Lush Friends With Benefits Massage Bar

My boyfriend isn’t usually interested in trying out beauty products… except this. He is an utter FIEND for massages and tickles (I think it’s mainly the undivided attention). I prefer the “dig your elbow into my back and leave it” school of massage, but he’s all about the touchy-feely. (I’ve been trying in vain to get him out of the …

Read more

What’s wrong with SLS?

(Photo credit: Steve Ford Elliott) Lots of personal care products proudly say they’re “SLS-free”. What was wrong with it in the first place? Sodium lauryl sulfate (also known as sodium dodecyl sulfate, or sodium coco-sulfate) is found in many personal care products, such as shampoo, toothpaste . It looks like this: It has an oil-soluble “tail” (on the left) and …

Read more

Artsy Wednesday: Matte and Glossy

Today’s Artsy Wednesday theme is Matte and Glossy Combined. This is what I did: The base is Ciate Paparazzi, another English polish that ilexica sent me. On its own it’s a deliciously vampy blood red translucent creme that looks like a blood bag, but when I matted it with Rimmel Lycra Pro Mattifying Topcoat, it looked like chocolate… yum! I …

Read more

Is it ok to add nail polish remover to your nail polish?

I’m sure many of us polishaholics have often come across a gluggy old bottle of polish and wanted to pour a whole bottle of remover in. But does it ruin your polish? Unfortunately, there’s no easy yes or no – the incredibly unsatisfying answer is: it depends. It depends on 2 things: the type of nail polish remover and the …

Read more

Artsy Wednesday: Inspired by Music

Hurray, another Artsy Wednesday! I have so much fun designing and painting my nails for AW every Wednesday, and seeing what everyone else came up with 🙂 This week the theme is inspired by music. My nails are inspired by Die Antwoord, a South African “rap-rave” group who are an incredible mix of hilarity, sex and politics. They’re a bit …

Read more

Sukin Certified 100% Organic Rose Hip Oil

Sukin is an Australian cosmetics company who pride themselves on delivering effective natural skincare products to women at budget-friendly prices. I think this is a very worthy cause, since so many companies seem to assume that using “natural” in their marketing automatically justifies jacking up their prices! Additionally – and this is the clincher for me – Sukin are 100% …

Read more

NOTD: Models Own Indian Ocean, plus stamping and matte

I’ve been on a Low Buy July – I was going to do a No Buy July, but failed spectacularly when I bumped into Revlon Grape Fizz on sale at Myer on July 1st. Glass flecked grape scented nails? Sign me up please! Other than that, I’ve been doing quite well. So far I’ve only bought 6 bottles of polish… …

Read more

Does skin need to breathe?

In short, for humans who are not premature babies, the answer is “no“. Not in the traditional sense of taking in oxygen for the rest of your body, anyway. Your skin’s essential function is to prevent things from the environment from entering your body, and things you need (e.g. water) from leaving the body. It’s very good at its job! …

Read more