Wish List Wednesday

 The Wand

Cloud Nine, £119.95

Perfect curls and big waves with super shine? Need, need, need!!!

Topshop Dress

Topshop Dress, £50

Soft yellow, florals and midi length...the perfect summer day dress? Just may well be!

ASOS heels

ASOS Harley Platforms, £80

ASOS are churning out some pretty impressive accessories at the moment...including these silver and turquoise platforms - yum!

What's on your wish list this week?

Hair Inspiration

I'm in a hair colour rut...and I think bold and bright is the only way to go.

I'm veering closer to the warm copper hues of Blake Lively and Nicola Roberts, but what do you think?  Shall I brave it?

All images via glamour.com

Wish List Wednesday

After slacking a little on the ol' blog recently *slaps wrist* I've decided to add a new weekly feature to showcase my must have fashion/beauty item(s)...and in doing so, invite you to tell me yours. 

What are you unable to get out of your mind? Have you found yourself reaching for your credit card as despite being a week before payday, you just cannot go another minute without a certain something in your life?  And what, if money was no object, would you snap up in a second?  Let me know :)

Topshop Chiffon Maxi, £65

 I ADORE this dress.  The colour is spot on for this season and the shape is perfect for a pear shaped leg hater like me.  I think it would look lovely with a gold plaited waist belt and delicate sandals for all of those occasions in the spring and summer months.  I'd also be tempted to toughen it up with a cropped leather jacket and stacks of necklaces.  See...it's totally versatile!

Mulberry, £51-117

Since I bought myself a Mulberry Bayswater just after Christmas (thank you Christmas money!) I now cannot stop lusting after their wonderful key rings and bag charms...wouldn't the pink bunny look adorable against the soft black leather? Or perhaps the secret love charm jangling as I walk, bag in arm?  Mulberry, you have cast your spell on me, and I am happily under it :)

John Frieda 3 Day Straight, £6.99

With my thick curly mane of hair, anything that promises three days of straightness is an instant pull for me...the only thing holding me back from purchasing is the worry that I can't use it with any other styling products such as moroccan oil, which is a godsend for me.  I also have a whole bag full of tried, tested and unconvincing products at home which makes me reluctant to shell out my cash (albeit only 7 quid) for something that will just add to this pile.  Have any of you tried this? Is it worth forsaking all other products for this...or should I hold out until something else better comes along?

So that's my wishlist for this Wednesday.  What's on yours?

Is it too early? Christmas Wish List...

Considering I've bought the majority of my Christmas presents already (I'm ridiculously organised and also like to spread the cost so I can be more generous) - thoughts have begun to turn to what I would like to find under the tree.

So here is my (probably first draft) Christmas wish list...what's on yours?

Topshop tunics

My wardrobe staple.  Forever and always.

Babyliss Big Hair

I love a good hair gadget or two....and this has definitely tickled my fancy.  With such thick hair, it takes me forever to get a good blow dry at home.  I have a big round brush but this only usually gets used on my fringe...I do not have the patience, or upper body strength, to try and do my whole head!  So when I saw this it was as if my prayers had been answered.  Has anyone tried this?  Am I being optimistic or will it actually give me a salon-like blowdry at home?

House of Harlow jewellery

I already have a couple of pieces from House of Harlow and I would love to expand on my collection.  The jewellery is very me - statement pieces that are delicate and feminine at the same time.  I especially love the horsehoe necklace and the key and peacock rings.

Cath Kidston...anything!

I am after some nice bits for the kitchen and also love all of the crafty pieces around at the moment.  I already have quite a lot of her signature florals but I can't get enough...though there is only so much I can get away with at home - these boyfriends, honestly :)

*Edit*  Mulberry bags

Oh Mulberry, why do you send me through a gift suggestions email on the day I write my wish list?  If anyone would like to buy me any of the above bags, I will love you forever!!!

Stocking Fillers

Ooh I'd love a few Mac lippies (though a voucher is probably best...the MUA's tend to scare my poor boyfriend), Essie nail varnishes (because I obviously don't have enough already!) some Soap & Glory goodies (I'm too stingy to buy them for myself) and some nice winter bits from Topshop or Accessorize...scarves, snoods, hats and gloves...anything to keep me warm in these chilly months!

So what about you?  What's on your Christmas list so far....or is it still too early to even mention the 'C' word?

New Hair!

So as soon as the email dropped into my inbox the other week, I was both intrigued by and keen to try the new John Frieda Precision Foam Colour. 

I hadn't dyed my hair for a while and although I had a few highlights put through my lower layers just over a month ago (courtesy of Wahanda and Lisa Shepherd London) with the cold weather I started to feel the 'dullness' creep through.  And what better antidote to this?  A full head of glossy colour...and the best colour of all of course...red!

I was after a nice rich auburn (not Cheryl Cole bright!) so when I saw this shade in the John Frieda range I decided to give it a whirl.

My hair is super thick and is getting rather long but having read a few reviews I decided to brave it and only get one box, as this apparently produces up to 2 litres of foam.

Application was pretty easy - after tilting the bottle a few times, you just give it a squeeze to produce the foam and apply to your hair as you would a shampoo.  I found this pretty easy but was a little worried when my hair definitely didn't look as foamy as it was 'supposed' to...however I put this down to the sheer amount of hair on my head, not the foam itself!

So...onto the results!  The dye washed out pretty easily, and I applied the conditioner supplied - for once my hair didn't feel matted and sucked of moisture as it usually does with box dyes.  And the colour?  Exactly as it was on the box...and how often does that happen?!

So this is what it looked like before

And...this is how it looks now (albeit messy and unbrushed after a day at work)

Hello shine!

So..what do you think?  Will you be giving this a go...or sticking to your tried and tested methods?  Let me know :)

New Hair...

So...I finally took the plunge at the weekend and made the move from blonde highlights to a colour a little more natural. However...it didn't quite work out the way I was expecting...

I made an appointment with my usual hairdresser and explained I wanted to take my hair back to my natural colour with a few lighter tones. We decided on a base colour and my hairdresser set about covering the blonde with a red tint, before washing, blowdrying and applying highlights and base colour. Unfortunately it didn't quite turn out so natural - all seemed fine till I walked out of the hairdressers to be greeted with an array of colours floating through my hair. The bottom layers were perfect, my highlights were bright blonde and the top layers were a bright coppery bronze, mmm...attractive. On the plus side - the cut was perfect :)

I decided to take action. Step one - Lush Big shampoo (see below), which washed out the bright red tint...a little. But not enough. So...onto step two. I picked up a semi permanent dye (L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss - the best around in my opinion) in a honey brown and coated my hair. Finally, the red has toned down and the highlights are a soft light honey brown - not bright blonde streaks. What do you think?


Now...it's just a matter of waiting to see what happens when it fades - fingers crossed all goes well :)

(do excuse the lazy webcam photo - my beloved boyfriend has given me a lovely cold - generous eh? - and this is about all I could manage...bleurgh.)

Review - Lush Big Shampoo

After reading several reviews about Lush Big I was intrigued...so when I walked past Lush I HAD to see what all the fuss was about!

As there's already been so many reviews of this I'll try not to be too repetitive, and just let you know how well it works on my hair - which is mid-length, pretty thick and naturally curly.

Because of my hair type I was a little apprehensive about trying this as I can rarely get away with a non-moisturising shampoo, but I decided to dive in and give it a go - the length my hair is at the moment means it rarely gets as much volume as I'd like, and backcombing is not good!!!

The application is pretty basic, simply take a small amount and rub into your hair as you would a normal shampoo. I was pretty impressed by how much this lathered - even with the hard water down here. I followed with a little conditioner and set about blow drying...the moment of truth!

All I can say is wow! My hair is very very thirsty and holds onto water like anything, which makes blowdrying a pretty arduous task. However, this time it took half as long as usual - drying super fast and straightening really easily. As I wanted to give it a proper review, I didn't put any products in my hair after washing...yet it still ended up super soft and shiny - perfect.

As I only wash my hair a couple of times a week I'll probably use it every time, but if you wash it more often I would probably use it every other time - it is pretty clarifying and if your hair is coloured, I think it may strip it quite quickly.

Big Shampoo retails for £9.90 and it's a bit thumbs up from me :)