Bleach London "Total Bleach" and "White Toner" Review

It's been a while since I've written a review, so I thought I'd write one for you on the home kits that Bleach London brought out a few months ago.

How to: Become a Silver Mermaid/Unicorn

Hello! And apologies for yet another lengthy absence. I have a lot of photo-heavy posts to bring you, mostly from my trips to Paris!

Today's post is all about getting Silver hair! I frequently get asked on my Instagram @hibkoko how I get my hair the colour that it is. After finding the time, I managed to take some photos on Friday to show the process and even better, to show the process from blonde hair that isn't white.

My hair at the moment is pretty much white without any toner on top, so every few washes I like to add in some silver shampoo and hit my roots with some Directions silver toner (as they are usually brassier than the rest of my hair). Silver can be a hard colour to get and to maintain as it flits it and out quite easily, so you really do have to do a lot of maintenance on it if you want to keep it perfectly so.

One important thing I'd like to add in is that your hair is more likely to take any colour (not just silver) if it is light and more porous (the ends of your hair will always be more porous than the top). Trying to dye black hair silver by just putting a toner on will obviously not do anything. And you can't expect perfect results straight away! Over using toners and shampoos can damage your hair, so don't use them everyday, as you'll find that they won't work with everyday use and will dry your hair out. Always have a hair mask or serum around that you can use on your hair when it's especially dry! I have an oil serum that I put into my hair each time I wash it, and an intensive mask I use maybe once or twice a week to keep my hair feeling soft :)

These are the two products that I used:

I've been using this silver shampoo ever since I became blonde! I will always recommend it...it's a miracle product :)

Another product worth checking out is the Schwarzkopf Provoke Touch of Silver range. It's a very strong silver product, you don't need to leave this on for long at all!

Onto the photos!

Here are my extensions brand new and without anything added. These are colour #613, or "bleach blonde". They were quite golden which was strange as #613 is usually a lot less so, but either way, I was still able to work with these fine. My hair now is a lot lighter than these so it was interesting to see how I'd be able to match everything up!

Just to show comparison, my hair wet next to the dry extensions. This is my hair a few washes after using silver shampoo.

I toned my hair extensions entirely with silver shampoo and I also left a Wella toner on the hair for about 10 minutes too just to see if it would do anything. I used two ways to do it, the first step being:

Fill up your sink with water - it can be cold or warm, maybe not really hot.

Squeeze in some silver shampoo into the sink and mix it around

You can add in as much or a little to your preference - the shampoo can be quite strong and for my own hair, I tend not to leave it on for too long as it works really quickly!

Put your extensions into the water and submerge them, leaving them there for as long as you feel necessary. The longer you leave them, the more they will absorb. This is the correct way to wash hair extensions by the way, so when you need to just refresh them a bit after a few wears, just fill up your sink with water, squeeze in your shampoo and mix, and leave the extensions there to soak .They'll absorb the water and will get clean! When I had micro ring extensions I used to separate the loose hair on my head and really lather that, and then put shampoo through the rest of the hair and leave it for it to clean.

I left the extensions in the water for about 15 minutes and they went a lot whiter and the gold colour went away. I took them out, squeezed the excess water out and then put some Wella Colour Fresh toner on for 10 minutes just to see what would happen. The hair went whiter again and was pretty much a perfect base to put some more silver shampoo on. I lathered some silver shampoo into them, and left this mix on the hair for another 10/15 minutes (see below - this photo is from Saturday morning when I added some more toner)

Again, the more shampoo you use, the more effect you will have,which is why these look quite dark.

I washed off the shampoo and rinsed the extensions and then hung them out to dry outside :) If you can see, the extensions are not as gold as they once were! It's important to let your hair dry naturally, either on a towel somewhere warm, or outside in the sun, as strong artificial heat can damage them, and when you pay however much for your extensions, why ruin them by burning them?

The next day, I wet the extensions so they were damp and I put the silver shampoo lather mix on them twice, for a total of 10 minutes each time (which you can see below). The bigger wefts will generally need more shampoo and maybe a little more time.

These are the extensions after I rinsed them and look how silver they are! So happy :) I put them back onto the washing line to dry in the sun.

Completely dry on the line and while you can still see some blonde in there, the majority of the hair has gone a nice silvery colour which will blend nicely with my own!

And the end result! Look at that difference! Quite a genius I should think ;) The extensions are actually slightly darker than my own hair but the blend is really natural and nice! Once your extensions are done you can leave them and continue to top up the colour on your own hair rather than tampering with the extensions.

Here is me last night in natural light, and I love my hair! Enjoy my face ;D

sparkling

Hello everyone!

Apologies for not posting much last month! April has really flown by - I can't believe we're now 5 months into 2013.....

And it feels like so much has happened, and so much more is yet to come! So, I have things to fill you in with! The first thing I should mention is that I changed my hair colour! I know I didn't have my dark pink/purple and blue (the dye that I did myself, after switching up the original job done by the salon) mermaid mix for very long (only about a month or so) but whilst I did really love it, I got less fond of it :(

I think I definitely prefer a more pastel shade nowadays, but in no way do I regret the triple mix :) I've gone back to my in-between (if you know me in real life, you'll know this stage well - it's the "blonde" stage in the middle of another hair colour yet to come) for the moment, mainly because I want a break from super bright colours and because I want to be silvery for a bit too!

Here's my hair story over the month in a few photos:

And then this was my hair on Friday (3rd May) with no filter on the photo

And then my hair today! (Saturday, 4th May - again, with no filter)

You can see some lavender tones and slight blue too! In real life it's a lot more silvery looking, which is beautiful! I think at some point I want to revisit a bright blue, as it was a colour I had never done before, and I actually think it suited me quite well! I don't think I'd have it all over though, it would most likely be a half and half job I think.

I found this photo online the other day of model Airica Michelle 

I think you can see where I'm going with this idea...;D We'll see! 

Anyway, I'll still be a wondrous mermaid for you all as I plan to put some pastel streaks/strands/BITS AND BOBS into my hair to keep it looking cute and all. I actually found a load of hair tinsel in a drawer the other day too! (I used to wear this stuff 2 years ago! Now it seems popular amongst Black Diamond members)

ACTUALLY bringing a point to light, thinking about it. When I had pink hair and was still really Gal etc and wore loads of d.i.a. (3 YEARS AGO) people used to think I looked stupid and thought my hair was excessive and didn't "fit" with Gal blah blah. Fast forward to 2012/13 and look at Black Diamond! People can't get enough of the girls. Fair enough I didn't tan, but the whole crazy hair and similar outfits? Credit to the girls (whether or not they be a Galcir) for looking the way they do, but I can't help but laugh at those who once said my look was stupid and would never look good :)

Anyway. Off track.

One of the things I think I'm looking forward to most about having lighter hair is THE ABILITY TO WEAR THINGS. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to wear things with brightly coloured hair. Especially when you don't wear neon/brightly coloured clothes. Black is fine, and it's always been (and always will be) my staple colour of choice. It's the other colours I struggle with! How lame does that sound?? I love my pastel clothing too (love to bring a bit out in the Summer) but again, my bright hair looks too severe with it :( Maybe this is just my opinion, but I'll pretty much be happy to not clash with my wardrobe as much!

Other than my hair, I've been chilling out and meeting with friends and getting sunburnt! I went to Circa with Dec for his birthday which was fab. I've been really happy as of late, feeling like a brand new person! I've even gone on a few dates ;D But that's another story....

Last Tuesday I met up with my friend Maddie who I used to work and live with and we went to Westfield in Shepherd's Bush for some Retail Therapy! Their TOPSHOP is actually amazing. A lot better than the Oxford Circus one! Brighter, a nice selection, and easy to shop. Done, sorted! Happy customer. I purchased some tiny shorts, a beanie and some socks. Because one can never have too many socks. Especially if those socks are ankle length, black, and have frills around! That makes for one, happy Eilish. 

The strawberry pouch has rings in it. From H&M, not TS lol.

AND AND AND!!Yes! Two amazing tops! One has a cat with a moon on it! And yes!! The other DOES indeed say "DON'T BE SUCH A MERMAID". Brilliant (albeit a little tacky). Had to have them! I also bought Mom jeans (at work). I love them and do not judge me. 

On Wednesday I met Yukika for dinner and then I stayed over at Tasha's house with Maddie, Hev and Charlotte! All girlies I used to work with and don't get to see that often. Hev is going away for 2 months :( Upset at that!!

Maddie <3 td="">

Me and my Hev <3 td="">

Last time we hung out/got hideously drunk and twerked all night it was super fun! This time around we just had a girly night and watched Mean Girls haha! Had a shit experience on my way though... It's always North London that I seem to attract the weirdos in! Long story short, this creepy black guy wanted to talk creepy to me so I moved away and then he shouted at me, walked away, came back, and kicked me in the leg :z and then kept going away and coming back and tried to follow me onto my bus and then stared at me until the bus drove off. Great :z:z

I think that's pretty much it for my news this week! I've also lost some weight somehow... Strange!

p.s. I bought another dress. I need a chance to be sexy though plz.thankz.

How to become a Mermaid!

Hello!

Eek! I feel a bit bad not blogging for a few weeks! But nothing much of significance has been happening in my life really! I've mainly just been working and chilling out really! Life is now so much better. I can't believe that only a month ago (maybe just a little more over) that this whole crazy thing happened. When I think and try to look back on it, all I feel is how good this has been for me, and that he actually did me a favour!

I sorted out my hair extensions - finally - so now I am a glorified MERMAID! I posted this picture to my Instagram in preparation for the epic dying fest:

So as you can see, I've ended up using a mixture of Crazy Color and Directions for my current hair! I'm giving Crazy Color another go, even though it's still not my favourite dye! The one thing I've had problems with so far is the purple, because as soon as I put heat on it, it goes white! But that's to be expected, as purple and blue tones are usually found in the undertones of silver hair colouring/toners. It's actually a good (and sometimes cheaper way) way to tone hair if you haven't got any silver dye/toner to hand. Just mix a dark purple with some conditioner, leave it on the hair you want to tone and it will work! It will either bring it to a nice pastel lilac shade or the silver you want. Conditioner is such a boss, as you can do so much with it.

So as a refresher, when my hair was done by the salon, it looked like this:

And the pastel shades faded quite quickly, as you would expect them to! So when it came time to redo my hair, this is what I came up with:

I completely got rid of the pastel pink because I wanted something a bit more vivid, and I also brightened up the pastel shades! This picture is taken without a filter as it really shows off the true shades! After I washed my hair once and used straighteners, this is how my hair came out:

So it was time to re-dye! (hence the lovely dying cape!) And I took some photos to show you how I do it (as I get asked soooo much haha)

Here are the things you'll need!
1) Mixing bowls/tubs - yes, I use Ice Cream tubs! They hold a lot of volume and are just perfect as they're washable etc, AND they're great value, as the ice cream itself is maybe like, £3-4? And good mixing bowls at a salon supply store can sometimes cost more than that - for something even smaller!
2) Hair dye...obviously :D
3) Conditioner - if you're planning to do pastel shades or just want to tone down a more vivid colour, which is what I did with the blue in my hair
4) A mirror - really handy to see the back of your hair in another mirror
5) Gloves - my lovely marigolds that I bought in a conbini in Japan in 2010!
6) Tint brushes - a few different sizes can be great
7) Hair clips/grips to clip away parts of your hair you aren't ready to do just yet
8) A dying cape or a towel you don't mind getting dye on. I got the cape in a hair shop for about £2, and it's super handy

If you're combining conditioner and a dye together, then pick the colour(s) you want  - I would recommend using a few different tubs/bowls so you can alternate between each colour (if you're doing more than one in your hair) rather than mixing up a batch and then washing it all out and mixing another.

It really is this simple! I think people seem to think that dying hair at home is a big inconvenience and really difficult to do, but it's so easy, and it's really fun! Keep mixing in more conditioner until you have your desired shade!

This is how the "work station" looked whilst I was dying my extensions, and as you can see, I had 3 different tubs for each colour, and I used 3 different brushes too. It's easier to do your dying in a bathroom/kitchen where there is a sink at hand! When my hair was just pastel pink, it was easy to do it in my bedroom with no sink needed, but now it's a little bit more tricky, so it's really helpful to have this at your disposal. 

My extensions came out these colours when I dyed them and were slightly darker than my hair so this time I wanted to match them more, and made the blue darker, and didn't mix any conditioner with the purple.

Ignore my man hands and my incapability to paint nails properly, and you will see that this is how the dye looks like on. I didn't really need to do the pink again, so I only did the blue and purple.

AND. THE FINISHED RESULT....

Of course with matching eyebrows! Well, I hope this was an interesting blog for you to see! If you want me to post more hair/beauty related stuff, let me know! After all, it's my passion :D

my little pony; another hair adventure!

Hello!

WOW I have some amazing photos to share with you all! The first ones are from Tuesday when I was a make-up model for Dec! Let me share a bit more information for you~

Dec's assignment for the class was Cirque du Soleil and as there are like 3 different classes, each one was assigned a different section of the actors/characters from the show. Dec's class had to do the clown section! That was quite fun, knowing we would all literally be looking either really crazy or either really hilarious! To be honest, the reality is that Dec was the only one who really stepped out of the box (the jack-in-the-box??) to create his look on me, and I'm not just saying that because he's my friend and I know he's talented! Pretty much the whole class had obviously googled a photo of "clown" and their models ended up each with a slightly different version of a harlequin clown crossed with typical "jolly" clown make-up, and we had to sort out outfits too (the model's jobs), pretty much all of them had the typical clown candy colour 'fro. NO ORIGINALITY!!  The girls really did make an effort but it was a shame there wasn't more individuality in the group.

Except for Dec! That's where the true vision came in lol! Especially with the hair too - Dec made his own wig with real human hair! Want to see some pictures? Okay, if you insist!

haha had to add this one!!

What do you think?! Brilliant or what? It was super fun! And it really was great to see Dec too <3 p="">

It's still weird that on my days off I won't have much to do any more, mainly because most of my friends are usually working during the week (like normal people) so if I don't have a weekend day off, I can't always see them! I have plenty of ideas of ways to fill my time though! Watch this space guys and girls!

This day was great for me as I felt super positive and really happy about the future. I still feel this way, and while we can't predict the future, I feel like mine is going to get better and more exciting from now on! The fun did carry on until today, which was when I was a hair model and got my hair done! I am STOKED at how it turned out, like, I don't think myself OR the hairdresser thought it would turn out this good! This is how my hair was before (no filter on this pic - from earlier today!)

I haven't been putting any dye on it for a few weeks just because of the move and everything and at that point in time I wasn't really all that concerned with the way my hair looked! Plus, I knew the date for the the show would be soon, so it was a better idea to let it fade a bit after a few washes! It still retains a nice pastel pink colour even if I wash it a load of times, so it's guaranteed to look cute still!

And then...

The three colours used on my hair. Now, I usually don't tend to use Crazy Color that much anymore because I find it doesn't always give the results that I want, but I've noticed that a lot of UK salons will use this brand when they do a bright hair colour, mainly because it's accessible (you can get it from most major (and minor) beauty supply outlets, including those specifically for hair salons) and it's not all that expensive. I use Directions by La Riche on my hair currently, mainly because it's cheap, good quality dye that lasts a long time, doesn't stain my clothing/bedding/skin and can also be quite conditioning for your hair. It's also really good for mixing with conditioner! While I love Manic Panic, it's not that easy to get a hold of in the UK unless you buy it from a specific place, and therefore it can be pricey. The tubs are small for the price you pay and in a way, if you have to use a lot of dye for your hair, it doesn't always seem worth it. Their dyes are usually Vegan and the staying power is okay (usually dependant on how often you wash your hair) but from my experiences, the dye can also stain things pretty badly (skin/bedding/clothing and even sinks/baths/tiling) and when it does eventually fade, the pigments go really weird. For example, when my hair was Hot Hot Pink it ended up going a really vivid pink with an almost purple tone to it, but after a few washes, the pink pigments came out quite quickly and it turned a weird orangey colour, which I found strange. Their dyes also aren't the best to use with conditioner, but they have just released a brand new "Manic Mixer/Pastel-izer":

BUT again, you can also use their "Virgin Snow" to mix hair dyes down...a little known fact! Anyway, I still really love CC and MP but at the moment I guess you could say I've taken a "break" from using their colours :)

ANYWAY, carrying on with MY CURRENT hair colour! The three colours we used were "Hot Purple", "Capri Blue" and "Pinkissimo". I've actually used all of these colours at some point! When I had purple hair, I mixed the the blue and purple together to create the colour I wanted:

And when I first dyed my hair bright pink, my hairdresser at the time used the pink to do it:

SO! Here is the result! All three colours were mixed with conditioner and then we also used the pink in neat form for the roots....

THE FINAL PRODUCT AHHHHHHHHHH

HOW AMAZING DOES THIS LOOK?!?!?!?!?!?! There is NO filter used in the above picture, and in real life the colours are even more vivid pastels! I'll try to take a photo in the daylight tomorrow at some point :)

Whilst I was waiting for my roots to bleach before we added the colour, I found this in a magazine and couldn't help but compare:

Hmm..... She's stealing my hair again, lol!

I hope you enjoyed these photos and blog post! See you again soon!