About bloomin' time! Lilash review finale.

After, no mascara

Before, for comparison

After, with mascara

Okay so obviously this is not week 16 anymore, I can't be bothered counting, but let's estimate about 5 months of consistent Lilash use. These are the results. I do get a lot of comments on how long my eyelashes are, but they're certainly still very thin. I don't know, I'm torn between continuing with Lilash or getting eyelash extensions. It definitely works though, and costs less than extensions! This tube has lasted me almost 6 months, used every night!

Quick lippy review!

A cute gift set I got reduced in the January sales, containing Top Speed™ Nail Enamel in Peachy and ColorBurst™ Lip Butter in Creamsicle.

The nail polish is quite thick and a tad difficult to apply, however I love love love the soft peachy-pink shade so I'll persevere. Looks great with a hint of tan!

The lip butter I love; the texture is smooth and creamy, and along with the softly sweet scent and subtle glitter reminds me of frosting. The packaging is very cute too. The colour is a sheer, semi-frosty cool peach.

Pics! Excuse my lovely upper-lip peach fuzz  :S

*NOTE: the nailpolish shown is not that included in the pack; it's actually 3 coats of Bloom 'Ginger' and one coat of Jordana Crystal Glitter top coat. I just thought the pic looked nice with the other photos  :)  I like a good colour scheme. Sadly I've since had to cut my nails and they are not so long and nice anymore.

LiLash Review With Pics!

http://www.lilash.com/index.php

LiLash is an eyelash growth stimulating serum applied once daily, containing the fairly-controversial prostaglandin derivative ingredient (as in Latisse) originally used for prescription-only glaucoma medication. Yep, it's a bit nuts to be sticking this on or around your eyes, but people do worse.

I have been using this for 6 weeks now. The website says to use LiLash once daily for 8-12 weeks then twice weekly for 'maintenance'. I will do a follow-up review in 2 weeks and then again in 6 weeks, using it once daily until then. I feel like I should be able to have seen some change after 6 weeks of consistent use, though. And I do, but it may just be wishful thinking, so lets compare the photos, shall we?

Before I had been using GlyMed eyelash treatment (which is prostaglandin-free) for about 3 months, so my lashes were already in good shape, but I want Bambi-proportions.

Before

After 6 Weeks Use

There's certainly some growth and length, but so far not a huge success. Hopefully by week 8/12 I'll have even better results! Even with mascara they're still quite puny, though they look long in the photos due to the angle. Let me know your experiences with lash growth serums!

'Champagne' books

'Champagne' books, as I refer to them, are all fizz and glamorous image with little substance, leaving you a little little-headed and with a slightly lowered IQ; but they are very enjoyable and easy to polish off in a short amount of time.

• La Vie Parisienne by Janelle McCulloch: while I class this is a champagne book as it is an easy, girly read about the style, food and romance of Paris, it is actually very well-written, funny and charming. You don't learn much from it but you won't regret reading it. You'll also want to eat macaroons and buy new lingerie.
  
  
• How to be Adored by Caroline Cox: basically the representative of champagne books. Tips on releasing your inner Old Hollywood glamour puss through the art of dressing well and seducing. Almost completely useless but really fun to read in a bubble bath while wearing a satin shower cap and a face mask.
  
  
• Rules for Saying Goodbye by Katherine Taylor. More substance than the above as it is a fully-fledged fictional novel with some substance, however it's frequent references to designer clothes, hotels, boarding schools, sex, love and drugs makes me put it in the champagne category. It is a really good book though, enjoyable and easy to read, but at times a bit sad and serious.

Best Beauty and Style Sites + Upcoming Reviews!

My fave beauty blogs and sites! A lot of these you have probably heard of or even visit, but I love to spread the love and it's great to have a list of inspiration sources  ;)

Celina from By Celina: obviously this is NOT ME, I effing wish I was this effortlessly radiant!!

• Into The Gloss literally the most inspiring beauty site, in a nutshell it shares the beauty routines of those who know what they're on about - fashion and media professionals, models, actors and bloggers. You also get insights into their lives and careers.
• The Formula: if the above site is Regina, this is Gretchen (still cool but definitely the second-rate, less-cute version) but you know, its based on something good so I still like it.
• Makeup.Com: I actually discovered this one very recently and have spent most of my morning today reading almost every article. Every section is really cute, with entries such as 'Global Beauty', where they present a bunch of products inspired by an exotic location, and 'Pinterest of the Week', where they present the week's best beauty-related Pinterest link.
• By Celina this is a personal blog with lifestyle insights, beauty tutorials and fashion inspo posts. It's also one of those blogs written by someone so impossibly chic that reading about their life makes you eventually begin to hate your own Target-filled wardrobe and lack of jet-setting, but it's a great read all the same. I like to follow a visit to these kind of blogs with a comforting ice-cream binge and a spell of online window shopping (where you obsessively browse online stores and pretend to debate which items to buy, before closing the window because obviously you can't actually afford any of them). 
• Katie's Beauty Blog: a blog I've been reading for probably around 2 years. Posts with product reviews, often with photos and cosmetic colour swatches, and updates on her life. I like this one as the blogger is realistic and accessible; she seems down-to-earth and very normal, and like me struggles with troublesome skin at times. A blog that doesn't make you feel inadequate after reading, hallelujah!
• Primped: another one of the sites I obsessively check on a daily basis. Less of an inspiration source and more of a functional product and beauty-info compendium, it typically features generic brands (think products found in Priceline and Myer), meaning you can actually afford the products they recommend and endorse. One for those whose weekly income is not quadruple or even triple-digit. Sign up for the Primped Newsletter for updates on their beauty blogger entries.
• Ahoy Deer is an adorable blog (the name alone!) that is not updated as frequently as my embarassingly-empty schedule would prefer, however the blogger is gorgeous and often writes about very cute products (e.g. Tigi bedhead haircare, Soap and Glory body products and Kit polish swatches) that again are actually affordable. 

UPCOMING REVIEWS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR: 
In the next week I will post an update on my LiLash usage with comparison photos, as well as a review of Perricone M.D. Face Finishing Moisturizer AND the perfect nude polish for under $5!

Low-effort Outfit Post

A semi Halloween-themed outfit, a bit late. I love this tshirt. Cropped my legs out because they looked terrible and pale!  -_- Need to get back on the fake tan bandwagon. Or leave the house more often...Plus my free-hand (slightly messy) lavender+glitter+black french-tip nails :)

Kawaii Fashion: my Japanese Beauty Product Mini-Haul!

Before we start, the store's name is Kawaii Fashion, I'm not trying to be cute and faux-fluent in Japanese with that title. It's a really adorable store in Adelaide that sells Japanese cosmetics, beauty products, and recently added a section with homewares under $2.80.

I bought a few things and ended up spending a LOT so it felt like a haul even though it doesn't look like much.

I bought the small black bowl with glitter and hearts, not for any reason other than it being cute and girly, a lavender face flannel with black lace and embroidered diamond, DHC Deep Cleansing Oil (to try because I hate the Dermalogica one I own; will review soon), a gel-nail top coat, an eyeliner and a small stackable food container which I just thought was pretty cute and useful.

I'm going to do a quick review on the eyeliner. Just before we start, I'd like to mention that while shopping in this store I'm often doing it essentially 'blind' - most products have fully-Japanese labels which I can't read, so I tend to select things with cute packaging which sometimes don't end up being what I thought they were. In this case, I thought I'd bought a brown eyeliner crayon/pencil, which turned out to be a container of shimmery eyeshadow powder with a built-in sponge tip applicator. Still useful.

Product: 'MakeMania Data Graduation Tip Shadow'. Obviously I don't know the name of the shade, and to be honest I had to google a bit just to find out the name of the brand and product.

Price: around $23.

Shade and Quality: The photo of the shade is fairly true to life, it's a cool medium-dark mocha brown with a sparkle rating of 7/10. The sponge tip applicator means you can draw a solid line for an eyeliner-like look that's less harsh than a solid line of generic eyeliner pencil, or you can smudge it over the lid and blend for a soft shimmery eyeshadow. The only complaint is that like most shimmery shadows it frankly has crap staying power. As you can see from the photos, with the slightest rub or smudge the colour fades super-fast and you get a lot of travelling sparkle, so don't accidentally rub your eyes while wearing this. Bonus points for the super-cute packaging though.

After one quick rub with my fingertip.

You can see how easily the glitter travels - my fingertip has a definite Edward Cullen-factor despite the blurry photo.

I definitely recommend you visit the Kawaii Fashions store if you live in Adelaide, but just quietly, don't expect great service. I've been followed around the store and even accused of shop lifting and had my bag inspected. Even my better experiences have involved luke-warm treatment. To be fair, I spend a lot of time 'loitering' in the aisles, but that's because I'm trying to decipher the labels on the product packaging. But whatever, the great range of cute things are worth the blah experience.

Kawaii Fashion
23-25 Gouger St, Adelaide

I'm crazy and I know it *claps hands*

It has to be said, women will go to some crazy lengths for beauty. Burns from chemical peels, harsh products and sunbathing, skin cancer from sunbeds, chemicals constantly on our bodies and faces, on and around our eyes and lips, injected into our skin. The list goes on.

I'm not immune. I'll let you in on a secret beauty dream of mine: Daisy-the-Cow long lashes.

The dream, right?

  

For a long time I stuck to the 'safe' lash-growth enhancing serums:

Designer Brands Lash Food serum: uses peptides and moisturizing ingredients to condition lashes and promote growth. Kept my lashes in good condition, reduced breakage. Very cheap for AU$20! But didn't actually lengthen, so next came...

Glymed Plus Eyelash Power Treatment: also used peptides but in higher amounts; apparently also used an ingredients similar to that in Rogaine to encourage new growth and extend the life of existing lashes by preventing them from falling out. I definitely saw a difference, I'd say about a 20% improvement in length and condition, but little to no improvement in thickness. So, idiotically ignoring the warnings of irises changing colour and eye-safety concerns, i bought...

LiLash lash serum: this uses the ingredient prostaglandin, which has been essentially compared to the devil. Found in Rapidlash, Latisse and Revitalash as well, it can reportedly turn blue eyes brown and maybe even affect vision long-term, it also is meant to be super-effective at lengthening lashes and producing new growth. I'm only on my first week of use, but I'll check in and let you know whether my eyes have turned brown or I've gone blind!