Pretty Pretty Pretty

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. 

Review: Clinique Moisture Tint June 27, 2008

OMG, Pursebuzz uses the same foundation as me!! Here is her review of Clinique Moisture Tint.

At first I felt the same way as Pursebuzz - it’s a lovely product to use and very natural, dewy looking . BUT it is a very light coverage foundation, and sometimes I feel like I just need a bit more. Good for everyday but not when you wanna glam-up. I did get some free gifts from Clinique with this purchase which is one thing I (perhaps stupidly) love about Clinique.

I used to use Estee Lauder something or other, and I loved that too. And just recently I tried a sample of Revlon Color Stay foundation which I’m liking (and I’ll review that properly later).

Mineral Make-up June 24, 2008

I little while ago I posted about my BareMinerals make-over. I’ve just found this site on mineral make-up. It gives heaps of info about brands and reviews.

Just about every cosmetic brand has a minerals range now, including Revlon and Maybelline (not reviewed on the site) so it’s worth shopping around.

Battle of the brands: eye make-up remover June 10, 2008

At the end of my bottle of Clarins eye make-up remover, I bought a Simple version and compared the two to see if I’d made a good replacement. Both products are similar - watery, as opposed to the milky or oily kinds you can buy. And both felt and performed pretty similarly.

Below is a pic of two cotton pads, one for each eye. The left is using the Clarins and the right is using the Simple.

Both removed all my eye make-up in a couple of swipes, though the Simple appeared to get rid of more of the foundation/concealer I was wearing - you can kinda see the skin-coloured smudge on the cotton pad in the picture. If I had to pick a winner it’d be the Simple. and given it’s cheaper and less chemically (perhaps) than the Simple, it’s a better bet.

But neither of these is the best remover I’ve used - that would probably be a Christian Dior milky remover I had ages ago but sadly can’t afford…

Pore minimiser June 8, 2008

I have tried and tried to take some photos of my pores before and after using Clinique’s Pore Minimizer Instant Perfecter. But my camera doesn’t pick up the required detail, so you’ll just have to take my word for the results.

I got the Instant Perfecter as a free-gift-with-purchase from Clinique a while ago, along with their Pore Minimizer Refining Lotion.

They say:

Camouflages the look of enlarged pores to immediately create a smooth, perfected look. Long wearing, oil-free formula is water and sweat resistant.

I have to say I was surprised to see a difference in the look of my pores, especially around the creases of my nose and on my chin. If only my camera would pick up the difference too so I could show you. The feel of the Instant Perfecter is lovely on the skin - soft, kinda powdery, giving a smooth finish. It’s a good replacement for foundation (if you don’t worry about ‘coverage’) as it’s tinted too.

The Refining Lotion I got to try is more of a long term thing so difficult to tell if it makes any difference to pore size at all. It’s the kind of product you’d need faith in, so I’m not gonna recommend it.

I reckon the Instant Perfecter is well worth a try though - the results are instant so you can see for yourself in store before buying it. Maybe you could ask for a sample to take home…

You can read other reviews of this product here at totalbeauty.com

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.

Free Sample: Guerlain mascara

My curly-haired-friend lucked out during a casual stroll past the Guerlain counter. Here’s her story:

The lady at the Guerlain counter gave me a free sample of their new two-brush mascara. I tried it out and I have to say that it is not as exciting as it looks. You get one large brush for the top lashes and smaller one for the bottom ones.

The fantastic thing was that this mascara actually lasted the whole day without running. The bad thing was that I found the big brush didn’t really do a good job of separating the lashes, they kind of all separated thinly and it didn’t really plump them up very much. While the smaller brush did a good job for the smaller lashes, I don’t normally use mascara on my bottom lashes so I found that it was a little redundant.

Overall, the actual mascara was not much better than lower priced ones and the two brushes are ok if you actually use mascara on your bottom lashes.

Sephora Spy May 28, 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 27, 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.