Recently, I was sent the Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Moisturiser, Micro-Sculpting Night Moisturiser and Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence with thanks to the team at BEAUTY / crew.

As someone who is old enough to remember when it was called Oil of Ulan, I wondered if the anti-aging claims would do anything for my facial skin.

Fun fact: the original Oil of Ulan name was only in Australia. It was called Oil of Olay when first launched in South Africa and given regional-specific names designed to be pleasing to the target consumer. It later became Oil of Olay and then finally just Olay in 1999.

These products sound intensely complex and hardcore but let me break it down for you, in order of recommended usage.

Olay Regenerist Miracle Boost Youth Pre-Essence


This is the most complicated sounding product and to be fair, it did take me a minute or two to work out the pump twisty lid dispenser which delivers a precise dose via dropper to be massaged into face and neck. I love these kind of of no-fail dispensing units as it reduces wastage. This product is designed to boost the anti-aging properties of the following moisturisers, renewing surface skin cells and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. A clear serum with no discernable scent and felt light and soothing on the skin.

Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Moisturiser


The day cream is the most advanced and popular of Olay's Regenerist range and is the result of over 50 years of research designed to maximise liftage and firming of the skin. It's also lightweight and felt good on the skin, providing thorough moisturisation and was quickly absorbed without feeling too greasy or heavy. It smells faintly of apples and that is completely acceptable to me. The packaging feels luxe and reflects the price tag.

Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Night Moisturiser


I've mentioned before that I steer away from night creams to avoid overloading my face with product as I'm susceptible to milia seeds, so I was concerned this product might have an adverse effect on my skin. With the highest concentration of their amino-peptide and Hydra Firming complexes, I'm pleased to report that the lightweight gel-like formula agreed wholeheartedly with my skin and adding this step in my night routine in conjunction with the Miracle Boost Pre-Essence took no time and felt completely natural. The scent is also very faint and inoffensive and it's quickly absorbed into the skin so you're ready to hit the pillow without sticking to it. One thing: the packaging is identical to the Day version with the word Night in small letters on the front. For ease of use, I'd suggest a colour differentiator on the lid or jar.


In terms of results, while my skin felt and looked good with no reportable reactions or milia seeds, I didn't notice any reduction in visible signs of aging. However, to be fair (don't hate me), I don't have very many so it's possible this product is not designed to be suitable for my face at this stage in life. I would still recommend to others to have a go - it's a good quality moisturising product at any rate.

Do you have a multi-step moisturising routine? Do you use products designed for anti-aging? Do you remember when it was called Oil of Ulan?

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Products kindly provided by BEAUTY / crew for review. Portions of this post have appeared as reviews at www.beautycrew.com.au. Please see my PR and Media policy for more information.

Well, I'm not sure how that happened but it looks like we've pretty much reached the end of 2016 so it's time for the obligitory year in review post.

I provided a mid-year review on where I was at with my wardrobe, my blogging and my business so let's check in on how I went from there:

Wardrobe

I'm calling it, the #AlmostPoshStyleCost project is done and dusted for 2016. You can read the wrap-up here if you missed it last week, including my best and worst buys for the year and if you're interested, you can check out the month by month play here. I'm super proud of myself for sticking with tracking my expenditure on clothes, shoes and accessories for the whole year and fully intend to keep it going into 2017 where you will be welcome to join me. Prepare yourself now for the new year by downloading the cost tracker spreadsheet and be ready to start adding up! I'm even adding a Cost Per Wear column to really get into the forensics. Now we're getting serious.

I was pretty diligent in clearing out things I wasn't wearing and will continue to turn my new velvet flocked hangers around every six months. I'm much happier with the content of my wardrobe these days and the fact that I have much greater visibility on gaps.

Blogging

It's been my second full year of blogging and it's coming along nicely! From meeting heaps of new friends interstate and locally, attending cool events and getting opportunities to work with brands and businesses, I've been overall happy with the direction and growth of Almost Posh in 2016. Sure, there have been times when I've wondered what the point of it was or become frustrated that I'm not yet an internet celebrity or super rich but I'm satisfied that I've remained authentic, transparent, ethical and true to the voice of the blog throughout and that is something that's important to me.

Business

You may know I started a small business this year, Writemate, to legitimise both the blog and the side gig work I was doing for friends and other businesses in document preparation, formatting, editing, CVs, cover letters, copywriting, internetty help and the like. I've had small jobs here and there throughout the year which has been great and it has paved the way to open more doors in the future. More on that as it comes to hand early in the new year. Exciting.

Life

With world news, election results and departing of music legends aside, 2016 has been pretty good for me and mine with health and happiness at acceptable levels. I wish the same for you and your family as we head towards the new year.


Almost Posh will be closed for the Christmas and New Year break and return late January 2017. I'll still be on socials and sharing some of my archived stuff so keep an eye out on Facebook and Instagram.


Wishing you and your loved ones all the best for a super Merry Christmas and an awesomely Happy New Year, with thanks for all your support, comments and readership over the year! Any plans?

I started tracking my expenditure on clothes, shoes and accessories this year after reading a magazine feature that tracked stylists given monthly budgets of varying amounts, one of them being $2000 AUD a month. A MONTH. I know.

It led me to realise I had no idea what I spent on average a month and certainly not within a year, so the #AlmostPoshStyleCost project was born. I dutifully entered every item I bought or acquired, noting the original RRP and rounded up each month's purchases in a blog post. You can see the archive here. Now it's time to check out the best and worst purchases of 2016. Spoiler alert, two of the best feature in the photo below.


First, let's get December's minor purchases out of the way. Obviously with Christmas festivities and gift buying, I did not go nuts.

Last month, I attempted to buy some white jeans with my ASOS gift voucher. Unfortunately, when they arrived, I couldn't get them up over my rump (size 12, my . . . rump) so they were back in the reusable post bag and heading back to the mothership within 24 hours. However, I still wanted some as part of a #neversaynever challenge I'm undertaking. So when Katies dropped 50% site wide, I pounced on these 7/8 jeggings and I'm still waiting for the Collect part of my Click and Collect.

I was due to catch up with my blog squad friends after work one day and picked up these earrings on a whim from Colette Hayman to jazz up the outfit I'm wearing in the pic above. I regret nothing.

Year in Review

Without further ado, let's see how 2016 panned out.

Best Buys 

(aka things you've seen a million times on Instagram)

Shoes

Black ankle boots from Target ($39.00). Unusually, I paid full price for these; normally with Target, I'd sale stalk but I really liked them and didn't want to miss out.

Outerwear

If you've been reading along this year, you'll know I have come close to weeping with joy upon finding not one, not two, but three decent jackets after spending most of my life without them. I went to the Katies VIP Shopping Night and picked up this PU Ponte Jacket for $62.97, marked down from $89.95 and have worn it to death. DEATH.

Accessories

I loved this Kmart scarf ($7) and often got nice comments when wearing / posting in it.

A little while back, you might remember I was invited to the Bloggers United x LUSH event out at Marion Shopping Centre. It was a lovely event and we all had a very nice time. And I got given this awesome face mask which I love because it is like a mix of coffee and tequila so I'm not even mad when I get a little in my mouth.


The issue I've always had with LUSH is that it's so damn popular, you cannot get into the city store without having to squeeze and squish your way around. I'm not into crowds or elbows in the ribs so I tend to avoid it.

All that is about to change with the opening of LUSH's new city store, which is literally next door to where they were on the ground floor of the Myer Centre in Rundle Mall. This store is set to be the largest one in Australia and I was excited to get an invitation to be one of the first to go check it out!


There were lovely cocktails to try . . .



And of course loads of LUSH's gorgeous signature products everywhere you looked . . .


You could make your own bath bombs . . .


Or test out some of the products with the help of LUSH's expert staff. The LUSH team know all there is to know about their products; what's in it, where it comes from, what it does and what they love about it! Here's Lauren from Teacher Types (and Almost Posh contributor) getting her arm shampooed and conditioned . . .


And we got to see bath bombs in action!


Annoyingly, something was wrong with my phone. It has been draining the battery rapidly lately - I left work at 56% and by the time I arrived at LUSH an hour later, it was at 6% which meant it died almost immediately.

Thanks to Lauren for sending this pic of me getting the Queen Bee hair honey styling product tested.


And for getting this group shot!


That's Lauren on the left, me, Jenni from Styling Curvy and Caitlin from Twist of Cait.

When we entered the event, we were each given a generous gift voucher to spend on anything we liked! There were loads of things I wanted to try so I talked to the staff at length and people I knew who had tried certain things like Di from Max The Unicorn to make sure I got some good stuff!

Think I did pretty well . . .


Stay tuned for a review post!

Many thanks to LUSH Adelaide for having us, gifting us and putting on a lovely event and Kate and Nici at Promote SA for getting us in!

Are you a Lushie? What's your favourite product?

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I was a guest at this event and was gifted a voucher to purchase the products shown. All images, words and opinions are mine, apart from the two Lauren took and sent to me thanks to my phone failure. For more information, please see my PR and Media policy.

A while back, my mate Jenni approached me and some fellow Radelaide bloggers about doing a photo shoot to highlight body diversity.

In bathers / swimsuits / togs / cossies [insert your regional preference here].

At the beach.

I believe my exact words might have been "OMG YES TOTALLY" but after it had sunk in, I thought to myself, "wow, am I really up for this?" (spoiler alert: yes, actually)


I've never been one to look in the mirror and automatically hate everything I see but not going to lie; there are times when nothing fits, everything looks awful, I've been self-conscious about my nose or my teeth, I can't find a nice formal dress that allows for my rack. My thighs are dimpled and the way I carry weight has changed since being pregnant. I totally delete photos that I think make me look fat.

However, I've always felt like I've had a pretty decent relationship with my body. It gets me up and about (with a few more aches and pains than I'd like but whatevs), it's carried a child, it has stayed reasonably illness-and-injury-free throughout our 38 years and it can still drop it on the dance floor from time to time. If I could be bothered to exercise it more than once a week and stop filling it with pasta and hot chips it could probably be a bit slimmer but my drive would be having a fitter and healthier rig, rather than a skinnier one.

Anyway, this is all well and good but I was still mildly concerned about showing up on a public beach, exposing my guts and getting my photo taken. You can only suck in so much, you know.


We were each kindly gifted a swimsuit from the Curvy by Capriosca range. I decided to push myself right out there and chose the Black Retro Check two piece, the first since I was a kid (that wasn't a tankini / board shorts combo) and was really pleased that I did. Finally, a proper pair of pretty togs that supported what my grandmother gave me. I've had to swim in a normal bra, long tee and shorts before, due to lack of available options, and it's so dragging and uncomfortable and heavy. Swimming should be something that allows you to enjoy the weightlessness sensation of the water, not like you're going for the life-saving module in the bronze swimming certificate.

The morning of the shoot dawned bright and clear so naturally there were half a million people on the beach enjoying the sun. We wrapped ourselves in our sarongs and kimonos and braved the sand. Jenni kicked off and owned it, so we followed her lead and well, here's me . . .







I mean, how is this for #squadgoals. Baywatch, you ain't got jack.


By the end of the shoot, the wraps and cover-ups were forgotten and we were standing on the beach in our bathers, laughing, joking, splashing around JUST LIKE WE SHOULD BE. And do you know what? Nobody pointed and laughed. Nobody gave us the side eye. We had some interested onlookers wondering what we were doing and what brand of bathers we were wearing, otherwise NOBODY CARED. So why on earth should we?

Anyone with a differing view, well . . . here's four you can kiss.


Thanks to our photographer Jackie Reichstein who got up early on a Sunday to snap us down at Henley Beach.

Thank you also to Curvy Swimwear and Sequins & Sand for our apparel.

Want to see more? Obviously. Check out my fellow beach babes and their take on the experience:

Jenni at Styling Curvy
Caitlin at Twist of Cait
Jazz at Just Wingin' It

Finally, follow along on le socials with hashtags #yourbodyconfident and #cossieconfidence

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I was kindly gifted a pair of bathers from Curvy Swimwear for this shoot. For more information, please see my PR and Media policy.

I felt like I went a bit nuts in November until I went to write this round-up post for the #AlmostPoshStyleCost project and realised almost all of the retail activity took place in the first five days. As Christmas approaches, I've hauled in the random spendage in order to facilitate gift buying but a gift voucher and crazy sales makes things less spendy. I was also holding out for the Black Friday sales that drop on the fourth Friday of November for Americans and, increasingly, here.

As payment for a couple of DJ gigs, I was given an ASOS voucher, so I wasted no time jumping online and taking advantage of a 20% off sale. I ended up ordering four dresses and a necklace during the free money frenzy. Since ASOS have now got on board with free returns (HALLELOO!) it makes taking a punt a whole lot easier.

When the parcel arrived, I tried everything on. Two dresses made the cut, the other two and the necklace went back. Which means store credit. YAY!


I wasn't sure about the fringe part of the Style London Festival dress with fringe as I worried I might look a bit lamp-shadey but I'm down with it now.


Excuse the bored expression but I really do like this Yumi floral shift dress.

A few days later, I was shopping with Mum and we hit up Crossroads during a 30% off errythang sale, including sale items. I nabbed three items for the sum total of $35, namely:


This lightweight split back jumper -  I wasn't expecting to actually wear it before it got cool again but of course, Adelaide's eternal winter didn't disappoint. This is actually a maternity top. Do I care? Nope.


I like a blouse but finding the right one can be difficult sometimes, especially with button-gaping a serious issue. Was happy to nab this one, also maternity, also no effs given. It also worked out nicely on this day as I could blouse it out at the back to disguise the fact I didn't have the skirt zipped up all the way after a big lunch.

Finally, another striped shirt to add into the rotation. Don't stop til you get enough. This one has longer sleeves and is a heavier weight though, so totally necessary. I haven't got a pic though, soz.

I'd been stalking these tan lace-up heels at Spendless for ages and one day, my husband woke up and decided he needed a complete smart casual ensemble for upcoming Christmas functions. Cue a trip to the Plaza, waning interest after trying on more than two pairs of pants and then a nice suede-finish find in Spendless, who were having a "buy 2, get $20 off" sale. Well, it would have been FOOLISH for me not to take advantage so we treated ourselves from the joint account and went and had lunch in the food court. I haven't worn them yet.

Not much more action until I went down to Rivers last weekend to procure some shorts for said husband and discovered they were having 40% off storewide. Again, I treated myself, namely with this paisley bordered dress:


And these nifty cropped pants:


And finally these loose black pants which will be great for hot weather. I've decided these kind of pants will be my jam this summer, unless I find some kind of miracle shorts. And yes, that is Dyson dust.


Clothes and Shoes
Items acquired: 9
Total original ticket "value": $452.80
Paid: $138.95
YTD Spend: $1,714.60
YTD "Value": $3,581.16

In terms of accessorizzles, I picked up a pair of earrings on sale from Mimco with my $30 birthday reward voucher (and scored free shipping during the Vogue Online Shopping Event, whoop) and a cute silicon necklace which is technically a teething one but whevs because I can squish the little beads myself rather than having a kid chew on them. Don't get it twisted with all this maternal fashion though, we are one and done!

Accessories
Items acquired: 2
Total original ticket "value": $54
Paid: $23.95
YTD Spend: $101.40
YTD "Value": $947.57

I did acquire one more item of "clothing" and that will be the topic of an extra special blog event in conjunction with three other Adelaide bloggers, coming to you live this Sunday. Keep an eye out for it!