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Wednesday, 7 October 2015

W7 In The Night Swatches


This palette is the latest in the w7 eyeshadow palettes that I have added to my collection. I still need to get In The Nude and Up In Smoke, which I believe is the latest one. In The Night is the first in their 'smokey' collection, with Up In Smoke being the second. Previously they had just done nude/neutral palettes.

Personally, most of the colours in this palette I wouldn't have considered 'smokey' as they are all still quite light. There are also some purple shades which is nice to see. Shakes things up a bit from the normal browns and blacks that generally come in smokey eye palettes. 

The colours are left-right, bottom to top. I'm really uncoordinated and couldn't figure out how to line it up with the palette and on my arm at the same time.


Far left, from bottom to top: Dusty, Wonderland, Summer
Middle left, from bottom to top: Atlanta, Abracadabra, Top Hat
Middle right, from bottom to top: Razzamataz,  Lady Luck, Laura E
Far right, from bottom to top: Party Pooper, Gate Crash, Bologna

As I've only just got this palette, I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet. The swatches make me excited to though, as they all seem quite strong and pigmented. Hopefully this one is just as good as the previous palettes I've tried. 

Let me know what you think about these palettes if you've tried them before.
Shannen xx
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Monday, 21 September 2015

XoBeauty Brushes Review


For my birthday this year, I received a set of XOBeauty brushes. YAY. I had a couple of experiences with these brushes before owning my own set. Not only was I excited to own something created by one of my youtube idols, but I knew that they were awesome brushes.

I got the 12 piece brush set which contains a powder brush, blush brush, bronzer brush, foundation brush, concealer brush, eyeshadow brush, angled eyeshadow brush, lip brush, small blender brush, large blender brush, eyebrow brush and a eyeliner brush.

First of all, I'm going to talk about the shipping. In New Zealand, XOBeauty have a flat rate of $5, so yay for cheap shipping. Secondly, I received my brushes less than 2 days after ordering. I ordered them on a Wednesday night, and by lunch time on Friday they were in my hot little hands. This is was incredible. 5 stars from me on this front.


Now onto the brushes. These are the best brushes I have used. I haven't tried many brushes, but the ones I have tried, although good, do not match up with my XOBeauty brushes. These are so soft and pick up the perfect amount of product. There is only one brush that I don't really use, which is the foundation/concealer duo brush. This is only because I prefer applying my foundation with a beauty blender or my flat top brush from Jessup. 

With these brushes, my makeup applies so much nicer. The powder brush sets my foundation with less product than my kabuki brush, as well as being so much softer and gentler on my face. A lot of these brushes are pretty equal with my Jessup brushes in what they do and how they apply. 

My favourite brushes from this set is the small blending brush and the powder brush. 

If you want to know how I clean them, I have a post and a couple of videos up on youtube that tell you how I do it. I've also found a new way to do it, and all that involves is micellar water, a cup and a towel.

Overall, I recommend this brushes to any one who asks. They are incredible. Super soft, super easy to use, blend well, and pick up the perfect amount of product. 

Thanks for readying guys! Any suggestions for future posts, just hit me up.
Shannen xx

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

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Twitter: _kaleidocolours

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For business inquiries: xkaleidoscopecolours@gmail.com 

Where Have I Been?

I know its been a few months since a post, but I've been working hard at school. Holidays are  coming up, so I'm getting really organised while I have a bit of time to relax and not worry about any assignments.

I have ideas coming out of my ears at the moment, which was also a bit of a problem and reason why I haven't been posting. I was having the worst writers block!.

So, I thought I'd just write a quick post to let you guys know that I'm still alive. And I'm hoping to get back into it, or at least have ideas written down and ready to go for when I get some spare time to write a post.

If you wanna know what I'm up to, and if I'm not posting too often here, check out my instagram which I'll link down below. I update the most often there.

Thanks for sticking around guys!
Shannen xx

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

Instagram: _shannenlorraine

Twitter: _kaleidocolours

Blog: http://kaleidocolours.blogspot.co.nz

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For business inquiries: xkaleidoscopecolours@gmail.com 

Monday, 29 June 2015

Outfits of the Week #1

I thought I'd start a new fashion orientated series, where I take photos of my outfits, and then put them in a post. I'll include sizes and where I got the clothing from in case you guys like a certain piece and wanna check it out for yourselves. 

So welcome to my first outfits of the week post. 

Let's get started!

Monday was a lazy home day so I was in my pyjamas all day, so no photo for this one! 

Tuesday I had my first day of work at my new job. My dress code entails I wear mostly dark colours. I wore a polka dot shirt which I got from JayJays, a navy striped jumper, also from JayJays, coated skinny jeans, what a surprise they're from JayJays too, and a pair of combat boots from Rubi Shoes. That same day I wore a necklace set from JayJays too. 


Wednesday was another work day. That day I wore a black polka dot dress from JayJays, a jumper from Supre, 120 denier tights from Equip and the same Rubi combat boots. I forgot to take an outfit selfie for this day, so I recreated the outfit in a (hopefully) artistic way. 

Thursday was my last day of work for the week, as well as late night shopping. I'm on the hunt for a dress for my 21st, so if you have any suggestions for shops or sites that I can check out, let me know! I wore some leggings from Kmart, a top I picked up from SaveMart for $6 and my short black cardigan from JayJays. I wore some black riding boots that I bought from WildPair. 

Friday was another at home day, so no outfit selfie as I was in my pyjamas again all day. If you wanna see my pyjamas then let me knownhaha. They generally consist of pants and a hoodie! 

On Saturday, it was a chill day. A lot warmer than it had been during the week, so I forgoed tights that day. I wore a black floral dress from JayJays and a khaki cardigan from there as well. I wore some small boots that's I got from 
WildPair too. 

Sunday I also forgot to take an outfit selfie, but I helped Blake build a fence so I got incredibly dirty! 

So there was the first weekly outfits post. I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Also, I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I've been so busy with assignments but now I'm on holiday so I can hopefully get back on track. I'm also thinking about altering my upload schedule for my blog and YouTube as at the moment with studying, doing it all on the same day is difficult. If you have any suggestions let me know! 

Shannen xx
Don't forget to check out all my other sites and follow me!

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Saturday, 23 May 2015

Estee Lauder DoubleWear First Impression

I can't remember if this is my first first impression or not. But I really like these, and I'm not yet ready for the commitment it takes to film a first impression, so I thought I'd blog about it instead. It's a bit simpler, considering I'm at school all day, so I can just take a selfie instead of filming every few hours.

Any ways, enough of a blurb. I got a free sample of Estee Lauder's DoubleWear liquid foundation. I was colour matched to Ecru. Now as I believe from what the lady told me, Ecru is a neutral shade meaning it isn't too warm or too cool. I am a NW15 at MAC if this helps anyone. I basically have to buy the lightest shade in foundation I can find in the winter time and not many brands carry such light shades. Thankfully DW does.

I'm going to insert photos from throughout the day right now, and then give my impression on this foundation.

Straight after applying it was amazing. It's a full coverage foundation, and it definitely was. Aside from the bumps on my skin, it covered the redness and any flat blemishes I had. It's also the best I've seen my under eye circles, even though I did still wear concealer. It was a very matte foundation, so I added highlighter.

Approximately 5 hours later, the foundation had barely moved. I had some disappear on my nose but thats normal for me coz I touch it a lot. I also got no smudging under my eyes from my mascara or eyeliner either which is a big plus in my book. The only thing I noticed was that my highlighter wasn't as highlightery anymore.

By the end of the day before I took my makeup off, the foundation was still pretty good and I could probably have gone for a few more hours without needing to touch up at all. The only places where it had worn off was my nose and lips, but thats because I removed my lipstick, and again rub my nose a lot.

I'm definitely in love with this foundation. The only issue I have is that Estee Lauder is a brand that still tests on animals, so I am going to have to look for a dupe. If you have any suggestions let me know, I would be keen to try!

Also, if you like first impressions or anything similar, let me know and I'll keep them up!

Shannen xx
YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

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Saturday, 9 May 2015

DIY Scrubs for Face and Body!

One weekend Blake and I went out, bought a load of stuff and made things with said stuff. I thought I would document the experiment and give a recipe for all my lovely readers to follow. 

This recipe is just for a simple body scrub. You can change it how you please, add or remove or swap around the different ingredients.

The ingredients you will need (in a basic sense) is coconut oil (or any other kinda oil ya like), brown sugar, sea salt, tea tree (if you have acne prone skin) and any essential oils that you like (we used lavender) 

First, chuck some sea salt in a bowl. This amount depends on how much you wanna make.  

Next you wanna put the sugar in the bowl with the salt. You only need about half of how much salt  you put in. so like a 1:0.5 ratio, or something like that. 

 Now blob tonnes of coconut oil (or whatever oil you used) into the bowl. And when I say tonnes I mean like 3 or 4 tablespoons. Measurements don't really matter, you just gotta play it by ear.

 Oh I forgot! You need honey and bicarb soda. The honey is good for skin, and I can't remember why the soda is in there, but I think it helps with exfoliating. Refer to Pinterest for that one. 

 This is where you put your oils in. You only need a few drops of each. Especially if you are using tea tree oil as it can be harsh on the skin if you use way too much.

Now mush it all together! You want a kind of solid, but not much, but kinda pliable mixture. It needs to be solid enough to not slop of your body when you're rubbing it around but you need it soft enough to smoosh it in and exfoliate that beautiful body.

 And voila! Into a pretty container it goes for storage, until the next time!

I hope you guys enjoyed this! We had heaps of fun making these. 
We also made a coffee scrub which is almost the same recipe except you don't use honey or bicarb soda or essential oils and instead you use instant coffee.

Let me know if you gave it a go!
Shannen xx

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

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Saturday, 25 April 2015

ModelCo Lipstick Swatches and Review


Not too long ago I got gifted three ModelCo lipsticks. They are the Party Proof Matte Lipsticks. I have got three colours. Disco Fever, Peony and Red Velvet.
Disco Fever is an orange, but quite muted. It also leans a bit more peach than actual true orange.
Peony is a red, but again quite muted. It is also not a true red, being more pink based.
Lastly, we have Red Velvet. This colour is a true red, although a bit darker than most. It's hanging in between neutral red and blue based red.

All of these colours are beautiful and last really well on the lips. The only thing I have to say about them is that they're not matte like stated. Instead I would call them more of a satin finish, maybe even a demi-matte. They still have a bit of shine to them, like you will see in the pictures below. The packaging is well done too. It's nice and simple, with the name of the product on the front. The font is also in the colour of the lipstick, so you don't even have to open the tube to know what colour it is. Another great thing about the packaging is that no matter what way you store it, you're going to know what colour it is because there is a label on the bottom, but the top is see through as well. It's really great. Even though they're not actually matte, they're awesome and they smell great.


 Shannen xx
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Saturday, 11 April 2015

AContour Kit: Swatches and Review


I'm sure you have all heard of the Anastasia Beverly Hills contour kits. They're all the rage at the moment, either powder or cream. So today I am bringing to you a cheaper alternative. ABH Contour Kit runs at $40US, this is roughly $50NZ. Since not everyone has a spare $50 lying around, if you can get your hands on it, pick up the Australis AContour Kit. This can be purchased from Farmers for $21.50. That's less than half of what the ABH Kit is worth! I have tried both the ABH kit and obviously the Australis one. I prefer the Australis one. Not only is it so much more cheaper, but I also found it to be a whole lot more pigmented. Both brands don't test on animals either, which is a massive plus in my book!

The only downside about the Australis contour kit is that it only comes in the one "shade". I'm super pale, (MAC NW15) and it still suits me fine. I'm not sure how it would work if you have darker skin.

Heres the ABH Contour Kit versus the Australis AContour Kit:
ABH Contour Kit
Australis AContour Kit
As you can see, they are pretty much the same. The quality is basically the same too, so it just depends on whether you want to spend $50 or $20. You really can't go wrong with either. 

I'll leave some swatches of the Australis kit below so you can see a real life swatch of the colours. 
Swatches of the highlight shades

Swatches of the contour shades
I hope this helps you out, and that the swatches help. I really love the Australis Contour Kit, and if you've tried it, let me know how you got on with it!

Shannen xx
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Saturday, 4 April 2015

W7 In The Buff Pallette Swatches


I bought this palette in a makeup sale a little while ago, I have a video with the haul that these are mentioned it which I'll link below, at $15. A nice cheap palette from a brand I have heard good things about. The first thing that attracted me to this palette was it's likeness for Urban Decay's Naked palettes. This one in particular is a dupe for Naked 2. The colour are pretty much identical. I plan on purchasing the other 2 palletes in this range which are In The Nude and In The Buff: Lightly Toasted. Especially considering how cheap they are and the quality that they are as well. Another awesome thing about w7 is that they don't test on animals! That's a huge deal for me as I'm trying really hard to purchase cruelty free brands.

So as I said, I paid $15 for this palette. I could've got 2 for $25, which I now wish I did. But as I hadn't tried this brand before, I didn't want to spend heaps only to not like it. You get 12 shadows in this palette that range in shades as well as finishes. There are some mattes, some shimmers, and some metallics. It's a nice range to choose from when doing my makeup. As you can tell in the swatches, the quality is incredible. The pigmentation is to die for. They blend really well. Just overall these are great eye shadows. I highly recommend them if you can get your hands on them!


First up we have Buff, Camel and Sand. Buff is a matte yellow white shade that's excellent for brow bone highlighting. Camel is a metallic bronze shade. Sand is a warm white shade that's also a good highlight.

Here we have Dust, Chocolate and Topaz. Dust is a more brown version of Camel. Chocolate is a warm taupe matte shade. This one is my favourite in this palette. The last one, Topaz is a very brown bronze shade, also a metallic/shimmery type of shade.

The next three are all semi matte, satin shades. Theres Earth, which is a browner version of Chocolate. Storm is a dark grey with a olive undertone. Lastly there's Silk, which is a beautiful Champagne colour.

The last three swatches are Wave, Thunder and Onyx. Wave is the darkest brown in the palette, but still quite similar to Earth and Topaz. Thunder and Onyx are the darkest colours in the whole palette, but both are beautiful. Thunder is the love child of Onyx and Storm, but with brown undertones, Whereas Onyx is just a straight up matte black shade. 

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know if you've tried any of these palettes, and what you think of them!

Shannen xx
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Saturday, 14 March 2015

Battle of the Cruelty Free Eyebrow Products

As a strong lover of all things makeup, I am trying to build my collection in a cruelty free way. This can be quite difficult as there is limited products to choose from in New Zealand. It's also quite difficult to know who is actually cruelty free, because some sites are not very reliable. So here I am bringing you a post that will help you bring a decent cruelty free brand.

First topic of this maybe ongoing series is eyebrow products. Now we all know that eyebrows are important, they frame the face. So we need good products that will do that, and last.

The first product is a well known brand called E.L.F. I picked mine up from K-mart for $10 and it's in the colour Ash Blonde. This will also be well known as Shaaanxo uses it a lot in her videos. E.L.F. is a famous cruelty free brand, as well as being super affordable.

The second product is Australis Eyebrow pencil. This was about $12 I think, and is also from K-mart. Mine is in Blonde. This is much warmer than the E.L.F. product, but is really nice and easy for me to use if I'm in a rush.

The last product is W7 Brow Twister in Hazel Blonde. I got this from a makeup sale and I technically paid $5 for it. It was part of a 2 for $10 deal. This is my most recent purchase and is also the darkest out of the 3. I wasn't too sure about the status of cruelty free -ness on this brand. I had to do extensive research to find it out, and thankfully it is. It's also a UK brand, which I've been told has very strict rules and regulations on animal testing making it very difficult to actually test on animals.

At the moment, my W7 brow pencil is my favourite. Its not as quick and easy as my Australis pencil, but it doesn't take as long to do my brows if I used E.L.F. and a brush. I use E.L.F. when I have heaps of time to focus on really stencilling my brows on. E.L.F is definitely the perfect match for my brows, but I'm really enjoying the darkness of W7 right now. It might have something to do with me growing my hair out so my natural hair colour appears darker in comparison to the bleach, but I'm not really sure. Australis is too warm for my hair colour in general, but just to chuck it on lightly in a rush does the job, so I'm not going to complain.

If you have any of these products, let me know how you like them. Or if you buy one of them after reading this, let time know how they work for you.

Don't forget to check out my links listed below. If you have any idea how I can get all my links and social media to match my Instagram username, let me know. I've been trying to get them all to match for ages!

Shannen xx

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Saturday, 28 February 2015

Life Update


I'm having a huge writer's block at the minute, so I thought I'd take a step back from my normal posts and give you all a quick update.

I'm even struggling to write this. I really need to sit down and plan ahead. I have returned to studying so I've been a bit busy this last week and I kind of let my blog fall behind a little. But now that I've returned to a good routine, I'll be able to organise and plan a lot better. So watch this space for bigger and better blog posts. There will be all the normal makeup posts, DIY posts, and fashion posts, but I'm thinking about including the odd student post. Posts about how to organise yourself for study,  healthy eating for students or people on a budget, and a whole bunch more DIY aimed at students or budget living. 

If you have any requests for posts you'd like to see, let me know! I am definitely keen to hear any feedback or comments. I would love to hear from my readers! 

I'm going to talk a little bit about where I see my blog going as well. Right now, my blog is a hobby. It's something I enjoy doing in my downtime. It will always be a hobby of mine. I never want to stop posting and sharing my ideas with you guys. At it's very core, it is always going to be a fashion and beauty blog, but I do want to take it on a branch of architectural and interior design blogging too as this is my life goal and what I aspire to be when I grow up. 

Throughout my course, blog posts will be once or twice a week, depending on workloads from my lecturers. In my course breaks and holidays, I will try to increase this to approximately 3 or 4 times a week. 

Now with my YouTube, which I hope you've all checked out and subscribed too (I'll leave the link below (:), I will stick to my one video a week in my course time. This may increase to twice a week, depending on how much footage I've got building up. A lot of that is going to be pre filmed, aside from the odd video, just because I do want to focus on my studies. Although, when I say pre filmed, it will have been filmed the week or two prior to being uploaded. 

Any requests for videos you'd like to see, please let me know! Ideas for videos are harder for me to think of because the whole 'talking to a camera' thing is still kinda new to me. 

Now to connect these two hobbies together, my main blog posts and that week's video may be connected to each other. For example I might do a blog post about a brand, and then that week's video might be a makeup look using that brand. That kind of stuff. Ya know how it is.

Aside from all of my hobbies and studying, I've been working on getting healthier. I've started yoga and pilates, and do about and hour to an hour and a half of exercise a day. So there might even be blog posts and videos on my getting healthy. If you're interested of course. 

So that's all thats new to my life at the moment. Study and getting healthy being the main changes.
I'm looking forward to this year and what it will bring. I'm also looking forward to being super organised. I've been watching a ton of videos about decorating planners and diaries. If you wanna see how I've decorated and organised mine, let me know in the comments below, or even on my Facebook page.

I hope that you guys now understand the recent sporadic posting. I will get it under control.
Thanks for your support guys. 

Shannen xx

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCjNKymrFCLKvcEZ4rqupZQw

Instagram: _shannenlorraine

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Wednesday, 18 February 2015

LookBook #2: Kimonos

Welcome to my second lookbook! Today we have an insight into how I personally style my kimonos. My entire collection (all 4 of them) comes from JayJays. I will also write down where I got the rest of my outfit from as well.

I hope this helps/encourages you to embrace the kimono!

Look #1: Winter

Top: JayJays
Jeans: JayJays
Boots: Kmart

 Look #2: Spring
Dress: JayJays
Sandals: Lippy

 Look #3: Autumn
Dress: JayJays
Boots: Kmart

 Look #4: Summer
Top: JayJays
Shorts: JayJays
Sandals: Lippy

Yes, I know I own a lot of JayJays. I can't help it. They have awesome stuff.
Let me know how you liked this cookbook. Personally, this is way better than my first one, which you can see here: http://kaleidocolours.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/daisies-are-new-black.html
But that's what happens when you get more confident and comfortable, isn't it?

Shannen xx
All photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used
Photos taken by Blake <3 

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Ankle Boots: Flattering ways to wear them

 With ankle boots, there is basically two standard, universally flattering ways to wear them. 

The first way is to wear them with anything that sits above the knee. This is because the ankle boot tends to cut you off at the skinniest part of your ankle. To counter act this, you need to show the other skinniest part of your leg which is your knee. This lengthens the leg, and doesn't cut you off, making you look short. 

The second way is more for winter time, or for people who prefer to wear jeans. The same idea applies, so as the boot cuts you off at your skinniest, you need to show a bit of flesh above the boot to give the illusion of a lengthened leg. To do this, all you need to do is roll your jeans up, leaving no more than an inch between the top of your boot and the bottom of the roll.  This achieves the same goal as counter balancing. It lengthens the leg and we avoid looking like we have short legs. 

With boots, never pull your jeans over the top unless they are flared or a boot cut. If you wear skinny jeans with boots, roll them, or bunch them up so they are sitting just on top of the boot. We are giving the illusion of a lengthened leg.

I've included photos of five different types of boots to give an idea of how they can be worn. I have included a pair of heeled boots, two different style of ankle boots with a cut out, a short riding boot style and a pair of combat/military boots.

Heeled Boots

Tassle Boots with Cut-out

JC Coltrane style Boots

Short Riding Style Boots

Doc Martens

Of course with any style, your personal style works best. This is just simply a guideline. A lot of these boots can still look great all bunched up and grunge-y looking. or really neat and tidy rolls. It really doesn't matter as long as you are happy with how it looks. 

I hope you enjoyed this post!
Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Shannen xx
Photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used

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Wednesday, 4 February 2015

How I Clean My Makeup Brushes

Before I get started, there is about a 75% chance that I'm also going to film a video of how I clean my makeup brushes. I'm not entirely sure how well I explain in this post, so it might be easier explained if I film it too. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

So, first up, you are going to need olive oil, washing up liquid, a plate and all your brushes that you are cleaning. The olive oil is to keep your brushes soft, the washing up liquid is to disinfect and clean, and the plate is to mix it all together.


Grab your first brush and swirl it around for about 30 seconds on the plate, mixing the oil and washing up liquid together. You should see the product coming off the brush. Eventually the liquid on the plate will turn an ugly brown colour. As I was also cleaning a lip brush and eyeliner brush in this lot, mine went reddish. Red from the lipstick, and slightly darker because of the black from the eyeliner. 


Repeat this till all the brushes are saturated in oil and washing up liquid. Once you have done this, plate the plate in the sink, lined up so when the tap is turned on, the water hits the middle of the plate.  With warm water running, you're basically going to copy the same process above, except with water. Swirl the brushes around the plate until the water runs clear. This can take a while with some brushes, like my bronzer brushes I was swirling for a few minutes. 


Again, repeat this until all the brushes are done. I always squeeze any excess water out of the brushes and then lay them on the sides, so the bristles are hanging in the sink. Mainly because they drain into the sink, but also this keeps the handles safe from getting too wet and being destroyed.

I also have a beauty blender to clean when i do all my other brushes, so I'm going to quickly explain how I do this.

Firstly, I soak my beauty blender. Once fully soaked in warm water, I rub a bar of soap all over it, massaging the soap in and lathering it up. I then rinse it out and repeat. I do this about 3 or four times, making sure I lather up heaps and rub it in and around and rinse thoroughly. 

I leave them out drying overnight, so always do this the night before you want to use them.
I hope this helps, and I explained it clearly. Don't be afraid to leave any questions or comments!

Shannen xx
Photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used

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Saturday, 31 January 2015

Matte Lip Creams; Swatches and Comparisons




At the moment, in the makeup world, there has been an insurgence of lip creams, glosses and stains. These are really good if you want a bright opaque colour, but don't like to reapply every hour or so. They are a great way to finish off any outfit, by either making it a stand out point, or matching it to an aspect of your outfit.

I have 3 Australis Velour Lips and 2 Lime Crime Velvetines that I am going to swatch and compare for you today. In my personal opinion, Velour Lips are a cheaper alternative to Velvetines, as they retail for about $15 whereas Velvetines are about $30.

Both brands are great if you are trying to abstain from purchasing cruel products, as they are both against animal testing. I'm not sure if either brand is completely vegan, but at least they are one step closer to being vegan.

I'm going to swatch Lime Crime first, as I only have 2. I also find that Velvetines are a much thinner formula than Australis. With every swatch, I'm going to include a photo with flash, and without so that you can get a better idea of what the colours look like.

The first colour is Utopia. It is a bright purple colour with pink, or warm, undertones. This formula is quite thin and I find two coats is perfect.

With Flash

Without Flash


The next colour is Wicked. Wicked is a dark, vampy red. This is thicker in formula than Utopia and only requires one good coat.

With Flash

Without Flash


The first Australis colour is called Rio'D. It's a very bright, even neon, orange. I find that the formula for these are very thick, and can be quite drying.

No Flash

With Flash


Second is called Ma-Li-Boo. This colour is a very bright pink. Its quite a true pink in my opinion, as I can't see it swaying towards warmer or cooler tones.

With Flash

Without Flash


Lastly, we have Ny-Cee. This is a real 50s pin-up kind of red. A lighter version to Lime Crime's Wicked. It's definitely blue based rather than orange.

With Flash

Without Flash


I hope this post helped you out with the different matte lip products you can get. This is just comparing two different brands, but there are countless more out there on the market. If you liked this post, let me know and I can see what other lip swatches and comparisons I can do.

Shannen xx
Photos taken on a Canon 600D
18-55mm lens used
PicMonkey.com used to edit photos

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