I'm type-it-up Kind of Girl

Hi guys,

So I recently made a youtube video reviewing a pair of hair extensions from Zala, which is an ever growing Australian company. Now this was the first video I had made reviewing a product and wow did I learn my lesson! My review was roughly a 7 minute video where I talked about my personal experience with the company, and my thoughts on the product. Neither of which I honestly thought could get me sued for 'defamation'. But anyway, back to my story.

This video I made got 25,000 views within one week!!! Which I suppose is enough to make any company uncomfortable. People were listening to me!

In my review I discussed how I personally found that my clips were breaking within a few hours of receiving them, and although Zala do comply with the ACCC and the ACL, I did not want to send them back as I would rather sow my clips back onto my extensions myself as opposed to spending the time and effort to return them. But please note, they did offer to refund them, or supply me with new hair in return for the broken pieces (well thats how I interpreted the email). But I have always taken the 'DIY' approach and they can't rake deaths fingernails down my back for that. I did say I would not purchase from them again, which is my own personal choice. But in no way did I say they were ALL bad and that people should not, or that "all their clips were horrible don't buy from them". I personally found mine poor quality, and thats just me! But I was disappointed with the product and I felt it was quite unjust that I couldn't express my review on youtube simply because Zala offer refunds/exchanges that I should have accepted rather than write about my initial product. My experience could be the odd 1% of all their customers, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't express my disappointment after hearing so many positive reviews which I personally found deceptive in the end I suppose because quite a few of them are representatives, which I will mention later.

Another big issue with extensions is shedding. I did experience some hair shedding although it wasn't worth causing a ruckus over. I haven't really brushed them that often, and I found that they shed on their own; I didn't have to use a brush. But anyway, whether it's clothing from ASOS or BooHoo, or a pair of hair extensions, I usually sow it back together myself if something goes wrong, and Zala is no exception to my own personal preference. But I did like the quality of the hair itself, even though the extensions were more ashy than my actual hair colour, but I haven't found that the clips come away from my scalp, which is also a plus.

But nevertheless, I still felt the need to review them as I felt that the youtube videos present were outnumbered with videos that were sponsored by Zala, or receiving a commission when people use their specific coupon code as they were associated with them and receive a small % of money when people use them. I didn't feel as though these reviews were as real, or as authentic as someone who was unsponsored talking about their extensions because they want to share their totally unbiased thoughts. And voila! I elected myself to be that girl. I wanted to share my own experience with the company and my own feelings on the product, so I was totally outraged with I received a text from their lawyers that I was 'defaming' the company and had practically 24 hours to take it down.

Now, that's was a pretty big shock. Like wow, I could go to Sydney Civil Court over my opinion, for damaging their reputation. For talking about my own experience? How on earth? Am I living in Australia or Saudi Arabia?

Now I have re-read this piece a number of times, just to check if I have said anything false or made any wide sweeping comments. I'm not even sure if the text I received was a bit of a 'bluff', but targeting a 20 year old Uni student who doesn't even live in Sydney isn't something I believe is very honourable.. I don't even know if it's legal to retrieve my number from their files and give it to their lawyer (whilst spelling my name wrong 5 times via youtube, email, and by text combined.. Really feeling the personal customer experience touch.) without my consent. But what do I know about the law? I didn't know it was possible to end up in court for having a rant on social media - which makes me start to think that my tumblr could definitely put me in debt.

I have a voice, and will always have a voice. And I will continue to review products I didn't personally like, and I will continue to review products that I love!

They can't sue me for hating them, and they can't sue me for telling people why I hate them. This whole thing has been an absolute nightmare to me and those who support me.  I would give them 1 star out of 5 if their was a hair extension Trip Advisor equivalent.


Don't sue me,

Kira xx

(disclaimer: this is my review on the product, some factual information maybe incorrect/misunderstood so please don't quote me on anything hahaha. I am also not on a mission to damage the company, but I do want consumers to be cautious and smart consumers - which is why I want to contribute my own experience)

Garnier BB Cream - Oily to Combination Skin Review!!!

So before I talk about this product I just wanted to say that I did ALOT of research and I watched a lot of BB cream comparison videos on youtube and this one definitely caught my eye. I can only compare to one other BB cream that I have had, which I will talk about later.

FIRSTLY! I didn't want to pay a high price for a BB cream because I wanted to make this an everyday 'lazy' product to put on my face when I didn't want to put on my Estee Lauder Double wear foundation. Not to say that my double wear foundation is heavy, I just find it really dries out my skin and gets into my pores (I don't find it necessary to wear a primer underneath it because it stays very, very, well), and it at times just makes my skin feel really gross. So in a way, I feel like I shouldn't be hurting my bank account over something that I'm probably just going to wear to work or around the house!

So my skin gets very red and blotchy around my cheeks and jaw bone (see photos). My skin is really sensitive and definitely reacts to strong cleansers and face scrubs so I was really happy when this covered the redness and didn't make my skin react! I wouldn't say I have oily skin, but I definitely sweat when waitressing gets hectic which I guess summons the oil in the end hahahaha.

The other BB cream I have used was Nude's 'BB 5 in 1 Miracle cream' (you would have high expectations, am I right?!). BUT Nude was the first BB cream I had tried so I couldn't really compare it to anything, but it did have a smell and after a while I definitely began to hate it! It wasn't matte, and I felt like it was for drier skin than mine as it felt quite oily. Gainer's on the other hand is extremely matte when it dries on your face.


CAUTION! Don't use too much!!! This stuff is RUNNY. And at first glance you would probably regret your purchase but honestly - less is more. And be super careful when you tip it upside down and squeeze it because it will actually go everywhere. And trust me, I was surprised that such a thin product could give me such amazing coverage and cover all my redness and small pimples, acne scarring, you name it!

Cost - I got mine while it was discounted to $8.99 at Chemist Warehouse. Usually I think it might be around $12-15.

So overall, if you're looking for a matte BB cream LOOK NO FURTHER! This is definitely for you.

(I usually make sure I steer clear of products being tested on animals, and L'oreal claims they don't test on animals on their website.. however I know they definitely sell to China which means they would for legal purposes. So I was a little distressed buying the product and if I find a vegan alternative I love I will definitely, definitely,
write another raving review)

Kira xx

DIY Natural Home Made Hair Lightener Spray

So I've been watching literally HOURS of youtube videos about lightening hair without bleach.. I have recently gotten my hair foiled but I'm so impatient when it comes to having the hair colour I want. The only problem with that is I am really conscious of my damaged hair from being bleached previously, before coloured it brown, and now I'm back to foils again...

Then I thought I might do a DIY post about lightening hair with as little damage as possible that is super cheap!


Quick Note:

Remember everyones hair is different. I would only recommend this for medium to light brown hair, or blondes, otherwise it can turn orange! If that is the case, I would recommend using a purple shampoo/toner to remove the brassy tones. Use a 'soft' peroxide if you want to use peroxide, as it is less likely to damage or over process your hair. I would only recommend doing this maximum once a week, even if your 'potion' is really weak like mine. xx

What you will need:

Lemons/Limes (doesn't really matter which you use in my opinion),  1 cup boiling water, camomile tea (I used 1 tea bag but you can use up to 5), 1 big spoon of honey, 3% 10 volume peroxide.


Keep in mind you don't HAVE to use peroxide if you don't want to. If you want a completely all natural lightening spray you can leave peroxide out of the concoction. Instead I would use more lemons/camomile to make it extra potent, OR add some ground cinnamon as that is also meant to help lighten hair naturally.
You can also use baking soda, but I didn't because my hair is quite dry so I decided to avoid it in my potion. If you do want something more potent don't use as much boiling water.

I'm not very good with the exact measurements as the 'product' was literally a bit of just throwing a bunch of things together and voila!

But the steps I took in order were;

- Add camomile tea to the 1 cup of boiling water. I cut the tea bag open and poured the camomile herbs straight into the water.

- Add large spoon of honey (any honey is fine)

- Add lemon/lime juice. I used 2 miniature limes for mine but you can use up to 2 big lemons worth of juice.

- Stir ingredients together and strain the lemon/honey mixture into a bottle, preferably with a sprayable nozzle so you can evenly distribute the products throughout your hair at your own pace. This spray bottle MUST be dark coloured, or NOT translucent as peroxide reacts to sunlights in a way that makes it ineffective. Otherwise just make sure you keep your potion in a dark place.

- Add 3% peroxide to the potion. I filled my bottle with one-third of peroxide solution to two-thirds of my natural mixture in the bottle. You could do 50% peroxide with 50% lemon/honey mixture but it's up to you. I felt more secure because I used 1 cup of water so it was less potent regardless, even though I used 1/3 of peroxide (I was scared and cautious).

- Shake bottle lightly to make sure peroxide mixes with lemon/honey mixture and spray throughout the hair. I left the spray on my hair for about 1 and a half hours. Spraying more on my hair every 10 minutes. I used a hair dryer to make it 'process' my hair faster as heat helps open the hair cuticles. And then I had a shower and washed it out.


My results 

This stuff did make my hair lighter. I would definitely do it again in a week or so as the change was not dramatic. I didn't make my hair dry or frazzled. When I washed it out in the shower it actually felt quite nice and that might have been because of the honey.. I'm not too sure. I still used a deep conditioner afterwards because of the peroxide and acidic lemon.

I'll post before and after pictures sometime next week! I just wanted to write this all down first and I didn't have a good picture of the back of my hair before I attempted it (sorry!!!).


Kira

Erskine Falls

So the other day my boyfriend and I decided to take a small holiday/road trip to Anglesea for a few days so that the Uni holidays weren't completely wasted eating ice cream and flicking through every social media news feed I have access to. SO, on the day we decided to drive to Lorne it was somewhat cloudy and rain was predicted in the afternoon, however, due to time constraints we decided to go to Erskine Falls regardless.
Lorne is approximately a 25 minute windy drive along the great ocean road (photo is below) from Anglesea IF you don't stop the car to take photos of the view or to be sick from looking down at instagram in the car.
But when you do get to Lorne, Erskine Falls is an extra 15-20 minute drive (approximately 11 km) into the forest.

Now be warned. There is one major waterfall that is roughly around 200 metres down steps to get to, but there are two different lookout points that have views of the same waterfall from different angles/heights. The 'lower falls lookout' at the bottom (where I took the photo below) is definitely the most popular to take photos/selfies with the waterfall.

At the lower lookout point there is another sign giving you the option to keep walking (more like hike/crawl/slip/and get muddy). It doesn't say on the sign but it is 7.4 kilometres I think, but trust me, it honestly felt more like 13 kilometres. Maybe it's from crossing the stream really slowly on really slippery (mossy) rocks that protruded out of the water or getting on all fours to go under fallen trees, but it was definitely challenging and I would definitely recommend taking water or even a snack with you. It's even more fun if you have a really enthusiastic buddy to endure it with as the walk is long and I personally got to the point where I was fantasising out loud about the greasy fast food kiosk that was conveniently going to be waiting at the end of the trail (lol jokes, I wish). As it was lightly raining throughout our walk, it was probably more slippery and more life threatening - for my HTC- so I would really recommend taking a back pack and don't do what we did (brought absolutely nothing).
However, if you want to put yourself and the life of your phone on the edge theres nothing wrong with being a minimalist. And besides, drinking from the stream wasn't actually that bad; the water was clear and had no odd taste.
If you make it to the end of the trail it leads to a caravan park that is situated at the entrance of Lorne where you would have driven past (if you came from Anglesea). So I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT LEAVING YOUR CAR BACK AT THE ERSKINE FALLS ENTRANCE. I'm shouting this through the screen at you because we did, and it became a nightmare. Burning the extra calories walking another 12 km to the car wasn't worth it because it did not make my thighs look anything like Miranda Kerr's (that was another fantasy I had on the trail walk when I was losing the plot).

All in all, I would definitely do it again and I really recommend it, even as a secret spot to swim, but I would really reconsider taking a backpack, food, and water next time I decided to tackle this again.

Happy exploring, 

Kira

Introduction

Hello,

I suppose starting a blog means I should formally introduce myself to anyone who knows me, wants to maybe know me, or just the occasional wondering internet surfer who paddled too far from what they initially went on the internet for (it happens to all of us).

I wanted to start a blog because I want to share with anyone, including wondering surfers, anything and everything that I deem worthy of publishing on here. Whether it be the cute cafe I just discovered, to animal cruelty free products that I think are worth purchasing, to my angry opinions.

I have never really aspired to publish some kind of blog, well, a written one anyway. I have always leaned towards photography blogs, like tumblr. Actually now that I think about it.. no. That's a lie. I did create a 'blogspot' once and it was all about my beloved hair products. I still do love and retain an obsession with expensive hair products but I'm trying to give it up.

But anyway, my name is Kira, and I live in Melbourne, Australia. I attend Monash University, currently completing a Marketing degree, and I am enrolled at CATC to complete an Interior Design and Decoration diploma in 2015.

Hopefully I can keep this blog longer than the last one,
Best wishes

Kira xx