Account Page

This concealer from NYX comes in a whopping 18 shades in Australia, which is more shades than many department store concealers. This is good news for someone like me who has an skin tone that not many companies cater for - light yellow olive. I bought a darker shade for myself for contouring purposes - 'beige' which is a medium yellow shade. The finish is matte which makes it suitable for contouring. It is pigmented and high coverage, blendable and a little goes a long way. I found it so pigmented that I sometimes use it as a mixer for any foundations or BB creams that are a bit too light for me. It works really well. There aren't really any other concealers in this price range that has this huge shade selection. Highly recommended if you have trouble finding your shade in concealers.

I have long hair and it was great to be able to trial this bun roller from Toni & Guy. I remember bun rollers being really popular in Asia 30 years ago, they were plastic versions that had ends that hooked together once you've created the bun by forming a circle with the tool. This version from Toni & Guy feels more sturdy as it is silicone based with a wired internal core. It doesn't have the hooks but the wire makes it bendable and keeps it bent. Bun rollers are quite easy to use after a little bit of practice. You create a ponytail with a separate small hair band, then push the tail into the slit of the bun roller and slide it halfway down the ponytail. You then roll the tool upwards until it is close to the back of your head, and bend the tool downwards to form a circle. You can then place hairpins to tuck away any ends that are sticking out. Now if you have quite a lot of layered hair like me, where your hair isn't the same length everywhere, it is harder to catch all the ends and make the bun tidy. I often have hair sticking out of the bun everywhere and need quite a few hair pins. So it's not exactly quick and easy to do my hair this way. The end result is quite good though, the roller stays secure and holds hair up for the rest of the day as long as you're not jumping around too much (i.e. no good for the gym). Overall I think it's a great accessory for a very reasonable price, even though ease of use might depend on your hair thickness and if the lengths are even. It's a great way to hold hair up especially on hot days.

This untinted face suncreen from Sunsense is a recent release, and was released quite a bit later than the tinted version. It is marketed for normal to dry skin. It is a hybrid sunscreen, containing both inorganic/physical and organic/chemical filters. The physical component is 3.2% Titanium dioxide, and the chemical filters include newer ones like Bemotrizinol (Tinosorb S) and Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate (Uvinul A Plus). The formula also contains an undisclosed amount of Niacinamide. It has no water-resistence, so it's meant for daily 'commuter' use, not for outdoor activities. The product comes in a 100ml plastic snap top bottle, which contains more product than most face sunscreens. The contents are a creamy white lotion that spreads nicely. It has no fragrance, and does have a very slight white cast from the titanium dioxide that disappears immediately when blended on my NC20 light warm skin. I find the texture to be quite moisturising, yet not sticky or greasy. However, it is substantial enough that it can feel a bit too much on my combination skin unless I skip moisturiser and just use this. For me, this doesn't pill under BB cream or light foundation if I let it completely dry down for half an hour before applying make-up. Overall I think it's a decent face sunscreen and it's quite pleasant to use. I like the addition of the newer sunscreen filters with better protection range. However, I think naming the product as 'ultra-light' was a marketing mistake - I didn't think it was very light at all compared to other light face sunscreens I've used. It's actually one of the more moisturising and nourishing ones. It would not be suitable for those with oilier skin looking for a light sunscreen. I think those with skin types leaning dry will enjoy it more.

I have naturally coarse frizzy hair that goes crazy in high humidity, so I'm always interested in frizz-control products. This shampoo is part of Redken's frizz-fighting hair care line. It is sulphate-free, and Redken says it's safe for color treated and chemically treated hair. As my hair is quite dry and coarse, I apply hair oil or treatments everyday. I have found that this shampoo doesn't lather very well if you already have a layer of oil or treatment on. I sometimes have to shampoo twice to get a proper lather the second time. On the bright side, it is gentle and non-stripping. If it worked for me with shampooing once I would have rated it better. Being a salon brand, Redken isn't cheap, but it is quite reasonable if you buy the large 1L bottles in some specialty shops.

This trial kit is targets dry, damaged and coloured hair with light thinning, which is the what my hair condition is right now. The kit contains 150ml of shampoo, 150ml of conditioner and a 50ml scalp leave-in treatment. At 50, my hair has been through quite a lot since I had greys from my 30's and have been dying my hair since then. I have noticed that my hairline is getting a bit sparser with age. I have long hair that has been permed wavy at the ends. The shampoo produces a soft creamy lather, and has a strong peppermint scent. A little goes a long way and it cleans well. The conditioner is even more minty than the shampoo. I found that I had to learn to not tilt my head forward and take care not to let any of it seep down my face or my face tingles way too much for comfort. As a conditioner, it spreads very well, but when I work it through my hair, I find that there is still a lot of fallout. The leave-in treatment has pointed dispensing spray that makes it easy to apply to the scalp after parting the hair at various points. It is quite watery. Since it is only for the scalp, I still needed to apply another product for heat protection if I wanted to blow-dry my hair. Once dried, my hair is noticeably more voluminous, and the waves at the end of my long hair are more defined and bouncy. I like that effect. However, I found that this system is still not enough for my dry and coarse hair that would still feel 'crunchy' even if I just air-dried without blow drying. I still needed extra leave-in treatment for extra nourishment. After a few weeks of using this system consistently, I found the condition of my hair a little poorer than my usual hair care in terms of dryness. It was quite good in terms of color protection. However, I did not see any thickening of my hair, only the temporary volumising effect. I was concerned that I had more fallout in the shower than my usual hair care as well. I do have very coarse dry hair, it's possible that this system will work better for finer hair, as I found that it was quite weightless.

I was given this firming lotion as part of the trial for the massaging contour cup. Even though this product has been advertised as for the 'booty', I have been using this on my arms and legs, without the cup. The lotion comes in a pink and white tub that's quite generous in size. The contents are white and have a strong lolly scent. It's not my type of scent but not being one to waste products, I used this anyway. The lotion has a nice creamy consistency and is not greasy at all. Ingredients include glycerin, coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa seed butter, hydrolized collagen, squalane etc. It does a good job of hydrating and softening the skin. I don't have cellulite so I can't speak of the effects on that, but I didn't really notice any 'firming' effects.

These hair removal strips come in a cute cylindrical cardboard box in pretty pink and white. The package includes 20 long strips and 4 post-calming oil wipes. The strips are longer to cover a wider area on the legs and save time on having to use multiple strips. Unlike the usual wax strips, no warming between hands is needed. To use, simply peel away the double-sided strip, and press each strip on the leg in the direction of hair growth, then hold skin tight before pulling against the direction of hair growth. Each strip can be folded in half, separated then used at least once more on smaller hair area like forearms. The wax strips were effective in removing unwanted hair. They do smell like strawberries and cream, which make them even more fun to use. The only slight negative I would say is that the post-calming oil wipes are too few - only 4 of them, and they are a bit flimsy and start tearing if you use it over a large area. I don't think I'll have enough wipes for multiple waxing sessions. I normally don't wax my legs because of the amount of time fiddling around with multiple strips, but these longer strips do cut down the time required significantly, and not requiring warming makes it so easy. What a good idea!

This leave-in treatment is designed to provide radiance to coloured hair, and increase softness and smoothness. It also supports hair bonds and reduces split ends. It is targeted towards normal to fine hair. It is to be applied to towel-dried hair. It comes in a 75ml tube but the instructions say to only use a hazelnut amount, so the tube will last quite a while. There is a very pleasant fruity fragrance, and the product has a good texture that is not oily or waxy. On my long hair, I need 2 hazelnut sizes. It spreads easily and my hair absorbs it well without any feeling of residue. It doesn't weigh hair down, so I think it will really suit fine to normal hair. On the flip side, because I have dry, coarse hair, this really wasn't nourishing enough for me as a leave-in treatment. I found that my hair was still dry when completely dry, so I ended up still needing other hair oils. There is also no mention of heat protection on the product marketing, so I would still recommend using a dedicated heat protectant for any heavy-duty heat styling. I do have coloured hair, but because my hair still felt dry, I couldn't detect any added 'radiance' as such. I think it comes down to my hair type not being suited for the product, so do take that into consideration. I think the product may still work well for finer hair.

I have very dark brown black hair naturally, so I didn't think this product would be very useful to dye my already dark eyebrows. However, it occurred to me that I could try this on my gray roots that were appearing weeks after I dyed my hair for the product trial - and so I did! This kit has everything you need from a little plastic 'bowl' where you can mix the colour and the oxidising agent, a 'wand' to do the mixing, and a mascara brush like applicator. I was able to apply this to my 1cm-long gray roots around my part and along my fringe. The suggested development time was 10 minutes, but knowing my stubborn grays, I left it on for a total of 20 minutes before shampooing. The results? Pretty good! The 'dark brown' was more of a medium coppery brown, it wasn't perfectly dark brown like my non-grays but it did successfully blend in my greys to make them almost unnoticable. Even though this was a permanent brow dye, on my hair it was a semi--permanent which gradually washed out over 2 weeks. Still, that's pretty impressive considering it had to deal with my frequent hair washing and conditioning! Given the effect that it had on my stubborn greys, I think this would do a really good job on eyebrows.

I've been eyeing this hair serum for a while, so it was nice to get it as a trial from BeautyHeaven. This is a leave-in product that can be used on damp or dry hair. It is designed to add shine, tame frizz and control flyaways. It comes in a black and gold 100ml pump bottle which is easy to dispense. The formula contains a mix of silicones and oils including some good plant oils like coconut oil, argan oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower seed oil. However, note that the main oil at the top of the ingredients list is mineral oil. It also contains hydrolyzed keratin. This product is quite viscous, and a little goes a long way. It has a nice fragrance that's pretty strong, but I do like the scent. The serum spreads well, and the mix of silicones and oils gives it a decent texture that's neither too oily nor silicone-y. I like that it provides heat protection, so that I can apply it on damp hair before blow-draying. I also find that it does add shine and smooths outs frizziness. I don't mind silicones as that's what provides heat protection, and I love amodimethicone which my hair responds well to. However, I do have reservations about the main oil in this product being mineral oil. That's not because I think mineral oil will damage my hair, but because mineral oil is more of a filler - it doesn't have any longer term benefits that plant oils have. There are other hair serums out there like Mise En Scene that just have the good plant oils and silicones. Then again, this product is easily available locally and very affordable, even often sold at half price. I do think it is one of the best out of the supermarket hair serums that I've used.