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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Current Skincare :: July 2011

Confession: I've never been into skincare.

Acne runs in my family and I have pretty average skin. The last couple of years it's been 100x better, but I still have mild acne.

The only thing I've ever done in the way of skin care is the occasional face mask and I remove my makeup everyday with a wipe. For a while I used St Ives Apricot Exfoliater.

I recently went to LUSH and picked up a couple of things, as well as getting a huge box of Innoxa skincare off a one-day site recently.

I've been using these products for a month now:

Cleanser:

Dark Angels - Deep, dark, cleanser for young, dark and oily skin. A black, squidgy scrub with charcoal to absorb oils and exfoliate your skin. Nutritious avocado oil softens, glycerine keeps the moisture in and black sugar softly scrubs; rhassoul mud is anti-microbial and cleanses deeply, while sandalwood and rosewood essential oils are soothing, giving you a feeling of smooth, clean freshness that is difficult to beat.

Yes, this cleanser is black, and yes it is messy. I use this around every four days. It makes my skin feel really smooth and soft. It is a little harsh, as in my face is a bit red after using.


Coalface - Soothing liquorice and charcoal cleansing bar. Ground up charcoal is very good for your skin. It helps to absorb excess sebum from the skin’s surface and acts as a mild exfoliator. We put it into CoalFace with softening liquorice root, and rosewood and sandalwood essential oils, rumoured to help cells regenerate and to slow the arrival of wrinkles. Although coal and diamond are both made of the carbon molecule, in this case, charcoal is a girl’s (or boy’s) best friend.

I use this 5-6 times a week in the shower in the morning. It's black, but lathers like a soap, so it doesn't go on black. It's very gentle on my skin and leaves it smooth - although not as much as Dark Angels.

Toner:

Tea Tree Water - Ah, tea tree: how do we love thee? Tea tree is extremely soothing and can work wonders on troubled or oily skin. We’ve also added juniper berry and grapefruit waters to refresh and gently tone with natural oils. Use this throughout the day to help tackle blemishes and lift your spirits.

I was using this twice a day, but I've started using it once a day. I'm not sure it's making much of a difference. Can someone explain toners to me? I don't really understand what the point of them is. Has anyone noticed a great difference by using one?


Moisturiser:

Skin Balance Oil-Free Rebalancing Lotion - An oil-free, easily-absorbed lotion that uses breakthrough ingredient AC Net™ to actively regulate oil. ZinClear™, the latest in sunscreen technology, helps protect against environmental damage.
This was part of the set I bought, and the first one I have used. I haven't noticed any difference using it. I use it twice a day.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

EOTD :: 13 July

One of my favourite eyeshadow combos is blue and purple. Here is what I did today. (Sorry about the lighting, it will be easier in Summer with some natural light!)


Eyeshadows: Purple Metallic - unknown brand, Swimming Pool - Sephora

Eyeliners: Top = Black Smooth Eyeliner - Natio, Bottom = Blue Eyeliner, GOSH

Mascara: Blue, Australis

What are your favourite eyeshadow colour combos?

Friday, July 8, 2011

Innoxa Skin Care

I only just recently heard of the makeup brand Innoxa, and have a couple of the lipsticks. We have a site in New Zealand called 1-day, where they have 3 cheap deals every day.



Yesterday I made another purchase from them. It is a Innoxa Skincare 12 pack for $30. I think they are sample sizes, but it's still a bargain, because I can try out all the products before buying full size. Needless to say, the deal sold out in 4 hours.

Here is what it comes with:

1. Line-Defy Intensive Moisture Boost - Intensely boosts skin hydration, firms, tightens and restores skin radiance. This multi-tasking formulation helps fight the signs of ageing and is an ideal day or night moisturiser, mask or skin primer before makeup.

2. Skin Balance Oil-Free Hydrating Creme-Gel - Specifically formulated to help restore balance to combination and oily skin, whilst offering an essential source of hydration in a rapidly absorbed crème-gel.

3. Skin Sensitive Daily Moisture Protection -

4. Skin Lift & Firm Ultra-Lift Firming Moisture Lotion SPF 15 - An effective combination of Pepha®-Tight Marine Extracts, Rice Bran Oil Extract, Unimoist and Shea Butter to instantly tighten and smoothe - the result of the long-term lifting and firming effect is noticeably firmer, smoother more youthful-looking skin.

5. Skin Specialist Purifying Mask - Uses botanical Water Lilies and natural Kaolin Clay for a deeply purifying, re-balancing facial treatment, helping to detoxify, remove impurities and promote healthy radiant skin.

6. Skin Moist Vitamin Enriched Moisturiser with Sunscreen - Offers skin a nourishing, vitamin-rich source of moisture with sunscreen protection. The rapidly absorbed moisturiser uses Vitazyme ACE® and Avocado and Jojoba Oils to deliver an essential daily dose of vitamins A, C & E to help keep skin nourished and protected.

7. Skin Even Enlighten Moisturiser SPF15 - Rich in vitamins and natural fruit acids, this moisturiser brightens, soothes and balances the skin while providing sun protection.

8. Skin Even Enlighten Concentrated Serum - Loaded with super-efficient ingredients Lumiskin™, Stay-C®50 and Vitamin E, this treatment product dramatically improves the radiance and even tone of all skin types.

9. Skin Balance Oil-Free Rebalancing Lotion - An oil-free, easily-absorbed lotion that uses breakthrough ingredient AC Net™ to actively regulate oil. ZinClear™, the latest in sunscreen technology, helps protect against environmental damage.

10. Skin Sensitive Gentle Moisture Lotion - A light, easily absorbed lotion, which delivers essential moisture and nutrients to the skin, using the concentrated benefits of fruit waters and botanical extracts.

11. Skin Moist Thirsty Skin Moisture Creme - This luxurious moisture rich crème uses Aquaxyl™ to help re-balance moisture levels. Vitamin E-rich Rice Bran Oil Extract, a powerful anti-oxidant, offers a concentrated source of moisture whilst helping protect against environmental damage and premature ageing.

12. Love and Happiness Enchanting Foam Bath - A water softening, rapidly foaming formula which cleanses and moisturises the skin leaving the body fresh, soft and fragrant.

I'm excited to try out these products! I should get the pack next week some time. I bought it because I get to try out a lot of different products for $30, instead of buying 1 moisturiser at Lush for $42. I'll still get the toner and cleanser from Lush though - I just can't justify $42 a moisturiser - I know lot's of people spend a lot more though!

Have you tried any of these products? Do any of them sound appealing to you?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Concert Review :: Miley Cyrus

On Thursday 23rd of June I flew over to Melbourne to stay with my friend and go to the Miley Cyrus concert.

I am a Miley fan, and I have watched a lot of Hannah Montana. I don't like Hannah Montana songs, but the shows good. haha.

Our seats were directly to the right of the stage. They were good seats, but we were directly at the side of the screen, so couldn't see what was on it.

I didn't know who was opening for Miley until we got there, it was an Australian singer, Michael Paynter. His set was okay, I had only ever heard of one song, and I think he played a bit too many songs. But maybe he's quite popular in Australia?

After his set we didn't have to wait too long until Miley came out. Cue lots of screaming! The concert was sold out, and of course the majority of the crowd were girls under 16.


She sang mostly songs off her newest album, Can't Be Tamed, and all of her hits. She did a few covers, including Nirvana's, Smells Like Teen Spirit - which she was actually pretty good at!

The crowd was most excited for 'The Climb'. She didn't talk to the crowd too much, just saying 'thanks for having me here/I wouldn't be here without you' every second song (did get a little bit repetitive!).

I was disappointed she didn't sing 'When I look at you', but glad she sung 'Obsessed'.

Miley said goodbye, left the stage, and although the houselights hadn't come on yet a lot of people were leaving! Of course there was more, she hadn't sung 'See You Again' or 'Who owns my Heart' yet!

She came out in a sparkly red dress and sung 3 encore songs (first time I've seen that!). She had a few costume changes throughout the show, wearing not much - and I can understand why there has been some complaints about younger children at her shows - but that's the parents decision to take them to her concert.



The set was good, nothing too flashy, but the dancers were good.

Overall: I really liked the concert, and it was even better than Katy Perry's. Sometimes it's good to go to a concert and have them just perform their songs, without all the flashy set/storyline. I wish she'd performed more of her older songs, but she did perform a lot of songs, in comparison to other concerts.

Images from: http://www.thehothits.com/artists/photo-galleries/24312/3/

Friday, July 1, 2011

Melbourne Haul :: Part 2 - Guess

I didn't do a lot of clothes shopping while in Melbourne, as a lot of the stores we have here.

However, we don't have a Guess store here, and I love Guess. So I had to make a few purchases at the outlet store!

A white Guess T-shirt for $30. I love the shape of their T-shirts. V-necks are so much better than round ones!


A grey long sleeve t-shirt. I wore it the other day with skinny black jeans and heels (sorry no picture!). It's really nice material and comfy to wear. I tried on a purple one, but it didn't look as good. I have a thing for grey at the moment - must be winter! This was $30 down from $40.


I know, a bit strange right? I haven't worn them yet, as I have no idea what to wear with them. Especially shoes. Any ideas?

I bought them because they fit so well (they look much better on than in the picture), and they were $50 down from $100.

The only other clothes I bought were from Dotti.



I got this for work. It was $20. (outlet Dotti store I think).

I also got a white singlet top and a plain black v-neck t-shirt from Dotti. They weren't really worth photographing! Just basics.

Help me out with the jeans! What do you think would look good with them?