Pamper Wednesday: An overview and basic face mask evening (with wine!)

Oh Pamper Wednesday, how I've missed you! It's nice to have an "obligation" to take a tiny bit of time to take care of myself. It's been a long time, so I'll break down how pamper Wednesday works for you again, and then we'll get into my Wednesday pamper for this week.

Pamper Wednesday is all about taking a little bit of time to focus on your own wellbeing. It doesn't have to be beauty related, it could just be sitting down to read a book, or watch a show that only you love to watch in your house, it could be a glass of wine, or a piece of chocolate. Anything that makes you feel calm and relaxed.

Today, for me, it'll be a face mask and a glass of red wine, watching my guilty pleasure show (KUWTK - I swear I started watching it just because the little one was so mean and it was funny, but now she's not mean any more and cries a lot, but I'm still over here watching)
I have quite a collection of face masks, and I have to admit, I'm playing favourites with my brands over the last couple of years, because I really love Sukin's collection of face mask products. They don't break me out or make my skin go crazy, and in particular, the pink clay mask is beautiful and leaves my skin feeling so soft and clean.

After the show is over and I wash off my mask, I might head to bed with my new book, The man in the High Castle (Philip K. Dick.) I've watched the first season of the TV show based on this book, and it's absolutely fascinating. It's a fantasy alternate history, in which the Allies lost WW2. Kind of a heavy subject matter, but really brilliant, and I can't speak to the plot without giving things away, but I will say that it sits well with me as a fantasy book, and I'm not in any way offended nor do I feel that it is presented in a way that would be disrespectful to those sensitive to this subject matter.

My wine for this evening is Stumpy Gully 2017 Pinot Noir. We love a local wine here on the Mornington Peninsula. This wine is smooth and subtle, just exactly the kind of thing that's perfect for me. I'm not about those bold shiraz-y wines and like something a bit more subdued. This wine is lovely, but it's unfortunately sold out, so you'll just have to join me in trying their 2018 pinot, or their other wines. Their Peninsula Panorama Pinot Noir is a great introduction to Pinot Noir from the Peninsula. It's made in a fresh style for early drinking.
Responsible drinking, etc. I don't think I have to tell you not to guzzle 42 litres of wine (though sometimes the kids might make you feel like you need to!) I plan to just have one good glass with my face mask and chill out.

Enjoy your Pamper Wednesday! Head on over to facebook and let me know how you chose to relax today!

Keep an eye out for stumpy gully wines at your local bottle-o, or make a trip down to our beautiful mornington peninsula! Their cellar door is open 7 days from 10am – 5pm, and online shop is open 24 hours a day with free postage! (minimum order 6 or 12 bottles). They have very reasonably priced wines starting from $22 in their cellar door and online up to the premium range at $50.  

Sukin products are available Nationally at major pharmacies including Chemist Warehouse, Priceline, My Chemist and health food stores. 

This post is not sponsored, nor were the products mentioned above gifted to me for blog purposes. I value honesty above all, and assume that my readers do too. All opinions stated are my own.

How I saved my nails from years of damage and abuse.

 I was pretty horrible to my nails for a really long time. I've posted heaps of nail art things on this blog, in which you can see my lovely long acrylic nails. They were tough and rarely broke, and it was great....but my fingers were sore, I had multiple burn marks on my nail beds from overzealous dremel filing, I lived in fear every time I was cut with a manual file (this happens WAY more often than you'd expect and there's no way to sterilize them, nor do they throw them away), and every time I had a reset/refill, I was confronted by the horrendous state of my natural nail underneath.

So I went the "healthy" way and switched to SNS. Because " SNS doesn't damage your nails. BULLSHIT. I call absolute bullshit. The process that they use to "prepare" your nails under it is exactly the same as acrylic (not to mention that SNS is actually just acrylic powder) and I was left with the same sad state of affairs on every finger.

After a year or so of this, I decided enough was enough, I'd stop torturing myself and grow off the damage (There is no other way. You can't repair nails that have been filed away). It took a -really- long time. The cuticles were damaged, my poor nails were thin and brittle, and as I left my nails alone, I noticed that without the "protection" of a coating, the skin around my cuticles was getting pretty nasty.

I'm an anxious nail biter, and I pick at nail polish, so after I realized that nail polish could provide a bit of protection for my nail edges and cuticles, I set about looking for a polish product that has some staying power, whilst not being invasive in any way, like shallac is.

My salvation came in the form of an old favourite brand with a new lid colour. Boy does it fit the bill, and then some.

OPI Infinite Shine has been around for a few years now, so their colour selection is immense. I have trouble choosing when I go to buy "just one, I promise!", and now my collection is up to about 20 colours, plus the primer and top coat.

 First, we start with the base coat, which gives the nail a good starting point for the polish to bond to, without drying out the nailbed or harming the natural nail in any way.

Next, a thin coat of your choice of colour. Let it dry before then adding a second, more generous coating.

Last, but definitely not least, is the top coat. It's hard as nails (see what I did there?) and dries SO fast. You're good to go (carefully) in about 5 minutes, and completely dry in 20. It's truly amazing.

It dries crystal clear, doesn't matte out nail art gems, and stands up to hard treatment, even in water.

It's not a cheap product. In fact, once you buy a base and top coat, and a couple of shades, you're not going to get much change from $100, BUT you definitely get what you pay for and it's worth every cent.


It's good enough that I'm exclusively using Infinite Shine nail lacquers now, and have been for about a year. They've even released a fine silver holo, which will make all the holosexuals out there extremely happy (shout out to simply nailogical, for those unaware of the term holosexual).

So now I'm one of those people who has lovely long, healthy natural nails, and I'm certain that wouldn't be the case if I hadn't started using Infinite Shine. If you're struggling to grow off damage, or just want a new and awesome nail product, give it a try!

This post is not sponsored and I wasn't gifted the products for review. This blog represents my own opinions.
I value honesty, and assume that my readers do too.

Infinite Shine by OPI is available at all good nail salons, Myer and David Jones nationally.

PSA: A friendly reminder to check your breasts

As someone with a pretty heavy family history of breast cancer, I'm hyper-aware of the need for early detection. This honestly saves lives.

So every month on the 13th, I'll post this same blog post to remind all of my beautiful readers to have a check (your gender is not important here, every human is at risk for breast cancer), including the entire chest area and under your arms.
If you find something out of the ordinary, it'll be terrifying, but go to your doctor to have it checked ASAP. Don't put it off and hope it'll go away.

As a bonus, for my readers with testicles....give them a bit of a check too.

The time-poor girl's guide to Curly Girl Method hair in Australia.

I know it's been a really long time coming. I've been out of the blogosphere for a couple of years, completely jaded by the whole YouTube debacle, and didn't really have much to share.

But here goes, a complete re-launch. I'm not a late 20's person, like I was when I started all of this, I'm now a late 30's woman, with a whole new appreciation for beauty and what it means to take care of yourself, your hair and your skin.

I've begun by embracing my natural curly hair (Thank the spaghetti monster it's FINALLY fashionable!!!!) and trying the curly girl method.

I'd like to start by stating that the curly hair community is quite nasty. I've seen so many people on the internet get into fights about what -type- of curly hair somebody said they have...which is completely ridiculous and a waste of everyone's time and energy. This is not the place for that. I won't be stating my hair curl type, but I will tell you the ways I have personally worked the curly girl method into my life, and what works for me, as a person who doesn't have 2 hours a day to perfect every curl.

So what even is CGM? Basically, we're cutting out sulphates and silicones that strip and weigh down hair, heat styling which damages hair, and switching to more natural products and techniques for drying and styling hair, as well as washing less often.

DAY 1: WTF?

A warning: The first month or so of CGM isn't pretty. It's a frizz-filled, oily mess of a thing and you're going to want to give up on it because your hair looks worse than ever. This will pass, I promise. You have to get your scalp and hair used to having a more natural environment, so it's going to take some time to work through the process of your scalp skin figuring out how much oil to produce.

I have really fine hair, and due to a chronic illness, there isn't much of it left. I'm very lucky it's curly. I have a low amount of frizz, relatively speaking, and my curl pattern is fairly even. I work 6 days a week, I have 2 kids, and I have a fella I like to look at who lives an hour away from me... so I have, like, no time.

I've tried a few different sets of sulphate, silicone and paraben free products, and have settled on Sukin's range of shampoos and conditioners. Natural Balance is the one I like for my hair, and I'll generally shampoo twice a week and use a small amount of conditioner every morning in the shower to reset my curls, which I generally don't bother tying in silk scarves or putting in a pineapple bun to sleep in.

If you love a good botanical scent, these are definitely going to be right up your alley. I love the way my hair smells, and I love the super-light formulation, which doesn't strip my hair of natural oils, or weigh it down at all.

In terms of styling, I'll generally wash/wet/light condition my hair, comb it out with a wide toothed comb in the shower (I haven't brushed it in 4 months and I love it so much!), then put a tiny bit of conditioner into my hands, rub them together and work it through the ends before plopping my hair into a towel while I clean my teeth, etc. I'll occasionally use a really basic hair gel, but I don't like the way it makes my hair crunch. When I scrunch out the crunch, my hair looks weirdly "fried" because it's so fine. Usually the bit of leave-in conditioner on the ends is all I need for a bit of definition.
Once I'm dressed and ready to go, I'll let my hair out of the towel, give it a quick scrunch and I'm out the door, still wet. Luckily I have the kind of job where it's completely fine if I show up with still-damp hair.

Yes, I'll admit that I'm still colouring my hair, though it's only about once every 6 weeks, and because of my thyroid condition, I'm finding that I just don't hold colour any more. Within a week, I'm pretty much back to my natural level of greys and that "grown-out" look where I used to dye my hair black. It's mostly just the ends now, and they probably need a good chop. I have noticed some growth in the 3 months that I've been doing CGM, though, so that's awesome. I've heat treated my hair once in that 3 months, and straight, it looked so much longer than it used to.

3 months later: amazing!

All in all, I really feel like this curly hair thing is working for me. The maintenance is minimal, I love the way it looks and feels, and I have some relief from that "bald" feeling I was starting to get with my tiny little 12-hairs-slicked-into-a-ponytail look I'd rocked for work for the past few years.

So... here is the result after 3 months of CGM. It looks great, and I finally feel good about my hair!

Sukin haircare is available Nationally at major pharmacies including Chemist Warehouse, Priceline, My Chemist and health food stores. Shampoo/conditioner are $14.95 for 500ml or $24.95 for 1 litre.

This is not a sponsored post, nor was I given the products to review. These are my own experiences and opinions. I value honest communication, and assume that my readers do too :)

BOE BEAUTY HAUL - throwback...Monday?

KITSTAGRAM: NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Hey guys,

I've decided to try a new series to see what you guys think. I'll do it about once a month, and I'm going to call it Kitstagram. I'll share my favourite Instagram pictures (from my own account), and talk about where, when, how and why they were taken.

Let me know in the comments section if you do/not want to see this as a regular feature.

This one I feel is pretty self-explanatory, but there's a bit of an ongoing story with it. This is our Christmas tree, beautifully decorated.

After the kids came home and saw it, I told them that I would throw away any ornament that they willingly removed from the tree.

We are now down to 2 ornaments and a string of tinsel.

This was taken post-walk-with-friends at Frankston, at the bottom of Oliver's Hill where the little jetty is.

The water was so still and lovely that I felt the need to capture it.

Taken at Sweetwater Creek walking trail. A group of friends and I went walking (as we do, because we all like to exercise regularly, and doing it as a group helps keep us motivated).

The plant is Nasturtium, and it covered the entire "wall" of the path we were walking down. Note the random yellow and orange flowers, which will be more plentiful as summer progresses, and are completely edible.

A rare addition to my public instagram, a picture of my boys. Josh is the older one, he's 9, and Max is the little guy, 3.

They love the beach, and play in the water no matter how cool it is.

This day, they made a huge sandcastle. It was a pretty awesome day.

My strange addiction: Nail Polish.

This is a little under half of my nail polish collection. I just love it and I can't really explain why or how I have so many.

Nail art is a fun hobby of mine.

A proud moment.

My first month on YouTube with the new channel. 1,520 views on the few videos I had up.

I'm really excited about the growth of the new channel.

Trying something new.

Montagne Jeunesse sent me their new 2 step masks to try, and the anti-breakout one is awesome.

Stay tuned for a review in the next week or so.

A big surprise.

Sukin sent me a beautifully wrapped christmas gift, the contents of which, I will share with you in my "what I got for Christmas" video.

Faked!

My fake naked3 palette arrived, and I created a look from the colours in it for a dinner on Saturday night.

This is the look that I'm wearing in my Faked3 video, my beauty talk tag video, and my random favourites#1 video.

My biggest achievement since I broke my ankle.

We walked 6.4km on the gravel tracks in Mornington, and in the middle of that, we did the dreaded Birdrock climb, a set of approximately 200 steps (set just-a-little-too-close-together) to get down to the beach, and a track with a 45.7% gradient to get back up.

My leg is aching 3 days later, so I think I overdid it a little bit, but I felt good about getting a decent training session in.

Birdrock was my before-Christmas goal for the leg, so I'm really happy.

If you want to follow me on instagram, you can find me @katysbeautysecrets or @katylylak (same account), or #kbcommunity, #katysbeautysecrets, and #ifiwasahorse.

REVIEW: LUSH KARMA KOMBA AND DARK ANGELS

Over the past few weeks, you've seen my Lush hauls, and i figured it was about time I did some reviews for you. Here we go, starting with Karma Komba solid shampoo and Dark Angels facial cleanser.

First of all, Karma Komba, which is an awesome orange and lemongrass scented solid shampoo bar. It's great for my fine, wavy, frizzy hair, and it's so, so easy to use! Literally like a bar of soap for your head, you just rub it on, lather up and rinse away! Definitely worth a look, and on my list of favourite things right now.

Also on my list of faves is my Dark Angels cleanser, which is amazing for my combination/oily skin. It looks and feels like playdough, it's black because of the charcoal in it, and it's super simple to use with your hands, or like I do, with my facial cleansing brush from Daiso. Dark Angels is a must-try for all oily-skinned peeps, and don't despair if that's not your skin type. For normal, combination and dry skin, you can check out Angels on Bare Skin, the sister product to Dark Angels.

 For a better look and some more of my thought, check out my video review: