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.

DIY Eyeshadow Palette (C Palette) ✌

I've been wanting a Z-Palette for a while now, you know those empty palettes you buy online & then you add either your de-potted/de-panned eyeshadows or you buy the singular eyeshadows from MAC or your other favourite make up brands?

Well, I couldn't justify spending about $20 for an empty palette. I kept thinking of possible solutions and I couldn't think of any until I saw a post made on a makeup group I follow on Facebook.

The woman who gave me the idea actually bought a magnet set she found in Big W and the case is a PERFECT size for a palette. So I went off to Big W, bought the magnet set for $10 (on sale) and got to making my own make up palette. My new palette even has Ariel on it! So kawaii!

I am SO happy with the results! It makes me feel like I just bought a whole new palette and I only had to spend about $12 on the actual case and strips of magnets to glue onto my de-panned eyeshadows. Everything else used in this DIY was found around my house.

What you will need:

• Metallic case (empty)
• Magnet strips with adhesive backing
• Scissors
• Old eyeshadows
• Candle (or hairdryer)
• Matches
• Needle
• Safe working area, covered to avoid damage.
• A steady hand.

Here's how I did it:

I collected my random little eyeshadow palettes from my collection and de-panned them.

This involves heating up the bottom of the plastic casing over a candle (or with a hair dryer) and prying the eyeshadow pan from its plastic casing using a small dressmaker's needle.

PLEASE NOTE: Always use caution when using an open flame and needles, and ALWAYS work with good ventilation. The plastic does emit some foul smelling fumes when you're doing this so it is safer to work in a well ventilated area for this reason. Persons under the age of 18 should not do this alone and adult supervision is required. Heck, I'm 22 and I needed my husband's supervision. This part of the process was scary!

After doing that a couple (hundred) times, you then attach a magnet to the back of the de-panned eyeshadow. The strips of magnets I bought were about $2 from my nearest $2 shop.

After doing that to all of your eyeshadows, arrange them how you like on your palette and enjoy!

Seriously, this was the best! I get to use my forgotten eyeshadows now and I love how they're all in one convenient place.

Because I didn't buy a Z Palette I decided to call this palette a C Palette because my name is Clarissa and... the first letter of my name is C... and, well, you get the picture.

I recommend this to anyone who has random eyeshadows laying around and wants them all in one place.

Oh! Before I actually did this, I typed up a Word document containing all the colours and names of the individual palettes I used. I did this so I could look back on which colours I was using IF I WANTED TO, but I probably wont.

Time it took to complete: About an hour
Total price $12

Stay classy.

-C.

First Impressions | Mimco Bronzer.

When you think 'Mimco' you think of lovely leather handbags, shoes and the highest quality jewellery and accessories.

I really enjoy Mimco and their staple pieces and accessories. I have a pair of awesome white and black oxfords that I wore to my graduation, a little zip purse perfect for storing my cards for 'on the go' handling, I have some hair accessories and now I may have the nicest bronzer i've ever owned.

Mimco brozer comes in two shades, one for light/medium skin and also in medium/dark skin. It retails for $49.95 but I got it a little bit cheaper because it was on sale.

Of course I bought the light/medium shade because my skin is reminiscent of a slice of white bread or sheet of paper. Sometimes I am so white that you can see the veins under my skin. Using this bronzer brings me back to life, so to speak.

Its a lovely shade of bronze with subtle gold 'Mica' particle highlights that catch the light to give the skin an overall healthy glow. It really makes you look sun kissed without having to be in the sun for several hours, which I love.

When I purchase products I find that the packaging really has to catch my eye and i'm very certain that the Mimco bronzer has done just that. With its golden packaging and inbuilt compact mirror, this product allows you to have elegance and utility within one golden package.

If you're interested, you can purchase this product on the Mimco website.

Photos:

This product truly is amazing and a little goes a long way as one of its downfalls is that it is kind of chalky and does not hold on to the brushes that I have, at least. Using little amounts at a time allows you to utilise the product the best way possible.

It is perfect for wear on the face, body and décolletage and it works great as a contour too.

I give this product:

☂☂☂☂

4 Umbrellas out of 5.

Stay classy.

-C.

First Impressions | Lush Eyes Right Mascara.

I think we're all familiar with Lush cosmetics. If not, let me give you a run down.

Lush is a cruelty free, organic cosmetic brand that prides itself on using only the freshest products to make their soaps, bath bombs, lotions, perfumes and cosmetics. It is amazing.

I love their values. I got these straight from their website:

THE 'WE BELIEVE'

We believe in making effective products from fresh* organic* fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.

We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission test on animals and in testing our products on humans.

We invent our own products and fragrances; we make them fresh by hand using little or no preservative or packaging, using only vegetarian ingredients and we tell you when they were made.

We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.

We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.

We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.

*We also believe words like 'Fresh' and 'Organic' have an honest meaning beyond marketing.

I've been using their products for as long as I can remember & my collection spans from soaps, solid perfumes, hair products and more. I love their brand and their products and I would definitely recommend them to anyone and everyone.

For today's first impressions I thought i'd go ahead and use a product I've never used before, Lush Eyes Right mascara in black.

I just want to say that I LOVE this product. My goodness, it is amazing and I paid $19.95 for it so it's definitely worth it!

If I had to choose any make up product to use for the rest of my life it would be mascara, and it would be tough to choose between Lush Eyes Right and Covergirl Lash Blast. Seriously, it's that good.

The directions on the bottle say that you would achieve a natural look with one coat but because I love a more dramatic look, I went with 3-4 coats on both my top and bottom lashes.

Photos:

The only down fall is the short applicator brush as it made it a little awkward to use, but with practice it allows you to have more control of the product and it also makes application more precise as you are able to coat even the tiniest lashes with mascara. Excellent!

Overall i'd give this product:

5 unicorns/ out of 5.

Stay Classy

-C.

First Impressions | Almay Intense i-Colour Collection.

So I won another competition.

And it was a make up competition... again.

HEY! I'm not complaining :) My luck has been amazing recently & it has been a nice change opposed to the usual toe-jabbing, pant-ripping, face-planting bad luck I'm used to.

On the Almay website they were holding a competition to describe you & your mother's most memorable make up related experience and my answer, amongst other answers, were chosen to win the prize!

I was given the entire 'intense i-colour' collection to match my hazel eyes as the collection is designed specifically to each of the different eye colours found in people, so obviously the collection I was given matched my eye colour. The colours in the collection are gorgeous and definitely bring out the hues of different colours in my eyes.

The brand prides itself in creating hypoallergenic make up to suit sensitive skin and and since I have dry and sensitive skin in some areas, especially my eyes, I thought it would be perfect for me to try out.

My prize included:

The Bold Nudes eye colour palette:

Liquid Shadow and Primer:

Volumizing Mascara:

Defining liner:

and a cute make up bag to carry it all in:

I was so impressed by the high quality of products given to me. It was an excellent prize to win!

These colours are gorgeous and I created the following looks using the products given to me:

 Some notes:

• The eyeshadow palette's colours are very build-able and gradually intensify as you apply more coats of colour.

• The eye liner pencil is a gorgeous shade of teal which compliments my eye colour. It is creamy and very easy to glide along the eye to create a winged cat eye look and to add a pop of colour to your waterline.

• The mascara makes a noticeable difference to the volume of my eyelashes. A must have for any makeup look.

• The Liquid Eyeshadow and Primer is a wonderful product to wear alone or underneath the eyeshadow to intensify the colours of the shadows. It sets quickly and avoids the eye shadow from creasing. 

Overall I'm very pleased with the make up. The colours, although gorgeous, are not colours I would usually pick in a usual make up shopping trip, but they're wonderful additions to my make up collection.

I give these products:

4 Unicorns

Stay classy.

-C.

Supanova 2013.

On Saturday myself, Gideon and my cousin Joshua attended Supanova 2013!

It was SO much fun. No, seriously.

Who knew so many people embraced the amazing and unique nature of pop culture? The Dome at Sydney Olympic Park was packed to the rafters!



In general, Supanova is a pop culture convention that allows people from everywhere to come and embrace their 'nerdy' side. Its a whole weekend filled with meeting celebrities from different movies, cartoonists and voice actors, visiting stalls filled with various merch, and a chance to realise that you're not THAT weird.

Sure, Supanova had your stereotypical nerd, a 35 year old man who speaks with a lisp still living in his mum's basement playing Dungeons and Dragons all day, but it was also a time to see and meet normal people who are excited about the same things you like and not have to feel embarrassed for 'geeking' out.

Being the avid Adventure Time lovers that we are, we decided to dress up as our favourite characters.

Gideon went as the ever fabulous Lemongrab...

Photo:

If you're unfamiliar with Lemongrab's character, here's a short clip of his true self:

Joshua went as the leader of the pack aka Finn the Human...

Photo:

Video:

And I went as LSP (Lumpy Space Princess) because I feel like she embodies my true self the best, and also we're just so ssssassy~

Photo:

Video:

So many other people dressed up ("cosplay") as their favourite video game characters, anime, cartoon, movie, any fictitious or real person characters also. It was amazing to see the effort and time put into the costumes and it really showed how dedicated the fans are to their favourite fandoms.

Below is a collection of my favourite costumes and various things around Supanova that I saw:

Biff's Jacket from Back to the Future 2, Oh my goodness.

My favourite of the day: Marty McFly!

Some more photos of us:

We had an overall AWESOME day & we've already started plans on our cosplay for next year's Supanova! 

Lump Off!

-C.