Rockin' Curves and that Ridiculous Wand !!

Ooh another mascara; one would think I was a mascara hoarder. I do have a serious soft spot for them but what actually happened was a massive pre-spring clear out of everything I owned, including all my mascaras that were either not my style or a little manky! I was left with only one lonely tube {this baby from revlon!} So in typical me fashion I managed to somehow accumulate more tubes than I had before. Total logic right there ;) I picked up this Rockin Curves Mascara by Revlon a few weeks ago and although there are a few design flaws namely that ridiculous wand  I've found myself using it more days than not! I'll be pretty blunt and say that the brush on this thing puts me off to no end. The pointy end of the wand being so curved makes it quite hard to get it into the corners of your eyes without mascara ending up all over your face. You really need to have some time and patience if your going to use this, it's definitely not an early morning mascara. Seriously I can hardly put my pants on straight first thing in the morning let alone sit there and concentrate on my lashes.  All that aside I really do like the formula of this mascara; it is a little on the thick side so I do scrape the sides of the wand back into the bottle a few times to prevent those spidery lashes going on. My favourite thing about this is how black this is- its a very intense black which I didn't realise when buying that it's got Extreme Black written all over the bottle. Smart move there Amy! It's probably not the most casual of mascaras but if your going out for drinks with a girlfriend and don't feel like using falsies maybe give this beauty a whirl. You'll be surprised! 

Scrub away your spots!

Finding a face scrub that works with your skin is a tricky job. Sometimes they seem like a miracle worker for the first few tries and then it all goes down hill. Other times they just straight out don't work or they sort of do but your not totally sold on it? I think what it really comes down to is what's in the product that works well with your skin- and in my case that's Salicylic Acid. I have combination oily skin so for me my t-zone gets a little greasy throughout the day but the rest of my face is fairly normal. I seem to get the majority of my spots on the lower half of my checks and around my neckline so not really where my skin gets very greasy. This St Ive's Blemish control Apricot scrub has become my holy grail, must use every morning product. It's quite an abrasive scrub so you only want to use a little bit at a time and although I really do want to use it every morning I tend to use it every second day just so I'm not overusing it and doing any unwanted damage to my skin! It works really well at removing any dead skin and leaves my skin feeling so smooth and refreshed but not tight like some scrubs can. I haven't noticed a huge difference in the size of my pores although they weren't huge to begin with! I've probably been using this for about six months now and i've only just brought me second tube so a little bit does go such a long way with this! The other bonus is that this smells so so delicious- it's like going to a spa in your own bathroom and did I mention how cheap it is? It's normally only $10 but theres 20% off at priceline at the moment so if you've got oily/ combo skin like me why not go pick up a bottle :)

Chai Laneway Markets // A tea lovers Paradise

It's well known on this little slice of the internet that I am a tea nutter. But if I was only aloud one type of tea for the rest of my life it would most definitely be the humble Chai. It's sweet but spicy, has a punch of flavour but mellows itself out as you sip- it's simply divine! So you can imagine how my heart raced when I found out there was not only a tea festival going on but one devoted entirely to Chai Tea. So early Saturday morning early for me- not so early for the normal population I managed to drag myself out of bed gather some clothes and get out the door without waking anyone in my household up. Quite an accomplishment in our house as the walls are paper thin and I'm not very delicate; mum used to complain that as a toddler I would never walk just run from point A to point B and I don't think I've ever grown out of it! 

By the time I got to the Markets, which were actually held in an open air piazza of the local shopping centre, it was well after 11 and I was in desperate need of a coffee. I popped into Coffee Traders for a quick latte and snoop of the local paper before braving the sudden snap of weather and venturing out into the market. The smells that were in the air was enough to draw a huge crowd; regardless of the awful weather! It was a Chai lovers paradise out there, if it was possible to overdose on Chai well I think I came pretty close to doing it! The chai chocolate fudge was to die for and something that I'd never even though of doing before. The original Foxi iced Chai is something i've never come across and will be lusting after coming up to those hot summer months!  

There was also plenty of options for non-chai lovers too; macaroons in every flavour you could think of, Farmer Jo's musli had an unbelievable selection of homemade artisan oats and musli. It was probably a good thing my bag was bursting with goodies by the time I got to them otherwise I would have brought far more than I actually needed. The Chai Room had the most amazing ginger masala Chai that I have ever had with a punch of spice that mellows out and leaves the sweetest taste in your mouth; i'm going to be chasing them around markets from now on just to get a pot of that ginger masala blend. But if your more of a chai latte kinda girl don't worry, we won't judge you  Chai Me has hands down the most sensational Chai Latte Spice I have ever tried, even my friends who aren't huge fans of chai loved it- and thats saying something! By the time I had meandered around every stall the weather had taken a turn for the worse and I decided to make the long drive back home. An hour and a half later I was curled up in-front of the roaring fire with a book and a steaming mug of chai tee; the perfect way to spend a saturday - absolute bliss!

Baking // Banana and Blueberry oat bread!

For those of you that have moved out of home I think you can feel my pain when I mention mums home cooking. Not that my or your cooking is terrible its just that theres something about coming home at the end of a long day to find that your precious mumma has been baking. This Banana oat bread was one of those things that mum used to alway bake for me because I really can't stand bananas when they're fresh but absolutely love them baked into cakes and bread. So the other day while I was feeling a little homesick I decided to give mum a call for her recipe for that simply scrumptious banana oat bread which she gladly handed over! I decided to mix it up a little bit and add some blueberry just for something a little bit more exciting and it turned out so well that both little loafs were gone that afternoon and I had to get baking again the next day. So if you feel like a bit of weekend baking or have a few of those manky old bananas laying around why not whip this up! 

Also be prepared to get a little bit of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback girl stuck in your head for a few days; god knows how many times i've had to say b-an-an-as over and over just to spell it out ;)

*I forgot to mention in the recipe that the loaf tin size that I used was 10x10x18 but really you can use any size tin or cake pan that you have lying around at home! Just make sure you check on it regularly to make sure it doesn't burn. x