Soap and Glory Pamper Time + Review

So I quite enjoy having a pamper night after a long week of stressful work, and those seem to be happening a lot lately! These are a few of the things I use to start  off my pamper sessions - all wonderfully scented Soap and Glory products!

Left to right: Flake Away body polish, Clean On Me shower gel, Scrub Actually scrub- and OMG how punny are their names! They always make me laugh! So creative!

The first one I use is the Clean On Me (mini) shower gel just as a normal body wash, and I find that with this a little goes a long way! The scent is the Soap and Glory Original Pink scent - it smells quite fresh and a little sweet and it feels super luscious on the skin! This 75ml bottle was only $5.95 AUD at MYER! These mini's are perfect for travelling or if you're like me and want to try it out before committing to the 500ml ones!

Next I use the Scrub Actually on my upper body. This is a very granular scrub and it takes a lot of scrubbing for the sugar granules to dissolve but it makes your skin feel so smooth and the scent is massaged into your skin. It smells quite sweet but refreshing and contains brown sugar, white sugar and apricot kernel oil. I am in love with it's smell and I strongly suggest you try it! It is probably my favourite seeing as it was my first Soap and Glory purchase. $15.95 AUD at MYER.

The final product I use is the Flake Away body polish and I use it on my legs and feet. Even though it is not advertised as a foot scrub, it works amazingly as one! (especially when paired with the Heel Genius Foot Lotion) This one I did purchase as a mini before committing to the big one because its HUGE, but I was so pleased with it that I had to have the big one! I know this is going to last me a while! This one has the same Original Pink scent as Clean On Me, and is a salt scrub so it's a little harsher on the skin but it works wonders! Only $16.95 at MYER for this massive tub!

I absolutely love a relaxing night with these products and it's so fun mixing and matching their scents and products! If you're in Australia, I know you can find Soap and Glory products in MYER at the Kit Cosmetics counter and at Mecca Maxima.

Happy Shopping! That's all for now!

Sayonara! xo

Forever 21 Brisbane Grand Opening + Haul

Ok so I am just a tad obsessed with Forever 21 and have been ever since I fist went there in Tokyo, Japan in 2012. I was always very sad that we didn't have any stores here in Australia, but that all changed on Thursday 16 October 2014!

Forever 21 opened their first ever Forever 21 store right here in Brisbane, wait what? Not Sydney or Melbourne!? Those two cities are the 'mega' cities of Australia and have seen the first of coveted imported brands such as Zara, H&M, UniQlo, Sephora and many more leaving Brisbane left behind... but not this time!

They have opened their first Aussie store in the popular Queen St Mall next to the new 'NEXT' hotel and it is HUGE and beautiful! There are two levels all filled to the max with women's fashion, jewellery, bags, swimwear, active wear, sleepwear and even menswear! There is so much to look at so if you're heading there I would suggest allocating a decent amount of time just getting through the store and looking at everything they have to offer. On top of that, there may be lines to get into the store (as was my case on opening day) and even worse, the fitting room lines!

Opening day I suspect would be the busiest as there were free gifts, DJ, photo booth and a whole lot of fun things, so if you're planning on going it shouldn't be as bad now... but don't count on it, people are going mad over Forever 21!

This was only a third of the line! - they even had security guards and line barriers!

So much excitement as I was about to enter the store!... but I just realised a lovely person decided to dump their maccas drink right in the middle of my photo :(

As I got in line at 10:30AM on opening day, a mere 30 minutes after they opened the store doors for the very first time, I waited for around 30 minutes just to get in. I then spent another 40 minutes trying to navigate through the crowds to check everything out (and ended up with a bag full of stuff to try on). But alas the line for the fitting room was not budging and it was time for me to return to uni :(

My bag full of goodies!

But this is not the end of my Forever 21 story, no, I would not be leaving empty handed after visiting the first Australian store on opening day. I returned later on in the day and was met with a line to enter once again, but this time taking only 10 minutes to get in and the crowds were less frantic. I picked out everything I wanted, tried it on, and then made my first, of many, Aussie Forever 21 purchases! And what made me even happier was that I didn't miss out on  the free gift to opening day customers! (*strictly while stocks lasted) So now let me show you what I bought and I will also let you know about the pricing (compared to US prices).

This is a super cute skort I found in a really cool punk style area of the store. It has a traditional red/green plaid pattern, it looks like a pleated skirt at the front but it's actually a pair of shorts! *Note this is not high waisted. This one cost me $32.80 but, like all the tags in store, it was a sticker over the American price of $19.90.

This deep v-neck floral playsuit caught my eye immediately as something I would love to wear but would never suit me... you know what I mean right? But when I tried it on I loved it! This one was $28.80 AUD, which is a pretty good price, but only $17.80 US! You'd never see a playsuit like this for that price in Australia!

This is a basic red jersey material dress - everyone's gotta have a red dress right? I loved the style of a skater dress with vertical seams instead of the seam along the waistline. This was in the basics area on the lower level and cost $14.80 AUD which is very reasonable! Although the US price is $11.80.

The first thing I heard when entering the store was the lady at the door telling everyone to check out the $12.80 jeans... How cheap is that!? I could not leave without buying a pair, especially at such a good price! I know where I'll be going next winter when I need some jeans! $12.80 AUD compared to $7.90 US. But hey, $12.80 jeans, I'm not complaining!

Last but not least, my final purchase (which would have been my 2nd last purchase if the cashier didn't forget to scan my earrings.. grrrr :( I didn't realise until I left). This is the make-up sponge, of a similar shape to those special sponges that are becoming increasingly popular now, which came in purple (as above) or turquoise. I decided I wanted to give these raved about sponges a go seeing as it was only $6.80 AUD, which is a lot less than other sponges of this sort here, but is more compared to the price of $3.80 which you would pay if you lived in America.

Oops did I not mention my free gift I received as one of the first day shoppers?

It was this cute little triangle that I found sitting at the bottom of my bag that contained some forever 21 earphones! I haven't tried them out, but I'm not expecting much since they were free... Oh well they were free :)

So this concludes my Forever 21 in Australia shopping experience, I hope you enjoyed reading and that you may have a wonderful time if you ever go to Forever 21.

That's all for now

Sayonara! xo

Healthy Hints - Kale Chips

Ok so you probably wouldn't think that I eat any healthy foods judging by my previous blog posts but those are most of the occasions in which I eat some naughty treats! I am a MASSIVE chips fan, like I can eat a whole bag of potato chips in one sitting, easy. So trying to beat the cravings can be so difficult, but I have stumbled upon a fantastic alternative- kale chips!

Kale has become widely popular recently due to everyone's obsession with 'green smoothies', bulking, 'clean eating' and things like that and one day while I was hanging about the internet (as you do) I found a picture of this.

I decided to give it a go seeing as we had kale in the fridge and I was hungry as always. I followed the recipe of Oh She Glow's All Dressed Kale Chips and experimented a bit with seasonings.

I tried plain sea salt, Moroccan seasoning and paprika with garlic powder. My favourite was Moroccan seasoning but I soon learnt that the salt was a bit too much so I will opt for no salt next time. They are super easy to make, super tasty and you don't have to eat that much to feel satisfied! The only thing is that I have not found a way to store these to preserve the crisp crunch of the chips :(

Fresh out of the oven... but try not to munch on them now, as per Oh She Glow's tip, you should leave them on the tray for a few minutes to allow them to crisp up even more!

Now doesn't that just look delicious AND healthy, if you're not convinced let me tell you it is amazing! I think I'll have to make some tomorrow!

That's all for now,

Sayonara! xo

Schwarzkopf Live Colour Ultra Brights Electric Blue Review

So, I have been thinking about dip dying my hair blue for a while now and a couple of weeks ago I just said heck, I'm going to do it! Although my hair was already bleached from my ombre, I decided to bleach it a little more to make sure that the colour came out nice and bright. My natural hair colour is dark brown and I have long straight hair.

The first time I ombre'd my hair I used a Schwarzkopf ombre kit and then got it redone by a hairdresser a few months later, so it's fair to say I have very little experience dying/bleaching hair but I went for it anyways.

The products I used to bleach my hair were purchased from Priceline here in Ausralia (and were on sale!). I bought the Innovative 30 vol. creme developer and Hi Lift Blue Blonde Highlighter Powder Bleach. To make enough bleach for my ends I used a 1:1 ratio of powder:creme developer and it covered the bleached area you can see below. As I was going for a light bleach because my hair was already bleached, I feel that the strength was perfect and I only left it in for around 25 minutes.

As soon as I washed the bleach out I could feel how dry and straw-like my hair had become so it is definitely time for me to step up my hair care routine!

After blow drying my hair I immediately applied the Schwarzkopf Live Colours Electric Blue dye (and then I read in the instructions that it should be put on damp hair -.- oh well, there's always next time). I totally forgot to time this but I think I left it in for around 30 minutes,, washed it and then let it air dry.

It turned out a very dark blue colour but after a few washes it faded to a more bright blue, and fast forward to now (2.5 weeks later) my ends are still fairly blue, the upper half of the blue has washed out and the blonde is visible (which I kinda like) but it is starting to turn a slightly blue-green colour. I've also noticed that the blue was a bit patchy (due to my severe lack of experience) but I've learnt from it, and I think I'd like it to be a bit darker too. Overall I think that this is a great sei-permanent dye, great for someone who doesn't want to fully commit to a bright colour yet and it's stay power is a lot better than what I was expecting- I've already bought 2 more blue packs and 2 purples to try sometime!

So I think it may be time for me to re-dye the blue and hopefully I'll apply a few of the things I learnt to my first time to make it even better this time! And maybe I'll write about how I dyed my hair in more depth and hopefully it'll turn out even better than before!

That's all for now,

Sayonara! xo