Monday 31 March 2014

Big Beautiful Brows with the new Ardell Brow Defining Kit

Ardell Brow Defining Kit $24.95 available from www.priceline.com.au

I was blessed with many things that I am thankful for but thick full brows were not one of them, my brows are sparse, thin and naturally very blonde. Which causes much brow envy of ladies with heavenly defined face framing brows, I can only dream of having to need a brow wax? 
My brow routine is quite an intense process an I like to take my time perfecting the shape and colour to be just right to do this my brows cannot live without the Ardell Brow Defining Kit. The kit contains a 4 colour quad, comb, angled brush & a wax pencil, all of which are essential to creating the best brows possible no matter how much of a natural brow you are workin' with.  To start I mix the two lightest colours to create a custom brow colour which is a shade or two darker than my natural hair colour, using this I lightly map out my desired shape. I prefer a darker brow tail so I take the darker medium brown and define the tail and add a some depth to my brows. Once happy with my new set of full and sexy brows I take the brow wax pencil and lightly take it through the brow hairs to set them in place. A quick comb through and I am finished #IWOKEUPLIKEDIS.....Ummmm yeh right!
Big brows are definitely trending pretty hard right now, but my best tip is just to accentuate your natural shape and remember only Brooke Shields can be Brooke Shields and you can only be you!


Here are my favourite big browed babes for a little brow-spiration:

xxx Nella

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Sunday 23 March 2014

RImmel Scandal Eyes 'Rockin' Curves' Mascara + Kate Moss 4 Eva!


Rimmel Scandal Eyes 'Rockin Curves' Mascara $16.95 available from www.priceline.com.au

The Scandal Eyes collection from Rimmel has a new addition : The 'Rockin Curves' Mascara, I have been very very excited to try it. Kate Moss is the poster babe for the new mascara and I couldn't be more happy to try and emulate Kates Rockin doll eyed lashes with this new mascara. When opening the mascara for the first time I must admit the wand was a little intimidating, how was I going to get the wave shaped wand to coat my lashes? After a little wiggling and practise I managed to create fanned out long and very black lashes. The best thing about the 'Rockin Curves' Mascara is that once applied it does not budge, there is no migrating black flakes which gives you panda eyes, it isn't a waterproof mascara but it is definitely a strong hold non-budge mascara. 
My makeup collection is comprised of a mix of high and low end products, but at the rate I go through mascara and because it always dries up within 3 months I can never justify parting with my hard earned money on expensive luxury brands. Having tested both ends of the price scale in the mascara game I can confidently say you do not need to spend a huge amount of cash to get amazing lashes.

And now here are my favourite images of Kate Moss.....any excuse right?

A baby faced Kate wearing lashings of mascara.

THAT Mario Testino Vogue cover.....!! 

Never forget.



Kate, Naomi and that amazing silver slip that didn't quit.

Rockin' that tutu babes!

xxx Nella

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Friday 21 March 2014

Sensitive Skin Saviour: First Aid Beauty Essentials Kit.

First Aid Beauty Essentials Kit $19.95 available from David Jones stores Australia wide and www.adorebeauty.com.au  & www.feelunique.com

Get ready for one of the sexiest posts ever on Beauté Gazette, it contains a lot of skin....A  lot of blistered rashie skin after I suffered from a severe allergic reaction to something I ate. 
After suffering from said allergic reaction I was very weary of returning to my regular routine of products, needing a more gentle alternative till my skin was completely healed. The First Aid Beauty Essentials kit was stashed away in a box of travel sized products I keep in case I ever go on a holiday (never), I reached for them because the overwhelming amount of reviews online saying they were great for sensitive skin. 
The Gentle Body Wash and Moisturizer are so soothing on red sore inflamed itchy skin, it didn't by an means heal the rash but it felt calming when applied and didn't sting at all. Within 2 days I had gone through both mini-sized bottles (56.7gms) and had purchased both in full size, the Gentle Body Moisturizer $26.99 /226.8gm and the Gentle Body Wash $20.00/226.8gm from Feel Unique. 
Terrified to wash my face scared of stinging and overly irritating and extremely rashie parts, (told you this was going to be sexy) the Face Cleanser and Daily Face Moisturizer didn't sting at all. They both felt very non irritating and my skin wasn't stressed out after application.
My rash is slowly starting to fade with the help of some strong ass antihistamines and steroid medication, if you are prone to skin problems like this or psoriasis then First Aid Beauty is definitely a must try.
So in the spirit of being a very over sharing beauty blogger here are some photos documenting #rashgate2014:

I am not sure what caused this extreme allergic reaction but it was awful and I didn't leave the house for 3 days so as to not scare children with my blistering rash. #nofilter


xxx Nella

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Thursday 13 March 2014

Tried and Tested : Elemis Absolute Eye Serum and Skin Buff


Elemis Absolute Eye Serum AUD$82.00 and Elemis Skin Buff AUD$54.00 available from Elemis spas and salons nationally for more stockist info call 1300 820 430

There are skin care brands and then there ARE SKIN CARE BRANDS. I am only newly acquainted with Elemis the UK based luxury skin care brand which has been newly welcomed to our shores. It has been hyped girled by loads of UK youtubers and I have been curious to try it out for myself. So first up the Elemis Skin Buff, it is a very very finely granulated exfoliator, the grains feel very small but are ultra exfoliating. The creme surrounding the granules is rich a creamy which gives the grains a slip to them when you are massaging it into your face. After rinsing off the scrub your skin feels fresh but not striped of natural oils, I am obsessed with this exfoliating scrub and love it for any dry patches or just reviving tired skin.
Secondly I have been trying out the Elemis Absolute Eye Serum, under my eye cream at night and under my moisturiser during the day. Oh my goodness this is liquid gold on tired eyes! It tightens the eye area and makes you look and feel wide awake without gathering in any lines and making your concealer look too heavy under the eyes.
The price points of Elemis are on the high end, it is a luxury skin care brand and its not in everyone's budget but if you are in the market to treat yourself or a loved one then this Elemis is a heavenly brand to try.

xxx Nella
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Wednesday 12 March 2014

CK One Color Mono Eye Shadows Review and Perfect Power Couple Colour Combinations.

 Ck One Color Mono Eye Shadows $30.00 each available from www.myer.com.au

As a beauty blogger you would assume I would be all over the eyeshadow game, right?!?  Wrong I couldn't be more of an armature. Having admitted this huge #bblogger eye shadow faux pas, I am endeavouring to concur my fear of eye shadow and learn how to 'define the eye' without being mistaken for Gina from The Real Housewives of Melbourne (CLICK HERE FOR LOL'S!). 
CK One Color Mono Eye Shadows are housed in the cutest little mod disc shape packaging, usually I am not into bulky packaging but the black and white disc feels like it keeps the eye shadow a little more protected, because it is only a matter of if and when your drop them. The shadows themselves are extremely soft and velvety smooth, the texture feels like a very high end product. When applying the shadows to my eyelids I found it was better to start with less and build up more colour where I wanted a more intensity rather than loading a ton of shadow onto your brush and pushing it around your eyelid. After I felt I had mastered the single shadow technique and the windscreen wiper blending motion I daring started experimenting with more than one colour....2 COLOURS! I know crazy right?!?
After watching many a YouTube tutorial and investing in some more blending brushes (I now own 6!) it was time to try out some combos, here were my favourites.


EYE SHADOW POWER COUPLES

MUSE 300 AND FEARLESS 810: 
This was a very edgy classic 90's CK One poster child combo, I could imagine Rooney Marr rocking this combo smudged out and teamed with a black Givenchy punk gown. Fearless I used as a wash of colour over the lid, it is a very shimmery dark olive which would be beautiful on lighter brown eyes, then I took Muse along my lower lash line and finished the look with lashings of mascara and a some black kohl liner smudged on my waterline.
EXPOSE 100 AND EMPOWERED:
These two shadows look beautiful together, it creates a very pretty teenage dream shimmery 80's Brooke Sheilds vibe. Using Exposed I put a light dusting all over my lids blending into my inner corner and upto the crease, Empowered was used to give a subtle smokeyness to the outer corner of the eye. It is a very pretty combo and is great for making your makeup look polished with out trying too hard.
AMBITIOUS 710 AND DRIVEN 730:
The most perfect coupling for a very natural and non OTT brown smokey eye. Ambitious is a pink toned shimmery nude which looks fab on it's own for a casual day time look, but adding Driven to the outer corner and lower lash line really makes blue eyes pop. I wore this combo for a night out with friends recently and my ego was inflated ever so slightly with the compliments I was given 'are you wearing contacts? Your eyes are so blue' 'Oh no its just I finally learnt how to do my eye shadow properly'

If you are an eye shadow pro and love to give a big dramatic shadow look eeerrr'day then you are going to love how pigmented and soft the CK One Colour Eye Shadows are, blending them is heaven. But if you are like me and are just excited about starting to add different looks and shades to your newbie eye shadow collection then I would definitely recommend trying them out too.

xxx Nella

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Monday 10 March 2014

Aveda Stress- Fix Body Creme.....It's a real body party!

Aveda Stress-Fix Body Creme $59.00 available from www.aveda.com.au

My Aveda obsession has moved on from a my hair to a total body party, the Stress-Fix range is a luxury for any over worked, under slept, ambitious woman - isn't that all of us? Applying the Stress-Fix Body Creme after a bath or shower at night before I hop into bed is the time of day I look forward to most, the relaxing sage and lavender fragrance helping me drift off to sleep while my sheets soak up the scent. Everyone has a their pre-bed rituals they go through to help them get into that perfect sleep state dream-zone, some people have another kind of body party just for 2. But for my single body party the only bed buddy I need at the moment is Aveda's Stress-Fix. 
I'm a total sucker for pretty packages, the pale pink jars of the Stress-Fix range do look oh so lovely on my bathroom shelf, displayed neatly with my other skin essentials. I will say if you are a girl who likes your body lotions to smell sickly sweet like a jelly lollie pick'n'mix this is probably not the range for you, it is a natural earthy scent which adapts to your bodies natural oils.
The Stress-Fix line also includes : Body Lotion, Stress-Fix Concentrate Oil Roller Ball and Bath Salts. 


Oh and this is my other favourite kind of Body Party!

xxx Nella

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Tuesday 4 March 2014

Keepin Cool' The bright new SUNSCREEN stars!

Last November I was diagnosed with a Melanoma. It was in the middle of my lower back and looked like a smear of Vegemite and not like any other mole or freckle on my whole body. It was one of the biggest shocks of my life. I've always worn sunscreen have hardly have been badly sun burnt, I never go 'tanning' and my skin is not freckly or pale. But I had a melanoma.
It was removed and tested and thankfully was all taken out with biopsy which meant no on going surgical treatment was needed. Skin cancers are very much thought of as a 'lower grade' or 'less harmful' form of cancer, this is not true at all. I am not sure how I developed a melanoma, maybe it was that time I was at the beach and I forgot to put sun screen on the one spot on my lower back, maybe it was that other time when I was 11 at school camp and I forgot my rash vest and went swimming in the lake. Who knows, but the one thing I am very confident in is that I never go in the sun without sunscreen ever again! So here are my favourite sunscreens which have been keeping me cool over the summer:


1. Neutrogena Beach Defence SPF 50+ Spray Sunscreen $16.99 available from www.priceline.com.au
This bottle is amazing! It is an aerosol can which allows you to spray the sunscreen on hard to reach places like your the back of your legs and the middle of your back, so you will never miss a spot again. The scent is non offensive and it does a great job at protecting you if you are going in and out of the water.
2. Dermalogica 50 Sport Protection SPF 50+ $45.00 available from www.dermalogica.com.au
If I am exercising or walking around in the middle of the day this is my favourite sunscreen, after applying it to my face and arms it wont budge for hours. It is 50+ and will not let you down.
3 Dermalogica Solar Defence Booster SPF 50+ $62.00 and Dermalogica Oil Free Matte SPF 30+ $62.00 both available from www.dermalogica.com.au
These two Dermalogica sunscreens are fantastic if you are needing to apply a sunscreen under makeup. They don't have any of the regular sunscreen stickyness or oil which is left sitting on the top of your skin, they prime your skin leaving an undetectable vail of sun protection.
4. Wot Not Natural Sunscreen SPF 30+ $26.95 available from www.nourishedlife.com.au
A friend recently told me she didn't wear sunscreen because of how toxic the ingredients were, so I went on a hunt to look for natural sunscreens on the market. After trying a few this WOT NOT sunscreen was the nicest I tried, it was easy to rub in and not too thick, it also wasn't heavily fragranced. People often complain that sunscreen breaks them out, it is actually not the sunscreen that is breaking you out but the fragrance which is masking the spf smell. If you have this problem then I highly recommend trying a natural sunscreen next.
5. Milk and Co Dry Touch Sunscreen SPF 30+ $12.95 available from www.milkandco.com.au
My beloved Milk sunscreen, I love you. This has kept my skin safe during many an afternoon paddle at Gordon's Bay. The texture of this sunscreen is lovely and the tea tree scent is so fresh. 
6. Mukti Tinted Moisturiser with Sunscreen SPF 15+ available from www.nourishedlife.com.au
This is a great product if you are looking for a natural tinted moisturiser with an added SPF. The coverage is very sheer so I apply a concealer over the top if I am wearing it as my base. The consistency leaves your skin feeling quite tight and matte feeling, so there is no element of oily slip that's going to happen when you apply makeup over the top.

I hope this post has been helpful for anyone out there curious about new sunscreens that are on the market or for those of you looking to up your sun protection game. On a last note I would like to say is that there is no such thing as a healthy tan and please think before you go out into the sun because you are risking your life.

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Monday 3 March 2014

Quick Fix Facials are very affordable and also totally awesome!

Quick Fix Facials $8.95 each and are available through Woolworths Australia Wide for more info call 07 5564 6767


I love giving myself a facial at home, starting with an good double cleanse I then move on to my favourite step a face mask. If I have the time I will pop the face mask on and take a bath but I am usually buzzing about the house doing laundry, replying to emails or tidying up. Face masks are usually quite pricey with claims of transforming you in Jennifer Lawrence in just 30 minutes, packed with mind boggling ingredients that are usually from the dead sea or some sort of miracle mud. When really all you want is to improve the texture of your skin a little bit and add a little more moisture than usual.
Quick Fix Facials are AMAZING! My favourite is the Mega Moisture mask which works in just 10 minutes and when rinsed off with warm water and face fannel my skin feels plump and totally hydrated. The Mega Moisture Mask would be great to use once or twice a week if you work in an office with air conditioning that dries out your skin or after a flight to zap the moisture back into your face. The Anti-Blemish Mud Mask and Exfoliating Scrub Mask I prefer to use in the areas which need them rather than all over the face. The Anti-Blemish in my t-zone where I am most oily and the Exfoliating Scrub around my nose and chin where my blackheads are most noticeable.
The most exciting thing about the Quick Fix Facials line is the price they are only $8.95 and they really work, no huge price tag which for me created huge expectations. The packaging is slightly loud but it is definitely attention grabbing which is much needed when you are trying to find a product in the sea of white and pastel packaging on the shelves at Woolworths.


xxx Nella

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