Milk and Blush Hair Extensions!

As I'm sure some of you noticed I chopped off a lot of my locks earlier this year; my hair was very long but I was going to Thailand and knew upkeep in a hot hot country would be difficult while travelling, so I decided to get it cut shorter! I really missed my long hair so I reached out to Milk and Blush and after speaking with Sammy they very kindly sent me out a set of hair extensions to try!

The extensions I got were the 24-26" (180g) Full Head Classic Set in "Oh my Gwen Stefani", these extensions come with 10 wefts which includes a quad weft which I absolutely love! The extensions arrived very quickly and I was actually super impressed with the packaging they come in. With previous companies I've used the hair extensions have come in a plastic sleeve with a piece of cardboard backing giving details of the product, but with the Milk and Blush extensions they came in a very pale pink box with a separate care guide and other small cards giving information  (and they sent me a personalised note which I thought was lovely!).

The colour 'Oh my Gwen Stefani' is the palest blonde shade they produce, when I opened them I thought they were much more yellow toned in real life than they looked on the website so I would definitely recommend using their shade matching service rather than guessing from the site!

I didn't mind the yellow tone of blonde that much as I knew I was going to be custom dyeing them all different colours, but I wanted to check and make sure they could be toned to a whiter bright blonde. Mainly so they would match my actual hair as closely as possible, but also just to test out how well the colours would take to the hair.

I managed to tone them to this more ashy blonde which I was happy with, they have several different tones in them which make them look more natural! I did this with just a home made toner (extremely diluted purple dye), but I'm sure you could push the colour to a white/silver colour with a better one.

When I open new extensions I do like to check through the hairs to check the colour consistency; in the past I've bought extensions that have quite a lot of darker strands in the wefts to 'pad out' the set, but with this set I checked very very carefully and only found around 4 darker strands which is obviously not noticeable at all so I was quite pleased about that!

In terms of quality I feel this set is a solid product, the hair is 100% Remy human hair so it feels beautifully silky smooth and the clips on the wefts are fab, they're metal and have a silicone strip on the inside to prevent slipping! Extensions I used to use a few years back didn't have silicone so I was super happy that I didn't have to backcomb my hair with this set! On my tester weft one of the clips broke when I first opened it but I didn't find this much of an issue as I had spare clips and was happy to sew a new clip on. However I am confident Sammy and the Milk and Blush team would have done whatever they could to fix the issue if I had notified them as they were always very lovely and helpful! ❤

I'm really impressed with how well they took up colour when I custom dyed them, I feel they look stunning how I currently have them but I will attempt to strip them and do something different later on. So far I'm really surprised with how little hair has shed from them! I've noticed far more of my own hairs floating around which is (not great for my hair) amazing!

Over all I'm stoked with the extensions! I'm loving styling and playing around with them and would recommend to anyone looking for some!

❤

Full Head Hair Extensions - Classic Set provided for review by Milk and Blush. Though these items were received free of charge, this is not a sponsored post, and all opinions are the author’s own.

Lush Hair Extensions Review

As you may already know I have very long hair, but often I find myself saddened with it's natural state; it's very thin and fine and doesn't tend to hold styles very well because of this. I used to use extensions a few years back when my hair was short from extreme damage, but I hadn't really thought too much about using them just for volume/thickness. 

In January I was in contact with Anna from Lush Hair Extensions, I described how my hair currently was and what I'd want to get out of a set of extensions and she was very helpful. I sent her a photo of how my hair was at that time and she suggested I try out the 24" Clip In Human Hair Extensions Ultimate Full Head Set in #90 (Platinum Blonde) which they then very kindly sent out to me for review purposes. 

I'd like to add their delivery is absolutely fantastic! They currently offer free next day delivery on all UK orders placed Monday - Friday before 3PM, but orders after that may take a little bit longer.

They also do a free colour matching service to make sure you get the best set suited to you! I think it's a good idea to do this even if you think you know which set you're going to go for. I noticed the photo  of the colour #90 (Platinum blonde) looked a lot more white/silver on the website than the set I received.

When the extensions arrived they came in a big pink parcel with 'Lush Hair Extensions' logo taped over it, upon unwrapping there was a long cardboard box inside, then within the box was the plastic packaging with the hair inside. So a lot of packaging! But at least you know they're packaged well and shouldn't get damaged on the shipment out to you.

As I previously mentioned, when I first opened up the extensions I noticed the colour wasn't exactly how it looked on the website; but it didn't bother me too much as I was custom dyeing them anyway!

Some extensions I've used in the past have had much darker strands added into the platinum sets (I imagine to fill the set out more), so I like to carefully look through new sets to check the consistency of the colour; and I'm happy to say in this set all the strands were practically the same shade!

My hair without extensions

I noticed the clips had a silicone strip on the inside of them, which I think is a fantastic idea. It keeps the clips in place all day and negates the need to back comb at the roots, HURRAY! As for the quality of the hair they felt super soft and didn't appear to have much coating on them! After washing them several times they still feel just as smooth and soft as when I first received them.

I haven't noticed very much shedding with these extensions although, I am quite gentle with them; so if you have a heavy hand and wash/style them roughly you might notice more hairs come out. As far as custom dyeing them goes the colours took incredibly well (more so than my actual hair), so I think having my hair curled makes the difference in brightness less obvious (as you may see below).

My hair with the extensions

Overall I am absolutely thrilled with these extensions and would definitely recommend them to anyone wanting some. 

❤

24" ULTIMATE FULL HEAD Hair Extensions provided for review by Lush Hair Extensions. Though these items were received free of charge, this is not a sponsored post, and all opinions are the author’s own.

Lipcote | Trial and Review!

Recently while I was pondering in Superdrug I came across a certain product "Lipcote" which I had heard of many times before but not really thought too much of. For those of you who don't know Lipcote is a lipstick sealer that you apply over the top of your lipstick to prevent smudging and fading. It didn't take a lot of thought before I picked it up in the store as it was only £3.69 I didn't have much to lose!

The packaging the product comes in is fairly simplistic. Over all cream in colour with a pastel green pattern running all over it. The front sports the product name 'lipcote', a few brand sayings, a british stamp and two sets of lips, there's also a small cutout in the front so you can see part of the product bottle. The back has the same pattern with all the ingrediants, information, and instructions on how to use the product.

The scent of  the product is not the nicest. On the back of the packaging it says 'New Vanilla Fragrance' which being honest it didn't smell at all vanilla-ry, it just smelt very alcoholic and unpleasant - but still bearable.

Upon applying it over my lips I felt a very tingly/ stinging sensation on my lips but as it dried this feeling went away. It wasn't the best feeling for me but it wasn't horrible either. - If this feeling persists after a few minutes I'd suggest you take it off immeditely and don't continue using it as you may be allergic.

I decided to apply it over a very fierce red lipstick (Rimmel Mayfair Red Lady) so I could capture how well it stays throughout the day.

After 6 hours

At around 6PM I did a check up on the look of the lipstick. By this time I had had many cups of tea, juice, and water and had also eaten warm wheetabix and lots of sweeties and chocolate (ooops! teehee). Over all it looked pretty good! The only imperfections being on the top lip near the corners of my mouth. Here is a picture I took at this time.

After 12+ hours

I checked over my lipstick again at PAST 01:30 because I was a bad Rachael and went to Whetherspoons. Though, this did make the trial better as I wasn't being careful. I had a lot of drinking including very strong alcoholic shots that I would've expected to ruin my lipstick but it still stayed looking acceptable. I had also eaten a huge cheeseburger and chips which would normally result in me having lipstick smudges all over my face but I didn't! SUCCESS!

In conclusion I think this product is absolutely brilliant! I was actually very surprised with how well the lipstick stayed thorughout the course of the approximate 14 hours. For the price this is an absolute must for any lipstick wearer!

I'm just happy I don't have to worry about burger lipstick smudge anymore <3
(Please say it's not just me...)

I don't think you're ready for this Gelly - Barry M Nail Paint

For quite a while now I've been neglecting my nails. When I started at college in 2011 I slowly started to stop painting my nails because whenever I did (as I was dancing and handwriting so much) they were chipped and looked awful the next day. As I finished college a few months ago I began to notice that my nails have improved (they are longer and stronger with no horrible snapped off bits) and thought now I have such nice canvases it would be a shame to leave them looking so dull.

I went into my shoe box full of nail varnish to discover there weren't really any colours I wanted to wear. Some of the polishes I'm almost certain I've have since I was 10 (such as the 'Wicked Witch peelable glow in the dark nail paint' I hold in the picture below), so I went onto Amazon (as it was around 3AM) and had a little browse.

I came across quite a few different brands such as China Glaze, and OPI, but I didn't want to spend too much considering there's no guarantee I'll keep up with it. So I decided I'd go with a few of the Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paints by Barry M as they were a very reasonable price and I'd seen a few of my friends posting about it on Instagram. The retail price for this product is £3.99 (although I paid a little under that as I got them off Amazon).

I went with 'Prickly Pear' (Left), 'Pomegranate' (Middle), and 'Watermelon' (Right).
I wanted to choose some pretty colours as before I would only really wear Red, Black, Pale Pink, or a metallic Turquoise; though sometimes I'd 'spice' it up with some black crackle effect over the top.

I decided I'd first try out 'Prickly Pear' as I'm still LOVING pale and pastelly colours, and I have to say I am impressed! I applied this colour on Saturday and it is now Tuesday night, I can see no chipping or areas of wear whatsoever - the only imperfections are due to me being unsure of the best application method (tried doing very thin coats at first but then realised it was looking a little streaky and uneven so continued with thicker layers). As for the colour I absolutely love it! It's the perfect pale purple shade and it really does have a 'Hi - Shine' to it which looks gorgeous! (and dare I say more expensive?!) I also couldn't help but notice the texture and feel of the nail paint; it seems very solid but doesn't seem to harden the nail in any way, and it also has a lovely smooth finish to it.

 

Over all I am very pleased with my purchase and can't wait to try out the other two colours! I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a brilliant nail polish at a reasonable price! I expect to be picking up a few of the other shades in the near future (as well as throwing out most of my existing nail varnish collection!)