NOTD: Summer stripes, and Nail Polish Tag

We’ve had a few nice days of summer here, so getting into the spirit of things, I did a summery, stripey manicure. The stripes were painted on freehand with an eyeliner brush – even though it was a bit bumpy at first, a healthy coat of Seche Vite smoothed things out. <3 Seche Vite!     Purple – franken Green …

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Lab Muffin Guide: What’s in a moisturiser?

(Roger McLassus) We all know what a moisturiser does (it moisturises, duh!) – but what exactly goes in one, and how does it work? Skin dryness is, quite simply,  when your skin loses too much water (the technical term is transepidermal water loss, or TEWL). Moisturisers are used to slow water evaporating, and restore the original soft texture and look …

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Science bonus: Hair repair!

Yesterday, big name cosmetic science blog The Beauty Brains answered my question on which hair products actually repair (rather than just protect) your damaged hair! Check it out here.

Vitamin C – what does it do for your skin?

  (AndrĂ© Karwath/Aka) There are a lot of things that are supposed to be good for your skin. Today I’m looking at one that is in a lot of anti-ageing products, and has rave reviews on Makeupalley – vitamin C. Vitamin C (aka L-ascorbic acid) is essential in your diet – it has a lot of roles in the functioning …

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Review: Crabtree & Evelyn India Hicks Island Living Spider Lily Body Cream

SummaryMoisturising components – shea butter, avocado butter, mango seed oil, olive oil, grapeseed oilEffectiveness – a little goes a long way!Scent – “tropical green citrus”Packaging – lovely, heavy, durable containerPrice – $0.23/g This product has a mouthful of a name! It’s my favourite “indulgence” beauty product. And yes, it does great things for your cuticles too! I received this for …

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What the Hell Is pH?

Lab Muffin Guide: What the hell is pH?

One thing that a lot of cosmetic companies have recently been incorporating into their marketing talk is the concept of pH and pH balance. Yay science! But what does it all mean? Here’s a quick rundown on the science of pH, acids and bases, and what that means for your skincare products. What is pH? pH is a measure of …

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Interesting hair facts

10 facts about hair you mightn’t have known:1. Hair and nails are both mainly made of a type of protein called keratin, which contains a lot of an amino acid called cysteine. All this cysteine is one of the main reasons why keratin is so strong. There is also a lot of keratin in skin.2. Cysteine is also why you …

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Bridesmaid nail polish frankens

For my friend’s wedding the bridesmaids are wearing medium grey satin dresses with nude shoes and dusty pink roses. I’ve been frankening some possible nail colours for us – we have very different skin tones which makes it a bit difficult, but we’ve agreed on soft pink.  These were all made by combining ulta3 Sizzling Red (only a few drops, …

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