So I chopped my hair off

....Despite saying I'd wait two weeks
Really, I just felt like my hair was getting worse and worse....and sort of used it as an excuse to chop it off.
At the moment its a little bit too short for me (its a pixie cut), but it'll grow pretty fast like usual
I'm actually really excited to grow it out, and to have natural and soft hair again ~

The attempt to save my hair part 3

1 ------> Here 
1.5 ------> Here
2 ------> Here
How I ruined my hair in the first place

I tried the avocado and banana combo again and we had the same deal as last time; crazy horrible dry knotted hair in the shower and generally soft but still gross ends when dry.
Obviously the easiest way to fix the dry ends would be to get them cut so I can't complain about that one in any way.
Saying that, I have been using Fudge's Miracle Ends which smells so amazing and does make the ends of your hair feel softer, as long as you only use a tiny bit else it goes all greasy looking. One thing that I have noticed is that in the past I used to have a habit of rolling the ends of my hair between my fingers, leading to it knotting up and snapping off, but recently that hasn't been the case. Result!
I also gave the Bleach London hair mask another try with awesome results again, but I still want to trail it for a bit longer before doing a 'proper' review.

The attempt to save my hair part 2

1 ------> Here 
1.5 ------> Here
How I ruined my hair in the first place

SO
Today I tried shoving some avocado and bananas into my hair, and added some coconut oil for good measure. I'll be missing that out next time I try this because in this case I really think its more of a hinder than a help.
I used;

x2 bananas
1/2 an avocado
some coconut oil melted in the microwave (its solid at room temperature)

I cut all the fruity stuff up and blended it, poured the coconut oil into it, gave it a stir and then massaged it into my hair, which wasn't too bad except I got it all over my bathroom.

I left it on for abouttttt 30 minutes, its only recommended to leave it for 15 but I got distracted by youtube.

When I washed it out it felt gross again like with the mayo/egg fun the other day
It felt so so dry even in the shower, and I had to put a load of my coconut conditioner in to make it feel softer
BUT
Lo and behold, as before, once it started to dry it felt better, and this time it actually feels sort of soft? ish??
It did strip a lot of my hair colour out though (brown, pink and purple over bleach blonde) which isn't too fab as I've run out of pink and only just discovered the pink/purple combo.
But I do have purple and blue left.
ANYWAY
So far so good!
I'm going to try the whole banana/avocado thing again in a couple of days without the coconut oil (I always WAY overdo it) and see how that turns out.
I have high hopes!!

Also;
I tried the Bleach London hair mask a bit the other day and from what i've seen its really great, and smells amazing, but i'll go more into that once i've used it a few more times.

Tiny Baby Hair Haul

Here's a few things I picked up today that I'm going to whack into my hair in the hopes it'll feel a bit better.
Like I said in the last post, when I woke up my hair actually felt better from the weird mayo-egg-coconut-olive oil concoction that I thought had made it worse yesterday, so maybe I won't have to chop it off after all.

So here's a quick rundown of what I got;
(All my stuff is cruelty free as far as I know!)
Superdrug Coconut & Almond Shampoo and Conditioner : Coconut is a fab moisturiser and I used to use this shampoo all the time but didn't get round to buy any more since I moved out. I smells good too!
Superdrug Coconut Oil : As above really. I love this stuff. Its great for skin too!
Bleach London Hair Mask : I'm dead looking forward to trying this. Its got some wheaty stuff in it and kinda smells like porridge. In a good way.
Banana & Avocado : Apparently mixed together they make a great hair mask! So we'll see about that one.

The attempt to save my hair part one

So recently it's come to my attention that my hair is absolutely ruined. It feels dry and straw and still turns into a birds nest on top in the shower. So I've set myself an ultimatum; try some intensive homemade hair treatments over the next 2-3 weeks, and if its still terrible, it all comes off. Considering i've been trying to grow this mess for months, this is a pretty big decision, but right now it seems like its going nowhere. But, I don't want to give up on it just yet! Tonight's the first attempt at my own hair mask, and here's the ingredients;

- x1 egg
- a bit of Heins light mayo
- a tiny spoonful of Superdrug coconut oil
and
-a some olive oil

I heated the olive and coconut oil in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the coconut oil (its solid at room temp) and then mixed the egg and the mayo in afterwards

I applied it onto my hair (dry) like any shampoo or conditioner, and it smelt awful! And it made my hair feel dryer! I thought this might just be how it felt on my hair before rinsing, but after waiting 20 minutes and washing it out it took 2 lots of conditioner to make it feel half decent again.

Back to the drawing board!

UPDATE!

I woke up this morning and now my hair's completely dry it feels a tiny bit better. So maybe this stuff is working!

Dying my hair pastel pink!

I've wanted to dye my hair pastel pink for ages but I wanted to wait until I'd had my roots done! When I had my roots done I had a full fringe cut and decided it would look even better if it was pink ;) I used Crazy Colour Candyfloss, after their Marshmallow has absolutely no affect on my hair... I had to use 2 bottles and it still came out patchy, so next time I'm going to try Directions Pastel Pink and see if it's just my terrible hair dying skills that are the problem! Here's the finished product!

 

And here's my video on how I did it :)

Thanks for reading! ~

How to make a fake tattoo tutorial [video]

Here is my tutorial on how to make a fake tattoo! I hope you enjoy it :D

Fake tattoo tutorial coming soon!

I made a fake tattoo today and filmed myself drawing it :)
I'll be uploading the video in the next few days, but heres some photos of how it turned out:

My first tanning experience!

To start off; I'm not a beauty therapist or a health professional. I'm basically useless in both those areas. Tanning has been linked to a lot of bad stuff, so please do your research and speak to a beauty therapist or a health professional before undertaking any type of UV tanning. Thank you! ~

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So I've got a little holiday coming up at the beginning of next month, and I thought that since I've been pasty white all my life, I might as well give tanning a try. My favourite beauty place has tanning 'showers' where you stand up, rather than the scary look-like-you're-gonna-be-shut-in tanning beds, so if you're looking for a review of those, you've come to the wrong place!

The place I go to is really great; they're very straight forward and pretty cheap (I think!). They got me sorted out with some tanning lotion that suited my skin tone (and smelt like peaches!) It was £5.50 for 5 minutes tanning and some lotion which, since I'm only planning on going once or twice a week, is pretty good! They also offer more if you buy sessions in bulk, so ask at your local beauty salon if they do a similar deal.

The tanning showers are really neat, they're stand alone, each in their own little changing room so if you want to get your kit off no ones going to see you! The showers are token operated; basically one token is 2.5 minutes tanning. I was provided with a little hair net and goggles (since the UV will hurt your eyes if you leave them unprotected...imagine staring directly into the sun for 5 minutes then times that by 100).

So you pop the tokens in and shut the doors: simple!!
Unless you're me and don't realise that you have to close the doors until halfway through, and up until that point have been turning yourself around to make sure you get every angle...ummm. What makes it worse is I remember the beautician telling me exactly what I needed to do.
Also don't be alarmed by the second token falling into the slot....its not someone about to open and see you in all your pasty white glory.
Oh, and when the shower turns off....no...there are still lights on....just take the goggles off
(Maybe I should emphasise this was my first time tanning!!)

So, once I'd actually shut the doors, it was like being in a very hot bright room, but not in an uncomfortable way! 5 minutes was just long enough for me, I'll probably go for 5 next time and then 7.5 after! I don't want to overdo it since my skin really isn't used to it!

I'm only going down south for my holiday but its quite a bit hotter down that way and I'd rather not get burnt straight away! Hopefully having a few tanning sessions will help my skin get used to the UV and I won't burn as much, but I don't really want to make it a regular thing. I'm also hoping it will help my acne a little bit, but we'll have to see :)

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Thanks for reading!

If you want to find out how I got my white(ish) hair please go here for part 1 and if you'd like to read my review of LostWorldClothing go here

Please check out my instagram @baconsnadwich and my twitter

Lost World Clothing : 'Stars' Tshirt Review

Lost World Clothing are an Alternative clothing company based in Hertfordshire, UK. The company was founded by Sarah-Jane and Shane at the beginning of 2014! They only have a couple of products at the moment but they're surprisingly cheap and very good quality. Their brand is influenced by their love of  'the seas, the sky and the earth'.

 

Ordering from Lost World was amazingly easy, and it was really nice to hear from them personally after I posted on Instagram about my order! That said, I really think a confirmation email with an estimated delivery would have been nice.... I just like to know how long I'm gonna be waiting; I'm impatient as hell!

But hearing from them on Instagram that it was going out first class the next day was really nice and a lot more personal than just a generic email!

(Of course I got an order confirmation email, don't worry! ) 

 So the t-shirt arrived two days after I ordered in perfect condition and with a little free badge which was a nice surprise (I'm a sucker for badges). 

Of course I tried it on straight away! It was a little big bigger than I expected BUT I'm lame and never check size charts so that's my own fault. I like that it's big though because it looks cute! 

The shirt is very high quality with nice stitching details around the collar and the graphics are well printed. They look like they'll last a long time without any fading or cracking too .

There's even some detail on the inside of the collar! Lost World's attention to detail is fab and its little things like these that really make the brand look extra professional.

The only thing I don't like so much about this shirt is that the material is quite thick so I won't be able to wear it as much in the summer as I hoped! (but again, the material is listed on the page) The other thing is the collar is very high, but then again, it's a unisex shirt! I would love to see some more girly fit clothes from Lost World but I'm sure they're planning on that in the future!

Overall I rate this shirt 8/10 for overall experience, design and quality!

Lost World Clothing are looking to be a fantastic alternative style brand and I really suggest you check them out! They have a sale on their Hammerhead tee which is only £8 and the Stars tee here is only £10!

You can find Lost World at their website, on Instagram @lostworld_1, on Facebook and on Twitter

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If you want to find out how I got my white(ish) hair please go here for part 1 and if you'd like to read my review of UKCusomPlugs Fake Plugs go here!

Please check out my instagram @baconsnadwich and my twitter

My Journey to White Hair Part 1 : How I Ruined my Hair

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a qualified hairdresser, and am not responsible for how your hair will react to any of the techniques used here. Please follow all instructions in any products you choose and when In doubt GO TO A HAIRDRESSER. Thank you!~

If you are considering trying to get white hair I would really recommend reading this! ESPECIALLY if you are planning on BLEACHING YOUR own HAIR.I know there's several parts and quite a bit to read but hopefully it will help you out a bit! It will include a few tutorials and recommendations but I do recommend overall to GO TO A HAIRDRESSER. I know its more expensive but it will save you ruining your hair like me!

This series of articles will include;
How I ruined my hair 
How I stripped my hair
Toning to white (and ending up with blue)
What I use to keep my hair healthy


As a person who loves to dye their hair, its amazing how many mistakes you can actually make. The first time I dyed my hair I was 12-13, which was basically just a shade darker than my natural hair and my mum did it for me. Next was a purple/brown colour, and then a few years after that was red, which friends did, then every time after that I did it myself. Since then I've had one blue disaster, one awesome blue and a bit of a failed white attempt. I went back to red for a few weeks before I decided I wanted to try going back to white again....and its been one hell of a journey, especially considering it still isn't as white as I want!

So, after having quite short hair for about 5 or 6 years, I decided I wanted to grow it again. I'm lucky because my hair grows pretty fast! Here's an awful comparison.

WOW moving swiftly on.....

So I grew it for ages and it still grew pretty fast even though I dyed it, but recently, I had to have a lot of the length cut off because of how much of a mess I made bleaching it.

I bleached it myself and broke all the rules, and ended up having to go to the hairdressers to get it sorted because no matter what product or oil I used, my hair was still straw like when dry and like glue when wet. I couldn't brush it whilst it was wet else I ended up pulling the ends of my hair off. In the end I decided to get it cut when one day I woke up and it had tangled up like mad in the night and was so painful to brush. 

I basically asked the hairdresser to cut off the most damaged bits and this is what I ended up with this

I've gotta admit, it doesn't look that much shorter here, but trust me, she cut A LOT off. I was kinda heartbroken at the time but I love it now!

Now, on to a couple 'rules' I broke which meant I ended up with glue hair.Seriously, I could pull the ends off my hair when it was wet and it would just stretch and snap off....it was gross. My fringe is still like it at the top but not as bad. 

1) Bleaching too many times

You're meant to wait at least 2, better even 3-4 weeks before bleaching again

4 times

4 times in a week I bleached my hair 

That doesn't count the bleach bath I did after trying to make my own toner and turning my hair blue

It was awful for the first few days and I just piled on the deep conditioner a hair masks but really, they're only a temporary fix, and not long after you're right back to brittle glue hair.

2) Making my own toner

If you watch a tutorial on youtube of someone making their own toner using purple dye, use the same stupid dye they used. Don't buy a cheaper one thats actually blue based but you didn't realise.

 Using it as toner with just make your hair blue tinted. 

Which will then fade to green. 

And then your work colleagues will call you snot hair and pretend to sneeze on you.

 Just remember....not all dyes are the same and will react different when diluted with conditioner and if you see someone getting results from one dye it doesn't mean another dye in a similar colour will do the same! 

I will touch on this more in my post about the toners I use!

3) Being absolutely terrible at applying bleach

This was actually the 3rd time i'd attempted bleaching my hair myself.

The first time I tried I ended up with the grossest, patchiest meant-to-be-blue-but-ended-up-with-green-hair, after which I had to rush down to the shop to get more hair dye to cover it.

The second time I tried to go white but gave up after almost getting glue hair, and this time it was also pretty patchy near my roots.

But for some reason this time I thought...wow, I've watched so many youtube videos now, I'm a professional!!

Nope

Not. Even. Close.

Please try and go to their hairdressers, to be honest it will save you a lot of suffering and money in the long run! Save up and get awesome hair instead of trying to do it yourself and messing it up!

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That's the end of part one. I hope it's given you an idea of the risks involved with bleaching your own hair! I'm not saying everyone will have these problems, but I thought the same and here we are.

Part 2 coming soon!

Everybodys Gone to the Rapture

Check out my article about The Chinese Rooms' upcoming Everybodys Gone to the Rapture over at AdroitGamer!

Project Spark : BETA

I'm just about to download the BETA for Project Spark
From what I've seen, this is a completely player created game, in which you can create the world you play in, as well as the type of game. For example, if you want to make a fighting game, you can give the main player character different attacks such as combo attacks.

EDIT: I didn't realise that I'd have to buy Windows 8.1 to play it! I'll hopefully be able to get it for Xbox instead.

UKCustomPlugs 'Fake Plugs Grab Bag' Review

Phew, I've finally got time to write this review...I've been looking forward to doing it since I got them!!

The products I am reviewing are UkCustomPlugs Fake Plugs. I got their grab bag of 6 random designs because I didn't really know which ones I wanted!

They arrived about 3 days after I ordered them which was great!
First i'll show you the package they came in...

They came in a bubble wrap lined envelope which has their logo on the front. I think this is a really nice touch and makes them look dead professional!

 

I got more than I expected inside the package...

As well as my fake plugs I got a few postcard flyers and some stickers!

I love getting extra stuff like this, even postcards, so I got pretty excited over how much stuff was in here!!

The stickers are very high quality too.

SO! On to the fake plugs!!

These were in their own little bag inside another bubble wrap bag. I love this, it shows how much UKCustomPlugs care about their products and customers.

They even have a custom bag....

I was really happy with the 6 designs I got, as as promised they were all different!

They were smaller than I expected, but thats nothing to do with the company, I just didn't read the specifications on the website....they're meant to give the illusion of 8mm plugs. Anything bigger would look out of place in an unstretched ear, so these are the perfect size!

(Please excuse my horrible nails!!)

I'm very impressed with how clear the designs are despite them being so small. The rubber ring around the edge is a nice touch too, it makes them look more realistic!

I only had one issue with the fake plugs....and its that I can't actually get them in my ears.

As you can see in the photos, they have a screw end rather than a pointy end like most earrings. 

This might not be a problem for most people, but I don't wear my earrings as often as i'd like to because of my job so I think my piercings might be smaller, but here's a size comparison between my usual earrings and these....

The bar is thicker, much more like my septum rings rather than my earrings.

Like I said, this might not be a problem that most people encounter, but just be warned if you have annoying ears like mine that like to close up after 2 seconds then maybe these won't fit you!

Luckily I have some tiny tapers that I've used in the past to try and stretch my piercings so that I don't encounter this problem as often (I've always had problems with my ears even though I kept them in for 6 weeks and all that jazz) So I'm hoping I can wear those for a bit to get these to work!

Overall I think these fake plugs are awesome, the designs and quality are great!I just wish I could wear them.

UPDATE: After persevering I got them in my ears!

They look super cute and I love them!

I can't wait till I can actually stretch my ears for real.

Like I said, these probably won't be a problem for most people, I just can't wear earrings as much as I'd like to because of my job, so my piercings shrink quite often!

Please check out UK custom plugs by clicking HERE, their website is fab and they sell clothes and accessories like phone cases and badges, as well as their huge variety of amazing plug designs!

Thanks for reading!

A Hat In Time pre-order

Gears for Breakfast are working hard on their first game, A Hat in Time, which is now available for pre-order! Read more about this quirky 3D platformer over at AdroitGamer !!

My Custom Plugs order arrived!!

Actually it arrived yesterday, but life has been a bit hectic so i'll do a write up and review in the next few days :)

Ordering with UKCustomPlugs.co.uk

Today I made my first order with UKCustomPlugs. I havent got my ears stretched, but I still wanted to see what else they had to offer. Other than the beautiful plugs they sell they also sell clothes, stickers and accessories such as mirrors and wallets.

My first impression of their site was really good, the design is really stylish and fitting for their products. It was very easy to find the shop and even easier to find the products that I wanted to look at. All the products are photographed very clearly and have very straightforward descriptions.

After searching through their site I decided I wanted to buy their Fake Plugs Grab Bag- Individuals package. I didn't know which fake plugs I wanted to get since I liked them all, so this was a perfect way to get some awesome fake plugs that I know I'll like, and save some money, since normal sets of plugs are £5 each, and this package comes to £9.99 (+postage) for 6!

I'll post a review of them once they arrive! :)

Source: UKCustomPlugs

Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby

Nintendo have announced they are finally releasing Hoenn remakes!! Read more about it over at Adroit Gamer!! :)

Source : Pokemon

Titanfall Statue only at GAME

GAME have released a collectors edition package for Titanfall! Read more about it over at Adroit Gamer :)

Source : GAME 

First time playing Bioshock

I just started Bioshock, I've had it a while but only just got round to starting it tonight. I'm surprised at how creepy it is but it definitely keeps me wanting to play to find out more about the story!! It seems so far like it has quite a unique storyline!

Pre-Ordering Watch Dogs

I was in Gametronics today, Games line of trade-in for cash stores, and their very friendly cashier got me talking about Watch Dogs. Its something i'd probably never have looked at before, but since starting at Adroit Gamer I'm really trying to get out of my comfort zone. It looks very different to anything I've played before, which is pretty exciting, and I'm hoping it won't disappoint!!


Image from Ubisoft

The Room Two Review

I recently wrote a review on an app by Fireproof Games called The Room Two, an amazing horror puzzle game. If you'd like to read the review and learn more about the game as well as watching the trailer, please read my review over at Adroit Gamer!!

(The Room Two is available on iOS, Google Play and Amazon Apps)

Hello!!

Hi, my name is Jess and I've just started working for Adroit Gamer, an upcoming gaming news site that focuses on new and upcoming talent in the UK.

This is going to be my personal blog with more casual posts about the games I'm writing about and anything else happening in my life relating to gaming.

My favourite games are Fallout 3 & New Vegas, Portal 2, Pokemon and the Professor series.
I'm using my new writing position at Adroit Gamer and an excuse to play more games that are way out of my comfort zone, so expect to see posts about all kinds of games!

I hope you enjoy and please let me know anything in particular you'd like to see!

-Jess