Nair Nourish Upper Lip Kit Review

Hello! My name is Get Lippie, and I have a moustache.  If you're reading this, you've probably got one too, man, woman or child.  Don't worry, there's no judgement here, but there is shedloads of judgement out there, this I know.  I had someone recently say in an email that they loved my choice of lipsticks on instagram, but my upper-lip hair was making them feel a bit sick, and could I do something about it? Didn't even say please!  So, I did the right thing, and blocked them on Instagram, so now hopefully my hirsute and ever-so-ugly-as-a-result-apparently mug won't be ruining their breakfast every day.

However,  I do actually occasionally de-forest my upper lip.  I say occasionally, because I am (of course), a big fat lazy bugger, who can't be bothered removing any body-hair on a regular basis (this summer has been so cold, for example, that I don't even slightly begin to remember the last time I shaved my legs.  And the least we say about my armpits the better: I haven't been able to raise my left arm properly for about 18 months, so there's probably bears or raccoons living in there now), but yes, when you take pictures of lipstick on a regular basis, and people start commenting on your facial hair rather than the colour on your lips, then maybe its time to take action.  Or not. Frankly, if this package of Nair Nourish Upper Lip Kit Hair Remover hadn't arrived completely coincidentally a day or two after the aforementioned email, I'd probably have just invested in some moustache wax and had at it.  Hey, it's a look!

But I thought I'd give it a go, mostly because the box promises it only takes three minutes, is designed for sensitive skin (there's nothing worse than removing your moustache hair only to leave yourself with a fluorescent pink skin-moustache that takes a week to die down, in my experience), needs no mixing, and comes with an aftercare moisturiser.  You apply the hair remover to clean, dry, product-free skin, wait three minutes then remove.  I found that my puke-making hair needed just a little extra time, around four minutes in total, but the hair was removed completely in that time.  

And no stinging!  At all!  And NO PINK SKIN-MOUSTACHE! I didn't particularly notice any smell, either.  In fact, my skin was so little irritated by the process that I didn't even bother using the post-removal moisturiser. Truth be told, I'd actually forgotten it was in the kit, and only realised when I came to photograph it for this review ... anyhoo, it's a winner in my book.

Here's hoping it's still as effective the next time I come to take it out of the box, which will be around mid-2018 by my reckoning .... 

The Fine Print: PR samples.


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Aquis Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel Review

My hair. It drives me nuts.  You know this, I've written about it endlessly over the years, and after recently buying it a hat to keep it quiet during the night, I thought it was time to treat it to a new towel too, so I got in touch with the lovely people at Aquis and begged them to let me trial their new, and rather lovely, Lisse Luxe Hair Towels. Luckily for me, they said yes, and now I'm the extremely happy owner of one of their long hair towels.

Now, those of you with long memories will remember that I bought my hair a special towel last year too, one specifically designed to encourage curls which is deliberately not that absorbent, but the Aquis Liss Luxe is designed to dry your hair super-quickly without damage. Also, to dry it superquickly without being made of those nasty really cheap microfibres, which, if you're anything like me, set your teeth on edge and just have that "squeaky" feel against skin.  I have a few (cheap) microfibre turbans, but they are just so horrible to the touch that I can't bring myself to use them.

Made of a blend of polyester and nylon called Aquitex, Aquis towels are super light (literally a few grammes, even in the larger sizes, rather than a pound or two for terry-towelling) and actually feel wonderfully luxurious to the fingers. They're slightly textured without that horrific squeaky microfibre feel.  They're amazingly aborbent for such a light towel, too.  I have a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of hair, and it takes hours and hours to dry naturally even after an hour or two wrapped in a normal towel usually, but I've found that the Aquis Lisse Luxe towel can cut that drying time at least in half, if not more. In fact, after around half an hour in the towel last time I used it, my hair felt more than halfway dry already, just about perfect to start heat styling.  If I could ever be bothered blowdrying, that is, which I can't, usually.

Unlike my curl-towel, which at £19 I thought was expensive for a clearly cut by hand with scissors and unhemmed piece of stretchy cloth (even though it does a sterling job, frankly), my Aquis Lisse Luxe towel at £30 seems priced correctly, even though it is on the pricey side.  The quality of the cloth, the finishing details of an envelope to keep it in when dry (it even comes with a pony tail band!), and best of all, the time saved from not having to use a hair dryer to rough-dry before styling all make me happy. And no squeaky microfibre!

The website for Aquis claims that using the towel after every wash for three weeks will improve the health of your hair - I'm still a little sceptical about that, but then I never ever rub my hair with any kind of towel anyway, my hair just doesn't need that kind of help creating frizz, frankly.  However, for drying my hair gently, but quickly, and without having to carry around several pounds of heavy terry-towelling on my head for a couple of hours, it's already definitely a winner in my book.  Any improvements to the health of my hair will just be the cherry on the cake, frankly.

You can buy the Aquis Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel here for £30.

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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Rahua Shampoo, Conditioner and Omega 9 Mask

I've got backups, don't worry!

 I love this range.  And luckily for me, my hair loves it too.  My hair is coloured, porous and prone to frizziness, and Rahua hair products deal with it admirably.  Rahua nut oil is well-known for its hair care properties owing the small size of the molecules which help it penetrate the hair shaft, and the basic Rahua range (as opposed to the Voluminous - my hair does NOT need volumising!) is great for not stripping hair colour and leaves hair in fab condition after using.

Rahua products are organic, 100% natural, and free from synthetics, parabens and sulfates as well as being vegan.  Alongside all that, every sale benefits native tribes, who harvest the rahua nuts the range is named after, in the Amazon.

The shampoo and conditioner both have a gentle slightly nutty-woody scent that's partially derived from the palo santo oil that works alongside the rahua oil to protect and strengthen hair, and the Omega 9 Mask (which I use interchangably with the conditioner) has a sharper, slightly more citrus, but still subtle fragrance, and they're all a pleasure to use.  The shampoo lathers nicely, and the conditioner/mask both noticably nourish my hair without stripping the colour, and I like using them a lot.  My hair is better behaved because of them, even if I am not.  Also, none of them irritate my sensitive scalp, which is a huge bonus!

The price point is a little wince-inducing, starting at £30 for the shampoo, and creeping up to around £50 for the mask, but a little of each goes a long way (and I alternate using these with cheaper products such as Shea Moisture, and they last a very, very long time as a result. These bottles are actually products I've been using since last year.  It helps), and as your hair is the one accessory you take absolutely everywhere with you, I'm a firm believer in treating it well.

You can find Rahua products at Cult Beauty.  Try the shower gel too, it's lovely!

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10-in-1 Multi-Benefit Shampoo, Conditioner and Masque

This review is so overdue that it's a little embarrassing! However, since the Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10-in-1 Multi-Benefit range arrived, it's definitely become a staple, and I've got through backups of everything pictured here.  It's a great range.

Long cult products in the US, I think there were lots of us UK beauty bloggers who were super-excited to see  Shea Moisture finally make it over here, I know I certainly was!  Now, around a year since they appeared in Boots stores, they've become a staple on many bathroom shelves - they were the first thing I unpacked when I moved house recently, that I do know.  Paraben-, mineral oil-, sulfate- and silicone-free, the Superfruit Complex range is perfect for needy hair that gets a bit lank when too-rich products are used.

I have wavy, coloured and porous hair.  Initially, I thought the Superfruit Complex products were going to be too light to have much of an effect on my hard to manage hair, but I was wrong.  Whilst the products are light in texture, they really do pack a conditioning punch, and my hair loves this stuff.  I alternate between using the conditioner and the masque usually (bear in mind I only wash my hair 1-2 a week usually, so it's a weekly masque treatment), but my hair is left soft and smooth and easy to style no matter what I've done to it in the days preceding, or what styling I subject it to afterwards, either, it makes my barnet lovely and shiny.  Not overly-fragranced, there's just a gentle sweet smell that fades quickly, so it won't clash with any other fragranced products you'll use afterwards.   

Once I run out of the latest batch, I think I'm going to try the Raw Shea and Cupuacu Frizz Defense range, as the combination of this and my Silke London hair wrap means my hair requirements are changing.

I'm defnitely a convert, and at £10.99 a product, it's definitely cheaper than my other shampoo range of choice, more of which anon ...

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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Silke London - Isla Silk Hair Wrap

 My hair has a mind of its own.  It's fine - but there is a hell of a lot of it - and it is by turns frizzy, wavy, flat in parts and curly in others, occasionally all of them at once, but the thing it most likes to be is ENORMOUS. I am always looking for ways to keep it under control.  Since it developed the mysterious habit of trying to choke Mr Lippie in his sleep, I decided that Something Must Be Done, and investigated the role of hair wraps for night-time.

I've known for a while that sleeping on a silk pillowcase has helped my hair be smoother, less frizzy and easier to control, but I was disappointed when looking for silk wraps that most wraps you can buy are actually man-made fibre.  Excellent for keep hair in place, perhaps, but not what I was looking for on the defrizzing front.  Then a friend posted a link on Facebook that mentioned Silke London hair wraps and I was intrigued.  They looked beautiful!  Gorgeous jewel-coloured silk turbans (to be honest, the thought of actually "wrapping" my hair was making me nervous, I'm a cack-handed muppet at the best of times), easy to wear, and stunning items in their own right.

Yeah, this isn't me.  I look more like Hilda Ogden in mine

The hardest part was choosing which colour I wanted. The Dita is purple and red; The Eva is black; The Sofia is ivory; and the Poppy is hot pink and orange.  Eventually I settled on the Isla (pictured), which is green and blue, and bought myself one as a birthday present.  It is gorgeously presented in it's tiny colour-co-ordinated box, and folded beautifully, it'd make a perfect gift.

The Silke London website promises that the use of their hair wrap will help your hair in the following ways:

1. Repair, protect and prevent hair breakage and damage
2. Maintain your style for longer
3. Save time spent restyling
4. Balance oily roots and dry ends
5. Wash your hair less
6. Reduce hair loss and boost hair growth
7. Eliminate frizz and flyaways
8. Naturally condition hair
9. Dramatically enhance your hair’s appearance

 Now, whilst I am cursed with uncontrollable hair, I'm also incredibly lazy, so anything that promises to reduce styling time and leaves you able to wash your hair less, well, I'm IN, so yes. I was champing at the bit slightly when it arrived.

Having used the Silke Hair Wrap for a good few weeks now, I can say that it definitely delivers on most of those promises, actually.  It's very easy for me to see that my hair is less frizzy after a few weeks wear, and I have to use less styling product now.  Before, I'd be using three pumps of Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum just to get my hair out of the bathroom once it had been washed, and my hair would just drink the stuff, then beg for some styling cream for afters.  Now it's just one pump, if that, and no styling cream (unless I'm going to use a heated appliance after), and it's less coarse-feeling in the mornings.

But the major difference I've seen is less breakage, it's amazing.  With the house move and everything this year, it's been a while since I've been able to see my hair dresser, and normally if I'd leave it three months between visits, the bottom three inches of my hair would be feeling like straw (the ends of my hair are subtly bleached, I've been having balayage for years now), but this time around, even after so long, my hair was only slightly damaged at the ends, and far less prone to breaking off when I run my fingers through it.  I couldn't be happier with the results. 

Even if I do look like a massive plonker wearing it, and my husband has developed an irritating habit of humming "... you can leave your hat on..." when entering the bedroom as a result.  The problem is that whilst I undoubtedly have a shedload of hair, it's mounted on my tiny, tiny pinhead, and sometimes the turban spins round a bit when I move my head.  Or slips over my eyes.  But all you lovely people with normal-sized bonces won't have these issues.  The wrap is soft, and the elastic is loose, so you won't get band marks around your face when you remove it.  It's comfortable to wear (though it can get a little warm on these really hot summer evenings, bear in mind).

So yes, £45 well spent, I think, especially on a cost-per-wear basis.  I just wish I'd bought the black one instead ...

The Fine Print: Purchase.
 
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L'Oreal Steampod Brazil Fantasy Edition

I live in a little sport-free bubble, and I love it very much, but I'm sheltered to the extent that when a bunch of Brazil-themed beauty products started arriving recently, I was a little confused.  Then they launched Brazil-themed M&Ms, and my thought process went: "Hey there official food of athletes around the world! Man, is it the Olympics already? Aren't they in South America this time? Rio! Brazil! D'oh!" And lo, a mystery was solved.  Now, if only I could solve the mystery of where my reading glasses keep disappearing to, my life would be complete.
 

All of which is rather roundabout way of pointing out that I'm not always the sharpest tool in the box. But that shouldn't put you off this rather marvellous version of the Brazil-themed Steampod that I fell in love with way back in November last year.  Covered in tropical flora and fauna, and in a crazy-pretty box, I love these.

I'll be honest, the Steampod has taken over from any and all other straighteners of choice. My hair just seems to love the extra level of straightening that it gets from the hit of steam, and even though there's definitely a learning curve involved with these  that you don't have with traditional straighteners, it's really worth getting to grips with them if you have slightly  ... recalcitrant ... hair.

The L'Oreal Steampod Brazil Fantasy Edition is available from Look Fantastic and costs around £145. The creams and serums you'll need to make the system really worthwhile are available there too, and cost extra (sadly - but I have backups of all of them, you'll have to prise these from my cold, dead hands, frankly), but they last a long, long time.
 
The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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A Blow Dry at Bardou

Last week I popped along to Bardou on Shelton Street in Covent Garden and had a wonderful blow-dry from the team there. There are a few blow dry bars around London now, but quite a few of them are "dry" bars (meaning they don't wash your hair first), and me and my insane barnet have never got on particularly well with those.  I'm pleased to say that Bardou is (mostly) a wash'n'blow-dry bar, and the staff are really talented.

Originating in a salon in Reading, Bardou have recently finished a pop-residency in Kensington, and have now moved to their new home in Covent Garden. It looks pretty groovy in a session-stylist kind of a way, with the movable stations (which they occasionally pack up and trundle over to other nearby destinations like the Hospital Club, for special occasions), and a small backwash area.  I really liked it, there's plenty of space, and it doesn't feel like you've been packed in there like a sausage factory.

I was pleased to note that they have their own product range too, no fly-by-dry-by night operation, this one!  The products used on my hair were great, and my blowdry lasted a couple of days afterwards, which I always love.

A one-day old blowdry - I was really impressed!

They're open 9am-9pm, Tuesday to Saturday, so whatever occasion you need special occasion hair for, there's bound to be a slot that suits you, and prices begin from £20 (if you don't need your hair washing), to around £35 for a dry in one of their signature styles.  They can even do your makeup, if need be!  If only I still worked just around the corner ...
 
The Fine Print: PR Sample


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L'Oreal Steampod Review

I don't actually remember the last time I straightened my hair on a regular basis.  There was a time when my (naturally) curly hair was kept such a secret that it frequently came as a huge surprise to people that my hair was anything more than just slightly bouncy. I went through straighteners like no one's business!  For the last year or so though, I've been embracing my inner curly-girl, and occasionally cursing the fact that, actually, curls are a lot more work than straight hair!   And don't even talk to me about frizz ...

Anyhoo, I've about reached the end of my tether with my curls at the moment, so when the chance to review a Steampod Straightener from L'Oreal came up, I kind of leapt at it. Well, not kind of, actually leapt! The system - for it is a system - use both steam and keratin-enriched styling creams to infuse conditioning ingredients into the hair, before the ceramic plates seal the cuticles and straighten your hair.

Inside the rather imposing box are one pair of straighteners (which come complete with a comb attachment, which I love), one steam pod itself, one replenishing styling cream, and one smoothing serum.   The straightener and steam pod are attached to each other by a very sturdy wire, and the pod (which you must keep on a flat surface when in use, as it is full of water - the water chamber itself is removable for easy filling and emptying) comes complete with sucker pads to keep it in one place. 

You do NOT use this on wet hair.  You apply the styling cream to damp hair, and either blow- or air-dry until your hair is 100% dry, then, after applying a little of the protective serum to the ends, you then use the straighteners as you would any others.  Well, almost.  They're a little wider than normal straighteners and this is to encompass the row of steam nozzles (which only activate when the plates are pressed together), and the comb attachment below the heated ceramic plates.  You have to ensure that at all times the steam-holes are below the ceramic plates, so the steam infuses the creams first.  This can mean a bit of manouvering (especially around the back), but the set has arrows to show where the steam holes are - after a bit of practice, it's quite easy to remember.

The Steampod promises mirror-like shine at a lower temperature than a normal straightener, so does it deliver on that promise?  The first time I used these, no it didn't, actually.  I initially used mine at 180 degrees (I usually use my traditional straighteners at the highest  temperature, having learned the hard way that whilst my curls aren't the tightest, they are incredibly tenacious) and tried out the "normal" hair styling cream alongside the low temperature.  I found that my hair needed several passes with the straighteners to get straight, and even with a liberal application of the protective serum, the ends were still a bit frizzled, and, I admit, I was disappointed. Frizzy bits and hard work?  No thanks.

Nonetheless, I tried again (for it is not only my hair that is tenacious, at times), this time pushing the temperature up to maximum, as I am ordinarily wont to do, and this time using the replenishing cream for thick hair. I used it over wavy, air-dried hair, and the difference was amazing.  I won't go so far as to say my hair was mirror-shiny, but it was soft, shiny and straight, and best of all, felt like natural hair.  Sometimes I find that straightening my hair with a styling cream leaves my hair feeling slightly plastic-ky afterwards, and without an ability to bend naturally.  I didn't have this problem this time. Hair felt natural, and looked like naturally straight hair, rather than "ironed" hair. I loved the results, second time around.

Plus, it lasts.  The publicity for this states that it "can last up to three days" (emphasis mine) I've found that it does last at least that, and it has survived several bouts of rain this week too, both drizzle and proper stormy wind and rain without any permanent damage.  I'm impressed.   

So yes, there's a bit of a learning curve with this one, taking time to figure out the best positions to straighten your hair in, and figuring out which temperature works best for your hair (personally, I never put much stock in anything that says "styles at a lower temperature", because, frankly, my hair doesn't work that way) and making your choice of styling cream correctly in the first place - my hair isn't particularly thick, but there is a hell of a lot of it, and the ends of mine are bleached, to boot. I'd recommend anyone with anything but the very thinnest/finest of hair avoids the "fine/normal hair" cream, and just goes straight for the "thick/very sensitised" version.

All of which brings me around to the price.  It's £170 (though I have seen it for £143 on LookFantastic this weekend), which is a heck of a lot of moolah.  And then there are the creams/serums at £15 each to boot.  I can't deny that it's a lot of money.  A lot of money.  Do I think it's value for the money?  I'm  not sure, actually.  Yes, it's quicker than traditional straighteners (the combination of the steam, the comb, and the plates mean you can straighten more hair in each "grab" than with just ceramic plates), and yes, hair feels healthy and conditioned - once you get the balance right - afterwards, but £170?  I just don't know.  £143 (even though it is on offer), feels like a better price to me.  Mind, Cloud 9s retail at £130, and even GHDs cost over £100 these days, and I do feel like any of them would be an investment purchase, to be honest.

I tell what though, I have just bought backups of the creams and serums, because I can tell there's going to be a lot straighter hair in my future ... make of that what you will.  My GHDs were binned long ago, and my Cloud9s have been quietly gathering dust under the bed for over a year now. Has the Steampod replaced them?  Only time will tell, but I will be using it again this very evening ... 

The Fine Print: PR Sample


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Hair Disaster recovery with Headmasters

We've all done it.  Had a fit of "fed-up-ness" with our hair and gone and got the lot chopped off on a whim.  Now, I HATE getting my hair cut, forever fearing the "bad cut", but nonetheless the week before Christmas, I did precisely what you shouldn't, and booked myself into my nearest hairdresser (a branch of Headmasters that I've been to before, but not for a cut, admittedly), and cajoled my  brand new stylist to cut the lot off.  I took along my pinterest board for reference:

 And begged for a slightly-shorter-in-back wavy dishevelled bob.

Well, it did not go to plan.  My stylist - who was adorable throughout, by the way, one of the nicest people to ever cut my hair - just didn't share my ideas for my new 'do, and - worse - couldn't cope with my wavy locks.  You know that scene in Steel Magnolias where Julia Roberts tells Dolly Parton just to make Sally Field's hair look like a big brown football helmet?  Well, it was just like that. Only bigger.

Not good.  I gave it a week, and couldn't cope with my hair being even bigger short than it ever was long.  I know there is a saying "The bigger the hair, the closer to God", but frankly, my hair already has ideas above its station, and doesn't need the encouragement, so I conceded defeat and contacted Headmasters direct to ask what they normally do in this situation.

The answer surprised - and delighted - me. Did you know that Headmasters offer an unconditional guarantee?  Don't worry, I didn't either.  I'd picked Headmasters because I've been a judge several times for the Creative Head magazine Most Wanted awards over the years, and Headmasters always do well in whichever category they're nominated in, but still I didn't know this.

Every customer who isn't delighted with their hair after a visit to Headmasters should get in touch with the salon and ask to speak to the manager, and explain their situation.  The manager will listen to your concerns and do everything in their power to fix the situation, whether that's arranging more training for your stylist or inviting you back to sort out your problem, and all without having to argy bargy over the details.  

makeup free - sorry.

I ended up going to the Putney branch of Headmasters to meet with Siobhan Jones, one of Headmasters' colour directors, to fix my disastrous cut on Christmas Eve and I am delighted.  Siobhan is a fellow curly-girl, so totally "got" my hair, and my concerns, and did her best to both fix the immediate problem, and cut my hair into a style designed to get better for my waves as it grows out.  I love a stylist who gives individual tips about specific hair concerns, and Siobhan's advice has been great, from showing me how to style my fringe in a way that makes my STUPID cowlicks behave themselves, to mentioning that I shouldn't get it cut again for three months, to getting rid of my "football helmet" just in time for the holidays, I couldn't be happier.

Thank you so much Headmasters for turning a disaster into a triumph.  I'm even happier that all your customers get the same service too.  

The Fine Print: I paid for the original haircut, but the follow-up appointment was arranged by the Headmasters PR team after I contacted them for help with this post.  Customer services will do the exact same for you though.

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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In the Pink – with Bleach London DIY Dip Dye and Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL

By Tindara

Readers, I’m having a mid life crisis. As I write this there is a glinting sheaf of pink visible at the base of my Sunday morning top knot. Yes, in an effort to stave off middle-aged boredom I have dip-dyed my hair pink, and it took some doing. I have very dark hair, with little white or grey. Very lucky at 43, you might say, but since my somewhat failed teen experiments with bleaching, dyeing and straightening, I had resigned myself to my natural black-brown frizzy curls. Until earlier this year, when I started getting Keratin treatments on my hair.

Now I don’t love poker straight hair at all, like most people these days I favour a natural looking wave and after a week or two this is exactly how my keratin treated hair behaves. There is less body, definitely, but it has a nice shiny easy wave to it. And even better, I don’t really have to do anything to it except comb it and put a tiny blob of serum on it every few days. So far, so easy. But then I kept seeing people with great colours on their hair, marshmallow and pomegranate and mermaid blues and minty greens. A close friend dip-dyed her blond bob deep pink and purples and I was introduced to Bleach London by a friend on a forum. So pretty soon, I was dreaming of rainbow tresses, mermaid stripes, blue tips, pink and apricot waves, I wanted pastel colour, dammit.

I was due to have a keratin treatment in a few weeks and had done some research and knew I had to bleach and dye before the treatment. When I bleached my hair, I realised that pastel was going to be a bit of a task. I used Bleach London’s DIY dip dye kit. It was really easy to use, I recommend it, the blending lotion that you apply before the bleach really helped get a gradual effect from lighter to dark. Since my hair is so dark though, my first attempt made the ends a lovely auburn. This look great on it’s own, but it didn’t satisfy my need for bright colour. And when I put Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL Purple Punk over the auburn, it turned the ends a bright but deep cherry red, which was lovely but not exactly what I wanted.

After a couple of weeks letting my hair rest, I used another Bleach London kit to bleach the ends again. They turned out slightly brassy and wouldn’t really take a pastel dye; I tried Bleach London’s Rose and it just went from candyfloss pink to light orange within a few hours. So I chose Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL Shocking Pink to go over the top. Hey presto, proper bright pink ends. Probably, too soon, I had my usual keratin treatment with Alterity Studio in Covent Garden, and now I have straight hair with pink ends. My dip-dyed ends are now soft and shiny, and considering how worried I was that my hair might break after all the bleaching and dyeing, I think it looks pretty good. Not the neatest dip dye in the world but good.

I will continue to use a deeper colour while this keratin treatment wears off as bleaching can remove the effect of the keratin, I understand. I was also told by the lovely Carmen at Alterity Studio that it’s not recommended to dye your hair within two weeks of a keratin treatment either, so be warned, if you’re going to get some colour in your life. I may head to Bleach London and get something more pastel done before my next keratin treatment. If you want to see the results follow @Tindara on Twitter or @tindaras on Instagram.

Bleach London DIY Dip Dye is £7 and Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL is £4.

This post: In the Pink – with Bleach LondonDIY Dip Dye and Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Colour Wow - Root Coverup.

By Get Lippie

Inside this rather unassuming little black monolith is one of the bestest, most amazingest, most belovedest products I discovered in 2013.  It would have been one of my products of the year (if not the product of the year) if I wasn't such an idiot.  Part of the reason it's taken so long to get this review together is because I have a hairdresser extraordinaire in Jack Howard, and, as such, I rarely suffer from grey roots.

For a cosmetic for covering up grey roots is what this is, and it's pretty bloody amazing at it.  I've been going grey since I was 18, and without the help of hair dye I'm pretty much a badger.  It's all stripy, I have grey temples, and a grey streak through the front, but most of the rest of my hair is as nature (and Jack Howard) intended.  Now, whilst I have the utmost envy and admiration for those who embrace their grey in full, as it can and frequently does look simply beautiful, I'm simply not ready yet to embrace my inner grey goddess.  I have enough trouble embracing both my inner accountant and control freaks, there's simply no room left for anything else in here ...

Er ... anyhoo ... Colour Wow is a root cover-up that comes in six shades (Light/medium and dark browns, black, and there are also two blonde shades: Blonde and Platinum), the one above is medium brown, and you can see it's had a lot of use.  As it's a powder, it's super easy to use,  you simply load up the brush with the powder, then paint it on to your grey hair, then presto!  No more roots till you wash your hair again!  For a cackhanded badgermuppet like myself, it's foolproof.

And here's the results.  First of all, the grey at my temples, in both normal daylight and with flash:

Pretty grody, huh?  Here's the same part of my hair after a 30 second application of Colour Wow:

Coverage isn't quite 100%, but this is because I've been using medium brown rather than dark, but I can live with that.  Best of all, it looks like hair.  It doesn't dull your roots like coloured dry shampoo can, it doesn't drop (it has a kind of static charge*, so it clings to your hair, not your scalp), and wonderfully, it doesn't leave your bathroom looking like an abattoir.  Also, it doesn't run in the rain, trust me, I've tried it ...

It's wonderful for extending the life of your most recent hair colour for a couple of weeks, and as such, it'll pay for itself over the course of a year.  Hair dye, even home hair dye, doesn't work out cheap over 12 months. If you use a home dye every six weeks over the course of a year that'll cost you around £90, but if you can move to using it every 8 weeks with this, that'll cost you £65 (assuming your dye costs around £10, that is), saving you around £25.   Colour Wow costs £28.50 from SpaceNK, so, in technical terms, this actually costs you £3.50 for a years worth of colouring-in.

The blonde powders are really quite something, as they'll actually cover up the dark roots and make them blend in with the rest of your blonde, which is rather astonishing when you think about it.  All the shades are pretty multi-dimensional, not just a flat matte shade, which makes them more realistic on your hair. I think the light brown would work well for redheads, even though there isn't a specific auburn cover-up, which is a shame) I find they last on me till the next wash (bear in mind, I don't wash my hair every day though), so this packet, which I've had for the best part of a year now, has lasted extremely well.  

Colour me (you see what I did there?) extremely impressed.  And better groomed as a result. 

Colour Wow.  Don't be an idiot like me, if you dye your hair, go out and get some now.  It's a fairly hefty initial investment, but if it stops you having to dye your hair as often, it's worth it, believe me.

So yeah, product of the year, 2013.  And still a front runner for 2014 too, now I come to think of it ...


* I am not a scientist.  I met one once though.

The Fine Print: PR Sample
 
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Guest Post by Kitty at Not A Nose - Home Keratin Treatment 2

A month ago I tested this kit that I purchased on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brazilian-Straightening-Blow-Dry-Keratin-Treatment/dp/B003YUEF7C and wrote about it for Get Lippie. So how is it now?

Well, the super-straight wore off after a week, so I’m left with hair that looks more like ‘my’ hair, but more under control. This photo is my hair the day after I left it to dry naturally. As you can see the wave has returned but it isn’t as frizzy.

I’ve noticed lots of positives about the treatment:-

• My hair does not frizz up as quickly, normally the day after washing my hair just starts getting bigger and fuzzier (see the last picture on this post for an example http://getlippie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/guest-post-charles-worthington-straigh.html)
• I don’t suffer from terrible helmet hair after I’ve been horseriding, and I now dare return to the office after sneaking off for a lunchtime lesson, rather than having to hide my bad, sweaty hair shame at home.
• When I can be bothered to straighten it, the process feels a lot quicker.
• It seems to suffer from humidity based frizzing less. So I went on a drizzly night after straightening my hair, and it stayed straight the whole night.

Negatives of the treatment:-

• It slightly limits your choice of shampoo and conditioner, as you have to avoid Sodium Chloride.
• It takes quite a while to apply, but in some ways you’re spending 1.5 hours on one night to save you lots of little bits of time over the subsequent month.

Will I be doing this kit again? Hell yes! (and not just because I’ve got half a jar left!) I’ve liked having better than normal hair for a month, and I can only hope it keeps going for another month.

You can find more writing by Kitty at http://notanose.wordpress.com/

This post: Guest Post by Kitty at Not A Nose - Home Keratin Treatment 2 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Guest Post By Hair Advice and All Things Nice - How To be Victorious in Voluminous Hair

Getting volume in our hair that stays put and doesn’t fall flat is something most of us struggle with. Too much backcombing and you look like a birds nest, too little and you’re left with limp locks. Read on for some hair-boosting advice and a few product recommendations.

Good volume is all about the prep. Go for a volumising shampoo (Redken Body Full is great!) and avoid using conditioner on roots; this tends to weigh hair down. Concentrate on the ends to help hair look big without sacrificing the condition. Using a mousse or spray pre blowdry will with styling and avoid using too much product to finish as this can weigh hair down. A light spritz of hairspray should do the trick.

If you can’t give yourself a salon quality blow dry yourself without getting in a tangle, use Velcro rollers to give hair added lift. Simply blow dry as normal then pop some large rollers in the top section of hair (crown and parting) and blow dry on a low setting for a couple of minutes. Leave to cool completely and don’t take out until you are just about to walk out there door. 

There are tons of hair products on the market that promise to boost our hair but luckily I’ve tested and trailed most of them and have found a couple of gems that will hopefully make your hair look so big, people will ask if it’s full of secrets.

1. Lee Stafford Double Blow Mousse – this stuff is great for creating volume and comes with the signature scent
2. Oribe Dry Texturising Spray – whilst a little pricey, this stuff delivers volume without the product feel to hair, great for those with fine tresses
3. Indola Innova Volumising Powder – this little tub of hair texturising powder works wonders sprinkled along roots.
4. Ojon Volume Advance Shampoo & Conditioner – this will give hair a volume kick and can also help make it stronger and thicker thanks to high protein ingredients.
5. Boar Bristle Backcombing Brush – you can pick these up from any good salon supply store. Use the fine point end to section hair, and tease from underneath to get instant volume.

You can read more from the lovely Kelly at http://www.klghairadvice.com/

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Guest Post by Kitty at Not A Nose - Home Keratin Treatment

My dream is to have low-maintenance hair, and I’ve tried other straightening treatments to achieve this (http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-post-charles-worthington-straigh.html) with limited success. This is my hair on a good hair day – it’s wavy, thick and quite coarse. It only looks this good in the photo thanks to the conditioning spray that I liberally applied before letting it air dry. The waves will turn into frizz by the next morning, and no amount of spray or scrunching will get them back. If I straighten it, it pretty much inhales humidity and becomes really big and scruffy within a day.

[picture 1]

I’m trying this Brazilian Keratin kit that I purchased on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brazilian-Straightening-Blow-Dry-Keratin-Treatment/dp/B003YUEF7C . It contains everything you need to carry out the treatment apart from a hair dryer and straighteners. Unfortunately it did come with those horrible disposable gloves that are stuck onto the paper. These always remind me of lobster claws and they always end up letting stuff run down your arm into the glove.

The instructions supplied were pretty clear with the step by step process described, and a page of FAQ. The instructions advise a patch test for 48 hours before applying the kit. You MUST do this. In the Amazon reviews there are people complaining about reactions to the product, and as the product will be left on your hair for 48 hours you do need to be certain it won’t cause you any problems.

So – down to the process. All in all this took me about 1.5 hours, if you have a friend to help it probably will take less time.

Step 1: Wash your hair with the supplied clarifying shampoo. Comb your hair first as this shampoo left my hair quite tangled and hard to comb.

Step 2: Blow dry your hair on medium heat.

Step 3: Put on the gloves, section up your hair and use the brush to apply the product. I wasn’t actually sure how much product I should use, in the end I’d used half of pot on my relatively short hair. The product doesn’t smell too bad at this stage, a bit sugary sweet. Help from a friend at this stage would be useful, I had to use 2 mirrors and a lot of uncoordinated hand waving to apply it to the back. Comb through the product just in case you’ve missed a bit.

Step 4: Blow dry your hair straight on medium heat. Hooooo boy! Now the product smells like I’ve fallen into a vat of toxic crème caramel. This stage really has to be done in a well ventilated room, by the end of it my eyes were streaming. It also seemed to take a lot of drying, at one point I was really thinking it wasn’t going to dry at all. At the end of this stage my hair felt a bit ‘claggy’ as if I’d applied too much mousse/product.

Step 5: Straighten your hair with hot irons, going over each section up to 7 times. Use a comb to hold your hair while you do this as the hair will get mighty hot. The smell was still there, but not as eye-wateringly powerful, and my hair didn’t feel sticky any more.

And here is the finished result. It looks pretty flat and straight doesn’t it?

Now I am into the RULES

Rules for first 48 hours until you can wash your hair for the first time (you can leave it longer if you want and if you’re a dirty mare like me)

• Keep your hair dry, if it does get wet, blow dry and straighten.
• do not tie your hair up, push it behind your ears or kink it in any way.
• Re-straighten your hair if any kinks develop .
• don’t feed it after midnight.
• Avoid hair products that contain salt (sodium chloride) as it shortens the lifespan of the treatment. It can be found in shampoo, conditioner and non-obvious products like heat protection spray.

I used Tresemme Naturals shampoo and conditioner, but you can buy specialist salt free shampoos on Amazon.

I ended up leaving it 72 hours before washing my hair due to general laziness, I didn’t find the treatment left it greasy. I washed it, did a very quick blast dry with a hair dryer just running it through with my fingers, and here is the result.

I’ll be back in a couple of days to to let you know how the treatment held up.

Kitty talks too much on social media, and is trying to keep her essay writing mojo alive in the summer vacation by writing about perfume http://notanose.wordpress.com/

This post: Guest Post by Kitty at Not A Nose - Home Keratin Treatment originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Aesop Shine Oil

I've been styling my hair curly recently, and I've found that it always tends to lead to dryness at the ends.  Luckily, this turned up recently, and I'm a little bit in love with it.

It's an extremely lightweight oil, that spreads easily in the hair - you just need two or three drops which you spread over your palms, then smooth lightly through the mid-lengths and ends of your hair.  It doesn't build up, and - best of all - it doesn't contain silicones.  Far, far, far too many hair "oils" on the market are basically cocktails of silicones with just the scantest addition of argan oil or something, it drives me crazy, as some silicones can build up and actually make the condition of your hair worse.  Not to mention that a lot of them can be heavy and lead to greasiness if you overapply, as what they're actually doing is forming a coating on the outer layer of your hair (therefore making it look smoother, and shinier), rather than being absorbed by it and conditioning your hair from the inside.

Ironically, actual oils are less greasy!  Counter-intuitive, I know. But if you just use a couple of drops, your hair should absorb the oil, and make it less dry or brittle from the inside.  And I do mean DROPS, btw, if you need more just add it drop by drop until you feel like your hair has softened up.  When I style my hair straight, two drops is enough, but when I've had it curly for a day or two, then three or four would be more in order.

You can also use a full pipette (or two), as a pre-wash conditioning treatment.  The oil is chock full of conditioning ingredients such as borage, sweet almond, olive and jojoba oils, and smells lovely, herbal, and somehow fresh at the same time.  You can leave the oil on overnight, or just an hour or two before washing it out.  Whilst it hasn't cured my dry hair problems overnight, (I need a protein treatment or two, I think), it sure has made it less of an issue.

Aesop Shine hair oil will be available from Aesop very soon.

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Sneak Peek! QVC TSV 02/08: Ego Boost Pod

 

I love a TSV, don't you?  And I love beautiful packaging too, luckily for me the Ego Boost Pod is both.  What's an Ego Boost Pod? I hear you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  It is, essentially, a set of heated rollers, but with a bit of a difference, one not limited to the lovely package.

Inside the box is a "pod", a set of 14 rollers, and clips to hold them in your hair.  They're extremely simple to use - you just pop a roller into the pod, wait till it beeps (it'll take just four seconds), then roll it into position in your hair.  Then you simply pop another roller into the pod to heat up, and repeat until you're done. You can get all of them both heated up, and into position in about five minutes, or even less if you've already combed and sectioned your hair ready to go.

Best of all the rollers don't burn your fingers! The heat is on a bit of a delay, so they only really start warming up once they're already in position, very handy if, like me, you're a bit of a cack-handed muppet.  You take them out once they're cooled (which takes about 15-20 minutes), brush through, and presto! Lovely hair.  I've tried them out a few times this week, and my hair has been great, full of body and bounce, and not having to wait for the rollers to heat up has been a blessing.


The pod is a beautifully designed bit of kit, I especially adore the way the back of the pod pops out to give you somewhere to store the cable - so useful! Hey, I'm easily pleased.  It means you can keep it out on your dressing table without having a tangle of messy wires all over the place.  I have an Ego hairdryer which has been going strong for nearly five years now, they're a company I like (well, I'm a big fan of burgundy, I would).  Whilst I'd say the purchase price was high, on a cost per use basis, they're as cheap as chips if the use I get from my hairdryer is anything to go by ... one handy hint though, you will need some extra rollers if you have a lot of hair, so if you get a chance to buy some supplemental roller packs, do so.

The Ego Boost Pod set of heated rollers will normally retail  on QVC at £120, but on Friday 2nd August, it will be the Today's Special Value on the channel where you will get the pod, alongside fourteen rollers alongside clips, for an extra-special price - look out for it!  EDIT: Today's price is only £99.99, and is available on Easy Pay for three instalments of £33.33.

This post: Sneak Peek! QVC TSV 02/08: Ego Boost Heated Rollers originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Time for a new do ...

It's summer.  Allegedly.  And it's time for a hair cut.  I remain, as ever, terrified of getting my hair cut, in spite of a) being very good friends with one of the best colourists in the UK (aka Jack Howard) and b) being a regular member of the Creative Head Most Wanted Awards judging panel for the last four years!  

As a result, I haven't had my hair cut in eight months (I had to get it cut before it was permed last year), and I'm sick of the sight of it.  It is far, far, far too long.  Whilst it looked good at my wedding:

And can look good at other times too:

But mostly it's just tied up.  Out of the way.

There is, frankly, TOO MUCH HAIR, and I'm bored with it. I'll not mention that it is currently dryer than the bloody Kalahari too... There's four more months growth since these pics were taken, too ...

So, I'm going for the big chop tomorrow.  I've booked myself in with the lovely Darren at Webster Whiteman and I've been playing with some celeb pics on my Pinterest and Instagram, and these are my front-runner ideas so far (ignore the colours, it's the cuts I'm interested in):

 

Desperate not to look mumsy ... but I do need an easier to control style!  

Any styles you like?  Any of you also desperate to go for the big chop too?
 

This post: Time for a new do ...  originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper