Pretty Pretty Pretty

Pretty pretty people: Karyl from Mary Kay August 20, 2008

I was raving about the Mary Kay hand treatment we tried out at the last couple of PPP parties. Turns out my friend knows Wellington’s senior sales director of Mary Kay, Karyl Anderson. So my friend jacked up a meeting between me and Jo and the lovely Karyl. Turns out Karyl has led an interesting life and career. She’s such an inspirational lady, we are stoked she responded to our PPP questions…

Karyl’s been with Mary Kay for 19 years and joined when teaching nursing and raising a three year old. She also found Pilates 6 years ago and loved it so much decided to train as an Instructor. Karyl teaches Pilates at Hearts & Bones Pilates Studio, Ghuznee Street in Wellington.

What made you get into Mary Kay?

Mary Kay Ash founded the company way back in 1963 & did so because she wanted to empower women. Her philosophies are what sets us apart as a company and that’s what ‘sold’ me on joining. She had taken early retirement because she was fed up with the way women were treated as second best compared to men in sales positions (we’re talking Mad Men times). Started writing down how she would run a company and then decided to do exactly that. She and her mother had used products developed by a hide tanner, for over 10 years and Mary Kay bought the formulations from his grand-daughter.  Our business plan allows women to be as successful as they’re prepared to work for.

What motivates you to stay in the “industry”?

I have a team of 80 independent Beauty Consultants and I love working with, inspiring and teaching them. Mary Kay Cosmetics is committed to enriching the lives of women, we still make our own products, remain a family owned business and are continually improving our product range. The company offer a 90 day, 100% satisfaction guarantee – Mary Kay Ash couldn’t stand the way women would take a product home, realize it didn’t suit, yet couldn’t return it!! I love being my own boss, love the flexibility of being self-employed, love the rewards and sister hood. We have a very special ‘deal’ at the moment – you can join Mary Kay for ONLY $99 instead of $229. Available until the end of August.

What are the constant best sellers?

·         TimeWise our quick & easy 3:1 Cleanser (cleanses, exfoliates & tones) and Age-Fighting Moisturiser. 

·         Our amazing Oil-free Eye Make-up Remover. It’s only $25 & it’s amazing. My favourite!!

·         Mineral Powder Foundation (recently released)

·         TimeWise Day & Night Solution

·         Satin Hands Pampering Set – prettyprettypretty knows how good that is!

·         Microdermabrasion Set

What do you wear/do to make yourself feel good?

I use my skin care twice a day (religiously). I wear make-up every day because I love the way my skin feels & looks. I buff my body in the shower every couple of days because I love smooth, soft skin. I love soaking in the bath and was given some Crabtree& Evelyn La Source Bath Tablets for my birthday last year which I ADORE!  

How would you define pretty?

Pretty’s about feeling feminine or sassy in your own skin: looking after and taking care of yourself.

I’d love to offer your prettyprettypretty ‘readers’ a free beauty appointment with Mary Kay. They can have that one-on-one or with a small group (4-5) of friends. No obligation. My numbers (04) 383-8393 027 4344-566 or e-mail me karylanderson@xtra.co.nz

Win the ultimate Skinfood prize pack July 31, 2008

Oh my stars we are so very very very excited about this. You know that we’ve been loving on Skinfood’s body-butter since before we started this site, right? Well the lovely Stephanie from Skinfood has given us a set of every Skinfood product to give away! I think that deserves a few more exclamation marks. !!! That’s a $85 retail value, because their products are so reasonably priced. There’s bodybutter, moisturiser, scrub, a masque and more (and unfortunately, I left the box of goodies on my desk at work, I’ll update when I can), and part of the awesomeness of Skinfood is that it’s Unisexual, so both boys and girls can share the love. We kind of don’t want to give this away, but on the other hand, we do love to share the goodness around. So, how can you win the pack, or our runner-up prizes of giftboxes from the first PPP party? The rules are after the jump.
(more…)

Review: Nad’s wax strips July 16, 2008

A few weeks ago I tried Nad’s. I’d been intrigued by this product since I saw an item on some current affairs show years ago about the lady who set up the hair removal business in Oz. And I’ve finally gotten around to trying their wax strips - wax already applied to strips, so you just warm them in your hands a tear away.

Now I think I’ve only tried waxing one other time in my life - I have a vague memory of me and a friend waxing our legs when I was a teen. Which is why I wanted Nad’s easy version of their waxing products. And winter is a perfect time to start waxing as you need to have a bit of hair growth before removing. I’m not ashamed to say I had been cultivating a good crop of leg hair for some time this winter.

They say:

A quick and easy way to remove unwanted hair, Nad’s provides 24 strips for longer lasting smoothness. The innovative new contour weave paper technology is softer and more flexible to conform better to your body’s curves. Nad’s Hair Removal Strips, are the quick and easy way to keep your skin hair free for weeks. We also include the NEW Desensitizing Kava Wipes to help relax, calm and reduce the “ouch” factor of waxing. Suitable for legs, arms, underarms and bikini. With regular use, hair growth is progressively slowed down.

It took me about 20mins for 2 legs. Compared to shaving, which takes me about 5mins three times a week, this isn’t so bad, as you should only have to wax every few weeks.  

Don’t be fooled by the Desensitizing Kava Wipes though. It’s still very painful. I swore lots and lots. Though going through the pain is strangely satisfying.

I wouldn’t wax before a going out - I had lots of little red dots form over my legs (not quite the streams of blood I was expecting with this kind of pain). The lotion that comes with the strips is real nice and calming and cooling though.

 I don’t think it keeps your skin hair free for weeks either. I started to notice hair coming through after about four days - not very visible but still there. Stubble is much softer and less noticeable than following shaving though. I did have a day of itchiness a few days after too, that I thought was probably caused by regrowth. And now, about three weeks down the track I’m in desperate need of another waxing.

Over time waxing does enough damage to hair folicils to stop hair ever growing again. So with continued use you can expect forever bald legs.

I’m definitely gonna use this product again, since it’s been long enough for me to forget how really painful it is. The Nad’s site has lots of tips to reduce the pain, which I’ve only just read. So maybe next time it won’t be so bad. 

Your homework for this weekend June 13, 2008

1. Get yourself a copy of the latest Bust magazine featuring my role model Amy Sedaris on the cover jumping out of a cake, or some other very good form of reading material.
2. Put clean sheets on your bed, preferably 100% cotton, 400 thread count or so.
3. Run yourself a nice hot bath and make sure you put some luxurious products in it (or even just some milk powder, almond oil and a drop of your favourite smelly). Before you get in, apply a nice face mask. Have a jolly good long soak.
4. Scrub your feet with a brush, some pumice, some foot scrub or a combination of all of the above.
5. When you’ve dried off, and removed the mask, slather yourself all over in some glorious thick body butter. I cannot say enough good things about Skinfood’s body butter - they’re a New Zealand company, most of their ingredients aren’t all chemically, it’s rich and lovely, it’s cheap and easy at around $14 a tub in most supermarkets, and if you want further proof of its awesomeness, every time I apply it, my cat licks my hands for ages. So that has to be a good thing, right?
6. Get into your nice clean sheets. Feel blissed out. Perfection!

Review: Aveeno Daily Moisturising Lotion June 4, 2008

I was browsing NZgirl.co.nz the other day, because while every single word on the site is advertorial, they do have a lot of competitions that just require a click to enter, and so I managed to get myself sent a free sample of Aveeno Daily Moisturiser. They sent me some vouchers and a 25ml bottle, which is great, because I am a handcream addict and always have to carry some moisturiser around in my bag, so this is a good size for that.

As far as the product itself goes though, I’m a little less convinced. It claims to last for 24 hours, which I think is ridiculous, because surely you’ll be washing your hands a couple of times during that time. It does a good job of coating your hands in what feels like protective gloves though, and definitely lasts a couple of hours, which is much longer than any most other products. It feels a little greasy going on, and the grease feeling intensifies if your hands heat up. Also, it’s apparently fragrance-free (which is another reason why I don’t like it), but smells kind of vaguely hospital-ish. Oh, and it’s a Johnson & Johnson product, and I prefer to buy from smaller companies, because I have an innate distrust of large chemical corporations claiming to be all about the natural oatmeal properties, when neither the sample nor their website will list the ingredients of the product.

But, you know, if you’re in the market for a really thick hand cream and you don’t want it to smell like cocoa butter or coconut, this could be the product for you. The guy and girl I was with at the pub who tried it with me didn’t have whole lot to say about it, except that it was okay. I’ll keep the bottle around for dry hand emergencies, but won’t be purchasing it.

Our favourite things: body-brushing June 2, 2008

I’ve read in many publications that body-brushing is really good for your skin and circulation, and so I decided to give it a go. The idea is that you give yourself a thorough dry rubdown before you shower evert day, but given that I shower in the morning, approximately 30 minutes after I am supposed to be at work, I don’t have time for that, so it’s generally a weekend-only activity.

What I like best about my brush though, which is made by QVS and was $15 from Farmers, is not the synthetic bristles which are a little too soft, but the fact that it’s got knobs on the back. Ooooooohh yes. This is the perfect thing for feet. Soak them for a while (tonight Amy and I soaked our feet in the bathbombs we made a while ago) and then rub it all over your heels, toes, sides of your feet and oh boy oh boy, it feels good. Your mileage may vary as to the faces of delight it might cause. Mmmmmassagey.

Pretty Prize Packs… for you?? May 7, 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!!!

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

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…