Monday 30 January 2017

My Priceline 40% off sale haul

Last week Priceline had 40% off all skincare, suncare and tanning products. I usually just stock up on sunscreen but this time I was running short on skincare too so took advantage of the sale and stocked up.


This is my biggest Priceline haul to date. Whilst it looks like a lot, when I take away the sunscreen and Tiger's products, I really didn't buy much at all. 

We go through a lot of sunscreen, about a tube a week, so I bought three of our favourite Neutrogena sunscreen. I also bought a few new sunscreens to try. Eljay and I are both very sensitive to sunscreen and have to be careful what we use. A friend recommended the Natio sunscreen so I got that along with ones from Natural Instincts, Cetaphil, Cancer Council and Sun Bum. 

I use the normal version of Cetaphil and it's great, this time I picked up the oily skin version, hoping that it'll work a little better under makeup. When I use the normal version on my face it tends to make my makeup pil, fingers crossed the oily skin one won't. 

We used Sun Bum over the weekend and great news, it doesn't irritate! Also, it's natural which I'm really pleased about. I have yet to try it under make-up, I'll report back once I have. 

The Bull Dog, Sukin, L'Oreal and Nivea products are all for Tiger. He's been using Bull Dog skincare for a few years now and loves it. It rarely goes on sale so when it does, grab it!

I got a back up of my holy grail Trilogy cleanser. My bottle is only 1/3 finished, but at 40% off it's worth stocking up on.

The Alpha Keri body scrub is one that I hadn't seen before. I used it over the weekend and it's lovely. It's a sugar scrub so lovely and scrubby, just the way I like my scrubs.

I'm nearly out of serum so picked up the Hylamide SubQ Anti Age and Derma E Liquid Peel. I also purchased a trial pack of Indeed Labs products to trial.

I wanted some eye masks but the only ones I could find were the Collagen Eye Patches. There was only one packet left so I grabbed it.

Hand products have been getting really good reviews, especially their Aging serum. The lady at Priceline told me she swears by it, so I'm interested to see what it's like. 

The last thing I purchased was Lanolips Banana balm which is a gift for a friend.

What did you get from the Priceline sale? If you've blogged about it, please leave the link for me.

Sunday 29 January 2017

Thoughts of the week

1. Last week I had coffee with a friend I haven't seen for around twenty years. After all this time and a whole pile of  life changes, he's still the beautiful soul that I knew and loved when I was a teenager. It's so comforting to know that no matter what happens, life cannot dim the spirit of a beautiful soul.

2. Initially I was nervous about seeing him but after a few minutes it was like we'd only seen each other yesterday. We said goodbye with an agreement to catch up again soon and I felt so happy to have reconnected with him.

3. There's a lot to be said for male friends who are purely that. Friends, nothing more, nothing less.

4. I love this post by Hayley from A Better Kind. 

5. Only a few more days until we're back in the school days rhythm. I hope Chai likes his teacher.

Friday 27 January 2017

FFS Friday - Brutal

For me, the hardest part of parenting by far is having to control myself. It's the most difficult thing I've ever had to do.

Controlling myself when I can't walk away from the situation to compose myself is brutally difficult and something that I really struggle with.

Denying my needs and putting those of my children first is also extremely difficult.

Breaking the habits of the past is another difficult thing.

I've done it before and it's time to do it again. I've decided to stop yelling at my kids.

What prompted this? Last Friday. 

Last Friday I totally lost it and screamed at the boys. I had a huge headache, Eljay had been crying for no reason all day, the boys were fighting constantly and I'd had enough. So I screamed at them. 

I screamed as loud as I could.  

I screamed out all my pain, rage and frustration until I felt better. I felt better but the boys didn't. Funnily enough, Eljay stopped his crying and didn't give a damn that I'd yelled at him. Chai was upset.

I calmed down, apologised to them and moved on. No point beating myself up about it. Accept it, deal with it and move on.
 
It's not okay, it's not acceptable and I'm not going to do it any more. 

I don't like it when they yell at me so why is it okay for me to yell at them? It's not. And it's going to stop. Now. Today. No more yelling.

I won the smacking battle and now it's time to conquer the yelling battle. I can do it. I will do it. I will fail, probably a lot, but I will keep on trying until I don't fail any more. 

I will win this battle because I am determined. 
I will win this battle because I am strong. 
I will win this battle because I want the best for myself and my boys. Yelling at my boys is not being the best that I can be. 
I will do better and be better. 

When I reach the day where I no longer want to yell at them I will know that I have become a better version of me. I'll also be a happier person because yelling at them does not make me feel good. I'm doing it for them and for me.

Wish me luck.

Thursday 26 January 2017

My Favourite Australian Brands


Happy Australia Day everyone! And happy birthday to my brother who doesn't talk to me. 

Today in honour of Australia Day I'm showcasing some of my favourite Australian brands.

Audra James - No favourites post is complete without mentioning Audra James. Her products are custom made and beautiful. If you have yet to experience an Audra product you are missing out!

Lanolips - My Lanolips balms are immediate repurchases for me. I have the whole range, love them all and will never be without them. My favourite of all the flavours is the limited edition Cranberry balm that they released for Christmas 2015. I have my fingers crossed they'll bring it back again this year.

Natralus - By far my favourite paw paw brand, they also have a lovely range of skincare products. Even better, they're stocked at the supermarket and very reasonably priced.

Moonhaven - Moonhaven make the most beautiful range of aromatherapy based soaps and skincare. If you are ever in the South West of Western Australia be sure to visit their store, it's like a fairy wonderland.


What are you favourite Australian products?

Monday 23 January 2017

A new look for Natralus



It's no secret that Natralus is my all time favourite paw paw brand. Actually they're the only paw paw products that I repurchase. I still have a few other brands floating around but once they're gone I won't repurchase.

I also love their skincare products and have converted a lot of my friends and family. My Dad swears by their moisturiser, he uses it to help heal scratches and sores.

Recently Natralus has had a make over, so if you're looking for them and can't find them, don't worry, they're still around they just look different to what you're used to.

Sunday 22 January 2017

Thoughts of the week

1. The Centrelink debt saga is really concerning. My advice for anyone involved who thinks the debt is incorrect is to appeal. You have the right to appeal any decision Centrelink makes, so use that right. There are four levels of appeal so if you appeal once and don't get the correct result, appeal again.

2. In addition to the customers, my thoughts are with the staff. I can only imagine the awful pressure they are under. They'd be copping it from both sides. The customers would be very upset (perfectly understandable) and the bosses would be putting the pressure on too. Added to that is all the additional work that the incorrect debts are causing. 

3. I'm trying to grow an avocado plant from an avocado seed. So far it's not working.

4. I took the boys to Gnomesville this week, it was amazing. The last time I was there they were only on the roundabout, now there are thousands!

5. If you are interested in minimalism this documentary is great.  

Friday 20 January 2017

FFS Friday - Fencegate

The school holidays are nearly over. I am not ready.

I don't want Chai to go back to school. Aside from my worry about how he'll cope with grade one, I also don't want to have to be organised and out of the house by 8.20am every morning. Life is so much easier when he's home. We're happier and more relaxed.

It's my last year with Eljay at home full time. He's going to love school. He'd love to go this year.

 I am so not ready for him to start school.

What the hell am I supposed to do all day? I'll be so bored. I need to get a job or decide what I want to study.


Unfortunately I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I'm 44 this year. I'll figure it out eventually.

I know what I don't want to do but have no idea what I do want to do.

Slightly problematic.

The only thing I can see myself doing is journalism, so that's what I'm leaning towards. I'd really like to work from home doing the hours that I want to do and I think (hope) journalism would allow that. 

I mentioned last week how worried I was about Shelby drowning in the pool. A friend of mine happened to have some spare bricks I could use to put along the bottom of the fence so Shelby couldn't fit under. 

Saturday I took some child labour (my nephews), picked up the bricks and put them along the bottom of the fence. As we were putting the bricks in place Shelby was very suspicious. 

As soon as we'd finished she tried her best to get under the fence but couldn't so she spent a few hours sitting at the fence crying.

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself...until Sunday...when I realised that she can fit in between the bars of the fence. FFS.

Problem not solved. FFS.

Fingers crossed she'll grow a bit more so that it won't be a problem. She's eight months old now so there's still time for her to grow a little. Apparently small dogs stop growing around twelve months. Let's hope she has a growth spurt between now and then. 

Just to be nice, I've saved the best till last. I'm good like that. 

Yesterday I was in the shower when I heard Eljay screaming. 

Not just screaming, that awful screaming they do when they're really hurt where they scream as loud as they can, take a breath and scream again. 
He was doing it non stop so I leapt into super mummy action.

I bolted naked out of the shower, leaving the shower running and the shower door open.

We have tile floors and I was dripping wet so I raced along slipping and sliding like a drunk ice skater to find Eljay, leaving a stream of water in my wake.

I ran through the house for what felt like about two kilometers but was in reality a few meters, searching for Eljay. 

I found him sitting on the loungeroom floor. Shelby (the dog) was happily sitting next to him and Chai was on the couch with his hands over his ears.

At first glance there was no blood and Eljay seemed okay. I slid up to him and asked what was wrong. He stopped screaming long enough to tell me the devastating news.

Chai poked his tongue at him.

Yes, you read that right. Eljay was screaming his lungs out because Chai poked his tongue at him. 

My exact words were:
He poked his tongue at you? You are screaming because he poked his tongue at you? I got out of the shower for this!?

Then I went and got back into the shower. FFS.     

Kids are so much fun.  

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Foundations on rotation


This year I'm all about using things up (as usual). I'm particularly concentrating on using up make-up as it's something that I rarely finish now that I'm not going to work every day.

In an effort to finish my foundations I've pulled out four and I'll use them exclusively until they're gone then add in others as appropriate. I want to get down to four or five favourites that I use and repurchase.

I'm notoriously bad for deciding to finish a product then getting bored with it and swapping it for something else (or ten other things). In order for me to stick to using only the foundations I selected I made sure I had all bases (haha) covered.

I chose a tinted moisturiser, BB, CC and matte foundation. If it was winter I would have chosen a glowy foundation, however in summer I'm all about matte skin.

They're all products that I really like and with the exception of the Rimmel BB I intend to repurchase all of them, so I'm not forcing myself to use something that I don't like. I've tossed or given away all the foundations that I don't like, no point using something I don't want to use.

Are you trying to finish products this year? What's your favourite base product?

Monday 16 January 2017

The one step that makes a huge difference in my brow routine

One thing I always do is my brows. Even if I'm not wearing make-up you can guarantee that my brows are done. 

I've tried all sorts of different brow products but every time I go back to a brow pencil. It's quick, easy and nearly foolproof.
before
In the past I used to apply the brow pencil and that was it, however I've discovered that combing my brows afterwards makes a huge difference. It evens out the colour, softens any parts that look a bit too heavy and just makes my brows look more polished. It's such a simple thing to do but makes a subtle but significant difference.

You can see in the photos that before I brush out my brows the colour looks quite heavy and unnatural, however afterwards it looks like I have naturally awesome brows. Magic.
after
Do you have a magic tip or trick for brows?

Sunday 15 January 2017

Thoughts of the week

1. I believe that most people are essentially good. Last Friday that belief was confirmed twice. Thursday evening a lady posted on one of the local Facebook pages asking if there was someone with a loud motorbike who could come to McDonalds and rev the bike for her son's birthday. I saw the post and hoped that someone would turn up. As I watched the responses to the post grow and grow I knew that he'd have a good turn out. It was more than a good turn out. Around 100 bikes turned up. You can see the footage here

Later that day I was on my way home and saw my neighbour by the side of the road. He was standing next to his mobility scooter. As I was turning around to check if he was okay a young man in a hilux type vehicle stopped next to him. By the time I pulled up the young guy was helping to load the mobility scooter on to the back of his vehicle. The battery had gone flat and my neighbour was stranded. He has trouble walking so wouldn't have been able to get himself home. We all loaded the scooter onto the back of the 4wd and the young guy drove him home. Top bloke.

2. After taking a year off Ed Sheeran is back! He's released two songs so far. I love one and don't like the other one at all. 

3. The boys and I went to the cinema to watch Sing this week, we all loved it. The music was brilliant and there was enough adult humour to make it entertaining for me as well as the boys. Highly recommend.

4. I'm starting the $5 savings challenge. Every time I get a $5 note I'll put it in a money box. I don't use cash very often so I'll be interested to see how much I save. Every little bit counts.

5. This year is the year of paying off debt and getting our finances sorted. I've finally got Tiger on board which means it'll actually happen.  

Friday 13 January 2017

FFS Friday - Under

I've been having lots of problems with Intense Debate over the last few months so uninstalled it.

It didn't warm me that doing so would remove all the comments. Sorry everyone!

I'm hoping that now it'll be easier for people to comment.

I'm also hoping that I won't get a barrage of spam comments like I did before I had Intense Debate. 

Prior to installing Intense Debate I was getting at least 20 spam comments a day. I can only imagine how many the huge blogs get.

We live in the country. Tiger grew up in the country, I grew up in the country. Spiders are a natural part of life when you live in the country. Somehow Tiger has forgotten about that and freaks out every time he sees a spider. Considering there are heaps of spiders around, he freaks out a lot. I swear he'd tell me at least five times a day that he's seen a spider. I'm not sure what he expects me to say. Usually I say nothing. It's a spider FFS, they're everywhere. When I don't react he then tells me the type of spider it is, as if that'll elicit a response. It doesn't. So what if it's a redback or white tail? They're everywhere. Deal with it Tiger!

Shelby is a dog who loves water. She's loved it from when she was tiny. 

She's only a little dog and at eight months old she can still fit under the pool fence. 

When we didn't have a pool blanket it wasn't a huge issue, she'd wander around the pool but not get into it.

Now that it's summer it's a different story. Tuesday we had the pool blanket off and I heard splashing in the pool. 

I looked out the window and saw Shelby happily swimming around. I watched her for five minutes then went to get her out. She swam away from me and it took me another five minutes to get her out.

She knows where the steps are so if she falls in she should be able to get out, provided the pool blanket isn't on.

Wednesday she discovered that she can run across the pool blanket and to her delight she realised that if she sits right near the edge of the pool she sinks a bit so gets all wet.

I can just see her sinking right in and then getting stuck under the blanket. Which is exactly what happened Wednesday afternoon.

We'd all been for a swim (Shelby included) and I was putting the blanket back on the pool.

As soon as Shelby saw the blanket she jumped onto it, but she slipped under the blanket. 

She couldn't get out. Eljay tried to grab her by the collar but missed and she kept on going under and couldn't get out. 

I could see the panic on her face as she kept on sinking under the water. I was on the other side of the pool when it happened. I raced over and tried to grab her out but in her panic she was moving around too much and moved right under the blanket in the middle of the pool.

I ripped my towel and fitbit off and jumped into the pool. I got under the blanket and couldn't see her. 

Thankfully she'd managed to make her way to the other side of the pool but was still stuck under the blanket. I fished her out and thankfully all was well.


Right in the middle of it all Tiger Skyped us so he was listening and trying to figure out WTF was going on. 

This just goes to show that my fears about her drowning in the pool are founded.

When Tiger gets home we're going to put perspex around the bottom of the pool fence so that she can't get in. 

Until then I'll be paranoidly watching her every time she's outside. 

Wednesday 11 January 2017

Balms away


My love of multi-use balms knows no bounds. I'm drowning in them and that's fine by me. As I rotate them regularly I thought it was time I shared the ones that I'm currently using. 

Earth Elements Organics Peppermint Balm - Earth Elements Organics can do no wrong. Their Headache Relieve has been my saving grace the last few months, I don't know what I'd do without it. Since you've all probably had enough of hearing about Headache Relieve, today I'll talk about their Peppermint Balm. It's gorgeous. Whilst I mainly use it as a lip balm it also works well as a light perfume, to ease nausea and to help give me energy when I'm feeling low/tired.

Q Silica Paw Paw Rescue Ointment - I always have a tube of paw paw in my handbag. The few times I've taken it out I've needed it, always the way. Q Silica has been one of my favourites for years now, however it's getting very difficult to find. If you see it in store, grab some, it's a great product.

Natralus Essential Paw Paw Ointment - If I could only use one paw paw brand for the rest of my life it'd be Natralus. Not only is it a brilliant product, it's available at the supermarket so really easy to get hold of. Even better, it also comes in little tubes which are ideal for little hands. Chai keeps a tube in his school bag for when his lips are dry or if he has a scrape.

Vintage Sister's Elbow Grease - The first thing you need to know is that Elbow Grease smells like flowers. Lovely. I use it as a perfume because it smells so good. I also use it on dry skin (elbows, feet etc). I tend not to use it on my lips because don't want floral scented lips. Strange considering I love rose lip balms but this is a different type of floral.

Lanolips 101 Ointment in Cranberry  - This was a limited edition christmas release in 2015 and I love it. Once this tube is finished I only have one left, I'm going to be very sad when I've finished my last tube. I've got my fingers crossed they'll bring it back for christmas this year. 

What are your favourite multi-use balms?

Monday 9 January 2017

The super easy two minute face

After nearly six years of this mothering gig I've got the two minute face down pat. Gone are the days when I could spend half an hour doing my face, now I'm lucky if I get five minutes. Today I'm sharing the products that I use when I have two minutes and what I'll use when I have five minutes.


Rimmel Insta Flawless. Regular readers are probably sick of hearing about Insta Flawless. I love it. It's my HG and I've already repurchased it three times.

It Cosmetics CC+. After all the hype this gets from bloggers I was expecting to be disappointed but I'm not, it's awesome. I love that it has such a high SPF. I usually apply sunscreen underneath, but I like knowing I have some extra protection.

Shu Uemura Hard Brow pencil - My holy grail brow pencil. It lasts forever. I've been using it daily for two years and there is still heaps left.

Becca Beach Tint - I love a subtle wash of colour on my cheeks and the Beach Tints are perfect for that. It also doubles as a light lip stain. 

On days when I'm really busy that's the end of my beauty routine. If I have 30 seconds more I'll add mascara. When I've got the luxury of a few more minutes, I add the following products.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer. I don't know why there isn't more hype about Fit Me concealer, it's amazing. If you didn't like Nars Creamy Radiant concealer, try Fit Me. It's everything I hoped the Nars concealer would be. I fell in love with this as soon as I applied it. It gives opaque coverage with one layer and doesn't crease. 

The Body Shop Eye Colour Stick in Cypress Bronze or Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Grey Pearl. I don't have time for a complicated eyeshadow routine so love the ease of applying a wash of cream eye shadow. Both of these apply easily and don't crease. 

If you haven't tried The Body Shop's new Matte Lip Liquid you need to. I bought one as a gift for a friend then went straight back and bought one for myself. They smell like cake! Even better, they're long lasting and non drying. I'm hoping they release more shades because out of the eight shades they have available there's only one that I'd wear. 

That's it. I miss the days when I could spend ages doing my make-up, but at the same time I enjoy the ease of a parred down routine. 

What are your go to products for a quick face?