4 week hair challenge #4

My 4 week hair challenge is complete! This is a week behind (sorry) because of me becoming overly stressed with revising for my exam tomorrow, eek. I am kind of excited about it now though, I just want it to be over! I can then focus on a different topic which will be more interesting and then after Thursday I can have a nice few days rest and, if you follow me on Twitter, you would have noticed that I have been eyeing up Real Techniques Core Collection in Boots but I'm going to buy it as a little treat to myself for getting through this week.

If you have been reading my other 3 posts on VO5's Hot Oil (the packaging is slightly different in the link to the one I purchased) you will probably already know what my outcome will be. I am really pleased with the results. The past week or so pretty much everyone I have seen has commented on how long my hair is looking at the moment, not straggly or in need of a good cut (which it is!) just nice and long. I would say it's probably the length it used to be almost two years ago before I chopped it into a bob, big smile! The ends are looking much healthier and my hair feels softer. I haven't had my hair cut or coloured for probably about 3 months so my ends do feel like they need a cut obviously but it feels much better than it did 4 weeks ago when I started.

The price, £4.29, is amazing -that's just over £1 a time to give your hair a little bit of nourishing.
The only downfall I found with them is how heavy it did make my hair feel and looked greasy and in need of a wash faster than usual but I stopped putting the oil onto my roots and focused on mid-length downwards, which to be honest is where the hair is most damaged anyway. The solution is quite runny too so if you pour a lot of it out into your hands it is likely some of it will end up down the plug so do a little bit at a time and if you have long hair then you can easily just squeeze it out onto your hair and then rub in!

I am hoping to take a trip to the hairdressers this week so I will give you a little update and a piccy of my new hair :)

Sorry again for lack of posting, hope anyone else who is revising is ok! Not long to go.  

NOTD - Peach Melba

It seems I've gotten into the habit of painting my nails just before bed. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen but it's actually really good because once I'm in bed I don't have to do anything so my nails can dry easily. If I do them in the day I find I get distracted too quickly and my nails inevitably end up smudged!

I found an old makeup bag at my mum's on the weekend and bought back some products I'd forgot about or thought I'd give a second shot! One of them is this Barry M nail polish called Peach Melba. I think I bought it last summer and I can't believe I forgot about it! I love the colour so much and can't wait to wear it in the summer when I have a bit of a tan.

I really like Barry M's nail polishes over lots of other drugstore brands as they give a thick coverage and always have great colours at affordable prices.

Do you like this colour? What nail polish shades are you loving?



4 week hair challenge #3

Another week has passed. Doing this during my revision has actually scared me a lot! This now means I have under two weeks until my first exam and four weeks (ish) till it's all over! Que a bit of hyperventilating. It's nice to have a bit of time out though and write on here about nice things!

This week I used my VO5 hot oil on Monday and I haven't really been anywhere or done much apart from revising so my hair has just been down with the front clipped out the way so I can literally get my head down in my books and notes! As I said last week it was starting to make my hair feel quite heavy and greasy so this time I used all the hot oil on my hair ear-length down in the hope that it wouldn't feel like I wanted to wash it again after a few hours. It worked! It also made my ends feel extra soft and I have noticed that it makes them come together a lot more, minimising the look of lots of split ends! Woohoo.

After blow-drying it is pretty straight too, usually my hair goes quite big and the layers (I don't have many but there are some hidden in there) tend to kink in whichever direction they feel like, so this is a huge plus as there is no need to get the straighteners on it!

I am really loving using them and would 100% recommend anyone who wants to add a little TLC to their haircare or just needs a quick fix from heat damage.

Have a lovely evening!

L'Oreal Lumi Magique Foundation

Lots of bloggers have reviewed this foundation and, after forgetting that I had a sample hidden away, I thought I'd give you my thoughts!
I also tested Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation, which you can read here, about a month ago and both pretty much state to do very similar things.

L'Oreal believe their foundation will give dull skin instant radiance as it is light infusing (ooo-er) so I thought I'd give it a go and see if this too was a winner.

Right from the beginning of applying it felt quite heavy and unusual, after being used to either a light coverage or my usual mousse foundation, I had a feeling I wouldn't like it very much. Once applied, if looked really shiny on my forehead and nose, which I do expect a little of liquid foundations but not overly!
On the plus side, it did last very well and after the whole day of just milling around and doing a bit of painting it hadn't smudged or leaked off my face. It is also a good match for my skin tone. I do have a feeling however that L'Oreal's Lumi Magique may be for the older customer whereas Rimmel's Wake Me Up really appealed to me and felt much better on my skin - it's also SPF15!

All in all it is an okay product, it gives you good coverage, lasts all day and doesn't give you a matte, leather looking face. The heaviness and either too much light infusing technology or just my general skin not adapting to it well has made this a product I wouldn't be buying though.

Have you used either of L'Oreal's or Rimmel's foundations?

Week in photos #1

This is my first attempt at a week in pictures, I hope you like it :)

Dress shopping with mum, Easter lunch outfit, new Monster Energy zero cals/sugar drink, Easter egg, Revision, Date night face.

Sorry I've been very quiet this week, I have been getting down to my revision which is pretty depressing! All I keep thinking is that in 6 weeks time it will all be over!! Hope you've all had a great week, I have been using a new cleanser which I will post about soon and also I'm testing out L'Oreal's new Lumi Magique foundation today.

4 week hair challenge #2

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! After a week without the BF it was really nice to see him and I had a good weekend spent with him and family. Not really ate much chocolate but I will definitely be doing that today.

So, I used my VO5 hot oil again on Saturday - I had something else I wanted to post about then so I saved it for today! I don't generally feel the need to wash my hair that often so this was the second time of washing my hair since I first used the hot oil last Sunday. Sounds a bit gross but I have pretty thick hair and I like to wear it up as much as it is down.

My hair, again, felt really smoothe once I had washed out the oil and it makes it much easier to then shampoo your hair. Sometimes when I shampoo I feel as though I am pulling at my hair where it is a little knotted together. I did pretty much the same, used most of the tube on my ends and then used the rest on the top/rest of my head, washed out, shampooed and then used my conditioner. Just for reference I use L'Oreal Nutri Gloss at the moment.

I must say my ends are looking much better, and my hair blow-drys quite straight and together (if that makes sense!) rather than looking like a huge mop of hair with layers going in all directions. So it is coming along nicely.

The one thing I have found though is that toward the end of the day and totally by the next day my hair feels and looks quite heavy and greasy, so much so that I want to put it all up so that no one can tell! This may be because my roots are beginning to come through, it may be because I should ease off putting the oil directly onto my roots. But I have noticed the difference.

Next week I will try and just use the oil for the hair sort of ear level and below and see if it still makes it feel the way it does now - can't wait to wash my hair!! Yuck.

MAC Fix +

Yay, a different brand! I got MAC Fix+ for Christmas from the lovely bf and was quite surprised as I rave on at him about the amazing Smashbox primer I use and thought, why would I need this? The blurb on the back reads:

"Soothing moisture mist that refreshes the skin and finishes makeup... Use before or after makeup."

When I was having my makeup done at the MAC counter a few weeks before (obviously where he got the idea from!) the artist spritzed it onto my face before she applied the makeup, but didn't use it after ward. I politely used it on Christmas day, having a little spritz after my makeup was on but didn't really use it after as I was not convinced.

HOWEVER! With the weather (trying) to be sunny and the dewy look totally in for this season I have been using almost everyday before my makeup and must admit that my Smashbox photo finish primer has stayed in my makeup bag, only coming out on occasions!

The formula is mostly water however it also has ingredients such as fruit extract and caffeine. So you're not just buying expensive water for your face!

After using one or two sprays my face feels refreshed and my usual MAC foundation spreads much easier on my face. I have also been using less moisturiser prior to foundation application because this stuff is enough. Because it isn't a creamy primer it keeps the skin looking quite fresh and moist which is ideal.

Not too sure if you can really see it, but this is after spraying onto my face, prior to makeup! You can see it mostly on my nose.



NOTD - sweet kisses

Today I am wearing 17 Cosmetic's Sweet Kisses that I got on this haul. Sorry for all the 17 posts, am getting through my new products slowly but surely!

I was actually after the Fairy Cake shade but the Boots I went into didn't have it and some of the nail polishes had different names to the website, totally got confused!

Although it's purple I really like that it's quite subtle and can be worn with loads of different outfits. 

The polish is not very thick so two coats were definitely needed.

Do you like this shade? Have you got any other lasting fix colours?

4 week hair challenge #1

I have decided I need to get my hair done soon. It is getting pretty long, heavy and the colour has gone quite auburn. I do not like!! As I won't be able to afford it until the next pay day, and because I am thinking of going a little blonder, I have begun a 4 week hair challenge to get my locks into better condition!

A friend of mine introduced me to VO5's 'give me moisture' hot oil last summer when I had just bleach-bathed my hair and was worried it may fall out. I didn't take it too seriously at the time and just used it when I remembered until they were all gone.

Now however, I am going to use my hot oil every weekend when I wash my hair and will post an update as to how my hair is feeling - hopefully getting better!

The pre-shampoo treatment promises to lock in moisture, double the strength of hair and repair damaged hair. It comes in a pack of 4 which is to be used once a week. 

<3

The first thing I like about the product is that it smells so good, I can't quite put my finger on the smell but it is very floral and reminds me of being in a hairdressers. I used about 2/3 of the 15ml tube on the ends of my hair and massaged the rest into the tips. The texture of my hair at this point was pretty rough but once I had washed the oil off it felt smoother than after using conditioner. Once I had dried my hair it looked less fly-away and the ends felt as though they had been trimmed.

So far, all good! I am really excited to see how the hot oil helps my hair in 4 weeks and to keep you posted!