Babyliss Root Boost Styler Review

Okay, so I'm branching out a bit into hair styling hardware, I won't be doing this too often as my hair is very fine and gets annoyed with heat so I'm quite limited in what I can do to it. However, as I have such fine hair, 'volume' is the stuff of legend - I've never managed to achieve any - I wouldn't cope with back combing - the damage and pain is causes looks horrific! And every product I've bought that promises 'volume' thickness and bounce has fallen short - after 5 minutes.

So, I came across the Root Boost styler - it's basically a very mini crimper - and you place it very close to your roots - clamp down and hey presto - you have a mini crimped section of hair close to your root..."why would you want that?" I hear you ask, well, this little crimp creates a textured area of hair which raises the hair away from the scalp - as long as you ensure you keep a top layer of hair crimp free to cover over you won't notice, and you can still brush your hair perfectly normally :) You don't need to use any products - I would though recommend heat protection spray or balm of course. The styler has a number of heat settings from 140 degrees to 200 - I personally find 140 is plenty hot enough for my fine hair!

Overall I was pretty darn impressed with this - you can get a considerable amount of volume, without products - and the volume lasts until you wash it out - with no stickiness! It's very easy to use - I'd only clamp it on the roots for about 3 seconds - but as I said that's due to the fine hair. It took me less than 10 minutes to crimp quite a large portion of my roots on both sides of my head.

Anyway - this is how my hair usually looks:

And this is it after a bit of a root boost (please note there is also 10 years between these pictures - so it's not *just* the root booster in action here - it's wrinkles and general old age ;) )

Anyway, in summary I like this - I'm not sure about the long term effects of heating your roots - so I will be saving this for nights out etc and those times I fancy do something slightly interesting with my hair ;)

I found mine in Boots for around £20 - I think most places stock this and it's a good price for something that could be used quite regularly.

Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick Collection - Review

Hey all, I'll admit I'm sometimes a sucker for a celebrity endorsement (not often though), and I was drawn to the Rimmel and Kate Moss lipstick collaboration. Mainly for the colours of course - they promise to be creamy, moisturising and highly pigmented.

I would say they deliver in all three areas, the shades I have, all apply like a dream, they are non drying and don't cling to any dryer areas (the nude shade does need to be applied on completely smooth lips and with a lighter concealer base if you have dark coloured lips naturally) they are very opaque and have amazing strong colour payoff which can be blended out for a more sheer colour wash.

From L-R - Shade 16, 12 and 03

From L-R Shade 03, 12 and 16

The nude shade is almost my perfect nude as it has a slight pink undertone to it - but can look a little washed out with it if I haven't done my face fully. Shade 03 was sent as part of a competition win - it's a bold orange/red and sadly doesn't suit my pale complexion at all! Shade 03, and 12 were from the original release collection and shade 16 is from the more recent launch of new 'spring' shades. Shade 16 is a lovely, wearable light peach/pink shade - it leans a little too peachy for me if I use it straight from the bullet - but if I dab lightly and blend I can get away with it! These are excellent quality for the price - which is usually around £5 (less than half price of your average MAC lipstick), they are sturdy yet creamy, and the packaging feels sleek and nice and solid. The tubes also stay clean which is a bonus - as some lipstick cases have a 'rubberised' finish which seems to pick up every speck of powder and dust and end up looking horrid. Anyway. overall a thumbs up for colour, consistency and feel - the only downside is that they don't have particularly great staying power (like most lipsticks) but a little goes a long way and reapplication isn't really a chore ;)

MUA Plumping Lip Gloss Review - Pink Me Up

I absolutely adore MUA, I love trying out new colours (but they invariably get stuffed into a make up drawer never to be seen again) so I need something that doesn't hurt my bank balance but that does the job beautifully - enter MUA!

These glosses are around £2 each and are available from Superdrug - either in store or online and direct from www.muastore.co.uk. They come in a good range of colours from nudes (I have the nude shade but can't find it to show you!) to the brightest hot pinks! They contain Maxi-lip which is a mix of products designed to increase blood flow to the lip area, which gives a subtle plumping effect. You won't look bee-stung with these and only a slight tingling can be felt when applying and it's only short term. So don't be afraid to try - it's perfect for those of you who can't cope with Too Faced Lip Injection-style pain!

The colour I have swatched below is Pink Me Up - please note I have very fair skin so things look a bit brighter on me! - a fairly medium bright pink which I find quite wearable without being too out there. It has no sparkles or bits in, it's just a plain gel-like colour, so feels lovely and smooth on the lips. These glosses are seriously pigmented! They outstrip the 'sheer wash of colour' that most lip glosses offer and are actually very opaque and packed with shine and colour! You can wear them as opaque or as sheer as you like simply by blending out. I was very surprised by this as the only lip glosses I've seen to offer such opacity are those by the likes of Ilamasqua and  Lime Crime!

Pink Me up!

Blended out and straight from tube.

These definitely feel like a higher end product - and for the price I will definitely be picking up a few more! The buff - nude shade is also fantastic by the way! When I find it will update with another swatch ;)

W7 Mega-Matte Lip Cream Review

Ok, so these are very similar to the Collection Cream Puff lip creams - You can pick them up for around £2 from all kinds of places - but eBay or Amazon may be easiest :)

I grabbed 3 colours of the w7 Mega matte lip creams from my local Next outlet and have dutifully swatched them for you;

L-R Nude, Red and Pink

L-R Red, Pink and Nude (not official shade names!)

They don't actually have individual names for the shades as far as I could see - so I will refer to them as 'nude' 'red' and 'pink'. All of them are very moisturising which is surprising since they are matte shades - they go on at first as a kind of satin finish (which you can see in the swatches as they are still wet) and then quickly dry to the finished matte-velvet look. Staying power is quite reasonable - the same as any standard lipstick and staining is minimal. I can't fault these as matte lip colours - if you want to experiment with some bold colours on a budget then these are a great buy! I tend to use lipsticks and creams more in autumn winter, so not had a great deal of use out of these yet, but the pink is really nice as a matte wash of colour for summer.

Simple Derma Intensive Relief Cream Review

I'm slightly obsessed with finding the right moisturiser for my skin - mainly because almost every 'Shea butter' 'ultra-soft' product seems to anger the very pores in my skin resulting in lovely bouts of inflammation - or they sit on the skin so I end up looking like I've dipped my limbs in a vat of Crisp 'n Dry. So, in essence, I need a product that is gentle, really works on my dry angry skin and actually gets absorbed. Very few products have ever delivered on all three, until now!

This little pot of Simple Derma has finally soothed my irritable outsides! I suffer from contact dermatitis which basically means the slightest irritant can trigger eczema - which is nice. This cream is 'clinically proven' to help with very dry, sensitive and irritable skin. I'm not sure what clinically proven is necessarily referring to, but I'm swayed by it's performance so far. At first I thought 'what a tiny tub' and what a bit disappointed since I wanted to use this all over my arms - and figured it would only last a week, however, it's lasting really well - a little goes a long way as the consistency is very thick, dense and creamy. Having said that it seems to absorb really well, leaving no greasy film (to further anger my skin) and just a light scent of ..well...cream! Being a 'simple' product it obviously boasts of it's gentleness and use of non-irritant products, and since I've been using it with no problems I would concur.

The price is a little high - around £5 - £6 per tub (there's a lotion version as well but my skin didn't like that one..) but I managed to procure a couple of tubs from my local Superdrug (the online one, that is) for around half price as an introductory offer - so its worth keeping eyes peeled if you want to try this out. I also tend to get Kerotosis Pilaris on my upper arms - and this definitely helps reduce the bumps and redness (it's by no means a cure, but then there isn't one!). So all in all, love this, have already stocked up and will most definitely repurchase in the future (but might wait for a special offer ;) ) 

Oh and if you want to buy it try www.boots.com or www.superdrug.com  - although both seem to be out of stock of the cream as I'm posting this - so I'm hoping it's not being discontinued already! 

Avon Advanced Techniques - Moroccan Argan Oil Review

I was lucky enough to receive* a trial sample of a new Avon hair treatment - advance techniques 360 nourishment - argan oil**.

I've not used any other Argan oil products yet so cannot do a comparison as such. Argan oil is everywhere at the moment :- with most treatments priced at around £10, the Avon oil is a mere £5.50 full price and is currently on trial price of £3 meaning everyone can try this miracle oil whatever your budget!

Golden Bottle of joy!

I've given it a good two week trial and I will most definitely repurchase! The product is smooth to apply and completely soaks into the hair length leaving almost no residue on your hands, it has a very slight odour which disappears on contact with the hair. Unlike other oil treatments this is yellow in colour as opposed to clear which is the only downside (tiny I know) it leaves hair with a gorgeous soft shine and as long as you keep it away from the roots it's not too heavy or oily. I can't recommend this highly enough if your hair is coloured or over styled or dry, it will work wonders and for such a fantastic price you can't Pass it up! 

Fairly liquid consistency - easy to distribute 2 pumps through hair.

* Although a sample - my review is unbiased, I'm not affiliated with any companies - nor would I wish to be - there's too much good stuff out there!

**I've heard/read that people are unhappy with the concentration of Argan oil in this product - I think the price is representative of that - a fraction of the cost of many other oil products. This contains Argan oil - but it is not 100% pure, nor does it claim to be, so I'm ok with that :) Plus the main ingredients are silicones which are good for the hair cuticle and have wonderful smoothing, and moisturising properties (how lush does your face primer feel!?)

Hello All!

Welcome to a tall lady's musings. This is my frivolous page, for the more serious, philosophical conversations - check out my other blog. So, on with the reviews!....