Just a quick and somewhat random post. I wasn’t even going to share this one as it’s just mundane (for me) but I’ve noticed negative blogs towards this product recently and felt I had another side to share.

The product in question is called Colour B4 and was originally marketed by a celeb hairdresser, Scott Cornwall. He has since disassociated himself with the brand for legal reasons but after enquiry I’m satisfied that they do not relate to product safety.

So here’s the background. I’m addicted to dyeing my hair. Anyone who has ever known me since the age of about 13 can testify to this fact. Colour B4 is a “Hair Colour Remover. Safely rewind to your colour before. Extra strength, extra gentle.”
I have bought the Colour B4 Extra Strength three times and used it three times, on (…yes you guessed it) THREE separate occasions. Most recently last night.

Yes it reeks (chemicals normally do though) and to use it to best effect you need to wrap your hair in cling film (or as I do a plastic bag) and leave for one hour if removing really dark dye. On rinsing you MUST spend at least 15 minutes under the shower. They recommend 12 but trust me, I’m Mrs Three Times. I knows what gets results

Before

After

Yes it is gingery and yes, my roots are my virgin natural brown but if you understand anything about how hair dyes and removers work then this shouldn’t be a surprise. I’m not going to go into detail here (that’s what Google is for) but basically every dye including those oh so innocuous looking “semi”-permanent ones cause permanent change within your hair. Colour B4 can only take you back to that stripped back colour. Personally I’m more than happy with what it does.

Previously my monthly whims would have seen me bleaching the life out of my poor hair. Colour B4 lets me indulge my fickleness without being quite so evil to my hair. Truly hand on heart I don’t find it damaging. I’ve saw people complaining that it gave them chemical burns, however what they don’t say (or do in the next paragraph) is that they bleached their hair directly after using the product. You’re not meant to do that. Chemicals + more chemicals = risky business

I let my hair rest and then in a fortnight I will either get a full head of highlights or dye it bright obnoxious red. Haven’t decided yet, but that’s the beauty of it

There are negatives though and for me they are these

• Your hair will STINK like rotten fart for up to a month when wet. I haven’t found any way of making the stinky process shorter. Just lots of strong smelling shampoo needed! Haha! Thankfully when dry it doesn’t pong
• When using the buffer under the shower your hair will feel super super dry. Like when you use one of those cleansing shampoos that make your hair squeak multiped by ten. I think if your hair were ALREADY in a delicate state then this is where YOU could potentially cause breakage by pulling on it/ trying to de-tangle. Just let the water run through and then use a big massive dollop of conditioner (like Aussie). It’ll be super soft again after that and this step doesn’t need to be repeated in subsequent showers as that drying effect only happens straight after using the buffer.
• It’s pricey (but nothing compared to a salon colour correction). I have thick hair but obviously short and I need two boxes to cover my hair sufficiently. Not much change from £25

Even so, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Colour B4 BUT YOU MUST HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED

xo

P.S I was not paid for this post and the product was purchased with my own pennies

I thought I’d follow on from yesterday’s review with a light foundation that I actually love.

MAC Face & Body Foundation.

Now no one is as shocked about this than I. MAC and I have never really seen eye to eye when it comes to bases. Studio Fix breaks me out, Select didn’t last the day and Studio Sculpt stank. I’d all but given up until I saw numerous raves for Face & Body. I was particularly interested as I knew it could be used successfully on legs (hence the product name…) too.

I ordered blind off their website, N2, and as luck would have it it’s an excellent match for me.

Now this is a light foundation, and I mean light. It’s extremely runny and you won’t want to overload your brush/ or fingers as I’ve had a few drip accidents already and this stains.

When I first applied it I wasn’t convinced that it would offer enough coverage, and let’s be honest here, it doesn’t but what it DOES do is even skin tone beautifully with the tiniest amount of product. So if you hate that heavy foundation feeling and want a “my skin but better look” then this is going to be for you.

Application on bare face. Zero eyebrows, mascara, concealer. Just the foundation. Photos are taken in direct natural sunlight.

Before

Note the areas of uneven tone. Nose, sides of mouth, under eyes.

One light layer of MAC Face & Body later….

After

I hope you’ll agree that for VERY little product there is a substantial improvement in skin tone. Especially considering I haven’t even went in with concealer here.

Up close.

It takes the look off my blemishes without caking and the overall finish is youthful with a subtle glow. It’s my daily go to foundation these days which I find astounding, considering it was previously Estee Lauder Double Wear! I think my skin is relieved that I’ve found something I love right at the other end of the spectrum!

If you fancy it yourself it’ll set you back £22 for a 120ml bottle. Not cheap but I feel you’re getting quantity as well as quality for those pounds.

What do you think? Tried this one yourself yet?

xo

For instance, just yesterday I managed to get Izaak to lift his dirty clothes off his bedroom floor and put them in the laundry basket………

….but what we really want to find is our miracle/ holy grail foundation. Right ladies? The one that makes us look flawless but radiant and stays put all day.

Enter Lancome Teint Miracle.

This is Lancome’s latest offering and if you’re anything like me the ridiculously gorgeous promo shots of Julia Roberts wearing the foundation will have had you practically running to a counter.

I picked mine up in my local chemist and the lady that served me was lovely, albeit a little too chatty. For instance she seemed to think a good selling technique was to tell me how airbrushed the lovely Julia is in the advert. No shit. I ain’t stupid lady but do you REALLY think that will endear customers to purchase.

Anywho… she could have told me it contained snot and I was still for buying. Such is the beauty hype madness.

I was matched to Shade 2. When I say matched, it isn’t a perfect match by a long shot but Shade 1 was like chalk and I know I can make this shade work by pulling it down the neck. In fact when I Zen Tan it may be slightly too light… rambling…

Let’s get to it. Application on bare face. Zero eyebrows, mascara, concealer. Just the foundation.

Before

My problems would be pigmentation. I have a bit of sun damage/ freckles and also darkening around my mouth, under eyes and nose.

After

As you can see it hasn’t done a bad job in evening out my problem areas. However straight away it hits you how yellow toned this foundation is. I’ve went from pale to slightly jaundiced.

As far as application goes I found it a very runny consistency and 2 pumps was not enough to cover my freckles. It required a generous third pump and a second layer on those areas. It did however build well without streaking or balling.

A point to note would be that this smells quite strongly of alcohol and sets super fast, you’ll need to be quick with your blending (edit: although it does blend well!). It also caked on my acne and exaggerated dry patches. Not ideal. However once it’s set it doesn’t budge so this will fare well as a work or holiday foundation.

Yellow much...?

Under close inspection my own skin is still very much visible so overall this foundation adds colour but not a lot of coverage. I get hormonal break outs but by no means have bad skin, so this foundation could potentially suit someone like me for every day wear.

However if you have problem skin and like a heavier coverage I think you would be very unhappy with this foundation. You’d need to use a lot of product to get the cover you want and I think you would still find that all it was doing was drawing attention to your acne. I actually saw Victoria Beckham tweeting about her love for it and I know that she suffers from adult acne, so I can only assume that her make-up artist is topping it up with a hell of a lot of concealer!

In summary, this foundation will suit oily to normal skins with little to no blemishes. I think it would fare particularly well on more mature combination skin due to it’s light coverage and intend to test that suspicion out on my 59 year old Mum next. I think it’s extremely overpriced at £25 and the shade choice is poor for us pale people.

So no miracle for me I’m afraid. Another one bites the dust!

xo

Well its been two whole months since I set about saving these hideous nails…

Nails on 9th June 2009

I’ve been continuing with the application of Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle Night and Day and we’re now at this stage….

Nails on the 11th of August 2009

I really can’t fault this stuff, the before and after pictures speak for themselves. What you can’t appreciate in photo though is just how strong my nails now are. There is very little flexibility in them, but enough to mean they are not susceptible to chipping.

A few people have been put off by the price of this product (approx £8 per bottle). I understand in this climate people are more careful about buying these type of treatment products, however I can honestly say I’d pay double that for it if I had to. That’s quite simply because it works.

Each bottle lasts almost 2 months as well (and thats using it twice daily) which I think is great value for money.

Most of all though I like my hands again, I don’t shove them into my pockets or feel ashamed of them, such as when handing money over at shops. My hands feel elegant, feminine and more representative of “me” which quite frankly rocks

xoxo

I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say it again because I truly believe its helpful.

If you’re about to embark, or are already on a weightloss journey you should remember to document it in photos. I realise that initially that might feel like the last thing you want to do, but please trust me when I say its the most invaluable thing I have done.

Without photographic proof I’d still be arguing with myself that theres not really a noticeable difference in my shape etc. The brain is a powerful thing and let me tell you, on “fat days” I feel I’ve made no progress at all, even though my clothes say I have. So I get the photos out and thats when rationale wins. I can see the difference, there is no disputing it.

I’d recommend taking pictures every 6-8 weeks.

The picture below is me almost 5 months ago at Christmas Time. Just look at my thighs! Yikes! I’m a UK Size 16 here.

*Click on pictures to enlarge (at your peril )

This is me last week. 16 weeks after joining Weightwatchers. I’ve dropped 2 dress sizes and I’m a UK Size 12!!!! Weirdly my feet are also smaller by half a size!

I hope I don’t sound like I’m blowing my own trumpet too much, but I guess thats what I am doing to a certain extent. With purpose though, I think its important to take time to stand back, look, and appreciate how far you’ve come. There are times when I’ve just wanted to give up and revert back to my diet of junk food, but when I see the picture above I’m so glad I haven’t. I still realistically have around a stone left to lose, but I’m getting there

Not only do I think I look better, I feel better inside. I’ve always been a smiley happy go lucky person but my weight gain did leave me feeling very insecure and unattractive.With each pound off those insecurities have faded away.

If you’re on a weight loss journey I’d love to hear from you, have you taken progress pics along the way? Do you think its helped?

xoxox

I’ve got my first STONE off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was achieved by losing another 2lbs this week taking me to a weight of 11 Stone 7.5lbs
Which is actually half a pound happily under my Stone threshold (Sorry prepare for lots of smilies & exclamation marks in this post!!)

Its taken me 10 weeks to get there but I’m confident that because I’ve lost it at a sensible rate I’ll find it easier to keep it off

Apart form the biggest grin and the best feeling in the world I also got a little symbolic stone from my leader Jackie awwwwww

I’ve still got a long way to go to reach goal weight but I’m setting myself little achievable milestones instead of getting too hung up on the bigger picture and that seems to be working. To date I’ve just been relying on healthy food and smaller portions to provide the weight loss, this week I’ll be introducing some light exercise. It would be fair to say you will never find me running in the gym, it just bores me rigid. However I have a trampette, a dog to walk and children to collect from school

I took pictures in my underwear at the beginning of my weight loss journey and at regular intervals, I highly recommend doing this. I cannot believe the difference in my Week 0 pictures and my Week 9. Without the photographic evidence I think I’d still be in denial that my shape is changing at all. But it is!! And I’m loving it!

I took front, back and side views and I’ll continue to do this. I don’t feel its appropriate to post the actual pics (thats a view for my hubby only, although I may re-consider if I hit goal) but the difference losing this stone has had on my whole well being both physically and mentally has been incredible. I want everyone to feel like this xoxox

Below is a candid picture taken at Christmas by my hubby, I am a size 16, I am in denial, and yes thats wine in the box
This was the picture that made me realise I had to get a grip on my weight, for my health and my own self esteem. (Although it has to be noted throughout all this time my husband has never once commented on my weight and was forever telling me how beautiful I was, I <3 you baby)

This is me today, sorry for the poor lighting, but I’m on my todd and self timing on a camera is just too much like hard work with me!

I am beginning to see definition at my waist, 10 weeks ago I was much more “barrel” shaped!
I’m feeling sexier, more confident and more interested in my whole body, not just from the neck up!
I find myself buying lots of body lotions & moisturisers with hints of tan. I’ve also been buying clothing which I had lost all interest in!!!
In the pic above I am actually wearing a size 12 top and size 14 leggings!!

What a difference a stone makes!

xoxoxox

Yes, thats right folks, another mascara…. wouldn’t be like me eh?!!

Boots No7 Lash 360˚ RRP £11.26

The driving force behind this purchase was actually panacea81, she was using it on YouTube a while back and I homed in on the unusual looking wand. It is quite pricey but I used the No7 £5 off voucher. I got it just before Christmas, but times must be tough, as they are STILL running the £5 off promo.

Marketing material for this mascara promises “Up to 7 x more volume with No7′s breakthrough new lash 360 mascara”. I bought it in Black, the only other colour available is Brown/ Black.

This is a GOOD mascara, not great but good. There is no doubt in my mind that this macara gives a lengthening effect, as you can see from the pic its really very impressive in that department, however it is marketed as a volumising mascara? I don’t feel it adds volume at all. It does however curl the lashes quite effectively. I don’t use eyelash curlers, simply because my eyelashes are already poor and I want to avoid any damage to what I do have.

Left Eye: Lash 360˚, Right Eye: No Mascara

The brush is really a very good design, get it right into the base and wiggle it through back and forth, coverage would be good IF the actual mascara formula was just slightly wetter. Unfortunately it isn’t. This is a real bug bear with me in regards to mascara. Either they are too dry and coating the lashes is an arduous task, or they are too wet and you get transfer onto the skin if you look up etc.

My other problem is the colour, Black, not Blackest Black, not Carbon Black, just plain ole Black. I’m sorry but for those people that say Black is Black, thats rubbish. I’ve been spoilt with rich kohl pigmented mascaras lately. They give a dense glam black finish. This is simpy a dull black, when swatched on my hand beside L’Oreal Voluminous it looks positively grey.

In summary, this is a well designed mascara wand that doesn’t quite have the formula to compliment it. IMO it certainly doesn’t warrant the price tag, there are much better mascaras out there that curl and lengthen for a fraction of the cost ie: Rimmel London’s Sexy Curves.

Hope this is helpful if you have been considering this mascara xox

Just before Christmas I picked up a couple of fake tanning products that were reduced in Boots (original post here), I’ve now had a chance to try all 3 of them and the firm winner for me is the Quick Dry Foam.

For some reason my little branch of Boots had this on clearance for £2.87, however it is still full price in the larger Boots in Belfast and online at £11.75 so all a bit odd, in hindsight I do wish I had bought a few more! Typical

I like to wear vinyl gloves and apply fake tan with my hands rather than a mitt or sponge, just a personal preference as it cuts out the middle man which I think wastes product and makes it all a bit more awkward.

This is colourless which initially always panics me, purely because it makes it more difficult to see where and how much you have applied, but as the “foam” is more of a water consistency I just make sure the whole arm/ leg/ chest area is glistening wet and I know I’m cooking on gas

It does dry super quick but without feeling tight or drying to the skin, smell is minimal and a little goes a long way. Colour develops over a few hours.

This is a before pic, taken 2.20pm

And just before I went to bed that night, approx 9 hours later….

Even at the full price I will definitely be re-purchasing this, I think it gives a fab even colour for half the cost of the likes of St Tropez & He-Shi, both of which I love but are much messier applications for me… think mud wrestler…..

Why don’t you give it a try xox

Well, what can I say?……. Its only bloomin’ well working!!
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that my eyelashes are longer. They are also thicker and darker in colour.

I have been using Enormous Lash for 4 weeks today, applying once before bed and once in the morning. The marketing material told me to expect results about now, 6 weeks at latest. I think the picture speaks for itself. As previous I have taken the picture under the same conditions, make-up/ mascara free. Please ignore my puffier than normal eye (it’s been a sad week).

I also apologise for having no front view pic this week, but tbh I forgot and had already applied mascara before I remembered, so it wouldn’t have been accurate. Will switch my brain on for next week, I promise xox

Find the link to the pictures from Week 2 here

Today I have completed 14 days using Enormous Lash and as promised here are the latest pictures (as before make-up & mascara free).

Although perhaps not a notable change in length this week, I am noticing is that my eyelashes are most definitely thicker and coarser which in turn is giving them more volume when I apply mascara. So far I am very impressed.

Only one word of warning and that is in regards to getting this product in your eye. Now obviously it is not meant to be anywhere near your actual eyeball, however accidents do happen, which is what happened to me! For the record it stings like hell, much like having soap in your eye. So keep a steady hand and learn from my painful mistake

*To see Week 1′s results click here

Will update on my Enormous Lash experience in a fortnight xox