Tuesday 29 September 2015

Top Three Tuesday - Coconut scented body lotions

Summer is coming. Hot days, warm nights and coconut scented suntan oil are the things that come to mind when I think of summer. Whilst I no longer use a coconut scented suntan oil (or any suntan oil for that matter), I always pull out a coconut scented body lotion. Today I'm showing you three of my favourites. They all have different uses and a different coconut scent, so you need them all in your life. 

Palmers Coconut Oil Body Lotion - Smells like fresh coconut. This is the richest, most hydration lotion of the three, probably due to the mixture of cocoa butter and coconut oil. I like to use this at night so that it absorbs overnight and I wake up with soft skin. It also makes a great overnight foot treatment. I apply it thickly, put socks over the top, then the next morning when my skin is soft use a foot file to get rid of all the built up skin.

Little Bird Organic Coconut Moisturising Butter - This is the newest one in my collection and the most versatile. It's a solid oil that melts on contact with the skin. No only is it a great moisturiser suitable for the body and face, it's also a wonderful hair treatment and make-up remover. It smells deliciously like toasted coconut.

Pure Tan Pure Moisture Coconut Body Creme - When I want something a bit lighter than the two moisturisers above I use my Coconut Body Creme. It smells of sweet coconut and absorbs quickly so I can get dressed within a few minutes. On days when my skin is really dry this wouldn't be rich enough, but for every day it's perfect. 

What's your favourite coconut scented product? 

Sunday 27 September 2015

Thoughts of the week

I've decided to give thoughts of the week a go. I don't normally have enough thoughts to post weekly, but I'll give it a try and see what happens.

1. I'm still thinking about how we body shame females. Why is it acceptable/newsworthy to comment on the physique of a female athlete and yet it never happens to a male? When was the last time you saw criticism of a male's body in the media? Why do we as women accept it? We make up roughly half the population. We have power. Whilst we accept it, it'll keep on happening. And no, it's not our fault, but we can do something to stop it.

2. On that note I am trying to teach my boys not to judge people by their appearance. We are so much more than our appearance.

3. I've started reading again and I love it. I'd been telling myself that I don't have time to read but that's not true. I've missed it so much and it feels good to lose myself in a book for a few minutes. 

4. I love this post by Beauty Reductionista. I'm going to do a huge cull of my make-up soon. I've been thinking about it for a while now. Next time I get a few hours spare my collection will be culled to within an inch of it's life. 

5. Summer is coming. The days are getting warmer, the mozzies are out and blowflies are back. Give me winter, spring or autumn any day.

6. Now that Chai is at kindy we've entered the costume and donation zone. He's had to dress up twice for kindy so far. They give prizes for the best home made costume, that's one my boys will never win. I'm so not crafty.

7. The donation thing is getting expensive already, I can only imagine what it'll be like when we have to fundraise and have both children at school. This week we've donated $50 to the school. It's not money we have spare however the school are amazing and I know that the money will benefit the children.

8. I'm about to start exercising again. Having never been a gym person, I'm hoping that I'll find a class that I love so that I can enjoy exercise. If only they did Muay Thai classes during the day I'd be happy. 

9. I've been on steroids for my asthma this week and it's been bloody wonderful. I've got so much energy! I wish I could take them every day! Sleepless nights are nothing, I've been getting about four hours sleep and I feel great! Unfortunately I'll be back to reality Monday when I've finished my course.

Saturday 26 September 2015

Saturday Skin Care - My Current Morning Routine

It's taken years for me to finally start getting my skin care routine sorted. In the past I've jumped from product to product and not found anything that I really loved. Thankfully, over the last year I've found some amazing products that I really love. I can't imagine I'll ever get to the stage where I use the same products over and over again however I would like to get a line up of products that I love and switch them up every year or two.


Clarins HydraQuench Intensive Serum - The whole HydraQuench range is amazing. I love the lip balm and the moisturiser is my holy grail summer moisturiser. I use Intensive Serum in the winter to give my parched skin a hit of extra hydration. Now that the weather is starting to warm up I probably won't need to use it as often.

Skinstitut Even Blend Serum - Skinstitut products have done truly amazing things for my skin, it's totally transformed and looks so much more radiant and healthier than it did a few months ago. 
You can read my review of all my Skinstitut products here.

Transformulas Eye-Lightening - I've only just started using this, it gets good reviews so I'm excited to see what results I get. I'll keep you updated.

Skinstitut Eye Believe - I've yet to notice any difference in my dark circles and fine lines, however this is a lovely eye cream. It's kept my eye area hydrated and doesn't irritate even during hayfever season. I'm going to try the Ultra Firming Eye and Neck Cream when I've finished Eye Believe.

Transformulas Lip Volume - I started using this recently too. So far I haven't noticed any changes but it's only been a week.

Skinstitut Vitamin C powder mixed into Subtle Energies Mogra Rejuvenating Gold Cream - Between the Even Blend Serum and Vitamin C Powder my skin is looking amazing. Both products are staples in my routine now. 
My go to winter moisturiser is the Subtle Energies Gold Cream, it's deeply hydrating and the beautiful scent makes it a pleasure to use.

Kosmea Moisturising Lotion - This is one of the few facial sunscreens that I can use. If you have sensitive skin give this a go. It has a gorgeous rose scent, absorbs quickly and has a very light tint to it, just enough to even out my skintone. In summer I'll use this alone under a BB, but in winter I need the extra hydration so use it over moisturiser.

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector - BB/Tinted moisturiser is one part of my routine that I change constantly. I've gone through a few bottles of the Miracle Skin Perfector, it's a nice BB but I prefer the Miracle Skin Cream

Weleda Calendula Nappy Change Cream - Yes, I know this is a very strange addition to a skin care routine but hear me out. If you have sensitive, irritated skin you need Weleda Calendula Nappy Change Cream in your life. I've been using it on my dry irritated hayfever eyes. Nothing else heals them like Calendula Nappy Change Cream does. It does leave a white cast if applied too heavily, so I just apply a very small amount and smooth it in. It makes a good lip balm too.

Friday 25 September 2015

FFS Friday - #FullyFitspo

I'm about to enter a whole new world of sweat, pain and leggings. FFS.

See in a fit of craziness I entered myself into a competition on HotFM to join their Fully Fitspo team and by some miracle I won a spot! FFS/Not FFS.

I was not expecting to win. FFS.

Due to this, when they called me a few hours after I'd put the application in, and did an interview to be broadcast on the radio, I sounded like a stunned mullet (whatever they sound like). FFS.

This was made worse by the fact that I was in the waiting room at the Dr's surgery whilst I was talking to them. FFS.

I missed out on hearing myself on the radio, which I think is probably a blessing. Not FFS.

In true Glossy style, the first thing I did after hearing I'd won a spot was to go shopping for gym clothes. Hehe.

Wow, that's a whole new world. FFS.

When I exercised in the past I did martial arts and walking. Walking didn't require any special clothes and when I did martial arts I wore Thai shorts or my Gi. Gym clothes are a whole other thing that I know nothing about. FFS.

What does one wear to the gym? I have no idea. From what I can see in the stores it appears that leggings are the most common attire. FFS.

Leggings are so unflattering. FFS.

I'm convinced that leggings are why you only see fit people in the gym. Unfit people don't go to the gym cause leggings are evil. FFS.

And then there's another dilemma. What do I wear under leggings that doesn't give a VPL? FFS.

I'm not going to wear a g banger, how uncomfortable. FFS.

The last thing I need when I'm sweating it out is a piece of string up my butt. FFS.

If I wear normal undies my VPL will be very obvious. FFS.

I'm not going commando, although that does seem to be a popular option. FFS.

So what do I wear? Until I find a solution I'll be wearing long tshirts!

Who knew exercise clothing would be so difficult. FFS.


And now onto something else.

I don't normally watch much tv but I've been watching The Bachelor and this week started watching The Bachelorette.

The kids have somehow realised this so are doing their utmost to make sure I miss all the good parts of the show. FFS.

Normally I put them to bed and don't hear anything from them until at least 10pm. Every night that's how it goes, other than Wednesday and Thursday nights. FFS.

Last Thursday during The Bachelor finale they both woke up four times. FFS.

Not at the same time, one after the other. FFS.

I nearly missed the end. FFS.

Seriously, I got out just as Snez walked up to Sam. FFS.

Wednesday night was the same. I got the kids into bed, settled in to watch The Bachelorette and they started. FFS.

Eljay woke up to make sure that I missed Sam's chat with Sasha! FFS.

And then Chai woke up to make sure that I missed the rose ceremony at the end of the show. FFS.

Thankfully I managed to watch the bits I missed online the next day. Not FFS.

I'm picking Sasha for the win. I like Richie too.

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Top Three Tuesday - Night Treatments

Top Three Tuesday is back! Today I'm talking about my favourite night treatments. At night time I look for intense hydration, so the products I've chosen might not work too well for people with oily skin but will be perfect for my fellow dry skinned beauties.

Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream with Royal Jelly - This is what I use every night. It's very rich and gives a huge hit of hydration. My skin has been really suffering with the cold winter and hayfever, Radiance Night Cream has been its saviour. I use this and wake up in the morning with plump, soft, happy skin. I really notice the difference when I don't use it, my skin feels dryer and my fine lines are more noticeable.

Burt's Bees say: Our natural, overnight moisturiser is specially formulated with royal jelly to help enhance skin's natural radiance. With bee pollen and shea butter, skin will look and feel more moisturised and smoother for naturally radiant skin. 
Royal jelly is one of natures most nourishing substances. Fed to the queen bee, royal jelly contains 8 essential amino acids, vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, D and E along with niacin and folic acid. It is the reason she lives 40 times longer and is 50% bigger than worker bees. In Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream it's the reason you'll get naturally radiant, younger looking skin. 

Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Facial Oil Capsules - Rose lovers will love the scent of these capsules, they smell so good. I often use the capsules just for the beautiful rose fragrance. Smoothing Facial Oil Capsules are a light oil, they are the lightest of the three products I've featured today. Being a light oil product they absorb quickly and work really well under the Arbonne Overnight Mask. I often use them together for a huge hit of hydration. 
The capsules can be a little messy to open, I always manage to get oil all over myself, but there is enough in each capsule to allow for my clumsiness and still leave more than enough oil to cover my face, neck and décolletage.

Arbonne RE9 Advanced Intense Hydration Overnight Mask - I love overnight masks purely because I rarely make the time to do a face mask. If it wasn't for overnight masks I'd only use a face mask about twice a year. As the name suggest, this mask gives a great hydration hit. It's used over the top of my regular night time skin care, so I'll use it over the top of rosehip oil or the Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Facial Oil capsules.

Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream with Royal Jelly ingredients: aqua, sunflower seed oil, glycerin, cety alcohol, stearic acid, sucrose stearate, fragrance, kaolin, royal jelly, lecithin, wild cherry bark extract, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, hydrolysed jojoba esters, shea butter, jojoba esters, pollen extract, spearmint extract, betula albe bark extract, lemon peel extract, arctium lappa root extract, matricaria flower extract, cucumber fruit extract, equisetum hiemale extract, euphrasia officinalis extract, witch hazel leaf extract, hops extract, pinus strobus cone extract, rosa canina fruit extract, rosemary leaf extract, sage leaf extract, nettle extract, beta-carotene, xanthan gum, alcohol denat, soybean oil, sucrose polystearate, citric acid, phenoxyethanol, amyl cinnamal, limonene, linalool. 


Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Facial Oil Capsules ingredients: rose moschata seed oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba seed oil, evening primrose oil, peach kernel oil, fragrance, limonene, linalool, citronellol, benzy alcohol, geraniol, citral, eugenol, farnesol.  

Arbonne RE9 Advanced Intense Hyration Overnight Mask ingredients: water, glycerin, cetyl alcohol, shea butter, olive fruit oil, jojoba seed oil, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate, dimethicone, stearic acid, polyacrylic acid, hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin, carbomer, cetyl ethylhexanoate, caprylyl glycol, glyceryl laurate, mango seed butter, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, hydrolysed manihot esculenta tuber extract, laminaria digitata extract, palmitoyl tripeptide-38, ethylhexylglycerin, sodium lauroyl glutamate, maris sal/sea salt/sel marin, allantoin, biosaccharide gum-1, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, tocopheryl acetate, panthenol, pantolactone, carrageenan, trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate, aminomethyl propanol, citric acid, salicylic acid,
benzyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate.

*Note - The Burt's Bees and Arbonne products were provided for review.

Monday 14 September 2015

New from Maybelline

Maybelline have released a whole pile of new products in the last few months. I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that the ones I bought were the lip products.


They've jumped onto the chubby lipstick/lip balm wagon with the launch of Baby Lips Candy Wow. There are four different flavours of which I have three; Mixed Berry, Raspberry and Cherry. All of the flavours are scented according to their respective names and they all give a sheer wash of hydrating colour. As you would expect with a tinted lip balm, these don't last very long on my lips, however that's not a problem as they're a pleasure to use.

Rebel Bloom is a range of wearable pastel lipsticks. I purchased Power Peony and Lilac Flush. Surprisingly the pigment of these isn't great. Even when used over a primer I have to apply multiple layers to get decent coverage. I find that once I've layered on enough coverage the wear is fairly decent, about three hours before I need to reapply. 

I've been wearing Lilac Flush with Candy Wow Raspberry layered over the top and it's beautiful. 


For me the winners are the Baby Lips Candy Wow. They're beautiful to use and cheap at only $6.95.
If you have less pigmented lips than I do the Rebel Bloom lipsticks might work better. You can purchase the Rebel Bloom lipsticks for $16.95.
Rebel Bloom lipsticks in Lilac Flush and Power Peony. Candy Wow in Cherry, Raspberry and Mixed Berry.

What else do I need to check out from Maybelline's new releases?
Have you tried the Rebel Bloom lipsticks? Did they work for you?

Friday 11 September 2015

FFS Friday or not

Hello Friday! I have nothing to complain about. How did that happen? That's not true, I do have things to complain about but I can't be bothered. Instead I'm going to talk about health checks. Yep, fun times.

This week one of my dear friends had a mastectomy. Thankfully she checked her breasts regularly, the lump was caught quickly and the cancer was confined to her milk ducts so she won't require chemo. When was the last time you checked your breasts? I know I get lazy about it, not anymore.

Wednesday I had my bi-annual pap smear. Not fun. But necessary.
Many years ago I had grade three pre cancerous cells on my cervix. It was picked up during my routine pap smear. The cells were the size of a 10 cent piece, I had them burned off and ten years later was given the all clear. Imagine if I hadn't bothered having pap smears? I might not be here right now. 

Go get your health checks. They might be uncomfortable but they're worth the discomfort. A few minutes discomfort is better than the alternative, I can imagine that cancer treatment would involve a lot more than a few minutes of discomfort.

Thursday 10 September 2015

The Lip Balm Challenge

My one true love always has been and always will be lip balm. I could quit everything else but never lip balm. As you can imagine, I have quite the stash (I'll show you one day). My fellow lip balm addict Emma and I were talking about lip balm a few days ago and decided to set ourselves a challenge.
 
Lip balm anyone?
We've decided to try to finish ten lip balms in twelve months. We considered doing it next year but we're impatient and can't wait that long, so we're starting now. We've both selected the balms that we'll be finishing, mine are here:


Crazy Rumors Trick or Treat, Subtle Energies Rose Petal, Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector, Rodial Glam Balm Lip, Soap and Glory Smooch Operator, Twist and Pout, Dior Creme De Rose, Becca  Butter Balm, Fresh Sugar Rose, Maybelline Baby Lips Lychee Addict and CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint.

I know that's eleven, I added the Mentha Lip Tint in just in case I manage to finish all the others. 

We don't really have any rules, the aim is just to finish as many of our lip balms as we can.

Want to join us? If you do, let me know in the comments.

Monday 7 September 2015

August empties

I finished so many products this month, go me!
Nivea In-Shower Rich Body Lotion - The only thing that would make this better is if it smelled good. This is my go to winter moisturiser because it's super hydrating and I don't get cold waiting for my moisturiser to dry. 

Target Body Polish - I've raved about this enough, it's awesome.

Appeles Willow Bark Hand and Body Wash -This came free with a magazine. It smells gorgeous, I'd buy it again if I saw it in store. 


Snappy Jaws Toothpaste -The boys use natural toothpaste, this is one of their favourites because it tastes nice. 

Clarins Beauty Flash Balm - An old favourite, I always have a tube in my stash.

Coconut Revolution Coconut Make-up Remover Lotion - I quite liked this. It's light, removes all my make-up easily and doesn't irritate my eyes.

Biyani Organics Petigrain and Rosehip Gentle Scrub - Love, love, love. Biyani Organics products are beautiful.

Coconut Revolution Day Cream and Night Cream - Nice but not amazing.

Hourglass Veil Primer - This gets so many raves. Perhaps the little bottle wasn't enough for me to give it a decent try. I have another bottle so I'll use that before I make a judgement.

Clarins HydraQuench Intensive Serum - This is a holy grail for me, if you have dry skin you need to try it.

Younique Eyeshadow sample - Surprisingly nice. 

Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser - I've got through so many bottles of this that I've lost count. It's a good, gentle cleanser that I pick up whenever it's on sale. You can read my review of it here.

Coconut Revolution Coconut Intensive Hydrating Serum - Whilst I was waiting for my bottle of Clarins HydraQuench serum to arrive, I used the Coconut Revolution Serum and was very surprised that it performed nearly as well as my beloved Clarins serum.

Kmart Body Polish - See above.

Crabtree and Evelyn Avocado, Olive and Basil Shower Gel - Did the job.

Sunsilk Perfect Straight Shampoo - Both my hairdresser and I were surprised at how great this shampoo is. It really made my hair straighter and less frizzy. I normally only buy salon shampoo and conditioner but I'll definitely be repurchasing this one.

Garnier Beauty Oil Scrub - Love, love, love. One of my favourite body scrubs.

Avado Baby Naturals Bath and Body Wash - Sensitive skinned people will love this one. I use it on the boys and it's super gentle, it doesn't sting the eyes and works well as a shampoo too.

Skinstitut Moisture Defense Moisturiser - I'm so sad I've finished this. I'm nearly out of my Skinstitut serum too, so I'll be replacing them both soon.

Clarins HydraQuench Cream Mask -I've been using this as a night cream and my skin has been loving it. I use it a few times a week, it's magic. The whole HydraQuench range is amazing.

Samples - They were all okay but not remarkable. 

The products above and below are all tosses. Special mention goes to the Maybelline Color Drama lipstick in Minimalist, it's awful. The other Color Drama's go on beautifully but Minimalist is patchy and horrible.
This month I said goodbye to my favourite Innoxa eye liner. They don't seem to make it anymore, which is a real shame because it's amazing. I've had mine for over 12 months and even though it's still going strong, I tossed it for hygiene reasons. I've been trawling through my eye liner stash trying to find something else I love and tossing those that I don't love. I haven't found anything I like as much as the Innoxa liner, but hopefully I'll have something similar in my stash.

I've got rid of quite a few eye liners now so I'll do an updated eye liner stash post soon. You can see my eye liner declutter post here.

Friday 4 September 2015

FFS Friday - Seriously

This whole thing with my brother has got me so confused. FFS.

I want to be there to help and support him if he needs me, but he's been telling so many lies for such a long time that I can't believe anything he says. FFS.

It seems like he's been lying just for the sake of lying, which makes no sense to me at all. FFS.

From what I've found out so far he's been lying for at least six months. FFS.

About a whole pile of different things. And not just lying by omission, it's blatant, to my face lies. FFS.

I really don't know what to think. FFS.

I suppose it's all irrelevant anyhow, because he's somewhere overseas, I have no idea where he is and no way to contact him. FFS.

Tuesday Eljay tripped over, face planted and chipped away a large portion of his front tooth. FFS.

It looks awful. FFS.

And it hurts when he feeds now. FFS.

Because he's so young and it's his baby tooth there isn't anything they can do about it, so he'll stay like that until his adult tooth comes through. FFS.

Tiger wants to get a cap put on it. FFS.

As if a two year old would stay still long enough for that! FFS.

Has anyone seen my brain? It's still awol. FFS.

Yesterday I parked the car, turned the engine off and took the keys out of the ignition then sat there for at least two minutes trying to figure out if the engine was running or not. FFS.

Seriously. 

This morning Chai's kindy is having a fathers day breakfast. Tiger isn't home. FFS.

The kids have been practising songs and making decorations for weeks now. FFS.

Chai's all excited about it, he doesn't realise that Tiger won't be there. FFS.

I've tried to talk to him about it but he just cries. FFS.

It's before kindy so I'm going to take him at the normal time when it's all over. I'm just hoping that he doesn't get too upset when he realises that he's missed it. FFS.

Two of our friends who's kids are in Chai's class have offered to stand in as Chai's dad but I think he'd get upset about Tiger not being there. FFS.

I've told him that Daddy isn't here for fathers day so we'll have our own special fathers day when Daddy is home and that we'll make cupcakes. He wants to make Avengers cupcakes. FFS.

How on earth do I make Avengers cupcakes? 

FIFO sucks. FFS.