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Lately I have been going through some kind of nail-painting mania, so I was excited when asked to review a range of products by Revitanail. The pack consisted of nail strengthener, ridge filler, base coat, hand and nail cream, cuticle remover gel and a French manicure kit.

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I decided to try the nail strengthener first. I am constantly washing my hands throughout the day due to my job, and as a result have weakened nails that tend to peel at the ends. The first thing I noticed about this product was the overwhelmingly strong smell, and the message ‘CONTAINS FORMALDEHYDE’ on the bottle. I decided it was worth smelling like a mummy if I was going to have long, strong nails – and within a week the peeling was no more! I was definitely happy with the nail strengthener.

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After a few months of neglect my cuticles had grown quite long and shaggy, so the cuticle remover gel was a godsend. You apply it to the nail beds, leave for 3-5 minutes and wash it off. The gel made them very easy to push back and they looked great!

Onto the French manicure set. This consisted of a cream coloured polish, pale pink polish, a top coat and stencil-type stickers to place on your nails to get the perfect white-tip. It was so easy to do and they looked amazing, better than a professional in my opinion! Due to my careless and sometimes clumsy ways I tend to chip my nail polish within a day of putting it on, but the top coat that came with this kit kept my nails looking good as new for at least four days.

After using many a cheap $2 bottle of red nail polish I did have a slight yellow tinge to my nails. Ew! After trialling the base coat in this pack for a few weeks I no longer have tobacco coloured nails, and I have decided to make it a rule – if I’m going to continue to use $2 polish always base coat it first!

At first I wasn’t too impressed with the hand and nail cream, I didn’t find that my hands felt any less dry (due to constant washing). However after about a week of using the cream the skin around my nails was no longer dry and peeling like before, hurrah! Although they still felt dry, my hands and nails definitely looked better.

All in all the Revitanail range that I trialled was great, all the products did their job (except the ridge filler which I didn’t try as I don’t have any ridges in my nails). I will definitely continue to use them and can recommend them to anybody with weak nails or dry hands. Or just for a great-looking DIY French manicure!

Review by Katy Lock, proud owner of pretty nails and the best DIY French Mani I’ve ever seen! – Ed.

Be well,

xoxo

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If Skin Virtue was a person, a girl let’s say, even a friend of yours- she would be the kind of girl who looks better without makeup, the kind of girl who really does make it work in just a t-shirt and jeans (it’s a myth that this is easy), she would have that kind of hair that always sits just right with a slightly windblown look and when you ask who her hairdresser is, she says ‘oh I don’t really have one, I don’t even dye it’.

When you visit her apartment it’s minimalist in a way that makes you want to go home and burn all your things so you can start again. She serves you vanilla ice cream and it is the simplest, best thing you have ever eaten.

♥ Skin Virtue reminds me of Girls like THIS!

Simple and effective. Skin Virtue is one of those no fuss brands of skincare that I think would appeal to the people out there that just aren’t interested in trawling through all the fads and trends and BS.

There are two ranges; the ‘Super Clear’ Range for acne-prone skin and the ‘Pure Nourish’ Range for anti-ageing. Easy, aint it?

I trialed the ‘Pure Nourish’ Range designed to help combat changes associated with ageing, environmental damage and even social stresses (like me trying to make a t-shirt and jeans look good maybe?) There are five products in the range, Pure Cleanse, Pure Resurface, Pure Protect Fluid, Pure Nourish Cream and Pure Line Repair, one range with all the products that you could possibly need to protect your skin cells and help reduce the signs of ageing. But how?

Well…by eliminating the appearance of wrinkles, under-eye circles, and discolouration of course! The blend of natural active ingredients including your usual suspects of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants combines with botanical and marine extracts to lock in moisture and support your skins natural tissue reconstruction process all leading to skin with improved appearance, tone and texture, lucky you.

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My favourite was the Pure Resurface, a beautiful exfoliator in the lightest of pinks with only a hint of a floral bouquet in the scent that is gentle enough to use as often as you like. Superb.

I’m not going to claim that Skin Virtue are doing anything especially new or with ingredients that you’ve never heard of but they are taking the modern classics and they are doing them well at an affordable price and in a decent size. And who doesn’t want to be that effortless?

For more info visit: http://www.skinvirtue.com/pureantiage.html
Stockists, buy online.

Review by Adriane Daff, who is in fact selling herself short. I bet the little fox looks fabulous in jeans and a white tee – ED.

Be well,

xoxo

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As a makeup artist it’s really expensive stocking a makeup kit. Like, really expensive. This is why I jump for joy when I discover cheap and wonderful makeup products. Better yet, cheap and wonderful Australian products. Bloom has been popping up in my kit for a while now, and these latest additions from the ‘Belle De Jour’ collection have been welcomed with open arms.

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Inspired by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time muse Catherine Deneuve in Luis Bunuel’s cult 1966 French film of the same title, the ‘Belle De Jour’ collection oozes French simplicity. April Greaves, the makeup artist who teamed up with Bloom, wanted to achieve contoured eyes, perfect brows, luminous skin and glossy lips, as this is the fresh look worn by Deneuve during the film. Inspired by all that talk of French beauty, I decided to pin down our Editor here at Wellness WA to recreate a wearable version of the image above.

Belle de Jour range.

After evening out Annette’s skin with a light tinted moisturiser we popped a soft crème blush on her cheeks to keep that glow factor going. Using the Bloom Brow Pencil in ‘Brown’ (RRP $25 AU) I filled in Annette’s already wonderfully shaped brows with the slanted end of the brow pencil. The pencil has a matte soft finish which is easy to blend through the hair. To set the brows just untwist the other end and use the clear brow gel. Genius!

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We then whipped out the Long Wearing Eyeliner Crayon in ‘Black’ (RRP $25 AU) This crayon comes with a handy applicator on the other end, which I used to smudge the crayon colour into the lash line.

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As we were keeping this look very fresh, all Annette needed after the crayon was lashings of mascara to enhance her blue eyes. To finish the look we pressed the Lip Duo Lipstick in ‘Day & Night’ ($28 AU) onto Annette’s lips and swiped the matching gloss on top.

Doesn’t she look darling? The Belle De Jour SS11 collection is easy to apply and can be used for any occasion, whether you want a soft feminine look like we have on Annette, or a darker version that was demonstrated on the model above.

So Frenchy, So chic!

Belle de Jour Colour Collection available now at selected Myer stores, David Jones and online at http://www.bloomcosmetics.com/

What do you think readers, do the prodz look easy too use? 
Do you think you would like to wear this beautiful French look?
 Don’t you think Annette is the cutest?!

Review by Jacqui Bradfield, Makeup artist, Blogger and Croissant eater.

Be well,

xoxo

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I’ve recently found a new friend on my wellbeing journey, he goes by the name of Dr Russ Harris. The good doc often chats to me in bed at night, and while this sounds like something that could make my boyfriend jealous, I’ve occasionally brought Dr Harris along when the boy has stayed over and he has been more than accommodating of his presence. 😉

Before anyone gets too carried away, I am of course I’m talking about a CD!

Dr Harris has put together his Mindfulness Skills (Volume 1!) CD and it’s the perfect accompaniment for anyone who leads a busy or stressful life. That’s most of us right?

So what exactly is mindfulness and why should you be interested in it when there’s a million other things on your plate?

Dr Harris defines it in the following way:

“Consciously bringing awareness to your here-and-now experience, with openness, interest and receptiveness.”

At the outset he makes an interesting point that relaxation is not the aim of listening to the CD, although it often is a by product of working towards mindfulness… tricky tricky.

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So why do I love this…?

♥ There are 4 different tracks that you can listen to depending on how you’re feeling and what you’d like to cultivate.

♥ Mindfulness of Breathing: As the name suggests, this track focuses on getting you to be mindful of your breathing through a variety of exercises.

♥ Mindfulness of Emotions: Ever get anxious about being anxious? I do. This track helps you to see and accept your emotions as they are, that even though they may be uncomfortable, they are just emotions and will pass. This is perfect to listen to when you feel overwhelmed by any particular negative feelings.

♥ Leaves on a Stream: My favourite track and the one I find myself listening to the most. Place any thought, feeling, sound, or vision that comes into your mind onto a leaf and let it float away down a calm river, even if that thought is “this activity is ridiculous!”, you can place it on the leaf and send it away. I love this so much, my river has a lot of leaves 😉

♥ The Observing Self: Probably the trickiest mindfulness exercise on the CD, this one requires you to notice that you’re noticing something. A really useful exercise that is mostly too brain-bending for me at night, so I recommend working on this during the day when you have some time out.

♥ I feel peaceful afterwards. Despite being told not to expect relaxation, it often shows up and I’m happy to let it snuggle right next to me as I drift off to sleep.

Could you do with some mindfulness in your life? Ever tried it? If you have any tips or questions I’d love to hear them!

Mindfulness Skills Volume 1 by Dr Russ Harris is available for purchase through Exisle Publishing for $24.99 – a bargain price for the benefits that it delivers.

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

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Most beauty lovers will know about cult product, Yves Saint Laurent – Touche Eclat, which is a staple for anyone who wants their under eye area brightened up. It works, magically, and was a favourite of mine until I discovered that YSL is owned by L’oreal, who do not deny that they continue to test their products on animals.

For a long time since this discovery, my eyes have gone unbrightened, until I was lucky enough to stumble upon an alternative product recently that has three big things going for it:

♥ NOT tested on animals! Yippee.
♥ Mineral makeup, free of fragrance, oil, talc, dyes, heavy fillers and pore-clogging ingredients.
♥ Perth based company owned by lovely gal, and namesake of the brand, Alison Jade!

The Alison Jade Mineral Illuminator comes in the same click-pen-brush format as the Touche Eclat, and is used in the same way.

♥ Upside down, upside down!

For best results, draw an upside down triangle under each eye and gently pat until the triangle is no longer visible. I’ve found the following makeup the best for me:

♥ Moisturiser / primer
♥ Concealer
♥ Foundation with tinted moisturiser mixed in (coverage including eye area)
♥ Mineral Illuminator triangles under eyes!
♥ Blush
♥ Mascara

I definitely recommend putting your blush on post-illuminator, as the triangle technique is designed to brighten a large-ish area under the eye, which may mingle with the blush zone if done afterwards.

PS. It is important to note that these products are NOT concealers! They are designed to be the brightening star on top of your makeup christmas tree, so I would still suggest using your regular under eye concealer and makeup / tinted moisturiser.

The Alison Jade Illuminator has become a part of my daily routine and I’m so happy to have found a more people/puppy alternative to YSL 🙂

It comes in 4 shades, and retails for $48. Available for purchase online.

What do you think? Would you be willing to give another brand of under eye illuminator a go if it was better for you and our animal pals?

Be well,

Annette

xoxo