My experience going from non-permanent red/brown to blonde

This post is just for anyone who is blonde, has dyed their hair dark and now wants to go back to blonde. This is just my experience.

Firstly 5 weeks after dying my hair a non-permanent auburn sort of colour since it hadn't faded yet it didn't work at all. The colour didn't change and then after ringing a hair salon found out a tint wouldn't work. I'd have to get it bleached/stripped.

When I rang the lady on the phone she said my hair colour would go quite light. I thought what she meant by that was a bit like this...

I did not want to go this colour at all so I said 'if it goes too light will you be able to make is a less light blonde' and she said yes and it would be no extra cost.

Thinking I would only have to pay £57 (which I feel is quite a lot anyway as I am a bit tight sometimes and don't like spending a lot more money if I can get it cheaper e.g. a home dye kit) for the perfect hair I was 'happy' to pay this amount.

When the lady came round to do my hair I showed her this picture...

She said "that's how it will turn out"

Once she had finished and dried my hair I looked in the mirror and my hair was ALOT darker than I had expected. Here is how it turned out...

img here soon

She hadn't put the bleach in all parts of my hair. She had done a line of foils then left a strand. At first (probably being quite nieve) I didn't think this would make it darker. But with my hair as it is now if I did dye my hair it still would not change the un-bleached strands of my hair.

Again being nieve, I guess, I paid the money but saying I wasn't particularly happy about it and she left. Before I paid her I said I thought I would come out light and I didn't know I'd need it done a few times. She said that she had told me this over the phone. 1. I don't remember this but I wasn't 100% certain she hadn't said this 2. She implied over the phone I would only need one bleach when she said it would come out pretty light.

When my mum came home I discussed with her the fact I wasn't please that it wasn't light enough - despite my fears it would come out too light.

My mum said she should come back and do it 'til I get the colour I desire (but then also commented she has never done this so she doesn't really know if she should or I should pay again)

I decided to phone her and try to arrange for her to come back and bleach it for free until I get the colour I want. On the phone to her I explained all the things I SHOULD HAVE SAID when she was at the house but was too stupid and nieve, again, to do. I guess I'll learn.

This is what I said to her:

I want to book my second head of foils

Would this be free because you said on the phone if it's too light I wouldn't have to pay extra to get it a slighter darker shade of blonde (much like in the picture of Scarlett Johansson). I didn't realize it would turn out darker. So would it be an extra cost to fix it to a lighter colour?

I showed you a picture of how I wanted it (the one of Scarlett Johansson) and you said that's how it would turn out but it didn't


This is what she replied:

At first she said she could do it for half, then after explaing she said on the phone it would be quite light so I thought I'd only need one she said she would do it for free

She is coming round on tuesday. So I will post what happened then and I'll also upload the pictures of the brown colour I dyed my hair to, the colour it faded too, the colour it is now and the colour it will eventually be on tuesday afternoon!

Thanks for reading. I'll just edit this post, so check back here!

The Pretty Reckless review

Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen has a pretty big job on her hands convincing us she is not just a mediocre pop singer dressed up as Courtney Love with just as much attitude and a hell of a lot more black eyeliner.

(Her band) The Pretty Reckless’ new single ‘make me wanna die’ entered the UK charts at number 16 and everything is looking promising for this young ‘rock-star’ with an album due to be released in June.

The dark sound of the lyrics and the hoarse voice of the lead singer makes this song a world away from pop (for that reason, solely, it gets a thumbs up in my books) but is it really rock? Or a wanna-be replica of Courtney Love’s band Hole (who Momsen cited as an inspiration)? Is it really wanna-be-rock-but-really-pop, just like Avril Lavinge?

During an interview on This Morning she apologised for swearing, realizing she wasn'y allowed to. What happened to the good old days, ey? When The Sex Pistols wouldn’t give a ‘s**t’ and swear live on TV and Pete Townshend would smash up his guitar on stage for real (and not just a music video).

Is The Pretty Reckless the start of a new wave of rock bands bringing hard/grunge rock back into the mainstream? I guess we’ll see in time, but I sure hope so!

My lip balms/syls

I am not really a lipstick girl (although I really want a 1940's style red lippy at the moe) but I do like to have nice, soft lips so I tend to wear lysyls.

Here are the 3 I currently own: left to right; vaseline pot, nivea essential care, nivea pearl shine, palmer's moisturizing lip balm



I am going to talk a bit about each of them and what I think of them.

Vaseline
Good ol' vaseline. You can't really go wrong. Since I have a big pot (I did try melting it into a little post - big mistake!) I wear it at night time and really after a few days it softens lips. Perfect really and gives a nice shine to lips.

Nivea essential care
However good I have said vaseline is why did I buy another lypsyl? I think it's because of the packaging and I don't particularly like having to dip my finger in something then put it onto my lips :S

So this seemed like a great idea. I find this lysyl seems to have a higher melting point because it always glides onto my lips TOO easily. I'd prefer it to be a bit stiffer, but apart from that it's really the same as the lypsyl - nice gloss to the lips and I definatley prefer it to lipgloss

Nivea Pearl Shine
This is an absolutley gorgeous colour. It's similar to a 17 lipgloss I was once given before they redesigned the packaging. It's a pale pink and is very shiny. However I don't find it moisturizes my lips as much as I'd like and doesn't last all day or, even, 2 hrs - especially when you have eaten.

On the upside though, it smells GORGEOUS. I could eat it or, at least, smell it for the rest of my life.

Palmer's moisturizing lip balm
I haven't used this one yet because I only got it last week. Once I have used it I will report back ;)

Sleek Storm Palette review

This product has been reviewed many times on the blogging communities (and is the main reason I decided to buy this palette) but there are some people who will not have bought this so I thought I'd do a review.

Firstly, the only palette that looks any good is the Storm palette because I really don't like bright colours. I like very neutral/natural colours so I like the colour choice of the palette.



SLEEK DIVINE EYESHADOW PALETTE IN STORM

Cost: £5.00.

Weight: 12 eyeshadows = 1.1g each.

Size: roughly 14x7.5cm.

Packaging quality (/10): 7.

"crumbliness" (/10 - 1=very crumbly, 10-not crumbly): 4.

Good Points: Big mirror inside, sponge wand inside, price, colours are nicley pigmented.

Bad Points: Very crumbly, especcialy the matte black eyeshadow, which is not good when you have a cream carpet. Because of the crumbliness of the product I can not use it as a mirror in my hanbdbag because it will probably crumble EVEN more. However my aunt also has this palette and she said hers didn't crumble - maybe I got the bad one? After a while some colours gather in the crease line of my eye, but that may be due to not using eye primer, but foundation instead.

Would I re-purchase? I don't know yet, probably. For the price and the pigmentation of the colours it's very good but areas my carpet are ruined because of this :S

Swatches They are in the same order as the colours in the palette. I took 2 pictures to give you an idea in different lighting





Looks created with the palette (Click for a larger image) - sorry for my incredibly short eyelashes I hate them :'(

Avon Planet Spa African Shea Foot And Elbow Cream

I have used this cream for ages but decided to review it as I have got a new hand cream and thought I could review and compare the two. I haven't used the new one (Palmers cocoa butter formula) yet so I'll compare them when I get round to using it. That probably wont be for a long time because I want to use it for a few weeks before I tell you my opinion, plus I have to let my hands get dry again :P

Onto the review...



AVON PLANET SPA AFRICAN SHEA FOOT AND ELBOW CREAM

Cost: (don't know - I didn't buy it) no more the £5.00.

Weight: 75ml.

Packaging quality (/10): 4.

Good Points: I know it's for foot and elbows but I use it for hands last thing at night because it is very thick. However it is absolutley brilliant after about a week of using it on dry hands every day. It also softens my cuticules as well.

Bad Points: When I wake up in the morning my hands are still a little bit greasy but it's not too bad. I can't use it in the morning because, although the smell is quite nice - it isn't to anyone else you meet in the day. I didn't give it good marks for packaging because once you have put the cram on your hands you have to screw on the lid again, which is annoying. The mixture is quite thick, thicker than suncream so takes a while to soak in.

Would I re-purchase? Definatley but I might have to transfer the butter into a new container that has a push down nozzle.

E.L.F Studio Line Blush review

Left to right: Candid coral, Tickled Pink

I bought these 2 items a few days ago along with a concealer which I will review soon. This is the packaging they came in. It's just a regular brown box and nothing was damaged when I looked inside.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customer service wasn't impressive but I can't really judge how they deal with problems because I didn't have any problems with the order. I choose the standard delivery and it arrived 2 days after I got an email saying it had been shipped, which I was very happy about as I hate waiting for something I've ordered.


E.L.F STUDIO LINE BLUSH IN TICKLED PINK

Cost: £3.50.

Weight: 2.75g.

Size: 7x6cm.

Packaging quality (/10): 8.

Good Points: No particular smell, small mirror inside but I would have preffered it to have covered the whole of the lid, the packaging is very similar to NARS blush and is the main reason I was attracted to buying this product, excellent value for money compared to other brands.

Bad Points: A little dusty when I put the brush in, not my favourite colour.

Would I re-purchase? No, but only because I don't like the colour as much as the other one and I'd like to try other colours out from the range


E.L.F STUDIO LINE BLUSH IN CANDID CORAL

Cost: £3.50.

Weight: 2.75g.

Size: 7x6cm.

Packaging quality (/10): 8.

Good Points: No particular smell, small mirror inside but I would have preffered it to have covered the whole of the lid, the packaging is very similar to NARS blush and is the main reason I was attracted to buying this product, excellent value for money compared to other brands, the colour is absolutley gorgeous.

Bad Points: A little dusty when I put the brush in.

Would I re-purchase? Definatley

Left to right: Candid coral, Tickled pink

Overall: I think these blushers are great, mainly because I like the packaging and that they are small and so easy to transport. I love the colour of Candid coral and will definatley re-purchase this item and I may try the other colours as well. Also, for just £3.50 it is definatley worth it.