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This scalp scrub from justice comes in a unisex-friendly blue tube packaging. The product is designed to gently exfoliate the scalp to remove build-up and excess oil. One is meant to place the product on the scalp, and gently massage, then rinse out. I am someone who has quite coarse hair, which means my scalp is quite densely packed with not much of it exposed, except for my parting. So it is always a struggle to apply scalp scrubs - it always feels like I'm applying the product to my hair roots instead of my scalp directly. I found it difficult to get to most of my scalp, and could only really do certain sections. Where I did get to, it did feel refreshing to massage the scrub. I'm glad that the 'beads' seem to dissolve and not get caught in my hair, so rinsing out wasn't as difficult as other scalp scrubs. It also left my scalp feeling clean and refreshed. My husband who has fine thin hair was able to use this much more successfully. Since he had an oily scalp, he enjoyed the refreshing feeling of applying this product. So YMMV depending on your hair density and length.

It may not be obvious at first to know how to use this product, as it appears like a giant crayon in flesh-toned colours. It turns out that it can be a foundation, highlighter or contour stick depending on the shade that you chose. If you pick a shade closest to your skin tone, it can be foundation. A darker shade can be used for contouring, and a lighter shade for highlighting. Maybelline Australia has 8 shades, but that's slightly disappointing since 18 shades were released in the US. Out of the 4 shades available at the marketplace event, I picked '30' which is a neutral tone that's darker than my skin tone. It's very creamy, glides on to skin without tugging, and it blends very easily. One swipe gives you light-medium coverage, but it can be easily built up without being cakey in anyway. I can imagine how easy it would to use this on the whole face, given how it just glides on without friction. I personally like using this as a contour blush, by that I mean I apply on my cheekbones from my hairline and stopping just under my eyes, and blending. It creates a subtle but flattering contouring effect that works well for my face shape. It is possible to blend with fingers, but I prefer using a small stippling brush to soften and blur the edges. I optionally apply a more coloured blush product on the apple of my cheeks and blend again. These are really convenient to use and excellent if you're new to highlighting or contouring, since they blend so well. If Maybelline Australia had more shades, I would definitely consider buying one more as my foundation stick and another for highlighting. Unfortunately not much suits my light warm olive skin tone.

This acid serum from Clinique comes in a very attractive pink bottle with a dropper. The formula includes glycerin, 5% lactic acid, hyaluronic acid, a small amount of Vit E and Vit C derivative. 5% lactic acid is a good percentage that provides exfoliation - most people including acid beginners can tolerate this, unless one has very sensitive skin. Lactic acid is an AHA that helps remove dead skin cells at the top of the skin to reveal brighter, fresher skin. This in turn helps address textural irregularties, dullness and uneven skin tone. It also has hydrating properties that's good for dehyrated skin. It's been a year or so since I used an exfoliating acid in my routine, not because I don't believe in them, but because I had been prioritising tretinoin, and using both is too much for my skin. For purposes of this trial, I stopped using tretinoin for two weeks. The results were quite immediate even with just using it every two nights for a week. My skin was glowing and even my partner noticed. The texture of the serum is very pleasant, it is water-based, has a non-drippy consistency that makes it easy to spread. It feels hydrating, probably due to the glycerin and hyaluronic acid. I love the fact that it is fragrance-free. It is certainly more elegant than The Ordinary's 5% lactic acid. All in all, a great serum that is effective and pleasant to use.

This hand cream comes in three sizes - 30g, 75g or 150g squeeze tubes. We were given the 150g size for the purposes of this trial. After all these years, Du'it still haven't changed the packaging, which would make this look perfectly at home in the garage or at SuperCheap Auto, but not the most stylish anywhere else. Having previously tried the fragrance-free version of this hand cream, I was surprised that this 'fragranced' version didn't have much of a smell, which is what I prefer. This hand cream's notable ingredients include 10% urea, Lactic Acid, Glycerin, Vit E. Urea is a wonderful ingredient as it is a great humectant and a very gentle exfoliant - perfect for dry and rough skin. The cream comes out very thick, so I would call it a 'balm' rather than a cream. It spreads well and forms a protective barrier that doesn't completely wash off with one hand wash. It doesn't feel like it absorbs or is instantly hydrating, but when left on overnight, it does protect and soften skin. It's an effective and inexpensive hand cream, but I wish Du'it could update the packaging. I understand wanting to appeal to men, but maybe have two options for packaging?

I love blush drops, and was excited to see that this was one of the items that we'd get to trial at the Best In Beauty marketplace event. These new blush drops come in three shades - pink petal, warm rose and peach crush. Out of these, the warm rose shade seemed to suit my olive skin tone best, even though it was a little bit on the dark side for my light skin. The packaging is cute, with a nozzle where you can squeeze out the liquid. I usually put some on my hand first, so that I can dab a little on my face at a time. The warm rose shade is quite pigmented on my skin, but it does spread and blend well. I find it looks better when I buff it out with a brush rather than rely on my fingers. The finish is dewy without being shiny or shimmery, it gives the look of healthy skin. It works best when paired with a satin or dewy face base makeup, rather than matte. I do enjoy using this! It would definitely my on my radar if they expand the shades - the other two shades didn't suit me. I was slightly disappointed to see that this product is made in Thailand and not Australia. It is reasonably priced though, so I guess that is the trade-off - I suppose Nude by Nature had to manufacture overseas like other big brands in order to stay competitive.

I've tried quite a few coloured lip products from Burts Bees, but somehow never tried the basic tinted lip balm. I had seen the shade 'red dahlia' mentioned often on reddit, and mentioned in the olive MUA sub. So it was interesting to see that this was the shade that Burts Bees chose to showcase at the Best In Beauty event. Firstly the formula - lots of nourishing oils and waxes including coconut, olive, sunflower oils, beeswax, shea butter. There is a pleasant and subtle scent from the ingredients even though there doesn't seem to be any artificial fragrances. The texture is buttery and comforting, and feels instantly hydrating without any stickiness. The shade looks very dark out of the tube, but it actually isn't that dark on the lips because the pigment is subtle. Incidentally, initial swipes from the brand new tube had very little pigment and I was initially disappointed. But the subsequent applications were more pigmented - perhaps the product just needed 'breaking in'. Red dahlia is a lovely dark neutral tone that would probably work on almost everyone except those who are pale. You can also put on more layers as it's buildable. It works well for those with olive skin tones like me. This is a very comfortable and easy lip product to use. It protects against dry lips and keeps them soft. Being a lip balm, it does need to be reapplied after eating or drinking. I find myself needing to re-apply after a few hours even without eating, as it seems to lose that nourishing feeling. It comes in 4 wearable shades. Even though $14 is pricey for a tinted lip balm, it does seem to go on sale, sometimes up to half price, which makes it still very affordable.

Thanks to BeautyHeaven, I've have been fortunate enough to have tried at least 4 hair dryers from Remington. The first and oldest, the Proluxe Digital, impressed me with its powerful motor and fast drying speed, and newer models failed to replace that workhorse from my routine. So I was sceptical when the brand representative at the marketplace event told me that I would love this new hair dryer. It turns out she was right! This purple T-shaped hair dryer is quite compact and lightweight, and comes with two attachments - a curling diffuser and a slim concentrator - which are more than enough for me. It has 4 heat settings (low, medium, high, alternating hot/cold), 3 fan speeds and a cool shot button. I was immediately impressed at how quickly the motor spun up as soon as the power was turned on, and the immediate shut off when turned off - no spinning down. Even though the air outlet seemed small, the airflow was quite impressive. I could select the medium heat setting with high speed fan setting and get my hair dried in a few minutes. It was also quieter than all my other hair dryers even at the highest speed. I was very surprised at how different the motor felt, and looked it up. It turns out that this uses a new generation brushless DC electric motor (BLDC). This is the same type of motor that Dyson uses in their hair dryers. These motors have less wear and tear and have higher efficiency (so you don't need many watts to get the same job done). That explained the near instantaneous control of air speed/shutdown and the lighter product. The motor in this hairdryer can spin up to 110,000 RPM and generate air speeds of 240km/h. As a comparison, the Proluxe Digital needed 2300W to generate 100km/h air speeds. One extra bonus worth mentioning is that this hair dryer has a Comfort+ mode, which alternates between hot/cold temperatures so that your hair and scalp don't get too hot. I have seen this alternating mode in Panasonic hair dryers and it is also excellent for setting your style. This hair dryer is impressive, and it took me by surprise. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for their next hair dryer, since it's also reasonably priced given the quality. Given the longevity of BLDC motors, it's no surprise that it has an impressive 5 year warranty. Well done, Remington!

I was very excited to see that this Remington product was showcased at the Best in Beauty event. It is an innovative product that looks like a hair straighter with hot plates, but it can actually be used on damp hair since it has vents that blow air to dry the hair as well. Having unruly frizzy hair, this sounded like just what I needed. There are two operating modes for this styler - wet mode and dry mode. Wet mode is for towel-dried and combed hair. The styler blows warm air and the plates are set to a lower temperature. One has to work through hair section by section, doing several passes on each section to dry it well. The air flow isn't strong like a hair dryer, so It can be time consuming to try to dry my long hair from start to finish. I personally prefer to use a hair dryer to dry my hair to 80% first, then use this section by section. The results on my stubborn hair are about 80% straight - smoother and tidier than just using a hair dryer but not super sleek. To really get it straight, I needed to finish with the dry mode as well. The dry mode is pretty much the same as if you had a dedicated hair straightener, and can be used anytime between washes. The plates heat up to a hotter 190 degrees celcius in this mode. There is only one temperature setting. It did a good job, but because of the barrel shaped outer casing, it is a little bulkier than dedicated straighteners, so it was a little difficult to get to my roots, especially those pesky baby hairs. I found the results to be quite decent, but not super straight like a dedicated straightener. The neat thing about this styler is that the outer surface does not get hot, and I feel I can safely get close to my forehead etc. I also like the length of the electrical cord which was generous. Overall, I think it's a neat tool but it's a bit difficult to tame my unruly hair. I am not ready to ditch my dedicated hair straightener for this, since it doesn't have the same control in terms of temperature settings. However, I will continue to use it in wet mode especially if I am going out after washing my hair.

Having previously trialed Dermal Therapy's Very Dry face cream, I was curious about how different this face cream would be. Upon inspecting the ingredients lists, both contained urea and glycerin (great humectants), but I could see that this overnight cream had additional active ingredients common in anti-aging products, such as Vit E, Vit C derivative and peptides + 3 ceramides; whereas the very dry face cream had colloadial oatmeal, 5 ceramides and was more focused on skin barrier repair. I actually wrote to Dermal Therapy to ask about the percentage of urea, and I was informed that this also has 5% urea like the very dry face cream. This product comes out thick from the tube, but it doesn't feel heavy on the skin. It has a similar smell to the very dry face cream because of the urea. Texture-wise it feels a little gritty at first but it spreads out fine. It's not the most elegant, however, it does the job in that it protects my skin overnight and I wake up without feeling any dryness. The trial period was short, just under two weeks - I did not notice any additional benefits apart from it being a good moisturiser. However, I do think that 5% urea is a percentage that is high enough to make a difference, but not so high that one is likely to get irritation or over-exfoliate. This 40g tube retails at $21.99, whereas the very dry face cream was 50g retailing at $18.99. It is 'better' in terms of the addition anti-aging ingredients, but probably not at a high enough percentage to make a real difference. So unless you are the type of person who does not want to incorporate serums at all into your routine, I think the very dry face is a better buy.

Most people in Australia who are into skincare and read reviews would be familiar with Dermal Therapy's lip balms, which win high praise for their effectiveness. I have been a big fan of their lip balms since being introduced to them through Beauty Heaven, and have often bought them for friends overseas. For the 2025 Best in Beauty marketplace event, we were given the 'original' lip balm, which is an unflavoured one. The formula includes petrolatum, cocoa seed butter, lanolin, urea - which are great ingredients to stop water loss and nourish the lips. It also contains a small amount of BHA. The squeezy tube contains a generous 10ml of product which lasts quite a while even with daily use. It glides on and instantly relieves dry lips, and also protects against dryness for many hours including overnight. However, due to the menthol, it does tingle slightly, even though it is not as bad as some other lip balms that have menthol or peppermint. If you don't mind menthol, this would be perfect for you. It is really, really effective! If you prefer something without menthol (like me), don't give up on Dermal Therapy completely. Check out their manuka honey or paw paw lip balms which have no menthol.