Two Days In Daylesford at Ablac Studio

It's been too many days since a blog post! Unfortunately work got in the way. Fortunately I was also busy taking off for a couple of days to Daylesford! This post will be fairly picture heavy. 

My boyfriend D and I stayed at the Ablac Studio which was booked through Dayget. We paid $440 plus booking fee for two nights (Thursday + Friday). Yep, fairly steep for the "country" but from doing some digging around it seemed to be the going rate. I've got some pretttyyy pictures of the studio house below:

Oh yeah - outdoor tub!

A cute free little package - a REALLY nice touch with some great stuff inside.

The site was set on quite a few acres and these little guys were about 50 metres from where we were sleeping!

We took advantage of the reasonable kitchenette and made a couple of our own meals.

Not going to lie - it was a bit creepy bathing in pitch black!

The boyfriends great idea of adding Nerds into the pancakes (men...)

Overall we did enjoy our stay at the Ablac Studio. It wasn't perfect - the cooking utensils needed to be replaced and properly cleaned and there was also zero reception but it was a great getaway. It's absolutely surrounded by Australian bush and is located on a dirt road with a heck of a lot of pot holes but I think it all adds to the charm. The only deterrence would be the price.. In the future we will take advantage of some accommodation sales in Daylesford. Check in was 3pm and check out was 12pm which is very reasonable.

We went to quite a few places but I didn't get any photos of them (worst blogger ever) but I did get a couple of an AMAZING coffee place called Buffalo Girls Cafe. With a superb Urbanspoon rating of 97%  it was a must go for us and we went twice. The reviews speak for itself. The setting is casual, comfortable but still incredibly interesting with all the different furniture and decor. The owner is really friendly and had a really interesting background story - ask him about it! I just drank whatever he gave me and loved it. By the way - a coffee is $3!! Yep, $3! Pretty good compared to Melbourne CBD prices.

Oh Daylesford we will be back.. So many places to explore and only a 90 minute drive from Melbourne. A must go.

I am not affiliated with Dayget or Buffalo Girls Cafe. Everything was paid for out of our own money. 

Benefit Brow Bar Review (Chadstone Myer)

My brows for the past three months have been SHOCKING! They got completely butchered by a woman who worked at one of the threading bars that have been popping up in Australian shopping centres the last couple of years. I love threading and I love the results but unfortunately if you have a bad threader it can totally ruin the experience. So, I have been growing them out for the past three months and I've been on the lookout for a good brow artist!

I decided to give Benefit's Brow Bar a go. I've tried a 'walk in' appointment three times but they were all booked up. So if you want an appointment, call in advance. You may be left disappointed if you don't. Allocated appointment times I think are 15 minutes but mine took 20 (most likely because I had never been before). Before they begin you have to sign an agreement and also disclose if you use benzoyl peroxide and roaccutane. Turns out they won't wax you if you do, they will instead tweeze. I thought this was interesting and a credit to Benefit.

I went to the Chadstone Myer store and thought my beauty therapist was beautiful! Really took an interest in what I had to say and talked me through the whole process. She recommended me getting a tint so that the colour in the start of my brow continued to the end. The dye stayed on for a few minutes and whilst it was applied well and consistently, I found the colour to be a bit wrong for my red hair. There wasn't a "red" or a "auburn" option so next time I won't be getting the light brow tint that I received. However, if you have blonde or brunette hair I think you would like the tint. Tinted brows are easy maintenance if you don't like filling in your brows. If you like filling in your brows though you may as well skip out on the tint. Apparently Benefit's tint lasts for 2 weeks.

[iPhone pic!] Tint applied and the right (your right, but actually my left eye!) waxed.

She then mapped my brows and we established that one brow had a higher arch than the other and both are a little short near my nose. Waxing then took place. It wasn't painless but it wasn't the most painful wax I've ever had. I think this is because they used cloth to take the wax off which was really nice. She then tweezed any remaining hairs and lightly filled my brows in with the Instant Brow Pencil.

I paid $37 total for a brow wax and a brow tint. It's $27 for just a wax which is what I'll be getting in 4 weeks time. The brow tint I wasn't happy with as it did not suit my hair colour at all. Not a fan unfortunately and I won't be getting it ever again. I will however be back for a brow wax. 

Finished, with glasses. Taken one hour after completion at night.

I'm really glad that I waited on posting this review. A few days after my tint I noticed that the colour had actually darkened from the photos above. Basically, they looked awful!! I had strangers telling me that "if you paid someone to do that to your brows, don't ever let them get at you ever again". Even my father said I looked ridiculous. Now, I've had tints before but NEVER this dark. Obviously there are some lighting issues in the photos above and below. My hair in real life is lighter than the one above and darker in the one below. However the brow colour in the bottom photo is very accurate.

Three days after wax & tint

I got in touch with the area manager to organise a refund on the tint. I was most unhappy with the final result of the tint. However, I loved and highly recommend the wax. The tint didn't work on me because of my colouring. The area manager did not give me a refund but instead was willing to give me a complimentary brow wax which I really did appreciate. I'll definitely be back, I think I've found my forever brow home!