So as a beauty therapist I have worked with a few different brands of skincare, and there have been different products in each range that I've loved for one reason or another. But I haven't come across a range of natural products that I have really truly loved every thing I have tried.... Until now. 
I subscribe to Samble bar (a great way to try new products and it only costs $25 a month!)
and in my June Glam Pack, I received a trial/travel sized bottle of the Savar Luxury Face Wash. Savar is a New Zealand brand of skincare that is 99% natural, and it is just beautiful. The packaging is sleek in black and white, which I love. And the product inside!!!! The Luxury Face wash is easy to use and smells amazing, one small pump worked onto damp skin was all it took to remove my makeup and refresh my skin. I like how it cleansed with out stripping the skin, and it smells to die for(like L&P, what more could a Kiwi want!), and to make it even better it can double as a shaving gel, so even my hubby will use it.
The main ingredients are;
New Zealand lace bark - soothing, calming and protecting.
Organic cucumber - cooling, hydrating and toning.
Lemon fruit - softening, cleansing and brightening
And at $49 for 180ml is very good value for such a beautiful product. Even better is they do free shipping anywhere in NZ.

Another product from Savar that I now use is the Essential Moisturiser Comb/Oily skin. This is a lovely light moisturiser, that really hydrates and feels great on my skin. It is readily absorbed into the skin and makes a wonderful base when you apply makeup over the top. And having a acne prone skin I do tend to prefer products that hydrate rather than nourish the skin.  
The main ingredients in this moisturizer are 
New Zealand meadowfoam - non greasy, anti-aging, restoring and replenishing.
Organic camellia - fabulous for hydrating, smoothing and restoring.
Orange blossom - rejuvenates and helps promote smoother skin. 
And it's $59 for 100ml. This competes with almost all the salon only products I have ever bought and used and knowing it is 99% natural and good for the skin is a plus. 

Now changing your brand of skincare can be expensive and unless you have a real issue with a particular product you are using I would say just do it a product at a time. Unless you really want to go all out. I'm buying a new product every month to replace what ever I have run out of, so the next product I got was a new eye cream.

There is a lot of comments out there on whether you need a separate eye cream or if you can just use your moisturizer. In my opinion I would always go for separate eye cream, they are always designed and tested to be used on the delicate eye tissue, which is a lot thinner than the rest of the skin on your face. Most moisturizers aren't designed to be used on this delicate skin and can be quite heavy, and can contribute to bagginess and circles under the eyes.
The Savar Wonder Lift Eye Cream is a firming anti-aging eye cream that is fragrance free, and can double as a lip cream to help with fine lines around the mouth.
It's lovely and light and a little goes a long way, I find with one small pump I have more than enough cream to go around the eye and a bit for around the lips too. 
The main ingredients include;
New Zealand chamomile - soothes sensitive and irritated skin.
Organic bilberry - calms and protects your skin.
Black tea extract - anti-aging and encourages firmness and elasticity. 


Now if your like me and like to sample products before buying the full size Savar do trial/travel sizes of individual products and also packs with 5 products in travel size. There are three packs one for comb/oily skin, one for normal/dry and another for all skin types, and at $89 are a great way to get started with a new range or products or as a gift. I'm thinking my mum and mum in law will be getting a box each for Christmas this year, as who doesn't love skincare products as a gift? With each of the trial/travel sized bottles being 30ml this is a really great size for taking away on holiday(can be taken on a plane as carry on) but also getting a good chance to really try a product out. 

As promised, a post about caring for your makeup brushes. Now as a Pinterest addict(I know I will admit to spending a few hours on there just looking at all the neat pins) I have seen one come up quite frequently, it is a tutorial on how to clean your brushes. Now I think this is a great thing to see, keeping your brushes clean is one of the most important things. It prolongs the life of your brush, it protects you skin by not spreading bacteria back and forth between you and your brushes(for those of us unfortunate enough to not have amazing blemish free skin this is a biggie), it also gets rid of any product residue and can affect the next colour you go to apply(you don't want to try and apply a light colour eyeshadow if there is still a bit of a dark color hiding in the hairs of your brush, hello mucky grey). The one issue I have with most of these tutorials is that they recommend soaking your brushes in a soapy water solution. The problem with this is that most brushes have the hair glued together and into the furrule(metal bit) and the handle(wooden or plastic). Repeated soaking can weaken the glue resulting in the brush shedding hairs and eventually falling apart, it can also rust the metal that makes up the furrule, again not so good especially if you have spent a lot of money on good quality brushes. 






This is how I clean my makeup brushes, this goes for both my professional brushes and also my personal brushes. 

• Dampen the hairs in warm water.
• Apply a small amount of shampoo(yes the kind you use in your hair, use what you like, I love the old school Clairol Herbal Essence that smells of roses, cause it reminds me of being a teenager and how much I loved the smell. It also is quite affordable and will last ages) into the palm of your hand and swirl the hairs of the brush into you palm. Really work the shampoo into the hair, but be careful to not get too much of it into the furrule. 
• Once it has been worked in(some brushes are faster than others to do, eyeshadow is a lot quicker than a powder or blush brush), rinse you brush under warm running water, taking care again to not get the furrule too wet.
• When the water runs clear and there is not shampoo reside left in the hairs, squeeze any excess water out of the hair, and put aside and move onto the next brush to be cleaned.
• For brushes that are made out of natural hair I always condition them too, making them super soft and gentle on the skin, it also helps brushes that are quick cleaned with a isopropyl alcohol based cleaner from drying out and becoming brittle. For brushes made of synthetic hair I will only shampoo them. I don't recommend conditioning them as they wont benefit from it, the nature of synthetic hairs mean all they need is a good clean to be back to their best. 
• You only need a very small amount of conditioner per brush(again I use the Clairol Herbal Essence one to match the shampoo), apply into the palm of your hand and swirl the hairs of the brush and really work the conditioner into the hair. Once that is done rinse off in warm running water.
  
• Squeeze all excess water out of the hairs, then brush the hairs back and forth along a hand towel, this helps remove more water, then leave the brushes lying flat with the hair and most the the furrule hanging off the edge of a table or shelf, this will allow the air to circulate around the hairs to speed up the drying. Never dry bushes vertically with the hairs at the top, this causes any water to drip down into the furrule and it will then start to degrade the glue.
• Once the brushes are dry swipe them back and forth on a hand towel to refluff up the hair and your done! Beautifully clean brushes. 

I do this once a week for my personal brushes and after every use with my professional set. Depending on how frequently you use you brushes will decide how frequently you need to wash your brushes. But at the very minimum I would recommend giving them a shampoo once a month.

Another way to quickly clean makeup brushes and this can be done after every use, and is good when you need to use the same brush but for different colours, is to use an Isopropyl alcohol based makeup brush cleanser. 
There are many different brands out in the market and all the professional makeup brands sell their own. This product is great for hygienically cleaning your brushes quickly as the isopropyl alcohol is antibacterial and dries quickly.
All you need to do is spray a few squirts onto your brush and swipe back and forth along a tissue until it's clean and no more product reside can be seen, you may need to spray a few more times and use a couple of tissues to clean a brush fully off all product, but this depends on the size of the brush and the product used. 

Now you are welcome to buy what ever brush cleanser product that you like I have no recommendations, buy what you can afford, they all contain the same base ingredients; Isopropyl Alcohol, water, and a fragrance of some kind, some even contain conditioning ingredients.
You can how ever make your own. 
All you will need is a suitable bottle that allows you to spritz  the product out, Some Isopropyl alcohol(available at chemists and some beauty therapy wholesalers that supply to the public, Beauty Gallery for example), water(I always will use a filtered/bottled water of some kind) and essential oil(in a fragrance you like).

To make your own brush cleanser use the ratio of 70:30 Isopropyl alcohol to water, and a few drops of essential oil.

For example when I make up my brush cleanser I use a 100ml bottle, add in 70ml Isopropyl alcohol, 30ml filtered water and 15-20 drops of Sweet Orange essential oil. Give it a little shake and it's ready to go. 
 
So there you go a few tips from me for looking after and cleaning your brushes.

xox

So for the first blog post I would like to show you a little work in progress that is almost complete.
For the last week the Blue Dahlia Makeup Room has been getting a make over, with a new coat of paint(foundation?) and a wallpapered feature wall(a beautiful red lip?) and soon to go up the chandlier(a flick of eyeliner?) and the venetian blinds(a sweep of mascara?). Then it will be back in with all the furniture and other equipment. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will be able to share with you all a final photo of it all set up, but for now, the work in progress photos. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the feature wall before the old wallpaper was stripped, but it was the same as the rest of the room, a tired off white. 

Also coming soon are the pictures from a photo shoot I did a few weeks ago. So keep an eye out for those. And some tips on how to care for your makeup brushes.