Beauty Tag Mash Up

Hey there! A blogger I recently started following Maine Lyn (bananachocolatemaine), posted this mix n' mash of beauty tags. I looked like fun so I thought I might jump on the bandwagon too! (It's a bit of a long one, so you might want to grab a cup of tea)

Would You Rather: Makeup Edition Tag

1. Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks and lipglosses or lose all of your palettes and eyeshadows?
I'd rather loose all my palettes and eyeshadows, there is something about mascara and lipstick that I can't give up!

2. Would you rather chop off all your hair or never be able to cut it again?Even though I've been trying to grow my hair long for five-ish years, I'd rather chop it all off, as it would grow back eventually :)

 3. Would you rather have a coral cheek or a pink cheek?
Coral cheek please!

4. If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or make-up?Well, I definitely spend much more money on makeup, butttt I'm pretty content with my current makeup stash so I'd have to say buy clothes 

5. Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner or eyeliner as lipstick?
Eyeliner as lipstick (note: have done in the past)

6. Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
MAC is definitely the dominant makeup brand in my collection, but I'm tryingt o widen my horizons a bit and try new things so I'd have to lean towards Sephora!

7. Would you rather only use one eyeshadow color or one lip color for the rest of your life?
Definitely one eyeshadow and if I had to choose one, I'd go with MAC's Naked Lunch :)

8. Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?
Hmmmm I kinda do both already, but I guess summer clothes in winter.

9. Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round?
Probably bright, like pastels and whites, but to be honest I don't wear a lot of nailpolish anyway.

10. Would you rather give up your favourite lip product or your favourite eye product?
This is tough, probably favourite eye product, because I have like three other similar shades in my stash :)

11. Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a ponytail or a messy bun?
These questions are really diggin deep into the soul, ummm probably messy bun, people always seem to compliment me when I wear them, which make me happy

12. Would you rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lipgloss? 
Never wear lipgloss?

13. Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all or sharpie them in everyday?
Who doesn't love a sharpied eyebrow? ;)

14. Would you rather live without make-up or nail polish?
DEFINITELY nailpolish, 100%. I need ma makeup!

Beauty Brands Tag:

1. What is your favourite drugstore makeup brand?
Thats tough, its a tie between Maybelline and Rimmel, with Australis as an honourable mention! 

2.What is your favourite high end brand?
 Probably MAC (so original I know), as well as YSL and NARS!

3. A product that's raved about but you've never tried?
Ummmm Limecrime lipsticks, I want one so bad!

4. A product not worth the hype?
(This isn't so much a product, but a brush) MAC's 187 Stippling Brush, I barely use mine

5. Favorite hair brand?
hahah I don't know the first thin about hair! Probably ORGANIX

6.Favorite Nail Varnish brand?
I'm a Revlon gal :)

7. Favorite fashion brands/shops?
I'm a bigggggg fan of Glassons and Myer, plus a bit of Asos on the side. On top of that I like the actual fashion side of Zara and Topshop, but have only made a couple of purchases there.

Makeup History

1. How old were you when you started wearing makeup?
This might sound young for most of you, but I would have to say 12-13, mind you it was some mineral powder to cover up my acne and the occasional swish of mascara :) 

2. How did you get into makeup?
I bought my first makeup item on the recommendation of my best friend, but getting the hardcore makeup addiction I have now was definitely triggered by YouTube! Sidenote: I first subscribed a british girl called BigBeautyBox!

3. What are some of your favorite brands?
Like I said before; MAC, NARS, YSL, Rimmel London and Maybelline

4. What does makeup mean to you?
I don't really know how to go about answering this question, its definitely a big part of my life like, if you asked any of my friends 'whats one thing Ash loves?' they would all roll their eyes and say makeup. Its a hobby / borderline addiciton and something that I loveeee.

5. If you could only wear 4 products on your face, what would they be?
This is getting tough, um foundation (either MAC Studio Fix Fluid or Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation), Bronzer (Nars Laguna), Blush (MAC Fleur Power or Napoleon Perdis Coral) and finaaaally Mascara (I'm yet to find the golden one).

6. What is your favourite thing about makeup?
It gives you the opportunity to shape the way you are viewed by others and can demonstrate your personality or self image.  

7. What do you think about drugstore makeup vs high end makeup?
Look, by no means do you need to buy high end makeup, but you don't really need drugstore makeup either. Some drugstore products match the standard of high end and with others you get what you pay for, but all in all with high end makeup I think you are 50% paying for the quality of the product and 50% for the brand name. 

8. What is one tip of advice you can give to a beginner?
Focus on finding a foundation that suits your skin shade, including getting the right undertone (cool/neutral/warm) and type (oily/dry/combination, then slowly you can build upon a simple foundation and try eyeshadows and eyeliner ect. Also PRACTISE MAKES PERFECT!

9. What do you think about the beauty community on YouTube?
 I've been an avid watcher of beauty videos for four and a bit years now I'd have say, it has definitely grown immensely over that time. I would love to one day be on the other side of the camera making videos, maaaybe one day! It just makes me sad to see when some of the guru's are conforming to this fictional image of the 'perfect pretty beauty guru', just to up their viewers and loosing individuality, but anywhoooo.

10. What is one makeup trend you never understood?
Ummmmm probably those stick on lipstick/lip art trend? I can't really think of anything else.

Thank you for sticking around until the endddd, please feel free to also do this collection of beauty tags, it was a multitude of fun!

Ashleigh xo

Maybelline: Illegal Length Mascara Review

Hey there! It's finaaaaaally school holidays (woo!) so I've had a chance to catch my breath and I'm going to try and get a few more blog posts up. To get the ball rolling, today I am reviewing Maybelline's Illegal Length Fibre Extensions Mascara.  

This is the first ever fibre extension mascara I have used, appose to normal mascaras that just coat your lashes with black, this mascara also consists of small fibres which build up on your lashes to add physical length. In the beginning I wasn't too keen on this mascara as I was applying it too close to the lash bed so the fibres were irritating my eyes throughout the day. But I have since learnt to mainly focus this mascara on the ends of my lashes. It is definitley a lengthening mascara, so I like to use it in conjunction with other mascaras (at the moment I've been using it with Revlons Lash Finder) just for that added ompf of length!

 It looks very black on the lashes, doesn't flake and I don't have any problems with smudging wooo! But the only downfall is its doesn't hold a curl well, which is something that I really look for in a mascara. In terms of the brush it made of real bristles which I really like, so it does a good job of separating the lashes. To be honest, I probably won't buy it again, just because I am now keen to try more lengthening mascaras. I don't think it is the best of mascaras in the world, but for it's inexpensive price I would recommend it!

 Side note: I have completely moved away from using waterproof mascaras, and my lashes have loved me for it. They are no longer as dry as they were anddddd it makes removing eye makeup 100 times easier!

I hope you are all enjoying your holiday break and I shall have a new blog post up very soooooooon! 

Ashleigh xo

Year Twelve Formal

Hey there! Last Friday was quite an memorable one, as it was my Year 12 Formal! The entire year level got dressed up, ate a delicious dinner and danced the night away. It was a great night seeing everyone all looking their best and there was a photo booth that printed out polaroids, a candy bar and top notch d-floor. Anywho, I just thought I might share what I wore, it was only a semi-formal event, so no silk gowns were necessary (and I believe this is the first photo I've posted of myself on my blog, which is exciting)!

Dress: Blesse'd Are The Meek 'Holey Smoke' Black Maxi Dress
I really love this dress, it was a really soft material and as you can see it has a reverse razor back with a huge slit  and some key hole cut outs. I really like maxi dresses, I wish I wore them more and this one you can dress up or down!

Shoes: ALDO 'Servedio' Coral Wedges
These were a little hard to find, as in Australia we are heading into winter so open toes shoes and coral in general is getting a bit scarce, but luckily about a week before the night I got my hands on these bad boys. It was a good decision wearing wedges I feel, because they were so easy to walk in and were comfortable so I could enjoy the night without sooking about sore feet

Clutch: ALDO 'Landaverde' Clutch
This clutch was just staring at me when I was trying on the shoes in ALDO and then when the shop assistant told me it was 50% off, I knew I had to get it.

Nails: Shellac Tropix (fingers) & Black Pool (toes)

Make Up: Napoleon
My make up was done by my brother's girlfriend, who is a Napoleon Makeup artist, I wish I had a close up of the look but of coooourse I forgot. The eyeshadows she used were absolutely gorgeous, she used the Swan Lake Prismatic Quad, which I am seriously considering purchasing it myself!

The very last thing I wanted to mention was I got my first ever spray tan! I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out! Some tips I have are to make sure you exfoliate a boat load everywhere the night before and in terms of timing, I got mine done on the Wednesday afternoon for a Friday night event.

I think that's just about everything, overall it was an excellent night! It really made me realise what an excellent year level I have and how much I am going to miss every single person next year! I love every so much and before I get too emotional I think I'm going to end it here! Enjooooy your weekend!
Ashleigh xo 

Empties #1

Hey there! This post is a little bit exciting for me because its my first ever 'Empties' post. I think they are a great idea, because you get to read a well informed opinion of a series of products, appose to just being presented with a haul or something where you don't actually hear about the quality of the products. If you do like this style of post, I highhhhly recommended you go check out Miss Heather Lauren, as she has done quite of few of these Empty Product posts and they are all reaally great! Anywho, let's get the ball rolling!

1. Neutrogena Rapid Clear Blackhead Eliminating Daily Scrub- I reeeeeeeeeaaaally love this daily scrub, I've gone through two bottles and my daily routine doesn't feel complete with out it. It's really refreshing and a little but tingling so you feel like it really is doing your skin some good. As well as the exfloliating beads which the skin feeling super soft! I have really oily skin with a boatload of black heads particulary on and near my nose, I wouldn't say it removed all of my blackheads, although it did dramatically reduce their prevalence and it is probably the best scrub I've found that does so. Conclusion: highly recommend!

2. Olay Enriched Night Cream- this was the first night cream I have ever tried so I can't really give well informed review as I don't have a point of reference, you get me? I will say that I did like this night cream, it was one of the cheapest ones and the morning after using it my skin always looked and felt better. I would recommend this to girls like me who are just starting out in the night cream business, I would buy it again but on the same hand I want to try something new.

3. Maybelline Makeup Remover- to be honest this make up remover wasn't the best, but it was cheap and I don't regret buying it. I would use it of a night and it would looook like all my eye make up was removed, but then when I woke up in the morning I still has black residue under my eyes. Buttt in saying that, I always wore water proof mascara, so it is never the easiest thing to remove in the first place. Overall, There is no harm in buying this product, but I personally wont be doing it again.

4. Natio Ageless Illuminating Primer- Natio is only available in Australia and New Zealand, so I apologise to all my international readers (which is most of you haha), but for the record I really like the brand and have used many of their products in the past. This primer was just a oversized sample and I think some people would really like it but because I have oily skin I don't think its the best primer for me. It assists with giving a dewy glow thus promoting a youthful look. The consistency was a little but watery for my liking, it was like you were applying a moisturiser to a degree and it didn't have that silicone-y feel which everyone seems to have a love/hate relationship with. I wont be buying the full size.

5. NP Set Pasarella Mascara- I really like Napoleon Perdis products and I really like the concept of NP Set, but to be be honest this mascara was just OK. I dont really have anything bad to say about it, but nor do I have anything good to say about it. Looook I just think you can get better quality mascaras for the same price.  (Worst product  review ever hahaha)

6. Rimmel London Exaggerate Eye Liner- I reeeeally like this eye liner, I'm sorry that all the writing has rubbed off the packaging, but I guess that just goes to show how much used it. Its a great liner for those just starting out in liquid liner, or who have a little trouble, as the felt tip liner makes it a pretty smooth process. I will just say that it does tend to wear as the day goes on, but nothing too terrible and I dont think this is the best liner for those who like a good clean wing, atleast I found it a bit hard to achieve. All in all I really like this liquid and have already repurchased as new one!

7. Chanel No 5 Eau De Toilette 50mL- this empty bottle has be hanging around for a while but I really wanted to include in my Empties post. I love this perfume, its expensive as anything, but I think its worth it. I love ittttttt, i love it, i love it and have already got another 100mL bottle!

Alrighttt, I think thats all from me! I know I have a picture of a face mask but I used it so long ago I couldn't summon up a review, I'm sorryyyy. And, I'm sorry for being terrible and hardly posting last month, YEAR TWELVE... it's quite a time consuming thing. Have a great weekend! 

Ashleigh xo

Myth MAC Lipstick Swatch

Hey there! I won't do too much talking here, this is the up close and personal with the lipstick MYTH, as promised!

To describe this lipstick itself, it is simply a solid flesh toned nude (the swatches speak for themselves). It is a satin finish, so it goes on easily and doesn't overly dry out the lips but has great lasting power.  Because this lipstick is so close to my natural skin tone it will be great for causal days when I just want an easy lipstick that isn't toooo much or when I have a dramatic eye and don't want to make my lips a focal point!
This product retails for AU$36 from MAC Stores.

I think that's about all from me, I'm sorry this hasn't been an overly chatty post, yesterday I worked a fourteen hour day and I am beyond tired!

Enjoy scrolling through the pictureeees of this gorgeous lipstick and have a great Friday!

Ashleigh xo

MAC Haul!

 Hey there! Here is a quick haul of five products I purchased from MAC earlier this week! Apologies for the iPhone quality photos today, this is just a once off! 
1. MAC Lipstick in 'MYTH' (Satin Finish)- I was in dire need of a quality nude lipstick and after doing some research A LOT of people recommended this lipstick! I will probably do a full post on this including swatches when I get my camera back! I also wanted to buy Coral Bliss, but unfortunately they were all sold out :(

2. MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20-  Three concealers currently own are now all on their last legs (of course knowing my luck this happens to all of them at the same time.) I've always been keen to try this particular concealer and figured well, there is no time like the present! Although their are some mixed reviews on this product -I'm sure I'll give my 2 cents down the track! (I hope that was the right saying)

3.  MAC Pro Colour x 4 Compact- I have mentioned this in passing before, but I am slowly making the transition from potted eyeshadows to pan form. This is mainly they are looking too cluttered in my drawer, I think the new palettes look super sleek and you save $10 per eyeshadow if you buy the pan form! It was a win-win situation

4. MAC Eyeshadow in CARBON (Matte Finish)- This is just a basic eye shadow that every girl needs. I'm not sure why I put off buying it for so long, but I have already used it and adore it! It a true matte black with no undertones, its perfect and so versatile!

5. MAC 217 Blending Brush- This is actually my second 217 brush, I purchased another earlier this year and fell in love! I use it so often it's crazy, hence why I needed to buy another! It is the best blending brush I've every used, hiiiiiiighly recommend!

 That's all for my short and sweet MAC Haul, I think my purse was pleased I used A LOT of self control...I swear I would buy the entire store if I could. I am quite curious though, what is your favourite product from MAC, anything you would like to recommend me? :D
Have a lovely weekend!

Ashleigh xo

Everyday School Make Up

 Hey there! Here is a quick run down of all products I slap on my face at seven in the morning before I spend seven hours tediously gaining an education, five days a week. Enjoy!

After I’ve done my morning skincare routine, I use my daily moisturiser the Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Moisturiser. Once that’s all soaked in the rest is history…

Garnier BB Cream- I use the combination to oily skin, I like this because it does has a great coverage for a BB cream, but doesn’t appear to be thick. Depending on the season or if I’m fake tanning etc. I mix the medium shade and light shade together accordingly, to get the perfect match. The lasting power is also quite nice, but it does fade on my cheeks which is why I also go in with my concealer…

Bobbi Brown Corrector- I use the shade ‘Light to Medium Bisque’ to conceal the dark circles under my eyes, (the ones I get from all the late night ‘studying’… ). I have plenty of good things to say about this product; great coverage, great consistency etc. But the downfall is it is quite pricey for such a small amount of product and you haaave to set this bad boy with a powder or it will crease like no tomorrow. If my dark circles aren’t too bad one day, I’ll just use my Maybelline Dream Lumitouch Highlighting Concealer, which is as cheap as chips and does a great job!

MAC Mineralize Concealer-this is the concealer I use on the tops of my checks when I need a bit more coverage or on any particularly stubborn blemishes. I do like this concealer, but I probably won’t be buying this again. It doesn’t have a greeeeeat coverage which is kind of a must for concealer… although that’s why I like it for school, because it isn’t too thick. It really just up to what you are looking for in a concealer, I know of people who love it and some who don’t but I personally didn’t think it was worth the price tag.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural- as you can see I do love this product very much and unfortunately it’s on its last legs. It sets everything perfectly and controls oil without making the face look flat. This is the second one of mine and I will have to run out and grab my third very soon!

NARS Laguna Bronzer- this is hands down the BEST bronzer I’ve ever used. Definitely a Holy Grail product and a staple in millions of other girl’s makeup bags as well! I use it to contour when I want it to look a bit more natural and then to just bronze up my whole face, usually with the typically ‘3’ brush motion. I highly highly highly recommend this bronzer to everyone, it’s worth every dime! (Side note: even my super pale friend loves this bronzer, so it’s great for girls who have struggled to wear bronzer in the past, it won’t look muddy or orange I promise)

Benefit Dandelion Brightening Face Powder- this product is basically a blush and highlighter in one, it looks absolutely radiant on the skin and very natural too. It’s very soft and flattering on the cheeks, adding a very subtle but healthy touch of colour to the skin.

 Maybelline Falsies Mascara- I must apologies, I somehow forgot to take a closer photo of it, my mistake! Anywho, this just brings everything together, makes me look more awake and I do love big eyelashes I must say. This holds a curl well and I don’t have to worry about looking like a panda halfway through the day!

And there we have it folks, that is what I wear to school on a daily basis! For some this might seem like a lot but to others it might seem like hardly anything, personally I am quite content with the finally product and I promise it doesn’t actually take too long! If you are interested in what brushes I use then I have a separate post here!

 I think I’ll stop yakking on now but if you have any questions about anything or are up for a chat, please comment or email me: ashsbeautybag@gmail.com (even if it’s just school related)! I hope you are all having a lovely day and have fun at schooool!