by Annette @ Wellness WA | Oct 13, 2010 | Beauty Salon, Inner City, North of River, Reviews
I have a secret to tell. And it’s kind of hard to announce it because im a self proclaimed beauty addict.
Up until a few weeks ago… I had never had a professional spray tan.
PHEW. There. It’s off my chest.
I decided an impending trip overseas was the perfect time to get bronzed and I booked in with Envy Makeup, tan and beauty bar, in Mount Lawley: http://www.envyonbeaufort.com.au/.
I was so nervous before I went that I spent days researching what I might need to do when I was there, what I had to do before I got it done and also the maintenance that was required. Heres what I learnt:
♥ Exfoliate. DUH. We all know this. So I scrubbed and scrubbed the morning of the tan, making sure no pesky skin cells were left hanging around. After the scrubbing though, my skin was awfully dry which of course meant I needed to moisturise. This posed a problem because I was told to have no products on my skin before a tan. No deodorant, no moisturizer, no perfume na da. Because I was getting my tan right after work this meant I had to be like this all day. Yuck. Moral of the story is, try and get to a shower before your appointment to avoid being product free at work.
♥ Secondly, don’t shave. I thought at the time, “Oh I’m so clever, I’m going to shave the morning of and that way I wont have to shave for a few days, thus keeping my limbs bronzed for longer”. WRONG. I got this weird dotty rashy thing from the tan seeping into my freshly shaved legs. So save the shave for after the tan, preferably when it has set.
♥ To maintain your glow once you have been sprayed, use a moisturiser with no Alpha-Hydroxy Acids, as this breaks down the colour. I used the Neutrogena Norwegian moisturiser and found it was super duper hydrating.
As you can see I really went to town on the research. So now it was time for the tan. Like I said, by now I was a tad nervous. Once i arrived I was greeted by my assistant for the session. She was very welcoming and immediately got into business. I was asked how dark I would like to go and Envy’s various shades and formulas were then explained to me. Envy specialise in formulas that have a low DHA concentration, creating a subtle tan, perfect for white gals like me.
After I picked my colour I was taken into a little room with a booth similar to a shower. Your assistant will ask you if you would like to go nude, wear underwear or a disposable G-string, I chose to wear a g string and no bra… In about 4 minutes my assistant was back, she didn’t bat an eyelid at my exposed state which immediately put me at ease.
Just before starting my lady gave me a cream that I applied to my bumpy bits to prevent streaking. Make sure you slap that cream on; don’t be shy like I was or you will streak!
I was then asked to stand with my arms spread in the shower while the tan was applied with a device similar to an air brush. 5 minutes in I was already glowing!
After I was sprayed I then received a dry down with warm air from the air brush and I was left to dress.
My experience was professional and comfortable, pretty good for a first time I think. My tan lasted 36 hours on a plane (plane trips dehydrate you which in turn can reduce your tan!) and by following the tips I mentioned earlier, my colour lasted a total of 8 days!
No longer do I shake in fear at the thought of a professional spray tan…. I am now addicted.
Address:
Shop 8,
595 Beaufort Street,
Mount Lawley,
WA 6050
Tel: ( 08) 9328 8322
Fax: (08) 9300 5466
Email: admin@envyonbeaufort.com.au
Web: http://www.envyonbeaufort.com.au
Review by April Rose, spray tan convert.
Be well,
xoxo
by Annette @ Wellness WA | Oct 1, 2010 | Food, Products, Reviews, Wellness Tips
Breaking out is not hard to do.
Especially when kit kats, Vintage Cheddar and Onion Red Rock Deli chips & toasted sandwiches have been flying down your throat at hyper speed.
Whoever said that what you eat is unrelated to the state of your skin must be giving Pinocchio’s nose a run for his money by now.
So I’ve been slipping up, I admit it, I’m far from perfect! But the past week has seen a big effort to get back on track.
RRP $58 AUD, available at Mecca Cosmetica
Yesterday I tried the REN Jojoba Microbead Purifying Facial Scrub. I’d previously been using a cheap and cheerful teenage staple, Aapri (which is a bit rough for my skin), and felt like I finally graduated when the thousands of tiny smooth REN jojoba beads glided easily across my face and got down to work.
The scent of this product is really mild too, despite having peppermint and juniper oils doing their dance in there, which is nice.
Post-exfoliating, my skin felt VERY smooth and even a tiny bit tight, but the tightness soon passed. It really felt like a breath of fresh air and if my cells could smile, they probably would. I now realise that temporarily forgetting about the wonders of exfoliation was a grave error.
DEAD SKIN CELLS: BE GONE!
My skin still feels smooth and more glowy today!
In addition to re-discovering a great exfoliant, I’ve been smashing frozen berries in smoothies (bought a 1kg bag of blueberries – so excellent!), eating lots of avocado, drinking 2+ cups of decaff green tea a day plus heaps of water and generally trying to clean up my diet by eating more wholefoods and cutting out dairy / chippies (weaknesses!).
My skins been on the naughty mat for a while now, hopefully these changes will get it behaving again!
Do you change your diet when your skin plays up?
What’s your favourite exfoliant?
Be well!
Annette
xoxo
by Annette @ Wellness WA | Sep 22, 2010 | Beauty Salon, Day Spa, Hairdresser, Inner City, North of River, Reviews
When Skatt first opened a couple of years ago, I am sure I’m not alone when I say that I thought it was a bit of a gimmick. The bright pink, imposing building on a seemingly quiet, conservative Mount Hawthorn street screamed “different”.
However, I put my opinion on their choice of décor aside and went along to get the “Refresh Facial” which is $65 – on the cheaper side for a facial – which was the first positive.
When I arrived, I was taken through to a treatment room by the therapist. Unfortunately she didn’t tell me her name, and I forgot to ask at the end…must always remember to do this in future!
The treatment rooms at Skatt are located at the back of the building, the hair salon is at the front and is the first thing you see as you walk in.
The treatment room was fairly small but heated to a pleasant temperature and they had some ‘chillout’ music playing over the speakers which added to the atmosphere nicely.
The therapist began with a skin analysis which involved a magnifying light-dealy that she shone onto my skin. She talked me through some positive and negative points about my skin which I really liked, and she recommended ways in which I can improve the appearance of my skin.
The very best bit about all this was that she did not try to sell me anything! Skatt use Dermalogica products which I think is great – and even better that they don’t try to push them onto the clients as I believe that is the first way to turn off any clients from potentially returning in future. Other salons could do to take notice of this.
Next, my skin was cleansed twice, exfoliated, masqued and moisturised. On the website it states that extractions are included, but this was not part of my treatment – I suppose I just didn’t have anything to extract that day!
The entire facial took about 45 minutes and was of extremely high quality. I was so impressed by my therapist and her manner throughout the entire treatment, she had a slightly firm touch which I think is good in a facial and her hands were warm too which is always a plus!
The “Skattwalk”: a focal point of the salons
Overall, the Dermalogica facial experience was brilliant.
I have nothing but praise for Skatt and the team, in such a competitive market it is difficult to be outstanding however I believe this is exactly what they have achieved. I will definitely return and encourage anyone looking for a new beauty salon to do the same.
To add to the praise – a couple of weeks later I got a letter in the mail from Skatt containing a card for $40 off my next treatment! Fantastic – I’ll be heading back this week.
Skatt are located:
Mt. Hawthorn at 165 Scarborough Beach Road
Ph: (9443 6500)
Claremont at 52e Old Theatre Lane, Bayview Terrace
Ph: (9385 3123).
Web: http://www.skatt.com.au
By Amy – 20 year old face care novice who is now addicted to facials.
by Annette @ Wellness WA | Sep 21, 2010 | Alternative Therapy, Beauty Salon, Day Spa, Events, Inner City, North of River, Products, Reviews, Western Suburbs
Megan Larsen, Sodashi Founder
The lovely people from Sodashi invited me along to their day spa meet and greet event at Bodhi J with Megan Larsen (founder) two weeks ago and I want to do a little re-cap because it was a gorgeous night!
Tickets to the event were $50, redeemable on product purchase, and included an array of mini-treatments, personal consultations with Megan herself, delicious snacks in the form of mini quiches and pumpkin soup shots, obligatory champers & juices, the chance to win a facial AND the best part of all… GOODIE BAGS!!!
I was lucky enough to experience two of the three mini-treatments on offer.
First up, in one of the most relaxing feeling spa rooms I’ve had the delight of experiencing, I had my chakras balanced!
The purpose of it is to balance out the energy centers in the body, apparently my heart chakra was out and I’m a bit lonely at the moment, oh no! After the balancing was done (which involved special oils and much ushering of bad energy away from my body), I instantly felt like bursting into tears!
It was really strange, I’ve had similar experiences before with energy therapy too so I think there is some weight to it, just need to experiment some more with it and see how I go!
Sodashi Chakra Balancing Kit RRP $330
The second treat I received was a lush mini foot-facial, which is a facial for the feet, not a facial done with feet! I’ve never actually had a pedicure (quelle horreur) and this was absolutely DIVINE! My feet felt so soft and relaxed afterwards, I’ve been missing out all these years!
From my mingling and chatting to the guests, it’s safe to say that the people who use Sodashi are in fact as lovely as the people that work there!
The prize was drawn and we all received our exciting Goodie Bags, which consisted of:
♥ 1 x full size Rejuvenating Face Mist – I love this product, it smells divine and feels so fresh on the skin, I have to say that sometimes I spritz it around my apartment because it smells so good!
♥ Travel size Eye & Lip Cleanser
♥ Travel size Enlivening Body Lotion
♥ $20 Bodhi J Spa Voucher.
Loved them all!
I left with balanced chakras, soft feet, a swag full of loot & a head full of knowledge about the brand. A very successful evening! I would recommend everyone to check out day spa events, as they are super informative and you usually recoup any cost in the form of samples, nibbles, drinks & treatments, so it’s totally worth it!
Have you ever been to a day spa event?
Had your chakras balanced?
Had a pumpkin soup shot? (T’was delish!)
Be well,
Annette
xoxo
by Annette @ Wellness WA | Sep 19, 2010 | Other
♥
Healthy Living Blogs is a new resource for the health blogging community. HLB is a site designed to enhance the positive community of the healthy living blog world. Bloggers and readers can explore the site and find more blogs to love, bloggers in their area, and forums to deepen healthy discussion and support. If you’re interested in having your site listed on HLB, simply send the following information to healthylivingblogs@gmail.com and
check the site out for yourself!
Email subject line: MEMBERS
Your name (please share if you prefer to go by first name, first and last, or however you prefer to be known on the Internet)
Blog Name
Blog URL (please start with http://, not www.)
Your twitter handle, if applicable
Your location (if you prefer not to disclose this information for privacy’s sake, that is completely understandable. We’ll simply include your blog listing in the A-Z listing, not by location, too)
Any specific labels (i.e. vegan, gluten-free, weight loss, running, etc.)
This is such a neat idea. If you’re looking for more wellness / health related blogs to get stuck into then have a squiz!
Be well,
Annette
xoxo
