*I received this free for testing and reviewing purposes. All opinions are 100% my own*
As someone with rather short hair (and not a lot of it anymore), hair and scalp care has become increasingly more important to me now than when my hair was down to my butt. Thanks to my current treatment routine I have to be very careful or my hair comes out in handfuls and my scalp becomes raw and itchy, which then makes more hair fall out. A hair care system that promises to not only help my hair stay looking shiny and smooth but to help keep my scalp in tip top shape is pretty high on my wants list right now.
The Follicleanse haircare system that I received is designed for oily hair and scalp, but they also make a system for dry hair and scalp in case you fall into that category. A 16 oz bottle is $20, so on the higher end for shampoo and conditioner for most people, myself included. There is a shampoo and a matching conditioner for each system, and just like most hair care products they work best if you use them together.
The shampoo surprised me the first time I used it, it is quite liquidy compared to every other shampoo I've used. And it was green in color, as opposed to the clear shampoo I've become use to. You're suppose to massage it into your hair and scalp for 1 to 3 minutes, then rinse it out. I was concerned about the lather with how liquidy it was, but this stuff lathers like crazy. Massaging it into your hair and scalp for as long as recommended not only helps to make sure your hair is super clean, but increases blood flow to your head which is good for your hair and scalp. There wasn't really a scent to it, maybe vaguely herbal? But not enough to really notice, especially once you put it in your hair.
The conditioner is pretty standard in color (white) and thickness, and with most conditioners you put it in, leave it for a bit, then rinse it out. It left my hair really soft and fluffy, which is nice. My hair is still to short to tell if it increases the shine but I'm not concerned about that aspect right now. And as with the shampoo, the scent was light enough that once I put it in my hair I couldn't really smell it at all. This scent was vaguely floral, kind of your standard conditioner scent.
Despite the hefty price tag I actually really liked this shampoo and conditioner combo. I can totally see myself buying more once I run out, I've seen a huge improvement in my scalp since I started using it. Less dandruff and itching and it just looks healthier. Whether or not it will help to counteract the damage the chemo is doing is yet to be seen, but right now it is helping. If you are interested in purchasing some for yourself you can find it on their website here. And in case you want to save a bit of money you can use the code FC15 for 15% off your entire order. Or if you want to win a set for FREE tell me below in the comments what is your biggest hair frustration. I'll pick a winner at random Wednesday at 9 AM PST.
*I received this free for testing/reviewing purpose. All opinions are 100% my own*
If you are a lover of makeup then you are probably quite aware of the current trend of tear drop shaped blending sponges to apply your makeup. You've probably used one, or have thought about using one. And there are a LOT of them in the market right now, ranging from the $20 Beauty Blender to the one I found at my Dollar Store. The JGOB blending sponge is middle of the pack price wise at $11.99, but how does it perform? That's the question I always ask when I try new things.
The sponge arrives in a hard plastic case (with air holes), which is labelled as being a travel case. It did arrive in one piece, so I guess the case works pretty well. The sponge is super soft, it literally felt like I was applying my makeup with a cloud. And like the more expensive Beauty Blender, if you wet this sponge it will grow in size and become even softer. I preferred to use it wet, my foundation always looked flawless afterwards.
The rounded end is what I preferred for my foundation, while the pointed end is what I used for concealer and around my nose. There is a lot of surface area to use, something those of us who constantly forget to clean our brushes will appreciate. And as far as cleaning goes, it is harder to clean than brushes but it held up to my man handling without tearing so I'd call that a win.
I really liked the JGOB blending sponge, it held up great and my makeup always looked flawless. And like I said, $11.97 plus free Prime shipping makes it middle of the pack price wise so if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to a Beauty Blender this is a good option. And if FREE sounds like a better price, JGOB is letting me run a giveaway! Just comment down below on how you like to apply your foundation (fingers, brush, sponge, small cat...) and I will randomly pick a winner tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM PST.
It's Thursday and that means it is time for my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts!
Rose City Comic Con is this weekend so I am psyched! I didn't make a costume this year, but it'll still be tons of fun. I'm currently picking out which panels I want to see and making my list of must visit comic book people. Anybody else attending this year? I'll post pictures on Instagram so prepare for a bombardment of geeky things.
September means cooler weather (thank god), snuggly sweaters, and Halloween stuff is in stores! I feel like there is already a ton of great items in the store, and even cupcake decorations are stepping up their game. Target has some super cute things up already, including the most ridiculous hats ever. But I'm pretty disappointed in this years ELF Halloween kits. $8 for a lipstick, a mini eyeliner, false lashes, eyeshadow primer, a brush, and an eyeshadow. Last year had way better kits for like $6, so I'm hoping this is just the first wave. If it was on sale/clearance I'd pick a few up but not for $8.
Tomorrow is my next injection, and this one marks the halfway point. As of right now I don't think the Lupron is working at all so I'm pretty frustrated right now. Not really sure what the plan is if it doesn't work, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But this is the weekend I'll be shaving my head I believe. Getting some huge bald spots and it's really upsetting me so away it goes. I'll have some pretty sweet wigs to rock later though so at least I'll still look fabulous.
Have you entered for your chance to win a Measurable Difference eyeshadow palette yet? The contest goes on for another 13 days, so get your entries in and good luck!
If there's one thing I love more than telling you guys about great products it's giving you the opportunity to get free products for yourself. The wonderful people at Measurable Difference are gracious enough to allow me to run a giveaway for ten of their new Desert Nights Eyeshadow palettes. Ten lucky winners will receive a palette containing 5 different colors to mix and match for some seriously awesome smokey eye looks.
About the brand:
Measurable Difference was developed to help the everyday person keep and maintain their youthful glow. The LASHEM line of natural beauty products consists of mascaras, anti-aging creams, and an eyelash booster. They seek to combine the best natural ingredients out there for the highest quality possible.
I'm really drawn to the neutral sandy palette out of the three featured, though they are all really interesting color choices. These would make a great holiday present for that makeup lover in your life, and at $6.99 each are an affordable option. In fact there are lots of great products available on their website as well. Good luck to all who enter the giveaway, I wish I could give a palette to every single one of you!
Ah Thursday, we meet again. As per my usual I'm linking up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts Link Up.
Have you entered my latest Giveaway yet? There is still a week left so if you haven't yet you should get on that. Who doesn't love free stuff?
My Yves Saint Laurent Influenster box arrived! I'll be posting my full review on Saturday, but I will say this has been a pretty exciting box to receive. Might be the most expensive mascara I have ever used or will ever use in my life.
My son just started sparring at the Taekwondo school I teach, how adorable is he in all of his gear? I'm always so proud of how hard he works, and I love that he loves this sport as much as I do. And before anyone worries, nobody is actually hitting or kicking him during the matches I promise. The gear is for added safety, but because of his age there is no contact allowed. And he only spars people skilled enough that I have zero concern of there being an accident. Me on the other hand, I'm getting hit full force during my matches. I've got some nice bruises from the last sparring class, the gear only covers so much. I have a full contact job, not many people can say that.
My Birchbox should be coming in the next few days, so expect that review next week. I kind of feel like this box is taking forever to get to me, normally I receive mine just a few days after the 10th. My preview is pretty good so I'll excuse the tardiness this time. Anybody else's box taking forever to get to them?
Hello and welcome to another one of my weekly link ups with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom. Let's just dive right in shall we?
First off, did you guys see that there is a new GIVEAWAY on my blog? Come enter for a chance to win two 5 oz Evian Facial Spray Bottles from the US Distributor of Evian products, the Wilkes Group. With Summer coming, this is a great product to keep in your beach bag for sure. And hey, who doesn't love free stuff?
So for the first time ever, I actually poked around the Target clearance section for beauty stuff. I shop all other sections all the time and you know how I love a good value, so I can't believe how long it took me to look there. I was actually in a hurry so I just got the one item, but they had a ton of stuff for sure. I got a face cleanser for 41 cents, which is a pretty awesome price. I'll be traveling in April and May a bit so I've been hoarding travel sized items like crazy and this is just the right size for both of my trips.
I love when Google makes little GIFs with my pictures, and this one was amazing. Like a little time lapse video of Monday's manicure. I just had to share it.
Did you guys see that Coastal Scents has released another palette in the Revealed line? The Revealed 3 looks amazing, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm buying the original Revealed as a Birthday gift to myself soon, so maybe I'll snag them both at the same time. If anybody already has it, what do you think of it?
With Summer and warmer weather coming up, I bet quite a few of you are thinking about ways to keep your makeup look good throughout the day or even new ways to soothe burned skin (I married a red head so i spend most of summer treating sun burns). The US Distributor of Evian Facial Sprays, the Wilkes Group, has graciously agreed to let me host a giveaway for two 5 oz spray bottles of their world famous mineral water sprays. Did you know these sprays were originally created at the request of French Doctors wanting something to help with burn patients? These are really great sprays and with supper right around the corner you will want one in your beach bag. The giveaway ends March 29th, so make sure you enter before then. I'm very excited for this and I hope some of you guys win! Good luck!
Ah Thursday, we meet again. Means my work week is just about over, yay! As per my usual, today is my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts.
My hand is doing much better, while my fingers are still pretty mangles. I never did go back and get my hand checked by a competent doctor, way to expensive. Pretty sure there's a fracture or two for sure, which isn't that big of a deal. I'll be taping my fingers for the rest of the month probably, but I should be out of my brace by this weekend I think. Thank you to everyone who get me a "get better soon" message, meant a lot to me.
I've made a few changes to the sidebar of this blog, what do you think? Hopefully it will be a bit easier to find the content you are looking for now. I tried to declutter the sidebar a bit as well, and will probably continue to update the look of the blog over the next week or two. I know I seriously need to update the archives, so that is on the top of my To Do list I promise. I'm also looking into adding a few more items to the Downloads tab, is there anything in particular you would like to see added?
Ulta has a new gift with purchase out, a cute makeup bag stuffed full of Ulta brand cosmetics. I needed some new nail polish anyways so I picked one up to review on this blog. I loved the last gift bag so I'm excited to dig in and test everything out. Expect a review to pop up this weekend for sure. As for the polish I got, I finally replaced my clear top coat (yay!!) and picked up some nice spring colors including a great Marsala shade, which is the 2015 Color of the Year according to Pantone. I have a super cute manicure planned out with some of these colors for Monday, so stay tuned for that.
And finally, the winner of my La Lune Konjac sponge giveaway is....Kellie Lee! Congratulations Kellie!
That's it for this week's Thursday Thoughts, I'll see you guys tomorrow!
*I received this product free for testing and reviewing purposes. All opinions expressed are 100% my own*
I don't typically get home until 10 PM most nights, so by time I'm actually ready for bed it's not only super late but I'm super beat. Which is why my night time skin care routine is pathetically simple and is probably shocking since I'm a beauty blogger. I clean my makeup off, put eye gel, lotion, and maybe some serum or spot treatment on then I crash for the night. I never exfoliate because I just don't have the time to, which means my skin isn't always that great looking. I've been hearing about konjac sponges off and on for the last few months so when I was offered a chance to test them out and review them I was super excited to see what all of the buzz was about.
To show you the size of my unopened one, here is is next to my computer mouse.
If you are like me, you probably have no idea what a konjac actually is. I had to Google it, I'd never heard of it before. So konjac is this really interesting looking plant that is used in Japan for food, the roots are kind of like a yam. So the konjac sponges are a lot like a loofah, a beauty product made from plant fibers. The La Lune ones are 100% pure konjac, so no worries about weird chemicals at all. What you do is soak it in water until it has softened up, press the water out, then use a circular motion to massage it all over your face.
Dried out, ready to be soaked
These sponges are actually really soft once they absorb the water, so I scoffed at the idea of it exfoliating my skin at all. I have never been so wrong. Thing about this as a fine grit sandpaper to polish your skin into the soft and gleaming work of art we all know it is. My skin has never looked better since I started using these, I've actually had complete strangers stop me to ask me what I'm using for skin care because my skin looks so great. And because its so gentle I can use it every day and every night without my sensitive skin getting all red and agitated. Since I'm not using any sort of cream or gel or whatever this added step takes me all of a minute so I'm not sacrificing sleep for an exfoliation treatment at all.
All wet and ready to perform magic on my face.
These should be replaced about every 2-3 months, so to make things easier on you La Lune sells them in a double pack. My time is valuable to me, so being about to go longer between having to buy more is a huge plus in my book. I'd seriously get a Costco size box of these if I could, I'm not exaggerating at all over how much of a difference these have made on my skin. No more gross dry patch between my eyebrows, and I feel like this absorbs the oil off my skin too so I've been having less acne outbreaks. If you would like to purchase some for your self they are available on Amazon.com for $12.99 with free Prime shipping (as of the time of this writing), which isn't bad for two sponges. They also come with a suction cup hook so you can hang the one you are using from your bathroom mirror, which I thought was a nice touch.
But you know what is even better than a good price? FREE!! La Lune has graciously offered my readers a chance to win a free set! You must be 18 or older and a resident of the USA. To enter simply comment down below on your nighttime skin care routine and I will pick one random winner. The winner will be announced in next week's Thursday Thoughts, so make sure you are reading. Good luck to everyone who enters!
EDIT: There was a problem with the collectible tins giveaway, a new giveaway for a giant case of makeup has been put up instead. So sorry for the confusion and good luck on the new giveaway!
*I received these free for reviewing purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and given freely.*
One Direction has put out several makeup sets over the last year, and I was given the opportunity to test and review their latest set, these limited edition Collectible Makeup Tins. There are five of them in all, one for each member, and I received three of them. Now I don't know anything about 1D, couldn't even name a song to save my life, so this review will not cover the 1D aspect of them. They do have an autograph and a picture of the members on them, so I guess that is cool if you like them.
The makeup is exactly the same in all of the tins, which I find silly. Why release five tins if they are all basically the same? I would have done a color scheme that matched the boy's personalities had it been up to me. Each tin comes with six eyeshadows, four lip gloss pans, an eyeliner, a lip gloss topper, and two nail polishes. The makeup itself is made by the brand Markwins, which isn't a bad brand.
Let's start with the nail polish. These are what I would call a mini bottle for sure, only 0.19 fluid oz each. One is a solid color while the other is a clear polish with glitter in it. As far as quality goes they are pretty standard polish, about on par with Wet and Wild or a similar polish
Stole My Heart is a hot pink with some micro glitter in it. I really liked this one, though it needed three solid coats to make it opaque enough for me. But it is a really fun and bright shade that I'll for sure use in the future.
Alive is a multicolor glitter that I think pairs well with the other shade or even looks cute by itself. This is a more chunky glitter than I normally buy, but it gave it a funky edge which goes with the tin well. Overall I think the polishes are great and I'm glad to see them included into the kit.
Next is the eyeliner pencil, called I Want. This is your basic cheap black eyeliner. Not very pigmented and smeared pretty easily. If you wore this out and about, like I did, you would need to bring it with you to touch up throughout the day.
I did find that it smeared a bit while I was at work so I did end up with almost raccoon eyes. Not a liner I would recommend or will continue to use. I think this will go in the play makeup pile I have for my son.
This comes with four lip glosses in a pan, a bright pink one called Loved You First, a pale pink one called One Thing, a shimmery rose called Irresistible, and a bronze one called Heart Attack. I did not try any of these on my lips, they contain coconut so are unsafe for me to use. I did swatch them on my arm and I have to say I'm very impressed by the colors.
Loved You First was very pigmented, almost more of a lipstick than gloss. One Thing was kind of a frosted look, which would be cool layers over another color. Irresistible was also very pigmented and really looks just like it did in the pan. And Heart Attack will give a golden sheen to your lips. No idea about lasting power, I wiped them off pretty quickly to avoid a rash. The bright pink one though stained my arm a bit though.
There was also a lip top coat called Over Again, which is basically a clear gloss with silver glitter you can layer over whatever color you used. This did not contain coconut so I did try it (the swatch is the shiny bit next to the eyeliner swatch), and it wasn't super sticky or gritty like a lot of glitter glosses can be. Glitter gloss is not a normal for me but it could be fun for a night out I guess. If I were a tween I'd be all over this though, I loved me some glitter in jr high.
Untouched, see how pretty it is?
Once used, the lies come to the surface. No more shimmer
Lastly we have the eyeshadows. I would like to first say I'm pretty grumpy about the eyeshadows and I feel like the company was being dishonest in their representation of colors. If you look at the picture at the top of the unswatched palette you will see that all six of the eyeshadows are shimmery and lovely. I especially fell in love with the top middle one, a shade called Tell Me a Lie (the irony of the name is not lost on me). The first test swatch I did was amazing, the colors were beautiful and shimmery and I was super impressed. So the next day I went to put them on for some real world testing and guess what? The beauty shimmery color of the whole top row is actually just an over spray. The shimmery silver is actually a sort of shimmery silver, the GORGEOUS shimmery mocha color is actually MUD BROWN, and the shimmery sea green is actually a pastel sea green. That is deceitful and honestly bad form. Don't lie to your customers about what color they are actually buying, they'll never buy from you again. The bottom row is actually the color it originally looked like, so I have no idea why they did that to the top row.
As far as the actual colors go, The top right is Nobody Compares (muted silver), Tell Me a Lie (Mud Brown) and Same Mistakes (pastel sea green). They aren't to bad on the pigmentation side, but I'm to angry about the fast one they tried to pull to really want to use them now.
The bottom row is I Would (a glittery dark brown), Summer Love (a chalky dark plum shade with a hint of glitter), and Everything About You (a poorly pigmented black that swatches more dark greyish than black). The bottom row was not impressive pigment or color wise. So overall I think they really lost points over the eyeshadow both in the performance and in how they lied to to consumer.
Overall I think these are fine for a tween or someone just getting into makeup but aren't something an experienced makeup user would really like. You can buy these at Target, KMart, Sears (US only), and Walmart (canada only), not sure how much they are retailing for, I haven't seen them at my local Target but I'm guessing somewhere around $20. In case you absolutely have to have one of these, you have a chance to win with this GIVEAWAY! Good luck to all who enter! (Giveaway put on by Markwins)
*I received this product for reviewing purposes. All opinions expressed are my own*
If you've been reading this blog for a while you know I like to make things at home instead of paying through the nose to buy them in a store. There are certain items that you need if you're going to make bath and body products at home, like a good oil, citric acid, sugars, and essential oils. Go take a peak at the ingredient list for most of your acne creams and you'll see the same ingredient pop up over and over and over: Tea Tree Oil. Tea Tree Oil is pretty sweet in that it's multi-purpose, you can use it for just about anything. Dandruff, acne, fungal infection on your nails, cleaning your counters, the list goes on and on.
Apothecary Extracts is a brand that distributes many different products, but I'm going to talk about their Tea Tree Oil, which they were kind enough to send me a bottle of. It's bottled in the USA, but the oil itself comes straight from Australia and has no nasty stuff added to it like preservatives, artificial colors or scents, mineral oils, any of the things I really don't want in my natural products. This is pure, 100% Tea Tree Oil. It comes in a brown glass bottle to help keep the oil from breaking down and getting all gross, which is another plus for me.
The company also gives each of it's customers a free ebook with 53 different recipes for things to make using their product, which I thought was a very nice touch. I'll be adapting a few of the recipes to use here on various Tutorial Tuesdays for sure. I'm thinking a facial toner and a dandruff shampoo for sure, especially with colder weather coming. You can buy this off of Amazon here
Soda can for size reference, and because I was thirsty
I've greatly enjoyed using the product so far, loving that it's a giant 4 oz bottle so I won't be running out anytime soon. And the folks at Apothecary Extracts have graciously agreed to let me run a giveaway for a FREE bottle of their Tea Tree Oil! You must be a US resident with an Amazon account 18 years of age or older to enter. All you have to do is post a comment down below stating what you would use the Tea Tree Oil for and share this link on your Facebook page, and on Tuesday September 30th I'll pick a winner using a random number generator.
First, I'd like to apologize for the really terrible pun, they're kind of my weakness. Second, it's time to announce the winner of my first ever Giveaway! Congratulations to Laney E. on winning the giveaway, please check your email.
Now onto today's Mani Monday, a cute little paw print nail art. The key to pulling this one off is all about the placement and the size. Do it too big or too straight and you'll look like you're in elementary school all over again. I suggest 2 small paw print per nail, going at an angle across your nails. To keep it really subtle and grown up, do just your ring finger as an accent nail.
The supplies you need are: a base color (a neutral color will keep it grown up), black nail polish, and our dotting tool. You could use a very fine brush instead of a dotting tool if you wanted as well.
Step #1: Paint your nails the base color and let them dry completely before you move onto the next step. As always, patience is your friend when doing nail art.
Step #2: Do 4 little dots of your black polish in a gentle arc, these are your toes. Try to keep them on the smaller end, if they are to big them you foot pad will be huge.
Step #3: Using the bigger end of your dotting tool if you have a bigger end, make an upside down jelly bean shape under your toe dots. Try and make it proportionate to the size of your toe dots, but if it end up bigger you can always make the toe dots bigger. This step can take a little bit of time to get just right so hang in there!
Step #4: Step back and admire how adorable your nails look! Use some clear top coat if you want to prolong the life of your manicure. Now go out there and show those nails off.
*This is a sponsored post, brought to you by BrandBacker*
You guys know free is my favorite price, so I'm very excited to be teaming up with BrandBacker to bring you a giveaway for some free makeup! Makeup by One Direction is launching it's new makeup line, sold exclusively through Macy's, and to celebrate I'm hosting a giveaway for an autographed collectible tin full of makeup from the new line. Just enter below in the widget and check out One Direction Makeup on Facebook for more details about the new line, which is super cute and I think you guys will love it. It's fun, bold, and a tad bit mischievous just like the band members that inspired the line. Good luck!
I said that when my page reached 1000 page views I'd do my first giveaway and we reached that goal back in August, which was amazing!
I cannot believe how much this blog has grown over the last two months, and as a way to say thank you to all of my fans I'll be hosting a Giveaway! Technically it's a sweepstakes according to the FCC Laws, you'd be surprised how many rules there are about doing a giveaway! I'm so excited, this is my first giveaway.
The prize pack is: An Ulta makeup bag, an E.L.F VIP Lash Kit, a travel sized Suave Moroccan Infused body lotion, a Hang Ten tanning oil spray, an Avon lip balm in Coconut Blossom, and two E.L.F. nail polishes in Purple Dream and Gina Girl. Also included is a copy of The Hunger Games as a bonus non-beauty item.
To enter just use the rafflecopter Widget down below. Because of FCC rules this is only open to 18 or older US Residents, sorry to my international followers. The winner will have one week to send me a shipping address, otherwise I'll pick a new winner. The winner will be randomly determined so good luck!
