Fake Tanning 101

The search for the perfect summer tan is high on the lists of many as summer draws near. But if there is one thing you can count on, it is that sun savvy women wont be baking on the beaches or hitting up the sun bed in their quest for the perfect glow – a flawless fake tan is the best way to safely shimmer this summer!

The tan experts at Australian tanning company Bonza Bronz  give us some tricks and ticks to ensuring your summer fake tan is streak free and fabulous!

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THE PRE TAN PLAN: suitable for both salon spray tans or at home fake tans

The perfect tan requires pre-planning and a little extra attention to the body’s key no-tan zones. To ensure a streak free tan, exfoliate and shave two days prior to your tan. A smooth bod free of oils, dirt and dry skin is the best way to guarantee a flawless result.

Try Bonza Bronz Bronz Polish, the perfect prep product for a spray tan or fabulous home fakie. And don’t forget: concentrate on areas such as knees, feet, elbows and ankles as these are the most problematic areas that like to drink up fake tan.

The Tips and Tricks Every Beauty Lover Should Know

By Ali Sims

I have always believed sharing is caring, unless we’re talking about a vintage Chanel (a tip from me to you – that should never leave your sight!) The world would be a more beautiful place if everyone shared the whereabouts of their favourite hairdresser (Lee Preston), the best tanning salon (there would certainly be less oompa loompas running around) and, dare I say, the best online boutiques (*gasp*).

I have never really been that great at keeping secrets, so I’d like to share with you some of the best makeup tips and hair tricks I have discovered and practiced religiously over the years (more gifts from me to you!) Enjoy!

1. Learn how to highlight your facial assets with your bronzer

Khloe, I love you, but Kim's subtle bronzer is the winner

Bronzer should not be used as a blush below your cheekbones – it should be a subtle brush stroke to add definition to them. To slim your face, slightly brush your bronzer down both sides of your nose and on your forehead from the top most point of your eyebrow up to your hairline. Also apply your bronzer with light strokes down the middle of your neck. Less is more, so always tap your bronzer brush before application to remove excess powder (*Ed’s tip: don’t blow on your brush, as you could spread bacteria).

2. Use an eyebrow powder instead of an eyebrow pencil

Salon Review: Total Brow

I’ve long been told my eye brows were ‘to die for’.  They’re thick, black and long.  Up until I learned how to handle a tweezer, ‘they’ were also an ‘a’. Yep, I was the child with an almost uni-brow.  Pretty.  When I did finally discover the way eyebrows can frame your face, I became pedantic in shaping them to perfection.  Never going too thin, I was sure I had the look down-pat.  Then there was a revelation.

After hearing fantastic reviews, I decided I’d let the experts have a go at taming my brows.  I thought I could learn a thing or two.  Turns out, I learned 98 834 things!

Camilla Belle and the eyebrows we all covet

The 30 minute consultation at Total Brow in Inglewood, Western Australia started with a chat about what I want from my brows.  I told my amazing brow specialist, Amy, that I would like to keep them natural and thick.  She squealed with delight, as thick brows were in (and always will be, in my opinion)!  We then had a chat about what was wrong with my brows – or what I’d been doing wrong for the last 10 years – and how we would go about fixing it.

Meet Lauren Luke!

Have you met Lauren?  She’s the young self-taught makeup artist taking over the Internet community. Never one to fit in while at high school, Lauren turned to makeup to test out different looks and experiment.

After dropping out of school to have her son Jordan at age 16, Lauren started selling her old makeup products online to raise some money.  Along with the product itself, Lauren would post images of makeup looks you could achieve with the products and buyers started asking her more and more questions about how to achieve those looks.  As a result, she took the looks online.

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week!

Our Melbourne contributor Jo Davy went to Melbourne Spring Fashion Week‘s Designer Series 3 and has this to say about spring hair and makeup trends…

Feeling all kinds of fashion-forward and channelling Olivia Palermo’s tousled waves, I took myself off to one of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week fabulous designer shows.  There’s little more to be said for the clothes than ‘I fell in love with all of it, but can afford less than none of it’, but what I did notice was some searing new beauty trends, sashaying down the runway.

Before the show started, I managed to scamper into the VIP beauty room, and grab some face time with the stylists from Kevin Murphy and Napoleon Perdis teams that designed hair and makeup for the show.  In the midst of a lightning fast mini-makeover, they shared with me some tips about recreating the runway look at home, and because I’m such a generous person, I’ll tell you everything I know.

‘Getting Down & Dirty with Dermalogica’

Last Tuesday night the lovely editor of Flourish magazine online, Jane and I attended a Blogger event at Dermalogica‘s WA headquarters in Fremantle.  The first to arrive amidst an August shower, I was greeted by three lovely smiling (and completely flawless) faces, one of which was Claire Crouch’s – the company’s corporate trainer.  Claire grew up in London out of the harsh sun and thus has magnificent skin and a killer sense of humour.  I liked her immediately.  In front of the pretty faces sat a large plate of scones from which I was too scared to take on account of their delicious-looking, but will-definitely-drop-on-the-clinical-Dermalogica-floors cream fillings.  Instead, I took a glass of champers.  Damn.

Jane arrived not long after and we had a quick tour of the complex.  It’s all very white and bright and exciting because that’s exactly how you want your skin to be!  There were two training rooms, a face-mapping stall set up, a kitchen area with fridge, microwave, herbal teas, etc and bathrooms too.  The facility is there for therapists who use Dermalogica products to go and get the low down on ingredients and skin health so they can then transfer it to their customers.  Brilliant!

Tina, Jane, me and Claire in front of the Dermalogica shop (I want it all!)

After our tour, we headed into Room 2 where a powerpoint presentation and lots of Dermalogica goodies were set up for us, amidst notepads, pencils and information booklets.  We took a seat and Claire launched right into explaining the five Dermalogica steps to healthy skin, while Tina kindly demonstrated (how brave!) as we went along.  Much information was shared and it is my beauty editor duty to pass it on.  So grab a cup of green tea and settle in for a mind-blowing info sesh that will change your skin forever!

Quick Friday Tips

Here are the quickest, best tips of the beauty biz you’ll find online on a Friday.  Enjoy!

Simon Says, Do What This Post Says

Okay guys, I know you all wander over to the blog for tips and tricks, how to’s, product reviews, comps and more, and sometimes it can seem a bit daunting to you.  I mean, you’re being inundated with all this information about what to put on your skin/hair/eyes that it can be overwhelming (you should see my storage cupboards!).  So for this post I’m going to make it a bit easier for you.  This is a product review and tips post.  It’s also a must read!  If you choose to only read one post on CC (although that would be seriously detrimental to your beauty wellbeing), this is The One.

I’d like to talk about morning rituals.  What do you do when you wake up in the morning?  I stretch, check my emails and Twitter ( I can hear you groaning, J) and then hop in the shower.  Here’s where the skin ritual begins and it goes a little something like this:

Exfoliate with a mit.

Cleanse face.

- hops out of shower and towel dries –

BALL & FORMAL SPECIAL!

You’ll want to bookmark this post.  You see, it contains everything you need to know for that next huge, glamourous event in your life.  School formal?  Charity ball?  Wedding?  The tips, tricks, product reviews and industry insider goss you read on this here post will be all you’ll need to look fabulous.  Trust me!

Hair

There are three ways you can go with your hair for a formal occasion.  You can choose to go trendy, opt for a casual look and let your dress shine, or go all out and make it a formal up-do.  It does depend on the event as to which type of hair style you use, however we’ve gone and selected the best of the three and we’ll tell you how to do them, too.  (Lucky you!)

Trendy: It’s all about Alexander Wang’s side plait.  Imagine this, will you?  You’re in a long, slinky black gown. Your makeup and skin is golden and just dark enough to come across mysterious, yet fun.  Your shoes are sky-high and you’re feeling a million bucks.  But so is every other girl at this thing, because that outfit I just described can often be ‘cookie-cutter’ (read: everyone does it).  Set yourself apart from the pack with a fashion-forward hair do:

Video: Perfect Everyday Makeup!

Finally, the first Coveted Canvas Vlog, Perfect Everyday Makeup! This baby took ages to upload, so I hope you enjoy it.

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And here are the products I used…