It's a little late but here is the January 2013 Glossybox. This was a special box because these were items the blogger, the man repeller picked out. There were some exciting full size items in this box! Even the box was different from the usual pink glossybox.
Cute note from Leandra (the man repeller)
Items in the box
There were two full size items. Tarte natural cheek tint (available March 2013) and OPI Liquid Sand from Mariah Carey Collection.
I was mostly excited about the Tarte natural cheek tint. In the winter I use cream blushes a lot and I've been really loving Tarte products! I haven't really tried out this product yet, but this product is very shiny and it feels rough when I swatched it. :( Hope it works out better when I try it out. It's really a pretty color though.
OPI Liquid Sand from Mariah Carey Collection. I was really glad I got this because I was really contemplating buying this but I figured these are one of those gimmicks or a trendy phase, so I didn't bother. But perfect way to try it. It's supposed to be glitter bomb with a matte finish.
Sebastian Potion 9 Styling Treatment. Deluxe size perfect for traveling.
Rest of the smaller sample size. I know the Le Metier De Beaute is expensive, but I hate little packet samples. bleh... but the remainder of the items were good travel size. I haven't tried Estee Lauder mascaras in awhile, so that should be fun.
Can't wait for my next box. I hear the theme is international style. If you haven't signed up for Glossybox and you want to try it, please use my referral link if you wouldn't mind. :) Also don't forget to purchase it through ebates.com where it gives you instant rebate for your online purchases including glossybox. I have already got $145.00 back from online purchase since September! Why not save while shopping? :)
Couple months back, I saw Garnier was releasing an ammonia free oil based hair dye called Garnier Olia in a magazine and I knew I'd have to try it. I have gray hair near my bangs, so I always have to dye my hair every couple of weeks. I was too lazy to do it myself, so I used to get them done at a salon, then it got way too expensive. So for the last couple of months, I have been only doing touch ups at home, but saw this opportunity to change my hair color and lighten it little bit from black to dark brown.
These were on sale at CVS for $8.99 (originally $10.49) and with coupons I only paid $5. What can I say, I'm a savvy shopper. :) In order to do my full head, I typically need two boxes, but I opted for one, and thought maybe I'll just do a touch up.
How it works: Unlike traditional haircolor, Oila uses an exclusive 60% oil blend, with natural flower oils, in the colorant. The unique oil-based formula maximizes the coloring process to achieve permanent color results. It propels colorants deep into hair, without ammonia, for pure, vivid, long-lasting color. Olia visibly improves and restores the look of hair, as oils help to reverse roughness and dullness for softer, shinier hair with bounce. 60% oil blend with natural flower oils
100% gray coverage
No ammonia
What comes in the box: Unusually big color mixer, developer, colorant, conditioner, and pair of gloves.
Instructions:
When I began to mix the developer and colorant, I noticed that it was a little difficult to know if you have squeezed everything out from the developer (which felt like any hair gel/cream dispenser), because you can't see inside. I spent good 2-3 minutes to ensure I squeezed everything out, but more product kept coming out when I tried to stop. And the colorant comes in a aluminum tube. So if you start squeezing from the bottom near the mouth of the tube, you are a bit skrewed, because the aluminum tube are hard to unflatten. So that was quite a task. I love the humongous mixer. The gloves were not flimsy, but felt a little tight even for my regular asian hands. LOL
Biggest seller for me was the scent. Due to lack of strong chemicals like ammonia, or maybe because it's 60% oil, it didn't have a strong chemical scent that attacks your nose and forces you to open all windows in your home in the middle of winter. I think I wouldn't die of strong scent even if I closed my bathroom door. It actually smelled pleasant and flowery. I loved it.
Now all it had to do was pass the test and cover my grays. I picked up color dark brown, 4.0 (versus 1.0 which is black). I typically would have gotten 2.0 (natural black) but wanted to see if dark brown would cover my grays and I wanted to lighten my hair a little bit.
While dying my hair, I dropped the bottle couple of times. While the roundness is cute, when your hands have the slippery solution on it, and my regular sized asian hands had a hard time grasping the big round bottle with precision. The solution wasn't too liquidy or too thick. It squeezed out like mayonnaise. :) I concentrated on my roots and grays, and surprisingly, I had enough to cover my entire head/hair (you have to remember I have a lot of hair and it hits my waistline). If I were to do my entire head next time, I'd probably pick up two boxes. I noticed that the solution on your hair start to turn a little dry and start to feel like dry oil. I'm guessing this is normal. But my long hair felt so stiff and stick straight.
After 20 minutes, I was instructed to massage my scalp without water with gloves on, and rinse until it runs clear. When it hit water, it reminded me of my Shu Uemura or Shiseido Face Cleansing Oil. The solution turned milky white and it rinsed off quite easily. After the rinse, my hair still felt dry, so I slathered on tons of the conditioner it came with. Left it on for good 5 minutes while I finished showering, and my hair felt normal again. And my hair smelled gooood.
I'm happy to report that it covered my gray hair and lightened my black hair a bit.
Before and After Pictures. (Yes, my gray hair is really bad, I got it from my Papa)
My Thoughts: The results of this hair dye is fantastic. Garnier Olia, I likey you. After I blow dried my hair, my hair felt softer and that dry feeling went away. My grays were covered, my bathroom didn't stink of nasty chemical odor. Definitely a lot of Pros with this product, and definitely outweighs the Cons.
Pros:
1. Ammonia free- less harmful for your hair
2. Smells nice and flowery
3. Covers grays
4. Colors well
5. Comes with nicely conformed gloves
Cons:
1. Bottle is too big to hold (I'm being really picky here I know)
2. Tubes were not easy to squeeze out the products to mix
3. Makes your hair feel like you put on dry oil (during application)
Obviously, I'm really trying hard to list the cons here (can you tell?). But overall, I'm happy with Garnier Olia and I highly recommend it if you are a hair dyer like me. Finally a less harmful way to dye your hair without spending tons at the salon. I'm definitely going to use this product to continue doing root touch ups at home.
Got my October 2012 Glossybox! This month's theme is SpaLuxe.
It came with a Glossybox Magazine.
I love getting Glossybox! It feels like I'm receiving a gift every month! :)
Listing of the contents. Received 5 items with 2 full size items.
Contents of the box.
Received half size of Carols Daughter's Coconut Shea Souffle. I never heard of this brand until couple months ago, but it looks like it's an up and coming company. Saw few products at Sephora.
Alterna Bamboo Luminous Shine Mist. It's a spray to help make your hair strong and glossy.
Alessandro Int'l Pedix Feet Heel Rescue Balm. I have something like this from Julep and I absolutely love it, so I'm gonna have to try this out to compare to Julep's.
Secret Garden Exfoliating Loofa Soap in full size. I think this one is going to be my favorite. It's a loofa built into the soap! Genious! And it smells like grapefruit, and it smells absolutely wonderful!
Last but not least, Modelco Lipduo, lipstick and lipgloss. Not sure of the color. This one was also full size and was valued at $39, so definitely got my money's worth with just this one alone. I like the consistency and the color of this lipduo, but I'm not quite sure of the mirror situation. The mirror is in the middle but the lipstick and lipgloss wand is attached to it, so you can't really look at it while putting this on, which I feel like defeats the purpose of having a mirror on it in the first place.... but whatever the case, this is what I got. :)
Swatch of the lipstick
Lipgloss on top of the lipstick
Overall, I was happy with the items received. I think last month's was better, but I can't always love what I'm getting blind. But the quality and the value of the items received is very good. Second month and still loving Glossybox.
If you want to try it, click here my referral invitation . And don't forget to go through ebates.com. They give you I believe 12% rebate off your purchase. You should also check out gazillion stores you can get cash rebates from.
Also want to remind the readers to check out my previous post for the giveaway! Last day to enter is November 11th, 2012. Check post here for the details.
I gave in and subscribed to the beauty subscription box, GLOSSYBOX. Basically it's a box sent to you with 5 deluxe and/or full size products every month for $21/month (this already includes shipping and taxes) and cheaper if you decide to do 6 months or 1 year. I've tried few other beauty box subscription service and I think with GLOSSYBOX, you get way more things that you can use or valued way more than the other boxes.
Also as a sidenote, if you go through ebates.com you also get 15% back. So think of getting this box for a little less than $18. Great deal.
So to show you what I got this month. By the way, I love the box it comes in. It's totally reusuable for a gift or to store things in. Real sturdy, cute pink box! And when you open it, it's wrapped up with a bow like a gift. :)
They have a theme/ or a name for the box each month. This month was Fall Forward, inspired by the Fall Fashion Runways from Fashion Week.
Description and the price for each of the items received. Sorry the picture is crooked. >.<
And in my box:
From left to right:
1. OC8 Professional Mattifying Gel - It controls your shine for 8 hours. I received full size valued at $30.
2. GKHAIR Hair Taming System, Balancing Shampoo (the description didn't match the actual bottle). From the look of it, it looks to be about 3 to 4 ounces of product. Valued at $7-8.
3. GKHAIR Hair Taming System, Balancing Conditioner. Balued at about $7-8.
4. Kryolan Moisture Rich Lipstick in GLOSSY pink. I received full size valued at $14.
5. Missha M Perfect Cover BB Cream SPF 42 in Color #31. I received full size valued at $29.99!!!!! I actually already own this BB Cream. I just didn't know they make number #31, which was more perfect for olive tone ladies. But wow... worth $30 alone!
So I received total of approximately $90 worth of products.... Wow!!!!
I'm definitely keeping this subscription. Definitely worth it... From what I've seen in the past, it's always worth over what you are paying and you get awesome products. I'd recommend GLOSSYBOX.
Don't forget to go through ebates for your rebate. And if you'd like to join this, please let me know so I can send you a personal invitation for GLOSSYBOX!
Thanks to Daven Mayeda everyone's hair bff, I got to try making my hair beachy wave with volume without any heat. Best of all, I was able to do this in my sleep!
Here's what you need: Bobby Pins, water spray (optional), Styling cream (optional)
1. Brush your hair and section it off. Apply styling cream if you want. More sections and less hair = tighter smaller waves. Less section and more hair. Section does not have to be neat.
2. Make sure your hair is fully dried. And start twisting your hair from roots to all the way down to the tips. Create a bun and pin it like so. Make sure to tuck in the ends of your hair.
3. Continue to the rest of your head. I created 5 different buns. One on each side, two on the back, and one on the top of my head. I tried to pull them up to the top of my head for all the buns, so it won't be uncomfortable while I sleep. Why does this remind me of Shrek? LOL
4. This step is optional. I lightly sprayed water from a spray bottle. And I mean lightly. I sprayed 3 times from a distance.
5. Go to sleep with it. I woke up, got ready, brushed my teeth and washed my face. It was nice cuz this do kept my hair out of my face already. Then release the bobby pin and brush your fingers through the bun.
And this is what you get!
I absolutely love that I can create beautiful waves without having to use heat. Of course, you need the overnight to create this, but I absolutely love that I don't have to do anything to my hair in the morning.
Recently my Remington Ion Blow Dryer died (RIP).It’s been about 3-4 years since I bought it, so I guess it was time, and I use it on a regular basis.So in search for a new blow dryer, I ran into another Remington Blow Dryer.I saw a Youtube clip of this blow dryer in the works, and once again, I was AMAZED! (I get amazed by a lot of things… hhahaha)I bought my Remington 3-in-1 Styler/Hairdryer 4-pc. Kit through Amazon, but I realized that Target sells these also.My BFF picked one up herself at Target after I told her how cool this blow dryer was! (But check their stock before you make a trip)
It’s just a regular blow dryer with 3 tools: 1. volumizer/diffuser 2. concentrator 3. beach wave maker.Only thing unique about this blow dryer is the beach wave maker tool.
The beach wave maker attached to the blow dryer looks like this.Basically it’s a wind tunnel and throws your hair around and winds it up turning them into almost dread like… (however, it’s not dreads, it’s more like twisties)So you let these dreads/twisties cool, and you toss your hair around separating it.It’s pretty effortless and very easy to do, if you are not very good with hair tools.It took me 15 minutes to do my hair.
So here are some before, during, and after pictures.
Before I started blow drying… slightly wavy and still wet. I applied some Living Proof Full Thickening Mousse (which is very awesome btw). Brushed it through.
After I twisted some hair around.Letting it cool.
Voila! Messy Beach Waves!I didn’t put any styling products other than my heat protectant but I’d recommend you do! Don't expect miracles of giving you curls. This is a beach wave maker. Beach waves look like you went surfing in the salt water and you came out looking like this. It doesn't "curl" your hair!
How to use:
1. Wash your hair. Towel Dry.
2. Put heat protectant or hair styling products. Brush/ comb it through. Make sure your hair is not knotted.
3. Blow Dry your roots to give it some volume.
4. Make sure your hair is slightly damp but not soaking wet.Section your hair to about 6-10 pieces.
5.Turn on your Remington 3 in 1 Styler to high, drop section of your hair into the wind tunnel and move it up and down or side to side (depending on how you are holding it) until your hair is completely dry.
6.Press the cold shoot button for a little bit.Take your hair out.Leave it in dreads.Move on to the next section of hair.
7. After you are done with the entire head, let it cool, and make sure it’s completely dry.I’d say good 10 minutes.Might want to go take care of other things like makeup while it’s cooling.
8. Turn your hair upside down and tousle your roots separating the dreads.Or you don’t have to flip up side down, you can just separate your dreads.
9. Apply products as you see necessary.
Miloberry Tips:
I had use it twice and tried different techniques with each of the strands to see if it had any different effects.
1. For bigger waves, grab bigger sections of hair to twirl around. (but this might take a little longer to dry)
2. Hold the blow dryer at different angles, this will twist your hair differently. I liked holding my dryer so that the ends of the wind tunnel tool was facing side to side instead of top to bottom.
3. To dry your hair faster, twist smaller sections then later grab 2 or 3 twisted sections and drop it into the wind tunnel together creating one big section from 2 or 3 sections.This gives you slightly bigger waves.
4. Leave the dread on and go to sleep with it.This will give even longer time to set the waves.I slept with it and the dreads were intact when I woke up in the morning.And my hair was soft not frizzy.
This is how my hair turned out after I tried all the tricks above. ^__^
Some Pictures from my BFF, who tried it herself. And she loves it too! :) We both agreed it's really fun to blow dry your hair. hahahaha
Overall, I really like this blow dryer because it’s a Remington and I always had good experiences with them.And I like how it came with all the tools like a regular blow dryer and as an added bonus, it came with the beach wave maker.I’m totally lovin the beach waves. ^__^
And I really loved the price of this dryer.Only $25!!!
And it has Eco Friendly Settings.
And it’s really fun using this dryer!
And I can’t say anything bad about this dryer.I’m in love!
Here’s some Youtube videos on how people use the Remington 3 in 1 Styler.
This one is not in english, but I guess it's called the Remington Spin Curl in other countries. But you don't need to understand.... just watch. kekeke
(btw, frmheadtotoe aka Jen is one my favorite Vloggers!)
through Amazon, but I realized that Target sells these also.
