All Dolled Up

January 12, 2013

Beauty Spotlight: Clarisonic

The Clarisonic is a sonic skin cleansing tool which promises to clean the skin 6 times more effectively than manual cleansing alone (by that I mean using your hands only, instead of a washcloth or sponge, for example). Clarisonic have 5 different systems – the Mia, the Mia 2, the Aria, the Plus and the Pro. They also come with 5 different brush head options – normal, sensitive, delicate, acne and deep pore cleansing. I’m not going to list the differences between all the systems and brush heads now – you can learn more here. How does it work? It…

January 11, 2013

Trend Report: Glitter Nails

I’m just a LITTLE bit obsessed with sparkly manicures at the moment. Pretty much every time I paint my nails (which is about once a week) I add a glittery top coat or go full dazzletard with all-over shimmering polish. Something I haven’t tried yet but seems to be popular is the “ombre mani” done with a glitter – here’s a great tutorial by The Nailasaurus or check out Pinterest for inspiration. Some of my favourite sparkly polishes are from Inglot, Mavala, Essie and OPI. A word of caution though: don’t be fooled by cheap imitations. Many of the budget beauty…

January 9, 2013

Favourite Five: Lush hair products

By now you’ve probably all heard that Lush have opened a store in the V&A Waterfront, much to the delight of the brand’s South African fans. I used to avoid Lush when I lived in London as I always found the smell of the store really overwhelming, and I’ve heard this from a lot of other people too. The strong scents and bright colours of the products also give the impression that everything is full of nasty chemicals and synthetic ingredients. The truth is that not only are Lush’s products ALL NATURAL (and organic where possible) but they’re handmade with…

January 7, 2013

Brand I Wish Was in SA: Urban Decay

Urban Decay is a brand name that I’ve started seeing popping up regularly on overseas beauty blogs. They appear to have had a makeover and are now famous for their brilliant makeup, with many products reaching cult status with fans. I bought a few things recently and had them brought back to SA for me – these are the highlights: No. 1: Eyeshadow Primer Potion – I have suffered from oily lids and eyeshadow creasing for as long as I can remember, until now. This stuff is amazing, it primes the lid, giving a smooth base for makeup application and ensures…

January 5, 2013

Beauty Spotlight: Ciaté

I’ve always liked the look of Ciaté nail polishes, with their unusually-shaped bottles and natty black bow-ties. I was thrilled to discover them on Zando a few weeks ago and promptly put in an order for Main Stage, a sultry deep pinky-purple. I was not disappointed – the texture is unlike anything else I’ve tried (they’re called nail cremes and truly are extremely creamy in formulation) and the pigment is good so you can get full coverage with just one swipe. Now, I love Essie as much as the next girl, but one of my biggest issues with those polishes…

January 4, 2013

My Manicure: Inglot #644

I’m having a bit of a mermaid moment here – how gorgeous is this colour?! Inglot O2M nail varnishes are free from all sorts of nasties (toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate [DBP] & camphor) and are not tested on animals. You can follow them on Facebook.

January 3, 2013

Beauty Spotlight: Tangle Teezer

You read lots of hair styling articles that recommend fancy paddle brushes, ceramic barrels, boar bristles and designer wide-toothed combs for the “best blowout”. That’s all well and good, but what about the more low maintenance among us who can’t be bothered with all that malarkey? It’s very rare that I read anything online or in magazines that provides useful information about how to treat fine, pin-straight hair. In particular, I’ve never read anything that offers practical suggestions for brushing out this type of hair without the associated strand snapping and scalp yanking. So, here is my top tip for…

January 1, 2013

Introducing All Dolled Up

Camilla
Hair, Makeup, Nails, Reviews, Skincare, Videos
5 Comments

Hi everyone! We are Camilla and Jules, a couple of gals from Cape Town who just love make-up, skincare, hair products and nail polish. We started this website as a way of sharing this passion with others and to create a community of supportive, enthusiastic beauty buffs just like us to pool knowledge and share ideas. It is very important to us that you enjoy the site and benefit from its content, so we encourage your input and feedback every step of the way. If there is something you would like to see or you have some tips of your…