{ YUM! } Brunch at The Imp Café

A delicious brunch on a beautiful sunny day with the bff- one of my absolute fave things to do! We decided to go and try The Imp for the first time and it's such a nice little cozy restaurant! We both ordered food from the breakfast menu- bff ordered the Big Brekkie and I ordered the Big Veggie Brekkie. We were surprised by the generosity of food on the plate when it arrived on our table!

My Big Veggie Brekkie was super yummy and soo filling I couldn't finish it all :( The poached eggs were cooked perfectly and their home-made hashbrowns were so tasty- fluffy potato mash in the centre and a crispy outer coating YUM! I was so excited with the mountain of wild mushrooms on my plate- lovee mushrooms but just wished there was a tad bit more seasoning. The beans tasted surprisingly good and I say surprising because I don't particularly like beans- the spices used in the sauce made it really flavoursome. Spinach was alright, pretty normal and cooked well. The sourdough bread was fresh although I wanted a bit more crunch from it.

Diggin' in.

My cute pot of English Breakfast!- even teapots like to keep nice and warm : )

Love her!

Service was really good too- bff wanted to swap her beans with mushrooms and there were no problems or extra charge with that. Friendly staff and relatively quick service. Both our dishes costed $20 each which I was pleased to pay especially with the huge portion and excellent quality of food we got.

Food: 4/5

Atmosphere: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Price: 4/5

If you guys live in Perth, definitely check out this place! I definitely want to return to try their dinner tapas!

The Imp Café is located at:

863 Albany Hwy

East Vic Park

Have a lovely weekend!

xo Laura

❥ May Favourites 2012

I'm so excited to be doing my first ever favourites blog post! I'll definitely try and do my monthly favourites from now on but we'll just start off with my favourites for May! I know it's very late and it's halfway through June already but I've been soo so busy with exams and all that :( I just finished my last exam today which means more time to blog : ) So these products are basically my current faves and what I've been using essentially everyday.

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette, Fairydrops Mascara, NYX Blush in 'Pinky', K-Palette 24 Hour Eyeliner, Maybelline Dream Matte Powder, BRTC Gold Caviar BB Cream, MAC Lipstick in 'Angel' and NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in 'Istanbul'

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I was tossing up between putting the Naked 2 or the original Naked palette in my May favourites but decided to choose the Naked 2 since I felt I've been using this one more often lately. It's a perfect neutral eyeshadow palette with an array of shimmery, glittery and matte shadows. I swatched some of my favourite shadows from the palette above. The eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and smooth. I've especially been lovin' using 'Busted' and 'Blackout' to smudge my eyeliner, giving a really nice subtle smokey eye.

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder

My current favourite face powder! This is probably my 3rd purchase of the powder and obviously you can see that I've already hit pan. It's a great sheer setting powder providing you with a nice matte finish on your face. I must add that it won't provide you with a matte finish all day although I don't tend to need to blot often throughout the day just because I don't get super oily. It just provides me with the perfect finish on my combination skin.

Fairydrops Mascara 

 I've been starting to really love this mascara again. It's a really black mascara providing me with added length to my lashes. I'm not too sure which type of mascara this is but I'm pretty certain it's their waterproof formula hence it's able to hold my curl throughout the day. Definitely not a volumising mascara in my opinion. I really like the curved applicator as well. Oh, and the packaging is cute : )

NYX Blush in 'Pinky'

'Pinky' is a matte pink blush and is super wearable. I believe it would be a great colour for most skin tones, especially those who have fairer skin. It provides a pretty pink flush to the cheeks and is fairly pigmented. (check out the swatch at the end of the post)

K-Palette Real Lasting 24h Eyeliner

 Super love this eyeliner! Gives you a precise and intense black line for the perfect cat eye. Now, I'm not too sure about this '24 hour, 1 day' ability of this liner as I don't wear my eyeliner for 24 hours =.= but it is definitely long lasting and barely smudges.

BRTC Gold Caviar BB Cream

 I adoreeeeeeee this BB cream. I started to use it again after my Skin 79 VIP Gold BB cream ran out and have been really loving this one again! I'm not sure why I wasn't too fond of it before...I think it was because I felt it made my skin a bit oily? Anywho..I really like this BB Cream. It gives me great coverage, SPF 50 is an added benefit, it has a creamy texture, really moisturing and doesn't feel heavy on my face at all. I swear by my BB creams! It just makes your skin so much better and feels a lot more natural than foundations.

MAC Lipstick 'Angel' and NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream 'Istanbul'

 My current two favourite lip combos! I find the NYX lip creams on its own to be too drying on my lips so the perfect solution was to pair it up with a creamy lipstick under it! The end result is not a super matte lip look but a slight matte-creamy lip which I actually really like. I love MAC's 'Angel' lipstick! Such a pretty natural pink, creamy formula and smells sooooooo good! I love love the smell of MAC's lipsticks (a vanilla smell?). Check out the swatches below!

L-R: NYX Blush in 'Pinky', MAC Lipstick in 'Angel, NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in 'Istanbul'

WOW...I feel that was a super long post >.< but I hope you guys enjoyed my first favourites ramble. Let me know what are your current favourite items in your makeup collection!

xo Laura

*Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post. All items were purchased with my own money.*

{ Review + Swatches } NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

Hello all! Wow..I feel like I haven't put up a post in so long but I'm currently in exam study mode *sorry* :( I will definitely be posting more frequently once it's over! Anyway, another NYX product review! If you wanted to check out my first review on the NYX Round Lipsticks just click here.

I LOVE LOVE these Jumbo Eye Pencils from NYX. They are the perfect base for any eyeshadow and really inexpensive. These eye pencils are pretty creamy so I don't suggest applying it on your lids on its own as they may crease but rather as a base for your eyeshadows. They provide something for your eyeshadows to stick on and my favourite part is how they make your eyeshadows way more pigmented and bold!

 L-R: Milk, Yogurt, Pure Gold, French Fries, Lime, Black Bean

- Milk :: matte white. A great base to lighten any eyeshadow as well as making it more opaque

- Yogurt :: shimmery pink-champagne

- Pure Gold :: shimmery gold

- French Fries :: shimmery reddish-bronze

- Lime :: shimmery lime green

- Black Bean :: matte black. A great black base to intensify dark eyeshadows

And this is just an example of how a great base can make your eyeshadows more pigmented and intense.

L-R: Urban Decay "Half Baked", Urban Decay "Half Baked" on top of NYX Pure Gold Jumbo Eye Pencil

Pros:

• Inexpensive (I purchased mine for $3.99 each)
• Creamy, smooth formula
• Intensifies the pigmentation of eyeshadows
• Great base for eyeshadows to stick on especially if they tend to have quite a bit of fall-out

Cons:

• Bad packaging. I remember I gently placed the plastic cap on the pencil and it started to crack >.< (You can see from the pictures above)

Overall, they really are great eyeshadow bases and definitely worth investing if you love playing with eyeshadows. I definitely plan on purchasing more in the future! Are there any other eyeshadow bases out there that you guys love? Do share your recommendations!

xo Laura

* Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with NYX Cosmetics. I purchased all products with my own money and as always, my reviews are 100% my honest opinion. *