My Ombre Hair

Hi All,

Since my last blog post about my BaByliss Curl Secret I have had a lot of questions about my hair.

If you have seen this post, you will know I have extremely long ombre hair and a lot of people have taken an interest in it so I thought I would do a post on it.


Ombre
I wanted to dip dye my hair for ages before I finally did it!

My natural hair is mousy brown, the same colour as it is at the top currently but I always thought this was a bit plain.

I have dyed by hair blonde and chocolate brown before but the blonde washed me out too much so I decided I only wanted it at the ends.

Ombre is a perfect combination as it is not as damaging as a full head of colour.


What I Used

• I used Loreal's Wild Ombre in the No. 3 Shade. I used this as it was recommend by a friend who had a similar hair shade to me. This product was great and so easy to use! My friend actually did this for me as it's easier for someone else to do it rather than looking in the mirror and trying to gage where to put it.

How I Did It

• This product comes with a brush to comb the dye into your hair with. This makes it so simple! 

• I recommend getting someone else to do this for you the first time, but you can do it yourself after. 

• The dye started just over half way down my hair. It is important this colour isn't in a block and it is different lengths to match natural tones.

How Long Have I Had It

• I have had Dip Dyed hair for nearly a year now and have only had to do it 3 times. The first time I did it, it stayed on for around 40 mins and I did it again 3 days later for a further 30 mins to get it even blonder. I then left it for around 4 months before I did it again.

• I'm surprised how long the dye has stayed, it has really stuck to my hair now and it's blended to such a nice natural colour.

My Ombre Hair March 2013

Length
I have super super long hair, it's past hip length now! I get asked a lot how I maintain it but there's no secret really!

I have ALWAYS had long hair, never had short hair and it's also very thick. I'm pretty lucky with it actually.

The only issue with having such long hair is that is gets flat so I have to backcomb it quite a lot for it to get volume, and when I get volume, it's often been compared to a mane!! I love love love volume!


What I Use

• To maintain my dip dye and stop damage I use John Frieda Moisturising Blonde Shampoo 
• I use Gold GHD Straightens and for curls, BaByliss Curl Secret 
• For hairspray I use Pantene Extra Strong to keep it volumised
• I am a huge fan of dry shampoo and use Batiste original 

I hope this has been helpful for you and if you have any questions about maintaing, dying your hair, let me know!

Have you ever dyed your hair?

Cya x

Review - BaByliss Curl Secret

Hi All,

This post has been requested so many times and good news, it's finally here!

If you haven't read my previous post about why I wanted to Curl Secret read that HERE first so this makes more sense to you. Today's post will be the review of this so if you just want that, carry on reading!

So this beauty to my right is the BaByliss Curl Secret a curling tool which was shown to suck up your hair in some magical way and produce a curl in a few seconds. So, does it work?

YES! Is the answer..

I have tried to think of all the questions you would want to know in the post, which are pretty much the things I wanted to know before.


First Thoughts

At first, I was absolutely terrified of this I'm not going to lie. I am very precious about my hair and the one thing I was worried about is it getting tangled because it sucks up your hair so quick. I read the instruction booklet over 5 times and I reccomend you do this because I did not want to get to wrong. I practised the motion a lot before doing it also, as I was aware it could go wrong.

At first, I didn't even look in the mirror to do it, I had my eye glued on the bit where your hair is zapped up. However, as I got into it, I wasn't even looking at it anymore and was seamless. It is also quite a nice size and not too bulky.

Does It Curl Well?

Below I have I included a before and after shot of my hair. I never usually have curls as it takes me foreever due to the length of my hair, so it curled really well for me. I was unsure where to start the curls due to the length but as you can see I went quite up with the curls, which is what I wanted. 

You can create 3 types of curls with the Curl Secret, which I found very handy. The setting I used for this review was defined curls as I wanted a dramatic effect, but there is a loose waves setting which I am very interested to try.

                       BEFORE                                            AFTER

How Is It With Long Hair?

This is something I was very worried about. As you can see my hair is extremely long as I wasn't sure how well it would do with it considering the mechanism. However. it coped a lot better than I was expecting. I started from just above half way to be safe and still got a really nice finish. The barrel that your hair is kept in does seem quite small, but it keeps wrapping until it is done. It's funny you can hear it doing it!.

My hair is completely natural so I am not sure how well this would be with extensions, but if they are secure, I see no reason why this should be an issue. Please read the instructions though!

Does Your Hair Get Caught

This was the one thing I was TERRIFIED of happening. The mechanism in this quickly zapped up your nail and wrapped it around a tong inside so it is clamped in. At first I did this was very thin strands of hair as I didn't want to get it caught, but once I worked out how to do it I got used to it.

In terms of it getting caught, out of doing my whole head, which was many many many strands I only struggled once. I wouldn't say it got caught, but it pulled and made a loud beep that wasn't like any of the other ones and the clamp was released, meaning it was caught or the hair was too notty or something. In my case, it was caught on another bit of hair so didn't want to go further.

I found this VERY useful as it didn't carry on and could identify before it happened that it may get caught, so it avoided it. It beeped at me about 3 times like this meaning I had put it in wrong and it wasn't going to curl it for me.

If getting your hair caught is something you are worried about if you really look inside the curler there is little wand like a curling tong and once you released the clamp and turn it off at the plug you could just unwrap it. Luckily this didn't happen with me because the curler already identified it was caught. A fantastic feature!!

How Does It Work?

Now, I'm not exactly sure is the answer. At first I thought it was magic but I had a real good look when it was being extracted and I'm pretty sure once its clamped in it is then swirled and placed around a curling iron like rod. This is curled round until all the hair is covering it and you can hear this working. For me it went on for longer because of my long hair. 

Your hair is then kept there for 4 seconds you will hear 4 beeps and then you release the clamp. Simple as that! If you hear a louder sharp beep, you must take your hair out as there is a problem.

There are various setting depending on your stength of wave, which I liked and there is also a switch for thin and thick hair. I have very thick hair so I thought this was a really nice feature!

Below is a video of me using the BaByliss Curl Secret:

Benefits

1. Speed - The speed of the curler is amazing, in 4 seconds you have a perfect curl. In total to curl my hair using this took me about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe it!
2. Features - I really liked the fact you could choose your wave as I used to curling using a straightener where you only get one style. 
3. Design - I really like the design of this product. You can't see inside the mechanism so you never see you hair being curled, it just makes it that much more seamless.
4. Warning - Something that really impressed me was the tangle warning. I think this is something most people are worried about, so very glad they put this in.
5. Ease - Once you get into it, it is very simple to use, almost effortless, all you have to do is hold the curler. It's almost easier than straightening! 

Weakness'

1. Burning - As you might be able to see from my video, a lot of smoke comes from this and my room was actually very smoky after using this. I am not sure if this is because it was the first time using it, it was on the highest setting on that I had some product in my hair, but it did seem to smoke a lot. 
2. Weight - This is not a huge issue, but because of the mechanism it is obviously not as light as some of the other curlers or straighteners used to curl. 

Overal

Overal, I am thoughrally pleased with the BaByliss Curl Secret, I couldn't wait to show my family how it worked as I was so amazed by it and that cool mechanism doesn't take away from the curl you do get a perfect curl with it. What I was super impressed with was the speed, it completely shortens down the time it takes to curl and this is now management for me to do in the mornings. 

I would definitely recommend this! The price is a bit of a stretch as is around £120 but for the amount of time you save I think it is worth it. All of my hair took me only 10 minutes to do!! With a normal curler it would take me over an hour!

The steam issue is the only problem I had with this, but it could be because it's the first time I've used it so I will keep you updated.

After Curling

The images of my hair were taken directly after curling so they still have the defined curl. I would finish this off with hairspray and I like a more natural curl so I would brush this through a little either with my fingers of gently with a hairbrush so the curl isn't so set. 

Have any of you ever used this? I would love to know what you think. 

Also if any of you have any more questions regarding this please ask and I would be happy to answer them.

I hope you enjoyed this review and stay tuned for the next Char's Insights post.

Cya! x

What I Got For Christmas

Hi All,

Firstly I hope you had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed your day whatever it was you were doing!

In today's post I will be sharing with you some of the lovely things I received for Christmas. I will be doing this post in 2 parts and will shortly be posting a 'What I Gave' blog post for you all. So on with the presents! Now I am not going to share with you EVERY present I got, so I am just going to share with you a selection of my favourites.

BaByliss Curl Secret

If you follow me, or know me at all, you will know I have been banging on about this for AGES. I asked for this for christmas and yes I finally got it. I am so excited to use this! A lot of you have asked me to do a review of this because I know it is highly sort after, but the price puts a lot of people off so I will be doing a review for you to let you know exactly what I think of it.


I have actually used this already as I was far too excited to try it and did a photo shoot with the after effects to show you. I am currently editing all the photos and videos now which is taking a lot of time so will be posting this in a few weeks for you.

Here's a sneak preview from the shoot <<


Now onto more presents..

Harry Potter

Now.. this was a funny one. Without knowing me and my sister bought each other one of the same presents. We are both HUGE Harry Potter fans and have been to Harry Potter land in America but haven't been to the studio tour in London yet. So.. for christmas we both accidentally got exactly that. Luckily before we both opened the same present for each other on christmas day my dad told us the situation once he found out and I was able to return them due to having already purchased tickets. 

So.. after all that palaver, me and my sister will be going to the Harry Potter studios in February, so we just catch it whilst it's still in the snow. I'm SO excited eeek.

Little Mermaid
I'm a huge huge huge Disney fan and my favourite Disney film, although a hard choice is The Little Mermaid. Now for the past few years, this has been a nightmare to get hold of, but as it was released recently my sister managed to snap me up a copy and get me the boxset. Can't wait to watch this!

As well as the first film, this contains the second one which I equally love and a third one I didn't even know about!

Have you seen or heard of the 3rd Little Mermaid film?



Oribe Texturising Spray
This spray is something I have wanted to try for a while now after seeing many other bloggers talk about it. The spray is quite expensive at £38 a bottle but I'm excited to try it. Having long hair, I really hope this is worth the price! This is also something I may do a review on.

Understandably it is not an everyday purchase at that price as many other dry shampoo's and volumisers are cheaper. However, if it's worth it is may be an investment.

Let me know if you'd like me to do a review on it?

So, like those are the main presents I wanted to share with you. Find below a nice little photo of all my presents. Some include a flashing Paris canvas, many cupcake books and a lot of nail varnish and jewellery. I hope you all had a wonderful day, I certainly did. I just can't believe how quick it goes by!

I will be posting part 2 of this next week where I share with you what I gave for christmas and make sure to stay tuned for the curl secret review in the next few weeks.

Cya x

November Updates

Hello,

I thought I would give you guys a few quick updates regarding my recent posts.


BaByliss Curl Secret
I'm so excited to say this has been bought! I got a phone call at the weekend to say it has been picked up and will be waiting under my tree when I go home for christmas. This is something I can't wait to try out, and I will definitely review it and let you know if it's worth it, which fingers crossed it will be. Check out my BaByliss Curl Secret post here.

Puppies Name
After a LOT of deliberation, me and my family think we have finally decided on a name for the puppy. We are going with Pepper. We all liked this name, and as she will start off as black colour, this name is quite fitting. I would love to know what you all think of the name, do you like it? If you would like to see the post regarding previous puppy names and photo's click here.

Christmas Advert
On Friday, I wrote a piece on the new John Lewis Christmas Advert before it's release on Saturday. Now you've hopefully all got a chance to see it, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. What did you think of it? Do you prefer any of their other Christmas adverts? If you still haven't seen the advert, click here for a full review and the advert itself.

Graduation
Now, this isn't regarding my old posts, but it will probably involve my new posts. At the end of November, I graduate University. This is a very scary thought as it is completely closing this chapter of my life and I am not ready to stop being a student yet. This will be a very special day and I will keep you updated on this and most probably blog my experience.

Nails
This is also an upcoming post update. I recently wrote a post regarding halloween nails and showed you quickly my penguin nails that I had previously done. This was requested and I have been asked to show you how I did them, so nearer to Christmas I will be taking you through the stages of completing this look. If you would like to see the penguin nails click here for the previous post.



So that's it for all the updates! There is a lot going on at the moment, so my blog is swaying a lot more to lifestyle around Christmas. I will be keeping you up to date and on the eye out for all the amazing Christmas adverts and will share the best ones with you!



(WARNING: Gushy part coming up)

I also just want to say a massive THANK YOU for all the support I have currently received regarding this Blog. I started this mid September and am astonished by how well everyone has taken to it. The support I get on my Blog Twitter is overwhelming, and you all tell me how much you love reading my posts which is so lovely and I am very grateful for that. There are now over 600 of you lovely people following Char's Insights and over 7000 page views, which is surreal to think about. I love hearing what you think and if you would like a specific post on something please do let me know and I'll happily do it.

If you don't already follow me on my blog twitter, I'm at Char's Insights and I post about updates regarding my blog, as well as interacting with you guys. I also love checking out other people's blog's so please feel free to send me yours and I'll take a look. Love you all and thank you again.


Cya x

John Lewis Christmas Advert

Hi All,

So, the wait is over. The John Lewis Christmas advert is here.

I wait all year for the Christmas adverts, it is the one time of year that retailers know they have to get right and pull out all the stops to outdo their competitors. John Lewis have held the top spot for a while in the UK, and their adverts have now become almost iconic with people waiting all year for them and waiting to see what emotive advert they produce. I am one of these people. I have loved John Lewis' adverts from the start and throughout the year, not even around christmas time, I find myself searching for all of the adverts on YouTube and watching them from beginning.

So, if you are wondering why I am writing this blog post when it isn't even Christmas yet, it is because John Lewis have released their christmas advert. Yes people, it's been released!! It is due to be released on TV during the X Factor on Saturday night, however it has been released online for all of us searching for it prior. John Lewis have actually bought out the entire advert break during X Factor, which the agreement of Simon Cowell, to make sure their advert is memorable and everyone is talking about. Which I'm sure they will. Watch the new 2013 John Lewis Christmas advert below:

The advert tells the story of a bear and a hare around Christmas time. The advert is animated so is quite different to anything they have done before. It shows the bear not in the Christmas spirit, whereas his best friend the hare is trying his very hardest to get his best friend in the spirit so they can enjoy it together. The advert shows all the other animals enjoying decorating the tree etc but the bear yawning. It is soon clear the bear is going into hibernation, and will always miss christmas due to his sleeping patterns and is therefore not aware of how enjoyable christmas can be.

The advert really pulls on your heartstrings when the hare is looking at all the other animals enjoying christmas day and he is so upset his best friend can't be there. The next thing, the bear comes along with a huge smile on his face after receiving the hare's present of an alarm clock to wake him up just in time for Christmas. And they all live happily ever after. Of course.

The advert cost a whopping 7 million so I do hope they sell a lot of those alarm clocks!

Something I think John Lewis do perfectly with their adverts is the music choices, this again is a perfect choice and I'm sure this cover of Keane's 'Somewhere Only We know' by Lily Allen will be a hit, as all the other iconic, slowed down, covers are. The music is so emotive and beautifully fits with the story. The music for last year's snowman advert particularly stood out to me because it was so entrancing, it made the advert.

Their adverts are so iconic, and are always known for being a tearjerking and emotional. They could be criticised for being very repetitive and following the same story, which is some cases they do. A lot of John Lewis christmas adverts follow the same story for finding the perfect christmas gift for your love ones, which this new advert follows too. However, John Lewis know if they feature products in their adverts, people will buy them, which is exactly what happens. This alarm clock will now be on everyones Christmas list.

As much as I do love this advert, and think the animation and disney like style really sets it apart from anything they have done before, I do prefer some of their other christmas adverts. My all time favourite one (and this is a hard choice) is 'The Long Wait' and I know this is a similar view of many others. The advert shows the boy impatiently waiting for Christmas and when the day is finally here, he cannot wait a minute longer. You assume he is waiting for Christmas all the time, but in fact he is waiting to give his parents the present he has bought him. It is such an emotive advert I do remember I did actually shed a tear at this one, because it is unexpected. Watch it below:

There have been many other brilliant John Lewis Christmas adverts and another favourite of mine is the Sweet Child Of Mine 2009 advert, I absolutely love the transition at the end, it works perfectly. Here are their 2008, 2010 and 2012 adverts for you to have a look, and probably cry at.

I'm sure there will be many more Christmas adverts I will love and I'll make sure to share the best ones with you! So that's it, another long year of waiting for the John Lewis Christmas advert is upon us.

And remember, give someone a Christmas present they'll never forget!


Cya x

Babyliss Curl Secret

Hello Lovelies,

Haircare blog post today! If you don't know, I have very long hair, like really long hair. I usually straighten my hair and that itself takes a good half hour to do well. On the odd occasion I curl it, it will take over an hour, as well as how long hair my hair is, it is also very thick so curling it is a huge amount of effort. I don't own tongs or anything, I just use my straighteners as I rarely curl my hair, but on the odd occasion I do it looks lovely.

I also have dip dyed hair, and the effects of dip dye often look nicer curled than straight. If you curl the ends of your dip dyed hair, the blonde will really stand out. As my hair is so long the dip dye now reached my hips so the ends curled would look lovely. The only issue is time, so I really want to invest in a good pair of curlers, that take minimal time and effort.

Bang. Enter Curl Secret.

BaByliss Curl Secret is a curler like no other. This device is like a magic wand and I am so excited to try it out. The curler sucks up your hair automatically and without any effort or time you have a perfect curl. Before I go into more detail about it, watch the video below showing it in action.

How amazing does that look!

It sucks up your hair, so you don't have to physically wrap it round, it heats up your hair depending on the softness of the curl and you have a curl in 10 seconds. This will take much less time to curl my hair and I think it will be very handy indeed in the morning! The one thing I was worrying about was it zapping up your hair and getting tangled but I have done A LOT of research on this and it is clear this is not an issue although everyone initially thought it would be.

What my hair is currently like- Dip Dye

Something else I am worrying about is the length of my hair and how this will effect the mechanism, as I have said it's super long, way past my hips now so I'm not sure how this will be in the curler and I might have to start quite far down. If you have the same problem or really long hair I would love to know your thoughts on this and if this issue has effected you?

The product is quite expensive and sits at roughly £120 which for a curler is a lot of money, however, I think with the amount of time and effort you will be saving, this will be worth it. I have asked for this as my christmas present to justify the price and I am sure I will love it.

I have read some reviews of this on other blogs and watched many videos and the response all seems very positive so far which is great. I would love to hear your thoughts on this and if you have it, what it's like? Would you recommend it? Or if you don't have it, would you buy it?

My hair is something which is very important to me, I take care of it and like to look after it. It is a big feature for me because of it's length and thickness and is something which many people comment on, even strangers. Personally I think it is a bit too long now, I'm close to being able to sit on it and it is a lot of effort to maintain, but I just can't seem to part with it, and I am not ready to cut off the dip dye just yet as it has faded to a lovely colour. As I am so precious about my hair I need to make sure this product is the right one for me so I would love some of your feedback on this.

If I do get this BaByliss Curl Secret, I will do a tutorial and review on the product for you. Hopefully I will be amazed and it will be a good as everybody says it is!

Cya x

Social Media Week

On Monday, I was lucky enough to go to Social Media Week's Opening Party. If you don't know what Social Media Week is, it is a week long event which takes place around the world, holding events, guest talks and lectures revolving the world of social media. For more information, check out their website HERE. The opening party is a great way to get a flavour for the week and a fantastic chance to network so I was very excited to go. For all of you that couldn't make it, I will be including photos of the night, so you all can see.

The first thing that took me by surprise was the giant red carpet outside we had to walk down! As well as this, around 20 photographers were snapping my photograph! I didn't have a clue where to look it was very surreal, but what a fantastic welcome. Upon entering there was also a lobster van which was serving various food throughout the night that went as quickly as you could even say the word lobster.

The inside of the party was decorated beautifully and the lights and effects around the room did look really good. As you can see from my photos, it was quite dark but there were a lot of strobe lights which heightened the atmosphere.

The night itself was good, there were various stalls and stands showcasing brands, but by far the best was the Duck DJ stall. When the ducks and blocks moved around the square, the beat changed and it was almost like a DJ deck. Very fascinating.

At the party there was also a great graffiti battle in which a white blank wall was covered in graffiti, it was great to see this progress and it was done only using a pen, great to see! Although I don't know what the image on the left is meant to be, eggs?

As well as this there were Nokia stands, lots and cupcakes and blue wine. The Nokia stands were showing the various new Nokia phones, which had some great new features and the cupcakes even had Nokia logos printed on them. To top this off and promote Nokia just that little bit more, the wine was blue, blue wine!

Overall I had a good night, although I would suggest more hubs next time, apart from networking there wasn't as many stands or focal points as I imagined there would be. It was a great event and I can't wait to keep updated on the rest of Social Media Week. If you would like to keep updated with Tweets about Social Media Week, take a look at their Twitter page HERE.

Cya x