October Birchbox

I've been doing Birchbox videos for the last couple of months - but I thought I'd do a blog post for October's box. If you've followed me for any length of time you'll already know that I love getting my Birchbox each month and you always get really great products!

This month was another choose your box - I went for the Stylist Guest editor box as I liked the look of the 100% pure fruit pigmented lip glaze and the Rituals Yogi flow shower gel. The shade of the lip glaze I received is Rosehip which is a lovely dark pink shade, it's very moisturising though so I'd recommend using a lip liner with it! 

The rituals shower gel is Indian rose & sweet almond oil scented and smells amazing! I love getting samples of luxury shower gels!

The mini Bioderma is so cute! I already own and use Bioderma, so I'm going to be saving this handy little travel size incase I go away sometime! 

I also received the Parlor smoothing blowout spray - a frizz fighting, heat protecting and styling spray that sounds like it'll be really good - I haven't tried it yet! A little extra this month is the English laundry no.7 fragrance sample, I've said before that I'm not too keen on fragrance samples, but when it's an extra I don't mind! 

The final product is a When travel mate sheet mask which is a moisturising mask intended for use when travelling and is supposed to lock in moisture. I've never actually used a sheet mask before so I'm excited to give this one a go! 

Another great box this month - I do like it when you get to choose some products yourself! 

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New hair.

It was time for a change. My roots were getting very noticeable, and I'd got a little bored of being bright blonde. I've thought about going back to my natural colour for a long time, but after a bit of a tough time recently, I thought 'sod it, time for a change'. I've been backwards and forwards between brown and blonde over the last few years, so I didn't want to go back fully brown as I'm paranoid about getting those dreaded orange tones again! I went back to the same hairdresser as last time (Beth at Toni&Guy Mosley st, Manchester) who is amazing, and is easily the best hairdresser I've ever been to. I had a chat with her about what I wanted, showed her about 20 pictures of Alexa Chung, and we decided on a balayage colour with a dark blonde very similar to my own shade. My hair was pre-coloured to prevent any orange fading, and then was coloured using a mixture of dark blonde and an ashy light brown.
I'm really pleased with my new hair, and it's such a big change (it looks more brown in real life), and hopefully I'll be able to get my hair in better condition now that there isn't as much bleach in it! I'm also really happy that it looks a lot more natural.
My cut is pretty simple, it's all one length as my hair is naturally curly/wavy so layers just don't work for me, and then I have some shaping around the front, with two 'fringe bits' to cover my baby hairs that annoy me!
So I'm back to the dark side (well, darker side of blonde).

Current Favourite Hairstyling products.

Today I'm talking hair styling. If you've followed me for a while, you'll already know that I have difficult to style, dry, frizzy, thick & coarse hair. I've rounded up my favourite styling products to tackle these issues, so I hope if you're struggling with any of them, this will help!

Ojon Revitalising Mist 
I've used this one for years, and am now on my third bootle. It's a leave-in detangler that can be used on wet or dry hair. It helps to keep my hair knot-free and also leaves it looking and feeling soft, manageable and healthy. You can also use this on 2-3 day old hair that's looking dry and frizzy at the ends, and it helps to give the hair a little refresh between washes. It's an expensive one, but I always go back to this.

Bumble and Bumble Hairdressers invisible oil primer
This is a hair primer, heat protecter and detangler all in one. I use this on wet hair before drying (or leaving to dry naturally). It helps to prevent the hair from going frizzy, and also protects the hair from any heat styling including blow drying. This is also a primer, which works like a face primer - it helps your other products to work better, and your finished style to last for longer. It's a bit of unusual product, but I really like this one.

Philip Kinglsey Daily Damage Defense 
Another detangling, leave-in conditioning product. (they're all different I promise!). This is a great one to use on wet hair and helps to keep hair healthy. I prefer the ojon to use on dry hair, but this one is nourishing, and leaves my hair soft and manageable. My favourite thing about this one is that it's anti breakage, so helps prevent against split ends too.

I'll usually use either 1 or 2 leave in detangling products, but sometimes I use all three together, which works really well without weighing my hair down or leaving it sticky.

Bumble and Bumble Hairdressers invisible oil 
This is an oil for the ends of the hair. It's similar to other oils but is very nourishing and gets rid of a lot of frizz. Again you can use this on wet or dry hair, but be careful on dry hair, as this can look a little greasy if you use too much. I usually find applying this on the first day after washing, or on wet hair works best.

Percy & Reed Volumising no oil Oil
Another oil. This one is very lightweight, and I use this daily to keep frizz at bay. It doesn't leave your hair looking greasy at all, but helps the hair to stay soft and frizz-free. It's an odd texture, and feels very watery, but I love that it never looks greasy. I usually use this on finished hairstyles - curly or straight as a finishing product. It's a versatile one, and would probably work wonders on fine hair too.

Bumble and Bumble Surf spray 
The iconic salt spray. I love this for making my hair look messy and beachy. It's great on my natural (slightly wavy) hair, and also good for straight hair. My only complaint with this one is that it does leave your hair a bit sticky, so I usually reach for this on 2nd/3rd day hair. It's a great product though, and is the best salt spray I've used.

What are your favourite hairstyling products?