Review: Aveda Damage Remedy products

I realise these are only tiny samples but I just had to blog about them after the effect they had on my hair.

This is the Aveda Damage Remedy trio:

My hair isn't in bad condition normally, and in fact I never owned a hair oil until 2 weeks ago.

But recently my hair has been feeling awful, especially at the ends.

It's really frustrating as after straightening it twice all year and curling it about 5 times, as well as getting it cut at least every 2 months, it should be in pretty damn good condition!

I use heat protector and occasionally some Sebastian Potion 9 when I remember and that's usually all it needs.

However I think because I've been growing it for so long it's probably in need of some TLC.

This was why I ended up investing in a hair oil (Tresemme Liquid Gold if you were wondering, post soon!)

I've always been pretty lucky with my hair but in my hour of need, my nan (of all people!) had been given this in a shop and donated it to me, perfect timing!

This is the Aveda Damage Remedy set and contains a shampoo, conditioner and leave in treatment.

The details are:

Damage Remedy Shampoo

Organic Damage Remedy Restructuring Shampoo is a gentle daily cleanser most suited to dry, damaged or chemically treated hair. It helps repair damaged hair. With the addition of Quinoa Protein, Babassu and Coconut Oil your hair is moisturised and restored.

Damage Remedy Conditioner 

Damage Remedy Restructuring Conditioner is a lightweight yet deep daily conditioner. The formula using Quinoa Protein, phellendron and Sandalwood repairs and restores the hair shaft resulting in smoother manageable healthy looking hair.

Damage Remedy Intensive Restructuring Treatment 

Damage Remedy™ Intensive Restructuring Treatment combines essential flower and plaint oils to repair and rebuild. It restores and moisturises the hair shaft and helps to smooth out the hair cuticle. Used twice weekly alongside the three step programme hair is restored to shiny healthy condition.

So onto my thoughts...the shampoo and conditioner both smelt lovely.

It's really hard to describe but I could smell a sort of almond and aniseed type smell at different times which was odd but nice all the same.

Definitely couldn't smell the coconut oil in the shampoo, but it lathered up nicely and my hair felt very clean afterwards.

The shampoo was also thicker than others I've used suggesting it was a lot more moisturising which I'm guessing it was with the result it gave me.

The conditioner felt very nice to put through my hair as it sort of melted as I applied it.

I ended up using the entire tubes of shampoo and conditioner in one go as my hair felt like it needed it and 10ml isn't a lot!

I left the conditioner on for a good few minutes in the shower and my hair felt a lot better even whilst still under the water.

Lastly I used the leave in treatment just before I blow dried my hair which was a serum type product, if a little runnier than normal.

The result was that my hair felt absolutely amazing and I loved it!

I would definitely consider buying these 3 to see what the long term effects are if the short term effects are so instant.

Other products just don't seem the same since and my hair doesn't feel as great a week later so I'm going to have to try something else as at the moment my budget won't stretch to Aveda.

It's a shame that the tubes weren't a little bigger really! I'm going to have to dig through my collection and find some hair products to use up.

Have you used Aveda products before?

I've heard lots about them but have never used them, this was my first time and I'm thoroughly impressed!

L xxx

Also don't forget to enter our Selfridge's Beauty Box giveaway!!!

You can find it here

*CLOSED* Selfridge's Beauty Box....Giveaway!!

Good morning ladies!

I hope you've had a lovely week and are looking forward to the weekend as much as me!

As most of you will know, Selfridge's are opening up a new beauty hall which is in fact THREE times bigger than it was previously.

This is the kind of news dreams are made of!

When they announced that to celebrate this, they were creating their own version of the infamous beauty boxes making the rounds of the blogosphere this was quite frankly the highlight of my year!

Having seen a few bloggers post about the contents I drooled for a little while and then hastily signed up, and text M to hurry up and do it too!

When the time came we obviously missed the original 50/100 boxes that were snapped up before 7am because we completely forgot (i.e. I was asleep!)

However we were both ON FIRE when the second lot (around 125 more) of them came out and managed to snap up one each and were massively excited.

We'd been thinking about doing a giveaway for a while having hit another milestone in our views and generally just to thank anyone who reads our blog and interacts with us on twitter as we have really enjoyed writing it over the past few months.

We met up one evening in the past few days and were discussing the contents to find that actually we could split a box between us as there were certain products we wanted more than others.....and being conscious of the massive back log of products we both have to get through we decided to share. (see Beauty Rehab here!)

Which basically leads me to say that against all of our beauty hoarding tendencies (it almost breaks me into a sweat thinking about it!) we now have a brand new, fully stocked Selfridge's box TO GIVE AWAY.

Yes.

To. Give. Away. (!!!)

So, if you missed out when furiously refreshing your page or didn't get your details online in time then this is your chance to get your hands on one of the 200(ish) boxes.

Firstly, here's a reminder of the box and the products that you could win:

A little slice of heaven!

Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask and Aesop Parsley Seed Anti-oxidant Serum

Estelle and Thild Lip Balm and Bioeffect EGF Serum (EGF-Epidermal Growth Factor)

Philip B Katira Hair Mask and the booklet that explains all of the brands and products, as well as details on the new beauty hall

Stila One Step Correct serum and Antipodes Avocado and Rosehip Divine Face Oil

Drool worthy aren't they???

What we love most is that they're from all over the world (incl. New Zealand, Budapest, Hungary and Sweden) and many contain natural and organic products, something that we are both very conscious of, and so this is the perfect give away for us.

So, onto the small print:

The winner will be drawn by rafflecopter so it is randomised.

The giveaway is open only to people in the UK. 

The winner will be contacted within 48 hours of the end of the giveaway, if there is no response after 1 week another winner will be generated. (remember to leave all your details!)

Following via GFC and on twitter, as well as leaving a comment and supplying your email address are mandatory but all others are optional. 

If you do enter, all options will be checked so be warned ;)

Good luck!

L and M xxx

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(please note that the time for the giveaway is in EST as I couldn't change it, meaning it is set to 5 hours behind UK time)

NOTD: Catwoman Inspired Nails

So I don't know about you, but I absolutely LOVE me some super hero films.

I loved Avengers, I love all of the Spiderman, Hulk, Thor and all the previous Batman films.

I'm not really that girly when it comes to film watching, I'm ten times more likely to see action with a buff man in than I am to see a romance like the Notebook.

Needless to say then, I absolutely loved The Dark Knight Rises and was so excited for it to finally come out, especially with the Tom Hardy/Christian Bale muscle show!

After I saw it however there was one thing on my mind (in the nicest way possible)...Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman.

Quite frankly I think she looked unbelievable in her leather cat suit and she's currently my motivation to go to the gym and replace stuffing myself with cake and ice cream with fruit and salad:

How is it that she can have such a tiny waist!

I read somewhere that she spent 10 months in the gym, good on her!

With this in mind, I decided to do my take on Cat Woman inspired nails

Here's my final result!

I went for simplicity over cramming too many details in.

I like that if you think about it, you can probably work out what the nails are about (if you are into the film as much as I was!)

Basically I used the black crackle from Barry M to paint 4 of my nails and the red colour to paint my ring finger.

The black crackle layered up looks great as a nod towards her leathers as they have some kind of pattern put to them which you can see in the pictures above.

The red is of course a nod towards her red lipstick, which she has for most if not all of the film.

I also covered all of the nails with a matte top coat.

Her cat suit and lipstick are both matte finish and I felt this would look better than a shiny top coat.

Lastly I used my new Model's Own nail art pen in white to add dots in a half moon shape at the base of my middle finger nail.

This is as you've probably guessed a nod towards the pearl necklace that she steals/wears during the film.

I couldn't find any other Cat Woman style nails but I hope this is something different to any others that are around.

What do you think of them?

Simple and enough? Or would you have added more?

Also....HAVE YOU SEEN HER SHOES?!

Those boots are to die for. But obviously strutting around Uni wearing these might cause some suspicions!

I'm going to give a very subtle hint that you should come back and check our blog tomorrow, as we have some AMAZINGLY EXCITING NEWS that I can (almost) guarantee you will love.

All will be revealed at 9am tomorrow, but you should definitely check back!

L xxx

Review: Colour B4 (before and after photos)

I've been meaning to write this post for a while. I'm sure a few of you have died your hair and then regretted. I know I have a few times. I have naturally blonde hair and regularly alternate between blonde, brown and red. The First time I died my hair my mum told me I would never get it back blonde.

I'd heard of Colour B4 but never thought of trying it as it costs £9.99 in boots and I thought it can't really work that well. 

The first time I used it was last year after dying it red and getting fed up with the maintenance it needed and how quickly it faded. I knew I couldn't dye over the red so thought I might as well try it. 

When you read the information inside it says it works by shrinking the colour molecules on your hair so they can be washed out. It doesn't contain ammonia which is a good thing. It returns your hair colour to your lightest natural stage when the colour applied is darker than than your natural hair colour. It doesn't work on removing hair colour that is lighter than the natural hair as when hair is lightened the natural pigment in the hair is chemically altered.

Here is my hair pre colour B4

Do not believe online where it says it takes 20 minutes!! There are buffing stages and in total it takes over an hour. You start by mixing two part together and apply to the hair similar to an all over dye.

Ignore the silly poses. The Colour B4 applied all over.

You can already see it lightening and is more back to the colour of my eyebrows.

Now comes the time consuming stage. You rinse the solution out like you would hair dye, rinse till you can't feel it in the hair any more. Your hair probably won't feel nice right now. I recommend a stopwatch and having a shower at this stage as you now need to use the buffer on the hair. You apply the buffer leave it for two minutes then you need to stand under the shower rinsing for at least 5 minutes but best to do for 10. Once this is done you need to repeat this stage again. After the second buffer and rinsing you can leave it at this stage. I would thoroughly recommend a good condition and leaving the conditioner in for a while.

After this I decided to try the Lee Stafford hot shots to help brighten it more. I can't say they did a great job. Colour B4 removes the colour really well especially red from blonde hair but don't think your hair will be back to it's normal colour. As the Colour B4 process can't slightly lighten your natural colour. I tend to leave mine at this stage but you can put on another hair dye to make it your natural colour.

So what did my hair colour look like after?

 From Red to Blonde. What do you think? Pretty Impressive but slightly brassy. I find the process can be a little drying on the hair so I don't put another dye on it for a few weeks and deeply condition.

Colour B4 is a great product available from Boots and Superdrug. I will continue to use it after I think it's a good idea to dye my blonde hair red. It's also available in extra strength for colour build up.

Have you tried Colour B4? Would you? What do you think of the Results?

Love M

xxx