Speechless Sunday - Jennifer Aniston!

Rocking a sleek new look... I likey, do you?

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

Beauty Blog Link Love!

Krasey Beauty acquaints herself with the new MAC FashionFlower collection, and you too!

Interested in tinted moisturizers? Pammy Blogs Beauty tests out Origins VitaZing SPF 15 Energy Boosting Moisturizer.

Beauty Info Zone shares some of their favorite ways to tan without the sun using Beautisol and Le Metier de Beaute.

Summer is coming! Make sure your pout is perfect with this product Mary Kay.

Who doesn't love a good highlighter? Musicalhouses shows you the St Tropez Skin Illuminators, one of the most hotly anticipated Summer season items!

Phyrra shows you the new ethereal collection from Meow, the Supernaturals collection and shares the many ways to use them!

Retrodiva samples Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Manhattan oil blend.

Love Chanel Mimosa but not the price? Find out how you can dupe it for under $10 on My Lips But Better.

Tracy at Beauty Reflections tests out the good for you Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipsticks that contain the antioxidant, Resveratrol!

While studying Burberry for her final exam, Miss Beauty Nerd daydreams about gorgeous packaging from the Burberry makeup collection.

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Do you struggle with packing for holidays? Check out what make up products Anita took with her and how much she actually used over at Pleasureflush!

Erin found lipstick that makes your lips look like ruby slippers!

Jo at Music and Make up shows why she can't live without Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy.


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Want soft, shiny hair? Then enter Madame B Fatale's Two Year Blog Anniversary Hair Pack giveaway!


For more links, please visit the BBLL homepage.

Deborah Lippmann 'Boom Boom Pow' Nail Polish - Swatches!

This beautiful Deborah Lippmann polish first appeared on my radar probably around Christmas (2010) on the Scrangie website, and I have lusted after it ever since. I finally got my hands on it yesterday when my friend picked it up for me (as my local House of Fraser store never seemed to have it in stock) and it’s well worth the £18 price tag (in my opinion) as it’s every bit as stunning as I hoped it would be... plus it says it contains real 24 carat gold, how extravagant!

The great thing about this is that you can layer it up and wear it alone (it took about 4 coats to look fairly ‘done’ and give the full sparkle effect) or you can use it over the top of other polishes to add a bit of sparkle to them too.

No Flash:

Flash:

Here I have used it over the upcoming OPI polish ‘I Eat Mainly Lobster’ and it looks gorgeous, it has changed the base colour ever so slightly (it's a bit lighter & leans towards a gold-y coral) and it looks a little bit like a flakey polish in some areas (the smaller particles) which is just as lovely. 

The photo’s (all of them) don’t do it justice at all (I think because the camera picks up the individual particles too much, maybe), so I’ve done very short videos to show you a little bit more – I still don’t think they show it to be as beautiful as it is in ‘real life’ but you get the idea.

I can’t wait to wear this over a black or maybe a bronze-y brown in the autumn and winter months!!

What do you think?

Available at House of Fraser stores and online!

Wordless Wednesday - Lea Michele! (I Know It's Thursday Now)

Ok so I know it's not wednesday, but I only just noticed that my scheduled post didn't get posted so I thought 'what the hell, I'll post it today (now I've noticed) instead' - I'm hoping you don't mind?!

She doesn't look very happy, I know... but I LOVE her hair, simple but very effective!

TODAY ONLY - OPI 6pc Fashionista Collection for only £28.78 (Normal QVC price £35.00)!

This is SUCH a good deal that I couldn't not post it up for you... especially all you polish lovers out there!


"OPI Fashionista Collection. Six-piece collection showcases OPI’s best-selling Original Nail Envy and Avoplex Oil to keep your nails in tip-top condition; three fabulous nail polishes in hot, on-trend shades; and the brand new Shatter Coat, which crackles to leave a two-texture pattern on your nails. Channel you inner fashionista with this care and colour collection from OPI.

Contains:

1 x Original Nail Envy (15ml) – a high-gloss formula helps replace moisture lost in dry nail plates, and can help prevent peeling, cracking and splitting. Can also be used as a base coat and top coat
1 x Avoplex Cuticle Oil to Go Pen (7.5ml) – soften cuticles with this oil formula, rich in OPI’s Advanced Avocado Lipid Complex, avocado oil and vitamin E
1 x Guy Meets Gal-veston Lacquer (15ml; coral)
1 x Houston We Have A Purple Lacquer (15ml; red-violet)
1 x You Don’t Know Jacques Lacquer (15ml; taupe)
1 x Silver Shatter Coat (15ml) – crackles to leave a two-texture pattern on each nail"

All for the bargain price of just £28.78 plus postage of £4.45. If you think about it, the total price of £33.23 which makes each product around £5.58.. almost half the price of the usual RRP for a polish, and Nail Emvy costs even more so this is well worth the price!

QVC Website!

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess 'Island Oasis' EyeShadow Palette!

This palette has been on my most wanted list for about 3 weeks now, so today I toddled down to the shops to buy it, just in time for my holibobs in a few weeks and I have to say, I am so glad I did as I have not been disappointed in the slightest with it.

The colours are so beautiful, it really is an exceptional palette – perfectly put together and even more perfect for the warm summer weather we’re getting. I can’t pick out a favourite colour in this palette because they’re all equally as stunning; but what is even stranger for me is that I can’t find a colour that I don’t like/don’t think would work for me as I can honestly see myself wearing all of them (not at the same time though) on many occasions!!

In fact, this is one of the few eye shadows that I’ll be taking with me when I go on holiday (in the interest of travelling light) because it holds 6 shadows anyway so hopefully I won’t need to take *that* many more shades to give me enough variety!

The swatches are fairly accurate in how much they show the colour and the shimmer of the shadows, (even though I have used the flash on the camera) as they shimmer perfectly on the skin in ‘real life’ without the flash being necessary to see it... and some of the shades are almost metallic in their appearance – something I really love in an eye shadow, it has to be said.

The palette retails at £31 and can be bought at House of Fraser, which I think is very reasonable (actually, I think it’s great, great value) for 6 perfectly pigmented, beautifully coloured, high quality shadows.

Speechless Sunday - The Beckhams!

David looks gorgeous, as ever... but do you love or hate Victoria's wedding look?