Review: Bourjois Loose Face Powder

Packed in a pretty Black container with pink detailing this sweet looking packaging holds 30grams of mineral enriched loose powder which is produced by Bourjois Paris and has affordable price tag RRP of $AU29. It comes in who shades the medium shade is 01. Sable Elégant, and the medium shade in 02. Rosé chic which can provides you with a light coverage of powder which is build-able.

Outside look of the Bourjois Paris Loose Face Powder

Bourjois Power with half of the broken lid removed and the powder puff resting on the removed lid.

Likes:

• Cute design
• Super mattifying, keeping oiliness at bay, sets makeup
• Easy to pick up powder though the sieve with a brush
• The subtle Rose scent of the powder, which you can smell from the pot but not on your face, I didn't care for it at first but it grew on me, but you could say the smell is not needed.
• The fine texture of the powder just 'melts' into your skin leaving you with an airy finish
• Great staying power
• Leaves you with natural looking, radiant and velvety skin 
• Easy to forget that you are wearing makeup
• Made in France (it's not every day you buy makeup that is made in France)

Dislikes

• Packaging is bulky and not too user friendly
• Can only use in summer due to the fact that the lightest colour is still too deep for me in winter
• Lid broke after a couple of months, and it only ever saw the inside of my draw
• Once you wash the puff, though it feels fine it doesn't pick up powder like it used to and I converted to using a brush

Do you prefer your face powder to be in a loose or compact format?

30 things that makes me smile

I have not been in the best spirits over the last couple of weeks and whilst I have been sitting here I have decided that I will list 30 things that make me smile no matter what mood I am in. Let’s see how I go:

1. Cute forwards that are sent via email, you know what I mean the ones that may contain photos of animal young....aaaaaawwwww
2. Packages, the ones that you receive that are unexpected such as prize packs or freebies
3. Great scented beauty products such as soaps, creams etc.
4. Lame jokes, the lamer they are the more they make me smile
5. Chocolate :)
6. Seeing dogs play at the beach
7. Sunset at the beach and there is no one else around
8. My dog Bonnie, she is an 18year old Chihuahua and I love her to bits!
9. Very old sandstone buildings
10. Classical music such as J Strass Jnr works
11. Daggy  music that you just want to sing along to without a care in the world
12. Hand made objects
13. Disney movies
14. Thunder and Lightening
15. A good book
16. Lying down in fresh bed sheets (100% cotton)
17. MASH reruns on TV
18. New makeup products
19. Successfully completing something
20. Hot showers
21. Hearing the words: thank you
22. Learning something or teaching someone how to do something
23. Jewellery
24. Looking down into a stream from a walk bridge and seeing fish swim about
25. Climbing a mountain or going on a trek
26. Seeing amazing new places
27. Finding things in draws at home which I have forgotten about that have their own special meanings to me
28. Starry skies
29. Cheesecake
30. Sitting in the shade of a nice big tree on a sunny day

What makes you smile?

I've just bought a pair of Skechers Shape-Up's

Yesterday I went to the shoe department in Myer with a $50 voucher which needed to be spent (expiry date is the end on June 2012) and in need for a new pair of sneakers and just by co-incedince the Skechers range of Shape-Up foot wear was on sale so I decided to try them on and I took them home since I was happy with the price (RRP AU$149.95 on sale to $70), the softness and the general feel of these shoes.

Included in the shoebox you get a extra set of shoe laces if the original white ones are not your thing, a Shape-Ups book and DVD with a Shape-Ups workout, I don't think I would ever watch the DVD though :P.

Skechers Shape-Ups, Jump Start's in the colour white, silver, blue

As I was purchasing the shoes the sales woman advised me to only use it for a couple of hours the first time I wore them until I got used to them since they apparently they give you a real work out. Well I didn't heed that advise and put these shoes on as soon as I got home and went for a two hour walk that very same day and went for another 2 hour walk early the next morning and and I wore them for the rest of the day and I must say that I don't feel a thing apart from the soft and cushy comfort of these shoes (not that I was expecting to be sore, I just thought that I would do a search).

Therefore I decided to do a google search for these shoes and I unearthed a whole lot of bad press. Apparently the brands claims about the shoes does wonders to tone and shape your whole body is a whole load of rubbish.
There are also claims and that for the elderly and people with joint problems these shoes can cause a lot more pain and there are also issues with instability and falling.

These issues are so big that Skechers were to taken to court about claims of false advertising and they are in court again for safety issues, wow, I had never heard of that. With these court cases happening Skechers has been told that consumers are eligible for a partial refund for being mislead...Jikes! That is quite a loss in profits!

Even though I have now heard the bad press about these shoes, it has not changed the fact that I love the comfort of these shoes. I have bought quite a few sport shoes over the years and recently I have been having trouble finding comfortable shoes that protect and does not damage the skin on my wide feet nor leaves blisters in their wake.


As for the claims for helping you tone your body just remember though these shoes may 'help' you, but you still need to put in the hard-yard with exercising regularly whilst wearing these shoes ie don't get sucked in by any brands claims about getting toned just by wearing their shoes! If it sounds too good to be true then it usually is!

Do you own a pair of Skechers Shape Up? Don't they just feel great to wear?
Do you think they help tone your muscles?

Foundation Swatches for Light Skin Shades

Hi ladies!

There are so many different shades and tones when it comes to choosing foundations and we all know how hard it is to find the right shade.
Here I have swatched some of the open bottles of foundations and concealers which I have right now so that those ladies who may have one of the following foundations may compare what they have to some other products if they are looking to move on or who are just curious about what the tone of .
Here is the list of products I have swatched and their corresponding places in the images below:

Foundations:

1. Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector in Light
2. Covergirl Clean Makeup in 105 Ivory
3. Bourjois Collagen Foundation in 61 Abricote Clair
4. Max Factor Xperience Weightless Foundation in 40 Light Ivory

Concealers:

5. Bourjois Imperfection Concealer in 11 Beige Ivoire
6. Maybelline Age Rewind Double Face Perfector in Light
7. Bourjois Brush Concealer in 61 Beige Clair

In normal everyday light indoors

In natural light

In artificial light

The Products used above, names and shades listed from 1-7

P.S. Swatches do not always give a total accurate comparison between the colors ie I find that the Max Factor product no. 4 to be much lighter than the Covergirl product no.2 but in the images above the colour difference is not so great and I also find that the Covergirl foundation is darker than Bourjois when applied and blended into my face.

Quick Guide to Healthy Eating

How many Serves you should be eating daily and Serving Sizes

We are constantly hearing about the fact that we are a nation with an expanding waistline and that we need to be more careful about what we eat.

But when we are constantly being told what not to eat, it is sometimes hard to know what or how much we need to consume to make sure that we have enough energy for the day and to get the nutrients we need.

The table below from an Australian Government Health eating pamphlet and it specifies how many serves you should be consuming daily based on your sex and age. If you are smaller or live a less active lifestyle you should aim for the smaller number in each boxes which relates to you, if you are larger or more active you should be aiming for the larger figures.

How many serves of each food type we should be aiming for daily. Source: pg 10 Food for Health, Dietry Guidelines for Australians, Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. ISBN 1864961171 (print) 1864962240 (online)

From the table above it does seem like we need to eat heaps, therefore are you confused about what a serve is?

Well so am I so I had a look at what they meant by one serve and here are some examples of what one serve is from each of the categories in the above table:

Cereals

• 2 slices of bread or 1 medium bread roll
• 1 cup cooked rice, pasta, noodles
• 1 cup porridge
• or 1/2 cup muesli.

Vegetables and Legumes

• 75 g or 1/2 cup cooked vegetables, cooked dried beans, peas or lentils
• 1 cup salad vegetables

Fruit

• 1 medium piece, eg apple, banana, orange, pear
• 2 small pieces, eg apricots, kiwi fruit, plums
• 1 cup diced pieces or canned fruit
• dried fruit, eg 4 dried apricot halves,
• 1 1/2tablespoons sultanas.

Dairy

• 250 mL (one cup) fresh, long-life or reconstituted dried milk
• 40 g (2 slices) cheese
• 200g yoghurt

Meat, Fish, Poultry, Nuts and Legumes

• 1 serve meat is a portion which is equal to the palm of your hand
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cooked (dried) beans, lentils, chick peas, split peas or canned beans
• 80–120 g cooked fish fillet

Treat's or 'Extra's'

• 1 (40 g) doughnut
• 4 (35 g) plain sweet biscuits
• 1 slice (40 g) plain cake
• 25 g chocolate
• 200 mL wine (2 standard drinks)
• 375 mL soft drink
• 50g icecream.

Source: The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, 1998, ISBN 0 642 272573

Are you worried about your weight level?
Are you getting the nutrition and energy from food that you should be getting daily?

Review Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant

The first thing I want to get off my chest is the price of this product. It costs $83.50 for 75mL which is a little pricey but the microfolant does last for months and leaves you with a nicely cleansed face after use.

From left to right: the packsging; the microfoliant vessel with the lid off showing the holes from which you can pore the microfoliant powder from.

Considering the cost I think that Dermalogica wants you to know that you have got the real thing which has not been tampered with therefore there is a holographic safety seal sealing the top of the box as can been seen in the image to the left below, but funnily enough the bottom of the box is not sealed at all... :)

The top of the packaging showing the guenine safety seal.

But there is nothing stopping you from opening the box from the bottom...

As for the product itself, the microfoliant is a fine rice powder that you need to mix with a small amount of water to create a paste before you massage it into your face for about one minute before rinsing your face throughly. The cleansing activity is based more upon enzyme action than a manual/abrasive exfoliation.

About half a teaspoon of microfoliant

Microfoliant with the addition of a small amount of water ready to be massaged onto your face for 1-2minutes.

Likes:

• Kind a gentle to the skin yet gives a through clean.
• Leaves skin glowing and smooth.
• Gentle enough to use daily
• Deep cleaning enough to used once every couple of days (contradictory, I know but true)
• Easy to rinse off, I am never left with any residue on my face
• Very soft powder scent which is almost non-existent

Dislikes:

• Price is a little high for some girls who would benefit greatly from such a gentle yet effective product.
• Takes a couple of weeks to get used to making the paste.
• A little time consuming to use compared to other cleaners that you just squirt and massage into your face, not a product you would use when you are in a rush.

Have you used this microfolant before? Do you like it?
What is your favourite exfoliator?