Hair Chalks; The Scam.

I'm usually the last person to put-down a company for getting on-board with a new trend, let alone many companies at once- but all the companies who have jumped on the Hair Chalk bandwagon should be ashamed of themselves. Especially the prices they're charging for WHAT it is. Most of them will say their's is "better for your hair" etc...but the truth is, chalk is chalk, and someone just happened to discover that wetting your hair and applying a coloured chalk meant the colour stayed, for a few days at least... and brands have taken a simple idea, slapped their name on it and charged TRIPLE or even more then what it is actually worth. The only reason this outrages me so much is becasue at the moment, not everyone has a lot of money about, but they want to keep up with the latest trends- which is perfectly acceptable, especially when its a trend that is supposed to be so quick and easy! But the poor souls are being lead to believe if they buy this brand-name chalk it'll be better then artists' Dry pastels- which may i add i bought for the grand total of £3.00 for 34 differet colours.
You can even get them on ebay for 99p! But the brands claim you must buy their individual colour chalks at rediculous prices when at their core they are all the same. They very rarely actually have any added ingredients that will benefit your hair- at most some oil. But all that will do is stop the colour taking as well to your hair. With hair chalks at the end of the day all you are doing is filling the opening in the folicles of your hair, with a dampened coloured powder and sealing it in with heat. It'll wash out in 1-3 washes. Its a temporary, quick-fix "weekend fashionista" trend. Which is what makes it so popular!
You can leave work on a friday at 17:00 with plain boring hair, and by 18:00 have pink dip-dye effect or multi colour rainbow streaks which will be gone by work Monday morning! It's an accessible trend that everyone of all price-ranges can access. You just have to make sure it is the dry pastels/chalks you use and not artists oil pastels etc... the key is the powdery substance.


I just hate to see people thinking they NEED to buy the espensive brands when it's really not nessisary. I've included a list below of brand names should you want to check them out anyway. But honestly, just go to your local art shop or search Ebay for "hair chalk" or artist pastels... and you'll save yourself a small fortune.
Beauty should be accessable to everyone, not just the ones who can afford brand-names.
XxX

Fudge Urban Hair Chalk @ Superdrug (uk) £5.99 / $9.85 (US Dollars)


Hair Color Chalk (haircolorchalk.com) £9.72 / $15.99

Hot Hair Huez (hothairhuez.com) 4 Chalks for £9.09 / $14.95

Or last and very much LEAST:
L'Óreal Hair Chalk £15.00 EACH / $24.67

The "Blogger made me buy it" TAG

1) Who are your most inffluential blogers? Who are the ones you really, rely on for reviews and swatches?

I follow a lot of Blogger and Vloggers, but i usually find my inspiration from the ones with similar tastes to mine. So People like Helen Melonlady, Bunny, Beautycrush and Leanne Lim-Walker.

2) Do you buy a product solely as a reslut of a review from your favourite blogger, or do you look for more reviews from others?

I always look for more reviews, simply because if you want a fair assessment of an item you need multiple people to provide feedback and reviews as no one is the same so everyone has different opinions and expreiences, so you have to source the average review.

3) What is your favourite item that you have ever bought as a consiquence of other bloggers?

My Fluffy "teddy bear" texture jumper from New Look. I kept seeing bloggers posting OOTD or reviews of their Top Shop cropped fluffy jumpers and i knew i needed one. Ideally i wanted baby-blue one but i could never afford it! I used to just go into Top Shop and stalk it, see if it was reduced, in the sale etc...even looked on ebay and asked on selling sites. But no luck. Then i found a burgandy long fluffy jumper in New Look, nearly as soft and it was in the sale for only £12! So i didnt hesitate encase it was the only chance i had to get one! I literally wear it as much as i can get away with, wash it and re-wear it as soon as it's dry. I love it.

4) What is your Least favourite item that you've bought as a consiquence of others' blogs?

I don't actually have one. Because i no longer have a job, anything i do buy with any spare money i have is usually really well thought about before-hand so i know i'm not waisting money.

5) Name 5 Products you bought recently as a result of Blogs;

1- B Replenished facial oil from Superdrug.

2- Rimmel London Matte Lipstick in shade 103.

3- Burgandy Fluffy Jumper from New Look

4- True Match Minerals Foundation

5- Fudge hair Urban Texture Junk Wax.


6) Have you ever given into blogger hype? I so which hype?

The Beauty oil. I've seen so many bloggers reviewing facial oils and seeing how nice their skin was, as a beauty therapist i thought it was only nessisary i bought some too!

7) Have you ever avoided a blogger hype? If so which one?

I'm avoiding MAC lipsticks like the plague. Not anything against MAC at all but i lack the money to buy any, and once i start i wont stop collecting. Also there are no stores close to me AT ALL. :(

8) Is everything you buy based on blogger reviews or are there some items you buy without checking out a review?

I'm actually the one who finds new things when they're fist released and usually cheaper. So i tend to find things before they're "hyped". Like my BLEACH london hair review, or 18 months or so ago i bought a faux fur coat, now everyones wearing them! Three years ago i was hunting charity (thrift) shops for satchels now they're everywhere and expensive too! I made myself a clear Quartz Necklace from an old quartz pendant that used to be my mums, now they're everywhere, and obviously the L'Óreal skin Perection range i reviewed about a week after it was released. :)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to do this on your own blog! I'm not planning on tagging anyone.
XxX

Primark and New Look haul, plus interesting price differences between AX Paris online and in store....

First things first. I have to address my BARGAIN OF THE DAY:



This is my nude/pink and black Body con dress from AX Paris. Bought in store from New Look. Now as i said in the title, there was a very large price difference when i looked up the dress online to add a link to my blog, on the Offical AX Paris website it is Listed as £40 HERE.
While I luckily enough picked up the Dress for only £16 in the Sale in New Look. I know obviously they have completely different marketing and pricing techniques as obviously New Look buys in AX Paris stuff and sells it for them, like Quiz clothing do as well. But i would have thought that in order to reduce the price of an item from an outside label it would have to be instructed by the label's owner, and then they too would match the price, as what is stopping someone from buying the £16 one from New Look, taking off the New Look tag and taking it back to AX Paris to get a £40 refund... Or am i the only one who thinks bad people would do things like this...
ANYWAY moving on, i also bought a small bag to match from New Look, It's literally the perfect match, with a beautiful Gold chain strap, this was £12.99 brand new.
I'm so happy with this outfit when i put it on, all i need now are some shoes. Oh i should probably add it's for a friends wedding in april so i deliberetly went for similar or matching items, and the longer sleeves were just a plus for me, because as much as i like showing off my Tattoos i find my upper arms are a problem area for me and i like to hide them when there are cameras about.


Also in the New Look sale i FINALLY got my hands on a FLUFFY JUMPER>>> Not the Pale blue cropped Top Shop one I wanted, but when on a budget you have to say No sometimes. Especially at those prices. This one is just as soft, bigger and slightly baggier but i love the fit. I couldn't decide between the cream or the burgandy colour, in the end i bought the darker, simply because when i'm eating, food seems to be attracted to my breasts, and i'm less likely to stain a dark plum one.
That was £12, and i bought it in size bigger as i like to layer my jumpers and not feel too resticted. Because of how wide the neck is it looks lush with a shirt on underneath and the collar peaking through.
Final thing from New Look in the sale again were these amazing little Candy-Skull nail wraps that were only £1! Amazing! So far they've lasted 3 days with minimal chipping, and i've still done my usual day-to-day cleaning and washing up. So well worth the money!

Next are a couple of bits from Primark;
First of all these skinny, faux leather trousers. If you've followed me on previuos blogs you'll know i'm a sucker for leather but i never used to wear it as i'm a size 16 i had it drummed into my head that i was "too big". But sod it! I now own two pairs of faux leather trousers, and when i pass my bike licence i'll be in leather a hell of a lot more.

Then i saw this, and if you know me at all, even just a tad, you'll know that ANYTHING with My Little Pony on is MINE! It's like one of a few things i can remember vividly and fondly from when i was younger. When it first came into fashion and everyone was going on about "retro" My Little Pony items and i just complained, i didn't want to share my "thing" with anyone. Obviously it's not exclusivly MINE but you get what i mean. I didn't want my quirky little thing to become everyones fashion statement, but i take it all back. It's so much easier to find MLP items now!

I also own the white t-shirt they had of MLP, back in August. Next on the agenda is their MLP pyjamas! Muwahahaha!

And last but not least i had to add on this little Geisha Make up bag i bought from a charity shop, still brand new, never used had it's tags on it. And was only £1.75! So pretty and the colours are amazing.

As usual thank you all for reading my lovlies! And thank you so much for all your support so far! Already! It's been a crazy two months back on the scene!
Don't forget to add me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
XxX

Motivational Blog Post; A bit about my life/grab life by the horns/ do it now!

If you can make it to the end it'll be worth it i promice. I'm doing this long rambling because I've just finished having a brief but heavy conversation with my Husband about his goals in life, and "getting somewhere". He had a negative response for any suggestion and this has made me realise, i wish i was eliquent enough to be a motivational speaker, because i (hope) i kicked his butt with words!

Some of you may know, if you follow me on Instagram (sway1988) or on facebook (facebook.com/kimberleycreative) that i suffer from Social Anxiety, Depression and mild agrophobia, as well as a number of medical issues including a mild scoliosis, migraines, hip issues and a heart murrmur. I'll be the first to admit in the past and sometimes even now i use them as excuses to get out of "life" things. For example if i don't want to leave the house or see/speak to anyone, i'll say i have a migraine, unless of course i do actually have a migraine then it's a bit like crying wolf. I may have promised to help someone and i've said my backs playing up, to get out of it. Harsh but true. I have done these things. But now i'm older and i'm addressing these mental and physical issues i have nothing to fall back on, and it's scary, but it's been the best thing ever. I'm now doing things with my life. If your hiding behind things too, for now it may be what you need, but dont use it forever. You need to get out there and make an effort to be a human.

If you take NO as a first and final answer you're going to get no where in life. If someone tells you, you can't do something and you let them close that door on that oppertunity and you DON'T fight to get through there, you never wanted it bad enough. If that doors closed, and you really care, you'd kick the door down, climb through a window, try the back door! Anything! And this is the same with everything, if it's fighting for someone you love, your family, your house, your job...a career...ýou scrape and claw at it until you're there. No isn't an answer, it's a momentary pause before you continue. I'm a perfect example!

My dream is to own my own Tattoo parlour. People have been telling me "no" from day one! But i'm still here trying to get to my original destination. First it was my art teacher in secondary school telling me i'm not an artist, my drawings are too "precised and technical", I do "too much research"... all of which is a GOOD thing in tattooing, she said i should "never persue a career in art"... you know what i did? I done my A-levels, and went to college to study Art and illustration, and was accepted straight away from the first page of my portfolio! My tutor loved my style and thought process. But when i finished college i wanted to go straight into a job, straight into tattooing at 18/19. But i was convinced not to by some of my family and by tutors at college, as tattooing "wasnt a real job". My ass it isn't! The tattoo industry has some of the hardest working and dedicated people you'll ever know, they put hours into their work, their art, their PASSION. And i had that passion right up until this point, when they threw a bucket of water over it. "Ÿou're too pretty to be a tattooist"- Yeah, well you're too narrow minded! That passion still burned underneath.
So instead i went to university to study Computer Game Design. It was a fantastic course, don't get me wrong, but it wasnt what i wanted. It took me two years of the course to realise, and in the end i dropped out, with half a degree and up to my eyeballs in debt. It's not a good way to start an adult life. I ended up nearly homeless at one point (with my fiance) and we had to get help from family to find ourselves a place, rented, so money down the drain, and then we had to get bog-standard boring jobs that neither of us wanted, just to get by and pay bills. I ended up in a supermarket for nearly 4 years and My other half in a large computing store. I left my job last year after my depression got too bad to function, and i only realise now that i'm getting better, that it was because i wasn't DOING anything with my life... I'd do tattoo designs for people, research local tattooists that had the right style they wanted and send them there. I'd apply to be an apprentice, get told my art was great but "they're not taking anyone on" but then i'd go in a month or so later and their "mates kid" would be working there, that's obviously great for them but i'm still stuck here with a "no". I didn't have these connections. My dad isnt a tattooist, nor is my best mate, they can't take me on! It was literaly a case of "who you know" whch is tough in a smaller town. Always a "no, sorry". And it was a "no" i'd been hearing for 5 years. Which is 5 years too long. I can't change the past, if i could i'd have gone straight into tattooing after college, but it's not worked out that way. So now i'm clawing my way down a side ally, all to eventually get to my goal of owning my own shop. I'm studying beauty part time to get myself back out into the work place, doing something i enjoy, it's not a "meaningless" job like the supermarket was. I will actually progress, get somewhere, earn the money i need to pay someone to give me the further tattooing experience i crave and need, i can even combine the two (kind of) with semi-premanent make up skills etc...

I know I'm a creative person and i need an outlet, if it' sewing, drawing, designing company logos, doing peoples make up, making them feel amazing, creating blog posts! Creating things has been the only constant in my life. I'm lucky to have support from my Husband, my mum, brother and sister etc... but the only thing that can get me anywhere is me. It took me too long to realise that, and i'm still at square one, but you know what? -I've drawn myself out a new path, worked around the obsticals and i'll get there.
This long-assed post is to tell you YOU CAN DO THE SAME.

If you're told no, exhaust every avenue. If you can't decide on something, do a list, pro's and cons, narrow it down so that you have one clear choice... everyone needs a goal. If you're lucky enough to know that goal already then go for it. Do all you can to get there. Not everyone is given the opportunities they may deserve, but you can always find another way to get there. No matter how big or small your goal is, make a plan of attack and just go for it. Life's too short to put it off for too long. If you miss your bus you'll be straned somewhere you dont want to be, so if the bus has passed, call a cab; NOW! Steal a skateboard, ride a horse majestically into the sunset! Whatever you do just go for it. So when you're old, and wrinkly and accomplished, with no "what if's" and maybe a few regrets, you can pass away peacefully and look back at your life and just think "FUCK YEAH, I DID THAT"

DO IT

NOW

RIGHT THIS SECOND!

Good luck! You know you deserve it! XxX

My new Vans :)

Just a quick one to show you my amazing bargain from the Office shoes January sale!

I bought these amazing Pink and Dress-blue Vans, "old skool" style, and only £23! Also i had free postage and packaging as I spent over £50 and i bought my husband some shoes too.



I've been on the site and they are now out of stock, but you can find similar items HERE

Or, they are also on ebay in the Schuh store for £24.99 with £4.99 p+p which is HERE

The price is INSANE! The RRP is £55! So if you like them i suggest you get them now!
Unlike the regular Vans these have a padded heel so they don't need breaking in, pretty much lace up and go...and it is real suede on the shoe too. They just look so awesome!

Enjoy!
XxX