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Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil Review -Sponsored

by VioletLeBeaux | Oct 11, 2013 | Advert, Beauty, Hair

This post was sponsored by Garnier and SheKnows.
For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

After how well my last experiences with Garnier products went, I jumped at the chance to try something else from the range! When they offered to send me a bottle of Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil I was very interested as I am a big fan of hair oils.

With all of the bleaching and damage that I do to my hair, drying it out is a big concern for me so any product which can keep it healthy is very important.

So what is the idea behind the product?

Well you can’t walk into a beauty aisle anymore without being bombarded with advertisements for different oils, the biggest selling point of which seems to be the use of Argan Oil. The benefits of this oil are apparently smoothing down frizz, adding shine, moisturising dryness and improving general texture. Unlike other oils, Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil is supposed to be “weightless” so it gives all of the benefits without making your hair look greasy or icky.

It’s funny that when I started using oils I was very sceptical of the idea… I mean normally we do things like washing hair to get rid of them, why on earth would I want to put it back in? Since I started using it though the overall condition of my hair has definitely improved.

At RRP $11.95 for a 150ml bottle the price is definitely lower than a lot of the other oils I’ve tried as well. I’m not sure whether the concentration of ingredients would be the same but the fact that “Argania Spinosa Oil/Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil” is only third on the list is promising.

The directions on back of the bottle are straight forward and can either be used in your existing hair routine or as an added step. Generally with oils I’ll use them after washing my hair to smooth everything down and put some moisture back. I’ll also use it as a mask to give my hair added protection before bleaching my roots. I’ve heard of people adding it to their regular conditioner for an extra boost with is an interesting idea I’d like to try as well.

So let’s see if Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil actually works!

Out of the yellow bottle the oil is clear so it should be suitable for use with any hair colour and types. It feels slippery but I found that it actually even absorbed into the skin on my hands… so there’s an extra use: emergency hand cream! 😉 The Miraculous Oil feels very light and smooth and left the skin on my hand feeling quite velvety.

This is my hair with nothing in it, I’d just washed and dried it and hadn’t done anything other than brushing. You can see my main problem is the frizz. Even before I started dying my hair it was always frizzy, it’s just how my hair naturally is. I’ve kept these photos quite dark so you can see the wave and strands of my hair.

Before:

It’s suggested to apply an AUS 5 cent coin sized piece for short/fine hair or an AUS 20 cent coin piece for long/thick hair. My hair is getting very long so I ended up using a little bit more than that. Less is definitely more in the case of oils so having the 150ml bottle means it’s going to last ages. If you’re unsure how much to use, start small. Put a tiny bit on your hands and rub it around so your skin feels smooth then run your fingers through your hair until it’s gone from your hands. Repeat until you can see a shiny but not so much that the strands clump together.

You can use on wet, dry or damp hair. My preference for using it is on dry hair but I also like to put a tiny bit through damp hair before I use my hairdryer.

I warmed the oil up in my palms and then gently brushed it through the length of my hair, avoiding the roots. The ends/middle are the areas which get dry the most whereas my roots tend to get oily on their own so I avoid putting oils on the roots unless it’s right before I’m going to bleach them.

After:

I’ll let you be the judge from the photos but I felt like my hair was shiner and less frizzy after application. The photo was taken right after application and I found that once the oil had settled for around 15 minutes my hair became very soft. I also thought that it straightened out quite a few of the kinks which was an interesting side effect.

One of the other suggestions for use was a tiny bit as a touch up during the day. I was a bit hesitant to do that as in the past some oils I’ve used have been like a magnet for lint and dirt which shows up very obviously on my light hair, I ended up giving it a try anyway out of curiosity and found that the Miraculous Oil didn’t do that at all, my hair looked and felt light and very shiny rather than picking up more dust.

Close ups of my hair with before on the left and after on the right. You can click to see the large versions in the gallery. To me, the left has more of that cotton-candy texture and the right looks more like hair is supposed to.

So would I use this again? Definitely. It does it’s job well, I used it mostly as a mask and intensive treatment and I couldn’t fault it on that. With such a low price I would definitely repurchase as it’s a very economical way to get an oil fix.

If you want to learn more about Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil check out their Facebook Page or this page on their website which has a whole bunch of reviews from other people who have tried it. Feel free to leave your own review there as well!

Competition time!

If you want the chance to win your own bottle of Miraculous Oil to try for yourself, head over to the SheKnows website here and enter the competition. There are 20 Miraculous Oil products to win, good luck everyone!

10 Lazy Day Hairstyle Tutorials With RY and GHD

by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 9, 2013 | Advert, Beauty, Hair, Hair-Tutorials, Tutorial

This post was sponsored by RY.com.au.
For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

I was contacted a little while ago by RY.com.au to try out some of their products and considering my hair obsession we settled on a GHD to play with!

As you guys know by now, I’m trying to make my life a bit better one tiny thing at a time in hopes that all the tiny things will add up to big things and being happier in general. As silly as it sounds, when I look good I feel a lot happier and more motivated.

In my ideal life where I’m so rich that I never have to worry about money or anything other than which beautiful gown I’ll wear that day I think I would spend a large amount of time doing my hair every morning. Unfortunately in real life, time-to-do-my-hair tends to get over run by time-doing-the-washing. So the age old problem: how to look cute without having to spend hours doing it?

So I’m taking on bad hair days with the help of RY and GHD! I came up with 10 hairstyles that can be done in less than 5 minutes, perfect for busy and lazy days!

But before we get into the hairstyles, let’s do a quick review of the GHD 😀

Lottie was totally begging me to straighten out her crimps but I don’t trust her to use hot appliances without supervision.

RY is one of Australia’s biggest beauty supply websites, they stock all of the major brands often at discounted prices. They also ship internationally and stock a lot of Australian skin care brands which are hard to find overseas so make sure to take a look! RY also has a price match guarantee for Australian websites and a points system as well.Here’s some information from their site:

Ry.com.au is what happened when two guys — yes guys – had one great idea: Make cosmetics, skin and hair care available for everyone to buy online. The result? Australia’s Number 1 online beauty store.

It all started on the Gold Coast in 2002 when we decided to expand our local salon business by selling one line of professional hair products online. Today we offer more than 30,000 hair, skin and cosmetic products from leading industry brands including Clarisonic, Redken and GHD and we’ve shipped over one million products to thousands of beauty addicts across Australia.

One thing that hasn’t changed is our passion for beauty innovation. Our hair and skincare experts continually research new products, appliances and trends to bring you the best beauty products in the country at the most affordable prices. Have you seen ry.com.au in the press?

Whether this is your first order or your 100^th, we want to thank you for choosing ry.com.au for your makeup, skin and hair care needs. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to make your shopping experience better.

The box from RY was shipped and arrived within 2 days which is so quick considering how long AusPost usually takes. They also have a pick up location in QLD which would be quite convenient. It came with some little samples and was packed securely with paper and a bag.

The GHD I picked was the Pink Diamond V Gold Classic Styler 24mm.

This model is partnered with the Breast Cancer Foundation so the price of $264.95 (on sale from $289) includes a $20 donation.

From the RY website the features are:

Ceramic heaters
Sleep mode
Universal voltage
Round barrel
2.7m swivel cord
Smooth black plates with a hint of sparkle for snag-free styling
Contoured plates for easier curls and waves
2 year GHD Australia Warranty.

Inside the box is the very bright and pretty pink GHD and also a huuuge flat brush.

I’ve tried just about every straightener known to man and I really do have a soft spot for GHDs. It sounds silly but a straightener’s main function is to heat and a lot of the cheaper models just can’t get hot enough to work with my hair.

The 24mm is a really good size for creating curls too, it’s big enough that you don’t need to spend all morning doing them but it’s small enough to get tight curls and still be reasonable to travel with. I like the fact that these new models are really light too, compared to the older ones I’ve used this feels like holding nothing. When you have flimsy weak arms like me that’s a big plus haha!

So back to the idea of quick hairstyles that you can do on busy mornings… I’ve got 10 tutorials just for that purpose! A lot of them are very basic styles but sometimes basic is all you need when it’s a choice between 10 more minutes of sleep or hair styling!

This is totally a continuation of my Inspiration For The Lazy series. Each of these took only a few minutes to do with the GHD so now I know I have no excuse not to do something with my hair every morning.

Let’s get into it!

Style #1: Straight.

This is a pretty obvious style but so long as you can get some volume in your fringe I think it’s still really effective. I get more fringe volume by brushing it to the opposite side to usual.

Style #2: Sleek

Another variation of that straight style is pulling pulling the fringe back and teasing a little. I them like to leave some side bits down and use a headband to hold it in place. Very preppy!

Style #3: Fishtail

I love fishtail braids so much. They are so much cuter than regular plaits! I usually wear one over my shoulder but two is super cute too ^_^

Style #4: Mini Ponytail

This is one of my favorite lazy day styles because it has a lot of top volume but takes no more time than a regular ponytail!

Style #5: Side swept

I love side swept hair lately, and now that I’ve mastered pinning it at the back of my head so I don’t have to keep flipping it around the right side every 10 minutes it’s even more convenient.

Style #6: Side pony

So did I mention I liked hairstyles which are one sided? I don’t know why but this seems so much more interesting than a regular ponytail to me!

Style #7: Side bun

Yep it’s another side style but they just look so good! This one takes a little more effort because of the sheer number of plaits but the end result looks so complicated it’s worth it.

Style #8: The loop

This style has so many variations: do a loop on either side, do two loops. It’s such a retro style and looks even better in short hair!

Style #9: Double Twist

If you exaggerate the twists more you can get the nekomimi style too!

Style #10: Curls

This one does take a little longer but I justify this because I can use the curls in different hairstyles for like 3 days so it really saves time in the long run. Justified!

Bonus style 11: Updo

This is what I mean about using the curls for several days, the next day I just mess them up and make a big poufy updo!

So there you have it, 11 quick and easy styles using the GHD!

I think even though they take a little longer my favorite is still the curls ^_^

So overall verdict on the GHD: love it for quick lazy styling. Super fast to heat up, easy to use, light weight and the colour is very cute.

If you want to get your own, make sure to check out RY.com.au and have a look at the massive selection of all kinds of GHD straightene rs.

Hair down, now I just need to work on making changes in the rest of my life!

Download Blogging In Style Ebook For Free With Selz!

by VioletLeBeaux | Jun 21, 2013 | Advert

This post was sponsored by Selz.
For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

A little while ago I was contacted by a new Australian start up company to trial their service. The basic idea of it is that you can use Selz to create an online shop (or just sell individual items) which you can then embed into your own site or share via social media.

Quick run down:

Selz a platform which allows you to easily sell pretty much anything online. It makes selling to your social network as easy as making a Facebook post, a Tweet or sharing a link.

Selz is a great tool for increasing audience engagement and interaction as its very user friendly, making it easier for you to post offers and items which can be made available locally or internationally

You can sell digital downloads, physical items and share it on social media very easily.

Basically it’s kind of like Ebay/Gumtree but for social media.

I already have an online shop so I thought about how I would use a service like this in a way which would benefit you guys as readers.

Easy answer: give away free things!! 😀

A lot of you might not have been reading for this long but in 2010 I wrote an ebook about blogging. It was 76 pages long and fully illustrated with cute little cartoons. I sold them in my shop at the time and it felt like a huge achievement putting that much work into something!

It’s been 3 years since then and the internet being the way it is, so much has changed so the information in the ebook really needs an update! I have had “update ebook” on my to-do list for a good portion of this year but I keep getting sidetracked doing things like organising the Bergamot shirts etc.

So in the mean time I have decided to give the old version of the ebook away for free. Some of the links might be outdated and the information (and my hair colour) is a little old but there are still some really great tips in there and it’s a good starting point for those of you who are starting your own blogs!

That, and the drawings are pretty damn cute 😉

You can download the ebook for free using the Selz button below! I hope you enjoy it and please look forward to the new version because that’s going to be epic!

My mini review of having used Selz so far:

It took me around 2 minutes to complete the listing for Blogging In Style. Honestly it made me a little frustrated how much time an effort I had spent putting together my full online store because if you’re selling a few items Selz would be so much easier than putting together an entire store, even with shop plugins. I like that it handles digital downloads so simply and I like that if you’re offering something for free customers don’t have to put in a heap of unnecessary information to checkout.

My only slight drawback is that there aren’t many customisation options for the widgets and buttons so if, for example, you wanted to match everything perfectly to your website you would need to maybe create your own buttons which matched your site and then use the links Selz provides rather than just popping in a widget. That said it’s still a very new company so I think things like that will come in time.

The weirdest thing about it that I like is the clean and uncluttered layout. It’s easy to navigate and doesn’t look like it’s full of junk unlike other selling websites (I’m looking at you Gumtree). Overall I’ve enjoyed using it in my test runs so far and I think I will definitely use it for special downloads, freebies, closet clean outs or quickie sales which are just available for people who follow on social media.

Speaking of free things and closet clean outs…

I’ve been thinking of clearing room for new craft projects by giving away some of the old things I’ve made. Would you guys be interested?

Living in an apartment has made me really appreciate space and organisation so I would like some more space so I can make more things and tutorials for the blog. I would be giving the old one of a kind crafts/accessories/clothes/whatever away for free, whoever got them would just need to pay for the postage to send it to them.

Let me know if that’s something you guys would be interested in and if so, is there anything of mine in particular you’d like to see go up on Selz? I can’t promise I’ll put it up but let me know anyway and I’ll see how it goes!

If you guys are interested in that I’ll start listing things on Selz this weekend and post about it on my social media sites, make sure you’re following me on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest so you don’t miss out!

And of course check out Selz if you’re planning on selling things online!

A Ridiculously Accurate And Not Exaggerated Day In My Life – Clearasil Competition!

by VioletLeBeaux | Jun 14, 2013 | Advert, Competition

This competition was sponsored by Clearasil.
For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

Clearasil is launching their new Daily Clear Vitamins and Extract Range and they are holding a competition to celebrate. The range contains a scrub and wash which are gentle enough to be used daily but still being powerful enough to help clear your skin and give you the confidence to take on the day. It’s definitely hard to be at your most confident if you’re worrying about your skin!

My pack even came with a pomegranate, yum!

The range is aimed at women who “…work hard and play hard” and as I’m apparently one of them, they asked me to test it out and see how it gave me the confidence to get through a typical busy day.

The problem is, my typical busy day isn’t very glamorous or internet worthy. In fact, those of you who watch my Daily V-Logs will know that most of my day look a lot like this:

And being even more realistic they look like this:

My days consist of answering emails, breakfast, writing posts, answering emails, lunch, filming tutorials, taking calls, answering emails, dinner, writing tutorials, replying to comments, eating chips while drinking tea and answering more emails. Even Clearasil can’t make that look interesting.

Super glamorous, right? All of those things happen in front of the computer so it’s not like it makes for thrilling viewing!

But you know what’s more interesting than my actual life? How my life is in my dreams!

“How does that go?” I hear you asking….

At 9am I am woken by rays of sunshine streaming through my window as animated birds sing a jaunty morning tune. I’m already fully dressed, my outfit is awesome. I hope the birds didn’t dress me in my sleep, that would be a bit weird.

I don’t even need make up because my skin is so clear, my lashes are just that long and my eyelids are naturally gold and purple. If your eyelids match mine, you might want to consult a doctor.

I check my emails in bed and everything is positive! Oh look, a Nigerian Prince has written to me, that sounds lucrative!

I could play with the puppy in bed all day but instead I decide I should probably go do my morning cleansing routine.

Lucky for me, I’m so awesome that my skin just absorbs products via osmosis. YAY!

At 10am I decide I should probably do some work on the computer… screw that though!

Instead I use my mind powers to make all of that work just do itself 😀

That leaves me more time to think about how busy and important I am!

With no work to do, I head out to a really fancy place to meet someone for lunch.

At 11am I’m a bit early for lunch though.

Hmmm what could I possibly do while I wait?

Oh right…

When my lunch date arrives at 12 we have a very fancy lunch.

Deep fried balls of rice? Doesn’t sound so fancy… Arancini? Totally fancy.

After my busy important lunch it’s 1pm and time for a spot of shopping. Not regular shopping mind you, fancy shopping only.

By 4pm I’m a bit peckish so I stop at a lovely cafe for a spot of tea.

Better instagram those chips, that stuff is totally internet worthy and the general public needs to know whether these were crunchy or not! They were btw.

After a bit of a relax at the cafe it’s 5:00pm so I head off to meet a friend after she finishes work. On the way I’m complimented by all kinds of random strangers on how confident, adorable and amazing I am. It’s probably the Clearasil.

At 6pm while drinking bubble tea with my friend I realise I should probably do some more blogging. I’m so good at it that I don’t even have to look at my phone. Sup.

By the time it’s 7pm I’m pretty tired from all of the being fabulous I did today so I head home.

When I arrive James has made me a 7 course dinner with all the trimmings.

Lottie is prepared for my arrival too of course. She’s a good dog and never pees anywhere she’s not supposed to. Don’t you love that?

By the time it’s 9 we’ve finished dinner so I do my nightly cleansing routine using the new Clearasil range again.

I decide to turn it into my own tv commercial and see how refreshing all of that water splashing around is.

What, you don’t shower in all of your clothes? Well I wouldn’t want to disappoint those animated birds by taking off all of their hard work!

10pm- with my busy day out of the way it’s time to do some relaxing! I love watching movies at night and knitting.

By midnight I’m all tuckered out. It’s been such a long tiring day that I don’t know how I managed it all! Time to go to sleep with my puppy and animated birds. James isn’t allowed in the bed, we have separate twin beds like Lucy and Ricki because we’re so awesome.

And so ends my super busy day, hopefully tomorrow is just like it!

All joking aside I did actually try the new range.

The results (and price) were nice so I’ll be continuing to use it.

The smell was fresh and both products felt really nice on.

Afterwards I had a very clean feeling even though it was gentle enough for my sensitive skin. Even James tried and like it.

Here is some more information about the new range:

Product Information!The brand new Daily Clear Vitamins & Extracts range from trusted skincare brand, Clearasil is a fruity formulation that gives you the confidence to put your best face forward every day. This latest innovation is a step change for the Clearasil brand. Designed for women who work hard and play hard, the new wash and scrub contains fruit extracts known for their skin conditioning properties, delicate enough to be used as part of a daily skin care routine.

Formulated with Avocado Extracts and nourishing Vitamin E, glycerine for hydration, as well as Pomegranate fruit extract, an anti-oxidant known to help keep skin looking and feeling healthy, these delicious smelling products cleanse gently and do not leave your skin over dried.

Containing less salycilic acid than other Clearasil products, the Vitamins & Extracts formulas are milder – working to help maintain clear skin through a combination of nourishing fruit extracts and effective cleansing properties that help prevent breakouts.

Using these products together as part of a regular daily cleansing routine will help the skin look and feel great so women have the confidence to put their best face forward all day, every day.

Scientifically formulated and dermatologist approved, the new range includes:

Clearasil Vitamins & Extracts Daily Wash RRP $10.99 – gentle enough to be used every day, while remaining effective at removing impurities and helping prevent breakouts

Clearasil Vitamins & Extracts Daily Scrub RRP $10.99 – contains glycerine to improve skin hydration Available from all leading Australian supermarkets, pharmacies and independent retailers.

Competition Time!

Clearasil is offering one lucky reader the chance to score a $500 experience of their choosing to enjoy with confidence!

Important information:

Australian residents only.
Must be 18 to enter.
Competition closes Friday 28 June 2013 at 5pm AEST
Winners are selected by Clearasil
Download the full terms and conditions here.

To enter leave a comment telling me about a time when you wish you’d had a boost of confidence!

Cheese, Beaches and Flowers – Snapshots from QLD 2

by VioletLeBeaux | Apr 24, 2013 | Advert, Life, Travel In Style

On to the next day of our Queensland trip!

There weren’t any tours because it was Easter but we sat down for a very cheesy lunch.

Here is the matching vlog, there are bits from The Big Pineapple there too!

I made fun of Celina and Tobias for not being able to finish their deep fried Brie… then I failed too >_>

Best breakfast EVER.

The view of the cheese making room:

The whole place was full of beautiful flowers.

Saturday was a really busy day! After lunch we drove to Montville so James could FINALLY take photos of the view on a day where it wasn’t rainy and cloudy…

… as it turned out it was actually rainy and cloudy again haha! Poor James!

We were supposed to go to the Nutworks and Chocolate factory but after driving around for ages to find it, it was closed ;_;

Instead we went across the road to The Ginger Factory!

Honestly… I don’t like ginger. It was almost closing time anyway so we just wandered around the gift store. They had a honey area too, who knew how many honey products there were!

I bought a lollipop (which tasted TERRIBLE) and a cute bee handkerchief! Which tasted so-so…no,wait.

After all of that we were super tired so we drove back to the hotel and watched the rain for a while. Such pretty views!

Sunday was our last full day at the coast and we filmed for most of the day. Celina and I took turns on the balcony to film hair and make up tutorials.

The boys decided to go surfing while we were finishing up our filming at the hotel then we all went down to film at the beach together.

We waited for low tide so we could see the rock pools…

And of course the second we got the camera gear out it started raining!!!

That didn’t stop us though!

I am really fascinated with rock pools!

I was shooting an outfit video so I had a lot more jewellery than most people wear at the beach XD

Nails from the day:

I think 90% of our holidays look like this:

I love these photos of Celins so much, I ended up painting a lot of them.

I love that I caught James’ reflection on this shot!

Of course the second we went back to the hotel it started looking like this XD

That night we packed up and had dinner at The 4th Floor.

The next morning we drove straight to the airport to drop off Celina and Toby! We almost didn’t make it in time because the traffic was so terrible *_*

The rest of our trip was quite uneventful as we hung out, filmed things and relaxed with James’ parents.

The one day I took nice photos was the day we visited South Bank.

I just love these flowers.

The whole walkway is magical… other than that whole caution sign and the workers trimming them >_>

Jerk ibises… (ibi?) who were stealing food.

I think James might have the rest of my photos so there will probably be a part 2 of this full of behind the scenes things… like me shaking my fist at that damn ibis!

We saw my Dad for a little bit too. His dog Ruby is 18 now and I think she won’t be around much longer as she’s had several strokes. Poor girl is mostly blind and deaf now too 🙁

It made me really miss Lottie >_< She was SO happy to see us when we got home. I really want to take her with us when we travel from now on! She would have totally loved the beach.

This was an extremely packed trip and we had so much fun. It was wonderful seeing The Sunshine Coast in a completely different light. Thank you so much to everyone who let us come and visit. Everyone was so nice and I really appreciate the effort everyone went to to make our stay awesome!

Definitely check out The Sunshine Coast and all of the places we visited the next time you’re in Queensland!

This post was sponsored by Garnier and SheKnows. For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

This post was sponsored by RY.com.au. For more information on sponsored posts please click here.