Australis Lip Butter

Just a quick review of Australis' Lip Butter in Tall Poppy. I think these lip butters are fairly new to the Australis range. 

Obviously different from the standard tube or stick of lip balm, these lip butters are packaged in a cute little ball. Personally I welcome this as I am constantly plunging my hand into my handbag to pull out a lipgloss and emerge with a pen instead! Much easier to find in the bottomless pit that is my handbag!

The little mirror is a nice touch, very handy!

The product itself does not show up quite as tinted as it looks in the pot but still imparts a nice pink glossy sheen on my lips. It feels very moisturising, safe to say the addition of Vitamin E and aloe vera helps achieve this. 

This is a great little tinted lip balm for everyday and for the RRP of $8.95 it is quite a steal.

Illuminate Me

I spent yesterday morning finally getting around to one of the most arduous tasks I can think of, cleaning and sorting out all my makeup. By no means do I have nearly as much as some beauty babes , but once I see how much of it I never use I can visualise dollar signs going down the drain which is why I try avoid organising it all at all costs!

The one good thing that came about from all this was that I rediscovered a product that I do love but has gone forgotten for too long!

NARS Albatross is a gorgeous highlighting powder and like all the NARS powders I own, it is to die for! Although it looks scarily white in the pan, once applied it has a gorgeous golden glow which really seems to make my skin light up.

Combined with MAC's Strobe cream mixed into my foundation,  I went to a party last night feeling like the epitome of radiance! Seeing as my skin has sadly been very dull lately it was a much needed boost.

I thought I would share a picture and although it's not a close up I think my skin looks pretty glowy!

Me with my gorgeous friend T.

NARS Albatross is a definite winner and a nice change from MAC's Soft and Gentle mineralise skin finish which I have been using lately. I find that Albatross is milled a lot finer, is less glittery and more glowy.

I'd love to know which illuminating/highlighting products you swear by?

Makeup Staple

The end of summer has come and gone and with cooler weather on the way I am more inclined to get back into wearing my red lipsticks rather than a slick of gloss. 

With red lips comes high maintenance to make sure you are still looking smoking hot all night long baby! 

Apart from the usual light exfoliation of the lips and making sure they are well moisturised before applying lippie, a lot of people turn to a lip liner that is similar in colour to your lipstick to define the lips and help stop the colour from bleeding out or feathering. Now this works well for most beauty babes but I am one who lives in fear of my lipstick wearing off leaving a ghastly lip liner outline!

Last year I found an awesome product that is now a staple in my makeup kit. Introducing DuWop's Reverse Lip Liner!

Reverse Lipliner is a colourless matte liner that can be used to shape the lips and stop colour bleeding. Being colourless this is suitable to use with all your lipsticks meaning you won't have to buy so many different colour liners!

It goes on very smooth without tugging the skin as you draw it on and leaves no noticeable outline. 

While being a lot thicker in size than most liners I have not had any problems with application. Added bonus: It actually works! Using this together with a lip brush to apply lipstick I get precise application that I can be proud of ;)

If you are finding it hard to find a suitable liner to match your lipstick I suggest you give this a try.

You can pick this product up from Mecca Cosmetica. From memory it cost around the $30 mark and was packaged with a sharpener which was handy.

Morning Sunshine

This morning was a glorious morning indeed my friends! Instead of slumming it at home making do with some porridge and a distinct lack of coffee my friend E and I headed to Cronulla for a beachside breakfast. YUM!

E told me about HAM ( Harry & Mario) a while back and as we were due for a coffee date I suggested we make a trip and try it out.

I had the most delicious 'deli breaky plate' of sourdough bread, prosciutto ( BE STILL MY BEATING HEART!), avocado, ricotta and fresh tomatoes for around $12.00 plus my coffee staple, a flat white which hit the spot. 

It was so warm and sunny and laid back and how I wish all my mornings could be.

I planned on taking a photo for ya'll but two things happened.....

1. I feel like a tosser taking photos of food in public places.
2. I ATE IT ALL TOO QUICK!

Went for a quick stroll down to the beach and sat in the shade, growing more and more sad about the fact I live in the suburbs as the minutes ticked by. 

If you ever find yourself in Cronulla on a sunny morning I suggest you check it out:-

Harry & Mario

3/17 Gerrale Street

Cronulla NSW 2230

Does anyone else feel like a fool taking photos of things for your blog while out and about? I can't be the only one!

Write it Down

So over at Hollypop's blog she posted an example of her handwriting for all to see and I decided I want to do the sameeeee. So I did and here it is, all fancy and whatnot on plain office paper with a lame excuse of a pen haha....!!

My writing always changes and as I hardly ever hand write anything anymore it hurts my hand! If I had written this on card paper it would all be a big smudge, such is the curse of a left hander *sigh*.

Heres what you've got to do:-

• Name and blog name
• URL
• Write, "A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog".
• Favourite quote
• Favourite song
• Favourite bands/singers
• Anything you want to say!

And then spread the love and tag someone else! So do it, do it now!

I'm camera-less at the moment, meaning my boyfriend stole his own camera back to take on holidays. How rude, no? Really need to purchase one but I am currently obsessed with SAVING!!! SAVE DON'T SPEND !!!

Hair Lovin'

Though I am convinced I will never be happy with the state/colour/style of my hair I do have a few products in rotation at the moment that are helping ease my eternal pain (ha!). 

Tigi Bed Head- Spoil Me ( Defrizzer, Smoother and Instant Restyler).

I used to buy a lot of Tigi products when I was in my teens, I think the packaging sucked me in every time. Some were hit and miss and this was long forgotten at the back of the bathroom cupboard. When some pretty horrific humidity in Sydney hit recently I was searching for something so keep the frizz at bay and rediscovered this. Great for smoothing down a blowdry or once you have straightened your hair. The description suggests that you use it as a second day restyler but as my hair is on the oily side I basically wash it everyday!

Moroccan Oil

Like what seems to be half the world's population, I run some Moroccan Oil through my hair to keep it smooth whether I am blow drying it or letting it dry naturally. Wonderful for shine and adding softness to the hair. As you can see I dropped mine and smashed the lip which is annoying as this lasts forever and I now can't travel with it!

Schwarzkopf Osis+ Dust It ( Mattifying powder)

A long time ago a hairdresser put me onto this product. I'm not the kind who is easily sucked in to buying products at a salon but I'd never seen anything like this before and the effect was amazing. It is a small bottle of white powder which gives amazing texture, volume and lift. You know when you mess your hair up with your fingers a little to freshen it up only to have it fall back down? Well use this baby and you'll be rocking that second day hair look like there is no tomorrow. I use this to add volume to my roots and fringe when I am wearing my hair out. If you are shine addict beware that this will mattify the hair like the name suggests but the effects are totally worth it. 

Although small the bottle lasts forever as you don't need much, and you'll be amazed how high you can get you hair to sit with just a sprinkle or this powder!

February Empties

In the spirit of attempting to use up my hoard of products I am pleased to say I finished up a few things last month!

Nivea Intense Moisturising Lotion - a good every day lotion that I have repurchased many times.

KMS Add Volume Root and Body Lift, gave a little lift but nothing special.

L'Oreal Rejuvintating Anti-Wrinkle Concentrate - something I was sent to review by Primped. Don't have any wrinkles but I used it around my eyes so my makeup would go on smoother.

Clairns HydraQuench Intensive Serum Bi-Phase -must have received this as part of a GWP. Added moisture to my skin and now I'm thinking I'd like to add a serum to my skincare routine.

Lush Flying Fox Shower Gel - smells so yum! Will get this again along the line.

Bastise Dry Shampoo -standard.

Redken All Soft Heavy Cream- my go to hair treatment when my hair has had enough!

Rimmel Sun Shimmer Bronzer -my all time favourite matte bronzer. I dropped this baby, it shattered and the lid eventually broke but I still used it to the very end. Will be getting this again for sore. Now that I think about it this is probably the first powder product I have ever finished!

Now to see what I can get through in March! Body/skincare/haircare products are easy to use up, but I find makeup is a lot harder.

So Lush

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a Lush prize from a competition running on Anita's blog. I thought I would share the lovely goodies I received with you all!

First up we have a Frog Prince Bath Ballistic (with a broken leg, whoops!) and a slice of  Love Birds Soap. They both smell so gooooooood. I haven't used them yet as I have a few things to finish up so in the meantime   I'm keeping them in my room for the lovely scent. I think I'll cut up the soap into portions before I use it , experience tells me this soap will last forever.

Next up we have It Started With A Kiss tinted lip balm and It's Raining Men shower gel.

I am IN LOVE with this shower gel, in love I tell you! It smells like Honey I Washed the Kids soap which I adore so to have it in a liquid form is like heaven. I am a big fan of Lush shower gels and this is no exception. 

Now as for the tinted lip balm, I can't say I love the smell too much. This balm has a spicy scent and that is something I just can't make myself love.

It comes in a classic little tin which is cute enough but I find it can be hard to remove the lid at times.

The colour is absolutely gorgeous as a light lip tint and as long as you apply some balm underneath for moisture it looks really cute and natural. I apply with a light hand for a stain effect but you could always apply a little more for delightfully red lips!

As long as I have Lush in my life I am one happy gal!

New Home

Ahoy there!

I've made the move over from Tumblr ( http://gillpill.tumblr.com) to Blogger as I was so sick of the Disqus comments never showing up properly and I found it really hard to personalise my layout. It was also a tad confusing having a different URL name and blog name.

I've still got a few tweaks to make here and there but I am really loving having a sidebar, which is something I couldn't figure out how to put on my Tumblr layout ha ha.

So please add this link to your bookmarks and update your blog rolls. Why not add me on Bloglovin while you are at it....you know you want to!

If you have any suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them :)

BlogLovin

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Nevermind this, just adding my new blog on Bloglovin :D