April Favourites

Josh Wood Colour Renewing Shampoo For Brunette Hair Prone To Frizz
When I dyed my hair back to brown, I needed to get some new products to help maintain the colour. Being brunette is much lower maintenance than platinum blonde but when you use a darker dye over bleached hair, the blonde bits will inevitably start peeking through over time. Using the wrong kind of shampoo & conditioner can make the colour fade even quicker. To keep these chocolate tones looking fresh I picked up some of the Josh Wood Colour products specifically for brunette hair. They contain advanced UV filters to prevent fade as well as saffron & turmeric to keep brunette hair looking glossy & vibrant. The shampoo & conditioner for brunette hair prone to frizz are a dreamy duo that have made my hair look healthier than ever before. They make my hair feel really clean & soft whilst keeping frizz in check. I love how gloriously shiny my hair looks & I'll definitely be picking up some new bottles this week as I've just ran out!

Soap & Glory Bubble In Paradise Refreshing Body Wash
Soap & Glory make some fabulous shower gels with utterly gorgeous scents. I normally go for their Sugar Crush Body Wash because I love the fresh citrusy notes but a couple of months ago I couldn't find it in any Boots store for some reason. In it's absence I decided to try their Bubble In Paradise Body Wash. This product is part of their Call Of Fruity scented range which is their exotic new fragrance with mango, papaya & coconut. It's such a lovely tropical scent that completely fills the bathroom. The formula is really creamy & feels moisturising on the skin. It lathers up well so you only need to use a tiny amount & having a shower with this beaut body wash is a great way to start your day.

Maybelline Dream Urban Cover Foundation
IT Cosmetics are so annoying. They've made one of the most gorgeous looking foundations of all time & yet they refuse to fully expand the shade range. 12 shades is nowhere near comprehensive enough & when drugstore brands like Revolution manage to bring out 50 shades of foundation, it just makes IT Cosmetics seem like they don't care. So when I heard rumours that Maybelline's latest foundation was a dupe for the Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream, I went out & bought it immediately. Maybelline are yet another drugstore brand who have a very inclusive range of foundation colours & 100 Warm Ivory is a perfect match for me. I use their Fit Me Matte & Poreless Foundation in the same colour so I knew it would be a safe choice. The foundation has quite a liquidy formula & it feels very lightweight on the skin but it still delivers in terms of coverage. I wouldn't say it's as full coverage as they claim but it certainly does a excellent job of concealing any redness & hiding the vast majority of my skin imperfections. I love the healthy natural looking radiance it gives to my skin & the smooth satin finish. The foundation provides SPF 50 & is enriched with antioxidants to protect against pollution. This is definitely my base product of choice for this Summer. The extra sun protection is always welcome & it lasts all day long on my skin. I don't think it's a perfect dupe for the IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream because it's not as moisturising & gives more coverage but it's still a brilliant foundation.

Origins GinZing Energy-Boosting Moisturiser
I used to be really obsessed with Origins skincare products but I kinda fell out of love with them as newer brands such as The Ordinary began to emerge. One product I always meant to try is their GinZing Energy-Boosting Moisturiser & I recently got this little sample bottle from a beauty box. I'm a big fan of gel formulas because they work really well for oily/combination skin types. The lightweight formula provides just the right amount of hydration & sinks in really quickly so you can get on with applying your makeup. It has a gorgeous orange sherbet scent which makes it a joy to use. If your skin is looking a little tired then I'd definitely recommend trying this moisturiser. It's fortified with panax ginseng & coffee bean to instantly energise the skin giving you a healthy looking, vibrant glow. It really perks me up in the morning & has an immediate effect on the brightness of my complexion. I never looked this good without makeup until I tried this moisturiser. For super soft radiant skin, Origins GinZing is a wonderful product.

Nu Skin Nu Colour LightShine Lip Plumping Balm in Pink Tinge
I still haven't 100% decided if I want to get lip fillers or not. I've found a fantastic aesthetic practitioner to perform the procedure but I'm just worried it won't look right on my face. Until I fully make my mind up I've been trying out different lip plumping products to achieve a similar but less permanent effect. One of my favourite products I've discovered is this Lip Plumping Balm from Nu Skin. This lip balm feels silky & deeply moisturising on the lips. Rose hip oil is one of the main ingredients so it's rich in fatty acids. These fatty acids help the lip balm to improve the elasticity & moisture levels of the skin whilst giving your lips a full & even glow. There is a slight tingle when applying the lip balm because it contains menthol which improves blood circulation. It doesn't quite give you Kylie Jenner lips but it adds a more natural plumpness. This makes it a great base for lipsticks because it gives your lips a smoother appearance, so anything you put on top will be less likely to sink into fine lines. It also looks really pretty used by itself because it tints your lips with a soft baby pink hue.

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Brunette Bombshell

Having spent the last decade as a blonde, this year I decided that it was finally time to rejoin the dark side. Personally I think I look a lot prettier as a blonde & I loved being able to use pinks, purples or silvers to change it up whenever I got a bit bored. But when your hair is naturally as dark as mine, there are so many downsides to being platinum blonde. I hated the upkeep as my hair would only look good for a matter of weeks before I needed my roots done again. Sitting in a hairdresser's chair for over five hours was beyond annoying. Olaplex wasn't a thing when I first started getting my hair bleached so I've had to put up with ridiculous amounts of damage, breakage & chemical burns. My hair would never grow past a certain length because the ends would always look like straw & require cutting. Not to mention constantly staining the bathtub purple with toning shampoos! Basically it was a lot of work & although I did love the look, I've gotten to the point in my life where it became way too much effort. I wanted something super low maintenance that would cut my hairdresser trips down to the bare minimum.

That's how I ended up with this delicious dark chocolate melt! I went to Niché Salon in Huddersfield where Michelle gave me a rich all over colour with some free hand ombré for perfect subtle tones. It's a lot darker & warmer than my natural colour but I love it. I've had to change up my makeup a bit & go HAM on the bronzer most days because I can look a bit too goth without that warmth in my face. I think I need to get some new brow products though because ABH Medium Brown is a little too light & ashy for my current hair colour. Michelle also cut my hair into a blunt lob with some shorter pieces at the front to frame my face. I wanted more of a Bardot fringe but maybe I'll save that for next time. At least she cut off most of the blonde so my hair feels really thick & healthy for the first time in years. Anyway I'm really happy with my new low maintenance hairdo. I'm sure some people won't recognise me as I almost look like an entirely different person! Maybe that's a good thing?



Of course, new hair requires new haircare! I always used purple shampoos & deep conditioning masks to maintain my blonde locks but brunette hair comes with a completely new set of challenges. As my hair is no longer dried out from all the bleach I have to wash it a lot more often to avoid looking like a grease bomb. But washing your hair all the time can mean that your colour fades a lot faster. There's still a little bit of blonde towards the ends so I don't want it the brown to fade & look brassy. There are quite a few products marketed specifically towards brunettes out there but a lot of them have really bad reviews. I spotted these Josh Wood Colour products in Boots & having checked the reviews on their website, they seemed like the best option. I decided to pick up the Renewing Shampoo & Conditioner For Brunette Hair Prone To Frizz (£10 each). They also do a shampoo & conditioner for fine brunette hair. I went for the frizzy one because my hair is feeling a lot thicker these days. I also like my hair to look really sleek & polished.

The Renewing Shampoo & Conditioner have been specially formulated with shade-specific ingredients to leave your brunette hair feeling clean, radiant & lustrous. They are suitable for all brunette shades because they're not colour depositing products. This means that they won't make your hair any darker but they will keep your colour looking fresh. They also won't stain your bathtub! The products contain advanced UV filters to prevent fade as well as saffron & turmeric to keep your hair looking glossy & vibrant. They have a slight herbal scent which won't be to some people's taste but I quite like it. I really love these products because they make my hair feel so clean & impart such a beautiful shine. They keep my hair feeling velvety soft & have definitely helped to lock in the colour. You get a professional finish at home & that's exactly what I wanted!

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