You know the drill! Here’s what was spinning my beauty foodie wheels in June!
VO5 Give Me Texture – My hair is quite fine, super soft and when it’s freshly washed it’s so silky, flat and unmanageable my hair slides straight out of pony tail. It’s a hard life. My hair dresser used a texturizing powder on me recently that I wish I’d bought, so in between hairdressers appointments I thought I’d try this cheap version. It works a bit like dry shampoo, but instead of spraying the product onto the roots you sprinkle the powder on and rub it in with your fingertips. The result is volumised hair that has loads of ‘oomph’, texture, life and, in my case, hair that will behave itself in a pony tail/messy bun/whatever-style-takes-my-fancy. I find the roots of my hair feel quite ‘gritty’, almost dirty, when I sprinkle the product on, but that’s good: That’s what gives it texture and grip. All in all, the product does what it says it will, it smells great and it’s $7 from the supermarket. Score. Incidentally I also bought the VO5 Smoothly Does It, Tame and Shine spray. Sadly, that gets my thumbs down as it doesn’t tame my fly-aways like it said it would.
‘Wildflowers’ apron from Two Lumps of Sugar: I couldn’t resist this pretty new apron from OOMA in Napier: The bright and cheerful pattern made me smile. I walked passed it in the shop’s display and I kept thinking about it. So, a couple of days later I went back and got it, justifying the purchase because it had passed the “48 hour test” (does anyone else do that?) I love it the plastic coating over the 100% cotton: You can just wipe stains away with a damp cloth. Big bonus too, as a shortie (I’m 5″2) it has an adjustable neck strap so the apron is the right length. I can’t tell you how many aprons I’ve had that just don’t fit, being too long or gaping at the neck (bain of my life, don’t get me started on buying jeans). Anyhow, I’ve since had a good poke around on the Two Lumps of Sugar website: They’ve got some fantastic products including melamine tableware, oven mitts. I’ll have to have find out where there are more NZ stockists ahead of Christmas: There’s some great present ideas from these guys. My apron was $30 (I think, don’t quote me).
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – I’ve been hearing about this concealer for years from UK beauty bloggers who reckon it’s The Schizzle, so off I went to Countdown on a field trip for some research when the Collection range landed there recently. Usually I faff around with two MAC concealers each morning: One (creamy concealer) under my eyes to hide discolouration/dark circles and then a second concealer, a slightly heavier product this time, to neutralise the redness of zits/zit scars. Blimey: This little baby does both jobs! It’s incredibly creamy and good for my crepey undereye area, but it still has enough substance to it to hide redness. I’m rapt to find a $16 wonder product that is fairly comparable to my MAC favourites (it’s not as good, to be fair, but there ain’t much in it!). I’m a good test guinea pig too with my oily skin, I’m pleased to report this concealer stays put all day. The only negative that I can anticipate is that, because it’s got a ‘doe foot applicator’, there will be lots of product left, but the applicator won’t reach it. I’ll end up cutting the tube in half to get all the product out (you know, in the interests of economy – I hate wastage). Oh well. That trivial whinge aside: This is a cracker of a product and, judging by the near empty sales display rack, lots of other people reckon so too.
Homemade Prawn and Pork Dumplings – I cannot express enough love for this recipe, so much so: We had it twice last month. At first glance it might look like a lot of faffing around, but it’s actually not! We’ve ramped ours up a little lately by giving them a quick pan fry in a mix of rice bran oil and sesame oil after steaming them – they get nice and crispy on the outside and this takes them to a whole new level. My favourite dipping sauce is simplicity: Plonk some hoisin sauce in a ramekin and water it down a smidge with half a teaspoon of water. PS If you are feeling indulgent, these are off-the-richter-amazeballs dunked in a little bit of Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. PPS We had them for dinner last night and again tonight with a side salad!
Peace Pillow Connect – This is all about beauty sleep. I put my neck out a couple of months ago… For a couple of days there my neck was so sore: I couldn’t apply eye makeup, sleep properly and I was tired and grumpy. Getting enough sleep is so important for your health. I have quite a few friends who use natural remedies such as CBD gummies to help them drift off more easily. If you are thinking of trying a natural approach to treating insomnia, doing some research on websites like http://www.justcbdstore.com/ can help you to make an informed decision. As for me, I had a few suspicions about what was causing my neck pain. Things were serious. I’d noticed my neck was feeling good by night time but, by the next morning, I was right back at square one. I started to wonder if my pillow was the culprit (I’m quick, eh?). One night on this ergonomically shaped memory foam pillow of goodness and I slept all night (albeit it took a while to get used to it to go to sleep) and I had a much happier neck in the morning. I woke up and started the hunt for a new mattress, I spent a couple of hours reading reviews on sites like leesa vs casper mattress to find one that I knew would support my back, and preferably a memory foam one after using this memory foam pillow.
In the meantime, I spent time doing some research into why the pillow helped relieve my back pain. I later found out it was designed by a switched-on NZ Osteopath, the pillow is higher at one end and has a neck cut-out so the neck is appropriately supported for the correct posture for sleeping. I never thought I would find a solution until I came across this pillow. I know a few people who suffer from back pain, more so when they are at work. Come to think of it, they do work in offices, where they are sitting on a chair and in front of a computer for hours. This couldn’t be good for them in the slightest. I recommended that they did some research into something like office furniture from Office Monster, where they would at least be able to forward this to their boss at work and see if any changes could be put in place for the staff, especially those who suffer with back pain. Just remember, if this is something you are going through, there is always a solution to your problem, no matter what you are going through.
When it comes to my pillow, my Osteo reckons that 9 out of 10 people swear by them and that they help with neck and upper back pain. “Well, that’s nine people happy”, I said to my Osteo, Neil “what about 
the other one person?” Neil looked sheepish and fessed up that he was “the other one”. He’s just not a fan. Laughing, and out of desperation, pain, desire for sleep, as well as admiration at Neil’s no bull-shit sales pitch, I handed over $90 and hoped for the best. Luckily for me, this is the next best thing since the Big Mac as my neck is so much better. It was definitely worth sacrificing Farmers’ latest beauty department sale. One word of warning: If, like me, you are a tummy sleeper, you’ll need to retrain your sleep position to use this. It took over a week: I’m now a side sleeper with a happier neck and I won’t be going away for the weekend sans my fancy ergonomic sleep pillow. Check Peace Pillows out here.
Choco-ade (The Caramel One) – Seeing as I played a small part in Griffins bringing Choco-ades back to NZ shelves (i.e. I liked and shared this Facebook page) I thought it would be rude not to sample Griffins’ latest offering: Caramel Choco-ades. Holy moly: They are good. Instead of the original orange jam-like filling these have caramel. Blinkin’ genius. However, these are so good, I have to hide them from the boys because they will last five minutes (Hubby has been known to eat half a packet of Tim Tams at 4.00am while making his breakfast and Small Child is a secret sugar eater). There is a berry flavour that’s been released as well, but, doh, hello?? Berry… Caramel… Berry… Caramel. There’s no contest. I hope these aren’t limited edition. Actually, I hope they are.
So, do tell… What beauty foodie finds are you enjoying right now?
