Rachel Sarah XO

So, we all know I love a good lipstick. I've become quite the lipstick hoarder these past couple of months. (Prepare for my top 5 MAC lipsticks post after Christmas by the way.) Work are holding a fundraiser next weekend, an incredibly formal Christmas ball, the theme of my outfit and make up is 50's. (See picture on left) I was just desperate to find a perfect red lipstick. Something that isn't too orangey and but not too dark as I wanted to find a brightish red.

Vivianna Does Makeup filmed a video called Winter Edit, and this lipstick featured, swatched next to Ruby Woo by MAC, they were basically identical. So of course, I ran over to Superdrug as soon as I could. As I'd spent this month's pay on Christmas presents, I really couldn't afford to pay £15 for a lipstick I probably wouldn't wear that often, so £6.99 for a very close dupe is fantastic.

This lipstick is a lovely blue toned red, definitely a matte finish, not quite as matte as Ruby Woo though (which is probably a good thing, I hear it's awfully drying.) 

It's incredibly pigmented and ever so opaque. Ain't no natural lip colour is gonna show through this lipstick. I've been wearing it since I bought it at 3:30pm, and it's left a lovely stain, so nearly 5 hours wear and it hasn't gone patchy or anything, which is pretty long lasting in my books.

I've always liked L'Oreal's lipstick packaging, it always looks a lot more expensive than it actually is, it's not too plasticky looking either. I also like how the lid actually clicks into place, that lid is not falling off in your handbag any time soon, my friend.

The Christmas ball is only for 5 hours-ish, so let's hope this lipstick serves me well. I may well become a regular red lipstick wearer now. I already own one too many red lipstick, although they're either dark reds or none of the true reds really suit me (far too orange toned).

Let me know if you've found any blue-toned drugstore red lipsticks, it would be much appreciated. Girl's on a budget, y'know.

That's all for now,

Rachel. xo

Hey guys!

So the other day I made the impulse decision to dye my hair black. I was just so sick of my damaged blonde hair and just wanted a dark colour so that I could give my hair some time to repair. Well I just love the look of black hair on people with pale skin (I'm one of those pale skinned people) so I did it! I also cut in some vintage short bangs, (that's a short, curled upwards full fringe to us English people.)

I used the dye 'L'Oreal Feria - Blackest Black', it uses a weird dye gel called colourant gel and the smell of that stuff is absolutely repugnant. The hair dye itself is permanent and lasts up to 24 weeks and it offers a 6 week treatment of high shine hair colour. This only cost £4.79 from Superdrug, but because I have suuuuper thick hair, I needed two bottles.

As I was putting black straight onto blonde, I left the colour on for a little short of the time it recommended. It recommended leaving it on for 30 minutes but I only left it on for 20, I needed my hair in the best condition possible or else it probably would have started falling out, haha.

I'm usually not a fan of using the conditioners that come with hair dye's, but as L'Oreal Feria is the hair dye my mum uses, she always raves about how lush the conditioner makes her hair feel, so hence the need the for this hair dye over any others. The conditioner and the high-shine elixir that you put in with the developer creme and colourant made my hair feel so soft and smooth. The conditioner comes in a medium sized tube and claims that it's a 6 week treatment, meaning the conditioner will last you 6 weeks, well I put the whole tube on my head straight after washing the dye out so...

After washing the dye out, conditioning and drying I decided to cut my fringe. I'd been admiring Bettie Page and Katy Perry for a while so attempted a short curled up full fringe, almost Bettie bang-like but without the shorter bits at the side. I absolutely love how my hair turned out. My fringe stops about an half an inch or so above my eyebrows so it's fairly short but too short. Just means I won't have to cut it so often when it grows out.

Here's the finished result. (Sorry for the awful webcam quality, it was the only way, haha!)