L'Oréal Paris EverPure Sulfate-Free Color Care System Moisture Shampoo

Decent For Some Types of Hair

When I heard that L’Oreal was coming out with their own line of Sulfate-Free haircare, that was specially designed for color-treated hair, both me and my aunt were ecstatic. As cronic hair-dyers we were constantly looking for a way to keep our color going without having to spend tons of money on higher end salon products. After using this product for the past few weeks, I have not seen any real difference in my hair color, or in the health of my hair. In fact, this duo seems to leave my hair drier than other duo’s that I have used in the past. Which is interesting, because Sulfate in hair products are commonly believed to dry hair out, so to have the sulfate free products dry my locks out even more than the products that do have that ingredient. However, my aunt who has also tried this product out with me, feels that this duo adds moisture to her hair. This is probably because her hair is more mature and drier than my normal to oily hair. Even though this duo doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped it would for my hair, doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t recommend it for others to use. One of the things I really, really like about this duo, is the Rosemary Mint scent calms me down, when I am stressed out. It even lingers in my hair long after my washing. So, if you are wanting to try sulfate free hair care products, without having to go to a health food store or spend a ton of money on products, I highly suggest you pick this duo up at any drugstore, chain store, or grocery store.

April 2, 2009

L'Oreal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes

I don't Hate it....

Now, I don’t HATE this mascara, but I also don’t love or even like it. Don’t get me wrong, the mascara does what it is suposed to do - it does make your eyelashes look really, really, long but no more so than another lengthening mascara. It also doesn’t clump, which is also a very nice aspect of this mascara as well. These positives are what gives this product the rating it does. My problems with this mascara has more to do with how it’s applied and the removal of the product. This mascara takes 2 steps to apply it, you use the white primer first and then use the mascara part afterwards. I personally feel that this is just too much for an everyday mascara. When I apply everyday mascara, I personally prefer just being able to throw on one quick coat of a mascara an head out the door. With this mascara, I have to apply the primer, and then let it dry and then apply the other aspect. So I just don’t see myself using this every day, possibly every once in a great while. The other aspect of is mascara that turns me off is how it’s removed. You have use warm water and a wash cloth to remove this mascara. I found this to be annoying, especially since I don’t wash my face every night and usuallyt rely on makeup remover and baby wipes to take of my makeup. So this is just another annoyance. If you are someone who doesn’t mind the extra work to get the lengthening from this mascara, then by all means give it a go! I personally will continue to wear this, but I honestly perfer other mascaras that are easier to deal with.

April 2, 2009

Aveda Clove Shampoo

Not Worth the Price

When I received my Aveda Dry Recovery System to test and review, this was also in the package. I have to admit, after using this product for the past few weeks, I must say that I am not impressed with this product. The texture of this shampoo is quite similar to drugstore shampoos, and it reminded me of the Pantene Pro V Brunette shampoo. However unlike the Pantene shampoo, which smelled like fake chocolate this one had quite a lovely clove scent to it. When I applied this shampoo to my hair, it lathered pretty well in my hair, and I was able to wash my hair to my satisfaction pretty easily. I definitely felt that this shampoo cleaned my hair well, and it felt nice and soft afterwards. Even though this stuff is quite nice, I don't think it's worth the Aveda price point. A small bottle of this shampoo is $10 and a larger bottle is $27. I prefer not to spend that type of money on my hair care, especially when I can get my Aussie for $3.

January 5, 2009

Crabtree & Evelyn Aromatherapy Distillations Revitalizing -Conditioning Body Lotion

Not My Cup of Tea

I was recently given the chance to try this lotion from Crabtree & Evelyn, this was my first foray into the brand, even though I had heard of it before. The product, when applied to the skin leaves a nice lemon scent that I found to be extremely pleasant, however some people may not care for lemon. If you are one of those people, then this product is not for you. The main purpose of this lotion is to "revitalize the spirit and body" along with moisturizing said body as well. When I applied this product, it was a light texture that sank into the skin easily, with no oily residue left on my skin. Unfortunately I was dissapointed in the moisturizing ability of this lotion. After the lotion first sank it, it felt wonderful, but my hands were just as dry as before an hour later. For the price of this lotion, normally $19.50 for 250 ml, I was expecting something that left my hands feeling soft longer than a few minutes. I also did not feel "revitalized" like the bottle claims. I will definitely not be repurchasing this product, if I ever finish the bottle I have now.

December 24, 2008

Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Treatment Masque

Expensive, But It Works

I recently only got into using deep treatments on my hair. Before using this treatment, I was using an d loving the Pantene Pro V Fortifying Fortifier, which I have recently reviewed here. I like this treatment a lot, it's thicker than the Dry Recovery Conditioner it also shares the same scent as the other products in this line. I find it to be very good for weekly treatments, I wouldn't recommend that you use this twice a week like I did with my Pantene treatment. I leave this stuff in my hair for a few minutes while I wash and shave my legs, I usually find this to be enough time for this product to work. When I was applying this to my hair, I found this stuff easy to spread into my hair, even though it's extremely thick. I feel that it sinks deeply into my hair, and rinses out without any problems. I have used this product with other shampoo and conditioners and I find that it works equally well with cheaper brands as well as the matching Aveda products. This definitely does the job if you need the extra shot of moisture.

December 12, 2008

Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Conditioner

Expensive, But It Works

I have always used this product with my Aveda Dry Recovery Shampoo - so I can't really say how this works on its own. However when I use this with the shampoo, my hair is not only extremely soft and shiny, but the frizziness that I usually have to deal with, is very subdued. This conditioner has an extremely thick texture - it reminds me of toothpaste actually. The scent is extremely similar to the shampoo, which makes my shower smell very organic-y when I use these. Like the shampoo, this product has many organic ingredients in it, which is a major plus for many people - I personally don't put this at the top of my priority list. There really isn't much to say about this conditioner, it does it's job very well, and if you use it over a long period of time, you will really see it change your hair.

December 12, 2008

Aveda Dry Remedy Moisturizing Shampoo

Expensive, But It Works

I was surprised when I first opened this product. Unlike most shampoos I’ve used over the years, this one was thicker and denser than I’m used too. I was also taken back by the scent of this product, it is a floral scent, that brings up images of health food stores and organic flowers. Which is a good thing because many of the main ingredients of this product are certified organic. When I worked this shampoo into my hair, it didn’t foam up like most shampoos. I did feel like it cleaned my hair well, it didn’t feel weighed down after I rinsed it out. When I was testing this out, I tried just washing my hair with this, without following it up with my conditioner. I wanted to see if this product was as moisturizing as it claimed to be on its own. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my hair was really soft after using only this, however it was quite frizzy. This is usually normal for me after I wash my hair, it normally doesn’t settle down until the second day after washing it. But it seemed that my hair was frizzier than normal when I used just this product.

December 12, 2008

Broadway Nails Real Life

You'll Like Them If You Like Fake Nails....

I can definitely see the advantage to using fake nails. They stay in place, and you alway look like you just had a mani at a five star salon. However I am not one of those people who have ever been tempted to use fake nails, but when I received these nails to test out and review, I thought, why not and I decided to give these babies, which were definitely cute a go. Well, this may just be from my inexperience from never using fake nails before, but I had a monster of a time getting these nails to look right on my hands. I really didn’t care for the glue that came with these nails, it looked and smelled exactly like the super glue you would pick up at the store. The directions say that you apply a lot of glue to your natural nail and then to the fake nail and then press the fake nail to your real nail. Unfortunately, one of my biggest problems with this product is that the glue dries super fast, so if you apply the nail even a little bit crooked, well, that nail is on there now, and the only way to get it off is to use acetone. You actually have to submerge the entire top half of the finger into the acetone for about 5 minutes to peel the nail off. This completely ruins the nail, making it impossible to move it to another nail. So you have to be extremely careful when applying these, or you will very easily ruin most of nails. The nails were decently sized, even though they are really short. My natural nail is longer than the fake nail, so these nails wouldn’t have worked on my hands, unless I file them down. I wasn’t about to do that, because I love my nails the way they are :) Final Thoughts: There isn’t much I can say about these nails, they are realistic looking and would be great for someone who wants a classic french mani without paying out the butt for regular salon visits. If you are used to applying fake nails, then these will be a dream for you. But for people like me, I will continue to just use my real nails and the hundreds of polishes I have in my room.

September 23, 2008

Bliss Triple Oxygen Self-Activating Facial With O2 Molecules

Outstanding!!

This product is actually my first foray into the world of Bliss - normally I do not like spending the big dollars on skincare, because I get great results from drugstore stuff, so why should I buy expensive products when the cheap ones work just as good. But when I got the chance to try out the Bliss facial masque, I jumped at the chance. And I'm glad I did. This facial masque is a amazing. I fell in love with it after my first couple of times using it. You pump out a small amount of the gel onto your hand and then you spread an even layer over your face and it foams up and bubbles on your face. You can feel the bubbles fizzing and popping on your skin, it's a very enjoyable feeling actually. You leave the masque on for about 5 minutes and during that time you will see the gel turn into foam, and then disappear into the skin. After I rinsed the left over product from my skin, I was FLOORED at how my skin looked. My skin had never looked brighter and it felt incredibly soft to the touch. I had that indescribable glow that everyone wants, but was never able to get. Well, I got it big time! Final Thoughts: I love this masque. When I finish this huge bottle (3.4 oz) you can bet I will purhcase another bottle. It's interesting, many other bloggers who have tried this product has commented on the fact that it smells like citrus / oranges, to me it smells like the Froot Loop cereal. It's not an unpleasant smell, but it is definitely an interesting scent that Bliss chose for this product. This is the only product in my possession that actually smells like cereal and doesn't reside in my kitchen. To me this product is COMPLETELY worth it's price, and I'm glad I was introduced to it. I plan on using this when my skin needs a quick pick me upper!

September 19, 2008

DDF Protect and Correct

Expensive, but possibly worth it?

I received this product a couple of weeks ago to test out and I’ve been wearing it off and on for the past couple of weeks now, and I feel confident enough to review it. The bottle is a pump bottle, which controls the amount of product you put into your hand. I am really glad that they added this feature to their bottle, because this stuff costs $58 and I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be wasting a product that costs that much. The lotion glides easily onto the skin and moisturizes quite nicely. There really isn’t a strong smell to this lotion, so sensitive people shouldn’t have a problem with this. I put this on under my makeup in the morning and it gives all day protection. All around, this is a great sunscreen. however there are certain things that I do not like about it. It’s not the product itself, that I dislike, its other factors. I tend to prefer lotions and moisturizers with a SPF level of 25+ so the level of protection isn’t as high as I would like it to be. For $58 I would expect any moisturizer to have a greater SPF than just 15. The size of the product is another thing I dislike about it, it only has a little under 2 oz, which is quite small to me. I personally am used to picking up big 8-10 oz sunblocks with SPF of 30+. So this sunscreen was a big shock to me. Final Thoughts: If you are someone who wants a good sunscreen moisturizer and you have no problem shelling out the big bucks for a sunscreen, then by all means give this product a look over. There is also the added bonus in this product of it being able to correct hyper pigmentation spots on the face over time. I have not used this product long enough to be able to comment on this aspect, but it’s not something that I would base my purchase. So if you are like me, who prefers cheaper sunblock with a greater amount of SPF, then I would bypass this product and head on over to CVS to pick up some of their sunblock.

September 15, 2008