My city: Melbourne

GPO Melbourne

A quick stroll down the street takes me to the GPO (General Post Office), a former fully-functioning hub used for mail collection and sorting -- you could even look phone numbers up and pay your bills there too! Last year scaffolding was erected in order for facade works to commence; upon completion a refreshed spirit was revealed in the form of 2,900 LED's tucked behind cornices, columns and other architectural elements.

Now that the sun is setting earlier and earlier as we inch closer to winter, be sure to head into the city's centre and check out this beautiful building located on the corner of Elizabeth & Bourke.

Burberry Beauty -- gift with purchase special

As of right now Burberry is offering a great deal at select David Jones locations (check your local counter -- not sure if this is exclusive to Australia ATM); the makeup artist advised me Melbourne CBD only received 20 gifts and also stated, "first in, best dressed!" All you have to do is plunk down moolah for two full price items (not an easy ask for such an expensive makeup brand) and it can be anything from their range; I tried to keep my spending in-check, therefore I opted to go with a great staple eyeshadow, Trench No. 2 and a versatile lip pencil in Sepia No. 3.

What I walked away with

Each gift with purchase comes with a full-size Lip Mist in Copper No. 202, an Eye Definer in Midnight Ash No. 3 and Definition Liner No. 10 (an eyeshadow brush). Under normal circumstances I wouldn't purchase any of these items, but I suddenly felt the urge to be taken out of my comfort zone.

You know the saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover?" Well, some of the colours aren't at all what they appear to be and that's a good thing!

Burberry Eye Definer in Midnight Ash No. 3

Swatch of Midnight Ash No. 3

Midnight Ash No.3 looks like it might be a soft grey, but in actuality it's a dark shade of chartreuse with specks of gold glitter. Colour me surprised! The only negative thing about Midnight Ash was the tip of the pencil crumbled when it was fully sharpened; it's probably best to work with it when it's slightly dull and then refine or blend the colour post-application.

Lip Definer in Sepia No. 3 is a magical thing, really. On its own, it's a delightful shade similar to shiraz. However, when you layer colours atop it, prepare yourself for something that's transformative, long-lasting and effortless.

The artist who helped me also educated me about Burberry's Spring 2013 look; to achieve the matte lip look, first apply Sepia No. 3, then add a layer of red lipstick (I used Giorgio Armani's 400); last, set the colours with translucent powder. Don't feel like spending $42.00 AUS *ouch* for a lip pencil? MAC's Subculture, albeit a browner version, should work quite well.

Lip Definer in Sepia No. 3

Swatch of Sepia No.3

Honourable mention goes out to the rest of my purchase. Trench No. 2 is a classic cream eyeshadow I had made up mind about eons ago, this time I officially bit the bullet and I'm so glad I did. Copper No. 202 is a colour I'm looking forward to wearing solo or layering over Sepia No.3?! Finally, the eye brush, for me, was gravy. I love a good brush with soft bristles; it's definitely fit for purpose!

Lip Mist Copper No. 202

Trench No. 02

Brush 10

Clad in Burberry

In the end I spent a total of $88.00 AUS and walked away with three additional items valued at $146.00 AUS gratis.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of Gift with Purchase events or do you think they are a scheme to get you to buy things you don't necessarily want or need?

Don't you already have that?

Hello Bagful regulars.  It's me again, Scott.  It's been a couple of months since my last post, and as I've been reading Nicole's articles, and we've had conversations about her addiction, it suddenly seemed like time for me to write something from my point of view. And that point of view is:  What's it like to be married to a makeup junkie?

The title of this post pretty much conveys every conversation we have when Nicole comes home with new makeup things.  I don't really understand what the thing is, and even if I do, I don't understand why she has so many of them.  Surely one lipstick is more than enough, right?  I can make a tube of Chapstick last for months, so, by my reckoning, Nicole's lipstick collection should last her, roughly, until the Sun explodes.  And likely a bit longer, given that so many of them are SPF-30.

The same is true for eye liner.  Or is it eye pencil?  No, eye pen?  Eye spy?  I don't know...there are just so many things which look, and function, identically.

Perhaps this is best exemplified by a recent haul from Burberry.  She obtained a lip pencil, and an eye pencil.  Same box.  Same thing.  Different colour.  But apparently one was for the eye and one was for the lip.  I questioned whether or not they weren't just the same thing, so, buying a colour which could work in both locations might have been a prudent procurement.

There was scoffing at that suggestion.

Of course, I followed up with another question of my wife:  So, what did that cost, a dollar?

I knew it cost many, many times more than that, and that is largely due to the rather revolting Australia Tax which retailers employ here -- things that Nicole would buy anywhere else in the world, or online, cost about 50 to 70% less than in Australia, for no good reason.  I can tell that whatever my makeup-addicted wife has obtained is at the higher end of pricey when she doesn't admit right away as to the cost.  Mind you, a few months ago, Nicole did have an "oh my" moment with her makeup spending...she started putting the receipt values into a spreadsheet and performed a sum() calculation on the data.  I think her exact words were:  I may have a problem.

Anyway...

I really don't know much about makeup...actually, that's not entirely true any longer -- over the last few years with Nicole I've learned many, many things.  Mostly brand names, though.  Nars (not Mars). MAC (Not Apple).  Burberry (apparently they do makeup as well as that tartan pattern).

Is my life richer for knowing these things?  Probably not.

Have I likely forgot how to do something critical by having replaced the knowledge in my brain with factoids about makeup?  Likely so.  (Right over left, and under...right over left, and under...must repeat to remember)

I have, however, learned the delicate art of answering the question: What do you think?

Men, you know what I'm getting at here.

It's a trap!

Answering that question is something that I believe should be a critical part of a man's education in this world.  Choose your words carefully, gents.  And from the safety of the Land Rover.

But I digress.

Thankfully, I have an easy "out" to this question from my wonderful wife -- when she tries on new makeup here at home, she typically vanishes from the living room looking as lovely as normal, into the bathroom, where she stays, sequestered, for the better part of an hour.  When she emerges, it's a sharp contrast to the look she had when she went in.

That dichotomy, from before to after, is where I land for an answer:

"Wow!  It's really different from when you went in!  What do you think?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm honest, and I focus on the bits I really like, and Nicole is VERY good at applying makeup and she never, ever looks like Mimi from the Drew Carey show; but at the same time, it's quite a shift in looks in a relatively short amount of time.  She then grabs the camera, takes lots of pictures, and we often end up going out to dinner/drinks somewhere (this is often a weekend ritual).  During that amount of time, the look grows on me, I become more accustomed to the New Nicole, and can make more useful comments.

Right, now, where was I?

Ah, okay, yes, let's talk about space, shall we?

The best way that I can think to explain what it is like to live with a makeup addict is to show how the space in the bathroom is utilised.  First, let's start with my stuff:

Pretty much all of my stuff in the bathroom.

Yep, that's about it.  Okay, inside of the medicine cabinet I also have my deo-spray, and the shaving kit Nicole gave me for Christmas, but trust me, that's really about it.

And now, let's take a gander at Nicole's corner of the same shelf.

The other corner. Part I.

"Wait a second!" I hear you shout ... "Where's all this alleged makeup you say she has??"

Fair point.  Let's just pan over to the other corner of the bathroom, shall we?

Nicole's Corner. Thar be dragons!

But wait, let's just zoom in a bit, shall we?

A rainbow of, um, stuff!

Lots of crayons. I think.

I don't know, I think this stuff is for the cheeks. Or the ears.

Does this go on the lips? Nose? Eyes? I don't know.

I don't know what it is.

So I think you are starting to get a glimpse of what this world is like.

Men, if your partner is into makeup, I offer you these words of wisdom - which I hope will make all of this have value: It's all about options.

Makeup is, I believe it is fair to say, about a woman's (or man's, to be fair, as I guess there are some men who are into it as well) ability to choose a colour, a hue, a look, all through a variety of visual accoutrements.

So, what is it like to live with this colourful world of options? Let's just say that the next place we rent is going to have two bathrooms. Possibly three.

And, Nicole, my love, you look fantabulous.

Orange you glad you have hazel eyes?

For years I've been told purple really helps to make hazel eyes pop, but during my trip back to the States I learned from a MUFE artist the colour orange works even better!

Yesterday I experimented with Inglot's shade no. 407, Burberry's Trench No. 2, Gold Pearl No. 26 and Dior's Camouflage.

Inglot 407

To get the look above, follow these steps:

• First, apply primer and allow to set.
• Second, apply a neutral cream hue from your lash line to just above the crease. I used Burberry's Trench No. 2.
• Then, starting from the inner corner and ending at the centre of your lid, dab on an orange shade of your choice. I went with 407 due to its sheer formula.
• Contour your crease with any shade you like; I'm still smitten with Dior's Camouflage, a smoky greenish grey.
• You're almost there! Gently apply a sheer wash of something sparkly. Burberry's Gold Pearl No. 26 worked like a charm
• Finally line your eyes and apply mascara.

If you really want to amp up the orange, apply a white base first. NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk works well and it's cheap too!