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.

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

So, random story,  I went to visit one of the gorgeous girls from one of my favourite PR agencies a couple of weeks ago (Hi Charlotte!). We were enjoying a coffee and piece of cake when she told me that there were Melissa shoes on sale at SPACE, which happened to be where I had parked my car (she even described exactly where in the store they were, to make my life easy).

After trying on a couple of pairs of shoes and generally poking around the store for a bit (seriously, SPACE is awesomesauce) I figured I should head home. Or…maybe….I could just pop into Domayne quickly. I justified the exercise by claiming it was a) just that, exercise and b) looking for “something” for my wedding (I don’t need anything, but don’t tell my brain that).

On the way into the store I spotted a linen cushion with a silver sequin skull on it displayed in a little vignette. I went searching for it – I had to have that cushion! I found the rest of the range in the Christmas section (limited edition for Christmas FYI – when I think Christmas, I usually think silver sequin skulls) – there was a tote bag and a purse but no cushion. I asked the girl at the counter and she said there was no cushion in the range! LIES! Did my eyes deceive me? No, I went back to the front of the store and hung dangerously over an escalator to pull the cushion out of the display myself. Success, and I didn’t even lose a limb.

It’s not exactly a ‘cuddle up on the couch’ kind of cushion; more a ‘look but don’t touch’. But that’s ok, I’m very much enjoying looking at it.

Cheeky Cushion Cover (not sure why the good peeps at Domayne called it ‘Cheeky’…?)
Price: $59.95
From: Domayne
Why you need it: Cos it’s rad

…well, it might be more correct to say ‘last week I’, but I have been so sick that I’m a little delirious

…have been more sick than I have been in a long time. Sneezing, coughing, blocked nose, headache, general malaise. It has been a barrel of laughs in the stuff household, especially since…

…I made Fiance sick too. He loves me right now

…made myself feel better by slathering myself in Neutrogena Body Oil. I first wrote about this 2.5 years ago, but damn it’s still so good. It has the slightest hint of sesame oil, so I smell yummy but not in a chinese food way

Cadbury Bubbly, om nom nom

…consoled my sick self with Cadbury Bubbly. Cadbury were kind enough to send a few blocks my way, and I had the best of intentions to do a really cool post with a cupcake recipe that used the new Dark Bubbly and the Mint Bubbly, but instead I sat in bed and ate it all to make myself feel better. Fiance at a lot of it too (no shit, he ate the whole White block before I even got a chance to photograph it – I had to eat the Milk block myself just so he couldn’t get any – Mum, please don’t comment)

…said goodbye to one of my favourite people, as he has just moved to the middle of nowhere in Canada for work. This week the temperature will reach highs of -2 and lows of -25. Idiot. We miss you, Mark! Stay warm!

…picked the winners of the Birthday comp! Well, my sister picked the winners and I just approved them. Big ups to Tabitha, Aletheia, Corrine and Sam. MASSIVE thanks to everyone who entered – I was touched by the amount of emails I got, and some of you dug out some really old posts! I definitely felt all warm and fuzzy (and apologies for the delay in sorting winners and whatnot – refer to aforementioned illness).