Wow, so it's the last post of the year, and I know you'll either be midway through a Netflix marathon, half-drunk already, or maybe even a day into 2018 by the time you read this, but my god what a year it's been.

Not gonna lie though, it hasn't been all sunshine and roses, there's been some really rotten, negative parts, but amongst all that, there's been some massive highs, for those I am incredibly thankful and grateful. Some of those highlights include being nominated for three awards, just the fact that I was nominated by other people with no agenda, just because they like my stuff was amazing, but then I only went and won one of them! And then of course being featured in Blogosphere magazine right at the end of the year just topped it all of.

All of these highlights are great, but more importantly than all of that, I've never felt so freaking sure of myself and confident within my own skin. The older I've got, the more I've realised that other people's thoughts and opinions of me just don't matter. Not so long ago, I found negative opinions of me to be quite upsetting, but over time, I've become immune to them, because they genuinely have no bearing on my life.

I'm at a stage where I'm happy with everything that I've got in life, I'm happy that in terms of the blog, my photography and makeup skills have improved significantly over the course of year, particularly the photography. I decided at the end of last year that I'm not going to accept the annual winter struggle with light, and that I'm gonna do it differently - well, scrolling through my Instagram feed, it seems that this attitude has paid off, because the photography from 2016 to 2017 is totally different, to the point where I almost feel like a pro!

I've also learnt in 2017 that you really don't need to be in London to make something of your blog. Prior to this year, I'd always thought that if I stayed up here in Manchester, that nothing's gonna happen for me, in fact I'd even accepted it. But 2017 has shown me that people from outside of London and outside of the usual blogging cliques can gain recognition too, so long as you let the quality of your work do the talking. So 2018 will be all about putting Manchester, and the North, on the blogging map.

So my final post of the year combines photography and makeup, and if you've been following me for any length of time, you'll know that Graphic Liner really is my jam. There's just so much you can do with it, as there are so many different colours, various line styles and infinite design possibilities to work with - your eye area (and beyond) truly is your canvas.

Something I've been doing for a long time now, is using Liquid Lipsticks as eyeliner. I have them in pretty much every shade and tone of the rainbow - in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Dulux approached me to feature in an ad for their paints! Obviously I can't turn up to work every day with turquoise lips, so a great way to get some good use out of your technicolour liquid lipstick collection is to use it as eyeliner.

The biggest problem I have, is that sometimes I just wanna whack on all of the colours, but unfortunately god has only blessed me with one face, so for this look, I opted for an ombre graphic liner, but not with just two colours. Oh no. THREE colours, because like all South Asians, I'm extra. In fact, people of colour invented being extra.

Of course, I had to pair up my ombre graphic liner with the obligatory bright AF lipstick and blinding highlight. How else will the mothership find me and take me back to my home planet? The struggles of being extra (terrestrial), you just gotta think of these things, you can never switch off.

Well that's pretty much that for 2017, we've got about 5 hours left at the time of writing, so I just wanna thank you all for the overwhelming support you've given me over the past 12 months and beyond. I've felt for a while that my little space on the Internet is less mainstream or alternative and more cult-like, although you can leave at any time, of course... 

Those of you that 'get it', you're the real MVPS here, so thank you, enjoy the last remnants of 2017, and here's hoping 2018 is a fucking ball.

 

// CHEEKS 

This Christmas, I will mostly be walking around looking like a Valfre Girl, because y not? I'm a huge fan of their phone cases, and the illustrations they make are so, so pretty.

Christmas. It's a time of happiness, joy, family time, feel-good movies and rampant consumerism. There are a great many traditions around this time of year: gifts, turkey, brussel sprouts, German markets, family feuds, getting drunk before midday, and so on and so on. But there's a new tradition that I thoroughly dislike.

Every year, around Christmas, I see videos appear on Facebook or YouTube of Muslims saying how much they love Christmas, how they don't want it banned, are not offended by it, and in fact, they celebrate it. 

These videos infuriate me. Sure, they're well-meaning, but actually they kind of give credence to the bizarre conspiracy theories dreamed up by intolerant, right-wing hate mongers like the Daily Mail. Every year, without fail, there's always a headline in the media about how Muslims want to ban Christmas, or stop people celebrating, and quite frankly, it's ridiculous. But then, so are the videos that attempt to debunk these absurd myths.

Why do they infuriate me so much? Because it feels like we constantly have to justify ourselves, justify our presence in this country and justify our place in society. And even then, it's never enough for the hate-mongers anyway. They're looking to sell newspapers, and in turn advertising space, and Muslims getting on with life around Christmas, doing their own thing, doesn't sell papers does it?

What does sell papers is headline stories about how Muslims want schools to 're-write the nativity play', or parents that 'don't want their kids to sing Christmas carols', or how generally Muslims are just 'offended by Christmas'. On the other hand, any story about a Muslim family who roast a fucking halal turkey and serve it without pigs in blankets are 'hi-jacking Christmas' or are 'trying to take over' etc.

I remember after the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017, I shared a photo on Twitter of a stall in Manchester city centre ran by some Muslims, sharing a message of peace, saying this bombing, and terrorism isn't something that Islam promotes. And you know how it goes, every time there's an attack, we are told that Muslims don't 'do enough', whether that's rooting out the extremists, or condemning. Yet here these guys were, condemning it, showing people that's not what we're about. The tweet got tens of thousands of likes, but I was also bombarded by right-wing nuts giving out abuse to me, the people at the stall and Islam in general.

In that respect, it feels we can't ever win with people that only ever look to sow the seeds of discord, so these videos are pointless. They only serve to legitimise these bizarre anti-Christmas conspiracy theories, when the reality is, Muslims in general are just a bit 'meh' about Christmas. And that in itself is perfectly fine, after all, non-Muslims in general are just a bit 'meh' about Ramadan and Eid, and we're a bit 'meh' about you being a bit 'meh' about our thing, because it's truly irrelevant, and has no impact on how we celebrate.

I guess the bottom line is, most of the people who I interact with celebrate Christmas, and I wish that you all have an amazing time with family and friends, I truly do. But do I celebrate it too, or am I offended by it? Nope, I'm just neutral, and in these times of divisiveness, maybe rational neutrality isn't such a bad thing after all.

 

As you may already know, I'm a huge fan of Olaplex. It's one of those, dare I say it, once in a generation products that comes along and doesn't just change the game, it tears up the rulebook and writes brand new ones all of its own. And let's be honest, nobody's gonna stop it either. Without it, I actually think that my white blonde locks would have sunk down the plughole a long, long time ago.

I wrote a post in 2016 that seems like an age ago now, where I first delved into the world of Olaplex. I used the No 1 and No 2 in combination as a hair treatment, and without doubt it strengthened my hair. I wanted to get a bit of a feel for it, to see if it really stood up to the hype, and it did, before I took that brave step into the unknown and used it as part of my bleaching routine - that post is **here** if you're curious.

Let me tell you something though, because it might sound a bit strange, but going blonde is not easy whatsoever, and it's certainly much more difficult than just bleaching the hair and colouring it in a fashion colour like pink or blue. Oh no. Applying a colour over your freshly bleached locks largely drowns out any unevenness within the bleaching process. But when you go blonde, there's nothing to cover it at all. It's there for all to see.

Of course you can tone it out to stop it from being so noticeable, but toner tends to contain peroxide, which is damaging to the hair and it's already not on speaking terms with you after treating it so badly with the bleaching. However, bringing Olaplex No 1 and No 2 into the toning routine leaves my hair still firmly intact with much less breakage than you may anticipate.

The biggest issue with Olaplex is that No 1 and No 2 are salon treatments, and they're a bit iffy about selling it to people who are not 'trained' in how to use it. They maintain that it's for professional use only, whereas No 3 is targeted at the consumer market, but what is life if you always follow the rules?

To be fair though, the No 3 is pretty good as a standalone product. I tended to use it as a weekly treatment, and it did my hair a world of good, but the bottle is tiny, it runs out far too quickly and it just ain't cheap either.

So instead, I've turned to the No 2, and started to use that as a weekly treatment. I know, you're thinking "Well that makes no sense, how can the professional product be cheaper than the consumer one?" - well it isn't, but it does come in bigger bottles, which makes it much more economical. Particularly if you shell out for the.. gulp.. 2 litre bottle! I managed to get myself a deal on Amazon, and it's saved my hair and my life, whilst also proving to be cost effective. UPDATE: the seller I purchased from originally no longer sells Olaplex No.2 - keep reading for another place to buy it!

Of course, Olaplex are very quick to point out that if you don't buy it direct from them, you run the risk of buying fakes or duplicates (quelle surprise!) that are apparently prevalent on the likes of eBay and Amazon. For the sake of my hair, my life, and my readers, I was prepared to be the hero and take that risk - it worked!

By way of comparison, Olaplex No 2 is a little more concentrated than the No 3. One way to think of it is by looking at Philip Kingsley's Elasticiser and the Elasticiser EXTREME! No 2 is like No 3, on steroids!

So upon receiving the huge, fuck off sized bottle of No 2, I pretty much instantly went upstairs and started applying it to my damp hair. The formula is creamy, yet runny too, so make sure you get the pump, because one second you'll be there trying to take out a small amount and the next your hands will be covered in it!

To apply, you slather it all over damp hair, perhaps in the shower, and comb it through. Now, my wet hair is usually a nightmare to comb through and detangle, but the Olaplex takes immediate effect and all of a sudden the comb runs through my hair like a hot knife through butter. The thing is, whether you've got No 1, No 2 or No 3 in your hair, I've found that detangling is a breeze. Normally I'd need to go crazy with the detangling spray, but not with Olaplex.

Don't rinse out the No 2 though, leave it in overnight, maybe wear something like a turban or comfy shower cap over your hair to protect your precious bedsheets and pillows whilst you sleep. Personally I wrap my hair in cling film first, then cover it with a turban. Next morning, rinse it off then shampoo and condition as you usually would. What is certainly not usual is just how silky smooth your hair will feel afterwards - for my bleached hair, this is nothing short of miraculous. Without Olaplex in my hair, I'd feel the dryness after shampooing, but with the Olaplex, it feels swishy af.

After getting out of the shower, detangling my hair is effortless again. I have to say, the first time I used this I genuinely had to test to see if I was awake, because it felt so unreal. But if you think it's good by this point, just wait till you blow-dry. If, like me, your hair has been lifted from a dark natural colour to something much, much lighter, you'll be familiar with damaged, dry, generally rough feeling hair, but now, after you've blow-dried it, it feels silky, it feels smooth, it feels like... real hair. It feels like it's been repaired.

And you think it feels good now? Wait 'til you get outside! Out and about, my hair flies in the wind, like I'm a walking, talking hair advert. My hair is reacting to the breeze, it's being flexible, you can feel the air flowing through it, natural as anything - and it doesn't feel stiff! Maybe the best way to describe it is when I first saw Monsters Inc, and the way Pixar animated Sulley's fur, it just dances around as he moves and with the breeze and looks so real, but this is your hair, and it really is real!

But of course, the question on your mind when your bleached hair feels this good, is "How long is this gonna last for though?" - because we've all had so many false dawns, so many wonder products that promised so much, yet ultimately papered over the cracks at best. To me, it feels like Olaplex isn't just papering over the cracks though, it feels like it's genuinely bonded the cracks back together again. As you know though, our hair suffers through all manner of environmental and self-inflicted factors: the sun, the wind, blow drying, curling, straightening etc which all cause damage.

So what Olaplex does, feels permanent to me, but because of those factors constantly attacking your hair, you'll probably need to use No 2 every week or two to help it fend off the various attacks it faces and keep it in tip top condition. The great thing is though, my hair feels better and better with every use, so it's not merely maintenance, it's actually improving your hair.

I just want to jump back a bit here, because I mentioned about wrapping my hair in cling film a bit earlier and think I probably ought to say why! I find that once the hair is dry with the product in, it tends to stop working, so the cling film keeps the hair moist and allows the product more time to work it's genius on your hair. As ever with hair treatment masks, they say the longer you leave it on, the better it works, and this principle is also true with Olaplex. If you're hard pressed for time though, I'd say to leave it on for at least 30 minutes for it to have any kind of meaningful effect.

**UPDATE**

As I mentioned above, the Amazon seller I purchased from back in 2017 is no longer selling Olaplex No. 2. BUT, I have been able to purchase a 2000ml bottle from another site called Notino, that is currently selling it. You can find it *HERE* for £184.69. Please note, this is an affiliate link from which I will receive commission if you order via this link. I have scoured the web looking for the cheapest option, including postage, but please feel free to do your own search too.