IndieAna- In Search of the HolyGrail

Receiving goodies in the mail is one of my favourite things in the world. Only paying $4.95 to cover postage is even better! My home on the interwebs, Beauty Heaven hosts an event called Beautorium. This is  like an online store, but instead of money, items are bought with points that have been accumulated by completing various activities on the site. Beauty Heaven members are so lucky to be rewarded this way. These are the lovely products that greeted me. At an attempt to save most of my points, but still wanting to order something, I chose Wet Ones, Nivea In-Shower and Sunsense Tinted SPF Moisturiser. Although, I love to get products that I don' t really need, it's also good to grab some products that I use regularly, so save money not having to buy them. Look at these amazing extras! Better than my original order. I was pleasantly surprised and cannot wait to start using them! Beautirium is just one of the perks of being part of the Beauty Heaven community ...

With such yucky cold weather, I needed some sparkle on my nails. Maybelline Color Show Brocades certainly fit the bill when you need some glitz.  "Rosy Rosettes" is simply stunning. Like crushed rubies, it twinkles and is so eye catching. I was so happy with the finish, only needing two coats for opacity.  Removal is going to be fun, but I'm far from caring about that when I have such gorgeous coloured nails to look at :)

With a theme called Bright and Bold, cleverly chosen by Hailey , I had so many ideas whirling around in my head. I really didn't think I'd be able to make my mind up. Finally after some inspiration, thanks to rifling through my mineral makeup, I decided first with an eye look, then the rest of my full face look just came to me easily. Face Garnier BB Cream for combination to oily skin. Inouvi "Candy" and "Pink" blushes. Eyes Coastal Scents Camo Quad, using the white on my lids for a base. Gold, green and purple loose pigments to create my eye look. Mirenesse Superlong Wear Gel in "Black" to line my upper lashline. MUA black Contour Liner on lower waterline. L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes. Lips Australis Show Stopper Gloss Stick in "Fireworks". What I love just as much as playing with makeup is also playing with nail colour, no surprise there, right? :) With Sally Hansen HD "Laser" ...

I just couldn't resist Face Of Australia's Glitterati range. I so love the name, how can you pass up on something called Glitterati! lol This milky pink, with cute glitter is called "Heart of Glass". It's such a fun, girly colour. It did take 3 coats to reach this opaqueness. I hope that you are having a great Sunday :)

I just love Leopard print nails. I can think of so many combinations and ways of showcasing this design. I've stamped the design on before, but I like the look of the design done freehand. What was holding me back was not feeling that I could create an acceptable leopard print design. Finally, I took the plunge, what could I lose? Polish remover has erased many a bad nail look. After applying OPI Passion for my base colour (which I neglected to include in the pic, oops!), I then added a coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection for a touch of shimmer. Once the coats were dry, I dabbed Essie Your Hut Or Mine in desired edges of my nails, apart from my accent nail, where Your Hut Or Mine is the base colour and Models Prefer Flushed used for the Leopard spots. To finish off the spots, I used a brush to define with Orly Liquid Vinyl. A coat of Seche Vite top coat finished my mani. Now that I've discovered that I can create a passable leopard print, I now want to try other idea...

Today's Scent of the Day is another Arcana perfume oil, thanks to Dee . What Larks! is a limited edition oil from The Great Expectations Collection. Described as "A happy blend of English strawberries and salted milk caramels strewn across polished wood." On me, this oil is rich, creamy, indulgence. The strawberries lift the fragrance, a touch of fruity sweetness, not tartness, but almost like strawberry jam. Over time, I noticed a smokiness emerge, wood perhaps? When I wear this perfume I am reminded of the wafting scent of a delicious candle, when it has just been blown out. This scent lingers nicely, not loud, but it does last. I'm not sure that I need a full size, but I am going to enjoy the rest of the sample vial. Thanks again, Dee :)

MUA Cosmetics is a UK based company. Thankfully they are available online for purchase, making the brand accessible here in little old Australia. I love a good budget brand, and MUA is both good and affordable. With most brands, there's hits and misses with certain products, but it's not so bad when you're not spending big $$$.  Recently I finished MUA 3-in-one Contour Pen in Dark Brown. The "pen", which is more crayon-like, is quite a unique shape. The end is angled, giving you the option of 3 looks. A thick, defined or soft look, can be achieved because of the forgiving liner. I didn't own anything like this product in my collection, so I took the opportunity to buy when there was a sale. I found this product easy to apply. Smooth, no tugging. I love that it is retractable, no sharpening, yay! It has a glossy finish, and I found that the dark brown was a great alternative to black for day wear. What I did have problems with was length of wear, I foun...

Being a festive long weekend, I had to play with polish and makeup to create Easter looks. What I now don't have a lot of time for is writing up this post, so this will be short and sweet :) I used My 7 year old son said I looked like a character from The Hunger Games, lol. Using this arsenal of nail polishes, I created my Easter nail look. Looks more like a colourful mess, lol. Happy Easter, now I'm off to enjoy some chocolate goodness :)

I normally write about all things beauty related, this post is a little different. Being Good Friday, to me, it's a solemn day as I reflect on Christ's sacrifice. It saddens me to think of all He suffered. But, I also feel joyous at the knowledge that He is Risen, He is Alive! Although I am a Christian, I don't see myself as being religious. To me, Christianity is an everyday walk with God.  I do also love the family time that Easter brings, as I gorge on yummy chocolate goodies! I hope you have a wonderful Easter xx 

I'm not sure where this tag originated from. I have seen it a few times. After reading Lipstick and Coffee 's tag, it finally tipped me over the edge and I decided to do it myself. Greed- What's your most expensive and inexpensive beauty item? I don't have any high end products in my collection, but I'd have to say my Urban Decay palettes would be the most expensive items I own. I own a lot of products that are on the cheaper side of the scale, but the cheapest would have to be a L'Oreal Infalible shadow that has a price tag of 88c, broke the bank that one, lol! Wrath- What item do you have a strong love/hate relationship? Eye shadow. Now, please don't get me wrong, shadows would have to be my favourite beauty product. But, if I get it wrong, I really get it wrong. I just hate it when I have an idea in my head for a look, and I just can't seem to get it right, frustrates me! Gluttony- What are your most delicious beauty products? I would have t...

Hmmm, should I thank Dee , or curse her? Just kidding, thank her of course, but I can BLAME her for wanting, no needing, another perfume oil. Among the decanted samples that Dee had kindly sent me, was Arcana Cake Lust . Described as " Golden bakery cakes spiked with blonde tobacco, pipe tobacco, Basalm of Peru, cardamon and mace. " Now I can't tell you what mace and Basalm of Peru smells like, however, cakes, the gourmand spice of cardamon and the smokiness of tobaccos, oh yes, my nose detects those for sure!  This foody fragrance is blended to perfection, with the added tobacco giving richness and a sexy smoky touch. This perfume is heavenly delicious and so naughty with seduction.  Upon application, imagine me like those cartoon characters floating towards an irresistible smell. I am in gourmand heaven with this oil, it's INSANE. If only I could bathe in it!  If this wasn't enough, do you want to know the best part? It lasts, like I mean hours! When...

The polish I am showing you today contains elements that I love, shimmer and shine. There's one thing that I really wasn't sure about was the actual colour. Brown... Pretty Serious "Martian Sea" is a burnt orange brown. It's a great Autumn colour. Not one that I'd reach for to wear on its own a lot, but I'm sure it would be a versatile colour for various nail art themes :)

This tag was started by The Beau Bow . The lovely Candyfairy  was kind enough to tag me. Being my first, I couldn't wait to do it! 1. Name a beauty routine you rarely do? I have a few, I don't contour, do bronzer, rarely highlight and never curl my lashes.  2. Is washing your makeup brushes something you do regularly?  I try and wash my brushes weekly. This hasn't always been the case :/ 3. How long will you last with chipped nail varnish? Chipped polish bugs me, though, I generally don't remove it until I'm about to apply a different polish. 4. How long do you put off buying/replacing a beauty or nail polish product even if you need it? (ie. top coat, foundation, etc) What does it mean to run out of a product??????? Lol, my biggest problem is hoarding, rather than running out of anything :) 5. What is your worst beauty habit? Hoarding eye shadow palettes. I hardly use them, yet I keep adding more! 6. Name something non beauty related that you put o...

The shopping network, TVSN has a lot to answer for. With the wonderful demonstrations and tempting information, I have had many impulse buys. One of these impulse buys resulted in purchasing Skinn Deep Wrinkle Protocol. Inside this pack I received a Sonic Tool, line peel solution  and Erasing serum.  The Line Peel Solution consists of a multi-fruit acid complex along with mandelic acid, white tea extract and vitamin C. This formula acts to exfoliate the skin, preparing it for further treatment.  The Erasing Serum uses amino acid encapsulating technology to hydrate skin, thus reducing lines and wrinkles. The Sonic Tool increases the effectiveness of serums by using pulsating vibrations to promote maximum absorption into the skin. As directed, I applied the liquid Line Peel Solution first, using a cotton pad. Even with the active ingredients, I did not experience any adverse reactions.  Next in this 2-step skin treatment is the Erasing Serum. I began by a...

When Gemma chose the new theme for our Come Play With Me series, I must say that I was a little stumped. "Unleash The Artist Within" Hmmm, well I'm not much of an artistic person, however, this is what the challenge is all about, playing with makeup, trying things that you'd never normally do. After some consideration, I decided to create a look that represented something that I love, tigers! I adore tiger print. To create this nail look, I used a white base, then sponged on a mixture of brown and orange. I would like to say that I painted the print on, but no, just stamped on :) My "You're going to hear me roar" pic, or snarl as it may seem, lol. Well, I really enjoyed creating this fun look, it was such a great theme, Gemma! xx If you want to create a fun look, please join us, if I can be "artistic", you certainly can be too! See how Gemma shows us how to be creative with colour. Whilst Kat proves th...

I have another gorgeous nail colour to show you. Here  I am wearing Spoiled Are Mermaids Real. I normally associate mermaids with teal, that aside, I love this golden purple. It is such an elegant colour.

I used to wear dark polishes quite a lot, but now I seem to reach for bright colour for my digits. That won't change. However, for some reason I craved dark nails. I decided that if I was going to go dark, I might as well try a polish that I hadn't used before. I chose to use Avon Matte as my base colour, dark and matte..wow! :) I couldn't commit to this colour on it's own, so to add a little colour (still dark) I used Blush-Amour in a deep chocolate colour to stamp on a design I had tried a charcoal grey colour, but it didn't quite show up enough, so went over with the chocolate coloured polish. A change certainly is nice from time to time :)

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab , or commonly known as BPAL is such a cult indie perfume brand. I have bought many a perfume from their HUGE offering of fragrances. It can be quite overwhelming at first, but once you start buying from this online store, it becomes quite an addiction. In the need for an indie perfume oil hit, I reached for "O". Described as "The scent of sexual obsession, slavery to sensual pleasure, and the undercurrent of innocence defiled utterly. Amber and honey with a touch of vanilla." With a description like that I couldn't not buy it, forget samples, I bought a full size! I must admit that it was not love at first sniff for me. I was expecting something sweet and seductively loud. I got sweet, but soft and powdery. It took time but I began to appreciate this fragrance. It is the perfect night-time perfume, something that you and your partner could get lost in. The 3 notes are obvious, but blend so well, not trying to outdo each other. I...