Category Archives: Beauty

May5

Hurray for Bank Holidays

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This bank holiday weekend if for May Day, the traditional Spring holiday so I thought I’d share what is currently my new favourite Spring hair style! It is easy to do, it doesn’t require much prep work as it works best if you have some bed head hair going on, and with this horrible weather it doesn’t matter if the wind tries to miss it up!…

I think that if there was a ‘rock and roll’ Flower Fairy she would wear her hair like this! Get you teasing comb ready for the chunky side braid…

(Please note you need to be able to french braid for this hair style – have a look here for instruction).

You will need: 

  • A bed-head of hair.
  • A teasing comb and hair brush.
  • Some bobby pins.
  • Some hair spray.

1.  Start with an un-tamed main: (If you have quite fine, flat hair blow dry you hair up-side down, tousling your hair with you fingers, and scrunch in a matt hair gum or clay).

2. Use the end on the teasing comb to create a deep side parting (on whichever side your prefer) in the front section of your hair,

and bring the end of the comb round to just behind your ear, sectioning off the back of your hair from this front section. 

Then tie the back, and smaller side section in a pony tail or bun to keep it out of the way while we work on the front.

3. Time to tease, in order to make a chunkier side braid. Start by taking three small sections from the front section that are closest to your parting.

And back comb them starting by the roots of each section, and let them flop over your parting so you can continue working on the front section.

 4. Use the comb to take another section of hair, about half an inch thick from the front part, and divide it into three parts, then with the comb gently tease each of the three sections. Each time you finish back combing a section let it flop over your parting so you can continue to work through all your hair in the front section Each time taking a section of hair, splitting into three equal parts for the braid and teasing it. This will create a chunky looking braid once it is all plaited together.

Once your done teasing your hair you should look something like this… a little crazy. 

5. Move all the teased section back over into the original deep side parting, and gentlly brush over the top. This will make the top of the braid look a bit smoother whilst keeping the voluming and chunky look from the teasing, so only a little bit of gentle brushing!

6. Take the first three teased sections of your hair and cross them over in the first stages of a french braid, (it helps you to go sideways if you tip your head to the side, so the hair your plaiting is hanging downwards).

Then continue the french braid side ways, across the front section of your hair, each time picking up a teased section of your hair to plait into the side braid.

7. Continue the braid down to behind your ear and secure with two, crossed over bobby pins.

In these photos I have left a small section of hair in front and above my ear un-teased and out of the braid, to show that you can pin the sides of your hair back for a slightly less dishevelled look.

8. To finish of the messy flower fairy look untie the rest of your hair and tease the under sections of your hair around the crown and side sections to add some volume and oomph.

9. Fix with some hairspray and enjoy!

Feb16

A Review on the Delightful Percy and Reed.

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Paul Percival and Adam Reed, both worldly acclaimed hairdressers each with a long list of loyal A-list clients, joined forces in 2007 to  bring what they had learnt from their years of experience and make it available to everyone through creating an original brand called Percy and Reed.

On the ‘About us‘ section of their website Percy and Reed tell us about the creation of this brand and how what they have accomplished makes them feel rather proud, and they certainly have every right to be, they have been featured in countless magazine and press articles, including the likes of Vogue and Glamour, and won many awards, including the recent: Red Best of Beauty 2012, and they where the hair styling team behind  TV programs like The X Factor and Britain’s Next Top Model.

As well as their products being featured, they also won a Hair Award for best London Salon in 2010, so I booked myself in for a some colour and a cut, and went to check it out.

Their salon is on Great Portland Street (more details here) just a few minutes walk from Oxford Circus. However, my Percy and Reed experience started two days before my appointment when I was asked to come in for a patch test. This blew me away a little bit – I have had my hair coloured many times in a variety of places and never once have I been asked to do a patch test before. So I was really impressed at this dedication to the safety and comfort of their clients.

The salon is an intimate, but spacious 12 chair area, and the first thing that struck me was the use of warm lighting, combined with ample natural light, ensuring that the stylists can work well, but it wasn’t the harsh, bright white lighting that salons often use, that just seems to highlight how long it has been since I last had my mane tamed and how long my roots are! Which also added to the very comfortable and relaxed environment of the salon.

The decor inside is simple, but really effective, there is lots of natural wood, quirky light fittings and the odd bird cage. There is no clutter around the salon as all the storage space is hidden and tucked away. Around the salon there are also beautiful flower arrangements, consisting of wildflowers in mismatch vintage glassware which I adored.

Right…. I could write pages on how beautiful the salon is so lets move on to the actual salon expirence!

On arrival your offered a drink that comes in it a cute little wicker tray complete with a couple of mini packets of love hearts!

(Later followed by Millionaire Shortbread!)

You then meet your stylist and talk through what you would like, this consultation was done in a way where they listen to your ideas first which was fantastic. We also talked about the type of dye that they where going to use, and they offer using a bleach free lightener which has a more creamy texture and doesn’t damage your hair in the way bleach based dyes can.

 The salon was buzzing with talk of this seasons London Fashion Week, that starts later this week, following their success in 2011 styling hair for the House of Holland  catwalk show, and this year Percy and Reed had started their fashion season with Berlin Fashion Week in February.

 The work was professional and quick, always ensured that I was a part of the process, as well as providing expert advice on hair care and styling tips, especially for styles that use heat or teasing which can damage your hair if it is not properly protected. Although this advice used their products as examples, and they told me about their products during my appointment this was done in a very non-pressurising way, which is a breath of fresh air.

A little note about the hair wash basins…

I normally really dislike the part where they wash your hair, I’ve always found it really uncomfortable, especially on my neck. However, these ones have padded neck rests on them, and the chairs have raisable foot rests and then you get a little head massage as well.

The stylist then blowed dried my hair so it was long and smooth, not something I’m used to, but it meant that she could make sure the cut was sitting well and take of some extra to frame my face better and thin it out where it looked a bit heavy. I also really liked the blow dry – it might be a style that I use more often now!


So I am immensely  pleased with the results, and had really relaxing and enjoyable experience at their salon!

 The final result (even after a trip through the London underground)!

A Little bit about some of their products. 

In the run up to visiting their salon I have been using some of the Percy and Reed hair care range and I thought I’d share a few of my favourite pampering treats and styling products with you!

Totally TLC Hydrating Mask:   Those of you who have been Deeper Dazzle readers for a little while will know that I have been searching for a hair mask that works, I even tried out a variety of experiments with natural, home made hair masks (see post here). Now I do believe that I have found a keeper! It is easy to use, smells amazing and comes with a cute, bird print bonnet, designed by Jessica May Underwood, but most importantly it really works and leaves you with wonderfully soft hair.

Smoothed, Sealed and Sensational No Oil, Oil: This comes in two different forms, one for thin, and one for thick hair. It’s great for adding volume to your hair whilst also taming frizzy hair to give you a smooth finish, and also if you put it through damp hair before you style, it  helps protect against any heat damage.

No-Fuss Flawless Dry Conditioner: I’ve heard a lot  about (and love) dry shampoo, but never really about dry conditioner, so when I found this beauty I was really excited. As the ends and mid lengths of my hair get very dry and dull looking in between washes, this product helps revitalise my hair and put the shine back into it (and smells great as a added bonus!).

Nov18

Owl and Polkadot Nail Art.

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My long-term best friend when on the Internet is Stumble Upon (yes I know it is the epitome of procrastination – but I love it!) and from my most recent search through cyber space I have come across a really cute nail art tutorial with owls. I think it’s great for autumn, and as a total beginner at nail art, and had to use tooth picks, I was really impressed with how well it went!

This is the link for the tutorial by cutepolish x:


http://www.beautylish.com/v/nxiur/cute-owl-nail-art

In my living room with the finished product.

A close up of one of the owls: the tutorial recommends to use your middle finger for the owls, but I have quite small hands and it wouldn’t fit, so it had to be the thumb nail.

Nov3

Natural hair masks- The great experiment.

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I live in a shared house of 7 wonderful young ladies, and recently hair has been a common topic of convocation: colour, cut style, fringe?, no fringe?, health, damage, and wanting it to grow faster. Several of us have gone though hippy stages of not washing our hair, hoping the natural oils would keep it healthy, we’ve tried home made hair masks, deep conditioning treatments, between us products galore! – and we’ve gone most of the colours in the rainbow.

So I thought I would share some of our findings on home made hair masks:

I’ve read a lot of blogs recently raving about making your own hair masks out of everyday ingredients, talking about how they are chemical free and are eco-friendly as you don’t use plastic bottles. However, after reading some of the comments on the articles, I questioned just how great they where, so thought I would try a few of the most popular ones out.

Trial 1: Egg and Olive Oil hair mask.

Ingredients: 2 eggs, 4 table spoons of olive oil.

Directions: Mix the ingredients together, apply to hair and wrap it in plastic (cling film) and leave on your hair for 10-15 minutes.

My first impressions of this was that it was really gooey, it kept running down the side of my face and down the back of my neck, no matter how tightly I wrapped the plastic round my head! It was also really uncomfortable to sit there with plastic wrapped round my head for 15 minutes.

Now before I tell you the rest of this I would like to let you know that I was doing this quite late at night, and was very tired, so my brain wasn’t quite working properly.

So after 15 minutes I got in the (nice and hot) shower to wash my hair, when I started to feel lumps in my hair, then I started to smell a rather weird smell, that I could only liken to the cooking of scrambled eggs. Yes I’m afraid to say the water from my shower had cooked the egg in my hair. So using a lot of shampoo and conditioner and a comb I managed to get it all out, however overall it left my hair feeling greasy, and very tangled. Now I’m probably slightly biased as it cooked in my hair, but I will NEVER put egg in my hair again. Feel free to try it if you wish, but PLEASE wash it out with cool water!

Trial 2: The Banana hair mask.

Ingredients: 1 mashed banana, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of honey, and 5 tablespoons of olive oil.

Directions: Mix all the ingredients together, and apply evenly to hair, and leave for 15-30minutes.

I thought about the idea of the egg cooking in my hair, along with the banana and didn’t really want to test this one out. However, I have read a lot of comments on blogs that this mask can actually make your hair very tangled, and feel dry.

Trial 3: The Avocado hair mask.

Ingredients: 1 avocado, 1 tablespoon of honey, 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Directions: Mash up the avocado and then mix it together with the honey and olive oil and apply all over your hair, for 20 minutes, then was out with shampoo.

Its a bit gooey and thick which makes it quite hard to put through your hair, and when I shampooed my hair it felt quite tangled. So I put conditioner through my hair and combed it through and it was very soft!

So combined with using conditioner it did leave my hair in good condition but it was tricky to put evenly through my hair and very hard to get it out!

Trial 4: Olive Oil.

Directions: apply olive oil to mid lengths and ends, wrap hair in plastic wrap for 45 minutes to and hour, or put a towel over your pillow and leave overnight.

This is the best one so far, and leaves your hair soft. The best way to wash it out is to shampoo onto dry hair with a little water so it lathers, wash well and rinse, then re-shampoo and conditioner. Although this works well its worth keeping in mind that this is not a very economical hair mask, Olive Oil is more expensive then shop bought intensive conditioning treatments, and quite messy to use, but on the other hand works very well.

The fifth and final trial: Apple cider vinegar.

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar, 1 cup of water, 2 drops of you favourite essential oil (optional).

Directions: mix the ingredients together and after shampooing and conditioning your hair pour the rinse over your hair and comb through with a wide tooth comb.

For the essential oil I used lavender oil, because I love the smell and it’s supposed to be good for hair growth. To begin with I smelled like a chip shop, but as it dries the smell goes and you can’t smell the vinegar once your hair is dry, and it’s easy to use- I was really surprised at how soft my hair was – really impressed with this one.

Sep22

A word about vegetables.

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This post is dedicated to my friend Charlotte who recently told me the shocking news that she has taught herself to like vegetables, this is an amazing achievement.

I am in the child like mindset that vegtables are not very nice, so following Charlottes example I’ve been teaching myself to like vegtables and have discovered roasted vegtables and (blended) vegtable soups, which I have made huge portions of (which my lovely housemates have also enjoyed!) and stocked the freezer.

So I thought I’d share links to two of my favourite recipes- which are great as we move into the colder months, for all you vegtable phobics and lovers alike.

The roasted vegtebles by Jamie Oliver- great with couscous or grilled chicken.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/home-cooking-skills/roasted-vegetables

And spicy butternut squash soup from the BBC good food:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5302/spicy-butternut-squash-soup

Serve with plenty of black pepper for an extra kick

Jul10

A Winning Smile

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During this month I am spending a lot of time in Paris, France so I thought it would be good to write about cheese…

Cheese is a food that has often been a bit of a ‘no go’ in healthy eating due to it’s high levels of saturated fats, however if eaten in moderation it is actually incredibly good for you! Playing a vital role in a balanced diet.

Firstly your teeth: cheese is a anticariogenic – a food that helps protect against dental caries, and a very good one at that. It contains calcium and phosphorous which is vital for developing and maintaining healthy teeth, they strengthen tooth enamel, and when used is cooked/mixed meals it increases the amount of calcium around the teeth and helps reduce the amount calcium that is lost when the teeth are attacked by acids in the mouth, and replaces any that is lost. Furthermore, it helps form a barrier that protects the teeth from acid and encourages your mouth to produce more saliva, which neutralises acid from plague and clears any remaining food from the mouth.

Secondly your bones: again cheese contains vital ingredients for strong and healthy bones such as protein, phosphorous, magnesium and zinc. These ingredients help bones to grow and repair through out our lives. As well as slow bone loss which happens as we get older.

Now if your sitting there thinking ‘that’s all very well but I’m lactose intolerant’ – so am I! Cheese contains a lot less lactose than the milk it is made from, because during the process of making cheese the part with the lactose in is thrown away. The general rule is the harder the cheese the less lactose it contains. Studies have shown that the majority of lactose intolerance people can happily eat small, regular, amounts of cheese, enjoying it’s health benefits without an upset stomach. (This is for lactose intolerant people not those who are intolerant to dairy or have dairy allergies!)

Note: cheese, as with all things, should be eaten in moderation and as part of a balanced diet.

So smile widely, stand tall and vive le fromage! (long live cheese)

Sources:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-cheese-good-for-you.html

http://cheese.about.com/od/cheesebasics/f/lactose_free.htm

http://www.cheesematters.com.au/all-about-cheese/cheese-and-nutrition/

http://www.milk.co.uk/page.aspx?intPageID=79