#THEFRANKEFFECT

Everybody's favourite coffee scrub Frank Body has branched out and launched an amazing coffee infused skincare line for your FACE! Their dirty little secret was revealed at a fun filled pink themed party the other week - think pink walls, pink balloons, pink mini polaroids, pink dressing gowns and pink hoola hoops! Basically it was my kinda party - a pink party!

Social media-ing at the event, a little bit of upskirt action too haha.

Me with some of the models, I don't know what I was doing with my hand, but I do know I was having fun!

All the guests came away with the new range to test out for ourselves, how very lucky! I really love the packaging with the hints of pink and minimal design it's very chic!

As you can see I was very excited to test out the new Frank Body face range! A big positive with the Frank Body range is that it's not tested on animals, as the packaging says it's "only tested on babes" so that gets a big thumbs up from me! I've been using the products for just over two weeks now in order to give you my honest opinion on if and how they work.

First up was the Creamy Face Scrub - made with a blend of freshly roasted and ground Robusta Coffee to scrub away dry flakey skin, White Clay to help detoxify the skin helping to clean, nourish and soothe all skin types, Rosehip Oil which helps to regenerate skill cells and repair damaged skin tissue and Coconut, Grape Seed & Sweet Almond Oils which are rich in vitamins and minerals and are perfect for hydrating the skin. I have very sensitive skin and found this scrub didn't irritate my skin at all which I have often found with other face scrubs - it says in the flyer that it's rough and gentle all at once which is the best way to describe it as it leaves my skin feeling exfoliated yet moisturised at the same time, and after using it for about two weeks now my skin is feeling softer than ever before! And as much as it looks like poo when smeared all over my face this is definitely a repurchase item for me as it really seems to work wonders on my skin!

Next up is the Creamy Face Cleanser.  With Green Coffee Extract which has a high caffeine content that stimulates blood flow targeting psoriasis, eczema and acne, Marshmallow Root & Echinacea Extract which help to reduce puffiness and skin inflammation, Charcoal which you may be familiar with in Asian face masks targeting all your impurities, well the same applies here as the charcoal helps to draw out bacteria, dirt, chemicals and left over makeup (and it really does the job well) as well as the moisturising Coconut, Grape Seed & Sweet Almond Oils that importantly don't clog your pores! This cleanser has fast become my go to of a morning to cleanse away any left over makeup my usual Bioderma missed the night before, and a few times per week I like to use it with my Clarisonic for a really deep clean. I really feel that the charcoal element is what sets this cleanser apart and makes it work as well as I believe it does. Another repurchase item for me!

Lastly is the Everyday Face Moisturiser. This again has Green Coffee Extract, this time the caffeine and high levels of amino acids rejuvenate the skin, improving firmness and texture while reducig redness, Cocoa & Shea Butters are deeply hydrating which is obviously important in a moisturiser, Vitamin E a powerful antioxidant that targets dryness, acne and fine lines and Coconut, Grape Seed & Sweet Almond Oils which help to tighten and tone skin and are great at targeting breakouts.  Personally with a daily face moisturiser I prefer to use a combined sunscreen and moisturiser all in one as I do live in Australia after all and sun damage is a daily battle here. Sadly the Frank Body moisturiser doesn't contain any SPF but I do love that it is an all natural product not tested on animals. I would recommend it for someone who was after an all natural daily moisturiser that does work at reducing those fine lines and it really does leave my skin feeling smoother than a babies bottom. If it did have sunscreen I would love this product but as it stands I'll only use it at night as a night cream.

Thanks Frank Body for letting me get dirty with your new face range. I had a blast at the party and loved trying out the products for you all xoxo

Win A Clarisonic Mia Sonic Cleansing System thanks to RY - Recreate Yourself

I've never been that interested in beauty or make-up before but in recent months all that has changed. I suddenly found myself watching Youtube beauty tutorials and downloading the Makeup Alley app to check reviews of products on the go, and instead of spending all my money on clothes I've been spending it on face creams and eye-shadows. Something that kept popping up on the beauty channels and blogs I've been following was the Clarisonic Mia Sonic facial cleansing brush, said to be a miracle for all skin types, from oily and acne prone to dry and sensitive. My skin has been going through a bit of a phase since moving back to Melbourne, dry in parts and pimply in others, so I've been madly trying to find a solution. That's why when RY - Recreate Yourself contacted me about the idea of doing a blog give away I immediately suggested the Clarisonic, so I could try it out too.


Our new place has the loveliest bathroom with an antique claw foot bath and views onto our private courtyard, it feels so luxurious to soak in the tub, like you're in a grand old hotel. After living in tiny apartments for the last few years with no bath tubs I'm getting as much use  out of it as I can.




I've only been using it a week and have noticed a remarkable difference in the tone of my skin, its softer and the dry patches are almost gone. A lot of reviews mention that the first month or two your skin can go though a purge phase where your skin has more blemishes but that once you break through that your skin will have never looked better. I haven't had any extra break outs using it (yet) so for me that hasn't been the case, I've felt like it has worked from the start. The good thing is the Clarisonic is waterproof so it can be used in the bath or shower and you're only meant to use it for 60 seconds so it doesn't add any time to your cleansing routine. It has helpful beeps that let you know how long you have to use it and when your time is up. The Clarisonic helps reduce oily areas, dry patches and blemishes and noticeably reduces the size of your pores and after a week of use I believe the hype.


The prize Thanks to RY - Recreate Yourself you have the chance to win a Clarisonic Mia  Sonic Skin Cleansing System valued at $139.
To enter Like Ry on facebook and simply comment on this post with your all time favourite beauty tip. Don't forget to leave your email, twitter or blog address so I can get in touch with you if you win.
The winner will be chosen at random using random.org.
Competition is open to Australian readers only.
Competition closes Monday 17th June 2013 at 5pm AEST.
Winner will be announced that evening via twitter and contacted via email.

Good luck xoxo

Pink Flamingo

The Melbourne Spring Fashion Week launch party had the best goody bag of any event I have ever been to. Firstly the bag itself was designed by my friends at Limedrop, and secondly inside the bag were some amazingly innovative products that I would never have discovered otherwise. The best one being Kevin Murphy's Color Bug (their spelling), which is essentially an eyeshadow for your hair which I'm wearing in the above photo. Just like hair mascara of the 1990's, hair shadow is a temporary hair colour for your hair.


The packaging got confused for a form of contraceptive by drunk party goers, and its easy to see why.


Its really easy to use, essentially you just rub the powder side through the desired sections of your hair.


Use your fingers to rub it through. It washes off very easily and only lasts in your hair until your next wash. Its perfect for people who get bored easily, want to test out a new colour or who have to tone down their looks for work.


I'm loving it so much that I want to try out the other two colours, purple and orange, but I do love the pink a lot.

Fake cosmetics

In the video above I share with you my first ever experience (to my knowledge) of inadvertently purchasing fake cosmetics. I bought my Mac Cosmetics Eyeliner in Smoulder at StrawberryNET for $15 which included free postage. That is less than half what you would pay in Australia, and sadly it turns out it was too good to be true. I go through the steps we took to see if it was indeed a fake. Have you had a similar experience with buying fake cosmetics, or clothing for that matter, online?

I have a confession

I don't have a beauty regime. Yep, that's right I don't do anything to my skin at all. It doesn't mean I don't have products, believe me I do, I just don't use them or know really what to use. I'm basically clueless when it comes to cleanser, toner and moisturiser. Pretty much I remember to moisturise once or twice a year, I use a face wash scrub thing once a month or less and I remove my make-up (only mascara and eyeshadow) the morning after, basically all of these are bad habits that I need to break ASAP because for this first time in my life (hello I'm 24) I now have pimples, wrinkles, black heads and flaky dry skin. The pimples are mainly on my forehead under my fringe (this hasn't happened to me with previous fringes) but also my nose and chin area. Then my checks are really dry and flaky and I seem to have dark circles under my eyes (not to mention, eeep, wrinkles!) and my nose is covered in black heads (Henry can't see them but I can)

So my question to you all is

What Can I Do?

For my pimples?

What moisturiser should I get? Do I need to wear spf?

Do I need an anti aging thingy?

How do I get rid of the black heads on my nose?

Do I need to scrub, tone, cleanse?

Does ProActiv really work?

Is there a way to do this on a budget?

Is there really 3 steps to perfect skin? Like they say in Cosmo? If so what are they?

My own beauty shoot

It seems every beauty shoot in the glossies always has a miniature shopping trolley to hold all the products. For some reason I have 1 of those mini carts at home. So I decided to do my own beauty shoot. Please excuse the bad photography and photoshop, I did it on my kitchen table with paper taped to bowls as the background then I shopped the paper edges out (badly).

Shopping trolley Beauty shoot

Beauty products from left to right:

• Lady Jane hair brush keeps my fine straight hair nice and straight...mostly. My hair is so fine I need to brush it every 10 minutes or so otherwise it ends up in 1 big knot which kinda resembles a birds nest, not a good look.
  

• De Lorenzo volume spritz. You spray it onto the roots of your wet hair than blow dry to have some volume...some. I dream of big hair.
  

• Round hair brush for my daily blow dry to give my hair some much needed bounce.

• Garnier Clean and Fresh face wash. Has a lovely cucumber smell that really invigorates you. I only use it once a week, I can't wash my face too often otherwise I break out in pimples, but if I don't use it once a week I also break out in pimples. A never ending cycle.
  

• Daisy by Marc Jacobs. I love this perfume, it's so sweet.
  

• Priceline home brand H20 moisturiser. It's so crazy cheap (only $2.50 or something) but so good. I do wish it had some sunscreen in it so in Summer I might have to switch to a more expensive brand so I am protected from the sun.

• Priceline Vitamin E make-up remover. I'm loving this cheap as chips product (only $4). I used to use a more expensive brand but when I moved to Japan I couldn't find the brands I liked I realised it is all the same stuff really and have since decided cheaper is better. Plus I live right above Priceline so I am always there.
  

Make-up Sushi platter

Make up from left to right:

• Cover Girl compressed powder. I only wear this very occasionally to help cover a pimple.

• Rimmel black eye-liner pencil. Generally I wear this at night.

• Maybeline New York blackest black mascara. This is actually brownish brown, I asked Henry to pick me up some at the supermarket a few weeks ago and he came home with this. I didn't realise until I opened the pack and started to use it so there was no chance of exchanging it. Oops. It isn't as good as black but right now it will do.

• Prestige white/silver eye-shadow. I always wear white eye-shadow, I think it looks like snow on my eyes, lol.

• Sugar baby gold glitter. I love glitter for a night out. Its so much fun.
  

• Chi Chi red lip gloss. A little bit of gloss never goes astray. I used to swear by red lipstick but I've gone back to gloss because its so simple and easy.

Oh and by the way I have been trying to update my links. I know I am missing so many of the blogs I love so if you have any recommendations of blogs to link please tell me. Also what do you guys think of that new blogger link list that lists in order of most recent blog posts? Should I change over to that?

**EDIT*** I have added the new blog list thing just for Aussie blogs for now. I do love its handyness but its kinda ugly. I'll do the rest of my blog list tomorrow, but if the ugliness still bugs me I'll go back to the ye olde style.....Ok it's less ugly without the post titles but now not so interesting. hmmmm its too late to be thinking about this (1am), I'll fix it tomorrow.