Wishlist #2

1. Jeffrey Campbell - Lita boots

2. Eve Lom - Cleanser and Muslin Cloth

3. NARS - Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in shade 'Never Say Never'

4. LUSH - 'Therapy' massage bar

5. Soap & Glory - The Breakfast Scrub

1. I know I am ever so late on the Lita band wagon, but I have fallen in love all over again recently and as I didn't buy them when the initial hype went up about these shoes, I think now would be a perfect time to buy them as a cute winter boot! They come in so so many colours and textures, and there's even a studded version out as well - check out the solestruck website for more - but I think I would want to start with a plain pair as a staple in my wardrobe. 

These are available from a few places, but the best place I've seen them to buy for Australia is solestruck.com for $159.95 ($US) - and free express postage. 

2. Eve Lom cleanser has always been on my want list, but it's price tag has just always kept it out of my "buy to try" justification. I received a sample of this cleanser not too long ago though and fell in love. It'd be a great way to keep my skin hydrated through winter. It's super moisturising and made my skin feel divine! Such a luxurious product and you can really feel the quality. With 184 reviews on the Mecca website this product has a rating of 4.9/5 stars! I'm clearly not the only one impressed with this product. 

This product is available in Australia from Mecca Cosmetica in store or online starting from $68 for 50ml, $115 for 100ml, or $186 for 200ml or from kissandmakeupny.com for $60 for 50ml, $80 for 100ml, and $135 for 200ml (all in $US).

3. This is a new shade in the NARS velvet matte lip pencil range and it was love at first site for me. I have the shade 'dragon girl' already and it is my favourite lipstick I own! The formula and ease of application makes these pencils worth every cent and this new colour is described as a gorgeous shade of pink with a hint of purple.

NARS velvet lip pencils are available from Mecca Cosmetica in store or online for $39

4. I have used another Lush massage bar previously and found it such a handy thing to have beside the bed for no mess massages! The bars are soft and melt away in your hands as your warm them on your skin (or the lucky person who is receiving the massage's skin). Lush products are always such a treat and this one sounds just as delicious with it's shea butter and cocoa. 

Lush massage bars are available in store or online for $14.95.

5. I recently saw this in a Kit shop on the weekend and it smells absolutely AMAZING. I have reviewed the 'Scrub Actually' scrub previously from this brand and you would have read about how much I loved it, so I imagine this would be exactly the same. It really did smell good enough to eat, and always such a great price. 

Soap & Glory's 'The Breakfast Scrub' is available from Kit instore or online, and also at Mecca Cosmetica instore and online for $18.95.

What are you lusting after this month? Have you got/tried any of these products? x

How to remove glitter nail polish without fuss!

I have some really pretty glitter nail polishes, but for so long I avoided wearing them, or only used them as an accent on one nail because I HATED the thought of having to take it off once it was done! Such a shame. I had heard of this easy trick, but never really believed it would work that well so I kept simply scrubbing at my nails until the glitter chunks came off... until recently. 

As you saw in my last post, I had the Deborah Lippmann - Candy Shop glitter nail polish on my nails last week. I thought I'd give this simple trick a try, and what do you know - it works a treat! 

What you need:

- Cotton pads or cotton buds

- Nail polish remover

- Aluminium foil torn into small strips

How to:

1. Soak a cotton pad with nail polish remover so there's enough to cover your entire nail. 

2. Place the cotton pad over your nail covering the nail polish and then use the aluminium foil strip to wrap the cotton pad over the finger tip and hold it tightly in place.

3. Continue to wrap the rest of the fingers on one hand same as above steps, then leave for 2-3 minutes. (NOTE: Make sure that if you have any pain from the nail polish remover on your fingers that you remove it immediately in case you're having a reaction)

4. Firmly press down on the cotton pad as you're removing the foil and cotton pad from your finger tip, this should remove almost all of the glitter and nail polish. 

5. Have a spare cotton pad with nail polish remover on it handy so you can remove any excess nail polish. As you can see in the picture above I had only a few small pieces of glitter leftover, MUCH better than the usual scrubbing it would take! 

6. Repeat for the other hand and you're done! 

I really was surprised how well this worked. I will most definitely be using glitter nail polish a lot more often now. :)

Have you tried this method before? What's the best way you know to remove glitter nail polish? x

NOTW - Deborah Lippmann - Candy Shop over Kit - Winner Takes

This weeks Nail Of The Week is what I can only describe as a party on the nails! This is quite fitting too as the main nail polish in focus here is from the Deborah Lippmann - Get This Party Started nail polish trio box set from 2011 which featured Candy Shop (Happy Birthday glitter in a pink jelly base) alongside Happy Birthday and Forget You (Happy Birthday glitter in a black jelly). 

I started with a lighter base than I have previously used with the Candy Shop jelly top coat. I used one of my very favourite pale pinks - Kit - Winner Takes. This is a really light pink that is pretty much the exact colour that it looks in the bottle. It goes on really opaque like all Kit nail polishes that I've used, which makes it easy to have a nice base with pale colours. I used 2 coats just to get a nice even finish before I put on the glitter top coat. 

The glitter in Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop is definitely not lacking at all. One quick swipe was all I needed for the thick coverage of glitter that you can see on my nails above. It comes out nice and even and applies really easily. The pink jelly base with the glitter actually made my nails a more fluro pink than I was expecting over the pale pink base colour. I didn't know if I liked it at first, but it really grew on me and it's a nice effect in the end. I've only ever used this over a barbie kind of pink previously so the colour of the jelly base wasn't noticeable at all, but over this you can really tell that the jelly base has a colour of it's own. 

I'm still yet to use Candy Shop on it's own on my nails, but from watches that I've seen the jelly base builds up to quite a nice colour making it not too sheer. It might be something I need to think about trying in the future. There are some good swatches of the whole 'Get This Party Started' set here. 

I received the Deborah Lippmann 'Get This Party Started' set which included Candy Shop for my birthday, and it's from 2011 so I'm not sure that it's available online anymore, but it may still be on ebay! I know you can order Candy Shop on it's own from the Deborah Lippmann website (not 100% sure that it posts to Australia sorry!) or from 

The Kit nail polish 'Winner Takes' is still available in store at Kit and Mecca or online at Kit and Mecca too.

What do you think of this combination? What's your favourite glitter nail polish? x

Crush Cosmetics - 88 Shade Neutral Palette

[with flash]

[swatches in natual light]

When I first started collecting makeup, I was definitely a little more budget conscious than I am now (makeup loves me back right?! Haha). This was one of the first big purchases I made to try to build my collection quickly and for beginning and experimenting it's perfect!

The Crush Cosmetics - 88 Shade Neutral Palette is a collection of 88 eye shadows including a great range of netrals to suit all eye colours, from light creams to dark maroons. The palette includes 42 matte shades, the rest are a combination of shimmer and pearl. Having this range means the palette is versatile for an every day look, or can be built up to be a little bit fancier for a night out.

As far as the quality of the eyeshadows go, the pigment is quite good but it takes a little bit more to build some of the colours up on your skin. As you can see in the swatches the initial build up gives a nice colour pay off, but it fades fairly quickly, and some of the darker shades that do have a better colour pay off tend to crumble a little so be careful about fall out!

Overall this is a great place to start with eye shadow, and for the price you get a great little collection. I would definitely make sure you use a good eye primer though when using these to make the colours last, and if you have sensitive skin always test cheaper products before using them on your face or you may get a nasty surprise. I have not had any issues with these eye shadows personally, but better to be safe than sorry! 

I purchased this palette from Crush Cosmetics a few years ago now, but they're still in stock online for only $35.95 ($AU) making it less than 50 cents per colour! I believe they may be the same as or similar to the Coastal Scents - Warm Palette and the reviews online are great. I'm not too sure if their website ships here, but I have seen them on ebay for quite cheap too so look around if ebay is more your thing!  

Do you have any Crush Cosmetics Palettes? What kind of makeup did you first start with when you bought makeup? x

Insta-week #3

Little peak into my world again via pictures again with instagram. My username is: onwardprogress

I baked! | 120kg dumbbells at the gym :S | New cheap goodies | MAC Saint Germain <3 | Hiking | Late Friday gym session | New gym clothes | Banana pancakes! | Working from home = pink fluffy robe all day | Amazing healthy smoothie | Hot choc for a cold night | Trying to win a fortune with scratchies | long socks | Cycle class | Fruit salad <3 |  New George Forman steamer! | Skull goodies | Night out | Studded power shoulders | New hair! | Label M conditioner | Goodbye red ends |  Lacking gym motivation on cold nights |  New lashes! | Snow peas <3 |  Casual Friday | Barry M lip gloss <3 |  Sequin blazer | Dentist time! | Tried a new protein - coffee flavoured | Carrots every day | Well deserved glass of red wine