Mac's 'Diva' Lipstick | Review

Okay, so I've got yet another Mac lipstick review for you today. I know, I know - Mac lipsticks are clearly fast becoming my downfall, but they're just so good!

As you know, I love my pinky-nude lipsticks. But, I've also always loved deep, vampy reds. After a bad experience with the Australis 'Doo-Bai' Liquid Lipstick looking awful after a little bit, I was scared off of not only liquid lipsticks, but deep red lipsticks (the latter doesn't make much sense, but that was my logic at the time). However with an upcoming late autumn trip to the UK and Europe, and it being the middle of winter at the time, I decided that I'd finally give a deep red lipstick a go.

And I knew just the one. I'd been lusting after Mac's Diva for at least a year or two, it was the perfect deep, vampy, wine coloured red, and I knew it had to be mine. My mum actually bought it for me as my Birthday present (thankyou mum!) so I didn't have any 'financial investment' in it to pressure me into loving it, but alas, I did!

Diva is the most gorgeous deep red lipstick, and I honestly think it's an autumn/winter staple for any makeup lover! I have neutral-warm undertones and pale skin and I think it's very flattering on me, and I've seen darker girls or people with pink undertones look fab in it too!

I will say, the only downside to this lipstick is that because it's such a deep and bold colour, if your lips are dry then it'll be kind of obvious up close where the 'flaky' bits are. But that's super easy to fix, just moisturise your lips and I'd recommend using a lip scrub beforehand as well - Lush has some great ones in the flavours Popcorn, Mint Julip, and a Candy Floss one (I think, basically a sugar-y one)!

As you can see from the swatch, the colour comes up pretty opaque which is great, sometimes darker colours come up kinda patchy and need extra effort to make them look good. Not this one! It's a matte finish, but it still has this beautiful 'sheen' to it that makes it 'pop' that little bit more.

I'm honestly so happy with this lipstick, and I'd definitely recommend you check it out next time you go past a Mac counter! 

Do you own Diva? What do you think of this lipstick? Leave a comment letting me know!

x Chontelle

What I Got for My 20th Birthday!

Well, I'm no longer a teenager! Yesterday I turned twenty years old! I celebrated in small doses over the past week - a week ago mum and I had a sweet treat at Max Brenner (instead of cake, whichI actually don't like that much), and then Thursday night we had a birthday dinner at the Groove Train - which was delish! We grabbed coffee yesterday morning and I got some lovely presents, and then to finish off the night I grabbed dinner with a friend before heading out to the Valley (aka. club & bar central here in Brisbane)! 

But enough about that - the point of this post is to share with you all some of the exciting gifts I received today! I'll add the inevitable disclaimer in here and let you know that I'm honestly not trying to brag, but I'm just super excited about these gifts and wanted to share them with you guys! 

So without further adue, let's see what I got!

The two 'big' things I received for my birthday were the Too Faced Original Chocolate Bar Palette and the Rosefield Silver Bowery Watch with a Grey Leather Strap. Both of these items have been on my wishlist for a pretty long time now, but because of the heftier price tags ($72 and $115 respectively), I hadn't gotten them yet. However, if a Birthday isn't an excuse to get something special, then what is?

The Chocolate Bar palette has seriously exceeded my expectations. I almost regret purchasing Urban Decay's Original Naked Palette as my first 'high-end' palette, because this one is honestly the best beauty product I own! The shadows are super pigmented and it smells absolutely amazing! The colour selection contains a lot of cooler to medium neutrals which is perfect for me, but it has some lovely shades like 'Cherry Cordial', 'Amaretto' and 'Candied Violet' that give a bit of a 'pop' of colour to enhance any eye look! I'm super excited to play around some more with this palette!

I first saw Rosefield watches on instagram (I follow a lot of European bloggers) and fell in love with the minimal, classic styles they had on offer. Rosefield is a Dutch brand, with a gorgeous selection of watches that are super affordable compared to similar brands here in Australia like 'The Horse' and 'The Fifth' (anywhere from $35 to $85 cheaper per watch). To be fair, the discount is mainly because if you live outside of Europe you don't pay VAT taxes so we basically get to skip out on GST because of an international loophole - I'm certainly not complaining, though! I chose the grey leather strap because grey is one of my favourite colours, but also because though I wanted to go with the black strap and buy a grey one later, the grey only comes with silver hardware when it's with the watch itself, whereas the black strap by itself can have either rose gold or silver hardware.

These silver pieces of jewelery from Colette were a great bargain, I think they were around 50-75% off each and came to about $13 all up! I basically only wear silver jewellery and I've gotten rid of a lot of old junk so it's nice to have some new, on-trend pieces to dress up my outfits!

How to Be Parisian was another item I got to check off of my wishlist, as I've been wanting this one for ages! With my obsession with all things Paris and dream of one day living in Paris, this book kind of had to be mine! It's a great read, full of helpful and humorous life, beauty and style tips, and looks perfect displayed on my desk ;)

Again, another wishlist item, Mac's Diva lipstick is everything I'd hoped it would be, and more! It's the most gorgeous deep red, something of a wine/blood/vampire red shade, and looks seriously stunning on! It's also my first proper red lipstick - ever! I know, I know! Still, it's the perfect start to my inevitable collection of red lipsticks!

I also got a few bits and pieces of clothing and accessory items! The grey cropped cross-over front top was only $30 from Bardot after using my $20 birthday voucher, which was a great deal! Both the clear/gold patterned iPhone cover and the striped phone case/wallet were sale buys from Forever New, as was the Playboy bra & undies set from Bras 'n' Things.

My friend Meg also got me a present, a seriously lovely scented candle, which I unfortunately don't have a picture of as I had to leave it at her place (but I'll be sure to add a picture a.s.a.p)!

All in all, I had a great birthday and got some amazing presents that I'm seriously grateful for! I hope you guys enjoyed this post and feel free to leave a comment down below! 

Have a great weekend!

xx Chontelle