Chatter: Adventures in Hair Drying

by

Adventures in Hair drying

I’d just like to share with you a brief anecdote from Tuesday night.
All products mentioned are in the picture above!

1. Wash hair. It’s time, you know? Plus, you need to get that dry shampoo buildup out (it is awesome, but is not meant to stay forever). Condition liberally, leave it in for a few while you wash your face and body.

2. Procrastinate about leaving the warm shower. It’s cold on the other side of the curtain. Pout like a child, grudgingly dry off and step out.

3. Hastily towel dry hair so it isn’t sopping or considering becoming icicles. Start a blowout with drenched hair? You’re gonna have a bad time.

4. Comb through your mane with a wide-toothed comb to detangle. We’re civilized folk, after all.

5. Rummage through the drawer o’ hair goop. Grab your Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum and Ion knockoff (from Sally Beauty, left) of Aquage Uplifting Foam (real, right) .

6. Toss most of your hair to one side and section about an inch above the ear. Try to spray it on like Kate from the Small Things Blog shows us.

7. Instead, do a horrible job at it and somehow wind up with it on the door of the bathroom (I don’t even…). Wipe off the door before your fiance thinks you were doing grade-school science experiments in the bathroom with hair products as reagents. Don’t be like me.
Also, don’t use hair products as reagents – a lot of them are pressurized and/or flammable. The more you know.

8. Deal with the now-intrigued cats on the other side of the door who were curious about what was getting the inside of the door (aka you wiping the root-lifting mousse off the door).

9.  Apply one pump of Super Skinny to the mid-lengths and ends. This step was pretty anticlimactic. Wipe your hands off because it feels weird.

10. Rough dry upside down with an easily-obtained dryer (though I guess a difficult to obtain one would work just as well), trying to get the scalp area (where you applied too much foam goop) driest. Flip back over, make sure the roots are dry.

11. Move onto the ends with an awesome gigantic round brush (4″!) that you require (because your hair is almost waist length when it isn’t being wild and crazy and using a 2.5″ barrel would be awful).

12. Get bored 7/8 of the way through your adventures in hair drying (with nearly-dry hair!) and decide to go finish making dinner.

This is a pretty normal DIY blowout for me. Occasionally, I’ll really take the time to go through the process properly. But really, it is important that your routine feels like something you want to do, and not like a chore. You do not have to take it so seriously – the world won’t end if you get root-lifting mousse on the door, after all.

Ginger & Co Hand It To Me

by

Recently a new Ulta opened nearby (woo, accessibility)! I just took advantage of a promo on their site (and received it the day before), so my resolve was firm not to purchase any makeup. That, of course, does not mean, “not to purchase anything.”

Though I did purchase a few items, including some neat sunscreen, the item I was most excited about was the Hand it to Me Dreamy Hand cream which I thought was from Soap & Glory. I was looking for a hand lotion for my office and was going to get one from a different brand, but when I saw the seemingly Soap & Glory tube that suggested it is a mixture of mallow (what?), lemon balm (oh, I like that!), and rose (eh), I snatched it, sniffed it, deemed it mild and pleasant enough. Off I went.

It wasn’t until I used it, however, that I became horribly offended. The strong rose scent that I did not detect in the store upon initial whiff descended abruptly.
I like the smell of roses on roses. Not my hands. Really, I prefer them to be unscented if possible but wow.
Now, don’t get me wrong – it does not smell bad. If you like roses you will LOVE it! But it was strong, at first, and it surprised me. I looked at the bottle and found that it was not Soap & Glory but a player I hadn’t heard of, Ginger & Co.

Ginger & Co Hand it To Me - front               Ginger & Co Hand it To Me - back

Ginger & Co Hand it to Me Dreamy Handcream


Whaaaat? Shame on me for not paying attention, but doesn’t it just scream Soap & Glory? I’m not sure if they did it on purpose or if it was a coincidence, but Ginger & Co is just so darn similar. Even Musing Of a Muse thought so! Both lines hail from across the pond in England. To be perfectly honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if the creator was the same but wanted to keep lower-priced options available since Soap & Glory graduated to the wonderful world of Sephora exclusivity.

Anyway. Despite my initial distaste for the hand cream, it did feel quite nice – not greasy, not too silicone-y (it does contain it, like a good hand cream should, but some…overdo it), not thin. Formula-wise, for my needs it is just right. I slap it on during the day at work – it absorbs quickly, which makes me happy. My hands stay hydrated for hours – I have not yet had to reapply over the course of the workday–perfect!

About a half-hour to an hour after application, the you’ll notice the fragrance has changed. Any good scent evolves over the course of dry-down, and becomes unique as it works with your body chemistry. After that time the fragrance is still lightly floral, but not overwhelmingly rose. Just feminine, pretty…I can’t really identify the notes for you, though, because I am not a fragrance connoisseur.

At this time, I’m not sure if I will repurchase. It does perform very well, I’m just very particular about fragrance (if I weren’t, I’d rebuy in a heartbeat). If you like rose or are indifferent to strongly scented lotions, this is a great one to try. You can purchase Ginger & Co products at your friendly neighborhood Ulta, this hand cream specifically usually runs $7.99, should be eligible for most coupons, and currently qualifies for the B2G1 free promo.

Protein Hair Treatments – Too Much of a Good Thing

by

I feel like a broken record bringing it up, but my hair is long, more or less straight (due to its length), wavy-ish if it is feeling sassy (or actually wavy when it is shorter). Except for a couple misguided decisions, I have always worn it that way. Currently, I am growing out some crazy layers that a scissor-happy stylist gave me over a year ago. They’re almost gone! To keep my hair awesome, I was using what I was quite convinced was the best shampoo and conditioner of life, Moisture Maniac from Bed Head by Tigi – I didn’t have problems, but the products say, “A rich, creamy lather takes shine and softness over the edge,” and, “Ends your fight with snarls and tangles. Stop your struggle with dull, drab hair.”

Protein Hair Treatments - Too Much of a Good Thing

To maintain my length, which is to the top of my waist at its longest layer, I do all of the common-sense things that you know you should – I do not regularly blow-dry, flat iron, or use other heat on my hair – when I do, I use an adequate heat-protecting product. I deep condition, I nip away wild splits myself, so on and so forth. Despite my efforts, and despite the shampoo not stripping too much and the conditioner being rich and thick and awesome, after about a year and a half of use, my hair started breaking left and right.

Read more

First Look: Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki

by

An awesome friend (we’ll call her C) of mine recently decided to gift me a brush, and let me choose what brush it was – I chose a Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki! The Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki had been on my lust list for a while after hearing Jaclyn Hill rave about this brush in, oh, every video she has, so this was very exciting. Most of my brushes are what would be considered low-to-mid-end – I got the Coastal Scents Elite set on sale for something like $25, and the rest are random – cheap brushes that I thought would be “throwaways,” that turned out to be awesome, a few (inexpensive but great) bdellium tools and two Real Techniques. Word on the street is that Sigma is as good as (perhaps better than) MAC at a nicer price.

The outer shipping box had been manhandled by USPS and was not a maiden fair, so we’ll start the unboxing here:

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - Packaging

Also, let it be known that said friend is not affiliated with Sigma. She didn’t get a freebie for the sake of promotion, either. She’s just awesome! Here’s the rest of what was in the shipping box, including the brush that has been removed from the fancy sleeve depicted first:

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - everything that was in the shipping box

The protective sleeve you see on the brush, below is actually two parts. The lower handle is covered with a cellophane piece (with an awesome holographic Sigma sticker), and the upper handle and head are protected by a thicker, rigid plastic piece. They mean business about packing and protecting their product.

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - Unboxed

This sucker will be an important part of my foundation routine – especially come July, as I am not hiring a makeup artist for my wedding. So pristine!

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - Unboxed 2

Hello, gorgeous. I can’t wait to awkwardly stipple and buff foundation into my face with you. Let’s face it, stippling looks awkward. You’re hitting yourself in the face rapidly. It is silly.

Sigma F80 Flat Top KabukiSigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush

Take a look at how dense this brush is, perfect for buffing foundation in and building coverage. Though I plan to use it with a liquid foundation (MUFE HD Invisible Cover in 118, Flesh), you could probably use this for mineral or powder foundation.

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - so dense!

I haven’t had the chance to use it yet (my skin has been wonky, but is almost 100% again) but I plan on using it tomorrow and am excited to see how awesome my very first Sigma brush is. Thank you again, C!

Disclosure: This post was not sponsored. That said, some of the links in this post are affiliate links – this means I may get a very small percentage of the sale if you decide to buy something. I only recommend products I’ve tried and verified as awesome.

Drugstore Gel Liner Comparison

by

So as you may or may not know, L’Oreal has a diverse portfolio of brands under its control. They own some high end names that you would be surprised about, but also some drugstore ones aside from the eponymous L’Oreal, but also Maybelline.

When I first started playing with makeup like a child learning how to do my makeup, I decided to try a gel liner. Pencil liners always seemed odd to me, and liquids were too prescise – gel seemed like a happy medium. After a good bit of research into the gel options, I was torn between Maybelline and L’Oreal – both are well-reviewed. I happened to have a coupon for the Maybelline one and a sale was running (yes, why pay retail?) so I went with it and was content.

Later (aka recently), once I was on the verge of running out of usable product (my own error caused it to dry out prematurely), I decided to purchase both and do drugstore gel liner comparison. Here, you have the L’Oreal Infallible Gel Lacquer Liner 24 Hour on the left and the Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner.

Drugstore Gel Liner Comparison - L'Oreal Infalliable Lacquer Liner 24Hour and Mabelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel LinerDrugstore Gel Liner Comparison

This post is pretty photo-heavy, so please continue after the jump.

Read more

March 2014 Favorites

by

March 2014 Favorites

1. Eucerin Dry Skin Therapy Daily Replenishing Lotion $7 /
2. Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow – Space Cowboy, $20 / 3. bareMinerals Shadow – Celestine, $14/
4. Up&Up Max. Strength Acne Medication, $4

I only had four things to list in my March 2014 Favorites, and two of them are single shadows – this says a lot because I am very much so a palette girl. These are really something special.

Read more