Original Mineral, a multi-award winning Aussie haircare brand, is now being stock by Selfridges, and they threw a little hair-styling party to celebrate.
Apart from my lovely waves, I left the event with a bottle of their Frizzy Logic Shine Serum, which my hair is very grateful for, especially at this time of the year.
Don’t you just love beauty launches – the idea of a brand new product you never tried before is sooooo exciting!
Garnier has loads of news on that front and we were invited into their British garden – inclusive of wind, thunder and all – to get a sneaky peek at their new products hitting the shelves in the next couple of months.
Bumble and bumble, hair extraordinaire, invited me to their Powder Room event in London, to launch their newest product, Prêt-à-powder.
Stylists were at hand creating fabulous hair dos using Bumble and bumble’s fantastic range – but specifically showcasing their limited edition Spray Chalk, which is so pigmented that will colour the darkest of hairs and of course, their new launch Prêt-à-powder.
Prêt-à-powder really brings back my teenage memories of using talcum powder as a late 90’s dry shampoo. Yeah, some days my head smelt of a (clean!!!) baby’s bottom!
The bottle has a gorgeous pink-ish pearlescent shade with a tiny hole from which very fine translucent powder, with a subtle fragrance, comes out. The powder contains a blend of clay and oat powder for dry cleansing and silica that sticks to strands creating volume and grip!
Photo booth fun with my new hairdo! Cobalt and mint anyone?
This product is described as a “blow dry extender”, a “lifeline for styling, giving it a second day to survive” and “essential for textured ponytails and easier to manage updos”.
Even though it does work as both, I see this more like a styling product than a dry shampoo. Applied on the hair, it soaks the grease and takes away a bit of the dirty look of a second day hair, giving back oomph, but I think a dry shampoo is still more efficient if the wash happened more than a day or two days prior to application! Be careful not to apply too much, especially if you have dark hair, as you need to pat a bit to get rid of the whiteness, even though the powder is not too white.
It delivers good volume and grip – it lifts the roots and really (really!) amplifies your backcombing, giving your hair some zhush!!! The effect last well through the day. This is great news for me, owner of a limp mane.
A lovely little thing that is! It now lives in my bathroom for a morning hair pick me up!
Prêt-à-powder will be available from the Bumble and bumble website, Space NK, John Lewis, Selfridges, Liberty, selected Boots nationwide and network salons from the 27 of January 2014. Not too long now! Suggested price is £21.50 for 2oz.
The lovely event took place at the Ice Tank in Covent Garden and the delicious candy floss was supplied by the lovely ladies from Hot Spun Sugar. Thank you Chalk PR and Bumble and bumble for having me!
Fine, flat hair. One of my beauty curses. Any help to fight it is more than welcome, so I was delighted to try the new L’Oréal Studio Line #TXT Wave Creating Spray.
Packaging is simple and effective, with bright colours – I personally like the purple/coral combination. The spray diffuses well delivering the right amount of product to the hair.
What I really like it is that it doesn’t feel like you applied anything to the hair – it doesn’t crunch or weigh down the hair.
L’Oréal says that the spray is to create texturised waves on straight hair and is specially formulated to help protect hair against heat. This last part is very important for me!
After applying to the tips of my hair, I used a curling wand to style. I then brushed and ended up with soft tousled waves. And an extra bonus: volume!!!
It also lasted all day – and when I woke up the next morning, they were still there!
This had to become a go-to product, which I am not surprised, as my previous one for curls was L’Oréal’s Hot Curl, also part of their Studio Line range.
It is priced at £3.79 for 150ml and you can find the Studio Line #TXT Wave Creating Spray at retailers country wide. More information on this product and others on the #TXT line at the L’Oréal website.
I started using hair oils a little while ago and the Ever Riche Oil Precieux hit the spot!it
To start, it smell amazing. Really amazing. The very light oriental jasmine, gardenia and ylang-ylang aroma really sticks to the hair.
L’Oréal’s fine oil mist for dry hair is part of the Ever Riche line and is sulphate free.
It doesn’t weigh the hair down (even for fine hair like mine) and I felt an improvement on the condition- it did feel more nourished and shiny.
Personally, I prefer using it on wet hair, after washing, but it can be used on dry hair. I also think the spray nozzle could produce a finer mist- that would make this product just perfect.
The L’Oréal Ever Riche Oil Precieux RRP is £11.99
The House of Rush is a gorgeous flagship Rush hair salon located near Piccadilly circus in London. But this is no ordinary hair salon – it is a locks and beauty haven offering treatments for your mind and body, and of course, great hair services. From the outside, it is unassuming; enter, and you are in for a luxurious treat over two floors.
Through the partnership with the Epson Skin Clinics, they also offer medical treatments including botox, dermal fillers, radio frequency, permanent hair reduction, vein and pigmentation removal, microdermabrasion and peels, amongst others. Varied beauty treatments are available: face and body using Kéraskin, Rodial and Elemis, lashes, massages, waxing, tanning, manicures and pedicures. Hair cuts, colouring, treatments and extensions are also available, as well as male grooming! So much!!!
At the event, we watched a botox demonstration by the capable hands of Dr Gillian Carver, and had all of our questions answered. You’d be surprised how natural looking a botox-treated face can be – no need to be totally overworked and expression-less!
I also had a demonstration of oxygen blast, where 100% oxygen in mist form is applied to your face. It can be done over the make-up without spoiling it, and it is great to help skin retain hydration. I found particularly nice over my eyes, as I suffer from really dry eyes and it helped to alleviate it. It takes 10-15 minutes and costs £20 – a great lunchtime treat!
The manicure queue was long – most ladies left with beautifully painted talons using Essie and OPI polishes! The autumnal berry shades were by far more popular with the ladies, from what I could see.
Everyone was lovely, and I met loads of amazing bloggers including Sophia from Beauty in my mind, Zoe from Face value beauty blog, Rachel from Beauty Queen UK, Olivia from Beauty from the Fjord, Sheen from Golden and Sheen, Lisa from Lisahh-Jayne.com, Becky from Lipgloss and Lashes, Kimberley from Kimberley’s beauty blog, Alice from Tea Party with Alice, Kat from Tales of a Pale Face amongst other lovelies.
It was a fun night and even better, you can get 20% off any beauty services or 50% off microdermabrasion! All you need to do is to quote the code BLOG20 and/or MICRO50 when booking. The discount is valid at House of Rush only, until 31 October 2013. It makes a great autumn treat!!!
Finally, I’d like to thank Rush, Laura from Alison Jameson PR and Becky from Lipgloss and Lashes for the invitation! 🙂
You can check out the House of Rush website for more information on all treatments and to book – remembering there are over 60 Rush salons across London and the South.
You can also follow @RushHairBeauty on Twitter to be in for great information and promotions!
As I love discovering new brands and products, I was thrilled to be sent the Naked Brunette Radiance shampoo and conditioner to try – I cannot believe I had not come across the Naked brand before!
Naked products are 97% natural, made with botanical products – which is great – and they have an extensive range of caring beauty and hygiene products, not only haircare.
The shampoo is light brown in colour, has elderberry and sage to give brunette hair that extra boost. The bottle is made with 50% recycled materials and recyclable, of course!
The smell is very mild and nice, plant-like, very fresh. It lathers alright (I wasn’t expecting it to – it is actually very good for a sulphate-free shampoo) and the second application is even better. It feels a tiny bit tingly, like mint, which I like! My hair felt very clean, my scalp refreshed.
The conditioner is white with a creamy consistency and smells plant-y too! I applied on my hair and left it for a couple minutes before rinsing. It feels very fresh, and the hair felt soft. The tube is 100% recyclable!
My hair dried very soft, shiny and light – I am very pleased with this duo!
Packaging is simple and functional. I like their logo and the text on the back of the products. Both shampoo and conditioner contains no parabens,sulphates, phthalates or petrochemicals; are not tested on animals, are suitable for vegetarians and vegans and made in the UK.
At the moment, the new Naked Brunette Radiance shampoo and conditioner are on special offer for only £2.66 each (normal price £3.99 for 250ml) on the Naked website, where can find these two and many other products, including bath, body, shower, kids and baby ranges!
This was my second time at Olympia Beauty. Just the idea of over 520 beauty exhibitors under one roof is enough to make me forget how much I have walking around in crowds!
The show is free for professionals and I registered as press. On the day tickets for the general public can be bought on the day for £15.
This year the show didn’t disappoint. I was particularly impressed with their Press and Social Media Hubs – much bigger and better than last year’s, with more brands showcasing products – OPI, Dermalogica, Elemis, Lash Perfect/Hi Brow, Sienna X amongst others and a spacious area with refreshments (including cute Marc Jacobs Diet Coke bottles!)
The stands were fantastic! This year, a lot of gel manicures again, but also for domestic use and teeth whitening I think were the bigger presence for consumer products. Lashes and brows were also quite predominant!
Exhibitors were great – from huge brands for consumer (OPI, Elemis, Dermalogica, Ardell, Color Club, Essie, Fake Bake, Minx nail foils, NYX and many others!) offering discounted products to salon equipment and therapies machines to the professionals, and lots of and sample therapies going on.
I was very happy to se a bit more make up – Inglot and Illamasqua making an appearance. Although I was disappointed with Illamasqua – they were not selling products!
As usual, they held competitions – Nailympics – the international nail competition, The Art of Make-up and The Art of Body Painting.
The educational part of the show was even bigger too and was divided in “Business of Beauty”, “The Creativity of Nails”, “The Art of Make-up”, Make-up Artist Guest Stage” and “Aesthetic Beauty”, covering an amazing amount of topics around beauty and therapies.
As a blogger, it is great to get direct contact with brands. As a consumer, it is fantastic to pick up lots of great products at a very good price. As a beauty lover, and amazing opportunity to see what is going on in the market. It’s an overall win!
Needless to say, I came home with bunch of products that will soon be gracing the blog – fun times!!!Always a pleasure to go, and I will for sure be there in 2014!
Big fat hair. Something that, for me, a person with fine hair, was always an unattainable dream. To add insult to injury to my limp strands of hair, luscious, voluminous locks proliferate around me, everywhere I look. The cheek!
Since taking Roaccutane for the second time, I noticed a visible thinning in my hair. Although in quantity it seems ok, it is finer than it’s ever been.
Anyway, I have to resort to products to lift those roots and create that glamorous effect in my locks.
I came across this Lee Stafford root boost a while ago and have been using regularly. The consistency is of a firm-ish white mousse that dissolves well, and you apply it in a very controlled manner, thanks to the little straw nozzle (which I love, as too much product tends to weigh a lot in my hair, leaving it looking greasy), straight to the root of towel dried hair, rub with fingertips and style.
It really gives roots that oomph and sought after lift, changing the whole look. It holds, especially if combined with a bit of back combing. As you don’t need a lot, the bottle also goes a long way.
So, if big, fat hair is for you, this product will certainly make you happy. In the UK, you can buy it from Boots for £6.99. See the whole range and where to buy around the world on Lee Stafford’s website.
Regardless of being a woman obsessed with beauty and is always trying new things, or just sticking to everyday basics, we all have our tricks and tips to make things work for us.
I decided to share some of mine; they are simple tips; some I use all the time, others very rarely, and they are a mix of information I picked up from make up artists or found out myself through experimentation, online and other blogs.
What about you? Any tips or ritual you swear by? Why not share here?
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So Many Lovely Things 