Pretty in Pink

Pink has always been my favourite colour - FACT! Here are a few of my current pink obsessions.

Vintage Pink Bobble Earings

These are super Golden Girls, right? They give every outfit feel like a poolside Miami cocktail hour vibe. I think I picked them up at an Op Shop in Melbourne a few years ago, how could you not love them?

Yves Saint Laurent Reading Glasses

My very serious and smart reading glasses, wearing these makes me feel like *Bubble. You know when you see 'Art Mums' wearing brightly framed glasses and big jewelry banging around the supermarket? Well I fear that I have already become an 'Art Mum' at 29 without even having a child. Also when I got the lenses for these fitted at Spec Savers the girl called every member of staff working over to laugh at my glasses and said 'Are you actually going to wear these?' YES!

*Bubble = Edies Assitant in Ab Fab, duh!

YSL 6263 Eye Glasses $162.95 available from www.smartbuyglasses.com.au

CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipstick in 325 Spellbound

Taylor Swift vows that her signature red lip is CoverGirl's Lip Perfection Lipstick in 'Hot Passion'....So I immediately tried every Priceline till I found 'Hot Passion' in stock, it wasn't for me....way too much orange and washed out my skin. On the same shopping excursion I picked up 'Spellbound' it is a berry-magenta-bomb! If MAC's 'Girl about town' and 'Rebel' had a baby it would be 'Spellbound'. The finish of the Lip Perfection's is a Satin but don't be fooled these babes have some amazing lasting power, you will need minimal re-application throughout the day/night and will need a makeup wipe for removal. 'Spellbound' is my new favourite pink and hasn't left my makeup bag since we met. We are totally going steady.

CoverGirl Lip Perfection Lipstick $14.95 available from www.priceline.com.au

Real Techniques Stippling Brush & Blush Brush

Power cheek duo! The Stippling Brush for cream blusher applies the most perfectly controlled amount of product to your cheeks, then with dabbing and circular motions blends the colour into your skin leaving flushed natural look. The Blush Brush for powder blush, swirling only the brush tip into your blush pan means that when applying colour to the cheeks it is blended by the outter clean brush hairs instantly and these brushes is super soft like a bunnykins tail  - 100% acryllic! Eeewwww real hair in brushes makes me want to gag.

Stippling Brush and Blush Brush are $22.99 available from www.priceline.com.au

Australis Nail Polish in Glitter Strkes Back

Excuse you Australis whilst you just bring out some of the most incredible glitter nail polish ever! Pink, purple, orange and gold! Wow this is really screaming Bollywood too me but at the same time very appropriate for an everyday glitter nail when applied over a nude. To achieve even glitter coverage apply thin coats and allow dry time between each layer.

Australis Nail Polish $7.95each available from www.priceline.com.au

Have you tried any of this Pink Pretties?

xxx Nella

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Modern Beauté Icon: Roisin Murphy

Irish born Roisin Murphy singer once part of Moloko but now solo making my favourite dance floor jams. Roisin is a natural risk taker in all senses, she far prefers to be bright interesting and stand out rather than to run with the beige pack fronted by their vanilla leader Olivia Paleremo. 

Roisin has been out of the spotlight for a little while taking time out to have babies in the Irish county side, she is back about to release a new album next year and I am super excited to be seeing more of Roisin in the press lately and am also dying to dance around to her new songs.

Roisin favours strong experimental fashion so her makeup is usually complimented with a defined natural look nothing too crazy and clashing. Her eyes are always lined on the upper lashline with a brown liner which is great if you have blue eyes because it makes them pop without looking too harsh like black can sometimes do. Nars Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in 'Via Appia' $38.00 available from www.meccacosmetica.com.au is a beautiful burnish-brown it glides on easily and blends out without too much hassle.

Roisin is more inclined to favour a blended rosey-caramel eye rather than a winged liner, much more of a high glam 70's vibe - which I am so into.  The image in the top left is probably the most dramatic I have ever seen Roisin's makeup to achieve the intense build of colour try a dry-to-wet eyeshadow Yves Saint Laurent Pure Chromatics Wet and Dry Eyeshadow Palette in Number 7 $66.30 available from www.feelunique.com has heavenly tones for blondes. Using a few drops of water the shadows can become liners or used on their on can be blended out to create a beautiful wash of colour over your lids.

The only other beauty must for Roisin is a peachy blush, with such a soft ivory skin tone (pale, very pale - its ok so am I) it can make you look a little sallow if you don't pop a bit of blush onto the apples of your cheeks. Peach is the perfect subtle colour for porcelain babes, I adore Illamasqua Blusher in 'Sophie' $30.60 available from Illamasqua counters at Myer and www.asos.com subtle enough to make you look like you may not even be wearing blush, but just enough to give your face some depth.

Roisin is truly a Modern Beauté Icon, she is not afraid to be different and have fun with a look and most importantly she uses humour in her style which is so refreshing. Every time I feel like I am playing it too safe I try and say to myself 'what would Roisin do?'

Please comment with any of your favorite Modern Beauté Icons

xxx Nella

Just Another Manicure Monday : Bright Tips

China Glaze 'Nude' $11.40 + Fine Paint Brush + Revlon 'Knock out' $13.60+ Rimmel 'Green with Envy' $4.50 + OPI 'Mod About You' $14.60 +  Revlon 'Royal' $13.60 + Yves Saint Laurent 'Fuchsia Neo- Classic' $35.00

Contrast or bright tips are a nail trend which I have been desperate to perfect for a while, trying over and over again to do the tip using the brush directly from the bottle. It looked horrendous! WHAT A MESS! Then I picked up a few fine point paint brushes from the bargin store and since then my bright tips have been effortlessly neat and sassy!


-Apply your base coat a nude or lighter colour is best
-Map out your tip with a small about of polish on the paint brush
-Then go back in with a thicker application of polish

Yves Saint Laurent: Glossy Stains

Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains $38.25 18 Colours Available

OBSESSION ALERT! YSL's new Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains will be coming with me everywhere I go from now on. Lip glosses have taken a back seat in the makeup routines of my 20's but there was a time around 2003 when I was never without a Juicy Tube or Dazzle Glass in my porchette. The Glossy Stain's formula is part gloss in initial application and appearance then it settles into the lips as a creamy stain.
When applying the product with it's doe foot applicator it is a little difficult to get used to, it would be great if you had really big lips but my petite lips weren't as easy to coat - slightly messy and you have to move fast if you make a mistake because it will stain skin very quickly. One coat gives a nice glossy look to the lips with slight colour, but this product is designed to be build-able, so load it on to the intensity you want and let it set for about 20mins.
Apprehensive that they wouldn't actually stain my lips I put them to the biggest test : BURGERS. Could the YSL Glossy Stain keep my lips shinny and still pigmented when faced with a burger with the lot? YES! YES it did! The product is slightly sticky and does transfer onto cups and would be a nightmare in a heavy make out session.
The packaging is divine like all Yves Saint Laurent makeup, at 28 I feel YSL's Glossy Stains seem like an appropriate lip gloss of choice they aren't the shimmer packed babydoll pinks of my previous lip glosses but colour rich and very luxe.

FAVORITE COLOURS:
01 Plum : Vampy poppy purple that looks amazing on very pale skins and also on women of colour.
08 Orange : This is a true orange not a coral posing as an orange, beautiful for south east asian skintones.
12 Pink Coral: I have this on in the above photo, a sweet pink based coral which gives your lips a wash of colour - this is as nude as I go so I would wear this if I did a darker eye for night.

Hype Machine # 1

I love living in Australia but I do not love reading international beauty blogs and reading about amazing products then searching to find an Australian stockist or and even international online stockist that will ship to Australia only to come up with absolutely nada. The Australian Beauty retail options are very limited with Mecca Cosmetica being the most forward and stocking limited range of international brands and Department stores only offering the big brands. Smaller and more interesting boutique beauty brands are not being represented on the market.
So here are a list of things that I am desperately in lust with because I cannot get my greedy little mits on them.

1. Real Techniques Brushes  $5.99 - $17.99 (US dollar price)
The much raved about line of brushes developed by Makeup artist and youtube guru Samantha Chapman, which by all reviews sound absolutely amazing. Especially the 'Buffing Brush' for liquid and mineral foundation and the 'Concealer Brush' for blending in under eye concealer. I can only find the brush sets with international shipping on US eBay, the prices are more than inflated they are hot air ballooned. The core collection set is available at Ulta in the US for US$17.99, the lowest price I have found on line is US$30.00 + US$23.00 shipping. I may be obsessed with makeup but I am not an idiot.

2 Deborah Lippman $23.00 (US dollar price)
Recently I posted about 'Accross the Universe' the mermaid-esque polish from Deborah Lippman, somehow I managed to buy this on eBay at a reasonable price. I knew I would love the polish so I risked not actually ever seeing it in person and 'confirmed to buy' however with all nail polish brands there are good colours and not so good colours. With no Australian stockists as yet I am stuck browsing the Deborah Lippman website imagining the perfect colours on my nails.

3. Rouge Bunny Rouge Sea of Illumination Highlighting Liquid  £64.00
Rouge Bunny Rouge is a brand I heard about from my favorite youtube beauty reviewer SETH!!!!!
He is incredible, I cannot explain how much I love watching his videos - his voice has the most calming tone and he knows what he is talking about in terms of makeup. He did a complete brand review of Rouge Bunny Rouge and it aesthetically looks like a brand I would really bro down with, my main obsession has been the Illuminating Highlighting Liquid - available in 4 shades Sea of Clouds, Sea of Showers, Sea of Tranquility, Sea of Nectar. Divine - right? Anyway no international sellers as yet and with product this expensive I would like to test it on my skin before jumping in with £64.00 (AU$98.00).

4. Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Foundation $47.60 ( Available 9th July)
OK OK OK! Hold onto you hats! This is very exciting news, 20 years after the famous Touche Eclat highlighting pen was released by Yves Saint Laurent  they are following up with a Foundation. Yes you read that correctly and you weren't hallucinating in heaven. The spiel is basically the same as all new foundations light weight, illuminating, light infused blah blah then I got to this part which is GENIUS:

'Classical foundation formulas contain varying amounts of opaque powders that ensure a diffused reflection. The negative drawback? A "mask" effect that can be a real problem, especially on darker skins, which tend to look grey.

Now, for the very first time with Le Teint Touche Éclat Foundation, Yves Saint Laurent has succeeded in resolving this by replacing the opaque powder with a soft focus gel. It forms a diffusing and translucent film on the skin’s surface that smoothes away imperfections without ever masking the skin. Its key asset is to ensure skin colour purity.'


5. Sisley Highlighting Orchidée Blush $108.00 (US dollar price)
This is the prettiest bronzer/highlighter/blush compact I have ever seen! Imprinted with an orchid - are you kidding me? It is stunningly beautiful and stunningly US$108.00 so for now I am going to just put it on my 'Lust List' and try and dupe it with something less and expensive and less pretty.