We <3 Princess Pumps

Now after reading the owner's inspirational story, I just had to blog about:

How did I discover this brand? I think Facebook wins in this department again. It probably posted the ad because of all the shoe stores I have been liking recently so it has really won in my eyes.

So, Princess Pumps. What is it all about? Well, owner Jason Ponic was faced with financial uncertainty when the American economy took a dive in 2009. He took everything he had and started selling them on Ebay. With constant selling of his possessions, he took it a bit further by selling any props and costumes he had from making movies as a film student. Tucked away in a closet he found some Ruby Slippers that he had made and posted them up on EBay.

The first pair Jason ever made :)

A lady had contacted Jason asking if he could make a pair in a different size as a special gift for her daughter. She was willing to pay $100 for them. It was at this point that Jason realized he could post up 4 listings at a time for$99.99 for these custom made shoes. They sold out after 1 week. He did it again and the same thing happened. At that point, Jason's financial situation was solved and 3 years later, his business continues with the likes of Wicked: London as one of his clients :)

I love supporting those who hand make products. Why? Because I think of the time and effort they place into their creations and how proud they would be of their work. For me, Princess pumps are reasonably priced. You can get a pair of ballet flats for US$34 - what a bargain! Bearing in mind that Jason hand sews all the sequins on, that is really cheap! Here are some pics of the ballet flats:

The main seller are his Wizard of Oz pumps. Here are some pics:

The first pic is the Kitten Heel at US99.99 and the bottom pic are the Stiletto heels at US$119.99. They are totally gorgeous!!

Prices start low with the ballet flats previously mentioned and the highest priced shoe I saw was the Swarovski Rhinestone shoes at US$250:

Jason has a website here where you can place custom orders. He even lets you send your own shoes in for him to adjust. I actually preferred his Etsy store found here. I like the idea of sneakers being sequinned and he even does Vans :D

I must say, this is high up there on my list of finds. Great idea and I loved his story!

Nails inc - Cleopatra's Kiss and We <3 Ita

I'm not one to buy multiple magazines in order to get the free items. For the month of August, this was a first for me as I wanted 2 different nail polishes Cleo offered.

Each nail polish was worth $18 each (according to the magazine) and I bought the magazines for $8 (I think). So overall, I saved money because I spent $16 rather than $36 on nail polishes.

So We <3 Ita is a neon orange colour and Cleopatra's Kiss is a metallic grey glitter. Here is a pic up close:

We <3 Ita fits in perfectly with the current neon trend in Australia. I placed 2 coats on but can still see my underlying nail so it might be best to place a 3rd coat on.

I really love Cleopatra's kiss because it looks like gun metal. It has a silver shimmer finish and perfect for to match with a LBD or some hot pink. With this nail polish, it's great because 1-2 coats wears fine. I have a feeling that Cleopatra's kiss will last longer than We <3 Ita.

I looked around as to where to buy this. For UK customers you can go directly to the Nails Inc site here. For international customers Beauty Bay and Debenhams have it reasonable priced. In Australia, I could only find The Iconic selling Nails Inc nail polish for $49.95 but they were only selling the 30ml bottles where as I have only the 10ml. There is always the option of Ebay and Amazon to purchase these for cheaper as well.

Bring out all the colours for Spring!

Cheetah / Leopard OOTD

I can't really tell if this is strictly leopard or cheetah so I believe it's both!

I really loved the top and it was on sale so that is always a bonus!

The clothing I wore:

Leopard / Cheetah top: $10 on sale from Supre

Leggings: $8 from Kmart

Diamonte bow flats: $15 from Kmart

Black Singlet: $10 from Chica Booti

Sorry it's a blurry shot of my shoes.

I think this is a great outfit for spring. It's nice to wear breezy, flowy tops as the temperature ramps up. It's easy, simple and cheap :D

Welcome Spring Time!

Maybelline Color Tattoo - Painted Purple

I know I have done this review before for the Tenacious Teal here but I really liked the purple and decided to make the purchase since Chemist Warehouse had it on special for $7.77.

This is a rich vibrant colour and really pops when you apply it your your eyelids. Now, what I decided to do was test it out 2 ways. One way was to go by the instructions as detailed instore on the display - dot the colour on your eyelid and blend out. This was the result:

I found that the colour was really light when dabbing it on. Not as light as lilac but more of a darker lavender colour. Sorry if this pic is blurry! The second way I decided to test was with an eye shadow brush made especially for cream eye shadows. This was the result:

By using the brush, you can see a deeper tone and it is much bolder to wear it this way. I would personally blend this with other colours as I do not like wearing just the one colour and the tutorial on the Maybelline website found here shows you a dramatic look using 4 different colours.

I only wanted to show the colours to you so you have an idea of what it looks like. I am not that fancy when it comes to doing eye make-up and the pictures are not the usual way I would wear it either :)

The colour of the eye shadow does not come out as how dark as it looks. That's not to say you can't blend this with other colours to get the exact shade you see in the picture. Remember, it has 24 hour wear so it's long lasting and also does not leave those dodgy crease marks into your eye lids. The idea of this eye shadow cream is that it's easy to wear with no hassles with it rubbing off or fading.

I would wear this colour with a hot pink lipstick or translucent pink lipgloss. It would also work well with red lips or blue if you're game enough. I can also see this working well with neon clothing. Some bright yellow and purple eyes would work a beaut!

Testing out Sukin Hair Care

Over here in Australia, all I see is a brand named Sukin. Sukin lotion, Sukin shampoo, Sukin night cream, Sukin Sukin Sukin.

So I decided to test out this moisture restoring shampoo and conditioner.

I have been testing these products for at least 2 months.

The reason why I tried out this product is because it is an Australian owned company and is organic. They are carbon neutral, environmentally friendly in the packaging and are free of animal testing or use of any by-products derived from animals.

I do not remember the pricing on these products but remember it being around $10 each. The claim is that it detangles hair and contains moisture enriching products to restore dry/damaged hair and leave your hair silky smooth. I can honestly say that this has not worked for me. My hair still feels dry and tangles all the time. This is not to say that it wouldn't work for someone else but in my own personal experience, I can safely say I will not be buying this particular product again.

I bought this product purely out of interest. I also made in my purchase some rosehip oil and I am still in the process of testing this out on the scarring of my face.

Overall, I say use the product if you want to support natural products free of harm to animals and the environment. Results may not be what you want them to be, but at least you know you have purchased a product that is not cruel to the environment.