Hair Care | Struggling Hair Growth

I should point out before i begin this, that my hair is very slow at growing. And by slow.. i mean ridiculously slow. To the point that i don't even think it is even growing! Now just to prove how slow i mean, I recently told one of my work friends about how i'm trying to grow my hair, to which she actually replied "I just thought you liked your hair that length, and regularly trimmed it". I wish i was joking.

The amount of sites I've been on to find hair growth tips is ridiculous, and they always insist on getting regular hair cuts, and i always used to believe that. I've had mixed replies off hairdressers; some saying it's true, and others disagreeing completely. I guess it's true to a point, because it gets rid of your dead/split ends, but it doesn't help with the growth at all. In fact, if they are too regular, you're only going to end up with shorter hair.

Since the age of about 10-11ish, i died my hair red. Well not me personally, i wasn't that advanced! But i've always had my hair died, streaked and straightened, which i know can't have helped my hair growth at all. I'm using that as the excuse as to why my hair isn't growing anymore, because i can't think of many other reasons. 

However, i recently stumbled on a new hair growth shampoo, called 'fast'. It was £15 for a 360ml bottle of the shampoo, which you are supposed to wash your hair with twice a day, every single day. Now i don't know about many of you, but i for sure cannot afford to pay that much money on a bottle of shampoo, which will not last long at all, regardless of whether it does or doesn't work. So i've decided to ignore their instructions and use the shampoo twice every other day instead, replacing it with my usual shampoo instead. 

I'll be sure to post a review, and give my own opinion on the product pretty soon, as you're meant to see effects within 28 days, and i've already been using this shampoo for around 2 weeks now. But for now, i'll give you a timeline of my hair growth. 

This was my hair in june, 2011. It was actually the longest my hair has ever been. Since then, it seems to have gone downhill rapidly. 

August, 2012. It's probably not the best photo i have, but i don't seem to have many from that year for some reason. My hair somehow became ridiculously short- it was just past my shoulders. 

May, 2013. I kid you not- it really did manage to get even shorter. Bearing in mind, i have around 2 hair cuts a year. 

This was taken a few days ago. Granted, my hair has somehow managed to gain back some of it's length, but not a lot. I've now stopped blow drying and straightening and dying it too, to help even further with the shampoo. 
How hard is it to grow long hair?!

Rimmel- Wake Me Up Foundation | Review

After reading different blog posts about Rimmel London’s ‘Wake Me Up’ foundation, I felt the need to try it out. I’ve never been able to find the perfect foundation to match my ridiculously pale skin tone- everything I have tried is always too dark and orangey, or too light a coverage and so pointless in wearing it. Because of my light skin tone, I picked the shade that seemed to blend in better than the rest- Ivory. What I noticed straight away with the foundation is that there are not a lot of shades to choose from, so if you are even lighter skinned, or fairly dark skinned, the foundation just won’t suit your skin tone. The foundation range can be found in nearly all beauty stores- I picked mine up from boots for £8.99, which, given peoples standards of the product, seemed pretty cheap.

The product overall feel very light when applying. It glides on smoothly and is easy to work in to the skin, which is a plus. Though I find it may be too light on my skin, and doesn't give the amount of coverage I’m looking for. However, for people looking for light/fair coverage, it is a pretty good foundation for the money. Because of how light the foundation is, you don’t have to use a lot on your skin, which makes it last longer too. It also has a really nice fruity smell to it, which is a plus for anyone, and there’s a shimmering glittery touch to the foundation itself, which I guess is to make you look more alert and awake. The pump is a good bonus, because each pump gives out a nice quantity each time, so nothing goes to waste- except for when you get to the bottom and can’t get the remaining foundation, which is a shame.

The only downside I've really found to the foundation is that it doesn't seem to last as long as other foundations of the same price. I feel like I should be reapplying it if I've been out for longer than 3-4 hours, which makes it almost useless on nights out, because it wears off even quicker. The other thing I have found with the foundation itself is that you cannot build a very good coverage from it. I had read before that it was pretty good for coverage, so I don’t know if it’s just my skin, but whenever I try to build the coverage, it becomes very cakey and dry on the skin, making it look blotchy. I find myself having to apply concealer, foundation, and then more concealer on top to hide red marks or dark circles- even then, it’s not a massive improvement though.

After reading other peoples reviews of the product, they often mentioned pairing the foundation with the Wake Me Up concealer too. However, the concealer itself was £5.49, which seems almost as expensive as the foundation itself. It may seem like a small price to pay, but given the foundation is meant to give a full cover by itself, I gave up on the idea of trying, and didn’t want to waste any more money on trying. If anybody has any foundations that are particularly good for full coverage of pale skin, please feel free to comment below!

Kobo Touch Review | Yes or No?

I recently received a Kobo Touch for Christmas, after straining to read purchased books and documents from my tiny iPhone screen. An E-reader had been on my wish list for ages, so I thought Christmas would be the perfect reason to purchase one. I’ll be honest, it was an impulse buy at first, as I hadn't done any research in to what e-readers would be the best for me- kindle, Kobo, basic e-readers etc. I brought the Kobo touch from Whsmiths a few weeks before Christmas, and it was on offer at that time for £40, which I thought, for a small e-reader, was such a good deal! I didn't waste my time looking through the specifications however, so I only had a basic idea of the layout from the model shown in store.

I won’t lie- I never lasted until Christmas day before opening the box and using it, though my dad never actually found out. And since that day, I have been reading religiously every day, for around 1-2 hours each night. Before I start to give my review, I feel the need to clarify that I wasn't searching for an e-reader that had apps, a camera or did anything other than show books. Therefore the Kobo touch was perfect for me. So…let me begin!

Overall

For somebody looking for a basic e-reader, this is a fantastic little gadget. I love the fact you can add your own books, as well as search through a whole range of books that can be purchased directly though the Kobo using your wifi. There are also settings to make collections of books, if you have whole series, they can sit nicely together on your homepage. I also like the fact that once the Kobo is switched off, a picture of the book cover actually stays on the front, instead of the screen being blank. At first, like most people, I thought this would drain the battery, but it turns out it doesn't- which is an added bonus. 

The overall Kobo case is a nice design too. The colours range from black, white, baby pink or baby blue, with the back of the reader having diamonds ‘etched’ (I guess you can say) in to it. Though I’ll be honest- it does make the Kobo touch look extremely girly and pretty by having this design. But I like it! And for anybody thinking about buying the Kobo touch, i suggest buying a cheap cover for it too, as it's own cover seems to peel very easily.

Screen

The screen size is small, although this is because of the make of the Kobo. It is just slightly bigger than the Kobo mini. Though with this in mind, you are still able to clearly see the writing, as you can change the size in an easily found settings tab.

I've had a few problems with the touchscreen side of it though, as it takes quite a bit of pressure on the screen for it to react. For somebody with a lot of patience, or heavy hands, this shouldn't bother you too much. However, I do find myself having to press the screen 2-3 times before it finally responds to anything I have pressed. This can sometimes make it an issue if I want to turn the page, or especially when I want to access the settings tab, as it is only a small symbol in the top corner.

Another thing I have found with the Kobo touch is that it does not have a backlight built in. I’m able to read throughout the day without any problem- there are no light reflections given off either. However, whenever I want to read in bed, I either have to keep my full bedroom light on, or use a separate book light shining on the Kobo in order to light it up. Take this information however you want- as it can be seen as good or bad!

Battery life

I can’t praise the battery life of the Kobo touch enough. I fully charged the e-reader on the first day I got it, and after reading for a few hours every single night, I can safely say that the battery is still over half full. It doesn't take long at all to charge, and last much I suspect it really does last the 8 weeks that it claims to on the box! Although I must point out, I do keep my wifi turned off as I don’t see the need in it being constantly switched on.

Portability

It’s perfect for people on the go too, if, like me, you find yourself arriving to places earlier and have a bit of spare time, I like to whip it out of my bag and within 30 seconds, I’m reading a good book. Being a girl, I use quite large bags anyway, too fit my whole bedroom in there for “just in case” moments, but I imagine the Kobo touch would even fit in to small sized bags. 

Birthday Antics | 5.12.12

I know it’s a late one but I had to share my birthday with you all. It just so happened that this year, my birthday fell on the same night as my works Christmas party- completely coincidental, as my manager hadn't realized. So this gave me even more reason to celebrate my birthday. Nobody would ever pass up free food and drinks!

The evening started at Frankie and Bennie's, where I turned up drunk, of course (it’s the only way to arrive!). I won’t lie, the drinks started off quite cheap, but seemed to get more and more expensive- I was drinking 4 person cocktails by the jug though, so I guess that didn't help. The food, I won’t say much about, other than it was appalling. However, by the time my main course came, I was past caring about what the food may or may not have tasted like. I didn't order a starter, so my starter consisted of a jug of cocktails- of course, only the best!

The night got wilder as I got drunker. Is that even a word?! There must have been at least twenty of us at the table, though there were only three of us drinking. I’d hate to imagine the state the three of us looked among a group of older, more sober people- but it was a laugh.

When the pudding arrived, well, everybody else’s arrived except for mine. And being in the drunken state that I was, I was far from impressed to say the least. Well it turned out that there was a reason I was to receive my chocolate fudge cake last- because the whole staff body had gathered to sing happy birthday to me! Apparently the whole table were in on the act to try and embarrass me- well it worked!

After I had drunk my umpteenth jug of cocktails, whilst waiting for everyone to finish their pudding, a taxi was ordered to take a small group of us to town, to celebrate further- it was bound to happen. To make things even better, it was ‘student night’ in town, meaning all beers/ciders/spirits etc. were between £1-£2 a bottle. There’s only one way to describe how we were after just an hour- sloshed. Though I had an amazing time clubbing regardless of whether or not I could even stand! I may not have known my New Look family for long, but we have grown so close and i love them all.

It’s safe to say my birthday was a very good night. I had such a lot of fun with everybody who turned up, and everybody who came out afterwards. Roll on my 21^st, let’s hope it’s just as good this years birthday!

♥

Friday Night.

I went out on Friday night, for "a few drinks". Now when somebody says that, it usually always means "a messy night", which is exactly what it turned out to be for me and my friend. To be fair, it started off as a few drinks, that ended up in double figures and missing black outs from the night. I ended up spending far too much money, and doing ridiculous things. I even decided that it would be a good idea to climb on to a ledge and dance with the DJ for a little while. It's safe to say i had a good night, even though i don't remember most of it. Below is a photo that sums up the night. Me and my friend are behind the two front people. It is safe to say i had no idea who the woman in black was, but we thought it was a good idea to photo bomb her. The photo on the right, that is slightly purple for some reason, is of me and Paige towards the end of the night. I had clearly had way too many to drink by that point. 

                   

I'm missing my friends from uni, but i am keeping in touch with them every day, and hopefully i will be able to see them soon.. Especially Mell, who i am missing so much! Hopefully i will be able to see her very soon though.. 

xoxo