Is an aspirin mask the same as a beta hydroxy acid treatment?

(Chaval Brasil) Aspirin masks are a popular DIY skincare treatment, but can some pills crushed in water be an effective homemade replacement for expensive salicylic acid exfoliants? Aspirin vs salicylic acid Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, which sounds a lot like salicylic acid, a beta hydroxy acid that’s great for exfoliation, with anti-irritant and anti-bacterial properties that make it great for …

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Review: Kosmea Skin Clinic Rescue Body Cream

This is another product from Kosmea’s Skin Clinic range, which has lots of products that offer intensive treatment for your skin. Skin Clinic Rescue Body Cream contains a bunch of ingredients that frankly sound awesome: Certified organic rose hip butter Certified organic everlasting oil Certified organic shea butter Chamomile essential oil Rosemary leaf extract Certified organic rose hip oil Grapeseed …

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Why do flakies look different over different bases?

A few people have asked me why, when you apply a flakie topcoat over different colours, can they take on different sheens? Luckily, there’s a moderately simple explanation! Light and colour When light hits an object, some gets absorbed and some is reflected. The light that’s reflected hits your eye and tells you what colour it is. For example, when …

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Artsy Wednesday: Maidenhair fern nails (inspired by nature)

I had so much fun sticking stuff to my nails last week, I decided to continue this week: The theme is “inspired by nature”, so I snipped a frond of my mum’s maidenhair fern (don’t tell her!) and stuck them onto a base of creamy OPI Skull & Glossbones. Mini-tutorial: 1. Paint nails with base, let dry 2. Cut a …

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Skincare 101: Exfoliation basics

(Fir0002/Flagstaffotos) Why do I need to exfoliate? Your skin cells are constantly renewing themselves – your entire epidermis (outer skin layers) is replaced every 50 days. Millions of dead skin cells are shed each day from the topmost layer (the stratum corneum) in a natural process called desquamation. However, many things can interfere with this process, such as ageing, hormonal …

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Artsy Wednesday: Ninja nails! (3D nail art)

This week with Artsy Wednesday we’re sticking stuff to our nails! I had lots of ideas, but ended up with this: What it’s supposed to look like is ninja stars (shuriken) embedded in my nails, which are dripping with blood. A tad macabre, I guess, but that’s just me all over! 😛 The base is China Glaze Stone Cold, one …

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Review: Tweezerman Slant Tweezers

I’ve always been sceptical of the advantages a $20 pair of tweezers could offer over a cheap $5 supermarket pair. I don’t know if supermarket tweezers are the same all over the world, but the tweezers from Woolworths are pretty good here! Well, it turns out that the main pro of a fresh pair of Tweezermans is that, if you …

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ulta3 Magnetic: Spellbound

Cheap-but-awesome Australian brand ulta3 have just released a range of magnetic polishes! There are 6 polishes – 3 are neutrals, and three are in the pink/red/purple family. Alanna found them in the city on Thursday, so I picked 3 up that evening. They’re $5 each, and each bottle comes with a diagonal magnet. 4 additional magnets are available – star, …

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