It's been too long. Life has turned upside down during this past month of hiatus, but, big blue "New Post" button - we will no longer be estranged! I won't stand for it! It'll be a quick post today but I'll be sure to make posts a regular thing, again.

Life in a nutshell: Uni, stocktake at work, sometimes I forget to breathe.

Since my last banter my teenage years have also left me :( but on the upside I have some birthday goodies to share, without this I can't think of much else that would be blog-worthy besides the withdrawal symptoms from this make-up ban!

Fiona and Amy obviously agree that I need to do more for my hygiene, but thats what friends are for hahaha. Thankyou for helping me conquer my long covet list of LUSH :) I've yet to use them all so I can't say much apart from how they all smell amazing.

My search for 'My Private Jet' is over and it's even found a new friend in 'Mad as a Hatter' from OPI's Alice in Wonderland collection, part of my birthday present from my ModelCo friend (who should really be working at OPI) Wendy. It's possibly the most beautiful OPI to ever exist, thankyou!

Okay maybe I fibbed a little. To pass up the Azalea Blossom and Ripe Peach blush ombres at MAC would be the most heinous act! Laura's haul posts weren't helping either, hauls can be so toxic. I still consider myself on a ban though, I've been doing well. I think ultimately though, no rehab could fix me!

Questions, Questions!

Anonymous: Hey annie just wondering if you can help me out. From your recent post, i heard you bought the st550 samsung camera (the one with the two LCD screens). I have one myself although when I upload the photos onto my laptop, my photos dont turn out as VIBRANT as it looks on the camera. Do you have any idea how to change the settings for this? Thankyou so much!
I'm not sure if I'm much help because I'm still fiddling around with the settings myself but you can adjust the colour of the photos when its on camera mode. There should be a little arrow at the bottom of the screen & when you press it a little menu pops up. Click on the fifth button from the left on the menu, click on RGB and you can customize your own RGB, hopefully that helps a lil'!

Anonymous: Hi Annie, how much do you need to spend at Bardot to get the vip card?
You spend $200 or more for the VIP card then you recieve 10% off everything from your first purchase (that includes sale items!) and 10% off all full priced items everytime after that.

Anonymous: hey annie, where do you buy your jewellery stand?
I bought it from fairfield markets, but it's been a couple of years since then. I'm actually considering selling mine.

Speaking of selling, I currently have a little somethin' in the works, hopefully it will be up and running soon!

Back to old habits

Four more NARS compacts later and I realize... the amount of blush I have is ridiculous, the amount I spend on makeup is ridiculous and the only thing I can see in my near future is being diagnosed with compulsive hoarding...

So on my list of New Year's Resolutions will be: To only buy makeup once I've hit pan (I'm aware that this rule will be tweaked through the course of the year but ..eh, I tried.)

But with one category of cosmetics aside, I've been won over by the fresh handmade cosmetics of LUSH. I've drifted in and out of interest with LUSH in the past but I fell back into relapse when one of my best friends, Fiona, let me have a big ol' whiff of her Snow Fairy lip balm.

I gave LUSH a visit, bought some soaps, recieved some samples and we literally spent a whole night watching LUSH hauls on the tube and discussing bubble bars and bath ballistics. Next thing you know, I'm a sworn LUSH fanatic and seeing that one of my new faves in blog world has already fallen into the same ordeal (yes jenny, that is you, hah!) just reassures me that it's okay, spending this much on soaps and such is not that ridiculous ....and I am not alone hahaha.

So I mentioned in my January 1st post that I had a few LUSH things to discuss, I haven't actually got to use them all yet so the best I can do for now is pictures and scent descriptions which is kind of hard because everyone interprets scents differently. I guess this will be "useless-LUSH-rave" for short.

Honey I washed the kids
Is meant to calm sore, sensitive epidermis with rich aloe vera lather to leave the skin feeling smooth. It's LUSH's best selling soap and the scent is described as "sticky toffee and honey with hints of bergamot and orange". I can't smell the bergamot or orange and the smell of "sticky toffee and honey" is really slight, it kind of smells like hardened caramel. The honeycomb top smells a bit sweeter than the rest of the soap but the sweet smell is very subtle. See what I mean by it's hard to describe the scents? haha

Rockstar
Is meant to give a "creamy candy bath" and smell like "sweet, vanilla perfume" but it actually smells exactly like Red Skins! Like sweet raspberry candy and the scent is amazing in the shower. I sliced a chunk to use as hand soap and now I can't stop smelling my hands.. how very lady-like! :P

Vanilla in the mist
There are actually black streaks on top of the soap which are meant to be "real vanilla pods, from the vanilla orchid, dried, crushed and fragrant." The scent should have a dash of coconut and tonka but I think it smells exactly like coconut. Sweet, soapy, coconut.

Ice Blue
Is meant to wake you up in the morning and leave a "peppermint lather" on your skin but it's very minty, kind of smells like toothpaste. I hate the smell of toothpaste.

Sea Vegetable
Has a crust layer of sea salt and black pieces of arame seaweed which should nourish and revive dull skin and "give it the scent of the seaside". LUSH describes the scent as lavender and lime oils but it's sort of like minty menthol.

My LUSH Hitlist for 2010 (in no particular order) so far will be:
1. Porridge
2. Sultana of Soap
3. Butter Ball
4. Chox Away
5. Angels on Bare Skin
6. Snow Fairy Shower Gel
7. Cupcake face mask
8. Ma Bar Bubble Bar
9. Sunny Side Bubble Bar
10. Honey I Washed the Kids solid perfume
11. Mask of Magnaminty
12. Dream Cream

So, the main reason for my lack of updates was because my parents had taken their camera on their Vietnam/Taiwan trip but they're back now! I actually just picked them up from the airport this morning.

Even though I told my mum didn't know what I wanted from Taiwan.. I think she sort of picked up on my fascination with studded things - the amount of studs on the shoes is a bit ludicrous but it was a sweet gesture and it made me laugh haha thankyou mother! She also bought a couple more Fendi goodies from Duty Free for herself. My favourite of her Fendis was her Black Chef Med Boston but she was using it for the day so I'll snap a picture next time.

This entry took forever to do, my brother is downloading Avatar and my laptop is about to have a meltdown. Avatar by the way, is one of the best movies ... ever.

P.S A little side note for those who made it to the end of this entry - Bardot will be having FINAL REDUCTIONS of all sale items starting Tomorrow (Tuesday 12th Jan) we're taking 20% off ALL sale stock! Have fun and ciao bellas! xx