Archive for May, 2010

May 31, 2010

Guest Blog: Winter Beauty Essentials – Kate from Adore Beauty

Our second guest post regarding beauty experts and their winter beauty essentials comes from Kate – founder of the amazing Australian online beauty store Adore Beauty.

Winter Beauty Essentials – Kate from Adore Beauty

Winter for me means three months of fighting dehydrated skin. I love my central heating, but goodness, it really does dry out my face! My three winter must-haves include:

01: Skinceuticals Retexturing Activator – what a godsend. This serum is super hydrating AND exfoliating, so it’s the best for getting rid of winter flakies.

02: Aesop Geranium Leaf Hydrating Body Treatment – I love using this on damp skin, just after turning off the shower. That way I can moisturise from neck to toe without having to leave the nice steamy shower cubicle.

03: Benefit Benetint – this berry tint on my cheeks gives me that gorgeous snow-bunny flush. Which is handy, because I don’t ski, so there’s no other way of getting it!

My winter tradition is badgering my partner to cook me his famous Cheesy Triangle Hotpot. It’s a delicious thick rich spicy vegetarian casserole, baked in the oven with cheesy triangle scone-like dumplings on top. Trust me, on a chilly Melbourne winter night, it’s the best thing you’ll ever eat. Particularly with a nice glass of Heathcote shiraz!

May 30, 2010

Mood Inspiration

image source: thefashionspot

May 30, 2010

Product Review: Clarins Everlasting Foundation

Clarins recently released a new product – the Everlasting Foundation, a long-lasting foundation that is designed to “stay true” for 15 hours. “The High Fidelity System, an invisible microfilm that ensures even coverage and 15 hours of flawless hold. The Light Optimising complex captures, diffuses and amplifies light. Both ensure a radiant and flawless complexion.” Sounds pretty good, huh. Well I was lucky enough to be sent a bottle for trial and review, so here we go…

What is great about this product…

I will start, as I so often do, with the scent of the product. Clarins products have a history (at least in my opinion) of smelling amazing, and the Everlasting Foundation is no exception. It has a less rosy smell than it’s counterparts, and has a rather distinct fruity “melon” scent. It’s very pleasant, and not overpowering. The foundation is rich and creamy, and gives medium to full coverage – depending on how much product you’re applying. And the foundation lasts. Initially the foundation gives a sort of matte finish, but the natural radiance of your skin tends to blend through. I have combination oily skin, and after applying this foundation in the morning and going about my busy Saturday as per usual, I came home in the evening to see that I still looked quite well put together! My face had a nice “glow” about it (not oily, more of a radiant look), and I still had decent foundation coverage. Also, SPF in foundation is always a bonus.

What is not so great about this product…

If you are super pale faced like me and live in Australia, you will be unhappy to know that at this stage we are not carrying the entire line of foundation shades. Which means that the lightest colours in the line are not available for purchase. I trialled the lightest shade available -’Ivory’ which was probably 1 – 1 1/2 shades too dark for my complexion. This is not unusual in Australia though, for some reason a lot of brands seem to leave the lightest or two lightest shades off of the stock list. Aside from that issue, which is not going to be a problem for everyone – I couldn’t see anything wrong with this product.

The Clarins Everlasting Foundation retails for $65 AUD and can be purchased online from Adore Beauty

May 29, 2010

The List 2010 – #3 Progress Update

The third item on my list of things to achieve in 2010 was to “learn to cook 5 beautiful dishes”. I have become a bit of a cookbook addict as of late, in particular the cheap and cheerful Woman’s Weekly cookbooks that I find at the newsagent near my work. (I think these are available in almost every newsagent, but mine seems to stock the entire range. Dangerous!) At this stage, I have settled on 2 definite recipes that I believe I have perfected, and will cook time and time again. The first was the Chilli Con Carne that I recently posted the recipe for. This was so simple to make, doesn’t cost a lot as far as ingredients and time are concerned, and is the perfect dish to make in large amounts to freeze and store for a later date. I will be making my second batch tomorrow, and will continue the newly appointed Sunday night tradition of eating chilli and watching Dr Who. The second recipe is for Tollhouse Cookies that I found in my 500 Cookies recipe book. I will be sure to share the recipe sometime soon, as these are absolutely amazing. I have been browsing through my new cookbooks and have some possible recipe options to try out soon. They are: cuban black bean soup, spaghetti with chilli & leek, cinnamon scrolls with marscepone drizzle and white chocolate fudge bars. If they turn out to be any good, I’ll be sure to share the recipe!

image source: weheartit
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May 28, 2010

My Desk…

Inspired by the beautiful Laura of Life.Beauty.Laughter I decided to get up and take a quick happy-snap of my working desk to share with you all. I have not tidied up at all, this picture is my desk exactly as it stands right now…

* click for bigger

Kind of disorganised, but it’s the end of the week and I will do my big tidy-up during the weekend as I always do… So! Things on my desk right now:

01: My computer. It’s a HP touch screen all-in-one computer that I love. I do miss my laptop (it died on me recently) but this has been a wonderful replacement.

02: Antique ‘sparrow’ candle holder. (the odd looking thing to the side of the computer) I bought this in an antique store in downtown Phoenixville during my trip to the states last year. It’s probably an outdoor item but I think it’s so sweet I like to keep it on my desk. I should really find a tea candle to put inside at some stage…

03: My pretty IKEA lamp. I don’t know if this style is still available for purchase (I couldn’t see it on the site) but I fell in love with it because it reminded me of something Charlotte from SATC would have in her apartment. Ha, I’m so lame.

04: 750ml Pump water bottle. I always have a bottle of water on hand. I prefer the pump water bottles because of the pop-top. I don’t know why, but I find it easier to drink more water out of these than the regular screw-top bottles.

05: Kikki K Notebook. I write lists for practically everything. This book contains a lot of those lists. I like to keep track of things I might want to blog about, products I need to review, bills I need to pay etc – all of that goes into this notebook.

06: Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream. I was sent this product to review and have kept it on my desk for nightly use. I love it, and will post about it soon!

07: Manicare All-In-One & Essie Angora Cardi Nail Polish. I painted my nails on Wednesday evening (you all need Essie Angora Cardi btw – a friend of mine sent me a bottle as a gift, and it is perfection) and still have the bottles lying around.

08: Kikki K To Do List. I update this every weekend with the things I need to remember to do. Exciting things like “run fish filter” and “grocery shopping”. Do not envy my glamourous life.

09: Half completed grocery shopping list. I have a terrible memory (in fact I just thought of something to write on this list but have since forgotten…) and writing a grocery list is necessary for me to remember everything I need to buy for the week.

10: My engagement ring. I try not to wear this at night incase I give myself or Mr B a black eye by accident.

11: 45 cents. I clean my wallet out of all of the silver coins at the end of the week and put them into a big container to eventually take to the bank. I have only ever gone to the bank to complete this process once in my 25 years. I have a lot of silver coins stored for a rainy day!

12: Kikki K Love Heart Post It. I only have one left! Eek! Lucky I have a replacement pad in my storage box…

13: 2 loose leaf tea canisters. I picked these up at a tea party a friend of mine had to launch her friend’s organic tea range. They both have original blend loose leaf organic herbal tea inside.

14: Kikki K Accordian Expandable Filing Folder. For storing monthly bills and various important documentation.

15: Gogol Bordello Non Stop DVD. I bought this recently and have watched it, but need to take some screencaps for a Pamela Racine site that I set up and run for a friend.

16: Kikki K Proof Of Purchase Receipts Book. I like to keep track of what I spend my “shopping allowance” on every fortnight – and I do so in this handy little book!

17: Vitamins! I take Cod Liver Oil (with vitamins a&d), Zinc Formula and Vitamin E every night. Keeping them on my desk helps me to remember to take them.

18: Yet another Kikki K To Do List. This one is smaller and is in sticky note form. I use these throughout the week to remember things I need to do at work or around the house when I get home.

19: Kikki K Pen Holder full of various things including: abraham lincoln bookmark (purchased from the lincoln memorial store in washington), tiny bamboo hand-painted bookmark (gift from my best friend from her travels through japan), kikki k magnetised pegs, various pens, yellow and green highlighers & a paul and joe kitten nail file.

20: Kikki K Storage Box full of various things including: paper documents for filing, press releases for products I am yet to review, age of empires 3 PC game (nerd alert!), replacement kikki k to do list pad, blank kikki k notebook, replacement kikki k love heart post its, blank CDs, organic loose-leaf tea packets (so I can remember what tea I’m drinking), receipts for filing.

21: Some random things… A Sweet Valley High TV Series DVD (loose), Woman’s Weekly Chilli Con Carne Recipe Printout, $20 Sussan Gift Card & a pump water bottle cap.

How exciting! If you’re curious you can click the numbers next to the item in question and see some individual pictures I’ve taken with my iphone. So – what’s on your desk??

May 28, 2010

Newsflash: Marcel NARSissistic Tip #4

Marcel Says: “Matte skin always looks beautiful and clean. After foundation, apply a translucent loose powder with a powder puff and buff away any excess with a large, soft brush. This will create a luminous, satin finish rather than a dry, powdery surface.”

Stay tuned for more from Marcel! In the meantime, don’t forget that you can shop the NARS range internationally at the NARS website, or at Mecca Cosmetica for readers from Australia.

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