Support Liptember with Smacking Lips

It's September again, which means it's also Liptember month. If you haven't heard of Liptember before, it's a campaign that is all about raising awareness and funds for women's mental health issues in Australia.

Mental health issues is very much a hidden problem in our society and many affected people and their family can struggle without the right support. Moreover, there are no gender specific health programs and very limited medical research on Women's mental health issues. The effects of mental health is not just a strain on the sufferers, but it can also be crippling on their families and friends so every bit of support they can get is

To help combat this and provide support programs, a group of like-minded people to formed Liptember to provide a gateway for much needed support and research on the lifestyle choices and health issues to Australia women.

Where will the funds raised go to?
All proceeds will go towards:

• Centre for Womens' Mental Health, a non-profit body who provides national research and programs for gender specific mental health issues for woman
• Lifeline - a 24hour criris support service that connects Australian with trained volunteers to provide emotional support anytime, anywhere. 

How to get involved? 
Well you can in a few easy options.

1. You can sign yourself up (either as n indvidual or as a group) as a Liptember fundraiser and get starting with canvassing for donations.  
2. Make a donation directly to the Liptember foundation and/or by sponsoring a Liptember fundraiser
3. Buy a Liptember lipbalm (RRP A$10) by Burts Bee at any Myer or Lorna Jane store national wide. This is a light rose tinted balm with a light berry scent that feels smooth and hydrating on lips and keeps them smooth for hours will imparting a hint of colour to your lip. 

The Liptember shade (rose) and badge

 I've got my my donation sorted and my liptember lipbalm in my bag this month and would greatly appreciate anyone else there who is able to help progress this cause and help a sista out!

It's over to you now to help make a difference. Remember small gestures amount to great things.

Salon Melbourne 2012: Hair & Beauty Expo

In Australia, there are 2 major beauty events in the yearly calendar. Sydney has IMATS (International Makeup Artists Trade Show) and Melbourne has Salon Melbourne.

Inspiring hair creations

Salon Melbourne is a hair and beauty expo showcasing the latest products, technologies, hottest trends and talent and live demonstrations by industry experts.

This year the event was held back on the weekend of March 28-29 atthe Melbourne Convention Centre. This expo geared towards salon operators, professionals and students alike and has a plethora of hair styling information, and products for sale, from the latest manicure and waxing tools, spa equipments to a great array of cosmetics and beauty tools.

The place is great to pick up hair inspirations, see the prestigious Hair Expo Awards Finalists gallery of their creative inspirations.

Finalists of the Hair Expo award

I was provided a media pass and was able to see first-hand the hustle and bustle that was the expo of Salon Melbourne.

The displays were plentiful, the offerings vast. It was literally candy-land for any salon fanatic. 

airbrush makeup demonstration

Vani-T lipsticks

more Vani-T lip products

The best things about these exhibitions is the inspirations you get from it, being able to talk to so many like minded individuals and experts in the field and of course the trade prices on the products for sale. Yes, OPI products for half the RRP at the expo and there were Orly and Shellac nail colours in every colour ever invented for sale.

Hair styling products!

Next year, Salon Melbourne will be held on April 14-15th. It's a must-see for anyone working in the beauty industry and I highly recommend anyone who qualifies for registration to do so now so they don't miss it. The event is free for trade attendees (salon owners) and students.

I definitely look forward to visiting again to see next year's trends and new products.

November Highlights

I’ve decided to start a monthly series in which I showcase the highlights of the previous month. This could be events I’ve attended, products that deserve accolades with a sprinkle of any personal highlights I think worth mentioning.

For the inaugural post of this series, it's only fitting that we start with a beautiful and special event that is dear to me - MBBE 2011. 

MBBE 2011
The Melbourne Beauty Blogging community is a cosy one. We ladies we have met at last year’s MBBE are like family and quite a few of us catch up regularly for lunches, dinner and ‘on the job’ at various events. So when this year’s MBBE gathering came around, it was like another little sorority meeting where we caught up with each other’s lives, work and chatted about our latest beauty favourites (this time it was BB creams).

All this against the beautiful backdrop at Miss Fox – a chic and vintage inspired salon that provides impeccable manicures, luxurious spa experiences and every beauty services in between.

We were given the warmest hospitality by Victoria, the owner and hostess of the event, providing us with refreshing PIMMs cocktail and delectable cupcakes as well as pampering with mini hand massages, manicures with Zoya polishes and mini make overs.

The highlight of the afternoon was a keynote speech by Kate Morris, Founder of Adorebeauty online beauty store and winner of the 2011 Telstra Business Women’s Awards. It was inspiring to hear how her perseverance in dealing with numerous rejections from brands that Ms Morris contacted and wanted to represent online who just wasn’t interested which made her more determined than ever and now many of these big brands are embracing the online era and joining her legions of brands representations at Adorebeauty.

Afterwards, there was a quiz with prizes to be won from Garnier, Guinot, Illamasqua, Endota, Avon and GlossyBox for the smart cookies who manged to get the most answers correct. That quiz was probably as difficult as the most recent CAPM exam I sat for (being unprepared didn't help). 

There was even an award presentation for Jacie for her Online Beauty Writer of the year from Beauty Directory presented by Kimmi of The Plastic Diaries. We were proud as punch and it was as good as winning the award ourselves to have one of our MBBE receive such high accolades.

As always with such events, literally thousands of photos were taken. I thought instead of posting it all up, I'll create a slideshow with my favourite photos to share with you. The music can be switched off if you prefer.



Valerie from Ponikuta must be thanked and congratulated for bringing the new and old MBBE gang together and organising such an amazing event this year. She is the woman who made MBBE a reality and runs around tirelessly for months to plan and co-ordinate activities and sponsorships and made the day such a fabulous success!

P.S - for those of you interested, I didn't end up wearing those pretty red pumps, the beautiful warm day called for a pair of red-hot sandals instead.

The majority of the photos in the slideshow are credited to Brendan Cook, who was our official photographer of the day.

Oscar Oscar Salon

Mid November saw a breakfast champagne event on a bright and early Sunday morning at Oscar Oscar Chadstone hair salon, home of leading hair styling artists and the talented Jackie Chan who works magical kung-fu equivalent of hair styling wonders as seen first hand by yours truly on the day.

We were given some brand overview and product information on Aveda Hair products whose premise is to combine art and science to infuse plant extracts and flower essences into professional and high performing hair care and styling products.

We also learnt lots of tips and techniques watching Jackie re-create the low side ponytail and a sleek half-upstyle that was all the rage at the recent runways (the trick is to use a rubber band, but instead of tieing with it, you secure one end of it to your hair with a bobby pin, then wrap the rubber band tightly around the pony tail,take a strand of hair and wrap it over the rubber band to hide it and secure the other end with another bobby pin).

We even had a mini makeover afterwards provided by the entire talented Oscar Oscar team. I managed to have Jackie worked the Cloud Nine styler on me to give my hair soft waves and I had some backcombing action at the back of the crown to create the Barbrarella big hair look.

Fast fact: did you know Cloud Nine is develope by the original makers of GHD, who then sold off the technology off and went to further develop and innovate with the Cloud Nine?



I learnt so much at the session that day and truly appreciated having the advice of a great hairstylist who can give you a great cut to make your hair work with you rather than against. If only Chadstone wasn’t so far out of the way for me, I’d be paying Jackie very regular visits.



Clinique Event
The end of November saw Clinique host its first Melbourne blogger event and some of the MBBE gang again got to catch up during the mid-week soiree over hors d'oeuvres, champagne and drinks and hear from the beautiful Alexis and Miranda gving us the low down on the Clinique story and sneak peeks of some upcoming releases (look out for growing additions in the Even Better product family line and a mascara exchange program next February).


(Be sure to hover over the pictures whilst the slide show plays if you are interested in reading the title or commentary of the photos)

With the business side of the event out of the way, we had a make up demonstration by the talented Courtney with IT Girl 2011 Melanie being the model of the evening to showcase a simple yet sophisticated look using products from the upcoming Black Honey collection.

We also had a skin consultation with the wonderful Clinique ladies and then continued the socialising where conversation topics moved from dodgy hair stylists to more BB creams and plastic discussions. The talk was so riveting and the hospitality so warm, we didn’t even realised time had flown and it was 10pm when we wrapped up. I was definitely trying to hide my worse-than-usual dark-circles and bleary eyes the next morning at work!

And Finally...
Being such a whirlwind month, I was glad to finally close November off. It had been hectic at work and having family from overseas visiting for 3 weeks and then going interstate for a wedding threw me completely off my regular routines.

Bring on the party season of December and the quieter family time that the festive season brings as we head towards the close of yet another year.

I wrap today's post up with one of my favourite photos taken whilst taking the relatives around the Great Ocean Road on our way to the Twelve Apostles. I just love the broody ominous-looking sky.

Beauty Beats at David Jones this Friday

Got a hot date or a Christmas party to hit this Friday night? Wanna get glammed up for 30 minutes for $30 and be served with drinks and refreshments to kick off your evening and then receive a goodie bag afterwards? Not only that, the $30 is redeemable on any purchase you make at the night after your makeover?

If this sounds like something you need, then you should act quick to secure a booking with David Jones Beauty beat for December 16th.

Participating counters that evening include MAC, Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, Clinique and Aveda Hair counters.

In fact, you might even catch me at the Bourke St Clinique counter getting my face done :)

This is what you can expect from each counter on the evening:

Clinique
Let Clinique give you the 'ooh and ahh' It Girl look. A 30 minute makeover will cover all bases with flawless foundation, perfect pout and attention grabbing eyes. Move from day to night in style like an It Girl should.

M.A.C
Join us at the M.A.C Counter for a make-up and lash application. The application will focus on one key feature of your face to add to and enhance your current look. Lashes must be purchased or redeemable as part of the offer.

Bobbi Brown
Pretty Powerful Instant Makeup in 30-minute. The Pretty Powerful Instant Makeup combines two of Bobbi's most popular makeup lessons that teach women how to freshen up their look using Bobbi's tricks of the trade whilst creating a customised beauty routine for each individual.

Estee Lauder
Visit the Estee Lauder Counter for your 30-minute makeover and take the Doublewear challenge. You won't need to retouch no matter how hard you party.

Aveda (Elizabeth street only)
Enjoy a full service blow dry including a sensory journey for the special price of $30, usually valued from $55. Your $30 is redeemable on a future service the next time you need another blowwave.

Beauty Beats is only avaiable at David Jones Elisabeth Street (02) 9266 5544, Bourke St Mall (03) 9643 2222, and Queens Plaza (07) 3243 9000. Book now by calling the respective stores.

My Swishing Pantene Aqua Light TVC

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I went up to Sydney last month for a Pantene Aqua Light hair treatment and blow dry at the chic Barney Martin Hair Studio in Surrey Hill.

What I didn't mentioned last time was that after my blow drys, along with fellow bloggers Valerie and Tine, we were given the opportunity to make our own hair swishing TV commercial for Pantene's latest offering - Aqua Light.

Yours truly, Valerie and Tine

I've always envied the girls with their beautiful hair that who are able look absolutely stunning when they swirl their heads and their amazing head of glossy manes so jumped at the opportunity to make my own commercial and look anywhere near as graceful as those TV beauties.

To get us all into the mood, Barney donned on a pretty wig and gave us a swishing demonstration himself.

Barney looking HOT with his swishing wig

Now thankfully we weren't making the official commercials because I have no such talents in front of the screen, but it was great fun to shoot the scenes and come back a nice little personal momento that I'm sure will give many chuckle in years to come when looking back at the all-too-hilarious footage.

shooting the TVC

Most importantly, I had a ball making the commercial and got a taste of what it like to do multiple takes of the same shoot to get the perfect shot (it is hard work I tell you - I have new-found respect for all the models and actors out there!).

So here it is - the fruits of my labour. Just don't mind my contorted facial expressions - I could never keep a straight face when I was being told to swing my heads from one end to another with the hair plastering all over my face.

I hope you enjoy this little comical TVC of mine. Just don't just laugh too hard - I had my mum laughed her head off when I showed this to her the first time this week.

You can also check out my fellow beauty bloggers Tine and Valerie's Pantene TVC on their blogs.

Finally, don't forget to enter the Pantene Make a Swish competition currently running to make your very own TVC and win an amazing cash prize.

Additional photos courtesy of Saunders & Co.

Halloween Ghoulish Fun

It's Halloween time again!

Over the past 2 years, Halloween has really caught on in Australia and this weekend, I've been invited to not one but two Halloween parties!  I've never been to a halloween party before and now wished I paid more attention to the stage makeup demonstrations at IMATS to pick up some more tips and tricks on how to make look very (un)dead. 

I've bought my fake blood, fangs, cape and am ready for some ghoulish fun. I did a very quick practice run of the makeup late last night to check the overall look. I need to tweak the colours a bit more but I think I'm almost there. 

Here's a sneak peek of the unfinished look (no fangs or fully defined eye makeup yet) complete with some gory blood for good measure.

If you are interested in a look breakdown, just let me know in the comments and I'll update the post later with my completed look and the makeup used.

I hope everyone is having a bewitching weekend and have some tricking and treating fun! 

An ABBW Wrap

Today there are a growing number of beauty bloggers bursting in the web sphere, each with their own voice and thoughts. Despite all this, they are all quite fragmented, spread across the vast country and working independently - in their own time and using their own resources with some bloggers working with PR whilst others do not.

At the same time, marketers and brands are unsure of how to approach since there are no established protocols and it’s a relatively new frontier for many in the industry. 

Jacie Galpin from You’ve Got Nails & Kimberely Nissen from The Plastic Diaries are no stranger to the industry, having their own successful and effective online blog platforms to dish out their views on the latest array of nail shades, hair products and skin lotions and creams.

Having established relations in the traditional Public Relations and marketing industry, they decided to tap into their network and expertise to create an avenue to bring the largely dispersed beauty blogging community together and provide the link for writer and PR to get to meet and learn more about each other. 

Jacie & Kimmi

The result was the country’s first national beauty blogger event. 

Endearing known as ABBW, the Australian Beauty Bloggers' Weekend held on 24th-25th September was the culmination of months of planning and precision organisation that spanned across sponsors from various PR companies and brand representatives as well as media personnel in the digital media space. It gave 85 beauty bloggers across the country a money can't buy opportunity (it was a registration-only free event) to network and learn first-hand more about this fast evolving industry. 

IMATS displays*

The Official events started on Saturday morning with registration at the Novetel (there was also pre-registration the evening before) and saw each registrant gifted with goodie bags from generous majors sponsors Dove, Australis, Garnier and a host of iconic brands to welcome us onboard.

To kick everything off, all beauty bloggers were provided VIP passes to the International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) and allowed to roam free for four hours where they were treated to amazing demonstrations of theatrical artistic talents, keynote speakers from the makeup artistry world including Nepolean Perdis and Elessa Vavon of Pursebuzz, glorious displays of makeup from Inglot, Makeup Forever, MAC, SLA, Crown and Royal Laneige brushes. 

You’d think that the goodie bags would have already satiated all my beauty needs, but in the face of so many glorious colours and beauty products, I lost my self restraint and proceeded to burn a great hole in my bank balance with purchases of the highly acclaimed Hakuhodo brushes, Inglot freedom palette system, and various other makeup items. 

Mac Pro and Hakuhodo exhibits, selecting Inglot eyeshadows and manicure station*

In following the VIP theme, there was a Royal & Langnicke rest station set up especially for the beauty bloggers where light refreshments were served, manicures offered and makeup refreshed. There was even an eco-friendly gift to see us off to the next scheduled event. 

with Eleanor, BD discussion table, BD panel with Jackie, Eleanor and Kimmi*

The afternoon procession could only be described as invaluably enlightening and insightful with a panel consisting of InStyle Beauty Editor Eleanor Pendleton, Beauty Directory’s Founder Jackie Maxted, and our very own Kimberley Nisssen of The Plastic Diaries sharing with us the etiquettes and expectations of working with PR. We were then invited to share with the Beauty Directory staff our own expectations and needs when working with PR and brands.

After learning all this, we were able to put our networking skills and newly acquired knowledge to practice with brands representatives from the Purist Company, Trishave and nature's botox-alternative Lapurete. Here we learnt more about each brands and were then able to sample some of their core products.

Bottega Veneta; Burts Bees offerings, Nivea Men products

Things then kicked up another notched in the evening at Swanky Establishment hotel where we were treated with a showcase of the latest offerings from Orly GelFX, Coty fragrances including Balenciagia L’Essence, CK Euphoria, CK One Shock, Bottega Veneta's maiden namesake fragrance as well as old and new favourites from Nivea, Burts Bees, Remington and professional hair care Sebastian.

Balenciagia L'essence, CK Euphoria and CK One Shock pour Homme & Femme

It was also an opportunity for me to sneak in quick one-on-one chats with Debbie Sheikman from Beauty Heaven and the various brands’ expert team members who served up some great beauty tips and advice.

Hair and nail services at the Maxted-Thomas Gala; Jacie & Kimmi; Ian Thomas *

The product showcase was then followed by a scrumptious three-course dinner hosted by Ian Thomas, director of Maxted-Thomas PR, which really was the royal icing on the cake before the long day came to an official close.

Sunday morning saw us treated with a light breakfast before a presentation from Alpha-H's Michelle Doherty where we learnt about the wonders of glycolic acid and how a three month skin perfecting system will deliver smoothed, refined skin. Things got interactive after that with a hands on master class hosted by Face of Australia’s Tina Henry where we tried to perfect the art of contouring.

Michelle - Alpha H founder and Liquid Gold* , Face of Australia Masterclass*

The final event in the afternoon was possibly the most polarising one with ABBW trending tweets as Bahar Etminan from Rescu walked us through her journey on building up the Rescu brand and how one could go about monetising their site. Despite the differing views on whether bloggers should be blogging for money or love, all bloggers would agree that today, we are gaining more authority in the online space and our influences on consumer decision making is greater than ever before.

Bahar Etminan; fellow beauty bloggers; MBBE with Kimmi 

When I walked away from my 2-day whirlwind event and headed towards the airport, my head was light, my heart inspired and my luggage much heavier. There were key learnings I took home when I boarded the plane back to Melbourne that I think is worth sharing.

• Bloggers and PRs alike are still learning about each other and how to work better together. Unlike traditional editorial, this is uncharted territory so the rules are being invented along the journey.
• There is no other golden opportunity like now for bloggers to have a voice in the industry as the beauty blogging market in the country flourishes and set to ride the wave of authority.
• Professionalism is important. It doesn't matter whether your blog is a business or a hobby, manners and respect along with common sense will take you far.
• We all have the responsibility to maintain the integrity of beauty blogging. Invest in yourself as a brand and sell everything about it but don’t sell out.
• The meeting of so many like-minded individuals who are as passionate about beauty is not only inspiring but also very humbling. There is so much to learn from each other and the friendship built will only create a better blogging community.
• Nothing beats a good old fashion meet and greet. Being able to put faces to names for fellow blogger who I've known over the past year and PRs who I've only previously had online interactions with is like finding long lost friends.
• Don’t underestimate the generosity of sponsors when attending a beauty blogging event. Make sure there are no less than 20kg of checked in luggage if you are an interstate travellers as I found out the hard way but luckily I managed to dodge a 4 kg over-limit fine.

With such a successful inaugural event, I have no doubt that next year's ABBW will be even more amazing. My heartfelt thanks for the two extraordinary ladies for bringing us together for the weekend. We beauty bloggers now have an annual national event to look forward to!

some of the goodie bags and purchases from IMATS

This post contains photos marked * in collages that were taken by the official photographer for the ABBW event Liz Giacco. These photos are not to be reproduced, republished or reused without inclusion of this credit. Images remain the property of The Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend.

Illamasqua: Theatre of the Nameless

Last week, I was invited to Illamasqua's Theatre of the Nameless Melbourne launch where we were treated with a makeup transformation demonstration that allowed us to learn more about the colours in the collection.

This latest collection is inspired by the heady and pleasuring frenzies of the underworld subculture in 1920s Berlin where exotic dancers and exhibitionists come out to play at night. 

It was also there that we learned of Wittenberg Platz's dominatrix Boot Girls and how the different colour boots and laces worn by each girl represented an S&M service that each lady specialised in (curiousity got the better of me and I did do some more research later on it - if you are interested, head over to Cabinet magazine's overview on it)..   

One of the looks for the Theatre of the Nameless collection

The colours are bold and vibrant, the shades daring and edgy - all great representations of its hedonistic and theatrical inspirations.

The collection includes

• Pure pigments in Xeitgeist (deep black shimmer), Beguile (light shimmer) which I dubbed 'fairy dust', and Berber (auburn shimmer) - A$39
• Cream pigment in Androgen (coral) and Depravity (magenta) - A$44
• Shimmer blusher in Ambition (neutral taupe), and Morale (flushed rose) - A$42
• Lipstick in Kontrol (blue violet) - A$39
• Intense lip gloss in Facade (grey pink) and sheer lip gloss Violate (dark green shimmer) - A$33
• Mascara in Raven (midnight black) - A$40
• Precision ink in Havoc (aubergine) - A$43.50
• Nail Varnish in Kink (bottle green), Vice (deep cerise, Faux Pas (blue violet) and Taint (cool stone green) - A$34
• False lashes in  (dramatic thick and tapered) and Weimar (blackened auburn lashes) - A$36

The collection

Back to the event, the wonderful MBBE do what we do best- chitter and chatter while we wait for the demonstration to start. 

MBBE ladies Mel, Jacie, Ling, Celina and Tine (photo credit: Val)

Then the lovely Violet was transformed on the night using the colours from the collection. She looked stunning don't you think? 

Violet's transformation

Mandi with her Boot Girl inspired coloured nails - these polishes have a satin rubberised texture. 

We were also gifted a little goodie bag afterwards. My booty contained the nail polish in Taint and lipstick in Resist (which isn't part of the new collection). I'll be reviewing  Resist soon. 

Many thanks for Mandi and Illamasqua for a great evening of fun with my favourite girls. 

All Theatre of the Nameless products are available at Illamasqua now.

I'm going to ABBW & IMATS!

As most of you have seen from the badge on the right of my blog, I'll be heading up to Sydney next month (24th-25th September) for the inaugural Australian Beauty Blogger's Weekend aka ABBW. I've booked my flights and accommodation and am now on the hunt for a killer dress, I even have friends coming up with me so we can have the best of times - can you tell my excitement for this event??

It got even more exciting for me when I found out that IMATS which is also running on the same weekend at the Sydney Convention Centre has generously sponsored for all 85 perfectly primped and polished ladies crazy squealing and giddy bloggers to visit on IMATS on Saturday and I have even scored a session to hear the keynote presentation by maestro MUA Napolean Perdis that afternoon.

Yep, I'm that overwhelmed, I may just become a blubbering mess when I get to meet the maestro and one of my beauty blogger idol Elessa from Pursebuzz in the flesh.

What is even more exciting is the inordinate number of exhibitors in IMATS this year, including MAC for the first time in the Australian exhibition. But the most exciting thing for me is getting my hands on some Hakuhodo brushes (you all know what a brush junkie I am)!

Hakuhodo - the ultimate makeup brushes

The good news is that you don't need to be in the beauty industry or a blogger to attend IMATS. In fact, it's actually open to the pubic so any beauty addict can come and see all that there is on offer over the 2-day exhibit. Tickets are A$40 for either day or A$65 for entry for both days.

So tell me readers, will you be joining me at IMATS this year? 

Kit Cosmetics Viva La Color Makeover

Last week I had the pleasure of experiencing a colourful makeover at Kit Cosmetics Myer to celebrate the launch of the fiesta inspired range of Viva La Color collection (previewed here).

My makeup artist for the day was Ciara and she made me feel right at home as soon as I sat down, making sure that I had a mineral water on hand and proceeded to cleanse my face of the day's grease and makeup and put on the latest Super skincare range from Perricone to prep, nourish and protect my skin.

Ciara explained all benefits of the products she used on me in the Super range, which comes packed with power anti-oxidants of Acai, melon, and watercress.

Super range by Perricone used to prep my skin

After skincare came the makeup, the latest Kit mineral liquid foundation was used for a even flawless canvas with its self priming property and as I wanted to learn how to have killer cheekbones, she worked on giving me a contoured cheek using the Smashbox contouring kit.

The Smashbox contouring kit ($65.95) is a trio of contour bronzer and highlighter to give depth and shadows in all the right areas of the face for that chiselled look.

This was then finished off with eye liner, mascara then the vivala color lipstick in Freedom Fighter (swatch of that up tomorrow). I instantly fell in love with this fiercely vibrant coral pink hue and was over the moon when it was included into my take home kit along with the liquid mineral foundation.

Makeup used for my look

After the makeover with Ciara

I also took the opportunity while I was at the Kit counter to pick up Soap and Glory's Heel Genius in the hope that will transform my rough dry horse hooves into smooth kissable heels. Stay tune for review of that soon!

A special thanks to the wonderful ladies at EG PR for organising this makeover for me.

Bloom Lip Balms with a Boost

Have you seen Bloom's latest creativity boost?

Yep they've outdone themselves by teaming up with tutty fruity Boost Juice and come up with 6 fabulous naturally fruity flavoured lip balms that is good enough to eat (but don't go licking your lips too much with it on - you'll dry them out).

With flavours such as Strawberry Squeeze, Mango Tango, Banana Buzz, Watermelon Crush, Berry Bang and Tropical storm, you'll want to collect them all as not only are they delectable, they are very moisturising and will provide hours of relief from chappness with nourishing ingredients like beeswax, jojoba seed oil  and vitamin E.

Get them for a steal in the month of July with a 2 for $10 deal to help you kick-start your collection today!

RRP A$6.95 at Myer and David Jones, Bloom's  flagship Chapel St store (South Yarra, VIC) and selected Boost Juice outlets.
Samples of the above product were sent for consideration.

Clinique 3 Step Challenge

Clinique has issued out a challenge to those of you who are seeking for a simple solution for clean skin.

From 6th July till 17th August, they are giving out samples of their iconic 3-step cleansing system so you can try it for yourself and fall in love with your cleaner, clearer skin.

You will receive a custom-fit (for your skin type) 30ml size of 

• Liquid Facial Soap cleanser 
• Clarifying Lotion exfoliator 
• Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion 

I was first was introduced to this 3-step cleansing system over a decade ago and I can tell you it is a god-send for anyone with oily skin. If you need intense hydration in this drying weather, you may need to supplement the 3 step with a serum or top up with a richer moisturiser.

So head to your nearest Clinique counters with this coupon now to treat your skin for 2 weeks.

Now, if that free sample isn't enough incentive for you, there are daily 3-step packs giveaways for the next 6 weeks and a chance to win a $1000 Westfield gift card and 2 years supply of the 3-step system via the Clinique facebook page or Iphone App so be sure to check that out cos you gotta be in it to win it!

Kiehl's Melbourne Bloggers Event

On a bitterly cold and raining evening last Thursday, Kiehl's decided to to warm things up in Melbourne by holding an event to share its recent announcement of shrinking prices with a handful of beauty bloggers.

 

For those of you who aren't as familiar with the brand, here's a bit of a low down on Kiehl's:

• Established in 1851 by chemist John Kiehl's with humble beginnings in 3rd Avenue& 13th St New York, Kiehl's is an iconic puveyor of fine quality skincare products. 
• Provides fuss free, no nonsense products that are promoted via word of mouth with no advertising or use of paid celebrity endorsements.
• Kiehl's products contain innovative, natural ingredients and have grown from salves and pharmaceutical tonic to today's product lines in skin, body and hair care products. 
• Prides in the moto that actions speaks louder than words and that the great products will speak for themselves. That's why Kiehl's have samples of almost all the items in their range to let you take home and try it first before buying it (other brands - take note!!).
• Has one of the best customer service I've experienced. Every time I've interacted with them, their consultants have been knowledgeable, helpful and never ever pushy to make a sales. 

Now that intros are out of the way, back to the event...

Mingling with the other beauty bloggers and fellow MBBE ladies, we were treated with light refreshments.

Jacie, Steph & Jess

Violet, Celina, myself and Akisa with Mr. Bones

After a while, we were gathered together to hear Tere - General Manager of Kiehl's Australia give us a brief history of the brand and the exciting announcement Kiehl's wishes to thank their loyal customers for their growing success by giving back and significantly cutting back the prices of over 100 products in the 360 strong product lines effective from May 9th 2011. 

Stand out examples of the price drops include the Creme De corps body lotion previously A$89, now A$68 and the Ultra Facial Cream previously A$105, now A$64.

This means local shoppers will now pay prices similar to as they would if they shopped online from US sites and have the benefit of experiencing the amazing customer service at the local Kiehl's counter to ensure they are using the right products for their skin needs. 

Jessica (EG PR) and Tere Sharing the great news with us

We were then given a personal consult (I was lucky enough to have Tere help me) and a customised skincare regime to take home afterwards. In my kit I received:

• darkness diminishing eye treatment to help me address my dark circles, 
• Ultra Facial Cream for the dehydrated skin I'm experiencing, 
• Kiehl's famous SPF15 lip balm and various other samples to try out.

My personalised Kiehl's skincare

I had a fabulous evening getting to know more about Kielh's product offerings and it was also great opportunity to catch up with the lovely MBBE ladies and a few of us even headed out to dinner together afterwards. 

A very big thank you to Jessica from Elise Garland PR and Tere for organsing and hosting the event.

If you want more info on Kiehl's Australia's price changes and other updates, check them out online on their Facebook page.