Haircare

Design.Me Haircare Products

- Vicki 2 Comments
Design.Me Power Dry Haircare

OK so there is a fun new haircare brand in town & it gets the prize for the most adorable, instagramable packaging, ever! It’s fun, simple and pastel coloured – I love it! Design.Me hail from North America and are an innovative, ahead of the curve brand who want to protect, enhance and keep your locks looking fabulous. I’ve been trying out a few products from their collection and they’ve become my goto Summer styling products. I’m pretty impressed by these pastel packaged hair treats! The range consists of 4 cult products:

Design.me Haircare Collection

  • PowerDRY.ME – a unique technology product to reduce blow dry time by up to 50%.
  • Fab.ME – the mother of all hair treatments, with four defence formula that will give you your youthful, fabulous hair back in a matter of seconds!
  • Puff.ME – The FIRST EVER super-volumising powder spray in a pump to pep up medium to thick hair to give you the instant volume you’ve always dreamed of.
  • Puff.ME Light – A lighter version of Puff.ME, this super-volumising powder spray is perfect for fine to medium hair.

DESIGN.ME products give hair sheen, oomph, volume, and styling speed. Plus, these high-quality products are vegan, cruelty-free and contain not one single drop of harmful sulfates, parabens or gluten.

Design.me Puff Me Haircare

FAB.ME

I have such a quick hair care routine and the fewer products I need to use each day the better. I like to keep it simple and this Fab.Me Hair Mist is described as ‘The mother of all hair treatments’ and it really is! It has so many wonderful benefits from hydrating to detangling and even protecting against heat damage caused by styling.

You lightly mist it on to clean, damp hair and it works its magic, giving you shine, preventing split ends and leaves your hair feeling manageable and silky smooth. It is such a great multi-benefit product and one that fits right into my haircare routine. I love a product that has more than one benefit and this styling mist has a whopping 18 benefits – as well as smelling amazing and looking super cute. It ticks all the boxes for me and I have been using it a lot over the Summer to lock in moisture and reduce frizz & static (so no flyaways here!)

KEY BENEFITS
Detangles & hydrates
Colour fade protection
Frizz control
Shine and lustre

PUFF.ME Light

How adorable is this little pink and white bottle?! Well, let’s just start by saying it looks cute but the packaging was a nightmare for me – this is a powder and for some reason when I took the lid off so much of it puffed out all over the place. I wouldn’t travel with this and I would say not to put the lid back on.

This product is to give your roots volume and texture and it does that in abundance. I have to say I wasn’t 100% blown away with this and it left my hair feeling weird and the powder wasn’t translucent in my hair. When I used it I 100% had to wash my hair the next day otherwise my hair felt like straw. I think I prefer to use a standard dry shampoo to achieve the same results, this product is great in theory but needs a little more tweaking.

KEY BENEFITS
Instant volume
Odour and mess free
Made for fine to medium hair
Perfect texture for updo’s & braids

Affordable Haircare Design.Me

Powerdry.ME

Say hello to my new best friend – as most of you know in the UK we have had some of the hottest weather we’ve seen in a LONG time and the last thing anyone wants to be doing in this heat is spending ages blow drying our hair (and melting in the process). So this Powerdry.Me mist has halved the time It takes me to dry my hair. This mist is wonderful if like me you have thick, unruly hair, it speeds up drying times by up to 50% and it also leaves your hair sleek, protects from damaging heat and UV. So it’s the ideal product to add to your hair care routine this Summer. I am singing its praises and have been recommending it to anyone that will listen.

KEY BENEFITS
Decreases your blowdrying time by 50%!
Frizz control
Heat and UV Protection
Smooth & conditions hair

Design.Me Styling Products

The Design.ME hair styling range is now available in Sally Beauty stores nationwide and online at www.sallybeauty.co.uk

*This post contains PR Samples

Discovering New Beauty Brands in 2016

- Vicki 3 Comments
Trying New Beauty Brands

For me 2016 was the year of trying out brands and products I’d never used before. I was not only introduced to brands I had never heard of before but also given the chance to test out products that had been on my wish list for a while.

A few didn’t live up to expectations but I’m pleased to say most of them have become firm favourites. I thought I would share some of the ones that stood out to me. I am very much looking forward to trying more new brands this year and have a few on my radar already.

Pureology Haircare

Pureology Haircare

I had wanted to try this brand for the longest time as I’d only heard positive reviews from bloggers whose opinions I really trust. I was thrilled that the FULFYL haircare system that I tried out lived up to my expectations and my Mum even went out and purchased it for herself too. This particular range is formulated for colour treated hair and it protects your colour from fading whilst keeping your hair strong, nourished and looking super glossy. I am obsessed with it and the hair colour I used on my hair this year stayed vibrant for the longest time, I 100% put it down to using this trio.

NIOD Skincare

NIOD

Again I was excited to try this brand and I have to say its one of my favourite skincare discoveries of 2016. NIOD are a relatively new brand to the market but don’t overlook them on that count, they’re a brand that are pushing the envelope of ingredients and producing products that are fuss free, effective and pretty damn cool. Everything from their production & packaging right down to the products themselves are progressive. I have tried out a couple of their offerings this year but this Mud Mask has changed my life – well my skin. It has restored my skins radiance and I’ve certainly had fewer blemishes which pleases me greatly. I will be purchasing a lot more from them in 2017 and also trying a few products from their sister company The Ordinary.

Mac Palette Dupe

W7 Summer Nights Eyeshadow Palette

This is a budget brand that has always intrigued me, they are quite renowned for producing dupes and when I saw this MAC Burgundy Times Nine Palette dupe on MissMakeupMagpie blog I knew I had to try it. I love neutral palettes and this 9 pan palette has become a firm favourite. I’ve used it so much these past few months and if you are able to track it down (its like gold dust) then I urge you to snap it up. Its super pigmented, wearable and affordable, what more do you want!?

BRYT Skincare

BRYT Skincare 

This was a new British skincare company that I was introduced to this year but they mainly cater for younger skin and I’m certainly not in that bracket anymore. Nevertheless their skincare is gentle and although rich its not greasy or too heavy. I did enjoy trying out these three products, but I need something that offers more lift, tightening and hydration. BRYT seem to be ticking all the boxes when is comes to delivering affordable, ethical and botanical premium skincare. So if you’re under 25 then make sure you check them out. How cute and bright is their packaging too!

Skin Chemist Snail Serum Skincare

skinChemists Skincare 

This is quite a luxury brand which has a very modern minimal feel to its branding and packaging. I have enjoyed the products I have tried from them, especially the snail eye cream which I thought was very gentle and nourishing. It was very lightweight and felt cooling around my eye area, also my concealer applied so well over this. I have been using a few products from their Caviar range too but It’s still early days, so keep an eye out for a full review soon.

Ooh! Oils Cacay Facial Oil

Ooh! Oils of Heaven 

I adore using facial oils and love how versatile they are, these two from Ooh! have been a pleasure to use. The Cacay Oil was my favourite of the two and I mostly use this as part of my evening skincare routine but I do mix a little with my serum during the day of my skin is looking lacklustre. It helps to keep my skin looking radiant and hydrated and is great at reducing scaring and uneven skint one. This particular Oil has a high content of vitamin A, vitamin E and Linoleic Acid (omega-6) which have effective results in skincare.

Blank Canvas Cosmetics Eyeshadow Palette-One-

Blank Canvas Cosmetics

Another brand I had never heard of before trying this palette but I have learnt that they have a huge following, especially in Ireland which is where this brand is from. They produce high quality makeup brushes and also a range of makeup products. The eyeshadow palette didn’t completely WOW me but I did like quite a few of the shades and think they are a brand to keep an eye on. The double ended brush that came with the palette was incredible quality and Its made me want to try a few more from their huge range.

What brands did you try for the first time in 2016, any firm favourites that you would recommend?

New in My Beauty Stash #1

- Vicki 1 Comment
New Beauty Products on Sale Now

New in my beauty stash

Benefit Dandelion Shy Beam Liquid Highlighter

This is a beautiful product for Summer – its a soft-matte nude pink and it gives the skin a Iovely radiant glow. I use it as a subtle highlighter on my cheek bones and it reflects the light and makes my skin look fresh and adds a glow. If you’re a fan of the classic High Beam then you will like this more subtle option for those days you want a more low key but fresh faced look. This is great for minimal makeup days just to give your skin that effortless glow without a hint of shimmer or shine. Oh & how beautiful is the rose gold packaging?

Redken Pillow Proof Blow Dry*

This is the first Redken product I have used and having thick hair a product that promises to reduce drying time is a product that catches my attention. So this new release from Redken is promises to

  • Reduce blow-dry time
  • Protect from heat up to 230˚
  • Help reduce breakage
  • Provide 24-hour lasting volume

I like that its a heat protectant as well as a styling product & any product that reduces the time I use heat on my hair is a plus for me. As I said my hair is very thick & usually takes an age to dry, I’ve used this a few times now & off the bat I noticed how soft and smooth my hair felt and looked after blowdrying. I would say it helped my hair dry a little quicker and I noticed my hair didn’t look as frizzy. Although its a cream and often cream products can feel heavy and make my hair feel greasy quickly this wasn’t like that at all. So if you want a product that protects against breakage and heart damage, as well as giving you a little added volume then thins new Redken release would be a great product to have in your haircare arsenal.

New in my Beauty Stash

Bare Minerals Lash Domination

I do like the way this Mascara makes my lashes look but it seems to smudge on me so bad. This separates my lashes and makes them look so long and healthy but by the end of the day I have quite a lot of product under my eye and thats not a good look. Its such a shame because this ticks all the boxes, its jet black, I love the wand and it gives my lashes volume. The formula is quite wet so maybe as it dries out a bit that might make a difference. If you have tried this mascara let me know how you get on with it.

Bath & Body Works Hand Sanitiser

I love these hand sanitisers & my brother recently went to Dubai & kindly bought me back a stash of the summer scents. The one I am using at the minute is Vanilla Cupcake and is sweet and smells good enough to eat.

New Beauty Products on Sale Now

Vichy Dermablend 3D Correction Foundation*

This new addition to the popular Dermablend range from Vichy is quite an exciting one. Its a full coverage matte finish foundation, at first it appears to be quite a tic texture but once you start to blend it in to your skin its quite fluid and easy to blend. It gives your skin a smooth soft focus finish and if you have scaring or uneven skin tone that you like to cover then this works a treat. It gives you fantastic coverage without feeling heavy or looking cakey, and I found it to be really effective at counteracting redness. This foundation is 100% oil free and has,

  • Alliagel TM – which is a texture innovation exclusive to Vichy, the pigments and soft focus agents cover and blur imperfections to make the skin look even and velvety smooth.
  • Salicylic Acid – This is an ingredient in skincare that helps soothe irritated skin, prevent blackheads and unclog pores.
  • Eperulin – This is a great anti inflammatory so its fantastic at calming blemishes and any problems areas.

So its nice to see a makeup product that incorporates a good amount of skincare. This also has SPF 25 and is 100% oil free. Its ideal if you have oily skin, blemish prone skin. Its pretty fantastic and I love how the silky smooth my skin feels when I wear this. I have the shade Nude25 & my skin is quite fair & this is a great match.

What products are new in your beauty stash this Summer?

*PR Sample

Ogario Restore and Shine Hair Masque

- Vicki Leave a comment
Ogario Haircare

Ogario Hair Mask

This award-winning hair masque from British haircare experts has been restoring my hair back to its former glossy healthy self after a cold dry winter & some really warm spring days. My hair has been a little neglected and the seasons take their toll.

Ogario products have been developed exclusively by London-based independent salon and their products contain so many beautiful natural ingredients. In fact, all their products are made with naturally-derived, active ingredients and essential oils.

Restore and Shine Lavender and Sage Hair Masque*

This is one of the nicest smelling products I have ever used, it’s sweet and floral with a hint of zesty citrus. It’s so uplifting.  This is quite a thick mask, that you leave on damp hair for at least 10 minutes & wash off to reveal healthy, nourished locks! It contains sage, lavender, nettle, avocado, olive, and aloe extracts and oils which add shine, strengthen and eliminate frizz.

My hair feels so soft after using this treatment and it’s great at taming frizz too, which is great because I have naturally wavy hair & it can be prone to flyaways and especially frizzy ends.

Ogario restore and shine hair masque

If you use this once / twice a week you will see great results, I’m loving how glossy and manageable my hair is & I think this 200ml pot is going to last me well into the Summer. You only need a small amount & I like to concentrate the product on the ends & mid-length of my hair. That way, it doesn’t weigh down my hair or leave my roots greasy.

Ogario Haircare

I would say this is on the pricey side, but it is a hair treatment so it’s not to be used more than twice a week, which means a tub will last you months! It’s an investment into naturally glossy, healthy hair & well worth the price tag.

Ogario have a great range of haircare that you can purchase online at www.ogariolondon.com & they have a few store stockists but only in London & Kent

*PR Sample