A Fatal Attraction to Cuteness

Sunday Funday

Yesterday my good friend Angie took me to “Australia’s biggest urban music festival”, Supafest. We kind of went on a whim, so I had very few expectations. Those who know me well know how much I love hip-hop and r’n'b so I wasn’t too fussed about who we watched – everyone is good. Everyone except Chris Brown of course. I can’t stand that little prick and I refuse to support him. The amount of teenage girls wearing ‘I (heart) Chris’ and ‘#TeamBreezy’ t-shirts was actually quite alarming, as is the number of people that believe he is a changed man. Firstly, MEN don’t hit women and, secondly, you can’t change if you don’t even show remorse in the first place. URGH.

I was happy when Angie said she wanted to leave before he came on stage and we decided to beat the crowds and head home. On our way to the station, lights of the neighbouring  Easter Show sucked us in. Being after 8pm, we managed to go in for free and spent the next hour literally running around looking at things. Most of our time was spent in the showbag pavillion where I got the Barbie Teen bag. Slippers with poodles on them? Yes please! I am really quite impressed with the bag; nail file, nail foils, lip gloss, makeup bag and jewellery roll – actually all useful!

I was a bit of a fan of my makeup yesterday so I thought I’d share with you. I think bronze and brown eyeshadow is really flattering on almost everyone  and it makes me feel healthy and glowy.

Here’s what I used:

• Covergirl Clean Makeup
• Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara
• Benefit ‘Instant Brows’ brow pencil
• M.A.C blushes in ‘Giggly’ and ‘Pink Cult’
• Rimmel eyeliner
• M.A.C bronzing powder in ‘Gold Deposit’
• M.A.C Fix+
• Australis palette – ‘Snap Attack’
• M.A.C eyeshadow in ‘Woodwinked’
• Benefit ‘Watt’s Up’ illuminator

Did anyone else go to Supafest or the Easter Show?

April 16, 2012 at 12:29 pm 4 comments

Nail Dress

Stick on nail designs of the nail polish variety, not crystals and jewels, became popular a few years ago and have continued to boom, with more and more brands coming out with stunning new designs and easier techniques each time.

I’ve tested out a few and have good and bad things to say about them all but this time it’s Kiss Nail Dress that’s caught my eye.

Coming in packs of 28 strips, Nail Dress are thicker than most other brands and this element alone has its pros and cons. Being thick and silicone-y, they don’t twist or flap while you’re trying to apply them, meaning a really accurate sticking point and they feel very secure once they’re on, but the extra thickness compared to, say, a foil nail strip means it’s a bit harder to file off the excess nail.

If you have no idea what am talking about when I say “file off the excess nail” watch the following clip. It explains, almost in real time, how to apply Kiss Nail Dress strips and you will see how easy the process is:

Yes, I did feel the need to put one on Georgina.

A few weeks on (since I took these pictures before my blog went down) and I must say that the Bustier style were fantastic. They lasted for about 2 weeks and I can’t rave about them enough. The biggest test for me is seeing if they stick after a few days of typing at work and when I wash my hair. Bustier clearly lasted through these activities. Unfortunately I tried two of the other styles I had and they weren’t as good. I tried the leopard print ones that don’t have any crystals and they were a bit thinner and flimsy. The filing part of the process meant that they puckered a little bit, even after pressing them down on my nail for a good few minutes.

I then tried another glittery, crystal-adorned style but they didn’t stick as well as the Bustier ones. I kept them on for a few days before one fell off on the way to the Marquee opening and I had to pull the rest off in the cab. It was such a shame because the other nine of them were sticking really well.

Despite the few mishaps, I would still recommend Kiss Nail Dress. Make sure you have clean nails and take your time to rub the sticker onto your nail. The natural body heat should ensure they stick down, but if one does fall off at least you have the rest of the packet.

Kiss Nail Dress styles are available now from Priceline stores and selected pharmacies for $13.99 – significantly cheaper and less time consuming than a manicure! They are available in 18 different patterns and textures.

For more information and styles check out www.impressmanicure.com

April 6, 2012 at 9:20 am 2 comments

Blackmores 10 Day Detox

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you will know that I’m a fan of a cleanse. I’ve done three Urban Remedy cleanses but after giving up coffee a few weeks ago and cutting back on my sugar intake, I decided it would be a good time to do a detox that focused on cleansing the digestive system and reflorinating the gut.

The Blackmores 10 Day Detox is really simple – another reason why I thought it would be suitable for me. Working full-time and having a busy uni schedule and social life means that I don’t have time to be thinking about taking potions or eat special foods at certain times. One box contains 5 elements; 2 different tablets, a liquid, some herbs and an exfoliating glove.

I didn’t prepare myself terribly well for day one of the cleanse. As you will see by the table below, I didn’t eat very well on that first day but I suppose it could have been a lot worse, too.

If you look at the Blackmores website you will see a great guide to tackling this cleanse; recipes, what to eat and what to avoid, a discussion board with other people who are taking the cleanse too.

My other problem was that I had to go to the Gold Coast for 4 days for uni which had the potential to really throw out my healthy eating. I chose to stay in a serviced apartment with the plan to cook healthy dinners myself, at least try to stick to my nourishing breakfasts and prepare lunch each day before I left. This really didn’t pan out the way I’d hoped, again, as you will see in the table below. The “serviced apartment” was not equipped for cooking, the healthiest thing I could find for lunch each day was not my idea of clean eating and dinners were not the best – but you have to make do, right?

Here’s an overview of the 10 day experience:

My biggest piece of advice would be to equip yourself with a good cook book that features a lot of healthy meal options so you can prepare yourself before hand. I chose to cook from Supercharged Food by Lee Holmes. You will see in the table there were some meals there in the earlier days. They’re all easy, so tasty and not particularly expensive to achieve.

Secondly, and most obviously, choose a block of 10 days where you won’t be tempted to drink alcohol or go out. I feel as though my little Gold Coast stint really threw me off but I’m not exactly sitting here on day 10 drinking a can of coke and eating Maccas; in fact, I have a curry from Lee’s book in the slow cooker right now. Don’t feel discouraged if you do slip up one meal or one day, you should be fine if you keep up the supplements. You’ll notice I still had some dairy in my diet. If you’re going to have a tough time giving up yoghurt or having dry toast, don’t do it – just cut out what you feel comfortable with.

The overwhelming outcome of the detox is primarily that I am feeling less sluggish, have a flatter stomach, a clear head (waking up easily), my skin and eyes are brighter and I’m not feeling as hungry which leads the way for modification of diet which can, in turn, lead to weight loss overall if that’s one of your health goals. I think the objectives listed by Blackmores on the box of: help cleanse the bowel, assist with the removal of dead skin cells via exfoliation, help maintain healthy functioning of the digestive system and balance and maintain healthy gut flora; were all achieved. Well, I can’t tell if my gut has been reflorinated but judging by my lack of cravings, I think it’s true.

My final thoughts:

• This detox would suit anyone who is stubborn or finds it hard to give up certain foods – you don’t have to give up too much
• Hates taking pills – they are teeny tiny! And there’s only one to take during the day so you don’t have to lug bottle to and from work each day
• It’s compact. The bottles are small
• It’s a good amount of time – 10 days is long enough to form healthy eating habits but not too short that you’re back to eating badly in less than a week
• It’s realistic – by letting you make up your own mind with your meals, you are choosing your own future health and what works for you
• It’s not unrealistic – liquid pre-breakfast, 3 pills at breakfast, 1 pill at lunch, liquid pre-dinner and 3 pills with dinner. EASY!

In terms of price, degree of difficulty (ie – none whatsoever) and results, I’d highly recommend the Blackmores 10 Day Detox and I would definitely do it again. It’s actually something you can keep up yourself anyway, particularly by taking milk thistle to help support liver function and acidophilus bifidus for your daily dose of probiotics.

Would you be interested in trying out the Blackmores 10 Day Detox? Have you already?

March 11, 2012 at 10:53 am 5 comments

Glossybox

It was only a couple of months ago that I proclaimed on twitter how I would never use a beauty subscription service but this month I tested out Glossybox and I have a few new theories.

Glossybox is, as I said before, a service which one subscribes to in order to receive a box of sample-sized beauty products at random each month. This month, being Valentine’s Day, Glossybox  produced an appropriately love-themed box complete with candy hearts.

The full list of products I received is below (also included were some exclusive offers from activeskin.com.au and Proactive):

1. Carmex – Moisture Plus Lip Balm
2. Proactive – Deep Cleansing Wash
3. Face Of Australia – Mineral Lip Shine
4. Palmer’s – Skin Therapy Oil with Rosehip
5. Star and Rose – Floral Wonderland Emergency Nail Files (I particularly love these!)

When I look at the website, though, there seems to be quite a larger range of products listed under February so I’m wondering if there are variations on the one month? ie if there are 15 or so products  in total and a number of different boxes available. If that’s the case, I would be a bit annoyed if I was a regular subscriber and received something with products I didn’t like but could see on the site there were products I would have preferred more.

In any case, I think the concept is a good one if you’re into testing the market, don’t have particular beauty issues like sensitive skin, allergies or coloured hair or you’re just looking to spoil yourself each month without spending too much money. The subscription service only costs $14.95 a month, which shouldn’t break the bank for too many people, and you are guaranteed 5 high-end samples and delivery for this cost. I think at this price it could also be a cute gift for the girl who has everything – sign your friend up for a three-month subscription for a well-priced gift that arrives at her workplace each month. Easy!

In all honesty, I still don’t think it is necessarily something I would start subscribing to. At the moment especially because I am supposed to be saving but even despite that fact, I am not the kind of person who likes surprises and I’m quite picky when it comes to beauty products. Having suffered from acne and sensitive skin before I’m wary about what I put on it.

One of the best things that Glossybox is doing, in my opinion, is their website. It’s really interactive; offering subscribers Glossydots (which can be saved up and redeemed for a free box) for referring their friends and reviewing the products they received in the boxes each month. There’s also the opportunity to buy the products in full size with product information and pricing. You can receive tips on beauty and application advice and there’s a quick reference guide to all the brands available. 

Also launched this month is Glossybox Men, a quarterly subscription service with 6-8 products for $19.95. A well-groomed friend is currently testing this out for me so I will report back with his thoughts shortly.

In the meantime, tell me: would you sign up for a beauty subscription service? Have you already?

Learn more at www.glossybox.com.au

February 26, 2012 at 2:37 am 2 comments

Nad’s Body Wax Strips vs Nad’s Hair Removal Créme

I’m being a real tight ass at the moment because I’m off to Paris in a few months and the savings plan I set for myself when I booked the trip last year is not exactly going to plan. Like, at all. Instead of getting my legs waxed I thought I’d try it out myself at home (sorry, economy) but then I was overwhelmed with Nad’s products so I decided to do one leg with Body Wax Strips and one leg with Hair Removal Créme.

Nad’s Body Wax Strips are available for both dry and sensitive skin and each pack includes 28 wax strips, 2 sachets of Soothing Body Balm and 2 Soothing and Finishing Wipes.

I’m not a very experienced home waxer so I was pleased that the wax strips are easy to use. You don’t have to heat any wax up; just rub the strips between your hands then peel apart, place on and rip back. You can also reuse each strip by folding it in half lengthways, massaging the wax until it’s warm again and then repeating the above process until the strip isn’t effective any longer.

For the most part I was happy with the result from the strips, but I felt as though (and could see from looking at the used strips) that some hairs weren’t ripped out, but broken off. This wasn’t the case for the whole leg, but it was evident on every second go or so.

I was left with a lot of red bumps after use but this is to be expected and they’ve disappeared now. I just thought I’d point this out for first-time waxers in case they freak out!

For the other leg, I used Nad’s Hair Removal Créme in Moisturising. This also comes in ‘Sensitive’. Noticeable differences between this and other depilatory creams are the smell is not as strong as other brands and the créme is thicker. This is a simple and quick way of removing hair because the créme is ready to wipe off in around 4 minutes. I found the actual amount of hair removed was greater with this product but as we know, it has only slightly longer lasting effects than shaving.

A day after this test, overall, the leg I waxed feels smoother than the one I used the Hair Removal Créme on – despite the few broken hairs.

Nad’s Body Wax Strips retail for $14.95 and the Nad’s Hair Removal Créme is also $14.95/300mL and both are available from Coles, Woolworths, Priceline, Chemist Warehouse, My Chemist stores as well as selected pharmacies.

What’s your experience with home waxing?

February 25, 2012 at 3:00 am 3 comments

Covergirl Clean Sensitive Liquid Makeup

I’ve raved on here before about my ultimate foundation, Dermalogica Treatment Foundation, but I may have found a close second simply by accident.

Late last year I was about to run out of Treatment Foundation and I didn’t have time to get to a Dermalogica stockist so I thought I’d grab an emergency bottle of anything that looked good at Priceline to tide me over for the Christmas/NYE period. I actually spent a fair bit of time studying everything because I didn’t want to completely waste money and I decided on Covergirl Clean Sensitive Liquid Makeup.

I was wary at first because I HATE foundations where you need to pour the product out as opposed to pumping or squeezing it onto your hand. To me pouring it out creates so much waste and I’m exactly the type of person who is likely to splash it everywhere. I much prefer a thicker liquid or a mousse foundation rather than something as runny as Clean Makeup, but, from what I’d seen from the sample in store, I liked the texture.

After buying Clean Makeup, I noticed that bottle suggested applying one coat and allowing it to dry before applying another. I’m not the kind of girl who packs on that much foundation but after testing out these instructions, I totally understand what they mean. Clean Makeup provides very good coverage alone, but also works very well as a concealer on top of itself. Where some foundations won’t actually build up, I think Clean Makeup does a pretty good job of layering itself. So, if you are to try it, I too would suggest applying a coat and then another once the first one is dry. Over the past few months I’ve become better at pouring the foundation out so as not to waste too much, but I’d still love to see this in a pump-topped bottle.

The most interesting thing about Clean Makeup is the smell. It took me so long to work out what it was, and it’s cloves! Yes, like what you stick into a leg of ham. I’m not sure of the significance of cloves in makeup, do you? I thought perhaps it is to provide a cooling mechanism as it tends to treat the puffiness under my eyes, but I’ve certainly never noticed cloves in any other makeup.

As you can see in the photos below, Clean Makeup is pretty smooth. I’ve never felt any dryness or flaking – even after a whole day at work. It’s also good on extremely sensitive skin. I recently used some on a colleague who has a lot of allergies and whose skin reacts to the slightest changes in routine and she had absolutely no issues with it. Covergirl Clean Makeup is water-based and is oil and fragrance free for those of you who care about your pores clogging up. Sooooo that would be all of you. While I don’t think that Clean Makeup is improving my skin like Dermalogica’s Treatment Foundation I definitely haven’t noticed any redness or breakouts since first use back in December.

As you can see from the following swatch I probably could have gone a shade lighter and this might be one of the issues with Clean Makeup, it only comes in three shades: Creamy Natural, Buff Beige and Classic Beige.

Creamy Natural

Covergirl Clean Sensitive Liquid Makeup is $14.40. For stockists, please ring 1800 181 040

February 15, 2012 at 10:19 am 1 comment

Quick Beauty Tip!

I don’t know if everyone already does this. Maybe I’m telling you something you’ve been doing for years already but oh well.

Whenever I apply foundation and/or concealer I find that it doesn’t wash off thoroughly with just soap. That’s why I keep a bottle of inexpensive yet hard-working makeup remover by my sink to ensure all foundation, primer and concealer is removed from my hands before applying the rest of my makeup. Who wants sticky, streaky makeup brushes anyway?!

The best one I’ve found is Dove’s Foaming Makeup Remover which goes from a liquid to a foam in just one pump, doesn’t take much effort/scrubbing to get the product off and does a fine job. At $11.87 for 155mL you will get dozens of uses out of it and it makes makeup application so much quicker and easier when you’re not staining your towels and spending time trying to get that product off your hands. Obviously it can also be used to clean your brushes as it’s gentle yet, as I mentioned before, extremely thorough.

What’s your best tip for speeding up the morning makeup process?

February 7, 2012 at 11:35 am 2 comments

Australis Limited Edition Nail Colour – Flip Flops

I’ve just done a big cull of my old, old nail colours, in particular some blue hues so I was very happy to try out the latest nail polish from Australis, Flip Flops. Flip Flops is one of two new limited edition nail varnishes (the other being a red glitter polish called ‘Vampy’) in stores until July.

Initially I was a bit turned off because, despite loving the colour, the brush is really thin and it took me about 5 strokes to apply an even coat. Just when brands had started turning to thick, dense brushes I didn’t like this change back. After basically giving up on the overall application being neat, I was extremely pleased to find out that the nail polish dried quite quickly (I was sitting under an overhead fan, though) and actually cracked off my skin really easily. This meant I was left with just perfect colour on my nails and nothing left on my cuticles or surrounding skin. A happy result.

The colour is fantastic, like nothing I’ve ever owned! It’s got a subtle smattering of glitter which isn’t cheap-looking, just makes it look shinier overall. The blue is a real denim blue. It reminds me of that brand Fiorucci, remember them?

At only $7.95 it’s a fun colour for the remainder of Summer, Mardi Gras coming up in a few weeks or just if you love bright tips and it’s easy to track down at your local Priceline, Big W, Kmart or Target store.

I’ll try to put up a swatch of the other colour, Vampy, if I get a chance, too.

What do you think of bright nails? Do you prefer thin or thick brushes?

February 7, 2012 at 11:01 am Leave a comment