Bleach London | Silver shampoo & Reincarnation mask | Review

Recently there seems to of been a rise in hair care products which have taken the beauty world by surprise and stormed onto the scenes. I still don't fully understand the hype around bumble and bumble, thier products are quite pricey and although I'm no stranger to splashing the cash on my hair, I still have (some) limits. 

One fairly new brand that has caught my eye a lot has been Bleach London. Known best for their edgy colourful semi-permanent hair dyes are more the kind of brand I want to try out. Plus I was so excited when I saw they had now brought out a few extra products to their range, including a hair mask and a silver shampoo. Surely if this brand doesn't know how to look after my bleach blonde locks (although at the moment my hairs more a lilac colour) than who will?

Silver shampoo 250ml 

£5.00 

I typically use a silver shampoo nearly every wash. I like to keep my hair bright and vibrant and quite like the over toned look some shampoos can give. I do however understand most people just want to keep their hair fresh and vibrant looking and keep yellow brassy tones at bay.

 I found this shampoo gave my hair a fresh brighter look but didn't add any blue tones to my hair what some silver shampoos can. I am also very impressed with the price at just £5.00. Although this can still be seen as a higher price for a bottle of shampoo, when compared with other silver shampoo's on the market it actually rocks up at one of the cheapest. 

Reincarnation mask 200ml

£6.00

This was the product I was most intrigued about my trying. Firstly the size of the tube is pretty large for the £6.00 price tag. I also love the silver metal tube packaging as I feel this gives it a professional salon look.

The product was very thick and typically a lot thicker than the hair masques I've tried recently or in fact any hair mask I've tried. The directions state to apply to pre shampooed hair comb through and massage in, then leave for 10 to 20 minuets. 

The simple fact it told me to leave it on for up to 20 minuets was so refreshing. I'm sick to death of buying hair masks where the packaging states 3 minuets is enough! How a product can work its magic my hair in 3 minuets is beyond me. 

So I popped this on and left it for 20 minuets. The product took a little longer to rinse out due to the thick texture but that's really not something I'm going to complain about, in fact any excuse to spend longer in the shower is always a bonus. After my hair felt noticeably softer and revived. I was surprised at how little product was also needed too, so this will last me a good while. 

Have you tried any of the Bleach London products?

Sammie

Twist and Shout | OOTD

Woohooo it's the bank holiday, this means one thing...time for a BBQ! Thank god the sun has finally made an appearance. How bad has the rain been Friday and Saturday and how British am I been right now, complaining about the weather. 

I thought I would share a quick few snaps of my new favourite ASOS dress which I wore last night for my cousins wedding and I thought I'd check your verdict on the new lilacy toned hair. I was actually convinced for a while the lilac colour hadn't come out at all but looking at myself in picture form (vainest sentence ever) It clearly has. 

P.S The little blurs in the photos are a result of me been lazy and not cleaning my camera. 

Dress: ASOS (recently bought this week although I can no longer find it so similar here)
I found it...It's here!

Shoes: Office (old)

Hope your all enjoying the bank holiday

Sammie

Gusto Cookridge Leeds | Review |

Although I would never consider myself a "food blogger" it's far from a secret that I do love food and love finding new restaurants to share with you. Actually I think I say this at the start of every food post. This week I was invited to Gusto in Cookridge Leeds to review their new summer menu change with my blogging buddy Jess. I had heard from friends over the few days prior just how good this place was, or a few said that they had heard good things but  had never been, so I was very eager to see for myself what the place would have in store. 

Upon arrive we was greeted and given a little overview of the restaurant, over a cocktail. I ordered the elderflower and thyme Martini, what was defiantly a summery outdoor cocktail and perfect after been stuck in a hot office all day. 

I'm really loving the growing trend of using herbs in cocktails more and more as opposed to just a sprig of mint in a mojito. It's good to see a restaurant that has just as much emphasis on the drinks as well as the food. 

The restaurant to me has a very homely feel, which defiantly fits in well for it's suburban location. Although don't be fooled although it's not a city centre based restaurant it is defiantly worth the extra little effort to get there. 

To me the homely feel to the restaurant was apparent as soon as I sat at my table. With the open plan kitchen to my left, sky windows above and bay windows leading out onto a out door patio to my right and a more intimate seating with classy pictures and flower arrangements at the top, it felt like the whole home was covered. From garden to living room with the most cosy dining area taking centre stage. The most eye catching point in the restaurant were the elegant blue lights draped around an olive tree in the centre. I didn't really want to take too many pictures of the restaurant it's self as obviously it's a little strange to other diners. 

Since you've scrolled down this far and are still reading, I best get talking about the food.

Seared tuna steak, 

marinated in balsamic and soywith a fennel and orange salad and green gazpacho £18.95

Despite gusto been an Italian restaurant with an amazing range of pizza's & pastas (all pasta's can be as a starter or main course) I decided I would opt for something a little extra special and choose the seared tuna steak. 

I was expecting a thin steak with a thin streak of pink running through the middle, what I actually got was a very pleasant surprise. A thick fresh tuna steak lightly seared on a bed of crisp well dressed salad. This was fresh, seasoned well and cooked amazingly. I do feel it's a little risky for restaurants to serve a meal like this so lightly seared but it was divine. 

Side order:

French beans with shallots £3.25

We decided to share a few side plates with our meal. The French beans were seasoned well and cooked beautifully not too crisp, no too soft and I found them a light ideal summer side.

Side order:

Baked rosemary and garlic roast potatoes £3.25

The garlic and rosemary potatoes were lovely and crisp with light fluffy insides. With little sprigs of rosemary coating each potato. 

Desert:
Vanilla panna cotta with fresh raspberries £4.95
Ok so I will admit the first thing I did here was give my plate a little wobble. It passed the test. This traditional Italian desert was light and cream, I loved the extra touch of the fresh raspberry's and the chocolate biscuit crumb on top what gave the dessert an extra depth of texture. 

The Cocktails:
Elderflower and thyme Martini. (Beefeater Gin, Apple juice and Elderflower liquor)

Basilico - Award winning cocktail (Appletons V/X gold rum, apricot liquor, Amaretto with lemon and fresh basil) 

Vanilla Berry Fizz (Chambord black raspberry liquor, vanilla syrup and Prosecco)

Overall I would defiantly recommend a trip to Gusto. The restaurant has a warm welcoming feeling and it's defiantly competes with the more well known city centre establishments. Been seen as a more Local restaurant means they are able to deliver a more personal service, whether this be a birthday meal to an engagement. 

I may have also seen a few sneak previews for their Great Gatsby Ball theme night on the 10th July what looks simply incredible.

Sammie

*Meal provided free of charge. All views remain my own*

Boots Haul #1

I love a good old trip to Boots (if your from the USA a drug-store). In fact who doesn't. Some people might love clothes shopping or a trip round Harvey Nichols, but for me come pay day there's nothing I love more than a little boots haul. 

I could spend hours browsing the make up, then the skincare studying all the products, checking out what's on offer and what's new in. 

I did promise myself a little spending ban this month, but make up is a female essential, right? I thought I'd share with you some of the make up bits I picked up. I did throw in the odd skincare product and maybe the odd hair product but I thought I'd share with you the beauty side. 

Rimmel - Scandaleyes waterproof gel liner - Black - £4.49

Rimmel - Scandaleyes waterproof gel liner - Emerald - £4.49

I've surprisingly never used a gel eye liner. I don't have the steadiest of hands and I have always preferred simple pencil eye-liners. I've been trying out quite a few eye-liners recently and none of them seem to have much staying power. Since these were on offer I thought I would try out a gel liner. I'd heard a few good things about the Rimmel ones so I picked up these. I choose a simple black and then I couldn't resit the emerald. I'm usually always sporting some kind of blue or green eye make up so in fell the 2nd purchase. 

Maybelline - Baby skin, instant pore eraser - £7.99

This has been floating around for a while and cause a bit of a hype following it's releases not long after the Benefit porefessional. Now I'm not expecting this to be a dupe for the Benefit primer but I needed a primer and although I am a big fan of Benefit and have tried the porefessional (and fallen in love with it) I thought I'd try out the "cheaper version" before splashing out again.

Seventeen - Poreless flawless primer - £5.99

So whilst I was looking for primers a second one fell in too. *Butter fingers* I am really looking forward to using this. I'm not sure about the packaging, for a primer typically I like a squeezy tube but I'm quite glad there's something a little different to try. 

Seventeen - Phwoarr pain concealer - fair - £5.49

My late nights mean concealer is a must if I want to look somewhat human. 

L'Oreal Paris - Glam shine stain splash - milady - £7.99

Ever since purchasing the Bourjois velvet lipsticks I've been on the lookout for something similar in a more purple shade. I came across the L'Oreal Paris glam shine lip stains and thought it would be worth testing out.

Rimmel - Lasting finish nail varnish - Fancy a dip (blue) - £2.99

Last but not least I picked up some more summer shade nail varnishes. I am completely loving the "fancy a dip" blue shade for summer. 

Rimmel - Lasting finish nail varnish - No tan lines here (orange) - £2.99

Rimmel - Lasting finish nail varnish - Wedge of lime (green) - £2.99

Sammie

Stepping into Summer ft La Redoute

To say I shy away from outfit posts I'm not doing bad this week. 2 in 3 days you lucky little things. Well actually no your probably quite the opposite, if your looking for fashionista style post, instead you got me. I don't mind come on over. We can pretend were fashion bloggers together. It's rather a lot of fun.

I kind of feel weird posing about for outfit of the day style photos, a small resemblance in my mind to parading around my mum's shoes a child. Ahh shoes. However the main purpose of me stood in this rather "scenic" canal archway is to show you my gorgeous new jacket. Plus it was quiet enough for me to pose about in. Let's be honest playing photo shoots is always fun. Ignore the bad hair, I was going for grungy looking hair. Honest. *rolls eyes*

Jacket - La Redoute*

Shorts - Topshop (old)

Shoes - Vans (similar style featured here)

Sun glasses - RayBans (similar)

Necklace - eBay

I'm in love with this jacket. It wasn't something I would usually pick up but I've found it so practical for the weather recently. It's easy to throw on for our unpredictable British weather and I love the pink biker style. I wore it a few weeks back to my little trip to Pizza Express teamed with high wasted disco leggings and some chunky summer heels and I think I loved that outfit a little more. Sadly I never got round to taking the photos then. I have found so many outfits can be easily styled around this jacket. 

For the hot summers day we finally had over the weekend I decided to team it with some simple shorts *who wears short shorts* and comfortable vans shoes for a stroll along the canal (and maybe a stop over in a beer garden or too). I've since been eyeing up these gorgeous tailored shorts hoping the weather is going to remain just as glorious. 

Hope you all enjoyed the sunny weekend.

Sammie

Oriflame The One | Celebrity make up artist tips |

As you may of well seen from my previous outfit post, Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to the Oriflame make up event with celebrity make up artist Gary Cockerill as part of the launch of their new collection The One. I was rather excited for this event for a few reasons.Firstly I got to catch up with lots of my favourite blogging ladies. Secondly I actually knew of Gary Cockerill (he's rather well known for working with Katie Price and Kelly Brook) and was rather excited to meet him. Plus Oriflame has been a brand I'd been curious about getting to know more about for a while ever since trying one of there mascaras last year and falling in love with it. 

The event was hosted at the Living room in Leeds, which is a stunning restaurant and the event room upstairs was perfect for the intimate event. Arriving at the event I was greeted with a glass of champagne and had a chance to mingle whilst everything was been set up. I actually still can't believe I was early for once. 

The event started with an introduction from Garry how he began his career and my my is it fascinating, from the coal mines to celebrity make up artist I was very captivated by his story. Plus he won some extra brownie points with me since he's a Yorkshire lad. 

We was all given an incite into how Oriflame began. I was very surprised to see Oriflame is such a worldwide established brand and been running for years. I first heard of Oriflame last year when I was lucky enough to try out there very me mascara which has remained my favourite for a long time. I previously thought this was a completely new brand, launch but in actual fact this brand is big stuff across the globe already. Oriflame is more known to some as the "Swedish Avon", however don't be fooled, Oriflame's products are very good quality and can easily compete with more high end brands, despite the prices been Avon equivalent.

Gary gave us his insider tips and tricks on three lucky ladies. 

First up was Yuna where we was taught how to create the perfect lip. One of the best tips I picked up here was to a apply a highlight just neatly above the cupids bow and a darker contour powder below the bottom lip to create the depth of thicker, poutier lips.  A second tip is not to take lip liner and lipstick all the way to the edge of the lips depending on your lip shape as this can create a down turned smile "miserable" look (I'm sure this will make sense to most of you) 

Second up was Ellie and this time it was all about eye-lashes. Here I was finally taught how to use eyelash curlers properly. Yes I am one of those who simply squeezes them hard on my eyes to the point it makes some people cringe. In actual fact lightly squeezing the curlers a few times repeatedly on the lashes works much better and is kinder to the lashes. 

Finally the tutorials ended with eyes on the gorgeous Steph. As the new The One range features a selection of cream eye shadows we was shown how to apply these more professionally. I must admit I do love cream eye shadows but I typically apply these straight onto my eyelids with my finger in one quick swoop. Now although there is nothing wrong with that cream eye-shadow typically crease, the top tip to prevent this is to prime the eyelids with a foundation or primer (use what's left on your make up sponge or brushes) then apply a lighter coat of powder eye-shadow in a similar colour as a base to build on. Not only will this not crease but will help the shadows sit longer and not smudge. 

Big thank you to Orimflame for inviting me too the event.

Also a thank you too The Living Room for keeping me topped up with champagne and the gorgeous nibbles. 

Have you tried Oriflame (full product review coming soon)

Sammie