The FITE Continues

Yesterday I shared my fairytale love story for cleansing oil, namely Dermalogica Precleanse which you can read about here  - An amazing clean-everything-off your-face-in-one-quick-rub oil that paves the way for your regular cleanser and enables it to do what is supposed to do, cleanse, but more effectively without debris and make-up in the way.

As you may know from my FITE Club post I threw the gauntlet down and said every time I was the proud new owner of one of Dermalogica's five FITE products  I would make another donation to the FITE, Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship cause.

(You can read all about this amazing, empowering micro-lending charity and how I got involved here)

Well Precleanse is indeed one of the FITE Five so I donated another $25 schmackaroos to the cause.

So here's an update on what's has been happening with my funds since I first joined FITE in June this year.

Resty, the 49 year old mother of six from Twekembe Kabungo Namutamba Group, Uganda has been granted 100% of her loan towards diversifying her food store.  Not only that,  she has now paid 39%  of the loan back. That is quite impressive considering my microloan was granted to Resty in June peeps.

As Resty has now paid me back the initial $25 loan I had more funds to give elsewhere.

Sticking with the same area, Uganda I stumbled across 38 year old Winnie.

When I saw Winnie was the owner of a beauty salon I knew I had to support her cause.

Not only am I empowering Winnie to grow her business purchase the equipment she needs to do special braids, I'm also empowering some of her customers in this area that get braids, who will then hopefully be empowered and go on to share that joy and light.

You go girls!

This loan if successful will also help Winnie pay school fees for her two children (see how the empowerment cycle just keeps on giving) and even maybe in the future enable Winnie to fulfil her dream of owning a retail shop.

A few weeks back I  received a gift-pack of the Daily Microfoliant and new firm favourite, the Gentle Cream Exfoliant at a recent FITE evening.

Squeeee!

There was a redeemable FITE code on this pack which I again donated to Uganda.

This went to the delightfully named Mama's Group, and helped to fund in particular Sarah, a 37 year old mother of one who had a mobile fish selling business, which was lucrative but limited in growth due to the logistics of going to her customers.

This loan has helped Sarah to construct a permanent fishing-selling stall which will help her expand her business further.  She will pay this loan back before October 2012.

Not a bad effort considering all I did was attend a pleasant cocktail evening to generate this loan.... evidence that the smallest funds can have a huge impact!

If you want to get involved and join the FITE you can buy a FITE Dermalogica  product which will give you a code or find out more here on how to make your own donation here http://joinfite.org/ .

I guarantee you that you will feel empowered when you see where and how your funds have been spent.

xx

Joined FITE yet?

Ever had those braids in your hair?

I've always wanted to do a bit of a Bo Derek with them when on holidays!!

 

Serious hotness!

Got your BB Cream on yet?? Enter my BB for me , BB for you, Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream giveaway, there are 10 up for grabs, that's right 10.  Get your little BB on over here.

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Once upon a time, in a land precleanse...

Once upon a time, in a land precleanse, lived a Beauty Blogger Princess (formerly a Lancome doll) who despite being fair of face was plagued with the curse of on/off troubled skin. (and the obvious inability to match her neck to her face)

Such was her lament that she searched the land far and wide for the magical, wonder cream that would heal her skin. She lived in constant fear of the oil and had heard so many horror stories of the oil coming to visit other fair maidens in the village.

As legend had it, so bad and nasty was this oil that it would clog their skin and cause them to breakout in the ugliest, most horrid spots.

The Princess lived her life trying with all her might to avoid the oil coming and casting curses on her skin. So much so that any potion that had oil in it would be banished from her kingdom.

One fine and sunny afternoon a wise old travelling wizard came to visit her in her beauty blogging tower.He brought with him tales of maidens in foreign lands using oil to actually clean their faces.

"Impossible", she screamed, who would do such a thing?

"Preposterous"  as she went to throw him out of her tower.

But from his cloak the wizard started producing scrolls and scrolls of stories of maidens using oil to cleanse thier faces.

The Princess sat down and looked through the wizards Google Reader scrolls and was amazed at what she read.

So magical was this oil she read that it actually attracted other oil and dirt and make-up from the maidens' pores allowing their usual cleansing potion to swoop in and clean the rest of their skin effectively leaving the pores clean and free from the build up of congestion.

How absurd. Could this really be?

The Princess was wary but curious and sent a messenger to her fair maidens to see if they could help her any further with this crazy concept.

When the word got out about the Princess and the wizard and the oil, a lovely PR maiden from a neighbouring village came forward to the Princess and told her that she simply couldn't believe she was not using a magical oil.

She would send the Princess a present of goodwill, some of her amazing Dermalogica Precleanse oil that she promised would change her royal life forever.

Could she be right? The Princess wondered, is it really that magical?

Does it really remove all your make-up so thoroughly and cleanse your pores and enhance your cleanser's performance?

Really? Will it truely not add more oil to my royal pores?

Slowly and warily, the Princess started to do as the legends of the scrolls had taught and she cleaned her face every night with the magical Dermalogica Precleanse oil.


It felt so absurd to her at first to be massaging oil on to a dry face but she marvelled at how quickly her make-up seemed to melt away like magic and how with a little water she could emulsify the magic oil into a creamy liquid before rinsing it away, taking all the day's royal make-up with it.

The Princess would look forward to washing her face and created an extra ritual of using a muslin cloth as a hot compress to allow the borage, olive, rice bran and apricot kernel oils to penetrate further into her pores before washing it away and following up with her trusted traditional Special Cleansing Gel potion she had always used also from the same potion maker.

The scent was so heavenly of lavender and citrus oils, the Princess would float into bed every night and have sweet dreams of one day meeting her tall, dark handsome and Irish Prince.

From that day forward the Beauty Blogger Princess made a public vow to all of the land that she would never, ever wash her face without using a cleansing oil again.

She told her people that she wondered how she ever thought cleansing oil was the work of evil doing and how now she would ever live without it again.

Since that fateful day, the Princess now has tried many special, exotic magical oils from all across the land and particularly loved a special one that came all the way from a Princess in Japan called Shu Uemura Purifying Cleansing Oil.

This particular oil smelt like baby lotion and turned  into a particularly lovely soft creamy emulsion when the Princess would rinse it with water.

The Princess also has another cleansing oil  in her royal bathroom wing that she is waiting to try from a gorgeous American Dame,  Bobbi Brown Cleansing Oil.

The Princess is saving some of her gold sovereigns for two other cleansing oils to try ;

Planet Eve Certified Organics Daily Ritual Facial Cleansing Oil (which is 100% organic and contains tamanu oil , an amazing healing oil the Princess found on her royal visit to Vanuatu)

and also another magic cleansing oil from newly found potion-maker/aromatherapist/ general natural bespoke potions legend Audra James and her amazing Skin Cleansing Oil 

The oil was here to stay in the Princess's kingdom and her pores lived happily ever after.

Do you live in fear of the curse of the oil like the Princess did precleanse??

Have you ever tried a magical cleansing oil?

Do you think the wizard has any spells up his sleeve for longer legs, a tighter ass, crows feet?

Got your BB Cream on yet?? Enter my BB for me , BB for you, Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream giveaway, there are 10 up for grabs, thats right 10.  Get your little BB on over here.

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She's Electric

I've said before that I'd prefer to stick wet fingers in sockets before rocking blue polish, but I'm changing folks I'm a changin'!!

Orly Sweet Peacock won my heart over just a little with it's fabulous shimmering blue plumage

Then Revlon Top Speed in Electric zoomed in, dried in 60 seconds (I smudge checked), zoomed out and stole a little bit more of  my heart with it. 

It is dark, and opaque, not a glitterarticle in sight (new word, just made up, like it, am keeping!).

Its not quite a full gloss finish but not a matte or suede either which is sort of interesting and new for me . 

Adds to the grunge factor for one not to be overly prissy and glossy.

It is also not the longest lasting polish in the world and my weekend mani chipped before my Monday blues were over but I did manage to paint my nails at 7:45 pm while sipping a glass of bubbles on a Saturday before skipping out the door sans smudge at 8pm.

I personally think Revlon Top Speed Electric is a little rocktrampy and quite suitable for electric air-guitaring around one's living room, local pub, dance floor, supermarket aisle, (insert favourite place to make like Led Zepplin and climb that "Air"way to Heaven here) _______ .

So much is the opening of my hearts' floodgates to polishes of blue and all that is in between I am now sort of closet coveting the new Les Jeans de Chanel Range released for recent Fashion Night Out events.

Hello Blue Rebel and Blue Boy you smoky, muddy, mysterious duo you and Coco Blue I would wear you with brown suede and white broderie anglaise ensembles and come over all  Pocahantas with you, I would, so I would.

Even the luscious LC is quite the bluebottle indeed. She is so all over this trend like a jellyfish rash. She's burning this trend up so well she may even have to pee on her own hand  soon (sorry, sorry couldn't help myself!)

Lauren Conrad feeling blue time and time again....

Blue over her iced tea

Blue over her ombre nails combo

Blue over her dark evening look and rockin ring combo

She wears it well, no?

So Revlon Top Speed Electric - a live wire or total shocker?

Blue polish or you with it or against it?

Les Jeans de Chanels - covet or can't be arsed?

Bluebottle stings - the ONLY thing about summer I'm not looking forward to 

(Non-Aussie dwellers, bluebottles are nasty, common summer jellyfish that plague Aussie beaches and comically when you are new to the country or juvenile, or both, look like washed up blue condoms on the shoreline. (Even more comical when you are not the victim, they are the cause of numerous counts of self-soothing, self-urinaters!!)

Got your BB Cream on yet?? Enter my BB for me , BB for you, Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream giveaway, there are 10 up for grabs, thats right 10.  Get your little BB on over here

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BB for me, BB for you. BB Cream Giveaway!!

So I was just waiting for it to happen.

Call me cosmetically clairvoyant...

After months of reading about the elusive BB Creams on blogs and from sites in the know, the mainstream market has finally honed in on the craze and first off the drugstore ranks is Garnier with their Miracle Skin Perfector.

So if you are not aware what a BB cream is, it is an acronym for "Blemish Balm",  a cream hailing originally from a German dermatologist  in the '50s who prescribed his concoction to patients for post-operative skin to heal, protect and prevent scarring.

The concept went off in the Korean and Asian markets in recent years with most skincare lines in that market offering a BB cream of their own.

I'm a perfect candidate to try this- Blemishes I am rich in!

I've read so many great review on blogs of Asian BB creams and I've always been curious about them. I love the idea of having coverage that is working while you wear and healing and perfecting your skin underneath.

I've only tried a sample of the Biotherm White Detox BB Cream, which had great coverage and was SPF 30 but it was a little chalky and pale for me.

So that was as far as I'd got on my BB journey until now when Garnier kindly sent me a Light and a Medium of their Miracle Skin Perfector to try and report back on my findings

What they say

• 5 instant actions
1. Hydrates for 24hrs
2. Evens skintone
3. Corrects blemishes
4. Boost a healthy glow
5. With SPF 15 protection
• Contains Vitamin C, an anti-oxidant to to boost your glow and radiance
• Contains mineral pigments for coverage without the heaviness of a foundation
• Is non-greasy and non-comedogenic
• Available in Light & Medium shade

My thoughts

• Smells fresh and light, almost like citrusy green tea or green tea cologne. Did not sting my over-sensitive eyes 
• Feels just as fresh very gel like and light-weight, sinks right into skin and makes it feel really comfortable 
• Does instantly even skin and provide a bit of a glow (not a mica faux-shimmer glow but a dewy fresh-skin glow) 
• Evens out redness quite well, and masked pores and light pigmentation 
• Was not sufficient coverage for my blemishes on my chin/fresh acne scars. I would need to conceal a little as well there 
• I'm a wee bit bummed its not SPF30, I need to wear additional SPF 30 with this, as my skin is sensitive from peels at the moment plus I'm pedantic when it comes to wearing SPF 30 
• Really good value at $13.95 
• The light suits me perfectly right now, I'd get away with the Medium probably too in summer, I'm not sure how darker more olive skins would go though... 
• I love that they have run with an image of their model who has the obligatory plump, glowy skin but is embracing her laughter lines and they look cute to boot. Take that frozen face-brigade!

Light swatches

Medium swatches

And here's a scary concept, me on camera sans make-up to show you how it applied on skin.

I'm not sure who is braver me for baring or you for watching.

Be kind!

(Actually even scarier on reflection is my fast depleting wine stash in the background - send supplies, quick, please, I hate empty spaces on my wine shelf)

The end result

BB for you!
Wanna play?

So wait for it - I have 10 sets including a Light and a Medium Miracle Skin Perfector to giveaway to 10 lucky winners.

All you have to do is

• Leave a comment below and tell me why you want to try Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream and don't forget to leave me a way to contact you either via twitter, email or GFC 
• You must be a follower already and you must be an Australian Resident (sorry overseas buddies) 
• Tweet about this giveaway "@memybestandi got her BB on with Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector and she is giving 10 away - get amongst it http://tiny.cc/oc81h #GarnierBB"
• Winners will be announced on 1st October 2011. 

So tell me, tell me, tell me....

Have you got your BB on? Tried a BB Cream

Tried Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream yet? Thoughts?

Are you unnerved by the holes in my wine stash or is that just my wine store OCD?

** These products and prizes were supplied by Garnier for review and prizes. Opinions,  blemishes and wine store are all my own :)

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Gucci Flora I Adore Ya

Gucci chose the name for their latest perfume release after being inspired by a scarf that was created in 1966 exclusively for Princess Grace of Monaco.

What they say

• Notes of citrus, peony, rose and osmanthus flower
• Undernotes of pink pepper & sandalwood
• The Flora by Gucci woman is scent is meant to be “sensual, powerful and ready to embrace luxury”

You have got to laugh sometimes at these fragrance houses sumptuous, opulent attempts at describing their scents and personifying what it represents.

"Embrace Luxury", reads willing to pay our extortionate prices to me!

Another thing that perplexes me is that the imagery they used for the campaign. Albeit stunning it doesn't quite marry with their description "sensual, powerful and ready to embrace luxury". To me the imagery says boho, free-spirited, mesmerising, carefree even.

However maybe Gucci have struck a chord with me under that smoke & mirrors vocabulary and the expensive veil of terminology. I admit luxury is certainly what the black, white and gold packaging says to me without a doubt. A colour chart straight from the interior of a Monaco yacht. What is more elegant than a black, white and gold colour scheme?

The hexagonal, squat bottle is chunky and dense and feels a little like a large, cut amber gem. The black and gold tie looks as elegant as the bow on a pair of Princess Grace's very own ballet pumps!

I was totally surprised the first time I sprayed this in a cosmetics hall. Call me unable to read between the lines here but the name Flora conjurs up a botanical white flower-type fragrance, freesias, lilies, magnolia, jasmine, you get my prejudiced picture? Generally not the fragrance family I veer towards.

However Gucci Flora as it turns out is exactly in the fragrance family I lend myself to. Initially I get the pepperiness and then a quick green "floral", hit, this subsides and I get a fresh but sweet citrus fruitiness that softens and melts back to a warm soft vanilla spiciness which is probably the sandalwood and a hint of rose at the very end-note. Rose not in the traditional English country garden sense but in an exotic Moroccan bazaar type way.

And that is how the fragrance lingers spicy, warm and sweet.

To me as a whole descriptive it is sexy, alluring and rounded.

The boy is ordered to sniff my wrist and tell me a non-dirty word that pops into his head, he struggles to articulate it but circles around warm summer night air that's heavy with fragrant jasmine (I've dressed that up a little!) maybe he is getting the "flora" thing that I never did.

Each to their own when it comes to fragrance.

This is my dressed up for a posh evening out fragrance, to wear with something sophisticated and go somewhere elegant, evoking my inner Princess Grace. I rarely reach for this in the day.

Have you tried it?

Also while I am in a fragrance state of mind, hot of the press I can reveal InStyle Magazine's Third Annual Fragrance Award Winners 2011, announced today and published in the latest edition.

From more than 200 new-release fragrances, 50 finalists across 10 categories where scrutinised by the judging panels' noses.

(Alas not a Gucci Flora in sight but how hot is Ms Lively on the cover?...)

• BEST CELEBRITY: Reb’l Fleur by Rihanna
• BEST NEW CLASSIC: Chanel No. 19 Poudre 
• BEST DESIGN: Halston Woman Amber 
• BEST DAYTIME: Miss Dior Cherie Blooming Bouquet 
• BEST DESIGNER: Prada Infusion De Rose 
• BEST HOLIDAY: Tom Ford Neroli Portofino 
• BEST EVENING: Very Irresistible Givenchy L’Intense 
• BEST INNOVATIVE: Jo Malone Limited Edition Tea Fragrance blends 
• LIMITED EDITION: Marc Jacobs Splash Cocktail Collection 
• BEST MEN’S: Guerlain Arsene Lupin Dandy 

Now I'm so not in-style I am out-of-style and haven't tried ANY of the winners but Prada's fragrances always float my boat and I am a rose nut so I can't wait to try that one, also the Jo Malone Tea collection & the Tom Ford Neroli Portfino all sound right up my smell street.

Have you tried any of the winners?

Gucci Flora- do you adore her?

What perfume do you reckon Blake Lively wears? My thoughts... Marc Jacobs Lola?

Shameless Plug... Have you voted for me on Primped yet? In return you get to mock me in my video and laugh at my blatant baboonery. It's a simple one click vote - here 

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Last Wishes for September

Its been a little while since I've done a Best Wishes List, as I have had heaps of products to work through and try and i have also made a serious dent on previous wishlist items which has kept me out of trouble!

Progress, woot!

Some items are still hanging about but I need to follow the rule of finishing off current products I have in the same family before purchasing.

I've also decided to renegade on some previous listed items:

Removing;

• Becca Eye Tint, Vicuna Opal
  WHY: I swatched this and wasnt overly impressed , it was very sheer and I would like something with a bit more zing. Sorry Becca. Still love you LOTS!
• Benefit Full Finish Lipstick, Pillow Talk & Lady's Choice
  WHY: I've too many lippies, Lady's Choice has also been discontinued
• Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Light
  WHY: I need to have Brow Zings in my life and above my eyes instead
• Kerastase Elixr Ultime
  WHY: I'm currently detoxing my hair. No SLSs or sulfates in my haircare anymore, (I'll be up on my soapbox about that soon, post to come) and also no silicones. I'm getting Audra James to make me a bespoke hair oil elixir instead with Argan oil, other natural oils and some essential oils to smell spiffy. Can't wait!

Benefit Brow Zings

Audra James Botanicals Bespoke Hair Elixir

Burts Bees Green Tea & Fennel Colour Safe Shampoo
Sticking with the no SLS/Silicone theme, these won me over because they smell like green tea cologne which I love. Anything I've tried from Burt's Bees has been awesome, I hope these will be too. Reviews all point to bouncy, bouncy hair. I need more bounce. Simple.

The Beauty Blender
Its hard to ignore the rave reviews, I want fabulously blended foundation. I must try this curious little egg all for myself

Chanel Perfection Lumière
I have high hopes for this long-wear foundation to be released in Australia at the start of October. I love Estee Lauder Double Wear but am craving something equally long-wearing but with more luminosity. This promises second-skin natural flawlessness and light reflecting luminosity. Yes please. Am also hoping after my current course of LED Photo-therapy facials + peels my skin will be clearer and I can wear a lighter base. Chanel and my skin, please neither of you let me down, kay, kay?

Sigma F25 Tapered Highlighter Brush
While I'm deliriously happy with my Sigma Make Me Crazy Brush Set, I need something that will allow me to apply powder blush perfectly to the apples of my cheeks, this tapered brush is designed for just that. I'm spitting it isn't available in purple and will be the black sheep in my purple flock. What canyado eh??

Ray-Ban New Wayfarers, Soft Matte Green
I debated whether these should make a beauty blog wishlist but came to the conclusion they most certainly do. Sometimes a pair of sunnies can hide a hell of a lot more than a concealer or eye-cream can and I suppose they also offer protection to the skin that they are covering!

Ray-Ban has just launched the "New", wayfarers range which are smaller to suit smaller faces. I have a small face! We are made for each other.

I am actually lusting the blue, tortoise shell, brown and antique pink gradient and also the fuschia but think I've settled for the soft matte green. Summer is on the way, so my wayfarers must be too!

Have you tried any of my selected few?

What is on your lust-list this month?

Do you worry about SLS/sulfates/silicones in your shampoo & conditioner?

See the full Best Wishes List here

Shameless Plug... Have you voted for me on Primped yet? In return you get to mock me in my video and laugh at my blatant baboonery. It's a simple one click vote - here 

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My BFF Desk CPR Tricks

Find yourself flagging and licking your QWERTY in the arvo at work? If your keyboard starts to look like a pillow around the 3:46 mark regularly like me, then here are some Desk CPR tools I use to revive myself when flat-lining so I can find it from deep within me to face that pile of invoice coding without throwing myself off the top floor balcony.

1. Liquid Chlorophyll
   Like Oxygen in a glass, I can't get through the day without this magical stuff. Scary looking yes - but thats where it ends. Tastes of very little, slight hint of spearmint due to the spearmint oil they add. You need a capful in a 500ml glass or bottle, it slowly turns the water a dark emerald colour in a mysterious smoky dispersing show. It seriously looks like something from a Harry Potter Potions lesson. It makes the water feel fresh, cold and light and you feel perky, hydrated and alert. Its the non coffee-coffee.
   
   Basically it works like haemoglobin in your blood (your blood cell oxygen transporter pigment), except for chlorophyll is plants "haemoglobin", ie the pigment that serves the exact same purpose in plants. It also alkalises your blood (important for optimum function and anti-inflammatory purposes - most of us have slightly acidic PH due to eating acidic foods such as meat, dairy, sugar etc). It cleanses your liver, is an anti-carcinogen and can deodorise your body too if you are bit of a stinky winky! I've noticed my eyes look whiter and shiner as do my hubby's. Most of all I love it for its fresh alert buzz - I have half my office and my hubby converted. All cynical male sceptics!! Try, try try.
   
   
2. Planet Eve Certified Organics Rose Hydration Mist
   This is like a rose-chai tea in a spritz. Its got a subtle rose fragrance with a warm and spicy hint, like a vanilla chai! Not only the physical act of of spritzing your face with a cooling mist wakes you up, the spiciness helps to add to the alertness. Its contains Acai and Aloe Vera so it's both energising and hydrating for your skin and the mist helps to settle your make-up again if its become a little patchy. The spray nozzle on this bottle isn't that fine or delicate which adds to the wakie-wakieness appeal! You get a little knee-jerk jump reaction to the cooling spray! Now who's ready to do some filing?
   
   
3. Natio Wellness Handcream - The pomegranate fragrance of this anti-oxidant hand cream from my Good Hand Job post , helps to boost my slump and furthermore having greasy hands means you can't physically slouch and rest your chin into your hands. Clever huh? Try it you'll slide right off and kiss your desk, you will be the laughing stock of the office- that will soon wake you up!
   
   
4. Burts Bees Lip Shimmer - Peony
   This  skinny stick not only is a beautiful nude rose colour with a little subtle silver shimmer,  it is bang-packed with peppermint oil, which makes your lips tingle and your mind stand to attention. It's so refreshing and perky, am smacking it on right now........ ahhhhh
   
   
5. Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme
   I came across this as part of the last Lust Have It box and it seriously packs a punch. I love it more for its really zesty, clean citrus scent. than actually as a nail treatment. Its quite a hard waxy formula so its not greasy to touch and the scent is clean and invigorating. Its great for after lunch too for making your hands feel clean and fresh and get rid of any sashimi-pong. Coming to think of it I have not had a hang-nail in a while so maybe its doing the job cuticle wise too. Lemonysnickets! Love!

Disclaimer- If you are hungover none of these will work for you. I've tried them. Best solution, feign a migraine and stick a Do Not Resuscitate post it on your laptop, go home and sleep it off you party-pig, you.

Do you suffer from the 3pm slump? What is your Desk CPR trick?

Invoice and expenses coding- is there anything more evil in the world??

Tried Liquid Chlorophyll? Its green gold!

Want more Best Favourite Five lists see my BFF page here

Shameless Plug... Have you voted for me on Primped yet? In return you get to mock me in my video and laugh at my blatant baboonery. It's a simple one click vote - here 

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Humble-Brow Pie

As is perfectly acceptable and plausible in the world of beauty I’ve done a bit of a 360 degree turn on my brow musings.

In such, that where I used to be aghast by anything other than a very light feathering of Rimmel’s eyebrow pencil in hazel (great for blondes - check it!). 

I just found that anything darker on my brows made my hair look very unnaturally blonde and I felt a bit Oscar the Grouch.

Even with all the access to free brow tints in my beauty therapist days , I never indulged and when we HAD to let a fellow trainee do a brow tint on us in Beauty College, I would get them to apply a brown tint- then immediately wipe it straight back off. Even this hint-of-a-barely-there tint would  bother me for a few days before it faded.

However in the world of beauty one is allowed to gracefully eat cosmetic humble-pie and retract former beauty rituals as passé. (The orange faux glow, the bronzing powder over entire face, frosted white eyshadow, brown lipliner/pale lip, yes I’ve devoured a few of these pies in my time, its all part of the journey folks!)

So here before you am going to scoff me an extra large slice of Humble-Brow Pie and have a little change of brow-heart.

The reason......

If you read my How Now Benefit Brow post you would have seen my fantastic brow-over. I've been so happy with the results that I have been back three times since and things are shaping up very nicely in the brow department indeedio.

(I only discovered last visit they have a loyalty bonus -your eight brow wax is free, they even back dated my stamps, too kind, love it)

Each time I go back, I leave with a fuller brow, not a rampant hairy sperm brow in sight any more. 

Progress!

Whats more the last visit I had my first brush with Benefit Brow Zings. Post-wax the Bene-babe brow stylist powdered my brows to fill in any gaps and darken them a shade or two and then she set and shaped my brows with some wax from the duo compact.

The brush in the set is really stubby and stiff so you can get these fabulous straight vertical line at the start of the brow nearest the nose, then twist the brush horizontally to define and get a really neat edge on the length of your brow

She was going to town on them with the wax and powder and the inner dark brow-anoia was creeping up but I had my freind in my periphal vision giving me encouraging nods and smiles which set my mind at ease.

The result:

Now 'scusey the bad grainy piccie but I went straight from brow bar to wine bar so didn't have Nigel Barker booked for a proper photo session but I think you can see the effect.

And a little comparison of the evolution from hairy sperm-brow to strongbrow

Before

After Benefit Brow Shape I

After Benefit Brow Shape IV + Brow Zings

You can clearly see the difference between the first and second picture.

The third (dodgy) picture shows how with Brow Zings or some brow powder, wax and an angled stiff brush you can achieve a much straighter. more defined brow outline.

The same supportive brow-wax buddy actually had Brow Zings with her on my recent holiday and I borrowed it every night and it works a treat and is so easy to apply.

So much so- its going on the wishlist!

Yoink!

Am I totally way behind- have you known this about brows for ages?

Been to Benefit's brow bar?

Ever eaten beauty humble-pie? (Personally I prefer chicken & veg.. ...)

How now, your brows? Happy with them, brow-rehab, spermville?

Shameless Plug... Have you voted for me on Primped yet? In return you get to mock me in my video and laugh at my blatant baboonery. It's a simple one click vote - here 

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Viva La Chiquita

Chiquitas, you and I know

How my nail polishes come and they go
But here's a new KIT one, Chiquitas

And what's more, 

A hot berry pink like never before
Its my new favourite, Chiquitas

Nothing like having an ABBA ear-worm wriggling round your brain for the rest of the day now is there? 

You can thank me later.

But before you do, have a little mind-fiesta for the sizzling senorita that is Chiquita Pink from Kit Cosmetic's Limited Viva la Colour Colection.

Zestier than a corona soaked lime and with more sizzle than that pico de gallo on your chimichanga, this berry pink is such a wearable shade.

I find the blueish under tones in this dark, almost cerise, Missoni-esque pink suits my skintone really well and the shade conforms so well to the seasons in my opinion.

It suits autumn/winter and would add some understated brightness to a dark outfit or it pops as a spring/summer bright just as easily. 

Those clever Mexicans.

Personally I love it on my toes, the perfect accessory for a margarita fuelled Macarena no?

Juanita and Maria, repeat Macarena offenders
are still serving time for their heinous crimes

Throw me that sombrero.

Ole!


The other colours in the range have just as much Latino sex n sizzle;

How good are the names? I rather fancy the inky Siesta Indigo as well.

Actually I rather fancy a siesta full stop. Am off for some shut-eye!

Adiós Amigos xx



So senoritas, tell me, which one tickles your tacquito?

Do you agree that it could be a winter wonder or a summer sizzler? Love a good multi-tasker me!

Are you guilty of a previous Macarena crime? Are you , come on now are you? I was a rampant Macarena repeat-offender!

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Top Speed Fashion

So I was practising my best Anna Wintour look of utter distain this week so I could look the part for my front-row, runway-side seat at the Cosmopolitan/Top Speed by Revlon, Lights, Camera, Colour Show, part of the current 30 Days of Fashion extravaganza this month!! EEEK!

L to R; Angie- An Obsession with the Fabulous, Me!, Jaime- Miss Chew,
Sara-May- Makeup by Sara-May, Clare - cclarebear.com

I didn't quite pull it off though. Should have rocked my sunnies and turned the smile upside down.

It was quite hard to contain the smile, not sure how Ms Vogue does it! What an opportunity, front row seats, I felt very privileged.

We were so close you could see up the models nasal passages. (I can report no hair, very well groomed nostrils indeed, I was checking!)

Instead what we saw was a bevvy of long-limbed lithe beauties strutting their stuff in Spring/Summer's biggest trend - colour blocking.

What better trend to off-set Revlon's latest Top Speed polish range. A bright and diverse new range of 32 polishes that set in 60 seconds (it's true, I've been trying them!)

Why the are so whizz-bang;

• Patented fast dry formula with built-in top coat for a glossy, ultra smooth manicure with strengthening power
• Fast dry formula provides  that sets in just 60 seconds 
• ColorPrecise™ Brush with 640 count triangular bristles that are designed to give a smooth application, engineered to work with one coat 
• Gentle on nails – formaldehyde free, toluene free 

What is more the whole show was styled with clothes from Dotti and Seduce, handbags by Olga Berg and shoes by Siren & Lipstick - so all affordable, amenable ranges and a look that can be achieved from the high-street.

Nicole Adolphe, Cosmopolitan's Fashion Director (who I adored on the recent Park St. TV series) styled the entire show and was positively glowing and looking pretty as a peach in her summer maxi as she did her intro.

If you look closely enough you can see she's wearing the 'Peachy' Revlon shade, which is amazing on her olive toned skin.

I'm loving the colour-blocking trend. Not that you can tell by my mono-chromatic outfit I wore on the day mind.

 I have a cerise and orange block stripe shift dress burning a hole in in my wardrobe just begging to be worn with blue strappy heels when it gets a little warmer. So there was lots of ooh-ing and ahh-ing from my corner when the bright outfits sashayed past me on the catwalk.

And here's a peek at some of my favourite outfits from the show and what polish I would team with them:

This was my favourite outfit of the day- loving the turban. A perfect outfit for the races me thinks. Suits the aubergine shade "Vintage" perfectly.

I love the asymmetric block stripes and the halter neck style of this dress. I think "Emerald" brings out the bold green-blue in the stripe.

Isn't this model perfection, the sleek chignon, the skinny belt, those electric blue skinnies?!!

(I've spotted a red pair of skinny jeans in Witchery I have my beady on at the minute!)

I think "Chilli", one of my favourite polishes from the range would carry the citrusy brightness of this outfit right through to the nails. (Although they've matched it well with "Electric" too.

Love this watermelon blazer and how much the yellow blouse underneath off-sets it. I think "Electric" would make it zing even more. (Looks like the have matched it with "Cherry" too which works)

I really adore this model's sleek do and the orange/cerise block stripe t-shirt. Oh and how cool are the yellow wayfarers?? "Guava" would keep the mouth-watering juiciness of the top flowing.

Here are all 32 punchy shades from the collection- Which ones will you be nailing? 

Stand-by for swatches of Fire, Chilli, Electric, Royal, Jelly and Sheer Cotton. 

After the show we enjoyed some bubbles backstage and ambassador models Sarah Stephens, Heidi Harrington-Johnson and the STUNNING Alyssa Sutherland made an appearance for some media shots.

Alyssa is make-you-gasp beautiful in the flesh. Her bone structure is beyond amazing and her face is so symmetrically beautiful. She is even more striking in the flesh. I was a little mesmerised actually. Look it, you could slice prosciutto offa those cheekbones!

And finally the obligatory post-show fashion wall shot with fellow Sydney Beauty Bloggers.

So what say you Besties, colour blocking, hot-to-trot or definitely not?

Revlon shades- which ones will you be speeding to buy?

Anna Wintour - fashion genius or miserable old bat?

Shameless Plug... Have you voted for me on Primped yet? In return you get to mock me in my video and laugh at my blatant baboonery. It's a simple one click vote - here 

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