Everyday Wavy Hair

I know I've been doing a lot of hauls recently and I wanted to switch it up a bit. I'm going to be honest here. I've been wanting to do this hair post for a while but I was either a) too lazy, b) couldn't find someone to help me take pictures, or c) the weather was bad causing the lighting to suck.

Also shoutout to my sister for helping me take some of the pictures. I definitely need to go on a hunt for my tripod!

Anyway, without further ado, this is a hair tool I like to use when I want to dress up or change up my look every once in a while.

Remington Pearl Pro Double Tongs C19522

This is hands down one of my favourite hair tools! I had been looking around for a tool that would give me waves as opposed to curls as I find they are a little too fancy for an everyday look. I think the model I have is only available in the UK (I bought it on ebay). If you're from North America (I'm not sure if it's available anywhere else), this is the model that you can get your hands on. I think they're fairly similar but I'm not 100% sure as I don't own it. 

Before I put heat on to my hair, I like to use a heat protectant. Today, I used the Tresemme Keratin Smooth one but you can use any heat protectant that you have on hand. Make sure you brush your hair after you spray on the heat protectant as it helps even out the product!

This next step is optional. If you don't have straight hair, you can straighten it first. Straightening your hair first will make it a bit easier to get around the barrels of the waver and create a more defined wave. A couple months ago, I was using this tool on a friend who has naturally wavy hair and it was noticeably harder to use. The second time I used it on her, I straightened her hair first and it worked a lot better. You can, however, opt to wave your hair along with your natural wave, especially if you want a more messy look.

I have naturally straight hair so I skipped the optional straightening step.

After spraying heat protectant and brushing my hair, I like to section it off. I have super thin hair so I don't need to separate it in to too many sections. I usually make 2 sections. I tend to leave out more hair on the bottom section and tie up the rest in to the top section. 

I know the tool looks pretty scary but you'll be a pro once you practice a couple of times. It's pretty hard to demonstrate how to use it through pictures so bare with me... 

I like to start off by taking a 1 inch section of hair from the bottom section of hair. The amount of hair you grab depends on what kind of look you're going for. The wavier you want it, the smaller amount of hair you should grab. Try not to grab too small of a section as it can make it look frizzy (that happens to my hair anyway). If you want a more beachy/natural look, I would suggest taking slightly larger sections. 

Once you have selected the size of the section you want, put it in between the two prongs as pictured above. From there, you can decide which way you want the wave to go. It doesn't really matter which tong you wrap your hair around first. You can either alternate the tongs you start on to create a more natural look or use the same starting tong through out your entire head for a sleeker look.

This is where it gets really hard to explain. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm pretty bad at explaining/describing things... Anyway, you basically wrap the hair around the tongs in a figure 8 motion. 

This is probably the worst diagram EVER, but this is what I mean by figure 8 motion. The hair pretty much goes under and over the 2 tongs.

Keep wrapping the hair around both tongs until you run out of hair. I would suggest holding it for around 8-10 seconds but you can choose to hold it for however long you want. If you have thicker hair, I would recommend holding it a little longer.

Once you feel the wave is ready, you can either unwrap the hair from the tongs or lightly shake it off the wand. I personally unwrap it but I have seen people shake them off the tongs. The section of hair you waved should look something like this once you take it off the tong. It should somewhat resemble an s-shaped wave. Keep doing the previous steps until every strand of hair from the bottom section has been waved. Once you finish waving a scetion, undo the next section and continue with the same steps.

This is what it should look like once you have waved your entire head. I'm not sure if you can tell but I messed up when I was curling it. I was distracted and ended up waving my top section along with the bottom section instead of keeping them separate. Whoops. That's kind of why the top part of my head looks kind of weird... Of course the one time I need to do my hair perfectly, I mess up. (Basically my life story)

I hate hairspray. There, I said it. I hate the way it feels on my hair and I'm not a fan of the smell. I like to keep it old school and use mousse. I'm open to trying a couple of hairsprays that I've heard are really good, but for now I'm going to stick with my mousse! The mousse I used today is from Marc Anthony's Oil of Morocco Argan Oil line. I am obsessed with the shampoo and conditioner from this line so I decided to give the mousse a try. I've had it for a few months now and so far I have no complaints.

This is what my hair looks like from the front (feel free to ignore my massive eye bags). In my opinion, this hairstyle is perfect for any occasion. It can look quite formal yet casual. After a while, the waves start to loosen creating a more casual everyday look. 

This is what my hair looked like after running a couple of errands and lounging around. After a few hours, the waves definitely loosened. I apologize for the crappy lighting. It was pitch black when we took this picture so I had to use the lights from inside as opposed to natural lighting.

Like I've said before, this is my favourite go to hair tool. It heats up fast, its easy to use, and it can be used to create a day or night look. Plus, it's also rather cheap for a hair tool! I would highly recommend this to anyone who is in need of a new hair tool that is extremely versatile, budget friendly, and is relatively easy to use!

Let me know what your go to hair tool is!

- Amelia

The Body Shop Haul | 2

I think it's clear that I have a problem with shopping... and a slight obsession with The Body Shop. This shopping trip was brought on by a 40% off everything sale they were having. I got a bit of everything from skin care, makeup, shower products, lotion/moisturizers, and scented products.

* The first 3 items were bought because of essiebutton! I love her blog and her channel! She seems super friendly. Plus, she's really good at describing and recommending products. Hence, the reason why I bought 3 of the following products... To top it all off, she's also living the dream! (A Canadian living in London!)

Anyway, this is what I got from The Body Shop!

Tea Tree Cool & Creamy Wash

I've been using this face wash for a couple weeks now and I'm really enjoying it. It leaves your skin feeling clean and soft as the creamy texture prevents any drying of the skin. I think I read somewhere that said tea tree oil may take longer to get rid of blemishes, compared to salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide, but it's supposed to be better for your skin and is a more natural product. Correct me if Im wrong, but I believe it. I've used tea tree oil for a couple years now and it has NEVER dried out my skin! If you have acne prone skin I would definitely recommend you give this a try!

Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil

I don't know about you but I have a love hate relationship with removing makeup. I like removing my makeup because it allows my skin to breathe, but I hate it because I feel like I'm wasting my money by removing the products. anyone else feel this way?

Anyway, this stuff has been awesome at getting off makeup! I've definitely gotten over my fear of putting oil on my face. Sometimes when i'm feeling lazy, I go for the face wipes and then cleanse my face. But when I remember to use this, I'm always coming out of the bathroom happy. So If you're looking for a different way to remove your makeup, give this a try! It's great at getting off foundation and sensitive enough to remove eye makeup as well, plus it's rather inexpensive. Bonus!

Honey Bronze Bronzing Powder in 02 "Fair Matte"

I'm not going to lie, I 100% bought this because of Estee. I've never been one to use bronzer (shocker, I know) but Estee has raved about this in a number of her videos so I figured, if I'm going to give bronzer a go, I'm going to go with something that Estee uses. I wasn't sure which shade to get so I just went with Fair Matte, but I do want to give Light Matte a try (for winter, maybe). I also splurged and got the kabuki brush..

Coconut Body Scrub

I normally don't go for anything coconut but a friend from work absolutely LOVES this scent. I dragged her into The Body Shop one day during our break and she told me she wasn't going to buy anything but ended up leaving the store with 2 coconut products. She wasn't happy with me because I left the store empty handed.. Oops.

Anyway, I've been using this scrub for a good week now and I'm loving it! Obviously, it smells like coconut, but the scent isn't too overwhelming. I would highly recommend this scrub to anyone who's looking for an all around good scrub. It is effective but it isn't too harsh, which is good, as it allows you to use this scrub daily without irritating the skin.


Mango Body Sorbet

I'm actually a sucker for advertisements and apparently YouTube videos (seriously, don't let me watch any infomercials..). I have walked past the Body Sorbets a number of times and never considered getting one until Zoe from Zoella mentioned this in one of her recent favourites video. I've only tried this once so I can't really say anything about it, other than my hands were pretty soft after using it. 

Products from the Early Harvest Raspberry Line

This is embarrassing. If you have been reading this blog for a while now, you should know that I LOVE this scent. But I don't think you understand how much I love it. Clearly I bought a lot of products from the line (6 plus the 2 items I already own) and I'm still not satisfied with my stash... I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it!

I would highly, highly, highly recommend anything from this line as they smell AMAZING and the products all do what they're supposed to do. The only downside would be that the scent doesn't stay for a long time. It does linger, but not as long as I would like it too. But I feel like that's the case with all products from The Body Shop.. so I really don't have any complaints.


Pomegranate & Raspberry Body, Room and Linen Spritz

Clearly, I'm obsessed with this scent as well, as I bought one of these in my last Body Shop haul. Every time I spray this, I always get a compliment or a "What is that? It smells so good!". Again, the scent doesn't last that long but when it is on, it's worth it. It isn't too expensive, but I always try to get this when it is on sale. I think it's safe to say that it was a good deal, as I bought 3... I also can't find this in store so I go a little crazy with this scent.

Pomegranate & Raspberry Scented Candle

I basically bought this on a whim. I mean I do LOVE this scent but I really don't need this. I have been trying to get into candles but I kind of only bought this because it was on sale. I told you I have a problem... But I am pretty excited to light this and see if it fills the room with a scent that I am obsessed with. Fingers crossed!

Do you like The Body Shop? What's your favourite product? Is there a product that you absolutely hate? I'd love to hear from you!

- Amelia

Lancome Haul

I've been so excited to show you guys this haul! There was a rare sale on Lancome products, so I splurged and got a couple of products. I've heard that Lancome has formed a reputation for being a brand that older women use, but I have to disagree! I believe their products are high quality and are definitely worth the price!

Hypnose Doll Lashes Mascara

So many bloggers have raved about Lancome's Hypnose mascaras. I'm so excited to give this a try! It also has a tapered brush, my favourite! I still want to give some of my drugstore mascaras a try before this one so it might be a while before I crack this one open. Clearly I need to cut back on the mascara...

Colour Design Eyeshadow in "All that Glitters" 505

With flash

Without flash

This stuff is beautiful! It gives a nice shimmer and is great for turning a day look into a night look in seconds! So far I've only swatched it a couple times and I've noticed that on the first swipe it is quite shimmery. Once you blend it out a bit it gives a nice subtle shimmer.

This eyeshadow can be quite unforgiving. If you put too much you'll have to do a lot of blending, and even then you may still have too much. I would suggest starting off with a little bit and slowly building it up until you reach your desired look.


Pure Empreinte Masque

Another one of my current obsessions.. masks! My skin has gotten a lot better since I've started using products from the La Roche de Posay Effaclar line. But I still want to get all the garbage out of my skin so I was quite tempted in trying this mask as it's a purifying mineral mask with white clay. I've used it a couple of times now and I'm really enjoying it!


Teint Idole Ultra 24H Foundation in Buff 220

OH MY GOODNESS! I have found my new holy grail foundation! This foundation is amazing! I actually love it so much, I'm thinking of doing a post on this in the near future. So I'll try not to give too much away but I would definitely recommend giving this a try if you're willing to splurge on a foundation. DEFINITELY WORTH IT! (Sorry for all the caps but it's honestly worth it!!)

Let me know if you want a more in depth review on any of these products! Have you tried any of these products? What are your views on Lancome?

- Amelia