My past couple of posts have been featuring products that are very affordable and at a 'drugstore' price point, well today I am going the opposite with some products from cult fave, NARS. The sleek black and white packaging and bold font is instantly recognisable and so covetable. I don't own a huge amount from the brand, but those things that I do, I love! I recently got some new products (to me) from the Dual-Intensity range including own of their duo pan blush compacts and a gorgeous single eyeshadow.

If I had to pick one brand that I could only use their eyeshadows from it would be hands down Urban Decay. I have been a fan since I got the Naked 2 Palette a good 2 year ago, but it was the Naked Basics (both 1 and 2) that confirmed my love for the brand and their shadows. I have thrashed my Basics Palettes (as you will see below) and reach for them daily. As soon as I saw they were bringing out this gorgeous monster of a matte palette, I knew I was going to need it - and here it is!

*Sponsored post collaboration with Shipito. Compensation was given for this post and towards using the service All thoughts and experiences my own.

I am an avid lover of online shopping; there is so much more range, and the prices generally work out a bit cheaper depending on the exchange rate. Don't get me wrong, I buy from stores here in NZ a lot, but for things that are hard to get here, or a lot cheaper overseas, I'll go online. The difficulty comes when they either don't ship to NZ at all (or your chosen country), have restrictions on what can be shipped, charge huge shipping prices, or don't accept NZ cards. This is where Shipito* comes into play. They reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try out their service and let you all know how I found it. I used the site exactly as a normal customer would, and here is how it all went.

To say the day I got the email with news that Luxola NZ was going to be relaunching as Sephora NZ was exciting, is a complete understatement. Firstly I thought someone was playing a cruel joke on a Sephora-junkie like myself, but as I kept reading I was over the moon at the news. Sephora NZ is actually here, in little ol' New Zealand, albeit not as a physical store, but it brings with it a host of new brands that we were unable to easily get our hands on - I know NZ beauty lovers are going to be going a little crazy over this! To celebrate the launch I got to pick out a few products from the vast line up of brands and share with you all a small sample of products now available to us in NZ.

I figured that after mentioning this amazing mascara in many posts and featuring it in lots of Instagrams, I should give it a full review of its own, because it sure does deserve it. I first used this mascara probably nearly over a year ago (yep it was over a year - see my first review here), and ever since I have been hooked, and no mascara I've tried since then has come to close to this one from Too Faced.

The Sephora Favorite kits are some of the best ones on the market; they are all jam packed with high-end branded products, with lots in adorable miniature form. I got this Glitz + Glam kit while I was in the US a couple of months back, and I've finally made my way through it trying each of the products. Here's the breakdown of each product and a mini review of each.

One makeup product I can't get enough of is blush, particularly the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12hr Blushes, which I discovered early last year and feel in love with. These blushes are some of the best out there, so when I saw the limited edition Sweet Dream Mini Set released for Christmas 2014, I was beyond excited and desperate to get my hands on it. Luckily enough I went to the US at the end of November last year and found the set at Macy's and ran with it to the till!

The first month of 2015 is now coming to an end, and I bet like most people, I still can't get out of the habit of writing 2014 for everything! But anyway, with the end of the month always comes Empties and this is a feature that I will be continuing with this year, because it's a great way to review products I've used right to the very bottom; or alternatively, have thrown out because they were awful slash really old. This month there is a lot more makeup items than other months, as I've been really making an effort to use what I have, and I also had a bit of clear out (but more on that at the end of the post).

Let's be honest here, anything housed inside a shiny gold case has gotta be pretty special, right? Well the new palette offering from Hourglass, takes luxe makeup products to a whole new level and I am absolutely in love. I've touched on this briefly in my Most Loved December, but here is my full review of the beautiful Ambient Lighting Blush Palette.

It's day five of the USA Hauls (catch up here; Drugstores, MAC, Nordstrom Rack, Sephora + Macy's), and today it is all about the nails. This is more of a collective of purchases I made at Walgreens, Sephora, Urban Outfitters and even at Bed, Bath + Beyond. I'm sure that all of these will be cropping up in NOTDs very soon, but I have included swatches of each shade on my nail wheels for your reference!