Festive Make Up Ideas

Hello there!

I'm sure we are all feeling very full and probably a little ashamed of our eating habits yesterday. As usual I ended up eating a massive Christmas dinner with cheesecake to finish and then following it up with a second round later on in the evening along with chocolates and nibbles....the guilt is unreal.

The last thing that is on my mind right now is getting ready for my next night out, particularly New Year's Eve as it seems so far away and another eating/drinking session seems a bit vile. However the planning necessary for the hair and make up element of the night seems a nice and easy task right now.

I've been looking up some inspiration and instead of trying to create my own to show you I thought I'd leave it to the more capable hands of Pinterest. All of these images have come from my account if you'd like to view them (username is 'thecsigirls' you can find it by clicking in the toolbar to the right)

So yes, to double clarify, none of these are my own just purely some inspiration for some simple and some more extravagant beauty ideas for the end of year party.

Tresemme Pro Shine Range

Hey

With Christmas just around the corner it means party season is well and truly with us. I don’t know about you but my hair is definitely something I tend to get stuck in a rut with. I either wear it in loose curls or straight and have lately been lacking inspiration.

Earlier in the year I was lucky to meet Anthony from Beauty Seen PR as part of their regional tour and he introduced me to some of the new products Tresemme has bought out in line with X Factor as they are one of the sponsors.

Jamie Stevens is the head hair dresser for X Factor. Little random fact he lived on my estate as a kid and I used to have his sisters clothes. Claim to fame right there haha! Jamie has done some amazing hair on the show and here I’ve got some of his top styles, how to achieve them and what products to use to make them work.

I find styling products is really something I forget to use. Heat protectant is a must for me but that’s usually it. I love that the tresemme range is affordable and designed to help make styles last as there is nothing worse than spending ages on your hair for it to all drop out. These tips show you how best to use them.

Through X Factor there have been some gorgeous hair styles. Some I've tried to recreate myself and some I’ll be trying out soon for Christmas Day and a friend’s birthday. I always think it’s good to get glam on Christmas Day.

The half up half down is one of my favourite styles to do to make normal curly hair look a bit different. I love how you can add hair accessories easily to make it festive and think the volume to the crown adds glamour! This is a style that easily works well with both long and short hair. I love the full fringe Tamera has here and the messy distressed curls! This would be perfect for nights out or Christmas day hair and would look gorgeous with a sparkly clip at the back. It’s a simple one that anyone can recreate. I really want to pick up the liquid texture mist to try as I think this style works when messy and my hair can be a bit too neat. This is also a great one to do on day old hair.

I love that Tresemme haven’t gone with anything too much when linking the packaging to the X Factor and have kept it true to their packaging.

 

I love big hair, the bigger the better for me. I love how Tamera’s hair has been done here and the big brushed out curls look amazing! Tips like Jamie’s to let you know the product will make your hair feel stiff but this is what you want is really helpful as if I hadn't read this and used a product that made my hair go stiff I’d be tempted to wash it again. Once my hair is back blonde and matching my extensions this is a style I’ll be trying.

I've recently been testing the illuminating shine oil spritz from the range. Shine spray was never a product I used. Who doesn't want shiny healthy looking hair but for me I was too worried it would look greasy and it just wasn't a product I thought to buy.

I’I'm so glad I’I've been able to try it though as it really is good. I spray it on the bottom two thirds of my hair and has been really helping my hair look shinier. Lately my hair has been dyed a lot and is subsequently lacking lustre. The shine spray has really helped this and hasn't made my hair greasy.

I love how affordable the range is and can’t wait to pick up the liquid texture mist and the shine ultimate volume whip.

Have you seen or tried the new range of tresemme products? Will you be picking any up for the festive period? The range is limited edition avavailable exclusively in tesco until march.  I’ll be stocking up on the oil spritz.

Love M

xxx

Hair Style: Big Bun Ring

Huge buns are seen everywhere at the moment. They are such a popular hair style and see on many celebs. They look elegant, clean and simple and create a smart look to any day or evening outfit. The gorgeous Lauren Conrad has been seen sporting this look along with many others.

image from shxxox,blogspot,com

This is a look I've been embracing regularly as it's so quick and easy to do. I did a tutorial a few weeks ago using my regular size bun ring that you can find here. This was using a regular size bun ring as I thought my hair was to short to be able to use a bun ring any bigger.

For Halloween I purchased a bigger bun ring from Claire's for a bargain £5 seen on other sites for around the £15 mark!! You can find it online here. Careful ordering from eBay I ordered one advertised as large and it was a regular small one.

Here you can see the size between the bun ring used in my original tutorial and my new one. If you see my original tutorial you can see I have quite short hair. It's around shoulder length and it's rather fine. I was surprised my hair covered it as well as it did.

 Here is the big bun ring in. I love the size of it and the way it looks and it's a hair style I do a lot. I fix this in the same way as the small one. There are step by step instructions on the link above. I do the same thing for the big bun except use a normal hair band as the small elastic ones are too small. You need a band with a good stretch that will fit over the bun but hold the hair tight once over it.

Another way these buns can be achieved is by using a clip in bun. Beauty Works has a great selection of them. Website found here!! They have loads of different styles I'm especially loving the Instant Celeb Bun which is going on my wishlist. The lovely Laura from Secret Diary of a Fashion Journalist showed how to use the messy bun hair piece in this post. It looked so great on her I instantly added a note to my wishlist.

The lovely Laura! Looking amazing in her Beauty Works Bun!

How amazing does it look! So if you don't have enough hair you can definitely fake this trend easily with great results!

What do you think of the bun trend? I'm thinking the bigger the better!

Love M

xxx

Hair Tutorial : Bun Ring

A bit of a different post today. I have recently discovered my shoulder length hair is now long enough to go in a bun ring! This was a very happy day. I love bun rings, the hair looks really chic and it means my hair can literally be done in 2 mins. I thought I'd share how I do it. I find this style works best on non straightened or day old hair.

This is what you need. A normal bun ring (mine still isn't long enough for big ones.) Kirby grips, a normal hair bamd, hair brush and the little plastic bands. Like snag free ones, you can get them from Claire's Accessories and they are sort of like elastic bands.

Next put it up in a pony tail with the normal band. Here you can see my hair is quite short and fine.

Then place your bun ring over the pony tail and tilt your head forward.

When your head is titled forward spread the hair around the bun ring so that it feels like most of it is covered. Use one of the snag free bands and place over the bun ring (I love these as they stretch enough to only need to go round once and hold the hair perfectly).

Then gently pull your bun ring outwards a bit so the band gets fully underneath and the excess hair starts to go under the bun.

Usually with a bit of a gently pull on my bun ring all the excess hair gets tucked under. Any strands that are still out I just wrap around and secure with grips. I then add two grips either side to keep it held down.

I like to add a bow or flower to mine for decoration. This one is from Dainty Roses, this is the small size and is £3.50 I love them for adding a bit of sparkle.

Then finally I apply hairspray to get rid of all the fly aways. It's such a quick and easy hair style once you get the hang of it. I use it so much now. It's great for days when your hair is bugging you and you just want it out of your face. 

Are you a bun ring fan? If you have longer hair Claire's Accessories have larger bun rings for £5 and online company Sleep Rollers do the really big ones for £15.

Love M

xxx

Hair Extensions

I've wanted hair extensions for ages. I've always had short hair that doesn't grow past my shoulders. It seems to get to that point and stop no matter what I try.

I wanted to wait a few weeks before writing this post so I'd had the extensions for a few weeks so I had got used to them.

Have any of you got extensions? I've had clip ins before but permanent ones are a whole different ball game. I had mine done by the lovely Shaneen from Avalon Hair and Beauty she also does hair cuts and spray tans if you are in the South Wales area I'd really recommend her.

This is my natural hair before extensions, I have fine hair that is naturally curly, not the easiest to apply extensions too! The extensions I had were the nano micro rings, the hair is applied to the hair by rings clamping down so it's much better than the glue and healthier to remove.

quick after photo!

After they have been applied they were cut to the desired length. After 2 weeks me and Shaneen decided it needed a few more strands added to thicken it up, my hair is pretty awkward as it's thin you can put to much hair towards the top half as it shows and no one wants that. 

I absolutely love it now, the hair is applied to you hair in way which means you can wear your hair up without the bonds showing, I backcomb the top of my hair slightly to hide the bonds more.

Photo of the bonds

They do take a lot more time than I'm used to styling them and drying them but the way they look is so worth it, I'm so pleased with them and love having long hair. It's also not recommended to wash them to often, I tend to do mine twice a week, if I'm lazy once. I know it sounds disgusting but I was the t section of my hair without extensions when it looks dirty and honestly the extensions don't look dirty.

Now for some photos of how I wear mine.

Fishtail plait, I'm really liking having long enough hair to do this, I tend to wear it a little messier, this was just done as a practice before bed. (it's best to plait extensions before bed so they don't tangle)

Straight with my cute dainty rose hair bow featured here   

I think I like it like this most, loose waves! Sorry for the posey photo!

What do you think of extensions? I love mine

Love M

xxx