'Great Lengths' @ The Hair Bar

As I'm sure most of you know by now, I had the pleasure of having a luxurious set of 'Great Lengths' extensions applied last Thursday. Are they what I expected them to be?! YES! They are everything and more.
Now I finally know how Beyonce feels when she wakes up flawless, cause shes obviously been on this 'Great Lengths' buzz. Waking up feeling like a million dollars every morning, and simply NEVER experiencing a bad hair for the next 6-9 months, tell me...what girl doesn't want that?! 

I have always had long, thick-ish hair but I could never achieve that full volume bouncy look without having to go to the hair dressers every time I went out and to be honest I was getting tired of doing that, I wanted a more permanent solution. That's when my lovely stylist Ciara (The Hair Bar, Douglas) introduced me to Great Length's.

Great Lengths or often reffered to as the 'Royles royce' of all hair extentions, supplie quality  healthy hair extensions. They come in a wide range of rich and vibrant colours.The part I found super  interesting is the hair is sourced from Indian temples, where the hair is blessed and sold fairly, branding it 'fair trade'. I thought this was fantastic as I am a huge supporter of the fair trade fruit and veg, its great for the local workers and traders as they are getting a fair price for the products they are selling. 

There are many extensions out there, but what makes Great Lengths stand out above the rest is the bonds. Great lengths extensions use keratin bonds to apply the hair. Keratin is the same substance, a protein that is found naturally in our hair. It is applied to the hair using hot and cold heat. The hot heat only touches the bond, while the cold heat touches your hair. So as you can imagine there is no heat what so ever being applied to your hair so therefore none of your hair is being damaged. The bonds are quite small, they blend so well into the hair. They don’t feel heavy on the head, like some extensions can. I found with clip in extenions I use to get a migraine every time I wore them as the clips stuck right into my scalp.OUCH!
In the one week I've had the Great Lengths, I have had ZERO migraines and even had people (even men) comment on how amazing my hair is..and when I mention they are extentions they cant get over how natural and well blended they look.

Anyway lets get down to business :)

Ciara who is a colour specialist, put alot of time and effort into colour matching my hair to make sure she had the exact colours I wanted. My inspiration was to create a look inspired by Khloe Kardashian's gorgeous hair, I'm slightly obsessed! Ciara blended five tones all together, to perfectly match up to the honey 'HD' ombre that she had previously coloured for me. 

 Altogether it took 4-5 hours, mind you it flew! I was treated like royalty, a creamy warm cappachino in one hand & the latest Vogue magazine in the other. Ciara looked after me from start to finish, I couldn't praise this talented young woman enough. After they had been applied, she styled them around my face, taking my face shape in to consideration, slightly trimming them, giving the extentions more definition and keeping them very natural looking. To finish and to add that extra touch of holly wood glamour Ciara used the famous 'Instyler'. 
The 'Instyler' popular with celebs such as Cheryl Cole, Georgia Salpa and Rosana Davison is used to create a wavy volumized bounce to the hair without it taking away from the 40cm length that I opted for. The Great Lengths are super easy to style and hold curls so well, usually curls would fall out of my hair quit quick, but with these beautys in, they stay put for upto almost 2 days. 

Great lengths, when applied properly and taken care of should last 6 months. Ciara was kind enough to provide me with the tools to maintain my gorgeous lengths. A specialised Great Lengths shampoo, conditioner and brush to take good care of my lucsious repunzal locks. Yes they are more expensive than most hair extensions, but most hair extension only last 2-3 months and end up costing the same amount when they need to be reapplied so soon. Not to mention the damage most hair extentions do to your hair. Great Lengths do absolute ZERO damage and allow your own natural hair to grow and breath properly while still having an amazing head of hair. (Best of both worlds!)

Ok so the question every ones been asking. HOW MUCH? 
The price of these extensions differ from person to person due to the length and volume of your own hair and the length, volume and look you desire. While I can’t give the price here, I will say, they are not as expensive as you think. They are 200% worth the investment. You cannot price feeling like a godess every day can you?!
The Hair Bar, Douglas are the first Great Lengths gold status salon, meaning they specialise in these luxurious brand extentions. I would highly reccomend any girl who is considering getting extentions to book a free consultation with these lovely, helpful ladies. 
Ciara being the colour specialist will colour match to your indivdual skin, eye and hair colour personalising your Great Lengths 100% . Then explaining how much exactly it would work out for you. At the moment The Hair Bar, Douglas are running an amazing offer untill the 20th of March, 25% off all Great Length hair extentions.

Over all...Life is good I now wake up every morning looking and feeling like Beyonce, well not really but I'm as close as i'll ever be! LOL 
A girl can dream! :)
In the short time the Great Lengths have been apart of my life,  I now can look in the mirror and I finally LOVE the reflection lookg back at me. 
I think every one of us should feel like this....don't you?! 

Until my next blog post, 
Night VV x

INGLOT- First impressions

Hope you are all enjoying a relaxing fun filled Sunday, I know I am. 

So as promised I am going to have a quick natter about my first impressions on Inglot cosmetics, its prices and is it really worth all the hype I have been hearing about. 100% honest.
Lets get cracking! :)

Recently I took a trip down to Mahon Point on a day off, and decided to go for a 'nose' into the relatively new Inglot store. OK so, I'm guilty when I say a 'nose' because that soon quickly turned into a full blown shopping spree, I went a tad bit crazy but I don't regret it.

''Life is short...buy the god damn makeup.''


Firstly I needed to stock up on a few essentials, such as a new full coverage cream based foundation (I'm super fussy when it comes to foundations) a pigment, a matte bronzer
(for my beloved contouring) a light concealer and a blush. All five products came to an amazing
82.50euro, I wont lie I felt like hugging the girl behind the till, I was like ''REAAALLLY?''
 Considering you would go into the likes of MAC or YSL, pick up two products and it easily coming to 60/70. Inglot is definitely up there with the likes of those expensive luxurious brands, more or less the exact same quality, except way more affordable. Making it achievable for young teens, students or moms to actually treat themselves every now and then- which is great! :)

The foundation- 
'YSM' (Shade '45')
A long lasting, foundation with mattifying agents. Provides a smooth, natural looking matte finish while leaving the skin radiant and comfortably plumped up.

My first impression of this foundation; it was far from full coverage, to me it was more light to medium coverage which I was kind of disappointed. So I mixed it with my beloved Vichy 'Dermablend' and adds a gorgeous golden colour,  nice consistency really compliments my other foundations. BUT to full coverage lovers I wouldn't recommend, however for those of you\ looking for a light weight foundation that stays put and has a matte finish 'YSM' foundation
is an ideal option for you guys.

The bronzer-
Freedom system 'AMC' bronzing powder (shade '75')
A matte pressed bronzing powder with intense colour payoff thanks to the treated pigments,
mica, and an excellent talc-free formula. The addition of hydrophobic compounds ensures it is long wearing and unaffected by perspiration or other moisture. Available in Freedom System, which is also Eco-friendly and come with re-usable palettes.

fell in love with this bronzer, the perfect contour product to set your cream concealer while perfecting that 'Kim K' contour. Glides on flawlessly and so smoothly, highly pigmented, so I usually tap some product off the brush before applying, as it is super build able, always remember less is more. Also an amazing transition colour that I tend to use alot when blending out eye shadows to give a soft smokey look. I loved the palette is came with, its actual cover is magnetic so protects the bronzer so you don't have to worry about it falling and cracking up into a million pieces (the worst!) 10/10 ladies, major thumbs up!


The pigment-
Body pigment powder 'Pearl' (shade 179)
Intensely pigmented powders that provide a powerful pop of colour that is durable and won’t fall off. Product can be used alone or mixed with other shades to customise colour. The delicate, oil-free formula ensures perfect application.

Only one word for Inglot's pigments....WOWZA!So richly pigmented, besides MAC I don't really know of any other prestigious makeup line that does such a gorgeous pigment.
I usually add this shade in the middle of my eye lid to create a 'spotlight' effect or in the inner corners of my eye OR I mix some of it into my liquid highlighter for super intense highlighted skin for nights out. Worth every penny.


The cream concealer
'AMC' Cream Concealer;
uses pigments and light diffusers to provide a soft focus effect. Enriched with vitamin E and A, this concealer can be blended and sheered out to be used as foundation.

I use this cream based beauty to highlight during contouring process, apply over foundation to under eye area in 'V' shape right up to temples, down the middle of my nose (to slim) centre of forehead, right under contoured cheekbones to emphasis the contour, cupids bow and middle of chin. I'm not going to lie this concealer has a very strange texture, almost waxy, but in saying that it stays put, blends like a dream, super moisturising and does not crease when set with powder.
It has multiple uses, I like to mix it into a baby pink or brown lipstick to create a more nude shade if I'm feeling like a nude lip. It also doubles up as an eyeshadow primer which is fantastic. Other shades include a green based concealer used to conceal any redness, fab for people who suffer from rosacea or acne. Over all, an unreal product.

 Last but not least, this pretty pink sparkly blush...

The blush-
Face blush (shade 36);
Classic face blush that adds healthy colour to ones face.
Rich formula allows smooth application and build able colour.

When it comes to buying blushes for some reason I always steer towards the sparkly pink shades so I couldn't leave this behind me. Again very pigmented so less is more because you don't want to look like crusty the clown either LOL. Also a gorgeous pink shade for blending out any purple eye shadows. 

So over all, a great first impression with these Inglot goodies I picked up, high quality, richly pigmented products that stay put. Guess all the hype about Inglot was definitely worth 
my while checking out.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday fun day.
Until my next blog post..thanks for reading guys. 

Vanity Vixen x