LiLash Review With Pics!

http://www.lilash.com/index.php

LiLash is an eyelash growth stimulating serum applied once daily, containing the fairly-controversial prostaglandin derivative ingredient (as in Latisse) originally used for prescription-only glaucoma medication. Yep, it's a bit nuts to be sticking this on or around your eyes, but people do worse.

I have been using this for 6 weeks now. The website says to use LiLash once daily for 8-12 weeks then twice weekly for 'maintenance'. I will do a follow-up review in 2 weeks and then again in 6 weeks, using it once daily until then. I feel like I should be able to have seen some change after 6 weeks of consistent use, though. And I do, but it may just be wishful thinking, so lets compare the photos, shall we?

Before I had been using GlyMed eyelash treatment (which is prostaglandin-free) for about 3 months, so my lashes were already in good shape, but I want Bambi-proportions.

Before

After 6 Weeks Use

There's certainly some growth and length, but so far not a huge success. Hopefully by week 8/12 I'll have even better results! Even with mascara they're still quite puny, though they look long in the photos due to the angle. Let me know your experiences with lash growth serums!

'Champagne' books

'Champagne' books, as I refer to them, are all fizz and glamorous image with little substance, leaving you a little little-headed and with a slightly lowered IQ; but they are very enjoyable and easy to polish off in a short amount of time.

• La Vie Parisienne by Janelle McCulloch: while I class this is a champagne book as it is an easy, girly read about the style, food and romance of Paris, it is actually very well-written, funny and charming. You don't learn much from it but you won't regret reading it. You'll also want to eat macaroons and buy new lingerie.
  
  
• How to be Adored by Caroline Cox: basically the representative of champagne books. Tips on releasing your inner Old Hollywood glamour puss through the art of dressing well and seducing. Almost completely useless but really fun to read in a bubble bath while wearing a satin shower cap and a face mask.
  
  
• Rules for Saying Goodbye by Katherine Taylor. More substance than the above as it is a fully-fledged fictional novel with some substance, however it's frequent references to designer clothes, hotels, boarding schools, sex, love and drugs makes me put it in the champagne category. It is a really good book though, enjoyable and easy to read, but at times a bit sad and serious.

Best Beauty and Style Sites + Upcoming Reviews!

My fave beauty blogs and sites! A lot of these you have probably heard of or even visit, but I love to spread the love and it's great to have a list of inspiration sources  ;)

Celina from By Celina: obviously this is NOT ME, I effing wish I was this effortlessly radiant!!

• Into The Gloss literally the most inspiring beauty site, in a nutshell it shares the beauty routines of those who know what they're on about - fashion and media professionals, models, actors and bloggers. You also get insights into their lives and careers.
• The Formula: if the above site is Regina, this is Gretchen (still cool but definitely the second-rate, less-cute version) but you know, its based on something good so I still like it.
• Makeup.Com: I actually discovered this one very recently and have spent most of my morning today reading almost every article. Every section is really cute, with entries such as 'Global Beauty', where they present a bunch of products inspired by an exotic location, and 'Pinterest of the Week', where they present the week's best beauty-related Pinterest link.
• By Celina this is a personal blog with lifestyle insights, beauty tutorials and fashion inspo posts. It's also one of those blogs written by someone so impossibly chic that reading about their life makes you eventually begin to hate your own Target-filled wardrobe and lack of jet-setting, but it's a great read all the same. I like to follow a visit to these kind of blogs with a comforting ice-cream binge and a spell of online window shopping (where you obsessively browse online stores and pretend to debate which items to buy, before closing the window because obviously you can't actually afford any of them). 
• Katie's Beauty Blog: a blog I've been reading for probably around 2 years. Posts with product reviews, often with photos and cosmetic colour swatches, and updates on her life. I like this one as the blogger is realistic and accessible; she seems down-to-earth and very normal, and like me struggles with troublesome skin at times. A blog that doesn't make you feel inadequate after reading, hallelujah!
• Primped: another one of the sites I obsessively check on a daily basis. Less of an inspiration source and more of a functional product and beauty-info compendium, it typically features generic brands (think products found in Priceline and Myer), meaning you can actually afford the products they recommend and endorse. One for those whose weekly income is not quadruple or even triple-digit. Sign up for the Primped Newsletter for updates on their beauty blogger entries.
• Ahoy Deer is an adorable blog (the name alone!) that is not updated as frequently as my embarassingly-empty schedule would prefer, however the blogger is gorgeous and often writes about very cute products (e.g. Tigi bedhead haircare, Soap and Glory body products and Kit polish swatches) that again are actually affordable. 

UPCOMING REVIEWS TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR: 
In the next week I will post an update on my LiLash usage with comparison photos, as well as a review of Perricone M.D. Face Finishing Moisturizer AND the perfect nude polish for under $5!

Low-effort Outfit Post

A semi Halloween-themed outfit, a bit late. I love this tshirt. Cropped my legs out because they looked terrible and pale!  -_- Need to get back on the fake tan bandwagon. Or leave the house more often...Plus my free-hand (slightly messy) lavender+glitter+black french-tip nails :)

Kawaii Fashion: my Japanese Beauty Product Mini-Haul!

Before we start, the store's name is Kawaii Fashion, I'm not trying to be cute and faux-fluent in Japanese with that title. It's a really adorable store in Adelaide that sells Japanese cosmetics, beauty products, and recently added a section with homewares under $2.80.

I bought a few things and ended up spending a LOT so it felt like a haul even though it doesn't look like much.

I bought the small black bowl with glitter and hearts, not for any reason other than it being cute and girly, a lavender face flannel with black lace and embroidered diamond, DHC Deep Cleansing Oil (to try because I hate the Dermalogica one I own; will review soon), a gel-nail top coat, an eyeliner and a small stackable food container which I just thought was pretty cute and useful.

I'm going to do a quick review on the eyeliner. Just before we start, I'd like to mention that while shopping in this store I'm often doing it essentially 'blind' - most products have fully-Japanese labels which I can't read, so I tend to select things with cute packaging which sometimes don't end up being what I thought they were. In this case, I thought I'd bought a brown eyeliner crayon/pencil, which turned out to be a container of shimmery eyeshadow powder with a built-in sponge tip applicator. Still useful.

Product: 'MakeMania Data Graduation Tip Shadow'. Obviously I don't know the name of the shade, and to be honest I had to google a bit just to find out the name of the brand and product.

Price: around $23.

Shade and Quality: The photo of the shade is fairly true to life, it's a cool medium-dark mocha brown with a sparkle rating of 7/10. The sponge tip applicator means you can draw a solid line for an eyeliner-like look that's less harsh than a solid line of generic eyeliner pencil, or you can smudge it over the lid and blend for a soft shimmery eyeshadow. The only complaint is that like most shimmery shadows it frankly has crap staying power. As you can see from the photos, with the slightest rub or smudge the colour fades super-fast and you get a lot of travelling sparkle, so don't accidentally rub your eyes while wearing this. Bonus points for the super-cute packaging though.

After one quick rub with my fingertip.

You can see how easily the glitter travels - my fingertip has a definite Edward Cullen-factor despite the blurry photo.

I definitely recommend you visit the Kawaii Fashions store if you live in Adelaide, but just quietly, don't expect great service. I've been followed around the store and even accused of shop lifting and had my bag inspected. Even my better experiences have involved luke-warm treatment. To be fair, I spend a lot of time 'loitering' in the aisles, but that's because I'm trying to decipher the labels on the product packaging. But whatever, the great range of cute things are worth the blah experience.

Kawaii Fashion
23-25 Gouger St, Adelaide

I'm crazy and I know it *claps hands*

It has to be said, women will go to some crazy lengths for beauty. Burns from chemical peels, harsh products and sunbathing, skin cancer from sunbeds, chemicals constantly on our bodies and faces, on and around our eyes and lips, injected into our skin. The list goes on.

I'm not immune. I'll let you in on a secret beauty dream of mine: Daisy-the-Cow long lashes.

The dream, right?

  

For a long time I stuck to the 'safe' lash-growth enhancing serums:

Designer Brands Lash Food serum: uses peptides and moisturizing ingredients to condition lashes and promote growth. Kept my lashes in good condition, reduced breakage. Very cheap for AU$20! But didn't actually lengthen, so next came...

Glymed Plus Eyelash Power Treatment: also used peptides but in higher amounts; apparently also used an ingredients similar to that in Rogaine to encourage new growth and extend the life of existing lashes by preventing them from falling out. I definitely saw a difference, I'd say about a 20% improvement in length and condition, but little to no improvement in thickness. So, idiotically ignoring the warnings of irises changing colour and eye-safety concerns, i bought...

LiLash lash serum: this uses the ingredient prostaglandin, which has been essentially compared to the devil. Found in Rapidlash, Latisse and Revitalash as well, it can reportedly turn blue eyes brown and maybe even affect vision long-term, it also is meant to be super-effective at lengthening lashes and producing new growth. I'm only on my first week of use, but I'll check in and let you know whether my eyes have turned brown or I've gone blind!

Hormonal skin hell!

Considering the hormonal upheaval my skin has gone through during the last week, I want to dedicate a post to dealing with skin during THAT time of the month.

Now let's be clear: my skin is hard to deal with at the best of times. I'm prone not only to acne, but rosacea (mostly likely roaccutane-induced - that shiz is hardcore). So during that time when your entire body freaks out and turns on you, my skin is just a literal nightmare.

Redness, sensitivity, blotchiness and heat? Check.
Deep, cystic-y hormonal pimples on my usually clear skin? Check.
General dullness and dryness? Check.

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PMS AND YOUR SKIN:

• your skin produces more oil during this time and you have more skin bacteria, so your skin is more susceptible to spots and breakouts
• skin becomes drier due to a breakdown of our skin cell membranes, causing moisture loss and vulnerability to UV radiation (wear sunscreen!!!)
• a low pH anti-inflammatory wash should be used to cleanse the skin as this will help to make the skin more acidic, reduce bacteria, strengthen the cell walls as well as helping to retain natural moisture (SOURCE - read for more info!
• your skin often appears dull and less taut due to a drop in eostrogen
  
  

HOW TO DEAL -  SOME GREAT TIPS FROM ALLURE.COM:

• Get your chocolate fix: If you're craving chocolate, the darker the better. The flavonoids in dark chocolate mimic the effect of estrogen on the skin, Booth says. This helps calm irritation and boost collagen production
• Drink Wisely: Though you might feel like you need a cocktail, alcohol will only make things worse. Because your body is producing lower amounts of sebum, your skin and hair are more prone to dryness. "PMS time is the time to drink more water," says Booth. 
• Calm Down: PMS triggers higher amounts of adrenaline in the body. On top of wanting to kill anyone who takes the last parking spot, it can also cause skin splotchiness and redness. The best cure is meditation and exercise, Booth says. She recommends yoga. NOTE: I reccomend sitting down and enjoying a good tv marathon sesh to chill out; I reccomend Modern Family for some laughs)
  
• Start fresh: On the first day of your period, your body enters a state of hormonal renewal. This is the best time to exfoliate the skin, Booth says. She recommends a gentle facial scrub or peel to prepare the skin for the rest of the cycle, and maximize the effects of estrogen later in the month. SOURCE

♥ Lazy Girl Beauty - the Anti-Essex Girl Approach to Looking Fabulous

As the name of my blog suggests, I like the high-maintenance, well-groomed look, yet I am but a mere mortal. I don't want to wake up at 6am to straighten my hair and spackle on a face full of cosmetics. Stiletto heels are relegated to the back of my closet and only brought out for special events. False eyelashes are a mystery to me, and a weekly spray-tan is a luxury my budget doesn't allow. While I admire The Only Way Is Essex girls and their look, I have a job, I go to Tafe and Uni simultaneously. I don't have the time. 

Effort? No thanks!

By the way, on the topic of TOWIE, I have to admit I actually do have a massive girl-crush on Chloe. She's gorgeous, and despite the flotation devices attached to her chest, seems totally grounded.

So I think it's safe to say that when it comes to my approach to grooming I'm all about the extra 15 minute sleep-in. So here is my quick, compiled list of no-effort ways to look great (because lazy girls don't have time to read super-long blog entries):

1. Palmer's Natural Bronze Tanning Moisturizer
This one's a no brainer. A golden glow without much risk of obvious streaking, missed patches, scaly dry spots or orange palms. The Palmer's gradual tanner is my tried-and-tested fave, it gives a great light-gold colour, is pretty moisturizing and initially smells like chocolate (though it does fade to that horrible fake-tan smell eventually). Slather this on before bed and you'll wake up with soft, glowing limbs. Bonus: you can apply regularly to blend in any minor streaks or patches you've missed, and you can add an extra coat, maybe every second day, just to the places you need (say, legs and back).
Tip: Unless you have the kind of skin that can be slathered in any old product without issue, I wouldn't apply this to your face. Mix a teeny bit of regular fake-tan with your night cream, or try a gradual tanner designed for the face; I've been lusting after this one by POD Pureaceuticals, which doubles as an anti-aging serum: liquid tan face serum 

2. Alberto V05 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder
Admittedly I bought this mostly for the cute pink packaging. However, I soon realized how useful it was. Obviously it gives good texture and volume (it works best if you apply then lightly tease hair at the roots), but it also soaks up any excess oil, meaning its great for the days you don't have time to wash and style your hair and its looking sad, flat and greasy. I bought this from Priceline for around $7.

3. Dr Lewinn's SPF 15 Anti-Ageing Foundation
Not only does it combat ageing with rose stem cells and a clinically-tested peptide, Matrixyl Synthe 6, which is proven to enhance collagen production, it moisturizes with hyaluronic acid and protects from incidental sun exposure. It also provides good coverage and a semi-matte finish. Available from Priceline.

4. Fusion Beauty StimuLash Lash Enhancing and Lengthening Mascara
This mascara isn't cheap, but it contains peptides which, over 4-8 weeks, lengthen your lashes and improve their condition. It also is just a generally great mascara which really lengthened my short, thin lashes. I bought mine from Mecca Cosmetica.

5.  Puretopia Pert and Plump Line Filling Lip Balm
This double-duty creamy lip balm moisturizes with shea butter and vitamin E, and over time claims to gradually plump your lips and decrease fine lines due to the inclusion of peptides. For the reasonable price, I'll be giving it a go (as always available from Priceline).




♥ Let me know your lazy-girl beauty short-cuts! ♥

Money doesn't always guarantee happiness... or great hair, or good skin...

So as the title says, money doesn't guarantee happiness, or great hair, or good skin. You don't always get what you pay for.

Coming up this weekend is my friend's party, at which will be a lot of people from school I haven't seen in a year or two, so of course I wanted to look my best. I thought I'd get my hair done, invest in some new skincare, and turn up with a great 'do and glowing skin.

This is where I always go wrong - I haven never been able to get my head around 'if it's not broken don't fix it'. My dark-blonde hair was fine, albeit boring, and my skin, usually VERY troublesome and acne-prone, was the best it had been in a long time. But in my usually overly-ambitious manner I decided I wanted things even better and spent $120 on a supposedly 'high tech' moisturizer and $200 on what I thought would be simple highlights/ombre hair.

3 days later I had almost black hair with (no exaggeration) white stripes, and skin that had gone mental and broken out something awful. I booked in another hair appointment to fix the Cruella DeVille hair and it is now socially acceptable, but definitely not what I wanted and not something I look in the mirror and smile about. I'm planning to go back a third time this weekend, because all I want is to be able to look in the mirror and be happy with my appearance, but I've spent so much and I'm further from that than ever. And splashing all this cash within a few days may give you the impression I have a hefty bank account, but that is not true at all. I'm a student who works part-time, so all of this has left me broke.

Girl problems  :(

Who else has had a beauty meltdown? I know it's not just me! This week has been like an aesthetic horror movie!

Review: Bioderma Sensibio H20 Cleansing Water

Okay, this product definitely has a cult following. It's recommended by celeb makeup artist Lisa Eldridge, and I get the impression from reading (obsessively, I might add) intothegloss.com that every model and generally beautiful person out there uses this, including Leigh Lezark, Jessica Stam and Caroline Trentini. And now I can add my name to that list!
 

It's not cheap at $40 for a bottle, but not overly expensive either. I certainly have splashed more cash on much less useful products. Bioderma's website describes it as a micelle solution (cleansing water) for sensitive, normal to dry skins that gently cleanses face and eyes and removes water-resistant make-up. "The micelles contained in its formula effectively micro-emulsify impurities while maintaining the skin’s balance (soap-free, physiological pH)".

Since it is designed for sensitive skin it has little to no fragrance and literally does have the consistency of water - no oily residue (it does leave a slight film on your face unless you double cleanse as I do, but this is necessary for very sensitive skins who don't want stripped-clean skin after cleansing). However, the selling point, and what makes it so great, is that it really is super-effective at removing makeup. Mascara that usually barely budges, even with water-proof product removers and scrubbing? Gone with a few swipes. Layer of mineral foundation eradicated. Eyeliner almost entirely removed. And my skin, which often turns quite red after thoroughly removing my makeup, feels soothed, not scrubbed!

I think I should mention that I have used Avene's very similar cleansing water in the past and, honestly, think it is equally as good; but I will certainly use this product up and most likely repurchase. Avene is a better option for some as it is a bit cheaper though, around the $25 mark, and much easier to find in stores.

Mini beauty haul! Bioderma, Avene, Loving Tan, Ren, Ardell, Uriage

I had a birthday trip to Melbourne on the weekend and did some serious beauty hauling. Before I'd even left Adelaide I made a list of the Bioderma stockists in the city, and I then pounded the pavement to get my hands on some of their cult-status Sensibio H20 cleansing water. The first stockist was completely sold out, but the second had a whole display of French skincare at the front of the store! I bought a bottle of the cleansing water, and the wonderful sale assistant gave me a stack of samples, including a mini sample bottle of the cleansing water (not pictured), tubes of their Sebium Al and Sebium AKN, as well as a sample packet of a Uriage eye cream. I also bought an Ardell brow grooming kit, Loving Tan medium tanning mousse (which I had never heard of before but bought because of the packaging! Check out the adorable website too: http://www.lovingtan.com/ ) samples of Avene  Extremely Gentle cleanser and Skin Recovery cream. From Mecca Maxima I bought a Ren sensitive skin care trial kit. On an irrelevant note, I thought Mecca Maxima was a bit disappointing, mostly because I had in my beauty-obsessed mind imagined a Mecca store the size of a supermarket. A girl can dream! The beauty department of David Jones and Myers in Melbourne were amazeballs though, definitely puts Adelaide to shame!

The Haul

Reviews of all products to come!!!

Cruelty-free Picks!

My resolution lately has been to attempt to switch all of my beauty products to cruelty-free versions. But I must admit, it is more difficult than it sounds, and it takes a lot of willpower. Cruelty-free products are often organic, eco-friendly, etc and for this reason also a lot more expensive. Also, they generally don't give the instant results of normal salon/supermarket beauty products - and okay, this is probably a good thing as it's usually all those chemicals and silicones that give the WOW! factor results and aren't good for your hair in the long run, but it's hard to give that up for something that doesn't have such immediate and noticeable results! Organic products often are very heavy and leave your hair lank, or just not feeling clean, and leave your skin a little greasy. So, to make it easier for you to change to cruelty-free (and for me to remember which products were worthwhile) here are my cruelty-free picks that are worth the switch!





1. Giovanni Smooth as Silk Extreme Protein Hair Infusion (approx. $17.95)
This is a moisturizing protein mask with 'shea butter, soy protein and macadamia nut oil' that you leave in for 5-10 minutes depending how damaged your hair is. It does have some form of silicone, but because of this it immediately leaves your hair with a great silky slip and genuinely does smooth and moisturize (although didn't leave my damaged hair quite as silky as I'd like). I bought this mostly because it had great reviews on Makeup Alley.
For the record, I bought this from shopnaturally.com.au as there were no stockists near me.

2. De Lorenzo Moisture Balance Intense Conditioner (approx $27.95)
This is bloody fantastic for dry, damaged, course hair. It saved my hair after going from blonde, to brown, to blonde again in the course of 4 weeks (yeah, I torture my hair). Again I'm pretty sure this has a form of silicone in it adding the immediate slip and smoothness, but wow did it transform my hair - after using this (I left it in for a lot longer than the recommended time, about 30 minutes) I could get a comb through my hair again without it snapping off! Definitely one of my top picks, I've repurchased twice. I buy it from Price Attack or Hairhouse Warehouse.

3. Aveda Dry Remedy moisturizing shampoo and conditioner (approx. $45 each)
These are incredibly expensive, but for thick, dry hair they are a godsend. The shampoo is very heavy and creamy so it's almost like washing your hair with a mask, and feels really luxurious. The conditioner is also very thick and creamy; both are sunflower yellow and have a fresh, herb-y scent. I have also tried the mask from this range but find the conditioner actually gives better results! These also have a silicone derivative but sometimes for really thick, coarse hair you need that to achieve smoother hair. I bought this from a salon near me, but you can get these from Aveda stores or online as well.

4. Prive reparative shampoo and conditioner (around $30 each)
I bought the trial sizes of these and love them - these are better for fine hair that's dry and/or frizzy. They smell fresh and herb-y as well and are a light green colour. I bought these from David Jones and although I'd seen them on the shelves before I'd never bought them as the packaging always reminded me of the free products you get from hotels (hard to explain; the packaging still doesn't appeal to me) but I bought them after reading a review on a blog I love, Katie's Beauty Blog (mesluxes.blogspot.com.au). These don't have an immediate smoothing effect and the conditioner doesn't need to be left on for ages to work - which is great if you don't have a lot of time or hate sitting around freezing to death with goop in your hair.

5. Living Nature Purifying Cleanser and Hydrating Toning Gel (around $30 each)
These have a really fresh herb-y scent as well, and are for oily/combination skin. The cleanser isn't overly drying, and leaves your skin feeling really clean and smooth. The hydrating toning gel is really amazing - it leaves your face feeling so smooth and silky and hydrated. The scent won't appeal to everyone, but natural products are often like that. I generally prefer 'cosmeceutical' type skincare as I need products that will really tame and control my acne-prone sensitive skin, but these are nice if you don't have any skin issues.

6. Dermalogica precleanse, Ultracalming cleanser, toner, serum concentrate and barrier repair (very expensive!!!)
While I think Dermalogica is a little overpriced for the ingredients, and the products a bit hit-and-miss despite their cult status, these are tried and tested by myself and I really recommend them. The pre-cleanse smells lovey and citrusy and really removes every trace of makeup and sunscreen (follow with a foaming cleanser to remove residue). I would avoid this if you are really acne-prone though, I only use it when I wear heavy makeup for special occasions, as it can leave a slight residue even after a double cleanse. This is actually good for dry skin types as it adds extra hydration but can break out rebellious skin.  The Ultracalming range is for sensitized skin and is really soothing (I use this when my skin is sensitized by harsh acne treatments). It's good for all skin types, even oily skin, as none of the products are greasy or overly-hydrating, just calming. The barrier repair is silicone-based as it forms a 'shield' to protect your skin from 'external aggressors', so I don't use this on a regular basis as silicone products can clog pores and cause congestion, but when your skin is really hot, blotchy and sensitive it's amazing, and actually makes a really good primer for makeup. The toner can be a little annoying though, as it tends to come out in heavy spritzes, not a nice mist. I bought the Ultracalming trial pack.

Cruelty-free brand I'd like to try: DermaQuest. This is the kind of cosmeceutical skincare range I prefer, that can give real results and uses ingredients proven to improve troublesome skin like mine. I haven't tried them yet as it's difficult to find a stockist. Their eyelash conditioner is meant to be pretty good.