A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

When my hair was long, I craved for hair that could carry off a distinct style… a sharp bob or an angled, chiseled look that would accentuate my non-existent facial bone structure.

Or maybe a pixie cut… channel my inner Jean Seberg, coax her out from inside me kicking and screaming…

Once I opted for a basic razored bob, I was in heaven.  For about 3 weeks.

And then it started to grow out and I never really fell in love with it again.

A year and many, many trims later… I’m at that awkward teenage hair stage.  It’s almost on my shoulders.  It’s unruly and it’s disobedient.

I’m completely jonesing these:

I want waves… soft, fluffy bedhead hair.  It’s getting cold and I want hair that keeps the back of my neck toasty warm.

What haircuts are you ladies desiring?  Link me up to some pics – I wanna be inspired!

Holy hairballs Batman.

This is the new Jessica Simpson Bob Wig from the HairDo range created by Ken Paves.

Nothing shouts “I’m wearing a big wiggy wig!” like a wig with this amount of hair in it.  Who has hair that is WIDER than their face?  Seriously… I reckon I could sleep under that.

It would probably look great thinned out… but you’d need a dumper truck to carry away what’s left on the salon floor.

By the way, this is an excellent opportunity to plug the charity My New Hair, founded and inspired by Trevor Sorbie MBE.

My New Hair offer a specialist wig styling service for people suffering from cancer or medical hair loss.  I had the opportunity to see one of their clever stylists in action a couple of years ago at Guy Kremer’s salon in Winchester and there ain’t nothing those wig wizards can’t do to make a NHS wig sparkle!

I went to LUSH last week and one of the things that I came out with was this unattractive looking lump.

Looks like something I’d need a poopa scoopa for to be quite honest.

It smells foul too… whenever I have this anywhere near me, I keep getting flashbacks of when I used to empty my ashtrays.  I’m really selling it to you aren’t I?

I can forgive it all this though if it helps my scalp as it claims…

[stextbox id=”custom” bcolor=”b0c4de” bgcolor=”e6e6fa”]Snake Oil treats dandruff and it smells like it means business. Melt it on to your fingertips, then massage it right into your scalp. Leave the lavender, tea tree and peppermint oils to do their work for twenty minutes or so, and then wash it off with Soak and Float shampoo.[/stextbox]

My hair is coloured, if it strips the colour… it’s going in the bin.  I was told in the store that it would be fine with coloured hair… but the SA was a male student with dreads and a vacant expression.  I’m trying really hard not to discriminate.

Have any of you guys tried the LUSH Snake Oil Scalp Massage Bar?  I’m usually a bit rubbish with anything that I need to put on my scalp.  When you have hair longer than a buzz cut, how the hell do you actually get the product onto your scalp and not just all over your hair?

You can buy the LUSH Snake Oil Scalp Massage bar instore or online.  I paid £4.15.

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By the way, I’m on the 4th wash with the Body Shop SLS Free shampoo/conditioner combo and I’ve promised myself 7 washes minimum with each new brand to give it a fair trial.  So far, it’s not looking that amazing…

TommyGuns haircare range is currently 25% off until the 21st September exclusively at Waitrose.

I can never see this brand’s name without getting this song stuck in my head the rest of the day:

Incidentally, my fav band ever (you don’t really care do you?)

Moving swiftly on…

Go forth and lather up (unless you’re SLS sensitive of course) 😉

I thought up that title while I was in the shower the other morning. D’ya like it?  I’ve always been a bit ‘speshul’.

On a more serious note…. I’ve HAD IT, I’m fed up.  My scalp has been getting steadily worse since the beginning of the year and it’s recently reached the point where I can’t wear black tops anymore.  Nice.

*scratch*

You’ll be pleased to hear I’m not incorporating photographic evidence this time round.

The simple fact is that I don’t know what’s causing it, but having done a little research and listened to some of your fab advice… I’m gonna go SLS free.

I’m not gonna go all OMGSLSWILLGIVEYOUCANCERDONTCHAKNOW? on you – SLS is fine for many, many people.  But it is a known irritant, and I’m gonna simply try elminating it from my hair products to see if it makes a difference for me.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”WHAT IS SLS?” collapsed=”false” ccolor=”ffffff” bcolor=”ffffff” bgcolor=”e6e6fa” cbgcolor=”b0c4de”]

SLS stands for Sodium Laureth Sulphate/Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, an effective detergent and foaming agent.  It dissolves grime and grease easily and is cheap to product in mass quantities.

Sounds great!  So, what’s the problem?

Well… as it is such an effective detergent… it can be quite harsh and drying on sensitive skins.  I’ve never had a problem using SLS in my body washes, but I’m starting to wonder if my scalp is having sensitivity issues with it.

I’m not an expert… infact… I’m learning as I go along here, so please feel free to add your own knowledge into the comments.

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One of the lovely thing about SLS (yes, there are lovely things) that I’m sure to miss, is it’s exceptional ability to create lovely, lathery bubbles.  I like a product to foam… it makes me feel like it’s really working.  I know that over the years I’ve been conditioned to think that… but I can’t help it!

Also, forgetting the scalp issues for a minute and concentrating just on my hair.  It’s quite fine… I may find that my hair needs the extra clarifying that SLS shampoos offer to stop it looking lank after a while.  I think I’m going to have to try different combinations to find a solution that pleases both my scalp and my hair.

It’s also quite dry from frequent colouring… I wonder what effects going SLS free will have on the dryness?

Confused much?  I am…

*scratch scratch*

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”BUT WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER SULPHATES?” collapsed=”false” ccolor=”ffffff” bcolor=”ffffff” bgcolor=”e6e6fa” cbgcolor=”b0c4de”]

Commonly used alternatives to SLS include ALS (Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate), generally considered to cause less irritation and therefore used by companies such as Neal’s Yard and Sodium Coco-Sulfate which is used by Green People as their detergent of choice.  From what I understand, these surfactants may all still cause irritation in the same way as SLS does…  The difference is that the irritating ‘qualities’ are diluted by comparison.

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There are so many great haircare products on the market nowadays that offer an alternative to SLS and I’m gonna go investigating!  I always assumed that I’d have to part with a small fortune to enjoy an alternative, but brands like the The Body Shop and Naked are already proving otherwise with their high street offerings.  Though, if you do like a bit of luxe in your haircare, then there are some beautifully presented high-end alternatives aswell!

Has anyone else gone SLS-Free?  I feel like it’s such a minefield of misinformation and contradictory opinions!

If you’re thinking of taking the plunge, I could do with the company!

There’s something about textured hair.  I wants it.  Once my hair is washed and dried… it’s a fluffball.  A flat fluffball.  No volume at the roots… fluffy at the ends.  A.K.A – uncool.

I get scared of hair products though, I mean… I’ve just spent 30 minutes washing and blow-drying my hair and I’m hyper aware that whatever I’m gonna apply has the potential of making me look like I need a bloody good hair wash again.

I was sent Schwarzkopf’s OSiS Mess Up Texture Matt Gum which is bizarrely packaged to look somewhat like a sardine can.

Odd packaging aside, it smells delicious.  A bit of a cross between a mango and a bag of opal fruits starburst.  I’d be tempted to spread it on my toast if it didn’t look quite so unappetizing.

An off-white putty greets you when you peel back the protective foil.  The gum is solid in the box, if you turned it upside down (d’ya dare me?) nothing comes out… you could even give it a little shake… *holds breath* no really, you can!

I like the texture, I can run my finger over the surface without actually digging my nail into the gum and I pick up enough product to start working into my hair.  As someone with that morbid fear of using too much product, this is a selling point.  For other, more competent souls… you may wonder why the hell I’ve just wasted the last paragraph.  Tough, it’s my review.

Ultimately, there’s not much more to say… it is indeed matte, and it does indeed texture.  It calms the fluffiness and coats the hair giving each strand greater definition.  My hair doesn’t clump together so much… it just looks… better.

Schwarzkopf OSiS Mess Up Texture Gum is priced at £11.70, though you can currently purchase it from Feel Unique – £9.95 with free delivery.

The new face of Pantene Pro-V has been announced as presenter and former model Cat Deeley.

Why Cat? A spokesperson from Pantene said; “Cat Deeley is the ultimate Pantene Pro-V girl, she has natural beauty, and healthy looking, gorgeous hair. Her genuine likeability and infectious charisma have led to her being adored in the UK and now also the US. For us she was the obvious choice to lead the Make A Swisssh movement behind this campaign.”

Excited about her new role Cat said: “Has your hair ever felt so good you can’t help but swish it? – you know  that elusive ‘swish’, when hair moves perfectly. It’s that beautiful, healthy looking, enviable hair that we all want – that’s what you get with new Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light.” Cat Deeley

Her work with the brand will kick off with Cat as the face and hair of the new Aqua Light Make a Swisssh campaign launching on the 1^st August.

I know loads of you have been using the new Aqualight range for a little while now, still enjoying it?

I’ve been absolutely loving the shampoo this week.  My mother in law’s shower is genuinely the worst in Britain.  It doesn’t shower me… it dribbles on me.  I normally have to stand under this dribble for around 10 minutes until I’m left with no residue.  The new Pantene Aqua Light shampoo is rinsing away effortlessly in about 30 seconds!

Simple things please simple minds.

I don’t get much time to spend on my ‘beauty’ routine, not half as much as I’d like… so any product that promises to multi-task captures my attention quickly!

Davines Authentic Nourishing Oil (£29.20/140ml) is designed to be used on face, hair and body.  A truly multi-tasking masterpiece?  Formulated with 100% natural ingredients, these include organic Carthame Oil, Jojoba, Sunflower and Sesame oils.

They say:

After a shower, while your skin is still wet, massage on your body, face and décolleté. (For additional moisturising power, add a few drops to your face and body cream at night, when your skin is repairing itself).  Smooth a few drops through the ends of the hair to get rid of split ends and don’t forget your hands – they must be protected against the external aggressors.  Massage your hands and cuticles daily.

I already use a body oil which I apply to damp skin – but I’m a total sucker for oils and I can’t stop adding to my collection.  At £29.20, the Davines Authentic Nourishing Oil is a little more than I’d like to pay… although 140ml would last a very long time.

What are your favourite multi-tasking products?

Celebrate with the brand for a chance to win a trip to Hollywood!

Established in 1980, Paul Mitchell, the professional hair care line is celebrating the big 3-0 and would like to give you the chance to take a friend to Hollywood.

Visit their special anniversary site to learn more about the brand’s history, how they’re commited to ‘giving back’ and of course, the chance to bag yourself an amazing prize!  Just remember to take me if you win!

I was watching “Never Mind the Buzzcocks” on Dave last night (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, that sentence is gonna sound pretty kinky – I only wish it were).

Anyway, up popped the ads – and as I was preparing to throw a shoe at the telly after the stupid Always advert told me to “have a happy period”, my mood was suddenly placated by an ad announcing that Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light is gonna be on offer in Sainsburys until the 18th August.

And what an offer!  Half price to be exact, so if you were contemplating trying the new range out… don’t bother going anywhere else for it!

When I was invited along for a complimentary cut and blow dry at Eleven Hair in central London –  I’ll be honest, I was totally expecting to leave with good hair.  Let’s be clear… You don’t generally occupy prime real estate in Mayfair with a naff hair and beauty salon.

I wasn’t disappointed.  I left with great hair.

But great hair was only the beginning.

My stylist Russell had me sussed in less than 30 seconds.  A few cleverly directed questions meant that I was at ease in his capable hands in less time than it took for a drink to appear in front of me.

I told him that I didn’t get much time to dedicate to styling my hair in the mornings and he asked me what length I thought my hair would be in a year’s time.  I told him that I wanted to grow it longer again and that I’d only chopped it short because sticky baby fingers kept slime-ing me.  He took a short while to assess the condition of my hair… I didn’t even realise he was doing it at first.  His subtle but direct approach was appreciated.

He suggested to me that next time I get my hair dyed… I should ensure that I only have the regrowth taken care of and he delicately held the ends of my hair against my roots, showing me they were now about 5 shades darker thanks to being over-processed.

I was shocked.  How had I not noticed?  Thinking back, I’m sure I should have felt embarrassed at this… but I didn’t feel judged.  I just felt that I wanted to learn more about how to get my hair back to it’s former good condition and this was the man that had all the answers.

We chatted about my hatred for the dreaded ‘triangle hair‘ and how I loved walking out of the hairdresser’s with razored ends and he explained to me that it was precisely this constant “thinning out” that was giving me a fluffier hairdo several weeks down the line.  I felt as if my eyes were being opened and things were dropping into place, especially the reasons behind why I had felt the condition of my hair had been (quite unfairly!) deteriorating over the last six months.

I could go on, telling you about all the simple little tricks he showed me to get the most out of styling my hair but I’d be here all day.  They were personal to me and felt completely tailored to my hair issues.  I was shown how to easily and quickly achieve a little more volume to my flat bob (one of the tips was as simple as flipping my parting to the other side… it worked amazingly well!)

If you want more than just a good haircut, I can recommend Russell Stevens at Eleven Hair.  Straight talking and no flannel but thoughtful to his client’s feelings and most importantly, intuitive.

Look how chuffed I am with my new (slightly windswept) hair!

I left Eleven Hair feeling lighter in my step, doing the whole swish thing and checking out every shop window I walked past.  Not for clothes you understand… just my reflection.

You can find Eleven Hair…

Eleven Hair
11 Blenheim Street,
Mayfair
London W1S 1LL

Tel: 0207 4912390

Email: info@eleven-hair.com

With my fine hair, I’ll happily admit that I don’t always use conditioner.  I love how conditioner makes my hair feel smoother and softer, but I simply feel that with each extra product I use on my hair, the heavier my hair feels once dried.  With my current hairstyle (a bob) – it’s important to get a bit of root lift to stop my hair looking lank.

Pantene Pro-V’s new Aqualight Range is designed with one thing in mind.  Weightlessness.  It achieves this with some clever technology which I’ll try to summarise as well as I can.

1. Slimmed-Down Silicone. The Aqualight Range has re-evaluated the amount of silicone needed in products for those with finer hair.  Simple no?

2. Clean-Rinse Technology. Making the products as water-soluble as possible means that not only will the product rinse away faster, it will also leave less residue on the hair.

There were other sciencey things that involved molecules and the way in which they break apart, but I’m not gonna pretend to you that I understood it enough to explain it in layman’s terms!

There are 4 products in the range:

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Shampoo – New Clean-Rinse Technology allows the products to be rinsed fast meaning hair feels cleaner and lighter. RRP £2.19 (250ml), £3.69 (500ml)

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Conditioner – New “Liquid Conditioning” ingredients which stay liquid at room temperature and provide optimum conditioning levels without excess deposits.  RRP £2.19 (200ml), £3.69 (400ml)

Pantene Pro-C Aqua Light Spray Rinse-Off Treatment – A clever, ultra-light intensive hair treatment for extra nourishment without weighing hair down. RRP £3.99

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Leave-In Treatment Spray – A lightweight nourishing spray to style and refresh your hair between washes.  The clever “dual phase” formulation contains nourishing ingredients at the top and detangling refreshing ingredients at the bottom. RRP £3.99

First impressions from my samples are good.  Better than good!  After washing and conditioning, my hair feels gently nourished yet light.  But where I really notice it making a difference, is after styling.

I shampoo, condition and then style with a root lifting product and the lift seems to last far longer than normal.  My idea of ‘styling’ is the rather lame “pointing the hairdryer at my roots and hoping for the best” trick, but I’m delighted with the results all the same.

I’m in love with the Aqua Light Rinse-Off Treatment too which is seemingly doing wonders for my dry ends.  Ok, they’re still splitting (need a haircut STAT!)… but they feel smoother and less rough when I roll them between my fingers.  Completely unscientific testing going on here!  I’m a bit unsure about the Aqua Light Leave-In Treatment Spray though.  The whole range smells beautiful and this is no exception.. but I just can’t get it to ‘refresh’ my hair.  It gives it a touch of gloss… but at the moment, I’m not noticing much more than that.

Honestly, I’m always seduced by new hair products that work fabulously well for a couple of months before they simply stop working, so I’ll be sure to come back and update this post if anything changes as I work my way through the products.

I think the Aqua Light range has been out in parts of Europe for a little while but I’ve spotted the shampoo and conditioner online at Tesco last weekend, so I look forward to hearing what you guys think about the range too!

Before you go, I’m curious!  Would you lovely ladies mind letting me know if I’m alone in shunning conditioner in preference for more ‘swishable’ hair?

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