A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

The second of the three new hair styling tools from Enrapture due to be released on the 15th August is the Enrapture Amplify Jumbo Waver*.  An odd-looking device with a trio of barrels that promise to coax your hair into a series of smooth “S” shapes, a.k.a “beachy” waves.

In theory, we’ve been here before.  I recently tried the Babyliss Wave Envy which although thoroughly impressive in design, abilities and price, left me with more of a ‘crimp’ than a ‘wave’.

These bad boys boast an impressive 25mm barrel (hence the Jumbo!) which means that they should ensure less crimping and more waving!

They’re heavy but not ‘too’ heavy to hold comfortably.  I found them a little unwieldy around the back of my head but I do have fairly short arms and a distinct lack of co-ordination.  The ‘flipper’ which controls the open/close mechanism on the waver is well engineered, with a light almost springy reaction.  This makes sure you don’t get thumb ache when ‘waving’!

The barrels are made from titanium which promises to give a smooth and snag free styling experience and I can’t argue with that as I experienced no issues with dragging or catching on my hair as I moved the styler through various sections.

It has an adjustable heat setting which I would have preferred to see digitised with actual temperature detailing so I could judge exactly how hot the tool was getting.  On the flipside, the controls are ridiculously simple.  An on/off switch and a heat dial.  Thassit.

So how did I get on with the styler?

Well… pretty well actually.  Similarly to the Babyliss, it’s ridiculously easy to use from a technical point of view.  I’m sure you’re ‘supposed’ to section your hair into accurate little pieces but I just fed handfuls of it willy-nilly into the jaws of the styler, clamped, moved down the hair shaft, clamped again… repeat until you run out of hair.

And that’s all I did.  I’m one of those ‘stylers’ who often start with the best of intentions.  All my little clips, brush, heat protection sprays surrounding me.  After about 7 minutes I’m just shoving my hair AT the styling tool and hoping for the best.

I was done in 10 minutes which goes against the brand’s ethos of “When everyday hair just isn’t enough” because I’d politely suggest that this is perfect everyday hair.  Everyday ‘tousled’ hair.

Wanna see what I managed to get from the Enrapture Amplify Jumbo Waver?

I had it on the ‘non-commital’ halfway heat setting as shown in the above photo and held the clamp shut for around 10 seconds.  That’s probably too long or something but my hair doesn’t seem to be complaining… I’ll try turning the temperature up and clamping for less time next attempt.

I’m really digging this styler, it solves the crimping problems I found with the Babyliss (albeit at a heftier price tag).

The Enrapture Amplify Jumbo Waver is set to launch this month into all major retailers (Boots, Argos, Debenhams etc.) with an RRP of £74.95 – for more information, check out www.enrapturehair.com or talk to the hair gurus on Facebook or Twitter

* press sample

en·rap·ture

verb /enˈrapCHər/

Give intense pleasure or joy to

Three new styling tools designed to give a variety of curls, waves and va-va-voom to your locks.  The new Enrapture range isn’t about the everyday, roll out of bed and make yourself look presentable.  The tools have been designed for when “everyday hair just isn’t enough”.

But what does that marketing guff actually mean?  Well, it means that this trio of hair styling tools has been created for those times when you want extra-special hair, going-out hair, sex-kitten hair (ok, I made that last one up) – you see what I’m getting at?  I wouldn’t use these on my hair before heading down to Lidl on a Friday morning because a).  By the time I’d mastered my ‘do’ the shop would be shut and b).  I might get chatted up by ‘Art’ the fruit n’ veg guy.

The tools in the range include:

Encode Totem Styler – A curling wand with a teeny flipper and independent heat zones to customize your curl.

Amplify Jumbo Waver – A waver with bigger-than-normal barrels to create beachy hair.

Extremity Heated Rollers – Heated rollers with the ability to heat hair from BOTH sides of the curl.

I’ll be reviewing all three tools but initially I want to show you the Encode Totem Styler* which at first glance looks rather complicated.

It’s basically a curling wand with the addition of a flipper (which you can choose to use or ignore) and three individually heated zones on the barrel that will heat to a temperature of your choosing.  The point of this is to give you the option to customise your curl.  Do you want a looser wave near the scalp getting tighter toward the end?  You need to dial in a 1-2-3 (1 being the lowest heat setting).

The styler incorporates a 25mm, titanium-plated barrel that ensures a fast heat-up and snag-free styling.  I did find the ‘cool-tip’ to be a little uncomfortably warm after around 10 minutes of styling, so that’s something I’d like to see improved in future versions but I can’t say I had any other ‘technical’ problems relating to the tool’s build quality.

The styler is light enough to hold comfortably for long periods of time and once you become accustomed to the way the coding system works, it’s all rather intuitive.

I can see a Facebook group in the company’s future, asking their fans to unlock their ‘codes’ and share their hair results with other users.  “Hey, check out my hair – I’m a 2-2-3!” etc. etc. – It’s a neat idea and whilst it could be a little gimmicky if it didn’t actually work, the whole independent heat zones provides tangible results so I’m not complaining.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if the styler came with 2 extra pairs of hands?

Well, I tried to recreate the Katie Melua-esque (in my dreams) curls that I was given at the launch event in the (dis)comfort of my own bedroom and for a novice,  I didn’t do too badly!  Sure, I may have given myself a minor scorching on the wrist but I’m not used to these wand things!

I’m looking forward to trying out some more coding combinations for different effects (the above was 1-2-3, loose-med-tight), I wanna know what a 2-3-2 would turn out like… it sounds weird in theory!

The Enrapture Encode Totem Styler is set to launch this month into all major retailers (Boots, Argos, Debenhams etc.) with an RRP of £74.99 (ouch) – for more information, check out www.enrapturehair.com or talk to the hair gurus on Facebook or Twitter

It’s all about big hair this year isn’t it?!  Do you curl your hair for special occasions?

* press sample