Essence BB Cream {review}

BB creams (or beauty balms as their full name) are all the rage right now as they offer loads more benefits than traditional foundations. BB creams prime, hydrate, protect & perfect skin while providing a range of coverage. They also contain SPF to protect your skin from harmful UV rays. Originating in Japan and South Korea (where I was at first very wary of trying them out while we were living there back in 2010), they can be worn alone as a tinted moisturizer, over serum and moisturizer as a regular foundation, or under powder, depending on the desired amount of coverage.

Revlon & Garnier have been the first that I have seen to introduce their versions, but I have been a little wary of forking out too much to try out something that seems very gimmicky. Which is why when I saw this one from Essence at Dischem for R54.95 I thought I'd give it a bash. 

It's light and blends seamlessly into skin with very little effort. Providing light to medium coverage depending on how much you build up the product. It leaves my skin feeling soft and moisturized, and so far has lasted the whole day without leaving me looking oily. As you can see from my slightly cheesy and ID look a like photo's below, the coverage is light, but definitely evens out my complexion, and does a decent job of covering up my pigmentation without looking cakey. 

My only concern is that currently there are only 3 shades, so if you don't fit into the light/medium or dark category you are kinda stuck. But, its very easily to blend with a concealer for added coverage or colour options.

If you have tried and liked any other BB creams on the market please feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments section below :)

Bye Bye Pietermaritzburg!

Today was our last official day in our little flat here in Pietermaritzburg. Tomorrow we head out to the farm, where we will spend the next 10 days with Farmboy's family, before heading to Joburg to see mine. Then, on the 20th June we will be leaving South Africa for lots of adventures in Asia!

Even though we stay in a {tiny} 1 bedroom flat, the amount of stuff that keeps materializing and needing to be packed is frightening. I would never have guessed we would need 4 x cars, 2 x trailers, 15 x 160l HUGE black plastic boxes, and 10 x suitcases to pack up our life here. It's a little sad (especially saying goodbye to all our wonderful friends here) but at the same time, we are both so looking forward to this new season in our lives.

I do hope you will continue to follow along here on my blog, you can expect lots of great makeup posts (the makeup in Korea is incredible), stationary is gorgeous (see here) and lots of travel pics from the places we see along the way.

Thank you to each and everyone of my readers, for the comments, the likes on Facebook & the tweets. The support for CityGirlSearching means so much to me.

Expect some lovely photographs of our last few weeks in sunny South Africa, some cute creatures wandering around our complex, as well as a few last minute makeup reviews to come on the blog.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

x

Dove Deep Repair Treatment Mask {review}

Winter always leaves me feeling like I've been left out in a desert for days, and it's not just my skin that takes a beating. My hair feels (and looks!) dry and ill cared for, and I'm often to be found patrolling the aisles of Dischem looking for the latest hair care offering.  I picked up this little beauty in Pick n Pay (I know, most people would never admit that publicly!) and thought I'd share my thoughts...

I have really been loving this treatment hair mask from Dove's Nourishing Oil Care range of hair products. Not only does it smell heavenly, but it leaves my tresses silky soft, and without the tell tale oiliness of most hair masks. 

The packing looks great, but is a bit of a pain to travel with, as it doesn't really 'fit' well with the other goodies in my toiletry bag. Nonetheless, a small price to pay really for such a great product. 

Once applied, the creamy textures glided on smoothly and easily right through to the ends of my hair. My hair is really long, and tends to get very knotty at the ends. Once applied, my hair felt velvety soft, and my comb slid right through without a pull or a tug in sight.

After a quick rinse, my hair was left feeling clean and fresh (I am currently using L'oreal Elvive Re-Nutrition Shampoo) and silky soft. The fragrance is light and lasts even after blow drying. I use it 3 times a week, in place of my regular L'oreal Elvive Re-Nutrition conditioner.

All in all, I am very happy with this new addition to my beauty regime. Get your hands it at most Clicks/Dischems/Checkers/Pick n Pay's from -+R53.

Crystal Waters, Drakensberg

This past weekend was spent with my hubby's family in the Drakensberg at a little piece of heaven called Crystal Waters. Nestled away between lush green trees and open fields of golden grass lies 3 stone cottages and a trout dam. Electricity was limited to a few 110 V light bulbs, while gas provided us with hot water and a place to cook yummy meals.

This was one of our last weekends spent in South Africa, before we jet setted off to Asia on the 20th June 2013. 

I hope you all had a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and are ready for the week ahead! 

Happy Monday everyone!

xxx

{Golden Hour}

A few photographs with my new camera of our drive to the farm last weekend. With this kind of late afternoon wintery light, how can one resist not pulling over and snapping away...

Taking a MINI out for a spin!

A few weeks ago a Chloe (of DearChloePhotography) and I attended a very cool meet up with other local photographers in the KZN area. We headed out to MINI in Umhalanga to test drive some very snazzy cars, and learn a thing or two about photographing cars from one of Top Gear SA's very own local photographers. Such fun!

Below are some snaps of the day.

xxx

It's Official...We are South Korea Bound!

A few weeks ago I mentioned some new adventures Farmboy & I have lined up. Well everything seems to have fast tracked and we are set to leave South Africa on the 20th June (a few nights stop over in Hong Kong) and then arrive in South Korea around the 24th.

I've got lots of lovely posts lined up for the our last few weeks here, and then, well, you'll just have to wait and see...

xxx

Our {Le Creuset} plunger gets a photoshoot!

After getting my new camera {a Nikon d300s} and needing to get to grips with all the new buttons and levers, i decided to try it out on our favourite new kitchen piece. 

I now present to you, our Le Creuset Coffee Plunger. 

Coffee will never be the same again...

I also had to squeeze in a few shots of the rest of our collection (thanks mainly to the very generous guests at

our wedding

last year!)

You can get your paws on other lovely Le Creuset pieces online directly from the Le Creuset online store by clicking here, or through Yuppiechef.

 And they both deliver for free...score!

Happy shopping!

xx

Stationary Giveaway {WINNER}

And the winner of a gorgeous collection of South Korean stationery bits and pieces hand picked by me is...

Well done Nicola! Please drop me a tweet/email/comment below with your postal address and I will get your goodies off to you right away!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

xxx

{I'm back!}

Farmboy and I arrived back in KZN late yesterday afternoon after a wonderful road trip through the Western and Eastern Cape. Here is a little glimpse into the beauty we past along the way...

I'm going to be picking a winner for the {stationery giveaway} I'm running! All you have to do is like RoxyPictures & CityGirlSearching

on Facebook, and then tweet me (@RoxyPearce) to let me you have done so...

Good luck!

x

{Road Trip} away from the blog...

Dear readers,

I am typing this post from the gorgeous town/city/plekkie of Knysna. Farmboy had lots of important work related stuff to do here in the Western & Eastern Cape, and I have been lucky enough to tag along for the ride. So there won't be much posted on here until we hit home this weekend. In the mean time, here are some photographs (albeit Instagram snaps) till then.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

x

Sigma Flat Kabuki Brush F80 {review}

Gosh I am simply mad about the Sigma range of makeup brushes. And that was well before I was able to hold or use them. After reading a few of my favourite international beauty blogs (namely Tiffany & Vivianna) and seeing how these two ladies always seem to rave about the Sigma range I have been dying to get my paws on them.

The lovely folk at SigmaBeauty sent me a welcome package when I joined their affiliate program, and I was beyond excited to find one of their Kabuki brushes in my parcel.

It was the F80 Flat Kabuki brush, designed for the application of buffed foundation. I have been happily bumbling along with my MAC #187 Stippling Brush which I love, but after using this one from Sigma, I now find my MAC brush a bit too chunky. It seems to absorb most of the foundation in its bristles, and doesn't seem to give me that flawless, airbrush finish I've been after.

The Flat Kabuki does just that, the design of the bristles are much more compact, allowing for a more buffed appearance when blending.

I don't wear foundation everyday, but when I do, using this brush really makes blending a breeze. I just wish that we would pick up these brushes as easily here in South Africa as you can in the US. You can order Sigma brushes online through Feel Unique but clicking here.

AND...if you use my affiliate code on the Sigma Website (43087_ you'll get a free gift when you spend over $30 online. So click here to start spending away!

Happy Shopping!

{please note, I am in no way endorsed by Sigma. I am an affiliate which means that if you purchase anything from their website with my affiliate code, I will receive a very small portion of the sale}

{Our little home}

Just a few snaps of the little space here in Pietermaritzburgt that we call home. Farmboy and I have been living here for a little over six months (yes! It's been over six months since we said 'I Do' in an old farm shed!), and well, we are {hopefully} only going to be here for another two...Not because we don't love this place, but because we have some adventurous travel plans lined up and are hoping to be out exploring this big bad world of ours :)

So, before its too late I wanted to share a few photos using my new camera {my lovely Canon 60D was stolen a few weeks ago...very sad face! We were not expecting insurance to pay us out at all, so when we got a sms notification at 4am the other morning confirming our payout we were overjoyed!} 

I will post some piccies of my new camera soon...but for now, a few snaps of our little home.

Stationery *Giveaway!* {CLOSED}

As promised on Facebook & Twitter last week I am opening up a giveaway of some very special and lovely pieces of stationery from South Korea. Farmboy and I are planning on heading back there later this year (if all goes according to plan) so I am having to be ruthless with all the stuff we have. So, I thought a giveaway would be the best way to deal with some of the stationery I have left over. 

Every single item was handpicked by me in Korea, and I'm sure the winner will love using it.

I will be choosing a winner on Sunday 12 May so make sure to get your 'likes' and shares in before then!

So, to enter, like CityGirlSearching on Facebook RoxyPictures on Facebook

& tweet (@roxypearce) /blog about this giveaway to gain more entries

Good luck everyone!

xxx

{giveaway only open to SA residents}

Blog Post No# 500

Dear readers! Today marked my 500th blog post here on CityGirlSearching. I'm not sure whether I'm more surprised that I've been disciplined enough to keep this little ol' blog going this long, or the fact that I've managed to {create} interesting enough posts to keep my readers coming back. 

I started this blog as away to showcase pretty places I come across here in beautiful South Africa, to review makeup products that don't seem to feature much on the international beauty blogger scene, and it has now grown into so much more. I am now delving deeper into the exciting {but very often daunting} world of photography, and I also had the pleasure of meeting wonderful people through this world of blogging. 

So I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Seeing new likes on Facebook, finding new followers on Twitter, replying to the blog comments, it all makes me feel very warm and fuzzy inside :)

So here's to another 500 posts...of interesting, original & creative content that keeps you coming back for more!

If there are any posts in particular that you like and would enjoy seeing more of, please do drop me a line in the comments section below.

Happy Sunday!

x

Some snaps of the {Vintage Festival} in Durban

Yesterday, Farmboy and I spent the morning manning my stall {Buttercup Collectibles} at the Retro Let's Go Vintage Festival at the Old DLI Hall in Durban. What a great turn out of market goers, who were dressed to the nines in 50's gear, ready to shop up a storm before the evenings festivities.

Here are a few photographs I managed to snap in between sales. Thanks to everyone who popped by to say hello, especially Nicola, Giselle, Fathima & Nadia..it was lovely to see you all.

And of course a huge thank you to everyone who bought pieces from me, I hope you enjoy then!

The last few bits that I have left I will be selling right here on the blog (think typewriters and tins!) so keep checking the blog for more on that.

xxx

{Happy Friday}

I have been doing a little more design work recently (nothing too fancy...I didn't study graphic design or anything...I'm a self taught Photoshop junkie) but I'm quite proud of what I have been putting together. I'd love to hear what you think!

I hope you all have a wonderful friday today, and that you've got some fun plans for the weekend.

I'm going to be at Vintage Festival happening at the DLI Hall in Durban tomorrow selling these goodies. I hope you'll join be in what is sure to be an exciting event!

xxx

{Melah Rose} a beautiful bundle of joy

A little while ago I posted a sneak peek of Melah Rose, just to give you a little hint. Here are the rest of a delightful morning spent with this gorgeous little one. She belongs to a dear friend of mine, Carmen, who is also a co-owner at Little Vintage {a boutique vintage clothing store} right here in Pietermaritzburg}. I hope you enjoy these photographs, and I look forward to doing many more!

xxx

{Cute Kitties} Sharon Montrose

Seriously?! I don't even have words for the amount of cuteness in each and every one of these photographs, and these are just the kitties...there are lions and tigers and bears oh my!

I LOVE MY JOB.

I’VE HAD THE SAME BEST FRIEND FOR 26 YEARS.

I GOOGLE EVERYTHING.

I’M ALWAYS COLD.

I RIDE MY BIKE.

"Melding her passion for photography with her love of animals, Sharon Montrose's definitive photographic style has made her one of the most sought-after commercial photographers specializing in animals for over a decade. In addition to eleven published photography books to her credit, Sharon shoots for some of the world’s foremost pet industry brands. Her animal series photographs are part of numerous public and private collections, including The Sir Elton John Photography Collection and have been awarded recognition by Communication Arts, Photo District News, The Art of Photography, Hey, Hot Shot!, and the International Photography Awards."

Sharon sells an incredible collection of prints through her online store {The Animal Print Shop} and I want each and every single one. See more about Sharon here.

Essence Concealer {review}

This is the second time I am featuring this concealer, and the reason is simple...it's the best one I've ever used. Its easy on the pocket, does what it claims to do and leaves me a very happy chappy.  It only comes in two shades which is a bit of pain for those of us who don't fit into either of them, but it's easily blended, meaning you could mix it in with your favourite foundation. I have raved about Revlon's Colourstay Concealer in the past, but this little guy takes the cake especially with its price tag of R35.99!

Have you tried any of Essence's other products? A review of their new BB cream up on the blog soon! xxx