Tuesday 2 April 2013

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;
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100506133854/mightyboosh/images/a/a9/Howardmoon2.jpg
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