March 2014 – All Dolled Up

March 31, 2014

Review: REN Skincare Rose O¹² Moisture Defence Oil, Ultra Moisture Day Cream and Moroccan Rose Otto Ultra-Moisture Body Oil

A few months ago I discovered two fantastic moisturisers (namely the Vita Mineral Radiant Day Cream and Frankincense Revitalising Repair Cream) from REN and quite rightly sang their praises. The lovely ladies at Alchemy Business Development took notice and offered to send me some products to try which might be a better fit for my skin type (dry, dry, dry). A few days later a package arrived and inside it I discovered, to my delight, the Rose O¹² Moisture Defence Oil, Ultra Moisture Day Cream and the iconic Moroccan Rose Otto Ultra-Moisture Body Oil. I couldn’t wait to get home so…

March 28, 2014

NEW: TOY Nail Polish

TOY Nail Polish South Africa | All Dolled Up

There are a few things that I look for in a good nail polish; gorgeous colours, even application and a long-lasting formula among them. As a proud (ok, slightly ashamed) owner of more than 60 bottles of nail polish for my personal use, I would also say that I am relatively expert on the subject. It was therefore with great interest that we received a selection of nail polishes from Colombian brand TOY (“Two Of You”) who have recently launched in SA, with four new shades to trial and the “Diamond Cocktail” topcoat. I’ve put them through their paces and…

March 26, 2014

Online Shopping with Everythinghair

I don’t know about you, but going into a hair salon to buy shampoo and conditioner is one of my least favourite things to do. The noise of the hairdryers, the hustling and bustling, the pressure to buy things you don’t actually need – it’s unpleasant. Thank heavens, then, for www.everythinghair.co.za! Everythinghair is South Africa’s premier online professional hair care store, and stocks leading brands such as Babyliss, Cloud 9, GHD, Pureology (yes!), Nioxin, Parlux and Kerastase, to name but a few. In addition, Everythinghair also stocks hair supplements, accessories, tools, and hair extensions – it’s a veritable one-stop-shop for…

March 24, 2014

What I Bought from ASOS

Online shopping in South Africa | All Dolled Up

I recently wrote about my experience placing an order from UK-based website ASOS, and how I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t charge me customs duties. I’m hearing conflicting reports from readers so I think it’s still quite hit and miss, but for a few small items I think it’s worth the risk, especially since the lower the value of your order, the lower the customs charges if you get nailed. Anyway, I thought you would be interested in what I bought:

March 20, 2014

Want To Win Treats From America?

Silly question because of course you do! I am off to America soon to buy all.of.the.things, and I thought that while I was at it, I would buy something for you too, lovely reader! As much as I would love to buy something for each and every one of you, I’m not a millionaire yet, so instead, one lucky reader is going to be treated to whatever product her/his (you never know) heart desires. If you would like to enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below and tell me what it is that you’re lusting after,…

March 19, 2014

Shopping Online: ASOS

Online shopping in South Africa ASOS | All Dolled Up

There’s been lots of discussion in the blog comments and on our Twitter feed recently about buying beauty products online, and specifically the customs duties that come along with importing goods from overseas. The official policy is that orders with a value under R500 (excluding shipping) are exempt from customs duties and it has always been my advice to people that they should place small orders to avoid this. I had heard however that this policy wasn’t applied consistently and people were getting charged duties even on orders under the threshold, so I thought I would test it out myself.

March 17, 2014

Budget Beauty Buy: Castor Oil

My youth was spent plucking my thick and luscious eyebrows into pencil-thin lines (damn you, Kate Moss) – and I wish more than anything that my father had followed through on his threat to confiscate my tweezers. Had he done so, I wouldn’t be left with these pitiful excuses for eyebrows. I had been umming-and-aahing over whether or not to drop R750 on RapidLash (which is a vast amount of money on a product that doesn’t always work on brows) when I stumbled upon an article on LipsSoFacto extolling the virtues of castor oil as a natural hair-growth booster. Well,…

March 14, 2014

My Morning Skincare Routine

Watch the video to find out what products I’m currently using to cleanse and prep my skin for the day. All products and links listed after the jump:

March 12, 2014

NEW: Mio High Intensity Bodycare

You are probably already familiar with Mama Mio, the specialist skincare range for pregnant women and new moms that we have mentioned before on the blog. Their body oil is a huge favourite of ours, but most of the products, although excellent, don’t really suit us because we’re simply at a different (childless) stage of our lives.

March 10, 2014

Guest Review: Dermapen Face Needling

Last week my friend Justine sent me this message: “One word my friend: Dermapen”. I hadn’t the faintest idea what Dermapen was or how it worked, so I sent her a barrage of messages filled with questions. After getting the scoop on the miracle worker that is Dermapen, I asked Justine if she would be willing to write a guest post and she gladly obliged. She was even happy to send us some before and after pictures – what a champ! Take it away, Justine…

Posts Written OnMarch 2014