Philip Kingsley Elasticizer, £17.50 - Lookfantastic

It's been a while, so today I have a little product review for you.  My hair has always been in great condition, a lot finer than I'd like but still really soft and smooth.  When I made the decision that I wanted to try and get my hair a more silver/lilac colour I knew that the process would be damaging to my hair.  Even though my hair was bleached properly and using the holy grail Olaplex, it has still taken a lot of the moisture out of my hair.  Especially as time has gone on I have found my hair to be a lot drier and more brittle.  As I've always been quite lucky with the condition of my hair I'd never done much more than shampoo and condition it and tried out the odd hair mask every now and then.  But when I started noticing that some of my hair had started snapping at the front I knew I had to start taking better care of it.

I'd seen a lot about the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer and how it had worked wonders for dry and brittle hair, so I thought I'd give it a try.  My verdict?  It is worth all the hype.  The Philip Kingsley Elasticizer is an intensive conditioning treatment that you put on before shampooing.  The product itself is quite thick and creamy, so a little goes a long way especially if you have fine mid length hair like myself.  As my hair is fairly fine I only use it on the mid lengths and ends, as suggested, but concentrate on the ends more as I feel like this is where my hair tends to get a lot drier.  On the packaging it does suggest that you leave it on for 10-20 minutes and cover with a plastic cap.  Now I don't know what difference the plastic cap makes as I don't own one, so I just tend to leave it on my hair for the longer amount of time with no plastic cap and I feel like it does the job just as well.  I also find my hair gets greasier a lot quicker when I use more products on my hair, so although it does suggest you use the Elasticizer weekly I only tend to use it every other week and it has still really improved the condition of my hair.  It has definitely put a lot of moisture back into my hair and I have noticed that I have had significantly less breakage since I started using it too.  The other thing that I have noticed since I've been using this product as well, is that my hair doesn't seem to get as knotty.  I have always had very fine and knotty hair that once I've towel dried it and brushed it through, by the time I've plugged the hair dryer in and gone back to dry it it would somehow have knots in it again.  Do not ask me how, but I'm sure this was a contributing factor to all the breakage too.  However, since I've started using the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer I've noticed that my hair doesn't seem to get quite as knotty, and I don't know if that's because it is a lot less drier or the hairs being a lot silkier due to the Elasticizer, but either way I'm not complaining.

Have you tried the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer?  Are there any other hair treatments that you'd recommend for fine hair?

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I'm sure that if you've been following my blog recently you'll know how much I've been getting fed up of my hair.  It had gotten too long and was in dire need of a boost.  I'd been umm-ing and ahh-ing over the past year whether to get it all chopped off, but I decided recently that was not enough and I was going to get it coloured as well to give it some life back and a bit more oomph!

I decided to go to Inizio as they have a pretty good rep in my town and they'd been recommended to me by several people.  My anxiety already makes things like this hard for me to do, hence why I'd been putting off getting my hair cut for the past two years, but going for such a big change I was a complete bag of nerves when I got to my appointment.  My stylist Adam was great though and made me feel right at ease, and was sure to let me know that if I wasn't happy with it he'd sort it.  It's always a daunting experience when going for such a change... What if the colour isn't right?  What if it doesn't suit me?  What if it's too short?  What if I don't like it?  Adam made me feel so comfortable though that I knew that I didn't have to worry, he made me feel like it wouldn't be awkward for me to say if I felt like something needed fixing.  Being an anxious person making me feel this at ease is something that is important to me in a hair stylist.  Luckily for him, and I suppose me, I was really pleased with the results.  So here is how I went from long and brunette to short and blonde...

So what do you think of my new 'do?

If you're ever in the area or live nearby I'd definitely recommend Inizio, you can find them on Instagram here and Facebook here.

I've been feeling a bit bored with my hair lately and I've been crushing on this hairstyle for quite a while now.  The "lob" or "long bob" has been quite popular recently with lots of celebs going for the chop and every time I see it I think 'aw that looks so nice'.  I especially love the choppy textured styles and the nice thing about the lob is that it's still just long enough to put up and play around with different styles with.  So, if you haven't already figured out where I'm going with this post, I've decided to take the plunge and get my long locks cut off into a nice little choppy lob.  I've spent the last two years growing my hair and as much as I love long hair I've grown a bit bored of it and I have to admit it has become a bit of a chore, it takes so long to dry and style.  I'm also hoping a good cut and adding a bit of colour will give my hair a bit more oomph.  So I have an appointment for next week and I am hoping to leave the hairdressers with a smile on my face and hair like this...

What do you think of the "lob"?

I have to admit that I'm not really an expert in hair extensions nor is it something that I've really looked into before, but as somebody who gets bored easily with their hair I'm beginning to think that they may ease my boredom a little.  When I was younger every trip I took to the hairdressers, I would exit with a completely different style and colour than I entered with.  As you can imagine over the years this has taken it's toll on my hair.  Here are just a few of the styles I've had over the last few years, it's been long, short, red, pink, blonde...

Since I've stopped dying it and had it cut my hair is in a lot better condition, but I am really missing my long locks and am feeling the urge to colour it again.  So when I was recently introduced to besthairbuy.com I thought that maybe hair extensions might be a great option to keep my urges at bay.  They have a wide selection of hair extensions in all different colours and lengths and as they are all made from human hair they can be washed, cut, dyed and styled to your preference.

If you have read my Christmas Gift post you will have seen that Santa very kindly brought me the Babyliss Curl Secret.  Ever since I first heard about this miraculous curling tool I was dying to try it out but was a little put off by the £120 price tag, then I was hoping to get my hands on one during all the Black Friday/Cyber Monday offers before Christmas and it looked like I wasn't the only one, as it was sold out almost everywhere online.  Luckily my lovely mother managed to get her hands on one just in time for Christmas for me and I've pretty much been using it ever since.

The tool itself looks pretty hefty compared to standard curling irons but it is not actually as heavy as I thought it would be.  It is not awkward to hold at all and it is super easy to use.  It also comes with a protective heat mat and a lovely velvet drawstring bag to store it in.  There are two heat settings, which it suggests you use the lower heat for fine hair and the higher heat for thicker hair.  Then the second setting is for the amount of time you leave the hair for the curl to set, for which there are three settings: 8 seconds, 10 seconds and 12 seconds.  This setting is very handy, as you don't have to worry about how long to leave your hair as it beeps to let you know when to release the hair.

If you've ever seen the Curl Secret in action and you're anything like me, I was absolutely baffled by how this tool could be clamped on your hair, which it then sucks in and is easily released to reveal a perfect curl, so of course my first worry was that my hair was going to get tangled in it somehow.  However, after using it many times I can assure you that this has not happened once to me.  I am pretty sure as long as you're hair is thoroughly brushed and you don't try to curl sections of hair which are too thick, there isn't a chance of this happening.  The first time I used the Curl Secret I put it on the lower heat setting and the 10 second timer setting, as I have quite fine hair.  I don't know if it is just my hair, as it doesn't really hold curls that well, but even with hairspray the curls dropped right out within a few hours.  So I now use it on the higher heat setting and just change the time setting depending on the type of curl I'd like.  I must admit though that there isn't really that much variation in the tightness of the curls due to the time difference, I have just found that the curls tend to hold longer on the 12 second setting.  I think to get a real difference in the tightness of the curls you'd have to use smaller sections of hair but as I'm a bit lazy and don't like to spend too much time on my hair I haven't tried this yet.  Although it does take slightly longer than using my Curling Wand, it still only takes around 20 minutes to do the whole of my hair and it does seem to make my hair feel more fuller and gives less uniformed curls than my curling wand.

All in all I think this a great tool and would definitely recommend it, especially to people that struggle with curling irons as it is super simple and straight forward to use.

Have you used the Babyliss Curl Secret?  Do you think it's worth the money?

P.S. There are still a few days left to enter my giveaway here.

All summer I have been contemplating giving my long locks the chop.  After spending so long growing my hair, and spending the majority of my younger years sporting a short bob, I have been reluctant to get it cut and have satisfied my need for change with colour.  There have been highlights, different shades of red, a pink dip dye and the faded ombre I am left with now.

 

Being ill these last few weeks has given me a lot of time to sit and browse the web looking for a little inspiration.  As reluctant as I am to go for the chop I found myself drawn to the images of longer length bobs more and more, which is a big hair trend for autumn/winter 2013, and I think I've finally come around to the idea of giving my dry split ends the snip.

 

Here are a few of the cuts I'm considering...

 



Mid-length bob without a fringe.

 

I really like undone fuss free look of the first bob and the sleekness of Olivia Palermo's bob.  When does her hair ever not look completely perfect?!

 

 

Mid-length bob with fringe.

 

I really like the textured look of these bobs and I think my face shape is better suited to a fringe.

 

 

Blunt bob with fringe.

 

I love how sleek and perfect these blunt cuts look, but they may be a little shorter than I'm brave enough to go.

 

There is one other dilemma I have when it comes to my hair and that is colour.  Another reason behind going for the chop is to rid my hair of the last remains of my dry bleached ends.  However I have recently found myself lusting after gorgeous lilac locks, especially with all the hype surrounding the newly released Bleach London products recently.

 

 

This would of course mean bleaching the hell out of my brown hair for a nice even white tone for the lovely pastel lilac colour I would hope to achieve.  Do I really want to put my hair through all of this again?  Or do I stick with a nice shade of chocolate brown?

 

So what do I do?  Blunt or Choppy?  Fringe or No Fringe? To Bleach or Not to Bleach?  So many decisions for such an indecisive person...

 

Let me know in the comments what you think I should do.

 

Dress - AX Paris

Shoes (old) - Peacocks

Ring - Down The Rabbit Hole

Excuse my squinty face, I am so happy to say that the sun was in my eyes.  I'm not usually a huge fan of yellow clothing but this dressed has converted me into a yellow lover.  I love it!  I really wanted one of these crochet waisted from Topshop last summer, so I was really happy to see it at AX Paris for a mere £21.  I want it in every colour now.  I was so happy to get to wear these sandals too.  I got them at the end of last summer in the sale for £5 and never got the chance to wear them because the weather wasn't nice enough.  They are so comfy and really allow your feet to breathe in this heat, because who likes hot sweaty feet?

I didn't know what to do with my hair in this heat because there's only so many days I can rock a topknot before I get bored, but I don't like my hair all over my face when I'm hot.  So I decided to get out my vintage hairstyles book that I got for my birthday for a little inspiration.  After a quick flick through I decided to try a more relaxed version of this:

Foundation -17 BB Cream

Eyeliner - Maybelline Gel Liner

Mascara - Natural Collection Lash Curl Mascara

Blusher - Natural Collection Pink Cloud

Lips - E.L.F Super Glossy Lip Shine in Goddess

I very rarely do a makeup shot because I'm never usually happy with a skin but I seem to have finally found the combination that works for my skin.  I also wanted to share with you my love for this BB Cream, I've tried a few different ones and this is by far my favourite.  It's the lightest I could find and not a hint of orange in sight.  I just love how natural it looks and it really does even out my skin tone.  I find it applies best with a stippling blush and can be easily built up for more coverage.  I cannot recommend this enough, it will take a lot for a foundation to beat this one for me.

What is your favourite foundation?