Michael Todd Chronicles: Week 6

Hello lovelies!

Welcome to another edition of the Michael Todd Chronicles. This week, my skin has been pale and dry (though oily during the day) and I have gotten a couple of stress pimples on my chin. Pretty nasty stuff. I feel the regimen has helped clear the pimples out pretty quick though which is a plus. Other than that, I have started to incorporate Hydraluron and Pepta-bright serums by Indeed Laboratories into my skin care routine every night and morning for the past couple of days to help combat the dullness and dryness (more on that on my next post though). I know I said I wouldn't stray away from only using Michael Todd products, but when you don't feel comfortable in your own skin, and your skin isn't reacting to your routine as well anymore, it is time to change it up a little. As usual, I have included a mug shot of my skin this week.

I hope you all have a pleasant weekend and I will speak to you on Monday!

Lots of love,
Nur xx

Beauty Essentials 10 Shade Smoky Eye Shadow Palette Swatches & First Impressions!

Beauty Essentials is the home brand of Priceline. It is a brand I haven't actually heard much of, but the other day as I was hauling a few items off the Priceline site, I stumbled across it and decided to give one of their products a go. I decided to try out the 10 Shade Smoky Eye Shadow Palette. They also had a 10 Shade Natural Eye Shadow Palette, but seeing as I didn't know of the quality of them and since most natural colours just blend into my skin since I am tanned, I opted for the smoky palette as those shades tend to be darker and more noticeable. These palettes retail for just $3 for 10 shadows which is such a steal! If they are good that is. With that said lets get right into the packaging, swatches and my first impressions!

The packaging the palette was enclosed in was super cute! I loved the little box and its spots and rose gold border. It was very cute indeed! Inside the box though, the palette was in a shiny black casing that was plain and had no writing on it. there was a little mirror in the cover and the palette came with a sponge applicator which I actually like. It is a big applicator, not a small one, so it's comfortable and sturdy to use and I like using it with the shadows because it distributes it nicely and smoothly. I used it to make the swatches below.

If you couldn't tell from the photos, these shadows are REALLY pigmented! They are also buttery and soft and smooth to apply. I love them! I was not expecting such good quality products for $3. I am definitely pleased. As with most lower end products, there aren't any matte shades. All the shades either have a satin finish or are shimmery, which I don't mind at all. The look so stunning. The pictures do not do these shadows any justice! If you are looking for buttery soft shadows that are super affordable, I would HIGHLY recommend these! at $3 a pop you can't go wrong!

Love,
Nur xx

A haul from fashionaddict.com.au!

Fashionaddict.com.au is a site I am relatively new to. I hadn't heard anything about it until last week when I ordered my goodies. I was quite hesitant at first to purchase from the site considering how little I knew about it, but since it was the only site that still sold the Limited Edition Face Of Australia Glamazon Blush And Highlighter Palette (Minx) and Contour and Highlighter Palette (Leopardess), so I decided to try it out anyway. I just had to get my hands on the beautiful palettes so I gave myself the go ahead and decided to haul a few other Face of Australia items as well. When my parcel arrived a few days looking neat in a box like this, I was very happy. I can say that happiness rose even more when I opened the box to see the beautiful way they packaged my purchases.

I was greeted with pink tissue paper! I don't know about you but this made me jump for joy and feel all pretty and girly! I felt like a child opening up their first birthday present at their party. Even my purchases inside were kept neat and tidy and wrapped in a plastic bag.

I'm not going to go into much detail with what I bought. I will swatch these in a look I'm creating really soon. I just thought I should mention what I bought though. I purchased the Face Of Australia Glamazon Blush And Highlighter Palette (Minx), Contour and Highlighter Palette (Leopardess), Mineral Therapy Illuminator (Angel Blush), and Lasting Looks Lip Creme (For-red-er and a Day).

Every product came in it's original wrapping which was great and hygienic and to my surprise upon opening my goodie bag, I saw a couple of additional items.

As a gift from fashionaddict.com.au, I was given a packet of pocket tissues and a travel size powder brush! Such cute gifts and packaging from this new site! I will definitely be purchasing more from this site, especially for Face of Australia products which they stock so much of! Have you ever purchased off fashionaddict.com? If you haven't, I definitely recommend you check it out! They have so many brands on offer at great prices, including the Face of Australia Limited Edition Glamazon Palettes, which I HIGHLY recommend!

Much love,
Nur x

Michael Todd Chronicles: Week 5

I have been on my Michael Todd skincare regimen for over a month now, and although I found my skin was reacting to it very nicely before, I'm starting to feel as though it isn't helping as much now. I fear my skin has gotten used to the products, and are therefor not workign as effectively. This is what my skin looks like now.

 I have been breaking out quite a bit this week and I feel as though the Michael Todd products are not doing enough to prevent them. I still feel like they are helping clear out the breakouts faster though. At the moment I am disappointed in them but hopefully suring the course of this week, that will change. The only product I always seem to be loving is the toner. I definitely think I will repurchase that in the future! I just thought I should mention that I have been having a particularly stressful week which could have contributed to the breakouts, though I feel that some of them are more from the skin care products not being as effective anymore. I guess I will find out in due time!

Love,
Nur x

HAULS! HAULS! HOLY HAULS! (Let's start with Estee Lauder + a little review)

As the title of this post suggests, I have been a busy bee this past week.... Spending HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of dollars hauling beauty items. I know, I said I wouldn't haul anything for awhile to concentrate on what I already have, but I have no self control, ergo the big box of beauty stuff! I seriously die a little inside when I think of all the moolah I wasted on these items. Then I pinch myself and say 'Girl, makeup is never a waste!'. Can you identify any or all of the goodies in the box?

Alright, enough chit chat about the hauls, let's just get right into one! Estee Lauder. A wonderful, timeless makeup company, that I am only now deciding to connect to - because I, for some reason, have admittedly been a little slow to join the masses. What got me interested in trying out Estee Lauder is my age old mission to find the perfect holy grail foundation for my skin. After hearing about Estee Lauder's Double Wear Foundation, I knew I had to try it. It seemed like fate after all, a foundation perfect for oily skin, that had yellow and olive undertones, full coverage and a matte finish... basically everything I always wanted! So I walked up to the Estee Lauder counter at Myer and requested a sample. I basically figured out a match myself using online photos, and lucky I did since the sales woman was completely unhelpful and seemed like she herself didn't know how to match the foundation. I am fortunate enough to have found my match first go, so thank you to all the lovely people who share photos and information online of their matches! I am in the shade 3W2 Cashew. I'm almost done with the sample so I'll definitely be purchasing a full bottle soon!

Basically after falling in love with Double Wear, I checked out other Estee Lauder products available online and just couldnt help myself from buying these when I saw good deals!

I purchased the Estee Lauder Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick in shade Midnight Pink, Tender Blush in shade Pearl and the beautiful Tom Ford Estee Lauder Azuree Soleil Collection's The Face Glow in shade Bronzee.

I absolutely love my purchases! They feel and look so luxurious! The Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick and Tender Blush have the signature Estee Lauder gold packaging and logo imprinted on them. The Face Glow has a beautiful frosted glass bottle and a gold and mint green cap as it is part of the Tom Ford for Estee Lauder Azuree Soleil Collection. All of the packaging is stunning and feel sophisticated and timeless, as expected from all Estee Lauder products. All the products applied beautifully and smoothly and were very pigmented. I must say, all of them are absolute loves! Here are the products and their swatches!

The Estee Lauder Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick in shade Midnight Pink is absolutely stunning! It has a beautiful lustre and lasts 3-4 hours without eating. Once I ate I found that although it wore out slightly, it left a beautiful stain which looked nice and natural and was not patchy whatsoever. I believe this shade would suit any skin tone as it is so feminine and a beautiful shade of pink.

The Tom Ford Estee Lauder Azuree Soleil Collection's The Face Glow is absolutely stunning! It's so silky and sheer making it perfect for a glow. As an oily skinned girl, I use this as a highlight, blending it onto my face with a foundation brush directly or mixing it with a little bit of foundation then applying it over the high points of my face. It just adds a gorgeous glow since the liquid has light shimmers running through it. Shimmers, not glitter! It was so hard to photograph the beautiful lustre this gives that I had to use a darker background to capture it. Even with that, the photos do not do The Face Glow any justice! I did a heavy swatch and a swatch blended out.

The swatch above was taken to deliberately show the shimmer in The Face Glow. This photo shows the swatches more true to life.

Last but not least is the Estee Lauder Tender Blush in shade Pearl. This baby is beautiful! I use it as a highlighter above the apples of my cheeks. The shimmer in this is slightly chunkier than The Face Glow but not glittery or crazy at all so it can be used as a highlighter elsewhere on the face when sheered out. As I am oily skinned, I do prefer The Face Glow as an all over highlighter since the shimmer is finer and prefer this just as a cheekbone highlight. That said, it is still simply a stunning product! I could see this on a bronze goddess look as a highlighter and blush!

I absolutely love all my Estee Lauder purchases so so much. They really are luxurious and really good in quality. I cannot wait to purchase and review the Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation for you guys! Got to save a little money first after that giant haul though! Have you tried Estee Lauder products before? What are your thoughts on them?

Love,
Nur x

Steamcream, my new favourite moisturiser?

It finally happened! I finally caved into the Steamcream hype! After reading so many great reviews about how moisturising and totally awesome Steamcream is, I had to try it myself! My skin has been experiencing quite the dry spell lately, adding to my inability to resist the purchase!

I placed my order on the Steamcream website the 6th of August and received the soaking wet package yesterday morning, on the 18th of August. It took 12 days to arrive to Australia which is pretty average I guess. I would have preferred the uber fast shipping ASOS offers that seems to get to my door anywhere between 3-6 days but oh well, the important thing is it eventually got here! I am really pleased with how Steamcream shipped the order though I must say. Although it was pouring outside and the satchel the creams came in was drenched, the Steamcreams were unaffected as they were wrapped nicely in this little box.

Anyway so I ordered these off the site when they were having a 2 for $30 promotion. I think the product is quite overpriced for the tiny 75ml you receive but the beautiful tins make it SOOOOO worth it! The moisturiser inside is actually quite decent too but more on that in a sec.

The tins I purchased are Ekaterina, which is the lovely dark purple tin with a gorgeous, intricate gold design on it, and Envy, which is a beautiful watercolour floral design. On the steam cream site it says the Envy tin is designed by a Japanese artist named Maki Kahori, fancy! This is what they look like, and trust me, these pictures do not do the tins enough justice!

The Ekaterina Tin is simply stunning! I can't wait to use the tin as a ring storage container when I am done with the moisturiser! It goes so well with my decor!

The Envy Tin looks amazing! I intended on giving this to my sister but I really want to keep it for myself now!

Now onto the moisturiser itself. I love the moisturiser! It feels rich in moisture but light in texture at the same time. It also has a thick texture but not at all gloopy or unpleasant. It is a thickness that isn't runny and isn't body gel crazy thick either. I literally don't have a moisturiser that is like it! It also absorbs quickly and seems to brighten up my skin. There is literally nothing not to love about it... except it's smell. I am sure a lot of people love the smell of this cream but I really do not. I find it is much too strong for me. It has a really pungent lavender/floral/old lady smell that lingers for a long time when it's on my hand however feels like it disappears relatively quickly on my face. Maybe I just get used to the smell when it's on my face? I am not too sure but when my hands go near my face I can't stand the scent again. I really hope I'll just get used to the smell because I really love how the moisturiser feels on my skin. Here are some photos of the cream so you can see its texture and how nice it makes my dry hands look once applied.

As you can see here, Steamcream has a light, gel like texture.

I am not sure if the photos are showing how much my skin texture improved once I used the cream, but trust me the improvement was quite significant from the first application! I really hope this will give my skin the moisture boost it truly needs. Have you tried Steamcream before? Did you love it or hate it?

Love,
Nur x

Michael Todd Chronicles: Weeks 3 & 4

Hello beautiful people!

I would firstly like to apologise for not posting my chronicle update last week! I was SUPER busy with my friend's party and work and all sorts of other things and simply did not have time to post it up! Heck my weekend was SO hectic, the photos I was supposed to take of my outfit and all that good stuff on my night out have simply vanished from my phone! I don't know how it happened, but it did. I do have a shot of my makeup from the night though so I'll post that and talk about it at the end!

Ok so lets talk about the logistics of my skin this week (cue old timey video sequence and music!). My skin this week was pretty shabby... I had a giant bruise on my nose as the result of a tickle war and a giant pimple that sat right above it (talk about offensive). I was also quite acne prone this week and my skin was super dry everywhere but my forehead which was an oil slick. I was also quite pale and pasty this week due to a terrible cold that I just can't seem to shake off! Below are shots of my skin taken each Saturday morning for the past two weeks. Please excuse the tired face and bed hair!

My skin on week 3 of the Michael Todd Skincare Regimen

My skin on week 4 of the Michael Todd Skincare Regimen

As you can see in week 3, my skin was better and I'm not sure if you can tell but I am super pale there and look like I am about to get sick (and I did). In week 4 my skin is not in a good place, you can see the pimple scars and what's left of a bruise on my nose, at least I've got some colour though!

Alright now to my makeup from last Saturday! It was my best friend's 21st party so I decided to go with a gunmetal smokey eye and bright red lip. To achieve this, I used my Sleek Bad Girl Eyeshadow Palette and Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick in Hot Pepper! I chose these products because they last all night, are transfer resistant and look gorgeous! I am so sorry about the picture quality and that you cant see the smokey eye that well. as I said, I can't seem to locate any of the photos I took that night and this photo was the only one I had of it... unfortunately it's a photo I took just to show my boyfriend I was safe on the train, so I wasn't concentrating on taking a photo of how my makeup looked!

Anyway, I think I'll end this weeks chronicle here. To keep a look out for all my chronicle posts and to keep in touch with my blog, click here or follow the pretty bloglovin' picture that is in the sidebar.

Love always,
Nur x

The Balm Girls Lipstick Review with Swatches! (Mai Billsbepaid, Ima Goodkisser, Mia Moore)

HEYYAAAAAA!!!

I'm so excited for this post! I just did a review on my YouTube Channel of The Balm Girls Lipsticks! I have to say I absolutely love them and will find this review helpful! I also did swatches of the pretty little things so you can see how the colour looks on my lips and complexion.

I forgot to mention that the lipsticks smell a little like play dough and have a menthol feeling to them when they are on the lips. The menthol feeling goes away after about 5 minutes though. I actually love the menthol feeling it gives as it is quite refreshing!

Have you tried  I really hope you enjoyed the video! Talk soon!

Love,
Nur

Mani Mondays! ft. OPI Green-Wich Village and Revlon Parfumerie in Wintermint

Hello my lovelies! Welcome to another installment of Mani Mondays! This week I'm rocking green nails! Why? Well green, specifically emerald green is a trend setting colour this season. To be honest I never really follow trends on my nails but this week coincidentally my choice in nail colour has been bang right on trend! This week I'm rocking the sporty look with stripes. This look is so easy to create! I'll let you know how I did it in just a minute.

Before I get into it I wanted to talk about the polishes I used first. To create the stripes I used the gorgeous OPI Green-Wich Village. Its a beautiful cream finish polish the perfect emerald/leaf green shade! Two coats gave me full opacity. The polish is a little streaky in the first coat but goes on nice and creamy for the second coat. Look at how gorgeous this polish looks!

Anyway to complete the manicure, you just need to buy yourself some nail striping tape and place it 0.5cm apart towards the tips of your nails and paint your favourite polish on top. Today I opted for the gorgeous Revlon Parfumerie Polish in Wintermint. This shade is to die for! Its a beautiful shimmery emerald green polish with bits of dark blue and green glitter running through it. Normally glitter seems like an accent as its quite big and empowering on the nails but this polish manages to look soft and pretty, which is strange but totally stunning on the nails!Anyway with that said, once you have painted the second polish over the entire nail, pull off the striping tape whilst the polish is wet for straight lines, and that ladies is how you get this trendy nail design!

This manicure is really so simple to achieve and bang on trend with its emerald tones and sporty chic! If you havent yet experimented with striping tape, you should give it a try! The different manicures you can create with it are endless and it's a really inexpensive way to jazz up your nails! As for the polishes I definitely recommend both of them, they truly are beautiful polishes with great formulas which you will love! I also should mention that when the Revlon Parfumerie polish dries it has a slight scent to it! Wintermint gives off a pleasant light beachy scent in my opinion, and this scent lasts a couple of days before disappearing.

Love,
Nur x

Disco Ball Nails?! Yes please! - OPI Liquid Sand (Jinx)

What's better than going to club for those disco lights and they party? Bringing in the disco lights and the party with you of course! This weekend is my best friend's birthday party and it's her 21st, so its pretty festive. I was putting together my outfit and makeup ideas for the night and was thinking to myself, I'm coming as the lady in red or 'Lady Danger'! I bought a red dress (or two), new red lippies and the only thing missing was how to do my nails! I thought long and hard before deciding to go red with them too and there is no red shade that is more festive than this one, so I had to use it!

'Jinx' is a gorgeous scarlet/orange toned red polish from OPI's Liquid Sand range. It is a gorgeous shade of red that is flattering on any skin tone which has speckles of gold and red glitter running through it. I absolutely love this shade and this polish! All Liquid Sand polishes by OPI are textured and dry matte. I love that the glitter and sparkle in this polish are so bright and gorgeous that they glow without a topcoat and even though they are supposed to be matte! Another great thing about this polish is that you only need one coat and you're good to go because it is so pigmented and has a great formula, I used two as usual to beef up the intensity! I was initially a little weirded out by the texture - not because it was uncomfortable or drying or really chunky and scratchy, in fact it's definitely none of those things - the polish has a light texture which isn't overbearing or scratchy, just a smooth sandy feeling which I eventually got used to. I'm just someone who takes time to adjust to new things!

Anyway, I basically wanted to say that the polish is awesome and I love it so! If you haven't yet checked out OPI polishes, you definitely should try them out, they're all lovely and are worth the investment. If you have tried OPI nail polishes and are looking to try something new, the Liquid Sand ones are great! I love Jinx and I really want to try more of these! If you have any recommendations, leave it in the comments below!

At the end of the week I will be posting up my make up look for the night and hopefully my 'Lady in Red/Lady Danger' outfit (if I decide on using it on the night of course). I'm someone who always changes my mind on outfits at the last minute so we'll have to wait and see! Even if I end up using a different dress, my nails are staying, even if they clash with the outfit! They're too pretty to go!

Love,
Nur x

Michael Todd Chronicles: Week 2

Hello my lovelies!

It's that time of the week again, the weekly Michael Todd update! Sorry it's a couple of days late. I am pleased to say I had a very eventful week! This included some celebrations, both my brother and sister's birthdays and a couple of makeup and clothing hauls! I steered clear of spending for almost a month then went crazy this week! Hey, I guess a month is still an improvement... right? Anyway, this isn't a haul post (those are to come), this is about my skin, this week.

So let's get straight into the logistics of my skin. My skin this week has definitely not been in the best state! This definitely does not correlate to how Michael Todd has been to my skin though. Aunt Flo was visiting this week and with her comes a wave of trouble, including skin trouble! Basically I was gifted with quite a few spots this week - as I am whenever she comes to town - however, I am pleased to say the spots did not last as long as they usually do, nor were they as large as they usually are! Forgive the derpy face, but this is my skin on week 2 of the regime!

I am pretty sure the breakouts I had this week were significantly reduced thanks to the Michael Todd products I have been using daily. I really hope the regime keeps surprising me and keeps doing whatever it is that it's doing because my skin seems to love it! I really hope the goodness just keeps on coming!

Anyway that's all for this week's chronicle!

Love,
Nur x