Ralo Lipgloss Review

Now I know why this time of year is called silly season - life has just been so hectic with work and personal stuff that I don't know what to do with myself! I have been meaning to get around to this review for ages but just haven't found the time :(

I was very lucky to be chosen as a Ralo Ambassador and this month was given a lipgloss to try out. When I got to the store to choose one, there were so many awesome colours to choose from that I struggled to pick just one! Eventually I decided on a nude hue with pink holographics in it. It is shade 6.

Retails R32.50

The first thing I noticed was the yummy fragrance - it smells chocolately and really good! The applicator brush is the usual spongey one and application is very easy. The consistency is not too thick yet not too runny, and it doesn't leave your lips feeling too sticky like some other lipglosses do.

I liked the colour, but it is quite subtle. If you are wanting a bold look then go for a darker colour, but I like to stick to nudes for lips so it's great for me!

It doesn't last forever, especially if you are eating and drinking, but it doesn't claim to be a longlasting gloss so that doesn't matter to me.

Here is what it looks like on:

I really liked this product for what it is, even though I am not much of a lipgloss girl (with the copious amounts if tea I drink in a day, I end up eating more lipgloss than necessary!)

Have you guys tried any Ralo cosmetics out? Which of their products do you like best?

Top 6 beauty products on a budget

I cannot resist a beauty steal, so when I see something that is budget-friendly, I have to get it to test it out! Here are my top beauty products that are under R150 - for all six!

Natur Vital Shampoo - R45 at Dischem

When I tried to ombre my hair at home and it turned out yellow, I panicked. I thought I would have to go to a salon to buy some very expensive purple shampoo to take the yellow out, so imagine my delight when I found this awesome shampoo at Dischem for just 45 bucks! Don't be fooled by the old folks on the bottle - this shampoo is not just for grey hair, is great to use on blonde hair to take the yellow hues out. It is the usual vibrant violet colour that makes you stop and think twice about putting it on your hair, and at just R45 a bottle, it is a steal!

Hair band - two for R5 at Vibes

For legal reasons, I don't feel comfortable in naming the product that this is a dupe for, but for those of you who don't know what this weird, telephone-cord looking hair band is, it is designed to tie your hair up without leaving that horrible line when you take it out. It is great for gym and hot days where you want to tie your hair up, but don't want it to look bad when you put it back down again. The original sells for about R80 for two. I found this at Vibes for R5 for two. Now I am not sure how many Vibes stores there are around South Africa, I just know that there is one in Northgate :)

Makeup sponge - R27 at Dischem

There are so many of these latex-free makeup sponges, and I really objected to spending more than R100 on something that I didn't know if it was worth it. I saw Dischem-brand ones and for the price, reckoned that it was worth a shot. I absolutely LOVE it! Being latex-free, it doesn't soak up the foundation like a normal sponge, and the shape means that you can ensure that you have complete coverage, even in the corners of your eyes and nose. It blends the foundation so well so you don't have a tell-tale line where your skin and foundation meet. Use it damp for a more natural coverage, or dry for fuller coverage. At R27 you can't go wrong!

Sinful Colours Nail polish - R30 from Clicks

I had never heard of this brand before, but they had such a great selection of colours I decided to give them a go. After 5 days of wear with no chips and no top coat I was more than impressed! I went and bought a couple other colours from the range. They had normal polish, and then this range that is silk and satin - it has more of a matt finish without a top coat, but if you don't like that then with a top coat it looks nice and shiny. I haven't tested the staying power of the normal polish, but for R30 it is worth a go!

Nail polish remover with pump - R20 from Vibes

Another product from Vibes! I had been wanting a nail polish remover with a pump action to prevent spills (I am very clumsy!) so when I saw this for R20 I had to have it! The nail polish inside is not that great, so I just emptied it and poured in my usual nail polish remover. Works a dream!

Henna lipstick - R10 from Dischem

I remember my gran having a couple of these when I was younger. They come in all different colours (green, blue, yellow, red, purple, pink) and I used to be amazed at how you would put on a green lipstick, yet the colour that appeared was pink! While doing my rounds I saw this and had to buy it for old time's sake :) I must say that I am so impressed with this lipstick! Not only is the colour a lovely dark pink shade, but the lipstick is so moisturising (it feels more like a lip balm) and because it stains your lips, the colour doesn't budge. I have seen these at other shops as well (eg Beauty Value) and they are always very affordable. This is an absolute must-have for me now!


Can you believe it, less than R150 for all these great products?! Do you have any steals that you can't live without? I would love to hear what else is out there!

Tomorrow I am going for a full day pamper session at Mangwanani spa so I will be blogging about that next week. So much of excite!

New Essence Products

A while ago I saw that Essence are bringing out a huge selection of exciting new products, and I have been eagerly awaiting them launching at my local Clicks and Dischem branches. They are supposed to have been available from 22 September, but I am yet to find anything yet :(

Sadly they are still not out, but here is my wish list of items that I will be getting as soon as they are out!

LIPS

In the lip category I want to try out the effect lipglosses - they have flakes, metallics, holographics and ultimate shimmer effects, and with 8 new shades to try out, there is plenty to get excited about!

My favourite one out of the bunch has to be shade 05 Pink Galaxy. The light pink is gorgeous and it seems to have shimmery holographic glitters that sparkle!

05 Pink Galaxy

EYES

In the Eyes category, there are quite a few things I would love to try out - the first being the Lash Princess Volume Mascara.

Lash Princess Volume Mascara

The wand is "cobra" shaped which is supposed to aid in ensuring that each lash is coated well. First thing that got me was the name - anything "princessy" suits me perfectly! Secondly, the bottle design is gorgeous. Thirdly, I have read some great reviews from overseas. This is probably number one on my wishlist!

I am also excited to try the new effect eyeshadows. They come in tubes and have metallic, holographic or sparkling effects. They claim to be long-lasting, non-sticky and have great coverage, and I would love to put them to the test in this hot South African summer! It is difficult to choose just one, but my favourite shade is 02 Brazil's Sunset, which narrowly beat 06 UK's Stonehenge and 03 Indian's Lifestyle.

02 Brazil's Sunset

There is also a new quattro eyeshadow palette that I love called 16 Down To Earth. I think the colours are well suited to blue eyes.

16 Down To Earth

FACE

On the Face front, there are some blushes and highlighter powders that I am itching to get my hands on. They are both cream to powder, and seem so lovely! Here are my two faves:

10 Sweet As A Peach and 10 Look On The Bright Side

NAILS

Ok so this section is going to be pretty long - there are so many cool nail products that I NEED so I will try be brief with my descriptions!

First up are the special effect polishes. I am a huge fan of the current ones, and the new ones are looking pretty awesome as well. My top two are 20 Hidden Garden and 15 Underwater Love. Hidden Garden has some big glitters in it, and Underwater Love is my favourite teal colour.

15 Underwater Love and 20 Hidden Garden

They also have new colours in the Colour & Go range, my top two are special finishes - satin and glittery. The satin finish colour that I like best is 189 New York City Call, and the other new shade I like is 190 Kiss Me, Freddy. I really like satin finishes, and this colour is such a great nude. I also love glitter, and the green is a great fresh mint colour.

189 New York City Call and 190 Kiss me, Freddy

Next comes the nail art products! There are so many exciting things that I want to try - from foils to heat-sensitive nail stickers to glow in the dark nails, my mind is swimming with all the cool effects I can do! If I had to choose only one though, I would have to go with the foils. I have seen this trend and absolutely love it! You can buy the foils and transfer solution to go with it. They have three different foil packs, but my heart is set on the graffiti look one.

And that is the end of my Essence new arrivals wishlist - what do you think? Which products are you wanting to try out? Let me know what you would like me to review and I will do my best to get my hands on them!

Catrice Camouflage Cream Review

After running out of my usual concealer, and reading some good reviews on the Catrice Camouflage Cream, I decided to give it a go.

I am terrible at choosing the correct shade and after years of photos of me looking like a ghost with a super white face, now I am terrified to just "go with the lightest shade" which used to be my motto, and I chose the middle shade (020 Light Beige).

Now I'm not saying that it is way too dark for me, but it has more yellow undertones, where my skin has more pink undertones. That being said, once my face is all made up it doesn't look too out of place!

The Catrice Camouflage Cream (nice alliteration!) comes in a black 3 gram plastic tub with a clear lid. The only negative I would say about the tub is that when the product runs low, it gets a bit difficult to get it out and I have to use a cotton bud, but to be honest that is the case with all beauty products that come in a tub so no biggie there.

Here is a swatch of what it looks like on my freckly arm. You can see how the yellow undertones don't really match my skin tone, but it covers the freckles like a boss!

But swatches on arms aren't that great because the cream is meant to be on the face, so I took some shots of how it works on moles and other scary face blemishes. I don't know why I didn't use it on the very visible pimples on my cheek in the first two photos, but it made my huge mole almost invisible! And look at the great job it did on the burst blood vessel on my chin :)

And here is my full face with just the concealer vs concealer and foundation. You can see the yellowish tones that don't quite match in the first photo, but with foundation over it looks great.

The cream is quite thick in consistency, yet I don't find that it gets cakey under the eyes like some other concealers do. I love to use it as a base for eyeshadow as well and find that it keeps things where they should be there. I have had some issues with it coming off a bit if I put it on under foundation, so now I apply it over my foundation and it works quite well that way.

I love the coverage of the concealer and find that it is quite effective in hiding all kinds of imperfections (moles, freckles, pimples, burst blood vessels) but I don't think that this colour is right for me, however I think that the lighter shade would be too light. Nevertheless I still use it everyday!

Do you also have trouble in finding the perfect shade for you skin tone? Please let me know if you have any tips! Also let me know if you have used Catrice's Camouflage Cream and what you think of it :)

Halloween Wrap-up and Vaseline Eyelash Challenge Week 3

Woah, where are the brakes on this thing?! Have 2 weeks gone past without a single post? Balancing work, personal life and blogging is hard work!

I guess we missed Week 2's update on the Vaseline Challenge, but with Halloween on Friday last week and having to prepare two parties for that, I barely had enough time to breathe let alone blog. You didn't really miss much with week 2 - lashes pretty much looked the same as they did before, and as they do now. I am starting to feel a bit despondent, but I did promise to do it for 4 weeks so will persevere!

Here is a side-by-side up to now:

I'm not really seeing much of a difference, but I think that moisturising my lashes is a good thing so will probably carry on with it after the challenge, but not every day.

Now, back to HALLOWEEN! Traditionally this has not been a holiday/event that was properly celebrated in South Africa, but I have always loved it and insist on throwing a party every year. I love how now the shops are stocking more and more items - makes it so much easier to decorate now.

This year my Halloween party was American Horror Story themed. We have a monthly themed dinner club with two other couples, so to keep things smaller (and easier on the budget!) I decided to have a dinner party with just a few of us instead of a big thing like I did last year. We chose American Horror Story as a theme, not really based off the TV series (even though I am obsessed with it and Twisty is my homeboy) but rather so that we could serve more "traditional" American foods.

I used my party contact lenses - see this post of mine for more details - and dressed up as a skeleton/zombie/cursed bride thingie. I don't really have a label for what I wore except that it was freaky as hell. I couldn't look in the mirror without creeping myself out!

Those contacts look awesome, huh? The only difficult thing with them is that the hole for the pupil is small, and my pupils are normally quite big, especially at night with the low lighting, so my peripheral vision was not that great. I could see a white haze around everything from the contacts, but I got used to it, and the effect was worth it :)

The makeup was ridiculously easy. I didn't have time for complicated makeup because I was busy with decorating and cooking, and this look took about 10 minutes, if that. I used some white face cream from a party shop all over my face and set it with baby powder. Next I put black eyeshadow all over my eyelid and under my eye, and also used the black eyeshadow under my cheek bones. Then I used black eyeliner to draw the stitches on my mouth and the dots above my eyebrows. Simple yet effective! For my outifit I wore black netting as a veil, a black fascinator hat thingie, a black and white wig (not pictured), a black dress with a black net skirt under, black stockings with ladders and a bone necklace.

I did a table of snacks and punch inside, and then we served dinner outside. I completely forgot to take photos of our dinner, but managed to snap a few shots of the snack table before the guests arrived!

I served:

• marshmallow mice in a plastic skull
• "bloodied scabs" - tomato Fritos and Big Corn Bites
• "swamp water punch" - powdered ice tea mix served in a bucket
• syringes with vodka to add to the punch served on a platter with some severed fingers

Then I also added a sign that I put in the bathroom - I found this cute little urinal stand (no clue what it was originally for!) at a charity shop and put it on top of the cistern with the sign.

The best decor prop for me, although I don't have a good photo of it, was this Grim Reaper on a stand that's face lights up and makes a creepy moaning noise with disturbing music. Even without the lights and music this guy was scary. He stands taller than me and I had put him in the passage next to the bathroom. I set him up early in the afternoon and he must have spooked me about 30 times while I was setting everything up. Every time I walked past the passage he would catch my eye and I would look up and see him and get a fright, even though I knew he was there! Eventually I stuck him in the bathroom, but then he still scared me each time I walked down the passage when I caught a glimpse of him there! Needless to say, as soon as everyone left he was the first thing to be taken down and put away! I tried to take a photo of him with the face lit up, but it didn't come out too great:

So that is that for my Halloween, how was yours? Did you do anything exciting or was it just another Friday for you? I loved it so much I think I just might start planning next year's soon...

Sorry for not doing posts lately - I promise, come hell or high water, that there will be another post tomorrow!

Until then...