To firm or not to firm?

Hey hey hey,

I must begin by apologising for the delay in my second post, I quite literally created such a monumentously gigantic hairspray-filled up-do on the weekend that my hands have been stuck in it for days rendering me completely incapable of writing this to you all. No not really, I kid. But I did in fact crack out the old hairspray on the weekend as I was feeling a tad disillusioned by the noticable lack of opportunity there is to get dressed-up and made-up and quiffed-up here in Keith (unless walking around with liquid eyeliner and high heels whilst doing the vacuuming is your thing - which, if it is, all the more power to you), so I thought to myself 'what the hell' and I had a bit of a dolling-up session for a quiet dinner at home with my lovely bf on Saturday night - very nice.

So, anyway, enough about me - how are you?

What I actually wanted to chat about today was this little firming moisturiser and scrub combo from Garnier (bodytonic sugar scrub ($11.99) and bodytonic toning and firming moisturising lotion ($8.99) - with seaweed extract nonetheless) that I have been using for a bit over a month now but am still not quite convinced how I feel about it.

The scrub is ok, actually it's pretty good - it makes my skin all soft and smooth and stuff - it's just that it doesn't really live up to the Ulittlebeauty A Bit of Rough Salt Scrub ($19.95 - but I got it on sale from DJ's) that I was using before it. Which, although it was a bit of a mess to handle as it was in this jar that I didn't really know where to put in the shower and always ended up getting all water in it, I loved it because it made my skin feel wonderful with coffee, macadamia oil, jojoba oil and all manner of lovely things in it which always gave my skin a nice bit of pep. So compared to that, the Garnier scrub was just a bit too artificial feeling and not as peppy - if that makes any sense at all - on the plus side however, it was much easier to handle being in a tubey bottle.

The bodytonic toning & firming moisturising lotion also posed to me a conundrum - causing me to furrow my brow in a very unflattering and wrinkle inducing manner - as it promised me that it would have a firming effect in 7 days and it really kinda did. The only thing was that it wasn't really all that moisture-y and felt a bit like I was rubbing some kind of liquid plastic into my skin. That said, my skin was not dry and it was noticabley firmer, and looking at it from the position of just having finished my first bottle and having previously tried firming lotions such as Nivea's Q10 plus firming body lotion ($6.50 - but I'm pretty sure I got it at Chemist Warehouse for under $5)

which, although it is an absolute gem for the price, wasn't even comparatively as firming as this moisturiser - I'd definitely try this baby again! I might just need to save my pennies and treat my skin to a bit of KORA Organics Organic Rich Body Lotion ($44.95) before giving the Garnier another go however, as too much plasticy feeling stuff all in one go can't be very good for you.

xoxo

Inaugural Post: blue fingers, pink toes

Howdy y'all,

Thank you immensely for tuning into my blog, it's just a little ditty I thought I might start writing in order to document my move from the big smoke of Adelaide to the noticablely littler smoke of Keith in South Australia's South East - a small puff to Adelaide's big smelter, if you will. I must confess I have a possibly unhealthy obsession with all things beauty-related, so I thought I might confide in this blog all of the products I love, love not so much, and the ones that make me sad and angry and disappointed because I had such high hopes for them (you know who you are Biotherm). So I hope you enjoy it, and that I don't come off to preachy, and that a lot of well-moisturised, well-manicured, and well-quiffed fun is had by all.

I thought I might begin by telling you about an illness I came down with about this time last week called 'omg I live 2 hours from the nearest Priceline and so now when I encounter one I go absolutely mental and buy up many many fabulous things that I love but really don't need-itis'. It's a heart-breaking disease, and in myself manifested itself thus:

Well, truth be told I also encountered a Target and thus the amazing polishes that have had me walking around for a week looking like multi-coloured Barbie are Rimmel London's Blue My Mind ($7.95) from the 60 seconds range:

b collection by Bloom for Target's Tokyo ($15.95):

And pulling it all together was the amazing Sally Hansen's Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat ($12.99):

From a technical perspective, the Rimmel polish has some kind of new crazy flat-ish brush that I had never seen before, which did kind of make it easier to put on but as I am a bit of an uncoordinated wonder I found that twiseling the brush around so that the flat bit of the brush was facing my nail was a bit of a nightmare (I'm sure less coordinationally challenged people would find it very easy to use, however). The colour of Blue My Mind was a bit more purpley than expected and on closer inspection I'm not sure it looked very nice against my skin tone, but I had fun wearing it none the less.

The Bloom polish was one of my biggest revelations, the consistency, the colour, and the ease of application were all fantastic. I rarely ever apply nail polish without going outside the nail (uncoordinated as charged) but with this it was an absolute breeze. I think I may have to sneak back into Target whenever I'm next near it and buy the whole collection as this polish is absolutely amazing!

And last but not least, Sally Hansen, you're my hero. I've never had a base & top coat (cheeky little two-in-oner) that allowed me to forget about having to re-touch chips in my nail polish for an entire week! I applyed these babies last Tuesday night and only last night did one of my fingers chip - AMAZING. I've also tried the other Sally Hansen top & base coat in the silver bottle (Diamond Strength Diamond Shine Base & Top Coat) as well as OPI top and base coats, but this one absolutely rocks my socks right off.

Till we meet again.
xoxo