New Goods - NEW Venus Palette from Lime Crime

There's a new Lime Crime palette in town, and it's a lot more grown up than any of the previous palettes!

If you're a fan of Lime Crime makeup I'm sure you've seen this new palette around the internet already, but I couldn't resist sharing my verdict on the new "grunge" palette Venus too!

I recently stopped into the opening day sale for the new shop for http://www.makeupnet.com.au/ which is the Australian distributor for Lime Crime (meaning everyone in Australia and NZ that stocks Lime Crime is stocked through them)! It's exciting to have a shop so close to me that physically stocks Lime Crime products as I don't always want to take the risk of buying colours from the internet without testing them first, and being the stockist they will always have the stock before anyone else and have the biggest range!

Lime Crime describes the Venus palette as:

"Mash Botticelli's classical painting with the rebellion of the early 90s, and you get VENUS: The Grunge Palette.

In a sea of nude palettes, VENUS emerges with 8 game-changing, unconventional "new-trals" and rusty-reds. Full-sized, recklessly pigmented eyeshadows mesh flawlessly for a nu-grunge look with a soft, painterly finish. Beautiful mirrored box with kitschy artwork makes this palette the ultimate collectible artifact!"

I must say the packaging on this palette (as with most of the Lime Crime packaging) is absolutely stunning! The bright blue mixed with the gold foil makes for a perfect match. It's a little bit of an odd shape, and a little thicker than most palettes I own, but not to the point that it would be hard to travel with. The packaging being a little bit thicker actually makes it feel super secure as the mirror fits tightly in against the shadows meaning there's extra padding.

There are 8 colours in this palette and I think they would all go together in any combination that you try. From what I've tested so far that's definitely true.

The colours as described by Lime Crime are:

VENUS: The color of bruised fruit (velvet matte)
SHELL: Opalescent shell-pink (glow)
AURA: Golden ivory (glow)
CREATION: Rust brown (matte)
ICON: Dirt brown (matte)
REBIRTH: The color of an over-ripe nectarine (matte)
DIVINE: Dusty stone (matte)
MUSE: Deep burgundy red (matte)

The colour payoff on all of the shadows is great! There was a little bit of crumbling when swatching and only a tiny bit when using the shadows for my look, but I always control the shadow going on my eyes with the back of my hand by tapping it into my skin beforehand anyway so I don't think it's enough for it to be an issue.

I love that most of the shadows are matte, with only 2 "glow" shades as Lime Crime describe them which is perfect for highlights and giving the eye more depth.

This palette is definitely not your normal nudes though, and if you're not used to a bruised red colour with your eye you may feel a bit strange at first, but I say embrace it! I love that there is so much more room for experimentation for eyes and lip colours these days. This palette being so popular is another great example of that!

I love this colour palette for my green eyes, but the tones are sure to bring out most eye colours. For a more grunge look I wear the colours smoky around my eyes without a big liner wing, like in the pictures below. I have also used the more brown/peach shades with a big liner for a less grunge look so it's certainly still versatile in that way.

In the look below I've used divine as a base, and rebirth in the crease to warm the whole look. From there I layered Venus and Muse together all around the outside of the eye and finished with a spot of Aura inside each inner eye to brighten the whole look. I finished this simply with mascara and used the 'Wicked" Velvetine (also from Lime Crime) to really bring the look together.

This is the same look as above below but without the lipstick. You can see how you can tone down the look a lot without having such a bold lip. 

This palette retails for $55 on Makeupnet with FREE express shipping, or you can purchase it directly from the Lime Crime website for US$42 and a flat rate for shipping of US$10.95. I have ordered direct from the Lime Crime website before and it takes between 2 - 3 weeks generally to get here. I purchased this palette from the new Makeupet shop in Moonee Ponds so I could get it straight away! I purchased a few more goodies too as they had 30% off so I'll post those up soon too. 

What do you think about the new Venus grunge palette by Lime Crime? Do you think you'll add this one to your makeup collection? x

FOTD - Where's My Coffee? Ft. Coffee, Black by Portland Black Lipstick Co. + a review!

I know a deep coffee coloured brown isn't something I would have seen myself wearing 3 years ago, but I love this new trend of bold lip colours and this is one of the great ones!

I stumbled upon the indie brand Portland Black Lipstick Co. when one of my favourite instagram makeup artists I follow @jessicahazemua posted a few of their shades that she had sampled. After doing a bit more research I decided to make a purchase of a few shades for myself!

After a bit of a rocky start (the order took around 6 weeks to arrive, however I received extra samples as a means of saying sorry, and a lovely email from the company apologising for the delay caused by a backlog of orders) I received the 3 colours I ordered in the full size - Artificial Amethyst (a metallic dark purple), Indigo Bridge (a dark metallic blue bordering on black),  and the colour pictured above Coffee, Black (a very dark brown with warm undertones).

Swatches from L to R: Indigo Bridge, Artificial Amethyst, and Coffee, Black.

I also received samples of Gilded Lily (a gold foil), Pewter Couldron (described as the colour of duct tape by Portland Black Lipstick Co. Haha), Bad Penny (metallic copper), Perfect Foil (metallic silver), and Graey (a light grey). Samples can be purchased of any colour for $2, and I had selected a few but was also gifted with several by the company as an apology for the lateness of the products. I think samples are such a GREAT idea. When ordering very odd lip colours like this especially, it's not likely that you will go through a whole tube of metallic gold lipstick for most people.

As you can see from the wide selection above I was drawn to this brand for their very unique colour range. I had not seen metallic lip colours like this from any brands in Australia, and was excited to try them out.

The packaging on these lipsticks is a little odd. It's more like an old school chap stick than a luxe lipstick, but I believe that's part of the company charm. If you visit their website you'll see what I mean. I definitely use a lip brush to get a neat edge with these, so if you're not familiar with using a lip brush these might be a little tricky. Worth the extra effort though in my opinion.

The packaging is much the same as a "chap stick" and the lipstick within is flat to the tube.

These lipsticks all wear so well. They are incredibly pigmented, rich and moisturising and stay on for quite a while. I'd say they are no where near a long lasting all day lipstick like a velvetine, but compared to a normal lipstick, say a MAC lipstick for instance, these wear longer than that for me. Even eating isn't too damaging to the lip colour. It will however leave a mark on any glass you drink from, and edges must be kept neat unless you have a perfect matching liner (hard to find I think!).

This has turned more so into a review of the Portland Black Lipstick Company lipsticks instead of a simple face of the day post but oh well, it's a 2 for 1 kind of day! Haha.

Products used for this look: 

Primer: Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

Foundation: Nars - Sheer Glow foundation in Mont Blanc

Concealer: Bare Minerals - Correcting Concealer in shade 'Light 1'

Powder: Bare Minerals - Original Foundation powder in shade 'Fairly Light'

Eye Primer: Benefit - Stay Don't Stray

Eyeshadow: MAC - 'Scene' eyeshadow all over

Lashes: Benefit - They're Real mascara

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills - Brow Powder Duo in shade 'Medium Brown'

Cheeks: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hour blush - in shade 'Blushing Bride'

Lips: Portland Black Lipstick Company - Coffee, Black

What do you think of this take on the bold lip? Have you tried any great indie lipstick brands lately that you've loved? x

FOTD - Fresh Faced in 15 Minutes

Sometimes I just want to have a quick and easy look with no fuss, and this one meets that criteria perfectly! This is a quick 15 minute face with minimal products. Great for lazy Sunday's. :)

When you have limited products you can still definitely create depth in your face. Simply running over the crease again, after blending the colour across the entire lid, will give you a darkened crease and appear as though it's a 2nd colour creating depth to the eye. Add a lick of mascara to widen the eye further, a swipe of blush to brighten the cheeks, and a softly coloured gloss to even out the eye focus and you're done!

Products used for this look: 

Primer: Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

Foundation: Urban Decay - Naked Skin Foundation in shade 1.0

Concealer: Bare Minerals - Correcting Concealer in shade 'Light 1'

Powder: Bare Minerals - Original Foundation powder in shade 'Fairly Light'

Eye Primer: Benefit - Stay Don't Stray

Eyeshadow: Tarte - Amazonian Clay Eyeshadow Palette V2 in the colour "copper kettle"

Lashes: Bare Minerals - Lash Domination mascara

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills - Brow Powder Duo in shade 'Medium Brown'

Cheeks: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hour blush - in shade 'Captivating'

Lips: Australis - Mint Condition Lip Gloss 

Note: While posting this I realised that I think this Australis lip gloss is no longer being sold on their website. I hope it's not discontinued because it's amazing! :(

What is your quick "go to" look when you're low on time? Would you try this look in 15 minutes?

FOTD - A Fierce Utopia

Determined to use all my new Lime Crime products on a regular basis I thought I'd give this new Velvetine another run! I haven't tried it with my new hair colour yet, so here's a look from when I was still blonde. 

This lip colour is described as a 'blue based orchid' but it is still most definitely very purple! This is another great colour for those with green eyes that want to use the complimentary colour to give their eyes that extra kick. 

This time I decided to pair the bold lip colour with a nice big liner wing, and some pretty pink/purple hues to match the overall look. I added some pretty false lashes to keep my lashes still quite noticable even with the heavy liner which really adds some emphasis and balance on the eyes vs. lips. 

Products used for this look: 

Primer: Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

Foundation: Nars - Sheer Glow Foundation in shade 'Mont Blanc'

Concealer: Bobbi Brown - Corrector in shade 'Porcelain Bisque' for under eyes and highlights and Bare Minerals - Correcting Concealer in shade 'Light 1'

Powder: Bare Minerals - Original Foundation powder in shade 'Fairly Light'

Eye Primer: Benefit - Stay Don't Stray

Eyeshadow base/lid: Urban Decay - Naked palette 1 - 'Sin'

Eye crease/outer lower lash line: Urban Decay - Naked Palette 1 in 'Hustle'

Eyeliner: Kat Von D - Tattoo Liner in shade 'Trooper' for top and "wings" and Smashbox - Limitless Eyeliner in shade 'Onyx' for lower lash line

Lashes: False lashes by Kardashian Beauty - in the style 'Flirt' and Bare Minerals - Lash Domination mascara

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills - Brow Powder Duo in shade 'Medium Brown'

Contour: M.A.C. - Sculpting Powder Pro Palette in shade 'Sculpt'

Cheeks: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hour blush - in shade 'Blushing Bride'

Lipstick: Lime Crime - Velvetine in shade 'Utopia'

Nails: Kit nail polish - Siesta Indigo [Limited Edition] (as seen previously on my blog here)

Have you tried Lime Crime's Utopia yet? What do you think of this look? x

FOTD - Spring peach

I'm so glad to have time to be back blogging and sharing my new favourite looks and products with you all. I've missed blogging so much, so I'm going to definitely be making it a priority again! 

I will definitely be posting more shots of my 'face of the day' and some tutorials for my favourite looks. Make sure you leave any requests in the comments below for any looks you'd like to see! 

I recently took a trip to Adelaide and the hotel we stayed at (The Minima Hotel in North Adelaide) has these amazing murals on each wall behind the bed. Each room has a different mural from a different artist. So beautiful and unique! This is what you can see behind my head in these images. :)

I've also just recently dyed my hair a light peach as I'm sure you've noticed in these shots. My hairdresser wanted to experiment with some new colours that she got into her salon, and knew I would be a willing participant. I actually really love the colour! It'll be great for summer. I've found myself adjusting my makeup to suit my hair colour as it changes (it was blue before this, hehe) and to reflect that lately I've been using a lot of peach in my makeup to compliment it. 

Products used for this look: 

Primer: Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

Foundation: Nars - Sheer Glow Foundation in shade 'Mont Blanc'

Concealer: Bobbi Brown - Corrector in shade 'Porcelain Bisque' for under eyes and highlights and Bare Minerals - Correcting Concealer in shade 'Light 1'

Powder: Bare Minerals - Original Foundation powder in shade 'Fairly Light'

Eye Primer: Benefit - Stay Don't Stray

Eyeshadow base/lid: M.A.C. - Eyeshadow in 'Bamboo'

Eye crease/outer lower lash line: Stila - Eyeshadow in 'Whim' from the 'In The Moment' palette 

Eyeliner: Kat Von D - Tattoo Liner in shade 'Trooper' for top and "wings" and Smashbox - Limitless Eyeliner in shade 'Onyx' for lower lash line

Lashes: False lashes by Ardell (my box is mixed up I can't remember the number sorry!) and Bare Minerals - Lash Domination mascara

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills - Brow Powder Duo in shade 'Medium Brown'

Contour: M.A.C. - Sculpting Powder Pro Palette in shade 'Sculpt'

Cheeks: Nars - Blush in shade 'Orgasm'

Highlight: M.A.C. - Soft and Gentle

Lipstick: Lime Crime - Opaque Lipstick in shade 'Coquette' 

This look was easily transformed from day to night by adding a bolder lip for when I went out later that night. I often will do my makeup early in the day for activities later that night so I don't have to do my makeup twice. Hehe. 

Hope you like this look! Is there something in this look you love, or now want to try since seeing this post? x

Lime Crime Haul! Utopia Velvetine and more!

When I saw that Lime Crime were releasing another new Velvetine colour I knew straight away that I would be making an order so here is a few snaps of my mini haul from them!

In the end I decided to order straight from the Lime Crime website even though there are a lot of certified re-seller's in Australia including Crush Cosmetics. I was making quite a large order, and a couple of friends bought something too so the International shipping rate of $10.95 split between a few of us was super cheap! It also meant that almost everything I wanted was in stock. 

This time around (yes I will keep repurchasing from Lime Crime. So much love for this brand!) I purchased the following: 

• Lime Crime - Velvetine in new shade "Utopia"; a long lasting liquid to matte lipstick in a 'blue based orchid'.
• Lime Crime - Fantasy Eyeshadow palette in "Alchemy"; a beautiful duochrome palette with extremely high pigmented eyeshadow colours!
• Lime Crime - Opaque Lipstick in "Airborne Unicorn"; 'medium purple with a neon note' and a highly pigmented colour payoff on the lips.
• Lime Crime - Opaque Lipstick in "Coquette"; 'pale peachy nude' - but not too bright which I love.
• Lime Crime - Zodiac Glitter in "Aquarius"; 'deep midnight blue with a marvellous purple/turquoise shift'
• Lime Crime- Eyeliner in "Rhyme"; 'bright metallic gold eye liner'! 

As you can see in the swatches the colour payoff really is great in all of the products and that is something I love about Lime Crime. I have not yet been disappointed by anything!

The lipsticks have a really cute limited edition packaging at the moment for their 6th anniversary, little details like this make the brand different for me. So cute. 

I had a quick play around with the shadows and created the pictured look with the shadows "spellbound" as the base, "Love potion #9" in the crease and a little pop of "divination" in next to the crease which really gave it that Mermaid look! The lipstick in these photos is the new Velvetine in Utopia. 

At first trial I am loving EVERYTHING that I purchased. I have previously purchased Lime Crime Velvetine's in "Wicked", "Red Velvet", "Seudeberry" and "Pink Velvet", as well as the Opaque lipsticks in "Babette" and "Geradium" and the "Blue Milk" liner so it's not a big surprise that these are just as great.

I'll have more updates and details once I give the products a longer run. I'm definitely looking at doing some comparison swatches of lip products soon - like Babette vs. Coquette. :)

Have you tried anything from Lime Crime? What's your favourite Lime Crime product?

A year later... but never too late!

Hello everyone!

It's been so very long between posts, and a lot has happened. So many amazing new products, and my eyebrows look a wholeeee lot better! Haha.

I'll be making a lot more posts again so I hope you're still all keen to hear from me. :)

Here's an updated picture of me (just in case you forgot who I am!)

I'm going to be posting a lot more frequently from now, and as a start to my posts again I'm going to be running a little mini comp thanks to the lovely people from Innoxa so keep your eyes peeled! 

Looking forward to sharing all the amazing new products I've started using in the last 12 months, and any new goodies I find along the way. 

If you're following me or just recently started your blog please leave a comment as I'd love to follow you all back! 

Happy Tuesday everyone. x

Ps. The red lipstick I'm wearing here is the Lime Crime Velvetine in 'Suedeberry'! It's absolutely amazing. In Australia you can purchase it directly from their website (linked above), from Crush Cosmetics, and selected retailers too. :)