Pukka - Mutterzauber Schwangerschaft (Mother magic pregnancy) Tea

A friend of mine brought this but quickly decided they didn't like the taste (they aren't a big tea drinker to begin with), so they offered the rest to me.
I'm not going to turn down a new tea to try!

The ingredients are raspberry leaves, chamomile flowers, nettle leaves, shatavari root, peppermint leaves, sweet fennel seeds, and orange peel. 

The scent is herbal with a hint of peppermint tea.

The taste is a really refreshing herbal taste, not overwhelming, just nice and delicate. A good tea to those starting to get into herbal tea. 

Overall, this is a pretty nice herbal tea. If someone offers you a cup, don't turn it down just because it is marketed as a pregnancy tea.


Price: 5/5 ($6.15 for 20 bags)
Rating: 5/5

Micro USB Camera with Cleaning Attachment 

Sometimes I want to see more than I can naturally see.
I want to know more.

I want to see in my ears. XD

This is a thin USB camera, with LED lights, that you can use to see inside your ears.
It doesn't get hot and comes with a little blunt, looped wire attachment which you can use to remove wax.
Like a microscope the movement is shown in reverse, so you may think you need to move the camera left, but it really should go right.

Don't @ me that this is a bad idea, I don't care.

I gave it to PB to examine his own ears and ... he was horrified. 

This is my new favourite toy.

Price: 5/5 ($16.57 for one)
Effectiveness: 4.5/5

Avon - Nailwear Pro+ - Nail Enamel - Noir Emerald

This is a 'metallic' dark, blue-green colour that I wish was more of a true green.

Two coats.

Price:1/5  ($14.99 for 12mL)
New Name: Viridian
Effectiveness: 5/5

Palmer's - Cocoa Butter Formula - Lip Balm

This is a stick lip balm that works so well.

It is great for bed time.
It is easy to wind up and apply, has a nice faint cocoa butter scent, and creates a moisturising barrier.
It is also SPF 15 to protect your lips from sum damage.

PU1 even has one and likes it (and she doesn't like a lot of things).

Price: 4/5 ($3.69 for 4g)
Scent: 4/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Purple Prairie Botanicals - Shampoo Bar - Cedarwood & Tea Tree

This was a free sample! :D

I had never used solid shampoo before!
It smells really nice, the cedarwood is the main scent (which I freaking love!).

It leaves your hair SUPER clean, squeaky clean!
If you want your hair CLEAN clean, try this!

The only downside was my scalp didn't like being THAT clean, I had bad dandruff afterward.
In retrospect my scalp may have liked a conditioner afterward.

Price: 4.5/5 ($5.50 for 226.8g)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 4/5

Naturals - Bio Orange - Aromatic Shampoo

This smells quite nice, with the formula including 'bio' orange oil.

It cleans well, lathers well, and does not irritate the skin.
Also, a little goes a long way.

Price: 3.5/5 ($5.60 for 150mL)
Scent: 4/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Confidence - Fresh Wipes

Yes, this is a review of what is essentially baby wipes.
I picked these up at Aldi and used them to remove my makeup.

But what makes these notable is they come with a proper lid!!!

Now, the lid on my packet came off over time, but it is a step in the right direction.

The packaging claims that you can flush them down the toilet, but I personally advise against that.
Unfortunately, I used them all before I thought to test how they disintegrate in water.

An easy way to test if they break down sufficiently. A cloudy jar is your window to not needing to call a plumber.

They are lightly scented, non-irritating, and work well to remove makeup.

Price: 5/5 ($2.49 for 40 wipes)
Scent: 3/5
Effectiveness: 4/5

Gaviscon - Dual Action

I have been using a fair bit of Gaviscon of late (reason for this will be covered in a future post).
For heartburn, I have only ever found liquid Gaviscon to be effective.
Tablets, chewables, other brand liquid antacids, they don't last anywhere near as long as this does.

This isn't a sponsored post, by the way, just credit where credit is due.

I like the peppermint flavour, as I find the aniseed flavour awful.

There is nothing I have found that works as good as this.

Price: 4/5 ($11.99 for 600mL)
Scent: 4/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

NYX - Baked Eyeshadow - Supernova

I love gold eyeshadow, so this was a great thing to get in a Bellabox.

This has THE CUTEST packaging! A little clear topped box, lined with black, and a black bow!
It is also well made and wont break up in a makeup bag.

For a light colour, the colour intensity is really good. I love the shimmer in it!

There is also a lot of product in this, so you definitely get your money's worth.

I am so impressed with this product! This is a great choice for a go-to shade to be kept in your bag if you want to add to your look.

Price: 4/5 ($9.95 for 3g)
Effectiveness: 5/5

Healthy Care - Face Serum - Gold Flake Anti-Aging

This serum contains gold flakes, RNA, DNA, and placenta (eh, got to do something with this).
It smells nice, a bit like lavender.

It isn't sticky, absorbs quickly, and adds a little gold shimmer (don't worry, it isn't crazy).
It left my skin looking refreshed.

Price: 5/5 ($14.99 for 50mL)
Scent: 4.5/5
Effectiveness: 4/5

Australis - Velourlips - Matte Lip Cream

A velour lip colour...

I will never stop referring to Zapp Brannigan's love of velour!

This is a really nice lip colour and I have a few shades on hand... 4, i have 4 shades...

I have a beautiful smile... props to past me for taking these photos for future me!

I love them all!

And I'm going to become a true beauty blogger... swatches!

New names (bottom to top): 'Pop'-sucker, comic book punch, i will cut you, and Ram-my-stein.

They are a little drying, as all matte colours are, but not to a big extent.

The colour intensity is great! What is in the tube is what you get!

There are more shades, so go check them out... they are great!

I'll be honest, in researching this I have seen more that I want...

Price: 4/5 (RRP $10.49 for 10mL)
Scent: 3/5 (faint chemical raspberry, but you don't notice it once it's on)
Effectiveness: 5/5

Grace Cole - Boutique - Softening Hand & Nail Cream - Orchid, Amber & Incense

This smells so lovely! Incense is such a great addition to any scent combo.

As a hand cream, I found this to be too thin. 
It is a lotion not a cream.
I ended up using it as a body lotion instead.
As a body lotion, the results were great, very hydrating.

A better hand lotion is the hand therapy from Crabtree & Evelyn.

In a range of scents!

Price: 5/5 ($5.99 for 500mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 1/5

Lacura - Pedi Spa - Chiropody Pliers

Aldi!

I wanted a pair of clippers for removing hard skin that appears on the top of my fingertips near the sides of my nails. No, hand creams alone don't always help with this.

These clippers work perfectly. They are easy to position, the 'spring' can be adjusted so the clippers are open or closed (for storage), and they are sharp enough to cut.

Price: 3/5 (Can't recall, like $5?)
Effectiveness: 5/5

TRESemmé - Salon Silk - Shampoo

I got this in the big 900mL bottle! Less effort on the shampoo buying frequency front!

It smells like shampoo fake apple and green notes (why all the fake apple?!)

It contains silk proteins and argan oil, which I don't feel it makes any difference.

It lathers well, cleans well and doesn't leave a residue on the hair.

Price: 5/5 ($11.49 for 900mL)
Scent: 1/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Lacura Spa - Body Butter - Lemon & Basil

I'm all for anything citrus, so when I spotted this in Aldi, I had to try it.

This body butter is nice and thick, non-irritating, and absorbs well. It contains lemon, basil and olive oils. 

It smells lovely and I only wish it was stronger on the lemon notes.

Other than that, I can't fault it!

Price: 5/5 ($4.99 for 250mL)
Scent: 4.5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Palmolive - Body Polish Passionfruit

This is an exfoliating body wash which smells wonderfully true to real passionfruit! There is also an element of peach, which is listed in the ingredients.

The best thing about this wash is the exfoliating component is made of ground up fruit seeds... WHICH ARE BIODEGRADABLE! 

It also lathers and cleans the skin really well.

Price: 5/5 ($6.79 for 400mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie - Chocolate Therapy - Rich & Decadent Cocoa Body Butter

I picked this up in Yarra Valley and it smells divine! 
It smells like chocolate topping and is so moisturising!
It contains actual cocoa butter and soaks into the skin quickly, leaving the scent on your skin for a long time.
This body butter came with me to America and was great for taking care of my travel-weary skin.

The jar has a quote on it, mine says "You don't have to be born beautiful to be wildly attractive." - Diana Vreeland
I want you all to remember this!

Price: 4/5 (rrp $14.50 for 250mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Schwarzkopf - Live Colour - Red Embers

So, as I may or may not have mentioned, I dyed my hair red.
I did this with a permanent colour and while the result was nice, I wanted to make the colour more vibrant.
Enter the '8 washes' Schwarzkopf live colour!
This is a semi-permanent colour treatment that will wash out bit-by-bit (and the shower water will look like it is from 'Psycho')

The colour it added was quite true to what was shown on the box and it made my hair smell like hair dye (love that chemical-lly smell, by the way)

And because I am a great blogger, I didn't take any photos o.O

Price: 5/5 (rrp $4.89 for one box)
Scent: 1/5 (oh so traditional hair dye smell)
Effectiveness: 5/5

Cussons - Imperial Leather - No. 42 Rockpool Hand Wash

This blue beauty caught my attention with imagery of mermaids, beautiful corals and ocean foam (all things I just projected onto the product).

So with such poetic thoughts in mind, how could I not try it?

The scent is listed on this bottle is Indian lotus and waterlily. To me, I smell is a clean, white floral (makes sense with the lily) with a hint of marine scent.
I would have preferred more salt and oceanic for a "Rock pool" name, but you can't win 'em all!

I really liked the blue colour and the lather was superb, needless to say it cleaned the hands well.

Will I buy this scent as a body wash (which I can do), probably not (I want more ocean and less white floral, damn it!), but it's a fun little kitchen/bathroom addition.

Price: 4/5 (rrp $3.99 for 250mL)
Scent: 4/5
Efficiency: 5/5