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My Long Haul Essentials

9 May

I have to admit I am not a great traveller. I get nervous, my hands get sweaty on take off and I can’t settle until the seatbelt sign gets turned off. In saying that, I love travelling and have had the opportunity to visit many amazing places. Along the way I have found my must have plane items that manage to calm me down and make my skin less hideous on arrival.

An essential on any long haul flight is a great lip balm. At the moment I am loving Clarins Moisture Replenishing Lip Balm, it is actually amazing! Packed with essential rose wax and Shea butter it makes your lips feel divine and healthy. When you apply the balm it feels like it is melting on your lips and I don’t mean that in a bad way, it just that you can actually feel it working to hydrate your smackers. What I also love about this lip balm is that it has a slight hint of pink to it, just enough to make your lips look delicious. This little baby is defiantly hoping into my clear plastic bag on my next overseas plane journey.

RRP: $30 for 15mls. Available from Myers and David Jones.

* This product was sent to The Makeup Case for editorial consideration – please see our disclosure policy.

Hydration cream is a must have! I love to apply my Trilogy Ultra Hydrating face cream every 2 hours on a long flight. What I love about this cream aside from the fact that it hydrates is that it has Lavender in it. All the time I apply the cream I get a wif of Lavender and it calms me down straight away. The cream is also very light weight so it won’t clog my pores. With the harsh air conditioning on planes it is so beneficial to your skin to have a hydrating cream on hand.

RRP: $49 for 75mls. Available from Priceline. * Image coutesy of Trilogy

It goes without saying that water is a MAJOR must on a flight. It hydrates your body, takes away the bad toxins and makes your skin look fresh. On a recent trip fiancé and I both bought a 1lt bottle and they were gone before we even left Australia. I find that I get so thirsty on planes, I just can’t get enough of it.

Finally, the last must have for any long flight is good company. Time fly’s on long flights when you have someone to banter with, even if it’s only over the mundane food and bossy air hostesses. Sadly, on my next overseas journey I will be all alone on the flight there and back. I have never flown solo before and I have to say, I am extremely nervous. I keep telling myself that it will be good for me. Ha, I guess all will be revealed shortly…

Pure like a Dove

4 Apr

Okay, so I know deodorant is not the most glamorous thing to talk about. But, lets face it, we all wear it (at least I hope we do).

Dove recently sent us over the new addition to their deodorant family, Dove Pure. A fragrance free 48hr antiperspirant that contains no colours, alcohol or parabens.

If you are anything like me and have sensitive skin then you should get your mitts on this deodorant. Dove Pure is fragrance free so you don’t get that irritating itch that you can commonly get from using harsh deodorants.

I have not shaved under my arms for ages! Not in a gross way or anything I just prefer to wax and lately I have been getting laser. But if I was a shaver then this deodorant would work a treat, it contains 1/4 moisturising cream and skin natural lipids which replenishes the skin after shaving and strengthens the natural moisture barrier. Plus!

RRP: $5.25 for aerosol and $3.89 for roll on. Available from Woolworths, Coles and pharmacies.

* This product was sent to The Makeup Case for editorial consideration – please see our disclosure policy.

Merry Christmas!!!

25 Dec

Just wanted to say a quick Merry Christmas to all our readers!

We hope you are all having a great day and have all been really spoilt. We look forward to another exciting year of reviewing products and letting you know what we think.

Thanks beauties for all your support over the last year. The Makeup Case would not be here without you all.

Much love and happiness,

Amy and Bec

xx

Summer loving with a summer tan

10 Dec

We love summer and everything that comes along with it. Ice cream, going to the beach, Sunday cocktails and tanning! Because we are so skin conscious we never sun bake but we lovvveeee the fake stuff. And I’m talking the fake stuff that actually makes you go brown not orange.

The Makeup Case has been lucky enough to try out the amazing Bondi Sands range of fake tan, just in time for the best months of the year. Bondi Sands is an Australian owned company that in my opinion makes the best tan that I have used in a long time.

I have been using the self tanning lotion in dark every week for about 2 months now and I cant live without it. It provides the perfect colour and is so easy to use, you just add some tanning lotion to the application glove and rub it over your skin. Because the lotion comes out dark you can see it as you apply it to your skin and the glove helps with applying an even tan without those annoying streaks.

What I also love about this tan is that it smells delicious, like coconut, all the time I put it on it brings me back to my holiday in Mexico sipping cocktails. Bondi Sands products are also enriched with Aloe Vera to help moisturize your skin. I found that if I looked after my skin and moisturized daily my tan would last me about a week before I needed to top it up.

Here is a picture of me sporting my Bondi Sands tan at my recent engagement party. Yep, I got engaged in New York in November. I am super excited! The man sporting the Merv Hughes mo is my new fiance (he doesn’t always have a mo, it was for Movember lol).

If you want to fall in love with Bondi Sands just like us here is their stockist.

 

 

 

Our Wishes Came True!

6 Dec

It is nearly the end of the year! Again! This means we are all getting older but first we get to have Christmas. Yeah! Lots of eating, family, eating, presents, eating, drinking, eating, friends…. Anyway, we thought a little bit of an update was in order.

We wrote about what was happening for us in 2012 here. So…..how much has been crossed off that list? ALL OF IT! Ha yeah! pat yourself on the back Makeup Case.

This is what’s been going down in the world of The Makeup Case

  • Amy had her second baby. Her name is Evelyn (Evie) May and she was born in May.
  • Amy managed to sell her unit, after what felt like hundreds of open houses and 3 offers falling through, we managed to seal the deal and moved to greener pastures just down the road.
  • Bec’s holiday dream has come true, she went to Mexico and New York! There may be some other news she has to share but I will let her tell you.
  • Actually I’m not sure if Bec got the Tokidoki Barbie for her birthday but its coming around again, so if not there is always this birthday.
  • As you can see we continued blogging, we had our first birthday in July. We have done lots of makeup, tried and tested lots of products and been to a few events. It has been a good year.
Stay tuned for all our adventured coming in 2013.

One Bridesmaids Makeup

15 Nov

My sister was in Sydney to be a bridesmaid for one of her friends, last weekend. We don’t get to see her much, so I agreed to do her makeup for the wedding.

That saturday proved to be a busy one, but I squeezed her in. And I only did the makeup. It was just a simple smokey-ish eye with a little pink and natural /pink lips. (please excuse the kitchen, food, people in the background. There were heaps of people and we barely had space to move) They wore black dresses so and had pink flowers, so anything goes!

This is some of the products used.

  • Mac Select Tint spf15
  • Maybelline Falsies (read about it here)
  • Maybelline Gel Liner (read about it here)
  • Mac Barbie blush (palet and individual)
  • Clinique All About Lips (to keep lips all nice and your colour on)
  • Dior Illuminator
  • Dior Lash Maximiser (put it on before mascara)
  • Estee Lauder lip liner
  • Eyeshadow, mostly grey. Not sure what brand.
  • Artist Brushes (love them, read about it here)

No more waxing for me…

29 Oct

I hate waxing! Come to mention it, I dislike any form of hair removal that involves too much mess and too much time. I do like looking clean and hair free though, oh dear, its hard being a girl sometimes! A million moons ago I decided to laser my legs and ventured off to a reputable beauty therapist every 6 weeks for treatment. I never found it painful but I did find I had to make a massive effort to book my appointments and save all my money before I went. It was like an endless cycle of laser and no money between appointments because back then laser was so new and the price tag was hefty.

These days the price of laser has dropped a lot but my laziness to head to the salon has remained the same. It is like the guys over at Phillips knew how lazy I am about this stuff and sent us over the brand new Phillips Lumea Precision Plus to enjoy from the comfort of my very own home. It’s so great and I can even do this on my lounge while watching Big Brother, oh my, what a sad little secret.

The Lumea Precision uses an Intense Pulsed Light, the same that professional salons use to prevent hair growth. The device applies gentle pulses of light to the hair which produces heat that moves to the hair follicle. Once the heat hits the follicle it is stimulated into a resting phase, which means the hair sheds naturally and future growth is inhibited. The Lumea Precision has an integrated UV filter and advanced safety controls so we know we are really protecting our skin. There are also 5 control settings that let you choose the appropriate intensity for your skin type and hair colour, so you are not over doing it.

The Phillips Lumea Precision is the only at home IPL device that is extra safe to use on your face and also comes with a bigger attachment so you can treat both your legs in 15 minutes! Heck yes, I am all for simple, fast and easy beauty routines. When my pretty box arrived on my door step I could not wait to try it out and I knew exactly where I wanted to try it, legs (little bits of re-growth are starting to appear since I last had it done), underarms, maybe the appear lip. I also have plans to use this on the bf…hahaha…he doesnt know it yet.

Before you use your Precision you need to ensure that each area you would like to treat is clean-shaven and of course you have read all the instructions. It is worthwhile pointing out that the laser is not recommended for ladies (and gentleman) with white or blonde hair. This is because there needs to be some pigment in the hair follicle for the laser to work. Now, once you have done all this and charged the battery you are all good to go. I have to admit the first time I pressed the laser to my skin I was scared to pull the trigger, I didn’t want it to hurt! I screwed my eyes shut and said a little prayer while bf sat on the lounge yelling at me to “just do it, geez”. I did it, I pressed the button, and it wasnt bad at all. Not the slightest bit of pain, much better than waxing and definitely less messy.

The first time treating my legs took me a bit longer then 15 minutes, mainly because I was getting used to the device and how to use it. After about 10 minutes I was on a roll and didn’t want to put it down, thinking of everything I could laser. Thoughts of making last-minute decisions of going to the beach in summer and not having to worry about any unsightly growth made me happy and spurred me on. The device is really so easy to use, you place the attachment so it is flat on your skin, a green light flashes up saying it’s “ready”, you press the laser button and whoosh your off. You don’t even need to keep pressing the button, you can press it once and just glide it over your skin so the flashes of light are released as the Precision moves over your body. Plus! The only negative I had with the Precision was that I felt like I should have been wearing some sort of protective eye wear, you can purchase these if you want to, I just shut my eyes.

After I was done lasering I applied a small bit of moisturizer to the parts I treated. I didn’t experience any redness afterwards or any pain, it was like I just shaved. After treatments you need to wait 2 weeks until you can redo the process, during that time you should try not to do any form of hair removal so you can truly benefit from the product. It should take about 4 treatments to see maximum results but I noticed mine after the first time.

My hair took longer to grow back and when it did it was much finer and lighter. I am just about to do my fourth treatment and I cant believe I used to waste all that time and money on waxing. The Precison Lumea Plus is so easy and you really see the results. During one of my treatments I was staying at my mums and it was so compact, you simply place it in the protective bag and thow it in your suitcase (not literally thow of course). I am never going back to waxing again, I am 100% converted!

RRP: $1,299.95 and available from The Shaver shop nationally.

* This product was sent to The Makeup Case for editorial consideration – please see our disclosure policy.

 

 

frankies 50th issue

24 Oct

I have not bought a frankie mag in a while but when I saw the cover for the 50th issue I had to have it. If you are new to Frankie click here to find out more. Basically it is a magazine filled with “great affordable fashion, sweet art, interesting reads, real people and pretty photography” it is just a super cool read!

and here is a little stop motion video of the 50th issue celebration. “It includes dancing bingo markers, mini hot dogs, a kiss-blowing Benjamin Law, rad backing music by one of our bands for the night The Good China and lots of fun and frivolity.” It was made by the amazing team at Studio Something.

They also have a sweet 2013 daily journal on sale now. Click here to check it out and feel free to send one my way! hehehe I’ll be your best friend.

*Images and video from frankie.com.au

 

A great way to feel refreshed…Burn a candle..

10 Sep

Lately I have been really into burning candles, especially beautiful scented ones. So you can imagine my delight when Natio sent us one of their amazing new candles to try out.

Natio have created five new aromatic candles designed to cocoon your home with unique mood enhancing fragrances.

Romantic Bouquet: Infused with Ylang Ylang, Mandarin, Cedarwood and Patchouli

Relaxing Bouquet: Infused with Vanilla, Sweet Orange, Jasmine and Bergamont

Uplifting Bouquet: Infused with Lavender, Bergamont, Lemon and Geranium

Calming Bouquet: Infused with Sandalwood, Vanilla, Balsam and Cedarwood

We were lucky enough to try out the Refreshing Bouquet, a mix of Citrus Blossom, Lime, Rosewood and Mandarin. Let me tell you this candle is delicious! I love a candle that makes me feel revitalized and awake, the Refreshing Bouquet certainly achieves this. I love burning the candle at night after a long day in the office, relaxing with boyfriend in front of the telly with a nice glass of red wine. The fragrance feels up our home within minutes and really creates a calm, warm feeling.

What is great about these Natio candles is that all five are 100% Australian made and have a 60 hour burn time. So if you are anything like myself and love burning candles all the time these Natio ones are worth every penny. And as an added benefit the candle are made with premium natural soy which means that the candles last longer and the fragrance is distributed better throughout the home.

I am definitely going out and buying another one of these as soon as my Refreshing Bouquet runs out. The problem is I just can’t decided which one to try next, so far I think I might be leaning towards the Calming Bouquet. Will keep you guys posted.

PS: I tried a million times to take a photo of the candle burning but my stupid camera wouldn’t let me!

RRP: $24.95 for 280g and available from Myer, David Jones and selected pharmacies from 15th October.

* These products were sent to The Makeup Case for editorial consideration – please see our disclosure policy.

 

Who is up for a Midnight Pool Party?!?

25 Aug

Whats up party people? I hope that title got you attention because we have discovered something hectic!

If you are heading out tonight or throwing a party you need to have this band as part of your playlist! They are amazing and their tunes will definitely get you in the mood to party.

Not only do they have mad style, good looks and perfect hair they also have awesome beats. Check them out..

Arent they rad? Midnight Pool Party were also number 13 on Triple JJJ unearthed, pretty awesome stuff. Looks like these guys are going to go far.

If you love Midnight Pool Party as much as The Makeup Case does you should check out there Facebook page and other YouTube clips.

 

 

 

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