To fringe or not to fringe?

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 8 - 2011

Whilst this may not be the most important question we’ll ever ponder, for me… it was all I could think about a fortnight ago as I sat in the hair salon umm-ing and ahh-ing over this very dilemma.

In the end, I did what I always do in situations like this, I semi-commited.  I let the stylist cut me a hint of a fringe, a slight side sweep.  A fringe for wimps really.

I don’t like it. It’s bitty and it’s annoying… it says “Here stands a woman who has no faith in her own judgement!”

What I should have done, is bought one of these before visiting the salon.

The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe in Darkest Brown.  A clip-in fringe for commitment-phobes!

It’s the easiest thing in the world to attach, simply align wherever you want the end of your fringe to reach and press on the two clips that come attached.  Voila!

Instant fringe!

Now, whilst I am actually in love with my new fringe, it doesn’t come without issues.

1. It’s synthetic and therefore shiny.  If only my real hair were this shiny!  Now, don’t get me wrong… we’re not in doll’s hair territory, it’s not a horrible synthetic shine but it does contrast to my own hair and I need to fix this before I’d wear it out.  I’ve heard that some dry shampoo should do the trick.

2. If you have fine hair like mine, you need to play around with the back of the fringe (where it meets your hair) to ensure that the join is as well-hidden as possible.  Those with thicker locks will probably find this a doddle, I need a bit of careful placement and backcombing.

3.  Beware of relationships with partners, family and friends.  Mr. L and I are no longer on speaking terms since he called me Duane Dibley.

On the plus side, it provides instant gratification for a striking new look on nights out or when I want to confuse my 2 year old.  It’s well cut and heavy enough without being comedy-heavy and perhaps best of all, it covers my grey roots like a dream!

You can purchase The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe* online at HotHair, priced at £24.

* Press Sample


Every little helps…

Posted by Lipglossiping On January - 24 - 2011

What better way to start a Monday morning than with the news that TESCO has launched new health and beauty services for beautiful recessionistas and time-pushed lovelies everywhere!

The services are currently being trialled at stores in Wembley, Cambridge Bar Hill, Milton Keynes Kingston and Manchester (Walkden) where they are offering nail treatments and threading at competitive prices.

From the end of January, stand-alone TESCO beauty salons in Leicester and Chesterfield will also offer hairdressing services.

Prices will be competitive – £20 for a cut and blow dry, £15 for a shampoo and hair cut and £12.50 for a hair cut.  A half leg wax is £10 and full leg £15.

Would you be happy to entrust Mr. T to look after your barnet?  How about a quick wax and home before your Aunt Bessie’s defrost?!

When Lipglossiping met Pantene’s ambassador Cat Deeley!

Posted by Lipglossiping On December - 9 - 2010

Last week, I was invited to the Savoy hotel in London to meet Pantene ambassador Cat Deeley and to learn a little more about the new Pantene range for coloured hair.

Before heading up to London, I was asked if I had any questions I wanted to put to Cat.  Without hesitation I wanted to ask who her ‘Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be….” would be?  Then I remembered that I write a beauty blog, not a StarsInYourEyes fan blog.  So more on what I actually did ask her later…

I’ve talked before about the new Pantene Colour Protect range and you can read this post for further details on the products that are currently available in the UK… but tonight, we focused on meeting the brand’s ambassador and seeing the differences between virgin hair (uncoloured), coloured hair and coloured hair once treated with the new Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate (not released yet).

The results were surprisingly tangible.  We watched a demonstration of hair porosity…. and as someone who has (many times) in the past coloured her hair without giving any thought as to what long term affects this might have, perhaps a little sobering aswell.

The hair in the bowl on the left is virgin (uncoloured) hair, whilst the bowl nearest to the camera contains a sample of coloured hair.  Can you see how the virgin hair retains it’s waterproofing abilities that allows it to float whilst the coloured hair has literally swelled with the water and is no longer resting on the surface?

Well who cares right?  Well, me… because hair porosity is important to how hair looks and feels.  Frequent colouring can encourage the hair cuticle layers to stay raised… allowing more moisture in and ultimately letting more out, which leaves your hair feeling dry, brittle and pretty rubbish.  The rougher the cuticle, the less shiny your hair will appear and if you want silky, smooth locks?  Forget it.  You’re only getting those with a nice smooth hair cuticle.

The new Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate creates an artificial protective layer over our hair’s natural cuticle that mimics how our hair should be if we didn’t mistreat it.  I felt the difference between untreated and treated coloured hair and one was considerably smoother in texture.  The other good thing about the Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate is that you only need to use this about once a week as it’s effects will last a few washes before you need to reapply.

I haven’t tried this on my own hair as it’s not released until next month but I’m all for quick fixes and this seems like it could be just the ticket.  If it’s good enough for Cat Deeley (who happened to let slip that from the entire range, it was the Colour Seal Concentrate that was her favourite – shh), it’s good enough for me.

Once Cat had said her hellos and kicked off her beautiful (but killer) Louboutins, she got straight to answering some questions that we’d posed.  Here’s a few highlights from the Q&A:

Cat Deeley Answers our Questions!

~ She ALWAYS removes her makeup before going to sleep… without fail.  No surrender and all that.

~ She prefers to own products that multi-task rather than owning a full range (she wouldn’t like my bathroom then!)

~ She’s dyed her hair many times in the past and both brown and red hair looked terrible on her.  She also said that short hair didn’t suit either.

~ Her top tip for staying healthy is drinking plenty of water.  Cat says that a reduced water intake has so many effects on her health, skin and body – so it’s something that she’s become quite conscious of improving.

~ She believes that it’s easier to keep healthy in L.A. than it is here in the U.K.  Whenever she’s in the U.K. (especially this time of year!) she wants to chow down on stodgy, comforting food.  No salads please!

Finally, Cat answered my question “Who has more fun, blondes or brunettes?”

Her eyes twinkled as she took in the words, and she grinned… aware that she could potentially offend half the room in one fell swoop!  Her answer was clear though… “Blondes!”  Cat followed up by explaining that you can only have fun when you feel comfortable in your own skin (or hair colour!) and that for her, that was her tried and tested honey blonde.  Nice save!

I spent a few minutes appreciating the newly refurbished Royal Suite at the Savoy… check out the view from pretty much every room.

I wouldn’t grumble about having to clean those windows.  Well… actually, I probably still would.

After this, I headed straight for hair stylist, James McMahon to pump him for extra tips on the perfect blow dry that we’re all so desperate to recreate.  James was straight to the point, reiterating how hard it was to achieve by yourself simply because the angles are all wrong!  I was happy to let him demonstrate on me what a perfect blow dry should look like.  I know, I’m too good to you… SELF-LESS.

Look at me, taking one for the team… I hope you’re grateful.

So, with my blow-dry questions exhausted, James talked a little about coloured hair.  I asked him if he felt it was really necessary to use specialist shampoos and conditioners for coloured hair?  He told me that nothing damages your hair more than the thing that you do ‘most’ to it.  In the majority of cases… that would be washing our hair and that if our hair is already fragile from over-processing then we should ensure that we’re using a shampoo and conditioner designed to care for our coloured hair.

I then asked James if you could pick and choose from a set range.  I explained that my scalp is ridiculously sensitive and that I generally prefer to stick to tried and tested shampoos that I know won’t aggravate my picky scalp.  He said that there would be nothing wrong with just choosing to use the treatments from a range or intensive conditioners if you didn’t want to change over your entire haircare regime.

With those wise words ringing in my ears, I’m swapping out my usual conditioner for Pantene’s 2 Minute Damage Rescue Treatment and after feeling the difference between the hair samples demonstrated earlier in the evening… I’m impatient for the Pantene Colour Seal Concentrate to become available too!

I’mma gonna get those bloody hair cuticles flat if it kills me!  I want Cat hair!  That’s it.  The gloves are off… only I’m fighting in the brunette corner.

‘Cos brunettes have more fun.  Innit! ;)

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