I Came To Make A Bang!

New Home

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:48:19 +1100

Ahoy there!!

Just a quick post to let everyone who stumbles upon my little blog know that I am making a change over Blogger, and will now be doing the majority of my blogging at http://icametomakeabang.blogspot.com !

I would love if you would add my new blog to your bookmarks, update your blog rolls, follow me with Google connect and come pay my new page a visit.

I guess I will keep this page up and running for the purposes of reblogging pics of hot babes and other interesting things.

I wonder if I can figure out how to put my old posts up on my new site. HAHAHAAH UNLIKELY!

Cheerio!

xx Gillian

Friday Buys

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:55:06 +1100

Before I begin I’d just like to take a moment to cast shame upon myself for caving in on my savings efforts when I was going so well! Shame on you Gillian! SHAME!

When it gets close to the weekend my weak side comes out to play, because I stare at my clothes and think, I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR! NOTHING! How this is possible I don’t know, I have some sort of problem where once I buy something and wear it once I instantly dislike it.

Leather Shorts from Forever New.

They were a slight squeeze to get into but I like them once they are on! Total impulse buy. They have hidden zip panels on both sides which helps. Could I possibly wear these to Future Music Festival next month?

I tried on the camel coat too, very warm but not sure it looked that great on me? I really need some great WARM coats for this winter so I am on the hunt !

Forever New Feather Earrings

I had a thing for feathers today, I don’t like the little bows though so will take them off.

Sportsgirl ‘Mia’ Platform Wedges

Have looked at these shoes the last few times I have been in Sportsgirl and I finally tried them on today. Cute! I love high wedges, it is like the best if both worlds when you get height with comfort!

Sportsgirl New Shia Wedge Boot

Perhaps these will help me get through the winter without suffering from frozen toes? I certainly hope so!

Sportsgirl Feather & Chain Necklace

Love love love! Feathers look a little more purple in real life. Told you I had a thing for feathers today!

Perhaps I will try do some outfit posts soon? Hmmmm…..

Whats everyone up to this weekend?

T is taking me to a greek resteraunt that I have been wanting to visit to for ages tonight in Petersham, heading out to the city for a friends birthday tomorrow night, driving down to Goulburn on Sunday and fitting in the usual gym/coffee/cleaning in between. Busy busy!

Happy weekend!

A Perfect Monday

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:27:07 +1100

Yesterday was not only a good day, it was a perfect day.

I made an effort to get up a little earlier so I wouldn’t be in a rush to get to work so I started the day off in a relaxed and happy mood.

I knew I had a massage booked in at the physio and I always am pumped for that because I feel a million percent better afterwards. Coupled with the fact that it was Valentine’s Day, I was feeling pretty damn good as I was excited to see T after work because we had plans to cook dinner together a food is pretty much the key to my heart!

When I got to work I was thinking about how the day before I had been kicking my friend for not asking for a payrise he deserved. I myself thought I should be paid a little more for the level of work I am doing, and I started thinking it was hypocritical of me if I did not follow my own advice! Could I make my day even better and approach my (awesome) boss and talk to him about upping my pay? HELL YES I COULD! The worst he could do was say no right? I took a deep breath, put a smile on my face and 10 mins later, an extra few grand a year for me!

Before I left work for the day I saw some tweets reminding that a Lush Valentine’s Day competition I had entered was finishing soon and I remember thinking how good would it be to win that because I am a freak for Lush……

Dinner was great and T made me a raspberry and peach crumble for dessert. He also succeeded in making laugh so much that I couldn’t breath and was CRYING not once but twice. I’m sure I looked like I seriously had something wrong with me ha ha!

To top it all off, I saw I had a tweet alert on my phone……Anita from Love Vulcanella telling my to check her blog…..I won the Lush prize!

I feel like once I decided I was going to have an awesome day, even better things fell into place. I guess sometimes we have to take control and create our own happiness and every now and then, the perfect day comes along….

Photo

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:43:27 +1100

Thankful for my amazing best friend this week ♥♥

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:05:52 +1100

Thankful for my amazing best friend this week ♥♥

What a babeeeee!

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:19:35 +1100

What a babeeeee!

Cheap and Cheerful

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:02:31 +1100

Do you ever get that urge where you just want to buy something? There is nothing you really need but you might be in a really bad mood and need a pick me up?

I few weeks ago I went to the shops with the intention of buying something, ANYTHING, after a really lame day. In the end I exercised self control for the most part but ended up with this little bargain to ease my mood.

Essie ManiPerfection

Essie always have cute little cubes out with mini bottles of their latest collections, like this one I brought a little while back.

I had actually been thinking about purchasing an Essie topcoat and basecoat so this was a perfect little trial.

The cube includes:-

Apricot Cuticle Oil- Smells lovely!
First Base Base Coat
Top Coat Every Day
Instant Dry Oil- Good for someone like me who can’t keep still after they have painted their nails!

I’m pretty happy with the products and will probably end up getting the top coat at least when these run out.

$15.00 in the sale tray at Myer, bargain!

calivintage: Super(ga) Alexa | Sei di Moda Serious hair envy.

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:18:11 +1100

calivintage:

Super(ga) Alexa | Sei di Moda

Serious hair envy.

Black Shatter Baby!

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:24:15 +1100

WARNING: I am about to go on an unstoppable rave about how much I L-O-V-E OPI Black Shatter.

To sum up my feelings: AHHHHHHH-MAAAAAZZZZZIIINNNNNNNGGG!

My nails were already painted this coral colour so all I had to do was very quickly apply a thick coat of Black Shatter over the nail. At first it looks like you have simply painted black polish , but within a few seconds it, well….umm…shatters!

It dries almost instantly and the finish is matte. I went over it with a top coat to give it some shine. Yes, your nails will feel a little rough afterwards but I’m not the type who minds this.

Obviously in my gleeful rush to apply this I got some along the cuticle bed. Lesson learnt.

I’m pretty certain this would look amazing over a silver polish, no?

I brought this for a steal off a lovely Twitter girl but I do believe it retails for $19.95 and is limited edition. I’ve heard it is hard to get so if you see it, buy it!

Now I’ve entered the world of shatter polishes I am obsessed. Does anyone know if the exist in different colours, cause I’m extremely keen on the idea of a silver one!

Photo

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:57:57 +1100

"Death is more universal than life, everyone dies but not everyone lives."

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:25:54 +1100

“Death is more universal than life, everyone dies but not everyone lives.”

- A. Sachs

Pink Lady

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:16:13 +1100

I was in a very pink mood recently when I dropped into the shops recently. While T was searching for what he needed, I took off to the makeup section to have a browse.

Australis Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick in Jive ( AU $12.50)

I have tried a few of Australis’ colour inject mineral lip products (check out this post for an example) and they are always winners!

Pretty indeed!

Heavily swatched and rubbed out a bit.

While I adore the colour and think it is sooooo pretty, for some reason I just don’t like it on my lips! The formula is hydrating and smooth and looks beautiful and shiny, but it just clashes with my skintone.

Formula wise I would recommend this as a great cheap lipstick.

Rimmel 60 seconds nailpolish in Instyle Coral ( AU$7.50)

Seeing I was heading to the beach the next day I thought I ought to get a nice coral colour as my coral OPI polish is MIA ( prime suspect: sister). Love this colour, very summery indeed.

Cool,Cool,Cool

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:32:22 +1100

If you live in Sydney you would know that the last week has been SO DAMN HOT! This heatwave has seen it reach tempratures over 30 degrees every single day. You can’t do you hair, your sticky as soon as you step out of the shower and your makeup slides off! It was 41 degrees yesterday so I slept outside on the back deck as my room gets so hot!

Oh, and did I mention that this week my car airconditioner decided to stop working. Yeah,kill me.

Here are two outfits I wear when I want to stay as cool as possible. Please excuse my cliche bathroom shots!

Loose patterned shorts from Glassons. So comfy and light and sit up a little higher on the waist to hide my food baby haha! Kind of looks like a skirt because the legs are wide.

Old faithful Lee dress. I’ve had this dress for about 4 years which is a looooooong time in my wardrobe! Every summer I pull this out and wish I had one in every colour.

Although I whinge about the heat, I do love summer and I had a perfect day at Freshwater Beach yesterday. Nothing quite as refreshing as diving under waves and frolicking about. Even got a little exercise doing a mad dash down to the water over the searing hot sand. Bliss!

Dermalogica Haul

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:52:39 +1100

After trying out Dermalogica’s Active Moist moisturiser ( my review here) , I have been keen to try out more of their products. I recently placed an order on www.strawberrynet.com and saved myself quite a lot of money, woo hooo!

Here is what I picked up:-

Daily Microfoliant (RRP AU$83.50, paid $65)

This is a unique rice based powder which foams up when you rub it between your wet hands before applying to the face. I have to admit I had heard a lot of raves about this and when I was using it it didn’t feel very exfoliating, but afterwards, my god my skin felt SOFT! This didn’t feel harsh at all yet it did an excellent job.

Gentle Cream Exfoliant ( RRP AU$67.50, paid $42.50)

A non-abrasive exfoliation treatment using alpha and beta hydroxy acids and fuit enzymes to remove dead skin cells and stimulate skin renewal.

I’ve just had a microdermabrasion session done so I have put off trying this as of yet.

Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque ( RRP AU$76.50, paid $54.00)

A concentrated masque containing vitamins A, C, E and F to help skin recover from damage. I used this before I went to bed the other night and left it on overnight. Woke up with beautifully soft skin, can’t comment too much more at the moment.

Multi-Active Toner (RRP AU$40.80, paid $37.50)

Ultra-light and hydrating facial spritz. The pump sprays out fine and evenly across the face and it is very refreshing! Very nice to use before moisturising.

Because I hadn’t ordered from strawberrynet for so long I got a few discounts and ended up getting $50 off the order. I only ended up paying $150 for all four products and given that it would have cost me $268.30 all up paying retail I am very happy!

Loving these products so far, and am very happy with this little haul!

We Be Running

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:27:44 +1100

Apart from my obvious love of makeup, skincare, and all the good things in life I also love reading about health, fitness and wellbeing.

Beauty blogger Jessica of The Belle Lumiere has started a new website, We Be Running, for those trying to make a healthy lifestyle change.

I am excited to say that I have put my hand up to contribute to the site, so if you have a spare moment I would love if you would head on over and have a read. At the moment you can read some introductions from other contributors, as well as me!

MAC Studio Moisture Fix

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:04:45 +1100

This was one of those products that I didn’t know existed or that I wanted until I walked into MAC one day and brought it on a whim. I usually like to research things before I buy them and I really can’t remember what compelled me to get this.

I think I used it a few times before it got ‘lost’ in the draw of never ending makeup/skin care products for quite a while. I vaguely remember not being very impressed on those few occasions that I used it.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I decided to cull some products that I had lying around. I had been using Dermalogica Active Moist ( see my review here) but felt sometimes I needed a little extra oomph in terms of moisture so I made it my mission to use up this product.

It has that typical MAC smell which I can’t describe but it is not very strong.

I’m not a fan of the packaging. Firstly, you need to pump a few times to get a decent amount of product and the lid/nozzle feels a little flimsy. The bottle is opaque so you can’t really judge how much of the product is left and you can’t take the lid off either. When it came to getting to the end of the product it was very difficult to pump anything out and I have a feeling there is still some left which I can’t get to.

Now onto the product itself!

Firstly it contains SPF 15 which is better than nothing but not something you could rely on for sun protection if you are out and about. Personally, I don’t spend much time ( read: ANY!) out in the sun during the week so this isn’t a big issue for me.

The cream is smooth in consistency and is easy to apply to the face. I like the fact that the cream isn’t too runny or watery yet doesn’t feel too heavy or greasy when applied. It doesn’t take long to sink in and leaves my skin feeling very smooth.

As I have oily/combination skin this product is light but not so light that I feel still tightness after cleaning. If you have dry skin type this probably won’t cut it for you in terms of moisture and in winter you may need to supplement this with a heavier cream.

Overall, I thought this product offered great hydration for my skin type and I was happy to finish it off. I thought it helped with my foundation going on smoother.

Would I buy it again? Well probably not to be honest, as the packaging really didn’t thrill me at all. This is priced at AU $52.00 for 50mls and I don’t feel like I used the whole bottle so I do feel a little ripped off.

Have you tried any MAC skincare products? What did you think of them?

Dermalogica Active Moist

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:46:05 +1100

[Image from www.dermalogica.com.au ]

This moisturiser was my first foray into the world of Dermalogica.

I was waiting to get my eyebrows waxed when I got bored and had a browse of the skin care products on display. Needing a new moisturiser I asked one of ladies for her opinion on which would best suit my oily/combination skin and this is what she recommended.

Dermalogica recommends this product for skin with excees oil production. It is described as:-

A lightweight, oil-free lotion for daily moisture protection that actively combats surface dehydration while smoothing the skin’s surface with botanical extracts. Contains no artificial fragrance or color.

It cost me around $60.00 for a small 50ml tube which I was punching myself about afterwards as I really could have shopped around and picked this up much cheaper. Ah well, you live and you learn!

The consistency of this product is a little more runny than most moisturisers, in fact it reminds me of my Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot primer which is also quite liquidy. Althought I like the tube packaging I did find more product than I needed would run out of the bottom if you weren’t careful.

As described the product does not have much of a scent, just a faint natural fragrance.

No effort is required to work the product into the skin and once it has sunk it leaves my face feeling plump and smoother. Following up with a primer, my makeup went on easily.

I didn’t find that this product had any effect on my oily skin, it was no better or worse after use.

Although I was happy to use this product during the day before applying my makeup, I wouldn’t consider it moisturising enough to use at night nor during winter when my skin has inexplicably started to react differently to products. I realise this is a lightweight moisturiser so I would probably look to a different product for those needs anyway. I also felt I needed a little more hydration around my cheeks.

Overall, I have not suffered any breakouts of skin reactions from using this product and it is a nice day to day moisturiser.

I used the whole tube up in under two months so next time I might look into another Dermalogica product that offers a little more hydration and try find an online bargain before repurchasing!

I’m really interested in purchasing some more Dermalogica products, in particular the Daily Microfoliant.

What are your favourite Dermalogica products?

Oh weekend!

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:20:57 +1100

The weekend just past was a good one indeed with a nice mix of sleep, eating out, catching up with a friend and spending time with T.

On Sunday morning the weather was reasonable so T and I decided to head off to the Art Gallery of NSW for something different to do!

Walked past St Mary’s Cathedral, such a beautiful building.

We were planning on seeing The Last Emperor exhibition but the line was huggggeeeeeee, like around the corner, then around another corner, then keep walking riggggght to the end. We decided to have a look around instead.

One of my favourite paintings , ‘The Sea Hath its Pearls’ by William Margetson.

We went for a walk and ended up around Woolloomooloo (way to many o’s!) and to my delight came across Harry’s Cafe de Wheels which is a somewhat iconic pie shop here in Sydney. Somehow I had never been before!

I had a pie with potato and gravy on top. My life was now complete. NOM NOM NOM!

We then walked around the Botanical Gardens soaking up the sunny weather. All I wanted to do was lie on the grass in the sun!

Just chillin’ casually against this sandstone wall ya’ll.

Although I don’t live in the heart of the city I’m grateful it is only a train ride away, because who could ever get sick of these views?!

I have been slack with my beauty blogging, but I do have some posts coming up soon! My sister has acquired a DSLR camera, perhaps I can get her to teach me how to use it ;)

Stylish Blogger Award

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:17:10 +1100

The lovely Jade of Jade Musing was kind enough to award me with a Stylish Blogger Award, wooooo hooooo! Thanks Jade!

The idea is that you thank the person who awarded you, pass the award to seven bloggers and write seven facts about yourself.

So here are seven great blogs that I nominate!

1. Mez of Blithely Unaware for her awesome food posts that have had me drooling at my screen.

2. Sarah of Hip & Haute for her great beauty and fashion posts.

3. Emma of Emma Bovary Beauty for helping fuel my obsession with wanting more makeup.

4. Cooper of Run Three Seven for her great new blog with a mix of well written posts.

5. Amanda of Me Vs The Bulge for the healthy recipes she is always posting. Nom nom nom!

6. Corinne of Frock & Roll for her inspirational and thought provoking posts.

7. Brooke of Be The Change for a good read, her post on her Forever 21 haul has me wanting to break my spending ban!

And now, seven ( mostly useless!) facts about me:

1. I am unashamedly way too in love with my cat. I may or may not talk to it like it is a person. I may or may not love it more than I love my siblings *ahem*.

2. My mother would kill me if she knew how many tupperware contains I have chucked out because they have rolled around in my car boot unwashed for weeks.

3. I loathe/fear cockroaches so much that I have been known to sleep on the couch if one runs in my room.

4. There is not much I love more than singing along to my iPod in the car on the way to work each day. Makes me happppppppy!

5. I studied Social Work/Arts at uni for 6 months after high school before dropping out. I now study law.

6. I don’t have a middle name.

7. I get cranky when I order a gin and tonic with lime at the bar and they make it with lime cordial. EWWWWW!

Reach Out

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:04:30 +1100

In Australia at the moment, particularly in the state of Queensland, we are experiencing some pretty extreme weather conditions which have caused devastating floods. After spending the last few days watching news footage I am absolutely floored by the sheer force that water can have as well as how deep it can get so quickly.

My soul basically splits in two when a bottle of water empties in my handbag soaking my things. I can only imagine how devastating it would be to have your home and everything you own completely flooded with water with the added fear for your family as well as your own safety.

I will be donating to the to flood relief appeal and If you have are able to, I hope you will too.

Here is the link for anyone who is interested:-

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html