Quick Hair Mask Comparison: Fekkai Advanced Essential Shea V. Kerastase Masquintense

A quick background on my hair type. I have very long, thick hair which can become quite dry and unmanageable when using the wrong products.

Fekkai Advanced Essential Shea Ultra Rich Mask

The Essential Shea Collection is new to Fekkai, and it's specially made for those with dry, coarse hair. I bought the Ultra Rich Mask to try, and see how it compared to my much loved Kerastase Masquintense.

£25 for a ~ 200ml Tube

According to Fekkai:

An intense conditioning treatment that leaves ultra-dry, coarse or unruly hair manageable, soft and strong against damage.

My Thoughts:

The mask itself is a pale yellow thick cream. It does not feel too greasy to the touch and is easily applied throughout the hair. Initially the product has quite a nice shea butter scent, but after a minute it turns fairly unpleasant. The smell is hard to describe, I can only say it's quite unpleasant and is quite sharp smelling (making me want to quickly wash it off).

The mask rinses out easily, and doesn't leave any residue. This mask did not work well on me. It did not leave my hair feeling smooth and moisturised. Instead my hair felt sort of dry and brittle. Once dry, my hair look is worse condition than normal, which was disappointing.

Kerastase Masquintense Cheveux Epais

I've been using this mask for about 4 months now, and am very impressed with it.

£25/200ml Tub

According to Kerastase:

High concentration conditioning treatment for very dry sensitised hair:

-glucose: provides an energy boost for nutrition of the hair fibre

-proteins: nourish the hair fibre and leave it soft

-lipids: protect the fibre from drying out and improve its natural protection

My Thoughts:

I was a bit dubious when reading about the glucose giving the hair an energy boost. Glucose is sugar and when ingested into the body it is used by cells as a primary source of energy. How hair can break down glucose into energy, I don't know. Nevertheless, I really like this mask. It's a thick white cream which is quite greasy to the touch. So special care is needed to make sure there's no residue left in the shower/bath as I've found myself slipping on it on quite a few occasions.

Despite being a touch greasy, it rinses out of the hair easily. It doesn't leave my hair greasy at all, instead my hair feels really smooth, silky and soft. I've notice the condition of my hair improving with regular use of this mask.

Conclusion:

I definitely prefer the Kerastase Masquintense. It remains my favourite hair mask, and I've now learnt to stick to products I already know and love.

Tutorial: Nude Makeup

Hi everyone, here is my second makeup tutorial. It's my step-by-step take on how to easily achieve a Nude Makeup Look.

As Nude colours can really wash out a complexion, it's really important to find shades that suit your skin tone. This can be achieved by trial and error or testing out shades at the makeup counter. I personally avoid too light a lip colour as those tend to make me look really ill.

1. For me, good skin is the key to this Nude Makeup look. For an even complexion, I recommend tinted moisturisers or sheer BB creams over foundations as they let the natural glow of your skin show through. I'm all for enhancing the skin rather than masking it.

I tried out my new Garnier BB cream. As BB creams have quite a thick consistency, only a small amount is needed to blend over the entire complexion. This BB cream was nice and sheer, and left the skin with a dewy glow.

Product used: Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector Daily All-in-one BB Cream

2. I applied a pale nude eye shadow over the eye-socket to even-out the upper eyelid.

Product Used: Burberry Sheer Eye Shadow in Trench 0.2

3. I tightlined the upper eyelid with a waterproof pencil liner.

Product Used: Benefit Bad Gal Waterproof Eyeliner in Black

4. I then neatly lined my upper eyelids with a black gel liner.

Product Used: Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Black

5. I then curled my upper eyelashes and applied a coat of black mascara.

Products used: Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler, Lancome Hynose Doll Eyes Mascara

6. To prevent looking washed-out, apply a neutral shade of blush the cheeks. I used a subtle shade of light pink with a golden sheen.

Product used: MAC Beauty Powder in Shell Pearl (LE Liberty of London)

7. Nude coloured lips are another key component to this look. I only own one shade of nude lipstick, so it's definitely my go-to shade for nude lips. I love how easy to wear it is.

Product used: myface cosmetics Gigabyte Lipstick in Vintage Pink

Here's the completed look. I was going for was a natural, yet polished look:

Nude Heels and My First Sikh Wedding

Hi everyone, sorry for not keeping up with regular posts. For the past week, I've been busy with a week long Sikh wedding. It's been the longest and most extravagant wedding I've been to.

My husband was the best man, and I was made the groom's honourary sister-in-law. This meant we were invited to all the festivities including family gatherings and parties. By the end of the week, my husband and I were extremely exhausted. We had an amazing time though, the groom's family relatives we so welcoming that I really felt part of the family.

Here are a couple of pics of the bride and groom.They are such a perfectly matched couple with so much in common.

The bride is beautiful. She looked like a film star at the wedding reception. The groom is wearing a kilt, as like my husband he was born and bred in Scotland. Below is a pic of them wearing more traditional wedding clothing:

As sister-in-law, my duties included performing traditional ceremonies such as smearing the groom with tumeric paste, and applying eyeliner in a Punjabi eyelining ritual. Here is a pic of me nervously eyeing the eyeliner.

Here is a pic of me with husband and sister-in-law at the wedding reception. The sister of the groom generously gave me this gorgeous blue dress to wear and keep.

My husband was a little nervous as he had to deliver a best man speech to over 400 guests. His family were also invited to the wedding as his whole family has known the groom's family for years. My husband and the groom has been friends ever since they were five. The groom was the best man at our wedding.

The skirt of my new outfit was a little long, and I didn't own any shoes that were very high heeled. I bought this nude pair from Aldo, along with a pair of velvet in-soles to make them fit better. I love nude heels as they make the legs look longer and pretty much goes with most of my outfits.

FOTD with Guerlain Rouge Automatique Cherry Blossom

For today's look, I'm using one of my favourite pink lip colours, Guerlain Rouge Automatique in Cherry Blossom 161.

On my cheeks I used my new MAC Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl for soft, peachy-pink flush.

I like the consistency of Geurlain's Rouge Automatiques. The texture is pretty creamy, and the colours are fairly long-wearing.

Cherry blossom is a light to medium rosy pink with frosty shimmer.

Swatch of Cherry Blossom:

Lip swatch:

I used quite a thick layer of the lipstick for this swatch so you can have a good idea of the true colour of this shade. For my FOTD I lightly applied the lipstick and blended it out for a softer, easy to wear look.

Products used in today's look.

Face:

Dior Crystal Nude Natural Matte Skin Perfecter in 001 Invisible

MAC Beauty Powder Alpha Girl on cheeks

Eyes:

Shiseido Integrate GY941 on brows

MAC Eyeshadow Smut

MAC Eyeshadow Typographic as Liner

Lips:

Guerlian Rouge Automatique Cherry Blossom

The pores on my skin were looking pretty visible today, so rather than brave a FOTD without any base, I applied my recently acquired Diorskin Crystal Nude Natural Matte Skin Perfector.

It is a translucent, colourless product that can be used on its own, as a base or over foundation. I used it on its own and it instantly made my face look a whole lot smoother.

My fringe is still at that awful awkward growing out stage. When I kept a fringe, it grew so fast I needed frequent trims at the hairdressers. Now that I want to grow it out, it just won't grow fast enough! So for the time being, you will see pictures of me with the top of my head cropped off.

Mac Fashion Flower Alpha Girl & Mac Semi Precious Rose Quartz

I bought two items from MAC recently. Their Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl from their Fashion Flower collection, and their Mineralized Skin Finish in Rose Quartz from their Semi-Precious collection.

(Above: Rose Quartz, Below: Alpha Girl)

I love the promotional pic for MAC's Fashion Flower. It looks fun, pretty and summery. Though it does look a bit like the flowers are trying to envelope her into the ground.

I couldn't resist the Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl when I saw it. Not only does is it embossed with a cute flower design, but it's a gorgeous shade of pinky-peach (my favourite shade for blushes).

You get a lot of product, about 1.5-2x the size of normal MAC blushes.

A swatch of the blush. I would describe it as a pale peachy-pink with a hint of coral and slight shimmer.

A swatch of Alpha girl on my cheek. This was taken on a particularly sunny day, and the sun casted a warm yellow glow on my skin making it slightly harder to see the blush.

On my complexion it looks fairly subtle. It gives my cheeks a wash of healthy-looking, flushed, summery colour.

I wanted to give MAC's Mineralized Skin Finish a try, and so bought one in Rose Quartz from their Semi-Precious range. Like Alpha Girl, the product itself is really pretty to look at. At the centre is a circle of a myriad of shimmery shades which include lime green, silver and pink.

Swatches of the blush; blended together (left), the outer shade (middle) and the inner circle (right).

Blended together, they colours make a devine medium pink shade with champagne-gold coloured shimmer. The blush on my cheeks:

Now this picture was taken on an overly cloudy dull day. I rely on natural lighting for my blog, so picture quality is 100% depended on weather. Rose Quartz is a lot more shimmery than Alpha girl and not as easy to wear, but I do love the pretty pink shade.

Hourglass Haul and FOTD

As promised, here is a post on my recent Hourglass Haul. I bought these products from one of my favouritie online stores Zuneta.com.

Hourglass is a Californian brand which boasts cutting-edge formulations and technology in their high quality makeup. From their line I bought the following:

Visionaire Eyeshadow Duo In Suede

Aura Cheek Stain in Petal

Aura Lip Stain in Petal

Visionaire Eyeshadow Duo in Suede - £28

Suede is described as an ivory shimmer, and nude beige shimmer.

The mirror of this compact can swivel 360 degrees, as well as lie flat.

I found the texture of this eyeshadow to be extremely fine. One of the finest I've come across. The powder is very soft to the touch and medium pigmented. It comes with a double ended mini eyeshadow brush which has fine hairs and feels fairly soft.

Swatch of Suede:

Aura Sheer Cheek Stain in Petal - £32

This product is very pricey, but I really love it. It's a lightweight water-based stain that gives the skin natural looking colour with a radiant glow.

The formula is thicker than most stains, which gives me plenty of time to blend it onto my cheeks before the colour sets in. The cheek stain has a twist dispenser, which is great as I can control how much product comes out. It can be applied straight onto the cheeks or applied with fingers. I like to dab it onto my cheeks and use my fingertips to blend.

Petal is a sheer coral-pink. Here is a swatch of it unblended:

Blended:

This shade is more coral than the peachy-pink shades I normally favour. It's easy to blend and feels nice and light on the skin. It doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy. I'm so impressed with this blush that I'm looking to try out the other shades available, namely Flush (a sheer pinky-red).

Aura Sheer Lip Stain in Petal -£19

This is my favourite and most used product of the three, as I find the shade absolutely perfect for Summer.

Again it is a water-based stain with a twist dispenser. It has a flocked-tip applicator which feels soft on the lips. This lip stain is not as easy to use as it's cheek equivalent. As it's a stain with a sheer metallic finish, I need my lips to be in great condition to apply it. The stain will accentuate any dry parts of the lips.

Petal is a lovely pinky coral shade. Quite a unique lip colour, especially for a stain.

Below is a FOTD of my using all three products.