The Ballerina Bun

Hello Everyone

The Queen of the Ballerina Bun, Lauren Conrad
 (source: http://dpnak.com/what-were-pinterest-crushing-over-ballerina-buns/)

Today I wanted to share with you a neat inexpensive hair tool that I have been using to make my life easier. It is truly that great, and it is priced from only $1.00! Drum roll please.....

I present to you the Magic Bun Hair Styling Clip.... This little invention is a life saver for people who don't have the time or ability to put their hair in a fabulous bun by themselves. I lack the ability unfortunately. I am terrible at doing my hair, I am pretty certain my mum used to do my hair for school at least up until the end of primary school/start of high school (thanks Mum!)

My Ballerina Bun using the Clip

 I purchased mine off eBay I now own around 3 or 4 of them but I tend to lose them, they come in different sizes and slightly different styles, I find the large one can fit most of my hair in it. I found them fairly confusing at first (no instructions were included) but once I trialled it a few times I quickly got the hang of it and now I wear one in my hair whenever I go to work.

To use the clip you just put your hair in a ponytail and place the tip of your hair in the middle of the clip.

Place tip in here

Then close the clip and roll your hair back towards your ponytail (I usually place my hair over my face as it is so long and my arms would not reach up that high). Then you curl the clip around so the ends meet in the middle.

Curl the clip like so

And you have a bun! 

I always receive a lot of compliments and people asking me how I get my bun to look like that when I use this in my hair.

Do you have any hair tips or tricks?

Love Liz xx

My New Baby

BaByliss Pro that is!

Hello Everyone

So once I had decided to get my hair freshened up and return back to ombre, I also decided that I was sick of straightening my hair and rather I wanted the option to curl it. I have a GHD straightener which does give you the ability to curl your hair.I know that the perfect curls can be achieved with a GHD straightener, I have seen my hairdresser do it, but I can never recreate it at home, no matter how much I practice. I wanted a curling wand, but I have owned curling wands with the clip handle part to hold your hair to the iron, but I always find that these leave a kink in my hair. I wanted to find a curling iron that was just a barrel. In comes the BaByliss Pro Ceramic Conical Curling Iron.

I purchased this in the size Large or 32-19mm, however it also comes in 25-13mm. I chose the larger size as I have quite thick, long hair and I prefer it to be loosely curled over smaller tighter curls. I also purchased some heat resistant gloves so that I can hold my hair and not be afraid of getting third degree burns, though these are yet to arrive! I did some researching online and found that I could get the best price off eBay from a Salon Supply Shop, it was cheaper than in store and still came with warranty and a free heat mat. It looks like this is a very popular item and seller, as their current count for the number of  BaByliss Pro Ceramic Conical Curling Iron in size Large, sold is 537 units! 

The Heat Mat, Warrant/Instructions, Curler and Some Strange Finger Gloves..

Considering that this retails for $79.95 AU  in store, $51.95 AU is quite a bargain. It does come with 1 year warranty that is valid in Australia, authentic Australian plugs (I know that BeautyBay sells this model for cheap also, however it comes with the standard UK plug) and a heat mat. 

This curling iron is fairly simple to work, with on and off switches and 25 heat settings which are changed on a swivel and you can see the current setting number by looking below the on/off switches.

 A close up of the switches and heat settings

The heat setting guide indicates that 1-3 is for synthetic hair; 3-5 for damaged or coloured hair (this may be my setting while my hair is recovering); 6-10 for thin hair; 10-15 for medium hair; 15-20 for thick hair; 21-22 for wavy hair; and 23-25 for afro hair.

I quickly curled my hair at setting number 5

After quickly using this I think I am in love. I have to practice a few more times to perfect my technique, but so far it seems so much easier than using my GHD or the curlers with the clip handles. I also managed to get a light curl with heat setting number 5, which makes me feel like I am not further damaging my hair using heat products, I still used a heat protectant as usual though. My hair feels soft and not dried out, though I would have to use a lot of hairspray in order to keep the curl all day.

The lovely thumb and finger glove included

How do you prefer to wear you hair and what kind of styling tool do you own?

Love Liz xx