Beauty Q&A: Sarah Ayoub

By Tammi Ireland

I began writing for Sarah Ayoub’s blog, Chasing Aphrodite, last year in a bid to spread my wings from beauty and wellness writing to relationship columnist as well.  Through this position, I came to know Sarah quite well – know her heart and her passion for writing, family, friends and Paris.  A constant inspiration when I held dreams of being a writer, Sarah has become a great friend since I moved to Sydney and I could not be more thrilled that she has realised her dream and signed a two-book deal with Harper Collins.  Let me introduce to you, the next big thing in young adult writing…

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Sarah Ayoub, 26, Journalist / Blogger / Soon-to-be Author

How did you get into writing? I studied Journalism and PR at uni. It was something I knew I wanted to do since the age of 10. By third year, despite numerous work experience placements, I still didn’t have a job so I applied for my Masters. It was the best year of my tertiary education, and inspired me to get into Feature Writing. At the time, I was writing the events column for The Sunday Telegraph’s Sunday Magazine, so I was getting some basic experience, but when one of my assessments was to write a pitch letter, I took it as an opportunity to test it in the real world. I sent it to Girlfriend and they commissioned me for the story. That was my first paid byline and I have not looked back since.

Wild Inspiration

This year has been a big one for me in terms of ticking off goals I’ve had for a very long time, the most thrilling of which was completing the Blackmores Sydney Half Marathon back in September.  I couldn’t believe I did it, and a week after I crossed that finish line (once all the pain had subsided) I was looking at what was next.  Bigger, better… I needed to push myself harder.  Tough Mudder 2013 is booked in.

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I’m giving you this background because of the parallels it shows between myself and the lead author of my new favourite book, Cheryl Strayed.  Wild (Allen & Unwin, RRP$29.95) is a story about a 25-year-old woman who finds her life at a cross-roads after her mother passes, ends her marriage, does drugs and then decides to hike eleven hundred miles across the west of America.  Obviously, I only identify with that last part…

REVIEW: AVIVA Tan at The Nail Lab

By Tammi Ireland

I’m not big on spray tans. I’ve had too many Oompa Loompa moments to trust the spray tan system.  However, when the option to test out the AVIVA City Tan Collection at Darlinghurst’s new The Nail Lab, the spray tan seemed too good to be true.

There’s no need to avoid clothes, showers or perfume for eight hours.  There’s no horrible smell.  And there’s a way for the tan to gel to your own melanin, resulting in a natural finish.  Sounds perfect, right?

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They say: “With Miami a favourite of Mel B and Vogue Williams, you can choose from three sunless tanning formulas: HOLLYWOOD, MIAMI and VEGAS, and take yourself on a US odyssey without leaving the salon! This new line-up of professional sunless tanning products allows you to shower after 30 minutes (most sunless tanning solutions require waiting 8 hours before showering). Depending on your preferred depth of colour, try 30 minutes for a nice natural tan in the City of your choice, 60 minutes for a medium tan, or 90+ minutes for a darker tan.”

Monika at The Nail Lab welcomed me and had a chat about what tan would suit me best.  Do I tan or burn in the sun? Slight tan.  The best shade for me was a 3/4 Miami – 1/4 Vegas.  

Beauty Q&A: PR and Fitness Pro, Sarah

By Tammi Ireland

There are some women so passionate about the field they work in that they blow you away. Sarah Thompson is one of them.  She founded her own PR company exclusively to look after fitness and wellbeing clients after realising a niche in her area, one she’s very passionate about.  I caught up with the switched-on red head to hear what ticks her beauty boxes…

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Sarah Thompson, 30, Director at GoodFit PR

How did you get into PR? I think it was destined to be. From the age of 10 I obsessively collected TV Hits, Dolly and Girlfriend magazines, and was always getting into trouble for talking during class. I have always loved writing, networking and talking, and after a few early stints as a freelance journalist and event manager, I realised PR was my calling. It offers me the perfect combination of promoting for brands I believe in, giving creative input to campaigns and being on the phone/email/Facebook/Twitter all day!

Why fitness? I have worked in a number of agencies and companies from the UK to Indonesia and now in Australia. I’ve promoted all sorts of products – from airlines and energy drinks to sofas and mobile phones! But after doing a project with Michelle Bridges (the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation), I realised my passion lies in PR for health, fitness and good causes. All of my clients bring positive things to people’s lives, and helping them enables me to make a difference too!

FATHER’S DAY GIFT IDEAS: For The Sports Dad

By Mark Reed

 

This review was due a while ago. About a month ago I took delivery of Body Science‘s HydroxyBurn Pro Clinical, a pair of their compression shorts, and a box of Cherry Bite HydroxyBurn Lo Carb Bars.

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The problem was, the day I received them I had an “incident” at the gym. A pain in my neck became blinding headaches, vomiting and pins and needles all over. The headaches continued for four days. There was a point where my doctor was concerned that I’d given myself a minor brain aneurysm (I didn’t know they came in ‘minor’, but there you go). It turned out not to be the case; instead I had pinch some nerves on my spine. There were sessions with an osteopath. This had turned into the most expensive gym session in history.

I had become a walking (sort of) advertisement for doing exercise wrong. The only benefit of all this would be the massages which were fantastic, but when administered by a softly spoken northerner in his 50′s who wanted to discuss the Eurozone crisis, the Lakes District, and the Royal family while cracking my back into place… Well, it was different.

So, I had to come back. I had to start slow. And I wanted to do it right.

Back to the Fifties with FitHoop

By Tammi Ireland

There’s a new fitness tool on offer, and it has everyone in my – circle – excited! (See what I did there?)

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The FitHoop is a weighted hula hoop that comes in six different pieces, which you click together to form one large ring.  Slip it on your waste, swivel those hips, shake your hands in the air like you just don’t care, and – BAM – you’re working your abs with a giant smile on your face.

LIFE RESET: The Great Binge and Purge

By Tammi Ireland

This year started out pretty damn fantastically. I moved to Sydney, got an apartment in Bondi, made a bunch of amazing friends, got a job two days after arriving here and quickly got promoted three months later.  Sydney looked to be all consuming happiness.  But back home, things weren’t going so well for family, and eventually it started to take its toll on me.  Coincidentally, the weather in Sydney decided to break its amazing summer spell and the skies opened to rain and wind. For most of the end of April.  I developed a back spasm and ‘stuck rib’ from the stress of it all, spending hundreds on medical bills.  My Sydney honeymoon was over.

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Around this time I discovered Rachel Magahy’s In Spaces Between blog.  Full of love and light, it was exactly the right thing for what I needed at that time – hope, inspiration, and a little belief that love was still all around.  I read it religiously one day after work, eventually finding my way to her home page. However there was one post that stuck out more than the rest – The Life Reset.

The general gist of a Life Reset is that you take time to look at your life and decide to do more of what makes you happy (BINGE!) and less of the stuff that seems a little too all-consuming or joyless (PURGE!).  My housemate and I were both going through a tough time so on the first weekend in June, we picked up our notebooks, headed to a local cafe and wrote our list for Life Reset -

WELLBEING: What Your Sex Drive Has To Do With Age, Libido, Body Image and Desire

By Tammi Ireland

Within our wellbeing section, we’ve talked about healthy eating, drinking right, doing relaxing exercises and being better people, but what makes you – YOU – a better person more than being sexually confident in your relationships, and thus in yourself?  Here at Coveted Canvas, we believe in sex.  Sex to show someone you love them, sex to scratch an itch, sex with yourself, and sex to empower.  Whether empowering yourself or your lover, sexual activity is important in any relationship and in any womans’ life.  So why do women’s libidos seem to disappear faster than a man’s, especially during menopause?

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I was recently sent a copy of Sex Drive: In pursuit of female desire by Dr. Bella Ellwood-Clayton (RRP $27.99), who is a sexual anthropologist, by the lovely folk at Allen & Unwin.  The book questions why a woman’s desire is so much lower than man’s, why society has accepted this as the norm, and explains why it doesn’t have to be that way.  Among the reasoning are tidbits on why sex is good for a relationship and for a woman as an individual. With the topic being spoken about on Mamamia recently, frequent sex in adult relationships appears to be against the norm – but it shouldn’t be.

Another Easter Chocolate (and this one helps you lose weight!)

By Tammi Ireland

Easter can be overwhelming, with more chocolates and hot cross buns available to you than you ever thought possible, and all for only a limited time.  So when I heard of QuickSlim Slimmies (RRP $39.95 for a pack of 30), I was excited at the prospect of eating a chocolate that claimed to stave off hunger.

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Individually wrapped, each Slimmies chocolate looks like a mini-bar and claims to swell up when followed by 300mL of water 30 minutes before a meal.  The idea is that you feel so full you’ll eat less.  So, did it work?

Body Science RTD – Protein Shake

By Tammi Ireland

You may remember when I wrote about Body for Women’s Protein Shakes and how they’d significantly helped me on my way to reaching the goal of running a half marathon this year.  Well, I’ve just discovered Body Science also do Ready To Drinks (RTDs), which are essentially pre-made protein shakes in a bottle that you, well, shake and then drink.

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These have been amazing as I try to get more sleep in the morning.  Literally grab and go, I can shake one of these puppies and down it in no time, in preparation for a harder workout.  The taste is even better than the ones I have to make myself (how do they do this?) but they cost more eventually, so I’d stick with the powder if using everyday.  But if you’re in a hurry, on holiday, or even staying over at your boyfriend’s house… stick a Body for Women On the Go in your purse and …GO!