Pro Blo Hair Styling | Beauty

Recently I took part in a #fblchat on Twitter, always a massive fan of this chat and the girls who run it but this one was hosted by Pro Blo so all the questions were hair related which was a fun change in topic! If this wasn't great enough, the Pro Blo team actually sent EVERYONE who took part a couple of goodies, how wonderful is that? 

To give you guys a bit of background into my hair type/style I have naturally blonde hair and a common trait of naturally blonde hair is that the strands of hair are a lot finer than what brunettes or women with black hair have. This also means my hair looks flat 90% of the time, which really grind my gears! When it comes to styling my hair, I must admit I'm a little lazy, 80% of the time I will just give it a quick blow dry and boom that's it! If I am doing something interesting I might straighten it or on very rare occasions I curl it with my straighteners.

I never really know how to style my hair but I have always loved the look of a blowout, a girl I used to work with regularly used to get blowouts and she always looked to glamorous! 

This round brush is something that I have never used before, literally never needed to use one and never really knew how to! However the Pro Blo CurlME is a lovely little tool because the round brush head is actually detachable, if you were to buy this online it would come with several detachable brush heads to wear like curlers which I think is quite handy! If you didn't want to use it in that way, that's also fine because it still works as a really like round brush for people who have a little more skill to help create that gorgeous blowout. In fact, this brush has spurred me on to try styling my hair a little better now however it's gonna take quite a few goes before I get it right! 

Moving onto the Pro Blo VolumizeMe  brush which at first, I'm not gonna lie I didn't really see the point of purely because when I ran it through my hair it didn't actually brush it at all BUT I was having a bit of a div moment and realised that actually it's a really good tool. I have the problem where I will curl my hair but as soon as I run a brush through it, it'll just drop all my curls but this is where this brush comes in. It's literally perfect for just gently combing stray hairs, thus creating a much more natural/sleek look. Also you can use this to get a bit of volume in at the roots which I bloody need. 

These items could not have come at a better time, I just really want to take better care of my hair and actually do something with it. 

What tips do you have for styling your hair?

Batiste XXL Plumping Powder | Beauty

Today we are having a chat about the small but mighty Batiste XXL Plumping Powder. I'm telling you now guys, if you hair is a bit flat and a bit meh, you're gonna need to try this little pot out. 

I was in Boots having my weekly browse and remembered I needed some dry shampoo so you know wandered to the isle and noticed it was on a buy one get one free across the whole Batiste range when I spotted the XXL Plumping Powder. One thing you need to know about my hair is that it is bloody fine! It's not that I don't have a lot of it, I do, but each strand is very thing so it looks super flat which I have hated more and more recently. I have tried a LOT of shampoos and conditioners claiming to work wonders, it's all crap, they don't work so i just gave up and cracked on with my normal hair regime. That was until I saw this little beauty! I haven't really tried any kind of hair styling powder before but I have definitely heard of it, so I thought I may as well give it a go. 

It's quite odd because it's a very fine powder like a bit of talc, but basically you shake a bit of it into the roots of your hair, give it a little rub, brush and style your hair an your done. Do not go crazy with it at little goes a VERY long way. It's quite odd because it makes your hair super gritty which gives a really nice lift to your hair but if you use a lot I am telling you now you will not be able to run your fingers through it. it gives you a back comb lift without actually having to backcomb your hair. Even waking up the next day, my hair still kinda looks ok which never happens for me. The problem I have now though is that when I don't use the XXL Plumping Powder, my hair looks so meh and boring so I find myself using it more and more. 

Batiste's XXL Plumping Powder really is a bit of a game changer for the people with flat hair, I think you could use it to create some really nice styles but I tend to use it a little more causally giving me a bit of "oomph" if I am going to see a pal, or going out for dinner.

What are you fave products for adding more volume to your hair?

KeraStraight Protein Boost Hair Treatment | Beauty

So today I thought I would share with you a very exciting opportunity I was offered. I got to attend the Salon International Exhibition in the Excel Centre in London and get an amazing hair treatment by the KeraStraight team, I mean, my badge said Exhibition Model and everything. Though let's face it, it'll be the only time I'll ever get to be a model! It was a really fun day, when I arrived I was greeted by the very lovely Mary who made me feel really comfortable and told me what to expect, then I sat down with a member of the KeraStraight team who had a little look at my hair and told me which treatment would be best for my type of hair. 

Typically speaking KeraStraight is probably best know for it's amazing straightening  properties, which even works on Afro Caribbean hair but if you have seen pictures of my hair before, it isn't very curly. It's got a bit of a wave in it but isn't wildly frizzy or anything like that. So the stylist advised that my hair would probably benefit from the Protein Boost, which is perfect for fine, weak and/or damaged hair. I was really excited to try it out because my hair is incredibly fine and the ends are always terribly damaged no matter how many products I use on it to try and protect it. I was taken to a room to get my hair washed by the very friendly Luke and he washed it twice with shampoo and didn't put conditioner on it because this opened up the hair cuticles which meant that it made it easier for the Protein Boost to fully absorb into my hair. 

I was taken back to my seat where my utterly fabulous stylist called Bella and her assistant Kimberley (equally lovely) applied the treatment to my wet hair. It was interesting because they blow dried the product in and then straightened it. KeraStraight is heat activated so it works best when a bit of heat is applied. 

After they had straightened my hair, Luke then gave my hair another rinse, just a quick 20-30 second rinse to get rid of the excess product. I then went back to have my final blow dry and straighten and then I was done. 

I was amazed at how smooth and soft my hair was, it was incredible. Not only that, but the treatment is supposed to last up to 30 days which is pretty amazing. I couldn't stop stroking my hair, people must have thought something was wrong with me, a bit of a perv. I did have before and after pictures, but I'm so wildly hideous, I couldn't put them in but I'm sure you'll be able to hunt them out. 

A gorgeous model showing just what the KeraStraight treatment can do to other hair types. 

It was a fantastic day, I had pictures taken, I was filmed, I had randoms touching my hair, I felt famous, I wasn't, but my hair definitely had that star quality. 

And I did just want to say how amazing everyone was, from the stylists, to the assistants, to the PR team. I also got some goodies, but I'll write about them in a separate post. 

Have you ever tried ant KeraStraight products?

Nanokeratin Systems Revive and Rehydrate Hair Care | Beauty

If you are a regular reader of my blog you'll know that I have reviewed a hairbrush from Nanokeratin Systems before, it was their Be Fri Hair Brush which I still use every day as it's in my gym bag. However I was kindly sent some shampoo and conditioner samples to try out. 

I received the Revive Shampoo* and the Rehydrate Conditioner* for natural/ virgin (!) hair. As I have mentioned before a lot of people think my hair is dye or coloured but it's not, it is naturally just that blonde, I'm lucky. I'm always on the look out for a new shampoo/conditioner and I was provide with 3 of each so it's definitely enough to be able to give you guys at least my first impression of the product. 

The first thing I noticed about this product was the scent, it's so fresh. It has daisies on it and I'm not sure whether I think it smells of daisies because I've seen the image or it actually does but it does smell very lovely. I found both the shampoo and conditioner are not as thick as what I am used to. The conditioner felt amazing in my hair, as soon as I ran it through the ends I felt like you could feel the conditioner nourishing each strand. It suggests to leave it in your hair for a few minutes which is easy because I usually scrub and wash my body. As I washed it out I noticed my hair was really smooth after. Moving onto the shampoo, to be honest there wasn't anything that blew me away immediately with it, it smelled amazing, lathered up well. It did the job. I have mentioned conditioner before shampoo because that's the way around I was my hair. 

Over the next few days of using both the shampoo and conditioner I noticed that my hair appeared much less frizzy, I don't want to use the word flat but it was definitely a little straighter which I was incredibly impressed with. I also like that both products are paraben free and the shampoo is also SLS free. 

I've done a bit googling to try and find out for you guys what a fulle sized bottle would cost and I must admit it was a little tricky. You can buy them in the UK online through Salon store such as Toni&Guy and ShopRush and retails for around £18-19 for a 320ml bottle each. That is pretty pricey but I do think it is a great product. 

Have you tried any Nanokeratin System products?

September Birchbox | Review

One of my favourite times of the month as arrived, no not payday, my other fave, Birchbox Delivery Day. Birchbox has once again gone with a theme and this time it was Happy Days. I must admit seeing the box and the vibrant colours did make me happy. 

After I was left a little disappointed from my last Birchbox my hopes weren't that high for this one, but when I saw the theme and saw the little spoilers, I started to get very excited again.

I really enjoy when Birchbox gets into a theme and always try to reuse the prettiest boxes, so you know I'm going to have to use this one for storage. There was a lot of speculation about what would be in this one so I thought I would show you what I recieved in mine. 

Benefits, It's Potent eye cream

Starting with the thing I was most happy to recieve and that was the Benefits, It's Potent eye cream. I absolutely love Benefit samples, most brands spend very little on their samples with regards to packaging but Benefit always stays true to it's brand and put just as much effort in the sample as the full sized versions. This is a teeny tiny sample but it's in a gorgeous little glass jar, I'm so gonna keep and use again. Packaging is a massively important thing for me hence why I am rambling. 

I haven't actually tried this product before, but I've heard some amazing reviews it's supposed to banish dark circles so I'm really excited to try this one out, it smells really nice as well, really fresh. 

Plush Therapy Mid Dermabrasion Face and Body scrub

This face and body scrub has Italian olive granules, which is quite a cute sample. The only thing is because it's small I could probably only use this on my face but as I don't use scrubs on my face I'm just going to have to use this sparingly on my body. Maybe a couple of days after I've had a leg wax or something but I always love a body scrub. 

Model Co lip lacquer

I also recieved Model Co lip lacquer in the shade Morocco, which I felt a little indifferent about. I quite like the shade though, it's got a slight autumnal feel about it. I'm not the biggest fan of lipglosses mainly because I wear my hair down a lot and the wind always blows the wrong way and I end up with my hair stuck to my lips, NEVER a good look. When I pulled the wand out of the tube it was incredibly stringy, gloopy and messy so I was a bit reluctant to try it but was won over by the way it looked on. It's a really pretty shade, but I've just got to make sure I don't use too much of it at once. 

Korres Shower Gel 

This was the only thing I wasn't happy to see when I opened my box which is the Korres shower gel in Citrus. I've actually discussed this with a pal , who loves the Korres shower gels and to be honest I'm sure it's great but it's the scent I don't like. I actually received the Korres body milk in the citrus scent several Birchboxes ago and I just couldn't get on with it. It smells a bit manly for me, I like floral or sweet scents and I like shower gels to be quite creamy and moisturising so this just isn't for me.  

I am however going to give it to my mum, she likes these types of scents.

Agave Healing Oil

Moving swiftly onto Agave healing oil for hair. To be honest, I don't know much about the brand or the product but if it's supposed to help with my hair I'm willing to try. The oil smells amazing, literally almost edible so I've very excited to try this out on my hair. I have quite bad ends in teh sense they always split, year of straightening it everyday is to blame. Now I am trying to be a bit better and nicer to my hair so I can't wait to try this out. 

And finally onto the fun lifestyle pieces, Urban Fruit Strawberries and Birchbox photograph holder. I was so happy when I saw the Urban Fruits and even more some when I realised they were strawberries, I love Urban Fruit and most dried fruits to be honest, so I'm going to devour these in seconds. The photo clip I'm probably never going to use, but it's a nice touch and I love the it kept with the theme. 

Overall a pretty good box. 

What did you get in yours this month?

Big Fat Healthy Hair Shampoo & Conditioner | Review

If you read my previous Boot Haul post you will know that I was going to try out Lee Stafford's My Big Fat Healthy Hair Shampoo and Conditioner to see whether it really could give my hair added volume. 

My hair is pretty flat, it's not very thick but I like to try volumising shampoos and conditioners to see whether they really can do anything for my hair. So this month I thought I would try out this brand, generally speaking I have heard a lot of good reviews about Lee Stafford products as a whole so I thought this was a pretty safe option. 

The product claims to boost the hairs body and texture whilst making it a little glossy and add a bit of shine. I though I would give this product a good go and try it out for nearly a month to see whether I did notice any difference. 

The product smells really lovely, kinda sweet and floral but a really nice fresh scent and when I was rubbish the conditioner in it almost foams up a little bit which is quite difference from other conditioners which i really like. The shampoo is a bit weird because it's see through, I'm not sure I like that because I like to see how much I'm putting in my hand so I know not to use too much but it's ok. 

After blowing drying my hair, it does look good and this shampoo and conditioner definitely makes my hair really soft, it's gorgeous. But the one thing it doesn't do is make my hair look any thicker, at all. It's such a shame because I do think it's a really nice product and had it just be for normal hair I think I would be in love but it doesn't make my hair look any thicker what so ever. It just kinda makes it a little knotty, which I'm not sure whether this is part of the formula to add more texture but I'm really not a fan unfortunately.  

I won't be buying this product again but I definitely would try more Lee Stafford products because they are nice but this one doesn't do what it says it does. 

Have you tried My Big Fat Healthy Hair?

Boots Haul

So payday rolls around and you know that I must go into Boots every payday, I like to justify to myself that I need to go in because there are products that I cannot live without for everyday life... a disgusting amount of money later, I come out with things I definitely didn't need!

Shall we take  a look at what's inside the bag?

Firstly we have 

John Frieda's Go Blonder Shampoo and Conditioner. 

This is my absolute favourite Shampoo and Conditioner. My hair is naturally blonde, but this stuff does work to just lighten it a little because of the citrus tones in the shampoo and conditioner. It smells gorgeous and very citrusy, not really like lemons but perhaps a combination of limes/lemons/oranges just really fresh. I've been buying Go Blonder for a good 2/3 years now. I did go through a stage where I was obsessed with the whole Go Blonder range and bought the Lightening Spray. 

The shampoo and conditioner doesn't contain any peroxide so when I started using the Lightening Spray I didn't read the label and just assumed that it wouldn't have peroxide either (see a naturally blonde moment). I used the spray everyday for like a month and my hair went pretty much white blonde and I bloody loved it! However I started to realise that when my hair was wet I couldn't run my brush though it, I would literally start pulling clumps of hair out, so I read the back of the bottle and of course in tiny writing it said that it contained peroxide. My hair was in terrible condition, I mean it even states on the packaging that you shouldn't use it more than 8 times so I stopped and just had to wait for it to grow out. This was about 2 years ago now, so it's fully out. I've read the label of the Lightening spray recently and it actually states peroxide in much bigger, bolder writing so I can't have been the only person to make this mistake. 

That being said I still love the Go Blonder shampoo and conditioner, I can really notice when I don't use it for a while, my hair just kinda looks dull.

Moving onto another hair product

Lee Stafford Big Fat Hair Shampoo and Conditioner 

So I know what you're thinking, I've just bought my fabulous Go Blonder shampoo which I am clearly so in love with why buy more shampoo and conditioner? I'm fully aware that sometimes if you don't change your shampoo it's not good for your hair and the shampoo looses it's effect on you. So this month I decided to try Big Fat Hair out purely because of the name, who doesn't want Big Fat Hair? I'm going to have to report back to you on this one because I want to make sure I give it a good go before letting you know my thoughts. I've only used it once for far and I just want to say it smells bloody flippin' gorgeous. 

One teeny tiny pet peeve about this product is the paragraph of writing under the barcode it has capital letters halfway through words and all over the place, it kinda makes my eye twitch a little. It reads "BooSTs HAiR's BoDy and teXture, enhancing glOss and SHiNE..." I mean...that just stresses me out... but that's my little OCD side coming out. 

Moving on to yet another hair product (are you sensing a theme?)

Batiste Dry Shampoo

To be honest, there's not much more I need to say about this product kinda does what it says on the tin. It works well in my hair, it can spray out a little too white, however being blonde it doesn't look too bad once I rub it in a bit. I tend to always go for this brand as it actually works well and I love this scent because it is very floral it just freshens everything up. 

And finally...

Real Techniques Make Up Brushes

I MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE MAKE UP BRUSHES! 

I MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE MAKE UP BRUSHES! 

I MUST NOT BUY ANY MORE MAKE UP BRUSHES!

It's becoming ridiculous and the entire reason I bought this pack was because I wanted the one contouring brush...I didn't even need the others. I mean the countouring one is literally perfect and works much better than my last one because of it's size, however I'm also really loving the powder brush as well blends out the powder really well. What's not to love about the Real Techniques brushes they are just great. The other two brushes I'm probably never really going to use, especially the Flat Pointed brush, I wouldn't even know what I can apply with that as I find any flat foundation brushes are just awful because they paint the foundation on the skin. 

So there we have it, my Boots Haul. 

What have you bought from Boots recently? 

Superdrug coconut oil | review

So I did it, I finally caved into the coconut oil hype. Though I have a confession to make, I bloody hate the smell of coconut. Shocking I know, everyone loves it. 

When I was hunting for some coconut oil, there were so many different types but they were all a little pricey for my liking. I just wanted something to put on my hair that would help with the dry ends. 

I was reading a blog recently (for the life of me I can't remember who it was now otherwise I would link to it) and they wrote a review on this Superdrug product...

It was only £2.29 but this product isn't 100% coconut oil, it also has Parfum and Coumarin. But to be honest I don't mind, because I'm only using it on my hair and maybe some dry skin patches. I'd never do the whole "oil pulling" thing so it didn't matter to me that it wasn't 100% natural because I wasn't gonna eat it anyway.

I read the back and this product can be used for a moisturiser on your skin, can be used for very dry hair and for a dry scalp. 

I must admit it was a little weird because at room temp it's completely solid but only when you start rubbing it between you hands does it melt. 

I completely coated my ends in the oil, running it through with my hands and actually the smell wasn't too over powering. 

I left it overnight to let it fully work it's magic. What I did notice though was how smooth my hands felt after applying it. Really amazing!! I don't even have dry hands but they felt even softer. 

The results

I am really impressed with this product, it took some time to wash out because of it's oily texture but after I dried my hair it feels amazing so soft. It's no longer frizzy. It looks so much better than before, and the scent lingers a little which actually is quite pleasant. 

I absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone with dry hair.  

Have you tried coconut oil?

Big thick hair with added volume or not?

Today I'm very ill (woe is me) so I'm going to write a couple of reviews, shall we start with shampoo?

I'm happy to try new products if they say they are going to change my hair for the better. Some of you may know from a previous post that I've got fairly thin hair so when I saw this in my local Boots, I thought what's the harm in trying. 

I normally use John Freda's Go Blonder shampoo and conditioner but I know to maintain healthy hair it's always good to try something new once in a while.

Every new shampoo/face cream/make up product claims to have new technology that makes them stand out from the rest. Elvive have come up with a new innovation called Filloxanne which is supposed to increase the thickness of each strand. 

Does it work? 

The short answer is no. As a stand alone product I love it, but it doesn't make my hair thicker. It does however make it super soft and make my hair smell really nice, the scent lasts all day. 

Would I buy it again? 

I absolutely would if I'm looking to break up my routine but I think it's back to John Freda next month.

Wonderful Wonder Balm or just Balm?

I'm a subscriber to Elle magazine and the freebie with this months mag was a Percy & Reed hair product.

My hair type is actually pretty thin so I try to keep the products I use to a minimum however I do understand the importance of products such as these as a heat protector. 

Today I thought I'd give it a go, now on the back it claims to give you:

"Moisture, shine, smoothness, definition, softeness, light hold, high humidity protection and manageability"

Which is a lot for one balm to do one would think. It says to add a small amount to towel dried hair from root to tips or to add a tiny amount as a finishing product after styling. As soon as I squeezed it out of the bottle I knew I wouldn't be able to put it anywhere near my roots, it's a pretty thick balm. 

When I was blow drying my hair after, I could feel tell that there was product in my hair so it was a little thicker than I had hoped. 

After blow drying, my hair does have a beautiful scent and it does feel softer. So actually it does live up to some of it's claims. It's a very easy product to use and the packaging is just so cute, will it make it into my daily routine, I'm not sure yet! 

However, I think if I had beautiful thick hair I would be in love with this product, it's just a little too heavy for me. Even as I am writing this my hair is becoming a little weighted down.