Himalayan Detox Bath Salts from Therapie

Confession time, we have a very small bathroom and the space issue isn’t helped in the slightest by rafts of beauty products stacked like a game of Jenga gone wrong!

I like a soak in the bath, and for a long time was in love with Calvin Klein Eternity Bath Salts. They left my skin smooth and the fragrance was amazing. However I’ve become a little tight in my old age and spending in excess of £20 on bath salts is not something I do.

It had been a while since using bath salts but boom, amongst the hundreds of products that block my way to the sink on a daily basis was Himalayan Detox Bath Salts from Therapie.

To be blunt I’ve become instantly hooked on them.

Created by aromatherapist Michelle Roques Oneil the salts contain over 84 minerals and are infused with essential oils such as Lemongrass, Lavender, Juniper and Geranium.

It's at this point that I have to confess that every time I pick up the packet I giggle - if the salts were blue they would look just like a batch of blue Crystal Meth from Breaking Bad! 

As soon as the salts come into contact with the water there is a scent explosion. It’s awesome and the Lavender and Geranium are really evident but not overpowering and as you lay back into the warm water the stress eases away.

Personally, after a long day in the office the bath salts had a massively therapeutic effect – my eyes always feel heavy, my head clears and I feel totally at ease. This is valium in bath salt form.

The marketing blurb says: 

"A blissful cocktail of therapeutic Himalayan mineral salts, powdered Amethyst & essential oils of Lemongrass, Juniper & Geranium; these pink crystals work to balance pH levels & positive/negative ions, to help the body establish equilibrium. The Amethyst has a high mineral content, to heal & clarify problematic skin whilst counteracting the electro-magnetic energy we absorb from modern day gizmos. Add to this blood purifying & anti-inflammatory properties & discover that heaven is a bath soak".

Having used them a few times now, they never fail to send me off to a blissful sleep. My skin is smooth and soft to the touch. Combine the results on my skin with the beautiful aroma and therapeutic effects and you have a product that falls into the bath heaven category.

At £10 for a 100g pouch it is cheaper than Calvin Klein and has more benefits.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

What do you add to your baths?

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Tigi Bedhead Giveaway

I have now reached 250 followers on Twitter and to thank you all I am hosting my very first giveaway which is a TIGI BED HEAD SUPERCHARGE SET.

This set contains the following products:

TIGI Bed Head Elasticate Shampoo (250ml)
Created to transform weak, dry hair, the Elasticate Shampoo contains a formula rich in proteins and elastin to repair and nourish.

TIGI Bed Head Elasticate Conditioner (250ml)
Working against breakages and frizz, the Elasticate Conditioner transforms dull hair to refreshed and rejuvenated locks. With protein and elastin for flexible hair.

All you have to do to win this prize is complete the giveaway form below, please note that this is a UK ONLY giveaway and some of the options are mandatory and will be checked, so please ensure you complete them!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Fat Fish Pliable Hold Easy Sculpting Stick

Having been a Wella fanatic for years I was well and truly converted to Fish products after my visit to Amsterdam.

Taking #hairontour with the SuperFish Hardcore Hold Matt Effect Putty and nearly being washed away by the rain made me change brands. The hold was fantastic.

After I had sung the praises of the product I was asked to try Fat Fish Pliable Hold Easy Sculpting Stick. This is how a 75ml, 2.5fl.oz stick fell into my hands.

You can expect to pay £7 for the stick. When it arrived I took one look at the tube and thought it looked like an old school roll on deodorant rather than something for my hair.

First of all, the marketing blurb,

‘Perfect for that ‘just out of bed look’, use Fatfish to give a textured pliable hold with control and shine. Designed for short and mid-length hairstyles, it allows you to apply a controlled amount of wax onto your head without getting messy hands. Fatfish uses natural Candelilla Beeswax so you can easily mould, shape and define your style.’

At the moment my hair is around 3 inches in length - I’d consider this mid-length.

After washing my hair I tried applying using small circular motions as directed. It was evident that wax was being rubbed onto the strand of the hair and I didn’t have to push to hard. A fair amount of wax accumulated.

I found that due to the length of my hair I had to use my hands to style the spikes and I did get messy hands, something that the stick is designed to avoid.

However, the hold was great and as it’s a wax there was no residue in my hair of those ghastly white flakes I find on my shoulder later in the day as gels wear off.

Does it offer control? Hell yeah. It controls for hours on end, in fact after applying in morning at 8 a.m. it was still holding firm at 3 a.m. the following morning.

Does it offer shine? In my opinion, not really unless you really massage the wax in for a few minutes. If you do spend the time, and I’d say around 15 minutes massaging it in yes you would get a better shine but this isn’t a look I’m after.

If you are looking for a messy bed-head look and have short hair, really short then this is for you. It would also suit a sort of Gareth Bale style (he’s a footballer for Real Madrid). 

Since I first tried this I’ve had my hair cut back to around an inch and it does offer a great hold and texture for short hair.

Looking at the wax as a whole it looks good but I have never really been a big fan of wax and I’m not sure if that’s swaying my opinion. This product sits there with TX wax from my teenage years, it does the job but only until my hair, which is quite heavy reaches 2 inches in length. It’s good with certain styles but I personally like a product that is suitable for all lengths - yes, I know, high maintenance!

It is easy to apply to short hair and with short hair it will be easy to style. If that’s your bag then this is for you as applying it couldn’t be simpler and is seems to last for ages. I never notice the stick getting smaller.

RECOMMENDED for short, under an inch hairstyles.

Let me know what your favourite hair styling product is by commenting below.

Thank you for reading.

Postnote:

Want to read more about #hairontour and the fabulous hold of SuperFish Hardcore Hold Matt Effect Putty, you can HERE.

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Ted's Grooming Room - Step 01 Face Scrub

I’m a big fan of Ted Baker and Paul Smith, I love their clothes - you can’t beat their suits, t-shirts and underwear in my opinion but grooming products wasn’t something I’d associated them with, particularly Ted Baker.

The lovely people at Ted Baker sent their ‘Ted’s Grooming Room’ press release and asked if I’d like to try some. Now that was the first time I had heard of the range or the Step 01: Face Scrub.

Naturally I jumped at the chance and have been using it as part of my daily skincare routine.

Ted’s Grooming Room is actually a man’s barbers and offers haircuts, smooth hot towel shaves and other treatments. They have walk in stores or the more exclusive, and appointment only Ottoman Lounge.

The products are an offshoot of this line of the business and they have added the Ted Baker mark to the marketplace.

Ted Baker is by no way and means a discount brand in my opinion and at £8 for a 150ml tube of the scrub seems expensive, but the acid test really has to fall down to a number of factors, including price when deciding whether to use the product again.

The face scrub comes with the following marketing blurb:

‘No one likes an ambush, and in-grown hairs can sabotage a perfect shave. Battle against dirt and dead skin every other day with Ted’s Face Scrub, with added jojoba beads, for skin that‘s ready for shaving.’

I’ve used the face scrub now for around tree weeks and as directed have used it every other day. While using the scrub I’ve temporarily stopped using the Swisa Dead Sea Facial Peel to really test the effects the product has in terms of removing dirt, cleansing my face and how smooth my shaving experience has been.

The face scrub is clear in colour and you can see the tiny micro-beads of jojoba suspended within it. As soon as it leaves the tube the aroma is so clean and clinical you almost feel instantly clean.

I couldn’t place the smell at first and then it struck me - the first ever Co-op type cheap hair gel I’d used as a teenager! Bang on and oh the flashbacks, some good (no responsibility), some bad (Global Hypercolour t-shirts have a lot to answer for). If asked, I would say the fragrance is not unpleasant.

Easy to apply, as soon as a 50 pence sized blob was massaged between my palms I could immediately feel the beads - it was bizarre, like rubbing a wet, smooth yet gritty texture!

Gently massaging it into my face it didn’t lather as such, the scrub soaked into my skin really quickly leaving the beads as an abrasive - the aroma changed as well, it got a little floral and was really very pleasant.

Rinsing my face off the first time (and about 3 days after a facial peel) I was appalled, even a little sick in my mouth. The water was so filthy I was ashamed. Dirt and dead skin were banished from my face, sent into exile - chuffed.com

I kept using for two weeks as my beard continued to grow before taking the plunge and shaving. Did it make a difference? Yes it did, the beard was much softer to the touch, as was my skin. I wouldn’t say my skin glowed or that I was radiant but boy as the razor crossed my face it was evident that shaving was much quicker.

Using Ted’s Face Scrub has made a visible difference - I’m not using as much of my L’Oreal Men Expert range as the need to just isn’t there.

I’ve probably used about a quarter of the tube in three weeks and that’s using it every other day. It may seem expensive, but I’m going to add it to my collection along with a few of the other Step 02, 03 etc range as I’m impressed by the positive effect it has had on my shaving experience.

If it was a little cheaper to replace I’d have said this represented great value for money and would have highly recommended it. As I class it as a luxury product and weighing up price and results I would have to say that it falls into the category of being:

RECOMMENDED 

What’s your favourite face scrub? Let me know in the comments section below.

Thank you for reading.

Post note/random flashback:

As an aside, in my youth I was obsessed with Ted Baker in Manchester and loved their bright pastel coloured shirts - they were expensive but boy did they last. Looking back I must have looked a right sight but I regret not a thing!

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No stink, just ink - Southgate Ink and my tattoo

Tattoos used to be something of a polarising issue, growing up my grandfather had a few faded ones from his days in the Navy and they always fascinated me. It was rare that you would see someone in the street with a tattoo unless they were a biker, a former guest of Her Majesty (a convict) or a member of the armed forces.

Nowadays they are everywhere and it’s socially acceptable – footballers have full sleeves, Mike Tyson has his faced tattooed and the range of breadth of designs is mind-boggling.

My parents being somewhat traditionalists were not in favour of me getting my body inked, but this didn’t stop me. At the ripe old age of 18 and somewhat sickly I thought it would be a good idea to get an ironic inking – the result was the Japanese symbol for health on my right upper arm. A few years later I added another Japanese symbol, wealth.

All was not well with the second tattoo, it became infected and the ink actually faded so that I was left with an unsightly scar. A very painful re-colouring followed. The picture below shows the final result of my youthful folly.

Fast forward 18 years and I’d grown tired of the tattoos I had and gave serious consideration to finding a way of covering them with a new design. After seeing some really cool half and full sleeve tattoos I started badgering for one.

It took 12 months to finally work up the courage but I took the plunge at the start of 2014, and after speaking with friends and doing some research both Beautyqueenuk and I stepped into Southgate Ink, a small tattoo parlour based, yes you guessed it, in Southgate, North London.

Stepping through the door my eyes were assaulted by an array of pictures, drawings and designs. You immediately enter into a small seating area/waiting room where you can browse until your heart is content – at the time there were a number of sketches on the wall that had been drawn by the two resident artists and wow, they were amazing.

I’m not a big fan of hard sells and at Southgate Ink you don’t get this – the owner, a larger than life heavily tattooed Turkish guy leaves you to browse and consider your options. This I found refreshing.

In my head I really wanted either a Maori or Aztec tribal design but after browsing the books couldn’t find something I wanted. After asking for advice I showed him my arm and he made a suggestion of a Japanese garden with Koi carp. The justification was that the rich colours in the design would act as a good cover-up for my existing tattoos.

I explained what I was looking for and he suggested that one of the artists – Sonad, could draw up a design for me to review. I noted down the kind of tattoo I was looking for and what to include on a piece of paper to give Sonad an inkling of what to aim for.

We then started to talk money.

For an initial one off design and drawing the cost was £40. This is also their minimum price for any tattoo no matter how large or small.

The price of the drawing is deducted from the cost of the first sitting, but at £100 per hour* a full sleeve design I had asked for was estimated at around £700-£800. Not bad I thought and money was exchanged.

*As they have reached their fifth anniversary Southgate Ink have reduced their prices to £60 per hour, however its always best to get an estimate before starting any work.

An outline of my arm was taken using a large sheet of tracing paper and my existing tattoos outlined. Given that the artists draw and tattoo I was advised to come back the following week.

On my return I was presented with a full A3 sheet of paper – the sketch was out of this world. All of the artists at Southgate Ink are incredibly talented and to be honest I’m slightly jealous.  The only issue was that the drawing included three faces, a Mayan priest, a candy skull and a female priestess. I didn’t like the idea of having them tattooed onto my body.

I could see the look of disappointment on the faces of the guys in the studio, but with some guidance (I showed them the Mayan calendar, a massive intricate piece of carved stone that was found in Mexico City) I was asked to come back and they promised to have another go.

On my next visit I was even more amazed with the resulting sketch. The Mayan calendar, including the Mayan god of sacrifice had been added as had a rather sinister looking smiling face. I’ve included a picture of the sketch below.

Being slightly OCD I still didn’t like the candy skull and asked for the sinister face to be mirrored onto the other side. Symmetry – ahhh that satisfied the OCD. Their response at the request? No problem at all, it’s your body and your choice.

Nothing was too much trouble for the guys and they treated me to perfect customer service. This didn’t end there, throughout the entire experience, and I spent a lot of time in the studio they were kind, thoughtful and kept me well hydrated.

The first sitting was to start the cover up and was for five hours – the photographs below show some action shots. Oh the pain….

Tattoos are painful – it isn’t roll around on the floor pain, more of a stinging, but boy after a few hours and after my arm had started to swell it felt as though my skin was being ripped from my arm.

The outline was done with a single needle, however the shading, and there is a lot of shading was done using a series of needles. The ink was mixed with water and the needles dragged to create shadow effects on my arm.

Watching Sonad at work was truly an experience I’ll never forget – it was awe-inspiring to watch such a talented artist enjoy his craft.

Breaks for cigarettes were plenty, coffee was on hand and banter was in abundance.

I found it fascinating to watch the comings and goings of a studio. All manner of people from all ages came and went, some were tattooed, some pierced and there was always friendly chat to be had. I actually enjoyed my time in the chair despite the pain.

The first sitting included the Mayan calendar and the cover up and I was impressed.

The second 4 hour sitting resulted in the first of the faces being inked onto my arm. I didn’t find the second sitting that bad. I’ve attached more photographs – yes my arm is red but it had been through a serious level of trauma.

The third sitting didn’t hurt at all, until after I’d walked away from the studio. As the tattoo got closer to my armpit and the inside of my arm the pain was horrific. It genuinely felt like I’d been skinned for a few hours after. The pain subsided though.

After sitting in the chair for over 12 hours it was an interesting experience to see how the studio worked. The owner was brutally honest with those wanting to get tattooed or pierced, even if it resulted in lost business.

Sound advice was dispensed to those who when just passing that popped on a spur of the moment. At one stage I saw him recommend medical intervention for a young girl wanting to have a stud removed from her finger. She was desperate to have it removed no matter what but he stood by his guns, it wasn’t a procedure he could carry out safely – nor indeed could any studio.

I have taken a break from the tattoo for a few weeks – mainly to save up for the second section. As it’s difficult to transfer as arm sizes differ Sonad will be drawing the design for my forearm direct on the skin. He’ll do this in pen first obviously but I have no doubt that whatever he draws will be amazing.

Aftercare advice was dispensed in the form of a leaflet and a 10 minute chat. I’d heard that Bepanthen baby cream was the best to use. I was advised that yes, it’s good to use, but mainly after a range of colours are used. It makes them more vibrant by all accounts.

As my tattoo is grey and black Sonad advised that I use Vaseline and keep it covered with clingfilm.

Advice on washing a few hours after to clean off excess ink was given and regular changes were needed to avoid infection.

Yes my arm ached for a few days but I think it was well worth it.

I love my tattoo and can’t wait to get the entire arm covered. Most of all, I can’t wait to go back to Southgate Ink, they have made the experience and the result so  much better than I thought and every time I look down at my arm I smile.

If you are looking for sound advice, great artists, a relaxed atmosphere and a tattoo that will have you beaming you should head down to Southgate Ink.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Southgate Ink

96 Crown Lane

Southgate

London

N14 5PA

Telephone: 0208 920 2517

The studio is located just behind Southgate Underground Station on the Piccadilly Line.

You can see the inside of the studio, my design on the wall and shots of their sketches and tattoos by visiting the video here at Youtube and their page here on Facebook.

In the hours since finishing this post I've learnt that Sonad has left, however I'll be staying with Southgate Ink and passing my arm over to one of the two other talented tattooists who are still there. I've seen their portfolios and watched them work already - I wouldn't go anywhere else.

TOP TATTOO TIPS:

• Don’t be rushed into having a tattoo – a good tattooist will not rush you;
• Review the portfolio of the artist;
• Ask for them to draw the design for them to trace;
• Don’t let someone tattoo directly onto your skin without an outline;
• Cleanliness cannot be understated – Southgate Ink was spotless and they cleaned around the clock;
• Always make sure you see the tattooist unwrap fresh needles that haven’t been tampered with;
• Always follow the aftercare instructions;
• If you have even the slightest of doubts don’t do it – wait until you are 100% sure;
• Relax and try to enjoy the experience.

What are your thoughts on tattoo's? Do you have any and if so where?

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Calvin Klein Eternity for Men

If you were to buy a bottle of Calvin Klein Eternity you can expect to pay in the region of £30 for a 50ml bottle of the EDT. All Calvin Klein products are widely available from all good perfume counters in most major supermarkets, but you will find it cheaper online, where you can find this scrooge finding new aftershaves for his collection.

Eternity, in keeping in line with other Calvin Klein fragrances comes in very minimalist packaging that is easily identifiable.

The bottle itself is nothing special, made from glass it’s a sign that this fragrances doesn’t have to do anything special to attract attention to itself.

The notes to Eternity describe it as a fresh, yet warm fragrance containing lavender and nutmeg combined with tobacco!

On first application the aftershave smelt extremely overpowering, heavy and musky with delicate spicy undertones. Personally I could smell a combination of the lavender and tobacco and to be honest, the fresh smell did nothing for me.

Due to the strong nature of the fragrance only a tiny amount is required.

The saving grace for Eternity is the fact that the smell changes dramatically after five to ten minutes. It becomes slightly lighter; the hints of tobacco disappear completely leaving a more spicy citrus scent that is very easy on the nose. Lavender and lemon become more evident and a woody undertone lingers.

Although it does become lighter the fragrance is still evident to the wearer and those standing down wind!

Personally I’ve received compliments when wearing this mainly because it has such a lovely long lasting fragrance that lingers for well over 8 hours. Even though I’ve received compliments when wearing Eternity I would class it mainly as a daytime fragrance or one for a more formal occasion, but definitely not for that special date or night on the town. There are better fragrances to get the ladies swooning as you pass by.

A 50ml bottle of Eternity will last an absolute age, making a purchase at £30 very good value for money and the perfect gift for that man in your life.

Eternity was one of the first fragrances launched by Calvin Klein and over the years the successful formula hasn’t changed one bit. It doesn’t need to. Eternity is for those men who appreciate a mixture of fragrances that combine to produce a consistent and long lasting smell.

Not a pulling fragrance but it is recommended.

RECOMMENDED 

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