Laser Eye surgery Review

So, let me explain why you've not seen a few posts for a while!  Two reasons - a very long trip away to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast (so lots of photos going to be popping up from there!) and also because I've had laser eye surgery so couldn't wear makeup for a week before and a week after.  So in celebration that I can now wear makeup I have piled it on!!!

But, for those of you considering laser eye surgery, I've put together a Q&A so you can see how my experience was.  I want to give you guys an idea of how it is, because it was absolutely life changing.

What is Laser eye surgery?

A quick operation performed by a laser on the eyes that permanently corrects vision for those who wear glasses or lenses.

Where did I go?

 I got wavefront Lasik from Optical Express on Shaftesbury Avenue, London.  It's a nice clean central clinic with friendly capable staff. I would recommend this clinic.

What was my prescription

-2.50 with an astigmatism in both eyes.

What Laser surgery did I get done?
 There are various options, the most common are Lasik and Lasek.  Lasek requires a one week recovery period and is a lot more invasive though much cheaper.  I refereed to pay more for less invasive Lasik which has just a 1-2 day recovery period.

There is normal Lasik and Wavefront Lasik.  Wavefront Lasik is another £1000 (at least) and uses more advanced technology giving you more than 20/20 vision whereas normal Lasik will give you just 20/20.

My pupils were too large for the standard Lasik procedure so I had to choose Wavefront Lasik.  I do have better than 20/20 vision, but, when you had poor sight like me, I would have been happy with having just the standard procedure too.  So, really, it's up to you.

What was the operation like?

OK, for the squeemish, please stop reading and go down to the next question.  You are taken in to the oppoerating room (much like a dentists surgery) and you lie down and look up into bright lights.  They clean your eyes and put your hair in a hair net and it's all quite relaxing.  The surgeon then puts drops in your eye to numb them.  Your vision blurs a bit (as it would even if you were to put normal eyedrops in) but you can still see.  

Next, you are looking up into a bright light and you can see the surgeon fiddling above.  He applies the eye clamp and this is uncomfortable as you are numb.  He then opens the cornea.  I'm not going to lie I almost passed out.  I couldn't feel pain but I felt him do it - the same sensation as removing a contact lense.  Absolutely stomach churning.  You then have to focus on the light which is still blurry, then the laser will track you and start working its magic.  The laser pulsates only for around 25 seconds.  Then the surgeon puts back the cornea and gets to work on the next eye.  I almost passed out during the op as I was aware my eye was wide open.  It was a lot more traumatic for me than I could have realised and I want you guys to know that.

Results?

As soon as he was finished (I was in 'surgery' for less than 15 minutes in total) I could see (around lunch time).  It was still a bit blurry as I had lots of drops in, but I had considerable better vision than before.  After I got handed my antibiotics I headed home to rest.  The next 3 hours were really uncomfortable with weeping eyes and it was so hard to open my eyelids.  I think they were stressed after the operation and closing as a defence mechanism.  But magically, after 3 hours napping in bed, I was back to normal and with good eyesight.  By the evening, my vision was almost perfect, but my eyes were still very sore from the op and I had to sleep in goggles for a week.  But honestly, I only had 28 hours of sore delicate eyes, after that I was back to normal and fine to go to work

Would I recommend it?

This isn't a yes or no answer for me.  For me, it was the right thing to do, though it was so expensive (£3200) and the operation was stomach curdling and post op quite traumatic, I still believe it was the best thing in my life.  I mean, I can see!!!! Also, my vision  is 20/12 which is better than 20/20.

If you're squeemish, it may not be right for you.  Or, if you're vision isn't that bad, then it won't be so life changing.

My main reason for getting it done is because I personally hated every second of lenses and glasses.  They made me feel insecure and quite tired and they were a pain when travelling which I do quite often.

Conclusion

I am ecstatic with the results and wish I had got it done sooner.  If you have any questions please please write them in the comments below and I will try and get back to you.  I know it's a scary thing to get done so ask me and I'll give you an honest answer!  Hope you found this useful...I'm off to go and read some things in the distance as the novelty still hasn't worn off!

OOTD jeans and khaki

Morning my lovlies!

Here's a quick post on my casual OOTD wearing khaki and black.  I love this outfit as it's so comfy and casual and just perfect for spring with the loose blouse's airy sleeves. 

I'm wearing an H&M £12.99 khaki loose shirt (one size larger than normal)

J Brand Jeans black skinnies with ribbing down the side

Black Leather ankle boots by Bertie.

Dower & Hall jewellery

Khaki shirt and J Brand Black Skinny Jeans

This look transfers really well from daytime to evening as it can be dressed up and down depending on your hair and jewellery.

It's also a really simple look as most people have a favourite pair of skinny jeans and this season khaki is bang on trend and perfect to match with them.  My J Brand skinny jeans were in the sale in January and I have been wearing them non-stop since.  It really is investing in a staple piece like the ones above!

Hope you enjoy my khaki OOTD!!

Fiocco Bianco

2 minute natural wavy hair

Hello Ladies!

My last post was on wavy hair too, but it was achieved with blowdrying the hair around a round barreled brush.  The results were fairly glamourous, but it is very labour intensive.  Achieving that look every day would take so much time and the heat would not be a friend to your hair.

Here I'm going to show you how to achieve natural wavy hair which is possible in just two minutes but with no heat.  

Ok, so I know the waves aren't as bouncy or as beautiful as in my last post where they had been styled, but this is 'natural'so you have to work with what you've got haha! Even if you haven't got naturally wavy hair this look is still possible and uses an age old technique.

Wash and condition your hair as usual and comb through with a tangle teezer.  Gently towel dry and d if you have a smoothing serum, run that through too.  As we're not taming our hair with heat, it's going to need all the anti frizz help you can get!

Then, run through it again with a brush.  Having knot free hair is essential to this style if you don't want to be looking like a crazy wild woman.  Then pull it back and plait it tightly.  This whole process really does take 2 minutes.  Here's the part where I cheat though - go to sleep on it like this.  This means it dries naturally without getting frizzed up by the blow dryer.

In the morning, take out the plait and run your fingers through it and scrunch it upwards.  Spray a little hair spray of the bottom half to mke the waves last linger.  This look has waves on the bottom half and is straight at the top as where you've pulled it back in the plait, only the bottom half becomes wavy.  Great for that beach hair look.

I did cheat a little and run the striaghteners through my fringe - just because I personally am not a fan for a wavy cow-lick fringe and no amount of pulling or clipping will ever make it straight naturally!

But anyways, I hope you like this natural and easy 2 minute wavy hair tutorial!

Fiocco Bianco

How get wavy hair with Denman brushes

Morning my lovely ladies!

I was watching this video by Denman Brush http://tinyurl.com/nqv2b6p  which helps you choose which hair brush you need depending on the style you want.  I have a large collection of brushes but was missing the round brush for curling hair as I don't normally achieve that look.  I was so curious and loved the look of the round barrel brush I had to try it out....and also the tangle tamer as my hair is super prone to tangles.

I loved the results so I thought I would give a quick tutorial on how to achieve wavy hair using the Denman round barrel brush and tangle tamer.  I really like the below effect as it has more life and volume than straightened hair yet doesn't look wild at all.  I know you guys have seen my natural wild effect which is great for growing out your hair, but sometimes, a curl needs to look a little more tamed....especially if you're going out!

Achieving this look:

I used the following tools:

• Elnett heat protector
• Elnett hair spary
• Denman round brush
• Denman tangle tamer (£6.20) 

Prep the hair

• Wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner 
• Towel dry
• Spray hair with Elnett heat defence
• Section the hair into quarters ear to ear

Curl the hair

• using the Denman round barrel brush take inch strands and blow dry from root to tip curling the brush around the hair and pulling down
• Work your way across each section then spray with hair spray
• Work on the fringe separately and pull away from the face to give more bounce
• Use the Denman tangle tamer to brush through the tight curls to loosen them to give more natural look

Picture overload as usual, sorry guys!

But I hope you like the wavy hair look that I achieved with Denman Brushes.  I felt a bit like Rapunzel and it was soo far from my usual poker straight hair I couldn't help fiddling with it all day.

They're available from www.denmanbrush.com or from Boots.

*brushes ent for consideration and review

I'm off to Italy

Hello my lovely ladies,

I'm off to Italy for a week!  As you may know I lived there from 2011-2013 so can't wait to get back and see some people I've missed and obviously have some incredible pizza!

Unfortunately I don't have a computer over there so you won't hear from me for a few days, but don't worry, I'll make sure I find some incredible beauty finds whilst I'm there!

Just to leave you with a couple of photos from last July of one of my favourite places - the harbour at Vallugola. I love seeing people jet off and enjoy the sea :)

Lots of love,

Fiocco bianco xxx

label. m texturising volume spray

It's really hard if you've got extra long hair like me to get some bounce and volume into it as the sheer length of it weighs it down.  If I straighten my hair, then it's lack of volume becomes accentuated even more....and if I don't straighten it then it's a frizz bomb!

But there is something you can do.  I'll show you how you can add volume to long 'lifeless hair' through spraying it through with label. m's Texturising Volume spray.

First up the before photo:

This is straightened hair with no product in it except for heat protector:
(Lank, long and really lifeless)

After photo with label. m texturing volume spray:

That was a bit of a picture overload but I'm sure you guys can see the incredible difference after I used label. m's tuxturising volume spray.  My hair has gone from being really lank to volumized and with moment.  I love how the spary comes out as a dry mist which instantly refreshes as well as holding the hairs shape.

It also has dry shampoo so it works great on slightly greasy hair too by cleaning it and by adding movement. It works extra well with a little back combing done to the hair too as it will add to the hair's texture.

label. m texturising volume spray

 I was really very impressed by this spray and would recommend it to girls who need more lift and movement in their hair.  I think it would also work really well as a daily hair spray as it volumizes and has none of that sticky feel, in fact it has more of a dry shampoo feel!

 You can get label. m Texturising Volume Spray from (here) online for £12.50.

*sent for consideration and review

Nair Washable Roll-On Wax with Argan Oil & Orange Blossom Review

Hello my lovlies, 

Today I'm writing a review on Nair washable Roll -On Wax with Argan Oil and Orange Blossom (link).  I'm going to be honest with you all and let you know that this was sent for consideration and review.  And do you know what, I'm so glad I was sent this as it has opened my eyes to the world of home waxing and helped me find no short of a miracle product.

I use home waxing kits regularly as they're much cheaper than going to a salon, but if I'm honest, my results had never been salon quality until today.  I think the success of Nair's roll on wax is because this wax is hot, has a suitable non-messy applicator and comes with salon quality cotton strips that are thicker than the usual pre waxed strips you get which allows you to removal all the wax easily in one go.

The results were just incredible - so much so I think I can only now use this sort of wax in the future due to the success I had with it.  There's no way I'm going back to a salon as the results were just as good and at a fraction of salon prices.  

Below are some pictures of me waxing my legs - sorry if your squeamish!

So the picture isn't great as I was using my iphone but I wanted to catch the moment.  Basically, in the box you receive a  roll on applicator.  You take of the safety plug and then pop it in the microwave for just 25 seconds.  Then you just roll a few times and the product comes out of the roller applicator end.  You then roll out the desired amount and then attach a cotton strip, hold the skin tight and pull it off.

The cotton strips are much bigger than the usual 'pre waxed' strips you would get.  They're much thicker and you can use them over and over just like in the salons.

Some how, with just one pull, I removed ALL the wax and hairs.  This has never happened to me before with at home waxing and I really didn't think it was possible until now except in the salons.  I really cannot stress enough how much this roll-on wax really worked.  It is also scented with argan oil and orange blossom which smelt very pleasant.

So here's my post wax picture and all the hair has been removed.  I am literally over the moon at finding this product, as even though it was sent for consideration and review, I can hand on heart say I will be repurchasing this A LOT.  My whole legs were waxed in under 10 minutes and with very little pain and absolutely no mess.  Because the strip pulled of all the wax I wasn't left with gloopy bits on my legs sticking to the towel or any other debris lying around.

So, I think you can tell I am going to give Nair's washable roll on wax with Argan oil and Orange blossom 10/10.  I don't believe any other home wax can actually beat this one. If you wax your legs at home you have to give it a try because of its amazing results and absolute bargain price.  It costs £12.99, but I did my whole legs and only used half the bottle and I'm saving the rest for the next time I need it.  I'm absolutely in love with this product and would recommend it 100% to any girl.

It is available from Boots, Superdrug and Tesco.