Once apon a time...

Hey!

This is Natalie, thank you for visiting my blog, I used to post on this when I was 18/19 as a hobby, calling myself an 'aspiring makeup artist' I am lucky enough today to call myself an experienced Pro-Makeup Artist!!

I was going to delete this blog but it's a lovely reminder of where it all began!!

I would love for you to continue following my journey!

please check me out at Nataliervella.com

Twitter : @nataliervella
Instagram: @nataliervella
Facebook: @nataliervella

Thank you! xxx

Review: The Halo by Halo Hair Extensions (Guide for Shorter Haired Girls!)

I was so excited when this came in the post, I've had my eye on it for ages, The Halo is one long  quadrupled wefted hair piece held on your head by the 'Miracle Wire' a transparent strong and sturdy wire (I pulled and yanked the extra wire like crazy and it just wasn't giving at all) 

The Shade I got was Dark Brown (#2) but it was slightly lighter than my hard to match hair, so I used Clairol Nice & Easy Temporary Hair Dye (Dark Brown) as it has no peroxide in it and i don't want to damage the extensions, doing this gave me my perfect colour. 

Now at the moment yes, my hair is too short to blend effortlessly with the halo but this is how I make the halo work for me: 

I grab a few layers of my natural hair and the halo from both sides and twist them together to the back to create a half up half down look that hides my natural hair line at the back so all you can see is the halo.

clipped in, I think I might buy a nice flower clip or something to cover up the kirby grip mess! haha

Now as you can see I have a few subtle highlights in my natural hair, I think I will wait until my hair is long enough to blend in with the halo properly and then go to the salon and get them to put some in properly, I wouldn't dare put some in myself. 

No makeup sorry! but the hair makes up for it!

 Another way of styling the halo with short hair is to wear it to one side and clipping the shorter bits to the back, I like leaving a few layers down so frame my face.

The Quality of the Halo is 100% Indian Remy Human Hair, after washing the halo (from dyeing it) I found it dried EXACTLY like my own hair wavy with a slight curl, which will be great when my hair grows into the halo, the feel of the hair itself is lovely, it took me a while to fiddle with adjusting the wire to my head as the box doesn't come with a guide to adjusting it only comes with a guide to putting it in which I find is pretty self explanatory. 

This is what it looks like before you flick your hair over the top of it to hide the weft (above image)

I use a makeup spatula as it's the only thing I have with a (sort of) pointy end, it works really well to be honest. 

Pulling the hair over the halo

done! now repeat step all around your head until it covers! I use a brush after to smooth it down. 

Over all I think this is a great product for those that can't be bothered with the faff of clip ins and want a fast, comfortable solution. the wire is very comfortable and very secure, as I have short hair the sensation of having long hair took me a while to get used to but over all love and totally recommend! 

I got mine at www.beautyproductuk.co.uk as they have an all year round £15 off offer on all halos, they have great customer service and next day delivery if you order before 2pm! They also have an online chat service to talk to an advisor on your perfect halo! 

20" Halo £99.99 £84.99 on beautyproductsuk.co.uk!
16" Halo £79.99 £74.99 on beautyproductsuk.co.uk!

Don't pay more than you have to, as Halo Extensions say: Every girl deserves a halo! 

Estee Lauder - Night Repair Eye Recovery Complex, Eye Saver!

Just before I start, this product deserves all the amazing reviews and hype it gets, I could have ended the post there, but that would be no fun for me or you now would it? I'm just adding my little bit to the vast amount of credit this pot of magic is getting! 


When it comes to skin care (especially around the eyes) choosing the right product is vital, as the skin around your eyes is 4 times thinner, leaving it a lot more sensitive, get the wrong product or have a minor reaction and it could leave you looking like your eyes have individually decided 'do you know what? I'm going to go really red and sore, sting a lot and then just to top it off, look about 10 years older than the rest of my face'


A while back I had been suffering from really sore eyes, the skin around my eyes were really dry and flakey making them really irritated and if I put anything on them they would burn in protest and get worse, I tried leaving it with no make-up nothing but water so no product was getting into them, they calmed down but as soon as I went back to my normal routine it came back, I was not one bit happy, so when I finally put my pride aside I ran straight to my mum for help, dressing table full of temptations and remedies, the majority (3 quarters) of it from Estee Lauder, she suggested Night Repair. I have been brought up with my mum using Night Repair from as young as I can remember, it was always the solution to everything though she was (and still is) very protective over it and I now understand why she is, 1. you don't need to use a lot each time and 2. it's amazing. We came to the conclusion very quickly that normal night repair would be too strong for the eye area and that's when I remembered.. the Eye Recovery Complex! luckily my mum had a mini version of it and I've been using it ever since.


As everything I have tried, it stung (a little) when I first put it on, but soon calmed down, It's like a gel/serum and glides on like a dream, I noticed it's a bit thicker than the Original Night Repair but it doesn't drag on the skin one bit, I'd say the feeling of it is like a smoother version of Vaseline but without the sticky feeling. 


I had been using this religiously day and night for 4 weeks, the improvement was just amazing, before I would feel a real drop in confidence, I couldn't make my make-up sit on it without it looking absolutely terrible, I was feeling really down about it, but the skin around my eyes started to regain its moisture and the lines, creases and flakey skin is so much more visibly reduced I've felt the real me coming back to life and as anyone would be I'm over the moon! everyone is when they discover a (not so) hidden gem! 


For all those Night Repair lovers, this product has all the same effects but just formulated for the eyes, no change in the amazing-ness of the quality, a bit pricey at £35 for 15ml although my 7ml mini-sample pot isn't even 3/4 of the way down and when I say mini, it really is! amazing investment and you're getting the latest top notch technology in skin care. Estee Lauder, you never fail to amaze me.


Thanks for reading!  


Natalie X

Colour B4: Extra Strength - Guide for Naturally Dark Hair!

Hey! I'm sure many have been intrigued about the Colour B4 products before but are not sure how it would turn out, well this review is for the naturally dark haired girls that DO NOT USE BLEACH (product doesn't work on bleached hair as the bleach has stripped out the pigment in the hair) but do use home dye kits Semi Permanent or Permanent!

Now before I recommend this I will tell you, yes your hair is highly likely to go ginger, it's not the products fault however, it's the hair dye! any dye that uses peroxide in it will lighten your dark locks as it's dyeing your hair (even if you're dyeing your hair the same shade as your natural hair but say with a red tone or a purple tone etc) it doesn't look like it's lightened it but as the peroxide mixes with your hair it will change your natural colour underneath the dyed colour if i'm still making sense?

Anyway, when us darker haired girls mix with peroxide our hair doesn't lighten as you'd expect it to, it in fact reveals the warmth in your hair colour a lot more as it changes making it that bright orange you see my hair turn into above, but with a lot of research into the product I luckily knew this was going to happen before I even bought the product, but there's a simple way of fixing it!

So here's how the product works, say when you're dyeing your hair the hair dye molecules start of as pea sized balls and then once they are in your hair and mix with the air they grow inside your hair shaft to the size of tennis balls so they are locked inside your hair, well colour B4 just reverses the process by turning the tennis sized balls in pea sized balls again so you can wash them out of your hair using their buffer product (sounds really harsh on your hair doesn't it? BUFFER, but it's really like an extra cleansing shampoo, the ones that makes your hair hard to move in the shower but conditioner fixes that don't worry!) that's why the rinsing step is important cause if you don't flush all the molecules out once you dry your hair they will just go back to their tennis ball size and pigment your hair again meaning another colour B4treatment, and as much as I love the results this product gave me, it smells of eggy farts, and it gets stronger too so after the process get that box out of your house as over night it turns evil.

For the product to work you have to follow the box details DOWN TO THE LAST 'T' and rinse your hair for as long as possible, I'm going to admit it does get boring but as i've said the rinsing stage is the most important part so if it directs 10 mins i did it for 20mins minimum, you hair turns into a brat during rinsing but just cope the results are totally worth it!

Now you're thinking, bright orange? worth it?! no Natalie, but yes! it is! cause it's your hair dye and build up free! no it's not perfect but it is the perfect base to start fresh with a new colour without the stripy built up effect, the box says cause the peroxide has left your hair porous you hair will very easily grab colour and recommends leaving your hair a week to let your hair regain it's natural PH level perfect for dyeing, if you can go a week with orange hair, hats off to you! for me though I used a shade 2 shades lighter than my hair and a shade that had NO WARMTH in it at all (to cancel out the gingerness) I picked 2 shades lighter cause I know with my porous hair the colour will darken very quickly into the shade I actually want, I only left the dye on my hair for 5 mins working very quickly and I got the colour closest to my natural colour perfectly (which I was going for) if you leave it on any longer it will get darker and possibly too dark so monitor your hair colour after the B4 process! I also after this (a week later) got highlights (using bleach) and they came out perfectly. I love my new hair and I made the perfect base for it using colour B4

Does it damage your hair?

only as much as dyeing it does.

Does it dry your hair out?

I actually found my hair felt smoother and healthier after!

Why use the Extra Strength formula? because it's designed for naturally darker hair, says it on the box :)

If you have any more questions feel free to ask!

Natalie! xx