Yeah, I've never done this before.

Here are some of the things I loved using last month!

Benefit's Cresent Row Limited Edition set: This cute little thing was given to me by G for Christmas. It has four purse-friendly sized perfumes & they all smell amazing. I love Benefit cosmetics & now I love their perfumes too.

Collection 2000 Concealer: I bought this on eBay & I did a post about it in a haul. I said before I didn't like it but now I absolutely love it. It's soooo highly pigmented & it hides my dark under-eye circles like nothing else. Go buy it. Here's a link.

Benefit's The PORE-fessional: My mum bought this for me during her overseas travels & oh my goodness I'm glad she did. This primer is amazing & its so silky. It eliminates fine lines & it stops make up settling into them too. 

Too Faced A Few of my Favourite Things Palette: This palette has everything from an array of highly pigmented eye shadows, to bronzer, to blush, to instruction cards showing you how to create daytimes & night time looks. I got this in a set for my birthday & it came with mascara & a lip balm/tint from Mecca Maxima. Love it.

L'Oreal Nutri-lift Gold foundation: Ok, this foundation is literally everything. In my personal opinion its better than Mac's studio fix which is a huge claim. I get compliments all the time when I wear this because it makes my skin look so fresh & natural. I bought it from Priceline :)

Nivea In-Shower Body Lotion Skin Conditioner: I looooooooooooooooooooove this amazing thing! Oh my goodness it is the BEST shower invention EVER! Its pretty much a moisturiser that you use in the shower AFTER you wash your body. I specifically use this on my legs after I shave & it got the 'my husband noticed how smooth my legs were' test. I got mine from Priceline.

Those were some of the things I loved from last month. What did you love?

-C.

Ombré Hair Dyeing Routine.

I have had the same hair style for a while now... you know, ombré? And I'm not quite sure what else to do with it right now so I re-ombréd my hair on Monday before a night out on Oxford st & it turned out pretty well considering I've done it three times on the same spot.

I use the L'oreal Ombré kit & I did a review on it here. The moisturising formula doesn't dry out your hair so you can re apply the effect when your hair has grown out a little.

Note: I repeated my ombré routine many months after my first and second attempts. I wouldn't recommend bleaching your hair often.

Here are my results:

Before:

During:

After:

I'm really happy with the results, again, & if you have any suggestions with what to do with my hair next, please let me know.

-C.

Cover Girl Flamed Out Mascara || First Impressions

One of my favourite products to review is mascara. I love a product that can volumize and lengthen my lashes to make them stand out.

While in the Gold Coast, I went to Priceline (shock) and picked up this new mascara by Cover Girl. I am a big fan of the Cover Girl Lash Blast so I had high expectations for this mascara.

Here's what it looks like:

The packaging is really cute & it's shorter than your average mascara.

The brush is named the 'Volume Igniter' brush & its a weird shape, but I liked it.

Here are my eyeballs without the mascara:

aaaaaand here it is with it on!

Overall I'm really happy with this product. While it isn't the most amazing volumising mascara, it did evenly distribute the product to avoid clumping even when I applied multiple coats.

I would recommend curling your lashes prior to application to enhance the overall look.

You can buy this product from any store that sells Cover Girl.

-C.

Milk & Co for HER: Review.

One of the biggest beauty rules I break is not looking after my skin. Although it is the biggest organ in the body, I always tend to neglect it.

My skin has always been great, even through my teenage years. I never, ever had a massive 'break out' of zits! Gideon makes fun of me because these days my 'break outs' consist of one pimple in the worst, most noticeable area of my face, for example, in between my eye brows, in the centre of my forehead, on my chin... etc.

Lately, Gideon has been using the Milk & Co by Michael Klim range for men. He absolutely loves the body wash and uses it daily. I noticed how amazing the packaging is and was a little jealous that there wasn't a line for women UNTIL I found the entire range at Big W and Coles made by Lindy Klim!

So far i've tried:

Ultra Light Moisturiser with vitamin e, aloe vera and jojoba oil: Ok, this is my new go-to moisturiser. I was using the Clinique 3-step system with the new moisturiser but after a while it was actually breaking me out more. Using the Ultra Light Moisturiser has cleared up my skin and moisturised it like crazy. Love it.

Face Cleanser with goji fruit extract, ylang ylang oil and hibiscus flower extract: I use this cleanser every morning in the shower and it washes away all the impurities on my face. It has helped to brighten up my skin and make it feel so lovely and clean. It refreshes the skin as it is suited for all skin types and its paraben free, which is great!

Beauty Wipes with dual sided technology: These wipes are awesome. One side is covered with exfoliating micro beads to scrub the day away and the other side is so smooth and cleanses the skin of all its impurities. They are suitable for all skin types, lightly fragrances and most importantly, alcohol and paraben free.

I'm itching to try the rest of the collection because of the awesome results i've received from using the three mentioned above.

So, if you're looking for a new skin care system, i'd recommend the products in the Milk & Co range for Him and Her.

-C.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Birthday Perfume Haul

I received a lot of perfume for my birthday and I think my husband and family got the message across.

Nah, just kidding. I collect perfume, and have for many years. I looooove it & hopefully one day I'll get to put on a lab coat and create my own personal perfume called 'Clarissa'. One can dream.

Anyway, here is the entire perfume collection I was so generously given on my birthday!

1. Burberry Body: I have been wanting this for years but could never bring myself to buy it because it is so expensive. Thankfully for Gideon he could and he surprised me with it when he came home from work on my birthday. I loooove it! It will be my signature scent for summer. It had fresh green apple complimenting green absinthe and peach with floral heart notes and warm base notes of woody cashmeran, vanilla and amber.

2. Brit by Burberry: Another 'cannot justify the price' perfume. Gideon bought this for me during the 40% off fragrance sale at Priceline & it is just so fresh! I love it. It has top notes of green almond, pear and lime complementing the white peony and sugared almond scent. It also has warm undertones of mahogany, amber and vanilla heart notes.

3. Rose by Paul Smith: I wore this perfume on my wedding day so it has a lot of sentimental value to me. It isn't very easy to find so when we do find it, we buy it. Gideon bought it for me from Cosmo Cosmetics on George St in the city. It smells like roses. Beautiful. More specifically, it had top notes of violet and rose, with heart notes of turkish rose and magnolia. And finally, it has base notes of cedarwood and musk.

4. The Key by Justin Bieber: I love celebrity perfumes and Justin Bieber, I must admit, makes a good fragrance. Gideon bought these for me during the 40% off fragrances sale again aaaaand he bought me 2 of them because it's that good. It has top notes of fruity floral musk, heart notes of juicy fruit and base notes of vanilla and precious woods.

5. Strawberry Body Mist by The Body Shop: I sprayed this on myself months ago and I literally fell in love with the smell. It is gorgeous and sweet, just like a strawberry. And, just like the name suggests, it smells like you've put your face in a whole case full of strawberries. So gooood.

6. Japanese Cherry Blossom Body Mist by The Body Shop: This scent is just so pretty and light. I love spraying this in my hair to keep it smelling lovely throughout the day. Just like the Strawberry Body Mist, this is all natural and sweet. Really recommend these body mists!

I love all of the fragrances I was given on my birthday and they're lovely additions to my ever growing collection!

What's your signature scent right now?

-C.

★★IMATS Sydney 2013 || Best Day Ever! ★★

SooOooOoo if you love Make-Up as much as I do, you would've known about IMATS (International Make up Artist Trade Show) and how amazing and magical it is. When I found out it was in Sydney this year I pretty much fell off of my chair and yelled HURRAH to the heavens above.

Anyways, It was on Saturday & Gideon (my super handsome and amazing) husband came along with me! He was one of the few men in the convention centre whose sole purpose was to hold the bags. All the bags.

There were so many stalls and soooo many amazing products to purchase. Unfortunately, Gideon and I couldn't stay long because I had a baby shower to attend, but that time we spent was really fun! For me at least.

Photos:

 Firstly, I bought some amazing products from Lime Crime. Totally amazing.

The lines were SO long. We spent most of our time waiting.

Next, Inglot. Soooooo good.

Gideon then bought me some brushes from bdellium tools 

but I'll show those off tomorrow.

Thanks to Gideon for waiting in lines, 

taking photos,

buying me new brushes,

letting me swatch products on you,

and taking me to an awesome IMATS! 

Love you!

I'll blog about my IMATS haul tomorrow. I bought SOOOO much stuff. Oh yeah.

Bye.

-C.

Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumising Mascara || Review time!

I know I haven't done a make-up related post in a while but you can blame uni for that. Seriously, this last semester has been a shocker!

Anyways, Gideon was nice enough to let me buy some make-up on eBay because I did a HUGE clean out of my collection and threw out a whole bunch of really old make-up aaaand he thought I could use some new stuff.

Still on its way is a Collection 2000 concealer which I heard was one of the best concealers out there, Hard Candy concealer aaaaaand... more Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumising Mascara.

Based off of that, I can tell you it is amazing.

Oh also... I bought 3 more tubes to get me through tough times.

Yepp. It's good.

Photo time:

No Mascara

Jordana Mascara

Safe to say this mascara is amazing. It volumizes and lengthens aaaaaand is overall the best for the little price tag.

I would compare this to Imitable Intense Mascara by Chanel which retails (in Australia) for $50 whereas the Jordana mascara (with shipping) cost me $13 which is pretttttttty good considering everything make-up related in Australia is overpriced and that's what I have to compare the price to.

You can buy it in a 3 pack for even better value HERE!

So definitely try it out if you can/want to.

Ok bye.

-C.

Weekend Budget Haul | Make Up ❀ ❁ ❃ ✼

As stated in a previous blog post, Gideon and I have been tight on money due to us trying to save for a house.

Because of this my lavish make up buying ways have come to a halt. This weekend, however, I was able to stretch my dollar further by hitting up the sales and bagging myself some AWESOME make up bargains. Who doesn't love sale time?

1. Revlon Nearly Naked foundation: I've heard some awesome things about this foundation and I really wanted to give it a go but $25 dollars for a foundation seemed a little bit much for our budget right now. Feeling down, I thought I had no hope until I checked my mail box and I had a $9 Priceline voucher through their Sister Club rewards program. I was able to grab this awesome foundation for $16 which pleased both Gideon and I immensely.

2. Maybelline Super Stay 24hr Waterproof Powder: I am a big fan of Maybelline and I think my first make up purchase was an eyeshadow quad by them. I saw this product and I had to have it but again, $20 for a powder was stretching it. Whilst Gideon and I were in Big W looking for some stuff I took a gander down the make up section and to my delight this product was reduced down to $14. Happy Clarissa.

3. Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polishes in Black Diamond (325) and Mint Mojito (285): I wrote a blogpost about my love for these nail polishes a while back and explained the fantastic deal of 2 for $7 at Coles. Well, I think that deal has just been replaced with the bargain price of these nail polishes! I picked them up at Big W for $2.40 each. Seriously. The best.

4. Ulta3 Nail Colours in Corsican Rose and Lilac Bloom. Ok, I know the green minty colour is similar to the Covergirl Mint Mojito I bought but I just really love these colours for winter and even for when spring and summer come around too. I think these polishes took the cake at the biggest bargain for this weekend at 70c per bottle. I love Ulta3 polishes too with their thick formula and opaque colours which makes your nails look amazing. I can't wait to paint my nails!

I challenge everyone to look around and tell me about all the make up bargains you find! What has your favourite purchase been so far?

Let me know.

-C.

July Favourites | clarissaxplainsitall

As July is coming to a close (where has the year gone?!) I thought I'd do a July favourites because I've never done one of these posts before.

Nothing beats classic SNL to adequately describe your

feelings. 

Below is a collection of everything I have loved this month and have been reaching for more frequently.

1. Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara: I can't get enough of this product. If you're looking for a mascara that gives you length and volume then you've come to the right place. This is more of a ~high end~ product so it will make a hole in your wallet, but if you want to spoil yourself on a mascara that could replace all of the other 123249822 mascaras in your collection, then give it a go.

Price: Retails at $38 on the Myer website.

2. Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream: This has replaced my foundations this month. I bought both the medium shade to contour and the fair shade to highlight and I haven't looked back. This lightweight product stays true to its word by leaving your skin feeling lightweight and flawless with its oil-free formula. It's also available for those who battle with a more oily complexion.

Price: Retails at $15.95 on the Priceline website.

3. Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman Base/Flawless, Core Collection Brushes: I believe in having quality make-up brushes above all else in your make-up collection, and this month I've loved using these brushes to apply my make up. They're give you absolute control and they clean easily.

Price: Retails at $17.99 on the iHerb website.

4. Sea Spray by Lush: I'm a pretty low maintenance kind of girl when it comes to my hair. I cut my hair really short once and I vowed never, ever to do it again because of how much maintenance went into keeping it looking cute. For my long hair, I love to just wash it, let it hair dray and spray a couple of pumps of Sea Spray by Lush to make it look like i've put hours of effort into it. It leaves it looking like I have just been to Bondi beach when really I haven't left my room.

Price: Retails at $12.50 on the Lush website.

5. Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette: Ok, you're crazy if you haven't heard of Urban Decay's Naked palettes. They're pretty much the bee's knees. I've been reaching for Naked 2 this month because the colours allow you to create any smokey or neutral eye look with its highly pigmented shades.

Price: Naked (the original palette) Retails at $59.60 on beautybay.com
Note: Naked 2 is currently out of stock.

6. Clinique 3-Step System: I was fortunate enough to score a 10-day trial of the 3-step system from my local Clinique counter and I think I'm going to buy the full sized system once I get some money. My skin feels refreshed and lovely after following the steps. Definitely worth the extra 3 minutes of my skin care routine.

Price: Retails at $29.00 for the introductory kit from the Clinique website.

Let me know what your July favourites are. I want to know!

-C.

Mini Essence Haul | Make Up ♡

Money has been getting a little tight these days, so my shopping addiction is going into it's withdrawal phase.

I experience these feelings when I can't

buy something I really want.

I literally go online window shopping to take the edge off. You know, fill the cart but never make it through the payment phase of the checkout? Yepp. 

But all is not lost because on Tuesday I finally got to go shopping when I was wondering around Canberra alone while Gideon was in an important interview. What else is a girl to do when her husband gives her his credit card? Seriously. 

I wandered around Canberra Centre which is like... the biggest shopping centre I have ever been do. It went on for days! I visited nearly every store (I liked) and picked out some stuff while I still had time to kill. I even watched a movie alone, which I've never done before. I watched The Heat. It was O K.

I bought some new stuff from the Essence line that recently came out at Priceline and at Target called "50's Girl Reloaded". I LOVE Essence. Their products are of such a high quality and they're so affordable. I couldn't say no to some new stuff from their new line as well as some old favourites which I've been eyeing off for a while.

I bought:

1. I Love Punk Jumbo Eyeliner- I love eyeliner so I always try to go for ones that I've never tried before. I like this product but it wont give you that natural eyeliner look. Use this for a more dramatic and bold winged eye-liner look on your eyes. I used this as a preliminary guide to create my perfect bold eyeliner look.

2. Match2Cover Cream Concealer- I'm so pleased with this product as you can mix the two shades to achieve your natural skin colour to cover up those not so lovely blemishes on your face. I like to layer this product to cover up my dark circles under my eyes.

3.Translucent Loose Powder- I haven't bought translucent powder since I started using a powder foundation to set my liquid foundation, but I'm so pleased with this because it makes my make-up look flawless without it looking cake-y.

4. 02 I'm Sailing Lipstick- An awesome creamy, coral colour. I wear it over my Benetint lipstain to give a salmon-y lip colour, which I love. The consistency of this is like a creamy lipstick, which does need to be touched up throughout the day. The colour is opaque depending on how much you want to smack on your lips. I prefer a subtle application. 

Overall I'm so pleased with the products I picked up and it all totaled to about $18, which is a bargain for quality products. Check out their new line, you wont be disappointed. 

-C.