#BLOGMAS: 2014 Beauty Favourites

Seeing as it's nearing the end of the year & there are all sorts of countdowns for the best of 2014 and whatnot, I thought I'd do my own 2014 Beauty Favourites. Although, I will admit I took these photos a while ago (before my Sephora haul) and so there are some things I would have loved to include since then. However, I would have only been using them for 1 of 12 months in the year so it didn't seem fair to include them in the 2014 Favourites.

MAKE-UP

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer, L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Powder, Rimmel Stay Matte Powder, The Body Shop Honey Bronzer Shade 1, Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner, Benefit They're Real! Mascara, Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil, Maybelline Experwear Quad, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad To The Bronze & See By Chloé Perfume.

Oops! I forgot to include my favourite thing - Blush! I've been using the Physician's Formula Happy Booster Blush throughout the year but I'm loving the Clinique Cheek Pop & of course Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush in Tipsy.

LIPS

EOS Lipbalms, The Body Shop Colour Crush in Shade 14 Magenta Be, Maybelline Colour Elixir in Fuchsia Flourish, Rimmel Apocalips in Stellar & the Dior Lip Glow.

NAILS

Revitanail Nail Strengthener in Pink, Essie Polish in Lilacism, Rimmel Salon Pro in Jazz Funk & Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Top Coat.

SKIN CARE

The Body Shop Raspberry Body Scrub & Butter, The Body Shop Mango Hand Cream & my Clarisonic Mia 2.

HAIR CARE 

Schwarzkopf Heat Protection Spray, Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil & Salon Elite Tangle Teezer.

A pretty short, sweet & self-explanatory post from me today. What products have you been loving throughout the year? I'd love some suggestions & recommendations since I'm doing some major spending these days and would probably go out and buy things straightaway. I've been really loving the REN face masks & have been researching a lot of their skin care products as well so I'd love any & all advice about them.

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 ♡

SPENDING BAN?!

So uh...this happened again. Don't worry, it wasn't ALL in one go but...it's still pretty bad. Since Sephora is opening in 2 months & I have a wish list that will make Santa cry, I thought I'd put myself on a beauty spending ban for the months of October & November. And possibly a stationery spending ban as well. Not to mention, a Mecca Maxima is opening in Burwood, which is dangerously close to where I live. A spending ban is desperately required to save up for major Sephora & Mecca hauling, plus Christmas presents.

But here was my last major spending spree for the month of September. Like I said, this wasn't all just yesterday so I've already used some things already, but there are a few things I just HAVE to talk about.

Oh Chloé. Chloé, Chloé, Chloé. How do I even start to describe my love for you? My previous favourite perfumes were the Miss Dior Cherie Blooming Bouquet & Eau De Toilette but this may have just slightly overtaken my love for them. This is the See By Chloé in the darker pink/red colour. It's just...perfect. It's got such beautiful layers to the scent but the best way I can describe it is, muted floral. I'm not a fan of overly sweet, overly florally scents so this is just, perfect (how many times have I said the word perfect?). I tried to justify it because it was on sale at the chemist. Probably not the most trustworthiest place to get it, but hey, it smells great & it was a little easier on the wallet.

Next up is the Soap & Glory Clean On Me Shower Gel. This is the second time I'm buying this and that's because I love the smell of it. It's again, a muted citrus scent. I guess I'm just the type that doesn't like really overpowering scents so I go for the 'muted' ones. The last one I bought still has some left & it's lasted me months so while I was in the city, I thought I'd get a backup. I took a whiff of the others that were available, Clean Girls & Sugar Crush, but they just weren't me.

And finally, the Body Shop Colour Crush Lipstick in the shade 14. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little worried when I saw how bright the pink was. But once I swatched it on my hand, I was surprised to see it was quite sheer. So, into the basket it went! I've never really tried sheer lipsticks but loved the idea of them so much. To be able to put lipstick on without having to dab it with a tissue & apply repeatedly to get it to the right shade sounded great. I can't wait to wear this tomorrow & I'll keep you updated on how I like it!

Anyways, I was intending for this to be a short post but I guess it's probably expected of me to ramble on by now. Anyone else willing to go on this spending ban with me? Perhaps maybe just for one month? Let me know if you do & how you go - then we can suffer together xD

I also thought I'd mention that I'll be participating in Yay For Fridays #fflovephotoaday Challenge this month because it's the month of my birthday! Woo hoo! Funnily enough, my birthday is actually on a Friday this year so...Yay For Fridays! I won't be posting a photo EVERY day but whenever I can so if you'd like to keep updated, don't forget to follow me on Instagram! Also, I know it should be planner-related most of the time, I don't always follow the rules so hopefully that'll be okay.

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

SHOPPING IN THE CITY!

Hello again!
What is this? 2 posts in 2 days? Someone's on a roll! :-)

Well, I went shopping in the city today for a little retail therapy/lunch date and bought a few things... So I thought I'd make a post of what I got & give my thoughts them.

My mom needed a shower cap & I remembered seeing this adorable one at Myer one day so I just HAD to get it for her. It's by the brand Soap & Glory and I absolutely love it. I also have the Hand Maid hand sanitiser and the Clean On Me shower gel. They. Smell. Amazing! If you love citrus-y & sweet smells, you would love them. They have a huge range of products such as scrubs, shower gels, make up and other accessories such as the shower cap. But I just want them all, okay? :P

The Soap & Glory range at Myer isn't huge but it's better than nothing. I am sooooooo excited for Sephora to be opening in Sydney soon & I'm hoping they'll have an even bigger range there. And while I'm on the topic of Sephora, I am already making a very, very long wish list of all the things I want once it opens. Let's just say, I should be saving up now... (Tarte, Boscia, Urban Decay, Marc Jacobs Make Up, Kat Von D, Formula X...the list is endless!)

Body Shop & Myer Mini-Haul :-)

I also got 2 Body Butters - Brazil Nut & Olive. I always have such a hard time deciding which scent I want. I'm usually the kind of person who buys one thing and usually only gets that but I wanted to branch out a little. I had to get my usual, Brazil Nut, and I've always wanted the Olive one but never did for one reason. But after much contemplating, my boyfriend, Kalen, insisted I get it because he liked it as well. Honestly, he's not helping my shopping addiction... ♡

Mango Hand Cream

And just as we were waiting in line to checkout, I spotted these cute little hand creams. Again, there were so many scents to choose from but I fell in love with this mango one. Kalen actually hates the smell of mangoes but he liked this one because it doesn't smell like mangoes at all! It's so sweet & fruity & just perfect! And I love the packaging. It's nice & small to keep in my backpack or just on my desk. I'm positive I'll be coming back for more. Adding this little tube to my body butters made my total $50+ & I know, I know...that's a lot. But there's always a silver lining! Head down to The Body Shop now because if you spend $50 or more, you get $10 off your next shop! Woo hoo! Now I'll definitely be back (The offer is until the end of September)

Ahh, right now, I am swooning at the smell of my own self! I've got my Olive Body Butter on & my Mango Hand Cream on...I'm in heaven. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post! I'll probably write up another post straight after this on my holy grail beauty products. What can I say? I'm in a blogging state of mind & it's so much fun just writing about the things I love...although...is anyone out there? Does anyone really care? :-)

Oh well,
Love Always
Annie ♡