Beauty Blogger Tag

Hey all

I've been tagged my gorgeous cousin Lily (CosmeticallyCreative) to do this Beauty Blogger tag.

-X-X-X-

The Rules:

1. State who the tag was created by: The Beau Bow

2. Tag five beauty bloggers

3. Title this like I have done to state what the tag is about.

-X-X-X-

1. Name a beauty routine you barely do.

Style my hair...purely out of laziness!

I couldn't be bothered to use a hair straightener (or flat iron) every morning haha. I just brush my hair and pull it up into a ponytail/braid or clamp it up.

2. Is washing your make up brushes something you do regularly?

I don't wash it as regular as I should. Sometimes I will wash them a week after use, sometime 3 to 4 weeks after use. I should stick to at least once a week!

3. How long will you last with chipped nail polish?

In my work environment (IT helpdesk support with the odd job here and there in physical labour on computers so I do get "handsy" sometimes haha), it would last around 3 days before it starts chipping as I usually paint 2 coats (without top coat).

4. How long do you put off buying/replacing a beauty or nail polish product even if you need it? (i.e, top coat, foundation and so on)

Hmm, tough one! Depends what it is...I don't put off buying face wash, toner, or moisturiser for very long when I'm running out of product. I can hold off other beauty products for a while but there's the odd temptation where I can't resist and have to grab it!

5. What is your worst beauty habit?

It used to be biting my fingernails! Pimple popping on the seldom occasion when my skin reacts.

6. Name something non-beauty related that you put off doing all the time?

Re-designing my blog website! Procrastinating my work's online courses!

7. When going out somewhere, do you leave getting ready till last minute or not?

My cousin Lily will know the answer to this one ;) ...

I'm ALWAYS leaving it until the last minute, I'll be painting my nails even while I'm walking out the door!

8. Can you commit to spending bans?

As hard as it can be sometimes, yes I can commit to not spending especially when I have so many products already that I need to use!

9. How organised is your make up and nail polish collection?

It is semi-organised I'd say...I have most of my makeup laid out on a table with the exception of palettes which are all packed in a shoebox haha. My brushes are all sleeping in brush roll pouches so they're pretty happy too :)

10. What is the longest time you have gone without writing a blog post?

About 3 months - yeah I know, soooo bad! :(

-X-X-X-

The five people I tag are:

*Kallie from But First, Coffee

*Sakuranko from Sakuranko

*Natalie from Natalie Loves Beauty

*Vanessa (Mausi) from alittlebitof FASHION

*Kate from Sparkle Dust

-X-X-X-

Please feel free to leave me a link below to your blog in the comments section and let me know if you've done this tag so I can check it out :)

Enjoy!

Anna Cubana :) x

Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

Avon Haul Part 1 - Fragrance Frenzy

Greetings all

I'm back in action hehe ;)

I've been indulging in some Avon goodies by buying through a friend who sells the brand and been a bit addicted to the great priced deals they had over the past few months so took advantage where I could!


I bought two purse-sized sprays: Ballroom Beauty, and Latin Sensation.

Avon's Ballroom Beauty and Latin Sensation purse-sized sprays

These are 15ml (0.5oz) each - decent amount and size for your travel pack!

Size of each spray bottle - about a hand length

Description on the scent, according to Avon:

• Ballroom Beauty - Sparkle in the limelight with romantic raspberry, feminine pink rose petals and sensual amber.
• Latin Sensation - Steal the show with a passionate mix of warm cardamom spice, sexy hot pink osmanthus and captivating sandalwood.

I can smell the floral/rose scent in Ballroom Beauty and it also has a fresh tinge to it (kind of reminds me of Lacoste Touch of Pink smell) but if you're into soft feminine not-so-overpowering floral scents, this is the one for you! I would wear this on a regular basis.

Latin Sensation does smell a bit spicy but not overpowering, it does fade after a little while of spraying it on. I might have to get used to this as I'm usually into floral and sweet smelling scents.

These were both R39.95 each (2.85 British Pounds or 4.29 U.S. Dollars).


There was a promo in buying a combination of perfume and roll-on for the Little Black Dress range (R199 together when it would have cost R399).

Upon sampling the Eau de parfum, I was a little disappointed at the packaging as I had expected it to be a spray but it turned out to be an open bottle end (which I almost spilled!) similar to that of cologne so I'll have to dab dab dab instead of spritz spritz spritz! Should totally make that a song haha!
The bottle has such a cute elegant design to it and contains 50ml of product. I'm sure that will last me a long time as long as I don't drop the bottle while opened!

Little Black Dress Eau de Parfum

It has a soft feminine elegant scent, a bit of floral undertone to it as well and slightly musky. It's not overpowering and would be great for a date night out (where you're wearing a little black dress, of course!).
Avon describes it as an:

Oriental fragrance with top notes of cyclamen, coriander, african ginger, jasmine and apricot blossom; middle notes are gardenia, ylang-ylang and pink peony; base notes are sandalwood, tonka bean, musk and japanese plum.

Quite a combination, don't you think?
I'm liking this fragrance. Very feminine so I'd indulge when on a mission to enjoying girly or date nights out.

The matching Little Black Dress roll-on anti-perspirant was included free in the promo for this fragrance range.
Now, I'm not used to the idea of a body perfume scent going on my armpits (sorry to put it so bluntly) - I usually go with a fresh, low fragrance smelling roll-on because my concern is to keep dry there rather than to smell all pretty and floral-like.
It does say 'anti-perspirant' but this will have to be put to the test!

Little Black Dress Roll-on Anti-perspirant

It has 50ml of product and when I twisted it open (should have probably rather cut around it), the whole packaged wrapping ripped apart and just has a plain white bottle underneath it so I can't chuck the wrapping away or else I won't know what it is!
Not sure what the cost of this is but probably isn't too pricey.

That's it for now on the fragrance part of my Avon haul! I can't squander any more on Avon products as I'm overloaded with so much other stuff that I need to start panning out!

What fragrance products do you have or prefer in the Avon brand range?

Christmas Tag

Got this tag post from Étre Belle and thought to try it out myself except add a Summery twist to it seeing as I'm in the Southern Hemisphere lol :)

What is your most worn Summer clothing piece?

Ever since my cousin gave me her pink stripe off shoulder layer top that goes over a white tank top, this has been my fave item to wear during the heated Summer.

The top my cousin gave me

My cousin Lily and I

What is your favourite Christmas movie?
I used to have such a huge crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas and for that, my favourite Christmas movie is "I'll be Home for Christmas" haha. Another one I liked was called "Four Christmases" by Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Four Christmases

Back with a Bang: Updates & Christmas Nails

Hey guys!

Soooo...I hereby truthfully admit that I've been a bit lazy to hop back onto the Blogspot wagon.
My family came down end November from England to attend my gran's funeral (R.I.P. Avó) and 2 weeks later, attended my cousin's wedding so it was a difficult period to transition from mourning the end of one life to celebrating the start of a new one but we've got through it together as a close-knit family with our beloved gran, great-gran, mother, wife, sister, and friend forever in our hearts <3

We gave my, then bride-to-be, cousin a small but unique bachelorette that was Moroccan princess and belly dancer theme inspired (we had to keep it stripper-free because of the kids and more conservative crowd lol). Got her bestie to play decoy most of the day to make it out as if she wasn't getting any party and that plan was a success! When she rocked up at her sister-in-law's house unexpectedly (which was around the corner from when they were having drinks), we all gave her the biggest surprise and she started laughing with tears in her eyes!
Got her all dressed up in the funkiest outfit we could put together. I applied some gold makeup and lashes for her while getting her ready and later, we had some hired belly dancers teach the whole crowd for an hour, shaking our booties with shimmy belts on!
Later, we went out for the night as an after-party and went crazy on the dancefloor! Had such a great time!
I am pleased to say that despite all the stress and time put into the planning behind all that, it was an awesome celebration and a major success all thanks to the bestie, bridesmaids, mother, and maid-of-honour!

My then bride-to-be cousin Roz, and I all dressed up!

Moving on to the Christmas fever...how is everybody doing for gift shopping? Have you managed to get everything you needed? The malls are crazy as usual this time of year but it's great to see the decorations they have around.
I did my quick bit of shopping yesterday and wrapped most of the gifts! So excited for the loved ones to open them up :)

On to another event Christmas related, I've sort of been getting into a bit of nail art lately and got the time to do some Christmas theme inspired nail art...on my left hand! Hahaha - I couldn't do the same on my right hand firstly because it'll take double the time and secondly, I'm right handed so it'll be a shaky task.
I'm okay with that though. I'll admit I did a pretty good job for a first-timer at this kind of thing (not bragging haha, just proud of trying out something new that turns out better than I expected!).
It was very time-consuming - took me about 2 hours - so it's not something I'll be doing very often!

Christmas theme inspired nail art

Christmas theme inspired nail art

Hope you like it and please comment if you have any nail art you'd like me to see :) (include the link).
Also, you can follow me on Instagram @t4nzanit3 for more pics - please drop me a comment with your username too.


On a final note, it's time for me to go sleep as I'll be waking up early for work tomorrow :(
For those of you who are not working on the 24th Dec, I hate you :( no not really ;) hehe but enjoy that extra weekend day before Christmas and Boxing Day!

Wishing you all a safe and heartwarming Festive Season. Please don't drink and drive!

Anna Cubana xoxo

Things have been tough these days :(

Hi guys

Postponing this blog for a little while due to an unforeseen situation with my gran.
She's developed Pneumonia which has weakened her majorly - fluctuating blood pressure and her breathing is getting shorter everyday :'(

As I'm typing this, my tears are welling up...

The hospital has been trying their best in keeping her stable and caring for her but her body is struggling to fight.
The family have taken off hours this past week from work almost everyday to be by her side. She may seem unconscious but hopefully she can hear us and know that we are there for her.

We've been singing and talking to her in the hopes that she is not suffering at this point in time and that maybe, just maybe, it would uplift and comfort her.

We're all not too sure how long she has left to live. It may be tomorrow, it may tonight...
I'm finding it a bit hard to let her go and every night that I leave the ward after saying goodbye to her, I get that sinking feeling and miss her already...not knowing if she would survive another day for me to visit her again and kiss her forehead one more time...

Mini-update on some recent events

Ok well...instead of studying for my work exam on a cold Sunday, I've been VERY distracted with checking out some funky makeup styles and reading a few of your blog posts!

Here's an update of what's been happening over the past few weeks...

Been golfing at a local club (looks like I might be getting better!).

Someone has a guilty look on their face! Caught this sneaky kitty in the lawn near the Putt-putt area.

Leader of the pack!

Getting ready to hit!

Mmmm. I lurrrrve the smell of strong filter coffee so when I saw this section dedicated to a variety of strength filter coffee while out shopping, it was like heaven to me! Caffeinated heaven!

Caffeinate Heaven: one sugar please!

Also went to visit a college friend for a BBQ/Braai because it was his birthday the weekend before (couldn't do one then because of crappy weather). It was great to catch up with the college buds.

Decided to doll myself up for the day with brown shade and black liner.

Messy hair!

Brown shade look with a bit of wing liner style

Long time no blog

Hi guys!

Sorry for the delays in posting on my blog!

I've got so much to post but haven't had much time or decent Internet access these past few weeks!
Just been all over (staying between two houses and helping my aunt out with cousin's November wedding arrangements) and soon I'll have to start planning for my part as the bridesmaid. Need to buy the accessories, shoes, the dolling up and so forth.

Even more pressure is that I'll have to save up spending money for when my other cousin comes down from UK for a 3 week holiday and I'd like to take off 3 weeks work leave to spend with her so we can go shopping and touring the city (and still end up with money in my account once she returns to UK lol)!

Also been getting pressure from my boss about studying for an exam he requires me to obtain certification in and when he needs it done, he needs it done chop chop!

I haven't been able to catch up on my 50 Shades novel either because of finishing work late!
Sounds like the story gets even more eventful lol.

When I'm more settled after the exam and wedding prep, things will hopefully calm down so that I can finally get onto my E.L.F haul part 2 and Urban Decay reviews in the next few weeks.

I'd like your opinion on brushes...been eyeing the MAC 219 pencil, MAC 217 blending, and MAC 239 shader brushes. As far as I've heard, they're so good but so pricey! What are your recommendations on alternatives? I'm currently using the standard eyeshadow brush from the E.L.F range and it's been okay but I'm looking to experiment with a different brand and type as well so any suggestions are welcome!

Have an awesome day!

Anna Cubana xx