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Amongst all the excitement that comes with the holidays - the family visits, the festive meals, the never-ending present exchanging and of course the traditional Instagramming of the visits, meals and presents - sometimes the reason for the season gets lost.
My favourite way to give back during the holidays is to take advantage of an aid group's charity gift program, like the one currently being run by UNICEF. Their Christmas Charity Gifts service allows you to donate a pre-determined amount to buy a much needed service or item to impoverished children and their community. By donating in the name of a friend or family member, you can tick off the gift giving box, get that feel-good glow and most importantly help out communities that are doing it tough and make a much appreciated difference to the children who need your help the most.
There are price levels for all wallet sizes, starting from just A$11 for children's storybooks, making UNICEF pressies an awesome option for both stand alone and add-on gifts for family and friends.
My favourite way to give back during the holidays is to take advantage of an aid group's charity gift program, like the one currently being run by UNICEF. Their Christmas Charity Gifts service allows you to donate a pre-determined amount to buy a much needed service or item to impoverished children and their community. By donating in the name of a friend or family member, you can tick off the gift giving box, get that feel-good glow and most importantly help out communities that are doing it tough and make a much appreciated difference to the children who need your help the most.
There are price levels for all wallet sizes, starting from just A$11 for children's storybooks, making UNICEF pressies an awesome option for both stand alone and add-on gifts for family and friends.
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| Don't you think she deserves, like, a billion more books? |
Every inspired gift purchase comes with a Ken Done-designed card (choose from one of three arty designs), personalised for the recipient. Better still, the detailed descriptions of exactly what your coin is going to buy makes them easily customisable to your own loved one's interests, with presents categorised into functions.
Have a friend in nursing who knows first hand how incredibly lucky we are to have easy access to medical care? Boom, box her up some measles vaccines, that will protect 100 children for a measly (#notsorry) A$28. A rugby-mad mate? Taunt him by sending six snazzy new leather soccer balls to bring a bit of fun to children in refugee camps and disadvantaged areas. While Dad might not need another bike pump or set of Lycra, he'd be tickled to know a bike donated in his name is helping local communities transport medicine and edibles.
UNICEF Charity Gifts are available directly from their website (um hi there, last minute options), and shoppers are given an option between a paper Ken Done card or e-card.
Have a happy and safe holiday break, everyone!
I don't know about you guys, but I'm totally ready to start assigning all everyday tasks to machines. As keyboards replace pencils, robot children replace real children, and Razor scooters replace walking around like a scooterless pleb, face washing has become another task I can throw over to my mechanical bros.
I've been using my Clarisonic Mia 2 for a little while now, so was verrrrry interested in trying out the Philips version of the facial cleansing brush.
Philips VisaPure promises "deep gentle cleansing to reveal soft and radiant skin…10x more effective than hand-cleansing but just as gentle".
It's a super sleek tool, that's well….kind of phallic-looking (but maybe that's part of the appeal, amiright ladies?), with a slim, long barrel, tapered for your hand's pleasure. The brush top is smaller than the Clarisonic, and ohmygod the bristles are like so soft. My first impulse is to rub it against my face, which can only be a good thing right? It's like a brush shaped kitty, it's that silky soft.
There are two settings - gentle cleansing and deep cleansing. I chose to use the latter because I'm metal like that. You can also choose between brush heads, with one normal and one sensitive included. Before using, I pre-cleanse with a face oil to dissolve my make-up (Shu Uemura forever and always), as I do everyday and heartily suggest you also try. I then wet my face and the brush before applying a non foaming cleanser to my face I used this exclusively in the shower, because it's easier and tidier than holding my dripping face over the sink.
The VisaPure is easy to use, with the cleansing cycle timed to last exactly a minute. The cycle is broken up into 20 second lots, with the user instructed to gently move the brush first around one cheek, then the other, and lastly focusing on the T-zone (nose and forehead).
Unlike the Clarisonic, the brush head spins rather than vibrates. I found that this gave more of an exfoliating effect and was also very satisfying on a visual level.
The one thing I did notice is that my facial oil/serum did sink in a lot easier after using the brush, with left residue left on my skin. It was also super handy for removing fake tan, especially the tricky marks left around my hairline.
The Philips VisaPure retails for A$199. Replacement heads cost A$19.95, and I'd switch them out every three months.
If you are also interested in delegating face washing to an electronic friend, Philips have kindly given me an extra VisaPure for a lucky reader to love and cherish like their own robot child.
To enter, fill out your dets in the Rafflecopter plugin below and leave a comment telling me what machine you think would be most likely to rise up against the humans to enact a new world order of robotic glory. Australian residents only (sorry!), winner selected at random.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I've been using my Clarisonic Mia 2 for a little while now, so was verrrrry interested in trying out the Philips version of the facial cleansing brush.
Philips VisaPure promises "deep gentle cleansing to reveal soft and radiant skin…10x more effective than hand-cleansing but just as gentle".
It's a super sleek tool, that's well….kind of phallic-looking (but maybe that's part of the appeal, amiright ladies?), with a slim, long barrel, tapered for your hand's pleasure. The brush top is smaller than the Clarisonic, and ohmygod the bristles are like so soft. My first impulse is to rub it against my face, which can only be a good thing right? It's like a brush shaped kitty, it's that silky soft.
There are two settings - gentle cleansing and deep cleansing. I chose to use the latter because I'm metal like that. You can also choose between brush heads, with one normal and one sensitive included. Before using, I pre-cleanse with a face oil to dissolve my make-up (Shu Uemura forever and always), as I do everyday and heartily suggest you also try. I then wet my face and the brush before applying a non foaming cleanser to my face I used this exclusively in the shower, because it's easier and tidier than holding my dripping face over the sink.
The VisaPure is easy to use, with the cleansing cycle timed to last exactly a minute. The cycle is broken up into 20 second lots, with the user instructed to gently move the brush first around one cheek, then the other, and lastly focusing on the T-zone (nose and forehead).
Unlike the Clarisonic, the brush head spins rather than vibrates. I found that this gave more of an exfoliating effect and was also very satisfying on a visual level.
The one thing I did notice is that my facial oil/serum did sink in a lot easier after using the brush, with left residue left on my skin. It was also super handy for removing fake tan, especially the tricky marks left around my hairline.
If you are also interested in delegating face washing to an electronic friend, Philips have kindly given me an extra VisaPure for a lucky reader to love and cherish like their own robot child.
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| Just like this terrifying little guy! |
To enter, fill out your dets in the Rafflecopter plugin below and leave a comment telling me what machine you think would be most likely to rise up against the humans to enact a new world order of robotic glory. Australian residents only (sorry!), winner selected at random.
Ladies, let's talk hair extensions. I've recently realised that most people on television and in fashion with fabulous hair only grew like 30% of it themselves. I know, I'm a little slow.
If there was ever anyone who thought she didn't need hair extensions, I'm your gal. I have enough long blonde hair to stock Mattel's shelves and provide the Navy with ropes for a year (I'm pointedly not making a seaman joke here, and it's killing me, you guys).
I thought hair extensions were reserved for Kardashians and America's Next Top Model's latestvictims contestants, so obviously I jumped at the chance to try out Showpony's professional range to emulate Our First Lady Tyra.
If there was ever anyone who thought she didn't need hair extensions, I'm your gal. I have enough long blonde hair to stock Mattel's shelves and provide the Navy with ropes for a year (I'm pointedly not making a seaman joke here, and it's killing me, you guys).
I thought hair extensions were reserved for Kardashians and America's Next Top Model's latest
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| BOW TO YOUR QUEEN |
It's a rare day that you'll find me sporting anything less than lurid on my nails, but this collab set between Strange Beautiful and Saxony was far too disgustingly slick to pass on.
Of the three colour ways released, the 'Malevich' trio is the palest, ranging from white to the prettiest dove grey this side of an actual bird.
Because I can't resist an opportunity for a gradient, I teamed these three with two darker shades from Hello Darling and faded to black.
The polish is exceptionally creamy and opaque for such pale shades, and were seamlessly solid after two coats. This is my first foray into Strange Beautiful polishes, and I'm far more inclined to order another of their sets after enjoying this trio.
Fun fact: Malevich was a Russian painter who excelled in geometric abstract art and conked it in 1935. There were 14 children in his family, which is really at least 12 children too many. Thanks Wikipedia!
He painted stuff like this -
- which probably ignited a thousand conversations between Russian galley-goers about what that black square, like, really projected to them, while some Russian chick's boyfriend who didn't even want to come grumbles in the corner 'I could've painted that' in between spoonfuls of borsch and cabbage.
Nella has all the dets your little heart desires on the other two sets in the collection here.