Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Intensive Mask

My hair is very dry. It is also quite damaged at the moment and I'm not sure why. I've not used straighteners for a good while apart from the odd occasion and I've only been rough drying my hair. I also use a Tangle Teaser which is supposed to be more gentle on hair. For some reason/s my hair has been getting very dry and turning stretchy which is so bad. My hairdresser also commented that I was loosing a lot of hair while she washed it... worrying when you're only 22! The thing with hair is that you can have stressful times and it wont show on your hair until your stress is over them BAM it cries for some care. Skin is often the same case for me.

So I went to Superdrug in search for some sort of treatment for dry, damaged hair and found this hair mask by Herbal Essences. It says that it is a split end protection intensive mask for dry/damaged hair and for £3.99 I thought I may as well give it a go. 

It is a rinse out treatment which you use in place of your normal conditioner. They recommend that you use the matching Beautiful Ends shampoo (well they would, wouldn't they!) and then slather your hair in this conditioner, concentrating at the ends then leave it on for 5 minutes. A 5 minute treatment is great for me as it means I have time to do it before work and not have to relegate it to a weekend for those 15 minute treatments. They also say to use it once a week.

I applied it to my hair as per the instuctions and washed it out and I could tell my hair felt so much better already. Now it is not a miracle product that you use once and suddenly have amazing, beautiful hair. You need to use it continually to get it to the standard you want. After the first treatment, my hair was better but nowhere near how it used to be. I used it again yesterday (twice in the same week instead of once) and my hair feels much better now and is shiny. Still not how it was before but it is getting there. 

I think it might take another pot to get it perfect but I am more than willing to stick with this treatment. For £3.99 at Superdrug and Boots (supermarkets probably sell it too), I think it is worth every penny. It also smells very nice, as with all Herbal Essences products.

Jennifer xx

September 2011 Favourites

Here are my favourites for September, there was quite a variety of brands in there.

First up, a new perfume. One of my favourite bloggers, Vivianna from viviannadoesmakeup.com is a big perfume fan. I have noticed that we have quite similar taste in perfumes and when she said that this was her favourite perfume I decided to give it a go. It is Lady Million by Paco Robane. I would never have picked this up, the packaging isn't something that would have drawn me in, probably due to being a mega shiny golden diamond shape which doesn't really look very classy, although I do like it now for being a bit different. The perfume inside is gorgeous though, a typical 'me' type fragrance, floral and fruity with a bit of sweetness thrown in there for good measure. It isn't a headdy sweet or floral fragrance, I think it has a good balance. Top notes of Neroli, Lemon and Raspberry. Middle notes of Jasmine, Orange Flower and Gardenia. Bottom notes of Patchouli and White Honey. Yum!

Next there is VO5's Miracle Concentrate. I've seen this doing a little bit of the blog rounds with people saying that it helps with frizzy hair and keeping it looking glossy and healthy. I needed this. I use this after towel drying my hair then apply a few drops from the pipette into my hand and rub them together before running it down my hair. I focus it in the ends to stop them from flying away and then do the lengths and finally the top to smooth it all down. Then I blow dry my hair. It makes my hair dry quicker and always gives it a sleek finish.

I also ran out of my foundation, Chanel Vitalumire so needed to get a replacement but wasn't anywhere near a Chanel counter. I'd wanted to try Bourjous Healthy Mix after hearing a lot of good reviews so this was a good opportunity. Off I went to Superdrug and picked this up for £9.99, over £20 cheaper than my Chanel foundation! I found a really good match in Healthy Mix, better than the Chanel shade. It is a teeny bit lighter in colour and not as yellow. I really like this one, the coverage is a bit more than the Chanel one and it sets more so doesn't appear as dewy but still gives me a fresh complexion. I've been applying it with a MAC 187 and I get a really nice finish. I would definitely buy this again, I much prefer it.

The two eyeshadows are from MAC's MAC Me Over collection, I reviewed them here. The colours are Carbonized (the brown) and Mythical (the coppery colour). I've been using these a lot during September, they are so flattering and fit so well with Autumn. They go with a lot of my clothes too and are great for work. I've put them together in a few different ways and they always come out looking nice.

Underneath is MAC's Superslick Liquid Liner in On The Hunt. This is black and was in my favourites last month too. I've been using this pretty much every day. It is such a good glossy black and lasts really well.

Lastly, Blistex Intensive Moisturiser Lip Cream. My lips get ridiculously dry and chapped. I needed something intensive that was going to work. I saw this on Rachel's blog allthingsrachy.blogspot.com ages ago when she said that she gets very chapped lips when she has a cold and this is what she uses. I'd been meaning to give it a go and saw it in Boots one day and remembered her blog post so bought it. She was so right, it is amazing stuff! Seriously, if you get chapped lips and nothing else seems to be giving you the desired effect, go get this. It was relatively cheap at £2.59. It has a plastic slanted applicator so you can apply it straight from the tube. I tend to put a little on my finger and apply it like that so I don't put too much on, you don't need a lot.

Jennifer xx

New hair colour and cut!

So my experimentation in the world of hair dye took another turn yesterday. The last time I had a hair cut (a couple of months ago) I had some bright red 'slices' put in. I liked it but after a while I wanted more lol! I'd wanted to go red for ages, I'm always telling my boyfriend about it and pointing out people with nice red hair. He just keeps telling me I should just do it, I'm sure he gets bored of the same conversation after a while but he doesn't need to listen to it again... well until I am bored and want to have a different colour!

So here it is!

I love it! It is a tad brighter in real life, I couldn't quite capture it on camera and ended up nearly droping it on my head as I had to half lay down on my bed to get decent lighting! It is also brighter in the areas where I had the slices from last time. I think it warms my skin up a bit more, I don't look as pale as I did with dark hair, yeah I know I wasn't exactly pale but I mean in contrast to my old hair colour. (Excuse the awful Forever Friends curtains behind me, I have had them since I was a baby and I think I've well outgrown them by now.)

- Jennifer

Hair update!

I wasn't able to get my hair dye topped up last Wednesday so I had to rebook an appointment for this afternoon. I've been itching to get it redone because the colour just wasn't what I wanted. It was sort of a coppery brown and barely noticeable. You can see it here. I went in today and my hairdresser joked how she doubted many people noticed it - which they didn't. She assured me that this time they would with this brighter dye she had picked out for me. Aparrently I wasn't the only one to end up with faint colour from the same dye and they had complained to the manufacturer about it not taking properly so it was probably a faulty batch.

Anyway, she came out with the new colour mixed up which was definately red! I didn't have it on for as long as last time but she did put a couple more foils in this time. After checking a few times she decided it was time to take it off before it got too bright and I ended up like a postbox. She washed it out and I could definately see it and after drying it was even better. I love it, it is the perfect brightness too. It isn't the purply red I had wanted to start with but I really like it anyway. Here are some photos.

The colour underneath shows more when I've put my hair up.

- Jennifer