The magic of compliments

I recently went on a road trip to see the relatives who live out in the country. Í always love leaving the city to take a relaxing trip to the country - it is truly remarkable how different the feeling is.

For instance, you cannot walk into a shop (which admittedly is the only shop in the town, the IGA) without ten people saying 'Hello, how are going, lovely day isn't it?" to you. And those people are strangers.

When going about with my grandparents, who have lived in the country for years, they get stopped at least ten times when simply walking up the main street. They cannot do anything quickly because they stop to chat to so many people about so many things. I personally love the feel, but it does get annoying when you aren't in the mood to chat about Laura's cousin's friend who just had twins and is going to come to the local playgroup next week, or Peter's sheep who escaped the top paddock and had to be rounded up by all the farmers of the region. Nevertheless, I still love the country feel.

Anyway, the point of this story is the other day when my grandma and I were moseying about the Op-shop, I was stopped by two old ladies, probably about 80 or so years old, who grabbed the hem of my jumper and said "You look groovy!" Prior to this, I was feeling like a bushpig, no makeup, filthy hair and ridiculously tired, but after that little, rather interesting compliment, it gave me such confidence.

It can be scary giving compliments out in the city, or anywhere really. People, especially women, rarely respond well to them, and often doubt the sincerity of the comment. After all the effort you have taken to muster up the courage to comment on their hair/clothes/lipstick etc. you feel so bad about it all, but I think it is worth it, because if they are anything like me, it has made their day.

If giving compliments seems a bit to scary, try giving them out online. Beauty bloggers are friendly girls, I'm sure it would make their day if you wrote them a comment about how pretty they looks, or even how good their blog is.

I would love to know about some of the best compliments you have been given. Sometimes I think the ones given from strangers make you feel the best, because if a stranger has noticed it then it really must be good!

The Monthly Report - Girlfriend Magazine December issue - Beauty Section

Remember when I told you about my beauty heroes and rattled on about Sarah Tarca? If you have no idea what I am talking about, read it here and then come back!

Right, now we've got past that, we can continue with the story. I recently received my Girlfriend magazine for December 2011 in the letter box, and I thought I might do a review on the beauty section.

However, before I comment on that I must warn you that the cover is absolutely hideous. Sorry Girlfriend magazine team, but I honestly do not know what on earth you were thinking. I absolutely adored the cover of the November issue (dare I say that it may have been my favourite EVER!) but the December cover, my gosh. It was awful. Never mind, you can never judge a book by its cover, can you?!

Let's begin. Page 101 is where our beauty adventures begin featuring makeup titled "bright on baby! - It's loud. It's bright. It's neon. Forget subtle shades of liner, laquer and lippie, coz this month it's all about bright orange, neon blue, electric yellow and ultraviolet. Paint it on and rock it - we dare you!"

Hmm, not my most favourite makeup look of all time, but there you go. It pictures two model shots - one with who I think is Abbey Lee Kershaw wearing fluorescent lippie, and one with two models wearing fluoro clothes and plain, neutral makeup. Wait, what?! Yes, I said it, their makeup couldn't be any more neutral at all.

Turn the page and you shall find a page of pretty things, and new items in the beauty land. Ahhhh, I drooled over this page for a while. I've decided I also want the Kit Lip-loving Kit containing a wild strawberry lip balm and a "super shiny pink lipgloss." Sounds exciting! Is it me or does adding 'wild' to the flavour strawberry make it so much more enticing? Anyway,Cassy age 14 asks, "What shade of eyeshadow should I use for school that's subtle but pretty? And how can I make my eyes look bigger?" Laurel Brown from Rimmel London responds with an answer something like "A subtle option would be a soft mushroom colour on your eyelid with a slightly darker shade either brown or grey on the lash line." Next we hear that Christmas is the season to wear pretty, shimmery gold makeup. We hear a little about Taylor Swifts new fragrance (a sample is included on one of the pages in the magazine) and we discover that a European makeup line has made its way into Target here in Australia - Essence cosmetics. Never heard of it, but Girlfriend recommends it for people who love brights! Turning the page once again we have a repeat of page 101 - it just showcases loud, crazy makeup.

On page 106 we have a beauty school page, helping us learn how to apply fake tan. I personally am not a big fan of the fake tan (hey, that rhymes!) so I just continued on...

Page 108 and 109 tells you how to deal with all your summer hair dilemmas - Split ends, frizz, oily hair, dry hair, dull hair and bleached hair is covered thoroughly. No more hair problems for you!

Then on page 110...*drum roll please*....The new Beauty guru has arrived!!! Her name is Lauren (or LC) and she introduces herself as "a hopeless romantic who tends to fall down stairs and flat surfaces a lot." She also likes bright lippies and thinks her job is amazing because she can paint her nails at her desk and her boss is totally cool with it. I think I will have to wait for a couple issues until I can make my mind up about the new beauty guru. She has big shoes to fill and I hope she can manage! Under her boss' guidance (Sarah Tarca) I'm sure she will be wonderful!

So, that pretty much sums up the beauty section for this month. Was it amazing? No. Was it good, mmmm, Girlfriend has done much better. Still, without a beauty editor, how were they supposed to have a million quality pages of beauty? I think that now that they have a new beauty buff, things will start picking up. I didn't really learn all that much or become that inspired with the beauty pages this month, but being the Girlfriend magazine fan that I am, I am SURE that it will only get better. I'm so looking forward to next month because it is the January issue, and I truly believe that every January issue of Girlfriend magazine is amazing. Usually the best for the whole year. True story!

Let me know what you thought of this post! What magazines do you turn to for your beauty?

Beauty Heroes

I'm really interested in everyones' response to this post. It's all about your beauty heroes.

I was talking to my friends about this recently, and they all had someone who they looked up to in the beauty world, whether it be a family member (I really, really want an older sister! Unfortunately it's not going to happen!), celebrity or even someone who they didn't know but saw on the bus everyday to school as a child!

Me? I have a couple of people that I stand in awe of in the beauty world.

Sarah Tarca, Aussie girl from Adelaide, ex beauty editor in the Australian teen magazine 'Girlfriend' (she has just recently become the editor!) has to be my number one beauty hero. Not because she is stunningly gorgeous (she is very beautiful though!), not because she is the editor of a magazine (a job I am fascinated by!), not because she owns all the lipglosses I want (so jealous!) but because she is hilarious, has the most amazing writing style and makes even the worst beauty products totally loveable. Every month I would buy the magazine so I could flick to her page where she jams as much goodness in that her word limit can handle. Oh, I wish she would write her own beauty magazine! She is brilliant!


A collage I made from magazine pictures of Sarah Tarca!

She is totally fearless when it comes to beauty and tries every crazy, insane beauty product known to man. And, even better, like me she is a lover of natural beauty and thinks makeup should enhance not cover up! I think that fact that she is not a famous celebrity also makes her more like the girl next door, who you love and can relate to in every way. Could she be any better?! I don't think so!

In the glamorous celebrity world, I love Emma Watson and Blake Lively. Both of them are stunningly gorgeous and always look amazing. Ahhhh....

I love how they have such natural beauty - they both look so lovely without makeup. The last photo of Blake is an example of that. She uses some gorgeous makeup to enhance her eyes but gosh does she look good!

Emma is very much the same, whilst the photo of her with the coat looks awesome, she looks just as stunning in the close up photo with little makeup.



The beautiful Emma Watson



And of course, how could I forget Mum, who introduced me to this crazy world and put up with me spending hours buying more (more!) lipbalms to add to my growing collection.

I would love to hear who your beauty heroes are, or who you think has amazing natural beauty.



Emma Watson



Blake Lively - how lovely is a smile!



This is such a gorgeous photo of Blake!