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Beauty Box – Come Open The Box With Me

Tine — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, in the interest of *ahem* research, I signed up for Beauty Box as I was curious to know what it was all about. Ah the things I do for the blog

Beauty Box is a subscription service that handpicks the best and latest beauty products for members to try. At AU$14.95 a month, members will receive a beautifully wrapped box in the mail that has a great mix of 4 to 5 deluxe beauty samples.

This service is equivalent to the popular BirchBox in the US. There are other very recent sample subscription services like this in Australia too, like Lust Have It, Haute Box and ILoveThisBox. At the moment, Beauty Box is the only service I signed up to.

I received my first box earlier in the week. Come open the box with me, won’t you?

A card describing the products. In the box we have Playboy’s Play It Spicy Body Spray, Sally Hansen Everyday Strength Medium Nail File, Yves Saint Laurent Beauty Sleep, Marc Jacobs Oh! Lola! (3 vials) and a bottle of Shu Uemura High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil.

I believe that for samples subscriptions like this, the very first box sent to the members has to completely blow them over. It has to be so good that the members will look forward to the next one.

To tell you the truth, I found this…meh. I guess I had higher expectations, and the first box was just so-so. The only items I liked from the box was the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil and the Marc Jacobs perfume samples (good for traveling). Still, I should count my blessings I didn’t get any self-tanning products, which really isn’t my thing

A cute thing about the box is that high-end brand samples will be wrapped in pink paper with a sticker “Beauty Treat” on it. Not bad, I suppose, that the first one was from YSL.

Will I continue my subscription after this? To give Beauty Box the benefit of the doubt, I will continue for the next couple of months. Hopefully by the third month, they would have gotten their bearings straight and improve with better samples.

Beauty Box’s current brand partners are Jurlique, Shiseido, Biotherm, Shu Uemura, Bobbi Brown, John Frieda, Marc Jacobs Fragrances, Sally Hansen, Garnier, Playboy fragrances and YSL.

Did you sign up for Beauty Box or an equivalent service? How did you find it?

I Experienced The Clear+Brilliant Laser Treatment And It Was Good

Tine — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t think my skin’s looked any better than before now that I’m in my 30s. My 20s skin was breaking out every single month, with painful, enormous pimples sprouting on my nose and forehead during that time of the month, every month. Now that I’m in my 30s, it’s like my skin has finally calmed down. Settled down, even. Facials weren’t necessary anymore, other than to relax and be pampered.

Geez, I hope I didn’t jinx it by starting off with that paragraph. Gulp.

Still, being an Asian who’s obsessed with having fair and radiant skin, I’m ready to try anything that would give me that healthy, radiant glow on the skin. For that, I started venturing into treatments.

A month ago, I had the opportunity to try out the Clear+Brilliant laser treatment, courtesy of Erase Aesthetic Services Clinic in Malvern. It’s a relatively new laser aesthetic treatment from Solta Medical, the makers of Thermage and Fraxel. It targets younger consumers who are searching for treatments to defy the signs of aging.

It utilises a safe and unique technology that corrects skin tone and promotes radiant, healthy, younger looking skin. I would say that it lies somewhere in between over-the-counter medication and more aggresive laser treatments like Fraxel.

I had a consultation with the Medical Director of Erase, Dr Ian Carlisle prior to the treatment (incidentally, he’s a plastic surgeon at Cabrini Hospital, where I had my breast lump removal surgery). I was armed with questions regarding the treatment, especially on the side effects. He said that there will be mild redness and swelling on the skin with initial hyper pigmentation. Other than that, there’s no downtime, and gives immediate results, even after the first treatment.

Dr Carlisle was originally requested to trial the laser machine with a few patients. In the end, the patients liked the results so much that he purchased the machine for the clinic.

Prior to the consultation, I was to fill up the new customer form, where I also had to write down my skincare regime, and the products that I use. It was *ahem* quite a long list, and when Dr Carlisle looked at what I use on a daily basis, he chuckled. He commented that I have good skin (woohoo!), and I don’t actually need to use all of those prodz. Oh. Ahem. Didn’t know that.

He advised that the best cleansers have glycolic acid, and the best moisturisers peptides.

For acne scars, he would still recommend Fraxel because that’s what it does best, which is to combat acne scars. Clear+Brilliant is for people who already have relatively good skin, but want to give it that extra boost of radiance. It’s different from microdermabrasion because it’s lighter. Dr Carlisle forsees that Clear+Brilliant will overtake and replace microdermabrasion in the future.

Makeup-free face, 1 hour prior to treatment

My treatment was then carried out by beauty therapist, Terry. She applied topical anaesthetic on my skin, and left it on for 20 minutes for it to work. For the first 10 minutes, the anaesthetic cream stung. After that, it just felt really weird. I couldn’t feel my skin moving. It’s like that feeling you get after you’ve gotten a shot of Novocaine before you get your teeth extracted.

Terry then spent the next 20 minutes rolling a knob thingy on my skin. It felt quite hot, and I’m not going to lie to you, the procedure does hurt a little. There were no needles involved but the laser knob thingy does sting the skin, especially the hairline. My face was numb, swollen and red when the treatment was over. Terry assured me that my face is one of the least red she’s encountered, given that a lot of women do come out of it with redder skin than mine.

I left the clinic still slightly unable to feel my skin as the anaesthetic hasn’t worn off yet. Hmm I wonder if that’s what Botox feels like

One hour post-treatment – red, tingly, swollen skin

RESULTS:

Post-treatment – the stinging lasted a couple more hours. Skin remained slightly swollen, tingly and very sensitive throughout the evening.

Day 1 – skin sensitivity has reduced significantly. It still stings slightly when washing my face with hot water in the morning. Skin remains reddish, mainly on the cheeks. Looks like I had ruddy cheeks all day. Swelling has subsided.

Day 2 – skin feels very slighly flaky, but not visible. There is no redness on the skin throughout the day, only after a hot shower.

Day 3 to 7 – redness on the skin has subsided, cheeks were no longer that sensitive.

Day 8 onwards – skin is visibly brighter, more radiant and definitely smoother. I wouldn’t say that there’s a dramatic change in my skin, but I could definitely see and feel the difference after just a week.

Dr Carlisle mentioned that this treatment is perfect for women who are about to get married, for those who has an important function to attend, or just want to have smooth and radiant skin. I can definitely see where he’s going with this, because if my skin looked that good when I had my wedding, I wouldn’t have paid for all that ampoules nonsense (Malaysians would know what I mean) and go for this instead.

I’m definitely glad I had the opportunity to try this new technology out. It’s not something I’d need to do regularly because it IS expensive (somewhere between AU$250-AU$350 per session). But for big events and functions when I want to look my absolute best, I think it’s a worthy investment.

Many thanks to Erase Aesthetic Services Clinic for the complimentary experience.

Have you tried this laser treatment (or any other laser treatments) before? Would you be game on giving it a go?

The Australian Beauty Blogger Weekend (ABBW) – It’s Going To Be Epic

Tine — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

For months now, I’ve been tweeting about how excited I am about the ABBW on Twitter (#ABBW2011). For those of you who do not know what ABBW is, especially my international readers, that’s the Australian Beauty Bloggers Weekend. It’s the brainchild of two amazing Australian beauty bloggers, Kimmi of The Plastic Diaries and Jacie of You’ve Got Nail.

It’s a huge gathering of beauty bloggers (about 80 of us) from all over Australia to Sydney on 24-25 September. Kimmi and Jacie have planned such an epic weekend for us that I’m wetting my pants with excitement.

Here are some of the events and things I’m highly looking forward to:

IMATS

This is the event I’m most looking forward to.
IMATS is the International Makeup Artist Trade Show. I’ve read about it for years, and it was mostly in done in the US. I’m so excited to be attending the one held in Sydney.
Besides all the brands that I’m raring to check out, I’m highly anticipating the keynote address by Napoleon Perdis and the presentations by Elessa Jade (aka Pursebuzz), Rae Morris and Donna Mee. It will be such an honour meeting these highly-talented artists and picking up any tips and tricks I can from them.
Brands I’m looking forward to checking out: Serge Louis Alvarez, Body FX, Ben Nye Makeup, Crown Brushes, Hakuhodo, Inglot and Make Up For Ever (see exhibitor list here)

Next to the IMATS, I’m uber excited to be meeting other beauty bloggers who’ll be coming for the ABBW. With so many tweets going back and forth with them, it’s high time I meet them in real life!

The itinerary for the ABBW is massive. Jacie and Kimmi have planned so many awesome events for us; it’s bloody amazing how they did it. By the way, there’s also going to be a dance-off between Tina and Jacie on, I’m guessing, Saturday night. Those two have better show us what they’ve got with all the tweets firing to and fro Twitter

My flights are booked, hotel accommodation sorted (Emily‘s my roomie!), frocks ready, nails and hair appointments all sorted for the event, and I’m ready to go! I have this scene in my mind where the beauty bloggers from Melbourne will be walking down Sydney Airport and streets, Reservoir Dogs style

Are you attending the IMATS this year? Are you going as part of the ABBW? If you are, look me up, eh?

Jurlique Launches The Purely Age-Defying Range

Tine — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Jurlique is an Australian brand that has always fascinated me. It was the first brand of natural skincare I learned of, and unfortunately, they also had one of the most unappealing packaging I’ve seen in natural skincare products till about a couple of years ago. I’m so glad they’ve decided to change their packaging to the sleeker, sexier bottles and matte tubes compared to the sterile ones they used to make.

Jurlique was founded in 1985 in South Australia. Did you know that most of the products you see at Jurlique counters and stores use ingredients sourced directly from their 153-acre farm just outside Adelaide? Oh to be able to visit that farm!

A couple of weeks ago, Jurlique launched their latest range of skincare products – the Purely Age-Defying range. I had the pleasure of attending an intimate beauty bloggers’ event held at the Jurlique store at Melbourne Central, courtesy of Jurlique and Torstar Communications.

The Purely Age-Defying collection is a range of anti-aging skincare products that promises to help minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles while providing long-lasting hydration. The products in the range are the Ultra Firm and Lift Cream, Facial Serum, Night Lotion, Eye Cream, Refining Treatment and Hand Treatment. I had a play with some of these products, and my first impressions are that they have a lovely texture, aren’t heavy and they smell really good. Typical of Jurlique products, really.

Each of us was given a skin consultation and introduced to some of the other product lines other than the Purely Age Defying range. My beauty consultant, Christine, showed me some products in the Purely White Brightening range as well. The Purely White Brightening range’s main ingredient is Kakadu Plum, which is known to be the world’s richest natural fruit source of Vitamin C (equivalent to 50 oranges!). She also gave me a short hand massage, which rocked

The lovely Tory Archbold, Managing Director of Torstar Communications

With Akisa and Jess

Jacie, Jess and Emily doing the “diversity pose” (note the slight head tilt)

Jurlique’s Purely Age-Defying range is now available at all Jurlique counters and stores.

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Psst! Just before I go, just wanted to let you know that I’ll be running an awesome Jurlique giveaway very soon. So if you didn’t manage to score a Dove roll-on, stay tuned next week!

An Interview With Marie Drago, Brand Guru of Soap & Glory

Tine — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:08:25 +0000

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Elise Garland PR, letting me know that Marie Drago, the brand guru of Soap & Glory in the UK, would be in Melbourne for a whirlwind trip, and if I would be interested in getting an one-on-one interview with her? Soap and Glory? Well, mother may I!

Still, it would be my first one-on-one interview with someone, so I was quite anxious thinking up of questions to ask (okay, it’s technically not my first interview, since I have interviewed quite a number of people for engineering jobs donkey years ago. But that was boring stuff and this was fun ). So, armed with my trusty blogging notebook and iPhone to be used as a voice recorder, I headed to Kit Cosmetics at MYER Melbourne CBD.

Before I go to the interview, let me give you a bit of background into the brand that is Soap & Glory.

Soap & Glory is the brainchild of Marcia Kilgore, who is one of the beauty industry’s heaviest hitters. She founded the revolutionary Bliss Spa group, mail order catalogue and wholesale cosmetic business whose customers now include prominent retailers from Neiman Marcus to Bloomingdales, Sephora and Selfridges. Kilgore has been credited with single-handedly igniting the day spa boom of the late nineties. Among industry insiders, she has been referred to as ‘the new Estee Lauder’ and has been described as being as in?uential in the spa business as Elizabeth Arden was to early cosmetics trading.

Having sold Bliss twice – first a majority stake to LVMH, Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton in 1999, and then the final shares to the behemoth Starwood Hotel Group in 2004 – the now 41-year-old Kilgore remains an entrepreneur at heart. In August 2006 after completing a transitional year with Bliss, she launched Soap & Glory, a masstige bath, body, and beauty product line which launched exclusively in the UK at Harvey Nichols Department store, rolled out nationwide into Boots stores in September of 2006, and then launched exclusively with Target in the US in August 2007.

Kilgore’s injection of fun and entertainment into her products, and the philosophy that ‘you shouldn’t have to spend an arm and a leg to moisturise one’, is the key to Soap & Glory’s global expansion and appeal.

Kilgore’s first foray out of the cosmetics arena, the FitFlop – inspired by both her love of flip flops and desire to squeeze a bit of exercise into her increasingly hectic schedule,– is taking the functional footwear industry by storm. The FitFlop. It’s the flip flop with a gym built-in, was designed in conjunction with a London-based University’s biomechanics department. Launched in the UK in May 2007, and in the US in June 07, the FitFlop has now sold over 4 million pairs in 30 countries.

All signs suggest that Kilgore – a woman who once said her biggest fear was that she might be branded a ‘one hit wonder’ – has a little less to worry about.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Marie Drago, who’s the brand guru of Soap & Glory in the UK. She has a delightful French accent which made me want to drag her out to a nearby cafe, and talk shop over macarons and cappucinos, instead of the noisy MYER

Beautyholics Anonymous: Soap and Glory has the famous Sexy Motherpucker lip plumping gloss, undereye concealer and bronzer. Will it expand to fun, affordable makeup like eyeshadows, eyeliners, blushes, etc in future? What about perfumes?

Marie Drago: Well, we’re currently in discussion about producing eye makeup so you never know, you might see something in future. As for perfumes, we already have an eau de toilette in the UK (Editor: nope, we don’t have it here in Australia ). We also have the body mist (Mist You Madly), which is available in Australia.

BA: Oh so we don’t actually have the full range of Soap and Glory here?

MD: At the moment, no. We took the range of bestselling Soap and Glory products to be launched in Australia.

BA: I think it’s amazing that Marcia Kilgore (by the way, it’s not pronounced Mar-sha, which I thought it was, but Mar-see-ah) has expanded to what is now very popular footwear, the FitFlops. Since she was heavily involved in the beauty industry, what with Bliss and Soap & Glory, was it a big risk for her to launch FitFlops, which I’m guessing may be something out of her comfort zone?

MD: Oh no, Marcia is nothing but a risk taker. It’s not so much a risk for her in terms of footwear, because she was a personal trainer before Bliss and Soap & Glory. She was in the fitness industry well before Bliss, she’s always been very interested in keeping your health and exercising, that it was a natural step for her. Plus she loves the challenge!

BA: Who comes up with all the fun names for Soap & Glory products. I mean, you have Sexy Motherpucker. That is a kick-arse name.

MD: Believe it or not, Marcia came up with every single name for Soap & Glory. We would be throwing ideas and brainstorming for names in our meeting rooms, and she would come up with the funniest names. If you read every the description behind every product, all those fun facts? Marcia came up with them too! She wanted something fun and cheeky for beauty products, compared to many of the more classic beauty products out there. It’s fun for people who are taking a shower, who also gets to read what’s on the jars. Kinda like the back of cereal boxes!

BA: Of all the Soap & Glory products, which are your top 4 bestsellers?

MD: Ah the top four bestsellers! The first one would be the popular Sexy Motherpucker, which is a crowd favourite. Next we have the Righteous Butter Body Lotion, which is really light and absorbs very quickly. Then there’s The Scrub of Your Life, a smooth body buffer and last but not least, Flake Away, which is a spa body polish.

BA: What’s your favourite product from Soap and Glory?

MD: Oh mine would definitely be the Flake Away. I’d be really sleepy in the morning, and using this just wakes me up. I really like it!

BA: This is a question from a friend of mine. She’s a huge fan of the Hand Food, and has bought goodness-knows-how-many tubes. She’s wondering if you do sell this in bulk, or a larger pump bottle?

MD: Hahaha that’s very good to know that she loves the Hand Food and that she’s such a good customer! I’m afraid there isn’t going to be a larger bottle for the Hand Food; in fact, we’re coming up with a travel-sized one that you can easily slip into your purse!

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During our interview, Marie showed me a couple of new Soap & Glory products which is about to be launched in Australia:
- Sit Tight, a sit-activated special lower body firming formula (available 22 August)
- The Breakfast Scrub, which is a body scrub with cleansing agents (available at Kit Cosmetics now)

The idea of Sit Tight came about when Marcia was at long meetings and conferences, and she thought that with all the sitting down, she should still be able to, say, work the bum. And that’s what Sit Tight does. You simply appy it onto your bottom and thighs before putting your clothes on. The firming formula works effectively when you’re sitting down. Now that’s a genius of an idea if you ask me.

The Breakfast Scrub smelled amazing. I was asked to guess what it smelled like, and all I could think of was cinnamon (another reason as to why I could never make it into Masterchef). It actually smelled of maple syrup pancakes! It’s breakfast on your skin. Oh heaven.

So there you go, my first one-on-one interview. A few hiccups here and there, but I think I did pretty all right It was a real pleasure meeting Marie, having a bit of one-on-one time with her and getting to know the brand, and the person behind it, much better.

Don’t forget to check out Soap & Glory when you’re at Kit Cosmetics. My pick? The Hand Food, surely!

Adore Beauty: One Night Only

Tine — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Mark your calendar, ladies. Adore Beauty is doing a one night only sale on some of their best brands from 11am 5 July to 9am 6 July. I’ve purchased from Adore Beauty before and their customer service is excellent bar none.

Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship: Something Worth FITEing For

Tine — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:23:13 +0000

You may have noticed my tweeting about FITE or using the hastag #joinFITE on Twitter a few weeks ago. So, just what is FITE? Why join it?

FITE, or Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship is a global empowerment platform powered by Kiva.org, the nonprofit leader in microfinance, that is designed to foster Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship for women in the developing world. Their mission is to provide women entrepreneurs access to small loans that will help them start or grow a business; and to help educate the public at large about the benefits of empowering women entrepreneurs so that they “can hold up their half of the sky.”

As women living in a robust, developed country such as Australia, it isn’t difficult for women entrepreneurs to apply for a financial loan from the bank to help fund our small businesses. But for women living in developing countries like South Africa, they may never be able to get a loan simply because they are women. The gender bias is so strong against them that the banks would not even consider lending the money they need to run a small business (never mind even depending on financial help from their husbands or family). I’m not even talking about opening a retail shop like the fancy ones we have in Australia. Often these women run a small shop in a tiny shack of 3 walls and a ceiling, selling home-cooked food by the roadside, sewing simple clothing to sell, etc. They aren’t even looking to borrow tens of thousands of dollars to fund their business, but say, a mere $200 to $500 which could help them immensely but aren’t even able to loan from the bank. It’s incredibly sad and frustrating that in this day and age, there are still parts of the world who do not believe women are a solid investment. Even more to discover that more than 70% of people who live below the poverty line are women.

Dermalogica is the founding partner for FITE, and has invested all the research and development to make FITE possible. From supporting creation of the platform, to being the first partner to create a retail connection with its FITE products, to rallying its tribe of over 100,000 successful women entrepreneurs worldwide to join FITE, Dermalogica has helped make the vision of FITE a reality.

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending an event hosted by Dermalogica in which we were introduced to FITE. In between nibblies and having our faces mapped, we were presented with the facts and figures of FITE and what we could do to help support the cause.

Here’s what you and I could do to help. Dermalogica has included redeemable codes (which I will explain more in a bit) in five of their bestselling products:
- Total Eye Care
- Skin Hydrating Booster
- PreCleanse
- Intensive Eye Repair
- Daily Microfoliant

We were very kindly given two of Dermalogica’s bestselling products, the Daily Microfoliant and the Skin Hydrating Booster. I purchased the PreCleanse and Total Eye Care.

As you can see in the pictures, these products have separate sleeves to the original packaging. The idea is to remove the slip, open it up, and redeem the code that is in each sleeve. Every code redeemed donates $1 to fund microloans for women entrepreneurs in developing countries. When you purchase any of these products, please do not simply chuck these sleeves away before redeeming the codes because you will be literally throwing away money which can help towards funding these women in their small businesses.

This is how you redeem the codes. Simply go to JoinFITE.org and click on Redeem Code.

At the bottom right of the page, you will have the option of crediting your FITE team. It’s entire optional, of course, but fellow beauty blogger Bellelumiere has created the Australian Beauty Bloggers team if you would like to join us

Other than redeeming these codes, you can also help by donating $25 to fund a microloan. I made a small donation, and it was worthwhile knowing that the money was being used to help these amazing women. My $25 may not seem like much; I received emails from FITE telling me that my microloan has helped Ms A, Ms B, etc from country X and Y, and it was incredibly rewarding.

These women are not asking for a handout, just a bit of help to kickstart their financial independence. When they’ve made back the amount of money they took as a microloan in their business, the money will be given back and passed on to the next woman who needs it, and so on. I think it’s really worth supporting our fellow sisters across the world.

For more information, please go to JoinFITE.org. You too can make a difference in someone’s life

Kit Cosmetics Design Awards 2011

Tine — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:43:18 +0000

Australian designers and budding artists, listen up because Kit Cosmetics has a little somethin’ somethin’ for you!

For the fourth year in a row, Kit Cosmetics are seeking the best up-and-coming Australian designers and budding artists to submit original designs, with the winning entry set to be featured on Kit’s cult Pomegranate Body Lotion later in the year.

I don’t know about you, but I would be absolutely stoked if something I designed ended up on a limited edition, best-selling beauty product. Heck, on any beauty product for that matter.

The winner will receive:
AU$1,000 prize money
AU$1,000 Kit Cosmetics gift voucher
25 bottles of Kit’s Limited Edition Supersized Pomegranate Body Lotion featuring THEIR design

50 Runners Up with also receive a fabulous Kit Cosmetics product pack.

Nominations are now open and close 5pm (EST) 15 July 2011. Voting will commence 25 July – 21 August. The winner will be announced and limited edition packaging will be launched on 26 September. For more information, do check out Kit Cosmetics.

I want to enter the competition, but I don’t think they would accept something drawn in colour pencils, would they? *gulp*

Kiehl’s Beauty Blogger Event (And Some Good News!)

Tine — Fri, 13 May 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Note: Picture-heavy post

Kiehl’s. Possibly the store with the best service I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. The staff are always friendly and eager to help, knowledgeable in giving you the skin consultations and recommending suitable products for your skin type. Never pushy in sales. Best of all, ample samples for you to bring home and try before buying.

I had the pleasure of attending the Kiehl’s Beauty Blogger Event at MYER Melbourne CBD last evening. Yes, even the cold and rain couldn’t stop me. Dedication, yo!

The objective of the event was to for the brand to meet with the beauty bloggers of Melbourne, and more importantly, to announce the price drop in a lot of their products effective May 9. Thanks to worldwide success and growth, Kiehl’s is now able to lower their prices, and to give back to their customers.

I was really excited to find out that my favourite Kiehl’s product, the Midnight Recovery Concentrate (review coming!) has dropped in price from $95 to $59! Let’s say if you were to purchase the serum from my favourite US online store, Kissandmakeupny.com, it’s priced at US$42. Including the hefty US$18 shipping fee, it comes up to US$60. Even if you were to buy other items and break down the shipping fee per item, it’s still not much cheaper. This is just an example of one of the products dropped in price. I think this is a brilliant move of Kiehl’s to allow customers to buy locally instead of getting it from the US. Plus if you get it from MYER, you get MYEROne points. I’m just sayin’.

Not every single Kiehl’s product prices have dropped though, but they’re slowly getting there. The ones which are now cheaper than before are the cleansers, scrubs, most moisturisers, serums (all serums are now less than $60), lip care (the uber popular Lip Balm #1 is now $12), the whitening range (Ultimate White), eye care, facial masks and blemish treatments. The rest remain at their original prices.

I had a skin consultation with the lovely Emma, who introduced me to the Yerba Mate skincare range (for oily/combination skin) and also the Acai serum. Thanks to the event, I was able to score some Yerba Mate samples, a bottle of the Acai Serum, Creme de Corps body moisturiser and a lipbalm.

Of course, the evening went even better catching up with the beauty bloggers. When we are together, the things we talk about … not very safe for work, methinks . Lots of laughs, lots of food (you cannot call yourself a Melbourne beauty blogger if you don’t like food. There I’ve said it). Just my kind of evening

Violet, Celina, Amy, Akisa

Jacie, Stef, Jess

Camwhoring with Ling

Jess giving a shoutout from Mr Bones, the Kiehl’s mascot

I wanted to give him a grope, but he’s all bones! (ouch!)

You don’t want to know what they were talking about

Many thanks to Elise Garland Public Relations for organising the event.

Click to find out more about Kiehl’s Australia on their Facebook page.

Kelly Cutrone in MYER Melbourne CBD Tomorrow

Tine — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:12:13 +0000

So, guess who’s coming to Melbourne? New York PR and author, Kelly Cutrone! She’s the owner of one of the most powerful PR firms in the US (People’s Revolution), starred in MTV’s hit series, ‘The Hills”, “The City”, and her own reality TV show, “Kell on Earth”. In short, she’s one hell of a woman.

Credit: Official Illamasqua Blog

She’ll be doing a book signing of her memoir, “If You Have To Cry, Go Outside, and Other Things Your Mother Never Told You” tomorrow at MYER, Melbourne CBD, to raise money and awareness for Illamasqua’s charity, S.O.P.H.I.E, which launched last week in Australia.

In 2007, young British Goth, Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend, Rob Maltby, were savagely beaten by a gang of youths, simply because they chose to dress differently. Tragically Sophie later died in hospital and Robert has been left with permanent injuries. Following Sophie’s death, her mother, Sylvia Lancaster, along with friends and family set up The S.O.P.H.I.E. Lancaster Foundation. The foundation has one key aim, to ‘Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred and Intolerance, Everywhere.’ Since 2007, they have campaigned tirelessly in the UK to change attitudes within society and to promote tolerance, understanding and respect for all subcultures. This is done through a combination of working closely with the government, the Foundation’s own education scheme in schools, and via its link with cult beauty brand, Illamasqua. The Foundation now intends to bring it’s work to Australia, for the benefit of Australians.

On the 23 March, by buying two pieces of Illamasqua makeup (check out their Toxic Nature Collection. It’s bloody amazing), you will be given a copy of Kelly’s book (while stocks last) which she will then sign. All proceeds to the value of the book (RRP AU$27.99) will be given to the Sophie Lancaster foundation.

The official book signing will take place between 5.30-7pm. I’ll be there earlier; if you are too, do look out for someone with red streaks in her hair and looking a tad nervous around such a powerful lady

This is an wonderful initiative by Cutrone and Illamasqua, and I really hope to see you there!