HAIR | Current Haircare Routine

I've been talking about doing a haircare routine post for far too long now. While I still switch back and forth between products now and then, this has been my constant routine for several months. I had to adapt the products I used when I cut my hair at the beginning of the year and I think I've finally figured out what works for me. 

Full disclosure: I have difficult hair. My hair type is dry, curly/wavy, and frizzy. It's thick and, when left to its natural texture, pretty coarse and unruly. I can put a lot of products in my hair without worrying about it becoming greasy. I also only wash my hair every 4-5 days. My main aim is to combat frizz and keep my hair moisturised so if you have fine hair, these may not be the products for you.

L'OREAL EVERSLEEK SMOOTHING & INTENSELY NOURISHING SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER

I switch back and forth between various shampoos and conditioners a lot. At the moment, I've gone back to this range. I used them a while back and remember really enjoying them. I like that they're sulphate and silicone free and leave my hair feeling moisturised. I also feel like this range helps stop my colour from fading for longer - which is always a concern for those of us with colour treated hair.

JOHN FRIEDA FRIZZ EASE EXTRA STRENGTH SERUM

I've sworn by this serum since I was around 14. I am never without it. I apply 2 pumps to soaking wet hair and comb it through with my fingertips. It helps stop my hair from frizzing while it dries and keeps the texture more manageable. They've changed the packaging recently though and I can't stand it. It's hideous and I'm almost tempted to branch out and try a new serum.

IT'S A 10 MIRACLE LEAVE-IN PRODUCT

Another product I use to tame my frizz and put moisture back into my hair. I comb 3 pumps of this through my damp hair and scrunch it to maintain the curl. You can just spritz it straight from the bottle but I find it distributes quite unevenly and doesn't have the desired effect if used that way. 

SCHWARZKOPF BEACH MATT TEXTURISING SALT SPRAY

I've mentioned this product in a previous Recent Favourites post. I spritz it liberally on my damp hair, after using the It's a 10 spray, and scrunch even more. Scrunching is kind of key when you have curly hair. I'll also use a few sprays of this on dry hair if it's looking a bit limp and lifeless, to add back a bit of texture.

ORGANIX MOROCCAN ARGAN OIL

This is kind of an emergency haircare product I keep around for days when my copious serums, spritzes, and leave-in treatments still haven't managed to stop my hair feeling drier than the sahara. I put a really small amount into my palm and rub it into the ends of my hair. It adds a lovely shine back to my hair when it's looking especially dull.

AND AN EXTRA TIP...

My final, and most essential, haircare tip to leave you with is this: don't dry your hair with a towel. I use an old t-shirt instead. It makes your hair so much less frizzy. I twist my hair up in an old shirt, leave it for 5-10 minutes to dry a little bit, and then let it down and begin using the rest of my products. I also never use any heat on my hair. Letting it air dry does take quite a while, but my curls turn out so much nicer and is much less damaging to my hair.

RECENT FAVOURITES | Spring 2014

I've been considering trying to do monthly favourites on the blog, as I always enjoy when others do that. However I realised that people do their previous month's favourites at the start of the new month, so technically these are my April favourites. But my last Recent Favourites post was called my April favourites. It's all very confusing. I think I went wrong with titles somewhere along the line.

LEVI'S DENIM JACKET

I've wanted an oversized denim jacket for some time now and picked this one up for an absolute steal in Urban Outfitters, after a gift card and some student discount. You can probably tell from the amount of posts it's already featured in that I've really been enjoying it lately. Plus it's big enough that I can wear tons of layers underneath so I can wear this jacket well into the colder months too.

NIKE BLAZERS

These pale blue Nike Blazers were a Christmas gift. Originally I'd wanted them in grey but, unable to find that shade anywhere, opted for pale blue as a close alternative. I'm sure I would have loved them in grey too but, in the end, I'm glad I went for this colour. They're so vibrant compared to the dark tones in my wardrobe, I'm really loving wearing them now it's warming up here.

URBAN DECAY NAKED 3 PALETTE

I've long been a big fan of the original Naked palette from Urban Decay. I even featured it in my Best of 2013 post. Warm toned eyeshadows really suit my pale green eyes so I immediately wanted the Naked 3 palette when it came out. I love the variety of pink hues and the matte highlight shade. The only downside to this palette is, unlike the original, I can't just use it by itself. I have to blend in some matte browns from other palettes or the shades tend to get a bit muddy looking.

ORGANIX MOROCCAN ARGAN OIL

I've had this product a while but only recently been regularly using. I've been trying out new shampoos and my hair's been feeling drier and frizzier as a result. My hair's pretty dry and thick in texture; I can put a lot of product in it without it feeling greasy. So after I've applied my various serums and leave-in conditioners, I like to take a small amount of this and run it through my hair to get rid of any stubborn frizziness leftover.

THE BALM MARY LOU MANIZER

Highlighters are something I only got into the past year or so but now I wear one nearly every day. My skin is very dry so I'm a fan of anything that can give me a bit of a glow. A matte finish is not my friend. This highlighter from The Balm has quickly become my absolute favourite, beating even my old faithful Nars Albatross. It's super natural looking but absolutely beautiful on the skin, without being too much to wear in the daytime.

RECENT FAVOURITES | April 2014

It's been quite some time since my last Recent Favourites post. Not because I haven't been really enjoying anything of late, probably quite the opposite. I've been playing with the products I use a bit more recently and trying out new things. I don't like to announce I love something until I've really given it a proper trial. It's all well and good to say you think something's fantastic the first few times you use it, but I think the real test of whether you really like something is if you continue to use it for a sustained period of time. These few products are some that I really have stuck to and enjoyed lately.

SCHWARZKOPF GOT2B BEACH MATT TEXTURISING SALT SPRAY

Since I cut my hair shorter, I've been trying to play with it a bit more. Short hair is so much less hassle and a lot more versatile, I've discovered. One product I love and always use is this sea salt spray. It adds a bit of texture and helps my curls stay in place longer. I spray it liberally on wet hair after applying my serums and then scrunch for a while to create nice bouncy curls. A spritz on limp third day hair helps revive it too.

SOAP & GLORY LOVE AT FIRST BLUSH

I've always been more of a matte blush fan, preferring to apply highlighter over the top if I want a bit of luminosity. However I love the colour of this blush and the natural sheen it gives. Highlighter can sometimes look a bit over the top in the day time while this gives a lovely colour and glow without being too much. It's fairly sheer so you can choose between really building it up or using it with a lighter hand for a subtle highlight over another blush.

REVLON NEARLY NAKED FOUNDATION SPF 20

Foundation was never something I wore daily until recently. I have good skin, thank you genetics, and have never suffered from acne but I am prone to redness in patches. Also, while I'm not old by any means, I'm nearly 22 now and I do have discoloured patches from the odd former blemish. This foundation provides very light coverage, which is all I need, but evens out my skintone nicely without making me look too matte. I have very dry skin and this has a slightly dewy finish that I really enjoy.

STILA STAY ALL DAY LIQUID LIPSTICK IN 'BESO'

A friend gave me this lipstick after she got it as a sample and didn't like the colour on her. The colour is a beautiful striking, matte red and quickly became one of my favourite reds in my collection. I'd never tried a liquid lipstick before but this goes on like a lipgloss with doe-foot applicator and then dries to a matte, long-wearing finish. I can eat my lunch and go for hours without this budging or feeling drying. It's a fantastic product for anyone on the go, I really want to try some other colours in this line now.

RECENT PURCHASES | February 2014

I got my tax rebate last week so, naturally, I did a spot of shopping. Most of it went towards my travel pot, but I did buy a few things I was running out of. Plus a few lipsticks. Of course. Would you expect any less of me, really? 

I popped into Boots, in need of a new shampoo and conditioner as mine is running low. Since having my hair chopped off, I've also been experimenting more with new hair products. I used to stick religiously to the same Tresemmé products for years but I decided to see what else was out there. There was a 3 for 2 offer on John Frieda so I thought I would give their Dream Curls line a shot. I've used their Frizz Ease serum and Moisture Barrier hairspray (which I picked up in mini size for handbag use) for years and swear by it. Unfortunately they've completely changed the packaging recently and it looks super '90s and a bit dodgy. Not a fan, John Frieda. Soz. 

I also picked up my favourite body scrub as I'd completely run out. I love Soap & Glory's The Breakfast Scrub. It smells incredible and is a fantastic exfoliator, without being overly abrasive. I have very dry, sensitive skin but this never leaves me feeling irritated, and it lasts for ages. 

Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in #107

Revlon Matte Balm in Shameless

It wouldn't be a shopping trip if I didn't come back with a new lipstick or two. First up, I really wanted to try out the new Revlon Matte Balm range. I was never interested in the sheer versions they brought out previously. I do bold or I don't bother. I'd read good things about the Matte version on my friend Kathryn's blog so I opted for the super out-there purple colour. They last forever. I applied it at 7pm the other night and finished work at 3am (I'm a bartender, hence the bizarre hours) and it was still intact. Top stuff.

Another highly recommended lipstick was from the Rimmel Kate Moss range. So many of my friends rave about the shade #107 so I finally caved and bought it. It's a lovely, slightly purplish, dark red. It's not fully matte either, like a lot of my reds, which is a plus.

HAIR | The Chop

If you follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, or basically any social media outlet, you'll have already seen that I chopped my hair off. It's been a long time coming. I'm a firm believer in drastic hair changes. Change is good, if a little scary. Embrace it. Whenever I feel like I'm entering a new 'phase' of my life, corny as that sounds, I do something to my hair. When I was 17 and first identifying as a feminist, I cut it into a short pixie cut. In my first year of uni, I dyed it red. Now I'm six months away from graduating and no longer being an undergrad. Shit's getting real and my hair made me feel like I was still a teenager, not a woman in her early twenties. 

I always knew in the back of my head that, when I was tired of the long, mermaid hair, my next hair cut would be a long bob. I had one a few years back, when I was growing out the aforementioned pixie cut, and loved it. My hair's super thick and my natural curl and volume was really getting dragged down by all the weight of that long, heavy hair. It had to go. I love my new 'do. If you've never drastically changed your hair or cut it all off, I'd highly recommend it. It's super liberating, and you'll save a bomb in shampoo and conditioner. 

RECENT FAVOURITES | September 2013

FJALLRAVEN KANKEN
I mentioned that I was thinking of buying a Kanken in a wishlist post a while back. I got one just before I came back to uni and it was such a good decision. Usually I bring a satchel type bag or some kind of more structured handbag, but I pack a lot of crap and it was beginning to hurt my shoulders. The Kanken is so ridiculously practical. A few people have commented that it's not necessarily my 'style', perhaps a bit outdoorsy for me? Or makes me look like a child on the way to their first day of school. I still love it though. Plus it's dead durable and comes in a million different colour ways.

L'OREAL EVERSLEEK SMOOTHING & INTENSELY NOURISHING SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER

Ever since I was 13 or so, I used Tresemmé products on my hair religiously. I never ever switched brand and it always worked for me. In the past year or so though, since I began to dye my hair and wear it naturally - not straightened every day, Tresemmé wasn't quite cutting it. I'd heard good things about the EverSleek range and I'm interested hair care with less sulphates, parabens, and siliciones and all of that at the moment. My hair is really dry so I went with the 'Intense' formula and I love it so far. I've had so many people tell me that my hair looks brighter and more red too, which can only be a good thing.

ORLY 'SMOULDER' NAIL POLISH

I picked this colour up when I was in America over the summer and it's become my favourite nail polish for autumn. It's a deep metallic burgundy and basically just gorgeous. I tend to favour black or red nails in the autumn and winter anyway, and this fits right into that colour family nicely.

OUTFIT | #98

sweater, skirt: H&M; blouse: Uniqlo; boots: River Island; lipstick: MAC 'Rebel'

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how red my hair looks here? This colour is like the gift that keeps on giving. I've been using the same box dye since I first went red in May and it's gone from a barely perceptible reddish tinge to this. I guess it's the build-up of colour over time? I don't even know but whatever it is, I'm liking it. Dyeing my hair is definitely up there among my top 5 decisions of 2012. I'm sure I'll go back to my natural colour at some point but it certainly won't be any time soon. 

Onto the outfit. I guess I went for some kind of super-preppy-with-chelsea-boots vibe here? I do that sometimes. Gotta love those chelsea boots. They're reaching the end of their days, I fear. The scuffs on the toes got so bad I had to fill them in with black Sharpie, a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Poor babies, I've worn them so much. I'm also wearing MAC 'Rebel', a.k.a my new favourite lipstick, here but you can't really tell how incredible it is. Maybe I need to try and do one of those 'Face of the Day' style posts to show you its true beauty? I'm not the best at those but for 'Rebel', I'll give it a go.

Since I've been back at my mum's house I've done a massive wardrobe clear out. Think 5 bin bags full of old clothes to be donated to charity. I got sick of 1) having so many damn clothes and 2) knowing I didn't wear half of them but keeping them anyway. My clothes rail is no longer groaning under the weight of millions of dresses I'll never wear again. It felt pretty good to throw out that much stuff (if not a little bit sickening that I owned so much clothing in the first place, eek) plus it makes finding something I do want to wear so much easier. 

RECENT FAVOURITE | The Hair Cuff

hair cuff: H&M

I've seen these metallic hair cuffs popping up on blogs and YouTube channels for a while now. For a time they were selling for ridiculous amounts on eBay but the hype's calmed down now and they're all over my local H&M in every colour for a much more reasonable £7. I own two: one in silver, one in gold. The gold is from Topshop and I wouldn't really recommend it - it's a thin, flimsy-feeling plastic while the H&M variations are pretty solid. (I'm not a massive fan of Topshop jewellery overall though. I find it all tends to break pretty easily.)

This is the first time I've worn mine in a while. When I was younger, I'd wear a pony tail to school every day without fail. I had various weird, choppy haircuts in between then and now though, most of which were too short to put up in a pony tail. It's only recently, with my hair reaching boob-length and getting in my face a lot more, that I find myself sticking it up again. 

Enter hair cuff. I was a tad worried these things would break as I tried to fit them around my thick hair but they've held up pretty well so far. Plus they look a lot nicer than whatever ratty hair tie I find lying around my room to stick my hair up with.

OUTFIT | #53

 

blouse: Topshop; skirt: H&M; boots: River Island; nail polish: Sephora by OPI 'Mermaid to Order'

I know I've already expressed my undying love for this blouse but I sometimes seriously wish I owned 10 of it so I could wear it every day. It's my fave, basically. Still enjoying the red hair too. I did feel a little sad when I washed it for the first time and saw all the water turn really pink because now it's going to start fading. I want it to stay like this forever, without all the annoying dyeing process where I end up with red all over me. Is that too much to ask?

I realised recently that I never really mention where I wear the outfits I post on here and maybe I should do that sometimes? For instance, I wore this to have a pretty productive afternoon (after waking up at about lunchtime, woops). I cleaned and dusted my room, put fresh sheets on my bed, ordered an online ASDA shop, washed my hair and painted my nails. Then I went to a meeting about feminism and language and got Mexican food. An A+ day, if I do say so myself.

OUTFIT | #52

 

cardigan: Topshop; dress: New Look; leggings: George @ ASDA; boots: Clarks; scarf: Primark (sister's); bag: Zara

I went home this weekend and spotted the boxes of dye (Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL #43 Red Passion - if anyone's interested) I'd bought a while ago on a whim and thought, to hell with it. So I dyed my hair red. My natural colour is basically black anyway so it's not fire engine red or anything like that. Much as I'd like to fulfill my lifelong dream of having properly red hair, bleaching it is a bit scary. Maybe when it's shorter. For now, this is as close as I'm going to get to emulating Ariel or, my personal favourite, bratpack era Molly Ringwald. 

The colour is a bit brighter than these pictures show, especially in sunlight. I left my Canon at uni though, so point and shoot snaps will have to suffice for now. The outfit is a bit of a repeat offender. I've even blogged a similar version before (Oh, the horror). This dress is one of my favourites to throw on when I really can't be bothered. Sunday dressing at its finest.

HAIR | Rookie Two-Minute Beehive

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've no doubt seen the Rookie Two-Minute Beehive tutorial blowing up on blogs everywhere. Everyone and their mum is talking about how easy and amazing it is and looking generally gorgeous doing it. So, naturally, I wanted to join in. 

I had everything you need to achieve the look: long, greasy hair and a ton of bobby pins (or hair pins/kirby grips, whatever you call them). Despite suiting all the criteria, I could not get it to work. Admittedly, I am terrible with hair. The extent of my abilities are curling it with straighteners occasionally and a messy bun. Maybe I'm just not dextrous enough, who knows. After two days of attempts (I waited an extra day for my hair to get even dirtier. TMI?) and I still looked like Yubaba from Spirited Away had stuck her fingers in a socket with every attempt. 

I'm super stubborn though and tried it with a fringe instead. Tavi has a blunt fringe (or bangs, whatever) in the tutorial so maybe that was where I was going wrong? Bingo! More like 5 minutes, at least 50 hair pins later and I had my smug self a beehive.

Long story short: The two-minute beehive is totally achievable, even for totally cackhanded people like myself. But it's not really that easy and probably takes more than five minutes if you have really thick hair with no fringe. 

OUTFIT | #45

dress: Urban Outfitters; jacket: H&M; shoes: George @ ASDA

Are you sick of the denim jacket yet? No? Good. Because I kind of never want to take it off. It goes with nearly everything I own. As does everything I'm wearing in this outfit actually. These are all what I consider my 'go-to-when-nothing-looks-right' items. Cute pink shoes? Yep. Flattering dress with fun pattern? Check. Staple black tights? Of course. 

Plus my mop of unruly hair that is in desperate need of a trim to tidy it up. It seems to have had a massive growth spurt in the past few months and gone from around shoulder length to the middle of my back. Not long now until I can fulfill my Tumblr-girl dreams of mermaid hair.

OUTFIT | #36

coat: H&M; jumper: Topshop; jeans: Hollister; flats: George @ ASDA; hairband: my sister's

I've had the 'flu or something since last weekend so today was the first day I was actually able to get dressed and go out in a while. Opted for comfy options to ease myself back into the world of real clothes; all I've worn all week is PJs. 

My sister did my hair. I'm far too cack-handed to bother with anything other than a plain old ponytail. I might have to give one of these hairbands a go though. I'm always looking for quick, lazy-girl friendly ways to distract from bad hair days.