A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

In this god-forsaken current climate that we’re all (not) enjoying, my hair is taking a bit of a beating.  Moving from centrally heated houses to the Arctic outdoors and back again is doing absolutely nothing to improve the state of my locks which are looking and feeling dry and lifeless.

Enter the iconic British product that is Philip Kingsley’s Elasticizer…

They say:

This great, highly concentrated product is designed to smooth your hair, leaving it incredibly smooth and supple.

It’s super moisturising and highly concentrated, smoothing each strand to incredible silkiness. Its elasticising effect improves suppleness, stretchability, strength and shine whilst leaving your hair softer, less brittle, beautifully manageable and lustrous.

I say, yes please!

Any product that promises to make my hair look glossier than the latest British Vogue is a must-try in my books.

Available from BeautyBay and priced at £19.49 for 150ml

Dudes… seriously, I’m in trouble.  I’m going up to the in-laws in about 4 days and I look like an idiot.

Some of you may have heard my constant occasional bitching on twitter about my hairdresser’s phobia of thinning shears.  I plead with her every time to thin out my layers… and everytime she makes this big show of taking her scissors and half heartedly snipping at the ends.

And everytime I walk away looking like this..

…and worse still, I tip the bitch!

Desperate times call for desperate measures and I bought a pair of these from Boots:

How in the name of God do I use ’em?  Blade down spikey bits on top and try not to go all out Edward Scissorhands on my head right?  I think I’m less likely to get carried away if I use ’em on dry hair too…

Anyone used thinning scissors on themselves? Any tips or IN THE NAME OF GOD, DON’T DO IT!’s for me?

I am seriously gonna look for a new hairdresser, but a half decent one is freakin expensive in this pony-loving, barbour wearing, land-rover driving county I call home and I refuse to pay over £25 to have less than a cm chopped off the ends.

I’m thinking of buying one of these wandy things (or at least making a last minute plea to Father Christmas for one)…

All the cool kids seem to be using them and I’m fed up of living on the edge of society 😉

Do you use one?

I got sent some info on Diva Professional Styling and it was the conical wand in particular that caught my attention.

It’s freakin’ purple!

It gets props from me just for not being pink man….

It has a titanium barrel and I notice that one of it’s main competitors has a porcelain one… anyone with a brain care to share what they know about the differences between titanium and porcelain barrels?  I promise not to yawn openly 😉  Joking aside, I genuinely am interested.  I shall ask the PR lady and get back to you on that one.

So, apart from crisping up my hair and removing my fingerprints with the searing heat are there any other pitfalls I should know about?

What?

Oh hai spiral perm!  Please go back to 1993 and die.

I actually had something simillar in Year 8 (is it still called year 8?) … not quite as big, but equally um… crispy.

Check out the Diva Titanium Hot Wand online at Sallys – guaranteed not to make you look like a 90s reject (unless you erm… want to)

The third and final event for us lucky Aussie Angels (can I just keep calling myself that forever?) went off with a bang last Thursday night.

We were invited up to London to sample the capital’s nightlife.  Mahiki played host for the evening and the venue didn’t disappoint.  A tiki-esque hideout in the heart of Mayfair, Mahiki ticks all the right boxes.

My friend Vicky and I jumped on the train congratulating each other on how lightly we’d managed to pack for a night away… infact we were congratulating each other so vigorously talking so much that we very nearly got left on the platform.

Arriving in London with little time to spare, we headed straight for the Hilton at Kensington Olympia where Aussie had generously put us up for the night.  I managed to check us in without getting escorted off the premises for being a pair of scruffy oiks and we settled into our room to get ready for the festivities ahead!

Despite best intentions, we still managed to be late.  Vicky has always been the laid back one in our friendship.  Me? Well I was running round in full-on mentalist mode, arms in the air like a certain white rabbit out of Alice in Wonderland with echoes of “late, late! we’re going to be late!” reverberating around the room.

“Relax”. says Vicky, “You are so uncool”.  Like I need telling.

I felt a 100x better when we got on the tube at Olympia and met up with Hayles and Zoe who were also staying at the hotel and heading to the Aussie event.  If you can’t avoid being late… find as many people as possible who are also late and hide behind them.  It’s a philosophy I’m proud to call my own.

We were greeted at the club by a photographer (who I somehow managed to resist asking nerdy camera questions, I was *sorely* tempted to ask for some flash bouncing tips) and the lovely Emma from 1000heads.

We were lead downstairs into the cavernous depths of Mahiki and emerged blinking into a Polynesian paradise!  I was given a little black box which when opened revealed some lovely makeup goodies, the inimitable Aussie 3 Minute Miracle and a handbag hanger (I’m a little uncultured and had to be told what the hell it was before I embarrassed everybody by trying to pick my nose with it or something.)

Then it was Mojito time!! Followed by Pina Colada time!! Washed down with a couple of Mahiki Mai Tais and topped off with a Tiki Dick’s Super Space Martini.  By this time I’d forgotten how to pronounce my own name let alone the names of the cocktails.  Needless to say, they were very yummy and each one more enticing than the last.

Highlights of the evening? Semi-naked waiter – oh so tacky, and I’m absolutely not going to admit to perving.  (why have you put him down as a highlight then huh?)  Close-up magician – superbly charming and very talented, too much fun!  And treasure chests filled with an intoxicating mix of champagne, rum and a brandy and peach liqueur.

It was brilliant to be able to catch up with old friends and meet some friendly new faces too!

Alas, all good things must come to an end and as the night drew to a close the exertions of the day were catching up with me.  I bid my friends (new and old) adieu and headed back to the hotel.

Waking up the next morning I wasn’t sure which hurt more, my head or my neck (crick)… here have a photo.  If nothing else, it’s an advertisement for teetotalness.

The rest of the next day was spent shopping and mooching around town.  But I’ll tell you more about that in another post!

Credit for some of the photos goes to Sam and Zoe – I can’t seem to get mine off Vicky’s mobile – argh!

Cloud Nine got in touch to offer me a pair of their new straighteners for potential review and with a high maintenance chin length bob to tame every morning, I’m not ashamed to admit that I very nearly bit their hands off.

Now, I know that this is probably the 50th review you’ve read of these straighteners (no exaggeration), and I do apologise… so when I was putting them to the test, I tried to approach it from a slightly different angle.

I’m no expert hair straightener and I’m sure many of you would fall into this category too.  In all honesty, I’m far too busy worrying about how my makeup looks to care *too* much about my hair.  Obviously, I’d rather not look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards when I visit clients… but for me, it’s all about the eyeshadow.

Unfortunately, the dragged through a hedge backwards look is *exactly* the one I sport on my head when I wake up every morning.  Example? Oh ok, then…

So with this time-pressed, hair straightening novice method of review I wanted to present to you an 8 minute hair straightening challenge.

Why 8 minutes? Well, because that’s approximately how long I get before baby L. notices that I’m not right up there in her face singing songs and dancing like a loon for her entertainment.  I also figure that I can never be arsed to spend much longer on my hair in the mornings anyway.

Ready?  Let’s have a look at what I got sent first then…

Nicely presented packaging is always a good thing and the turquoise/black combination is very sophisticated.

GHDs hmmmm, I’m sure it’s a selling point… but Cloud Nine, you’re advertising those competitors of yours every step of the way!  I can’t read anything about you without someone, somewhere mentioning GHDs in the same breath.  Fair enough, but don’t you do it on your packaging too!

To me, that’s saying… “Look, we should be as good as 1st gen GHDs…”

Oh… well I’ll just go buy a set of GHDs then… these sound like they should be as good as, but I’ll play it safe and go for the tried and tested option.

Is that the best you can be?  Come on!  You’re Cloud Nine!  Be a tiger, grrrr….

*and breathe* sorry… but as you might be able to tell, I’m bored of the GHD comparisons already.

Right, what else does it say…

“Less heat, more style”, “…without the need for searing heat.”

Oh ok. well my straighteners are usually set at a hair-frazzling 230c, so I’ll keep that in mind for testing…

I’m all for secret ingredients…

Swivel Cord (boring), Heat Guard (whatever) – Next!

Universal Voltage (blah, blah – no actually.. that’s quite useful for international jet-setters such as myself *cough*), Hibernation Mode – so I don’t burn the house down (at least not with the straighteners), Box Contents – yep, the postman didn’t nick anything.  Good, good.. moving on…

Slide off the cardboard sleeve and you get…. another box!

Aha! Finally!

Still loving the turquoise.  Minimalism is ‘in’ it seems…

We want… we want… we want…

Is that all they could come up with?  What about peace among mankind?  I would at least have added a few Dior shadows to the list (no, I’m still not over them).

Variable heat settings – useful!

Sparkly shiny plates!!

I should at this point probably mention that build quality feels good.  It’s all sturdy stuff despite being surprisingly lightweight.

I also like how ’rounded’ the casing is… it makes for easier, smoother curling.  The plastic on the tips of the straighteners are grooved/ribbed which makes for an easy grip on the tips if curling with both hands on the barrel.

Everything you get…

Right, enough of that… let’s straighten!

I set the temperature to 150c (Less Heat More Style remember) and the Cloud Nine’s heated up in literally 5-10 seconds, which quite frankly is just showing off and actually didn’t give me enough time to find my straightening spray. Boo! 😉

Now listen up to this bit… It’s a negative and up ’till now my review has been a glowing one.

I thought that these dragged a bit.

Not a huge amount, not like my Remington Wet2Straight that I wanted to throw through the nearest window for literally pulling strands of hair from my poor screaming barnet.

However, I did feel a little bit of tugging especially when I reached the ends, they simply didn’t glide quite as easily as I would have hoped for £129 straighteners.  Ho hum.

Anyway, back to this whole 8 minute thing…

Ta-Da!  I like it… It’s not poker straight which I presume is ‘cos I’m using less heat… but that also means that it’s not completely flat and lacking in volume (which was the only end result I could get from my 230c ones).  It should also mean that my hair stays healthier despite frequent use.

I normally wash and blow dry my hair (whilst curling under with a round brush) and only after that do I use my straighteners, so to be fair on the Cloud Nines, they were really up against it to be used straight on my dry bed-head hair.

They performed admirably, I would totally let clients see me like this…. and all in 8 minutes (oh, ok it was closer to 9).  Not bad, not bad at all.

Mostly, I’m impressed with the flexibility of styles I can get from these straighteners depending on the temperature used.  I also found them pretty good for curling and I was pleased with the amount of shine they left on my hair.

Now, if only they could perfect ‘the glide’… hopefully this will be their main focus when designing and building the C9’s mkII.

As for me, I’ll be consigning my old ones to a backup drawer somewhere.  Hello super quick, unfrazzled natural looking straightening!

As a Batiste-lovin’ brunette, my one and only issue with the product was the insane amount of “distribution” I had to do everytime I used the dry shampoo.  It was a tiresome but critical step to ensure that I didn’t make myself look like this little Romeo…

Oh Mon Cheri! xx xx xx xx xx xx (sorry.. I’m having a Pepe Le Pew moment)

Anyway, I wrote about the new range of Batiste dry shampoos for dark hair a few weeks ago, and got the opportunity to see how I got on with the new product.  I’m glad I did, because could I find the coloured range in the Boots stores nearest to me?  Could I hell.  The shelves were bare!  I think that my experiences with hunting the stuff down are being echoed throughout the land.  Hopefully as it becomes a more established feature, stock numbers will increase.

Now, I don’t know how complicated this stuff is to produce, or what goes into it.  All I know is that it needs to perform one simple task.  I need it to dry up any oils that are weighing my hair down at the roots and making it look flat and dull, and in an ideal world, it’s gonna achieve that one thing without any additional side effects.

I swatched it for ya! Ha!

It’s most definitely brown!  The lighter patch in the middle is where I got a bit heavy handed and went back in for a 2nd spray.  As it dries, the colour deepens, so the paler spot didn’t take long to deepen to the same shade as the surrounding colour.

It works aswell as the original formulas, smells fine enough and does what it’s supposed to without making me look like Cruella de Vil.  It’s better than other generic dry shampoos and in my experience, works just aswell as the more expensive varieties.

This really is a staple for me, something that I purchase over and over.  Finally, I can be a little more sloppy with it when I’m in a rush.  Woo ha!

However…

I go through this stuff pretty quickly and I noticed that it’s priced up at nearly £3 in my local store compared to the original (and other scented varieties) which are priced at just above the £2 mark.  So that’s a 1/3rd more expensive and I would love to find out why.

To be blunt, as much as I’m impressed with the product… and truly can’t fault the way it works.  I won’t purchase it now I’ve got the ‘novelty’ factor out of my system unless the price comes down in line with the rest of the brand.

Perhaps if a can of it lasted me longer than 5 minutes then I’d pay a bit more without noticing the hit to my purse.  But if I’m repurchasing this a couple of times a month, then I think I’d rather get a bit of arm ache and spend my £3 saved on a Eggnog Latte instead 😉

Have you tried it yet?  What are your thoughts on the pricing?

Fellow dark-haired lovelies, RUN to your nearest stockist for Batiste’s latest brainwave (it’s a good’un!)

Batiste Coloured Dry Shampoo!

This promises to solve the only problem I’ve ever had with dry shampoo!

Props where it’s due, Batiste have done so well to revamp their image in recent years and have become a cult favourite the world over.

I’m all for quick starts in the morning and since discovering Batiste I can’t remember the last time I had to scrape my hair back in a ponytail.

Just one thing… what about the redheads?

Are you a dry shampoo fanatic?

On Saturday, I headed to London with my sister-in-law Helen and my cousin Angela.  We were excited to hit the shops, mainline some hazelnut lattes and experience some serious pampering Aussie Style!

By the time we arrived at Adee Phelan’s salon in Covent Garden we were shattered!  Within minutes of getting through the door we were sipping champagne and relaxing on comfy sofas.  A total oasis in a bustling area of central London.

The ladies (and Tom!) from 1000 heads were so friendly and welcoming, we arrived 15minutes late thanks to not being able to find a taxi after our Selfridges rampage and I was worried we’d get some disapproving looks, I needn’t have worried at all!

The lovely Emma & Lauren from 1000 heads – photo courtesy of 1000 heads

Adee Phelan’s salon has one funky interior, very french and beautifully baroque chic… stunning mirrors, gorgeous chandeliers and fab decor.  The ideal setting for a bit of spoiling!

I was a little nervous and as the taps were turned on at the sink, I could feel that I was tensing my neck…  Not for long!!  My lovely stylist had magic fingers!  Despite myself, I could feel my neck relaxing and my head feeling heavier as the gorgeous bubble-gummy scent of Aussie Miracle Moist enveloped me!

After *the* most amazing head massage I was led over to a mirror to let the styling begin!  My gorgeous stylist blow dried my hair using just the teeniest amount of smoothing serum.  Hand on heart, I’ve never seen it look so shiny without using straighteners.  She also rediscovered where my proper parting should be hoorah!  I thought I’d lost that forever LOL!

Once I was done, I was greeted with lots of oohs and ahhs from Angela & Helen which I returned with enthusiasm whilst admiring their glossy locks!

Angela & Helen lovin’ the new ‘dos!

We had (lots) more champagne, and caught up with the other lucky Angels enjoying Aussie’s hospitality.  Amongst us were the lovely Natalie and Yinka.  It was fab to be able to have a chat with Natalie, can you believe we barely mentioned football?! – the evening was far too glam for that.  Yinka, Natalie and I had a good natter about all the draaaahmas occuring in the Beauty community – Sunlove anyone?  Our guests looked suitably bemused “What the hell are they talking about? Geeks.”

Moi! photo courtesy of 1000 heads

Mr. L tried to psychoanalyse this photo and reckons I’m doing “nervous hand things” – I reckon he needs to shut up and make my tea.

1000 heads were very organised… even arranging the Angels in order of height…

After we’d been preened and pampered to within an inch of our lives, we were taken to the nearby Dial Bar to enjoy a cocktail or 2 (who’s counting) before stumbling heading back to the car in the hope of pointing it in the general direction of Southampton!  Thank goodness for designated drivers!

The three of us had a wonderful evening and were treated by Aussie in a manner to which our partner’s hope we don’t become *too* accustomed!

If you haven’t caught up with Project Angel, you can read more about it here – and don’t forget to have a look at my previous experiences here!

Here’s a few more photies of the evening…

Angela – photo courtesy of 1000 heads

Cheese! – photo courtesy of 1000 heads

glamming it up!

THANKS AUSSIE!!

I received a curious invitation a few weeks ago inviting me to take part in a 3 part Aussie event, the first involving a “Secret Silos Treasure Hunt”.  I was left feeling slightly confused by the invitation – but as a nerdy geocacher, there was simply no way I was going to be able to resist a ‘treasure hunt’.

Roll forward a couple of weeks and I received a strange purple envelope in the mail… upon opening it, I saw this:

There was also a solitary silver key rattling about in the bottom of the envelope… hmm, curiouser and curiouser!

Come Saturday morning, there was I, eager eyed and bushy tailed.  I dragged my husband and daughter down to the train station to come along with me for the day.  She’d never been to the “big smoke” before.

Here she is, looking like a little troll waiting for the train:

Upon arrival, I knew exactly where I was headed to find the Secret Silo.  A couple of years ago I’d had to make my way to The Strand to get a last minute visa for a trip to Sydney… so when we got off the train at Victoria, we marched straight to Australia House!

Here’s one for the fact fans, Australia House was the setting for Gringotts Bank in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – ooh! Didn’t know that did you?

As we rounded the corner, I saw a couple of silver trunks and a solitary figure suspiciously hanging about under the “Australia House” sign that you can see in the above pic.  I approached him cautiously incase I had got the location completely wrong, but when I saw the Aussie Roo logo on one of the trunks I gave him a big smile and waved my key about under his nose!

The suspicious man turned out to be a rather nice fellow called Tim, who chatted to me about the event whilst Leila tried to work her charms on him.

Using my mysterious silver key to open up the trunk, he pulled out this rather lovely (and big!) box which he said was full of some lovely goodies – woo hoo!

Before leaving, he took a piccie of me holding my ‘goodie box’ under the “Australia House” sign (I looked a complete state!)  Paul and Leila ran away when the camera was produced – scaredy cats!

After all that excitement and adventure we scooted off to Soho to get a coffee and do some window shopping before a very weary trio headed back home to Southampton on the train.

Once home, I was barely through the door before I was pulling off the cover and opening my Aussie goody box!

Ooh…

Aah… look!

Lovely things!

Lots of Miracle Moist (I already have a bottle of the shampoo, so know I lurve this stuff!), A mini bottle of the 3 Minute Miracle – I know this is cult, but I am ashamed to admit that I’ve never tried it – can’t wait to give it a go and you can expect a review soon! I also got a huge bottle of 3 Minute Miracle Frizz Remedy (will it tame my flyaways I wonder?)

Now, as if that weren’t enough.  There was also a £25 Topshop gift card lurking in the bottom of the box! Wowee!  I’ve already planned my shopping spree – thanks Aussie!  I believe some ladies were also lucky enough to get a £50 spa voucher!  But my box didn’t have one of those (boo!) so I’m not sure if they were prizes for being ‘first finders!’ I should have got my brood up earlier!

Last but not least, there were some little cards for me to hand out… so here we go, a virtual handing out!

YES, that means YOU! Go check it out!

Thanks for a super and VERY original afternoon Aussie!

My favourite brand for natural skin/hair/bodycare products is currently offering a fantastic discount!

You can get 50% off all orders online at Naked Bodycare until the 14th June (exc. p&p)

Just enter the code: tweet09 at checkout to activate the discount.

Click the link to be taken to the Naked Bodycare website.

I have had the same hairstyle for the last 10 years – well, not really a hairstyle, it’s just down to the middle of my back, no fringe with an off centre parting.  I couldn’t get my hair styled shorter than my shoulders because I’d miss the flexibility of being able to wear it up and pull it away from my face.  I also can’t be arsed with hair straighteners to be honest.  I have a slight wave to my straight hair which has never bothered me and I really am not high maintenance enough to get into the whole poker straight thing so I’m limited really with styling products I can play with.

However, the one thing I’d love that my hair lacks is more shine.

Enter Fudge Head Polish.  This is marketed as a ‘hair shiner’.  I’ve previously tried Tresemme Salon Silk which does add a bit of gloss to my hair but does absolutely nothing to control flyaways and if anything seems to make them worse especially if I wash my hair and apply it before bed.  I also haven’t worked out how to successfully apply it to dry hair without making myself look like chip pan head.

Fudge Head Polish is less ‘sticky’ than the Tresemme – it’s thicker and gloopier, but doesn’t leave a residue on your hands.  I can detect a strong scent which I’ve spent all day sticking under my husband’s nostrils to see if he can help me identify it.  So far, we’re thinking aniseed… but we’re not 100% confident on that – either way, it’s really rather nice if a little pungent!

I’ve used this on both wet and dry hair and achieved the same results of instant super shine – again, it’s not massively taming the flyaways (works better on dry hair) but it does a better job than Tresemme.  It also really seems to smooth the hair shaft near the ends and make them feel less ‘prickly’ for want of a better expression.  I purchased this from Tops-Hair-Salon on eBay who are great for Fudge products and delivered super quickly.

I would definitely repurchase this, although I think Fudge have discontinued it (typical) – so if you want to try it out, head to eBay and grab a bargain while they’re still available!  I paid just under £2 inc. postage.

[starreview tpl=14]

Whilst on the subject of GOSH, I’ve just come across their new haircare range which is currently on offer in Superdrug.  Usually priced at £4.39 each you can currently pick up 2 for £5.99 – definitely worth a look.  If you’re ordering from the website make sure you enter: abbey100809 during the checkout stage to get a further 10% off your order (valid ’till November ’09)

Standard shampoo/conditioner range includes:

Damage Control

Nourishes and recharges dry, damaged and chemically treated hair with revitalising moisture…

Pump up the Volume

Contains special proteins which add body and fullness while rstonring elasticity and strength…

Colour Rescue

Protects the colour in dyed hair from fading and daily UV exposure…

The images on the GOSH website show the bottles as pump bottles (which I prefer to these squeezy tube types) but maybe that’s for the European market.

There are other products in the range, they appear to have introduced a full range of styling products – but you’ll have to head in store to check those out as Superdrug’s shitty website only displays the shampoo and conditioners.