Chop

Bye bye long bleached green split ended hair, hello short and healthy locks. I like to go for the chop every so often and love having both short and long hair. I am never faithful to just one hairdresser and went to Splash Salon on Goodge Street after work on Thursday where they only do walk in appointments. Perfect for those like me who like getting their hair cut on a whim. I paid £30 for a wash, cut & blow dry as my hair was quite long but if you have shorter hair it's something like £12. Can someone please tell me how much you are expected to tip? I gave £5 because my stylist was so nice and he cut his finger in the process but he also showed me how to dry my hair so it wouldn't flick up at the ends. Is £5 too much/too little? HELP

Also, if you are a hairdresser, what is your blow drying secret?!! Even though I was shown, I went home and used the exact same technique but my hair wasn't sleek, swishy and shiny just dry and slightly fluffy. In fact my hair looks nothing like the photo now, it's more Dora the Explorer :(

I WILL persevere but do you have any blow drying tips for me? xx

Abi O BeauBronz Shimmer Tan Boost #TFWOC

First product to be reviewed in the TFWOC project is the Abi O BeauBronz Shimmer Tan Boost, a light tanning product with plenty of golden shimmer. Containing just 2.5% DHA (active tanning ingredient) there won't be a dramatic difference in tone but just enough to give your skin a nice glow which is exactly what it did for me.

The pump made application a doddle and it blended easily into my skin leaving a lovely golden shimmer which sparkled in the light. The overall smell isn't the nicest (think raw potatoes) but it wasn't overly unpleasant. However it is noticeable which bothered me and I felt that it did linger afterwards. Containing rose hip oil, vitamin E and aloe vera I expected it to be more moisturising than it was but this wasn't too important for me. My skin stayed slightly tacky for a while after application but didn't transfer onto my clothing or anything.

Personally I thought the change in colour was very minimal and didn't show up on camera but I believe repeat applications would have had a better result. It states that this product is best suited for tanned black or brown skin but I don't think it would work very well on darker skin tones in terms of tanning. However for the shimmer factor alone it would be great!


I think this would be more suited to legs, arms and decolletage rather than all over your body, and especially on nights out unless you like to rock the shimmer everyday ;)

All Abi O products are free from parabens, contain natural and organic ingredients and are cruelty free. I have the trial size which is £8 for 50ml and the full size retails for £26 for 200ml. Both are available to buy online at BeauBronz.

Tans For Women Of Colour Project #TFWOC

Did you know there were products available and aimed at women of colour? I certainly didn't and over the next few weeks I'll be testing various bronzing and tanning products as part of the #TFWOC project organised by fellow bloggers LaaLaa from Dolce Vanity and Annie from EpiphannieA.

It appears that the general consensus amongst the Asian community I have grown up in,  is that tans are unattractive and unappealing. I actually have friends who refuse to go out on fiercely sunny summer days but me? I love having a tan and I try and keep the sun kissed glow for as long as possible (just pointing out that I do wear the appropriate SPF). One of the main aims of this project is to find tanning/bronzing products suitable for WOC and in the words of LaaLaa, "encourage women to steer away from harmful and unsafe methods such skin bleaching by showing them how they can enhance and even out their skin by tanning and or bronzing and still be proud and beautiful."

You can also see how these products work on a variety of different skin tones as we have been split into groups according to MAC shades. I'm a NC44 and in Group C.

Group A (NC30 - NW30- NC35- NW35) Group B (NC37 – NC40 – NW40 - NC42) Group C (NW43 – NC44 – NC45 – NW45) Group D (NW47 – NC50 – NW50) Group E (NC55 – NW55)

The brands we will be reviewing are as follows:

Week of the 10th September : Review of BeauBronz

Week of the 17th September Review of Karamel & Brown

Week of the 24th September Review of Vita Liberata

Week of the 1st October Review of Xen-Tan

Week of the 8th October Review of  MakeBelieve

Other bloggers involved in the project:

Stephanie from Nerd about Town

Dija from Dijas World

Lola from LolaStar Hearts

Laa Laa from Dolce from Vanity

Sophia from Tattoed Tea Lady

Safiyah from FrootiBeauty

Grace from All That Slap

Annie from Epiphannie A

Yinka from Vex in the City

Hafsa from Muslimah Beauty

Stay tuned for my first post later this week!

My nightly skincare routine

I've always been more interested in makeup rather than skin care but over the past few months there have been a flurry of skin care posts by other bloggers and I decided it was time to up my game. To be honest I haven't always washed my face every night (the shame) and when I do, it's with a £4 face wash which doesn't cut it anymore, especially as I am now in my late 20s (!!). I've been trying my best to stick to this new routine instead of being lazy and just removing my eye makeup before jumping into bed.


I have a Clarisonic but I don't use it very often, preferring to use a flannel instead. I'm currently using this Avene gel cleanser which I apply to my dry face, massage in then remove with a hot flannel. Scrubbing with the flannel leaves my skin really clean and pink, you can really see the blood coming back into your face. It's not abrasive or painful in any way, just mild and very effective. It also really helped by unblocking my sinuses during the bad hay fever days. I can't recommend face flannel washing enough!

I usually follow up with this Trilogy gentle calming fluid which I received in a gift bag. As the name suggests it's typically used for soothing sensitive or irritated skin but can also be used as a light moisturiser. I hate using heavy face creams in summer because I can't stand having a sticky face! This fluid is almost serum like in consistency and adds enough moisture without being overbearing.

About twice a week I use this overnight intensive mask by Origins. I don't have very dehydrated skin but so many people have said how amazing this is and I wanted to see for myself. I had never used a leave on mask before and it felt a bit weird to apply it then not wash it off. It can be really easy to over apply which I managed to do a few times and you can really feel it on your face but it does work. Waking up in the morning my skin feels and looks plumper. It also smells lovely, like apricots!

I've also given myself a kick up the bum with eye cream. Day or night I always manage to forget. I had been using the Benefit one which was perfectly fine but I wanted to try something different. I couldn't decide between Origins Ginzing or Eye Doctor but eventually went for the latter as I felt my eyes needed more hydration. I don't think Eye Doctor helps reduce the appearance of dark shadows as it claims to do but it's very good at moisturing and soothing. No complaints so far.

So this is my nightly routine and whilst it's not the best out there it has been working well for me. I've also bought some other skin products but will be doing separate posts on those. What do you use in your routine and are there any must haves you can recommend?