Lemon-Free Flutter (DIY cuticle balm)

Want to get that Lemony Flutter goodness on your fingers without having to worry about burning when you hang out in the sun, or do your gels under a UV lamp? Or perhaps you’re allergic to lanolin? Don’t worry, I got you covered – here’s a really simple recipe for Lemon-Free Flutter that has the main good bits of Lush’s …

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Crop Natural Skincare review

Crop Natural Skincare is a new brand hitting the shelves at Coles in Australia. I’m usually very skeptical when it comes to “natural” skincare lines – I firmly believe in the benefits of things like mineral oil and petroleum jelly and preservatives, and hate when brands try to upsell consumers by scaremongering about “chemicals” – but this brand has won …

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Low-Key Lip Products: Hurraw! and Luk Beautifood reviews

I didn’t take any fun lipsticks with me to Europe because my boyfriend stupidly refuses to kiss me on the lips if I’m wearing colour – even if I’m wearing a lip stain, he wipes his lips for a full five seconds afterwards. So instead, I’ve been using lip balms and tinted lip colour for this trip. In my last …

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Fact-check: “Solvent-Free” Nail Polish Removers

For years, we’ve been using just 2 solvents, ethyl acetate and acetone, to remove nail polish. But recently a whole host of new removers containing neither of those have made their way onto the market – what are they, and are they worth a shot? Are they really solvent-free? No. Anything that dissolves something else up is a solvent – …

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Make Your Own Soap! Part 2: Let’s Make Some Soap!

It’s the second part of my soap making post! Last time we looked at the chemistry behind soap making (also called saponification) – today we’re looking at how to actually make a bar of soap, using ingredients from the supermarket. Related Post: Make Your Own Soap! Part 1: The Chemistry Behind Soap Making From the previous chemistry post, we know that …

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Make Your Own Soap! Part 1: The Chemistry Behind Soap Making

In the middle of teaching some high school students about the chemistry of soap-making, I realised that I really, really wanted to try making some soap myself and write about it here. My write-up ended up being really long, so I’ve made it a two-parter – Installment 1 is all about the chemistry, and Installment 2 is about the actual …

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Fact-check: Can you remove nail polish with vinegar and lemon juice?

In one of the nail polish enthusiast groups I’m in, this article was recently brought to my attention. In summary, it says that if you’ve run out of nail polish remover, don’t worry! You can easily remove your polish by first soaking your nails in warm water for 10 minutes, then soaking cotton balls in a mixture of equal parts …

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Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay and apple cider vinegar – a tale of pH

Apple cider vinegar and Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay are two budget-friendly, cult status beauty products that work beautifully together. Why are they such perfect partners? Well… it’s got something to do with the magic known as pH. What is pH? pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity – the amount of hydrogen ions (H+) in something. It’s a …

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