remember to slip slop slap..

the good ol' saying of slip slop slap.. slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat. with spring beginning on thursday and getting closer to summer, i think its time for a reminder on sun protection..

oh, there is also. seek some shade and slide on some sunnies. that must be a new part.. anyway, moving on.

Don’t leave home without sunscreen, you can have skin damage from walking to the car in the morning. UV rays are there everyday even if it’s cloudy and those are the sorts of days your face or other exposing areas of your body can be really damaged. Use a foundation with sunscreen in it, or better yet use sunscreen underneath your face primer and foundation. Make sure that if you’re going into water that you use a water resistant sunscreen; also try to find a sunscreen which suits your skin type such as a oil free sunscreen for oily skin.

When you apply sunscreen, make sure you have applied it 20 to 30 minutes before you allowing exposure to the sun and before going into water. If you have fair skin, you may want to prepare yourself the night before by applying a layer of sunscreen. Don’t forget important areas such as ears, nose, feet, hands, hairline and lips.

Due to the level of damage that Australian Sun gives, it is recommended to start using anti-ageing creams earlier than normally suggested. Start using an eye cream from the age of 21 and if you spot fine lines appearing on your skin, start applying enriched products immediately to prevent further damage.

There is also sun protection pill, which is an antioxidant supplement as research shows that these significantly reduced UVA-related damage that leads to wrinkling and brown spots. This however does not replace sunscreen.

Layer you lips with a SPF balm that will guard your lips against thinning, dryness and sun spots as they lack a protective outer layer, so they are incredibly sensitive to UV rays.

As well as ensuring that you either wear a hat or use a spray sunscreen on the top of your head, comb a regular sunscreen through your strands to protect your hair from the chlorine and salt water that can strip your colour and dry out your hair.

pop of colour

i was a tad bored yesterday so i decided to try a make up that someone else has done and see how mine has turned out. i'm not sure of the artist as i found this years ago when msn spaces were all the rage. oh those were the days. but the picture on the right is me and the make up i did. pretty cool huh? i love it.

prep yourself for summer.

There is a lot of tasks that we need to get our heads around before summer, so as winter starts to fade it’s time to prep your body for the summer days. Ensure you look your best by following simple steps.
Besides using exfoliating gloves which I recommend should be used regularly in the shower, add a body scrub in your routine. Either go to a spa to have one or purchase/make your own to use at home. To mix up your own, use sea salt (or even table salt if you prefer a less abrasive scrub) mix with either an oil or body butter and add a couple drops of your favourite essential oils. I like orange, lime, tanergine or lemon for an uplifting effect. The oil or body butter used will help to get rid of that dry scaly skin that you’ve developed over winter.

As much as we love a tan, we know the damage of UV rays that cause premature aging and cancer. And instead of heading to the salon for a spray tan weekly, research a good spray tanning mist product to give you that summer glove. And most don’t leave you orange if something goes wrong, just browner than normal.

The most hated part of preparing yourself for summer is toning up for body, you can use toning gel or you can actually get out there and do it. You’ll feel better for it too! Work on your stomach, arms, legs and glutes muscles, do regular toning exercises each day for a couple minutes and you’ll be looking great by summer time.

Start looking after you feet, head to a nail bar to get your feet looking fantastic and start using a foot scrub at home. Get a minty scrub to use in the shower and then once your jump out of the shower, before you dry your feet use a pedi-paddle on the heel of your foot, side of big toe and top corner of the foot to soften any rough spots.

Invest in a good sunscreen and tinted moisturizer that has at least SPF 15+ and don’t leave the house without it. Sun protection is a very important part of looking after your skin and ensuring that you’re going to look your best over the years. Always remember to use a waterproof sunscreen if you’re going for a swim or heading to the gym.

Look in to hair removal, cause we all know that shaving isn’t the best option. Whether your prefer waxing, laser or epilators: get onto it so that you are hair free for summer and to get into that bikini.

Only 100 days to summer, get ready girls!

coffee in your hair & avocado + oatmeal clay mask

So today i thought i would try a little experiment, one of which ive seen on the internet and thought i would put it to the test. now, according to a website brewing up 2 strong cups of coffee and pouring it over your hair once you have shampooed and rinsed, darken the hue of brunette hair. and im always hating on the lights bits in my hair but i wont dye it cause i want it all back to my natural colour. (yeap, im slowly getting there) anyway, conducted the experiment with pictures and all. starting off with my dry hair before anything happened.

ignore how messy my hair is, i did brush it but it was up in a bun so wasn't gonna work unless i wet it and i didnt wanna do that just yet. in the image you can see the lighter sections of my hair where i use to have blonde hair (and just nevermind about that, horrible idea. -_- ) and they just annoy me, hence the experiment. secondly, an image of my hair wet before the coffee.

again even though my hair is wet and therefore looks darker, you can see bit of highlights and it overall looks lighter. then well i jumped in the shower. shampoo my hair as normal, rinse out the shampoo and pour the coffee over my hair. and let me stay, you defiantely have to do this in the shower such a messy idea, there was coffee everywhere. normally you would tie up your hair and cover it with a shower cap but i do not own any shower caps so i hopped out of the shower, tied up my hair and wrap a dark towel around my hair. i also used this time to put an avocado & oatmeal face mask on, which ill talk about later.

i know, i look so attractive in this picture. it makes me LOL. waited around 10 minutes, probably more and jumped back into the shower. rinse off the mask and the coffee out of my hair which by now was smelling quite like coffee. then conditioned my hair as normal and made sure all that was rinsed out. towel dryer my hair and giving it a brush and with my hair still wet it came out with this result.

and then i looked back at the wet hair before and i was like it does look like the highlights are gone but this could be due to the lighting or maybe my hair was a bit wetter, i dont really know. i wasn't going to get too excited just yet. then i had to wait a while cause i waited for my hair to dry naturally. once it was dry, we had this result.

i think the results may look different cause of the lighting change as there was 2 hours between each photo. and i had product in my before picture. i do believe it darken a little bit from the two wet hair pictures but you can't see that in the after photo, but make your own decision i guess. im a bit bummed it didnt work out better. now that avocado & oatmeal face mask i used was a mask ive had for a while before i knew much about what's good for the skin and what's not. The freeman clay mask is meant to purge pores, firm and smoothe your skin. and afterwards i felt my skin was defiantely smoother though i did feeling a bit of tingling when it was on my face (could just be my own skin)

that was my thought before i read a review from someone else and they found that it tingle around the sides of nose and some parts of the face (so im normal, phew) and its best to let it dry completely, i only left it on for 10 minutes and it wasn't completely dry but i was running out of time. and it has known to be good to dab on a blemish overnight (but not the whole name) and do this for a couple nights and bye bye blemish. so therefore i would recommend this face mask to those with clogged pores and oily skin, though if you have dry skin i would avoid it as it could excessively dry your skin. stay away from clay mask in general, they're made for those with oily skin. but i would recommend you make your own choice on the coffee to darken hue of brunette, im going to keep trying to often to see if the result improve at all and if they do ill be posting about it. if i never do, well you know why ;) oh and aussie aussie aussie oui oui oui. just the shirt i decided to wear.

another lot of recent make up

occassion: evening make up (though i wore it the next day as well)
model: myself
colours: light blues to match a light blue shirt that i was wear and kept the rest of the face simple by only applying a light blush and light gloss. thicken the lashes to ensure the blues didn't cause the face to look sick.

occassion: college
model: myself
colours: grey to white c curve and bringing out the boldness through the rip lips though the eyes are quite dramatic as well due to mascara and eyeliner.

occassion: interview
model: myself
colours: browns for a basic look and the lipstick that i use quite often: jewels 'n berries by maybelline. brown shadow patalette was from the cleo magazine.

occassion: interview
model: myself
colours: used rosy pinks to match rose colour in flower piece, using jewels 'n berries lipstick to match the rosy appeal, achieve an innocence happy look

occassion: college
model: myself
colours: played with the nail polish colour, follow the new trend of one different nail. red nails and one gold, completing with red lips and a golden c curve on the eyes with a flick of eyeliner.

occassion: evening make for world skills beauty competition

model: bec.

colours: focused on using aqua greens as i thought the colour looked quite nice on her due to her eye colour and dyed red hair. 3 false lashes on the corner on her eyes to open up the eyes and a light pink gloss used.

occassion: evening make up
model: myself
colours: purple tends to bring out any eye colour, hence why i chose to use it. a purple c curve, with the added extra of false lashes with diamonds on the lash band and again the jewels 'n berries lipstick.

Coenzyme Q10

I had a client at college ask me about Q10 and I didn't know much about it, so i thought i would do some research and here's what I found.

What does Coenzyme Q10 do for your skin? Is it helpful at all? How often should it be used? Have people seen results from continuous use of the product?

CoQ10 is found in all skins but it depletes with age, which is due to free radicals, UV rays and the aging we can’t stop. The CoQ10 is an antioxidant which helps neutralize harmful free radicals (such as pollution in the air, smoking, alcohol, UV rays, etc) When your skin has low levels of CoQ10, it can be more prone to free radical damage therefore producing premature aging.

There are 5 ways in which CoQ10 can benefit your skin. Firstly, it energizes your skin and this energy is needed to repair your skin and make sure the skin cells are healthy. Secondly, it protects against photo aging (over exposed of UV rays) as the sun is known as the fastest skin ager. Thirdly, it rejuvenates skin by stimulating skin cell activity which will rid of toxins in the skin. This process slows down as you get older. Fourthly, it stimulates collagen production which is needed due to the loss of collagen causing wrinkles and leathery skin. Fifthly, it is an antioxidant as I mentioned before protecting against free radicals which causes premature aging

A German researcher conducted a study in 1999 and reported that long time use reduced the crows feet around the eyes. Tiny particles of CoQ10 can be added to facial lotions and night creams, look for Coenzyme Q10 on the back of products which looking for a lotion or night cream. But always remember that a big factor in aging is the sun so protect your skin from the sun everyday but applying sunscreen to your face and exposed areas and reapplying throughout the day.

just a reminder

Just a reminder that the secret to healthly skin is daily care, and as much as we are all forgetting and just can't be bothered. It should be done every day, every morning and every night.

In the morning, you still need to cleanse your face even if you haven't had anything on your face overnight. Your body heels overnight and therefore it expells toxins out of the skin which will be on the surface and they need to be cleaned away. You should also use eye cream in the morning as well as at night time to keep them hydrated. To protect your skin throughout the day, apply an antioxidant cream and sunscreen. The importance of applying sunscreen on exposed areas (evening in winter) is very high, as UV rays are the main cause of aging and of course, skin cancer. Then, lastly a moisturiser which suits your skin type but remember to let the sunscreen dry before applying the moisturiser as if they are applied together than the SPF is cut in half and not as protective.

At night, you should cleanse your face twice. First time to cleanse off the make up on your face and secondly to cleanse any purities off your face. Apply your eye cream and if you are at an age when you should be using an anti aging cream (it's best to start at 25 in Australian climate, 35 elsewhere) apply that. Follow by a night cream or your normal moisturiser, the choice is up to each individual.

Another important part of skin care is to exfoliate regularly, and to use a mask. You should exfoliate twice a week (try the middle and the end) and then apply a mask once a week after you exfoliate (at the end of the week).

Also, if you can afford (sadly, not everyone can) try to have a monthly facial just for maintance. The machinery they use in a facial works better than cleansing your face yourself. Often Student Day Spas are cheaper than a normal Day Spa. The cost of a basic facial can be from $30 to $150 depending on the products used in a facial and what you have done. I would also recommend going to a salon to find out which products suit your skin type and find out how to suit any skin conditions you have (weak skin, acne, pigmentation, etc)