Anna Lou of London Bespoke Personalised 18k Gold Plated Sterling Silver Jewellery

Anna Lou of London Bespoke Personalised 18k Gold Plated Sterling Silver Jewellery

So I when I visited the Handpicked Media London Fashion Week suite, Anna Lou was one of the brands I was introduced to. I found it really interesting that when Anna started her brand she was selling her jewellery at Portobello Market, which is a place I often go to. If I remember correctly she was then discovered by the store Harvey Nichols - which is pretty cool!

Anna Lou has loads of different styles to her jewellery, but my favourites were the simple, classic gold pieces (which you can see more of here, in my Handpicked Media Suite post) . Luckily for me, Anna kindly offered us bloggers our own personalised piece of her Bespoke Jewellery. Bespoke jewellery is a range where she offers personalised silver, gold plated or rose gold plated jewellery. I'd say these are perfect now for gift season! :)

I choose to just put my own initials on one side, and my star sign (pisces) on the other sign. If you go on her website, you can choose different style fonts, individual letters or whole words for your piece of jewellery.

Even though I love jewellery, I don't own that many pieces as I tend to be stingy with buying it, resulting in jewellery that just breaks after a while. I would definitely recommend the bespoke range as they are good quality jewellery and perfect every day pieces. I haven't taken mine off since I got it!

What do you think of the piece I chose?

What would you choose if you got your own personalised jewellery?

xx

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Body Shop Showcasing event at Amber Bar

Body Shop Showcasing event at Amber Bar

Way over due with posting this post, but here you go. A while back I attended the Bodyshop Showcasing event at the Amber bar. Although I had to arrive pretty late and leave kind of early (due to work) I still had a good look at all the new products and got loads of informations from the Bodyshop representatives there. Unfortunately I only managed to get pictures on my iPhone so apologies for the not so amazing pictures!

The BodyShop Honeymania products

Fairly new limited edition (I believe) from the Bodyshop. These all smell super yummy and they contain fair trade honey. The range consists of a Body butter, Shower gel, soap, bath melt, lip balm, body scrub and a perfume. Find the Bodyshop honeymania range here. 

The Christmas Limited Edition products

This is the Christmas range for this year. I believe the different scents are Cranberry, Vanilla and Ginger Bread- the Ginger bread I am sure of, and it literally smells like Ginger Bread dough- so yummy. My second favourite has to be vanilla just because I like those kind of scents. The gift set contains the ginger bread products and comes in a really cute little gift box. I was saying to the Bodyshop lady how much I love their gift boxes, is it only me who always keeps the boxes for storage? I don't believe these are on the website yet, but I stand to be corrected. 

The Goodie Bag

I got this Bodyshop Moringa bodybutter and Bodyshop  Eu De Toilette Grapefruit perfume. God, I already love Grapefruit (eating) but this is Not a perfume I would choose to buy, just because I didn't know how much I liked it. I've been literally obsessed with this perfume, pairing it with the body butter, and it is just about finished now. Also, I was pleasantly surprised with the Moringa Body Butter I knew it smelled nice before because I've had friends wear it which made me ask what perfume they were wearing- because this is pretty fragrant! However, I don't usually go for flowerly scents so I love the fact I got to try this. We also got a Body scrubber thing :) 

What is your favourite Bodyshop product? 

x

I literally always have tons of their products and I've used so many. Check out all the Bodyshop products I've reviewed before here.

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Priti Soy Natural Nail Polish Remover Review and Ingredients

Priti Soy Natural Nail Polish Remover Review and Ingredients

So my mum had been to some Salon/Beauty shop the other day and got me this, guess how exited I was. I do love natural beauty products even though I might not be as strict with only using them as I was about a year ago. The thing is that just before my mum gave me this, I'd had major issues with my nail varnish remover smelling so terrible in my room. I love my room smelling nice all the time (scented candles, hello!) and I also tend to get head aches easily, so I was pretty much procrastinating taking of my nail varnish all the time (and I also hate chipped nail varnish, bad combo lol). It was on sale so I think they have re formulated and changed the design around a little, find the new version here. 

So looking at the ingredient list, I personally have no idea which one of these ingredient makes your nail varnish come of, but it sure does work! I was super impressed with the results which you can see below. 

My thumbs look so weird lol!! 

So I wore one coat of Sally Hansen nail strengthener, two coats of KIKO nail varnish and one top coat. Quite a few coats in other words, of course the product doesn't come of as easily as if you used pure Acetone or something but after soaking a cotton pad in product and then starting to swipe off- it comes off.

Summary: What you can see in the picture is after I've done just that, so it leaves no residue or colour at all- I always get that with normal nail varnish remover! It smells really nice, it has some kind of orange scent which stays on your nails afterwards too. It also leaves your nails feeling proper conditioned, like after I've applied nail oil or something- love it!

Have you tried a completely natural nail varnish remover before?

xx



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Coral Soft Smokey Eyes FOTD

Coral Soft Smokey Eyes FOTD

 For a tutorial on this hair style, click here 

First of all, you might be thinking, why the awkward pose.. well I was late for work and thought it snap a quick FOTD and was literally like hanging out of the window (for the natural lighting) and only had time to take like 2-3 pictures. As always, this FOTD is not actually from today, but a few days ago. I decided to do a soft every day smokey eye as I hadn't even touched my eyeshadows in months!

The makeup I am wearing:

• NYC Loose face powder
• Sleek Face Form (Blusher, highlighter & contouring powder)
• 2True Eyeliner
• Wet & Wild Eyeshadows

What do you think of this look?

xx

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John Frieda Frizz Ease Conditioner, Shampoo & Hair Serum

John Frieda Frizz Ease Conditioner, Shampoo & Hair Serum

So you might remember that I reviewed the John Frieda Dream Curls products a while back, curls- check them out! This time I was sent the John Frieda Frizz Ease products to try, and I was so over due with trying them out. They are like the classics for curly/frizzy hair that I never tried. When I was young and lived in Sweden where there were only white hair salons, the only thing they had to recommend was actually the John Frieda Frizz Ease Hair Serum, but I never got around to trying it. Overall I'd say I actually like these products a little more than the Dream Curl ones.

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Smooth Start Hydrating Conditioner: So the formula of this conditioner is not very thick, and it has great slip. The third ingredient is the gentle detangler Behentrimonium Chloride which is followed by an alcohol and Olive Oil. I am not sure if the conditioner itself prevent frizz as I did not air dry my hair after using it. Definitely a conditioner I would recommend and I think it would be suitable for all hair types. Smells yummy too!

Ingredient Check:

• Mineral oil (/)
• Silicones (√)
• Parabens (/)
• Butylene/Propylene Glycol (√)
• Alcohol (√)
• Sulfates (/)

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Smooth Start Hydrating Shampoo: So the first thing I noticed about this was that the formula of this looked slightly different to the normal pearlescent shampoo, it looked more like a gel or custard. I was super impressed by the fact that it gave my hair amazing slip and I was able to detangle my extremely knotty tangled afro hair, so much so that when I then conditioned it, I didn't have to detangle. However it is definitely a clarifying shampoo with both of the harsh sulfates, and it leaves my hair feeling very stripped (which I don't mind, because I will obviously condition it afterwards).

Ingredient Check:

• Mineral oil (/)
• Silicones (√)
• Parabens (√)
• Butylene/Propylene Glycol (/)
• Alcohol (√)
• Sulfates (√) (Laureth and Lauryl)

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Hair Serum Original Formula: So the first thing I noticed about this, and why I had never bought it before is because it contains mineral oil, which is a pretty cheap synthetic version of an oil which can cause build up on the hair and kind of coat it. However, in all honesty that does makes sense for an anti frizz product as those things are what would prevent frizz. I used it to blow dry my hair and had recently used a similar products so it was easy for me to make a comparison. I think this serum definitely worked as well or a bit better on my hair and it left it shiny and frizz free. It is a silicone based serum so that will naturally product from heat and in addition to that it contains hydrolysed silk which can help making your hair smooth. 

Have you tried these products?

How did you like them?

xx

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Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polish Number 31 Dangerous Wish

Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polish Number 31 Dangerous Wish

Long time, no NOTD (does that even work ?? lol). Anyway I got this nail varnish from the Handpicked Media London Fashion Week Event. I usually go for bright nails (read: always the same bright shade of pink.. ) so it is quite nice to try something different, I am not a fan of plain black nail varnish but I like the glitter ones! :)

I've only ever tried one Bourjois nail varnish before and it was not one of the gel ones, and it is pretty different to this one as it is a quite sheer pink shade.

Formula: I love the formula but in terms of being a gel varnish- it is just like any other nail varnish to me. However it is perfectly opaque with two coats, and I absolutely love the super wide brush. It might be an issue if you have really slim nails but for my shape, it is perfect! I could literally use like one swipe for each nail, and I didn't get any varnish on my cuticles or around my nails.

Results: A glossy and glitter varnish that I am dreading will be very hard to remove when that time comes, haha! The reason I say that is because there is a looot of glitter in there and as I applied my second coat it really built up quickly! 

Lasting Power: Well so far I've worn it for two days chip free, so it seems like it'll last for a while. 

What do you think of this? And have you tried Bourjois nail varnishes before? Do you find gel varnishes to be different to "normal" ones?

xx

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Natural Hair or Transitioning Hair Tutorial- Side swept Flat Twist Out

 Natural Hair or Transitioning Hair Tutorial- Side swept Flat Twist Out

I have actually posted this tutorial before, but that was when I was still transitioning so I though I'd give you an updated version. To check out my old one (which was with a braid out instead of flat twist out), click here. 

So now that my hair is fully natural, I find this hair style so much easier to achieve by blow drying my hair before. Of course, you can skip this step and start off with stretched hair.

1. Section the hair off that you will use for your big flat twist at the back (see pic number three). Put the rest of the hair away and start flat twisting the back all the way to just above your ear on the opposite side, finish it off by doing a normal twist.

2. I start from the front, and section my first piece off to start flat twisting. The products I used for the style below were: Mixed Chicks Hair Silk (for the blow out), African Pride Leave in Conditioner, Argan Oil Eco styler gel (only a tiny bit). Twist the ends and either leave as is, or use rollers. To prevent the flat twist from unravelling and to stretch your hair as much as possible- put a bobbi pin where the flat twist ends, and the normal twist starts.

3. When at the last section of hair at the back, there is usually no space to flat twist so I either flat twist a really small section or just do one or two normal twists.

Frizz prevention:  If you know the weather is going to be humid and you need extra hold. Apply some hair serum (the silicone based kind) to your hands and smooth it over your hair as you unravel the flat twists. When you are finished separating them, spray some hair spray with hold.

Hope you liked this tutorial :)

xx

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Handpicked Media London Fashion Week Event

Handpicked Media London Fashion Week Event 

So last weekend I popped in to the Handpicked Media suite at the One Aldwych hotel. Even though I came a little late I was glad to pop in to fellow UK bloggers Annie from EpihannieA, Hafsa Muslimah Beauty and Jessie from Look What I Got.

There were loads of lovely brands at the suit, some of which I am sure I missed as I came a little late, and on the second day. Above you can see Anna Lou's jewellery pieces which were all really gorgeous. I found it really interesting to read (and speak with her) about the fact that her line was actually discovered when she sold her things at the Portobello market. She also offered us bloggers our own custom made pieces, and I chose a bracelet with a flat gold charm with my star sign symbol on one side and my initials on the other- can't wait to receive it :)
Anna Lou Website || Anna Lou Twitter

First stop was actually the HD Brows corner, where I got my brows done by sweet Laura. She didn't actually pluck or tweeze them to shape them, but she plucked a few tiny hairs that were growing back out. The main thing was that they filled them in using a really sharp squared shaped eyebrow pencil. Check out the flawless results! 


HD Brows Twitter || HD Brows Website || Laura's Twitter ||

Then last but not least we received a really generous goodie bag. As I came late- I am sure a lot of things were finished but I was really excited about loads of edibles lol and lovely Natalie from Handpicked was pretty generous with the products as you can see ;)

Were you at the Handpicked lounge? I know everyone came at different times but at least I got to meet a few bloggers :)

xx

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Mixed Chicks Deep Conditioner & Hair Silk Review & Ingredients

 Mixed Chicks Deep Conditioner & Hair Silk Review & Ingredients

So I was sent these products a few weeks back to try out, I choose them myself from the website 123 Hair & Beauty as it is a brand I'd been wanting to try for a really long time. The fact that they are not only mainly aimed for people wit curly hair, but they are called Mixed Chicks & I am mixed- can't get more specific than that. I can't even tell you how many times I've been eyes these in my local hair shop lol! Anywho I chose two products that I currently needed- a serum as I had just run out of my old one and the deep conditioner as I didn't have one.  

Here is a little info about 123 Hair & Beauty from their website: "Based in Lancashire 123 Hair and Beauty is passionate about hair and beauty products, our aim is to bring the best of salon products to your front door at affordable prices, our team includes stylists and makeup artists so advice is always available at the end of the phone."- Check them out, they've got loads of interesting brands.

A little a bit the brand that I've gathered from reading the deep conditioner container: 

• They do not do animal testing. 
• They are cruelty free and vegan
• From what I've seen they aren't fully natural, but don't contain mineral oils or parabens (I stand to be corrected though)

Mixed Chicks Deep Conditioner, £9.90, 236 ml "Detangle - and restore your thirsty curls with this exclusive conditioning blend which penetrates and reconstructs damaged areas - transforming style-stubborn hair into resilient - easy to maintain tresses.": 

So to start with, for someone with Afro textured hair or even just curly hair, this is not a big container! I used it as sparingly as I could but in all honesty it only lasted for two washed for me. This is why I usually stick to DIY deep conditioners. I don't think this deep conditioner would strengthen your hair I believe it is more of a moisturising deep conditioner  it definitely made my hair super soft and as it says in the description- it did make it easy to detangle! 

Mixed Chicks Hair Silk, £9.95 50 ml "Have you ever watched someone enter a room or walk down the street, and their hair seemed to have a silky sparkle? MIXED CHICKS 1.7 oz hair silk makes you and your hair look more vibrant. How? It is our light reflecting formula that not only gives you added shine, but prevents fly-aways and splits."

Looking at the ingredients in the picture above, it is a serum so of course the main ingredients will be the silicones. This is meant to make your hair super shiny. As it contains silicones it will double as a heat protectant so I did try this when I blew dried my hair for this flat twist out and you can see in the left pic that it is indeed looking pretty shiny. I also tried it for straightening my hair a few weeks back and it definitely helped achieve the straight and shiny look. 

Have you tried these products or ordered from this website?

xx


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Serene Order Fashion Collage

Serene Order Fashion Collage

So today I have got another fashion collage for you, with clothes from the website Serene Order. A little different as my fashion collages or wish list usually feature really colourful clothes lol. Anyway, they are all quite pricey items as this website stocks a lot of branded pieces of clothing. Here is a little bit of info about the website:

"Here at Serene Order we don't believe in following fashion, we believe in making fashion and we have a flair for finding fresh, unknown labels that appeal to our trend-setting clientele. We also make sure to provide an eclectic mix of cutting edge fashion and big brands which gives customers fresh inspiration on every visit to our store."

|| Religion Clothing Leather Jacket Hopper In Jet Black || DKNY 24 HR Leather Bag in Sepia || Religion Clothing Dress Exuberance in Jet Black || Patrizia Pepe Shoes Black Sandals Silver Heel In Black ||

If you know me in real life or follow me on Instagram, you have probably noticed that I wear dresses or skirts most of the time and I have to say this dress is my favourite from this collage. I love the details in the back!

Which one is your favourite?

xx

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Neal's Yard Remedies Goodie Bag Contents

Neal's Yard Remedies Goodie Bag Contents

As promised when I wrote the blog post about the recent Neal's Yard Remedies event I went to, here is what was in the "goodie bag".

Neal's Yard Remedies Aromatic Body Butter "Deeply nourishes for silky-smooth skin.

A creamy, luxurious blend of shea and cocoa butters, infused with a soothing aromatic blend of essential oils, for ultimate relaxation." Find it here, and check out the amazing ingredient list! 

How pretty? It is a very thick and quite heavy body butter, I'd say you could compare it to the thicker Body Shop butters like the Shea Butter one. Only difference is that it is completely natural with only butters and oils, and the fragrance is all from essential oils.

The other thing we got was this Neal's Yard Remedies Beautiful Skin Tea, "With goji berry and rosehip. Help boost skin’s natural radiance, with carefully selected antioxidant-rich goji berry, rosehip, hibiscus, bilberry and sweet orange". Find it here. I was pretty excited about this since I love tea, and especially herbal and healthy teas. Plus for giving us the tea bag thingy in the back (sorry forgot what it is called)

Have you tried any of these products? Are you into natural skin care & healthy foods?

xx

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20 Random Facts About Me

20 Random Facts About Me

Instagram Pic, check out my Instagram for daily updates here. 

So I got tagged by my Swedish/Nigerian blog twinsie Nicole from Nicole's Beauty. It is about time I do a post like this as I only did them when I first started blogging, then I got tagged so often I got overwhelmed and so stressed out about the tags I hadn't finish lol! So sorry if you've tagged me in the past and I did not do the tag.

1. I have been reading blogs daily for about 7 years (since I was 13).

2. When I was young I drank tea with 6 sugars in it out of a baby bottle

3. My first language is technically English, but I moved to Sweden and forgot it all and had to re learn it

4. I have 3 siblings, none of which live in the same country as me :(

5. I have gone to 3 schools, excluding college, lived in 6-8 towns, 2 countries, and in over 20 different places.

6. When I went natural I had no idea what my natural hair looked like

7. Okay stealing this one from Nicole, but it also happened to me- my mum shaved all my hair off when I was 5 because it was so hard to deal with

8. I watch Eastenders religiously (British soap opera)

9. I dislike cats with a passion (please cat lovers don't take this personally lol I have close friends and siblings who like cats haha) 

10. I always hear from people that I look stush or unapproachable, and it is the opposite to what I am like :( 

11. Love my granny!! (And she was on Come Dine With Me and has a blog) 

12. Working relaxes me because I couldn't possibly be stressed when I know I am currently making money

13. I drink 1-4 cokes per day, and have done since I was very young. Last Sunday I challenged myself to not have any for a week- so I haven't/won't. 

14. I am super selective with what I spend my money on

15. Sometimes the beauty blogging community gets too much for me because I am not a person That interested in discussing beauty to be honest (compared to some)

16 I am starting my first year and UNI in a couple of weeks to study Cosmetic Science at London College of Fashion, I think we are only 20 people or something- it was a long road but I made it!

17 I have only driven a couple of times since I got my driver license (January this year)

18 I secretly wish I was a native Spanish speaker lol, I just think it is a nice language

19. I don't understand religion, it doesn't exist to me but hey I am Swedish and we top the list of Atheist so.. 

20. I recently started tweeting more so that my twitter isn't bombarded with blog links only, still think twitter is pretty unnecessary though lol. Follow me here. 

I tag:

• Lesley from Fresh Lengths 
• Sharon from Sharon's Makeup Diary
• Galaxia from LoveHappy
• Shereen from Wishful Lengths
• Uzo from Products That Actually Work
• Rebecca from A Window of Thoughts

Please, do Not feel obliged to do this tag just because I tagged you, also, please feel free to do the tag as I also tag everyone who wants to do it x

Any of my facts that surprised you?

xx

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Afro Puff and Pink Lipstick FOTD

Afro Puff and Pink Lipstick FOTD 

Today I have got a FOTD for you! I wore this look a look when it was really sunny for a few weeks in London.. So I am not even going to lie, a lot of my post are actually not posted on the correct day for example this FOTD is from weeks ago. Despite my terrible blogging lately I always take pictures and create material for my blog, it is just slightly backdated at times. Does anyone else do this? Do you mind this?

I still wear this makeup look daily and it is pretty simple:

• Face Powder from NYC
• Eyeliner from 2True
• Blusher from Sleek Face Form
• Lipstick from DHC

In terms of my hair, I haven't really shown any more pictures on my blog of how I have been wearing my natural hair since the big chop, and in that picture I made the Afro Puff pretty small so it didn't really show how much hair I actually have,  & thanks for all the love on that post guys :)

What do you think of this everyday look?
How did you wear your hair after your big chop?

xx


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Yuko Kokoro G Treatment, Yuko Kokoro G Shampoo and Yuko Repair Through Review

A while back I was sent these hair products from Yuko to try out. I had not heard of the brand before and the products are aimed at dry and damaged hair, so I was happy to try them out. Here is a little info from  the Yuko website:

"....YUKO now has a comprehensive range of professional and homecare products and is used in over 70,000 salons worldwide, providing the very best care for your hair. It creates truly healthy looking hair and provides an ideal foundation for any style."

Yuko Kokoro G Treatment "A regular use intensive conditioner that detangles, deeply moisturises and leaves the hair soft, smooth and strong, with keratin, sericin, algae, collagen, vitamin E and amino acids."  Despite the pretty amazing description, when looking at the ingredient list it isn't too impressive with several different Alcohols, Silicones, Mineral Oil, Butylene Glycol. As for a lot of people with Afro hair, this size conditioner literally lasts me for two washes only, and that is when using as very little as possible. It did make my hair feel soft after using it and I would say the slip (slip provided to detangle) was average. It isn't really fragranced which could be a pro or con depending on what you think, personally I don't really mind. I can't say anything about the long term effects, as like I said, I only got two uses out of it.

Yuko Kokoro G Shampoo "A regular use shampoo that strengthens the hair leaving it soft and smooth, with hydrolysed silk, keratin, sericin and algae." This too is not very fragranced, but it does have a slight scent contrary to the conditioner/treatment. It is a sulfate free shampoo but it still lathers up exactly like a sulfate shampoo would do, which is definitely a plus, I have put a picture of the ingredients below. It is a clear, silky shampoo and when applied it even has slip and I was able to finger detangle my hair when I shampoo'd it. I love the fact that it contains keratin as that will strengthen your hair and I feel like this would be a great shampoo to use regularly. Very impressed by this!

Yuko Repair Through: "Repair Through is a heat protector to be used on wet hair. Containing moisturising agents and amino acids, which are the building blocks of hair, it helps protect the hair whilst maintaining moisture and preventing damage." Not sure if I overlooked this info when I read the description on the bottle but I did not realise that this was a heat protector. As you can see when I took the pictures, the product was almost finished, I have since finished it so I will tell you how it worked for me as a moisturiser/conditioning mist. To start with- do not like the ingredient list At all, you can see it in the picture below. However this product did work great for me and it replaced the spray moisturiser I already had for my hair! It is very light and just leaves your hair super moisturised.

Overall? I would recommend these products for someone with damaged or dry hair as they all contain repairing proteins like keratin and silk. My favourite is the shampoo which is definitely a keeper. They are all very suitable for people with curly or afro hair like myself. Also people who have hair damaged from dyeing or relaxing their hair but are not too fuzzy with wanting ingredients to be fully natural. Another thing is that the information on the bottles is in Japanese but a translated version has been attached in the plastic wrapping. 

Have you heard of this brand before?
What is your favourite product for when your hair is damaged?

xx


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