Celebrating Christmas with a Conscience with LUSH

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you're all having a lovely time! I thought it would be most appropriate for me to share a Christmas-related post of LUSH products with the theme 'Christmas with a conscience' where each of the ingredients are cruelty-free, ethically sourced and carefully chosen to create an experience. A few months ago I received a box of goodies from LUSH and I've decided to write a mini review on each product. Here's the package and its contents:

How cute is the reindeer knot-wrap?!

Celebrate Body Lotion RRP $33.50 per 250g
This body lotion smells amazing with its blend of orange, almond and lime oils with a splash of cognac for festive moods. I love how it makes me skin feel buttery-smooth and its rich and creamy textures means that a little goes a long way. It gets my tick of approval :)

Fairy Dust Dusting Powder RRP $11.95 per 30g
I think this product is absolutely adorable and it smells delicious! When I first used it I thought, 'ooh this is going to make me look super duper sparkly!' but its actually very subtle yet buildable. What I love about this sweet pink dust is that not only does it help the skin to stay fresh (just sprinkle some on and voila!) but it also can be used to candy-coat bedsheets. Gotta love a multi-purpose product!

Snow Fairy Shower Gel RRP $9.95 per 100g
A shower gel that smells like candyfloss, yummy! I love that it's shimmery too so it leaves my skin looking and feeling wonderful. It lathers really well and it literally makes me feel like a snow fairy, hehe.

Santa's Lip Scrub RRP: $9.95
I was really excited to receive this product as I had never purchased a lip scrub before. I usually use a DIY lip scrub of sugar mixed with honey which has been effective in scrubbing off the dead skin however I no longer need to use it thanks to this! It's a cola-flavoured and on the instructions it says you can lick off the excess but I prefer to rinse off the scrub after using it haha. It leaves my lips feeling smooth and soft!

Snow Angel Luxury Bath Melt RRP $9.50
And last but not least is this gorgeous sweet almond-scented snow angel bath melt, infused with softening cocoa butter with a delicate golden lustre. I used it during a spa bath session and it made the water look pretty. I loved how it made the water soapy but not foamy!

It's like there's snow in my tub!

Thanks LUSH for making the lead-up to Christmas oh-so exciting! It's great how they've released quite an extensive limited edition range for Christmas (these were literally just a handful of it all!) which are perfect for pampering your loved ones or even yourself.

Questjen for you:

Are you a fan of LUSH products?

I am a huge fan of the bath bombs and bath melts, I want to try them all!

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Disclaimer: Products were sent for consideration purposes. This is not a sponsored post, no monetary compensation has been provided, nor am I affiliated with any of the companies mentioned. Links are not affiliate links. All opinions stated by me are 100% honest and are free from bias. See more at http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html for full disclaimer.

Origami Dress

I'm a girl who likes to keep things classy: from the way I dress to the way I present myself through actions and words, respecting myself as well as respecting others. In terms of the way I dress, I would say that I'm more on the conservative side - happy to show some arm and leg but not wanting to let anything 'hang out' or else I'd feel too exposed. 

I was on a hunt for a dress for my second cousin's wedding which was last month and I came across the perfect dress that suited my style - it was classy, elegant with flattering cuts in the right places and a colour that I felt would bring out the warmth of my skin tone. Thankfully Glue Store came to the rescue as I browsed their range of dresses and came across an eye-catching number from Finders Keepers. For those who don't know, Finders Keepers is an Australian fashion label which provides on-trend collections of prints, shapes and textures for casual daywear to sophisticated evening looks. 

My darling mother in the background :)

 

 

 

 

The dress that I chose was the Finders Keepers Billy Jean Origami Detail Dress in Peach* and its origami-like fold on the chest was what drew me to this style and also its high halter-style neckline. I'm usually either wearing strapless, spaghetti-strap or one-shoulder dresses so having this sort of neckline style meant that I didn't need to do any adjusting or be wary of unwanted exposure.

 

(Excuse my terrible hair, curling irons hate me)

 

I'm not one to wear many crop tops or anything that exposes my non-existent/hidden abs but it's certainly a trend nowadays and I can't say that I dislike it - actually I don't mind it really! Thank goodness the small triangular cutout only exposes a small portion of the abdominal area just above my belly button and not any more than that, phew.

Mandatory bathroom selfie

 

I like how the dress has a split at the front, it makes it different from other dresses and it complements the triangular cutout. I paired the dress with some nude heels as I felt that black or any other colour would clash with the dress. Playing it safe is always a good option :)

 

I loved the whole fine dining experience of the wedding reception, in fact I've always liked formal dining experiences but of course as a student, I can rarely and barely afford to dine at high-class restaurants! So I get very excited when I hear about relatives' weddings and their locations/catering choice, hehe.

So on the day I was pleased with my outfit, displeased with my hair (I really need to work on this!) and pleased with my makeup look. Even for glam events I still like to keep it rather natural-looking with neutral shades for my eyeshadow and a pinky-red shade of lipstick. I decided to wear circle lenses and false lashes to enhance my eyes in a subtle way. I realised that in the two photos of myself above, my lenses are barely noticeable which to me is a good thing. I don't opt for the crazy/unnatural-looking lenses as I only intend to slightly lighten and enlarge my eyes (though I've been told that my natural irises resemble dark circle lenses).

The lenses that I wore to the wedding were the GEO Berry Holic Brown CM954* from Pinky Paradise which are more of a hazel brown and I think they're the perfect colour for that subtle lightening of my eyes. They're really comfortable too and I've worn them a few times.

They have a green tinge to them and appear lighter under brighter day lighting, as seen on the left

What I love about coloured lenses is that you can actually see my pupils! The Berry Holic range include 3-tone lenses which blend in extremely well for eyes that are as dark as mine.

They look great under night lighting too

 

From browsing through Finders Keepers' Instagram account, I noticed that Aussie model Jessica Gomes has worn this dress and it looks amazing on her. But seriously, what doesn't look amazing on her??

Who wore it better? Just kidding, obviously her.

Anyway, I'm not sure when will be the next time I attend a formal event and get the chance to dress all fancy but I am surely looking forward to doing this sort of thing all over again! Any excuse to dress up is always desirable, hehe :P

Questjen for you:

Do you have any exciting events coming up?

With Christmas on its way (as if it's already December) and New Year's, I'm sure most of us will be celebrating with friends/family and attending work functions and parties. That's why it's called the festive season :)

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Disclaimer: Products marked with a * were sent for consideration purposes. This is not a sponsored post, no monetary compensation has been provided, nor am I affiliated with any of the companies mentioned. Links are not affiliate links. All opinions stated by me are 100% honest and are free from bias. See more at http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html for full disclaimer.

OOTD: BIGBANG 'MADE' World Tour

Once again university has consumed most of my life (this is my final semester and then I'll be done, hopefully!) which had led me to neglecting the blog but I thought I'd sneak in a quick post while I procrastinate (what I'm best at) as I have my last exam in a few days.

So if you follow me on Twitter/Snapchat, you'll know that I went to Melbourne (second time this year, golly gosh!) a few weeks ago to see one of my favourite Korean boy groups live - BIGBANG!! They were actually the first K-pop group that I got into back in 2008 and I've been a fan of theirs ever since :D For them to be the first ever K-pop group I liked and now being the first ever K-pop group to see live, it was absolutely incredible!!!

This post isn't going to be a recount of my stay in Melbourne or the concert experience which I could perhaps, save for another post. Let's hit the ball rolling by sharing my concert outfit and look.

Clothing:

Jacket: Dotti

Gilet: YOINS*

Jeans: Mavi Alissa Ankle

Top: JayJays

Shoes: New Balance 620 Sneakers*

Accessories:

Bandana: Ebay

Red hair extensions: Ebay

Phone case: Forever New

Choker: Lulu & Rose*

Ring: Pandora

Watch: Michael Kors

Bag: Kate Spade

It was surprisingly cold, wet and windy in Melbourne, 18 or 19 degrees C from vague memory so I wasn't expected to rug up more than usual. My initial plan was to wear a singlet and a thin jacket but I definitely needed to layer it on! And I know, it's very black. Black on black on black even, haha. But I guess I was trying to channel my inner GD (my favourite BB member) with his black and also the red hair extensions :P

Yaaaaaaasssss

For anyone who doesn't know who BIGBANG are, you've been living under a rock here's a picture of them:

L-R: T.O.P, Daesung, Taeyang, GD and Seungri

I wanted to wear a pair of black skinny jeans with rips (maybe not as many rips as Seungri's in the above picture) but I don't own a pair and haven't found any that I like! Again, this was to go with the style that I was after, that rocker/edgy look that GD tends to go for.

I wore casual shoes/sneakers as I needed to do quite a bit of walking from the apartment I was staying at to Rod Laver Arena and didn't want my feet to get wet from the rain earlier on in the day. These were purchased from Glue Store along with my pentagram choker which slightly resembles Taeyeon's in her 'I' MV.

Hers is prettier :3

I would say that the pieces that made me look edgy were my bandana, jacket and gilet! I absolutely LOVE sleeveless jackets/coats and they're so easy to wear as they go with anything. The one I wore was one from YOINS (Your Inspiration), a trendy online store with pieces at affordable prices. It's been an amazing addition to my wardrobe and I've worn it out so many times. It's lightweight and has a relaxed fit, making it super comfy and stylish with its waterfall design. The waist tie makes it sit better on the body however it is completely optional having it tied.

I wear mine to work sometimes with a T-shirt or long sleeve underneath

I'm yet to upload my photos from my Melbourne trip and concert on Facebook but I have uploaded my fancams on YouTube which you can check out here if you're curious or wanting to relive the awesome BB moments :D I'll share a teaser video below:

A few more happy snaps pre, during and post-concert to share:

Not only did I get to see BB but also my fellow BBs, Blogger Babes! Chloe and Melody ♡

Let me know if you'd like to hear more about my concert experience, like a fan-account sort of thing even though I didn't 'interact' with the boys haha. Otherwise I can answer any questions that you may have below!

Questjen for you:

What's been your favourite concert experience? And did you create an outfit for it?

I've only been to three concerts - Harrison Craig, Paramore and BIGBANG and videos of those are all on my YouTube channel. I'm not sure if any other concert I attend in the future can beat BIGBANG's hehe but I would love to see them again! And yes I do try to style my concert outfits to match the artist to get into the supportive spirit :)

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Disclaimer: Products marked with a * were sent for consideration purposes. This is not a sponsored post, no monetary compensation has been provided, nor am I affiliated with any of the companies mentioned. Links are not affiliate links. All opinions stated by me are 100% honest and are free from bias. See more at http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html for full disclaimer.

Royal Medium Brown Hair Extensions from IrresistibleMe

I absolutely love changing up my hair, whether it's with different hair colours, lengths or styles, temporarily or permanently. Of course I can't afford to do this all the time but a change once in a while is always nice :)

My current hairstyle is very simple, a side-swept fringe with mid-length hair slightly layered and bluntly cut. I can't say that I'm completely happy with it but I haven't been bothered enough by it to change it. Thanks to these hair extensions from IrresistibleMe, I can now change the way my hair looks length-wise, volume-wise and of course, style-wise! I could also change it colour-wise if I had picked a different shade of extensions.

I actually prefer how my hair looks with the extensions in compared to without!

The ones that I selected were the shade Royal Medium Brown of 20-inch length and a total weight of 200 grams. Here is the direct link to the set I picked. They came in the packaging like so:

Box with plastic zip-lock and sealed package

The plastic zip-lock package has two compartments - one with the hair extensions and the other with a separated piece of the hair extensions set. The purpose of this separated piece is to first to check whether it is the correct match for your hair by looking at the shade and the length. By checking before opening the rest of the hair extensions, this allows for returns to be made as long as the compartment with the rest of the extensions is still sealed.

This is how the sample piece looked like in its packaging:

Protected with a hairnet and banded together

I was honestly surprised to see how closely this matched with my hair, considering that my hair is dyed and not naturally a medium brown. Also seeing as I naturally have black hair, when it's dyed it is quite brassy so I wasn't sure if this shade that I had selected would be the perfect match for me.

Left: With the sample piece in (after smoothing it out)      Right: With all of the extensions in

The 20-inch length with 200 grams of hair was the perfect choice as it blended it well with my blunt-cut hair and gave me plenty of volume. I felt like a superstar with enviable luscious locks! In total there were 10 pieces which I layered onto my hair.

The great thing about 100% natural, human Remy hair extensions is that they've been treated to add extra silkiness and durability, and can be heat-styled, washed, cut and coloured.

I still can't get over the fact that these blended in SO well! And here's a cute bunny to replace my face

It was as though I had my long hair back, but this time with MUCH more volume and well, generally healthier hair as my ends were sealed and not split! Just imagine how dreadful it would be to have hair extensions with split ends!

Questjen of the week:

Do you prefer short hair or long hair?

Growing up I always had shorter hair as I wasn't allowed to have anything longer than shoulder length or mid-length hair (long story short, once I had head lice and from that day on I was never allowed to grow it out) so I always have a preference of longer hair over shorter hair, however I've had long hair for quite some time now, from around 16 or 17 years old. I'm thinking of cutting it to just above my shoulders (it's such a trend nowadays!) but I don't know if it'll suit my square-ish face! I guess I'll have to ask my hairdresser :)

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Disclaimer: Product was sent for consideration purposes. This is not a sponsored post with monetary compensation, nor am I affiliated with the company/ies mentioned in this post. Links provided are not affiliate links. All opinions stated by me are 100% honest and are free from bias. See more at http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html for full disclaimer.

OOTD: Saying Good Bye to Winter

In Australia we are now into the final week of winter and soon saying hello to spring! Of course, this doesn't mean that the cold will be long gone for the rest of the year as September still has its cold and rainy days. The day that I had the following photos taken was a nice and sunny day but it was one of those days where it was still cold enough to rug up in warm coats and knits

It's been too long since I last did a fashion/outfit of the day post so I'm excited to finally share one. The lovely team at IZABEL sent me some items that I was able able to create an outfit from. I received an asymmetrical zip coat, a sleeveless shawl cardigan and a pair of heeled, buckled ankle boots and together I styled these pieces with my own grey shirt, matte black leggings, bag, watch and gold jewellery to complement the look. Izabel London is a UK online clothing store and have recently started shipping to Australia and New Zealand.

I decided to keep it as a grey and black theme as these have been the key colours that I've been wearing throughout winter, and what better way to give winter the send-off by wearing these colour combinations before the season's over.

 *Asymmetric Zip Detail Coat - $49.99

I think asymmetrical zip jackets are so trendy and this one definitely be worn as a cape as well as a usual coat. In the photos you can see how I've styled it both ways with my outfit. I generally find that wearing a coat as a cape looks classier than usual.

*Heeled Buckled Detail Boots - $39.99

I am a huge fan of ankle boots, I have them in many colours and styles, both with a heel and without a heel. They are perfect to wear in the colder months and I especially see buckled ones as very hip and edgy. They're so versatile, you could pair them with practically anything! I decided to pair mine with matte black leggings to enhance that edgy look and I would say that they're a match made in heaven. These ones that I have on are great for everyday wear and I find them super duper comfy - I've worn them so many times since receiving them!

*Shawl Long Cardigan - $39.99
Recently I tweeted that I've been obsessing over draped vests/sleeveless knits and the obsession continues on with this addition to my wardrobe. I love putting them on over a plain shirt to add a bit of style and a finishing touch to an outfit. I'll definitely still be making use of these in spring when the weather is still cool and having on an extra layer won't hurt.

What I noticed were these little heart details on the sides which add another dimension to the shawl and I really like the drape style at the bottom. The overall length is fantastic as it allows me to get away with wearing leggings as pictured below:

I hadn't taken proper outfits shots before so I was happy to have the chance to have some taken by my boyfriend at a local park. He is in no way a professional but all I wanted was for some simple outfits shots to be taken and he was willing to do just that :)

I can't have photos taken without taking some selfies so once we were done shooting I took the camera and snapped some photos of my own, hehe!

Mwah!

Questjen of the week:

What are your staple items/colours for winter?

I know for us Aussies, winter is almost over but for the rest of you, it's on its way!

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Disclaimer: Products marked with * were sent for consideration purposes. This is not a sponsored post with any monetary compensation, nor I am not affiliated with of the companies mentioned in this post. Links provided are not affiliated links. All opinions stated by me are 100% and are free from bias. See more at http://www.questjen.com/p/disclaimer.html for full disclaimer.