Beauty «

Streaks & Spectacles

That title was a little bit of a mouthful wasn’t it?! Anyway, as you will see from these photos, I have two things to show you. My wonderful new glasses and a little something in my hair…

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(These glasses were not sent to me in payment for this post and this post is not sponsored, I just wanted to share with you where I got my glasses from!)

First up are my new glasses. I have a bit of history with wearing glasses to be honest with you. From the age of about 12, I was told that the reason I couldn’t see the blackboard (yep, we had blackboards when I was at school, crazy huh?!) was because one of my eyes wasn’t working as well as the other one, and that from now and for the rest of my life, I would need glasses when reading and using a computer. I remember my first pair of glasses; a round, Harry Potter, style frame in a mix of red and green – so stylish! From then on as my eyes got worse, I would have new lenses and therefore new frames. And to be honest, I hated every pair. I would be ushered out from the examination room to choose a new frame, with about 10 minutes to choose. You really can’t tell in that short amount of time if you really like the glasses or if they suit you, so I would always end up not wearing the ones I had chosen because I would decide a few weeks down the line that I didn’t like them or they didn’t feel right.

So a few months ago, when I decided I needed to have my eyes checked, I walked away with my prescription and looked online for any sites that would do a try before you buy service, and that’s when I stumbled across Direct Sight. You can pick up to 4 different styles, and have them sent to your front door to try at home, meaning you can keep them on for a few days to get a feel for how they fit and ask your friends what they think of them. I picked these ones in black and brown and tried them both in the trial at home service. In the end, I realised they were doing a buy one get one free offer at the time so I had them both, but it’s such a great idea and meant that I have finally got a pair of glasses (actually 2!) that I love and want to wear all the time, even if I don’t need to!

pink lips

Streak

Second up, have you noticed a little extra colour in my hair in these photos?! The lovely people over at Undercover Glamour sent me these pink clip in hair extensions to try out. I think they are amazing, and I love this soft pink shade that I got! They are just like normal hair extension with the clip at the top and they simply pop into your hair to add a little colour without the hassle and permanency of dyeing it – I love them and want to get them in all the other colours now!

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(The hair extensions were sent to me for the purpose of this post.)

Some of my Favourite Things…

This lovely cake tin was a Christmas present from my parents. I spotted one similar in a shop while on holiday with them, but after a quick stop for a takeaway coffee, we didn’t get chance to go back to the shop! It’s perfect for storing lots of yummy cupcakes!

I love having plants in our kitchen, it makes it feel a lot fresher and brighter. I would love to start growing some potted herbs in 2013.

This beautiful vintage camera was a a birthday present from Glenn. Unfortunately, it’s no longer in working order, but it does look just lovely on my camera shelf, next to my Polaroid, Lomography Fish Eye and Instax cameras. The cute candle was a Christmas present from my sister. It smells amazing and the cute ‘lamp’ that sits on top is perfect when watching a film on the sofa.

Charlie was bound to make it into this post somehow! He is the most beautiful cat I have ever seen and he is so cheeky, charming and naughty – but we still love him lots!

I bought Glenn this simple oil bottle for Christmas. With the added ribbon, I think it looks great next to our Kilner jars. Another addition to our kitchen was a mini bunting that Glenn bought me for Christmas. Its great at just adding a little bit of colour in an otherwise plain corner.

The best gift I received this year was my long awaited camera lens! I had saved up money to buy the body, a Canon 1100D, and I added the lens to my Christmas list. I’ve wanted to buy an DSLR again for quite a while, so I am really loving having one in my hands and taking lots of photos! I also received a lovely new bag to keep my camera safe. I definitely didn’t want the normal boring ‘tourist’ camera bag, so I had a look over at eBay, and found this bargain! It’s big enough to hold my camera and the lens, with room to fit my phone and purse in, but not too big that you feel like you are carrying a holdall!

My recent purchase from Topshop, with a Christmas gift card and a beautiful print, framed and gifted to us by Glenn’s mum.

I’m a sucker for a pretty piece of stationary, so when I found out that Frankie magazine sell a journal each year, I knew I had to have it. I tried to buy it last year but they sold out super quick, so as soon as I could, I asked for the 2013 one for Christmas! It has the prettiest illustrations, budget and lists pages and stickers – amazing!

Cute tin for my perfumes! The amount of times I have knocked over my perfume bottles (and Charlie too!) meant I have been searching for the perfect way to store them – and when I received this cute tin for my birthday, I knew straight away what I would be using it for!

Even though I work in a coffee shop, there is nothing I love more than coming home, sitting on the sofa and having a coffee made from my Tassimo machine with a biscuit or two!

A selection of rings that I am loving at the moment! The jewel owl ring was sent to me from Your Fashion Jewellery. It’s so beautiful and it looks great as a feature piece of jewellery.

My main New Years resolution was to start treating my skin a little better! I’ve started using a blackhead cleanser, which makes my skin so clean and soft, followed by a soothing toner and a hydrating moisturiser, along with cleansing wipes. I’m trying to do it every morning and night, so hopefully I can keep it up!

Hair Extensions by HeadKandy

If you have been reading Belle Fantaisie from way back in 2008 when I first posted, you will know how much I love changing my hair. Ever since dying my hair for the first time when I was a teenager, I have loved experimenting, whether it be with length, style or colour, and as I reach the ripe old age of 23, I still love expressing my style through my hair! One thing I always regret regarding my hair, is cutting it when I have let it grow out. It always seems such a good idea at the time, but when I look back at photos of my long hair, I wish I had it back for fishtail plaits and ringlets!

Back in 2010, I tried out hair extensions for the first time. I bought a set off eBay for about £20 and although I thought they were great at the time, I realise now that they were way too thin, and I remember having to get my hair thinned out at the hairdressers each time I wanted to wear them! So, when I went blonde and my hair stopped growing because of the bleach I relentlessly kept putting onto it (my poor hair, I’m so sorry!), I decided to try hair extensions again. This time, I did a bit of research, and found a brand that featured on a lot of YouTube beauty channels – HeadKandy. I bought a pair in the lightest blonde they had and they were amazing! However, with the ever changing state of my hair, and the fact that I gave up on trying to get my hair white after numerous attempts, they didn’t get much usage. After a failed attempt to dye them brown (it was a nightmare!) I gave up on them and put them back in the box to never be used again.

Since then, I have left my hair to grow out. I still have the blonde in my hair, but it has amazingly blended into my roots somehow, so it has left me with dip dye look. When HeadKandy got in touch to ask if I wanted to review another pair of their extensions, I was wary as my hair is a mixture of colours. They were great at reassuring me that if I sent them a picture of my hair, they could advise me on what colour to get. They suggested the Melted Chocolate shade, in the 20-22 inches length, which I could then match a hair dye to. Extensions are something I had been considering for when I get married and I had planned to dye my hair a chocolate brown for the day, as I definitely wanted that mermaid, long hair, ringlet look but in a nice classic shade, for when I walk down the aisle, and this was the perfect excuse to try it out. So I gave them my address and awaited their arrival!

(This post is literally about how they look and what I think about them. There are lots and lots of YouTube tutorials on how to put them in and the best way to style them, so I will leave those bits to the experts – I’m just going to give you my opinion, from someone who just wants longer hair that will look natural!)

I was super surprised when I found the extensions had arrived a few days after chatting to HeadKandy through email – it was so quick! I instantly took out the little tester section that is kept separate from the rest of the hair, so you can check it against your own hair to make sure the shades match (amazing idea!) and took it with me to Boots to pick out a hair dye for the rest of my hair!

When I say you get a lot of hair in the pack, I mean A LOT of hair! I never thought I would find extensions thick enough to blend in with my hair, but these are brilliant, and I can get away with not using one of the sections because they are so thick! In the pack I was sent, you get 10 wefts of hair, equaling 180 grams of natural human hair. I know this might seem a little weird, and at first, it does feel strange to be wearing another persons hair on your head, but it means that the quality of the extensions are a lot better than if they were synthetic, and it also means you can wash, style and even dye them.

Before I put the extensions in, I brushed through my hair and then left it. I wanted to style my hair when they extensions were in as I find this helps to blend them in better with my natural hair. The picture on the right shows the extensions in without any styling. The colour was a pretty good match, even if the brown dye that says it permanent had faded slightly on the bleached ends. Without any blending, the hair looked pretty good!

The extensions come with ready-to-go clips, that pop open and then slide onto your hair and clip back to secure. I find back-combing and a little hairspray helps at the roots to create a kind of ‘hair-mesh’ for the clips to secure on to, especially if you have thin and shiny hair! I used my fingers to separate my hair into section along the back, adding sections of hair as I went, and then I added the side sections last. It may take a bit of practice to get them in the right positions, and depending on the thickness of your hair, you may not have to use all the sections, but when you known where each section goes, with the help of the little guide that comes with the extensions, it should only take you about 5-10 minutes to put them all in.

The one problem I always find when wearing extensions is hiding the bottom layer of my natural hair that the first section is clipped on to. My hair is really thick and always has been, so it means that this bottom section always sticks out like a sore thumb. I’ve tried to plait it underneath to hide it but it always makes the back of my head look lumpy, so I decided to take inspiration from one of my favourite hairstyles, the ‘milkmaid braid’. I simply plait the bottom section and pull it forward as I braid it, and then lift it up, leaving a section of hair at either side before pinning it on the top of my head.

I used my hair straighteners to curl the hair, starting where my natural hair ends, which helps my real hair ‘flow’ into the extensions. I know others will say it’s better to style the extensions before putting them in, but I find it a lot easier as I have always been better at styling my own hair than others! I spritzed a heat protection spray all over my hair and the extensions before styling and used a medium hold hairspray over the top to hold the curls. I do find that the curls fall out quite quickly, so if you don’t mind washing the extensions more often, because of the build up that would occur, I would suggest using a firm hold hairspray.

Overall, I would highly recommend HeadKandy if you are thinking of investing in some high quality hair extensions. They offer three different lengths in the Full Head packs and they also offer individual wefts if you just want a splash of colour or just to add thickness to your hair. The colour selection is great too and if you want some help with choosing your perfect shade, they are more than happy to look at a picture of your hair for you and give you some advice! You can also get tips and advice from their YouTube channel.

What do you think of these hair extensions and would you consider wearing them? Do you have any tips on how to put them in or style them? Please share!

Thanks to HeadKandy for sending me their products to review!

Back to Ginger!

A quick update relating to my ever changing hair! I’m back to ginger, and completely loving being a red head again. Purples, greens and royal blues are looking amazing with the copper tones and I’m really happy that I have my ginger hair back again in time for winter!

Lilac Hair

You all know by now that for a while I have been dying my hair over and over to get a lilac/grey/blonde colour! Well, I am so very very nearly there! These pictures were taken a couple of days ago and since then I have added more lilac to it using my purple shampoo. These photos were taken after I used Purple Stargazer dye mixed with conditioner which made the lightest parts of my hair lilac and everything else a grey colour. After using my purple shampoo today, more parts are lilac now! I have also purchased some new hair extensions as my old ones were too thin for my hair so I have also dyed these too! I can’t wait to show you the final colour with the extensions!