Results thanks to Wahanda

A few months ago I was contacted by Lopo from Wahanda who very kindly offered me some vouchers. These vouchers can be redeemed in spas, salons, gyms, studios & hotels all over the UK. Only today did I take advantage of that, 1 day before they expired. I have a terrible tendency to do things like that. But I'm glad I did because I may never have gone for this drastic hair change!

The vouchers are beautiful & each salon I went into querying about prices & appointments wanted to have a peek at them. Being a student of design for years now & a total design fiend of anything I absolutely loved the graphics & presentation of these. Not just the usual couple of vouchers in a card, you know? These would be such a beautiful present.







I pretty much decided from the start that I'd use these to get my hair done. The first salon I went to was Burlingtons, they have fantastic reviews & are very well known in the hair industry, but boy do they charge for it. A full head of highlights was going to be £90, then the cut on top of that - £60 & then possibly a toner which was £30, total = £180. No thank you. The other Salon was City Retreat. A small salon in a FX leisure gym, I was tempted to join it after seeing the swimming pool & jacuzzi area, probably the only part I'd use though!

I decided to go with City Retreat. My hairdresser was Lindsay who put me at total ease during the consultation & when it came to chopping off the length I just said "go for it". When I go to the hairdresser sometimes I feel like they don't totally know what I want or know what's up to date & are set in their typical standard hairdresser styles. But Lindsay knew exactly what I wanted & talked me through a lot of tips & what she was going to do. It was probably one of the nicest experiences I've had at the hairdressers, Lindsay was so chatty & made me feel comfortable (which I needed since I was getting a hefty amount of hair chopped off), she stayed late to finish my hair & I'll definitely return in 8 weeks to get my roots & trim.

Want to see the pictures? Here's before, lovely long hair but in terrible condition:






now?



So what'd you think? It's so different & feels strange, but I do like it.

hair decision & beautiful notebooks

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen my tweets asking for pictures/suggestions of shortish hair cuts. ChelseaCollinss linked me to this girl. & I feel in love with her hair, so cute & long enough to have naturally wavy. Success. So tomorrow at 4.15pm I shall be getting my hair cut off, this is terrifying as I've never had my hair shorter than shoulder length & that was 12 years ago! I'm praying it'll look good & I won't come out feeling like a boy with a fat face. Wish me luck!

Newcastle's Eldon Square has a new section that opened last week. It looks beautiful & it's fab having fresh stores to go to, but they've pretty much just moved stores we already had into this new area. However, one of the new, new shops is Paperchase & it is amazing. After Borderes closed down we only had a Paperchase in House of Fraser which isn't the biggest, so a whole store of Paperchase & things I've never seen is fab! I originally went in for cards but came out with this stunning notebook, what I need it for I don't know, but I couldn't not buy it. The sleeve is material & every detail is stitched on to it & for £9 I thought it was worth it. I'm one of those people that needs everything organised otherwise I don't know where to start. So I've bought some page clippers that will section up my notebook so I can use it for multiple things. Hopefully I won't forget all about my plans for this notebook & leave it to the side like I do with every other thing!

back detail

I also bought Diorskin Nude which so far I absolutely love. A review will definitely be on it's way, along with possibly a post about their new mascara that's coming out as I got a generous sample of it.

You may have noticed that my blog has slightly changed. I'm currently trying to redesign it but finding it hard to come up with designs, hopefully will have it complete by the end of the week.

Hair, hair, beautiful hair

I've come to the point where I am eventually going to have to get my locks cut & sort out these ever growing roots. There comes a time when you crave for something different but dread it at the same time. My hair has been through a lot & I can't get the words from my hairdresser out of my head when she said the bottom of my hair won't take well to more lightening. I've stopped using my frazzling GHDs as much & have embraced the natural curl/frizz, moisturized the hell out of it & hoped it'd get better. But I still dread that when I go to the hairdressers I'm probably going to have to get a fair few inches cut off, eek!

So I'm turning to you guys for a vote/opinion/experiences. Should I go for the chop & get it all cut off to a longish bob, maybe grow it out & use extensions when I want to? Will I regret it!? I'd love to try short hair but I loove having it long. Is there any AMAZING & I mean AMAZING (because I've tried a lot & my hair is naturally thick) treatments out there that would help? I just can't decide!

Amazingly soft skin

For the past few days I've changed my skin regime. I was using the Creme de la Mere range, this for me being the cleansing gel, mattifying toner & the gel moisturiser. Now I love the moisturiser & the products are doing a great job, but I left all these at home & had to use what I had up at my university house. After a few days I can't say I'm complaining because I think I've found a great mix of products!

Cleanser

MAC Cleanse Off Oil. It's a really gentle oil that you add a small amount of water to or put onto a damp face, rub it all over your face & it melts your makeup. So when it comes to rinsing it off, your skin will be left lovely & clean but not stripped of it's natural oils. I use a muslin cloth to remove this from my face, I find it helps to get every little bit of makeup off & gives a gentle exfoliation at the same time. Result on it's own is clean, glowing skin.

Moisturiser

MAC Mineralize All-over Lotion. As I said I'd left my skincare at home, so at uni I was left only with a L'Occtaine moisturiser which I find is too heavy for my skin, so I thought to sample the new moisturiser on counter. It's a lightweight moisturiser that's quick to hydrate & sink into your skin. It's formulated with charged water which is great for hydrating & is really gentle as well as being great for your skin due to being packed with minerals.

Care Blends Essensial Oils, Sweet Orange & Lavender. Like the all-over lotion, these have come out with the Warm & Cozy collection, at first the oils weren't going to come to counters but I'm really glad they did! Lavender is great for healing & soothing, blended with the orange it's great for calming as well as energizing. I put a couple of drops of this into the moisturiser and really work it into my skin. After using cleanse off oil & the combination of the moisturiser & the oil my skin looked really radiant. I've got oily skin & probably would never have thought of this if I hadn't had horrid dry spots (which have now completely gone), but it hasn't made my skin any oilier, if anything it's tamed any oiliness! I was sat watching tv & realised how much my skin has really smoothed out & feels so much softer, so I thought to inform you all of my recent findings!! I'm actually gutted now that I've come home & left my cleanse off oil at uni!

note: not advisable to use if pregnant due to the essential oils.