L'oreal Hair Expertise Everstrong Shampoo and Treatment Review

I've grown a bit tired of my Aussie hair care (still love it!) but wanted to try something new. Thats when I came across the L'oreal Hair Expertise Everstrong range. The range has shampoos, conditioners, treatments and heat protectant sprays for different hair types, that work to "reinforce" the hair and contain no sulphates. The Everstrong range is designed for fragile and brittle hair. As a bleach blonde with long hair, I need to keep my hair well nourished so that it doesn't snap and break. Unfortunalty I suffered with some breakage 3 years ago when I first hit the bleach. Since then though I have been incredibly cautious when it comes to my hair. I try and use heat as little as possible and I try and use the best possible products for my hair, so that it doesn't happen again and so far it hasn't :)

This shampoo contains Botanical Oils - Rosemary & Juniper. It smells lovely and it not too overpowering. It has a rich creamy consistency and lathers up well, considering it doesn't contain the usual nasties. I have been using this shampoo for a month now and I have been so far impressed. My hair definitely feels a lot healthier and less dry.Winter can be so harsh on your hair. Especially mine as I tend to wear it down all the time, it gets blown about (general birds nest) I think using it in conjunction with the mask once a week has been more beneficial to my hair than just using the shampoo alone. The "Nourishing Intense Mask" is a lovely thick consistency and feels very luxurious. It smells slightly stronger than the shampoo, but I love it. As it is rich L'oreal recommends than you only use a walnut sized amount, leaving on for 3- 5 minutes,  which is what I have been doing. Overuse of treatment isn't good for your hair either,  it can make it weaker.

What L'oreal says

"Specially designed for fragile and brittle hair, the Everstrong Reinforcing  & Vitality range combines a reinforcing system with no sulphates and conditioning actives. The formulae help intensely revitalise the look of your hair"

Overall, I am impressed with this range. So much so, that I decided to share it on here :)I think I would like to try the heat protectant next, as I am running out of my Aussie one. I will most likely repurchase this again in the future. I like to switch up my hair care as I do like to try new products. If any one has any recommendations of any other hair care brands that are worth the hype, let me know :)

Thanks For Reading!

Helen xX

Colour Me Lilac

My Next Hair Adventure!

After previously having pastel pink dip dye hair, which you can read about here . I have decided to to the same with lilac. Most likely this time I will try and make it a lot lighter, possibly like the first two pictures below. I want more of a subtle look. I have purchased more dye from La Riche Directions range as I was so impressed the last time. Not sure whether I will need to dilute the dye with conditioner this time as I did previously but I will be doing a blog review on my experience when I get around to dying my hair. I have ordered the white toner and the colour lilac. Below are some of my hair inspirations  although I am not brave enough to dye my whole head lilac(would defo clash with most of my wardbrobe..cant have that at all ;D ), I do really like the look of it! my main inspiration for doing this look again is christina Aguilera hair in her new music video. I think her hair/extensions look amaaaaazing! 

Photos from weheartit!

 The style I'm after :) slightly lighter though, fingers crossed!

"I just wanna be myself

And I want you to love me for who I am

I just wanna be myself

and I want you to know, I am my hair
...free as my hair"

Lady GaGa

Thanks For Reading!

Helen xX

Beauty Product Haul/ Review

It is near impossible for me not to go into Superdrug without spending anything; mainly as its the only decent shop where I live. I know how sad right? haha. So here is a small haul and review on my most recent purchases.

HAIR

AUSSIE - It was buy 2 for £6 quid so I picked up a deep treatment and some heat protection spray. Aussie is definitely one of he best haircare brands, in my eyes anyways. They always leave my hair in fab condition, which is very important as my hair is bleached.I rarely use heat on my hair at all, except on my fringe, as I want to maintain the good condition of my hair as it has taken a while to get to this stage. This is why I bought the leave in heat protection spay to save my hair from being fried from the straighteners. It is enriched with Australian jojoba seed oil to prevent hair from drying out and to give it amazing shine. Perfect! :D The product smells lovely too, as do all Aussie products. They seem to have a similar smell, which is refreshing and clean.

I always have a Aussie deep treatment in as I like to use a variety of conditioners etc on my hair as I get bored easily, this is by far one of my favourites :) Its called the "3 minute miracle luscious long deep treatment" Its basically for long hair in need to some tlc. I can finally say now, that I have long healthy hair after two years of stopping using heat everyday and from cutting it short to get rid of  the damage. The treatment contains Australian eucalyptus extract with avocado oil to help deeply moisturise, revitalise and nourish tired long hair and all in 3 minutes ;D and repeated use im sure. I definelty noticed a difference in the texture of my hair after one application.. According to Aussie it "cares for dry and damaged hair by helping to reduce breakage associated with combing" thus being another reason i have turned to using my tangle teezer daily. I will be posting a review here shortly.

Provoke touch of silver twice a week brightening shampoo had been on my list of things to try for a while and I am so glad I did. Long gone are the horrible brassy tones that used to dull my hair inbetween appointments. This stuff is amazing! it is a violet pigment that neutralises orange/yellow brassy tones in bleached hair and dullness in grey and white hair. It is a toning shampoo so that is why it is only recomended that it is used twice a week to avoid colour build up. i.e patches of silver/purple tones in your hair. It it around £3 and definitely an essential for bleach blondes!

TAN

My trusty Solait tan in medium/dark. This is a tan I purchase constantly and always have extra bottles in just in case I run out (atm i have 3...). I love the dark colour it gives and how it doesnt have that horrible digestive biscuit smell that many fake tans have. Instead it has a caramel scent. It is also tinted so you can see where you have applied it. It also givs a slight bit of instant colour which later develops into a much deeper richer tan.It costs around £7. Much much better than frying your skin in the sun, for sure.

For when I dont want such a dark tan I picked up L'oreals sublime bronze gel self tan. I had never tried a gel tanner before, so was interested to see how this would apply. It applies very smoothly and glides on without having to rub in too much. One thing though, it claims not to be greasy but I I found it to be; but not so bad that I wouldnt use it again, as I like the light natural tan it gives. It claims to mimic the colour you would naturally go after being in the sun. Over all for under £10 and by a realiable brand, I am impressed.

SKINCARE

I purchased these items to remove my make up. The nivea daily essential wipes are more for the lazy days when I want my make up off quickly and easily. They are very moist so can get stubborn mascara and foundation off without too much hassle. Skin is left feeling soft,cleansed and refreshed, lets be honest at the end of the day or a heavy night out there is nothing better than taking off your make up! Also very handy to have in your handbag or taking on holiday with you. The Johnsons face care cleansing lotion is gentle which is perfect for sensitive skin. It lifts away impurities, including waterproof mascara (bonus!). I usually squeeze on to a cotton pad and move in circular motions over my face till all traces of make up are removed. It has a pleasant clean scent and both are reasonably priced, which there always being some sort of deals on the wipes.

MAKE UP

Eyelure lashes are my second faves after elf ( I have a review on my last post ;). Superdrug had an offer to buy 2 for £8  saving £2 so I thought why not. I love the shape of these, they flare out towards the edges. Perfect for the cat eye look. The glue that comes with them is amazing, also, so I do not have too much trouble applying them. Overall I would say thy are great quality and if taken care off they can be reused. I am keen to try Katy Perry's range by eyelure, love the packaging! Finally I have jumped on the Revlon Lip butters band wagon and I am glad to say I have! I picked up strawberry shortcake, not the type of pink I would usually go for, but I am really liking it. These butters are so moisturising so there is no need to prime with lip balm at all and the colour pay off is great ( at least in this colour). I will defo be picking up many more colours from this range as they are quite long lasting and dont crack and look gross after a few hours from application.

Thanks for reading!

Helen xX

Pink Dip Dye Hair

I have been admiring brightly coloured hair and pastel hair for a while now. Not being brave enough to dye my whole head bright pink I decided I would dye some extensions so I could get the dip dye effect without having to ruin my blonde hair :)

I used my shorter HeadKandy extensions in bunny blonde (they are only 3 or 4 inches longer than my real hair).

The dye I used was La Riche Directions, in carnation pink. I mixed this in with some white conditioner to make it less concentrated and to give me a lovely pastel pink shade.

Basically what I did was lay my extensions out on some old towels and painted on the conditioner and dye on with a tinting brush. I only painted half way up on the large wefts and on the smaller wefts for around my face I painted on the colour on whole extension. For this part I used a baby pastel pink colour :)

But after i had washed and dried my hair I felt that the pink wasnt as bright as I would have liked so i added some dark bits of pink to some single clip wefts. The dye is very, very bright when you don't add the conditioner, so its really great if you are looking for a stand out colour. I was very impressed with the dye and will definetly be re-purchasing again. Most importantly the dye will fade after a couple of washes so I don't need to worry about having to get rid of the colour.


My only issue with La Riche Directions is that the pot is very small, I used nearly all off it whilst dying my extensions. I would imagine if you were dying your whole head you would need at least 2 or 3 tubs.

Here's some pics :)

Hot Pink Strands (Instagram)

Helen xX