How to deal with annoyingly frizzy and wavy hair

 My hair is one of the banes of my existence. It's wavy, it's frizzy, and it's a bit curly.  This was it a few years ago when I attempted a quick blow dry, something I've not bothered even trying to do since.  It's big, my hair, and not in a good way, it simply wants to fill the room with itself, and choke anyone who gets in its way.  It hates you, my hair, but it hates me even more.

 A couple of years ago, I went the "No-Poo" way, and that was a complete disaster, my hair was lank and horrific, and never ever felt clean.  Then I tried using hair gel as a "cast" to create curls, and that was better, but my hair was still prone to frizz as it dried - I prefer air-drying to blow-drying, always, but the results can be unpredictable. Basically, with my hair, you simply never know what you're going to get on a day by day basis.  But now I think I've cracked it.

The difference is "plopping". Something you've probably heard of, and the idea is - basically - to tip your head over, as if you were about to scrunch-dry your hair with a diffuser, and then just lower your curls onto an absorbent material and wrap them up.  Where it differs from a normal turban-style wrap with a towel is that you don't use a terry towel (they remove too much moisture), and you don't stretch out your hair into the twists of whatever material you're wrapping your hair up in.

So, I bought myself a curl-towel from Boucleme, and have been trying it for myself.  I also treated myself to some of their curl defining gel (you need something that sets hard for this, otherwise it won't give enough hold to your curls as they dry).  I washed with Rahua shampoo and used their hair mask (but to be honest, you can use any good and moisturising shampoo and conditioner combo that you wish, these just happen to be my hair trials of the moment).

So, how do you plop? Here's my (simple) step-by-step guide:

Wash and condition your hair as normal, using a good, moisturising conditioner.
Squeeze out as much water from your hair as you can with your hands, trying not to agitate it too much.
Apply your curl-forming product whilst your hair is still sopping wet (and be quite generous with it) all over, taking care to scrunch a bit extra into the ends to help start the curl-forming process
Have your curl towel (you can use a t-shirt if you don't have a special curl towel, but not a normal terry-towel) onto a flat surface.
Tip your head forwards, and gather your hair together as if you were going to put it up into a high-ponytail onto the crown of your head
Gently lower your curls into the middle of the material you put onto the flat surface, until your head touches the towel.
Bring the front and back (long edges) of your towel together onto both your forehead and nape of neck, leaving two long "wings" at the sides, where your ears are
Twist those wings until the fabric gathers over your ears, then tie them up at the back of your neck. 
Look at yourself in the mirror, marvelling at how stupid you now look.

By the way, there should be no hair in the wings of your material, it should all have been in the centre, so when you stand up, your hair is all now on the top of your head.

DO NOT RUB YOUR HAIR AT ANY STAGE.

And voila, that's IT! Just leave the towel on until your hair is no longer sopping wet, and remove it to let your hair air-dry (you'll have to arrange your curls slightly to ensure they fall properly) or diffuse your hair through the towel until there's only a very little moisture left.  If your hair looks like it will be a bit fluffy once you've taken the towel off, just add a little more gel.

Once your hair is completely dry - the gel will be crunchy at this point, btw, but it's necessary! -  scrunch the curls gently in your hands.  The gel will disappear, leaving you with soft, FRIZZ FREE curls in their natural curl formation.

Makeup free, aside from mascara.  It's my blog and I'll leave off the makeup if I want to ;)

This was how mine looked after 30 minutes or so "plopping" in the Boucleme towel, then I left it to dry naturally for a couple of hours. I gently scrunched it to break the gel "casts" my curls had dried into, and this was the result!  My hair is soft, bouncy and shiny, I really like it!  I had no idea I could get those beachy curls without heat, or any real effort at all, so it was an added bonus.

The Boucleme towel has made all the difference for me, it's basically cotton and bamboo with a hint of elastane and it works really well.  For the price of £19 though, I would have expected hemmed edges, rather than the rough scissor marks that are on mine, as £19 is quite expensive for what is, essentially, a big rectangle of stretchy t-shirt fabric.  The curl defining gel by Boucleme though, I can't really fault. It smells fresh and clean, dries hard, creates fab curls and disappears completely without a trace once you scrunch it out.  At £15 for 300ml, it's a big (and not cheap) bottle, but as it's designed to be used in a generous application, so I'm not sure how long it will last.  I'll definitely be re-purchasing though, regardless. I used to use Deva-Curl which you can only source from Amazon, and it's breath-takingly expensive for hair gel, as they import it from the US.  The Boucleme is just as good, if you ask me, and much easier to find.

So, please share your curly hair tips with me in the comments, I'll be ever so grateful!

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Skincare of the Week: 17.10.2015

 

I've been beauty blogging a long time, well over six years now, and in that time my interests have changed. From basically wanting to catalogue my lipstick collection (where the name came from), to learning to love (and grow) my fingernails, then COLOURS, COLOURS, COLOURS, and finally to where I am now, which is obsessed with skincare.  Mostly I'm too lazy to spend hours every day applying my face - though I do wear a different lipstick every day still - so my skin needs to be tip-top at all times, hence the obsession.

My skin is combination-oily, prone to redness and sensitivity, and it is full of pores.  I suffered horrendously from adult on-set acne in my late twenties too - which I mainly cured through getting my skincare right. I'm in the "mature" skin category these days, but a lot of anti-ageing creams are too heavy for my oiliness, so I'm constantly on a quest to deal with my redness rather than my wrinkles (of which at the moment I have thankfully few, but the ones I do have grow slightly more entrenched every day - I'm learning to love them).  These Skincare of the Week posts are my way of diarising what I'm trialling, what I really love, what works - and if you see it disappear after just one use or two - what doesn't work at all.  So read on to find out what's been on my ugly mush this week.

Mary Kay Autumn Collection Competition

I love autumn, don't you? And I love autumn because makeup-wise it means we move away from the (unwearable to me) pastels of spring, and the bronzers of summer into lovely berry shades and gorgeous sludgey shades of makeup, which I always find so comforting.  This coupled with snuggly blankets on the sofa, long evenings drinking red wine, and the prospect of Christmas on the horizon thrills my cynical little heart.

Other things thrill me too. I went to tea with the Mary Kay company recently, and was amazed to discover that they're one of the best-selling makeup companies in the whole world, and they're one of the top ten skincare sellers in the world too!  It's criminal that we barely know they exist here in the UK - my US readers are always emailing me asking what I think of the products, and until recently, I didn't even know you could get them here!  Well, you can, and in the new year, they're going to be launching a fab new way of getting hold of their products, which I'll tell you all about nearer the time.

Meanwhile, in order to celebrate autumn, and the soon-to-be increased visibility of Mary Kay here in the UK, I'm offering one lucky reader the chance to win the entire autumn collection of Mary Kay products that you see pictured here, which includes four nail polishes, three lipsticks, one eyeshadow quad (and a palette to put it in), three CityScape perfumed products (a shower gel, a body oil and matching perfume) plus their brand new exfoliating kit which will retail for £50 once it's on sale later this month. All in all the prize bag is worth almost £200!

To enter, just follow the guidelines below, and bear in mind, I will be checking the entrants carefully!  Sadly, because the prize contains nail varnish, this competition will be open to entrants from the UK only.  Sorry about that!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Cover FX Custom Cover Drops in P40

I was agnostic about Cover FX Custom Cover Drops, to be honest. I thought they couldn't possibly work, and thought the hype about them "mixing with everything" was just that.

I was wrong, and happy to be proved so to be, because Cover FX Custom Cover drops are ace, and I love them an impossible amount.  And, even though I have found something they won't mix happily with (because I'm nice like that, I am), I still think they're brilliant.

The idea behind them is one of those which sounds simple in theory, but that I suspect cost a fortune in R&D to actually make happen.  Essentially, these are bottles of pure pigment and you select the amount to add to the moisturiser, primer, oil or serum of your choosing to get the coverage you need.  One drop for a sheer veil of colour, two for medium, three for medium-full, and four for full-on opaque coverage.  And believe me, they're not lying about it being a drop, or two or three!

The shades are divided into Pink, "Golden" and Neutral undertones, and the sensible numbering system is easy to figure out. As I'm rather cool-toned, I was matched at Harvey Nichols to P40.  I was actually matching myself to P30, but I do think that would have been just a little too pale for me.  Altogether there are 24 shades to be matched to, and they really do range from the lightest to the darkest, which is great.

P40 is great match to my skintone, and I've tried mixing Custom Cover Drops with oils, moisturisers, serums and primers with great results all-round.  I like two drops (not being a sheer kind of girl, as discussed previously) and this gives me more than enough coverage mixed in with my normal amount of moisturiser or oil that I use for an application regardless, but I find the best results are when you mix it with a primer, as this just gives it a bit of bounce that you don't get from a moisturiser or oil, and allows it not to settle into pores as much as it might.

What Cover FX Custom Cover Drops don't like being mixed with is "hydrating" serums, or anything that is designed to stay "wet" on the skin.  I found mixing this with Pixi H2O Skindrink left this dripping off my skin, and felt very odd, but it's an easy enough mistake not to make again.  Oils give you a gorgeous dewy glow, moisturisers most resemble a traditional foundation "satin" finish, and using a primer (I really like this with Sunday Riley's primer, btw) will give you whichever finish the primer is designed to give you.

Lasting time is great, I haven't noticed any fading, but you will need a larger than average application of moisturiser or oil if you're thinking of using four drops of this for daily wear, as the powder pigments will make a small application look rather cakey and artificial.

It's official.  I love these.  They've more or less made my (rather extensive) foundation redundant.  Bravo Cover FX!  They cost £33, and my bottle came from Harvey Nichols.


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Burberry Kisses Sheer in 297 Midnight Plum, 249 Hydrangea, and 241 Crimson Pink

If 2014 was the year of matte lips, then 2015 has been the year of sheer glossy ones (it's also been a banner year for eye crayons, but more on that another time).  Now, I'm normally a full-on opaque kind of girl to be honest, but I'm always happy to play with sheers, as long as they're still pigmented enough to show up on my lips.  Luckily, these are, and they're gorgeous colours too.  More after the jump.

Fenwicks Global Beauty Icons

I love Fenwick of Bond Street, truly I do. It's clean, it's quiet, it's sensibly laid out, the staff are lovely, and there's a frankly astonishing range of brands there now.  I was invited back to their store last week to celebrate both the relaunch of their newly redesigned beauty hall, and the launch of their #FenwickBeautyIcons and #GlobalBeautyIcons campaigns, and, I admit, it was a little slice of heaven in there.  There's something so wonderful about a beauty hall before it opens to the public, all the products laid out like jewels, promising beauty and delight, just waiting for the customers to come along and take their pick, it's rather magical.

I was invited to create my own "edit" of products both old and new from the new hall, and here's what I selected.  I wanted to create a classic red lip and black liner look, so used that as my theme, and I chose both products I've used before, love an immoderate amount and desperately wanted backups for, and new products that I've been lusting after for months now.

I went a bit mad in Charlotte Tilbury (seriously, the Charlotte Tilbury counter at Fenwick really does have to be seen to be believed), and picked up both the Magic Cream and Wonder Glow as I've been curious about them since they launched.
Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser is a holy grail product of mine, and I couldn't resist picking up a backup.  I also picked up one of their Liquid Liner pens, because, you know, Chantecaille.
Also a classic, and a can't live without product is Acqua di Parma, which I finished my bottle of last year, and have been living without ever since. I adore the soapy-clean fresh scent of this, and I've been wearing it all the time since we've been reunited.
I had to pick up a Lipstick Queen product, and the Lip Parade had my name written (almost) all over it.  A three pack of classic lip colours: Red Sinner (divine), Saint Wine (DIVINE) and Metal Nude (er ... slightly less divine, but lovely for people who like nudes nonetheless) I made a beeline for them.
I actually let out a little "SQUEE!" of happiness when I spotted that Fenwick are stocking Artis makeup brushes! Look, I need to get out more, I know, but I did.  So they HAD to go into my "edit", I can't wait, seriously can't wait to give them a proper try.
I've been lusting after the new Bobbi Brown Greige eyeshadow palette too for what seems like forever (actually: probably about a fortnight) now, so I couldn't pass that up, either.  It looks fab for my colouring, and I'm torn between wanting to swatch the whole thing, and just sitting gazing at its prettiness.
And finally a couple of things from some brands I don't know much about, the Colbert Balance Purifying cleanser, and Face Matters 24/7 Collagen Balm (who donate a percentage of the proceeds of every sale to Refuge, the women's charity, which is a wonderful thing for a tiny UK brand to do), because sometimes, it's good to try something completely different.

I could have literally spent hours in there, but I was in a rush to get back to the office, so I will be back to investigate the rest of the counters more thoroughly at another point quite soon (I probably only got around a third of the hall before I had to run away!). There will be some more in-depth reviews of these products coming up in the next few weeks, but what would you have picked up ofr your "beauty edit" at Fenwick?

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Pixi Skintreats Glow Mud Cleanser

I've been very impressed with the Pixi Skintreats that I've tried so far. It's a well-priced range of good, not too confusing basics, that perform well, and do what they are supposed to without patronising or bewildering the customers.  Glow Mud Cleanser is a great product from the line, being a clay cleanser that doesn't strip or dry out the skin.

It contains aloe, which gives the formulation plenty of slip when you're applying it, and it also contains glycolic acid, which has a slight exfoliating effect too, so this is  particularly good for oilier or congested skins, as it will help with clearing spots when it is used regularly.  My skin has been a bit hormonal recently, the changes in the weather and the advent of central heating becoming a necessity in the flat,  and my skin doesn't really know what to do with itself as a result. So it's pumping out oil like there's no tomorrow. It'll settle shortly (it does this as we head into winter every year), but I'm finding this great for clearing zits as they begin to appear.

You can also use this as a mask, just apply it as you normally would, and leave it for five or ten minutes or so, before rinsing it away. This allows the glycolic to stay in contact with the skin more, so it gives a deeper exfoliation effect if you leave it in contact with your skin than you would with a cleanser normally. You'll get the familiar "glycolic tingle" when you're using this, but if you have sensitive skin, I personally wouldn't follow it with any form of acidic toner (including Pixi Glow Tonic tbh), as this might lead to irritation and redness if you overdo it.  You'll need to use a sunscreen after, as you would with any glycolic acid product.

I don't use this every day - my skin is normally clear, and it is pretty sensitive most of the time, but for those days when I need something a little more ... powerful ... than a balm cleanser, then this one can't be beat.  Best of all, it's only £18, and you can find it at Pixi, at Cult Beauty, and Marks and Spencer!


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