Academy Tools Dryer:
- Designed and made in Italy
- Comes with a salon grade long life AC motor
- Uses waveform heating element for superior heat distribution – for fast drying result
- Ultra compact design, 16.5cm cord length, lightweight (490 grams)
- 2200 watts Ceramic and Tourmaline technology for even heat distribution
- Airflow speed of 110 cubic metres/hour
- Ionic conditioning technologyâ„¢ – leaves hair silky and shiny
- 2 heat and 2 speed settings
- Comes with 5 years warranty
- 2 x ultra slim concentrator nozzles (6 x 70mm and 6 x 90mm)
- Anti-wrap fan design to minimise hair blockage
Academy Tools Straightener:
- SolTECâ„¢ Ceramic plates – glides through hair while protects strands
- Variable temperature controls from 170°- 230° high heat
- Ionic conditioning technologyâ„¢ – to reduce static
- CeramicTECâ„¢ advanced heating technology
- Plates are 120mm long plates – for faster styling
- Floating plate for even pressure and control while styling your hair
- Locking switch to keep your plates secure while not in use
- Comes in a luxury heat resistant mat and storage pouch
- Also includes four easy grip sectioning clips & pro salon length cord
The Academy Tools range is launched as part of VS Sassoon’s new professional Academy collection. If you’re like me who appreciates compact designs for a dryer but comes with the high performance setting, this is the one for you. Not to mention it is super lightweight which doesn’t sore your arms as much when drying your hair.
For dead straight hair or romantic curls that looks neat and glossy, you cannot go past the Academy Tools Straightener. This straightener glides through my hair easily making styling is a breeze for my long hair. The results leaves my hair feeling smooth and visually softer curls without drying the hair. Not to mention the longer plates lets me work on wider section of the hair each time which helps to save time when you’re in a hurry to get out the door.
The unique SolTECâ„¢ Ceramic coating delivers 50% smoother and 20% harder than standard ceramic plates, resulting in ultra smooth plates that are hard wearing and gloss giving, reducing static and leaves hair silky and shiny.
Academy Tools Straightener RRP AUD$249.95
Available now in David Jones, Myer and Harvey Norman
Worth your money bits:
- Easily blendable and to apply
- Highly pigmented
- Fav shade is: #L208 because it is so natural looking and works perfectly as a daily lipstick
- Doesn’t bleed into the lips, don’t require any lip liner to go with
- Super hydrating and is very comfortable on the lips to wear
- Doesn’t dry out the lips
- Doesn’t contain fragrance
- Comes in a good range of shade to choose from
Prefer it to: A little more long lasting because of its consistency, it tends to transfer quite a bit.
Great for: Girls who hate the feeling of having lipsticks on their lips and for those who hate the sticky gloss. This formula is right in between.
P/S: I also love their Blush. All of them are made out of essential oils, rose water, vitamin C&E. They are all long lasting with a nice dewy finish. Current obsession is a watermelon reddish shade #S302.
Available in MECCA counters
Read my Ellis Faas interview here
Worth your money bits:
- Skin Veil Foundation is made in Japan (Ellis especially have them made in Japan because she says that they make the best foundation in the industry.)
- There are eight foundations and concealers shade for all skin types.
- Medium to full coverage based on your skin’s need.
- Foundation – Easy to blend, lightweight, illuminates the skin, contains SPF 15+ and long lasting.
- Concealer – High coverage to cover blemishes, pigmentation, dark eye circles without looking cakey.
- Star ingredients: Karite oil, rice wax, Vitamin E & C
- I find both foundation and concealer have very natural looking and very long lasting.
- Dewy finish
- Doesn’t oxidize like so many other foundation does to my skin, the colour stays true all day long
Prefer it to: The brush doesn’t really serve its purpose because it doesn’t blend the foundation/concealer, I’d usually blend with my fingers.
Great for: Anyone who likes radiant foundation finish with long lasting coverage without looking cakey/smudges 4 hours in. On good skin days, I use only the concealer and for days I need more coverage, I use both. My shades for both are S 102 and S202.
Ellis Faas recently released the new makeup holder. It is designed to streamline a woman’s makeup bag. All Ellis Faas makeup range can easily be fitted into this revolutionary makeup holder. Needless to say, I am in love with this holder because it helps to save so much space, you can easily see the shades of each product and it is so stylish.
Skin Concealer RRP AUD$58
Makeup Holder RRP AUD$45
Available in MECCA counters
Read my Ellis Faas interview here.
Worth your money bits:
- Made out of high grade durable material
- Zip doesn’t cut into fingers, you can dip your hand in as many times as you like without worrying having your hand scratched by the zip
- Comes in 3 sizes to fit all sizes of bags
- Clear packaging helps to see what you are looking for very easily
- You can even use it for traveling
- All sizes have side compartments to put mobile phone, passport, etc
- Double up as a makeup bag
- The real sound investment of the handbag liner is that it helps to preserve my expensive handbags clean on the inside.
Prefer it to: N/A
Great for: Girls who switch bags very frequently and hate transferring everything each time you switch or girls who would love to keep their expensive handbags clean.
Medium – RRP AUD$29.95 (approximately 26cm x 15cm x 7cm)
Large – RRP AUD$34.95 (approximately 27.5cm x 22.5 cm x 9cm)
Available in Borne Naked site
Worth your money bits:
- Guinot is a prescriptive skincare range, you can only purchase products from salons recommended by professional therapists.
- I was prescribed the NewLight range which is their brightening range. This range helps to do three main things: reduce pigment production, normalise the skin’s in depth pigmentation process and to protect the skin from the sun’s impact.
- Their NewLight Lightening Lotion is infamous for delivering results by itself.
- The Lotion is alcohol free, absorbs very quickly, made out of botanical extracts and gently exfoliates skin with fruit acids.
- Star ingredients in NewLight Lotion: Hibiscus flower extract, peach extract
- NewLight Deep Action Lightening Serum contains high concentration of vitamin C and to counteract hyper-pigmentation
- Both helps to lightens the skin in depth and combats stubborn hyper pigmentation spots
- Normalize in depth the skin’s pigmentation process
- Unify the complexion and lighten stubborn hyper pigmentation
- Restore flawless, transparent complexion
- Both feels very lightweight and comfortable on the skin
- Results: Smoother, even skintone and brighter skin INSTANTLY.
Prefer it to: The serum can be a little pricey for some.
Great for: Recommended to use as a one-month intensive treatment. For people who are prone to acne scarring,
One of my favourite facials is the Guinot Hydradermie facial so naturally I am interested to tap into their skincare light that helps to prolong the results from my regular facials.
Guinot Newlight Serum RRP AUD$119
Worth your money bits:
- Gives bulky texture to the hair to play with
- Best used with second day hair or when you need texture from freshly shampooed hair without spraying hairspray into clean hair
- For extra root lift apply directly to the roots
- Star ingredients: Silica Silylate, Va Copolymer
- Very importantly, it gives a matte finish which I love love love
- Gotta say, it comes in a very cute packaging that is great to slip into any makeup bag for hair-touch-up whenever its needed
Prefer it to: Be slightly cheaper, maybe around the $20 mark.
Great for: Hair that is suffering from the flop, fine/limp hair and hair of any length can benefit this product.
Just shake the bottle, sprinkle into the palms and rub together. Rake through dry hair to add texture and create volume. I would strongly recommend this product for people who are not a fan of using hair styling products. This product is so lightweight you won’t be able to feel that you’ve applied anything onto the hair at all.
Available now on counters in professional salons or AdoreBeauty
So, the first trade show of its kind in Australia went off with a bang last weekend (17-18 April). Kenneth Stoddart, Tracey Hughes, Natasha Severino, Brad Ngata and Rae Morris were the celebrity hair and makeup artists that was there to kick off the show.
Here are some of the makeup tips Rae Morris gave during her makeup showcase.
- If you want a glowy radiant makeup finish, never ever use powder. To get rid of oil, just keep blotting throughout the day. This is also how she keeps Miranda Kerr’s skin dewy and glowy.
- Only use powder if you want a matte finish because powder changes the skin texture/finish
- Always apply foundation before you apply concealer
- Keep baby wipes close by for any makeup disaster
- Pick primer, moisturiser and foundation with the same base to ensure makeup last longer. Eg: water base moisturiser go with water base primer and foundation
- The longer it takes to put on your makeup the longer it will last
- Even the best makeup won’t last all day. You will still have to touch up cleverly/quickly throughout the day
- Always protect your face from hairspray, it adds shine and grease to the face (which is what drag queens do, they spray hairspray all over their face to keep the makeup last)
- Mahogany colour is the universal colour, mahagony blush and lipstick suits everyone
- If you are pale skin much like Rae Morris herself, always use a warming mahagony blush prior to applying bronzer so that it won’t appear dirty on the skin.
- Sticky tapes are your new best friend. All Hollywood celebrities uses sticky tape to achieve an instant face lift look.
- To pick a foundation that matches your skin tone, always try foundations on your chest and blend it in. Her philosophy is that you should always aim to have the foundation matches your face, neck and chest in one unison colour.
- Pick fiber optic brushes to apply makeup
- Hooked eyeliner brush is one of her favourite tool for makeup (I might just go look this up!)
- Always apply makeup by looking 99.99% straight in the mirror, never look up or down.
- She encourages aspiring makeup artist to go to Model.com and Style.com to look for inspiration daily to submerge oneself into the art and creativity of makeup and fashion.
- Always apply lipstick with a fake smile for an even coverage
- She’s also a big fan of Shu Uemura eyelash curler
And here’s a picture of Rae Morris waving at my camera and obviously I am in dire need to get a new camera because the one I’m using right now is obsolete.
Don’t miss out on next year’s Salon Melbourne if you want to useful and inspiration makeup tips like these.
