Skincare Tips and Tricks

Before Skincare Sunday officially starts next week, I wanted to give you some food for thought - if you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, how well would you look after it? Really think about it. 

You would surely wash it, probably with the best washing powder and softener on the market, I'm sure you'd iron it so there were no creases, and I bet you wouldn't leave it out in the rain or the sun to get damaged. 

Of course this scenario is silly because chances are you have more than one outfit but there's no chance about it, you only have one face - look after it! 

A wise skincare guru* once said, if you would spend the same amount of money on a pair of shoes or a handbag then you should spend it on your face and since reading that, something clicked with me and it all made sense. 

For some reason, many of us can justify spending $100+ on a pair of winter booties, hell a $100 would be a bargain. But $100 for a cleanser to prep your skin for the day or to wash the daily grime away is extravagant and can't be justified, right? Well that's where I'm going to say, wrong. And hopefully by the end of this series you will too, leaving with a better understanding of what your skin actually needs and better yet, deserves. 

Next week I'm going to break down the skincare routine stages - what you need to keep doing, start doing and stop doing. 

But until then here are a few RR TIPS to keep in mind...

1. Cleansing in the morning is just as important as cleansing at night time. 

2. Use a face washer or muslin cloth to wash off your cleanser, it will gently exfoliate your skin. 

3. Wash your face after your shower, not during. Shower water temperature is too hot for your face. 

4. Dont leave water on your skin to dry, it will only dehydrate you even more. Pat dry with a clean towel. 

5. Don't forget how important it is to sleep on a clean pillow case. If you are a side or stomach sleeper your face is exposed to bacteria that can build up on on your pillow, which could be the cause of any breakouts you're experiencing. 

And a bonus tip? Ditch the cleansing (using that word very loosely) wipes. Raise your hands in the air if you use them... Now take that hand, pick up your wipes and throw them out. Why? Because they are full of alcohol and will only leave you red, dry and irritated. But more importantly cleansing with a wipe is just lazy, plain and simple. You only have one face, remember? 

Until next time,

ajarose xo

Can't wait until next week for more Rosie Recommends? Check out these posts - 

The World's Best Cleanser!? 

Extreme Closeup: Aesop Skincare 

Cult Beauty #2 - Caudalie Beauty Elixir

Or headover to these blogs where I spend countless hours (into the wee hours of the night) reading and researching -

Beautymouth.com* said skincare guru 

Lisaeldridge.com

Viviannadoesmakeup.com

Tanyaburr.co.uk

Rosie Recommends Beauty Quickie: Revlon Nail Art Moon Candy Duo

I'm usually not one to write about a product before I've given it a proper testing, but this bad boy has been hard to find, so out of excitement I'm breaking that rule. That leads me onto introducing, Rosie Recommends Beauty Quickie - a quick post to update you all on something that doesn't warrant a full review, as yet. 

Today's victim is Revlon's new Nail Art Moon Candy edition in the duo Orbit. 

This baby is just amazing to look at and such a great idea by Revlon if you ask me. You have a base coat and a top coat and in this instance the top coat has holographic glitter. Say those two words in a sentence and I'm there. 

The other versions include shatter top coats and also neon duos with white base coats to make those nails pop! 

For $15.95 from Priceline, this travel-friendly duo is my nails new BFF. 

ajarose xo

The Sunday Post

So today's Sunday post comes with two exciting bits of information. What are they I hear you ask? Well, read on... 

One - July Series Announcement

My obsession with beauty has definitely evolved over the years from more of a makeup focus to now skincare. I spend countless hours researching products, ingredients and techniques all relating to skincare which I just can't get enough of. 

This leads me to announcing my July series - Skincare Sunday. 



A post uploaded every Sunday in the month of July, I will be sharing my favourite products, skincare tips and cheat sheets I've learnt from many late nights on the World Wide Web. 

Do you know what AHAs are? Do you know what Mineral Oil does to you skin? Or what the biggest skincare wives tales are? No? Then Skincare Sunday is for you! 

I'm obviously not an expect but I can share what I have learnt from experts and what has and hasn't worked for me. 

Two - Beauty School

So I seem to have taken my love for all things beauty to another level as I enrolled to study it at Tafe! 

After looking into different courses for a while now, I finally took the plunge and decided it would be a great way to expand my knowledge on the industry and hopefully gain a further appreciatation of the field. 

I am going to be studying a Certificate II in Retail Makeup and Skincare which delves into the topics I'm more interested in. I definitely want to bring you along on this journey with me (minus the homework, lucky you), so maybe this could be a possible series as well?

I'm so excited to share both of these bits of news with you and hope you're looking forward to the posts ahead! 

Skincare Sunday will kick off the first Sunday in July, which is Sunday 7th. 

Until next time, 

ajarose xo

A Beauty Bible?

Wow, I cannot believe how long it has been since I last uploaded! 

I wish this was due to the fact I was on a low beauty spending lull so I had nothing to talk about, but unfortunately that hasn't been the case. I took up a new position at work and have actually been flat out. I am just getting in the routine of my schedule and refuse to completely abandon my love of blogging.  

So let's kick this lull goodbye in it's not so toned ass and move along to today's post...

If you are a beauty junky like me, you'll relate when I say magazines skim on the beauty content. Unless it's their annual (once a year, come on ladies we can do better than this) beauty issue, the pages of todays women's magazines are dominated by fashion, fashion and yep you guessed it, more fashion. I'm excited when I see more than four pages of beauty, and don't forget health and fitness usually falls under those few dedicated pages too. It's just not enough! 

Cue, Allure Magazine. 

So I'm 22 years late (given it launched when I was two), but I have recently discovered this beauty of a magazine (pun intended) and I just had to share.

With amazing editorials, features and beauty insider tips and tricks this beauty bible is filled to the brim with everything that is hip and happening in the beauty world and I can't get enough.

Yes, there are still pages dedicated to fashion BUT I only counted 14 pages in the current issue I have and out of a 248 page read, you wont hear any complaining from me.  

We don't have an Australian edition so the only query I have is that it's hard to get the current month's issue here. I picked up May's copy from my local news agency today (I paid $13.95 as it's imported) so we are just over a month behind. I'm sure larger news agencies would stock current issues so I'm going to scout around. 

There is also an iPad version you can download, the subscription is $19.95 for 12 months or $1.99 if you want to pay each month as you go, you can check that out through the App Store. 

It's obviously much cheaper than buying the hard copy here, but I don't know if it's my journalism training or just me being old fashioned but I love owning magazines. Something about the tactile experience gets me every time (probably an odd thing to say coming from someone who writes an online blog). Who knows, I'll probably end up caving and buying the subscription so I don't miss a copy. I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, enough blabbing from me but I thought I'd share just in case any of you too had been living under a rock and didn't know about this gem. 

Look out for my next post where I'm going to announce a new series for July - pop back this Sunday for that!

Until then, thankyou for sticking around <3 

ajarose xo