Saturday 28 January 2012

Body Shop haul

I was out and about on the weekend and thought i would share a with you some of the goodies i picked up.

My first stop was the body shop I had the girls with me and they love the place we can walk past with out a customary sniff of all the pretty soaps and lotions.



I got well and truly sucked in by the latest addition the Chocomania range.
I grabbed the
 - Chocomanina Shower cream  the first words on the back of the packaging are UNFIT FOR CONSUMPTION... I'm not surprised this stuff smells so bloody good it is yummy if you don't like "sweet"or food like smelling products this range is not for you but to wake up in the shower to the smell of chocolate sounds like heaven to me.

I also got the - Chocomania body scrub  this thick scrub is to die for it smells and looks like mud cake batter i used this one last night and my skin felt great after my shower so soft and not dry at all.

I backed that up with the - Chocomania Body Butter the butter is a lot subtler than the shower products but still packs a nice chocolaty goodness, and delivers they same hydration as the other body shop butters.

I was in the scrub zone and also added the Pink Grapefruit and the coconut body scrub to my collection. The pink grapefruit is in total contrast to the chocomanina range it is fresh and zingy, and great wake up call on a  sleepy morning.
I also fell in love with one of the fragrances so picked up the body mist in the White Musk Libertine range, not my usual "type" of sent but really pretty for summer.
I also pick up an item that has become a HG for me its the Almond nail & cuticle oil love the product and the packaging.
 Do you have a Favorite body shop range ????

Better late than never - 2011 Favorite products

I know I'm behind the 8 ball but alas i have put together a list of my all time favourite products for the last year.
To make it easier to trowl through i am going to break it up into product categories,
IE,  - Makeup
      - Skin Care
      - Hair and body care
So today i have the first instalment for you Makeup.....

Foundations:

Chanel Vitalumiere  (colour 01 Limpide-nude) - Beautiful dewy finish My skin but better
Bourjois Healthy mix serum gel foundation ( 52 vanilla ) A great "drug store"alternative to the Chanel

Concealer:  MAC Pro long wear ( NW15 ) Great coverage doesn't budge perfect colour for under my eyes and works well on blemishes.

Powder:  MAC studio fix powder ( N4 )
                Australis ready set go finishing powder

Bronzer: Benefit Hoola bronzer
                 Chanel Soleil tan de chanel

Blush: Nars Oasis
            Illamasqua cream blush in Dixie




Eyes: Makeup Forever Aqua cream's My faves are No, 01, 13 and 20
         
         Makeup Forever Aqua eyes waterproof pencil in Black ( so good in the water lines)

         Chantecaille gel liner pencil in Jet ( comes with the best brush on the end)

        Lancome Hypnose Doll eyes Mascara in so black

        Illamasqua liquid eyeliner in shatter

       Duo adhesive eyelash glue


Lips: Stilla lip & cheek stain in raspberry crush (smells great too)
        
          Nars lip gloss in easy lover ( this over the stilla stain = soo pretty)

          MAC lipstick in Lady danger ( HOT )

         Mirenesse viva eternal gloss in play bunny




So there you go a small list of things i couldn't have gone with out in the last 12 months if you would like swatches etc just let me know happy to help. I will be back with my skincare and hair and body products over the next few days xx D

Monday 23 January 2012

Finally a skincare that works

If you are a regular on my blog, or you have been with in a 500m radius of me in the last 3 years you would know i have been fighting an uphill battle with adult acne.



Before tratment and comencing Rationale


You name it i have tried it, with little to no effect at all, until now.
As part of the goody bags at the 2011 ABBW I received a voucher for a skin consultation and a trial of the Rationale Skin Care system.
I assumed living rurally I would email the company and either be told I wasn't eligible or i would tell them about my skin and a small trial pack would arrive in the mail. Boy was i wrong the customer service i was offered was by Rationale was amazing.

After my initial email I was offered a face to face consultation at the nearest clinic, the Maroochydore Cozmedics clinic.

Cozmedics and Rationale offed me not only a thorough skin consultation but also a "kick start"  skin treatment using the Rationale products.
The treatment is described as a "gentle yet potent skin rejuvenation procedure, combining, steam, mild skin peeling, 100% vitamin infusion. LED lights and massage.

Richelle the paramedical skin therapist that was giving me this incredible experience, welcomed me into the opulent treatment room, that was as much a treat for the eyes as it was my skin.


Rationale essential six skin care


She firstly asked me about my skin and the issues i was having before examining my skin. By the end of the exam i felt that Richelle knew my skin better that I did.
Richelle explained every step as she worked, OMG I have had skin treatments before, but nothing I have ever experienced comes close to this, I was in heaven.
The 100% vitamin c infusion was like nothing i have ever seen or experienced before . The vitamin was infused in the skin using what I can only describe as a wand that felt like a small comb pulsating over my face.



After using Rationale skin care


Richell also used an LED light to treat different concerns on my skin, a red light was used to improve collagen, a blue light to kill bacteria and a green light to reduce redness.

The skin peel as the treatment the i was looking forward to most. Richell used 3 different types of peels to target different areas and concerns. A lactic acid, a salicylic acid and pyruvic acid.
The only discomfort i felt was with the strongest peel that was applied to my chin area to combat the acne. And the discomfort was very minimal a slight tingling that was very short lived.

When the treatments were finished Richelle talked me through the after care and showed me how to use the six step skin care system I was taking home.

I walked out of cozmedics on a cloud. I felt so refreshed and renewed. My skin was slightly red for a few hours, but not enough that it bothered me. ( I went shopping afterwards)
I started on the essential 6 night program that night. I was amazed at how smooth and clear my skin felt.

Over the next few days my skin continued to improve, on day 3 my chin area started to peel, it was similar to the way skin peels after a sunburn. It peeled for 2 days after which my skin came into its own, My chin was much clearer that it had been in years.
I have continued with the Rationale essential six day and night program since my initial treatment, and i couldn't be happier it is not only effective but so simple and easy to use.
My skin is usually at its worst mid cycle so i have taken my after photo's during this time to show how much it has improved. I did have a few Small pimples at the time but as you can see they are not big red sore pimples just small blemishes that went away as quick as they arrived.

If i could scream about it from the roof tops o would, I can guarantee that if you looked on my bathroom vanity in 10 years time it will still be full of rationale products.
 I have found my holy grail.

 Thank you to Rationale Skin Care care and Cozmedics maroochydore for changing my life.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Why I have been MIA

Firstly i wanted to apologise for my absence not only from my blog but facebook and twitter as well. This is a post i was unsure about writing but decided in the end to throw caution in the wind and let it all out.

As most of you are aware I am a mum, and juggling work and parenthood can be difficult at the best of times, especially when a child is sick. Our 7 year old daughter has been suffering with a heart condition and it has worsened over the last 12 months.

Prior to Christmas our family faced every parents worst nightmare. Our 8 year old daughter woke me to tell me our 7 year old daughter was face down in bed making a funny noise.
I ran to her room to find her face down. I turned her over and it was the scariest thing I have ever seen, her lips were blue, her eyes were rolled back in her head she was totally unresponsive and not breathing.

I tried to wake her, I couldn't feel a pulse. My husband had woken early and was working in the shed, our 8 year old got my phone, called 000 and asked for an ambulance before putting it on speaker for me. While i spoke to the operator miss 8 went and got my husband.

We gave her CPR with the help of the 000 staff, we didn't know if we were helping or not, she was not responding in any way.
It took the ambulance 25 mins to arrive, we performed CPR until then. The ambo's hooked her up to monitors and told us she had a heart beat. In the mean time the care flight chopper arrived with a doctor. they stabilised her before they airlifted us to the mater where her heart specialist is.

We arrived at the emergency department where the doctors tried to figure out what had happened. She was breathing but still unresponsive,
After initially thinking it was her heart condition, the doctors started to think it was possibly something else as she was so unresponsive, they asked if she could have taken any pain medications or opiate's, but i said no as no one in our house takes pain medication or uses drugs.

The doctors decided to try giving her a medication to counter act the effects of drugs just in case, and it worked. Almost instantly she regained conciseness, i was so relived to see her awake, but also so confused as to how it was possible.

After a lot of detective work from my husband he found some medication on the top of our medicine cabinet, that was not normally there. It was a foil back with two tablets one still in the pack. We later found out it was my mother in laws morhpine that she had accidentally dropped out of her handbag on a prior visit.

The medication the hospital gave her work well and after one night in ICU and 3 more on the ward, miss 7 was back to her usual self and ready to go home.

Her heart condition causes her chest discomfort and she had woken during the night, trying to make the pain go away she helped herself to the first thing she found.
She has come away from this unscathed, I don't know about my husband or myself. I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping and am checking on miss 7 every hour. Both my husband and I am also suffering from nightmares.

I was concerned about putting the details on here but I wanted to show that no matter how good a parent you are, or how vigilant you are sometimes shit happens.
I urge all parents to check your home for medications and poisons, and double child proof it all ( ours was on the top shelf of the pantry well out of reach)
And learn CPR you never know when you may need it.

So i have taken some time off to spend with the kids and to try and come to grips with the ordeal, I don't think I will ever get the sight of her like that out of my head, but it has taught me to cherish every moment i have with them.

I am not giving up Blogging and am ready to get stuck in to 2012 with a new perspective and appreciation of all life's blessings.  xx D