Posts belonging to Category 'Products'

Product Reviews: Get Your Glow On!

As any self-respecting gal knows, showing just the right amount of skin can make or break an outfit. So you want to make sure that what is on show, looks smokin’ hot right? I trialled a couple of select body lotions designed to make your skin radiate and smell delicious, the best way to complete a fab look.

Trilogy Ultra Hydrating Body Cream, $25.95 (above)

Trilogy’s rosehip oil is a hit in my beauty cabinet. After trialling it a couple of years ago, it’s now a mainstay for the nourishing loving it provides my skin with.

I was excited to see one of Trilogy’s products in the glowy, showy skin line up. The cream’s scent was another yummy one, but completely different to Sasy n Savy. The combination of Evening Primrose, Jojoba and Rosehip oils created a mellow, calming scent. The cream provided a far more subtle sheen but was the best moisturiser of all the products, making them perfect for the pins. It didn’t scream night on the town, rather sang lunch with the girls or shopping day out and I’ve been lathering up the legs in this delicious cream nearly every day. My moisture-hungry legs are loving it and yours will too.

Sasy n Savy Silk Shimmer Body Lotion, $40

If it’s made it’s way into the hallowed halls of Harrods, it’s got to be good. This Australian owned and made brand has just launched into England’s ritziest store and uses plenty of Aussie goodies. The Silk Shimmer Body Lotion is action-packed with Kakadu Plum, Wild Rosella and Grass Lily but the most over-powering smell is the Rose-Geranium oil. The shimmer is a yellowy-gold and was the boldest of all I tested. The fragrance was elegant and subtle enough to not overpower your favourite perfume, making the lotion the perfect choice for a glamorous gown or party frock. Rub this into your shoulders and décolletage for a gorgeous glow on a big night out.

What are your favourite glowy products? Share them below, we’d love to hear!

Review by Lisa O’Neill, a freelance journalist and part-time triathlete who loves to squeeze in as much pampering as possible in her free time.

Be well,

xoxo

Beauty & Wellbeing Crushes: Megan Larsen, Natural Bloom Blush, Kale & Autumn.

1. Kale

I’m currently having a love affair with kale that I’m very pleased about, after my misadventures in the past. A vegan kitchen whiz pal of mine made us a stunning kale, beetroot, pepita, lemon juice & olive oil salad a few weeks ago. It was DELISH. And you can’t help but feel good after injecting all those vitamins into your body.

Last night I bought a giant bunch of organic kale from Farmer Jacks Subiaco (a fantastic place to buy produce – although their fresh organic stuff is a lot more expensive than the delivered organic fruit n veg I get).

My salad was a variation on the original: kale leaves washed and torn into little pieces, pepitas, dried cranberries and an olive oil + lemon dressing. It was really good, and one bunch of kale should cost you between $3-$5 which is super cheap. Plus you can make them into CHIPPIES and the bunches are always huge. If you’re into gardening, kale is said to grow like weeds – plenty to eat!

2. Megan Larsen

The founder of Sodashi, and all round inspiring woman Megan has recently done an interview about the North Freo based skincare and body range that has made it big the world over. Find out how this natural, organic company has taken everyone by storm in this interview with Megan Larsen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMEp_mWqAuY

3. Bloom Sheer Colour Cream in Natural

I’ve been a long time fan of this product in the shade Rosie (perfect for pale skinned brunettes like myself), so when the opportunity to try a new shade came about I was very excited.

This is a really versatile product, you can use it on lips, cheeks and eyes. I found that I love using it to create the highly sought after nude lip. For the cheeks, you only need the tiniest amount, I like to smile, then dab a tiny bit on the apple of each cheek with my fingers and then blend.

I prefer a pinker based blush, so am going to stick with Rosie for the cheeks for now, or maybe try Shy or Coy next as I think the pink undertones suit my pale n proud face best. I’ll still be using Natural as my go-to for a nude lip, but make no mistake, if you have the slightest hint of a tan and want a gorgeous light glow to your cheeks, Natural is going to be your new bestie!

4. Autumn

I have such a crush on Autumn, don’t tell my boyfriend! To me there’s not much better than getting about in snuggly clothes, drinking copious amounts of tea, taking long steamy baths, eating piping hot home-made pear crumble with vanilla icecream and sleeping as much as possible. Absolute bliss.

Link Love!

Take a little inspiration from nature this autumn – very pertinent given my last crush!

Food Label Quick Check – an excellent addition to your purse, this is a pdf which you can use when you go shopping to check against nutrition labels on food, to see how it stacks up in the healthy-for-you stakes! Very handy.

Are you a sucker or a booster? – Mysterious? Find out here… I try and be a booster as much as possible, though I think when I’ve had too little sleep I might be a bit of a sucker, eek!

Coconut and Basil Brown Rice – a delish recipe, if you’d like to make a huge batch and bring it over to me – please do!

Staying green and healthy when time is running short – lots of handy tips.

Brainpower brekkies – If you need to be on your A-game, these breakfast will have your neurons firing with deadly accuracy.

That’s all for this week. Hope you enjoyed! If you have any comments or questions I’d be happy to answer them 🙂

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Beauty Battle Royale: Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask VS Ella Bache Hydra-Revitalising Repair Balm.

I guess this isn’t really a battle per se, I called it that for the sake of being dramatic – which is something I aim to do daily. The fact of the matter is, both masks set out to do entirely different things, so the best way to compare and contrast in this instance, is to break this right on down for you.

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

If you’ve got dry, problematic skin that’s suffering from not enough attention or too much exposure to things that are drying it out and making you look a little haggard you want to go for the Ella Bache. It’s thick, it’s creamy and it’s dreamy. Added to this you can just focus on the areas of dryness by only placing the mask on those spots (which is great news if you have combination skin and don’t want to contribute to oiliness). Think of it as an intense moisturizer.

OR

If your skin is as clogged as the shops at Christmas, then you want to cover your face in some Rodial and quite literally draw out and then peel away those impurities that are causing your pores to block.

Pore strip!

Remember those strips you used to put over your nose to remove blackheads (above)? It works just like that, and is super effective, not only helping to remove dirt and excess sebum but contributing to making the surface of your skin feel and look clearer. See my picture below to get the idea of how it works (and how massively fun it is, you can tell by the expression on my face, right guys?)

TIME: For those that don’t have all the time in the world the Ella Bache Hydra-Revitalizing Repair Balm is great for you because you put it on and let it soak in – no rinsing required and you can use as little or as much as you like. 10 minutes tops.

OR

If you’ve got a bit more time up your sleeve, you should get friendly with the Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask. The black gel that you put all over your face needs to completely dry to get the maximum benefit. 20 minutes total.

FINALLY– if you were mid mask and the doorbell rang do you want to answer it like this

Or this?

*This picture was just of me with what looked like moisturizer on my face pulling stupid faces. Suffice to say, you couldn’t see anything. You could answer the door embarrassment free.*

My pick? The Rodial just because my skin requires things drawn out of it these days, for those of you that need moisture and elasticity put back into it, you have to get yourself down to the Ella Bache counter today.

And the winner (for me) is…

The Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask, for getting rid o’ gunk!

Review by Adriane Daff, mask battle umpire.

Note: Rodials animal-testing policy is currently unknown, we are in the process of finding out.

Be well,

xoxo

Down to Earthy – Our Fave New Eco-Friendly Products!

Today we’re going to get a little bit hippie on you and suggest some of our new found favourite eco and earth lovin prods! Some of them smell like nature, some of them make sure our animal friends stay safe and some of them have a low environmental impact. They’re all winners in their own way… so throw on your hemp tee, grab some used-tire sandals and follow me into the wonderful world of earthy delights.

First stop, a firm fave for many years: LUSH! They use use fruit and veggies, essential oils, and synthetic ingredients (this means minimal animal harm!) in all products. All lush products are vegetarian! In addition to not using animal fats in their prods, they are also test on people, not bunnies 🙂

Lush Cosmetics – Grass Shower Gel RRP $9.95-$34.95

Flip the cap and take a whiff, showering with this will make anyone believe you’ve spent all day rolling around in a pile of freshly mown lawn clippings. The uplifting scent gets me going in the morning, and there’s also real wheatgrass in there, so it’s almost as good as gulping a shot of the bad tasting (butohsogoodforyou) stuff. Almost.

Hottie Massage Bar – RRP $9.95

Jojoba, cocoa butter, shea butter, vanilla absolute, black pepper and ginger oil are the ingredients that make this ultra melty massage bar so good for post-workout soreness. SUPER SENSITIVE SKINS BEWARE THOUGH! While I adored having this massaged onto me thanks to an obliging boyfriend, his super sensitive eczema prone skin had other ideas and unfortunately became irritated after using it. I also have sensitive skin and was fine, so if you’re unsure, maybe test some on your skin down at your local Lush shoppe and wait a day to see if you’re safe. I hope you are, because this is a real treat.

Body Shop Earth Lovers range

Coming in delectable flavours such as pear and lemongrass, fig and rosemary and my personal favourite apricot and basil, this new range by The Body Shop is made with 100% recyclable plastic bottle, no sulphates, parabens, colourants or soap AND the gel itself is 100% biodegradable! The gorgeous scents pack a punch and that makes this one of my favourite new ‘good for the Earth’ prods 🙂 At only $14.95 you could treat yourself to a couple as well.

Echolife Macrobiotic sea salt bath crystals!

I am enjoying these baths sooooo much lately, and given we are on the edge of Autumn-Winter, it feels so lovely to slip into a warm, steamy tub. I must admit, I don’t know too much about macrobiotics, but these salts claim to be an excellent way of absorbing all the minerals the sea contains in balance.

I am not kidding when I tell you that until Yesterday I hadn’t been to the ocean in about 2 years! If you’re like me and don’t get down to the beach often enough, or are unable to due to living nowhere near one, then I think a sea salt bath is the next best thing. Just writing about this is making me want to go turn on the taps… 🙂

Endota Organic Honey & Cinnamon Lip Balm – RRP $17

Now to some organic lip smackin’ goodness. This honey and cinnamon lip balm is iiiiiiincredible! Tastes like a chai tea for the lips, or honey cinnamon toast. Perfect for this weather we are currently having! This yummy critter can be found on my lips on a daily basis. I recommend! You can check out the scent for yourself in the city David Jones 🙂

That’s all for now my loves, if you have any suggestions for great eco products we should take a look at then leave a comment!

Happy rainy Tuesday!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Beauty & Wellbeing Crushes: Sunflower seeds, Bobbi Brown, Omnilux and more!

1. Australian Grown Sunflower Seeds

I recently became interested in how I could get more Vitamin E in my diet as it’s said to be fantastique for the skin, brain and overall wellbeing. Sounds good to me, I thought, and went on my merry way to buy some sunflower seeds, which are little treasure chests of vit-e (along with lots of other nutrients)!

Unfortunately I was disappointed at how hard it was to find Australian grown and produced sunflower seeds – they were all imported from overseas. I decided to check with Organic ‘n Green, the place I buy my organic veggies from and lo and behold they stock certified organic Australian grown sunflower seeds as well – this company never ceases to impress me!!

I’m now the proud owner of some sunflower seeds that were grown within our shores, and I’m loving adding them to my salads and trail mixes 🙂

2. The tastiest drink!

Today I had this smoothie, and it was totally delicious, I call it the Double Whammy Banana & Blueberry Smoothie:

♥ 1 x cup of Vitasoy vanilla soy milk
♥ 2 medium sized ripe / just overripe bananas (decadent in these times!)
♥ 1 x cup of frozen blueberries (or more if you prefer)
♥ 1 x cup of baby spinach
♥ 1-2 tsp wheatgerm

Whiz it all up and you are left with a tasty dream treat. Vanilla soy milk is SO much more palatable than regular soy milk, in my opinion. The vanilla Vitasoy can be hard to come by but if you see it, pick some up, I bet you’ll like it!

3. Omnilux

I’m still going with my Omnilux sessions! For best results you need to have at least 2 sessions a week over a 4 week period. I just had my third treatment today. I can definitely tell the difference in my skin the day after! The other interesting thing to note is that the red light is about 40x brighter than the blue light! For me, the red takes me about 5-10 minutes after the session is completed to re-adjust to normal vision (with goggles and cotton wool) but with the blue or white light it’s no problem at all! I’m currently having my sessions at Skin Deep in the city and I always look forward to my next sesh :)!

Eyeliner – & Brush

4. Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner & Brush

For the ‘makeup skills challenged’ among us, and I firmly plant myself within that group, this little duo from Bobbi Brown is a lifesaver. It is SO EASY to create a great eyeliner look with these two products, that it’s almost ridiculous. It lasts a long time too and comes in 10+ classic & quirky shades. There’s a reason why this pair have earned cult status worldwide and consistently make it into the top tens of industry experts… but if you’re like me, and still traversing the lower slopes of the makeup mountain (where do I come up with this!) then these are solid beginners companions. Highly recommend. Available online at the official Bobbi Brown online store.

Hans Bruechle..!

5. Date my Mate

Here’s something fun that’s a little bit different! Local fella and man of various infamy, Hans Bruechle, and a friend have teamed up to do ‘Date my Mate’ which is a web series dedicated to reviewing ‘everything in Perth’ as well as getting in a few sneaky dates here and there. The catch? They choose each others dates! Makes for some good giggles.

In the latest episode, Hans heads to the day spa and his mate takes on a brutal personal training session. All while trying to woo a ‘lady’ of the other ones choosing!

Date my Mate: Episode 3

That’s all for now my darlings! Please feel free to share your current beauty & wellbeing crushes with me!

Be well,

xoxo