My winter skin care

One of my pet hates is having dry skin. When winter shows its cold face I quickly change my skin care routine to cope with the change in the weather. I hate how the cold air makes my skin so dry, i can’t stand the feeling and I take an extra 10 minutes in the morning to get ready. (10 mins is a lot of time when you have 2 little ladies following you around and wanting to put lip balm on).

So here is my winter skincare regime;

Sukin Hydrating Mist Toner, made in Australia it doesn’t contain any alcohol or parabens. I use it straight after cleansing right after the shower. Rosewater and chamomile help hydrate and sooth my skin before moisturiser.

Yes to Carrots rich moisture Day Cream, I love its thick, creamy texture and almost no smell. It contains organic carrots that give my skin a vitamin boost and sweet almond oil to help hydrate. Also paraben free and it is 98% natural. Great for cold weather.

Yes to Cucumber soothing Eye Gel, I hate cucumber! But I love the smell and I know it is good for your skin, thats why I picked this eye cream. As I get older my eyes are getting more and more sensitive, this one is perfect. Doesn’t bother me at all. I use it almost every day in the morning to help wake up my tired, up all night with babies, eyes. It absorbs really quickly too.

Burt’s Bees beeswax lip balm, one of my all time favourites. Its 100% natural and really soothes my dry lips. It also prevents them drying out on my freezing walk to the train station. (This one is also a big hit with my 3 year old, she never leave home without it.)

Vaseline total moisture for dry skin, I don’t usually buy Vaseline products but I got this one as a gift with purchase from Priceline and I love it. I use it all over my body after the shower. I keeps my skin nice and soft all through the day. It soaks in really fast too, which surprised me. I am still getting used to the smell, but a quick spray of perfume fixes that!

If I feel like it is an extra cold, dry kinda day, I leave everything to sink in for a few minutes then apply a BB cream. My favourite is the Garnier BB cream but I also use the Clarins BB skin perfecting cream. They also have SPF so win win!

Do you change your skincare for winter?

 

 

 

 

Burt’s Bees Grab Bag

I am a little bit obsessed with Burts Bees. I love all their products and I have quite a few, mostly for lips but some other stuff too. (You can read about it here) I am really hanging out to try the baby bees on my little ladies but I have so many baby lotions and balms that need to be used up first.

When my moisturiser and toner ran out, I went on the hunt for a new one. I like to try new products when I can and it is also a good excuse to go to Priceline. Yeah! Unfortunately, at the time, the weather did not feel the same, and with 2 babies in tow, shopping was out of the question. So I did what any good shopper would do, I turned to the internet.

Grab Bag $39.95

First though, I checked Facebook. I saw that Burt’s Bees had their grab bag available. Cha Ching! I could get lots of stuff and really cheap! I ordered and it was delivered 2 days later. (so quick)

I got it mostly because I wanted/needed the Garden Tomato Toner and the Naturally Ageless line diminishing Day Lotion. I didn’t necessarily need these exact one but thats what the bag had in it, so I though I would give it a go, and that meant I didn’t have to pick something myself. Ha!

Toner $24.95                                          Moisturiser $49.95

I love them. The toner really smells like tomato plants, not so much a tomato but more the leaves and stem. Its very refreshing. It also has cucumber and parsley extracts to smooth, firm and cleanse skin.

The moisturiser feels really good on my skin and its just enough moisture for hot days, when you don’t want to feel greasy and cold days when you might need a bit more. Its full of antioxidant rich pomegranate that helps diminish fine lines and wrinkles and it smells delicious. The perfect way to start the day.

 I also got all this stuff,

• Thoroughly Therapeutic Body Butter – Honey and Shea Butter $29.95
• Hand and Body Pamper Pack
• Tinted Lip Balm – Tiger Lily $14.95
• Beeswax Lip Balm Tin $7.95
• Sugar Scrub – Cranberry and Pomegranate (free sample they threw in)

So you can see that the Grab Bags are great value, and a really good way to get lots of things to try out. Head over to Burt’s Bees website to check out all the great stuff, at the moment they have lots of gift pack for the lead up to Christmas. Perhaps put together a wish list and leave it lying around. You just never know what might happen!

Stay tuned to see my thoughts on all the other products in the bag.

Hot Tip…Big lips without the Collagen!

Do you have a small top lip like yours truly? Well I think I have the solution to all our woes, and it doesn’t involve a trip to the local botox administrator for a jab or two. It is a much cheaper and less painful option then surgery, and looks a million times better.  In fact you can achieve the big upper lip we all crave from three makeup products you probably already have in your makeup kit; a lip pencil, red lip gloss and a gold eye shadow or shimmer. Can you see where I am going with this? If not or even if you are a smarty pants you should keep reading and see how this at home miracle is preformed.

At first we need a before shot so you can all witness the small lip in question.

First step is to outline your lips with a lip pencil, to make them bigger you can outline just above your natural lip. I always fill in my lips with the lip liner as well, it helps your lips stick or gloss stay longer and you always have a bit of colour in case you do not get a chance to re apply.

Next step is to apply your favorite red lip gloss over the top. You might remember in a previous post I spoke about my fav Napoleon Perdis St John lip gloss, I am flaunting it below just in case you may have forgotten (Oh for shame).

Now for the all important step, the one that is going to make us look like Angelina (apologizes, I am not entirely sure if that is a good comparison, think of your most desired lip and that is what we shall base it on.) Pat your index finger into your gold eye shadow or shimmer pot so you get a good amount on your finger. Now dab it over your lip gloss in the middle of your upper lip, make sure you do not go all the way along your lip as it will not achieve the look we are after. The gold should blend into the lip gloss and reflex off the light, making your lip look fuller and extremely kissable.

This is a little trick we have picked up along the way and have since discovered it is used quiet a lot on the runway!

RRP: Napoleon Perdis St John Lip gloss $22. Available from Napoleon Perdis concept stores.

Vintage Red Lips

Red lips are quite the fashion at the moment, it is a trend that we at The Makeup Case, have certainly embraced. So when I found these great vintage ads I had to share them with you. What a better way to start a Monday then with some lovely pictures. You can see that red lips are certainly not the new kid on the block, these ads date back to 1940’s!

1940’s

 1950’s

1960’s

1980’s

1990’s

Going by all these beautiful advertisements it looks like red is a colour that’s going to be on our lips for years to come. We at The Makeup Case don’t think that is a bad thing at all, in fact we think it’s fantastic! Red lips are by far one of our most favorite thing (sorry Oprah for borrowing your line, please don’t sue us!).

*Images courtesy of Found in Mom’s Basement and Vintage Ad Browser

My lips are buzzing to the sound of Burt’s Bees.

A couple of presents my not so good friend winter has brought me this season; the flu, a constant runny nose and dry lips. Although I am unable to return two of winter’s unwanted gifts, I can get rid of one…dry lips and its all thanks to Burt’s Bees Nourishing Lip Balm.

No matter what I tried on my lips this season nothing seemed to work. They all felt great when I first applied them but did nothing to actually fix the problem. I was complaining about the whole horrid affair my lips have been giving me while on a recent lunch outing with a good friend of mine. She suggested I give Bert’s Bees a try; she had been using it for a while and cannot get enough of it.

Then just like a lightning bolt I ran into David Jones and scoured the aisle for the miracle product. There were so many options in the range to choose from I felt like a kid in a candy store. I settled for the Mango Butter Lip Balm for two reasons a) Because I love Mangos so why the hell not and b) With all the rain outside I thought it would remind me of summer. And I tell you the Mango flavour did not disappoint, as soon as I opened the lid I could smell summer. With images of sitting on a tropical beach and sipping mango daiquiri’s swirling around in my head I forgot all about the gloomy winter gifts thrust upon me and enjoyed the moment.

Since using Bert’s Bees Lip Balm my lips are so much softer with no signs of dryness. It must be the incredible formula in Burt’s Bees Nourishing Lip Balm that heals, soothes, softens and moisturizes which makes this product so amazing. I now make sure I have one of these miracle sticks in my bag at all times. You never know when your lips my need hydrating.

Look at all the other amazing natural products Burt’s Bees has to offer.

RRP: $6.95 from David Jones, Terry White Chemists and selected retail outlets

* Image courtesy of beautydirectory.com