This is Zoe’s Blog

15
Dec

We spend an hour a week worrying about our hair looking shit.

Prowling round the web like a creep today, I found some “stats” on how we birds spend our time in reference to our appearance. They came to light via a survey in which it was revealed women spend an average of 628 hours a year fretting about how they look.

Frustratingly it gave no indication of how much time we spend reading stats resulting from surveys.

Here are some them, and how much time we spend on them weekly:

What to wear – 50 minutes

Whether outfit / clothes then look okay – 1 hour and 32 minutes

Whether my wobbly bits are covered up – 1 hour and 26 minutes

What underwear to wear under an outfit – 39 minutes

Being bloated – 1 hour and 1 minute

Having spots 56 minutes

Uneven skin tone 50 minutes

Tan / lack of a tan – 36 minutes

Frizzy / greasy hair – 57 minutes

Total time spent worrying each week: 12 hours and four minutes

You probably won’t relate or agree with all of these.

I, for example, wear the same fetching silver and purple Lycra one-piece every day which I know looks fantastic, so I certainly don’t spend an hour and half worrying about my outfit each day. But some, like the frizzy/greasy hair, yeah… I get that. I spend FAR too much time on my hair. Each day I wake up and some of the first thoughts in my head are: Is my hair clean? Do I need to wash or style it? If it IS clean and good to go, how much more time in bed looking at Instagram does this permit me?

If it was more obedient and didn’t insist on being attached to my scalp and therefore prone to oiliness, life would certainly be a lot more swift, appearance wise. I probably will never do it again (or WILL I?) but when I had permanent “Japanese” hair straightening ten years ago, and I had wash and go hair, and rain and swim and gym proof hair, life was incredibly sweet. (You can of course mimic this effect without all the growing-outness by having keratin smoothing, and I might actually get that again soon, although it does tend to mess with your colour…)

Anyway. I felt their weekly breakdown was lacking some things:

Eyebrow shape scrutinising –  30 minutes

Spot picking regret – 50 minutes

Blackhead inspecting – 41 minutes

Curiosity regarding overuse of dry shampoo with regards to grey tinge on scalp – 24 minutes

Admiring a freakishly perfect eye liner application – 42 minutes

Fretting over the correct order of beauty products – 34 minutes

Looking at chipped, dry nails and feeling bad about not having time to do them – 18 minutes

Removing eye poo – 9 minutes

Wondering if hairdo is passable as a ‘hairdo’ and not just a scruffy bun/knot thingy – 23 minutes

Taking a stream of selfies because everything looks kind of great, actually – 10 hours and 22 minutes

Have I’ve missed any? By all means, add yours below.

 

 freshbrows

Visual Aid:
The popular “car” or “taxi” selfie, taken in this case sans makeup (unusual for a selfie, unless posted by a supermodel in bed with moody filtering and a sexy piece of hair covering the face with the seemingly innocent caption ‘good morning’) to admire the fresh look a brand new brow shape and tint offers a dame.

 

 

Responses to this drivel: 25 Comments
06
Dec

Three powders that just make things better.

And they really do, and I know that because I bloody use them daily and I bloody love them.

POWDER ONE: Loose Powder

Which will: Set your makeup, remain invisible, not create or exacerbate your lines.

Face powders have copped a bad wrap in the past, mostly because they deserved it. It was horrible. Thick, salmon-toned and utterly unbelievable despite being the final product on a face, and the one meant to really ram home the “this is just great skin, obviously” effect.

While loose or translucent powders have always been different, far more lightweight and devoid of colour, they too had some work to do. For years I would shun them when having my makeup done for shoots or events because they made fine lines stand out and aged me, but now I not only sit quietly as they apply the powder right at the end (EVEN under my eyes) to set my makeup, I do it myself at home when I really want my makeup to stay in place. (In conjunction with primer used before my foundation.) Even if that makeup is only BB or CC cream.

I put this down to better technology, better and tinier particles, light-reflecting pigments and even the addition of skin care ingredients in some brands. Many loose powders now work to actively blur fine lines and soften the look of the skin, which is a complete contrast to what we have come to expect from them.

Do this: Take a clean, small blush brush (with no blush or bronzer on it at all) and dip it into your powder, tapping off the excess. Now lightly dust the brush down your T-zone (middle of the forehead, nose and chin) as well as anywhere else prone to shine. It’s also not a bad idea to set all of your undereye concealing and brightening work with a touch along there too.

I like: Laura Mercier’s Loose Setting Powder.

LauraMercierLoosePowder

POWDER TWO: Hair volume powder

This will: Add fullness, texture, grit and instant volume to even the cleanest or flattest or slipperiest of hair.

Also referred to as ‘hair powder’ or ‘texture powder’ (by hairdressers) or ‘magic dust’ (by me), this is very fine, wet dust that comes in a wee little container, generally around the size of a Milky Way, and takes your hair from flat, dull or too-clean and perfect and too shiny, to cool-girl film clip hair very, very swiftly indeed. It makes your hair look matte. Slept-in. But also fuller. Like you had an awesome blow dry and hot rollers yesterday, but then went out all night and slept on it. Perfect.

It’s a dry hair product, a finishing product, so you only use it once hair is completely dry if you’ve just washed it, or at any time if your hair is not just washed. It is horrible when used on wet or even damp hair. Don’t do it.

Do this: I have provided instructions on how to use it many times, but basically, you want to very lightly sprinkle/tap the product onto the scalp, all over the head. Quickly and randomly. I lift up sections and tap on the underneath so as to get the volume and texture without the visible  heaviness on the scalp, which can happen if you use a lot, because it’s a no-turning-back product, and by that I mean, if you go overboard, you’re screwed. So start lightly. Even by tapping it out onto fingers and then massaging those fingers into the scalp.

On photoshoots I note the stylists will often use the powder on my mid-lengths to ends as well, for that piecey, rock girl, matte, dishevelled look, which I sometimes do, but find it weighs my fine hair down just a touch, so only when my hair is SUPER CLEAN and super boofy and the only way to remedy it is with a shittonne of texture and the kind of facial expression that assumes I meant it.

 I use: Pretty much all of them. Don’t style hair or travel without them. Am a long time fan of the original, Aveda’s Pure Abundance Hair Potion, but currently using Redken’s.

Redken-03-Powder-Grip-Mattifying-Hair-Powder

 POWDER THREE:  Dry shampoo.

This will: Save your arse when your hair is dirty and uninspiring. Also: add volume and interest when your hair is clean.

I really probably can’t write too much about this Desert Island, can’t-live-without, Top Five, Must-have, go-to product, since I have done so so extensively in the past, (and even created a how-to video on it, which seems ridiculous but many dry shampoo users are simply not using enough product, or using the product close enough to the scalp, or massaging it in fully) but suffice to say, I’m an enormous fan and generally have around four cans on the go at once. I use it to liven and puff up greasy hair, but also love it on clean hair to make it a little more matte (not gritty and textured, as per hair powder) and add some gentle second-day-ness to it.

(And yes, it is a powder. A really, really fine one. Like talc.)

Do this: Spray no more than 10cm away from the scalp. Use a fair whack of product. (Go for the Batiste coloured versions if you hate the grey-wig hair look this creates because of your darker hair.) Allow the product to sit on the scalp for 15 seconds. Massage in with hands if you’re short of time, or blow dry through with a brush for the perfect crime (i.e.: undetectable). Blondies tend to get even more use out of dry shampoo, because of their bleach, and can use it for 2-3 days in a row before succumbing to a wet shampoo (how old school) but us darker haired and fine hair babes can usually only get one day of dry shampoo on hair that’s worn out, and one day when it is up. (The REALLY PUSHING IT dirty hair final frontier.) Also, keep in mind you will look like you have dandruff if you use dry shampoo too many days in a row, cos that shit builds up. Definitely shampoo twice when you finally succumb to a hair wash.

I use: All of them, but am especially partial to the Batiste brunette one.

Batiste Brunette

 

 

Responses to this drivel: 14 Comments
27
Nov

Everything you need to know about pregnancy beauty.

… will probably not be found in this post.

That’s because I DON’T KNOW ANY OF IT YET. I’m sorry! God, stop looking at me like that. New to this. Still finding my feet (among all the Twisties wrappers.)

Look, pregnancy is something that I, like many of us, spent most of my life actively trying to avoid; my information on it relegated to how it happens (“sex”) and how it ends (“a baby”).

But now that I have been lucky enough to have scored my sweet little uterus tenant, I am suddenly and acutely aware of just how much I do not know about this strange, mythical new world. I imagine it’s much the same for those who have recently taken up neuroscience, competitive wind sailing or Minecraft. That’s not to say I am not learning. I have my books, I have my body pillow on order, and I am missing sashimi more than you will ever really understand, to be honest. But the beauty stuff? The stuff that I am good at in Real Life, (similar to Pregnant Life, but with smaller bras and more wine), it hasn’t just immediately manifested.

I’ve picked up a few things, of course. I ask a lot of questions, especially when getting beauty treatments and when in the company of mums who have a vested interest in that stuff, and some of it is obvious. But a lot of it is NOT obvious. Like spray tans, for instance. Are we allowed to get them or not? I had an organic one and wore a face mask, just to be sure/paranoid. (The answer is below, for the record.)

I can’t help thinking there are a lot of unnecessary precautions in the world of pregnancy beauty, and that common sense, as always, should prevail. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to ask you all to throw up your beauty beauty tricks and tidbits in comments below, so that we can all learn, together, at once, united in lower back pain and nausea. (Just on nausea, which I was slammed with all-day for the past three months but am finally seeing the end of, I think sugar definitely makes it worse. Ditto too long between meals/snacks. Also my hunch is that pregnancy can definitely exacerbate it.)

Here’s what I’ve gleaned so far:

HYPERPIGMENTATION

I wrote a huge post on this recently, which I urge you to read if you haven’t already. Hyperpigmentation can become a real bitch during pregnancy, due to hormonal changes and an increased sensitivity to UV. Your best chance is to use a pregnancy-safe pigment inhibitor, followed by a physical or mineral sunscreen, (zinc or titanium dioxide based) each and every day. Also, a wide brim hat, and sunglasses. IT’S WORTH IT. It’s only going to be harder to shift once your hormones return to normal, so you may as well try to keep a lid on it now. Tight lid. Screw top. Vacuum sealed. Sticky tape on the sides.

At home I use: Aspect Pigment Punch OR Aspect Vitamin C serum (less active than Pigment Punch), followed by O Cosmedics Mineral Pro during the day, and the serum plus a lovely thick face cream at night. (I have heard from another pregnant beauty ed that Aspect’s Exfol L is great, too.)

 

O Cosmedics Mineral Pro Tinted

In salon: I am keeping up with my occasional lactic peels. (I go here, Brooke is unreal.) AHAs are fine through pregnancy, but lactic is the best bet, being the most gentle. My skin is glowing, which is terrific for people thinking you have the “pregnancy glow” when really you’re sleeping terribly and engaging in a diet more suitable to a stoned teenager. Just be mindful, if you do go for a peel, that your skin may be more sensitive due to hormones, and it may actually make the pigmentation flare up, (and return swiftly) so do small patch tests and low solutions to begin, and have a full “I’m with child!” consultation with the therapist.

The standard avoid list…

– Things with irritants and toxins. Skin can be more sensitive when you’re preggo, so go easy on it.

– Products with more than 2% salicylic acid (found in a lot of acne treatments), also known as BHA. Small amounts, such as in a cleanser once a day, or a spot treatment are fine. If in doubt, switch to AHAs, which will have a similar effect but are deemed totally safe.

– Vitamin A, Retinol, retinoids, retin-A, retinoic acid, Retinol Palmitate, Retinyl Palmitate etc.

Soy products, which can aggravate your pigmentation.

– Oil of Bergamot, for the same reason.

STRETCH MARK PREVENTION

Every woman has her swear-by-it stretch mark preventer, but I really swear by mine. I do! I stand next to it and yell obscenities each morning. Hilarity aside, as long as you are using something on your stomach, hips, thighs, back and bum, you will help a lot. That’s not to say all products are created equal… Share your pick below, obviously, and stop hogging all the non stretch marks.

Before we do that though, the best piece of advice I’ve received is to keep up with the lotions/oils/butters post birth as well. Don’t drop the ball just cos you dropped a baby.

I use: Gernetic Synchro, (I got my facialist Natasha – who, wait for it – swears by it) to snaffle me the bucket/salon size as it is generally used as a face cream… which I use it for, as well) and a special belly butter made for me by my dear friend at Sodashi, Megan Larsen. HOW LUCKY I AM. I also use (this might be the most frustrating list of products in history) a dreamy body oil that is not yet on the market but will be early 2014 and will blow any socks off you happen to be wearing. Ideally you would alternate between oils and creams, because the skin is made of and needs both moisture AND sebum/oil.

Gernetic Synchro

Others use: Check comments below for evangelical ideas from women who have actually HAD a baby, but I know that The Body Shop and Palmer’s body and shea butters rate well, as does Weleda’s stretch mark oil.

SPRAY TANNING

DHA, the ingredient that marks your skin in spray tans is considered safe, however, you should cover your schnoz and mouth while you have your spray tan to prevent inhalation, so check your salon has face masks available. Also, maybe wait til you’re in your second trimester to salon spray.

BOTOX

Not approved or recommended. The definitive jury is out on its effects on the baby, due to not enough research, but why on earth, wind or fire would you risk it. Also deemed unsafe while trying to conceive, breastfeeding and flying planes.

LASER SKIN TREATMENTS

Not advised. Nor are depilatory creams, due to heightened chance of allergy. Guess it’s back to waxing, ay bro.

TEETH

One of the joys of pregnancy is being allowed to leave early when dinner parties are dull. Another is gingivitis, AKA inflamed, sore, bleeding gums and manky breath. Cute. I saw my dentist last week and it was a godamn blood bath. Horrible. Definitely see your dentist at least once during up duffery, and absolutely brush, tongue clean, floss and mouthwash daily. (Cause we all have two hours to get ready, yah?) Important though. Bad breath is about as alluring as month-old sushi.

I use: My Philips Sonic Airfloss (read my review here, it is AWESOME and excellent for floss-haters), toothbrush, Listerine Zero (no alcohol, means no drying out of the mouth) and a shitty tongue scraper I bought from the chemist.

philips-sonicare-airfloss

HAIR

There are lots of (around 798,982 at last count) conflicting reports regarding what you can and can’t do with your hair when pregnant, but generally the guidelines are to wait until you’re in your second trimester (you know, the one when you can stomach more than white toast and walk up stairs without gasping for breath), opt for highlights rather than tints, so as to avoid scalp contact (things like balayage are great, because the highlights begin at the mid-lengths) and go for semi-permanent colours rather than permanent to avoid ammonia. I had my hair coloured recently and sacrificed exactly nothing in terms of its appearance by using these techniques.

Okay. Time to pop an Elevit/a hairband around the button on my jeans.

What are your pregnancy beauty tips and favourite products? For the love of leg veins, tell us.

Responses to this drivel: 51 Comments
21
Nov

Flattering nail shapes: something to consider.

I know what you’re thinking, “But I love Pizza Shapes so much, why would I switch to Flattering Nail flavour??”

Ha ha ha, I’m joking, obviously. We all know BBQ is the best flavour.

But seriously, flattering nail shapes, let’s get serious about them, for serious. Because depending on the way you shape and file your nails, your fingers can look long and elegant, or they can appear stubby and short and less lovely than you or I can probably handle. Of course, it’s entirely down to personal preference, some just really love the look of long, square nails, or short natural nails, or long terrifying talons, in the case of Rihanna.

But most experts agree that the most flattering nail shape for your finger will be one that closely mirrors the white (usually crescent shape) line at the bottom of on your nail bed, called the Lunula. If the Lunula  is curved, you’d probably best suit an oval or rounded shape. If it’s more flat across, try a clean squared shape, or even squoval (square strong sides, with rounded corners). Have a look now, go on. I can wait.

 

Oval_Lunula

Oval Lunula

 

Straight_Lunula
Flat or square Lunula

Mine? Slightly oval. Not fully oval, as in the image above, but definitely not square, or round.

Because of this, I’ve stopped asking for short, square nails, even when I opt for very dark varnish colours. Keeping them a touch longer, (not too long, just long enough to be able to create a subtle oval shape) looks a far more alluring on my fingers, seemingly elongating the fingers, and making me look like more of a Grown Up Lady than I deserve to.The  stubby, stocky look that used to result when I kept them short and square, is no more.

Keen listeners  to this station will point out that for years I have said: “If you wear dark nail varnish, be sure to keep your nails neat and short.” And now I seem to be going against my own advice.

It happens sometimes, generally when I learn a newer, better way of doing things.

But as you can see from my current nail situation (OPI Mamma Mia), with a longer, oval-esque nail shape, this is not about long, scratchy talons. It’s just about a bit more shape, and a whisper more length. KILOMETRES more flattering than short and square on my hands.

Photo on 19-11-13 at 2.43 PM

As a basic guide, here are the common nail shapes we tend to go for.

Maybe try a new one next time you have your nails done, or keep a bit more length, or remove some length, or just, I don’t know, stick postage stamps on them for something different.

Nailshapes

 

 

 

Responses to this drivel: 17 Comments
13
Nov

How to do short hair in 2013.

In short? (Zzzzing!)

The rule seems to be go real short. Pixie short, if you can handle it.

Cases in pointses:

Ms Pamela Anderson, who may have lost her length, but has gained several metric tonne of elegance as a consolation. So Frenchy! So Chic!

Ms Jennifer Lawrence, whose hair was so ravaged from swinging between blonde and brunette, that the only option was to cut it all off/piss off everyone in the continuity unit at Hunger Games Inc.

Ms Charlize Theron, who is a master of very short hair, and who shaved it all off for a movie role with grace and pistol fingers.

Of course, not everyone has the need or desire to go quite so short. They tend to opt for the bob instead, this lot. Which is a terrific middle-ground for those looking for a dramatic change, without all the shock factor and hair gel required for a pixie cut.

Ms Jennifer Aniston is the most recent and famous example. She revealed the cut was NOT to make putting her motorbike helmet on and off easier as I initially suspected, but rather because Brazilian smoothing treatments had, well, fucked it up, to be blunt. Good lesson here for those addicted to the keratin smoothing treatments: MAKE VERY SURE the one you use is absolutely devoid of formaldehyde and its variants.

The Grand Priestess of Bobs, though, is of course Daryl Somers. No, sorry, I mean Karlie Kloss. She cut her long, runway-friendly hair off to just below her ears and thousands of us immediately imitated. The best part of The Kloss is watching all the way she styles it: straight, tucked behind one ear, wavy and textured, curly and cute…. Some say bobs are dull and impossible to make look sexy and the opposite of versatile. Karlie spits on this suggestion. (Sexily, in a model way.)

I go short every couple of years, when I tire of long hair and top-knots. I feel more ‘me’ with short hair, more stylish perhaps? More something. But when I have longer hair as I do now, I remember how easy it is to just jam it back, or because of the weight and length, let the curls sit semi-naturally and just be themselves and hang out and stuff. I have been pixie short only once, back in about 2006, and because of my curls and cowlicks, I had Japanese permanent straightening first, so that it was smooth and obedient. It was pretty fun, actually. I will probably do it again one day, but will resist the permanent straightening and just do the non-Aniston semi-permanent smoothing instead. (The place I had my handsome new colour done the other week, Xiang, they do it.)

Products that are excellent for short hair:

A texture spray: Something like Bumble & bumble thickening spray used on wet or dry hair is excellent for volume and mussiness. I especially like it on dry hair, roughly blasted through with a hair dryer on high heat.

A smoothing product for waves/curls: Use on wet hair and then blow-dry through until the hair is smooth. Follow with a soft tong job all over. Pantene’s Styling Treatment Mist Soft Curls is perfect.

A wet-style gel for slicked back looks: Short hair is the best length for  sexy, masculine slicked down/back looks and it makes me a touch jealous, in all honesty. On dry, smooth, blow-dried hair, apply a mix of wet-look gel or balm – like Redken’s Hardwear 16 super strong gel- with some water and comb through with a fine-tooth comb. Tuck behind ears, or do a deep side part.

If you have been flirting with the idea of cutting off your hair, now is a great time to take the jump. This is because it’s National Donate Your Hair Week this week, which is part of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program I am ambassador for, which asks women/men/children to snip off their hair to donate and make real hair wigs for women undergoing cancer treatment. It’s SUCH a fantastic bloody initiative, I love being part of it, and while we’re stoked we raised over 5000 ponytails in our inaugural year, we’re obviously greedy and want to double that this year.

To check if your hair is eligible for donation, head to the Beautiful Lengths website, and don’t worry if it’s not long enough to cut off this week, the campaign goes all year, and we happily accept donations at any time. (Where and how to send your ponytail is also on that website.)

Oh, and if anyone knows this woman, please tell her to get in touch with me.

 

Responses to this drivel: 13 Comments
05
Nov

Hair colouring: Are you a contraster or a blender?

Don’t worry, I didn’t know what these terms meant until last week either.

Blender

Your eye colour is on a similar colour level to your base hair colour. (What your roots are/what your natural colour is.) Creating a blend of similar toned colours is most flattering for you. If you go too stark in contrast, you’re not doing your hair OR your eyes (or skin tone) and favours. Take Jennifer Lopez for example. She is all warm chocolate eyes and so when she blends in chocolate and caramel and toffee tones together in her hair, it is perfection on her. If she were to go bright, cool blonde or dark ashy brown: no good.

Famous Blenders include:

 

Contraster.

Your eye colour is on quite a different level to your base hair colour, and the best way to accentuate this interest and excitement is with a contrasting hair colour, at least around eye level. If you go for hair colour that is too similar to your eye shade, you can look washed out, or, uh, boring. (THE WORST THING EVER.) This is where people like Kristen Stewart are perched, with piercing light green eyes bought to life with dark, contrasting brunette hair. If she went soft light blonde, it would be too similar a level to her eyes, and do nothing for her.

Famous Contrasters include:

Have a good think about whether you might be a contraster or a blender, as chances are it will provide some impressive clues as to why your hair colour is or isn’t working for you, or if perhaps there is something new you should try. It can be a bit tricky, I should admit. Some people can be both a Blender and a Contraster. And there are nuances within eye colours, for example, like the difference between dark blue eyes and light blue eyes. A dark blue eye (think Drew from Big Brother for those of us danguses who watched it) will look fantastic with a darker brown hair base, (Contraster) while a light blue eye colour (think Cameron Diaz) is much more of a Blender, and is suited to a lighter, blonde base.

I learned all of this as I had my hair colour done last week at Xiang salon in QV, Melbourne. This was my first (finally!) Melbourne colour and cut, but I was several post codes from nervous as my colourist was Dani Solier, who owns the salon with her boyfriend Jamie Furlan (who cut my hair perfectly: all one length to thicken up my super fine hair). Dani heads up the L’Oreal Professional Colour Team so she knows things. She is a top bird and the clever dame who did my hair at the Logies last year. Five stars.

Anyway. I explained to Dani I was enjoying my underlighting, but was feeling like I might like a slightly darker brunette shade around the face. Keep seeing Megan Gale look all amazing with her dark hair and getting jealous. And, was feeling like since the last colour had faded (my laziness being the reason) it was all a bit… meh. Dani gently agreed, and explained that because I am naturally a Contraster (light eyes, dark base colour), when my colour is too similar to my eyes and there is no contrast, I looked washed out.

And godammit, she was right.

Dani decided to use the new range of L’Oréal Professionnel INOA shades (of which Alexa Chung is ambassador… which gives you some idea of what L’Oreal’s motive is… natural, cool-girl hair) to create DEFINITELY NOT OMBRE HAIR despite the product name, (because I explained to Dani that I was very uninterested in two-tone or dip dye hair) but lovely, very-subtle natural reflects and colour graduation around the mid-lengths and ends for excitement and texture. I looked at the images from the campaign to see what I was waltzing into and was pleasantly impressed. This isn’t balayage circa 2010. This is all new shit.

 

The result: A gorgeous dark, cool, ashy (all VERY important words to use with your colourist if your natural hair is cool-toned and you wish to avoid redness or gold in any way shape or form) ammonia-free gloss up top, then lived-in, subtle highlights seamlessly blended in below. It’s not hugely different to my previous underlighting, but there is definitely way more contrast, and THAT is what I like.

I’m a BIG fan because it does nice things for making my eyes stand out, but still offers lots of (much-needed) texture because of the ribbons of lighter hair below.

I promised Dani that I would not be a naughty shit and let the highlights get all blergh and the gloss get all dull by neglecting to use specialised colour protect shampoo and conditioner, and of course, I would always protect my hair before heat-styling.

She seemed satisfied with that.

Are you a Blender?

Contraster?

No idea?

 

Responses to this drivel: 35 Comments
28
Oct

Liquid illuminator: Should thoust be using one? How? Which one?

That depends.

If you were to have asked me back when I was a gung-ho little squid in my twenties with nay a face crease to be seen, I would have bellowed YES and then roughly thrust several (Benefit High Beam etc) in your face and told you what a moron you were not to use them everyday for all-over glow and delight.

NB: I am referring not to concealing illuminators, such as YSL’s Touche Eclat, but rather the tinted, gleaming skin luminising variety that are used all over the face, or for spot highlighting on cheekbones etc.

But now, as a more mature llama in her early thirties I am a little more reserved on both my use and endorsement  thereof. For while liquid illuminators and highlighters are indeed a delicious way to achieve a flawless dew and gleam to the skin, they are not for everyone.

WHAT ‘NOT FOR EVERYONE’ MEANS:

– Those with large pores, fine lines/wrinkles, scarring or blemishes. This is because just like anything with shimmer, no matter how finely milled, it will exacerbate these things. (This is why you need to get your mum/granny off shimmery eye shadows, by the way.)

– Those with oily or sheeny skin: you should stick to cream or powder illuminators instead.

– Those with a lot of hyperpigmentation will need to fully conceal this before applying illuminator, as illuminators will (some say unfairly) highlight the uneven skin tone.

– Those who cannot be trusted to be light-handed. This is not body glitter, and this is not 1998.

– Those who have a habit of not blending thoroughly, or taking the time to check their makeup in a truth mirror before leaving the house.

However. When used correctly, skin illuminators can be a marvellous thing. Just ask one Cate Blanchett who is rather fond of them, and who has no qualms whatsoever using them on her (admittedly flawlessly smooth and event-toned) skin, and fierce cheekbones in particular.

They can make the skin appear to be well-rested and full of gorgeous, arrogant health, and glow in a way that is usually reserved for several high-strength peels, or taking a new lover. They create fantastic effects in photos, even if you choose to then filter the shit out of them for Instagram.

THE BEST WAY TO USE YOUR LIQUID ILLUMINATOR:

1. Added to moisturiser or primer for a subtle and believable ‘skin-level’ radiance. Be sure you choose the right tone for your skin, so that it looks like your skin, not something you have put on your skin. Alternatively, choose more of a ‘moisturiser’ style illuminator for this purpose, like MAC Strobe Cream. Just on primers, they are a terrific idea when using liquid illuminators, which have a habit of racking off after a few hours. Also a light dusting of loose powder to finish is not the worst thing you could do. Especially if you feel a bit too … gleamy.

2. Apply one part illuminator with two parts foundation for all over glow. I recommend this as a night time look only, just in case you look a bit too sparkly during the brutal light of day. Having said that, Armani Fluid Sheer is not too shimmery for day, as is hailed as the king for this.

3. Bronze illuminators are a wonderful way to get your face up to the tan level of your self-tanned body, and achieve a soft tanned glow. Apply gently all over the face underneath your foundation. (After primer if you’re using it.) You can also use these buffed gently onto areas you would normally use bronzer after having done your makeup, but be sure to only use over liquid foundation (always keep textures with like textures), be very light handed and if possible, use a cheek stippling brush (like the wonderful MAC 188 brush below) which buffs liquids and creams into the skin perfectly.

MAC188Brush

4. Use on top of blush. Adding some pinky luminiser on top of creme blush gives the best – and most long-lasting – result. Illuminators by themselves are usually not pigmented enough to act as blush. And nor should they be – their job is to throw light, not colour. This is me with Revlon Photoready Skinlights in Bare Light gently dabbed over my cheekbones, on top of some creme blush. Lovely subtle glow innit.

LuminiserZo

 

5. As a finishing product, illuminators beautifully highlight and skim the top of cheekbones and brow bones. Be sure to warm up the product thoroughly in your hand before applying, and it’s best to use a foundation brush for precision, although fingers will be fine, too. If in doubt, apply in a boomerang shape, starting under the highest point of your eyebrow and dabbing down around underneath the eye along the top of the cheekbones. Also on the top of the cupid’s bow. Adorable.

6. As a guitar pick.

LIQUID ILLUMINATORS I AM RATHER FOND OF.

Revlon Photoready Skinlights – They took them away from us years back, but thankfully the original skin illuminator is back. There are only three shades this time around (bronze light, bare light and pink light), but I find the bare light the perfect shade for my warm skin tone, (go for pink light, fair-skinned babes) and I happily dab it onto the high points of my face as a finishing product. It’s probably a bit to shimmery for me to blend with my foundation day to day, but if I’ve just had a facial, or am having a great skin day, or am heading out for an event, then I might add a drop (A DROP) into my foundation.

3RevlonPhotoreadySkinlights

Tom Ford Skin Illuminator Fire Lust – a luxurious, sheer peachy-gold that is perfect for applying over creme blush, (I am not messing around when I say sheer, there is little point using this alone as a finishing product) or, if your skin tone is warm enough, added to your foundation for an all over gleam without any glitteryness or overt pearlescence, Just lovely good-skin-ness.God, Tom Ford is good. Someone let me know if he ever gets it wrong, won’t you? Annoying NB: This is out now but limited edition.

TomFordFireLustilluminator

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector – Wonderful as a skin-perfecting (hence the name) base underneath your foundation, and the perfect amount of glow but NOT shimmer to mix in with your foundation for a genuine your-skin-but-better look. Great too as a targeted highlighter, and I deeply enjoy using the tanned shade, Topaz, as a liquid bronzer on fun summery nights, and mixed with moistirser on my décolletage, or “booby area.”

BeccaShimmeringSkinPerector

Armani Fluid Sheer – The high priestess of liquid illuminators, this lush, makeup artist favourite does everything a grown up liquid luminiser should, from being used on its own or mixed with moisturiser for glow-from-within lightbulb skin, to the finishing touch on a perfectly dewy complexion. Shade #11 -a rosy, flushed hue – is extremely enchanting for cheeks and on pinker skin tones, while I love #10 for a more golden radiance.

 Armani_FLUID-SHEER_10

 

 

Responses to this drivel: 18 Comments
16
Oct

How to properly treat and prevent hyperpigmentation.

I love my skin, we get on well. We hang out every single day, so tight is our bond.

The hyperpigmentation that is perched on it, however, NO. We are not friends. We are enemies, and it is my chief focus in terms of corrective skin care. I wish it a grisly death many times over.

Hyperpigmentation, also known as sun spots, age spots, dark spots, brown marks and ‘the mask of pregnancy’, is so common among Australian women that my statistic calculator broke when I asked it for some numbers. We all have it, and while all skin tones suffer from pigmentation, those with darker Asian, Mediterranean and African skin tones are particularly prone. Especially if they have a lot of sun exposure.

IT’S REAL EASY TO GET.

Just ask any doll who’s spent a week on a beachy holiday only to return with brown smatterings across their nose, upper cheeks, upper lip and forehead and they will tell you just how easy.

pigmentation_face
Standard hyperpigmentation… Look familiar?

This is because hyperpigmentation is (most often) caused by UV exposure. Ysee, UV stimulates the pigment cells (melanocytes) in our epidermis to start making melanin. This is what causes suntans (sooo ’80s) but also hyperpigmentation. Another terrific reason to not to hang out in the sun.

Sadly, most of the hyperpigmentation you’ve got now, you actually probably actually earned 20 years ago. (It takes an average of 10 years for sun damage to translate into brown spots.) It’s just being encouraged and worsened by current UV exposure. Cute!

Other causes:

Heat: Environmental heat can trigger your hyperpigmentation. This is so incredibly shit because even if you are FBI vigilant about your skin care and physical sun protection and hat and sunnies, you can still cop discolouration, because thermal heat encourages those naughty melanocytes to produce melanin.

Hormones: Hormonal hyperpigmentation looks the same as UV hyperpigmentation, but has a bitchier attitude and eats more Tim Tams. It’s generally caused by the pill or pregnancy and is further exacerbated by that big hot witch in the sky.

Injury: Know how when you pick at a pimple, you get that red-browny scar that won’t piss off, no matter how much Vitamin E oil you use on it? That’s because it’s not a scar, it’s post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which comes about after trauma or injury to the skin. It can also happen after needles, injections, burns or any kind of inflammation.

WHY SHOULD I CARE SO MUCH ABOUT MY PIGMENTATION?

Because, to be blunt, it’s making you look older than you actually are. You see, hyperpigmentation creates uneven skin tone, which I believe is far more ageing than lines and wrinkles. 

I’m not alone in my thinking of this. In the last five years or so, you would have seen a whole bunch of new products pop up that are skin discolouration targeted. They have names like ‘Dark Spot Corrector’ or ‘whitening’ or ‘brightening’ and work to fade that excess melanin to the point where your skin is brighter and in the case of Caucasian and Asian markets, whiter. They are not bleaching products. Most of the time they simply exfoliate the skin to remove the layer of skin cells with the brown spots and therefore give an overall more luminous complexion, and/or they incorporate ingredients and technology to specifically target the site of the melanin production, and put up some stop signs.

If you have hyperpigmentation, you should be using these products.

Trust me on this one. If you focus on removing (or seriously fading) those dark spots, and making your skin look as bright and luminous as possible, you won’t care about any lines and wrinkles you have. I promise! I promise. Such is the power of even skin tone. Think about women in countries that see very little sun: they may have many wrinkles, many creases, but since their skin tone is free of sun spots, they still maintain a look of youth and glow. Compare this to a woman who has spent a lot of her life in the sun, and has a face covered in dark splodges: the skin looks uneven, weathered, aged, uncared for.

FaceBeforeandAfterpigmentation
This woman has had a series of intense laser treatments for her discolouration. (I think it was worth it.)
See how even though she has the same lines and creases in both pictures, she looks far younger in the right?


A study in 2010 brought this to light using photos of middle-aged women that were Photoshopped into two sets: one version with extremely uneven skin tone (“hyperpigmentation”), and one version with an abundance of deep wrinkles. Both sets of pictures were showed to a group of people who had to rate the attractiveness and youthfulness of the women’s faces. Almost unanimously the women with uneven skin tone were voted less attractive (reeeowr!) and much older than their wrinkled compatriots. Clearly we shouldn’t be judging any woman on her ageing process, digitally manipulated or otherwise, any dingus knows that, but what we can take away from this is that our brown spots age us more than our wrinkles.

THE RULES OF FIGHTING PIGMENTATION.

The first rule in Pigmentation Club is that about pigmentation is patience. It took you a while to get that sun damage, it’s going to take you a while to get rid of it. Most products will take at least four weeks until results can be seen.

The second rule is diligence. There is zero point buying and using a mountain of fancy new products and having expensive professional treatments if you then neglect to wear a physical sunscreen every single day, and cover your face thoroughly from the sun when outdoors. Your pigmentation is always, always lingering just under the surface, like a creep, waiting for a chance to come back. Don’t let it.

And I think the third rule is something about not talking about Pigmentation Club.

THE PRODUCTS YOU NEED

Sunscreen.

Less of an option, more of a command. Use it every single day, on top of your pigment blocker, and underneath your makeup. This is so crucial, not only to protect your skin from UVA and UVB damage, but also because as we all know, whenever you use AHAs or BHAs, you MUST wear sunscreen every day, to protect the lovely fresh skin you’ve just exfoliated.

It’s also a smart move to ensure there are lots of antioxidants in your skin care when dealing your dark spots. Vitamin C, for example, is a stupendously good skin-brightener. Go hard on it.

A pigment blocker.

There are various types of blockers or inhibitors, each working in their own way to prevent pigmentation triggering in the first place, which means less time spent treating it. There are tyrosinanse inhibitors, (a group which includes famous pigmentation fighters like the controversial hydroquinone and kojic acid, as well as the non-controversial mulberry extract) which work to block the enzyme tyrosinase that’s needed to make melanin. There are also PAR-2 inhibitors, like soy and niacinamide, which can result in reduced melanosomal transfer and distribution, leading to a lightening of skin pigmentation.

Ideally you would use a pigment blocker morning and night on clean skin. I use Aspect’s Pigment Punch (hydroquinone-free) as my serum, and it is exceptional. Lady Dame Brooke Walker at Me Skin and Body in South Yarra put me onto it. Terribly knowledgable lass that one. (She’s been helping me in my efforts of pigmentation obliteration.) Other options include Plunkett’s SuperFade, or for one without hydroquinone try Skin Medica’s Lytera Skin Brightening Complex.

SkinMedica-Lytera-Skin-Brightening-Complex-324-2431_1 ASpect Pigment Punch

An exfoliant.

But not your daggy old apricot scrub. You need chemical exfoliants, in the form of gentle AHAs or BHAs, which will rid the skin of cells with pigment, or the “expression” stage of pigmentation. Look for ingredients like glycolic acid, lactic acid, citric acid and salicylic acid, and retinol if your skin is up to it. Your exfoliation can be in the form of a cleanser, toner,  face cream, a serum, or a dedicated exfoliant, and it’s best to get some professional advice on how often you should exfoliate (especially if you are having professional peels as well) although a good guide for most of us is 2-3 times a week. Let me stare at you for a good minute here and remind you that this is not a case of more is better: milder products used every few days will serve you much better than really aggressive actives used too often… that will lead to inflammation which leads to hyperpigmentation. Oh, what fun.

There are SO many great products out there in this category, and hopefully a bunch of you babes will offer you best and most loved in comments. I am a fan of Alpha-H’s Liquid Gold, Ultraceuticals Even Skintone Serum and Dermalogica’s Tri-active Cleanse.

Dermalogica_tri-active cleanseEVEN-SKINTONE-serum

 

SHOULDN’T I BE GETTING LASER TREATMENTS OR IPL OR SOME SUCH THING?

Maybe. If you have lighter skin, you will get good results, but the overwhelming feedback from those who’ve had laser to correct their hyperpigmentation is that it came back, or it was a lot of work to maintain. I had Fraxel a few years ago for my pigmentation and I would not recommend it. I tried it in my role as a beauty writer who should try things she writes about so she can authentically recommend them, and dearly wish I didn’t. I long for my pre-Fraxel skin tone. Whether it brought out old hyperpigmentation that was laying dormant, or allowed new hyperpigmentation to settle in, it has definitely made my skin worse. I appreciate that you often have to have a few treatments to get the full and best results, but my keenness was hovering somewhere around minus 74893% after the trauma my skin went through.

Laser toning is one treatment that does get good reviews, (even for darker skin tones) but remember: you have to be willing to basically live as a vampire if you go down the laser route. Because one day in the sun, even a few hours, can mess your skin back up.

IPL is a good, non-invasive solution that over a course of treatments will definitely give you great results, but I can’t go past a good in-salon lactic peel myself. It’s the most gentle of the AHAs and doesn’t irritate, but it does give great, glowing, bright results. I’m on a program of a peel every 2-3 weeks at the moment, combined with my at home stuff and my crazy vigilance with sun protection, hats and sunglasses.

Okay. This is a very long post, and I for one, need a crumpet.

What do you use for your hyperpigmentation?

 

Responses to this drivel: 190 Comments
03
Oct

How to properly and completely conceal a cold sore with makeup.

Don’t worry, I don’t really want to look at pictures of me with a cold sore either.

But! If it helps women who are fed up with having their face hijacked by these vile offenders to look and feel better, then it’s obviously worth it. Now please excuse me while I adjust my halo.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

Ensure you have destroyed your cold sore thoroughly, using the artillery and techniques listed here.

Obviously the best case scenario is that you avoid events and outings until your cold sore has hit the dry, flaky healed stage (and remember: you must wear those Compeed patches until then, if you stop using them too early, it will scab and then every dingus and his dog will notice your big, red cold sore. The patches stop the scab from occurring, that is their magic), but this isn’t always viable because often we have jobs and a life and need to buy groceries or attend birthday parties or pan flute class.

So, here’s what to do in the meantime, here is a tried and tested, friends-have-done-it-too-and-swear-by-it way to completely conceal your cold sore, which I sincerely hope works for you.

NOTE: Some people prefer to just apply a paw paw cream to the cold sore and a lot of shiny nude lip gloss when they go out, and look, in the past I have recommend playing up the eyes and leaving the lips nude so as not to draw attention to them/that area/the sore, but over the past few years I have much favoured the technique below, which is a dark long-last lipstick with bronzer and fresh, wide-awake eyes. I feel more confident, and I feel like the cold sore is far less visible. To the point of invisible, in fact. Try it out anyway, and see if it suits you.

 

photo 1

Remove your patch and allow the sore to dry off. Apply some nail polish remover to some tissue and press on the sore for 10-20 seconds. Yes, really. This will further dry it out, which is what you want before applying this kind of concealing sorcery (and going without your patches for several hours.)

Apply a pure lip balm to your lips to hydrate them – crucial when you wear a long-last lipstick as they’re generally pretty drying. Apply foundation all over the face.

photo 3

Grab some creamy concealer – I used Maybelline NY Fit Me concealer- and apply a small amount to your index finger. 

photo 8

Gently press the concealer onto the cold sore. Do a few layers if required. 

photo 7

Once it’s completely covered, go on and press concealer over the lips.

photo 7x2

IF you prefer to play up your eyes, or are not one for bright lipstick, you could realistically stop here. Keep in mind though that the lips will crack and flake soon, (they will likely already be dry and cracked because lips that harbour cold sores are always fucking dry and cracked  for some reason) and will need more balm and concealer.

photo 10

The magic product! Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Top Tomato. Is a lovely warm red lipstick that DOES NOT MOVE FOR HOURS AND HOURS and is fantastic as a stand alone product, but since it has saved my arse many times in cold sore situations (I never travel without it for just this reason) I have come to fondly think of it as my Cold Sore Wizard.
Revlon must be so proud.

photo 12

Apply using a cotton tip, a disposable lip brush or the applicator if you are CONVINCED the cold sore is dead/you need a new tube and this will be its last use as in my case. We all know about cold sores and spreading them via lip products, toothbrushes, etc…

photo 15

Be sure to take the colour right into the corners and do the entire outline of the lips. This is acting as camouflage, remember: it needs to be thorough. Spend time ensuring you cover any portion of the cold sore on the lips properly and neatly, and work fast cos it sets quick. I do two layers.

photo 15x2

Now take a waxy, long-last hard concealer – I use Revlon’s PhotoReady Concealer – and apply a small amount to your index finger.

photo 16 

Gently press the concealer over the site of cold sore with your finger to set it, and ensure it is thoroughly concealed. Do this around the entire mouth so it is uniform, ensuring you still have a fetching sharp red lipstick line. if you like, you can set with a touch of loose powder too, although I find powder can sometimes exacerbate any of the flakes/bumps.

photo 17

What cold sore?  NO cold sore. Well done, you clever bastard. You have completely concealed that thing.

photo 18

As perfect as it looks now, and as steadfast as that lipstick and concealer is, it will need maintenance and for you to keep your eye on things. So, after eating, drinking (not a problem if you use a straw) or just a couple of hours,
I would lightly conceal and lipstick again.

 

…. And there you have it! How to make your own baked ricotta cheesecake using only your microwave and a pair of dice.

Responses to this drivel: 47 Comments
30
Sep

How to kill a cold sore, fast.

When it comes to sexy blog topics, there are few that can hope to reach the glimmering heights of cold sores. There’s just something so… alluring about them, and the way they completely mess up your face and confidence for up to two weeks, wouldn’t you agree?

I think you might agree, because the cold sore post I did on this very blog five years ago is still one of the highest trafficked on the site, and after writing about them in Amazing Face, I am “proud” to say I have had many women email me over the years telling me how they now feel in charge of their cold sores, not the other way around. I wear the crown of Cold Sore Queen with pride! And a little bit of embarrassment. But mostly pride.

But it’s time to update. Reveal some new tricks and treatments so that we cold sore sufferers can win the battle faster and with less hands-covering-our-lips when we go into public. And hey, so many of us get them. Even CELEBRITIES, as the images below point out. (I did that gallery not be mean to those women, but to assure everyone just how indiscriminate they are.)

Obviously I am suffering from one currently, or I wouldn’t be writing about them. I’ve been smashed with flu and chest infection, which is probably why, because I always get them when my immune is shot, and also the reason this gorgeous blog has sat dormant for the past couple of weeks.

So, here’s how to stop your cold sore in its filthy little tracks. Here’s how to make sure it doesn’t even get to festering blistering stage and ensure it won’t scab. Basically, here’s how to manage and destroy a cold sore so that you can still get on with your life, and not feel like a social leper, and cut the whole process down by at least half the time if not more.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED AND SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE ON HAND:

* Famvir or similar (a 3x pill oral famciclovir cold sore treatment you buy from the chemist)
* Lysine (an essential amino acid that fights the virus internally. Take one daily if you’re prone to breakouts, and two 2x a day during a breakout.)
* Acetone nail polish remover and cotton pads/tips (buy the pre-made pads for travel)
* A sterilised pin/needle
* Compeed cold sore patches (keep a few in your wallet in case of sudden attacks and never travel without a full box)

 THINGS NOT TO DO: 

* Drink coffee or caffeinated drinks
* Eat seeds, chocolate or tomatoes
* Stress – it makes the little bastard worse

WHEN YOU FEEL THE AREA GO HOT AND ITCH, MOVE FAST, BITCH

I do apologise for the name-calling, but I cannot stress how important speed is at this point. Actually, I can: A LOT. VERY MUCH. It can come down to minutes between a cold sore that lasts three days and one that lasts 10.

If you can get a Compeed patch onto the site at the tingle stage, you’re basically a hero. Take your Famvir, which will greatly lessen the time the cold sore hangs around, but only if you take it on the first day of the sore manifesting, and some Lysine now and you’re a godamn national hero.

compeed_coldsore_patch

If you haven’t acted quite fast enough and there are bumps popping up, wash your hands and then take some acetone nail polish remover on a cotton pad or some tissue and press it on the site for a good, painful 20 seconds. Do not let any get into your mouth obviously, because it’s toxic. And wash hands straight after. What it does is dries the skin out so that the virus doesn’t have that lovely moist, bubbling warm environment it needs to keep growing. It’s a very well-known and effective home remedy, up there with using rubbing alcohol, hand sanitiser, or peroxide. The NPR will buy you time to get to the nearest chemist and buy some patches (and Famvir if you haven’t already got some on hand, which you should, because you are a cold sore sufferer, and like boy scouts, our motto is Be Prepared.) Obviously if you have a Compeed patch nearby, and you will if you know what’s good for you, then jam it on now. I often cut mine with nail scissors to shape, because the Compeed circle is definitely not a one-shape fits all, and especially if your cold sore is only half the size of a patch, and you have this obvious crinkled plastic sticker on your face or lips.

famvir-famciclovircold-sore-relief-lypsine-blackmores_4ef11c6777f09

And now for something completely different: My Chinese herbalist tells me when she feels the tingle she uses pins to break the skin and “bleed the cold sore out”. I don’t really know what this means, but she says you need to do it before there are any blisters present and then the cold sore never appears because you have released the virus in the blood. Hmmm.

 

WHEN YOU SEE BLISTERS APPEAR, SORT THEM OUT

My advice is to pop them. Controversial, but if you let the blisters keep growing and multiplying, well, I reckon you’re a dingus. I recommend doing it very carefully and hygienically by first washing your hands, then taking a sterilised needle or pin, break open each blister/bubble, then very quickly blot the area with a small square of tissue to stop the serum weeping and spreading. Blot once only then use new tissue and toss all of the blotters straight in the loo. Next, once the area is dry, ‘sanitise’ the area by applying nail polish remover on a cotton pad. Hold for up to 30 seconds. Of course, now place a patch on straight away to get to work on healing and to reduce the heat, pain and discomfort. Wash hands.

 

Acetone

DO NOT REMOVE THE PATCH UNLESS YOU ARE CHANGING TO A NEW ONE.

Cold sores do not need to breathe. They need to suffocate and die at the hands of nail polish remover and under the nurturing plastic shield of a hydrocolloid patch. Try to keep liquids (drink through a straw etc) away from the patch which will mess it up. At night or in the morning before work, wear your old one in the shower – because you should not let the sore get wet! – and then remove once you’re out. Before applying a new patch, hold some more nail polish remover on a cotton pad on the sore for 30 seconds to teach it who’s boss. Then, brush your teeth and place a new patch on before you go to sleep and dream sweet dreams of a cold sore-free life.

STAY VIGILANT

By doing all of the above, I usually only suffer for 3-4 days now. (Bad breakouts in my teens and twenties used to run well over two weeks, so this is a fucking miracle, in all honesty.) But! Just because you think it looks healed,doesn’t mean it is. And we all know how easily cold sores can rise again if not completely killed. So, keep on with the NPR/Compeed Patches for as long as it takes. If you’re lucky, the scab won’t even arrive, and you will gain a free pass straight to the dry, flaking skin stage. If you do get a scab however, well, the good news is that it’s healing. Keep up with the patches, and learn the art of Cold Sore Concealing Makeup, which, at the risk of enormous public humiliation, I will demonstrate in my next post, complete with step-by-step photos and the products that work.

My latest hope in the ongoing fight against cold sores comes in the shape of the Virulite Cold Sore Machine, which I am trying to buy online but keep hitting cool roadblocks. These little electronic zappers are kind of the new wave in cold sore treatment and I for one, have unrealistically high expectations.

Do you have any amazing tips or tricks that you use to annihilate your cold sores? Share them, for God’s sake!

 

 

Responses to this drivel: 222 Comments