What’s Old Is New Again.
Early Egyptian civilizations were the first to show a demonstrated commitment to the use of cosmetics. The eye was the main feature chosen by early Egyptians for embellishment. Sounds like a civilization after my own heart, truth be told. The gemstones, Lapis Lazuli and Malachite were often ground up to a powder and used to magically highlight their eyes. It seems like they were amongst the first to be hip to mineral makeup too, by the sounds of it. It’s so very intriguing to bare witness to how beauty of the ancients lives on in the trends of today.
S. O. S…. Subdue Our Strands!
I just had to laugh at myself this morning. I had a strand of hair that was really all about doing its own thing. Since I wasn’t up for sporting wayward flyaways, I went for the Terax Gloss Finishing Serum with concentrated silicone and vitamin E. Terax Gloss did the job of subduing my rogue flyaways with great aplomb in two strokes flat. Yessssss! Not only did my hair simmer down, but was instantly shiny and looked nicely finished. Just how we like it.
?NB: Terax Hair Care - This bottle really does need to be fitted with a little super hero cape. It certainly did come to my hair’s rescue. Thanks Super Terax!
Quiet Achiever.
I thought it would have been remiss of me not to mention this pot of skincare gold: Living Nature Purifying Cleanser. Talk about a quiet achiever! I have been using this cleanser fairly regularly for the last few months and am absolutely certain it has kept my skin in good stead. Living Nature Purifying Cleanser appears as your run of the mill ecologically aware, friend to all product, but on closer inspection it is a whole lot more. Purifying Cleanser by Living Nature, has one of the shortest ingredient lists of any cleanser I’ve seen and that’s a great thing. The ingredient list is free from synthetics, preservatives, and parabens. Kumerahou, to naturally rebalance the skin’s oils and to gently cleanse, and Manuka honey to promote clear skin are the hero ingredients that quietly get on with considerately cleansing the skin and promoting skin clarity. The packaging is not only 100% recyclable but is packed in a positively loaded manner. Being positively loaded means that the bottle opens from the base and is gravity fed as a result. This method of opening protects the product from the effects of air, more specifically oxygen, which can be so degrading and will eventually spoil any skincare product, particularly ones such as Living Nature’s which are preserved without artificial interference. Living Nature is a New Zealand company that is distributed in over 12 countries worldwide. Living Nature Skincare products are proudly made of New Zealand. Purifying Cleanser does, indeed, live up to Living Nature’s aim to protect, nurture and enhance the lives of its users. Absolutely worth a look!
Madcap Monday!
I suppose if I actually understood astrology better, I could say something like Mercury is retrograde or that aurora borealis is extra gaseous or something more informed to explain the tardiness of my blog entry today. As I write this, the internet in my neck of the woods is down (the entire state apparently) and has been so for several hours. Where my ISP was answering the telephone early this morning and promising that the connections aught to be established in an hour or so (mind you, that was 5 hours ago!), they have now popped on a voicemail message stating that due to technical difficulties, they are unable to answer any calls. So, besides making over dramatic sighing noises, there isn’t much I can do. So I wait.
In the interim, I decided to pull out the DVD that was tagging along with a skincare range (which shall remain nameless) that I hadn’t been able to get around to due to the sheer volume of promising product I eagerly hope to review for you. So into my hobbled computer the DVD went. I cranked it up and sat back to watch. Huh? I looked over my shoulder once and then twice. What the? Excuse me? The DVD was utterly freaky. I felt like I was instantly transported to the future. You know the one: the future where we live under a glass dome out on a steel platform somewhere hovering over the left landfill of our neglected mother earth. You know, that year 2050 quasi Blade Runner sorta stuff. Weird. Images of waterfalls and clouds captured on time-lapsed film, women and men standing in rain forests (holographic of course), smiling at me with unwavering cultish gazes, new age music which I am convinced had underlaid tracks of subliminal messages urging me to take the green pill, go on take the green pill, you know you want to take the green pill… trying to creep into my psyche. Is this the way of my future? Our beautiful future? Argh! Surely someone’s having a laugh? Brb…
*races out of the office in search of a tree, some grass, perhaps a flower. Heck, even a pigeon will do!*
Just a thought…
“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
When I stumbled upon this quotation, I was instantly taken with its aptness. I can’t even recall the amount of times I have heard an individual speak with disdain about an aspect of their appearance. I have had similar thoughts about myself as well, on occasion. But what resounded the loudest with me, when I read Emerson’s words, was that what seems an odd colour, curvy, too big, a bit long, slightly misshapen, short, or freckly, just isn’t seen to be the asset or quality possessing worth that it truly is. I wonder how wonderful it would be if we shifted our thoughts about our qualities from what we would change to how truly gorgeous they already are?
Sometimes You’ve Just Got To Kick It Into Gear.
Yep, as you may have gathered, it’s just one of those days. No matter what you do, it’s just one of those days when your hair won’t sit right, and you cannot…to save your soul, do things like fill your brows evenly or blend your blush perfectly, or even conceal that blasted monthly hormonal horror which is sitting so high up on your chin you might just have to give it a name. Well, it happens to the best of us. Not much more to this post than that. My commiserations.
My best suggestion for you today is just kick it into gear, hold your head up high, and channel the abundance of inner beauty that is lying below the naughty hair, misbehaving skin, and mojo-less makeup, and rock it like you mean it! Why? Because you ARE beautiful!
Slow Baked Beauty.
For a little while now, the word has been out on the street about Flashtronic, MAC’s latest collection featuring Mineralized Eye Shadows and Skinfinishes due to hit the counters on August 6th, 2007. Flashtronic is a LE collection full of soft, illuminating, ambient colour found in Lipglasses, Mineralized Eyeshadows, and Mineralized Skinfinishes. Just to ensure that you have the right tools to apply the mineralized gorgeousness found in this collection, MAC is making available the large powder #134 brush and the large #227 fluff eyeshadow brush.
I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of the Mineralized Eyeshadows and they are ridiculously gorgeous. The eyeshadows in this collection are quite special and unlike the ones previously released. They are much like baby Skinfinishes, with distinct colours swirled together in its intriguing veining. Lovestone, in particular, is indeed divine. This raspberry baked shadow with wine and copper veining is pretty personified. Not only does it work well as a stellar eyeshadow, but also as a demi-frosted ethereal blush. The image of Lovestone pictured below is true as it sits in the pan from my vantage point. Quarry is written up as a sky blue with olive, coral and beige veining and does look as such, but wore more reminiscent of shimmering fields of wheat. Not at all what I expected, but lovely all the same. Quarry makes a fabulous all over wash, brow highlight and cheek highlight as well.
As I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the 4 Lipglasses or 3 Mineralized Skinfinishes as of yet, I will just have to try and manage my excitement for now. but I tell ya, it ain’t easy!
