Finding the Right Balance with L'Oreal Extraordinary Clay Shampoo

I'll put my hands up and admit it, I was well and truly enticed into buying L'Oreal's new Extraordinary Clay Shampoo purely because of the adverts on TV. Who on earth could resist the promise of combating two pesky issues all at once? Having oily roots and dry ends is an absolute pain. It's so difficult to cleanse the hair thoroughly and keep the grease at bay without stripping away all of the moisture from my poor dry and brittle ends.

To get straight to the point, L'Oreal's Extraordinary Clay Shampoo isn't absolutely life changing but it is a lovely shampoo, especially for only £3.99 for 400ml. Instead of washing my hair every other day, or pile half a can on dry shampoo onto my scalp to make third day hair look slightly acceptable, I can now happily wash my hair twice a week, adding just a touch of dry shampoo on the third and fourth days to top it up. When I first used this I noticed that my scalp felt incredibly cleansed but vitally it wasn't stripped of moisture. My dry ends seemed to feel stronger, silkier and look smoother and my hair overall appeared thicker and a little bit healthier. By the fourth day my hair was definitely leaning towards the greasier side but in comparison to what it would have been using a different shampoo it's still pretty impressive.

The Re-Balancing technology in the new Elvive range is apparently down to 3 redefined clays which help release you from the vicious over-washing cycle. I can't really find an exact scientific analysis of why and how the three clays work to achieve this but the apparent absorption of oil and added hydration seems to be working quite well with my hair. If you suffer from oily roots and dry ends I definitely suggest giving this go to see if your hair responds. It lathers well, smells lovely and it's also silicone free! However, it does still contain sulphates which I'm personally not bothered by but it is something to be aware of incase you're against SLS.

Until I find something even better I think I'll be sticking with the Extraordinary Clay range. The lazy girl in me rejoices whenever I reach for this. Who wouldn't enjoy saying so long to every-other-day hair?

Have you tried anything from the Extraordinary Clay range? 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Favourite Products for Naturally Fuller Brows

Bigger, bolder brows are definitely here to stay. There are so many products on the market right now that are designed to help you fake that fuller brow that people are often spoilt for choice but as a girl with naturally fuller, and rather dark, eyebrows I've really struggled to find the perfect products for me. When all you need to do is to fill in a few gaps, neaten up an arch and somehow manage to get your brows to stay in one place you'll soon discover that a lot of products end up being way too intense and those naturally full brows end up looking quite ridiculous and rather harsh. I'm aware that I'm rather blessed to have an abundance of eyebrow hair, believe me I know how screwed I would be if I had to somehow draw on matching eyebrows, but when a look calls for a delicate, soft brow it can become so frustrating when it's almost impossible to achieve. 

One of my biggest brow issues (but ironically it's also one of the things I love the most) is the colour of my eyebrows. They're almost black and on my very pale skin it creates quite a stark contrast. With a little bit of bronzer it can look great but because of their deep pigment I'm not looking for any intensely pigmented products. Brow products that can be slowly built up to increase pigmentation or products that can add just a hint of colour are my best friends. Finding gaps in my brows has to be the most frustrating problem I face. Having to fill in my brows with such dark brown shades requires a very light hand and it's so easy to end up creating a block of colour that doesn't mimic a natural hair at all. The three products I'm featuring today are brilliant for people with naturally fuller brows for the many reasons that I'm about to list below but they're also excellent brow products in their own right. I think anyone would enjoy using them, even if you have quite sparse brows, if you're looking for products that excel in precision and leave a natural looking finish. 

3 New Beauty Buys from L'Oreal

After rummaging around my makeup collection I was quite surprised that I owned very little from L'Oreal. With the exception of the odd mascara and a very dried up eyeliner my current collection was pretty much L'Oreal free. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why I've tried so little from such a popular brand but for the sake of beauty research I decided this had to change (excuses, excuses!) I'd been curious about a couple of their newer releases for a little while now so when I spotted a 3 for 2 offer in Boots a few weeks ago I jumped at the chance to finally explore the brand a little bit more.