Event: Paul's Hair and Beauty World :)

So I mentioned in my previous post that I went to two events within 48 hours, the first was Neal's Yard Remedies (posted about this event here) and the second was for Paul's Hair and Beauty World, which I'll tell you about here! :)

On Saturday morning, I made my way to the official opening of Paul's Hair and Beauty World on Queen's Street Glasgow. It's a 2000 square foot store specialising in mainly extensions, but also some hair and skin products, and Sleek makeup. The Sleek stand is very well stocked, they had several Rose Gold blushes which is usually sold out everywhere!

 

I met Lori and her friend there (click her name for her blog) and we enjoyed the cocktails and looking at all the different hair available. The staff were trying to convince me to get a weave haha - I have to say I'm tempted!!

Melanie Mason from X Factor opened the store and we posed for pics.

 

Yes, I look like an idiot...

It was fun! Paul's Hair and Beauty Boutique have branches all over the UK and you can also shop online at their well-stocked website here. I got a wee goody bag from them too:

I got some bizarre bits like a pen and a bulldog clip (?!) but also some Batiste, Sleek products and Palmer's. The Hairbond Moulder was quite exciting, I don't use product like gel/wax in my hair but my boyfriend does and he's tried it and gives it a thumbs up!

Thanks guys! :)

 

What do you think about stores like this? Have you ever bought extensions from a high street store?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

The Cosmetics Kitten's Diary :) --November 4th--

Heeeey guys! Time for my lifestyle post. I was obviously planning on doing this every week, but life is so hectic that I'm just going to try do it as regularly as I can. :)

 

What have I been up to this week?

I have been sooo tired this week. I think now the clocks have gone back, it gets dark so early and my body just wants to go to sleep! I hate this time of year, when I literally don't see sunlight because it's dark when I go in work and dark when I come out. Meh.

 

Weekend before last I went to London to visit my sister and my best friend, who both live there. I took my boyfriend Scott (his first time in London!) and we had a great time! I'll do a wee post on that soon.

 

Us at Buckingham Palace. :)

 

I also caught up with the girls this weekend, we're all teachers and sometimes it's hard to find time to meet up, so I'm glad we sorted something out!

 

 

I also finally got rid of my old extensions last weekend! I had my old set in for six months and although my hair was still ok quality, my own hair had grown in too much at the roots so it was time to replace them! It took six and a half hours to take my old set out, colour my hair and put my new set in. Phew!!

 

old hair / my own hair (yes, all of it...) / new hair

 

And how was work?

Work was actually mostly fun this week. We had an all-day Hallowe'en party on Wednesday, which I scrabbled about for a last min costume for. None of my regular Hallowe'en outfits were particularly... appropriate haha. So I wore my cat onesie and went as a cat! =p

 

 

Easy haha.

 

 

And how are the cats?

My wee cat Pippa was not very well at all, she had an abscess on her wee bum. :( She's 14 and we worry about her, and she had to get a buster collar on. She was SO down and we thought she was maybe giving up. :( But after two weeks on antibiotics, she's making a good recovery!! :)

 

 

 

Anything else?

My watch broke so I'm hoping to get a new one for Christmas, looking for some suggestions of brands/styles?? This is the one I'm kind of drawn to just now, it's a Michael Kors. I'm looking for a big-ish face and maybe a wee bit of bling haha. Not too expensive tho!!

 

 

 

I'm also doing the Photo a Day Challenge on Instagram - if you fancy seeing what I'm up to, you can follow me on there - I'm CosmeticsKitten. :)

 

 

 

Hope you've had a good week! Remember to give me any suggestions of watches if you can think of any. Have you been up to anything exciting??

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

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 ♥

Stila, Dior and Philip Kingsley goodies! :)

So I'm back my holiday from Turkey and it was HOT! Hahha. I'll do a post of some of the outfits I wore over the weekend, but right now I'm too excited because I got a little Escentual.com haul!

I bought a voucher for the site off of BuyaPowa about six months ago, and promptly forgot about it. Until August 1st, when I went to check it, and found out it said 'valid until August 1st' but apparently that did not mean INCLUDING that day as the voucher was already invalid. BOO! I was gutted, but tweeted Escentual and they extended the voucher for me, YAY!

I placed my order at 4.30pm yesterday, with free postage, and it arrived before midday today.  AMAZING service. Really chuffed. Here's what I got:

Stila Beach Collectable Palette in Living the Life in Laguna (£10), Philip Kingsley Elasticizer 75ml (£12.20), Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick in 536 Lucky (£22.80) and Stila Smudgepot in Kitten (£13.00).

Exciting stuff!

I will probably be doing reviews to follow, but here's some close ups and some swatches:

The Stila Palette:

 The four eyeshadows are:

Top left: Sand Dollar

Top right: Sunset

Bottom left: Cove

Bottom right: Bonfire

And then it's the blusher: Seashell

And the bronzer underneath: Pacific Coast Highway

Taken in natural light

Top pic, l-r: Sand Dollar, Sunset, Cove, Bonfire

Bottom pic, l-r: Seashell, Pacific Coast Highway

Kitten Smudgepot:

Dior Lipstick:

What do you think? £50 voucher well spent? Even if I did got a bit over haha. I'm especially excited to try the PK Elasticizer, my hair neeeds it! Have you tried any of these products?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Nail Sponging, New Hair and Naked2 Giveaway! :)

Remember you can still enter my 'back to blogging giveaway' HERE to win a Naked2 Palette!

Today is the last day!

Just a quick post to let you know about a new blog I am contributing to. The lovely Karris (check out her blog and her YouTube channel) has created a collaborative blog for Scottish bloggers and I am the first post! There's not a whole lot of opportunity for us up here, so this is a great idea.

My first post is on nail sponging! So if you want to know how to do this:

(please ignore my horrible sausage fingers)

...then check out Scottish Bloggers. Please comment and follow, I would LOVE your support and I know there are many amazing bloggers going to be contributing soon and I will be contributing regularly also.

I am also featured in Sarah from FashionismyH2O's Project Perfect - check that out here.

And lastly, I am no longer a blondie!! Well, I feel that way anyways. I got my hair toned darker and I think I like it! Here's what it looked like last week:

And now!

Sorry for poor quality phone pics. :)

Twitter and Instagram response was so lovely, but do you think I suit it better? Also, what do you think of my new blogging project?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Hair: Which shade do I suit best? Help! :)

Hey beauties!! I need your opinion. I've had my extensions redone, and I'm not sure if I'm super keen on the colour. I've always been blonde, but I've been experimenting with shades and tones recently (I know, I'm crazy like that) and I don't know how much I like my current colour. My hairdresser is lovely, and has offered to change the colour complimentarily, but I just don't knooow!

Which shade do you think I suit best?? :(

Warning: lots of mug shots haha.

This is my hair at it's lightest, kind of white blonde:

I don't think I want my hair back as light as this, too blonde? What do you think?

And here's my hair at the shade I had it for a long time:

It's a kind of baby blonde, and I do like this shade, I think I'd be happy to go back to this.

Then I went a bit crazy and asked for my hair to be completely toned down, with warm lowlights.

And I loooved it. But while my extensions obviously stayed that colour, my natural hair faded and quickly went back to light blonde. It looked pretty bad so I had to get my whole colour redone lighter. :(

So I got my hair coloured blonder this time, but tried to keep some of the warmth. I think I just loved my colour so much last time that I'm really not sold on this - do my roots look a bit yellow??

Sorry for the poor photos, I was at my boyfriend's grad ball last night and am not in a fit state to photograph myself  so these are drunken photos from last night!! =p

What do you think?? Should I get it toned down more and go darker? What shade do you think I suit best? White blonde, baby blonde, golden blonde or my current shade? HELP! :(

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

NOTD - 'Gemstones' from Beauty UK :)

I have had a lovely long weekend, hope you guys have too! It was my boyfriend Scott's birthday on Friday, but he refused to do anything exciting to celebrate it, so we went to the cinema. His choice - American Pie. I've only ever seen the first American Pie and I didn't like LOVE it, so wasn't fussed about seeing this, but it was actually pretty funny! Crude, rude, toilet humour, yes; but quite funny all the same.

On Saturday I went to get new extensions put in, yay! It took five hours to remove my old extensions, colour my hair and put in my new ones - just as well I get on well with my hair extensionist!! I tried to take a few sneaky photos while no one was looking...

On the left is me with my sad own hair (sadface!) and on the right is me holding my new hair and drinking my complimentary wine, YAY!

I've not taken a pic of my finished result yet, will put that in my next post.

Saturday night was a party with Scott's family which was a lot of fun, and Sunday involved chillaxing with Scott and my cats with pizza and home made cocktails!

But aaaaanyways, the point of the post was not to ramble on, but to show you my lovely new nail polish. Whilst browsing in Superdrug, I came across Beauty UK's new nail varnish range - Posh Polish (not the best name in the world). There are 9 polishes in the collection, 3 foils which I'm not too fussed about, and six 'gemstone' colours - which I LOVE. Here's the photo from the website of the collection:

It was two for £5 in Superdrug, and I reeeally wanted to buy all the gemstone colours but I settled for these two:

Left is Moonstone, right is Sunstone.

They are shimmery, metallic-y colours that go on smoothly and opaque in one coat. Beauty UK is also cruelty free, which I am only buying from now on. Here is Moonstone with Nicole by OPI Kardashion Kolour in Kendall on the Katwalk (my favourite nail polish ever haha).

What do you think? Pretty?? Have you tried anything by Beauty UK? This is my first purchase. Did you have a good long weekend? :)

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

I'm Still a Hair Extensions Addict. :)

Thanks for getting me past 400 on GFC guys! :)

I did a post ages ago about clip in extensions and my sheer and utter love for fake hair haha. You can read it here if you'd like to know about my addiction to extensions. =p

Tonight I'm blogging a wee bit about my bonded extensions, rather than clip ins. I went down the 'permanent' extensions route in August, and have been using them ever since. If you've ever thought about taking the leap, read on! =p

My regular hair, minus extensions:

Ugh. It is fine and straggly and doesn't grow beyond like my shoulders. My dad is bald and my sister and mum have about ten strands of hair between them so I had no hope really. I am SO jealous of you girls with naturally thick hair!!

I bought glue in extensions through Groupon (classy). I had my first set in for four months, and my current set is coming up on five months this week. I don't think I can go back to regular hair!

I took some photos to let you see the process of getting hair bonded, excuse the poor quality, I was trying to do it sneakily haha!

So you can see you get about 150 strands with solid glue at the top, this gets wrapped around a strand of your own hair and a heat gun softens it so it melds onto your hair before solidifying. I know that glue is not good for your hair, but so far I've had no real problems.

Here is me with my extensions:

They are so easy to care for and the only thing I HATE is washing them haha! Takes so long!

My sister was so tempted by my extensions she took the plunge and got microloops, basically little elastic bands securing the hair on. Here she is, before:

and after...

 

Thinking about getting extensions?

Pros

•  Long, thick hair!
• Once they're in, you're sorted for 3+ months
• If done properly, they blend excellently
• You don't ever have to faff about with clip ins
• You style them the same as your own hair
• Effortless waves if you sleep with your hair in a plait
• They make an awesome scarf if it's cold. =p

Cons

• Washing and drying time!!!
• Can tangle quite easily if not dried properly
• Bonds start to fall out after a few months
• Possible damage to hair
• Cost!

So what do you think? Do you wear any kind of extensions? Do you think they're 'fake'? Am I going to get lectured on how bad they are for my hair haha?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥