hair Archives - Curiously Carmen

Korres Pure Greek Olive 3-in-1 Nourishing Oil

April 3, 2019

For the past year or so, I have mostly been repurchasing my trusted Mizon Snail Repair Cream, which doesn’t really leave opportunities for as many skincare reviews. But as usual, my skin gets used to the product and doesn’t work as well as it used to – which is common for a lot of people.

To give my skin a bit of a moisture boost, I was introduced to the new Korres 3 in 1 Nourishing Oil. It is part of their new Pure Olive Oil line that launched this season for the first time outside of Greece.

What it says (taken from press release):

Velvety, luxurious oil without silicones for intensive nourishment of face, body and hair. Rich in organic extra virgin Olive oil and reinforced with a mixture of Vitamins C, E, F and omega-6 fatty acids, to improve the natural skin barrier, ensuring smooth skin with increased elasticity. The unique properties of Olive oil offer shiny, smooth hair, preventing breakage and frizz. Easily absorbed, non-greasy and with a fine scent, the PURE GREEK Olive 3-in-1 Nourishing Oil is ideal for all ages and all skin types.

Application: It is called a 3 in 1 oil because the oil is versatile and could be used in 3 places: face, body, and hair. I have been using this mainly on my face day and night, after applying my regular cream above. I usually put around 3 drops on my palm, rub it between my hands, and then pat it over my face.

The oil absorbs pretty fast and is very light weight, and lacks the heavy oil feeling. There is also a pleasant, neutral scent (not too feminine or masculine) that lingers around for a few hours too.

If you have dry hair or split ends, this would be a great product to nourish your hair with and to give it a healthy shine!

Overall, I like this oil and can’t really think of any negatives about it. If I was being picky, I could say that you have to be careful when dispensing the product because a lot could come out at once! Don’t completely put it upside down to dispense or your hands will get oily!

Yay!

Availability: Select Shoppers Drug Mart locations and online at shoppersdrugmart.ca/beauty.
Price: $60 CAD

Press sample featured. Opinions are own.

Bed Head Hair Waver

May 14, 2017

I believe this is my first time writing about a hair appliance on the blog! Let me tell you why… it’s because I absolutely SUCK at curling my hair. Like, I can not do it for the life of me. Well, I can, but it doesn’t look good!

Last year, I curled my bangs and ended up burning my forehead and walked around with a burn mark. For that week, it was a constant reminder that I should not attempt to use a curling iron anymore. Now, I just leave it to my hair stylist or I would ask a friend to help me if I needed my hair curled for a special occasion!

Anyways, because of my lack of skills in the hair curling department, the next best thing for me was to get a hair waver! You can also call it a hair crimper, but I don’t like that term as I don’t really like the look of tight, crimped hair on myself. I like my hair to look wavy instead.

I bought the Bed Head hair waver at least 5 years ago on a whim at London Drugs. I used it semi-frequently for the first two years, but then kind of just forgot about it after. It was only until I started seeing girls with beautiful, voluminous hair on Instagram again that I remembered I owned this.

I actually didn’t realize that it was the travel size until I looked it up online for this review. It explains why it is so compact, making it ideal for storage. Despite the small size, it packs a good punch and does a really good job at waving your hair!

This is what my hair looks like, after six hours? I am not wearing any product with it (including pre-and post treatment). I love waving my hair because it lasts until the next day. I love my hair curled as well, but it doesn’t last as long unless I use lots of hairspray.

My only complaint about this hair waver is the handle is too small. I did mention above that the small size makes it great for travel and storage, but my hand cramps up after using it every time. In fact, that’s the reason why I stopped using it for a few years.

Imagine using a pair of small child scissors or something – the repetitive movement of the clamp cramped up my knuckles. I also found that you had to clamp pretty hard, which added to the soreness in your hand afterwards.

Although it has done me well, I did not want a sore hand after each use. So, I ended up buying a replacement one with a longer handle, the Vidal Sassoon Ceramic Adjustable Waver instead. I’ve only had the chance to use that one once so far, but perhaps I will write a review on that? It would be nice to have some more hair-related products here too!

Yay!

Batiste Dry Shampoo Review: Original (Ella Henderson) and Dark Brown

June 12, 2016

I’ve never tried dry shampoo before, mostly due to the fact that I wash my hair everyday because I can’t stand the slightest oil or that ‘heaviness’ feeling on my scalp. I just feel so dirty! I know that washing your hair everyday is bad, but when you hate the heavy oily feeling as much as I do, AND you naturally have oily hair… you just gotta =P.

Anyways, I’ve heard really great things about Batiste from the blogosphere and with my friends as well. With the slightest twinge of doubt, I decided it was finally time I take the plunge and see if it could impress me, a girl with zero tolerance of oily hair!
Do you like the flowers in the background? Most of the time I use fake flowers as a backdrop, but these ones were actually fresh picked from the garden!

For this review, I tried out two of Batiste’s dry shampoos. The first one was the limited edition Ella Henderson. There isn’t much difference with the Ella Henderson line compared to the regular one, except for the scent and packaging – formula is the same. The second one was the Batiste dry shampoo for dark & brown hair.

I will be comparing both and let you know which one I preferred at the end!
For a beginner like me, I was glad there were detailed instructions on the back. As well, I watched a quick video on Youtube to make sure I wouldn’t screw up.

There are also different hair styles you could try with Batiste. Nina Farruto, hair & makeup artist suggests the messy, windswept ponytail. Here are the steps:

Use Batiste XXL Volume Dry Shampoo to prep the roots and work it in with your fingertips.
Without brushing out the tousled texture and leaving the front in a centre or side part, split the hair in the back of your head vertically. Holding each side in your hands, take the two sections and tie them in a single low knot at the base of your neck.
Repeat this step to tie a second knot in the hair, and secure the knots using bobby pins. The roots of the hair will feel thick with the product and help the pins hold this style in place.
Once the knots are secure, you can pull down the lengths to adjust how the hair ends sit, work the knots with your fingers to pull them out and add some volume and texture to the nape of your neck.
Once the knots and tails of the hair are sitting how you like them, scrunch and shake up the sides and top of your hair to loosen the texture, and pull out a few pieces around the front and along the hairline of your style for that undone, beachy finish.

Moving on to what you’re probably here to see: here is my uncombed, oily hair with no product. You can see the oil starting to build up. This is about as oily as I would let it get before having to wash it. I took this picture in the morning, which is when I would usually wash my hair these days.

After! I was seriously IMPRESSED with how quickly the shampoo absorbed the oil. My hair instantly felt cleaner, although I didn’t wash it. As well, the dry shampoo has a nice scent to it so your hair smells nice and fresh as well. I was really mindblown – what kind of magic is this?! Where have you been my whole life?!

Throughout the day, I constantly kept touching my hair to see if it needed a refresh, but it lasted the whole day. The only strange thing was that my hair still felt that oily heavy feeling, but it didn’t feel dirty. I would compare it to when you get your hair curled, and you put in a lot of hairspray. You can definitely feel the hairspray there, but it doesn’t feel dirty – just that there is product in your hair.
The dark & brown hair shampoo stained my fingers and comb, but it came off easily with soap and water. I also found that whenever I touched or lightly scratched my hair, under my nails would have brown gunk (Sorry, maybe TMI but I want to inform you all!)

The Ella Henderson shampoo did not stain my fingers or leave gunk under my nails, but I found I had to take more time to massage it into my hair because my hair is dark, and the white formula was a lot more visible than the dark formula.

Since both were equally amazing at refreshing my hair, it all comes to the small details. I prefer the dark brown shampoo more just because I don’t have to worry about possible white powder residue on my scalp. I am notorious for rushing my hair routine, but if you’re someone who takes the time to do your hair slowly and carefully, you won’t have a problem with having the powder unblended on your scalp.

I am LOVING the Batiste shampoo and will be purchasing more bottles once I run out. I can’t believe it took me so long to try it out! It is definitely worth the hype!

Have you tried Batiste dry shampoo before? What did you think?

Yay!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

Schwarzkopf Color Ultime Hair Dye

May 20, 2016

Would you believe that I’ve never dyed my hair at home before? Yup, I never have… until now! When Schwarzkopf approached me about their new spring Colour Ultime hair collection, I decided to give at home hair dying a go and also lighten my hair up a bit for the summer!

The shade I chose was 3.8- velvet brown.
The box and package of the hair dye was pretty standard, just like any other boxed hair dye. It also shows you how the hair colour would look on you depending on how dark/light your hair is.

My package also came with an accompaniment of shampoo and conditioner for coloured hair. I used to dye my hair quite often back in high school/early university years. Whenever my hair was dyed, I made sure to always use shampoo for coloured hair.

This makes a great difference in how the hair colour turns out, and how long the colour lasts. So, I definitely recommend getting a shampoo for coloured hair if you plan on dying your hair!

The Schwarzkopf Colour Ultime hair dye came with a clear and detailed instruction sheet, applicator bottle with developer lotion already inside, the squeeze bottle of the hair dye, gloves, and after care hair elixir.

Set up is really easy, you just squeeze the hair dye into the applicator bottle. Then, shake the bottle vigourously until the developer lotion and hair dye are mixed well.

Since it was my first time trying at home hair dye, I enlisted the help of my trusted and experienced friend to make sure the process went as smooth as possible! I definitely recommend having someone to help, as it would be a bit more difficult to evenly distribute the dye throughout your hair yourself.
I also recommend dying your hair in an old tshirt, just in case you accidentally get hair dye on it. Or, you could wear a garbage bag/plastic poncho thingy to protect your clothes as well. Since I had my friend helping me, it was a very clean and fast process!

I won’t go super detailed into the application process, but it was very smooth. We were both really surprised at how good the Schwarzkopf dye smelled, as were preparing for the familiar chemical smell of hair dye. There was a small hint of it, but definitely not as strong as at the salon, or with other at home hair dyes my friend had used in the past.
After evenly distributing the hair dye, your hair should look something like this! I then left it in my hair for 30 minutes, which was the recommended time.

Thirty minutes later, I washed my hair out with warm water (they recommended warm water) and used the shampoo and conditioner as well! Again, the shampoo and conditioner smelled very pleasant with a hint of coconut. As previously mentioned, the box comes with the after care elixir, which is a deep conditioning treatment. There is enough in the tube for 3-4 uses, depending on how long/thick your hair is.

Ta-daaaa! Here is the final result! My hair is naturally pretty dark, so I wasn’t sure if the hair dye would show up or not. But, I’m glad it did! In the sunlight, it is more noticeable though.

I love the new lighter colour and it is definitely fitting as we get into summer! If you’re planning on dying your hair at home, I recommend giving Schwarzkopf a try!

Yay!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

Media samples featured. Opinions are own.

ACI Beauty Spring/Summer 2016 Preview

May 16, 2016

Early this month, I had the opportunity to attend the ACI Beauty Spring/Summer 2016 preview event! You may remember this event when I went for their Fall/Holiday 2015 event last August. There are some great new beauty products launching, keep reading to find out more!
ACI1 Starting off with Stila, one of their most exciting new launches is the Stila Stay All Day Foundation re-launch! The packaging has been redesigned with a center dispensing dish, which makes it easier and less messy to apply. You simply pump the product, and it will dispense onto the center plate, where you can then use a sponge/brush/finger to apply the foundation. The foundation is a medium to full coverage, with a matte finish.

The second product Stila is launching is the All In One Colour Correcting Palette. Each palette is specifically designed for a certain skintone, and helps to even out redness, dark circles, etc. It comes with a small booklet as you can see above, which makes it easier to distinguish which colour goes where!
ACI3 Whenever I think of Paul & Joe, I immediately think of their cute, whimsical, and detailed packaging. Also, cat lipsticks!!! This season, they are back again with the cat lipsticks in a few different shades. As well, there are also some new mini eyeshadow palettes being launched in a paper packaging.

The designs of the eyeshadow palettes are super cute, I wish I had taken a photo of the outside as well!
ACI4 Although using self tanners can be a daunting and intimidating task, St. Tropez makes it really easy for you to achieve the perfect glow that you are looking for. They also recently launched a website, which helps you find the perfect St. Tropez product for you. It will ask questions such as what type of event you are wearing this tan to, how many days/time you have, how dark of a tan you are looking for, etc.
ACI5 Roses! Even better, red roses! <3 Korres has just launched a wild rose line, which looks absolutely beautiful! I am excited to try the Korres Wild Rose Vitamin C Brightening Oil, which can be mixed into liquid foundation or just applied as a moisturizer. The oil also comes infused with real rose petals. So pretty!
ACI7 Last but not least, Bliss! There are three new devices that Bliss is releasing this season. The first is the Bliss Sweeping Beauty powered cleaning device featured above!

The second device is a climate controlled spa-powered skin conditioning wand, which changes temperatures to properly and thoroughly moisturize your skin. You first use the warm function to open up your pores, so that your skin can thoroughly receive all the benefits of your moisturizer. After using the wand to massage the product in, you then use the cold function to close and lock up your pores!

The third device is the Achilles heel spa-powered heel smoother, which is a handheld device that you can use to exfoliate your feet!
ACI6 Keep your eye out for all of these wonderful products that will be launching this season! I have a few favourites, and am excited to see them on the shelves!

Which product are you most excited for?

Thanks for reading!
Carmen