An open letter to the birthday fairy

‘Sup Birthday Fairy,
 
It’s been a while since we have spoken. Almost a year, in fact. I hope you’re well and you sorted out that little mess with the Tooth Fairy (don’t worry, she’s a slapper and your wings do not make you look fat!)
 

Since the Big Day is almost upon us I wanted to try and make it easy for you this year – I know I can be a total pain to buy for. I would dearly love for you to put a Diptyque candle under my pillow tree bed this year. You know I like to burn things and a Diptyque candle would make a great addition to my bedroom. Or bathroom. Or lounge room. Heck, you can buy me three if you like! I’m particularly partial to the Gardenia scent, but would also take Jasmin, Pomander or Choisya. I’m not fussy.
 
While you’re in Mecca Cosmetica (they are the exclusive stockists of Diptyque in Aus, you know) make sure you grab the From Paris With Love sampler pack. Every purchase in the month of February gets one and it has three little samples from some of the beautiful French brands that Mecca stocks (like Diptyque!) I’ll even let you keep the sampler – treat yourself to something nice, you deserve it.
See you soon!
 
With love,
Elise
 
PS - Diptyque candles are $99 from Mecca stores or Mecca Cosmetica online. I stole the above pic from the Mecca website so you know what you’re looking for.


PPS - Don't eat the Koko Black salted caramel out of the From Paris With Love sampler. I want that, please.
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Crazy!

I swear that I had posted about this already, but obviously my memory is a bit shoddy.

You know my other site The Nail File, right? If you don't, then you should. I'm kind of biased, but it's pretty great. In fact, Oprah Winfrey rates it amongst her top five nail blogs of all time*.

Fun fact - The Nail File has its own facebook page AND there is a competition running to win one of ten Nicole by OPI nail polishes and a pair of sweet Pure Dejavu thongs from Kustom Footwear. The good news is anyone who lives in Australia can enter, the bad news is the competition closes at midnight on Friday. If you haven't entered yet then I'm very disappointed in you, but it's ok because I know you've been busy (I have obviously been busy too, since I forgot to post about this!)You can redeem yourself now. It's cool. We're all friends here.

I know some people are apprehensive about putting their deets into apps on facebook, but the Wildfire app is perfectly safe and all your personal info will be destroyed once I do the draw. For reals.

*Source not yet verified
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Every Man Jack - Jack of all trades, master of skin care

 - by Paul

Cosmetic products for blokes made by savvy folk in San Francisco.

I stumbled across this brand when a mate in the industry handed me a gift pack comprising facial cleanser, shaving cream and after-shave balm. “Try these,” were the instruction. “You’ll love ‘em.” Well they certainly looked the part. Neat, understated packaging. Simple, non-condescending instructions that the modern man should be able to follow.

Every Man Jack Grooming Cube

I tried the cleanser first. It felt smooth to the touch, and had a pleasant minty odour reminiscent of the Mylanta that mum would give you as a kid when you had an upset tummy. It left me feeling happy, and, even with regular use, it didn’t leave my skin crumblingly dry (as a lot of cleansers seem to do). Good stuff.

The shaving cream was a different proposition. Same pleasing smell, but the texture was quite thick. As it is my habit to shave every few days, it would clog up the razor in clumps of cream and hair. Having said that, the feeling on the skin was so nice, I gave it another go (with only one day’s growth this time). It worked a treat. I still think I prefer a lighter cream or gel, but it certainly left my skin supple, smooth and not greasy.

Then there was the after-shave balm. Same profoundly satisfying smell (seriously couldn’t get enough of it), but I couldn’t really use it when I was going to work as I found that the “Signature Mint” scent didn’t like my Versace eau-de-toilette as a dance-partner. So even though it felt fantastic on freshly shaved flesh, I didn’t seem to use it as often as I would have liked.

Every Man Jack Shave Kit

Every Man Jack use natural, organic ingredients that are good for the skin, fight crime and campaign for world peace. Well, perhaps not the last two. But none of their range contains any nasties: no parabens, no dyes, no phthalates (try saying that when you’re drunk).

Bottom line: the stuff is great, makes your skin feel good, and the scent rekindles happy childhood memories. It’s still not going to make me shave every day, though.

Price: $39.95 for the Shave Kit (contains cleansing face wash, hydrating shave gel, soothing face lotion, SPF 15 face lotion, lip balm and toiletry bag) OR $29.95 for the Grooming Cube (contains 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner, cleansing face wash, hydrating shave cream, and soothing face lotion) OR
From: David Jones and other stockists
Why you need it: you want to start your man on a grooming process (packaging looks manly enough to be approachable), or if you want to get him a treat but he hasn’t quite earned the Hugo Boss tie.

These products were offered to Paul for consideration

Floods and Face Wipes and Wotnot

- with Shayna

I’ve had a rough month, readers.  Having lived in Victoria until four years ago when I began my new life in the sunshine state I’m still not used to a lot of things that go on here.  I’ve pretty much acclimatised to the stifling humidity of the Summer months, and I’m used to the amazing relaxed have-a-chat mentality of business here in Queensland, but until recently there was one thing I hadn’t been privy to since moving – The Big Wet.

I had no idea it could rain for so long, so hard and unrelenting.  I had no idea that despite the amount of water falling from the sky, I could still be sweaty and sticky the moment I stepped out of the shower.  We have had mild hot and dry Summers since I had made my big move, and I was completely unaware of the power of The Rain up here.

We were lucky in the second week of January when all of that water culminated into the worst flood the state has seen for many years.  Our house was spared (by approximately one block!) and our family and friends remained safe and dry. We were, however, evacuated.  It was a scary moment when my partner and I looked at each other and decided it was time to leave.  It was an even scarier moment when we had to pack a bag full of our valuables and things we would need for the foreseeable future.. What on Earth was I going to pack that would fit into our car!?  

I ended up bringing a bag of clothes (5 days worth), a couple of pairs of shoes, my important documents and a tiny bag of toiletries containing just the essentials.  While I was packing I reached for the unopened pack of Wotnot Naturally Nurturing Facial Wipes I had picked up a few weeks earlier.  There was no way I could pack my precious Rosehip Oil, so these guys had a big task to fulfill.

I know it’s petty and vain to be worrying about the state of your skin while your entire city becomes Water World, but I did.  With good reason.  My skin is sensitive and freaks out over changing locales – even spending the night on my bestie’s floor causes it to flake and break-out.  It can be a bit of a precious b*tch, frankly, and I knew the stress of the floods along with being displaced would be enough to cause it great distress.

I shouldn’t have worried. The first time I opened the pack of Wotnot Naturally Nurturing Facial Wipes I was impressed.  The scent was delicate and fresh, and the cloths were strong and durable while feeling silky smooth to the touch.  As I wiped one over my skin I could feel the oils doing their job.  My make-up was removed quickly and easily, with no trace of residue left behind, and more importantly – I had no dry patches, and no break-outs the entire time we were displaced.

I felt completely comfortable ditching my regular Rosehip regime as the wipes contained that exact oil and then some. Organic aloe vera gently repairs skin; organic sweet almond oil moisturises; organic jojoba oil makes eyelashes and eyelids feel plumped and luscious while Vitamin E nourishes and protects.  All in an easy facial wipe you can pop into your bag, car, or bathroom drawer.  I had stumbled on an absolute winner!

Rest assured I will keep a pack of these on hand for any planned or unplanned travel I undertake.  It’s nigh impossible to pack any kinds of oils safely, but these are as portable as they come and really helped to make my stressful week a bit easier to deal with.  At least I had one less thing to worry about!

Wotnot Naturally Nurturing Facial Wipes
Price: $11.95 for pack of 25
From: Health food stores, chemists and Ecodirect
Why you need them: Perfect for sensitive skin, these babies are handy for travelling, gym bags, sweaty picnis and flood crisis evacuations.

These products were offered to Stuff That I Bought for consideration
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Rolling out the welcome wagon

I am overjoyed, overwhelmed and overexcited to introduce you to two new contributors to Stuff That I Bought. Between here and The Nail File life can get pretty busy, and since I have some very talented friends I figure I may as well put them to good use *cracks whip*

Meet Shayna and Paul - they will both pop up here from time to time. No set schedule, no agenda, no formula. BUT they are both talented writers and funny people, and hopefully you’ll love them as much as I do (although not more than you love me - my ego couldn’t handle that kind of rejection). Paul will be looking after all the requests I get for men’s stuff and Shayna will be entertaining us with her own special brand of ohmygodilovebeautyproducts.

Hi Paul!

Paul is a Sydney-based writer, dilettante and lover of all things stylin’.  He has written travel and lifestyle pages for Belle magazine, and in a mixed career (that has involved marketing, research, magazines, uni lecturing and translating from Italian) he has written for other prestigious publications such as Men’s Style, Qantas the Australian Way and Australian Beer and Brewer magazine.
He’s also working on his first novel – so watch this space!

Hi Shay!

Shayna is an Interior Designer currently based in Bris-Vegas who was a budding journalist a lifetime ago. Add to that a life-long beauty addiction, and the result is her Youtube Channel jammed packed with Vlogs (video blogs) that centre on All Things Beauty Related. She finds inspiration everywhere and can't help but express her creativity in a myriad of ways – even her facebook photos are works of art!

Make them feel welcome, include them in your circle at lunchtime and make sure they have someone to sit next to in class. We're all one big happy family here!

Milky Foot - buy a pumice stone instead

Milky Foot: In a word...shit. But you probably want more than just one word, don’t you.

Milky Foot claims to be the effortless way to exfoliate your feet. You pop the booties on, leave them for an hour, and then over the following week the dead skin on your feet peels off and new, baby-soft skin is revealed. That’s all well and good, except my experience was pretty much the opposite.

First up, the booties are not exactly user-friendly. They made a heck of a mess on my (brand new thousand count) sheets, and there is something a little un-nerving about a gel that eats the skin off your feet being on your bed. There was a late night trip to the washing machine.

The instructions tell you that the peeling will begin five days after you do the treatment, but my skin started coming off after three, and that’s worth noting if you intend to plan the timing of your treatment around other feet-exposing events. By day four my feet looked like they had been hit by a cheese grater but the skin wasn’t actually falling off at all – I had to manually rub to get the skin off. Hot.

The skin was definitely at its worst fresh out of the shower – the heat and water soften all the loose skin and it was like a sticky film every morning. That said, it was also the easiest time to rub all that excess off – a minute of vigorous rubbing with a dry towel did the trick.

I figured after about a week there wasn’t much skin left to come off. I was wrong. I shed for a solid three weeks. It wasn’t so much flaking as patches rolling off. At the three and a half week week mark I learnt the hard way that you can’t use fake tan after you use Milky Foot – to say the result was ugly is an understatement.

It's like a tan optical illusion - can you see the cow?

It’s now over a month later and my feet are back to what they used to be. Not softer, not silkier, not
smoother. My heels are as hard as they ever were and frankly it was a whole lot of anguish for nothing.

Milky Foot
Price: $25.99
From: Chemists
Why you need it: Your call, buddy. I know friends have used it with positive results, but I was not impressed.

For those of you who want to be grossed out, I have put two pictures of my feet mid-peel under the cut...

Show me how you Burlesque

Burlesque came out yesterday and if you haven’t already bought your tickets, then you better get to the box office! (or buy them online, cos that’s usually how people kick it these days). I had the privilege of seeing it back in December thanks to OPI and Smashbox, and it kicks ass. Sure, it’s not exactly intellectually stimulating – girl leaves small town, goes to big smoke, meets boy, overcomes sticky situation, gets big break, gets boy, happily ever after (sorry if I ruined the ending) – but the costumes are amazing, the tunes are catchy and holy heck the nails and makeup are specTACular!

Of course there are the obligatory merchandise tie-ins. I have already written about the OPI Burlesque nail collection that came out before Christmas – check it out over at The Nail File. The hot chicks at Smashbox created the makeup looks for the film, and they too have put out some amazing limited-edition prods that you should dash into Kit to snap up.

If you want to go OTT and splurge, pick up the Train Case (valued at $400, but RRP $174.95 – sweet value!)  You probably won’t need to buy another piece of makeup all year if you get this – we’re talking 8 different products for eyes, lips and cheeks. If you only want a few prodz, go for the Beauty Collection ($179 value for $58.95). I was lucky enough to be given a Beauty Collection box and I will admit it’s the first time I have successfully used a liquid liner pen.

I am utterly uncoordinated when it comes to liquid liner, but this thin felt tip pen is actually not that tricky to use (I know, I was surprised). As well as the eyeliner, the box contains a shadow and liner quad with a cute fishnet pattern on the lid and a double ended lipgloss, but my favourite product by far is the golden pink loose shimmer powder in Burlesque. I have been dusting this on my cheekbones every day for a little extra glow, even this week when I was stuck in bed with the flu. Nothing cures the flu like a little shimmy shimmy.

Smashbox for Burlesque
Price: $58.95 for the Beauty Collection
From: Kit Cosmetics
Why you need it: If you buy ANY product from Kit before Jan 31st, you go in the draw to win a trip to LA. If you buy a Burlesque product you get TWO entries. Incentive enough?





These products were offered to me for consideration

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The Last Resort - the first step on the road to sanity

The end of 2010 was stressful, right? I’m trying not to dwell on the past too much, fresh start in 2011 and all that jazz, but the last few weeks of 2010 chewed me up and spat me out. By the time I went for my massage on Christmas Eve I was one road rage incident away from a total breakdown.

But ooooohhhhhh the massage I had on Christmas Eve set me right again. The Last Resort in Bondi invited me down to sample something from their treatment menu and I almost wet myself when I read the description of the Ancient Stone Therapy “warm volcanic stones are used to re-align the body and provide deep stress relief.” Um, hello? Sign me up. Now.

The Last Resort is an organic detox spa tucked away in Bondi that treats and nourishes your insides with naturopathy, therapeutic massage, colon therapy (this is where I go to have my insides, er, flushed), spa treatments and nutrition.  It’s absolutely divine in the spa, with candles, fresh white walls, dark wood and Balinese art pieces. Heaven.

I started my treatment by slipping into the fluffiest robe and slippers known to man, and frankly I would have been quite happy to sit there in the robe for an hour drinking tea. But no, time to get naked (except for the disposable underpants, and can I just say they were the most comfortable and flattering disposable pants I have ever seen. It’s the little things.)

Having never had a hot stone treatment before and not really given it any thought as to what it involves beyond ‘hot stones on my back’, I was quickly whisked into total bliss when Heidi my therapist rubbed my feet with a hot towel. Simple, but so effective. Then it was time to dry body brush my back and hot stones were placed in a line down my spine.

Heidi rubbed my legs down with coconut oil and then massaged my legs one at a time using a hot stone in each of her hands. Dude. The feeling of hot, smooth stones sliding up and down your legs when they’re slick with coconut oil is...well...how do you think it would feel? I may have audibly groaned at this point.

Once my legs were suitably jelly like, she moved up to my back, shoulders, neck and the tops of my arms. One of the hardest things about having a treatment that you’re going to write about is actually being lucid enough during the treatment to take note of what’s happening around you. I started to drift off at this point and had to gather all my strength to retain at least 10% awareness while the other 90% of me was in la la land.

The back half took about 50 minutes and then it was roll over red rover so the front half could have the same. Heidi dry body brushed me and placed hot stones on my stomach, chest and forehead while I willed time to slow down so my session would never have to end.

More coconut oil, more hot stones and my legs, feet, arms, chest, throat and shoulders all got a good run over the next 40 minutes. The grand finale is a head massage and if I had any strength left I would have jumped up and kissed Heidi, but alas she had rendered me almost comatose. It took me a good five minutes to get to a standing position and get dressed, and another five minutes just sitting in the car gathering my thoughts before I could turn the ignition on.

Not only did I leave The Last Resort with my body feeling physically relaxed, but mentally I felt refreshed and ready to face Christmas Day as regular, happy Elise and not raving lunatic Elise. There is much to be said for the power of taking time out for yourself and that’s one of my 2011 resolutions.

A few other things worth mentioning:

• It’s actually quite easy to park really close to the spa. I visited multiple times in the weeks before and after Christmas, all on stinking hot days, and managed to park right outside every time. A novelty in Bondi.

• When you are lying face down for the back treatment with your face in the massage table hole, there is a gorgeous little wooden dish with salt and seashells in it underneath you. This is a really sweet touch and shows attention to detail. That said, I would like to apologise to The Last Resort because I am certain I drooled into it (possibly twice).

• Coconut oil not only hydrates your skin and smells great, but it gives a damn sexy shimmer.

The Last Resort – Ancient Stone Therapy
Price: $99 for 60 mins or 140 for 90 mins
From: The Last Resort 71 Glenayr Ave, North Bondi
Why you should try it: To have your stress rubbed away and your mental health restored.

Please note: I was a guest of The Last Resort, and I am incredibly thankful to them for allowing me to enjoy this experience.

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