I decided that I would try out the Garnier Olia hair dye in Light Golden Blonde. I wanted to go a bit lighter for the summer and it said on the side that dark blonde would turn up quite light. I had heard from a friend of mine who had used it before that it was good hair dye and smelled nice. So I was looking forward to using it. I brought it from Asda where it was on offer for £6 I am not sure the original price I can't remember how much it said it was.


It comes with 5 things in the box, developer, colour, bottle to mix everything in, conditioner, gloves and instruction leaflet.


I mixed the developer and the colour in the bottle, there is a circle on the back of the box which you can pop out and you can put the bottle in this. I guess this is so its somewhere safe where you can empty the developer and colour into. 

(colour chart is lighter in person)

It did smell quite nice, it wasn't as strong as other hair dyes I have used, normally my eyes water quite a bit from the scent but this time I didn't have that problem. It was quite weird putting it on my hair as it is quite creamy, like a hair mask rather than a dye. I decided that because the top half of my hair was darker than the bottom I would put the mixture on this first before putting it on the rest of my hair. In the instructions it says that if you want to touch up your roots to put it on the roots for 20 minutes and the rest of your hair for 10. I did this for my hair because of it being darker on the top than the bottom. 


I did notice that my hair was going lighter while the dye was on my hair so I did have high hopes for it. After 30 minutes I washed it off in the shower and I dried my hair to see what colour it had turned out as. It hadn't turned out as light as it said it would, my dark blonde was still quite dark it had only lightened to about a medium blonde. My roots however lightened a lot it went to an almost orange colour, and my light blonde ends hadn't changed much at all. 



I was expecting the dark blonde to lighten a lot more than it had done because it said it would on the box. I could of used bleach to lighten my hair even more but I am trying not to damage my hair as I want to grow it quite long. I decided that I would put a dark blonde on my roots to cover up the orangeness and brush it through to ombre it even more so the medium blonde would match my roots again. 

In all this product smelt nice and other people I know who have used it have had good results. It just didn't take to my hair as well as it could of done. 




I have recently been to Boots a few times, Primark and H&M this is what I picked up:

From Boots it was still 3 for 2 thank god so I picked up two pots of the Lee Stafford hair treatment that I have been using as the product seems to be working really well for me I decided to get some more. Although I could of brought 3 pots for the price of 2 I decided to get something else as my free purchase.



I picked up a Aussie 3 minute deep conditioning treatment, my friends had told me that they are really good, I have never really tried anything from the Aussie brand so I thought I would get a hair mask as I do love a good hair mask. As soon as I got home I opened it to see what it smelt of. My god it smells beautiful!!! Can't wait to put this on my hair.



Another trip to Boots I decided to treat myself to some new nail varnish, I have been wanting some pale blue nail varnish for a while now so I decided to pick some up. I decided to get the textured nail effects in the colour Atlantic Road by Barry M. It is £3.99 which isn't bad for some nail varnish really.

I often go for the Barry M nail varnishes when I go to Boots because I find that they have a wonderful range of colours. I normally get them when they are on offer, which they were, if you brought two Barry M nail varnishes you got £1 off I think it was. I did like the look of the yellow and I was actually going to buy the yellow in the texture effect because I fancied something different to having normal shiny nails. However with the yellow it has tiny gold bits in it, I am not a gold person. Nothing wrong with the colour I am just not a huge fan, I would rather have silver jewellery or a vintage brass type colour. I wasn't so keen on having gold bits on my nails. So I therefore decided against it, I looked at the other range of colours that they have in the collection and none of them seemed to have any gold bits in it so why have this just for the yellow?

I decided to get a clear coat as well as mine had run out. I picked up the Base coat, Top coat and Nail Hardener as it was in the offer so I thought I might as well. I don't know if it does make my nails harder as well but we shall see! It is £2.99 normally.



I also picked up some blush, I have used the natural collection blush in Rose Cloud for so long now I don't actually know when I first started using it. I never used to wear blush when I was younger, as I quite liked being pale and not having much colour in my cheeks. I think that when I did put blush on my face I didn't have a nice shade that suited me. With this shade of pink it is just right, it is not too dark nor too light it is a lovely shade of pink that shows up just right on my face. It is also cheap which is a bonus! £1.99 for some blush.



Speaking of blush I did see this beautiful pinky/orange blush palette in H&M it was I think £2.99, I am not sure on the price but it is cheap. I am defiantly going to pick it up if I remember next time I am in there.

From Primark I just got a few things, I picked up a grey men's hoodie. I find that the men's hoodies are a lot baggier than the women's which I prefer. Also the men's seemed a lot softer than the women's for some reason. I was going to get it in a small but I decided to get it in a medium just so it is extra baggie. I brought it to wear around the house and maybe to the supermarket or something when it is warmer. It was £10 which isn't bad at all for a hoodie. It is so comfy to wear as well, I put it on as soon as I got home and changed into my comfy clothes, I do not want to take it off! It is quite thin and it has a thin fleece lining but it is so comfy and it does keep me warm so it is perfect. (I forgot to take a photo of this so I shall do another day).

I also picked up this letter top which I have seen a few of the beauty youtubers that I follow purchase. It is a square sort of shape with rolled up sleeves. I got it in a larger size than what I would normally get just because I prefer things to be bigger and longer. The material is very see through so you would need to wear a top underneath or one of those bandeau type tops. It still isn't as long as normal tops that I would buy as it is quite short but I thought I could put it with a maxi skirt or some shorts and it would be fine. The top was £12, I was surprised at the price as normally Primark tops aren't that expensive, their prices seem to be increasing lately. Has anyone else noticed?!



I picked up this orange maxi skirt as soon as I saw it I knew that I had to get it! I wasn't having much luck in Primark until I saw this skirt. Myself and my friend had gone around the bottom and first floor and this skirt was right by the escalator on the top floor and I loved it! I have two other maxi skirts that  are both black one is straight up and down and the other is pleated. The orange is quite bright it is almost sort of a burnt orange not too in your face but it is still a nice pop of colour to add to my wardrobe. I could wear it with some darker tops as I mainly do have quite dark tops anyway. The material looks as if it would be see through like the top I brought but it isn't at all. This is good because I can get away with wearing this in the summer with bare legs and some shoes or even on the colder days with some tights and boots. The skirt was £10 which isn't that bad for a maxi skirt that is quite thick.



On another trip into town I decided to invest in the yellow Barry M textured nail varnish, I know I said I wasn't too keen about having the gold bits in but it has been on my mind since I had brought the blue one. I found that nail varnish to be great, I really love it (I shall do a review on both once I have worn both). So I decided that I would give in and buy the yellow one, Station Road! I am glad I did and I can't wait to wear it! £3.99



I popped into H&M as well while I was in town getting a few things for uni. My cousin had posted on her facebook a photo of herself wearing a maxi grey dress. She told me it was from H&M and was only £10, she said it came in quite a few colours. I have wanted a maxi black dress since last summer. I remember seeing some in H&M but they never had my size so I never got a chance to get one. So I decided I would grab one while they might still have my size. I looked at the ones that my cousin had told me about but the material was thin, I did try on a grey one as the black the material was far too thin. However even the grey one you could see my underwear so this was a defiant no no for me! There was a slit each side of the dress as well but the material was so thin I didn't feel very comfortable in it.

While I was walking around H&M I saw this other maxi dress in their basics range, thicker material but a little bit shorter than the grey one my cousin had told me about with no splits. They have four colours in this dress, black, grey, blue and a white and blue patterned one. A basic straight up straight down maxi dress with a scooped neck. I tried it on and I loved it, I decided to get it in a bigger size than what I tried on just because it would be more flowy. I didn't want to be walking around in the summer with a not too tight dress on boiling hot I want it to flow and allow the air to circulate. I tried it on when I got home and I felt much more comfortable in it. I will need to invest in a plain black bra though because you can see a bit of my bra when I put it on. This dress was a bit more money, it was £12.99 but I am glad I found a nice black maxi dress at last!



While I was in H&M I picked up the blush I spoke about above. It was only £2.99 so not that expensive and you get a range of colours in the blush. Orange, corals, pinks and glitter! I opened it up when I got home as it was sealed in a little plastic bag at the shop. If you lift up the blush powder there is a mirror on the other side with a brush to apply the blush with. I won't be using this as I prefer to use my Real Techniques brush set to apply my blush with.





I used to dye my hair quite a lot which was very very bad for my hair and it ended up being so so short!   I have been nearly every colour under the rainbow at one point but I decided to go for a more natural colour since I have been at uni (so for the past 3 years). For the past year maybe I have been growing it, hardly dying my hair, not putting heat on it being a good girl and so on.

However yesterday I had the 'bright' idea of going lighter for the summer. Well technically my hair is quite light, I mean half my hair is light blonde the other is medium blonde to dark blonde but I wanted it all light blonde. So I hopped off to Asda with my boyfriend to get a few bits and pieces and ended up picking up some hair dye while I was there. (I shall do a review on the hair dye on another post this is just my 3 hour hair crisis). I decided I wanted to go a lovely light golden blonde to look like the sun had blessed my locks. I even checked the colour chart on the side of the box and it said that on dark blonde hair it would go pretty light, to about the same lightness as my light blonde ends! This was not the case.

About 4 hours ago I put on the hair dye, I was excited and nervous as I have had some bad experiences with hair dye. Such as my hair going pink when it was meant to be blonde, and the green hair dye I just wanted on a section on my hair leaking out onto my white blonde hair turning my whole hair green. Yup, bad experiences indeed. I made sure I had done everything right, I decided that I would put the dye on my darker section of hair first then put it on the rest of my hair after a period of time. On the leaflet it said about 20 minutes if you was doing your roots and 10 for the rest of your hair so I basically followed these instructions.

At first it seemed like it was going well, my hair looked like it was turning lighter, brilliant I thought! So when the 30 minutes was up (it was maybe actually 40 I forgot to check the time) I jumped in the shower and washed my hair.

I decided that I would dry a section of my hair with my hair dryer just to see what colour my hair had turned out. 'Oh my god' I thought. My roots which was just over an inch I'd say had turned bright orange. Yup bright orange. I have nothing against orange hair, I have often wanted orange hair but when I was trying to get blonde hair orange is the last colour I want to be! My dark blonde that had been dyed dark blonde (because my roots are slightly different colour to my dark blonde that I dyed the light blonde hair when I ombred it) was still a dark blonde, maybe a medium blonde. It was darker than the rest of my hair, the light blonde on the other half of my hair was fine, looked lovely sun kissed B E A U T I F U L  if only the rest of my hair had gone the same way. 

Now I had a few options here I'd like to think

1) go in total panic mode and cry (which I have done before)
2) put some bleach on my hair and purple shampoo the crap out of it which would be even more damaging to my hair 
3) live with it 
4) dark blonde on top again and ombre it up 

I decided to go for option 4 which I think was the best choice. I often highlight and lowlight my moms hair, she has the same natural dark blonde I do and so she did have some dark blonde hair dye in her wardrobe which is the same that I normally use when doing my roots. She lovingly let me use her hair dye which she had about half a bottle left which was just enough. So thankfully now I am back to my ombred hair. 


I know that I could of turned my hair into a lighter blonde with some purple shampoo and bleach which I have done before, but it would mean spending more money which I don't really have. The hair dye at the end of the day didn't mix well with my hair which can sometimes happen, its how my hair turned pink before when I used a blonde hair dye. I know I am not the only one that this has happened to, my nan's hair for instance sometimes used to go green or pink depending on the brand of hair dye! Maybe its a genetic thing?! Who knows! I am not saying that the hair dye was rubbish because I know other people who have used the hair dye and it has worked brilliantly for them. It just works differently for different people. 


What have I learnt from this experience? Well I know that not always your hair can go the way you want it to, from my many bad experiences I know that it can sometimes go wrong. I would still rather do it myself though than go to a salon because I have had bad experiences at salons as well and it's pricey! I am not telling anyone out there what to do when it comes down to your own hair, I am no expert. This was just my experience that I found quite funny and thought I would share it to who ever may read this. 







Bit behind on my update been rather busy with uni work! I have a few more posts to upload as well when I get the chance, a haul and some reviews to come.

Anyway just over 4 weeks since I have been using this product. I went out and brought some more that was in the 3 for 2 Boots offer, I ended up just getting 2 more pots and something else (which will be featured in the haul post). 

I haven't used up the first pot yet, I have just under half of the pot left. So it has lasted me quite well, I think maybe I haven't been putting as much on as some other people who I have seen/read reviews on this product. I have only been putting it on my roots though and massaging it in, I have stopped putting it on the rest of my hair because I feel like I don't need it. My hair is in pretty good condition as it is, I hardly ever put heat on my hair (about once a month normally) I let it dry naturally and I always put on oils and deep conditioning treatments on the ends of the hair. So I feel like putting it on the rest of my hair is just a waste. 

Lately I have really noticed how long it is getting which is great! I think maybe it is because I have had my hair in a bun a lot as I haven't been out much so I haven't had the need to have my hair down. I measured my roots at the beginning of the week and they were nearly an inch long which is impressive. It is growing nearly twice as fast I would say as it normally does. I have defiantly noticed my layers getting longer which is making my hair look thicker which I love. 

My fringe is still in the awkward stage at the moment so I have been pinning it under some of my hair so it is out of the way. This I feel makes my hair look longer as well as my fringe was quite chunky I had quite a lot of fringe and so when my hair is down it looks like I have really short layers when it is just my fringe. If this makes sense? I have found it a lot easier to wear my hair in a side parting rather than in the middle like I used to because I can pin my fringe easier. 

Not much else to say really, I am going to try to take a photo of my roots for the next post to show how much it has grown. 


The Revlon Just Bitten Kissable lip stain in charm I had ordered came in the post a few days ago!

I sometimes find that the colour that is on the packaging to show what colour the product is most of the time incorrect. However I found that the packaging colour was almost the same colour as the product, it is such a good match that you defiantly know what shade you are getting. I quite liked the fact that you don't have to sharpen it like a normal 'pencil' type makeup product. You just have to twist the silver bottom and it turned up, but don't turn it up to much because you may break it! 

The colour is a little pigmented although I have heard that this lighter shade isn't as pigmented as some of the darker shades. As it is sort of a nude coral shade it doesn't need to be that pigmented as it just looks like that your lips are slightly tinted. 



Before:


After:


(The natural lighting in the pictures is slightly different because of the sun!)

I have quite naturally dark lips so I found that the colour made my lips a bit paler but with a hint of coral which I do quite like. It has quite a minty scent as well which I thought would bother me at first because sometimes some mint scents can give me a headache, but I didn't find the mint scent to be a problem. 

After a few hours my lips were a bit darker but the stain was still showing up. I even tested it out not long after I had put it on by drinking a cup of tea and the stain still seemed to be on my lips as nothing showed up on the mug unlike some lip products may do.  Normally with lip products I only wear them sometimes on a night out, however because this shade is quite subtle I find that I am wanting to wear it out in the day time. 

I would recommend this product as I think that it is worth the money, I am glad that I took a leap and brought a lip stain after having no luck with lipsticks. I did look at cheaper versions of the same style of product but because of the good reviews I had seen/heard I am really glad that I brought this one instead of a cheaper version. I am not saying that the cheaper versions aren't good because for all I know they could be brilliant, I just haven't tried them out. As I have had some success with this shade I may go out and buy some other shades because Revlon do have some beautiful colours that are from what I have heard are wonderfully pigmented. 





My hair feels like it has grown quite a bit, I haven't measured it this week but I can see that it is defiantly grown a lot since I have been using this product. My hair feels like it is a lot thicker as well, I have quite a few layers in my hair and because of how fast it seems to be growing the layers are growing out which will make it seem thicker. I have noticed that my fringe is getting really long too, it is now nearly to the bottom of my nose and it is much easier to wear I find that I don't have to clip it back.

I think that it also seems thicker because my hair is in a better condition, it feels so soft! I haven't been putting heat on my hair apart from about once a month I like to straighten my hair to see how long it is straight as normally I wear it naturally wavy. The last time I did this (apart from last night) was about a month ago and my hair was about 2 inches off the top of my bra strap, it is now only about half an inch off. So that means that my hair must of grown quite a bit since using this product.

I thought I would take a photo of the back of my hair to show the length it is now and I shall take another photo like this in about a months time. (My room doesn't have very good lighting as I took this at night).





It has been the 4th wash since using the L'oreal conditioning toner in lilac and the colour has nearly completely gone. There is still a tiny bit of colour on the tips of my hair.




By using this product it has allowed me to add a pop of colour to my hair without the worry of it staining. I will be defiantly using this product again as it hasn't done any damage to my hair and it added a nice temporary colour to my hair. 

I plan to use it again when the weather gets better as I think it will look really nice in summer as I do like wearing pastel colours in the summer and I think it will look even better when my hair is a bit longer!
I have never really been a fan of lipstick, I have on some occasions brought some and worn it out. However I always think that I go for the wrong colours that doesn't suit me. 

I remember this one time I was going out on a Saturday night and I had red lipstick on and a black dress nothing too fancy and my mom said that the shade of lipstick didn't suit me. Thanks mom! Since this comment I have never really worn lipstick out on a day to day basis or even on a night out. I could see where she was coming from, I just didn't think that the shade of lipstick suited my skin tone. 

The only lipsticks I have brought have been cheap MUA ones that if I can remember you can get for a couple of pound from Superdrug. Colours such as a few different shades of red and a light pink. I didn't want to buy anything too expensive because of my track record with failing lipstick. 

For a while now I have been wanting to have some sort of lip product that I can wear. I feel like the makeup I wear at the moment has gotten quite boring and I want to add something new to it but still keep it quite natural looking. I brought a Boots own make tinted lip balm as it was the winter and I needed something to moisturise my lips. It reminded me of one that I had when I was younger that I was obsessed with so I thought I would try it out. It was quite pinky too pinky for me I wasn't too keen on it but I kept on using it throughout the winter to save my lips from the cold. 

However some of the wonderful youtubers that I watch mentioned the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain. I watched a few different reviews on them and I decided that I would invest. I did see them in my local Boots and I was going to buy one but I didn't know what colour was best. I did try to swatch some on my hand but the sample ones weren't in a good condition at all so I didn't fancy touching them! (Sort it out Boots!)

I think that I would rather go for a nude colour rather than a red or another colour. The makeup I wear when I go out is quite natural and toned down, just some foundation, blusher, brown eye liner and mascara nothing too fancy! So I think that a nude colour will go perfect with my day to day look. 

As I am not too sure when I will be next near a store that sells the balm stain I decided I would order some off the internet. I had a look around and I found a company on Ebay that is selling them sealed, brand new for about £2 cheaper than they are Boots and Superdrug (£7.99 each normally). I ordered the balm stain in Charm as it is a nude coral colour which I am hoping will suit me better than previous lip product purchases. 

It should hopefully be sent out tomorrow and be with me in a few days so I shall do a review on it when it comes. 


I have recently purchased this black kaftan from Asda it was only £6 and it has a gold trim around the sleeves and bottom. It is made out of jersey material with a elasticated drawcord waistband. It comes in different sizes and three different colours, coral, pink and black.

They didn't have many sizes nor colours left, I did want it in a coral but they only had extra small left over. I ended up getting the black they only had a medium, it is slightly too big I could of done with a small. However I did really like it and so I just brought it in a medium. 



As it is made out of jersey material it isn't as see through as one that would be made out of thinner material. I tried it on with some leggings and you couldn't see my bra through the material. So this means that I can wear it on a day to day basis instead of at the beach. 

I do find it hard sometimes to find tops or dresses that suit my shape. I have an hour glass figure, so I am quite curvy. I do find that sometimes when tops or dresses have a waist band it doesn't hit me on my waist, it sometimes hits me higher because I am blessed in the boob department. 

I did find with this kaftan that it fitted me quite well, although the kaftan waist band is slightly higher than my actual waist it isn't as bad as some other clothes that I have tried on. It isn't very tight either so it will be perfect for the summer for when I just want to wear something light and flowy with some leggings. I did take the cord tie off the kaftan so I could belt it with another belt which will draw me in even more. 


It has been two weeks since I have started to use the Lee Stafford hair growth treatment. I have defiantly noticed a change, my hair feels a lot more healthy, it feels very soft as well. 

My hair has grown about half an inch which it does normally grow in a month so it looks like it is growing twice as fast. I want my hair to be about another 6 inches long which is about a years worth of hair growth maybe more because of regular hair cuts. So hopefully this time period will shorten because of using this product. 

I have noticed however that my roots seem to need washing after the second day when normally it is the third. This may be because I am not fully washing the product out of my hair so I will have to make sure I wash all of the product out. I may even try washing my hair again with shampoo after as this may help remove all of the product. Or it may be that my hair is getting used to having a different product near my roots apart from shampoo and so it may clear up after my hair has gotten used to it. 

I still have a lot of the product left which I am glad because it costs so much! I will try to pick some more up soon so I am ready for when I have ran out. I know that some people I have read/watched talk about this product have used up the tub in about a month. I doubt this will be the case for me as I don't need to wash my hair often and I am only putting it on my roots and a tiny bit on the rest of my hair. 


I washed my hair for the 3rd time after putting on the L'oreal toning conditioner. The colour is still slightly there however it isn't very lilac now it is more of a silvery blonde, almost like an ash blonde. 



I was hoping that the product lasted for the 5 washes which is the longest it says it will last, but this doesn't look very hopeful. I will still use the toner when I feel like having a pop of colour in my hair.