Lust Have It June 2014

Welcome to my blog post about my June 2014 Lust Have It beauty box unboxing. I realise we are near the end of July, but if you watch my Youtube channel you will know that I tend to receive my LHI boxes in the month after they are released. For some reason their boxes take two weeks at least from the time they are delivered to reach me. This is actually very strange, as they are sent via Australia Post and even via road mail they shouldn't take that long.
Anyway.
I had started doing a battle of the boxes on my Youtube channel (the first one was the May LHI versus the June Bellabox and June Violet Box) and had held off on unboxing my June LHI to do the next battle, however the Bellabox and Violet Box for July are both late (at the time of this post I still don't have them) so I decided to open the June LHI and wait for the July LHI to do the next battle.
Which is a really long way of getting to the point of this blog post.
The box.
Lust Have It is an Australian beauty box subscription service that costs $19.95 per month (less if you pay for a whole year). You receive around 5 products, some sample size, some deluxe sample (which just means a bigger sample/travel size) and some full size.
You can join here -  http://bit.ly/1pmqAOV - if you use this link I get reward points.
Or you can just go to - http://www.lusthaveit.com.au/home/ - and join that way.
Each box comes with a card telling you about your items and listing their RRP for a full size version. They also list where you can buy the item if you decide you like it enough to purchase.

 So here is how the Lust Have It box (ummm.... bag) arrives. Lustre is the name of LHI's ezine. The bag is fairly decent quality plastic, good for putting a few items in to throw in your handbag so they don't get make-up goop on everything else.

This is the card out of my box. As you can see there are 5 items. On the back of the card is a coupon code to get $20 of the new Lust Have It! brush set.

Next we have this $30 voucher to Hello Fresh. Unfortunately they only deliver to the mainland Eastern States of Australia, which means it is useless for me.

Then we have two 2mL Nuxe Paris samples in foil packets. Not a huge fan of the foil packet samples. One is an eye cream, the other a face cream. I will probably use them, but the sample is far too small to determine if you like a product enough to actually buy it or to find out if it actually works. The eye cream is $44.95 for 15ml (making this sample worth $5.99), the face cream is $49.95 for 50mL (making the sample worth $2). Obviously Nuxe is a 'prestige' brand.

 Next we have the items from the box that pissed me off. Orly toe spreaders and mini files. Both of these items are given away for free if you buy two mini Orly polishes. It is frankly a shitty thing to include in a subscription box. The files are also fairly rough, rougher than I use on my nails. The toe spreaders are worth $4.95 and the files are less that $2. You can get Manicure's gel toe spreaders for less from Priceline.

Next we have the La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo. This is a 3mL sample. This product is $27.95 for 40mL (making this sample worth $2.10). I have received this product before in a different subscription box. It is a pretty nice product, although I haven't used it enough to know how well it works over time. Again, a teeny sample, but at least it isn't in a foil packet!

 Now we come to one of two full size products in this month's box. This is the John Plunkett Glyco Peel with 25% Glycolic Acid. It retails for $29.95 for 15mL. This more than covers the cost of the box. I haven't tried it out yet, so I'm not sure how 'strong' it is, but I will probably follow the directions for sensitive skin when I do.

 The last item is this Teeez Trendy Cosmetics Nail Lacquer in Atomic Dragonfly. It retails for $18. I am not entirely convinced that I would be prepared to pay that much for this particular nail polish.

I do love the wide brush, but I did find it a bit streaky. The colour is quite nice, but not unique or that different from colours available from other brands for less.

All in all this box is an improvement over the last couple of months. The combined value of the box was just shy of $65, which isn't too bad for a $19.95 price tag. I would probably have been happier if there was more cosmetics and less skin care, but that is a personal preference.
If you are interested here is my Youtube video on this bag/box.



*All opinions are my own. I pay for this subscription from my own funds. I am not being paid to promote Lust Have It.

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Mini Maybelline Haul

Recently I made a purchase through Ozsale.com.au (which is an Australian site that has sales on items from household goods to clothing to beauty items). A lot of the things I buy are make up, and the prices are amazing. Sometimes the products are discontinued or overruns, and often they come from the US or the UK. Often times they are products that we can't actually get in Australia, and even if we could the prices would be ridiculous.

So today's post is going to be part of one of my recent buys. Some sales are multi brand, so I decided to break it up into brands to do these posts. Today it will be some Maybelline products.

First up we have the Color Tattoo Eyeshadow in Fierce and Tangy.

This is a lovely orange, not a colour I normally pick, but I have worn this and it was pretty nice. These are around the $12 mark here in Australia, only you won't find this colour from what I have seen. You can get it in the US for around $6. However I only paid $2 for it via Ozsale. It is drying out a bit, but is still very usable.

Next we have two Color Sensational Lip glosses (not to be confused with the Colour Sensational High Shine Gloss).

You cannot get these in Australia, you can only get the High Shine Gloss for around $8. However they are up on the US version of the Maybelline website for about $6.50. I paid $3 each for these. The two colours are Wine All Mine and Sugared Honey. They are fairly sheer, but not really sticky. They don't last a huge amount of time, but would be great just to slick on when you are running to the shops.

Next up we have three nail polishes from the Colorama range. These are really only available on Ebay and places like that. They are discontinued but they are nail polish!

So we have Icing Sugar, which is a nude shade, a bit on the streaky side even after two coats. Then we have Wonder Violet, absolutely gorgeous purple with a blue shift. And lastly we have Berry Sweet, which is a pink based berry red. I quite like the consistency and they don't smell awful. They dry fairly quickly (although not quickly enough judging by the ding in the last photo) and are nicely shiny even without a top coat. I paid $2 for Wonder Violet and $2 for the other two together (they came in a pack.) They were originally around $5 or $6 each.

If you live in Australia I would really recommend that you check out Ozsale.com.au for yourself. Shipping is $9.95 for each order, but if you make multiple orders at the same time you will often get a discount on that price for orders after the first one. (Did that make any sense?) They don't only do beauty stuff, you can get some great bargains on clothes, candles, toys and gadgets and they have new sales starting every day.

*Opinions in this blog post are mine and mine alone. I do not receive anything from Ozsale for this post. All items were purchased by me.

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PTSD and life

Every day I live my life with the spectre of PTSD hanging over my head. Living probably isn't really the right word. More like existing. It is hard to live, really live, when hidden triggers are hiding behind every corner.
It becomes hard to leave my haven, my safe place. And sometimes even my safe place is overrun with triggers. I no longer watch the news. Every time I hear about some child who has been abused, or how some celebrity is actually a pedophile, or how a church covered up abuse, or one of a myriad of similar stories, I feel it. It is like a physical pain. My heart starts to race, adrenalin flows through my body, my stomach churns, I start to shake and twitch. If you are watching me you might notice me taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly, or me twirling a pen in my hands violently, or my leg bouncing up and down.
You won't see me ripping my hair out, or screaming, or rocking back and forth wailing.
I will hide my feelings, my reactions, as much as possible. I will protect those around me as much as I can, whilst my insides twist and turn and rip themselves to shreds. Years of hiding my fear and distaste from my abuser taught me how to look calm on the outside even when you are terrified.
Currently things are really hard. There has been a flood of media about child abuse, pedophilia and all the things associated with it. I don't watch the news, but sometimes other people in my house will and my ears will hear things. It has come to the point where as soon as I hear the opening bars of the news I stick my ipod on and drown out the sound. It is hard enough just having random attacks, without subjecting myself to known triggers.
And that is where it is really awful.
I will be sitting there, farming on Farmville, totally relaxed, calm and then BAM! Adrenalin floods my system and an anxiety attack ensues. Out of nowhere. Many people think the anxiety and panic attacks occur only due to triggers, like a stressful situation, but sometimes they happen when you least expect them, when there is nothing 'unsafe' going on. And that is the hell. Not only to you have to aware of triggers, but also you have to be aware that any time, night or day, you can descend into your own personal hell for no reason at all.
I am, frankly, quite sick of my personal hell.
I don't want to have PTSD.
I don't want to have depression.
I don't want to have anxiety and panic attacks.
I want to be able to walk down the street and not see the face of my abuser in every old man.
I want to be able to go to bed at night and fall asleep.
I want to be able to sleep without reliving the horrors of my abuse.
I want it all to not have happened.
I want to have been protected.

You don't always get what you want.

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I'm Back!

Hey guys!
Just over a year ago I pretty much walked away from this blog. My mental health was in major decline, I had effectively stopped participating in my usual online pursuits, ie selling, handmade etc.
After a while I blogged a bit on Glipho, mainly about nail stuff. Then I started a youtube channel, mainly about beauty stuff, with the intention of eventually doing tutorials in a range of different areas such as beading, nail art and miniatures. If you have any interest in that you can find me here - https://www.youtube.com/user/Haffina

Last night I was in bed and I started to think about this blog and I realised I really wanted to revive it. I really wanted to revive Haffina Creations itself. My creative self is such a huge part of who I am and it has taken a huge battering over the last few years.

So I am back. The content of this blog will almost certainly be different from what it was before, with a lot more focus on beauty and nails, as this is the area that has taken the major part of my focus. I am even contemplating studying to be a nail technician or beautician, or both. I completely understand if some of my readers decide it is time to move on themselves, not everyone cares about the latest make up products or how to paint cows on your finger nails. There will still be some jewellery/chainmaille type stuff, and there will still be some polymer clay stuff, but they won't be the main focus anymore.

I'm very grateful to those who have hung in there, and I really hope I can rely on you for you continued support as I travel on this next leg of my life journey.

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