Cuticle Woes Be Gone!
Dry cuticles, hangnails, and lackluster nails are the bane of most hands in winter. Nails that are a little or a lot worse for wear are generally a result of a lack of hydrating moisture due to the onset of chillier weather. Hands that also spend a fair bit of time in and out of water, without a proper bit of moisturizer applied to them in between, can particularly fall prey to dry cuticles and hangnails. Ouch! Talk about sore, unsightly little terrors.
Creative Nail Design SolarBalm is a nourishing pot of moisturizing goodness. SolarBalm is a highly emollient conditioning balm made specifically for nails and skin, which comprises of a blend of jojoba oil, vitamin E, and sweet almond oil. Just the tiniest amount of SolarBalm rubbed onto the nail, cuticle and surrounding skin will instantly hydrate. After a few days of regular use, you will certainly see and feel the difference in your nails and cuticles. Do resist the temptation to bite off or pull at any bits of dry cuticle or skin that are annoying you. Often this will cause them to tear further, to be even more painful, and become a potential source of infection. Use a quality pair of cuticle nips to remove the desiccated cuticle and hangnail only. Tweezerman Stainless 2000 Cuticle Nipper is Beauty Marked!’s tool of choice. This stainless steel, double spring cuticle nip is fantastic for removing that nuisance bit of dry cuticle or hangnail that’s not only unsightly, but catches on what seems like absolutely everything! Talk about adding insult to injury. Ugh! But not to worry, because before long, with regular maintenance, dry cuticles, hangnails, and brittle nails won’t be an issue for you… Right?
Creative Nail Design’s SolarBalm comes in a handy 9 gram tin that fits wonderfully in your handbag, pocket or wherever you store all things precious. Visit Creative Nail Place for your local stockist. Tweezerman Cuticle Nippers supplier info is gladly available from Dateline City.
ModelCo Palm Springs Glamour Look.
Here’s the Face Chart for the Palm Springs Glamour Look as promised. It’s always a pleasure to dish the slap when and where possible! Everything else from ModelCo, as designed by Noni Smith for Stephanie Conely at RAFW 07 as listed below. Enjoy!
Body:
Skin Drink- Airbrush Moisturizer
Cool Feet- Airbrush Catwalk Heels
TAN:
Tan Self Tanning Glove- On October 7th combined with
Airbrush In A Can
Body Meringue- A gradually building tan that comes in a mousse that offers a instant bronze glow with anti-cellulite benefits. On counter September 23rd.
Face:
Skinperfect Pore Minimizer- On counter July 15th.
Face Base- Skin primer
Fluidsplash 3 in 1 Foundation
Luminosity Shimmer Whip- Added to foundation in either pink or champagne for a subtle all over glow.
Bronze Airbrush Face- On counter September 2nd.
Beauty Fix Airbrush Face- Mist to set and seal makeup. On counter September 2nd.
Cheeks:
Colourbox Blush in Déjà Vu
Lips:
Illusion Lip Enhancer
Lip Lights in Coral
Tools:
Brush 01 Fine Line
Brush 02 Medium Tapered
Brush 03 Large Eyeshadow
Brush 04 Foam Applicator
Scary But True.
Tweezerman ILashcomb™ is quite possibly one of the scariest beauty tools I have seen in all my beautiFULL life, but amongst the most effective at de-clumping and separating eyelashes. It’s true. Tweezerman ILashcomb™ is a fabulous tool for both gently and effectively creating gorgeous lashes. The business end of the Tweezerman ILashcomb™ looks like it could really do someone a mischief. The gold plated teeth effortlessly glide through your curled (of course) then mascara-ed lashes like it’s nobody’s business, removing any clumpy bits of mascara all the while liberating each lash from the next. Do be sure to comb away from your eye. Ideally, you’ll comb with your eye open, but if you’re feeling a little unsteady of hand, feel free to comb your lashes with your eye lightly closed. Another nifty bonus with this beauty tool, is that it makes ALL mascaras look good: from the cheap and cheerful to the high end extravaganzas. *whispers* In fact, after using the Tweezerman ILashcomb™ it’s darn near impossible to distinguish which mascara is top shelf and which is not. The teeth of the Tweezerman ILashcomb™ fold compactly away into the handle for protection (both it’s and yours, I suspect). I clean mine between uses by gently wiping the teeth with an alcohol swab. Tweezerman ILashcomb™ doesn’t take well to being submerged in liquids either. Liquid seems to shorten it’s life-span tremendously. I know this because I’m onto my second Tweezerman ILashcomb™ for this very reason. Doh! Check out Tweezerman or Dateline Imports for your nearest stockist.
Looks Good. Works great, but…
How on earth are you meant to clean Kabuki brushes? I can remember to the day, when I first asked myself this very question. Talk about one of those cosmetic conundrums. These confounded cuties seem to present even the most makeup brush savvy with a wee predicament. If you dry it on it’s cute little chubby bottom, which seems the most obvious way, the water used to clean your brushes will run down into the ferruled end (the bit that holds the glued hairs to the handle of the brush) and entices mold and all sorts of unmentionables to congregate in the presence of the excessive moisture. Silly gravity. (Yes, I know gravity is very useful, but at times like these, it’s a darn nuisance no matter which side you part your hair on.) Kabuki brushes sat on their end to dry also have a tendency to smell a bit too. Did you wonder what that smell was? They often get stinky because when popping a squat, they just take too long to dry and end up much like clothes left in the washer too long. Pew.
All temptation must be resisted when it comes to blow drying kabuki brushes or even just spritzing them with many of the alcohol based spray cleaners sold on the market. Both blow drying and alcohol sprays can irreparably damage your precious Kabuki over time. We all know what blow drying can do to our hair, if not protected, well multiply that by a bazillion and that’s what you get when a blow dryer is used on your poor defenseless kabuki brush. As for the alcohol spays, non-synthetic kabukis are made up of hair, hairs although not human, are much like our own. I am sure even the most deranged individual would pull up at spraying pure alcohol onto their hair. Talk about a sure fire way to fry your hair. Why are those sprays sold then, you ask? They are largely available as a quick way to sanitize brushes when they are being used between different individuals. Brushes should always be cleaned with gentle baby soap or shampoo, rinsed well and left to dry after their final use for the day when they have been deployed for use on more than one person, but this is not a practical solution between clients. Hence the need for the alcohol based spray.
Beauty Marked! has a couple of ways which will effectively dry your beloved Kabuki and prolong the life of this darling brush. My first suggestion is to take a 15 centimeter or so long piece of sticky tape and place the kabuki brush’s on it’s side with the bristles over hanging the edge of a table ( I use my desk) and sticky tape the side laying kabuki’s handle to the edge of the desk. Most kabuki brushes secured to the edge of a table at night will most certainly be dry by morning.
My second favourite way to dry kabuki brushes is to grab an elastic or rubber band and wind it a few times along the handle of the brush, keeping away from the hairs. I then grab a bit of string (or prettier still, a length of the many spare StrawberryNet ribbons I have laying around) and secure one end to the band placed on the brushes handle and tie the other end of the string in a bow to a door knob. I leave the brush to dry there, dangling bristle end down until dry. If you have lots of kabukis to dry, I’d hang them off the end of a wire hanger after you have secured one end with a bow (a bit arts and crafty, I know, but never pass up an opportunity to beautify). Viola! a gorgy mobile of cute kabukis elegantly suspended to dry.
Hopefully these methods of effectively drying your kabuki brushes will not only prolong their life of loyal service to you, but will woo you to use these useful and gorgeous creatures. Be warned though, kabukis, tend to multiply before you know it. They are a bit like tattoos, actually, once you get one…
And the Award for the Coolest Tweezers Goes To…
La-Tweez™ Illuminating Tweezers! How cool are these? Ultra affordable, ultra nifty, and aren’t half bad either. I was given a pair of these to try and I thought what a great idea it is to have a light actually attached to the tweezers. Half the battle is always finding the rogue brow hairs that need tweezing, isn’t it? The single L.E.D. light illuminates the exact area to be tweezed. Any trace of evidence removed. The ergonomically designed stainless steel tweezers with it’s built in spotlight, is more than capable of assisting you in keeping your arches perfect. La-Tweez™ come in a lipstick styled compact that is complete with it’s own mirror. I know. No longer do you have to scrounge around for good light, a mirror, or the tweezers. it’s all there. Sweet.
La-Tweez™ tweezers are available in a black and fuchsia case. Visit www.latweez.com.au to learn more about this little award winner.
