Hair

Aveda Texture Tonic to Define and Enhance Texture for Hair That Looks Effortlessly Undone

October 31st, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

I cannot stop smelling my hair today! It smells exactly like that yummy tea they serve at Aveda stores.

You know the one. It’s herbal, a little sweet, a little bit like fresh crushed sage sprinkled on top of a bucket of ginger candy and cinnamon. It smells fresh and delicious, and it’s all up in my strands right now because I just sprayed the new Aveda Texture Tonic ($25) into my mane. The aroma is super strong.

Texture Tonic is a new texturizing and styling spray in Aveda’s hair styling line, and unlike most salt-only beach wave hairsprays, like Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray, it’s a sugar AND salt spray.

I’m not exactly sure what the sugar brings to the table, but it’s bringing something. I’ll say that much.

One thing I love about this spray is that it doesn’t make my hair feel hard or crunchy, and you know I don’t do crunch.

It does add grit and texture, and it capably coaxes out waves, but it isn’t nearly as gritty as Bumble’s Surf Spray. It’s, like, mid-level grit, so you don’t feel that salt spray stiffness or stickiness, and your mane remains touchable (although not as soft as it is when I use R+Co Sail, which is the love of my life right now).

Aveda Texture Tonic is similar to…

Bumble and Bumble Surf Infusion Oil and Salt-Infused Spray

R+Co Sail Soft Wave Spray

Bumble and Bumble Surf Foam Spray Blow Dry

AG Hair Cosmetics Texture Spray

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Unsung Heroes: Dandruff-Defeating Neutrogena T/Gel Shampoo Original Formula

October 10th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

I’m gonna put this out there and say that I think dandruff shampoo is easily top three least sexy beauty products. I mean, shiny patent-leather lipgloss or dandruff shampoo: which is a sexier conversation starter?

Dandruff happens, though, and I get it every once in a while, usually around this time of year and during winter. With the cooler weather, my scalp’s been going nuts. It’s flake city.

Enter today’s unsung hero, my old standby, Neutrogena T/Gel Shampoo Original Formula (there are a few different versions).

It’s the only dandruff shampoo that really works for me, and I know this because I ran out last month and decided to try some other dandruff shampoos, and nothing — NOTHING! — worked as well as T/Gel did for me.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

This caramel-colored shampoo smells like Ricola Cough Drops. The scent is sort of clinical and medicinal, which some people might even call stinky, but I’ve grown to appreciate the scent over the 10+ years I’ve used it.

The active ingredient is coal tar, which is a byproduct of coal processing, and it stops dandruff by slowing the rate at which the skin cells on your scalp die and flake (you can read more about it here).

Active ingredients
Coal Tar 0.5% (2% Neutar® Solubilized Coal Tar Extract) (Anti-dandruff, Anti-seborrheic dermatitis, Anti-psoriasis)

Inactive ingredients
Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Laureth-4, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Polysorbate 20, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA

Trying those other dandruff shampoos made me realize that there’s a lot out there that just doesn’t work for me. T/Gel works immediately — like, right after the first shampoo. My scalp feels clean, doesn’t itch, and the flakiness — which I was seeing mostly around my hairline right near my bangs — is completely gone. My roots don’t feel greasy or coated with product, either, which happened after I used the other anti-dandruff shampoos. After T/Gel, my scalp and hair feel really, really clean. AHHHHH!

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On Wednesdays We Wear Pink (and Purple)

October 4th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

igk-girls-club-mac pinklight strobe cream becca pink haze — It’s a pink hump day party with IGK Girls Club Color Spray, MAC Pinklite Strobe Cream and BECCA Pink Haze Soft Blurring Powder.

In the wise words of the Mean Girls movie, “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” and whoops! — sometimes purple, thanks to this temporary hair color spray by IGK, Girls Club ($19), which looks more like purple in my hair.

igk girls club — I call this pose “Purple-haired girl gazes out window.”

I like it, though. It smells like too-sweet bubblegum, and I have to use about half a can before the color really comes through, but I still think it’s fun, especially on mornings when the thought of covering my salt-and-pepper roots with regular ol’ root spray (I use the one by Rita Hazan) is just waaaaaay too depressing.

Even though I have to use a lot, so it’s not something I’ll do every day (because it’s $19), I think it’s better than most of the temporary hair color sprays I’ve used. It doesn’t make my hair feel crunchy (YAY!), and it’s easy to wash out.

OH, EM GEE, change my world, why don’t you?! BECCA Pink Haze Soft Blurring Powder ($38) is a loose makeup setting powder with a sheer pearly pink tint, and it subtly brightens your face, but you can’t, like, really tell when you first put it on. It takes 10-15 minutes before it seems to settle on the skin. Then you can see the subtle soft pink pearl reflecting in the light.

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R+Co Control Flexible Paste for Styles That Hold Tight But Never Feel Stiff

September 22nd, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

r and co control review — R+Co CONTROL Flexible Paste, taming unruly baby hairs one strand at a time

Why are those tiny little hairs along the edge of your hairline called baby hairs? Is it because they’re cute and cuddly and adorable? Naaaaaw, girl. I think they’re called baby hairs because they’re unruly. OK? You can’t control them, they’re unpredictable, and, at any given moment, riiight when you think you have the situation under control, BAM! — they go bananas. HAHA! At least my baby hairs (and my baby) do.

I have a mega crop of baby hairs where my bangs part in the front, and I don’t know about yours, but mine are all uneven and at weird lengths, and — yay, lucky me! — they stick up and out at jarring angles, so I walk around lookin’ like I’ve just been electrocuted.

Girl, if there’s no product in them, I look CRAY, but this new hair styling product by R+Co called Control ($27) really helps. I’ve been using it for a week, and now I’m like ROUGE BABY NO LONGER RUN SH*T HERE.

Control is a soft, waxy styling paste with a semi-matte finish, and it grabs, holds and keeps flyaway hairs in place. It’s strong, but it’s not ’80s-style hairbear stiff, so my bangs can still move and don’t look heavy and greasy.

These days, my numero uno #hairgoal is for my mop to look casual, like IDGAF. Sure, I might’ve fussed over this hair, but nobody needs to know, LOL! In other words, I want the antithesis of prom/beauty pageant hair. Nothing overly lacquered or styled.

r and control before — Baby hairs say WASSSSSUP

r and control after — What baby hairs? Um, please excuse the rand-o white hairs… I’m between coloring appointments and apparently couldn’t be bothered to use Rita Hazan Root Concealer.

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Bumble and Bumble Prêt-à-Powder Très Invisible Dry Shampoo: Another Great Dry Shampoo to Add to Your List

September 21st, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

bumble and bumble pret a powder tres invisible dry shampoo — I may or may not have just sprayed half a pound of this new dry shampoo on my roots…

Man, this stuff smells good! It’s all powdery and musky…and naughty, with just a hint of sweet jasmine.

Can a fragrance smell like you’re purposefully trying to get in trouble? Because that’s how this dry shampoo smells to me. 🙂

There are actually two versions, both of them new from Bumble and Bumble, and both of them with darned-near impossible-to-pronounce (for me) French names, seeing as how I butcher everything en français.

I think I’ll just call them “the new Bumble dry shampoos.” They’re available now in pretty blush pink packaging for $29 each, which gets you a 3.1-oz. bottle.

One of them, Très Invisible, is for normal-to-oily hair, and the other one, Très Invisible Nourishing, is the more moisturizing version for dry, damaged or coarse hair.

They’re called “invisible” because that’s how they’re supposed to look in your hair, even if your hair is dark.

The directions say to spray them from 10-12 inches away from your hair, and to concentrate on your roots, which is pretty is standard for dry shampoo. I can’t see the product at all unless I get carried away and use a ridiculous amount, and even then, I can’t see it anymore after I brush the powder through my hair, which is a step you’re supposed to follow with these.

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R+Co Analog Conditioning Cleansing Foam Is Airy and Epic

August 31st, 2017 by Karen 15 Comments

My shower is a veritable convener belt of hair products. I’m always rotating different ones in and out, and rarely will the same thing stay in there for weeks or months, but it does happen occasionally when I love something A LOT, which is happening right now — this very second! — with $29 R+Co Analog Cleansing Foam Conditioner.

UGH, it’s so good, babe! Like change-your-life good.

Analog cleansing conditioner is unlike anything I’ve ever used. It’s a foam, man! A foam! And it’s airy and light like the top layer of a pumpkin spice latte.

It has moisturizing argan oil and antioxidant-rich green tea, and it doesn’t have harsh mineral oil, parabens or sulfates.

Metaphorically, the fragrance is fresh, fancy, young and expensive to me, with notes of orange, fig, guava, musk and some other things that I can’t put my finger on… I’ll call it “new money minimalist.” It reminds me of something Pinrose would do.

You use it like a regular cleansing conditioner. You wet your hair, massage the foam from roots to ends, then rinse. Unlike most cleansing conditioners, however, many of which leave a film behind and make your hair feel heavy with product, Analog’s frothy foam rinses out completely and makes my hair feel full, light and bouncy, even when I conditioner-wash multiple days in a row.

The end result is clean, hydrated hair with volume.

rco cleansing foam conditioner — I washed with R+Co Analog, applied R+Co High Dive leave-in conditioner, then let it air dry overnight. The next morning, I curled it with a ghd Curling Iron, then sprayed R+Co Sail Soft Wave Spray on my waves.

Oh, and most importantly, when I use it, my hair actually feels clean! You know how some cleansing conditioners leave your scalp feeling like you’re the human version of Pigpen from Peanuts? Like they left behind a layer of sweat and grime in your roots, even though you massaged the living crap outta your hair and thoroughly rinsed, leaving you to feel like a filthy beast?

Yeah, Analog doesn’t do that. The foam breaks down all the oil, grease and dirt on my roots, my scalp and my strands. When I step out of the shower, my scalp feels legit clean.

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Brand Spotlight: Playa Hair Care

August 25th, 2017 by Karen 6 Comments

Next stop: California cool beach waves by Playa

A friend of mine moved to Hawaii, to the island of Oahu, where she stayed for several years, and during all that time — years — whenever she went to the beach, she never went in the water, which just blows my mind!

Then again, I’m a water baby. I could happily paddle around on a surfboard all day long (assuming it’s in warm water, though, because I don’t do freezing surf!).

One thing I’ve always loved about the beach is the tousled beach hair, and new Playa, a new SoCal hair care line, has five products to give you Cali beach waves without any heat styling. So, basically, beach hair without the blow dryer. Or curling iron.

They use coconut water and sugar beet extract in their products, which range from $26-32, so around Bumble & Bumble/Ouai and R+Co prices.

Most of their ingredients — they say between 96-99% — are naturally derived, too. The Dry Shampoo is the only one that doesn’t mention the percentage.

Playa hair!

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Brand Spotlight: Natura Brasil, Made From Brazil’s Rainforests‎

August 11th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

Have you heard of Natura Brasil?

New York friends, here’s another store that you can go to on your next beauty shopping adventure, and that I would LOVE to be able to go to as well if I didn’t live 2,903 miles away… It’s Natura Brasil, and it’s at 240 Elizabeth Street in the heart of Nolita.

They’re Brazilian brand, and I’m not sure how long they’ve been around, but they’re new to me. They’re a big deal in Brazil (If you follow beauty news, they might sound familiar because they recently purchased The Body Shop from L’Oreal! So, yeah, that’s $$$ BIG.), and they do body, bath and hair products. They’re also a favorite of many high-profile Brazilian babes, including Adriana Lima and Gisele.

Even if you aren’t planning a trip to New York anytime soon, you can still try their products, because they’re also available on the Natura Brasil website. Most of their products are about $25 each, so right in the mid-range, similar to The Body Shop and Aveda.

Castanha Body Lotion

I chatted with some PR peeps from the brand to learn more. The company is all about using local Brazilian ingredients, and they work directly with farms and families to source things like castanha (commonly known here in the U.S. as the Brazil Nut) and murumuru (a palm tree with edible nuts that are sometimes added to moisturizers).

Cacau Body Butter

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