Friday Funnies- My Best Beauty Hacks

Happy Friday Friends!

Wouldn't be Friday without my only-somewhat-funnies so I've got a joke all ready to go, and five beauty hacks, just so this post isn't completely useless.

These are a range of weird and wonderful tricks I've developed which I'm quite proud of. Some save you time, some save you money, some may not do anything, but at least you'll feel smug to be doing something differently to everyone else!

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1. Redeemables

Yes, I know I just made that word up, but I promise this tip is worth mangling the English language for. Basically, a lot of makeup counters or stores offer makeup application for a price that is redeemable on product.

Therefore, if you're going to be buying the product anyway (ie need a new concealer, lipstick etc) why not schedule a makeup application if you have a big event coming up? That way, you get to try out a few new products, and have your makeup done by someone who can actually make sense of the Kevin Aucoin graphic above. Plus, it's money you were spending anyway. Win win!

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2. Eyes

So you've come home from a big night, and your eyes are looking shocking. If you're anything like me, you'll get to them eventually but first you've got to get changed, have a shower etc etc.

To get things moving, I smear a few fingertips of a hydrating product across my eyes. Favourites are Coconut Oil, Body Shop Camomile Balm or any kind of eye moisturiser or oil (I've even been known to use my Ren Rose O12 even though thats a shameful waste of a beautiful product!)

I find that this starts to soften my eye makeup, and moisturise my eye area, if I hop into a steamy shower. Then, there's more movement and slip waiting for me, when I'm ready to take the eye makeup off. Think of it as a little head start on the war against panda eyes!

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3. Ingrowns

Oh the bane of my life! Nothing like spending a whole lot of money on waxing, only to wake up bumpy and uncomfortable.

Pro tip for these, use your exfoliating pads. Just like on your face, the acids will encourage the skin to renew and re-shed, plus it will remove any bacteria in your current ingrowns.

Also, it's easy to remember to swipe a pad after you've used it on your face, compared to other ingrown products which I often spend too much money on, then forget to use consistently.

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4. Sharing is Caring

Don't you hate it when a beauty item you need is only on special if you buy two, or spend over a certain amount?

I get around this problem with a well stocked present cupboard, so I can buy two of the same product, one for me, one for my friend's next birthday/Christmas. Not only does it save you money (and stop you from buying yourself things you don't needs just to push up the price) it's a really, really lovely thing to give your friend a product you absolutely adore.

Just be sure to keep all your products in a same place (I also have a list going in a note on my phone) so you don't double up for the same friend. Obviously ridiculous wrapping station optional (my 'cupboard' is currently just a shoe box in my normal cupboard).

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5. Night-Before-Spray
I am a lover of dry shampoo, but I do find it can be hard to disperse properly, without spending a lot of time massaging through, which makes you think it might have been just as worthwhile to wash your hair.

Luckily, I've managed to find an easier way to buy an extra day of clean hair. I wish I could take credit, but it was completely accidental, I knew I had to wash my hair, but I was just far too tired, so I figured I'd dry shampoo quickly before bed, just to get a head start. I woke up, and couldn't believe how well my sleep-movements had dispersed the shampoo through my hair, amazing!

If you think your hair is going to look bad in the morning, but you're just falling into bed cannot be bothered, spray it with dry shampoo before you go to sleep in the morning, the shampoo will have dispersed properly and you'll be giving a great impression of someone with clean hair!


That's almost all from me, would love to hear your best beauty hacks, but first, it wouldnt be a Friday Funny without a joke...


What's a cheese's favourite genre of music?

R'n'Brie! 


Happy weekend guys, see you Monday xxx

Friday Funny- DIY Rose Face Mask

Last night I had a dream, I was the muffler on my car.

We kept on driving around and around

When I woke up, I was exhausted!

Welcome to Friday Funny, I couldn't resist starting with that one first, if only to make the rest of the post look good by comparison!

Last night, because I was knackered and looking for any way to get out of the enormous amount of work looming over me, I decided to try a DIY Facemask. I've seen these everywhere on Pinterest, but I wasn't sure which one to try. Fortunately, I remembered that the roses my Grandfather gave me from his garden were looking a little sad and sorry for themselves.

Ok so more than a little- but they were from my Grandpa! And they still smell amazing! With that in mind, I choose a Rose Face Mask figuring that at the very least, I'd find a use for my old flowers

Mmmmm, I love these big old-school roses. Big inhalation.

I keenly collected all my ingredients from the cupboard and fridge, soaked my rose petals (although the recipe didn't say how long for, this vagueness should have tipped me off, but it didn't. )

Things began to go further downhill when I cut up my petals and added the other ingredients. Although I followed the recipe exactly, things were looking a little.... runny. 

Perhaps I didn't use thick enough yoghurt? Although all the recipe asked for was natural yoghurt. Either way, things were looking pretty grim. 

Because I had nothing better to do, and I'd come this far already, I soldiered on.

Let me tell you now, you haven't lived until you've stood over your sink, covered in yoghurt, desperately trying to get rose petals to stick to your face. 

I ended up pouring the liquid over my face, then dabbing on the rose petals. By this stage, I couldn't stop giggling, DIY face-mask could not have gone much worse. 

After I'd washed it all off, I actually noticed that my skin was softer than usual, so all was not lost.

But then I became too .busy erasing all drips of yoghurt from my tiles, that stuff went everywhere, to appreciate my soft skin. 

Remains of the evening, a sink full of rose-petals, and a lingering smell. Looks like a proposal gone very wrong, but I had fun. Overall though, would not recommend. 

Friday Funnies- Nivea In-Shower Rich Body Lotion Review

Finally kicking that cold thanks to lots of herbal teas and some quality down time, I've found myself in some very deep corners of Youtube this week!

Onward and upward to Friday Funny, it's the much publicised Nivea In-Shower Body Lotion. I bought this initially when I was swimming a lot for exercise. Changing from normal gym to swimming, means I was constantly running late in the mornings, and I was desperate to streamline my routine.

While I was streamlining, I was also focussed on moisturising, because my poor skin was hating the regular chlorination, so Nivea's product seemed absolutely perfect. I bought the rich type, given I was applying it to cholorinated skin, I wanted as much moisture as possible. 

It's a think white lotion, with that typically 'Nivea smell'. It's a clean smell, not at all herbal or floral. 

Nice and easy to use, squeeze it out of the bottle, and apply like a moisturiser, I did arms and legs only, as I didn't think it was sensitive/gentle enough for my neck/face/chest area. 

I like that they call it a Skin Conditioner, because that's exactly the process and procedure for using it. You put it on like a conditioner, then step out of the shower so it can soak in a bit. 

When you rinse it off, it's the same kind of silky smooth feel your hair gets when you rinse off a conditioner, which is quite nice. When you step out and dry off, your skin does feel softer. 

That sensation doesn't last for long, so I wouldn't consider this  a great moisturiser. But if it's the difference between not having time to moisturise at all, and putting something on arms and legs, I think it's worthwhile.

Also I can absolutely second the warning that you need to watch for it on the ground. This product is slippery and if you drop some in the shower and don't notice, you'll be in strife. 

The ingredients are not for senstive skin, the chemicals which make it work in the shower are not particularly gentle, so I'd really recommend for arms and legs only, and only when you're in a big rush. 

Overall, it's probably worth buying if you've got dry skin and very little time, although most days (now I've stopped swimming) I will just get out of the shower and use a more high quality product. That said, it's not terribly expensive at $7.99 for 400ml and there are a few different scents/variations which have hit the market, so I'd say it's worth having on hand for frantic moments. 

Aaaaand now, the moment you've all been waiting for, today's joke! 

Q: What did the duck say when he bought a lipstick?

A: Put it on my bill!

Happy weekend! 

Friday Funny- Revlon Nail Art in Moon Candy

Today’s Friday Funny is brought to you by both Revlon, Cosmetic Fragrance Direct and the influence of an 8 year old friend.

Over the weekend, my young friend gave me a pre-birthday manicure, which made for some very festive celebration photos, and helped me cling to a bit of immaturity!

Although that polish didn’t have a lot of staying power, I had sparkles on the brain, so was pleasantly surprised to find the Revlon Nail Art bottles seriously reduced at CFDirect. At 4 for $10, I couldn’t resist picking up two, along with two more standard polishes (I’ll admit I was tempted to go hog-wild and buy four bottles of Nail Art). 

After much internal negotiation, I settled on the Moon Candy range, and picked a dark red and pink (230 Supernova) , along with a grey and paler pink (250 Satellite). I quite liked the dark colours, as they seemed to add a sophisticated edge compared to the glitter nail-polish of my youth.

Let’s be honest, this is purely a novelty product. For this reason, I wasn’t expecting a highly developed apparatus,  and found that my suspicions were mainly true: the bottles are smaller, and the brushes are smaller. 

Using the small brush made it trickier to get even coverage, particularly with the glitter. On the other hand, the double-ended screw top is easy to carry and throw in your bag, and you’re getting two polishes in the one cute package.

I chose Satellite which is the grey and pinkish combo for my mini-mani.  You'll notice all the following photos are taken on my very exciting desk, to show just how well these polishes brighten up an otherwise boring office day. 

grey was deep and a bit darker than I expected, although I did have to apply a bit thickly as the small brush was a bit tricky to manoeuvre. 

After the grey undercoat came glitter, which was not lots of tiny sparkles, but rather bigger flake-style glitter pieces. Again there were a few teething issues while applying this. 

I originally struggled to get the glitter flakes off the brush and on my nails. 

By pushing and brushing a bit too vigorously, I actually smudged the undercoat, as you can see in the centre of my thumb here (the faded stripe) 

I eventually mastered a more successful technique, where I gently placed the brush and the sparkles on my nails, instead of vigorously brushing. 

The results were pretty good! Exciting glittery nails, that didn't require a whole swag of products to achieve. 

Sure they're not the most well designed bottles, or the most expertly applied polish (I was being quick to avoid any fume complaints from my neighbours in the open plan) but for a hump-day-treat, a bit of glitter is a winner for me, and, two days on, they're staying put.

Big tick, Revlon Nail Art. 

To finish a nail polish themed joke! 

Where did the nail polish store his wallet?

...... In his laquer! 

These get worse by the week, Happy FRIDAY :)

Friday Funnies- Lush Mint Julips Lip Scrub

Starting a little bit of a series for this blog, Friday Funnies where I'll look at new concepts, weird and wonderful tricks and tips or , novelty or kind of unusual products. 

And I'll possibly tell a joke too.

First up, Mint Julips from Lush. 

They've got these lip scrubs in a range of flavours (Bubblegum, Popcorn) but I don't really like my beauty products to smell like food? Weird quirk, I don't mind a fruity scent or vanilla, but bubblegum or popcorn scent doesn't do it for me. So I compromised on mint which isn't too food-ie. 

It's a lip scrub, which means it's designed to buff away little rough bits from your lips, so they're nice and smooth afterwards. You did need to follow up with a lip balm, as this is strictly scrub only. 

Comes in a cute little pot, but things get a tiny bit dicey when the lid is open- sugar everywhere! This got much easier the more I used it, but at first I did need to be very careful not to spill. 

It's a pretty straight-forward idea, sugar buffs the rough bits off your lips, while essential oils (peppermint and jojoba) soothe them. These simple ingredients mean that tons of people have reviewed this product saying they could easily make it themselves.

Yep, you probably could. But would you? 

And, with the buying the oils and packaging it for taking in your handbag and not making a mess, would it be worth saving the $10? 

Not for me. 

Back to the product, scoop a bit out with your finger (again, gets easier the more you use) and scrub it over your lips. 

Smush your lips together, give yourself a little massage and work of any little dry pieces of skin. 

Then, the package suggests you lick the remainder off. I've tried this a few times, and I end up looking like this- sugar everywhere. 

So instead, I've taken to swiping the excess off with a tissue.

That's my biggest drawback with this product, the whole sugar/lick lips thing.

I dont love licking my lips- because saliva is not terribly good for lips. Actually, just double checked whether that was a myth or a fact, and saliva is genuinely bad as a lip-product. It contains enzymes which break down food, and given that your lips are delicate anyway, those enzymes are going to break them down too.

If you can lick only the sugar off, with out salivating all over your lips (or do my little tissue trick), and you don't mind a bit of doughnut-mouth, which is what I've christened the sugar after-effects, this is actually a very useful product.

Short of setting up a whole kitchen in my office, it's the only way I can get the dry bits off my lips without peeling (yuck! ouch!), so I'm ok with it, until I can find a more convenient product.

The verdict? Serves a very specific need, only somewhat well, but I am yet to find a better product.

And now for today's joke! 

I went to the zoo the other day, it was empty, except for a single dog. 

It was a Shiz Zuh.

Ha!

(please forgive me)

Happy weekend :)