Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Beauty Essentials

 photo Beauty_zps30af12d8.jpg
Aesop Reverence Hand Cream

I have a confession to make... this year I am turning 30! Eek! Yep, no longer a twenty-something, I am heading into my 30s, which I am actually excited about. Whenever I meet people and they ask how old I am, there usually comes an exclamation of surprise when they find out I am not somewhere between 22 to 24. 
Ah, not so much. 
I sometimes wonder if they think it is a little sad for me to have a blog, even as a hobby, I mean, I would have loved to have began one as a teenager, I certainly had a large box of floppy disks with fashion photos and costume pictures, much to my media teachers horror. "That is such waste and excess!" He said to me. I remember telling him, 'they just need to make bigger floppy disks'. I made my first 'blog' not knowing what it was way back then at 16, it had pages for movie costumes, paintings, stills from Daria the cartoon and more. Who knew?
 But I digress...

I thought about this 'mystery' age I have been portraying, people often comment that I do not look 30, (I am the same age as Miranda Kerr and Jennifer Hawkins, do they look 30? just saying) and ask what beauty and skin care I use. So I thought I would post a series on my Beauty, Hair and Makeup Essentials.
Starting with Beauty/ Skin Care for face and body. 

From an early age (12ish) I started my cleanse-tone-moisturise routine, and used mostly Nutrimetics then and ever since. I did digress during my early 20s and try a few other brands, only to spend a year with mass breakouts. (I could dig out photo evidence of this, but, ew, just trust me on that). I think the Nutrimetics brand comes down to achieving the same results as other brands while being cheaper and easy to order online without having to go into stores. I never have any need to go into Priceline and those sorts of stores, which saves a lot of time. 

My cleanse-tone-premoisturise-moisturise routine has to be followed morning and night or else I lose balance. At night these days I swap to a night cream, and sometimes dab on a little eye cream, either from SK-II or Nutrimetics. 
I also use the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence as a pre-moisturiser to help maintain balanced moisture throughout the day. 

If I am not going into work, or to an event I do not wear makeup. This means my skin can breathe and rest a little. I don't always need to use a foundation, so I often skip that anyway. My skin is much happier when I am traveling and I do away with foundation altogether, for several months at a time. 
Once a week I make sure to to a microdermabrasion treatment, which is like a proper deep scrub to remove dead skin cells and achieve a fresher glow. The Nutrimetics Ultra Care Microdermabrasion Kit is $85 which has lasted me years, as compared to spending that in a salon at $80+ per session. I do mud masks every now and again, and if I can set aside time to pop on some eye pillows and relax for 20 minutes, I add this in too. 

I don't go anywhere without at least one Aesop hand balm as they are divine and make me happy. It also means I sniff my hands a lot and probably weird people out. 
I use the Aesop lip cream, body cleanser, body balm and hand wash religiously. 
These products are mostly plant based, smell amazing, make me smile and I can not get enough. 
I do not tend to use much else, I use conditioner when shaving rather than a gel, as they all irritate my skin and I have had bad allergic reactions to waxing so I pretty well steer clear of that.    

Diet probably comes down to some skin care factors and I am pretty fussy. I don't eat fatty foods, or a lot of breads etc and prefer vegetables, fruit, berries, lean meats, fish, legumes, nuts, seeds and so on. I drink water like a camel, it is my favourite! I don't like 'fast food' and a few years ago banned my self from anything with artificial sugars. It meant that sugar had the same affect for me as a bitter taste- I naturally recoil. These days I have an occasional treat, but I am not so into it, and hate things with cream/ icing. I have a rule to never buy chocolate unless it is dark and fair trade, same with coffee if I can. I drink a lot of herbal tea, fresh smoothies or juices, coconut water and never more than one cup of coffee per day. I think smoking is gross and I have never tried that or any other drugs. During events or special occasions I will drink one or two glasses of alcohol based drinks but I am not some one who will get drunk, like ever. This may sound pretty boring, but I don't like loosing control. I use a lot of coconut oil in my cooking, and tend to use this on my skin/ hair as well. I get that at a health food store and put it on my skin, lips and hair as a treatment. (I'll touch more on hair next time). Admittedly I do need to up my exercise, as it is not routine and I definitely feel better when it is. 
Hello yoga, pilates and dancing. (Gym's weird me out). 

My signature scent is Chanel Chance parfum- I love that it is by chance how it will smell on each person, and that it is designed for a woman who takes a chance on life and who know that in order to be lucky, you have to believe in chance.

So that is about it. A long post I know. Now you know my age secret!
Would love to know what beauty care products/ tricks you use. 
Hair and Makeup to come. 
Much love, Nell xx

(The Tumblr site has just had a facelift so check that out too!)

4 comments:

  1. I am so excited to try these products! I am going to hear Dr Schulte talk about skincare and anti aging next week and have an educational facial so I will also be writing about them! I will probably buy some of the eyelastin products, they look too good to miss.

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  2. Not only do we share the same clothes, but I'm a Nutrimetics girl too LOL! My mum used them so when I was 12 I started using their products and I'm still a member - as you are right, you get quality products at chemist prices!

    btw, I've nominated you for a Liebster award. Head over to http://sassandspice.com/2013/04/liebster-award/ for details if you want to participated! Hope you are well! x

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    1. Oh wow! Of course, right?! I am a member, it makes it even cheaper, but have never 'sold' stuff to anyone. I can recommend it though!
      Thanks love, I have my Liebster post on the way, took me a while to put together!
      I am well, thank you! x

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