Wonderful You | Fashion and Style Blog: Australia

Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts

Saturday, 9 February 2013

Cetaphil Oily Skin Cleanser | Wonderful You Review

My skincare history is just like my personality – a drama queen, completely over the top. Before I even touched Clinique my routine was extremely basic – it just involved Cleansing, toning and moisturising with the brand Simple. When I got older and my skin broke out I moved over to Clinique, and when I discovered that wasn't at all appropriate I moved over to NUDE. For a long while their combination of cleansing and moisturising with a facial serum every few days worked wonders for my skin, the breakouts were minimal and my complexion as a whole was much clearer and even. If you’ve been reading for a while you’ll probably have seen the post I wrote about it . Now don’t get me wrong, I still swear by NUDE for my skin type, it really is an incredible brand and the serum and moisturiser are something I swear by. Unfortunately, my skin seems to have fought back and decided it doesn’t want me to use the cleanser anymore. My spots were coming back fast, fierce and painful – at first I thought it might be stress (this was just around Christmas time, and I had a lot going on prior to Australia), so I waited until I was away in the sun and when that didn’t even slightly help with clearing it up I started to panic. I was going to be in Australia for a month, and my skin looked horrific – not only that but when you have a tan none of your foundation matches, so I couldn't even cover up!

In Australia we were staying with Daniel’s family and for a few years his younger cousin had suffered with acne. He was now on medication as nothing had worked well for him – but luckily his Aunty had kept over some facial washes that he had used prior to his new prescription. I was willing to try anything (remember, I am a drama queen) so I jumped at the chance when she mentioned it!

Cetaphil is a soap free gentle foam cleanser – aimed at oily skin (although they do cater for all skin types), this particular one is aimed at problematic oily skin. If you find you have overly oily skin it’s more than likely down to your body producing too much sebum (this is released through your sebaceous glands, and is used to keep the skin supple). Although no face washes will completely get rid of this (I’m pretty sure it’s a hormonal thing that can only be combated by medication) – Cetaphil promises to reduce the amount of sebum your skin produces by up to 60% after using for over two weeks, twice a day (I was already converted by this point). Being soap-free it is also less harsh on your face, it doesn't leave the face feeling too tight and the skin is still lovely and soft – no dry patches.

It’s the first facial wash that has worked effectively enough for me to take my make up off with it. One pump lathers softly and removes make up, excess dirt and cleanses the entire face. It's a clear gel like solution (doesn't photography particularly well) and bubbles up extremely gently - not at all frothy or soapy. I use it again in the morning, but only need half a pump as I make it a rule NEVER to sleep in my make up! Being a 500ml bottle, it’s going to last me yonks. I used it every day for 3 weeks in Australia and it hasn’t even made a dent. Being an Australian brand, it’s not as readily available in the UK. However I know you can get it from both Boots and . It cost me $15 when I was over there, and my little sister spent just over £15 on it through Amazon a few weeks ago. So it’s not breaking the bank by any means.

My skin for the entirety of the holiday up until now, has been incredibly good. I will have the occasional spot but nothing compared to the massive breakout I had at Christmas. For example, today I am wearing just concealer under my eyes and over a few blemishes. No foundation. I know – say whaaaaat?! I just feel more comfortable with my skin and letting it breathe every now and then. Don’t get me wrong I’m still using my foundation every day usually; I was just giving you an insight into how much better it’s made me feel.

I’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps my skin will always be this way. I’ll find a skincare product that works really well for my skin for up to say a year, and then my skin will become accustomed to it and reject it. However I do know that I can’t just use any product I fancy without doing some serious research first – my skin flares up at anything that is too heavy, highly scented or overly moisturising. Which is why I know that when I do find something that works for me for a while – it’s something worth shouting about.

I hope you found this post helpful – apologies if it’s a bit rambly! But I wanted to explain it properly for you :)

I'm starting to believe that less is definitely more when it comes to skincare. So I'll probably be writing about my 'Day & Night' routine soon - is that something you would like to see?

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Our trip to Melbourne, Australia 2012-2013 | The most amazing holiday

As you may have guessed from my first post of the year – Australia really did fill me with happiness. And as sad as it sounds, I was really looking forward to coming back and sharing the experience with you guys too.

WARNING: this is probably going to be a very very long post and image heavy, so if you’re not interested in those kind of things press that little x at the top ^^ :)

So first things first, getting to Australia. We actually had a bit of a nightmare – we boarded the plane at Heathrow, took off on time and after about 20 minutes in the air there was an announcement from the captain. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid we have had a technical fault with one of the engines and will have to turn around and head straight back to Heathrow”. I am not good when it comes to flying, taking off and landing pretty much petrify me and as you can imagine I was dumping myself at the thought of any type of ‘fault’. Anyway we landed – to fire engines and crowds of people staring out of their windows to look at the plane and the left wing covered in black soot. I’m pretty sure it was a tad more serious than they made out! We had to wait another day for our flight out, and ended up flying with a completely different airline, it was all a bit of a drama but worked out okay in the end!

I’ve never flown out of Europe before, and my body majorly hated the long haul flight so I was really quite poorly for the first couple of days, as was Daniel with the flu! Once we were settled and better, the holiday commenced :D

As I’m sure you’re aware, Australia is vast! We were staying in Melbourne, and stayed there for the whole 3 weeks. It’s a huge and wonderful city, and if we’d had a bit longer we could’ve seen a lot more of it but I’m so happy with what we did see and do.

It’s strange because all of my usual holiday’s involve ultimate sunbathing and eating out in the evening. This holiday was like the complete opposite. Yes, it was boiling hot (40 degrees most of the time), but we spent minimal time sunbathing, there was just so much to see! We started off the holiday visiting an adventure water park in Geelong, I’m scared of water but I made myself (with the push of Daniel) go on every ride. I’m such a pansy haha, but we had a lovely day.
We went horse riding; I used to ride when I was younger for a good few years so I was looking forward to having a good hack across the country side! Daniel was absolutely hilarious – he’ll give anything a go but when the instructor was telling him to lean forward or back he nearly fell off! The horses were lovely and it was like a proper olden days ranch. You could actually rent out little houses for a horsey holiday which I thought was awesome! It made me think of the horse whisperer.

Anyone familiar with Melbourne has probably visited St Kilda and Luna Park. It’s famous for the park and it’s amazing cake shops and nightlife. From what I could tell, it’s a bit of a hotspot and is infamous for celebrities dropping by. I’m a bit of a granny so didn’t go out for a boogie, but I did indulge in a frickin’ awesome strawberry tart, have a nose around the theme park and watch some pretty awesome street performers.

We climbed the 1,000 steps memorial walk – a huge landmark in Melbourne which is basically what is says in the title. The 1,000 steps lead through a beautiful rainforest and are very, very steep. Dear old exercise and I don’t mix, and walking up these in the 40 degree heat was a real challenge for me. Daniel on the other hand went up and down TWICE. I nearly died. It’s definitely worth going though, you do feel kinda good about yourself once you’ve done it and it’s a beautiful little place.

Chapel Street is like our Oxford Street equivalent. It’s got the hustle and bustle of London with all their local high street shops, including a few of ours…Karen Millen, MAC and Topshop. I was a little bit thrilled, because as it was the start of Australia’s summer all their winter clothes were in the sale. I picked up some absolute bargains!

The one thing Daniel and I were most excited for was the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island. If you haven’t heard of it before it’s a huge tourist attraction where the public come to the beach at around 7pm (it’s still daylight at this time) and wait for the sun to set. Once the sun has gone down at about 9pm, the tiniest breed of penguin starts to come out of the sea. They’ve been fishing for their baby’s dinner all day and they wait until the sun has gone down to make their way out of the water and back to their homes in the sand dunes. There are over 1,000 in the group and they all come out of the water a couple at a time and run past you on the beach. After we’d watched a few groups make their way out, we moved our way up to the sand dunes to watch them make their journey back to their little homes. Unfortunately, the little penguins get scared of the flash so photography is strictly prohibited, so no piccies I’m afraid. But I did get a little snap of the lovely beach whilst we waited for the sun to set! It really was so magical and if you ever find yourself in Australia you should try your best to go. It’s massively worth it :)

Now, I know what you’ve all really been waiting for. Yes of course, we went to the wildlife park and fed the KANAGROO’S! I’ve never seen a kangaroo or koala in real life so I was literally peeing my pants with excitement. Lots of the animals were separated, but where the kangaroo’s ‘lived’ they had emu type birds running around. If you watched my 50 random facts video, you’ll know I hate anything that has wings. Now I know they’re not exactly about to take flight, but my GOD are they scary. Every time we got our food out to feed the kangaroo’s they’d charge at you and try and peck the food out of your hands. It was so special though, the kangaroo’s were so tame and we just sat there stroking and feeding them for hours! It feels amazing when you put your hand out and they hold on with their little hands. If you need a reason to visit Australia (if you do, there’s something wrong haha), this is it.

We also spent a bit of time on the beach and milling around the local towns :) but if I carried on about absolutely everything we did you guys would probably want to kill me at how long the post would be! It was Daniel and I's 5 year anniversary on New Years day, which was amazing (5 years seems like such a huge amount of time!) & special to be spending on the other side of the world in the sunshine.

Honestly, I had the best time of my life and spent it with my favourite person in the whole world.

I’d been having a pretty shit time before holiday and the time away made me appreciate my life more and the people around me. This might sound soppy but I don’t care – you only have one life and one thing Australia made me realise was don’t waste it - spending your time around negativity or doing something for the sake of not having to try. There is a whole world out there which is literally your oyster, if you’re thinking for some reason you can’t change your life; you definitely can on some level or another.

Clearly, we got home safely and there were no problems with the flight back! (phew) Hopefully see you soon, Australia & thank you for having us!

I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about our trip away! and remember...Don't worry. Be happy <3

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Anniversary Shop | Outfit Post

My boyfriend and I will have been together for 5 years in January. It seems like absolutely forever but then feels like absolutely no time at all - all at the same time, if you know what I mean? Usually for our anniversary we just make each other a card and go out for dinner or something - but being the 5 year mark we thought it might be nice to buy each other something special. We'll be in Australia on the actual date so it was an early present shop! And what better opportunity for an outfit post? Haha. We went to Birmingham (gotta love the bullring and the Christmas Market!) and this is what I wore:

Blouse: c/o Mina. Leggings: Topshop. Bag: c/o Marc B. Boots: H by Hudson of London

This is literally the prettiest, most wonderfully made and comfortable blouse I own. Mina is a little bit more of a luxury brand so it's slightly more pricey but it's absolutely worth every penny. It fits like a glove and the quality is incredible. I feel slightly androgynous in it and of course it goes hand in hand with my beloved Topshop velvet leggings that don't seem to be coming off me lately.
When shopping I also require a suitable bag, as I take near enough everything I own in life with me on a trip, it's gotta be pretty large - I received so many comments from sales assistants in the Bullring about this little beauty. I have a bit of a massive crush on Marc B bags - this one is only £55 and the quality is insane. it's also pretty hefty so I'm thinking I might quite like using it as an overnight bag as well as my shopping companion!

If you nosy parkers are wondering what we both got for our anniversary gifts don't worry I was always planning on telling you ;) Daniel got a pretty gorgeous Hugo Boss watch and I picked a beautiful ring from Alex Monroe - I've had my eye on it for a while and it is very welcomed in to my ever growing collection of his pieces. Thinking I might do a little post on the bits I have from him, would you like to see that?

Hope you are all having a good week - and have you managed to get all your Christmas shopping done yet? Eeek!!!

Thursday, 10 May 2012

Sun, Sea &....Sun?

I don’t know about anyone else. But I desperately need a holiday. Pronto. I’ve been sifting through some old holiday snaps & it got me feeling all antsy. Whilst I’ve learnt to embrace the ‘English Rose’ look that seems to take over during the colder months, after half a year of looking whiter than Casper, I think I’ve earned a jolly good tan.

The boy & I are going away to Italy for 2 weeks in August; we’ll be staying with my family, & the villa looks absolutely beautiful. It even has a few horses so we can go riding, eep! Very excited indeedy.

This is said 'Boy'

We’re also going to Australia for 3 weeks over Christmas; we’re staying with his Aunty in Melbourne, Victoria. I CANNOT WAIT. I’ve never ventured out of Europe, so this is going to be a real treat. However, I have no idea what I’m doing. & I’m awful at planning things in life, so no doubt I’ll leave it too late to research all the hotspots & amazing things I should be doing whilst I’m there. If I was rich, I would employ some ravishing life-planner man to sort me out. Ahem, I know what you’re thinking; it would be purely platonic ladies. It’s just nice to have eye candy with your organisation, right?

I do hate wishing time away, but I really wish it would bloomin’ hurry up! Although I love being a little country bumpkin, living in a pretty little village in England, I do sometimes wonder why my family didn’t decide to be kind & live somewhere hot. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

So, do any of you lot have some advice on what I should get up to in Melbourne? I think I’ll need all the help I can get. The only thing I have on my list so far is penguin watching. Apparently there’s a lovely little spot on a beach where you can watch them all walk up out of the water at the same time, awhh :)

I also believe holiday shopping will commence rather shortly.

Where are you all off to on your jolly's this year? Are you excited? :)

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