Splurge v Steal: Concealed wedge sneakers

<3! Give me a quirky fashion item any-day.  While trapsing about at my local mall I found these beauties sitting on the shelf at Rubi Shoes, Concealed wedge sneakers. Isabel Marrant has some undoubtedly amazing shoes but my wallet is a much bigger fan of getting the look for less. They're so comfy too! Rubi shoes sells these in black, dark red, royal blue and I think the other colour was either beige or mostly white. I'm personally going to snap up the red, there's no point in hiding them! I'll wear them with my skinnies and short shorts. Also for a really in look, you can take then to the next step by customising them for a style that's completely your own too, (and being a budget buy, you don't feel awful about changing them!)

Join Bought by Birdette

Just a quick one tonight, I have injured myself while at training and don't have the will to write a proper post, but I just wanted to let you all know that you can now join my Blog as my friend! if you scroll down the menus to the left you can join me with Google friend connect. It'll help you stay up to date with me and what I'm writing about.
Thanks for your support guys! Please don't forget you can also follow me on Twitter, or like Birdette on Facebook, I love it when my fans show me to the world!

Product Review: Garnier BB Cream - Miracle skin perfecter

It's sort of hard to miss the bombardment of advertising for Garnier's latest skin saviour, the BB cream, but if you're anything like me, all you thought was "The heck is a BB cream and why do I want one?"

Well for starters BB creams (or blemish balm creams) were originally used in the treatment of laser surgery patients. The skin is ultra sensitive after the treatment and a special product was created to both protect and soothe.

Flash forward some time and you'd find that BB cream have slowly infiltrated the beauty market as a new must have item that 'does it all', particularly in Asian countries.

Garnier's BB Cream is the first to be marketed to the masses in Australia and comes with five main beauty concern fixes. Garnier claims it takes care of the following:

1. Hydrates for 24hrs.
2. Evens tone.
3. Corrects blemishes.
4. Boosts healthy glow.
5. UV Protection SPF 15.

I have been trying the cream for a little while now, and while it's not all bad news, I didn't find anything truly exciting about it. The look is a simple tube package while the formula is like a thick tinted moisturiser, a fresh smell greets you on application but the fragrance may not agree with those who have sensitive skin issues (part of the target market). I did find it does hydrate nicely, but with my oily skin I need very little help. I found it to have next to no coverage (I'd say about 5%) and would still need to use a foundation to provide any evening of my skin-tone. There was no difference to  my skins glowing, asides from the usual "I have moisturised" sheen, and to be honest SPF 15+ is next to nothing. In our climate you really need an SPF of at least 30+.

I don't have terribly sensitive skin, and could possibly suggest the product those who have and can't use much else. I would recommend it as a product to use on the weekends lounging about at home when a full face of make up isn't required in the least, perhaps if you start with already fantastic skin tone the product would be more favourable. One thing is that it doesn't aggravate existing skin blemishes, I found that it was quite soothing on an inflamed patch of dry skin. I also think that it is certainly more recommendable to drier skin types, and would like the product more if it had better coverage in a wider range of shades (only two shades does no one justice). 'Miracle skin perfecter' really is too far fetched a title for this product too, perhaps just skin perfecter.

NYFW

One thing I love about being on the south side of the equator is that technically we can wear trend in the right season MONTHS before those up in the northern hemisphere can. It's very easy if you know what you're doing.
Because events such as NYFW occur a good six months before the season they are actually show for, Designers of more frequent collections in Australia (say bardot, Sportsgirl, Dotti, Lorna Jane, Portmans etc etc) can wrap their heads around a trend in much less time then the year long design-to-store cycle that the big labels have. Thus resulting in that must have new trend on the catwalks yesterday -personally, I am awkwardly giggling at the cute owl hats on the runway at Anna Sui, while secretly loving them- being in stores and available within a few months, and just in time for our Autumn! (I don't think I'll find owl hats though, sadface.)
This also works amazingly to increase the longevity of items in your wardrobe. If you get an idea of what they're wearing next season, months in advance, you'll find that fashions tend to peak about a year after they creep in. First year around, things like high waists, bold shoulders and even the recent peter pan collars were on the back burner while people looked at them and thought "Oh my god, really??" While somewhere between six months to a year later, they're back with a vengeance as people come around to the idea. The more you see models and advertisements with something, the more you'll find you want it as it tricks you into thinking everyone is wearing it. In reality, it's only the few who are ahead of the ball that are.
Just for shits and giggles, owl hat!

Source: Style.com

Sportsgirl introduce 'window shopping'

How's this for something new and nifty? Sportsgirl have come up with an innovative and new way to shop their collections by just looking at a window (well almost).
Using QR codes, you simply scan the code correlating to the item you want with your smartphone, it then whips you to a site where you can add to bag and purchase. Too easy!
While it's only available at the rather trendy store in Chapel Street Melbourne for now, there are plans to set it up at random spots throughout the country, with the idea that this will make the flagship store range available to a wider audience.
Also yay, I hear that there's a special gift with each mobile order!

Has anyone given this a go? Let me know what you think in the comments!