Tag: zoe foster blake

14
Mar

Break-ups are the worst. And, the best.

In 2010, I pitched a break-up advice book to my publisher. It was to be called I Love Break-Ups! and would act as a companion to my just-released self-helpy relationship guide, Textbook Romance.

I wanted to write it because I passionately believe break-ups are an intensely positive thing. And while they really, definitely hurt, so does all of the most important growth in our life. Re-framing a break-up in a positive light helps you heal, and forgive, and move forward, and ultimately, be happier and more confident. (And waaaay better at attracting quality relationships in the future.)

I felt like break-ups had wielded far too much power over us for too long, and they needed to be taught a goddamn lesson.

Plus, around 80% of the emails I got from girls reading Textbook Romance, or my (effervescent but completely unqualified) relationship advice column in Cosmopolitan for seven years concerned break-ups: should they instigate one, how could they handle a bad one, what were they to do when they really weren’t handling a bad one, etc. And I realised that the resources for young women going through a modern break-up were pretty scarce. Or a bit naff and Americany and Sign Up To My 30-Day Course-y. Or, just dull, cliche and easily ignorable and therefore redundant. 

COSMOZO

One of my Cosmo columns. I insisted on my illustrated swing.
Never go anywhere without it.

Anyway. Writing novels took over and I Love Break-Ups! was parked. After a few years, I bought back the rights, because who knows! Maybe I would quietly release it just as an ebook, or do a website instead, or whatever. But then I got busy with more books and Go-To and a baby, and yet again I Love Break-Ups! was put on ice.

In 2016 I finally got the time and the headspace to focus on my break-up project. And I realised:  It should be an app, not a book! After all, the phone is where the freshly broken-hearted live! Where their anguish and anger rises, and all their relationship memories are housed, and where their stalking is far too easily enabled, and, of course, where their terrible drunken texting occurs. Having break-up help in your phone might be more helpful than having it at home on your bedside table, in other words.

This medium change didn’t at all hinder the enormous volume of content of course. I wrote a books’ worth of advice for the app, but instead of chapters 1-20, the information lives, intuitively, and non-chronologically, in a small electronic advice, on call, as you need it, when you need it. (‘As you’re about to call your ex/open another bottle of sav blanc.’)

And it’s finally done!

Introducing Break-Up Boss!

I changed the title from I Love Break-Ups! to Break-Up Boss, and here’s why: It’s not about me, or what I love. (Croissants, beer, massages.) Plus, when your heart is in the gutter and your cheeks are wet with tears, a jubilant and nauseatingly optimistic title like I Love Break-Ups! might make you want to vomit or kick something/me.

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And Break-Up Boss is exactly what it should be called. It’s a purposefully empowering term, to remind you that the break-up is not the boss, YOU are.

Break-ups, generally speaking, and there are always exceptions, take over our lives, personalities, work, diet, TV-watching choices and desire for alcoholic beverages, and quite frankly, this has to stop. YOU can take charge. YOU can be the boss of your break-up. YOU can choose to make it a time of growth and emotional evolution. Life is too short not to learn and grow from our romantic upheavals, then move the hell forward.

Useful and meaningful and helpful!

Break-Up Boss gives you all of the tools and techniques to deal with all of the stages of your break-up, from blatant denial, to blind rage, to deep, unshakable misery and even those first, sweet strains of getting-over-it. This is a Real Life, no-nonsense picture of a break-up, and an enthusiastic, empowered and positive view of how to deal with it.

When you make big changes in your life, (or, um, they are made for you) you need someone on your side, championing you, helping you, serving up tough-love and making sure you don’t fuck up. This is Break-Up Boss. It is your advocate, your pocket coach and your friend. It has a singular goal: to get you through your break-up in a positive, healthy manner. (Or at the very least, not text your ex just cos it’s Sunday and you’re sad and hungover and horny.)

Exceptional illustrations!

I lovingly roped in Mari Andrew, a NYC-based writer, illustrator, Instagram superstar, and wonderful, insightful, funny, wholehearted and full-feeling lady, to illustrate Break-Up Boss. I fell in love with her comics on Instagram, and dared to ask if she wanted to collaborate, such was the depth of observation and wit she displayed with her work on the topics of romance, dating, heartbreak, and the single life. She said YASS! And the app is 1000% better for it. My god she’s good.

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One of the many magnificent and omg-that’s-so-me Mari masterpieces that grace Break-Up Boss.

Call me arrogant, (it’s how you pronounce my name in Dutch anyway) but I genuinely believe that Break-Up Boss can help you if you’re going through a break-up. Or more accurately, it is my genuine hope that it will.

I have had my fair share of grim, nasty, angry and sad break-ups, and I was atrociously bad at almost all of them. But then I wasn’t. I was good at it. And I grew up a lot. And I knew what I wanted, (or more crucially, what I did not) and who I was, and now I am one of those insufferable smug married jerks who writes books telling single people what to do. Cute!

(Needless to say/write, Break-Up Boss makes a TERRIFIC gift for friends going through a break-up: it lasts longer than a bottle of wine or flowers, and is a genuine investment in their healing.)

Anyway.

All the information, and all of the features (including the bit where you can ‘send a text’ to your ex for the purpose of catharsis and rage-unleashing sans loss of dignity) are explained in the app, which is available from the App Store now (and very soon from Google Play) for $9.99.

I’m donating 10% of every purchase to Safe Steps, a Family Violence Response Centre in Victoria, (available nationally via freecall on 1800 015 188, 24 hours a day, seven days a week). My app is lighthearted, but the simple, awful truth is that family violence can play an enormous role in break-ups, either as the impetus, or post break-up. I’m not equipped to administer advice on family violence, but Safe Steps is, and I urge any victim of family violence to call on their crisis support team, 24/7, to explore your options, or just have a chat to someone.

I’m proud of Break-Up Boss. She’s my darling, my seven-year passion project. I believe in it, and I really believe in women, and maybe, just maybe, this little app can heal and rebuild a few decimated hearts.

Download it now or be miserable forever!
JK JK! Just for a year or so.

Break-Up Boss App
Break-Up Boss website
Break-Up Boss Instagram

BuBsuck

Responses to this drivel: 11 Comments
06
Jul

Amazinger Face book events!

Let’s celebrate the book,
let’s celebrate beauty,
let’s have something to eat,
then take a cute selfie.

–  Zoë Foster Blake, 2016

It’s not every day (or even every year) I lovingly inject a new book into the literary bloodstream. As such, I quite enjoy making a big fuss about it with some events, and if at possible, skywriting and ornately dressed elephants in a spectacular procession.

And so, we are doing some Amazinger Face events this July and August. They will be intimate, and fun, and I will chat about beauty and why I wanted to update the book, and there will be nibbles and bubbles (but not squibbles) and you can ask all the beauty questions you want, and I will quickly generate answers that sound vaguely correct and smile a lot so you believe me.

I will be signing copies of Amazinger Face, there will be a Go-To pop-up, (and possibly makeup pop-ups… TBC!) and we have had some delightful free tote bags made that I’m probably a bit too proud of considering they are just tote bags.

There aren’t many events and there are even fewer spaces at said events, so probably book your ticket soon, or don’t and forever feel a gaping, endless hole in your life.

Tickets for all events go on sale tomorrow,
Thursday July 7, at 9am.

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Brunch with Zoë Foster Blake

Date: Saturday July 23, 2016

Time: 9am – 11am

Venue: The Langham Melbourne

Tickets: $45, includes brunch

Bookings: rest.res@langhamhotels.com


Brunch with Zoë Foster Blake

Date: Saturday July 23, 2016

Time: 12pm – 2pm

Venue: The Langham Melbourne

Tickets: $45, includes brunch

Bookings: rest.res@langhamhotels.com

 

Sydney

An intimate Friday Night with Zoë Foster Blake 

Date: Friday July 29, 2016 (omg day after my birthday)

Time: 6pm – 8pm

Venue: The Langham, Sydney

Tickets: $45, bubbles on arrival and sweet nibbles

Bookings:  tlsyd.rsvn@langhamhotels.com
NB: Pre-payment is essential to secure a ticket

 

Sophisticated Saturday Brunch with Zoë Foster Blake

Date: Saturday July 30 2016

Time: 9am – 11am

Venue: The Langham, Sydney

Tickets: $45, tea and coffee on arrival and brunch nibbles

Bookings:  tlsyd.rsvn@langhamhotels.com
NB: Pre-payment is essential to secure a ticket

 

Canberra

 An afternoon with Zoë Foster Blake

Date: Saturday August 6 2016

Time: 2pm – 3:30pm

Venue: Muse, East Hotel, Kingston

Tickets: $25, includes drink on arrival and nibbles

                $65 includes a copy of Amazinger Face, a drink on arrival and canapes

Bookings: Via Muse events

 

 A (later) afternoon with Zoë Foster Blake

Date: Saturday August 6 2016

Time: 4pm – 5:30pm

Venue: Muse, East Hotel, Kingston

Tickets: $25, includes drink on arrival and nibbles

                $65 includes a copy of Amazinger Face, a drink on arrival and canapes

Bookings: Via Muse events

 

Apologies to Perth and Adelaide and Darwin and Brisbane and Wagga and Tamworth. I love you no less than these event cities! I plead (guilty to) scheduling constraints.

To those who book a ticko and come along, I look so forward to seeing you.

To those who don’t book a ticko but do try to sneak in, I applaud your moxie, even if I don’t respect it.

ZFB x

Responses to this drivel: 27 Comments
04
Apr

Can you take a toddler to the Maldives?

Yep. And you can do it very cheaply if they fit into your suitcase and are good at being quiet.

I jest! I jest. Luggage restrictions are so tight these days that it would actually cost more to pop your kid into your Samsonite than pay for his or her seat. (Also, where will all of your vacation Crocs go?)

It’s a valid question.

Last year we went to the Maldives – a destination typically thought of as being a Honeymoon destination, a lover’s paradise, a rekindle-the-flame getaway, and the perfect place to renew your vows or propose.

In short: couples, not multiples.

But while the bulk of resorts in the Maldives are perfectly and expertly crafted to exclusively accommodate couples, featuring the kind of luxurious over-water bures that would give any parent a heart attack, extremely sophisticated fine dining, and not a single Pixar offering on the in-house movie menu, what you may not know is that many resorts and islands in the Maldives, (an increasing number, in fact) understand that some families actually like each other enough to want to holiday together, and it can be terrifically bonding and the genesis of life-long memories.

And it’s no longer just the super swanky 5-star resorts, either: from nannies, to kids clubs, kids-only pools, and healthy, fresh menus for children, if you do your research, you’ll discover you can take the family to the Maldives, and if you’re clever, still thieve a respectable amount of couple time, too. (Bandos and Kurumba are among the better-priced resorts with kids clubs.)

Read the full article here.

But not here.

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Responses to this drivel: 2 Comments
14
Mar

I made a new book.

It’s called, ‘How To Write Intriguing, Interesting and Punchy Book Titles That Will Make People Immediately Want To Pick Up Your Book and Read It.’

Ha ha ha! As if. I would never use the word intrigiung because I can’t actually spell it. (See?)

But seriously, I am releasing a new book in June!

It’s called Amazinger Face, because, well, it is. In that it is the much-needed update to my beauty book, Amazing Facewhich I wrote back in 2010, and which is still glorious, but needed a makeover.

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The cover. Still a total babe.

img_13731321 year-old me signing it back during the book tour.
And that’s Molly, from memory…

There are a few reasons I believe Amazing Face needed an update. (And yes, so does Textbook Romance probably, but guys, I’m so busy with my turnip farm and pet ferrets that there is just no time right now.)

1. My position on sun protection has changed. A lot.

I went for a facial last year and at the conclusion, the funny and extremely well-informed facialist presented her copy of Amazing Face with 400 post-it notes jammed in it regarding things she wanted to discuss or contest. Mostly regarding the stuff in there on skin care and sun protection, which I thoroughly agreed with her needed updating, because it was too brief for one, but mostly because since writing the book, I have made an evangelical, noisy switch from chemical sunscreens to physical, and I hated there being a book out there with my name on it that didn’t reflect my passion and education on and for properly applied sunscreen, and also, of course, physical sun protection.

 2. The beauty landscape has changed.

When I wrote Amazing Face, us beauty editors were the only ones really communicating trends, reviews, tips and technology to you, the beautiful public. Now there are countless vloggers, bloggers, makeup artists, derms and hair stylists with a shiny Youtube channel, a fat sack of Instagram followers and a pretty great technique with a foundation brush, actually.

Also, since the proliferation of online shopping, social media, and retailers like Sephora landing in Australia, we have access to around six billion more products and brands than when this book first went to print, and I wanted to include and honour these new kids on the block.

3. Products come and go.

Nothing like going to your favourite, best-ever beauty reference book (too much?) to see which nude nail polish you should buy, only to find the one recommended has been brutally yanked from shelves. War and famine aside, there might not be anything worse.

So, I went through every single product I mention in the book, and I checked if it was still:

A) Available

B) Relevant

C) The best I had tried in that category

D) Tasty on crumpets.

And look, some were still around, and some were still the best on offer, but many were not, or had been surpassed by a sexy new offering from another brand. You cannot believe how many new products I have jammed into Amazinger Face you guys. It’s friggen filthy with them.

4. I have written a lot of beauty content since then.

(And had a baby, so I know heaps more about stretch marks and pigmentation now. Lucky me.) It seemed silly to waste five years of pretty helpful beauty advice, and not fatten up and update a book that I adore and am so proud of, especially when cuteheads pop photos of it next to candles and other pretty tone-parallel books on their Instagram feed.

5. I made some of my own beauty products.

Since releasing Amazing Face I have launched a simple, effective, irritant-free skin care line, Go-To, because I felt there were gaps in the skin care industry that I knew how to fill, because yes, I really am that arrogant.

I wanted to include my products in my beauty book, because I believe in them, and of course I think they are the best in the category or why the frigdog would I bother making them. Don’t worry though, it’s subtle. I’m not that gross. Or AM I.

6. I have a phenomenal designer.

Allison Colpoys, her name is, though I refer to as Queen Magical Designypants. Al kind of created a whole new book design when Amazing Face came out; her work was (and always is) somewhere in the future, superfresh and unlike anything else out there. I’m SO LUCKY TO HAVE HER. When Amazing Face was finished neither of us could imagine a better, more delightful design.

But zoom in your spacemobile to 2016 and we have both grown up, and changed our style, and are inspired by new things, and so, in the same way I wanted to refresh all the copy and products within the book, Al wanted to overhaul the entire visual feast. Which she did. And it’s absolutely lush. Godammit she’s talented. (Buy her stationary range here! Her tear-inducing children’s book here!)

7. I get bored and need new projects.

And believe me when I say/write that even though it’s just an ‘update’, it has been quite the project.

 

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Proofing is terrific fun! Ask any author!

Anyway! All done now. Almost ready for you to get your mitts on. Here’s the new cover. Here’s the new look. Here’s my pretty, papery sweetypie.


Amazinger Face, Zoe Foster Blake

Amazinger Face is officially on sale June 27, but if you’re smart and cute and smart, you’ll pre-order now, here (and get almost 20% off.) That’s what a smart and cute and smart person would do.

And hey. Thank you to all of you for buying and reading Amazing Face. The feedback you have given me over the years on that book has brought me much joy, satisfaction, and many happy tears, not to mention acting as the catalyst for me to start Go-To.

I’m positive you will love her sophisticated younger sister just as much, even if she does borrow your leather jacket without telling you sometimes.

Fondest,

ZFB

Responses to this drivel: 25 Comments
04
May

Event beauty preparation.

These are the people, the treatments and the shortcuts involved in my Logies preparation this year. You can easily use a similar approach for your wedding day, 40th, or cincoanera.

You will note the absence of Flaky Jim’s Skin Palace. This is for good reason. NO MORE, JIM. It’s over.

FACE

As I have mentioned more times than can possibly be interesting, my chief skin concern is hyperpigmentation. I am about to stop breastfeeding, and hoping that the final remnants of the hormonal pigmentation will fuck off when that happens, but that said, I get it regardless of cute babies I make. So, I used the Logies as an excuse to do something about it and improve my skin in general.

I will do longer post on the treatment I’ve been having, DermaFrac, for the last couple of months, because IT IS ACTUALLY WORKING, but the headlines are:

  • I have it every 2-3 weeks at Me Skin and Body in South Yarra
  • It takes 40 mins because I skip the dermabrasion bit, I just have a lactic peel, micro-needling and the LED
  • There is no downtime, and it has really broken up my pigmentation and brightened my skin tone. (This is my goal. Wrinkles are fine, it’s the uneven skin tone that annoys me.)
  • It’s not inflammatory like lasers or IPL, which can actually make my pigmentation flare up.

In the final two weeks I had my beloved Omnilux LED lamp (at Duquessa, in Carlton) for a criminal amount of plumpness and glow. I always recommend this to women getting married when they ask, “what should I do with my face?”, because your skin will look heavenly under makeup, IRL and forever and always in the photos. I had four sessions over two weeks, the last one on the day before the Logies.

I have been using Cosmedix Simply Brilliant followed by Go-To Face Hero for super nourishment and antioxidants, followed by  a physical sunscreen in the AM, and SkinMedica Lytera follwed by Face Hero and then Go-To Very Useful Face Cream at night.

Here is my skin with no makeup just before my skin with lots of makeup. All the pigmentation on my forehead and the top of my cheekbones is so light and scattered now. (Clear eyes care of Omnilux. No juice cleanses here.)

*Usually I would have a light AHA peel before two of these lamp sessions, but because there is a lactic peel as part of Dermafrac, I just have a cleanse, the 20 minute lamp then buzz off.

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BODY

I’m currently the Hypoxi ambassador, which means I get to do AS MUCH HYPOXI AS I LIKE. I would be a total dickhead not to use this magical goldpass before an event where I am wearing a fitted dress, so I have been going as often as I can. I use the HDC machine for lymphatic drainage, then the s120 to help fluid retention and tone up. I also walk a lot and do a bit of half-arsed Kayla Itsines at home on the rug while Sonny heckles me about my wussy handweights. (I still have a hip injury, so can’t do the cardio maniac training I used to love.)

I had the delightful Karla from Brown Bodies come to my home to do a St Tropez spray tan two days before the event. This seemed a very convenient option, except that Sonny WAILED LIKE A GODAMN BANSHEE the entire time (scared of the noise? My underwear choice?) and I had to keep popping out of the tent, and running to him and leaping over the baby gate in nothing but my tarty spray tan g-string (I shudder to think of the view poor Karla had) to soothe him without actually touching him, because that would mess up the tan. Not one of my finest moments. The tan was gorgeous, though.

HAIR AND MAKEUP

When I have events or MC duties or photoshoots I call on my cherished hair and makeup sausage, Laura Gilham. She knows what I like, she’s fast and I always book her months in advance so she can do me on Logies day. It calms me knowing she will do something great, and that we will have fun, and that when I say a browny-mauve smoky eye she gets it, and that she knows I NEED a dewy complexion, and matte is the devil and that my length hair is tricky to fingerwave.

I chose fingerwave-esque hair because the dress was so clean and modern in the end, that my slicked down tucked behind the ears look I was going to have was wrong. That look suited a more floaty, romantic dress, but as the dress became more simple, I needed to add some excitement. Hence, the waves.

(This is far too close up. I looked way better from across the room.)

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There is no need to have your “own” hair and makeup artist, of course (but if you go to a lot of events, the convenience of them coming to you can be worth it and it becomes far less wanky than you might imagine) you can shimmy into a salon and get your hair done beautifully, (I recommend Edwards and Co because they excel at naturally glamorous hair) then go to a counter like Chanel, Napoleon, MAC or Bobbi Brown for your makeup. Take references for both hair and makeup so there’s no guess work and no tears. Also a photo of you in your dress so they can see the colour and neckline.

NAILS

I got a $20 manicure using OPI’s So many clowns… so little time. Bubble Bath is too pink on my olive skin, and Samoan Sand can look a little almondy sometimes; this is the perfect sheer, milky-ivory-beige.

TEETH

I mostly just made sure they didn’t get knocked out and were clean.

JUST ON THE DRESS + JEWELS…

I was very lucky to have Mr Magic Gown Steven Khalil (he did my wedding dress, and also a previous Logies get up) make me a frock for the night, and even MORE lucky to have a gown that involved no Hollywood tape, no boning, no corsetry, nothing too clingy, and no cleavage spill. It was comfortable, easy to wear and I felt fucking tip top. This is not normal for such an event. Maybe I’m getting older but I can’t be arsed with severe discomfort in the name of fashion anymore.

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I wore vintage Art Deco jewels from Keshett, which I loved. I went black as a nod to the belt. As usual no clutch because I am likely to get it wrong, so my husband just puts my lipstick and phone in his garter.

Keshett Jewellery

Here is said husband, and the reason I am even at the Logies, the handsome, funny, adorable, Logie-winning, Gap Yearing wildman himself, Mr Hamish ‘The Bachelor’ Blake.

He really is my dream date: fun, hilarious, cute and GREAT at finding me sliders and fries at the after party.

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Responses to this drivel: 27 Comments
01
Apr

Your new favourite skin care line.

… Has officially launched!

GoTo_YellowEO copy

 It’s called Go-To, and I created it.
You buy it exclusively from gotoskincare.com, which is now live, and a lot of fun.
We send prods to you fast.
You use and love.
We (telepathically) high-five.
And nearby, a small family of wombats huddle together for a nap.

To celebrate the launch today, I thought I would run you briefly through each of the five products, since I’ve been a bit cagey about them up until now. Knowledge is power, after all! So is money and political status, but that’s less relevant in this situation.

As I have previously pointed out previously, Go-To was designed to be uncomplicated, simple, effective and easy (and fun) to use. Each of these products are useful for all of us, whether we wear a shittonne of skin care and makeup each day, or we just slap on some BB cream and race out the door. Because we all need a cleanser. We all need a moisturiser that will protect our skin from free-radical damage. We all need to exfoliate. We all need a lip balm that actually works. And we all “need” (enjoy?) a multi-purpose oil that can be used everywhere from the heels to the elbows to the nails to the hair to the face.

 THE CLEANSER

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It’s called Properly Clean, $29.95, because I was sick of cleansers that didn’t do a good enough job. Lazy cleansers. Naughty cleansers. Cleansers that couldn’t keep up with women who used many layers of skin serums and brighteners and primers and so on. They were either too thick and left residue, or they were too foamy and drying, or too scrubby and harsh, and they didn’t nearly remove all the primer/sunscreen/makeup I’d loaded onto my face that day. So, I made one that was as soft and smoothing and lovely on the skin (in use and after being rinsed off) which I think the face demands, but which, because of the Willow Bark Extract (a non-irritating cousin to salicylic acid that ever so gently removes grime and build-up), also actually gets the job DONE and takes care of BIZNEZ.

Fun fact: This was the first product we got right, and my husband loves the shit out of it. And he’s a BOY.

THE EXFOLIANT

Go--Exfoliating-Swipeys-50-wipes-4995

 

Called Exfoliating Swipeys, $45.95, because, well, that’s what they are, these single-use, zingy-smelling little cotton pads take the confusion and error out of exfoliating. Because there’s a lot of that! We either use too many exfoliating products, too often (I have friends who are essentially performing a mini chemical peel each night with all their strong cleansers and  toners and creams), or we don’t do enough, which makes our skin dull and congested and unhappy. The ideal way to exfoliate, in my mind, is softly, thoroughly and regularly. So, I made a solution of gentle AHAs (lactic acid) and hydrating essential oils, and dunked 50 textured pads in it, and now all YOU have to do is swipe one all over your face after cleansing 2-3 times a week, and you’re set.

Fun fact: I was least convinced we had the scent of this right, but have had more positive feedback on this scent than any of the products.

 

THE MOISTURISER

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After a while as a beauty editor, you learn that are a few iconic face creams that remain steadily popular over time. They tend to be very nourishing, but lightweight and quick to sink in. And suitable for even sensitive skins (making them loved by makeup artists to use backstage at shows on models/shoots). I wanted to make one of these all-purpose, lovely creams, because I am arrogant enough to aim that high. BUT. I’m a firm believer that defending and protecting the skin from free radical damage (which come from UV rays, the environment etc), the cause of premature ageing (wrinkles, lines and sun damage), via powerful anti-oxidants is just as important as hydration and the perfect texture. So, I sourced the magical super anti-oxidant, Alma Berry, which has 30x more Vitamin C than oranges (and is anti-inflammatory and super soothing), and popped in some CoQ10, the grand dame of the anti-oxidant world, as well as Vitamin E, so that when you put on Go-To Very Useful Face Cream, $39.95, in the morning (under your physical sunscreen, obviously), you are protected throughout the day, and when you put it on at night, you are working to neutralise any free radical damage you accrued. I love this cream for MANY reasons, including it’s lovely silky texture, fig and rose scent and ability to be worn day, night or mid-flight, but that it’s guarding my skin so thoroughly, well, that’s the bloody clincher.

Fun fact: There is no sunscreen in Very Useful Face Cream because I wanted it to be all-purpose, day/night/flight. I wear a physical sunscreen over it during the day.

 

 THE LIP BALM 

Go--Lips-1495

 

I hardly keep my passion for lip balm under wraps. Am always banging on about how I can’t find the perfect one, or why the one you’re using isn’t working, (petrochemicals, usually) or applauding those that do help my lips… So when I got to make my own, you can bet your bronzer I took it seriously. IT HAS TO BE THE BEST LIP BALM EVER I said to my softly spoken, mild-mannered biochemist. OUR LIP BALM MUST WIN, I reiterated. So, we got to work. Adding all the ingredients I know to actually do something, and which make good lip balms more than just quick-fix barriers. And after just 20 versions, we got there with Lips!, $14.95. It features seven oils, ultra medical grade lanolin, anti-oxidants, butters and beeswax… all bundled up in the perfect formula of creaminess with a pretty sheen and the subtle flavour of pure pomegranate. It’s delicious and I swear by it. So there.

Fun fact: It’s called Lips! because I was so jubilant at having finally landed on the best possible lip balm formula. (In my eyes, anyway. My very bias eyes.)

 

THE MULTI-PURPOSE OIL

Go--Exceptionoil-4995

As a dame who travels quite a lot, and has had to master a smaller toiletries kit than any beauty editor should ever be forced to endure, I know the value of a solid do-it-all prod. Something that can be hauled out and quickly fix rough heels, elbows, cuticles, or soothe and heal little scratches and bites, or hydrate the body, or condition split ends, or add some sheen to foundation, or act as a potent serum (gently dabbed onto the face under face cream – better left to dry, not oily skins). Makes sense then, that I would want to have a crack at making my own… cue Exceptionoil, $49.95. It is SO PURE and so delicious, and with a blend of ten oils and almost as many butters and waxes, the skin bloody loves this balm-oil. (One beauty ed has even said it has sorted out her eczema, so maybe it’s even more magic than we know!) It sinks in fast, leaves no residue, and boasts certified Monoi di Tiare from Tahiti (gardenias macerated in coconut oil) for a – quite frankly – criminally pretty fragrance.

I need to say here that if you DO purchase Exceptionoil, please remember it is an OIL, and needs to be treated as such. In that it might be very runny when you open it, so please be careful. Also, just like that coconut oil you cook with, it will change solidity in accordance to the surrounding temps. (An hour in the fridge will help thicken it if it’s stupidly runny.) And if you travel with it? Like any oil, you should keep it in a plastic ziploc bag.

Fun fact: One customer has been adding a few drops to her bath with truly lovely results and very soft, scented skin. Clever!

… Of course, you can read (and watch) all about the prods in more depth at gotoskincare.com, and see all of the ingredients too, and also all of the things we DON’T put into the products (palm oil, petrochemicals, PEGs, mineral oils, parabens, sulfates, silicones, GMOs, synthetic colours or fragrances, animal testing of any kind).

To all of you who have already purchased your Go-To, and have been kind enough to take the time to let us know how much you are loving the products and packaging on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Gruzzleplonk,  THANK YOU.

It’s scary launching a skin care line! You’re asking women to put things on their face and telling them their skin will like it, but skin can be so bitchy and so individual, and so you just make it as good as it can be, and you bloody hope for the best. Also! No store! No way for you guys to sniff and play and try the products before buying them – you are just putting blind faith into them and putting them into your virtual cart, and it is THAT leap of faith and trust that I am so deeply grateful for, and promise not to ever mess with.

You’re gorgeous dames, and I bloody adore you. I will shut up Go-To for a while now, promise. Just had to push her out to sea first.

Zo-To x

Ps Go-To and I were on A Current Affair last night!

Responses to this drivel: 64 Comments
20
Feb

Allow me to introduce you to my very own skin care line: Go-To.


Today I take immense joy in announcing the name of and first peek at my skin care line, Go-To.

Go-To skin care logo

Since we’re still a fair way off launch, this is really just me sharing the name and giving you a little snizz at what the products look like, care of the image below which features Lips! our lip wizard.

Why the name Go-To? Because Clinique was taken. Also, I found that during the creation and manufacturing process I was constantly describing the products in the following ways: “This is, like, the essential, foolproof, go-to moisturiser,” or “it needs to be girls’ go-to exfoliator” or “this is the perfect go-to travel product” or “I’m exhausted can I go-to the cafe and get a coffee now?”

GoTo_Lips_Purple

“I love this lip balm. So much.”
– Zoe’s lips.

 

As I explained in this initial blog last month, the products and range thereof have very much been formulated to act as your skin care basics. The simple, reliable foundation products you rely on and need to maintain healthy, happy, glowing skin. By all means bring inject those power serums and peels and masks and treatments that you love, but also feel a bit smug knowing Go-To has got your back when it comes to the necessities of daily skin maintenance.

And that’s my version of daily skin maintenance, by the way – a fussy beauty editor of 10 years who has a strong/educated/totally inflated opinion about what she knows works, what women feel comfortable using and what the modern woman’s skin actually needs. So, hydration, yes, but also protection from ageing and skin discolouration in the form of powerful anti-oxidants. Some gentle AHAs for foolproof, effective exfoliation. And a cleanser that will actually remove all that primer and sunscreen and long-wear makeup I keep telling you to use.

As well as being effective, I went to great (some might say “annoying”) lengths to ensure each product was perfectly natural. Zero nasties. No palm oil, (obviously) no petrochemicals, PEGs, mineral oils, parabens, sulfates, silicones, GMOs, synthetic colours or fragrances. There has been no animal testing of any kind, except on me. (And sometimes Meowbert cos he gets dry lips.)

So there you have it! Millions more details to come of course, but for now, this is Go-To skin care. Officially on sale April 1, a date that I am assured people take very seriously. You can start stalking us gently on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Plangscootch too, if you like.

(… Full details on our fun pre-order campaign coming early next week!)

 

Responses to this drivel: 48 Comments