tea....

You can imagine how many bathroom breaks we had