Another haul, and my stash

Here's another haul that arrived today, this time a bulk lot of cosmetics that I bought off TradeMe with all sorts of exciting (and not so exciting) items.


The whole lot came in a cute little silvery clutch bag, a little worn round the edges but I can definitely see me getting some use out of it - that colour will go with most everything. In front of it a bottle of Body Shop Total Energy Exhilarating Body Wash (with guarana, bergamot and luffa) which smells divine, and three rings, two of which I'll wear and the flowery one which ... erm .... not really me.


Maybelline Express Finish Taupe Tulle (which surprisingly I find myself drawn to), Revlon Dark Pleasures Scarlet Letter (love the Dark Pleasures range) and BYS Lolly Lick (most definitely not my colour).

Maybelline Forever Metallic Lites in Snow Perle (one for 14 Year Old Daughter - too frosty pink for me), Maybelline Shiny-licious lip gloss in Strawberry Tart (cute colour, I do find these Maybelline glosses are of the glue your lips together and stick your hair to your face variety though), and a Body Shop Hi-Shine Lip Treatment.

A Benefit Justine Case mini beautifier kit (I seem to remember my sister getting one of these as a gift with purchase when she bought her GHD's). Contains an Eyecon brightening eye cream, a California Kissin' smile brightening lip shine, and Some Kind-A-Gorgeous The Foundation Faker. The kit would have originally come with a Benetint lip and cheek stain in rose, but I bought one of those in Melbourne so no great loss.

A Maybelline XXL microfiber mascara in Very Black, a pink shimmer eyeshadow crayon which all the writing has rubbed off of, a Too Faced Liquid Light highlighting shimmer and a Castledew colorshot double ended eyeliner pencil (one end black, the other glittery white.

Swatches - on a hand which appears in the photo to be quite wrinkly around the wrist. This displeases me!

At the left is Body Shop Hi-Shine Lip Treatment, then from top to bottom Maybelline Forever Metallic Lites Snow Perle, Maybelline Shiny-licious Strawberry Tart, Benefit Some Kind-a-Gorgeous (too yellow for my skin), Benefit California Kissin', Too Faced Liquid Light, unnamed eyeshadow crayon (this one's definitely going to 14 Year Old Daughter - the colour's not quite right for my eyes plus the texture of eyeshadow crayons doesn't tend to work so well on not-quite-40-but-not-too-far-off eyelids), Castledew eyeliner black end and white end.

Lots of fun stuff to play around with in there. I didn't swatch the Benefit Eyecon eye cream because when I put it on my hand it didn't do anything - by which I mean I couldn't see it!

I spent some time this afternoon sorting out my polishes. I have to do this on a regular basis because my collection keeps outgrowing my storage. The Eccentric English Boyfriend would have me believe this is a good reason to stop buying polishes. To which I reply: "lalalalalalalala I can't hear you".

This is the storage trolley I keep all my polishes in - I like the fact that it's on wheels, when I'm doing manis I can wheel it out for people to choose their colour. You will notice at back right is Jessie, looking all stalky, and at left you can make out Fred who was in the middle of scratching his head against the couch. He makes the funniest little grunty noises when he does this.

The top tier, from left to right holos, duochromes and clear-based glitters, blacks, greys, whites golds and creams, reds, oranges and yellows.

The middle tier, from left to right yellow/greens, greens, blue/greens, blues.

The bottom tier, from left to right blurples, purples and pinks, and at the right my stash of untrieds.

And since my polishes have completely taken over the trolley, this lot had to go into containers.

At the back are my Seche Vite refill and my Seche Restore, then top row is manicure tools, a container of nail repair/treatments, hand creams and polish removers and a container of mini bottles of polish (unnamed or unknown brands). Front is my soaking dish (I always think these look like orange juicers!), a container of top and bottom coats and a container of nail art/Konad stuff.

Phew! I've seen lots of different storage solutions for us polish addicts. How do you store your polishes my pretties? Someone asked me the other day if I kept my polishes in the fridge, which made me laugh because although our fridge is huge if I put all my polishes in it there'd be very little room for anything else!

Melbourne: I came, I shopped, I ... shopped some more

Well my pretties, I promised you pictures of my Melbourne shopping haul, so make yourself a cup of tea (or coffee, or a glass of wine), pull up a chair and away we go.

Saturday my friend Nic (also known as the most patient person in the world) and I spent several hours exploring Chadstone Mall. It's always interesting as a New Zealander shopping the malls in Australia and seeing which shops have reached New Zealand's shores. The likes of Cotton On, Jay Jays, Diva and many others have become fairly ubiquitous whichever side of of the Tasman you're on, but Australia offers many more shops that we don't (yet) have in New Zealand, including some pretty good department stores. By which I mean some pretty good department stores which stock makeup brands almost impossible to find in New Zealand - Myer, David Jones and Target, how much do I love your beauty departments, let me count the ways.

I blogged previously about the High Velocity polish range from Kit, and it was obviously a total given that I was going to buy them wasn't it? Lucky there was a Kit stand in Myer then wasn't it?



Look at those pretty colours (left to right: Speed Demon, Top Gear and Full Throttle). And, a Lipstick Queen Chinatown Glossy Pencil in Thriller. This is a product I've had on my To Blog list for some time, and I never got around to writing a post about it. Available in five colours, these chunky pencils are described as a 'draw on gloss' and they are amazing. They apply smoothly and feel so soft and creamy on - highly recommended. At AU$34.95 each I could really only justify buying one and I chose Thriller, which looks scarily bright red in the tube but on the lips it is a beautiful sheer pinkish red which I just love (and I have a terrible time finding reds for my lips that suit me).

But wait, there's more:


Burt's Bees and Benefit are also almost impossible to find in New Zealand. I've been wanting the Burt's Bees cuticle balm for ages, having read so much about it, and this kit containing the cuticle balm, a lip balm and sample sizes of hand creams, body lotions and foot lotion was AU$24.95 at David Jones. I love the cuticle balm and it smells truly gorgeous, but neither of the hand creams appeal. One is banana scented and the other almond scented, and both scents are so overpowering that wearing them makes me feel quite ill - admittedly both banana and almond are high on my most disliked fragrance list! The other products are lovely though.

Benefit Benetint is another product I've read plenty of good things about, so I bought myself the pocket sized version for AU$38.00 at Myer. Too early for a review of this one yet, I'm interested to see if it lives up to its long-wearing claims, especially since I'm in the habit of eating lipstick like it's chocolate!



These Revlon scented polishes are available in New Zealand, but I grabbed them in David Jones anyway for AU$24.95.

Here they are on 14 Year Old Daughter's fingers (I think I need to give her some polish applying lessons!):



The polishes do exactly what they say on the packet, when they're dry they have a fruity scent reminiscent of fruit candies. Being Revlon the application is lovely - the formula is thin in a good way and flows over the nail beautifully and bottle colour was achieved in two coats. I have to say the colours aren't my cup of tea and they aren't anything special, you'll find dupes of these all over the place from many other brands, but 14 Year Old Daughter loves them and the scent is a fun gimmick.



This cute tote and accompanying bag of goodies was AU$19.95 with any beauty purchase at David Jones. The goodie bag contains all sorts of fun things, including a full size David Jones body wash and sample size hair care and skin care products from the likes of Revlon, Ojon, John Frieda, Priore, L'Occitane, A'kin and Ultraceuticals. Lots of the brands are new to me, so I'm going to be having some fun trying these out!

Now we all know by now about my difficulties finding flat shoes I like, so you can imagine how happy I was with these little cuties:


They were AU$34.99 in Target and I love, love, love them! I even had a complete stranger in a lift compliment me on them!

Sunday we went to St Kilda which has some lovely boutiquey wee shops along its main street which are well worth a browse. Oh and a Hairhouse Warehouse, which is another of those shops I really wish we had here in New Zealand. Not only do they have a huge range of reasonably priced hair products, but they also stock makeup, including the bamboo makeup brush range from ecotools which I have been reading a lot about recently.



AU$29.95, which is a jolly good price for a good quality five piece makeup brush set complete with brush roll. I've given these to 14 Year Old Daughter who is a vegetarian and likes these because they don't use animal hair.

Oh and look at the colour of that nail polish by le Beauty, AU$4.95 also at Hairhouse Warehouse.


That's the entrance to Luna Park in St Kilda. I love that decades ago someone thought this would entice people in to the park. "Step into my mouth little ones, don't be scared." It's enough to give me nightmares!

After lunch we checked out the St Kilda Esplanade Market, which is on every Sunday from 10am to 5pm.


The market stretches along the waterfront at St Kilda and features over 150 stallholders selling everything you'd expect to find at an artisan market: jewellery, clothing, photos, paintings, ceramics, handcrafts and so much more. Definitely worth a look if you're in the area, I picked up quite a few lovely gift items.

Oh and look what else we got (for afternoon tea at a friend's house):


The cupcake trend hasn't quite taken off in New Zealand yet, so when I saw these in a bakery I HAD to get some. They were delicious - I want a whole bucket of the buttercream icing to myself!

Lastly, for a little bit of cute:


That's my friend Nic's cat Max. He has a bag obsession and loved to investigate my shopping when we returned, so I emptied out a bag especially for him!

And this is Buster the dog:


He's actually quite a lot naughtier than that face would have you believe, but so adorable!

That's not even all of what I bought - there were lots of gifts for the kids and EEB and other goodies. I had an awesome time and will definitely be returning, and for much longer next time!