What's in my Bag? Part 2

So here it is! Part 2 of the What's in my bag post.

1. My phone. I currently have the iPhone 4 and I really like it. The battery lasts me at least a full day but I do tend to charge it every night. I haven't yet dropped it but it seems durable enough (I've had it for nearly a year and a half and have never dropped it! Seriously skilled). As long as it keeps working I don't think I'll be upgrading anytime soon.

2. My keys. I'm one of those people who have a million things on their keys! I've got my house key, car key, another key that I'm not entirely sure what it's for, and then just a bunch of random key rings I've picked up on my travels. And yes, that is the deathly hallows symbol from Harry Potter, well spotted.

3. Sunglasses. I've never owned an expensive pair of sunglasses because I get bored of them so quickly. I tend to just buy $20 or $30 pairs from shops such as Forever New, Sportsgirl, Dotti etc.. This pair I currently have is super scratched so I definitely need to pick up a new pair. Not entirely sure, but I think this pair is from Sportsgirl.

4. Lip balm. This is a must for me. If I don't have my lip balm on me when I need it I get really stressed. 

5. Concealer. Just in case any touch ups are needed throughout the day. I use Maybelline Fit Me Concealer at the moment. I've written a blog review on it if you want to go check it out. 

6. Eyeliner. Again, just incase I need to touchup the eyeliner on my waterline.

7. My purse. I have a Jimmy Choo purse that my Dad bought for me when he went on holiday somewhere (It slips my mind). It's starting to get a bit ratty though, I think I've probably had it for nearly three years so it might be time for an upgrade! 

8. Pencil Case. This is only in my bag when I'm going to uni for the day. Can't write notes without pens and highlighters!

9. A small packet of tissues. In Australia, we are heading in to the colder months of the year where I always tend to have a sniffly nose....Winter is coming (anyone get this reference?). 

10. Headphones. These are kind of just shoved in a side pocket for when I'm catching public transport or if I'm at uni studying and there is lots of noise around me - music helps me zone out and focus on what I'm studying.

11. Bottle of water. This is an absolute must. Seriously, you don't want to be around me if I'm thirsty and I don't have water! Therefore, I carry a bottle around everywhere! 

12. Gum/Mentos. Something to chew on when I get bored or hungry :P

13. Hair ties and bobby pins. Just for those situations when you need to tie up your hair. 

14. Camera: Sony FX-100. I always carry my camera around with me just incase inspiration strikes and I need to photograph something. It comes in handy a lot of the time! It's quite a small light camera which makes it easy to fit in my bag. 

15. Laptop (only if needed): MacBook Air 13". I only take this if I'm going in to uni for a couple of hours and I need it to take notes on. Otherwise I leave it out because it just makes my bag way to heavy. I'm thinking about investing in an iPad mini so I can carry that around instead. 

So that's it. It seems like a lot when I write it all out but they're all small things that don't weigh much or take up much room. Let me know if you liked this type of post! If you have made your own 'What's in my Bag' blog post then let me know in the comment section below and I will come and check it out :) Have a great day. 

xoxoxo

Em

Cleo getting in the way!

What's in my Bag? Part 1

So I thought I would mix it up a bit today from the usual beauty product reviews and show you all what is currently in my bag. I love reading blogs on this and watching peoples youtube videos - not entirely sure why but its a strange fascination. 

I recently bought a new bag and I'm super excited about it! Seriously, I have never 100% loved a bag before, but I fell for this one hard! It was one of those purchases that as soon as I saw it sitting there I had to have it - it was calling out to me :P It's from an Australian company called Forever New, I think they are expanding internationally so look out for them. They tend to have really girly, feminine clothing and their accessories are amaze! 

15" Laptop Bag

Simple but stunning

So here it is, the bag that I am head over heals in love with. Yes I know its huge. It's actually classified as a 15" laptop bag, so it has a soft middle pocket where I can carry my laptop. I think what drew me in is the fact that it has so many compartments. I'm a self proclaimed organisation freak - I have a serious problem when it comes to organisation. I really dislike bags where everything is just shoved in and then it takes an hour to find your keys or your phone. With this bag, I can have different groups of things in each section! 

My laptop fits in the middle zipped pocket

Where I keep my everyday things

Where I keep my uni things

I also love the shape of it. Being a uni student, I am always carrying around notebooks and textbooks which tend to bend easily. With this rectangular shape, nothing bends! Everything fits in easy and is super easy to find when needed. The quilted look on the outside is absolutely gorgeous and just adds to my love! I must admit, I've never owned a cream coloured bag. I always tend to go for blacks or really bright colours, so I am a bit nervous about getting it dirty. I took it to uni today and was guarding it with my life - maybe a tad dramatic but still true.

So what do I carry in this enormous bag?

You'll have to wait for Part 2 which will be posted in a couple of days!

xoxoxo

Em

Quilted print

Look at all those compartments!! :P I'm easily pleased

Liebster Award

Hey there Beauties!

Recently Hermione nominated me for a Liebster award which is really exciting! If you haven't heard of this award before, it's basically an award for up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. I'm so appreciative of receiving this acknowledgement because it shows people are actually seeing and liking this blog which means so much to me. So the rules are:

1. Each nominee should answer the 11 questions given by the tagger.

2. Choose 11 bloggers with under 200 followers to pass the award to and link them in your post.

3. Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.

4. Go to their page and tell them about their nomination

5. No tag backs!

So lets get into the questions!

1. What's your middle name and do you like it?

My middle name is Rachael and I really like it. Sometimes I use it as well as my first name: Emily Rachael :)

2. F,Marry, Kill; Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas? 
Haha really? Ok, I would kill (or maybe just brutally harm) Kevin Jonas for making that stupid reality show with his wife, F Nick and marry Joe. No particular reason, just what I would do if I was ever in this likely situation.

3. Myspace or Bebo?

Myspace, although I haven't used either in years!

4. Would you rather live in England or Hawaii.?

ENGLAND!!! I'm very much a winter girl, I love to snuggle up in warm clothes and absolutely love when it's raining. I say this now but I would probably get sick of the weather after a couple of weeks!

5. You can only choose one for the rest of your life, Burger King or Mcdonalds?

I don't really eat fast food! We actually don't get Burger King in Australia so I would have to go for McDonalds.

6. Do you drive? And if so, how many attempts did it take to pass your test and how many minors did you receive, if no, are you learning/planning to learn?

Yes I drive. I managed to pass my test the first time which I wasn't expecting because I was soooo nervous. 

7. Rain or shine?

Rain, always rain!

8. School or College?

I think college (University in Australia). I just find I have a lot more freedom than I did whilst at school. I also think people are a lot more grown up at uni - kids at school can be really mean!

9. How many siblings do you have?

I have one older brother who is currently 23.

10. Can you play any instruments?

I played the flute and the violin whilst at school, but don't remember much of either which I kind of regret now, but at the time I really didn't enjoy learning them.

11. Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Ok, just to be clear I absolutely hate these movies! I think the books are amazing, but the movies were just horrible. If I had to choose a team from the books' descriptions, I would go for team Jacob. 

Ok so those are the answers to the questions Hermione gave me. 

The 10 questions I want to tag are:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go?

2. What is the last movie that you saw at the cinema? Did you like it?

3. What's your favourite song at the moment?

4. Have you ever met any celebrities? Who? If not, who would you most want to meet?

5. What is your biggest fear?

6. What was the last book you read? Did you enjoy it?

7. What is your favourite beauty / skincare brand?

8. What is you favourite board game? Why?

9. Can you speak a second language? If not, what language would you most like to learn?

10. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

11. What is the one thing you are most proud of?

So those are my 11 question that I tag to the following people:

1. Kate Squire at http://fantasticelements.blogspot.com

2. Crystal DivaLevy at http://nopainnobeauty.blogspot.ca/

3. Chloe Ridout at http://chloeridout.blogspot.com

4. Cait Scott at http://littlemrsbow.blogspot.com

5. Hayley at http://teapartybeauty.blogspot.com

6. Gemma Duncan at http://gemholio.blogspot.com

7. Amelia and Stephanie at http://abeautypiece.blogspot.com

8. Everything Beauty at http://www.ceverythingbeauty.com/

9. Hayley Shorney at http://madhattersnailparty.blogspot.co.uk/

10. Maddi Gale at http://dolcebeautyx.blogspot.com

11. Denzen C at http://aglimmerofme.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading, I hope it was interesting!

xoxoxo

Em

Nails of the Day!

Hey there Beauties!

If you've seen my mini haul blog, you will recognise the two Sally Hansen Hard as Nail Xtreme wear nail colours in 'Invisible' (100) and 'Crushed' (290) shown below.

Crushed is a beautiful blood orange / copper colour that has a slight shimmer to it. Over the top I have just added a Chi Chi gold glitter nail polish (just on the bottom parts of my nails). I actually bought this polish ages ago but never really used it - however it looks amazing over the top of bright colours. I'm not too sure what the colour is called because I got it in a pack with some others and so it doesn't have the individual name on it, but its basically just clear nail polish with relatively big bits of gold glitter. I really like this colour combination but the pictures below don't do the colour any justice. It is a lot more of a copper colour than orange (like in the bottom picture). 

I managed to pick up the Sally Hansen colours up for $3.50 each on sale which I was really impressed with (I think they were half price). The gold glitter came in a pack of 8 Chi Chi nail colours and cost me around $20.00.

Under bright lights

Indoors

Natural Light

xoxoxo

Em

Mini Beauty and Skincare Haul

One of my favourite places to buy makeup and skincare products recently had a sale on, so I bought a few things and thought I would share them with all of you! So here they are:

1. Scandaleyes Mascara
I usually buy the same mascara every time I need a new one which is my favourite L'Oreal Paris Million Lashes, but I saw this particular one for $10.00 and I thought I would give it a go. I originally went to buy the Scandaleyes Lycra Flex Mascara (the bright green one) but for some reason changed my mind and went for the Scandaleyes show off mascara (bright purple). I'm not entirely sure why I changed my mine, I think the bright purple colour had something to do with it. I've only used it once so far, but it seems to be a really great product. It lengthened my lashes, didn't clump up - evenly spaced my lashes and didn't smudge all day. I'll have to use it a few more times to decide if it's my new favourite but I'll keep you all updated.

2. St Ives face scrub
I have needed a new scrub for a while now and I get a little overwhelmed when I see them all lined up in the shop. So I decided to do some research before going in and decide which brand and what type I wanted. I ended up finding a brand called St Ives. On the back of the bottle it says that it is Australia's number 1 scrub brand, however this wasn't the reason I chose it. I chose it because it's not tested on animals, which is something that means a lot to me. It smells really good as well, like apricots! I haven't used it yet, but I will write a review up once i have tested it out.

3. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear nail colour in Invisible (100) and Crushed (290)
I needed a new top coat because I used up all of my Natio top and base coat. So I ended up buying a Sally Hansen clear coat - it doesn't actually say that it's a top coat but it is invisible so that's what I'm using it for. I also bought 'Crushed' which is a beautiful orangey-copper colour that has a slight sheen to it. Unfortunately it's one of those nail polishes where you can see the brush strokes after its dried - this is quite noticeable in natural sunlight, but indoors you can't see it. It's one of those nail polishes that I had to buy as soon as I saw it and I wasn't disappointed - the colour looks exactly the same in the bottle as when applied to the nail. Look out for a Nails of the Day blog coming out soon using these polishes.

4. Sally Hansen Diamond Strength No Chip Nail Colour in Princess Cut (310)
This was one of those impulse buys that I kind of regret. It just looks so pretty in the bottle that I had to get it! But the actual product doesn't look that great. I haven't used it yet, but it looks like it is a pink glitter in a very see through pink colour. I think it can only be used over the top of a pink polish, but i'll give it a try and let you all know how it goes.

5. Nivea Lip Butter (Vanilla & Macadamia)
This smells good enough to eat. I seriously want to eat the whole tin of it but that would probably taste really bad. When applied the balm feels like its working which is always a plus. I don't think its the best balm i've ever used, but its definitely the best i've ever smelled. I think i'll buy the caramel one as well just so I can have it in my bag and smell it :P This one cost me $5.69 which I thought was pretty reasonable. I really like that its a wide but flat tin. Others I've used in the past have been smaller and deeper, so when you stick your finger in the balm gets all up in your nails which I find really gross. This Nivea one if great because it has the same amount of product but its very shallow. Definitely recommend this product.

xoxoxo

Em

Real Techniques Stippling Brush

Hi everyone, I just thought I would write a short one today on something I bought last week.

Makeup brushes have never held much interest to me. Personally, if it does the job then I thought it was a good brush. That was until I bought the Real Techniques Stippling Brush. This brush is amazing! It's one of the softest brushes I have ever used and it can be used for multiple things. I personally use it to apply liquid foundation and it works a dream.

I had wanted a new brush to apply foundation for a while and did a bit of research before buying. I think the thing that won me over was that Samantha Chapman (founder of the Real Techniques brush line) had created multiple videos to show you how to use each brush. Along with the multiple youtube videos, It is easy to see why so many people love these brushes! My makeup goes on smoothly and it is very simple to blend in with this brush giving a flawless finish.

Not only is it a fantastic brush, it also looks great! Compared to my other brushes, it stands out and makes me want to buy the whole set of them (which I'm seriously considering). The only flaw is that they are a lot more expensive in Australia than everywhere else! This stippling brush cost me $22.95 AUD and in USA they are about $10.00 (or so i've been told). So I might have to hold out till I know someone going over there!

Overall I highly recommend this brush and will definitely be buying a few more in the future. What are your favourite brands of brushes to use? Let me know in the comment section below. Have a great day!

xoxoxo
Em

USA - (Go have a look for yourself: http://realtechniques.com/)
AUS - (http://www.realtechniques.com.au/) They are also available at priceline!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Polishes

Recently I have been trying out different styles and techniques with my nail polishes and I thought I would share some of them with you. Today's look is a vibrant blue nail polish with glitter! I actually found the two polishes used for this look at the bottom of my nail polish collection - I think I might have used them both once before then forgot about them. 

I remember the first time I used Sally Hansens' Xtreme 'Blue Me Away' (130) nail polish it looked amazing but it stained my nails really badly. So I thought I would give it another try but this time with a base coat.

Usually I would just use some sort of clear polish - this time I opted for Sally Hansens' Xtreme Wear 'White on' polish just for a bit of a change. It actually made the blue stand out a lot more in my opinion which is great!

As you may or may not know, I love sparkles, always have and always will. Which is why the Sally Hansen's 'Disco Ball' (180) nail polish is amazing. A bottle full of sparkles, what more could you ask for? The formula is clear with small bits of multi coloured glitter. As you can see in the pictures I have added this shade over the top of 'Blue Me Away' (130) and it looks fabulous. It kind of reminds me of the Sally Hansen Gem Crush in 'Bling-tastic' (03) so maybe try that if you just want the one layer of polish. 

Overall these polishes are really good quality. They go on really easily, last a long time in the bottle without going super thick (I must have had Blue Me Away for over a year and its texture still feels brand new). I find that if you don't give them a good shake before use they can be difficult to apply (thicker, stickier) so make sure you shake them up before use. I've only been wearing this since last night, so I'm not sure if they chip easily or not but I'll keep you updated on their success/failure via twitter!

This is one of those creations where I just keep looking at my nails and loving them more and more. Let me know what your favourite colour combination is at the moment. What is your favourite brand of polish to use? 

Hope you all have an amazing day!

xoxoxo

Em

Rimmel London Match Perfection Foundation

In the past I've been one of those girls that tends to stick with higher end foundations. I'm not really sure why, I guess in my mind higher cost = better product. Recently I've found this statement to be completely untrue. I decided that these high end foundations were way too expensive and as a uni student, found that this money could be used elsewhere on more important things. So I decided to purchase a drugstore foundation and after a lot of research narrowed it down to two; Rimmel London Match Perfection and Rimmel London Wake Me Up foundation. As far as I could tell the only major difference between these 2 is that Wake Me Up has a slight shimmer in it and when I saw it in the store, the shimmer was quite noticeable. So inevitably, I purchased the Match Perfection Foundation.

This is an amazing foundation - I would even go as far as to say it's the best i've ever used. I use the colour Light Porcelain and its matches my skin perfectly (as the name suggests). In Australia we get a variety of 12 different colours, so there is one to match the majority of skin tones. The formulation is great - it goes on dewy (so maybe not so great for people with oily skin) but with a pressed powder over the top it looks fantastic. I would say it gives a medium coverage which I love; it's enough to cover my freckles, but doesn't look like I've got a tonne of makeup on. It also contain SPF 18 which is something I always look for in foundations, especially because I have such fair skin - it means I don't have to sunscreen underneath. The product has a slightly fruity smell which didn't really matter to me (i thought it smelt quite nice) but I know other people like no scent at all so keep this in mind when purchasing.

It lasted about 6 hours on my skin, but this can be different for other skin types. The packaging is nice, not too over the top but still good looking. I love that it comes in a pump pack - other foundations I've used don't have a pump and it's a pain in the ..... you know what to get out. In terms of price, I bought it for about $14.00 AUD but that was on sale (it was 40% off all cosmetics so I went a little crazy :P). The high end foundation I was using before this cost me about $60.00 AUD so in comparison I am VERY happy. I would definitely recommend this product and will be buying the Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation in the future so look out for that review! 

Personal Review:

Colour Range: 9 / 10

Packaging: 7 / 10

Product: 8 / 10

Cost: $17.95 AUD

Have you tried either of these foundations? Let me know in the comments below on which one you've tried or which one you like better!

xoxoxoxo

Maybelline New York Fit Me Concealer

This was the first concealer I ever used and I was extremely impressed from the get go. I never really has a need for concealer until I went back to uni a couple of months ago and started getting circles under my eyes from all the late night studying! It's able to cover the dark circles under my eyes and make me look more awake and ready for the day instead of looking half asleep. Admittedly I haven't tested it on redness because I don't tend to get redness, but it is able to cover up blemishes quite well. I can first handedly say that it is able to cover up freckles and make my skin look flawless. 

The colour I am using at the moment is Fair Clair and it fits my skin to perfection (I have very fair skin) and it comes in 5 other colours: light, sand, medium, cafe and deep. The formula is very dewy, but looks fantastic when a pressed powder is put over the top to set it and it lasts all day without falling into creases or turning cakey (is that actually a word? haha). 

It's not too pricey compared to other brands such as Revlon, Max Factor and Almay, however there are cheaper one's out there. The design of the packaging is very simple but I don't hate it - it looks kind of stylish in a way. 

Overall I think this is a great product - the formula is amazing and the cost is not too bad. I would recommend this for anyone with dryer skin as it is quite dewy. Anyone with oily skin might be able to get away with it, but would definitely have to put a powder over the top. Let me know in the comment section what your favourite concealer is!  

Personal Review

Colour Range: 7 / 10

Packaging: 7 / 10

Product: 8 / 10

Cost: $14.95 AUD

xoxoxoxo