Joanna
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Gillette Spa Venus – an unnecessary update to your favourite razor
Clamshell packaging is the WORST.
If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you’ll know that I love the Gillette Venus razor but in its original form. None the less, when I received a Venus Spa Breeze in a package of goodies from a PR company, I figured I’d give it a good go. First, the official word:
The secret to an easy yet indulgent shave? Venus Spa Breeze. Simply add water for a skin-loving, light lather and a smooth shave—there’s no need for separate shave cream. Even better, the shave gel bars are infused with the fresh scent of white tea to soothe your senses.
The shave gel bars did indeed help the razor glide over my legs, and I didn’t feel any of that hitching you get if you ever stupidly try to shake without lube. However, I do feel like I didn’t get the closest shave possible, because the bars kept the blades from making perfect contact with my skin. That was actually a good thing in my armpits, where I’m more prone to irritation, but my legs didn’t feel as smooth as usual. They did improve with a buttload of moisturiser though, but I can’t help but feel I will get hairier sooner than usual.
I can see the benefit in not wanting to lug shaving foam around with you, but as a person who washes her hair every day, I’ll always have conditioner with me that I would use instead. They might be more useful if you shave with a leg propped up on the sink instead of in the shower though, less drippy.
Frankly though, given that regular Venus blades sell for around $15 at Chaffers New World, and the Spa Breeze ones sell for $26, it’s clear that the biggest benefit to this new razor is to Gillette’s bottom line.
Also, and this is a problem with SO many things, but the day that clamshell packaging dies in a fire forever will be a very happy day indeed. Those things are way too hard to get into.
You are prettiest when you are smiling – Lelo's gonna get that smile on your face
At Pretty Pretty Pretty, we’re pretty keen on reviewing anything we get sent to us, so I was pretty intrigued when I got an email from a PR rep for Lelo, offering me a Smart Wand™. Yeah that’s right, Lelo IS the expensive brand of sex toys. So why would they approach a beauty site? Let’s quote them:
“I thought it would be a great fit for helping LELO get the word out on our new Smart Wand™ all-over body massagers. We’d love the opportunity to collaborate with you on this, especially given PPP’s commitment to beauty and wellness, and since you’ve featured similar products that keep your readers informed of the latest health and beauty trends. Smart Wands would be a great addition to any beauty conscious women’s daily routine, since it keeps them healthy, relaxed, and refreshed!”
I know I look my prettiest when I’m smiling, so I replied yes straight away. After the jump, oh yes, we go there.
Fatty Boom Clothing Swap, March 17
Hey lovely people who wear women’s clothes size 16 and up*:
Let’s get together and swap! Bring decent clothes you don’t want anymore, and we’ll informally trade them for ones
that are new to you. You’ll also get to hang out with some seriously cool ladies, in a happy safe space.
Bring along others who may be keen, as long as they are nice people, snacks to share, and boooooooooze if you wanna. You’re also encouraged to bring along accessories and/or cosmetics you don’t want anymore too, for more fun trading.
The swap is from 2pm at my house in Mount Victoria – let me know if you need the address.
* this is an arbitrarily chosen size barrier – if you’re smaller but feel you have clothes to offer that would work for bigger people, that’s cool too, obviously
Another Bio Oil trial
Remember how
a couple of years ago Julie did a Bio Oil trial for us? Well, I have some seriously messed up skin under my arms, so when the Bio Oil people got in contact to ask if I wanted to do a blogger review, I gave them a big ‘ole hells yes please. They stressed that you have to use it every day, twice daily, for two weeks in order to see results. My skin is nasty. Like real bad. So I’m going to put in a jump so you don’t have to see it.
Are you pretty pretty pretty?
You might have noticed that things have gone a bit quiet around here, with good reason. Amy has decided to focus her attentions elsewhere, so she’ll no longer be writing for PPP. I’ll miss her a great deal and wish her all the best.
So what becomes of the site we started together? I think it’s come a long way in the past couple of years, and it’s something I’m really proud of, so I don’t want the site to die. What I’ve always loved about PPP is that it’s a team effort, so now I’m looking for a couple more writers to join me. Do you have a love of pretty things, combined with a sense of realism? Can you appreciate beauty products while disapproving of aspects of the beauty industry? Do you want to write about stuff because you love to share and not just because occasionally you may get free products out of it? Send me an email, let’s have a chat – joanna (a) prettyprettypretty.com.
Thank you!
Wild about Wildilocks
There’s a new hair salon in town, and it’s rather special. Wildilocks is from Australia originally, but now they’ve opened up a branch at 225 Cuba Street (where Eyeball Kicks used to be – don’t worry, Eyeball Kicks is still around). As well as being a salon, Wildilocks also sells clothes, accessories and hair products. As you can see from the listings on their webstore, they’ve got a particular focus on the gothy-ravey-steam punky aesthetic, so if you’re after oversize goggles or Special FX hair dye, this is the place you want to go.
I’m particularly intrigued by their pricing structure – you pay per hour (billed in quarter hour increments), with stylists ranging from $55 to $85, depending on their expertise. Another awesome service they offer? Vintage hair dos! I was lucky enough to get to model for them as Dom and Charlotte were trained by Kat from Australia, and the Victory Rolls I got were seriously awesome. Photos are after the jump.
Trend alert: multi-hue nails
I’m picking this will be the next big thing:
Painting your nails in multiple (but similar) colours. And not just because you’ve got buttloads of pinks left over from Pretty Pretty Party swaps either. Go ahead, prove me wrong, kids…
Black lipstick and telephones
I’m imagining by now that you’ve seen the new Lady Gaga video for ‘Telephone’, and if for some unknown reason you haven’t, it’s embedded below. It is, quite simply, AMAZE.
There are of course many parts of the video to love, but the part that struck me the most? How awesome Beyonce looked in black lipstick:
Now, for ages I’ve thought that black lipstick could totally be done without being all gothy (in fact, I tried my hand at blue lipstick in 2008), and now finally I have proof! I lust for it so hard. I popped into the M.A.C counter at Kirks to see if they had it in stock, but they said it was from a couple of collections ago. Way to make me feel awesome, M.A.C.
Then, I saw Nina from The Style Hive tweet this pic of her as a Eurasian Beyonce which I hope she won’t mind me sharing here:
She looks amazing and I am so very jealous. Apparently that colour is Chanel Hysteria, which came out over a year ago and is sold out. I am so up to date. Okay, so I’m rambling, but the point is, I need to get my hands on some dark lipstick. But I don’t actually have any money. Make me some recommendations anyway please!
And of course, the best accessory to wear with black lipstick? Chuck Bass.
Let’s turn this whole town purple and orange!
So after the absolutely fantastically amazingly vicious bout between Smash Malice and Brutal Pageant on Saturday (Hadyn has a good write-up and pics of it), it’s time for the girls to voltronise themselves together to form Richter City (woo!) to take on Auckland’s Pirate City Rollers (boo hiss!). The match is on December 5, and you’ve got to be there. Along with making signs, we’re hoping y’all will join us in dressing in orange and purple to show your support. How rad would it be if the whole audience did it? Here’s what I’d be wearing, if someone else was paying:
So we’ll see you there, right?
What does the digital you look like?
You know I chose this picture of Anna for the leopard print. SMASH MALICE!
Jezebel has a piece today on avatars which reminded me of a post that I’ve been wanting to write for ages but hadn’t figured out how to screencap. For those of you who play video games where you get to create your look, do you make yourself look as real as possible or go with the fantasy? For me, I’ve always tried to make my video character as much like me as possible – which meant choosing the sole female character in Streets of Rage back on the old Sega Master System, or playing Anna or Jun in Tekken. My mii on my wii is as round and tall as I can make her, and although I have friends whose miis are absolute copies of their faces, mine is the best I can make it. When I play Rockband with Amy, my avatar is as fat as she can get (not very) and I choose clothes that I’d probably wear. Admittedly, my avatar’s hair is a fiercer red than I can normally manage with my own, but still. And my Guitar Hero avatar has her curves bumped all the way up, which means I get mesmerised by her juicy round ass, even though my own butt is pretty flat. I’m sure there’s some psychology at play here about escapism versus umm oh I don’t know, some other concept, and there’s a lot to be said about the total lack of reality in video games (was anyone else incredibly disturbed by how the news about the shootings on the American army base yesterday featured a totally unnecessary 3D animation clip of the shooter bursting into a room and opening fire that looked just like a video game?) but for now, I’d just like to hear about how you play the games you play…
D5 Creation