Battle Of High Street Products || Dry Shampoo (Garnier vs. Lee Stafford)

    After hearing a lot of hoopla about Garnier's latest 7-in-1 dry shampoo I decided to put it up against the test with another new product, by a well loved hair brand Lee Stafford. To cut the battle between both of these high street products short I'm going to talk about them both individually, with their strengths and weaknesses.

Garnier Ultimate Blends 7-in-1 Dry Shampoo:
    When Garnier launched this product I never heard the end of it all over Youtube and on various blogs. I happened to be in Tesco around the launch and it was on offer so I thought I'd give it a go. From the get go, I wasn't impressed with this product compared to a lot of people who were very pro Garnier. Personally I believe the sole purpose of a dry shampoo, is to substitute washing your hair for a day or two, covering up an extra grease and grime. In fact the whole idea behind this dry shampoo, is it performs 7 actions (cleansing,absorbing grease, lightweightness, suppleness, detangling, fragrance all with no residue). Out of all the actions, the fragrance is the most prominent, its a rather sickly vanilla scent which isn't pleasant but I can handle it for a few minutes. The only positives I found was that on freshly washed hair, it does add some body but on greasy hair it has no effect and just leaves your hair feeling even worse.  

Lee Stafford Dark For Oily Roots Dry Shampoo:
    Now onto a dry shampoo product that I highly recommend and it's the brilliant Lee Stafford. I only very recently picked up this product, compared to the Garnier thats been sitting in my room for a few months now, and I've instantly fell head over heels for it. In the past, whenever I've tried Lee Stafford products I've never been disappointed, and I'd honestly put this dry shampoo above the traditional Batiste range. For a dry shampoo, it's a little pricey at £5.99 but I think it's worth the extra bit of money. A huge difference I found was as the one I chose was specifically for dark hair, it doesn't leave dark pigments on your skin, which was a huge problem with the dark brown Batiste dry shampoo. It does however have the annoying white residue instead, but luckily it rubs/brushes in very evenly and doesn't leave little bits attached to your hair which is a plus! Whatever condition your hair is in, whether it be freshly washed or greasy it takes away all the unnecessary bits and adds in texture and volume, and just looks overall really impressive.

REVIEWED || Tangle Teezer

      After wanting this product for what seems centuries, I've finally managed to get my hands on a Tangle Teezer, those of you who have been following my blog will know I bleach my hair every few months which leaves it in a tatty and tangled state. Due to the continuous dying I have rather weak hair that pulls outs whenever its brushed, especially while it's damp. I remember watching Shaun P, the creator going on Dragons Den with his idea and being sadly rejected, I bet the dragons are kicking themselves now after such a success!

    As mentioned in my Fuerteventura post, I tried picking this product up on the flight home but they'd sold out after the first few rows on the flight, however I am glad I've waited till now as I was able to pick up this lovely neon orange and yellow shade which just screams summer and makes me smile everytime I look at it. The bristles are made from plastic are are raised at a variety of levels allowing your hair to pass through each bristle without excessive pulling or ripping. 

    I paid £10.99 for this product and after seeing how well it performs I would willingly pay up to £20.00, I've battled with knotty hair for a couple of years and it gets to the point where you either completely neglect your hair and don't brush it at all (making the situation worse) or end up ripping half of your hair out in one go. I've also tested this product on my two year old sister, Ruby who constantly puts food in her hair causing it to be knotted quite often. The tangle teezer allowed me to brush out any knots or food out of her hair, without hurting or pulling her hair making a pleasant experience for the little one. 

    I would hands down recommend this product 10 times over to everyone and anybody as it's the best product I have bought all year and it's so inexpensive for the wonderful outcome! Head down to your nearest Boots or Superdrug, bin your hair brush and pick up the revolutionary tangle teezer, you won't regret it!

INTERVIEWED || THE PULSE OF FASHION

    I welcome you to another interview showing the insight of a lovely blogger I started speaking to over Twitter, and its Jenny from THEPULSEOFFASHION. Jenny is a 23 year old blogger from Cardiff, who has amazing hair! I emailed her over a few questions that I thought would be on interest to you guys, so here they are enjoy! Just click read more for the full interview.

1) What's the inspiration behind your blog name?

- I wanted to make sure that my blog name tied in with what the blog is about and I love that saying of 'having your finger on the pulse of fashion.' Took a while to think of it though!!

2) Your hair is beautiful (like mine hah) do you plan on changing it for the summer?
- Thank you!! To be honest I've had this hairstyle for about 9 years now and it's become part of my look now. People remember me for my hair so I tend to keep it the same. I've changed the colour a few times over the years and chopped it really short and had it long! I'm sure one day I'll change it though, maybe when I have kids and get married ;) 

3) Where does your inspiration come from, family/magazines/celebrities etc?
- My inspiration comes from everything all around me from flowers blooming in the park (here's to hoping) to fabrics and mostly, things I see on the TV or around town as I walk around. I'm not afraid to try new things either, I think that's really important!

4) If you was given £5,000 to spend on whatever you pleased what would you do with it and why?
- I would spend it wisely and take my time to shop around and find bargains, sometimes to biggest treasures are hidden away in the shops and most of the time they're in the sale! I would also spoil myself and buy a lovely gem stone ring, preferably opal as it's my favourite stone :)

5) How and when did you get into blogging?
- I got into blogging through my best friend Betti who has a blog over at www.torchthetreasure.blogspot.com. We had so fun taking photos of each other last spring and it went from there! One blog I've been following from the start for inspiration is Bebe Zeva on FTBH.blogspot.com. Her outfits are so eccentric and different every time! She's awesome!

6) Any advice you could give to somebody struggling with their blog or thinking of starting one up?
- I think the biggest advice I could give is to stay true to yourself, believe in yourself!!! The only person you can truly rely on is yourself and if you doubt yourself or what you're putting out there then your blog won't survive! You've got to do it for yourself and most important, keep it fun! My blog is my hobbie and I'll never let it turn into a chore! 

7) Finally, can we be friends? Hahah 
- Hahaha hells yeah!! Keep in touch with me via Twitter! I love meeting fellow bloggers so would be great if we had the opportunity to hang! 

Jenny's Twitter - https://twitter.com/JennaayTPOF

Jenny's Blog - http://www.thepulseoffashion.blogspot.co.uk

Mini Beauty Products Haul

    Just a few products I picked up around two weeks ago while I was going into town to pick up some Lush products. A video was meant to be filmed featuring these products but due to limited internet availability, I'm unable to edit and process my videos. Nevertheless here's some pictures of the said items, pretty excited for one particular one. Can you guess?

Fagan x

REVIEWED | Lush 'American Cream' Conditioner

    I thought I'd ease myself back into blogging by doing a review on a particular product that I want to buy in bulk, and it's Lush's well known American Cream hair conditioner. With the essence of strawberries and cream, this conditioner does wonders for anybody with damned hair, whether it is slight are very high.

    Keeping up with the health of my hair is a hard task since bleaching one half blonde, continuing to use my regular conditioner there was no significant change. Instead my hair felt more brittle, dry and looked dim. I eventually got round to nipping into Lush to see if they had a solution to my hair dilemma.

    I was blessed enough to find a lady who had also gone through the same problem as my self, who had the perfect conditioner for me and it was 'American Cream'. I purchased the medium sized bottle which was around £7.75. I was not expecting anything great as I've been through many conditioners but this works wonders.

    I apply this all over my hair after shampooing, focusing on the roots applying a generous amount there and less on the ends. It lathers up quite nicely and smells utterly divine in and out of the shower. Once I was dry my hair felt like it had a new life, being extremely soft throughout the whole of my head also the smell of strawberries was still prominent on my hair.

    This conditioner for un-damaged hair will be a luxury product to keep up with the already good condition you will have it in, but it you're partial to hair dying or applying heat on a regular basis your hair will thank you for the miracle in a bottle.

Fagan x

New start, new hair

    Leaving high school I decided to start my regular hair dying process all over again, but this time I've gone for something off the ball and different to normal hair dying. I've only bleached half of my head. The plan is for one half to be blonde/white and the other my natural colour.


    As my hair is naturally a dark colour, the first bleach causes it to go a ginger colour with lighter and darker tones throughout the section of hair. Using a strong 40 vol bleach, I was able to get the exact colour I want on my roots and under my hair, this indicates after two more dyes my entire head of hair will be the correct colour.


    Before I dye it again to lighten the colour I thought I'd take some shots in some recent purchases to show you the contrast and how its turned out on the first shot. I will do a DIY on how to use traditional bleach once I go out and buy another dye.


    Fagan x

Claws

    Officially leaving school as my last exam was on Tuesday (geography) I've been able to get some touches sorted out for leavers this Friday. Taking a daring move I decided to opt with the 'Stiletto Nails' as they've grown on me over the past weeks. Compared to the original straight point, cat like nails I decided to have mine rounded off slightly, giving them the extra originality and edge. I got them done by a mobile nails beautician and they also cost £15 which is a very reasonable price for the good work that has been done at such short notice.

    Along with this, I've purchased some curly hair extensions to add some extra length to my below the chin hair. Wearing them today through my little shopping trip, I am able to say they are suitable for the event, matching my hair colour so well it looks like my hair grew over night. I've bought a couple of products today for general use and for my leavers do, I will be putting up a little collective haul tomorrow with a quick initial review as I'm not using all products straight away.

    Fagan x