Tresses in a Tantrum.

My hair hates me. No seriously it does and with good reason. Throughout school and college I used to straighten the shit out of it and though I left it alone for most of uni minus the occasional dye job and curling session, I'd wash it every day as it's rather fine and the roots tend to get greasy easily.

I'm now 24 and for the past year or so I've been dyeing my naturally mousey brown hair blonde. It started off as a sort of 'fields of gold' colour, you could almost imagine the Von Trap family running through it laughing and singing. A year on and I have managed to go gradually lighter so I'm now sporting an ash blonde look, which I think suits my extremely pale complexion and blue eyes. OK there may also be a shock of bright pink and a streak of bright blue in there too, but hey, you only live once people. I hardly ever style my hair with tongs or straighteners these days and I only wash it every other day, but I do always blow dry it to some extent and the blonde requires regular dye jobs. The Result? Dry, brittle hair that can somewhat resemble split ended straw if you look closely. 

It got to the point about a month ago when I was on the brink of heading to the hairdressers and getting them to return me to my mousey roots just to get my poor tresses a rest. They were in such bad condition that I could twist my hair up, tuck it into itself and it would stay as though I had fixed it with grips. Yummy. I started researching and was about to fork out on a range of Moroccan Oil products when L'oreal's Mythic Oil caught my eye. After some studying of reviews and a startling realisation that this stuff is less than half the price of the Moroccan Oil (£13.95 on feelunique.com for 125ml of product in comparison to £30.45 for 100ml of Moroccan Oil) I thought it was worth giving it a go before dropping serious dough.

Basically boys and girls, I love this stuff. My hair is noticeably softer, shinier, more manageable, and the effects even last on the days I don't wash it. This oil deserves its mythical status, it has saved my hair. If you're looking for something to help condition the lengths/ends of your own mane then look no further.

I pop a few pumps of this stuff into my palms, rubbing my hands together lightly just to warm it for a second and then, starting at the ends of my hair I just sort of grab sections in a milking type motion (sounds gross I know but that's the only way I can think of describing it), I move up the lengths of and finally run my hands haphazardly through the hair near my roots to make sure all the oil is off them. I tend to do this after I've showered and held my hair up in a towel for a few minutes, that way its damp rather than wet and I feel like the towel holds a bit of heat in and maybe the oil is absorbed slightly better? That could be complete bull shit but it works for me.

Go forth all ye with troublesome tresses and conquer! 

DIXI SHOP

I discovered Dixi last year. Hours spent in front of a computer screen and little time available to actually physically march around the shops meant that the internet became my go to resource for updating my wardrobe and payday treats. Trouble is, its slightly addictive, and even when you're not actually purchasing anything you find yourself checking in with your favourite stores on a daily basis. This leads to another problem. Boredom. High street stores have the habit of all stocking rather similar items, and I often find myself feeling like I've seen the same item repeated 4 or 5 times across the board.

That's where Dixi came in for me! I stumbled across them when trying to find some unique jewellery for a friends birthday present and it was the start of beautiful friendship (and an unhealthy obsession with above knuckle rings, OOPS(!)).

It's a fabulous time to get word about Dixi out there as they have just launched their new website complete with brand new collections, "Woodstock" & "Luxe Bohemia". Below is a look of just some of whats on offer.

I absolutely love Dixi. Fantastic quality products and excellent prices mean they've become my go to stop for a little accessory shaped pick me up. I urge you to check them out.

I SPY... TIGHTY WHITEYS!

I dont know how I stumbled across this song. I can't for the life of me remember when or how. However I do know that whenever I need a little pick me up and a giggle, this absolute tune with accompanying video of Norwegian - Bulgarian Sing Songwriter Mikheal Paskalev 'dancing' about in his under crackers is just the ticket.


Grab your cuppa, hit play, sit back, smile.

Gelly Hello - Sun - Shine!

With a product as talked about as the new Barry M Gelly Hi - Shine range I always find myself being a little cautious. Too often have I brought into the hype and been faced with disappointment. However I was looking for a bright turquoise with which to paint my talons recently and thought that for £3.99 I may as well give the range a chance.

Damn am I glad I did! The formula of the polish is quick think and even one coat is pretty opaque, two is ideal but if you were in a rush getting away with one is totally plausible. The brush is a great shape and size and I found application really easy, something I though I might struggle with due to the 'gellyness'. The colours are vibrant and the perfect addition to any spring / summer wardrobe. As you can see I ransacked the shelves of my nearest boots for a few more candy coloured shades.

The original colour I picked up was the turquoise 'Green Berry', which was soon joined by the gorgeous lilac 'Prickly Pear', light blue 'Blueberry' and nude 'Lychee'. I'm in love with Green Berry and Prickly Pear but lychee hasn't wow'd me in the same way, I just think the nude isn't quite right for my skin tone. I've also just popped 'Watermelon' into my virtual basket which is the exact shade of the dark green 'stripes' of a watermelon. It's bloody gorgeous and extremely wearable which can be a hard thing to pull off in any sort of green.

The lasting wear of these guys is damn good too. I'm pretty good about my nails, a full on shape & buff mani/pedi once a week with 1 or 2 change ups in between, so I applied over OPI's Original Nail Envy and sealed with the Seche Vite Dray Fast Top Coat. Great wear for about 3 days with signs of wear around the tips starting to show up on days 4/5.

If you've got £3.99 and are looking for a little something to add a pop of colour to your outfits go grab yourself one of these babies. Worth the hype my friends. Worth the hype indeed.

It's a Kind of Magic

Stationary. I love it. My guess is you love it too. We all love it. Crisp blank pages and those extra special favorite pens that for some reason are so much better than every other bog standard biro. It's a not so guilty pleasure that we can reasonably indulge in, justify to ourselves under the guise of 'organisation' and it's just so pretttty. 

My usual haunts are Magma, Muji and everyone's favourite go to, Paperchase, but I've recently found myself wanting more, something a little different, unique. I'd heard on the grape vine that Korea had this corner of the market down, trouble is I live in London, Korean merchandise isn't so easy to come by in the capital. However spend a few minutes on the worlds largest shop, AKA the internet, and I unearthed a wonderful site, 'The Magic Notebook'.

At first look it can seem a little daunting but once you've got the hang of the layout its easy to spend a good hour browsing everything on offer, and there is a lot to offer, aaaaaand it's all bloody lovely!

The best thing about the site is the number of pictures there are of each item, you get a detailed look at the inside and outside of all the diaries, notebooks and various other nicknacks, along with possible pairings and examples of the items in use.

I went for The Vintage Year Journal Version 2 in Light Blue which was pictured with a variety of fantastic additions of brightly coloured stickers being used as markers and signifiers of events big and small throughout the weeks. I was completely drawn in. My somewhat normal and mundane life could be turned into something beautiful with just a few carefully placed shapes and icons. 

Naturally I had to purchase some stickers also...

The Monopoly Masking Tape set, Petite Deco Stickers and Yomi Yomi sheets.

Forgive the blankness of the majority of the week shown, it's just that I have a tendency to over share and write slightly overly personal notes to myself about my daily appointments. This spread was actually the result of my slight OCD need to delve into the past and fill in significant dates that have already passed in a diary that I purchased 4 months into a year. Does anyone else do that?

Anyway, now I'm into the swing of it and I relish adding meetings, nights out, planned holidays, festivals, gigs, even doctors appointments. I'm not precious over it, a blue circle there, a little face here, a random korean phrase (the meaning of which I have no idea) plonked alongside a lunch date, it looks like a festival every week of my life.

If you're looking for unique, gorgeous and high quality stationary I'd really recommend checking out The Magic Notebook, the possibilities are endless. 

Lorde

Lorde, birth name Ella, is an extremely talented 16 year old from New Zealand. She's pretty brand new on the scene and unfortunately not available on i-tunes here in the UK yet. However head to her website and have a listen through the tracks from the soon to be released E.P. 'The Love Club'.

If you've not got a lot of time to spare, head straight to Royals (above.) I have to confess to having this on repeat for my entire journey to work at 7am this morning and again for my entire journey home. That may have been slightly excessive but its a bloody fantastic song. The lyrics aren't much to get excited about in my opinion but her voice excellent and there's a sort of notion of moving forward in the song, it evokes a ing of empowering feeling. Well it does for me. I like it alright. 

Have a go. Stick it on. You'll feel better for it. Honest.

For a more in depth look into the music by someone with far more attuned ears and greater musical vocabulary than my own, head here to a review via The Recommender.

James Blake

I want you all to take your hands, take them up your neck either side of your head, keep going... whats that? Something in your way? Fleshy little head handles? They are ears mate. Pretty useful little buggers, and while wiggling them up and down (a skill known by only a few among us, wizards of the lobe) for the entertainment of young children is one of those uses, listening is the other.

What you choose to listen to is entirely up to you of course (except in those dire circumstances where by the audio space around you is being held hostage by a screaming child or DIY enthusiast neighbour), but if you're looking for a suggestion as to what to expose yourself to next then here is mine...

The Album, entitled 'Overgrown' was released yesterday, and I have retreated into it's beautiful all encompassing sound at every given opportunity. I don't feel like I'm able to describe Blake's sound in a way that justifies his genius, so if you have a spare 5 minutes, give him a listen. You'll love him or think I'm talking total bollocks but ya might as well give it a go though eh?

Bacon & Egg Breakfast Bread Cups

Night Out? House Party? Living Room stacked high with slumbering bodies all secreting sweat thats probably about 90% alcohol? Yeah, me too.

On those sunday mornings when all you want to do is get the hungover masses, about,and most importantly out of your house so you can watch friends re-runs and drink vast amounts of tea in peace, this is your new shining light.

Not only does this super scrummy breakfast offering look impressive but it's so damn easy to do that even if you are, in fact, actually still drunk from the previous nights escapades (shouldn't have had those last 3 tequila shots should you? hummm.), you're still guna ace it. So put the headache on hold for a half hour, whip up a batch, serve with orange juice and tell those freeloading mates of yours to eat up and shove off.


The quantities below makes two cups, which I'd say is enough for one person, so just multiple by the number of eye bagged, sorrow-filled buddies you're attempting to fuel.

Ingredients:

2 X Rashers of Bacon (Smoked or Unsmoked)
2 X Eggs
2 X Slices of Bread (Whatever variety you prefer)
Butter


You'll also need a rolling pin, a frying pan and muffin tin.


Pop your oven up to around 180º C / 356º F

Get your frying pan, slap the bacon in there and start cooking, you'll need a little oil to stop it sticking. Keep an eye on it while taking a rolling pin to your bread, steam roller those slices till they are nice and flat then lightly butter both sides. Grab your muffin tin, use a slice of bread per slot (yeah I'm going with 'slot' here), you want to create a case out of the bread by pushing it into the slot and there needs to be no holes. I tend to rip the slice of bread in half, lay the halves in a cross, push these down and maneuver the sticky out bits together to make a real nice cup shape. Set aside.

Once your bacon's well done and turning crispy but isn't stiff whip it out the pan and use scissors or a knife to chop it up into a few smaller bits. Push the bacon into the buttery bread cups, then break an egg carefully into each cup. Season to taste with a little salt and pepper.

Stick your marvelous creation into the oven for around 15-20 mins or until the egg white is solid. Removed from the oven, gasp at the sheer awesomeness of your achievement, serve and enjoy the round of feeble applause as your guests tuck in.

When the last forkful has disappeared, kick em all out and set up camp on your sofa. #Winning.




Recipe adapted from Domestic Sluttery.

Cashmere Soft & Kissable.

A combination of my love of salt rimmed Margaritas, Mac's super matte Ruby Woo iconic red lipstick and the great British spring (HA!) have left my lips dryer than Gandi's flip flop.


I've been down most avenues, and while Blistex Relief Cream  (£2.25 - Superdrug)  has been my saviour when I'm heading to the land of ZZzzz's, it's not overly suitable for day time use as its very white. Unless you have the time to really buff it into your lips and have a mirror for the double check I wouldn't risk it.


Blistex Daily Lip conditioner (£2.49 - Boots) gets an honourable mention alongside Burt's Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil (£3.69 - Boots) my absolute 100% go to, recommend it to a friend, shout it from the rooftops product has to be the Molton Brown - Protecting Vitamin Lipsaver.

Now this little tube isn't cheap at £12 a pop, but you get 15ml of product which lasts for absolutely ages and seriously guys, it's the best. This stuff has saved me. I'm tempted to create a small shrine to in in the corner of my room and present daily offerings. I won't though coz that would be weeeeyrd.


It's long lasting, has a real cashmere softness about it and gives lips a subtle sheen but not a full on wet look gloss type shine. My lips have seriously never been so soft and nourished.


I know it's early on and we don't know each other that well yet, but I'm guna lay it down for ya'll. This shit is HG. Full on Holy Grail material.

Post-Easter Nail Biter

Illamasqua's Imperfection Collection

The first time I saw the press shots for the limited edition imperfection collection from Illamasqua I wasn't overly taken aback, lipstick, blush & eyeliner all in slightly different shades of those already existing. Snooze. A green (seriously wtf?) lipgloss was the only thing that seemed vaguely unusual. But then dear reader I spotted the nail varnish...

Taken from Illamasqua's Press Release

OH MY!

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

Now I'm a bit of a nail art fiend (blog post on my various escapades to follow shortly), but even if your interest in painted talons only stretches as far as the occasional lick of red I'm sure you can still appreciate the wonder contained within this beautiful bottle.

What set's this polish apart from the masses is the matt black 'speckle' effect running through the varnish colour. The shade range includes a beige, lilac, dusky pink, a light almost pastel green and my personal favourite,  'fragile', a glorious robin's egg blue.

I received 'fragile' as an easter gift from my mother due to the uncanny resemblance the outcome of a couple of layers of the stuff has to a cadbury's mini egg! Ridiculously cute!

I used two coats with OPI Nail Envy as a base and Seche Vite as a top coat. The colour was lovely and opaque (with the double coat) and lasted about 4 days until wear was visible at the nail tip and chipping became evident. 

Absolutely adore this product. Illamasqua have really got something special here and I know I'll be painting this over my talons and tootsies over and over again throughout spring and summer.