Little message from me

Hey guys,

My posting has been really few and far between of late because of my intense uni commitments, but I just wanted to say that regular posting will resume no later than the 8th of June. I've had the busiest, most assessment-filled semester of my entire uni experience and it's been hard to make the blog a priority when I've had so many weekends with 2 or more assessments due at a time. It's nearly over though and I'll be able to put this blog back on the top of my list of things to do. Please bear with me until then :)

Cassie xx

Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron

The other night I went and saw the new Avengers movie with my sister. I had been really looking forward to it since I've loved pretty much all the previous ones in this Marvel universe. The premise of this movie is basically a follow on from ones like Captain America 2, etc. and continues on with the 'Infinity Stone' storyline. 

In this movie they introduce two new characters to the series, Wanda and Petra Maximoff, or Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver as their known in the comic book world. In the comic books the characters (from my understanding) are mutants, but since another movie company has the rights to that term, in the Avengers they are referred to as being 'enhanced'. The story deals with the consequences the heroes face when Tony Stark and Bruce Banner (Ironman and the Hulk respectively) cook up a new form of AI called Ultron in their lab. They use the power from Loki's scepter from the first Avengers to bring Ultron to life. Just when they think that Ultron didn't work he comes to life and harnesses a part of the scepter the heroes didn't know about, which is one of the six Infinity Stones. Ultron becomes crazy powerful and vows to dominate and destroy humanity. Basically the heroes then have to stop their own creation to save the world. The Maximoff twins are both enemies and allies throughout the movie and they brought a different type of storyline to the series. 

I want to also add one little disclaimer before I get into my actual thoughts on the film. I have seen how bat-crap crazy people have gone over this movie and the perceived 'sexism' etc. in it. I will not be playing into any of that except to say this. I didn't find anything sexist or horrible about the movie. I think Joss Whedon is a great writer and director. If you read this an disagree with me, that's fine, but just remember we're all allowed our own personal opinion and this is mine. I in no way support sexism or any of the other themes this movie is accused of promoting, I just personally didn't find any of those themes in the movie.

I really enjoyed this movie. I love how all the Marvel movies have a healthy balance of humor, action and drama in them and this one was no exception. It was total action from the first second and continued through the whole movie. There was barely a restful minute in the whole movie. I also loved how this movie explored some of the characters we haven't had a chance to see much of yet. I love the Hawkeye storyline and how the Hulk played a bigger part. Whedon was really able to show that Hulk isn't as useless as he may seem. I mean, sure he's huge and strong and green, but he's also unreliable and super angry and I think this is one of the first movies to make real use of him. Even the Hulk movies haven't really explored his usefulness the way this movie did. 

Probably my favourite part of the movie was the addition of the Maximoff twins to the storyline. I loved that most of the time you didn't know which side they were on. I love how they were portrayed by their actors. Quicksilver was awesome. He was a bit of a larrikin. I loved him and Hawkeye sort of riffing off each other. It gave Hawkeye a different dimension to his personality. Scarlet Witch is just awesome. I loved how they showed her powers in this red flurry of air (yep, that was the worst description of something... ever). I love that she was strong and honest and powerful. I really look forward to seeing more in the next movies!

Personally I really just enjoyed the movie. It was easy to watch and had amazing action scenes. I love the superhero movies and this one did not disappoint. 

Review: Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Lash Extending Treatment Mascara

I was excited to get this from my sister. She got it in a big Elizabeth Arden makeup gift set and never used it. It’s the Ceramide Lash Extending Treatment Mascara and it’s the first high-end mascara I have ever tried. Usually I stick to Maybelline. My favourite mascara of all time (so far) is the Maybelline Mega Plush Waterproof stuff. This stuff however does come pretty close.

First of all let’s talk about the packaging. It’s so sleek with its sort-of-matte/sort-of-shiny gold exterior. It’s quite thin and I like that it’s not oddly shaped. It’s just a regular old cylinder which makes it great for travel.

Now the formula. Yep, this review is going to be pretty short! It’s a great balance between being a wet and dry formula. It applies and builds nicely and doesn’t go clumpy on my lashes. I generally use mascara just to add the black colouring back after they get coated with powders and whatnot. I’m lucky have quite naturally voluminous long lashes and I mostly just like to deepen the colour of my lashes rather than add any length or volume. The wand seems to be the fibre-bristled type and is a nice density. I hate the wands that are large and in charge because I’m very clumsy with mascara and without fail always poke myself in the eye with the big wands. I haven’t done that yet with this wand, which is awesome. It’s always a good day when you don’t almost blind yourself with your mascara wand!

It long-lasting on my lashes too, but it also doesn’t fight me when I go to take it off at the end of the day. I’ve had it for a little while now and it hasn’t shown any signs of running out, drying out or generally changing in consistency at all yet, which I love. I hate when mascaras dry out quickly and you have to constantly replace them. I think it would be especially crap when they’re high-end products because no one wants to be always forking out $30-50 for new ones. I just looked this one up on Myer’s website and its $47! That’s expensive! Now I know the price I’m thinking I might tell you that you should only cough up that money if you really want to! It’s a great product, don’t get me wrong, but the drugstore brands make mascaras that are of equal quality, so maybe try them first. 

Review: Models Prefer Retractable Brow Pencil in Dark

I have been struggling with my brows for a little while now. I have so much trouble finding products that fill them in without being too strong. I’ve tried gel, powder and pencils to little or no avail. I have very dark and full eyebrows and honestly it’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve really taken the time to fill them in. Even now I don’t always feel the need to do them. Because of how intense my natural brows can be it’s so very easy to end up with the crazy brows we all want to avoid. I’ve also been a little averse to paying too much for my brow products. The most I’ve spent was the $38 on the Benefit Gimme Brow, which I love and have already repurchased once, but I don’t use it to fill my brows, I just use it to set them.

I’ve been interested in the retractable brow pencils for a while now. I have a great dislike for the normal pencil ones because they just make my brows look messy. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing wrong, but I just can’t get them to work on me. The retractable ones were appealing because you don’t need to sharpen them. I’d seen EssieButton on YouTube use the Hourglass one, but it was a little out of my price range. While browsing the Priceline website one night I saw that Models Prefer made a retractable pencil and it was only about $12. I picked one up the next time I was in a store and went home and tried it immediately.

I got mine in Dark and the shade is a warm deep brunette. It’s actually a little too warm on my brows. My brow hairs are black when you look closely at them and because I’m au naturel with my hair at the moment and my natural colour is more golden brown, the warmth of the brow pencil can look a little unnatural. It is a very long-lasting product. I’ve worn it all day on 37 degree (Celsius) heat and it hasn’t budged at all, even when the rest of my makeup was a hot mess. I usually paired it with the Gimme Brow, but I have worn it by itself and it lasted equally as long. I really like the spooly it came with too. It’s quite soft and thick which makes it easy to be gentle as you brush through your brows.

As I type this I have already decided that I won’t repurchase this. In fact, I probably won’t even finish the product. I was lucky enough to receive Mecca Maxima gift cards for my birthday last week and after I bought the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette I had enough left over to pick up the Hourglass pencil without having a panic attack over the cost. So I treated myself to some brow luxury and even though I’ve only played with it a little, I can already tell that it’s much better than the Models Prefer one. If you’re on a budget and can wear the warmer shades in your brows, then I would definitely go for this before I splurged on the expensive stuff. If I’m being honest, I would probably have never bought myself the Hourglass one if it weren’t for the gift card. I would have just put up with the warmer shade made it work. It’s not like it looked awful, it just made it a little fiddlier because adding too much made it look really red. Like I said before, it’s super longwearing. It’s also a really nice texture which helps it glide on smoothly and allows you to only need a light hand. This is definitely not a bad product by any means. As far as ‘drugstore’ brow products go, this is by far the best one I’ve tried so far. If you can find a match to your brow colour, I say go for it!