Stila Festival Of Colour | Haul

So I stated in my July wishlist that I had cut down on my spending, and I think I've been pretty good with it! It feels like forever since I've bought any new products, but when I heard about the Stila Festival Of Colour collection, I knew I had to get in fast.

The main reason I wanted to buy from this collection were the Stila After Glow Lip Colours. I was going to wait until my holiday until I found out that they were limited edition. It was something I didn't want to miss out on, even if they were still available I mightn't be able to get the colours I wanted, so of course when Beauty Bay had them in stock I placed an order. Unfortunately a few other LE items caught my eye too!

Countless Colour Pigments in Lyric, Smudgestick in Turquoise, After Glow Lip Colours in Electric Pink & Festive Fuchsia

 So the main reason why I wanted the After Glow Lip colours so badly are because they glow in UV light which I can picture would be a shock to see someone with glowing lips in a nightclub (I've had that happen with my neon nail polishes before haha.) They also make great day colours so they look great on their so if clubbing is not your scene you may still be interesting in these. Keep an eye out for a review!
I was also preparing myself for summer by getting the smudge stick in Turquoise which is a LE colour
& a Countless Colour Pigment in Lyric which Dawn pointed it out as a blush which I didn't think about, but it makes for a lovely eyeshadow that you can use the colours separately or mix together.

A few quick swatches, sorry about the different lighting but I will have separate posts with proper swatches.

 Shipping with Beauty Bay is free, but if you spend an extra $2.20 you get a sample & your package is meant to leave the warehouse faster. It still took 3 weeks to arrive, but I got some pretty decent samples!

 

I've never tried the Urban Decay Primer Potion, only Too Faced Shadow Insurance, so I was thrilled to have a sample size! I also got a Sebastian Colour Ignite shampoo sample which is perfect because I've been using one of their conditioners & colour protection shampoos are the type that I use, so it ended up being perfect for me.

What products from Stila do you like? Do you think you will pick up any of these products?

Check out these products & more from Beauty Bay

xx

Everything paid with my own money, this is not a sponsored post & no affiliation to any brands mentioned

July Summer Holiday Wishlist

As if I haven't mentioned it enough, my holiday to the US is fast approaching in just over 2 weeks! It's something we have been planning for so long so it's almost unreal that it's nearly here. Obviously we are going to do all the touristy things, but I am also excited to shop up, taking advantage of the huge price differences, so I wanted to make up my first wish list with some products that I intend to buy.
 I have slowed right down on my makeup spending in the last couple of months on makeup & other materialistic items so that I wouldn't feel too bad in how much I would be spending but I wasn't going to let that happen anyway! I'm also hoping I won't need to purchase anything other then essentials for a long time afterwards.

1. MAC Face & Body Foundation: I think out of all the MAC foundations I'd like to try their F&B because it sounds like a natural glowy foundation perfect for summer. Other higher-end foundations I want to look at are the NARS Sheer Glow & YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat, I've only ever used cheaper ones so I can't wait to try higher end ones!

2. NARS Satin Lip Pencil: After seeing this on Heather I knew I wanted to try these, I haven't used any higher end lip products except for MAC (which isn't technically high end) and the quality looks amazing.

3. MAC Fix + Spray: I have needed a proper setting spray & mixing medium so I may as well get something that costs an arm & a leg back home to try out.

4. Stila Highlighting Duo in Kitten: I love Kitten as an eyeshadow and it would make a gorgeous highlight, I want this as well as theBalm's Mary Lou-Manizer as I've mentioned before.

5. Maybelline ColourSensational Vivids: Considering the price difference & the colour range, I will feel the need to buy most of these. I also want to pick up a few more Colour Tattoos.

6. Sonia Kashuk Undetectable Creme Bronzer: I haven't heard much about these but from what I have heard, they are comparable to the Chanel Tan De Chanel & at a much cheaper price, why not. It only comes in two shades, a bronzing one & a contour one so I might try both. Also Sonia Kashuk can only be purchased at Target in the US from what it looks like & is too expensive on ebay.

7. Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush: Looks too pretty not to have, I'm sure it will leave the most beautiful glow!

8. Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush: I've heard soo many good things about these blushes, and they look amazing! I'm also planning to pick up some more NARS blushes & have a look at Benefit's.

9. Laura Mercier Caviar Eye Stick Colour: These look amazing and come in many beautiful colours, perfect for a base to any eyeshadow look.

10. Benefit POREfessional : I don't exactly have the most visible pores but I've heard what a great primer this is, I can't wait to try other Benefit products, too!

11.YSL Glossy Lip Stain: Why not splurge a little bit, and considering these are $16 cheaper then in Aus then I think I can allow that ;)

12.Essie Nail Polish:I haven't tried anything from Essie before and all the colours look so beautiful so I'm going to find it hard to pick just a few shades!

So obviously I will be looking at a lot more but these are just a few of things I hope I get the chance to buy. If anyone from the US has any shopping tips, please let me know! 

I'm unsure if I should be posting a haul when I get back as I don't want it to come across as bragging or sounding greedy?, but please let me know if you would like to see one, or should I just post about the products as I use them?

Have you tried any of these products? What is on your makeup wishlist at the moment?

xx

Gold is a pure Epsilon/Narrative asset

I came across this gem of a blog from a reader sending me Mauldin Economics' latest.

I think I could argue the case that gold is almost all Epsilon and little Alpha or Beta, because it is a Monetary asset, because of its massive stocks to flow ratio. As I said here "It is actually supply - the withholding of supply - that matters most." What those holders think matters, and that "think" is what the blogger calls a Narrative.

What we see going on in the goldbug internet is an attempt to construct a Narrative around gold. However, as the blogger says, it is not necessary for the Narrative to be true, "it is only important for a Narrative to sound truthful." Truth is not relevant because the point of the Narrative is to serve the interests of the powerful/those who are communicating it. How true - truth doesn't matter as long as it generates clicks and sells newsletters and coins.

It seems my, at times, crusade for truth in the blogosphere is in vain because what matters is "the more Common Knowledge in play at any given time, the more that market behaviors will be driven by the rules and logic of the Common Knowledge Game than by fundamentals or traditional factors."

Certainly I would have to concede that the current goldbug Narrative (a group of various memes) is all pervading in the gold blogosphere and I'm not really making a dent. There is a catch however. What the goldbugs don't realise is that their Narrative is not the Narrative that the rest of the world is using. Indeed in this post the blogger says that gold doesn't have a Narrative:

"In some periods of history gold is money. In other periods of history gold is not. But gold is always something, and that something is defined by the Common Knowledge of the day. To be an efficient gold investor in any period, I believe it’s crucial to identify and measure the relevant Narrative that is driving the Common Knowledge regarding gold. Only then can one construct an informational surface that predicts how the equilibrium price of gold will respond to new information ... There is no stand-alone Narrative regarding gold today, as there was in 1895. Today gold is understood from a Common Knowledge perspective only as a shadow or reflection of a powerful stand-alone Narrative regarding central banks, particularly the Fed … what I will call the Narrative of Central Banker Omnipotence. Like all effective Narratives it’s simple: central bank policy WILL determine market outcomes."

The result is that those who operate under the blogosphere Narrative will make the wrong decisions:

"You may privately believe that J.P. Morgan is still right, that gold has meaning as a store of value. But if you participate in the market on the basis of that belief, then you will buy and sell gold in an incredibly inefficient manner. You would be a smart gold investor in 1895, but a poor gold investor today."

This is a challenging statement for goldbugs - it doesn't matter if you think gold is a store of value, or if it should be one, what matters is what most people think gold is. I first came across this idea when reading The Social Construction of Reality (see this blog post of mine for background on this idea). When making investment decision what matters is what is, not what ought to be. I think most blogosphere Narratives are about the Ought, not the Is. That's fine, just don't buy and sell on that basis.

June Empties & Product I'm Chucking Out

Is it really over half way through the year already?! Well I know I said I would do this bi-monthly but I figured I don't want to keep the post too long with too many products, & I'm trying to be more ruthless with using products up, so here are my current empties!

 Body

 Sex In The City Kiss Lotion: This is the 2nd bottle I've used up from my Christmas set, the lotions aren't too bad but if they were available separately I probably wouldn't bother.
Garnier Body Intensive 7Days: I love these lotions but out of the ones I've tried, this is probably my least favourite. I can't really tell if my skin looks brighter, but I've already bought a replacement with the hydrating lotion.

Hair

 PPS The Ends: My miracle hair treatment that I apply to only the ends after washing, my split ends aren't as bad, it smells so nice & my hair feels amaazing afterwards. You can also use it on dry hair to tone down frizz. Bought another, I can't live without this stuff!!
Wella High Hair Colour Protection Milk: I like to use these colour protection sprays/ serums after washing to ensure my colour doesn't fade. It's hard to tell how effective it is, but I like this spray anyway. Not sure if this line from Wella is available any more but I want to try something different anyway.
RPR My Quick Fix dry shampoo: This is a pretty good dry shampoo, I can't find what the differences in dry shampoo between brands are but this does the job. I've got a different brand that I'm trying but if I did need a new one and came across this I'd buy it again.

Makeup

 Nude By Nature Mineral Primer: I was only using this up because I got it in a Christmas set a couple of years back. I don't like the way it feels on my face, kind of a drying tacky feel, but my makeup seemed to last pretty good with it anyway, but that could be due to anything.
BYS Curling & Lengthening Mascara: This is a purple mascara that I only used a couple of times, it seemed to lengthen my eyelashes but I felt it was pointless to have this as I already have 3 other mascaras on the go that I like better.
Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer: I actually really liked this, but I have missed out on a lot of product that I can still inside but can't get to, due to probably winding it when I didn't need to & not being able to open it to get the access products out. I will probably buy this again later if I don't find something I like better.

No brand palette: This is actually one of my first palettes I've ever gotten and I almost hit pan in a couple of the eyeshadows, I think I got this from Target. I was going through some stuff & found this and I haven't used it for years, It's too cheap to give away to anyone and I don't want to keep it for "play" makeup haha so it's time to go.
All About Glo Bronzer: Soo as you can see it's a bit of a disaster, it's very hard to use lightly because there is so much fine dust everywhere, and I don't use it anyway & it's also not something I would want to give away!

What products did you finish in June?
xx