Another Weekend Wrap Up

Ahhhh so I didn't manage to post anything since last weekends wrap up. My bad. Here is a wrap up of this weekend. 

I wore : 

Anthropologie striped maxi dress with asymmetrical top. I am into maxi dress' in a big way at the moment, I like simple colours and absolutely NO halter necks myself. So comfy and easy to wear.

I drank:

A truck load of cider and too many vodka sodas. Loving it. 

I went:

Out for drinks with my girlfriends for some pre-birthday celebrations, damn you mid week birthday!

Was so looking forward to downing a few million mojitos but the place RAN OUT OF ICE. No thank you I don't think I will be waiting 20 minutes for my drink, give me a Strongbow ( poor substitute by the way.....).

Our table number is my soon to be age, damn this past year has gone quickly.

I burnt:

Glasshouse Coconut & Lychee candle. So summery, so good. A big thank you to my gorgeous bestie for gifting this to me!

I hated:

The fact that my skin is getting it's freak on and has morphed into a itchy mess! WAH! WAHHH I SAY! 

My mum is sooooo nice and brought me a bodywash from Lush to try help, thanks ma!

All up it was pretty good as far as weekends go!

Thanks for all your good wishes last week, am pleased to say I did pass my exams! YAY! YAYAYAAY! Although they did sent the results to my house early so I was convinced it was a letter of failure and spent a good two minutes having a nervous breakdown before I opened it :/ :/

This week: re-enrolling for uni, my birthday, boy toy taking me out for a super nice dinner on Friday!!

Something New...

I tried my hand at a short video today, be the first to witness the awkwardness of learning to speak to yourself in a empty room! Ha!

I thought I'd talk quickly about some things I am planning on carrying with me on the plane when I head overseas in two weeks. 

Hmm......way to show a weird place in the video YouTube!

Perhaps I'll be brave enough to attempt another video soon, let me know what you think!

I'm going out for tapas now, YUMMM! xx

Antipodes

Antipodes is a brand that is currently on my skin care radar. I've heard of it before but have never really paid attention until I had a chance to browse through Myer recently and it caught my eye. 

Antipodes is a New Zealand brand based on natural botanical ingredients with the added benefit of being certified organic. 

Let me just say, every single thing I tested smelt DIVINE!

Here are a few things I was especially fond of and quite possibly need in my life!

Avocado Pear Nourishing Night Cream  AU $56.00

A lovely rich and buttery cream featuring 100% pure avocado oil. I can just imagine slathering this on of a night time and waking up with beautifully soft skin.

Aura Manuka Honey Mask AU $51.00

This mask features natural manuka honey and is to be used as an intense moisture mask.  I imagine that  you could achieve similar results using plain old manuka honey on it's own but you wouldn't have the added bonus of more avocado oil, vanilla pod and mandarin would you?

Vanilla Pod Hydrating Day Cream AU $52.00

This smelt amazing, though I am a sucker for anything vanilla! Not too heavy, but not too light in texture either, just how I like my daily moisturisers. 

I am lusting badly. 

Have you tried any Antipodes products? If you have, hit me with your recommendations!

Cheap Tricks

Thought I would do a quick post on some cheap little products that have helped make a marginal difference with my skin lately. 

First up, Vitamin E oil!

The skin under my eyes is shocking. Apart from the dark under eyes that was I was born cursed with, the skin around that area tends to get quite dry in winter and no amount of moistuiser seems to help much. As a result even thinking of applying concealer is a disaster as it settles into fine lines and looks awful. I've taken to applying some of this oil around the eye area ( not too close to eyes) each evening after cleansing/moisturising and have been waking up with noticeably plumped up and smoothed out skin. Winner!

Tea Tree Oil is my second cheap trick that's been helping out. As my skin type is quite oily and I am prone to blemishes I have been dabbing a bit of tea tree oil on spots at night and it has helped dry them up quicker. I would compare this to using benzac however I find that while it dries out spots it doesn't make my skin nearly as flaky as benzac tends to. 

Every now and then I steam my face before applying Dermalogica's Gentle Cream Exfoliant and I now add a few drops of this oil to the hot water for it's antiseptic properties.

So there you have it, sometimes it is the simple things that do the trick! Do you have any cheap tricks that work for you, I'd love to hear them!

Kosmea Rose Hip Oil

Thought I would write up a quick review of Kosmea's Rose Hip Oil as I have been using it for a while now. 

I first read about RHO a few years ago now, probably something that Zoe Foster had written, touted as the secret for soft, glowing and hydrated skin. I have read that many people get fantastic results using RHO but I have to say that like most things that seem to work miracles for others ( asprin masks, microfibre clothes, Dermalogica , basically everything!), this works just OK for me. 

It seems that some weeks I can use this without experiencing breakouts, whilst other weeks causes a disaster zone! I have taken to using a small amount mainly around my eye area and tops of my cheeks which don't seem to be as sensitive as my forehead and jaw. 

What I do like about it is that is does give a soft feel to the skin, and it does give a boost of moisture especially in winter when it can feel like a lotion is not enough. 

RHO does have a peculiar smell but I am pleased to say that this brand in particular is not as noticeable as the Triology RHO I have also tried. 

It comes is a small bottle with a dropper so it doesn't get too messy. 

Overall, I could probably live without this product, as I said it doesn't always agree with me, but it is definitely reached for when my skin needs a bit of a boost.

Have you tried RHO? Did it work for you? Have you had success with a miracle product?!

Bad Skin Month

I do apologise for my lack of posts lately! As the title of this post would suggest, I have been having a total bad skin month ( well more than a month now I think about it). Due to my current despair over my terrible skin I haven't been too interested in my beauty routine and haven't really tried any new products to review for ya'll. 

It all started with an annoying and stubborn dry patch on the left side of my forehead. No amount of exfoliating, moisturising, face masks etc would see it vacate the premises. 

I had area about the oil cleansing method online and decided to give it a go. If you haven't heard of the oil cleansing method, it is basically a form of facial cleansing using oils which in theory will dissolve hardened impurities in your pores without stripping your face of it's natural oils.  So off I went, all enthusiastic and brought some castor and grapeseed oil to give this method a try. 

At first I LOVED it. My face felt really soft , clean and moisturised! Sure it took longer, but it seemed worth the effort. After a few days that dry patch was gone....... and a few days after that all hell broke loose. 

Long story short, I ended up with an entire forehead of bumps, have had pimples coming up on one side of my jaw and a few on my cheeks, terrible congestion, which has left me with quite a bit of pigmentation. 

I gave up on the OCM after about two weeks of persistence in the hopes it would all pay off as I had read great things about it. My forehead has settled down significantly but is still a terrible sight, as its my jaw which I have never had problems with. 

To sum up my feelings towards my skin at the moment....

But hey, I don't know why I should worry so much. I mean it's not like my face is the first thing people who talk to me notice of anything, RIGHT, RIGHT?!?

Does anyone else find that when they read about some sort of miracle/rave product , they are the only person who it DOESN'T work for? Story of my life!

February Empties

In the spirit of attempting to use up my hoard of products I am pleased to say I finished up a few things last month!

Nivea Intense Moisturising Lotion - a good every day lotion that I have repurchased many times.

KMS Add Volume Root and Body Lift, gave a little lift but nothing special.

L'Oreal Rejuvintating Anti-Wrinkle Concentrate - something I was sent to review by Primped. Don't have any wrinkles but I used it around my eyes so my makeup would go on smoother.

Clairns HydraQuench Intensive Serum Bi-Phase -must have received this as part of a GWP. Added moisture to my skin and now I'm thinking I'd like to add a serum to my skincare routine.

Lush Flying Fox Shower Gel - smells so yum! Will get this again along the line.

Bastise Dry Shampoo -standard.

Redken All Soft Heavy Cream- my go to hair treatment when my hair has had enough!

Rimmel Sun Shimmer Bronzer -my all time favourite matte bronzer. I dropped this baby, it shattered and the lid eventually broke but I still used it to the very end. Will be getting this again for sore. Now that I think about it this is probably the first powder product I have ever finished!

Now to see what I can get through in March! Body/skincare/haircare products are easy to use up, but I find makeup is a lot harder.