New Mac Lipsticks | Twig & Blankety

Less than a year ago, I purchased my first Mac lipstick. I've quickly become obsessed. I've been slowly growing my collection over the year, so of course I was ecstatic when my Aunt got me two new lippies (chosen with my guidance, of course) as an early Christmas present while I was staying with her in London last month.

I'm one of those people who are crazy about lists and checking things off of lists, and these two were up near the top of my 'lipstick wishlist'. 

Twig

I wanted a deep pinky-brown, and Twig was the ideal lipstick to fill that void. The colour is described as a 'soft muted borwnish-pink' which is totally accurate and falls perfectly into the brown lips 90's trend that's big right now (and I personally love). Twig is a Satin finish, which is my favourite as you still get the look of a Matte lipstick but it's more comfortable and seems to look nicer throughout the day. The colour is really flattering on my pale skin and brown eyes, it's not too dark but dark enough to stand out.

Blankety

Blankety was one I wasn't too sure about as I loved the colour but a) wasn't sure if it was too much of a light nude-pink for me, and b) didn't know if I'd like the Amplified Creme finish. Nevertheless, it remained on my wishlist and I've ended up really liking it! Blankety is described as a soft pink beige, which is about as good of a description I could come up with although nude may be a better descriptive than beige. Still, it's lovely. The colour shows up a bit more nude on my lips than it does in the swatch, which I feel is fine however I think it looks better over a deeper nude/pink/mauve lipliner. The Amplified finish is actually really nice, and the colour is just as opaque as it is with a Matte or Satin finish, so A+ for that! Blankety is really just a lovely everyday wear kinda colour, which I'm happy to have in my collection.

Which of these lipsticks do you like the best? Let me know your thoughts below!

x Chontelle

London VLOG | Week One | Oxford St, Sightseeing, Harrods & Brighton!

So in November I boarded a big jet plane (or two Emirates A380's, po-tay-to po-tah-to( and went to London for a while! I am literally in love with that city, there's so much going on and it's a pretty nice place to live as far as my insta-feed is concerned #priorities. Anyway. I vlogged the whole thing and edited the footage together (and after a nightmare where iMovie decided to do it's best to give me an actual heart attack and destroy all my hard work, tyvm iMovie) and uploaded it to my YouTube channel!

So here's my first week in London, enjoy!

x Chontelle

Room Tour 2016 | Minimal Decor

Hey guys, I've *finally* put together my 2016 room tour video! I got a little bit creative with this one, so I hope you like it (I'll admit, I'm still a beginner with editing but I'm getting there and I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out)!



Check it out and let me know your thoughts!



x Chontelle

Rosefield Watch Review | The Bowery

Back in July, I was gifted my very first 'good quality' watch (thanks mum)! It was one I'd had my eyes on for months, since stumbling across a photo of one of the watches in the 'popular posts' section of Instagram. Finally, about 6 months later on my 20th Birthday, I had my very own Rosefield Bowery Watch.

Rosefield is an up-and-coming watch brand based in Amsterdam, offering a wide range of affordable, great quality, minimalistic watches. They currently have four styles on offer; the classic Mercer - a mesh chain watch in either Gold, Silver, or the popular Rose Gold; the Grammercy - a sharp-looking watch face with a real Italian leather straight-cut band; the Bowery - with a more classic looking watch face and a stitched real Italian leather band; and finally the Tribeca collection, which is basically a smaller, more delicate version of the Bowery.

As you can see, I went with the Bowery with silver hardware and a grey stitched band. I was tossing up between this one and the Mercer, but I chose the Bowery because the leather bands are actually interchangeable which means if I want to get a new look, I can just buy a different coloured band for about $35 and I'm good!

I've been wearing this watch pretty much all the time since getting it, and because it's a nice, neutral colour and minimal design, it goes with everything! It's comfortable on my wrist, easy to read (especially with my terrible eyesight), and all-round just the perfect everyday staple accessory. I'm already looking into getting the black, pink, and possibly brown and navy interchangeable bands so I can start switching it up.

Also, if you're not living in Europe then this could be the perfect choice for you as you'll get a pretty good discount by not having to pay the European VAT Tax (Bringing the watch down from around $150aud to around $115aud). There's also free shipping on all orders including international orders, even a single $35 band, which is super convenient.

I love my Rosefield Bowery Watch, and I'd love to know what you think of it! Have you heard of the brand? Do you own any of their watches, or are you interested in getting one? Let me know!

You can check out the selection of Rosefield Watches here.

x Chontelle

New Hair at Trendz Studio Brisbane

Back in August, I was the unfortunate victim of a hair disaster after giving a new, too-affordable hairdresser in the city permission to colour my hair. While the condition of my hair wasn't affected much, I was left with a super dark, ashy brown hair colour with choppy ashy-to-grey blonde highlights throughout the top. Needless to say, it was a huge knock to my confidence and I found myself desperately searching for a good hairdresser that could fix the mess.

I discovered Trendz Studio, a salon well-known for their blonde and balayage with studios in Cleveland (Brisbane's Southern Suburbs) and the Gold Coast. I went to the Cleveland studio as it was the closest to me of the two. If you're thinking of booking with them, be warned - you need to book in advance, or be able to drop in at a day's notice (or even the same day) as they are so popular that they are often booked out for several weeks in advance and the only way to nab an earlier appointment is by taking over a cancellation. It's totally worth it though! Personally, I booked around mid to late September for my appointment on the 26th of October, which was one of the earliest available.

I arrived with a few pictures of my ultimate goal colour in hand, knowing I'd probably need to come back for a second appointment to reach the exact colour I want (and knowing me and my indecisive-ness, I'll probably keep wanting to change something anyway). The girl doing my hair was lovely and we discussed what I was wanting and what we were going to do, I felt pretty confident with everything by the time we started on my hair.

The appointment took approximately three and a half hours, and I've gotta say I was pretty darn pleased with the end result! I went from drab and dull ashy brown, to a gorgeous neutral-toned brown to blonde balayage! I really didn't think my hair would lighten so much in one go, and it was so healthy afterwards (possibly more so than before - and likely thanks to the Olaplex treatment they used). It only cost me $320 including a root colour to diffuse the previous choppy highlights, which was cheaper than some of the mainstream and popular options around Brisbane which was great!

I did end up going back a week later to have a warmer toner run through my hair to resemble the tones I had wanted, as my hair had a few too many ashy tones the first time around. The toner was complimentary, and gave me the warmth I needed!

I'm really happy with my new hair, just in time for my upcoming trip to London and Europe, and then summer back home straight afterwards!

Check out Trendz Studio's amazing Instagram feed here!

What do you think of my new hair? Have you had any big hair changes lately, or any salon horror stories you'd like to share? Let me know with a comment below!

x Chontelle