WalMart and Lawtons Haul

I've been watching a lot of Parks and Recreation recently, and yesterday I decided to have a 'Treat Yo' Self' day. If you don't watch Parks & Rec, I would highly recommend it.

WalMart and Lawtons Haul

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus - Apple's September 2014 Special Event

By now, I'm sure you've heard something about Apple's September 2014 Special Event; whether it is the iPhone 6 or U2's free album, the news has been plastered all over the Internet. To be honest, I absolutely love Apple's events. My very first laptop was a Mac (a 15" PowerBook G4, to be precise), and since then, I was hooked. I dream of one day being lucky enough to attend, but for now I'll have to stick with watching online. As a tech nerd, I thought I'd share some of the new tech from Apple. I'll try and keep this short(ish) and sweet - I make no promises. I'm definitely geeking out over here!

If you're a tech nerd like me, I would really encourage you to go and watch the Keynote. Whether or not you're an Apple fan, it is always interesting to see the developments of technology. I was in a lecture for my User Interface class today with a fantastic lecturer; he mentioned the unveiling of the Apple Watch, and how some people are already complaining about the interface without even having tried it. In his words? "In my day, you got what you got and you liked it!" I think there is definitely some truth to this - we're completely spoiled by choice, and can sometimes forget about the sheer awesomeness of the advancement of the technology! 

Anyway, enough from me - onto the iPhones!

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Photo sourced from PC Advisor

UPDATE - My Travels!

Hey everyone!

Another quick post today. Just letting you all know that I am currently in the USA, and will be travelling through the USA and Canada for 6 months. I won't be particularly settled until September, so my posts may be fairly sporadic!

If anyone reading this is from the USA/Canada, let me know which stores I should be visiting, or if there are any products I should keep an eye out for.

Thanks for reading! B x

PREVIEW - Essence Party Look Make-Up Box

Today I'm giving you a sneak peak at an Essence product that will be released in mid September and be available until December 2014. This product is Essence's "Party Look Make-Up Box", and it looks absolutely gorgeous! 

The essence “party look make-up box” will be available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Russia, Morocco, Malta, Thailand, Paraguay, Panama, and Chile.

Unfortunately (for me), it won't be released in Australia! I've found out that kosmetik4less.de sell Essence products, and I believe they ship worldwide - I guess you never know!

Here is what Essence has to say about the box:

"The home stretch for beauty! As the year comes to an end, the countdown to the festive season begins. With the limited essence “party look make-up box”, every beauty is sure to turn into a make-up queen from mid September to December 2014. Whether you’re heading to traditional family celebrations or the hippest party in town – an extra-portion of glitter and glamour is always a must!

The practical and stylish “party look make-up box” by essence contains everything needed to make a true beauty’s heart beat faster and looks like a beautifully wrapped gift in its purple-pink-gold packaging.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin!

Hi all! Very quick post today. I have (finally) sorted out Bloglovin for this blog, so please feel free to follow me - I would really appreciate it! All you have to do is click on the link below.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Thanks for reading! B x

REVIEW - Essence All About Matt! Oil Control Make-up Base

I love Priceline. Is it possible to be in love with a store? Clearly it's an unhealthy relationship, but what are you going to do?

Enough about that, the point of this is that every quarter, Priceline rewards 'Sister Card' holders with vouchers which correlate to the amount of money spent in store during that specific quarter. I love receiving my voucher - it means I get around $4 AUD dollars to spend on something I probably wouldn't otherwise have bought. Usually, I have something all lined up that I want, however for this quarter, I couldn't think of anything that I wanted.

As I will be travelling to the USA and Canada in the near future, I am trying to restrain myself from purchasing products, as they will most definitely be cheaper over there. Regardless, I wasn't going to let my voucher go to waste! After walking around the aisles for a good while, I finally decided on a new product on the Essence stand.

SEEN IN STORE - Sally Hansen Miracle Gel & Revlon Colorstay Shadow Links

Hi everyone!

Quick post today - this is sort of in the style of Nouveau Cheap. If you haven't checked out G's blog, go there right now. Well, feel free to stay here and have a look around, but definitely have a read at some point! It is one of my absolute favourite blogs, and is a fantastic mix of items spotted in stores, reviews, sale announcements, et cetera.

SALE UPDATE - Priceline 40% off Skincare

This is just a quick post to update you of a fantastic sale opportunity! It was announced today that Priceline will have 40% off Skincare for the next two days (Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th July, 2014).

I know I'll be going in to stock up on my favourites! Will you be heading into a Priceline near you, and what are you looking for?

B x

REVIEW - Sally Hansen Miracle Gel - 270 Street Flair

I cannot even describe my excitement when I saw this product on the shelf at Priceline - I definitely wasn't expecting it, and I had to have it! I threw caution to the wind and bought it.

I am, of course, talking about the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel line - I've been teased by photos of these polishes all over beauty blogs! I stumbled across these in Priceline on a random shelf, away from the rest of the range. Did I mention that Priceline had 50% off all Sally Hansen products? (You would think I'm some sort of Priceline ambassador - I'm not, I just have an addiction!).

Gadget Update - Raspberry Pi

This is just a quick update on my latest gadget. I recently celebrated a birthday, and one of my wonderful friends surprised me with a Raspberry Pi! I've never been particularly good at coding, so I thought that this would be a good motivator to learn. I have learned some Python in the past, so hopefully it shouldn't take me too long to get back into the swing of things.

The size of the Raspberry Pi

For those of you who don't know what this is, a Raspberry Pi is basically a "low cost, credit-card sized computer... [which is] capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games"(raspberrypi.org)

Impression of Estée Lauder Counter

I've never been a huge fan of beauty counters - I never had much interest in anything 'beauty' related, up until the last few years. In my teenage years, I was lucky enough to be blessed with quite good skin. Sure, I had the occasional pimple, but who didn't? My problems were nothing a bit of concealer couldn't fix.

Within the last year or so, my skin has flared up quite badly. All of a sudden, I had a delightfully spotty face, and even when the pimples cleared up, they left a huge red scar which would take close to a year to fade. I have ridiculously pale skin; I'm really not over-exaggerating. I've been called albino, translucent, and more recently, glow-in-the-dark (I thought it was creative!). In combination with the pale skin, the spots and scarring became ever more noticeable, and I became more and more self-conscious.

I have tried so many different products to attempt to heal the scars, but nothing had worked. On a whim, I stopped by my local Estée Lauder counter to see if they had anything to help. Being a student, I've shied away from more expensive solutions, as they just aren't in my budget.

REVIEW - Essence Metal Glam Gold Topper - 01 Steel-ing the Scene

On a whim, I walked into Priceline - my first mistake. I can't seem to go in there without being tempted to buy something. Usually, I can talk myself out of buying anything but this time, I clearly couldn't!

So here we go - Essence's 'Metal Glam' Trend Edition Gold Topper in 01 - Steeling the Scene. Here is what Essence has to say about it:

"as good as gold and totally hip! the top coat is enriched with golden flakes to complement your glamorous nail design! the particularly high concentration of flakes ensures an ultimate wow-effect."

I applied the topper over Revlon Top Speed in 570 -Vintage - a gorgeous deep rasbperry red shade. Originally, I was going to swatch it over black polish, but I thought I'd go for something a bit different. As it turns out, I love it! I will definitely try the black in the future - leave a comment below if you'd like to see the swatches.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW - Sony Customer Service & Earphone Unboxing

I am obsessed with music - I am constantly listening to something. Whether I'm on the train, studying or just relaxing, chances are I'll have earphones in (much to the annoyance of those around me). As such, I tend to go through headphones at a ridiculous rate.

Eleven months ago, I purchased a set of Sony earphones at Harvey Norman - they weren't overly expensive, but they weren't cheap either. They served me well, up until a couple of weeks ago when the left earphone died.

Thankfully, these days I tend to keep the packaging and receipts for every set of earphones I purchase. I called Sony's Customer Support, explained the situation and gave them all the necessary information. Within five minutes, they told me they were going to send out a new set of earphones! I wish I could remember the name of the man I spoke to, as he was lovely and really helpful.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW - Alfred for Mac OS X

Okay, so this is going to be my first 'technology based' post. Before we get into it, I would just like to say that I am not affiliated with any of the companies I mention, nor am I receiving any benefits - these are all products and software that I personally use, and happen to like. Whew! With that over, let's get into it.

For me, efficiency is key. Like most people, I live a fairly hectic life - balancing commuting, University, a job and attempting to fit in time with my family and friends. Any product which is going to save me even the smallest amount of time, I will probably love.

So now we come to Alfred. I should probably preface this by saying that I am, in fact, a Mac user; I have been since I was about 12. It's not that I dislike Windows or Linux, it is just a personal preference. In related news, I bought a Windows 8-based tablet hybrid, which I'm sure I'll do a review on shortly.

Back to the point (can you tell I get stuck on tangents? If you haven't already - you will!); Alfred is a free productivity application for Mac OS X (10.6+) . According to the team, "Alfred saves you time when you search for files online or on your Mac. Be more productive with hotkeys, keywords and file actions at your fingertips."

REVIEW - Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant 300 - Vio-last

This would have to be one of my favourite polishes – it is just one that I seem to keep coming back to over and over again. This is the only Covergirl nail polish I own, which comes from the Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss collection.

According to Covergirl, you won't need a topcoat with these shades - here's what they had to say about the range:

"Dare to go topless with our new nail polish formula that combines a base coat, high gloss color, and a chip-resistant top coat in one simple step."

Covergirl Outlast Stay Brilliant – 300 vio-last is a gorgeous violet crème, which applies like a dream. You could easily get away with one coat, but I usually use two for good measure. It is also so glossy that it doesn’t really need a top coat; of course, that isn’t going to stop me from using one anyway! I can’t help it - I just love the way my nails look with that little bit of extra gloss. It does also tend to give your manicure that little bit of extra staying power.