taryn k.

taryn k.

Profile

My name is Taryn. I'm in my twenties. I come from the land down under. I'm married. I work full time. I like pretty things. My favourite food is watermelon. I hate dancing. I like to talk. I tend to contradict myself. I hate snails. I like you for reading my blog.

Layout: vehemency
Email: here
Twitter: here
Bloglovin: here
SHOP TARYN K: here

Leave A Comment

20 July 2012, 4:40 PM

Ooh...New Make Up

Argh! I posted this haul a couple of days ago, but due to some technical error (or plain old fail) when I used the iPhone Blogger app, all my witty words (as well as all the not so witty words) were all deleted. Sigh. I shall have to start again, since I took the time to take pictures and all.

I placed this strawberrynet.com order back when I was still pregnant and it arrived the day after I got home from the hospital, which was a lovely surprise. I was really pleased with this order - I think I've found a few staples for my collection.

Packaged up oh-so-pretty - with the exception of the CK Lipstick (it was a free gift with order, so they obviously skimped a bit there haha)

Five seconds after I got my hands on it - none of this save-the-paper-for-use-at-a-later-date silliness.

Ooh, pretty black packaging.

Calvin Klein - Delicious Luxury Creme Lipstick - #112 Orange Too. I love this. Strawberrynet pretty much always has a promotional free gift with purchase and at the moment it happens to be Calvin Klein lipsticks. I've been wanting to try orange lipstick for a while now, but have been too scare to pay the money for one in case it turns out to be a disaster. But I love this one. It can be applied either to be quite sheer or to be quite opaque, whichever takes you fancy.

MAC - Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation - NW25. I am also quite impressed with this product. I've been using it to set my liquid foundation - the light coverage just isn't enough for my problem skin. I also much prefer this to a translucent powder for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

Haha, my demonstration of how I place a brush onto a pan, in case you weren't sure.

Elizabeth Arden - Color Intrigue Gel Eyeliner with Brush. Now I haven't tried any of the cult favourites (ie. MAC, Bobbi Brown, Maybelline), so I can't really compare this to other gel eyeliners. But as a stand-alone, I'm really impressed with this product. It applies like a dream, the brush is a nice quality, and the gel itself is quite pigmented and didn't smudge on my lid. Thumbs up, Elizabeth Arden.

MAC - Eye Kohl - Smolder. Eh, I wasn't really impressed at all with this, especially since I always seem to be hearing about it on youtube. It's okay, but I found it smudged (when I wasn't trying to smudge it) and that is a big negative for me. I won't repurchase this again, but I will probably use it all up.

And just as an added bonus:

I bought these pants on the day I initially posted this haul...so Wednesday, from Factorie. It turns out none of my pants fit me at the moment - my maternity jeans are too baggy and my regular pants, well sadly, I have the dreaded muffin top. The only solution is to buy more clothes. Shame. These are the Baxter Jean and I chose them in the colour Baby Pink, much to my husbands dismay (he just doesn't geddit). I haven't had a chance to wear them yet, but when I do I'll try to take some OOTD photos, pending the approval of the baby haha.

Hope you're all looking forward to a terrific weekend! Until next time!

Labels: Elizabeth Arden, Factorie, Fashion, Hauls, MAC, Online Shopping

Leave A Comment

12 February 2012, 4:28 PM

Scandalous Hair Care Review/Whinge

A couple posts ago I mentioned I had been doing a lot of online shopping at a particular online store I had only recently discovered - at the time I had made several purchases, but I don't think I had received any of my packages so I didn't elaborate in case it wasn't worth mentioning. Well, they've been rolling in over the past couple of weeks and I have been able to use some of the items in said packages, so a bit of a review is in order.

The site is Ozsale.com.au (invite link, hope you don't mind), an online shopping club that hosts sales for all kinds of brands, both international and Australian based. You can find products for up to 75% off, as well as enjoy free shipping on selected sales. Categories include women's, men's and children's fashion; beauty, haircare, nailcare and fragrance; wine; home decor and kitchenware; children's toys and DVDS; manchester and many, many more. I've purchased goods from quite a few of these different categories and haven't been let down yet - fingers crossed I haven't spoken to soon, I have a couple of packages on the way. Sales generally last a few days and there are MANY going on a once - one frustrating feature I found is that since each sale is essentially run by an independent brand, you can't put products in your shopping cart from more than one sale at a time. This is the site's main downfall - you can't share shipping between sales. However, I have found shipping fees to be reasonable for the purchases I've made, so it's not too bad. Another shipping drawback is that you have to wait for each sale to end before they send your package. Wait times can be a few weeks, so I wouldn't recommend purchasing anything you want in a great hurry. That said, some sales ship out super quickly, I've had both long waiting times and short waiting times. Bit of a luck of the draw.

It also needs to be mentioned that this is an Australian site, so delivery is only domestic. However, there are ozsale cousins in New Zealand and some South East Asian countries as well if you want to check those out :)

After that long winded intro...onto the hauling/review.

The first major purchase I made was Scandalous Haircare, which I understand is a diffusion line by UK brand James Brown. I went a bit crazy since everything I purchased was only $4.95. Yes. That's right. Shipping was $12.50 all up, bringing the cost of each item to $7.00 delivered. I'm can't remember what the RRP was for the products, but my educated guess is well over the $10 mark.

I ordered the Big and Beautiful Volumising Shampoo & Conditioner, the Intensively Glossy Rescue Treatment, the Red Alert Heat Protection Spray, the Luminous Shine Finishing Spray and the Fabulously Flirty Dry Shampoo.

I will preface by saying I will not be repurchasing the shampoo, conditioner or the treatment. The other products are also doubtful.

In my opinion, the best thing about these products is the scent. I love it. I'm terrible at recognising and describing scents, but I'm gonna go with vanilla and something else (sorry) and it is absolutely divine. I would probably buy a perfume of this scent. If I had a decent sized tub, I would bathe in this scent. If I ever find a candle in this scent, I WILL BUY IT. You get the picture.

Now, the shampoo and conditioner do volumise as promised. I've been quite happy with the texture of my generally fine hair since I began using them about three weeks ago. They have definitely added that necessary bit of oompf needed to use a sea-salt spray and scrunch to create beachy waves. The problem I have is not with that at all. The problem I have is that the products are packed with glitter.

I will illustrate.

Sorry if that looks a bit dodgy.

But can you see the glitter? While most of the hair products I've used in the past do have a certain sheen to them, this is entirely different. After I got out of the shower I noticed there was glitter literally all over me. At first I couldn't work out what it was, but after another wash or two, it dawned on me. I thought that perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing - surely it could only mean my hair would look more shiny. This was until my mum was cutting my hair one day and asked me if I had sprayed glitter onto my head. And face. The answer was no, I am not in the habit of spraying glitter on my face/head. The glossing treatment also has this same problem. Obviously, rather than attempting to give the hair actual shine, to actually nourish the hair, the makers of this product decided they would just have us dump glitter on our heads. Ah well. I will continue to use these products up and therefore continue to look like a giant glitterball for another week or so. Then I'll have to find something new I suppose. Or it'll be back to the trusty Tresemme.

The other three products don't seem to have the same glitter-problem. I haven't actually had a chance to develop an opinion on the dry shampoo yet as I've been trying to use up my current can first (Tresemme again, if you're interested). The finishing spray is okay, a little on the glittery side (although not too bad) and it does tend to leave my hair slightly greasier than usual the following day (which I suppose is to be expected). I haven't really got an opinion about the heat protectant spray either - it seems to be an average heat protectant, nothing fancy, nothing rubbish. I do ofter wonder if heat protectants even actually do anything, but I like to think I'm being a good girl (halo and all) by using one, so will continue to do so.

So that's me for today. Sorry this was so long winded. Congratulations if you read this entire post. Feel free to eat a cookie in celebration.

PS. This is in no way a sponsored post. After re-reading I feel like it kind of sounds like one, so I just wanted to clear that up. If you click the invite link up above however, my account will be credited a $10 voucher when you make your first purchase. Anyone can use these links and invites, so feel free to pay it forward so to speak ;)

PPS. My apologies to those of you that enjoy looking like a glitterball. If that's your thing, all power to ya. I just can't pull it off like you can ;) You should probably buy this haircare range.

Labels: Hair, Online Shopping

Leave A Comment

16 December 2011, 12:37 PM

THE ICONIC CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY - INTERNATIONAL - CLOSED

Hurray for my very first blog giveaway! The lovely people at THE ICONIC have been generous enough to offer a $50 gift voucher code for me to give away to one lucky reader of my blog. If you haven't already checked out the site, or missed my post a couple of weeks ago, THE ICONIC is a new Australian online shopping mecca, stocking some great brands like Ksubi, Peeptoe, All About Eve, Ellery, RMK, Cooper St, True Religion, Ladakh, Le Specs - and heaps more - and offers free shipping anywhere in Australia.

All you have to do to enter is be subscribed to my blog via Google Friend Connect (underneath my favourite reads on the left hand side) or Bloglovin and leave me a comment below letting me know some of your favourite blogs (I need some new reading material over the summer, so this is purely for my own benefit!). Easy as that! As THE ICONIC is unable to ship internationally at this stage, if you are an international winner, I'll arrange to have your chosen item sent to me and I'll forward it on. Just to be fair :)

I'll leave the competition open until midnight, Tuesday 20th December then pick a winner on Wednesday randomly.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Labels: Giveaway, Online Shopping, THE ICONIC

Leave A Comment

05 December 2011, 10:48 AM

Coveting: THE ICONIC

A slightly different Coveting post today. Since you know I've been sick the past few weeks (on the mend now, thanks for asking) I've been doing my fair share of online shopping/window shopping. Most of my Christmas shopping this year has been done from the comfort of my bed, although I'm probably going to have to venture out into the wild during my week's holidays in a fortnight's time to get a few final things. The main problem I have with online shopping is the shipping costs/freight times - I know they have to have them, but it always puts a dampener on things when you total your cart and have to add another $20 plus weeks worth of waiting before you even get your longed for items.

Happily, the lovely people at new Australian online store, THE ICONIC, contacted me last week to let me know that they launched recently - and I thought you fellow Aussies would most likely be interested, if you haven't already heard of them.

The store stocks a huge array of fantastic Aussie brands for men and women, from Ladakh and All About Eve to Ellery and Therese Rawsthorne, Minty Meets Munt and Cooper St to Ginger & Smart and Manning Cartell, I Love Billy to Peeptoe, plus a few international labels, like True Religion, Wrangler and Ben Sherman. You've got your high-street and high-end all in one place, the way it should be.

The best part of the whole thing? Free shipping Australia wide - and if you live in Sydney (which I don't, but can still appreciate the awesome-ness here) there's a 3 hour delivery option. THREE HOURS PEOPLE. Standard delivery is only a couple days, so I can't be too jealous of Sydney this time ;)

Now for the coveting part - since all the Christmas shopping is in abundance at the moment, I haven't had the budget to just go selfish-shopping willy-nilly. So everything on my wishlist will be staying on my wishlist until after Christmas :( Hence I don't have any personal customer service experience to share today. I will say though, I'd really like to see THE ICONIC ~~stock more accessories~~ - just seems like something is missing at the moment - and I'd love to see Minkpink on the site - but that's just because they're a personal favourite of mine and I haven't found anywhere else online that stocks them with free shipping.

UPDATE: Accessories have arrived! At the moment it's just watches and sunglasses, but I can sense the start of something beautiful.

My picks from the site:

All About Eve - Starcrossed Lover Tee

Diavolina - Willie Flats

Ellery - Mr Fox Dress

Jorge - Above The Horizon Short

Ladakh - Illusionist Romper

Lipstik - Shimmer Booties

Millie Loves Min - Flutter Top

RMK - Suzey Flats

Sass - Paige Blazer

Shone Joy - Black Russian Tie Short

White Suede - Lace Mini Dress

Labels: Coveting, Fashion, Online Shopping, THE ICONIC

Leave A Comment

06 November 2011, 1:12 PM

Cheap Smells Haul: October 2011

Hello ladies - as promised, here is my recent perfume haul from cheapsmells.co.uk. This is the second or third time I've ordered from them, and although my parcel took weeks to get here, I spent enough to get free shipping and their prices are so good it feels kind of wrong to complain. I mostly placed this order because my SJP - NYC ran out about when I did my last perfume collection, so I mainly wanted to replace that and my much loved Christina Aguilera scents. So everything here I've owned before, bar the Escada Taj Sunset.

Like I said, Taj Sunset by Escada is the only fragrance from this batch that I haven't owned before. It's limited edition, so if you like light, fruity, sweet scents that remind you of summer cocktails I suggest you go out and grab it while you can. I am absolutely in love with it and have been wearing it most days.

I still find the Christina Aguilera scents incredibly sexy, so I tend to save them for a night out. I suppose now that I have a larger collection of perfumes I'm likely to save these two for more wintery weather, rather than warm summer nights. I'm so glad I got them again though, I felt like my collection was incomplete with out them (oh, the problems we face).

I also remember to pick up this Clinique cleanser. I first owned this a couple of years ago when I started really trying to fix up my skin. I've always meant to repurchase, but it is so pricey here in Australia. I remember seeing if for a bargain price on cheapsmells and practically rejoicing. This is my makeup remover of choice - I find it gets off every stitch of makeup with little effort and leaves the skin squeaky clean. I'd recommend another cleanser to actually cleanse the skin afterwards though.

So basically, that's it! I was really happy with this particular order and would recommend every item in a heartbeat. I'm off to get ready for high tea now - I think I might try and wear the bright pink pleated skirt from Sportsgirl I got a few months ago. The weather is finally warm enough for it, but still looks a little overcast. Perfect.

Labels: Clinique, Hauls, Online Shopping, Perfume, Skin Care

Leave A Comment

09 October 2011, 1:34 PM

ACW Haulin'

So here's an itty-bitty haul for this lovely Sunday. I ordered these products from ACW a few weeks back, but I tweeted that I would post bout them, so here we are.

I got Japonesque lashes, which I believe were blems (so the product name is incorrect), the Bobbi Brown Sultry Eye Palette (which is amazing), MAC Plushglass in Ample Pink and Stila Lip Enamel in Giggle. Last I checked all these items were still available.

Sorry for the blurriness in some of these swatch photos - my camera is on its last legs methinks.

"Bone" - Eyeshadow. I must admit, I haven't really tried this colour yet, as I don't often use such a white highlight - I much prefer something gold. It's good to have in the collection, since I don't have a matte off-white.

Antique Gold - Metallic Eyeshadow. This is a gorgeous all over eye colour. I've been wearing this most days to work, sometimes alone, sometimes with a darker colour in the crease. Either way, stunning. I've even used it a cheekbone highlighter on a night out.

Caviar - Eyeshadow. A dark, matte black. This is fantastic as a liner, pushed into the upper lash line, or used to set waterline kohl. I've only used this a handful of times, but it hasn't disappointed yet.

Brandy - Long-Wear Eye Paint. I was expecting this to be, I don't know, creamier? But it feels just like a powder eyeshadow. Again, an amazing colour, fantastic in the crease or blended all over the eye for a subtle smokey effect.

Overall, I love this palette and would recommend it to anyone that prefers a neutral look. I prefer the quality of these shadows to those of the MAC shadows I own (not that I own too many MAC shadows, mind you). I haven't tried out the brush, but it looks like good quality to me, which I expect from a Bobbi Brown product.

Try as I might, I couldn't capture just how bright this lip enamel is. It's thick, creamy and opaque. Not sure how I'm going to manage to rock this colour, since it's practically neon, but if I figure it out, I'll be sure to show you. I probably wouldn't purchase this again given the chance, but only because it probably isn't the most flattering colour for my skin tone.

I haven't had the chance to try out the lashes yet, so I'm can't really say too much about them, besides the fact they look pretty in the box :)

The MAC plushglass has been my gloss of choice ever since it arrived. I love the dusty pink tones, and the texture on the lips - not sticky, but moisturising. This will probably be a repurchase when it runs out.

I'm off to window-shop ACW a little more.

Labels: ACW, Bobbi Brown, Hauls, Japonesque, MAC, Online Shopping, Stila

Leave A Comment

23 September 2011, 9:50 PM

Better than Cosmo.

I've been waiting so long for this. If you're like me and a bit of a regular around the youtube beauty community, you'll have heard of BirchBox or GlossyBox, US & UK based companies that provide a subscription service to a monthly parcel of high-end beauty samples delivered right to your door. Living in Australia, we haven't had anything of the sort - until now. Well, let's be honest, I am a smidge late on the bandwagon. Lust Have It! opened in July, and Beauty Box opened in August.

But I am now subscribed to both!

Oh, happy days!

Each company charges $14.95 per month (including shipping), so I opted for monthly payments, rather than the yearly option, in case I decide to cancel one or both. Both companies have quite a few brands that excite me.

Lust Have It!: OPI, Keratase, Burt's Bees, Dermalogica, Lancome, Nougat London, Naked Tan, Mirenesse, Urban Rituelle, Lash Republic, Bio Effect, Pure Fiji, I Love My Muff, Laura Mercier, Taut, Lush and Lime Lilly.

Beauty Box: Bio Oil, Biotherm, Bobbi Brown, Essie, Garnier, John Frieda, Jurlique, Marc Jacobs Fragrances, Playboy Fragrances, Sally Hansen, Shiseido, Shu Uemeua, Thalgo and YSL.

I want it all.

Of course I'll do a post as soon as I receive my first boxes. If you want to sign up, head to

www.beauty-box.com.au

www.lusthaveit.com.au

Just so we're clear, I'm sadly in no way affiliated with any company mentioned and am not being compensated for this post. Just very excited :)

Labels: BeautyBox, LustHaveIt, Online Shopping

Leave A Comment

07 August 2011, 2:11 PM

It sure has been a while...

Hello lovelies! Long time no see! Want to hear my excuses?

I hadn't really been buying that much, you know, stuff;

I've been wearing the same favourite polishes over and over;

My holidays ended, so I've been wearing only my uniform (sadface);

It was my birthday;

We've been house hunting.

Actually, I suppose it has only been a couple of weeks, but I feel like I haven't blogged in forEVER. Happily though, I have a lovely birthday haul for you all. This isn't everything that I got, but a few of my favourites :)

Beyonce Heat perfume - delicious. I'm not much of a Beyonce fan, but I tested this out of curiosity. Not sure I love it as much as I do Sarah Jessica Parker's NYC, but a I feel it's a sexier option for night time.

Want to be my friend? Buy my a gift voucher and I'm yours. I know a lot of people think gift vouchers are impersonal and an easy option, but I look at it as if you're giving me the gift of shopping. And I love that.

You know I love green tea. These are flavoured loose leaf tea, both of which are delicious. The "gen mai cha sencha" has rice-bubbles in it! Okay, probably not actual rice-bubbles, but you know what I mean. It has quite a nutty smell, which I like. The "Gorgeous Geisha" smells exactly like strawberry-and-cream lollies. Amazing. It has dehydrated strawberry chunks throughout, which give a much subtler flavour than I was expecting. I suggest you try these out. You can order on their site T2tea.com, which ships internationally.

This clutch is amazing! I asked the girls from work for this and the watch below (we all pool our money together for birthdays, $10 each, usually gets you a fantastic gift, rather than lots of little gifts, and is a hell of a lot easier). I photographed the clutch with the gift voucher, which is the size of a regular credit card, so you can visualise just how huge it is. I love it. You'll probably see it soon in an outfit of the day. You can get it here

I haven't taken this watch off since I got it. I love it. Now I just need a Michael Kors oversized gold chronographic, and I should be pretty set for a good few years. I love how it's such a classic shape, and I love the black and gold together. Timeless. You can get it here

And lastly, my lovely friend Jade got me this lovely scarf. I love grey, and I love lightweight scarves with a dainty pattern paired with a leather jacket, so this is perfect. She knows my taste so well.

For some reason, I have absolutely no photos of my party. I had my camera all charged ready to go, but I think I got so excited that I just completely forgot about it! One of my girlfriends is usually very good about making sure there is plenty of photos taken at parties, but she was away in Melbourne, so I got nada.

Labels: Hauls, Online Shopping, Perfume