I'm Sammy and I'm Addicted to Dying my Hair

It's true. I'm a serial hair abuser! I've been quite tame with my hair dying ventures over the last year, keeping it  brown and occasionally popping in some highlights. Last month I decided I wanted to 'ombre' my hair - lightening just the ends of the hair to give the appearance of lots of root regrowth. Then I chickened out because I didn't think it would look good on my mid-length hair, I think it's better suited to longer hair.

By the time I changed my mind, I already had a bleaching kit so I thought I might as well lighten my hair and go light brown for summer. Not all went to plan, but I'm really pleased with the result. Here's the story...

This is the colour that my hair was before I started. This isn't my natural colour, there's about 5 different colours layered on here!

Get more for your money at Boots.

I know the title makes it sound like I'm just trying to get you all to go and buy your Christmas presents at Boots but I actually want to tell you how you can get loads more goodies for your money by making the most of their £5 off No7 or Ruby and Millie vouchers.

I have been in need of a new foundation for a while now so today, I decided to go into the larger Boots store in town to get one of the No7 Ladies' advice about which one would be best and which colour matches my skin because when I try and pick the right colour myself it's always wrong!

They seem to have an offer on all the time now that when you spend £5 in store, you receive a voucher for £5 off No7 or Ruby and Millie which are both Boots' own brands but great quality. I am normally very cheap when it comes to make-up purchases but I think it's important to have a good quality foundation that matches your skin tone so I have been using No7 for a few years now and I find the products last for ages.

So anyway... if you're buying a No7 product, it makes sense to spend £5 in store on something you need, or even just a treat like I did, and use the voucher to get the £5 off No7. So it's like getting £5 of stuff for free!

Here is what I bought... and the RRP of each:

Boots Styling Mousse for Curls and Waves £1

Boots Maximum Hold Hairspray £1

VO5 Volumising Blow Dry Lotion £3.29

Ring Set £2 (in the sale)

No7 Speed Dry Nail Polish in Poolside Blue £6.75

No7 Mineral Perfection Foundation £14

Total: £28.04

And I got it all for £17.04!!! Amazing considering that the two No7 products alone should cost over £20.

Here's how I did it...

I purchased the 3 hair items (which were on 3 for the price of 2) and rings for £6.29 and got a voucher.

I strolled across the store to the No7 counter and bought the foundation. With the voucher, I had to pay £9.

Then, to my delight, the girl at the till put another voucher in my hand so I popped over to pick up the nail polish and paid £1.75 for it.

I am such a huge bargain hunter and love sharing my tips with other people so I hope you've enjoyed reading about my bargains!

I've never tried Ruby and Millie products. Have any of you? They are more expensive than No7 and there was no one there to help me choose so I didn't really spend much time looking at them.

Review: Schwarzkopf Country Colours

Yesterday I died my hair using Schwarzkopf Country Colours. It's a temporary colourant that can last 'up to 8 weeks'. I used shade no. 58 - Grand Caynon which is Red. I got if from Savers and as far as I can remember it was either £1.99 or £2.99. My box looked like this...

...but I think that's old packaging and the product now looks like this...

I use a lot of hair dye and in the past, my go-to for temporary colour is Boots' own brand but they stopped doing a red shade years ago. In fact, I spent a long time looking for a semi-permanent red in all of the high street stores and the only ones I found were over £5 which is a lot to spend on a DIY colour that, on my porous hair, will only last about 3 weeks.

The Kit
The gloves are old-school - like the ones you get at the petrol station. Many dyes now come with much better fitting gloves but this wasn't a problem.
The colour was orange in the bottle but as always, that's no indicator of how it will turn out - it was just a bit off-putting.
It comes with 22.5ml of conditioner which is a lot, but unfortunately it's in a tube with no way of resealing so you either have to use what you want and throw it away or keep it for later with the risk of spilling it everywhere.

The Process

This dye has to be applied to wet hair. Not after washing - you are just supposed to wet your hair before using this dye. This was strange to me since most hair dyes I use have to be applied to dry hair.

The instructions say processing time is between 20-30 minutes depending on how intense you want the results to be. This seems a lot for a semi-permanent dye.
My hair is just longer than shoulder-length and there was more than enough of the product to cover my hair. It advises using two boxes if your hair is below the shoulder but I think you would only need two if you have very long hair.

The Result
I left it on my hair for the full 30 because, in my experience, colours need longer to take to my hair and the result is indeed very intense considering I had brown hair to start with.
My hair feels amazingly soft but it's not very shiny.

I really liked this product and it would now be my first choice for semi-permanent dye. I liked that there was plenty of product because in the past with other brands, when I had longer hair, I'd have to spread the product really thin or buy two boxes.
The range of shades available is also great, as is the price. I'll be using this one again in the future.