Hello my loves! Sorry I have been on hiatus for a minute or two… Life has been a little crazy with work lately and throw in some sleep deprivation and barely enough time to wing my eyeliner and you’ve got an anxiety-ridden borderline psychopath. Totally kidding. Kind of. Anyways moving right along to why you’re here…. EXTENSIONS! I’m talking about my two favorite brands today and the differences between the two. I’ll be going into weight, coloring, length, and overall wear. So who should you purchase from? Hopefully you’ll be able to decide by the end of this post!
Now I know there are many other brands of extensions out there to review but A. I’m not made of money and B. I did my own research long before purchasing either of these and I found the most information on these two brands… and ultimately liked what I found. It’s not to say there aren’t ones that are just as good but I’m not a walking Wells Fargo (tragically). I first looked into extensions when I chemically damaged the ever-loving hell out of my natural (very thick) hair. If I could give you any advice it would be to not bleach your hair, color it pink, then blue, and then back to blonde in the span of like, three months. I am now living with my mistakes, but you can prevent these horrible things from happening. I had to cut a lot of my dead hair off and was left with short hair that I HATED. (shoulder length is short to me)…. but luckily we live in a day and age where I can fix this problem pretty easily. Anyways lets move right along into what you actually care about….
First lets start off with the Bellami Bellissima Extensions ($209.99)
Coloring:
The set that I have are the Bellissima 22″ 220g in Ash Blonde. When I originally bought these extensions they weren’t as “ashy” as described, so I washed them once (I didn’t condition them because I hadn’t even touched them with heat yet) with Aveda’s Blue Malva shampoo and that gave me enough of the blue undertone I was looking for instead of a more golden shade. If you can avoid toning them I would. Other than that I haven’t had an issue with the coloring, it looks very natural. They’re also not just one color. They claim to use a “multi-tone adapt coloring system” and as far as I can tell, it works. I have since colored my hair dark so I’m not wearing these extensions currently but when I decide to go back blonde I’ll use them again. Bellami has a wide range of other colors as well, ranging anywhere from jet black to bleach blonde to vibrant red. They also have partnered with Kylie Jenner, Guy Tang, Samantha, and Eva Marie to bring you even more brilliant, fun shades to play with. Teal, lavender, fire engine red, and even grey are the colors you have access to through Bellami. Too fun.
PS word to the wise, if you’re ever buying extensions and they’re not light enough…. return them and get a new shade. It’s not worth bleaching them. Most, if not all, hair extension sets that you buy online will have many hair swatches (and even videos) that you can look through on their website. Also when you order them there will be one big package with the bulk of the hair that is sealed off, and a smaller package that you can open and compare your real hair to. IF YOU OPEN THE LARGE SIDE AND BREAK THE SEAL, YOU CANNOT RETURN THE EXTENSIONS. That’s why they include a tester weft so if it doesn’t match, no harm no foul. You just package it all back up and ship it and you’re golden.
Length:
Obviously when I say 22″ referring to the length of the extensions. Let me just tell you, this is a LOT OF HAIR. Like, a ton. Like I have to adjust it when I put on my seatbelt, throw my purse over my shoulder, change my clothes…. It’s really fun to have all of that length and feel like Rapunzel, but unless you’re willing to deal with the high maintenance of them, I would stick to something shorter. Bellami offers extensions in 18″, 20″, 22″, and 24″. You can also cut them if you so choose (please go to a professional if you do this) but if you’re going to pay around $200 for extensions you probably don’t want to waste a ton of the hair. Just my opinion, but I also don’t have money to just throw away. They also offer braided headbands, pony tail clips, and bang extensions if those are something you’re interested in.
Weight:
When referring to the weight of a set of extensions, it’s usually measured in grams. My Bellami set is 220g. Once again, this is a LOT OF HAIR. I don’t/can’t even wear all of it because 1. I don’t need it and 2. If I wear all of it I legitimately get a migraine because my head is trying to hold up a pound of hair in addition to my huge brain. It’s a tough life, I know. But seriously there are 10 wefts total, and I wear seven of them. Two of them are four clips, another two are three clips, two smaller two clip wefts, and then four of them are one clip wefts. (I wear one 3 clip, 2 four clips, 2 two clips, and 2 one clips, if you care.) Another great thing about Bellami is that their extensions are the same thickness throughout the entire weft, so you don’t have gross thin straggly hair at the bottom. There is nothing worse than wearing extensions and everyone is like, “Ew. Look at her extensions.”
Overall Wear:
These hair extensions are made with 100% human hair and can be used with heat tools! When I wear mine I almost always curl them with my hot tools 1″ curling wand. I feel like if you curl your hair/extensions when wearing them it makes them blend 1000x better. As far as having them clipped into my hair they stay very well. I don’t ever find myself having to adjust them or cover a weft (if I clip them in properly). Jaclyn hill has an awesome tutorial on clipping in/curling her Bellami extensions so you should check that out if you want a visual at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P4Ron3pc18 🙂
The only downside I see to the Bellami extensions are the options of lengths and the options of weights to buy. 18″ might still be too long for some people, and they cut the weight size almost in half when they go down in length. Not a huge deal for myself who already doesn’t wear all of the wefts, but if you really want that thick voluminous look without the length down your back, then you should look elsewhere. The cost is also a factor for most, these babies are 209.99 and the most I’ve ever seen them discount anything is about $5. Doesn’t even cover the tax, but okay. I’m willing to spend the money, because there are some things you just can’t skimp on. (They do sometimes offer a free gift with purchase, like a carrier or a brush. They’ve also recently partnered with NailHur, which offers long lasting temporary manis, so sometimes they’ll throw a free set of those in with your order.) Other than that these are amazing extensions, top quality, and I get compliments on them wherever I go. Legitimately I have had people tell me I look like a mermaid, and who doesn’t love that?! I’m thinking about investing in the Lavender ombre ones…. Stay tuned to see if my bank account or my heart wins that challenge.
Irresistible Me Royal Remy Extensions ($189)
Coloring:
I purchased the Irresistible Me Royal Remy extensions 14″ 140g in the color medium brown. Let me just tell you, it is 7 million times easier to color match your hair when you’re dark compared to light. I also feel like dark hair you can hide your wefts better because of the depth that dark hair usually has. I definitely feel that way with my mine anyway. The medium brown color was absolutely perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I took them into my stylist and told her that I wanted my hair to match them exactly and she did an amazing job. It’s always easier to buy them and take them to your stylist than trying to do it the other way around, so if you can buy them beforehand I definitely recommend it.
Before I decided to go dark I purchased the Irresistible Me extensions in Platinum Blonde, just to have a shorter length when I didn’t feel like wearing my 22″ Bellami’s. Uuuuuum, when I think platinum the first thing that comes to mind is like Barbie, right? Wrong. This color was almost yellow… honey, golden blonde. NOTHING like platinum. I was really annoyed at first, but the return process was super simple and I got my money back within the week so I didn’t worry too much. When I went back to look at the reviews online about the platinum color it seemed as everyone else gave the exact same feedback about them being too yellow/golden. However, I could not be happier with the medium brown. They also have depth woven into them so they’re not all one uniform color (this allows them to blend easier). Just make sure that you look online at real people wearing the extensions without any filters, and they have a nice video comparison as well. The same process with having one extension in a small bag to color match with applies to Irresistible Me extensions as well. So if they don’t match, return them! I know it’s a hassle for some people but it’s better than wasting almost $200.
The only downside to the colors in comparison to Bellami is that they don’t offer the funky colors such as lavender or teal. However, if you like to stick to the natural colors then you needn’t worry.
Length:
What I absolutely love about the Irresistible Me extensions is the options they have for length. I purchased the 14″ ones because it’s going into summer and I didn’t want to have to deal with the hassle of the super long hair. They offer 14″, 16″, 18″, 20″, 22″, and 24″. The shorter lengths are especially good for people who just want that extra volume within their hair. Longer lengths are obviously going to be for those who want that length and want to be able to style it a certain way (think Elsa braids). I am in love with the length I chose and it’s perfect for what I was looking for. It doesn’t take me forever to style them in the morning (and for the most part they just hold the curl until I decide to wash them) and I am allllllll about speed and efficiency when it comes to doing my hair. My little sister is the cosmetologist in the family, I stick to what I know with makeup.
Weight:
Another awesome option that Irresistible me offers is you get to choose the weight for your length. The weights they offer are 100g, 140g, and 200g. I knew from past experience that the 220g Bellami’s were a LOT of hair, so I opted for the 140g weight and I’m so glad I did. It has 8 wefts instead of 10, and I even leave out a three clip weft for the most part, and I still have so much volume. The price is obviously going to increase with the longer/heavier you go so just make sure you’re aware of that. What’s also different about the IM extensions is that they offer three different kinds of extensions all together. The Silky Touch, the Royal Remy, and the Volume Vixen. The silky touch extensions thin out at the ends like our normal hair would. The royal remy are the same volume all throughout, and the volume vixen ONLY comes in 20″ and 260g. I like how the royals are the same thickness from top to bottom, so I personally recommend those. The only weird thing about the wefts is that one of them (the four clip weft) has a thick woven part attached to the clips, I don’t know if it’s to make it so it stays in your hair better or what… but none of the other clips have it. It doesn’t bother me, I just thought it was out of the ordinary.
Overall Wear:
Same with the Bellami, you can use the IM with heat tools. I wear these ones curled as well, but even straight they blend incredibly well. I’m never having to cover my wefts, ever. I even went to my own mother’s house and she was feeling my hair and had no idea I had them in. If your own mother can’t tell, they’re damn good. Another really awesome thing about the Irresistible Me brand is that they ALWAYS offer a 20% off deal! The extensions I got would normally be $189, and I got them for $150. $40 makes a huge difference in the long run, and it’s obviously way better than a $5 deal from Bellami. The 20% off is site wide, so you can buy multiple sets if your bank account is into that sort of thing.
And that’s a wrap!
I hope I helped and could answer some of the questions you had about extensions and these two brands in particular. I always recommend doing your own research and reading as many reviews as you possibly can before you make any beauty investments. Especially with hair extensions, because they’re not cheap (the good ones anyway) and they’re going to last you a long time. Something that works for one person won’t always work for someone else. If you have any questions or comments leave them below! Or any other posts you would like to see 🙂 have a wonderful weekend my loves, stay beautiful!
XOXO
Shelby
smrbeauty.wordpress.com 