Thursday 31 July 2014

Hair Growth Update - July

The end of July means that it is time for my monthly hair update! I took the last remaining bits of my hair off at the end of September... as it's now the end of July, I've had 10 full months of my hair growing back. I've religiously used Lee Stafford's hair growth range, which involves a shampoo, a treatment pot (which you use straight after the shampoo) and then the conditioner.



The pictures above show how my hair has changed within just a month. It's slow and steady progress and it's obviously not going to reach waist length overnight, but I think it's doing pretty well!
It is getting a tiny bit straighter with the length pulling down the curls, but other than that, there's not much else to say apart from that it's still growing, haha. I do run my straighteners through my hair on occasion and it does look longer compared to when it's left natural and wavy, as you can see from the pictures above.





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Sunday 27 July 2014

*Metique - Tea Tree Oil Hygienic Skin Wash


* METIQUE Tea Tree Oil Hygienic Skin Wash
This product was sent to me to review after a lovely lady got in contact with me via Twitter. It's a Tea Tree Oil Hygienic Skin Wash from the brand Metique, which was originally produced and launched in Australia in 2001 by Steen Jorsal, then in 2008, husband and wife Jeremy and Jenny along with their team and the support of founder, Steen Jorsal, launched the Metique Tea Tree Oil range in the UK.

What I really like about this product is that it's gentle on the skin. There are no sulphates in the ingredients, which are known to irritate skin, (and can be found in many beauty products) and the tea tree oil that Metique use relieves and soothes irritated/ inflamed or infected skin.
I don't have acne, however I do suffer from breakouts on my skin, especially my t-zone area. The first time I used this skin wash on my face, my chin was extremely sore and inflamed due to a recent breakout, however I did notice a slight improvement after the first couple of uses. The spots on my chin didn't look as inflamed and sore and after only a couple of uses, my t-zone started to look clearer.

Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic, which is why I think I noticed a difference so quickly. I have quite oily skin in my t-zone, but for those who have dry skin, it does state on the bottle that it is a 'Non Foaming and Non Drying' formula, so it's not going to dry your skin out even more when you use it.

Overall I was very impressed with this product, it's full of natural ingredients which are beneficial to your skin and I saw a difference in my skin as soon as I started using it. It won't damage your skin as it's sulphate and paraben free and you only need a couple of pumps from the bottle to wash your whole face effectively. The formula itself doesn't lather up, which means you don't lose any of the product to foaming and you can really massage it thoroughly into you skin and then rinse off.

One thing I would say about this product is that the smell is quite overpowering, because it is a tea tree oil product and the tea tree has quite a distinctive smell. (Unfortunately for me this takes me back to when I was around 6/7 years old, sitting in an empty, cold bath next to my brothers, our hair lathered up with a tea tree nit treatment, waiting for it to take effect.) But once I got past the smell, (and the memories of having my hair treated in an empty, cold bath for head lice) the product itself is really effective at treating inflamed and sore skin prone to breakouts.


If you'd like to look at any of the other products in the Metique range, or find out more about the natural ingredients that go into the products, you can do so by visiting the UK site *here!*






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Sunday 20 July 2014

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Before & After



One beauty product that has been doing the rounds on social media and with beauty bloggers for ages is Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. This is a creamy formula for your brows and is sold in 8 different shades. Every single review I have ever read on this product has only ever been positive, it's waterproof, doesn't smudge and glides on so smoothly and it is definitely so much easier than using pencils or powder... and I wasn't disappointed.

At £15 the little pot may seem quite pricey, however, it will last you for ages. I've had mine for 2 months now and have barely made a dent in it. The tiniest bit of this creamy formula goes a really long way and a quick brush through of your brows with an eyelash comb or a spoolie, will even out the product and make sure it's properly dispersed through the brows. Due to it's creamy consistency, you can use it to define the brows with a sharp line, or use a smaller amount to gently fill them in with a lighter touch of the brush.

You can choose to use a powder on top, if you want a bit more coverage, but if you don't want to it doesn't matter as this product does it all!



Above, is my before and after. At the moment, in their natural state, my brows are thicker at the front, but then they thin out at the sides, using the dipbrow pomade means that I can create a defined end to my brows, in turn giving a more defined and prominent arch, which is shown in the photos.

Anastasia Beverly Hills in an American company, however there are a couple of sites in the UK that you can purchase their products from. I purchased mine from Cult Beauty UK and the colour I bought was 'Dark Brown.'




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Wednesday 9 July 2014

Makeup - Neon

At the end of last month, I went up to London to IMATS, the International Makeup Artist Trade Show. There were so many different brands there and there were talks spread out over the two days from leading industry artists, as well as live demos throughout the day on the majority of the stands.

I purchased a lot of makeup brushes and eyelashes. But I did pick up some loose neon powders from the Stargazer stand. The other night I finally got around to using them and this was the outcome. I chose to put them over a black base, because it really makes the colours pop! These pigments are also UV reactive, but I don't own a UV light, so I couldn't test that out. However, used on their own, without the aid of UV light they are still super effective and really bright. This has to be one of my favourite looks I've done, as it's really simple, but the outcome looks really effective!

A list of all the products used is down below...





Products Used:
  • Sleek Inkpot in 'Dominatrix' to tightline my eyes.
  • Mehron Paradise Makeup AQ in Black.
  • Stargazer Neon Eye Dust in Green. (201)
  • Stargazer Neon Eye Dust in Yellow. (202)
  • Stargazer Neon Eye Dust in Pink. (205)




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Friday 4 July 2014

Makeup - July 4th

Today is July 4th and in the United States, today celebrates the anniversary of the publication of deceleration of independence from Great Britain, also known as Independence Day. It is a patriotic holiday and is celebrated all over America, so I chose to do a stars and stripes theme for this makeup look, a list of products used to create this look can be found below. If you want to find out more about Independence Day, you can do so *here!*


Products Used:
  • MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC15
  • Anastasia Beverley Hills Dip Brow Pomade in Dark Brown
  • Sleek Ink Pot in Dominatrix for liner.
  • Eldora Lashes
  • Kryolan Supracolor 'B' Palette. Colours - Blue (091) Red (079) and White (070)
  • Blue Gems from Hobby Craft

     



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