Thursday 27 November 2014

Dry Shampoo: Battle of the Brands




Thank God for dry shampoo. Am I right? On days of unexpected greasiness slash laziness, it's an absolute lifesaver. 

I say this, but before now I didn't use it a lot at all. My hair doesn't get too greasy too quickly and when it does, it's also crying out for a good conditioning, so dry shampoo wasn't really my go-to in those situations. 

However since dyeing my hair a colour that fades rapidly with each wash, dry shampoo is helping me prolong my colour's vibrancy, and is a product that I would recommend to anyone struggling with fast-fading hair. 

Whenever I go to a fashion event, dry shampoo is a product that without fail makes its way into the goodie bags.  I've accumulated quite a few now, so I thought I'd  put the three biggest brands (Batiste, Tresemme and label,m) to the test on my new barnett in a battle of the brands, testing them on grease-elimination and volume. 

Obviously the most well-known, with Pixie Lott fronting their latest ad campaign and a variety of different scents and patterned cans on the shelves. The variety that Batiste has to offer is vast, and I will admit that it smells amazing. It does the job perfectly well in terms of eliminating the greasy bed-head look, however when it comes to styling and adding more volume, if you've got a gargantuan head of hair like mine, it just won't cut it. With my hair being so heavy, I need as much help as I can get when it comes to creating volume. I was also left with quite a powdery texture in my hair which really dried it out. 

For me, Tresemme is a brand I really trust. I've had a lot of success with their conditioners in the past, and I wasn't let down by this product either. I found that I needed less than I did with Batiste, and the actual feel of the product on  my hair was, as it says, refreshing. It didn't feel powdery or dry and doesn't leave any white residue at all. Didn't even need to rub it in really. Again my hair was too heavy for this to have any voluminous effect, but for a fresh, shampooed effect, this one is my favourite. A bit more expensive than Batiste, but you'll use less and it will last you longer. 

Obviously I don't use this at the moment, but when my hair was ombre I did. I know the can is tiny, and it's just a sample size. This is my favourite for texture and volume. It's the one product that can actually take on my hair and give it some lift, so if you've got a thick head of hair, or just want something a bit more heavy duty, then this is what you need. For dry shampooing, it's got a brown tint to it so that it doesn't leave any powdery marks, and it actually works well on reddy / auburn hair too. I've also tried and reviewed the larger Texturising and Volume spray which is actually quite similar, just more aimed at styling.  They're both brilliant for spraying on your hair before curling or backcombing for some extra hold and lift, whilst leaving the hair soft and pliable. 


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Wednesday 26 November 2014

Colour Conundrum: From Lipsticks to Skin-Tone; Know Your Colours



As you'll know, I wanted to dye my hair purple for ages. I loved my ombre, but was getting a bit bored and wanted to try something new. I am so in love with it (despite the high maintenance upkeep needed) however I've had to make a few day-to-day changes that I really didn't consider whilst planning it, and I thought I'd share them with you guys, so you're a little more prepared than me if you do the same, and it all revolves around colour. 

Maybe I was a bit naive when choosing a colour to dye my hair without considering that it would have a knock-on effect on my skin-tone and what colour clothes I would and wouldn't be able to wear, but as someone who before now had only dyed their hair red, I think I can be excused. And I know I'm not the only one. Having had a few weeks to adjust to this, I can now spot the same problem on other people who haven't made these changes, or have just ignored the fact that they need to, and it has a horrible effect on the way their hair looks. 

When my hair was freshly dyed and dried, I got a bit of a shock. Imagining a colour as drastic as this is never the same as seeing it on you for the first time. I loved the colour, but it just did not match my face. I couldn't get the two to connect, and I panicked. The make-up I'd been wearing when my hair was ombre now looked washed out with an unhealthy pallor and certain items in my wardrobe clashed. 

Looking back, this was obviously going to happen, but I think I was so caught up in the excitement of a change, that I never considered this. Luckily, I have a Mum who did both hairdressing and interior design, so she has passed on to me a great knowledge and understanding of colours and tones that helped me solve this issue in a jiffy, and I hope it can help you too. Even if you haven't dyed your hair, having this information may help you in the future when choosing certain colours, whether it's for clothes or make-up. I am no beauty expert, this is just some advice I've been given as well as what's worked for me, so here's a few things to maybe bear in mind: 



Skin-Tone
Before you do anything like this, you need to have a good understanding of what your skin-tone actually is. Some people go a lifetime without ever really knowing, and high-street make-up brands do not help. A lot of colours of lipsticks and eyeshadows sold by these high-street brands are blue in tone, which means they can look quite jarring and wash out anyone with warmer skin. To this day I still struggle to find a budget red lipstick that doesn't make me look like something from the Adams family. Your skin-tone is either warm, neautral, or cool. The quickest way to figure this out is the vein test - if your veins are a purpley-blue, you're cool toned, and if they're greener in tone, you're warm toned. Knowing this will not only help you with your current colour choices, but have an understanding of what effect future colour decisions will have. 

So in my situation, I am warm in tone, however the purple dye I used had a blue undertone. Luckily, purple still came through, giving it a bit of warmth, but it was the blue that clashed with my dark, bronze toned foundation and blusher. 


Make-Up
Understanding warm and cool tones can help you decide where certain make-up shades lie in connection with your skin.  I like to split the make-up colour spectrum into four groups: dark warm, light warm, dark cool, light cool. I was wearing light warm shades before, but since my blue-toned hair has washed me out a bit, I've had to balance it out with some extra warmth. I've also toned down my eyeliner, which before was a statement, but now my hair is my statement, so I my make-up needs to be more subtle and calm, unless I'm going for a particularly grunge / gothic look.  This wasn't instant. I really did have to play around a bit, and I recommend you do the same. Categorizing where your tone lies is the first step, but the colour spectrum is vast, and the only way you can get specific with this is trial and error, but this is a good place to start. 


Clothes
You need to treat the colour of your clothes the same as you would the colour of your make-up if it's a garment that's going to be near your face, as it will have the same effect. You can get away with any colour on your bottom-half (given that it works with the top-half). Since my hair has had an effect on what colour make-up I can wear, that obviously extends to my clothes too.  Obviously when it comes to the colours of clothes, there's a lot more choice than make-up, so if you have quite a dramatic colour like mine I recommend always looking on the opposite half of the colour wheel from that shade. Obviously I wear a lot of black so it's hard for me to give multiple examples, but my hair looks striking with green, so that has now become my go-to colour.  You can simply test a few colours by holding them up to your face. Look out or colours that wash you out or add a yellowish pallor to your skin. 







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Tuesday 25 November 2014

Leave Gemma Collins Alone! A Message To Our Tabloids!


I'm not really a fan of reality TV, steering well clear of Xfactor, Big Brother and the like. 
But for the last two years I've been an avid watcher of I'm A Celebrity... for the simple fact that everyone got along, built strong friendships, and gave us as watchers a heart-warming 'we're all in this together' vibe. Naww. Who could forget the bonds built between Kian, David, Lucy, Joey and Rebecca in Season 13. However this year has reawakened the hideous Julius Caesar thumbs-up-thumbs-down attitude of the reality TV viewer, and as a result our tabloids have dived head first into the cesspit of journalism. 


The moment Gemma Collins decided to leave, I knew instantly that she would be met by a wave of hate, abuse and anger. I find it odd that people get so irate and venomous towards their fellow human beings, just because they've chosen not to eat animal genitals for our entertainment. 

Before writing this,  I went on a research spree to see in what forms this anger and venom manifested, expecting to end up on Twitter reading drivel written by trolls.  Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt for a second tweets like that about Gemma Collins exist, and for her own sanity and well-being I hope she hasn't read them.  But I got distracted, as I didn't expect to find language of such a bullying nature on the pages of our nation's newspapers. I got through about five articles from the Mirror.co.uk and DailyMail.co.uk before I almost exploded in anger at what I was reading (you can read them here, here and here ). 

So I thought not only would I defend Gemma in this post, but show you guys that our tabloids are no better than the sick trolls on Twitter. 

Just recently, Gemma's dad spoke out (to the Mirror.co.uk) about a traumatic experience Gemma went through before her entry to the jungle, involving her then boyfriend Alex Moss who was 'arrested on suspicion of assault and bailed after Gemma called police from her home.' It's sad that her and her family feel they have to inform us of such a personal circumstance, but with what I'm about to show you from the newspapers, I'm sure they felt they had no choice. 

Just like the Zoella rant, bullet-points and gifs will ensue: 


  • 'She's a useless, lazy, good for nothing, wholly unlikeable waste of space who injected nothing but abject misery into the camp, invested zero effort and made every single second all about her.' - Adam Postans, Mirror.co.uk
Wow. Just wow. Completely unnecessary for a start. When I read this, I had to double check that I was on a newspaper's website. Seems like professionalism, decorum and respect has completely gone out the window in this industry. This is the language of someone who is seriously hurt, upset and angry. All I'll say is that if a reality TV show gets Adam this riled up, he needs to get out more, cause that's just sad. Really sad. 



  • 'It must have been disastrous for poor old Joan [Gemma's mother] watching her disastrous daughter commit career suicide so far from home.' - Kevin O'Sullivan, Mirror.co.uk
I'm pretty sure the only one who can say what Gemma's mother thinks of the situation is Gemma's mother herself. I find it quite appauling that Kevin O'Sullivan is willing to not only drag the mother into the situation, but put words into her mouth that are merely meant to provoke and insight venom in the readers, at Gemma's expense. 

 

  • 'bloated blonde' - Kevin O'Sullivan, Mirror.co.uk 
Alliteration. Well done Kevin. At least you've remembered something from your journalism degree. Shame you can't put it towards something more productive, like commenting on something important, instead of ripping to shreds a minor celebrity. 



  • 'Thanks to her pathetic lack of get-up-and-go spirit (she got up and left), Gemma defiled the nation's sacred entertainment. We wanted to be cruel to her ... and she deprived us of the opportunity.' - Kevin O' Sullivan, Mirror.co.uk
What? WHAT?! Are you *&$!@*$ SERIOUS! I couldn't believe when reading this that a journalist would be so explicit in admitting having such a messed up, sadistic view of reality TV, and in a way that condones it too. Lines are being crossed here that are making bullying in the media harder to sort out. Is the Mirror.co.uk actually employing Twitter trolls? I wouldn't be surprised to be honest. And don't say 'we' Kevin, I don't want to be dragged into your group of reality TV saddos hoping to get a few short kicks out of being 'cruel' to someone. What an absolute creep. 



  • 'She just couldn't cope! "Everything was hellish" she said of her experience on the ITV reality show, adding that it wasn't 'about the food'. Despite this, the usually effervescent cast member of The Only Way is Essex stressed that it wasn't 'about the food.' - Jan Moir, DailyMail.co.uk
Is it just me, or does this not make sense? It seems that Jan Moir has abandoned good grammar in her desperate attempt to let us know that she's making a point about Gemma's size and the lack of food in the camp. Original. Pretty sure those jokes were made before she even entered the jungle. But Jan's not done there. Her article is literally food joke, after food joke, after food joke. She might as well have just written 'Who ate all the pies?' and have been done with it, cause her jokes carry just as little imagination, and will probably only resonate with those of a schoolyard mentality.


  • 'Nevertheless, she did complain that murderers got more to eat than she did, frequently moaned that she was "starving to death" and emotionally fell apart after only 72 hours without recourse to her snacky-time favourites of chocolate and cold milk.' - Jan Moir, DailyMail.co.uk
Every single person in that camp moaned about lack of food, and food stuffs that they missed. Who wouldn't? I skip lunch and I end up doing the exact same thing. Ok Gemma moaned a lot more than most, and yes it got a bit annoying, but I find Kendra's 'Oh my gohhhhhd' toe-curlingly more irritating than anything Gemma did. But as far as the tabloids are concerned, Gemma's fat, she cried, then she left, so screw what anyone else does, she's their easy target. 



  • 'Gemma was either talking about herself, deluding herself, or describing her various productions. And sadly, I don't mean West End musicals [...] Earlier, she'd informed millions of viewers that another of her dunny productions was the digestive equivalent of the stripes of an ambulance, being "yellow" and "fluorescent".  - Jan Moir, DailyMail.co.uk
Really? So we have to watch Kendra chew down on deer penis whilst exclaim that 'it tastes like penis', then hear that she 'likes cock, not cocktails' and watch her object to a trial cause she's on her period, embarrassing Ant and Dec, but poo is where you draw the line? How can you watch a show like I'm a Celebrity where the eating of animal genitals is common place, and moan about being disgusted. The mind boggles. 



  • 'In rare moments of contemplation, trembling in her max-strength hammock dreaming of Dairy Milk, she looked like a jumbo frankfurter in a canvas hot dog bun' - Jan Moir, DailyMail.co.uk
Oh for goodness sake.  This is just bad taste and downright offensive. 



  • 'Sly, ritual humiliation is, after all, an inbuilt part of this invidious showbiz process.' - Jan Moir, DailyMail.co.uk

Are Jan Moir and Kevin O'Sullivan in cahoots? Reality TV has always had a freak show element to it, but I always felt that was the element we all disliked, not the element the viewers revel in.  So these journalists, and the readers that agree with them, genuinely feel put out and let down by the fact that they didn't get to be cruel and humiliate Gemma Collins, or that she didn't expect this, because it's apparently an inbuilt part of showbiz? That's an attitude that we should want to stop, not one that should cause people to throw a tantrum when they don't get to make someone cry. Teenage girls, victims of cyber bullying, have taken their lives for less, but just because these people are in the public eye, it's ok for trolls and journalists alike to bombard them with this kind of abuse?  



  • 'In many ways, she is an icon of our age, a talent-free nobody who has nothing to sell except her own folly.' - Jan Moir, DailyMail.co.uk
And to finish it off, of course a dig at today's generation. The popular go-to for the Daily Mail. The amount of times I've listened to the elderly's opinions on the younger generation, and it's like a Daily Mail newspaper has possessed them. Our newspapers have a lot of influence over people's thoughts and opinions, and there's nothing sadder than when they side with the cruelest and most ignorant of internet dwellers, fuelling the fire. There seems to be a horrific cycle developing in which Twitter trolls and tabloids take inspiration from each other, and aim their venom at the easiest target. In this case it was Gemma Collins, but once this has all died down, they'll soon find another victim. 



And just to show  the true colours of the people who write this stuff, here's a little Twitter interaction I had with the delectable Kevin O'Sullivan himself: 

  











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Thursday 20 November 2014

Purple Is The New Black






 

Since dying my hair purple, I've had to completely re-evaluate my make-up routine, With black being to harsh for a day look, I was looking for something a bit more subtle. 

In almost perfect timing, Jane Iredale released their City Nights Collection, and sent me a few samples. 

The moment I saw the plummy shades of eyeliner and lipstick, I knew I had to give them a go. Such perfect hues for this season. 

I fell in love with the Jelly Jar Gel Eyeliner shade (also available in an olive green). It's a dark purple which means you get the definition you need when using it for winged eyeliner, and it's super blendable, allowing you to work it in with a variety of eye shadows for a smokey eye. 

It complements my hair brilliantly, but I think it's a shade that can actually be worn by anyone. I know that you can get brown liners for anyone who finds black too harsh, but I think this would be a more exciting alternative. 

As for the PureMoist Lipstick in Katerina, it goes so well with the eyeliner. Slightly different in shade with more of a reddy tone, it makes for a nice contrast. I've used another one of Jane Iredale's PureMoist Lipsticks, and it does what it says on the tin. Considering how strong the shades are, they aren't dry at all, and actually stay for quite some time. I also like to mix it with other shades, just to give any dry lipsticks I may have a bit of moisture and shine, 

The one thing I will 100% praise Jane Iredale's products for is that they last soooo long. I hate spending money on a product, using it regularly like I should only for it to run out sooner than expected. You don't need to use a lot of any of their products, so they last you a good few months, A worthy investment I'd say. 

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Tuesday 18 November 2014

Kim K Put It Away - You Too, Keira



Surely I can't be the only one whose Facebook newsfeed has been covered in boobs and butts as of late. 

Now I'm no prude. In actual fact I'm all for embracing the naked form. 

However, I get a little bit uncomfortable with nakedness in the public eye when it's forced down our throats with a negative message about body image, or when it's used to make a point that would have remained unheard if the clothes were on. 

I'm talking about Kim Kardashian and Keira Knightly. I know right, who would have thought those two could ever be lumped together in one blog post. But I'm getting old school here and going back to the GCSE English comprehension days of 'compare and contrast.' 

Two women, getting their kit off. However, their reasons for doing so couldn't be more far apart. The result? Well I'll get to that.

 Let's start with Kim Kardashian. I have done myself the favour of trying to steer clear of anything she's remotely involved in, despite the fact she's done a pretty good job imprinting her naked arse onto my retinas  like a well-oiled Jack-in-a-Box. I may already be a bit biased in this analysis since I don't really respect or have time for anyone who climbs the fame ladder on the back of something like an OJ Simpson murder trial or a sex tape. I don't despise her, it's just that the more famous she got, the more irrelevant she became to me, and oh how I wish that could have remained the case. 


Now Kim K's arse has been mysteriously growing since day one, and stealing the limelight of its owner. So why is it now that I'm getting irate about it? Well Kim Kardashian titled the blatant publicity stunt as 'breaking the internet'. Well actually love, all the internet's done from what I can see is plaster photoshopped horse behinds and peaches over the god damn thing. 

What it's ignited in some areas of society is a lot more damaging I feel. 

I was at home with Loose Women in the background whilst the ladies read out some responses that the audience at home had text in regarding Kim's pictures, with one saying the images help to 'promote a healthy body image' to which I responded with my 'I hate ignorance' deflated groan. 

Ok that was one person's comment, but do a bit of research and you'll see that's the opinion of so many women out there right now, mothers included, and it literally makes me want to weep. 


It's still not certain what Kim K's had done to her arse, but there's no way that's just protein and killer squats. With rumours that she's had fat from her stomach sucked out and blown back into her behind, as well as the likes of Nicki Minaj apparently resorting to bum implants, there's an unhealthy haze surrounding these now covetable bodies. 

Young girls have died travelling to Thailand to get buttock augmentation operations for god sake, and I even hear girls saying how they want to look like these women. It's gone from one extreme to the other.If a young girl starving herself to look like a celebrity on a magazine being hailed for her size 0 dress size is WRONG, then so is young girls putting themselves through surgery for a body shape that just isn't attainable. What happened to us being individuals? Why do we have to look like someone else, or have a body feature someone else has got and if we don't have it well goddamit bring the knife and scissors. When you strip it back, the notion is barbaric. 


ON THE OTHER HAND...

We have Keira Knightly in a topless photoshoot to make a point about body image and retouching. She says, and I quote " OK, I'm fine doing the topless shot so long as you don't make them any bigger or retouch.' Because it does feel important to say it really doesn't matter what shape you are."

I applaud Keira and what she's trying to do here, I really do. In fact with Kim's waist being dramatically retouched to look impossibly slim in her picture, I like that someone is using their position to bring the topic to light. But not in the best way, I feel. It doesn't sit right with me, and feels uncomfortably ironic that for her to make a point about body image, the fact that her body is fine the way it is and that us as viewers should accept that, she had to get naked. It's like she's trying to combat misogyny and objectification with the one thing that spurs it on. 


Retouching, airbrushing and photoshop in regards to body image has been an issue for longer than I can remember now. Ok, it's a topic now back in the limelight, but I can't help but feel if Keira had tried to make this point with her clothes on, it wouldn't have even made it on to a single news website, let alone only half being listened to by people oggling at what her untouched breasts actually look like. Either way I don't really feel her message has been heard, but in getting her tits out, she's spurred on something I don't think she intended. 

If I was sitting next to you saying all this completely topless, I'm sure all you'd here me saying is 'boobs boobs boobs boobs boobs.' 


So the moral that both Kim and Keira are giving us here is that whether you want to be successful, or be heard, the best way to go about it is to don your birthday suit  and maybe, just maybe, people will hear what your trying to say, or see balancing a champagne glass on your arse as a credible talent. 

So what do I feel the results of all this will be?

Well we live in a world where celebrities and their bodies seem to be owned by, well, us. The celebrity phone hackings that took place for the soul purpose of retrieving their private, naked images proves that. We (the public) hack them, distribute them all over social media, view them, talk about them etc etc, Obviously when I say 'we' i'm not tarnishing us all with the same brush. Not all of us hacked the celebs, but I'm sure a larger percentage of us viewed those images, creating a supply and demand situation regarding pictures that should remain private (if you didn't view them, well done you).  When Emma Watson stood up and spoke out as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, the desire for people to see her naked was not only used as a threat, but to completely downplay and overshadow everything she had said. 


 In the wake of all that, with celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence fighting back with a strong and dignified statement, it doesn't sit right with me that certain celebrities are so happy to get naked for so little. I appreciate that there is a key difference between the two circumstances I'm looking at, and it involves the word CHOICE. I get that it's Kim and Keira's choice to release naked pictures of themselves into the public domain, whilst the celebrities whose phones were hacked had no control over the situation. HOWEVER, I can't help but feel the effect of the former will be the latter. 

The people who hacked the phones of these celebs did so because they obviously felt that privacy doesn't apply to people whose private lives are so easily accessible to us. We see them naked in films, we can find out the ins and outs of their relationships at the click of a button, and photographers can follow them everywhere they go and at worst receive a slapped wrist. 

It seems that the arse wipes who hacked these phones had a sense of entitlement about them. They felt they had a right to view what was before un-viewable, and acted as if they were doing the rest of us a public service. I mean, Kim Kardashian's already revealed her goods, so if we think the way these hackers think, how is there any harm in hacking phones to retrieve something we've already seen. If you imagine an attitude of entitlement, sprinkled with a pinch of wanting what you can't have, and topped with a layer of disregard for other people, then you've got one of these hackers. They don't distinguish between celebrities and circumstance. At the end of the day, we've all seen Kim K and Keira naked, and that will set the ball rolling. The more that nakedness amongst celebrities becomes commonplace, the more encouragement and right to view these people will feel they have.  They'll want more. When that desire gets strong enough, I'm pretty sure they'll go and get it. 


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Friday 14 November 2014

Very.co.uk Party In Style Event with Company and Cosmopolitian magazine.


 























It's party season, which means it's time to make way for sequins, glitter and shimmer galore. 

Last night I attended Very.co.uk's Very In Style event featuring Cosmopolitan, Company and Reveal. 

The event was showcasing Very's Party Edit collection, some of which was designed by TOWIE's Sam Faiers. 

Held in London's OXO Tower, the entire event overlooked the illuminated Thames whilst us guests had a good ol' browse. 

I must say I was really surprised by the collection. I've never really considered Very.co.uk as a place to shop before, and I always struggle around this time of year to find a party outfit that suits my grungier sense of style, but there was so much in this collection that I wanted. 

Champagne in hand, I scoured the rails taking in the surprising amount of bright shades featured in this collection. Yellows, greens, reds, pinks and blues all made an appearance, which I find quite unusual for a Winter collection of any sort. I'm pro colour for winter, so I was really pleased by this. 

I had my eye on one particular dress which I've singled out in a picture above: the green baroque style mid-length bodycon. It's so me, and since dying my hair purple, I think it would make quite a statement piece. 

The event was so lively, with DJ Fabienne playing some awesome music (walking in to Bootylicious put me in the perfect mood) , whilst we all drank champagne, ate canapes and had our hair and makeup done by Babyliss and Bourjois. 

I spotted some gorgeous ladies whose outfits I adored, so I just had to take a picture; one of them being the stunning Leanne Lim Walker. 

The runway show was the perfect end to the night, giving us all ideas on how to style our party wardrobe this season. 


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