La Mav – Organic Skin Science

Recently I was lucky enough to win some La Mav goodies from Realize Beauty, a cosmetic chemist blog run by the lovely Amanda Foxon-Hill who presented to us at the Beauty Directory event for Clearasils Perfectawash.

La Mav was Australia’s first Certified Organic, anti-ageing skin care range. It is Australian made, cruelty free and gentle enough for even the most sensitive of skin. While these products are from the Age-Defence Series they are so beautiful and cleansing for skin I would recommend them to anybody.

While I try a lot of different products, I’ve recently found myself more likely to incorporate Organic products into my daily routine. While I have no preference in regard to Organic/Non-Organic products from a moral standpoint or otherwise, with my blog comes the opportunity to try so many different things, and these organic products are the ones that seem to really calm my skin down again after all I inflict on it!

The La Mav Sweet Orange Foaming Cleanser is one that certainly helped me out in this regard! Something set my skin off recently leaving me with a breakout of the sort I’d never thought I’d see past my teenage years and was quite likely due to a bad combination of products for my skin type.

This product is incredibly gentle thanks to it’s natural ingredients. There is a lovely smell about this product with the Orange, but it also contains things such as Aloe Vera, Ginseng, Sugar Cane, Papaya Extract Grapefruit, Kakadu lum, Rosmary, Goji Berry & More. It sounds like something you’d eat as oppose to put on your face! The product does remove makeup, but if you’re wearing a lot you will probably need to supplement it with something else. There is also a product in the range called “Hydra Calm Cleansing Crème” which I may have to get my hands on once I finish this off as it’s formulated with a focus on dry skin.

The Antioxidant Rich Nightly Repair Nectar is similarly delicious , containing Eight different flower nectars including Rose, Ylang Ylang and Neroli.  This is not just amazing smelling but super hydrating. The consistency is that of Nectar – a slightly thicker consistency to your normal serum.  If you’re used to using Rosehip Oil I think it would most closely resemble that texture.

It is one of those products you put on at night and you wake up and just want to keep feeling your skin! Soft, hydrated and fresh is how I’d describe my skin after using this product. It really is quite luxurious and my skin just seems to absolutely love it. I’ve previously loved and used Lancome’s Genifique but I have happily replaced it with this product.

The Antioxidant Rich Nightly Repair Nectar retails for  69.95 and the Sweet Orange Foaming Cleanser for 39.95. They are available online and in selected health food stores & salons.

Have you tried La Mav products before? Do you lean towards Organic products in your skincare or not have a preference?

MAC at Target; Real or Fake?

I’m sure many of you would of heard the recent talk regarding Target stocking MAC products in their stores at discount prices. While they have been on line for the majority of this year this is the first time they are hitting shelves, and can be found (albeit in limited quantity) in most stores.

MAC hardly ever discounts their products in their own stores or in David Jones so a lot of people have been pretty excited to see it come to market in a large chain at heavily discounted prices.

At those prices – around 40% of normal RRP why wouldn’t you get excited?

Well.. the answer is, because it is all a little bit sneaky!

Look again at the screenshot from the target website, MAC products right? Notice that there is absolutely no use of the MAC logo anywhere..?

Sara-May from Make Up Utopia got in touch with Target regarding the stock and their reply was

” We wish to advise that our MAC cosmetic range is certainly genuine. They were purchased from a supplier overseas, rather than directly from MAC in Australia. We can confirm that Target have sourced these products lawfully. We hope this information clarifies your query.” 

They have more recently stated on their facebook page

“Hi everyone. We’ve paid close attention to the feedback about Target’s MAC range on Facebook, Twitter and from bloggers. The MAC product Target sells is genuine and is sourced from a Melbourne-based supplier. Our supplier has imported this product on our behalf. Wholesalers in different countries can have different packaging which may explain why our MAC products look different to others you may have seen. We hope this clears up any confusion and encourage you to give us a call on 1800 814 788 if you’d like to discuss further.”

Dollhouse Makeup & Beauty managed to get a statement out of MAC  today (View her post on the issue here)

‘MAC products are only distributed for sale at our authorised retail store accounts, or at our free-standing stores. Products purchased at one of our authorised accounts are genuine MAC merchandise of recent production. In addition, consumers can feel confident when they are serviced by one of our trained representatives, who are familiar with our product line. Target is not one of our accounts, and we therefore have no way of knowing how they obtained our products.’

(my emphasis, not theirs)

I’m a little ashamed to admit that in my curiosity I purchased a MAC blush – would I do it again – Don’t think so..

I checked the batch number of the product

This product has a three digit batch number of A51 – to determine when it was made, you can see a guide here or use a site such as checkcosmetic.net/. This indicates the blush was made in May 2011, however the batch number print looks different to others that I’ve been before, so I am a little bit sceptical this is correct..

I have also contacted MAC regarding this and will update you if I hear back.

Here is a look at the “display” set up in Target

Notice again.. No logos at all?

This display certainly didn’t encourage me to shop (the store was the one in Warringah Mall if you’re wondering) and If I wanted anything else, I’d go to the MAC store in David Jones.

There were no testers for anything and it just felt weird buying from a Target store. But everyone has a different opinion, I will never buy from strawberrynet (here’s why) but I know a lot of people do and will continue to do so.

Ultimately, of course, it’s up to you so while I would encourage you to think about it a little before this is more about trying to help you make a more informed decision regardless of  the eventual outcome.

Will you buy MAC (or Bobbi Brown) from Target? Do you want to?

UPDATED: It appears all MAC products have been removed from the target online store – there are a couple of Bobbi Brown items but certainly not the range they had yesterday, it MAY of sold out but it’s more likely something they have been forced to do. Another blogger has also done a photo comparison of target products v MAC purchased products here.

Schick Hydro Silk… For a seriously hydrating shave (and your chance to try it!)

My drawers are brimming with nail polishes, skincare and makeup but one thing I most definitely neglect is my razors! This new Schick Hydro Silk Razor is equipped with a bunch of goodies to make your shave enjoyable and super simple.

It has 5 Curve Sensing-Blades with patented skin guards to reduce skin irritation and prevent those painful little nicks and cuts. The handle is grippy and fits comfortably in the hand but my favourite feature is the Hydrating Water-Activated Moisturizing Serum

The little beads you can see surrounding the razor is that serum, you simply hold the razor under the warm running water of the shower and they expand forming these beads. I have been using this razor for a few weeks now and have never once needed shaving cream because of this, and can also say I haven’t had one single shaving cut.

But now I have an embarrassing fact to share with you all, here is my previous razor..

I hope none of you are currently eating.. I have pretty much always just bought huge bags of disposable razors and used them, and I think from this photo you can tell I used them too much. What the point was supposed to be of disposables is to only use them a few times to ensure they are super sharp, the problem with that is the blades are far duller than what you get in a proper razor and do not last anywhere near as well. It’s also far more likely that you’ll cut yourself by accident with these because they are designed to be a little cheap & nasty.

Shick did a lot of research into female shaving habits in the development of this new product. They found 54% of us are currently using disposable razors and also that 70% of us view shaving as a chore (I know I did)!

So I want to see what you guys think of these razors! Shick is giving 5 readers the opportunity to road test this product – If you’d like to give it a go just send me an email to thebeautebuzz (at) gmail.com and i’ll pick out the testers at random. All you have to do in return is leave a comment on this post once you’ve tried it letting us all know what you thought!

If you want to go out and try the razors they are avaliable at Supermarkets, as well as Priceline & other Pharmacies and are $14.25 for the starter pack which includes a refill and a shower hanger. The refills retail at $19.25.

Look forward to getting your emails and seeing what you think of this new product!

This is a sponsored post

Fight for a fair beauty price – Illamasqua’s Campaign

I’m hoping I don’t sound like a broken record but Illamasqua’s petition regarding bringing Australian prices in line with our international counterparts is something that ALL brands should be looking into, especially considering the positive reception it’s had here in Australia.

“Since we entered the Australian market we’ve been frustrated by the inflated pricing of cosmetic products compared to the rest of the world. For too long now, the women and men of Australia have been forced to pay extortionate prices for their beauty products. So we have a clear message:

We are making a stand against the ruthless global giants of cosmetics, who abuse the system by forcing customers to pay up to 61% more than UK prices. It’s entirely unjust that a woman in the UK pays just $24 for a lipstick, while a woman in Australia has to pay $40 for exactly the same product.”

You can find out more information here or sign the petition here. This year we have already seen a number of brands reducing their prices to become more in line with other countries, including Nars, Biotherm, Kiehls and more.

And while I really do think this is a good thing to raise awareness of, I’ve got to put on my sceptic hat just for a minute. Because really, if Illamasqua wanted prices to be equal, surely they could just lower their prices? And once they lower their prices, they’d be more of an incentive for competing brands to do so to stop themselves loosing customers to their then cheaper rivals?

The world, and the beauty industry is a complicated place!!