Christmas Sephora Haul

Around Thanksgiving time Sephora had some great discounts - 10 and 15% off deals for those in the higher level of their Beauty Insider loyalty scheme which I have somehow spent enough to qualify for! Anyway, I made the most of having a US mailing address and got my paws on a huge haul. It meant that I saved myself 15% on items I would've purchased when I visited the US during Christmas anyway. The downside was that I wasn't able to enjoy picking them all out at the Sephora store but that was probably a good way to save myself some money!

Oh and when you order online you get a tonne of samples! That whole bottom row is samples in fact :)

So these were the things I needed: Stila concealer and Sephora brand liquid eyeliner which has become my daily staple and at <$10 is amazing quality for a liquid eyeliner.

And here were the extra things I bought because, well, I felt silly wasting a perfectly good 15% off discount voucher!

Urban Decay Basics Palette - this is awesomely sized, being smaller than my iPhone 5! The colours are a matte which is great for me, but a little too...'dusty' for my liking. The fallout is a little craptastic as well which I knew already from the many reviews I read on MUA but nevermind, it was cheap at under $30.

I love me some good NARS - and when I saw my beloved orgasm/laguna duo comes in a mini travel size I couldn't help myself. I mean, when you travel it is just perfectly sized! Plus I love the travel size items at Sephora purely because I never use a full bottle anyway so the travel size is the perfect volume for me. This is their famous tinted moisturiser I thought I would try out.

Beauty Blenders are all the craze so why not try it for myself? So far I like it, but sponges just waste product in my opinion. They soak up so much that is just unnecessary. So in that sense I prefer my Real Techniques brushes, but I do like the even complexion you get from using this. And the solid cleanser I thought I'd try for all my make up brushes to motivate me to clean them more often!

And finally, I chucked in this Deborah Lippmann nailpolish gift pack because it was cute and I thought it was about time I try her nailpolishes. I've known about her for years but never bit the bullet to buy her polishes. Well can I say I am suitably impressed and wish I had bought her creme polishes earlier! They're so opaque after even just one coat and they're quite impressive pop colours. This is She Bop and glitter Happy Birthday which I've been using this week and they're quite fun and cutesy. If a little Barbie. But there is nothing wrong with that!

The beauty of music

I noticed this video has been doing the rounds of facebook, but its just so awesome I couldn't help but share.

The Tea Cosy, Sydney

I love scones and so I had been meaning to go to The Tea Cosy at The Rocks for ages. Late last year I finally made it there and I'm so glad I did. I love the little place and the scones are amazing!

It is often considered the best scones in Sydney (which is of course a big call) and for the price I was definitely not disappointed. From memory it was $12.50 but that bought you two scones and tea (hot or iced) of your choice, and there are hot water urns to top up your teapot.

Excuse the slightly badly composed photos - I was trying out one of my newer Sigma prime lenses so the photos are amazingly sharp but I got a bit caught up in focusing and didn't compose properly.

The scones were fluffy, warm and flavoursome. You could also choose the type of scones you wanted - traditional, sultana and other options - as well as the jams you wanted to accompany your scones - orange, traditional strawberry and raspberry to name just a few.

Oh and did I mention, the teapots come in the cutest little hand knitted tea cosies. How can you not love it?

I'll definitely be back, and if you're from Sydney but haven't been you should definitely stop by!

Charleston, South Carolina

Over the Christmas break I found myself in Charleston, South Carolina for a wedding. Charleston is a quintessentially cute, Southern little town with such a lovely colonial town vibe. It's recently been appearing on the 'new cool cities to visit' lists regularly, and I've since heard it is the second most popular place to get married in the US behind only Vegas (for obvious reasons).

The wedding I went to was seriously breathtaking. The best wedding I've ever been to, but I knew that would happen because the bride is the uber bride who has been planning this wedding since the day I met her (long before she even was engaged).

Here are some pics I wanted to share with you of the beautiful place that is Charleston!

I ate at the popular and hipster restaurant Husk that has all the Southern specialties such as this - pumpkin pie! We also had pigs ears lettuce wraps which were AMAZING!

 

This is an unfortunately badly shot photo of the building in which Husk is in - I was not my usual self this trip and really didn't take many photos, and didn't make an effort in most cases. I was just all about having a good time and soaking it all in!

Sunday brunch is, as always, a huge thing in the US, but in a religious southern town like Charleston, it is Halls Chophouse for 'Sunday Gospel Brunch'. I wish I had bothered to take a photo of the live, grand piano playing, soul crooner who sat in the corner entertaining us for the day. And for a bit of Southern hospitality, this was my complimentary glass of bubbly, after the restaurant owners started chatting to us!

And now for the wedding - at a beautiful plantation overlooking the river. Despite being in the middle of winter, it was a sunny warm Winters day which was absolutely amazing.

I do slightly regret having such a good time that I didn't stop to properly take photos of the sunset. But this is seriously how amazing it is - the following photo was taken with no filter on an iPhone. Is it not spectacular?

Southern food at the wedding - mac & cheese and chicken & waffles!

Beautiful beautiful florals - all painstakingly done by an amazing florist.

And for a sense of the main street - this was the high end shopping strip where you could literally get any designer item you wanted!

I love me a good holiday, and this was definitely one!

SJP Shoes

A lovely fashionable friend of mine alerted me to the announcement of sjp - Sarah Jessica Parker's new shoe line to be released on 28th February. She had an exclusive reveal with a series of photos where she shows the shoes to Gayle King and here are some of the images. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of some of the shoes for the price point (we're talking $400 USD) but I do love some of the imagery.

This pair is actually uber cute, but I can't see any of the collection being anything particularly new. It all feels quite derivative of some of SJPs favourite designers (think Manolo). Her collection also includes the trenchcoat being worn here and comes in navy too.

The pair on the right has her 'signature' grosgrain ribbon - I have a pair of Dior shoes which are quite similar!

And is this not the most beautiful shot? I wish I had a living room that looked like this! And came with a closet full of shoes ;)

What do you think of the new collection?

Images thanks to O magazine.

New Louboutins!

Late last year I found out that I was getting a bonus at work, to my surprise! I didn't think I would be eligible since I had only just started working there. It also coincided with the start of the Christian Louboutin sale so what better place to drop some cash, right?

The 40% off sale at Louboutin turned out to be great for me because they had a) classic styles and b) items in my size! I am the most common shoe size too so that shocked me.

So here I present my newest babies:

I couldn't resist these grenadine pink Simple 70s - one of my all time favourite Louboutin styles and 70s are so comfortable. Personally 85 are my holy grail, but they're so hard to find that I in fact have never been able to get my hands on a pair. Can you believe the day after I bought these bright pink ones, I went to Bondi Junction where they had just sold the same pair in classic red in my size! =o In any case, I have a pair of red peeptoes so these are probably a better fit for my collection. I happened to wear these last night and they're super bright and fun!

These were a little more pricey but as soon as I put them on I was in love. The platform and T bar style of these Lagoulas are so comfortable I practically felt like I was walking on air. I couldn't believe it! And these come in black too, but the red are just something a little special. I've since discovered these have been worn (in black mostly) on the red carpet by a tonne of celebrities including Cate Blanchett. I feel I am in good company :)

What is your newest Louboutin purchase?

2014!

Well I know I'm a bit late with this post, but hello, 2014! I have been back from overseas for a little over a week, and within that time I already had an impromptu interstate work trip which threw a spanner in the works of trying to settle back into normal life.

That said, I will be trying as hard as possible to get back into posting. That's not a promise, because life has a funny way of throwing unexpected things my way, but hope everyone enjoyed a great Christmas and New Year!