The Correct Way to use a Kirby/Hair Grip... Apparently?!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Surely not?!?!

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

QVC Today's Special Value (TSV) - BaByliss Curl Secret!

Right, I've only just seen this, and it's advanced orders only already, so you're going to have to be quick if you want it. However the BaByliss CurlSecret is on offer at £92.40 + £6.95 postage and packaging on QVC today, right now. The normal retail price is £120, so you're saving £20.65 in total, which is a pretty decent saving.

The advanced orders will be shipped on the week commencing 16th December, so I expect it will still be in time for Christmas gifting.

Below is the information QVC provide about the device, although I'll be reviewing the Professional version very soon:

"BaByliss Curl Secret Hair Styler. With this innovative styler, hair is automatically drawn into the ceramic curl chamber where it is softly held and heated from all directions, taking just seconds to form a perfect curl. It even has an audio beep indicator to let you know exactly when to release your hair. Effortlessly create long-lasting, free-flowing curls with the BaByliss Curl Secret.

Professional-quality styler - it features a powerful heating system with  ultra-fast heat recovery for constant high heat, plus a 20 minute sleep mode and a 60 minute automatic shut-off feature for added safety.

Let the curler do the hard work - with standard tools it's always tricky creating the perfect curl, but the Curl Secret features alternating curl direction control for fast, uniform formation and natural-looking, long-lasting results.

Three timer settings:
Setting 1: eight seconds/three beeps for loose, natural curls
Setting 2: 10 seconds/ four beeps for soft bouncy curls
Setting 3: 12 seconds/ five beeps for tight, defined curls

Two heat settings:
Low setting: for delicate, fine or coloured hair
High setting: for normal textured hair

    Ceramic curl chamber for smooth, shiny curls
    Heat ready indicator light
    Suitable for shorter and mid-length hair, not very long hair
    Not suitable for synthetic or real hair extensions
    2.5m (97.5") swivel cord for control whilst styling


Contains:

    1 x BaByliss Curl Secret Hair Styler (l x w): 27cm x 8cm (10.5" x 3.1")
    1 x heat protection mat

All measurements are approximate"

Take me there!

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Wordless Wednesday... on a Thursday (Scheduling Failed)!

Just a little post today as I am poorly, but I wanted to show you this product before I tried it out anyway! It looks brilliant, and such a good idea... don't you think? I'll be trying it out in a club, and reporting back what I think very soon.

Hope you're all well and not suffering the lurgy like I am. x

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

ghd Scarlet Deluxe Collection!

I've used ghd straighteners for the last 5 years, but before using them I used Kodo straighteners, believing that since they were solid ceramic and got to the same temperature, they'd be just as good but without the larger price tag. And they were good, until the day that I tried my sister's ghd's and realised how much better they were, in pretty much every way, ease of use, results etc. The difference was so noticeable that I ditched the Kodo straighteners immediately in favour of a pair of ghd Mark 4's and I've used these ever since, they haven't failed me yet!

The new ghd Deluxe Scarlet Collection gift set is a thing of beauty, in every way! When I received the box, I think I might have squeeled a little at its gorgeous presentation. A beautiful box, with Art Deco styling, containing a gorgeous, scarlet red clutch bag, a travel hair dryer, 2 sectioning clips (that actually do hold hair well), a vanity case (useful and looks good) and of course, the ghd Classic Gold styler with new, red plates and separate heat guard.

The scarlet bag, which, like the box has distinct Art Deco styling, really has the wow factor and when you open the box, I expect it will be the first thing that catches your eye, like it was for me. I'd be happy to take it out with me, let alone store my straighteners in it, which is its primary purpose - you can even put your straighteners into this bag when hot, as it's heat resistant, which makes it perfect for travelling.

Along with the heat resistant bag, the set contains a dedicated heat guard that slips over the plates of the straighteners that will protect surfaces from being burned whilst in use. I have found these to be useful, although you do need to position them perfectly, or be faced with faffing to get them on and off if they're not at the right angle. You'll get a feel for this within minutes of using it, so it's not too much of a problem at all.

Talking of the plates, I mentioned that they're red, but they also have a slight sparkle to them which totally appeals to the magpie in me, although I haven't been able to capture them very well in the photographs below. Although not an essential thing, I do think think this adds a lovely touch to the look of the straighteners and makes them feel a bit more glamorous in the process, which is totally in keeping with the collection as a whole.

The plates also seem smoother than on my previous model, which is great for straightening as there's less drag and catching, however I do find curling with these slightly more diffiult - which I expect is due to this, as there's less 'grab' so to speak. Not such a problem as these days I generally use specific tools for curling anyway!

The straighteners are pretty much the same design as your average ghd in every other way, other than the red styling and a slightly larger, easier to use power switch, and they work in exactly the same way.

However, I have noticed that they don't get quite as hot as my ghd MK4 straighteners, and whilst this isn't such a bad thing as it's kinder to your hair, I do find it takes a little bit longer to get the same smooth effect - not long enough to make this a deal breaker, just an extra stroke or so, depending on the thickness of the hair you're using it on.

There's no way of controlling the temperature either, which I suspect is why they've made them slightly kinder to hair as I'd expect it's better to give the option for people to use an extra stroke for thicker/coarser hair, than it is for people with finer hair to scorch/damage their hair with the hotter plates.

Finally, the dryer that comes with the set is actually quite good - it's great for travelling as the handle folds and makes the unit even more compact, yet it still packs enough power to actually dry hair, which some travel hairdryers I've owned in the past have failed to do.

All in all, this collection is a success, it looks good, and works well too. It's a perfect option for a gift, as I think it will wow the recipient - or even just a nice treat for yourself!

Available from http://www.ghdhair.com for £149!

PR Sample - Views are my own!

This post originated at www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk

Win An Enrapture Hair Styling Tool With Debenhams!

I've had the fortune to try 2 of the 3 tools out and have been really very impressed - I've got a post coming up on the waving tool very soon, and if you haven't already seen it then have a little look at my Totem Styler review here!

So, when I noticed there was a competition to win one of their stylers on the Debenhams Blog I thought that you guys might like to know about it, so you can be in with the chance of winning. It's a Twitter based competition and full details are included in the Debenhams Blog link above, but I've copied a little text in case you'd rather just get on with entering!

So to be in with a chance to win one of these fantastic Enrapture hair stylers make sure you follow us on Twitter and look out for our Enrapture #goodhairday tweets, which will be starting Monday 7 November and simply retweet one of these tweets on the competition days to enter.

Will you be entering? 

Enrapture Encode Totem Styler!

I was sent the Enrapture Totem Styler quite a while ago now and due to tragic events in August, I didn’t get around to posting about it, until now as I’ve been catching up on things ever since.

I love curls and I am so glad they’re well and truly back in ‘fashion’; I get instantly drawn to photographs of celebrities who have gorgeous curly hair (both natural or styled, and loose or tight), as you’ll see in my upcoming “hair do’s” post.

However I also love having curls in my own hair, I love the all over effect of them, but also the extra movement and body that they create. The problem with this is that I can never fully get them to look how I want them to as quite frankly, I am crap at it. I struggle to section my hair adequately for the most part, but this is something that will not be solved by any hair styler, so anything that makes the rest of it easier is always very welcome on my dressing table.

The totem styler allows a huge amount of flexibility it allows when in use and I will explain why:

Firstly, it has a little ‘tong’ that can be used to secure the bottom of hair whilst I curl the rest of it... I find this useful because longer ones can get in the way, so this one is great for me. I also like that when I am curling in this way, the (long) cord easily swivels around so that I don’t risk getting in a tangled mess, or worse, burning the cord itself!!

It can also be used as a wand, just wrapping hair around the barrel manually and hold it in place to create curls. I find that I do this at the back of my hair as it makes it slightly easier than me trying to place the hair under the tong at a funny angle (cack-handed, remember) and risk even more injury.

This leads me to point out that I do still have tendencies to burn myself using both techniques, and say that I do actually need to use my heat resistant glove from my Babyliss wand when styling. If Enrapture were to include a glove for fellow cack handed people this would make this styler absolutely perfect (and if you don’t need a glove, you can always pass it onto people who do... or start a Michael Jackson tribute act).

Both of these different ways of using it are also made easier by the addition of a built in rest which allows me to put the styler down very easily and without having to mess around to get an angle in which it doesn’t touch anything that it could burn. This is accompanied with a heatproof pouch that gives double the heat protection to my dressing table, so I’m confident that I won’t ruin anything in the process of curling my hair.

The pouch also means that I can put the styler away straight away which is very useful indeed, especially if you’re planning on packing it up and taking it away with you after using. Another ‘design feature’ I like is the the on/off control and that is a proper switch, as my Babyliss wand is kind of a recessed button that gets turned off whilst in use ALL the time – annoying, so thank you Enrapture, it really is the small things that make a difference!

The Totem Styler also has adjustable heat settings that relate to different sections of the barrel and work independently, meaning that you can get a variety of finishes by changing the heat settings in the different parts of the barrel... for instance 1 would be a lower heat setting, giving a looser curl... and 3 would be hotter, and would give a tighter curl – and you can set these to whichever part of the barrel suits how you want your hair to be – e.g. looser at the ends. This is what sets the Totem Styler apart from any other I have used as it gives you more control over what result you gain from using it – fab!

The curls I went for in my photo are done at a setting of 2 mostly and a few at 1 as I didn’t want the curls to be too tight on this occasion (I’m growing out some layers that were cut too short, that would look a bit odd if curled tightly) and also didn’t have much time to spend on it so this is a look that took me about 15 minutes... and these were at the end of the night, with no products used other than Moroccanoil and a spritz of hairspray!

The curls had dropped, but I expected this due to the lack of styling products used and think that with a bit of mousse, or L’Oreal Professionel ‘Pli’ (post coming soon on this) they would stay in for an even longer time.

As I already own this now, I’d happily buy this as a gift for somebody as I know that it’s well built and delivers great results (especially when used by somebody other than me, ha) and whilst not the cheapest curling wand on the market, is worth the little extra, in my opinion!

Available from Argos, Boots and Debenhams, for £74.99

Sorry for the lengthy review. x

Halo Hair Extensions Launch In Debenhams, Manchester (Plus Pics)!

I’ve been looking into hairpieces and wigs a lot lately but hadn’t quite decided on what I wanted, so it felt like fate when I got invited to the Halo Hair Extensions launch at Debenhams in Manchester.

When I got there, there was already a bit of a buzz around the stand, music was playing and the bubbly was flowing; all the Halo girls had been having their hair done up by Richard Harvey, their resident hair stylist for the evening, and they all looked great.

As you may know, I currently have plum-y tones in my hair, so I wasn’t entirely sure if there would be anything close to my colour to match it to, as every other hairpiece I’d seen (crown volumizers and pony tails etc from various brands) had been in generic colours like black, brown, dark brown and blonde etc; however the lovely ladies at the stand found an almost perfect match for my hair (99J , in case you’re wondering) which surprised and pleased me in equal measures!

I was offered the opportunity to have Richard put my set of extensions in for me, which I accepted – but had them put in a little differently as I had been talking about using them to bulk up side buns and up-do’s – I loved the finished result, this man is a genius! Lily from Beauty’s Bad Habit took a few photographs of me having my hair styled, so I’ve posted one up for you to see... and you can see my face in it (eek!) so please be nice, I’m very shy!

It occurred to me that since this is real hair and in the same kind of tone as my own hair that there may be some colour fading, I was told that this wouldn’t happen as they lock the colour in (I don’t know how) which is reassuring!

You could actually have this hair dyed if you wanted to, I was told that I could basically treat the hair like I would my own and that means colouring, straightening, curling, and shampooing and conditioning with my normal products which is great for me as one thing that stopped me buying other pieces I had seen was the extra care and attention needed to keep them looking good.

A good match, yes!?

Halo hair have both real and synthetic hair for sale on their website, but on their Debenhams concession stand they seem to just have the real hair, which is what was picked out for me. The hair is so soft and smooth, you can tell it’s good quality - and the clips looked easy to use too. I loved that I could see and feel the hair beforehand, then get colour matched there and then (they have small wefts in cute little drawers for this) which is something you can’t do when browsing the website – no matter how well designed it is! :-)

They use ‘Virgin Indian remy hair’ which is said to be one of the best quality hair types for extension use, so they’re not selling you any old hair, just because it’s cheap for them... which leads me to my next point, the price.

I’ve seen hair pieces (not extension types, just crown volumizers etc) for around £60-80ish, and wigs that could go for much, much more - all of which were synthetic (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I hasten to add) so I was expecting these full head, real hair extension pieces to be even more than that.

Actually I got a very pleasant surprise when I found out that a 16 inch full head clip-in set was just £49.99 – this is the set I was given and it’s perfectly ample for my hair. They also have other lengths available and also deluxe sets in each length that basically give you more wefts of hair to work with.

The prices are as follows:

Clip In Full Head Sets:
16” £49.99
20” £59.99
24” £69.99

Deluxe Heads:
16” £74.99
20” 84.99
24” £94.99

Halo hair also do a couple of other products that I thought deserved a quick mention, the first is something called ‘The Halo’ – a wide weft of hair on a very fine fibre (I’m sorry, I don’t know what it’s made of) that goes all the way around the crown of your head (like a halo, of course) and you then pull your own hair over it, giving you instant extra volume and length. This is perfect for those of you who don’t feel comfortable using clips, or whose hair is too fine to hide the clips from the normal range satisfactorily.

The Halo:
16” £79.99
20” £89.99

Also available are their new feathers range, available in pink, purple, peacock and natural – I saw these on the stand and they look really good fun. They’re perfect for summer and could have you looking festival fabulous in under a minute... I’ll be keeping my eye out for these at V Festival this year; I can imagine a lot of girls will be wearing them (quite possibly myself included)! Prices for the feathers start at £9.99 which is also very reasonable!

If you’re in the Manchester area then it’s definitely worth popping in for a look, the girls are really friendly and the products are great! There are plans to roll out more Halo stands to more Debenhams stores throughout the country so if you’re not in Manchester then you might not have too long to wait for yours – you could always order online if you’re itching to get your hands on your own set of extensions right away!

P.S, When I put these in my hair myself, I'll photograph the results and do another post about how easy I found them to use etc.

Disclosure: PR Sample

Phil Smith Xtravagant Hairspray!

I’ve tried many hairsprays throughout the years, but have always gone back to my trusty favourite, Elnett as none of them ever performed anywhere near as well as Elnett does (or at least on my hair, anyway); so when I got the chance to try out some Phil Smith products (more posts to come on these), I was very eager to see how well the hairspray performed.

The answer? Very well actually, I was very pleasantly surprised by it as to be quite honest, I wasn’t expecting much from it – not for any other reason than based on my previous experience with hairspray that wasn’t Elnett. The first thing I noticed was the scent... a lovely tropical coconut smell, which I instantly loved as it’s so much nicer than the smell of most other hairsprays (including Elnett), even though I’m not usually a lover of coconut scents on my body!

I found the spray very easy to use, and actually could hold my hair up, spray and have it more or less stay put straight away – although you still had chance to mess around with it before it ‘set’ so to speak. The spray also kept my hair in place very well and wasn’t at all crispy or hard feeling; I also felt that my hair was still able to move around, whilst holding its shape which is a major plus point as nobody wants super stiff lego hair, do they?!

I really like that you can keep adding to the hair to increase the strength of the hold (once the previous spray has dried) – this is perfect for me as I don’t always need a firm hold spray, so this means I’d need to buy more than one spray... which isn’t a major problem but this does seem to solve it all the same.

The price is be £1.99 for a small 75ml can in Sainsburys (found via mysupermarket) compared to Elnett 75ml £2.00 in Tesco (found at Tesco.com), all prices taken today (25th January 2011) so I would expect the price to be roughly the same for all variations (I have the 250ml can, I think it would possibly be around £4, judging by a few different websites). I would be happy to pay this as I do feel that it performed just as well as Elnett on my hair for the styles I’ve tried it with.

Disclosure: PR Sample