Thursday 31 March 2011

March empties

After getting the year off to such a great start with all my empties, March has been a slow month. I expected it would be because I knew once my bub arrived I probably wouldn't have the time or the energy to my beauty and skin care routine. Hopefully once bub and I get into a routine I can pick up my skin care and beauty regime again. 

Palmer's Tummy Butter - I really liked this. It kept my stretch marks at bay, stopped the itchies and was good to use at night to keep my skin really hydrated.


Palmer's Moisturising hand wash - This is a lovely, gentle hand wash. I just wish they sold refills for it.


Nivea 3 in 1 Waterproof Make-up Remover - I've used a few bottles of this now. It's a very gentle, effective make-up remover.


Rexona Sport deodorant - This is my tried and true deodorant. I've been using it for over 10 years. It works well and doesn't irritate my sensitive pits.


Alison Raffaele Face Forward Primer x 2 - I love this primer. It makes my skin feel so smooth. I'd love to buy the full size of this.


Guinot Radiance Renewal Cream - There was only enough for two applications so I really can't say if this was good or not.


Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot Primer - This isn't my favorite primer. It works okay but it's nothing amazing.


Chanel Allure Sensuelle body lotion - One of my all time favorite scents.

Wednesday 30 March 2011

P50P update


This is going to be so tough! I knew it when I first decided to do P50P, but I forgot that I wouldn't be wearing lipstick or gloss very often once I went on maternity leave. Since I've been on leave I've hardly worn lipstick or gloss, I usually just wear lip balm.

Speaking of lip balm, I still haven't decided if I should include lip balm in P50P. I've already bought a few lip balms since I started P50P, so if I do include them then I've already fallen off the wagon. If I don't include them P50P will never be over. So I think I'm just going to include them and admit that I've already fallen off the wagon.

With that decided, here's my tally:
Lipsticks finished - zero
Lipglosses finished - one 
Lip balms finished - two 
Three products down forty seven to go. 

The products I finished are: Juicy Tubes Mood (rose flavour), Softlips Chai Latte, Natural Alternative Mediterranean Sweet Orange.

Monday 28 March 2011

An update

You may have noticed things have been a little quiet around here lately. I'm adjusting to being a mum so blogging is taking a back seat at the moment. I'm very lucky to have a wonderful baby, he hardly cries and is very content. Despite that, he still takes up a lot of my time and the spare time that I have at the moment is usually spent doing housework. Not very exciting.

Whilst I've been having a bit of a blogging break I've been thinking about merging my blogs. At the moment I run a personal blog and this beauty blog. I'm considering merging them together and just having one blog to maintain. What do you all think? Should I merge both my blogs or keep them separate?

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Soap & Glory Girligo


When I was pregnant I wasn't able to wear perfume, it just smelled too strong on me. Being a perfume lover I found this really difficult. Now that I'm not pregnant I find that I still don't want to wear strong perfumes, the scents just seem overpowering. The solution that I've found has been to wear scented body lotions in place of perfume. They give me enough scent so that I smell nice but they aren't overpowering and don't make me feel sick. The body lotion that I've been wearing the most is Soap and Glory's Girligo. As with all of the other Soap and Glory products I've tried, it smells amazing!


Whenever I wear Girligo I get comments on how lovely I smell. After I started wearing this to work most of the girls at work went out and bought it, we bought so many that both the Kit stores in Perth were out of stock!

Soap and Glory says: Spritz Girligo on all over post shower for temptingly fragrant, softer, smoother, more supple skin. Scented with a tempting blend of bergamot, peach, strawberry, jasmine, mandarin and musk. 


And here's a cute saying from the box: "Flirting is the subtle art of making a man feel satisfied with himself."

I wouldn't say that I find this to be particularly moisturising. It's a spray on moisturiser which makes it very light, but as I wear it for the scent and not the moisturisation factor that doesn't worry me. It does work well as a light moisturiser but wouldn't be enough for dry skin. The scent lasts for about half a day on me before I need to reapply.  


Girligo isn't on the Kit site at the moment, from memory I think it cost around $18 (AUD).

Would I buy this again? Yes, I'm obsessed with it!

Ingredients: aqua, paraffinum liquidum, glycerin, ethylhexyl stearate, butylene glycol, glyceryl stearate, ceteareth-20, petrolatum, ceteareth-12, cetyl palmitate, cetearyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, parfum, sodium citrate, dipropylene glycol, hexyl cinnamal, butyrospermum parkii, theobroma cacao seed butter, methylparaben, ethylparaben, limonene, citric acid, tetrasodium edta, butylphenyl methylpropional, linalool, benzyl salicylate, geraniol, alpha-isomethyl ionone, citral.

Monday 21 March 2011

Soap & Glory Flake Away


Soap and Glory are quite new to Australia. The products are sold at Kit stores and they have some beautiful products. At the moment I am totally obsessed with Soap and Glory because they smell amazing! I'm always a sucker for scent, if something smells good then I can't resist it. Every Soap and Glory product I've tried so far has smelled wonderful. 



I've been using the Flake Away scrub since christmas and I'm really happy with it. It's a salt and sugar scrub with great scrubby particles that aren't too rough. I find this to be really effective at getting rid of my scaly skin and yet it's gentle enough to use on my soft bits without irritating them.

I used my Flake Away in the shower this morning and at 2pm I can still smell the lovely scent on me. It's quite possible that this could be due to my pregnancy heightened sense of smell, but I really hope not because I'm quite happy to smell lovely all day. 

Flake Away costs $17.95 (AUD) for a 300ml pot. 


Would I buy this again? Yes, it's a beautiful product.


Ingredients: petrolatum, ethylhexyl stearate, prunus amygdalus dulcis oil, sucrose, maris sal, polyethylene, c12-13 pareth-3, vitis vinifera seed oil, butyrospermum parkii butter, cera microcristallina, hydrogenated castor oil, paraffin, steareth-2, parfum, prunus persica seed powder, polysorbate 20, hexyl cinnamal, linalool, limonene, cera carnauba, dipropylene glycol, benzyl salicylate, butylphenyl methylpropional, bht, geraniol, alpha-isomethyl ionone.

Tuesday 15 March 2011

I'm a Mummy!

Introducing my beautiful son Chael Kai. He was born at 7.27pm on Wednesday the 9th of March. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces (3.865 kg's) and is 54cm long.
I was induced due to high blood pressure and was in labour for 17 hours. It was just me and hubby in the delivery room and hubby was absolutely amazing. I'd been worried about how he'd cope, but he was brilliant, there's nothing that he could have done better. It was a very long, tiring day for both of us, but worth every second.

We still can't believe that we have a son. We look at him and are amazed that we could make something so perfect. I suppose that's what all new parents say isn't it?

 

Monday 14 March 2011

Samples I've been trialling

Napoleon Dream Cream for face - This smells amazing. So amazing that I'm going to buy it so that I get to use it every day. As far as moisturisation goes, it does a good job, but I want it for the amazing scent.

L'Oreal Matt Morphose foundation - I loved this so much that I went out and bought it. It gives a lovely, matte finish without being drying.

Nivea Young Be Beautiful Tinted Moisturiser - This was nice but nothing amazing. If it was on sale I'd buy it, but it's not a must have product.

Alison Raffaele Face Forward Primer - In the hot summer weather I've been using this in place of a moisturiser and I really like it. It's SPF 15 and contains antioxidants and hexapeptides which encourage collagen production. When I've finished all my primers I'll be buying this.



Friday 11 March 2011

Link Love

I always enjoy reading these posts on other blogs, so though it was time I started doing my own post. Here's what I've been reading over the past few weeks:

Jen gives us the lowdown on sunscreen.

Sarah is having an Apothica giveaway.

Jessica reviews a beautiful MOR hand and body lotion.

Jade gives us some great pregnancy reading

Dee swatches pink NYX round lipsticks.

Miss Sensuous tells us about her end of month favorites.

Lara makes me want the gorgeous Kit Berry Tint Sheen.

Audra gives some great tips to treat eczema naturally.

Pop Blush is having her first giveaway.

Tara gives us a preview of Illamasqua's latest collection

Stacey shows us a video of her top five favorite products for February.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

This year

I didn't make any new beauty resolutions this year, however I've just thought of one. I'm going to master liquid eye liner. Eye lining has never been my strong point, I love the way it looks but can't manage to do it right myself.


I'm of the opinion that liquid liner looks very polished and is great with minimal eye shadow. As a Mummy to be I figure that I won't have a lot of time to apply my make-up and yet I still want to look polished and put together. Hence my determination to master the use of liquid eye liner.

One blogger who particular inspires me to get liquid eye liner right is Stef from The Lip Print. She does gorgeous FOTD's using liquid liner. Stef kindly gave me permission to use two of her liquid eye liner photo's. 

These are the two looks that really inspired me to master the use of liquid eye liner:



Aren't they beautiful? If you'd like to see Stef's full post for these two looks, they are here and here. A huge thank you to Stef for allowing me to post her photo's.


I've bought about four different liquid eye liners and have been practising with them. So far I haven't managed to get a straight, flawless line but I'm hoping I'll get better with more practice. I am starting to get the hang of making the line thicker at the end, but it still ends up a bit messy. If anyone has any liquid eye liner tips, feel free to post them in the comments.



Monday 7 March 2011

Neals Yard available at Bathing Beauty!

Neals Yard is one of those brands that I've always wanted to try but never had access to. That's all changed now, as Neals Yard products are now available at Bathing Beauty! Neals Yard products are certified organic and made in the UK.  

The range looks amazing, I want to try everything. As yet I haven't purchased anything to try out, however these are a few of the products that I'm planning to try:

Natural Tone Lip Gloss




Friday 4 March 2011

Help! Baby product recommendations needed


Mr GQ and I are due to have our first baby any day now. As a result of this, in the last few months I've found myself in unfamiliar territory. First it was pregnancy skin care and now it's baby skin care. Whilst I use all sorts of chemicals on my skin, I'm not willing to use harsh products on my bub. So I need help. What should I use? And what shouldn't I use? What worked for you and what didn't?


I've made a soothing room spray to use in bub's room, I scented it with lavender and vanilla so hopefully that will help to calm bub and help it to sleep. Are there any other room sprays that you'd recommend?

Also, any other baby tips would be gratefully accepted.  

This is me at 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant:

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser


I've wanted to try Laura Mercier's Illuminating Tinted moisturiser for ages, so whilst I was in Kuala Lumpur I picked up a tube. I've heard so many wonderful reviews that I had very high expectations. Unfortunately it doesn't live up to them. The sole reason I say this doesn't live up to my expectations is because of the shimmer. It is so, so shimmery that it just doesn't look natural. Mixed with tinted moisturiser this is perfect, but alone it's too much. If I want to wear this alone I have to put a heap of powder over the top to tone down the shimmer and in my opinion that defeats the purpose of using a tinted moisturiser. To me tinted moisturiser is something I use when I want to do a quick face, so I don't want to have to use lots of powder to stop myself looking like a glitter ball.

I purchased the shade Natural Radiance which is a good match for me. It looks a little dark in the photo above, but once it's blended in it matches well. It is slightly darker than my natural skin but I don't mind that as it gives me a very slight touch of colour.  I think the slight darkness is more to do with the shimmer rather than the colour match.


Laura Mercier says: Lightweight flawless coverage. This light infused, lightweight, gently tinted formula is perfect for all skin types. Laura Mercier's illuminating tinted moistuiser SPF20 hydrates and protects from damaging rays of the sun as it imparts barely there colour, luminous radiance and a dewy finish to your complexion. 

I tried to get a good photo of the shimmer but couldn't. In the photo above you can see it a little bit but in real life it's way more shimmery and just not a good look.


As far as the moisturiser goes, it's great and I would definitely consider trying other Laura Mercier tinted moisturisers. It's hydrating and yet light. I don't think this would be hydrating enough to use alone during winter, but for summer it's perfect. 


Would I buy this again? No, it's way too shimmery.

Ingredients: water, dimethicone, cetearyl alcohol, hydrogenated polyisobutene, xylitylglucoside, PEG-40 castor oil, polyglyceryl-4 isostearate, cyclopentasiloxane, potassium cetyl phosphate, hexyl laurate, anhydroxylitol, sodium hyaluronate, tocopheryl acetate, sodium ascorbate, camellia sinensis leaf extract, hydrogenated olive oil, butyrospermum parkii, xylitol, copper gluconate, allantoin, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 dimethicone, polysorbate 60, phenoxyethanol, butylene glycol, tribehenin, sodium dehydroacetate, carbomer, aminomethyl propanol, tetrasodium EDTA, magnesium aluminum silicate. 
May contain: titanium dioxide, iron oxides, mica, tin oxide.