Archives for December 2012

MWS Open Cafe Vol. 8 : 2012 Year End Edition – Let’s Chat up a storm!

December 18, 2012 Paris B

open cafe fruit salad

Hello there Ladies!

MWS Open Cafe days are one of my favourite posts because its the day that we get to do a lot of interactive chatting in (almost) real time, about anything under the sun, beauty or non beauty related e.g. I’ve since acquired a taste for olives. I haven’t had the chance to open up many sessions this year (in fact, I think we’ve only had 1!) but I wanted to slip one in before the year ended, just to do a bit of catching up, as it were.

So come right on in the MWS Cafe and share some news, gossip, or just chat 😀 Not sure what this is? Read on and find out!

Exploring The Hobbit connection with the Antipodes Aroha Natural lipstick in Remarkably Red

December 17, 2012 Paris B 29 Comments

Aroha, not to be confused by the Hawaiian greeting Aloha is actually Maori for love or compassion.

Ok, I looked that up online. I don’t speak Maori 😀 So if we have visitors from New Zealand, please feel free to tell me if I’m right or wrong 😀

Its quite fitting, that meaning of Aroha, because this is a brand of lipstick from Antipodes, a New Zealand based natural skincare brand that now has a very small range of natural makeup (just lipstick for now) for those who prefer to go the natural route for skincare and makeup. I’m also fittingly featuring this brand in line with The Hobbit movie that’s just opened last week 😀 I’ve booked tickets to watch it soon this week – mixed reviews so far but its ok, I didn’t read the book 😛

antipodes aroha lipstick remarkably red

Anyway, as far as natural cosmetics go, I’m personally not fussed either way, but what really caught my eye and interested me in the Aroha lipstick range was that they carried a red lipstick. There are only 3 colours in the range for now – Dusky Pink, Remarkably Red and Boom Rock Bronze; and all the colours look quite strong and pigmented.

I’ve checked out some mineral makeup and natural makeup but I rarely get drawn in because I’m a bit of a magpie and whilst I like that its all natural and good for your skin and stuff, lets face it: The packaging is rarely interesting or pretty and the colours tend to be too muted for my tastes. So, this Antipodes Aroha Natural Mineral Lipstick is among the first natural makeup I’ve checked out in a while, and the colours looked promising.

The packaging reminds me a little of Nars lipstick packaging. The exterior of the tube has a rubbery feel to it which is tactile and comfortable to hold. It also comes in the traditional bullet form which I much prefer for lipstick. I used to have a mineral lipstick that came in a tub and I ended up never using it, because its just not as practical.

Anyway, of the 3 shades available, I chose Remarkably Red because well, I’m drawn to red lipstick that way 😀 I wanted to see how this red would fare in the sea of the other red lipsticks I own, from the different ends of the spectrum of reds.

Time will Tell: The oversized watch trend that I just cannot seem to get into

December 16, 2012 Paris B 50 Comments

oversized watch for women

I accompanied a friend to a watch sale during the week, where I saw a very paltry selection for women’s watches. Rather, smaller watches for the admittedly smaller wrists of women. There were lots of women happily snapping up (and depriving, hah!) the men of the watches on display though, and the lady manning the counter told me it was just “in” for women to wear a large watch instead of a smaller one.

Many women were going for the oversized watch look which is very trendy now and which I believe has been so for a couple of years now. Whilst many fashion brands do make oversized watches for women, heading to the men’s selection gets you an instant oversized watch from a reputable watch maker without the fuss.

Yet, I could never get into the trend for a very practical reason – wrist size. Have you?

Win! Send a Gift of Christmas: It is better to give than to receive

December 14, 2012 Paris B

The server for MWS has been up and down so much in the past few days, I’m starting to feel seasick 😛 But it should be behind us now. I’ve sucked it up, paid more money and we have moved to a more powerful server so we shouldn’t be experiencing too much downtime after this. (If you still have a problem, please clear cache or flush your DNS and everything will be peachy 🙂 )

So, I apologise for the enforced break, but it gave me a little time to come up with this 😀 To thank you for your patience while we put our house in order after the move, and because its become somewhat a tradition here at MWS around this time, I’d like to run a Christmas giveaway with a difference. Some of you may remember this from the past few years 😀

christmas gift

Its better to give than to receive so here’s a gift for you to send to anyone, anywhere in the world! A pouchful of beauty goodies for a friend, or a family member, to show you’re thinking of them at this time of year. To find out how, read on 😀

Archives for December 2012

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