To Our Friends in the US of A

One of the most interesting and conceptually brilliant magazines ever published, ‘Dumbo Feather’ is now available in your country at Barnes & Noble stores.

Read the rest of this entry »

For Naturally Sexy Hair That’s Chemical Free

Why does everything we do to make our hair look fabulous end up damaging it? Here are my top tips for getting naturally sexy hair that doesn’t involve anything you need a chemistry degree to understand.

1. Banana - I know, weird, but it really works. Mix a ripe Banana with either 2 tablespoons of Coconut Milk or 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil. Use it like you would a conditioning mask, wrap your hair up in cling film and a hot towel for 15 minutes. Rinse and then shampoo and condition as usual.
2. Mint tea - use as final rinse to give oily hair a nice shine.
3. Avoid styling products that contain isopropyl or ethyl alcohol as both dry hair.
4. Get your hair trimmed regularly - this may seem elementary but time flies and it’s easy to forget.
5. If you have dry hair - wash it only 2 or 3 times per week with a mild SLS-free shampoo.
6. Flaxseed Oil is brilliant to nourish hair from the inside out and can easily be added to your diet.
7. Avocado makes a great moisturising mask - just mash it up and apply to your hair, cover in a shower cap and rinse it out 30 minutes later. Shampoo and condition as normal.

So there you have it - bring your hair back from the brink of destruction with these simple natural tips.

Now…where’s my straightening iron…

Sass Magazine talks to Lesley-Ann Trow about Gorgeous Things

Written by Jennifer Jennings for Sass Magazine October 2007 edition

“I started Gorgeous Things last September. It’s great fun to take something you love and share it. All the natural skincare and chemical-free cleaning products are Australian, Read the rest of this entry »

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Well, as a matter of fact I have. Whilst trying to reconcile my love of the web with my previous career in book publishing I’m often faced with the dilemma of no time for reading for enjoyment. I adore words, their subtleties and their use fascinates me and that fact that a well worded insult can wound more profoundly than a bunch of fives really does it for me. With that in mind I got up from my desk on Saturday and went to the biggest book store I could find and spent hours trawling through the shelves trying to find something good to read.

I stumbled across a very pink looking book ‘Sugarbabe’ by Holly Hill (a pseudonym I learn from the back cover) that’s based on a true story and immediately I’m enthralled. Let me tell you this is not highbrow literature but it is one of the most compelling things I’ve read in a while. So much so that the next time I looked up it was 20 minutes later and I’d read 25 pages. Thought I’d better purchase it before someone came up and said “it’s not a library y’know.”

This is what it’s about - after a failed relationship 35 year old Psychologist, Holly decides that to pay her mortgage and write the novel she’s been conceptualising she needs a Sugar Daddy. She places an ad and the rest of the book is her search for and encounters with wealthy men (one at a time of course) who employ her services as confidant and lover. Now, if this book were just sex and titillation then I’d probably have given up around page 40 (my usual give up point for annoying fiction where I don’t care about the characters) but ‘Sugarbabe’ is so much more and charms you with it’s portrayal of ‘real’ characters with real human flaws. It also challenges your notion of right and wrong and begs the question ‘how far would you go?’

On the scale of ‘buy a copy of Marie Claire instead and save yourself the pain’ to ‘no, no I’m serious…you have to read this book’ Sugababe comes in with just less than top marks and I’m giving it a ‘go on…treat yourself.’

Sugarbabe by Holly Hill $32.95

Published by Random House Australia

E String Re-useable Shopping Bags

Currently, and climbing at a rate not unlike the speed of sound the number of plastic shopping bags in use just this year worldwide is:

363,145,968,124

Maybe the saying should go, ‘if I had a dollar for every plastic shopping bag…’ In Australia alone we consume on average 326 plastic bags per person per year.

I’m not trying to alarm anyone here, I’m just going to point out that there are some great alternatives to plastic bags and E String Bags are just one of them. I’m mentioning E String Bags in particular as they are cheap, effective, colourful, roll up in a little ball when you’re not using them and they hold 14kg of shopping, all while looking really cool. They’re just a brilliant product all round and are available now on our secure shopping site.

If you would like to know the reality of what plastic shopping bags are doing to our planet then here is an eye-opening article from the United Nations Environment Program titled The World’s Largest Landfill is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

Be kept up to date by joining the Gorgeous Things Newsletter ‘Beauty & Brains’ mailing list.

Other posts you might like:

Could Cleaning Your Home be Damaging Your Health

How to Make Cleaning Fun

Environment Wins Against Celebrities on Google Trends

It’s Easy to be a Good Friend

There’s really only one question you need to ask yourself to determine your abilities as a friend.

Do my actions meet up with my words? Read the rest of this entry »

No Tattoos Before You’re Thirty

I found this great little book in one of my favourite girly homewares stores in Terrigal on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It’s called ‘No Tattoos Before You’re Thirty - what I’ll tell my children…’ by Aussie writer Sam de Brito and it’s well worth the $15 and the 20 minutes of your time. It’s insightful and also really funny. Definitely the kind of advice I wish my father had given me.

I’ll have to admit that I got my first, and so far only tattoo (I’m not ruling out more) at the age of 28 but I totally understand where Sam is coming from with his advice. The book is in 2 sections - the front for advice he’d give to a daughter titled ‘for my gorgeous daughter’ and the back is advice for sons ‘to my dashing son.’

The first person who can tell me where I got the picture for my tattoo from then there’s a copy of ‘No Tattoos Before You’re Thirty’ on it’s way to you. Feel free to send in pictures of your own tattoos - as long as they’re tasteful and tell me how old you were when you got them - what was your inspiration and are you still glad it’s a part of you?

I’m curious because I see many people at my Natural Therapies Clinic that have had tattoos removed and they’re usually the ones they’ve had done when they were fairly young.

Organic Fairtrade Hampstead Tea

So, what did you think? Which was your favourite?

Leave a comment or send us an email

Read the rest of this entry »

Organic Cotton - is it worth the extra cost?

I was concerned about this question when I was researching the possibility of stocking organic cotton sheets at Gorgeous Things. For several reasons, I’ve now come to the conclusion that it’s worth the extra cash and this is why.

Read the rest of this entry »

September Newsletter - Out on Monday

If you’ve been reading Beauty & Brains our monthly newsletter you’ll know it’s packed full of great natural beauty tips, cool new products, easy ways to make a positive contribution to mother nature and some warm hearted super fabulous ideas from our Gorgeous Things Cruise Director, Leeanne Dixon for things to do to make your month infinitely more enjoyable.

Read the rest of this entry »