Burt's Bees Pop-Up Store Westfield Bondi Junction, Sydney

Yesterday I attended a very early morning ribbon cutting to open the Burt's Bees Pop-Up Store at Westfield Bondi Junction, the perks of being a Beauty Blogger right? 
Whilst we were munching on breakfast treats (I dropped my avocado on toast on the floor and very clumsily had to pick it up with a napkin feeling very un-beauty blogger and more beauty blunder. Doh!) there were some speeches filled with facts, like did you know there is an actual Burt and he is a real like bee keeper, for reals!
The open-air space is filled with a huge range of Burt's Bees products which is a change from the small stand of lip balms you usually find at department stores. I particularly liked the range of baby products - not that I am with child BUT I often see baby paraphernalia and think 'one day when I am with child that would a good thing to have'. 
There are also body products including scrubs, lotions and body butters and the Skin Care line which I am yet to try and haven't previously seen in stores.
I picked a few goodies to try out The Tinted Lip Balm in Rose $14.95 (to add to my growing collection - Hibiscus is one of my all time faves!) , Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme $19.95 and the new Sugar Scrub in Mango & Orange $29.95.
There is also a Lip Balm Amnesty promotion: From the 4th of May the first 2000 shoppers can hand in there old lip balm of any brand and swap it for a Burt's Bees Lip Balm.

Burt's Bees products are all 100% Natural and not tested on animals.

www.burtsbees.com.au

xxxx Nella

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Hands and Feet : 'Blow on them'

I am so excited that NPA is on this Thursday 28th 6.30pm at the Cricketers Arms.

Prior to any hand and feet out in the open event like showing off your new engagement ring, a barefoot wedding, a pool party or just getting about not looking like a talon monster you need to 'Check Yourself' and do some maintenance.

Here are my favorite products:

1. L'Occitane Hand Cream in Fleur Chérie $12.00

This smells like Polly Pockets you had when you were little. That synthetic perfume smell - Ohhhhhh I love it. This is a general cute mini hand cream for your bag or desk. L'Occitane's hand creams are all pretty good - this one just smells the best.

2. Soap & Glory Hand Food $11.95

Another hand cream -  because you can never have enough. This is quite thick and is great on your feet too its good for dry skin. It smells kind of like Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle which is lovely.

3. Maincare Crystal Nail File $19.95

I am one of those very annoying girls who cannot watch TV without having another side project on the go, usually it involves filing my nails. Sick of those flimsy harsh emery boards I invested in this 'crystal' (I don't think its real crystal - maybe just glass) nail file its really good and doesn't mow down my already short nails, gentle enough to be able to get a nice shape which is important.

4. Manicare Cuticle Trimmer and Cuticle Pusher $8.99

Usually I go to the Nail Salon once a month for a full on mani and pedi - they type where they take off so much dead skin it shocks you. In between this nifty tool is great to use to cut away an pointy little cuticles. Use the Cuticle Pusher with Number 6 : Sally Hansen Problem Cuticle remover.

5. Heel Balm GOLD $9.99

Don't know how this works, but it does. 

6 Sally Hansen Problem Cuticle Remover $13.90

We were talking at NPA about how the girls at nail salons tease us and call our nails 'Baby Nail' its so embarrassing. Here's a trick if you push down or remove cuticles with this your nails will look longer! TA-DA!

7. OPI Nail Envy $31.00

This stuff is genius! Its great as a base coat and really does help with making my nails grow stronger and not peel. 

8. OPI Ridge Filler $18.00

Some hussy up in the club stepped on the big toe on my left foot and completely broke the nail off about 4 months ago (I HATE HER - SHE DIDNT EVEN APOLOGIZE!). It was so painful and left me with a dented toe nail, the girls at my nail salon recommended this.

9. Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme $14.95

This is a real cutie, I love the little tin. It smells really fresh and lemon-y, just a really thick consistency which is great for dry little fingers in winter.

Best nail maintenance in a Film here is Tara Reid painting her nails a sick acid green in the Big Lebowski:

Don't Believe The Hype : #1

Everything on this blog is my personal opinion - apart from if its a specified spiel from a giant cosmetic company claiming that they can make your lips bigger, get rid of you wrinkles and make you 10 times more beautiful by tomorrow.

Its not serious and I usually don't buy things that I really dislike because I am a 'savvy 20 something that knows how to use the power of the Internet for good not evil'.  My friends and family do it love when I get it wrong because I always give away things that haven't made the cut.

1. Loreal Telescopic Mascara $26.80

This was raved about by one of my favorite YouTube girls Vivianna Does Make up, she was banging on about how she put it on whilst on the tube (British). So I bought it. Its crap, well its not crap, she loves it. Its the brush that's not a brush its a comb and the product is really wet formula which just makes my usually naturally curled lashes point out straight and clump. If you can make this work for you, 10 points and please let me know how you do it.

2. Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stains $16.00

When the lip stain trend was in full force last year I was sucked into that like a tornado, I was one of the cows in Twister - not Helen Hunt. But I survived with the debris of 15 lip stains cluttering up my makeup draws. Firstly the Revlon Lip Stain has a lip balm on the end - mine snapped off within the first use so I have no idea what it was like. It didn't pack the punch of my other Covergirl lipstains which the stain lasts almost all day and definitely have got more colour pay off and they are also $6.00 cheaper. And one more thing I hate that tacky twilight-esque font on the packaging.

3. Shu Uemura Foundations - $64 Face Architect Foundation  (but in general it's all of them)

I really want to like them because its one of my favorite Japanese beauty brands. The problem is that they do not have my colour, white girl is not in the spectrum of shades. Its such a shame because they have this really cool aerosol can of foundation that's really high tech and I am desperate to have it. Please don't let this put you off the brand it is fantastic and if they have your shade then lucky you! Especially the eye shadows they are a dream and the limited edition collaborations are beautiful especially the Tsumori Chitsato sets  from about 2 years ago.

4. Maybelline Great Lash Curved Mascara $8.99

The curved brush really stabs my eyeballs when applying it and the fall out is really bad it had given me dark circles by 10am. This cult product made me look like I was in a cult.

5. Nars Lip Gloss $39.00

I'm not really a lip gloss girl to begin with, your hair gets stuck in it. The Nars lip gloss is so sticky that its hard to even apply its like putting cold honey on your lips. The colours are really good and they have a new plumping formulation which i will try out to see if there is any improvement to the formula.

6. Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks $48.00

These are really shimmery, duh its called a freakin' Shimmer Brick! But its the type of shimmer and opacity which should only be going on in eye shadows. It is so shimmery it casts a white glow to your face from the lightest colours and highlights YOUR PORES!!!! I had a really bad time with this in both colours - yep I bought 2 colours - SUCKER!

7. Kiehl's Penthol Protein Moisturizing Face Cream $22.50 

This is a good moistirizer, just not for my face, its since been de-potted and put in travel size containers for legs on holidays. It gets all in my eyebrows and hair line coating them in white cream making me look like Santa Clause and it's impossible to put a foundation on top of it because it peels off like pilling on a cheap synthetic jumper. 

8. Burts Bees Sensetive Eye Cream ($29.95 N/A)

I did not purchase this -  it came free with a magazine. But I had to include it because the story of my single time using the product is very funny. I packed this eye cream in my toiletries bag when going on the first sexy weekend away with a lover, I thought you know its a small sample size and 'natural' kind off not wanting to pack my massive night cream. After coming back from a night swim and a long shower I moisturized as normal before bed, the eye cream was on the bedside table and I applied it in the dark before going to sleep. Morning came and I awoke to my lovers shocked face on top of mine saying that he could 'call a doctor if i needed', the eye cream had turned into a white flaky crust all over my eyes! It came off with a little warm water and my skin wasn't irritated at all but the shocked reaction caused me to bin the eye cream straight away.

So in total I have wasted $225.30 on these products. It is actually a lot more than this but these are the products that I can remember using and not agreeing with. 

What products have you regretted buying? Or what products have you been talked into buying by a very persuasive beauty counter sales assistant like a sucker?