Dirty Looks Hair Extensions Review in Paparazzi Highlights

Hey lovelies, the weekend is finally here, give or take a few hours! If you follow me on Twitter (shameless plug!) you will be very aware I love a good set of extensions, and I am always tweeting about them and which one should I try next? Well I do always seem to end up back where I started...with Dirty Looks Hair Extensions. Oh well, if it isn't broke don't fix it right?

These extensions are Grade - A, Remy Human Hair. Meaning they are pretty much the best on the market, you only have to look at other companies whilst buying to see they don't offer this quality. 

I got the 16-18 inch in Paparazzi Highlights after a quick colour match by the Dirty Looks team. They are more at 16 inches but at 180grams this was more than enough. In the set you'll get 10 pieces each with numbers so when you read the styling guide you know which piece of hair goes where in you head. Obviously you don't have to stick to it but you do get a much better result. One piece, number 3, is so thick and seems to have several rows in one section. They are quick to apply too (5-10 mins), much quicker than you would expect and once your more experienced you will have them in no time! Plus as I have fine hair I find I don't need all the set in my hair, and I do have a large head!

If you look at the above photo of two strips of extensions you can see the comparison in thickness. Dirty Looks is on the left and another hair extension brand is on the right. You can see how much thicker Dirty Looks are, plus they are thick for the entirety of the strip.

Once they're in they really don't feel heavy or irritable, and they clip in well with no slipping later on in the day. The only time I've had trouble with them staying put is on a night out, but maybe the several my interesting dance moves are too blame! But generally they stay put perfectly. Dirty Looks have really done well here as they are the softest extensions I've ever felt and they just feel so thick! As they are thick right to the ends you don't get that straggly look plus they are really easy to style and blend.

And sorry for the awful photos of them actually in, the lovely dark weather has meant it's been a nightmare to capture their color, but hopefully you can see how natural they look and how well they styled. And yes I am cringing at my 'selfie', but that was the only way to get a decent-ish photo, I promise!

If you a extension girl or after a new look, I can not recommend Dirty Looks enough (if you couldn't tell already) plus they are on offer at the moment down to £69.99 from the most random price ever of £87.49, so if these are within your budget these are just perfect. Best extensions, end of.

They do an entire range of different sets of clip in hair extensions at Dirty Looks, so its worth a look!

Have you tried  Dirty Looks Hair Extensions? 

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Abi Alton talking Floral Headbands and Red Lips

Todays post is something a bit different, but oh wow is it exciting. I got asked if I wanted to attend the Royal Tunbridge Wells Christmas switch on and meet singer/songwriter Abi Alton who made her exit from the X Factor last week. It took me all of 1 second of reply of course I would love to. So off I went last night, braved the crowds of teenage screaming girls who were there to see Abi, plus the other special guests Jordon O'Keefe from Britain's Got Talent and Micky Parsons (District 3) from The X Factor last year. I was lucky enough to get to interview Abi were we discussed all things X Factor from her exit right up to her favourite high street store to wear on stage. You can have a read of this below.

Hi Abi! First of congratulations on all your X Factor success, how does it feel to of left the show?

Hi. Well of I course I am totally gutted to of left the show but I never thought I would make it that far so I am grateful to make it to week 5. Week 6 was my target so reaching that would of been lovely but I had to leave at some point!

True, unfortunately the show does come to an end. On Saturday night was defiantly your strongest performance, your confidence shone through, what tips do you have for on stage confidence?

Well I know I should practice what I preach but just having confidence in yourself and your talents. Oh, and rehearse!   

That might help! So what are your favourite brands? Any in particular you like to wear on stage?

Topshop! Everyone loves a bit of Topshop. And of course my floral headbands by Abigails Tea Party and Rock 'n' Rose are my on stage staples! I also love vintage jewellery and wear a lot of Eccentric Electricity.

Fabulous! Your hairbands are always stunning. Now I have to ask, red lips seem to be your staple look too. What lipstick do you wear?

*Quick rummage in the bag* Its No7 Red Devil! Although it may be best to ask Julia Carta (Chief Makeup artist on the X Factor) as she knows all the lipsticks I wore!

Well I must say Abi was a complete darling and such a pleasure to chat too. Plus when she performed everyone just stopped talking and was just in awe of her performance! Damn, I really want her to win now, please Gary, let her back in the show? *sad face*

You can see Abi on Twitter and keep updated with her happenings.

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St Moriz vs Beyond Bronze by Fake Bake Tan

I'm not going to review the St Moriz and Beyond Bronze Fake Bake tan individually as there are about one billion reviews already, so I thought I would compare them, St Moriz being the bargain £2.99 tan and Beyond Bronze Fake Bake being the high end £23.49 version....let the fake tan war commence. 

Beyond Bronze is part of Fake Bake, and is a mousse tan, as is St Moriz as I just do not get on with cream tans, and do not get me started on sprays. I'm way too messy for that. The mousse glides onto the skin and the initial colour is absolutely fantastic – like I’ve been on a beach for a week. But as soon as I have a shower, it pretty much washes off, leaving just a very faint (if any) difference to my natural colour which is a bit disappointing. And they do tell you to shower, plus obviously I can't go without a shower. This does take a few applications to reach a golden glow, but when you do it is a lovely colour. The colour is one of the reason I opt for Fake Bake, its just such a gorgeous colour that never turns orange. I just find for the price the application is a tad annoying.

St Moriz is practically the poor girls St Tropez fake tan, in the nicest was as to me that is exactly how it is marketed. The packaging is similar, the font is similar, the name (obviously). No high hopes from me on this one, plus when you pump it out it comes out with a slight green tone. Yes green. Yet once I applied it (with gloves) it came out such a gorgeous brown colour, easy to apply and you could see where you was applying it. Even quicker drying time just beat Beyond Bronze here hands down, no standing there legs and arms spread praying I would dry before someone caught sight of me. St Moriz always stays on me for a good few days, and is easy to quickly to top up if needed. I do even get a few comments at work about where have I just jetted back from? Some may see that as a insult, to me? Nope I am very happy with that. As you can see the colour result isn't too different, nor was how long it lasted, but application was far easier with St Moriz, one application was enough, even by my dark tan standards.

So the winner? Easy. At that price? St Moriz hands down. £2.99 for St Moriz and £23.49 Beyond Bronze Fake Bake.

Have you tried either of these tans before?

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Kate Spade Nails Inc with Glamour Magazine

Oh yes, like all the blogging world, well the beauty blogger world, not sure fishing bloggers would be interested in this. However it is that time when Glamour Magazine give away Nail Inc polishes freebies. This time they have thrown a bit of Kate Spade into the mix. I do love Kate Spade and her designs and I have a such a soft spot for her iPhone cases. So there was no way I was missing out on this freebie, although I am not sure why they are Kate Spade with Nails Inc? Did she pick these colours? Maybe someone a bit more switched on could enlighten me.

There are four colours:

New York Noir - A classic glossy black

Uptown Glamour - A metallic gold

Soho Silver - A metallic silver

And my choice...

Big Apple Red - A very glossy red

I adore red polishes so this was the obvious choice, and sorry my pictures are awful. I couldn't paint my nails last night as I am on a job today which was dictated no nail polish. Erugh.

Have you got your Kate Spade Nails Inc with Glamour Magazine yet?

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Toni & Guy Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray

I am normally the girl at the beach trying desperately to avoid getting any of the salty sea in my hair so when sea salt sprays came on to the market, surprisingly I avoided like the plague. Then I caved, once I actually realised how I wanted my hair to look would be done to the sea salt everyone was raving about. Annoying, I do hate being wrong...

I picked up the 75ml travel bottle which was about £2, purely as I didn't want to spend loads and end up hating it. The packaging is simple, a small greenish spray bottle. First I will say the main bug bear I have with this product is the spray isn't very fine. If you spray this directly onto your hair you may find you may just soak it, especially if like myself you have thin hair. However I tend to spray two sprays on my hand a scrunch it through my hair and that works perfectly, part from the sticky hands. 

I experimented with using the Sea Salt Spray on both damp and dry hair and found it worked best whilst my hair was still slightly wet. After a quick blow dry my hair instantly had volume without looking dry or matted. I was also really impressed at how well the spray performed on dry hair. In the morning if I’m pushed for time (which is everyday) I give my hair a good spritz through focusing on the roots, running through with my fingers and scrunching the ends up slightly to create some texture. In the picture above, which I must apologise for the awful quality as it is a iPhone snap, I just sprayed some in and left it to then air dry in a plait, hence why it is a tad more wavy.

Like I mentioned before, I can't believe I actually shunned this little beauty of a hair trick for so long. Well, maybe if I had been less stubborn...You can pick up the travel size for £2 and the full size 200ml bottle for £7.19, which is still considerably less that the famous Bumble and Bumble salt spray.

Have you tried any salt sprays before?

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Max Factor Wild Mega Volume

Oh yes, a mascara review, back in my comfort zone. Max Factor is one of my favourite high street brands for mascara. They is just something in their mascara that works well with my lashes, Masterpiece Max being my ultimate favourite. So when I saw that the new-ish Max Factor Wild Mega Volume on offer for £4.99 there was no way I was not buying one, regardless of the mixed reviews I have read. Not sure I have ever seen such spilt views in the beauty blogging world before.

Immediately I did start to question it, Max Factor mascara is normally around the £9/10 mark so why have they got a mascara retailing for £4.99...is it that bad it needs a reduction? Oh ever the optimist me. I was very willing to try it out though, can't be throwing around judgements without it even touching my lashes.

First impressions? I really don't like the packaging. Max Factor are the masters of simple packaging, but that works and their products rarely look cheap or childlike, yet the Wild Mega Volume manages to capture this in one little tube. I know its a clever little marketing ploy by some companies to use bright packaging to catch peoples eye and its personal preference but I just don't like it. A bright green tube has managed to tarnish Max Factors classic image quite nicely, and stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Onto the brush, it a ‘bristle’ style brush, so isn’t a plastic one and more of a fibre one, and this one has a slightly hourglass shaped bristle brush to create the 'wild mega volume' and is designed to hold more of the product on the wand. I found the formula much better than I expected, for the first use it wasn't too wet as some mascaras could be but not too dry that it was complete rubbish. I found it coated my lashes nicely and I was able to build some volume into my lashes. Max Factor claim this mascara will give your lashes 3x more volume, and I am not quite sure that the mascara does that, however it is good as my lashes had more volume but no clumps left behind. Plus this stayed put all day, no flakes or crumbs throughout the day.

Overall? I do like this mascara, admittedly its not a amazing best product ever mascara that is going to overtake my favourite YSL or Benefit They're Real, or even beat the other Max Factor mascaras. But it is a good every day mascara when you want a easy application of volume with a bit of length, and for £4.99 it was a good buy of mine and I found it much better than some of the Maybelline and Rimmel mascaras.

Max Factor Wild Mega Volume - £4.99/£6.99

Have you tried the Max Factor Wild Mega Volume? Love it or hate it?

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Dirty Works Banish the Bags Eye Cream

If your anything like me you might be struggling getting older. I know I know, I am hardly past it at all, but there is something about your early 20's where every year just seems like a huge gap. Anyone else find this? I turn 23 a month before Christmas so therefore in my eyes I am nearly in my mid 20's. Logical yes? Maybe not, but even still I want to start using an eye cream as prevention is much easier than trying to fix them. I didn't want a heavy anti-wrinkle one just yet but just a little pick me up for my eyes to help with bags/dark circles/any cheeky wrinkles. A Google search later and I found the Dirty Works Banish the Bags Eye Cream stocked in Sainsburys for a bargain of £4.99. 

Dirty Works Banish The Bags Eye Cream claims to reduce the appearance of under eye circles and bags. This is a fragrance free cream that would be perfect for people with sensitive skin. It also claims to tighten and brighten the eye area. Perfect.

For the price this cream is a complete steal, its super hydrating and even contains one of my favourite ingredients; Shea butter but is completely fragrance free being suitable for my little sensitive eyes. This really has really helped brighten up my awful dark circles and puffy tired eyes, whilst not leaving a greasy residue, nor leaving my easy puffy in the mornings as some eye creams have done before. I find as well this has great light reflecting properties making it feel like a high end eye cream. Total winner here.

Dirty Works Banish the Bags Eye Cream - £4.99

Have you tried this or any of the Dirty Works range?

  

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What is on my face?

As I often post about quite a few products it may seem that I wear them all on once, which I don't. Could you imagine? I would be the ultimate 'How not to wear makeup' poster girl. So I thought I would show what I wear on my face on a 'typical' day...

No7 Essential Moisture Day Cream | Still on of my favourite day creams

Benefit Porefessional Primer | Not sure I suffer from larger pores but I love the texture of this regardless.

MUA Undress Your Skin Foundation | As I posted last week, best high street budget foundation.

Seventeen Phwoarr Paint | My new concealer addition to my makeup family.

Benefit Dallas Bronzer | I don't suit blusher, at all. Bronzer is much better and Dallas is my ultimate choice.

L'Oreal Flutter Lash | My everyday mascara, my favourite YSL Shocking is a evening

Illamasqua Eye Brow Cake | Eyebrows are a must, and so is this.

What is your daily makeup? Any of these make your list?

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Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Limited Edition Skin Protectant

This is without a doubt my most random purchase in a while. I popped into my local Factory Store to buy a Pepsi Max and a bag of chocolate (well it was the weekend) and the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Limited Edition Skin Protectant caught my eye. I have wanted to try the original infamous Eight Hour Cream for a very long time, just never got round to purchasing. Even my mum said back in the 70's when she used to read Vogue (and she will kill me for giving her age away slightly) that the Eight Hour cream was pretty much the holy grail of creams. End of.

Although the ‘Eight Hour Cream’ is part of Elizabeth Arden’s permanent range of skincare products, the packaging seen here was created as part of the New York Beauty Limited Edition Collection I found, and features metallic silver and red exterior design along with a 'unique art deco 8 pattern design', apparently inspired by New York City’s 'legendary' art deco styles...whoever they might be.

First thing I noticed was its gel-like amber colour, bizare. In my eyes creams are white or white. Despite the colour, the scent is a deep resin-lemony scent with just the slightest hints of camphor – although I don’t note that as an ingredient in the label but that is what the website said. Obviously as if I know what 'camphor' is? Its also highly emollient, this long-lasting and deeply nourishing cream goes on almost sticky-feeling (sounds horrible, but it isn’t…trust me) which quickly turns to an intense soothing sensation. The Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream may be too heavy for some as it does leave a bit of grease, this does quickly soak up and is very much worth it. I have been applying mine at night and this has been working well so far! I am in love with this cream, can't believe I picked this up a discount store too. Well my hometown is known for a pensioners heaven so maybe that is why? I'm not complaining...

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Limited Edition Skin Protectant £25 from Boots, or £12 from The Original Factory Shop.

Have you tried Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Limited Edition Skin Protectant?

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Barry M Nail Paint Haul

A quick post today just to show off my latest Barry M purchases, seriously drugstores need to stop with there offers. Did I really need 3 new nail polishes? Of course not. Oh well, I have brought them now, and I am just too much like a magpie and can not resist anything with sparkle so unsurprisingly these 3 little gems caught my eye.

First off is the gorgeous and completely girly Marshmallow Confetti Nail Paint. This is a clear varnish with baby pink sprinkles, this looks really lovely on its own and defiantly reminds me of marshmallows. This looks gorgeous with two coats but it also makes a fantastic top coat too. See so this one is practically two polishes in one...I'll try explaining that one to my bank don't you think?

Second is the just as girly Nail Textured Effect in Duchess from the Royal Textured Collection. Maybe the Duchess of Cambridge wears this? Doubt it but I still love it as this a solid pink/silver glitter polish. Its a real girly sugar coated colour, with just the right amount of sparkle without being too 'bling'. I love how the light catches on this too, a real stand out!

Lastly I opted for another Nail Textured Effect in Purple Countess, this is very much a evening colour and I just love it. Its a deep purple with gold and silver little flecks. All these polishes are actually pretty good after just the one coat but after two they are so gorgeous. All for £3.99 each or I think Boots is currently still selling these on promotion. Careful though, you will leave with twice the amount you intended to buy. 

Will you be picking up the new Barry M colours?

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