Thursday, 20 September 2012

L'Oreal Sublime Mousse - Pure Very Light Brown 700

So I removed all the previous dye from my hair a couple of weeks ago but now I've decided that I want to go for a slightly lighter shade of brown than my natural colour (I change my mind too often!) and I chose the L'Oreal Sublime Mousse because I have been really pleased with their hair dyes in the past. I also needed to use a permanent hair dye to get my hair lighter and this looked like the colour I wanted.



Because of the hair dye removal my hair had a brassy tint to it which I wanted to tone down but otherwise seemed in quite good condition (lots of conditioning treatments helped) and ready to dye.



The dye was very simple to use, and I really liked using the foam dye as it was really easy to apply and cover all of my hair. I left the mixture on for 30 minutes and then rinsed my hair and used the balm which was included in the box.

Once my hair was dry and I could get a good look at the colour I could see that it was only slightly lighter than before, which was a little disappointing, but I have to say that my hair now feels great and is really smooth and shiny, and the dye also got rid of most of the brassy tones.



Even though the colour isn't exactly what I wanted, it's still really nice and given that my hair feels so good I'd definitely like to try it again and see if I can get closer to the colour I wanted. 

As soon as I can afford another box I'll give it another go and let you know how it turns out! :)

Please leave your comments or questions below :)

ColourB4 Extra

I'd been dying my hair for about 6 years when I decided that I wanted to go back to my natural hair colour so that I wouldn't need to keep dying my roots whilst I'm away at uni. There are a few different brands of hair colour remover now available but I decided to use ColourB4, and because of the many different shades that I've tried over the years including some quite dark shades, I chose to use the ColourB4 extra.

Before using ColourB4 my hair was a dark red shade and I was hoping to get back to my natural colour, which I considered to be about a medium brown (but my hairdresser told me that apparently it's dark blonde??).



ColourB4 is really easy to use, though I do recommend leaving the door open to let some air in as the smell is pretty horrible! When I had applied the mixture I wrapped my hair in clingfilm to help speed it up and left it on for about an hour. Once the time was up I had to rinse it all out, which is quite a long process but it is important to make sure it's all washed out and that you use the buffer provided.

Even during the rinsing it was possible to see that my hair had lightened and once it was dried it definitely looked like my natural colour. There was a slight brassy/coppery tint to my hair but this was expected and can be toned down using a hair dye in an ash tone. If you look very closely you can see that my hair gets darker towards the ends but I think that's because it has been dyed more than the roots, and it's barely noticeable. The smell was still in my hair but after a couple of washes it was back to normal :)




After using ColourB4 my hair felt quite dry, so it's good to use an deep conditioning masque to help restore your hair to it's healthy condition. I went to the hairdressers a few days later and had my hair trimmed so now it feels much better, and my hairdresser even said that he was impressed by the result of ColourB4 and surprised that it had turned out so well! 

Big thumbs up to ColourB4!!

Please leave your comments or questions below :)

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

JF Moisture Barrier Hairspray

I got this hairspray before I went on holiday to take with me as my hair tends to get very frizzy in the heat and humidity. I tried to use this hairspray every day while I was away, though I mostly used it after washing and drying my hair as this is when it's most needed. The can says 'firm hold' and I can say that it definitely helped keep my hair together but it was also quite heavy so it didn't have as much movement and was slightly more noticeable than other hairsprays I have used. It was difficult to brush out of my hair at the end of the day but definitely did it's job - my hair was nowhere near a frizzy as usual so I was very pleased.


For me this was a really great buy and I would definitely think about buying it again. If you have hair that has a tendency to frizz then I suggest you try this hairspray, but I would say try to only use a small amount otherwise you hair might be too sticky!

Please leave your comments or questions below :)

TRESemme Deep Cleansing Shampoo

Just a quick note to mention this shampoo: 



I was looking for a nice shampoo to use to get rid of any product build-up in my hair, especially for use before dying. I found this in Tesco, not too expensive and it comes in a huuuuge bottle and it was exactly what I needed. When I used it I realised how much product must have been stuck in my hair because after using this shampoo my hair felt really clean! I hadn't thought before about it but now I try to use this once a week to get my hair properly nice and clean.

It does leave my hair a little dry so I have to make sure I use conditioner afterwards. There is a matching moisturising conditioner that goes with it but I decided against buying this as I had plenty left over at home.

I really like this shampoo as I makes my hair feel healthier and move more naturally. My hair can get quite flat so this gives it a boost be removing anything that might by weighing it down. Great buy!

Please leave your comments or questions below :)

L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss

I have been dying my hair for the past 6 years or so and am completely obsessed with change and trying out different colours. Recently I have only been using semi-permanent colours to minimise  the damage to my hair because I've been trying to grow it and because of that I have been almost exclusively using the Casting Creme Gloss range from L'Oreal. I have read lots of good reviews about this range and they have quite a large number of different shades available, which is great if like me you like to try out something different.

The first shade I used was 323 Dark Chocolate, which I liked because it was only a bit darker than my natural hair colour. I used this a couple of times but I then decided to try something a bit more exciting (without going completely crazy). I then tried 550 Mahogany as I has seen all the adverts with Cheryl Cole and thought it looked really nice, but unfortunately my hair was a bit too dark for this colour so the change was only minimal but it did give my hair a nice tiny. I knew I wanted a bit more colour so I then tried 565 Berry Red, which definitely gave my hair a dark red colour in the light, but this still wasn't enough! 




I finally decided to try 262 Blackcurrant, which I immediately loved! After the first use my hair felt great and there was a definate red/purple colour to my hair (depending on the light) and so I chose to use it again. I think overall I used this colour 3 or 4 times and with each use the colour of my hair became redder and more obvious. (The picture isn't the best)



I really liked this colour and the Casting Creme Gloss was really easy to use although it took forever to wash out! I know you're supposed to wait until the water runs clear but rinsing for what seemed like hours I gave up, and even after that it took a couple of washes to get rid of the dye (my once white towel is now pink) but I loved the colour so I didnt mind. I'm just glad it didn't rain!

Please leave your comments or questions below :)

John Frieda Full Repair Range

This is my usual shampoo and conditioner,which I started using a few months ago. I have purchased and tried most of the range including:
- Full Body Shampoo
- Full Body Conditioner
- Protecting Roof Lift Foam
- Perfect Ends Sheer Mist
- Activated Styling Spray

First of all, the shampoo and conditioner. Since buying these a few months ago I have used them pretty much every time I have washed my hair, and within just a couple of washes I could feel the difference. My hair now feels thicker and stronger than before (I naturally have very thin hair which tends to be quite flat) and it seems to have improved the overall condition. Although they aren't as cheap as most of the other shampoos I have used in the past, I think they are worth it given the results.



The Root Lift Foam is another of the product that I use regularly. It is used on damp hair and I definitely think that it gives my hair more volume when used however my hair needs to be dried properly with a hairdryer or it can feel dirty. Personally I don't use this every time I wash my hair as it can weigh it down the next day because my hair is so fine.

The Perfect Ends Sheer Mist is great for my hair as it smooths and protects the hair without weighing it down. (John Freida also do product called Perfect Ends Deep Infusion, which is a similar product made for thicker hair with more texture.) I did notice a small improvement to my hair when using it with the shampoo etc but not enough for me to buy it again unfortunately.

The last product I have tried is the Styling Spray, which is definitely something that I need to use as my hair gets damaged easily if I use and sort of heat-styling. I felt that this product coated my hair, which left it protected, but also meant that I felt that my hair needed washing more often. I liked this spray at first but after the first few uses it seemed to build up on my hair, leaving it flat and less shiny.

Although this range is slightly more expensive than the product that I would normally get, my hair feels much healthier and stronger now which is a definite plus for me. I am going to continue with the shampoo and conditioner for now but am going to try out some other options to protect my hair.

Has anyone else tried out the John Freida Full Repair range? What are your opinions? 

Please leave your comments or questions below :)

hi there

Hey, so I wanted to start a blog where I could write my own opinions about beauty products, styles, fashions etc etc... just a place where I can tell people what I think. Hopefully I'll be able to get some reviews going and other people can share their thoughts too. 

See you around!
x