Posted 18 July 2016 | 8:45 pm

In: Skincare, Cosmetics, Beauty Boxes

I Tried The Five Minute Makeup Challenge – You Won’t Believe The Result!

I pride myself on being able to get ready super quickly. Up and out the door in twenty minutes, including a shower, is what I tell myself I’m capable of. The Husband takes longer to get ready than I do, I’m sure of it! Well… I’m not so sure anymore, because I’ve noticed something recently. After putting some toast and milk in front of the blessed child, I head downstairs to put my makeup on before whizzing us out the door, and next thing you know, we’re running late. Because of me. And my makeup routine.

Yep, it turns out my makeup routine, which I don’t think is excessive, is taking far too long. Here’s a breakdown of what I do:

Prime.

Pop on green concealer to deal to my reddened areas, scars and the odd angry pimple.

Apply foundation or CC cream.

Bronze.

Blush.

Highlight cheeks (sometimes).

Eyeshadow.

Mascara.

Quick brow swipe.

Lipstick or gloss.

And that’s it. That’s an average day. There’s no major contouring, no eyeliner, no under-eye concealer. And yet it takes me this side of forever to do – and I’m not even a perfectionist. Clearly, after yelping at my darling human that we have to hurry up or we’d be really late for the millionth time in the past few months something had to change. Someone had to change. And that person was me.

 So I looked up the Five Minute Makeup Challenge on YouTube. Watching those makeup maven’s videos left me amazed. Some contoured, did their brows, lined their eyes, and powdered their face on top of all the stuff I was doing – in four minutes. So if they could do it, then surely I could, right? Yeah….

Here’s my before face. Cleansed, toned, serumed, moisturised. Not a scrap of makeup on it.

Now for the record, I didn’t have everything laid out in front of me, because I feel like that would be cheating. This is real life and I’m not the kind of person who prepares things the night before (although perhaps I should be). So for the purpose of doing this challenge for real, I had to dive through my stash as I usually would. But, I did put aside the products I used, and this is what they were:

So with confidence and a dash of nervousness I set the alarm and off I went. Who knew it took to long to buff in foundation after priming and concealing? Maybe it’s because my skin’s not so youthful, maybe my brush needs a clean, but giddy aunt, it took up a good two minutes. Then came a quick wash of bronze and blusher, and I was up to the eyeshadow… with less than a minute on the clock.

I can do this, I told myself as I patted on shadow and buffed out the crease. And then the alarm was going off. Seriously? Is that alarm for real? It was. Here’s the fail photo:No mascara, no lipstick, no brows. What a mess. There was no way I was heading out the door looking like this. So I checked the time and went at it again to see how long my full face took me. I finished the eyeshadow, added a tiny bit of eyeliner, because I was running late anyway, so pffft, why not? Added one coat of mascara, brushed a bit of colour through my brows, then slicked on some lip stain because I was beginning to get embarrassed as to how long this whole situation was taking.

All up the process took ten minutes. That was me being quick. No wonder I’m always running and hollering out the door in the mornings. 

So what did I learn? Those beauty folk who can whack their makeup on in five minutes are legends. I am not a legend. And I’m just going to have to get up fifteen minutes earlier, because there’s no way I’m walking out the house with half an eyelid made up and no mascara on.

Think you could do a five minute makeup challenge? Our beauty boxes have everything you need to give it a go…

Posted 14 July 2016 | 9:25 pm

In: Skincare, Cosmetics

Get more out of your cushion foundation with this simple tip!

Have you jumped on the cushion bandwagon yet?  If you haven't you so should - it's fun!

In a nutshell, a cushion foundation (or blush, or concealer, or whatever) is a compact containing a sponge soaked in a watered down formula.

• Sponge?  Yeap, you just push down and voila, a light even amount of product is dispensed.
• Watered down? Yeap, but these products are designed to build, which means you use less, while achieving the desired coverage.

I adore my L'Oreal Nude Magique Cushion Foundation and so do loads of other Kiwi women, check out loads of independant reviews here.  But one common grumble seems to be that the product runs out quickly.  

Enter my top tip.

Flip the sponge.  

More product lies on t'other side and underneath. How much?  Well it depends how much you use of course, but I got another fortnight out of mine!

Waste not want not.

Posted 12 July 2016 | 10:37 pm

In: Cosmetics, Nails, Beauty Boxes

You Know You’re A Kiwi When…

Ah, Nu Zillind, how I adore you. I was born in you. Bred in you. I couldn’t even bear to leave you for an O.E. You’re in my heart Nu Zillind. You’re in my soul. You’ve given we Nu Zillinders, both those that were born here and those that have chosen to reside here, a whole lot that makes us a little bit more special (in my entirely unhumble opinion) than the rest of the world. Quirks and beliefs, thoughts and feelings that only we as a nation can understand.

So how do you know when you’re reached peak Kiwiness?

1.  You’ve spent your summer barefoot and could walk on a gravel driveway or craggy    rocks at the beach without batting an eyelid.

2.  When you hear someone say pavlova is an Aussie invention you consider whipping up a pav, waiting for it to cool down, creaming it, adding bananas or kiwifruit on top, and then hunting them down and shoving it in their ill-informed face.

3.  You’ve hung your head in despair when an overseas makeup brand releases something amazing, and you discover no one stocks it here.

4.  You can ‘yeah, nah’ it for a good two minutes before committing to an answer or decision.

5.  If you’re eating sausage rolls and someone breaks out the sauce, and it’s not Watties, they’re dead to you.

6.  When you’re in any other part of the world and you ask where the dairy is people look at you kinda strange.

7.  Oh, and when you’ve been overseas you’ve had to endure people asking you to say fish n chips, and six vs. sex for an entire taxi trip. (True story, didn’t even get a discount on arrival, cheeky bugger.)

8.  Dip is made from reduced cream and Maggi Onion Mix – and that’s it. Anything else is just a pretender to the throne.

9.  At some point in your life your parents stuffed you in the car for a bit of tiki tour, which left you hot, bothered and bored, but it meant they didn’t have to do any parenting for an hour or so... and you fully intend to do the same to your kids one day too.

10.  When you watch YouTubers eat Kiwi lollies and complain about them you immediately dismiss them as idiots who don’t know anything anyway so whatever.

There’s more. I know there’s more. But we want to hear your thoughts… so go on, you know you’re a Kiwi when….

And the really cool thing about New Zealand?  Our fabulous beauty brands.  How about $300 worth for a lot less, delivered?

Posted 10 July 2016 | 10:35 pm

In: Beauty Boxes

Bras - Essential Tips for Looking After Your Pregnant or Nursing Boobs.

If you're pregnant or breastfeeding then your boobs are in for a period of many changes.  Will they ever be the same again?  I have no idea, my jubblies are still milk machines.  I do know a thing or two about bras though!

I swear I have bought more bras from mid-pregnancy throughout my nursing period than I have in the rest of my life. 

When I first went shopping for maternity bras I sobbed.  How on earth could something without a wire hold up my E and growing cup size?  I actually committed the ultimate bra sin (blame the hormones) and bought nursing singlets and a couple of nursing bras without trying them on.  Cue 2 days post postpartum a call to The Mummy (now The Nanna) with the request she go and buy me some 3 way stretch crop top/bras to get me through the first weeks. 

Once my milk had settled down I found myself a stockist of gorgeous nursing bras and lingerie and I got professionally fitted and I treated myself.  The change in my mentality was phenomenal - I felt beautiful in my very alien post-preggers body.  And oh my wow - who knew you didn't need scaffolding to hold the jubblies up?  I'm rocking a Dolly Parton F cup cleavage in a non wired bra. 

After 4 straight years of pregnancy/nursing, here are my top tips for maternity bras:

• Give in to comfort!
• When you are pregnant your breasts will grow - trust me.  Get measured in your second trimester, as often as necessary in your third and at least twice post postpartum.
• When pregnant buy a bra with room to grow, buy a bigger back so as your ribs widen you can loosen the back to accommodate. (Or pick up an extender).
• In your third trimester get a slightly larger cup to allow room to grow.
• Avoid wires while breastfeeding as these can sit on the milk ducts - plugged ducts are not fun and can lead to breast infections.
• Go for proper nursing bras, with a flip down cup.  Trying to whack a boob over a standard bra cup is uncomfy and will just ruin the bra after just a month of it.
• Nursing bras are not cheap (especially for those with bigger boobies) so factor them into your budget, or put some money aside during pregnancy.  A good nursing bra is an essential - not a luxury.
• Maternity and nursing bras suffer more wear and tear, so you'll need to replace them more often.
• When you're feeding you'll want at least four.  At least!  You're probably going to want to change them daily, what with day old milk smelling a bit milky, and 2 day old milk smelling, well, off.

And because all mama's deserve a treat, why not check out our fabulous 'It's all about YOU' Beauty Box, crammed with $160 worth of products!

Posted 7 July 2016 | 10:33 pm

In: All

Things The Husband has said: The Beauty Edition.

Coming up with blog topics is hard.  I look around at my life and I think, 'can I write about that?'.  While looking around for things to write about I suddenly remembered.  I have a husband.  Topic solved.

The Husband and I have been together for 6 years.  He says funny things.  I laugh and wonder how I ended up with such a weirdo.  It's how we roll.  But over the last few weeks, instead of laughing, I've been taking notes.  

Here we go.  The Husband talks beauty, part 1.

Nailed it.

[over the phone]

ME: Hey do you have something that will cut wire?

HIM: What kind of wire?

ME: Curtain wire.

HIM: Erm, yeah, my Gerber multi-tool is in my room, it's got a wire cutter in the pliers.  

ME: Ta.

[5 minutes later.  over the phone]

ME:  Can you get that multi-tool in pink?

HIM: You want one? They have a lifetime guarantee.  And a belt pouch.  Hey I know you've said this was a dumb idea before, but, you know how women have those pointy nails?  And I said they should make them into tools, like screwdrivers or spanners and you said they'd break?  What about implants, like Wolverine.

ME: Erm, because that's ugly.

HIM: You could paint them pink.

Posted 5 July 2016 | 11:15 pm

In: Skincare, Beauty Boxes

Brow Game Through The Years

When it comes to eyebrows we probably lean more to getting the best out of them than trying to follow the latest eyebrow trend. Heck for most of us are happy if our eyebrows sort-of match and don't make us look permanently surprised or intrigued. 

But for the brave, eyebrows can be a fashion statement - and as with most things, there's an interesting back catalogue of eyebrow looks through history.

3500BC - 2500BC

Our favourite trendsetters in history the Egyptians made their eyebrows darker, longer and bolder in homage to the God Horus.  (And yes we know, Elizabeth Taylor wasn't actually Cleopatra, but she's fabulous.  End of.)

800BC - 470AD

Whether you were a Greek or a Roman, back when democracies began ladies were considered beautiful by...their unibrow.  Failing that, the bushier the better.

1920s - 1930s

Pluck 'em and shape 'em within an inch of existence seems to have been the motto back then.  Check out Jean Harlow's arches!

1940s - 1950s

Brows during the forties and fifties were natural and less severe, pencilled in lightly for an immaculate look or pencilled in darker for glamour.  The ever beautiful Elizabeth Taylor sported perfection in her brows.

1960s

Wax them off and draw them on screamed beauty magazines in the 60s.  Sophia Loren became the grandmaster of natural looking, drawn-on brows, using short, soft strokes.

1970s

Like most body hair in the seventies, eyebrows were left au naturale, reflecting both the hippy and feminist movements.

1980s

Big and bushy brows were seen on all of the 80s starlets from Brooke Shields to Kelly Mcgillis

1990s

Thin and pointy brows were so totally 90s man.  Courtney Cox circa 1995 demonstrates the style well.

Now

Brow Game has never been stronger than it is right now.  For your brows to be in style think bold and thick. 

Perfect your brow game with the L'Oreal Brow Plumper - just one of the amazing and top rated products in the Incredible Eyes beauty box.

images: Warner Bros, Pinterest, Wikimedia, Wikimedia, Wikimedia, Warner Bros, Stylecon,

Posted 3 July 2016 | 8:20 pm

In: Skincare

A trip to LA. Lipbalm Anonymous

Something happened last night, that never, ever happens.  My husband asked me for something.  Something girly.

"Do you have any cream for these flakey bits?" he queried, pointing to his cheeks. 

"My moisturiser is in the bathroom.  Trilogy."

"I tried that last night, it smells like nannas."  [1.  I knew it! It was not in its usual spot.  2.  It does not smell like nannas.  It smells lovely.]

"There's loads of stuff in the skincare drawer.  Pick one."

"The - "

"The top drawer of the big plastic set."

...

"Nat...why do you have so many lip creams?"

"What?"

"You know that gunky stuff that makes your lips soft."

And there, from nowhere, I was confronted with my secret addiction.

I can't stop buying lip balms.  I see them, think 'Oh that's a good price, I better pick one up' and well.

In my defense, the Baby Lips were 86c.  EIGHTY SIX CENTS.  Not even a dollar.  So I picked up a couple.  I did this each time I went in Countdown.  I've given away 8.  Who doesn't love Mango Pie?!

It's not like I don't use lipbalm.  I have 13 on the go.  

Ok. Fine.  My name is Natalie and I'm a lip balm addict.

But seriously, who doesn't love lip balm? From a simple "does what it says on the tin" product, to tinted, scented, even flavoured.  Let's not even go there with novelty ones.  Who doesn't need a Kellogg's flavoured retro-styled lipbalm?  WHO?! 

I think, the thing with lipbalms is, it's just so easy to pick them up.  They're cheap.  It's an easy way to try a new brand.  How wrong can you go with one?  They're rarely a bad buy.

So - any one going to join me in LA?  Or am I on my own? 

Posted 30 June 2016 | 10:40 pm

In: Skincare

You Won't Believe This Tip for Cleaning Your Tangle Teezer - it's as easy as...

...tossing it in the dishwasher.

For real.

So if you're a regular tangle teezer, you'll know it gets filled with hair.  And whilst leaving the hair on your head tangle free, the hair left behind is a tangled mess.  It's matted, it's knotted, it's not going away easily.

We have four teezers in our house. Yes, I have one, Milky has one, The Husband has one for his beard and Mavis cat has one.  I would sit with a toothpick and lift the hair out, at least once every month.  It would do my head in.

Then one day Milky Chops hid his in the dishwasher when we were washing his bath toys.  And this is what happened.

The hair just lifts out as one (slightly gross) piece.

Not only that, it's had a jolly good clean too! (I just use white vinegar when I'm washing toys in the dishwasher, it's a natural disinfectant)

Posted 29 June 2016 | 9:20 am

In: Cosmetics

Urban Dictionary: The Beauty Edition

 You know what I hate?  The ninja attack of the latest slang.  I feel old.  Natalie doth not like feeling old.

I'm not talking about the latest techniques, baking, contouring, strobing.  I'm talking about the pop culture references, the portmanteaux and the too-cool-for-school words that the kids today use.  

Here's the beginning of my own Urban Dictionary: The Beauty Edition.  

Bacne - pimples on your back.

Beatdown - when your makeup application has reached pro level, that act of applying is called the beatdown.

Beautility - a tool.  For example tweezers are a beautility.

Brow Game - eyebrows that are fierce and on point.

Buttne - pimples on your butt.

Fivehead - a particularly large forehead.

Freckling - drawing on freckles when the sun hasn't kissed you.

Glamping - camping the only way we know how...glamorously.

Guyliner - eyeliner on a man.  

Haul - the contents of your cosmetic shop.

Manscaping - when a man maintains his short and curlies.

MOTD/N - Makeup of the day/night

MUA - Makeup Artist

Naked - a no makeup look, created with a lorra, lorra, makeup.

On Fleek - on point.  Often used to refer to great brow game.

Sickening - Looking so hot, you are sickening.  From RuPaul.  

Slay - when your look is so on point, you've darn beaten all rivals, girl you are slaying it.

Swoobs - Sweaty Boobs

Winging it - creating perfect eyeliner wings.

Now if you want to beatdown a look so sickening you slay all others, check out one of our cosmetic boxes - I'm in love with the Incredible Eyes box!

Posted 26 June 2016 | 7:23 pm

In: Cosmetics

Is Francois Nars just like, super horny?

I'm English.  So innately, at my very core, I'm a bit of a prude.  But I was also a teenager in the late nineties, which means I learned everything from clothes over bros, to doing the squelchy from one reputable source.  Sex and the City.

I applaud the Samanthas of the world.  You take those lusty urges and ride 'em girl.   I am all for women owning their sexuality.  But do we need to own it on our faces?

Like seriously, I don't even need to apply Nars Orgasm to looked flushed.  I just think of my mum looking at the blush palette and saying it out loud.  Deep Throat.  The time for blush has passed, I need a shed load of green corrector.  Stat.

As a woman, as a lover of makeup, as editor of the largest beauty website in the country, I read it all the time.  'She looks like a slapper in all that makeup'.  'Who are you tarted up for?'  'Wouldn't kick her out of bed'.

And yet when you ask women why they wear makeup, why they love makeup, you're not going to hear 'because it makes someone want to have sex with me' all that often.  'It gives me confidence'.  'I like feeling glam'.  'I want to have fun with my image'.

And in a world where girls are not only playing with makeup, but wearing a full face, at younger and younger ages, we don't need to sexualise the act.  Mascara might well be better than sex, but do we need our tweens connecting the two?  How exactly is an eyeshadow shade like a virgin?  

So please, cosmetic firms, please.  Stop with the sexualising of our first love.  We don't need it to buy and fall in love with your products.  Nars, you could call Deep Throat, Soft Pink with Golden Sheen and it would still sell by the shelf full, why?  Because it's an amazing product.  

Stop selling yourself short by selling sex.