A Meal With A Friend - Outfit, Face And Hair With A Review Of The Remington Ci8319 Keratin Therapy Pro Curl Volume Hair Tong *

My birthday is long gone now but my week of having a social life culminated is several days and evenings out, and on one of those occasions I managed to persuade Mummy Lou to take a few outfit pictures.

It was just something simple and a little bit dressy for a meal out with one of my best friends (read about the meal here). Alas in most of the pictures I appeared to be gurning or pulling faces - I really need to work on my posing lol but I'm putting them up anyway all be it with a bit of coverage on some of them :)

What I Wore

Indigo Skinny Jeans - George At Asda

Navy Blue Lace Peplum Top -  La Redoute

Tan Asymmetric Faux Leather Biker Jacket - La Redoute 

Gold Tone, Bead And Crystal Navy Blue Cord Necklace - Opia At Primark

Tan Sandals - AX Paris

Navy Blue Faux Suede Bow Detail Chain Strap Bag - Primark

On reflection, I wasn't that happy with the outfit, the peplum top does nothing for my shape and the dual fabric (the back is plain the front has a lace overlay) makes my look a lot bigger on the sides and hips than I world have liked. I love the lace detail tho and I have a dress in the same fabric also from La Redoute (below) that I love and that I feel a lot more confident in than I did in this. 

The jacket was a bit of an after thought but it was forecast for rain and I love the combination of navy and tan, and it went with my new favourite sandals which are from AX Paris

For make up I went for something really, really simple, I can't remember 100% what I wore but there was a bit of Mally, a bit of elf, a bit of Avon, a touch of Chanel and quite a bit of Benefit from what I remember x

The hair on the other hand was something a bit different for me. For as long as I've had hair it's been naturally straight. Due to illness and medication though my naturally straight hair has transformed into a mixture of curls, waves, and on bad days rats tails. I'm trying to embrace the curl a little bit more so I had a little play.

Fabulous beachy waves :) - you can really tell the difference when you compare the last two outfit pictures - sleek and straight to wavy and curly. I'm a bit obsessed with electrical and beauty and hair tools, so I had lots of options to choose from when it came to creating my curls and waves. What I decided to use in the end was this

Quite a while ago now I received a huge box full of Remington styling tools, and one of the products I received was the Remington Ci8319 Keratin Therapy Pro Curl Volume Hair Tong.

As you know I loved the straighteners from this range (see my post here) so it isn't surprising that I love these tongs too

Spot The Mistake - Ha Ha xx

The design itself isn't that different from any other tongs out there, they have a 19mm barrel and are in  in the traditional clamp style. They have a cool touch tip, and the clamp is also rubberised for easy,
and safe curling. The tongs also feature a long length, swivel cord, a 60 minute auto shut off,

and they come with their own heat protective pouch.

So yeah there not that different to the majority of tongs on the market in a lot of respects, where they so differ though is on the surface of the tongs. Like the straighteners they are ceramic infused with keratin proteins that are released during use, to care for and protect the hair whilst you curl. They are really easy to operate and feature just 3 buttons - an single on / off switch and both a + and a - button to control the temperature.

I love the fact that you can vary the temperature of these tongs. They feature a digital display and you can choose from 5 temperature settings between 130 and 210 degrees depending on the type of curl you want and your hair type and thickness.

I'm not amazing with tongs but these are pretty easy to use, I've tended to use them on the 190 setting, and whilst you don't need to I've used them with a heat protection spray, I've then just sectioned my hair, and starting either from the root or half way down the strands, I've just wrapped my hair around the tongs, clamped them down and waited for around 20 seconds or so depending on the strength of the curl I've wanted, and voila, tight curls or beachy waves.

I'm still a straightener lover but these might just have converted me to take a step over to the curly side. They do what they promise and I've noticed no issues with my hair after using them. There are cheaper tongs on the market but these are some of the best that I've used, they are light but substantial and I love the variable temperature setting x The Remington Ci8319 Keratin Therapy Pro Curl Volume Hair Tong retails at around £29.99 from most major retailers x

I hope you've enjoyed this little fashion and hair posts - I'm definitely going to have to work on the posing and do a bit less gurning but I enjoyed it and I'm definitely going to do more x Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please leave me a comment x

*Press Sample

Remington Wet 2 Straight Review

Like many other bloggers I was recently sent a pair of the Remington Wet 2 Straight hair irons to try, so If you have had enough of reading reviews on these I suggest you look away now (I've always wanted to say this like when they show the football results on the tv lol.)

I was super excited to try these as my and my bestie had been discussing the possible merits and pitfalls about this product since it first launched. The idea in theory sounds fabulous a set of hair straighteners which you can use on wet hair to dry as you straighten, and on dry hair as a normal straightening iron. I must admit I have real problems blow drying my own hair due to CFS related pains and thick hair so I was hoping that these would be a good solution (I normally dry my hair naturally and then straighten it)

I have to admit before I start the review that I am a GHD addict I am on my second pair and I love them, other straighteners I have used in the past just dont compare and have usually ended up in the charity bag so I was interested to see how these performed in comparison.

Design and Features
They are an ergonomically designed straightner with a slight curve to fit in the hand and to the scalp more easily. They also have longer and slightly thinner ceramic plates than my GHD's.

Unlike GHD's they also have an adjustable temperature control which is something I like this means you can adjust the temperature of the stylers depending on your hair thickness or type, e.g. higher temperatures for thicker hair etc. Like GHD's they also have dual voltage which means you can use them throughout Europe too.

The big difference though with the Remington Wet To Straights though is that they can be used on wet (realistically though damp hair) and dry hair. The straighteners features an easy 4 button control panel and an LCD display and you can easily switch between wet and dry at the touch of a button. The top set of plates feature a set of steam vents (in my pic they are upside down). According to Remington these vents draw the water away from your hair and create steam which helps the condition of the hair.

These straightners also come with a heat proof silver pouch which is very handy because they can get very hot!!


The Test - Wet Hair
Before

As I said before wet to straight is probably a bit misleading - the straightners must be used on damp, towel dried hair, that has been combed through and sectionned out. I put the straightners on the wet mode and put it up to the highest heat setting of 230 degrees as recommended - obviously they take a little bit longer to heat up the higher the tempertaure you set them at but it still wasn't any more than a few minutes and they let you know with an indicator beep. I am in no doubt that these do indeed straighten and dry very well but I do have a few issues. First of all the biggie are they damaging the condition of you hair? Remington claim not - the production of the steam and the frizz resistant conditioners built into the plates prevent damage and actually aid the conditioning process -I have no reason not to believe this my hair certainly didn't feel any drier although I will say that I found the sizzling noise quite off putting!. Perhaps my biggest problem with wet to straight when used in wet mode was that it was incredibly difficult to get close enough to the scalp to dry the roots -the straighteners got very hot and it was very hard to hold them in a way to get to the roots without burning my fingers, and I found the same with my fringe. I also found it quite time consuming to dry all of my hair especially the underneath section -it seemed to take quite a while and you kept having to go over sections to make sure they were completely dry. Having said that it was for me personally easier than blow drying my own hair and I have to say I was quite pleased with the results - my hair was pretty straight, dry and not frizzy at all, and this seemed to last till the next morning
After


The Test - Dry Hair
Before

The is the most familiar way to most of us of using hair straighteners - as I say I normally leave my hair to dry naturally and then straighten it when it's dry. As you can see naturally it's quite wavy, I sometimes leave it but more often than not I wear it straight. All you do with these is set the straightener to the dry setting with the touch of a button and adjust the temperature accordingly (I set it to about 190-200 degrees which is the GHD temperature). As before I applied a heat protector spray all over my hair sectionned it out and started straightening. The straighteners were pretty effective although I did find I had to go over certain sections a few times to achieve maximum straightness. Again though I found them a little hot to hold at times and again it was quite hard to straighten my fringe due to the design and shape of the irons. I was pretty pleased with the finish that they gave my hair but Remington claim that your hair should be left without frizz for up to 8 hours - I don't actually believe this -although all hair types are different, weather conditions can vary and so on mine only stayed really frizz free for a couple of hours or so
After

What Do I Think
Well as I said I'd always been interested in trying these straighteners- anything that can make my life easier I'm all for! I have to say on the whole I was quite impressed they did what they promised all be it with a few issues that I have mentionned. I do query a few of Remington's claims about this product though. I don't particulary understand the concept of how they protect the hair rather than damaging it maybe that is something you would only see over time, I also don't quite believe they banish frizz for up to 8 hours it certainly didn't in my case. I also don't think this product would be suitable for anyone with any thicker or longer hair than mine, I think the drying process would just take to long to complete. Would I buy this erm if I had GHD's already probably not I personally get just as good a result from drying my hair naturally and straightening it afterwards but if I wanted a set of straighteners and I didn't want to spend GHD money - yeah I think they are worth a try especially with the added drying feature. I get the impression that these are like Marmite a love / hate product -this is just my opinion and what I thought about them after a few weeks of use yours may be very different.

Where Can I Get Them
The Remington Style Therapy Wet 2 Straight Slim Straighteners RRP is £79.99 but there are loads of special offers around at the moment where you can get them for up to half price. You can get them from all good electrical retailers including Boots, Superdrug, and Argos

If you have any queries or questions please don't hesitate to ask me or check out Remington's own site for more information :)