Hair Envy

I have always loved Katie Holmes. I long for her colouring but know that much as I try... I can't change my pasty white skin.. I can however emulate her beautiful, shiny locks! She's been a constant hair-spiration to me and for someone that craves change she helps to keep me away from the evil bleach.

Today I made a purchase I've been umping and aching about for some time. 

I bought a set of Halo Hair Extensions!

They were £49.99 and my absolutely final purchase before our Vegas trip.. I swear!..maybe

I bought the 16in clip in's in Chocolate Brown which once again found me googling pictures of this lovely lady in anticipation of their arrival. My hair is faded now and I will likely have to dye it to get them to blend well but I can't wait to swan around the Vegas strip swishing my hair and feeling very glamorous. Once they arrive (tomorrow according to the FAQs) I will of course post my first impressions of quality etc but from reviews I've read online I don't imagine I'll be disappointed. 

I've never bought extensions online before so I'm a bit nervous to see them but they have a satisfaction guarantee and whether I dislike them or they are just a terrible match they are happy to accept returns which is one of the reasons I chose them.

Have you ever tried Halo Extensions??

Miss BB

Beachy Waves at a Budget Price

How many of you have been dying to get your hands on a jumbo hair waver since all the Enrapture sponsored posts have been popping up in your reading lists? Well I have. I was entirely in love with the beachy waves and absolutely buying the styling tool.... until I saw the whopping £75 price tag that is.

I know, I know I've spent more on my beloved GHD's but that's TOTALLY different!! I am "blessed" with naturally wavy hair.. unfortunately if it's not in tip-top condition (which it never is) those waves are really just frizz so my GHD's were a necessity... you see? A curling tong or waver, however, is not an everyday styler for me so I just couldn't justify that huge expense. I don't want to question the integrity of the bloggers who received one for free and reviewed it favourably but I do wonder how many of them would actually have spent their own cash on the hair tool.

Anyway... that's not what this post is about. This post is dedicated to my much more budget friendly equivalent which arrived in the post today. When I discovered the price of the Enrapture Jumbo Waver I did a little research into what else was on the market. I found only a couple of reviews of the new Toni and Guy Deep Barrel Waver but it seemed to do the job and at £40 less I was prepared to chance it. I have only used it once so far but already I'm hooked. I have never tried the Enrapture version and so cannot compare the two directly but once I've found something that works for me I don't generally go looking for bigger and better. The Toni and Guy waver is perfect. It's easy to use, heats up fast (to one of 25 heat settings), has tourmaline plates (which prevent colour fading), a lock to keep the plates together when not in use and a 3m swivel cord which for me may be the best benefit of all... Nothing irritates me more than short cords on styling tools! Creating those beachy waves has never been easier! It's practically fool proof.. Nowhere near as much room for error as when using tongs or curling with straighteners... like the crimpers of the 80s and 90s you just section and clamp and are left with a perfect result every time..what more could you want?

If you weren't already convinced I'll leave you with some pictures of me rocking my new favourite hairstyle..

I only wish I'd had this at the beginning of the summer.. at least I will have it all through this party season :)

 

You can buy the Enrapture Jumbo Waver here for £74.99

or

You can buy the Toni and Guy Deep Barrel Waver here for £34.99

If money were no object I still know which I would choose!

Home Hair Extensions - How To

I've thought about doing this a lot since I chopped my hair off in February. I used to use glue-in hair extensions all the time a few years ago before I discovered clip-ins and decided they were the be all and end all. The problem with clip-ins for me is that I can never be bothered to put them in and when I do they feel loose or tug my hair and more than anything else they feel bulky on my head. Being pregnant there's not a lot you can do to make you feel more attractive as you get heavier so I guess that had something to do with why I finally bit the bullet today. I know I'll probably regret it.. I remember the nights of picking glue out my hair but I couldn't help myself. I did buy the weaker glue (not the liquid gold I used to buy) and some remover so I'm keeping everything crossed it's got easier in the last few years.

They took less than an hour to put in.. more like 40mins actually, so it will really depend on how easy they are to remove and how long they last as to whether this will be a regular thing.. we'll see. I love the extra length. I didn't want them too long so I went for 14" and I think they blend quite well.

I knew I wouldn't be able to let this change go without explanation and anticipated lots of "how do I?" questions so figured I'd take some pictures by way of tutorial. 

I bought 4 strips (£6 each) , I bought 2 different shades in the hope it would look more natural as my hair isn't one block colour.  You can see below on the left how they look wrapped up and on the right each width unravelled. I alternated the two shades when I applied them to my hair.

Here's my before... 

When I sectioned my hair nobody was more surprised than me at the colour of it.. since I used Colour B4 last week I thought it had lightened up overall but turns out the layers underneath lifted a lot more...Disappointing to see my roots though.. I haven't bleached my hair since February.. I don't think that's much growth for 7months! Anyway... so I sectioned my hair with a tail comb...

I applied a thick line of glue to the "root" of one strip of hair and left it a couple of minutes to go tacky..

Hopefully you can see from the picture below but in a nutshell I attached it as close as I could get to the roots of my own hair. You may well need help (I did... Lee did most of the work if I'm honest)

One thing to make sure of is not to get any glue on the upper hair you've sectioned away!!!

Repeat for as many layers as you feel necessary to get a believable thickness. I think I could have done with a couple more but hey ho... next time! Forgive my badly straightened hair below but this was just after application. Add some waves and serum and the extensions are barely detectable. I'm really pleased with them! You can be sure I will rue this day when I come to remove them but I will be blogging that experience too so watch this space.

How many of you have tried DIY glue-in extensions?

Mixed Metals

*what I'm wearing*

Dress from Primark (summer 2010)

I've never worn this before, it's just hung in my closet but it's baggy enough to just about hide my expanding waist right now. - Great for Primark, I think.

 Necklace is also an old one from Primark but it's had a lot of wear. Its kind of a mix of gold/brassy and pewter tones so it's really versatille.

Shoes were an eBay bargain from a few years back, Jimmy Choo, I wish I knew the name... they are pretty bashed up now but I love them all the same.

************

You may have noticed my hair... longer? yes! I'm wearing extensions... I dyed them to match my hair and they turned out pretty well. If you'd be interested in a post/video about how to dye them/how to care for them, leave me a comment!