#BLOGMAS: The Winterlicious Tag

Hello everybody! Thank you so much for your comments on my last post. I love reading about what's on your Christmas list. Speaking of, I forgot to mention that I will be picking the winner of the giveaway on Christmas day and sent it as soon as I can.

Anyways, for today's post, I thought I'd do another tag. I know technically you need to be tagged by someone but I saw this on YouTube and wanted to join in on the fun. I was thinking of maybe changing it to the Summerlicious Tag since it's summer here in Australia, but I just love Winter & all the clothes you can wear. One of the things on my Christmas list has always been a White Christmas so I can't wait for that day to come.

But without further ado, here's the tag. And of course, I tag all of you reading this! I'd love to read your responses so make sure you tell me if/when you do it :-)

1. Favourite winter nail polish? 

Revlon 740 Get Reddy (really old, probably discontinued...)

But I got Fifth Avenue by Essie yesterday & I think I've got a new favourite

2. Favourite winter lip product?

Revlon 745 Raspberry Bite (again, I think it's discontinued...)

3. Favourite winter scent/candle?

Glasshouse Tahaa & Bordeaux Reed Diffuser

(I loooove Vanilla & Caramel scents)

4. Favourite winter beverage?

Yorkshire Gold Tea (loose leaf)

5. All time favourite holiday movie?

Do the Harry Potter series count?

They're weirdly festive for me, especially the first one :D

6. Favourite Christmas song?
Let It Snow & Baby, It's Cold Outside
Is it weird I prefer the Glee Cast versions?

7. Favourite holiday food/treat?

White Chocolate & Macadamia Cookies (my specialty ;P)

8. Favourite Christmas decoration this year?

It's not really a decoration but I'm in love with my Starbucks Alice & Olivia Mug

9. What's at the top of your Christmas list?

Olympus OMD Camera or Canon 60D DSLR

10. What are your plans for the holidays this year?

Spending time with my friends, family & of course, Teddy!

11. Most worn winter accessory?

Cream beanie & red woolly scarf

12. Most worn winter piece?

Same as above...?

Again, I hope you're all enjoying #Blogmas! Not long until Christmas, folks!

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♡

♡ #BLOGMAS 2014: Sephora Haul!!!

The day has finally come! I honestly can't believe it. What I can't believe even more is the fact that we waited in line for 2 hours in the scorching Aussie sun to get in. But boy was it worth it. I was a liiiiittle bit disappointed they didn't have a few things, but hey, we came back hands full, credit cards drained & hearts happy. Of course I went with Monica but it was sweet of Kalen & Jeremy to come with us. They went to get some boy stuff first but came back with cool drinks and stayed with us the entire time. It's the little things in life that just make you so happy, don't you think so?

The Sephora staff were also super nice. They handed out free gelato since it was so hot (unfortunately we missed out), but they gave almost everyone there these little gift bags. In it was the latest Cosmopolitan magazine, a sparkling water with a hint of lemon (soooo good!!) & Peanut Butter Flavoured TimTams. The little pink lips chocolate in the middle was from the cute Benefit boys at the door ;-) I just think that was such a sweet gesture on behalf of them.

Not to mention the opening 'ceremony' was so much fun. They had a countdown & played Shake It Off where the staff came out and danced. Then when it was finally time, there was confetti everywhere. It was so exciting, I've never been to anything like it. What was even more fun was that we made really nice friends in line as well.

And now... Ladies & Gentlemen... The goodies! I bought nearly everything on my Sephora Wishlist but was sad when I couldn't find some stuff. I really, really wanted the small Tarte Airbuki Brush but I don't think they had that, as well as the Tarte Lipstick & the Lavanilla deodorant. However, I got another Tarte brush that seems similar to the one I wanted & after reading a lot of positive comments about it, I'm feeling a lot better. And can I just say, the Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Mineral Foundation & Blush is amazing.

I was going back & forth between getting the Formula X System pack for $60 or not. I kept telling myself that considering you save $20 it wasn't that bad and that my nail polish will most definitely last longer with all of it. I tried it on as soon as I got home & am in loooove with the colour. So I definitely do not regret it :-) I got the shade Exclamation in case anyone's wondering.

When I was on the phone with my mom, she joked, "Get me a lipstick!". I actually wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but since Christmas is just around the corner & she's done such amazing things for me my whole life, in particular this year, I thought I'd splurge a little & bought her a Marc Jacobs lipstick in the shade Heartbroken. Let me just say, the entire Marc Jacobs collection is drool-worthy but unfortunately very expensive.

And finally, the Kat Von D Tattoo liner. Of course I had to try everything on this morning & I have to say, it just glides on. It's so much easier to apply than the Stila one but it's not as long-wearing. The Stila liner didn't budge once you put it on, but the Kat Von D one does rub off quite easily.

Depending on how you look at it, I either bought a lot, or not that much. I was kinda proud of myself that I didn't put too much in my basket, but once I got to the checkout... not-so-happy. I was so excited that they said they were going to match U.S. prices but was sad at how expensive it still was. Nonetheless, I'm sure such big hauls at Sephora won't happen too often so I thought, why the heck not?

I hope you all had a great day & are enjoying #Blogmas so far :-)

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

☃ Introducing... #BLOGMAS 2014! + Priceline Haul

I watch a lot of YouTube - mainly beauty videos & vlogs and I love Vlogmas videos (as well as hauls :P) so I thought maybe... I'd do #Blogmas? I tried to plan out 24-25 blog post ideas to post everyday but I was lacking creativity (and still am) so I thought I'd blog every other day. In other words, every even-numbered day there will be a blog post. They may not all be Christmas related and since Sephora's opening in AHHH 5 days, there will be hauls as well...like today's post. I hope you look forward to it because I definitely am & have put quite some effort into it :-)

And for a quick haul. Priceline is having a lot of sales. There's a 3 for 2 sale going on in the Essie range and so I got Lovie Dovie (darker pink), Spaghetti Strap (pale pink) & Splash of Grenadine (purplish shade). Lovie Dovie was a little more neon-y than I expected but the other 2 colours are ah-mazing! I love them so much. Spaghetti Strap in particular is a pale pink I've been wanting for a while now & have finally found it. I was also out of eye make-up remover & concealer so I just went out for a repurchase, but the Real Techniques Sponge is unbelievable. I run it under the tap & it gets bigger & softer. When I apply my Bourjois CC Cream with it, it leaves such a natural finish. I'm in love with it. I even got my mom one because she wanted a sponge as well so I'm hoping she likes it.

My skin hasn't been the greatest lately. I'm afraid, I might be a little allergic to Teddy. But I have been taking some medicine & it's getting a little better, but I'll keep you posted. My cousin recommended the brand La Roche-Posay and I went to check it out, splurged a little, and came back with no regrets to miracle products. It's only been one day & there's already a noticeable difference in my skin. It's a lot smoother & softer & it's never felt better. I will definitely keep you posted on that.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my somewhat short post & are excited for #Blogmas as well! See you in 2 days :-)

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♡

Estée Lauder Goodies

Hello, hello, hello!

I know I've been a little absent. First of all, my laptop charger broke & I couldn't charge my laptop where all my blog ideas & photographs were. I promise I'm not trying to make excuses but the one thing that has been taking up about 150% of my time was my new puppy! So really, a lot of images & posts to come once she gets settled in completely.

Today, I thought I'd share some Estée Lauder goodies with you. You might remember a few weeks ago, I told you I got a few invitations from my aunt to visit the Estée Lauder staff store where you can shop at lower prices. My mom, Monica, her mom & I all went together and we were all so excited. Unfortunately for me & Mon in particular, the make-up selection was slim & disappointing. Our mom's got a lot of skin care, eye cream, serums & whatnot. But when it came to make-up, there were a lot of products, it's just the colours weren't quite what we were looking for.

So in the end, I settled for this Clinque Cheek Pop Blush in Peach. I tried it and love it! I didn't want to go with my usual pinks & tried a slightly more peachy, orangey tone & am loving it. I also got an Estée Lauder Nail Polish in Love Bite. I originally thought it was more of a plum colour but turns out it was a little more reddish. We also got sweet Jo Malone perfume samples in English Pear & Freesia when we were checking out. I didn't think I'd like it at first but it's spicy, with a hint of sweet, fruitiness & it really just grows on you.

But onto the bigger haul. This was a completely unexpected gift from the same aunt who works at Estée Lauder. We got home one day and saw that she had left me a stack of goodies on our front door.

Seriously, no words. I can't thank her enough for it all. And to top it off, birthday money! She really didn't have to after all she got me, but I was just speechless going through the pile of gifts. Speaking of birthday money, I got quite a bit (advantages of being the "baby" in a big family :P) since it was my 21st & went a little crazy online-shopping for Teddy. I know, it's sad. But I just can't help it & I can't wait to share my crazy collective haul with you :D

Anyways, I hope you all had a great week!

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♡

♡ MY WEEK: 13-19 October 2014

Happy Sunday everybody! Here is what my week looked like. Unfortunately Kalen's aunt had to have surgery but she's making a great recovery so far. Everything went well and hopefully she'll be up & good to go in no time. I've been keeping him and his family company & may have gotten a head start on some super-secret-except-not-very-secret-because-you-can-see-it-in-the-first-picture-if-you-really-tried stuff *wink* Hopefully it goes all according to plan because I've been working very hard on it :-)

As you might be able to tell in the aforementioned picture, I have a lot of sticky notes on my ruler. I used to do this before but kinda stopped for a while. But now it's back in all its colourful glory! Whenever there's something important for me to do, I put it there & the feeling of peeling/ripping it off when I do it is just so satisfying.

Oh, and that "Spending ban"? Not going so well. I cracked. Remember how I said I bought some of the Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy nail polish? Well, 2 became 4... + a post-it cube. I just couldn't resist. First I got the purple shade, Up The Ante. It's such a gorgeous colour & I don't have anything like it so that was justified, as well as the special Top Coat for it. Oh, and about that Top Coat, the brush is super cool! It has sort of like 2 mini brushes in 1. I'm not entirely sure what that's good for or how that helps but hey, it applies smoothly & makes my nail polish look all shiny so that's really all that matters, right?

And when I went to Big W yesterday (big mistake, very big mistake) I ended up getting 2 more. The lighter pink shade is called Cardshark & the darker pink is called Lady Luck. I'm not sure I like them too much so I am very much regretting it... :-( On the bright side, I love my new Post-It Cube! How cute is it? :D I just put it on my desk & it adds so much colour & cuteness.

And here was my #fflovephotoaday picture from last week. I've been very naughty about it & haven't posted many pictures but something is better than nothing...isn't it? ^^"

Anyways, that's it for today!
I hope you're having a great weekend & I'll see you all very soon :D

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

Nail Polish Collection & Review

As promised, here is my nail polish collection & a tiny review of them. Whilst I was photographing these, I noticed that it wasn't terribly large but I mean, them nail polishes ain't cheap. In case you haven't noticed, I have quite the Essie collection going. From left to right: Sand Tropez, Mademoiselle, Cute As A Button, Mint Candy Apple, Turquoise & Caicos, Lilacism & Chincilly.

Essie would most definitely have to be one of my favourite nail polish brands. They apply really smoothly but since I usually do 2 coats, the drying time takes a while. But as I mentioned in my Nail Care Routine, the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat works miracles. Apparently it takes up to 12 hours for nail polish to dry completely. According to the person at the nail salon, if you 'click' your nails together and there's no sticky feeling, that's when you know they're completely dry. My favourites out of the Essie colours I have are Sand Tropez, Mademoiselle & Lilacism.

Sand Tropez is your typical light nude/beige colour that looks nice no matter what the occasion. With Mademoiselle, you can probably see quite a lot has been used. That's because I have to apply about 3 coats for it to give the nice, pale pink colour. This sort of gives a 'con' to this colour as applying so many coats makes my nails vulnerable to chipping quite easily & takes forever to dry. However, the colour makes it almost worth it. Although I can only keep it on for a few days so I'd recommend it before some special event, like a wedding. And finally, Lilacism is a cute, light purple colour that I noticed looked great with shorter nails. Since it's Spring here in Australia, I have a feeling I'll be using this one quite a bit.

Here are my other nail polishes. I have a range of brands including: Maybelline (Enduring Pink), Revlon (African Tea Rose), Rimmel (Salon Pro: Jazz Funk, Reggae Splash & 60 Seconds: Ring A Ring O' Roses), Estée Lauder (Fuschia Flame) & Nails Inc. (Porchester Square).

I bought the two lighter pinks (Rimmel & Maybelline) in search of a very light, muted (:D) pink but was quite disappointed by how neon-y they turned out. Don't be fooled by the colour in the bottle or even on the picture above. The good thing was they were super cheap. The cost of both of them would still not be enough to get an Essie nail polish... Hehe.

The Estée Lauder one is a gorgeous hot, hot pink that borders on red. Proof that I loved it so much is that there's barely any left that I can't apply it properly anymore. It may be sad but I just can't bring myself to throw it away. Looking at the packaging, I think you'd understand. I should also mention that this was gifted to me a long time ago & is now discontinued. However, there are a lot of similar colours that are just as gorgeous albeit pricey.

My favourites here would definitely have to be the Revlon, Rimmel Salon Pro & Nails Inc. The Revlon Parfumerie one, African Tea Rose, wait for it - smells like roses! It's crazy but amazing! Everything I tie my hair back or something, I get a waft of roses. It's a little strong but quite good nonetheless, especially with a top coat over it.

My favourite application-wise would definitely have to be the Rimmel Salon Pro. They have a wide, flat brush and such a smooth consistency that you can just do one swipe and it's basically perfect. And the colour. Oh the colour. They're both stunning. And really suitable for any occasion. Jazz Funk is a muted hot pink ('muted' word count anyone?) and Reggae Splash is such a cute, light peachy orange that would also be great in the Spring & also the Summer, probably even Autumn as well!

And finally, the Nails Inc. Gel Effects polish in Porchester Square. As the name suggests, gives a gel effect. The colour I think would also look great on various skin tones & is quite long-lasting.

***

I honestly tried to make this a short post but as always, I failed again. I apologise. But thanks for reading & I hope this was useful. Since I'm a crazy nail polish addict, I'd love to hear what your favourite brands & colours are. I can't wait until Sephora opens to finally get my hands on the Formula X ones so I'm definitely open to recommendations (for you know, after my spending ban :D)

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡