Sally Hanson Hard as Nails Xtreme wear

While in Dealz earlier today this bright pink polish caught my eye. Normally once autumn sets in I'm all about dark colours, but this looked so neon I just couldn't resist. Plus, a Sally Hanson polish for €1.49 would be stupid to pass up, right? Wrong.

I absolutely love the colour in the bottle, but it came out much duller on a clean nail, so I applied it over a white base. I should state that the base was absolutely bone dry, so is in no way to blame. The colour did come out much more vibrant over the base, but that is where the good points end.

The polish doesn't dry properly, so it dents and chips at the slightest touch. About an hour after painting my nails, I curled my hands up my sleeves to try and warm them up, and you can see the results. They are a disgrace!

I'm really disappointed in thia polish! I'm not sure if it was a different formula because it was being sold in Dealz or if this is standard of all Sally Hanson polishes? I know it was only €1.49, but it was €1.49 for a polish I'll likely never use again!

Has anyone else ever had any experiences like this with Sally Hanson?

 

From pink to blonde!

Finished product with some Hairspray clip in extensions

After months of being pink I decided it was time to join the realm of the fully fledged grown ups and dye my hair a natural colour. I did toy with the idea of an autumn red colour, but after years of running away from my ginger roots, I finally decided to go for blonde.

Before

The process of going from pink to blonde was always going to cause damage to my hair, so before reaching for the bleach I spent weeks growing and washing out the pink. There was a lot of pink build up so I would shampoo my hair twice every time I showered. The day I bleached it there was barely any pink left from the ends up to about my ears, but my crown was still fairly pink.

To bleach out the pink I used a powder bleach and 12% peroxide I got in Terrisales. I left it my roots and crown for about 7-10 minutes,  then brought it down to the ends. I new the result was going to be a bit yucky, yellow-y, a real mish mash of colours. After washing out the bleach I used the John Frieda full repair mask on my hair just to minimize the damage.

After the first bleach (also make up free, gasp!!)

I knew I wanted to darken the colour, it was just far too bright for my skin tone. I settled on this L'Oreal Preference dye in 9.13 light beige blonde. I picked this because it was darker than the colour my hair was, but still a nice light blonde. I left it in for the 30 minutes as stated in the instructions. While it was developing I was convinced my hair was getting a greyish tinge and started to get very worried! But it washed out blonde. 

And below is the end result! It's going to take some getting used to, but I do really like it! I think im going to stick with natural colours from now on. .... but I've said that many times before! 

After L'Oreal Preference Beige blonde

My hair had repaired itself quite a bit while it was pink, because the bulk of it was only ever getting touched up with Crazy color,  which is a conditioning colour. I was worried about undoing all that progress, but thankfully it doesn't look or feel to bad at all!  It'll be getting lots of extra tlc over the coming weeks. 

Sleek Divine Pallet Acid- Day look

Excuse the boobs!

I have been lusting after this pallet since I first saw it on the website, I just never actually managed to get my hands on it! All the colours just look so versatile, with a bit of imagination you could create some absolutely stunning looks!

A very, very kind friend presented it to me as an early birthday present yesterday (needless to say I jumped up and down) and I couldn't wait to play with it. I didn't want to get too adventurous straight away, so I just did, what I think, is quite a low key look.

I found the colours to be really pigmented and they blended really well, the ones I used did anyway! The only one I was slightly disappointed in was the white. It went on very wishy washy, but I do have extremely high expectations from white shadows!

The colours really make me want a cocktail....

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!

Rimmel Apocalips in Apocalyptic

Since dying my hair pink, I've been craving a really bright, vibrant pink lipstick to wear on a night out. I wanted something that I could put on once, and only have to top it up once or twice throughout the night. I plumped for Rimmel Apocalips in Apocalyptic as it was by far the most concentrated shade in the range (there are 8 shades to choose from) and I have to say I am so, so pleased with it.

Apcalyptic

The colour is EXTREMELY pigmented so a little goes a very long way. The formula is smooth and quite thick so you get a very clean, even spread of colour without the lacquer ever going sticky! It's extremely easy to wear! There's a lovely gloss to the lacquer initially, which lasts quite a while, but even when the gloss fades you're still left with a vivid pop of colour for hours! There is nothing discreet about the colour, it's bold, bright and in your face so is best worn with quite neutral eye make up.

I'll most definitely be treating myself to one or two more of these, at 7.95 they are worth every penny!

Crazy Color Candyfloss €3.99

So, after over a year of trying desperately to get my hair blonde........ i got completely bored of it and needed some excitement. Some people just aren't meant for natural colours. I am one of those people. I do not have healthy hair. It is dry and brittle from years of abuse. What i have no done to my hair is not worth doing. It's been coloured, bleached, straightened to within an inch of it's life, had every type of extension in it, it never gets a break. By right I should have gone bald years ago, my hair is a trooper. So I rewarded it by lobbing a load of pink dye in it...... right.....

Crazy Color 'Candy Floss' €3.99 from Terrisales.

Luckily, Crazy Color is actually quite a conditioning semi permanent colour, so I'm gonna chose to believe that it's actually good for my hair... *cough cough*

Application is easy as ya like!The dye itself is a great consistency so there's little to no mess. Apply to towel dried hair (wear gloves) and leave on for 15-30 minutes. I left mine on for a little over 30 minutes (I fell asleep...) because I'm a rebel like that, and you can see the results.

With flash

It's a subtle enough colour, and doesn't pick up great on camera, but i love it. It's very cute and girly! Almost makes  me look innocent! Also, it fades quite quickly, so if you're just looking for a change for a week or two, pastel colours are your man!

Without flash

I should also state that my hair was about 50 different shades of blonde, from snow white to brassy, before I put Candyfloss in, so any variances in the colour are entirely my fault! I used about 3/4 of a bottle on my shoulder length hair.

Overall, as with any Crazy Color I've used  (Fire, pinkissmo, lavander, marshmallow), I've not been disappointed. It does exactly what it says on the bottle, gives you hair that looks like candy floss! Also, good to note that ALL Crazy Colour's are now selling for €3.99 in Terrisales!

NYC Blue rose (405) lipstick

I've been going through another phase of wearing big, bold coloured lipstick. Im a demon for pinks, the brighter the better. This NYC one is one of my current favourites.

It's a real rich, deep, vibrant shade of pink with a subtle blue tint. It's quite stunning. I tend to find that because i have quite big lips any bright colours can look a bit over the top, but not this one. It's magic! And an absolute steal at just €2.49! The colour lasts hours and stays nice and moisturised. A lovely little find.

NYC 16 Hour lip tint €4.95

I've never used a lip pen before, because i can't really get my head around colouring in my lips! I know there are many different brands out there, but the price, and colours never really did anything for me.

I found these NYC ones yesterday, they have 4 or 5 different shades of pink. I bought 'precious pink', it was the most vibrant shade. It came out very pink on my skin, but was more subtle on my lips.

It claims to last 16 hours, it doesn't quite make it, but gives it a damn good try! It feels very lightweight on, i forgot i was wearing it after a few minutes. Until i licked my lips..... It doesn't taste very good at all!! But that goes after a few minutes!


All in all, for its price this is a pretty good buy! If you want a subtle, hassle free and cheap alternative to lippie, id give this a go!

Barry M Lip paint, shade #146 Dolly pink

Another Barry M favourite! I adore pink lipstick, but most brands primarily do very tonal, natural looking pinks. No dice!! If i'm going o the bother of buying and wearing lipstick, everyone's gonna know I'm wearing lipstick!

After much deliberation, I opted for shade #146 'Dolly pink'. It looks a lot darker in he tube than it is on your lips, which was a tad disappointing. That said, it could never be described as a natural colour!

With flash:

Without flash:

As with shade #55, I found that after a few minutes  got clumping in he corner of my lips, but blotting sorted that out too!  The lipstick has a lovely gloss to it and felt nice and natural on my lips, nothing worse than sticky lippie! Next venture- Shocking Pink!!