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...

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?)

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.