Brisbane Warehouse Sale Alert! April 2012

Just wanted to let my fellow Brisbane readers know about the outlet sale over at the RNA Showgrounds happening over the next week. (So don't fret if it's too wet to go outside today, it's on until next Saturday!)
Here are the details that count:

Who?
Gap and Guess are the headline brands, covering their entire ranges (mens womens, footwear etc) the sale also features Aldo shoes, United Colours of Beneton accessories, Tumi luggage, Carlton luggage, Sisley leathergoods,  Travelite luggage and well as other leathergoods and items.

When?
Opening this Saturday the 28th of April and Closing Next Saturday the 5th of May. Opening hours are 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM every day except Thursday where it will stay open for an extra hour in the evening.

Where?
RNA Showgrounds, The John Reid Pavillion, Bowen Hills Brisbane (Note there is a lot of construction happening there at the moment, so be warned, if you walk, the entrance you know may not be open to public and you may have quite the hike ahead of you.)

Bonus! They are accepting cash, EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard as payment.

Let me know what you buy if you go!

Bought! Pre-Foundation Primer by Set NP

I'm quite the fan of diffusion lines, what isn't to love about a great brand name at a price more suited to my feeble budget? Set NP has been created by Napoleon Perdis to help introduce his range of make-up to a broader audience, and what's my favourte product? The Primer!

I thought it would be hard to improve upon the great primer in his original collection, Auto Pilot. Pre-Foundation Primer creates a smooth base that helps bind your make-up to your skin and helps it last longer. The best way to use it is to make sure that you let your moisturiser dry for a minute before you apply and let the primer dry for another minute before you smooth over your foundation. For added fusion you can also mix a tiny bot of it with your foundaion before application.

Another thing I love about this primer is the subtle pink shade helps to wake up dull skin, making you appear more wake then you might feel!

Pre-Foundation Primer by Set NP

Link Love - April 23 2012

Hermes Paper Clutch Bag DIY - Totally awesome project for your own little piece of Hermes (lol!) also would make some damn good wrapping paper!

Super Easy DIY Beaded Leather Bracelet - I'm not normally a fan of home-made jewellery, but this looks good enough to be bought.

Brown Butter Double Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cookies - Oh god... must resist ...

Birdette's dictionary: Ponte

Have you also seen this word cropping up everywhere in fashion stores lately? Ponte is a double knit fabric, meaning it stretches like your favourite t-shirt. What makes it so special though is the lovely thickness and ability to flatter because of it's ability to pull you in. It's sturdy, and will hold it's shape better then flimsier knits. A perfect use for this fabric are leggings! But that gorgeous mint shift dress I bought a while ago is also made from this fabric.
Try it out in this cute as Dotti dress, completely on trend and snug for Autumn and Winter. Now also on sale!

Twiggy Time Ponte Dress in Chilli Pepper <3 available at Dotti.

Source: Dotti

Bought! Stretch Tack Stitch Chinos by Just Jeans

It fascinates me just how quickly my style can change from week to week. While through most of summer has been girly girly quirky, I'm now finding it's slid very quickly into chic, androgenic but still emphasising that I am indeed a woman! My work uniform is morphing from pencil skirts to tailored pants and skinny jeans. One of my favourite things that has come through recently are the beautiful colours of the season, lots of darker colours that can only be expected in winter, but the lovely jewel tones of Mustard, Deep red, and Jade green are almost impossible to miss in a variety of garments. Do try them out if you haven't already, they look awesome in winter with the lighter tones your skin gets from not being in the sun.
So of course what drew me to these jeans are their amazingly gorgeous hue! I saw it while walking past the store and had to have a closer look. These are the jeans I did my waistband trick with the other day because unfortunately they do fit me everywhere but the waist, after a few hours of wear they've stretched enough for me to do them up properly though. (incredibly handy trick to make more styles of jeans within reach!)
The cuffs are only done by hand and can be rolled back down, and they look amazing with little heeled ankle boots. True denim love.

Brisbane Myer Centre: Fashionably Free

So I might've mentioned on Twitter last week about the free Adorn necklace I manage to score while traipsing about the Myer Centre, but I haven't had the chance to let you guys know about the great promotion that they're running.

Called Fashionable Free, there are a stack of awesome stuff to score, with heaps of give-aways. Magazines, accessories, flowers, beauty services, the list goes on.

The general time to make your way each day is between 11 and 2, but to make sure you don't miss out on anything, you should like The Myer Centre on Facebook.

My favourite things? The free Three Minute Nngels and mini manicures from the Revlon Nail bar. Gotta love free grooming! So make the most of it and if you're in the area, visit the information desk and see what's going on!

What have you been able to check out and score??

Link Love: April 16 2012

The best kept braid secret - Kristen Ess from The Beauty Department gives us her take on how to create the ideal messy braid (or plait in Australia).

Repair a shattered eye-shadow - You can also use this method for any broken compact, an invaluable make up trick.

Mamamia's wardrobe week - I'm so glad to see I'm not the only person who wants to see more everyday girls and their style.

Tip of the day: Jeans with a tight waistband

I feel it's been far too long since I dished out some advice.
Back early last year I stood on the scales and had finally reached the weight that was my limit. I had to do something about myself before I just let myself go completely. I was barely fitting into half my clothes for one, and that was probably my biggest problem, I couldn't afford to get any bigger. But I did learn some tricks to extend my wardrobe.
This is a trick that comes in handy for girls who have the perfect pair of jeans, that fit everywhere but the waist. They just dig in unflatteringly and give you a dreaded muffin top, but your legs and butt look so good!
Put them back on the shelf right? I say no. If they really are that good it could be worth giving them a chance.
For one thing, you can take them to a tailor and get them to fix the waistband for you. There may be enough fabric in the band to move the button over. Otherwise there is a budget friendly trick you can use with just a hair elastic.
Double a thin hair elastic over itself and loop it through the button hole to create a new button hole, like so.

To cover up the adjustment, don't tuck in your top and wear a belt, you may find that you'll need one to help hold the jeans up now anyway!

What advice do you have to help extend your wardrobe? I'd love to know!

Myer Super Saturday TODAY!

Just a quick one letting regular readers know that today is Myer's Super Saturday, apart from opening day this is the day you really want to check out as the bargains at at their best. I'll be heading over later and I'll show you what I find.

Etsy Wednesdays: anothersoul

So who else has ever had the problem of having far too many little eye-shadows, blushes, foundation cakes etc all in their own packaging and taking up too much space? My bathroom is tiny, feeble and with next to no storage space. Space is a premium, so I like to keep an eye out for anything that will help me stretch the space further.
Depotting products and putting them in a magnetic palette is a great idea, you only require the product and not all the superfluous packaging after all. It's much easier then you'd think as well! This brings me to anothersoul run by Lynn, who makes magnetised palettes (book of shadows) with a massive range of covers, and even better prices! There are literally dozens of different designs so you should find something to suit anyone's tastes, they also make a great gift idea too.

Open view

 I love this one! 

Check out her store anothersoul to see the full range.

Link Love: April 10 2012

12 ways to style your scarf - Because we don't like style ruts! Some ideas for your winter scarves.

How to be a Redhead - Totally cute website with an emphasis on working with glorious red hair.

Chalk it up - Lauren Conrad's coloured hair-tips for the commitment shy.

Bought! Typo and Sportsgirl

So now I have brought my loot home it dawns on me that I didn't really bargain hunt, but as previous posts will tell you I have a soft spot for the odd, and love to fill my house with conversational pieces. Even my laundry.

How cute is this! It's not like the same old retro style laundry buckets that you see in all the fancy-pants home stores (hell, even Aldi has cottoned on with their own range out this week ...) The miniature washing washing design won me over, and you can quickly see how much powder is in there without needing to take off the lid. Perfect. (There is also a handle, but you can't really see it with my awesome photography efforts)

Secondly, I caved in and bought the glitter booties from Sportsgirl, no, not the imitation Miu Miu's but the black ankle boots with the little heel, it's love!

Perfect amount of heel to get about it all day without pain, they go with the mountain of black opaques I get about in in Winter, Work and play appropriate, (they're used to me and my strange outfits.) And they're covered in glitter!

Have you bought anything awesome in the mid season sales? What did you get?

Mid Season Sales!

Well after this morning's erroneous mistake of walking to the shops only to discover the entire damn complex is closed, (Yeah, that's my daft nature for you.) I guess what I'll be doing tomorrow instead will be checking out some of the many mid season sales that are about. stacks of shops are doing them, and with more then 30% off the stock that you want for winter it's worth going and seeing what's out there.

Alannah Hill: Has an extra 20% off sale stock until Monday the 9th.

Myer: I much prefer the bricks and mortar store to the online one. Always a goodie to check out, I never go in with a real objective because you won't often find whatever is in your head, but you will find something!

Portmans: Huge amount of stock marked down, plus $50 off all coats, Excellent Brit girl inspired styles in store now.

Sportgirl: Heaps of winter stock on sale, and receive a $25 voucher for every purchase over $100.

Dotti: Lots of cute 60's style gear on sale, and their awesomely priced outlet shop now online.

Mimco: Only gets more and more appealing as the prices drop, good chance to either earn or use up loyalty vouchers!

Review: Up to 50% off, with 20% off new styles.

Typo: 30% off storewide, in store only until the 9th of April,  much prefer this store in the flesh then online too.

So ... what are you doing tomorrow??

Source: Alannah Hill

Etsy Wednesdays: BZRshop

I love tights, not quite as much as some of my friends do, but they're still an essential fashion item in Queensland where it hardly ever gets truly cold enough to wear pants. (In fact I have a local friend who never actually wears trousers at all!)
Tights can make an outfit, they can take a dress that is on the verge of being too short to be reasonable into wearable territory and can make your legs go for miles. So I guess this post is for my fellow tights appreciators, check these out!

Dip dyed Ombre tights! Tiffany Ju hand-makes these to order through her Etsy Shop, Check out her range at BZRshop. 

Link Love: April 3 2012

Sometimes you just have to share the love.

How to deflate puffy eyes - Has anyone else been having these issues lately? I get seasonal allergies every Autumn, which is a pain because it's my favourite season. (Who doesn't like the colour of the leaves and the extra excuse to buy warm and new clothes?) Katrina Lawrence of Primped shows you how to fix them up.

Mad Men Makeover: You work hard for the wolf whistles - Journalist Marion Power tries out dressing up like they did back in the day to see what it's like how how the public react. It's not as easy as it looks!

Ten uses for Coconut Oil - Coconut oil is becoming a buzzword in the beauty and food industries, here Siobhan O'Connor talks you through ten uses she's found and whether she rates them or not.

Galactic Manicure - Love this look, and it's super easy too! Check out how Adiel does it.

Cotton On's new Carindale store

So last week I did go to the new Carindale extension grand opening and it was packed! As only can be expected really, it seemed like everyone was there to check out the area.
What stood out in my mind after I had fought my way through the crowds however was the massive new Cotton On shop. Just near the new Glasshouse is the biggest Cotton on I have ever had the pleasure of being in, and it rocked my socks. They have rolled all of the apparel brands into the one shop with clothings, accessories, shoes and even a shop inside a shop with Body down the back in a stand alone alcove. It is huge! The new store truly is an experience in itself that helps bring bricks and mortar into the new shopping age.
Here are a few of my fave things I spotted on the night!

I'm always a sucker for a fun slogan, this one is just daggy enough.

Striped tube skirt for the win.

Because if you can't wear leopard print to bed, when can you?

Have any of you been to the renovations? What did you think?

Source: Cotton On

Even easier half moon nails

Ah, the benefits of working in an office don't normally enter my thought process while I type up a post but in this rare case it does.
I posted months ago about a way to get that half moon nail look, Dita Von Teese is usually spotted with this style of polish on her nails, and now I've found an even easier tool you can use to do it at home.
The thing was, those little paper strips you use for French tips were always too straight, and didn't give a nice curved line you need to cover up the base of your nail while you apply your main colour to the rest of the nail, but you know what does work nicely? Binder hole reinforcers.
You can pick them up at stacks of stationery shops, but best to go for the bigger "We have everything!" ones for a better chance of finding them. Yes you do get some strange look asking for them, and if you decide to tell your friends about them (and me!) they'll probably crack up laughing.
To use them for this manner it's much better to go for the opaque white ones and not the transparent ones, as I found the sticker did a better job of adhering to the nail bed.

Want to have a peek at how I did them?