Essence The Gel Top and Base Coat review

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First off, let’s get things straight – Essence The Gel Top and Base Coat is NOT a gel product. Gel products have small plastic particles called monomers or oligomers, which link together and form a durable coating when a chemical called a photoinitiator is activated by light. There’s a full explanation of the gel polymerisation process here, but in short, …

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How do enzyme exfoliants work?

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You’ve heard of physical exfoliants and chemical exfoliants – now meet their less famous cousin, enzyme exfoliants! You’ll find them in a whole bunch of popular products, like Mario Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel, Jurlique Fruit Enzyme Exfoliator, MUAC Triple Enzyme Peel and DIY pumpkin, kiwi, papaya or pineapple masks. What’s an exfoliant? If you need a refresher, an exfoliant is …

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Blogger Spotlight: Beautiful With Brains

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Welcome to another installment of the Blogger Spotlight series! Today’s interview is with Gio of Beautiful With Brains – when I was coming up with names for my blog way back when, “Beautiful With Brains” was on the list but she got it first! Her blog is a fantastic read and has been a big inspiration for me, with ingredient …

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Depotting Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer

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There’s bad packaging, and then there’s BAD packaging. Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer is a fantastic product (better than Urban Decay’s Primer Potion in my opinion, and cheaper too, about $8 on eBay!), but the packaging is ridiculous. It’s a curvy bottle with a doe-foot applicator, much like a squat version of the Urban Decay Primer Potion bottle, which …

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Snail Slime Skincare Science

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Snail slime is the current It Girl in skincare. It’s been used since ancient times, and was revived in South American about 20 years ago as creme or gel de caracol, with brands such as Elicina. It really took off a few years when East Asian beauty companies caught wind of it and started jamming it into everything, from eye …

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May Empties

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I can’t believe it’s June already! This year has flown by. Here are my empties from May: I have a lot of hair, so I go through a lot of shampoo and conditioner. I finished off Toni and Guy Nourish Conditioner for Damaged Hair, which I really liked, as well as Appelles Blackseed Shampoo and Tamanu Conditioner, which had lovely …

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Physicians Formula Blush Reviews

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Physicians Formula has a giant range of blushes, and they’ve just launched a bunch more here in Australia. Here are some of the new ones that I’ve been trying out: Physicians Formula Powder Palette Multi-Colored Custom Blush There are two baked blushes in the Powder Palette Bombshell collection – Blondes and Brunettes ($21.95). Blondes is a cool toned pink with …

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Chia Seed Oil Skincare: Goodness Natural Beauty Lab

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Chia seeds are worming their way into everything (it’s the glitter of the health food world!), so it’s no surprise that it’s made its way into skincare, in the form of chia seed oil (turns out those tiny dark specks have oil in them – who knew?). Chia seed oil is a bit special in the world of skincare oils …

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