May Wishlist

1. Lime Crime Velvetine - Red Velvet

My friend very recently introduced this to me. I immediately fell in love! This matte red lipgloss is meant to be really long lasting and I really want to try it out.

2. Real Techniques - Expert Face Brush

I have recently purchased the Real Techniques Buffing Brush which I use to buff in my foundation. I heard beauty guru 'Tanya Burr' suggest this one instead of the buffing one for foundation and I am really curious to try it out.

3. Borghese - Mud Mask

I read a stella review of this mud mask from beauty guru 'Fleur De Force' and really want to give it a go. As I have mentioned before, I get quite a lot of dirt in my pores around my nose and this is meant to help. I did try and purchase it off Amazon but unfortunately it didn't ship to New Zealand :(

4. Nars - Albatross Highlighter

I have heard great things about the Nars highlighters and have been waiting to give it a try for a while now. What is taking me so long?

5. Mac - Brush Cleanser

I have recently just become really into using brushed for foundation applying. So I really want a cleanser for my brushes to keep them nice. This one is meant to be top notch.

Lady in Red vs Dot

Diamond Collection 'Lady in Red' vs Marc Jacobs 'Dot'

The other day I was browsing through the beauty products isle at Postie when I came across a range of imitation perfumes of more high end products. Of course they were a considerable amount cheaper so I was curious to see how they compared.

I went for the 'Lady in Red' which is described as being "our version of DOT, Marc Jacobs eau de parfum" I don't personally own the Dot perfume but my friend Hanna does and I absolutely love it! It has just been the price tag that has been making me hesitate on the purchase.

Obviously the price of the Lady in Red is a lot friendlier. At $10NZD it is a good deal cheaper than the Dot's price of $134NZD. This is for a 100ml bottle. 

As far as packaging goes, they are very similar. The Marc Jacobs box is definitely more fancy and posh looking but not by much. Both boxes have polka dots, butterflies, matching colour schemes and general layout. The Dot bottle is way nicer in my opinion. Both bottles are made of glass, however the Lady in Red lid is made of plastic and just a very basic butterfly, and the Dot lid is an elaborate glass design.

So overall the packaging for the Dot, Marc Jacobs is nicer than the Lady in Red, but they are still very similar.

Now the most important factor, smell!

The two smells are quite different, and I can only rate them based on my preference.

Dot, by Marc Jacobs, has a very fruity smell. It's fresh, summery and young.

Lady in Red, by Diamond Collection, is a more mature smell. It's quite a subtle, and elegant.

Both are really nice, however I do prefer the Dot here too. Saying this I don't think I would pay the extra money for it. At the end of the day I would but Lady in Red over Dot because the price is more attractive and it does still smell really nice.

Beauty Formulas Apricot Peel Off Facial Mask Review

My younger sister originally bought the cucumber face mask by Beauty Formulas for my mum for mothers day. I was drawn to the Apricot one simply because it is a peel off one and is meant to clear pores. That and the cheap price!

At $6NZD [100ml], it is meant to clear clogged pores of dirt and impurities for a deep down cleansing, and restore the skins radiance and glow. I have a problems with getting blackheads around my nose so I have been tempted for a while now to try out a face mask, in the hopes that it will help clear out the pores in my nose. It is meant for all skin types, I 

have combination skin myself.

The tube was very easy to use and the product smells reasonably strong of artificial apricots, but when on my face I think the smell wasn't noticeable at all. I applied a reasonably thick layer all over my face. It is clear and quite sticky when you apply it but does spread easily. I found that when it starts to dry my face felt quite pinched and wasn't too comfortable, you do kind of get used to it though. 

Here is a photo of the face mask on. Not much to see, just a shiny face.

The bottle suggested leaving it on my 20-30 minutes, I left it on for about 40. It was a bit hard grasping the edges of the mask to peel it off, that could be because I have quite short nail, but once you has the edge it peeled off reasonably easily. It was a little sore to peel off round the sides of my face but apart from that painless. 

Once it was off I rinsed my face with cold water to close the open pores on my face and my skin was left feeling really soft. The blackheads on my nose were not completely gone but definitely reduced.

Overall I am pretty happy with this product. For a product of this price it has worked really well. The only major down fall for me would be the slight pain peeling it off around the sides of my face, but that was very minimal.