Babyliss curling wand

I have quite peculiar hair, it's not poker straight so turns frizzy and wavy with a hint of moisture, but at the same time won't hold a curl from a standard curling tongs for more than a couple of hours.

I love curly hair, but have grown tired of spending the guts of 80 minutes trying to get a decent curl in my shoulder length hair only to have them fall out shortly after. I got my hands on the Babyliss curling wand over Christmas and it is genuinely the answer to all my problems.

It's incredibly easy to use, you just turn it on and chose which of the 4 heat settings you want to use. It heats up in about 30-60 seconds depending on the heat you chose. The ceramic conical barrel is quite thick near the base, and gradually thins out so you can chose how tight you wan your curl to be. It comes with a handy glove so you don't burn your fingers on the wand.

I personally find that it takes about 20-25 minutes to curl my entire head and the curls stay put. I curl my hair in the morning and the next morning my hair still has a lovely curl. It won't be as neat and tidy but would only take about 5 minutes to fix up again.

I'm obsessed with this wand! I've been using it constantly since I got it and couldn't recommend it enough!

I picked mine up in Boots for just €25.99.

Christmas haul 2013

I was kinda unsure about doing a Christmas post at all this year as most of my gifts were intentionally non beauty related, but sure a bit of show and tell never hurt anyone. 

My poor mother god bless her hadn't a clue what to get me, so asked me out straight so there were no surprises in that department. That said, as always the presents from my parents were absolutely lovely. I got two dresses, a floor length dress from H&M to wear over Christmas, and a stunning black dress by Scarlett and Jo for Evans (above). The black one is being put up for a family wedding next year, so hopefully it'll give me some added incentive to kick my ass into gear in the new year.

There was a Babyliss curling wand, which I'm absolutely obsessed with. It give my hair beautiful, defined, long lasting curls.

My last little surprise was a gorgeous satchel style bag, I love it, it's very me! I don't know where she got it, I never do, she has a great eye for things like that.

My brother got me a flight case for all my nail gear, which will come in very handy in the new year please god!

The two gifts that really knock me for six, purely because they were so unexpected were the Urban Decay Smoked pallet that I got from my brother's girlfriend (along with a bottle of vodka, wahooo) and a Naked 2 pallet that I got from a very dear friend. To be honest, I haven't really gotten around to playing with either of them yet as I've been too lazy for the last few days to bother with make up, but I can't wait to get stuck in to both of  them.

Christmas was a bit of a weird one this year with my nan passing so close to Christmas itself. We all kinda struggled to find our festive spirit. But thanks to family and some very important people we managed to pull together and pay homage to the woman herself on Christmas eve the only way we know how- A stonking good sing song in the pub on Christmas eve.

I hope everyone had a really lovely few days spent with their nearest and dearest x I'd love to see all your goodies too so feel free to link me on Twitter or just pop a comment on this post and I'll be sure to have a look!

Sammy Fat Hair Thickening Creme

I was browsing in Superdrug last night and came across this hair care brand that I have never heard of before. It was all half price, and the range included a  shampoo, conditioner, masque and creme, all aimed to thicken your hair and give you lots of volume. I'm constantly on a quest for big hair, and as this was half price it seemed silly to not try at least one of the products. 

I opted for the creme, which you apply to towel dried hair and style as usual. The creme itself has a lovely clean,  fruity smell and is easy to dispense evenly through your hair. 

But did it do anything? In my opinion, kind of! I have hair that is naturally quite thick anyway,  but I'd never fall out with extra volime, which my hair seemed to have. I'd be very interested in using the entire range together to see what the results are. 

Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

Argan oil shampoo and conditioner, with some other goodies  

During the week I picked up Argon Oil Shampoo and conditioner in my local ODC Chemist for just €2 each. I'm normally a bit wary or changing my hair products, shampoo in particular because I'm always afraid it will strip the colour from my hair. I just couldn't pass up a bargain like that (€2 for a 250ml bottle). The shampoo and conditioner have heaps of hair friendly ingredients, most notably Argan oil itself, but also has a lot of other fruit and vegetable derived extracts. Like a healthy meal for your gruaig!

I used them both today for the first time, all the while saying a little prayer for my colour) and I'm actually really impressed. You know the way sometimes in the shower you can tell whether it's gonna be a good day just by the feel of your hair? It's gonna be a good hair day! After just shampooing my hair felt a lot softer and smoother. I left the conditioner in for about 4-5 minutes then rinsed.

Through winced eyes I checked my colour in the mirror. Obviously, as Crazy colour fades with every wash, my hair was a little lighter, but absolutely no more than it would be with my regular shampoo, 1 point to Argan oil!

My hair immediately felt a lot softer, and a lot less brittle. It was completely knot free when I brushed it, which may not sound like a big deal, but it really is when it comes to my hair. When I blow dried it, it was really soft and manageable. Another point!!

Both the shampoo and conditioner have a beautiful clean smell. I decided not to straighten my hair so the smell would be more potent and I'd have something to sniff during the day!

Fair enough, my split ends are still there, but it would take more than a shampoo and conditioner to conquer those bad boys. Lets not forget that I paid €4 for both, I wasn't expecting miracles. And I didn't get any, but I got a pleasantly surprised by a bargain buy that i would definitely buy again! (try say that 3 times fast!)

The story of my pink hair

I get a lot of questions and compliments about my hair. Little girls are fascinated by it, hearing them say 'mammy, that girl has pink hair!' is almost a daily occurrence, and it's very sweet. I initially only dyed my hair pink for my holidays, but it seems to be sticking around.

By right, I shouldn't have any hair left, it's an absolute warrior. Don't get me wrong, it's not in great condition, but it's been heavily dyed for the guts of 10 years and is still standing by me!

Pink hair can be a bit of a pain to keep as it doesn't have the world's best sticking power. You have to really want it! I didn't have to bleach my hair up when I first decided to go pink as I was very light blonde at the time. I didn't want just a standard pink, so I decided to try mixing 2 colours to see what happened. I used Crazy Color (€3.99 in Terrisales nationwide), a conditioning colour, so mixing them wasn't a problem.

I used Pinkissmo and Silver. Pinkissmo is a very vibrant pink, really zingy, and the silver kind of dulls that down slightly. The silver also gives my hair an almost incandescent look in the light, there's a lovely silvery-purple hue. I didn't want my hair to be quite so bright this time around so it's perfect for me. Every time I dye my hair I use roughly half of each bottle so it only costs me €4 to touch up my hair. I'd touch it up every 4 to 5 washes.

When I need to do my roots I use Schwarzkoph Live Colour XXL in 00A, the lightest shade. Obviously I use this on as little of my hair as possible. Once my roots are done, I take the heavy wet out of my hair and apply the mix of pink and silver.

As it fades, the pink just gradually goes a lighter shade, from very vibrant to a nice bubblegum pink, still with the silver hue.

When it comes to taking care of my hair im a bit lazy. I'm currently using the John Frieda Full Repair range. I'm really impressed by this range, my hair has been really soft and manageable since I started using it and I have noticed an improvement in the amount of split ends I have.

So there you have it, how I get and keep my pink hair!

Slattery's Communications Blogger event

This evening I popped along to an event being held in Slattery's Communications to mingle with some fellow Bloggers and learn a bit about blogging from those in the know, and to learn more about the brands Slattery's represent.

They put on a fabulous spread when we arrived, with plenty of snacks and drinks to fill our tummies. There was a very informative and entertaining talk about how to make the most of your blog.

There was a fantastic array of goodies from He-shi, John Frieda and Sudocrem given to everyone to try and review. I got the He-Shi gradual tan and mitt, which I can't wait to try, as well as a Skinician restoring night cream.

My John Frieda goodie bag may be the saviour of my poor ravaged hair. In my extremely generous bag I got full size bottles of Frizz Ease 3 day straight, hair serum, smooth start conditioner, full repair conditioner and full repair deep conditioning mask, all of which will be very gratefully used!

I'll do my best to get a full review of as many of the products as I can as I use them!

The Irish Beauty Show- RDS Dublin

I popped out the Beauty Show today on a free ticket that was gifted to me by a very lovely friend. I have to say, it wasn't really what I expected! In some area's it excelled, in others it kinda fell flat. Granted, I went on the second day, and didn't get there till about half 3, so a lot of stalls weren't long about winding down.

There was more fake tan there than you could shake a stick at. Every kind, spray tans for salon and home use, mousse, creams, you name it, it had a stand. The sheer amount was actually a little overwhelming, if you didn't go in with a clear idea of what you wanted it could have been quite difficult to chose. On the plus side they were all really reasonably priced. Cocoa Brown had a great offer of 4 cans for €20, which is great value. I settled on a bottle of Bbold in light/medium. I was very cheeky and asked for the sample bottle since they were packing up. Got it for €5, as opposed to €10, and the bottle was almost full. The girls at the Bbold stand also really knew their stuff, and were really, really nice and approachable. I applied the tan tonight and am so far really impressed. Like Cocoa Brown, there is no smell at all, and it's developing into a nice natural glow! Here's a link to their Facebook page, I would highly recommend giving them a visit!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BBoldtan/174403839327677

If you're a nail polish fan, you would have been in heaven. There was mountains of nail polish, loads of stands doing Shellac, nail art, gel nails, or selling products for salon and home. The OPI stand was particularly impressive, like a rainbow! And they were only €6 a bottle, €3.50 for some of the older sets.

I was slightly disappointed in the selection of hair care/ hair dressing/ extensions on display. I was very excited about seeing the Great Lengths stand, but when I finally found them, there was nothing happening at their stand! No one even approached me to give me any information. The same thing happened at the House Of Colour stand. There was only 1 guy there, myself and my friend were looking at one of the TWO products on display, we weren't approached, even though we were the only ones there. There was a pretty limited selection of hair care, but what was there was pretty good value.

There was bundles of make up, from very well known brands, to brands I had never even heard of. Some of it was fantastic, and there was great offers to be had, but some were blatantly samples that people were trying to fob off. I bought a lovely little semi permanent eyebrow kit from Cresty Cosmetics. I got the eyebrow powder, brush, 3 stencils for €20. The girl I was dealing with also threw in 3 free mascara's and 2 lip tattoo's! Can't complain about that! Dermalogica's stand was absolutely fantastic. They were offering free face mapping, and gave you free samples of everything that your skin needed. The staff at the stands were also incredibly friendly and helpful! There was about a 5 minute wait, but it was well worth it when you were handed your envelope full of samples at the end.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable day out. I would have loved to have gone with a couple of hundred euro in my back pocket, as there was so much on offer on the spot, like teeth whitening for just €69! There was lot's to see, a lot of demonstrations, but not a lot of samples to be brutally honest. It would have been nice to try a lot of the products before parting with your hard earned cash. I would recommend going, even if just to pick up some tips and tricks from experienced practioners. I'll definitely head along to the next one, but I'll be saving up this time!