Gosh. Mothers.
Anyway, I went to Myer last week because I had an appointment with the Elizabeth Arden counter for a beauty consultation... thing. It was a little freebie that I got the last time I went in and spent a small fortune at Myer (which you can peruse here, if you wish!), and as I needed to get my mother her present, I decided to kill two birds with one stone!
Unfortunately, I didn't really get much out of the Elizabeth Arden experience. I chatted a little to the beauty consultant about makeup, she tried a face powder on me -- which ultimately failed to impress me -- and applied some eye shadow from the duo compact "Classic Khaki". It was pretty, but once again I wasn't hugely impressed. If a slightly more detailed post is something that you'd be interested in reading, let me know with a comment!
Onto the Mother's Day shopping!
After Elizabeth Arden, I headed straight to the MAC boutique and -- Mum, if you ignored me and kept on reading, I mean it, this really is your last chance! -- booked us in to get a makeup lesson! I think it'll be great fun and amazing for my Beauty Padawan learning curve. Mum isn't too adventurous with makeup but she's a big fan of MAC Cosmetics, so I know that she'll enjoy it too. Another great thing about it is that we can redeem the value of the lessons on MAC products, so while my mother might decide on a couple of lipsticks, I know I've already got my eye on some brushes!
When that was all done and dusted, I headed on over to Kit Cosmetics to find something for my mum to get my grandmother for Mother's Day. As it turned out, I got more than just that.
First up is Too Faced's The Return of Sexy eye shadow palette. This beauty was obviously a purchase for myself, and I am very, very excited about it. I've gone and looked at it nearly every time I've been in Kit and I finally told myself that I really had to have it! I bought it for $64.95, however Beauty Bay currently has it on sale for $52.30 and with free shipping to Australia, I would suggest going there instead.
Next to that is Soap & Glory's Hand Food hand cream. This one is actually for my grandmother. As a retiree in her 70s, she doesn't exactly live "to the edge" -- although her social life is better than mine -- but she does a lot of knitting, sewing and crocheting; having fabric drag across your finger for a continuous time can cause it chafe somewhat and go ick, so I thought this would be useful for her. I purchased this for $11.95, which I think is a very reasonable price.
To the right of the hand cream is the Mario Badescu Silver Powder. Clearly this wasn't for my grandmother (I can't think of any women in their 70s with acne!), but for my brother. He breaks out from time and time and the girl at Kit said that this Silver Powder is amazing for blackheads. Whether or not it is remains to be seen, because my brother's skin is really clear at the moment -- however, mine has broken out a little so who knows, perhaps I'll borrow it to try! This set me back $17.95.
Going with that is the Mario Badescu Alpha Grapefruit Cleansing Lotion. This is supposed to be a kind of toner used to take off the Silver Powder. I'm curious to use this on its own because in the past I've found toners to be a little drying on my skin -- one irritated it so much that it kind of... burned the skin as it closer to my eye. Never again, I said! However, the reviews for this product look pretty good and it's supposed to be suitable for sensitive skin as well. It costs $22.95.
Then come the Kit Cosmetics Moisturising Socks! I bought these for my mother a little while ago and she really likes them, so I decided to get another pair for my grandmother (because, let's face it, feet are kinda gross). I'm definitely going to enjoy hearing how she goes about wearing these on her feet, I think she'll laugh at how squishy they are! These go for $24.95.
It seems impossible for me to stop by Myer and not buy something from Mecca these days! Of course, there was more Mother's Day shopping to be done, so I picked up a couple of things while also getting myself a thing or two.
First is the Kai Deodorant. I bought this for my grandmother, which sounds like a weird gift to give someone, but she has sensitive skin and many deodorants cause her underarms to swell up. This one is aluminium-free, meaning she'll be able to use it everyday, and contains Vitamin E and chamomile to help with irritation. At $35, I think that is a very expensive product to buy on the off-chance, and there are definitely cheaper aluminium-free options out there -- I wouldn't buy it for myself (I'm happy with Lynx or Rexona!) but I think my grandmother will really benefit from it.
Next up is Murad's Blemish Spot Treatment. I've used these kinds of products before with success (albeit varying) and I thought I would give this one a try to see how it goes. I've heard good things about this brand on Bunny Meyer's YouTube channel so it will be interesting to see how well it works on me. Unfortunately, right now it's out of stock online and I threw out the receipt (d'oh!), but I think it's somewhere between $25 and $30.
Another purchase that I got for my grandmother is the (cue deep breath) Tocca Florence Laundry Delicate Orris Rose Fine Fabric Wash (that's a ridiculous name), which goes for $24. It's a laundry detergent suited for delicates such as hosiery and lingerie -- for an older woman who spends a regular amount of time doing laundry, my grandmother will appreciate this. This comes in three other scents (called "Cleopatra", "Touch" and "Stella") but I chose "Florence" because its scent is the lightest. My grandmother isn't huge on heavy smells but this is delicate enough to have a discernable scent without irritating your nose.
Finally, something I'm very excited to use: Hourglass' Veil Mineral Primer! This was recently heralded by Chloe Morello (an Australian beauty blogger) as one of the best primers out there, and when I saw that Mecca was selling the 10ml bottle for $25, I decided to give it a try. It's supposed to reduce redness, minimise pores and make your makeup water resistant. However, the Mecca Cosmetica website does not list this product at all, however given that this is supposedly new (at least that's the impression I got) it might go up some time in the near future. I suppose you could fork out $92.65 from Sense Online for the 30ml if you were desperate, but I wouldn't bother -- Mecca had it for much less, I'm sure.
And that's about it for today! Have you tried any of these products before?
Sarah xo
When Andrew and I first started dating, I got him hooked on Mario Badescu! He really seems to love it!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Good to know it looks like I've picked up a good name!
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