7 Things I Miss About Brisbane!

So many of you may already be aware that at the beginning of this year I made the move down to Melbourne from Brisbane. I was born and raised in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, and every place in between. So as you can imagine, packing up my entire life and moving to a whole new city that I'd only been to once before (in 2005, at that!) was a big thing.

I've now been living in Melbourne for over 5 months (seriously, how did that happen!?) and lately, the nostalgic feelings towards the place I called home for more than 18 years of my life have been slowly creeping up on me.

So, as an attempt to move through my homesickness, I've created this list of 10 things that I really miss about living in Brisbane!


1. Being So Close to the Gold Coast's Theme Parks. I'm pretty sure that I spent just about every weekend of my childhood at one of the many theme parks on the Gold Coast. Coming from the North of Brisbane, it took a good 2-3 hours each way by bus-train-bus, but it was somewhat of a ritual and totally worth it. I was obsessed with theme parks and roller coaster and all of that stuff for the longest time.

2. Summer Storms. A lot of people, my own mother included, absolutely hate Queensland's Summer storms. Me on the other hand, I can't get enough. I love the smell of the rain, the sound of the thunder and how pretty that crazy-ass lightning is when it strikes down on the city. Growing up, I loved standing outside during the storms (which almost always caused a blackout where I lived) and just watching them.

3. The CBD. I mean, it's kinda boring and the surrounding suburbs are nothing compared to the likes of St Kilda, South Yarra, Fitzroy, Brunswick, Moonee Ponds etc here in Melbourne. But it's so simple, everything's pretty much centred around the one strip along Queen Street Mall making it easy to find your way around. No confusion there!

4. Friends. I'm not the most social person so I didn't actually leave too many friends behind up in Brisbane at all. But still, the few friends I did leave behind are some of the loveliest people and I miss seeing them more often!

5. Sushi. A weird one, I know. But sushi is my absolute favourite food and in Brisbane, you could find it literally everywhere. It seems to be a whole lot less popular here in Melbourne, which I personally find utterly depressing.

6. The Laid-Back Atmosphere. Okay, truthfully I think Brisbane is a bit too laid back for my liking. But at the same time, I really hate how uptight everyone is here in Melbourne, and sometimes I feel like taking a step back and relaxing a-la-Queenslander style.

7. Living by the Beach. I grew up living no more than a couple of blocks from the beach, and even when I moved further inland I was never more than 30mins from the closest beach. It was totally affordable and the beaches were lovely, but living close to the beach in Melbourne is rather expensive and since I'm not full of money... (Plus, the quality of the beaches was pretty great!)


xx Chontelle Louise

JoBaz Max Strength Hair Colour Remover | Review

So a couple of days ago I picked up a box of Loreal Excellence Creme hair dye in Dark Golden Blonde, planning to try to achieve a more natural looking blonde.

Disaster.

I had it on for just under 10 minutes and it came out as a bit of a neutral/ashy light brown. I was devastated. I'd spent so long, and so much on getting my hair back to blonde, and suddenly I was basically back where I had started.

What my hair looked like after applying Loreal Excellence Creme in Dark Golden Blonde.

As you can tell in these pictures, my hair still looks relatively light. This is due to the fact that the sun was glaring as I took these, in person it was much darker but these are the only pictures I took. I took these snaps in the car on the way to Priceline, where I picked up the JoBaz Max Strength Hair Colour Remover for $29.99. The price was steep, but totally worth it.

JoBaz Hair Colour Remover comes in two strengths, Normal and Max. I considered using Normal because I was only going from a light brown back to blonde without any colour build up, but after speaking to the lovely lady at Priceline decided to go with Max strength just to be safe.

This product basically works by breaking down the colour molecules that hair dye deposits into your hair so that they are able to simply be washed away, leaving your hair at it's lightest colour. I say lightest, because it's not always possible to return to your natural colour. If you've ever bleached or highlighted your hair, then that is the colour it will return to as it is not possible to remove bleach. The same goes with box dyes containing peroxide (bleaching chemical), as sometimes darker colours still contain peroxide so when you darken your hair, you're also unintentionally bleaching it. It's also worth noting that JoBaz Colour Remover cannot remove cuticle staining, which can be caused by using fashion colours or henna dye.

Anyway. The process.

So the box contains three parts; Part A (the developer), Part B (the applicator) and Part C (the buffer). Parts A and B are combined and then applied to your hair. You've got to make sure to soak your hair in this stuff so that you don't end up with any uneven patches. Once you've done that, you'll want to wrap your hair in some sort of plastic to conserve heat (allowing the mixture to develop faster). I used an old plastic bag.

My hair after application, wrapped in plastic at the start of the development period.

You let this develop for a minimum of 30 minutes. You're supposed to ensure you're in a warm room with no draft so as not to slow down the development process, but seeing as though it was about 6*c at the time and there's no heater in the bathroom, I improvised and heated my hair using the hairdryer. 

At the end of the development period, just before rinsing.

The next step is simple. Rinse. Rinse, rinse, and rinse. And do it well. This is really important, as if you haven't rinsed properly you're not gonna loosen up all of that unwanted colour. You need to rinse for at least 5 minutes, but 10 minutes is recommended. I rinsed for almost 20. You follow this by applying Part C (the buffer) like a shampoo. Lather, leave it on for a minute, then rinse for 5. This is literally the make or break of the entire process, as the buffer is the vital step that will grab hold of and remove all of the now-broken-down colour particles. Do this well.

After rinsing, you repeat the process with the rest of the buffer, and you're done. If your hair is feeling a bit dry then you can condition it, however just remember that this is supposed to make it harder for colour to stick to your hair so you won't be able to recolour immediately. If you do plan to recolour, stick to temporary or semi-permanent colours. This is essential, as permanent colours contain peroxide which will cause your hair to re-oxidise itself - meaning it'll go back to the darker colour.

The results post-JoBaz Colour Remover, back to blonde!

All in all, the process was relatively simple (quite similar to the process used for most box dyes) and the results were seriously great! I'd definitely recommend this product to anyone going through a hair crisis and hoping to remove a darker colour from their hair, or remove years of colour build up in preparation for recolouring.

Before and after!

As for me, I might recolour after a week or two when my hair is softer and healthier again. But this time, I'm sticking to light blondes. If/when I recolour, I'll be sure to make a post about it!

Have you tried JoBaz Colour Remover?
What were your results?

xx Chontelle Louise