gold, gold!

If only Santa Clause was still coming to my town....this little baby would be high on my wish-list!

I think my penchant for gold is growing by the second....to me, this ring is hands down perfect...

Karen Walker jewellery available at Incu, QV building, Melbourne CBD / Shimmer, Chapel St, South Yarra. 


xo

Benefiting from the Brow Experts

Benefit Brow Bar via 

Brows.

They really do shape a lady's face. There's nothing like that fresh feeling when you've just had a tidy up, leaving so much more room to play with eye makeup in the area - and so much more expression.

Well, I thought I had it down pat, my brow specialist Maya had been shaping my face for the past few years. The shape was great. But I wanted more. I wanted more arch, more thickness, more more more!

Insert Benefit Brow Bar.

The ladies at Melb CBD Benefit getting their brow on!

Benefit's marketing strategy is a corker. Imagine being 'just another' beauty counter at department stores around the world. How on earth do you get cut through? Cute packaging, tick, reliable products, tick - but everyone has those bases covered! Clearly one of their best sellers, brows a-go-go got them thinking outside the cute-as-pie box --- no one specialises in brows. Let's do it!

Hats off to you Benefit, you've outdone yourself!

The whole experience was a lot of fun. I booked early to avoid disappointment, got to the counter and it was a buzzing - girls everywhere, waxing, powdering, ra ra ra! It may not be for those who like a little privacy when they're having teeny tiny hairs ripped from their face. But fun all the same!

My brow specialist, a cute pommy girl, lined up her measuring stick to make sure she had the right angle to get the super arch happening. She asked if I'd like a tint. A tint? I'd never had a tint before! Hell, why not!

Tint on, wax twirling, the whole process was over in 15 mins and the results were outstanding. Until today my brows were so sparse - but the tint really bulked up the beauty!

But then the fun really started - my pommy waxer sat me down with another girl, Hannah, who spent a good 20 min playing beauty show&tell with me. By the end I wanted to ask her if she'd be my BFF and go buy matching charm bracelets with me! ha! She was so lovely - and showed me heaps of products which I'd totally overlooked in the past.

I took home a new lippy and gloss - so stunning - and left with a Christmas wish-list a mile long (and the good sense to not purchase anything more in-store until I look online for a cheaper deal, my bad!)!

Thanks Benefit - I'll be back!

The big move

So the biggest news to come from my four month absence has been something that I've been looking forward to for a while: moving.

Yep - farewell green walls - we're outta here!

Where to you ask? Well, rather than  packing our bags and heading to some far away majestical place - we've decided to keep things simple. And move 100 metres down the road!

Too funny.

But we're chuffed. The new place reminds me of a little European manor, it's lovely:

We're on the ground floor, with two rooms, a sunroom, and a very spacious outdoor area! Loving the prospect of a new-ish kitchen and (most importantly) a dish washer! (Although LB does a great job of dish washer in our house ;))

Needless to say we're counting down the next 10 sleeps until move in day! Can you just picture LB and I wheeling our worldly possessions down the road! Hilarious.

And now the fun begins...decorating!!

xx

Recap: four months fell.

Well! That was what one would potentially call a baptism of fire!

The past four months have flown right on by. Learning the ropes of my new job and trying to figure out the whole work/life balance has been difficult. The last thing on my mind after a nine hour day has unfortunately been blogging. Poor little Foxy.

Although after four months away from all my favourite blogs, I must say that it has been a lot of fun to sit down a read the back catalogue of my faves tonight! I've missed out on a lot! But that's what's great about blogging - you can pick up right where you left off.

So here I am, picking up Foxy and falling in love all over again.

xx

image

What diet?

My stomach is crying out for me to make these CHOCOLATE CREME BRULEE tarts over the weekend...(I haven't counted a propoint in weeks, the jolly fat (wo)man has entered my home and it's not even Christmas! Oh dear...save me..no...feed me...no..save me from these amazing looking treats!!)



DONNA HAY

3 sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry
butter, for greasing
2 cups (500ml) milk
200g dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup (75g) caster (superfine) sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur
caster (superfine) sugar, extra, to sprinkle
dark chocolate shavings and double cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 160ºC (320ºF). Cut the pastry into 12 x 10cm rounds. Cut a slit halfway through each round (this will make it easier to mould into tart shells). Line the bases of 12 x ½ cup-capacity (125ml) lightly greased muffin tins with the pastry. Prick the bases with a fork and line with non-stick baking paper. Fill with pastry weights and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and weights and bake for a further 5–8 minutes or until golden and crisp. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Place the milk, chocolate and vanilla in saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale and creamy. Add the cornflour and whisk to combine. Gradually pour in the hot milk mixture, whisking continuously. Return to saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking continuously, for 1–2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir through the coffee liqueur. Pour mixture into the tart shells and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Sprinkle tarts with caster sugar. Use a blowtorch to caramelise the sugar. Top with chocolate shavings and double cream to serve. Makes 12.

Try not to eat all 12 at once!
Recipe stalked down and hunted from here.

leaving the farm...

All good things must come to an end, greener pastures, time for a change, yadda yadda yadda...

You get the drift. My days 'on the farm' (well, as close to a farm as these well-manicured fingers were ever going to get!) are drawing to a close. I'm leaving my job in agricultural lobbying for a new role. Still in the environment sector, but a fresh start. I'm excited :)

And here's a picture of a ridiculously stunning pair of shoes. Just because every celebration deserves a pair...

Shoes, here, of course ;)

How have I lived 26 years without concealer?

Now that I know totally everything there is to know about beauty ;) , thanks to Zoe Foster and her new book Amazing Faces, my one question really is how did I ever survive without concealer?

On reading the book and watching a few YouTube vids I decided it was high time to do something about my dark circles. And, on her recommendation (and to my initial fear), I stepped away from my beloved MAC counter and walked on over to....Bobbi Brown.

Oh My Lordy! How did I not know the amazing ability of these little pots of goodness?!

 
Bobbi Brown - Corrector and Concealer Kit.

I now have no black circles, and a perfect, radiant, young looking eye area. I feel a million bucks! Thanks Bobbi!

Beauty Bliss!

Return of the mack..or was it max? And a new beauty book to knock your socks off!

I always sang 'return of the max..' - but that's very 'beth' - my Lover Boy (Happy Birthday today!) always laughs at my ability to make up my own lyrics to songs. He will forever be known as my 'shaving grace', after a roadtrip where Beyonce's 'Halo' featured prominently and it wasn't until we had travelled quite far along the Great Ocean Road that my interpretation was corrected, with much laughter to ensue...

Meanwhile, back to the topic - I'm alive! I didn't die after my surgery (my worrying once again hitting where it hurts). The surgery went well, we found Endo, treated it, and my little uterus is all ready to house many many happy fat bouncing babies (one day...). Enough of the over share - time to return to fun topics, methinks!

Like Beauty. I admit - I have a girl crush.

The other day I was walking through the city DJs on my lunch break, when I saw a cluster of people all gushing over a gorgeous brunette, who was signing books and smiling for cameras. My thoughts of 'who's the D-grade celebrity today?' were quickly overshadowed by something shining over on the MAC counter, and I quickly forgot about said brunette.

Until I saw an snippet of an interview on TV, and had to track her down. And by her, I mean Zoe Foster.

Beauty editor, author, youtube-producer-extraordinaire. This girl has serious Wow! factor. I've spent the whole afternoon looking at her YouTube clips and flicking through her new book Amazing Face which I quickly ran to Dymocks to buy today.



I just wish I'd discovered her last week so that I could have had my book signed too!!

when Layton entered my life

Who can resist the marketing pull of mid-season sales? Not I!

I've been handbag browsing for a while, determined to find a nice tan leather handbag, preferably with gold features. Today I walked in to David Jones, and left a little bit poorer. But at 40% off - who could resist.

Michael Kors - Layton. Welcome to my life.

(excuse the image, he's sitting on my desk at work showing off to the world!)

I actually lusted over the wallet version of this bag when I was in the UK - isn't it pretty:

Unfortunately the backpackers bank account said no at the time...but I'm loving the bag instead!!

the gift that keeps giving

One of my b'day presents from LB this year was a 12 month subscription to Marie Claire. I thought this to be an awesome gift - as when the first edition arrived in the mail yesterday it felt like my b'day all over again!

Thanks babe!

Looking forward to snuggling up in my PJs and reading tonight - although my version didn't have all of text on the front cover - simply the pic of Gale and the MC header. Not sure whether that's because I'm a subscriber and get an early edition? Hmm..interesting...love that frock tho!

luscious lips!

As part of the Seriously Smooth Skin challenge that I have set myself, I'm paying particular attention to rediscovering my once-luscious lips. The have been far from luscious in recent times, more like dry and cracked :( Not even Katy Perry's cherry chapstick would do the trick!

But now..behold! It's Clinique's Superbalm to the rescue!

Yep, this little baby tube of goodness came in the post yesterday, and after treating my lips to a dose before bed last night I've already noticed an improvement today. So much so that I've cracked out my favourite pink lippy to show off the pout! Mmm...love this shade of MAC lippy!

Lustering

How do you keep your lips looking luscious all year round?
xx

skin shopping

I've spent too much time this last few weeks browsing StrawberryNet and reading reviews on Makeup Alley - it's addictive to say the least!

I've tried this year to make more of an effort with my skincare routine. Being 26 and all, I'm starting to fret about the damage I've probably done as a youngster; forgetting to moisturise, wearing makeup to bed after coming home from a massive night on the town, and generally not taking great care of my body's biggest organ.

So. I've started mixing things up. A few of my latest purchases to help see me through the Winter, rehydrate my skin and undo some of the damage of the past:

Dermalogica: Skin refining masque

A skin-clarifying, texture-refining masque with oil-absorbing clays and purifying plant extracts to deep-cleanse the skin, helping to reduce oily-skin breakouts.

Dermalogica: multi-active toner

An ultra-light facial spritz that refreshes and hydrates the skin while smoothing the surface. Helps condition skin to prepare for proper moisture absorption.

Dermalogica: intensive moisture balance

An ultra-rich phytonutrient moisturizer designed to combat dry skin and reduce the signs of premature aging.

I've been using Clinique products for a while now, but have read so many great reviews about Dermalogica that I've decided to extend my routine and bring a few new babies into the fold! It's amazing how addictive beauty products can be! Let's hope these new products do as they say - and I'll be on my way to smooth-as-a-baby skin in no time!!

What skin care products do you swear by??