GUEST POST - Colour on Friday Gone by Monday.

The dip dye has made a big impact within the world of hair and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. Summer 2013 has seen the trend becoming even bigger news with everyone adding a stroke of colour to their summer dip dye locks. However, colouring ones hair blues, purples and pinks is not always a realistic and practical commitment that many are happy to make to their hair (consider the startled looks around the office on Monday morning as you stroll in with bubblegum pink tips). It was therefore, only a matter of time before a temporary version was created; all hail the hair chalk! Hair chalking has become a hair sensation, allowing you to show off electric blue locks one night and then return to your original colour the next day. It has particularly become a popular purchase for many festival goers, looking to achieve a quirky look for the weekend. Think of all the fun and creative things you can try out on your hair without any of the, possibly not so sensible, commitments.

What to use?

There are a few different options out there to try for temporarily giving yourself a colourful dip dye look. These include the hair chalk, the hair shadow and the comb in hair colour and all with their own pros and cons...

I have tried colouring my tips with the comb in hair colour http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/pink-comb-in-temporary-hair-dye/invt/5763400303222/ and the hair chalk and have experienced quite different results. For me, the hair chalk won hands down compared to the comb in hair colour. Unlike the hair chalk, the comb in colour is a wet gel like consistency that you need to allow time to dry before you can head out. The drying time for me took around half an hour to 45 minutes and I was stuck sitting around in a towel as I feared the wet colour could stain the white dress I planned to wear. Once dried, it did provide a subtle light pink colouring to my tips, i think however this was helped by my already light blonde hair, my darker haired friend did not have such great success! The hair chalking, however, was a much more simple and effective way to add a temporary colourful dip dye look to your hair, no matter the colour of your hair. On that note, I am therefore going to share a few useful tips for trying out hair chalking. Let’s get colouring!

Top Tips for Successfully Chalking Your Hair:

• All you will need is your chosen hair chalk, a water bottle, a towel and protective gloves. Be careful to lay something down when applying the chalk, it can get a little messy!
• If your hair colour is anything other than blonde you will have to wet the area being coloured first. The water will help the colour to attach to your hair. The wetter the hair, the deeper the colour
• If you are blonde however, applying water first will mean the colour will stay on your hair for a longer period of time. If you want coloured tips but for one night only miss out adding water first.
• Choose semi thick strands of hair, twist the hair and chalk in a downward motion. Twisting the hair as you colour will make the chalk release more pigment and will therefore create a stronger colour
• If you have wet the hair first, just add a little extra time to allow the hair to dry, I would recommend letting the water dry naturally.
• Once dry, you can go over the colour with a straightening iron or curling tong to better seal in the colour.

Know the Best Colours for Your Hair:

Redheads – Be aware that certain colours will change when on your hair, for example colouring it yellow may come out more as an orange. Purples and greens are the best colour choices for this hair colour.

Black hair – Those with black hair need to invest in bright vibrant shades, cobalt blues and shocking pinks are an awesome dip dye contrast. Think of Jessie J for inspiration!

Brunettes – Depending on the shade, brunettes can get away with almost any colour. The lighter your hair the more intense the colour.

Blondes - And for the lucky people with blonde hair, the world is your oyster and you can try out just about any colour you so wish. A nice idea is to also try more than one colour on each strand to create a tie-dyed look, start with the lighter colour at the top of the strand going into a darker colour by the tip. Lauren Conrad once mastered this tie-dyed look with hair chalk brilliantly.

 

Considering chalking it up? Check out http://www.haircolorchalk.com/Default.asp and http://hairchalking.net/ for a great colourful range of hair chalks.

There you have my top tips for creating a hair chalk success, i hope you have all been inspired to get creative with your hair! If you want some more chalking inspiration check out our Pinterest http://pinterest.com/appointedd/chalk-it-up/ and facebook page for some colourful looks https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.390308461075103.1073741836.278318852274065&type=1


Bio:

Leah Hutcheon is the founder of appointedd.com, a brand new site where you can book salons and spas online, 24/7. She was recently featured in the BBC documentary, The Entrepreneurs. Appointedd also features salon reviews and has a hair and beauty blog, appointedd.com/blog.

Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub

One thing that really annoys me is chapped lips and for me, lip care is quite an important part of my beauty regime and the reason for that is because I spend a lot of my working day not only dealing with ordinary members of the public but also business clients and other professionals within my work place. So to have well a manicured hand and a smart suit for me isn't enough, there is a little bit more to it and that. 

I am a huge fan of lip scrubs. Why do I like these products? Simply because I feel there has been a gap left on the market for high street leading cosmetic companies to fill. It has become increasingly difficult to find a lip scrub at a reasonable price rather than some exorbitant price which leaves you weeping as you leave the checkout. So Lush it seems has catered for this niche in the market and at a reasonable cost as well and I am yet to find a product that is better than this product.

As shown on the Lush website

Bubblegum Lip Scrub is one of my favourite Lush products and the blurb used to describe this lip scrub states that it will "make your lips smell like our best-selling Snow Fairy shower gel. Bubblegum is made with castor sugar and our delicious vegan flavour to gently exfoliate, keeping your lips smooth and kissably soft. So what more could you possibly need from your lip scrub? Hunky man to test it one...tick....and that's all. 

Bubblegum Lip Scrub is designed to keep lips kissable, smooth, conditioned and dry, flaky skin free. So, whenever the weather changes so rapidly your skin can look dry and tired and sometimes you feel washed out and use a treatment or lotion to combat this, so why not your lips? When your lips are dry and chapped it can be quite painful to remove the dry skin and it can be quite difficult and before I spotted these two products I used to rely on using an old toothbrush to remove such skin from my lips, not that it was very easy to do or as successful as using something especially designed like this. 

Bubblegum Lip Scrub comes packaged in a small round glass tub with a black lid and on the jar of this product are the words Bubblegum on both the lid and surrounding label along with the most important two words which are lip and scrub. The pot itself is see through behind the label and through the pot you can see a bright pink sparkly looking scrub which looks like a jar of pink sugar as it glistens under the light and the pinkness of the scrub is exactly the same as the Snow Fairy Shower gel. It retails at £5.25 for a 25g jar.

I think this is a fantastic product, it does everything that I had anticipated it would do and makes your lips feel fantastically smooth. Once the lid has been removed, inside the tub the sugary cream I described as being bright pink is caster sugar which gives it the rough texture you need to act as the exfoliator on your lips which will work to remove all of the dead skins cells from your lips. The other main ingredient included is Jojoba Oil can be used on all skin types but is especially used as a moisturising ingredient for dry, flaky skin. Unlike other Lush products this one doesn't come with a long list of other ingredients to look into but it does have two colourings within it and their secret ingredient which makes it smell so wonderful and very much the same as Snow Fairy Shower gel. Its a simple product with a simple ingredient list. 

When it comes to using this Lip Scrub, it is exactly the same as I mentioned in my previous review, but got the benefit of those people who haven't read it yet. One of the first things you need to do is to remove any traces of products such as lip gloss, lip balm or lipstick which you might have applied and this is to ensure your lips are as bare as they can possibly be and as clean as they can be as well. Then I would suggest cleaning your lips using water and a relevant facial cloth before using this lip scrub, just to ensure your lips are clean and that there is no chance any bits of dirt are left clinging to them. Then as this lip scrub is quite thick in consistency and because it is to be used on your lips you don't actually need to be using too much at a time. Like with most lip balms you apply this directly onto your lips, but instead of running your finger along your lips to get that smooth look, you will need to rub it into the skin on lips in small circles to remove all of the dead skin cells and any other impurities from your lips and once you have worked your way across your lips, using some slightly damp cotton wool you gently remove the left over product from your lips and then using your finger check your lips to make sure you haven't missed anything, if you have simply copy the actions you have just done. Once you have finished, what you will notice what effect this product has had on your lips because you will see traces of what has been removed and if your lips are really chapped you might find they sting a bit if you have pressed too harshly with this scrub, because although it is castor sugar which acts as the exfoliating agent, it is quite harsh on the skin, particularly as the skin on your lips is quite sensitive compared to the skin on other body part, so take extra care the first time you use this product. Once I had finished scrubbing my lips my first initial reaction was to see how smooth my lips felt, so I ran my tongue along them. When my lips become dry it is always tends to be in the same place and that is right in the middle of my top and bottom lip and once I had used this product my lips felt soft and smooth all the way along. The after feel should be a soft and smooth one, what I noticed was no sign of any hard or loose skin but soft smooth lips and because it is a scrub you will need to use a lip balm afterwards to ensure you keep your lips moisturised. 

As shown on www.lush.co.uk

I have since continued to use this cream once a week as I go between both this one and Sweet lips and I carry both pots around with me in my bag all the time because the pots are quite petite, they add no extra weight to my bag. 

Overall I am very impressed with Bubblegum lip scrub, it was easy to use, it smelled lovely, anything which smells like Snow Fairy shower gel will be wonderful and it has a lovely smell and feel to it which is an added bonus and price wise I don't actually think it is expensive because it lasts a very long time. So for a cheap in-expensive product to keep your lips smooth, soft and kissable, I would recommend this one.