Lorde for M.A.C. - Pure Heroine Amplified Creme Lipstick

I have decided that if I'm going to spend over R200 on a lipstick then it will be on limited editions: it just makes it feel more special.

My first such purchase was M.A.C.'S Pure Heroine. A limited edition lipstick in collaboration with Lorde, THE hottest female performing artist of 2013/2014. Her music is mesmerising and I can't help but to move to the intoxicating beat and moody melodies.

 

Every time I wear the lipstick, this song plays in my head. I promise to grow up some time before my kids do!

I didn't immediately rush the M.A.C. website to get it. It was sitting in my cart for a few days but every time I looked at it, it drew me deeper and deeper into it's spell, much like her music. But did I want to pay that much for a lipstick that I could possibly find a dupe for? When M.A.C. offered free shipping (!) which they do from time to time, my mind was made up! 2 days later...

First of all... that teeny-weeny lippie in that giant box. Overkill much?

About the lipstick.

The colour is the only feature. There is no special packaging and for only one lip colour, we can't expect too much. It comes in the standard sleek, black bullet tube.

I will describe it as a "Royal Plum": rich, deep, dark plum that has become synonymous with the Lady herself. It is formulated in the Amplified Creme formula which means it's highly pigmented, almost to the point of a stain. It is creamy and hydrating and wears evenly throughout the day so you won't look like a rabid vampire.

It can be worn sheer for a light but rich plummy tint or coated up to a vampy, deep, dark plum. I would suggest go minimal to no other makeup, other than a thick line of black liquid liner on the upper eyelid ONLY, or a thinner line on the upper lid with 2-3 coats of mascara and nothing else.

You could also incorporate Pure Heroine with other colours like bright pink, red or a rosy nude to tone it down or to create an interesting ombre look, that way you could wear it all year round.

Pure Heroine was available on M.A.C.'s website exclusively in South Africa and is unfortunately sold out (at the time of publication). I'm not sure if it will be restocked or if that was the only opportunity to get it. I will update this feature if I happen upon any such information.

To replicate the colour:

If you missed out or would prefer to buy an annual magazine subscription instead of buying one lipstick...

M.A.C. has Heroine (R195.00)in their permanent line which is a few shades lighter than Pure Heroine, but worn with a light wash of Chestnut lip pencil (R175.00) underneath to deepen it, it comes close to it's limited edition sister. (Ok, so that works out to WAAAYYY more, but just so you know... it's there...)

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Blackcherry (R130) at Spree.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate (04) (R69.95) at rubybox.

Clinique High Impact Lip Colour in Sophisticate (R255) at Red Square.

Look Post | White Jumpsuit

1. London Hub Jumpsuit Milk - Spree
2. Jewels and Lace Lace Statement Necklace - Spree
3. Deux Lux Tiny Dancer Pouch - Shopbop
4. Zoom Celli Pointed Court Shoes -  Spree
5. Marc by Marc Jacobs Logo Disc Stud Earrings - Shopbop
6. Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in Jet Set - rubybox
7. Bourjois Volume Glamour Max Mascara Noir Max - rubybox

Hair - Sleek ponytail
 

Nails - Black and Gold Sparkle

Websites:

www.spree.co.za | www.rubybox.co.za | www.shopbop.com | www.pinterest.com

Empties Review - Schwartzkopf Gliss Marrakesh Oil & Coconut Shampoo & Condtioner

Apologies for the blur. Shampoo and conditioner available from Clicks and Dischem for around R59,00 each.

Not exactly a combo that blew my mind when I used it. Usually hair products either seriously impress me or I seriously don’t like it, otherwise it falls into the category of, okay yes, I will buy that again if it’s on sale which, at the time, is where this combo (unfairly) fell in to.

I don’t repurchase any shampoo and conditioners consecutively because hair gets used to a product and somehow the product loses its spark.  But after using another shampoo and conditioner combo when I ran out of this one, I realized how good it was. My scalp felt thoroughly cleaned, my hair was soft and manageable, not weighed down and definitely had more shine than with the products I’m using now. I’m almost missing it now. 

Marrakesh oil is essentially argan oil and how else do you jump onto the bandwagon without looking like you're jumping onto the bandwagon? Call it Marrakesh oil! Marrakesh/argan oil has been used for centuries in northern Africa for beauty, hair and skincare. You can read more about argan oil here.  

The coconut component in this product is coconut milk (according to this website). A quick squizz via Professor Google tells us that coconut milk has nourishing, detangling and anti-balding (?!) benefits when use on hair.

Shampoo: Some shampoos don’t do anything on the first wash but take on the second. Not so with this one. It worked up into a rich foamy lather quickly the first time. Depending on how often I wash my hair will determine on how many times I will shampoo and I can get away with one wash and rinse cycle and feel like I’ve cleansed my scalp and the length of my hair. There’s enough lather to do both with a quarter-palm-size squirt of product. Is that a lot? I have long, curly hair and a lot of it and this is about as much as I would need. Maybe less *as I look at my palm and try to figure out how much I actually use*.

Conditioner: like I’ve said before, I use most conditioners as leave-ins, as I have with this one and it didn’t leave my hair looking dull. It was thick enough for me to feel like it was doing its job, but light enough to give my natural curl some bounce. And the shine… The only way I can say anything about the shine is that I didn’t feel the need to use one of my shine serums/oils that I usually add at the end of the styling process.

Overall I can say that I am (now) sufficiently impressed with the Schwartzkopf Gliss  Marrakesh Oil and Coconut Shampoo and Conditioner and that it will definitely make its back into my shower, sale or not.

rubybox 99c

What can you buy for 99c these days? Not even a tip for a car guard! So how about a few beauty products? You can believe, bargainista that I am, I jumped at the opportunity to score ANYTHING for 99c! I mean, come on…

Image from here.

First of all, if you don’t know, rubybox is a subscription service. You complete a beauty survey online and they compile your profile which will determine the types of beauty samples that will be sent to you. You then sign up for a monthly fee of R169 that includes to-your-door delivery and your box with deluxe beauty samples with at least one full-sized product. The more months you sign up for, the less your monthly subscription is. But what happens if you’ve fallen in love with a sample? Where do you find it again? In the online store. Clever, ne! You also earn rubyRands with all purchases which you can use towards future purchases.

I completed my profile on the website a long time ago but never committed to the box, although I  bought from the online store. I placed my 99c order and collected my surprise from the Fourways Mall pop-up stall. I could have had it delivered but that would have incurred delivery charges and going to a mall means, well… card assault! The two assistants at the stall were super helpful, both helping me at the same time: one with the box, the other showing me what was on offer to purchase.

They had a few rubybox branded items such as the rubybox signature perfumes and makeup brushes  which was nice to experience in person. The brushes looked and felt like it was top quality: sturdy handles, well constructed ferrules and super soft bristles. I didn’t purchase any because it would have been repeats of what I already have. I’m looking forward to seeing more brushes in the line should they expand, which I’m hoping they will. A stiffer flat-top kabuki style would be nice rubybox  ;-)

Back to the box. There were four options to choose from and I naturally gravitated to the frizzy hair rescue box. 

Excuse the fuzzy-wuzziness of the photo.

This box contained 3 full-sized products: John Frieda Frizz-Ease Serum and Woolworths Long Lasting lipstick. It also included a (full size) pack of 2 makeup removal sponges and a sample facial cleansing soap. The point of a subscription box like this is to introduce you to products that you wouldn’t normally try. I can honestly say that when I comes to skincare, I’m very loyal to one brand. You have no idea the internal conflict I have just using a different daily cleanser. I ALWAYS have a backup of my beloved Clinique Step 1 bar so that I never have to face the trauma of running out. BUT… Thanks to Rubybox, I may be changing my ways… So let me talk about the facial cleaning bar first.

Lanolin-Agg-Tval Egg White Facial Care 15g sample (R134.95 full size 50g): 

It contains egg white, yogurt, Eidelweiss and rosewater. 

Egg white is a good popular home remedy for tightening pores and absorbing oil. While there is controversy over the use of raw egg white on your skin, these benefits have been safely wrapped up in this soap. 

Lactic acid and alpha hydroxy acid in yogurt has exfoliating and skin tightening benefits. 

Edelweiss, or snow flower is widely used in skincare for it's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties.

Olive oil has been used since time immemorial as a moisturiser and rose water, besides making it smell lovely is an ancient beauty ingredient used to tighten and smooth. 

The Swedish soap lathers to a fine, soft, creamy foam. A little goes a long way. I’ve used this little guy every day for 3 weeks and could very well get another 2 weeks out of it. It’s gently cleansing, not drying or stripping. I have combination skin that needs a good balanced cleanser to properly cleanse the oilier zones without over stripping the drier zones and this soap gets that balance just right.

Woolworths Longlasting Lipstick R140

Gorgeous bright orangy-red that suits my complexion and will look as good in Summer as it does in Winter. Score! We know that long lasting lipsticks are very drying -> so you have to wear a lip balm underneath -> then the long lasting-ness doesn’t last as long -> so what’s the point. This one has a satiny finish, provides a bit of moisturisation so is not drying and therefore a good long wear option. I like it enough to try out more colour options.

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Hair Serum (R99.95)

This hair serum is a holy grail product for a lot of women who have issues with frizz. It’s never been on my radar but I’m glad I’ve had the chance to try it. The claim is that it “transforms dry, frizz-prone locks to smooth glossy lengths. It also repels humidity to help prevent weather-related frizz.” I don’t know about the smooth glossy lengths because I don’t heat style my hair so no smooth glossy lengths here. But I must say that when I use it on my curls, it does prevent that dreaded stuck-my-finger-in-the-wall-socket look. After washing and conditioning I apply 4-6 pumps from my scalp to the ends and comb it through before I wrap my hair in a towel. It keeps those strays at bay and doesn’t affect the definition of the curl or the natural volume that I’m so desperately trying to get back.

Rubybox Tools Bye Bye Makeup Sponge R39.95

To use: wet, apply cleanser and massage in circular motions. I haven’t used makeup remover sponges before because I use Bioderma on a cotton round. Call me dof, but I took this into the shower to try it out and used it as directed. I used the Lanolin Agg Tval soap on it and put it to work. Not a tool for everyday cleansing, that’s for sure. What I noticed is that although it lathered on the sponge, it did absolutely nothing on my skin. I’m not sure if you should use a liquid soap or if Bioderma will work well on this too. What I did notice is that it didn’t drip. Is that what these sponges do? If so, that aspect of it works really well.  It is soft and gentle on the skin and, unless you have super sensitive skin, it won’t irritate the skin at all. I’ll have to test this one thoroughly when I know what to do with it.

So, all of that for just 99c! Except for the makeup sponges that I haven’t found a use for in my life (yet!) I can definitely see the rest finding a home on my bathroom and makeup shelves. The Egg White soap may just have to come home to me in my next Rubybox though.

Days of the Dinosaur

My youngest is a paleontologist in the making. He is OBSESSED with anything to do with dinosaurs. This year he’s having a dinosaur party. That was the brief. Mommy has to make it happen. No stress… nothing that Pinterest and How To Cook That can’t fix.

When we first saw the Days of the Dinosaur ads my husband and I got so excited! Yes, WE got excited. (It’s what happens when you’re a parent.) It was definitely going to be on the July holiday itinerary. 

I realized when we got to Sandton Convention Centre that I’d forgotten my phone at home, so no photos :-(. The pics in this post are from the website.

The information on the interweb wasn’t sufficient for my OCD planning tendencies. I like to have as much info as possible for even the most mundane excursions. Initially when I checked out the ticketing details on Computicket you could buy a ticket for a particular day. The next time I checked you had to book a day and time. CONFUSION IN MY BRAIN! 

What apparently happened was that on the first day of the exhibition, everyone who had bought tickets for that day pitched up when the doors opened, which turned into a chaotic mess! Two hour long queues, congested exhibition space, very agitated children and parents. To avoid further frustration the organizers staggered ticket entrance times so that there wasn’t a rush on the venue. Weekend tickets were sold out weeks before the time, not that that was an option for us, anyway. Weekday it was.

THE EXHIBITION
Our tickets were for 11:00am and upon arrival we encountered a not so short line of people but five minutes later we were in the main exhibition hall. Ushers were around to help with where to go and what to do. Upon entrance to the hall you can hire an audio guide (similar to the one pictured below) for R35 that gives you more information about each dinosaur in the different scenes such as when they lived, what part of the world they were found, their various habits, etc. 

 

Image from here.

One audio guide can be used by two people when you connect the headphones that come with it. They don’t tell you this but we figured it out. It’s the same remote-looking contraption at the Body Worlds expo that only one person could use because they didn’t give a spare set of headphones.

The amount of information from the audio guide is overwhelming even for adults and I think goes over the head of a nine-year-old. My paleontologist is a few weeks away from seven-years-old and my eldest is 9. After about the 7^th or 8^th scene they weren’t interested in the audio guides anymore and to be honest, neither was I.

There are 16 scenes in total with 2-4 moving/robotic dinosaur models in each in various “natural” settings. The size of some of these things are intimidating and especially with a child-like imagination and the National Geographic education on dinosaurs most of us have, you can get sucked into the scene. The tour of the scenes is between half an hour and an hour, if you read all the information boards and listen to the audio guide. Towards the end you'll probably rush to get out but you have the entire day to go back and pick up where you left off. I'd suggest that if you get an audio guide, to do half the exhibition, take a break in  the interactive section but don't hand in the audio guide just yet, and then go back to the the second half. If you're not all that interested in all the information, then you'll spend about half an hour in the exhibits.

ACTIVITIES

Upon exiting the main exhibition hall you get to the interactive area and food court. The actual interactive area was just a console with 4 mini dinosaurs about 5m away that could be manipulated from a control desk with buttons to move various body parts. 

There was a sandpit where kids could dig for dinosaur bones. 

They could get their faces painted like dinosaurs for R40, they could buy novelties like walking dino helium balloons for R50, a You magazine-type dinosaur book (available in English and Afrikaans) for R35. There was also a stall for dino-souvenirs; t-shirts, socks, games, toys, etc. 

Then you could get your photo taken on one of the 3 or 4 dinosaur models for R50. Much like at the Sandton City Kids holiday programmes. 

 

There was also a 3D movie every half hour that really was missable. It had very little to do with dinosaurs and more to do with conserving the planet. I thought it was a waste of time, but it was “free” so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. 

FOOD
The food on sale wasn’t hectically overpriced as is normally the case with events like these. The lines at the food stalls moved quickly. You choice included things like hot dogs, slap chips, pizzas (margherita or chicken), juices, sodas, a variety of coffees, teas, hot chocolate and then tuck shop chips and chocolate. For a family of 4 plus granny we spent a total of about R250 on hot dogs, chips and a pizza that 2 adults shared, and drinks (coffee, hot chocolate, juice and bottled water).

As we exited the main hall, we bumped into a real, live paleontologist from Wits University which was the highlight of my son’s life up until this point! He was dumbstruck at the time but will tell you about the paleontologist first when you ask him about the whole Days of the Dinosaur experience.

The exhibition is on in Cape Town at the moment until 30 August. You can get your tickets at Computicket and if I’m not mistaken weekends are sold out already! It’s worth taking in, especially if your kids are into dinosaurs. And like a good kiddies movie, there’s something in it for the adults as well.