My Hair-story and an Exciting Announcement

Yikes!!! I have certainly had a good laugh sorting through all these old photos, but I think I have successfully curated a selection which accurately depicts my varying hair colours over the past six or seven years…

My natural hair colour is a mousey brown shade (as in the hilarious first photo here featuring a strong turquoise eyeshadow and colourful jewellery), which I first dyed red aged 14 or 15. Following that I dyed my hair dark and for a couple of years it was various shades of dark brown and black, and various lengths helped out by some (sometimes questionable) extensions.

Perhaps the most drastic thing I’ve ever done to my hair was the dip dye – in hindsight not the best idea, I forwent the more gradual blended look and in the process absolutely killed the ends of my hair. It was sort of cool at the time, though… Then came the dark dark red: perhaps my least favourite looking back, although I still don’t hate it. Since then, I have gradually gone lighter and more coppery and have been working ‘oh no way I thought ginger was your natural colour’ for the past year or so!

Now the purpose of all this, aside from providing a few laughs, is to announce with great excitement that I have teamed up with Schwarzkopf LIVE Color for their 2015 Lookbook! LIVE and I have worked together on a new look for my hair, and I’ll be working on a series of posts and videos over the coming weeks and months so do keep your eye out to see how it all goes. To see more check out livecolor.co.uk!

January 28, 2015 TAGS: beauty, hair, hair colour, hair dye, live xxl, schwarzkopf BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

Rodial Stemcell Super-food range – review

I’m normally quite wary of products with buzzwords like ‘superfood’ in their names (I just think it’s a little unnecessary somehow?), however I have been a fan of Rodial skincare since first trying their Glamoxy Snake Mask and ‘Dragon’s Blood’ eye masks some months ago, and so I had fairly high hopes for this selection of products from their ‘Stemcell super-food‘ range. I tried out and reviewed the cream cleanser, facial oil and lip balm below:

Rodial Stemcell super-food cleanser*

I love using cream cleansers. I have used this product layered on thickly to remove makeup and as a sort of face mask, and also in small amounts on a more everyday basis. It contains rose hip seed oil, coconut oil, rose wax and cocoa butter which I can definitely feel softening my skin, although it does feel quite fragranced and so I would be wary if you have very sensitive skin. £32 seems a lot for a cleanser if you don’t buy high end skincare, however 200ml of product is a lot and will last; a great product if you like cream cleansers or are looking to try one, and don’t have overly sensitive skin!

Rodial Stemcell super-food facial oil*

At £60 this is the most expensive product in the range (although again 30ml is quite a lot of product as you only need 2 or 3 drops per application), and it is actually the product I have used the least out of the three I have tried. I think this is because I haven’t used an oil in my daily routine before and so I often simply forget about it, however it has been really great whenever I’ve noticed my skin feeling a little dry or dull (which thanks to the cold weather and exam stress has been a lot in the past couple of weeks). It is full of various vitamins and other ingredients which I don’t need to go into detail about as I imagine they mean as little to most reading this as they do to me, and undoubtedly is not a bad product, but if you’re experimenting with facial oils for the first time (like me) I probably wouldn’t shell out £60 on this. Rodial do offer a discovery set (including the oil and others) for £30, which is the more economical and sensible option.

Rodial Stemcell Glam Balm Lip*

If I had to choose a favourite of the three products I have tried, it would probably the the glam balm (although the cleanser is a close second!) I don’t suffer with extremely dry lips, however I’d still say that this is probably the best lip balm I’ve used. I find it particularly good to apply when I get home after wearing a matte lip all day, as that can be quite drying. It also has a slight rosy tint, so looks nice too.

***

Overall I’m impressed with the Stemcell superfood range, and am keen to try the other products (in particular the multi-use Glam Balm, as I’m always interested in minimising my skincare routine to as few products as possible). If you like the sound of any of the above, I would definitely consider the discovery set which is a very reasonable £30 and contains minis of all three products I reviewed, as well as the Glam Balm Multi.

If you’ve tried any of these products please let me know what you think! I’d also like to say a huge thank you for helping me reach 3000 followers on Bloglovin this week!

January 22, 2015 TAGS: beauty, cream cleanser, facial oil, lip balm, Rodial, Rodial stemcell superfood, skincare, stemcell, superfood BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

All about MeMeMe – MeMeMe Cosmetics review

Oh look, a make-up post! It’s been a while, but as I recently received a bag full of goodies from MeMeMe I thought I’d do a little run down of some of them. MeMeMe is a fairly affordable make-up brand, available online. For the look you can see in the photo at the top of this post, I used the Blush Me! Blush Boxes* in Bronze and Pink, the Ultimate Eye Palette*, and the Arch Angel Brow Gel*:

Blush Me! Blush Boxes

Now the packaging of these blushes is fairly obviously Benefit ‘inspired’. I have never used a Benefit blush so I can’t compare, but I am a big fan of Benefit’s ‘Hoola’ bronzer – the MeMeMe bronzer isn’t really similar because whilst Hoola is matte, this has a shimmer to it. I usually prefer a matte bronzer then either a blush with some shimmer or a highlighter with some shimmer, but I actually didn’t mind using the shimmer bronzer, and it wasn’t too dark for my skin tone when applied sparingly. The blush in ‘Pink’ is quite a bright one, as you can see, but again fine if applied sparingly and nice for creating a very doll-like look. The bronze is also nice brushed lightly across the eyelids.

Ultimate Eye Palette

This is another variation on the Naked palette, a product which I’ve never actually owned (*gasp*) but I am a big fan of nude eyeshadows. There is one really nice matte medium brown shade, one matte black and six shimmery shades. The shadows in and of themselves aren’t markedly different to others in similar budget brand palettes I own, but all together they make a really nice palette which is (a particular bonus in my opinion) compact enough to go in a make-up bag – it is probably my favourite out of the products featured here! I used the matte brown and some of the lighter shimmery shades to the left of it on my eyes in the photos in this post, I would definitely recommend it if you don’t already have something similar.

Arch Angel Brow Gel

Now I like a really defined brow, so this is perhaps my least favourite product. I tried using the brown mascara type gel in the Arch Angel on my bare brows but I couldn’t achieve the sort of shape I like by doing this, so perhaps this is one for gals who have fuller brows to begin with. In the photos in this post I filled out my brows (using Illamasqua eye shadow in ‘Jules’) before using the brow gel on them, which I much preferred, but I still don’t think I like how they turned out. I have since used it to tame any unruly bits of my brows after filling them in with my normal products though, and I would recommend it for that (although I haven’t tried any other brow gels for comparison). If you prefer a more natural look than I do, this might be worth a try!

Have you used any of these, or other MeMeMe products? Let me know your thoughts and recommendations!

December 23, 2014 TAGS: beauty, make up, makeup, mememe, mememe cosmetics BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

Spray Tan For Pale Skin

It seemed appropriate that, whilst I’m away in Florida sunning myself (but probably not tanning, let’s be realistic), I post about my first ever experience with fake tan. Yes, you read that correctly! When I was invited by St Tropez for a spray tan (they’re conveniently located in a quiet corner of Debenhams in Manchester city centre, or you can find your nearest location here) I was a little dubious and in all honesty I left the idea sitting in my inbox for a while, but after thinking it over I thought ‘why not?!’ I don’t tan naturally and I’m far too frightened to try to fake tan myself (which thankfully saved me from what would probably have been some humiliating prom photos, if I’d tried it), so if I was ever going to see myself with a tan, this was my opportunity.

The Process

I’ll keep this part brief – I had never had a spray tan before but everything was pretty much as I’d expected. Exfoliate the night before, don’t use oil-based moisturiser on the day, remove your make-up and deodorant either before you go or when you get there, then stand in the little pod half naked (you can wear their paper knickers or keep your own on) for a few minutes. It is a little awkward, but the beauty therapists are so used to it that they make you feel as comfortable as is possible in the circumstances.

What Next?

I got the ‘classic’ tan, which is the one that you have to leave for 8 hours to develop. This meant sleeping in it (which to my (pleasant) surprise didn’t ruin my sheets as much as I had expected, only a few marks!) and watching myself get darker and darker throughout the evening. This part was worrying, but once I washed it all off in the morning it was fine.

The Verdict

I was honestly so pleased with the results of my tan! There were so few imperfections, and I was actually a very nice colour. Here’s the important bit for pale people: the way St Tropez works is by adjusting itself according to your natural skin tone, so even though my tan was on for 8+ hours, it didn’t carry on developing once it had reached the correct level for my natural colour. The tan itself is also a nice tone, rather than being at all orange or that delightful David Dickinson mahogany. I would say that I was quite noticeably tanned for around 4-5 days after application, but some areas lasted longer. These photos were taken the day after I washed off the tan. My main problem in this area was that the tan on my face faded much more quickly due to more thorough washing and cleansing – I avoided oil based products as advised, but I didn’t want to forgo my skincare altogether.

In summary, I Don’t think I’ll be rushing to tan again any time soon because I just don’t think it’s very ‘me’ – I really liked how it looked on my body, but having a tanned face was just rather strange, and you definitely can’t do one without the other. Perhaps when summer comes around I’ll be tempted, and in the event that I was I would definitely go back to St Tropez!

My Top Tips for Pale Skin Tanning

From my brief tanning experience, my tips for myself next time around (and therefore my tips for any other pale gal thinking of taking this very daunting step) would be:

Follow instructions – exfoliate before your tan, don’t shave your legs within 24 hours of your appointment, etc. Simple really!
Make sure you have an oil free moisturiser; if you don’t then St Tropez do sell their own and are currently offering a free spray tan when you spend £30 on their products.
Make sure you have some darker foundation ready – I was very fortunate that I had a few foundation sample pots that were too dark for me knocking around, because if I had used my usual shade I would have looked quite ridiculous! You could do this by asking for a sample at a make-up counter after your tan, or going before your tan and asking for something a shade or two darker. The thing I found most difficult about the fading tan was getting my foundation to match it each day, but managed to keep it about right by mixing darker shades with my usual foundation and using more bronzer than I would normally.

–

I hope this post has been helpful! I’m still going to be embracing pale, but I am now much more open to the idea of a tan than I ever was. If you’re pale skinned but tan regularly, do you have any more tips? If you’re a tan novice, are you inspired to give it a go?

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November 5, 2014 TAGS: beauty, spray tan, spray tan for pale skin, st tropez, tan, tanning, tanning for pale skin BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

No7 Match Made Lipstick Service

No 7 Match Made Stay Perfect Lipstick, ‘Raspberry Blush’*

If you own a television, you’ve probably seen the advert for No 7’s new Match Made Lipstick Service, and consequently got Jessie J’s ‘Sexy Lady’ stuck in your head. I was recently invited to Boots in Manchester to try out the service for myself and chat to some customers – keep reading to see what I thought!

The Match Made Service comprises of 43 different lipstick shades which have been specifically formulated to compliment one or more of No 7’s foundation shades and give a lift to your complexion. I started my visit by getting matched by No 7’s fascinating little machine, which obviously identified me as the palest shade, Calico. In the interest of full disclosure, Calico is sadly still a little bit too dark for me. I have, however, really liked using my sample of their ‘Beautifully Matte’ foundation mixed with a little of my Illamasqua Skin Base in Shade 2 to achieve the correct colour.

I am generally quite brave with lipstick, so I would probably wear most of the 43 shades available. However, I still think that Match Made is a brilliant idea! I know that so many people aren’t as brave as I am with their colour choices, and am often baffled to find out that people don’t think they can pull off red (you can!), so this is really the perfect way to ease yourself into wearing bolder colours. Some of my favourites that were a match for my Calico skin were Raspberry Blush (a bold pink, which I’m wearing in the photo at the top of this post), Brick Red, and Hot Copper, all of which are colours in the more opaque Stay Perfect lipstick. I also liked the more neutral shades like Soft Tulip in the Moisture Drench range.

All in all I’m really pleased with the shades I ended up with after I was matched, and would definitely recommend popping in and getting it done – it is free after all! In the future I would definitely like to see more nude shades available, as I personally struggle more with finding the right nude shades for my skin tone than I do with choosing pretty bright colours.

October 4, 2014 TAGS: beauty, boots, Boots No 7, lipstick, match made, match made lipstick, no 7, pink lipstick BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

LFW Day 3 – Beauty Look

Before I show you my LFW day 3 outfit (although if you follow me on Instagram you’ll have already seen it), I thought I’d do a quick run down of my make-up. My focus here was on my eyes, which is a nice change for me as I don’t usually give them much thought. I always wear mascara and normally go for a nude shadow (if anything), and occasionally winged liner. I took this very handy (and very cheap at £6) Makeup Revolution palette to London with me because it contains matte and shimmer shadows in all my favourite neutral shades, from pale cream to dusky pink to brown to black. For this look I used dusky pink shades, in particular the matte shade which is third from the right in the palette below. I have bluey greenish eyes, but this shade really makes the green pop! The smudgy, smokey look also worked well for a long day as it didn’t matter if I smudged it more throughout the day.

I’m also wearing: Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation, Collection Lasting Perfection liquid concealer, Soap & Glory Kick Ass pressed powder, Illamasqua Cream Pigment in ‘Hollow’ to contour, Illamasqua powder blusher in ‘Naked Rose’, Illamasqua eye shadow in ‘Jules’ for eyebrows, Rimmel exaggerate lipliner in ‘Eastend Snob’, and Rimmel x Kate Moss matte lipstick in Shade 101.

For my hair, I went for an imperfect looking slick back. This was partly due to necessity after a build up of product and very little time to make my hair look clean and nice, but I actually quite like how it turned out! I used a load of Label M Shine Spray, a product which I got in a goodie bag the night before but which seems to have served me very well. What do you think?

Makeup Revolution Salvation Palette*

September 17, 2014 TAGS: beauty, contour, Estee Lauder, Illamasqua, makeup, makeup revolution, Rimmel, Soap and Glory BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask – Review

Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask*

Rodial describes its Glamoxy Snake Mask as “an innovative black ‘peel off’ formula that visibly improves skin radiance and texture, whilst helping to reduce the appearance of fine lines.” It claims to be deep cleansing and decongesting, and that it draws out impurities and excess sebum, helps to diminish the appearance of expression lines, and brightens and corrects skin tone.

I was very excited to try out the Snake Mask after liking the look of it at a demo alongside Rodial’s coveted (but extremely pricey) Snake Serum at a Harvey Nichols beauty event a couple of years ago, but never wanting to spend £29 on a 50ml tube. For me this is quite pricey, however if you break it down to price per use (I would image I’ll get 10-20 uses) it really isn’t bad at all. The mask is unique in that it is jet black – definitely not one you want to be answering the door to the postman/woman in! It is very gloopy and therefore a little difficult to apply, and it is fragranced so if you have sensitive skin I’d advise a patch test before applying it all over your face. I also find that I need to shake the tube otherwise the mask can come out a little watery.

Now I’m still only 20 (21 next month!) so lines and wrinkles aren’t a concern just yet, but I love this mask regardless. I’m interested in anything which will unclog pores and brighten my skin, and I think that the Snake Mask definitely delivers. It’s much more effective than any other peel off mask I’ve ever used, plus the fact that it is peel off makes it easy (and also fun!) to remove. It leaves my skin smoother and brighter, and I have personally found that whilst it draws out impurities, it doesn’t then break me out 2-3 days later and so is fine to use just before a special event.

Have you tried the Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask, or will you be picking it up? Can you recommend any other Rodial products?

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August 25, 2014 TAGS: beauty, face mask, Rodial, Rodial glamoxy, rodial glamoxy snake mask, rodial snake mask BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

Review – Old Wives Tail Hair Growth Oil Treatment

Melado Organic Hair Growth Oil Treatment – Old Wives Tail*

I have my hair dyed on a regular basis and use heat on it almost daily too, so I’m always keen to try products (and in particular oils) which will nourish my hair and keep it healthy. This Old Wives Tail (great name, I think!) ‘Melado’ oil is made from organic ingredients, is paraben free, vegan, and is priced at a fairly reasonable £13.99 per pot. I also think it’s nice to support smaller beauty companies.

First things first – the oil I chose smells absolutely wonderful! On a lazy day when my hair was in need of a wash, I applied the oil very liberally all over my hair and scalp, left it for around 1 hour as recommended in the instructions, shampooed my hair twice to ensure all the oil was out, then conditioned the ends. I then dried and fully straightened my hair as I normally would. It felt much softer than usual (and so I would assume that this product would be particularly good for coarse hair) and was slightly less frizzy than usual too. The oil also claims to stimulate growth; this remains to be seen with my hair as I’ve only used it once, however healthy hair grows more quickly than damaged hair so I imagine that this product will help! I’ve also used it very sparingly to tame flyaways, which works a treat.

I’m not sure I can say that it’s much different to any other oil I’ve used, other than smell-wise, nevertheless I’m really pleased with the results! However because it is made with organic ingredients, and is from a small company, I’d definitely take a chance on this over a big brand if you’re looking for a new oil or perhaps if (for some crazy reason) you’ve never tried a hair oil and fancy giving it a go!

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August 21, 2014 TAGS: bbloggers, beauty, hair care, hair growth, hair growth oil treatment, hair oil, old wives tail BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

FaceB4 – Review

Face B4 – Anti-bacterial Face Wash and Anti-bacterial Serum*

Welcome to my first skincare post! Now I’m not massive on skincare, you won’t catch me spending £40 on a cleanser any time soon, but I do cleanse, tone and moisturise (or something to that effect) twice daily, almost without fail. Essentially, whilst I don’t pay lots of attention to my skincare products, they’re very important and so I like products which are a good balance of quality and effectiveness, and value for money. The selling point of FaceB4 is the anti-bacterial properties, and the wash and serum together are currently on sale for £17.49 when bought together, so everything looked promising! Plus, the range is marketed at a unisex audience, which is always refreshing.

The FaceB4 Anti-bacterial Face Wash is a foaming cleanser and toner combined, and isn’t really anything to write home about in and of itself. It leaves my skin feeling quite nice and is just as good as other foaming cleansers I’ve used, but it isn’t a stand out product. The Anti-bacterial Serum, however, feels incredible. It’s quite creamy in texture, but isn’t too heavy duty and sinks into your skin within a few minutes, making it fine for both morning and evening application. So, face wash – ok, serum – really good; I’m not sure whether or not the effectiveness of the serum would be reduced if used with a different cleanser, but as a duo I’m really loving them as far as actual application and immediate effects go.

What is most important, clearly, is how the products affect your skin clarity and quality. I don’t have particularly problematic skin, so I don’t have any dramatic before and after photos, however I did start using FaceB4 mid small break-out a few weeks ago and it seemed to clear that up and generally calm my skin down quickly. I have been really happy using it since then too! Although I wasn’t blown away by the immediate effects of the face wash, that is the product which claims to fight the spot causing bacteria, and so if I was to repurchase, I would repurchase the products as a duo rather than just picking up the serum. I also particularly like that the duo replaces my entire old routine – the wash cleanses and tones, and the serum moisturises. In summary, whilst I hasten to state the obvious that skincare is very variable depending on your skin type, I would really recommend trying out FaceB4 if you’re looking to change up your skincare, or generally calm down slightly stressed skin!

Let me know if you’ve tried out FaceB4, what do you think?

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August 5, 2014 TAGS: beauty, cleanser, FaceB4, FaceB4 review, skincare BY: hannahlouisef

Beauty

Ciaté Flower Maicure

I have really been slacking on my nails recently. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have been seen dead without a bit of nail art (remember these and these?!) but now I just don’t have the time or patience, and my nails are almost always a quick job. Enter Ciaté Flower Manicure kit. The kit contains: two Ciaté nail varnishes – a pretty pale blue called ‘Ferris Wheel’ and a clear quick dry top coat; a nail file; a pair of tweezers; and two pots containing tiny real pressed flowers (the pot not pictured here has red and purple flowers!).

The kit was surprisingly easy to use. I started by trimming the purple flowers down to the right size for the nails I wanted to use them on, then applied two coats of Ciaté Ferris Wheel (if you wanted a different colour you could use anything, or even just put the flowers on top of clear varnish). Once they were dry, I painted a nail with the clear top coat then added a flower using the tweezers provided, and then used my finger to press it into place. After I’d done this on every nail, I added another layer of the top coat to seal everything into place.

I absolutely love how they look! So fancy and professional, with fairly minimal skill required. The turquoise flowers only lasted a couple of days before rubbing off slightly, but the purple flowers lasted really well.

Tah-dah! What do you think? Will you be picking up a Flower Manicure kit?

July 29, 2014 TAGS: beauty, ciate, Ciate Flower Manicure, floral, flowers, nail art, nail varnish, nails BY: hannahlouisef

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Hannah Louise Fashion

Hannah Louise Fashion

Tag: beauty

My Hair-story and an Exciting Announcement

Rodial Stemcell Super-food range – review

All about MeMeMe – MeMeMe Cosmetics review

Spray Tan For Pale Skin

No7 Match Made Lipstick Service

LFW Day 3 – Beauty Look

Rodial Glamoxy Snake Mask – Review

Review – Old Wives Tail Hair Growth Oil Treatment

FaceB4 – Review

Ciaté Flower Maicure