Category

Hair

November 18, 2012

ClothingCult’s Giveaway
Thanksgiving 2012 – Birchbox Samples

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This giveaway has ended – Winner: Julie

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EDITED – Since no one has entered any of the contests yet and I was going to end them tomorrow I’ve decided to consolidate them all into one prize. Winner takes all. New giveaway: This contest ends on: 11/28/2012 12:01am EST

ENTER AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST – Comment on the blog & entry in the giveaway form.

So I have all of these samples that have been unused and are just taking up space. Some I won’t use simply because they have dimethicone in them (cones break ME out but they might not break you out.) Others I haven’t used because they aren’t my cup of tea (synthetic perfumes.) BUT I know that many of you might be interested in having these samples.

SO I’m going to do a giveaway of Birchbox samples I haven’t even touched (ok, I’ve touched the packaging here but you get my point.)

Why is this a Thanksgiving givaway? Because I will be thankful for some extra storage space and you will be thankful to have some fun goodies. Yeah, I know, not entirely the theme of Thanksgiving (thankful for what you have) but I do really want to reclaim some storage space.

 

So here’s how it’s going to work: We have four boxes and thus four giveaways you can enter. Each person can enter all four giveaways once.

These contests start on: 11/19/2012 12:01am EST
These contests end on: 11/26/2012 12:01am EST

This contest ends on: 11/28/2012 12:01am EST
These contests are open to all residents of the continental United States (sorry Alaska & Hawaii! Shipping can get expensive!)

There are two things you have to do for an entry:

  1. You will need to leave a comment in the comment section below describing your favorite product ever. It can be hair care, moisturizer, lipstick, whatever floats your boat. Just leave a comment on what is your favorite item. One comment can be used for all four contests.
  2. You will need to follow the giveaway link and follow the directions to complete your entries.

The four boxes (now one giveaway) – all items are samples, not full size:

  1. The jouer & makeup box:
    1. Jouer Lip Enhancer Conditioning Lip Treatment
    2. Jouer Body Butter
    3. Jouer Luminizing Mosture Tint
    4. Stila All Over Liquid Luminizer in Rose Gold Shimmer
    5. Dr.Jart+ BB Beauty Balm Multi-action skin care + makeup
    6. Laura Geller Spackle tinted under make-up primer in bronze
    7. Chantecaille lip gloss
    8. Colorscience Pro Sunforgettable Mineral Powder
    9. Everyday Minerals Once & Again blush
    10. Everyday Minerals powder foundations in: Light Medium original glo, Medium in semi-matte, Medium Beige in semi-matte, Multi-taking Neutral in matte
  2. The hair care box:
    1. Ouidad Moisture Lock Leave-in Conditioner
    2. Oscar Blandi Protein Mist for Restyling Hair
    3. Mythic Oil treatment
    4. Orofluido treatment
    5. DermOrganic Argan Oil leave-in hair treatment
    6. Fekkai Advanced Essential Shea shampoo & conditioner
  3. The moisturizer box:
    1. Kiehl’s Creme de Corps
    2. Masqueology 7d moisturizer
    3. Masqueology masque cleanse
    4. Masqueology revitalizing eye gel
    5. Sarah McNamara Miracle Skin Transformer Face & Body SPF 20
    6. Ahava Mineral Hand Cream
    7. Scalisi Skincare Anti-aging Moisturizer
    8. Borghese Moisture Intensifier
    9. DDF Wrinkle Resist Plus Pore Minimizer
  4. The perfume box:
    1. Harvey Prince eau flirt sample
    2. MCMC Pheonix sample
    3. BVLGARI Mon Jasmin Noir sample
    4. Viva La Juicy La Fleur sample

 

I think that’s it! One winner takes all will be randomly chosen on November 28th 2012. Have fun and share it with your friends!

Enter here:

Thanksgiving 2012 giveaway – click here to enter

October 16, 2012

October 2012 Birchbox Goop edition

 October-2012-birchbox-goop-contents
What was in the box:
  • DDF® Wrinkle Resist Plus Pore Minimizer Moisturizing Serum – Ingredients: Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Glycerin, Niacinamide, Dimethicone, Crosspolymer, Polymethylsilsesquiioxane, Tocopheryl Acetate, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4, Sodium Hayaluronate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Triethanolamine, Panthenol, PEG-100 Stearate, Carbomer, C30-45 Alkyl Cetearyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Benzyl Alcohol, Triethoxycaprylysilane, Titanium Diozide, PPG-15 Stearyl Ether, Polyhydrozystearic Acid, Mica, Methicone, Dimethicone, PEG/PPG-18/18 Dimethicone, Alumina, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, DMDM Hydantoin, Disodium EDTA, Phenozyethanol, Fragrance, Iron Oxides.
    As I’ve said before, cones break me out so I won’t even be trying this product. There are however many other ingredients here that make this a non-natural product.
  • OROFLUIDO Elixir – Ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclotetrasiloxane, Dimethiconol, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Cyperus Esculentus Root Oil, Parfum (Fragrance), Isopropyl Palmitate, Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed)Seed Oil, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, CI 47000 (Yellow 11), CI 26100 (Red 17)
    Another I won’t be trying: It says “fragrance” but in this case based on the rest of the ingredients I’m inclined to think it might be from oils. The “Dimethiconol” is a cone however. Probably does amazing things for your hair though.
  • LUNA Bar unfermented soy. If you’re fine with soy, go for it. They’re tasty (I’ve had them before) but soy and I are not best buds.
  • Chantecaille Brilliant Gloss  – the ingredients were not readily available but I did find them on another blog, “Truth In Aging” here. I’m not wowed. A $32-$34 lip gloss that touts natural ingredients that’s full of bad for you ingredients. I’m inclined to believe the post since Chantecaille’s own website avoids listing the full ingredient list as well.
    So I probably won’t be trying this one on. The other problem here is that even if I liked it, I’m not sure what color it is. It’s not labeled on the product or the card. I think it might be “Folly” but it’s hard to tell when you’re looking online. Could be “Charm”?
  • Miracle Skin Transformer SPF20 Face – They say “Free of synthetic fragrances, dyes, wax, mineral oils, and talc. Developed with selected natural ingredients.” Notice the “selected” in that statement. That doesn’t mean it’s natural either.
    Active Ingredients: Octinoxate 7.5%, Octisalate 5.0%, Oxybenzone 2.0%, Zinc Oxide 1.5%.
    Ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Caprylyl Methicone, Cyclohexasiloxane, Water/Eau, Dicaprylyl Ether, Boron Nitride, Octyldodecanol, Passiflora Edulis Seed Oil, Glycerin, Dimethiconol, Ubiquinone, Tapioca Starch, Mica, Physalis Angulata Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Caprylyl Glycol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Polysorbate 80, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Potassium Sorbate, Hydrated Silica, Serenoa Serrulata Fruit Extract, Hexylene Glycol, Silica, Isoceteth-10, Retinyl Palmitate, Benzyl Alcohol, Phytonadione, Cholecalciferol, Tocopherol, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides.
    Again: cones.

So while I had high hopes for at least two products initially, the hair elixer and the lip gloss, we struck out across the board on all products. 3 of which included dimethicone. :/

What’s funny is that at the end of my video I said that none of my boxes have been a complete bust and this one ended up having nothing in it that I’m going to try.

Embedly Powered

 


 Still not signed up for Birchbox? :D

Birchbox affiliate link
http://birchbox.com?raf=3l3e7
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October 8, 2012

Blue Lace Twistband review

As part of my September Birchbox I received a blue lace twistband. Out of the box it looked ok but when I put it on the first time, the underside (which did not have the lace pattern printed on it) flipped over enough that it didn’t look great.

A month later, I’ve worn it a few more times and it’s just not holding up well. It doesn’t flip over as much in my hair but it still doesn’t look great AND it’s starting to come apart.

 

$14/6pk = $2.33 per band which is far more expensive than the average hair band and I would hope they would hold up better. They ARE more comfortable in your hair so I’ve relegated this one to nighttime braid use. The neon twistband from the March Birchbox is holding up much better but I haven’t used it maybe only twice.

If you really like these and want them to last awhile, I would recommend investing in some Dritz Fray Check. It’s a sewing product that is like a glue to keep the ends of ribbon from unraveling.

I still really like the concept because it’s like a better looking scruncie and easier on your hair than most hairbands, but I’m thinking about buying some elastic at the fabric store or online to go the DIY route for less and in a wider variety of colors. Or so I can have a pile of brown ones to last awhile.

Hint Hint: There are also people on etsy selling similar hairbands for much less.

April 21, 2012

amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask review

I received a sample of the Amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask in the April Birchbox. I LOVE what this does to my hair. The photos are actually all the second day after using this (gallery below)

My hair was still shiny but not oily. NO additional products. No hairspray, no gel, no shine serums, nada. Just shampoo then the amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask. My hair was straight with a little more volume on the first day. Second day I decided to curl it without rewashing and this is how it looked at the end of the day.

I also LOVE that the ingredient list is all natural.

The big downside for me (and also probably the ingredient that causes the shine) – even though I rinse it out in the shower after 5 minutes, the dimethicone still seems to break me out a bit. I will give it another shot again in another week but I’m fairly certain this was what caused the couple of little deeper below the surface zits that are painful and last longer. That has been the pattern with anything that has “cones” in the ingredient list for me so I wasn’t surprised.

IF dimethicone doesn’t bother you, I definitely would recommend picking up this product and trying it.