Thank You Billy xo

Two weeks ago I lost my beloved Maltese Dog Billy. I can't put into words how totally and utterly devastated I have been.

To some people Billy was just a cute white fluffy dog. To me he was the best friend I ever had, my constant companion and my Soul Mate.

Billy was brought for me, by my family, at a time when I was not expected to live for very long. I was gravely ill and the Doctors were convinced my time was up and I would not survive. Somehow this little puppy gave me the will to live and I truly believe with all my heart that he gave me the strength and the courage to fight for my life. He helped me believe in myself and believe that my life was worth fighting for.

Nine years have passed and unfortunately little Billy's heart gave in before mine did. The sense of loss I feel is almost too much to bare. However I take comfort in knowing that a part of Billy will always be with me and he also took a part of me with him.

Billy was and always will be the great love of my life. I will be getting two new little Maltese puppies by years end but they will never replace my Billy but hopefully a little bit of Billy will live on in them.

So thanks for everything Bill, Until we meet aagain my little man, Mummy loves you xo

Bath and Body Haul

Yesterday after having some treatment for a nasty kidney stone I got a few presents from friends and family. Everyone knows that the Pinkster loves a bubble bath so it was hardly surprising that I received a few bath and body type gifts. How funny is it that people bring me beauty products instead of flowers when I'm sick.

Anyway just thought I would share my little haul with you and give my thoughts on the products I received. If there is anything that anyone would like me to review more thoroughly just let me know and I will happily oblige.



The Body Shop Milk Bath - This has been a firm favourite of mine for many years. I couldn't say how many tubs of this stuff I have been through but trust me it's lots! Just about every bath I ever have contains a couple of tablespoons of this white powder.

When applied to running bath water the white powder turns the water into a milky bath of bubbles. It is said to have a light fragrance but with all the other concoctions I add to my bath I seriously can't say that the smell has any significance. I find this quite moisturising and I love the creaminess it adds to the bath.

This retails at $13.95 for a 250g tub. This is excellent value for money considering the amount of product you get and The Body Shop recommends only using only 1 tablespoon per bath so 250 grams will last quite a while.

Pink Tip: Add some of your favourite bubble bath or shower gel with this to bath water to give yourself a milkshake style bath.

The Body Shop Spa Wisdom Polynesia Lime and Coconut Shower Gel - For those of you that like tropical scented products this will be right up you alley. Besides it smelling amazing it also contains rice and apricot stone which provide exfoliating properties. I have to say that this is definitely more of a shower gel than a scrub. The scrub particles are very mild and quite frankly don't provide a whole lot of exfoliation. It lathers very well and the scent is so gorgeous and uplifting.

The Spa Wisdom Coconut & Lime Shower Gel retails for $25.95 for 250ml. It's a little more expensive than The Body Shops normal line of shower gels but I really like this and will repurchase it.

Pink Tip: Decant this into a hand wash pump and leave it by the sink. It makes a gorgeous hand wash.




The Body Shop Shea Whip Body Lotion - This is one of my favourite body lotions. It is a whipped creamy light and fluffy consistency that absorbs rapidly into the skin leaving skin extremely soft, smooth and hydrated. It doesn't leave any greasy residue. I use this most mornings after my shower. It isn't scented so won't clash with any fragrance I apply.

Shea Whip Body Lotion retails for $21.95 for 250ml or $5.95 for the mini 60ml. I think this would be especially good for people with sensitive skin. I really love this lotion and it is definitely one that I use all the time. It is the perfect consistency for daytime or evening. I prefer to use a thicker body butter at night in winter but during the summer I use this a lot at night also.

I highly rate this product. It's simple but very effective. I definitely regard this as one of my top 10 body lotions.


The Body Shop Shea Shower Cream - Rich, creamy and hydrating this shower cream is luxury in a bottle. It is seriously good, lightly scented and lathers into a rich foam.

Shea Shower Cream retails for $12.95 for 250ml or $5.95 for the mini 60ml bottle.
The Body Shop Drench Sponge - This is very much like a sea sponge but is synthetically produced for environmental purposes. Upon contact with water this sponge is super soft and gives shower gels the most incredible lather. When dry the sponge becomes very hard but softens right up upon contact with water again. I love my drench sponge!

Drench Sponge retails for $16.95





Lush Grease Lightening - This gel is my new favourite zit zapper. It is a newly released Lush product containing thyme, tea tree, rosemary, witch hazel and aloe vera. It is a gel consistency and dries invisibly on the skin. It is also good for drying out any overly oily areas on your face.

Grease Lightening retails for $13.50 for a 45g bottle and comes with a handy pump.





Lily-Flame Morning Dewberry Scented Candle - As you would know from previous posts I absolutely love Lily-Flame candles. They are beautifully presented in a cute little tin and have a 35 hour burn time and throw a good scent. Lily-Flame candles are approximately $33 each. Morning Dewberry is a fresh, fruity scent.

Images Thanks To:


www.thebodyshop.com.au

www.lush.com.au

www.lilyflame.com.au

Earthquake in Haiti Crisis

When things happen in the world like the devastating earthquake which has hit Haiti it really makes me assess what is truly important in life. Sure we all love our beauty products and pretty things but at this time I feel that our fellow human beings in Haiti need our financial help more than we need beauty products.

I have donated to the Haiti appeal and the Australian public have now donated over 5 million dollars I believe (besides the aid that the Federal Government has pledged). If every person in this country donated just $1 to the appeal we would raise 20 million dollars.

I know a lot of people out there are doing it tough in this economic climate but I urge everyone to give what they can. Even if you can offer love, support, prayers and spread the word it will all help.

Lets get behind the Haiti appeal, I know I hope people would do the same if disaster ever hits our country again. We got so much support when the Fires of 2009 devastated the Victorian community of Marysville and surrounds, so lets give back what we can to people who so desperately need our help in Haiti.

Fragrance

I first fell in love with fragrance when I was a little girl. I remember being four or five years old and standing at my Grandmother's dresser touching all her bottles of perfume that she kept on a silver tray. She had five or six bottles and they looked so pretty and elegant just sitting there. I vividly remember three of the fragrances being Chanel No 5, Estee Lauder Youth Dew and Jean Patou's Joy.

Every time I would visit my Grandmother I would stand at her dresser hoping that she would come in and give me a spray of one of her perfumes. She usually did and then told me when I was old enough she would buy me my own special perfume. Unfortunately my Grandmother died when I was just seven years old so that promise never came to fruition but I did get given her perfumes when she passed. I still have them today but have never sprayed them since she died, I am sure by now they would smell utterly ghastly but because they were hers I keep them anyway.

This might give you some insight into how my love affair with perfume and fragrance began and why today it is still one of my most favourite things in the entire world.

Fragrance can transport me to another time and place. When I smell Estee Lauder Youth Dew, Chanel No 5 or Jean Patou's Joy I am a five year old little girl standing in my Grandma's bedroom. When I smell Ralph Lauren's Romance I think of my first kiss that I had with the love of my life. When I smell Stella McCartney's Stella I remember the day my youngest God Daughter was born. I love how a fragrance can remind you of people, times and places.

My sense of smell is probably the sense I most value out of all my senses, such is my love affair with fragrance. People think I am crazy but fragrance makes me happy and it is something that I could live without but wouldn't ever want to live without.

I started collecting perfume when I was around nineteen. It started off when I discovered a brand called Calvin Klein. I started wearing One, followed by Be, followed by Eternity. Then it just snowballed from there and literally all of my money was spent on perfume.

My perfume collection is pretty big. I am sure there are many people out there with far bigger collections but I currently have more than 600 bottles in mine. People often say to me "but doesn't it go off"? The answer is yes but the point is, I collect perfume for the bottles as much as the scent and I don't really care if a bottle spoils. It is still in my collection and if I love it that much I would simply go and buy myself a fresh bottle.

There are many perfumes in my collection that I no longer like and would never wear again but having them in my collection and just being able to look at them is like taking a walk down memory lane. To me being able to remember precious moments, silly moments and even sad moments by looking through a perfume collection is such a magical experience. It's something I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

I am often asked what my favourite fragrance is and that is a strangely difficult question for me to answer because it is ever changing from year to year.

Here are some of my current favourites:

Jo Malone Blue Agava and Cacao Calogne

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle EDP

Jeanne Lanvin EDP

Flowerbomb EDP By Victor & Rolf

Chanel Coco Mademoiselle EDT

At Home Pedicures

Sundays have became at home pedicure days of late for me much to the horror of my Podiatrist. As I am diabetic my medical professionals insist I consult a Podiatrist for all foot care issues. God forbid I ever cut my own nails or let a Beauty Therapist touch my feet (which regardless of what anyone says happens once a month every month lol).

Anyway my at home pedicures are pretty basic but I love doing them because I like my feet to look nice and feels smooth.

Step 1 - A nice foot soak for around 15 minutes in a bucket filled with warm water, a few drops of essential oil and a fizzing Lush Bath Bomb.

Step 2 - Dry off feet and attack heels with a foot file to remove any rough or hard skin. Don't be shy get in there are file the crap out of them.

Step 3 - Apply some Solar Oil to cuticles and gently push cuticles back.

Step 4 - Massage a scrub all over feet for a few minutes. Then rinse off in a bucket of water and dry off feet.

Step 5 - Apply a coat of Creative Nail Designs Super Sticky Base Coat.

Step 6 - Apply a coat of desired nail colour, allow to dry and repeat.

Step 7 - Apply a coat of either OPI's Drip Dry or Creative Nail Designs Air Dry. Allow nails to completely dry.

Step 8 - Massage a rich foot cream or body butter into feet and pop on some socks to allow the lotion to thoroughly moisturise the feet.



Nail polish colour of the week is OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark!

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Review

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils have became a firm favourite in my makeup collection. This is surprising because I am very much a high end cosmetics floozy and never really venture down to the lower end of the market. I am no snob but I admit there are certain brands that I always tend to gravitate toward ( hello M.A.C, Chanel, YSL, Dior, Giorgio Armani, By Terry, Nars, Stila and Co).

After hearing so many raves about these NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils on You Tube I decided I needed to try them out for myself so I ordered some online.

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils are, as the name suggests, big chunky pencils for eyes. They have multiple uses as cream eye shadows, eye shadow bases and eye liners.

The texture of the pencils is very smooth, soft and creamy. The colour payoff is fantastic with lots of pigment. The product blends easily and smudges well.

The only fault I can find with these pencils is that if a lid primer isn't used (eg Urban Decay Primer Potion) they will tend to crease a little bit. However I always use a lid primer and by doing so don't experience any creasing at all.

The pencils come in a wide variety of colours and the beauty of them is that they are so inexpensive that everyone can try them and the quality is great.

The Colours I have so far include:

Black Bean - Black
Iced Mocha - Shimmery Cool Chocolate
Pots & Pans - Dark Silvery Grey
Dark Brown - Dark Chocolate Brown
Milk - Creamy White
Horse Radish - Silvery Mid Green
Oyster - Light Icy Pink
Slate - Dark Grey/Purple
Lavender - Iced Lilac
Purple - Dark Purple

Overall I love these pencils. They are very easy to use and glide on like silk. I use mine as cream eye shadows or I layer powder shadows over the top (this makes the powder shadow colour pop like nobodies business).

I wouldn't advise anyone to carry these pencils around in their bags on very hot days as the pencils are so soft they will most certainly melt or break.

In case anyone is interested I purchase my NYX Jumbo Pencils in Australia from www.crushcosmetics.com.au and they cost $4.95 each. They are .5 gram in weight.

*I am not affiliated with Crush Cosmetics
Image Thanks To www.nyxcosmetics.com

Lime Crime Lipstick Review

Just prior to Christmas I was overjoyed to purchase my first Lime Crime lipstick ever!

The day this arrived at my door was seriously a joyous occasion, well for me anyway, but perhaps a terrifying experience for my Postie.

Picture this:

A 32 year old woman answers the door in hot pink P.J's covered in rubber duckies to greet her friendly Postman. Postman says "I have a package please sign here". The 32 year old woman then starts shrieking and jumping up and down on the spot clapping her hands saying "Oh wow I didn't think this would get here so fast". The Postman looks puzzled and somewhat alarmed. He shoves the package into the 32 year old woman's arms and leaves before she can even sign for the package. He drives rather quickly up the driveway and disappears like a bat out of hell never to be seen since.

This Postie is apparently so traumatised he now just dumps any packages on the doorstep and doesn't even bother ringing the bell.

Anyway the point of all the excitement is that amongst other things in this package is my first ever Lime Crime Lipstick! Being a psychopathic pink loving lunatic perhaps this image will give you some insight into why I was so excited.


Now I do realise that this type of thing may not appeal to everyone but for me, a six year old girl masquerading in a 32 year old body, this lipstick packaging is the stuff that fairy floss coated dreams are made of.






Enough about the packaging, now down to the actual product. Lime Crime's Great Pink Planet Lipstick is an opaque pastel pink shade. It's texture is very rich and creamy with no shimmer or glitter particles. It is a very wearable colour and is one of my favourite lipsticks ever! This lipstick is appropriate for daytime or evening looks but as the lipstick is quite attention grabbing I prefer to wear it during the day with very basic played down eye and cheek makeup. That is quite the contradiction considering Lime Crime the brand represents bold, brash, loud, proud and out there (well in my opinion anyway).

Images Thanks To www.limecrime.com