My lips are sealed

May 16, 2013 / Lisa / 1 Comment

Over the last few weeks I have gone a bit lipstick/lip colour mad. I really can’t help it if I see pretty lip colours while perusing the latest OZSale. I have also found a few new cool types of lip colour, which I just could not resist.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the traditional lipstick. I’ve usually gone for glosses or balms. Lipstick has always just been a bit too heavy for me and I found that the colour would never stay long. Especially if you’re drinking. *cue lip stains on every single glass*

Six is not too many, right?

A happy in-between which I have fallen in love with, is Revlon’s ColourBurst Lip Butter. I now have three colours. By accident, I swear! There are 20 to collect…

I originally purchased Cupcake and Gumdrop – very much an impulse buy because as soon as I saw them I felt an instant need to have the colours in my life. I then got Sugar Plum in a giveaway from Priceline.

They go on super easy like a balm, but have amazing colours like lipstick. The best thing is that you don’t really have to worry about lip lines either. However, the colour does disappear quickly, so you have to reapply a bit like lipstick, but they are so lush I really don’t mind!

A tip from Maegan Tintari, or at least her mum, is to combine two of them. I do actually do this occasionally with the Cupcake and Gumdrop – it creates another colour, so from two, you get three!

Next is Revlon’s Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain. I really love these ones because it is like a giant crayon and provides excellent colour. Added bonus of it been a balm – whenever I wear it my lips feel a bit tingly and there is a smell of menthol.

Colours are Darling and Romantic (the red one).

Lastly is Revlon’s Colourstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick and this one is the ultimate. First time I wore this lipstick the colour was strong AND it did not come off all over my glass. The lipstick stayed on my lips and I did not have to reapply – BRILL!

I have it in Trendsetter, which is such a feroch colour, and am really tempted to go and buy more. I am refraining though. For now.

There was absolutely no intention to make this blog all about Revlon, just turns out they have some pretty awesome lip colours out at the moment, which really suit me. They are also affordable – all were around the $15-$20 mark. Not excessive and you know you’re going to get a decent lip colour.

Oh My God, You Guise.

October 25, 2012 / Lisa / 1 Comment

The other day I saw my first musical since moving to Sydney, the city of shows! In Australia, at least. It was Legally Blonde: The Musical.

Ta Da! *jazz hands* (google images)

Now, I love the Legally Blonde movies. I have lost count of how many times I have watched them. They are the ultimate feel-good, girl-power movies. So, needless to say I was excited to see the musical. Who doesn’t like singing and dancing?!

It was at the Sydney Lyric over in Darling Harbour. I was able to walk from Man Piece and my apartment – amazing.

Back to the show… IT WAS AWESOME.

If you are in Sydney and wanting to go see a show, go see Legally Blonde. It’s the best of everything.

The only criticism I had was Elle’s voice. It sometimes ended up on the too-nasally-high-pitched-annoying scale. I know this is how she is supposed to be, but I never really noticed it in the movies. It might have been because it was a stage show and there wasn’t any sound editing. Otherwise, she did an amazing job.

Best song has to be the, “Oh my god, oh my god you guise”. I have actually had that stuck in my head ever since and only that bit, because I don’t know the rest of the song. Oy vey.

OR, Gay and European. That was just fabulous.

Best dance would have to be the work-out video. Just amazing. So much energy needed for that, I was mesmerized.

The best accessory would have to be Elle’s pink, lace-up, knee-high, heeled boots. I would really love a pair. Amazing.

The boots. The boots! Look at the boots! (google images)

Glee Season Four: “The New Rachel”.

September 20, 2012 / Lisa

Glee cast promo pic, source: google images.

Last night the first episode of season four of Glee aired on New Zealand television – less than a week after it first aired in the States! Yay!

So, first of all, thanks Four for doing this. This is one of the major issues with TV networks in New Zealand and Four is doing something to rectify it. Because seeing spoilers is quite lame.

However, I was less than impressed with the new episode.

During season three, I started to not like Glee as much as I did when it first started, but I thought it redeemed itself a little by the end of the season. I had hopes that season four would continue with the redeeming, but after seeing the first episode, I am sorely disappointed.

The first thing that really irked me was that the New Directioners had become ‘popular’ and were starting to act like the rest of the ‘popular’ people. As in, they began being mean.

I was actually sitting there thinking, “WHAT?” Especially when Artie joined in in the mocking of the lunch lady. Why wouldn’t he just tell them to shove off? They all know what it is like to be picked on and need to stick up for each other. I was unimpressed.

The next thing that irked me was that they only let one new person into the group. Sure, there were some bad auditions, but Sugar Motta (Vanessa Lengies) is part of the group and she can’t sing or dance. I don’t get it. Especially because I thought Jake (Jacob Artist) was amazing and he wasn’t included in the list! Then, the one person who was added, Marley (Melissa Benoist), was rather so-so.

There was even a quote by Artie about acceptance. This entire episode for me showed they are definitely not accepting anymore. There doesn’t have to be a set number in New Directions and over the last three seasons they have been all about getting more people. They should be ecstatic that so many people want to be part of the group now.

The fight about who would be “The New Rachel”? No, just no. This was an absurd competition and it shouldn’t have been Blaine who won either. Yes, I like Blaine, but gosh, he gets so many songs already. Share it around!

Now, I know a fair few of the characters were seniors and were moving on and you got a taste of where a few of them had headed, but aren’t they still part of the cast? I’m not sure anymore. Santana and Mercedes are by far two of the best singers and they were no where to be seen.

And where was Rory?! The other Glee Project winners were there. In fact Alex Newell, who originally only won a smaller episode arc than Damian McGinty, looks to have become a series regular, which I highly agree with. But was this at the cost of Damian?

After all of this, I was quite disappointed in Glee and it did not leave me feeling good, like it usually does.

I will give it a few concessions. As already mentioned the addition of Alex Newell to be a regular is great. I also quite liked Kate Hudson’s character. That was done right. I enjoyed her. Leading on from this, I also liked the Rachel storyline and the addition of Kurt at the end was great. But I’m thinking, and it was mentioned on Twitter, that it would have been so much better if a Kurt and Rachel spin-off had occurred. That would have been amazing.

So overall, I was not that impressed. I will keep watching, probably, because I’m still invested in it. But I think I would have preferred to see more of the contestants from The Glee Project actually make it on to Glee instead of ‘Marley’, they at least are not blah, which is my initial impressions of Marley, and probably won’t change.

Yummy Mummy’s Cheesecake.

September 17, 2012 / Lisa

There is this place, which could be known as the middle of nowhere. Mostly because it is halfway between two “somewheres”.

This middle of nowhere place is Woodville. I guess it’s not so much middle of nowhere. It does have a name. Most nowhere places don’t even have names.

In this little Manawatu town called Woodville, there is this tiny cafe and bakery called ‘Yummy Mummy’s Cheesecakes’.

I have passed this delicious bakery many times in my life. You even see the sign when entering Woodville from either end. However, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago, that I actually stopped there and purposefully walked into Yummy Mummy’s.

And I was impressed.

I ordered a simple chicken, cranberry and brie sandwich, a mocha, and of course, a cheesecake. It was all so satisfying.

An individual serving of one Yummy Mummy Cheesecake. This one was banoffee.

The coffee. Mojo, nonetheless.

I unfortunately did not snap a shot of the sandwich. It was JUST a sandwich, yanno.

But the thing I really loved about Yummy Mummy’s Cheesecakes was how it was decorated. It was covered in those old school, yet new, funny signs and tea-towels, which I happened to take some snaps of. YOU’RE WELCOME.

This one reminds me of my sister, for some reason. What do you think, Susan?

The other aspect of decorations in the cafe were shelves filled with heaps of old baking stuff. And I mean old.

Then there was the cool aspect of having an old TV with the tube removed and ceramic ice cream cones as sugar holders.

So if you do find yourself in Woodville with a hankering for a coffee and some cake. I would highly recommend Yummy Mummy’s. The coffee is good, the cheesecakes are delish and the atmosphere and service is pretty alright too.

But if you find that you have never quite made it through Woodville, or have never been and want to try some cheesecake, THEY DELIVER OVERNIGHT.

Now how about that?!

Fifty shades of OMG.

May 25, 2012 / Lisa / 1 Comment

The first introduction I had to Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James was learning it had been banned from libraries in the US. That was enough to pique my interest.

What could possibly be so bad as to have the land of the free ban it from, well, essentially being read?

I googled and soon found out.

Dubbed ‘mommy-porn’ it is a novel about BDSM (bondage, dominance, sadism, masochism) Not your usual on the sexual menu, but if that’s what you like, whatever floats your boat, yo.

So I was intrigued. Especially after reading on the wikipedia page that the trilogy started out as Twilight fan-fiction. This made me laugh.

So I obtained and I read. Then I read Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

It is Twilight if it was X-rated. I became obsessed. And I really mean it is Twilight; there are small differences, but the events are essentially the same. Many parallels essentially. Just no vampires. Or supernatural exploits of any kind. Twilight if it was actually in the real world.

Yes, there was a lot of sexual content that would make any normal person blush. But actually, you got used to it. By the third book I was over it and just wanted to know how it all ended. It wasn’t all sex all the time either, it does have that never-in-the-real-world love story going on too.

I don’t necessarily believe in banning it from libraries. People should have the right to choose what they read and no one should be able to tell them otherwise. Probably why it has become so popular.

I enjoyed all three books. The writing was absolutely appalling, it was poorly edited, and it was the smuttiest of the smuttiest.

Aside from that, it was a quick easy read (I devoured all three within two weeks) and the plot was compelling. Who wouldn’t want to be whisked away by a gorgeous billionaire? Every girls dream, really. But once again, giving me unrealistic expectations in men.*

And in typical Hollywood fashion, any popular books HAS to be made into a movie. Yes, Fifty Shades of Grey is to be made into a movie. I mostly agree with the Huffington Post’s picks for which actors should play which characters, except for Christian. Ian Somerhalder is Christian for me, hands down. If anyone else gets the part (apart from maybe Alexander Skarsgard) I will be mildly upset. I was kind of thinking that Nina Dobrev would be a good Ana, but then her and Ian together would just be weird. You don’t want to just put The Vampire Diaries cast in there. The Huff’s pick of Elizabeth Olsen is definitely a good one.

If you were hesitant about reading it, I can understand, it is definitely not for everyone. But what I will say is, before you slander it, maybe you should read it?

*It’s wrong that I now want Man Piece to be like Christian Grey, knowing that he can never be that perfect, and it disappoints me.