Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Michael Van Clarke Event

Last week I was very lucky to be invited to attended an event at the Michael Van Clarke hair salon in London, not only that but Michael himself was present and it was so amazing to meet such a brilliant man who was able to explain so many things to us in such a straightforward manner, I probably know more about haircare now than I ever did!

As we (Kimberley from Kimberleysbeautyblog) arrived, I was already impressed at how fabulous the salon looked, everything exceptionally clean and sparkling and the greeting we got from the lovely receptionist was a great start to the event. As we had arrived a little bit early, it was nice to be able to wonder wonder around the salon picking things up, smelling them, taking photos and generally being made to feel really welcome with a glass of bubbles to start things off.





As the event was quite exclusive there was just around 10 of us in attendance, so when you have the chance to question Michael as much as we wanted and his knowledge is phenomenal. The evening began with a presentation from Michael about his first venture into hair care, how products were created and a little bit of educating along the way about ingredients found within certain products - namely silicone and what it doesn't do for your hair, truly scary and after the event I went home and checked every bottle of product I have for my hair looking for the names of ingredients that had been mentioned.

What I found really interesting about the presentation was the explanation as to how the structure of your hair is, essentially 97% protein and 3% water and with that how our use of certain products work and affect out hair, namely those containing silicone - serums, sprays, shampoo, conditioners and even treatments which essentially do very little to protect or repair our hair, just improve its appearance for a short time.


Then we were introduced to the Michael Van Clarke '3 More Inches' range which includes shampoo, conditioner, treatments, hairspray, mousse, supplements, hair tools and more. Described as follows:

"3''' more inches cares and protects your hair like no other product. Born from a scientific understanding of hair and decades of couture hairdressing, the 3''' more inches range has redefined hair care in the marketplace"





As we were talked through each product which took years to work on and perfect.  It was interesting to hear that the range was created from the perspective of what professional stylists look for when working on their clients hair and what the clients themselves look for in a product.  Unsurprisingly, none of the products contain those chemical nasties which have been mentioned earlier within this review and their purpose is to ensure that your hair does not get dried out as well as prevent the structure of each strand of hair getting more damaged. This means, after long term use your hair should be the same thickness all the way down and be far healthier.

Having heard all about the products we were then lucky enough to have a one to one hair consultation with Michael which for me was a great experience. I was bursting with questions that I wanted to ask him, namely why it is that hairdressers insist on your hair being washed before they cut it when one of his own methods of hair cutting is called the Diamond Dry Cut™ which means that by cutting the hair clean and dry allows Michael to work with the hair’s natural movement and texture, interpreted with face shapes and features, to create brilliant styles with an unrivalled level of precision and balance.  So it was nice to hear that was the reason for doing this.  He then looked at my hair a little more closely...look....



A truly amazing opportunity to have and Michael look at my hair, he was brilliant at answering questions about the condition of my hair, my scalp and even advised me on what haircut I actually should have as opposed to the ones I am given and went into great detail about the 'one bob, two bob' system with layering the hair and how my hair had been cut, he even managed to guess what I had asked for and then showed me what I actually got, which was quite eerie yet fascinating at the same time.

I had a fantastic time at the event and was very lucky to be a given a fantastic goody bag which will appear in a post on its own along with my thoughts on the products I was given. In the meantime if you want to know more about the range, read more about 3 inches or even the diamond cut, then click on their website here.


 Have you tried anything from the 3 More Inches range? 
Have you ever been to the salon?

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Things I love having done!

Do you ever sit back, daydream, think wishfully that you could just pop into your local spa/hairdressing salon or even spend the day with your closest and mostest for some pampering?  I know I do.  I have gone from hating strangers touching me, fear of the hairdressers to absolutely loving being pampered, though please stay away from my feet, that is one phobia I cannot deal with.

This is a post about some of the things I absolutely love being done to me and why, honestly it isn't as rude as it sounds.  As a beauty blogger, you won't be surprised to find out what they are and why.

I have quite a busy and stressful job, at times all I want to do is sit back or indeed lay back and escape from that world and just do something for me, sadly I don't get too many opportunities to do those very often, but if I did, well this is what I would want.


Someone washing my hair for me


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One thing that I absolutely love having done whenever I go to the salon for a haircut/trim is having someone else wash my hair.  Not a chore in itself and it is something I actually don't mind doing, but it is just so relaxing when someone else does it for you and combined with a head massage, hair brushing and temple rubbing, I am almost snoring in minutes.

Having a facial


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I haven't had many in my life, well two actually but I do love having a facial.  Both times I have been lucky enough to have one, it has been totally amazing, relaxing and de-stressing not to mention that feeling of total cleanness afterwards is something I can never repeat at home.

Having a manicure

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This is something I have recently started to really really enjoy.  I had a bad experience of a manicure when I was at University and the manicurist at the time, instead of filing my nails, used scissors to cut them, slipped with the scissors and anyway... needless to say I have had a fear since. 

 Now having been to a few blogger events and met some absolutely lovely manicurists, this is something i had begun to enjoy and something I look forward to having done.

Hand and arm massage

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This is another treatment that I find really relaxing, though it has been a while since I have had it done.  It is incredibly relaxing to have something massage both your hands and your arms using many lotions and potions.  The last one I had was at a beauty event with Debenhams last year and the lovely ladies of Elemis were on hand to do this exact treatment and it was pure heaven.

Back and Shoulder massage

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This is possibly one of the best treatments ever, though again, a bad experience when I was at Uni for a spa day with my housemates terrified me.  The masseuse was so rough with massaging my shoulders that I screamed in pain for her to stop because it was utter agony and for weeks it hurt like anything to move.

Then a few years ago, I took the plunge having had chronic back-ache for weeks to go and have a massage and honestly it was the most amazing thing ever, so relaxing and de-stressing and something that almost had me in a deep sleep.  I find that with having a stressful job my shoulders are usually always quite tense and having them massaged literally cures everything for me.

So there you have, the top 5 things I love having done.  

Do you have a favourite treatment you like to have? is there anything you absolutely swear by?
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