Working from home, I usually prescribe to the same daily uniform: yoga pants and an oversized, el-cheapo fleece hoody. Not exactly glamour. But the kind folk at The Facial Company approached Wellness WA to review their Skype live video consultation service, sending me into a panic because, my god, I may have to brush my hair and slap on a decent top.

However, there was no need to work myself into such a frenzy as founder and beauty expert Darren Clark instantly made me feel at ease via Skype video. After a couple of technical issues, Darren proceeded with the 20 minute consultation, asking me my skin concerns. I have combination skin and no major breakouts and just wanted to look at preventing future breakouts and wrinkles.

Darren also asked me what skin care I was using. My answer: not much, other than a basic pharmacy cleanser and whatever moisturiser sample I find at the bottom of my drawer. I half-expected the hard sell on products stocked on The Facial Company’s web store, but instead was given honest feedback – that the glycolic acid in my current cleanser is an excellent choice in preventing wrinkles (woohoo!). He also suggested a couple of moisturiser options to hydrate my skin and gave informative advice based on what he could see through the video, darkness under the eyes, most likely caused from sitting in front of a computer all day.

This could be you! Lying in bed, getting your skin assessed. You may have to turn on the light though!

Darren also told me about a success story – an older customer who was fed up with her skin woes, testing a heap of products over the years that never seemed to work. In a last bid attempt, she contacted The Facial Company for a 20 minute consultation. Taking Darren’s advice, she tried a few different products and was so impressed with the results that she booked another consultation. She is now truly on the quest for skin perfection that she never thought was possible.

Obviously the great advantage to this system is that you don’t even have to get out of your pjs to receive solid, professional advice. I can see this as a perfect solution to those beauty lovers out there that live in rural areas, or people that may not have access to a big range of skin care products. Also, it’s perfect for guys that want to get into a skin regime without feeling intimidated.

To book a Skype live video consultation, the process is very simple:

♥ Visit the website facialcompany.com.au and click on the Skype live consultations link.
♥ Fill out the form, selecting the date that suits you best and submit.
♥ Pay your $10 (redeemable for any online purchase).
♥ And voila! A team member from The Facial Company will confirm your appointment with you.

You’ll also need to make sure you have a microphone, a web cam, sound, internet access and Skype (which can be downloaded for free). Too easy.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the service but I was really impressed with Darren’s feedback and he’s a lovely guy to boot.

Review by Jess – a chocolate doughnut loving, fashion stylist extraordinaire with an extreme penchant for olives.

Be well,

xoxo

Dear readers: this may well be the Mecca for acrylics! Could this be where my search for the perfect nails ends?

Studio One

U2, 1004A Beaufort St, BEDFORD, WA, 6052

Ph: 9370 2000

What: Permanent French acrylic refills, after 6 weeks’ growth.

This salon came recommended by a friend who has other beauty treatments done here. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and found one of my very first nail techs, who’s now running her own salon. I’d been somewhat lax about booking in to have my refills so by the time I actually went to Studio One, my nails were looking the worse for wear. Emma, ever the consummate professional, was very diplomatic and made a lot of sympathetic noises, like how hard it must have been to wash my hair. (Other acrylic-lovers will know what that’s like when your nails start to lift. They catch in everything!). I felt right at ease.

Service

Between us we had managed to mix up our first appointment but Emma quickly found an alternative spot on what must have been a busy Saturday. The salon itself is comfortable, sunny and faces out onto Beaufort St. (If you’re peckish, there’s a fantastic Indian restaurant next door!). Emma is charming and personable, so there’s no shortage of conversation!

Nail form

The shape was spot on – square without sharp edges. The nails look like a sheet of glass – thin and flat. The proportion of pink to white was also exactly right; that is, about two-thirds pink to a third white. The curve of the crescent is oval – which takes some getting used to, if you’re used to a more round shape – but nevertheless effective.

Technique

The application of the acrylic and creation of the shape is all done with a brush. Electric drills and emery boards are used (your own board is kept in a separate envelope for hygiene). Gel was applied to create a glossy look.

Time

1 hour.

Cost

$70.00 for refills. That’s double the price of some salons. However the products are high quality and non-toxic. (If you haven’t already done so, it’s worth researching the various health risks of the cheaper products. Ultimately, you pay for what you get).

Overall Rating

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ + 1/2 a heart! (4.5)

Review by Bron, whittling down the nail salons til she finds the pinnacle of acrylics.

Be well,

xoxo

Hello! ♥ This week we’ve got a tasty variety of interesting articles and websites for you to check out, some quick bits to get you thinking!

♥ Healthy skin care rituals for a clear and glowing face and body! Some lovely advice here.

♥ Eat Pretty Super Foods for Your Skin! – eat yourself pretty!

♥ You Are the CEO of Your Life – interesting reading, treat your life as you would treat a company you were the CEO of.

♥ Apple Cider Vinegar is a thing that you should look into! It will give you energy, soften your skin and ad shine to your hair according to BeGenki!

♥ The Manifesto of Encouragement – if you read any of these links, read this one. SO good and I am tricky to impress with internet self help articles!

Wellness WA is going to be moving offices during the next week, we have HEAPS of articles ready to go but there may be a little down time so please bear with us, there is also a new section launching soon!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

I decided on the lucky friend and had to sneakily get her address without alerting to the fact that a cool little gift would be winging it’s way to her soon… what follows is her genuine experience upon receiving the unexpected gift – Ed.

One of the main objectives of ordering a Pamper Box, apart from showing the recipient that you care, is the element of surprise. When my Pamper Box recently arrived on my doorstep, I was definitely surprised! In fact, I was blown away. Already, the gift was a success.

Upon opening it, I immediately began to get excited! Even the sight of the box itself made me feel like a kid at Christmas time. I opened the lid, unraveled the tissue paper and began to explore.

It was perfect for me. I recently have not been feeling the best due to a personal issue, and the contents of the box automatically lifted my spirits!

♥ Firstly, a book full of inspirational thoughts and quotes – something I could definitely keep close when I was feeling down.

♥ Also included was a beautiful aromatic dream bag to slip in between my pillows to help me sleep and dream at night. This smells beautiful and has brought a very calming element to my bedroom.

♥ I also found stress less bath bubbles, which are an absolute essential for chilling out.

♥And last but not least, no Pamper Box would be complete without the yummy chocolates included! I must admit, they were the first thing that I tackled, and my husband found his way over to “help” me with these!

My Pamper Box definitely lifted my spirits and brought a smile to my face. It was not only the contents of the gift itself that did this, but the element of surprise when it arrived and the thought that a friend had thought to send it to me. It was indeed great for my body, mind and soul.

Review by Krystle, florist, random adventurer and die-hard Freo supporter !

http://www.pamperboxes.com.au

Be well,

xoxo

Being a guy I haven’t really given much thought to “a proper salon” treatment for my quarterly haircut. It’s always been a “whilst I’m here” type thing. But maybe it’s the fact that I’m getting older or that I keep getting condemned for my bad haircuts. (Always relying on the excuse that the apprentice cut my hair, when really the blonde and pink strips should have been a giveaway that this would be a dire haircut). This brings me to the opposite end of the spectrum and a little salon in Fremantle called Nvmen.

It is nestled on the corner with an old blue/red/white striped pole out the front. Obviously a homage to the ol’ days of barber shop standards. With open doors I was told that my stylist would be a moment and to please take a seat. This place was charming with wooden floors and decor that actually matched. These were nice seats too by the way. The coffee table was littered with everything a man desires, to a certain PG rating of course. James May’s rather luscious hair put second thoughts in my head about the trim I was to receive, but regrettably the hippie era is over.

Photo of James May for reference !

I was first taken to the wash basins. I had my hair washed and my head massaged. The head massages are quite superior and with the added bonus of being in a massage chair, I was on my way to tinsel town. After which I just wanted to go back to bed, but that would defeat my Saturday morning trip. The lovely hairdresser led me to an old school looking barber chair. The only thing I can reference here is like the one in Sweeney Todd. Together we conversed on what style I would like and with the American Crew style guide book in front of me I spun around 10 times, closed my eyes and pointed at a picture that would shape peoples opinion of me for the next 6 months.

After conversations about travel to Vietnam and Cambodia we built some common ground, stabilised confidence in our rapport and the hair cut was finished. She then showed me the best way to style it when leaving the crib. All through the hair cut little seeds were planted at the wash, cut and style session – it prompted me to buy some product which I haven’t used in, oh my, at least 7 years and some shampoo. To be fair I had just run out of shampoo so I wasn’t just a sucker for blue eyes and a nice smile.

I guess the greatest confidence I have about the salon is after I finished I was quite surprised at how little the hair cut costs juxtaposed against the likes of some carbon copy salons. Please for the love of god don’t go to these chain built hairdressers, they smell of underpaid workers and pessimism.

All in all a new and good experience from one of WA’s oldest but still remaining modern barber shops. Indeed the NV of men. Gone are my days of taking tickets sitting down and wondering whether the Italian grease ball or the lop sided, multi-coloured rather flamboyant Avril Lavigne will be cutting my hair.

To get your hands on the nvmen brochure, click here!

NV Men Complete Grooming
33 Market Street
Fremantle WA 6160

Tel: (08) 9336 7171

Review by David, feeling the hair grow back by the minute.

For those among us who are runners, joggers, aspiring runners/joggers or slow walkers (hand straight up in the air over here!) and are wanting a little nudge and inspiration to get fit or perhaps take part in one of the Fun Runs coming up in the near future, I present to you: The Jog Squad!

Myspringday is an Australian website I’ve recently stumbled across that will help guide you to fitness. Their latest project, ‘The Jog Squad‘ is a free program designed to make it easier for you to reach your running goals by allowing you to interact with fitness experts and other runners.

There’s a few Fun Runs coming up in Perth over the next 6 months and this could be the catalyst to get you ready for them!

Fun Runs in Western Australia for the rest of 2010:

18th July – Big Fun Run, Perth 5km
1st August – Womens Fun Run, Bunbury 5km
19th August - City to Surf, Perth 4km/11km/12km/21km/42km

As part of the free membership to ‘The Jog Squad‘, myspringday will send you weekly motivational support e-mails and there are even over $4,000 worth of prizes being thrown around which is never a bad thing.

If running if your thing, or you want it to be, I would suggest checking this out! Let me know if you do!

Is anyone else participating in any runs this year?

Be well,

xoxo

A treasure-box of Sodashi goodies made its way to me many months ago and I haven’t stopped using the products since, so today I’m going to share the tiniest of rituals I like to indulge in and also quickly chat about the other bits I received.

Start with one pump worth of this creamy white cleanser in the palm of your hand, massage into the face with a bit of warm water and focus on any trouble spots as this is a great cleanser for those with acne prone-combination skin (like me!)

Use a muslin cloth or face washer to help get rid of any impurities / gently exfoliate the skin & rinse with warm water. I generally tend to do this step in the shower, but just make sure the water isn’t too hot or it will dry out your skin and irritate any pimples.

Rejuvenating Concentrate (RRP $65.30)

Next up, fill a basin / bowl with warm water and add 10 drops of Rejuvenating Concentrate, this stuff is magic for imparting radiance to the skin & it also helps with scarring and pigmentation! Zoe Foster is also a huge fan, can’t go wrong.

Soak a fresh muslin cloth / face cloth with the solution, squeeze out and apply to the skin. Repeat this step again & you’re ready to go!

So that’s my little ritual Depending on your skins current needs, you can then apply moisturiser if you wish, the one that is suitable for me (combination / acne prone skin) is the Balancing Face & Neck Moisturiser (RRP $109.30) and I really like it, not too heavy, not too sticky. Very nice for day time use!

The last of my goodies is the Blemish Treatment (RRP $101.20), this stuff is a bit sticky and squirts out of the bottle in a rush, so take care! I find it very calming for my pimples and it’s suitable for use under makeup as well, but I prefer to use it at night before bed so it can do its thing while I rest

I hope you enjoyed my little write-up! Do let me know if you have any questions about these products & I’ll do my best to help you out!

Be well,

xoxo

Having heard good reviews & keen for a stomach-rumbling-reducing Sunday morning brunch-date, one of my besties and I made our way down to Crumpet in Vic Park.

When we got there it was PACKED and we were very lucky to snare a table outside as a couple were leaving. Unfortunately their dirty dishes were left there for a good 20 minutes before we had to ask for them to be removed.

There is also no queue system for getting a table and we were told they couldn’t keep track of who got there first, which is understandable but disappointing – perhaps they didn’t realise how popular their little cafe was going to be as there were lots of people turning up only to leave due to no available seating.

So grumpy stuff out of the way! I ordered the ‘Omnomlette‘ ($12) – hands down the best named breakfast food I’ve eaten to date – which was free range eggs, mushrooms, spinach & brie omelette drizzled with EVOO, as well as a decent-sized freshly squeezed orange juice ($6). My counterpart had the Mushies on Toast ($11) & an OJ as well.

It was a hard decision given the many healthy sounding choices, including a vegan brekky (although unfortunately it was more expensive than any of the dishes with meat, which was surprising as it didn’t contain any out of this world ingredients). There were also various smoothies to choose from and some delicious sounding porridge.

My meal was amazing, a perfect breakfast and kept me going through the afternoon of window shopping! My girl thoroughly enjoyed her mushies as well

Despite the few negatives, I’d definitely return to Crumpet, there are a few really cute cafes opening up in Vic Park, it seems to be turning into the hip new spot!

Location: 8/885 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park

Phone: 9355 0901

Tues – Fri: 7:30 am – 3:00 pm
Sat & Sun:8:00 am – 2:00 pm

I’ve also planned to introduce more free-range eggs into my life, I feel I may not be getting enough protein and this could be a good way to go about it! I’ll keep you posted

Be well,

xoxo

So I thought it was time for a bit more of a ‘personal’ type post on here, just to remind you that there are actual people just like you working hard behind the scenes to make this blog run!

Since the weather is cooling down I’m finding it -really- hard to get motivated to get out of bed (let alone exercise!), I figure some of you might be in the same boat so I pose the question – What do you do to get motivated?

I found this great post on one of my favourite blogs, How to get and stay motivated and her tips are really helpful, so I recommend you check them out

Personally, the following things help keep me motivated:

♥ Green Smoothies – I know I go on and on about these, but they give me so much energy and vitality that I am always shocked to remember how good I feel when I haven’t had one for a while, which is now, so I really need to get back into it! (Just haven’t been able to find any good spinach lately)

♥ Exercise Classes – I always find I’m pretty motivated the day after a class, especially if it was a bit more of a cardio workout. This is no good if you’re trying to get motivated to go somewhere, but just try and think how good you’ll feel the next day!

♥ Hot showers – this is definitely a motivator for me to get out of bed! Another great thing I’ve done recently is acquiring a dressing gown, so there’s no running around in towels to be done. Also I’m lucky enough to live somewhere with a bathroom heater, without this I don’t know how I will do it!

♥ Social Motivation – If I know a friend is going to an exercise class then I am 72% more likely to attend! If they pull out, then often I will as well. This is something I need to work on

Please share your tips on being / staying motivated with me!

Be well,

xoxo

Do you ever have moments walking along the street, conversations with people or dreams where you are reminded of a product that you used to use ages ago, or your Mum used to use it, or you had heard about it’s release in America/Europe but it never came to Australia, and you are suddenly gripped with the very capitalist urge to own it either for the first time in your life or to own it once again and again and AGAIN? I do.

So what do you do if that product is nowhere to be found in Perth…if it’s discontinued or it was never here in the first place? Should you cut your losses? Should you say to yourself “well it’s JUST makeup” and move on to obsessing over more important things like boys and clothes, politics and world peace?

Hell.

No.

The answer is so simple you may even already know it, but just in case you don’t, why aren’t you using the INTERNET to achieve these dreams? Now websites such as http://www.strawberrynet.com and the like are pretty common knowledge to get good deals on current products from popular brands so let’s just assume the humble reader has this knowledge and move on to the discussion of your harder to find/discontinued product.

L’Oreal – Blush Delice in Strawberry Tart ♥

About two years ago (approx) L’Oreal stopped production on a few colors of their Blush Delice range. Anyone out there remember Strawberry Tart that perfect mix of baby pink and luminous wonderment? It was the best for a pale complexion and I really had a love affair with it from the moment of its release up until the dark, dark day that they stopped making it (for some stupid reason).

I went through the normal sort of feelings you go through after a relationship ends, sadness, rage, depression but goddamnit I was just not ready to give up on this little guy! So in a moment of desperation I typed into the google machine ‘shine+delice+blush+strawberry+tart+buy’ and guess what the first result was, ebay.com. OF COURSE! EBAY!

And guess what? I got two compacts of Strawberry Tart for $6 (plus $6 post and handling). I was hooked, I started looking up everything I had ever once loved, liked a lot, had a fling with- but for some reason or another had been taken away from me- and it was ALL there.

Clinique – Almost in Black Honey ♥

Remember that shade of Clinique’s Almost Lipstick that was re-released here a little while ago, sold out almost immediately and then was never added to their permanent roster of products, a little shade called Black Honey? Hm? Yep. It’s there. And it’s way cheap.

Now, sometimes going to the Australian version of eBay (ebay.com.au) is not going to cut it, so you need to go American and go to just plain old ebay.com – but it’s worth it; obviously they have far more options for the nostalgic shopper. However, shopping on the American website does have it’s downfalls. Namely- sometimes sellers will not ship to Australia. I have found in a couple of instances if you just ask them really nicely they will have no problem with it but sometimes they just flat out refuse.

Barry M Kohl Pencil

I encountered this when I was trying to buy a Barry M kohl eyeliner in black. I had owned one when I was living in London and had never used such a good eyeliner (never hard and scratchy on the eye, so soft, so glideable, so smudgeable) but I couldn’t get it in Australia. So I just stopped using eyeliner (it really was that good). Anyway, I found one on ebay.com but the seller wouldn’t ship it to me (seriously you cant put a pencil in an envelope and send it to me even when I’M PAYING FOR THE SHIPPING?!!!?!??!) So I just went back to the old google search and came across this website http://www.crushcosmetics.com.au which is actually an Australian website but stocks Barry M. Take that lazy eBay seller who wouldn’t ship to me. Take that indeed.

In summary, I guess I’m not telling any of you anything new here but I do hope that all of this might make you think about a product that you used to own and love so dearly and maybe will encourage you to go to the internet buy it, and reignite that love.

Article by dream make-up internet babe Adriane Daff.

Be well,

xoxo