SPOTLIGHT: lookfantastic Advent Calendar 2019...

Oh wow - after several agonising weeks' wait, my lookfantastic Advent Calendar 2019 finally arrived, and it's even more fantastic than I'd hoped. Interestingly, it's the only Advent Calendar I've ever bought and what a way to start! For $145, the contents are advertised as being worth over $750, and almost all of them are full-size. And having opened all the boxes, I definitely chose wisely for my first experience ♥...

Spoiler Alert - contents will be revealed! 

The presentation is absolutely gorgeous! The box is huge and really quite heavy, made of super sturdy cardboard in a deep blue with gold embellishments. I have to say I'm feeling a bit of a tease as this is currently listed as "sold out", but I'm posting all the goodies in case it might inspire you to put some pennies aside throughout the coming year so you can score one next Christmas - I sure as hell am! ♥... 

Each slide-out box contains a beauty item professionally wrapped in midnight blue tissue paper, with a cute little numbered card describing the product - it's all so so beautiful, so let's get on with the contents. This will be a picture heavy post without many words as I haven't tried any of the products yet, but you'll see my reviews as usual in the Empties posts going forward ♥...

#1 - Morphe 9A Always Golden Eyeshadow Palette*

A mix of matte and shimmer pans in beautiful warm shades - I have a couple of Morphe palettes in my kit and their pigmentation is excellent and the texture buttery smooth...

#2 - Living Proof Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1 Styling Treatment

This styling cream promises strength, shine, smoothing, volume & condition - right up my alley!...

#3 - Caudalie Vinopure Clear Skin Purifying Toner

I haven't used a toner for years, but looking forward to trying this on my open pores...

#4 - Luxie Eye Makeup Brushes - 121 & 141

Excellent! Some nice new eyeshadow brushes never go astray...

#5 - Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Day Cream

Holey guacemoley - this cream sells for $196 at Mecca, and it promises to "...soften wrinkles, firm, tone and hydrate for visible results in 14 days."  Fingers crossed!

#6 - Illamasqua Nude Collection Lip Liner - Raw*

A little pale for me, but everything I've ever tried from Illamasqua has been fabulous...

#7 - Rituals The Ritual of Ayurveda Dry Oil

This is for both hair and body, and I can't wait to try it out...

#8 - Philip Kingsley Elasticizer hair mask

Ooh yes please, and I'll probably leave it on overnight instead of the recommended 20 minutes...

#9 - Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel

Perfect timing with the start of the warmer weather and my shift away from cleansing balms. This is non-foaming as well which makes it even more appealing...

#10 - First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads

I'm hoping for mega-radiance from these pads, which contain lactic and glycolic acid, and pretty awesome reviews on Sephora...

#11 - Avant Skincare Moisture Surge Overnight Treatment

Crikey - this is the same quantity (and appears to be the same product) as the jar on the lookfantastic website that's priced at $156.40. I'll be saving this for special occasions lol!...

#12 - PRAI Throat & Decolletage Creme

How perfect is this for me? Whoop, whoop, whoop!...

#13 - Lord & Berry Eye Liner - Travel Black*

I have several lip crayons from this brand and they are brilliant - very creamy, long-lasting and beautifully pigmented...

#14 - Mellow Cosmetics Liquid Lip Paint - Tehran*

While this shade isn't all that appealing, the formula sounds like my kinda thing...

#15 - Rodial Dragon's Blood Lip Mask

Just what the doctor ordered for my shrivelled pout...

#16 - Molton Brown Fiery Pink Pepper Bath & Shower Gel*

I'm positive this would smell totally divine, but it contains SLS so I'll be gifting this baby...

#17 - Emma Hardie Moisture Boost Vit + C Cream

One of the very few sample sizes in the box, I'll definitely use it on some of my pigmentation spots...

#18 - Neal's Yard Remedies Wild Rose Hand Cream

Can never have too many hand creams, and this sounds delish...

#19 - Bioeffect EGF Serum

This is the cutest bottle, and while it's only 5ml, it'll be plenty if all I need is 2-4 drops. The 15ml dropper bottle sells for $195 so I'm more than happy with $65-worth...

#20 - Eyeko Lash Alert Mascara - Black*

Oh wow, how interesting - my lashes could do with some caffeine!...

#21 - Delilah Cosmetics Eye Brow Pencil - Sable*

Such a pity this is way too dark for me...

#22 - lookfantastic Bubble T Limited Edition Bath Fizzies - Salted Caramel

Well, these should satisfy my sweet tooth...

#23 - Filorga Meso-Mask

You know of my passion for face masks - thankyou, thankyou, thankyou...

#24 - Sleek Makeup Highlighting Palette - Solstice*

The package was sealed so I didn't open it, but it looks stunning...

#25 - Omorovicza Queen of Hungary Mist Limited Edition

So looking forward to the delightful boost this will give me at the end of a hot humid day...

I haven't heard of half of these brands, but I'm busting to try them, and I tell you what with all this going on my face, body and hair over the next 12 months, I'll have no excuse to not look fantastic by the end the of the year ha ha. Overall I reckon this is the most unbelievable value and massive thanks to darling Ingrid from fabulous and fun life, without whom I would never have known it existed! ♥♥♥...

Even though I've already peeked inside every box, I've put everything back, and am planning to still play along with the tradition, and only open and try each product on the relevant day in December - incidentally any of the above products marked with an asterisk (*) are the ones that don't necessarily suit me, so watch this space in the weeks ahead as I might just have a special giveaway ♥...

Take care of you,
kats xxx

EOTD Catch Up & Nutrimetics Giveaway!...

Been way to long since I posted some EOTD's ♥ I still create them every working day of the week, but upload-worthy photos are becoming rarer by the minute, either because I don't leave myself sufficient time to take enough pics to end up with a decent one, or I simply wake up too wrinkly - and then if I crop out all the craggy saggy bits, there's only the pupils left ha ha! I'm exaggerating of course, but it's a fact that the signs of ageing accelerate exponentially with each passing year after 60, and that's that. So before I get any older, here is a selection from the past few months, and if you make it to the bottom of the page, there's a gorgeous giveaway for one of you lovelies ♥...

No. 1 - Rusty red from the BH Cosmetics Take Me Back To Brazil palette over the top of Eye of Horus Scarab Sapphire Goddess Pencil, which is also on the waterline...

No. 2 - Charcoal and sparkly silver from the Morphe Brushes 12z palette, Natio Steel Grey Define Eye Pencil on the waterline...

No. 3 - Colourpop Melrose + MBA Cosmetics Spiced Pumpkin, Eye of Horus Serpentine Sultry Goddess Pencil on the waterline...

No. 4 - Black, green and lime from the BH Cosmetics Take Me Back To Brazil palette, Eye of Horus Serpentine Sultry Goddess Pencil on the waterline...

No. 5 - Colourpop Dare + Essence Raspberry Frosting, Natio Steel Grey Define Eye Pencil on the waterline...

No. 6 - Blend of red and orange from the BH Cosmetics Take Me Back To Brazil palette, Eye of Horus Serpentine Sultry Goddess Pencil on the waterline...

No. 7 - Forest green + teal from the Chi Chi Oasis palette, blend of Eye of Horus Serpentine Sultry & Emerald Tabula Goddess Pencils on the waterline...

No. 8 - Ribbon & Organza from the Sleek Oh So Special palette, Eye of Horus Charcoal Obsidian Goddess Pencil on the waterline...

Quite a variety of colours though nothing all that vivid, but hey it's Winter, and the vibrant and inspiring hues of Spring aren't far away...

GIVEAWAY!!!

I have way too many eyeshadow palettes, so I've decided to give away my most recent acquisition - the Nutrimetics Professional Smokey Eye Shadow Palette, which was a freebie. While I adore the colours, I'll simply never make enough use of it, and then I'll feel bad for neglecting it. Valued at $69, it's a mix of mattes and shimmers in a white metal tin case, includes a double-ended applicator brush, and has been safely stored away in its box in a dark drawer...

This giveaway is open to...

Australian Residents Only

Here's how to enter...

1. Leave a blog post comment on this page that answers the question inside the Rafflecopter (please note: if you don't leave a comment on this page, you won't be included in the draw!)
2. Leave your email address inside the Rafflecopter so I can contact you if you win
3. Follow my blog one way or another from the many choices listed
4. Only one entry per person, please read the T's & C's inside the Rafflecopter

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This giveaway is now closed  - check back later tonight to see who won!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Woo hoo! - random.org has chosen the beautiful Kristine S. as the winner.  

Congratulations gorgeous! 

Kristine please respond to the email I've sent you by

Wednesday 22nd August to claim your prize :-)

Edit: Kristine has claimed her prize ♥

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Best of luck to all who enter!

Take care of you,

kats xxx

EOTD Catch Up!...

Was going through some of my old posts and realised I haven't done an EOTD upload since May last year! The simple fact is that time is my enemy, both from an ageing perspective, as well as how long it takes to make it all happen. I'm still way passionate about eye makeup (I can't imagine that EVER changing!), and invariably create a look up to 6 days a week, but the camera is becoming more unkind by the day, and adjusting my technique for closeups (like drawing on the crease or combing my fringe WAY down lol) to disguise the sagging, bagging and wrinkling sometimes just doesn't do the trick. I'm still putting some up on Instagram fairly regularly, but considering it was an EOTD that got me started on blogging, I figured some pics were well overdue here. I've also had a major change of hair colour (work in progress) and I'm tending towards cooler eyeshadow hues, so here's a few of the looks from the last few months, plus the full face makeup, clothing and accessories so you can see the whole effect ♥...

Morphe Brushes 35B palette, Eye of Horus Jewel Amethyst Goddess Pencil on the waterline

L'Oreal Infallible Lipstick - Eternal Rose

The Balm Matt Johnson & Matt Malloy, Natio Steel Grey Define Eye Pencil on the waterline

Cosmoholic Liquid Lipstick - Prudish Pink

BYS Peach Palette - Lavish & Peachy, Revlon Jade Colorstay Eyeliner on the waterline

 Revlon Ultra HD Lip Lacquer - Sunstone

Chi Chi Cosmetics Oasis palette, Eye of Horus Teal Malachite Goddess Pencil on the waterline

Mirabelle Beauty Modern Matte Lipstick - Crimson

Morphe Brushes 35B palette, Eye of Horus Scarab Sapphire Goddess Pencil on the waterline

NYX Cosmic Metals Lip Cream - Fuchsia Fusion

Makeup Revolution Envy, Colourpop Coconut, Eye of Horus Teal Malachite Goddess Pencil on the waterline

Dirty Little Secret Lipstick - Sugar Daddy

MBA Cosmetics Navy & Babybaby, Natio Steel Grey Define Eye Pencil on the waterline

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick - Vintage Pink

Chi Chi Oasis palette - olive & lime, blend of Models Prefer Lime Tart Infinite Colour Eye Pencil & Eye of Horus Serpentine Sultry Goddess Pencil on the waterline

 JeffreeStar Velour Liquid Lipstick - Unicorn Blood

Colourpop Tink, bhcosmetics Wilde & Free palette - ice blue, Natio Steel Grey Define Eye Pencil on the waterline

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick - Fatal Red

Hope you enjoyed these looks - in all pics, I've lined my lower lashline with Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner, and mascara used was Maybelline The Falsies Waterproof, and L'Oreal False Lash Superstar XFiber. As always, I ignore the majority of recommendations for mature age makeup colours and techniques, and just do what I want!

Do any of these EOTDs appeal to you?

Take care of you,
kats xxx