A glimpse at the lips: Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil in Velvet & Fruit Scrub in Whipped Cherry

In the course of a day I talk to a lot of people and sometimes the conversation can shift from business to "so, where are you from , um, Canada or the States?"  I chuckle and ask in return "where do you think I'm from?" Truth be told I'm never offended when they guess Canada, my accent is soft and hard to pin down.  Plus, Canada was my neighbour to the North until I moved to Australia.  And, I really can't knock Canada - I have a lot of extended relatives who live in the Great White North. Bite Beauty comes from Canada, eh, and their main focus is the lips and lips alone. "Each lipstick contains the Resveratrol equivalent of five glasses of red wine." I love wine, but don't want to drink it every day, the calories and sugar content of each glass of wine is so startling you might reconsider asking for a refill. In the meantime, our lips can benefit from the ingredients used in Bite Beauty.

Bite's Whipped Cherry Fruit Scrub smells and tastes of cherries, yum!  While they were at it, they threw in Rice Bran (the small, round scrubbers) for exfoliation and a bunch of other "food grade" ingredients which contain exfoliating and moisturising properties.  Did I mention it's safe enough to eat?  Because it is - although, I would advise against scooping it out in one fell swoop and munching on it.

The creamy base helps to coat your lips and spread around the scrubbers.  I applied a pea-sized amount onto my lips and let them do the rest of the work by putting them together and moved them in a back and forth motion in order to move the scrub around.  I wiped the excess off with a dampened cotton round and was left with soft and supple lips which were ready for a healthy coat of Bite's High Pigment Pencil in Velvet.

The High Pigment range features 14 matte shades which wind up too, it's nice not having to worry about purchasing a special-sized sharpener.  While the swatch of Velvet looks a tad glossy, once it dried I was left with a creamy pink hue which lasted for four hours.  There's little to no smell or taste - for the girls who are sensitive to either one, I think you'd appreciate this precious baby.

Having read very little about Bite Beauty before adding Velvet to my collection, I can now comfortably say NARS' Velvet Matte Lip Pencils should be shaking in their boots.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Bite Beauty's Whipped Cherry Fruit Scrub and High Pigment Lip Pencil in Velvet:

• $24.95 AUS / $18.00 USD and $36.95 AUS / $24.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 9 out of 10 bags – fun to play with, taste and experience.

Likelihood to purchase again:

• I really want to add a powerful red lippie to my collection.

Up until recently Bite Beauty was only available via Sephora for purchase.  If you like to see makeup in person and have been lusting for some Bite in your life, then head on over to Klein's Perfumery located on Brunswick Street.

Same makeup blog, change of review method

I think we all know, or at least I hope you know, I love makeup and fashion.  Although, I have a tendency to be a bit too wordy - I can thank my education for that.  In order to grasp your attention, while still trying to convey my point(s) of view, I'm going to write shorter reviews packed with as much pertinent information as possible.  My photos will also help to do some of the talking.  Also, I'll be maintaining the "Bagful Breakdown" rating system; I think it helps to tie my reviews up with a pretty bow. Without further ado, let the cheesiness commence with my new blogging topics:

• Eyes to Mesmerise - reviews about eye looks, products and everything in between
• A peek at the cheeks - write ups about blush, bronzer and highlighter
• A glimpse at the lips - well, we all have them and I think I have a pretty pout, so why not?

Every now and then I'll write a lengthy review about new launches featuring several products I've purchased and tried out.

The weekly nail review will remain as is.  I heart French Pink in Melbourne's CBD - it helps that Mira and Janice are so sweet and fun to sit down with for a few minutes every Saturday.  And their skills are out of this world (the perfectionist in me treasures their ability to paint nails really well).

I might talk about my brow gal, Romina, from time to time.  Romina can be found in South Yarra, just a few stops away from Chapel Street.  Make sure you book in before going to see her, because her schedule can fill up pretty quickly.

Last, I will try to be as fair and balanced with all of my reviews.  I am not paid or sponsored for most of what you see on my blog.  Recently, Beauty Directory sent me a few things to try and review - however, just because it's free, doesn't make it good or bad for that matter.  I will always disclose if/when something has been gifted in exchange for my opinions.

And, what about fashion?

For me Makeup is primary and fashion is secondary.  I think it's much cheaper to buy a tube of lipstick over an expensive pair of shoes or purse any day of the week.  With that said, I don't think there's any harm in showcasing something I'm in love with, like this Marc Jacobs jewellery set for example. My fashion entries will be sprinkled throughout this blog too.

That's about it for now.  I hope you continue to visit Bagful of Notions; I'm having a lot of fun and I hope you are too.

I have an open door policy, always feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Spammers beware, I am not interested in what you have to say.

Eyes to mesmerise: Soap & Glory's You Won't Believe Your Eyes

Eye creams have been a part of my skincare regimen since I turned 24-years-old - it's been five years now and I have no regrets.  *Shrugs shoulders* there's nothing wrong with preventative maintenance. To all of the eye creams I've loved before, well, I still love you; I just like to rotate and keep my options open.  Origin's GinZing is by far and away my favourite eye cream, but I'm still holding out on buying it again until I've tried Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Eye. In the meantime, You Won't Believe Your Eyes has been added into my current rotation of lotions and potions.

Here's a snippet about the ingredients in the product:

"You Won’t Believe Your Eyes mobilizes Live Yeast Cell Derivative (LYCD), an ingredient in that fashion model handbag standby – hemmorhoid cream – to help increase cell respiration and metabolism while combating inflammation to attack under-eye bags and bloat. Also formulated with instant lifting agents, a special blend of illuminating pigments and cooling cucumber juice, just ROLL IT ON and watch the transformation take place."                                                                    - Soap & Glory

My approach ultimately came down to doing it wrong.  I applied You Won't Believe Your Eyes on my under eye area after applying makeup - hey, the label said I could!  The lotion was cooling and light, but it disturbed my under eye concealer, making it appear translucent.  As Willy Wonka said: "So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it."  And reverse it I shall.

Final observations & thoughts:

• The smell is light, a tad fruity with a hint of I don't know.
• The lotion smoothes out easily, while leaving behind purple-y/blue light reflecting particles.
• Apply first, allow to dry and then apply under eye concealer if you wish.  Lesson learned.

Snapshot of the results:

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Soap & Glory's You Won't Believe Your Eyes:

• $29.95 AUS / £10.50 / $25.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 2 out of 10 bags – I reversed it and was left with buyer's remorse.  I'll be returning this on Saturday.

Likelihood to purchase again:

• I don't know much about Soap & Glory other than it hails from the UK. But, I'd give them another go.

Chanel-Inspired Haute Couture Manicure - weekly nail review

For a moment, if you took your eyes off of Choupette (the wicked cute kitty who belongs to Karl) you may've spied the subtle nail "art" during Chanel's Haute Couture show back in early July.  Metallic silver served as the base and a creamy, almost Nana, pink was painted down the centre of the nail, making sure to leave a sliver (horseshoe shaped) of silver peeking out from the sides.  They preserved their hard work with a base and top coat too! Here's a step-by-step tutorial I found via Google.

Unfortunately French Pink didn't have shades which closely mirrored the look I was after - so, Mira and I took it as a sign to utilise a bit of artistic license.  The base colour we selected was Butter London's Diamond Geezer followed by Essie's Midnight Cami.

In the end, I don't think the look I was after translated as well as I hoped.  As the week progressed, it looked like I hadn't gotten my nails painted in quite some time.  Had Diamond Geezer been a bit more silver and I didn't choose a vastly darker contrasting colour, this look would've sung.

Ah well, I can't get it right every time.