Project X Pan - 11, 12 and 13

Hi Pretties

Today was a big day for Project X Pan.  I finished my 11th, 12th and 13th items.  I am officially finished!

Firstly this morning I finished off a foundation that I had decided it was time to say goodbye to.  I have had this for about 18 months and I periodically re-visit it.  I forgot how much I actually liked it.  It is a shame that Maybelline discontinued it.  This seems to be a frequent problem for me with awesome foundations.

While this bottle is only small, I kept thinking that I would only get one or two more uses out of it when in fact I got several weeks.

I will miss this foundation.

Next I finished off my last use of this Bellamer eye balm sample that I got in a Bellabox.  When I'm feeling rich I will purchase a full sized product as it is $40.

You apply to the area around your eye for 15 minutes and then wipe away the excess product.  I found that 15 minutes was slightly too long to leave this on as it gave me tiny pimples around eyes but leaving for 8 minutes seemed to have the same results without the pimples.  I feels as though I can actually see my eyes looking more awake, smooth and pretty when I use this.

Lastly I finished off a lip balm by Blistex.  It is the Complete Moisture and contains SPF 15 (yea!).

This is a nice lip balm, but I will be going back to my trusted Nivea.  I did buy a two pack of the Blistex on super special though!




My list currently stands as follows;

Skin items chosen

Nutrimetics Clear Deep Cleansing Exfoliant - 1/8 remaining

Palmers Line Smoothing Eye Cream - 1/8 remaining

Bioderma Make up remover - 7/8 remaining

Bellamer Eye Balm Sample - 1/2 remaining

Hair items chosen

Chi Silk Infusion - 1/4 remaining

Make up items chosen

Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation - 1/4 remaining

Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation Sample - 7/8 remaining

Loreal Matte Morphose Foundation - Scrapings really

Perfume

Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty Sample - 1/2 remaining

DKNY Pure Sample - 1/8 remaining

Extras

Dove Visable Beauty Moisturizer

Savvy by DB Mechanical Eye Pencil

Priceline Makeup remover wipes

Stay tuned for my final Project X Pan post!

Project X Pan - 9 & 10 down! But am I finished?

Hi Pretties

Well it has happened.  I've used up over 10 items for Project X Pan.  But they were not all on my list!  In the last couple of days I have finished off my 9th and 10th item.  I have finished off a couple more products lately but they are not really note worthy.  When I call it quits on PXP I'll give you a full list of the products I have finished up.

The first product I finished up was in fact on my list and it is the Palmers Cocoa Butter Line Smoothing Eye Cream.  I really do like this product and will definitely be repurchasing in the future after I finish up some sample eye creams I have laying around to use up.

I use this night and day all over my eye and surrounds and it absorbs nicely into the skin.  Eye cream for me at this stage is more of a preventative measure so I can't really tell if it is doing too much.  Ask me in 10 years!

The next item I finished I am not so excited about.  I finished off my Lush Angels on Bare Skin cleanser!  Oh no!  This has holy grail status for and I am desperate to buy another tub.  I simply can't wait until PXP is done as my skin is starting to get dry and flaky from using a cleanser I have laying around.  Problem is there is only one Lush stand in my town and it is in a shopping centre that is always super busy and hard to find a park at.  I may have to make the trip tomorrow though and fight the hoards of people to get my precious, precious cleanser.


So my list now looks as follows;

Skin items chosen

Nutrimetics Clear Deep Cleansing Exfoliant - 1/8 remaining

Palmers Line Smoothing Eye Cream - 1/8 remaining

Bioderma Make up remover - 7/8 remaining

Bellamer Eye Balm Sample - 1/2 remaining

Hair items chosen

Chi Silk Infusion - 1/4 remaining

Make up items chosen

Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation - 1/4 remaining

Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation Sample - 7/8 remaining

Loreal Matte Morphose Foundation - Scrapings really

Perfume

Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty Sample - 1/2 remaining

DKNY Pure Sample - 1/8 remaining

Extras

Dove Visable Beauty Moisturizer

Savvy by DB Mechanical Eye Pencil

Priceline Makeup remover wipes

So as you may notice there is another item crossed off that I am no longer using as part of PXP.  I've decided that even though I don't want to waste it, the Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation is never, ever going to be a good shade for me.  Especially now it is winter.  Orange is not my shade.  So I'm binning this item and calling it quits.

That leaves me two products left to use up.  The Bellamer eye sample which has around 2 uses left and the Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation that just wont quit!  I'm guessing I have 2 weeks left to use it up?  Very exciting as I'm getting the Illamasqua foundation to use after!

What have you used up?

Project X Pan

Hi Pretties

Yup, it's time.  I need to do a Project X Pan.  I have loads of things I need to use up and I really feel like my collection is 'complete' at the moment, so I decided it's time to get rid of these things that I'm just not really using that I've been hanging on to for a while.  I might also save some money!

PXP

For those who don't know, Project X Pan is a challenge to yourself where you choose 10 items from you beauty collection and put yourself on a spending ban until you have used up all 10 items.  10 items emptied means 1 new item.  It's a great way for those with a large collection or just those with a lot of odds and ends to use up some things that are just hanging around unnecessarily.

I kind of feel like I'm cheating a little with my PXP as some of these items are almost done, but hey, its MY challenge and I'll do it however I like :-)

Skin items chosen

Nutrimetics Clear Deep Cleansing Exfoliant - 1/8 remaining

Palmers Line Smoothing Eye Cream - 1/8 remaining

Bellamer Eye Balm Sample - 1/2 remaining

Bioderma Make Up Remover - 7/8 remaining

Hair items chosen

Chi Silk Infusion - 1/4 remaining

Make up items chosen

Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation - 1/4 remaining

Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation Sample - 7/8 remaining

Loreal Matte Morphose Foundation - Scrapings really

Perfume

Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty Sample - 1/2 remaining

DKNY Pure Sample - 1/8 remaining

I'm estimating two months to complete.  I hope sooner!!

Have you done Project X Pan?

My skin care routine

Hey hey pretties

Today's blog post is dedicated to my skin care routine.  Now I don't have perfect skin by any stretch of the imagination, but I have two rules when it comes to keeping my skin looking its best.

1. Always remove make up at the end of the day
2. Be consistent with your routine

Cleanser


Day and night I use my cleanser by Lush called Angels on Bare Skin.  I tried this on a whim after I was finding all regular commercial cleansers to be too harsh for me.  I was getting dry, peeling skin and was desperate to find something new.  I picked this up around Christmas last year and love it with a passion.  I think this is a brilliant product.  You take a pea sized amount, add some water and kind of mush it between your fingers and then apply to your face.  The consistency of this takes some getting used to as its quite different, but it leaves a nice feeling on your skin afterwards.  The one downside I have found to this product is that as it is a natural product, it does have 3 month expiry date.  I actually had to throw out the remainder of my first pot, but it only costs $15 which I still think is a bargain.

Morning Routine


After cleansing with my Lush Angels on Bare Skin I follow up with TN Dickson's Witch Hazel Toner.  My step mother got me on to this years ago, and I have not bought a different brand of toner since.  What I like about this toner as it does not sting like I find other brands to and is gentle enough to use over the eye area as well.

Following my toner I use Palmers Cocoa Butter Line Smoothing Eye Cream.  Now I'm 24, so eye creams are more of a preventative for me than actually trying to do anything yet, so I can't really tell if this is doing a good job or not.  It smells nice, but that's about all I can tell you.  This is the first eye cream I have tried and I'm pretty pleased with if for the $12 price tag.

My morning moisturiser is Nivea Aqua Sensation Day Cream.  To be honest I'm yet to find a Nivea product I have not liked.  I think their products are fantastic and I love the smell their blue products have.  Before trying this day cream, I was using the Nivea Young mattifying oil control moisturiser, but as I have gotten older I am no longer as oily as I was, and that moisturiser was no longer enough for my skin.  I'm very pleased with this product though.

Evening Routine


Of an evening I use a make up remover pad to remove my eye make up and then just cleanse with my Lush Angels on Bare Skin cleanser again.  While it is not designed to remove make up I still think it does a pretty good job.  It won't remove heavy mascara or anything, but it removes my foundation and other face make up in conjunction with my face washer.

After cleansing I tone again with the Witch Hazel.  This toner also removes any further traces of make up around my eyes.

Next step is my Bellamer eye balm I received as a sample in my March Bellabox (you can read about that here).  This is a balm you apply to the eye area for 15 minutes of an evening and then remove any excess.  I think this stuff is fantastic!  I can see the difference around my eye area after using.  My eyes look wider and brighter and I look more awake.  After I remove this after 15 minutes I apply my Palmers Cocoa Butter Line Smoothing Eye cream again.

The last step in my evening routine is to apply my moisturiser.  I'm currently using Palmers Cocoa Butter Night Renewal Cream.  Now I don't love this product and I don't hate it.  It does moisturising my skin nicely, but something about the smell of it bugs me.  It's a little 'nanna' smelling.  I also think it is a little too greasy on my skin.  I probably won't repurchase when I use up this tub.

Bi-Weekly products


Along with my daily skin care routine, bi-weekly I use a skin scrub and a detox mask.

The scrub I use is by Nutrimetics and it is the Deep Cleansing Exfoliant.  This product is ok, but probably a little too harsh for my skin.  I won't repurchase when this is finished.

I also use a mask twice a week.  I was using the Priceline mask (in the pink packaging) but I bought a couple of sample sachets in the Formula 10.06 Deep Down Detox Ultra-Cleansing Mud Mask and I really liked it so I picked up the full size tube today while it was 20% off at Priceline.  Hopefully I continue to enjoy this product.


How consistent are you with your skin care routine?

March Bellabox - Road tested

Hi All

Happy Easter!! I do hope the Easter Bunny was good to you and you all got very spoilt. I know I did :)

Well I know it's early April but with moving house and waiting for my WiFi connection in my new house I've been very busy, but I have finally had the chance to road test all the products in my March Bellabox. Yea!

This was my first Bellabox and I must say I'm quite happy with it. Although I didn't really like a few of the products, it's still loads of fun trying new things.

So the March Bellabox was actually a March Bellabag which was nice. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it but it's a nice idea and I guess more useful than a box?

The first product I'll talk about is the hair product I received. It's the U Little Beauty Natural Shine Hair Serum (full size). I have seen this range at Priceline and had been looking to purchase something from the range as they are mostly natural products. It doesn't contain any silicones which appeals to me. Once you get past the smell of grass this is quite a nice product. I've used this in conjunction with my new Matrix shampoo and conditioner (spoken about here in my March favourites) and have had no flyaways, my hair feels soft and sliky and generally shiny. The thing I don't like is the pump top because the product seems to want to go flying across the room when I use the pump. Maybe I just got a dodgy bottle though.

Next up is a product by Yes to Carrots. A brand I have eyed off for a while as I really like the concept of the 'Yes To' brand. I received the C Me Blush Lip Tint in Sunset Pink (full size). The smell of this is delightful. A mixture of something minty and I guess carrot? Unfortunately against the pigment of my lips this is an awful 90's brown on me, but I will still use at night for a lip balm. For the price tag of around $10 I don't think this is as moisturising as it could be and I prefer the $4 Nivea balms much better. This does offer a nice tingly sensation when you apply to your lips, but that's about the highlight of this product for me. It's gone to the bottom of my lip balm pile unfortunately and I would be extremely disappointed if I had purchased this myself.

The next two products I kind of group together. These are both by Planet Eve Certified Organics and they are the Facial Cleansing Oil (x2 3ml sachets) and Facial Balancing Toner (5ml). I got a full weeks use out of these even though they were quite small. The cleansing oil was bizarre. It may be just me, but I can't really come at putting oil on my oily skin to cleanse it. It felt heavy and just strange. I did have to use this after my regular cleanser as it didn't remove make up at all, which is something I like my cleansers to do.

The toner on the other hand I am quite fond of. It removed the oil slick feeling of the cleanser nicely and doesn't burn or sting as a lot of cleansers do. I didn't like the spray bottle it comes in though as I prefer an opened top bottle to empty product onto a cotton pad. I'm not sure how the full size bottles are packaged though. I believe these retail around $40 and I definitely would not purchase these. The cleanser is weird, and the toner is no better than my $8 TN Dickson's Witch Hazel. Neither made me break out though which I call a bonus as a lot of products do!

Next product is by Biotherm and its the Skin Vivo Anti Aging Expansive Mask. Strange, strange product. Now I do have a small face, but I think this mask was designed for the 'above average' facial shape. It slopped over my face like I was wearing a Halloween mask and made me look like some kind of space creature! I know beauty is not always pretty but my gosh this was hideous! The product itself was nice I guess, but I spent the 15 minutes you leave it on for stopping slime from dripping onto my neck and counting down until it was over. I would NOT pay $25 each for one of these masks that Biotherm wants you too. I couldn't wait to take it off and throw it in the bin!

Lastly I'll speak about my FAVOURITE product in the Bellabox and that is the Bellamer Botanical Skin Care Eye Balm sample. There is no size on this sample but I'm guessing about 3-5ml? This I would call a wonder product. It's fantastic! RRP is $40 and when my generous sized sample is empty I will be repurchasing although I've been using this almost every day since I got it and I still have quite a bit of product left. Basically this is a balm which feels like Vaseline that you apply to the eye area at night, leave for 15 minutes and wipe off the excess. I then follow with my eye cream and night cream. I can definitely notice the difference around my eyes. They look wider, smoother and just better. Now I am only 24, so eye creams are more of a preventative for me, but I do look much more awake after using this product too. I honestly can't rave about it enough!




Overall I'm very pleased with my Bellabox/bag. The hair serum and the eye balm make the $15 subscription fee highly worth while as these products are fantastic and cost well over that. Definitely looking forward to my April Bellabox. Hopefully it will come soon!

What are your thoughts on the March Bellabox?

March Favourites

Well it's the start of a new month and that means it's favourites time! I've narrowed my favourites down to 5 as I really have so many this month, but the list could just keep going on and on!

The first favourite of the month is a face product, and it's a MAC blush in Fleur Power. The MUA at the Mac counter said this was his favourite and I really liked the swatch of it, and have been wearing nearly every day since! It's a perfect coral and is very, very pigmented so a little goes a long way. I apply with a stippling brush and then buff out with a blush brush. I think this will be in my collection for a long time!

My second favourite of the month is a eye balm I received in my March Bellabox. It's by Bellamer and really feels like Vaseline to the touch. You apply for 15 minutes in the evening and then wipe off the excess. I have definitely noticed a difference in the skin around my eyes since I have been using this and when my sample runs out I will definitely be buying a full sized product which is valued at $40 and well worth the money I think.

Next favourite is a new shampoo and conditioner I have been using this month by Matrix. The shampoo is from the Sleek Results range which the sales associate at Hairhouse Warehouse told me is the same they use in the salon. This shampoo does contain a silicone which normally I don't like in a shampoo, but this product does not leave my hair greasy at all. The conditioner is from the Biolage Range and is the De tangling Solution. Again this contains a silicone, which I don't really mind in conditioner, but the sales associate recommended the De Tangling Solution rather than the normal conditioner as it is lighter and won't way the hair down as much. I find both to be really moisturising, I don't get any fly-aways and my hair feels so soft after use. It cost me $40 for the two but it is well worth the money I think.

My fourth product is another eye product, but this time an eye shadow and it is Naked Lunch by Mac. I was tossing up between this and All That Glitters and I love just a simple all over lid colour for day time with eye liner and mascara but decided on Naked Lunch as it is a little more my colour. Its a very gentle colour for office wear but also blends out nicely with a matte brown for night time. Again this is a colour I've been wearing almost every day for the month of March.

Last favourite of the month is a lip product, and its a lipstick by Rimmel. The colour is Guest List from the Lasting Finish range that I got on special at K-Mart for $6. It's a really nice moisturising medium pink that goes wonderfully with my Fleur Power blush. I really like the Rimmel Lasting Finish lipsticks and have three of them now. They are great for the price as you can normally get them for around $6 on special!

Well those are my favourites for the month of March.

What are your favourites?