New Hair!

Before

After

Hey lovelies! Firstly I apologise if this post seems all over the place, as I am bloggin' from my ipad, which I actually have never done before so its taking a little getting used to! For a while now I have been getting a bit bored of my hair. I know we all want what we don't have, but I found as my hair was getting longer and longer, my natural shade of brown was making it look a bit flat, so I decided it was time for a small change.
 I have totally done this the wrong way round, and usually people go for a darker colour during the winter months, and a light shade for the summer, but I just needed something new. When I was younger, I used to have blonde highlights put through my hair, but to save money I decided to go back to my natural, dark brown colour. For the past five years I have kept that dark brown so I felt it was definiely time for a change. I had been looking  up pictures of caramel highlights on celebs for a while, and found a few photographs for inspirational colours which I really liked (Cheryl Cole highlights, Jlo, Zoe Hardman etc). I took these photos to the hairdressers and explained I wanted a half head of foils to give me some subtle caramel/light brown highlights, with maybe a touch of dark blonde. As my hair was so dark, the caramel colour wouldn't have taken to my hair, so first I had to have half a head of foils with bleach. This was super scary for me as I had been the same dark brown colour for so long, and had just got my long locks into a good condition from having so much heat damage over the years, (not to mention the horrors stories I have had with home dye kits containing bleach!). The hairdresser let the bleach sit, then once it was washed out, coated my hair in toner to get rid of any orange of brassy tones. She then put a light brown hair dye all over the top, which left me with these subtle highlights. I really like the result, by putting light brown all over my head has left me with several different colour tones through my hair which I think makes it a lot more natural than if I was to just have blonde highlights! Iv found that just by adding these highlights it has created more body to my hair and has definitely livened it up, whilst still looking subtle and not too big of a change. Although I am even thinking about going back and getting some more put through and to go even lighter, which I neverrr thought I would do as I was always so fond of my dark brown!

I also thought I would share a product I picked up, the John Frieda ......purple shampoo, a toning shampoo which states to get rid of any brassy tones in highlighted hair. Iv used this a couple of times and honestly as my highlights are so fresh I doubt it has made much difference, but after a little while when they begin to fade a little I hope this will bring them back to life. I have also heard good things about the Touch of Silver shampoo, so I will definitely give that a try, or let me know if you have any recommendations!

Hope you are all well, I will be back soon will some Christmassy/winter related posts :)

Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss Review

Hey beauts! I was recently browsing the Debenhams website and spotted that the Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss's were in the sale for a bargain £5.99. I have never been that much of a gloss girl, and always favour lipstick, but, I knew for that price I had to grab one. There were two colours which caught my eye, but as I hadn't tried them before and therefore didn't know if I would actually like them, I decided to only order one. The one I got is 'Frenzy', an amazingly bright hot pink. I can definitely see why they called these lipglosses 'intense' as even in the tube the colour is so striking. 

I am not the biggest fan of the packaging, only because squeezy tubes just don't work well for me, and with it being such a bold colour, if you arn't careful and squeeze too hard, you are going to end up with it all down your clothes. I much prefer a brush applicator, I find them much easier to apply with precision (again, this is needed with it being such a statement colour) and to take out in your clutch to reapply on a night out, but that's just down to personal preference. 

The gloss itself is seriously pigmented, and it applies with enough coverage that there is no need for a lipstick. It does actually feel like you are wearing a bold lipstick with a glossy finish to it and when applied to the lips it is one of those formulas that you just know is going to last well (although probably isn't the best if you are planning on kissing or hugging any body, as it will most definitely end up on their face/lips/clothes!).

I think this colour is a great alternative if you are a little scared or feel you can't pull off wearing a bold red lip. It really is a statement gloss, perfect for a night out teamed with a nude eye and your fave little black dress. I am super tempted to pick up some more of these whilst they are still in the sale, as they are definitely worth it. 

This gloss has definitely opened my eyes when it comes to choosing lippy over gloss. What do you think? Are you more of a lip gloss or lipstick kinda gal? Have you tried any of the Intense glosses from this line?

Essie Metallic's

Hey everyone! So it's nail polish time again! Over the past year or so I have been obsessed with nail polish. I'm not sure what it is but the look of all those cute, colourful, glass bottles standing in a row makes me very happy (Anyone else, or is that just me!?) I love metallic colours and I love Essie, so these metallic polishes were always going to be a winner for me. Even though metallic's are seen as a winter wear polish, I do like to mix my colours up and make them work for any season, so I thought I would share a few of my faves with you.

First up I have 'Shift Power' a rich, bright, mustard toned gold. I believe this was released in the Winter collection in 2008. I have a love hate relationship with this polish, I love the colour, but this can get very streaky. If you are patient enough to work around the streaks, this is the lovely gold. 

'Antique Rose' is a gorrrgeous colour, a deep copper, dusty pink, with flecks of rose gold shimmer that gives the nail a very classic look. It may be a little too mature looking for some people, but I really like that. I love this polish and think it can work all year round, it also looks lovely with a glitter polish over the top!

Lastly I have 'Loophole', a rich blue toned silver. Again, this polish can be streaky (I think it's down to the tiiiiny brush) but its workable. I love this with a silver glitter over the top for a night out!

What I love bout these three polishes is that none of them look 'flat'. The shimmer and tones give them a multi dimensional look which I love. 

Have you got any favourite metallic polishes? Or another favourite from Essie?

No.7 Nail Polish

 Hey girls, a nail polish post today! I had a couple of No.7 vouchers that needing using sooo, I picked up a couple of their nail polishes. The nail polishes retail at £7.50 each, but with the £5 off voucher, they are a steal at £2.50. In all honestly though, I would never spend the £7.50 (probably £5 at the most) on them and would much rather grab an Essie polish as I think the quality is a little better, but for £2.50 I think its amazing value and they have a fab range of colours. I picked up 'Snowflake' (such a cute name) and 'Pinky Pure'. Snowflake is a pure white and Pink Pure a bright baby pink. They are both very pretty colours and stood out to me straight away. I love having whites in my collection as there is so much you can do with them. These polishes did take a few coats to get to a completely opaque nail and they do brush on very sheer, but, that means these two could work perfectly together for a french manicure as well as a solid colour. I love the way these polishes look so glossy and they both look beautiful with a tan!

Have you tried  No.7 nail polishes? What colours do you love?

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

Hey lovely ladies! I hope you are all well! After my recent shopping trip (which involved alot of coral!) I needed something to coordinate with my new handbag which I am in loovveee with! So I picked up one of the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in the shade 'Rendezvous'. These are suppose to be the highstreet dupe to the more expensive and very popular Clinique Chubby Sticks and at £7.99, they are definitely a lot more affordable. The colour is a gorgeous bright coral which can be applied very sheerly, or built up to create a lovely bold lip. The forumla and finish is somewhere inbetween a lipstick, a balm and a gloss and doesn't feel at all drying on the lips. Despite the unnecessarily long name (I mean who's going to say in passing "Hey! I just picked up one of Revlon's new just bitten kissable balm stains!" !? Not me!) I am really sold with this product. I love the crayon style packaging and I am a big fan of lip stains as a whole. In comparison to the Clinique version, I much prefer the name of the chubby sticks, its very distinctive and recognisable, where as these I definitely wouldnt remember the Revlon name and I would most likely end up calling it a chubby stick anyway! 

These are currently on offer at Superdrug for £5.99! 

Have you tried these lip stains? Do you have a favourite colour? I would love some suggestions on which colour I should pick up next!

DIY Decor: Pastel Shells

 I am always looking for DIY ways to create decor for my bedroom without spending a fortune. Growing up near the sea has given me a love for the beach and all things seaside-y, although it doesn't really fit in with the rest of my room decor, so I wanted to come up with a way of incorporating the two together. 

My dad often goes fishing, so I got him to pick up these scallop shells for me (although I expect you can pick them up in shops, or even restaurants) which I gave a coat of paint. I didn't have the exact colours that I wanted and didn't want to go and spend lots of money on cans of paint, cough...when I could be spending it on makeup...cough! which I would only use a small amount of. So, I had a rummage through my cupboards and found lots of old tubes of paint from when I was younger and had much brighter- hot pink brighter, bedroom colour taste than now, where I just tend to stick with white. I mixed all the bright colours with a white to mute them down into these lovely pastels. I gave the shells a couple of coats just to make the colour completely opaque, but still allow the texture of the shells to show through.

I absolutely love how these have turned out, the pastels don't exactly match my white and silver shabby chic inspired bedroom, but as the colours are so muted and pretty, I don't think it matters, and it does actually add a nice pop to my room, and by deciding to include white and silver in the colours I was using, allowed it to flow a little better. These are such an inexpensive way of creating colour and cute decor, and could work in any room in the house (I think they would work beautifully as a stand alone piece in the bathroom, or somewhere to store your soap!) and can also double up as a piece of storage, I may store some of my rings or use them as candle holders!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and got some ideas for decor in your own home :)

Natural Collection Eyeshadows

// Asteroid //

 // Barley //

Natural Collection is a brand I had heard of but had never picked anything up for them before. Whilst in Boots, I saw they had some single eyeshadows which looked really nice for £1.70, so I began swatching and was really suprised at how lovely they looked on the skin. They had a 3 for £5 offer on, so I picked up a few and decided to give them a try.

My two favourites from the ones I picked up are 'Barley' and 'Asteroid'. Barley is a skin toned gold colour with lots of shimmer, which when applied gives a gorgeous hint of shimmer to the skin and works lovely as a base colour. Asteroid is a dark brown with flecks of gold shimmer running through it, which I have been using to deepen the outer corner of my eyes. For £1.70 each these eyeshadows are both affordable and good quality and work great for a subtle smokey eye. 

FYI:
 I also noticed that these are the same size as Mac eyeshadows and when depotted fit into the Mac palettes perfectly!

 I would love to know if you have tried these eyeshadows and what you thought. I would be interested in seeing if they had any matte colours in the collection!