Mini reviews of empties

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As usual, my empties post is several months behind. These are the things I finished before I left California at the beginning of September. I always like writing up my empties as a way to post short reviews of products I've tested thoroughly, or as a way to amend previous reviews. As usual, if I've written about something here before, I'll just link you to the previous post to avoid repetition, unless I've changed my mind in the meantime.

First, the most exciting category: makeup! Exciting because I rarely finish makeup. Less exciting than the photo seems, because a few of these weren't empty--they're just discards for one reason or another. It's not cheating! Actually, I'd only categorize three of the products in the photo as actually empty. It's still not cheating!

Beginning at the top left:

Lancôme Hypnose Drama mascara (mini): I actually remember very little about this mascara, so it must have been ok but nothing special. As with most mascaras from the L'Oréal family, it flaked more than I would like. I've had many mini Lancôme mascaras over the years and never felt the urge to actually buy a full-sized tube. I used this until it dried up.

Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner: Reviewed here. Not a big fan of this one, because the tip gets floppy and frays long before it ever dries up. I used it to label swatches on my arm for the last year, and it finally started to actually dry. This is a real empty!

No7 Loose Powder: Reviewed here. Another true empty! I can't decide if I want to replace this or get another jar of the Laura Mercier powder. They are very similar, but the LM powder is slightly warmer/yellower and suits my complexion better. I could get 15% off when Sephora's Beauty Insider sale comes around on the 16th, but that's not exactly a big incentive. I wonder if Nordstrom will have a competing deal.

ULTA Maximum Lashes mascara: I got this as a GWP, and put it in my work bag for emergencies, because I didn't want to risk using its terrifying wand on a daily basis. Look at this thing! It's a menace. Not empty, but I wasn't going to bother taking it with me when I moved.

Kat Von D Liquid Lipstick in Lovesick and Tarte Liquid Lipstick in Birthday Suit (minis): Swatched here. The former came in a Sephora Play! bag, and the latter was part of last year's Sephora birthday gift. They both looked awful on me and were too old to bother giving away to someone else.

Be A Bombshell blush is Sweet Cheeks: Swatched here. I got this in an Ipsy bag a million years ago, and actually liked the bright, pigmented pink quite a lot. Unfortunately it shattered when I moved from Texas to California last winter (surprisingly the only thing to break!), and when I tried to repress it, it turned into a powdery mess. It would have just fallen apart during the subsequent move, so I let it go.

Essence Stay With Me gloss in Choose Me!: Reviewed here. Long discontinued. You can tell how old that shit was by the review date. I did still like it, but it started to smell funky, so time to toss. I can never finish glosses! In fact, I really shouldn't buy them, because I don't wear them nearly enough, but I always get sucked into picking up just one more. Just one more.

Revlon Balm Stain in Smitten: Reviewed here. Again, the review reveals how ancient this lipstick was, and how little I pay attention to makeup expiration guidelines. In fact, there was nothing wrong with this lipstick, except that every time I put it on, I thought, "blech!" Just not my color. So why did I hold on to it for so many years!? Anyway, it's gone now. Look at me, letting go.

Next up, skincare:

Beginning at the top left:

Dr. Jart Cicapair Tiger Grass Cream (sample generously provided by Mimi from Makeup Withdrawal): This moisturizer was effective and really soothing. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I've been comtemplating buying a tube ever since last spring. It's so expensive, though! I don't know. I might try the much more affordable La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume instead. Has anyone tried them both to compare?

Aquaphor Advanced Therapy Ointment (mini): This stuff was/is a lifesaver for irritated skin. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I complained from spring until early fall that my eyelids were itchy and scaly. I still haven't figured out what caused it (despite declaring prematurely multiple times that I had identified the culprit), but a combination of hydrocortisone cream (used sparingly) and Aquaphor seem to have wiped it out. Or it's a coincidence. Still, if I feel a twinge of unpleasantness around my eyes these days, I revert to using just Aquaphor in that area, and they seem to be fine. I'm using a regular-size tube now, which should last me about the next seven years.

e.l.f. Hydrating Water Essence: Reviewed here. I still love it, and I missed it in my routine after I ran out. I'm now on my second bottle.

bü SPF 30 and SPF 50 sunscreen sprays: These are nearly the same as the Kinesys sunscreens (reviewed here) that I love (and made by some of the people who previously ran Kinesys, I believe), but they may be easier to find in Canada. I got these bottles at London Drugs last year.

Paula's Choice Makeup Remover: I actually rarely use makeup remover. I don't like to use oily products near my eyes, and I find that my eye makeup comes off well enough with regular cleansing. I mainly used this up cleaning swatches off of my arms. I think it might be discontinued now.

Stratia Liquid Gold (sample generously provided by Mimi from Makeup Withdrawal): Ok, so I wasn't as blown away by this stuff as I'd expected. It was a decent, if slightly greasy, moisturizer, and it did make my face a little orange, even if I only used a small amount. Maybe it's better for dry skin? Or you ned to use it long term to fall in love with it? Help me out, here. And to be perfectly honest, I know that people love Stratia, but I am as cautious about them as about any other indie beauty line, especially after the recent incident with the moldy cleansers.

Boscia Charcoal Pore Pudding (mini): I used this as the clay mask step in Fifty Snails' pore shrinking mask routine, which I try to do every weekend. It worked very well for that purpose, but it has an unpleasantly intense floral fragrance, and it's very expensive, so I'm happy to go back to my Freeman Avocado and Oatmeal mask (reviewed here) for the future. This small jar was enough for probably a dozen masks, though.

Manyo Factory Ultra Moist Rebirth Ampole (foil, also from Mimi): It's a hydrating essence, and it hydrated, though it's hard to really judge products from such a small sample.

Cerave Healing Ointment (mini): An excellent alternative to Aquaphor, with slightly different ingredients, but a similar function. I found this on the lip balm rack in CVS, and naturally assumed it was lip balm, but it does not work well on my lips. It was very nice around my irritated eyes, however. Aquaphor is cheaper, though.

Paula's Choice Resist Brightening Essence" As I've said before, and should know well by now, my skin doesn't seem to need "brightening." I don't know why I bought this! It didn't seem to do much, and wasn't hydrating enough to serve as a moisturizing essence like the e.l.f. stuff. I used it up my mixing a few drops into raw honey for a mask. It thinned the honey a bit and made it easier to spread, and it's not like the extra ingredients do any harm.

Tokyomilk Dark lip balm in Absinthe: These balms are my favorite for bedtime. I used to get chapped lips all the time, but if I apply this before bed, I almost never do anymore. My favorite scent so far has been La Vie En Rose. I didn't love Absinthe (almost smelled like fake apple to me), and I'm not loving the Cherry Bourbon I'm using now, either. But the scents are innocuous enough that I don't mind, since the balm itself works so well for me. The biggest complaint people seem to have about these is how hard the tins are to open. The trick is to twist the lid off rather than trying to lift it or pry it. Sometimes it takes a while to loosen up, so for a couple of weeks you might have to stick a nail in the crack to pop it up a little, and then twist. It's not ideal, but I've had no real trouble with them once I figured that out.

The Ordinary Azelaic Acid: Reviewed here. It works great for my skin, and I have bought multiple additional tubes by now. See review for details.

Jack Black Lip Balm in Mango and Mandarin: My favorite daytime lip balm! After I cut open the tube, there were at least two weeks worth of balm still inside.

Oh my god, there's still more.

Paula's Choice 2% BHA Gel: For whatever reason, this didn't work nearly as well for my skin as the 2% BHA liquid. I used it mixed with lotion as an aftershave on my legs, and it did help prevent irritation and ingrown hairs that way.

Acure Brightening Facial Scrub: A fairly rough sugar scrub with an odd, herbal smell. Use gently.

The Ordinary Vit C Suspension: Reviewed here. I didn't finish this, because I didn't need it.

Freeman masks: Reviewed here, here, and here. The only one I would repurchase is the Charcoal & Black Sugar, but even it I didn't finish. It was just very old, and I didn't want to pack it and take it with me. Freeman masks are very economical--cheap for an enormous amount of product. Recommended if you like getting your money's worth, but if you are fixated on emptying things, they might frustrate you.

Last, and least, hair shit.

The Dry Bar Prep Rally (mini) made my hair soft and shiny, but it's overpriced. I've gone through many cans of Batiste dry shampoo now (reviewed here), and this isn't my last. The SexyHair Spray & Play hairspray did the thing it's supposed to do (but I rarely use hairspray, so I'm not much of a connoisseur).

That's my garbage for this installment! I already have another collection started, of course. Any favorites here? Are you making a special effort to finish products lately?

Why am I looking at garbage? (Or: Empties)

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I think empties posts are a little divisive (boring or voyeuristically fascinating?), but I like that they provide mini reviews for products that someone has tested really thoroughly. Plus, for selfish reasons, I like to keep my own record of what I've used in case I want to try/avoid those things in the future.

Makeup empties (photo above) are the rarest of empties, so I don't usually have this many in a single batch. Then again, it's not like I finished a blush or a lipstick or an eyeshadow palette. Mascaras and concealers are much more frequently used up and tossed out.

Left to right above:

L'Oréal Lineur Intense Felt Tip in Earthen Rock Brown: Reviewed briefly here. This was my favorite liquid eyeliner for years and years until it was unfortunately discontinued. I love a brown liquid liner for a more subtle everyday look than black. Right now I'm using Lancôme Artliner in Brown, which is very similar, but much more expensive, of course. I also have the brown version of the Physician's Formula liquid liner (reviewed here in black) waiting in the wings.

YSL Touche Éclat in 2 Luminous Ivory: I got this in a marked-down, now sold-out, Sephora Favorites kit, and I wouldn't have bought it on its own. It makes a decent sheer/casual under-eye concealer and non-shimmery highlight. I just think you can get similar products for a lower price, like Maybelline's. Also, it has a faint lavender scent that might not appeal to everyone.

Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer in Fondant: Reviewed here. This is the third tube of Gel Serum Concealer I've finished. I used a Swoon wand to scrape out what the doe foot couldn't reach (even after removing the stopper), which gave me at least another good month of use. I recently (stupidly) decided I'd try something new and bought a tube of the IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye concealer. Big mistake. Huge. It must only work for very dry skinned people, because it disappeared from my face in a couple of hours. I've already ordered a new tube of Gel Serum from Sephora. Why mess with perfection?

Wet N Wild Lash Primer: Reviewed here. Not an actual empty, but it had started to smell funky, so I tossed it. Lash primer just doesn't do much for me, so I didn't get through it.

Essence Eyebrow Designer Pencil in Soft Blonde (above): This isn't a true taupe (nor does it claim to be) but it's cooler/taupier than most affordable eyebrow pencils that are actually called "taupe." It's a good texture (i.e. hardness) and color for my brows at the moment, and for $2 I'd forgive a lot (though luckily I don't have to). I'm on my second pencil now. I have a bunch of brow products to review--I should get on that.

Tarte Tarteist Lash Paint mascara (mini): This was a perfectly serviceable mascara. Provided volume and length. Didn't wow me so much that I'd buy it, but it was just fine.

Black Radiance Eyeshadow Primer: Reviewed here. This is a great primer. I didn't completely finish it, but I find that most primers last me so long that they get to the point where they don't perform quite as well as they once did before I finish them. I'm talking well over a year, though, so I'm cool with it.

Look at all this skin care! Let me direct you to previous reviews and be as brief as possible to save all of our sanity.

Starting at the top left:

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Swivel Stick: Reviewed here. I don't even know how many tubes of this I've used up so far! I have another one going now.

CosRx Acne Pimple Master Patches: Reviewed here. I've gone through many of these too.

The Ordinary Azelaic Acid: Reviewed here. A new staple. I'm on my second tube.

Simple Micellar Water: Not the best I've ever used, but usually the cheapest, so I'm using my second bottle of it now.

Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Gel (packet): A decent light moisturizer.

The Ordinary Matrixyl 1-% + HA: I will review this soon, but there's not much more to say than that it was a good hydrating serum. Nothing mind-blowing.

Paula's Choice Calm Redness Relief Serum: Another good hydrating serum, but it didn't help my redness a whole lot. I won't buy it again.

Acure Organics Rosehip Oil: This is kind of cheating, because it was getting old so I dumped it into a bottle of body oil. I've finally come to terms with the fact that even though rosehip oil is nice, it always causes milia around my eyes, so I need to let it go.

Paula's Choice Ultra Light Super Antioxidant Serum: Reviewed here. The tube is full size--I cut it in half to get the last drops out. This hydrating serum is my favorite, but I'm looking at alternatives, because it's too expensive. The e.l.f. essence I reviewed here is serving as a workable replacement at the moment, despite the fact that it's not actually a serum.

Farmacy Honey Savior Salve (packet): If you're into that #sluglife, where you coat your face with a heavy occlusive layer at night to lock in the moisture, this is an excellent option--except that it's very expensive, so you could just get some Vaseline or Aquaphor or CeraVe ointment to serve the same purpose. I like the packets for traveling, though.

Korres Golden Krocus Elixir (mini): An ok hydrating serum, though it has strong fragrance and shimmer in it. I'm way more excited about having a tiny dropper bottle to use for travel than I was about the actual product, to be honest.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel (mini): Looking for a more affordable replacement for my old favorite Paula's Choice Moisture Gel, but this wasn't quite it, although it did what it said it would do.

Avène Eau Thermal spray (mini): I feel a bit ridiculous for liking this. It's water in a can. Sorry, mineral water in a can. It is awfully refreshing on a hot and sweaty day, though. But like, you could just buy some mineral water and put it in your own spray bottle.

Paula's Choice Skin Recovery Hydrating Treatment Mask: Reviewed here. A great product that I did not finish, because it's huge, and I only needed to use it once every week or two. It was getting old, even for my extremely lax standards, so I decided to let it go. I don't know if I would buy it again, though the price isn't bad compared to other Paula's products.

Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Cloud Cream: A very nice, light, moisturizing gel that would be a great replacement for Paula's Choice Moisture Gel, except that the full size comes in a jar and is even more expensive than Paula's.

Glamglow Glowstarter: Shimmery pink lotion that smells extremely strongly of creamsicle. I used it on my legs.

Origins Gin-Zing Gel Moisturizer: Got this one for free from Influenster. Again, it's fine, except for the jar and the very strong GoJo industrial orange soap smell. And the price.

Paula's Choice Moisture Boost Cleanser: I really like this cleanser for being effective but not drying, but there are equally good cleansers out there for less money.

Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid: I've been using this for over a decade now! My skin is always clearer and happier when I use it. But I recently decided to try the CosRx BHA Liquid instead, because Paula's Choice prices are rising faster than inflation.

That's really the theme here: finishing up the Paula's Choice products that I've relied on for years and trying to find more affordable replacements. When I first started using Paula's Choice, the prices weren't bad at all, even though I had to pay in Canadian dollars. Then I posted my referral link on this blog a few years ago, which tons of people used, so I had enough credits to continue using the brand even while prices crept up. I tried to point out in reviews whether I thought I would still buy something even without a credit. After their referral program ended and prices continued to climb, I'm now at the stage where it's just not feasible for me to buy multiple $30-50 basics each year when there are cheaper options out there. The one thing I haven't yet found a good replacement for, as you can see from the above, is the Moisture Gel. I'm currently using Marcelle's Lumipower moisturizer, which is a gel in a pump, but it's only worth it because I got it in a value set. At full price, it's about the same as Paula's.

Just a few staple hair and body products to finish off the list, and I can conveniently link to this post for reviews of all of them but the perfume! I've used multiple bottles/cans/tubes/jars of each of these. The Chloe and Replica Beach Walk fragrance samples weren't favorites, so I used them as room/closet sprays.

Let me know if you have questions about any of these things! It's always gratifying for me to use things up instead of just hoarding them. But I probably shouldn't pat myself on the back too much until the day you see an empty lipstick in one of these posts.

More empties

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It seems like I just wrote an empties post, but I took the rather uninspiring photo above back at the end of August. So it's time to write about this garbage (literal garbage, I mean--some of the products are great) before I forget all about everything. The main function of these posts for me is to keep a record of things I've tried, so that I can remember what I should and shouldn't buy again. I have a terrible memory! I hope they're at least somewhat useful and/or interesting to you too.

(I'll move from left to right in the photo, top row and then bottom row.)

Note: I used referral credits to buy the Paula's Choice products listed here, in case you're wondering how I could so cavalierly dispose of some of this expensive shit.

Living Proof Perfect Hair Day In Shower Styler (mini): I got this as part of a Sephora Favorites kit and ended up loving it. I've already got a full size. If you have little-to-no wave in your hair like me, you can get little-to-some wave with very minimal effort using this stuff. You just apply it to your wet hair and barely rinse it in the shower, and then air dry (while occasionally scrunching, if you remember). Simple! (I think it enhances curl and wave in other hair types too, but I can't speak from experience.)

Sephora Gel Serum Concealer in Buttercream: Swatched here. This is my favorite concealer formula, and this shade is a good match, but I replaced it with Fondant (reviewed here), because for whatever reason the coverage and application seems better in that shade. Oh, and if you tried this stuff a year or two ago and hated the applicator, they've changed it.

John Frieda 7-Day Volume: Reviewed here. I'm on my third or fourth bottle. Good stuff! (It's much, much cheaper on Amazon than anywhere else I've seen it, for some reason, so I always get it there.)

Paula's Choice 8% AHA Gel: A lot of people love this product, but I've found that glycolic acid just doesn't seem to have any effect on my skin. Lactic acid (like the mask reviewed here) works much better for me. So I used probably a quarter of the bottle on my face, then started mixing it with body lotion for my legs, etc., for a while, and then finally when I moved, I tossed the rest, because I didn't want to pack it.

Paula's Choice Hydralight Lotion: Reviewed here. This moisturizer was a favorite of a lot of people, myself included, and so Paula's Choice got a lot of flack for discontinuing it this year. Thankfully they listened to feedback and brought it back!

Paula's Choice Resist Oil Booster: It's a decent, light skin oil, I guess, but it's nothing special for the price. I ended up using it mostly on my cuticles and as the last step in this excellent masking routine.

Paula's Choice Moisture Boost Cleanser: I have said many times that you can get cleansers that are just as good as those from Paula's Choice for a much lower price, but of theirs this is probably my favorite. I don't even have dry skin, but it's still effective, gentle, and non-drying.

Caudalie Beauty Elixir: So this is pretty much just scented alcohol and water with a bit of glycerin in it. A lot of people love it, but I don't know what they experience when they use it, because it did nothing for me. I ended up using it as a (very pricey) body spray--fortunately it was in a Sephora Favorites kit, too, and the kit was marked way down, so I didn't actually spend much to try it.

Wet N Wild Mattifying Powder: This is a decent powder. It has a fine texture and it does mattify. But I have never emptied a powder so quickly in my life! I think I finished the whole thing between about April and August, and that wasn't using it every day. My brush picked up a lot, and the pan is barely more than a millimeter deep, despite the unnecessarily large packaging. It's fairly cheap, but you can definitely find an equally affordable and effective powder out there that will last you five times as long. I wouldn't buy it again, needless to say.

Batiste Tropical Dry Shampoo (mini): Smells like piña colada, works just as well as all the other Batiste dry shampoos.

Freeman Avocado & Oatmeal Clay Mask: Reviewed here. This is my favorite mask ever. It works so well, it's cheap, and the tube contains a TON. I didn't actually finish it, because of that whole containing a ton thing, but it was getting very old and I had certainly got my money's worth. I'll definitely buy another tube once I finish the new clay mask I'm trying now.

Dr. Brant Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner: This is a thin mask that works pretty well, but it's much more expensive and less effective than the Freeman mask above, so I'd recommend that instead.

Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt (mini): I got this in a Sephora Play! box. I liked it--it did make my roots/scalp feel cleaner. It definitely needs to be followed up with conditioner if you don't want super crunchy hair. I figured I could DIY it by mixing a bunch of epsom salts (I had some Aloe & Rosemary salts from CVS that had a very similar scent to this) with shampoo, but the salt turned the shampoo really watery and it wasn't the same at all. I still don't think I would spent the million dollars they want from me to put some salt on my head, though.

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream (travel size): You can buy this cheaper in giant tubs, but I mainly only use it as a heavy eye cream or on whatever part of my face needs some extra moisture, so the tiny jar lasts me about a year. I got mine at Bed, Bath & Beyond, but I can't find this little jar online anywhere for you. And now I'm reminded that I have a new replacement jar at home that I haven't opened yet, and I should dig that out. It's great if you want something thick but simple to layer over other products.

So that's it for this round! Have you finished up anything exciting (or terrible) lately?

My Cheap Favorites: the best bath, body, and hair products for $10 and under

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It's been over a year since I wrote my last cheap favorites master post! I still stand by my choices there, and I don't think I'd change any of them now if I had to do it over. I've had in mind to write this additional post all along, but since I'm admittedly not that picky about products in this category, it hasn't felt so pressing. Still, maybe there's something here for you to discover (or something you can suggest to me!).

Favorite Body Washes: I don't really take baths, so all I've got here are shower products. My criteria for a good body wash or shower gel are simple: gets me clean, doesn't dry out my skin, smells good. There are lots of affordable options that check all of those boxes. I love almond fragrance when it's done well, and Tree Hut Almond and Honey Body Wash does it well. It's also very moisturizing and has a lovely texture. Luxurious, even. I like this so much that I haven't tried any of the other scents, though I suppose I should. The Almond variety is a bit difficult to find in stores. I got this one at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $6.

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

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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:

July Target Beauty Box available now ($7)

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There are two options this month,  with 7 items in each one:"Fresh & Fabulous" and "Simply Radiant." Are you going to pick one up this time around? I think if they were $5 I might grab one, but $7 seems a little high for what is included. You do get a full-size NYX lipstick in the first box and a full size Wet N Wild mascara in the second. You can see all the contents of both boxes here as well.

L'Oréal Paris Advanced Haircare Extraordinary Oil Shampoo, Conditioner, and Lustrous Serum Review

Disclosure: Affiliate links. Products free from Influenster.
"Hey Lyn, how's that whole 'blog more often' plan going for you?" "Hahahahaha SHUT UP."

Anyway. I got this hair stuff from Influenster, and I like it a lot, so I thought I'd share it with you. (In case you're not aware, anyone can sign up to get free stuff to try from Influenster. You don't need a blog, though I think the more social media followers you have, the more things they send you.)

I was interested in trying these products, because I've had really good luck with some of the L'Oreal Advanced haircare in the past. For example, the Total Repair 5 Extreme line is excellent for getting dry, damaged hair under control. The conditioner feels (and smells) really similar to the magical stuff they include with home hair dye kits.

The Extraordinary Oil line is marketed for "daily care for dry, lifeless hair," and it claims to be, "lightweight" and "non-greasy." This sounds perfect for me, because the lengths of my hair tends to be very dry and the roots are oily, which means that sometimes products designed for dry hair don't clean the grease out well enough or leave my hair weighed down, while those meant for oily hair strip it too much. There are tricks I can do like coating the lengths in conditioner before shampooing and/or shampooing the roots twice, but I would prefer to cut down on the number of steps in my shower routine as much as possible.

My assessment of these three products (shampoo, conditioner, and serum) is that they definitely live up to the claims. They leave my hair very soft and shiny but not weighed down. Here are comparison photos. In the first one, I shampooed and conditioned with some mediocre products that I had in the shower and that I'd been using semi-regularly, and then let my hair air dry. In the second photo, on a different day, I used all three of the products pictured above (the serum on damp hair after washing and before detangling, with which it helps a lot) and again let my hair air dry. I think the difference in shine and smoothness is pretty clear--even though it turns out that it is very difficult to take a photo of the side of your own head.

All three of these products have a pretty strong fragrance that is a sort of warm, amber scent. I'm not great at identifying and describing fragrances, but it's the kind of thing you would expect from products that are supposed to be "exotic." If you're tried the Suave Moroccan Infusion line, it's similar. I know a lot of people love this kind of scent, but I don't usually like it. In this case, however, it's started to grow on me--and it doesn't make me sneeze like some others do. The first day I used the serum, I could smell it all day and it was a little overwhelming. But I have used it many times since then, and now it seems just mildly pleasant. So if you don't like this type of fragrance, it's something to consider, but you might end up enjoying it anyway, apparently. If you are a big perfume wearer, however, it may interfere with the scent you wear. I will usually avoid other perfume on days I use these.

I also tried each of the three products separately in case it was only one of them giving me these good results. That is, I shampooed with the Extraordinary Oil shampoo and used a different conditioner and serum/treatment product, and so forth, with each one. I saw some improvement with each product separately, but not as dramatic as when using them all together. I would say if you want to try just one, you should pick the conditioner if you don't want as strong a fragrance, and the serum if you are fine with the fragrance and want to get the most impressive results from a single product. (There's also a leave-in "transforming oil-in-cream" that I didn't get, but I am now curious about it. I wonder if it would be too heavy for my hair.)

In addition to other oils and silicones, the serum and conditioner both contain a lot of coconut oil, which has been shown to be particularly good for hair. One of the suggested uses on the serum bottle is to apply it to hair before washing to nourish and protect the hair, which is also a great way to use plain coconut oil. The silicones in this stuff add an extra boost of shine and smoothness, in my opinion. (Nothing wrong with 'cones in hair products.)

I like this stuff as much as or more than any of the much more expensive hair products I've tried. The L'Oreal Extraordinary Oil products are about $6 a bottle. If shine and softness are your main hair goals, definitely give one or more of these a shot. The only potential downside I can think of is the fragrance, but as I said, I actually enjoy it now in spite of myself.

What about you? Do you prefer mild scents in hair products or is the fragrance part of what makes you enjoy them? I prefer skincare products to be unscented, but I do want some fragrance in my hair products--I'm just picky about what exactly they smell like.

New Target Beauty Boxes $7 each

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The Target Beauty Boxes are back. There are two options: Refresh and Renewal. Both are $7 (for a supposed $30 value) with free shipping. They are pretty heavy on the hair and skin care this time, with very little makeup, so I think I'll pass. How about you?

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.

Free samples of No. 4 and Schwarzkopf hair care products

The No. 4 site is running very slowly now, so you might have to refresh a few times and be patient to get it to load. The Schwartkopf samples are through their Facebook page.

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.)

Pre-moving empties

I took this photo a couple of days before I moved. I may be weird enough to collect my garbage and photograph it, but I am not crazy enough to pack it up and move it to my new place. I am crazy enough to pack it up and mail it to Terracycle so they can recycle it. I felt a little odd dropping off a box of trash at UPS, but lots of this packaging couldn't be recycled through my local curbside program - especially things like pumps and lids. At least this way it won't all end up in the landfill, and Terracycle paid for the shipping. I sent them 176 packages in all (not including foil packets and things like that). Yikes.

These things are in no particular order, because the goal was to photograph them as quickly as possible and get rid of them (though I arranged them so that I could at least identify everything in the photo). I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with the empties posts after this one. They helped me to work toward my goal of getting rid of as much clutter as possible before moving, and in general to encourage me to reflect on the things I'm using without buying new shit all the time. And I've created a reference resource for myself if I ever want to know if something is worth buying again or not. I just don't know if I want to keep it up. I have a short attention span. If you do too, I don't know if you'll be able to get through this post, because that's a big pile of junk. I'll try to make it snappy.

Here are my thoughts organized from top left to bottom right of the photo (as usual, foils, shampoo, and conditioner receive no comments unless there is something remarkable about them):

Perfume samples (Harvey Prince Hello and unknown): I didn't like them. I didn't like most perfumes Birchbox sent me.

Tarte card samples of Park Ave. Princess bronzer and Amazonian Clay blush in Fearless: You can read my thoughts on the blush here. This is a good bronzer for pale and/or cooler skintones, but I rarely use bronzers, so the card lasted forever and then I gave up.

Half a dozen shampoo and conditioner foil packets

Cailyn Cosmetics IY Foaming O2 Scrub: Birchbox sample. Strong fragrance, not much else going on. Too rough for my face.

Ouidad Moisture Lock Leave-In Conditioner: Sample. This was much too heavy for my hair and has an overpowering fragrance.

Cerave Moisturizing Cream: Sample. I used this around my eyes, and it worked very well there. If the full size was packaged in a tube rather than a tub, I would buy it, but I'm not going to get my eye cream from a jar.

Olay Strawberry Mint Body Wash: Travel size. This smelled like a cheap strawberry shampoo from Suave or Alberto or something. You know what I mean. It worked ok. Nothing special.

Avon Luxury Brow eyeliner pencil: I really used this until it couldn't be sharpened anymore. It's my current favorite eyebrow product (I'm on my second one now). Reviewed here.

Live Luxe by Jennifer Lopez EDP: Don't laugh. This is my signature perfume. I'm a sophisticated lady. It just works really well for me, and I've always got positive reactions to it. I once reensnared an ex-boyfriend in part due to this perfume. It didn't work out so well, but that's not JLo's fault. Too bad the bottle looks like a clown barfed on it (and generally I roll my eyes at celebrity fragrances). Despite it being my favorite, it took me several years to finish the bottle.

Temple Spa shampoo: Birchbox sample. Gilchrist & Soames crap.

Adidas deodorant: I bought this because it doesn't contain aluminum, so it doesn't stain white shirts. It also doesn't work particularly well, and I think it's been discontinued.

Paula's Choice Clear Regular Strength BHA: Doesn't do much. Go for the extra strength or 2% BHA instead (reviewed here).

e.l.f. Makeup Remover pen: This thing works. Reviewed here. It eventually dried up!

Nars eyeshadow primer: Do. Not. Like. Also, the sample size hardly has anything in it. Stingy. Reviewed here.

Acure Organics Day Cream: Birtchbox sample. This shit has way too much orange peel fragrance in it. I couldn't stand it on my face, so I used it as hand lotion. It was okay for that purpose. A little too sticky.

Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Cream: Mini. This stuff works really well, and that tiny bottle lasted me about a month. I'm going to post a review soon. Highly recommended, though!

Shitty Gilchrist & Soames body wash: From Birchbox. I'm not going to bother to look up the exact name.

Two Paula's Choice foils

Aveeno Positively Nourishing Calming Body Wash: This is a quality body wash. Doesn't dry out the skin and has a soothing fragrance.

Jergens BB Body: I didn't finish this one. It didn't seem to do anything, and if it's not going to have any effect on my extremely pasty legs, what hope does anyone else have? Stick with regular body lotion.

Simple Cleansing Wipes: My favorite wipes. I don't think I've reviewed them here. They do the job, are soft, have no fragrance, and aren't drying.

Suave Natural Infused Strengthening Light Leave-In Cream: Mini review here. Not bad.

Tocca Bianca Hand Cream: Used Birchbox points to buy this, and it was a mistake. I didn't like the fragrance (green tea and lemon without much green tea) and it wasn't very effective. Just smelly.

Maybelline SuperStay 24HR Concealer: Mini review here, though I have to say, the longer I used it, the less impressed I was by its staying power. I wouldn't buy it again - also because the cap cracked badly, and I had to throw it out before I finished it, because it started to dry up. Maybelline packaging is some of the worst, in my experience.

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles Eraser: Finished it! Yay! I'd been trying to use it up for a while.

e.l.f. Essential Lip Stain in Crimson Crush: Reviewed here. Dried up.

Paula's Choice All Over Hair & Body Shampoo: This is a good clarifying shampoo (never used it as body wash), but it's not cheap. Since there are a lot of good clarifying shampoos out there, I'd only recommend this if you really want a fragrance-free body wash or shampoo, since those don't seem to be very common.

Okay, that's it! I think I did a pretty good job of eliminating things from my hoard so that I didn't have to move them with me. Let me know if you have any questions about specific things here.

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-Review Roundup

Obviously I've been slacking in the blogging department. I miss it! The best I've been able to do for the last couple of months is to take a quick photo of something with my phone in the morning on the way out the door, and then write up a paragraph review of it on the bus on the way to work. Instagram is the most obvious and convenient medium for posts of that sort. I know, however, that not everyone uses Instagram, and I don't think you should feel like you have to. So in case these things are of any interest at all to non-Instagram users, I though I would post a little link roundup. (If you follow me on Tumblr, you've probably already seen these, too.) You can view the photos and reviews on the web (i.e. you don't need the app), and if you have any questions - since they are very bare bones - you can ask here.

Bonus: You can try to figure out how long I go between changing my bedding. (Don't judge too harshly - sometimes I take several photos the same morning when I have a few minutes to spare and then post them one at a time over the following days or weeks.) You can also play Spot the Cat! Puzzles and brain teasers for everyone!

I'll try to write more real posts when I can, but for the time being, there's these:

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Cherry

ULTA Amped Lashes Mascara

Maybelline Mineral Power Finishing Veil (translucent loose powder)

Boots No. 7 Lift and Luminate Foundation and Lord & Berry Cream Foundation in White

Mirabella Prime for Face and Eyes

The Balm Meet Matt(e) Nude Eyeshadow Palette

Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion (as eye makeup remover)

e.l.f. Essential Lipstick in Posh vs. Too Faced La Creme Lipstick in Cinnamon Kiss

The Balm Time Balm Concealer + Paula's Choice Skin Recovery Replenishing Moisturizer

DermOrganic Leave-In Treatment with Argan Oil

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lip Balm SPF 15

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.