My coconut oil and honey hair mask!

I'm terrible at keeping my hair in good condition. I used to think my hair was my favourite feature about myself because I was so happy with the length, the colour and it's condition. However in recent weeks it has become very dry, lacklustre and lost it's shine.

I dye my hair every few months or so and have had colour on it for the last two years or so now which means I've always got to take a bit more care with it as it's already got bleach and dyes on it. Equally I'm a devil for abusing my locks with straighteners, curlers, crimpers, hair dryers you name it! 

This is my 'before' picture. I don't know whether the picture really shows but my hair was feeling very dry, especially at the ends. 

I had a little look on the web for a good, nourishing hair treatment to get and found that coconut oil is incredibly popular for homemade masks. I have a large jar of this in the kitchen which Mum uses for cooking but coconut oil is brilliant and so multi useful as it can be used as an alternative to cooking oils or butter, on the skin and hair or even I've read some people eat it by the spoonful..I like coconut but I don't think I'll be doing that! 

So I grabbed a bowl and put a spoonful of coconut oil in the bowl. Coconut oil forms into a liquid over 24.5 degrees Celsius so it was a solid lump at this point. You can melt the oil to a more malleable consistency which would make it easier and quicker for you, which is something I did not do and should have done! I added in a little squeeze of honey and whisked it up until I got a consistency I was happy with. 

Et voila! The finished mask. Ready to apply to my hair. Word of warning; if you are thinking about doing this I would recommend wearing an old top or something as it can be quite messy. 

So I wet my hair first and then slathered this all over my head from roots to ends so every last split end was covered. I tied my hair up in a top knot using an old hair scrunchy and wrapped an old towel round my shoulders in case any of the mask gets onto my clothes. 

I left this on my hair for a good twenty to thirty minutes and watched a bit of TV and read some of my book. Then when it was time to take it off I washed my hair making sure to get into every hair strand and used a cheap shampoo and conditioner to really get the oil off the hair.  I found that with using coconut oil a little will go a very long way so use it sparingly otherwise you may run the risk of looking like you've got greasy hair. 

And here's the finished look. It may look visibly look too different but it felt so much softer and sleek. Plus it smelled absolutely incredible too! I'd definitely recommend making this if you're in need of a pamper. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this post! Love, A. x

August haul

Hello everyone! I hope you're all well.

So I went shopping today with my mum and sister and I most certainly shopped til I could have dropped. I bought a few things that I've really wanted for some time now and a few other little bits too. 

I'll start with Primark. I was a little disappointed with some of the things in Primark at the moment, nothing was really jumping out at me screaming 'BUY ME' although I did pick up a basic grey cami top for £2.50. 

It's a basic wardrobe staple and I could pair it with jeans, shorts or even tucked into a skater skirt or something. Plus it was such a steal at £2.50!! 

Next I'll show the things I got in Lush. I'm feeling a bit low and in need of a pamper so skipped into the store and picked up three bath bombs. 

The first one I picked up was Butterball. 

This one is great if you suffer with dry or sensitive skin, it contains cocoa butter which is good to soothe and soften the skin leaving it feeling silky soft. It also contains the essential oil Ylang Ylang which is a great relaxant dealing with stress and depression. 

I also picked up Fizzbanger. 

I picked this one up nearly wholly based on the bold, vibrant yellow colour too it. It has an amazing apple and cinnamon smell as well as containing popping candy as well! I've never used it before but it sounds like it'll make lots of fizz and bubbles!

Lastly I picked up Twilight. 

I've never tried this one before but it looked pretty and pink so I wanted to try it. It contains lavender oil and Ylang Ylang oil releasing a sweet and floral scent. These both are also calming and soothing essential oils so will leave me feeling relaxed. 

Next in Superdrug I picked up something I've really wanted to get for quite some time now and seen quite a lot of good reviews about. 

I'm really into the contoured look and would love to give it a go. After looking into which would be the best palette or set to get this one came out on top. I'm really looking forward to trying this, I'll post a review on it too! 

Next H&M. Probably my favourite shop on the high street. I can usually always go in here and find something reasonably priced that I like. 

I got this flannel shirt. I like wearing them over a black dress, I think they look quite cool but casual.

I also picked up a similar flannel shirt as I really like them. H&M fabric always feels really nice and the shirts fit nicely too. 

I got this oversized jumper for £7. It looks really cosy and I picked up one in a size bigger than my usual for a looser fit.

I got this cami vest. It is blue cami with a flower pattern. Around the top it has some lace which I thought looked cute. 

I think this would look nice with jeans and sandals. 

Lastly I got this blue and white ruffle cami top. Unless you haven't noticed I'm really loving cami tops at the moment! I thought the ruffle style was a bit different and the pattern is really cute too. 

It has a quirky spotty pattern to it and would look nice paired with some white or light blue jeans I think. 

Lastly, John Lewis. This product is something I've used before and will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. 

This is the Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb perfume. I got one for Christmas two years ago and there is a small amount left and I wanted to get some more. I absolutely adore this scent, so much so if I was rich I would bathe in it. The bottle is shaped like a grenade linking into the name and has beautiful sweet notes to it like vanilla, patchouli, jasmine and rose. It is my go-to scent and you can wear it day or night. 

John Lewis also kindly threw in some sample perfumes like Chloé Chloe perfume, Chloé Rose and the Roberto Cavalli perfume too. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this post! Love, A x. 

My weekend away

Hello!

After I finished work on Saturday this weekend my dad and I drove down and met my mum, sister and puppy at my grandparents holiday home just outside of seaside town Lyme Regis in Dorset. We stayed there from Saturday evening to Tuesday afternoon and it was really nice to just get away for a few days as well as having the Monday and Tuesday off of work! I thought I'd share some snaps of what I got up to with you all. 

On Sunday we first went to a cute little farm shop.

They had so many nice foods and drinks and the owners go to France once a week to pick up some fresh new produce. 

I spotted some rather lovely BN biscuits which I remembered from when I was a child. 

So I bought two, the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate one. 

Some various French soups.

Giant babybel.

French biscuits too! Why does everything look and sound so much nicer when it has foreign writing on it..? Is it just me that thinks this?! 

Here's an example of this though! Limonata sounds a lot nicer than Lemonade. 

The vast array of Lindt chocolates was like a dream, wasabi flavour sounds a bit too out there for me I think! 

They also sold these Lindt Creation chocolate bars which all had a gorgeous, rich, creamy filling! 

Whilst on my travels on Sunday I spotted a car very similar to the Harry Potter car. 

Weasley car! 

Oh I do love to be beside the seaside.. Beach huts in the spring sunshine.

I saw some cool architecture above an ice cream shop. 

Yesterday I had a lazy day as I wasn't feeling too great and the weather was overcast. 

Today we popped into town in the morning and we went into an antique shop on the seafront which had some really cool things. 

Some vintage brooches for sale in there. 

Cups, plates and saucers galore!

Some old pennies for sale.

I love the vibrant patterns and colours of some of the vintage clothes. 

Some vintage rings. I've just realised how bad the photography is here in this picture, sorry! Underneath you can also see a Babycham deer!

I have a thing for turquoise and silver jewellery at the moment and these rings were right up my street.

Pink house on the seafront. 

There is also a Seasalt shop in the town it used to be an outlet store although I'm not sure if it still is.

The view from the middle of the high street.

At the top end of town there was a vintage indoor market going on and I spotted these gorgeous brooches glistening away. Note my tatty converse in the bottom of the picture too..oops!

I saw this giant amethyst too. I think there's something about this that I find so interesting, the vivid colours of the purple in the stone, the texture of the stone and how ostentatiously it stands. 

Little Charlie is also seven months old today!

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this post! Love, A x

Quiz Clothing Las Vegas competition!

How much would you like to win five star tickets to LAS VEGAS for you and a friend?! Yes you read that correctly!! Quiz Clothing is an exciting, innovative fashion retail group that deliver all the latest catwalk looks and trends for a brilliant price. They are currently running this amazing competition for a lucky person and their incredibly lucky friend to win two return tickets to Sin City itself. You'll be living the rock star life well and truly with limousine transfers, a five night stay in a five star hotel, tickets to see Britney Spears and if that's not all enough you also get five free dresses from Quiz Clothing too!

To be in with the chance of winning all you need to do is click here and enter in your email address. Then use the hashtag #ijustwonthejackpot along with your best selfie of you looking like you've just won! You can upload that onto Instagram with the hashtag and liking Quiz Clothing on there. You can like them on Facebook and share your #ijustwonthejackpot selfie. Or Equally follow @QuizClothing on twitter, tweet your selfie with the hashtag and mention them in the tweet!

Here is my #ijustwonthejackpot selfie which I tweeted earlier! 

Good luck everyone!

Love, A x

BaByliss Elegance Pro 235 straighteners review!

For years I have religiously used my Mum's Ghd's and for Christmas I wanted to get a good pair of straighteners of my own. After searching high and low and checking out blog reviews on the best pair to get the BaByliss Elegance Pro 235 came out on top. I must apologise for the lateness of this post as it was a Christmas present and I should have done it earlier!

Anyway, on to the review!

I got the straighteners in a glittery, dark red colour but I think they are also available in a blue colour too. 

What I like about these straighteners:

• They have three different heat settings 180°c, 200°c and 235°c.
• They heat up really quickly and can be used 15 seconds after starting heating up. 
• They are made with an ionic technology so they should give you a frizz free finish! 
• Can be used for both straightening and curling.
• I love the deep red, glittery colour! 
  
• Hair stays quite straight for a long time. 
• Very good price. At the time I think they were about £40 when they should have been around £90. 
• Leaves my hair feeling soft.
• The lead for the plug is quite long, which I really like!

What I don't particularly like about these straighteners:

• Because they go so up to a high heat it can be quite easy to burn your hair even if you use heat defence spray. 
• As i'm not used to straighteners heating up so fast, and considering they only take about 15 seconds to heat up, they can give off this strong burning smell which isn't pleasant. 
• The heat switch is a bit wobbly. 

I started this with damp hair then dried it with my Glamoriser by Richard Ward professional digital ultralight power dryer (which I also got for Christmas btw!) and I used some heat defence spray before drying it too.

                               'Scuse the fresh, no make up face. But this is my hair dried.

I spritzed my head all over with a lot of heat defence spray then brushed my hair through. I sectioned my hair into two parts pulling the majority onto the top of my head into a high bun leaving the section underneath. I lightly sprayed it this part with the heat defence spray and then brushing through, followed by pulling my straighteners through my hair. I repeated this on the same bit of hair twice. When this section was complete I pulled my bun out and let down some of the middle section of hair and tied the front up again. I spritzed it and followed the same steps as last time.

When the middle section was done I then did the front. Once all my hair was straightened I brushed it out, flipped my hair upside down and straightened from that angle. Once that was done I flipped my hair the right way round, brushed my hair out again and checked to see if there were any areas that needed another straighten. Then I was finished!

And the finished 'do! 

If I have some straggly little hairs I spray a hairbrush with a little bit of hairspray and brush over the straggly bits.

I have to say I am very, very impressed with these hair straighteners and would definitely recommend them over GHDs!

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this post! Love, A x

My March in photos

So it's April now and at the start of the last couple of months I've put up a post of my Instagram pictures of the month before. Alas, enjoy my photo montage of what I got up to last month! 

Starting from the top row going left to right: 

Top left- I am currently reading The Fault in Our Stars. And I'm really enjoying it. It is a very sad story about two teens who have cancer meet at a support group and fall in love. 

Top middle- On pancake day I had banana pancakes. Delish!

Top right- This is some cool street art I saw. 

Middle left- I love Reese's cups so having a bag of mini ones means it's more acceptable to eat more right?!?

Middle of the middle- marmite on crumpets remind me of being a child so much! So very British too.

Middle right- My sister and I had a night in and ordered a domino's. It was so good! I'm obsessed with the dip! 

Bottom left- I took my parents out for the day and we went to the coast, the weather was absolutely glorious! 

Bottom middle- My best friend Vicki and I went to Bath shopping one day and had a lovely lunch in GBK. 

Bottom right- I took a photo of the arches and waterfall at Bath weir. It's so pretty there. 

Starting from the top left: 

Left: One of my favourite chocolate bars, the underrated daim bar! 

Right: Lush by name and Lush by nature. This is the bath ballistic called Honey Bee and smells very subtly sweet and caramel like. It left my skin feeling silky smooth too! 

Left: My sister was very lovely and picked me up a bag of mini eggs. 

Right: Here's another picture of my orange finger nails I used in a blog post the other day. I really like the bold colour and the ring I was wearing. 

Bottom: This is an old picture I found of myself and two friends George and Connie. This was taking about two years ago at another friends birthday meal. 

My Instagram is: _abfabx if you want to see any other pictures! 

Thanks for reading I hope you liked this post! Love, a x