Haircare Do Care

I used to be pretty lax with my hair. I'd wash it, maybe pop a drop or two of MorrocanOil in and then just let it air dry. Those were the days.. the school/uni days; however those are no more. Now I get up with enough time to wash my hair and tame it a bit to make it look like I put in enough effort to turn up to my retail job and look presentable. The lazy days (for the most part) are sadly a thing of the past. So there are three products that I've been reaching for to make my hair dry more quickly, look extra healthy and prevent damage from heat and styling.

In order of application, we first of all have John Frieda's Brilliant Brunette Liquid Shine which was bought on Amelia Liana's recommendation. If you know of her, you'll know she has luscious, long locks that would be the envy of many a woman. She posted before & after photos when using this and even though I'm sure camera flash had a bit to do with it, you could tell a difference in shine. Running this through very slightly towel dried hair, it adds a gloss and shine that makes the lengths of my hair appear much healthier especially when it catches the light. I think applying this before properly blow drying your hair would be even more effective but I generally just do a shabby high force, medium heat gust of air all over my head.

While I apply my makeup, I put my hair up into my turby towel which is one of those quick drying towels (side note: honest lifesaver) and this makes a world of difference. For a lady with longish, thick hair, having one of these towels cuts my drying time in at least half, if not thirds. Makeup, lunch prep, outfit decisions etc. usually takes 20-30..40 minutes so my hair is up in my towel for that time; then we spritz through the most recent addition to the Bathroom cabinet which is the Bumble & Bumble Invisible Oil Protective Primer. I bought my Mum the Invisible Oil at the beginning of the year (which may or may not have been one of those gifts that we can "share") but we both really like it. It's more lightweight than other oils I've tried; hence the name 'Invisible' I would presume but it doesn't leave my hair feeling weighed down. Sorry got sidetracked there! The Primer is a newer launch for B&B which was released with an accompanying shampoo and conditioner. I was a fan of the oil, saw this launch in the UK, I think I maybe read one review and just bought it. I consulted the MeccaCosmetica assistant, she hadn't tried it, thought yolo and it was mine.  I like to spritz this through the lengths of my hair post towel-dry, as well as the fronts which get a lot of heat. Like the oil, the smell is very nice and because it's a spray, again it isn't heavy or feels like it's building up in my hair. When I use this I do skip a separate heat protectant because this can do it all!

Last but not least, if things are looking a little unloved and dry, I like to apply the Goldwell Elixir* to the ends of my hair which also works well for smoothing and taming after I've blow dried. This again is very lightweight and thinner than other hair oils I've tried. A very pleasant scent and you only need 1-2 pumps to do your entire head; keeping in mind I have longer hair. I do avoid applying oils to the roots of my hair just so it doesn't go greasy super quickly but from the mid-lengths down, this works a treat!

(*kindly sent to me for consideration)

Summer Scrubbin'

Even though Sydney wants to trick us into thinking it's already here, Summer is not here just yet but the shorter hemlines, bare legs and arms are already making their way out! The sun has been seriously shining these past couple of weeks and I can't say I was 100% prepared (my arms and legs are still rocking a ghostly shade of white) however I did have one product on hand to ease myself into this warm weather thing.

If you read my post a couple of weeks ago from the Body Shop summer preview then you would have seen I purchased the Argan Oil Rough Scrub scrub from their new Argan range. The scrub is one of the more jelly type exfoliators that they have, others are a little more creamy which is more similar to what I'd used before so I was very intrigued by this one. The scent had me at first sniff, I love the smell of argan products and this is no different- slightly sweet, fresh and just a pleasant scent. As the name suggests, it is quite a rough scrub and the size of the particles is perfect for a great exfoliation! I like to use this 2-3 times a week to ensure there's no scaly limbs looming in the cold weather's shadows. Especially followed by Lush's Ro's Argan Body Conditioner in the shower or one of my Aesop Body Balms once I'm out of the shower.

This scrub will have your limbs summer ready in no time! What are your favourite products to get your skin summer ready?

The Wild Argan Oil Rough Scrub is available from Body Shop stores and online for $23.95.

The It Cosmetics 'Naturally Pretty' Palette

Ohh matte shadows, how I love thee so. Sometimes I just don't feel like shimmer and crave a matte eye; I don't know what it is but I'm really drawn to matte products and the look of them. I've got quite a few single matte eyeshadows from various brands but I've never found a complete palette with the right shades, right formula and just all round the bomb.com until now. It Cosmetics isn't really a brand that's readily available in Australia but of course I've seen it mentioned on YouTube, blogs and the like. I trawl through Instagram all day, errday (@beautylocale if you were wondering) and when I saw this beauty pop up on Shameless Fripperie's feed I was all over it. Scrolled through the comments and saw she bought it from PM Studio in Waterloo, Sydney and it was mine. I didn't physically go to the store, I decided to just buy it online and pay a small shipping fee but they also stock some other hard to find brands as well like Make Up For Ever, Cover FX, Viseart and lots more. 

Within a few days it arrived and that was it. I was hooked. Karima (Shamless Fripperies) posted a video on her first impressions of this which I didn't even watch before I purchased however I did read a couple of reviews, had a look at more close up photos and asked no more questions. I can't find it on their site at the moment but from memory this came in under $50 which for 14 shadows and a pearl transformer is incredibly well priced. I used the palette non-stop for at least a week which is unlike me; with new products I often use them once or twice, alternate and come back to it every few days but this was glued to my morning face routine. Even after months of using this palette I reach for it almost everyday if not for a complete look then for matte shades to run through the crease.

Top Row

Bottom Row

The colour selection is so versatile and great for day and night. The shadows themselves are phenomenal and beautifully pigmented; super easy to work with and blend like a dream. I never thought of reaching for orangey and more red toned shadows (rather than a cranberry) but I surprise myself at how often my little MAC 217 gravitates to Sunrise and Sunset. With the 14 shadows, comes a larger 'Pearl Transformer' which is meant to transform any of the matte shadows to a shimmer. I'm not 100% sold on the transformer, I've found it changes the colour as well as adding shimmer so it's not what I always want but I do like it for a brow and inner corner highlight. 

You can see from the photos how well loved the palette is considering a lot of the IT stampings have disappeared but I just can't rave enough about how good this palette is and the shadows themselves. The only thing I'm not such a big fan of is the felted packaging because it's already got grimy fingerprints on it and I haven't really travelled with it that much at all. Because it's a material cover, it does pick up anything that's on your fingertips but I can work past that. 

Blurred Lines

Pores. The bane of most womens' existence unless you've been blessed by the angels with perfect skin that is. However, to aid those of us who need a little blurring assistance, beauty companies have launched an abundance of 'blurring' primers to fill pores, blur imperfections and prep your skin for a flawless base. This is a big task for one little product and some have been able to fill the task for my skin and others have given it a good go but have just underperformed.

I've tried a mix of affordable and high end primers that claim to blur imperfections and any fine lines. Here are my brief thoughts on those that I have tried, keeping in mind I do have combination skin and I am quite conscious of the pores next to and on my nose. Ain't nobody got time for foundation sinking into those crevasses on your face and looking like a hot mess!

Ps. Yes I also cringed at the title of this post but I just had to do it. #sorrynotsorry 

The Good:

Hourglass. I swear if I paid myself every time I wrote about this little gem I'd be a squilionaire. However, to avoid boring anyone that's read any of my previous posts I won't repeat myself. It's fabby fab fab. Go to Mecca or your equivalent (Sephora, Space NK etc) and get a tester or just try it on your hand and introduce yourself. Get acquainted quickly because the love affair will be intense. FYI this is bottle number two if you were thinking this looks a little too fresh.

Benefit Porefessional- Again a product I feel needs little introduction but I like to use this in conjunction with my Hourglass Veil as that does more for general smoothing then Porefessional swoops in and fills in any pores and creates the base I wish I had. Does great things for maintaining oil as well but I prefer to just use this on my nose and the areas beside it.

Body Shop Instablur- I bought this one on a bit of a whim; I was perusing the site for new body products and Instablur was being advertised on the home page at the time- obviously as it was newly released. I hadn't heard much about it at all so I did a quick google and read maybe one or two reviews and thought I'd try it out, why not?! At the time I bought it, it was $28.95 which is still half the price of Porefessional but now they've lowered their prices, it's only $21.95- a steal! This product does wonders for mattifying, pore filling and general smoothing of my base. I also find it works perfectly with Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet whereas that + Hourglass Veil is not such a good time. Once again I recommend heading into a Body Shop store and trying this out on your hand, it will look instantly better! Plus they advertise this as an Instagram filter for your face. You don't have to tell me twice! Now that the product has been out a few more months and they've done PR for it, I've seen a lot more positive reviews from beauty bloggers worldwide if you want to know more.

The not as Good:

L'Oreal Magic Blur-  I actually squealed a little when I saw this finally hit the shelves in Priceline. Bloggers in the US had been raving about this product for months and months before we even saw a glimpse of the range. However, it must be different. For starters our packaging is very different and from what I can tell from videos and photos, so is the consistency and texture. I found this was ok in terms of smoothing pores but did absolutely nothing for controlling oil, maybe even made this look a little worse..

Innoxa Skin Perfecting Pore Vanishing Cream- Why you got such a long name for?? I made this purchase on hearing it was a great drugstore alternative to Porefessional which I already owned so more wanted to do a comparison. From memory this is like a third of the price of Porefessional so would be a great more affordable option. It is slightly thinner than Porefessional, still skin toned and does an ok job of filling in pores but like the L'Oreal, I feel it did more bad than good for controlling oil in my T-Zone.

I'm not saying either of those products are horrendous, they're just not as good and therefore don't get reached for as much. Which are your favourite 'blurring primers'? Have you tried any of these?

New in | NARS Audacious Lipsticks

You know you have beautiful friends in your life when an after work Mecca swatch session becomes a mental note for future birthday gifts. This was the case for me when one of my work pals turned up with that familiar eggplant shade of shopping bag and handed me makeup heaven from MeccaCosmetica. Inside contained the new Nars Audacious lipsticks. Two of them in fact. You can imagine the internal silent squeals at my desk. They happened. Anyway she knows how grateful I am and all the feels so let's crack on with the beauty.. crack..?

Barbara & Fanny

Nars' most recent launch of their Audacious lipsticks and liners created quite a kerfuffle in the beautysphere I must say. I'm not sure if it was because they got a total revamp in packaging, stamping the lot or if a new Nars launch is just that exciting. I think it may be a little of column A and a little of column B. The range was launched with 30 shades each named with a womans' name so added excitement points if one of them is yours! There's nudes, oranges, reds, pinks, vampy, they've launched them all so there's something for everyone.

On an Instagram trawl I'd spotted the shade Fanny but we all know that sometimes in photos colours can look a little off, especially for lipsticks and blushes. Not in this case; I flipped over almost every lipstick I thought was close in colour until I found her- Fanny; a beautiful deep raspberry shade I would say but not too wintery, it's definitely wearable in all months.

Barbara

The second shade she chose was Barbara-a beautiful brown toned nude, right up my alley! Apparently she wanted to get my Anita which we'd both admired in store but was told that Anita was a popular gal and sold out. Doesn't bother me, Barbara is a beautiful lady! I was worried it was going to be too nude on my pale skin but no issues whatsoever, it's perfect.

L- Fanny, R- Barbara

These lipsticks glide on, feel super comfortable on the lips and are easy to reapply. They retail for $44 each from MeccaCosmetica.