Easiest waves: Living Proof Perfect Hair Day In Shower Styler Review

Affiliate Links

I'm not a hair person. Really not. For all my interest in skincare and makeup, all I want from my hair is to look halfway decent with the minimum possible effort. Fortunately I've always had naturally very straight hair, so while I've envied wavy and curly hair, I also appreciate that my hair type suits my laissez-faire approach (a different kind of straight privilege). My usual "styling" involves applying a little smoothing/detangling serum to my wet hair, combing through it with my Wet Brush (briefly reviewed here), and letting it air dry. Often I use a big mascara wand with liquid gel or hairspray on it to smooth the flyaways on either side of my part. If I'm feeling extremely ambitious, I might blow-dry it with a round brush, but even then I usually get bored and stop before my hair is completely dry.

Some time last year I noticed that my hair was sometimes doing something that almost approximated waviness. Like, probably not enough that another reasonable person would apply the "wavy" label to it, but it had slightly more body and texture than it'd had in the past for some reason. I got a mini-tube of this Living Proof In-Shower Styler in a Sephora Play box, and when I used it, even with limited instructions, the waviness was amplified. Exciting! Once I'd finished the mini, I bought a full-size that came with more detailed directions for use, and finally I could achieve actual, noticeable waves with almost no work. I'll explain how I think it works best for my hair type below.

Recently I chopped off my long hair to just above my shoulders. While I'm enjoying the length, it's not the best shape. It has a tendency to flip out at the bottom even if I curl it under, and it puffs out to an annoying triangular shape. I know I could go back to get it fixed, but I really don't enjoy getting haircuts, and so I'm just dealing with it for now. I've found, however, that I like it much, much better wavy than straight. The waves seem to disguise the flaws in the cut, and I've always been enamored of a wavy or curly bob anyway.

As a point of comparison, here is how my hair looks if I use shampoo, conditioner, and a little smoothing serum, and then let it air dry. It's just a pyramid of meh.

Here's how it looks after using the Living Proof In-Shower Styler:

Much better, I think! (Why the color looks so much different, I don't know. It seems to shift a lot depending on the lighting.)

So, the way this stuff works is that you shampoo and condition your hair, and then you apply enough of it to completely coat your hair from roots to ends. You rinse it, but only very briefly. You should still be able to feel the slippery texture of the product in your hair after rinsing. If you use too little product or rinse it too thoroughly, you won't get much wave. If you use too much product, it'll be a little crunchy and wet-looking, rather than soft and natural. It takes some trial and error to get it right. You can lightly towel dry and then periodically scrunch your hair as it dries, with no additional product (which is what I usually do). (For others with straight hair who have never had a reason to scrunch, there are good gifs here to illustrate the technique.) If you want curlier hair, however, you can also try plopping, which I've done with nice results. (And here is how to plop your hair--a long-sleeved t-shirt works great.)

Here's how my (naturally straight! remember!) hair looks while it's still wet, just after towel drying and scrunching with the In-Shower Styler:

When it's dry, you can comb your fingers through it or scrunch it some more to soften the texture. That's it! It's very simple and not at all time-consuming. I usually get similar waves to the ones I can create with a straight iron, which isn't exactly labor-intensive, but that's a less lazy method for sure.

My favorite part is that I can wash my hair and use the In-Shower Styler before bed, do the whole scrunching thing, and go to bed before it's completely dry. In the morning, I can just wet my hands and scrunch it again to get nice waves back. I'm sure spritzing with water would work too. I do this on the second day, too, instead of washing again. (Dry shampoo forever!)

There are other products out there that will probably get you similar results, but this stuff has the advantage of only taking a few seconds in the shower and leaving me with smooth, fairly shiny waves in the end. It also happens to smell great, and my tube has lasted me for months of (not daily, but) regular use.

Here's another photo to show the air-dried waves from the side:

It worked when I had long hair too, but the waves were a bit looser, naturally.

For someone like me who has always wanted waves but has been too lazy to work at it, it's fucking sorcery. The cheapest place I've seen the Living Proof In-Shower Styler is on Amazon. ULTA also sells a travel size, if you're not sure you want to commit. Highly recommended!

Obviously the techniques I'm describing in this post will be familiar to many, if not most, people with natural curl, but in the past I'd never had occasion to use them, so I had to do a little research first. I'd be curious to hear how this product works for people who already have naturally wavy or curly hair, since the instructions say it can be used for a range of hair textures. Let me know if you've tried it!

Do I Need This? Root touch-up hair dye

Affiliate Links

Welcome to the latest installment of my Do I Need This? series. In these posts, I offer my experience and opinions about whether or not I think a product or technique is worth it. Obviously, you don't really need ANY beauty products, so the answer to the question is always going to be no, to some extent. But is it going to change your life (or face)? Is it going to make things easier? Are you going to notice any difference at all? That's what I'm getting at. You may disagree with my verdict, because we all have different bodies/faces/brains/desires, but I'll try to offer a starting point, at least.

Do I need a root-touch up hair dye product? 

Short answer: No, just buy a regular box of dye that's a good match and a brush to apply it to your roots.

Here's the story: A few months ago, I dyed my hair red, which is a color I love having, but which is one of the most difficult to keep up. Most reds fade like crazy. The two biggest causes of fading hair color are sun and water. I already stay out of the sun for the most part, but for good measure I also used a UV serum from Alterna that I bought from Hollar. At the same time, I cut back washing my hair from 6-7 times a week to every second or third day (and increased my dry shampoo use accordingly). My red still faded, but less than it might otherwise have done. The downside to my success was that my naturally dirty blonde roots became increasingly noticeable as they grew in.

At first I was just going to buy a box of the dye I'd originally used, L'Oreal Superior Preference 6AB Chic Auburn Brown, which I bought from Amazon. I like coloring my own hair. It's fun. It's cheap. And normally I'm pretty good at it. You can see how it looked right after I colored it on my Instagram here. But I had a CVS coupon. Unfortunately, neither of the CVS stores near me had that specific color in stock. So instead of paying full price ($9) for another box from Amazon, I decided to use the coupon for a box of Clairol Nice n Easy Root Touch-Up, which ended up costing about $6-7. The color range is quite small, so I went with what seemed closest to the current, slightly faded color of my lengths, 6R Light Auburn/Reddish Brown.

I quickly experienced some buyer's remorse and contemplated returning it and getting the real deal. But I convinced myself to give it a shot. If it worked, I'd have saved a little money. If it didn't work, I'd get a blog post out of it, at least.

Spoiler: It didn't work, and here's my blog post.

My first mistake was believing, without confirming, that this root touch-up stuff would be something like the Just For Men dyes, where you custom mix just the amount you need, and then you can reuse what's left in the future when your roots grow in a bit more. No, of course we ladies cannot have something as practical as that. It's a single-use product. You mix the two components of the dye in a little tray, and it comes with a brush to paint the color on your roots. The instructions tell you to start with the most visible roots at the front and in your part, and then work from there. Because I was paranoid that there would be a stark difference between my roots and the rest of my hair, I used the brush to pull some of the dye down in streaks from my roots, especially at the front. It was a good idea, because if I hadn't, I think it would have looked even worst than it did.

The thing with red dye is that for the first couple of days it tends to be WAY BRIGHTER than the color it soon settles into. So when I rinsed out the dye, let my hair dry, and found that I now had pretty intense, burgundy-red hair on the top of my head (light auburn brown my ass), I tried to remain calm. Give it a couple of days, and it might fade to the promised shade. Here's how it looked on day 1:

I actually think the contrast is somewhat less noticeable in the photos than it was in person, but you can see the darker red framing my face (again, that would have stopped abruptly had I not combed the color through a bit).

Okay, three days later:

Not better. I also took photos on the fourth and fifth and sixth days, but I won't bore you with them, because they're the same. On the one hand, kudos to this hair color for staying power! Too bad it's neither light nor reddish brown.

Eventually, since I'd created this mess just before moving, I found time about a week later to completely redo my hair color. I used Clairol Nice n Easy 6.5R Natural Light Radiant Auburn--which is much more radiant than natural and was definitely clown-orange for a couple of days. But it's more realistic, and very pretty, now. (I'd asked for recommendations on Instagram for good red dyes, and then ended up not using them, because with a combination of coupons and ExtraBucks, this box of dye cost me 12 cents at CVS. But I am keeping that excellent list of suggestions for future reference.)

In the end, I can't advise buying a product like this, particularly if you are touching up your roots after using a color that has faded significantly. Possibly with a dark brown, where you can be more assured of a match, and where the old color is more likely to have stayed deep and rich despite your roots growing out, you might have better luck. But with a red dye, it's a gamble. Since the regular price of one of these kits is $8+, you'd be much better off just finding your original color on sale (or not!) and using that to touch up your roots. Hair color brushes are not difficult to come by, so there's no need to buy a root touch-up kit just to get one of those. I got my mixing bowl and brush from Sally Beauty, but here's a set for $3 and free shipping on Amazon.

I walked around for a week looking like a failed beauty experiment, but at least I did it for science the blog.

New Before and After Photos using John Frieda Luxurious Volume 7-Day In Shower Treatment

Affiliate Links

I've been spending my free time between work and cat nursing tying up some loose ends around here. I'd always hated the photos I used in my review of the John Frieda Luxurious Volume 7-Day In Shower Treatment, which is a great product that I've been using for a couple of years now. Everything else in that review remains the same, except that in addition to having fine hair, I feel like my hair has got  bit thinner lately as well. I've updated the photos in the original post, but I'll include them here as well. I used the same products for both photos, and styled them the same way (partially air dried and then blow dried with a round brush). The volume in the after photo isn't major drama, but my hair is definitely fuller. I like this stuff a lot. Check out the original post for full details.

Before:

After:

My favorite dry shampoo: Batiste Cherry

Disclosure: Affiliate links.

I use dry shampoo pretty regularly. I have what I think is best described as combination hair: oily at the roots, dry at the ends. Because it's oily, I can't do that whole thing where you don't wash your hair for 4-5 days that I always see recommended on blogs. It would get nasty. I know people say if you stop washing your hair as frequently, it stops being as oily, but I don't know if I believe that--and I am not willing to go a few weeks with smelly, greasy hair to test that theory. If you have been endowed with hair the "looks better the second day," I fully admit my jealousy. Without dry shampoo, if I wash my hair before bed the night before, it's limp and stringy by the following late afternoon or evening. With dry shampoo, I can go between 36-48 hours without washing my hair, but that's it. I'm fine with that. I try to stretch it out to those 48 hours so that I can avoid drying out the rest of my hair with excessive washing, and that's where dry shampoo fits into my routine.

So it serves a definite function, but at the same time, I know that I don't need to keep buying cans of it for $6, because lots of less expensive substances, like corn starch, will work just about as well. That's what I used to use before I even knew that dry shampoo in a can existed. The advantage of a simple loose powder, other than cost, is that it doesn't create a cloud around your head that you have to avoid inhaling. The disadvantage is that it's messier and harder to distribute evenly than an aerosol. I also prefer my dry shampoo to have a nice scent, and though I've thought about ways to add fragrance to corn starch, I've never got around to actually experimenting with that. I end up going back to dry shampoo cans, even though I sometimes think I shouldn't.

Accordingly, I've reviewed a lot of dry shampoos on this blog. Some of them good, some of them terrible, but I kept trying new ones, because I felt like there had to be one out there that ticked all the boxes for me: pleasant but not overwhelming fragrance that doesn't make me cough or sneeze, doesn't leave powdery residue on my scalp, absorbs oil, doesn't give a bad texture to my hair, doesn't make my hair look dull, adds a little volume, easy to spread though the hair and brush out. I've used some dry shampoos do well on some or most of those requirements, but there was almost always something not quite right.

Lots of people recommended Batiste, but I'd tried their original scent ages ago and didn't like it, so I sort of ruled them out. Most of the other scent descriptions don't sound like things I would like: "wild" (i.e. vanilla and musk) or "blush" etc. But I do like fruity scents, so long as the fruit isn't apple or watermelon. Or banana. Or coconut or raspberry. I'm really picky about fragrance, apparently. An unpleasant perfume can ruin an otherwise decent product for me. I'd never seen the Cherry scent in a store, but I noticed it one day last fall on Ulta's website and decided to go for it. It was an excellent choice, because this dry shampoo covers all the bases for me. So, to repeat myself for eeeeemphasis, these are all the things I like about Batiste Cherry Dry Shampoo:

• Smells good, but not overpowering.
• Not messy.
• Doesn't leave white residue on my scalp or roots.
• Absorbs oil well.
• Easy to distribute evenly through hair and to brush out.
• Leaves my hair feeling soft and normal, not rough or stiff. Easy to run my fingers through my hair after using it.
• Adds a little volume.
• Leaves my hair looking as shiny as it ordinarily is rather than dulling the shine at the roots/crown.
• Can matches my blog's color scheme. (Obviously the most important feature.)

Here are the requisite awkward before and after photos of the top of my head. Before (24 hours after washing):

After (just looks like normal, clean hair, I think):

If I had to come up with a criticism, it's that sometimes I find the fragrance that lingers in my bathroom after I use it a little strong. Other days, I'm not sure why I had a problem with it. I think it just depends on my mood. It is a slightly floral, cherry scent, a bit like the opening, very ephemeral notes of Escada's Cherry in the Air perfume. If you don't like the taste/smell of cherry candy, then you should probably choose a different scent.

I reviewed this stuff on Instagram last year, but then I decided to use up all my old, inferior dry shampoos before buying any more. I almost made it through them, but I do still have a little bit of that Klorane dry shampoo to finish. I picked up my latest (third) can of Batiste when Target had a beauty sale recently, because Target seems to sell it for slightly cheaper than most other places to begin with ($6). It costs the same amount in store or online at Target, unlike some things they sell, and I have actually seen the Cherry variety on the shelves there recently. Amazon has it for $6 right now too.

So that's it! I've found my favorite, and as of now I plan to keep using this until I become ambitious and responsible enough to DIY a scented corn starch, I guess.

Surly Sunday Screed: Pantene isn't crap

I got my hair cut recently and complained a little about it on Instagram. I tend to only get it cut a couple of times a year. I try for every 3-4 months, but I usually don't manage it. I put it off for a long time for a few reasons: it's expensive; I don't particularly enjoy making small talk with a stranger for an hour; I have to take my glasses off and, because my eyesight is so poor, that adds to the awkwardness; and I don't have a regular stylist now, so it's always a gamble trying to find someone new who will give you a cut you like. That means there's a lot riding on each salon visit. I went back to the salon I usually go to (though the stylist I used to see left a while back), which I like for two main reasons. First, they give a scalp massage before the cut, which can be amazing. Second, they don't pressure me too much to buy their products, which I can't afford. They usually tell me what they're using, and why, which is interesting, but that's it. And I have actually purchased some of the things they used in the past, but I can't swing it now, and I don't like the hard sell.

Well, this time the gamble did not pay off, and I could tell it was not going to be a great experience from the beginning. As soon as I sat down, she asked me what kind of shampoo and conditioner I use. Never a good sign. My hair is very dry in general -- and especially at that moment because I had been avoiding buying new products for a few months, and instead just using up some old shampoo I had on hand for my boyfriend that was not doing anything to help the dryness. I was also using some expensive, "natural" conditioner that was equally useless. So I mumbled some (drugstore) brand name, and she immediately launched into a lecture about why "grocery store" and "drugstore" products are terrible for your hair. You've heard it before. They deposit "wax" on your hair which builds up and makes it rough and dry (unlike the expensive "natural," "botanical" products she could sell me). She explained that the reason my hair doesn't take a curl is because I have all this gunk on it that won't allow styling products to penetrate the hair, because it's like having a plastic glove over my hair. (Do I want hairspray to penetrate my hair? That's not generally how it works.) Never mind that my hair has never curled well with heat, even when I was a child. The worst part was that she delivered this inept and misinformed lecture while giving me my scalp massage, so she was half-assing the massage, and I was simultaneously annoyed by the nonsense she was spouting.

I know there are worse things going on in the world right now. This ranks as an annoyance, not a disaster.

I don't entirely blame the hair stylist, because I know that this sort of thing is part of her training and part of her job. It's what she's been taught, and she believes what she's saying. "Pantene is horrible because it deposits silicone on your hair and it builds up and forms a film that weighs down your hair." Yes, most conditioners deposit a film on your hair. That's how they work. It's the film that makes it soft and smooth and shiny (with the exception of very few ingredients, like coconut oil). That is true for both drugstore and salon conditioners and styling products. All you have to do is look at the ingredients to see that they are very similar in higher and lower end products. Silicone is fine for your hair - it washes right out with shampoo. So even if you are concerned about build-up, all you have to do is use a clarifying shampoo once or twice a week to clear it up. I know that some people with curly hair prefer to avoid silicone, which is a legit choice - but even if you accidentally use a product containing it, it's easy to shampoo out. If silicone didn't wash off with soap or detergent, most of us would have a thick coating of it on our skin, because it's also an ingredient in a lot of lotions and moisturizers.

Pantene adds more silicone than some other products, because they make a conditioning shampoo. You can read all the specifics of how it works in this post from The Beauty Brains, in which they also answer someone's question about why Pantene isn't sold in salons if it's "so good." The answer, in short, is because they wouldn't make nearly as much money from it as they do now. (Sidenote: I'm really sad that when The Beauty Brains lost their archives, they lost the post in which they collaborated with a stylist who swore she could tell the difference between hair washed with drugstore and salon products. In a blind test she was right less than 50% of the time - which suggests that if she was choosing the "nicer" hair, the drugstore product might have been better. It was so good.)

Anyway, the anti-drugstore spiel that you get from hair stylists and that other people repeat over and over is another version of "it's better because it costs more." Some expensive products are great, and some are crappy; ditto for cheaper stuff like Pantene. Here's an good explanation of why people think cheap things are worse, even though there is little correspondence between cost and value today (h/t Liz, thanks!):


In the end, I also didn't get the haircut I wanted (if I can tuck them behind my ears, they aren't bangs!), and I had to leave to get lunch with some friends, so I couldn't stick around to get it fixed. But the most annoying part was the concern-trolling, nonsensical sales pitch. Experiences like these are why I don't relate much to people who find getting a hair cut relaxing. If you do, I guess I need to go to your stylist!

Poof! Review of Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
I'm a big user of dry shampoo, since I have oily-yet-dry hair. If I can go a day without washing it, I will, to prevent the lengths from drying it out any more than necessary. But the roots get greasy quickly, so dry shampoo is absolutely necessary if I want to go more than 24 hours between washes. In fact, even if I wash my hair before bed, I usually need a little dry shampoo to get me through the next day without my hair going limp and stringy. In a pinch, corn starch works just fine. But sprays are usually easier and quicker to use, so I've tried (and reviewed) a lot of them in an attempt to identify my favorite one.

And I think I have found the best one! Only it's not the product I'm reviewing here. It's Batiste Dry Shampoo in Cherry, which costs about $8. The many other fragrances of Batiste presumably work just as well, but this is my favorite scent. I went through two cans last fall and winter and didn't have time to write up a proper review (just a quick one on Instagram). When I replace it, I will review it, finally.

In the meantime, I've been using Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk. Like many of the other pricier products I've reviewed here during the last year, I wouldn't have tried this if I hadn't been able to use Birchbox points to buy it. Even so, I got it in a Birchbox sale, so I didn't have to spend a full $20 worth of points on it. Klorane always pops up when people talk about their favorite dry shampoos, so I wanted to see if it was somehow better than the cheaper ones I've used. I've fallen into that trap before. It's not. But it does have some good qualities.

One of the most interesting things about this dry shampoo is the packaging. It's not an aerosol can. It's a flexible plastic bottle that you squeeze to send a poof of powder out of the nozzle. It works pretty well, although of course you can't get a continuous spray like you can with an aerosol, so you tend to end up with powder concentrated in certain spots. But non-aerosol dry shampoos seem to last a lot longer than aerosols. I just finished the Oscar Blandi powder reviewed here last week, and I've been alternating this Klorane with that since at least last December, and I think it's still about half full. (It also comes in a regular aerosol can.)

Empties, empties, empties

I'm keeping track of what I've finished so I can remember whether it's worth ever using again. Plus, posts like this give me more motivation to use what I have instead of buying anything new - though I haven't bought much of anything in the last few months, other than the couple of things I've written about. That must mean it's working (?).

These particular photos were taken in mid-June, so I'm a bit behind in posting them, I guess. That's really besides the point, in my opinion. It's not meant to be a real-time diary.

I've been collecting all these bottles for months now, and since not all of this stuff can be recycled by my municipal program, my plan is to request a label from TerraCycle and send it in there (other than the foil packets, of course). Has anyone else done that?

As always, foils and shampoo/conditioner don't get comments unless there's something remarkable about them.

Makeup

Paula's Choice foundation samples: I wasn't super impressed with any of these. Swatched and reviewed here.

Milani Brow Tint Pen: It finally dried up. Decent product, especially for tinting light brow hairs (rather than filling in sparse patches). Swatched and reviewed here.

Joe Fresh Lip Stain in Tangerine: I'm pretty sure that these have been discontinued. I bought it on sale at Superstore when I was visiting my family in Canada a couple of years ago. I was planning to include it in my original quest for coral post, but I found that it had dried up. No big loss - it barely showed up on my lips anyway.

Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara: This was a serviceable mascara, but I don't know that there was anything particularly bold about it. It made my eyelashes darker, a little thicker, and a little longer. It didn't smear or flake too badly. That's about the minimum I can ask in a mascara. The main problem I had with it was that when I pulled the brush out of the tube, it always had huge globs of mascara all over it, so to use it I had to wipe it off on a kleenex every time. That's too much of a hassle (and a waste). I've never been wowed by a Revlon mascara, and generally people don't seem to talk much about their mascaras. Not the strong suit of the brand, I think.

Make Up Forever Smoky Lash Mascara: This was part of last year's Sephora birthday gift (I'm really looking forward to picking up this year's next month: Nars lip crayons!). I actually really liked the formula of the mascara. It made my lashes look great. But the brush was not a good fit for my eyes. It's shaped like a pine tree: pointy on the end and huge at the bottom. I couldn't get the lashes at the corners of my eyes with either end of the brush without making a mess. I think you have to have big eyes and lashes to make this work properly.

(Cut in case you're not into the empties thing and want to scroll on past - this is going to get long.)

Update: How that John Frieda volume treatment actually works (from The Beauty Brains)

I posted that I'd had good results with the John Frieda 7-Day Volume Treatment a while ago, but I wasn't sure what was in it that made it work. The cosmetic chemists at The Beauty Brains have explained it all for us. It's the polyimide-1 ingredient that does it, if that means anything to you. They spell it all out at the link, so I won't repeat it here. Their conclusions seem to be the same as what I came to empirically: it will create some volume, though not a huge amount, which will last for a few days, and it will probably work better on some hair types than others.

(Note: They say that you need to blow dry after the first application to get it to really work, but I had increased volume when I just air dried as well.)

Instagram Mini Reviews

I'm away from home at the moment, and don't have the photos I need to finish any of the posts I've started recently. Instead, here's a quick round up of some mini reviews I've posted on Instagram in the last couple of months for those who don't use it. If you follow on Instagram: sorry - I'll have something more interesting for you soon.

It's a 10 Miracle Leave In Product

Maybelline ColorSensational Lipstick in Maple Kiss: On my lips here and swatch comparison here

Derma-e Evenly Radiant Brightening Day Crème SPF 15

Sally Hansen Triple Shine Making Waves: Nail swatch, then 4 days wear and 5 days wear

Suave Natural Infusion Strengthening Light Leave In Cream

Plus: how to paint your toenails without making a mess and my final Birchbox

Bigger Better Hair (Review of John Frieda 7-Day Volume In-Shower Treatment)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
I got a mini bottle of John Frieda 7-Day Volume In-Shower Treatment from Target. They have interesting samples every now and then on this page, so it's worth bookmarking and checking when you think of it.

John Frieda Luxurious Volume 7-Day Volume Treatment

I didn't have high hopes for this product. Here are the claims, from the description on Amazon:

• Texturally transforms fine hair, leaving it full even after multiple washes
• Semi-permanent treatment establishes a base for volumized styling, achieving a look that was previously viewed as unattainable
• Works by penetrating into each fiber and amplifying each hair strand for lift that lasts through multiple washes

 I expected one of two possible outcomes:

1. It would make my hair rough, frizzy, or dry (i.e. "texturally transform" it), or; 
2. Nothing.

I was really pleasantly surprised with the results. The way this works is that, after shampooing and conditioning, you apply it all over your hair and leave it for about 5 minutes and then rinse. It doesn't replace shampooing and conditioning - it's an extra step. Some of the reviews on Amazon seem to have missed that point. Far from leaving my hair drier or duller, it actually made it softer and a tiny bit shinier. It seemed to add some extra conditioning so that I could easily brush through it while it was still wet without adding extra product (using the Wet Brush, which is magic and is something I really should review here - but still, sometimes it's easier than others, depending on my hair's condition). 

The volume increase was subtle but definitely noticeable. It doesn't create big, dramatic, country-singer hair like a volumizing powder will, but it adds extra volume and body throughout the hair, not just at the roots. It just looks like you have more, thicker hair.

For some reason, I had a hard time capturing the change in photos. I don't know if it's the lighting or the angle or what. A professional photographer I am not. But I do know that I didn't imagine the difference, because I used it multiple times to make sure it was doing what I thought it was doing. Here are before and after photos, both taken after I let my hair air dry and didn't add any additional product. The style doesn't look very cute, but I didn't want any extra steps to affect my comparison. (And obviously I need a trim.)

I've updated the photos to show the change more clearly. I used the same products in each photo (with the exception of the In Shower Treatment, which I only used for the after photo, of course). I also styles my hair the same way: partially air dried and then blow dried with a round brush.

Before:

After:

I think it looks like I have about 30% more hair. You can also compare this photo on Instagram, which shows my usual, flat hair, with this one or this one, both taken after using the treatment.

I do not have thin hair, but I have fine hair, and quite a lot of it. I think this may make me the ideal candidate for getting good results with this product. If you have thin hair, I suspect you will notice some results but not as obvious ones, because the more hairs it can thicken, the better. 

I honestly have no idea how this product works. Like I said, the texture of my hair doesn't feel rougher or stiffer, and it doesn't feel coated with anything - it just looks thicker. My hair has a tendency to hang there limply, and this stuff gives it a little more oomph. Is that clear and descriptive? Ha.

Here are the ingredients, in case you have any insight to provide:

Water, Isodecyl Neopentanoate, Pvp, Polyquaternium-37, Vp/Va Copolymer, Cetyl Alcohol, Polyimide-1, Benzyl Alcohol, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Fragrance, Silicone Quaternium-18, Trideceth-6, Malic Acid, Trideceth-12, Glycine, Steartrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Pg-Propyl Silanetriol, Alcohol Denat., Amp-Isostearoyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Green 3.

Most of the first several ingredients seem to be things like emulsifiers and film formers that you would find in regular shampoos and conditioners. Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose absorbs water and prevents evaporation, so maybe what is happening is that it's keeping extra water in the strands of hair and plumping it that way. Here is an article on other hair thickening products from L'Oreal that seem to work in a similar way, which may provide some clues.

[ETA: The Beauty Brains explained that it's actually the polyimide-1 that is the magic ingredient.]

I still have enough left in my little bottle for one more round with this stuff, and then I think I will buy myself a bottle. It gives my hair a little extra life without blowdrying it upside down, which is what I do when I am not feeling too lazy (i.e. very occasionally). I wouldn't say the effects last a full 7 days, but they do last 4-5 days before the volume starts to decrease significantly.

I would recommend this product if you have sad, limp hair like mine and want a change. Right now Amazon has it for $6, making it the cheapest anywhere I've found it. Of course Amazon prices jump around all the time, so do your homework.

Anyone else tried this stuff or something similar? What kind of results did you have?

Empties 2015, Part III (Hair and Body)

Here are some more things I've finished up so far this year. It's kind of fun to keep track of this shit. It's nice to feel like I've accomplished something, even if it is incredibly fucking trivial. I finished a bottle of shampoo! Whatever! So many things in my life are incomplete, but that's not. Plus I have a record to look back at for future purchases.

Hair Products

Generally, I don't write much about shampoo and conditioner or foils, since the former are rarely exciting enough in a good or bad way to warrant comment, and the latter are usually too small to form an opinion about. In the absence of any other information, assume something is just fine. So this should be fairly short.

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Cherry: I've reviewed a bajillion dry shampoos on the blog here, but even though I went through two cans of this in the fall, and it's the best one I've tried yet, I haven't written a proper review of it. (Mini Instagram review here, though.) I'll do one with before and after photos when I buy some more, but first I have to use up some more expensive and less impressive dry shampoos (including the Oscar Blandi one reviewed here).

Davines OI Conditioner (mini)

Pantene Smooth & Sleek Shampoo and Conditioner (minis)

Carol's Daughter Sacred Tiare Anti-Breakage Anti-Frizz Leave-In Cream (mini): It didn't really seem to do anything. I don't have much frizz, per se, though I do get quite a bit of breakage. Maybe didn't use this regularly enough to notice a difference.

Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray (mini): I like this product, and it smells great. If I were in the market for another beach spray, I'd get this one. I used it to make loose waves in this post, which is maybe not the best advertisement for it. My favorite part is the spray nozzle, so I saved this bottle for some future purpose, to be determined.

Davines Minu shampoo (mini)

John Frieda Luxurious Volume Shampoo and Conditioner (foils)

Teadora Rainforest at Dusk Shampoo and Conditioner (minis): Smelled better that Rainforest at Dawn (mentioned here), but otherwise just as mediocre and overpriced.

DermOrganic Daily Conditioning Shampoo and Masque (minis)

Pantene Expert Age Defy Shampoo and Conditioner (foils)

L'Oreal Total Repair 5 Shampoo and Conditioner (foils)


Body Products

Unknown foaming body wash: Got it as a consumer trial, so I have no idea what it is. It comes out of the pump as a moussey foam, and I haven't seen anything like it in store yet. It lasted forever.

Essential Elements Wake Up Rosemary Body Lotion (mini): One of the endless fucking supply of hotel lotions Birchbox has been sending me. Very strongly scented; the initial rosemary fragrance fades quickly to just mint. Worked okay as a hand lotion.

Vitabath Fragrance Mist in Nouveau Rose: I got this from Influenster a million years ago (or October 2012, to be more precise). It had a perfectly fine rose scent, but I don't really use body sprays, so it took some creativity to finish it up. I used it as room freshener, fabric deodorizer, etc. Finally, when there was about an inch and a half of liquid left in the bottle, I just started spraying it on myself every single time I got out of the shower and that eventually killed it.

Nivea Extended Moisture Body Lotion (foil): Makes a good moisturizing hand lotion.

Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream: Spent some Birchbox points on this and used it for most of the winter. It has a nice, fresh grapefruit scent. I wasn't particularly impressed by it while I was using it, but when it was gone and I was left with other things, I missed it. It moisturized well without being greasy, yet it didn't leave my hands feeling really soft. I think I prefer hand creams with a little more silicone for a smoother sensation. While I liked it, I wouldn't spend real money on it, because it costs $15 for 2.5 oz. That's too much for hand cream.

Avon Haiku Roll-On Antiperspirant: I don't usually include deodorant in these things, but there it is. Pretty fragrance, incredibly fucking cheap ($2), and it works well, but there is something supremely unpleasant about rolling cold goo in your pits - and then flapping around like a chicken while you wait for it to dry.

Curel Intensive Healing Cream (mini): I think I finally only have 1.5 of these little tubs left. I use it as hand cream before bed. It's okay (reviewed here).

So that's that, though I still have photos of empty makeup and skincare stuff to post once I have a chance. Getting shit done.

Empties II

According to my phone I took this photo February 22, and I hadn't had time to post it until today. Obvious these things are not very up to date, and I've finish a bunch of shit in the meantime, which will have to wait until who knows when for a post. It's like some very boring version of time travel.

I didn't arrange them in the photo in a way that is conducive to neat categorization, I'm afraid, so I hope my grouping isn't too annoying. (As usual I'm not necessarily going to say much about shampoo/conditioner or foils unless there was something memorable about them.)

I have such a ridiculous hoard of mini shampoos and lotions and foils that I'm trying to use them up before I buy any more full size products, so expect lots of little things for the next while.

Makeup

Boots No. 7 Lift and Luminate foundation: Reviewed here. As you can see, I sadly did not finish it before it started to separate, and since it's in an airtight pump, I can't even shake it to mix it together a bit. I like the formula, but it's too dark, so I don't know if I'd buy it again, even though I have some white base to mix with it. And now no use for the white.

Be a Bombshell Eyeliner in Onyx: Got it from Ipsy once upon a time. It's a really fat felt tip pen. It only used it a few times before it dried up.

Mascara: I got this in a consumer testing program, so I'm not allowed to say what brand it is. But if you know your mascara tube shapes, you might recognize it. It's a pretty famous one. If you could see the brush, you would definitely recognize it. That's all I'm going to say! Sshhhh!

Lancome Cils Booster XL Mascara Primer (mini): Honestly, I'm not sure these primers do anything that another coat of mascara wouldn't do.

e.l.f. Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in Party: Reviewed here. It still hadn't dried up, but the smell went funky, so it had to go. But it lasted 2 years, not bad for a cream shadow.

Avon Glazewear Lip Gloss in Apple Cinnamon: Reviewed here. The longer I had this, the grittier it got, so when it started to look chunky in the tube too, I tossed it. It probably had it for two years before it got bad.

Hair

Teadora Rainforest at Dawn Shampoo and Conditioner (minis): Really mediocre, packaged in stiff bottles that you can't squeeze, and certainly not worth the price.

Jhirmack SilverPlus shampoo: This is dark purple shampoo that I bought this when I tried to dye my hair dark blond and it turned strawberry blond. It made no difference - I guess it only works on very light hair. It is an extremely strong shampoo that was good for weekly clarifying, though.

Nexxus Humectress conditioner: One of my favorite conditioners ever. Make my hair soft and shiny and easy to comb.

Dove Oxygen Moisture shampoo (mini)

Davines OI Conditioner (foil)

Lotions and Moisturizers

Ahava Age-Perfecting SPF 15 hand cream (foil): Smells like sunscreen and wasn't particularly moisturizing. I wouldn't buy it anyway, because I make an effort not to buy products from companies that operate in the occupied territories.

Chanel Le Lift Anti-Wrinkle Cream (foil): No noticeable effects other than a fucking obnoxious fragrance.

Philosophy Renewed Hope (foil)

Moody Sisters Lightweight Moisturizer (foil): Now this is interesting. Initially I thought the package must be mislabeled, because it's a thin, watery substance like a toner. But no, that's what this moisturizer is. It's a bit mess to apply as a result, but it works very well. It has a light lavender scent.

DermOrganic Hand/Body Moisture Lotion (mini): This worked okay, but sometimes it left a scent on my hands that was almost like fake tanner. Wouldn't buy it.

Gold Bond Ultimate Moisturizing Skin Therapy Lotion (mini): Got this in my Xmas stocking. It's a very effective hand cream.

Other Skin Care

Simple Cleaning Facial Wipes: My favorite. Effective without drying me out.

Pacifica Sea Foam cleanser (mini): Reviewed here.

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel (mini): Got it from Birchbox. Never noticed any results whatsoever when using it (and it was large enough for several uses).

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish (mini): Got it from Birchbox, and it was something I'd wanted to try. Overall I think the cloth and the multi-step process do more to really cleanse your skin than the actual cleanser. It was a little too creamy for me, so I ended up using it as a first step when I was wearing a lot of makeup, and then washing again with a lighter face wash after. I wouldn't buy it.

Coppertone Clearly Sheer SPF 30 sunscreen (mini): Reviewed here. This tube was separating (maybe from freezing during air travel?), and I have so many other sunscreens, it's not worth dealing with.

Lip Balm

I have been making a serious effort to finish some of my open lip balms before starting any new ones.

Labello Soft Rosé: This was an impulse purchase in an Italian grocery store, even though I know that I don't usually find these Labello/Nivea lip balms very impressive. It smells lovely but isn't very effective. I used it up by layering it at night over Paula's Choice Lip and Body Treatment Balm, which works better but smells awful. Together they're a good team.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lip Balm: Here's what I have to say about this.

So that's it! And I have another bag half full under my desk that I will have to get to soon.

Is "diversion" of salon hair care products a conspiracy theory?

I suspect that some people will get really heated up about this and argue with me, because they are trained hairstylists or salon owners or whatever, and I admit to not being an expert. Most of the explanations, however, of how fake, expired, or stolen salon products supposedly end up in mainstream drug and groceries stores have all the earmarks of a conspiracy theory. Namely, they don't stand up to scrutiny or make a lot of sense, when you think about them. In some versions, the shady distributers are storing up products for months or years until they expire, because then they apparently can no longer be tracked by their bar codes after a certain amount of time (?), and then they sell them to CVS, Target, etc. And that major corporation is totally cool with this, because they don't fear lawsuits from selling supposedly contaminated products one bit! Nope! In other versions (and sometimes combined with the previous ones), the crooks are emptying out half of the good product and filling the rest of the bottle with water or alcohol because . . . ??? Do they also have a stockpile of fake bottles to dump the other half of the product into? In that case, why buy the legit product at all? Why not just fake it all?

Anyway, yell at me if you like, but I suspect that this is something that stylists are taught in school, probably by people who really do think it is true (and maybe those people are told it by salon hair care brand sales reps). I don't think the stylists are lying - I think they believe it. Just like when they tell you that drugstore products with silicone will make your hair worse. The most logical explanation is that salons want you to buy products from them (which is reasonable) and so they need to have some kind of explanation for why what you find at the salon is better than what you find elsewhere.

I'm not saying there aren't counterfeit beauty products out there. But I doubt that Walgreens has been selling them - or stolen merchandise - for decades with no repercussions.

Do you have a better explanation for how this "gray market" functions? One that explains how it is profitable to the distributors and worthwhile to the large retailers? I'd love to hear it. ETA: I'm not just saying that. Everything I've found has been unconvincing. The argument that they sometimes actually cost more at mass retailers than salons is interesting, but not totally relevant, I think. That's just about shopping around for good prices.

Are expensive dry shampoos better? Review of Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate and referral links.
Okay, so maybe the title of this post is a little grand considering I'm just going to discuss whether or not one particular example of an expensive dry shampoo is "better." But I've pointed out before that I'm a dry shampoo Goldilocks, and I still haven't found the one that's just right. (If you would like to spend your precious time looking at dozens of nearly identical photos of the top of my head - who wouldn't! - check out my dry shampoo tag.) So when I had some HauteLook credits and Oscar Blandi showed up, I decided I would give their dry shampoo a try. I'd heard about it from a few people who love it.

So fancy and Italian., it's like the Renaissance.

This stuff sells for $21 at Sephora (though you can find it for less on Amazon and it was $10.50 on HauteLook), so I sure as shit wouldn't have bought it at full price. Consider also that my $3 Suave dry shampoo contains 5 oz. and the Oscar Blandi only contains 2.5 oz. (though I'm not sure if the propellant etc. in the Suave can counts toward that weight?). But what if paying more is really the secret? What if, to find the perfect dry shampoo, I actually had to spend more than $5? Ugh. What a thought.

Maybe there are brilliant and expensive dry shampoos out there.  But my conclusion from trying this product, at least, is that you're not necessarily going to get a superior dry shampoo just by spending more. This stuff works, and it's fine, but it's not noticeably better than any of the cheap dry shampoos I've used in the past.

Is there any benefit to using sulfate-free shampoo?

Lots of people swear by sulfate-free shampoo for a variety of reasons: it's better for dry hair, it's better for curly hair, it's better for color-treated hair, it's "healthier", etc. According to The Beauty Brains, tests show that sulfate-free shampoos don't make a difference for hair, but if you have very sensitive skin, they might be irritating. (If you've been using regular shampoos all this time with no problems, though, your sensitive skin is probably fine with them). At that link, they also mention products that might actual help your hair color resist fading. Useful!

Yet Another Damned Dry Shampoo Review: Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo is an interesting one. It's not powdery. Like, at all. Hence the name, I guess. That quality has its pros and cons.

An obvious benefit is that you don't end up with grey powdery-looking roots, like this. That's going to be particularly good if you have dark hair.

The downside is that it doesn't seem to absorb oil as well as more powdery formulas. The weird thing is that after using this stuff, my hair looks cleaner and has more volume. But it still feels dirty. Some dry shampoos leave my roots feeling kind of stiff and rough, but that's not what I'm talking about. It feels pretty much exactly the same as before I added the shampoo, but with some more lift. Look:

Hair not washed for 24 hours.

Hair after using Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo.

So it does make your hair look cleaner, which is the main goal, right? To not look like a mess? I also really like the scent. It has a subtle mint fragrance. FINALLY. I'm so sick of dry shampoos that make me sneeze with their over-perfumed granny smells.

Overall, I like it, but I have such an oily scalp that it bothers me a little that I don't really feel any cleaner after I've used it. It's not refreshing, you know? The trade off is a lack of white residue in your hair. I think that if you have dark hair, this is definitely worth trying. I wish I could find something affordable that combined the light fragrance of this stuff with the results of one of the good Suave dry shampoos. As I've said before, I'm a bit of a dry shampoo Goldilocks.

Dry Shampoo Disappointment: Suave Moroccan Infusion Weightless Dry Shampoo Review

Originally I was going to put this one in my adequate product roundup, because it sort of does the job. But the more I thought about it, I realized that I really only had complaints, so it gets its own post. (Here's a link to the product since I didn't take a photo of the packaging.)

First off, let's address the product name. Moroccan Infusion? Why? Well, I know why - it's so Suave can cash in on the popularity of their Moroccan Infusion shampoos and conditioners. They've put out a whole line of products under this name now. But this dry shampoo has no argan oil in it, so there's nothing "Moroccan" about it. It also doesn't have the same fragrance as the shampoo and conditioner, which may be disappointing to people who are a fan of that scent. Personally, since I don't like that fragrance, it's not a problem for me. Unfortunately, I don't like the smell of this product either.

That's my first complaint: the fragrance is way too fucking strong. It's overwhelming. I'd been happy with the basic Suave dry shampoo for a while, but when I bought my last can I found the scent annoying. I doubt the product has changed, but my tolerance for its extreme perfuminess has definitely decreased. This new version is just as bad, though. It has a different scent - I think the same one as the original gold can of Suave dry shampoo. It's way too much for me. It gives me a headache and makes my skin itch. That second part might be somewhat psychosomatic, to be fair, because just writing about it is making me itch a little. The issue, though, is that the fragrance is so obnoxious that I can't ignore it. It's in my nose constantly after I use the product. It never fades.

As for performance, well it does absorb oil, and it does add volume. But there's a problem. See for yourself:

Before: gross greasy hair.

After: gross powdery hair.

The lighting in the second photo might be a bit brighter, but nevertheless you can clearly see the white powder near my roots along the part and at my forehead. This is the result I got after a lot of fussing with it. First I sprayed it on at the roots. Then I rubbed it through with my fingers. Then I let it sit for about 5 minutes. Finally I brushed it out. A lot. I brushed every direction and I bent over and flipped my hair over my head and tried to brush it out that way. No good. There's still visible residue. Plus I feel like it makes my sad roots that are in need of coloring more obvious for some reason. They're more grey.

I can go out in public like this without looking too weird, but my hair is pretty light. If you have darker hair, you're probably going to have trouble with this. You could maybe get it to work if you have very light hair and you use only a very, very small amount of product. In that case you might not get as much volume, though.

I'm going to keep playing around with it to see if I can find the ideal amount of product to use that will actually make my hair look clean without turning it grey. So far I haven't struck that balance. Even if I manage to, I'm not sure I'll keep using it, just because I found the perfume so excessive.

How does this one compare to the other two Suave dry shampoos I've reviewed? Compared to the silver can, it's just as strongly scented, but the fragrance is different. It works as well for absorbing oil and adding volume, but it leaves more white powder behind. Compared to the original Keratin Infusion version, it smells the same (from what I remember), absorbs oil as well, leaves hair feeling softer, but again leaves more powder behind. (Having references like this available is a nice thing about blogging. Though maybe I should check them more often, because I didn't remember that I apparently liked the gold can better than the silver one, overall. Hmmm.)

Does anyone know of an affordable dry shampoo that works and doesn't smell like an entire army of heavily perfumed grandmas has set up camp on my scalp? I can't stand baby powder fragrances, so I know that limits my options. I might just have to stick with plain old corn starch, though it isn't quite as effective as some dry shampoos, and it doesn't come in a handy dandy aerosol can.

Adequate product roundup

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

I realize that most of the time I post about things either because I really love them or because I really hate them. It's just easier and more fun to write about something if I have strong feelings about it or if it's particularly intriguing in some way.

But I have a bunch of shit lying around that I thought at one point I would review here and just never got around to. Not because it's bad, but just because it's not exciting. I think, however, that pointing out that something isn't exciting can be useful, even if it doesn't make for the most enthralling blog post (or one filled with a lot of expletives). So I decided to make a single post with brief reviews of bunch of things that fit into the category of "adequate", rather than writing eight separate "meh" posts. They are not bad, but they are not wonderful. They are perfectly functional, and I don't feel like I have wasted money on them, but I wouldn't necessarily buy them again. They do their job, but they don't fill me with joy. They're adequate.

I can see two main responses to reading this: (1) you were excited about something, and you subsequently become less excited about it; or (2) you were excited about something, and you subsequently remain excited and are satisfied that it's not utter shit. No wait, the third possible response is that you didn't care before and you still don't care. Okay, a fourth possible response is that you are enraged that I am dismissing one of the BEST PRODUCTS YOU HAVE EVER USED. Be aware that there are few things on my list that many people out there seem to looooooooove, so if you're curious, you might as well give them a shot, knowing that they are not going to turn out to be garbage. You might turn out to be one of their fans.

Not Your Mother's Knotty to Nice Conditioning Detangler

This stuff is fine, but not exciting - which has been my experience with every product I've used from the NYM brand. It's a leave-in spray conditioner that does make wet hair somewhat easier to comb out. It smells okay, but not too strong. Sort of like fruity candy. I don't find that it has much effect on the appearance or condition of my hair. I can spray it very generously, and my hair doesn't get stringy looking.

Nivea A Kiss of Olive Oil & Lemon Moisture Rich Lip Care

Normally I'm not a big fan of these Nivea/Labello lip balms, so I'm not sure why I bought this one. This version does seem to be a little more effective than most, though. Less waxy and more moisturizing. The scent is pleasant: slightly citrusy, not too sour, like Sprite or 7Up. It has a faint perfumey taste, but it's not obnoxious. It has very little sheen. Good enough, but I wouldn't buy it again when there are a million other lip balms out there to try.

CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion

I know that people swear by this one, and it does have a good ingredients list. There are some things I really like about it and other things I find disappointing. For example, I absolutely love the way it feels when you apply it. It's like a refreshing drink of water for your skin. It soaks in very quickly and doesn't leave a greasy feeling. On the other hand, I don't find that the moisture it provides lasts very long. On dry days this winter (i.e. all of them), my skin feels parched again a few hours later, which doesn't happen so much with lotions that are less pleasant immediately. Maybe this would be best layered under something heavier, though that would mean more greasiness.

Smith's Rosebud Salve

Another popular one. Personally, I don't love it. I've tried it a bunch of different ways. On my cuticles, it's too greasy during the day, and it doesn't seem to have much effect when applied before bed and left overnight. I don't like it on my lips. I actually find it a little drying in the long run, and the floral scent means it doesn't taste very good. I have found a very specific use for it though. I tend to have dry, flaky skin on my nose. If I put some of this stuff around my nostrils before I go to sleep, it definitely cuts down on the dryness by morning. Plus it means I have a pleasant rosy scent to fall asleep to. $6 is kind of a lot of money for dedicated nostril balm, though. I don't advise buying it at Sephora, since you can get it cheaper elsewhere (like drugstore.com, link above).

Suave Moroccan Infusion Shine Conditioner

I had high hopes for this one after reading many, many positive reviews. My opinion is that it's a decent conditioner, but nothing special. It doesn't make my hair any shinier or smoother than other decent conditioners do. It may be that it works better for people with hair types that are different from mine (which is fine, but not thin, and quite straight). I also really don't like the scent, though I think that is one of the major selling points for a lot of people. It's very strong and sweet, slightly spicy. I'm not great at identifying/describing fragrances - sorry. But this is the sort of fragrance you get in a lot of drugstore products (like body wash) that are supposed to be "exotic" or "eastern". Maybe a hint of incense?

Here are swatches of the last three products on my list, the makeup:

Swatches (left to right): L'Oreal 24 Hour Infallible Eyeshadow in Sultry Smoke, Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam, Revlon Photoready Eye Primer + Brightener

L'Oreal 24 Hour Infallible Eyeshadow in Sultry Smoke

Matte grey eyeshadow is tricky. It tends to be patchy and dry and not very pigmented. This one is very smooth, but it takes several layers to build up the color to anything other than very sheer. The swatch above is not over primer, which does increase the pigmentation somewhat. Like the other Infallible eyeshadows, it works best when applied with your finger, rather than with a brush. But it's not nearly as impressive as the shimmery Infallible shades, and it's not the answer to all your grey eyeshadow needs. Better than average, but not great.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam

I heard that this was a dupe for the beloved Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. I don't think that it really is, especially if "universally flattering" is the main attraction of the Clinique stuff. From photos, this Lip Butter seems to be warmer - it has more of a brick red/brown thing going on. It looks okay on me, but it's not something I find particularly attractive. The formula is just as nice as the other sheer Revlon Lip Butters, though.

Swatch of Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam

(I guess I did include this Lip Butter in my previous post about them, but it seems worth talking about in more detail for its potential dupe status.)

Revlon Photoready Eye Primer + Brightener

I've had this for ages. I'm not sure why I bought it, either. I guess maybe I was wondering if it was a dupe for YSL Touche Éclat, though I don't have that, so I'm not sure how I would be able to tell. It's the same type of product, though: highlighter in a click pen with a brush. This packaging seriously suffers from the click-click-click-click-nothing, click-click-click-click-SPLOOGE effect. It it definitely not a concealer - it provides almost no coverage. It does seem to reflect the light from undereye circles in a way that makes using it slightly better than using nothing. It is not reflective enough to be used as a highlighter, though, at least on someone pale like me, and I have no idea what sort of priming effects it's supposed to have. It's not very good layered under something else, because it doesn't apply especially evenly. Overall it's just not that impressive. I use it on days when I'm not going to be out and about much, since it camouflages my dark circles a little bit, provided that no one looks too closely at me. I'm basically just trying to use this up at this point.

So there you go. None of this things are disasters, but none of them are revelations either, in my opinion. Feel free to rage at me in the comments about how shockingly wrong I am.