Cosmetic Cupcake

Aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back from my trip! I hope you've all been fab =D 2 weeks seriously is not enough time for a decent holiday, it just went by way too quickly! I spent time with my grandparents and also doing wedding stuff (got so much stuff ordered and organised!) which didn't leave too much time for shopping so my wallet is happy haha. I went over with a specific wishlist as I'm on a tight budget so my haul this time is far less than my usual ones! I have way too many products and I still need to get off my butt and do a blog sale! I bought quite a bit of clothing though this time and also shoes but I can't be bothered taking pics of those oops. Here's my haul!


Polishes!! 3 of the Essie Mirror Metallics, China Glaze Wicked collection and one from the Bohemian collection, innisfree glitters, Deborah Lippmanns, a Jessica and a peripera.


I met up with the lovely Jen as always and she very very kindly gave me a $50 Make Up For Ever voucher! I was only going to get one polish from the Black Tango collection but they were buy 2 get 1 free so of course I couldn't resist and ended up with the whole collection! I also picked up a Aqua Eyes Liner. They are the BEST liners!


Some nail art stuff of course! Fauxnad plates, nail art brushes, nail decals and stickers, fimo, palette and some cabochons.


Yes I indeed did lug home a 1L bottle of Zoya Remove lol. It was on sale and it's so hard to get here! The downfall to polishing my nails all the time is staining so I let myself get talked into getting the Cuccio Sicilian nail whitening paste. Here's hoping it works!


The shu uemura eyelash curler is my HG and I was tossing up between getting the gold or the mon shu girl curler and ended up going with mon shu girl. Karl Lagerfield rocks and I'm a sucker for a charm.


A few misc items! A refill for my Clinique powder, YSL glossy stain, MAC Select Moisturecover concealer, Kiehl's Cryste Marine eye cream and one of the new Clinique Chubby Stick shades.


I've heard so much stuff about the Bioderma I had to try it out. It's so much cheaper in HK!


Of course I got some face masks! I'm kind of obsessed with them lol. I actually bought 4 more boxes but had to leave them behind because my luggage was too heavy. The darn Zoya Remove!


Kracie poppin' cookin' is the bomb so I got a few more kits. If you haven't heard of them I HIGHLY recommend you check out RRcherrypie's blog and YouTube channel! You will be addicted!


My sister got an iphone 4S a while back and nicked some of the cases I got last time so I had to restock my supply haha. The MJ and Kate Spades I got for a bargain at Ladies Market so they're obviously not real xp


So that's my haul! I haven't done a haul post in a while because I've been on no buys. I hope you enjoyed my post!

Thanks for looking as always =)

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang and Clearasil.

It’s finally spring here in Australia! I LOVE this time of year as it means I can break out the pretty colours I put away for winter, dewy skin and enjoy a fresh-faced look. One of the biggest beauty trends this spring is the no-makeup look and a twist is the barely there makeup look as I prefer a bit of colour in Spring. To achieve this look it doesn’t actually mean one doesn’t wear makeup though! For me it’s about enhancing your features for a fresh faced look by working with colours that suit your skintone. We want to enhance rather than conceal our natural beauty! Because I’m quite fair I love using peach and pink tones and this look is often my go to for spring.


Great skin is always the perfect canvas to start any makeup look but especially for the barely there makeup look! It’s a huge confidence boost when you can leave the house wearing minimal makeup or having only used just a few products. The Clearasil PerfectaWash can help you put your best face forward every day without makeup with the Super Fruit Extract and Soothing Plant Extract formulas to help soothe and protect against blemishes for visibly clearer skin. Something I think all of us ladies covet! The Clearasil PerfectaWash dispenses just the right amount of cleanser using the unique automated face wash dispenser that delivers exactly 1.5mls of product each time.


The automated dosage system prevents drying out the skin using too much product and active ingredients can irritate the skin and cause further problems. My skin is still a little on the dry side from winter and the formulas contain Vitamin E and antioxidants which are known for their soothing properties so are gentle enough for daily use. They’re dermatologist tested and with the combination of pimple fighting and beneficial ingredients it’s perfect for all young adult skin types to help attain clear skin.



I love a dewy finish in spring so I used the Clinique Even Better Foundation in 01 for a slightly heavier coverage than I would normally use as I find can get away with not having to use concealer when my skin is behaving well. It evens out my skintone and covers any blemishes or acne scarring well. I set it with Face of Australia Translucent Powder and I lightly swept MAC powder blush in Hipness on the apples of my cheeks for a just pinched look. I couldn’t resist a bit of highlighter so I used Benefit Watts Up highlighter on my cheekbones!

For the eyes, I primed my lids using Too Faced Shadow Insurance and applied a very soft wash of pink using MAC eyeshadow in Ego and highlighted my brow bone using MAC eyeshadow in Shroom. I used a teeny bit of the dark brown shade from the Stila eyeshadow trio in gold glow in my outer corner and added Illamasqua Powder eye shadow in Synth to the centre of my lid. I lined my eyes lightly using Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in Juju and 2 coats of Dolly Wink Volume mascara and one coat of Clinique Bottom Lash mascara in black.


For the lips I used Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Flirt for a sheer peach lip. I prefer using these lipstick-balm hybrids in the warmer months for a more natural look.


Fancy trying out the Clearasil PerfectaWash yourself? I'm giving away a Clearasil PerfectaWash Automatic Facewash Dispenser & Refill to ONE lucky reader! All you have to do is answer the following question:

Have you tried the new Clearasil PerfectaWash, what were your thoughts?
Leave me a comment with your answer below for your chance to win! The competition is open to Australian residents only and ends at 5pm AEST on October 28th 2012. The winner will be chosen by Nuffnang. See Terms & Conditions here.

Good luck!

Hi ladies! Face of Australia recently released their Pretty Pastels collection which consists of 8 gorgeous pastel shades that are PERFECT for spring! I had the absolute pleasure of collaborating once again with Face of Australia for their blog (peep the Christmas manicure I did last year here!) to do some fun nail art and this time I also did some tutorials too. Nail art is sooooooooo much fun and easy to do and you don't need fancy tools to create it!


Here's a preview of some of the manis I created using the Pretty in Pastels collection and other Face of Australia polishes!





Head on over to the Face of Australia blog to see the other manis I created and also the easy peasy tutorials! I really hope you guys will try the manis out! If you do, be sure to tweet @FOAcosmetics and myself (@cosmeticcupcake) a photo. I'd love to see what you create using the polishes! =)

Thanks for looking as always!

Hello from HK ladies! I thought I'd squeeze in a quick post before I head out for some shopping. Shops here don't open until 11am and I've been waking up early so I'm trying to use my time wisely haha. Today's mani is from a little while ago and is inspired by this gorgeous mani by one of my favourite ladies Aysh. Being a lover of glitter gradient manis of course I had to do her mani myself!


I couldn't find my Ulta 3 mermaid green anywhere so I used 2 coats of Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money instead and applied China Glaze Atlantis (thank you so much Ange for this beauty!!!!!!) and Essence nail art twins Edward to the tips. Not the best glitter gradient I've done but oh well!



I haven't used my Dirty, Sexy, Money in ages so it settled haha.

I hope you're all doing well! My nails are currently nekkid while I'm on holiday and it feels so weird! Must do my nails sooooooooon.

Do you guys love glitter gradient manis too? Thanks for looking as always =)

Sooooooo I'm off to Hong Kong again today! Yes for the 2nd time this year X) I'll be away for 2 weeks to help out the family unit and also to recuperate and get my mojo back after an intense, hectic and stressful months at work. Even though I won't be hauling much at all this trip because I'm getting married next year (EEEEEEK!) I'll be stuffing my face full of yummy food, picking up some wedding related stuff and catching up with some blogging friends.

As always you can catch me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook (don't forget to "like" me!!) while I'm away. Expect lots of food and beauty pics haha! I hope you're all doing well and see you in HK!

XX

OPI Black Spotted has been one of my biggest polish lemmings this year and this month I finally got my hands on an elusive bottle thanks to lovely Sam! I have a super quick swatch of Black Spotted for you over Kiko Holographic 400 which I showed you the other day.


This is 1 relatively thin coat over 2 coats of 400 and I think the effect is SO DAMN AMAZING!!!!!! I still need to get the hang of it because the thinner you apply it the more spots appear. Also important to apply it over completely dry polish or cracks appear! The first time I tried it I was far too eager and applied it over still wet polish waaaay too thickly haha.




Sigh. I love when a lemming is fulfilled! I really enjoyed shatter/crackle but I think Black Spotted is so much more fun and something different which is awesome. Thanks for looking as always =)

On Saturday morning Anita, her fiance S and I headed to The Star for Zumbaron Day. It was the first Zumbaron Day for both of us so we were both very very excited of course haha. Zumbaron Day (previously Macaron Day) is held once a year to celebrate Adriano Zumbo's birthday and when 60 something unique and wonderful macaron flavours are available. S very kindly drove us which meant we got there at about 7:30am and thankfully we were one of the first there yay! We were expecting a crazy line but even by the time they opened the doors after 8am the line still wasn't too crazy . Adriano Zumbo tweeted a pic of the line at The Star - can you spot Anita and I in the pic??!! (hint we're on our phones LOL)

For my international ladies, Adriano Zumbo is a patisser extraordinaire and comes up with some AH-MAZING creations with macarons being one of his most famous. His cakes and macarons are definitely out there with macaron flavours that have included pigs blood, beetroot and raspberry and mango and sweet corn. All his creations are like works of art! You can peep a post I did a few years back here.


Before I show you my macaron haul I thought I'd show you the mani I've had on over the weekend. Of course I had to do a mani for Zumbaron day so I went with a macaron accent!


What I used:


Pinky: I used 2 coats of Hello Darling Hopelessly Devoted* and used Kiss nail art paint striper in white to draw vertical lines.

Ring finger: MACARONS!!! I used 2 coats of OPI Alpine Snow as my base and freehanded the macarons using a small nail art brush. For the chocolate macaron I used Canmake Colorful Nails 54 (Chocolate Syrup) for the cookies and Ulta 3 chocolate cake for the filling; raspberry macaron I used BYS Pink with a Punch for the cookies and Hello Darling Hopelessly Devoted* for the filling; pistachio macaron I used Hello Darling Mint Slice* for the cookies and Essence Lime Up! for the filling and blueberry macaron I used Hello Darling The First Corsage* for the cookies and China Glaze Grape Pop for the filling. PHEW!


Middle finger: I used 3 coats of Nails Inc. Sweets Way.

Index finger: I used 2 coats of Face of Australia Once in a Blue Moon*.

Thumb: I used 2 coats of Hello Darling Hopelessly Devoted* and stamped full polka dot image from Konad plate m79 using Konad Special polish in white.




Onto Zumbaron Day! Below is the order form with the list of flavours available this year. 62 awesome flavours!! It was so hard to choose which ones to get because obviously I would have loved to try them all but I had to limit myself.

My haul!! Obviously it wasn't all for me though lol. I got 24 macarons in total which included 4 of the made to order Zumbarons only available at the Star and also a slice of the infamous V8 cake. Cola is my favourite flavour of all time and I enjoyed the fried donut, fried chicken, redskin and palm sugar & coconut ones the most. Kimchi was sooooo weird and vegemite tasted a bit odd too!

The made to order ones I hauled (clockwise from top left): custard fritter, pork belly, fried donut and fried chicken. These were amazing! They were double the price of the other macarons though which they didn't advertise but considering how cool they were it was all good haha.

I'll leave you with some macaron porn from the day xp

All in all it was fantastic morning and I am all macaron-ed out now haha. It certainly won't be my last Zumbaron Day!! I hope you all had a great weekend! Are you a fan of macarons too?

* Product(s) provided to me for consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion. My Disclosure Policy can be viewed here.

I did a swap recently with the lovely Sam from Fashion Polish for OPI Black Spotted (swatches of that to come!) and she kindly included some other awesome polishes for me including this beauty - Kiko Holographic 400. You sure know the way to my heart Sam!


400 is a linear steel grey holo and it is a stunner. Just look at all the awesome holo!!! The formula is opaque in 2 coats and application was reasonable but I did experience some dragging. I really enjoy Kiko polishes and I'm lucky to have a few in my collection now thanks to my wonderful international nail loving friends!


Close up:



Artificial light:



Quick pic of the polishes Sam sent me =) Thank you SO MUCH for swapping!!


Have you gotten any nail mail recently? Thanks for looking as always!! =)