NOTD: Valentine’s Day

How was your Valentine’s Day hautees? I got very spoilt.

I’m floating on cloud nine still and I have a bit of love brain going on, so I’ll keep this post short and sweet.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was going to try my luck at a Valentine’s Day nail art mani. And I did it! The glitter feature nail wasn’t exactly what I wanted (because I couldn’t find Essie A Cut Above anywhere!) and I decided last minute it would be fun to add some dots and love hearts.

So what did I end up using??

I headed to the shops in hope that the Nicki Minaj for OPI collection was on shelves,… AND IT WAS! Booyah! I have been waiting for the Pink Friday creme pink for sooooooooooo long. I also liked the look of the glitter and the turquoise, so I snapped up the mini collection set. I couldn’t get my hands on the Essie A Cut Above pink glitter polish (thanks Katy for the heads up on that colour, now I’m craving it so bad), so instead I got the OPI Muppets Collection Excuse Moi pink glitter. I also grabbed a nail art pen in white – these things are a god send for nail art amateurs like myself.

Here is my first attempt at nail art – the Valentine’s Day mani.

I was quite pleased with my first attempt, although the application of Pink Friday was a bit horrible and I had to do three coats just to cover up my bad application. Actually…. I blame it on the OPI Chip Skip. Anyone tried this? I didn’t get a good first impression. You can’t apply nail polish over the top of it as it is so sticky and the polish gluggs (yep I just made that word up) on top. Disastrous!! And I’m totally hating the OPI base/top coat. Time to move on to greener pastures me thinks. CND here I come.

Anyways… want to see what my love sent me on Valentine’s Day? Sure you do! It’s not Valentine’s Day anymore, so you shouldn’t still be mumbling and throwing dagger eyes at me for gloating. The cutie sent me a huge delivery to my work… a dozen long stem roses, a teddy bear and Lindt chocolates! And it was all a surprise. *cue love heart eyes emoticon*

The boy was away at work (hence why he sent me something) so my Valentine’s Date was my beauty therapist/cousin/shellac genius Angela who owns Lotus Wellbeing Beauty at Nundah! I see her to get my CND Shellac done… so we penciled in a hot V Day date on the Tuesday night… nails and a bit of Thai food and cupcakes. PERFECT! So in actual fact, I had 2 x NOTD (‘nail of the day’ in case you were wondering). Here is the second NOTD. CND Shellac Rose Bud with Moonlight & Roses over the top and diamontè flower detailing on each ring finger. Gosh… and here I was completely smitten with my CND Shellac Gotcha over Tropix combo… and then this combo comes along and BLOWS.MY.MIND! Look at it! It’s so pretty…

You have to see it in real life, because it’s so much better than in the photo. The Moonlight & Roses throws a golden shimmer and actually turned the flat pink Rose Bud into a warm coral pink. Gorgeous.

This post wasn’t so short and sweet was it? Oh well.

Let me know if you’ve done a Valentine’s Day nail art (post a link to it in the comments). Or just let me know if you’re a bit of a CND Shellac-aholic just like me?? I’m thinking of starting a support group. LOL.

Tags: Beauty, CND, Excuse Moi, glitter, Lotus Wellbeing Beauty, Muppets Collection, nail, Nail Art, nail polish, Nicki Minaj, NOTD, OPI, Pen, pink, Pink Friday, roses, Shellac, Valentine, Valentine's Day

Be my Valentine

I’m getting a little bit (<–understatement) excited about all the Valentine’s Day makeup I’m seeing around. I really want to try out a Valentine’s themed nail art (this coming from someone who has NEVER attempted nail art) and I’m a sucker for all things pink, girly and adorned with love hearts, so all these latest makeup items are getting me REALLY EXCITED! Like when you hold a bone out for a dog. Yep, I’m drooling and all!

Stila Ltd Ed Love At First Sight Blush Palette

It’s PINK! It’s Sparkly! And it’s Limited Edition! Of course I want this… who wouldn’t? And at AU$25 the Limited Edition Stila Love At First Sight Blush Palette is a steal! You can get it here 

 

Orly I Love Nails Collection

 

Gahhhh more PINK (yes yes yes). ORLY brings a touch of romance to your fingertips with the I Love Nails Collection.  The Collection includes Passion Fruit, Cotton Candy, Forever Crimson and Butterflies. These 4 shades are timeless and a must have for any collection and are perfect for that romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner. I want them all!

I think I want to make myself red velvet cupcakes for V day… better than choccies I say…

 

And which of these should I try to do as my Valentine’s nail… help me decide…

 

Tell me hautees… do you LOVE Valentine’s Day. Or do you shun it?

And tell me which of the above nail looks I should do!?

 

[Image Source: http://www.meccacosmetica.com.au/shop/stila/ltdedloveatfirstsightblushpalette/  www.orlybeauty.com.au    pinterest.com ]

Tags: blush, gifts, ideas, make up, Mecca, Nail Art, nail polish, Orly, pink, Stila, Valentine, Valentine's Day

Mario Badescu Haul

I saw on Facebook that my friend Yolanda (from Shopping Intervention) had been to Kit Cosmetics and picked up a Mario Badescu product, and she also told me that our other friend Dana (from Blushfully) was a huge fan of the stuff. I had been wanting to try this line of skincare for ages, and when the girls said that the prices had recently been reduced thanks to the strong Aussie dollar, I was hell bent on getting my hands on some MB. So off I headed on Saturday to Kit Cosmetics to get me some goodies!! So here is what I got… 3 products and a small surprise gift with purchase which were cute sample size products.

I had asked Yolanda and Dana what they recommended and they both agreed that the Drying Lotion was a must and Dana loved the Enzyme Cleansing Gel, so I got both these and the Buffering Lotion which the sales assistant said is really good at getting rid of those pesky little ‘under-the-skin-bumps’ that aren’t quite at the surface, which immediately grabbed my attention. She also said it would help get rid of those blind hormonal pimples under the surface… I hate those! So far, I have used the cleansing gel and the buffering lotion and absolutely LOVE them. The cleanser is low foaming and it makes your skin feel clean without the tight feeling. I used the buffering lotion on some small bumps on my cheek area (most likely caused by rubbing sunglasses) and it almost cleared them up overnight, the area was smoother and the bumps reduced. Amazing.

The samples I got were a Super+ Eye Cream sample, a Kit Cosmetics Bronzing Lotion, a sample size of the Mario Badescu cleanser I bought, and an Origins anti-ageing moisturiser.

I’m so glad that I bought these Mario Badescu goodies, I have a feeling I should stock up… as some of these may become permanent fixtures in my skincare routine. The prices for Mario Badescu at Kit Cosmetics are so reasonable now too, the Enzyme Cleansing gel cost me $18.95 and the Buffering Lotion and Drying Lotion are both $26.95.

I popped into Colette Accessories as well and ended up finding this cute neon pink necklace for a bargain price of $7.95! I just had to grab it… and I thought it would look cool underneath the collar of a black sheer top I own. I thought right…

Kit Cosmetics
www.kitcosmetics.com.au

QUEENSLAND

Brisbane CBD – kit at Myer
Queen St, Brisbane
(07) 3232 0168

Pacific Fair – kit at Myer
Hooker Blvd, Broadbeach
(07) 5595 8316

NEW SOUTH WALES

Sydney CBD – kit at Myer Sydney
Pitt Street, Sydney
(02) 9238 9861

Chatswood – kit at Myer Chatswood
Albert Ave, Chatswood
(02) 9412 0463

VICTORIA

Doncaster
Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre, Shop G002, 619 Doncaster Rd, Doncaster VIC
(03) 9840 7624

Melbourne CBD kit at Myer
Bourke St. Mall
(03) 9661 1277

kit at Chapel
530 Chapel Street, South Yarra
(03) 9827 5988

Chadstone – kit at Myer
Chadstone Shopping Centre, Dandenong Rd, Chadstone
(03) 9567 6448

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Perth CBD – kit at Myer
Murray St, Perth
(08) 9265 5872

Enex100 Perth
Shop H121, 100 St Georges Terrace
(08) 9486 7610

Tags: Beauty, Brisbane, Buffering Lotion, Colette, Drying Lotion, Enzyme Cleansing Gel, haul, kit cosmetics, Lotion, Mario Badescu, Myer, Necklace, shopping

Winner of the Makeup Box Competition

Wowzas!!!! What an exceptional response to the Makeup Box competition. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time and effort to enter this competition… I spent last night checking all the entries and copying them into an excel spreadsheet so that I could randomly select a winner. It took me hours!!! All up there were over a hundred entrants and the entries (you could get up to 8 entries for completing all steps) tallied up to 551. I used random.org to select a winner randomly. I was overwhelmed by everyone’s great New Year resolutions and I sincerely hope that you all achieve them in 2012. If I could, I would give each and every one of you a makeup box set (but that’s not up to me is it), however there is only one lucky winner… the excitement is killing me, so let’s reveal it shall we?… … …

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Kim from Blonde Suburbia!!!

Congratulations babe. I will email you soon so that you can get back to me with your details.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter, I really appreciate it.

Tags: competition, Makeup Box set, TheMakeUpBoxShop, winner

The Hautees – 2012 People’s Choice Awards

Ahhh, nothing better than a good ol’ red carpet perve. Feast your eyes on my favourite picks from the 2012 People’s Choice Awards Red Carpet… or as I say the ‘hautest of the haute’.

Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries in Elie Saab. Wow. No Words! This gal nails the red carpet look EVERY.YEAR. Who would-a thunk that this green colour would look so striking on Nina. And that hair… so shiny, so luscious, so long. I want this chick’s skin… yes like Silence of the Lambs style. Bahaha. So GREEN with envy…*wink wink*

Jennifer Morrison in Oscar De La Renta. I love this look – so elegant. I’m a huge fan of the bun, and that lipstick colour compliments the outfit so well. She looks radiant. LOVE.

I’m sorry but Kristen Bell just makes it to my list every time, mainly because she always gets it right and more so because I just love her SO DARN MUCH! Any fellow Veronica Mars fans out there? Here she wears Valentino. Doesn’t she just look amazing in red?

Miley Cyrus donned a delightful David Koma dress. Everything is ringing my bell in this image… the hair, the skin, the makeup, the dress, the shoes. Kudos to Miley for this stunningly simple but amazing red carpet look.

What do you think lovelies? Do you agree that these girls are looking hawt?! Who were your favourites?

[Image Source: www.fabsugar.com]

Tags: 2012, Beauty, Celebrities, fashion, favourites, looks, People's Choice Awards, Red carpet

New Year, New (organised) You! WIN a Makeup Box Set for 2012!

*** COMPETITION CLOSED***

 

If I had to pick only one favourite product from 2011, I’d honestly have to say it was my Glamour Makeup Box Set from The Makeup Box Shop. You might recognise these makeup storage units… yes they are VERY similar to the ones used by the Kardashian sisters as seen on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The Makeup boxes are made of high quality 5mm thick acrylic and are very sturdy. Very much worth the investment.

My little acrylic family consists of a 5 drawer Glamour Makeup Box (AU$124), brush holder with beads (AU$15 with any box purchase), and a nail polish stand (AU$21) and I have to say… I’m madly in love with my little acrylic family. Before they came along, the state of my bathroom drawers were atrocious and my brushes were squished into a pencil holder… horrible I know!! I couldn’t even consider getting more brushes or makeup in fear of trying to find a place to put them.

And here’s a confession… I’m a massive product packaging hoarder. I’m the girl who keeps all my new makeup in its original packaging and will continue to do so until the box is so tattered it looks horrible or it starts to annoy me. I just found that I could stand my blushes up in boxes in my bathroom drawers and read the names on the top, making it easier to know what’s what. Oh and also because I like to know what ingredients are in what… who knows, I may need to look at some of them if needed in a blog post.

So as you can see below, the Makeup Box holds A LOT of products. It so fun organising your makeup into it, I call it ‘Makeup Tetris’ lol. Having this storage unit was also the push I needed to get my products out of their packaging and into their new home! You can see from the last square that I got rid of a LOT of boxes. It was very therapeutic and great to clean and sort out my product stash. It’s amazing how much room the boxes were taking up in my drawers!

This is a snapshot of what products each draw holds… top drawer – eye shadows, second drawer – blushes, third drawer – lipsticks, fourth drawer – mascaras, concealers, eyeliners and primers, and last drawer (the deepest) – my box-o-powders, foundations, powders, illuminators, Illamasqua glosses, bronzers.

This is my little acrylic family… the brush holder comes with the beads and the nail polish stand holds 12 huge OPI size nail polishes (or more if smaller bottles). The Makeup box is also great to store perfumes on top, in full view when you’re getting ready in the morning, so you don’t forget to spritz yourself – and it also saves bench space. Yey!

To get your hands on these awesome makeup storage units, check out www.themakeupboxshop.com or head over to the Facebook or Twitter pages. The Makeup Box Shop does free shipping* within Australia (*NT, SA, WA & TAS Customers please add an extra $7 for shipping).

Thanks to The Makeup Box Shop, I’m running a New Year, New (organised) You competition! To help you be the very best, organised you in 2012, you could WIN a 4 drawer Glamour Makeup Box, Foundation Blending Sponge and Brush holder set (RRP AU$139). Here is the 4 drawer glamour box:

TO ENTER THE COMPETITION:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling us your New Year’s Resolution for 2012. (1 entry)

2. ‘Like’ the The Makeup Box Shop and Hip & Haute pages on Facebook (+ 2 entries)

3. ‘Follow’ the The Makeup Box Shop (@TheMakeupBoxAU) and Hip & Haute (@hipandhaute) on Twitter (+ 2 entries)

4. Share this competition on Twitter or on your Facebook page via the social media buttons below (+ 3 entries)

Please leave your name and email address in the comment below so I can contact you if you win! And please tell me which steps you completed above.

Good Luck Hautees! And Happy New Year! 

Terms and conditions: Competition is open to Australian residents only and ends Monday 16 January 2012, 4pm EST (Brisbane time). Winners will be contacted by email and announced on the blog. If a winner doesn’t give me their details within a week, another winner will be drawn.

Tags: acrylic makeup unit, Australia, brush holder, competition, cosmetics, Glamour, Kardashians, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Makeup, Makeup Box set, nail polish stand, New Year, storage, TheMakeUpBoxShop, Win

My first ILoveThisBox (November 2011)

I was nicely offered to trial the first ever ILoveThisBox beauty sample box. I was a bit sceptical about the beauty sample boxes, but I’m glad to say that I was nicely surprised by this one.

ILoveThisBox brings a fabulous monthly selection of up to 5 luxurious cosmetic samples straight to your door. By working with the best brands and focusing on the latest trends they ensure each month’s box is a real treat.

Delivery is included in your monthly or annual membership fee and you can cancel a monthly membership at any time (which I know is one of the first questions asked by most). The monthly subscription fee is AUD 14.95.

My first impression was, WOW… there are a LOT of full size products included, and some of them are new and or not seen before – which is exactly what you want to get from these sample box services.

The package arrived in good condition and the box/packaging was very cute… and it came with product detail card to tell you exactly what you got.

Want to see what I got in the November box?…

November’s box included:

- NEW Keratinology by Sunsilk Salon Perfection Shampoo and Conditioner full size products - a premium collection formulated with Keratin Micro Technology

- Certified Organic by NATURE, NVEY ECO’s Taupe [#172] Eyeshadow full size product – a lovely taupe eyeshadow colour that is talc free

- POD Liquid Tan Gradual Tanning Face Serum full size product - a light weight serum using a eco-cert vegetable tanning active

- Caudalie Paris skin care samples: Premières vendanges moisturizing cream, Anti-wrinkle serum,  Anti-wrinkle ultra-nourishing cream.

- Essie mini nail polish in French Affair from the Spring 2011 Collection

When I first opened the box, there was this AMAZING smell – turned out to be the New Sunsilk Keratinology hair products. These are great and have been my favourite products from the box so far. The nail polish is a gorgeous colour and I’m keen to try out the facial tanning serum.

There was also a discount offer for Magnolia Silver Jewellery included.

All in all, I was very pleased with the first box from ILoveThisBox, and I think that the brands they have partnered up with are quite good and something that I would love to receive. And the goodies were ginormous!
These boxes could also be a great gift for somebody, I mean who doesn’t love getting presents in the mail?

You can check out more about ILoveThisBox over at their website. They also have a blog! Make sure you sign up if you are interested… I think that the cut off date for the December box has passed, but you should be able to get in for the January one!

This was provided for review as per my disclosure statement.

Tags: Beauty, cosmetics, eye shadow, Hair, Hair care, ILoveThisBox, nail polish, November, sample box, samples, Sunsilk, tanning

Irrashaimase!! Harajuku Gyoza

I’ve got a little restaurant review for you today! If you are in Brisbane, then you most likely have heard about the new Japanese Dumpling and Beer bar that has recently opened in Fortitude Valley – aptly named, Harajuku Gyoza. It’s “cool”, “fun” and “cute”!!

How cute is the logo? I just want to squeeze the dumpling’s cheeks!

Word of Warning (or WoW *chuckles*) there will be a line up to get in. But it’s very much worth it. And hey… there’s sometimes a few japanese girls dressed up as “Harajuku Girls” hanging around the front, so you’ll be entertained.

When you get inside, it’s like you’ve just stepped into a bar in Tokyo. Everything is so cute and the interior decor is typical Japanese, with a retro twist.

We were seated up at the bar, which also surrounds the cooking area, on shiny red vinyl bar stools. We immediately ordered drinks, I got a Japanese beer (Kirin) and it came in a classic beer mug with their cute-as logo on it!

This was our view from the bar… in the “midst of it all”

Anni ordered Sake and when she ordered it, our tiny little Japanese waitress grabbed this huge bottle of Sake and then to our astonishment started screaming at the top of her lungs something in Japanese, it kinda sounded like this – “AAAAHHH$%%^*(&*SHAKKKKKAAEEEEEEEE^%”

Of course that makes the whole of the bar stop and stare… and then everyone cheers you on. This happens at separate intervals throughout the night… Anni ordered quite a few, so we got yelled at in Japanese a lot. hahahaha.

We then ordered edamamè and chicken karage to share, and 2 plates of dumplings each – one grilled and one poached. Below are my poached pork dumplings and I also got grilled duck dumplings. They were all amazing! They have soy sauce, chilli oil and rice vinegar on the bar for you to mix up your own sauce.

After we finished and let our food settle (and got in a few more Sake shots), we both ordered the only dessert on the menu… the apple gyoza, which is deep fried and served with vanilla ice cream. These are exactly like those Apple Pies from McDonald’s – but in dumpling form! Yum YUM! Feast your eyes…

But if you only go to Harajuku Gyoza for one reason… let it be because of the toilet!! Yes you read right, the toilet. This place has the elusive “Japanese Toilet”. We’re talking the gadget of all gadgets, it has a front cleanse, rear cleanse (LOL), air dry, heated seat etc etc. We were giggling so much!! It was all we could both talk about for the next day. We want one at home! haha

So if you’re obsessed with dumplings as much as I am, you really need to check this place out. It’s so cool. Worth the wait!!

Harajuku Gyoza
394 Brunswick Street
Fortitude Valley Q

www.harajukugyoza.com 

Tags: bar, Brisbane, Dumpling, Food, Fortitude Valley, Gyoza, Harajuku, restaurant, review, Sake

Winners of the Vaseline Giveaway

Oh yes, that too… but another round of Congratulations goes to these lovely ladies for scoring themselves a HUGE pump bottle of the new Vaseline Aloe Fresh Lotion with SPF 15. Score! That’ll keep you going for Summer.

So without further ado, I am pleased to announce that the 5 winners are:

1. Joanne (mumwiththree)

2. Kerry Santillo

3. Tegan (Tegania’s Thoughts)

4. Julie  (MemybestandI)

5. Michelle Vamvas

Congratulations ladies! And Thank you so much everyone for entering.

If you are one of the lucky winners, I will be emailing you soon so that you can give me your postal details. If I don’t hear back from one of the winners within the week, I’ll be drawing another random winner.

Tags: giveaway, hip&haute, Vaseline, Vaseline Aloe Fresh Lotion, winners

My Haute BFF’s Giveaway!

Did you know there’s another Haute lady in town? She’s my long lost beauty BFF, the gorgeous Annica from Haute & Stylish.

And she’s VERY VERY generous (not to mention has VERY good taste!) with her giveaways. I mean would you look at what she’s giving away for her 150 Follower Competition…

WIN a $200 Alannah Hill Gift Voucher and an YSL Rouge Volupte in “Fetish Pink”

If you like my blog, then you will love hers. Head over to her blog HERE and enter quick sticks. Closes 25th November 2011.