Mermaid Locks, Continued...

Hello there ya'll

I started off my 'how to grow your hair' theme by making a post about one of my favorite things in the entire world- the lovely amazing mister Biotin and this little pumpkin is still my go to, HG, will always recommend straight away to people growing their hair product based on how well it worked for me, but this post is going to be about everything else, every little detail you're going to want to do to make your hair grow as fast as humanly possibly!

Just to explain why I've become an expert in these matters- about a year and a half ago I had hair down to my ribs and then (even though I freakin' loved my hair) I decided it would be a wonderful idea to cut it all off and I mean all of it so the longest of it was to the top of my neck, around an inch or so long? and just to make things as awkward as possible for myself, I bleached it white blonde and as I will mention- hair needs to be healthy to grow so I screwed myself a tad there!

I did love my hair for a while but my attention span is terrible and I get bored of things (especially my hair- its pretty much been every colour under the sun) and wanting it short is quick and satisfying to do, sadly wanting it long is not. 

Taking care of it!

Brushing: Generally I actually don't brush my hair unless I really need to, and there is never really much of a need. I'm not sure where the 'brush your hair 100 times a day!' thing came from because that will do the opposite of help and just create a ton of split ends.

If you have very tangley hair then it could help to brush them out every now and then (maybe with a tangle teezer) as tangles can damage hair but they will come when washed. when you do brush, always always work from the ends up to the roots- so brush the ends out first. This will cause much less damage.

More importantly when your hair is wet- NEVER EVER EVER BRUSH IT, I wouldn't even comb it. When your hair is wet it is very fragile and brushing will cause it to stretch and snap off! Someone at the hairdressers did this to me before and, dramatic as it is, i wanted to cry! Also, this should be obvious but back coming is also a no no.

Heat styling: Even though most of you guys are going to hate/ignore this part it has to be mentioned, sigh.

Personally I haven't really straightened, curled, blow dried, crimped (you get the point) my hair in over a year now and no, I am not one of those people, I used to straighten my hair every single day. Going out in the morning without it being straightened or heat styled in some way would feel just wrong and naked but because growing my hair is something I was desperate for I adapted and now my hair looks lovely without doing these things! 

I've actually gotten used to my hairs natural wave/texture now and learnt how to style it and use it to my advantage and I do suggest this to everyone else! It has made my hair a lot less damaged and I don't need to have it cut as often.

Chemicals & colouring: Again, a bit of an obvious one but dying can do all sorts of horrible things like changing the hair structure completely. The worst thing I think you could ever to do your hair would be bleaching, it strips your hair back completely of everything and makes it dry, brittle, thin and includes a million splitsies (sadly, this is a first hand experience). Its pretty much impossible to make it healthy and manageable again unless you cut it all out- which is obviously the opposite direction you want to go in.

All of this is the same for perming and relaxing/chemically straightening

then there is permanent hair dye's which I would also stay away from, very bad! and then there are semi permanents which again I would stay away from if you can, BUT this is something I have done and its not ideal but I don't think its as bad as heat styling on a regular basis and if you invest in a fairly decent one then it won't be too damaging and it lasts a hell of a long time. I used this one and mine has lasted 6 months+ so far!

Washing: This might be deemed as gross but I wash my hair the least I possibly can! 

The natural oils in your hair are there for a reason and are very good for it, shampooing that away everyday will NOT help the condition of your hair at all. If you are someone that washes their hair everyday because otherwise it will get greasy, a lot of the time the reason your hair gets greasy as fast as it does is because you are washing it so often, your hair is trying to combat that by releasing oils faster so basically if you wash your hair less, your hair wont get as greasy.

In the time you are trying to ease your hair into this lifestyle you can easily use dry shampoo or even talc powder and do a cute messy bun.

Wear and tear: Other than this, generally taking care of your fragile little hairs is something I always have on my mind. Just little things like using thick/fluffy hair bands instead of thin little ones as they will break your hair and moving your hair out of the way of friction eg scarves, pillows, seat belts ect. these things will be very helpful.

Making it grow!

(Not including Biotin) This is probably the best tip I can give you:

Massage!:  This tells you how or you can just wing it it's not the most difficult thing in the world! Massaging releases natural oils which conditions and stimulates hair follicles, increases blood flow and thus makes it grow faster. You can try doing it upside down as well if you want it makes the blood flow quicker. Its easy do it while you're watching TV or something so there is no excuse! 

also burdock oil, grape seed oil and caster oil (people use this for going bald so I think it works) stimulate hair to grow so use that to massage and leave in overnight for a little treat on a girly night in.

Procucts:

Main n Tail- actually a horse shampoo! but there are things all over the internet swearing that it works. personally i did try and research it and i don't think it makes your hair grow as much as it makes it a lot stronger which is good for growing. warning- it will make dye fade VERY fast and it did build up a lot in my hair

FAST.- extremely expensive but I've heard good things

Vitamin B- either from leafy greens or a supplement 

Folic Acid- apparently this works very well! in the same sort of way i think biotin works but personally i haven't tried it

Hair cuts: It is said that you should trim your hair every 4ish weeks, but I don't think you should do that. If you are trying to grow your hair and that is because your hair grows on average 1/2 inch a month and on average hairdressers cut off about 1/2 inch off so you would just be cutting every bit of new growth off.

Personally I think it should be every 10-12 weeks. I've actually nearly passed the 12 week mark now and I don't think I actually NEED a cut yet I just use the S&D method which gets rid of a good amount of split ends so all of the hair that has grown- is mine to keep! But obviously it does depend on how your hair is and how much breakage it has because you do need to get rid of that, otherwise they will just break further and further up the hair shaft and you will need to cut off more length to get rid of it.

Health: the last thing I can suggest is just to be healthy. smoking, drinking, stress and eating badly are all things that will make your body run a heck of a lot slower thus slowing down the amount your hair is growing considerably and sometimes even bring it to a near stop. Things you can do to help are drinking water, a lot of sleeping (your body recovers when sleeping and runs faster) and eating a healthy amount of protein based foods.

Damage free hairstyles!
hairband made curl
sock made curl
straighten without heat
crimp- no heat!

So overall, if you want to grow your hair as fast as possible there aren't many miracle products that will make you skip the frustrating bits that nobody wants to do and really, they are all very straightforward and dable if you want it enough!

let me know if you have any questions you think i've missed out and comment below on what has helped you and your journey

Talk soon! 

Urban Decay, The Infamous Naked Palette!

I'm very sure this review I'm about to do has been made by a million other bloggers- but I'm doing it anyway because my blog just wouldn't be complete without it!

so my naked palette is all thanks to BeautyBay! Not quite sure why but this website has become my favorite UK online makeup retailer- they have everything and the sales are always good. It's also the cheapest I have ever seen Naked (on sale) and that was £32 with included little primer potion. I ordered it on a Monday night and then it came on the next Monday morning in a cute little box so it didn't take very long.

they packaged it amazingly well I thought it would be in a much smaller box, really.

The back of the case has all the colours and names and boasts about the palette a tad

Virgin (nude satin), Sin (champagne shimmer), Naked (buff matte), Sidecar (beige sparkle), Buck (brown matte), Half Baked (bronze), Smog (golden brown shimmer), Darkhorse (bronze-plum shimmer), Toasted (taupe-bronze), Hustle (mocha shimmer), Creep (near-black metallic), Gunmetal (dark grey metallic).

I re-did the pictures and it has been quite a while now-
thats why they look a little faded!

and these are what come with it the good karma shadow brush and the primer potion- both of which I have a little love for.

As you can see they really are amazing looking colours in textures of matte, shimmer, satin and sparkle so you really do have a bit of everything- this is something you could really use for subtle day makeup or a night out, I actually can't get over how much I love it!

A couple of my favorites would have to be (like most others) 

Virgin~ because its just the most amazing highlighter! I love using it on the inner corners of my eyes, the inner top of my lid and on my brow bone, it just does an amazing job.

Buck~ just because I love the shimmery matte brown colour- I feel like it enhances my complexion, is simple to use and goes with anything.

Half Baked~ just the most amazing golden shimmery lid colour, I couldn't love this colour any more than I do and i've been looking for a gold like this for ages!

Smog~ I love matching this with Half Baked, they work together so well and the outcome is beautiful.

gunmetal~ this one I don't use as often but I'm sure I will because it matched my eye colour to a T which makes for an interesting look.

I don't even know why I picked favorites I want to mention them all, they are all just super pigmented and blend perfectly. Below I have uploaded what I could (not amazing) but I will be re-doing these.

Yep, these are the worst photo's in the entire world. I just wanted to show you one I used a lot which includes half baked, smog and virgin, I am smitten with these together and love how they compliment my skin tone- I wear this a lot and have had a lot of people saying how nice it looks! so you will get more pictures of different looks in due time but in the mean time you will have to deal with these :) 

My Cosmetic-Love Order Came!

First of all there is actually no real reason for this post to exist because I am not going to be reviewing anything at all I just couldn't help myself. There is no justification for this apart from maybe showing you what is to come? I'm sure that's good enough.

Its a lot of stuff all together and i'm extremely excited!

and one of the best bits about it? the freebies! I have more freebies than I do products! I was literally so impressed with this and think they are just lovely to do it. I understand why they have done it because I may just end up buying all of this stuff, its adorable. although I don't know quite how I'm going to review these little guys because obviously I can only use them on myself once/maybe twice and I think you can only really review a skin care product after quite a few times of using it? I don't know, let me know if you still want a little review for these!

so everything I've bought here (including freebies) will be named in my review for them so look forward to that my lovelies, until then!

 P.s I was bought the most adorable delicious little cupcakes and I feel really happy right now even if it isn't Christmas.

Tiny Drugstore Buys

So while I attempt to do my urban decay naked palette (which is proving difficult because I want to give you a good range of eye 'looks' but I never get the time!) I just want to update you on a couple of little things I've received for my birthday! (on the 18th) and when I say 'couple' I really do mean it. There really isn't much i'm just bored because no one is home and I like posting.

This is the Max Factor trio eyeshadow in the colour I dont even know because it DOESN'T SAY?
the Rimmel lasting finish nail varnish in 'black cherries' and last of all because this is a teeny tiny list- Rimmel lasting finish lipstick in heather shimmer!

so we start with the eyeshadow

I think the colours look just so pretty and adorable inside the case but I don't know, the swatches aren't as visible as I would of hoped and the colours aren't that pigmented- or maybe i'm just comparing them to the Naked palette too much?

I applied this using my fingers because that's what seemed to work best? I actually do like the highlighting colour quite a lot and the fact it has a tint of pink is really nice and a bit more girly. Also I want to mention that somehow the amazing Max Factor has made it have a slightly fruity smell which I think is lovely! (excuse my eyebrows i'm growing them out! believe me they look loads better than they did all little)

so overall its quite a cute little trio and I am quite interested in what other colours they have but its not something I would go out of my way to buy.

then one of my favorite things of recent, Rimmels lasting finish nail varnish!

This is one I took just now- 24 hours after the one on the left

I don't know why i love this colour so much but i really do. Its not a colour I've usually worn and it just matches my skintone so perfectly and feels very sophisticated and dark. although I do have to mention it smells foul which is fairly normal for a nail varnish but I still feel the need to comment on that and it comes off and chips very easily as you can see. So yes that's a down side and can get very annoying but i'm sure you can find this plumy colour in most ranges so it shouldn't be a problem. To summarize, LOVE the colour, HATE the annoying chipping!

and finally the lipstick!

The first thing I have to say about this is how beautiful it smells. It has the most adorable fruity smell its difficult not to just eat it. Onto the normal things you would mention about lipstick, I think the packaging is nice and simple and I have actually fell completely in love with the colour- its so nice!

Tt has a nice little shimmery effect which (when on) makes your lips look very healthy and moisturized but isn't too shiny or over the top. if I suited/could pull of lipstick I would most probably wear this every single day. so yes lipstick lovers- I highly suggest this little lovely!

let me know what you guys think about that and if you like these products yourself! 

TALK SOON PUMPKINS 

Cosmetic Love Order!

Hello!

So getting right into it, cosmetic-love is a website I have recently become obsessed with (as I mentioned in my BB cream review) that is an online retailer for Korean beauty products, exciting! I have been fascinated in the oriental parts of the world since basically forever and the same can be said for makeup and beauty so why I didn't put those two things together before this bewilders me completely? After watching Youtube bloggers and finding out about Skin79 I have gotten totally lost into it.

So for a very long time I was using a couple of different websites I found myself that sold this sort of thing but to be honest the shipping was always so blooming expensive and the products themselves were the same obviously because unless you lived there they are very hard to get a hold of- makes sense 

But then I found cosmetic love and I've been in Korean cosmetic love ever since!

so to start off my order finally, first of all ive ordered 12 different samples of BB creams because it was just so cheap! (roughly £3.70) and I want to try them all since I've heard so many good things about pretty much every single one. Although at the same time this does create a problem because I know I am not going to just like one of them, even if I did I already have one so that would also be a problem? lovely.

to give you the full list of what i'm getting myself into-

[SKIN79]

1. SKIN79 Hot Pink Super Plus BB Cream Beblesh Balm SPF25 PA++

2. SKIN79 ORANGE Super Plus Triple Functions BB Vital Cream SPF50+ PA+++

3. SKIN79 Snail Nutrition BB Cream SPF45 PA++

4. SKIN79 VIP Gold Super Plus Beblesh Balm Triple Functions BB Cream

[MISSHA]

5. Missha M Signature Real Complete BB Cream #21 Bright

[TONYMOLY]

6. TONYMOLY Expert Triple BB Cream

[SKINFOOD]

7. Skinfood Good Afternoon Honey Black Tea BB 1. Light Beige

8. Skinfood Platinum Grape Cell Essential BB Cream 1. Light Beige

[LIOELE]

9. Lioele Triple the Solution BB Cream

10. Lioele Beyond the Solution BB Cream

11. Lioele Dolish Veil Vita BB Cream #1 Gorgeous Purple

 

[INNISFREE]

12. Innisfree Eco Natural Green Tea BB Cream 2. Natural Moisture

Oh, I just know this is going to end in a lot of money isn't it...

So if you guys are interested in any of these I will most probably make a post with them. I'm not quite sure yet.

Another one I've ordered is the Etude House drawing eye brow pencil in grey brown, I'm not sure if this is the most exciting order but I am very happy about this since this is actually going to be the first thing I have ever bought for my eyebrows, ever. Before this I obviously tweezed and I also trim and brush but that was it- no colour/wax/anything!

I've also seen a couple of people rave about this (and the Lioele one that's also on the website, but this one was cheaper and I'm a little cheapo) so I decided to buy it. maybe it will 'add something' to my face because I know eyebrows, when done well, make a big difference.

Next up is (I was going to say one of the things I'm more excited about but to be honest, I literally couldn't be more excited about all of them, ugh!) the new(ish) Skin79 BB Cleanser 

While I was looking for some new skincare products since for quite a while now I hadn't made much of an effort with the whole wash, cleanse, tone, moisturize ect stuff because I 1. didn't have a lot of money and 2. didn't feel like there was a massive difference? but i've now changed my mind since my skin has turned gross!

Part of the reason I was interested was that I think my VIP Gold has started to break me out. I think it might be because what I'm using to take it off isn't good enough, and the idea with this is that it will completely remove all of it. Since its the same brand I'm thinking they will work well together as well, so very excited to have nice skin again!

Last on the list the most adorable set of products I have ever set my eyes on- the Tonymoly cats wink lipstick!

I literally could not be more in love with the Tonymoly cat wink collection (I forgot to mention I have a little obsession with cats so that may explain this a little bit more?) They do so many things including mascara, lip gloss, primer, BB Cream (something I wish was included with my sample collection!), powder, blotting oil paper...I think you get the point, a lot! I can't get over all of it and just writing about it I'm on the edge of ordering some more.

So even if generally lip products don't look very good on me I am just happy to have a little black cat in my makeup bag. I have ordered 07- salmon pink and I'm very much looking forward to doing a review with this!

so that's all for this order (even though I'm most probably about to order more...) I will upload reviews when they get here :) If there is anything you would like to suggest to me that you think is a great product for you, especially skin care since that's really what i need to build up right now, just let me know in the comments!

To BB, or not to BB?

Hi again little missies!

So my next review is something I knew I would be reviewing even before I had a blog which just makes you wonder why I struggled so much on what my first post was going to be about? who knows. Its a product that just about everyone in the makeup world has tried and tested and talked about in one way or another and obviously from my terribly named title, its the amazing and lovely and controversial BB Cream!

I feel like everyone knows everything about it now including its back story but I may as well tell you again. It was first used on patients for skin protection after they had gone through surgery and then was introduced as a beauty thing after Korean actresses started using it which then spread like crazy around Korea and Japan and now everywhere else!

funnily enough I was fairly put off and unimpressed with this whole bb cream phase that was going around after I tried a couple of american/european/uk brands and just thought  'oh ok well this is an alright tinted moisturizer isn't it?' and never bought it again, and I still don't understand the hype about uk ones. I suppose I never really tried the higher end ones though, it was all drugstore brands so maybe thats where I was going wrong, again, who knows.

This is when I came upon Skin79!

At the time I had subscribed to FrmHeadToToe and was totally in love with her reviews when she mentioned Korean brand BB creams which then made me watch many more reviews by many more people saying how wonderful they were and I quickly fell into the deep end with everyone else.

Somehow after all the blog watching I came to Skin79 and it wasn't long before I ordered VIP Gold (the version best for dry skin!) from Treat Your Skin- a website I love! I was so impressed by this website and especially how quickly it was sent to me considering how impatient I am when I am waiting for something.

But recently I have been suggested a different website called cosmetic love by the lovely blogger- sarangseoulcity! and I prefer this one just a tad- it takes a little longer to get to you but there is a much bigger range and products are WAY more reasonably priced, also shipping is free! YAY.

so on to the actual product, after all my jabber...

The consistency is very hard to describe and is a bit abnormal but basically its very thick and very dewy feeling until you wipe it in~ and then it feels like you aren't wearing anything which is just lovely. It evens out my skin great and has basically replaced my foundation now which I find impressive, so all I add to it is a little concealer over any blemishes I have at the time and i'm good to go.

(this really should be a better picture but if I get any closer than this- it turns into a blurry mess)

so as you can see it perfectly blends into my skin colour (about an NC20) and has a little 'sheen' to it! Overall my skin feels and looks quite fresh and clean and dewy even on days when I don't quite feel it!

I especially love the packaging and pump it uses, It's so easy to use and another thing I love is that you can get out the littlest or largest amount unlike some others that I feel like I waste when I only want a tiny bit for my eyes. It's its hygienic, yay! and for those of you that aren't into fragrancey things, its very light but it has just enough of a scent to make me happy and leave an impression which again I think is lovely.

The only thing I think might be awkward for some people is that it only comes in one colour. My skin is naturally extremely pale so the colour it comes out as (can even be described as grey-ish) would match my skin fine either way but if you are darker than me still don't worry as the formula oxidises to your skin tone! impressive ay? so I think going as dark as an NC35 would work but i'm not sure on anything darker than that which is annoying :(

So it goes without saying that I would recommend this to anyone, this is pretty much a HG product for me and I can't see that changing anytime soon!


If you need to know anything more about this product let me know!
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee x

How To: Lovely Mermaid Locks.

It actually took me way too long to decide what I wanted my first post to be on even though it doesn't make the slightest difference since its just going to blend into all the rest of them! I finally decided to do it on something I actually do know about, and that would be exactly how you get lovely long locks in less time, exciting isn't it?

I think this is something nearly every single female in the world wants for whatever reason- mine being that I cut it into a very short fairy style and bleached it white blonde at the same time, lovely idea! Separately I will outline how to make your hair grow faster in general but for now- all I want to do is rave about 1 single product and how friggin well it worked so you can all go and buy it. and the product I'm talking about is BIOTIN.

Biotin, for those of you that don't know~ is a B vitamin that is necessary for cell growth and the production of fatty acids, I believe it also helps your metabolism along its little way. These things make it a BIG part of your hair growth and strength- not having enough of this wonderful stuff will cut your hair growth phase short and an extra amount of it will boost your hair growth cycle into overdrive and make hair stronger, longer and thicker!

This product- if that's what you would call it? worked absolute wonders for me personally. 

By the time I bought this I had researched and googled and vlog watched my way up to expert in the hair department and had tried many things including putting eggs and horse shampoo in my hair but nothing EXTERNAL made a noticeable difference so I felt a bit poop and decided to throw some money at the problem! I actually set out on buying folic acid (this is the same sort of thing and why pregnant people's hair grows faster than the norm) at the start because it was a bit more heard of and the reviews were a little bit better but couldn't find a cheaper one I liked and so ended up with this and I'm so glad I did!

I know this looks a tad dodgy, quite like an advert on the side of a dodgy web page but I just need to show how much it has worked for me. I'm not sure how much this looks to you but it is a lot, and this is after only 3 weeks and 1 of those weeks I wasn't even taking it like I should have been. Amazing! As well as your hair growing faster, it is also supposed to grow out much healthier and stronger hair but (because I feel this is important to know) it won't change the health/texture/anything of the hair already there! That hair is quite dead.

To clarify, my hair normally grows at a normal rate (about half an inch a month, maybe even slower? I'm not sure, but its fairly average) so this amount of growth after 2/3 weeks is really great and I couldn't be happier with it.

also they are really teeny and cute so very easy to swallow if thats something thats important to you?

I have to mention though that they did make me break out fairly badly which really is a downside but:

1. I think having bad skin for a while is worth the length, but thats just me

2. I have extremely sensitive skin and overall there are probably quite a few things that do this to me

3. If you drink enough water to balance out how much your taking, THIS WONT HAPPEN. It's actually supposed to improve your skin, it just depends on if you can have a bottle of water in your hands all day and endure the toilet time.

I got them was holland and barrett (here) for about £14 for 100 tablets and they were in the penny sale (which I think is on right now) which was quite helpful! Also I got the 1000µg ones and take 2 a day- the top dosage people take is 5000µg a day but I don't feel the need to myself. You can also get this from places like ebay/amazon ect but I just couldn't be bothered for the faff and wanted to make sure I got the safest/healthiest and most useful ones without any added ingredients.

So if you are desperately trying to grow your hair out for whatever reason and are getting nowhere, I would highly suggest trying this!

Hope you enjoyed my first lovely little review and if there is anything that i didn't include let me know!