Review: L'Oreal Extraordinary Oil Hair Care

Can I just say, this packing was so damn difficult to photograph without making it look warped. But, I did my best! 

HAIR CARE! We all know it's my favourite thing to talk about! If there's something to do with hair, throw it at me, I love it! But recently after a bad reaction to some ingredients in a professional colour, my hair ended up like chewing gum, I cut loads of it off, and now left with severely damaged hair. It was only a venture I'd do on myself, never a client, so I've only got myself to blame. I did a few hot oil treatments, but my hair still needed loads of help. I saw these guys advertised on the TV and went over to Boots and picked them up.

At first impression I was pretty sure these wouldn't do anything, after trying a variety of very 'nourishing' and 'moisturising' from all sorts of brands in the past, and having no luck. But I needed something that would help out my hair in anyway, to stop it falling out from the root like it was.

After trying it a few times, I noticed the silvery/grey tone in my hair dropped out quite rapidly (as it does with every non-silver shampoo) but I didn't want to use my silver shampoo as it's quite drying because it's very strong. So just using this shampoo and conditioner did leave me with healthier LOOKING hair which does feel somewhat healthier straight after washing. I'm currently using no heat on my hair to try and improve the health also.

Using the shampoo and conditioner alone did help with the touchable condition of my hair. But the silver colour wash dropping out pretty fast, so in the end I've began mixing this shampoo with my current silver shampoo, to keep topping up the colour, with some added nourishment. It did just that, although not with the extreme effects before. The ends of my hair were still quite thirsty, but overall it kept my hair feeling healthy. The hair only felt slightly more dry because of the silver shampoo though.

Now, down to the science, the shampoo and conditioner contain six flower oils. It's well known certain types of oil are good for the hair, and can improve the health. But in the short term, these products have slightly improved the overall health of the hair. In the long term I do feel like it would dramatically improve the structure of my hair if I included their oil and mask. I don't feel like it's dramatically improved the health of my hair just yet, as there are still ends breaking off, but that's to be expected with longer hair, it is not breaking off from the root anymore, and the roots are feeling much healthier now, after just using the product for a few weeks. 

I definitely recommend giving these guys a go, as they are a fantastic drugstore option to give your hair a treat when it's feeling thirsty and needs a good condition. It gives the hair a lovely shine, soft feel and I love the scent of it, it's not overpowering, but stays in my hair for quite a few days. 

Buy the Shampoo: CLICK HERE

Buy the Conditioner: CLICK HERE

^Seriously I recommend giving these guys a go, they're great!^

Until Next Time,

Harley. X 

Review: Slendertoxtea

Disclaimer: These products were sent to me to review, but all opinions are my own.

For ages now I've seen all different types of 'detox' teas all over Instagram, and I've wanted to try one in forever. Slendertoxtea gave me the opportunity to review their 14 Day Teatox, which of course I was very excited about! The brand claims the benefits of these teas are: Colon Cleanse, Increased Energy, Feel Refreshed, Promotes Healthy Change. The pack includes two different types of tea, and the ingredients are similar but do differ slightly. One to drink first thing in the morning everyday for two weeks, and the second to drink a few hours before bed every other day. Lets see how I got on.. 

I first tried these teas one weekend on a Saturday morning as the tea says 'We advise you begin your teatox on a weekend or your day off.' I can only assume because of the colon cleanse. 

They also advice to brew the tea for 2-3 minutes, and alter the brewing time accordingly. The first time I tried to tea, I left it to brew for two minutes, and just a few hours after I was already on the toilet experiencing the 'colon cleanse' - I'm going to try and be the less explicit I can from now on, as there's lots of talk about bodily fluid. I did experience an increased bowel movement, quite significantly. The next morning, my body woke me up early to tell me to get straight on the toilet! But I was determined to carry on with the teatox and make my second cup. After visiting the toilet 8 times on the second day, experiencing headaches and major stomach cramping I decided to stop the teatox, as I really didn't feel healthy, and I thought it be best to stop. 

I left it quite a few weeks before trying the tea again with an open mind.. 

I had two weeks off work, great! I can visit the toilet as often as needed! I tried another Daytox tea, and only brewed the tea for one minute this time, to calm down the effects. But like before I had dramatically increased bowel movements and stomach cramps that left me laying on the sofa clutching my stomach, not anyone who knows me knows I won't make things more dramatic than what they are, but I couldn't move all day, unless I was visiting the loo. I did feel pretty sick, and I didn't eat that day.

Now on the back on the teas the disclaimer says: 

"Before embarking on any detox diet or health plan you may want to consult with your GP, if symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or prolonged diarrhoea occur cease use and consult your GP."

So I thought it be best that I end the detox, before my symptoms had any chance to get worse. 

As much as I wanted to stick out the experience of this, I just couldn't. I'm not sure why my body reacted so badly to this, it maybe because I'm not one to eat super healthy and stay free of toxins. I think that probably is the reason as usually I've got quite a strong stomach. But I know there are people out there that can use these pretty often to help with weight loss, and to cleanse the body. I wanted to love these teas, but I just can't say I can.

BUT! Please bear in mind, just because these teas didn't work for me, they could work for you. So I still would recommend giving them a go if this is a topic that interests you. I'm still quite scared to try anymore teatox's at the moment, but I hope in the future I will be able to find one that works for me.

If you'd like to know more about Slendertoxtea then please visit their website at:

http://www.slendertoxtea.co.uk

Until next time,

Harley. X

Sebamed: Clear Face Range | Review

At The Bloggers Hub Twitter Party, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to test out and review the Sebamed Clear Face Range - anyone that knows me, knows I suffer with acne and very oily skin which is a big self confidence downer, and after trying so many high-street products and nothing touched my skin, I was beginning to loose hope. I was so excited to try these products and see how they work for me. If you don't like seeing close up images of skin and acne, this won't be the post for you as there will be before/after pictures towards the end.

To see if skincare works for you, it really needs to be tested for 28 days, in order for your skin to get used to it. Sebamed sent me three sample sizes of three different products - The Cleansing Bar, The Deep Cleansing Facial Toner and The Care Gel. Let's see how I got on..

The Cleansing Bar

At first I was a little bit scared of the idea of this - it's in soap form, soap dries my skin out like I've covered my face with rubbing alcohol. But saying this I was given some hope when I found out that all of these products are the same pH as your skin, so it shouldn't make me oily OR dry. I used this with my flannel to begin with like a normal soap and after a week I began to notice a difference, it didn't dry me out OR make me oily and I didn't feel like I'd had an extreme amount of botox after using it, which pleasantly surprised me!

I did end up using this with my Magnitone (CLICK HERE for my thoughts on that) by putting the product on my face first, then going over with the Magnitone, and I can honestly say, I think this is what gave the product a little more cleansing power and this is when I really noticed to see a difference.

Deep Cleansing Facial Toner

I've never really used toners before so I was curious to try this. At first I really liked it and it make me feel a little extra fresh after using it, but it does contain alcohol and after about two weeks of using this, I could really start to notice the alcohol and it did irritate my skin slightly, not so much to dry me out, but it did 'inflame' my breakouts and make them a little more red and visible, but I think if it was used every now and again, it wouldn't be so bad.

I did try using this with my Magnitone too on the sensitive setting, but this made my skin way too dry, and I wouldn't recommend it at all. This product wasn't my favourite and didn't really work for my, but if your considering the product, still give it a go, everyone's skin reacts to products differently.

Care Gel

Before using this, I was using a different gel from another brand and I really prefer gels to full on thick moisturisers at the moment as they tend to be lighter, and don't make me so oily. This did just the same, it gave me just the right amount of moisture. It did what it said on the tin basically, although I did notice, it did give a really good barrier between my skin and makeup, and I didn't once breakout through wearing makeup when using this product.

Before & After

Before: As you can see -  I've got some pretty angry breakouts, lots of redness and blackheads on my nose and plenty of acne scarring. Let's see how Sebamed changed this..

After: What a difference! As you can see in the picture on the left, I've lost almost all the acne scarring and any breakouts I do have aren't as angry. On the right pictures, the acne scarring has also been reduced. The skin tone looks one hell of a lot healthier and more even too.

Final Verdict

Seriously, give this stuff a go, it's so inexpensive (cheaper than most high street brands)  and after trying so many products before, this really gave me hope that my skin can get over this and I will be able to walk around without knowing I've got a warhead starring at people in the street. Would I buy these products again? Yes! I'd repurchase the Care Gel and maybe try the Cleansing Foam instead of the Bar, mainly for ease of use. I wouldn't repurchase the Toner as I did have a little reaction from it, but nothing extreme. For now, my old skincare routine has been working for me now Sebamed have helped calm my skin down, but if you, or I ever have a huge reaction to something or have a really stressful month and it ends up covering you in breakouts - give this stuff a go, I was seriously going to give up hope! I cannot thank The Bloggers Hub enough for connecting us and thank you to Sebamed for clearing my face. 

If you'd be interested in researching a little more about Sebamed and their products then you can find them at: http://www.sebamed.com 

Until next time, take care! Harley, X

Review: Magnitone Lucid

Bit of a disclaimer: During The Bloggers Hub's Twitter Party, I got the chance to review the Magnitone for free, but all opinions are honest and my own. I know some people don't like these kinda posts, so there's your warning. 

As some of you may know, I struggle alot with acne, acne scars, blackheads, everything. So whenever I'm offered to try a new skincare product, I'll bite your hand off. I've tried so many high street and high end cleansers, exfoliators, toners, you name it, nothings ever worked. I stayed sceptical when trying this brush, at first I thought it could irritate my already sensitive and damaged skin. But d'you know what, it's not irritated my skin AT ALL! So I took the 7 Day Challenge!

So, I'm currently doing a 28 day trial for Sebamed and their cleanser is in a soap form, so I had to apply the soap to my face first with a flannel, then go over with the Magnitone on their 'Daily Cleanse' setting, if you find this is too harsh for you skin there's also a 'Sensitive' setting. After cleansing for the first time with the Magnitone, honestly, you will not believe how amazingly clean your skin feels, my Dad said he'd noticed a difference after just one use! I eventually went on to then use the Magnitone for a second time with my toner. But this ended up really drying out my skin and I felt a toner worked better with cotton pads anyway. I was never happy with my moisturiser either as it sat on my skin for hours, after cleansing with this, it absorbs straight away in a matter of minutes. After one use I was in love with the product! 

I'm not going to post before and after pictures of my skin because I'm saving those for the Sebamed review, but let me say, they are pretty dramatic! This, in my eyes, is a miracle product, and what I was definitely missing from my skin care routine. Bear in mind, this is coming from someone with very problematic skin and nothing has touched my skin, but I've used a variety of products with this and it makes every cleanser I've used with it better. Something else that can happen in the first few days of trying the product is that you can experience some breakouts in the first few days, which I did, this is because it's giving your skin a super deep clean, and it's raising all the crap in your pores to the surface.

I did face one problem! I used my 'LUSH Dark Angels' cleanser with this to try it out, my god I had a panic attack because I stained the brush black! Rinsing under the tap didn't touch it and I panicked! It looked like it'd been pressed in the remains of a bloody fire! No sweat though, if something like this cleanser do stain your brush, it's easy enough to fix! I took my MAC Brush Cleaner (I'm sure any makeup brush cleaner will work) and lathered it through the Magnitone and rinsed it through, it brought the colour out great. But my god, I panicked when it happened! 

It's super handy, super compact and the charge lasts ages, I've been so impressed with this and everyone I know agrees that it's made a difference in my skin, in just 7 days. Pretty phanomenal really. Actually I told a lie, I actually missed a day in the week! And I broke out with new spots, which just goes to show how important this little device now is in my skincare routine. This will be a staple in my wash bag for many years to come. 

If your interested in buying one of these little miracle devices, they come in four different colours, and are £69.99 from Magnitone.co.uk - but I do have a nice little discount code for you! 

For 20% off a Magnitone:

CLICK THIS LINK

and enter the code: Harley20 

when asked. 

Seriously, give these a go, I was a complete sceptic before using this and it's changed my opinion completely, I won't be seen cleansing without one. 

Take Care, Harley. X 

BLEACH London - Silver Shampoo: Review

You may or may not know - I've currently got silver/white hair. As a natural ginger it's so hard to keep the brassy-ness away. I'd say give this shampoo a go!

I've tried many different silver shampoos over the years on myself and others. BLEACH London has recently come into my life and I loved their hair colours, and I was shopping around and noticed they made a shampoo. Brilliant! 

This was very different to other silver shampoos I've tried - it was a lot darker and more blue in colour, normally they're very purple and lather to a lavender colour. The more the colour dilutes when you lather the less of an effect I find it has. The great thing about this shampoo, it didn't lather so much for me, enough to wash my hair efficiently, but not so much that it dilutes the colour down. I also think the dark blue colour has made a dramatic effect compared to the lighter purple coloured shampoos on the market. 

I've seen lots of people many times leaving silver shampoos on for a long time and ending up with purple, or even blue streaks left in their hair that are often uneven and not remotely silver. This didn't do this for me, I left it on for almost ten minutes straight after having my hair bleached, and it only grabbed a tiny about of blue, but it was a gorgeous silvery-icy blue colour, very subtle. Obviously depending on how damaged and porous your hair is, the colour will grab more or less, but my hair was pretty damaged and porous at the time. 

As for how silver does it make your hair, let me show you - 

Yes, I know my split ends need a trim! As you can see I've got a variety of tones in my hair (purposely, I wanted a kinda 'highlight and lowlight' effect to add some depth) and it has taken nicely to all of them. I've found that my darker blonde doesn't take too well to this and it really doesn't tone them well - but saying that, it is not a lightening product and just tones. If your struggling to get your hair a silver colour, definitely give this a go and see how you get on, failing that I've got a tutorial coming in the next few weeks on how you can create your very own silver toner using BLEACH London products. 

Definitely give this a go for anyone with brassy or yellow tones in the hair. This is hands down my favourite silver shampoo at the moment. It's lasting ages, toning my hair beautifully, but cleansing it and keeping it healthy too! 

Mr Dashbo FX: Halloween Collection

Buying your first alcohol activated palettes can be very daunting and expensive for a newly qualified or self taught makeup artist. My advice would be to make sure that your completely comfortable with using the eyeshadows, watercolours and greasepaints - then move onto alcohol activated makeup. Once your there you've got a huge price barrier, but I've hunted down a bargain and have found a collection of super high quality without the luxury price tag.

This huge kit retails for just £89 which is super fantastic seeing as more well known brands such as Skin Illustrator  retail for around £80 for one palette. If your starting out and don't have a huge budget - definitely go for these. They are fantastic small palettes that work just as well as the more expensive alternatives. I will definitely be going back to purchase more of these palettes in the near future.

My only slightly negative comment is with this collection there are a few doubles of colours in different palettes, but looking on the bright side, this will save the need for repurchasing as often plus they tend to be my most used colours that are doubled. It's handy to have some doubles incase you don't have all these palettes on set with you.

For more information on these palettes and to purchase visit: http://www.mrdashbo.com

 'Ultimate FX Palette' Colours (left to right) - Black Hole, Walter White, Bruise Tone, Candy Kiss, Micky Blue, Rage Green, Blood Stain, Manilla, Red Mist, Yellow Haze, Blood Tone, Coffee Bean

 'Ultimate Autopsy Palette' Colours (left to right) - Indian Pale Male, Sand Man, Dead Flesh, Bone, Blue Meth, Brown Bred, Franken-Stain, Purple Reign, Dorian Grey, Red Devil, Horri-Bile, Noir

 'Bloody Hell Palette' Colours (left to right) - Blood Tone, Blood Stain, Black Hole, Red Mist, Micky Blue

 'Brutal Tooth Palette' Colours (left to right) - Tar, Fag-End, Plak, Rank, Mess-Cafe

 'Bruised Willis Palette' Colours (left to right) - Noir, Blue Moon, Bruise Tone, Yellow Haze, Red Sky

 'Bloody Hell Palette' Swatches

'Bruised Willis Palette' Swatches

'Brutal Tooth Palette' Swatches

View my show and tell looking at these products. 

Thanks for reading, until next time.

Stay Scary. X

Garnier: Olia | Review

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It's that time of the month... the time in which your roots have come through, you can't afford to visit the hairdressers but there are so many high street brands to choose from?! I won't go into loads of detail here, as my video review is more in depth.

Garnier: Olia claims to: provide maximum colour performance, hair quality improvement, no ammonia, sensorial experience and up to 100% grey coverage - and I'd totally agree with this claim, it works fantastically.

I used this dye for the first time ages ago with the colour Intense Copper and instantly fell in love with the product. It works so well and really does improve the condition of your hair - and it does NOT smell bad at all. Garnier have really created a treat here, and I don't think it gets enough hype online!

I'll show you the close up results now!



SHADE USED: Blue Black 2.10

The proof is in the pudding! I've got very very strong copper orange hair naturally, and some high street blue black dyes have trouble taking well to them, but Olia had absolutely no problem at all. Do be careful using this particular shade with white or very ashy blonde hair, the blue may grab and you risk ending up with super wacky hair!

Shop the full range of Garnier Olia on Amazon: Garnier Olia

 

View my video on YouTube for a full review and a demo of how to apply this product:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1itsXSTMJwY

 

Kryolan Supracolor 24 Palette | Review

When I started out as a makeup artist, I saw so many people on YouTube raving about this product and I was itching to try it. So when I had the chance to buy it from Charles Fox in London, I jumped at the chance. This palette retails at around £50 depending on where you get it and it includes 24 colours. There is also the option to buy this product with just 12 colours in too.

This is my palette, excuse that it's not very tidy, but I've been using it lots lately. I did lots of research on different ways to use this palette and I wanted to try lots out before reviewing it. I've done a SFX look with this which simulated deep cuts using just this paint, using the white and black to highlight and contour. It worked amazingly for this and instantly fell in love with it. I've also used this palette in theatre, for live close up work and some film work.

The colour pay off from this palette is amazing (as you can see from the swatches above) and it can be blended out really nicely, they can be made very subtle or very bright. I really like using the bright colours for clown looks because of the way they pop. The only thing that can annoys me about the palette is that it can smudge really easily and will definitely need setting with a makeup setting spray or a translucent powder. I definitely think this palette is worth a try though and it has many different uses.

This concludes my first post on here. I hope you enjoyed reading :)

Keep it creepy!

Harley.