Light up your life. Or at least your eyes.

I’m going to make an admission. I never understood the fascination with YSL Touche Eclat (Radiant Touch). People would rave on about it with such passion and I would think ‘yeah, sure, it’s not really that great, is it?’ and carry on using my other myriad illuminators and concealers and whatever other shiny stuff I had in the bathroom to try and make the panda eyes less panda-y.

Apparently I was WRONG. YSL is the miracle illuminator that everyone claimed it was. It’s all in the application though – no point spending all that money if you’re putting it on wrong (this is where I say thank goodness for Zoe @ Primped for showing me the light – pun intended). You must first use concealer underneath. Touche Eclat isn’t about hiding the flaws (I *still* use Playboy slap for that), it’s about illuminating your face and using reflective light particles to make it look like you’re all shiny and fresh when you actually need a good nights sleep and a bowl of broccoli. Once I conceal, I do a nice upside down triangle of the juice, let it sit for a few seconds (long enough to spray dry shampoo) and then gently pat it in. Good to go.

I have tried so many different illuminators over the years, and while they are great for cheeks and brows and cupids bows, nothing quite brightens the eye area like this one does. Everything else seems a bit too pearly for the peepers, but this is the right blend of creamy neutral and illuminatey goodness. It’s so good that I’m just making up words now.

Price: $75
From: YSL counters – DJs, Myer and select pharmacies
Why you need it: To reflect all sins.

FYI: Chemistwarehouse.com have Touche Eclat on sale at the moment for $29.99 + shipping

Picture credit: ysl.com; moi

Everything went swimmingly with Atlantis Hair

You know those nerves you get when you go to a new salon for the first time – will they judge me? Will they make me feel uncomfortable? Will they ask ‘who did this to your hair’ and criticise everyone else who has ever touched your hair (this actually happened to my friend last week at another salon)? I tried a new salon on Saturday and it was the most welcoming and friendly first salon experience I have ever had. Thumbs up, Atlantis.

Atlantis Hair is tucked away just off Oxford St in Paddington (do you know where Dinosaur Designs is? Right near there) and I knew it was going to be a good day when I snagged an unrestricted spot right outside. Take that, parking inspector! Sophie welcomed me in and I instantly started wondering what I would look like with her perfect blonde long bob. Always a good sign when the staff have definitely excellent hair.

The lovely Larissa did my roots and balayage, and I had full confidence in her because she had beautiful balayage herself. I got a luscious red-brown base on my roots. Did you know all browns come from either a red base or a purple base? True story. A red base gives you a rich chocolate or auburn, while a purple takes you towards the black end of the brown spectrum (and is usually what I go for in winter). The colour looks amazing, if I do say so myself.

Jade did my cut and I’m so pleased to have all those dead ends gone. I’m trying to keep the length, so she fixed up my shape and gave me a little side fringe that is short enough to be styled, but long enough to be pushed back. She also did a blow dry and gave me some body using Velcro rollers. She was explaining how notoriously hard it is to style using Velcro rollers on your own because you have to heat the hair and curl it first using a barrel brush and then set it using the rollers, and that I should just use hot rollers at home instead. Noted.

Atlantis is a really beautiful salon, the staff make you feel really comfortable, everyone is friendly (even early on a Saturday morning) and they use Original & Mineral products, which are all natural and really good juice for your hair. All in all, a positive salon experience. Well played, Atlantis. Think I might go back for a global keratin treatment soon!

Price: Price list here, but I paid $279 for roots, balayage, treatment, cut and blow dry
From: Atlantis Hair, Paddington
Why you need it: To get good hair. Simple.

Picture credit: I did a vain self portrait so you could see how great the colour is.

New Muzak: The ultimate Christmas tune

As far as I'm concerned, All I Want For Christmas Is You by Miss Mariah Carey has always been the ultimate Christmas choon. It's the only Christmas song I can never get sick of, no matter how many times I hear it flogged on the radio/in the shopping centre/on repeat in the lounge room. BUT! I think I may have found a new hero holiday song.

The absolutely adorable Andrew Allen is an indie singer/songwriter from Canada, and he sits somewhere on the Jason Mraz/John Mayer/Maroon 5 end of the pop spectrum. He's cute, he plays a guitar and he spouts bubblegum lyrics to make your heart melt while flashing a perfect smile. The kind of guy you could take home to Mum.

He has released a single for Christmas and I am in love.



Check these lyrics!
I wanna be the 12 days wrapped in 1
I wanna be your drummer boy, burrum bum bum bum
I wanna be the eggnog in your rum
I wanna be (I wanna be)
I wanna be the north star that you see
I wanna be the partridge in your tree
I wanna know your Christmas just ain't Christmas
Without me

Swoon! Make sure you download it and put it on high rotation. Beats the heck out of Jingle Bells.

Price: $1.69
from: iTunes
Why you need it: To get in the Christmas spirit.

Christmas Checklist – Gift wrapping

I have started wrapping my presents already. Are you impressed? Yeah, I thought so. No please, stop with the applause, you’re making me blush.

Like I said in my baubles post, I like to theme everything. I’m not sure whether the need to theme everything is a sign of creativity or anal-retentiveness. Either way, I enjoy it and that’s all that matters. Last year I did all my presents in silver paper with purple ribbon and used purple baubles as gift tags. This year, I’m using really bright lime green paper, popping silver bows in the corner and writing straight on the paper instead of using gift tags (I bought tags but then changed my mind. Cest la vie). What do you think? It’s kind of a casual approach and not exactly traditional, but lots of fun and my pressies will definitely be noticed!

Funnily enough, as I’m sitting here writing this, my lovely flatmate is wrapping her pressies in some beautiful double-sided paper from Ikea. One side is black and the other is silver with a black filigree pattern. Totally different to mine, but very classy. She is also being a clever little ducky and wrapping strips of alternating paper and silver paper around for contrast, and using silver baubles as gift tags. Feel free to rip off either of our ideas.

Price: lime green paper - $5.99 for 5m; black double sided paper - $4.99 for 3m
From: lime green paper - Target; black double sided paper – Ikea
Why you need it: A present isn’t a present unless it’s wrapped. Make a bit of effort.

Picture credit: Polaroided by Poladroid.com

Current Obsession: Holly Jones

Have you met Miss Jones? I have. She is lovely – all shiny and fresh with her baubles and lace and lovely, girlie jewellery.

I bought a friend of mine some jewellery from Holly Jones a few months ago and I have been thinking about it ever since. Thinking about it in a ‘is it wrong if I buy the same necklace that I bought my friend’ kind of way. It probably would be, since it was a big statement piece. The kind of necklace that you wear with the simplest jeans and singlet or LBD and you don’t need to do anything but apply a lick of lipgloss because it carries you and suddenly you’re the centre of attention. Truly.

I’m talking about the Queen Bee necklace from her Je Ne Sais Quoi collection (pictured). Pretty, right? So do I buy it for myself or not? Would you be offended if a friend bought you something unique and amazing and then rolled up in the exact same thing? Yeah, I would probably be cranky too. Oh well, I have a Holly Jones wishlist. I’m sure I can pick something else out! She has beautiful cocktail rings and you know how much I like bold, chunky rings.

Oh yeah, she has a sale on TODAY. Current collections, samples and excess stock reduced by up to 50%. Whee! If you’re in Sydney, pop on over to Neutral Bay (Suite 1, 40 Teo St – til 9pm) and get your accessory on.

Price: $120
From: Holly Jones
Why you need it: Good for gifts; better for you. Spoil yourself!

Picture credit: hollyjones.com.au

Christmas checklist - baubles

While I can't tell you about every single pressie I have been buying, I can tell you what I have been doing to get my house all festive-y and stuff. Did I tell you I'm doing dinner for 7 people on Boxing Day? Yea, that's kind of daunting. And when I say kind of, I actually mean oh my goodness!! I have never hosted a proper Christmas meal before so I'm starting to panic already and I still have 2 weeks to go. It's doing wonders for my blood pressure.

Anyway, I'm all about classing up the joint with some tasteful baubles. I always go with a colour theme. Last year was purple, year before was pink, this year was supposed to be lime green, but I lucked out at Target - obviously everyone else had the same idea as me. So blue and silver it is. Not that I'm complaining, because they look fab. I don't know about you, but I find regular old red, green and gold quite...blah. Cliche? Perhaps. Definitely not my taste. Maybe it's because they are such rich and deep colours, while Christmas in Australia is all about blue skies and bright sun, and everything is seasonally topsy-turvy. I can never bring myself to send a Christmas card with a snow scene on it.

I have little clusters of baubles hanging around the place, sitting in urns and vases and generally adding a touch of sparkle. Subtle; but definitely more me. Plus they are versatile enough that when I need the vases for flowers, I just tip them into a salad bowl and I'm being all artistic. Clever me. How do you jazz your joint up?

Price: $6.99 for a box of 18
From: Target
Why you need it: Shiny balls > tinsel in the decorating stakes - they leave less mess!

Picture credit: Polaroided by Poladroid.com

Stuff That I Can't Tell You About

I've got to say...this time of year is not good for blogging (for me, anyway). I'm still shopping loads, but I can't really tell you what I'm buying since I know most of my gift recipients, if not all, happen to read this blog (hi Mum!). The presents are steadily piling up under the tree, or they would be if I had a tree, but I don't want to ruin any surprises so I'll just have to speak generally for a while (Sunday's Miijo post should be a hint to...someone).

That said, I'm going to keep doing my best. I have bought two really amazing gifts for our extended family secret santa gift exchange and that is happening the weekend before Christmas, so I'll post about them the day it happens (unless I crack beforehand; very possible).

On a totally unrelated note (truly) I was given a most definitely excellent present by my almost-brother-in-law two Christmases ago and loved it so much that I have been consistently replacing it ever since. Hand wash. No kidding, hand wash. But not just any hand wash. Oh no. Molton Brown. This is the good juice. It's like the Rolls Royce of soapy products. It was the most exquisite box set of liquid soap and moisturiser, all tied up nicely in a Molton Brown box with a ribbon and a tag. Sigh. I'm such a sucker for a beautifully presented gift. You could give me poop in a box, but if that box was artfully decorated and lovingly wrapped, I would still be appreciative (for a moment, anyway).

If you're in the Sydney CBD, I highly recommend you get into the Molton Brown store in the QVB. You can try all their different scents (my favourite is Naran Ji - sweet orange and grapefruit) and choose from a mix of soaps, moisturisers, skin care, hair care and home fragrance products to find that right gift for Christmas.

Price: $38 for the hand wash
From: Molton Brown - Sydney QVB or David Jones
Why you need it: Excellent choice of gifts for Mum, Mother-in-Law, Nan and other assorted people who you have no idea what to buy.

Picture credit: Moltonbrown.co.uk

How to be trendy without waiting until February

Chanel are known (amongst other things) for setting nail polish trends. You remember the jade right? It’s barely being wiped off fingernails around the world and we are already gearing up for the next collection. Did you catch the pictures from their S/S ’10 collection; Lily Allen performing, barnyard, clogs, hay bales? Do you recall seeing the delicious lacquer on the fingernails? Chanel are calling it taupe, although the official name is Chanel Le Vernis Particuliere. There are 3 shades in the spring 2010 collection – Particuliere (taupe), Tendresse (shell pink) and Inattendu (neutral creamy peach maybe?), but all the attention is on Particuliere.

In my opinion, it’s the perfect neutral - a mix of grey, warm brown and olive, with a hint of lilac. It looks good on pretty much every skin tone as long as you have short, tidy nails. After some intense googling, I have discovered that the closest match to a colour already on the shelf is OPI for Sephora Metro Chic, which, coincidentally I have been rocking for a year now (see pic, right). Take that! Pow!

Sadly, you can’t get OPI for Sephora here (WHEN will you start shipping to Aus, Sephora?! Custom laws be damned!!) BUT it is also a very close match with OPI You Don’t Know Jacques, OPI Over The Taupe, OPI Parlez-vous and Essie Mink Muff (of all those colours, I can only verify You Don’t Know Jacques myself – the rest is based on swatch comparisons online).

Alternately, you could go for the real thing. It will be on Chanel counters for about 15 seconds on Feb 21 (you should probably get on the waiting list if you’re a real keen bean – call 1 300 CHANEL [no, I’m not kidding]), although the trend, in my opinion, will be over by then and we will be lusting after the next colour. Fickle, aren’t we?

Price: OPI for Sephora US$9, OPI $19.95, Chanel $40
From: Sephora, David Jones, DJs/Myer
Why you need it: Get ahead of the curve – pretend you’re a beauty editor...

Picture credit: guess whose fingers...

Attention Shoppers: Miijo! Sale!

Just a quick heads up that the Miijo sale is on until midnight tomorrow. When you check out, put the code PRESENTS09 in to get 20% off. If you haven't checked out Miijo before, I highly recommend you get amongst it. I have bought my sister some really cool Disney Couture jewellery on there before, and I'm a big fan of Dogeared, One of a Kind, House of Harlow and Ettika. They also have cool clothes, scarves and shoes, but for me it's all about the jewellery. You pay $10 shipping and they are really quick (usually 1-2 working days, depending on whether what you want is in stock). I have just done some Christmas shopping and it will arrive at my desk in a couple of days, all nicely giftwrapped and ready for the big day!

Get fresh and natural with Jurlique

I was out shopping at the Myer one day sale (sidenote: CHAOS) and acting as a personal beauty consultant for my good friend Kat when we landed at the Jurlique counter. I ADORE Jurlique. They have made their way into my everyday life with a variety of products and I could never go back. Everything about Jurlique is organic, fresh from their biodynamic farm in South Australia, so you know you’re getting the highest quality, most beautiful ingredients for your skin. It’s one of the few brands I bang on about constantly, so if I haven’t ranted to you about it yet, I’m sure I’ll get to you eventually.

Anyway, Kat was taking her first steps into the world of Jurlique and I recommended (along with the very smart girl at the counter) that she try the Beauty From Balance Introductory Sets. It’s a smart little set that comes in an egg carton (CUTE) and there are four different sets so you can find the right one for your skin concerns: rebalance oiliness, maintain balance, rebalance dryness and rebalance sensitivity. Each set comes with 5 mini versions of some of Jurlique’s signature products. Kat has some crazy combination skin so she went for the Maintain Balance set – Balancing Foaming Cleanser for cleaning her mug, Daily Exfoliating Cream for gently washing away the dead skin cells, Herbal Recovery Gel (the first Jurlique product I ever bought) to fight those yucky signs of ageing, Clarifying Day Care Lotion to keep skin smooth and hydrated and, my all time fav Jurlique product, Rosewater Balancing Mist. If you have never sprayed your face with Jurlique’s Rosewater Balancing Mist, then you haven’t lived. It’s a light rosewater and marshmallow mist that keeps skin fresh and hydrated. Perfect for setting your makeup in place, keeping cool and staying hydrated when you’re stuck in an air conditioned office or airplane.

These sets are a GENIUS way for newbies to try out Jurlique and find out if it works for them, or for experienced Jurlique lovers to buy mini versions for travelling. You get all the essentials for a proper skin care routine without a huge commitment (not many dollars – big return!). I highly recommend these for Mums, Nans, Sisters, Mother-In-Laws and Aunties for Christmas. As long as you know their skin type, you’ll be laughing.

I’ll have Kat check in for us next week and let us know how she went (you got that Kat? Mark it in your diary).

Price: $59 – a really good deal!
From: Jurlique (they have stand alone stores, counters in department stores, and an online shop)
Why you need it: Because your skin deserves the luscious, organic-ness of Jurlique.

Picture credit: Jurlique

Todays post is brought to you by...

...Panadol Rapid.

I've been punched in the face by one of those summer colds that seem to hit around this time every year when the weather goes from hot hot hot to cold cold cold and you're in and out and in and out of air conditioning all day. BLERGH. I need some broccoli and a good nights sleep.

Price: $4.79
From: Coles
Why you need it: For that pounding headache that just won't go awayyyyy

Picture credit: gsk.com.au

Turn the computer off and grab a pen

You know what the start of December means...Christmas beatles! Yep...John, Paul, George and Ringo in santa hats. Just kidding; I totally mean the bugs, silly. Those cute little critters herald the arrival of summer and the festive season (in my mind, anyway). The start of December also means putting up trees, walking around in circles at Bondi Westfield and writing Christmas cards.

I’ve mentioned before what a fan I am of the handwritten note, and Christmas cards are no exception. There’s something really personal and heartfelt about even the simplest of handwritten note or card. Don’t you agree? Handwriting can tell you so much about someone’s personality, and people just don’t write anymore. I was cleaning out my bedside table on the weekend and I found a whole stack of Christmas and birthday cards from the last 5 years – it was really special to read back over them and see what friends and family had written. I also found $350 in one of the cards, but that’s another story.

Anyway, you have a few options when it comes to cards. You can grab a generic pack from Coles or the Two Dollar Shop, or even splash out at Myer or DJ’s. Or you could truly do something special and go for personalised cards or Christmas note cards. My current stationary love is French Navy – they do exquisite note cards with matching envelopes which are just a joy to write on. It isn’t a fold in two card, but it encourages you to use your words rather than images. Imagine yourself sitting in your parlour (what? You don’t have a parlour?) with your beautiful calligraphy pen, inking out messages of good tidings to your loved ones in far flung corners of the globe. You could even send them their own set of French Navy stationary to encourage them to correspond back. Clever you – a gift you benefit from too!

My other favourite cards this year are from mooo.com.au. They do super cute and quirky cards - you can either buy the cards on their own OR have them personalised with your name and/or picture. Having your picture on your Christmas card is a very American thing – I remember when I lived there everyone I knew did that, and even now I still receive the odd posed family portrait in the post at this time of year. Not your thing? Just have your name or a message put on the front. I promise you will stand out in a sea of nativity scenes and trees. Plus, most importantly, those who matter to you will linger over your card a moment longer and appreciate your effort.

French Navy note cards
Price: $35 for 10 (and they come in a classy box)
From: French Navy online
Why you need them: For a touch of sophistication

Mooo Christmas Cards
Price: $20 for 16 cards OR from $40 for personalised cards
From: Mooo
Why you need them: For a quirky, personal missive

Note: If you go with either of these options, make sure you send me one!

Picture credit: frenchnavy.com.au; mooo.com.au