I keep on banging my head...

You have to work to carve out your own little corner, and I'm certainly smacking my head against the wall trying to make a dent. I just hope I don't get brain-damaged before I get there - Rose McGowan

Lightening Up: Part III

The story so far...

I've stripped the violet out of my hair, which left me ginger, and then tried to tone down the red stains in my hair via bleach. As you can see, if you follow that link, the results were quite patchy.

Bleaching: The first attempt

I didn't expect the store bought bleach [I used Schwarzkopf Live XXL in Max Blonde] to work fully on my previously coloured and stained hair, but I didn't count on the stubborn violet streaks to remain.

I decided that my dark blonde dye would just look patchy applied directly over the resulting mesh of shades of orange, yellow and violet, and so choose to bleach it again...

 

 

 

Ta-da!

 

Much better. My final shade should be nice and even now. I'm almost back to my natural hair colour.

 

 



To be concluded....

Lightening up: Part II

 

So.... I've stripped the violet out of my hair, which left me ginger (my use of various red and purple hair dyes has permanently stained my ash blonde hair cuticles). As I plan on using a dark blonde hair dye I am trying to tone down the red stains in my hair, as they'll show up through the shade that I want to use.


Without further ado I present you with the results of my first DIY bleaching attempt...

 

Now I knew that the store bought dye wouldn't be strong enough to remove my cuticle staining, so I was prepared for the resulting yellow/orange shade, which would still be light enough for me to dye over.

What surprised me was the stubborn streaks of violet - the actual dye didn't show up that well on my hair when I firs coloured it, but now AFTER the stripping and bleaching it finally decides that it's the time for it to shine...


Sigh. I'm deciding if I should re-bleach my hair, or just throw the new dye over it and hope for the best [yeah, I'm lazy].

The bleaching kit I used was Schwarkopf Max Blonde. It will lighten hair up to 8 levels darker then the models on the box. I bought it from Superdrug, where it was on offer for £3.99. Boots and Asda also sell Schwarzkopf hair dyes.

I've included a close-up photo of my roots, so you can see how the product will work on uncoloured hair.

My experience with Schwarzkopf Live Luminance in Ultra Violet...

I followed the instructions that came with Schwarzkopf Live Luminance in Ultra Violet exactly and I used two bottles as my hair is long and thick. The colour that I picked is called Ultra Violet, so I took that to mean kickass purple, but, as you'll see, it turned out more halfass meh-urple...

My hair ended up as a pinkish red in natural light, not the vivid violet shade the box shows and promises. In certain light there was a faint tinge of purple, but this was only in close-up views of my head. In most lighting my hair looked darker then what I was expecting and in most photos taken for reviews, my hair just looked brown/black.


My natural hair colour isn't very dark [ash blonde/brown], so the colour should have worked, and in any case the whole selling point of the Luminance range is that it's meant to lighten hair as well as colour it.

That was another issue for me; the product lightened clumps of hair lighter then others, and it DIDN'T look like natural highlights. It just looked uneven and messily done, even though I took care with the application...

A birds eye view of my 'Ultra Violet' hair...

The colour I ended up with wasn't particularly bad, but it did not turn out as the colour it is advertised as being, and it is not what I was looking for. My hair is still soft, shiny and healthy looking, so it's not anywhere near as bad as it could have been, but yeah, it is still something that I consider to be a let down - the colour swatches on Schwarzkopf home hair dyes are usually very reliable,  so they are one of my favourite brands.


The box warns you not to use Schwarzkopf Live Luminance on lightened hair.

How my hair should have looked...

I lasted a fortnight with this colour, before using Colour B4 on my hair to remove the 'violet'. I now have ginger stained hair, as the Colour B4 can't remove all of the residue from 'fashion shades' [red, purple, blue, vivid black] of hair dye.

I'm going to try bleaching my hair, to lighten the ginger [I'll probably end up with it lightened to a yellowish tone], so that I can then look for a shade that is close to my natural hair colour. Well, what my natural colour was before it started greying...

Clueless in High Heels... Review of Spying In High Heels by Gemma Haliday [kindle and paperback]

28 year old Maddie Springer has a problem - she lives in a tiny apartment, has a poor paying job... and she thinks that she might be pregnant.

She has only been dating her boyfriend Richard for a few months, so has no idea what to do and is terrified to tell him. However she finds that she has some extra time to build up to discussing the dilemma with him - Richard is a lawyer and one of his client's, and his $20 million fortune, have vanished and Richard has vanished right along with them. It doesn't look good for Richard and the police are soon on the hunt. Then the dead bodies start turning up...


Maddie clings to her belief that Richard is innocent of all charges and is simply in hiding as he witnessed something he shouldn't have, and is now afraid for his life. As she could be about to start a family with him, she decides to track him down before taking a pregnancy test and deciding what to do if there is indeed a baby on the way. Maddie is scared and confused enough already, so an instant attraction to Detective Jack Ramirez is bound to add a few more fireworks into the situation.

What happens when you use Colour B4 on ‘fashion shades’ of hair dye..

.... I’m ginger.


 Red, purple, blue and vivid black pigments in hair dye stain the hair cuticle, and Colour B4 can't remove all of the staining. The results can be surprising if you ailed to read the instructions thoroughly...

Luckily I did and, in all honesty, I like the results. I'll stay like this until the roots become a real problem, then I'll continue the lightening process


My review of Colour B4 can be read here.

My opinion of Pulse NYC perfume by Beyonce and Coty...

I quite like the original Pulse, so I was keen to try this. After what seemed like forever a store near me finally received stock, so was the wait worth it?

Nope. All I get from PULSE NYC is a mild and watery mix of raspberries and pear, followed quickly by a unidentifiable powdered floral notes. This soggy fruit salad is rounded of with a hint of buttery vanilla.

Scent notes; raspberries, pears, pomegranate, jasmine, peony, orchids, red velvet cupcakes and patchouli.

The staying power is non-existent, which is why I've been unable to write a detailed review. Within half an hour of application I couldn't smell a thing - no, I'm not exaggerating. A real shame - I'd been looking forward to trying it since it was announced last year.

Whilst I'm not keen on the earlier Heat editions I don't find them unlikable, plus Pulse was nice and Midnight Heat was a very pleasant surprise, so this sudden nosedive in the quality came as a shock. PULSE NYC is something I'd expect Kylie Minogue/Coty to come out with.


Pulse NY is sold in a 50ml bottle and is exclusive to The Fragrance Shop.
The RRP is £30, but I believe that it is currently being sold for around £15.