Top 5 Fragrances

For a long time now I’ve been wanting to overhaul my perfumes. I think when I first got properly into perfume (around 2008) I didn’t realise how long it took to get through a bottle, and now that 8 or so years have passed, my tastes have definitely changed and I’ve honed in on the kind of thing I really enjoy and want to wear. Fragrance is definitely an investment, but I’ve found for years that it can positively influence my mood when I’m getting ready to go out, and there are definitely certain scents that I associate with certain coloured clothes or that I love wearing on special occasions. It can be a really subtle thing, but that’s why I love it so much.

I should probably start by describing what I like in a fragrance and what all of these have in common. I'm into really masculine scents, think warm, spicy and woody over fresh, citrus or floral. My appearance is pretty classically feminine, i.e. long hair, makeup and in a skirt or dress 99% of the time, so I really like the contrast of wearing a masculine scent and the way the right fragrance paired with the right outfit makes you feel like a total badass.

Top 5 Concealers

I can't explain why but I really enjoy trying out different concealers and I found it pretty difficult to narrow my favourites down to just 5. For me these tend to be good all rounders and I really enjoy using each of them. I'll start with the drugstore options first - the Maybelline Age Rewind (in Fair) gets talked about a lot and it's for good reason. Some people have an issue with the little sponge applicator and think it's unhygienic, but I can assure you I've never come close to getting an eye infection or breaking out under my eyes because of this concealer so I wouldn't let it worry you too much. Plus the sponge applicator, although a bit weird and certainly unique to this product, actually applies and sheers out the products really, really nicely. I can just sweep it on and lightly pat it in with my finger and I'm done, so it's one of the quickest to apply of any that I own. I'd say it's a light-medium coverage concealer, not really enough to cover up recent post acne hyper-pigmentation, but enough for dark circles and it never looks cakey or heavy under they eye.

Empties

Yeah, I'm coming at you with another massive empties post because I don't have my life together enough to post these more often so they're probably always going to be huge. I thought the best way to do it was to split them into categories and I actually photographed them that way too to make life easier for everyone!

Hawaii Haul

Long time no see! Sorry everyone, real life and all that. Mostly good things though, I might do a life update type post soon but for now I have a haul! I spent a week in Hawaii on a family holiday at the end of October and naturally I paid a few visits to Sephora while I was there. Between Mecca and Sephora these days there aren't a lot of brands that we're still deprived of in Australia - it's really just the holiday sets and minis where we miss out, so you'll notice that most of what I bought in Hawaii falls into one of those categories. Plus there are still a couple of brands (MAC) that unfairly jack up the prices so buying them in the US is a lot cheaper even with the crappy exchange rate at the moment. I realise this is a LOT of stuff, but I went a couple of weeks after my birthday so I had some spending money and wanted to treat myself, plus it's always nice to get things while you're on holiday so they remind you of being away. I did actually pick up a few more things from the drugstore that aren't pictured because I knew this post was going to be long enough already, and of course I bought myself some seasonal candles from Bath & Body Works which I was pretty excited about, but here is almost everything I bought and what I think of it so far.

California: LA, San Francisco & Big Sur

LOS ANGELES

Getting out of my airport shuttle and seeing my friend from home, Caitlin, waiting for me and running towards each other to hug, visiting the Elliott Smith wall and Charles Bukowski's bungalow, speculoos cookie butter and pumpkin toaster pastries from Trader Joe's, Amoeba Records, all you can eat Tacos for $5, appreciating the many beards in baseball, Caitlin's first trip to Disneyland (and my third Disneyland of my holiday), the Halloween themed Haunted House and Space Mountain rides and all the Halloween decorations around the park, staying to watch the 7pm parade because Caitlin had always wanted to see it, pick & mix lollies from Dylan's candy bar, Santa Monica pier, hiring bikes and riding around Venice Beach, pancakes and a chai milkshake for dinner with the lovely miss Valerie at the 101 Coffee Shop!

SAN FRANCISCO

Top 5 Powders

It's a little tricky to make a photo of five circles look pretty, but I tried. Continuing on with my Top 5 series, as you may have guessed, these are my top 5 powders. Now I expect a lot from powders, I've got oily skin and need a powder to pull its weight when it comes to oil control without making my skin look horrible and cakey. In my pre-beauty obsessed days the powder I relied on was MAC's Studio Fix which is actually a powder foundation so it has a decent amount of coverage. Good if your makeup tends to wear away throughout the day, but it doesn't really offer the natural, skin-like finish that I'm after these days.

Top 5 Blushes

So you may be a little confused about the title of this post, "Top 5 Blushes" when the photo clearly has six blushes in it, but let me explain - I'm an idiot and I couldn't choose! But there are only five formulas here so that's what I'm going with! I thought I'd start a "top 5" series on my blog, (sorry for cheating on the very first one) because I though it would be fun to work my way through my makeup collection and share my favourite products in each category with you guys.

Boston & Orlando

This might be a bit confusing but I've combined two places into one post because either I didn't have a lot to say about them (Orlando) or I didn't have a lot of photos (Boston/Lowell.) And sorry for posting out of order but in case you were wondering I flew to Boston from Reykjavik because I wanted to visit my favourite writer Jack Kerouac's hometown of Lowell which is about an hour North. So I had a couple of days in Boston and then I caught the train to New York and stayed for a month there, and then I went to Orlando exclusively for the theme parks & the Kennedy Space Centre, and then on to LA.

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, ORLANDO

New York

Well this post has been a long time coming. It's literally been a year since I was in New York and I'm only just getting around to posting about it (oops.) In case you weren't a reader of my blog a year ago I took 5 months off life and went around the world. If you're interested in seeing any photos from my time in Iceland, Europe or Egypt you can check out my travel tag. I spent an incredible two and a half months in the US so there'll be a couple more posts coming after this one - and no, it shouldn't take me another year to get to them!

In My Secret Life #3

International Beauty: Best of British

For the final part of my International Beauty series we're heading to the UK. Most brands that are available in the UK are also around in Australia these days, but annoyingly there are a handful that manage to elude us unless we take the long trip across the pond (not just for concealer and dry shampoo, mind you.) If you're lucky enough to find yourself in the motherland, here are some brands and products that are worth keeping an eye out for.

Empties

First things first, yes that's technically a photo of my garbage. I tend to think that empties videos on YouTube work a bit better than a blog post but since I don't make YouTube videos, this is what we're working with. The best part about empties is seeing what products people have finished til the end, what they thought of them after using them for a while and most importantly, whether or not they'd spend the money on them again. Finishing makeup is extremely rare for me so this is mostly skincare but hopefully you like these mini reviews and find them helpful.

Current Beauty Favourites

It feels like it's about time to share some recent beauty favourites with you guys. They're almost all new discoveries except for one old favourite that's made a comeback - so I'll start with the makeup first.

International Beauty: Best of the USA

Continuing on with my International Beauty series (check out my French Skincare post if you missed it) next stop is the States. With Sephora opening in Sydney at the end of last year and Mecca going from strength to strength, there are very few brands and products that we still can't get our hands on over here, but they do exist and when you can't have something you want we all know it only makes you want it more. I have mentioned some brands/products in this post that we can now get at Sephora, but since most of the country can't get their hands on them and there are lots of brands that are still unavailable in the UK/EU I thought I'd include them anyway. So if you're into beauty and you're planning a trip to the States, here are some things you can't miss!

International Beauty: Best of French

Having recently travelled around the world trying makeup and skincare products far and wide I thought I'd start a little series on my blog about products to check out when you're overseas, especially because some of them can be near-impossible to get your hands on back home. First up is of course France, my favourite country which is famous for their excellent yet affordable skincare. A lot of it is available either in Priceline or online these days, but it's definitely cheaper in France and there's a much wider range from every brand. Most of these products won't come as any surprise to those of you who are already fans of affordable French skincare, but it doesn't hurt to cover the basics. The best place to go in Paris for these brands is definitely City Pharma, located around the corner from Les Deux Magots and Cafe de Flore on Boulevard Saint-Germain, I made a point of stopping by several times. It's the most ridiculously busy pharmacy (or pharmacie) I've ever been in but it's super well stocked, has the best range and surprisingly has the best prices too. If only I lived a few metro stops away and could visit any time I wanted.

Beauty To Go

Having travelled a fair bit in my time I thought I'd share some of my favourite travel-friendly beauty products and the reasons I chose them. Whether you're going away for a weekend or several months, you're going to have to cart everything around with you and it gets very heavy and tiring after a while, so here are some tips that might make life a little easier.

In My Secret Life: 2

Amelie Dress*, Bandana Bertie Jumper* and French Market Cream Scarf* C/- Joules | Shoes: ASOS (similar) | Belt: Alannah Hill (old)

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Joules might be a French brand given the abundance of Breton striped garments on their website, but they are actually English, and aside from Breton stripes they also have beautiful silk scarves, pretty dresses and jumpers with cute animals on them in abundance. Is is really uncool to colour co-ordinate with the dog on your jumper? Yeah probably, but don't tell me how to live my life. Clearly I'm a rebel without a cause.

Smell the Roses

Surprise, internet! I'm alive after all. March has completely slipped past me this year but I hope you have all been enjoying it. In case I've not made myself clear enough in the past, I do not like winter and I can already notice it getting cooler as we get deeper into Autumn. I haven't had to deal with winter since mid-2013 but there's no getting out of it this year, so I'll just have to grin and bear it like a normal person. I'm bracing myself by pretending Autumn is a fun thing here like it is in the States and burning my cinnamon-pumpkin-caramel-swirl-pancake-cupcake candles that I picked up at Bath & Body Works, drinking pumpkin spice chai and dreaming of baking pumpkin pies.

Current Beauty Favourites

Since I clearly don't have my life together enough to get out any kind of monthly favourites, I thought I'd just do alternating beauty and general/life favourites throughout the year and see how it goes. For my beauty favourites lately the star of the show has to be the Tarte Tartelette palette which will hopefully come to the Sydney Sephora soon, but I managed to get my hands on it because my friend brought it back for me from the US in January. This is what it looks like on the inside, and although I pretty much always use shimmery shadows as well, it's totally invaluable having a neutral matte palette because you have so many shades to choose from for your crease that there'll be something to compliment your look no matter what. The quad pictured is actually a MAC quad filled with MakeupGeek eyeshadows. After hearing so many YouTubers talk about them I decided to finally pick out a few for myself (L-R, top to bottom) - Moondust, Hipster (lol), Prom Night & Barcelona Beach. I also could not stop thinking about the pigment in Utopia which is a stunning antiqued gold that is INFINITELY more beautiful than it comes across in my crappy swatch up above. In fact, just ignore my swatch altogether and look at the one on their website, trust me. The shadows really are everything they're cracked up to be, and there although they all look pretty much the same in the photo (yeah, I know), they're actually really unique, interesting colours when you use them on your lips.

In My Secret Life

Apparently I used to post more lifestyle-ish content and things that aren't 100% beauty related and I wanted to bring some of that back, so I thought I'd just do a roundup style post of things I've been up to and into lately.