Makeup Must Have List for 2016 - bronzer for fair skin, bold lips, pastel nails

There's a zillion makeup brands and products out there - I should know! I find myself in seventh heaven any time I am near a Sephora or a Mecca Maxima. So many colours! The packaging! Oh, the sparkle!

But.

There's what is absolutely worth the spend and the space in your makeup cabinet, and there's the novelty factor. Herewith, the products absolutely worth your hard-earned dollars and my solid gold assurance that I use them, I love them and I totally recommend them.

Bold Liquid Lipstick that Lasts: Estee Lauder Pure Envy Liquid Lipsticks in Savage Garden and True Liar. Savage Garden is a deep, midnight purple that can be a subtle stain if you apply one coat, or a dark, violet gloss if you apply 3. True Liar is a fuschia-pink that applies dark and lasts and lasts and lasts. Much more daytime friendly if you’re not going for an A+ in Bold at the office!

Foundation That Does Double Duty: Bobbi Brown Skin Perfecting Fluid is the ultimate! Sure, it's not cheap, but consider Cost Per Wear. Every damned day if you want to convince people you are from an alien planet where everyone has glowing, flawless skin. I also love Bobbi Brown Cushion Foundation - again, not a bargain basement product but you get what you pay for - A Grade Skin.

Concealer You'd Take To A Desert Island: Organic, perfecting Evelyn Iona concealer. God forbid I use up my current stash. I am obsessed. Whatever any makeup artist says, I apply BEFORE foundation. Then touch-ups later in the day as required. #GreenBeauty y'all.

Matte Bronzer for Fair Skin: Bobbi Brown Golden Light Bronzer. Because nobody likes to have a smear of orange or glitter across their face, combat style. Your bronzer is meant to give you a healthy glow, not look like you’ve been shoving your face into a bag of Twisties. Hard to find the perfect blush for fair skin, that does subtle but complexion-boosting, but I have. Bobbi.

Nude Lip Pencil: Bobbi Brown Art Stick is a lip defining pencil that works just as you'd use a lip liner, except that it glides and has a softness to it that means no dry lips, no sharp lines and no vanishing within an hour or at the first sign of lunch. I use the nude shades alone for definition or as a base for stronger colours. My favourite shade is Bare.

Overnight Serum That Makes You Glow: I can't pick just one here. I alternate between two and both are fantastic. I work out daily and wear makeup daily and these are the maintenance tricks required to rejuvenate and fully refresh my skin. It's like a 3 hour facial in an overnight serum! Both Mesoestetic Collagen 360 (Available at RY) and Alpha H Liquid Gold (via Sephora) are Must Haves.

Pastel Nails That Aren’t Sickly Sweet: OPI (available at RY) does 5-free nail colours that have a cult-like following for a reason. Beyond the snappy, laugh-out-loud names, their formula and colours are pure salon quality and the packaging is simple, chic and collectable. That’s my excuse for housing a zillion more than I need, though! What you must Add To Cart is the gelato hued gorgeousness of Gelato On My Mind (pale mint green), Mod About You (pastel pink), Your Such A Budapest (pale lilac purple).

Rickys NYC Beauty Haul

New York is a city of landmarks. From the Empire State Building to the Sex and The City style fashionistas, yellow taxi cabs and of course, the Manhattan skyline at night.
What beauty addicts in New York already know, and what I’m a new inductee to, is that New York is also the home of Rickys NYC. Sure, Jay Z and Alicia Keys didn’t include this in their ode to the city, but little known is that they wrote a WHOLE ALBUM about this place! (this is a lie, but they should have. Maybe I will.)

From cult beauty to the most insane, incredible walls and aisles of colours, textures, serums, lotions, lipsticks, paints, shadows, powders, hair extensions, eyelash curlers... you name it, it’s there in fifty shades and sizes. Get me to New York, New York!
So my travel budget has been chewed up for this year, but thankfully, you can order online. In fact, getting a box of beauty goodies plonked on your doorstep for delayed gratification is one of the most rewarding and exciting occurrences known to beauty junkies.

Nugg Facemasks
 Deep cleansing cucumber extract and jojoba, soothing shea butter and chamomile, exfoliating cranberry seed and jojoba beads, and revitalizing flaxseed and peppermint oil. Every mood your skin pulls (like a cranky toddler, right?) has a fix in these masks. Colour coded and smelling delightful, of course, these are high-tech masks using natural oils and promise not to dry out skin with their gentle formulas. Perfect for stashing in your travel case, gym bag or handbag for post-workout or just post-work skin revival.

Petite Bunny Gloss Bar, RickyCare Soft Touch Eyelash Curler, RickyCare Cleansing Wipes
It’s a gloss with a bunny head. What more do you want?
Eyelash curlers for those girls who need a bit more oomph to their eyelashes. Thankfully I was blessed with dark and naturally curly lashes, but they’re pink. What’s a girl to do?
I feel so Marilyn Monroe wielding them too. Cleansing wipes are an obvious call. With a lipstick collection at least the size of a small island, I feel it’s necessary to use at least 4 shades per day. This requires cleansing and starting over. There’s also the small issue of that “Glow” from post-workout face that is definitely nothing like sweat. It’s a glow. Cleansing is good, regardless, if you don’t want your glow to result in a whole lot of spots and blackheads.

Z Palette, Makeup Blender, False Eyelashes, Hair Clips
While a girl can never have enough makeup, obviously, there comes a time when you need to travel with it and you need to make that decision: What To Take and What To Leave?
This is where the Z Palette comes in handy. Get out a spoon or a scooping utensil of any description, take travel size quantities and put them in your little customisable palette with magnets. Then arrange. Voila! All your favourites, in an orderly, neat little package! Also perfect for gifting.
False eyelashes for the butterfly effect. Save them for a big occasion, or do as the most stylish women in the world do and decide that any day, any time is a big occasion and don them today.
A makeup sponge previously seemed to me to be purely for Makeup Artists. But since everyone is doing the selfie, instagram star thing these days, it appears that we are all amateur makeup artists! So the playing field is levelling a little and the tools the professionals wield can be ours. It’s cute and blue and makes my foundation flawless. You don’t absolutely NEED one, but if you wear foundation regularly and you love your tools, do it. Hair clips for pinning your tresses out of your face for makeup and eyelash application. And they have bows! Who could resist? Also good for avoiding the fringe-in-face during your workouts.


Lip Tar, Lip Stain, Lip Gloss, Lip Paint
For all the amazing makeup products out there, I will NEVER never tire of lip colours. Any. All. Gloss, shine, matte, neutral, dark, light...I love it all.
One might say I’m obsessed. Which is particulary fitting, because my biggest haul is Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics vegan lip tar, lip gloss, and lip stains in matte and metallic shades from mauve and orange to neutral. SO good. I didn’t want to be totally one-track minded so I also have a lip tint mousse from LA Splash in Nymphaea which is suitably Kylie Jenner-lips worthy. There is a colour for you. Check out the below swatches of OCC Lip Tar.

Indulge in Pink Lipstick

How to indulge a taste for sweetness without a speck of sugar touching your tongue? Pink lipstick. It was frosted in the 80s, traded for power red and black in the 90s, but it has always been a staple of any beauty lover's makeup kit. There is, regardless of your skin tone, eye colour, hair colour or facial structure, a colour that will make your complexion pop and your face glow. These are my favourites. Indulge, my pretties. Pink lipstick is an investment buy.

Bite Beauty in Cassis is a deep, romantic and vaguely purple kissed hue. Available at Ry.com.au

Lavera Matt'n Pink is a paler pink shade that is nourishing to the lips. Available at Nourished Life

Too Faced Melted in Fig is a long-lasting liquid lipstick that acts as a stain. I discovered it in Barcelona and I still associate it with Barcelona and Paris. Available at Sephora

You may just want this for the luxe gold packaging. Don't miss out on the flattering, glossy candy pink shade though. Addictive. YSL Fetish Pink available at Myer.

My Frown Leaves Town and Microhydrodermabrasion for Flawless Skin

I have been getting Botox to my forehead frown lines for the past four years. I am careful to have enough to smooth out the lines without “freezing” my face!

As an instructor, I need some expression and it doesn’t appeal to me at all to look false or to fundamentally change my face.

I have a habit of raising my eyebrows and tensing my forehead constantly. If I’m lying in bed, I notice myself doing it before I go to sleep and first thing when I wake up. I do it when I’m at the computer, or reading, or focusing during a workout. It makes the world of difference to find myself NOT tensing and frowning without having to check in and force it!

It also makes me feel better about myself. I don’t feel any pressure from anyone else. I do it for me.

I am very fussy about who I allow to apply injections to my face. These days, a GP or the local beauty salon can advertise injectables with seemingly very little training or understanding of facial anatomy and biochemistry. Be warned – you want someone who has been practicing long enough to know their business, has a loyal clientele, proven qualifications, and someone who will explain to you what the process is, what the risks are, and what the time frame is around effects taking place then wearing off.

I go across Melbourne to Elwood to see Michael Clague at Facelove. Not only is he exceptionally skilled and experienced (conducting training on cosmetic injectables around Australia), but he is funny, friendly and genuinely loves his work. He understands that I don’t want to look frozen or like the sixth Kardashian sister! I just want to smooth out the forehead creases. I have 12 units of Botox, after which it takes about a week before I notice I’m not tensing and frowning.

Facelove is a small salon located on Glenhuntly Road. There is parking galore around the side streets and it is in a little haven back from the shops and upstairs. Unlike another centre I’ve been to, there is no video running that tells you all the things you could and should do to your face and body! There is a deep respect here for working with what you want and what you don’t want. Having said that, Michael has a portfolio of his work to give an indication of what results can be expected from treating different areas of the face whether with fillers or anti-wrinkle injections.

He is all about natural looking results. You can check out pictures of his clients and there’s also a guide that answers the most common questions.

If you’re more about skin treatments, Facelove also does IPLPhotorejuvenation, laser hair removal, and microhydrodermabrasion (SO SO SO GOOD! Joni B does it - see picture) .

The celebrities are all about their lips and one of the most popular treatments is lip augmentation. Mike insists on balance, symmetry and ensuring that there is no “overtreatment” and falsity about the look. There is a good indication of what to expect on the Facelove website. It’s not cheap, but it does last 9 – 12 months and if it makes you feel more confident and you’ve done your research and decided this is what you want, then make sure you book in with someone who you trust.

Now, I do have to admit I haven’t ever watched The Batchelor (which might make me the ONLY person in Melbourne!) but I know Facelove treat Joni and she is absolutely gorgeous so I’ll have what she’s having! As a major fan of microdermabrasion, my next appointment is the 7 step microdermabrasiontreatment 

Disclaimer! A doctor should always check that you are medically fit for this treatment.

You can book online 

Or call 1300 458 491

Bite - Vegan Beauty from Canada

So you thought Canadians were only fabulous for Degrassi Junior High and double denim? Wrong!
Turns out there's more to those northern stars than just lovelorn teenagers and jean genius.
After 16 years of formulating beauty products, Susanne Langmuir founded BITE Beauty in 2011 as the result of developing sensitivy to non-natural ingredients and cosmetic chemicals. BITE is made from food-grade, antioxidant ingredients that are technically healthy and natural enough to eat. Don't though.

From 2011 to today, BITE cosmetics are handcrafted one at a time in Toronto, where they are milled in small batches and heated at low temperatures to retain the integrity of the organic ingredients. Totally vegan, totally cruelty free.
I've got the deep, daring Cassis which is a burgundy wine and the purple-hued, violet vision that is high pigment pencil in Violet. Everything from nude to radical red. Not widely available - I went to Ry.com.au (Recreate Yourself.)
Find RY on Facebook and Twitter

Purple Lilac Mauve - Be A Rebel Flower

Rihanna wore a particular purple lip gloss a week ago and it sold out almost INSTANTLY! Purple lips are not easy to pull off, but with some prep and playing down the rest of your makeup look, it can be seductive, sweet or even...subtle.

Maybelline Orchid Ecstasy

Firstly, apply a base lip liner colour to ensure your deeper purple colour doesn't bleed and to give it some hold. My go-to is Napoleon Mauve Minx (David Jones) because it has a hint of lilac but is very pink-based and can safely go just beyond the lip line.

Then it gets fun. There are so many amazing purple shades to choose from but here are my favourites.
NYX in Power and Immortal from the Wicked range. SUPER cheap and super high quality. The chain store buy that makeup artists love. Trust me, I've asked! Find it at Target for under $10.

Maybelline Rebel Flower range is all about purples: mauve, lilac, orchid, royal purple...oh it's heaven! My picks are Orchid Ecstasy for a bolder purple, or the sweeter, pinky Lilac Blush. Available at Priceline.

Keep your eyes shimmery or matte but pick shades of pale beige, coral, gold, copper or peach. My favourites, and my daily obsession is shu uemura. Their pressed shadow refills are compact, collectible and I double the pale coral shade as both an eye and blusher colour. Cost per usage believers, unite. Find the whole colour range at David Jones!

I'm also new to the Napoleon Radiant Reflections Eye Color but totally loving it for some gloss and glimmer. Again, David Jones is your go to.

Finally, sweep on something illuminating on the cheeks like Laura Mercier Pink Shimmer Bloc (so luxe, so lovely). Online or in store at David Jones, go for a blushy-lilac chic shade on the nails like Essie Go Ginza (Priceline) and go break some hearts.

Beauty Goes Pop! Yazbukey Collaboration

How do you top a makeup collaboration with the most fashionable cat on the planet, Choupette Lagerfeld?
You team up with pop art, French fashionista Yazbukey to stamp her signature pop art lips all over your fabulous makeup and skin products. If you're Shu Uemura.

I love my makeup. I love my pop art and I love my limited edition so this is ticking every box for me. I got my hands on the fabulous Yazbukey for shu uemura lipstick in Yaz Red. Are you jealous? You can get your own as of May 2015.
Follow shu uemura on Facebook and shop it at David Jones