October 19, 2014

ASOS BASICS


Hooooooo another minihaul. I don't really do big shoppings of clothes. More often I pick up one or two pieces in one particular shop or just order something from the internet. I usually have a list of things I need/ I want and I try to stick with this list. Sponatanoues shoppings are very rare and later I usually regret these decisions.

My style is very simple. I don't wear jeans unless they are black. I don't like colours, I perefer different shades of beige, grey, black white etc. I like to combine simple tops with simple trousers for every day look. To make my outfit a bit interesting I like to match some gold accesories, gold watch, earrings etc. And good make up of course. And great handbag. And great shoes. Shoes and handbag. They just make the outfit.

Last week (SALE TIME) I picked up few basic tops. I had these, but after some time the tops ae just out of shape, bit clumpy, so I just wanted to pick up new ones. ASOS has sale time now, so each top was only for five quit, yay! They all have long sleeves, scoop neck (quite revealing) and I picked up white, black and grey to keep ut classic and easy to wear. Lovely. The material is just lovely. 






NUDE NAILS


 As I usually do when the Autumn arrives, I very repeatedly fall in love with nude nails. I don't know why, but I just feel like it is too cold for bright neones or pastel colours like baby pink, mint green, baby blue etc., but the weather is not ready for the heavy burgundy and dark grey shades that I love to wear in the Autumn. 

Might sound silly, might be only my thing, or might be common opinion, but at these times, when I just don't know what colour put on my nails - then I always opt either for nude or classic red. I mean, these shades both are very easy to wear, so effortless, so beautiful !!! and just go so well with anything.

I found a very nice nude colour in my "nails" drawer, a colour I almost forgot I have. It's Rimmel 367 Bare Necessities. I don' t think you can still buy this shade in drugstores, because it's very old. So I was very happy when I found out that my one is not dried out at all, and I can still have some nude fun with this little one. I remember I always liked this one, because it lasted so long on my nails and just looked gorgeous. Well, time to find a new nude sweatheart. Any tips ?









October 16, 2014

ALOE VERA PROTECTIVE RESTORING MASK



What could I tell you about this Aloe Vera Protective Restoring Mask (what a long name!)? I tried it few weeks ago for the first time and I was so surprised. I accidently left it on my face for 50 minutes (while watching Sons of Anarchy - new addiction & star crush. During that time the mask just soaked in and became almost invesible. After rinsing - oh - I experienced amazingly soft and silky and smooth skin. The feeling after was just so so so amazing - exactly what I was looking for. I tried to use this mask several times after, leaving it on for maybe 10-15 minutes, which was okay, but! after experiencing wonders, I think the key is to let it soak properly and leave it on for as much as possible.

 I put my hands on this one because I was looking for something on the restorative side - let' s face, it's not all about exfoliating and deep cleansing and let' s give the old good skin some extra love. And probiotics. That' s on the lid - and I think that' s also what caught my eye. Not too thick, not too thin, without any fragrance but loaded with probiotics.

This week, my skin is just being very mean to me and I think this one will see the showtime many many times more. My advice - let it soak, soak, soak. And then just wipe with warm face cloth. Serum. Moisturizer. And you done. Your thirsty skin will love it.

A bit pricey one, but trust me, the tiny pot will last ages. Also, The Body Shop have some promotion all the time, either on the website or on voucher websites. Go and treat yourself. You deserve it. 



October 12, 2014

DAMAGED HAIR PRODUCTS II


And here we go again, my favorite topic! No, I am kidding I would prefer if I had nothing to say about damaged hair, but unfortunatelly that is not the case. In my pursuit of healthy hair, I tried some budget friendly hair treatments/masks and I will share with you what I think about them. 




When picking up this one, I liked the "intensively replenishes each strand". That sounded like something I needed. Especially I liked "intensively" and "replenishes" because I am all in intensively replenishing. Aaaah. Again, the smell of this mask was just not good. It actually was not good at all. The mask itself has white colour, it' s not too thick, but not runny either. The pot is quite big, so it lasts quite some time. The effect... I must say I did not see any difference. My hair was the same, did not notice any change in my hair regarding smoothness, condition or feeling. And the smell is just bad. I would not recommend this one. 



This little red pot full of pinkish mash inside was quite good actually. It is very budget friendly as I picked up this one from Superdrug for something like 2 quit. Smells very lovely, like fruits or berries, but I believe some poeple may feel the smell overwhelming. It is quite nourishing, soothes the ends a bit, but I would say it is only immediate effect and it does not really treat the split ends. Maybe if used frequently, but I think you should be using deep conditioning treatment only once or twice a week. For feeling of nice hair I would give it a go.



When picking up this mask, Doctor Who came to my mind, so I just to take it - as you may see the regenerating mask, haha. I have to admit, this one would be the winner. Smells incredibly lovely, it has sort of yellow-ish colour and medium thickness. The pot is slightly smaller - only 200 ml and I feel like this mask was gone bit quicker. I usually left this mask on for an hour, maybe two and it made my hair feel very nourish and smooth and soft. I could see difference with this one. I would say it is something like Aussi 3 Minutes Recovery. So some results were here, but still not what I would expect from deep conditioning mask. 

DAMAGED HAIR PRODUCTS

Now you know about my damaged hair. The purpose of my previous article was to tell you something about the products I used. Everyone can make a mistake. I know many people will say I am stupid I did this at home by myslef, but let's face the truth - half of the Youtube girls bleach their hair at home and I believe I am not the only one who messed that up. 

So now to the products ! This time, let' s talk about shampoos and conditioners.



1. TRESEMMÉ PLATINUM STRENGTH
This looked to so great, something I needed. Shampoo and conditioner that has the power to recover your hair from 2 years of abusing. Two years of damage gone by using these? I had to give it a try. What a dissapointment. Thank god it was so chaep, because oterwise I would be very upset. I found it in a deal 3 for 2 or something like this and the bottles are bigger - 500ml than usual hair products so it looked like a bargain. What a waste. Did nothing to my hair and the smell makes me sick. Have been using these for couple of months and then I just gave up. Don't want to be mean and if you have a good experience with these products, it is good, but did nothing for me. 



2. JOHN FRIEDA BRILLIANT BRUNETTE
Even John Frieda did not save the day. I had the red shampoo and conditioner before and then I tried this one  - colour protecting, moisturising. Not really good one. The product itself is brownish, smell bit better then Tresemmé, but still, did not see any difference after couple of months of using. The red ones (I think hair recovery) were even worse. I generally don' t like John Frieda products, everything was so far quite dissapointing. Even the colours as they don' t last very long (only like 3 weeks) and grey hairs are showing up very soon as well. No.



3. AUSSIE MIRACLE MOIST
Aussie did the best job all of the products I have used. My hair felt better, the ends were not so crispy and split and overall the feeling was very nice. Reconstructor is a really good product and if you wan a budget hair shampoo and conditioner (and treatment) - put your hands on these. They are 3 for 10 all the time in Boots, or 2 for 7 in Superdrug, also very often. Worked quite well for me, the smell is absolutely amazing, like bubblegum and I was quite happy. I just wanted something more. Something I could be really happy about and make sure it helps my hair 100%.


DAMAGED HAIR STORY

Guys, this is a story. Haha. Seriously. I have always had beautiful long hair. I used to dye it every month black, because this colour suited me and I really liked the outcome. My hair was always in an excellent condition, using a deep mask treatment once week. I used to also straighten my hair almost every day, using a heat protector it all was pretty much okay. Last October I decided to change my hair colour for chocolate brown. I have always been thinking about what it would look like to have brown hair (my natural colour is dark brown). 

As I did not want to spend fortune in salon I decided to do the job at home. I did not know much about hair colors, but after watching few tutorials on Youtube I considered myself as an expert. What a mistake. I wish I could go back and change history as this step made my life and confidence very bitter.

Now little info about what I did. First, I bought Jo Baz hair colour removal. Two boxes, following the instructions, nothing happen. Some bits of my hair were still black, my roots gingery-brown, the whole thing not pretty good. 

Next step was bleach. I think I used to Be Blonde one, applied on my hair all over and left it do the job. Black colour was gone, I was left (as expected) with orangey-gingery-yellow colour with black strands and patches, ouch. I bought in advance Garnier Olia hair colour in Brown 5.0 and dyed straight away. The outcome was not bad, brown colour, with black bits here and there but with massive brassines. 

Let' s focus on the condition of my hair. My ends were absolutely fried, dry and crispy. Looked terrible. The hair in general was thinner than I remember and I noticed massive hair loss. I tried many things to fix it, mainly focusing on split ends treatments etc. Nothing really helped and month later, I headed to hairdresser to tidy up the mess. The hairdresser was not very happy to see the mess and had to chop my hair 15 inches shorter. This made me very sad but I knew there was no other way. Soon, my colour needed a fix, so I applied the John Frieda 5A Medium Ash Brown. The outcome was quite nice, hair was quite okay. 

I still used all the deep conditioning treatments, hair masks, hair oils, heath protectants, but in two weeks, my ends were split and fried again. I decided not to do anything for two months with my hair. That means, no styling, no colouring, no cutting. Nothing. I wore my hair in pineapple bun every day which made my self confidence absolutely low and I was not feeling good at all, because I was used to beautiful long healthy shiny locks. In February I went for cut and Brazilian Keratin Treatment. The hairdresser had to chop my hair significantly again, made it very short, like under shoulder length. The BKT did nothing to my hair to help and my ends were frizzy and my end still split, the overall feeling terrible. 

I was not happy with the colour either, as the roots were so much lighter than my ends, trying to fix it I dyed my hair with darker hair colour, made it all brown-black. Not bad, but my hair looked almost black again, so another sad feelings. 

Soon, in April I headed to hairdresser again, because I needed serious get-rid-of-split-ends again. My hair did not even have time to grow back and yet I had to visit the hairdresser again. This one, he cut it even shorter saying that once more and all the bleached areas and strands should be gone. 

I was still very cautious, did not style my hair much, just sometimes, wearing them in a bun most of the times. Did not make me feel very pretty at all. Not sure what happened, because couple weeks later, in June, I just needed the cut AGAIN. And I decided to say good bye to long hair and chop it for long bob. Longer bob was quite in back in June and many celebrities wore their hir shorter. I thought let' s give it a try, let' s get rid of the damaged hair for good and let's start from the scratch. 

The cut was perfect, suited me very well. It looked wonderful. Soon after, I dyed my hair with Casting colour - Chocolate Brown. I found out I was never happy with lighter hair, but I did not want to go back to black. Now my hair is very nice. The longer bob is growing out slowly and now my hair is slightly undeneath my shoulders and 1 inch under my collarbones. Looks very cute, hair is healthier (but still not what it used to be). I miss my long hair so much and the healthy condition as well. In September I had my last cut, telling the hairdresser that I want to let my hair grow now and won' t cut my hair for couple months so she got it ready for growing out period. 

Like I said, the condition is quite nice now, my hair colour is deep bronw black - suits me very well with my black eyebrows and I feel well in this colour. Everyone likes my shorter hair, but I still miss my long hair so much so I will definitely let it grow. I threw away all rubbish products and invested in salon brands hair products (seeing the difference immediately) and I colour my hair less, only with amonia free hair colours. I just wanted to say, this year regarding my har was very difficult and sad. I hated my hair and it was only my fault. I would recommend, do not bleach your hair, do not experiment if you want to keep your hair healthy. It is just not worth it. It is waste of money and energy. I can not even think about how much I spent for all the rubbish treatments and all the cuts, still worrying about my hair. I would never do it again. Never never never. I really regret doing it. 

So please, before you do anything to your hair, think about it first. It might be good, but it also might be bad and if it goes wrong, then it is very difficult, expensive and painful to get things back. 

Thanks for reading!

October 05, 2014

BASICS HAUL


Saturday morning, Westfield shopping center in Shepherd's Bush. Me, and two hours to pick up not some basics for my autumn/winter wardrobe. I love Westifeld, because there is everything, every little shop, anything you need to find is here. I hate Westfield, because it' s full of people all the time. But, Saturday morning, it was not actually that bad, so here are the bits I picked up.


First stop - Topshop. Would spend the whole morning there, so many amazing boots there. But my task was  quick and simple. Black basic jeans. One can' t go wrong with MOTO Leigh skinny jeans. The softest jeans ever, so easy to wear, so comfrotable. Try them on and you will never want to take them of. And bonus - they go perfectly with anything!




Second stop was Mango. I picked up two beautiful and comfy basic sweaters. Fine knit, not too long, but not too skinny. One is in nice natural color and the other one is grey color with dark grey bits, Both so pretty and so easy to wear, especially with the Topshop jeans. So happy about these two!







The third and last stop was my beloved Zara. By noon, Zara became quite a crazy place, almost like a circus, so I did not get a chance to go through all the thins and because there was super-long queu for changing rooms, I just bought basic V-neck oversized knits, all so easy to wear, so universal and good for my wardrobe. Not expensive at all. I picked up light grey one, black one (the super basic basics) and then navy blue and red one, these looked so great on me! 

And, because there is never too many basic pieces in my wardrobe I would wonder what are your basic favorite (and where you get them)?

THE HAIR FOOD


Since I have damaged my hair last November (completely and irreversibly), I had to try really hard to get my hair into the condition it used to be. Sigh. I am telling you, stay away from bleach, and all the chemicals and cherish what you have and don't risk. Well at least I will never ever do anything with my hair that involves bleach. During the last year I had to chop my super long hair (almost waist length) into long bob and my hair is still not healed completely. But I hope soon.

Now, I am trying to re-grow my hair and maintain it and keep it very healthy. The condition of my hair depends on many things. First, if I use too much of curling wand or straighteners, my hair get super dry and I get split ends. Second, if I color my hair more then once in 6 weeks or with permanent hair colors, it becomes very dry as well and coarse. And finally, if I eat rubbish, my hair turns rubbish. 



So. I focus on what I eat. To help it a bit, I picked up two packages of "hair food". One of them is Biotin and I found this in Holland and Barrett. There is 100 tablets for 6 quids. Taking one pill a day it makes it more than 3 months and I think that it good. This is my third box already and I can see a difference. I have always been taking some vitamins or tablets for my hair and skin as I know that I could eat better. Biotin helped my hair in the recovery process, in the beginning I used to take two tablets a day to boost the growing and healing proces. Will purchase again, for me it is almost as a hair insurance.



Recently I picked up vitamins for skin, face and nails. It is called Perfectil Triple Active from Vitabiotics. I read so much about this on the internet and I wanted to speed up the growth of my hair even more so I am taking these right now and I will keep you posted about the results. But if you are looking for something similar, maybe read the reviews as this seems like a good one for a good price. There are 30 tablets, taking one a day with meal it makes it one month. Not bad at all. 

If you are not keen on any vitamins and similar stuff then it is a good to just think about what you eat and help your beauty with your food.  So next time in Tesco definetely pick up some fishy fish - salmon is the best, then veg and fruits - bananas, strawberries,brocolli, spinach and then also  nuts and eggs. Drink lots of water and add some green tea.





Let me know if you like to read more about food/healthy?