My Hair Heroes! :)

I don't blog very much about my hair, although it is a massive part of 'me' - I don't feel myself unless I have all my makeup and hair done!

 

In case you didn't know, my hair is pretty much all extensions. I've blogged about them here and here. I probably should look after my hair a little better than I do because of that, but I am always reluctant to splash out on high-end hair products. I recently purchased Philip Kingsley Elasticizer and was not impressed (review here), so I think I'll stick to what I know for now! =p

 

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle 

 I swear by this! I use it instead of a conditioner every time I wash my hair, in conjunction with an Aussie shampoo. I haven't found any real difference between the different 3 Minute Miracles, they are all amaaaazing. Usually they are on special offer, they're £4.99 each but normally on 3 for £10 or similar.

 

They are a lovey design, basically you just squeeze and it comes out the bottom. I think maybe you lose some product at the end with this design but I like it. As soon as I put it on my wet hair it detangles and once I've dried my hair, my hair is SO FREAKIN' SOFT that I can't stop stroking it. And as odd as that looks, it's pretty awesome. BUY it.

 

Tangle Teezer

I know every girl and her blog has reviewed this, so I won't go into detail. I have had this for about 18 months and it's the only brush I use (except when blow drying my hair). It makes my hair incredibly soft, and while I do feel it often brushes over knots rather than through them, it's still my go-to brush. It also is nice for a wee head massage. It's a little steep at £10.99 but worth it.

 

Batiste Dry Shampoo Light & Blonde

 I don't wash my hair very regularly (I know, gross) as blow drying and styling damages my extensions and they take sooo long to dry. So in between washes, I LOVE this Batiste dry shampoo (£3.99, but usually on offer). It's blonde tinted, so not only does it soak up any grease, but it also helps hide my roots! Genius.

 

Babyliss 230 Pro Elegance Straighteners

My old faithful straighteners died before Christmas so I did a lot of research before requesting a new pair! I obviously thought of GHDs initially, but turns out these straighteners were actually more highly rated on Amazon and always gets positive reviews! They are £80 but you can usually get them on offer for like £40.

 

Straight hair!

 

Babyliss Curling Wand

I wear my hair wavy more often than not, and this curling wand is perfect for that. Its conical shape ensures more relaxed, natural waves than a 'ringlet' style. You can still use it different ways though - smaller sections = more defined curls, larger sections = loser curls etc. It's about £25.

Different looks all achieved with this wand

 

So what do you think of my 'hair heroes'? Do you use any of these products? What are your hair heroes?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

:( - Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Review

I know I'm mega late with this one, but I recently had a £50 voucher for Escentual.com and decided to splash out on a Philip Kingsley Elactisizer. Although I have bonded extensions, I actually don't look after my hair that well haha. I love make up etc, but grudge spending a lot of money on haircare. So this voucher gave me the perfect opportunity! You can see what else I bought with it here.

It comes in a variety of sizes, from 20ml (on sale for £3.10) up to a mahoosive 1litre (on sale at £61.70). There's NO way I could justify the huge sizes, so I settled for 75ml for a sale price of £12.20. I've finished it now, so I can tell you I got 4 full head applications out of that.

 

It's a pre-shampoo treatment, which I'd never heard of. You wet your hair, apply this in sections, cover with a shower cap and then leave it on for 20 mins or so. Then rinse, and shampoo and condition as normal.

 

Now, I use Aussie shampoo and 3-Minute Miracle conditioner every time I wash my hair, and they always leave my hair silky soft. But obviously my hair is fairly damaged from my extensions, so any extra moisture etc is beneficial.

 

I did feel like my hair was nice and soft after using this, but really... not THAT soft. I felt a bigger difference when I used Aussie for the first time. I have to say, I was quite disappointed by this. £12.20 for four treatments that didn't make a huge difference to my hair? Not overly exciting.

 

 

All finished...

 

In summary, if you have really dry or damaged hair that you feel you've tried EVERYTHING to help, then by all means give this a go. But otherwise, save your pennies and get Aussie on a 3 for 2 in Boots. Bargain.

 

Have any of you tried this treatment? Did you have a more exciting experience than me?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

17 Cosmetics Fest-of-All Freebie. :)

So I recently repurchased one of my favourite mascaras of all time and DEFO my favourite drugstore mascara - 17 Peepshow. I reviewed it here, but here's a quick reminder of it's luciousness:

Lovelovelove.

Anyways, so if you spent more than £6 on 17 Cosmetics, you got a free goodie bag. Peep Show is £6.99 so I scooped up my freebies and headed off to the cash desk.

So here's what I got:

An eyeliner, a nail polish and wash off tan. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be using the kohl or tan, as I use gel eyeliner now and don't ever wear wash off tan. I really like the nail polish tho, 17 nail products are usually good and this one is no exception.

For some reason, this colour refused to photograph well! My camera couldn't focus on it at all. It's a bright corally orange, with a slight shimmer. This was with two coats, one coat by itself was quite pale:

Cute, huh?

So remember, if you're planning on popping into Boots, spend more than £6 and you can pick up this cute wee set. Bargain. :) Have you seen any other good deals like this recently?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

New Favourite Mascara - Bargain!! :)

I am on a constant quest for the best mascara ever. I have quite long, naturally curly eyelashes but I only have about three of them haha. So I look for a thickening mascara, which obviously still adds a bit of length, too much tho and I look like I have spiders legs on my eyelids - not a good look.

I've tried all the 'favourites' - Lancome Hypnose, Dior Diorshow, Benefit BadGal - I liked them all but I didn't LOVE them. I currently use Urban Decay Super Curl which was a surprise hit for me as I got it as a wee trial size thrown in when I bought some other UD goodies. It gives me a nice, natural look for day-to-day wear.

Here are my natural eyelashes:

Top pics are without any makeup, bottom pics are with all other eye makeup.

So although I was pretty happy with my current mascara, I always crave a bit more!!

And More! Magazine provided this. :) I am part of the More! Beauty Hot 100, where we give suggestions/feedback to the magazine about products, are given the opportunity to contribute to the magazine, win goodie bags (like I won HERE!) and also test and review new products. They recently sent us 17 Peep Show to try and I was quite sceptical, as I tend to go for high end mascara.

How cute is the packaging??

I actually really like this mascara!! What do you think?

It goes on nice and evenly, with no clumping, even after a few coats. I wore it for a full day and had no smudging either. Although I was sent this mascara to trial, you can buy it in Boots or online for £6.29.

Have you ever tried 17 mascaras? What's your favourite mascara ever?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Secret Santa Shopping Guide!!

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming.... I'm feeling a bit Christmassy!!

I know a lot of people do Secret Santas (my friends and I do) so I thought I'd be the super nice person I am and give you some ideas if you're struggling! I'm also doing this because I'm trying to cut down on shopping for myself just now, for two main reasons:

a) I am skinto. To the extreme.
b) I always feel bad buying myself things near Christmas. What if someone has bought me that? And shouldn't I be spending my money on other people??

So, I am creating a mini gift guide for £10 and £20 budgets! As you can see, I've been a wee bit relaxed with prices (eg something for £10.20 I've put under the £10 section) and obviously some items could have fit under different 'friend' categories, so just have a little look and enjoy (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger!)!
All prices are correct as of November 23rd 2011, and do not include P&P costs.

Got £10 to spend?

The 'Find me a Naked dupe and I'll love you forever' Beauty Friend:

Lush Secret Santa Set (also in green) £10

MUA Heaven & Earth Palette Superdrug £4

Models Own Beetlejuice Set ASOS £10

Andrea Fulerton For Your Nails Only Superdrug £9.99

Benefit Tan About Town ASOS £9

The 'I can't live without my Wii/Mac/multi-flavour coffee machine' Gadget Friend:

MP3 Speakers Debenhams £10.50

Tripod keyring Firebox £5

iPad Sticker Cover Firebox £9.99

My Fitness Coach: Dance Workout Play.com £8.99

Heated Eyelash Curlers Boots £10.20

The 'I'm saving the world one paper bag at a time!' Nature-Loving Friend:

Vet on Call Waterstones £5.59

Feed a Family OXFAM £7

Body Shop Coconut Gift Set £7

Frozen Planet Book Amazon £11

Panda Hat River Island £7.00

The 'Pink & Sparkly & Fluffy make me happy!' Girlie Friend:

Sparkly Belt ASOS £6

Style Me Vintage: Make Up Guide Urban Outfitters £9.99

Loveheart Candles Firebox £6

Twilight Triple Pack Play.com £8.99

Lush Blooming Beautiful Gift Set £7.25

The 'Just buy me whatever. Or don't buy me anything. Whatever.' Awkward Friend:

Hangover Kit Topshop £8

Head massager Firebox £6

Digital Photoframe Amazon £8.01

Soap & Glory You Cube Set Boots £10

Hand Warmer Firebox £5

Got £20 to spend?

The 'Find me a Naked dupe and I'll love you forever' Beauty Friend:

Box Bag New Look £15.99

Pampering Voucher BuyaGift £19

FrontCover Packing Case Boots £18.00

Lipsy Fragrance Set Boots £20

Juicy Tube Set Debenhams £18

The 'I can't live without my Wii/Mac/multi-flavour coffee machine' Gadget Friend:

Wine Cooler Firebox £14.99

Smoothie Maker Argos £15.99

Sims 3 PC Game Overstock.com £19.15

Nicky Clark Heated Curlers Boots £19.99

Faux Croc Laptop Case ASOS £20

The 'I'm saving the world one paper bag at a time!' Nature-Loving Friend:

I Am Not a Nugget PETA T-Shirt CafePress £13.50

I Am Not a Paper Cup Firebox £11.99

Caravan Birdhouse Firebox £14.99

Burt's Bees Essential Body Kit Boots £12.99

Wildlife Snuggle Pad RSPCA £15

The 'Pink & Sparkly & Fluffy make me happy!' Girlie Friend:

Skater Dress New Look £19.99

Cupcake Kit Firebox £12.99

Lace Tights Topshop £12

Disney Couture 'Princess' Necklace £15

Cat Slippers Topshop £14

The 'Just buy me whatever. Or don't buy me anything. Whatever.' Awkward Friend:

Clinique 3-Step Introduction Kit Debenhams £20

Home Cinema Popcorn Pack Firebox £12.99

Chocolate Making Kit Firebox £15.99

Now That's What I Call Music 80 Play.com £10.99

Star Bracelet Topshop £20

Hope this gift guide gave you some gift ideas! For OTHER PEOPLE, not for yourself. I know people get confused; at least I do. =p

Thinking of purchasing anything? Let me know!!

~ Lauren ♥

Haul: Part One - Lush/Superdrug/Boots

If your name is Heather Ryce, don't read this blog post!! Your (delayed) birthday present may or may not be shown below.. =p

So I went shopping today, with the £100 Debenhams giftcard that my sister very kindly sent me. I was all excited because it's 'mega day' which means 10%-40% off throughout the store which would obv make my giftcard go even further! Except, of course, I got my dates mixed up and megaday doesn't even start until Wednesday. Joy.

I am not a very good present shopper, I tend to get distracted by stuff I want for myself. Does that sound selfish? Maybe it is, but I'm just so easy to shop for!! =p

I bought faaaar too much so going to have to split this into two posts so you don't die of boredom. This post will look at my Lush, Superdrug and Boots buys.

My first stop was Lush, it's not somewhere I usually shop but I've heard so many good things so I went in to make some purchases.

Uh ohhhhh..! The catalogue of temptation has arrived!

Ok, so I'm unemployed. I have basically no money and no expectation of money coming in. But because I've been used to having a full time wage, my little brain struggles to wrap itself round this concept and keeps persuading me to buy things!! So I'm really gonna try hard to keep my spending under control. And I thought I could probably manage ok, until my mum handed me the Catalogue of Tempation this morning...

And even more importantly...

Yup, the 3 for 2 sale is on with Christmas stock in and I am officially screwed.

However, after the first few pages of delights on every page, I realised that I actually am more sensible than I give myself credit for, and out of all the wonderful goodies on offer, I managed to whittle down my wish list to just a few (right now).

Marc Jacobs Daisy, simply because I love this perfume and I think this is a really good price for 75ml! I still have about a quarter bottle left currently tho, so I might be able to hold off and ask for this for Christmas, tee hee.

My heart actually skipped a little beat when I saw this Frontcover set. I got a Frontcover 'book' last Christmas and I loved the colours and quality, so I'm a fan of this brand already, but a nail design set?! Heaven. I love messing about with my nails, creating deisgns, using bright colours, getting minx or shellac done, so this looks like a LOT of fun for me.

Now this presented a problem for me - I love Too Faced and I love smoky eyes... but I also love pinks and purples because they make my eyes greener. So I don't know which set to go for?? They both look amazing. Decisions, decisions.

The only part of the Catalogue of Temptation which disappointed me was the Soap & Glory section, there wasn't much to it and the gift sets just didn't ecxite me. Hopefully the new make up collection will!

Well, I don't think I did too bad considering what I was faced with. I might buy myself one of the above, and save the rest for Christmas time! We'll see!

~ Lauren ♥