Do excuse the posiness of these pictures but I'm still getting used to my new camera and I do have a new do to show off after all! 

As I'm sure some of you will remember I've been growing my hair for years so to get so much cut off seems pretty drastic but it truly needed it. I haven't had any layers added and the rest of my hair is now only an inch or so away from where my old layers were in the first place meaning that probably just a haircut or two more and my hair will all be at the same length. Now it's so much healthier I can finally do some proper styles with it and I can straighten it a few more times. Who knows maybe you'll be seeing a hairstyling post or two soon? 

What do you think of my new hair? Let me know in the comments! 

xxx

VO5 Miracle Concentrate:

I'm in desperate need of a haircut lately and my roots have been getting a little dry. This miracle concentrate is another one of those products that was used once or twice then relegated to the back of the drawer. I picked it back up again a while a go and I've been using it a lot the past couple of weeks.

I'd say it very nearly lives up to it's miraculous name. It makes my hair feel instantly better, smoother, more nourished and shiny. Also as the name suggests you only need a very small amount, it's an entirely oil based product. The oil is argan oil which is well known for being a very good product to use in hair.

If you feel like your hair is in need of a treat then I'd definitely recommend this product, especially considering it's around that time of year when we all could do with saving a few pennies. This is a very inexpensive product compared to most hair oils out there.

xxx

Boots Haircare 3 for 2:

I'm a sucker for a deal I truly am. I'm also very into haircare as many of you know. So when I was walking through Boots on a break from Uni and saw the 3 for 2 offer I have to say my heart skipped a beat with joy and I just had to take advantage of it.

The first thing I picked up was a new serum. I chose the Frizz Ease Original serum. I'm a big fan of these serums as you can see here. So I thought I'd give this one ago, it claims to eliminate frizz and repel humidity, which I'll have to keep you updated on. As an added bonus it has a built in heat repair and is to be used on wet hair.

This next purchase is actually for my little sister whose having real issues with frizz lately. Someone recommend we try a hot oil treatment so when I saw this VO5 hot oil treatment I picked them up thinking they were at least worth a try. It contains Avocado oil, Apricot oil, Grape Seed oil, Jojoba oil and Rosemary leaf oil. It claims to be able to reduce breakage from brushing by 60%, seek out and bind to weak areas of each strand of hair and remove 75% more chlorine than shampoo alone. I have to say these do seem like huge claims but who knows maybe they're right. I'll have to tell how they work for my sister.

Another Frizz Ease product here this time the Miraculous Recovery mask. Since I ran out of my last hair mask I've not had the time to repurchase one. So I took advantage of the deal and since it's been such a long time since I used a mask I went for an intense one claiming to both repair damage and protect against any future breakage. I'm really looking forward to giving this ago.

That's all I got from the offer. If you'd like to take advantage of it too then I'd go as soon as possible because I don't know how much longer it'll last. 

xxx

GRWM: Boyfriend's Birthday Meal:

 This is going to be my first ever Get Ready With Me, so I hope you enjoy it and let me know if you'd like to see more.

The first thing I do in the morning is workout, this isn't something I ever used to do. I don't go crazy with it but I find that it's made changes to my body already and makes me so much more confident. I then go downstairs and eat my breakfast whilst watching Keeping Up With The Kardashian's. I just love that show, my non-guilty pleasure.

I then had a bath, in the bath lately I've been using Head & Shoulders Smooth & Silky shampoo and conditioner, because I've been suffering from dandruff lately so this makes a nice difference. 

As for my body I've been using Soap & Glory's Sugar Crush set.

Out of the shower I first put on my deodorant, currently Right Guard Extreme Dry. The I applied a face mask (Soap & Glory's No Clogs Allowed) since my skin just doesn't seen to know what to do with itself lately. After washing off I used my Botanics Rose Water Toning Spritz, which I let sink in then applied my vitamin E day cream from The Body Shop and Puffy Eye Attack eye cream from Soap & Glory. 

For my body I continued along the Sugar Crush road finishing off with their moisturiser. Then applied yet another Soap & Glory product, this time their foot cream Heel Genius. As for the hands I used Vaseline's Healthy Hands and Stronger Nails cream, Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter from LUSH and painted my nails, using Max Factor's Glossfinity in Forever Glam.

I actually used heat on my hair for once! To protect it and help the curls straighten I applied John Frieda's 3 Day Straight. This has it's own day by day review, if you'd be interested in reading it then click here.

I didn't do much to the face I went very minimalist with very light products since, as I've said, my skin is pretty much in meltdown. My dress was from GAP, but sadly last year so I doubt very much you'd be able to track it down now. My shoes we're from Primark, but again sadly last year.

I hope you enjoyed this post if you would like to see more Get Ready With Me type posts then please do let me know.

xxx

Bringing Scrunchies Back:

Nineties fashion has undeniably been coming back lately, the tartan skirts, the jelly shoes, and the denim. One thing that seemed to come back then jump straight out again was scrunchies. I personally love them and want to bring them back. They're really quick and easy and add a nice summery touch to your look, as well as being something different than just a bobble. As well as this they're much less damaging to your hair and much less likely to break your hair than a bobble.  

So what do you think of scrunchies? Love or leave? let me know in the comments because I'd love to know how many people like me would like to see scrunchies back for good! 

xxx

Messy Curly Hairstyle:

It's not very often I do something new with my hair mainly because I'm trying to leave it alone and let it grow, but every now and again you have to do something different. 

For this look I simply brushed out my naturally curly hair which if you have curly hair you'll know means it goes really big and, what's a nicer word than bushy? We'll go with volumised. I then simply pulled my hair into a big high ponytail then pulled at the roots a little so it didn't look too tightly pulled back. I didn't do any back combing because I don't want to do too much damage.

After that I just pulled out the front sections that usually make up a side parting, but instead parted it in the middle. I applied some serum to try and tame the frizz and curled the side parts away from my face then ran my fingers through the curls to make them look smoother and more natural. Finally I just pinned up part of my shorter fringe from one side of my face to take away some of the roundness the curls had made and slim down my face a little. 

That's all for this post, this is actually my first hairstyle post so please do let me know what you think. Until then I'll see you all on Tuesday!

xxx

Tips on Growing Hair:

I've been making a real conscious effort to grow my hair over the past year, and over that time I've found a fair few tricks that I feel have really helped, people I see often have commented about how fast my hair seems to be growing since I had to get my hair cut really short in October, because of the horrible condition it was in after the worlds worst hairdresser practically hacked it to death!

The best tip I feel I could give you, because it's worked amazingly for me already has its own blog post and it's simply going as long as possible without washing it. I go into lots of detail in the blog post, but in short it allows your hair to nourish itself with its own natural oils which promotes growth. 

Another tip a friend gave me is to keep your hair down as much as you can, I have to say I don't quite understand how this works but my friend's hair grows insanely fast, she had her hair cut far shorter than me around the same time and it's already nearing her waist, so I'm taking her word for it and mixing that with not washing it too often and it seems to make a real difference.

I also recommend using restorative and repairing shampoo and conditioner as opposed to ones that simply claim to add shine or texture. As those who claim to add shine simply put a coat over the hair so the light will bounce off it and those which add body and texture can be damaging and drying as the products they put in those shampoos and conditioners are to give a more matte and messy effect, whereas those who repair and protect will contain more ingredients that want to heal broken hair, meaning each time you get a hair cut you wont need as much taken off.

Along the same cord when you use a hair mask if you can leave it in for much longer than the bottle says. Whenever my hair is feeling particularly dry I'll put a hair mask in and leave it there for hours, my record is 8. I know some people also sleep in masks but I don't particularly like the thought of that, if you can though I would recommend trying it. Again, this will keep your hair in good condition meaning you wont need to cut too much off. 

A lot of people seem to think that when you're growing your hair you shouldn't cut it, but that isn't the case. You should still get regular cuts, just make sure they're trims. Although don't be annoyed if when you ask your hairdresser cuts off more than you expect when you say you only want the split ends off, because the split end is only where the tip of the dead part is, to truly have nothing but good quality living hair you need to cut a couple of centimetres above where the split is.

Whilst on the subject of keeping your hair in good condition is just to try to damage it as little as possible, is simply to look after it! No heat, no dying it and no back combing. You'll be surprised how much difference it makes, when I was in my mid teens I was very self-conscious about the fact I had curly hair and I straightened it obsessively every day and my hair always felt just awful, but now it feels so much better.

Olive oil is often recommended when people want to grow their hair or nails, I know of people who soak their hair in it for hours and hours then wash out the residue, as it all soaks into the hair and nourishes it as well as promoting growth. Also to promote growth, try massaging your scalp as much as possible. This stimulates the blood flow in the scalp promoting growth as well as spreading the natural oils in the hair evenly along the scalp. It's also very relaxing and does some good when you have a headache too. 

I'm still trying to grow my hair so if you have any tips for me then please do let me know in the comments, I hope this post helped some of you too. I'll see you again on Tuesday.

xxx

Shop My Stash #1:

I first saw a shop my stash in the lovely Zoe (Zoella) and Louise's (SprinkleofGlitter) video from ages and ages ago, but I'm sure it's been done before. I wanted to give it a go, if you've no idea what a shop my stash is then basically you go through all your products and find some gems that you want to get more use of or have forgotten about.

First thing's first for me are these Nails inc. nail varnishes. I have the shades (l-r)  Marble Arch, West Hampstead, Keats Grove, Park Walk, Oakley Street, Reeves Mews and Carlton Gardens. I got these for my 16th birthday which seems so long ago now, but I've hardly ever used them, not because I don't like them but because I was in the mindset of no I can't use them they're too nice I'll save them. But I realise now that if I don't use them I'll just be being silly and wasting them. Why not make the most of having the nice things while they're there? I've got a good range of colours too so I should be able to make the most of them all year round. 

In terms of make up, I've the GOSH trio eye shadow in Metallic Rose, this is another old present I got when I was much younger, fell in love with and decided to save it for a special occasion. I still really love the colours, so now I'm making sure I use it expect to see me in some shimmery pink and grey eye looks soon! I also have the Accessorize merged blusher in bombshell, this is more of a bronzer and as I got this around Christmas time where I go for much more pale looks it gradually got pushed to the back of my drawer and forgotten about, but I've luckily found it in the Summer so fingers crossed I'll be able to bronze it up soon and it'll get the use it deserves.  

Some of you may remember this serum from a very long time ago, it was one of my first ever posts. I used it loads when I first got it but new products came and got used and it was lost, but I recently took it with me on holiday and it really tamed the best that my hair can become in the heat, so for that reason I want to make sure I get my use out of it!

This is another old EJEbeauty feature, this was in my old skincare routine post (I think I'll be doing an updated one soon). I love it I just tend to forget to scrub my face on a regular basis, which I think is the only reason It's not yet been used up. I'm on a real skincare hype at the moment though so I'm going to be making a real conscious effort to give it the use it needs.

This too was in my skincare routine, I had been using it in place of a night cream, but now I've got myself a proper one so although this was good on my skin it was quite greasy for my face, I can now use the last of it on my body until it's empty.

As I'm trying to grow my hair I'm washing my hair less and less, which means I'm sure I'm going to be reaching for this more and more, I like the fact it's brown tinted too so I hopefully wont have those horrible tell tale grey patches in my hair that dry shampoo so often comes with.

That's all for my stash, what about you? I really recommend giving this a go if you;re a hoarder when it comes to products you'll find some gems and maybe clear out stuff that's perhaps past it#s best too. Until next time.

xxx

His & Her's Holiday Haul (Brighton Edition):

As you know if you saw my birthday post my boyfriend Myles took me to Brighton for a week as a present, and boy did we shop...A LOT!

I'll start by showing you the stuff Myles bought for himself:

He got himself some nice smart looking suede shoes, from Front London. They're a nice bluey grey colour (as a side note you may be thinking this a very zoomed in picture, but no he has huge size 13 feet).

On the very first day we got him some sunglasses from a brand called Tinc, they're a really nice matte black and a good shape too. For a tenner they look good and strong too.

He also fell in love with this Timex watch, and picked it up for 60 pounds. It is absolutely beautiful with light brown straps.

I bought him these beats headphones, in the red colour he wanted, but he's not allowed to have them until his birthday in August, which he's not too pleased about.

Having lost so much weight lately Myles has been in need of a whole new wardrobe which he's started putting together now. As well as a big travel bag for University, he picked up from Jack Wills a white T-shirt, with the logo on, and a navy blue one with a much smaller more subtle logo and a pair of light blue summer shorts.

He also picked up a big pack of Calvin Klein socks.

As well as this he picked up 2 DVD's (Meet the Parent's and You, Me and Dupree). The last thing he was extremely happy about. He bought himself a PS4 which came with the game Killzone Shadow Fall, and he picked up Fifa14.

Now for the good stuff! Prepare yourself...

First stop, Soap & Glory (which I love). Most of the stuff I bought was skincare because I'm on a real skincare hype right now, I picked up No Clogs Allowed self heating mask, the Face Soap & Clarity face wash, Puffy Eye Attack eyecream, Heel Genius foot cream (which I believe is my third repurchase) as well as the full Sugar Crush range, body wash, scrub and butter.

More skincare, this time from The Body Shop, I picked up the Vitamin E moisture serum, as well as the night cream. Also the Seaweed Mattifyng day cream. Along with that I got the Honey Bronzer in shade 3, since everyone and they're Mum seems to swear by it, to tick a box from my wishlist I got the Aloe Body Butter, and free with all of this I got Peppermint Cooling Foot Spray.

To use in the hotel, we picked up the Pantene ProV Smooth & Sleek shampoo and conditioner which will definitely be coming home with me because they really do work.

From River Island I got this absolutely stunning bag, it's much smaller than all the rest of my bags which is a big reason I bought it because since I'm not at school any more I don't need to drag around half the stuff I used to. Also It's a beautiful mint green colour, can be worn with or without the strap, and has some pretty gold detailing (usually I'm not a fan of gold but I think it really works with this bag). Basically, I'm completely in love with it.

This is my first ever Cath Kidston purchase, which I'm most pleased about, I wanted a pretty thermos flask to take tea and hot chocolate around with me, especially for University and this one is just gorgeous! a lovely faded looking  floral pattern, with a light pastel blue case and lid, it's almost as if I designed it myself!

I didn't pick up much clothes stuff, but I did get some gorgeous winter boots (as you do on your Summer holidays) which have thick knitted socks built in and a good tread to stop me slipping around, this was from a brand called Salt & Pepper which I've never heard of before, but if they stock more shoes like this I'm definitely going to have a look for more. I also went to T.K.Maxx and got a pair of tight pair of black stretchy trousers with elasticated sides, I thought they'd look much classier and last much better than just putting legging on with everything as well as being that much warmer too. Lastly, I picked up some Jack Wills jogging bottoms for round the house which are ridiculously comfortable! It's nice to have some new ones too because as much as you shouldn't worry about what your round the house clothes mine were getting ridiculous. 

This make up bag was from a cute little shop in the Lanes, it's a good size compared to my old one and is a strong hessian material so it should last me ages. The new makeup to go in my bag is three Barry M nail paints, in Blue Moon, a Gelly HiShine in Grapefruit and Limited Edition one in Carousel. I ticked another product off my wish list in the VO5 Miracle Concentrate Elixir in Argan Oil, as well as a M.A.C lipstick in Girl About Town. I repurchased the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation and Maybelline The Falsies mascara and picked up the Bourjois Java Rice Loose Powder to use as a highlight.

From Lush I picked up the Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter Catastrophe Cosmetic face mask and got a little charity pot moisturiser. 

From the Boots Botanics range I got Organic Rosewater Toning Spritz, and the All Bright Purifying Facial Scrub.

Sorry this has been a long post, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, I'd just like to point out this post was in no way bragging, and I also wouldn't dream of spending this much money in a week usually but I'd been saving up a long time and it was a birthday treat. A lot of these products were either free or on sale too. I'll have a post about the holiday itself and what we got up too soon, so I'll see you then.
xxx

Current Drugstore/Highstreet Wishlist:

I did a similar post to this not too long ago using high end products, but this time we're giving the drugstore a go. I'm a big list keeper and love to stay organised so when it came to putting this post together I simply opened my little book of lists and picked out some drugstore products.

1. Sleek Contour Kit - I have wanted this for years and years (no exaggeration) I'm a big fan of contouring and would love to try out more from Sleek as a brand in general, I rarely hear anything negative about them, and this product in particular comes highly recommended. 
2. Topshop Lipstick in Infared - I'm trying to get more into lipstick lately because my collection is pretty limited. I also don't really own a bright coral lipstick so why not try one out from Topshop? All the other makeup I've tried from them has been great, so fingers crossed if I get my hands on this it won't dissapoint.
3. Boujois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick - I'm not too fussed about the colour with this one, I just know that Anna (ViviannaDoesMakeup) has made me want one of these so badly from watching her videos. Also I'm a big fan of bright lips lately and these look immensely pigmented.
4. Real Techniques Setting Brush - I always set my face because I like my makeup to last as long as possible, but I've been using an old scratchy brush to do it for years and it would be nice to get a nice brush that's actually made for setting makeup. Plus you can't get much better than Real Techniques when it comes to brushes.
5. VO5 Miracle Concentrate Elixir with Argan Oil - As I'm sure many of you know I'm getting more and more into haircare lately and I'm trying to grow it. So keeping the ends as healthy and shiny as they can be should mean each time I get it cut I won't have to get too much cut off. We all know argan oil is super good for the hair and this is much cheaper than the higher end brands of haircare using argan oil.
6. The Body Shop Aloe Vera Body Butter - Who isn't a fan of the body butters? They're amazing for the skin, have cute packaging and smell just lovely. An Aloe Vera one sounds like it would be really kind and gentle to the skin and do it some real good, which is perfect for Summer as you want something light (as aloe vera products usually are) and does a good job.
7. Maybelline Fit Me Concealer - I love my Collection concealer but I've been looking for something a little lighter and creamier for under my eyes, but still with high coverage, which is what I've heard this is. It's also always nice to break out of the bubble of using the same products all the time and try something new out.

Well that's all for this post, but what about you? Has there been any products on the highstreet that have caught your eye lately? Let me know in the comments because I always love finding out about new products. 

See you all again soon 

xxx

John Frieda 3 Day Straight (Day by Day) Review:

I'm sure by now you all know that I have extremely curly hair and as much as I like it I do get annoyed that I put so much effort into growing it and yet it looks about 5 inches shorter than it actually is. When I want my hair to look long I straighten it, and I always use some sort of treatment in it that claims to help it stay straight for as long as possible because as we all know you shouldn't use heat on your hair too often. Lately what I've been reaching for is John Frieda's 3 Day Straight.

I thought it was high time I gave it a review seeing as it's been in my hair care collection for a year or so now.

To start off I'll tell you what you need to do. Just wash your hair as normal, spray a little of this through the lengths of the hair then blow dry and straighten it. I'm going to use this and this alone over the next three days and see how well it stands up to it's claim of keeping you "three days straight".

Day 1:

As you can see my hair is totally poker straight and very shiny. Which are huge benefits, I do think a fair amount of the shine comes from my own hair because I do try to take good care of it but I think the product added some shine. In terms of the use of the product itself, I can tell you from experience that if you spray too much then your hair can feel a little sticky and look slightly greasy. Overall, day one is always my favourite because your hair is super straight, soft and shiny.

Day 2:

For me this is still very straight but as you can see a few of my usual curls are slipping into the bottom of my hair and a few waves at the back. All in all however, it's still fairly straight and soft although some of the shine seems to have died down.

Day 3:

Still pretty straight but my hair is feeling very greasy whereas usually I could probably get away with not washing my hair for a little longer what with having curly hair. A few curls have also popped back in too. 

Overall though it's still a very good product and if you have curly hair that you'd like to straighten like I do, or if you just want super straight hair for a certain event I'd recommend picking this up.

xxx