Scene Anime

This is my first ‘favourites’ post, and I’ve enjoyed looking back over the month and picking out what I have really enjoyed using and what may be new to my collection.

Here they are! We have -
Aussie Luscious Long Leave in Conditioner – I dread washing my hair because it takes so long to comb through and brush after, but with this stuff it takes half the time.  I just spritz it onto the ‘matted’ knot in my hair and after a few combs the know has disappeared.  I’ve also been using an Aussie Conditioner with this, and when I use them both together my hair is a lot easier to handle.
Clinique Instant Lift for Brows – I won this from a Beauty Junkie in London.  She was sent it by Clinique to review but her eyebrows were too light to use this as its the darkest shade, so she gave it away to another beauty blogger with dark eyebrows and I was very lucky to win it!  I will be sending her a review of this product to post on her blog by the end of the week so you’ll here about what I fully think of this product when that is posted.  But I’ll just say its very easy to use, and it is the perfect colour for my dark eyebrows!
The Body Shop Shimmer cubes #19 – You can tell just by looking back at the posts in my blog that I adore this eye shadow set, the colours are beautiful, they are a nice pigmented consistency and you can use them in so many ways – I defy someone to not love these!
Lipstick #57 – I have been wearing this a lot since I got a lot of good feedback from it on the swatch post I did - Link Here! I think it really suits my big lips and blonde hair and the colour is just gorgeous.  It lasts really well, I apply it once every 3 hours when I wear it and always get compliments when I wear it!
Blush #12 Apricot Shimmer – This is my favouritteeeeeee blusher EVER!  And I can’t believe I’ve only just started using it!  As you may have read, I am obsessed at the moment with coral and orange shades of make-up and ever since I bought this, I have been using it every day.  It is a perfect orangey-apricot-y shimmery blush.  It is very pigmented and you get the colour you see in the pan in a few sweeps on the cheek.  I will do a swatch of this soon so you can all see how beautiful it is.
No7 Speed Dry Nail Colour #39 Coral Kiss – Read my post below Here to see why I love this Colour!
MAC Pigment sample Softwash grey – I bought a sample of Softwash Grey, along with a few others, from Caroline’s Beauty Blog, and this is my favourite.  It is a perfect shimmery grey/silver for when I do my smokey looks.  I especially like using this along with MAC’s Nylon, in the inner corner of my eye!
Barry M Flamingo Pink #305 Nail Varnish (Not Pictured) – I haven’t got this on hand to photograph but you can see the pictures and why I love it in This Post!
Hope you enjoyed this post, I enjoyed doing it!! What is everyone else’s last months favs?
P.S I purchased all of these products with my own money apart from the Clinique eyebrow pencil which I won in a competition, and the TBS blush – which I was given as it was an old tester in my store.  All of my opinions are honest and I was not paid for these reviews!

So I’ve had a few people ask me what I use to keep my bleached locks soft and in good condition, and I’ll let you know every secret now!

Products I use - (Please note that these were all the hair care products in my flat at the time, and I have many more that I love in my parents house, but I will review those in a separate post!)

Shampoo and Conditioners -

Herbal Essences Shampoo and conditioner for dry hair – I keep these in the bathroom and they always leave my hair feeling and smelling delicious.  My hair holds on to their fragrances really well which I love as I always get whiffs of lovelyness when I’m out and about.  I think Herbal essences are affordable, smell great and do the job of washing my hair and keeping it healthy.

T-Gel Shampoo – I use this twice a month max, only when my hair is behaving badly and getting greasy really quickly after washing.  I will shampoo my hair with this twice, then condition, and then my hair will be back to normal once again and I won’t need to use it for another few weeks.  I personally wouldn’t use it every time I wash my hair as its dry anyway and I don’t want it to strip all of the moisture out of my locks, but my housemate uses this every time she washes her hair and her barnet is lovely!

Aussie Three Minute Miracle conditioner – Probably my most purchased hair care product, I get through so many of them!  I use quite a few big handfuls of this as a conditioner and leave it in for five minutes whilst in the shower.  Smells gorgeous and I really feel like this product softens my hair and keeps it looking healthy and shiny.

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Highlight Activating Moisturizing Conditioner (Platinum to Champagne coloured hair) – I can’t actually speak of the ‘highlight activating-ness’ of this product as my hair is bleached anyway and I’ve never noticed a change in my hair colour after using this, but its a lovely, thick, creamy conditioner that sorts my hair out when its feeling dry.

Masks -

Trevor Sorbie Ultimate Moisture Mask – I like to do hair masks whenever I remember (once or twice a month) and this is what I’ve been using recently and I adore it.  It smells divine and feels like a nice intense hair moisturizer.  Doesn’t leave my hair feeling greasy or heavy after.

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Hair Repair Conditioning Treatment – I just finished a tub of this - it smells great and really puts the moisture back in to my hair when it gets a little too dry or frizzy.

Leave in products -

Prive Serum – I’ve raved SO much about this product already, your probably all bored of hearing it, but I’ve never been one to use a serum but this will now never leave my vanity table.  Its smoothes out flyaway's, split ends and general frizz and keeps my hair tame.  I use this on dry or wet hair, on the ends of my hair and occasionally swept over the top of my hair if its behaving badly.

Prive Leave-in treatment – A lovely leave in conditioner, nice and natural ingredients. Prive reviews here!

L’Oreal Elvive Nurti-Gloss Leave in conditioner – I’ve been using this for years now and I know I can rely on it to detangle my hair after its been washed.  I literally sweep a blob of this through knots and it makes my hair easier to comb through straight away.

Aussie Miracle Hair Care Insurance Leave in Conditioner – This smells lovely and detangles really well.  Its light so it won’t leave your hair feeling heavy or coated in products after you apply, which is good!

Katie’s Top Healthy Hair Tips -

1) Don’t use heat on your hair!!

Its a simple one but one I’m sure would be very hard to give up for most girls now days, but just don’t use heat on your barnet!  I have never been one to use straighteners, just because I don’t think poker straight hair suits me at all, and to be honest, I just can’t ever be bothered to straighten it.  The ONLY heat I use on my hair is a hair dryer and I use it once a week max.  This time last year I noticed that my hair was in quite bad condition and frizzy, so I stopped using my hair dryer, and within a month my hair was perfect again.  I can’t express how much of a difference it makes.  The only time I use my hair dryer is if I’m in a rush out and even then I’ll only blow dry my fringe and ends.  Try it out for yourself!

2) Leave your conditioner in for at least five minutes!

Conditioner makes SUCH a big difference to the softness of my hair so I always leave it in for at least five minutes in the shower/bath, if not longer.  Sounds difficult and time consuming but its really not – just shampoo your hair really quickly, wash it out, apply lots of conditioner and whilst you wait just shave and scrub!  Simple!  If you have more time, comb through your hair whilst the conditioner is on so it really reaches every lock.  In general, the longer I leave the conditioner on, the softer my hair is after.

3) Use a leave in conditioner to detangle and keep hair soft.

I always use a leave in conditioner to help detangle my matted hair after a bath and I pretty much rely on it to get rid of evil knots.  I just use a walnut size amount of either L’Oreal or Prive’s Leave in conditioner, and comb in through the underneath of my hair.  Makes it so much more manageable and keeps hair soft after its dried.

I hope this helps!  I have a few more favourite hair products which I’ll write about soon.

What do you use to keep your hair in good condition?  Have you got any tips?

XXX

I’ve been bleaching my roots once a month for the past six years now (since I was 16) and I’ll admit that I have very strong, thick hair.  Its never fallen out, it holds the bleach very well and its still healthy and moisturized/soft, however recently I've noticed that straight after I bleach my roots, my fringe gets quite dry and has recently started snapping off straight after. 

I’m definitely going to change my hair colour soon to a more natural blonde, but in the meantime, I’ve decided to take this as a chance to try out some hair masks!  So I headed to my local Boots where there was a three for two on professional hair-care ranges and stocked up on products which claimed to help dry, damaged hair.

I bought:

• John Freida – Sheer Blonde Moisturizing conditioner for Platinum to Champagne hair colours
• John Freida – Sheer Blonde Blonde Hair repair Conditioning Treatment
• Trevor Sorbie - Ultimate Moisture Mask for thick hair
• Aussie - Miracle Hair Insurance leave in conditioner
• Aussie - 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor, deep conditioner for damaged hair.

I will take my time in trying out these products and will write back with a review of each.  I’m hoping at least one of these products will cure my dry hair and leave me feeling confident that I can continue bleaching until this summer!