2015 Favourites

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having a great new year! Today I am doing a list of my favourite products of 2015. I have included some links to my other posts including swatches/reviews of the products!

Lips

This year I have been trying heaps of new nude shades, and here are my favourites!

MAC Velvet Teddy: This is a super popular shade from Mac, and I can see why - it's a really unique colour, and is a cool toned brown with warmer reddish hints, whilst remaining a nude shade. It has become one of my everyday picks!

MAC Peach Blossom: Another nude, but this lipstick is a cremesheen and therefore slightly sheer and glossy shade, and is a gorgeous light pink nude.

Essence lipliner in In the Nude: Probably my most used lipliner, this is so versatile and goes with most lighter nudes or can be worn by itself. The best part is it only costs $2!

Australis Velourlips in Pa-ree: Again one of my favourite nudes. This is a light brownish pink and is a perfect natural nude for my fair skin.

Eyes

Maybelline Colossal Mascara: This mascara is the 'Smoky Eyes' version of the Colossal mascara. I picked this up not knowing what it would be like, and despite the larger wand which I usually do not prefer, this became a favourite! I found it really separated the lashes whilst giving plenty of volume.

Maybelline Big Eyes Mascara: If you like the Falsies mascara, you will love this! This is a double ended mascara, one end the normal Falsies wand, and the other a smaller, thinner brush for your lower lashes. This is a must have for me, and something I would by just for the lower lash wand, which tends to be hard to find in drugstore brands.

Maybelline Hyper Sharp liner: This liner is a new liner made to perfect your winged eyeliner, and it works amazingly! It is flat with a thick side and thin edge which makes it perfect to shape your wings.

Australis Metallix eyeshadow in Guns and Rose Petals: This eyeshadow is absolutely amazing and I have never seen anything exactly like it before! It is a creamy shadow which is incredibly metallic and glowy on the eyes, as if you have real gems on them.

Makeup Geek eyeshadows: The 'MUG' eyeshadows are incredibly pigmented, particularly the matte shades. They come in a huge range of colours with a reasonable price and are great quality. The foiled eyeshadows are especially incredible, similar to the Metallix in powder form.

Face

Secret Key Finish Up BB Cream: This is a Korean BB cream which I love for using as a base for my makeup. It works amazingly at covering up pores and redness, and reminds me of Benefit's Porefessional for a fraction of the price! (I bought mine from beautynetkorea.com).

Nars Creamy Concealer: I never thought I would splurge on a concealer like this one, but here it is and I can say it was definitely worth it! The tiniest bit of this concealer goes such a long way and conceals amazingly. I have the shade Chantilly which is perfect for under the eyes for fair skin as it has a yellow undertone, although I find it works anywhere on my face.

Models Prefer Contour Collection: Contour kits were all the range this year, and I'm glad that I picked one up, in particular this one! It has great contour colours for lighter skin tones which can be difficult to find, as well as a gorgeous yellow shade and highlighter.

Eyebrows

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pomade in Medium Brown: I love this product as it is so versatile and easy to use, and can be used for any style on your brows. I actually find it easier to use than a pencil or even powder as it glides on so smoothly and makes it easy to define your brows.

Maybelline Brow Satin in Dark Brown: I love this product for its convenience as well as its quality. It is double sided with a pencil on one end and a powder applicator on the other. It is a very easy to use product and I really love how it looks on my brows.

Cheeks

TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer: This highlighter is a very popular product and for a good reason. It is a beautiful gold shimmery powder which beautifully illuminates the face.

Nars blush in Gaiety: This blush looks alarmingly bright pink, but actually applies a more natural almost peachy pink. It gives a lovely glow to the skin which makes you look slightly flushed without looking crazy.

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal: Another very popular highlighter which I found works even on my very fair skin despite its slightly bronzier colour. I love this as it gives a gorgeous natural glow when used lightly or can be built up to look super glamorous, but just looks so beautiful on the skin.

And that's it for my 2015 favourites! What were your favourites from the year? Did you discover any amazing new products? Let me know!

- Ella

Priceline Haul

As I'm sure many of you know, this Wednesday and Thursday was the 40% off sale in Priceline for all cosmetics. I took the opportunity to pick up some products I've been wanting to try.

Mini Velourlips

   

The Australis Mini Velourlips set in Reds & Darks is a cute set of 5 travel sized Velourlips. It includes a classic red, two dark berry shades, a deep purple and a black. I really wanted to try some of the deeper shades so this was a great way to try them out! I did a review of Velourlips here.

Australis Metallix

   

I also picked up another Australis product, the Metallix eyeshadow in Plum Diddy, a deep plum-brown. Since I loved my one in Guns and Rose Petals, I decided to pick up another one. This one isn't as intense, but is very creamy and still a gorgeous shade. I also did a review on my Australis review post.

Covergirl 3 in 1 Foundation

   

I wanted to try out a fuller coverage foundation so I picked up the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation in Natural Beige. This foundation claims to be long wearing, blendable and provide heavy coverage, and includes SPF 20, and after hearing so many great reviews on it I thought it would be the perfect time to try it out.

Models Prefer Contour Stick

   

The next thing I picked up was the Models Prefer Cream Contour Stick. I don't own any cream contouring products so I picked this one up to try. It is a bit warmer than I was expecting but hopefully it will still work well!

Maybelline Brow Satin

   

The Maybelline Brow Satin in Dark Brown is an interesting new product which seems really good for when you're in a rush doing your makeup and want to quickly fill in your eyebrows. On one side is an automatic brow pencil, and on the other side is a kind of sponge applicator which dispenses powder. I am really excited to use this!

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lip Liner

   

The last thing I bought was the Rimmel Moisture Renew Lip Liner, which is basically a universal/transparent lip liner, meaning you can wear it under literally any colour lipstick and it will keep it in place & prevent bleeding/feathering. I think this is a really good investment as it can be the only lip liner you really need! 

What did you all pick up from the sale? Did you manage to get everything you wanted? Did you splurge on things you didn't need? Let me know!

- Ella

Australis Review: Velourlips, Metallix, F&F & more

Australis is a pretty new brand to me, but recently I have purchased quite a few of their products, and I have to say I am really liking the brand so far. So I decided to share with you all the products I own and how I like them - including the Velourlips, Metallix eyeshadow, Fresh & Flawless powder and the Go Camo concealer. 

Velourlips

I currently own four of the Velourlips Matte Lip creams - Pa-ree, Hon-o-loo-loo, Mi-am-ee, and Doo-bai.

L-R Doo-bai, Mi-am-ee, Hon-o-loo-loo, Pa-ree

These lip creams go on quite nicely and are very pigmented on the lips. They dry quite quickly but not too quickly to work with. They feel quite dry, but I haven't had a problem with them, even on my dry lips. 

Clockwise from top left; Pa-ree, Hon-o-loo-loo, Mi-am-i, Doo-bai

As for them lasting, they stay very well without eating or drinking and usually will still stay on the lips if you're not eating oily foods etc. I also found that blotting my lips after applying them helped them stay on even longer.

Rating: 4/5

 Metallix Eyeshadow

This eyeshadow is hands down amazing. I got the one in the shade 'Guns and Rose Petals', which is a kind of pink/silver colour. 

The eyeshadow is quite creamy, but looks like a foiled eyeshadow when used. It is very pigmented but ideally should be applied with your finger rather than a brush to get the most out of the product.

Rating: 4.5/5

Go Camo Concealer

The Go Camo concealer claims to be a 'full on coverage concealer'. The formula is quite thick and does have quite heavy coverage. I have heard that for people with dry skin it can pick up dry patches, but on my oily skin it works quite well.

 I got the shade 'Medium', the middle shade of 3 shades. For a medium shade I found it to be very light, but it works for me. I would say the biggest downfall of tis product would be the lack of a range of shades.

Rating: 3.5/5

Fresh & Flawless Powder

I bought two shades - Light Beige and Deep Natural - for when I am tanned vs naturally pale. The powder is quite a thick, pigmented powder when used heavily but can be lightened in both weight and pigment depending on its usage.

L-R Light Beige, Deep Natural

Light Beige is the lightest shade in the range. It appears very yellow toned, but I found it did not show up as yellow when used lightly & blended out. Deep Natural is a darker, more warm toned shade but is quite light when blended.

The compact can be flipped open to reveal a mirror and sponge, which makes it handy to take with you. 

Rating: 4/5

Overall I am really liking Australis, and defintely think I will be purchasing more from them in the future, especially the Velourlips and Metallix eyeshadows. I hope this was helpful! Let me know how you like Australis.

- Ella