How to: Perfect Wavy Curls

Who is really good at curling their hair?

 

 

Yeah me either...

For a girl who is obsessed with doing hair and learnt GHD curls as soon as I could, I'm completely awful at it. I can never achieve symmetry, with one side of my hair being amazing and the other being a kinky screaming hot mess.

However fear not my friends, a lovely solution is on the way!

A fashion designer I follow on Facebook posted this video to her fans and it has changed my life!



The girl in the video's name is Cara Van Brocklin, or Cara Loren and has an amazing array of tutorials for your copying pleasure.

Here is my hair after following her steps - curlicious!

Enjoy the compliments!

B x

Review: Lush BIG Shampoo

Lush is one of those great beauty brands I always find myself coming back to.

My lovely Mother and sister-not-in-law are giant fans and after much of their raving how great all their products are, I have tried my fair share.

Recently, I have been having a tough time with my hair. It is driving me absolutely insane. I gave up on the bicarb washing and natural air drying after a scare which was caused by having such clean chemical free hair, the lesson; sometimes its good to have chemicals and heat styled hair. But have found my hair is exra oily again from using regular shampoo. So I found myself wandering into Lush yesterday to purchase a long recommended shampoo, BIG.

Let's just say after my shower this morning, I was practically strutting around singing this;

Now while we are enjoying this 90s amazingness, allow me to get on with my review!

 Like all Lush products, it comes in a very satisfyingly large black plastic tub, which I feel is a nice change from the straight techincolour bonanza tubes of regular hair products.

The first thing you notice about BIG is the amazing smell. I am currently smelling my hands coninuously as I just touched the tub to photograph it. It has various delicious scents including lemon and lime juice, coconut oil, neroli oil, mandari oil, vanilla and orange flower absolute, which combine to make you wish you could eat your hair like those crazy people on My Strange Addiction.

The next thing is the strange texture for a shampoo.

As the label says, it is a sea salt shampoo which means it is very gritty and salty coloured. It feels a bit like lumps of salt in oily, soapy jelly. When purhcasing, the girl at Lush, Ashlee said, despite this, it will work into a nice lather upon washing.

Before I used this, I read several reviews, many of which recommended having hair as we as possible in order to build the best lather and ensure all the salt chunks are disolved.

The package recommends washing twice in order to clean hair properly and get the most volumous effect. I did this with hestitation as my hair usually dries right out from double washing.
To my suprise, this did not happen at all. While my hair was actually squeaky clean, it was very easy to brush out and felt silky smooth, which is very unlike the crunchy results of using a salt spray.

Then came the fun bit! The drying!
Usually to get any volume in my hair, I need to use a XXL volume mousse and some texturing powder and some backcombing to get the desired results. So I was sceptical I could get some good lift with just a shampoo.

However much to my delight, I was Notoriously B.I.G! *cue music*

Notorious

B.I.G Bitches!

While this may not look that impressive, my hair usually resembles shiny brown smoke that sticks closely to my scalp. The fact that it can be ruffled and stays that way is beyond a miracle!
Especially as this is me usually;

Brown Smoke Hair :(

There are very limited cons to this fabulous product, and one is that it may be drying for regular or dry hair. As my hair is so oily, striking the right balance can be hard, however many reviews described this as a clarifying shampoo thats best used every few washes rather than each one. I will update this once I've used it for a while.
The other potential con is the price. It is $25.95 for 330g, however it seems a little goes a long way, so only time will tell the true value.

Ever tried a Lush shampoo? Or do you have your own secrets to amazing BIG hair?

B x

Review: Bare Escentuals Buxom Lash Mascara

After many months of being very lazy I have finally decided to get my head together and spend some time with my blog.

I purchased this mascara in Byron Bay at a sweet little beauty shop called Madame Butterfly. As fate would have it, it was opposite James and I's favourite Portuguese burger restaurant which meant I had no choice but to browse why we waited for our delicious burgers.

I first came across this baby, after a large sign saying "Best mascara in the world" lured me away from my half eaten burger and into the cool confines of the shop, where the sales girl with beautiful lashes of her own, waxed lyrical about this magical mascara.

Having been in a very loving monogamous relationship with Australis Killer Curves for well over a year, I was sceptical, However the girl assured me that Buxom is Bare Essentials sexy little sister and it was worth it. So with my brain rationalising I was on holidays and #YOLO so I forked over the $50 and shoved it in my beach bag.

After washing the last of the sea salt from my hair, I gave it a whirl. The first thing I noticed was the cute packaging and quite large tube. At 11mL I think this will last a while if properly cared for.
It also has a large "hourglass" wand, which is where the volume magic happens.

I'm very much a tubular mascara girl now, but this stuff is actually pretty damn good! Unlike most mascaras, it can be layered for intensity and length but doesn't appear to clump at all which is a huge bonus.

Before

After

As you can see, it gives a naturally thick and intense look, without looking tacky and fake. It is also really comfortable to wear for my sooky, sensitive eyes.

Creepy Face

The only downside to this is the price. At $50, it is exceptionally expensive compared to my $12.95 regular lover. However when hunting around online, it seems to be only available from the US site and Sephora for $19, so if you factor it all in and the fact this little shop had to set up distribution, I guess its not so bad.

If you're looking for a great everyday mascara, that gives a natural look and is comfortable to wear, perhaps bribe a friend to buy it for you if they head OS and into Sephora.

B x

Beauty lessons I learnt on holidays

There is nothing quite like a nice relaxing holiday to release all the stresses that have built up over the year. However my favourite part is probably letting go of my vanity, no blow drying or straightening, no makeup, no high heels, no tricky jewellery. I always feel so free when away, and this year during the week I learnt some interesting things about my own routines.

1. Air dried hair is actually awesome

I am usually a giant fan of my hair dryer, I cannot stand the feeling of wet hair, plus you get a much neater and smoother result. However when I'm away on holidays, the idea of spending my time making my hair perfect only for it to get screwed up again in an hour when I hit the beach seems ridiculous. So this year when I went away, I didn't even pack my drier or straightener, it was au naturel all the way!

To my surprise, it was AWESOME!

After some salt n' sun, my hair seemed to thrive and look fabulous. I own a sea salt spray but never used it before. This has now changed. My new goal is to let my hair air dry with salt spray as much as possible. Not only will my hair look as fabulous as this, it will be good for my hair to not blow dry and straighten it frequently, and then it will grow and be fabulous all the time - hooray!

2. The is nothing healthy about a tan

The entire Pacific Highway is covered with billboards from this campaign. But do you think by the time I got to Byron, I listened?

Sigh, we all know this, yet sometimes the beautiful rays of the sun suck you in (along with everyone being super tanned in Byron) and you find yourself dozing in the sun thinking happy things.

My first day in Byron, I did just this (as above). While it started out fine and I did apply sunscreen, by the time we went home to head out to dinner I was red raw all over and my hair line was in agony.

Not only is being sunburnt ugly and painful, it's also hella ugly, and even though the burn occurred well over a week ago now, I still have ugly peeling and scabbing on my nose and forehead.

May this serve as a lesson to you all. It's St Tropez, or nothing!

 

3. Mineral makeup is still pretty amazing

When mineral makeup first came onto the market in a really big way, I was all over that shit. I didn't wear anything else for years. However around 2 years ago, I found that its dryness could irritate my skin, so I just stuck with tinted moisturisers and now BB creams to keep the moisture content up. However now my skin is sore and blotchy, it has been my best friend again.

Not only does it cover my skin beautifully and hide the ug, it's also gentle and comfortable to wear all day, and seems to not mind being placed over heavy jojoba and cuticle cream (yes that's how bad this is, cuticle cream on my face).

 

I think Mr Minerals will be making a giant comeback in my regular routine!

4. Aloe Vera should be used way more than it is!

When buying a moisturiser, I tend to go for heavier oily ones, I use oils for everything, so it's my natural choice. However when you are sunburnt to the point of death, aloe starts to look pretty good and memories of Mum breaking a branch off and basting you with it is all coming flooding back.

Desperate we hit up Woolworths for some relief, and despite it being a beachy town, their range of skin are was strangely low. So we ended up with this

Who knew such a boring seeming moisturiser could be so good! Not only did it cool the burn a bit and stop a lot of peeling for me, it moisturised my unburnt bits perfectly, it was light and best of all it smelled amazing! Seriously amazing, how did I not know this from when I used to work with the stuff?!

This is definitely staying as a regular!

Have you ever kept up a holiday regimen at home?

B x

 

 

Choosing the right tanning product

After my last post on how to tan, I could almost hear calls of "But Beth! I don't know what tan to use! Priceline is scary and there are so many!!!"
Thankfully I am psychic and have decided to help you.

This can be hard and really is about what works for you and how you like to tan. There are so many different options now and a multitude of different formulations. I'll try to tick off the pros and cons of each;

It's almost December which means...

... It's time to unleash your pale, unloved winter skin for the masses to see.

It BURNS!

However if you are like me and would rather not blind and terrify your community, there are ways to make it look like you are naturally bronzed and awesome all the time.

The Most Amazing Brush Ever - Just go buy it already!

 Is this you right before you have to brush your hair? Are childhood memories scarred by having to sit there for hours while your mother attempted to tame the birdsnest on your head that was your hair?
While my hair was not so bad, my curly haired sister got the brunt of it, the finer underside of my hair always knotted and that meant brushing it involved ripping large chunks of it out.
This has always been quite problematic for trying to grow hair, and also having to clean the drain out constantly.

However my life changed when The Oracle, Zoe Foster, wrote a piece confessing she used this magic brush for brushing wet hair. As an avid follower of Zoe, I made plans to buy one immediately.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my hair and attributed 2 things to helping it grow thick and long quickly, one was not washing it with conventional shampoo and conditioner and my new magical brush....