| Products of The Month | April '13

Here are my favourite and most used products of April! Surprisingly, a couple of old products have snuck back into my life this month, thanks to the cooling weather, but as always, because all I do is spend these days (cries), there are some newbies as well.

Laneige Hydra Solution Eye Cream
Since the weather is (finally) cooling down here I thought I would bring out the big guns. My under-eye area suffers in winter so I've decided to start early on the moisturizing front. This eye cream from Laneige is their most hydrating, and also helps to brighten under the eye as well.

Liz Earle Gentle Face Exfoliator
I dislike exfoliators that are too harsh for your skin but also hate it when they're not harsh enough. This one is the perfect balance between the two for me. I also love how much brighter my skin looks after using this and am really dreading running out because of how expensive it is to ship from the UK :( Why do I always have to love the most expensive and unattainable products. Why?!

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick #19
No.19 isn't a particularly exciting colour, but it does enhance the natural colour of my lips and it's great for a casual, everyday look for me.

YSL Shocking Mascara
I've had this mascara for quite a while now but only recently fallen in love with it again. It makes all my other mascaras look pretty rubbish to be honest.  It gives everything I want in a mascara, volume, length, definition and I know this might sound a bit weird but it smells really nice. 

and speaking of nice smelling things,

Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche Perfume
This perfume is probably better suited for the warmer seasons, because of its strong citrus like scent, but I love it so much I've been using it everyday since I bought it.

Bourjois Beauty'full Volume Mascara

Boujois Beauty'Full Volume Mascara

Lucky for me, Priceline were giving away some freebies when you spent over $20 on any Bourjois Product. So as well as a foundation I received some sunglasses (Really?) and a full sized Beauty-Full Volume Mascara (Yay! That's more like it). I've never tried a Bourois mascara before so I was pretty excited. Here are some before and after shots I took:

It gives volume, leaves hardly any clumps and does what it claims in delivering well held, silky, smooth lashes. The product has also been ophthalmologically tested on sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers. I have quite sensitive eyes myself and haven’t experienced any irritation, so this is a huge plus for me. Overall, not a bad mascara at all. Anyone else tried this mascara or any others from Bourjois?

Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick Review & Swatches

I may not be the biggest lipstick girl out there, but man, Rimmel's new Kate Moss collection of lipsticks are making me reconsider. They have a very nice creamy texture that’s easy to apply, with a rich colour that leaves a satin finish to your lips. Moisture wise, I can get this lipstick to last up to two hours on my lips, which are dry and flaky most of the time (this is why I don’t wear lipstick), so for me that's not so bad, but I've read it lasts up to four or five hours for accommodating lips. Here are the swatches for the two I bought below:

My personal favourite is no.19 at the moment. It's the perfect nude colour for me, and just simply enhances the natural colour of my lips. No. 22 on the other hand is a bit too bright for my liking, I would have preferred the deeper shade of red if it wasn't sold out at the time! Damn you Priceline sales!

Anyone else tried these lipsticks? What are your thoughts?

| Sasa Haul | 01

Sasa Haul 01

My most recent package from Sasa arrived yesterday. Man i love it when packages arrive at your door, feels like Christmas. Anyway, where do I start?

Perfect Whip foam cleanser from Shiseido

I've read some great reviews on this cleanser and thought I would give it ago, it was also only $6.

White Washing Foam by Juju Aquamoist

This is one of my favourite cleansers ever. I love using this in the winter time because it contains hyaluronic acid in it, so it isn't as drying on the skin as foam cleansers can be.

Sasatinnie Cotton Pads

I admit it's not the most exciting purchase but when I tried them for the first time last night I was amazed at how durable they were. 'Durable' as in not falling apart and leaving bits of fleece all over your face. Best 60 cents I ever spent.

Sasatinnie 100%, non-fleecing Cotton Pads

Sasatinnie 100%, non-fleecing Cotton Pads

My Beauty Diary Apple Polyphenol Mask

This is a great mask for large pores and acne prone skin. It purifies pores as well as help control oil production. It's incredibly moisturising and soothes and firms the skin.

My Beauty Diary Lemon Vit-C Mask

I loved the apple mask so much I thought I should try out the lemon one too.This one is more for refining and brightening the skin, and contains vitamin c to help improve the appearance of scars.

My Beauty Diary Apple & Lemon Masks

Essential Nuance Airy Hair Mask

I tried this last night and oh my god...works just as well as my $50 Kerestase mask. I will definitely be posting a review on this soon.

Essential Nuance Airy Hair Mask by Kao

Cyber Colors Eyeliner Sharpener

Before I was just using my regular pencil sharpener to sharpen (slash destroy)  my pencil liners...don't judge me, my blog is called Beauty Challenged for a reason. It's a small and large sharpener in one and has a cap and two plugs to help make sharpening a lot less messy.

Cyber Colors Pencil Eyeliner Sharpener

Cyber Colors Eyeliner Pencil Sharpener

Silk Steam Mask by Vess

I was so intrigued by this product I just had to buy it. It's a reusable cloth mask designed to trap in moisture and steam your face. You can use it with hot and cold water too.

Silk Steam Mask from Japanese brand Vess

Sasatinnie Spot Removing Tool Thingy

And finally, there's the scary looking spot removing...thing. It's hard to see in the photo but it's essentially just a metal hoop and needle on either end of the stick. I thought it was a more hygienic approach to pimple popping.

Anyway, that's my little Sasa haul. I'm looking forward to trying these products out for review! Let me know what you think below.

Shu Uemura Skin Purifier Cleansing Oil Review

I always thought using an oil based cleanser was a somewhat ridiculous idea, especially for someone like me with oily skin, but dirt and makeup is naturally drawn to oils, and it was this cleanser that made me seriously rethink the way I wash my face.

Shu Uemura’s purifying cleansing oil (the pink bottle) is a lightweight cleanser catered to combination and oily skin types, it minimises pores by eliminating excess sebum and visibly smooths and refines the skins surface. It contains cherry blossom extracts and claims to help exfoliate the skin as well as speed up the cell renewal process.

The oil itself has a lovely, soft floral scent that reminds me a lot of YSL’s Touché Éclat foundation (smells exactly like it actually) and feels very luxurious to massage into the skin. It melts away make up, leaving nothing behind, and is even gentle enough to use on your eyes. I just don’t recommend having your eyes open when you do this haha. The closest thing to this cleanser I've used was Lush's Ultra Bland, but it was quite a thick paste, and was nowhere as near easy to remove like this oil. The oil breaks up and dissolves quickly when it comes in contact with water, leaving behind silky smooth skin. 

I love this cleanser because I wear fairly heavy foundation regularly, and need something more than just a foam cleanser to remove my makeup. My skin feels so good afterwards, clean, moisturised, and most importantly, un-stripped. It is an expensive product, the small and large bottles are priced at around $33 and $74 respectively at Sasa, and that’s at least 35% off the regular retail price in Australia (gulp). Okay, so it’s basically liquid gold, but a little does go a long way. I've had my bottle for five months now and it's only just past the halfway mark. Let's hope I can make it last another five!

| Beauty Wishlist | April '13

1. Real Techniques Blush Brush

I only realised the other day that I don’t own a proper blush brush. Oops.

2. Real Techniques Eye Brush Collection

Real Techniques brushes are such great value for money, and all I need is in this collection.

3. Babyliss Conical Curling Iron

I bought a Remmington curler almost six years ago, still have it, but the barrel is too small, and the heat settings are pretty limited, so I'm looking forward to trying the Babyliss out.

4. Burberry Velvet Foundation

A gorgeous looking, medium coverage, semi matte finish foundation from Burberry. Alas, it’s very expensive, but a girl can dream right?

5. Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

I’m eye shadow challenged. So I’m opting for a very basic and neutral toned palette to help kick start my self training.

6. GHD Air Dryer

I'm sorry my dear Sunbeam travel dryer, I think it’s time for me to move on. My hair has been quite dry lately and I'm starting to think my cheap, old hairdryer is the culprit.