Can You Pull Off a Pixie Cut?

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acne, bad skin, clean, cleanse, conditioner, cut, Dermalogica Daily Conditioning Rinse, forehead, hair, hairdresser, Jennifer Hudson, Mia Farrow, Michelle Williams, oil, Pamela Anderson, pixie, sebum, short hair, spots, texture, Zendaya

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Last years’ hot hair trend was long, flowing tresses in a variety of mermaid, unicorn and dragon-like shades, taking hair maintenance to a whole new level. However, this summer, a far more low-key trend is taking hold – the Pixie Cut. Celebs from Katy Perry to Zendaya to Scarlett Johansson are getting their hair shorn and looking amazing in the process. If you’re thinking about getting the chop like your favourite celeb, read on for our ultimate guide to pixie cuts:

Will It Suit Me?

This is one of those tricky questions that is very hard to answer until after you’ve taken the plunge, but there are places online to try new hairstyles by uploading a current photo of yourself so it might be worth giving that a go if you’re unsure. Generally speaking, very short hair needs a good bone structure to support the look, so people with very round faces should probably avoid it. Many people who suffer with acne or bad skin tend to hide behind their hair, so if you feel naked without hair around your face then this might not be the cut for you. However, there’s some evidence to suggest that the oil and daily dirt from hair could exacerbate spots on the forehead, so cutting it back might actually help.

What Type of Cut Should I Go For?

The pixie cut has really evolved since the days of Mia Farrow’s super short, boyish cut and there are several variations on the traditional style to suit a range of tastes. Lots of people are keeping it longer on top but super short at the sides, or having a swept-over look at the front, which allows you to be more versatile with how the style looks.

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Is It Really Low Maintenance?

Having short hair might seem like the easy option, and with SOME styles it is, but actually you might find that short hair takes more styling than longer hair, which can be chucked into a ponytail or braid on days when you can’t be bothered. Unless you go for a total crop, most short hairstyles require some element of styling and although the results are worth it and usually look fantastic, if you’re not a person who has time in the mornings you might want to think on it for a bit longer! Also, short hair needs to be kept…short! You’ll need to be prepared to trim your hair more regularly than if it’s long because pixie cuts grow out really easily.

Hair in Bad Condition?

If your hair is damaged from years of heat styling, over-bleaching and neglect then a pixie cut could actually be a really stylish way to take things back to zero, cutting away all of the damaged hair and letting your hair grow back fresh and new. Once you’ve had the cut, take care of your hair with Dermalogica Daily Conditioning Rinse for protection from heat and increased moisture.

Is There Anything Else I Need to Know?

If you don’t have a regular stylist, make sure you choose someone with plenty of experience in pixie cuts because they can be one of the harder looks to achieve and take a lot of skill. If you have a regular hairdresser, they’re probably a really good person to chat to before going for it because they’ll be able to give you a professional opinion on your hair texture and whether the cut will suit you or not. Ask them to be brutally honest with you!

Grow your own this summer

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basis, bikes, chillies, chutneys, clean, climbing frames, compotes, Coriander, creating, crush, English, fast-growing, garden, garden centre, grapes, greenhouse, growing, grown, ingredients, jams, jellies, kitchen, labour of your love, lemons, little bit of green, local, mini orchard, mint, mix, parsley, peas, peonies, pick, plethora, potatoes, pots, proud, season, seeds, sills, soil, space, start, sunny ledge, supermarket, take away, tomatoes, trees, urban, ventilation, waiting, weather, window, window sills, work well

There’s nothing more rewarding, or tasty, as eating your own home-grown fruit and vegetables, and the good news is that right now is the best time to start growing your own!

With a plethora of crops that can be grown from seeds, there’s bound to be something you can grow however big or small your garden is, or even if you have no garden at all.

No Garden
If you are an urban dweller and don’t have a garden, we’re pretty sure you have window sills and where better to grow herbs and veg than on a sunny ledge? A quick trip to your local garden centre, or even supermarket, can get you set up with all you need to create a crop whatever you are working with.

Baby salad leaves are perfect for growing in small pots and tin troughs and because they are fast-growing you will soon get foliage and kitchen ingredients. Mint, parsley and coriander all work well as window plants and if the sun shines on you sills, basil is a winner too.

Small Gardens
Small gardens are the perfect place for creating an eclectic mix of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Choose a mix of crops that you actually want to eat, say strawberries, tomatoes and peas and complement these with sunflowers and pansies for impressive results.

If you have a courtyard or patio to work with, look no further than bags, pots and sacks to create a crop of potatoes, peas and peonies to be proud of. Again, you can add herbs into the mix and if you do decide to plant spuds, this reduces the risk of pesky slug invasions.

Large Gardens
If you are the owner of a bigger garden this will give you greater growing space and more opportunities to be creative and work big. Think about the space and the kind of garden you want to create. Are you looking for structure and fine detail or do you have children and therefore need flexibility as climbing frames and bikes come into the equation? Plan out your garden into various areas, look at where you get the most sun, where there are shady areas and consider the soil type as this can influence what you grow. Trees can be a lovely part of any garden and if you have the space, you can look at creating a mini orchard. Apple, pear and plum trees are all pretty easy to grow and maintain and the labour of your love will be compotes, chutney, jellies and jams all year round.

To take away the English weather’s ability to crush your crops, when you have a large space you can incorporate a greenhouse. These are perfect for growing things such as chillies and tomatoes as well as grapes and lemons but always ensure the greenhouse is clean at the start of the season and there is adequate ventilation otherwise things might not go quite to plan.

So, what are you waiting for? Pick your pots, sort your soil and get growing.

Team Pure Beauty

Get your clothes clean, whatever you throw at them

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14, 4, 4 months, 40, absorb, bleach, blood, blot, blotting, boiling water, bright red stain, brush, calm, chemicals, chocolate, clean, cloth, clothes, clothing, coffee, cold water, cool, create, dab, deodorant, distilled white vinegar, dry, excess, foundation, freeze, friend, grass, hairspray, kitchen paper, lifts, lipstick, liquid, litre, machine wash, make-up, material, melt, mild hand soap, mix, mud, nightmare, normal, nude tights, pain, paste, pink, products, Red wine, rinsing, salt, soak, stain, stained, sunshine, sweat, sweaty garments, teaspoon, texture, throw, tissue paper, wash, washing up liquid, water, wax, white shirt

Whether you are 4 months, 14 or 40, it is inevitable that your clothes will get stained and the worry will be it won’t come out in the wash.

Yes, you can go for bleach or products loaded with chemicals, but we are here to save the day when it comes to looking after your laundry the kinder way.

Blood – don’t freak out! Once you have dealt with the patient, soak the stained clothing in cold water before gently rubbing with mild hand soap before rinsing with cold water.

Chocolate – run the stain under cold water then rub with washing up liquid. Soak in cold water for 15 minutes then wash as normal and you will never know it had been there.

Coffee – rather than rubbing this stain, blot with a kitchen paper, then dab the area with distilled white vinegar before washing as normal.

Deodorant marks can be a nightmare but rub the stain with a pair of nude tights and the texture of the material will work wonders and leave nothing behind.

Grass – create a paste from your usual washing powder and a little water and dab onto the stain. Let it texture of the material for 15 minutes then put through a normal wash.

Ink – blotting the ink to remove any excess liquid is the first task here, then cover the stain with hairspray and then immediately put through the washing machine as normal.

Foundation can be a real pain when you see if on a white shirt, but rub a little washing-up liquid into the stain then wash on a hot cycle and you will never know any make-up had been worn.

Ketchup – dab the bright red stain with a clean cloth then cover with washing-up liquid followed by distilled white vinegar. Soak the item in cold water for half an hour, then dry, ideally in the sunshine, and wash as normal.

Lipstick- your friend for this stain is hairspray. Spray generously onto the stain and leave for 15 minutes. Go back and blot the area with a clean cloth soaked in warm water, then put in the wash as normal….and be more careful next time!

Mud needs to dry before you can brush it off. Soak the piece of clothing in cool water with half a teaspoon of washing-up liquid and a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar.

Oil is best dealt with by keeping calm and rubbing with a mix of washing-up liquid and water. Then simply rinse in cool water and machine washing as normal.

Red wine – no need to throw that shirt away, simply cover the stain in salt and brush away after ten minutes and pink. Then pour boiling water onto the stain, carefully of course, and allow to sit until the stain lifts.

Sweat – add four large tablespoons of salt into a litre of cold water and soak the sweaty garments for 30 minutes. Rinse and leave to dry before then putting through cool machine wash.

The best way to deal with wax is to freeze the clothing to harden the wax, then scrape it away with a teaspoon. You can then cover the affected area with tissue paper and iron it to melt the remaining wax on to the tissue and wash on a cool setting.

Got any great ideas, let us know, we are all ears.

Team Pure Beauty

The Best Revenge is Perfect Skin

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botanical, break-up, buff, cell renewal, chamomile, clean, clove, crying, de-stress, detox, Elemis Absolute Eye Mask, Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak, Elemis Body Detox Skin Brush, Elemis De-Stress Massage Oil, Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Night Cream, engorged, essential oils, exfoliate, geranium, juniper, lavender, marjoram, massage, melissa, moisture, moisturise, muscle, natural, night cream, oil, oils, organic, puffiness, puffy, rosemary, rosewood, senses, soak, soothe, soothing, stress, thyme, yes

Image Source: http://bit.ly/2n3ZFzv (CC0 Licence)

A break-up, especially if it’s a bad one, can wreak havoc on your health and appearance – time spent crying into a pillow, eating comfort food and re-watching Bridget Jones’ Diary is never good for your complexion. However, everyone knows that the best way to get over a break-up is to move on, looking FAB-U-LOUS whilst doing so, so we thought we’d take a look at some products which will help you to go from sad-sack to bounce-back in no time at all.

Elemis Absolute Eye Mask

When you spend a lot of time crying, the tissue around the eyes ends up literally engorged with extra moisture, leaving your eyes looking puffy and red, so you’re going to want to use something to take that puffiness away. Elemis Absolute Eye Mask is applied around the eye contour and removed after ten minutes, during which time it hydrates, nourishes and revitalises the delicate eye area, banishing swelling and redness for good.

Elemis Aching Muscle Super Soak

Let’s face it, spending hours and hours crying and feeling upset can be utterly exhausting and by the time the tears have passed, you often feel like you’ve run a marathon. Treating your body to a revitalising soak in a botanical bath is a must, and this muscle soak from Elemis is the perfect product. It contains rosemary, juniper, thyme and clove to soothe the muscles, stimulate circulation and lift your mood.

Elemis Body Detox Skin Brush

Giving your body a thorough exfoliation is a brilliant way to feel fresh and new, as well as helping to slough away dead skin cells and reveal the new cells beneath. This brush from Elemis is designed to disperse cellulite, buff the skin, stimulate circulation and new cell growth and just generally help you to scrub your way to glowing skin.

Elemis Dynamic Resurfacing Night Cream

Sleep is an excellent tool against dull, ageing skin and bolstering your defenses is always a good thing. Using this night cream from Elemis will actively resurface your skin while you sleep by stimulating the skin’s cell renewal, uncovering younger looking skin and ridding your face of lines and imperfections.

Elemis De-Stress Massage Oil

Massage is the ultimate way to relax and this oil from Elemis has been specially designed to help to melt away your stress. A combination of rosewood, melissa, marjoram, geranium, rosemary, lavender and chamomile form a unique blend which will unknot tight muscles, deeply moisturise the skin and soothe your senses, leaving you feeling more relaxed and ready to move on with your life.

Skincare for Tattoos

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art, clean, dermalogica, Dermalogica Close Shave Oil, Dermalogica Post Shave Balm, Dermalogica Protection 50 Sport SPF50, Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel, Dermalogica Ultra Rich Body Cream, ink, moisturised, skin, sun protection, tattoo

Go back just 20 years and tattoos were not quite so mainstream, but here in 2016 it seems like everyone and their Nan is getting inked (seriously, we aren’t kidding about the Nan thing…last year almost 10% of over sixties were the proud bearers of tattoos and the number is expected to rise!). No longer are tattoos confined to the likes of sailors, footballers and ‘alternative’ types, which means that the stigma of body art is finally wearing away and we thought we’d put together some tips for how to care for tattooed skin.

Shave

Before you get tattooed, unless it’s on an area like the palm of your hand where hair never grows, there’s a good chance that your artist will shave the area. This is usually done dry, with a disposable razor, and doesn’t always make for the most comfortable experience! If you know where you’re being inked, shave before you go using Dermalogica Close Shave Oil to properly protect the skin, as well as Dermalogica Post Shave Balm to condition the skin. DON’T be tempted to wax as this can leave the skin broken and any tattooist worth their salt won’t put a needle on broken skin.

Keep it Clean

Directly after you’ve been inked and you’ve removed the dressing that your artist applies, it’s really important to clean the tattoo, which is effectively a big, open wound and is highly susceptible to infection. Use a really mild wash like Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel, which is gentle and soap-free, is important for keeping it clean but make sure you pat it thoroughly dry with a clean, soft towel after washing.

Moisturise

There’s nothing that makes a tattoo look duller than dry skin, so using a rich, thick body cream on your skin will help to keep them vibrant and defined. Dermalogica Ultra Rich Body Cream is the perfect product for inked skin as it deeply moisturises and nourishes the skin without feeling oily and is even suitable for sensitised skin.

Protect

Over-exposure to the sun will literally murder a tattoo as the harmful UV rays can basically dissolve the inks in your skin, so covering yourself in a high factor SPF such as Dermalogica Protection 50 Sport SPF50 is essential. It’s important for another reason too – highly tattooed skin can effectively mask the early signs of skin cancer such as ragged edges or colour changing of moles, which means that you need to stay even more alert.