First Impressions | Creme of Nature Flexible Styling Snot*

*This post contains gifted items, all views/opinions/experiences expressed within the post are all my own.

I asked my Instagram via poll if they'd like me to review my bunch of PR hair or skincare products and the majority voted hair. They asked, so they shall receive!

I'm starting off with the Creme of Nature Flexible Styling Snot.

On the packaging, it claims to 'Control Edges, Smooth Hair, Tame Frizz, Provide Exotic Shine, Hold Twist Outs and Updos and Hold Flake-Free'. It also says it is formulated without 'Alcohol, Sulfates, Silicone, Mineral Oil and Petrolatum.'

It's describe as a 'maximum hold gel' and that it's 'putty like texture' will hold hairstyles in place all day.

The directions were pretty simple:

Apply to wet or dry hair. Work desired amount through hair to style.

With a styling tip: 

Apply to edges and smooth with fingertips, small toothbrush or brush for desired look and hold.

My first impressions when applying it to my edges were, it holds very well, smells great and smooths hair nicely.

I took it a step further and continued to style my hair in flat twists just to see how the snot would react with being played with. I noticed a bit of flaking as the snot was drying nothing major but enough to be annoying.

I also noticed that my edges were rock hard by the time I had started styling the other side of my hair.

I'm someone that doesn't like my hair being rock hard when styled with gels mainly because of the aftermath and not being able to restyle my hair because of flaking or 'stiffness'.

The snot is quite sticky, I had to keep washing my hands to style my hair but that is a personal thing. I felt that that keeping my hands clean as I styled made it easier for me. I'm not sure if an yone else that has used the styling snot felt the same?

I kept the style for about 3 days and my edges didn't need re-styling at all, they were 'rock hard' in place, which to some would be a blessing, I loved it at first but washing it out was difficult.

My hair felt very dehydrated and needed serious deep conditioning. I'm not sure if it was because I kept the style in for 3 days.

The toughest part of the the entire application was washing it out, my hair felt like it needed 'soaking' before being conditioned or shampooed. This in itself was a major turn off for future use, I do need to use it more to figure whether having it inyour hair for less time impacts on this.

Overall, if you're looking for something that will guarentee a fast and strong hold, the Styling Snot is for you, I'd recommend it. However, be wary of keeping it in your hair for long periods of time as I found it very difficult to wash out but definitely feel free to style your hair in small areas and see how you get on with it.

Have you tried Creme of Nature's Flexible Styling Snot? What were your thoughts on it, is it a holy grail product for you? Let me know!

Take care, Jess x

Daroko | The Power Styler*

The Power Styler Daroko (£12)*

Hey everyone,

I was recently contacted by Daroko to try out and review 'The Power Styler'.

I'm really excited to get cracking with the post but first I wanted to give you guys some background info on these amazing things.

I'm someone that has to blow dry my hair and then straighten it afterwards which is painfully long.
I have quite thick surface hair so it takes me forever to get through my whole head.

'The Power Styler' allows you to turn your hairdryer into a hairdryer/straightener combo.
It consists of two ceramic-coated plates and all you have to do is attach it the straight-edged hairdryer nozzle.
Being able to blow dry and straighten your hair simultaneously saves you so much time.

Some are the benefits are that you see instant results, your hair is left silky and smooth because of the specially designed waves on 'The Power Styler'.
Also, it's suitable for frizzy, curly, straight, thick or thin, short and long hair.
(I really put this to the test!)

I texturise my hair so it's a bit more manageable however applying double heat sometimes damages my hair so being able to do both at the same time will help a lot.

How it works is you slide the plates onto the straight-edged hairdryer nozzle and blow dry as normal.
It's helpful to use a round brush to guide the 'The Power Styler' down the hair. The hot air travels through the hairdryer and heats the ceramic plates so it straightens your hair without you having to whip out the straighteners.

Below are my before and after results!

Before (just been washed)

After (blow dried with The Power Styler)

I'm not sure if I love the results, my hair isn't completely straight but it's straighter than it would be if I had just blow dried it. My hair looks so healthy and I didn't even need to go to the hairdressers' (not that I ever do!) I love how shiny my hair is.
I can't believe that I need to switch on my straighteners at all.
Overall it took me around 20-25  mins to blow dry my hair when usually takes me 20 mins to blow dry and 25-35mins to straighten my hair, depending on whether it has been texturised or it's going through a regrowth.
I'm extremely happy that it took me that short period of time and one piece of equipment to achieve semi straight hair. However, if I wanted completely straight hair, it would've take me around 10-15 mins more.
I'll definitely keep using it, it makes my life so much easier. I'm trying to embrace my natural hair more and this lets me without damaging my hair,

I'd really recommend 'The Power Styler' to any that wants straight hair and has to blow dry and straighten their hair. However, if you have really thick hair like mine, you may struggle a little bit.
My hair was a true test on how they can work on any type of hair. I have thick, curly hair and managed to achieve semi straight hair in under 30mins.

It's great for those that have to take straighteners on holiday, it's compact and powerful.
I'd love to buy some for Christmas, as presents or give one away here on my blog!

What do you guys think? They're £12 over on Daroko which is a great price for something that does a great job, they're cheaper than most hair straighteners that don't even produce these type of results on my hair. My Remington straighteners are great on my hair but also cause a lot of damage and the results don't last long.

I'd love to know if you guys will try it out or like the idea? I bet those that hate blow drying and straightening are in awe right now haha!

You can follow The Power Styler on Twitter and on Facebook.

Thanks for reading,

Jesslyn


*Sample, sent for review.

Don't forget to follow my other social networks and visit my store, frequent updates and I'm up for a chat anytime!

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Email : fashionsquash96@gmail.com

Simple Summer Hair

Hi my lovelies!

As some of you may have noticed, I've done a couple of posts with my new hair but you may have missed them. 

If you haven't seen my new hairstyle then ta dah!

I had vibrant red, curly hair before this hair so it was quite a change!

The hair is long and black, I get bored of it and I get hot quite quickly because there's heavy hair sitting on my neck and back.

As its Summer,  I thought it would be a great opportunity to play around with my hair and wear hairstyles that were more summer friendly. 

I headed over to Pinterest to find Inspiration and wow, I was in love!

I found a lovely braided hairstyle and I really wanted to try it out but I couldn't help but think "how am I going to do a braid in my weave?"

So I did some experiments,  weave experiments and finally figured it out!

After figuring it out and getting so many compliments,  I knew I had to share it on the blog!

Here's the tutorial for you guys!

I start off by detangling my hair and making sure my leave out and the area I will be plaiting is moisturised. I use my Hask Argan Oil to do the job. 

1. If you have a leave out (for my weave girls!) make sure you start plaiting where the tracks sit so the plait covers the tracks. If you don't have weave, you're all good to go.

2. Plait all the way down to your nape and make sure the plait is nice and secure so it doesn't unravel when you do step 3!

3. When you've finished plaiting, hold the plait and section off some hair on the other side and tie the rest up.

4. Do the same method on the other side, I have an L-Part so one plait is going to come more forward.

5. You can take the hairband off (that used in step 3) and hold everything very tight and tie the hair. (Which is what I did!) Or you can tie another one on top if you feel like the plait will unravel.

6. This is what the back would look like after plaiting both sides and securing it.

This part is optional, I wanted the hair to be a bit more wavy so I curled my ponytail and brushed it out!

This also gave it more body!

Another optional thing to do is to slick your edges, I did it lightly because I didn't want to put too much product in my hair.

So this is the finished look!

Hope you guys found the tutorial easy to follow, let me know if there's any other hairstyles you'd want me to try, I'd love to experiment with different types of plaits! Just let me know!

Thanks for reading guys!

Jesslyn 

Don't forget to follow my other social networks and visit my store, frequent updates and I'm up for a chat anytime!

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Email : fashionsquash96@gmail.com

NEW HAIR | Ombre Bob

As promised a post about new hair!

Well hello there, you're all probably used to seeing my hair up in a bun but it was time for a change! I knew I wanted to do another bob but I wasn't sure if I wanted to stick to the same old black bob.

So I took several trips to the hair shop to try and figure out exactly what I wanted.

I finally decided on a blonde-y light brown (colour 30 in weave terms haha) ombre-weave-bob. There's colour 30 in the back and then colour 1B/30 from the middle towards the front. I also have a L-part leave out!

I wanted it to be slightly shorter than my previous bob so it is a little bit shorter at the back, got some breeze hitting the neck. It's a bit of a messy bob too, I didn't want a neat one like my previous bob.

When styling it, I do curls going different ways just to give it that messy look! I may do a hair tutorial in the future!

What do you guys think about my new hair? You like?

Haha thanks for reading,

Jesslyn x

How I Care For Texturised Hair

Hey guys,

I don't usually do hair posts because I don't do much in terms of styling. However, when it comes to maintaining and looking after my hair, I do a lot. Quite a few people have asked me what I do to my hair or if it's real so I'm gonna give you guys the lowdown on my hair. Start to Finish!

In these pictures my is hair is two weeks post, I texturised it after taking out my weave I had in for a month. I straightened my hair three days before taking these pictures. When straightening my hair, I focus on the roots because that's new growth and not the ends as they are literally straight already. Applying too much heat to the ends will increase breakage and split ends.

First, I'm going to talk you through how I moisturise my hair because that it is the most important part of my regime.

I start off with separating my hair into four sections, I start with the back and start moisturising. I mix leave-in conditioner, oil moisturiser, Jamaican black castor oil and argan oil in my hand (all coin sized amounts) and moisturise the ends and work my way up. When I've moisturised all the sections, I start again and grease my scalp with the oil moisturiser and use the black castor oil on the perimeter of my hair.

After fully moisturising, with my hair still in the four sections, I use a wide tooth comb and detangle my hair. When I've detangled the whole head, I use Hask's Argan Oil on the ends of my hair to make them feel and look healthier.

When the whole moisturising and detangling process is done, I split my hair into two sections and clip them up and let the moisturiser and all the oils settle in. I do this regime usually an hour or so before I go to bed and then I tie it up and wear a satin scarf to prevent breakage.

With my moisturising regime, I don't do it daily as my hair follicles would be too clogged up with oils so I aim to do it at least every two days. I use my Argan Oil on the ends of my hair everyday. I wash my hair weekly or at least a week and a half. I get very itchy scalp if I leave my hair longer than two weeks which is the main reason why I struggle to keep a weave in for longer than four weeks.

Below is a list of all the products I use for my hair! 

Back Row L-R | Africa's Best Oil Moisturiser | Organics by Africa's Best Olive Oil Shampoo Soft'N'Free Milk & Protein Olive Oil Sulfate Free 2 in 1 Conditioning Shampoo

Argan Oil Heat Defence Leave In Spray

Front Row L-R | Sunny Isle Jamaican Black Castor Oil | Argan Oil Hair Treatment | Hask Argan Oil 

Organics by Africa's Best Olive Oil Leave-In Conditioner

First up is the Hask Argan Oil!

I use this mainly for the ends of my hair or for adding extra shine to my hair when straightening or blow drying. I've been using it for months and it's a great product, I'd recommend it anyone that has dry/dull hair. It makes my hair very smooth and my hair feels healthier especially when applying it straight after washing my hair.

Here I have the Argan Oil Hair Treatment. It has Moroccan argan oil extract which helps add extra moisture and healthiness. It is quite similar to the Hask Argan Oil and I use it more often because there's more in it. I use it the same way I use the Hask Argan Oil just more frequently.

Jamaican Black Castor Oil. Probably one of the best hair products for afro-textured hair, it's supposed to stimulate growth. I use it on the perimeter of my head to strengthen my hair around the edges as they are evidently shorter and weaker. This holy product has been thickening my hair like crazy, I love it! I also use it for my eyebrows before bed. I want them thicker!

Oil Moisturiser. My hair needs this. It's equivalent to food. I use it for the scalp and for the hair, I don't use it daily as it makes my hair quite heavy and limp. It definitely for those days that my hair is really dry or after washing.

Another Product from Argan Oil and it's the Heat Defence Leave In Spray. I always spray this generously all over my hair before blow drying/straightening/curling. It's always good to have some type of heat defence whether you're going to be straightening on a daily basis or doing just a weekly blow dry. Save those ends from becoming split ends, they're a pain to repair.

Organics by Africa's Best is probably one of my favourite hair brands, all their products have worked well in my hair. This leave-in conditioner is a newish addition, when the Motions leave-in conditioner finished, I couldn't wait to try this one out. It leaves my hair feeling soft and smooth. Whenever I do my full on moisturising regime, this is part of it, it adds that extra moisture. I also apply it to my hair after shampooing. . which leads me to . . . 

Shampoos! Whenever I do a thorough hair cleanse, I use the Organics Deep Conditioner (not pictured) and wash it out with the Organics Olive Oil Shampoo that has sulfate in it (which dries out my hair) but it gets the hair clean. After rinsing out that shampoo, I use the Soft'N'Free Sulfate Free Shampoo which restores the moisture that the Organics Shampoo took away. Both products work well together, I'm glad that I found out that sulfate was the substance that was drying out my hair and the solution was to find a shampoo that was free of it. When I want to just wash my hair normally, I only use the sulfate-free shampoo.

So that's my hair care post for you guys! If  you'd like me to do any other hair related posts here on FashionSquash, let me know, I'd love to!

Thanks for reading and I hope it's been helpful,

Jesslyn xo

The Best of FashionSquash 2013

Hey everyone,

This is a round up of the posts I did this year, from fashion to hair, I've enjoyed writing up posts for FashionSquash and vow to write millions more in 2014!

Hope you've all loved the posts I've put up this year and have fun looking back at them!

Don't forget to follow on bloglovin and twitter for updates in the New Year.

Thanks for all the support, readers and followers, I really and truly appreciate it!

Love Jesslyn x

FASHION (all fashion posts)

Birthday | First Day of College | Black Leather | Wedding | We Like To Partaaay

BEAUTY

FashionSquash's Helping Hand | Beauty Series

NAILS

Lilac Nails | Plum Wine Revisited | More Lilac | Retro Pink | Christmas NOTD

HAIR

Hair Essentials

HAULS

The Hauls of 2013

REVIEWS

120 Eyeshadow Palette Review | Casio Watch Review | DHC Deep Cleansing Oil Review | 

MUA Extreme Curl Mascara Review

NEW HAIR

Hey guys,

I just thought I'd do a little update on my hair. It's very different to what I normally have on my head haha but I wanted a change. It's black, short ... and different.

My sister always says short hair suits me better and my mum backs her up on that, I always think I look older with shorter hair.

I do my own hair mainly because I hate people touching my hair and I know exactly how I want it to come out, I did have help from my beloved sister as well.

However, I really do like my hair, I think I should start embracing short hair!

Also, apologies for the crappy photos, I took them at night so I could show you guys before I do an OOTD!

BTW, before anyone asks, it's not my hair, I'd never cut my hair! So there's the explanation to why I may look different in OOTD's and you can't figure out what it is that's different (I'm sure you will!)

Hope you're all well!

First Day of College OOTD : Pinafore, Blouse & Satires

Pinafore - New Look

White Blouse - (random shop on the high street)

Necklace (set of 3) - Primark

Blazer - H&M

Bag - Primark

Shoes - Nike Satires

Rings - Primark

Gold Bracelet - Primark

Gold Bangle - H&M

Watch - (present from USA)

Beaded Bracelet (present from Morocco)

Earrings - New Look

Lips - Miss Sporty Bubblegum

MUA Blusher - Candyfloss

Hey fashionistas!

First of all, apologies for the 'oily faced' pictures at the start, it was the end of the day, I just got in and remembered I hadn't snapped any photos for the blog. Doh!

Second of all, no natural lighting was used for these pictures, dark outside so full on flash, yeah, hence my orange face. Double doh!

Enough of justifying myself, onto the outfit.

I couldn't wait to wear this pinafore, if you saw my 'pinafore' post that I put up a couple of days ago, I expressed my love for it.

I had this outfit planned for weeks and was just waiting for college to come round.

After having a pretty wasted day at college (only went in for an hour and a half), I headed to Oxford Street to check out some shops and make use of the fact that I got myself up and ready, out of the house, looking decent.

Due to being 'decent-looking', I was stopped outside Topshop by a group of college students asking to take pictures of me for their school project, I just smiled and said 'yeah, of course'.

It was so weird because I usually hate people taking pictures of me when I'm not ready but it was such a surprise that I just said yes.

Enough rambling, I'm super excited for Autumn and I can't wait to start wearing all my Autumn clothes and make up haha, are you guys excited?

What was your first day back outfit? Would you wear mine and how would you wear it?

Let me know lovelies!

Also, don't forget to follow me on bloglovin', keep up to date with my posts,

Thanks for reading!