Top Trend: Leopard print

One of my most favourite prints in the entire world is Leopard print. I think I own pretty much everything in leopard print. Coats, scarfs, shoes, underwear, bikinis and pretty much anything else you can think of. No matter what item it is, I'm sure I own something featuring it. Lucky for me, it's also what is currently trending this season, in a big way!

These are some of my favourite pieces I've seen around!

Leopard Print bodysuit:
Very sexy. Great paired with some faux fur (like a vest or jacket), and some black wet look jeans.





















Bardot
RRP: $69.95

Leopard print jacket:
Amazing over anything! Perfect for winter.





















Bardot
RRP: $189.95


*Not sure about a major piece, how about some leopard to accessorise with instead...*

Leopard print scarf: 
Looks great teamed up with a pair of Boyfriend Jeans, a black or white tshirt and some nude or bright coloured wedges.

Forever New "stella" scarf
RRP: $24.95


Leopard print clutch:
Looks striking against a black ensemble when going out. Team with these gold accessories.

eQuip
Clutch: $29.99
Necklace: $17.99
Statement earrings: $9.99
Ball earrings: $6.99 (pk of 2)
Bangle set: $12.99

Leopard print shoes :
Another small but statement touch of leopard.

Novo "Bentley" pumps
RRP: $79.95

How do you wear leopard? Small touches or a big statement piece? Or do you avoid the trend completely?

Review: YSL moire liquid eyeliner #11

I only found this eyeliner by chance. I went into David Jones to ask when the new leopard print touché éclat was due to hit counters in Aus and as I was waiting to speak to a salesperson, I had a look at the display. I saw this delicious beauty, and as I am pretty obsessed with anything turquoisey, tealy, duo chromey goodness, I HAD to have it! It's SO pretty. So I purchased it, now I didn't know the price but one of those things that I had to have. Get to the register, $59 thanks. Sorry what? Yep $60 odd for an eyeliner. I have never spent that much on a single eyeliner, and I almost couldn't justify that price. Expensive but I bought it anyway (are you understanding how pretty I thought it was?!). So I get home and look up reviews for it (I don't know why, I already bought it), and honestly, I could not find anything of substance about this eyeliner (Hence why I'm doing this review). I did find out that it was released about 2011 and I guess that's one of the reasons very few reviews or anything exist on the thing. I also blame the fact that it's expensive and realistically, not many would buy it at that price. Actually, I entirely blame the price tag for lack of anything even slightly reviewy.


It's described (on their website) as light blue. It's definitely teal with a blue duo chrome (and shimmer), and it's certainly not a light colour. I'd call it a medium shade. The brush is thin and soft, no hardness to it at all. I found it easy to glide along my eyelid and no tugging, pulling or anything of the sort. It's easy to manoeuvre and a very smooth consistency. More "runny" than "gluggy" by any means (by gluggy, I'm comparing to MACs liquid last liner).
I first swatched it on my hand (while perusing the display) and after going to the bathroom 10 minutes later, it had washed off. Kinda shitty for a $60 eyeliner. However, it wore all day on my eyes, with no flaking and it washed off super easy. Which is a good thing I guess, so there's no scrubbing your eyes to get it off, which I guess it's where it's actually going right?

With flash. 1 stroke vs colour. You can sort of see the duo-chrome and the shimmer.



















Would I recommend or repurchase?:  Yes and No. Yes: it's really pretty and really easy to use and smooth to apply. No: unless you have money to burn. The price is ridiculous.

Available: YSL counters at David Jones and Myer
RRP: $59

Slimbliss ~ seeing what the fuss is about...

In my quest to be healthier and, ahem, obtain a flat stomach, I decided to give Slimbliss a shot. Slimbliss is one of those detox teas that everyone's been hearing so much about lately. There are a few different ones on the market and they all basically say/ do the same thing:
* to reduce bloating
* to minimize sugar cravings
* to feel fuller for longer
* to assist in losing weight
* to gently detox the body of nasties

Does it even work? I know a lot of people have been asking this, as at $19, it is most definitely an expensive tea, especially if it doesn't yield any results. I decided to do this, not to lose weight, but to reduce bloating (yay, flat stomach) and to stop my sugar cravings. I decided Slimbliss was the one to try as it is the cheapest one I could find, (not being a tightass, but for being experimental = very expensive tea).

Initial thoughts:
I was so excited to receive it and ripped open and had a cup right away. It had a very clean, fresh taste. Closest to peppermint but not a strong taste. Very pleasant. (I'm used to drinking green tea).

After a week:
My stomach definitely feels less bloated. I wake up with a flat stomach which is what I wanted. My sugar cravings have definitely decreased. Instead of wanting/ eating chocolate almost everyday, I've eaten it once and that was out of it being there, wanting to just finish it off and boredom. I haven't really noticed a difference in regards to feeling fuller quicker/ for longer, but it's still early days I guess.

After the 14 days:
I really love this tea and have definitely been recommending it to everyone who wants to know about it/ will listen to my spiel. I definitely have a flat stomach from it and my sugar cravings definitely were not what they usually are. I didn't feel fuller at all but I definitely ate much healthier with the thought of it in the back of my mind. I have repurchased and am waiting for my second pack to arrive I love it that much. I highly recommend it!


As with any detox tea, a clean diet and exercise always works best alongside it to see maximum results. I personally hate/ don't exercise so all results are followed with a clean diet only.

Slimbliss detox tea
RRP: $19
Available: Slimbliss.com.au
Postage: free within Australia. I ordered on a Friday/ Saturday and received it on the second Monday after ordering (5 business days. 1 public holiday in amongst that time).

My morning healthy smoothie + routine

I've been doing this for a while, and I do feel better for it. I do feel more energised and just, healthier. I am starting to read up more about having/ achieving an alkaline body (vs a toxis acidic body), and my morning ritual is definitely on the right track to doing that.

My morning routine:
* 1 glass of warm water with lemon
* 1 glass of cold water with 1-2tsp of Swisse Chlorophyll
* 1 morning smoothie (or if I'm lazy the night before, a bowl of oats with almond milk and fruit)


This is my morning go-to, healthy, breakfast smoothie. I make this nearly every night, ready to kick start my morning off on the right foot...

200ml coconut water
2 tsp coconut oil
1/3 can of pineapple
1/2 can of pineapple juice (from above)
1 large handful of spinach leaves
1/3 cucumber
Small amount of ginger

Put above in blender and wiz away to a smooth consistency. I do prefer mine slightly chunkier as I hear that "chewing" your smoothie actually prepares your stomach for better digestion. I also do drink this as a "meal".


* Chlorophyll is available at the supermarket, health food stores and priceline.
RRP: usually around the $20 mark

It's already Autumn, apparently...

So if you live in Adelaide, you know that it's been stinking hot and the signs of summer haven't gone away (hello 35* days!?). However, pretty soon autumn will be settling in and will be that start of the warmer wear. I, myself know that I'll need all the warm clothes I can get as I feel the cold easily. So pants it is. I'm pretty ecstatic that leather is in once again so i'll be bringing out my sexy leather wear when the time is appropriate. However for now, something a little more lightweight should do the trick. As the world knows, I'm a glitter/ sequin lover to the max (unicorns anyone?), so I thought these are extremely me and extremely appropriate! I am expecting these to be delivered Thursday due to the extremely timely shipping from The Iconic and will update me in my new shiny pants by the end of the week. I'm just so darn excited that I wanted to share!




Available from: Bardot & The Iconic
RRP: $79.95

BONUS: For this month, if you purchase anything from The Iconic you can get 20% off your purchase by typing COSMO4U20 into the coupon code. Enjoy! X

All things beauty...

So, along the path of me growing up and becoming wiser in my journey through life, I've also realised that MAC isn't the be all end all of cosmetics (shock horror!) and have pledged to myself to be more experimental with other brands and share a bit of that love. Also to realise that high end brands also aren't the be all of all things created (I am/was a bit of a product snob, I'll be honest).

I guess I realised I have wayyyy too much makeup for 5 people, let alone myself, hence why I stopped buying makeup (MAC especially). I haven't bought makeup (minus the basics/staples) for almost 2 years. Yeah that's crazy. In this time, I have hit pan on 1 (yes only 1!) item, Stila's Kitten eyeshadow. Isn't that just a teeny tiny bit disgraceful? Lol. In this absence of purchasing, 2 things have occured since my makeup binging days. MAC do the whole "animal testing" thing now (well, not quite but may as well...) and my closest MAC counter, the girls aren't so crash hot (think not knowing products, leave customers waiting whilst doing full makeovers on customers kinda thing). I'll be honest, if you haven't already guessed, I've become soured. Yes, soured by MAC. (If my mother heard, I think she would drop dead!

Now I guess they've done it for years but I'm finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. I went in to buy something from the new Archie range. I went in to purchase something, anything. I feel like a recovering drug addict with MAC, walk in with the intent to purchase something then leave realising, no you do not need another friggin piece of makeup! Anyway, I kinda wanted the powders but have too much blush so I picked up a lipstick. It was amazing. It's that perfect pink coral shade that's bright but not too bright. Delicious. (It was Betty Bright by the way). So I swatched it. Ummm hello Costa Chic, where have you been hiding? Yes, it's basically an exact dupe. So after picking up the matching  lipglass (again, just wanted to purchase SOMETHING), and waiting 15 minutes to be served (on my lunch break too), I decided (or the universe did, I can't quite tell) that I really didn't need it that badly. Put it down, walked out and then came up with the ingenious idea to shop my stash (so clever I know).  So from now on, (minus the Too Faced sweetheart pearls, i MUST own them. they are heartshaped people, HEARTSHAPED!!!) I'll be shopping my stash for a long while, coming up with some rediscovered gems that I've long forgotten about! I'm quite excited about this and in the process, I'll be able to explore more creative looks that I've long forgotten! So shop my stash here we come! So far these are the gems I've rediscovered:

MAC Costa Chic lipstick (it's perfect and one of my faves!)
Bobbi Brown Nectar shimmer brick (going for a coral theme here)
MAC Gana blush
MAC A Rose is a Rosé quad (I KNOW! I completely forgot about this beauty!)

Well that's it so far... As the month progresses, I will do a post about what else I find!


In the meantime, I want to know this:

Tell me, what surprising awesome "low end" brands/ products do you think are amazeballs? Share them with me! X

Glasshouse candles: Tahaa

Now I'll be honest. I love candles. Especially highly fragranced ones and ESPECIALLY glittery ones. Now Glasshouse candles have been around for quite a while, you've probably noticed them walking past Peter Alexander, taking in as much of that caramelly, delicious scent as you can, probably not even knowing what THAT scent is. I was that person until probably a year ago, I HAD to know what it was. They showed me, and I've been hooked since. Tahaa, the creme de la creme of caramel fragrances as far as caramel goes (in my eyes anyway...).

Tahaa is caramel and vanilla scented (2 of my faves!). It is extremely rich in fragrance (triple scented) and really is value for money. These babies are pricy as far as candles go but are worth every.single.dollar! They come in 2 sizes, 60g or 350g with up to 80 hours burn time.

Glasshouse make a wide range of delicious fragrances and if I can stop myself buying Tahaa then ill be sure to check out the other delicious scents, (I think Rio De Janiro will be next!)




Available: Peter Alexander, David Jones or browse Glasshousefragrances.com for stockists.
RRP: $16.99 (60g), $34.99 (350g) 
Burn time: 20 hours and 80 hours respectively.