The Science of Laser Skin Treatments and Picosure Review (with video)

August 12, 2022

This video was sponsored by Cynosure, although this post was not. Lasers! You can use them to cut things, you can use them to point at words, and you can use them to treat about a million different skin-related things. These are just the ones I found on the AAD website: Birthmarks, melasma, hyperpigmentation, freckles, acne, rosacea, psoriasis, wrinkles, fine …

Microcurrent Devices: Science and Foreo Bear Review

November 18, 2021November 21, 2020

This video is sponsored by Foreo. Microcurrent devices are handheld electronic gadgets that have two metal spheres on them. There are lots of claims about how they tone and contour your face, so here’s the science behind microcurrent, how to use a microcurrent device and the results I’ve gotten after using the Foreo Bear on the right side of my …

My Flotation Tank Experience

October 6, 2019

One of my work friends is a full on float tank addict. Hugh has been going for floats several times a week and raving about how amazing it is to everyone who’ll listen, so after a few weeks of listening to him go on (and on and on), I finally went for a float myself. What is a float tank? …

Resistance to Botox: What It Is and How to Avoid It

September 26, 2019

Botulinum toxin (commonly called Botox, although that’s actually a specific brand) injections have been rising as a minimally invasive treatment for wrinkles. They’re quick, relatively painless and have almost no recovery time, and if you have an experienced injector the results look very natural. Since they stop muscle movement, botox injections can also be used to prevent future wrinkles. I’ve …

My Asian Hair Bleaching Experience (Video)

November 18, 2021October 25, 2018

Today’s video is about my hair bleaching experience, back in July! A bit of background: The last time I had my hair coloured in a salon was in 2009. Those were the days before Olaplex, when hairdressers would just look at my coarse black Asian hair and shake their heads sadly. When I say coarse, I mean my hair should …

Sydney Day Spa Review: Langham Hotel

August 15, 2018

The Day Spa by Chuan at the Langham Hotel: Spa Socialising Review

For my birthday I indulged in a Spa Socialising package with my best friends at The Day Spa by Chuan, situated in the Langham Hotel in Sydney. It’s a spa that’s regularly ranked as one of the best luxury spas in Sydney, so I was pretty excited! All three of us have full time jobs, and one has a toddler and the other is a doctor with an irregular timetable, so it took a while for us to find a time that worked for everyone, and a day spa in Sydney with a package we wanted. We were willing to splurge a bit more for this since it replaced a weekend away that we were originally planning, which meant we were saving a bunch on fuel and accommodation.

The Langham Hotel is situated a short walk away from Wynyard or Circular Quay station in Sydney’s CBD, near The Rocks and Barangaroo. We chose the Spa Socialising Afternoon Serenity package, which worked out to be $250 per person on a Saturday ($235 on weekdays). It includes your choice of an Ultimate Aromatherapy Massage or Babor Spa Facial (1 hour), followed by an Afternoon Tea with Wedgwood with a glass of champagne. You can also relax before and after with the hotel’s gym and swimming pool facilities (includes a jacuzzi and steam room). They have a no-rush policy so you don’t have to feel awkward about hanging out for too long!

Semi-Permanent Eyeliner Tattooing: My Experience and Review

September 5, 2018January 3, 2018

I recently had semi-permanent eyeliner tattooed onto my eyes. I’d already done botox in my masseters, IPL on my broken capillaries and microblading my brows, so this just seemed like the next step in my painful human guinea pig adventures!

I was a little nervous for a couple of reasons:

Tattooing your eyelids is REALLY FREAKING CLOSE to your eyeballs, and would be much harder to ignore than for microblading my brows, where I just lay back and tried to zen out.

Doing my brows from scratch takes me a good 15 minutes, and I could never get them as good as Leona’s microbladed brows (which I am still loving). But eyeliner only takes me 20 seconds and I’m quite particular about how it’s done, so the payoff wouldn’t be that great.

I’ve seen permanent eyeliner tattoos fade into blue-green tones which look really unflattering. Semi-permanent eyeliner is implanted more shallowly, so this shouldn’t be a problem… but still.

But curiosity got the better of me, so I volunteered for it anyway. What’s the worst that could happen? I could surely hide it with more eyeliner for the next 2-4 years until it faded!

The Semi-Permanent Eyeliner Tattooing Process

Rita Porreca, the director of Sydney Permanent Make-Up Centre in Five Dock, was my semi-permanent make-up artist. She’s been doing permanent make-up since the 1980s, so I knew I was in experienced hands.

After filling in the release and medical history forms, she took some “before” photos of my eyes, then applied some gel eyeliner on me so we could work out what I wanted.

Semi-permanent eyeliner is quite sharply defined while I usually go for a smudged pencil line, but we came up with a thicker line than most people opt for, which I was quite happy with. Since I like my eyes to look bigger, I opted for just the upper lid line, though many people like to tightline their bottom lid as well.

Next, Rita told me about the two instruments that she uses for permanent eyeliner: a cosmetic pen which was a bit slower but also a bit quieter, and a tattoo gun that was about twice as fast but louder and shakier. We opted for the quick option.

She then applied the numbing cream on my eyes and left me to lie back and contemplate my poor life choices while it sank in.

7 Beauty Trends to Look Out For in 2018

July 22, 2018November 29, 2017

2017 is almost over. In beauty, we’ve seen the continued rise of glowing skin, the slow death of contouring, and the huge success of multistep skincare routines and anti-aging products. What’s coming next? Here are some beauty trends to look out for in 2018:

Ingredient-conscious advertising

Consumers are getting more knowledgeable about the specific ingredients in products, so expect to see more ingredient-focused marketing and labelling. You’ll see ingredients like hyaluronic acid, retinoids and alpha hydroxy acids featured front and centre in advertising. As always, natural ingredients will still be popular, but expect to see a bigger focus on locally-sourced and sustainable ingredients too. You’ll continue to see the list of “XXX-free” products grow as well.

Environmentally friendly packaging

There’s been more focus on being environmentally friendly in the beauty industry. As well as products with eco-friendly ingredients, there’s been a consumer-led push for products with packaging designed with environmental conservation in mind as well. Expect to see more materials like Surlyn, a clear resin that require less energy to produce from the raw materials than more common packaging like PET. Containers produced from sustainable natural materials like bamboo and bulrush fibres will also be making their way into stores.