March 2018 Favourites

I have nothing cutesie to say so let's jump in!:

Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer:

This is an OG Beaty Guru favourite. We got most of their products and last year I saw a distrubutor sneak peeking it. No lies ES ESSPENSIVE at R220 for 11 grams BUT compared to Benefit Hoola mini of 4 grams at R215 and R400 and what for 8 grams full size it is a great price. 

It's a great neutral Bronzer That blends like a dream. They have launched 3 additional shades in the US and I am sure we will get them eventually as most of the Dischems are SOLD OUT. If you want it and see it, get yourself one because they go quickly.

DIY Colour booster Shampoo and Conditioner:

I while ago I coloured my hair pink again. I was scared of the fade because I had an events and a lot of social things happening. So I mixed up some of the colour (ReNew Perfect Colour in Pink Passion) with Shampoo and conditioner. A while ago I had issues with discoloured blond hair and toned it with the Sapphire Blue and conditioner.

Pick n Pay Real Clothing Track Suit:

Last winter I was looking for a nice Tracksuit and this year PnP is coming through for me. They come in Dark Grey, Light Grey, White, Black, Pink and Olive. Because of my hair colour (Pink doesn't really go with Olive and Pink on Pink is too Pink) I got a Black and Light Grey set. Tops and bottoms sold separate.

R50 Woolworths Stir Fry:

In my local Woolworths I found a bundle deal on egg noodles, julienne stir fry mix and Sweet and Sour sauce for R50. All I need to buy is what ever protein. Quick to make, healthy and delicious.

DIY Vitamin C Booster:

As per the previous post you can see I am having a Woolies moment. A few times I picked up an orange juice vitamin C booster. R16 for 100 ml started to get too bouj for me. I hacked it with Sir Juice, Nature's Choice Turmeric and Cayenne pepper. For 500ml I added 2 teaspoons of each. Though next time I will add less Cayenne because I'm not strong enough.

This it what I drink to shake the after lunch slump.

Candy Crush Saga:

Wow did you know your favourite Facebook procrastination game still is around? You know other than Farmville. (RIP Chocolate Milk Cows and your corn and tomato plants) I'm not hawking this app because not #spons. I have been enjoying it again. It doesn't consume my time as I always remember it doing. I'm at level 539. they designed some levels to be 'Super Hard' but I still enjoy it. I always remember some being 'Super Annoying'. Bonus points if you send invites to people who post that they don't want to be sent invites because they don't play games.

Used my creative SkIlLZz:

I found myself in different social settings this month. Usually as a social introvert it made me anxious. I dealt with it with my creative skills. Now I will not compete with Project Runway or audition for Master Chef or Bake Off but I can get by. It helps me manage with social interaction. THE WoRsT, rIgHt! Because I have things already (ingredients/ Pattern and fabric) I just add to use my skill to put it together. FREE.

Finally that's my things for Feb now go use your skillzzz!

é

10 Commandments for Coloured Hair Care

I have had every kind of coloured hair. Box, Salon, Powdered fruit drink. Pink, red, brown, black, ombré, opal, platinum, two tone blond and brown, two tone purple and blue and galaxy. Many people wonder how I still have hair on my head.

Me, for now.

My recent hair experiment lead me to type up this blog. I am a mixture of Jeffree Star and Kandee Johnson.

Here are my 10 commandments for keeping hair on fleek:

Thou shall take pre and post hair colour care.

Don't wash your hair 24 hours before bleaching and 48 hours after colouring. What? You heard me. Not washing before colouring makes sure that the hair gets less damaged. It's protected by it's oils. Not washing afterwards make sure the hair colour bonds to the hair. Yes even though it's dried and you already carried on with your life, there is still sciencey things happening. Even if you just bleached your hair you must wait.

É note: If you are planing to get fashion colour hair. Be prepared to spend a while in a salon/ bathroom. My galaxy hair took me 5 hours by myself and the Barbie inspired hair took me 2.5 hours in the salon. It may take longer as my hair was already like a Level 7/ 8 on the bleach scale.

5 hours of questioning every decision I've ever made

2 and a half hours of thinking of the final scene of Barbie in Rock 'n Royals

Thou shall cleanse hair sparingly. . .

I had to “train” to get my hair to need a wash twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays. See I can even tell you the days. The more you wash the more the colour fades. Over washing also causes damage to hair. For days I just want to shower, I bought a more robust showercap from Dischem. Other days dry shampoo is your friend.

é Note: If you are going the lighter or full on blonde route, purple shampoo is a must. It tones out yellow and lessens brassiness. I also suggest to only use it after the second/ third wash because depending how pigmented it is it can tint your hair purple. Not ideal.

. . . and with grace

Here is where you have to read labels. Not all shampoos are the same. Sulphites causes colours to wash out faster. I use Tresemmé Naturals. It has a low SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) content. It's a basic foaming agent you get in anything that bubbles. Toothpaste, Floor wash, face wash, dish soap, if it makes bubbles, it's in it. (Queue those Facebook posts and e-mails with factoids telling us how bad it is.)

Then when you wash, ONLY wash your scalp and condition ends. You don’t need to shampoo your whole head. As you rise it rinses over the length of your hair, which cleans it. Also the condition only the ends and the length.

Thou shall not do excessive mechanical or heat damage.

Don't rub your hair dry with a towel. I squeeze out most of the water and just wrap my head in a towel. Let the towel do the work by sucking up the moisture. (Also make sure to use a towel that you wouldn't care to get stained. Though it would be a conversation starter if your guests ask you why the towels are tie dyed pink.)

If you have long hair I think that the Invisibobble type hair bands are the best. I don't get as many tangles or breakage with them as with normal or rubber bands.

I also stopped using a hair brush and opted for a wide tooth comb. I'm less likely to rip out my hair with it. It's also the best for combing out wet hair.

I also stared embracing heat free styling. I let my hair mostly air dry. If I have to, I make sure to spray it with heat protection before styling it. Here is an educational film by Guy Tang.

I also switched up my cotton pillow case for a satin one. Here is mine from MrP Home. I also found them to be better for my skin. They also don't make those weird sleep marks on your face.

Thou shall maketh time for conditioning . . .

Once a week I super deep condition my hair. Bleaching is damaging and if it's not treated it will feel like hay.

B*tch stole my look!

I switch up between natural and commercial. Sometimes I smear on some coconut oil. This I leave on from a half an hour to unlimited. When I clean house I leave it on for 8 hours. I also like castor oil.

Commercial stuff I like Garnier's Honey Treasures mask. Or just normal conditioner. I leave it is for 30 minutes and my hair feels great. Also try Palmer's Coconut mask. That stuff changes chemically damaged hair like a boss.

. . . And useth finishing oils

It was a trend so most oils were phased out. Luckily in ZA most women have ethnic hair and ethnic hair love the moisture oil gives.

I usually use oil after I washed my hair. It makes the drying process faster and makes my type A1 hair more manageable. Sometimes, especially more in winter, my ends feel gross and dry so I just work in some oil on the ends of my hair.

Thou shall nourish thyself for hair in future

Now not all of us get those free blue gummy sweets for our Instagram. #Spon #ad. But there are things you can buy for a fraction of the price. If you have a good Multi-vite you are already good to go but because I know I put my hair through a special kind of torture: Bleach

I like Vital's Hair, Skin and Nails gel capsules. They are literally available every where. Dischem, Clicks, Checkers, PnP and even on Takealot.com . If you want to take the vegan route try Natura'sCombin Assist tissue salts Hair and nails. They are also available every where online at Faithful to Nature.

Looks may be easy to come, yet decide on how thy display

I started a hash tag to group all my hair selfies. #Kyknoudiehare. It was two old ladies who obviously didn't think I could understand Afrikaans: Look at the hair. Like I'm not a person. I had people physically stop and stare at me with their mouths open. (For me weird hair feels like normal hair as my Instagram feed normalizes this for me. I follow A LOT of fashion coloured hair women. When I see other unicorns, mermaids, mermicorns I always compliment them.)

Because my hair to so bright, I tend to lean more towards more “natural” coloured neutral make up. I'm not really going for pastel Goth, club kid, Harajuku, cos-player look that is normally associated with fashion colours. Fashion hair with other excessive colours (make-up and clothes) can quickly look like a costume. Even my eye brows are still their normal colour.

If you are not doing the fashion colours and you do a change like from brown to red/ blond or blond to dark you still need to change make-up. When I dyed my hair dark brown after being blonde for seven years I felt like I looked weird until I got a darker brow pencil and got darker lip stick.

Love they hair as is discolours or fades . . .

And it will fade. But not all colours fade equally. Blue and green become muddy but purple and pink become a cool pastel colour but then the roots come out. * eye roll *

Here I usually enlist the help of Platinum/ purple shampoo. Recently, since I coloured my hair with it, I would mix some of Renew's Perfect Colour with it's in-box conditioner with a few drops of the colouring. That is then tones out some of the weirdness.

. . . and know the one that will who will assist when if fails

Let's say it's been 10 weeks, by then your hair is going to be looking pretty real. You need someone to make you come right. I tend to mess with my hair on my own because I understand the basics of hair and hair type science but we can't all be our own Guy Tang.

Come though for us Guy

Now and then it's best to get in a chair of a professional. Look for someone who suits your needs. I had the worst experience at a more high end salon where I spent a lot of money and just got treated like someone they wanted out of their seat for the next one. The next time I went I got second rate service from the stylist because she double booked me with a bride so I got stuck with a junior stylist who couldn't stop complaining about how the other juniors should be helping her.

At the moment I'm at a more old school stylist wit a two chair salon where we judge people who think they can colour their hair blonde in one sitting with a home kit. We also laugh at people who mess up their hair at home and she has to fix it.

If you aren't confident colouring at home, buy the colour and most stylist will assist you with application. They are trained and have the knowledge and the right tools for the application.

That is my commandments for healthy coloured hair. Amen to healthy hair.

é

Mall of the South: Not really a Haul haul.

Yeah more like a “Wanted to get BB cream but got carried away looking for a lipstick” thing.

Arm swatches so you know I'm real.

Yardley London got me all: They are not the same. They are similar.

 

Okay, these are the same.

All was done at Mall of the South. Here are the details:

Clicks:

This is a big Clicks so it's got the full roll out of all their stocked brands like OPI, Essie, WnW and Essence.

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast Lip Color in Cherry Bomb: My one sister and I are riding the 90's vampy dark lip trend. After doing some heavy internet swatch research I decided this was the one. And they only had that. One. And no testers. I have previously bought 'Bare it all' as a MAC 'Velvet Teddy' dupe and I loved it. They also didn't have 'Vamp it up' in stock but I did swatch it and it is good. I will have YOU, 'VAMP IT UP'

R44.95

(See later in the post I did purchase another Cherry Bomb and a Vamp it up at my local Clicks.)

Clicks Baby wipes: My arm was getting full of lipstick so I bought some wet wipes. R8.95 for 10

Oh So Heavenly Vanilla Cup Cake Bubble Balm: First saw it on PinkPeonies and bought it the next day. Here is my previous one:

Cool packaging without the EOS price @ R29.95 (If I went last week it was 3 for 2 but who's checking that)

Wet 'n Wild Wildshine Nail Color in Kaleidoscope: Recently I have found out what the term is of the feelings I feel because I am attracted to rainbow holographic things: I AM HOLOSEXUAL.That is the only reason I bought this. Great price at R24.95

Cardies:

"We don't like your big camera so we'll stare at you from down here"

SPCA support beaded Bracelets: I bought one a while ago and wanted the pink, white and blue one. And for a while I saw bracelets for the Red Paw Project. Because of uneducated people and my two dogs being at harm. this is a charity that is getting my money. The Lilo & Stitch is R55 and the steel beads of the Red Paw Project is R150

Dischem:

They had a stock taking during the week so there where people with open boxes every where. I got offered a free skin analysis but I wasn't sure if they would be able to see my skin through the contour, hard layer of concealer and powder.

SkinStrategy Sheet mask loose draws: That's how you know it's getting close to month end. Loose draw sheet masks. Face and neck Boto Mask and serum R14.95 and Soothing and calming Face Mask R12.95.

McNabs SuperCharge Energy Drink in Sparkling Rasberry: How do you thing this post is getting written? Magic? No way son. Anything I can read the ingredients of and understand what they mean, is good in my book. (also Vegan and made with No Genetically Modified ingredients because that is who I am now.) R19.25

Catrice All Round Mascara in Ultra black: Uhg! Yes! I bought it again! At R52.95 try to find a better one.

LA Girl Endless Semi Permanent Auto lipliner in Dark Plum: I bought this liner in True Red and it is true boss. This is the liner I want to pair with the WnW Cherry Bomb.

H&M

Just a slouchy beanie and wool hat. Walking with that bag makes you look like a bad bi*ch. This is the photo I sent my sisters telling them to get on my level:

And that is it.

é

Here are some bonus swatches:

LA Girl Endless Auto Lip liner in Dark Plum

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast in Cherry Bomb over LA Girl Endless Auto Lip liner in Dark Plum. I got this combo for my sister and called it the #Noempielipkit in IDGAF

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast in Cherry Bomb

Wet 'n Wild MegaLast in Vamp it Up

More swatches:

Wet 'n Wild in Kaleidoscope

K bye now.

The R30 product that will boost your Winter beauty routine: Hoelson Sisters Coconut Face Oil 7 ways.

I am super obsessed with Fruit and Veg Food lovers market. I probably fall out there every two weeks, get a Seattle Coffee Company Grande Soy Latte/ Cappuccino (They look out for us lack toast and tolerant basic bit*hes) and do a walk through. That's how I found that they stock Sumac and always contemplating getting Jelly belly jelly beans(Ice cream flavour). But in general everyone knows the drill: Buy the weekly deal (Winter it's a deal with butternut squash, onions and potatoes and summer the tomato, cucumbers and lettuce) Buy some delicious fresh baked good, buy spinach you'll never eat and go to the till. That's where this discovery was made, at the till.

Damn I love this stuff. The last 3 years are the time of the beauty oil. Many people get weird because they think of cooking oil like sunflower. How can your hair and skin improve by using something you fry food in? Others thing of sebum, the stuff that makes for dirty hair and oily face. Not the same.

You can buy a few loose essential oils and blend them but it is so costly. But why tho'? Helen Hoelson did that for you already. This it one of the products I was stocked about picking up at the till. Here is my take on using Hoelson Sisters Oils 7 ways:

Hair mask/ Oil

With the new bottle design that dispenses drops, just use 5-10 drops and apply to hair ends. Especially with dry Gauteng winters it makes my hair more manageable. When I use it as a mask I massage about a quarter of a bottle into my roots and comb it through with a wide tooth comb. Because it is a natural product there are no chemicals that can cause damage. So you can leave it in for 30 minutes or over night.

Enriching any cream.

Instead of buying a winter specific cream I drop a few drops of oil in my face or body cream.

Hand and cuticle treatment.

I filled a roller ball with some oil to keep close to easely apply some oil to my hands and nails. I haven't had hangnails in a while.

Assist in smoother aplication of foundation

Here is the video of Wayne Goss. It also moisturises and so plumps up skin.

Makeup remover

Rub about 10 drops on your face and maybe a bit more on your eyes. I wipe everything off with a tissue, I guess the right way is with cotton pads but meh.

Eyelash conditioner.

I cleaned an old mascara tube and filled it with oil. I apply to my lashes and brows at night.

Make a scub

For the face I add a bit of oil to some Bi-carb and for hands and feet I mix it with sugar or salt.

*Bonus tip: Use it for shaving. For the last year I've been using oil to shave and am yet to get a cut.

I am still to try the lemon/ peppermint and cinnamon/ tea tree ones but so far I finished two of the original Lavender Rosemary. Here is their Facebook page. (They even had a stall a Cosme Tokyo 2016. BOOM. That makes me proud.) Here and Here are more of this company's awesome story.

Have you seen these awesome oil mixes?

é

7 Ways to Drink (more) Water

The first tip in weight loss and being healthy is always drinking water. I have mentioned it a lot of times in my posts. A lot of people just don't drink water. I know people who just don't. The only liquid they would consume is coffee and the odd time they would eat soup. Funny that the easiest way to start getting healthy is drinking water.

Now I could go on about how your brain needs water and how much water your body is made up of. How water is an appetite suppressant and helps with detoxifying your whole body But I'm sure there are plenty of other blogs that can tell you about that in detail with numbers. You can read it like your interested, pin it and forget about it. I want to give you physical tools to drink more of the good stuff.

Here are some awesome ways to start drinking:

1. Get a filter. A potable bottle one is better.
   
   
   

That means you can fill it up any where and have fresh clean water. You could buy a whole pallet of bottle water but I think it's super waste full because let's be honest, you aren't going to recycle that sh!t. That way you can also monitor how much you drink easier. Here at Takealot is a Brita filter water bottle or here at Dischem is an Addis Bobble.

2. Spice your water
   
   
   

That is the most annoying thing that people say: I don't like the taste of water. WTF kind of water are you drinking? Water by nature doesn't taste of anything. Literally spice up your water. Add a pinch of ginger or cinnamon. Some or other time you probably got a post on FB or scrolled across a pin about the heath properties of both spices

3. Add some lemon or lime
   
   
   

Again a Facebook and Pinterest favourite. Those weird listy blogs (the ones that you can see are just for Google Adsense money with stock photos.) There are huge testimonials about drinking hot lemon water in the morning. It was claimed to be the next kale. Beyonce probably does it as well. I'm not going to announce that I'm vegan but I like the way it tastes. It's also super cheap. Cheaper that berries and stuff

4. Get appy
   
   
   

Punny. Get an easy app to measure your intake. I've been using Aqualert. You put in your info like height, weight and activity level and it works out the amount you have to drink. I like to set the notification to remind me to drink. I also like that there are badges that you get for reaching targets.

5. Buy a water bottle
   
   
   

Have a cool container to drink out of is more motivation. It also means you don't have to get up as often to get water. When it's with you on your desk or work area you would drink more often. Make sure it is BPA free. Don't use an old juice bottle or soda bottle. It tends to have a gross taste after a while and is probably NOT BPA free.

6. Bubble water
   
   
   

Chia seeds are one of the new very old things (Other new old thing: Oats, Apple Cider Vinegar, Cocoa powder) It's been used by ancients and now its cool again. I read about it a lot and bought a (Very expensive. Like R40 for 100g) pack the other day. I love bubble tea so this was awesome. Here's the recipeI started with. I didn't want is to drink that much because then it would finish sooner so I take 2 teaspoons of seeds mix it with one small glass of water. Mix it up with a chop stick. Leave it for 10 minutes. Mix it up again with a squeeze of lemon juice and a small drizzle of honey. Leave for 5 minutes, mix it up again (the seeds get a little clumpy) and BOOM, Chia water bugs.

7. Drinking certain times will make drinking more water easier.

Drink when you wake up, before eating, before and after a bath/ shower and before bed. That is already 2 litres of water

That is my ways to drink water. I know some people like their water frozen and surrounded by alcohol or like drinking water to surprise their liver. Be kind to your body.

é

Chooseday: Redmylips.org

I wanted to write about people who get annoyed by viral content and how they should avoid the internet #loosellamas #thedress #grumpycat 

But something much more important grabbed my attention that is something that should be viral and I'm willing to put my voice to. Everyone should. Men and women.

Sexual assault is not really something to make fun of tho' there are memes and comedians who thing rape is funny. For some reason it's easier for women to get discriminated against and be abused and apparently in some cultures it's okay. Recently I had to get on my feminist soap box to a Zulu friend. (Another Zulu male friend showed that he understood my stance.) Just because you have boobs doesn't mean you can't do shit.

I will be wearing red lipstick in various degrees this April. The campaign is “It's not about vanity, it's about visibility”. Girls who rape has happened to don't tend to want to talk about it. They feel embarrassed & humiliated. Ironic since that is the want their attacker should feel. The times we live in there is always “But you could have done this” You know what, the $#@@>€$ who raped shouldn't have done that. Think about that when you feel embarrassed to wear simple red lipstick. These women were physically and mentally hurt and you don't want to wear just a bright gloss to say “girls we feel you. Here is some awareness”

 

This is something we need to talk about. It's difficult to be strong in your sexuality if there are people out there who think it's a sign for them to mistreat you.

She didn't stand at a party/ walked home/ laid in her bed & asked I want to be raped. Okay then people are all why was she drunk? So being drunk is an invitation to be molested. Or why did she wear that dress? There are women who wear burqa who get raped. Sometimes it's even someone the victims know who raped them. Not even an uncle but a father or brother. Disgusting but true. These abominations are criminals.

Read up. . .

Now here is your chance to show support and solidarity with victims and raise awareness. Here are some things I'm doing for #redmylips April:

1. First I moisturising my lips. I like Zam-Buk. For more truer pigmentation, sponge some concealer over your lips. If you have not tried LA Girl cosmetics' Pro.conceal, You are truly missing out. I feels like such a high end product. On top most concealers are in stick form. This is one of the few liquid concealers that will fit in you budget.
2. Line and fill your lips with a red lip liner. This is what is going to make your lipstick last. Again I'm going to GUSH over LA Girl. Endless Auto Lip liner in True Red is awesome. (Get it here at Dis-Chem)
3. This lip liner is super vibrant on it's own
4. Put on the lipstick . . .
5. . . . and blot it. I usually do 3 layers.
6. Do that finger trick for lipstick free teeth.
7. BOOM. Finished product. This method last 'til after lunch. I just reapply lipstick then and blot it.
8. If you don't feel this super bright red, go for a softer red.
9. Ombre it. This is a cool South Korean lip trend you can follow.

Cleaning of this lipstick is also super easy. Just apply some Vaseline and wipe it off. It cleans a moisturises your lips.

Before next month, make sure to get a lipstick and liner to suit you skin tone. I'm relatively neutral but have more of a blue undertone. Everyone can pull off a red lip. I once hear someone said “Not all people can do it.” Yes, all people of ALL SKIN TONES can pull off a red lip. It is all bout getting the right colour.

For April I will post my lips in support everyday on Instagram. Join and follow me @ewithacuteaccent

Follow RedMyLips.Org on Insta, FB and the Twitter. Join the convo with #redmylips

What is your fave red lipstick?

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