The Battle of the Detangling Brushes

Friday, May 9, 2014
Enter the answer to every girl's problems - the specially designed detangling brush that has entered the market in the last few years, and has yet to show any signs of slowing down. First we were introduced to the Tangle Teezer, a revolutionary new tool that promised to sort out even the wildest locks in a matter of minutes. Then, I stumbled across a competitor - the The Michel Mercier Detangling Brush - of which there are three different varieties, one for fine, medium and thick hair. This has been my favourite for a long time, but a month ago or so, I was introduced to the new kid on the block - the Wet Brush, and today we're going to take a look at how it compares to it's better established rivals.


In the video below, I've already gone into a fair bit of chitty-chatty detail, so here I'm just going to summarise and give you all the information you need to know about which detangling brush to choose to fit your needs.


THE CONTENDERS:


The Tangle Teezer:

Best for: Fine/thinner hair, mostly straight or slight wave

Pros: Very compact (especially the compact version!) and easily accesible

Cons: Not as effective on thicker hair compared to the other two.

Price: £9.75 - £13.99 (depending on type and retailer). The compact version I own costs £12.49.

Where you can get it: Boots, Beautybay.com, Lookfantastic.com, ASOS, Feelunique.com & more...


The Wet Brush*:

Best for: Medium/normal hair, straight - wavy hair

Pros: Glides through your hair so effortlessly, good size and has been specifically designed to be used on wet hair without causing and damage or breaking.

Cons: Perhaps not as effective for thicker/curlier hair.

Price: £11.99

Where you can get it: Sally's and salons nationwide.


The Michel Mercier Detangling Brush: 

Best for: All hair types, as there are 3 versions for fine, medium and thick hair. 

Pros: Great for all hair types, and my personal favourite as it works best for my hair type.

Cons: Pretty big, not great for travelling, most expensive of the bunch.

Price: £14.95

Where you can get it: Beautybay.com, Fragrance Direct


Have you tried any of these detangling brushes? How have they worked for you? 
Let me know in the comments section below!
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Remembering my adventure...

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Back in November when I was still living in Russia, I wrote this post about the scrapbooking I had been doing to keep my memories all stored up in one little book. As you can clearly see from the photos above, I haven't been quite as good with sticking things in and writing things down, but I have still made a huge effort to keep all the little bits and bobs that you manage to collect whilst travelling. See, I'm more of a visual person, so writing everything down got a bit tedious for me, and everything kind of came to a holt. Then, the more I got behind, the more I didn't want to write because I knew how much I had to catch up on. For now, I've decided to just keep collecting things, and when I'm back home in the summer I can make it my mission to get everything finished, whether that means writing everything up, or simply sticking in all my receipts and tickets with little notes attached so they don't get lost over the years to come. I also think I feel less pressure to keep up with my note taking as I'm quite good at updating my YA blog (which you can find here), where I upload loads of photos and stories that I have gathered along the way. 


Travelling has never been easy for me. Change makes me extremely anxious (my friends and family can vouch for this!) so you can imagine how hard moving abroad twice was! Therefore, documenting all of the little adventures I've had is like a book full of achievements, things that I thought I'd never be able to do, but somehow overcame and managed to come out of at the other side. Like a trophy, commemorating and celebrating probably the toughest, yet greatest and most rewarding year of my life. Of course, my Year Abroad is far from over - I still have two months left in the gorgeous city of Madrid, and I'm planning to go back to Russia during the summer, so there are still many more adventures to be had and memories to be made. This is more of an update, rather than a finale, and I look forward to seeing how it all ends up. If you have the chance to go and live abroad, whether it be for study or work, definitely give it a go. At first it can be extremely challenging, but it makes you grow as a person, and you'll have the opportunity to make some amazing friends, and go on adventures that you couldn't even imagine in your wildest dreams. I mean, when I was younger, I would never have imagined that I could move to Russia and Spain before even turning 21, but here I am! 


Have you lived abroad? What was your experience like and how did you document it? If you haven't, where would you go? Let me know in the comments section!



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Is it just me?

Monday, May 5, 2014
In the beauty community, everyone and their mother seem to harp on about how eyelash curlers are such a staple in their beauty regime, and how they simply could not live without them. Well, I seem to be in the incredibly small minority of people who simply cannot understand what everyone seems to get so excited about! I've tried my fair share - I mean, which beauty enthusiast hasn't? - but I just cannot wrap my head around them. MAC, Eyeko, Eyelure, I've tried the lot, with the only exception being the Shu Uemura ones, but you can understand my reluctance to fork out for those when I can't see any of the others I've ever tried actually working. Call me crazy, judge me 'till the cows come home, but I just don't see myself ever really embracing them. Maybe it's because I've got naturally curled lashes - ah, I wish - or maybe I'm just plain lazy, but this is one beauty tool that continues to gather dust, no matter how hard I try to change my ways. 

Are there any beauty tools that you just don't 'get'? I'd love to hear your stories!
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Think Pink

Saturday, May 3, 2014


Before we begin, please excuse the lions mane that I appear to be sporting in these pictures - I need a trip to the hairdressers plus a deep conditioning mask, stat. 'Fro aside, let's take a look at what I'm actually supposed to be talking about - two of my favourite new additions and the perfect spring look they combine to make. Yeah baby, I'm talking matchy-matchy. Pink lips and cheeks? You must be having a laugh! Well, good sir (or madam!) I can assure you that I most certainly am not - this bubblegum pink combo has become one of my favourite go-to looks since I acquired said products about a month ago. 

The products in question are the gorgeous Maybelline Colour Sensational Shine Gloss in the shade 'Pink Shock', and the newly released Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in 'Flush'. They share the same beautiful hue that practically forces you to feel all Spring-y and flowery inside. Ah, you can just smell the rosebuds, can't you? I've never been much of a lipgloss girl, but after hearing Anna from ViviannaDoesMakeup rave about this line for so long (and I take most of what she says as bible), I just had to try one out for myself. Once again, the queen of beauty was absolutely spot on - so much so that we've taken the first big step in our relationship, and this baby now lives in my bag. Non-sticky, pigmented and super hydrating? What more could a girl ask for in a gloss?

The other half to this match made in heaven is the one of the famous Tarte blushes, and after so long, I can now see why they are, and have always been, so hyped up. Boy are these good! Buttery smooth texture, insane staying powder and cute shades to boot - I'm definitely a happy camper! I got this from QVC, but they seem to be out of stock at the moment - so let's hope they get their act together soon so we can all get our hands on a few more! I tend to apply this with the Tarte blush brush that I received with the blush - how fancy - and it applies just the right amount to give you that ever-so-desired flushed look. These two plus a touch of concealer, a smidgen of mascara and a quick comb through the brows and you're good to go. 

How do you feel about matching makeup? Yay or nay? If so, what are your favourite combos? 
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Be original, they say.

Thursday, May 1, 2014
Blogging is a tricky business. Everyday, more and more blogs are created, adding to an already over-saturated and overflowing market, making it even harder for us bloggers to get recognised. We're told that originality is key, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to come up with original ideas, especially in such a new type of media where copyright hasn't quite been established. So, how can originality be achieved when there are a million-and-one others out there like you, aiming for the same thing?

When I first started Isobel Rose just over 3 years ago, I kept things simple - makeup looks, haul posts, and the all important 'reviews'. However, as I've grown both as a blogger and a person, I've learnt that thinking outside of the box is so, so important, and although it can be insanely difficult and often frustrating to do, it's important to try and put your own spin on things. I feel like anyone can write a review about a pink lipgloss, and there are about 10,000 posts out there to prove it, but it takes a bit more effort and imagination to take that pink lipgloss and make it part of something bigger, something more exciting and interesting to read about. I, more than anyone, understand how easy it is to fall into the routine of doing 'standard beauty blogger posts' - favourites, reviews, 'edits' - but we have to get out of this rut and produce content that we are truly proud of. Of course, I'm not saying that you shouldn't write these types of posts - after all, they're popular for a reason - but mixing it up never hurt anybody. Personally, I go through stages of pure creativity and then others of complete lack of motivation. I am in no way claiming to be a master of originality, in fact I'm often finding myself lacking in that area, but I'm trying to constantly push myself to think bigger and better, so that I can say that I am happy with the content I produce, and how it reflects on me as an individual. 

I've never been the best at anything; art, photography or writing, so I always end up putting myself down, and blaming my lack of strength in these areas - that are so important to blogging - for my less-than inspirational/interesting blog posts. However, I've now made the conscious decision to stop being hard on myself for what I can't do, and start to focus on what I can do (once I've figured that out, that is). After all, we are all different, so why aren't we all utilising our strengths to make our work more original? I mean, what could be more original than being yourself? From now on I plan to inject little snippets of my life and my personality into my work, and hopefully that will shine through for you all to see, and perhaps even enjoy. As I said, writing isn't my strength, so I'm probably going to cut this short here, but do let me know what your thoughts are on the 'originality' debate, and how you'd like to see it effect my blog posts. Be original, they say. But how many different ways can you talk about a pink lipgloss? You tell me. 

Isobel x
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