Revlon ColourBurst Crayon Collection

Hey guys I'm back again with a review on the Revlon ColourBurst Matte Lip Balms/Crayon. I've heard that these are really popular and I wanted to try them out. So I went down to Priceline and picked up these two since they were on sale. I got one Matte Balm and the other is a Balm Stain. 

Matte Balm: 215 Shameless (Purple) and Balm Stain: 001 Honey (Pink)

So there's some swatches for you guys to see, the packaging is very true to colour. Application is smooth and very easy I think; for the most part easier than other lip products. It's very pigmented and you don't need to swipe too much to get the colour on. The packaging is a swivel twist motion and looks like a crayon. The lip product itself has a subtle peppermint fragrance and a tingling sensation when applied so it keeps your lips really moisturised. 

Balm Stain: 001 Honey (Pink)

Matte Balm: 215 Shameless (Purple) 

I did wear Shameless to my TopShop Interview a couple days ago and the weather in Melbourne was dreary, windy, cold and extremely wet and it still managed to stay on by the end of the night. I don't remember having to do any touch ups and my lips were constantly protected from the cold harsh weather.

So overall my impression of these products is very positive, I enjoy wearing these and I will continue to do so throughout this coming winter which will be really exciting. The purple lipstick look is starting to become my holy grail :')

x

HM Australia Haul

So it's finally been a week since HM has settled in the land of Down Under, hope you'd had a lovely, busy and warm welcome to our city. It is such a pleasure to be the first city that receives your presence, we absolutely love you!

Now for those of you who feel indifferent about HM, I think you really need to take a look for yourself and compare the prices. I just really prefer to shop here as the quality is quite good for the price you're getting it at. Even if you're not a fashionista, I think it's just a wonderful location to check out how the interior has been implemented into the store. It is one of the largest HM stores and most beautiful locations in the city of Melbourne.

I did end up going to the grand opening day of HM and there in amongst 3000 shoppers waiting in line, I was one of them. Although I came later than most, the wait from 10AM was only roughly 15 mins to get in and it did not disappoint. There are basic shirts for $12.95 and most of the styles is how I like to wear my clothes. I'm generally someone who loves to layer her clothes to bring out a certain relaxed look. I actually came to HM in search for their trousers that were also $12.95 each. They are the most comfortable pieces of bottoms you will ever wear in your life and I am not even kidding.

So when we were in line they gave everyone who came early enough a show bag with an umbrella, a water bottle, paper napkins and a magazine. They were also serving coffee, coconut water and they even had a L'oreal Lip Cart. 

I purchased some boots, two pairs of trousers, two t-shirts, above the knee length socks and a pug soft toy ($5) I couldn't help myself at how gorgeous it was. All of that totalled to $105 and I was pretty happy with myself. I returned a coupled days later to have a closer look at the items to see what else I could find and it made me so glad that I had gone to the opening day because half of the stock was all gone. However, I did manage to pick up this beautiful scarf and there's a chance I might go back to pick up the mittens that matched it too. 

Overall I just found my first experience with HM really pleasant and definitely would shop there again. I just hope they stock all the stuff they have online as well because I am dying to get this certain necklace.

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x

Vampy Lips

Just in time for Autumn to come around. This season is all about the warm auburn purply colours, bring in the scarfs and coffee runs! Here's a colour that I love to wear on my lips and constantly get compliments for. I've seen other bloggers wear colours that are similar to this from brands like Mac, so you can probably go out and find out what is available but I found this works well for me.

This is what I call my vampire look. It's like a subtle gradient of luscious reds to purple to greet the Autumn season in. I've used three simple products to achieve this look on my lips and it didn't cost me all that much either! 

So what we've got is L'oreal Red Revival 645 and Rimmel's Kate Lipstick 0.4 and I also used Face of Australia's purple liner to finish up the touches and define my lips. 

To achieve this look, all I really did was used the purple as my base and then topped it off with red to give it a more subtle centre red stain. Having more of the red coverage on my bottom lip gives it an illusion of luscious lips and really highlights your face. This technique is similar to when you just want to use minimum make up and a creme highlighter to bring forth your T zone and lips, highlighting the main points. To finish it off, I used a little bit of liner to line the top and if you're like me and your lips aren't defined as well as others, concealing around your lips also helps brings it forward.

Melbourne Now at NGV + City Escape

Today's class at uni consisted of me hiking to the city to our art gallery NGV across from Flinders Street Station. I'll be honest I wasn't keen on looking at art and walking around for ages but I think I forgot what it was like to take a moment out of our busy lives to just take in the atmosphere. I almost forgot to appreciate what a beautiful city Melbourne was and the MelbourneNow exhibition is something that really explores the reasons why it is so unique. I think we really do take for granted what a beautiful city we have and this exhibition was just something that goes to show how captivatingly appealing it is. 

Most of these artists have taken a more modern approach to presenting their perspectives on what makes Melbourne unique. I found that these pieces were more targeted towards an audience that are younger, teenagers and early adults where quirky films and street art meet the eyes of this age group. 

Click below to read more! 

Priceline Haul + Liquid Liners

Things I purchased at Priceline's 40% off Cosmetic Sale

Revlon ColourStay Gel-Shine Top Coat 10

Nivea Lip Butter Rose

Essie Nail Lacquer - Blanc 

Lo'real Paris' Super Liner Ultra Precision - Brown 

I purchased this one because I needed a new top coat polish. I really wanted something that was shiny and really brings out the polish of other colours and this one, so far I'm impressed. It's got a double brush applicator which makes coverage easier and gives a more flat application. It really makes a big difference in the polishes as well. 

Click below to read more!

Relationships are hard and it's not something they teach you in school.

I grew up in a world where Disney princesses always had a happy ending and fairy tales were guaranteed an 'ever after' and I always imagined that maybe that's how life would be despite being the only child who wanted to be a warrior like Mulan. Ten years later and I'm hit with my own problems of settling into adulthood and not being able to understand these feelings.

I'm sitting here at 4AM in the morning typing this up because I can't seem to settle my mind and it won't sleep. Relationships are hard, don't get me wrong that shit is tougher than turtle shells and I have never heard of anyone who goes through years without a single heart wrenching fight. I just don't understand how these things end up threatening you in the end and there's nothing you can do about it but keep holding on. As much as I hold on and try to get through, I can't help but drown in my own sorrows and tears knowing that although one side holds on sometimes the other wants to let go. I have countless times thought about getting up and leaving in previous relationships but I'm a fighter, I don't believe in throwing away things that could be fixed. When a light bulb goes out in your house you don't go and buy a new house, you change the light bulb.

Maybe the problem is within me. Maybe I care too much about people and have too much to give to those who don't give any nuts about me. But I've been told not to blame myself for relationships never working out, a relationship doesn't work out because both parties can't compromise. "Don't beat yourself over it."

It's the worst when your own parents are meant to be the ones who help you find your way through these sort of things. Mine are constantly telling me that all men are evil because they can get you pregnant and take your money and leave you. The most typical Asian statements, if you will.

It's hard to find that one person who is willing to fight for it as much as you are. Maybe I'm still too young to understand my feelings...or maybe I don't know how to love myself enough to learn how to love someone else? I don't know. Why do they not teach you Relationships 101? 

Mecca Maxima Review

Things I bought from Mecca Maxima for the first time are: 

1. Kit: Hand Cream in Pomegranate & Pink Grapefruit
   
   and
2. Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powder 

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder

I heard some really good reviews about the Lighting powder and wanted to try it out. I think the shade Dim Light is a little bit too dark and does a more subtle job in highlight my face which is nice I guess but sometimes you do want a more forward look. Overall the product is nicely pigment and with just a swatch on your finger, a lot of the powder does pick up quite well. I think if I was to go back and purchase another shade I would have to go lighter for my skin tone. 

KIT: Hand Cream in Pomegranate and Pink Grapefruit

This was another product that I picked up whilst browsing in Mecca Maxima. I was about to head to Aesop for their hand creams but wasn't too prepare to pay double the price for a citrusy smell that I couldn't stand. So I found this one and really like the texture and the fragrance that was soft and sweet to me.




The packaging is cute but there's one thing that really bothers me about this product; it oozes out of the tube without any pressure and sometimes a little too much than you want. I literally just opened the cap off and this much had already come out of the tube before I even put pressure on it. Which is a little bit of a shame but none the less really worth the $19.95 that I spent on it. 

Inspiration/Photo Web/Net

Source

I first spotted this picture web hanging above this bed and I was so inspired, I wanted something to hang above my bedroom too so I went out and bought some twill and decided to DIY my own net/web. Although mine does not resemble 100 the exact as the one above, I'm still pretty content with the way that it hangs on the wall and gives it a slight carefree touch to it.

When I was putting it together. The cris-cross method :)

Starting to collect images for it.

The first picture bae and I took together.


I don't think this DIY is finished just yet. I was planning to add some beads to this but I'm still undecided to whether or not I should leave it minimalistic. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out. 

First Week Back

So it's been quite an ease returning to school after a good four month Summer break, I actually kind of missed having some sort of intellectual stimulus during that time. Now that I'm back there are many things that reminded reasons why I find university can be a waste of time.

Being an art student I'm constantly surrounded by numerous "knowledge challenged"people and it makes me wonder how they even got accepted. I overheard a couple conversations during my first week back and people do talk about their holidays. This particular person had come back from Thailand and had their anecdotes to tell and I swear this tops the most stupid things I've ever heard list:

"Thailand is the best, their 7/11 is like a restaurant if you want noodles they just poor hot water in it for you."

The last time I checked, hot water and noodles from a convenient store can only mean instant noodles. I almost face-palmed through my face. In other news, I only have to be at uni for three days a week and my fourth subject is an online subject so I guess that leaves me some time to get a new part time job. 

Here's an update:

Food I've been eating/cooking:

Chicken Salad with Rice Vinegar Dressing

Salad and Potato Gems for my man. 

 Music I've been listening to:

Back to Uni!

I'm secretly excited to go back to university and there's several reasons for it.

1. Stationery Shopping - it's like going into a candy store and not knowing what to pick out of the ridiculous range of awesomeness. 
2. It's my third and final year of my Bachelor degree. 
3. And lastly; because I've been on a four month holiday and find myself running out of things to do at home when everyone else can afford to go on expensive holidays. :(

But fret not, here's a rundown of why the first reason is so exciting to me.

New Look Heritage Rucksack Bag - ASOS, ASOS Stripe Bobble Beanie Hat with Patch, Cotton On M Beanie Hat

Typo 2014 Polka Dot Daily Diary, Kikki K Weekly Planner, Nonsense Beaded Pencilcase

Ipod Shuffle, Mechanical Pencil, Eraser Dispenser & Stapler are from Officeworks

Typo Diary & Dotted Notebook 

I love the diary's features of the perforated corners I can rip off at the end of the day to mark exactly where I am up to. I'm not a big fan of the daily diary thing since I don't write much in there but perhaps I can double up as a note-taking book to write down stuff I must write in my assignments? So it wasn't so much of a stationery haul but having new things to go back to school makes learning just that much more exciting and maybe this year I'll go to lectures. (said no one ever haha) 

Study hard!

Seamless design

I'm a sucker for design and packaging. Say hello to my newest bank account murdering device.

I've waited a long time to find one of these on the market that I would be able to afford and thankfully its previous owner had only purchased it and barely used it so it's practically in a new condition for half the price. I'm ever so happy with this and now even more thankful I do not have to spend countless hours at uni editing film that I could be doing at home with access to cuddles and food...but mainly food.

I installed all the programs I needed and found the most perfect wallpaper. I love graphic designs and this one really intrigued me, it's just the right about of minimalism for my style. I can't wait to start producing films on this magnificent machine. 

Valentine's Day is a commercial scam.

My other half and I did not celebrate our first Valentine's Day together because I simply did not want to join in the festivities of a marketing scam. I work in a jewellery store, selling diamonds and what not to bling thirsty women and their partners. When it comes to Valentine's Day, it gets a little crazy and Cupid comes out and drags people into these stores and they hand us our paycheques. (Thank you!)

But that's not the reason why I don't like Valentine's Day, the reason that I don't like it is because I don't see there being a need to have one particular day that your partner has to go out of their way to express their love. Why is that every man and woman has to rush out and purchase something for this one day? There are 365 days of the year you can come home with a gift to express love, why does it have to be the same day as everyone else? If you're so in love with someone, you should be expressing that everyday.

In my opinion, I think Valentine's Day spreads more pain than love simply because people make expectations out of the advertisements that they see on media platforms. When those expectations aren't met, they're ultimately disappointed. This is where the business always wins. Women nag and men must abide for a happy wife, girlfriend etc. In many cases, do these gifts really truly express love if society has set these expectations? Are you really getting a gift because you want to or because you have to?

I didn't want to follow these 'supposed' traditions because I felt that it was unfair on my man to feel the need to go out and buy expensive chocolates and roses just for the sake of one particular day. Maybe I'm just a low maintenance girlfriend? What's worse is now that social media is blooming, people take photos of their gifts and glamourise their day as if it it's some sort of competition to see who's more 'loved' through the value of their gifts. That was probably the only highlight of my day to see jealousy well up in people's comments. Free entertainment, why not?

Justifying for Love

I've come across a couple of individuals in my time who have made chaos just to confirm that the world loves them. It is such a shame that some are way passed high school and yet still manage to have this need to justify themselves.

Sometimes I wonder why people feel the need to pretend to be a particular way so that they fit in. I understand if they were under eighteen years of age--that's a prime time for adolescence to find themselves so they need to try on shoes to find the right fit.

There's this particular person that I know of who feels a greater need to be a part of every social outing recorded on Facebook. It ruins their day if they are not tagged in a status, a photo or what have you. Mind you, this person is in their twenties and I'm not saying that they should be mature because maturity does not come with age. Social media becomes meaningless and crying over not being included in a Facebook status is not going to make you any happier. Move on, find comfort in hobbies, stop crying and start including yourself, be the leader who makes events because they won't change for you.

I've always thought that by the time you've graduated from school within five years you would have experienced a disconnection from the way the world was build in the social kingdom of your teenage years. You lose friends, trust and confidence, it's a normal cycle.

Being an introvert, I lost the close connections I had with friends and I won't lie, it tore me. But with pain, comes life lessons. I spent the first year of university accepting that I would never have a social haven where I would 'fit' in because I was that one kid you either loved or hated for whatever reason. I am so socially awkward, I sometimes find myself slowly backing away from conversations, looking at my phone to avoid the silence, refreshing Facebook and Instagram a hundred times hoping for a way out.

What I learnt has been something I've been trying to get people to understand. You get to a stage in life where you learn who your true friends are and even though they're your friends, they're not always going to be there. Adulthood finds its way to you and people begin to find their soul mates and life long partners and you don't become their first priority anymore. Soon enough, your friends will have families and you have no choice but to do the same or find comfort elsewhere. It's inevitable and that's how life works.

Stop justifying yourself for love, accept who you are and the right people will begin to love you. Be confident and the best of you will shine through.

Love Your Enemies

I have the occasional privilege of sharing my wisdom with the youth of Australia and on one particular event the topic was 'Loving your enemies'.

I think people nowadays take these words too literally and forget the true meaning of it. I don't think Jesus literally meant hug someone who's holding a gun to your head, whether you are religious or not I think it serves us a great insight to the way we understand the world around us.

Don't get me wrong, to love your enemy is one of the most difficult things in life and like everyone else I find it almost impossible to swallow my pride and love the people I despise. This is a common issue in amongst us humans, a hatred builds inside towards those that may have harmed us in some way and causes for us to react or behave destructively. This is something that no matter what we do to them, won't make us any happier. If you were to resent and harm individual who irritates you, the hatred that is built inside only begins to increase. Will it make you happier if that anger is still welling up inside? How can you get rid of such a feeling if the cause of it doesn't go away?

It is all about being wise and open minded. It begins from within you. As a person who has an irritated issue against them, you must learn to be patient and let go of the feelings that you have when associating with that individual. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine the things that they may have gone through, the possible reasons why they are who they are. It's important to see the world from another person's perspective so that you can understand, how they're feeling and that deep down they are just flesh and blood like you.

However, seeing through their eyes is not the hardest part, it is learning and seeking to accept them for who they are. Accepting others for who they are is a part of life, you're going to go through so many years having to accept it because it won't change. An unwillingness to accept is an unwillingness to love. Forgive, let go and find something about them to love. Find a reason to love them, and reach out to them, you never know all along this certain person or people could have been your long lost friend for life.

Go out there and test yourself, be a better person.