Paula's Choice Breakfast

Paula’s Choice Breakfast

I hardly ever watch TV so it won’t come as a surprise that I had no idea who Paula Begoun until I received an invite to the breakfast she was hosting for media and fans. After playing on the Google machine I found out a little more about the lady and came to the conclusion that she is a pretty big deal in the International cosmetic industry.

She has a whopping 18 books including “don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me” which is one of her many best sellers. She is quite a big consumer advocate and is best known for her name “the cosmetics cop”. She has so much knowledge on cosmetic ingredients, choosing the right products for your skin as well as her own skincare range, that her expertise has granted her some serious name dropping rights.

She has appeared on infamous talk shows such as CNN, Oprah and the DR. OZ show (just to name a few). I just had to accept the invite even if it meant I had to bunk work for it. So what was the event like? It was exceptionally eye opening.

Her presentation mainly focused on cosmetic myths out there in the industry and how we are so easily convinced to buy products that aren’t very effective and essentially waste our money. Here are some of those myths:

1. You don’t need an eye cream. There is no research or study that shows you need to have different ingredients to treat your eye area. The skin around your eye need the exact same treatment as your forehead or cheeks. You may use your regular face cream (containing proper ingredients) and it will care for the skin around your eye area just like the rest of your skin. That’s it!

2. Don’t buy products in a jar! Fantastic ingredients such as Retinol, detest air. As soon as these ingredients are exposed to air they deteriorate and do not last. Just imagine you spend R300 on a small jar of moisturiser and as soon as you open it loses 80% of its effectiveness. According to Paula, that’s exactly what happens!

3. Natural does not mean better and synthetic does not mean bad. Paula used this example; green tea is good right? But if you just drank green tea your whole life, you would simply die because your body needs other sources of nutrients not found in “the good stuff”. Your skin is exactly the same. Natural ingredients are also somewhat difficult to keep stable in skincare products. This is where the labs usually get involved to extract only the necessary components your skin needs. They may add a few catalyst ingredients to maintain stability. The more stable the better. So the elements in your moisturiser may not be 100% natural but it has been formulated to provide the best for your skin.

4. Aging is not really aging. It’s sun damage! This definitely struck home for me as I have been more aware of fine lines and the beginning effects of aging since the beginning of the year. Paula explained that sun damage is the root of most aging issues. There is no study that shows otherwise. The best way to fight the horrid wrinkles and sagging skin is to apply a high SPF sunscreen every day. Paula could stress the fact enough that you need two core ingredients in a sunscreen. Zinc Oxide and Titanium Oxide.

5. Scrubs are actually horrible for your skin. Would you use one of your home sugar scrubs on a new born baby? No! (Well I hope you wouldn’t) This is how you should see your skin, a delicate surface that needs to be cared for every second of the day. Most scrubs are far too harsh on your skin. They rip and tear at your skin, breaking collagen and causing horrible irritation even though you may not feel the pain. Paula suggests using less destructive methods to exfoliate your skin like a washcloth with an ordinary body wash and maybe only doing deep exfoliation once every 2 months or so.

All of this information was fantastic to hear but even better news, all the above and more are in her latest book called don’t go to the cosmetics counter without me. I feel that this book will help many woman with skin concerns and even though I haven’t read the book yet, I know it will be like having her in your head, giving useful advise.

Paula has a fantastic skincare range called Paula's choice which is only available on the SA online store right now. Go check it out. I was given one of the fab products to test out so look out for my review soon!

Mint Mani for Talia Joy

If you don't know who Talia is then hop onto Google and get informed. I'll give you a quick summary. She was a very strong and inspiring 13 year old who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma 6 years ago which is a type of cancer. She unfortunately lost her long battle and passed away last week. Even though she was only 13, shes left a huge legacy behind her and many people are inspired by her story.

She became famous in the beauty industry by posting awesome makeup tutorials and inspiring videos on youtube. She gained many followers who became her reason to fight with all she had and make-up was her wig.

Anyway, this post is to share my mint mani for Talia Joy which is the hashtag going around in her honor ( #mintmanisfortaliajoy). This is my design;

As seen on Instagram

I am really sad that such a beautiful soul is gone and I hope she is resting in peace. I hope her mom is doing well after losing her little girl! So sad!

"Old" fashioned shopping

I wanted to share a little snippet of my thoughts with all of my supportive readers. It dawned on me that if you have been reading my posts for the past year, you must like what I say about and how I say it. (Warning, this post contains useless rant)

This online shopping fiasco ticks me off a little bit. For people like me, who aren’t 100% confident in the system, especially in SA, and don’t feel like giving some else the chance to mess their order up, I prefer shopping at the actual store where you can feel, sniff, lick, cuddle and test the actual product/s.

Since online stores have firmly been put in place, I am finding most often than I’d like, that there is scarcely anything on the shelves these days. After browsing through categories, finding what I like, driving to the store with cold hard cash to purchase it, I get unbearably irritated when it’s not there and the assistants say “but you get it online”. Do you honestly think that after going to all that effort, I’ll leave the store a happier person because I now have to wait 3 days for the bloody thing to be sent to me!? No…just no!

There is a point to all of this.

I was window shopping at The Grove Mall in Pretoria and popped into the Edgars store. I knew exactly what I wanted. Gosh’s Matte top coat. I saw it on Edgars’ new online store but didn’t feel like paying shipping fees for one small bottle of polish (this is also how online stores catch you out). I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the polish in the cosmetics section. I grabbed it and walked quite briskly to the payment counter, clenching the bottle tightly in my hands (I was picturing one of those black Friday scenes when there’s only 3 products but 20 ladies want it. Dramatic I know). I paid and left. It was such a quick and painless experience.

This made my day and restored my faith in stores in general. High five to Edgars! I really hope they continue to stock products in Malls etc. and don’t rely on online sales too much. I can picture sharing stories with my great grandchildren about the times we used to use actual money and shop at actual stores. Savor the days of old fashioned shopping, they seem to becoming scarce.

Live Healthy: Update #8

I have been feeling rather motivated these past two weeks. It must be because my birthday and spring is near. 

Gym-ming throughout winter has given me some extra confidence. I’d love to be wearing a bikini this December. Although the exercising has toned some muscle and provided me with a good base to continue, I feel the “flab” and extra fatty tissue is covering everything and hiding all my hard work. I am planning to focus on what I am currently eating and make sure I only give my body what it needs. No more winter comfort foods and unnecessary sugars (that is my weakness).

I have also been concentrating on keeping my muscles engaged when doing exercises. This means keeping them tight at all times, getting the most out of each movement. If you try this, you will feel your muscles burn a lot sooner in your rep count than if you were just going with the flow like usual.

I have also been focussing on keeping my posture accurate to prevent injuries. Ballet dancers make me so envious but I admire the strong posture they carry. I can only try get to 10% of their grace and poise.

Drinking an adequate amount of water is still an issue for me at the moment. I prefer my cup of coffee (with two sugars, eek!) although lately, with all the gym visits, my body has been nagging for more liquids. I have obediently complied with its demands.

There are only 5 months left of this year and I am feeling a bit panicky. I honestly thought I would be further in my Live Healthy quest but as they say, there’s no time like the present, so I am not afraid to play a little game of catch up and work my butt off.

Here’s some inspiration that has kept me going.

Follow my Workout pinspiration board here

Are you excited that Spring is just a month and a half away?

My life on Instagram

Here are some recent snaps from my life on Instagram.

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Water marble magic!

I thought I would share my "Manicure Monday" nail art design using the water marbling technique (as seen on Instagram and Facebook).

I found that using two very different colours, gives a very original design. I have used an opaque/milky blue (Tip Top's 'Cha cha cha') and a deep maroon/grape (Tip Top's 'funfair madness'). This gave a distinct line between the colours and the effect was magical. I really love how it turned out!

If you are new to the water marbling idea, visit my tutorial on how I do my designs.

As always, it is important to start off with a base coat and seal with a top coat. I have used Mavala's range of base and top coats (to be reviewed soon).

Tweet me your designs!

Live Healthy: The sequel

Last week I posted a new Live Healthy update. In that updated I mentioned a possible sequel resolution for 2014. Here it is.....

CRAZY YOGA!

Follow Zazayana on Instagram by clicking here

Follow Workin on my fitness on Intsagram by clicking here

Follow Workin on my fitness on Intsagram by clicking here

Follow Workin on my fitness on Intsagram by clicking here

I have been following these Instagrammers for a while now and I am in awe at what they are able to do with their bodies. I have not doubt that everyone has the potential to do what they do so this might be my 2014 resolution :)

What do you think?