Heading Home.
As you can imagine, I personally test darn near everything I write about. For those few products I can’t test but do write about, I, at the very least, have someone I trust test the products for me (like in the case with men’s products or products not specifically suited to my skin type or colour). Other than that, it’s all me. So with the major amounts of Guinea Pig-ing I do, my skin occasionally arcs up and freaks out. I have had allergic reactions or my skin has threatened an outbreak of the most catastrophic kind! It ain’t pretty. So what do I do in the event of those rare but dark times? I head straight home. I go back to basics.
[A’kin] Unscented ~ 24 Hour Pure Moisture with Shea Butter, Chamomile & Vitamin B5 is home for me. As with all [A’kin] products, Pure Moisture is 100% nasties-free. Not a paraben or sulphate to be found! Pure Moisture was designed specifically for sensitive, allergy prone, fragile and damaged skin, that’s been in the proverbial “wars”. This ever so nurturing moisturizer is positively packed with natural soothing actives such as vitamin B5, Vitamin E, and Viper Bugloss oil, which is a highly concentrated source of Omega 3, 6, and 9 essential fatty acids. [A’kin] Unscented ~ 24 Hour Pure Moisture gives me all the pure, safe, organic, and healing warm and fuzzies my skin needs at such times of crisis. Before long, my skin is back on the road again fit to merrily experience and test more beauty bits just for you.
The Best Day!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothers and Mothers-to-be out there making a big difference in the world. You rock! Plain and simple. Here’s hoping you are showered with gifts, breakfasts in bed and all the heartfelt praise that you so deserve. Thank you for the beauty and love that you fill our world with. Thank you for YOU. The real gift of all gifts!
The End Is Nigh.
For your beloved skincare items. Now what? I don’t know about you, but to me, it seems such a colossal waste when you have a product or several products in fact, that will not get used before it’s time for them to give up the ghost. I often find myself in this situation, when I have a beauty product that I adore, so I use only the tinciest amount each application so as to prolong its time in my possession. But what I end up doing, without fail, is miscalculating the realistic daily allotment and end up with tons left when the PAO (see Wednesday’s post) and the commencement of regular sniff testing is just around the corner. It’s ridiculous! Even if the products weren’t suited to you for its original intended use, too oily for your liking, or the wrong texture for your face, for example, perhaps they can be used another way. With a little lateral thinking, it may be possible to salvage that moisturizer, scrub, or mask, and then it won’t seem like such a squander when you have to let it go. Simply reinvent its use.
Just a few of my favourite ways to use up skincare items are as follows:
- use facial exfoliants on the decollete, hands, and the tops of feet.
- use gentle gel cleansers without any chemical exfoliants to cleanse makeup brushes.
- use face cleansers with chemical exfoliants (such as AHA, BHA, SA etc.) as body wash.
- use rich night creams as shaving creams (men can get in on the action with this tip too).
- use face masks on the decollete, hands, and back.
- use moisturizing serums (oil based) as hair glosses.
- use untinted lip balms as hair wax for the bitsy look or to slick down rogue strays.
Just Imagine…
Ideally, I’d love to razzle dazzle you with my Photoshopping skills, but as you can see, my ability is sorely lacking. Luckily, there are fabulous essential oil concoctions, lotions, and potions that I can always reach for when I need a boost of confidence and sense of well-being , as I’m not up to the point where I can gather kudos for my groundbreaking image altering talents, just yet. Imagine the My bod® Body Oil pictured gracefully cascading from the svelte neck of the amber bottle into a warm, luxurious bath filling the room with the perfume of nurturing and healing Sandalwood, Rosewood, and Patchouli essential oils. Divine!
(I knew there had to be a reason why I couldn’t get the up right version of that photo to work.)
My silliness aside, I think I might have stumbled onto another of Mother Nature’s finest, bottled to help promote a sense of confidence, well-being and all the while sensational for dry and cracked skin. My bod® Body Oil Sandalwood, Rosewood and Patchouli Blend is outstanding at healing dehydrated skin and soothing the soul, when applied after a shower onto damp skin, sprinkled into a running bath, or used neat as a massage oil. The ingredients of the Australian-made My bod® Body Oil are almond oil, safflower oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, sandalwood, rosewood, and patchouli essential oils, and vitamin E. My bod® Body Oil Sandalwood, Rosewood and Patchouli Blend is certainly one of those stellar bottles of goodness worth getting a hold of. Visit bod® for your local supplier and learn of all the other beautiful bits of bod® bounty.
When In Doubt, Chuck It Out!
Did you think that today’s post heading only pertained to suspect food in the fridge? Well, the same goes for cream based cosmetics. The nose knows. We have all seen those natty little drawings (PAO symbols) on most cosmetic packaging of a round container with the lid ajar and a number and the letter M (M = months) around it. The varying numeral on the jar states how many months the cosmetic company reckons you can safely use their products once opened before they are meant to “go off”, so to speak and need replacing. I’m not entirely convinced that these stipulated periods of time are wholly accurate, but more a not-so-subtle indicator as to when you should go and *wink* buy more. This most certainly seems the case with dry powder based products, as they can last ages just as pristine as when you first purchased them. But, In all fairness, they must be a somewhat reasonable life span indicator for cream based products, because some cosmetics can certainly turn a bit manky soon after this duration. My suggestion to you is to not only plan to turf cream based items within this time period, but to sniff them every now and again to be sure to be sure. Most oils and waxes within products will definitely “turn” eventually and have a slightly sharp and possibly more rank and or pungent smell to them. Trust me, rank and pungent is never good in cosmetics. Even that smell of something that makes you feel a bit unsure is your cue to place that cosmetic item in the circular file: the bin. When in doubt, chuck it out!
Wait There’s More…Palm Springs Glamour Hair!
No prizes for guessing which Rosemount Australian Fashion Week 2007 show was my favourite…and no it’s not Groundhog Day! Along with the gorgy looks directed by Noni Smith for ModelCo in the fun Stephanie Conley “Poolside Gossip” Spring/Summer 07/08 RAFW show, I couldn’t get past the absolutely adorable pony created by Renya Xydis for Original Diva Exclusive Hair Inserts. The models in the show had great fun frolicking with super pretty ponytails with bows alternating in yellow, purple, polka-dot, floral, and pink.
To recreate the look:
Step 1. Pull hair back into a high ponytail.
Step 2. Tie hair into a ponytail on the top of the crown.
Step 3. Add Original Diva Exclusive Hair Inserts just under the ponytail.
Step 4. Add Original Diva Exclusive Hair Inserts into the ponytail.
Step 5. Tong the hair and away you go!
Check out Original Diva Exclusive Hair Inserts for more. Too easy!
Golden Moonglow.
I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to remind you of this ultra-luxe, pressed powder illuminator by Jane Iredale. Moonglow is a rounded quad of golden bronze and copper-toned shades designed to be used individually on eyes, cheeks, and lips, or swirled together as a divine all over bronzer for the face, decollete, shoulders, shins and calves, for starters…Wherever you wish to set aglow.
The finely milled shimmer of Jane Iredale’s Moonglow is made of 24-karat food grade gold flakes. No FD & C dyes or irritants are used in Jane Iredale Products, whatsoever, which is fabulous. Moonglow is easily built up to be as dramatic or as soft and ethereal as you desire. Beauty Marked! wouldn’t be without these four sumptuous, rich shades of sheer golden indulgence!
