L'Oreal Colour Riche NutriShine Lipstick | Review

Swatched in sunlight

Swatched in the shade

I'm not one for wearing bold lip colours, preferring balms & glosses over lip sticks & lacquers. However, I've been on the lookout for a nice red lip colour for a while. After looking at a lot of reviews online, I picked up the L'Oreal Colour Riche NutriShine lipstick in Strawberry Juice at my local Priceline. 

This pinky-red is a beautiful colour on the lips, looking very vibrant and pigmented which is a plus for a lot of people. This sucks for me, because I was after something slightly more sheer, but that's more of a personal preference. This lippy applies beautifully, if a little patchy, so you will have to apply a couple of coats to build it up to an opaque finish.

It definitely doesn't moisturise like a balm or treatment, but I never except lip colours to do that simply because it's not what they're used for. I applied my Oralife Peppermint Lip Treatment underneath, and that sheered it out quite nicely while giving my lips the moisture they needed. However, because it is quite glossy and balmy, this lipstick stayed on my lips for less than an hour before disappearing in a hideous patchy mess.

It's a nice lippy for a short event or for days when I want a nice lip colour to make my face look a little better. The colour range is stunning, so that's a bonus, although it's impossible to get some of the colours in Australia. Bummer. The packaging is also gorgeous, and you hear a very satisfying *click* when you put the cap back on. No need to worry about the damn thing breaking if you're on the go!

I know I don't sound super excited about this product, and that's because I'm not. When purchasing it I was ecstatic, almost bouncing up and down while waiting in the queue. If the staying power was better, and if it didn't cost $19.95, I'd consider getting one or two more shades. However, L'Oreal tests on animals, and I just can't justify buying their products to myself.

3.3/5 stars. I just don't love this lipstick, which pisses me off because the colour is so goddamn beautiful. The colour is pretty, but the thing doesn't have much else going for it.

~Ciao!~

Mainstream Schooling? | Homeschooling 101

Homeschooling has become a lot more popular recently. Not too long ago, people assumed that only weirdos or hippies homeschooled their kids. But now, those people are realising that there's a lot more to homeschooling; it's a big deal, and for some it's a better deal. 

For whatever reason, the thought of going to school makes you want to throw up those pancakes you had for breakfast (or is that just me?). Maybe there are bullies, maybe you're not learning anything, or maybe mainstream schooling just isn't the right fit for you. 

A long time ago, when the whole concept of school was designed, it wasn't so each kid got an exceptional 1 on 1 learning experience. School was a convenient, practical way of getting a group of kids in a classroom to learn basic maths & English. Nowadays, the only thing that's changed is the 'basic' part.

I don't care if you disagree, good for you, but this blogpost isn't for you. It's for the teenagers who (like myself) don't fit the mainstream schooling mould. Going to a normal school (public, private, whatever) simply isn't right for everyone. How could it be? Let's stick a bunch of pubescent, idiotic teenagers in close quarters for most of the week until they're 18. Have 'em suffer in the competitive, stressful, anxiety & depression ridden world of high school. We'll take the amazing concept of learning new things and twist it until it's so distorted that creativity goes completely out the window. *insert cheer here*

This is where homeschooling comes in. That competitive, anxiety ridden environment disappears. You can tailor your curriculum to one that suits you; perhaps you want to focus more on art or history or music etc. It sounds like the best of both worlds, and for some people it is, but not for all. Homeschooling is certainly not for everyone, because it requires you and your parents' undivided attention and you have to motivate yourself to do the work. 

How do you know if homeschooling is right for you? I'll talk about that in the next part of my Homeschool 101 series! I like to think I know quite a bit about homeschooling, or at least the type of homeschooling I do, and I've got a lot of experience with the process of getting into it. However, please do not take my words as gospel, as I am only just starting out and can't give you a lot of the official details. I will try to talk about homeschooling as best I can, so if you have any questions please leave them below or tweet me (@gypsiesanpixies)! I love you all!

~zì jiàn!~

Ultimate Book Tag #2 | Bookie Bits

What are you reading right now?

Soulless by Gail Carriger. I picked this up a couple weeks ago because I adore Gail's Finishing School series. Unfortunately, I've barely made a dent in the book because I can't get into it. I'm a bit bored, and I think this book might end up being a DNF

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?

I desperately want to read Visions by Kelley Armstrong, the second book in her Cainsville series. Omens, the first book, was absolutely fucking brilliant. Unfortunately, I can't find an edition with the cover I like. Yes, I am one of those people. 

What are 5 books you have always wanted to read but haven't got round to?

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen, Visions by Kelley Armstrong, Scarlet by A.C Gaughen, The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa, and A Tithe of Blood and Ashes by Alyxandra Harvey. 

What magazines do you have lying around your house right now?

I kind of hate magazines, but I do always have a copy of Elle lying around. I actually like that one, surprisingly. 

What's the worst book you've ever read?

That's like looking for one specific needle in a stack of hundreds of needles. Among the worst books I've read is the Bluebloods series by Melissa De la Cruz, Fallen series by Lauren Kate, and the Hush Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick. However, the worst series I have ever read in my entire life is the House of Night series by P.C Cast. When I say that series was bad, I mean that series was absolutely awful.

What book seemed really popular but you didn't like?
Look, I don't really read books that are popular. It's mostly because by the time I get to reading it, the book has been completely spoiled for me and I now know exactly what's going to happen. I usually love spoilers, but when I can tell you exactly what happens in a book without having read said book, there's a problem.

What's the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
Don't kill me, but I don't like recommending books to anyone ever. They'll read them wrong.

What are your three favourite poems? 
ANYTHING BY POE OR COLERIDGE. GO READ THEIR POETRY RIGHT NOW, I'LL WAIT. 

Where do you usually get your books?

I usually order them from Booktopia, but if I see a bookshop like QBD in the mall or a secondhand place I always stop and check out the books. I prefer not to shop at Dymocks because it's way too expensive.

Where do you usually read your books?

Wherever. As long as no one disturbs me, I'm good!

When you were little, did you have any particular reading habits?
I used to draw all over my books. Weirdly, I only graffitied them if they were hardcovers. 

What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down? 

I actually don't remember. I've been so busy staying up half the night doing schoolwork that I've not had a lot of time to read. That's the definition of hell, right there.

Have you ever "faked" reading a book?

Maybe.....

Have you ever bought a book just because you liked the cover?

I did this with Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong. Thank god the content was as good as the cover! Actually, all of Kelley's books are brilliant. 

What was your favourite book when you were a child?

I'm not sure, maybe The Enchanted Forest by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite or Tales from Martha B. Rabbit by Shirley Barber. 

What book changed your life?

The Drake Chronicles. Need I say more?

What is your favourite passage from a book?

Every word from all six Drake Chronicles books. As if I was going to say anything else.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

Alyxandra Harvey, Alyxandra Harvey, Alyxandra Harvey, Alyxandra Harvey, & Alyxandra Harvey.

What book has no one hear about but should read?

House of Comarré series by Kristen Painter. I rarely (if ever) recommend books to people, but you guys seriously need to read this series. 

What 3 books are you an "evangelist" for?

Not necessarily for specific books, more so for genres like paranormal and historical fiction.

What are your favourite books by a first-time author?

I have absolutely no idea.

What is your favourite classic book?

Jane Eyre, hands down. Absolutely no debate there. 

Five other notable mentions?

Oh I don't bloody know. My brain is fried, I'm writing this at 12:45am. Just go read as many books as you can, kids. Broaden your minds or something.

Feel free to do this tag yourself, and I'll talk to you all on Friday. Sorry about not posting on Monday. I'd give you an excuse, but the best one I've got is I was busy. That's pretty lame, so I'll think of a better one for next time.

~zì jiàn!~

Change Someone's Life | Positive Post #2

You are special. Each and every one of you. Everyone is born with the power to change someone's life and make people better. Don't overlook yourself, though. You can't be a light to guide others in the darkness unless you keep that light from dimming. 

~Ciao!~

Models Prefer Powder/Eyeshadow Dual Ended Brush | Review

If I had the money, I'd be the biggest brush whore around, but as I am still in school I'm never able to splurge on a shit tonne of fancy brushes. While walking around Priceline a few months ago, I spotted this dual ended Models Prefer brush and thought I'd give it a go due to the reasonable price tag. 

I had a few reasons for picking this brush up. It's always handy to have a couple dual ended brushes for convenience when travelling, and they take up a lot less space in my brush pot than having two separate brushes. My decision to buy this brush, however, was impeded slightly by the pretty red bristles (hehe). I wish I hadn't been so obsessed with the colour of the bristles, because that's the only sort of good thing I have to say about this brush!

Where do I begin? The bristles are very prickly and harsh on my face; so much so that my skin felt extremely irritated and I had to remove my makeup to reapply it with softer brushes. Ridiculous! The eyeshadow end was a little softer than the powder end, so I have used it a few more times than the latter. 

The eyeshadow bristles weren't very tightly packed, and very flimsy, meaning I found it extremely difficult to get a decent look without my eyeshadow looking messy. I also feel like the head is a little too big (dirty?), and I just couldn't work with it. I'm not the best at applying eyeshadow, so I find that smaller brushes are a lot easier for me to use. Another downside to the lack of density was the poor colour payoff on my lids. That isn't a huge bother for me, as it means there's less chance of me stuffing up my makeup, but it just means I have to put in a lot more effort when I really can't be bothered. 

The eyeshadow end definitely seems like a blessing compared to the powder end of the brush. As I mentioned before, the bristles irritated my face so much that I had to try and remove some of the powder on my face and reapply with my essence powder brush (love it!). I do have very sensitive skin, so I could be overreacting a little. Actually, I know I'm reacting a lot. I'm just very disappointed because the bristles felt absolutely awful. I could forgive everything else if the bristles were softer, because I think the initial shape of the brush is very good for applying finishing powder. Unfortunately, the brush has lost it's shape a little since I first bought & photographed it. Not a lot, but enough for me to comment on it. 

I have always been quite wary of Models Prefer. I'm not sure why, I've just never really been a fan of any of their products (except their Runway Shine Lip glosses! Love them!). This powder/eyeshadow dual ended brush has set my feelings in stone, and I doubt I'll be purchasing anything else from Models Prefer in the future. 

Sorry this review was really negative, I'll make sure to have a positive post ready for Friday! I'm also sorry for the crappy photos; these were taken before I started taking photos outside with natural lighting. I cringe every time I scroll up to see them! Anyway, I love you all, and will talk to you very soon.

~Ciao!~

Extreme Makeovers | Gypsiesandpixies

If you've been following me for a while, you can probably tell that Gypsiesandpixies has had a face lift, and will be under construction for the rest of the year. I felt that it was time to do a lot of renovations as my blog was getting quite cluttered, and I just didn't love the layout. 

I hope you all really like the new header I designed on picmonkey.com, because I absolutely love it. I probably spent close to six hours working on it, which sounds excessive, but I'm such a perfectionist that I couldn't just leave it. 

Something else that's going to change are my themed days. I used to do book related posts on Mondays, and miscellaneous posts on Fridays, with other posts in between. I'm pretty sick of feeling restricted in those boxes, so I decided to change it up and just post whatever I like on Mondays & Fridays. The content won't change, except hopefully it will improve as I feel a lot more excited to blog. It had become quite a chore to stick to themed days; feeling confined to posting only this on only this day etc. You'll probably also notice a few sporadic 1am posts every now and then.

I'm not sure this makes much sense, but as Gypsiesandpixies is my baby, I felt I should update you all on what's going on. I'd also love to get your opinions on what you'd like to see on this blog. If you've got any tips on blogging and tips for redesigning your blog, or if you have blogpost ideas, please comment below. I'd love to get your opinions!

This spring, Gypsiesandpixies is turning over a new leaf. I love each and every person who's ever read any of my posts, and I will talk to you all very soon. I love you, little pixies!

~Ciao!~

Omens by Kelley Armstrong | Book Review

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia's world is shattered when she learns that she's adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents' past.

Aided by her mother's former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens' last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her. 

When I heard about Omens last year, I assumed it was going to be another urban fantasy as that seems to be Kelley Armstrong's forte. It is, but I also got some heavy psychological thriller/looming prophecy vibes as well, which I'm normally not a huge fan of. Once again, however, Kelley Armstrong manages to completely change my mind about books and opened up a whole new world to me.

I am seriously impressed with this book. Everything about it is weird and maze-like, so when you think you know the answer to a question, you're proved wrong and forced to backtrack along with our wonderful protagonist, Olivia. Olivia surprised me with every page, and by the end of the book I started to realise that she's a lot darker than I thought. That's how I'd describe every character; darker than you originally think. Actually, that's how I'd describe Cainsville the whole goddamn book.

There's a sweet looking author who works on his book in a cafe, who I swear is going to be revealed to be a vampire. I just know it. Olivia (or Eden, depending on what you want to call her) can read omens and senses death around her. Gabriel seems like he only cares about himself, and he does, but towards the end of the book you see that he's not as cynical and mean as you think.

I read Omens in less than a day, and I really regret that. I wish I'd prolonged the amazing experience, but come on, we all know that's never going to happen. I can't sing high enough praises about Omens and Kelley Armstrong. Seriously. However, I've narrowed down my list of favourite parts to just two I'd like to share with you guys:

1) There's no heavy disgusting odour of over-written romance that makes me want to gag. There is a very subtle hey maybe Gabriel & Olivia might end up together in a later book vibe, and they obviously care for each other towards the end of the book. At the beginning of the story, they do both just use each other to get ahead in whatever game they're playing (well, Gabriel is playing a game, Olivia, not so much). 

2) You know those horrible endings when everything's fine and the author realises they haven't actually told us what the hell has been going on? So then they try to whip up a crazy plot-twist ending that literally leaves you with your mouth hanging open and you're just thinking... well, okay? This book has none of that. Kelley Armstrong left plenty of time at the end to build up to the big finish which involved lots of blood, bullets & bodies. And yet, I was still extremely surprised by it all. 

If you don't have this book, you need it. I loved it, and it's going on my 'favourite books' shelf in my room. I'm going to buy Visions (book 2) as soon as I can, hopefully this week.

~Ciao!~

Bad Days Will Pass | Positive Post #1

image credit: pinterest

image credit: pinterest

image credit: pinterest

image credit: pinterest

image credit: pinterest

image credit: pinterest

image credit: wifflegif

Bad days will pass. Until those days come to an end, all you can do is decide what to do with those days. Let bad times tear you down, because from the ground you see all the little things that everyone else misses. Just remember to make the most of what you have; dancing in the rain is a lot more fun than waiting for the storm to clear. Love, Jesse xx

~Ciao!~

You Are Amazing | For A Dear Friend

Stay strong. Not because everyone tells you to, or because that's what you expect of yourself. You don't need to be strong all the time, and frankly, sometimes you need to feel weak and let yourself stumble. But there always comes a time when you have to stand up again and be the stronger, vibrant version of you that has been hiding for so long. 

You are loved.

You are supported. 

With those two things, you only need to do two more things; love yourself, and know that eventually you'll get through this shit.

~Ciao!~

Save the Great Barrier Reef | Don't Trust Adani

image credit: getup.org.au

I've always been proud to be an Aussie. Always. Not once have I wished to be anything but. However, there's a lot of shit going on at the moment that makes me wonder how much politicians and corporate assholes really care about this amazing country and it's coastlines. The Great Barrier Reef has always held a special place in any Australian's heart, even if you live no where near it. It's apart of our culture, and to know that in the next decade it could all be gone kills me. 

The Great Barrier Reef isn't just part of our culture, it's apart of this earth. It has been for a long time, longer than any of us have been alive. To think we have the right to destroy it any more than we already have is selfish and wrong. 

Adani doesn't get that, but who is Adani? Adani is, in my opinion, complete shit. They're the biggest power conglomerate in India, and have the biggest splashes of red on their ledger too. In 2001, Adani did the same thing they're planning to do in Australia and built a massive coal port on a mangrove forest in India. By 2012, they'd been accused of doing so many fucked up things to destroy the environment and stealing various expensive ores, that the government had to take action. Sure, Adani did eventually pay millions of dollars in fines, but how much is that to a man worth over 5.4 billion dollars?

Let's talk about how much of that mangrove forest was destroyed, shall we? 75 hectares. That's right, you didn't read that wrong. How can destroying 75 hectares of beautiful and vital ecosystems be worth getting a pay cheque? Adani is already rich as all hell, so they can take a fucking break from ridding the world of it's beauty. 

Can you imagine if something similar happened to the Great Barrier Reef? Can you imagine thousands of coal ships going through the reef heritage area? Or what about the 5 million tonnes of dredge spoil that will be dumped into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area? I, for one, would absolutely fucking love for our government to actually do something good for once and stop this. Adani can't go ahead with their horrible plan unless they receive the funding, and they've been turned down by a lot of banks. I think we have a chance to stop them altogether. 

Tony Abbott may be a complete tosser who hasn't shown any care for our environment or global warming, but maybe he could do our country a favour now. Show us that the government isn't falling apart, that politics isn't a waste of time, and fucking do something! In the mean time, let's show Adani and anyone else who wants to destroy the planet that Australia won't stand for it any longer. 

Donate, spread the word, protest, do whatever you can to save the Great Barrier Reef. It doesn't matter if you can't spare any change, blogging about it or tweeting about it can make as much difference if we all band together. You might wonder why you should bother, you might think it couldn't possibly affect you, but you're very wrong in thinking saving our reef is a waste of time. 

People all over the world have been asking if we can trust Adani with the Great Barrier Reef. 

We can't. 

Visit getup.org.au to find out more.