L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Golden Age Regime Review

At the end of last year, beautyreview.co.nz sent me three products from the L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Golden Age Regime range to trial and review. Here is the review I wrote about each product at the beginning of January.

L'Oreal Age Perfect Golden Age Radiance Serum
I was a little disappointed upon opening the serum box to find that the bottle was lightweight plastic and didn't have a pump or spray applicator.

The serum itself is a pretty blush pink colour with sparkles. It has a nice consistency and smells divine. I love the smell, it reminds me of a Shiseido Skincare range I used years ago.
It's easy to use, simply apply 2 to 3 drops on cleansed skin, massage and then pat to absorb. It leaves the skin feeling tacky which I don't like but it does provide a nice base for the day or night cream to work with.

L'Oreal states the serum will refresh and smooth the marks of sleep and fatigue. That it will intensely re-hydrate the skin to re-plump and alleviate the feeling of tightness and awaken the glow of dull skin for fresher, more radiant looking skin. Does it do this? Well not exactly. I do not wake up looking refreshed but that might be to do with my bad sleeping habits.  However, when used in conjunction with the day cream my skin certainly has a fresh rosy glow.

I do like this serum, however, I absolutely love the L'Oreal Revitalift Laser x3 Serum so it's a hard call to find a serum I love more. In saying that, the gorgeous smell alone would have me re-purchase this product if I for some reason the Laser x3 Serum was not available.

May 2019 Update
I have just finished using this serum and as time went by so did the beautiful smell. With that so did my level of satisfaction with the serum. It's not a bad serum, it's just that I feel the Laser x3 serum is more effective for my skin.

L'Oreal Age Perfect Golden Age SPF15 Day Cream
Let's start with the packaging, it's divine! Open the luxe goldy, pink box and inside is a frosted blush pink glass jar (love) and gold lid (love).

The product itself is pink, kind of a clay pink. Not at all unpleasant and I am guessing the colour is what gives the skin the promised rosy glow. It's a medium weight cream, you don't need a lot and it massages nicely into the skin. It has an SPF15 factor. It also smells nice!

L'Oreal suggests that this product will give the skin a healthy rosy glow and help fight sagging. Did it do this? Yes and No. Yes, it does give your skin a nice healthy, rosy glow. No, it is not fighting my sagging skin, I need surgery or injections for that, but it does leave my skin feeling soft and feeling nourished. My skin type is combination and this day cream is perfect, I think it would actually suit all skin types. When I use BB cream with this day cream it really changes up the look of my skin, the coverage seems better and my skin is extra smooth and glowy!

I really like this product and I will be repurchasing it when I've emptied this divine jar!

May 2019 Update

I have just about finished this product and have continued to be really happy with it. My skin always looks smoother after wearing it and I like the rosy glow it gives.

L'Oreal Age Perfect Golden Age Night Cream
I've already written about the divine packaging in the Day Cream review. The night cream comes in the same luxe box, but this time the glass jar is frosted gold which subtly distinguishes it from the day cream.

The cream itself is a thick white consistency which is what I imagine Ponds Cold Cream to be like. It has a slightly greasy feel to it and takes a bit of massaging into the skin. Unfortunately, I can't stand the smell of it, to me, it smells like shoe polish!

L'Oreal promises big things with this cream. While you are sleeping your skin will be nourished, tightened, re-densified and it will also encourage the repair of the skin's barrier. In the morning you should wake up with intensely nourished skin that is visibly fresh, rested and perfectly hydrated. Not only that but from night after night of use, the skin will gradually regain density and facial contours will be visibly re-defined.

I have used this cream night after night for weeks, diligently, despite the unpleasant shoe polish odour and upon awakening in the morning, as in dragging myself out of bed and checking in the mirror to see if a miracle happened overnight, I have been sadly disappointed. Yes, my skin is nicely nourished, but I'm still waiting for the promised tightening, density, and beautifully re-defined facial contours. I would have settled for looking rested and I don't, quite the opposite in fact, however, that might be because this skin care trial is in the hot and humid lead up to Christmas!

May 2019 Update
Despite not loving this cream, mostly due to how it smells, I have continued to use it, lavishly in fact, as I scoop out extra each night and use it on my face and hands. I'm about two nights away from finishing it and won't be repurchasing this particular cream.

Overall, I like the L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Golden Age Regime skincare. I especially like the packaging, I'm a sucker for anything luxe looking, add blush pink, gold and sparkles and I'm in!
While the products don't necessarily perform as promised by L'Oreal, they are still nourishing, my skin is smooth and I don't have major breakouts. At the price point, I would say that you can't go wrong with this range.

In New Zealand you can purchase the  L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Golden Age Regime skincare at the following stores:
Life Pharmacy
Farmers
The Warehouse
Countdown
New World

The products range between $30 to $40.

You can read other reviews at beautyreview.co.nz. You can also read my L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Laser x3 - Intensive Anti-Ageing Regime here.

Thanks so much for reading, 
xo Rachael 

This and That - April 2019

It's been a while!

I probably write a couple of blog posts each week, in my head, while I'm driving and then I get home and they are gone or I have run out of the mental energy to type them out. I had a light bulb moment this morning, light bulb for me at least. RECORD, I can use my phone to record my thoughts so that they don't get lost! Then, type them out. How brilliant is that! Oh if only I had thought of that sooner, like years ago, even. I did a wee practice this morning, speech to text recording thinking that would be even more clever as I could simply do a little editing and then copy and paste. But no, unless I annunciate very slowly and very clearly it looked like a bad English language translation and while my brain is slow, to speak that slowly would leave me forgetting what I was talking about in the first place. So dictation recording it will be, maybe I could multi-purpose and turn my recordings into podcasts. Brilliant! Not really!

Anyway, enough of that and on to more important things such as life. Since I last wrote one of these in um, August 2018... I've got a bit to write about. Let's start with...

Family
The Princess turned 16 in March. I still have trouble wrapping my head around that. She's a good teenager, a typical teenager and a not so typical teenager. This year is a big school year for her, she is studying, Maths, English, Accounting, Economics and History and is planning on university (phew) and a degree that will end up having something to do with business. She does well at school, of which I am thankful. The Cowboy gave her a road code pack for her birthday so next up for her is going for her Learners Licence. I also have trouble getting my head around that too! She already has a car, she paid for some of it and her Grandfather the rest. Lucky girl! I'm also really lucky because I got to catch up with my oldest nephew in January and then one of my 20-year-old twin nephews stayed with us last week. I also had a holiday in Cairns staying with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephews. I'll save that for a separate blog post though. I've also been to Rawene and stayed with my Mum and Stepfather. I treasure the times I have with my different family members. Different being the word haha!

The only family members in my home that let me take their photo!

Home
No major changes around here, although I do have plans for rearranging and redecorating, like most things, it's in my head, or on a list. We moved the lovely big bookshelf my Mum gave me out of the garage and into the dining room but I've yet to do anything with it as I am toying with painting it white. Let me know what you think, white or wood?  I'm also going to sell the dining room table. When I bought it, I was living at the castle and had the room for dark chunky furniture, but in this house it is overpowering. I'm going to replace with it a smaller lighter table that can extend and am going to add either mismatched chairs or patterned (floral) upholstered chairs. The Cowboy's boy left home, well moved his stuff out of his room, which we still call his room, but is now a bit more girly looking as I use it to photograph shop stuff but I'm thinking I'll sell the Queen size bed in there, which dates back to when I was married to the Wasband and buy a pull out sofabed or just a smaller bed. Anyway, its all just ideas, lots of ideas! The Princess's room is looking good though. It's very white, very calm and very grown up. We put up a big round mirror the other day, sourced from KMart. It looks so good. I would love to post a photo of it, but it probably would not be allowed  -haha

to paint or not to paint?

Post Concussion Syndrome Update
I think I'll save most of the details for a separate blog post because I have people that follow just because of Post Concussion Syndrome and others that won't want to read about it. While I still have symptoms, I have come such along. I managed to get myself cleared for full-time work at the end of February and with that was able to come off the financial aspect of being support by ACC, which I am grateful for but was certainly financially limiting. Other big achievements are driving four hours to Rawene on my own and flying for the first time in two years, on my own too, which involved navigating airports, customs and transfers between airport terminals.

School
Wow, last time I wrote about school, waaaay back in August 2018, I was only working 3 days! By the end of Term 4 (December 2018) I was working 4 days, had increased the number of groups I was taking for Writing Enrichment and was also working as the lead teacher for a Special Needs student who started at our school. That was a quick learning curve, I had to upskill myself, set up a programme for him by scratch and liaise with a whole lot of people outside of our school. I loved it and quickly grew to love him. Through him, I found my niche in teaching and special needs teaching is the area I will in all likelihood end up in. In saying that though, this year I accepted a position in my school to cover the Performing Arts role for one term which involves Music, Drama and Dance for the entire school and I also love that! I see each class in the school for an hour session every two weeks. That's around 600 children through my room. Quite the challenge for a girl with Post Concussion Syndrome but I managed it, although I would end up spending every Saturday in bed sleeping and giving in to the headache I had battled with through the week. It was great though and definitely another big learning curve as I had to do a lot of quick upskilling in the music area! I also had my special needs boy each morning before Performing Arts classes. Next term, which is next week, my boy will be at another school, which will be wonderful for him even though I will miss him so much. The Performing Arts role has been extended into the new term so I am excited about that! The biggest thing I have loved about being back at school 'properly' is being among my friends/colleagues. I didn't realise how much I missed that aspect of my working life. An added bonus is I can now be part of conversations with them again!

A warm up dance is part of programme. It's great cardio for me at the same time!

Reading
I love, love belonging to a book club, reading books I wouldn't normally read and then once a month meeting for dinner and book discussion, lots of other discussions too! It's fun! Here's a list of my book club reading since last August.
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell -  Horror.
I struggled with this and went to book club and after listening to the discussion came home, finished reading it and actually ended up enjoying it.
The Power by Naomi Alderman - Contemporary Fiction
This was another book I wouldn't normally read but really enjoyed it and totally recommend it, especially if you like dystopian society type stories.
For our book club Christmas dinner we did a Secret Santa book exchange. I got the Book Thief by Markus Zusak, oh my goodness, I would rate this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It's definitely a book I would re-read.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig - Contemporary Fiction
Again, not something I would normally read but thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa - Contemporary Fiction
A beautiful translated story set in Japan and personified by a cat. Very moving, I wept at the end!
The History of Bees by Maja Lunde - Contemporary Fiction
This was an unusual story as in none of the main characters were likeable! However, it was a very good read and scarily thought provoking. Would totally recommend.
And this month is,
Love Life byRay Kluun - Contemporary Fiction
I have yet to start this, book club is at the end of the month and if I read it too soon I forget the story so find the discussions hard! It does put a bit of reading pressure on though. Funnily enough, or maybe not surprisingly a few of us wait to just before we meet to read the book, for that very reason.

Watching
We have watched soooooo much since August. Netflix is big in this house! Here's a little of what I have watched and enjoyed.
If you like comedy, British comedy, I recommend the following:
Cuckoo - Series
What we did on our holiday - Movie

If you like a good crime series, again British, then watch:
Shetland
Line of Duty

Other stuff I have enjoyed recently is:
Dirty John - True life series
The Silence - Movie

Trips Away
Another great thing about the Post Concussion Syndrome improving is I have been able to do trips away. Last September I gave myself a little retreat and stayed at Rosebud Cottage just out of Muriwai, so not far from Auckland. Oh my goodness it was heaven. I'm going to do a separate blog post about it because I have lots of beautiful photos to share, but let's just say, outdoor bath, candles, and vintage decor.

In October the Cowboy and I did a getaway to Bethalls Beach for two nights. Again, it's just out of Auckland but I had never been and at that point didn't really tolerate car rides that well. I'll do a separate blog post about this trip too just so I can share my photos. It was fun and we enjoyed some beautiful New Zealand scenery. The accommodation was interesting though.  More about that in my future post, which will be soon, soonish!

Bethells Beach

Muriwai

At the beginning of January I drove myself to Rawene, a big deal for me! I love Rawene and did my usual walk for coffee everyday thing. I helped my Mum clean the church and did the church flowers for the Sunday service. Mum and I visited with a few of her friends which was fun, although a car ride to visit one was not, a nasty windy gravel road that had me dry-retching. It was worth it though because Mum's friend lives in a beautiful farm setting, she runs the farm on her own and does all sorts of building projects herself, has beautiful extensive gardens and does the most beautiful needlework as well! She is such an incredible and inspiring woman!

Rawene

Church flowers, flowers from Mum's garden, arranged by me.

Then on a whim, mid-January, I booked myself a one way flight to Cairns as mentioned above to visit my brother and family. Again, I'll do a separate blog post about that, because of the photos, etc, etc. Obviously, I eventually returned, well I had to, my school and the Princess's school was starting!

Port Douglas Beach

Thank goodness they had a pool.

What Else
This year, so far, I've caught up with friends I haven't seen for ages which is really nice. I'm trying to not get back into that teaching is all consuming during term time and there is no other life! A teaching friend and I have also started a tradition of meeting once a month for dinner or a movie, or something, anything, just so that we have some kind of term life and life outside of our families. Since Cairns, thanks to my sister-in-law, I have changed my eating habits and started exercising regularly and as a result, I have lost around 8kg in weight. Physically, I feel fabulous. The downside is my clothes are too big, even my underwear, which I noticed one day at school when running after a child and had to hold my pants up haha. The upside is I have had to buy some emergency clothes to tide me over, do you like that, emergency clothes!!! I've also trialled some different skincare products as well for beautyreview.co.nz but will do a separate blog post about them. A separate blog post is starting to become a broken record!

The BIG NEWS
No, I am not pregnant, snorting to myself here, or getting married, even bigger snort, excuse my warped humour! No, the big news is, for those of you who don't know, I opened up an e-commerce shop. Back in September actually! I'm mostly selling fashion and accessories at the moment, things I really love, but will also be branching into skincare as I also love skincare! Please go check me out.

So there you have it, a life update. A big one at that. Thank goodness for all the photos I take, they serve as a good memory jogger!

Thanks for reading, extra thanks if you got to the end!

Rachaelxo

Birds and Birthdays

BEST LAID PLANS

I hosted a Wasband family lunch today that I decided on Thursday would be a good idea to do and like many people, I like things to be 'nice' for my guests.  Yesterday, the Cowboy and I cleaned, just weekly cleaning, vacuuming, bathrooms that sort of thing.  I planned my dish, a quiche, wrote a shopping list and did the shopping. By the time I got into bed last night, I was feeling confident that all was in order and all I had to do in the morning was get up, wrap gifts, write cards, make the quiche and set the table all nice. Oh, and make me look all nice. Organised, right?

Vintage Vibes - that sticker on the plant really irritates me though!

THE BIRD 

I came downstairs at 9am after having showered and made the bed. I opened the curtains and that is where it all went wrong. Horribly wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Sickeningly wrong. Lying under the coffee table, on the thick shaggy rug was a bird. A dead bird. In pieces. Big pieces. Small pieces. Feather pieces. Other pieces. The Cowboy had left earlier for a day of motor racing so he was of no earthly use to me. I didn't know what to do; I am terrified of birds, even dead ones, in pieces. I took the most sensible option I could think of and simply left the house. I went to Mitre 10 and bought coffee and a plant for the table and hoped that when I got home the bird would be magically gone, a mere figment of my imagination. Alas, no. It was still there. In pieces. What to do. I donned my bright green dishwashing gloves and carefully, avoiding looking at the carnage as much as I could, picked up the many remains of the dead bird. Then I scrubbed the thick shabby rug with disinfectant, every which way the pile went. I then sprayed a disinfectant spray. Everywhere. All over the rug and a pathway of carpet from the rug to the cat door in the garage. Might I add not a cat to be seen. Guilty! Then I cooked and set the table and did not get to make myself look nice. By the time the family guests arrived, I was very frazzled looking. Just normal really!

AMAH

Anyway, in the end, it was all lovely. I hosted the lunch because it is Amah's birthday tomorrow, she is a Guy Fawkes baby and is a cracker! See what I did there - haha. I have talked about Amah before. She is the Wasband's grandmother making her the Princess's great-grandmother. She is called Amah because when the Wasband was a little boy he couldn’t say, Grandma, he called her Amah and it stuck. We all call her Amah; even my Mum calls her Amah.  Amah turns 92 tomorrow and she is truly remarkable. I have probably said this before as well! She has survived so many major health complications and she now has Motor Neurone Disease. Her social life is better than any of us, she still does cross-stitch, uses Facebook, texts better than most of us and can get a leg up, up I say, not over ;-) Amah has the best giggle, it's infectious and we all love her.

My birthday gift made by Aunty Eileen.

The back

BIRTHDAYS

Even though this lunch was to celebrate Amah's birthday, we had a bit of a backlog of birthday gifts to exchange.  I got my October birthday gifts from Amah and Aunty Eileen & Unca Neil.  I gave Aunty Eileen hers (we share our birth date) and the Wasband got his September birthday gift from Amah and Aunty Eileen & Unca Neil. It was a bit like Christmas with all the gift exchanging going on!

THE LUNCH

Lunch was divine, I made a Chelsea Winter Self-Crusting Spinach and Feta quiche, Eileen made Pasta and Smoked Chicken salad and Potato and Bacon salad and the Wasband brought along beautiful crusty bread.  We finished with a birthday cake made by Eileen, I can’t remember the name of the cake, a type of sponge cake anyway, with pretty icing. I'm not a big cake eater but it was really good.

THE END

The guests have now gone home, I've cleaned up, the Princess is studying (NCEA Exams) and the cats have skulked inside to their food bowl and are now sitting at my feet. Under the coffee table. The crime scene. Cruel, murderous little creatures!

Amah gave me this heart.

Thanks for reading.
Rachaelxo

Leaders in Heels

Leaders in Heels

If you know me, you will know that I love planning and lists, so much that I blogged about it back here.

Part of the pleasure in the planning and list making process is, of course, having the just right diary, planner, journal or notebook to inspire the process. The just right book is such a personal thing and something I often agonise over at the end of each year, sometimes visiting several stores in my quest to find that just right book.

I recently spent a great deal of time online looking for an organisational system that would suit the many facets of my day to day life that when I came across Leaders in Heels.

It goes without saying that I was immediately attracted to the whole prettiness of the Leaders in Heels website and felt that Kasia, the owner of the site spoke to me directly through the motivational and empowering messages on the site. I really, really liked the layout of the planners, journals and notebooks, the different schemes available and that you can have your books monogrammed! That's right MONOGRAMMED, just like your towels and bed linens!

Phenomenal Woman Planner

I bookmarked the website, subscribed to the mailing list and started following Leaders in Heels on Instagram. Kasia posts the best motivational messages for women and uses the best graphics!

You couldn't possibly imagine my excitement, well maybe you could, when I found out that Kasia was developing an affiliate partnership programme just as I was ready to launch my online shop! I applied to become an affiliate and lucky, lucky me, my application was accepted.

Make Your Mark set

I'm really looking forward to using the Make Your Mark set, monogrammed of course darling!

Thanks for reading!
Rachaelxo

All about Carpet Bags

Velvet Carpet Bag

Yesterday I gave you a little history lesson on the origin of the word 'lingerie'. Today, to continue with educating you, you're welcome, here's a little lesson on Carpet Bags.

The carpet bag was invented as a type of baggage light enough for a passenger to carry, like a duffel bag, as opposed to a wooden or metal trunk, which required the assistance of porters. It was a good travelling companion: in 1886, the Scientific American described it as old-fashioned and reliable: the carpet bag "is still unsurpassed by any, where rough wear is the principal thing to be studied. Such a bag, if constructed of good Brussels carpeting and unquestionable workmanship, will last a lifetime, provided always that a substantial frame is used." Its use implied self-sufficiency: in Jules Verne's 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg and Passepartout bring only a carpet bag as luggage, which holds a few items of clothing and a great deal of cash.

Carpet bags used to be made of Oriental rugs or the Brussels carpet referred to above, meaning one with "a heavy pile formed by uncut loops of wool on a linen warp". Carpet was the chosen material because it was a popular domestic accent piece and the "remainder" pieces were easily bought. In a sense, the carpet bag was a sustainable invention because it used remnants of materials which otherwise would have gone unused.

Carpet bags sometimes also served as a "railway rug", a common item in the 19th century for warmth in drafty, unheated rail-cars. The rug could either be opened as a blanket or latched up on the sides as a travelling bag. From Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879): "... my railway-rug, which, being also in the form of a bag, made me a double castle for cold nights." Wikipedia

I first read about carpet bags in my most favourite book "Gone with the Wind" and have loved the name and bags ever since. My Mum has a gorgeous carpet bag which I think she bought in Turkey. I secretly covet her bag, shoosh don't tell her!

Now not only do I love carpet bags but I love velvet, no history lesson on velvet today though, disappointing I know. So, carpet bags and velvet, velvet carpet bags. It was a given that when I found a supplier of velvet carpet bags I would stock them in my little boutique. Not only have I got carpet bags but also the most stunning velvet totes. My uni friends might remember I had a chartreuse velvet tote that I absolutely adored. Sadly the supplier didn't have bags in chartreuse. Chartreuse, such a beautiful description for a colour!

Anyway, there lies today's history lesson. Pop on over to www.roseroomnz.com and check out my velvet bags, a carpet bag included, they are simply divine!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rachael xo

Vintage Lingerie

www.roseroomnz.com

Etymology

The word lingerie is a word taken directly from the French language, meaning undergarments, and used exclusively for more lightweight items of female undergarments. The French word in its original form derives from the old French word linge, meaning 'linen'. Lingerie as a word was first used to refer to underwear and bras in 1922. Wikepedia

I love vintage lingerie. Actually, let's be real here, I love more than just vintage lingerie. Vintage lingerie though, it's feminine, it's pretty, it's olden day womanly.

You know, set hair, drawn on brows, Coty powder and red lips and then the lingerie, light, soft, silky, floaty.

Not at all like the anything goes today look. Not at all like my t-shirt and undies to bed look.

Perhaps I should be leading a more authentic vintage life, let me just go and powder my nose, let you just go and check out my lingerie...

Thanks for stopping by!
Rachaelxo

BREAKING NEWS!!!

roseroomnz.com online store has just opened its virtual doors.
https://shop.roseroomnz.com/

Stocking gorgeous jewellery.

Stocking Mavala, Switzerland Eyelash & Brow Serum.

Stocking Mavala Switzerland nailcare products.

Gorgeous Halfmoon bags, rattan bags, straw bags and boho clothing due mid-September.

Pretty vintage clothing and linens available this week.

Thanks to the Cowboy for building my online store and to the Princess for her support and encouragement.

Please, please go and have a look...

right here, right now!

https://shop.roseroomnz.com/

Rachael xo