Gellux update

Update ! 14 days in and one big chip , two small chips. I have taken off the polish on the nail with a big chip and painted it deep purple (china glaze  skyscraper  ) . The rest of the nails have been protected with a sparkly topcoat .

Been to boots - again ! Back for more cucumber

Today I wandered into boots for some make-up remover wipes for my upcoming weekend of camping and ended up buying their 3 boots essential products for £3 , ace ! So I returned home with :

Essentials cucumber UVA and UVB protection  moisturising lotion .
Essentials cucumber eye gel.
Essentials cucumber cleansing wipes.

Shall try them out over the next week , love how refreshing the cucumber is in this heat !

Gellux manicure

A few weeks back I decided that I would treat myself  and try the new trend of extra long lasting chip resistant manicures , i booked into a salon and had 'gellux' in a very dark slightly metallic navy blue applied (midnight satin) . It looked fab for about 24 hours ! Then to my dismay I realised two of my nails were no longer shiny like the rest , over the next day both nails lost their gellux coating , I contacted the salon and my lovely beautician checked the bottles of varnish to ensure nothing was wrong but found no problems , I re-booked to have the nails re-painted (kindly done for free) and now can enjoy the polish for as long as possible ,
Currently 12 days in with no chips so far !

Big fake ultimate false lash effect mascara - collection

So the other day I realised that I was well overdue a new mascara , I was in Wilkinsons and thought id pick up a bargain as after having my brows reshaped and tinted , said brows would be in need of something to fix them in place (clear mascara) . While browsing for a clear mascara a brown/black mascara caught my attention - in the 'collection' section - cheap and promising "big fake ultimate false" lashes so I though meh I'll try it ! On arriving home to test the new mascara I realised that the brush was HUGE ... in fact about as wide as I can open my eyes . Great , I can paint my lashes and eyeballs at the same time ! Here is a comparison of my new mascara brush (left) and my old MUA mascara brush (right):

     So that's one negative so far for me , however my lashes did look longer and it stayed put for the day until I removed my make-up before bed , it still requires more testing before I bin it altogether .

Leo Bancroft Vs John Frieda

Leo Bancroft glamorously curly control and shine 

VS

 Frizz-Ease spiral style spray gel 

I have spiral curls so when I style my hair it needs a product to keep the curls in shape all day , I never use a dryer on my hair , just a few blots with a towel after applying a serum then a gel or cream . My hair is slightly longer than my bra line at the moment so curls need to withstand the weight . Two products I've tried when I lived in Devon one being a gel spray , the other a cream in squeezy tube - here is my verdict !

Leo Bancroft glamorously curly control and shine cream (exclusive to TESCO priced at £4) :

This cream smells quite sweet and pleasant , it's white but soaks into my hair well , I apply by tipping my freshly washed and conditioned hair over the bath I apply the chosen serum ,then squeeze a 10p size blob into my hands and rub them together then work through my hair , then I scrunch and dab my curls with a microfibre towel , flick my head back upright and shake/flick my hair into place and that's it , done !

Apparently the range is only available at TESCOs so can be picked up with your food shopping at a really good price , unlike the gel sprays the curls aren't crunchy this lasts all day in my hair - as long as one's boyfriend doesn't decide to *ping!  my ringlets when I'm sat on the sofa watching tele .

John Frieda Frizz-Ease spiral style gel spray (£6.00 in TESCO or around £5.00 elsewhere) 

I tried this gel before the Leo Bancroft cream because it was on offer with the frizz ease curl shampoo and conditioners (which a fellow curly had said was brilliant!) and was SO SO disappointed ! I did the same routine I do with the cream but obviously spraying the product , firstly the product was sticky no matter how much or how little I applied , the ends of my hair looked dry and crunchy , yet the rest of my hair looked wet-going-on-greasy , not impressed ! I still have this spray to occasionally spray over my finished hair - but will not buy it again . The only good point about this spray was that the day after I could spray my hair with some water and the re-scrunch the curls and they would still hold - also possible with the cream though .

My Favorite products

 Here are a few of my favorite products I use pretty much everyday , there is quite a few more to add especially shower gels and bubble bath !


First thing to do before even thinking about touching make-up is washing your hands , in the house we have quite a few liquid soaps but 'Champneys , citrus glow energising hand wash' is my favourite . I was given this by my mum and love the smell ! It has : Eucalyptus , cardamom , orange peel extract and lemon oil . It smells so fresh and I look forward to using it .

After a quick shop in Boots to find a new mild cleanser for my sensitive skin I found ''Boots essentials cucumber facial wash'' , it was so cheap at £1.50 and worth a try ! And so far so good ! Obviously it smells of cucumber so is lovely and refreshing now it's summer - just please don't use too much as I find it foams very well !

Also in my quick shop I found ''Boots tea tree and witch hazel night treatment gel'' this stuff is great !! just please make sure you don't get it anywhere near your eyes at all , they'll burn and stream for days ! I have an issue with spots around my mouth and chin - night time dribbler ? but using this gel after cleansing with the cucumber wash to the bottom half of my face and neck has done a treat , you only need about a 5p size blob so at £2.99 I will definitely buy this again when it runs out , being a gel it doesn't feel greasy and its antibacterial too due to the tea tree .

A product that I always use when I have a spot on its way is ''Neutrogena visibly clear , rapid clear treatment''  its a tiny bottle that you can take anywhere and just apply to the spot and it's meant to work in visibly reducing spots in just 8 hours ! I find it does work really well - it can however make your skin very dry and a little goes a long way .I tried the cleansers that go with it , but they made my skin so dry and itchy ,so they got binned ! Currently for sale in Boots at £3.99 , I might buy this again when it runs out - nearly empty now , but I might try the spot treatment to go with the witch hazel night gel instead !

Something I've been a fan of when my skin is having a really bad day is using distilled witch hazel after cleansing , it calms my skin and can be used on bruises , minor cuts etc. You used to be able to buy a bottle of it from Wilkinsons for about 98p , but the price has gone up to around £1.70 , still worth buying though .

Last year I grabbed two lots of this stuff from Tesco ''Soleil Beauty face defence matte fluid SPF 50'' and I'm glad I picked up two , basically its a SPF 50 face cream protecting against UVA and UVB rays , it has a slight bronze tint in it too , which works fine on my really pale skin .

I love the smell of sweet sweet vanilla ! So I use this spray a lot , it even gets sprayed around the house to freshen throws , bedding and towels . Last time Boots had an offer on 3 for 2 , all the three items I got were this product ! It just smells so yummy .

Welcome...

Photo by Mark Elliot

Hi everyone ,im Ashley and this is going to be the place where i can post about all hair and make-up stuff ! And on occasions cars . I love cars .

So , Here's a bit about me ! I live in the North West of England - not far from the Lake District . Im basically a southerner because for most of my life I lived in Hampshire (with a brief stint in Devon) . A few years back I trained in 'make-up for television and film' along with hairdressing and wig making (the latter requires patience) . So since about 2008 I've been slowly building up a portfolio by working with photographers and local models , occasionally modelling myself .

This year im trying to push myself into getting my work known and being published ! So here it goes ...

Photo by Gary Leonard

Photo of Becki Short , make-up for prom

Tiffany

Joanna , Photo by Gary Leonard

Myself , Photo by Gary Leonard

Photo by Luke Joyce