Today's a good hair day

I have longed for full, luscious locks for a long time. Even though my hair is long it is so fine. I never thought about getting hair extensions as two things came to mind - the horrible, fake-hair-look where you can see bald patches and the bonds stuck to the hair and secondly the amount of damage they do to your natural hair.

I heard about Great Lengths Hair Extensions from magazines and instagram pic's from celeb's and they all had beautiful, volumised full looking hair. So I did a bit of research...

Great Lengths Hair Extensions are 100% human hair which is sourced in India during Hindu rituals. Women & Men's hair is voluntarily sacrificed and donated to Temples. 

Great Lengths commit to ensuring all hair is sourced ethically and willingly and that a fair price is paid.

The hair is shipped to Italy where it starts the cleansing process and is sewn to cloths to ensure it stays in the right direction. 

It is placed in baths to gently take out the natural pigment and then coloured through a process called osmosis. Finishing off, they 'hackle' hair by hand with a giant brush to remove tangles.

It is then shipped off to the salon!

Winter chills

With the cold nip in the air this week it's time to protect and re hydrate our skin. Even though all the Vitamin D during the Summer was great for our bodies, it's not so great for our skin (boo hoo).

Here are a few of my favourite products to start our Winter routine to nourish our skin again.

To banish all that old, dry, flaky skin on our bodies try Jo Malone Vitamin E Treatment Scrub - it smells divine. More on the pricey side but a little goes a long way. The best body scrub I have EVER used. It also leaves a gorgeous, luxurious oil residue on the skin to help moisturise all those dry patches.

Makeup, hair & fashion inspiration for you x

Some weekend inspiration for you...

 

All images from Pinterest - follow me HERE

Have a good one X

Alfaparf Hair Awards

Yesterday I was working on a team for the Alfaparf Fantastic Hair Awards in The Hilton, Dublin. Big congrats to both Cathriona & Maire from Cathriona's Hair Salon Castlegregory who came in the top 10 of all their categories. And Cathriona who won second place in the Upstyle category - fantastic!

Here are the looks and product list for each -

Model: Robyn

Hairstylist: Cathriona

MUA: Annette - website here

Oh Me, Oh My, on a Sunday

Sunday's, in my diary are a relaxing day or a day to catch up with friends. I had arranged to meet my friend Helena last Sunday for a workshop that we had booked weeks ago and Oh My were we blown away...

Last month I had spotted this workshop on Facebook, held in Cork and exactly the kind of thing I'd enjoy. "Oh Me, Oh My DIY" is the creation of three fabulous and creative ladies, Cathy, Jill and Leona. I knew we were in good hands. Cathy runs Turquoise Flamingo, an online shop and loves everything vintage, Leona loves fashion (check out her Instagram here) and is normally found styling or rocking the mic at events and Jill a lady who knows everything to know about floristry plus she runs her own shop Wild Floral Couture. And what's more, these are the three ladies behind Cork's magnificent Le Chat Noir Events -  need I say anymore?

Red lip tutorial

Hi guys, 

So here it is - my first video tutorial. Started with a simple but important tutorial - the red lip.

Enjoy and don't forget to comment.

A x

                           

Contouring & highlighting

I have done a few makeup looks on my facebook page recently  <click here for a snoop>  and I have got so many requests from clients to do one on contouring.

Yes we can all thank Kim Kardashion for her highlighting/contouring selfie she posted, which started this craze for you lot! Makeup Artists work this technique on every makeup application whether it is a natural makeup or a night time party look. There are so many tutorials on this at present and I believe you need good judgement & to be able to decide which part of your own face needs contouring.

 Still not getting it?? Call in to me at the salon :)

This is a very easy guide - start with very little product on clean primed skin. For contouring & highlighting you can use either foundation or a concealer cream. I change all the time as it depends on the condition & tone of the skin.

So here I am (looking a little scary!) with the highlighter. For the highlight I use Mac studio fix fluid foundation in NC15, try get one maybe 2/3 shades lighter than your own skin tone. You highlight the highest points on your face.

Using my finger I applied the foundation down along the center of my nose (to create the illusion of a slimmer nose), on the centre of my forehead and centre of my chin (this elongates my face).

I also applied the highlighter under my eyes in a V-shape to accentuate my contouring later. This step also helps brighten under the eyes.

Use a little highlight on the side of the jawline to slim down a round face.

Time to blog again!

Hi everyone!

So it has been a while.. I somehow lost my way blogging with nearly 2 years - a busy work schedule is what I'm blaming but I am now getting back on track!

The old La la land blog is gone (Oh!) but a new bigger & better blog has been created. As years go by we change and I feel that I want a different approach to the blog instead. I recently found my love for blogs again by finding many interesting & amazing bloggers... so here goes!

I look forward to sharing all things beauty, makeup, foodie, fashion, travel.

Onwards & upward from here... Enjoy, A x