Tuesday 13 July 2010

From Drab to Fab ... Aussie style!

Last Wednesday, I was invited to a big pampering event organised by Aussie Hair Care where I had the chance to a team of 3 professionals: A fashion stylist, a hair stylist and a makeup artist (see my post on the whole event here) Amber was the Aussie Haircare stylist and I had the chance to have a personalised session with her. I was so lucky: Not only I had the chance to get my hair done, but I was able to discover some new products, see how she used them to style my hair, learn on how to do it myself, and had a go at doing it.


BEFORE THE TRANSFORMATION…


I should point out that straight away my hair styling skills are very basic. Other than the very rare straightening for special occasions, I almost invariably let my hair dry naturally as I’ve always been scared to damage it with the heat.In fact, I should just point out that I worry about every little thing: heat damage when styling hair, worried Amber was going to show me a some fancy hairstyle which would be too difficult to replicate at home and also I was scared my hair would become all sticky, stiff, heavy from the hairstyle. Amber worked her magic and you could not shut me up: ‘check me out’ as I was cringingly (is that even a word) and annoyingly giggling across the room and proudly parading my locks in front of my 6 fellow bloggers also invited to the special. To give you an idea of the transformation, a before and after photo.


Image2 SAM_7089


Before (on the left) is picture of my hair left to dry naturally. The hair  still looks a bit shiny but in reality it was a dry mess, the layers was all over the place, grey hair was fiercely peeking through. The last time I had a haircut was at least 6 months ago, and a colour was overdue. I was so self conscious of my hair that it gave me a kick to have a good 1.5 inch trimmed to freshen the layers and the ends before the event.

For the colour, I used a ‘semi permanent’ home colouring product bought at half price or less.com. (Country Colors, in shade 58, Canyon Red) My hair is super super dark, so this colour would only be noticeable under strong artificial and natural lighting. I really liked the result, but soon I am going to need to use a proper permanent colour done at the hairdresser’s as I really need more lasting coverage for my greys.

SAM_7217 

And this is the result with the hair styled by Amber:


SAM_7072 

To achieve this flicked out voluminous look, Amber used mainly 3 tools:
- Aussie Luscious Long leave in conditioner on the ends
- Then a generous spray of Aussie ‘Volume & Gloss’ also focused on the ends
- and a pair of Babyliss Tone curling irons. No messing around with rollers having to stay there for ages in your hair.


I was even able to try it on myself and hold the curling object and give it a go:
- Spray ‘‘Volume & Gloss’ on  locks of hair,
- roll it (from the end onwards towards myself) onto the babyliss, count to 4 or something like that,
- then gently remove the curl and voilĂ 

SAM_7076


SAM_7230
Result: Bouncy curls just on the ends giving me the mane of a sexy goddess and just volume all way around. I hope this will not sound too smug, and cringy but I felt like a million dollars. I am not sure the stylist was ready for such a extreme reaction of happiness: What amazed me the most was how easy it is to do as well. Well, I need to get one of those curling irons next!

No hint of sickly elnett perfume in sight, The Volume & Gloss just smells like freshly aussie shampooed hair, and not stiff either. Could it be because of the ‘kelp’ ingredient they were talking about? 


The cherry on the cake? What, there’s more? Yep.
As if this event was not special enough, I was given a generous goodie bag with my very own Volume and Gloss and 2 other new products I’ve never tried before and I can’t wait to try them out.



SAM_7122 SAM_7223


How has my hair ever looked and felt that good? No.
Can I resist the temptation to post a massive close up of my hair? Sorry I can’t :P 


SAM_7089

8 comments:

Thom_cat said...

WOW your hair looks gorgeous!!
I love it. Just the ends being curled looks really pretty!
Its a really nice colour too
xx

liloo said...

waouuuuuuuuu la couleur est sublime et tes cheveux magnifiques :)
xoxo

tousledkitten said...

Stunning.

Madame B Fatale said...

Your hair looks absolutely amazing!!!

spittingglitter said...

WOW!! Your hair looks stunning - glamorous and cute all at once, and so shiny & bouncy! What a beautiful style - I want to grow my hair now so I can have a go! Next time I need some products I will def be giving Aussie a try - your hair looks transformed! :) xx

City Girl (EC1) said...

Amazing advert hair!!Great blog too :)
City Girl x

Carlito86 said...

Lovely :) xxxxx

Rosalyn said...

I'm so late commenting on this but I'm just having a read through your blog after not stopping by for a bit. Your hair looks so great here and if we can't shout about how much we love our hair on our own blogs, where can we? ;) You look fab and I'd have been swishing that all over the place if it had been me.

Leave a comment ...