taryn k.

taryn k.

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My name is Taryn. I'm in my twenties. I come from the land down under. I'm married. I work full time. I like pretty things. My favourite food is watermelon. I hate dancing. I like to talk. I tend to contradict myself. I hate snails. I like you for reading my blog.

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12 February 2012, 4:28 PM

Scandalous Hair Care Review/Whinge

A couple posts ago I mentioned I had been doing a lot of online shopping at a particular online store I had only recently discovered - at the time I had made several purchases, but I don't think I had received any of my packages so I didn't elaborate in case it wasn't worth mentioning. Well, they've been rolling in over the past couple of weeks and I have been able to use some of the items in said packages, so a bit of a review is in order.

The site is Ozsale.com.au (invite link, hope you don't mind), an online shopping club that hosts sales for all kinds of brands, both international and Australian based. You can find products for up to 75% off, as well as enjoy free shipping on selected sales. Categories include women's, men's and children's fashion; beauty, haircare, nailcare and fragrance; wine; home decor and kitchenware; children's toys and DVDS; manchester and many, many more. I've purchased goods from quite a few of these different categories and haven't been let down yet - fingers crossed I haven't spoken to soon, I have a couple of packages on the way. Sales generally last a few days and there are MANY going on a once - one frustrating feature I found is that since each sale is essentially run by an independent brand, you can't put products in your shopping cart from more than one sale at a time. This is the site's main downfall - you can't share shipping between sales. However, I have found shipping fees to be reasonable for the purchases I've made, so it's not too bad. Another shipping drawback is that you have to wait for each sale to end before they send your package. Wait times can be a few weeks, so I wouldn't recommend purchasing anything you want in a great hurry. That said, some sales ship out super quickly, I've had both long waiting times and short waiting times. Bit of a luck of the draw.

It also needs to be mentioned that this is an Australian site, so delivery is only domestic. However, there are ozsale cousins in New Zealand and some South East Asian countries as well if you want to check those out :)

After that long winded intro...onto the hauling/review.

The first major purchase I made was Scandalous Haircare, which I understand is a diffusion line by UK brand James Brown. I went a bit crazy since everything I purchased was only $4.95. Yes. That's right. Shipping was $12.50 all up, bringing the cost of each item to $7.00 delivered. I'm can't remember what the RRP was for the products, but my educated guess is well over the $10 mark.

I ordered the Big and Beautiful Volumising Shampoo & Conditioner, the Intensively Glossy Rescue Treatment, the Red Alert Heat Protection Spray, the Luminous Shine Finishing Spray and the Fabulously Flirty Dry Shampoo.

I will preface by saying I will not be repurchasing the shampoo, conditioner or the treatment. The other products are also doubtful.

In my opinion, the best thing about these products is the scent. I love it. I'm terrible at recognising and describing scents, but I'm gonna go with vanilla and something else (sorry) and it is absolutely divine. I would probably buy a perfume of this scent. If I had a decent sized tub, I would bathe in this scent. If I ever find a candle in this scent, I WILL BUY IT. You get the picture.

Now, the shampoo and conditioner do volumise as promised. I've been quite happy with the texture of my generally fine hair since I began using them about three weeks ago. They have definitely added that necessary bit of oompf needed to use a sea-salt spray and scrunch to create beachy waves. The problem I have is not with that at all. The problem I have is that the products are packed with glitter.

I will illustrate.

Sorry if that looks a bit dodgy.

But can you see the glitter? While most of the hair products I've used in the past do have a certain sheen to them, this is entirely different. After I got out of the shower I noticed there was glitter literally all over me. At first I couldn't work out what it was, but after another wash or two, it dawned on me. I thought that perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing - surely it could only mean my hair would look more shiny. This was until my mum was cutting my hair one day and asked me if I had sprayed glitter onto my head. And face. The answer was no, I am not in the habit of spraying glitter on my face/head. The glossing treatment also has this same problem. Obviously, rather than attempting to give the hair actual shine, to actually nourish the hair, the makers of this product decided they would just have us dump glitter on our heads. Ah well. I will continue to use these products up and therefore continue to look like a giant glitterball for another week or so. Then I'll have to find something new I suppose. Or it'll be back to the trusty Tresemme.

The other three products don't seem to have the same glitter-problem. I haven't actually had a chance to develop an opinion on the dry shampoo yet as I've been trying to use up my current can first (Tresemme again, if you're interested). The finishing spray is okay, a little on the glittery side (although not too bad) and it does tend to leave my hair slightly greasier than usual the following day (which I suppose is to be expected). I haven't really got an opinion about the heat protectant spray either - it seems to be an average heat protectant, nothing fancy, nothing rubbish. I do ofter wonder if heat protectants even actually do anything, but I like to think I'm being a good girl (halo and all) by using one, so will continue to do so.

So that's me for today. Sorry this was so long winded. Congratulations if you read this entire post. Feel free to eat a cookie in celebration.

PS. This is in no way a sponsored post. After re-reading I feel like it kind of sounds like one, so I just wanted to clear that up. If you click the invite link up above however, my account will be credited a $10 voucher when you make your first purchase. Anyone can use these links and invites, so feel free to pay it forward so to speak ;)

PPS. My apologies to those of you that enjoy looking like a glitterball. If that's your thing, all power to ya. I just can't pull it off like you can ;) You should probably buy this haircare range.

Labels: Hair, Online Shopping

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14 January 2012, 2:39 PM

Brunette again...

Just a quick update since I finally remembered to take a photo of my new-old hair colour. I'll take some proper photos in the next few days, but I felt a bit silly since I was all "I'm gonna post aaall the time over the next couple of weeks" and then *silence*

About to run out and have a Saturday afternoon coffee with Joe and my friend Ruby, so all very casz. Spent the morning watching the final season of Friday Night Lights, just have a couple of episodes to go (yes, that's how awesome my Saturday night is going to be), then I'll have to find another show to move on to. Any suggestions?

Labels: Blah blah blah, Hair

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08 October 2011, 2:37 PM

Lust Have It!: September 2011

Ooh, my first Lust Have It! box arrived last week. I snuck in with my order, just in time to receive the September box, so I was very excited since I thought I'd have to wait until October for my first set of samples.

I've managed to try everything except the silver nail polish - it's not really to my taste, but would probably come in handy, so I'm happy to have it. So far, I'm quite the fan on the Lancome Doll Eyes mascara. I don't necessarily think its revolutionary, but it's one of the better mascara's I've tried. The brush has a conical shape, which I like since you can get pretty much all you lashes with the smaller end, but brush through with the larger end. The formula is quite nice, although I did notice a little smudging on my crease on Tuesday, which never happens to me, so that was a little annoying.

Even though shimmery nail polishes aren't really my thing, I've actually enjoyed this Nicole by OPI colour. Perhaps because the shimmer is very subtle, but it is there. I've tried a Nicole polish before, it's definitely inferior to OPI, formula-wise (this particular shade, anyway). It took me three coats to get this opacity, and even so it's still a little see through in bright light. It's worn well though, day three and no chips, so that's a big plus. The applied colour is also true the the bottle, so that's great too. The only thing I find frustrating is that the colour names aren't on the bottles, or listed on the product guide. I think the silver might be "Imagine If" and the purple possibly "Make A Change".

I wasn't sure about the Urban Rituelle hand cream, but it's really grown on me. I wouldn't recommend if you don't like the smell of lemongrass as it is quite strong. It doesn't leave your hands greasy, and is quite think and luxurious feeling. I'll definitely use this one up. I used the shower gel for the first time this morning - nothing overwhelmingly special, in my opinion. The scent is nice and quite subtle, not at all what I was expecting. Probably not something I would purchase (especially at $27.95 for a full size), but I'll have no problems using up the sample.

I've only used the Keratase Elixir Ultime once this week, and I was pleased with the results, but I did use it in conjunction with my regular MoroccanOil. I'll have to try it alone before I form a proper opinion on it, but it does contain Argan oil, so I imagine it will give very similar results to the MoroccanOil. The price point is very similar at $48.50 for 125mL (MoroccanOil is $52 for 100mL).

Overall, I've loved my first experience with Lust Have It! and will continue to renew my subscription for at least another few months. I've loved testing out products I probably never would've tried otherwise, and the price point fits nicely into my budget. I feel like this box was worth it for the mascara alone.

And excitingly, I received email notification from the company that my next box is already on it's way (which, by the way, I love the email notifications, gives you an idea for when to expect the package). Can't wait to see what's in my next box!

Labels: Hair, Hauls, LustHaveIt, Nail Polish, OPI

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21 September 2011, 9:53 PM

Ombre

I ombred my hair last week - and I'm absolutely loving it. This is just a quick sneak peek, I'll post shortly on how I did it (although you could just YouTube it like I did *yay YouTube*).

Labels: Hair

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05 May 2011, 3:47 PM

Product Fail: Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy

Sorry for the delay on this post - my relaxing week of holidays became more action-packed than I expected! I've been out almost all day every day this week so far. But I've had today to just potter around the house, catching up on cleaning and organising, so now I feel like I can sit down and write a blogpost and not feel guilty.

And I wish it was good news, but alas.

The 'drugstore' keratin treatment I began to tell you about last week turned out to be a massive fail. I'll start from the beginning.

I saw the Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy: Thirty Day Smoothing Treatment in my local supermarket last week and having heard a lot about keratin treatments on Youtube and on the beauty blog community, I thought it might be interesting to give it a go. I obviously wasn't expecting salon-product results since the Organix brand only cost around $25, but I thought it might be fun if nothing else.

The treatment was quite easy to use, but there were a lot of steps, so if you want to try an at home product like this, I'd suggest allowing an entire evening dedicated to grooming. The box included a pre-shampoo wash and the keratin treatment itself and the obligatory disposable plastic gloves.

You start with the pre-shampoo (duh), which works exactly like a regular clarifying shampoo, although I did find the consistency more watery than your average shampoo. You then towel dry your hair until it is about 80% dry. The keratin treatment is then applied to the damp hair lengths, then worked into the roots. You leave it on the hair for thirty minutes, then blow dry straight with a round brush. I found the blow drying step quite tedious as it takes longer than usual to dry and also because of the scent. It starts off quite pleasant, a brazil nut scent (funny that) but soon becomes quite cloying and thick. It reminded me of the type of odour fake tan leaves - not the same scent, but the same bleh-ness. After blow dying comes the straightening. You have to take 2-inch sections and straighten over and over, seven to ten times to really infuse the keratin into the hair cuticle. And you're done. Yay! However you now cannot wash your hair for 48 hours - which is usually fine, but with the product in, you feel like a complete greaseball, not to mention kinda smelly.

So my 48 hours passed and I washed out my hair, careful to use sulfate and sodium-free products (I actually used a shampoo and conditioner from the Organix range). And I saw no difference. Sure, I saw no frizz, but my hair is not usually frizzy anyway. It straightened a little easier than usual, but it dried just as wavy as always.

Like I said, I can't say I was that surprised - I hoped to be pleasantly surprised, but I didn't expect to be. I'm glad I tried it, I did find the process fun (I know, I need to get out more) and I suppose you have to try these things to see if they work in the slightest. I won't be recommending this to anyone, obviously - but at least I can say I've tried it.

Labels: Hair

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10 April 2011, 8:45 PM

AFL: Moroccan Oil

Yes. AFL. Absolutely Freakin' Loving. My new anagram and post series.

I've been using Moroccan Oil for about two months now - I'm pretty sure I blogged about it when I first got it - and honestly, it is the most amazing product I have ever used on my hair. Ever. In my life.

I bought the "MOROCCANOIL Light Treatment for blond or fine hair", since my hair is fine and at the time was a lighter shade, from a local salon for $55.00. I had considered getting it online, but found it was the same price in-store. The brand site claims this product will revive, strengthen and condition hair and lessen drying time. I wouldn't usually spend that amount of money on a hair treatment, but honestly, there was so much hype on youtube and the beauty blogosphere I thought there had to be something to it.

In case you haven't heard of Moroccanoil - just where have you been? - Moroccanoil is a brand that manufactures Argan Oil based hair products. The ingredient list for this particular product is Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Cyclomethicone, Butylphenyl, MethylPropional, Argania Spinoza Kernal Oil (Aragan Oil), Linseed (Linum Usitatissimum) Extract, Fragrance Supplement, D&C Yellow-11, D&C Red-17, Coumarin, Benzyl Benzoate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, if that means anything to you. Basically, it's not 100% Argan Oil.

I had heard that you're only supposed to use a teeny tiny amount, but I think that my version of teeny tiny and other peoples may be slightly different. I was using about a five-ten cent piece size amount of product for the first couple of weeks and not really noticing much of a result. Sure, my hair wasn't dry but I certainly didn't consider it a life-changing product.

Oh, quick mention - I have oily roots, relatively normal ends, which are prone to splitting since it's gotten so long, and it's about down to my belly button.

Then one day I poured a little bit too much into my hand, about a fifty cent piece size. I shrugged and rubbed it into my ends and mid-lengths, combed through and went to bed. Woke up in the morning and OH EM GEE. Amazing. My hair was so soft, softer than I have ever felt it, without being even slightly oily or weighed down. I had a hair cut a couple of days later and had a few inches chopped off then continued using the oil - not a split end in sight and my hair is still so, so soft.

I have found it works best when I want to straighten my hair - I've learnt to use less and apply to just the ends when I want to curl my hair. It also helps to use a mousse or curl enhancer, otherwise the hair is a little soft to hold the curl. I also tend to apply is to clean damp hair, not sopping wet, and I haven't tried it on dry hair yet, but I understand it works as a good gloss that way. I also want to try it on my hands as a kind of moisturiser, but it feels like a waste, haha.

This is definitely a product I will be purchasing over and over again - bit of a Holy Grail item. Big thumbs up from me :) One hundred per cent recommend it. I've gotten a few people onto it since my discovery, all with different hair types, and I haven't heard a single bad review.

A. F. L.

;)

Labels: AFL, Hair

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17 March 2011, 7:13 PM

Playing hairdresser

Happy Thursday everyone! Almost the weekend again, yay! My plans for the weekend consist of painting my bedroom and bathroom - then I'll only have one room to do and the house will be finished. Not particularly exciting plans, but I can't wait.

I thought I'd share with you my most recent hair-colouring episode - mostly because I'm so happy with the result. Now, my Mum is a semi-retired hair dresser and while she doesn't seem to really mind cutting my hair for me (after you beg and beg), but I feel bad asking her to colour my hair all the time because I know she doesn't like doing it. About six months ago I decided I wanted to go a lot lighter than my natural hair colour, and Mum obligingly did it for me. It look for.ev.er. Since my hair is so long it was quite a task - about two hours worth - and quite difficult. I loved the result, but hated the maintenance. As well as hating getting roots (something I've never had to worry about before), I hated having to bug Mum all the time for touch ups.

So after I think three root touch ups, I decided that was enough. And I decided to take matters into my own hands. I took myself to my local Woolworths to find an at-home colouring kit. I found this baby:

It claims to actually lighten dark hair, but I'm always quite dubious about at-home colours that claim this, since I've never found one that's worked.

I didn't actually notice that on the box until I got home - I picked it for the colour. Sadly I forgot to take a before photo - but it would've shown you a hole lotta dark roots and a kind of brassy blonde-ish brown colour.

I was a little nervous that it might make my hair even lighter since it does have lightening properties. But -

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!

I love it. It's not really much darker than it was before the colour, but it seems to be a much nicer tone, less brassy, roots completely gone. This is about a week after the initial colouring, but I wanted to see how it settled before I took photos. I would definitely recommend this product for anyone with light brown hair wanting a subtle change. Worked out incredibly well for me :)

Labels: Hair

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06 February 2011, 9:58 PM

Baby Shower and An Itty Bitty Haul

Today was finally the day of my little sister's baby shower. I played host, but since I am no master chef in the kitchen I asked my friend Amy, who has recently started up a small events catering business, to help with the food. Amy's business, Simply Delightful Events, specialises in themed dessert tables - we opted for an owl theme, pink because I'm going to have a little niece.

The food was delicious, the table setting adorable and everyone seemed to have a lovely time. For more on Amy and Simply Delightful Events, you can visit her blog and facebook page.

I also did a little bit of shopping this weekend. I got a few random bits and pieces - the most exciting of which is my very first bottle of Moroccan Oil. Yay!

I opted for the Light formula - for fine or lightly coloured hair. I'm sure you've all seen this before, it has been all the rage with beauty gurus on youtube and in the beauty blog world for a little while now. Basically you apply a small amount on clean, damp ends and lengths. I've used it once so far, and I must admit there was a noticeable different. Could it be the worth all the hype? Time will tell :)

I also picked up the Maybelline Falsies Volume express mascara. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet - I used it today at the shower and didn't really feel it was any more lengthening/thickening than, say Loreal Telescopic (the best drugstore mascara I have ever tried).

I usually prefer the plastic bristled brushes. This one is quite large and curved, different from my usual mascaras. I'll see how this goes, I didn't find it by any means bad. I also find it usually takes a week or so for a mascara to really 'break in'.

I also got shoes!

I LOVE these. Love, love, love them :) I've wanted a pair of these ankle detailed sandals all summer but could never find the perfect ones - and here they are :) The perfect tan colour, not too orange, not too pink; itty bitty heel; t-bar buckle detailing; gold hardware. What's not to love?

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend - Monday seemed to come around very quickly this week! Until next time...thanks for reading!

Labels: Hair, Hauls

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19 January 2011, 11:12 AM

Red hair

image from http://emmanygren.freshnet.se/

Labels: Hair

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28 December 2010, 9:19 AM

Conical Wand Win

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, enjoyed lots of time with family and friends. I'm still on holidays til the 4th of January (yay!), so I actually have time to blog mid-week. I got lots of goodies for Christmas - I got the SJP Covet perfume I wanted from my last post (I'm going shopping today to take advantage of the end of year sales - am hoping to pick up Burberry Brit EDP at a cut price, I'll let you know), I got Sportsgirl gift vouchers (yay!), a gorgeous vase (which I'll show you once I get a bunch of flowers to fill it), a Danny Bhoy DVD (sooo funny, I spent last night in stitches watching it), Influence by MK & A Olsen (halfway through and LOVING it), and amongst other things, a conical wand.

Since 2002 I have had a hair idol in Marion Raven, Norwegian pop (thinks she's rock) singer. She used to be in a group, M2M, with Marit Larsen. You might remember their "Don't Say You Love Me" track from the Pokemon soundtrack. They went their separate ways in 2002, both releasing solo music - Marit's I love, Marion's ... meh. But, besides a brief kinda gothic stint in 2006, Marion's hair has remained my ultimate.

This shoot in particular from the release of their 2002 album The Big Room is my most lusted for:

Marion is the brunette, Marit the blonde. I've struggled forever trying to acheive this type of curl. Actually no, first I had to grow my hair to a decent length (I haven't quite accomplished the thickness) then I struggled to create this type of curl. I've tried thick clamping tongs, smaller clamping tongs, three prong tongs, hair straighteners, hot rollers, everything! But I think I've found the answer in my brand spankin' new Remington Tribal Tong. Just to be classy, I asked for the pink crocodile skin model.

So delightfully tacky!

I used it last night for the first time. First thing I noticed is that it is SO quick - it only took me about ten minutes to curl my entire head and I was struggling at first trying to work out which way my hands and arms were meant to go so I wouldn't get burned. I imagine I'll get even quicker with some practise.

This is what I managed last night:

It's not quite the Marion curl yet, but I'm pretty damn sure this baby will be the one.

I will say that I think the tong is quite damaging, so if you do try it, make sure you use a heat protectant spray. I don't think this is one for every day use. But I must say, today being the morning after and the curl is pretty much still holding. Excellent!

Bonus OOTD:

Top from Mink Pink, skirt from Sportsgirl (circa 2006), shoes by Mongfish (circa 2007), watch from Urban Outfitters.

And I'm out - thanks for reading!

Labels: Fashion, Hair, Marion Raven, Marit Larsen, OOTD