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...

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.

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

Illamasqua Blusher Brush v MAC 109

Illamasqua Blusher Brush #1  v  MAC 109

Another of my recent Illamasqua purchases, I mainly got this one to see if it was as good as the other Illamasqua brushes I have thus far (angled brow and liner brushes, new blush-up brush, three eyeshadow/blending brushes, all brilliant by the way).

essence trend edition for summer 2013: guerilla gardening

Guerilla Gardening is essence's summer trend-based makeup collection release, featuring botanical shades of both bright and dark green, earthy browns, bright pinks and intensive reds.
 

Givaways! Prizes! Free Makeup!

Giveaway time!  Freebies galore!!  Prizes!!!  Competitions!!!!
If you're not in, you can't win!!!!!
And other annoying overly-effusive declarations, spoken in the most irritating accent imaginable, punctuated by multiple exclamation points!  Whohoo, yeah, baby!

So, I've been doing some reviewing (hey that kinda rhymes!) and even though it's been a quiet (on the blog front) few months, due in no small part to mania (on the home/work/fun front), I can confirm that my stats are looking good and I'm happy.  While I appreciate some of the figures below may be considered small fry to some, I'm happy with then and to say thank you to everyone who follows me and reads the stuff I write... and so I wanted to have some giveaways.  Not just one or two, but five, five freebie prize giveaways for absolutely nothing - just so say thanks!