Umberto Giannini Backcomb In A Bottle

I'm a fan of big hair, big, big hair. Despite not having massively long hair, it's thick & it's heavy so I'm always ruffing it up to restore the volume. I backcomb layers & hairspray each one, but not only does this take time & effort, it also makes my hair feel gross, unmovable & not to mention isn't great for the health of my hair.

Now I've been looking for this stuff ever since Kelly posted about it's damn right amazingness, but alas, it's ben sold out in all my local Boots. So when I got an email asking as a little Christmas gesture if I'd like to be sent a bottle as I'd been finding it so hard, I was over the moon. Sadly it'd been sitting in the Royal Mail depo for some time as it couldn't fit in my mail box & I must have been out & about when they attempted to bring me this little can of joy, so when my star of a mam went to go pick it up for me I was done with waiting & couldn't wait to try it. I loved it from the first try & knew I had to spread the word.

I've just had my hair cut & coloured & whenever I go to the hairdressers, no matter where I go I always feel that I'm walking out of the salon with crazy flat hair, so I thought, prime time to show you the wonders of this product. The first picture is obviously my post salon pancake hair, next is after I've sprayed the Backcomb in a Bottle through a few sections of my hair & juzzed it up with my fingers & finally, the third picture shows the results of a little more of the product through my hair & a blast from the hairdryer with my head upside down. Voila, volume! Bloody love this stuff!

All I want for Christmas

This year, despite wishing for so many things day to day I found it hard to bring together a Christmas list. My boyfriend laughed at me when he found my list written out on word as I emailed it to my mum. I'm not the only one to make a list still at the age of 22 am I? Afterall it's only suggestions & in my defense my mum asks for one every year as she knows how picky I can be!

I've been lemming the whole long blonde hair with a Russian style fur headband for a while now, all I need now is for my roots to be bleached & to find some beautiful hair extensions, curl them into soft waves & pull this over to complete the look.

All I need to round everything together in a beautiful big bag, a Mulberry Alexa would be the dream, but slightly out of budget. The search is on.

What have you asked for this year?

World Aids Day

Tomorrow is World Aids Day, a day to raise awareness, respect & don a red ribbon. It's something over the past year that I've come feel strongly about. So tomorrow, my colleagues & I will be donning perfect red lips & the words 'World Aids Day' stenciled on to our bodies in gold paint, & of course spreading the word to raise money & a huge amount of awareness.

Are you doing anything to raise awareness? Whether it be to donate & pin a ribbon to your winter coat, tweet your little hearts out or buy a Viva Glam lipstick/lipglass? Do your bit and make a pledge on www.worldaidsday.org. Every little action whether it be supporting a red ribbon or your Viva Glam lipstick will make a difference to some one somewhere living with & suffering from HIV & AIDS.

Not sure what your Viva Glam Gaga lipstick did for someone? Have a look on www.macaidsfund.org to see all the amazing things that 1 lipstick costing you £12.50 did for someone else. It's an amazing christmas present.

It's Edie Darling..

Last Saturday I donned a stripey dress, black tights, a faux fur coat, shoulder dusting earrings & became Edie sedgwick. It was my friends 21st, no one knew who I was other than looking like I'd come from the 60s, but I loved it. The make up, the glamour & the attitude, I wish I could dress like that at all times...well in all honesty I could, but lets face it I live in the North, not London, people judge a little more on individuality up here & I can't deal with people looking already, paranoid much!?

Edie was known as being one of Andy Warhol's superstars, she was beautiful, disturbed & intriguing. The It girl of the 60's who dared to cut her hair short, create her own style & experiment with makeup may have been off the rails with a drug addiction, but there's something about her that captivates me. I think I'll be buying Edie Sedgwick: Girl on Fire when I get paid, I'd imagine it to be an interesting read. If you havn't already, I urge you all to watch Factory Girl which is based on the rise & fall of her short life, such a good film.

Don't forget my GIVEAWAY HERE.

Oh & I now have an RSS feed, never really knew what to do with it before.

Honour over Glory giveaway

Since I hit 1000 followers a couple of weeks back, I've decided to do a giveaway (& there may possibly be one more to come). Until recently I haven't blogged an awful lot & it most definitely hasn't been regularly, so I was a little surprised to hit this mark of followers. So thank you for still reading despite my total crapness at keeping it updated on a regular basis. I also want to say thank you because it's gotten me back into blogging, I've missed it & I think this was a kick of inspiration to get me posting again.

Anyway, onto the prizes! Tom over at Honour over Glory has generously given me a white glory boobtube in medium to give away. You might have seen me in a few Honour over Glory things before, love the stuff (especially the tube & hoodies) & love him, he's awesome. So I thought it'd be a nice little give away for my blog since I'm a fan of the products. Not only is there the tube, but I also picked up Barry M instant nail effects polish, Models Own Purple Grey polish & Models own Ballet Pink gloss to giveaway too.

The giveaway is open for one month, in that time you can spread the word by tweeting or blogging about the giveaway, but only one entry/comment per person is allowed. Please read the rules, it's only fair.


Giveaway rules:

- Giveaway ends at midnight (GMT) on Wednesday 10th November '10.
- It's open to all readers, UK & International.
- You must be a follower of itsallpeachykeen.com.
- You do not need a blog to enter.
- To enter comment below with ENTER ME, your email address & country.
- There will be one winner chosen by random.org.

- Feel free to tweet: @_peachykeen is giving away @honouroverglory, @modelsown & @barrymcosmetics goodies. www.itsallpeachykeen.com

Nearly there

After a couple of years contemplating it & a couple of months slowly doing it, I'm finally getting my room nicely together. There's still a lot of boxes to unpack, more pictures to go up on the wall & a few finishing touches to be made, but I'm getting there & I bloody love it. I'm so happy & proud of my efforts. I definitely won't be moving out of home soon, but when do I have some gorgeous furniture to take with me.

I can't wait to sleep in my brand new bed tonight, I'm ridiculously happy with my purchases. It's always hard to part with the money but I love when you just don't care & there's no regret. So what if I have to tame my spending for the rest of the month, totally worth it.

I've had a week off work & it's flown, it's always the same, weeks at work drag but when you have that freedom & relaxation it disappears before you know it. I can't say I've relaxed much, I've had my room to do & bit for work...that I haven't quite done, but to be honest I'm stressed to bits with that so it's been put to the side, I do more than enough anyway, as always I'm just giving myself too much to do.

So anyway, this is where I will blog now onwards. Grin!

Problematic skin? Vichy normaderm review

If you've been a follower of my blog for a while now, you might know that I've suffered quite badly with my skin. I'm 22, I have oily skin & enlarged pores which leads to them getting clogged which then creates blemishes &/or blackheads. Brilliant combination, right? Well, at least I'll have less wrinkles when I'm older I suppose! My skin has improved massively in the past year, I've had microdermabrasion treatments to help with scarring & have learnt that using gentle cleansers on oil skin is your best bet, anything targeted for acne prone skin just strips the oils which in turn seems to worsen my skin.

So when I was contacted to try out the new Vichy normaderm Tri-Activ Anti-Imperfection Hydrating Care & I'd read a little about it I was very interested to try it out. Microdermabrasion helps smooth out my skin & get rid of blackheads, but unless this is kept up the smoothness disappears. This is why I'm really impressed with this product, when I use it my skin is so supple & soft I can totally tell the difference if I stop using it for a couple of days.

Basically the product is an emollient that helps to perfect yout skin with its unique Hydra Peeling technology. There are three peeling ingredients in the gel: salicyclic acid, glycolic acid & LHA. So while it moistuises your skin it also helps fight impurities with salicylic acid, neutralises bacteria on the skin with glycolic acid & gives an exfoliation with the LHA. It's the LHA that seems to help the smoothness of the skin as it helps "gently micro-exfoliate the surface of the skin for a smoother surface and uniform complexion." Pretty good & perfect for skin types like me.

I can definitely feel the 'peel' of my skin with this product & that is why I only use it at night. It does give a lovely radiant but matte finish to the skin when applied which would be great for a base to apply makeup to, but with the peeling I prefer to use this as night time moisturiser & use my MAC oil control lotion during the day.

If you want to read more about this product click here.

I know a lot of people have reviewed this product & you can get tired of seeing the same things or wondering who's actually telling the truth about them but I pride myself in giving honest opinions on products. If I don't like a product, I either don't review it or voice my opinion, it's as simple as that. I've been using this product for two weeks now & could have given a review within the first couple of days, but I like to give products a good run & test them properly. I would definitely buy this again.

Should have put a ring on it

images 2 & 3

Ever since a young age I've loved big rings, I think it came from watching Friends & admiring Phoebe's ring clad hands, I just loved the chunkiness & exaggeration. So when seeing photographs of what could be knuckle duster rings on every finger I was reminded of my love for cluttered hands. I feel naked if I don't wear my Vivienne Westwood ring, it's chunky enough & stands out but I want more & I want to wear them all together, a la Phoebe Buffay but a little less ditzy & a little more rock-esque. Whilst lusting over the fashion on this blog (which I wouldn't have know about if it wasn't for this post on Katie's blog) I came across cocoo.se, a brilliant jewellery site with the most amazing rings I've seen. The site is currently making an english version so unless you know Swedish it's a little hard to navigate & understand, but I think a purchase from here is well needed....very very soon.

The moral of the story

If you follow me on twitter you will have more than likely seen at least one post about my hair disaster. Basically, I don't know why I did it... I hate box dyes, but because when I dyed it for Leeds fest & it brightened up nicely I thought I'd do it again. Only I bought the wrong colour didn't I. This one completely lifted my roots to a lovely yellowy blonde. Don't chose this colour if you have a lot of warmth in your natural hair, it won't end well. So in panic I used up the last of my po1, didn't work, I slapped purple shampoo on numerous amount of times, other than turning the bleached length & ends a lovely shade of dull grey/purple it did nothing. Roots were still lovely & warm. I ran to asda to get an ashy dye, other than irritating my scalp it did nothing. I went to sleep in tomato sauce, beautiful, I know. It worked to take the purple out though. & off I went to work the next day with hair tied up & head scarf on, no joke.

On the way home I drove like an idiot to get myself to Durham Sallys before it closed, my trade card had ran out so I paid full price, I paid £2 for parking for a 7minute stay but I managed to get my po1 & luo releaser. Thankfully Cat cleared up a few things about luo to me, as the last time I'd applied it (although I was all set to do it the correct way) was told by a hairdresser friend to apply it totally the wrong way. After having this on for 20 minutes & sleeping in a hair mask it helped a lot. I still went to the hairdressers but other than give me advice about the condition of my hair she wouldn't do anything to it other than going dark. Putting lowlights in would mean I'd have a blonde root & nothing will tone on top of tone on the tips. So, I walked away with Kerastase Bain de force shampoo & conditioner & went off to buy some pantene to strip the toner out of my tips. After washing my hair this evening for the 15th time this is what I've ended up with. I no longer resemble Andy Warhol & I don't mind it now, I just HATE having no roots, I think blonde right next to the scalp, unless natural, looks horrid...well on me.

So now I'm going to wait for my roots to come through..ahhhh beautiful, treat my hair to some bain de force & use my Fekkai protein mask a little more!

So the moral of the story. Don't do what I did.

Leeds festival

Time of my life.

I had Leeds blues & a husky for a good week, I still experience the blues now when hearing the Libertines or Blink. I went last year but my god even though I saw so many more bands in 2009 it will never come close to the good times in 2010.

We camped in a valley with trees & fairy lights, Piccadilly circus DJ set was at the end of our track, we made friends, had camp fires, a chubby RPatz camped near us - he tried too hard. Lindsay jokingly got engaged during Lost Prophets whilst on someones shoulders & got married during Biffy Clyro. We tore the Gamers Tent down & owned it on both Friday & Sunday night, there were cheers, fans, haters & a lot of games. We sang chants to Hayley Williams to 'TURN IT UP', laughed, danced & I had the best time of my life. It was epic.

wedding picture! The fashion of the guys make me crease. You've got bold shorts & guys clad in Northumbria uni sportswear.

Ink me

I love the the very fine delicate handwritten style, would be amazing if I could find a piece of writing from someone like my Grandad & have that copied onto my body. That or a small sketch/watercolour of his.

Currently thinking this quote might be a winner:

It's so hard to chose something that's going to be stuck on your body, for me it needs to be pretty, tasteful & mean something. I'm not one to get a random tat, this is going to be on my skin for the rest of my life!!

Have any of you got any tattoos? Link some pictures, I love looking at them!

Rock 'n Rose lovin'

I just wanted to share my recent purchases that I'm completely in love with at the moment.
I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Rock 'n Rose but I've always been a fan & it's an amazing shop with gorgeous pieces. There was a long wait for my order due to it being in high demand & it all being hand made, but it was well worth the wait.

The packaging is amazing, absolutely love it & it's come a long way since my last order when the packaging looked like this, which I still loved at the time but you can totally tell how far & well these girls have come along. The quality is second to none, perfect in fact. & when I wore the headband to work that day, I got so many compliments on it I couldn't count them on my hands for you. So have a little gander on the website, no doubt you'll fall in love with it too.

Quick OOTD

Not something I do too often because I never have time to set up & take photographs of outfits. I usually fuss for too long & have to run out the door because I'm running late. Excuse the mess of my room, you can see what I'm having to live with at the minute!

Cream top - All Saints
Grey top - TOPSHOP
Jacket - TKMaxx
Skirt - TOPSHOP
Leggings - TOPSHOP
Boots - Kurt Geiger


So there you go. Something new :)!

Review: Cloud 9 straigteners

As the post states, I'm going to be reviewing the Cloud 9 straighteners. I'm going to set this into a series of posts. This initial post will be my review on the design, concept & the results. The following posts will consist of style results from these beauties. I'll be trying out looks from their website & posting the end look to show you the versatility of the product. So, onto the review.


What Cloud Nine say:

'The Cloud Nine Iron is our original and most popular straightener. These are the irons that have got the beauty industry buzzing, and rightly so. Suitable for all hair types, they use state-of-the-art temperature control technology, allowing you to create lots of exciting looks, without having to use searing heat. Whether you want to smooth, flick, curl or straighten your hair, you can - at a lower temperature than you ever thought possible. And the added beauty of less heat? Less damage to your hair. This is a straightener that’s packed with incredible features. From the simple-to-follow temperature gauge, to the hibernation mode and swivel cord, it has everything you need to make the most of your style. What's more, its unique black plates provide added shine every time you use them.'



Packaging

[ I did have a photograph of the front/top of the outer sleeve, but stupidly deleted it off my camera without saving onto my macbook. *hand-forehead* But you still get the overall feel with this photo of the back, the only difference is that the front/sides only carry the name/logo. ]

The packaging is very sleek & minimalistic. The box is very sturdy & the design seems to have been thought about as it's not like the standard packaging you come across with many tools - it shouts out expensive. I'm a box hoarder & a design lover so I like this. One thing that annoys me about the packaging though, is the fiddliness of fitting your straighteners back in. When putting the wire back under the panel the straighteners lie on, it's a bit of a faff on to get it right so the panel lies in place. Not a huge problem, but I'm one of those sad people that like to keep my products in the box, especially when the box is as stylish as this one!



Inside of the box

Inside the box you find the gorgeous straighteners with a heat guard & a carry pouch underneath.


The Cloud Nines come with:

• Temperature control panel
• Black ceramic plates
• Swivel cord
• Heat guard
• Hibernation mode
• RFID Chip
• Dual adaptor
• Universal voltage
• 2 years warranty

On first looks the Cloud Nines look like many other straighteners on the market, a little sleeker than most, but still a familiar shape. Looking closer to the design (in comparison with GHDs) I find that the Cloud Nines are ever so slightly thinner & the swivel cord doesn't just swivel round but also to the side. It's hard to explain, but I assume it's on a rotating ball, so movement is even easier than the standard swivel cord.

The Heat guard is such a simple but great idea. Not only will it help you avoid burn marks on the carpet (come on everyone's burnt something with their straighteners at some point!) but it'll also save the wiring as you don't need to tightly wrap it round the barrel to keep it closed. Once you've finished using the styler you can pop it straight into the heat guard, no waiting needed.


Heat control







The main feature of the Cloud Nine stylers is the heat control. In the past I've had heat control straighteners but nothing really happened on the lower temperatures & I'd always wack it up to the maximum. With these however, I haven't even tried them on the highest heat. This coming from someone with very thick hair, not only is it thick in amount but each strand is thick & slightly coarse. So to say I can get amazing results just from 150 °C is incredible as sometimes my GHD's don't even give me the finish these baby's do on almost double the heat.

Navigation is simple, as you can see the controls are on the inner side & again are very sleek & fit well into the design. To change the temperature you simply tap on the Hi or Lo button & the LED will change to the temperature you've set it to. If you, like me, sometimes forget to switch off your straighteners don't worry, these beauties will sense when they have been on for 30 minutes but not used & will cool down to box temperature. So this means no worrying when you finally remember half way through the day that you've left them on!




Want to know how they perform...?

Amazing.

No kidding. These are fantastic. I can't shut up about them. I actually brought them to a friends, (one of these friends being a hairdresser) & despite probably thinking 'hmmm, what are these? They aren't GHD' she was massively impressed & loved how they worked. Everyone who's sneaked a cheeky play have loved the glide of the iron & finish. Like I said before, I've not used these on the top heat yet, which is something that has surprised me especially with my type of hair. The maximum heat I've tried is 175 °C but I usually just stick to 150 °C & my hair ends up better looking than it ever does with my GHD irons. It's shiny (rare for a highlighted blonde, dry hair type) smooth & so so soft. Whilst living between my parents home & my university house I'd left the Cloud Nines at home & was actually disappointed that I'd have to use my GHDs.

Hopefully by now you should know I give my gods honest opinion on things, so trust me when I say if you're needing new straighteners please consider buying these instead of going for the usual GHD safe option. I'm a self confessed apprehensive buyer & would probably have chose GHD over Cloud Nine if I had not known how amazing they are, as it seems like a safe option. You know they work, you know they're good, but believe me, they're not as good as these (come on, Hooker & Young use them, they've got to be good!). I feel so much better using Cloud Nine irons on my hair as I know the damage to my hair is a lot less & this is something I'm being very careful about these days after going for the big chop earlier on in the year.

One other unique thing that I love about these stylers is the RFID chip (say what?). This chip means your straighteners can be identified with it's own unique number. Meaning that the iron can be tracked & monitored through it's lovely life to ensure it's a genuine product only sold by authorised stockists. How cool is that? I bet you've heard of one or more people buying popular brand irons that end up being fake.

Want to find out more on things I've mentioned or just curious about these gifts from God? Here's the website - Cloud Nine

Look out for my style posts using the Cloud Nines.

Pssst... if you buy a styler now you get a free St. Tropez Perfect Legs tan - who doesn't love a good set of bronzed pins in the summer?



These were sent to me for reviewing purposes, but in no way am I giving false opinions. I give you my brownie promise, my review is true to my own thoughts.

Pirate boots & bangles

My parcel came midday yesterday, I ran down the stairs in my dressing gown & flung open the door. I think the delivery man felt a little awkward with my choice of clothing (I wasn't being lazy, just getting ready), I didn't care, I practically swiped the sign for machine off him & hugged my huge box, probably his most enthusiastic customer of the day. So here we go, the unraveling of my presents to myself & a sort of OOTD.

I wore them out yesterday, only to find myself ending up wondering round the Hoppings in Newcastle, thank god the grass was bone dry, I was almost crying! My feet have suffered a little from the structure of the boots, but I forgive my Vivs, they just need a little breaking in. I'm still completely over the moon with my recent purchases!