Thoughts of the week

1. Mecca have introduced a level 4 to their Beauty Loop. The annual spend is $3500 per year. Crazy. Considering they never do gwp's, their samples are pretty crappy and they rarely do sales, I don't think it's worth it. If you spent that amount at other retailers you'd get much better value for money.

 

2. I'm currently putting in an application for a recruitment pool. The pay is $20,000 less than what I was earning 11 years ago.

 

3. They wonder why there's such a pay and superannuation gap between men and women. That's why. The only jobs that I can currently do whilst looking after my children is one that pays 20 grand less than I was earning 11 years ago. There are other higher paying jobs I could apply for, but I am unable to work full time and on school holidays. Women take lower paying jobs to ensure they can care for their children, whilst men work full time and rely on other people to care for their children.

 

4. Job applications and selection criteria really suck. I do not enjoy them at all. I stressed myself out about it so much that I was nauseous for two days. Silly.

 

5. Have you heard about espressOh? They have coffee flavoured lipsticks and they're awesome.

FFS Friday - Beautiful

Hello beautiful people. How are you all? I hope you've had a wonderful week.

 

Lots of my things have been falling apart lately. Shoes, clothes, undies, socks etc. It's made me realise how badly I neglect myself and what a low priority I put on my own needs. Two weeks in a row at work my shoes fell apart whilst I was wearing them. When I though about it I realised that both pairs were around 12 years old. My first though with both pairs of shoes was that I needed to get them repaired. Really? 12 year old shoes should be replaced not repaired.

 

Mum was here a few weeks ago so we went out for the morning and Mum wanted to look at clothes. She was asking me where I like to shop and I didn't know. Over the last several years, when I've needed clothes I haven't gone browsing the shops to find what I like, I just grab whatever is cheapest at Kmart. Really? Why do I do that? I am worthy of having decent clothes. I am worthy of having shoes that aren't falling apart and undies and socks that aren't threadbare. 

 

When did I become an afterthought? How did I not notice? I know how I didn't notice, I was too busy looking after my family. No-one else noticed either. No-one thought that I was worthy of having decent quality clothes and shoes. Is that their fault? Probably not. Women aren't prioritised in this world. We aren't encouraged to value ourselves or look after ourselves. Men are taught that women are here to serve them, so they don't prioritise us or encourage us to look after ourselves.

 

I'm here to encourage you. Put yourself first. Meet your needs before you meet the needs of anyone else. You are important and worthy. Plus, if you're rested and happy you'll be better able to meet the needs of your family. Buy yourself nice things. If you need new shoes or new undies, get them. You don't hesitate to get new things for your kids when they need them, it should be the same for you. Buy the things. 

 

You are beautiful exactly as you are. 

 

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

 

Coffee Flavoured Lipstick!

Yes, you read that right. I'm here to tell you about a lipstick that smells and tastes like coffee! Real, freshly made coffee with no sugar, just lovely coffee. 

 

It's the Aroma lipstick by espressOh.

 

espressOh are a small Italian brand who are all about simplicity. They carry a small range of products that make getting ready in the morning quick and easy. I'm so keen to try more from the range. Their products are all made and manufactured in Italy. Aussies can buy their products from Sephora.  

 

 

As soon as I saw the range online I knew I had to try their lipsticks, it's my dream combo, lipstick and coffee. Pity they don't have a lip balm. I struggled to pick a shade as online they look like they are all bold, warm colours. In the end I chose Capriccio which looks like a warm apricot online but in real life is a cool toned pinky brown. 

 

The formula of these lipsticks is lovely. They're weightless, hydrating and long lasting. I don't have any other lipsticks like this. The flavour and fragrance are noticeable for a few hours after application which is good and bad. Good because coffee and bad because it makes me want coffee, haha. 

 

I was pleasantly surprised at the lasting power. The lipstick formula is very light and weightless, so after a few hours I assumed it'd worn off as I couldn't feel it on my lips, but I was wrong. These last all day even through eating and drinking. It does fade a little and will leave marks on my coffee cup, but the colour stays strong all day.

 

I purchased my espressOh lipstick from Sephora for $34 AUD. 

Thoughts of the week

1. Whilst winter illnesses aren't nice, the enforced rest is. We really need to start prioritising rest, it's so important.

 

2. Just when you think Scott Morrison has done all the stupid things possible, we find out he's done even more stupid things. All the meme's are highly amusing.

 

3. I just finished reading Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko. It was a very interesting book, I really enjoyed it.

 

4. Vale Olivia Newton John.

 

5. My latest fragrance love is Floral Street Ylang Ylang Espresso. It was love at first sniff. I bought the 10ml size but I love it so much I think I'll get a big bottles.

 

FFS Friday - Nit wit

Hello Friday you beautiful thing. How I've missed you. Actually that's a lie. The weekends are usually more work than the weekdays. Not saying they aren't fun, but they are hard work. 

 

My asthma has been quite bad lately. Apparently that happens a lot after covid. Personally I think mine is more to do with allergy season than covid. It would be easy to blame everything on covid but I'd rather not.

 

I'm worn out. The burdens of having to deal with everything are exhausting me. I'd really like a break. I often feel like I'm the only adult in the house, Tiger is really no help at all. Chai's issues have been challenging lately. I'd love to have someone I could talk through things with but I don't have anyone. 

I've been thinking about my friendships lately, or rather my lack of friendships. I do have friends, I have a few beautiful friends but I really struggle to get quality time with them because I'm always so burdened with things that need to be done and the few minutes I do have I'm too exhausted to reach out. I suppose a lot of people are in the same situation. 

Anyhow, enough complaining. How have you all been? What's been happening? I've been working and when I'm not at work I've been doing house stuff. It's endless isn't it? Going to work is so much nicer and easier than being at home doing house stuff. I'd much rather go to work. 

I've been trying out foundations recently. All of a sudden the foundations I had were looking cakey and awful, so I ditched them and have been trying some with lighter, sheerer formulas. There are so many reasonably priced, nice foundations available now. I'm really liking Rimmel Kind and Free, L'Oreal Serum foundation, both the Flower beauty foundations, the MAC Radiance face and body foundation and Covergirl Clean Fresh Skin Milk. 

They're all lovely, light and dewy. They don't sink into my fine lines and don't look all cakey after a few hours. 

I think Eljay has the potential to be a really good distance runner. He competed in the cross country at school and came second. Then he went to the interschool cross country and did really well so went to the state cross country. He did 4 days training for the state one and finished right in the middle of the pack. He's only 2 seconds off the fastest time. If he can run that fast with minimal training and no race tactics (because we had no idea what it was going to be like), I think he could be amazing with more preparation. We're looking forward to next year, I think he could be a superstar. 

Here ends my random musings for the day. Have a beautiful weekend.

My Lipstick Day Purchase

A few weeks ago it was Lipstick Day and there were some great offers. I'm happy with any excuse to shop, so made a purchase from MAC. They were offering a free lipstick with all orders and a free lip balm with orders over $80 (might have been over $85, I'm not sure).

 

My order has finally arrived, here's what I got:

 

 

I ordered the foundation and eyeshadow, the lip balm and lipstick were freebies.

 

I needed a new foundation so decide to try out the Studio Radiance foundation. I got shade C2 which is perfect. You can swap MAC foundations if they are the wrong colour, which meant I could order online without worrying about getting the wrong colour. 

I used their online chat to get a colour match and it was perfect.

 

 

 

I love the Powder Kiss lipstick formula but wasn't sure Teddy 2.0 would suit me. I'm pleasantly surprised to find it's a lovely, natural colour on me. 

 

 

I've wanted to try the Glow Play balms for a while so was very excited to get this one. The colour is gorgeous, it's That Tickles.

 

 

Since I love the Powder Kiss lipsticks, I wanted to try one of the eyeshadows. I haven't been wearing shadow much lately as I've been suffering with allergy eyes, so I wanted a light colour to cancel out the redness. I chose Best of Me. It's just like the Powder Kiss lipsticks, light, creamy and lovely. 

 

Did you make any orders for national Lipstick Day? What did you get?

Dear Eljay

My beautiful boy. Today you are nine! It was at this exact time you entered the world and made it a brighter place. 

It's your last year of being single digits! You are such a beautiful, precious soul and I'm so lucky to be your Mum. 

You are sensitive, kind, gentle and thoughtful. You're also stubborn, independant and strong willed. 

You love school, athletics (especially running), board games and rollerblading. We got you rollerblades for your birthday and you haven't taken them off. 

I love you more than words can say, I'm the luckiest Mum in the world. 

Happy birthday baby boy.