Creating a pretty and glamorous up-do in 2 minutes or less!

I have no real flair for hair, which is why as soon as I had the chance, I* took a pair of shears to my hair and cut it all off so that I could get back to the short and sassy hair that I love, and the impact that it has had on my on a day to day basis is just astounding.
Call me vain, but it has made a difference to my life.
Having to grow my hair out for a wedding meant that for the last 6 months leading up to the big day I just came to hate my hair, I didn't feel like myself, I never knew what to do with it, washing and drying it was such a laborious task - it's cut and uniform length really made me feel very dowdy at times, now I feel like I am fueled on helium, my hair is light and moves and has such a lot of natural volume that I don't really have to do much for it to look polished.

I'm not super sassy with hair styling, or even hair care. Caring for long hair is a hell of a lot different to caring for shorter/medium length hair. So the only real problem with my hair is now that it looks pretty much the same every day (which it did when it was long, but I suppose I had the choice of hair up or hair down). It's too short to go properly into a ponytail, which is hardly the height of fashionable hairstyles anyway, so I decided that I would give it a try to essentially randomly pin up sections of my hair, twisting some into pin-like curl formations on my head.

I got better and quicker with this as I'd do it and I loved how it looked a lot more intricate than it was. So I figure this is just ideal for situations when I'm looking for something a little more dressy than 'hair down'

*it wasn't actually 'I' but a trained hairdresser, thank goodness

St Lucia daydreams...

Still feeling pretty gunky but I want to keep things positive, so I've had my sister sending me pictures and messages of her exotic holiday in St Lucia all week, and I thought I would share them with you because if you like me aren't going anywhere more exotic than your back garden then we can close our eyes and pretend we are here, far away from feeling gross or ill, or maybe you feel stressed or sad.
We can focus on these pictures and jump into them and just relax in the warm sun and scent of salt water in the air and the sound of the waves soothing us to feel wonderfully peaceful and relaxed...

And here's a little something funny to end on, my sister had her hair braided (I've cropped out her face because she was pulling a funny face and wouldn't forgive me!)

...and it reminded me of that 'Friends' episode where Monica has her hair braided!

Now I really want to watch Friends and fall asleep under my duvet...

5 minute up-do!

My sister came over the weekend for a friends birthday at a nightclub called 'The Sugar Hut' I think it sounds like the inside would be covered in sweets, but it's not like that at all; it's been made famous by a really popular television show here called 'The Only Way Is Essex' it's like a reality show (but I don't think much of it is really real)

She wanted a pretty hairstyle, I usually do a lot of 'down-do's' on her, long loose curls and lots of volume- that sort of thing, but today we were feeling an up-do, so an up-do we did!

I was meant to take pictures as I went through but we were short for time so I only have the before and after- but luckily, it's so darn easy that I can explain it without the visual aids!



1. Separate the top section of hair and backcomb underneath to act as a kind of 'cushion' for the smooth top part of the hair to be laid over to make an automatic quiff! Pin it in place and smother in hairspray!

2. Gather the rest of the hair into  tight and low ponytail, use a plain and simple hair tie

3. Take the ponytail and flip it and push it through the hair behind the pony tail, to make a kind of 'fancy- twist' ponytail

4. take the ends of the hair and flip it again, although instead of pushing it through hold it flipped inwards and pin until your hearts content and its held in place. Add another layer of hairspray, focusing specifically on the bun.

5. Finsh of with pretty itty bitty hair clips that match what you wear, my sister was wearing a dusky pink dress so I pinned 2 mathcing hair slides into the bun

 The finished result!

There you go, hair stylist (haha) and customer!
I know-I look like a vanilla popsicle next to my sister!

Hello Kitty Curls

Saturdays are the perfect days where you have a little more time to give your hair a little more
'ooh-la-la' there is nothing particularly Hello Kitty about the curls other than I'm wearing a hello kitty jumper!

Here it is! My insanely easy and not-so-slow loose, perfectly-imperfect mermaid curls

First of all, split your hair into an upper and lower layer, and clip up the top layer (you might need to split it into more clipped up layers if your hair is super thick)

Pinch at little sections of the bottom layer of your hair and place it between the plates of the straighteners

Holding the straightener pointing downwards, begin in the middle of the hair strand so that only the ends are curled and it looks more 'loose and natural' twist the straighteners to wrap the hair around the straighteners and slowly pull the straighteners downwards so that the hair is pulled out between the plates. It's super important to do it in a kind of slow and graceful motion, like when you use scissors to curl ribbon!

Here's a little looky at how my curls looked!

Once you've curled the bottom layer, pull at small sections of hair from clip that seperates off the next layer

...And do the same again as you did on the bottom layer, same technique with the straighteners pointing downwards and curling like ribbon, but rather than beginning half way down the hair you may want to start twisting closer to the root for more curl and body to your hair

Keep going all the way around your head until you have pulled all the hair from the clip seperating the curly from the straight hair. If your arm gets tired have a little break- maybe a quick snack!

The end result! Wonderfully, natural looking waves that just ooze glamour but are super simple and can be done with a straightening iron curlers, mousse or even hair spray is really needed!

And while we're here.... We may aswell have a quick look what I wore today, it's not super exciting

A baggy Hello Kitty jumper that looks like it was from some 80s dance movie where baggy dance gear was 'all the rage'! I wore a white vest underneth because it's kind of cold today!

Then some simple black treggings on the bottom, they're super comfy stretchy and go with everything, I got them from TKMaxx
(of course, the thick hello kitty socks are the most glamorous part of this outfit, theyre from H&M)

For my Make up that I wore today I'll do a little step-by-step for that tomorrow otherwise this post will be a bajillion pictures long and you might fall asleep half way through! Haha

Blonde in my hurrr!

So I got a little blonde in my hair to lighten it up all!

 I look like a metallic rooster!

And a lil' trimmy on the ends

I think blonde is fun when the weather gets warmer, it gives my hair a little more life and a little wamrth to my 'super pale' skin - Yes, my shade of skin gets a name of it's own as it's paler than even the palest I would say!

Do you like the dye your hair with the seasons, or maybe your hair naturally changes with the weather (I don't mean frizzy when wetted by rain!)

Bow-tiful! Outfit of the day!

Here's a little look at what I wore today!

For Makeup:
Moisturiser on the cheeks
Primer on the T zone (it gets the most oily!)
Concealer under my eyes and under my nose
Quick dusting of all over face powder
Pastel pink blusher on the cheeks
Black eyeliner on the water line
Swipe of black mascara
Vaseline on the lips

For hair:
5 minute straightening on the ends

For clothing:
White vest top with black lace bow and a giant gem in the middle! (I love this) It's from a stall at Portobello market in London.
Black knitted cardigan from Next
Slim fit smart black trousers (which I know you can't see- but just so you get a feel of the look as a whole!)

Just another Studded Sunday

Sooo....
Kesha posted this picture of a shaved off patch of her hair with golden studs in it's place!



At first I though OUCH- buuuuut, then I realised they most likely didn't staple the studs into her head like they do when they put studs on shoes, belts and jeans.
It's a little upgrade from the previous studded eybrows:

They hopefully didn't have to shave off her eyebrows to get studded eyebrows!

Aaaanyway, back to the hair studs I think that would feel so weird to accidentally brush over, the bristles of the brush would make like a 'clang/scrape' against her head, also.. what happens when her hair starts growing back through?

And finally... how do they get them off? If it's just a case of tweeze and pull, then that really is ouchy!

I know a lot of people like to criticise and say that it's gross and/or weird, yes it is a little weird but I've never seen it before and I think that's awesome!

After all, there are people that think everything is weird from feather extensions in your hair:



To dreadlocks in your hair:



Even fun hair bows in your hair:

Available from here

I think it won't be too long before hair stud at home tutorials start popping up all over the place!

What do you think!?



I'm packing!

Probably one of my most least favourite things to do! I find it near on impossible to effectively gather everything I'll need for a week, into a limited space.
I've decided these are my top space saving tips!
-Bring one pair of versatile shoes (mine are my little ankle boots with a buckle, can be dressed up or down)
-Do not bring every makeup brush, I can double up uses for some if i think about it especially with eye shadow blending brushes
-Do not bring every eyeshadow, a neutral pallette can be adapted for night time, just add more of the dark colour and blend etc
-Do not bring every ring and necklace I own

...that's all I've got!

Here's a little peek at what I'm packing:

Clothes! Trying to strategiacally organise..

Magical Pink suitcase, unfortunately it doesn't sparkle in real life, but I had you thinking it did didn't I!?

Hair supplies, a few rings and a charm bracelet

Makeup! The complete essentials and only one lip colour! Body Shops Lip Tint

My makeup bag I've got to fit it all into! I love this thing because it's wipe clean fabric and there's sure to be an explosion somewhere along the way...

I maybe dislike packing mostly because then the morning of when you're leaving you think 'oh I need that hairbrush' then you remember 'oh darn it's in my bag' and have to use a awful comb you found in a drawer.
Then on the way to where you're heading you're sat there thinking 'Have i got everything?' 'I'm sure I forgot something'
I remember one time I forgot a headband, and I thought this would be no big deal- it turned out to be so irritating to not have one to wash my face at night time, and holding my hair back just got it all wet!
I still need to pack leggings, pjs, work, camera, pressed powder makeup (goes in a smaller bag that I carry to stop it from breaking or getting crushed in the pan in a big bag)
I'm still waiting for some stuff to get out the wash so it can be ready and I leave tomorrow!

Throughout this week uploading videos won't be possible, but.... I'll have captured lots of fun footage to put up the following week and of course I'll be blogging every day still.

Hope you enjoyed packing with me!