Archive for May, 2008

Sephora Spy

May 28th, 2008

When I was in New York in 2006, my friend took me to Times Square after we’d been drinking, and we went into a Sephora store which was open until midnight. OH MY GOD I nearly died with lust for all the products, and we spent over an hour in there while I agonised over what fragrance Philosophy shower gel to buy (I bought Frozen Lemon Custard eventually) and deciding on Hard Candy and Juicy Tubes Coconut Lipgloss. Going into such luscious shops when you have been drinking is potentially very dangerous, but luckily my need to pee got me out of there before I spent too much money. And it’s okay for me to give you the link because they don’t ship to New Zealand anyway.

But what I really wanted to tell you about was is the Jezebel Sephora Spy series. If you’re not familiar with Jezebel, you should know that it has the tagline “Celebrity. Sex. Fashion. Without airbrushing” and while it does cover many trivial issues, it does have a feminist slant and that sits very well with both my personal taste and my hopes for this site. Their Sephora Spy is an employee of the store who answers questions about their products in a totally bullshit free manner, and is full of good tips, and evaluations of whether or not potions actually do what they claim to, so check it out. And if you’re going to the States any time soon and want to blow your mind, make sure you go to a Sephora.

Lipiliciousness

May 27th, 2008

A little while ago I was at work on a Friday, and I was planning on going out for drinks afterwards, but had left all of my makeup at home (that’s probably a lie because I normally carry at least four kinds of lipgloss with me wherever I go – mostly my juicy tubes), so I decided to head up to the supermarket and see what kind of beauty I could get myself for $20. $8.95 bought me an issue of the new magazine Jolie that came with a free Maybellie Great Lash (which retails for $17, woo!), and I also decided to buy myself a new lipgloss. Because I’m worth it. I decided on a Maybelline Shinylicious in Banana Pudding colour, Here’s how it looks with a before and after.

As you can see, it’s pretty subtle. It looks much browner in the tube than it does on. It has a really strong scent which I like, but which others liken to banana penicillin. I like the soft tip of the applicator, it makes it neater to put on than other lip glosses. It’s not too sticky, but it does need touchups every hour or so to maintain the colour. For $15, it’s pretty sweet, and I’d buy it in other colours if I ever needed another pick-me-up.

Taste like me – for super cheap!

May 13th, 2008

I love me some shiny smelly lip gloss, so awhile ago, I bought a set of three Lancome Juicy Tubes on StrawberrryNet. They were cheap then, but now they’re even cheaper, like crazily so. Of course, by “cheap” I do still mean $15 a tube (and you don’t get to pick your shades), but they’re Lancome, so you’re paying for the brand. But still, the same pack is $66 on the (horrible-named) Man-Trap, and in stores, individual tubes cost around $36 each.

So, my suggestion (and I hope that this doesn’t make you think that we’re paid by StrawberryNet) is that if you think you’re in the market for some fairly subtle glosses, head down to a department store or upmarket chemist and try on the tubes in Melon (pale-ish apricotty pink), Fraise (almost magenta in the tube, but not so much on your lips) and Cerise (my favourite, I wear it like someone who was able to wear red lipstick might, except you know, it’s clear and easy to apply, and only a red tint), and if you dig them, you should place an order. If you want to, that is. Otherwise stick around for my Maybelline Shinylicious review, because if it’s good enough for Martha, it should be good enough for you…

Announcing our winners

May 12th, 2008

Today we have the lovely Rachel with us, and we got her to draw out the names of our Pretty Prize Pack competition winners. To prove our authenticity, we filmed the process.

But if you want to cut straight to the action, congratulations to:

  • Morgan
  • Kebabette
  • Sue.

Yay! Can you guys please email amy (at) prettyprettypretty.com with your addresses, and we’ll get that straight out to you.

Pretty Prize Packs… for you??

May 7th, 2008

Following our success with Making It on Make Up/Over Monday, Jo and I would like to give you the chance to win some of our pretty, homemade and fabulous bath bombs and body scrubs!!!

pretty prizes

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us what your fave beauty product is, and what you’d like us to write about. Easy as!!

Each prize contains a pack of sugar scrub (pictured with pretty ribbon) and an assortment of muffin-sized bath bombs. There’s three such prize packs up for grabs!

One entry per person, winners will be drawn randomly next Monday and notified by email. We’ll arrange delivery.

Enter now, you totally deserve it!!

Making it on Make Up/Over Monday

May 7th, 2008

This past Monday, Amy and I decided to put our money where our mouths are, sort of. We can sit here and write about products until the cows come home, but who are we to judge if we’re not being judged ourselves? And so, with that in mind, I rounded up an assortment of goodies and headed off to Amy’s house so that we could make some beauty products for ourselves!

First up, we found a recipe for bath bombs online and decided to make super moisturising bombs. We were a little limited in that Newtown New World didn’t have any citric acid, so we had to make do with one container of it. So, for our first batch, we mixed together a third of a cup of citric acid, a third of a cup of milk powder, and a third of a cup of baking soda. This had to be mixed and mixed and mixed until there were no more lumps. Then we added in a teaspoon of grapeseed oil, a drop of food colouring, a teaspoon (actually way more, by accident) of Rose Water (from the Med. Warehouse – good in cocktails too!) and spritzes of water until it started bubbling. In fact, it bubbled far too much. We decided to use ice trays as moulds, but it kept bubbling up and up until eventually we decided to roll the cubes into balls and put them in muffin trays instead. And then they kept on rising. I’m sure they’ll be great in the bath though, even though they don’t look so pretty.

We made our second batch with almond oil, no food colouring and some mango tea leaves for scenting. These ones were far far dryer, and so we packed them into muffin paper cases. I think we need to find a balance between the two levels of moistness!

After we were done experimenting with bath bombs, we moved to my brilliant Gosh You Scrub Up Nicely Sugar Scrub – just mix sugar with grapeseed or light olive oil, almond oil, and coconut oil if you have it (or a tiny drop of essential oil if you fancy a different scent). This scrub exfoliates and moisturises at the same time, and is magic before shaving your legs, and on elbows and heels. If you don’t have the ingredients to make it, well, you just might get lucky and win some from us…

Dud Trades: One woman’s FAIL = another woman’s FTW

May 1st, 2008

Vo5So, we’re all different people, right? And we all have different hair, different skin, different tastes and so on and so forth. Therefore, a product I might like is something you might hate, and a product I hate might be something that you’d love. With that in mind, I’d like to start up a Dud Trades series off PrettyPrettyPretty. First up, I have an almost full bottle of Vo5 shampoo ‘fade defy’ and its matching conditioner.

formulated to strengthen protect and promote a radiant shine promoting your hairs vitality. contains vitamins a, e and provitamin b5 which are released as your hair dreis when you need it most.

$4.89 each, thanks Woolworths online!
I don’t like them because they make my hair dull and limp, but other reviews on the internet offer it some praise, so perhaps it’s right for you. So would you like my shampoo and conditioner? You can have them for free if you pick them up from me, or I’ll send them to you if you send me some dud product you have.