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What's in my handbag?

by VioletLeBeaux | May 10, 2011 | About Me, Life

These “what’s in my hangbag” style posts used to be so popular a while ago and I never got time to do one so I’m making up for it now haha! My good old faithful red bag seems to be on it’s last legs so I’ve been borrowing this black/white one from my Mum recently until I can buy a new one. I don’t generally change bags often or to suit my outfits so it’s very sad when I have to put an old faithful bag to rest ;_; I’m waiting to find the perfect every day bag for my next one so if you see something I might like send me a link!!

So this is my current one, I like it because it’s big enough to fit a whole lot of junk but not so big that my shoulder wants to break at the end on the day. It’s a good size for work because it holds documents easily too.

I pretty much always have a scarf tied to the bag somewhere because they are so useful. Pretty but in a pinch they can: protect your hair from rain or wind, cover bad hair or fix ruined hair, mop up a spill, wipe away stray make up, be folded into a bag to carry groceries or shopping, smoosh into a pillow for long car rides, wrap around bag handles for more grip/padding and so many other things that I can’t remember right now XD

I like bags with lots of pockets so I don’t have to dig around for stuff. I tend to just throw random things in my bag so I like ones that keep my valuables away from anything that might damage them. This one has 6 pockets/sections which is not bag but I think I want even more haha!

In the top zip section and pocket I keep…

1. iPad
This is a new addition to my bag and it replaced my DSLite, a book and a bunch of other things I used to carry around with me. It also replaces having to take a laptop to meetings now which makes my shoulder much happier! This case is just until I finish making my custom case from scratch, so look out for that tutorial in a while!

2. Business cards
I don’t think I need to explain these… they are for work!

3. Notebook
I can’t give up the pen and paper completely so I keep a little notebook for important notes, dates and anything else which needs to be written down quickly or sketched to explain to clients.

4. Headphones
I wish I could take my big ones around with me all the time but unless I know I’m going on a long trip, these ones are just so much more space saving. I’m planning to customise them a bit more in the future and maybe add some more bling 🙂

5. Pens
Fairly self explanatory. The lipstick one is from the last MBBE swap and it’s adorable!

6. Mirror
Small mirror for just in case emergencies. I want to replace this with one of the cuter ones I have sitting in my drawer but haven’t gotten around to it.

7. Blog business cards
Much prettier than my regular ones haha! Again, the use is fairly obvious. These are so much harder to store because of the bows so I think I need to re-evaluate that when I design the next lot. Totally worth it for the cute outcome though.

This is what lives in the middle pocket:

1. Gloves
So important! I can’t stand my fingers being cold so I always like to have gloves in my bag just in case.

2. Fan
Seems silly but can be a life saver in Summer especially if you’re wearing a big frilly outfit.

3. Tape measure
Must have for fabric shopping, crafting and general shopping. I find it’s good for thrift shopping too because if you don’t want to try clothes on or there’s not a space to you can quickly measure them and make a decision on fit.

4. Small Bag
This holds tissues and toiletries like aspirin etc. It’s nice to have everything together in a little bag rather than rattling around in the bottom of your bag getting dirty.

The second large section of the bag holds these:

1. Make up case
More detail on that below in it’s own photo.

2. Sunglasses
‘Nuff said.

3. Camera
The charm is a Capybara that James won out of a vending machine!

4. Lip Palette
Love this so much because there are so many colours that I never need to worry about not having something while I’m out. It also has a gigantic mirror which is useful!

And inside the make up case:

1. Case
I got this one from Haigh’s chocolate shop, it was filled with delicious freckles but has been totally worth the money as a reusable tin. Mmm chocolate.

2. Lip Palette
So you can see the colours inside.

3. Comb
Always good to have one of these handy! This one is a very old metal base which is quite pretty. There are usually a heap of bobby pins in here too.

4. Lip Gloss
This is one of many that find their way into my bag… I can never seem to have enough though!

5. Perfume Oil
I’m not a big fan of perfume but I keep this one in my bag with me because it smells sooooo good. It’s very fruity and good for touch ups after a long day.

6. Cotton buds
Very useful for make up touch ups etc. These ones have water on the inside so you flick them and the end of the cotton bud gets wet for better make up removal.

7. Lash glue
Just in case of lash mishaps!!

And in the final 2 sections of the bag….

1. Mobile phone
Of course!

2. Facewasher
Again like the scarf this has so many uses!

3. Wallet
I don’t actually carry a wallet much these days, partly because James keeps all my important junk in his wallet and partly out of never going out that much haha.

4. More lipgloss/balm
Only having 3 in my bag is pretty good for me! Usually they just accumulate at the bottom because I never take them out XD

5. Handkerchief
I embroidered this one myself!

And that’s it! To be honest this is like the neat version of my bag after I have a clean out, generally the bottom of it is full of crap like sugar packets, other people’s business cards and napkins >_< It’s nice to pretend I’m neat though sometimes!!

Hope this was a fun post to read ^_^

Eyemajic Eyeshadow Applicator Review

by VioletLeBeaux | May 8, 2011 | Beauty, Review

I love me a good gimmick. Give me something shiny with a new feature and I’m all over it XD I’ve seen and tried similar systems to this before with mixed results so when Eyemajic arrived in my post office box from their PR agency I was intrigued.

For those who haven’t seen these before, the basic idea is that these little strips apply fancy eyeshadow for you and are aimed at women who don’t know/don’t have time to apply complicated looks. The pack has enough for 2 applications and costs $4.95 or a 5 pack for $10.95 from Miss Lacy.The two pieces come in a little plastic packet which has a peel off back. Each foam paddle thing has 3 colours which are complimentary. Mine was brown, pink and white. You can see that some of the shadow had rubbed off in the corner of the paddle in transit but not enough to make a difference to the finished look.

The idea is that you press it to your eyelid then drag to the side to apply. You can see from the picture that the paddle was a bit small for my eye but after blending it didn’t matter much.

After once swipe most of the make up was on my eye. Though it wasn’t very easy to apply with precision.

The right eye seems to have a lot more of the white than the left and I couldn’t get them very close to the lash line because of the shape of the paddle. Having an upwards curve at the bottom seems like a good idea but when your eye is closed the curve really needs to point down to match the eye shape.

After the swipe:

Nothing was left on the paddle:

After applying the other one, it looked like there was more of the top silver colour on the right than the left, once it was blended you couldn’t tell though.

I used a brush to blend the colours in and distribute them evenly around the lid and this was the result.

So all in all I like the idea and it’s very easy to use. The colours blended well and while they didn’t look good on me I imagine the colours would go well on someone with a different skin tone. For the long term it would be much more cost effective to just buy a palette of eye shadow, a brush and learn how to apply yourself but these definitely have a place. They would be great for girls just getting started in make up or for girls who don’t normally wear make up at all to use at special events. They don’t require any skill to use and provide a nice result but you also lose out on the ability to completely customize a look to the most flattering one for your skin tone and shape so it’s 50/50.

Verdict- definitely have a purpose and would be great for girls who don’t know how to apply make up. Easy to use, applied smoothly and decent result. DO WANT but for my kid sister (if I actually had one ) or to teach friends how to apply make up or if I only had like 5min to get ready. These would be a good back up plan for last minute outings or to keep in your handbag for emergencies 😉

Sailor Style Super Cute T-Shirt Surgery

by VioletLeBeaux | May 6, 2011 | Clothing-Tutorials, Craft, Tutorial

As sad as it is and no matter how much I wish otherwise, sometimes favorite pieces of clothing are un-savable. My Metamorphose sailor cutsew is one of them. It met with an unfortunate accident with a delightful 9 year old’s icecream cone and hasn’t been the same since. I’ve been carting it around for 3 years now thinking maybe I could fix it or meet a magical dry cleaner but in the last wardrobe clean out I decided to bite the bullet and give up. To be honest it never really looked great on me to begin with because it had wide shoulders and no shape in the waist but it’s hard to shake brand love as an ex-Lolita XD While I no longer wear the fashion, some pieces just have too much memory in them to give up.

So I salvaged the parts I liked (the sailor collar and sleeves) and spliced it with another nautical shirt which Is started customising many years ago (added the bottom frill and made it tighter) in my “to do with at some point” pile ^_^

The offending icecream stain 🙁I cut the sleeves, collar and ribbons off leaving as much fabric to use as a seam as possible. This is roughly the layout I decided on… VioletLeBeauxDSC_0294_1812

Collar was nice and easy, just overlock the raw edge…

Pin it along the inside of the current collar…

and stitch it in place.

Bam! New collar ^_^

Now the sleeves!

I cut off the cuff of the sleeves on the anchor shirt and overlocked the seams together. Insanely simple.

And that was it. Nothing earth shattering and I haven’t decided if I completely like the end result yet but at least now my poor Meta shirt didn’t die in vain XD

The back:

And co-ordinated…

Ugh I need to remember to take outfit photos before I go out so my clothes aren’t always so crinkly looking XD Normally I’m in a rush to leave and by the time I get home I’m all disheveled and I just want to get it all off and sit down haha!

So that’s it, two unwearable shirts into one that I actually like ^_^

What's in my handbag?

Eyemajic Eyeshadow Applicator Review

Sailor Style Super Cute T-Shirt Surgery

Violet

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