Goodbye and... Maybe Hello?

I've had this blog for a couple of years now, and the obsession with makeup, perfume and making my skin look as smooth as a baby's butt (still trying) for several decades before that, so I think I've said and done all there is to say and do about that stuff for the moment. I've made loads of new friends from it, found some awesome blogs to read, and learned a million new things.

I'm not going to delete this blog, but I won't be updating it anymore. Instead I'm moving on to new pastures, and if you feel so inclined, I would be delighted if you would join me. It's called Year of the Tight Arse (Australian for someone who doesn't like spending money), and I do intend to chronicle my adventures with frugality - not a natural state for me, I should add. However, it's also a sort of anything-goes blog, where I can feel free to write whatever I want without worrying about whether I'm annoying people who just want to look at lipstick swatches. And for those who care about such things (me!), there will still be some makeup mentions and things like monthly empties posts, for I am obsessed with emptying things of late and that shows no sign of abating any time soon.

Thank you to everyone who followed and/or read my ramblings here. It's been lovely. :-)

And as a final treat, here's 5 blogs you should be reading if you're not already. 

Beauty Reductionista: Liz is a Canadanian (that's how you say it, right?) who created a blog to chronicle her attempts at reducing a large stash of beauty products. Has she succeeded? It's been hit and miss. Regardless, she's interesting, funny and snarky without being mean. And she posts about some beautiful, beautiful things... even if I don't know what they are.

My Perfume Diaries: Su shares my love of perfume, but goes way beyond that since she actually makes the effort to learn about them, rather than just going, "This one's nice. This one's nice too. This one's nice. This one's nice too..." like me channelling that Melanie Griffith in The Simpsons. She can speak knowledgably without sounding like a wanker (no mean feat in the perfume blogging world, let me tell you), and if you have even the slightest interest in scent she will have you spending up big after you read her hauls and reviews. Hmm, maybe I should stop reading this one...

Dempeaux: Sarah is a whizz at making her own stuff from serums to hair growth products. Annoyingly she won't open a shop and sell it so I can buy it instead of getting off my butt and making my own. I'll keep nagging though. She also has a pet sheep called Lamington, which sounds just like the kind of name my mother (a sheep farmer) would call a sheep, and even a scarf made from his wool.You can learn about being healthy, or just look at pictures of pretty clothes. And both Noodle Arms and I think she looks like Alex from Law and Order: SVU, so we're kind of fans.

The Mustard Jumper: Natalie covers everything from fashion to football. I have little interest in either of those things, but her blog is one of my all time favourites, so I'm not kidding when I say she has something for everyone. Books, blogging, empties, it's all there. She is also responsible for me falling insanely in love with The Inbetweeners, a show I'm 25 years too old for (and probably the wrong gender).

Dresses & Snacks: Amy loves food and vintage/thrift shop fashion, and blogs lovingly about both. There are dresses and there are snacks, and there is also the world's cutest sausage dog (which takes some doing, because seriously - have you ever seen a non-cute sausage dog? I don't even like dogs and they turn me to mush). Oh, and there is also this. I kind of hate her for that one.

New YouTuber

My friend Tegan and I both reviewed Hissy Fit (Hissyfit?) Saving Face Tinted Moisturiser recently - my review is here and Tegan's is here.

Tegan's just done her first YouTube video for The Beauty Explorers, where she talks about this product and gives some very interesting information about how SPFs are tested. And she also mentions me! So check it out, because she's nice and she knows her stuff.

Someone somewhere thinks I'm better at something that someone else!*

A few weeks ago the lovely Joy from All Made Up gave me a Beautiful Blogger Award, which I was really chuffed about. Even though my little blog is really for my own entertainment, it's nice to know that there are other people out there who enjoy reading what I write. If you've not read Joy's blog, you should - she does a lot of informative reviews and is very knowledgable.

So the point of this is to thank the person who gave you the award, link back to their blog, tell people 7 secrets/facts about yourself and then pass the award onto 10 other bloggers. That's the hardest part, and the main reason it's taken me so long to do this - I love all the blogs I read, if I didn't I wouldn't read them. I have finally managed to come up with 10 that I think everyone should check out.

Awesome surprises in the mail!

I've been whinging all week because I have a bunch of packages somewhere in transit, and everything's soooo slow at the moment due to a) Christmas, b) the recent parity of the Aussie dollar and c) the general incompetence of Australia Post. However, I did come home today to two lovely surprise packages from a couple of my gorgeous beauty blogger pals.

Su sent me some beautiful MOR soaps in a pretty pink tin, and some makeup and perfumes. I especially love the Rimmel eyeliner - it's a gorgeous purple colour.

And Jade sent some perfumes and a buttload of samples for me (and no doubt Noodles) to play with.

Thank you so much ladies. I was thrilled to come home to find these surprises! :-D xx