Nails | Cupcake Queen 011 by Ciate

Cupcake Queen by Ciate is the Day 1 polish in my Ciate Mini Mani Advent Calender and I  love this polish! Th colour is perfect for summer ( it is summer in Australia now! ), it is a hot pink with blue undertones! The formula of this polish is fantastic  easy to apply, drys very quickly and I love the brush, it is really thick and wide making it very easy to apply! 

Hope you enjoyed this quick post! 

Mini Mani Month Advent Calender by Ciate

Instead of buying a traditional chocolate advent calender to count down to Christmas, this year I decided to purchase the Ciate Mini Mani Month Advent Calender! This advent calender is my dream come true, 17 mini Ciate Polishes, 4 mini Caviar pots and 3 Exclusive mini Ciate Glitter Polishes! The advent calender is quite pricey at $90 Australian Dollar, although I did some math and the each polish/pot works out to be about $4 which is actually really good value for money! I will be doing swatches and mini Reviews of each polish as I open the advent calender leading up to Christmas! So make sure you check back every day to see the new posts!! I am very excited to try out some Ciate polishes for the first time ! 

Happy December! Love D xo

The Ciate Mini Mani Advent Calender can be purchased from KIT, Mecca Cosmetica and Online 

Nails | Revlon's Popular

This nail polish by Revlon is called 'Popular' and it is absolutely gorgeous! B gave me this nail polish for my birthday and I think it has to be one of my favourate nail polishes! Popular is a light pink / mauve colour that contains glitter! It goes on really smooth, as this polish contains glitter I was expecting it to be difficult to apply, but it actually applies very easily. Popular takes three to four coats to become opaque and I used the Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle as a top coat!

 Hope you enjoy this quick post! 

xox D

Nails | Essie: It's a Genius

Today I am doing a review on Essie's It's a Genius nail polish! I received this nail polish for Christmas last year and I love it. It is a purple grape / violet color that contains a lot of shimmer! This is one of the best Essie nail polishes I have tried, the formula is amazing, it is the perfect consistency and goes on smooth. I don't use either a base coat or top coat for It's a Genius as it dries rather shiny and I find it goes on just as well if not better without a base coat. I normally do between 2 to 3 coats of this polish, as one coat is not enough and is usually opaque at 2. This polish has great lasting power and I rarely get any chips! :)  The nail polish does separate if the bottle is left standing for a long period of time, but a quick shake of the bottle easily fixes that! I love this polish and I would highly recommend it to everyone! Essie can be purchased from Myer or online at Adore Beauty. 

xox Darcie

Review: Benefit Hoola Bronzer

 'Hoola' bronzer is my first and only Benefit product. Its one of their boxed powders and I love it. I took these pics a while ago and just remembered I had them. I've used even more now and I'm quite close to running out. I love this bronzer because its matte and really dark. I can use this as a regular bronzer, which looks a lot more realistic than something shimmery. Or as a contour to sclulpt my face. When I use it as a contour in the winter, I mix it with my regular face powder to lighten it slighty and achieve the perfect shade. The colour is so lovely, its not orange or muddy, but a rich and a true browny tan. Its highly pigmented so you need the tiniest bit. I love it under blush in the summer for a holiday glow. I use this product all year round.

One of my favourite looks is using bronzer in my crease for naturally defined eyes. It looks pretty when you've used it on your face as it ties everything together. I use my laguna bronzer (review here)  for this too if I want a touch of shimmer.

I think I'm going to pick up some more Benefit products, there is so much more I want to try. I especially have my eyes on benetint for a smudge proof summer stain!

You can purchase Benefit at Myers and David Jones as well as online.

B x

Benefit Hoola Bronzer $51 (Myer price)

Review: Lush Sympathy for the skin

 

 

I have really dry skin and at one stage earlier this year, I started getting mild eczema on my legs, which led to me unknowingly scratching in my sleep resulting in scars. I have always had very sensitive skin and I've had eczema on my hands for years.So during this stage, I needed a super hyrdrating moisturiser that wasn't highly fragranced and gentle on my skin. I'd heard plenty of good things about Lush's Sympathy for the Skin and I was lucky enough to receive it as a gift for my birthday courtesy of D.

 

I started to use it right away. Its thick, creamy and most importantly hyrdrating! Its smells very subltly of banana custard but not in a weird way haha. Its a really pleasant, light scent. My skin has improved now the weather is getting slightly warmer, but I still whip this out and use it reguarly. My friend also has it a loves it too.

Highly reccomend.

 

Its available at Lush of course! you can order online too.

 

B x

 

Weekend post: Whats in my bag- snapshot

 

snapshot of current handbag essentials

Bag: Modalu London
Phone: very old but still going strong Nokia e63
Wallet: Ripcurl (had for years and still LOVE it
Glasses: Rayban
Notebook: KIKI K
Compact mirror: Pandora
Tissues
Headphones to go with iPod touch 4thG
Hair tie
Vogue Aus November 12
Makeup:

MAC MSF nautural -all out! :( review here
Manicare pro retractable kubuki
Australis lipstick in 'Samba'
Clarins instant light lip perfector review here
Korres Lip butter in Jasmine review here
I would usually have either Soap & Glory hand food or Nutirmetics nail and hand treatment in here also!


B x