Hair Advice

I’m having a bit of a hair dilemma at the moment. HELP is needed!

 I wanted something that would be easy for up-keep (especially not too pricey) but now I feel a bit like it’s bland. I had brown hair up until I was probably about 16/17, which is when I first changed my complete image and went blonde! I cringe here a little as it was totally peroxide, which made me look sooo pale, and with brown eyebrows it was terrible (looking back). I also had a dodgy cut and unfortunately can’t seem to find any pictures of this, I would love to show you because it is very laughable!!

I have been able to track down a few piccys of my hair from this point on-wards. Once I got over the peroxide look I started having more browns and honey blondes put through, making it look much more natural.

I loved this colour on me but it only lasted a few months unfortunately, I remember having it done by a trainee once in Southampton (during my first attempt at University), but then it started to creep back to full-on blonde bombshell, which was okay, but having been blonde for what felt like FOREVER I then introduced some crazy dark (I would like to say black) chunks by my new, and current, hairdresser.

 It was a different look for me; I felt quite rock chick and edgy, haha. I liked it but decided to try all-over brown, as I hadn’t had it since being at secondary school.

Being quite blonde the brown didn’t take extremely well so it is quite a chocolate brown, which I did think was nice but I had to go back after 4/6 weeks to get it done again. As the up-keep was pretty much the same as my blonde I crawled back to my hairdresser and asked to be blonde again, but also had a dramatic change – I went for the bob!

(Please excuse my expression!)

The bob was cute, but I didn’t like the fact I couldn’t get up some mornings and just put it all up out of my face. It was high maintenance. I started to grow this out after a few months, longing to have below the shoulder hair again. When I look back I can’t believe I did it! My hair was such a nice length and, although I wore extensions for a teeny bit more length and volume, I just felt bored I think.

So, onto another, but darker, shade of brown and now my what I like to call half brown/half blonde kind of colour. It’s like I’m too afraid to go blonde or brown!  But I really want a change and would love to get it done either just before or after I finish all my exams, etc. A bit of an end of an era with Uni and onto a new look and life!

I hope you like the pictures (some of them feel like sooo long ago!!) I think it's always nice to feel like you know the person you're reading about and pictures really help.

Do you think I should go blonde again? Or do you like the colour it is currently? Perhaps you’re going to tell me to go back to brown? I’d love to know what you think so I can finally make a decision (and hopefully stick to it this time).

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream

I like the idea of not having to wear a full face of makeup every day of the week, especially if I am just nipping out to the shop or only have to go into Uni for an hour or so. Yes, I could potentially not wear any makeup at all but this really isn’t me and my face does not have an even skin tone!

So when I saw L’Oreal’s Nude Magique BB cream I thought I’d give it a try. I put a little blob of the tester onto my hand to check which shade to get (they have fair or dark, not much variation there) and, now I must say I’ve never tested a BB cream before, was a little surprised. The density was really thin and runny so I immediately started rubbing into my hand to see what happened next. It started to go darker, which I thought would be ok for my skin tone as this was the fair shade, and thought it actually gave quite good coverage for a product which isn’t a foundation.

BB creams are designed to give natural looking coverage for skin and have been vastly developed here in the UK with almost all brands selling them. Something similar I have tried in the past, before BB creams, was a Clinique primer which was slightly tinted for the skin tone had an SPF of around 25 but was just not enough coverage for me.

This picture shows the density of the cream, as well as how I have began to smooth it into my hand.

 (Just so you're aware, I took this picture last night just after fake tanning .... so my hand is not usually this strange colour!)

After applying it onto my face I was happy with the outcome at first, it was good coverage and didn’t feel heavy on my face. I used concealer and a little blush to finish.

By mid afternoon, although I couldn’t feel any difference, my face looked really shiny – something I never normally get with foundations. It also looked pretty orange! It definitely did not look like that when I applied it in the morning. The shininess could be dealt with by brushing a little powder onto the areas, but the tone of my skin was just not right and I can’t quite believe this was the fair shade. It’s like it was a gradual tanning lotion which was developing throughout the day!

So, all in all I’m not won over by this product but it will not put me off testing others as I liked the coverage and lightness of the formulation.

Let me know if you've tried this BB cream, or any others, and your thoughts.