Lush - Goth Juice Hair Gel

I loved this gel. For one thing? NOTHING in the world smells as good as this hair gel. The descrip on the website says: "leave your hair smelling like the deep, dark pine forest where Robert Smith goes to be alone". Truthfully? It smells clean, woody and refreshing. My 17-yr-old brother is dieing for more. I'd recommend it to anyone. So why on earth is this not a staple in my bathroom cabinet? Because it's sold at the low price of $15.65 for 3.5 oz. yup you read that right. it's INSANE. Is it worth it? mmmmmmm, perhaps if I was the only one using it, and could use only a dime size amount every day, but I have massive curly hair and my brother basically gels it so that it can withstand hurricane winds. So, while I'm COMPLETELY in love with the actual product..... sorry lush, I'll settle for what's on the hair aisle at walgreens.

In the end? Not a must have for my bathroom.

Lush - Flosty Glittler Bubble Bar

If a bath bomb from lush is bliss, then a bubble bar is a blissful gift that keeps on giving.

Personally? I can get about 3-4 baths out of one bubble bar, you only get one bath out of a bath bomb from lush. So for the same price as my lovely sex bomb or butterball, I can get 4 baths. Now THAT is a value.

The scent of flosty glitter? Well first off.... you have to be in a mood for something sweet, considering it smells just like it sounds. Vanilla, Sugar and a little Lavender. Think Cotton Candy and you're pretty close to how you'll smell for the rest of the day, or night.

What's interesting about this scent? After taking my first bath in this sugary goodness.... both of my brothers and their friends loved the scent when I walked out of the bathroom. So.... if you're looking to catch the attention of teenage boys, apparently sugar is the way to go. :-P

This would make a GREAT gift for a teenage girl or younger, but I'd go for something safer like the comforter bar or a french kiss for anyone over 21.

Bottom line? It was a very fun $6, but I'll be moving on. :)

Lush - Sex Bomb

Okay - so with a name like "sex bomb" you probably thought this is going to be a REALLY risque product, huh? Well.... sorry to disappoint. Although... this is my favorite Lush bath bomb... and I will tell you why :)

Let me start off with a confession. I....LOVE....YLANG YLANG (and Jasmine). And this little ball of calm contains both essential oils. Then we have the look. When you drop this pink fizzy into your bath there's swirls of lavender and pink water with a light shimmer from the oils, then there's rice paper roses that float in the midst of beauty. Yes I love this from beginning to end. And for about $6 you get a good 20-35 minutes of peace and quiet.

So does this get a seal of approval? YES.

Coconut Skin Trip Soap

A while back, as in 2 or 3 yrs ago I fell in love with Mountain Ocean's Coconut Skin Trip Body Lotion (well lotion isn't a good term.... more like body milk). (http://www.mountainocean.com/product/broch.htm)

Mountain Ocean is a small company that makes 8 products. And they make them really well. For those who are coconut oil junkies (I like to apply it straight from solid form) this soap gives you the glide of coconut oil accompanied with the scent of coconuts (one downside to coconut oil? it smells like canola to me). I've used this bar on body and hair, and it's lightly moisturizing. If you're a daily shower person.... I'd stick it next to your sink for handwashing as it's probably too drying for in shower.

For about $4, it's a steal! I'd compare it to many of my lush soaps (www.lushusa.com). Pick up a bar and see what the craze is about!

the '09-'10 Hair Saga

So many of my friends kind of missed the journey that was crossing off one of the biggest things on my before 22 list. And for me that was going dark, as in brunette.

If you know me in real life you know that when I was 19 I became allergic to the hair color I was using to bleach my hair platinum. On a whim, I decided to forgo all hair color together and try going to my natural color. So I got a box of demi-permanent haircolor in a blonde (about a level 7, I figured that must be my natural color) and just leaped. What I found however is that my natural color was about a level 9.5 blonde. Yup, just a little darker than...well... white.

So anyways... I kept that color until my 22nd birthday was approaching in 6 months. So in November at 11:00pm, my friend and I hauled bum to our local 24 hr walgreens and got a level 8 Demi-Permanent Blonde. We loved it. However, as weeks ensued... I kept going darker and darker... pretty soon it wasn't just a dark blonde,.. I was reaching for the boxes of Feria's dark Brown. and to be honest.. I'd crossed the threshold into black hair.

You know the little known bummer of dying your hair black as a natural blonde? There's no such thing as dark roots, you get skunk roots. So after about 4 months of full on black hair (which by the way people I didn't even know would have an opinion, had an opinion about...) I decided before my 22nd birthday that I'm naturally a blonde for many reasons. One being that I look extremely goth in black clothes with dark hair. I'm naturally more of a bubbly person. So, I decided to embark on the journey that is stripping dark hair back to natural colors.

So I waltzed down to my local fred meyer's and picked up two boxes of Color Oops. Now what you have to understand about me is that I'm not afraid of hair color or cosmetics. This fact alone has been a thorn in my mother's side since I was old enough to purchase cosmetics with babysitting money. So, I locked myself in the bathroom, applied the Color Oops and turned on some law and order to wait for the magic.

Magic (in this case) = blonde roots, red/orange hair and black tips.

Okay.... so not perfection... but DiVinci didn't do everything perfect the first time either. So I scrunched my hair with some conditioner and went to the most comforting place when hair has gone awry.... the hair color aisle at Walgreens :) I grabbed myself a box of Feria Bleach Blonde and went back to the privacy of my own bathroom.

I applied the bleach from about chin down to the tips and covered in a plastic bag to well,.... ferment(?), in 20 minutes I applied it up to about 1/2 inch from my roots. Next step? wait for the magic.

Magic (in this case) = platinum blonde roots, strawberry blonde hair, dark strawberry blonde tips.

SUCCESS!!!!

Well, close to success. I sealed the hair with a protein pack (TiGi's Dumb Blonde Reconstructor) and left it.

Current Update? I've been using a red color depositing shampoo and conditioner to make it more of a strawberry blonde. I'll give you an update and review of the products once I have some results for you. :)

MAC Wipes

Let's say you've got on,.. well,... a butt load of makeup. You've had it on all day (so we're talking industrial strength cosmetics) and all you want is to go to bed. Stick these in your bedside table (believe me... they're worth the fortune)

MAC Cosmetic's Wipes 48 for $18.00 OR 100 for $26.00.

These wipes truly are super saturated and they are slightly oil based so they will take off any longwearing makeup you can throw at them. Plus, they smell like heaven.

One wipe, throw in the garbage, and you're ready for bed. That simple.

check out www.maccosmetics.com for more information, you can purchase online or at Nordy's.

Shortest review ever? yup. :)

Enjoy junkies!

Burt's Bee's Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream

Wow.

Okay - there's cleansing creams,... then there's cleansing creams. and this is one in the later group.

That said, let me explain a proper cleansing cream: In order to like a good cleansing cream you have to kind of give up on the idea of soapy goodness. Cream cleansers are aimed at dry skin, usually more mature skin (by that I mean girls over the age of 35, or if you smoke you may need one sooner). They work by supplying emolients and moisturizers to the skin without soap and then you usually wipe it off with a damp washcloth and rinse the face well (since it's easy to leave residue).

(http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/face-cleansers/soap-bark-chamomile-deep-cleansing-cream.html)

What caught my attention with this cream cleanser is they snuck in some Menthol. They say NOTHING about Menthol on the packaging, but then you glide it on your face and here comes the tinglies.

It removed my concealer, foundation, powders & blush really well. However, DO NOT put this near your eyes or you will want to scream bloody murder. Instead try a seperate eye makeup remover before using your cream cleanser so when you do your final rinse it will take off the residue from your eye makeup remover.

There's a couple good things about this. 1. Cream Cleansers alot of times leave you feeling kind of dirty, meaning they have a lot of slip and can feel like an oil spil. But the tingly sensation feels refreshing so you never get that impression. 2. This isn't your grandmother's cream cleanser that smelled like... well let's face it girls.... old ladies. It leaves a clean burst.

That said... I hate menthol. Why you may ask? I'm really into scents, and menthol reminds me of cigarettes. ugh. *chuckles* That said... that's my own personal thing, it doesn't smell a thing like cigarettes. (try that paragraph for confusing)

Bottom line?: Need a Cream Cleanser? This should be your pick!

Burt's Bee's Peach & Willowbark Deep Pore Scrub

Call me OCD, but unless I scrub down head to toe in the shower... I don't consider myself clean. While this is GREAT for skincare companies (since I go through at least one tub of body scrub a month), it's a little tough on the wallet, plus I have to find products that won't take a layer of skin off EVERY shower.

What I find interesting as I'm parading down the blissful aisles of skincare product after skincare product is that my entire family has started the facescrub addiction. I gracefully (well, hopefully I'm graceful as I make a b-line for the burt's bee's stand) start to peruse the stand of beautiful yellow bottles this large 4 oz. tube of all natural exfoliant ($8) catches my eye. Thankfully there's some box sets out this month with a tube of this beautiful exfoliant coupled with Soap bark and chamomile deep cleansing cream ($8), the box set is only $12, so I decide to just make the purchase and decide about the cleansing cream when I get home.

Now the ultimate test for a scrub is to just stick it in the shower and see how long it takes to disappear. I'm not sure if my two teenage brothers and mother ate the darn stuff or what... but it took just about 2 weeks to be squeezed of it's last drop.

Personally? the scent was very appealing, refreshing and milky. But for my taste? The scrubbies (very technical term, yes I know) which consist of "finely ground peach stone" are a little too rough and few and far between to really do a good job. To me it was likened to really good cream cleanser that had a handful of scrubbies. Was it worth the $8? Not in my opinion. Not when I can get a clean & clear one that I LOVE for about $5-6. That being said... if you're looking for a solid, good smelling paraben free facial scrub.. this is your choice! It's one of the best on the market. But if you don't mind risking cancer in the face of gorgeous skin... go for the clean & clear (I'll cover parabens in another post)

http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/face-exfoliants/peach-willowbark-deep-pore-scrub.html

Enjoy junkies!

SINFUL COLORS Nail Polish

Okay... so anyone who knows me well knows I've had an addiction for nail polish since... well probably birth. My biggest flaw with polishes?? I'm allergic to Toluene, Formaldehyde, DBP & Camphor. For those of you in this vast universe who don't know what these ingredients are... they are lurking in your cosmetic bag, medicine cabinet & shower. What else you may not know? Toluene is the 'T' in 'TNT', Formaldehyde is what they inject in dead bodies to Embalm, DBP has been restricted in the European Union since 1999, and Camphor.. well just plain shouldn't be on your nails.

So when I found out that I could get literally any color (as long as it's one of their 306 shades http://www.sinfulcolors.com/product/product_detail.php?product_id=31&page=7) for around $1.99 at my local walgreens,... I nearly did back flips. I also started to collect every neon, glitter & odd shade I could get my hands on. And I suggest you do the same.

Unlike nail polishes I've ordered online (e.g. http://www.honeybeegardens/) that are free of these pesky killers and cost upwards of $8 each (goodness gracious... I could get OPI or Essie for that much!!) these actually come in sheer to opaque colors. they last 3-5 days without a top/base coat (I'm really brutal on my nails) or 7-10 days with proper base and top coat.

Moral of the Story?: Not only are these great full size polishes an AMAZING find, but they're in my opinon one of the best kept secrets at your local drug store. :)

HairONE (Wen knock off)

Hmmm... So several of my friends have bought into the Wen Cleansing Conditioner (http://www.wenhaircare.com/) craze. However, on a musician's budget I'm not willing to drop $30 on a shampoo unless it blowdries, flatirons & washes my car too. So, when I heard about the knock off at Sally Beauty Supply called HairOne
(http://www.sallybeauty.com/cleansing-conditioner/SBS-737102,default,pd.html) I had to try it.

After the first use my hair was fuller, shinier and air dried in half the time! Now I normally only wash my hair maybe 3 times a week (we'll talk about this in another post), so when I washed it 2 days later it was the same for me, great results. However past the 3rd time I needed a seperate condtioner. While my hair had TONS of body, it was killer to run a comb through and the fly-aways were in handfulls. I tried applying some of the cleansing conditioner out of the shower like it suggested but ended up going back to my standard Organix Coconut Milk Split End Mender (http://www.organixhair.com/coconutmilk.asp).

I love the idea of this product, but for my hair I could use it perhaps every 2 or 3 washings. more than that and it's not enough moisture.

I tried the one for dry hair (Olive Oil)

Bottom line?: I'd suggest this for fine hair that is oily, since it does give tons of body and is a little drying. If you have curly hair or even slightly damaged hair be sure you're using your protein pack/spray and a detangler.

Color Oops - Hair Color Remover

Okay - So let's say, for some odd reason you are a platinum blonde and decide for fun you're gonna try dyeing your hair light brown, then medium brown, then black.... and let's say you do this for oh.... 5 months. so 5 months x permanent hair dye every 7-10 days = a bloody mess.

Okay - so now that you've been re-dying your hair dark over and over and over you decide that you want to go back to blonde! hmmmm... oh and just for fun you don't want to go in to a salon like every sane person on the planet would advise. You have....Miranda! Here's what I did to get to a strawberry blonde... 2 applications of Color Oops followed by... well that'll be another post.

The first time I experienced the Color Oops (by Developlus) http://www.developlus.com/products/coloroops/index.html miracle I was 17 and decided to use a Revlon shade called "Butterscotch Cream". In my 17 year old brain I was thinking 'Butterscotch = Bronze Blonde' not 'Butterscotch on bleached hair = orange'. So, I used one box (had an inverted bob about chin length at the time) and it took me back to my original platinum blonde! I was thoroughly amazed. Thankfully, never had to use the stuff again until recently. (Side note, I purchased the Color Oops the day after coloring, So it was an immediate treatment; which is the recommended method of removal per Developlus instructions)

Now my hair is about 4-5 inches past my shoulders and about medium thickness. So I purchased two boxes of the extra strength and hoped for the best. While the application (which smells like bloody hell) did remove the black from about shoulders up, unfortunately the black from there downward was so far into the damaged length it was still almost black. That said, if I was willing to part with my length and got a nice shoulder length cut, I could have left it that color. The Color Oops didn't just strip color, it actually did what it promised, disolved the color in the hair, so it wasn't any more damaged and actually felt quite healthy after washing the stuff out. One Con to using the product? My bathroom (which by the way is a communal one for the family...) smelled like a science experiment gone wrong for about 2-3 days after using the product and airing it out with a fan and open window.

Note: ALWAYS BUY MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU'LL NEED!!

I learned this from enough youtube videos researching the stuff, that so many girls didn't buy enough product. The box has only about 3.5 oz of the fluid, and it's rather thick, so I used both containers of the solution on my application.

One thing to remember is that there's no bleach or amonia in the formulation, so it won't LIGHTEN your hair, just try to take you back to your original color.

What were the results? My roots were my natural platinumish blonde, and it faded to about a medium chestnut at the ends. If I had done a whole nother application just to the ends, it may have removed more. However, I went for bigger guns at that point.

Moral of the Story: If you are looking to remove color, I definitely suggest starting here. At only @$10 a box (found at Walgreens, Rite Aid, Fred Meyers, Etc) It's worth $20 to avoid damaging your hair.

Enjoy fellow junkies!