Hairdryers

My fussiness is not restricted to cosmetics, oh no. I apply it to every area of my life, so once my Hairdryer starting to smell of burning, I knew I was in for a hairdryer hunt. Much as I loved my Toni and Guy, I just couldn’t get on board with the joystick control, coupled with the fact I always seemed to be accidently pressing the cool shot and thinking the dryer was broken (not so bright me sometimes!).

I did my internet research of course and then took a trip to both Sally’s and Boots, much I’m sure to the assistants dismay in both shops as I preceded to ask them to unbox about 4 hairdryers a piece so I could examine them. I finally settled on the Babyliss Bellisimo 2400W and the research was worth it, I don’t even need a “Good Points/Bad Points” paragraph :0)

My requirements for my hairdryer of perfection were as follows:

• Lightweight – I don’t want arm/neck ache after each blow dry
• Salon length power cord and a hanging loop
• 3 Heat and 2 speed settings
• Concentrator nozzle
• Super fast drying speed
• Any high tech stuff a bonus – ionic, ceramic, etc

The babyliss bellissimo has all of the above. It’s extremely lightweight and has shaved quite a few minutes off my drying time, and it has both ionic and ceramic technology (not that I know what these do but they sound impressive don’t they!). At around £50, it’s not cheap, but worth the investment I’d say.

 

Also worth a mention I think is the travel dryer pictured above by Mark Hill. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t found a hotel hairdryer worth using thus far in my life, and I’m pretty sure I have bought every travel dryer on the market only to be further disappointed by the lack of power and/or heat/speed choices. That is until I bought the Mark Hill style and go dryer. It’s a little bigger than most travel dryers granted, but it produces impressive power and heat, and what’s more, it’s currently half price in boots at the moment so just £19.99. Bargain. 

Now all I need is to find mini/travel straighteners that can do more than warm my hair up a bit! 

Benefit Posie Tint

Benefit Posie Tint is my most recent purchase and so far, I love it :0)  I tried the Benefit benetint but it was just that little bit too red for me. I have fair complexion to say the least, with a few freckles, and I wanted to achieve a nice light pink flush rather than a “been on the treadmill for hours” look!  

Good points – the liquid is a bit thicker than the Benetint version so it doesn’t dry quite as quickly, which gives you the chance to blend it. It has a lovely creamy texture on your skin and you can build it depending on how intense you want the colour. In my opinion, it’s the perfect natural looking pink colour.

Bad Points – The only very small bad point is that the bottle is quite large and cumbersome. I did however find a mini version on Ebay (Yay) and the plan is to use the small bottle and fill it up with the liquid from the big bottle. Hmmmm, I see spillages in my future! Oh, just thought of one other little bad point – it stains your fingers so if you are one of those that applies your whole face with brushes and doesn’t need to wash your hands after, this isn’t for you.

Shiseido Automatic Fine Eyeliner

Eyeliner, what can I say, I think I’m slightly obsessed with it! No surprise I guess since this is a blog dedicated to all things beauty….

I wouldn’t be seen without my liquid eyeliner, top and bottom, and I’m always in search of the perfect one. After the first couple of uses of this Shiseido Automatic pen, I thought I might have just cracked it. Alas no. Very nearly though!

Good points – the pen is small and neat and doesn’t take up much room in your make up bag. It is easy enough to use with just a quick click on the button at the end, and it releases just the right amount of liquid each time. There’s no messing around with a separate brush as is needed with the fashionable cream/gel eyeliner pots, making it very portable.

The liquid is quite thin, sets very quickly, and stays put very well too. I applied it at 6.30am and it was still almost perfect at 7pm, but for a few tiny gaps/flakiness on the lower lid. It’s surprisingly easy to remove – day one I took it off with my usual oily eye make up remover, but day two I just used a wet flannel with no product (in the shower and in a rush that day hehe), and it came off with hardly any rubbing required.

The line it produces is very slightly glossy, and very black which I personally love.

Bad Points – perhaps this shouldn’t really be called bad points, but rather “The reason it doesn’t come up to my overly high standards”. What I’m going to write here just sounds so petty but there you are.

The brush is a real brush as opposed to a felt tip pen type end, which is a plus for me usually, but I can’t seem to control the thickness of the line with this. I like a fairly bold line but this just seems to produce a line that’s a bit too thick for me. I can only assume it’s because the brush itself is too thick.

So, for now I’m going to stick to my MAC fluid line and keep the Shiseido one for holidays, or maybe even stick in my handbag for emergency touch ups :0)