Bloom Leap Day sale: 40% off between 9.00-11.00am

Another top Australian company having a Leap Day sale is Bloom Cosmetics. The image below will have all the codes you need to get your massive discounts!

Bloom products are gorgeous. I have been using them on and off since they first hit Myers (back when they used to sell candle and soap making kits!) but I particularly love their nail polishes (previous reviewed here). They are such good quality and the have an amazing array of colours - over 80 - so, at nearly half price now is a great time to stock up. But get in quick - the 40% discount is only until 11.00am, then it drops to 30% (still a bargain though!).

I have now told you about 2 Leap day sales - Bloom and Pod Puraceuticals. If I come across any more I'll make sure to update here ASAP!


I have no affiliation with Bloom and received no remuneration for my comments.

Pod Puraceuticals: BOGOF Leap Day sale

There are a few great sales happening today to celebrate Leap Day so I thought I'd try and bring them all to you.

Lets start with Pod Puraceuticals - they are having a BOGOF sale (buy one get one free) on their entire range (while stocks last). Just add two of the same product to your shopping cart and the second product will be free.

If you haven't heard about Pod, they are an Australian owned and made range that specialises in all natural products. Their products are absolutely divine. The smell amazing (which you know is so important to me) and, even better, they really work.

My personal favourite from their range is their cleanser - the liquid detox which smells out of this world, is so gentle, yet is really effective in keeping my skin clean, without stripping it. It comes in a 150ml pump pack, which lasted me close to a year (using it 4-5 times a week).

Today is the perfect day to discover their range, if you haven't done so already, as you get twice the amount of products for your buck!

Plus, they have free shipping! Bonus!

Check out the Pod Puraceuticals range on their website.


I have no affiliation with Pod and received no remuneration for my comments.

Sephora Australia rumour...

I have just returned from my trip to Hawaii (hence going AWOL again!) and before I get into my haul posts there is something else I need to tell you. I might have some exciting news, though could possibly be just spreading another rumour that may actually never eventuate (I hope not). When I was in Sephora for the second or third time (I managed to squeeze in 3 visits in about 4 days though did not get an especially impressive haul as my beauty stash at home is bordering on ridiculous!), I was whinging to the sales assistant that there were so many great brands in here that I just couldn't get back home and that Sephora won't ship to Australia. She then told me that she had heard a rumour that Sephora would be opening a store in either Sydney (I hope so!) or Melbourne by the end of the year and that once a store does open it will mean that you will then be able to order online Australia wide. Admittedly the prices we will be paying will be Australian prices which I suspect won't be as pleasing on the wallet as American prices; however, I am mostly excited about getting access to brands such as Urban Decay, Make Up For Ever and easier access to Philosophy.

I don't know how much to believe about this rumour - I mean, would this sales assistant really have inside information into Sephora's expansion plans? We can always live in hope, can't we.


If the Sephora rumours are true, what is the first product that you would purchase when it lands Down Under?

Do you love Napoleon Perdis cosmetics? Now's your chance to buy them super cheap (if you are in NSW)!!

I'm sure all the Napoleon fans out there have already heard about this amazing sale on Facebook, but for anyone who missed it I thought I had better give you a heads up!!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and apologies for going AWOL!

After nearly a month break from both writing my blog and reading others I am back and excited to rejoin the beauty world!

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for suddenly going missing over the Christmas/New Years period. I had has so many posts I wanted to write before Christmas, such as Christmas Gift Guides, who to blow your Christmas money on in the sales and about a billion reviews but they just didn't happen.

About a week before Christmas, the Crazy Kid came down with tonsillitis and the poor little tyke was so sick. I was giving him  back to back pain relief but could tell when it was wearing off as he would start drooling like a newborn - it must have been too painful for him to swallow his saliva, poor thing. Actually I do have a bit of a funny story - I was out Christmas shopping and he was getting really whiny so I gave him a dose of Panadol (paracetamol). The only way to give it to him is with a syringe - I have to force his mouth open then squirt it down the back of his throat. Naturally, he fights the process like a wild animal so as a 'reward' afterwards I give him the syringe to play with, which is what I did at the shops this day. I was wondering around when I had a look down at him in his pram and he had pulled his shirt up and was 'injecting' himself in the bellybutton! I have no idea where he would have gotten the idea to do this and shudder to think what people must have thought seeing him do that. But he was happy and quiet so I didn't stop him!

Anyway, getting up and nursing him through the night and day took every ounce of energy I had out of me. I think being pregnant didn't help. I went multiple days in a row without showering and couldn't stay awake later than 8.30pm, hence blogging had to take a massive back step.

Thankfully, Crazy recovered by Christmas day and we had the most wonderful day. He was in absolute fine form and played non stop with his grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins until 9.30pm - the latest he has ever stayed up (though he did eat his body weight in chocolate so its hardly surprising!). He then went to bed without a fuss and slept in until 8.30am - the latest he has ever slept in! I got totally spoilt, as usual, and received quite a few beauty products which I will post about in the coming weeks.

After Christmas, Hubby, Crazy and I went to Port Macquarie for for a family holiday. I had intended to blog whilst away but I didn't actually turn my computer on the whole time - and it was surprisingly glorious! Crazy ditched me as his number one and became BFF's with his Daddy. It was quite beautiful and amusing to watch. Me and hubby were meant to alternate turns in waking up for Crazy but on my days Crazy decided that I wasn't any good at feeding him his breakfast so would insist on getting Daddy up to do it! Sweet! Plus he started eating a whole bunch of foods that I had previously unsuccessfully tried him on just because Daddy was eating them, such as egg and pasta. He had always rejected ice cream when I offered it...then Daddy had a cup and it suddenly became 'more, more, more'! But if I offered him a mouthful of my ice cream it was 'NO' with an emphatic shake of the head. Sweet!

Crazy and his BFF

I am back to reality now and ready to get back into the swing of things. So, what can you expect in the coming weeks? Tomorrow I will be going on a Harbour Cruise hosted by Jurlique to introduce their rose range, which I am super excited about, so expect reviews of both the experience and the products. I still have a million reviews I intend on posting, plus some Christmas and sales hauling. I will also continue my acne series of guest reviews, so keep your eyes out for that. I am then buzzing off to Hawaii in Feb so will most likely go AWOL again. I had hoped to schedule some posts but now accept that it isn't going to happen! But I will be back with some wonderful stories to share and hopefully some haulage (between me, Hubby and Crazy we 'only' get 160kg of luggage so my hauling will probably be limited to about 100kg...I already plan on getting 30kgs of various peanut butter treats - think Reece's everything - and since by then I'll be nearly 30 weeks pregnant and so too fat to buy clothes, that only leaves me with about 70kg to haul on beauty products!!). You will have to keep your eyes out for a post Hawaii giveaway (any hints on what I should get to give away?).

Another heads up - I expect to stop blogging for a couple of months after Crazy number 2 is born in late April/early May while I get used to my new life of two Crazy's to look after, even less sleep, and become a round the clock milk machine! So, I will be looking for some guest bloggers in that time to keep the content coming. If you have always wanted to give blogging a try, this could be your opportunity or if you would like to be considered to review some products, I am planning on getting my hands on some. I will do a specific post about it, so look out for that one as well or you can express your interest below and I will make sure to email you once the post is up.

How was your Christmas and New Years? Did you get up to anything exciting or receive any awesome presents?

The perfect stocking stuffer for a nail polish lover

Bloom have a massive collection nail polish colours - 80 to be exact (you can see all the colours here) which ordinarily retail for $19.95 per bottle or two for $29.95. However, just in time for Christmas, Bloom have brought out a couple of gift packs containing four mini bottles of their famous polish. These are an absolute bargain at $24.95, especially considering that the mini bottles are a generous 9ml each. I don't know about you but i have never ever finished a bottle of nail polish, therefore these mini bottles are perfect for me - more colour for my buck!

There are two packs to choose from:

Fashion Mini Nail Polish collection containing the following colours: Goldie, The Casette Society II, Kate, Sunday.

Classic Mini Nail Polish collection containing Millie, Kim, Edie and Toni.

I was sent the Classic Mini Nail Polish collection to trial. Prior to this I had not actually tried a Bloom nail polish before so I was quite intrigued to see how it compared my other favourite brands.

According to the Bloom website:

Natalie Bloom has always been obsessed with colour. In fact, some might say she has an unhealthy fascinations with the graduation of a Pantone swatch book! Natalie has collected fabric swatches, magazine tear-sheets and ribbons as inspiration for our 80+ Nail Polish range and the results are amazing. From sheer, seashell pink to that illusive petrol blue with a slight shimmer - Natalie wanted to create that perfect shade of nail polish that you've been searching high and low for.

With pigments sourced from around the world, a professional two-coat formula and an incredible 330-strand brush, our nail polish will hold its colour and shine for days.

The first colour I took for a test drive was Millie - a colour I would describe as a dark cherry red. My sister had a less poetic way of describing. On seeing me wear it she exclaimed 'OMG, that is the perfect whore red. I have been searching everywhere for that EXACT colour'. She then asked if she could borrow it...and took it with her when she moved to Japan. It is a great red after all! Two coats give total opacity. The formula is a dream to apply. I didn't find it streaky at all. However, it was fairly slow drying. It lasted three days before it started chipping and even then the chipping was minor. I did not apply a top coat over this - that is how shiny the polish is and the shine lasts until you take it off. I was hugely impressed with this polish.

I didn't get a chance to do a full mani with the other colours so have swatched them each on a single nail to show how the colour comes out. The second swatch is Kim, a taupey brown. I have to admit that this colour isn't my cup of tea. I just don't do anything that is even remotely a shade of brown. However, it is a colour that is really in fashion at the moment. I have seen a few blogs do nail polish swatches that are various shades of brown and the blog owners have all raved about the colour. I'd love to hear what you think of it. This is two coats. One coat gave me about 95% opacity and if you were in a rush you could get away with it as it only had the faintest 'bald spots' (a nail polish term I just learnt from Jacie at You've Got Nail!). Like Millie, it applied like a total dream.

The third swatch is Toni, though unfortunately it has not photographed as true to its colour as i would have liked. It has come out a lot whiter than in real life. Bloom describe the colour as 'a dew'...though that doesn't help me at all (I though dew was water so clear??), so I will include the official Bloom photo of the bottle to give you a better idea of its colour. The first application was very patchy so I was expecting this to be a minimum three coat job but surprisingly the second coat gave it complete opacity. I can see myself getting heaps of wear out of Toni, this summer, as it is one of those colours that really accentuate and and foot tan!

The final colour in the classic pack, and my personal favourite, was Edie. This is one hot red! Apologies for the colour of my finger, I think the blood must have been a bit cut off getting my finger to this angle. If you can ignore the purple finger take in the beauty of Edie. It is the perfect pillar box red. It is hot hot hot and demands attention. It looks like patent leather on. And the best bit - total opacity with one coat! Yep, this picture was taken after only one coat was applied, no top coat. Brilliant when you realise that you haven't applied nail polish and need to be out the door in five minutes (ok, fine, it won't be touch dry in that time but you get my point!).

The Bloom mini nail polish packs are such great value. You get four nail polishes for just over $6 each, and these are top quality polishes to boot. If you are after a Kris Kringle gift, or an extra stocking filler I can imagine anyone not being totally thrilled with a pack of these mini polishes. You can find Bloom online or in Myers and David Jones stores.

Have you tried Bloom nail polish before? If so, what are your thoughts?

Can you do a brown nail polish or do ou have a severe brown phobia like me?

All opinions stated in this blog are my own. I have no affiliation with Bloom and received no remuneration for my comments. This product was provided for consideration.

Who won the NVEY ECO organic makeup give away?

A massive thanks to everyone who entered my NVEY ECO organic makeup giveaway. I have used random.org to pick a winner for me

And the lucky winner?

Magda

Congrats Magda. I have emailed you. I hope you enjoy the prize!

I don't think that I will manage to get another giveaway completed before Christmas but I still have a couple of prizes left to give away so keep your eyes out for some great giveaways of the new year!