Coloured Hair? DIY Hair Chalking! Video Tutorial & Pictures

WARNING! This post is going to be quick pic heavy, but it kind of has to be to show the amazingness of DIY Hair Chalking!

I first saw this on Lauren Conrads website The Beauty Department  and i've wanted to try it out for ages, I eventually moseyed on down to my local arty crafty store (Riot Art & Craft) and found the Soft Pastels recommended for this look.

Let's take a trip down memory lane for a moment. When I was teenager; I loved having colourful hair I had pink, blue, green, purple, red... honestly, every colour under the sun. I trawled through my old photos, REAL PHOTOS...remember those? to bring you some of these doozies (bad eyebrows included!). Check out the last picture and my white nail polish, such a trend setter! 

So now you've seen my embarrassing photos, lets talk about how you do this! 

What you need:

• Soft Pastels (Not oil pastels...they won't work)
• Towel / Old Shirt
• Water if your hair is dark
• Gloves - Particularly if your using water. This does wash off your hands easily though!
• Hair Straightener / Curling Iron - something with heat
• Clarifying Shampoo (I've been using the Herbal Essences Drama Clean)

These are the Soft Pastels I used, I got a set of 48 for around $36 just check your local art/craft stores. They come in all varieties of sizes & colours.

How to do it:

• If your blonde just go straight ahead and rub the chalk/pastels on your hair where you want the colour to go.
• If you have darker hair, you need to wet the hair you'll be working with first and then rub the colour on.
• If you've wet your hair and put the colour on, let it dry off. The colour will intensify as it dries, then your going to want to add some heat either with a hair straightener or curling iron. (TIP: If your hair is naturally curly, straighten it beforehand it will make putting the chalk on much easier)

That's pretty much it really, I also did a video tutorial on YouTube if you'd like to watch below:

So now I have some final pictures, on my own hair and also on my friend Angela (click her name to check out her blog). She has dark hair so was kind enough to be my guinea pig in making her hair a rainbow mess... a cool rainbow mess :)

Hope you enjoyed this post! If you give it a go i'd love to see your results :)

Let's talk about Dry Shampoo

Whoever invented dry shampoo in my opinion is an absolute bloody legend!

If you've never heard of dry shampoo (blasphemy!) It's one of my "cant live without it" products, it's a product you spray into your hair to dry up any excess oil to make it look fresh and washed again. Being a "sometimes gym junkie" it's an absolute essential for me.

I have tried many and thought i'd give you my thoughts on each one i've tried, the good the bad and the ugly!

Tresemme' Fresh Start Dry Shampoo (RRP $11.49AUD) - I don't particularly like having to start my post off with a negative but i'm going in order of the picture. This dry shampoo did absolutely nothing for my hair, it made it feel sticky and worse then it being dirty. I've tried it as much as I could (different distances for the spray etc) and it's never improved. Now i've done the photo this can go where it belongs...in my bin. HOWEVER! I have heard some people say they like this, it could just be my hair it doesn't work for.

Garnier Pure Volume Dry Shampoo (RRP $8.95AUD) - I had high hopes for this product, I generally really like Garnier products (skincare especially). I haven't used their hair range in awhile but I've always loved the smell of their hair products for some reason. I was super excited to try this out and sadly it fell short. Similar experience to the Tresemme dry shampoo, it didn't feel like my hair was clean. So another one for my bin.

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush (RRP $9.95AUD) - One of the first brands to do dry shampoo and in my opinion one of the best. I love this because my hair looks like it's been freshly washed once I use it and it soaks up any oil I may have and it keeps my hair soft. This is one of the brands I keep coming back to time and time again. They stock a fair few different scents and I have tried them all, the scent doesn't linger so don't worry if you don't like it. They also have versions for darker hair!

Girlz Only Dry Shampoo in Party Nights & Hazy Days (RRP $2.00AUD) - I am not kidding about that price either. This brand with a crappy name is found in Target and can I just say this stuff is amazing! It's very similar to Batiste & actually gives my hair more volume then Batiste. Plus for $2 a bottle you really can't go wrong! It comes in a few different scents, and they aren't particularly incredible smelling but for the price point you kinda forget that. This is my number 1 dry shampoo now mainly due to the price point and the fact I go through a lot of this stuff. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!

Klorane Extra Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk (RRP $12.95AUD) - My one in the picture is a sample size from one of the sample boxes I received but I have also purchased this in full size. It's nice like the Batiste but due to the cost of it i'd purchase the Batiste or Girlz Only over it in a heartbeat. Nothing different really and would rather save my $$'s :).

I hope this may have helped you, I know there are plenty more brands out there now doing dry shampoo and i'd love it if you could tell me your thoughts on them.

Product Disclosure - All these products were purchased with my own money, yep i'm a certified dry shampoo addict.

Empties... and Products that didn't work for me!

I've seen these posts on other blogs before and have always wanted to do something similar, I don't think I could do monthly as I don't seem to finish enough things each month to warrant it's own post. However I had a bathroom clean out the other day and found a few empties and also a couple of prodz that I've given up on that didn't work for me and are going into my beauty graveyard (bin)



1. Wella Brilliance Conditioner - RRP $24AUD *

LOVED this conditioner, it smells amazing and made my hair feel incredibly soft and manageable. The thing I love most is the smell actually lasts and my hair stays fresh for days! Repurchase? Yep, I would!

2. John Frieda Sheer Blonde Colour Renew Tone-Refreshing Shampoo RRP $17.99AUD 

I need a good purple shampoo to keep my blonde from going brassy, I remember picking this one up at Priceline when there was a sale on John Frieda products since my usual go-to Blonde shampoo's are a bit on the pricier side. This isn't a deep purple shampoo the purple colour is quite light. Basically it does nothing for my blonde hair so it's headed to the beauty graveyard. Repurchase? Nope!

3. John Frieda Sheer Blonde Go Blonder Lightening Conditioner RRP $17.99AUD

I picked this one up the same time as the above, I also got the Shampoo in the Go Blonder range but i'm still using that. I saw Make Up By TiffanyD review this on her YouTube channel and she mentioned she used it in between salon colourings to keep her dark roots at bay, I thought if this works it'll be brilliant. So it didn't really help with my root situation it may have slightly lightened them (in conjunction with the shampoo) but it is actually a really nice conditioner! Repurchase? I would but haven't as yet

4. Lush It's Raining Men Shower Gel RRP $30.50AUD (500g)

Honey I Washed The Kids is one of my favourite scents you can get from Lush, this is the shower gel version! I am more of a fan of shower gels then soap so I was so happy when they released this last year for Valentines Day. I was even happier when I found out it was going to be a permanent part of the line (no more scrimping on using it!) Repurchase? NEED ANOTHER ONE NOW!

5. Dove Go Fresh Revive Nourishing Body Wash RRP $7.36AUD *

The bottle looks like it's been handled by The Hulk, this is the result of the boyfriend using my body wash! It's nicely scented with Pomegranate and Lemon Verbena and is moisturising on the skin. I like it! Repurchase? I bought the Nectarine & White Ginger one from the range

6. Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser RRP $13.99AUD

This product has been a staple of mine since I was a teenager, it's refreshing on the skin and doesn't dry my skin out. It takes away the day and doesn't leave a trace of makeup Repurchase? I need to, I feel lost without one!

7. Nivea Invisible Black & White Clear Roll On RRP $3.79AUD *

It's a roll on deodorant, nothing too special about this one. It does its job and smells fine. Repurchase? Possibly if it was on sale or something

8. BioEffect EGF Serum Sample Bottles - RRP $180AUD (15mls) *

I've received 3 of these samples and used up 2. I actually really like this serum it made my skin look and feel amazing when I used it. What I don't like is the price! So expensive! Repurchase? Wayyyy out of my budget, so no

9. QV Face Rescue Gel - RRP $19.95AUD *

This product is for calming the skin, It couldn't have come at a better time when my skin was having major issues (due to a product i'll be mentioning in this post very soon). It helped calm and give it a bit of an extra moisture boost. I also used it as a skin reliever when the boyfriend had really bad sunburn a few weeks back. IT WAS SO GOOD! Repurchase? YES!

10. Garnier Youthful Radiance Multi-Action Night Cream - RRP $13.95AUD

For years Garnier have always been my go-to brand if I run out of night cream, i'll grab a Garnier one... I don't know why either? I managed to pick this one up for an absolute steal (around $5) and I really liked it, the scent is quite strong but it gave my skin a lovely overnight moisture boost! Repurchase? Yep!

11. Lapurete Resurrection Night Cream with Okuru - RRP $59.90AUD *

Sorry but no love at all for this product, it's meant to be natures botox but it just broke me out badly and made my skin completely dry and flakey for weeks on end. I had to go into a lot of damage control after using this product. Repurchase? No Way Jose

Products marked with * were provided for my consideration, all opinions are honest and my own. For further information please read my disclosure policy.

Budget Beauty - DIY Blonde Highlighting

Most people who get their hair highlighted and especially blondes will tell you it's quite an expensive thing to upkeep, when it came time that my roots were a little out of control it needed to be done but I didn't quite have the spare cash to do it I decided to give at home highlighting a go.

So a bit about how I usually get my hair highlighted, I generally switch between half and full heads of foils and in winter get a few darker blonde bits foiled through and in summer have it all the same lighter blonde. Generally my hair can cost me anywhere between $185-$250 a time.

This is the kit I decided to use



It cost me about $18 from Coles, I've also seen it in Priceline etc. I chose this one because it seemed like the most fail safe and I didn't really want to go about trying to foil my own hair or doing an all over blonde colour. The kit includes a streaking cap, hook, the colour & developer etc and a conditioner to use afterwards.

I also bought a couple of additional things - Tinting Brush (cost me around $3 from priceline) since I was only doing regrowth I wanted to be quite precise, Metal Streaking Cap Hook ($4 from Hairhouse Warehouse) LIFESAVER! The plastic hook provided in the kit is a piece of shit, seriously if you intend on trying a kit like this buy a metal hook! I also made sure I had a few old towels and tons of hair clips to section the hair as well.

Hair Before -



So what you need to do is put the cap on and pull your hair through the holes, there are indicators on the cap for if you only want to highlight a certain part of your hair, since my hair is quite blonde all over I decided at first i'd do the whole cap... This was until I actually started pulling my hair through (by myself). It was taking fricken forever so I ended up just doing the top part and sides and left the underneath.

IMPORTANT! You need to make sure you pull out the entire strand of hair or you end up with what I have now fondly called tiger stripes...sadly I did make this mistake on a few strands of my hair... Lesson learnt!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="588" caption="Hair pulled through, no makeup and not a happy face after this took forever!"][/caption]

Once your hair is pulled through (properly!) I combed through the hair to make sure no pieces were snagged and then mixed my colour and applied it to my roots only.

I waited around 40mins and then applied some more colour to my ends (so it'd look even). I'd read when it was the colour of the inside of a banana skin that's when it's done so I went by this and washed it out at around 50mins.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="588" caption="Waiting... Waiting.."][/caption]

Then it was time to wash out.. HURRAH! I decided to wash my hair with the cap still on and also condition it so it would slide out a bit easier, it was still a bit of a bitch to get off but wasn't too terrible. Then after drying my hair came the moment of truth...did it work? was it perfect? Yes and No. My regrowth obviously wasn't as noticable but the strands i'd dyed around the crown of my head weren't great, in fact I think I was being a little conservative with how much I was pulling through because when I checked the sides of my hair it was perfect and that's where i was getting a little more careless and pulling through more hair.

So my lessons learnt - Make sure hair is pulled through properly (yep I have some tiger stipes...ROAR!), Pull through more hair in the crown so it's more noticable in the part.

Will I do it again? Most likely, I may use it as an option in between salon highlights just to try and keep the costs down, however I do kind of want to perfect it... that's the Virgo in me talking!

RESULTS! As you can see...not 100% but as a first attempt i'm not overly concerned and it's definitely given me a bit more time to save up for a salon trip :)



 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad Hair Day? Scunci Giveaway!

I'm not at all a hair girl, however if you do want to see some lovely hair check out Hair Romance's blog... AH-MAZING!

When the lovely people at Polka Dot PR offered to let me host a Scunci giveaway I was happy too, because these are products I use on a daily basis to keep my hair in check.

Not like this mess*.

*This bad hair did not leave the house, it's just my lovely frizzy curls dried off prior to making them into more of a more manageable mess thanks to my GHD. :)

Since I workout a fair bit during the week I find that I need ponytail holders that in fact will hold my hair into place no matter what exercise I do, I've found the Scunci no damages ponytail holders to be the best because not only do they not snag my hair and cause breakages but they actually keep my ponytail in place... it doesn't move! at all!



So onto the giveaway!



I have a Scunci pack for the lucky winner consisting of -

• Scunci Knit Pony Wraps


• Scunci No Damage Thin Hair Elastics


• Scunci No Slip Grip Split Band with Cushion Tips


• Scunci Grooming Compact Mirror

Your perfect kit for no more bad hair days! no excuse now :)

Want to win? Here are the details to enter

- If you follow my blog via Google Friend Connect you receive 2 entries, already a follower well you're getting 2 entries if you like it or not.

- Comment below and let me know about a bad hair day you've had recently, never had one then lucky you! Tell me your secret! :) You will receive 1 entry for your comment.

That's it, pretty simple right? GOOD LUCK!

EDITED TO ADD

This is why you should not blog when you should obviously be sleeping! You forget important information like when this competition closes! You have 2 weeks! Competition ends on Monday 15th August.

Also name will be picked randomly using random number generator.

Curls, Curls, Curls! Review feat. Modiva Professional 25mm Curling Iron

Hopefully you sang that in the tune of Motley Crue's song Girls Girls Girls... that's how I envisioned it anyway :)

Let's talk hair... My hair is a bunch o tight frizzy curls which I don't like. So why would I be reviewing a curling iron you may say? Well let's just say i've always had curl envy... love everyone elses curls, hate my own! So when the lovely people at Modiva Professional offered to let me try out their new curling iron I jumped at the chance to get those perfect loose but bouncy Lauren Conrad style waves i've always lusted over.



I'm no stranger to the world of curling my hair... I've tried the GHD curls, failed. Curling tongs, failed. I have even tried top knotting and hairspraying the shit out of my hair so it became a crusty mess....biggest fail!

The thing I really liked about this particular curling iron is that it doesn't contain anything to snatch your hair onto which generally creates kinks. The thing I love most... It's easy and quick to use!

Just pop the little black heatproof glove (included) onto the hand you'll be using to wrap the hair around the iron, section your hair into pieces about 1.5" each, wrap your piece of hair around the iron (always away from the face), hold for a few seconds, let it go and voila beautiful big bouncy curls!



On Saturday night I did a little experiment in pictures with the first lot of curls I tried with this iron to show how well the curls stayed in my hair. With previous attempts at curling with the other methods my curls have generally dropped within a few hours, even with a ton of hairspray. Here is my little timeline.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="612" caption="7pm - freshly curled with hairspray"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="612" caption="12.30am.. looking a little sleepy "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="612" caption="Ready for bed! Put hair in top knot to see how the curl holds up!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="612" caption="Next morning 10.30am! "][/caption]

As you can see the curls held up quite well, very impressive!

So all in all this is a great curling tong and something I think i'll be using quite a bit now. The one thing which did confuse me was it didn't really say when it was fully heated, but i gave it a few minutes and it was hot enough to make snazzy curls and boy it got hot. Overall loves it! !!

So if you'd like to pick yourself a Modiva Professional 25mm Curling Tong you can purchase directly from the Modiva Professional website for a RRP of $89.95

BUT! The lovely people at Modiva Professional have offered my readers a $30 discount off the full priced tong! All you need to do is use the following discount code - lovevulcanella when you checkout. This code is valid until 31st August 2011

This product was provided for my consideration, please read my disclosure policy.

This one time my hair turned green at a Festival

Not kidding either!

In December I went to a music festival and saw the I guess you'd call them "shock rockers" Gwar. I knew what their schtick was all about so I knew they'd spew out blood and pus (actually food dye mixed with water) into the crowd (yes I know, gross but extremely entertaining!) What I didn't know was that i'd score a spot in the front row and this so called blood and pus would stain my blonde hair green!

Here are a few visuals for you, first a video of the band... don't freak out and yes I like weird music :) You can see me in this video too haha. Also a bit of a parental advisory here, if you are a youngen... maybe don't watch this as it's a bit uhhhmmm rude



and a picture I took of my boyfriend and I after the show covered in the food dye



After the initial freakout I went on Twitter and asked if anyone knew the best way to get food colouring out of blonde hair and bleach blonde hair to be exact. Someone mentioned dishwashing liquid, so that went with me into the shower with me.

Then I remembered something i'd be sent and thought i'd give it a try. It worked!!! I had to wash my hair a few times but it got the green out, I was so impressed and relieved as well since I had to go to work the day after.

So what was my little lifesaving gem?



This is the Wella BioTouch Pure Purifying Shampoo it retails for $22.50AUD and you can get it from Price Attack, Hairhouse Warehouse & Salons.

It isn't really meant for the purpose I used it as it's a purifying shampoo I use this shampoo weekly to get rid of any build up of product in the hair. It has these cool/weird little beads that remind me of a facial scrub but they're not at all harsh nor do you really feel them when you lather this into your hair. I was just lucky it worked for the purpose I needed at the time, but it has now become a staple in my weekly hair routine. Awesome job Wella! Thanks for not making me go to work with green hair :)

This product was sent for consideration, all opinions are my own.

Sunday Evening Pamper Session Feat. Wondercap & Pores Be Gone!

It's no secret I love pampering, and what better time to pamper yourself then on a Sunday night before another long working week. I also find Sunday nights a good time to trial some products out, in particular products that I can do one use and review like masks etc.

So what did I do this Sunday? I decided to give myself a hair mask and a face mask both at the time time... say whaaaat Multi-Tasking baby!

Let's talk the Wondercap. I'm sure you've read about this on a few blogs, I sure have and now it's my turn to give you my thoughts on it.

Basically what it is, is a heat pack for your head. It's a gel packed cap which you heat up in the microwave for 90seconds and then pop on your head with the treatment conditioner provided or your own if you prefer.

Do you remember ever going to the salon and getting a treatment put on your hair and sitting in one of these -



This is a similar idea, the heat from the cap making the treatment sink deeper into your hair... Great, Good, Wonderrrrcap!

So my experience of it - The first time I used it I used the Guardian Angel Intensive Treatment Conditioner that came with it... Okay i'm going to be honest and tell you that when I used it with the provided treatment it did absolutely nothing for my hair, in fact I had to condition it again afterwards with my regular conditioner. However, last night I used it along with my Pantene 3 minute miracle conditioner ($7.99AUD for 3) and it worked wonders! Today my hair feels soft and silky and I almost feel like I could be swishing it about like they do on tv. So basically, love the cap but don't like the conditioner provided with it. I did also find the cap a little heavy on my head but since you only have it on for 3-5 mins it's definitely bearable.

You can purchase the Wondercap for $49.95AUD from various locations including some Shaver Shop stores, Ry.com and wondercap.com.au



As for the goop on my face. I decided to use a face mask and I went with one i've had sitting in my drawer for awhile begging to be reviewed! It was the Formula 10.0.6 Pores Be Pure refining mask with Strawberry & Yarrow. This smelt like I was slapping Strawberry Yoghurt on my face, it also stung a little. I don't really think it did much for my skin although my blackheads seemed to be a little reduced and it didn't dry out my skin like I thought it might. I think this would be more suited to a younger skin with acne issues, but for $1.99AUD for a sachet it was worth the try. You can get this at Priceline.

My camera battery ran out when I went to take product pics, so here is a snazzy one I took on my iphone instead.



Please note the Wondercap was sent to me for review.

Products I'm Not Loving...

Usually I review things that I really like, but I thought i'd just tell you guys about a couple of things that I've gotten recently and haven't been enjoying.

Norsca Soft Vanilla Anti Perspirant Deodorant



I can't find a picture of this anywhere, and the Norsca website seems to be having a few issues... Quite like this deodorant. I found an image to sum up my thoughts instead.

I got this because I needed a spare deodorant to leave at my parents house when I stay there and since I like Norscas Cherry Blossom deodorant so much I thought i'd try the Vanilla... Big Mistake!

While it works well as a deodorant, the fragrance is more Eau De Piss then Vanilla. The scent doesn't last long so it's not a total write off but it certainly isn't pleasant. I do hope they work on the scent because if it was a lovely vanilla i'd be totally on board!

If you do want to buy this, good luck you can get it at Supermarkets and Priceline for around $4.50AUD. I do suggest the Cherry Blossom fragrance though, that is lovely.

Tresemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo



I'll be the first to admit dry shampoos have changed my life and the way I care for my hair. When I saw Tresemme was bringing one out I was quick to pick it up and excited to give it a go since my beloved Batiste was finished up.

Unfortunately it didn't quite tick all the boxes for me in terms of what I need from a dry shampoo. I found it to be a little sticky on my hair and not giving me that fresh washed look that I tend to get from Batiste products.

What I did like about it though was the smell, that was lovely and the size of the product is also a plus!

I will probably finish my can of it because I hate wasting product but I don't think i'll repurchase.

If you do want to try it out, again this is available at Supermarkets and Priceline and will cost around $11.50AUD

PolkaDot PR & Scunci Blogger Event

I was lucky enough to be invited by PolkaDot PR to attend a blogger event for the hair accessories brand Scunci... Thursday afternoon lunch with wine? I was so in!

10 lucky beauty bloggers got to hang out and have a delicious lunch, have a gossip and drink wine and hear about the hair accessory brand Scunci.

Scunci is a brand I have always had on my radar, I love their metal-less snagless hair ties especially because i'm a no fuss girl when it comes to my hair, and if it's a bad hair day (75% of the time it is a bad hair day) my hair is in a ponytail. So decent hair ties are always a must for me! Plus i'm always losing them, not sure how?

We were lucky enough to also be given a goodie bag at the event with a bag of Scunci items to try out, I've only had a chance to use one thing so far but I can already tell this is going to be a must buy for me from now on!

The evolution hair ties are a kind of silicone, rubber hair tie but boy do they stay put in your hair! Plus when you remove them you don't take a chunk of hair with the tie. They also feel durable and I feel like i'll get quite a bit of use out of one before I need to go onto a new one. The Evolution hair ties retail for $7.50AUD for a pack of 14.



Now onto photos from the event, my photos didn't turn out great so I apologize for that and I also didn't get many pictures of the bloggers who attended! BAD BLOGGER PHOTOGRAPHER I AM! :)

Thank you so much to Scunci and PolkaDotPR (in particular Beau) the day was so much fun!

It was also great putting some faces to the names I chat to on Twitter and Blogs I read daily :)

Hello Soft Hair! Alchemy Macadamia & Wheat Protein Conditioner

Do you ever get that feeling after your hair is washed and it's so soft you keep touching it? Yes?

I have that right now!

The Alchemy/Akin brand has always been n my radar because of the natural ingredients they use and the fact they are Paraben and Sulfate Free which is an absolute winner.

The Alchemy Macadamia & Wheat Protein Repair Conditioner is targeted at people who need a little bit more care for their hair (oh wow i'm a poet....etc etc) which I definitely need, since my hair is coloured and heat styled the majority of the time my hair is quite damaged and needs that extra TLC.

Thanks to this amazing conditioner my hair is soft and manageable and rocking a fair bit more volume then normal. LOVE IT!

Also I have to mention the scent, it's Sandalwood but it's not crazy hippy strong Sandalwood it's a lovely subtle Sandalwood smell that always reminds me of my mum :)

I bought mine at Priceline where they stock most of the range, and I paid $14.50 for the smaller 225ml bottle (however I think i'll be getting this in the monster 500ml pump baby, plus some shampoo!)

Loving... Hair Products!

I am often in a war with my hair it's a big ol curly frizzy boofy mess and being a bottle blonde. This screams dry damaged and blah hair and the cold winter weather hasn't helped at all!

So fed up I decided to try out the raved about Moroccan Oil, i'm a sucker where there is hype around a product and get really dissapointed when it's not all it cracked up to be. I can happily say that Moroccan Oil and I are getting along swimmingly! My hair is soft and quite a bit more shiny (cue Vanessa Amarosi singing a song about my hair... oh... right it was about something else? Move along!). It also reduces drying time, well sort of... I found it didn't reduce drying time when I naturally air dryed my hair but when I got my Parlux onto it I was dried off and right to go to bed in less then 10mins. Cue morning when my hair is often a big boofy mess and I look like a backup singer for an 80s glam metal band, using the Moroccan Oil it's been a wavy smooth mess which is presentable enough to go out in public with and I don't even have to GHD it to have a poker straight do (I'm embracing the wave people!!)

So where do you get this fine product? I found mine in Hairhouse Warehouse but you can also find it at Salons and online. Be careful though because I have heard of fakes doing the rounds! It's priced at around $50 but you can find it a little cheaper if you look hard enough :) Just remember a bottle of this will last aaaages, you only need the tiniest amount and it goes a long long way!



The next product, is one I have been looking to buy for so long but it's never in stock or maybe it wasn't released? Not sure. Anywho it's the Herbal Essences None Of Your Frizness Hair Serum. Let's think back to where I said I wake up in the morning with boofy hair looking like a backup singer of an 80s glam metal band... This also helps that! It's my current favourite product to slap onto my hair after straightening it, or even when i'm embracing the wave. It smooths, It shines (dammit Vanessa Amorosi, stop singing about my hair!) it smells delicious! Kind of like watermelon? It's not heavy or greasy either. So for this wonder product you'd expect to be paying upwards of $20 right? Put away that credit card lovely and rummage through your coins because it's under $10! Mine cost me $7.99 at Coles.  

It also has this anti humidity technology which will be put to the test come summer! Humidity is not my friend!

This one can be purchased at pharmacies & supermarkets and anywhere you can find that stocks Herbal Essences products. It's worth trying to find!



Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

Bottle Blondes, Pay Attention!

This may come as a shock to you.... but I am in fact a bottle blonde.. shocker! 

If you could see me through your screen right now you'd be able to tell because I have regrowth at the moment that needs to be sorted by my lovely hairdresser ASAP (when I can find the time to go into the salon that is).

Because of my last post about Blondie, and dressing up as her due to my Blonde do' I thought i'd post some little reviews and thoughts on some Blonde Shampoo's I have used over time.

A bit of a background, I was born Blonde and when I was about to go into high school my hair turned a gross dirty mousey dark blonde/light brown colour that I hated. When I was young and naive (thats Evian spelt backwards, props to Reality Bites for pointing that out to me) I dyed my own hair and basically looking back can say I had a big ol' brassy mess on my hands.

Then I got older and wiser and decided to try out this thing called a Hairdresser, HALLELUJAH! (sing it... yeh!!) and over the years i've developed a better relationship with my hairdressers that I am now not a scared little dirty blonde mousey hair mouse. I now speak up and say exactly what I want (I've gone through a few that have made me look as bad as my home jobs...blah!)

I think Hairdressers are also trained to sell product... well thats how I made my first foray into Blonde shampoo's. If you don't know they are often a scary dark purple colour which is what counteracts the brassiness and leaves you with a brighter and much prettier blonde colour, it also prolongs the blonde you left the salon with. A must have if you're going to venture into the world of Blonde, and trust me it is a very fun world!

So here are the ones I've tried over the years and my thoughts. I do really want to try Redken Blonde Glam next so when my current bottle is finished i'll grab that and maybe do an update.

PPS Classic Blonde

One of the first Blonde Shampoo's I owned, also one of the worst. The product was okay as a Shampoo but that's it. The light purple of it really didn't counteract any brassiness and it was soon shelved and kept for emergency only. It was also a pain to get out of the bottle, having to squeeze it so hard to get a little product out.

De Lorenzo Nova Fusion - Silver

This one has a great dark dark purple colour which really counteracts the brassiness, you get a more intense finish if you leave it on longer too. My only gripe about this product was that it dried my hair out so much! Being a bottle blonde plus having curls means my hair is pretty dry already so i'm not a fan of products that make it worse. Having said that though I still think this is one of the best if you need a really intense treatment to get rid of the brassy/yellowness some blondes can have.

Matrix - So Silver

I first read about this product on the Vogue Forums and decided to try it out. LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! This is probably my favourite of all the Shampoo's i'm mentioning today. It has a great dark purple like the De Lorenzo but it's not drying at all and a little goes a long way. I had a bottle of this and it lasted me months and months. If Redken doesn't work out for me i'll be going back to this one for sure.

DNA Products - BlondeBrite Shampoo

This is the one I am currently using. A girl I work with owns a Hairdressing salon and stocks this product so I bought some off her to try. It's not a bad product it's quite moisturising and the colour payoff is good. My only gripe is the size, at 250mls it's quite a small bottle. Another plus is the ingredients in this product are all certified organic, if that's your thing this is a good option. I'm also using 2 of the conditioners from this range as well (not blonde specific) and they are pretty great! You can check out their website Here! I will warn you though, it's quite poorly designed and hard to navigate. So good luck :)

You can buy most of these products at your local Hair supply store like Price Attack & Hairhouse Warehouse. Also try http://www.strawberrynet.com/ because sometimes they are cheaper there too.

Ohh It's Friday today! I will do my Tumblr post later this afternoon :)

I may also try and an do a YouTube video this weekend because the lovely GoldDusk has inspired me and I've done a fair bit of hauling and it'd be the easiest way to show everything!

Have a great day everyone :)

Dressing table prettiness

I'll firstly apologise, I have had a crazy last few days so have been unable to blog. I went to the Soundwave Festival on Sunday but was looking after my younger cousins (we took them to the festival) so haven't had a free moment to do a bit of blogging, will hopefully catch up with the posts i've planned this week.


One of the things I was busy doing was sorting out our 3rd bedroom. We moved into this house in October and basically it was used as a room for where I put the clothes I hadn't been bothered to sort and everything else. Plus it housed my dressing table which I also hadn't unpacked everything for.


So Friday night I got home from work and decided to get in there and get it done. I did and I'm pleased! I managed to unpack everything for my dressing table, and it is so nice to now have all of my makeup items available without having to search through boxes and bags!


It's so pleasant getting ready in the morning and sitting down at my dresser doing my hair & makeup :)


Here are a few pictures of the finished job (just the dresser) My mum thinks i'm a little crazy because I colour co-ordinate things like my nail polish and headbands.....does anyone else do this?

view of the top of my dresser

headbands & sunnies

Nail Polish collection...small but growing rapidly!

Perfumes! I've got a review coming up of the wiggle perfumes I got from etsy (still trialling though)