Drugstore Cosmetic Launches for Australia -- September 2013

A few days late for this month's launches.. woopsies! x~x!

Essie soon to be available at Priceline

YES! You read right! No longer will you need to be making a trip to ze fancy Myers for Essie's nail lacquers. Priceline will be stocking them soon, so keep an eye out for that! 

*Not sure if there's any differences in prices.

Max Factor CC Cream ($19.95/6 shades)

Yissss! CC Creams! If you haven't heard of them yet, they're basically the next generation of BB Creams, called Colour Correcting Creams. Max Factor claims that their CC Cream "provides intense complexion correction immediately on application, to provide healthy and natural-looking skin". 

*If you are interested, these are currently on sale at Priceline!

Almay CC Cream (Available in 3 shades)

Almay also released their very own CC Cream which has that "smart shade" technology again. It's described as a "Complexion Corrector", a lightweight foundation in combined with "clarity enhancing skincare". Almay claims that its formula is suppose to blend easily and flawlessly into the skin whilst concealing discolourations and imperfections. Also brightens and has SPF 25. 

L'Oreal SuperLiner Perfect Slim Eyeliner ($24.45/1 shade)

Goddd, It's been yonks since I've featured any eyeliners in my launch posts! This one is a precision felt-tip liner with a super fine 0.4mm tip, enabling you to create even the thinnest strokes! It also has a grip-zone to hold which allows optimum control for anybody. Sounds pretty perfect for anyone who's new to eyeliners~

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Excess Mascara ($27.95/1 shade)

As the name suggests, this is an anti-clump mascara. In short, it offers to separate the lashes whilst providing dramatic volume. The brush is described to be "L'Oreal's biggest ever brush", but I've never used their mascaras, so I'm not too sure how big! 

Keep that in mind though if you are a keen bean on this mascara!

L'Oreal Anti-Dullness and Anti-Fatigue CC Cream ($26.95/2 types)

Both CC Creams are described to offer weightless coverage, leaving the skin with a "healthy-looking, radiant nude complexion and 24 hour hydration" with SPF 12. Both ARE shade-transforming products, just like their Anti-Red CC Cream. 

• Anti-Dullness: Helps to revive dull-looking skin, has a milky-mauve colour.
• Anti-Fatigue: Helps to revive tired skin *immediately*, has a milky-apricot colour.

Bourjois Colour Boost Lip Crayons ($15/4 shades)
These may have been launched last month, but I don't see them featured around too much (or maybe I just haven't been actively reading blogs) so I thought I'd give them a mention here!

Described to be "lightweight" and "non-sticky", these lip crayons claims to leave the lips bright and smooth, with just enough shine and transparency to "enhance" each shade.

Bourjois Record Liner Waterproof ($19/3 shades)

Ahhh! Another eyeliner! According to Bourjois, their Record Liner Waterproof is:

• A stretchable gel-cream which will glide on easily
• Long wearing for up to 48 hours!
• Intense and rich in terms of pigementation
• Smudge-proof

There's also a flat angled brush which clicks onto the top of lid. I'm sure you've already seen this similar packaging across other brands, such as Face Of Australia ^~^

Natio Pearl & Pop Nail Colours ($5.95/12 shades)

Pearl & Pop is a limited edition collection of miniature nail polishes by Natio! The shades featured within this collection are fresh and bright which is ideal of Spring and Summer.

They sure do look cute, but with such small bottles for pastel colours... I'm hoping that the formula will kick butt!

Oh! And here are the two other Natio products that launched last month, but I didn't mention. I'll briefly round them up here...

• Mineral Pressed Powder Bronzer and Enhancer ($17.95/2 shades) -- A lightweight powder which is suppose to add a bronze glow and luminousity to the skin in one sweep.
• Heavenly Eyes Mineral Eyeshadow Trio ($14.95/4 sets) -- These are available in four different colour combinations. The eyeshadows are described to be rich and pigmented, long-lasting and each trio comes with a duo-ended applicator.

I also wasn't aware of these two new products from last month by NP Set either, so here they are....

• California Cool Bronzing Powder ($24/1 shade) -- Is a fine, matte face bronzer which combines pink and brown tones. 
• California Cool Gloss-and-Go Duo ($15/2 shades) -- Is a lip stain and gloss combo. It delivers long-lasting colour with a hydrating coat of clear gloss. 

That's all for this month's launches! ^~^

Let me know which products you are most excited for!

I'm ALL about lips, but I'm not really into lip crayons so... Nothing for me this month! 

I Love Drugstore Make-Up TAG!

Hi everyone! Sorry, I've been away from blogging. I've been doing practical work at a childcare centre and that calls for 8-4 shifts which are........ extremely tiring. Adding to that, I've been sick so to have children crying and screaming around me for 8 hours a day... what can I say? It really drives me nuts!

Not to mention that some even 'dobs' to me that another kid has been calling them "poo poo bum bum". LOL.. Seriously. Cute, but not when I'm sick ok?!

So I'm hoping to whip up a quick tag to share with you today! I've seen this tag by Jaci @ JaciWalker, I think!

1. What is your favourite drugstore make-up brand?
I LOVE Australis Cosmetics. I'm sure you've seen their products featured everywhere on my blog. I just love them as a brand. They're cruelty free, high quality but affordable! I also adore Face Of Australia!


2. What are your favourite face, cheek and lip products?
I absolutely need foundation in my life, so if I were to pick one foundation.. it'd be Face Of Australia's Lasting Looks Natural Foundation! I love the formula, it sits nicely on the skin without grabbing on my dry patches, nice and natural full coverage and lasts long! However, there's only 4 shades, so that's a shame.

For cheeks, I'm with BYS Blushers. They're quite underrated, in my opinion! I've tried 'Candy Floss' and it gives a very nice and naturally luminous finish!

Lip products... Hmmmm. I LOVE lipsticks and I do look for lipsticks which are mosturising, but stays so I'll have to go with Australis' Colour Inject Mineral Lipsticks! Second runner up is Sportsgirl Lipsticks (they are holy golly pigmented, but only has matte finishes and can be drying). I'd also say Face Of Australia Lip Quenches but their scents really sickens me! :(


3. Least favourite drugstore product?
Not sure if you'd consider this as a 'make-up' product.. Australis 3-in-1 Make-Up Remover wipes? I feel like I'm advocating for how crap their make-up wipes are, but it's true.

If not, I'd say Almay Smart Shade Make-Up... you can find a list of products that I don't like here.


4. Best drugstore bargain?
Big W sometimes have their $5 OFF Max Factor products sales... and that's when I hoard all Mini Nail Polishes available home for........... $0.79 a bottle. Yeap. You read right!


5. Favourite underdog product?
Waa.. I don't know! I really can't think of any! Skip!


6. Overpriced drugstore product?
I think Bourjois, Revlon and L'Oreal is pretty exxy. I think Revlon's foundations are holy golly pricey for drugstore products though... $35-$37 for a bottle of foundation. Thanks, but no thanks.


7. Best drugstore dupes?
I'm not a high-end girl so I have no idea how and what high-end products are like! The only 'high-end' products I own are Benefit's Powda Wowza and MAC's MSFN.
The fewer that I've heard/know of are:
*Revlon ColorStay = MAC Studio Fix Fluid (no surprise)
*Bourjois Blushers = Chanel Blushers (not sure from which range)
*Australis Fresh & flawless Press Powder = MAC Studio Fix Powder


Yeap! That's all! I hope you enjoy the tag and if you do get a chance to complete this tag.. don't forget to link me!

I will busy until next week, so I will see you in about a week's time! Stay in touch with me via Twitter or Facebook Page!

Stay safe everybuddy!

Products I DON'T like!

I've came to realise that I've always talked about my favourite products, but never so much of the products I don't like!

So these products are dusting in my 'unusable items' box and I wanted to overview them briefly before they are altered to a better use [which may not even be make-up related].

Let's start.

*Almay Smart Shade Make-up is number one on the list, I definitely do not recommend to anyone. This is harsh, but.. how can anyone like this product?

Retails for $30, claims to give a beautiful and natural coverage yet offers no coverage at all (not even a sheer/light coverage) and oxidizes to be quite orangey shade on the skin. Nuff said.

Oh.. hang on! It also claims to transform to your skin colour too!

Does it? Yes it does, but you don't pay 30 bucks for that amusing bullsh*t k?

Now that I got my biggest missed product in history out of the way, next!

*Missha The Style Perfect Pen Eyeliner ($8.99)

This was one of my first eyeliners when I've started out with make-up and I have to say that I did like it at first when I bought it home.

What made me grew to dislike it is that, I could only use it for roughly around 10 applications before I needed to replace it. The felt tip would eventually become worn out and not keep in shape which makes it difficult to use.

Adding to that, the colour 'black' isn't black, but rather a blue-ish grey and the formula is not fade-proof, smudge-proof or water-proof.

Hah.. I think I just described the perfect crap eyeliner.

*Napoleon Perdis Long Black Mascara ($35)

This was my first NP mascara and I gotta say... it doesn't lengthen [my lashes], offers very little volume and doesn't hold the curls of my Asian lashes.

What's a mascara like this for? Darken my lashes? Pft. Every other mascaras do that and also volumises and lengthens better.

P.S. They won't be costing a whopping $35 too.

*KleanColor Mascara 101 Washable

This was a tag-a-long with my make-up kit when I studied a make-up course, so I have no idea how much it costs. But this is very similar to the Napoleon Perdis Long Black Mascara (no length, no volume and doesn't hold curls), except it offers a tad more volume when applied.

So I guess if you're looking for a dupe of the Napoleon Perdis Long Black Mascara, you should check this out. *giggles*

*New Eyecurl II

I think I picked this up for about $21? I'm not enitrely sure, but I do find this curler to perform its job well.

What stopped me from using this and gradually abandoned this is its battery usage. It uses AA battery and it uses up the batteries SO quick! I'm not willing to purchase batteries every week for this little thing since batteries are quite expensive here. I might need to get my hands on a Panasonic [heated eyelash curler] or one by Manicare and see how that goes.

One more thing about this is its bulky packaging, though it's not heavy... it's still quite annoying and ugly.

*L.A. Colors Liquid Eyeliner

No idea whether this was a bad one or not, but it is quite clumpy so I never looked at it after trying to use it once. The formula is quite wet and 'runny' so it doesn't dry immediately and I don't digg that.

However, I do find that it's quite water resistant, but in the end, that's useless for its clumpiness.

*Revlon Mineral Lipglaze (~$17?)

Unlike the products mentioned above (basically a miss for anyone).. this product is a matter of personal preference.

This lipgloss doesn't favour me because of the overwhelming coconut scent which is oh-my-god! I hate it! I tried to use the gloss WITH the fragrance, but the gloss is actually quite sticky, feels heavy on my lips and has the tendency to smear.

So overall, I personally dislike this lip gloss.

*Revlon Matte Lipstick in Nude Attitude ($21.95)

I bought this lipstick way back when I first started make-up, because it looked SO gorgeous on xteeener & bubzbeauty! It's actually not that bad., but I still don't like it though.

This shade is much of a peachy/apricot nude which doesn't quite suit me.

Makes me look like a dead fish, BUT I'm not complaining about the shade. The formula is unforgivable for how it accentuates the dryness/flakiness of my lips... and my lips aren't even dry to start off with! I do try to save this lipstick by priming my lips with a lip-balm before application, but it stills bring out as much dryness! Poo!

I find that the only times that this lipstick will work is when my lips are in perfect conditions (not overly moisturized or dry). Till then, it glides on very smoothly! Still makes me look dead though.

At the end of the day, this is more of a miss for me though I know some of you probably digg it. Sorry, but I'm not willing to wait and only use this for everytime my lips are in perfect condition. It's okay though. I have to admit that this is the better miss out of the bunch since I can use it to when I need to fake being sick or in a special inspired make-up look.

Hope you found this post helpful! Your turn to share!

Which products have you considered 'forever a miss'?