Win one of two amazing Herbal Essences prize packs

As I mentioned on Friday, I am back from procreating! And what better way to make a return to blogging than with a giveaway. The wonderful people at Herbal Essences have provided two amazing packs for my readers to win. You can wash away your winter blues with a luscious tropical paradise in the shower!

The Herbal Essences winter style prize pack is worth over $60 and contains: 

• 1x Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner from the Tousle Me Softly range
• 1x Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner for the Long Term Relationship range
• The entire Tousle Me Softly Styling range (mousse for easy tousling, flexible hold hair spray, tousling spray gel)
• 1 x treatment product
• A Supersized Set Me Up hairspray

  
These two ranges are described by Herbal Essences as:

Long Term Relationship range Do you love your thick and full head of hair? Ready to go the distance? To get long, satin-soft hair, engage every strand in a long term relationship with a fusion of red raspberry and Brazilian silk. help protect against damage and split ends when you use our shampoo and conditioner enriched with hydro-activated silkening ingredients and split-end protector. go ahead, you grow your hair as long as you dare.

Tousle Me Softly range embrace your softer side with perfectly imperfect, wavy hair. layer our products together for soft, tousled waves that beg to be touched—not that they need to beg and hey, since we work well together to create one luscious look, it’s almost mistake-proof!

How to enter

Firstly, you must follow my blog either by Google Friend Connect, email or Facebook. Then post a comment with either your best hair tip or a funny hair related story.

I will choose one winner based on the comment I like the most.

The second winner will be randomly selected using www.random.org. If you really want to enter but have no good hair tips or stories then simply write 'pleeeeeeaaaaasssse enter me!' and you will go into the random draw!

Entry is open to Australian residents only and will be drawn at 8.30pm on Sunday 17th June.

Good luck!


All opinions are my own and I received no remuneration for this post. The prizes for this competition were provided by Herbal Essences.

25% off Yaby, Make Up For Ever, Mario Badescu and many more

I just thought that I would give you a heads up on an amazing sale if you haven't already heard about it. Makeup and Glow are holding one of their famous sales and are offering 25% off their entire range of amazing brands including Make Up Forever, Yaby, Mario Badescu and many many more.

I have shopped from Makeup and Glow twice and both transactions were a dream. I had a complete inability to apply foundation well so purchased a Beauty Pod (which I describe here); then for Christmas, after lusting after it for a year, I received the Yaby World of Pearl Paints 40 Palette (that I still need to swatch and review for you guys but see below just how delicious it is!).

After learning about the Make Up For Ever range from makeup legend Donna Mee I was so keen to try out the range at IMATS last year; however, the crowds at the stand were insane so I only walked away with two of the aqua eyeliners. Now there is a much easier (and calmer) way to purchase the range!

In addition, the Mario Badescu range was the only thing that helped to heal the hormonal acne I suffered from when pregnant with The Crazy Kid.

To get your 25% discount, all you have to do is enter the code SALE into coupon code box - see below for instructions. Be quick as the sale ends on Tuesday 5th June and items are already selling out fast.

Have you bought anything from the sale? If so, what did you get or what was on your wish list?


All opinions are my own and I received no remuneration for this post. All images used in this post are courtesy of Makeup and Glow.

Introducing Kiki

As you may have noticed I have been very quiet for the last couple of months. Well, I have been busy procreating! Our beautiful daughter, Kiara Isabel (who has already been nicknamed Kiki), was born on 30/4. All is going really well. So far she is incredible chilled out, only ever crying when she wants to catch up with her milky friends again! The Crazy Kid seems to like her, though whether he shares his makeup collection remains to be seen!

I hope to get back into blogging  more regularly as I found it to be a wonderful outlet from the kids! I have a tonne of reviews to share of products I was sent throughout my pregnancy that I was unfortunately just to tired to write about. Fingers crossed Crazy and Kiki are kind to me and don't leave me too tired to write!

As a welcome back to blogging I will be hosting a giveaway this weekend, so check back on Sunday for the details.

Here are a few happy snaps on our new edition!

Fresh baked bub (the moment was ruined seconds later with me
vomitting everwhere - damn anaesthetic!)

The only photo we have managed to get with both Crazy and Kiki in it!

Looks like she loves baths as much as her mum does!

Hopefully Kiki does plenty of this so I can keep up with my blogging!

So, what products would you like to see Kiki reviewing in the near future??!!

Toot Toot! All aboard the Shellac bandwagon

On the weekend I lost my Shellac virginity. I know, I know...it has been around for ages, I just hadn't managed to try it. I can be a tad stingy at times, so the thought of dropping around $100 (that is what I imagined that it cost!) to get my nails done seemed a tad excessive - I could get 5-10 bottles of nail polish for that price. However, it seemed that all the Shellac stars were aligning on the weekend and I was to be a Shellac virgin no more.

It all started the other night when I was lying on the couch. My husband happened to glance over at my feet and exclaimed:

'Holy sh*t! Your toenails are weapons!'

'I know' I sighed back. 'I can't reach my feet to cut them anymore' (I am 36 weeks pregnant so bending over, and breathing at the same time, is a skill I am no longer able to perform.

'Can you cut them for me?' I whined?

'F*ck off!' was his response (now before you judge him I must tell you that he has a serious foot phobia - he even hates his own feet - so I was sh*t stirring when I made that request!). He then followed up with the most wonderful words ever, 'Can't you pay someone to do it for you?'.

So, with the green light to go and get some pampering done, I started planning. I was just going to hit one of those nail bars sometime next week, a simple pedi was all I really needed. But, luckily for me, the Shellac gods were smiling. As I walked down to Thomas Dux to pick up some fruit for the Crazy Kid's post swimming lesson snack I happened to walk past a beauty salon that had a sign in the window:

Special - Shellac Manicure - $20

Wow! That was a heck of a lot cheaper than I was expecting and it caused me to make a sudden detour, much to the annoyance of a hungry Crazy Kid. 'How much is your Shellac pedicure?' I enquired. '$45 for the spa pedicure'. SOLD! I straight away booked in for a Shellac pedi the next morning.

When I got there they asked if I'd like a manicure as well - at $20 it was impossible for me to say no! Plus, whenever I get pregnant my nails become terrible and they start to peel like crazy. I usually have nails that are as hard as steel, so this is quite annoying for me. I suffered from morning sickness terribly in both pregnancies so my theory is that my body has to divert precious nutrients away from non-essential areas, such as my nails.

I decided to go for a subtle colour on my finger nails. Usually I will have the brightest nail polish imaginable. However, I know my life is about to get crazy and that I won't have time to remove the Shellac, so I didn't want to have trashy looking chipped nails for months on end. Instead, they will just have to be subtly trashy! Since my toe nails grow so much slower, and my thongs are about to go into hibernation in favour of sneakers thus allowing me to conceal any trashy chipping or regrowth for a good 3 or 4 months, I decided to indulge my love of brights. What do you think of my choices?

For anyone who hasn't heard of Shellac, it is a brilliant nail polish system by CND that gives you chip free nails for at least 14 days. Firstly, your nail is prepped to remove any bumps and completely smooth them out, then the CND Shellac base coat is applied. This is then cured with a UV lamp. Two coats of your chosen colour are then applied, and again each coat is UV cured, before a final top coat is applied and cured. When you leave the salon your nail as are completely dry so the mani or pedi can't be accidentally wrecked. The results, to me, look like acrylic nails; however, the polish can be removed with acetone without damaging your nail. Apparently, you can even apply normal nail polish on top of your Shellac manicure and your normal polish will last 14 days without chipping.

I am stoked with the results. My nails look better than they have in a long long time. The finish is so glossy that the polish looks wet. I definitely will be Shellacing again!

If anyone lives in or near the Lane Cove area (about 10 mins away from Chatswood, Sydney), I got my nails done at A Beauty, Shop 22, 45 Burns Bay Road, Lane Cove 2066 (in the Lane Cove Plaza). It's not the flashest looking place, in fact it looks a tad dodgy; however, the results were fantastic. If you don't live near Lane Cove then most good nail salons should offer Shellac.

Have you Shellac'd? If so, what were your thoughts on it? Do you have an awesome salon you can recommend?

Bloom Leap Day sale: 40% off between 9.00-11.00am

Another top Australian company having a Leap Day sale is Bloom Cosmetics. The image below will have all the codes you need to get your massive discounts!

Bloom products are gorgeous. I have been using them on and off since they first hit Myers (back when they used to sell candle and soap making kits!) but I particularly love their nail polishes (previous reviewed here). They are such good quality and the have an amazing array of colours - over 80 - so, at nearly half price now is a great time to stock up. But get in quick - the 40% discount is only until 11.00am, then it drops to 30% (still a bargain though!).

I have now told you about 2 Leap day sales - Bloom and Pod Puraceuticals. If I come across any more I'll make sure to update here ASAP!


I have no affiliation with Bloom and received no remuneration for my comments.

Pod Puraceuticals: BOGOF Leap Day sale

There are a few great sales happening today to celebrate Leap Day so I thought I'd try and bring them all to you.

Lets start with Pod Puraceuticals - they are having a BOGOF sale (buy one get one free) on their entire range (while stocks last). Just add two of the same product to your shopping cart and the second product will be free.

If you haven't heard about Pod, they are an Australian owned and made range that specialises in all natural products. Their products are absolutely divine. The smell amazing (which you know is so important to me) and, even better, they really work.

My personal favourite from their range is their cleanser - the liquid detox which smells out of this world, is so gentle, yet is really effective in keeping my skin clean, without stripping it. It comes in a 150ml pump pack, which lasted me close to a year (using it 4-5 times a week).

Today is the perfect day to discover their range, if you haven't done so already, as you get twice the amount of products for your buck!

Plus, they have free shipping! Bonus!

Check out the Pod Puraceuticals range on their website.


I have no affiliation with Pod and received no remuneration for my comments.

Sephora Australia rumour...

I have just returned from my trip to Hawaii (hence going AWOL again!) and before I get into my haul posts there is something else I need to tell you. I might have some exciting news, though could possibly be just spreading another rumour that may actually never eventuate (I hope not). When I was in Sephora for the second or third time (I managed to squeeze in 3 visits in about 4 days though did not get an especially impressive haul as my beauty stash at home is bordering on ridiculous!), I was whinging to the sales assistant that there were so many great brands in here that I just couldn't get back home and that Sephora won't ship to Australia. She then told me that she had heard a rumour that Sephora would be opening a store in either Sydney (I hope so!) or Melbourne by the end of the year and that once a store does open it will mean that you will then be able to order online Australia wide. Admittedly the prices we will be paying will be Australian prices which I suspect won't be as pleasing on the wallet as American prices; however, I am mostly excited about getting access to brands such as Urban Decay, Make Up For Ever and easier access to Philosophy.

I don't know how much to believe about this rumour - I mean, would this sales assistant really have inside information into Sephora's expansion plans? We can always live in hope, can't we.


If the Sephora rumours are true, what is the first product that you would purchase when it lands Down Under?