Rush Hair Maidstone Review

Today's guest reviewer is Amanda who went to Rush Hair in Maidstone to check it out and give us a review. www.rush.co.uk

Take it away Amanda!

At almost 40 with wild, wavy, coarse and uncontrollable hair I’m a little nervous about walking into Rush in Maidstone; a salon that I’ve always perceived as being only for the ‘young and trendy’. Add to that, the fact that I’ve had several disasters that required lengthy growing out phases but I’ve bravely booked myself in for a half head of highlights, cut and blow dry.

I was relieved when Katy, my appointed hairdresser sat down and discussed with me what it was I wanted; I have been places where I’m whisked off for a shampoo before even seeing the hairdresser. 

She listened to what I wanted, looked at my hair and consulted me with her recommendations both in regard to the cut and colour. I wanted to keep the length but look less witchy and more groomed. I also wanted to draw out the red and blond colours that are naturally there in my hair without the stripy badger look – fine for many people but that just isn’t me. 


Whilst my colours were being mixed I was well looked after, I was brought a pot of herbal tea on a delightful little tray complete with biscuits, I was offered magazines several times and robed and wrapped in a warmed towel – a lovely touch. 

All in all the staff were very attentive, my only complaint would be being called love a couple of times by the guy that saw me at reception; it didn’t help my complex about feeling too old and frumpy for this salon. 


Katy was both professional and friendly with an easy going personality, she has a good handle on her team and I’ve no doubt that whichever member of the team you go to you will come out feeling very pleased.  I certainly was.  My new colour brought out the natural tones of my hair in an elegant subtle way and the cut and blow dry looked amazingly sophisticated.

I’ve really put it to the test this weekend, my hair has survived my regular kick boxing class, a wedding reception and a day out with the kids, not to mention being slept on for a couple of nights and I’m pleased to say it looked as sleek and bouncy Sunday night as it did when I walked out the salon Friday evening. 


To sum it all up, was I happy with the result? It looked amazing. Would I go back? Well I’ve already booked my next appointment,  and would I recommend Rush? Absolutely! 


I think we call all agree that a) Amanda doesn't look anywhere approaching 40 and b) her hair looks great!  Thanks so much for the review.  If you would like to follow Amanda's new blog her link is allaboutyoukent
       

Help: a Heart, Nominate your Hero campaign

This week is the start of National Heart Month, so there is no better time to look after the hearts of the ones you love and nominate someone special in your life for the Help: a Heart, Nominate your Hero campaign by Works with Water Nutraceuticals, which looks after the heart health of others with its range of 100% natural heart health supplements.

Week 2 winner: Nicolla Bishop (via website), who nominated her friend and work colleague

Nicolla’s hero nomination statement: “I nominate my friend and work colleague Nicki. We work with people with dementia and absolutely love it despite its challenges. Nicki is someone that always goes above and beyond. She spends a lot of her own time taking people with dementia out and running fabulous activities for them-like baking classes. She’s a single mum and has a lot of problems in her personal life but never fails to make everyone else happy.”

The Works with Water Nutraceuticals judging panel chose Nicolla Bishop’s hero to receive the prize of a Healthy Heart Warming Hamper, as they appreciated the real difference that Nicki’s hard work and caring heart must be making to the wellbeing of people suffering from dementia.

Week 3 of the campaign – get your entries in!

Why not nominate your own everyday hero in your life - the person that regularly performs acts of kindness that perhaps get taken for granted – and give your reasons why that person is special.

The most compelling entry each week will win an exclusive Healthy Heart Warming Hamper, which will be delivered to the person they have nominated as their hero with a personalized note saying ‘you’re my hero’.

Nominate your hero (Stating who your hero is, their relationship to you and why they are your hero):

·         Leave a comment on our dedicated campaign blog at www.workswithwater.co.uk/HelpaHeart

·         Email us at HelpaHeart@workswithwater.co.uk

·         Tweet to us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HelpaHeart, using the hash tag #HelpaHeart in your tweet

·         Write on our Facebook wall at www.facebook.com/HelpaHeart

You can follow the progress of the campaign at:

www.workswithwater.co.uk/HelpaHeart  ~  www.twitter.com/HelpaHeart

help: cholesterol and help: blood pressure are available from selected Waitrose and Holland & Barrett stores (plus selected Boots from 30 January 2011) and online at http://www.workswithwater.co.uk, priced at £15.79-£16.79 for a week’s supply, or £54.99 for a month’s supply (only available via website).

White Glo Toothpaste

White Glow is a relatively new toothpaste brand to the UK (I assume, since I have never heard anything about it until recently).  It is a big brand in Australia and I can see why.


 I was sent the one that comes in the red box called professional choice and tested it out for a few weeks. When I went to photograph it yesterday Matt had thrown it in the bin lol!  So I went out and purchased a few more and Boots currently have dental products on 3 for 2 so I got three. I picked up the Smokers Toothpaste for Matt, and the Extra Strength Whitening Toothpaste and Coffee and Tea versions for me.


In each box you get the tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush and some little flossing sticks so they are perfect for travelling, taking to your friend or boyfriend's house for an overnight stay or if you just like to change you toothbrush regularly you can get a new one with every tube of toothpaste.


I must say that I was very impressed with the red box toothpaste but I will update when I have tried the coffee and tea version as I am a coffee and tea monster!  I love water in the Summer but I literally glug it just for health reasons in the Winter as I hate cold drinks when it's cold.


Find out more information here at www.whiteglo.com/ and you can buy at Boots for around £4.20

What are HD Brows? Info and HD Brow Palette Review

HD Brows have caused quite a stir recently among celebrities and I must admit I have got caught up in the hype myself.  I have a thing for eyebrows.  I really like mine when they are looking good and I always look at other people's eyebrows and often stare like a right old loony. Here is a before and after of the treatment.

HD Brows is quite an exclusive brand.  I would love to do the training but it is very expensive, and very thorough (which is good obviously) gotta save the pennies.  

The training is two full days long and includes a lot of practical work so the therapists are supervised so they can get it right.  I like that they are trained thoroughly but I am guessing it's because Nilam Patel and her team (pictured above) have their reputation on the line so want their trainees to do well and make the brand strong.


Nilam Patel is the Co-Director and Head Trainer and has a 19+ year career in beauty.  She has worked with many Hollywood A-listers and on TV and Music Videos.  She decided to share her talents and HD Brows was born!  She works alongside her sister and Karen Betts who also have many years experience in beauty.

The HD range has some retail items and one of the retail items is their eyebrow palette.  The palette consists of six matte shades with a sponge applicator and a double ended brush applicator.


I found the powders to be pigmented, smooth to apply and easy to blend.  The colours are easily mixed together to make even more shades and once they are on they aren't going to rub or smudge off which is great s I always worry about rubbing my eyebrow and it coming off!

This is by far the best eyebrow palette I have ever used and definitely the best product.  I normally use a pencil by Benefit which is great to use if you are in a rush but this makes your eyebrows look more natural and more defined.



I just did one eyebrow in the picture below so you can see the difference between my eyebrow normally and then once I have applied the powder, I mixed the two middle colours to get my shade.

Express eyelashes are courtesy of Alison at BeautyDenn

Please do let me know if you have had the salon treatment and what you thought of it. I am trying to find someone near me who offers the service as going to Selfridges every few weeks for my Blink appointments is a bit of a mission!


Overall I would give the HD Brow Palette 10/10 as it covers everything you could possibly want from an eyebrow palette.


Palette costs £24.99 and is sold in the salons where the treatment is done or stockists are shown here at www.hd-brows.co.uk


PR sample

Siren London Cardigan Giveaway!

The fabulous girls at Siren London have an online shop and often have girls from TV and celebs wearing their stuff in magazines.  

So I was super surprised that not only did they give IHeartCosmetics readers a 10% discount code to use on their website (!!) but they have given me a cardigan to give away to you!

This beautiful cardigan is available for sale on their website, it's a one size fits all but I would say approx size 6-12 would fit it best. RRP £45

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

1. Followers of the blog only
2. Post in the comments below 'I would like to win the cardie'
3. Open from now until 5th February 2011 midnight GMT
4. Open worldwide
5. People who spam their blog link will have their comment deleted!

Winner as always picked at random.  Good luck!

No!No! Hair Removal Update- Week 2

I found week 2 quite difficult to complete as you are supposed to use the No!  No! 8800 machine twice a week, but you need the hair to at least be 1mm long to use the machine as the thermicon technology works by the pulse of heat travelling down the hair follicle and preventing hair growth. And my hair had barely grown at all in just over a week!   

Now obviously this is very good, as I didn't  have to worry about removing hair from my bikini line or armpits in over a week, in fact I just sort of forgot about them to be honest. I am not sure if the technology could have already worked so quickly but normally I would have to shave my armpits every 3 days or so, so this is already impressive. 

I have been asked a few questions about the machine so to answer YES you can use this machine with dark skin or blonde hair, this is because the Thermicon treatment doesn't target melanin in the hair follicle which is why grey or blond haired people cannot usually use IPL for hair removal.  It also will not burn the skin of those with daker skin so really it is quite a fantastic.

It is very small and it is lighweight and easy to use and the second treatment was a lot quicker than the first - for reference the first treatment of bikini line and underarm together was 30 minutes, this was more like 15 minutes.  The regrowth that had come back by this week was already finer so I am hoping for good things.  I will update you next week so stay tuned!


£193.50 at Selfridges

Some lovely links from lovely ladies

Rachel finds out if a body lotion can be energizing with Liz Earle.

Makeup Morsels finally tries out those famous Urban Decay Liners.

Looking for a similar powder to the Magic Cool Powder from MAC? Look no further - Sleek Makeup have one for half the price!

Check out Audrey Dao's review of Zoya's Spring 2011 Intimate Collection along with photos and swatches!

Daily Polish shows off sneak pictures of China Glaze's Holiday 2011 Collection Let It Snow!

Phyrra tells you about Shadow Transformation. She compares four products from Fyrinnae, Hi-Fi, Sobe Botanicals, and Medusa's Makeup. See which one comes out on top!

Kelly of Gouldylox Reviews finds a new love at the drugstore. It's quickly becoming a foundation favorite!

What do you do when your bosses go on leave? Why, wear crazy turquoise fishnet nails to work of course - Musicalhouses did it!

Retrodiva shares her five favorite tinted moisturizers that can be used even on oily skin.

One palette; how many looks can The Lip Print create? It's a Palette Challenge!

Sarah from IHeartCosmetics bypasses Bella Bamba and goes straight for Benefit's Prrrowl and Magic Ink.

Jo at Music and Makeup finally had a play with MAC Club eyeshadow and liked the results!

Are China Glaze Channelesque and China Glaze Below Deck dupes or not? Check out this post at Beauty addict's blog to find out!

Big pores? You need this! Hellcandy shares her love for Benefit's Porefessional.

Craving the new Make Up For Ever Lab Shine lip glosses? Well, you're in luck because Krasey Beauty has swatches of the full collection!

Mz. More of The Glamorous Gleam tries out OPI Shatter Nail Polish. Is it all it's "cracked" up to be?

Jenn over at Spiced beauty puts on her best glam face using BarryM Cosmetics!

theNotice chats about the new love in her life - that is, Clarins Rouge Hydra Nude lipsticks. Will you be picking up a tube before they're sold out?

Amy Antoinette reviews ELF's Studio Line blushes.

It’s all about glowing skin and pink hues this spring! Anita reviews (almost) the entire Guerlain spring collection over at Pleasureflush.

***

Beauty Crazed wants to solve your winter hair woes with $200 worth of Marc Anthony products! So enter the contest already!

Start the new year with a new you. Win a La Mav anti-age skin care pack and enjoy your new skin.

Help Cindy celebrate the one year anniversary of Prime Beauty. At this celebration the presents are for you!

Come by Jeweled Thumb to read a review of the Eyeko My Coral Crush Peachy Keen blush and also win one! Enter now to be one of the 2 lucky winners!

Socialite Dreams is hosting a giveaway of socialite approved goodies!

5 Sets of Dove Hair Damage Therapy - WINNERS

The Winners Are

Congratulations To

Amelia

One more lipstick

Lauren

Cat

Primp And Preen

Please email me with you full name and postal address, so Dove can send you you goodies!

Cat - Well Done

Valentine's Treats on the Cheap Take Two!

If you've not got a lot of cash to splash when getting ready this Valentine's day then you could try one of the two flirty fragrance gift sets from George at Asda.  Each set comes wrapped in baby pink or playful purple packaging and at only £7.00 a set you could even splash out on both.

Pure Pink by George - £7.00

Pure Pink has fruity top notes of juicy lemon, lime, sweet orange and grapefruit combined with a heart of cassis, apple, pineapple, peach, plum and raspberry.   Heart notes of freesia, jasmine, lily, violet and rose mix with base notes of musk, sandalwood, cedarwood, amber, vanilla, tonka and moss.

You can apply the body lotion then layer with a spritz of the EDT Spray to ensure the delicious scent stays on you throughout that special date.

CHARMED by George - £7.00

Much more sultry, Charmed is an intoxicating blend of soft oriental tones and rich red berries which infuse to create a seductive fragrance.  

Reveal your sensuous, yet mysterious side with top notes of soft fruits, bergamot, a juicy green note hint combined with a heart of soft orientals, shadings of red berries, notes of jasmine, iris, freesia and rose.  This  fragrance is mixed with undertones of vanilla, patchouli with bitter sweet ambers, bitter woods and musks.

Apply lashings of the Body Lotion coupled with a spritz of the 60ml EDT Spray to leave a lingering scent he’s bound to fall in love with.

The Pure Pink and Charmed Gift Sets are available now from Asda shops or www.asda.co.uk 

NEW WEEKLY FEATURE - BRAND NEW BEAUTY BLOGGER

Thank flamingo it's Friday finally!  I wanted to kick of Fridays going forward with a new weekly feature called Brand New Blogger. 

Brand New Beauty Blogger is a place where a new or low in followers blogger gets the chance to shine for the day and get their blog information out there.


You might like them, you might not and the only criteria I have imposed is that you must be a beauty blogger and answer a few obviously informative questions.  If you would like to be included please let me know, you might be in 4/5/6 weeks time though as I have quite a few lined up but the more the merrier.


Why am I doing this? 1) I get so many comments with blog links every day, I am not sure if anyone realises but they are all deleted as spam!  2) I love lots of blogs that don't have many followers and often wonder why 3) let's try and be nice to one another! (No I have not gone totally hippy dippy) just trying to spread some nice-ness in blogland.


So without further ado let's give the floor to our first EVER Brand New Beauty Blogger:

It's the very gorgeous Georgia

I'm a 25 year old wife and self proclaimed yummy mummy obsessed with all things beauty.  I had been an avid reader of other blogs and wanted to be part of it - it's nice to be able to share your obsession with people who understand!

I have a bit of a thing for blusher, foundation and mascara. I am constantly on the hunt for the 'holy grail' of each of these. I can always be found wearing at LEAST those three things! My perfume collection is also obscene!

My blog is a little bit of everything; cosmetics, hair, nails, bodycare and anything/everything in between.

If you like the sound of that and want to come along and say hello or have a read then please check out 

www.WelshBeautyBlog.com or on Twitter: @WelshBeautyBlog

Katy Perry for OPI

Teenage Dream

OPI and Katy Perry have collaborated to make a really fun and girly range of polishes including my favourite Teenage Dream a pale pink glitter and the funky Black Crackle/ Shatter polish, probably very similar to Barry M's version but I do prefer OPI to Barry M personally so I would have chosed this one if I was in that position.

Black Shatter over Teenage Dream

What are your thoughts on these? Would you wear a shatter topcoat? 

The one that got away

It's not something I personally like although I think the idea is cool but I adore the glittery pink and blue and want to pick up the mini box set.  Reasonably priced at £12.75 but as always the polishes are available through Lena White and all of the normal places, QVC etc.

Agent Provocateur - L'Agent

For those that like Maitresse et al, Agent Provocateur are launching it's latest female fragrance this month. 

The new scent is called L'Agent and it comprises Geranium Bourbon, Rose de Mai, Jasmin Sambac, Tuberose absolut and Osmanthus. Other ingredients are Davana Oil, Baies Rose, Rosewood and Ylang Ylang.

I am interested to smell this as when i think of Tuberose and Ylang Ylang, with a basenote of Patchouli and Sandalwood I do kind of think hmmm - isn't this going to smell a bit like a granny?

We shall see, it isn't on sale in regular shops until 14th February (it is in Harvey Nichols exclusively this month) and is priced at £70 for 100ml or £50 for 50ml (pricey).  


I do like me a bit of Agent P, so I hope that this is a nice scent.


Let me know if you have tested it and, if so, what you think! 

Valentine's Treats on the Cheap!

I like the idea of Valentine's day, but just after Christmas money is still a bit tight, and after you've been together a while the ideas start running a bit short. Enter Asda! With some cheap and cheerful goodies that look super cute and are really really cheap!

Asda’s pampering products from Nirvana Spa, Ella & Rose and Baylis & Harding start from as little as £1 and make really cute little gifts or if you are like me they are nice gifts to give as a token to your mum or friend. I know Matt will love the bubble baths as he gets through them so quickly we don't often buy anything expensive.

PAMPER


NIRVANA SPA BUBBLE BATH, £1 EACH
With three tasty flavours my favourites being Chocolate Striptease and Sweetheart Strawberry.

ELLA AND ROSE KISS ME SWEETLY, £5

Get Kissable skin this february with Ella and Rose. Kiss Me Sweetly is perfect for a fun night-in with the girls or getting ready to meet your man. With a relaxing eye mask, shower sponge and three beautiful body products, this gorgeous bag of beauty treats has everything you need to feel irresistable.

ELLA AND ROSE LOVE SCRUB ME DO BATHING BOX, £6 (pictured at the top)

Ella and Rose’s Love Scrub Me Do boasts a dreamy body polish, a creamy bath and shower gel, and a delicious body butter; everything you need to turn you into a ravishing skin goddess. 

Would you buy any presents from Asda? I do haha!

WEEK 2 - Help: a Heart, Nominate your Hero campaign

As a Help: a Heart, Nominate your Hero ambassador, I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in last weeks campaign. 

The week 1 winner was @SooperSandy (via Twitter), who nominated her 86 year old WW2 veteran neighbour.

SooperSandy’s hero nomination statement: “My 86 year old WW2 veteran neighbour [is my hero].  He bought a wheelchair to take his 'old boy' pals (the 90 year olds!) to Burma Star events! Can't relate how fab my hero is in one tweet, he’s amazing; he gardens the no-man’s-land in our road and bought a bike last year!”

The Works with Water Nutraceuticals judging panel chose SooperSandy’s hero to receive the prize of a Healthy Heart Warming Hamper, as they admired the 86 year old’s spirit and kind nature in looking after his fellow neighbours and war veterans. The judging panel felt that his selfless nature really captures the essence of what the Help: a Heart, Nominate your Hero campaign is all about, so was the perfect winner for the first week of the campaign.
I encourage you all to take part in week 2 of the campaign and nominate your hero.
The most compelling entry each week will win an exclusive Healthy Heart Warming Hamper, which will be delivered to the person they have nominated as their hero with a personalized note saying ‘you’re my hero’.

Nominate your hero (Stating who your hero is, their relationship to you and why they are your hero):

• Leave a comment on the dedicated campaign blog at www.workswithwater.co.uk/HelpaHeart

• Email your entry to HelpaHeart@workswithwater.co.uk

• Tweet on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HelpaHeart, using the hash tag #HelpaHeart in your tweet

• Write on the facebook wall at www.facebook.com/HelpaHeart

Or you can simply leave a comment below, which will automatically be entered.

To keep up to date with the campaign you can follow the progress of the campaign at: www.workswithwater.co.uk/HelpaHeart ~www.twitter.com/HelpaHeart

Thanks girlies xx

New Benefit Products - Magic Ink and Prrrowl

Benefit Prrrowl and Magic Ink are two of their new products and I adore both of them!  I know Bella Bamba is a new product but these two are much more my kind of thing.  

Magic Ink

This is an absolute must have for black liquid liner junkies as it is very very pigmented and the blackest black liner I have tried so far.

The brush is very easy to use to get a flick, a thick line or a thick line.  The consistency of the liquid is very smooth and glides on in just one or two strokes, once it's dry it doesn't budge at all. It makes applying liner like a pro a whole lot easier, easier even than my favourite L'Oreal Carbon Gloss which had previously been my absolute favourite.

Prrrowl

Prrrowl is a lipgloss and a glittery mascara topper 2 in 1.  I love two in ones, and (slightly embarrassing this one) used to have a favourite one from (ahem) Britney Spears with a pink lip gloss at one end and the roll on perfume in the other end and this lip gloss is almost identical to that colour but whereas that one was rather gritty this one is extremely smooth with no taste so it's even better.

I think the iridescent blue sparkles and the pale pink colour make your lips look more fleshy and pouty which I love.  

The mascara topper just leaves a little blue sparkle on the lashes as you can see above, it's not over the top or tacky and just flashes slightly in the light, I really think it is great for a night out or, like me with lash extensions you can add it to the tips to jazz them up a little.

Do you like Benefit? I think their 2010 and 2011 additions to the range have been fabulous!

Remington Beauty Event

On Thursday Remington held a bloggers event to showcase their new products in hair removal and beauty for men and women.  They kindly let us bring a guest so I brought my friend Bridget from the office and we had a fab time!  I will do a separate post on the actual beauty items, but I thought on such a dreary Sunday you could probably use a laugh at the ridiculous faces I appear to have made when my hair was being done!

Some of the new mini dryers and straighteners in leopard and zebra

I was one of the lucky ladies that had Chris Appleton, Artistic Director at George's hairdressing, give me some styling tips.  I asked for more volume and after some root straightening and length curling I was left with a lovely voluminous curly 'do.  Which I am sure I will never be able to recreate again (because I tried, and I looked insane)!

Happy as this is the only time this month my hair hasn't looked hideous!

Me and Yummy Mummies Stina and Holly

After looking around all of the new products and getting our hair done we were treated to an amazing show called La Soiree. I can honestly say I haven't laughed so much in a very long time!

Very sadly we weren't allowed to take any photos whilst in the show so I can't share with you the fitness that was rubberduck man or the hilarity of the amazing Gloria!

This woman was SO hilarious!

If you have a chance to go and see this show then I really recommend it, if you don't mind things that are a bit risque.  You can see their website here > La Soiree and it is a fantastic night out and I would definitely say go and see it while it is still on!

EzFlow Gelez - 2 Week Nail Colour

If you read my gel/polish hybrid post recently you might be interested in another brand I have found offering one of these type of products. EzFlow is a well know brand that make acrylic and gel nail products, they have also branched out and created Gelez.  You can watch the video below which shows just how easy it is to have it applied.

The revolutionary Gel Polish craze sweeping the UK...Even Urban Retreat in Harrods of London love Gelez which is by brand EzFlow.  A team of 20 nail techs, trained by the UK EzFlow team, have taken on the whole of the brand's range including polymer, Gel It!, fibreglass and silk, design acrylic, design gel and the new gel polish Gelez.

I know it's rather shallow but I adore the butterflies and the packaging. I am such a girly so it's rather superficial but I like it.




At the moment there are 12 colours available although I am guessing that you are able to layer them like all the other brands to make different colours.

Pink Cosmo OMG how hotttt?!

I will have to make an appointment at Urban Retreat to have this done as I want to review how long it lasts just as I did with Gelish and Geleration.  

Have you had this done?  What do you think of the colours? How cute are the butterflies?!