Archive for January 2011

Tag: Versatile Blogger Award

I tend to forget to write these, so here goes another one before I forget:



I've been awarded by the beautifull Livia with the Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks girl!

The rules for this awards are:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Tell us 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered new bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and let them know they've received the award(s).

 I'm going to cheat a bit and repost 5 random things I already posted in a different tag:

1. Im a natural blond, but for some weird reason mynatural hair colour makes me look sickly pale. Almost everyone has dark hair inmy family, and when I still was a blonde, people didn’t see any resemblancebetween me and my family. After I dyed my hair, people started making commentslike ‘are you related to….’ Insert my mothers, or brothers name. Really weird.
2. People who don’t know me, sometimes think I’marrogant. But that’s just the way my face is, I’m actually a pretty shy person.Unless you’re in my circle of friends, then you can’t shut me up. :P
3. I really really hate injustice. Maybe becauseI’m a cop’s daughter, but I can’t stand it when people are being wronged. Iwill always open my mouth when I see people doing something that is wrong. Ialso can’t stand it when people give the wrong example to kids, like walkingthrough a red light, or throwing trash on the ground.
4. I’m one of those weird woman that isn’t reallyinto chocolate. I can eat it, but I only eat very dark chocolate with nuts orsomething in it and not much or regularly. I get nauseated by milkchocolate.I’m a sucker for junkfood though, especially potatochips and cookies.
5. I’ve studied chemistry, yeahI’ve worn the whitelabcoat and the 'sexy' glasses. I was always into the practicalchemistry,especially perfumes and makeup and such. Later on I was interested inmedicinesaswell. But when I was finally an intern I decided chemistry was NOTthe thingfor me. Always being locked up in a cold lab with a lot of machines isnot mykind of fun. So I quit during graduation and never felt better. Eventhough I'm supposed to be an 'intelligent' person, I rather work withmy hands. (Which is showing up in my hobbies: making clothing andjewelry, writing, drawing, etc)
 
6. I am a total sucker for romance. There's just something special about metting a charactre and seeing how they develop, and fall in love with another charactre.This has resulted in several piles of romance novels also known as Bouquet or Harlequin novels in our home. *hangs her head in shame*. But thanx to my lexlings, I've turned away from those horrible cheap books and started working through quite a lot of smutty fantasy novels. Those are a LOT better to read, and I'm addicted ever since. Our house is littered with books anyway, I love reading and I re-read books several times. Some alltime favs: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, Black Dagger Brotherhood, Dark Hunters, Immortals After Dark, The Dresden Files, and so on.
Other than that I also love romantic movies, especially romcoms. I'm not really into the Birdget Jones' Diary, but more into Confessions of a Shopaholic, Ella Enchanted, and so on.
7. When I asked hubs about a random fact about me he said ''you can pick up stuff with your toes''.
*facepalm*


Now I have to tag 15 other people with this award, but this one has been going around for a while now and I'm not sure who hass't had it yet. So....feel free to have been tagged by me and post your link to it in the comments :)

Tag: 7 Beautiful Things

Killditzie made this new tag, and was so kind to tag me as one of the first 7  :).


We have ''the 7 beauties'' that is a list of 7 things that apparantly are labeled as beautiful. This tag is about naming 7 things that you think are beautiful about yourself.

So here goes:
  • I love my eyes. They have a weird mix of both of my parents colours, giving me a mix of greyblue-green eyes with brown spots. The white of my eyeballs is really bright, which makes the colours stand out more. My eyecolour almost seems to change with my mood, hubby has told me the same on several occassions.
  • I love the shape of my body. This might be a weird thing to say, but I like my body more than my face, haha. I've had ''underweight'' for so many years, always bones sticking out, always stuffing myself with junkfood, hoping for some curves. Nowadays, I really love my hourglass figure with curves in all the right places. J-Lo 's got nothing on me :P
  • I love my long thin fingers. My musical teacher used to tell me I had pianofingers :) I might have child size rings, but I really like the shape of my hands, and the way my long rounded nails makes them look even longer. All of my limbs tend to be long.
  • I love my skin. Not really the way it can be supersensitive and how I have had eczema for all of my life. But I love the colour of it, even though my body tends to be a bit darker yellow than my pale face. (My body can become peanutbutter brown in summer, my face and neck won't get any colour). Also, my skin is supersoft, I don't really use any bodylotions or such, I tend to forget those. I'm probably one of a few who doesn't ever use handcream either.
  • I love how I always want to help people, and will always try my best if someone asks for my help. I tend to be that kind of person with the phone next to the bed, and people can call me in the middle of the night, if they need to. My grandmother used to be the kind of person that people turned to when they needed help or just a shoulder to cry on. She's my example to live by.
  • I love how I can be totally silly with my hubby and my friends. I like making fun of myself, and making the weirdest faces to make other people laugh. The same musicteacher mentioned above told me I should become a singer, a tvpresentor or an actress. I used to have so much fun when we practised for muscials and such. But I don't feel secure enough to be the centre of attention, and smiling and having fun with my friends is really all I need to be happy.
  • I love creating things. I've had so many hobbies: making jewelry, making stuffed animals, making embroidered pillows, etc and then giving those to people. I liked designing and making clothing so much that it even turned into a business. But I also like to draw and like to write. I wish I could write books, because I love them so much. I think it would be awesome to create something that can make someone laugh and or cry, make someone loose theirselves in a story, forgetting the world around them for a while. There's beauty to be found in making things, to see something come to life from your own hands.


The 7 beautifull bloggers I want to tag are:
Suzy
Livia
BlogginBeauties
Lene
Linda
Linda
Sanne

Review: Miraclear Face by Konad

When I read Lindas review of this product, I was really interested. So when I had a lot of money to spend after my birthday, I decided to order this one along with a bunch of other stuff.

The Miraclaer is a nifty tool, that you can use to scrub your face everyday. It removes all kinds of secretion, and massages your skin.

Since I have a dry/dehydrated skin, scrubbing is essential for me, but it needs to be done without drying out my skin even more. So this product seemed like a good thing to try.

The Miraclear is shocking pink, and made of plastic and silicone. The bottom has silicon rims, that feel soft enough on the skin to feel nice, but hard and flexible enough to scrub your face.

The middle on the back can be taken out, and if you pump the piston, you inflate the balloon that's on the bottom. You can make it as hard/round as you like.

When you've inflated the balloon, it's much easier to use on the roudness of your face. Especially the piece around your nose and from the nose to your forehead become a lot easier to scrub this way.
The Miraclear is very easy to use, and it doesn't hurt or irritates my skin at all.

I always use it with Lush's 9 to 5 cleanser, and massage that into my skin. Afterwards I take it off with some water, and my skin feel feel supersoft and smooth. I haven;t used it everyday, but I do use it once/twice a week, and extra when I've got makeup on my face(other than my eyes).
I think this is the gentlest scrub I have ever had, and it works wonders for me.

You can also use it to massage in your day or night cream, or massage the rest of your body.
When you're done, you just rinse it with water and deflate it by pressing on the silver ring on the back.


This one is available at Enchantra and it costs 9,95 euros.

EOTD: Jet Set Magpie & How to Annoy a 12 yr old on his Bday

This look was done with some colours I hand't used yet, and thought would look nice together.

 On the eyelid I applied Gosh eyeshadowbase, beacuse that stick is really easy for loose powders to stick to.
Then I applied Sleek's IDust Jet Set On the whole eyelid.

 In the outer V I applied Sugarpill's Magpie and blended the two of them a bit together. BElow the eye I used the same colours.
I used a nude coloured highlighter below my brows so my eyes wouldn't get to much like a discoball.

 Then I applied some black gelliner and voila!

On my face I used some Catrice's BUrgundy blush and Evil Shades Bane lipstick. Gorgous soft pink with a blue shine that doesn't want to be photographed properly.
 I was still not feeling well here, but had worked all day and had to go to Sid's nephews bdayparty. The very nextday my body had a breakdown and the flu came back with a vengeance :(
 Sometimes, when I'm not feeling well, I dress in bold colours to try and make me feel a bit better, sometimes it works :) Unfortunately, this time, my body wouldn't fall for it.


And how do you annoy a 12 year old that only wanted money for his birthday? I alsmot never give money for a bday, I think it's impersonal and I love trying to find that perfect present for someone. Some say I have a knack for it, but trust me, it can be really difficult sometimes. Anyway, I should applaud a 12 yr old for wanting to save money for something, so I would. But when i -do- give someone money, it'll never be -just- money. I tend to buy a cucumber, put it in a little pot and push coins in it to make a money cactus, or buy special giftcards, or even make my own, or whatever.

This time, I did this:

That paper that you're seeing, are all coins, individually wrapped in paper, and put into a glass jar.
The santaman is a ballistic from Lush(he's addicted to the brand, so I might be his favourite aunt for working there lol ), that was divided in two, so it had a front and a back:
Pulling this together, only cost me some money and weirdly enough not more than 15 mins......
His face when he opened his present: PRICELESS!

NOTD: Valentine / Spring Nails: Big Spender Wanted for My Heart

This is a NOTD with 2 different polishes and some Konad nailart.

I applied Catrice's Big Spender Wanted first, a beautifull babypink with golden shimmer, that turn it into a peachypink. Then I used OPI's Bastille My Heart to make a french manicure. This polish is a red with a pinkish undertone, so I thought they would fit nicely together.



I used these Konad nail art stickers:

It was really hard to get the pink on the cam like it really was, so I have used different lighting.
Unfortuntely, my nails are pretty round, when you look at them from the tips of my fingers. Which makes using nail art stickers a bit tricky. Especially if they are a bit bigger or even 3D. That's why I have the booboo on the pinky and the ringfinger: the sticker just didn't want to stay round to by nail, it wanted to be straight. I tried using extra topcoat, but there I made another booboo, because I forgot I had the Essence Nail art topcoat and used INM instead. I can't advice you to use a thick coat of INM, because you won't get a good result.

Still, I think it turned out pretty good, I applied the stickers because my mom loves butterflies and we were going to see her. And butterflies can be valentine-sy when you think about the feeling in your stomach when your in love ;)

This is a pic without flash, see hte diference in colour, the pink is more like this, than the above pics.

A picture in daylight, once again a different pink, still not really the right one. But you CAN see the golden shimmer in it on this one. This was taken days later, the flowers that were already booboos started coming loose here.

Are you interested in more valentine nails? Or maybe even Valentine looks?

[edit]
I gave the rest of these stickers to my mom, she has much flatter nails, so they should stick better to hers, and she loves butterflies :)

This is what I look like WITHOUT any MAKEUP

I cant believe I'm doing this, but I feel like I have to...
This will probably turn into some sort of rant, but please bare with me, I think this is pretty important.
I'm not very good with words, but I do hope you'll understand what I''m trying to say and do.

I just read a blog(Ive written this last friday) about agorafobia on Beautylab, if you haven't read it, please do. (It's in Dutch though.) Basically, it's about women who are afraid to go outside without makeup on their face.
Now I can understand if you put makeup on your face because you feel better and so on, but this is about BEING AFRAID not to. Apparantly, int he UK, 1 in every 3 women is NOT going outside without makeup, some are even scared to have their own parents see them without any..or even their own boyfriend!?

This makes me really sad, because every person is beautifull in his or her own way, and people should be proud to go out into the world with their own unique face. Instead, our crooked view of beauty makes them hide behind walls of makeup. *shakes her head*

I wear makeup aswell, because I like it. I like using colours to show people my mood or even change my own mood. Or just as an accessorie to go with my outfit. Ofcourse I think I look prettier with it, that's what it's for, right? But I don't use it to hide myself behind it. Makeup to me, is something to enhance someones (inner) beauty, to show people how I feel, to inspire, to create. It's something beautifull, not something to cower beneath.
So that's why I'm going to do something that I don't think I've ever done before: I'm going to post pictures online, of me, without makeup.
Do I have so much selfesteem, that I don't care what people will say? Uhm, no, not really. (So please, no hate comments) But I feel really strongly about this, and to make this point, I have to set an example.


You just totally did this, didn't you? :

LOL.
My mind is still screaming at me ''why are you doing this, are you crazy!?'', but my heart is telling me that this is right.
Yes, this is me without any makeup on. I have not done anything to these pictures, except cropping them and making them a bit smaller. Hell, I've just had the flu and the Mount Everest on my chin has just erupted like the Vesuvius.

No, this is not a sneeky way to tell you that ''see? makeup makes her look a lot better, so I must wear makeup''.
This is a way for me to tell you that YES, I think I look prettier with makeup, but NO, I don't think I should hide behind it.
Do I think I'm beautifull when I see this in the morning? NO, hell NO! But you know what? Does it really matter?
Does my face show you, how I am on the inside? How I love animals? How I love helping people when I can? How I love reading books and loose myself in the fantasy worlds? How I can cry during romantic or sad movies? How I will always pick up the phone in the middle of the night if a friend needs me?Even if I don't like talking on the phone that much?)
No, it doesn't. Beauty is all in the eye of the beholder, and for me beauty really is on the inside. It's more important for me to be nice than to be pretty.

That being said, ofcourse I like to look pretty aswell, but who really decides what IS pretty?


I don't really the way the sides of my nose are always red and make the rest of my face look even paler.
I don't really like that my eyebrows are small and blonde and you can barely spot them from a distance, just like my lashes.
I don't really like the pointyness of my nose.
I don't really like the small upperlip I have, and the paleness of them.
I don't really like my teeth and the way my gums show when I smile.

But you know what? It's the imperfections that make someone unique.
I might not really -like- my nose, but it is -my- nose, and it makes my face different.
My eyebrows may be blonde, but I decided to dye my hair black, and at least I have blonde hairs on the rest of my body aswell.
My teeth were really ugly before I had braces, and maybe I don't like how my smile looks, but I do like how smiling feels. And I won't stop doing that.
And my lips? Well, those are actually the thing that my husband finds hugely attractive. See? All in the eye of the beholder.

And to show you how serious I am about this, here's a shot of my face from the front, something I absolutely hate:
I might not think I'm pretty and I might not have all the confidence in the world, but I CAN say this about myself:
I think the colour of my eyes is beautifull, I think they are quite unique, especially the contrast with the stark white around it.
I like the contour of my face when I look at it from the side.
I like how my small upperlip makes me look more like my mom.
I like how my husband looks at me in the morning and says he loves me, even though I have bedhair, bad breath and probably some dried saliva on the corner of my mouth(I drewl in my sleep :P )


 My husband even loves me when I do this, I like the way it makes him laugh. People shouldn't take themselves to seriously, and should try to laugh more often. Maybe even at theirselves and put things in perspective.
Is it really THAT important to put makeup on your face? Because even with makeup, this:

 ..still looks silly.
So does this:
 That's my crazy smile, it's when I'm in a very annoying mood and want to creep Sid out.

But seriously though...
Some of you might think ''well, I don't think that she looks that horrible, I look wayyyyyyyy more horrible then that, yadadyadaa and so on''. Let me tell you this: I am scared shitless about posting this! Even though I do walk outside without makeup sometimes and when I'm just at home, internet is a LOT bigger than just our mall. Having my naked face all over it, is -not- on the top of my wishlist. And and I think -exactly- the same thing when other women post a picture and say something like ''I look horrible''. That's when I think:''Why does she think THAT, she looks gorgeous! I wish I looked like her''. Sounds familiar?
We all have that little voice inside of our heads that tells us we are not good enough, not pretty enough. In some it's louder than in others, but it's there. Do NOT let it ruin your life, ruin your fun, ruin your beauty. Show that voice that it's wrong and smile! Smile that frown away, smile because your heatlhy, because the world is out there, and smile because YOU. ARE. BEAUTIFULL.
Don't let anyone, not even yourself, -ever- tell you otherwise!

Thunbs up for everyone that's read all of this....I hope I made my point
Thumbs up for every woman that's going out without makeup today.
Thumbs up for every woman that wears makeup because she -wants- to, not because she feels she -has- to.





I believe that beauty shines from within, making you look more beautifull then any fully makeupped catwalk model out there...
You are all beautifull, each and every one of you!


REVIEW: Kinky-Curly Original Curling Custard Natural Styling Gel

Goal: To find a truly natural/ organic hair styling product to eliminate frizz and enhance shine... similar to a hair creme, serum or gel.
Brand: Kinky-Curly
Product: Original Curling Custard
Description: CURLING CUSTARD TM gives moisture and curl definition, hold and brilliant shiny hair all in one product! It reduces bulk, defines & elongates your curls helping them to 'hang' better. CURLING CUSTARD TM will bring out the natural curl or wave pattern you never knew you had! It is an advanced botanical formula made with ALL NATURAL ingredients that nourish and strengthen the hair. Utilizing the humectant properties of the Agave Nectar, CURLING CUSTARD TM will give weight to your hair, define your curls, remove frizz, provide long lasting hold and shine without ever being greasy, crunchy or drying to your hair. This high performance product is very concentrated so a little goes a long way.
Ingredients: Botanical infusion of water, horsetail, chamomile, nettle and marshmallow, organic aloe vera juice, agave nectar extract, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin e), citric acid, potassium sorbate and natural fragrance.
  • Price: $ 17.00 / 29.99
  • Size: 8 oz./ 16 oz.
  • Texture: Like a silky gel/ serum. Not really stiff or sticky at all.
  • Scent: Smells like dessert... in a jar!
  • Visual Attractiveness: I really heart the old-school styled writing... it's quite charming! Gel color is a little off, but hey- it's natural.
  • How Much I Needed: Like LESS than a pea sized amount. You can always add more. (PS-why is everything always compared to a pea???). Lol.
  • How Long I've Used It: About 2 months.
  • Where to Find: Whole Foods Market, Kinky-Curly.com
  • Sample Sizes: Nope, not to my knowledge. I wish they did though!
  • Acquired: Purchased.
  • Customer Service: I have to admit that I was very hesitant about reviewing this product at first, due to the words "Natural Fragrance" in the ingredient's list (usually where all the toxic rebels lurk). Everywhere I've read, they claim to the hills that everything in this product is in fact natural. I've been holding off for several months (since the July of 2010 actually) due to the fact that I've been trying to get a hold of the company to find out what it is exactly, and if it's truly natural... still with NO RESPONSE! I wanted to hear it for myself. I've emailed on several occasions from my personal email address and also representing the blog. I have even scoured the Internet to find a phone number (which is nowhere to be found on their website BTW). When I called, the representative told me to wait 2-3 weeks for an email response- that they didn't have access to that information. It's now 6 mths. later. Really??? On their website it clearly says in caps: "***DUE TO THE HIGH VOLUME OF EMAILS WE ARE UNABLE TO ANSWER EACH AND EVERY ONE***" which says to me... each and every one of my emails & phone calls AREN'T important to you, so I can write away all I want, and you will never respond!! Sounds shady to me.. I don't like that one bit! Such a shame because it's such a great product from a company with such poor customer service! Hopefully someone will contact me in regards to my questions soon, and I will update as soon as I can. I really hate to leave this kind of feedback, but it's the truth. So sorry Kinky-Curly!     
  • Loved: The smell, that it gets the job done, and that I have to use so little of it.
  • Hated: The words "Natural Fragrance" in the ingredients list. The Customer Service. The price... expensive for gel! Sometimes it can make your hair greasy if you accidentally use too much!
  • The GG's Final Thoughts: My advice is to buy the smaller one first and see if you like it. Takes a little practice to find the perfect amount of product for your hair. I don't use this on wet hair like they recommend. I start at the ends of my hair and use it as a polishing/ finishing product. My mom actually bought this to use as a setting lotion and didn't like it at all. She doesn't really have frizzy hair though. I on the other hand, LOVE it. If you're looking for a crunchy "Guidette-Style" gel, this is definitely NOT the product. Who knew though? It says gel, and gels are usually crunchy. In the past, I was a huge fan of Sun-Silk Hair Cremes (to calm my hair down), and always had to use a separate Shine/ Anti-Frizz Serum also. So this is like a two-in-one product for me. It gives awesome curl-definition when you wanna go curly and smoothes your hair out when you wanna rock it straight! Best of both worlds, but only if you don't use too much!

Review & Swatches: Inoje Cleanser & Peeling by Konad

 Today, it's our 2,5 yr weddinganniversary! *yeay*
And I'm home sick again...*not so yeay*, stupid flu...




Ive had these products for quite some time and I decided it was time for a review.

These are the Inoje Foam Cleansing and Pure Peeling Gel. I always use them together, so I'm going to review them together.
These both come in easy to use tubes with a cap that click closed perfectly. The lid is flat, so you can put them on your bathroomcounter, ready for use.

Foam Cleansing:
Front of the box:
Helps keep skin optimally moisturized and leave it soft sof and fresh.

The backside of the box says this, (this is literally on the box, not my typos.., LOL):
The essence form cleansing is a soft cream type cosmetic soap for sensitive skin with the whitening effect of vitamin C and moisturizing and refreshing effect of grain effects. The soft and rich will remove makeup residue and excessive grease to keep the skin fresh and moist without dryness.

This is how it looks right out of the tube:
It smells like citrus, but when I use it, it reminds me of the stuff they ue when you get a perm. Okay, I'm weird and yes I had a perm in highschool(just for the volume). There's something chemical about the scent, but trust me I'm a bit weird with scents and the associations I get in my head, you might just smell citrus :)

The best way to descibe how the cleanser looks is to tell you it reminds me of hydrogenperoxide. Not by scent or anything, but just the way it looks, a bit...i dunno, glassy?
It tightens my skin immediately when I put it on and it foams gently. You're whole face won't be covered in bubbles or anything. Then I just rinse it off. I usually use this in the shower, so thats pretty easy to do.
Then I grab the Peeling Gel.


Pure Peeling Gel:
Front of the box:
Helps keep skin optimally moisturized and leave it soft sof and fresh.

Back of the box:

Excellent at removing dead skin layer and helping skin turn over by Ginseng, Ginkgo, Rice bran extracts. The beauty ingredients and plant extracts help deep cleanse the pores thoroughly of dirt, perspiration, greasy and flaking skin leaving your skin soft, flawless and moisturizing. Experience neat feeling and excellent performance of special extracts.

This is what it looks like, right out of the tube:

This doesn't have that chemical undertone to it that I think I smell with the Foam cleanser. But it doens't just smell like citrus either. I'm not sure, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm just expecting to just smell lemon or something. :)
Anyway, the substance is a bit milky, and you don't really see any grains in it or something like it, but when you rub it over your skin, it definately scrubs/peels. Sometimes it tends to bite a bit around my nose, but it's pretty sensitive there. Might also be, because my skin doesn't really like to be squeeky clean. It tends to get really tight and dry out. It's easy to wash off, and you definately feel the dead skin come off.

So did it work for me?
At first I didn't really like it, I have to be honest. My skin felt really tight, and the peeling burned a little around my nose. My skin did NOT feel moisturized, but honestly I hadn't expected it to be. I slapped on some Enzymion by Lush(to stay in the fruity department) and thought I'd never use it again.
Untill I felt my skin after my moisturizer had soaked into my skin. My skin felt -really- soft and smooth. I had not expected that, so I was pretty surprised by it. I decided to use it again, to see if I'd get the same result, and I did.
I have very sensitive skin, so this will probably work better for a normal skin, but even with my dehydrated skin, it still gave me a good result. Just make sure to use a moisturizer after use, and you'll be fine.

I told my hubby to try these out and he used them seperately. He felt like the foam cleanser really made his face clean, and it really worked for his skin. The Peeling Gel felt too easy to use, like it didn't really do anything for him. Now I have to say, my hubs doesn't really have much dead skin cells so I guess thats why he didn't really like the peeling gel. Hubs has a different skin than me, his is more combo/oily skin.
So it really does work for different skintypes :)

I got these from Enchantra, the Foaming Cleanser is  6,95 euros and the Peeling Gel is  7,95 euro. For that amount you get 185 ml and 180 ml.

Redken Nature's Rescue First Glance Review

Hey everyone! Today I'm doing a quick first glance review of the brand new Redken Nature's Rescue products. This is Redken's venture into "natural" hair products, boasting absolutely no parabens, sulfates, and silicones. You all know how I feel about all this anti-sulfate propaganda business, and how it's a big crock, so I'll spare you. But I will tell you that so far I'm loving these products! I've been using them for almost a week now, and have had great results. The products pictured on the left in the stylist intro kit I bought are: Radiant Sea Spray, Refreshing Detox Shampoo, Cooling Deep Conditioner, and Refining Sea Polish (the little packets in the back).

Obviously the most unique product in the collection is the Refining Sea Polish. It's advertised as a gentle hair exfoliant, enriched with pumice to remove impurities and refine the hair surface leaving it smooth and shiny. It's such an interesting experience to exfoliate your hair! I can tell this won't be a product that everyone will like, because it really does exfoliate your hair to give you that squeaky clean feeling, and not everyone likes that. I however, love it! It makes my hair feel very smooth, like it buffs off my dead ends and makes my hair feel healthier.


 Another interesting product is the Radiant Sea Spray. It's a multi-functional texture spray that uses time-touch fragrance technology to release a burst of fresh ocean-y fragrance (kind of like those candles that are supposed to smell like the ocean or rain or something, but better) every time you touch your hair. It really works, trust me. The other day (1/20 I think it was) I sprayed it in my hair at around 11AM after I showered and got ready and stuff, and I made it a point to play with my hair all day. After going to lunch at Red Lobster, tanning, and shopping for a couple hours, I could still smell it up until around 5PM! I absolutely loved having my hair smell fresh all day! And it's so lightweight that I could re-apply it later without my hair feeling heavy and gross, you know?

As for the Refreshing Detox Shampoo, it's different than any shampoo I own. For a sulfate-free shampoo, it cleans your hair pretty well. It also doesn't really lather at all, which kind of bothers me because I like a shampoo that has a rich lather. But after I rinse it out my hair does feel just as clean as if I used a shampoo that does lather, so I'll give it that. But combined with the Refining Sea Polish, they make a great pair.

The Cooling Deep Conditioner is also pretty great for having no silicones. It moisturizes my hair very well, and smells great. I don't really get the cooling effect though. It's supposed to rebalance the moisture in your hair while cooling your scalp, but I haven't really felt it. Which is surprising because it contains menthol, and I usually feel menthol in my products right away. Considering I'm such a hot head, I'm surprised I don't feel it. But maybe you will.

Anyway, those are my first impressions of the new Redken Nature's Rescue collection. What do you think? Anything look interesting? I know I'll be getting the full sizes pretty soon! As always, comment and tell me your thoughts or questions! Take care of your hair everyone! XOXO

HAUL!

Hey everyone! Time for another haul! I noticed tonight that I've gotten a lot of new stuff lately, but I haven't posted a haul in a long time! So I gathered up all the new products I've gotten recentlly (at least I think that's all of it), and put it together for you all.

Starting from the top left: S-Factor Vivacious Hairspray (re-purchase), Matrix Design Pulse Hard Lock Hairspray, KMS Makeover Spray (re-purchase), Bed Head Colour Combat Dumb Blonde Leave-In Conditioner, Catwalk Sleek Mystique Look-Lock Hairspray, Catwalk Sleek Mystique Haute Iron Spray, Catwalk Sleek Mystique Fast Fixx Style Prep (the old Fast Fixx re-packaged), Catwalk Sleek Mystique Blow Out Balm.

From the middle left: HerCut Normal-Dry Shampoo, HerCut Medium Conditioner, It's a 10 Miracle Texture Fiber, Matrix Design Pulse Rock N' Hold Gel, Redken Real Control Slim Supreme Serum, Redken Nature's Rescue Stylist Kit including: Nature's Rescue Detox Shampoo, Nature's Rescue Refining Sea Polish, Nature's Rescue Cooling Deep Conditioner, and Nature's Rescue Radiant Sea Spray.

From the bottom left: It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Plus Keratin, Biosilk Silk Therapy, Rockaholic Rock Out Shine Blaster, White Sands Porosity The Fix, Matrix Design Pulse Go Big Extra Strong Hold Mousse, Matrix Design Pulse Fiber Shuffle, CHI Silk Infusion.

My friend G. over at Nouveau Cheap has been DYING for me to review the new Redken Nature's Rescue products, so I'll be posting a first glance review on all four tomorrow, with more detailed reviews coming later after I've tested them thouroughly (namely the Refining Sea Polish). The It's a 10 plus Keratin is formulated for people who have keratin straightening treatments done to their hair. You can tell it's different cos the texture actually looks like a leave-in, whereas the original has the texture of a deep conditioner. The Bed Head Colour Combat line is pretty new. There are two lines: Colour Goddess and Dumb Blonde. I think they might be phasing out the Brunette Goddess and original Dumb Blonde lines, but I'm not sure. Another new product is Redken Slim Supreme Slimming Serum. I love the Real Control line, and so far I really like this. I'm totally reviewing this soon. I always wanted to try Biosilk Silk Therapy and CHI Silk Infusion since they seem to be so popular. I don't know how I never got around to getting them before. Oh and I'm loving these Matrix Design Pulse Products. The hairspray works great and the mousse gives a lot of volume while leaving hair soft and lightweight.The Catwalk Sleek Mystique products are great too! They all smell so sensual and seductive, and they work amazingly well. They're all lightweight and make it way easy to straighten your hair. Fast Fixx was one of my favorites in the old Catwalk line, so I'm glad they just re-packaged it and didn't change the formula. The Haute Iron Spray is great too, it makes your hair super straight and shine like glass. And I've been wanting to try White Sands Porosity The Fix for a long time! They call it makeup for hair - it's supposed to conceal the imperfections in every hair strand and prime your hair for your styling products. It can also be used in color or lightener formulations!

Anything look interesting? Have you tried any of these? As always feel free to post a question or comment! And be sure to look for my first glance review of the new Redken Nature's Rescue products tomorrow, and take care of your hair!

Clothing Tip

Through facebook and twitter, I found out that most people do not know of this very easy fashion tip, that can make your life, and shopping a lot easier. So I decided to write a blog about it, and maybe that way I can help some more people with this little tip.

I've always had a very sensitive skin, I've had eczema for all of my life and luckely for me, my allergipill tends to make sure I don't have any breakouts anymore, which is awesome. Well, except for my head, but hey, I'm not picky.
As a kid, my skin couldn't handle much, especially not makeup :( But also, I couldnt wear anything that had an amount of wool in it. It started with feeling prickly on my skin, turned into an annoying itch, which turned into a rash. It didn't go well with my eczema either.
So this girl didn't wear any wool for years.

Nowadays, I work in a clothingstore that sells a lot of clothing with wool in it. It annoyed me a lot, because I wanted some warm vests for the winter aswell, and wool is the warmest out there. I tried some on, but they made my skin crawl, almost immediately. That made me a sad panda.
Then, when we were shopping, and I found yet another great vest with wool in it, the saleswoman told me this tip that kinda changed my life. Well, at least the contents of my closet ;)

If you react to wool this way, you can put the item in the freezer for a few days and the prickly feeling will be gone. yes, GONE!
Ofcourse I bought a vest with wool in it, and tried it out. I decided that it was totally worht to try and otherwise I would wear the vest with longsleeves only....if I could stand the prickly feeling in my neck. *shivers*

Anyway, to make a long story short: IT WORKS!

I'm not exactly sure about the science behind it, but apparantly the fibers that give that itch to your skin, break off in the freezer. It's so simple and so easy, I don't know why nobody told me before! I've been doing this with every vest with wool in it I bought ever since, and I'm loving it!
You dont have to do anything else, just put it in the freezer(I do it in a plastic bag), and take it out a few days later. I'm not sure what amount of time is the best, I just leave it a couple of days. Then, just make sure it warms up a bit before you wear it, because it will be freekishly cold when you take it out. Doh.
And that's it!

Now, I do have to say, I'm not sure if it works with every amount of wool and with every type of skin. My vests were mostly 30% wool, and the last one even had 30% mohair in it aswell. Still worked liked a charm :)
So if you're always cold in winter like me, and want some woolen vests in your closet, just buy a cheap one in the sale and try it out for yourself :)

The freezing does nothing to the appearance of your clothing either, so It's not like you ruin it or anything like that. And yes, I do get a little itchy from time to time, but that's mostly because I've got -really- sensitive skin and I'm really static. When I wear wool, I get even more static, which results in an itch and a LOT of electrical outbursts when I touch metal (or a person, or my cats..or well..lots of things really). So much static, it makes a pretty loud sound, for everyone to hear, and sometimes my whole arm tingles because of the shock of it. LOL. But I have to say that I get throught most days without any itch, and certainly no rash.

Anyway, I hope you think this is helpfull and let me know it it worked for you :)

Evil Shades Cosmetics Haul

I just had to post this -now-, I've pushed some other blogs back for this one. Yes, I can do that :P

I've looked at the awesomeness of Evil Shades Cosmetics,  ''Evil is the new Pink'', for quite a while, mourning the fact that I don't own a creditcard. I like the simplicity of the webshop and what it states:

I do not consider Evil Shades to be a straight mineral makeup company.
I do create mostly mineral products and I try to stay as natural as possible, however I do not limit mycosmetics to strictly mineral. I do not want anyone to be mislead inthat. All of my products from begining to end are artisan created andblended to be unique.I do not ever repackage, nor do I sell unbased pigments or mica, onlyfinished cosmetics hand created, packaged, and shipped by myself.
Yours,   EvilAngel

Also:
Evil Shades Cosmetics Does not condone or use any animal testing on any of the products created.
Nor are any supplies purchased from any company or Parent company that utilizes any form of animal testing.
This is an area I am firm on and will not tolerate any lax in!

When Linda from Enchantra, asked me for some nice webshops, I immediately pointed her to Evilshades. Evilshades is a webshop with colours that aren't very natural or nude, but more bright and sparkly and still a bit goth, something I really love.

When Linda told me she wanted to place an order, I asked her if I could order some stuff with her, and she said yes and made my day!

I had a big list, and had to make it quite a bit shorter to make it a bit more affordable, haha. I've used the kits to make it even more affordable aswell. Great deals those kits!
So here's what I got, for around 50 euros:

Some samples of products I wanted to try:
I already regret not buying a full size of Drakon, it's really beautifull. The sample pots seem nice, but they do tend to ''blow away'' a bit of product when you close them, if you know what I mean. Makes me want to have full sizes that much more. Smart move, hahaha. Seriously though, On the FAQ's I read she has nerve damage and arthritis in her hand and the tiny baggies are very slow and painful for her to work with. So I think it's a great way for people to still receive samples and for her to still like what she does.

The eyeshadows I bought in full sizes:
Mordant,  Double Barrell, 
Cheshire, Steele Green, Wanderflower, 
Souls Torment, Acolyte, Zombie, Whooo Are U

The wicked glosses I ordered:
13th Hour and Deadly


Hardcore Lips:
Miscreant and Doom


Deviant Lipsticks:
Primrose Path, Corruption, Diabolical, Fiendish, Bane


Quick pic of Miscreant on my lips. In real life MUCH more blue and vibrant, exactly like it looks in the tube.
It feels supersoft on my lips and it tastes really sweet. Might be a perfect match for my EFF peacock costume!


I wish I could try everything out, right NOW, especially the lippies, but my lips are way too sensitive for that, so I have to be a bit patient. I'm eager to see how long they last, if they bleed and how they look on my pale lips.

I'm already in love with everything, how weird is that? ;)

Have you ever ordered form Evilshades? Are you going to after reading this? ;)