Tuesday 29 January 2013

O Be Joico-Ful!

Since going blonde at 17 (the result of an attempt to cover up a terrible red dye job) my thick, healthy hair has become increasingly dry, damaged and limp and there wasn't much I could do to change it!

I've come to love my blonde locks so going natural wasn't an option for me but with the winter months came further damage, thanks a lot central heating, freezing temperatures and party hair(!), and I needed hair SOS quickly! So when my lovely friend @laurabbeauty introduced me to JOICO I was more than willing to give it a try.



JOICO's K-PAK Hair Care Products were created specifically to 'rebuild, revive, strengthen and hydrate' hair, something my hair definitely needed. As well as those benefits, JOICO's exclusive K-PAK technology claims to 'dramatically increase hair moisture, strength, smoothness, shine repair, to seal the hair cuticle preventing hair colour from fading plus providing hair with body' - yes please!

Based on my hair needs, Laura supplied me with K-PAK Reconstruct Shampoo and Conditioner (both £13.95) K-PAK Intense Hydrator (£13.95) and K-PAK Colour Therapy Restorative Oil (£15.95). So here's how I got on...

K-PAK Reconstruct Shampoo & Conditioner


JOICO's Shampoo and Conditioner have been MIRACLE WORKERS! Intended to internally reconstruct the hair and cuticles whilst removing build up to enhance elasticity, strength and shine, these products are meant for regular usage. After using them regularly for a week my hair felt amazing, thicker, bouncier and much easier to manage! I started using them just after having my hair coloured - when it is normally at its least manageable, bleach will do that to a 'do, but my hair remained salon shiny and healthy without being weighed down. I will definitely be purchasing this fabulous duo when I run out, however the bottles seem to be never ending!

K-PAK Intense Hydrator


This is an intense conditioner to be used weekly on overly dry, damaged hair to leave it softer and shinier. I've found that since using the Reconstruct Shampoo and Conditioner, I haven't had much need for this as my hair has received the perfect amount of moisture from the day to day conditioner. This product is very intensive and I would recommend purchasing it if your hair is extremely dry and damaged or as a monthly treatment for coloured hair. 

K-PAK Colour Therapy Restorative Oil


I was a bit apprehensive about using oil on my hair as the Moroccan Oil left my hair incredibly heavy and limp, but this oil has a much lighter consistency and felt less... well, oily! Plus the claim that it doubles the life of your hair colour's vibrancy really won me over! The weightless formula of this oil means that it can be used as a treatment or a styling product and I can confirm that it is very successful as both. I don't use this every time I wash my hair as I do think it would begin to weigh down my hair, but I do use it once a week on damp hair when it's looking a bit dry or frizzy. I have found that when I dry my hair, after having used the oil, it looks more vibrant and blonde; I would definitely recommend this to anyone with hair that sometimes needs a pick me up.

JOICO is available in hair salons nationwide, you can visit www.joicoeurope.com for a list of stockists. 

Have you ever tried any JOICO products? 

V x

Wednesday 9 January 2013

My internship at Harper's Bazaar


If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you will probably have seen my over excited posts about my most recent published posts (and here) on the Harper's Bazaar website.

This is just a quick post as people keep asking me what I did there/if I enjoyed it etc, so thought it would be easiest just to post it on here!

I absolutely loved my month at Harper's it was amazing and everyone was so welcoming, it was so much fun.    My tasks were mainly assisting the Beauty Assistant, keeping track of the diaries of the Beauty Director and Editor, replying to invites, sorting post and samples, keeping a log of the (very extensive!) list of Christmas presents for the Beauty Director and Director-At-Large. But, as it is such a small team at Harper's I got a lot of hands on experience, writing copy for the website, talking to PRs, arranging call ins, things like that. There were also a few perks along the way (I think I took a few too many lipsticks!)

Working in PR, I had to know all of the beauty teams individually by name for each magazine so to actually meet Sophie Forte the Beauty Director felt a bit like meeting a celebrity, but she was so lovely and really helpful giving me advice about the industry.

For anyone who wants any advice on getting an internship at a monthly magazine, I would say follow people individually on Twitter - this is essential, for example the Beauty Assistant at Harper's is @victicktoria and I also follow the Harper's Bazaar Beauty Team @BazaarBeauty, which is how I found out they were looking for someone. You will find that they post from these rather than the main magazine account so it is really helpful.

If anyone wants to read my post (this is the last time I mention it I SWEAR) you can here and here!

Feel free to message me if you have any other questions!

V x

Wednesday 2 January 2013

NYE Face

Hello everyone, happy 2013!

I had such an amazing 2012 filled with graduation, turning 21 and generally just having an amazing year but I have really positive feelings about 2013 especially as it provided me with the opportunity to get dolled up and go out with my gorgeous friends.

Unusually for us, we didn't take many photos and I don't have a close up of my make up but I thought I'd go through what I was wearing on my face anyway...

Before we went out (and my make up got ruined!)




As my dress, as you can see, is quite loud I opted for a natural look (I didn't even wear falsies, quelle horreur!) going for subtle eyes and a coral lip.

I started off using my normal concealer under my eyes, centre of my forehead and over any blemishes and then used my normal foundation Chantecaille Future Skin in Camomile. I find that I don't need to use a primer with it as it gives me natural looking glowing skin and stays on all day, even though I have to apply a few layers to achieve the desired effect.

For my eyebrows I've started using 'Busted' from my Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette with a thin, flat eyeshadow brush. I had been using a pencil but found it a bit too harsh and cakey, this is much more subtle and makes my eyebrows look fuller, one day I might be brave enough to go for the full Cara Delevingne look!

I tend to do the same thing with my eyes and have done for years - ever since using Benefit's Big Beautiful Eyes palette I have followed the same principle using whichever 3 eyeshadows I can get my hands on. My eyeshadows du jour are between Urban Decay and a Revlon palette but I opted for Urban Decay on NYE for a more nude/subtle look. I used 'Foxy' up to my brow bone, 'Half Baked' over my lids and 'YDK' to give me more definition around my lash line. I finished off with a feline flick using my Estee Lauder Eye Pencil in Blackened Black, and smudging some under my lower lash line, again for more definition. To make the look a little bit bolder I went over my 'feline flick' on my top lashes with liquid eyeliner. As writing this I've realised I've completely forgotten to add in my mascara in the above picture! Idiot. I used Santhilea Magnetic Lash, as it comes with an extra bottle of fibres meaning I can get away with not wearing false lashes - I'll probably do a separate blog post on this because I love it so much.

I finished my face with Tom Ford's amazing blusher in 'Flush'. It is quite a bright coral so you really only need  a little bit on the apples of your cheeks to get a really nice, bright glow. I tried to do a bit of contouring too with something I picked up on one of my internships but I can't for the life of me find any information about it! I think the brand is Fashionista and it's a skin brightening highlighter. Directions on the bottle tell you to mix into foundation for a glow or use as a highlighter, but I decided to put some in the hollows of my cheeks as it is quite dark, I'm not sure how 'contoured' I looked though I think I'm going to have a few more practices before I wear it out again! Finally, on my lips I wore Sisley Hydrating Long Lasting Lipstick in L11, a bright, coral colour, like my blusher, which finished off the look.

I never go out without using my heated rollers so a generous spritz of L'Oreal's Elnett Hairspray was needed to hold it all into place, though the weather blew it out as soon as I stepped out the door anyway! (I also spray my face to hold my make up in place and this is the best hairspray for it as it smells so amazing.) On my nails I wore Butter LONDON in Jack The Lad. It is such an amazing shade, a dark green with the tiniest glitter particles in it. Divine.

My friend's and I saw the New Year in on London Bridge watching the fireworks then spent the night travelling to various places all over London it was hilarious!

Seeing in the New Year (looking a little worse for wear!)
I hope you all had an amazing new year!

V x