Covergirl Out of the Blue Manicure

Featured in today's manicure is Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss in Out of the Blue. I don't know if it was just my particular bottle, but I found the formula to be very thick and quite difficult to apply. I only needed one coat for full coverage, and had to work quite quickly to smooth it out so I didn't get lumps. The large square handle is not the easiest thing to hold, but I do love the pop of bright, pretty colour I get from this nail gloss.

*In the photo with my fingers out straight, it looks like the product is lumpy, however, it's the tricky reflection of our lace curtains on my nails!

Disclaimer: This product was purchased by me. Non-sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

A Merry LUSH Christmas!

We are spoilt for choice with the delightful Christmas range of products from Lush this year! Whether you are looking for gifts for family and friends or a few sneaky gifts for yourself, you're sure to find something you like amongst the extensive range of products.

The Christmas Invention shower gel range comprises the punchy Ponche, lovely Rose Jam and much-sought-after Snow Fairy. Some fun Christmas bath products include The Christmas Penguin Bubble Bar, Secret Santa Bath Ballistic and the Magic Wand Bubble Bar. Special Christmassy soaps include the colourful Angel's Delight soap, Orange soap and the mesmerising Snow Globe soap.

Most of you know I'm a huge fan, so I was very excited when Lush generously sent me a selection of Christmas goodies. Today I'll be reviewing Rose Jam Shower Gel, Santa's Lip Scrub and Santa's Baby Lip Tint.

Santa Baby Lip Tint
This product comes in a little screw-top tin, and when I first swatched it I thought WOW. It's certainly bright. This is really highly pigmented and it's almost an orangey red when on the lips. It contains extracts of cherries, dates and cinnamon stick, carrot oil and Fair Trade butters. The consistency seemed thick to me, and I found the best way to wear it was to first prepare lips with a generous amount of lip balm to soften and smooth them, wipe the excess off, then apply Santa's Baby over the top. I tended to finish by blotting with a tissue for a matte yet still comfortable finish. This is one festive lip tint, and the bright pop of colour actually cheered me up!

Rose Jam Shower Gel
This. Smells. So. Lovely. It's hard to stop sniffing this gorgeous light pink-hued gel. With zesty Sicilian lemon, geranium oil and turkish rose absolute, the scent is sweet, floral, feminine and just delightful. My skin is left soft, clean and nourished thanks to argan and rose oils.  I think I love this one nearly as much as Happy Hippy (my all-time favourite shower gel). ANOTHER Lush product that just makes me feel happy after using it (and smelling of flowers!)

Santa's Lip Scrub
OK, so lip scrubs aren't really necessary. Who cares; this is fun to use! (I wouldn't scrub my lips more than twice a week, though). This festive lip scrub is bright red and cola flavoured. And I think Lush have Nailed It with the cola fragrance! The texture is pliable, gritty and grainy. The purpose of a lip scrub is to exfoliate the skin and lift off any loose, dry or flaky bits, leaving your lips smooth and perfectly primed for balm, tint, stain, shimmer, plumper, lipstick, gloss, cream, crayon, glaze, liner or whatever product you may swipe on your lips (I clearly have too many!). This performs well; the gritty caster sugar particles melt away as you scrub it in with warm water, and the extra virgin coconut oil leave lips smooth and conditioned. I also have a chocolatey Sweet Lips Lush lip scrub, but now I prefer my Santa's.

All Lush products are cruelty-free, environmentally friendly and are handmade locally from ethically sourced ingredients. So they make you feel good on the outside and the inside!

Disclaimer: Products were provided for review purposes. No payment was offered/accepted. All opinions are my own.

My First Lust Have It Women's Box!

I was lucky enough to win a Lust Have It beauty box from The Plastic Diaries site recently (thanks Kimberly!). This is really exciting for me, because despite being a complete beauty nut, I don't subscribe to any of the beauty box services, such as BellaBox, Lust Have It or Violet Box. I'm already swimming in samples, and don't really like the idea of paying for them when I can get them for free. Of course, the easily-obtained freebies are usually the smaller sachet-type samples, not the full-size products you often get with these subscription services.

The box I was sent was a Lust Have It Women's Box (or Classic Beauty Box). It's a grey, sturdy floral-patterned box with a flip-top lid that closes magnetically. I can see myself reusing this box for storing makeup and samples, because it's pretty cute. They have recently changed their boxes to a more splashy colourful design, however the one I got, although pretty, was grey.

Contents:
Paula's Choice Resist Intensive Wrinkle-Repair Retinol Serum
Seacret Pure Body Lotion
Nude By Nature Papaw Ointment
The Natural Source Camouflage Colour Lip Gloss in Wild Orange
TIGI Recharge Shampoo (sachet)
TIGI Recharge Conditioner (sachet)
TIGI Elasticate Shampoo (sachet)
TIGI Elasticate Conditioner (sachet)

The pick of the bunch for me is the Paula's Choice Retinol Serum. I haven't tried this brand, but I know lots of beauty bloggers rave about it, so I can't wait to give it a go. More Papaw (I feel like it should be Paw Paw) Ointment always comes in handy (I think I've got one of those red Lucas' Papaw tubes hiding around the house somewhere). I don't really need anymore body lotion, so I'm considering giving the Seacret away as a Christmas gift. To be completely honest, The Natural Source lip gloss looks really cheap to me, like it's worth about $2.50 (even though the info sheet lists it at RRP $12.95). I do love the TIGI range of haircare, so will definitely make use of the shampoo and conditioner sample sachets.

Overall, I'm glad I have a personal insight into the world of beauty boxes now (well Lust Have It, anyway), but I'm still not convinced I need to subscribe to any of these services any time soon.

Disclaimer: I won this box; all opinions are my own. This is a non-sponsored post.

Australis Haul, starring Velourlips!

There has been some minor haulage over the last month, the first of which was this Velourlips-themed purchase from the Australis online store. This was quite the impulse buy; I saw the range posted on Instagram and felt compelled to buy them right away. Here's what I got.....

Products bought:
Velourlips Matte Lip Cream in NY-CEE
Velourlips Matte Lip Cream in MAL-I-BOO
Velourlips Matte Lip Cream in TOK-I-O
Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick in Jitterbug
Glitter Nail Colour in Rio Riot
** Brush included free! **

top to bottom: NY-CEE, MAL-I-BOO, TOK-I-O, Jitterbug

Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick in Jitterbug

NOTES
* Jitterbug rhymes with ShinyGlitterBug, my Twitter and Instagram name!!
* Ordering online with Australis was easy and I received my order super fast.
* Was pleasantly surprised to find a freebie, the makeup brush, in my parcel!
* Although I love the pop of colour I get from the Velourlips matte creams, the formula is drying on me. I'm finding it wears more comfortably when I add a balm over the top.
* The Velourlips swatch on my hand was a bitch to remove!


Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me. Non-sponsored post. All opinions are my own.