beauty recipes

Fragrance to go


Every girl knows it’s a good idea to carry a perfume in your handbag – you never know when you’ll be heading out for lunch, for a drink after work, or just need a quick spritz to refresh yourself!

So we just love love LOVE that Prada’s new L’Eau Ambrée is now available in this adorable miniature bottle known as ‘Parfum de Sac’ – purse spray! The delicious scent features Citron, May Rose and Amber, and comes in three 10ml refillable bottles – so you can always have one on hand, wherever you are. Fabulous!

The set is available in Myer from June 27.

Beautiful curls

Aren’t soft, shiny curls just a beautiful look for a wedding? We so many brides wearing their hair in curls or waves, and it always looks stunning.

Our cover bride from Issue 15, Emily Leahy, wore soft curls to perfection on her wedding day – and so many of you have commented on or asked about her hair since then!

One great way to get soft curls is with the MyCurl – a clever styling iron that creates gorgeous curls, volume and movement in minutes. While the rest of us were all obsessing over our straightening irons, the team at MyCurl were trying to come up with a solution for creating beautiful curls without the hassle of hot rollers and curling tongs – because let’s face it, who hasn’t had trouble with those?!

This little Australian invention is gradually taking the world by storm, and it’s only been on sale for 11 months! The best bit is that the MyCurl website has a series of “how to” videos that show just how to achieve a range of different looks, as well as descriptions to help you get the look of your favourite red carpet celebrities!

To see more of Emily’s stunning wedding, head to the Real Weddings section of our new website. Or for more beautiful hairstyles ideas, have a look at our Inspiration Gallery.

Finding your fragrance

There’s something about the New Year that makes me want to try a new fragrance. But it can be such a tricky process – there are so many beautiful scents available!

Many brides also choose to wear a new fragrance on their wedding day – it might be to symbolise the start of their new life, or it could be that you want to have a signature fragrance to wear on special occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, christenings, and so on – that will remind you of your wedding day. Choose something classic and elegant that won’t date, and you’ll enjoy wearing it for years to come.

Right now, the Real Weddings team is loving Vera Wang, with its notes of Bulgarian rose, calla lily, gardenia, white stephanotis and mandarin flower – it is just beautiful!

What frangrance will you be wearing/did you wear on your wedding day?

It’s a blockbuster!

Are you searching for a perfume for your wedding day? If so, we’ve just heard about a fabulous new deal from Estee Lauder that you’ll love – from September 27, buy any 50 ml Estee Lauder fragrance, and receive the “Professional Colour Collection” (a.k.a the Blockbuster), worth more than $825, for just $120 – wow!

The set includes a deluxe eyeshadow compact with 15 shades, two blushes and a bronzer, four lipsticks, an eye pencil, a lash primer and mascara, eye makeup remover, a makeup brush set, a stand-up mirror, a large cosmetic case and smaller companion case. What an incredible range to keep you looking gorgeous long after your wedding – you could even pack it in your suitcase for your honeymoon!

Two fragrances that would be perfect for your wedding day are Beautiful, and Sensuous. Beautiful features sweet top notes of bulgarian rose, jasmine, carnation, tuber rose and orange flower, while Sensuous is a warm, woody fragrance featuring magnolia, sandlewood, jasmine and ylang extract.

Why not head to your nearest Estee Lauder stockist to try them on, and take advantage of this incredible offer – we’ll see you there!

Offer begins September 27. Visit www.esteelauder.com.au for details.

Great news: Ortigia arrives in Australia!

You may remember a London Inspiration post we did about palm trees a few weeks ago, which featured some of the gorgeous Ortigia range of beauty products… well we’ve just heard that Ortigia is now available in Australia!

The luxurious range includes soaps, perfumes, creams, candles and lotions in scents such as orange blossom, lime, lavender, bergamot, and geranium. To find your nearest stockist, contact ortigia@spenceandlyda.com.au. Go on, spoil yourself!



Candles and Geranium bath oil by Ortigia.

London Inspiration Part 5: The body beautiful

Happy Monday everyone! Monday is always such an exciting day in the bridal world, because over the weekend so many women become brides-to-be, and today they start sharing the news! If that’s you, congratulations!

To kick off the week, we wanted to share some more souvenirs from Kirsten’s recent trip to London. While shopping in Peter Jones on Kings Road, Chelsea, Kirsten spotted this gorgeous beauty box for brides:

Made by skincare company Philosophy, this gorgeous floral box is filled with divine body treats for the bride-to-be, and includes the very sage words “marry yourself before you marry another”. That’s right girls, love yourself and take care of yourself first! As if you need an incentive when you’ve got this box of treats to enjoy!

The five-piece skincare set includes the Purity facial cleanser, the Hope in a Jar therapeutic moisturiser, the Amazing Grace shampoo/shower gel/bubble bath (it works as all three!), the Amazing Grace perfumed firming body emulsion, and the Amazing Grace perfumed hand cream.

Philosophy also make a sweet “Falling in Love” range that includes a shower gel and a romantic perfume, and every bride’s must have item: the Kiss Me exfoliating lip scrub, to ensure your lips are silky smooth for your first kiss as husband and wife!

We think any or all of these products would make a great gift for a hen’s night or kitchen tea, or as a “congratulations on your engagement” gift!

To find out more about Philosophy or to purchase these beautiful products online, visit www.philosophy.com


pics: K. MacKelden, Philosophy

Luscious Lashes

The eyes are the windows to the soul – and you should never frame a beautiful view with dodgy curtains!
If you have straight, thin or flat eyelashes, you’ve probably tried every trick available to get them to lengthen and curl – often to little or no avail. But with individual lash extensions, it’s easy to turn this….

Into this!

The team at Love those Lashes specialise in eyelash extensions, so they are sure to get you looking glamourous for your big day. The extensions are individually grafted to each lash and last until your natural lash grows out: typically 2-3 weeks. The lashes come in acrylic (for a dramatic effect) or silk (for a more natural look), black or brown, and a range of lengths and curl shapes. A trained professional attaches 50-75 lashes to your natural lashes in approximately one hour for $150, with refills costing $50-120.
For more info, visit www.lovethoselashes.com.au

DIY Makeup

Choosing a hair and makeup stylist to create the look you want on your big day can be a difficult process – and an expensive one. But what if you could invest that money into training yourself – and your bridesmaids – to do your makeup yourselves, enabling you to look fantastic every day?

You can, thanks to Gorgeous Cosmetics, which hosts a three-hour Makeup School 101 session where professional makeup artists teach you how to enhance your skin tone and show off your natural beauty. All the products you need for the session are provided, and the $150 fee is fully redeemable on product. As an added bonus, Gorgeous Cosmetics are now offering a full brush set worth over $300 if you enrol in a class in July.
Gorgeous Cosmetics have stores in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. For more information visit www.gorgeouscosmetics.com

What’s you colour?



So you have to love a range of make-up that has been created just for you, well more for your hair. I find the whole process of choosing a lipstick colour that suits me daunting so when I stumbled across MAC Cosmetics’ new range (available online) I was very excited. ‘Shop Brunette Blonde Redhead’ is a simple stress free way to choose a colour palette that perfectly compliments your hair colour – how brilliant!