a drugstore instagram glow that's cruelty free!

I'm Jess and I'm obsessed with instagram and highlighters, combine the two and you get that instagram glow, but what do you do when your on a budget? I go shopping in my local mall and come across a drugstore brand.
I have always been a fan of
of Designer brands by Db and always get sucked into limited edition holiday makeup, so when Db launched their Christmas stuff I restrained and decided to only buy one thing and that was the highlighting palette, As I said this was a limited edition palette and is sold out online however if your lucky enough duck into your Terry Whites chemist as that is where I found mine and they might still have stock. I paid $15 which I think is fantastic value for the quality and size of this palette.

Designer brands by db are known for doing dupes of higher end brands at a lower price and also being cruelty free. The reason I love all these shades is because its has so many uses, adding it under your foundation, you can create a pretty and healthy glow from within. Layer it on top of a liquid highlighter and you will be glowing to the gods!

You can easily mix and match the different tones of highlight, use them as a bronzer, a blush, even as an eye shadow so many uses in these multi coloured palettes.

 I had high hopes for this palette and was impressed that I wasn't looking like a disco ball when I applied it to my face, and you can add more or have it looking natural depending on what your wanting to achieve, if you want that instagram glow you've got that right in this handy palette. Also the size of this palette will have it lasting for ever! the quality of the powder is finally milled, no powdery kickback and the brush that it came with is actually surprisingly soft and good value as well.

I have oily combo skin and texture on my skin as well so I was happy with the way that this highlighter sat on my skin, it didn't add to any issues I had concerns about and didn't settle into any fine lines.  As you can see in these swatches they are highly reflective, non glittery and just stunning shades. I used natural lighting by my window to take these swatches. Very pigmented as this was only one finger swipe.

This is what the highlight looks like in natural lighting on my face, I have fair skin and love all the shades so much, this was the silvery shade and the golden shade mixed together used with a fan brush to apply.

Pros 

the cost is affordable

cruelty free

great quality

good for most skin tones

Cons 

limited edition

Let me know what you think of the instagram highlighting trend and what you use to highlight! don't forget to give us a follow to get more posts! 

Jess

xx

Mash up the berries Australis lipstick colour inject review and lipswatches

Happy Monday all! is there such a thing haha, but to bring a post to the start of the week, I thought I'd do lip swatches of my new favourite shade, by Australis cosmetics. Mash up colour inject lipstick. I managed to pick up this shade and a few other goodies for $4 each at Priceline, and they have really blown me away.  Lipsticks can be brought here on Priceline's website Australis lipsticks link

The formula of the Mash up lipstick is very creamy, opaque and lasts quite a long time on the lips without drying or feathering. They have a very subtle sweet scent but it disappears after a little while. The shade literally sung to me, the purple orchid shade, is a stunning colour on my pale skin but I believe would look amazing on deeper skin tones. I love love, love the shade range, and the fact that you can almost forget you are wearing the lipsticks, because they are actually very nourishing.

 It's a more glossy finish, but not over the top sticky, or moves on the lips and is very hydrating and comfortable to wear. I found the pigment very opaque on the first swipe and I'll be collecting more of these lipsticks. It dries down to a semi gloss finish, which I believe is why it is so long wearing on the lips. Easy to apply, no pulling or tugging, and no cleaning up around the edges unlike liquid matte lipsticks, at least for me anyway!

 This shade is a  fantastic berry shade that I feel you can wear in any season, not just Winter, it adds a healthy pop of colour to the face. Also it matches my purple glasses, so that is another bonus tip for me, accidentally accessorizing.

So if you are after a different but wearable shade, then Mash up could be for you

! it's cruelty free, formula is long lasting and doesn't migrate to half way across your face. The packaging has been revamped from the original sloping top to a now straight tube. I find it travels well, and its secure in the bullet, closes nicely and I'm not worried about it making an awful mess in my bag.

 Price point is excellent for the quality, I believe under $15 and its $13.95 but often in the clearance bins at Priceline for $4 or less, and can be found at Kmart, Priceline, Target, and Coles supermarkets.

Have you tried any of Australis lipsticks before?
if you liked this post share and follow me for more!

hugs
Jess
xx

a day in pictures recap

2016 has been a challenging year, I finished and completed my vce certificate which is my highschool certificate. It might not sound like much but as an adult who has bipolar depression and chronic pain issues, it was a challenge! but I studied part time, and even though it took a few years, I got there, it's now under my belt as an accomplishment, and I move onto the next chapter. I'll be studying certificate in Library and cultural services this year, starting in February.

Things can happen unplanned, but still for a reason, I've started my own pet sitting business! I had a couple of pet sitting gigs over the holidays and found that I loved it, it had interesting up's and downs, but I still loved getting to know the furbabies and the house that I had responsibility over.

 This picture was taken from my friends snapchat because I'm there as a total surprise, I didn't realise I'd made such an impact and I wanted to remember this moment. I'm in the pic next to the baby girl. School friends are important, they help you get through. Find who you are, even as an adult I'm 32 and I'm still finding out who I am.

 Christmas Day was spent with Family and being comfortable as it was a stinking hot day! I made a cute cuddly friend though, Teddy Dog.

 Eating good food, sharing memories with loved ones, and realising what's possible when I put my mind to it, I never thought it could be.

 Bipolar depression still has its moments, I'm still learning, still becoming self aware, but that's the challenge for 2017.

 What are your new years hopes or goals I don't do resolutions. but I hope you all had a fantastic 2016 and enjoyed this recap post.

 Pet sitting is now a new obsession of mine haha, it can take you to some incredible places, I'm loving different opportunities right now.

 Hopefully 2017 is kind and with respect, we end 2016, but I believe that challenges are there for a reason.

hugs and love
Jess xx

Australis fake eye-d limited edition holiday palette

Hi lovelies, today's post is on the new limited edition palette that Australis cosmetics brought out recently, I believe its for the holiday makeup, but I picked up this bad boy, in the 40% off sale last week at Priceline, it was something I wanted as I had seen it on their website and was like, I will break my eye shadow palette spending ban for this! and I did.

I was lucky in the fact that my Priceline store had this in stock at all, I picked up the last one, and was so happy. I took it home hoping it would perform well, and so far I am very happy with all of the 15 shades. The lightest ones in particular are actually great, they show up well on my pale arm!

 I believe the packaging is quite decent,if you have felt the Morphe palettes it feels better quality than that style of packaging. but there is no mirror. You get the names of the eye shadows written on the back. You get 15 different shades ranging from mattes, to shimmers and a couple of foiled eye shadows as well. Also the pigmentation on these shadows are very good, they feel soft and buttery too.

 These swatches are great because one swipe. no primer and all the colours actually show up the way they are meant to. Wearing on the eyes the eye shadows performed very well, didn't crease and lasted on my oily eye lids a good 10 hours, so I was pretty happy about that.The range of shades are also pretty unique for a drugstore palette, Earthy greens, taupes and a few pops of colour.

 Over all I'm rather happy with this palette and can't wait to try it out more! I think the price point of $25 is pretty good, considering the size of the pans and the quality over all. I also love Australis for being cruelty free and an affordable brand here in Australia. They have brought out some interesting things in the last few months.

have you brought this palette?

Jess
xx

Lush soaps Rockstar

Ah Lush, I do adore a good lush soap, sadly I can't use the bathbombs because I don't have a bath in my home *sobs* but I can use soaps and shower gels, yay! So on today's agenda is the Lush Rockstar soap.

 It may look like a pink rock, but that's because its Lush's one and only Rockstar soap! It smells so pretty and sweet, like a candy shop on overload! I love it it's been my go to soap for months, one of the few I'll actually keep repurchasing. Lush describes it as bubblegum, with a touch of Vanilla absolute, I love how its alost a musk lolly scent because that's what it reminds me of. As you guys might know by now, I am a huge sucker for pink, which is funny because when I was younger I loathed the colour! The soap is a very hydrating soap because it contains oils, and currently I am obsessed with oils! I use them on my face, my hair and I recently purchased one specifically for my body as well, you can say I'm a little bit addicted to oils.

 What it contains
Aqua, Propylene Glycol, Rapeseed oil, coconut oil, Sodoium Lauryl sulfates, Sodium Stearate, sodium hydroxide, Fragrance, Titanium Dioxide, Vanilla absolute, Glycerine, Sodium chloride, EDTA, tetrasodium editronate, Methyl Ionone, D&C Red no. 33

So as you can see its not all natural, but most soaps aren't because of the making process that soap is. If you haven't made soap, lets just say you need to be quite careful in the process (I have done a soap making class or two)

But this soap I didn't have any bad skin reactions to, as I have sensitive skin, I have to be careful of certain ingredients like fragrance, but this one I tried out and I had nothing bad to say about it! It perfumes my whole bathroom, and I love that! For an oily soap it lathers well and it doesn't take much product in one go to do so. I tend to cut a bit off and use that a couple of times and the rest keeps fresh, for longer.

 How to use it
I cut off a bit, and use it directly onto the skin, after the skin is moist (sorry I hate this word) rub gently, into a lather, rinse off. It leaves the skin highly perfumed for a little while after, and very moisturised.

Pro 
I adore the scent, its not over powering but it does linger, and the soap is moisturising

Con 
it does contain sulphate and fragrance which you might not like to use

you can purchase the soap for your soaping pleasure, at lush for $6.95 per 100gram


Have you tried this soap?
what others are your favourites that I should try?

Jess
xx

w7 Naughty Nine eye shadow palettes Bangkok nights and Midsummer Nights review

Raise your hand if your a fellow eye shadow hoarder!

Hello all, I'm Jess, and I'm an eye shadow palette addict, ok well a makeup addict in general, however my obsession has been for years, collecting eye shadow palettes, drugstore and highend, I want them all. But my bank account tells me I sadly can't have them all *sobs* but today I wanted to delve into two eye shadow palettes that are so affordable and that have really blown me away, they look great in any makeup collection/flatlay and I think I need to collect all of them, best of all they only cost $5 so I can! 

 W7 cosmetics have really upped their game in my opinion, recently I have been enjoying the w7 photoshoot foundation to the point I've nearly finished the bottle, which basically never happens! and I picked up two eye shadow palettes that caught my eye. The naughty nine palettes, which I believe are a dupe for the mac eye shadow 9 pan palettes, I can't say for sure as I don't own them but I have seen pictures and swatches. I have two palettes, I picked up Midsummer nights which is trending on so many levels because of all the warm toned palettes that are coming out right now, and I was literally blown away by the pigment, these swatches are one swipe, no primer, and in natural window lighting. I have worn them both on my eyes and they wear very well, no creasing and no fading, also very pigmented on the lids.

 So if you are wanting to delve into an affordable warm toned palette but can't afford the ones such as Huda beauty Rose gold addition then this one is for you. The packaging is a standard cheapish plastic casing but it is sturdy enough for travel, I took the midsummer nights one when I wen't house sitting and it travelled well in my makeup case. Would also be suitable for taking to work/school or as needed for touch ups.

 I actually fell in love with Bangkok nights purely on the taupe purples and mattes in this eye shadow palette. Similar shades I have seen in the Tarte in bloom palette when I was last in Sephora, and a heck if a lot cheaper.  I love in both palettes that you get a range of finishes, mattes, shimmers and glitters. The Bangkok nights has amazing shades ranging from purples to dusty pinks and plums so great to play around with and create so many looks

 I'm going to be purchasing more in this range, I think there's two more to collect so I may as well get them all I am intrigued in the Arabian nights palette as its mostly all earthy tones I believe, but these two spoke to me the most. I will be adding these palettes to my daily makeup bag, and with the size of the eye shadow pans themselves I think its really good value for the price.

Have you tried any of these at all? let me know! I highly suggest you go now to get them!

Jess
xx

Is the new Bath and body works worth it? shopping day in pictures and a vlog!

Hello all! I thought I would share with you my experience, checking out the new Chadstone shopping centre which reopened for the first time as of last week. I wen't with my friend Kiera and we had so much fun! Also at the end of it I will post my vlog about it so you can watch it, if you would like to! Be warned these are snapchat photos but they are still fun and capture the great time we had at the new complex. We checked out the new Sephora and Bath and body works, the Bath and Body works are so over priced in store, in our opinion, if you splurge on that then go you! but we still had lots of fun and laughs.

add me on snapchat jessellin6
It started out as a beautiful sunny day but not too warm which was lovely! travelling there by bus however took for ages and was not as lovely but we still entertained ourselves and had a good time.

 Travelling to Chadstone took forever but I loved seeing the Kfashion that was on the bus it was so cool.

Chadstone new section looks amazing!

 and interesting new fashion ugg heels!

 Of course you need a screaming reindeer from Daiso this cracked us up so much!

 The food we had was from Muffin break and it was actually really yummy and very fresh as well so check out Muffin break.

and if you have made it this far why not follow me? subscribe to my channel to if you can!

my chadstone shopping vog





let me know if you check out the vlog! where have you been shopping lately?

Jess
xx