L'Oreal Preference Glam Lights / Highlights home hair colour kit - review & pics

Before I start this I just want to say I am not a beauty blogger I'm just a mum looking for an easy way to colour my hair due to not having time to go to the hairdressers in the six weeks summer school holidays! 

Ps sorry for the no make up pics but it's bank holiday Monday. 

Ok so my roots were getting quite bad and making me feel a bit crappy so after seeing a tv advert for the L'oreal glam lights highlighting kit last night I decided to find one and do my own hair today. I used the no.2 there are a choice of 3 shades.

My hair before...

So I looked on YouTube for tutorials and watched some in many different languages to make sure I knew what I was doing then set about reading the instructions in the kit.

I donned an old tshirt, mixed the dye as per the instruction sheet & then give it a good shake and I was ready to go...

The kit comes with this clever little brush to comb in the highlights. 

So basically you are just squirting the dye onto the three parts of the brush & just combing it through to give it the highlighted effect. I probably went a bit mad combing a bit too much though but I wanted it quite blond & for my roots to blend in. 

My hair straight after application.

After 40 minutes. 

Ok so I washed it off after 40-45 minutes, it says 25-45 minutes depending on how blond you want it. 

After washing.

Then I dried and straightened it, I'm very happy with the result. It's a little brassy but I'm going to use some silver shampoo tomorrow to tone it a little (will update the blog) 

Over all I would rate this 8/10 - it's very easy to use but only loosing marks for the slightly brassy colour. 

Competition prize from Nickelodeon arrived

I recently won a competion on another blog (mum of 5 staying sane) in association with Nickelodeon! I was very excited even though the prize was for the kids but secretly nothing beats that winning feeling! 

Well it arrived this morning and if I'm honest I'd forgotten all about it but was a welcome surprise for a Thursday in the summer holidays. 

Now to divide it between 3 kids! 

Fashion Buys on a Budget - New Look and George @ Asda

I don't really know enough about fashion and trends to blog a lot about it but do enjoy buying clothes again after loosing a lot of weight.

I thought I would share this weeks buys with you. I am a size 14/16 at the moment (I used to be a size 22/24) so I dress to suit my shape and hide my mummy/loosing weight tummy.

budget is always on my mind and my favourite clothes shops are New Look and Asda! I feel like the clothes here fit me well and are great value for money plus my sister works at New Look so often get discount vouchers for 25% off from her.

I would highly recommend all of these clothes and the bag is fab!  I even went back to Asda to buy the 3/4 sleeve tunic in another design (oops) They look great with most footwear, I've been wearing boots or sandals depending on the great British weather!

Tunic Top with bird print - £12 George @ Asda
White Stripe Tunic Top - £8 George @Asda
Leggings 2 pack - £12.99 - New Look
Bag - £17.99 New Look

A little bit about our holidays...

Well we landed home early hours of Friday morning and if I'm totally honest as much as I really enjoyed myself I was looking forward to getting home.

We all had a fantastic time in Marmaris, Turkey and we enjoyed activities such as a jeep safari, water park, jet skiing and lots more. We shopped till we dropped and totally indulged in lots of yummy food and ice creams. We spent loads more money than we hoped (oops) but we had a blast and lots of happy memories made.

One thing I did notice that made me feel really good was my fitness levels, I have been going to the gym for around 4 months and before the gym I'd feel really tired on days out even after loosing the weight but I never once on holiday thought "my legs are aching" or anything like that. Made me feel great!

I didn't once think of healthy eating or diets but from yesterday I am 100% back on track and on a mission! My husband works away 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off so I am doing easy slimming world meals for 1 at the moment while he is away. I will do a blog with some ideas on next week.

First ever Proper family holiday ....

Tomorrow we embark on our first ever proper family holiday as a family of 5! 

Myself, husband, and 3 daughters age 11, 7 and 4 are very much excited and looking forward to it.

It's a week long holiday to a cheap and cheerful apartment in Marmaris, Turkey.  We booked it last minute so the last week or so getting everything ready has been manic! Especially as my husband works away so I've done everything by myself!

No one tells you when booking a last minute holiday there is so much more other stuff to sort out!! I thought holiday clothes would be the hardest thing to do. I had travel insurance, visas, booking kennels for our dog, money, clothes, shoes, making sure I had the right sun care for the kids (this was a minefield alone) printing out excessive amounts of booking forms etc, airport parking & more!! I feel like I need and deserve a holiday now. 

But never mind all that as it's finally here! I'm about to log off and go for a lovely pedicure so my feet look presentable for the holiday (nothing to do with the fact now the husband is home I would love an hour to myself) kids are so excited and the two youngest woke me up this morning by singing "it's the final countdown".

Airport parking is booked tomorrow for 10am then we will drop our bags off and plonk ourselves somewhere in the airport and RELAX until it's time to get on the plane.

Wish us luck!!

A short version of my weight loss journey...

Well 5th November 2012 I joined Slimming World, by November 2013 I had lost 6 stone. I eventually want to lose another 1-2 stone but since then I've been maintaining the loss with a few ups and downs.

My biggest challenge now is making the weight loss a life change and keeping it off forever! I have no doubt this be a challenge and it will never be easy for me as I put weight back on so easily! I had a week off at Christmas and put 6.5lb on!!

I joined the gym earlier this year and absolutely love it! I go most mornings while daughter number 3 is at nursery. she starts school in September so I can start doing more and not being tied to mornings. I never ever thought I would love going to the gym! I also do aerobics and swimming and fitness is now a huge part of my life, I am into my 4th month now and feel so much better physically and emotionally, exercise really does help me feel better mentally.

learning to love myself again is a huge thing for me, I have good and bad days but more good than bad now which is great! finding fashion again is fab and I now have a love of fashion and make up and I am making up for lost time.

its July 2014 now and I am not going to a slimming world class anymore but I weigh myself weekly on a Friday morning. I have put a few pounds on so I'm on a mission to loose it - needing to loose a few pounds doesn't bother me though as I lost about 90 in total so its nothing compared to that!!

Getting back to my Blog...

I've not blogged for ages really...

I didn't really have a direction with it, wasn't sure what to blog about. So today I decided to have a good think about what I wanted to blog about and give it a name change a (slightly) new direction and give it a go again!

what have I got to lose?

So this blog will be mainly about my weight loss journey and my gorgeous family as well as learning to love myself and live my life to the full again after loosing 6 stone.

Shelley xo