Shu Uemura Paddle Brush - Review & Giveaway!

So lots of recent trips to the salon to get my hair in order.  It was the summer, so beachy, slightly messy, boho hair, slightly too long hair (that really needed a tidy but what odds) was just fine.  And as it also kept catching in the crook of my elbow every time I bent my arm, and was therefore driving me berzzzzzzzzzerk, it was time for the chop.  Although I hate cutting my hair.

Keep reading!  The important bit is coming up!

Percy & Reed Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm - review

I'll put my hands up and say that styling products and hair "stuff" in general has always made me nervous.  Now that I'm (literally) lying on a couch and exploring the subject, I think this may be due to having zilch money during my earlier getting-dolled-up-and-going-out years (pre-babies!), causing me to resort to, frankly, shite products, resulting in, frankly, shite hair.  Excuse my French but there is no other way to describe it...

The Hair Diaries - recap post

Weirdly, or strangely, or what have you, I've had a lot of questions and queries about hair lately.  Although it's not my forté, (a) I'm trained as a stylist for more basic upstyles, braids, blowdries and so on (because it makes sense to pair that, on rare occasion, with makeup) (b) I'm a complete product junkie and (c) I change my hair colour more often than is probably a terribly good idea, and I like experimenting with colour, hair pieces, wigs, chalking, clip-in highlights, fake plaits, faux fringes, and lots of other jeejaws... so I have more than a passing (unhealthy) interest in All Things Hair, and I write about hair products and processes as much as skincare and/or makeup...

Onwards, enough of my rambling, and let's take a look at recapping some of my hair posts in the last while...

Garnier Ultimate Blends : The Sleek Restorer with Coconut Oil and Cocoa Butter. Its Gorgeous!

June's blog swap is with the lovely Cindy from Girl With The Skew Earring.  I love Cindy's blog and have been a long-term reader (you'll find her here!).  Looking at her blog archives it seems that she started out just a few months before me, August 2011 to my November 2011, but Cindy's blog, and writing, to me, always had such poise and maturity, along with a good dollop of fun and realism, and I always thought she was an veteran blogger.  You'll also spot that the swap is somewhat late - I've had a full-on 'flu and I've been trying to take things easy, so I managed to persuade the lovely Cindy to have this swap first week in July instead.

Read on for Cindy's post - it's about how she got on with the Garnier Ultimate Blends haircare range (I want to buy them now!), and please go and take a look at my post on her site when you're finished...

Guest Post (Makeup By Candlelight) - April Favourites

First of all I'm so happy to have the chance to do this post swap with the lovely Siobhán - it's a nice and fun way to work with other bloggers, so thank you so much Siobhán for the opportunity!  Siobhán's post is over on my blog (look here if you're interested).

One of the regular posts that I do on my own blog is about my monthly favorites, which can be products that I've both used the most that month or products that I have loved the most, so let's have a look at what I've reached for most often in April...

Babylis Pro Perfect Curl v Babylis Curl Secret

L -> R: Babylis Pro Perfect Curl, Babylis Curl Secret

I recently purchased the Babylis Pro Perfect Curl and I've been using it away for a couple of months.  I have to say, I absolutely love it.  I used it on my mother and she loved it so much I promised her I'd get one for her for her upcoming birthday.  Unfortunately, all the salon services / trade stores that I searched were fresh out of the Pro version, so I did some research into it and decided that, for her use, the consumer version, called the Babylis Curl Secret, and available in Boots and a few other places, would do the trick just as well.

To prove this to myself, and because I'm a product geek (!), I went ahead and purchased the Curl Secret and gave it a whirl to test its efficacy.  For natural curls, it is every bit as good.  I'll get to the geeks stuff shortly (difference between temperature and timer settings), and some how-tos for creating different looks with these tools - but first up, let's do a quick review of these products.

Molton Brown Cloudberry Shampoo & Conditioner - review

The Cloudberry Shampoo and Conditioner are designed with colour-treated hair in mind.  As a colour enthusiast who has not laid eyes on her own naturally mousy mane in almost twenty years I reckon I fit the bill as guinea pig here.

What the frick is a cloudberry I hear you ask (or was that just me?).  If you'll permit a brief nature lesson, it's a berry native to the Arctic circle.  Also referred to as "Norwegian gold", it is much sought after, not commercially grown and is a moisturising deity in the beauty world (isn't Google great?)

Veet Hair Removal Cream Review

Dear god this stuff is beyond appallingly bad awful.  Ususally costing around the €16 mark I noticed this on sale for under a tenner, so I handed over the €9, collected my points, brought it home, and didn't use it for about a month (forgot about it, actually).  Took it out this morning and in the interest of experimentation, used it on my legs, thinking, how bad can this stuff be....

January Guest Posts

Two blogs for the price of one yesterday!

My guest post on Nina's Bargain Beauty blog is a review of the Mane 'n Tail Hair Strengthener - please look here!

And Nina's guest post, a review of the Blank Canvas Cosmetics F25 Powder/Bronzer Brush on Make Up For Dolls is here.

Xx thanks to all for reading xX

Bumble & Bumble Spray Chalk - review

Bumble & Bumble SprayChalk - cobalt, mint, lavender, blush

This was released in late September I believe - I got all four to try out, as I just love messing around with hair colours.  This is actually great stuff - it's a spray-in-wash-out hair colour, it's dead easy to use, you literally just spray it and go, simples!

Mane 'n Tail - His 'n Hers review

Mane n’ Tail was developed in New Jersey forty years ago and, as most people will know, started its life as a horse grooming product!

I've been intrigued with the notion of this product for years, but wasn't willing to pay the expense of having it shipped over from the States (back when it wasn't available in Ireland).  According to all who use it, and its celebrity fanbase (Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker and Demi Moore just to mention a few ladies with flowing glowing locks), and (more importantly) its endorsements by industry professionals, who wouldn't want to try it?  Especially given that it's not remotely expensive (around €7 for the 355ml bottle and €9 for the 473ml bottle).  It's also now available pretty much everywhere - I purchased it from my local pharmacy.

Shu Uemura Silk Bloom Shampoo & Conditioner - review

Oh wow.   That's all I'm going say until after the jump... for two reasons...

Curlformers Review (Or "How to look like a demented seven-year-old")

Curlformers.. ringlets in disguise... (promo image)

I can't stop singing the theme song to "Transformers - robots in disguise" along with this post.  Annoying eh.

I think I got these about a year ago, and it's taken me up until now to remember that I have them, and that I should try them out and see what they were like.

Laser Hair Removal: One Year On

Laser Hair Removal
(no, that's not me looking all relaxed)

Just over a year ago, I decided to take advantage of an "Unlimited small-area laser treatment" for a year (for some very reasonable price, I don't recall the details) from a clinic I'd been frequenting for a while.  A bit of a misnomer really, as I had only eight sessions during the twelve months (*more on that in a minute).  I have naturally very dark hair and light-medium skin colouring, so in theory I should qualify as highly suitable.

Masked Ball Makeup (Period Makeup)

Venice Carnevale 2013 Gran Ballo Mascheranda

Here's one I forgot to post last month!

As mentioned in some (reasonably) recent Facebook posts, I was lucky enough to attend a masked ball in Venice as part of the 2013 Carnevale celebrations.  I wanted to go the whole hog, to dress up in period costume, period wig, jewellery, makeup, the lot.

Research into the makeup suggested simple; very whitened, powdered, matte makeup, red "rouge" and a stained red lip.  Minimal eyeliner and mascara, just enough for definition.  Essentially this was the same for both men and women :-)

Chanel Chance Eau Tendre Perfume - New Size, Matching Deodorant & Hair Mist!

Chanel Chance Eau Tendre Hair Mist

Some more Chanel releases - this time it's the turn of the Chanel Chance range of perfumes - April 19th sees the release of bigger bottles and matching deodorant and hair mist products to accompany the Chanel Chance Eau Tendre scent...

Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream

Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream

I got a few samples of this from Sephora last year which I'd forgotton I had.  In the interest of "using stuff up", I thought I'd give it a whirl. 

Parlux Hairdryer: My review

Parlux 3200 Compact Hairdryer
In a metallic red, to match my hairbrushes ;-)

Recently a friend of mine asked me what I planned to blog about this week. I mentioned a few ideas, including maybe a review of my Parlux hairdryer.

"Stop there", says she. "I don't use hairdryers myself, but I believe that a good hairdryer is hard to find, if my sisters are anything to go by".

I have had this hairdryer now for about nine months. It took me one use to discover what the fuss is all about. And a subsequent return to a "bog-standard" hairdryer for a single occasion (where I found myself hairdryer-less of a weekend) to confirm my findings. I shall never buy a different hairdryer again!