3 months??

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I last posted... Time has absolutely flown. I have managed to complete yet another semester of uni, and have made a lot of new purchases. I've copy and pasted my recent purchases from my short-lived Tumblr (much prefer the dashboard here) which is below this post. So far, I've received the MAC foundation, and the hair curler. I'm still waiting for the Naked palette and the Sigma brushes... I can't wait!

Since I made that post I have made two small purchases.

Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour in 76 Sari Dore. It's from the Summer 2011 Collection. I just tried taking a few pics of swatches but the flash washes the colour out and does not do it justice. I will get around to doing a review on it and include some pictures then. But my initial thoughts on it are... I LOVE IT! It is a perfect coral-y, pink-y, bright but not overwhelming colour. And that Chanel lipstick smell is to die for. Next on my wishlist is Teheran.

I was inspired to buy a new lipstick after seeing the 'Are you a lipstick or eyeshadow person?' thread on VF. It got me thinking - I always put effort into my eyes but then abandon my lips. No more! In fact I am excited because it means I can put in less effort on the eyes and then focus on the lip colour. This should drastically reduce the time it takes me to do my makeup for special occasions.

I've also bought Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eyeliner in Blackest Black. After watching youtuber emilynoel83 use it and rave about it i bought it for myself. It was about $25AUD (so wayyyyyyy exxy for what is considered drugstore) but to ease the pain i had $10 on a Westfield gift card which i put toward the purchase.

Other products I am loving at the moment:

Joico Colour Endure Violet Shampoo

picture from joico.com

I LOVE THIS! IMO it beats Matrix so silver HANDS DOWN! It's far more pigmented and much less drying (although, beware - it still is NOT what is considered a moisturing shampoo).

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Gentle Exfoliating Facial Scrub

picture is my own!

As you can see... I've almost squeezed the death out of this! I love it. My only gripe is that some of the exfoliating particles are way too big and a bit scratchy?! It's very moisturising, removes makeup well, and does NOT leave skin with that tight feeling. It has not broken me out at all despite the formula being quite heavy. I will definitely be repurchasing this!

(it has a flip-cap on the lid, but I have unscrewed it to get the dregs of the tube out!)

I'm not on uni holidays, so I hope to get around to some regular posting!

Schwarzkopf Perfect Mousse

Now, I am not one to usually do my hair colour at home. Being blonde-y, I find it far too risky because I'm scared it will turn orange, fall off, burn etc etc.

Today, however, was one of those days where I hastily decided that I NEEDED to do something about my hair. I had it foiled 1/2 head about 4 weeks ago, but as I only got 1/2 a head it was a mish-mash of different colours and tones, with  too much dark hair around my roots and underneath, and despite my daily shampooing with Matrix So Silver, my foils had a brassy tinge that wouldn't budge. I had a bee in my bonnet and my hair had to be remedied today.

I'd seen the Schwarzkopf Perfect Mousse last week when I was at Chemist Warehouse (unsucessfully) trying to source YSL Touche Eclat in shade 2 and I thought it looked pretty good, promising a pleasant fragrance, no ammonia, and glossy hair. So today at Priceline I picked up a box of Pearl Blonde (the lightest shade). I was tossing up between Pearl Blonde and Medium Blonde (the next lightest shade) but decided that if I was going to stuff my hair up, I was going to do it trying to be light blonde.

It was a cinch to use, open the developer bottle, pour in the colour gel, pop the pump on and hold upside down to combine.

Because the underneath of my hair was practically all my natural colour (dark mousy blonde) with only the last remains of a light brown semi, I decided to do the underneath of my hair first for 30 minutes. I then rinsed it, and dried it (as the product has to be applied to dry hair) and then used the remaining product to apply all over my hair (including the underneath again) except I was frugal with it around my hairline, I didn't want to risk looking like Draco Malfoy (have in the past). I knew it would be okay to do the underneath again as my hair seems to be very resilient, no matter how much it gets bleached, it is still in pretty good shape and glossy.

Fast forward 30 minutes, I hopped in the shower, rinsed my hair, shampooed it with my So Silver (left it on for a few minutes for good measure) and then conditioned it with the tube from the box.

The darker golden bit on the left was where my natural colour was, so as you can see it didn't turn it Pearl Blonde, rather a golden blonde (and looks darker here than it is because of the reflection of my hair). It definitely made my highlights a Pearl Blonde though!

My Thoughts:

Pros
+ No yucky bleach smell!
+ Easy to use
+ Only 30 min developing time
+ PLENTY of product (I was easily able to do the underneath, and then my whole head again with one pack)
+ Adapted amazingly to the tones in my hair, was not one flat colour
+ Left hair glossy just like it promised

Cons
- It developed darker than the shade depicted on the box (which was fine for me, because it lifted my previously foiled blonde, but for the re-growth it left it a darker golden rather than pearl blonde)

*** if you're a light-medium blonde wanting to use this, use Pearl Blonde, as I feel that Medium Blonde will come out too dark

I will definitely repurchase this. I like knowing that there is a blonding product I can (easily) use at home that won't ruin my hair.

I give it 4.5 stars (how do I get star shapes in my blog?!)