Clairol perfect 10: Med reddish blonde

Hi all,

So earlier today I bleached my hair for the very first time.
A nerve-wracking process but quite exciting.
I have been on a quest to return to my natural hair colour and after much research decided on the Clairol range.
The thought of the dye only needing 10 minutes on the hair also greatly appealed to me as I had just bleached and wanted to cause as little additional damage as possible.

After bleaching my hair it was a mix of platinum blonde and light brown. So I had my fingers crossed the dye would work over the top.

I started with this after bleaching:
(Excuse wet hair)

And this is the next day:

The dye was so easy to apply. I ended up not using the comb attachment as i like to really rub in the dye with my hands to ensure an even application.
The formulation was very liquidy which made it easy for my hair to absorb.
The only down side was a bit of dripping so make sure to have an old towel handy.
I left the dye on for only 7 minutes as I wanted the end result to be quite light.
As you can see its quite coppery and I like the colour.
If my hair had evenly bleached then im sure it would look really natural.
I brought the boxes of dye from Amazon for £4 and I used two. What an amazing price!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0024NKOIE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1388250524&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165

All in all a good product and im happy!

Lots of love
Xxox

Hair Bleaching Kit: Renbow

Hi all,
Today my hair journey begins AGAIN.
I recently used a hair dye remover which worked amazingly well, but unfortunately I washed my hair and applied a hair oil which reactivated the dye.
Sending me back to my previous shade.
So I have decided to take the bull by the horns and do a guaranteed (but drastic) process.
Iam going to use the renbow hair bleach and then re dye using the Clairol Perfect 10 in shade ‘Med reddish blonde’.

I shall also do a review for the dye.

This is the first time I have ever bleached my hair so I chose a product that seemed relatively simple.

This is my hair now:

90 mins later:
I applied the mix of powder and developer.  This was rather difficult as the consistency was very thick and made it hard to coat hair evenly.
I did the best I could and left it on for about 40 mins. I would have left it longer but my scalp was beginning to hurt and I didn’t want to risk a reaction.

This is my hair after bleaching:

As you can see the bleach didnt lift the dye evenly. Iam guessing this is because of my application.  Possibly if you had someone to help it might be easier.
The areas that did work were very blonde and so I would recommend this product.
I dyed immediately afterwards and my hair is only slightly dry on the ends.
If your looking for an easy bleach kit to prep your hair for redying then this is perfect!

Xxox
Lots of love

Best winter moisturiser

Hi girls,
So today I thought that I would talk about something that is on most of our minds.  (This side of the world anyway)

With the weather steadily getting colder our skin gets drier and we need to adjust our moisturising routine.
Without a doubt clinique is well known for their quality products and this is no exception.
For around £32 you get a rich gel like formulation that is simply luxurious and completely decadent on the face.
Its brilliant for an evening addition and I would recommend for dry to combination skin.

Xx

Barry M: Textured nail effects in Majesty.

Hi all,

Just a quick NOTD.
I picked up the Barry M nail varnish in majesty from Boots today.
I think the colour is just so beautiful.
Its a stunning gold glitter, but more mature than what we all wore in high school.
Perfect for the festive season and Christmas parties.
I applied two coats and as you can see its a great strong colour and dries in about 1 minute.

Definitely one to get. And so inexpensive too!

Xxox

P.s Excuse my not so professional nail art skills 😉

Burt’s Bees: Tinted lip balm

Hello Girls,

This week I picked up a lip balm by Burt’s Bees. My lips have been SO DRY after these first few weeks of the wintery weather and I definitely needed a good deep conditioning balm.

I have heard some rave reviews about the Burt’s Bees line and decided to try them out.

I always prefer tinted lip products,  as im so fair its nice to add a bit of colour to my face.
There is the option for clear balm but I opted for the colour
“Red Dahlia”
Which looks like this

And heres a swatch

As you can see the colour isn’t terribly dark. But does offer a bit of a  natural rosy glow.

Overall this is definitely the best balm I have used.
Including my old favourite Vaseline.

So highly recommended if your luscious lips need a ‘pick me up’.

Lots of love
Xxox

DGJ: Organic hair colour remover

Howdy Flutterbys,

As I write the first part if this post I am eagerly waiting on the mail.
Why you ask?

Because I’m expecting an exciting delivery.
As a bit of background to my hair story I shall give you a brief summary of my ups and downs.

I was born a natural redhead and spent the first 20 years of my life bring told never to dye my hair as it was so unique.
I centered my whole physical identity around being a redhead. When I reached the age of 20 I decided I wanted a change, although not quite brave enough to change the colour completely, I opted for using Henna.
I brought the Henna in a powder form (I shall write a more in depth review + my recipe on this).

And after a grueling 4 hours my hair was a gorgeous, bright, coppery colour  I was beyond happy.  But tine went on,  and the colour built up and I decided i wanted another change.
I had a friend training to ve a hairdresser and she decided to gift me with her wisdom and  dye my hair for me.
It was a disaster.
My hair turned BLACK!
I cried myself to sleep that night and truly felt like ny whole self worth had been torn away. (Silly I know).

So that brings us to today
After 6 weeks of this colour,  and some fading iam going to try out the DGJ hair colour remover.

Here is the blurb from their website.

” With Organic Cucumber and Aloe vera extracts to soothe and condition the hair after treatment.

DGJ Organics Colour Remover is the safest and most effective way to remove artificial hair dye. It works by shrinking the artificial dye molecules in the hair, enabling you to simply wash them away. DGJ Organics Colour Remover does not touch your natural hair pigment so you are left with the colour which lay beneath your artificial shade.DGJ Organics Colour Remover will return your hair to its natural colour if the artificial hair colour applied is darker than your natural level. If the artificial hair colour applied is lighter than your natural colour, the natural pigment within your hair has been chemically lightened. Although DGJ Organics Hair Colour Remover will remove the artificial dye, you will still notice your natural hair colour has lightened. In this situation (and to re-create your natural shade) simply select a hair colourant close to your own natural depth and tone.“

This all sounds so promising.  So i decided to show you guys my progress and I will update this post and photos as I go.

Before:

So it is now 9.30pm and I have just applied the first step of the process.
The applicator bottles were easy to use and had a surprisingly good anount.
I brought two boxes as I usually need both for my thick hair! But to my surprise one bottle was more than enough.
I am sitting by the heater with cling film on my head.
I have decided to leave the formula on for the max time suggested which is 60mins.

~ 1 hour later.

Okay so the removal process was very easy, I shaved ny legs while rinsing the product out as this made the 10 mins go a lot faster!
Don’t rush the rinsing as the last thing you want is for the dye to reoxidise and your hair to darken again.

After conditioning my hair it did feel a bit dry, but this is to be expected and I just did a deep moisturizing treatment.

~ So it is now the next day and iam over the moon!
For only £12 in Amazon, this product has done exactly what countless hairdressers have failed to do.
The only con about the whole process was the smell,  a bit like rotten eggs.

After:

Hello natural hair colour!

As you can see my hair is now about 4 shades lighter and almost exactly the colour I had as a child.

I would 100% recommend this product to you all!
And its organic to which earns big points.
Recycle the box guys 🙂

Lots of love
Xxox

Naughty or Nice?

Growing up we were all labeled as something.
I was the nice girl, the helpful one who picked up after others and lived to be praised.

I would worry about everything and became almost OCD about trying to please absolutely everyone.

On the rare occasions that I did act out I was told “your the good one Siobhan, dont behave like that. ”

Labels of all shapes and forms can be damaging.
It’s similar to the “fat/skinny issue”.
Call someone fat and your a monster, but call someone skinny and they are supposed to be pleased.

Im sure there are very slim people out there who are offended by being labled “the skinny one” who feel trauma associated with their label.

Should I have been glad to be called ‘good’? Im sure everyone who did so was well meaning but the results were long lasting.

I wanted to break free and be someone else. I envied girls who didn’t care what others thought of them.

My solution was to leave the country and find myself, and find myself I did.

My point is, that we may feel like we are complimenting someone or being helpful. Or simply stating the obvious!

But maybe we should all stop to think about what we say and the fact that our one comment may be the cherry on the cake for someone who has spent years trying to get out of the box they were forced into.

And that is all my flutterbys.

Goodnight and lots of love.
Xxox

NOTD: OPI Autumn nails

Loving my nails at the moment. This is a GEL colour by OPI. I believe its called ‘In the Cable Car-Pool lane’ A gorgeous plummy red that’s very on trend for AU2013. Iv had the colour on for a week with no chips! A miracle! Lots of love Xxox

Atumn OOTD

Hello my stunning flutterbys,

Today I thought I would give you an OOTD,  and underestimated how hard it would be to take a decent photo of my self!

I absolutely LOVE the colour purple!
Purple clothes, scarves,  flowers

They all just make me so deliciously happy 🙂
Now one of the main reasons im writing this blog today is to address a topic very near and dear to my heart. (Apart from my love of purple).

I feel like with the exception of a very select few, people tend to think that if your the slightest bit curvy then you need to cover up.
Wear a tent.
Blacks the best colour.
Don’t wear form fitting clothes.
…
All of these things are SO incorrect and often following these tips make you look bigger than you actually are!!!

Wearing clothes that accent the slimmest parts of your body automatically draws the eye there.
For instance I have a large bust,  hips and bum.
So I wear clothes that nip me in in the narrowest part, which happens to be directly under my bust.

Wrap dresses such as the one I’m wearing above are amazing!  They skim your tummy, dont cling to muffin tops and provide a tantalising glimpse of cleavage.

A problem area for me is my arms so I love anything with 3/4 sleeves.
I picked this purple wrap dress up from http://www.asos.com
I think it was around $25 in a sale.

I whole-heartedly believe that ALL women are beautiful.  From size 0-100 and that if we know how to dress for our figures then we can ALL be fabulous ALL the time 🙂

Xxox
Lots of love

Day in the life of a nanny

Hello my flutterbys,

Today I thought that I would talk about my daily life…
And the lives of millions of stay at home mums/dad’s and other childcare workers.

When asked what I do for a job, and I reply with ‘nanny,’ Iam often posed with statements along these lines.
“Oh it would be so nice to be able to play all day”
“I would love to stay home and get paid for it”

And my absolute favourite
“Good on you for getting away with not having a real job”.

Now I try to be a good example for my young charges, and always smile gracefully and walk away.

But after this happening several times I began to feel annoyed.
What do I do all day?
Well apart from raising the future generations of this world, teaching them manners,  respect and how to be confident,
successful contributors to society??
There is the:
*Load of washing to be done EVERY day.
*The cooking and cleaning.
*The grocery shopping and organising.
*Shoes to be polished and shirts to be ironed.
All the while entertaining young children and spotting unique learning opportunities.

Now im not saying that there arnt moments of absolute joy I get from my job.
I love it, I really do.
The sleepy smiles and cuddles. The moment when an important milestone is reached.
When their faces light up because for that moment you are their whole world.
This is what I live for.
Being a nanny is not a 9-5 job. It is carrying the little hopes and dreams of tiny humans carefully in your hands.
It is forming a connection so vital and deep that you forever cherish each other.

Being a nanny is what i have always wanted to do, it is what I love.
So to hear people diminish the importance of not only my life’s work, but the work of so many other amazing people makes me feel sorry for them.
Sorry that they dont get to experience what I do!
Even if that is a ‘surprise’ in the form of a frog thrown into my lap :p

Lots of love
Xxox