I’ve entered our wedding into the Smitten Magazine ‘Be Our Spring Cover Bride Competition’ !

We need your help to win the chance to feature on their Spring cover.

Please click here to vote for us now!

Voting finishes Next Friday July 6th.   Thank You!

I’ve had my dress cleaned, somewhat unsuccessfully I might add.  Surprisingly when we returned from the elopement down south my dress was pristine but after the cocktail party in the city, the edges of the silk underneath the tulle were quite stained and they only managed to considerably fade them.  Apparently it ruins the sheen of the fabric if they over clean it or something and the dry cleaner also lost a crystal from the back of the bodice and accused me of losing it before I brought it in.  I asked if they would spot clean the hem again and he said no.  Not happy with their service at all, very disappointing attitude.  Please avoid Herdsman dry cleaners, I don’t know how they are regarded as the best in the state.  My advice is that you don’t want to worry too much about your dress on the day but you also want to look after it, so try and find your happy balance and deal with whatever comes afterward.  If you seriously plan to sell your wedding dress then you need to research and consider how well the detailing and fabrics can be cleaned post wedding.

We recently made a long weekend trip down south and met with Ros at their photography studio and finally seen all our wedding photos!!!  It was so great to see them all and catch up with Ros.  The photos are so wonderful, she has one of me (below) up in the studio in a screen collage (hard to describe), I feel very privileged!  We have nearly 300 proofs to peruse and whittle down into a precious album, wish me luck with that.  I’m still thinking crazy thoughts about submitting our wedding to a few blogs and magazines to see if anyone’s interested.  I absolutely loved seeing other people’s weddings and reading about their experience and advice and I’d love to do the same.  It’s just finding the time right now and I’d need to engage Ros with the photo selections.

Taken around the Contos Springs area.

I also resigned from my old job of 8+ years and started working part-time again in HR for a major global oil & gas company, so that’s been keeping me busy.  After a year off work last year, it’s been great to meet new people and receive a pay cheque again.

We also began searching for a new house to buy in December after the wedding and we really couldn’t find anything we liked, let alone loved and that met our needs.  We decided in February to start looking at land instead and we have just purchased a block and we’re going to build!  So yes, that’s my new project and a somewhat daunting and exciting prospect all rolled into one.  I’m not sure I want to blog about the build at this stage, see how things progress.  I still think about having a ‘proper’ wedding blog and I even came up with a new name I really love for it.

I hope you’ve all been keeping well and flourishing in whatever you’re doing, remember to stay positive and keep moving forward with your dreams.

Reblogged from nailsNAILED:

• 
• 
• 

I’m really loving waking up the next day after doing my nails and making them either completely different or just making them more interesting! It’s perfect for a short attention span person like me. This one I did with a little help from Katy Perry. Her nail polish that is.

Teenage Dream is a really pretty light pink glitter, slightly holographic and a tad frosted looking.

Read more… 105 more words

Moi?  We slept in today which has been a treat of late and I’m about to get cracking on buckwheat banana pancakes for breakfast (at 11.40am!), I’ll be watching the Australian Open Tennis (Federer vs Nadal tonight, what a match!) and the Perth Skyshow on tv later in the comfort of air-conditioning during this very hot 41° celcius Aussie day (105.8 ºF).  Good luck to all the insane people outside, lets hope they get their SPF on!

This year so far I haven’t made any resolutions or set any goals yet, but one thing I want to keep in the back of my mind is to try and not feel like I have to be wonder woman, not be perfect, just be the best I can be and try to enjoy the good little things, like Australia Day and living in this beautiful country.

And well…there’s plenty of other gorgeous women who can be wonder woman!  Doesn’t Miranda Kerr look amazing?

Image: Miranda Kerr wears couture bodysuit by Alex Perry. Photography by Chris Colls, styling by Thelma McQuillan. Grazia Mag Cover.

Have a fabulous Australia day and a fabulous friday tomorrow!

I don’t wish to go into details, but let’s say we’re all on the train journey of life and there are lots of stops along the way, but sometimes the train falls of the tracks and it’s just plain derailment, progress stops, it’s just absolute chaos and what feels like the worst possible event of your life.

I have absolutely no idea what direction 2012 is going to take at the moment, with our lives or with this blog so if weeks go by without a post, my apologies in advance, but my personal life is my absolute priority.

Love, health and prosperity to you all in 2012.

Held last Sunday at Djurra Lifestyle Salon & Spa in Fremantle, Western Australia, a gorgeous gathering of Perth’s bloggers and creatives came together to meet and greet and talk all things beauty, health, wellness and of course blogging.

I was impressed with Djurra as soon as I entered the main space, the tall ceilings and clean layout are warmed by the rich sections of exposed brickwork and glossy floorboards.  I was greeted by Kelly from Wellness WA and then Annette, editor of Wellness WA, it was fantastic to finally meet the organisers of POBM!

To welcome guests, Djurra treated us to a very relaxing experience, a seated massage in their gorgeous hair space, I was asked to close my eyes and the tantalising smell of AVEDA blue oil filled my senses and with several deep breaths I was on my way to Djurra bliss.  Anita, the owner of Djurra, explained every client who visits Djurra, receives this wonderful mini massage experience to help them immediately feel the essence of ‘Djurra’, which is Aboriginal for creative.

We all enjoyed some of Aveda’s refreshing Peppermint and Liquorice tea whilst we had introductions and lingered around the ever growing table of products for the product swap.  Everyone was asked to bring at least 3 products that were new or barely used for a swap during the event, more on that later!

Photo Credit: http://dontyouknowaprilrose.blogspot.com

Anita gave us a tour of the lovely Djurra salon & spa areas, the exposed brickwork is continued on throughout the walls of the spa lounge and treatment rooms, and I felt the rooms were very inviting.

Annette had organised some very yummy raw food from The Raw Kitchen, also based in Fremantle, WA.  I delved into raw food three years ago on my own wellness journey and alongside juicing, it really made a HUGE difference to my health, my eyesight even improved and my Optometrist reduced the strength of my eye prescription!  It really does offer a lot of health rewards, but I recommend researching it thoroughly before you make any commitments.  All the food from The Raw Kitchen was Dairy, Sugar and Gluten free which was a huge gift for me being a medically diagnosed Coeliac (gluten free) with a dairy allergy.

We all enjoyed delicious slices of raw pizza on a dehydrated buckwheat base, very filling and always a raw food favourite!

To well and truly beat any chocolate craving we had some amazing treats!  Rich chocolate and coconut Raw Macaroons teamed with some frozen Mint Cacao Swirls which reminded me of Arnott’s Mint Slice biscuits, but so much better!

The menu at The Raw Kitchen looks fantastic and I can’t wait to visit the cafe one Sunday soon to try their other raw delights.

We were also treated to a taste of Emma & Tom’s life juices, made with no concentrates and each bottle of Emma & Tom’s provides about 20% of your daily fibre requirement and at least 2 portions of whole fruit.

We tried Radical Action which had tropical overtones, a blend of apple, peach, mango, orange and blackberry, in addition to elderberry, green tea and grape seed extracts for even more antioxidants, to really help your body fight those free radicals. Yum!

Enjoying Emma and Tom's Radical Action juice! Adele, Me and Ali

Whilst we ate and chatted, we were all treated to a bit of pampering for the feet, which I can tell you, during summer walking around in sandals and thongs is much needed.  Djurra offer a little feet treat for all clients visiting for facials and massages, a lovely soak and dead sea salt foot scrub.

The lovely Adele Plumridge, then spoke to us about improving our health and skin with a focus on diet and lifestyle approaches.  Adele is a trained Naturopath and offers a range of testing and services such as Facial Acupuncture and Lifestyle Counselling.  We all tried a Zinc tally test where you swirl some zinc in your mouth for ten seconds and the taste results can reveal what your zinc levels are like.  I already take Zinc Maintain by Ethical Nutrients so I knew mine would be okay, but my results did indicate my levels could still be boosted!  I started taking zinc to combat cystic acne and improve overall skin, nail and hair health and it has really helped.

After Adele’s great tips, it was time for goodies!  Everyone was utterly awed by the laden bags, we were totally spoilt by the sponsors, they were so generous, and I don’t think we could all quite wait to get home and get into them!

We were also treated to an AVEDA goody bag from Djurra, I’ve already tried the hand relief cream and it has a lovely texture and provides a light barrier, helpful for those with contact dermatitis.

As the afternoon drew to a close, we hit the Djurra Spa Lounge to conduct the huge product swap, it was well orchestrated with everyone choosing one product each, over three rounds and then if you wanted anything left.

I scored a red-gold Zoya nail polish, been wanting to try Zoya for ages, a Bourjois highlighting powder and an amazing Sodashi Balancing Face & Neck Moisturiser (thanks Ali!).

I got slightly lost after saying goodbyes and desperately tried to use my Iphone Maps to get me back to the carpark whilst carrying the bags, my arms were hurting, but oh so worth it!

We were totally spoilt with Djurra pampering, yummy raw food from The Raw Kitchen, networking, meeting lovely bloggers, AMAZING goodie bags, a huge product swap and plenty of inspiration, it was just the boost I needed!

A BIG BIG Thank you to the gorgeous Annette and all the sponsors for a wonderful event!

• Wellness WA (Event Wrap-up and Reviews here)
• Djurra Lifestyle Salon & Spa
• The Raw Kitchen
• AVEDA
• Emma & Tom’s life juices
• Adele Plumridge
• Alison Jade
• Dr Bronner’s Organic Body Care
• Ella Bache
• Invisible Zinc
• Palm Beach Collection
• Dr Lewinns
• Revitanail
• Peachy Clean Organic Beauty Boutique
• Akin – The Purist Company
• Echolife Australia
• Lush Australia | Fresh Handmade Cosmetics
• Franc Essential
• MOR
• WotNot Naturals
• Flourish online magazine
• Dermalogica Aus
• Peter Thomas Roth
• Becca Cosmetics
• Bobbi Brown Australia
• A Foodly Affair
• Ere Perez Natural Cosmetics
• mi:skn Holistic Skin Clinic
• OPI
• Wasp Designer Lash
• Serenade Organic
• Endota Spa
• Bella Hart Beauty Emporium

‘Bath’ is the shampoo and ‘Rinse’ are the conditioners, it can get a bit confusing, you really have to check each one before you grab it and use it.  The range is colour coded and named for different needs, Divine in pale coffees for colour treated hair, Harmony in blues for damaged or long hair, Ever Blonde in purples for reducing gold/yellow tones and Satin Soft in Pinks for Dry, Frizzy or Dehydrated hair types.  The packaging is fabulous, very appealing, it fits perfectly on the bottom chrome rack shelf in the bathroom unlike most shampoos and conditioners which have to sit on the top shelf and at 5’2″ I’m reaching up, so I love the design of pure from that perspective.

All the pure products are sulphate, paraben and silicone free, and contain organic extracts and essentials oils.  The pure range is Australian owned and made, and I love that they use 12M plastic which ensures no nasties seep into your product.  pure is not tested on animals which is a must for me.

Adam, owner and chief hair man at Museo chose for me Divine Bath and Satin Soft Rinse.  I’ve been using the range now for 6 weeks and i’m really loving them.

Divine Bath is a shampoo that gently cleanses all coloured hair to reduce colour fade.  The primary targeted ingredients are Geranium and Acai oils, Panthenol (VitB5), Hydrolyzed Wheat and Milk Proteins and Rose Geranium oil.  Other extracts include Ginger, Nettle, Lavender, Rosemary, Thyme, Marshmallow, Apricot and Horsetail and Aloe Vera.

pure Divine Bath ingredients

This shampoo doesn’t smell perfume pretty, it has a natural Geranium smell, it makes me think of Selsun – the dandruff shampoo.  The texture is lovely, creamy and shimmering and it works into a nice lather.

pure Divine Bath texture

Satin Soft Rinse is an intensive conditioner for dry, frizzy or dehydrated hair to soften, strengthen and shine.  The primary targeted ingredients are Panthenol (VitB5), Hydrolyzed Wheat and Milk Proteins.  The large list of extracts include Ginger, Nettle, Lavender, Rosemary, Thyme, Marshmallow, Apricot, Horsetail, Aloe Vera, Argan oil, Ylang Ylang, Pink Grapefruit, Orange oils and Gardenia extract.

pure Satin Soft ingredients

The texture is light and silky, and it distributed well through my long hair lengths.  It has a pretty floral smell with undertones of the Pink Grapefruit.

pure Satin Soft texture

I’ve been washing my hair nearly every day since high school, as soon as the hormones hit it’s just been oily roots with a dry scalp, fighting off dandruff and trying to keep the length well conditioned and shiny.  In the last few years I’ve had to switch to products that had less nasties for health reasons and this introduced a new challenge of finding hair products that didn’t irritate, make my hair limp, dry and frizzy, etc.  Adam advised me to start using pure, only wash every two days but to shampoo twice if needed and condition the lengths only.

6 weeks on with 1 demi-colour treatment at the beginning of the 6 weeks, my hair is looking fabulous!  The oilyness in my roots has settled down considerably, I happily wash every 2 days now and only need to shampoo twice if I’ve had a lot of product in my hair.  My dandruff only appeared once in the 6 weeks and so a single wash with anti-dandruff shampoo was necessary, but this is fantastic as I normally use it 1-2 times per week, so once in 6 weeks is a major improvement.  I’ve had less scalp itch and dryness as well – I have been conditioning my scalp though every wash.  The length has been soft and shiny, I haven’t had to use extra conditioner like I normally would, the pure conditioners go a really long way, I’ve only just finished the Satin Soft Rinse and my hair is well below my shoulders, close to half way down my back.  With hair colouring, trials, the wedding, cocktail reception and a ball there has been lots of major hair styling and heavy product use so I’m impressed with how pure has kept my hair in excellent condition in the last 6 weeks.

I’ve just started using the Divine Rinse (Conditioner) for colour treated hair and it’s just as good as the Satin Soft, except in the frizz department, for that it’s just okay.

Divine Rinse (conditioner) contains very similar natural ingredients to the Divine Bath (shampoo).

pure Divine Rinse ingredients

The smell is yummy, it reminds me of Lime, I can’t quite work out what it’s from though.  All the product colours seem to match with the bottle colour.  I wonder if the Harmony ones have blue shampoo and conditioner.

pure Divine Rinse texture

On my last visit to Museo for a roots touch-up, 3 weeks ago, I purchased this beautiful pack for $51.95 containing a Divine Bath, Divine Rinse, Divine Ends which is a leave-in conditioning treatment containing goji berry oil which helps seal ends, locks in colour and protects against styling and UV damage, and a face washer.  I’ll review the Divine Ends in a separate review.  The pack is awesome value with the 300ml Shampoos and Conditioners retailing for $25.95 each at Museo or $24.95 each at Price Attack, the leave-in conditioner retails for $27.95 at Museo, so it’s free in the pack with the washer.  What a lovely gift for a friend or you could treat yourself like I did (I figured early Xmas gift to myself!).

I’m really enjoying the pure products and will continue using them, I’ll see how I feel about them after I finish this pack, but I highly recommend you give pure a try.

For more information about the pure products, visit the hairjamm website.

I was really excited to be reviewing this new product by NYX and to try out the grinding mechanism, it’s pretty cool!

NYX of course delivers amazing rich colour and my review highlights the benefits of this, enjoy!

or click here

Where to Buy:
http://www.fashionmecca.com.au – $24.99
Museo Salon & Spa, Mount Lawley, WA.

Products Discussed:
NYX HD Studio Photogenic Grinding Blush – 02 Apricot
NYX BLack Label Lipstick – Hot Tamale

♥ Product was gifted, I was not paid for this review and it was my own personal opinion and experience.

I would love to hear your honest thoughts on this first YouTube review, all feedback is very welcome, so please let me know.

You can enjoy more reviews coming soon on my new You Tube channel, BrideinWhite, press subscribe!

I’ve been eyeing off one of these frypans for about 2 years now, I know that sounds a bit sad, but it’s just one of those things we genuinely never got around to buying.  I wasn’t in desperate need of it, I love my stainless steel all the way, but when it comes to cooking eggs and pancakes, especially gluten-free/dairy free/everything free pancakes, well it’s a MAJOR challenge with frightful scrubbing outcomes.

So hubby finally bought a 26cm for me this Christmas and well I’m totally loving loving loving it.

Positives:

• Non-stick baby all the way, even my first awful gluten-free pancake batter fared well
• Easy to clean with a squirt of detergent and water, I use a brush, but you could easy clean this with a cloth
• I haven’t gone past Medium heat setting of 5 (1-9) on my electric cooktop however the handle remained temperature perfect, no burnt hands here
• Offered in plenty of sizes to suit your needs; 20cm, 24cm, 26cm, 28cm and 30cm
• Greentek PFOA-free ceramic titanium nonstick technology, not as nasty
• Holds the heat really well and you can turn the heat down which all helps save on power I’m thinking
• 26cm is good side to start with, I got out a measuring tape and checked out the size of my current pans.
• The satin-finish stainless steel cladding is rather nice on the hands and eye
• Oven safe to 260°C. Guaranteed for 10 years
• Buy the Made in Denmark
• It comes in a lovely black velvet drawstring bag for you to store it in

Negatives:

• Takes a while to heat up
• High heats not recommended
• You have to wait for it to cool down completely before cleaning, I like to clean as I go, so a bit annoying, but it’s so easy to clean I’m already over it
• Don’t buy the Made in China ones
• Can’t think of any others!

I’ve used it every day since Christmas day, it’s operating nicely.

We purchased my new frypan from Kitchenware Direct for $139.00 AUD.  They have a stocktake sale about to start very shortly.

Related articles

• Karina’s Gluten-Free Pancakes (itchylittleworld.wordpress.com)