Current competition online - Clinique - Chubby Stick

I'm not too sure if you're following Clinique Australia on facebook, but they're currently running a great competition to celebrate their Chubby Sticks turning 1! It's easy to enter and considering I don't own a Chubby Stick yet, but have always wanted a few, I'll definitely be entering!

[image from clinique.com.au]

The competition is as follows:


"Happy Birthday Chubby Stick!

To celebrate Clinique’s number one lip product’s first birthday you have the chance to win 1 of 100 Chubby Sticks and go in the major drawer to win 1 of 3 Papillionaire Bicycle, Triwa Watch, Country Road Wallet & full range of Chubby Sticks.

Jump onto Clinique Australia’s Facebook page to enter. Simply tell us in 25 words or less 'What would add a little colour to your life?'

Competition commences 27/5/12 – 23/6/12 "

Have you tried a Clinique Chubby Stick? What's your favourite colour? What other Clinique products do you love? x

NOTW - OPI - Black Cherry Chutney

This weeks nail of the week is OPI - Black Cherry Chutney from OPI's India collection from 2008. 

This was another nail polish that I had recently received in my haul from mbeautylounge.com and as soon as I saw it in the bottle I couldn't believe how pretty it looked. I couldn't wait to get it on my nails! Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed once I did. 

In the bottle it looks a deep purple with flecks of red undertones, however on the nail I lost that almost completely. It looked like a flat colour of deep purple, and the only way to see the undertones is in direct sunlight, and even then it's not so noticeable. In the second picture I've used flash, so you can almost see the other flecks of colour coming through there.

I thought this would be comparable to my previous post OPI - Midnight In Moscow and I guess in a way it is, but this is a lot more purple, and the undertones aren't as noticeable. It almost looks black without direct light on top. I definitely can't complain though, it's another awesome vampy colour to add to my collection, and OPI do these sort of colours oh so well. 

This was a little harder to apply than Midnight In Moscow, one coat was quite streaky, but it evened out with the second and I left it at that. Maybe a third coat would really intensify it, but I think 2 is plenty!

Overall I really do like the colour that this turned out, I was just a little disappointed with the initial lack of shimmer once it was on the nail. If you love a deep vampy purple this is a lovely colour. 

I purchased this from mbeautylounge.com for $6.15 (US) but it may still be available in stores too. In Australia David Jones stock OPI instore for around $19.95 (AU), or check out the OPI website for a stockist near you! 

What do you think of OPI - Black Cherry Chutney? What's your favourite OPI colour? Do you like vampy shades? 

Tried & Loved - Soap & Glory - Scrub, Actually

I have fallen in love once again for the Soap & Glory brand, this time with the 'Scrub, Actually' body scrub!

This sugar sweet treat (and I mean literally sugar!) is such a yummy way to freshen up your skin! I am a sucker for all things sweet and pink, so I couldn't go past this when I saw it in Kit recently. 

Soap & Glory describe the scrub as "An absolute smash of a body buffer, with smoothing brown sugar, white sugar and natural apricot kernel oil. Loaded with kukui oil, mango butter and vitamin E. Scented with our fruity Blueberry fragrance." 

To use, simply squeeze your desired amount (a medium handful is a good amount for me) into your hand, then apply to damp skin in a circular motion until the product dissolves. Easy! And fresh skin with a beautiful scent will follow. :)

Being in a squeeze tube also makes things super simple in the shower. I have found with tubs that it's quite easy for water to find it's way into the packaging, but this is avoided completely having the scrub in a tube, and it's definitely soft enough to squeeze out as desired. 

The scrub itself is a nice light scrub as the sugar granules melt quite quickly in the heat of the shower. After using it my skin feels nice and soft, and not dry at all like some other scrubs I've used before. I'm assuming this is due to the Mango Butter and Vitamin E infused in the scrub, and the beauty of a sugar scrub is that it doesn't burn any teeny nicks or bumps  (I'm looking at you shaving cuts) you may have - like I feel salt based scrubs can sometimes do. 

The packaging, in unison with the rest of the Soap & Glory brand, is filled with cheeky puns and slogans like "All you need is scrub" (I can't get the song from Moulin Rouge out of my head every time I use this now, sigh. Haha), and vintage imagery on a bright pink colour base. Very cute and girly, and the scrub colour matches being bright pink!

This is a nice light scrub that is great for use even a few times a week if you'd like a little pick me up for your skin, nothing too abrasive about it though so maybe not great for removing the toughest troubles. I have noticed that there are about 5 different body scrubs in the Soap & Glory range though so I'm quite interested in checking out a few more to see what different goodies they may hold for my skin. 

This scrub is available from Kit Cosmetics in Myer, or a Kit store near you or online at Kit or Mecca for only $16.95. So cheap! 

Have you tried the Soap & Glory - Scrub, Actually body scrub before? What's your favourite body scrub? x

Short Listed - Beauty Heaven Australian Blogstar Awards for 2012!

Just yesterday I was notified that my previous post - Lush - Cosmetic Warrior fresh face mask - was short listed in the Beauty Heaven Australian Blogstar Awards for 2012! 

I was so excited to hear this news! I'm such a new blog (only starting up 2 months ago) so this exposure and recognition from such a great website is whole heartedly appreciated, even just for the short listing. 

My post is up for voting now in the category Best Beauty Blog Post - New Blog.

I would love if you can help me out and follow the links to vote for my post. The link for voting is here and you will need to take a few moments to sign up here if you aren't already a member (don't worry, the site is awesome so I'm sure you'll find it worth while signing up if you haven't anyway! So many tips and tricks and reviews.)

The competitors all have wonderful posts too so make sure you check out their posts while you're over there voting, you might find a new blog you'll love to read while you're at it. :)

Good luck to everyone that has been short listed! Now let's vote vote vote! Can't wait to see the results, I would absolutely love to win a prize pack!! 

Voting closes midnight Sunday June 10th 2012. 

Oh and just for a little more incentive for you, you can win just for voting too. ;)

Tried and loved - Clinique - Superbalm moisturising gloss - 01 Apricot

If I had to name my number one lip gloss at the moment for every day use, it would be this. Big call I know! But it ticks the box for me in every lip gloss / lip balm category. 

The Clinique Superbalm Moisturising gloss is a non scented, ever so slightly pigmented gloss that comes in 8 shades. Clinique describe the gloss as "lip balm with a colourful twist. Gorgeous colours treat your most undermoisturised skin to helpings of soothing shine. Instantly relieve dryness, protect with antioxidants and more. Dip in." And I would agree that that's a perfect description of the product. 

What I love most about this lip gloss is that I can put it on my lips when they're dry to the point that they're cracking, and this will almost instantly heal them, leaving them smooth and succulent once again. I find this is where a lot of other lip glosses can fall short, which is why I hold this gloss so close to my heart - literally, I take it everywhere! 

The gloss is high shine, lasts for hours at a time, and is a little sticky, but thick enough to not be a messy gloss that will slip off your lips. It allows me to fulfil my terrible habit of rubbing my lips together, without any friction on my lips and without pulling at my skin - just another reason it's a perfect fit for me. 

I have the shade Apricot 01 and I chose this because I really wanted a barely there colour. This doesn't seem to change the colour of my lips much at all as it's quite sheer and almost the same colour as my lips anyway, but it does even out the colour and give a nice gloss look. This was what I wanted when choosing my colour as I wanted something I could wear everyday, especially in the office. If you're wanting a bit more noticeable colour then maybe try one of the shades like Raspberry or Currant. Or just check out the testers in a local stockist if you can. In my experience they are all quite sheer though which is another reason I really like this gloss. 

The Clinique - Superbalm Moisurising Gloss can be found in major department stores Myer, and David Jones, as well as specialty stockists like some chemists in Australia. Find your nearest stockist on the Clinique website here, or you can order online from the Clinique Australia website. :)

Have you tried the Clinique Superbalm Moisturising Gloss? What is your all time favourite lip gloss? x

Haul - Eastbay.com - Workout Wear

Recently I decided that I had been exercising enough to earn myself some new workout gear! What better way to stay motivated than with some pretty little treats to step out in. 

I decided to make an order from eastbay.com after my friend had placed an order and was pleased with his service, and the prices of items on offer. 

When I first visited the site I was completely overwhelmed by choice, but eventually narrowed it down to the order above. Bit of a theme going with the pink I think? Haha. The prices are all in American dollars, but being in Australia it's almost $1 for $1 at the moment converting anyway still. The prices are considerably cheaper on the website than any shops in Australia. I would love to buy locally, but I couldn't turn away from this site when almost every item was 50% cheaper than in Australia and can be sent here. 

The items I purchased were:

1. Adidas - Originals Logo Tank - $29.99

2. Adidas - Originals Trefoil Hoodie - $49.99

3. Eastbay - EVAPOR Tights - $24.99 (special 2 for $29.95)

4. Nike - Filament Capri - $39.99 - $44.99

5. Nike - Free 3.0 V3 - $69.99 - $79.99

My package arrived within 4 days which is such a great delivery time, as I'm used to waiting around 2 weeks for any makeup to arrive from America. The parcel arrived in a big box with everything neatly packaged fresh and separately inside with all tags still included. 

The only downside to the site is that the postage is quite expensive because it is a tracked package. It was around $52 for postage for me (I'm not sure if it was more because I ordered shoes as well which might bring the weight up?), but I had a coupon for 20% my items which meant the cost came down $38 anyway making it still really cheap in the end. There are almost always coupons on their site for a percentage off so keep an eye out if you're looking to order from this site too. 

I'm super happy with my order and can't wait to get into the gym and use it all! The long tights will be perfect for running now that it's so cold outside. Eeep! 

What's your favourite workout wear you own? What's your favourite workout? x

NOTW - China Glaze - Peachy Keen

This weeks Nail Of The Week is China Glaze - Peachy Keen. 

Peachy Keen is, as the name implies, a light creamy peach colour. It was one of the nail polishes I received recently from mbeautylounge.com as seen in my last haul post and is from the Up & Away collection of 2009. 

The colour is actually quite bright, almost a neon against my pale skin, but muted slightly by the creaminess of it. 

The polish applied quite well. It's thick and didn't streak too much when it was applied. Although, like most China Glaze polishes it can be so thick it can get a little hard to manage unless you work quickly. Even so, mine is quite thick with 2 coats and still finished neatly. It stayed on well for a full week, only just chipping towards the end.

This will definitely be a colour that I'll come back to. It worked really well with my skin tone, and it's a nice bright colour that would be great for summer!  

China Glaze - Peachy Keen can be found online at mbeautylounge, or crush cosmetics for an Australian site that will ship faster, and other sites that sell China Glaze that you know may have it in stock still too. I wish there were stores that stocked China Glaze in Australia, it's such a great brand that never fails to impress me so it'd be great to have it more readily available. 

What do you think of Peachy Keen? What is your favourite China Glaze colour? x

Haul - mbeautylounge.com - Nail Polish!

I've finally had some good light (silly cold days) to take photos of the nail polish haul I recently received in the mail from mbeautylounge. 

If you've never been to the website http://mbeautylounge.com/ before and you're from Australia, you may be in for quite a shock at just how cheap some of your favourite brands are on there! They have OPI from as little as $5 US, Essie from $4 US, and China Glaze from around $4 too among a couple of other brands Zoya, Color Club, and Orly. 

Despite the prices being so cheap, there is a bit of a catch... the postage can be a little bit steep, which is why my friends and I always make a big order together. But in doing that we also tend to have bad luck with our orders getting mixed up and almost every order at least one nail polish gets missed or we are given the wrong thing. I'm not saying it's not going to happen EVERY time you order from them, but I think it's happened 2/3 times for us, and getting a reply via email from them about rectifying it can often prove a little difficult! So fair warning. Postage also takes a long time - we waited 6 weeks this time around! Try your luck though, it's usually worth it as they almost always have new collections on their site as soon as they are released which is awesome news for us Aussies!

The shades I purchased this time around were:

1. China Glaze - Peachy Keen (from the Up & Away collection)

2. China Glaze - Sugar High (from the Up & Away collection)

3. China Glaze - Flyin' High (from the Up & Away collection)

4. China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover (from the Up & Away collection)

5. OPI - Black Cherry Chutney (from the 2008 India Collection)

6. OPI - Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It (from the Australia Collection)

7. Essie - A Crewed Interest (from the Navigate Spring 2012 Collection) 

8. Essie - No More Film (from the Resort 2012 Collection)

I had actually ordered a different red than the OPI - Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It... I had ordered OPI - Red Lights Ahead, Where? from the Holland collection. Just another thing I was talking about with the little "issues" you can have with this site. My friend and I both also ordered China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky from the Up and Away collection and they just didn't send that to us at all, not even one bottle of the 2 we ordered. Sigh. 

I really can't complain though. I got a lot of nail polish, for really cheap! Keep an eye out for more of these in my Nails Of The Week posts coming soon. This week I've used China Glaze - Peachy Keen and I'm in love! 

What do you think of my little haul? What are your favourite places to buy nail polish? x

Tried & loved - Barry M lip gloss - Coral and Toffee

Today I thought I'd do a post about a lip gloss that I love - Barry M! 

For those of you that don't know Barry M cosmetics they are a wonderful brand from the UK dating all the way back to 1982! They have a massive range of really affordable cosmetics, that are all great quality. I haven't tried anything I haven't loved from this brand yet. 

The Barry M lip glosses currently come in around 10 shades, as can be seen on their website here. There are also often limited edition and new glosses popping up, just like with their nail polishes, so the shades may vary from time to time. The 2 lip glosses I've photographed today are 1. Coral (11) and 2. Toffee (2). Barry M products usually have a number and name so it's handy to check both depending on where you're buying them from. 

The lip gloss itself is a perfect consistency for me. It's thick enough to last a few hours, my lips don't rough up or have issues when I'm constantly rubbing my lips together because of the thick consistency, and it's not too sticky either. It's not drying at all and I can wear just this lip gloss for an entire day and my lips will still look smooth and fresh, unlike a lot of other glosses that I've tried which require deep hydration before applying or they can look quite rough on my lips. 

Although the colours look quite bright on my hand, once on your pinkish lips they settle as almost transparent, but there's still just enough pigment in them to see just a of colour which makes them a perfect every day gloss for me with these 2 colours. I have also used Bubblegum Pink (5) and Pastel Pink (4) previously though and they are really pigmented so I prefer those for when I'm venturing out, rather than as an everyday colour for around the office. 

The other amazing thing about these glosses is the smell! They all have a unique scent pertaining to their name - Toffee smells like toffee, and Coral smells like a tropical punch! I love little things like that so that's probably another reason I'm a sucker for this gloss. The scent isn't overpowering, and you can only really smell it as you apply it, but a nice touch either way. 

These lip glosses can't be picked up in Australia in any shops that I know of, but you can definitely purchase them online and they're such a great price. You can buy them on Crush Cosmetics for $10.95 which is an Australian online company, or you can also purchase some shades on ASOS which has free postage for a usual price of $7.23, but they're curently on sale for $4.76 so I'll definitely be stocking up!

Have you tried these Barry M lip glosses? Which is your favourite colour? Have you tried any other products from the Barry M range? x

Instaweek #2

I've been just a tad slow with my instaweek post, so this is more like insta2weeks! Haha. 

Mother's Day Family Dinner I made | Sunday, out of control curls | Mother's Day Classic 4km Run bib | Nars Codura - almost blacked my eyes out forgetting how dark it is | House of Holland tights | Waiting for my lady date to arrive Friday | China Glaze - Peachy Keen <3 | Friday work casual | Bathroom mirrors stretching me out | Beautiful sunset where I trained | Morning coffee run | Off to work | My pizza (lots of veggies) vs. Zak's pizza (lots of cheese!) | Ready to work out | Fitspiration on my fridge | Makeup order arrived!! | Preparing lunches | Tupperware order :D | No makeup | Currently reading | Saturday night movie date | Early morning run setting | long socks <3 | Hundreds and thousands | Ready for personal training in the cold | Mexican dinner date | After work run on the waterfront | Peter Thomas Roth pads - LOVE THESE! | Print from the tattoo exhibition in Melbourne |  On the bus to Melbourne | Pancake lady date |  Lady date outfit | Inside my new fitness book! |  Nail Polish order arrived | Comfy Friday outfit | Another workout as the sun was setting  

Flats Frenzy

I've recently come to the realisation that, although I love almost every pair of heels I lay my eyes on (the taller the better!) my collection is becoming more and more neglected as my lifestyle has changed and I'm out partying less each weekend. Sad I know! My friends are usually shocked if they see me without heels on, even when out to dinner, but I think with all the amazing flats I've seen lately I'm ready to take the first step (ha) in getting more wonderful flats!

The 2 pairs above (left from ASOS and right from Famous Footwear - who I wish had an online store because they have an amazing range instore at the moment!) are my most recent purchases and I'm hardly in anything else anymore. Flats are so comfy, generally can be picked up a lot cheaper than most heels can, and they can really make a casual outfit so much more interesting if you have the right shoe. 

As I was searching through my usual online lurks there were just too many I loved to show you just a handful, so I hope you can find something you like in the selection I put together below. I can't wait to purchase some of these! Also, I have a small obsession with studs lately, as you may be able to tell. 

Rubi Shoes - $29.95 | ASOS - $30.60 | Rubi Shoes - $14.95 | ASOS - $144.50

ASOS (Melissa) - $85.00 | Nasty Gal - $88.00 (US) | Missguided - £22.99

Topshop -  £32.00 | Topshop - £28.00 | Topshop - £22.00

Some of the prices aren't in Australian dollars unfortunately, but all of these websites do ship to Australia. :)

Could you see yourself in any of these pairs? Where are your favourite places to shop for shoes? x

NOTW - Essie - No More Film + China Glaze - Meteor Shower

This weeks nails of the week is a little disappointing from my point of view, so I apologise as a first priority to my readers. As you may be able to tell by some of the scratches and chips in my nails, I didn't get to take photos as soon as I finished my manicure, it was actually a few days before I found time to take photos, and of course by then they had already started to chip! I forgot how absolutely horrible long square nails are for that. HORRIBLE. Lesson learnt on that front - shorter than my fingers, or not at all.

But moving on to the colours, which I actually loved... I have Essie - No More Film on most of my nails which is from the Essie Resort 2012 collection that came out around March this year. This is a new nail polish that I recently got from mBeautyLounge and I'll be posting a haul picture of the rest of the nail polishes I got in my order very soon. 

The formula on this nail polish, like most Essie nail polish was really rich and easy to apply, although as you can tell from my messy cuticles, it was a little harder to get neat than some others I've used before. You could probably get away with one nice coat of this colour as it is thick, but I believe I used 2 coats in the pictures above just to even it out. The true colour of this nail polish is so hard to capture with photos, as it feels as though it almost has a creamy purple tinge to the base which makes for a beautiful blue in real life that sets it apart from any other dark blue or navy nail polishes that I've used before. The formula finished in a lovely shiny polish, but I topped mine with Seche Vite top coat just to give it an extra bit of shine.

On my ring fingers I have China Glaze - Meteor Shower which is a coarse glitter nail polish. I didn't need to use any coloured base undercoat with this nail polish, it's pure glitter and dark base gives a deep shimmer of blues which are hard to capture the depth of within the photos above. It's extremely sparkly, trust me, and it's beautiful! As you can see in comparison to Essie - No More Film, China Glaze - Meteor Shower is a true navy blue so that may help you visual what I was attempting to say about the purple undertones earlier. I feel this nail polish definitely works best with a top coat, as without it it is textured and not as sparkly in the light. The formula on this is really thick, and a tad hard to apply as it is so chunky with glitter, but the top coat evens that out anyway. You only really need one coat of this because it's so thick.

I haven't worn this nail polish much since I purchased it around a year ago, not because I don't love the colour, but more because when I did wear it previously it chipped so easily and it is quite painful to remove. This time around with using a base coat and top coat it actually lasted a lot longer than the Essie colour did really, I was quite impressed. 

Essie - No More Film should be available in Myer and other major retailers that sell Essie for around $15-$20, or you can purchase it online. As I said, I purchased mine from mBeautyLounge for $7.20 US.

China Glaze - Meteor Shower is an older nail polish now, and I purchased mine from Crush Cosmetics at least 12 months ago, and from what I can see it's no longer available on there. They are great for China Glaze though and an Australian based website. If anyone knows where you can still buy this nail polish online, let me know and I will update this post. You might need to try ebay even, sometime's you get lucky there! 

What do you think of this colour combination? Have you tried Essie Nail Polish before? What's your favourite colour? x

My Manicure Essentials

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love to have perfect nails at all times if I can help it! I'm painting my nails at least once a week, and gosh forbid if I get a chip before I have time to repaint my nails it stresses me out until it's fixed. Haha. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but I do like having neat nails! Don't we all?


Today I thought I'd give a run down of the tools I use to keep my nails nice and neat, and I've pictured pretty much everything I use above.


Personally I have quite strong nails that grow rather quickly, so I'm pretty lucky in that sense, and I don't bite my nails at all, so the only time they get maintenance is when I sit down and do my nails. I work in an office so they're not really under much duress on a daily basis, and I wear gloves when I wash the dishes (but that's mostly because I hate having wrinkly hands! Haha), and am constantly using hand cream to try to keep my hands nice and hydrated.


The first thing I usually do when I change my nails for the week is remove the old nail polish. I am not fussy when it comes to nail polish remover really, as long as it works it's fine by me. This time I picked up a Sally Hansen 'Strengthening' nail polish remover for about $5 in Priceline, and it's been quite good - if you have weak nails it might be worth taking note on little things like picking something like this to help strengthen your nails from the get go. I use this with Swisspers round make-up pads to remove the nail polish, you can obviously use any cotton pads/cotton balls, but I find these really stay together well without the cotton coming apart and sticking to your nails - unless you're removing glitter, and that's another story altogether! Try to be gentle and patient when removing your nail polish, or you may rip up the surface of your nails, not fun.


Once they're clean I will cut and shape my nails. I use nail clippers usually as it's easy to get a nice straight or round starting place for the shape of your nails with these. Make sure they're sharp or they may just bend your nail instead of cutting it cleanly. Mine are Revlon clippers and I've had them for well over a year now and they're still great. I can use them on my toes too. I have a good pair of Manicare nail scissors for when I want to round them off even further. I've had these for over a year now too and they're still extremely sharp, worth paying a little extra for good quality with these tools as you'll generally have a better product that will last longer.


I don't use my nail clippers or scissors every time I paint my nails, sometimes I can get away with just using the nail file to shape my nails if I've cut them really short the time before. I got the Sally Hansen nail file pictured above in a Beauty Box ages ago, I think it was a Glossybox, and before this I had always just used those cheap ones you can get in a 10 or 20 pack. I must say, having a proper nail file has improved the shape of my nails tenfold. I can now have nice flat nails in a few seconds, and shaping them round is so easy too. I need to buy a new one as you can tell by the photo, but this has lasted me around 6 months and they're only about $5, which is what you would pay for the smaller thing nail files in bulk anyway. I do keep one of those kind in my hand bag at all times though, good for touch ups if you pull your nail etc. because they're smaller.


Last but not least - Base and Top Coat! If you're not using a base coat especially before putting on your nail polish colour, you really should start now. Base coats are necessary for promoting healthier nails, and ensuring easier application of your nail colour. They help your nail polish last longer, stop any staining that some nail polishes can leave on your nail (I'm still growing out a stain on my nails currently, because I forgot my base coat one time, once!), and can include nutrients needed to help your nails grow stronger. I'm so glad I've added a base coat into my nail routine. It only takes a few extra seconds and the benefits are enormous. I am using an Essie 3 way glaze at the moment, but I will soon be searching for a base coat specific nail polish because the all in one nail polishes can sometimes not be as good for the nails. 


After the base coat I will paint my nails with whatever colour I feel like for the day, then finish with a top coat. Top coat is not really essential, but since I've gotten a good top coat nail polish - Seche Vite (which I will review soon) - I never want to go without it! It leaves your nails perfectly shiny, makes the manicure stronger overall, and a lot of them have faster drying properties to set your manicure a LOT faster which is definitely what I love about mine most. Top coat nail polish can be skipped if you're going for a certain look with your nail polish, for example textured nails, or matte finish nail polishes, but probably 9/10 times I will use a top coat now. 


And that's it! I hope you're looking after your nails if you're keeping them polished every day! What's your nail routine?

Maybelline New York - Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner

Not too long ago you may have noticed the endless amount of advertising for this new eyeliner from Maybelline New York, called the Master Precise liquid eyeliner... personally it was kind of hard to avoid. Television adverts, magazine adverts, billboards, internet pop ups and celebrity Ruby Rose prompting us to try this new fine tip to create "tattoo" like designs. It looked awfully tacky to me, but the tip really reminded me of another eyeliner that I fell in love with recently so I thought it'd be worth at least a try.

 Let me just say, I am so glad I discarded the image the advertisements were portraying and gave this eyeliner a go, it's fabulous! 

The texta like shape makes the product simple and easy to manoeuvre and completely mess free. You don't need anything but this little tool to create a perfectly black winged eyeliner in just a few seconds - it's that easy. The pointed sharp tip (0.05mm according to Maybelline) makes it fairly easy to get a nice fine point to your flick, and it's the pretty much perfect mix of flexibility and stiffness for the job too. 

The product flows really well on the felt tip texta like fine tip, and the product dries quickly after being applied on the lid which makes it a little difficult if you make mistakes, but great once you get the hang of it because you can apply and go almost instantly. Throughout the day it doesn't crease onto my eyelid above where it rests either, which is usually what I have a problem with with most gel eyeliners.      

Maybelline describes this product as being
- 100% smudge proof 

- wears all day

- waterproof

- easily removed

- stain free 

I would say that the product does live up to everything they've described, apart from being waterproof, but really, once you have a shower you don't want it to stay anyway. Although it did pass the gym test with flying colours. It stayed perfectly through a cycle class and weights after being worn all day at work. How's that for staying power!? 

The only thing I don't love about this eyeliner is the packaging. For me personally it looks a bit cheap, but as far as "drug store" brands go it's not really too bad. It's just not as pretty as my favourite the Yves Saint Laurent Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils Shocking, which I will compare with this eyeliner below.  

As you can see in these comparison photos above, the 2 are quite similar in appearance and packaging (please excuse my YSL eyeliner, it's a few months old in these pictures and the Maybelline eyeliner is brand new). The main difference really between the 2 is the tip - the YSL being longer and more flexible. 


I purchased the YSL liner when I was in Paris last year and myself and my friend who I was travelling with couldn't believe how amazing and easy it was! My friend had never really used an eyeliner like this before but was able to apply it first try, and has been addicted ever since. 


They're both a perfect pure black, both apply smoothly either onto bare skin or over eye shadow, and both have a fine tip that make it fairly easy to get a great "flick" with on your eye. They both have amazing staying power, and both remove quite easily if you use makeup remover. 


Honestly if I had to pick: the YSL tip shape, being a little longer and more flexible, does make a nicer shape on the eye a little easier I think, but for the price comparison ($32 US and I couldn't find an online Australian price but I'm assuming around $50 for the YSL, vs. $13.95 AU for the Maybelline) I am now finding myself using the Maybelline version on a daily basis, and only pulling out my YSL favourite for special occasions or weekends. If I was in America and could buy it for the American price though, I think I would use the YSL version as my everyday. They're that interchangeable really.


The Maybelline New York Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner can be purchased from shops that sell Maybelline products, which is great because that means most chemists, supermarkets, and retailers like Myer and Priceline will stock this. I purchased mine from my local supermarket on sale for $12.95. More information about the product and retailers can be seen on the Maybelline wesbite here.


The Yves Saint Laurent Effet Faux Cils Shocking Liquid Eyeliner can be purchased from Myer and David Jones in Australia, and again I apologise that I don't know the exact price as I purchased mine on an overseas trip. More information about the product can be found on the YSL website here. 


You can see here a sample of the Maybelline eyeliner on my eye. This was over MAC 'Naked' pigment. 

What do you think of these eyeliners? Have you used either of these products before? Which is your favourite? x