Pretty Pretty Pretty

Killer curl cheat April 30, 2008

You may remember our post on how my curly-haired friend gets her killer curls. Now here’s the cheats way if you want instant results, or aren’t blessed with a natural curl. You’ll just need a good ceramic straightener and some hairspray. oh and a stick to keep the boys away!!

This video is a short tutorial. If it’s not detailed enough or you don’t get the technique, then search youtube for another vid - there’s tonnes of them. I like this one ’cause it’s gt a great tip for adding volume…watch out for it.

I’ve tried this myself a bunch of times and it’s much faster than my stupid ceramic curler.

Living Nature special offers:UPDATE 2/05/08

UPDATE: Health 2000 on Lambton Quay, Welly, is having a sale - 25% off LN products!!! Maybe other Health2000s are too, i dunno??

What a lovely day it is, and you are looking very lovely too dear reader!

My complement is sincere, dear ones, but also thoughtfully placed so that you may be more likely to forgive me for my error - I must apologise that i have been writing so long, yet not made one mention of Mother Nature! Afterall, She is what all that is pretty springs from year on year. Forgive me readers, and let me make it up to you.

New Zealand’s own Living Nature skincare and cosmetics is one of my favourite brands. And right now they have a load of special offers and gifts. Check them out online, or visit one of their stores - if you’re in Welly pop into the one on Lambton Quay.

Living Nature products are made from nature, they contain only natural preservatives and all ingredients are derived from the earth. They do not test on animals or use animal ingredients.

I have tried many of their products and intend to do some reviews for you. I use their moisturisers every day, they smell and feel so good. Their make-up range varies, but they do get better and better as Living Nature is always reviewing and improving their products.

And they have lots of free samples…

Pretty Pretty Pretty Prettifying Party Part I. April 28, 2008

Amy and I really like the idea of getting a bunch of girls together to do all kinds of girlifying things, and so we put our idea into action this past Saturday. Our lovely friend Shirley played host to us and four other girls, so we could drink bubbly mixed with ginger wine, watch Breakfast at Tiffany’sMolly Ringwald movies and partial episodes of Pride and Prejudice, and most importantly, try out some products and techniques on each other.

Kirsten and I self-identified as having problems with blackheads, so we started out our facial routine with a good steam. This is super easy to do - simply fill a bowl with boiling water and hold your head above it for five minutes or more, covered up with a towel. This is where we recommend investing in some straws for your champagne glasses so that you can stay hydrated while you steam. If you happen to have a blocked nose while you do this, feel free to add a little peppermint oil or vicks vapour rub to the water to clear out your sinuses while you’re at it. After five or ten minutes or however long you can stand the steam, you should come out dripping, but feeling slightly detoxified. In sort-of scientific terms, your pores are now open and ready to receive some product-loving.

We instructed all the attendees to bring along some girlie products to share, so we had a wide range of options when it came to putting on face masques, including the masques from our earlier trial. As well as providing us with a venue and stunning pizzas, Shirley offered us a choice of mud from both Egypt and Rotovegas. Brave Kowhai went with the former, but after laughing at how hard she had to wash to get it off, I stayed national. The Rotorua mud came in a hugeass tub and was only $23.50. The Egyptian mud would be in the thousands of dollars price range, cos you’d need to buy a ticket over there to get it.

 

We both enjoyed the tightening sensation as the mud dried, and mine came off pretty easily with some warm water, although I did have to clean up Shirley’s sink afterwards. My skin felt super soft and smooth, but I still wanted some moisturiser. Luckily, Kowhai had come to the party with some Nude Moisturiser she’d purchased at the fabulous store of Wanda Harland for around $30. To be honest, I thought the cream was a little bit too rich for me for my face, and I’m not a huge fan of lavender scent, but Kowhai obviously likes it, and that’s a good enough recommendation!

We did some lip plumping that Amy will be blogging about soon, and then we moved on to our hands. Heather had a set of Mary Kay Satin Hands to share with us. Now, you might think that a four step process (rub on emollient, then a scrub, then cleansing gel, then wash it off, then apply a moisturiser) sounds ridiculous, but oh my lordy, your hands feel like they are made out of angels afterwards. Honestly, wow, just wow. It’s like giving yourself a stranger. And if you’re applying it at a party, we really recommend that you and your friends give each other a little handrub afterwards too, using a little extra moisturiser. You’ll feel good, they’ll feel good, and all the boys watching on webcam waiting for panties and pillow fights will get a quick thrill too.

We had more products to try out, but the lure of more pizza and more Molly proved to be a little too strong, but I will hand the computer over to Amy now so she can describe what she did to Kirsten’s hair as part of the girlification.

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Well Jo, with modern technology, girlification is made easy. I merely twirled Kirsten’s pretty locks around my Remington Teflon Curling wand* and voila! (By ‘voila’ i really mean an hour of combing, pinning, heating and holding.) Without any hairspray at hand, i left Kirsten’s new ringlets hanging. With a bit of spray i might have gently brushed through the ringlets to create a Veronica Lake do. aaah well, some other time perhaps. *Disclaimer: i’m actually a little disappointed with this curler, and hankering for a new one. So i do not recommend this product.

Yay! It was a fantastic night all around, we had lots and lots of fun, tried some lovely things, and just generally had some fabulous girl-time. We intend on having lots more of these events, so we think you should become friends of ours, and then we’ll invite you along, and everyone will have a great pretty time!

Make-up brushes…pretty much!

Dearest readers, I’ve always viewed make-up application as much more like art than vanity. I can, afterall, express my inner feelings with the colour, shading, and texture make-up can add to the face. For instance, to express anger I simply take a brow pencil and exaggerate my inner brows, and look very cross indeed. To express shame I simply apply a good deal of blusher and exaggerate my redness.

And so it is only fitting that the tools of the make-up trade are akin to those of art.  

While the make-up brush can be very expensive, the paint brush can be much less so. I went to Gordon-Harris in the weekend, where they happen to have a sale on brushes at the moment, and picked up the brushes pictured for between $8 and $11.

I’ve tried all three with make-up. The white, round tipped brushed is very good for applying eyeshadow. Its round tip is good for the crease of the eye. The smallest-tipped brush is excellent for applying and blending liquid eyeliner and soft eyeshadow. The fluffy-tipped brush (pictured in the middle) is less effective. I bought it for blending eyeshadow, but it’s a bit soft.

Before you buy these brushes for make-up, here are my tips:

• WASH THEM before you use them. They aren’t made for skin so may have nasty stuff on them. Wash with hand-wash or facial soap. And remember, i’m no expert, so can’t give expert advice.
• Gently bend the brush tips over with your thumb to see how firm they are. For eyeshadow application, or foundation or concealer, you want medium firm brush.
• For eyeshadow, foundation or concealer, choose a round tipped brushe, like the left-most pictured above.
• The handles of paint brushes are too long for make-up - you can’t get close enough to the mirror with the ones i bought. So be prepared to break the ends off.

ITEMS PICTURED:

White, round tipped:pebeo, #9433, 14

Black, fluffy tipped, pebeo, #854, 7

Small, squre tipped, D.A.S, #2630, 1

Strawberrynet promo April 25, 2008

If you’ve never bought from Strawberrynet.com, now might be a good time. They’ve got a promo for first-timers - choose a free Stila product with orders over US$25.

Goddess on a Razor Top April 24, 2008

I am a hairy beast. I tell you this not because I’m proud (although I’m not ashamed), but rather to place context around my use of razor blades. And now I’m going to talk to you about Venus. I was introduced to it in 2002, and I’ve been a devoted fan ever since. The resulting shave seems to last a lot longer that whatever the short Gillette green razor that I used, leaving me smooth (except for all the strips on my legs that I inevitably miss), and I just lather up with bodywash on a puff before I shave. Plus, it has the added bonus of being impossible to cut yourself with when you’re trying to, which is handy if you have bouts of depression.

There are (thereoretically) four types of Venus razor blades out there, and they’re all excellent - EXCEPT for the Venus Breeze. It is stupid and ridiculous and dumb, no matter what the spin might say.

If you want the easiest shave around, try Venus Breeze.  For radiant skin, check out Venus Vibrance.  If you want intensively smooth skin,  Venus Divine is the way to go.  For the Goddess who’s looking for simplicity on the go, your choice should be Venus disposables.  And finally, if you love the original razor, Venus original is the perfect razor for you.

And if you believe that, you’re the type of sucker who probably bought one of each razor because they’re different colours, so they must be different, right? But back to bitching about the Breeze. This is the razor that has a great big block of soap around the blade, which keep the blade from connecting with your skin, so you have to push down hard, and you’re much more likely to nick yourself. It’s the most expensive blade of them all, and you only get three razors in the packet, instead of the usual four. What the? Why would anyone want this? The shave is much less smooth. Oh, and while I’m complaining about price, look at the prices for the three other kinds of blade at Foodtown. Can anyone tell me if there’s actually any difference in their performance? And does having your razor vibrate really do anything other than give you a quick thrill in the morning?

Free Sample: Elizabeth Arden

The lady at the Elizabeth Arden counter made the mistake of engaging me in conversation. i’m only after your freebies, lady! I strung her along, oohing and aaahing over her wares, picking the right moment to hit her up for some free samples - hand ‘em over dollface!!

Here’s the sample she gave me.

Much more generous than the Napoleon sample (see previous post), this one lasted three applications. So if you’re into free this one is good value.

It’s an eye cream and moisturiser for ladies between 20-35 years who want to prevent lines and all that hoohaa.

Here’s the skinny: They are both very rich creams, really thick. i was surprised that they did soak into my skin.
The face cream smells really strongly. I don’t feel comfortable with fragranced products as it reminds how chemically they are.

Both creams are very smoothing. My skin does feel soft and smooth.

How does she do it: killer curls April 23, 2008

“How does she do it” is gonna be a regular post of mine, where i get in fabulous gals to talk about how she does it. For my first post in this series I asked my curly-haired friend to spill the beans on how she keeps her killer curls…

Most important thing of all…
Is to get regular haircuts.  This is because curly hair is a lot drier than normal hair and so it gets damaged really fast. AND never brush your hair (unless you really need to)

Second most important thing…
Is to get a really good haircut.  I find that light layering works well with my hair type.  Too much layering and you start to look like a sheep.  I also try not to get short layering around my face….. again to avoid looking like a sheep.  Some hairdressers like to straighten your hair first and then cut it, I find that it doesn’t really work with curly hair.  The best hair cut I’ve ever gotten was when the hairdresser cut my hair when it was dried curly.  This way you can actually see the finally result.

Shampooing
I have really oily roots and really dry ends and my hairdresser told me once to use a little bit of shampoo and lightly rub into roots and avoid shampooing the ends.  This helps the ends from getting too dry.

The best shampoo by far that I have tried is Redken-Fresh Curls, it’s around 30 bucks from hair salons.  It leaves your hair beautifully soft and really manageable and my curls actually behave!  It’s great because you don’t have to use very much at all and it lasts for ages.  If you wanna buy something a little e cheaper but good, try Simple Shampoo (around 6 or 7 bucks from supermarkets).  It leaves your hair really really soft too.

Conditioning
I normally make sure that I never condition my roots, as this makes them really oily and only means you have to wash your hair more often. Try conditioning from half way down your hair and make sure to get all the ends. 
Best tip from hairdresser. always make sure to ring out all the excess water from your hair before putting conditioner on.  This helps the conditioner to really penetrate your hair and really improve silkiness!

Unfortunately, the matching Redken Fresh Curls conditioner does not do such a great job as its counter part.  I have found that since Redken revamped their hair care collection with their new formula, the conditioner seems really watered-down and doesn’t really do much.  I have found that any supermarket conditioner does just a good a job as the Redken one.

Really great hair products for curly hair:
Redken – Fresh Curls - Curl Refiner and Curl Boost
Redken – All Soft – Velvet Whip
Sebastian – Evokativ – Exotic Erotic
Fudge – 1 shot+

Free Sample: Napoleon April 22, 2008

I’m a huge fan of free. I love trying free samples of expensive products - which usually confirms there’s not much of a difference between them and my cheaper faves.

So i’ll regularly be reviewing the freebies i get. And i encourage everyone to ask for the free stuff before buying. (TIP: if you’re after heaps of free stuff, tell them you are trying products out for your wedding - they’ll pile on the freebies).

My first free sample is from the Napoleon counter in Farmers. Napoleon have just put out a new range of skin care - “Auto Pilot Step 1-2-3″. I’m mighty impressed with their make-up primer so thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask for a sample of their new range.

The samples themselves are a little stingey - a mere single application. They had also run out of the moisturiser so i only got to try the cleanser and toner.

The cleanser is a very refreshing gel. I removed it with a cotton pad to see what it removed. the pad was very yucky, meaning it had done quite a good job of removing the gunk.

The toner smelt a little chemically. again, it was a gel. reminded me of cucumbers. it was OK, but felt a little tight as i dried. But leaves skin very smooth feeling.

Anyways, you can always try for yourself - just ask, it’s free!

Suped-up bra April 21, 2008

Lovely readers, I know it is a little too soon to be sharing my most intimate undergarments with you. But i’ll risk your scorn on the off chance i give someone, somewhere, some sound advice.

It can give extra comfort and support much like a complicated system of pullies and levers. Yet it is not much bigger than a TimeZone game token.