New

I've been trying out some new products lately.

Dr. LeWinn's Private Formula PURESSENCE Day & Night fluid
Light but not watery like other anti-greasing products. Feels moisturising on skin, but without shininess or exacerbated oiliness. Really awesome smell. Makes skin appear smoother. Contains venuceane for prevention of premature ageing, Perfection Peptide P3, pearl and plant extract for blemishes. RRP $49.95 for 50 mL, but of course I got it for free.

Jurlique Finishing Powder in Rose
Translucent powder to mattify oily skin. The best thing about this is the smell. Yummy like all Jurlique rose products. Gets rid of shininess instantly and keeps it away. Whitens skin slightly, if you're into that sort of thing. I'm not, because I'm already a snowflake. Perfect for mid-afternoon oily skin or after the long walk from Redfern to Bosch. RRP $39.95 each. I haven't bought one yet. I've deliberately marked the tester applicator with concealer to prevent customers from using it. The powder comes in citrus and lavender as well, but rose kicks butt.

APIVITA Express Skin Renewal Night Mask With Carrot
I've got it on at the moment. This is an overnight mask so I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning for results. This is another gob-smackingly delicious smelling product. It has the texture of a moisturiser, but less viscuous. Different from other masks in that it doesn't dry. The APIVITA rep explained that aside from the brown and pink mud masks that withdraw impurities, all other Express masks are nutricious and soak into the skin. Like mine is doing right now. He also told us that this mask is one of the only two that provide almost instataneous results, with skin glowing the next morning. Let's hope so. It contains some natural ingredients that explain the price: instead of water being the solvent as per usual, the masks uses camelia sinensis green tea leaf aqueous infusion; theobroma cacao butter; shea butter; wheat protein; carrot root extract; and olive. On the other hand it also contains a whole bunch of synthesised stuff. RRP $8 for two sample packs. Not too bad but imagine the price of a bottle at that rate.

John Freida Frizz-Ease Moisture Barrier Firm-Hold Hair Spray
Possibly the best hairspray I've tried yet. No uber-strong alcohol fumes. Gentle spray power. Settles into hair quickly and gives great hold in less than two seconds. Hair can become a little dry-looking afterwards, but this can be avoided by holding the can further away when spraying. RRP $8 for 56 g can.

John Freida Shine Shock Leave-On Perfecting Glosser
I don't know if this is something that happens only to me, but my hair doesn't take to leave-on products very well. It looks its best when whatever I put in it gets rinsed out. So while this sexy-looking serum seemed promising as I squeezed it into my hair, the results weren't so attractive. I applied the glosser after showering at 8:30 am. By 1:00 pm my hair was still not dry. I brushed it and was horrified to find that the texture was as if I had been rubbing vegetable oil into it - except without any sign of glossiness. Imagine that. Dull and oily. Is that even possible? I think the RRP was around $18. I used sample packs.

Blackmores Natural E Capsules 100 IU
My skin has two problems. Time-of-the-month blemish (minor) and post-breakout pigmentation from as early as a year ago (major). Nothing a dab of concealer wouldn't take care of, but I'd rather not. I used to use Bio-Oil on some light pigmentation, but back then it wasn't really a problem. Bio-Oil, however, worked quite well on my legs in getting rid of marks due to eczema. As I haven't any Bio-Oil on hand and can't be bothered buying any; and one of its main ingredients is vitamin E, I've started applying vitamin E capsules topically. One capsule lasts me about a week seeing as it's quite greasy and I need to be careful not to apply too much and cause more breakouts. So far it has lightened those marks a little. I really hate long-term treatments. RRP $7.95 for 42 capsules.