Styling Products -TiGi - Bedhead Small Talk
bluediva 2/24/2006 12:10:00 PM
OK, I've found my HG of hair styling. If you have fine and/or thin hair, and it falls limp or goes stringy after a few hours, GET THIS! Also, if your hair is very slippery (i.e. slides out of barrettes, clips) and you don't feel like frying it just to get some texture, this stuff will help tons, without making hair crunchy OR fluffy. I don't really like the blueberry-bubblegum smell, but considering the miraculous benefits of Small Talk, I am happy to live with the smell. My hair is baby-fine and short. I love this stuff.
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Styling Products -John Frieda - Radiant Red Color Envy daily color sealer
bluediva 1/26/2006 7:59:00 PM
Been using this for a week and it seems to be helping keep my hair shiny and soft without looking oily. Nice light serum, not sticky on fingers or hair. It is definitely *helping* to slow down color-fade, but I'm not sure exactly how much. But I am happy to find a product that gives shine and UV protection without weighing down my fine, wispy hair. Good package, dispenses from pump in small, controlled amounts.
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Styling Products -Redken - Rewind styling paste
bluediva 1/9/2006 3:22:00 AM
If you have fine hair in a short crop, this is NOT for you. My stylist talked me into getting this, claiming it would allow me to replicate her styling when I got home. Tried it every which-way, but no good results. I've tried quite a few pastes, putties, and pomades. This one is kinda interesting because of the "fibers" (long, thread-like strands you can tease between your fingers). Used lightly, it is invisible and stops frizzies. But if your hair is short, anywhere you apply this stuff is going to be close to your scalp, and therefore too warm for this to anything other than melt and weigh hair down. It may work better on long straight hair. But I think there are other products that do the same thing better, like Fudge Hair Putty.
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Hair Color -L'Oreal - Color Pulse [DISCONTINUED]
bluediva 1/6/2006 9:08:00 PM
Not terrible, but not great, either. I just wanted a temporary color kick that would be gone in 2 months b/c I'm growing my hair out from super-short. So I tried Chill Plum. This didn't deliver the intensity I'd expected. BUT the annoying part is that 3 months later, I STILL have a slight plum shine that isn't bright enough to enjoy, but is strong enough to interfere with any color I might put over top. I would use this OVER a more permanent color to boost color-shine as the main color fades, but don't use this if you truly want temporary color. L'Oreal made a temporary color product 10yrs ago called "Expressions" that was way better than this. Wish that one was still around.
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Deodorants -Nature's Gate - Deodorant - Grapefruit and Wild Ginger
bluediva 11/14/2005 12:50:00 AM
I got this b/c I liked the scent better than most deodorants, and for awhile it worked really well. I've quit using APs, and I'm trying to stick to natural organic deodorants. FWIW, this is a CLEAR stick that glides onto skin, doesn't cause irritation and (yay!) leaves NO marks on clothes! But after 2 months, it seemed to become less effective and I started to need to re-apply it every 4hrs or so. Still, if you don't sweat too much and you don't like smelling like teatree, lavender or (ick!) pachouli, this might be a good one to try.
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Concealers -Cover Girl - Invisible Concealer
bluediva 11/14/2005 12:30:00 AM
Darn, but i didn't even open this until a couple of weeks after I bought it and now I can't return it! They didn't have my shade in my usual concealer so I grabbed the palest shade of this for my travel bag. It's pastey and too orange-toned for my skin, and it feels like it's got some sort of thickening starch in it that just won't blend down into skin. Makes my facy very shiny after a couple of hours, and noticeable enough that I can tell exactly where I applied the concealer. I hate to throw away a new product, but this has gotta go!
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Concealers -Cover Girl - fresh complexion concealer
bluediva 11/14/2005 12:23:00 AM
The palest shade is great for my skintone. Blends well - light, non-greasy liquid formula. Ideal to use if all you need most days is to hide a few red areas and lighten under-eye area. To build up coverage with this concealer, I dab on a little bit, blend down, and dust with light powder, then dab on a bit more concealer and blend down. This works great on spots and really dark under-eyes. So it can work for full-coverage if you need it to.
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Bath Treatments -LUSH - Ceridwen's Cauldron
bluediva 11/13/2005 11:36:00 PM
This makes my skin very soft. Thanks much to reviewers who recommended rubbing this onto skin in the shower - it feels great! The scent is a sort of orange/franinscense/oatmeal mix, but it isn't very strong, and I quite like it. I think Lush bath melts are expensive for their size and usage, but they are a real treat b/c they let me soak in a hot bath without drying out my skin.
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Cleansers -LUSH - Angels on Bare Skin
bluediva 11/13/2005 10:51:00 PM
I have sensitive fair skin, and this stuff exfoliates and softens really well, but is still gentle and soothing, no redness or scratched-up feeling. Yes, it looks strange and feels odd, but just mix it into a paste with water and massage it onto your face, and it feels wonderful. The package is flimsy, but I put mine in a little glass stopper-jar. Having sensitive AND oily skin is a challenge, and this stuff is great for both. I LOVE it!
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Masks -LUSH - BB Seaweed Face Mask
bluediva 11/13/2005 10:38:00 PM
I really wanted to like this more. Too expensive for something that must live in my refridgerator and has a 3wk lifespan. It's an acceptable mild, purifying clay mask, did not bother my sensitive skin while it as on, but that's the only nice thing I can say. This stuff has millet flakes in it, and if you can imagine a layer of dried wholewheat bread dough stuck to your face, you get an idea of what it looked like and how hard it was to get off. And the big green seaweed flakes did not make this any more attractive. Did I mention that flakes of seaweed and dried mask kept falling off my face? Ladies, you may not sip any sort of beverage while wearing this mask. Trust me. If you think the big seaweed flakes mixed into the bread dough look gross on your face, you don't want to see what it looks like when a big piece falls into your cozy mug of tea! Lush makes some good stuff. This is not one of those things, IMHO. Try their Angels on Bare Skin scrub-cleanser instead of this mask. That's what I'm going back to!
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Lotions/ Creams -Fruits & Passion - Monoi Body Butter
bluediva 9/17/2005 5:23:00 PM
Yum! This stuff smells SO good, and feels like satin on skin! Fruits&Passion make great butters, and this one is a stand-out among them. Makes my dry skin noticeably softer with one application and I got compliments on the scent all day. I tried this product after discovering monoi in other products, but this stuff is the BEST monoi product I've found so far. FYI - Monoi is a highly refined coconut oil that is infused with tiare gadenia petals (and sometimes other flowers and essential oils).
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Eye Makeup Remover -The Body Shop - Chamomile Eye Makeup Remover
bluediva 9/17/2005 4:54:00 PM
I really wanted to like this b/c I like TBS, and it seemed to work great when I tried it during a make-over in the store. I wear dark e/s most days, so I need a good remover. Plus I have sensitive skin. This stuff did sting a bit, and it required more rubbing than I'd like, but it rinsed away easily. I also appreciate that it wasn't oily. I wanted to try something other than my usual L'Oreal eye makeup remover, but this was nothing thrilling. To be fair, it did a good job removing very metallic cream shadow, and I like the flip-top cap on the bottle. It works well with a q-tip to fix little mascara and liner smudges without wrecking the rest of my eye makeup. So I will use this product as an "eraser" and keep looking for my HG eye makeup remover.
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Hair -Rusk - Brilliance leave-in color protector
bluediva 9/17/2005 4:37:00 PM
Other reviewers seemed disappointed with this product, so I'll offer my humble little 2cents that might help others decide if it's right for them. I think it's misleading to call this a conditioner, and that might explain why some people were unimpressed. I think of it as protective treatment, not a leave-in conditioner. First, as the label says, it's a "compressed" formula, and it's meant to be applied to damp hair. Yes, it can get a bit sticky on dry hair. But last summer, I made a 50/50 mix with chamomile water and kept a little mister bottle in my fridge, and that worked great for applying to dry hair. Second, it is meant for "chemically dependent" hair, which my hairdresser emphasized was NOT for everyone, and I should expect this product to protect my hair from getting more frazzled, NOT miraculously undo the damage done by lightening and coloring. I love the smell of this stuff, and it works great without weighing down my baby-fine hair. I still use a weekly conditioning treatment to keep my hair strong, but I find this product makes hair color last longer without going brassy. (I love blonde and bold red shades.) Hope this is helpful.
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Eye Shadow -The Body Shop - Shimmer Cubes Palette 10
bluediva 9/17/2005 4:09:00 PM
OK, they finally did a shimmer cubes palette that suits my PPP complexion and green eyes. And surprise - they also look great on my friend's darker complexion. In the past, I'd looked at TBS's other shimmer cube palette, and none of them thrilled me. And until last week, I'd only poked my finger at the display demos, so I thought they were dry, cakey cubes of sparkle. I was so wrong! Nice girl in shop pulled out the make-over case and I got to try them on my eyelids with a clean brush. Low and behold, the cubes go on smoothly and the shimmer is subtle enough for daytime wear and more mature skin. Compared to TBS's single-shade "eye shimmers" (which I still adore!), the cubes have more visible color and less visible shimmer. And I think the cubes actually blend better, too. I hope they do more palettes like this. Previous ones were bronze/pink/mauve tones, which I just don't wear. This new palette is cooler-toned, and even the pinky-taupe "Pecan Pie" cube is surprisingly nice. The "Mint Slice" cube is VERY similar to TBS's "Peacock" shadow, which I wear every day. I got them home and discovered that a wet brush makes them the color and shimmer-factor very bold. FYI - "Mint Slice" and "Blackforest Gateau" are great as color eye-liners when applied wet.
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Fragrances -Crabtree & Evelyn - Spring Rain [DISCONTINUED]
bluediva 8/15/2005 2:21:00 PM
This was my main fragrance for a couple of years. It is light and subtle, but not chalky like baby powder. It lasts a long time, especially if you also use spring rain lotion. I don't like most florals, but this one is very light and gentle, no loud bright notes, so it is my exception. I still wear it sometimes and it gets a lot of compliments from both men and women. Small warning - it comes in a tall-ish narrow glass bottle which could be knocked over easily. But it is still lovely, best of C&E's perfumes!
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