Phil Smith Sea Salt Spray

Over the past few years sea salt spray seems to have become a cult product & what was once a hard to find product (unless you wanted to splash out on Bumble & Bumble) is now finding it's way in to many hair brand ranges. I remember a couple of years ago finding a Lee Stafford one, it wasn't expensive & the only one I could find in Boots. It was pants, instructions read "spray 50 times" 50 times? Not only could I not be bothered with that the results were sticky & horrible. So I decided to get the Label M when at my hairdressers, loved it, it got up my nose when I sprayed it but it gave great texture & volume, it's roughly £11, so not greatly expensive but still on the higher price scale.

I then tried the Phil Smith sea salt spray, it's £3.99, it smells like coconut & seems to give a slightly more tousled effect than the Label M version. Sea salt sprays tend to have a refreshing scent, it wakes me up a little more, but the Phil Smith scent has to be my favourite, not only does it give an effect of fresh air but it has that coconut infusion that smells amazing. I tend to spray this when my hair is damp & let it dry naturally, effortless & looks great, perfect for me as I'm not big on fussing over my hair. I didn't find this drying which I was slightly surprised at as my hair sometimes feels like straw, this must be due to the Pro-Vitamin B5 in the product that helps keep my hair a little smoother than the other sprays. For £3.99 I can't fault it, I've nearly finished the bottle! It's available in Sainsbury's & online at KMI club. Definitely a product to just slip into your shopping basket & give a try.

This product was sent for me to review, however, this does not affect my opinion & I will only give my honest thoughts.

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!

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.

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.

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!

Mandizzle hair pieces

I'm loving flower head bands at the moment. Only problem is I can't find anything in the shops that fits my tastes, but the hair pieces at Mandizzle are stunning. I posted a while back on twitter about them & ever since then I've been obsessing over these beautiful creations created by an equally beautiful girl.

Here are some I'm loving & lemming for, if I could I'd have them all! I'm hoping to get my credit card soon so I can buy one for Leeds fest!

Hair prescription

Today I got my prescription through the post. No, not a prescription of antibiotics or tamiflu, my prescription included a range of fantastic hair products to make my hair all better! These new Bonacure products were kindly prescribed to me by the hair doctor, hehe also known as hairstylist Steven Goldsworthy.



My hair is long, wavy, coloured & dry/damaged. So I've been prescribed two Colour Save products; Colour Save Sulfate-free Shampoo & Colour Save Spray Conditioner (which are well needed at the minute, my hair was very blonde & it's important for me to keep my now brunette colour vibrant for as long as possible) & Repair Rescue Amino Fortifier treatment. Oh & a lollipop to make up for the pain I've had to go through before these products! I'll be testing out these out & will be reviewing them in the coming weeks, where I'll go into more depth of the new Bonacure range. I need to dye my hair again so this will be perfect for me to test the colour save products which are said to keep your colour vibrant even after 30 washes, which sounds fantastic!

Anatomicals hair review

I was kindly sent some Anatomicals products to try out last week & I have been reaching for them when I've been washing my locks. So here's what I think.



Firstly we have young, free and tingle head shock shampoo.

What you get for your money:
The shampoo is a very reasonably priced £2.49, fantastic for when our pockets are feeling a little empty. For £2.49 you'll get a 250ml bottle covered in quirky words & pictures.

What Anatomicals say:
"If you want to wash that man/woman out of your hair, this is the perfect shampoo with which to do it with. One application and you'll instantly forget your past love and be ready to hit the streets looking for romance, your hair all shiny, glossy and smelling fresh. The inclusion of peppermint oil and menthol will also really wake you up in the morning. Just in case your latest conquest is unable to stay for breakfast."


What I think:
Usually I will use shampoo specially for coloured hair, it keeps my colour fresh & means I need to dye it less, so honestly this wouldn't be my first choice. That being said, I do really like this product. When first putting it into my hands I instantly smell it's menthol scent which soothes my cold/allergy bunged up head. Good so far. So when lathering it into my hair, the menthol smell gets stronger & perks me up from my grogginess. The 'tingle' cooling sensation then kicks in & feels amazing. If like me, you are not a morning person & need that extra hand to wake you up, then you should put this on your bathroom shelf. You can't help feeling more alert & fresh. It cleans my hair very well, it seems too squeaky clean actually & this worried me a bit because my hair is dry/damaged. However, when drying my hair all seems fine & I actually like the final finish.

I'll definitely continue to use this product (specially in the mornings when I just want to go back to bed), but will probably have to use one wash of this & one wash of a colour specific shampoo, as I felt my colour dulled a little when using this. Writing this now my head is reminiscing the menthol, refreshing sensation, needless to say I really enjoy using this shampoo & feel it'd be perfect for when you're feeling a little under the weather & tired.






Next is the sleek shall inherit the earth hair conditioner.


What you get for your money:
Again the conditioner is very reasonably priced at £2.49. For £2.49 you'll get a 250ml bottle covered in more quirky words & pictures.

What Anatomicals say:
"In Religious Education at school, we all learnt that it was the meek who would inherit the earth. Well, fat lot those and any teachers knew. It's really the vain and self-obsessed about their hair who will inherit the earth. Obviously, no RE teacher was, and is, ever going to know that. We mean have you seen their hair? Bird's nest would be a compliment. So the upshot is, use this conditioner and the whole planet is yours."

What I think:

First thing I notice is that the conditioner has no obvious smell, what smell it does have is quite subtly pleasant, but nothing amazing. It's very creamy & I leave it on for a couple of minutes before washing. I like to do this with every conditioner, my hair is quite dry & leaving the conditioner on for a little longer doesn't hurt. I've let my hair dry naturally & I've blow-dried it with this conditioner & it does deliver. I go for very moisturising conditioners due to my hair type so didn't expect this to do a great job, but I have no complains & my hair has felt smooth, conditioned & shiny for once!

Anatomicals products are available from their website www.anatomicals.net, ASOS, HQHair & from what I've heard some Boots stores.

Review: Aveda Damage Remedy™ Intensive Restructuring Treatment

What it is:
This is a hair treatment to use for that little extra care for your hair.

What you get for your money:
This retails at £18.60, which is quite steep. For the exchange of your money you get 4.2fl oz/ 125ml of product, it's not a lot, but it should last you a while. You can also buy a larger size which is 16fl oz/473ml for a massive £42.09.

What it claims to do:
(Taken from the Aveda website) Our intensive weekly treatment deeply penetrates to help repair, seal and smooth even the most damaged hair. Using the power of pure plant oils and quinoa protein, it restores health, silkiness and shine.

Our intensive weekly treatment deeply penetrates to help repair, seal and smooth even the most damaged hair. Using the power of pure plant oils and quinoa protein, it restores health, silkiness and shine.

•	part of a three-step restructuring system
•	helps strengthen hair weakened by chemical processes, heat styling and environmental exposure
•	quinoa protein penetrates the hair shaft, working from inside to help strengthen and repair
•	phellodendron and barley seal in moisture
•	castor, jojoba and meadowfoam seed oils smooth hair's surface

How to use:

After shampooing your hair, smooth treatment from roots to ends, leaving on 2-5 minutes before rinsing. If wanting to treat your hair a lot, leave on for around 10 minutes with a hot towel wrapped around head. Of course Aveda suggest you use their other products in conjunction with this, but I used my usual John Freida shampoo.

My thoughts:
When first using this I realised how the smell of the product was like no other. It wasn't full of fake-like floral or sickly smells, it smelt pure & this is due to the product's key ingredients which are: Barley, Caster oil, Jojoba oil, Meadowfoam seed oil, Phellodendron & Quinoa protein. I liked this because you know you're using a product that mainly uses natural ingredients to care for your hair. The consistency of the product is very thick & creamy, you would normally think you'd need more of a product which is quite thick, but a small amount distributed through my hair nicely. I left it on for a bit while I soaked in the bath & then rinsed it in the shower. After drying my hair it does feel slightly stronger, a lot softer & definitely a lot shinier. If you have seen my other pictures on my blog you'll probably notice that my hair seems quite dull, this is purely due to the years of many highlights & bleaches whilst being blonde. I was getting frustrated while the lack of shine brittleness of my hair so this seemed like a pefect product & you can see in my picture that my hair has shine! Thank god! I've only blow-dried my hair here, no straightening & no styling products, only a heat protectant. It's still slightly fluffy at the ends, but nothing compared to what it usually is when I've dried it.

Overall I do really like this product, my hair feels gorgeous & it finally has some shine, but the price is quite steep. It'll just have to be my little treat.