Thoughts of the week…

01) I mentioned needing some new running shoes in a previous ‘thoughts of the week’ post, and during the week I snapped up some Nike Air Pegasus shoes on sale on Catch of The Day. While I can’t justify spending $300 on a pair of shoes that I’ll wear maybe once a month, I can easily spend money on shoes that I will work out in practically every day.

02) INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 IS A THING. It won’t be a thing until 2015, but still. YES.

03) Dexter is back on Monday! I’m really excited for the return and am interested to see if in fact it is the final season. This also means that it’s not long now until Breaking Bad returns, and ends…

04) On Clean Eating (I agree with everything in this wonderfully written post).

05) Dog awesomely confused by computer noises (this dog looks like ALF and I want to dog-nap it)

06) Read about Wendy Davis. This woman has rightfully earned the attention of people everywhere.

07) Glitzy Glam have the new season of Lilly Pulitzer agendas up on their website. I ordered a new one to start using in August because the one I’ve been using since this time last year is looking a bit worse for wear. I highly recommend these agendas, they’re cute and functional and sturdy – I carry mine with me everywhere.

08) I revived my Tumblr. LIVE, TUMBLR. LIVE!

09) I’ve started doing the same thing I do every year and I’m already starting to think about my wardrobe for Spring/Summer. I love winter, and I love the clothing style of winter a lot more than summer (I actually hate summer with a burning passion), and yet here I am again. I’m currently obsessing over maxi skirts and I blame Katie Holmes.

10) My parents recently returned from yet another trip to Europe, and my mum surprised me with a little fragrance from Fragonard. This is a brand I’d never heard of but this perfume is AMAZING and I can’t wait to discover more.

Product Review: YSL Cinema

This perfume sat unloved on my dresser for a long time. For a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is a strong fragrance. Overwhelmingly strong. Secondly, I bought it right before stumbling across my holy grail perfume (Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille) after which everything else sort of fell by the wayside. As I’ve been making more of an effort to use ALL of the products I own, I thought June felt like a great month to see if I could make YSL’s Cinema work for me. This took a bit of effort. This is a heavy scent, and before this month I wore it exclusively at night. Before figuring out how to wear this without ending up with a headache by 9am, I was that person on the train who seems to bathe in perfume before leaving the house in the morning (usually these people are exclusive fans of Stella McCartney or Red Door – I was the exception). I can only wear this if I spray it once on one of my wrists and pat them together gently (probably CRUSHING the delicate aspects of the fragrance with my mighty wrists but I don’t have time to care about this). That’s it. If I wear it on my neck, I literally suffocate to death feel overwhelmed by the smell. If I spray it on both wrists, it’s still too strong. This perfume could be used as a weapon of mass destruction, but when worn subtly it’s beautiful. I’m terrible at describing scents so I’ll let Fragrantia do the leg work: “The top note is delicate and softly fresh (clementine, almond blossom and cyclamen). The heart reveals jasmine, peony and amaryllis. The drydown is warm, opulent, and balsamic with amber, musk and sweet powdery vanilla.” If I were to describe it I would say it smells like what a rich woman would wear to dinner on a private yacht before getting caught up in a tangle web of lies and intrigue and there is lots of champagne and oysters and also Daniel Craig is there. YSL’s Cinema can be purchased for $72.50 AUD from Strawberrynet.

Project 100 Pan (part 11)

43) (not pictured) MOR Hand and Shower Gel in Honey Nectar – This took FOREVER to finish up, and I couldn’t post a picture of the container because it was in a hideously grim state of being after sitting in my shower for so long. The product itself was nice but I wasn’t sad to see it go because I’d had it forever. Since the dawn of TIME.

44) Bath + Body Works Fresh Picked Strawberries Anti-Bac Foaming Hand Soap – Delicious. As always, I won’t be purchasing any more of these hand soaps because I can’t justify the cost. I was sad to see this go, I like having hands that smell like summer fruits.

45) Bath + Body Works Mint Chocolate Candle – Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This smelled INCREDIBLE. I don’t plan on buying anymore candles from Bath + Body Works due to the cost of shipping (see above) but I did really love this scent and I’m sad to see this go. You might not be able to tell from the photo but I scraped all of the scrumptious minty chocolate wax dregs out of the jar to use in my oil burner. Sad, I know. At least I didn’t try to eat them or did I.

46) Bath + Body Works Seashore Candle – What does the seashore smell like? Third degree burns and a substantial fear of death by shark attack? Ha ha ha, I am not joking. But no, according to Bath + Body Works it smells like sharp florals. I didn’t like this, lucky it was tiny. As a general FYI, these tiny little Bath + Body Works Candles pack quite a punch and the scent throw is impressive.

47) Kate Somerville Oil Free Moisturiser – I loved this moisturiser, but I’ve decided to stick to my Paula’s Choice skin care for a while so I won’t be repurchasing this. It was a treat to use though, and I powered through it quite quickly. I am sad to announce that I do not look like Lauren Conrad after using this product consistently for a couple of months.

Thoughts of the week…

01) Song of the week is ‘Royals’ by Lorde. I love this track and I’ve had it on repeat all week.

02) I feel like I’ve been bombarding you all with music recommendations lately, but here you go have another one. City and Colour’s album ‘The Hurry And The Harm’ is amazing.

03) I’m on the hunt for a dress to wear to a friend’s wedding in Spring and Anthropologie has some beautiful options available at the moment. This is the current front runner.

04) Ben says hi!

05) The Alexander McQueen slippers I’ve had my eye on for a while went on sale this week and it took all my willpower not to buy them. They are 50% off, and it was like an arrow through the heart to have to close the browser window and walk away.

06) True Blood came back this week and to be honest I don’t really care.

07) Meanwhile, I am super super super excited about Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

08) My beloved Clarisonic seems to be broken and is currently on the way back to the manufacturer and my skin is DYING while waiting for the replacement. Because of this, I’m now 100% convinced that it’s working wonders for my skin and face in general.

09) I want to share this beautiful and inspiring piece written by Tonile earlier this week.

10) Diddy on Downton Abbey. Thanks to Natalie for this link.

Product Review: Bloom Sheer Colour Cream in Shy

Let me introduce you to my favourite go-to, no-fuss blush. This product ticks all the boxes for me: it’s a neutral pink shade that works well with my skin tone, the formula is sheer (as the name suggests), and it blends well into the skin while being easily buildable if I’m after a more dramatic, clown-faced look. As with Bloom’s other sheer colour creams, this has a faint lavender scent to it which is pleasant but I’m glad that it doesn’t transfer onto the skin. My face doesn’t need to smell like lavender but thanks anyway. The wear time on these is great, and I can wear them comfortably throughout the work day without having to worry about touching up my blush. If you’re interested, I’ve also reviewed the shade ‘Coy’ from this range, which is a gorgeous peach toned shade and I feel like it should be mentioned once again that Shy and Coy are my most-worn cream blushes. Bloom’s Sheer Colour Cream in Shy retails for $24 AUD and is available for purchase from Bloom online.

Project 100 Pan (part 10)

42) Marchesa Parfum D’Extase – This came free with a Sephora order that I placed a little while ago, so I figured I would give it a try but it wasn’t my cup of tea at all. I really appreciate the effort they’ve made to be environmentally conscious with this packaging.

42) Alchemic Muse Waikiki Soap – This was a nice soap, it had a fresh fruity sort of smell to it. I don’t buy specialty scented soaps like this anymore, but if I did I would consider purchasing a full sized version of this.

42) Olivina Olive Hand & Body Lotion – This lotion had a nice formula but the scent was way too ‘green’ for my personal taste.

42) Jo Malone Orange Blossom Perfume – What I wouldn’t give to have floral perfumes work for me. There are so many beautiful scents out there – including this one – that I love but can’t seem to wear without them turning rancid when combined with my skin chemistry.

42) Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty Perfume – I really liked this perfume, it reminded me a lot of Chanel’s Chance. The only down side is that it didn’t have great wear time on my skin and for that reason I would never consider buying a full version of it.

42) Pure Fiji Hydrating Body Lotion with Coconut – I loved this. Love love love love loved this. This is one of the best smelling body lotions I’ve come across, and paired with it’s lightweight formula it made for an excellent summer moisturiser. I’ll definitely be purchasing a full sized version of this when the warm weather rolls around again.

42) Weleda Almond Facial Cleanser – I really like this product range from Weleda, and have now used up all of my little almond samples. Sad. The cleanser was probably my least favourite of the bunch, but it was still a nice enough product to use.

42) L’Oreal Sublime Mousse Conditioner – As always, this is the conditioner sample that comes with the hair colour I use. I like it, and I would probably consider buying the full sized version of it if I ever stumbled across it.

42) Trilogy Age Proof Nutrient Plus Firming Serum – I have absolutely no recollection of using this sample, unfortunately. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I’m leaning towards bad if it was that forgettable.

42) Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque – I love taking these little samples with me when I stay away from home or go on holiday. This is one of my favourite face masques, and I’m actually a bit surprised that I don’t own a full version of it. Or maybe I do? Oh boy.