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This Week: Goodbyes, Teen Mums and Cats

May 19, 2013 in Food & Recipes, Friendship, Lifestyle

It’s been a big week for me, hence this post being a day later than it normally is. It was my last day in my current job and I was sad to leave. Oddly, for most people I guess, I wasn’t as sad to leave the people as I was to leave the campus. That might sound weight but hear me out – in the Faculty I left everyone works across 2 campuses, and as I’m moving to the other one I’m likely to see everybody again. Probably quite regularly. Some people even more than I used to. But I [...]

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This Week: 20 Years, Happily Unmarried

April 27, 2013 in Fashion, Marriage, Relationships, Wedding

This week my partner R and I celebrated 20 years of being happily unmarried. Anniversaries for the unmarried are always difficult to define. R and I have actually known each other for 21 years, so our “anniversary” is an arbitrary date. For us, it’s the 25th April 1993. That’s the day we went on our first “date”. That was the day we stopped being two people who worked in the same office and took our first steps towards becoming “a couple”. It’s also an easy date to remember, being ANZAC Day and all… There are other anniversaries of course – the day we first [...]

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Real Beauty and My Ideal World

April 23, 2013 in Body, Body Image, Entertainment, Face, Gender, Health, Mental Health, People, Society, Style

Last week a Dove ad went viral and while Mandi has given her opinion, I wished to give mine. It features a forensic artist drawing a number of “real women” without seeing them – he draws by the women’s description. The women describe their perceived flaws rather than their best features. “Tell me about your chin?” the artist asks one woman. “It kind of protrudes a little when I smile”, she says. “Your jaw?” he asks another. “My mother told me I have a big jaw” she replies. After this first drawing session, the women are encouraged to spend time with [...]

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Real Beauty Sketches by Dove: My Take

April 19, 2013 in Body, Body Image, Current Affairs, Face, Gender, Health, Mental Health, News, People, Self, Society

This week, Dove released a video called Real Beauty Sketches. I had been holding off watching this, purely because of the people’s reaction to this video. There were those who thought, while the message was lovely, “ERMAGHERD Dove is owned by the same company that make Lynx body spray! How can we listen to anything they say?” Apparently both brands being owned by Unilever is enough for people to miss the point Dove were trying to get across. Then there were those who were almost euphoric with how awesome it is, and how awesome the message was, and awesome Dove is, and [...]

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Video: Dove’s Sneaky Action Against Photoshop

March 27, 2013 in Body, Body Image, Celebrity, Entertainment, Fashion, Health, Style, Technology

As part of the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign, they devised a clever way to sneak the message directly into the hands of those who can change our retouching culture. In case you can’t watch the video, Dove used a popular Photoshop plugin site to put up their free “Beautify” plugin that appeared to make the model’s skin glow. Instead what it did was undo all the photoshopping done to revert the image to the original and add the message “Don’t manipulate our image of real beauty”. What do you think of this campaign?

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Beauty: Best Natural Face Scrub

March 21, 2013 in Face, Food & Recipes, Lifestyle, Style

Today I’d like to share with you a face scrub I made up. The best one I’ve found – it’s natural, it’s cheap and it can actually be made from things you already have in your pantry. My skin is really sensitive. Like, touch it with mint body wash and be covered in red lumps and bumps for 2 weeks sensitive. So when I wanted a facial scrub I had to be careful about what I put on my face. In my time I’ve tried a few different face scrubs, everything from St Ives Apricot Scrub to Chanel Gommage Microperle [...]

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Pretty? I’d Much Rather Be Beautiful

September 17, 2012 in Body Image, Face, Health, People, Self, Society, Style

Last week I read this post from a woman saying “Please don’t tell me I’m beautiful” and it brought to the surface a long held belief of mine. In my opinion, beautiful is one of the highest compliments you can be paid. Beautiful is one of the best things you can be. Why? Because it’s not about what you look like, it’s about who you are. I’ve spent a fair portion of my life being told I’m pretty. Especially when I was incredibly thin, and being as tall as I am, “you’ll be a model” was a commonly heard phrase. [...]

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I’ve Kissed Lipstick Goodbye

August 23, 2012 in Face, Fashion, Self, Style

Every Friday, I purchase and read WHO magazine. It’s a ritual. I read every page, including the beauty tips. As I recently read advice on how to achieve the perfect matte red lip, it occurred to me: I can’t remember the last time I wore lipstick. In high school (the nineties, baby) I was a fan of Australis and Covergirl lipsticks in frosty shades. As I got older, looking back at my formal photos, I was a slave to a dark, almost velvety red/brown lipstick. It was not my finest hour. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE having fun with [...]

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The Last Slice: In The Kitchen

August 15, 2012 in Fiction, Friendship, Relationships, Sex

“The Last Slice” is a short fiction serial about the customers and staff of the The Last Slice Cafe. In her kitchen Cat could hear everything. Not all at once, but depending on where she stood, she knew that she could focus on specific conversations. It was the weird acoustics of the kitchen that had been the reason she had decided this was the place where she wanted to start her cafe. Normally this made her feel part of the cafe’s life. Even though she couldn’t see anything from the kitchen, she could hear the customers and staff discussing the food she [...]

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Is There A Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness?

July 23, 2012 in Entertainment, Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health

Are all great artists, be it painting, writing, music etc. tortured, haunted, pained? Does this lead to a higher quality of work being produced? “My afflictions belong to me and my art- they have become one with me. Without illness and anxiety I would have been a rudderless ship.” Edvard Munch. I clearly remember the first time I saw ‘The Scream’  (painted 1895) by Edvard Munch. Why did that particular painting affect me so personally? Because I saw myself in the distortion, the craziness, the eeriness, the chaos. I sympathized with a human figure that was obviously suffering tremendously, but [...]

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