Top 5 stands at Spa and Beauty Expo Sydney 2012

I don't know how, but I ended up joining my wonderful sponsors Beautiful You Hair and Beauty Day Spa on their annual trip to the International Spa and Beauty Expo in Sydney.  I don't think it's possible to plan a girlier weekend than this.  Four females, beauty products and ice-cream.

My favourite discoveries and moments:
1. By far my favourite discovery of the weekend, the Image skin care range. They gave me a peeling facial and my skin has never felt so amazing (I am caressing it as I write). I bought a few products then and now I am obsessing on getting my hands on all the other products.

2.  After my facial I would have been happy to let my gorgeous new skin glow, but we were heading out to dinner so I followed the facial with a makeover by Youngblood. They were so generous with their time and made us all look beautiful.

3. Smiink lashes. I wasn't sure about strip lashes. I thought they may look fake (Kardashian like) and pull out my natural lashes when they came off. Anyhoo, I pushed my concerns aside and let them lash me up. They look fantastic and natural AND you can re-use them another 20 or so times. Bargain!! They came off with a little makeup remover and water. No pulling required. I have always doubted my ability to apply lashes at home but I had no problem applying them again for the flight home. Flutter, flutter.

4. I needed to buy my girls at home a gift each. When I came across the Tangle Teezer stand I knew I had to buy them. I had heard these were excellent for long hair. I managed to resisted opening them to try. My girls love them. I have never seen them brush their hair so much.

5. OPI and Nicole. This, of course, was the busiest stand. All the polishes were $10 and $7. We bought up big time. I may have made some rash decisions. In fact, someone (Danielle) mentioned that my toes look fungal. Thank you!

Great news, Beautiful You will be stocking Image Skin care, Smiink lashes and OPI. They already have Youngblood. You will be able to buy these products in the salon or online.

I want to thank the wonderful Beautiful You Hair and Beauty Day Spa for sponsoring me for this trip. These products are my favourites from the expo and my opinions have not been bought, not with money, hotel accom, flights, peanut butter M&Ms or ice-cream.

And an extra special thank you to Penny xx

I am linking up with SAHM for IBOT x

Cheap as Chips

Too many people had been raving about the Aldi "Lacura" Skin care range for me to ignore it. I'll admit that I was hesitant to try them.  Screwing my nose up at the thought. I wasn't sure that products that cheap should even be washing my floors, let alone my face.

I don't usually go to Aldi, so if you are like me here is some advice, be prepared with a gold coin to hire a trolley and either bring your own bags or buy some there ($0.15 each), as they don't provide bags at the check out. I didn't have a gold coin or bags.  So I ended up juggling way too many things I didn't really need.

Once inside it was a little hard to locate the bathroom section and to work out where the prices were listed. Then you have to dig around in the boxes to find the correct products. There were a few ranges and I selected products from the normal skin range. These products are under $10 each and the hand cream is under $3. I got the products for normal skin, and they were nice and light with a pleasant scent and cheap, cheap, cheap. After a few days, I still liked them. I hadn't broken out, got a weird rash or grown a third eye.  I think I'll be back again.

Lacura Multi Intensive Serum $9.99, Lacura Hand cream $2.99, Lacura Face cream Renew $8.99 and Lacura Eye Care $4.99

Black Gunk

This post is really for my own enjoyment.  Please feel free to ignore it and me and come back tomorrow.

A reader and friend told me about a mask you can order on line. I love an intense and fun mask, make it cheap and a gross colour and I'll like it even more.  This was about $5 on ebay, Daiso black mask.  I realise that isn't very informative, but it does say it's a natural pack.  Imagine a black, gooey, pore pack that you can paint over your entire face, then peel off.  Awesome, I know.  So the moment it arrived by posts, I washed my face and applied.  Both my girls were giggling the whole time.  I couldn't read the instructions, so I went by my gut.  Once it was dry, I thought it was time to peeled off.  It probably dried in about 5 mins, but then I played with my camera for another 10mins.  As you can see, I put some pink gloss on to make it look more appealing (notice the pun?)

 Super hero

 Fresh as a daisy, well slightly red

Thank you Gladys de Leon, this was extremely rewarding.  I do think I'll try it again tomorrow but I'll paint it on thicker and try to take it off in one piece.  I hope the instructions that I can't read don't say "Whatever you do, never, ever use two days in a row"

The Painful truth of Beauty

I love skin care products.  I love it when my skin feels clean, smooth and soft.  I can't walk out of the house without moisturiser, sun screen and eye cream lathered on.  I love the smell and feel of all the gorgeous products.  I could spend hours trying testers until I decide on my new miracle product.  Then I'll happy skip home to immediately try it out.

What I love most of all is when they hurt.  I know we are not meant to and I know we should treat our skin gently, but I can't help it.  I love it when an exfoliator is sandy and scratchy and it feels like it's scratching off the outer two layers of my epidermis.  I love it when a peel feels like they put the wrong acid in it and it's burning away my pigment.   Give me a mask that sets so hard, tight and itchy that I want to scream.  Then I feel like it's really working and I got my money's worth.

I would smile but I can't.  This is a mask by Danne, a mixture of Foamy lift and Exoderma Peel.  This does set like concrete.  If someone was about to attack me, or call me a nasty name, my expression would remain exactly the same.

A Sothys Mask called Renewal System.  This one is gritty and burns.  Awesome,  I almost couldn't wait the suggested time frame but then when I washed it off I wanted to do it again.  I didn't though.

Am I only one that feels this way?  Probably.