Since February, twice a week The Other Half has been catching the train to University. While completely not envying the crack of dawn wakeup call he has been doing to achieve this, I have been envying the train trips. Especially as I have to get up quite a bit earlier on these days to enjoy my morning coffee which he makes for me before he leaves.
My schedule has not allowed me to join him for the most part but then came a week when I had the right day off, and I decided to make a day of it and head up to Sydney. I would have just over 5 hours there before I had to get on the train to return back home. Here are a selection of photos from my day out.
My very first stop was Starbucks but this was totally by accident. By the time I extricated myself from Town Hall station I was pointing in the wrong direction and ended up near World Square where I checked Google Maps to work out my way back to QVB. As I stood there I spotted Starbucks across the road.
I had the Cinnamon Dolce latte. I am a sucker for anything cinnamon and this was *very* cinnamon. Delightful! My nails are gold ombre glitter which lights up rainbow coloured in the right lighting.
Sufficiently caffeinated, I headed back towards QVB where I planned a general look around and wander. The first shop I spotted was Haighs and being a former Adelaide girl, I had to stop in for some dark chocolate frogs. I really wanted one of these dark Murray Cod with the beautiful foil wrapping too, but they were very large and a bit up money! The staff member gave me a couple of dark round discs for chocolate tasting as I left and they were most delicious.
My main goals for the day were simple – there were two. Go to Daiso, try on lipstick at Sephora. I was sidetracked by Bath and Body Works, where I bought some stuff and asked them to keep it aside for me so I could grab it on my way back to catch the train. I got a couple of handwash pumps and some antibacterial hand sanitisers..
I’ve been wearing lipstick to my new job and enjoying it. I last bought lipstick around 17 years ago – Revlon Colourstay in Faithful Fawn – and would you believe it still works just fine. I only used it a couple of times a year for the next 10 years or so and always marvelled when it still worked but I had not touched it at all in 7 years, not even for job interviews or special occasions.
Perhaps as a result of lack of regular use the seal on the clear lipgloss section appears to have become less awesome. I can still use it but I need to wash my hands afterwards as the barrel is a little sticky now.
I’d bought one Revlon lipstick “Endless Spice” on our recent Canberra trip – because Faithful Fawn appears to be no longer available. I was lucky because the shade does work for me. I was feeling ready to experiment a little and see what new things are available, in 17 years technology has come a long way and so it seems has makeup.
For the most part the lipstick I buy – Revlon Colourstay and it does stay until you remove it with a special remover! – you can’t really try on in shops even though they have testers out. I’m not a put it on the back of my hand person, before I can tell if a shade will work for me I need to put it where it will go, on the lips. And it is an expensive exercise to buy one then find out I hate it.
My understanding was Sephora is different when it comes to this kind of thing but I had no idea just how much so. When I managed to snag myself a staff member, they showed me where the disposable lip brushes, cotton buds, tissues and makeup remover were and told me I was free to try on as many lipsticks as I liked. I’d heard very good things about the Kat Von D range and all the lipsticks had names my other half would love, but I did not find a shade I felt suited me.
I ended up buying two shades from the Sephora collection. They are a bit more bold than I would usually wear so they are reserved for the days when I am feeling super confident. Unlike the Colourstay ones which have a base colour and then a lip gloss that goes over the top, these are a one application deal and they do stay on extremely well.
I was in there for over an hour trying on shades and then grabbing the other stuff I wanted – the makeup remover was brilliant so I got that, lip liner, a lip scrub, a lip mask, and some hand masks for the winter as the ones I bought last year I have used over and over again many times. I’m definitely putting some cotton buds into my handbag for chemist visits in the future as I do want at least one more colourstay shade.
Next up was a wander down to Daiso where I picked up a few things including a gorgeous carp tote bag.
I wonder what this diffuser would smell like?
A quick stop for lunch, a wander around Zara and H&M – Zara had a gorgeous bright orange coat which I should have bought but I said no. I picked up my bath and body works, grabbed a Starbucks to go, and ventured back to the train station feeling like this was a successful day out in general.
That sounds like the perfect day out. I wish we had Sephora here. One day maybe!
At times we don’t have much appreciation for how close we are to the city, whereas for you it is a five hour train trip. But it must be quite exciting to take a day train trip to the big smoke and shop. Town Hall Station……nightmare place at times.
Looks like a great day. I love your style!
What a wonderful day out, puttering around in various shops. I’m a big fan of Bath and Body works soaps, both hand pumps and my favorite bath gel, White Citrus. I’ll be in trouble if Clinique gets rid of my “Heather Moon” shade because I’ve worn it for a couple decades. It’s the purply pink shade that I like. It doesn’t stay on very well though, so maybe I should start shopping around. Clinique lipstick doesn’t smell like lipstick; it’s scent free and I’m not sure that other brands are. I don’t like the smell (or taste) of most lipsticks.