My hair care routine

Difficult is an understatement when it comes to my hair. I know a lot of people would kill for thick wavy hair like mine and do love it, honest. It's just it takes a lot to control it, it's a lot of work which is why I usually just have time to pin it back into a high bun for work. If I have a bit more time and quite often at weekends I'll straighten my hair using the wide GHD straighteners for unruly hair which has great results. The straightening, the hair colouring and the brushing can take its toll and so I try and use good quality hair products to get the life and shine back into my hair. 

Before: how my hair is naturally after drying. Not sure what I'd do pre-straighter time...

I don't tend to wash my hair every day, it doesn't get overly greasy until about day 3 so if there's no point why wash it. For general washing I just use VO5 Nourish Me Truly shampoo and conditioner which I found works really well with thick hair. About once or twice a week or whenever I have time or feel my hair needs a bit more nourishment, instead of the VO5 conditioner I'll swap it for either Kerastase Nutritive Fondant Nutri-Thermique (I'll usually use this one if I'm planning to straighten my hair as it works best with heat) or Redken All Soft Heavy Cream for dry and damaged hair. These are interchangeable so I'll use Kerastase one day and then Redken another. 

Depending on time I'll squeeze as much water out as possible, apply a good layer of the mask, wrap in a towel to keep warm (I've heard this encourages the mask to work) and leave for around 10 minutes. I usually get out of the bath at this point and rinse the mask off separately.

Once my hair is feeling a little healthier I'll add three pumps of Loreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil. I've tried a number of leave in conditioners from creams to oils and personally I find that ones that have an oily consistency like this one work better. The Berber Oil in a previous Glossy Box was another winner for me. They always leave my hair really soft and shiny. Finally before I start to blow dry I'll spritz on a little Trevor Sorbie Beautifully Straight Heat Protecting Spray. As you can see from the pic my hair naturally does it's own thing but the Trevor Sorbie seems to do a good job of de-frizzing and protecting at the same time. 

Loreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil

Trevor Sorbie Heat Protecting Spray

I always use my trusty Body Shop Paddle Brush to de-tangle before drying. 

With this routine I find that the damage to my hair is minimal with all the bleach and straightening. Particularly when it's straightened I've had quite a few comments (even from strangers!) about how healthy and shiny my hair looks which is testament to these products (and to having a good chop now and again). 

Next time I'll do a review of the GHD wide plates with before and after pics as for me they're absolutely amazing. 

Lip Tip - Elf Concealer

I'm not a big one for strikingly bold lips. I tend to class my face as quite classicly 'English Rose'-y which means that heavy eye shadow, liner or lipstick can tend to make me look slightly drag queen-ish. I do like to dabble with eye shadow and striking lip colours occasionally but only for special occasions and definitely not for normal day time, I've tried it before and to be frank it just doesn't suit me. 

That's where the Elf Tone Correcting Concealer comes in. To be honest, as a concealer it's possibly the worst out there, it literally does nothing to conceal or hide anything so if you're looking for a good concealer this aint it (there are plenty of brilliantly amazing concealers that I could rave about but perhaps another time). What it is good at however is toning down lip colour which, for me, I find very useful. 

Elf Tone Correcting Concealer

  I love a bit of lippy don't get me wrong but a lot of the time I just find the the colours out there are too 'strong' for my face. I like the tones and the colours like the Mac Sheen Supreme lipstick below in Gotta Dash but hopefully you'll agree as well that the peachy tone that comes out after I've used a couple of dabs of the Elf concealer over the top is a better finish. I think the reason why this 'concealer' is such a good tool for this sort of thing is because it's very watery. It's not thick or dense in colour like a lot of good concealers so on the lips it doesn't give a crusty/dried out 'foundation lip' finish, it leaves the natural glossiness of the lipstick whilst adding a bit of natural skin colour. 

Before: With Mac Sheen Supreme in Gotta Dash

After: With the Elf Concealer

 Rather than chucking it away after the first time I used it, it stayed in the make-bag for a while and now it takes a firm spot with all my lipsticks rather than my concealers. I like to experiment with make-up sometimes, just because it's marketed as doing one thing it doesn't mean there's not a better use for your face shape/skin type etc. Everyone's different and after quite a few make-up disasters in my teens I think I've got pretty good judgement now of what suits me and what doesn't 

Elf is so cheap it's worth getting for those times when you think 'arghhhhh too bright!' or 'arghhhh too much for work'. Rather than eliminating lipstick altogether just tone it down. 

Welcome to the world of beauty blogging!

Soooo...

..where to begin? I've decided that blogging has become an increasingly more 'natural' thing to do in every day life. Expressing your interests to people around the world has become the norm and hey, it's fun to be able to talk with other like minded people about the things you love and to be creative. It's amazing really that you can spread your own views and experiences to people half way across the world. So I've decided to start my own blog, a beauty blog to be more specific, right here from my room in rainy England. 

About 3 years ago my housemates at university introduced me to the world of make-up blogs on youtube (these ones to be exact  Sara,  pixiwoo and Tanya Burr who are like the biggest beauty bloggers of like ever so I'm sure you've heard of them. Seriously if you haven't make it your first stop to check them out - where have you been?!). 

Since then my make up bag has probably gone from being a cheap foundation, a broken up blusher and an eye-liner that has never been sharpened, to a beautifully organised make-up collection of tried and tested purchases that have come highly recommended from beauty bloggers and quite a few pieces that I've also tried out myself. It's turned into quite a hobby. I feel that I've built up quite a bit of knowledge over the years and I've become self-taught in the world of make-up artistry and beauty. I've even started doing make-up at family weddings and events - all thanks to where it all started, beauty blogs. 

So... I thought hmm! I should give that a go. I'm going to be as honest and as detailed as I can be about all the products I try so I hope you find it useful. Enjoy!