1 Year Anniversary

Youngforgood is one year old!

Due to work commitments and other ‘life’ stuff I have been somewhat MIA lately and haven’t been posting as much as I should be. Still, I just wanted to take a moment to list some of the things I really loved about blogging this year (in no particular order):

1. London Beauty Bloggers meetups. Organised by lovely Rebecca from Biteablebeauty these meetups are a great way to meet other beauty bloggers and enjoy a night out in London. I met some amazing girls and shared a few laughs. It’s nice to be a part of a community and it keeps me motivated to continue blogging.
2. Wonderful bloggers I found on wordpress. I met a couple of really cool people through commenting on each other’s posts. An honourable mention to Kareen from Ziba a fantastic blogger and a genuinely nice person.
3. Products! I’ve learned so much and tried so many new things thanks to all of you and your blogs. From new beauty discoveries to great new cooking recipes. For example, back in January I read a post on how to make an overnight coco and berries porridge and loved it so much I have had it for breakfast EVERY DAY since then. I can honestly say it changed my life J.

I’m also very thankful for all the feedback I received this past year and in general for all the great things I experienced as a result of having a blog. I hope to blog more next year and take more time to read other people’s blogs. I think with blogging, like with so many other things in life, you get as much out of it as you put in and I definitely have more to offer!

iWhite Instant Teeth Whitening Kit

Note: this product was sent to me by the distributor.

Verdict: good but not brilliant. Won’t be repurchasing as there are more attractive and less expensive options available

I used Crest Whitestrips in the past and while it’s a great product and it worked very well, it’s a bit difficult to find in the UK. So I was very excited to hear about a new whitening product that is available at Boots across the UK.

iWhite is a professional teeth whitening kit for instant results: it’s safe even for sensitive teeth, removes stains and whitens teeth to up to 8 shades whiter. It comes with 10 read-to-use trays that you can use for both lower and upper teeth and it whitens both the front and the back of teeth. I used all 10 trays.

Here is what I liked about the product:

• First of all, it is safe and I didn’t experience any pain or sensitivity. I heard this tends to happen with Crest Strips. iWhite didn’t irritate my teeth, gums or tongue.

• It did whiten my teeth, although not as much as I hoped it would.

• I like the fact that I can buy this product at Boots. It costs £29.95 in Boots (currently on offer for £19.96) and for £24.99 on beautybay.com. The problem with Crest Whitestrips is that you need to import them from the US or buy on eBay, especially if you’re after the version for sensitive teeth.

• It’s quick to use. You put the trays in and leave them for 20min. Each tray is vacuum-packed and easy to open.

What I didn’t like:

• I was surprised by the fact that it didn’t whiten my teeth more. I suppose I would work better if I used more than one package but that works out a bit expensive. I took a ‘before’ photo and was going to take an ‘after’ photo as well but the camera didn’t pick up the difference in shades. • I don’t like the packaging. It’s really messy. I’m not a fan of trays in general and prefer strips. With iwhite the product spills from the trays before you open them. You need to use a toothpick or something else to distribute the product evenly in the tray. In addition, a lot of the product stays in the packaging and not on the tray. I think the manufacturer should really come up with a better of preparing the trays. That was my least favourite thing about the kit.

• The box is half empty – only half of the box contains trays. I hate when companies do this: make the packaging twice as big to trick you into believing that you’re getting more for your money than you really are. It’s a cheap trick and so old it’s almost embarrassing for companies to use it nowadays.

You can see the product spilling out if the tray

 

Overall, it’s a nice product. I feel it’s a bit too expensive for what it does. I didn’t feel it whitened my teeth as well as Crest Whitestrips and it’s about the same price. Perhaps if it was less expensive it would be a more attractive option. However, I really like the fact that it’s so easily available. The product does work and if you can’t be asked to look for Crest strip it might be the right choice for you.

Moga London Hair Salon Review: Avoid!

I posted this review as part of my previous post, but I thought I’d post it again on its own to make sure it comes up in search results for Moga salon and to make sure that other girls living in London won’t make the same mistake.

I don’t often write bad reviews, products that don’t work for me might work for other people. But bad customer service is never good. And I had a really bad experience at Moga.

I went in to get Yuko (Japanese permanent hair straightening). I decided to go to a Japanese salon as I thought they would be experts. It was also significantly cheaper- about £100 cheaper than in other London salons. While I’m loving Yuko, Moga is not a good salon. I also went back to Moga two weeks ago for a haircut. I thought that since now my hair is straight I don’t need to spend a fortune on a haircut to make it look good. I was wrong.

Moga is a name of a famous hair salon chain in Japan. The one in London probably just uses the name and is not related to the Japanese chain. It’s quite well known amongst Japanese people living in London. Some of my non-Japanese (gaijin) friends have heard of it as well.

So after two visits what can I say about Moga? Poor customer service.

Even though they have Western models on their website they are NOT gaijin-friendly. I know the manager speaks good English but I was stuck with a girl called Mia both times. And she doesn’t speak English. At all. And I mean at all. How do you become a hairdresser in London without knowing the English word for ‘layer’?! To be honest I don’t think she knows what a layer is in any language cause when she cut my hair her technique was like I imagine a 5 year old would approach cutting hair. I was really tempted to ask to see her qualifications.

I heard other hairdressers chatting with their clients, so I know that other people at Moga speak the language and make an attempt to connect with their customers. The salon manager seemed really lovely and friendly. However, for some reason the receptionist insisted on booking my appointment with Mia.

And this brings me to the main reason why I would not recommend Moga to anyone: when I asked the receptionist why she didn’t get someone who speaks English to cut my hair she said that it’s a Japanese salon for Japanese people. Message received – non-Japanese not welcome!

And then there was the way she cut my hair… it took me 2 years to grow out the last bad haircut. I have a note from a good hairdresser I used to know and  I always bring with me – it has clear instructions on how to cut my hair. I’ve show it to many hairdressers in the past and they all got it instantly. No surprise, Mia didn’t. This is probably the worst haircut I ever had.  Any other hair salon I would go back and complain. But with Moga there is not point cause they won’t understand me anyway.

One of the most amazing things about Japan is their customer service. They are the best in the world when it comes to making customers feel special, taken care of and appreciated. Japanese people are also famous for their punctuality. Moga doesn’t do Japanese- style customer service. It’s just a horrible and frustrating experience: customer service is poor and they don’t understand what you’re saying. And they even make you wait.  It’s pretty clear they are not looking to expand their customer base to gaijins.

I will definitely not go back to Moga. And I don’t recommend it.