Clothes with Soul .. The Power of the T

Sevenly has brought a soul to online shopping, if you haven’t already heard about it, it’s an organisation that produces limited edition fashion t-shirts to help raise money and awareness for different charities each week, 30% of their profit ($7.00 from each T-Shirt sold) goes to a particular ‘Cause of the Week’ which has a special t-shirt designed for it and is only available for seven days.

This week the t-shirts sold will help give sick children in India vital Medical Care. Each t-shirt sold will give care and assistance to a sick child for a whole year. 

1 shirt = medical care for a child for 1 year

Every week Sevenly produces a new ‘fashion T’ for it’s chosen cause, the t-shirts are only available for ONE week and that’s it. These t-shirts are fashion forward and really comfy, come in different colours and are designed to prompt curiosity, people actually come up and ask ‘what does it say?’ which then gives you the opportunity to tell them about the cause which helps spread the word. Most people love T-Shirts so it’s a pretty cool concept, you get a cool T-Shirt and you get to Give as well :)

$22.00 is a pretty good price for a t-shirt, I know in shops where I live t-shirts can range up to and over $100 and I can almost guarantee that the brand isn’t giving any of the profits away, so why not buy a shirt that can change lives?  

Now you’re probably wondering ‘where does the other $15.00 go from the sale of the T-Shirt???? Well, like everything, it costs money to make these T-Shirts in the first place, this is a real business with real people working so they all need to be paid. Sure they could just make the T’s and sell them and pocket all the profit but they don’t, they are helping others. Most things you buy to help charities give about 10% on average, Sevenly are giving 30%.

Sevenly helps raise funds for the seven causes around the world – ‘Hunger, Water, Slavery, Aid, Disaster, Medical and Poverty’ and by producing t-shirts for sale for seven days and then donating $7.00 from each one sold, they have already donated over $220,000 in just 7 months.

So if you're a lover of T-Shirts or just want to help out head over to Sevenly and take a look :)


Visit Sevenly HERE

LIttle Black Bandage Dress - Replica Herve Leger

So many celebrities are wearing gorgeous bandage dresses these days and they are not only for the super skinny people out there either, these wonderful garments actually give most body shapes a very flattering look! :)

Fashioncode.com - http://www.fashioncode.com.au

The Dress I have - http://www.fashioncode.com.au/knee-length-square-neck-dress/

Photo property of fashioncode.com

Photo property of fashioncode.com

This particular dress is a ‘bandage’ style black cocktail dress with a square neckline, double shoulder straps with some nice back detailing and a hidden zipper.  It’s quite elegant and fashionable yet still ‘young’ without being too short so that it can be styled for events that are more formal to something as casual as shopping and going to the movies.

When you’re choosing a ‘Little Black Dress’ theres a few things to keep in mind:

-          Make sure it’s made from a sturdy good quality fabric

-          Make sure it’s ‘age appropriate’

-          Choose a style that compliments your body shape

-          Don’t have all your flesh on show, you need to be able to bend over and sit down in it!

-          The less fussy detailing the better as you can wear it to more places

-          Keep the fabric fairly matte, a shiny dress will limit your options

Simple styles can be worn more often than ‘fussy’ styles because you can layer them easily.

When I first got this dress I thought it was going to show off every little lump and bump on my body (in a bad way) but I was pleasantly surprised that because the fabric is quite sturdy it actually gives you a more streamlined look than a lighter dress made of flimsy fabric. The dress appears to be very well made with all seams meeting up, straight and finished well. The zipper is nicely attached with a hook and eye closure at the top. The small strap on the back is a double hook and eye closure.  The fit is true to size, I was told and it also says on the website that these dresses are very forgiving and easy to fit different sizes. I chose the ‘XS’ but I’m sure the ‘S’ in this particular style would have been fine. If you’re choosing a dress like this, take in to account the bodice style because you don’t want any extra fabric in that section :)

Something else to note about ‘bandage dresses’ is that they may look a good length when you put them on but they do tend to ‘ride’ up a little when you start to move around so don’t go buying the shortest dress you see, it may end up looking like a top!!!! hahahaha

The service I received from http://www.fashioncode.com.au was wonderful and friendly and the shipping was very fast, not only do they stock these beautiful dresses but they also have quality handbags and shoes.

If you’d like to see my Styling video using this dress, you can find it HERE :) I styled it in four different ways.

** Sorry, I forgot to mention that the dress is actually heavy when you are holding it but once it's on you really can't feel it :) and that the price of this dress if $199.00, I know there are other sites and stores that sell 'bandage' dresses cheaper but the quality is not the same, I find this to be a 'quality' garment.

DIY at Home - Teeth Whitening!

As many of you may or may not know, I used to have braces, in fact I wore them for approx four years! :/ At the time it wasn’t the most fun thing to do but you get used to them and picking the different coloured trims each month was something to look forward too, yeah, I wore red for Christmas hahahaha  :D

Anyway, when the time finally arrived to have them removed I had these wonderful visions of my teeth gleaming beautifully from my mouth and people being blinded everywhere :) but the reality was that when they came off and the orthodontist cleaned them up they were actually not very dazzling at all, colour wise that is :(

It didn’t matter how much I cleaned them they still looked quite yellow. 

About two years later I was getting annoyed with their colour, people would comment on my videos about how yellow they looked and it was starting to play on my confidence a little too which is never a good thing!

So I started looking around for ways to whiten them.

Firstly I tried Bicarbonate of Soda, an age old method of DIY teeth whitening. It tastes disgusting of course but you’re not eating the stuff and also it is a bit abrasive on your teeth, probably the best way to do this is by mixing it with your toothpaste so it’s not as harsh and powdery on your teeth. Just put your toothpaste on the brush as you normally would and then cover it with a layer of the Bi-carb and brush away. You shouldn’t do this everyday, 2-3 times a week at the most. This is the cheapest method.

I saw a little improvement doing this and would recommend it to those who have naturally whiter teeth that may have stained a little, but my teeth were still very discoloured and nowhere near as clean looking as I wanted them :/

My mum and I enquired at some local dentists and salons and found out professional teeth whitening ranged from $500 up to almost $1,000 ...... WOW that was a lot of money. There was also the option of those booths in the shopping centres where you sit in the ‘pods’ for about an hour, they cost around $200 but I would have felt silly doing that where others could see me, hahaha .... yet I’m on YouTube :/ hehehe

Ok, now we started looking online. Arrrrgh ...... there are so many different brands to choose from :/ YouTube is a great place to start and watch reviews and the one that I decided to go with was ‘Crest Whitening Strips’.

So in September, 2010 I whitened my teeth for the first time using the ‘Crest Whitening Strips’, this was a 14 day program where you applied the strips to the top and bottom of your teeth for 30 minutes twice a day being careful not to put them on your gums. This was easy enough for me to do, I was on school holidays so had plenty of spare time. I didn’t have any problems with this at all but I’ll have to say that my brother did, (not that his teeth were that discoloured, he actually has the best SMILE ever) he got some sensitivity from the strips and he also got some gum burn!!!!

When and if gum burn ever happens you need to remove the strip STRAIGHT AWAY and rinse your mouth out thoroughly with plenty of water. He had to stop using them for a few days until his gum got better and then he was extra careful not to place the strip on his gums, VERY IMPORTANT.

I found these worked really well for me, I didn’t finish the 14 days as I felt my teeth looked white enough after about 10 days and I didn’t want that ‘fake white’ look so I kept the remaining strips for ‘touch ups’ further down the track. Every couple of months I would use a set of strips for a day and it would maintain my teeth to a certain degree. They are very simple to use and attach, you just peel the strips off the backing (the larger one is for your top teeth) and carefully apply to the front of your teeth (not gums) and then fold over the teeth so it’s all flat being careful not to press too hard which could squeeze the gel out onto your gums. Leave the strips on for 30 mins (twice a day) and rinse thoroughly once removed. The easiest way to remove them is by using a tissue to take them off and dispose of properly. As this is a lower percentage of 'hydrogen peroxide' you can purchase this product within Australia.

Photo property of Crest Whitestrips

By October, 2011 I felt I wanted to re-whiten my teeth again because my ‘Year 12 Formal’ was coming up in November and I wanted to look my best.

This time around I purchased the ‘Crest 3D Whitestrips 2 Hr Express’ kit.  Now I must say this was so much better than the 14 day course, it was quick and easy and I felt no sensitivity at all. I got 4 upper and 4 lower strips for $65.00 which should last me the year. They are applied exactly the same way as the normal whitening strips but there is only ONE application which is left on for two hours.

Remember, you should ideally be 18 years or over to use these products but if you are younger please have your parent’s permission and have them helping and watching you just in case there are any problems. I definitely wouldn’t recommend anyone under 16 using these products.

Photo property of Crest Whitestrips

Now although my teeth are still nicely whitened, my lower  teeth can look quite yellow around the edges over  time, the whole tooth doesn’t discolour it’s just the edges so when I was approached last year by an online company to try out their ‘Whitening Pen’ I thought that this may be a great solution.

The ‘Whitening Lightning’ pen is simple to use, I can paint it on the areas that need it without covering the entire tooth. It’s quite gentle and you can just put it on before bed and leave it overnight and it works gradually so you’re not going to get a ‘bright line’ where it’s applied .

70% Discount Code, enter  ‘CASSIE70’ at checkout 

Photo property of Whitening Lightning

I was also sent the ‘Dial a Smile Professional Whitening Kit’ to try out. It is a ‘blue light’ whitening system similar to what I’ve seen on offer in the large shopping centres (the pods) but in the comfort of your own home.

Easy to follow instructions are enclosed, all you do is clean off your teeth with a special finger cloth, apply the vitamin E cream on your gums and lips to help prevent ‘bleach burns’ and then apply the gel with the brush provided. You then have to insert the special ‘light’ into your mouth for 20 minutes :D yeah this looks lovely :P hehe ... when that’s done just remove the light, rinse your mouth properly  and your done! :) I'll have a video on this shortly and will link it then.

In my opinion I found this kit to work about the same as the 3D whitening strips, it was fun and interesting to try a different method and it was quicker to do, only taking 20 minutes. I still need time to find out how long the whitening effect will last so I will post on the results when I need to re-whiten again :)


I'll have a video on teeth whitening up shortly and will link it then :)

Photo property of Whitening Lightning

Note:

If you have naturally white teeth you are very blessed and shouldn’t need to use anything but toothpaste etc to keep them looking good. Everyone is born with different genetics and so their teeth are going to be different too. I would only recommend teeth whitening to those who feel they really need it. My teeth definitely looked discoloured and other people were noticing so I personally wanted to do something about it.

DIY whitening products should not be used by people that have any cracks, damaged enamel, cavities or gum disease so check with your dentist first. Teeth whitening products will not whiten ‘dental caps’ either.

The Australian industry standards as of November, 2011 are LESS than 6% hydrogen peroxide or LESS than 18% carbamide peroxide so you won’t be able to purchase the last three products within Australia or from Australian online stores, they are only available from ebay or overseas sites. A few other countries have guidelines and restrictions like this as well but don’t really enforce them. 

Ultimately the decision is your’s, these products are much weaker than what your dentist will use and send you home with (they can use up to 38%) but because these products are DIY at home, the restrictions are in place in Australia.

Long term use of whitening products is never recommended.


UPDATE

* Results using the ‘DIAL A SMILE’ Whitening Kit

So as I mentioned in my post I was quite happy with the results from the whitening kit, they were very similar to using the crest strips. Unfortunately the results did not seem to last very long at all and within the month my teeth were looking dull again. I have to say I’m not a real coffee or tea drinker or do I eat a lot of highly pigmented foods and I don’t smoke so staining wasn’t a factor.  For a full whitening treatment, I think I will stick to the crest strips.

** I still recommend the Whitening Pen for a great way to touch up.

*** Whitening Lightning now sell a GREEN ‘all natural’ whitening pen called ‘ZERO White Whitening Pen’ for those who do not like the idea of chemicals, I would love to see the results of it myself.

**** Products from the ‘Whitening Lightning’ range will be on offer at one of the Oscars’ glamorous gifting suites this year :)

70% Discount Code, enter  ‘CASSIE70’ at checkout   -  http://www.whiteninglightning.com/

(please note, I am not making any money from any sales, I was sent the 'Whitening Lightning' products to trial and review if I wanted and that's it :) )

**************

Where I got my whitening products:

Bicarbonate of Soda - http://www.woolworths.com.au

Crest Strips - http://www.whitersmile.com.au (3D no longer available to purchase in Aust)

Whitening Pen - http://www.whiteninglightning.com/

Professional Whitening Kit - http://www.whiteninglightning.com/

My video on Teeth Whitening :)

Maybelline 'Fit Me' Pressed Powder

I did a blog review on this powder a while ago, which you can find HERE and I have now done a video review which you can find HERE if you are interested :)

My Bedroom Tour - A little bit eclectic ...

So I recently was lucky enough to get my own room, FINALLY after 10 years of sharing with my sister I have my own bit of space! :D

I said I would never do a Room Tour before because I was always sharing my room but now that everything in it belongs to me I don't feel like I'm exposing someone else's privacy to the world, so here we go.

My room is a complete mix of things, nothing really matches or 'goes together' in the proper sense of the word but I think in the overall 'look' it all comes together very nicely and makes me feel that I'm in a place where I can be comfortable and relax.

As you enter the room you will see that on the back of my door I have a hanging rack, this is where I keep all my scarves and a pair of 'Angel Wings'. Right next to this is my collage wall where I stick random and inspirational pictures, items and quotes with a couple of photos thrown in. This wall has been with me for a couple of years now, I even moved it from my old room to here very carefully :D

The back of my door and part of the collage wall

Part of collage wall and picture wall opp door

When you look into my room on the right you will see a wooden cupboard with two doors, my dad made this a few years ago and I claimed it so that I could store my stuff in. The top shelf has baskets along the shelf that contain face products, larger pallets and perfumes. The lower shelf has two baskets, one for body products and the other for hair products. There is also space for a few boxes, my airless spray and random stuff that I don't want on display. I used to have my products on open shelves but they were getting too dusty and messy all the time so I thought putting them away was a great idea.

On top of this cupboard is my Djembe, random ornaments, paper holder and my indoor/outdoor fireplace. Above the cupboard on the wall I have artwork and photoframes.

Wooden cupboard that my dad made years ago

After the cupboard comes my makeup trolley, I got this for Christmas about two years ago from http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/ and it has served me well. It has 10 shallow drawers and two shelves and is made of metal. I've put a stationery holder from Big W on the second shelf to hold my earrings, pigments, samples etc. This shelf also holds my brushes and heat mat for my hair tools.  The top shelf is where I keep my makeup brushes and jewelry.

Next comes my tall bookshelf where you wont really find many books, hehehe :) I keep a few books and files on the high shelf and basically this whole bookshelf is full of ornaments, and boxes with stuff in them :P I try not to put too much on here and leave free space but it seems to be a drop-off centre for bits and pieces so I'm constantly moving stuff :/ The bottom two shelves have boxes that store stuff, I've used empty 'I Love It' sample boxes and a 'Glossy Box' and just glued labels on the front so I know what's in them, a large blue box holds all my wires so they don't get lost and there's a file in the corner with some school stuff I kept and information for future studies.

Makeup trolley, jewelry and bookcase

I then have my drawers under the window where I keep folded clothes. This was a thrift store find, it's a great height and the colour is nicely mellowed with age. I keep my jewerly box, ipod speaker etc here and this is also where I film my videos 90% of the time. On my window I have some deep purple floor length faux suede curtains that came from BigW.

Drawers that hold my folded clothes, leopard box for
bits and bobs, journal, jewelry box that I use the mirror when
I'm filming. Ipod speakers and other random stuff

My bed is next, it's actually my old (I'm talking really really old) bunk bed which my dad converted into a daybed for me. He made the sides and back out of wood and made them nicely curved with a cutout in the center of the back, it almost looks like a love heart. We then covered the wood with some old '1950's Home Journals' (that my mum had collected years and years ago from garage sales), covered them with a coat of clear and then painted a black strip around it and the back posts were left on so that I could hang my lights up :)

My bed has a double sided quilt on, one side has a mini-print which is showing in the photos and the other is a patchword design and there's lots of different pillows and cushions to add some colour and interest to the room. I've got my lil collection of stuffed toys too :D

Above my bed is my butterfly wall. There's an iron art piece from Target coming from the corner and then there's a fluttering of painted black butterflies across the wall. I'll have a blog post 'how to' on this very soon.

Bed converted from bunk bed with back posts left for
hanging lights

The bottom of my bed has wood going across like rails so this is where I hang my extra blanket and a quilt that I made when I was little.

There's an old guitar in the corner, more artwork on the wall, my hat and scarf hanging from a nail and a couple more butterflies before you come to my wardrobe. This is where I keep all my hanging clothes, handbags, keyboards, good shoes etc.

Wardrobe ... not very exciting ;P

Under the bed I have a box of magazines and books, a box for casual everyday shoes and a box to keep all my electrical hair appliances in.

So that's it!! hahaha I hope you enjoyed this little tour, I love the look of it especially at night when I have my fairy lights on :D To me it's a mix of things I love which makes a great, almost eclectic style bedroom, a little bit pretty, a little bit boho and indie and a lot of me. :) :)

You can see the video of the tour HERE

Lost without laptop ......

Well it seems now that I have my lovely new camera the home computer refuses to accept it's 'fancy' files and my sister had to return her laptop to school this week!!! Which leaves me with no way of uploading my video files to edit and put on youtube :( for the time being anyway!

Photo property of HP

I've ordered a new laptop which I'm really hoping will do the job well but it won't be available until sometime next week and I can only record a certain amount of footage on my camera because the files are large which means I can't pre-record too much :/ So until then I'm having a little break, thinking of new ideas for videos and twiddling my thumbs hahaha :D

The laptop I've ordered is a HP Pavilion G6-1217TU with 500GB Hard Drive and 4GB RAM which will be able to handle the files easily.  I would have loved a MAC but it's a bit out of my budget range right now as I'm saving for my course later in the year and I only just bought my new camera so I need to be cautious on what I'm spending.

* Update - I was able to pick up my laptop earlier than expected YAY!!!!!! and it's now in my hot little hands :D

DIY Exfoliating Facial Scrub

This is a really simple and cheap beauty treatment that anyone can do, I've been a little slack with my skincare lately so I'm trying out some new routines to kick off the New Year.

Did you know that Brown Sugar is a wonderful natural exfoliant that works for all skin types?

Or that the 'Coconut' is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals. It is also classified as a 'functional food' because it provides many health benefits?

Apparently the oil of the coconut has healing properties far beyond that of any other dietary oil and is used in traditional medicine among Asian and Pacific populations extensively and is considered to be the 'healthiest oil' :) 

'Coconut Oil' aids in exfoliating the outer layer of dead skin cells, making the skin smoother. It penetrates the deeper skin layers and helps strengthen the underlying tisues.  'Coconut Oil' goes solid in cooler temperatures and is a great staple to have around, you can use it to shave and to deep condition the tips of your hair and also to remove your makeup. It is also really yummy in your salads and smoothies (just don't use too much). Coconut Oil is a wonderful moisturiser on it's own for your whole body, the trick is to remember that 'a little goes a long way'

Ingredients:

*  1 tablespjoon Brown Sugar

*  approx 1 tsp (more or less, add drops if you need them) of Coconut Oil

Preparation:

Put the brown sugar in the palm of your hand

Add the Coconut Oil

Stir in your palm with your finger or spoon creating a paste (not too thin)

Add more oil or sugar if needed

Massage into clean skin in a circular motion

Rinse off with warm water

Apply a warm (but not hot) washcloth to your face and massage gently for about 2 mins

Moisturise with your favourite moisturiser :)

If you don't have Coconut Oil you can substitute for Cold Pressed Olive Oil instead but just remember that Olive Oil is much thicker than Coconut Oil and is not such a good idea for oily skin.

GIVEAWAY - Circle Lenses from Shoppingholics.com

Shoppingholics.com have kindly provided a Giveaway to one of my subscribers on YouTube. They will give one person a set of Circle Lens to their prescription and in a style of their choice.

To enter go HERE and simply watch the video and follow the instructions in the butt bar (description box)! :D

Good luck, Giveaway will end on 18th January, 2012 (aussie time)

Fynale 'May Rose' Circle Lenses

I was recently sent a pair of Fynale soft Circle Lenses from Shoppingholics.com in the ‘May Rose’ style that you can see HERE

As this was my very first time using any sort of Contact Lens I can only give a review from that point of view. When the package first arrived I followed the instructions and carefully opened the secure containers that the lenses were in, being careful not to cut myself. I rinsed and cleaned my animal lens holder and filled with contact solution and then put the lenses in there.

After about 12 hours I attempted to place the lens in my eye with no luck, it just wouldn’t go where I wanted, hehehe. Case rinsed and cleaned again I put them aside to try another day.

Many days passed and then a few weeks!!!! Ooooops! Before I came around to trying them once again :) This time I was determined to get those things in my eyes but of course I had to re-rinse and clean the solution and case properly and let them sit before I could :/

Ok, so finally I’m trying my lenses again :D This time with eye drops in and steely determination I begin. It was so funny, they would go everywhere but in my eyes, they sat so prettily on my lashes, daintily on my cheeks and even precariously on my mirror …… don’t ask ….. hahahaha

So after about 30 minutes I managed to get the first one in, YAYYYYY!!!! Strangely enough the second one went in pretty much straight away after that.

They felt weird at first which I’m sure is normal for someone’s first time using them. My eyes seemed a little blurry but not so much that I couldn’t read or anything. My prescription was 0.0 as I don’t need glasses for anything.

Cirlce lens are supposed to make your eyeball appear larger than it is but I didn’t really see this, I have large eyes to begin with so that’s probably why, it was fun to see my eyes a different colour and the flower effect the lenses give was really cool.

I probably left them in for about 2 hours which I think was long enough for my first try. They were comfortable enough and I was able to see properly while wearing them. 

Removing them was quite simple, of course the first eye took longer than the second, I tried a couple of different methods for taking them out, the first being where you pull up the top lid with one finger and pull the lower lid down with another finger and then squeeze the lids together with your other hand causing the lens to pop out, it did work but when I opened my eye the lens strangely enough reattached itself to my pupil!! Hahahaha

The second method worked better for me, opening the lids with one hand and gently pinching the lens off with the other hand using the finger pads, not the nails.

Always be careful with anything around your eyes, check with your eye doctor for your prescription and base curve before ordering any type of lens and if you are under 18 you should have your parent's permission.

The lens I used was the Korean ‘May Rose’ Fynale Circle Lens with a 15.0mm diameter and 8.6mm base curve. It has 42% water content so you need to be sure to use eyedrops or solution with them.

Photo curtesy of Shoppingholics.com

My final opinion on these lenses is that they are a fun accessory to try out, I would not want to be wearing them often but I can definitely see the attraction.

I found Shoppingholics.com to be very helpful and their service was good, their pictures on the site are pretty true to life so I wasn’t disappointed with what I received. They do provide a very cute animal lens case with each set of lenses and the packaging is also really lovely.