Easter, Bangs and Bobby Pins

So while my friends are all having babies like I mentioned yesterday, I'm playing with my hair. Back in 2012 when I use to grace the pharmacy of Boots with my presence I use to do my hair in vintage styles nearly every day, I managed to get it down to a quick five minutes of curling, pinning and spraying my hair in place that it would last the nine hours it would take until I returned home. Amongst the compliments most people wondered why I did it, it was neat and nicely pinned down, not the normal messy styles many of us (even me) do at times. But in the world of corporate retail uniforms it was my way of standing out and adding my own personality. Sadly too many stares wore me down and I never really did anything until the past couple of weeks and with hair spray, bobby pins and flower clips in hand, I've been working at reworking, curling and taming my hair into some vintage inspired styles. 

Ultimately you could spend hours pouring over you tube videos on styling, there's even books - vintage and more contemporary guides providing you detailed step by step instruction on recreating something similar. My research is spent searching on google images and pinterest (you can find my vintage hairstyle board here) - if you're interested in another post i'll show you some of my favourites. The best way, is to just play and create your own vintage-eque style. Mines a mix of pinning back, curling and flower clips. My hairs too thick to achieve extreme pinning back, especially of bangs and the other half is too stubborn - it still needs to be tamed. Some days it refuses to do anything, the next it'll be a dream. If you think I look a little windswept in the above images, that would be true too - a "spring" day in Michigan was met with freezing winds on a trip to the store. Luckily now the stares and the wonder pass me by.

Well that's another week down and nearly another month over. Thank you to you everyone that commented on yesterdays post - glad to know I'm not the only one out there nearly 30 and not having a baby! Easter isn't a bank holiday in the US unless you work in something government related (or somewhere that's nice and lets you have today off) so it's same old same old here. Although I did get some delicious looking Thornton's Easter bunnies in the mail which actually survived their epic journey over the ocean. Next week I'll be sharing with you part two of the vintage recipe challenge with my attempt at baking hot cross buns, introducing the concept of placemaking in reinventing public space, and in honour of Record Store Day I'll be running some great vinyl related posts throughout April. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Cherry Red

Sundays often turn slightly into my version of pampering and beauty days. First they often become home hair dying days. I think the John Fredia Deep Cherry Red might just well be the third colour of hair dye this year alone. I get jumpy and bored with the same colour. I thought it would be more redder then it's turned out - in fact its gone rather dark but heys too experimenting. I often get stuck  between trying to be more vintage and being more rocky in style - i'm currently refinding my love for the darker side of music so i'm following that flow at the moment it seems. I've spent the morning listening to Evanescence for some odd reason. Those were the days!

My nails have got to the point were i'm constantly having to repaint them because of their pure natural state. They are too stained and chipped not to be painted sadly. They've gone into an orange pinky colour - i'm sure that's not right. I managed to bag some Model Own's varnishes in London - for some reason i can't find them in York [only the Pro range - unless i'm totally blind]. They were on three for two in Oxford St Boots so I managed to bag Feeling Blue, Lilac Dreams and Grey Day [pictured] i've been going between the three colours for the past couple of weeks and i'm totally in love. They apply brilliantly, are really colourful with two coats and stand up to the hell I put them through at work. I want my visa interview just to go and grab some more!

Speaking of visa's nothings really occurring at the moment. Stuck in silly paperwork silence. It's three weeks on Tuesday that I sent off my forms and i'm still waiting for a flipping interview date. I should of expected this but it's just frustrating. Nothing can be booked or planned till we have an idea when I might possibly, could just, maybe be moving. 

Plus today is mine and the boy's second anniversary, I don't think we could have ever imagined our relationship would have ever turned out as strong; as successfully or as strong as it has. He's totally changed my world, how I see myself, how I see life. I love him so incredibly much. Gushy I know!

Recent hauls

H and M bag with handle - £14.99

I fell in love with this bag since finding it in their A/W catalogue, it comes in three colours - mustard, red and brown. Its a gorgeous style with handle and strap with three inner pockets.

TRESemme smooth glossing spray - £2.20 for 75ml [Superdrug]

Advertised for it's smoothing and nourishing benefits it can be applied to damp or dry hair and contains Argan oil [that product that everyone's raving about]. It's seemed to help my fizzy bits and does provide a good shine and smoothing affect. Perhaps the resulting shine is doesn't rival the affects of the Toni and Guy's finishing spray but then you are paying two thirds less on the Tresemme version. Nevertheless it's a really light product and hasn't left it thick or greasy.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Concentrated Cream Tube - £2.10 for 100g [Superdrug]

I'm on a last road attempt at trying to even out and tone my scars and skin. I'm using it alongside Bio-Oil and nothing is occuring as of yet - only that its leaving my skin lovely and soft. I hold my breath on the scar and skin toning however. One advantage however is that its in a handy little tube which is brilliant for carrying around in my bag and it does double up as a fab hand cream too.

Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Protection Cream - £1.95 for 150ml [on offer at Superdrug]

I've been using Herbal  Essences on and off for years - it's one of them fail safe brands you can always trust. Their products have always left my hair healthy and shiny. I've been keeping an eye out for something to help with the ends. I'm one of those guilty people who don't often pop along to the hairdressers [I don't think i've been for over a year and a half - possibly longer] so my ends are often known to get very spilt and well just generally awful. Often I'd curl my hair and the ends were as rough and fly away as sandpaper. You can apply this product to wet or dry hair by just running it through with your hands onto the ends. Like most of their products - it smells yummy and leaves you hair feeling very soft. It's too early to say if it's protecting my ends or making them anywhere near beautiful but it does feel a lot softer.

Sleek "Flushed" blusher -  £4.25 for 8g [Superdrug]

I had been eyeing up the Topshop blusher but I got tempted towards Sleek after reading some positive blogger reviews. I'm not a fan of a lot of the pinky blushers around at the moment, I have naturally red [gah] cheeks but i just wanted something that offered a little more tint on the apples. It's highly pigmented so a little goes a long way but it's a gorgeous English rose colour. It lasts really well and on the strength of this product alone I would definitely buy more Sleek items.

MUA lipstick shade no. 13 - £1 [Superdrug]

I'd read a few reviews about this red lipstick by MUA and being a fan of their nail varnishes I thought it was time I branched out into the lipstick. I've never been much of a lipstick wearer and so for a pound, I thought it was worth giving it a go. Thing is, I love it. It is very bright so I tend to only apply just a little. And yes as you may imagine for the price it does strain a little, but it lasts!

H&M hair flower clips - £1.99 for two

I adore flower clips, they jazz up my hair for work. Some cheap ones can look unreal and very plastically but H&M have it spot on, plus these ones come in red, purple and black [well the colours I remember at least]. They are a great way of fancying up your pin curls and keeping your hair out of the way. 

What's been rocking your boat beauty wise lately?

Rolls

The first attempt in a very long time - its a work in progress, Honest. Just ignore the back bit and the fact it needs dying again!

I got a bit down lately with my hair - I haven't had it cut in ages and it eats up hair dye like a hungry monster. Because of my job - [dispenser in a pharmacy] in a dull starch white uniform being aside from the norm isn't given air time so I rarely try to do anything "nice" with my hair. Yet I would love to be more vintage - I love the eras, the clothes and the culture - yet I don't partake in it myself. Through growing more into myself and who I am its an avenue I want to venture down a little further. That and getting married - for which I do want a vintage hair style,  the dress is somewhat vintage but quirky in design, I have my eyes on red t-bar heels and there for sure will be red lipstick.

But rolls and my hair don't go well, I think its all the layers, bits fall out, rolls go lopsided or die within an hour. Then my arms start to ache, I get frustrated and then don't try again for months. Waking up on Tuesday morning [my day off] I was determined to give it a proper go - armed with hairspray, bobby pins a bottle full of determination and a flowery bobble it ended rather well - for a first go;

A bit of alreet for a first go?

I'd love to know how to do the more complicated and stylish rolls - but I guess it all takes time and learning but wearing it this way for the past two days seems to have gone down well at work with lots of lovely compliments. Having spied Belinda Hay's Style Me Vintage - Hair on Amazon, it that looks like it might be worth a try - has anyone used it? Or perhaps know any more sources for inspiration and guides for the novice that I am? All the videos i've come across on You Tube make it look so easy and I suck at interpreting it!

Three day straight ....

I don't know what's up either - TWO beauty hair reviews within days. Something is going wrong. Or in turn something has to be really good to warrant me wanting to write so many reviews in two weeks. Previously i'd been a big user of fizz ease by john freida - a perfect source for getting and catching that fly away hair, but it never seemed to aid the straightening process - I always had to use yet another product. I will admit I was slightly suckered into buying 3-day straight but i'm always up for trying new hair products plus it was on offer in Superdrug (introduction price of £5.50 something from £6.99).

3-day straight is stated as a weightless spray heat protection product to work alongside hair straighteners and hair dyers. With a mix of polymers and keratin protein this protects and wraps around your hair in doing so sealing in, removing fizz and keeping hair styled and straight for up to three day. You spray (they suggest between 7 and 15 sprays this is somewhat an exaggeration, even with thick boob length hair as i describe my own as being; i've only needed 5 or 6 sprays at a push any more and i'd feel it may weigh hair down too much) to wet hair running it through your hair with a brush or fingers. 

Personally I can tell something good is going on as soon as I start blow dying my hair. Normally it has a half hearted attempt at drying straight then kinks out, curls all over the place, fizzes to an inch of its life and refuses to look normal. Since using this product its dried a lot straighter. Noticeably straighter. You're advised to style as normal whether this is with our without straighteners, i still have to straighten but not to the same extent that I use too. 

I've noticed it's lasted better between washes, I normally wash my hair before bed; as a result it normally went kinky and curly overnight as if by magic. Or i'd set off for work and by the time I got there it would look like I hadn't even bothered with my hair at all. Its passed a windy day and a magic hot sweaty shift at work which normally ends up in me flinging my hair up because humidity made it go manic. I haven't been out in the rain with it yet so that is the ultimate test. Overall its removed the pressure of trying to straighten it to an inch of its life, its more manageable and it feels better - a lot stronger and shiner. Whether it works to the same extent on super curly and unmanageable hair I can't speak for, but on unmanageable slightly curly mind of its own hair it's done it the power of good.

Have you tried it? What have your experiences been?!

the reviews my own thoughts and wasn't the result of any outside source, image taken from here

John frieda foam

I don't i'll admit openly rave about beauty products, the only things even think about reviewing had have to really impress me. I know this products been out for a while but I wanted to make sure the results weren't a one off. This colourants been my product of choice now since early this year and its served me well. Since around 2009 i've been dying my hair myself at home, i grew out of having blonde, red and brown hair and just went for the one colour took - some might call it a step backwards but I was calling it "growing up", plus I needed a way of saving £50 every time I needed to have it coloured. If only the foam colourings had been invented then!

The first and only real down side with the John Frieda foam range is the price, it normally retails around £9.99 but I try and get it when its on offer (Superdrug often have it down to £6.99 at times) so it is more expensive then the original way of home hair dying. But your paying for the newness and the brand. Nevertheless what foam moose colourings offer is a less messy more over all coverage with a less "dying" kind of smell. Doing your hair at home is never going to be easy, sometimes you need four hands, three hair brushes and several hundred clips before you even begin, but John Frieda's foam is pretty much simple from the off. You take your colourant and you pour it into your bottle. You fasten the pump in and you TILT - this is the key word which is highlighted and highlighted several times your hair colourant. No shaking, no jumping up and down. Just five, and only five tilts.

Because it comes out as a foam you don't run that risk of having it dribbling all over the place, [mind you I still have bad aim around my face] it just settles nicely on your hair. You rub it in a little, you cover it across your hair and you pile it up and leave it on for 20-30 minutes. I tend to always leave hair colours on longer then advised but that's my prerogative my hairs naturally very dark with added grey bits [yeah grey bits at 24 woop] so I just up it to 40 minutes which i do think makes a difference especially when you read some of the counter reviews regarding colouring not taking so well. Main deep colour seems to last about four weeks but there's enough on there to keep it looking coloured and fresh. 

I don't often rave about beauty things, but i'll rave about this to the hilt 

Review is all my own words and thoughts and I have nothing personal, business or otherwise interests or connections to John Frieda - ta muchly. Image taken from here

Pippa

There's something utterly gorgeous about the hair style of Pippa Middleton at her sister's royal wedding last Friday. While merely a "simple" half up and half down style coming to the back from a deep side parting, with loose curls just fluttering down her back, its embellished and entangled with sweet lilly of the valley flowers setting off the brides bouquet and the flowers within the abbey.

Having a thrifty wedding is our plan and I may just have to scorch this idea to memory and recycle it.

But it is gorgeous, don't you think?!

Image taken from here.

Tousled

I can be a sucker for hair styling products and i've been eyeing up various sea salt, tousled, beach look tagged products for a while. While in Superdrug the other day I came across their expertise shop version of the Sea Salt Spray for £2.39ish I thought it would be worth a try for while i'm away - save on having to properly straighten it every day and offer it a little protection from the winter weather still around. I gave it a test run but the outcome wasn't as good as I hoped.

The aim hair something like this, or at least one would hope;

Image from here

My hair is naturally thick, it's I guess long and dyed and the ends are in a bit of a state but that's another matter. It says to just spray the product onto dry hair from 5 - 10cm away. It seemed to apply rather well across my hair but you should feel it setting like hairspray. They advice you to roughen your hair up with your fingers to give that just left the beach look. Sadly my hair seemed to go a little well limp? It roughened it up yes in so much that it helped with the volume but for some reason I was slightly expecting a more naturally curly roughened look. 

Slightly roughened around the edges and a little added volume but nothing more. Maybe i'm asking or wishing for too much? Perhaps I over straightened it first, but normally without my hair just turns into a fizz ball. I had a quick google around and there's recipes if you could call it that suggest making your own using 8fl oz of water be it bottled, distilled or boiled and one to two tbsps of sea salt into a spray bottle. Maybe that's worth a try instead. I'll definitely give it another try after less straightening, I do want it to work because I think it could be a brilliant carefree look. I did try it again the day after before heading off for work - it did seem to work better but still not the tousled wavy locks I had pictured. Still a work in progress methinks.

Has anyone else had any experiences of the old sea salt upon the locks? Good bad or indifferent?