Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme

After having had highlights done, I decided to invest in some products that would keep my hair nice and soft. The first product I bought was the Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme. It's a pre-shampoo treatment specifically meant for coarse, damaged, dry hair. It claims to add elasticity and to strengthen the hair, as well as smoothing and adding shine to the hair. 

I've never used a pre-shampoo treatment before so I wasn't sure what to expect. You are meant to apply this to wet hair and then put on the shower cap that is provided and let it sit for 10 to 20 minutes. Not wanting to stay in the bathroom for 20 minutes, I wet my hair in the sink and put the treatment on, focusing on the length and ends rather than the roots. I wasn't sure whether I was meant to use this on my roots, but I try not to use any kind of product apart from shampoo on my roots, so they don't get oily. Then I put the shower cap on for 20 minutes and did some work. When I rinsed it in the shower my hair already felt soft and had almost no tangles which is definitely new. I hadn't brushed my hair beforehand so I was expecting it to be a knotted mess. I made sure all the product was rinsed out before shampooing and conditioning as usual. 

The box says to use this every time you shower, but I don't think I will because it was expensive and who actually has the time to do that? I will probably do this once a week. 

It left my hair feeling very soft and I thought my hair was a lot more manageable. Even after blow drying and straightening, my hair still felt soft, even the bleached parts. I also noticed that there weren't a lot of split ends. So far this product gets a thumbs up from me.

I bought mine from lookfantastic and it cost 27,27€.

Have any of you tried this before? What are your thoughts?

Day Trip to Paris

Denim jacket - H&M

Dress - Primark

Bag - H&M

Tights - Primark

Scarf (on bag) - H&M

Boots - Siemes Schuh Center

My dad lives just outside of Paris and we decided to visit him. We took the train, which took about fifteen minutes, because driving in Paris on a Saturday is not a smart idea. The first thing we did was hop on another train that took us to the Eiffel Tower. We had a quick lunch and then wandered around to see the tower when it started pouring with rain and hailstones. Naturally we hid under the tower for a few minutes until it stopped. Best umbrella ever! 

Once the rain had stopped, we walked to the Trocadéro area, taking a lot of photos on the way, when it started raining again so we stopped for a coffee at the Café le Malakoff. I had a cappuccino and Stefane had a hot chocolate. It was basically melted chocolate and you add steamed milk to it. It tasted amazingly rich and delicious. 

Next on the list was shopping, because you can't go to Paris without a stop in one of the Sephoras. So we made our way to the Champs Elysées and I surprised even myself by not buying anything in Sephora (although I did get a few bits in H&M). Then, after a day full of walking and feeling exhausted, we got the train home. One day is definitely not enough to see a lot of Paris but I think we did pretty well. 

New Hair

Before

Before

After

After

After

After dyeing my hair with box dye and hoping it would magically lighten all of my dark hair (and not just the roots, which is sadly normal since the rest of the hair doesn't take to box colour as well)  I ended up with a weird reverse ombre style. So I decided to go to the professionals in order to fix it. I don't often go to the hairdressers because it tends to cost a lot, even if you just want a trim. This was an emergency though. At least that's what I tell myself to not feel so guilty about spending so much money. (Technically it all could have been avoided if I just hadn't coloured my hair in the first place, but I wanted a change!) 

So off I went to Ferber in the Walfer Shopping Center, a bundle of nerves. I have only had my hair professionally dyed twice, both times ended disastrously. But this time I was prepared with an abundance of photos and technical terms. I asked for caramel balayage highlights and a trim. The colour turned out how I had imagined it, the cut not so much, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I didn't want a full ombre look and I also didn't want the highlights to be blonde. I showed them my photo and they said that it wouldn't go blonde anyway, which was fine. They had to dye my roots a dark brown (close to my natural colour) first and then started the balayage. (I was in the hair salon for about three hours total!) I don't think they toned my hair when they washed it, but then again I couldn't see what they were doing.  

I had asked for a trim in order to get rid of the majority of my split ends and had also said that I wanted to keep the length as much as possible as I am trying to grow my hair. I loved the length it was before I got it cut because it was the longest and healthiest it has ever been. I have only ever been happy once with how my hair has been cut and sadly this was not that time. First of all, she took off a lot more than I had asked for, about 7cm. By the time I realised, it was obviously too late. Then she cut my fringe too short, but I didn't really mind that because my fringe grows so quickly anyway and I can clip it up. Next time I need my hair cut, I'll stick to my favourite place, Lisa Emmerich Coiffure in Bereldange. Why I didn't go there in the first place, I don't know.

They styled it the way I like, straight on top with a curls at the bottom. Then I left, minus 145€. It hurt but oh well. At least I didn't look weird anymore!