Sample Challenge Week 2

This week, I'll be using up the following:

Sample one I will be using this week is another from Benefit, The POREfessional primer.
I already own a full size version of this, so using the sample is more annoying than anything,  I don't have any friends or relatives here to give it to (I have friends here, but most of them are male, and probably wouldn't be grateful enough to waste my time)

Sample 2 is a sample of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo, I have heard good things about this, so I picked it as one of my 3 sample with my first ever (direct) order from Sephora, I try not to pick skincare samples because I never like them, and this was one of the few makeup samples available.
I recently had a 'Celebrity brows' treatment, where we worked out my brows are slightly short, and for some stupid reason getting more sparse at the nose end, when they were filled in a little they looked fab, so I'm eager to try this one.

Benefit Big Easy- Multi-Balancing Complexion Perfector (A BB cream?) NO, Bigger than BB. (what?)
Blah blah blah, I don't really know what makes this so special, I think it's just a BB cream with a Benefit kitchy spin on it.

I also got this sample with  my Sephora order, and usually I hate complexion samples because inevitably, they are just too dark, but not this one...

The Big Easy has a teeny tiny sample of every colour the product comes in. Bravo Benefit, I can actually trial this product properly, although it is a teeny tiny sample, so perhaps, just trial it on my nose?

How's every one going with their sample challenge? Are you getting through them? Did you at least admit defeat and hand everything over to an unsuspecting friend, your sister or mum? Either way, did you get rid of some of those dastardly samples that just keep accumulating?

Too Faced Chocolate Box- My Thoughts

Forest Gump's Mama said that 'Life was Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gnna get''

This is kind of how I felt when I ordered this palette.  Mixed reviews had me wondering if this would be 'yet another' palette stuck in the bottom of the drawer, because it sucked....

I'm sure everyone knows enough about this palette already to know, that it is chocolate themed nudes, made with 100% cocoa powder.  '16 anti-oxidant rich cocoa powder infused matte and shimmer shades' to be precise.

What that means to you and me is this : 16 shades of eye shadow, named along a cute chocolate theme, that smell AMAZING.  I know this, because my 4 year old agreed, and he is the most honest person I know.

The palette itself is a cute tin in the shape of a chocolate bar:

It comes with a great little leaflet to show you a few looks to get you started.  I love these, I know how to apply eye makeup, but I like to follow the instructions perfectly to see if they are terrible.  Do we remember the UD Smoked Palette? I followed that perfectly and it was terrible.

ANYWAY, I digress....my one little and some what silly gripe about this is that it tells you to use the shade 'Hot Cocoa' in the look, of the same name....but where is this colour?  This colour doesn't exist in my palette, because when they translated the names from French to English, they renamed this 'Hot Chocolate', they did not rename it in the English instructions.  Is it a big deal? No, does it ruin the palette? No, does it bug me? because when paying for a premium product I expect details to be perfect? a little.

The palette on the inside:

Isn't it pretty? 

These shadows are a great size, I love my Naked palettes as much as the next beauty blogger, but I hate that they are so thin, albeit a long shape.  These are just right for a makeup brush.

Also....I LOVE that Too Faced gave you extra big base/highlight colours.  I like to think the discussion in the Too Faced Product Development Office went like this....

1: We should put more colours in...

2. Na, lets just make the 2 colours you would use the most, REALLY big

So they did, I applaud this, I am a fan of ratios, seriously, you should see me eating dip...I am incredibly conscious of the ratio of dip to dipping food.

The ratio of base colour to 'actual' colour is great. 

There is a nude matte, 'White Chocolate' and a beautiful pale pink shimmer 'Champagne Truffle' for my skin tone, these are perfect for any look I would want to create.

I didn't do swatches, I'm sure everyone had seem millions of them.  I didn't find them as chalky as a lot of bloggers did, but then I wouldn't EVER use eye shadow without a primer, which I think combats most of this problem.

My biggest issue with this palette is the lack of names on the palette itself, there is one of those horrible plastic covers with the names on it, which means I have to keep it forever, or forget the names.  It's a pain.  Makeup Production Companies of the world...STOP DOING THIS.

I know it is probably because you sell your product all over the world and rather than make a palette for each, you print a plastic sheet, but really, we don't mind if you want to name a product in another language.  Just as long as you know, most of us will pronounce it wrongly...

I love this palette, the durability of the palette is great, it doesn't feel like it will break like the reinforced card ones do.  I feel like it is a stand alone product.  I am constantly searching for the perfect 'all you need' palette, I don't know why, because lets face it, I'm never likely to travel light on makeup...BUT I do like having the choice, the mix of shimmer, to sparkle, to matte is great.  The colour selection is love.

All in all, I love this palette, and I increasingly find myself reaching for it more than my Nakeds...

Do you have this palette? Would you use it? Should eye shadows even have a scent?

Sample Challenge

If you are anything like me, you probably have a collection of samples that resembles this:

Or worse....

Anyway, I'm setting myself a challenge, each week I will challenge myself to use, give away, or chuck out at least 2 samples.  I'll let you know what they are, and maybe you can join me.  Think of it as clearly space and racking up empties for an end of month post!

This week:

It's Potent Eye Cream, from Benefit.  

I had a mini jar of this that I for in a taster kit last year, and I really liked it, I never bought a full sized jar because I seem to always have eye cream samples floating around.  When I was in Debenhams (Read: Myer) the other day, I was given this, I will use it up, this week, well, I'll start, it looks like a pretty deluxe sample.

 The Microdelivery Triple Acid Brightening Peel, from Philosophy.
To be honest, the name of this scares me, ACID? on my FACE? anyway, I've looked it up and found it is pretty weak.  I had to look it up, the instructions on the back were pretty useless.

I know I could be using up many more in my week, but most of my samples are skin care, and I just don't want to subject my face to that much change.

Sample Challenge: in the words of Incubus: Are You In?

The Return of Makeup and Smell the Coffee....

Makeup and Smell the Coffee is back, and a new and evolved version of itself, because I don't fit into an Aussie Blogger category, but also not a British Blogger category, I plan to make my own set of rules.

While I don't intend on this becoming a lifestyle blog, I do intend on widening the range that I write about, there will be the usual FOTDs, reviews, tags and faves, there will also be an expansion of what makeup and beauty products mean to me, the emotions surrounding how it makes us feel, the connection with particular brands or products.  The whole, bigger picture.

So much of what we love about makeup in emotional.  Makeup is one of the few things, where those who have NOTHING to do with it, feel they get an opinion*. Most people who judge another by their hair or clothing, do, themselves, have hair, and wear clothes.  Many of the most judgmental people I have come across, -in regards to makeup- are either men, who don't wear makeup, or women, who don't wear makeup.

Makeup has always been so much more than just about how you look, it has much to do with how you feel.

I personally have a chronic fear of wearing the wrong colour foundation.  This meant for much of my adult life, when I would go to town on eye-makeup, I wouldn't wear foundation.  It took a long time for me to gain the skills and trust in my own eyes, to try.

This stemmed from High School, when one of my fiends did just that.  She wore a powder that made her orange- do you remember how awful girls (and boys) could be in school? She was called 'The Orange Panda'.  I don't even know that the name makes sense, but at the age of 13 I was scared of makeup, of getting it wrong, of getting called names.  So I didn't bother.
16 years later, and I rarely leave the house without at least a tinted moisturiser.  Why? Because, in a full 180, it makes me feel better about myself.

I get so much joy from makeup, applying it to myself, applying it to other people, sharing my knowledge, writing about it, Hell, I even enjoy sorting it out, sitting in the makeup room of my old house, used to just calm me.  Everything was organised and everything was beautiful and mine.  Even washing my makeup brushes can feel therapeutic.

I never had to worry that makeup might not fit, that makeup might make my boobs look small (HA! chance would be a find thing) or my bum look big.  Makeup always fit, it changes with fashions, but not to the same degree, it rarely wears out, and unlike that top, that looked great in the change rooms? Makeup doesn't rely on the trick of the light in the change room, or what a pushy salesperson says.  Makeup is about how you feel wearing it, how you think you look, and what you get from it.

Perhaps, these are the reasons that when I left Australia for the UK, I seemed to pack very few clothes, but THIS is the make up that made the trip.

That, and 12 months in storage isn't such a great idea for makeup.

What are your makeup fears? have you conquered them? do you know how to, if you tried? What does makeup mean to you?

*The other one time that springs to mind is parenting, people who don't have children are the first to dish up advice on how to be a parent.

My Return to Blogging

WOW, if you're reading this, THANK YOU, it means one of a few things, either you were subscribed to me and didn't give up hope, and that's lovely, OR you found my blog accidentally, either way, you're still reading, and that is a big deal.


It has been FAR TOO LONG, and there were many reasons for this, but most of all, it was lack of time, a change in priorities, and a loss of a habit.  However, I am now back in a position to begin again.  It is going to be a long and steep up hill struggle, I know that, but I love to write, and this is my platform.


Without further ado, let me show you a few things I've been up to...

Makeup, obviously.....I've been trying my hand any anything and everything I can, from theater productions of Hairspray involving full drag makeup, to local indie movies where my brief was 'can you make it look like someone has stomped on my face?'

Edna, before (sort of, it was the last night and we had already started the brows when we decided to do a 'before' shot) and after.  This was a lot of fun.  I hadn't even blocked brows out before this, and in true 'Lizzi Style' I practiced on myself first....creepy right? OH and there is no photoshop trickery here, pure makeup 'talent'

As well as the fun and lovely Edna, I was asked if I could create a look for a local movie, they needed a face stomped on, now I'm against violence, so I agreed to create it using makeup.

Again, here's what I did to myself to practice....

Pretty gross right? but I think what I created for the movie, and the before an after shots the director gave me look even worse.....

Then there was Halloween, every MUA's fave holiday, and I am no exception to that rule...

Finally, not content with stage shows and small budget movies, and my own makeup for Halloween, I did the makeup for the most important wedding I'll ever be a part of....

I used airbrush and traditional application methods, you can see various brushes, and Inglot eye shadows, of course...I look like I'm concentrating a LOT....and I was, because what made this day so important, what made the makeup on this day SO critical, and the pressure SO intense, was of course, this was my wedding day...

I did the makeup for my 4 bridesmaids, and myself, I am far too much of a control freak to have had it any other way, and I am so glad I scoffed at everyone's suggestion that I shouldn't do it- even my photographer said I should be being pampered, not doing the pampering...but on the day also stated that if she could have photographed her own wedding, she would have.

So how has marriage changed me? well, now I have someone else to practice all my makeup tricks on, and strangely, he is more than happy to let me- he likes the attention I think...

So apart from makeup and marriage, what else have I been up to? Moving.
At the end of 2013, in order to pursue a dream of Jason's we packed up home and moved...to the UK....not permanently, but for about 12 months, I was granted leave from work, we put the house on the rental market, and we moved...which brings me to now....I have time to blog, and I want to, after all this time...

I want to blog again, and I feel I need to....and with my ever increasing collection of UK makeup? I feel it is my duty to....

What did I miss, I'm sure I stayed on top of most things while I was gone, mostly due to Facebook updates, do you have any questions about my absence, or simply want to see more wedding photos?