LIVE Color XXL Foam Review - Dark Cherry Bliss 388

LIVE Color XXL Foam Dark Cherry Bliss 388 (here)

In the ever lengthy quest to grow my hair I decided virgin hair was healthiest; I had the colour chopped out and was enthusiastically growing my naturally very dark brown locks. This was going great until one day, when my hair was in a top knot, my boyfriend kindly pointed out that my temples were smattered with grey. Lots and lots of grey. Now, after my GCSEs (so, at 16 for you non-UKers) I noticed I had the odd grey; nowadays, my whole head is covered in grey-sprinkled brown (though thankfully not brown-sprinkled grey, just yet). 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen the recent T.V. advertisements for the LIVE XXL Foam dye and has been very intrigued. Foam dye isn't knew; mixing it in the container that you buy it in however, is new. I like new. So off I went to buy some more dye when my grey roots started poking through my parting (no joke). I bought it in Dark Cherry Bliss (388) for a bit of a change. 

Firstly, I love the idea of mixing the colour in the pot you buy it in; the lack of rubbish appeals to the conservationist in me. When you crack open the container, it smells like strawberries too; it still smells like fruit when you whip your hair into a foamy bubble. Of course, the smell of dye isn't lost, but covered with strawberries is much nicer! The gloves to apply the foam are also an upgrade - more like latex and less 'sandwich bag'. The colour is gorgeous too, my hair is always dark, but the shine on it with Dark Cherry Bliss is a deep purple-ish red which I really like.

With flash.

There are a few downsides; I found that although the instructions are simple - tip everything into the container, put on the lid and shake 40 times - that at the bottom there were still unmixed bits. It was really gloopy, dark red and disgusting! But I mixed it with my hand and ran it through the lengths of my hair, hoping it wouldn't over-do the colour... I'm also not sure how I stand on foam in general. It was a bit irritating when I was waiting for the development time, purely because the bubbles were popping and 'moving' on my scalp. It kind of tickled and itched - either way, not the nicest thing when you can't scratch your head! 

The colour also seems really intense. Great on my hair, less so for my towels and bedding. It's been about 2 weeks since I coloured and red is still coming off my hair when I wash it! (I wash every other day.) It doesn't bother me too much, it's probably my own fault for having white laundry and red hair, plus it comes out in the wash. But I imagine for some people this would be a real gripe. 

Overall the coverage is great, it's easy to apply and not too messy. It also smells really fruity and the lack of useless packaging seems a step in the right direction too. There's not really that much difference between the liquid version in terms of quality, so I'd probably just buy the cheapest! I find all of the LIVE XXL dyes to have a great range of colours, both the liquid and foam leave hair shiny, and both have such staying power my roots grow out before they fade. 

xx

Black Matte & Shiny French Mani

I clearly need to work on my steady hand, but since this mani isn't the most long lasting, I wasn't too bothered! This is definitely an 'occasion' design, since I think it only lasted about two days - I think the matte top coat shortens the life span, unfortunately.

For this I used Sally Hansen's Double Duty as a base coat, NYC Nail Glossies #245B (two layers), 17 Matte top coat (two layers) and Seche Vite on the tips.  It takes me absolutely ages to do since all the different layers have to dry!  But doing it whilst watching Glee takes the edge off it... NYC Glossies polishes seem to be floating around discounted sections online (for example, here), and for the price they're great quality!  They contain vinyl shine and pro vitamin B5, which means they glide on well, dry quickly, leave a lovely gloss to the nails and don't seem to ruin nails either.  Perfect!  The brushes aren't as good as Rimmel Pro or OPI polishes, but for the price (rrp £2.50) you really can't complain.

I used the 'tape trick' for this, which doesn't always work perfectly, but I think it's mostly down to practice.  Saying that, I think I'll do a tutorial for how I do mine in the next week or so, if anyone's interested?

xx

Sunday Round Up #1

As a close to the week I'll be running the Sunday Round Up.  I know for some, Sunday is the beginning of the week, but for me, it's always the end; I was brought up a Christian, and therefore Sunday's the day of rest!  (Although, no mistaking, I'm not really very religious...)

As part of the Sunday Round Up, I present my Sunday face.  I bought a few new products yesterday on a manic shopping trip to the city.  I always feel I can't browse when I'm with my boyfriend.  He gets really tetchy, so I ended up grabbing and buying LOADS.  I regretted it after, but I used most of them today and I'm pushing the money spending regret to one side and welcoming the new make-up love.  As you can see, I'm sporting quite a fresh-faced look today; I'm trying out a new foundation.

On my cheeks I'm wearing Topshop 'Head Over Heels' which it seems has returned to the make-up stand after the disappearance.  Exciting, I know.  Peachy/pink, creamy goodness!  I also purchased the Real Techniques Core Collection from Boots which I love.  So that'll probably be making an appearance on my blog sometime soon too.

This week has seen me burn a gigantic hole in my bank account, yet I'm still lusting after some black chelsea boots.  It's also seen the dramatic end to TOWIE, a decidedly warm and sunny end to February and a busy week reading for me!  Although I should probably get back to researching Daniel Defoe; so much to do, so little time!

xx