Tasty: Mars Vanilla

This Vanilla Mars Bar sat in my house for about 3 weeks before I finally ate it. I think I was building the anticipation up the whole time…‘surely the awesomeness of a Mars Bar plus the awesomeness of vanilla would equal awesome squared, right’ I told myself.

Not so.

When I eventually ate it, I was disappointed. Not like ‘oh man, the amazing Oscar De La Renta handbag I bought on ebay is actually a knock off’ kind of disappointment, but ‘this restaurant had a really good rating on yelp and the food is actually tasteless’ kind of disappointment. No harm done, but it’s always a sad face when something you have been looking forward to lets you down.

Price: $1.62 (give or take)
From: The Supermarket – I got mine from my local Coles

Current obsession: Skulls

Like, big time obsession. I don’t know what it is. Not great honking skulls on t-shirts or candle holders or anything (apart from the sequin skull cushion - nothing subtle about that!) but more delicate and feminine skulls. Dainty, if you will.

I have picked up two bits of skull wrist candy recently and they are getting quite the workout.  The first is 15 little creme and brown skulls all threaded together to make a band of skulls (which sounds like a kickass metal band). I picked this one up for less than a twenny from Eden on Crown, a little dress shop on Crown St in Surry Hills that stocks their own brand, Alice Underground, plus some other affordable brands and LOADS of cool jewellery. There was no name on the tag or anything, so no idea who made it or where it came from, but they also had the same bracelet with mintgreen skulls.

Price: $19.95
From: Eden on Crown

The other is an ASOS brand ASOS purchase. It’s a single gold skull on a delicate gold chain, and I’m quite taken by this little baby. It actually came as a set of two with a small gold cross on black cord, but I don’t like that nearly as much as the skull. I also got another dainty gold bracelet from ASOS but I think I’m gonna do an ASOS haul video on my youtube channel at some stage, so I’ll show you there.

Price: $9.73
From: ASOS

So there you go. Skulls.

Updated to add: The day I posted this, I popped into Sportsgirl and saw they have skull bracelets like the one I got from Eden on Crown. But for half the price. Sucky.

Launchpad Youth beauty workshops (and how to get leopard print hair)

I know I have been majorly slack with blogging lately (wedding – tick, lots of work – tick, Christmas – tick) but I had to jump on to tell you about the amazing, wonderful, inspiring workshop I did at Launchpad Youth.

Launchpad Youth provides housing and support to disadvantaged teens and young adults – kids who have ended up on hard times, on the street, in domestic violence situations, pregnant…each has their own story to tell. I wanted to get involved with these kids, so some of the amazing beauty brands I work with loaded me up with beauty products and I conducted a two hour workshop with a group of the most gorgeous and loving girls I have ever met. We talked, we laughed, we shared advice, and we connected over a shared love of beauty products. I espoused some of the wisdom I have collected along the way, and the girls bombarded me with questions as we discussed the pros and cons of bold lips, how to use setting powder, the perfect top knot, and why water plus eyeshadow equals excellent liquid liner.

One of the girls even taught me a new hair trick, and this was one I have definitely never encountered before – ‘how to get leopard print hair’. She explained that to get a leopard print effect in her hair when it was shaved short on the sides, she cut cheetos in half, dipped them in dye, and pressed them against her hair in the desired pattern. Genius, right? Such a clever little cupcake.

I discovered a new use for Cheetos

I can’t thank Launchpad enough for having me, and I can’t wait to do it again. I have to give a massive shout out to the brands and PR agencies who helped make it possible – True Solutions, Saunders & Co, Sweaty Betty, PR Chicks and OPI nail polish. Also, to the blogging community who supported me – Cosmetic Cupcake, Plastic Diaries, SASSYBELLA.com, Ms Critique, Hard Pretty Things - you girls continue to inspire me.

Finally, cheers for a great evening girls! Jamie, I can’t wait to see you master the smoky eye.

Tangle Teezer – to teeze out those tangles

My hair can be pretty annoying sometimes – it’s long, fine, brown, and breaks pretty easily. But my sisters hair is -er than mine – longer, finer, blonder. It also knots ridiculously easy – she just has to look out the window at a breeze and it tangles in anticipation.

When Tangle Teezer sent me two Tangle Teezer’s to try, I immediately passed one on to her (I’m nice like that). I kept the Original for myself, which is just the regular brush, and gave her the Compact, which is the brush with a cap that fits over the top of it so you can chuck it in your handbag and not damage the bristles. As well as these two, there is also the Flowerpot, which is a flower shaped brush that sits in a little flowerpot – perfect for little girls, and would probably make an excellent Christmas gift.

From the very first run through my hair I was impressed by the Tangle Teezer – it’s a really simple idea. A small handheld brush with hundreds of soft plastic teeth at two different lengths that carefully brush and de-tangle hair without pulling, stressing or breaking hair. For the two weeks after I gave my sister the Tangle Teezer, pretty much every phone conversation we had went like this:

“Hello”
“Oh hey, you know that brush thing you gave me…”
“The Tangle Teezer?”
“Yeah, it’s awesome. Life changing. SO AMAZING”
“That’s great, did you ring me for anything else?”
“Nope, that’s it”

I think she likes it.

And then yesterday she called me to tell me that her friend who has hair extensions also bought a Tangle Teezer and has also been raving about it (another tedious phone conversation ensued). The bristles are so soft that they glide over the little clips and balls, but still work perfectly to smooth out extensions, and in all the years her friend has had extensions, this is the best thing she has ever used.

There you go. Three ringing endorsements in one post.

Tangle Teezer Professional Detangling Brush
Price: $29.95 for the Original, $34.95 for the Compact and Flowerpot
From: Phoenix Nationale Pro Salon Supplies – check their salon locator or buy online (I know in my area they are stocked at Barney Martin, Wild Life Hair, Brad Ngata, Toni & Guy, Stevie English, Headcase, Atlantis and Joh Bailey…all the big names)
Why you need it: Knots, be gone! Especially good if you have a whingey child who hates getting their hair brushed (like my sister and I when we were younger)

This product was offered to Stuff That I Bought for editorial consideration – for more details, see our disclosure policy