MOST LOVED | September '13


It's that time again... monthly Most Loved! September was full of study, study and more study (along with Candy Crush breaks), and October brings with it even more study, as exams begin mid October. My makeup routine has been pretty same old each day, so a smaller amount of loved products this month.

INSTAGRAM ROUND UP | September '13


Here are the snaps I took with Instagram over the past month of September [a little cat heavy].

001. Max is extremely relaxed + loves a good belly rub // 002. My first Sleek order [have reviewed both] // 003. A paw = the perfect blindfold for a good sleep

BH COSMETICS | San Francisco Eyeshadow + Blush Palette - Review + Swatches



This is one amazing little palette from BH Cosmetics. Straight off the bat, I think the packaging is so creative, with the eyeshadows on the first two opening flaps and the blush palette under the flap that contains a mirror. This is one of three in a series; the other two are called Hollywood and Malibu. I luckily nabbed the San Francisco one from NZ Sale for $15, although it did take me a while to decide between the three. I was drawn to this one for the more neutral tones, with a good mix of dark browns and greens, to lighter pastels. The colour selection is amazing and the pigmentation is incredible, but I will say the shadows and blush are a little 'dusty' and when using a brush there can be slight fall down, but if you are careful and have a lighter hand, this helps to diminish this.

NOTD | OPI Solitaire Liquid Sand - The Bond Girls Collection


I recently got this in a small haul from ilovebeauty last week and it's a colour I've had my eye on for a while. I have a couple of the liquid sand range and they give such a unique look to the nails. 'Solitaire' is a white textured sand finish, with small flecks of silver glitter, adding to the dimension of the colour. It goes on smooth, and dries super quick - don't add a top coat as it will completely ruin the textured effect, instead I opted for a good base coat to help it last.

REVLON | Luxurious Color Diamond Lust Eye Shadow in Night Sky

POSTIE [NZ] | Haul + Swatches


I've talked about Postie before, it's a store here in NZ that stocks super cheap makeup especially from good brands like Rimmel, L'Oreal, Maybelline etc as well as cheaper brands like BYS and Kleancolor. I buy quite a bit from them and they always have good deals on cosmetics. The reason I went in the other day was that they had 30% off all foundations and I am almost out of my current L'Oreal Matte Morphose. Of course I couldn't go in and just buy one thing, so picked up a few more things I thought I would share.

SLEEK MAKEUP | Face Contour Kit Review + Swatches


ilovebeauty | First Haul


ILoveBeauty is a new website just launched here in NZ. They're campaign to get the word out about this new site was pretty great, you just had to sign up and they sent you a free mascara, no strings attached! It took them about a month or so until they launched their website, it has a great range of all kinds of beauty products for such good prices. A couple of weeks a go they had a one day offer where you brought one item and then they gave you free shipping, a free mascara and a free OPI nail polish of your choice  - I mean, honestly, how good is that!

WISHLIST | eBay Clutch Bags

WISHLIST // eBay Clutch Bags - CassandraMyee

If you read my blog you may know that I have a fond love for eBay, I could spend hours and hours searching all kinds of stuff on there. Subsequently I have found many a good bargain. Today was spent browsing the clutch bags and I decided to put together a little wishlist with some of the ones I found. I definitely don't need another clutch, but well, a girl can dream right? Links and prices will all be listed below.

LIEBSTER AWARD


I was so surprised when I received a comment from the lovely Kirsty Maynard saying that she had tagged me for the Liebster Award. I was so grateful as I have only been blogging now for about 2 months, and it put a huge smile on my face that she thought I deserved some recognition - thanks so much!

MYSTERY MAKEUP BAG | 10 Products for $20


Last week Grabone (a deal website here in NZ) had this deal - a mystery bag of 10 makeup products for $20. Working out at $2 an item, this was too good to pass up, plus I loved the idea of just getting a whole bunch of items. They all came from the online site Snatch-a-Deal, which has heaps of discounted product especially makeup. Obviously not everyone's cup of tea to not be able to pick colours or the items, but there were a variety of brands like Rimmel, Covergirl, L'Oreal, Sally Hansen among many others and the items ranged from eyeshadows, mascaras to lip liners and nail polish. It really was a mixed bag of everything!

It was pretty exciting when it arrived and sussing out what I had actually received. Some of the items aren't really for me - not colours I would go for - but a few of the products look really nice. For $20 it was good for a bit of fun and if the deal came up again I would definitely grab it!

I have swatched everything I received and also tired to find their prices on the website to see how much I saved.

A BARGAIN | $4 Clutch from Kmart


I just had to share this, because A) I love the clutch and B) IT WAS ONLY $4! Can you tell I was a bit excited when I saw the price tag?! It is from Kmart (so if you are in NZ I would say go go go and check out the bargains!). I own quite a few really nice bags from Kmart, that look much more expensive then they really were. This was originally $25 and marked down to $4 (have I said that enough?) and thought it was far to good to be true but here it is - cheaper than the Starbucks I brought that day!

SAMPLE BAR GLAM PACK | September Unboxing + Initial Thoughts





September's Sample Bar Glam Pack theme is Spring Essentials and it's packed with 6 products! My initial reaction was so-so, I already own the Bastiste (and love it) and the Maybelline BB Cream (also love it), and the other products didn't really grab my attention, but after reading what they do/are for, I'm looking forward to trying them out.

SAMPLE BAR GLAM PACK | August End of Month Review




An exciting email arrived in my inbox telling me that my September Glam Pack was on its way with the courier from Sample Bar so time for my August End of Month review! I thoroughly enjoyed this months glam pack, with 2 full size products and other very generous sized samples. See my August unboxing and initial thoughts post here, now let's crack on with my overall thoughts!

NOTD | Revlon Jelly + OPI Minnie Style



I decided to go extremely girly and barbie like with my nails today. Opting for Revlon 'Jelly' a raspberry pink (not as red as it came out in photos) with an OPI glitter from the Couture De Minnie collection - 'Minnie Style'. It has hexagon shaped white matte chunks with hot pink glittery chunks, there are also white matte square chunks throughout as well - although hard to actually get some on the brush. The glitter application can be quite sparse so is better to dab, rather than brush it, a good trick for all chunky glitters.

CHEAP EBAY FINDS | Jessup Synthetic Kabuki Brushes



eBay never seems to fail me, with good searching you can pick up some seriously good bargains, like awesome phone case for around $1, or nail art tools like these, Obviously some items can be a little bit of a miss, but I had to share these cheap and good quality brushes I found for only USD $5.50 for 4 different synthetic kabuki style brushes. You can get them here for free shipping! They have different colours, such as gold metal and white or black handles; also bigger kabuki brushes for foundation etc.

REVLON NAIL ART | Moon Candy in Cosmic + Satellite


I own many a Revlon nail polish (see all of my NOTD's!) and I think they have a great colour range and the formulas are always spot on, although I do find they can chip a little quicker than more expensive nail polishes - but with a good top coat (Seche Vite is my choice) they can last up to 6 days on average.

THE BODY SHOP | Tea Tree Skincare Range Haul + First Impressions


You know when you see something once and then it turns up all over the place, after never knowing about it before? Well that is how I came across this Tea Tree range from The Body Shop. I saw a review of the Blemish Fade Night Lotion and then I kept seeing it on heaps of other blogs - all with amazing reviews! I went into The Body Shop just to get the lotion, but I came out with a few more things from the range. Tea tree oil is something I have used on and off for the past 7 or so months and found that it did work well on acne but was quite drying in areas.

I've given all products a go over the past 2 days, so obviously won't be seeing any crazy results but have some first impressions to share. Overall I am really loving these and can't wait to see how they effect my skin in the next couple of months.

ASOS | Sale Clothing Haul



Last week I indulged in a spot of ASOS shopping... it didn't help that I got an email to remind me that there was an up to 70% off sale, plus you could get it a bonus 10% your order. Let's just say I really didn't need the convincing! I ended up with over $500+ worth of clothing/accessories in my basket (I wish!), which slowly got whittled down to a more respectable $45, plus I saved $5. These 3 items arrived today (in a week!) and I'm super happy with them. All 3 are still in stock - so if you like any I'd grab it before they sell out!

SLEEK MAKEUP | Face Form Palette - Rewiew + Swatches




Face Form Contouring and Blush Palette in Light 373 // USD $12.49 - NZD $15.50 [approx.]

Sleek Makeup was a brand I was unfamiliar with until last year through reading beauty blogs and watching beauty gurus on Youtube. Since then I was desperate to get my hand on them (note, not available in NZ - sad face), I was lucky enough to get an i-Divine palette which I have reviewed and swatched, in a bulk lots on TradeMe and I absolutely love it. Lucky for us here in New Zealand, we can buy straight from the Sleek website with minimal shipping costs - YAY!

MAYBELLINE | Baby Lips Collection [NZ/AU Packaging]


Over here in NZ, we seem to have different packaged Baby Lips, compared to the US and UK - I don't know why but I am really keen to get my hands on some of them to give them a try to see if they are any different in formula. 

NOTD | Spring Daisy Nail Art



With September bringing with it the first day of Spring here in New Zealand, I wanted to celebrate it with a really simple and easy daisy nail art design. This was my first time venturing into the world of dotting tools and I have to say it took a bit of practice - especially doing the opposite hand! - but I quickly got the hang of it.

LAZY SUNDAY | The Five Product Face


Sunday's for me tend to be no makeup, stay at home kind of days (especially after a night out...) but there are always those Sundays when you need to venture out into public. This Sunday was one of those days. I wanted a quick makeup look but one that still gave me a bit of coverage. Today I narrowed it down to 5 essential products. This is also perfect for other lazy days, or days when you run of time but still want to look presentable!

KLEANCOLOR | Nail Polish Haul + Swatches


Kleancolor nail polishes aren't a brand that can be found much in NZ, you can buy off eBay (but shipping can be ridiculous sometimes!) or sometimes at the $2 shops, but now Postie stocks them! They don't have the best selection, but it depends on what one you go to and you can hit the jackpot like I did the other day!

LUSTING | The Transparent Clutch Bag

Find this clutch from Glassons
There is something about these clutches that I just am so attracted to! They are so simplistic and minimal, with the contents of them becoming the centrepiece. Obviously, these aren't to everyone tastes, especially if you don't want the contents of your bag on show to the world, but I think with just a phone, a lipstick and smaller coloured or sequined purse filled with the more private items (credit cards, keys etc), these look amazing and super on-trend.

NOTD | Essie Bikini So Teeny


AUSTRALIS | Face-A-Holic Jumbo Compacts - Review + Swatches


Australis is a brand readily available in New Zealand and I have tried a few products from them before as they are good quality and affordable and they have no animal testing which is amazing! These Face-A-Holic Jumbo Sized Compacts were on a daily deal site called Grabone for only $7 each! I couldn't resist trying them and they looked so pretty inside, especially the Touch and Glow compact.

NOTD | OPI Metallic 4 Life


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