Giving the Co-Wash a go!

Hey guys :)

As you may or may not have gathered so far; I have a lot of trouble with my hair. It goes frizzy, fluffy, dull and all round annoying!

I just finished my exams and have learnt that you find out quite amazing stuff when you are avoiding study. One of the things I found out was this concept of the co-wash.

It's a way of washing your hair without shampoo. I thought I'd give it a go.
This is the post that got me very interested in this idea.
http://www.venusianglow.com/search/label/conditioner-only%20washing
And yes I know it is halfway through her experiment.

The idea of the co-wash is to allow your hair to embrace its natural curl without harsh chemicals causing damage. I'm still researching the best ways to do it but what I've been doing so far is:

The first two days I did a huge rehydration, my hair was very dry and gross, especially because it is winter.

After these days I did plain water washes with no product which I would never have done before, if my hair got wet it got washed.

I started alternating between water washes and conditioning washes and found they were great. My hair was smooth, it had nice waves in it too.

About a week or week and a half into this my hair got grossly oily and I couldn't help but use a little shampoo on my roots. It helped a lot. I had a bit of a read and found that the first month or so is the hard part because your hair needs to adjust.

I sadly didn't take a before photo :(
But I had my hair trimmed and layered today so hopefully with my neater hairstyle I'll be able to see more fantastic outcomes of this co-wash experiment.

If you guys are interested in giving it a go or finding out more, this girls blog does a far better way of explaining co-washing than I can.
http://www.venusianglow.com/2010/12/how-does-conditioner-only-washing-work.html

I hope you enjoyed,
If I stick with this, which I hope I will, I shall keep you all posted.

Until next time,
Stay Beautiful!

Frame the Windows to Your Soul

Hey Girls!

I've been meaning to write this for a while.

Mascara; it can add volume, length or just colour to your eyelashes depending on its application.
I've experimented with a lot of mascaras and have found a few I love.

There's a lot of different mascaras that I've tried. Please find in the above image from left to right the mascaras as follows:

Australis Lash Magnitude Volumising Mascara; Revlon Custom Eyes; Rimmel Extra Wow Lash; Maybelline New York XXL Volume and Length; Unknown; Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara; Covergirl Lashblast Volume; Nude by Nature Magic Mineral Mascara; ECT Mascara Extra Volume & Long Lash; Clinique High Impact Mascara

It's been a while since I've used some of these products but I will do my best to cover most of them.

Revlon Custom Eyes: I use blackest black. It is a pretty good product. I have found it to sometimes be clumpy but it is fixable with proper application. It has two options, Length and Drama and Length and Definition. I personally cannot see a difference but all in all I quite like this mascara.

Maybelline New York XXL: Is pretty cool. Firstly you coat your lashes in the white substance which adds length and then follow with the black on to add volume. I find this can clump quite easily but much like Revlon's, it can be fixed easily as well.

Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara: This was a sample I received. It is quite liquidy and very hard to get any volume from it. Despite this, I quite like is. It has a curved brush for better application. It also doesn't clump very much which is fantastic!

Covergirl Lashblast Volume: This mascara is really good for a natural day look. I've got black-brown. It doesn't clump, it has very little volume or length BUT when you don't want to look like you are wearing makeup but feel you need some colour in your eyelashes, this is perfect for the job.

Nude Magic Mineral: I used to love this mascara. It was the perfect natural looking colour and consistency, but after it ran really badly one day at uni I have gone off it. I will need to retry it with a coat of my clear waterproof sealer over the top to see how that goes.

ECT Mascara: This is a weird one, I don't even know if ECT is it's brand name. Nikita and I found this at a priceline store for $5 and we tried it out. I love it. The substance is runny allowing for little clumping. I have experimented with adding length and volume with it and it is quite effective. For a $5 mascara it is absolutely fantabulous!

TIME FOR MY FAVOURITE!
Clinique High Impact Mascara: I use the colour black. I love this mascara; it doesn't clump very much; it has the right consistency - not too runny, not too thick; I can make it look natural, thick, long or any combination.


Mascara can range from $5 to $50 if not more. It is important to remember that price does not always mean quality. My $5 mascara is one of my favourites, but my $40 mascara is also one of my favourites.

When picking out a mascara, you should look at what you want it for, the colouring, your budget and what your natural eyelashes are like, thin, thick, long or short, different eyelashes will react differently. Nikita has long eyelashes and I have very short eyelashes, you can easily see a huge difference in our lashes, even when we are wearing the same mascara with the same method of application.

If you have the budget, I encourage you to try out a few different one. If you don't, that's OK. Do your research and make a decision. If you get it wrong the first time, don't worry, all makeup need to be replaced occasionally and you'll get another chance.

I hope this gave you a bit of insite into different mascaras.

Until next time,

Stay Beautiful!

Lauren

Autum to winter

Hey girls,

 So this has taken me a while to post but we did a mini photo shoot, showing some ideas for Autumn to Winter fashions.

So here we go!

So here is a picture of me. I am wearing a high wasted skirt with polka dots. I paired it with a black cami and some black ballet flats. I love this look for Autumn because its so versatile. You never know when the weather can change.

So what I did to change this outfit to a more winter look was.

I added a bright red over sized blazer for warmth and for a pop of colour. I did role up the sleeves for this look but you can leave them out if you like. I also added some woollen stockings as well.

That is how I changed this look up a little. I love this outfit and am loving blazers at the moment.

So this is Laurens look.

Lauren is wearing a longer top that comes down to mid thigh. She paired it with her favorite pair of jeans, black boots and a black scarf.

How she changed up the outfit.

She added a leather jacket to make this outfit warmer for those colder days. You can also wear the scarf with this outfit.

Well I hope you like these outfits. Sorry you cant see whole outfits in the photos. Also these photos have not been edited at all. :)

Stay beautiful.

Nikita