Pore-fect Pores

By Tammi Ireland

I’ve been blessed with pretty great skin. It rarely breaks out, is fairly even in tone, and gives off a nice dewy finish when slathered with any type of moisturiser. My only gripe? The pores are a little larger than I’d like them to be.

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After reading up on what I could do to minimise my pores, I realised I’d let slip on one key step of all the best skincare routines – toner.

A product that’s often thought of as ‘meh, take it or leave it’, toner is great for removing extra makeup once you’ve cleansed, but its real hero result is in helping shrink pores, at least to the naked eye.

‘The Beauty Night’ and why you must schedule one

By Tammi Ireland

Ladies, you have to agree with me there is nothing better than feeling sexy, confident and beautiful – just for you.  But how do you get that way if you’ve worked three different deadlines in a row, felt sick from lunch and been told some horrible news?  You schedule it!  Just like your dentist appointment or meeting your superiors, this is important, too.  Once a week is all I ask, and I’ll explain why it’s so great right now…

Tonight was my ‘Beauty Night’.  I try to schedule one a week or – failing that – one a fortnight.  On ‘Beauty Night’ everything gets done. And I mean everything.  Here’s my ‘To Do’ list…

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Obviously there’s no way I could (nor should) do all these on a daily basis, so scheduling one night a week to check everything off the list is not only a great idea, but also something to look forward to.  Because you feel AMAZING afterwards.

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It’s all in the products you use – ‘Beauty Night’ is not the night to skimp on products. On ‘Beauty Night’ it’s the best of the best.  Here are my must haves, working down the ‘To Do’ list:

The ‘Yacht Knot’ – Your Summer Hairstyle!

 

Remington’s fabulous tools were used backstage at Luca Luca during New York Fashion Week to create this great, completely wearable hair look!

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.

Buzzing, Whirring, Wonderful

When I was in high school there was a single girl in our year that used an epilator to remove the hair from her legs.  We’d never tried it, she did it every time and absolutely swore by it. One day, the rest of us went to the shops and played with one in a shaver shop.  It whirred and scared us.  I’ve never thought about using one since.

My theory is that if you can shave to remove hairs free of pain, why do anything else?  Well, my friends, I had to eat my words over the last weekend because I epilated the bajeezus out of my legs and while it hurt, the results are amazing.

Have a Blast!

All of these curling products mean nothing if you don’t have the right tools to blast them into their shape (and keep them there)!  Introducing the coolest hair dryer to come across my desk… the Remington Euro 2000 (RRP $38.95).

This little baby sure packs a mean punch!  Small and compact, it’s perfect for home users.  It comes with a diffuser and 7mm concentrator, so no matter what style you want, this baby can get you a result.

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…

Product of the Day!

Less product, more tool, today I am loving the ecoTOOLS‘ Recycled Retractable Kabuki.  It’s tiny, measuring just 9.5cm when covered with its lid, and very small in diameter. Quite complex, really, the Retractable Kabuki is like a personal powder brush to carry in your handbag.  With a lid and a retractable case, you can be guaranteed no powder will spill inside your Gucci lining.  The synthetic Taklon bristles are 100 per cent cruelty free and (as you would know from my last post on ecoTOOLS) way softer than any other synthetic hairs I’ve felt.

New Product Test: RapidLash

Of all my features, my eyelashes probably receive the most compliments. They’re long, thick and jet-black.  They’re also always double-coated with mascara.  The last few months however – thanks to the inability to remove a horrible mascara – my lashes constantly fell out and had become sparse, with little spaces in between each and every one.  It almost looked as though I had on those fake lashes which are purposely spaced.  Except, of course, mine were not.

So when I received the new US cult beauty product, RapidLash Eyelash Renewal System, to try, my skepticism made way for hope.  I was willing to try anything, but how could a product applied so close to your eyes strengthen, lengthen and nourish your lashes?  I’ll tell you…