Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger Styling Range

Hello there!

Posts have been a little thin on the ground recently so big apologies for not being able to keep up. We've both had so much on the last few weeks/months, if you don't follow us on social media you should as you can see what we have been getting up to more easily but we will hopefully catch up with things and get more time soon!

Today's review is of some hair styling products from the Awapuhi Wild Ginger range from Paul Mitchell.

If you're a long term reader you will know we are part of the Styling Society so these products were gifted to us, but after using them the last few weeks I wanted to share my thoughts on them. As always they are honest and not influenced by the fact these were given to me.

Salon Success Event

Hey all!

We've been very busy recently with events which has been lovely, not only is it nice to hear about new products and get to try them out but catching up with other bloggers and meeting new ones is also a favourite part of any event.

We were kindly invited to an event last week by Salon Success, it was an amazing evening and felt like we were having a catch up meal with friends!

On arrival we were greeted with champagne and shown to a beautifully decorated table in St David's Hotel. It felt very posh but also cosy, as we had a room to ourselves with a view of Cardiff Bay and lots of friendly faces to chatter with.

After sitting down we could have a look at the products laid out at each place for us to learn about whilst we were there. The event was put on by Salon Success who represent Paul Mitchell and New CID Cosmetics amongst others, here we also had products from Marula Oil, Awapuhi and Mitch by Paul Mitchell.

First up though, we were treated to a glorious three course meal from the menu above. All courses were absolutely gorgeous and we fully enjoyed it (forgetting alllllllll about our holiday diets!)







It was gorgeous, the warm apple tart tatin was a particular favourite!

We all ooh'ed and aah'ed over the food and the products for quite a while until we decided to get stuck in and trying everything out. As I've already mentioned it was just like having a meal with friends and we all gossiped and shared stories so I think we went way over our original time!

We were lucky enough to take all of the products home with us to try, and also a bag of make up from New CID Cosmetics. I've always wanted to try a number of their products after Mia's reviews and so I was very excited by this, especially the i-groom!

We even managed to sneak outside for a quick selfie outside but it was horrible weather!

We had a lovely time at the event and having a good old natter about hair and make up, which after a day of work is exactly what you need really isn't it??

We will be putting up posts with reviews in future so if anything catches your eye don't forget to check back. I can already tell you that the Marula Oil Rare Oil Treatment smells divine and works a charm!!


L and M xxx

Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Protective Primer

Hey there!

If you've read our recent post about the Smashbox, Ojon and Bumble and Bumble event in Boots then you will also know that we were really impressed with the products we were shown.

I've been working my way through my stash recently but I'd also been looking for a hair product, preferably a spray that could cover the requirements of a heat protector and also a leave in conditioner. Did such a thing exist? Well I found this little beauty on the shelf:

The Bumble and Bumble (Bb) Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Heat/UV Protective Primer was something that stood out to me from the shelf; the neon coral is one of my favourite colours and seeing as it was in a spray form I just couldn't resist!

There are 2 sizes of this product available in store,the 250ml bottle costs £19 and there was a smaller bottle available too. On line it shows up as a 60ml bottle costing £7 but I'm pretty sure in store there was a smaller size for a larger price - it's a little confusing!

The protective primer is sold as a sublime pre-styler for a total transformation of your hair.

The product is infused with six featherlight oils to soften, detangle, defrizz, tame flyaways, ease styling, and protect against breakage, heat and UV all in one go.

That's quite a claim really isn't it?

It's therefore claimed to be for people with dry, coarse or brittle hair - mine is definitely dry so I figured it would be worth a go for me!

You need to apply this to damp hair before styling, using the spray was super easy and it creates a mist rather than dumping a load of product onto your freshly washed hair. As I've mentioned many times on the blog I don't use many hair products aside from hairspray when I curl my hair, I don't find they work well with my hair and give much of a positive effect at all. Some oils have been ok, but can seem to coat my hair rather than actually penetrate it and do some good.

So far though, this one has been an anomaly!

Spraying this on my hair after washing and before drying is such a simple thing but it makes such a big difference. My hair feels so much smoother and in much better condition after only a week's worth of usage.

Even though it's just a spray I can't believe how different this product is from so many others I have tried before it. It's supposedly for dry, coarse or brittle hair. My hair is dry from being so long but it isn't generally coarse or brittle, and it can easily become greasy from applying products to it, no matter how 'lightweight' they claim to be.

This spray has genuinely had such a great effect on my hair that I would definitely consider trying out more products from Bb, I will certainly be making a wishlist in time for my birthday later this month!

Have you tried products from Bumble and bumble? What's your favourite?
Do you prefer spray type products or serums?


L xxx

Charles Worthington Intense Rescue Melting Balm

Hey All

After months years of dying and abusing my hair it's not in the best shape anymore. I'm always trying to find the next best thing to try and 'fix' it! I remember hearing FleurDeForce mention this a while back in a video so when I saw it for a third off in boots I had to pick it up (it's still currently on offer!). You can see some of the latest colours in this post!

The Charles Worthington Instensive Rescue Melting Balm is a solid balm that melts to an oil at body temperature. It's also applied to dry hair pre washing. This does seem a bit unnatural at first but as someone who sleeps in oils sometimes it's not too weird. I tend to melt it in my hands the rub it through. I tend to do it in small amounts.

It claims the blend of 7 oils and butters helps to deep condition and rescue thirsty, dry, damaged hair. This does receive a lot of rave reviews. It needs to be left on the hair for 20 minutes. I have slept in it before and it did make my hair a little greasy the next day after washing but it seemed to then settle down again after!

I honestly think I've found a product that beats the Macadamia deep repair mask! Now that is a big claim in itself for me. After using this my hair feels instantly less dry and the feeling lasts a good few days. It's easier to brush and looks better straightened. It seems to calm my frizz and has definitely helped my dry ends.

It also doesn't weigh my hair down at all of make it greasy any quicker (even when I slept in it, although it felt greasy the first day after that it was fine and I went my normal 4-5 days, Sometimes even 6-7. Yes I'm gross but honestly my hair is so trained now it doesn't look dirty!)

I'm a convert and can't recommend this enough. If you have dry hair you need this in your life!

Love M

xxx

How to: Make Your Hair Grow

Hello!

I've got a different kind of post for you today. I'm one of those people that always wants their hair to grow....but I can't resist having it trimmed regularly either because I hate having dead ends which always look worse on longer hair.

So I've been trying to grow that little bit longer each month and I think I've got some tips on how to make it grow longer and stay in better condition that i thought I'd share.

1) Condition, condition, condition! This isn't a new thing but its so important to keep your hair strong. My favourite products for this are Mane n Tail conditioner (post here), Aussie's 3 minute miracle and Macadamia's Deep Repair Masque. 

I use the Mane n Tail conditioner throughout the week and then the Aussie and Macadamia once per week depending on which I can afford!

2) Detangler, Heat Protection and Protein Sprays. Use as many as you like but all will help. I was never a fan for hair products as I never felt they did anything, but the detangler will help when you brush your hair and stop hair breaking as easily. I am currently using Ojon's Revitalising Mist. Heat protection sprays I have no idea about really, but apparently they do work and I think if a light covering over your hair prevents even a small percentage of it from heat  I'm all for it!

As for Protein Sprays there's only one for me and its the Label.M Protein Spray. It's lightweight and really does the job for adding an extra hit for your hair.

3) Tangle Teezer. I barely need to say any more, but I can assure you since getting one for Christmas I have never gone back and used my paddle brush since. 

It has stopped my hair breakage almost 100% and glides through my tangles without pulling or snapping any of them yet the miraculously disappear. This would be my number one tip for anyone wanting hair growth!

4) Give up the styling. For some people this is really hard. Unfortunately/fortunately for me I have to wear my hair tied up and in a bun every single day which has helped greatly with reducing my usage of heated styling. I seem to end up straightening or curling my hair twice a month now for special occasions but its made a huge difference to my hair.

Even if you could swap 2 days of beautifully styled hair for a neat bun it will help a lot. Bun rings are all the rage at the moment and for an extra bit of hydration I have covered the ends of my hair in oil before tying it up in a bun so it can hydrate itself all day long whilst I'm working!

I'm currently using Ojon's Rare Blend Oil.

5) Food. One of my favourite topics! I believe that a diet rich in protein, veg and good fats has made a huge difference to my skin and hair.

Not only is it better for yourself to eat a diet like this anyway but it will greatly improve your skin, hair, nails and general fitness and wellbeing.

Try adding in some extra oily fish like salmon, nuts, eggs, spinach, sweet potato, poultry and greek yogurt to your diet a few times a week and your hair will definitely improve from lank to full bodied and shiny.

I hope this has been helpful for you, it's made a massive difference for my hair and its now almost at waist level.....woohoo!

L xxx

Ojon Hair Product Bundle

Happy weekend!!!

I will freely admit that I have scheduled this post (it's currently Thursday night) as I've wanted to write about this bundle for a little while. However this combined with the fact that we also planned to go out last night (Friday) and I just knew I wouldn't be in any state to write a post before we head off to my parents caravan for some beach and BBQ fun!

So fingers crossed we aren't too hungover....as we've bought so much pimms to drink later on!

After hearing a lot about Ojon products the past year or so I couldn't resist when I saw a bundle of products put together in cellophane for a discounted price. I mean who could refuse!

The kit contains:
Full Detox Shampoo 250ml £21
Dry Recovery Revitalising Mist 175ml £20.50
Rare Blend Oil 45ml £30

All of these are full size and the bundle retails separately at £71.50.

I managed to pick this up......for £23.

Yes you read that right, £23!!!! How amazing!

I'd wanted to get my hands on this very pretty and gorgeous smelling oil for a while but couldn't justify the £30 price tag.

But are they worth the cash??

I have been using the Full Detox Shampoo for a few weeks now and have noticed a difference in my hair after using it. After a few washes it definitely feels cleaner than it did previously and so I feel that it has reduced some of the build up that was present on my hair.

As well as being detoxifying and helping you to get rid of oil and impurities it contains the Ojon oil, Macadamia oil and Sunflower Seed oil for nourishment.

I do really like this shampoo and am happy to have tried it as part of the deal. However I don't believe that it is worth the £21 price tag, as I don't think any shampoo can be THAT much better than another retailing for a few pound. I do really like this but i'll be keeping it for special occasions and for when my hair is in need of a product detox.

Next up is the Revitalising Mist which I was really interested in!

This claims to revitalise, rehydrate, detangle and tame flyaways all without being sticky or stiff.

I like the idea of this, and even better that its two products you have to shake up and the spray feels really light going onto your hair and it doesn't feel coated.

It did feel a little sticky on the top but that could be from me being so heavy handed with it.......

My hair does feel more nourished and definitely more hydrated from using the mist, probably as this also contains the Ojon oil the collection is named after.
Essentially its a leave in conditioner but I am always looking for additional moisture for my hair and this one is rather lovely!

Now onto the biggie in the bundle, the rare blend oil.

This 45ml bottle will set you back £30 which is quite a lot!

So does it actually work?

They say:

From tropical Tahiti to the Kalahari Desert in Africa, from the remote rainforests of Central America and beyond, Ojon™ gathered potent natural oils legendary for their "great healing powers" and infused them into 3 hair- phases: Amber, Crystal and Red.

One precious drop of this multi-tasking wonder helps protect, nourish and transforms dull, dry or damaged hair to vibrant health. Hair instantly looks glossier, shinier; suddenly feels softer, silkier, more luxurious.

I love that they've listed the oils on the side of the box, knowing that its a blend and the company aren't afraid to let people know exactly what's in it is great. And I love the desert/rainforest type packaging they have going on, definitely makes it feel a lot more special and interesting.

They have a long list of promises on the box; taming frizz, preventing heat damage, nourishing and encouraging shine all of which you would expect from a super oil.

I do really like the three layer presentation, particularly the colours, and even more when it's shaken up into a milky coral colour.

I should mention at this point that the oil smells reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally nice!!! A bit fruity, a bit tropical but definitely not overpowering. As you will be putting this on your head I'd hate for this to be overpowering as it would be hanging around all day. I think they've got the balance just right.

However I beg to differ about the 'one drop' theory. I know I have long hair but I believe anyone would need more than 1 single drop and I personally end up pouring out a few drops onto my hand to ensure my hair is covered and have never found this to be too much and be sticky.

I thought the oil was lovely, smells gorgeous, looks gorgeous and does help to prevent frizz, boost moisture and possibly add shine. I can't comment on how well it prevents heat damage as I rarely heat treat my hair anymore, probably twice a month i'll style it so my hair is in good condition from that anyway but every little helps!

It was a pleasure to try all of these products for the discounted price in the bundle and I can't say a really bad word about any of them. However I would begrudge paying this amount when there are other products out there just as good for less cash.
My hair seems to respond quite well to cheaper products so I'm lucky in that respect, I certainly can't say the same for my skin!

What do you think of Ojon and their products? Would you fork out the full whack for these beauties?

L xxx

Review: Tresemme Liquid Gold

It's ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonly blooming Friday!!!

Thank the lord! Even though I've had a day off this week and consequently have to work on Saturday I am so glad it's Friday. It means that my day in work on the weekend will be quiet and I can just chill out and do nothing as I have made no plans for Sunday apart from gym and EAT. Woop!

As you'll know hair oils are pretty big news, and I was excited when Tresemme brought out their addition to the mix, Liquid Gold.

It contains Argan Oil and comes in a really easy to use pump as shown above, and comes with a lid. This is VERY important so it doesn't spill everywhere as I can imagine this would be an absolute NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHTMARE to clean up.

That being said, I managed to 'lose' mine in my overnight bag for such a long time I thought I'd lost it.

After much rummaging and confusion however I found it had fallen through the lining and was actually in said bag the entire time, hurrah!

So I quickly started using this again over the past few weeks whilst I was still on the spending ban.

If you've read any of my posts on that ban you'll see that I have spectacularly broken my ban after a trip to the Cosmetics Company Outlet (CCO) and now I'm just trying to be really good....

So, back to the oil.

Having used the Macadamia Oil hair mask and fallen in love with it, promising myself that I would buy a tub of it as soon as the ban was over I used this oil without much hope.

So I am quite happy to admit that I have been proved wrong and my expectations of this were exceeded.

Not only is it really easy to use and control how much comes out, it sinks into your hair really well and so far I haven't experienced any oily residues after using it on wet hair before I dry it nor on dry hair to tame those pesky frizzy bits.

Now I must admit I am lucky in the hair department due to having relatively straight hair with a bit of a wave in (think Kate Middleton...probably on a bad hair day) so I don't really need much in the way of taming the frizz but as for helping my coloured hair stay in good condition it has helped quite a bit.

So not only does this get a thumbs up from me it has so far stopped me from purchasing the considerably more expensive Macadamia oil......this actually only costs £4.99 at Boots right now!

This is an absolute bargain, and after checking the most recent prices I have spotted some other things from Tresemme I'd love to get my hands on.

Has anyone tried the Keratin Smooth Deep Treatment Masque? It sounds pretty good to me!

What do you think of Tresemme? Have you found cheaper high street products to be as good as more expensive boutique and designer ones?

L xxx

Product Buzzword of 2012

I know a lot of people will be writing posts about their best products of 2012 and I most likely will do the same once I've had the chance to think about what mine are!

However when I was thinking of what products have featured heavily in my 2012 and also in general in the cosmetic/blogging world there was only one type of product that stood out in my mind: oil.

Image from Thrive Farm Wordpress

How many types of oil are there available??

Hair oil, face oil, body oil, shower oil.......

In particular Moroccan/Macadamia/Argan oil have taken the cosmetics world by storm and although I haven't used much of it, I have used the Macadamia hair mask and the Ojon oil and am very much a fan of both!

I have used some body oils but I'm always in a rush and am yet to find one that sinks in fast enough and does a good job.

As skincare is one of my favourite topics and aisles to browse in store, I have tried and tested a few face oils this year that has been my biggest surprise.

Starting off my year with oily skin, the last thing I would have put on my face is oil!

Once my skin changed due to stress and became drier and covered in cysts, I was forced to apply more moisturiser to combat the lack of hydration that I'd never experience before.

This included oils and now I would never be without them!

They helped clear some scars on my face, hydrated dry patches and did not in any way affect my oily t-zone! (Particularly Antipodes Divine Oil)

This for me was a revelation and I have been happy to swallow my words on adding oil to oily skin.

Do you agree that oils have been the biggest buzzword of 2012?

It makes me wonder what will be the product type of 2013...does anyone have any ideas?

I think nail art comes a close second as the biggest hype in 2012, maybe it hasn't had its day yet....or maybe products with a distinct lack of chemicals will become even more popular and product choice will increase with demand?

Who knows!

You know however, that we will all be watching! I for one cannot wait for 2013!

L xxx

Review: Macadamia Oil

Absolutely months and months ago in the February JolieBox I received a sample sachet of the Macademia Oil Deep Repair Masque.

For some reason I rarely use hair products even though I own loads of them and so this has taken me a while to get around to using.

I have however had really dry hair that's felt really brittle and just generally not nice, so I routed around in my collection to find it and test it out.

Firstly, as I've had this for so long I only have the one photo which is pretty lame so I apologise for that. I thought I had more and used it and threw it out so I'll try not to babble on too much!

I'd heard great things about this sachet, not just about the contents but that fact that the sachet was so big it allowed you to have multiple applications of the product, which is always lovely as using something once can be misleading.

I managed to get 2 applications out of this as I have really long hair and slapped in on all over my head.

I could have got 3 if say, I'd concentrated it on the ends which is what I would normally have done if my hair hadn't felt so dire.

The other thing I'd heard was that it was a fabulous product that really worked.

Having never tried Argan oil or Moroccan oil before I had nothing to compare it to aside from other hair masks, and I have to say this is one of the best ones I've ever tried.

The mask felt really nice on my hair to being with, not too runny it ran onto my face but easy enough to spread around my entire head covering all of my hair. I've no idea how long I left it for but I showered and scrubbed etc in the shower meaning it was on for around 10 minutes.

My hair instantly felt softer and smoother after washing it out and after drying with my hair dryer as normal it felt in much better condition. I used the other half of the sachet 5 days later in an attempt to improve the condition further and keep the softness there and it worked a treat!

I would buy this in a heartbeat, especially as Cheap Smells have the entire range, with a huge 500ml pot of this retailing at £24 instead of the RRP of £36, bargain!

If this sounds a lot to you then let me explain, the sachet was 30ml meaning 15ml for each application for longer hair.

The 500ml tub contains 33 full applications working out at 72p each.

Pretty hard to say no to that isn't it??

I'm in love!

L xxx

When L told me she had this in her joliebox I was so envious. I adore the Macadamia products. My hair dresser introduced me to the range probably two and half to three years ago, the salon used this mask as a treatment. I also used to add this on when I went there and pick up this sachets.

It leaves your hair feeling so soft, manageable and really helps improve the condition. Unlike L I'm a hair mask  lover. I've tried my fair share. I'm currently using the Lee Stafford for hair that doesn't grow treatment (not entirely convinced it works but can't stop using it now I've started in case it does)

This product also smells amazing. I should add her I'm blonde and have never had problems with it and my hair dresser used it on me, as I did read in some posts people had been told it's not suitable for blonde hair.

The Macadamia healing oil treatment is amazing as well. Its on cheap smells for £13.68. Which is such a bargain. This bottle is 125ml and lasted me 6 months when I had it. It is by fair the best oil I have tried. Recently I've been trying cheaper versions to try and save myself  money and they aren't as good. While L has found it as this bargain price I'll be ordering. It'll work out at just £2.50 a month. Bargain.

Have you tried the Macadamia Range? I love it!!

Love M

xxx