Review: Flower Cosmetics Blush and Bronzer Duo

Flower Beauty Blush/Bronzer Duo in Gloriously Golden

This compact was the most expensive item I picked up early this week from the Flower Beauty collection by Drew Barrymore, ringing in at $9.98. The color I have is Gloriously Golden. The closest thing I have to this duo in my collection is the Elf Blush/Bronzer Duo.  The Elf duo is very cheap at $3.  I love the bronzer in it, because it is light but very buildable, so I can use it all over for a quick layer of color or I can target it to specific areas for contouring.  The blush in that duo is a disappointment though.  It's very shimmery and very light and doesn't show up on my skin tone at all (I'm around an NC30 in MAC cosmetics for reference).

I picked this up based on a review from that I saw from Emily of Beauty Broadcast where she compared the blush to Wet and Wild blushes.  I love Wet n Wild blushes.  They are super pigmented and super wearable.  Heather Silk has been a staple of mine since I started wearing makeup.  So I was really excited to give this blush a try.

What I look for: 1) pigmentation, 2) blendability, 3) wearability. I went with one of the lighter colored duos because I wanted a bronzer that I could hopefully use for an all over wash of color right now with my paler winter skin, but I also want to be able to build it up to be a contour color for the hollows of my cheeks and around my forehead.  I also don't have a light pink blush like this one, as I tend to gravitate toward darker shades, so I thought this would be a fun duo to try.

Packaging

The packaging is shaped like a flower and has some cute rose gold detailing. Sadly, the thing that I find is most missing from the packaging is a mirror.  I don't normally take blush and bronzer with me in a purse, but if you do, you'll need a separate mirror.  The lid closes with magnets and feels very secure while not being really hard to open (I'm looking at you, Revlon Nearly Naked Pressed Powder!).  This packaging won't mess up your nails trying to get it open.  

Color Selection
There are 4 duos available: Beachy Keen, Gloriously Golden (the one I'm reviewing), Shimmering Goddess (check out emilynoel83's review of that one on youtube; importantly she notes that despite the name, these colors don't have shimmer), and Sunkissed & Single.  This one is the second lightest toned duo available.  I think that from what I saw in the store, there's something for every skin tone.  Really solid color selection for only having 4 duos.

Look and Feel
The colors are shimmer free, which is important to me.  They felt very buttery soft when I used a finger to swatch them.  I've even used the bronzer as an eyeshadow crease color because it's soft enough to be blendable in that small space of the crease.  When you use a brush in the product, you will get a little bit of flaking in the pan, and you'll pick up some excess that needs to be tapped off.  But the flaking is certainly not to the point where you'll be making a mess in the compact.

The blush is a classic pink.  This is Barbie's blush color.  The brown is a warm sable.  From looking at pictures online and having swatched it in stores, it definitely reminds me of Nars Laguna, but I don't own that bronzer so I can't directly compare them.

Swatches
The lighting was terrible on the day I swatched these! It was super cloudy all day, so you'll have to take my word for it that the swatches looked better in person. First I dragged my fingers down the blush and bronzer once.  Then, I rubbed that finger sample on my hand.  I had to switch hands, so yes, that's my left hand in both pictures. I forgot that I needed a clean hand to hold the camera with and I'm right handed..so there's no funny business going on, just me forgetting that I'm right handed!

Application
Light hand, light hand, light hand! I have two blush brushes, one with more dense bristles than the other.  Generally I prefer to use the one with more dense bristles because it picks up more product.  But with this blush, I use the less dense brush and only tap it in the blush once and tap off the excess. Yeah, it's that pigmented.  You really need to be careful, especially if you picked up one of the duos with a darker blush and bronzer.  But the blush blends out very well.  I find that with a light hand and good blending, I get a very natural pink glow that looks like I just came in from a chilly walk.

The bronzer is much the same, although on my skin tone I'm not as careful with this bronzer. It's a bit light for me but it is buildable.  I'm definitely going to pick up a darker duo. I love that it is truly matte.  It's so hard to get a pigmented bronzer without shimmer at the drugstore. But this one is!  Try it, I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

Staying Power
I've worn both the blush and bronzer everyday since I picked them up and I've never had an issue with fading or oxidizing on the skin.  These will stay true to color until you take them off at the end of the day.

Bottom Line

I think it's pretty obvious!  I'll be buying more.  I love the pigment, blendability, and matte finish.  At $10 for the duo, you're getting a lot of product, basically a full sized blush and bronzer for $5 each.  I would put these up against high end blushes and bronzers for sure.

Be sure to check out my review of the Flower Beauty Lip Butters! And don't forget to follow me on Twitter so that you know the minute I post my Flower Nail Polish review!

Spiral Solutions is IN STOCK!!!

Big news gang! Spiral Solutions stuff is in stock on her website.  If you've been wanting to try some stuff, go now because it'll go fast, I promise!  This homemade, all natural line is AMAZING.  I truly cannot praise it enough.

Things you should try:

• Deeply Decadent Moisturizing Treatment
• Caitlin's Conditioner
• Curl Enhancing Jelly
• Firm Hold Gel

And pretty much everything else, though I haven't tried them all.  These products are to die for, and I gotta tell you, I made sure my order went through before I came here to tell you guys, because sometimes you gotta be a little greedy with your hair products!

Review: Flower Cosmetics Lip Butters

The gorgeous Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore has launched her own cosmetics line with Walmart called Flower Beauty Cosmetics.  This isn't just a mini launch of a couple eyeshadows and a signature lipgloss.  The collection currently includes mascaras, foundations, nail polishes, lip sticks, lip butters, eyeliners, eyeshadow palettes, cream shadows, blush, bronzer, loose powder, pressed power...you name it.  Drew Barrymore has been quoted as saying that she wants this collection to last for years so that her daughter can work on it one day.  She's in it for the long haul!

The philosophy of the line is one I think we can all get behind: the products are made in the USA, not tested on animals (though of course this doesn't mean certain ingredients weren't tested on animals because as far as I know the brand has not been labelled as completely cruelty-free), and she aims to price them so that every woman can get high end products at a low end price.

What is this collection missing? A kitchen sink. They could call it "Blossom Basin"

This was one of the displays at my Walmart.  I didn't realize until my fiancé was ready to drag me out of the store that there was also an end-cap display with more items, so I didn't snap a picture of that.  But check all around your makeup area, as there might be more stuff away from the main display.

First up for review are two lip butters that I picked up.  In the next week, I'll have a review for a blush/bronzer compact and two nail polishes, so keep an eye out for those!


These were $6.98 a piece. The closest thing that I have in my collection to compare these to are the Revlon lip butters, which in my Walmart were $6.48.

What I look for: 1) comfortable on the lips, 2) moisturizing, and 3) pigmented, 4) not so pigmented that if I take one sip of water I need to reapply because it looks uneven.  I like color without the effort of constantly checking on coverage when it comes to lip products, so I always have high hopes for lip butters.

Left to right: Flower Beauty Lip Butter (Princess and the Peony), Revlon Lip Butter (Pink Truffle)

Packaging: The packaging feels very solid, but it's also pretty bulky.  Above is a shot showing a Flower lip butter next to a Revlon lip butter.  The Flower packaging is obviously bulkier, but I still think that they would fit nicely into a small purse or clutch without trouble.  These won't fit in your pocket though. One problem I have with the packaging is that it's sort of tricky to tell what shade you're going to get when you're in the store because of the tinted cap. You have to sort of guess that you'll like the color based on the cap.  Another issue is that once you take off the label that seals the lip butter in store, you have no way of knowing what color you have because there's no marking on the packaging to tell you.  I took a sharpie and marked the bottom of mine so that I could keep them straight.  Not exactly the classiest of moves, but hey, it works.

Color Selection: There are nine shades in the lip butter line.  They all seemed to be pretty wearable, so I went with some that I felt would be a close match to my natural lip color so that I could find an everyday shade for myself.  I have pigmented lips, so this meant I ended up grabbing Haute Honeysuckle and Princess and the Peony.  Haute Honeysuckle is a peachy, "your lips but better" pink with shimmer.  Princess and the Peony is a deeper, berry toned pink with shimmer.

Haute Honeysuckle

Princess and the Peony

Scent and Taste: These both have the same floral scent.  Go figure, with their names and the fact that they are from a cosmetic company called Flower, they smell floral.  I do not taste anything when I lick my lips.

Swatches:

Left to right: Haute Honeysuckle, Princess and the Peony. Taken in artificial light

Left to right: Haute Honeysuckle, Princess and the Peony. Taken by sunny window

Application: These go on with a bit more of a grainy texture than Revlon lip butters, but I do not find this to be a bad thing.  It's very easy to get an even layer of color with these despite the little bit of grittiness.  The size of the stick is just right for giving you adequate control over where you're placing the color.

Look and Feel: I think these are perfectly pigmented for lip butters.  I find that it only takes one or two swipes over my lips to get a nice, even representation of the color.  The shimmer is not noticeable on the lips thank goodness.  They have a shinier finish than the Revlon lip butters.  They feel comfortable on the lips.  If traditional lip sticks are jeans, these are sweatpants.  They have no appreciable stickiness to them.

Staying Power: These do not transfer anywhere near as badly as my Revlon lip butters.  I can take a drink of my soda after applying and only see a faint ghost of color.  With my Revlon lip butters, I leave a noticeable mark every time.  The darker color (Princess and the Peony) transfers more than Haute Honeysuckle, but that's to be expected.  I find that they wear well throughout the day and don't become uneven.  The color just sort of fades across your lips for several hours until you are ready to reapply.  

Bottom Line: 

I think these are fantastic.  They wear well, they are pigmented, they feel comfortable on my lips despite some initial grittiness to the application, and the colors are all pretty wearable.  I would recommend picking up one of these the next time you're in Walmart.  My biggest complaints are about the packaging.  If the tube was a little slimmer, left the name of the color on there somewhere, and if you could accurately see the color in the store, these would be home runs!

Dormroomcurly Is On Twitter!!

The title says it all! Dormroomcurly is now on Twitter! Check it out!

I hope any of you affected by the snow storm are safe and warm!  My area got around 6-8 inches, so the fiance and I are staying inside and getting some work done.  Well, he's working. I'm making a Twitter account...

Combatting Winter Skin and Hair

You ever notice how magazine photos of women in winter always show a gorgeous woman with glowing sink and frizz free hair, grinning with glee among a snowscape?

Have these magazine editors ever experienced winter?!  What reality is this woman living in and how do I get there?!  If I were to take an equivalent picture in the middle of winter, it would be me with flat frizzy hair, a bright red nose, peeling lips, and a frown.  Why a frown?  Because of how bad my hair looks and how dry my skin is!

Just like Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring this year, I'm going to give you my tips for getting your hair and skin looking like they've got that spring and summer glow, even though we're only in early February.

Skin Care

First up, everyone knows you need some seriously rich moisture products for your face during the winter.  My two favorites are Ponds Dry Skin Cream and SkinMD Natural Shielding Lotion.  My skin type is dry and very sensitive.  I've had chronic eczema my whole life, so finding products that keep my skin in good shape without breaking me out is sometimes tricky.  For example, the Ponds product is scented heavily, which bugs my skin.  But it's super moisturizing and I could tell that it was going to be a good thing if I could get past the scenting.  Enter SkinMD Shielding Lotion.  I found out about this product from Tiffany of makeupbytiffanyd.  She highly recommends this lotion for winter skin care.  What I find is unique about this lotion is that it truly acts as a shield.  In the winter, I put this lotion on under the Ponds.  I find that this gives me a protective shield against the scent of the Ponds but I still definitely get a moisture benefit from both (because if I only use the shielding lotion, my skin feels tight and dry again after a few hours).

My daily skin lotion for my body is Aveeno.  I find that using this is plenty in the summer, but I need more during the winter.  So, as soon as I get out of the shower, I put on my Aveeno, and then I add a layer of coconut oil.  This works like nothing else to keep my skin feeling moisturized all day long in the winter.  The coconut oil soaks in, unlike some other oils.  You only need a little bit, so the jar lasts me all winter.  I don't use it on my face as it clogs my pores, but it's fantastic on the rest of my body.

For lips, I'm so excited to share this one with you guys!  This is a new find this winter that will definitely be a staple in my skincare regime.  Nivea released a line of lip butters in the UK a while ago and they've finally made it to the US.  They are amazing! Normally I would use Vaseline on my dry lips in the winter, but I could only really do that at night since it doesn't soak in quickly.  But these lip butters are made of the same stuff, but they've added ingredients like shea butter.  And no, the shea butter isn't down at the bottom of the ingredients list. It's third.  This stuff soaks in quickly and actually moisturizes for hours.  I find that with most lip balms, if I don't reapply within an hour or so, I'm parched again.  This stuff works long term. I only need to apply it about twice a day, and that's with extreme cold and wind where I live.  If I were back in my hometown, I doubt I'd need more than once a day.  There are four flavors.  I like the unscented one the best for me since I have sensitive skin, but the vanilla one does smells amazing.

Hair Care

The biggest culprit in my winter hair is glycerin.  Glycerin is a very cool ingredient that is part of a family of compounds called humectants.  What they are good at doing is equalizing moisture with their environment.  So, if you use a glycerin product when it's nice out, with comfortable levels of moisture in the air, you're going to have the product pulling moisture into your drier hair.  But, if you use if when the air is actually drier than your own hair, the glycerin will, in effect, push the moisture out of your hair into the environment.  I find that lots of curlies suffering from winter hair say, "Well my hair looks great when it dries, but then a couple of hours later, it looks dry and flat!" Makes sense, right?

So what can you do about that? Go glycerin free during the driest months of the year.  That doesn't mean you need to get rid of glycerin from every product, because if you start reading ingredients labels, you'll find it's in almost everything.  What I suggest is to go glycerin free with your final styling product, which for curlies is usually gel.  Here are some suggestions:

1) Curl Junkie Pattern Pusha styling gel.  I haven't tried this personally, but it is very well reviewed on naturallycurly.com and I will definitely be picking up a bottle when I run out of my Curl Queen.

2) Kinky Curly Curling Custard. Yup, this cool product is glycerin free!

3) Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee.  You only need a pea sized glob.  Maybe even less than that. This stuff dries rock hard, but if you only use a tiny bit, you'll be able to scrunch out that crunch to get soft curls no problem.  I sometimes mix this with a moisturizing leave in just to be on the safe side.

4) Ecostyler gel.  This stuff has been called "the cheap Kinky Curly Curling Custard."  This product is neat, but make sure to give yourself a day or two to figure out how much you need. There's a learning curve.

Another thing you can do to perk up winter hair is to make sure you're doing frequent deep treatments. I mix some coconut oil with my favorite conditioner for an overnight deep treatment.

Also, check out what you're using a leave in. Leave in's that are good in the summer might not be giving you enough moisture for the winter months.  I recommend Curl Junkie Beauticurls as my go-to moisturizing leave in.


Today's Tidbits
1) I'm in the path of the Nemo winter storm.  We are supposed to get at least a foot of snow.  So I'm definitely going to be following pretty much all of my own advice this weekend!
2) Happy Friday! I hope you all have fun plans for the weekend.  My fiance and I went out to eat last night since we know we'll be stuck at home for the next couple of days.  We went to Chilis because I had a gift card.  I got the crispy chicken tenders.  Yum!
3) Leave me a comment suggesting what I should make for dinner tonight! I'm out of ideas!

My Hair Routine Part 5: Styling Tools

My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools


Oh my goodness! We've finally made it to the last post in this series, styling tools.  Sometimes I think that how you apply products and what you use to style your hair affects the way your hair looks just as much if not more than what you're using.

Combs
I've never been one that thought I needed a bunch of different brushes and combs.  So I don't have a bunch! I've only got two.

First up is the beloved Denman brush. Denman calls themselves the makers of "The Hairdresser's Hairbrush."  I think of this as a step up from those paddle brushes that we all have had at one point or another. You know, the kind with the little plastic balls on the ends of the spokes? This brush does not have those little balls on the end.  Instead, the spoke comes to a gentle point, which gives you a really wonderful scalp massage when you use this brush.  Denman brushes are great for distributing product in a way that helps clump curls together.  I use this daily on wet hair when I'm applying products.

When I blow dry my hair, I use this round brush.  It is amazing! I have tried many other roundbrushes, but none work for me like this one.  I'm not "good" at hair styling or even at blowdrying my hair so that it comes out looking good.  This brush does the work for me thank goodness.  I've had this brush for years. It's super durable.  The barrel heats up so that it gives you some help with getting your hair straight.  I find that I can often skip the flat iron when I use this brush, whereas if I use my denman or just my fingers, I get a poof ball.

Hair Dryer
My beloved, ancient Revlon Who Knows What dryer died on me a few days ago.  It was really sort of tragic.  I had that thing for at least 5 years.  All I really know about it was 1) it was red, 2) it had 3 speed settings and two heat settings, and 3) they don't make it anymore.  I looked everywhere for an exact replacement.

So, I turned to my favorite place in the world, Marshall's.  They had some CHI hair dryers, but I wasn't really ready to commit $80 to a new dryer.  So it was off to my other favorite place in the world, TJMaxx.  And they had a Babyblis hair dryer for $40.  I had heard of the brand before but hadn't tried anything from them.  So I figured, eh, what the heck, it's half the price of the other ones.

Here's my actual model.  Wow! This thing is amazing.  The airflow is super duper powerful.  I sometimes skip the concentrator attachment because of how powerful the airflow is.  The air gets super hot at the hot setting and also refreshingly cold on the cold setting.  This has cut my drying time by several minutes.  My Revlon dryer would take about 10 minutes to get to completely dry from towel dried.  This thing takes around 5-6 minutes.  Really wonderful product, and I have no qualms recommending it even though I've only had it a few days.  I will let you guys know if it ends up breaking quickly or something like that, but it feels very quality/solid.

Microfiber Cloths
I use a microfiber cloth every.single.day. Why? If I use my terrycloth towel on my hair, it's frizz city.  Whether I'm going curly or straight, the only way that I will take water out of my hair is with a microfiber cloth.  If I'm in a pinch an find myself without one, I use my softest cotton t-shirt.  But I'd rather use a dedicated hair cloth because that way I can actually wear my softest t-shirt, rather than throwing it into the wash!

Curls Like Us cloths are my go-tos.  I love everything about this product.  I have them in every color.  They work exactly like they are supposed to.  They are cylinder in shape, and you put your hands through like a winter hand warmer.  Then just scrunch the water out of your hair.  They are washable (just skip the dryer sheet/fabric softener to help them keep their absorbency).  And they look super cute in your bathroom!

Curling Iron

When I feel like I need to look extra special for a date night or for some formal evening event, I turn to the curling iron.  I can't do up dos.  I just can't.  My scalp wasn't made to endure the number of bobby pins that it takes to hold my hair in place.  Also, I'm not flexible enough to be able to reach around like it seems that these girls on youtube can. "This is the easiest up do ever!" they say...yeah until I look like a pretzel from trying to reach around.  Is it just me or do these girls have an extra arm? I think they just edit it out of the videos.

Rant aside, when I do my hair for an event, I curl it and leave it down.  I use the Hot Tools 1 inch curling iron.  Nothing too fancy about it.  It's like $10 more than what you could pick up from the drugstore, but Amazon has it for a really good price, and check out the reviews on it. That many people can't be wrong!  This thing is amazing.  The heat distribution is always perfectly even all along the barrel, and I find that the temperature controls are very sensitive.  It's very simply with this iron to switch from "I need these to stay perfect for 8 hours" curls to "I want to look beachy and care free" curls.

Flat Iron

I know, what an odd thing to have on dormroomcurly.  But in the interests of telling you all what I actually use, I have to say that I do occasionally like to run a flat iron through my hair. Bad bad bad.  But, in case you like to as well and are in the market, I use the GVP flat iron from Sally's Beauty.  I find that it has wonderful heat range, it never heats up unevenly, and the ceramic finish has lasted me for two years now, and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Of course, that's with pretty light use, so take that with a grain of salt I suppose.

So that's what I use when I style my hair.  Some of those get used everyday (the denman, the towels), and some are used only infrequently, but I highly recommend all of them.

Today's Tidbits
1) I had a box of Kraft mac and cheese tonight.  Classic kids meal.  Foods like that can really take you down memory lane!
2) I'm LOVING these new Nivea lip butters.  I have the vanilla scented one and the unscented one.  They are really saving my lips in this dry, cold, windy weather right now.  Honestly, I might do a whole post about these things. They are petrolatum based, so you might think, eh, I'll just use Vaseline instead. But I don't know what the other ingredients do to the petrolatum, but something makes it soak in.  These make your lips feel moisturized for several hours as opposed to a few minutes with most other lip balm products.


My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools

My Hair Routine Part 4: Honorable Mention Products (Gels, Treatments, and Straightening Products)

My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools


If you have curly hair, you have a product stash. I can pretty much guarantee it. You have that cabinet, that drawer, or that bin full of every promised miracle/holy grail.  Mine happens to be a drawer.  But over the years, I've thinned out the collection to where almost every product in my drawer has a purpose. Some products I'm keeping around just because I tried them, they didn't work, and I'm not willing to accept that just yet!  You know the feeling I'm sure! But most of that drawer contains things that, while I don't use them every day, I do use them often.

The Gels

These are my products for when I think my hair needs more hold then what the mousse provides (which is next to nothing).  I might find I want more hold on super humid days when my hair wants to expand horizontally, or super dry days when it just wants to hang limp.  On days with these dew point "extremes," I will layer a gel over my leave in and mousse.  

A few thoughts on gel: I don't like gel that leaves my hair feeling dry or super duper crunchy. If it is a gel that dries crunchy, I must be able to "scrunch out the crunch" to a point where my hair feels normal again. Producty-feeling = instant rejection in my book.  I like aloe based gels. Heck, in the past I've just used straight up aloe on my hair with success.  But it's a finicky ingredient that disagrees with some people.  On that note, if you find that your hair reacts very badly to a certain few gels (or any products, really), check out the ingredient list! Look for commonalties.

The lightest holding gel that I reach for regularly is Curl Junkie's Curl Queen.  It's glycerin-free, which works well during those dry winter days.  Glycerin tends to try to "equalize" your hair's moisture content with that of the air around you. So if it's humid, it will pull more moisture into your hair. But if it's very dry, your hair may have more moisture than the air around you, so the gylcerin will help your hair give up some moisture to the surroundings.  So I try to use only glycerin free gels during the winter months when it is dry.  This gel is very light.  It's only a little thicker than water.  It's aloe-based (aloe is very high on the ingredients list). This gel is Curly Girl method friendly.  It has a light hold. I do not find that it dries with crunch on my hair unless I use too much.  I only need about a nickle sized puddle, so the bottle lasts me a very long time. 

Points for a product that is super easy to get anywhere on the ground! Herbal Essences Totally Twisted has been a stand by product for me for a long time (it's mentioned in my Curly Girl guide!). It's a simple, light-medium hold gel. I find that I only need about two pea sized dollops for this to do its thing. It does dry crunch on me, but I can scrunch out the crunch.  It's good in either humid or dry weather I find.

Kinky Curly Curling Custard is definitely one of the most popular products for curly heads. This is now easy to find on the ground at places like Target and Walgreens. It's a strange product with a strange consistency, and it definitely has a learning curve. What works for me is to take two fingers, dip them vertically into the jar to my second knuckle, and then lift them out. Whatever sticks to my fingers is how much product I use (nothing like an exact measurement, am I right?).  

Curling Custard dries like helmet hair level of crunch! Don't be alarmed though. Let it dry completely. I mean 100% dry so that when you shake your head you sound like a grass skirt. Then and only then, scrunch out the crunch.  This requirement that you wait until completely dry to scrunch out the crunch makes it so that I don't use this product unless I have a lot of time to get ready. I don't like walking around with crunchy hair, so I only use this product if I know I'll have time to let it dry before I leave home.  But it's a wonderful product when used correctly (however that is for your hair!) that adds clumps and shine and definition to curls.

Treatments

For an intense protein treatment, I love Nexus Emergencee.  It's very intensive protein.  I only use it about once a month (or however long it takes me to think to myself, "Hmm...I don't remember the last time I used this!").  You wash your hair, then apply this stuff.  It feels like a slick oil at first but then it'll quickly become hard to distribute, so you have to work it through small sections quickly.  I leave it on for a few minutes, then you have to wash your hair again.  Then condition, then done.  You can see why this is a "sometimes" treatment!

For a more time friendly protein treatment that is a bit less intense than the Nexus Emergencee, I love Aphogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructor.  Don't let the name scare you off.  This is really just a very protein heavy conditioner.  It has the same texture and packaging style as a normal conditioner, and the instructors say to just use it in place of your normal conditioner.  I use this maybe every 1-2 weeks.  Helps give my hair a little pick me up!

For an intense moisture treatment, nothing beats Spiral Solutions Deeply Decadent.  However, since they are currently having stock issues, my runner up is Curl Junkie Curl Rehab.  This stuff is very rich and easy to work with.  I get my hair damp out of the shower using a spray bottle or my hands and work this through my hair.  I leave it on for a long time, generally at least a couple of hours.  Then I hop into the shower and wash and condition as usual.  Really lovely stuff.  The tub will last you a long while as it's pretty potent stuff.  You can stretch it out longer by mixing it with another conditioner or some coconut oil (or any other favorite oil!).

For Straightening

Sometimes I like to straighten my hair, and sometimes I like to be rather ridiculous and blow dry my hair and then use a curling iron on it.  I really can't explain why, as a curly haired girl, I even own a curling iron. But it's fun to have those "perfect" curling iron waves sometimes.

Whenever I'm going to take a blowdryer to my hair, I use about a golf ball sized dollop of Suave Professionals Volumizing Mousse and work it through my roots to give me a bit more texture on my very fine hair so that it doesn't end up looking lifeless. This is super cheap and easy to find pretty much anywhere.  The bottle claims to work as well as Matrix mousse.  I can't speak to that claim, as I've never tried that product, but this works well.  It doesn't leave my hair crunchy or producty feeling when dry.  It makes my hair feel like my hair, only with a bit more volume and texture.

After I dry my hair, I use some coconut oil to smooth away frizzies.  You only need the tiniest little fingernail scrape of it possible, otherwise you're going to need another shower.  But for me, just a pencil tip sized dab spread all over my hands and gently run along my hair makes it less frizzy after blowdrying and shiny.  I also feel it gives me a bit of heat protection.  I find it at almost all of my local grocery stores now. Sometimes it is with the baking stuff, sometimes it's in the organic foods section.

Then, I style my hair (I will be talking about styling tools [brushes, hair dryer, towels, curling iron, flat iron, etc] in another post soon!).  Sometimes easier said than done.

After that, I give my hair a few sprays of my favorite hair spray, Tressemme Tres Two.  This is cheap, easy to find (noticing a pattern yet?!), and smells good.  I find that it doesn't leave my hair feeling stiff or crunchy unless I overdo it.  I do not take it and make a hair spray cloud around my head.  I hit my hair from underneath with two-three targeted sprays, where I know my hair is likely to curl (if I straightened) or uncurl (if I curled it).  

Today's Tidbits

1) Yay for Superbowl weekend!  I'm using this weekend as an excuse to try out lots of unhealthy finger food recipes from Pinterest.  The dough for these knock-off Pizza Hut breadsticks is rising in my kitchen as I type, and I bought the supplies for these meatball-stuffed biscuits today.  I'm not making them this weekend, but this recipe for knock off Red Lobster biscuits is spot on. Tastes just like the restaurant variety.

2) I was going to include the make and model of my hair dryer in this post, but it died today. I went out to TJ Maxx and grabbed a new one, so after I try it for a few days, I'll post a styling tools post all about what I use when I'm feeling creative with my hair

3) I'm currently applying for summer internships and man has the market got me down! Another great reason to justify all these yummy superbowl weekend foods...I'm in need of a pick-me-up from all these quick job rejections!

My Hair Routine Series

Part 1: Cleansing

Part 2: Conditioning

Part 3: Styling

Part 4: Honorable Mention Products

Part 5: Styling Tools

The Life of a Curly

I was procrastinating on Buzzfeed yesterday and saw this post and just had to share! I think a lot of it will right true with you guys.  I'm off to search the internet for those "Don't Touch My Hair" earrings!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/the-woes-of-having-curly-hair-82j3

Today's Tidbits:

I'm going to start adding a little section to the end of some posts called Today's Tidbits. I'm just going to post some things that I've been up to or things that are on my mind that have nothing to do with the post topic.

• I got a new perfume for an early Valentine's gift that I'm loving! It's Gucci II and it's my new favorite. It smells spicy yet fruity with some subtle florals like jasmine. Heavenly!
• Don't worry, the My Hair Routine posts will continue. Up next is my Honorable Mention products and then I'm going to do a post about styling tools (towels, brushes combs, dryer, diffuser, etc!)
• My apartment dryer has a timer on it that is supposed to be accurate, but it always reaches a point where it is supposed to be done but detects that the clothes are still damp so it keeps going and going. I swear the dryer has been running for around an hour and a half when it originally said it would be done in 56 minutes. Normally I wouldn't care, but I told myself I would wait until the clothes were done to eat lunch. I mean, I've made it this far. I may as well uphold the commitment right?

My Hair Routine Part 3: Styling

My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools


Remember when I told you guys that I've managed to calm my "product junkie" ways? Well, as you can tell from my Part 2: Conditioning approach, I clearly haven't stopped looking for that one stand alone conditioner. Maybe I will find it, maybe I won't.

But styling products! I've hit my stride here in the last year or so. I haven't bought a new styling product in months, just repurchased what I had used up. I've been wanting to try one new styler, but I'll get to that later.


The Leave In: Kinky Curly Knot Today or Curl Junkie Beauticurls Leave In

Kinky Curly is a curly girl stand by. This leave in melts away any tangles and provides what for me feels like a clean slate for my products. I don't like to skip a leave in, as I think it helps me with getting product evenly distributed. I do not use this leave in for moisture. I think that the majority of my tender love and care for my hair comes in the shower or in overnight deep treatments. The leave in is my base. That's where this leave in excels.  It doesn't weigh my fine hair down, and it doesn't have a cloying scent that will clash with other products and perfume. This product is completely Curly Girl method approved and is an old standby. The best part about it is that it's now super easy to find. Years ago, you could only get it online, but now it's hit Targets, Walgreeens, Walmarts, Ultas, and everywhere in between. I do not find their store locator service on their website to be reliable, however, as I have found it in many places that aren't listed there. So just be aware that if you use that feature, don't give up hope if you don't get any nearby results.

Another great option comes from Curl Junkie, another Curly Girl friendly line. This one has to be purchased online.  This is the leave in I use when I want extra moisture.  I definitely lean more heavily on this during the winter when I find that my hair is drier overall. This has a thicker consistency and feels more nourishing than the Kinky Curly. It still doesn't weigh my hair down though and gives me that clean slate that I'm looking for. I find that Curl Junkie scents are definitely "there" so to speak, but they aren't the sort that will hang around all day and give you a headache.


You Need This: Suave Captivating Curls Whipped Cream Mousse

If I had better photoshop skills, I would make draw fireworks, sparkles, and hearts around this bottle. This is my holy grail hair product. 

This is such a weird product! First of all, it's a mousse. But it's not a mousse.  It doesn't puff up into a baseball sized ball of air when you dispense it, but you do still dispense it upside down into your hands like you would with any other mousse.  

You apply this differently than a traditional mousse. This, according to the bottle and conventional curly girl wisdom, goes into soaking wet hair. What I do is I take about a strawberry sized glob, rub my hands together, and rake that through my hair.  I then use the "super soaker" method, which amounts to parting my hair, then scrunching in water to get my hair soaking wet again, which clumps together the curls.  Then, with the hair still dripping, I scrunch in about half of a strawberry worth of mousse throughout. This upward scrunching motion makes those clumps into coils.

After that, if it's not super dry outside, I scrunch using my Curls Like Us towel or an old cotton t-shirt to get some of the water out of my hair.  If it's super dry outside (which I determine by looking at the dew point), then I scrunch in a dab of gel before the towel scrunching. I find that I only need the gel when it's super dry to help hold my curl. When there's moisture in the air, my hair will do it's own curling.

Why do I love this so much? This defines my curls like no other. It's not heavy, but it tames frizz. It takes my hair and makes it effortless. I will buy this in mass quantity as long as Suave keeps making it.

Here's my one little spot where I have to admit I'm curious about a new styler though. Tressemme has a relatively new product out called Flawless Curls Mousse, which is getting rave reviews. With my drawer full of my Suave mousse, I will likely give the Tressemme candidate a try when I see it in my grocery store. But I have very high expectations! I'll keep you guys posted.

So here is my hair, styled using the products and techniques mentioned above.  It's not perfect. I think that's a big part of getting over the product junkie hurdle. I've accepted that my hair will never be absolutely perfect. But this is what it looks like every day. And I'm very happy with that, and feel that it's the way I was supposed to look.

My next post is going to be a Part 3a if you will. I'm going to go through an "honorable mention" list of styling products. These will products that aren't in my everyday must have routine, but they are useful and I do think they deserve mention.

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think of them?

My Hair Routine Series

Part 1: Cleansing

Part 2: Conditioning

Part 3: Styling

Part 4: Honorable Mention Products

Part 5: Styling Tools

My Hair Routine Part 2: Conditioning!

My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools


My friends know that once you get me started talking about conditioners, you are in for an ear full! I have tried well over 100 conditioners. Some I love, some not so much, and some I don't even remember how I felt about it! That's the real sign of a product junkie right there...when you are in a store and think to yourself, "Man, I know I've used this before. But I don't know what I thought about it!" I cannot claim to have found the holy grail conditioner for me just yet. I have learned a lot about what my hair likes and what it doesn't like, though, and that helps me when I'm thinking about trying something new.

The conditioners featured in this post are my stand-bys. I know that they will work. I know I love them. But each one has one or two things I wish were different.  You'll see what I mean. So while these are definitely favorites, my search for the absolute perfect conditioner for me continues!  

I'm going to break with the usual here and not break this down based on "regular" conditioners and "deep" conditioners. I find that my hair is dry enough that I can use a so-called "deep" conditioner treatment every day without any weighing down, but sometimes what someone else calls a "regular" conditioner will be way too heavy and leave my hair very sad and limp.  A good example is that the first conditioner up, Joico K-Pak Intense Hydrator, would generally be considered a "deep" treatment. I can use it every day though. However, many curlies loves GVP Conditioning Balm from Sally's. That's too much for every day for me. 

These aren't listed in any particular order. I'm really just listing the contents of my shower caddy from left to right!

A note for those strictly following the Curly Girl Method: only two of these conditioners are CG friendly. I will list them last for clarity.  The rest contain silicone. I use a shampoo more often then not, so this isn't a problem for me, but if you are only conditioner washing, you will want to skip to the last two.

The Budget Buster: Joico Intense Hydrator

My hair is super duper fine and dry! I have learned that my hair adores protein in mass quantity (how to tell if a conditioner has protein? Look for ingredients like keratin or amino acids).  However, protein conditioners tend not to be the most moisturizing formulas.  It's like a see-saw; protein levels go up and the moisture content goes down.

This conditioner is a happy exception to that rule.  This is a very thick formula. It won't go anywhere if you have a blob on your hand and you turn your hand upside down. It smells fruity to my nose. Almost tropical. 

What I love: this gives me a punch of protein that leaves my hair quite bouncy and happy while delivering serious moisture. A perfect blend of both worlds for me.  The scent is nice but doesn't linger.  The "slip" (how easily it glides through your hair) is unreal. My minimal tangles melt away using this.

What I don't love: the price. I try to find this at TJMaxx or Marshall's. Generally there it's around $12 for the pictured size. However, at Ulta, this will run you $18.  And I need a good bit of it, even for my just past shoulder length hair. So I need to repurchase pretty often (once every 2 months or so). So for my budget, this isn't a practical every day conditioner for me.

The Penny Pincher: Suave Damage Care

Suave has really upped their game in recent years in my opinion. I love a lot of their products for styling, and this conditioner is fabulous.  

This conditioner has protein in it, which my hair loves.  It is not a thick conditioner to me.  This will slip around on your palms.  It has

What I love: The price! Under $2 at Walmart, and I can generally find a Suave coupon to get a free bottle or two. This is easy to stock up on, and you never feel guilty using bunches of it. Like the Joico, this has protein but also doesn't leave my hair feeling dry. The scent is strong and I do find that it lingers if I don't really scrub at my scalp to get all the conditioner out in the shower. I don't mind the scent though,

What I don't love: There just isn't enough moisture in this one for me. It doesn't leave my hair feeling dry, like I said, but if I use this and only this for a few weeks, then I start to notice some extra frizzies and dryness at my ends.  This is a fabulous "every day" conditioner so long as I have something more moisturizing to supplement. Sometimes, this product is hard to find because it seems that others in my area love this conditioner too. When it's out of stock, I will buy the humectant moisture conditioner as a substitute. I don't like the smell of that one as much, but I find it performs much the same.

The Drugstore Moisture Machine: L'Oreal EverPure Moisture Deep Restorative Masque

What a mouthful! I do not like the rest of the EverPure line. I find most of their products have awful scents that are way too overpowering, and I do not like the cleansing products one bit, as they seem to simultaneously dry out my hair while leaving a greasy residue. 

However, this product is the one exception. It is fragranced with a lighter peppermint scent which lingers a bit but I only notice it in my hair if I grab a strand and sniff it purposefully.  

What I love: This is a very thick formula that you scoop out of a jar.  It has great slip, smells spa-like, and leaves my hair feeling very moisturized without weighing it down.  It is reasonably priced and easy to find at the drugstore.

What I don't love: The packaging is annoying. I don't like jar type packaging in the shower because I feel like I always get water in there and that isn't the most sanitary.  I wish it had more natural ingredients and that L'oreal wasn't making it (I don't love their company practices) but I can't argue with the way my hair feels when using this.

Best Scent from the Drugstore: Aussie 3 Minute Moisture

I think most women have tried this conditioner at one point or another, so I won't go into detail about it. It's a good staple in my collection, and I rotate it in about once a week.  It smells fabulous to my nose, and I like the moisture content.

What I love: It's cheap, readily available, smells good, gives good slip and moisture

What I don't love: I find that I need to use a harsher shampoo with this or else I get buildup.  So it can't be an everyday conditioner for me, unfortunately.

The Best Smelling Conditioner: Darcy's Botanicals Pumpkin Seed Conditioner

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who has gone back to a certain conditioner over and over mostly for the smell?  This stuff smells like happiness, joy, and world peace.

As far as I know, this is only available online.  It's a bit pricey at $20 for 16oz plus shipping, but like I said, it smells like joy. You can't put a price on that!

This is something that I treat myself to every fall/winter.  Obviously, pumpkin isn't a scent for summer, but man is it perfect in October!  The conditioner itself has good slip and delivers nice moisture content. This conditioner is CG friendly.

What I love: Obviously, the scent. The slip is good, and the packaging is nice.  This is just such a great seasonal product.

What I don't love: It's seasonal.  I can't use this year round because that would be odd to smell like pumpkin pie in June.  I also wish it were available on the ground.  My old biggest complaint was that it only came in 8oz bottles, but thankfully they have remedied that!

The Best All Around: Spiral Solutions

This was a brand that was started on naturallycurly.com by a forum member who started concocting things from home. I love every single thing from this line that I have tried. The Caitlin's conditioner is amazing, the Deeply Decadent is the perfect deep treatment, and I never get bouncier curls than when I use the Curl Enhancing Jelly. All the products are CG friendly.

What I don't love: It's never available.  I think the demand got to be a bit overwhelming, so I'm not even sure whether I should include this line in this post because I'm not sure if it will ever be available again. But the products are listed on Curl Mart so hopefully someday they will come back. And hopefully I will have a good salary. The products aren't cheap, but given all of the work that goes into this endeavor, I will gladly pay the prices. I just want them to come back in stock 

That rounds out my regulars! Are there any conditioners you think should be on this list? Let me know in the comments section!


My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools

My Hair Routine Part 1: Cleansing

My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools

What do you wash your hair with?

Such a simple question. But curlies know, this short sentence hides a whole philosophical debate!  Maybe you are a true curly girl and use conditioner to cleanse because you don't use products that build up and all you need is a gentle conditioner wash. Maybe you use something a bit harsher like a no-sulfate or low-sulfate shampoo because you like some silicones in your products. Or maybe you like the full lather you get from sodium lauryl sulfate shampoos and the freedom to use anything you want, since it's all being removed by your sudsy shampoo. I've found that generally those who use traditional sulfate shampoos judge those who cowash, thinking their hair must be gross and greasy (not true of course!). Those who co wash sometimes have a hard time understanding how someone can like a sulfate shampoo, remembering how stripped and dry it made their hair.

Well, even though I used true CG conditioner washing for a long while with great success, I've fallen off that bandwagon and I'm ok with it!  I still pull out my cowash every so often (Suave Tropical Coconut of course) and give myself a good long scalp massage. I can't do this everyday because my holy grail hair product has silicone. But it's nice when my hair feels extra dry to give it a conditioner wash.

Most days, however, I use a sulfate-free shampoo. I alternate between the more gentle Organix Coconut Milk shampoo and the slightly more stripping (but still gentle!) Joico Moisture Recovery shampoo.  I have an oily scalp that combos with dry, fine hair. My goals are always to get my hair clean without drying it out more but getting rid of any weight from products. So sometimes I feel I need a little more elbow grease than others. Sometimes I just pick which one smells the best (the Joico to my nose). Sometimes I know my hair wants protein (more on this topic in a later post) so Joico wins that one.

I haven't used a sodium lauryl sulfate shampoo in years. So I can't offer any suggestions there, although I know many of my friends use the Herbal Essences Hydralicious line and love it. Can't vouch for it myself, as I find that my other cleansing products get rid of any buildup without needing to resort to that level of cleansing agents.

What are you all using to cleanse? I don't switch up products much so I'd love to hear your recommendations for sulfate free products!

Products mentioned in this post:
Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner
Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Shampoo
Joico Moisture Recovery Shampoo


My Hair Routine Series
Part 1: Cleansing
Part 2: Conditioning
Part 3: Styling
Part 4: Honorable Mention Products
Part 5: Styling Tools

A Look Ahead

Happy New Years Eve!

Here's a quick look at what kinds of posts I've got in the works for you guys for 2013!

• Figuring out a hair routine, or how to calm the product junkie!
• Styling tips and techniques. What I do with a bad hair day, how I make the most of a good hair day
• Product reviews. My all time curly hair favorites!
• A new product world: makeup. I'll post some tutorials, product reviews, and tips for getting into a makeup routine without getting stuck in a rut. I'll be pulling from my day to day experiences, which means lots of neutral looks appropriate for work and school.
• I'd like to post a bargain hunting series when I find some super deals, but obviously I can't promise how often those will come around

So that's a look at what's up ahead. Since it is NYE, I will share my "resolutions" with you all. I'm not a big believer in resolutions, but I am a big believer in setting goals. So perhaps it would be better to call these goals that I just happened to make at the end of 2012/beginning of 2013.

1. Yoga. I've always wanted to try it and never have! So I'm getting myself a DVD to try some beginner stuff at home. I'd like to get some stress relief, a workout, and increased flexibility out of doing yoga this year
2. Take more photos. I bought myself my first DSLR for Christmas, and I'm excited to learn how to use it! My goal for the end of the year is to be comfortable with using the manual modes and to have captured many more moments than I have been in recent years.  
3. Blog! I missed blogging, so hopefully this one will be simple.  

I hope you all had wonderful holidays and got to spend time with family and loved ones!

Four years in the making

Wow.

It has been 4 years since I first made this blog. I used to have lots more posts but removed them after some privacy concerns. Well, all except one post obviously. My guide, which I wrote more than anything to keep myself straight on the curly girl method, has become so much more than anything I ever thought.

I initially came back to the this blog to see how it was doing after I saw it linked on Pinterest. That was very surreal! I did a double-take and said, "Wait a minute. I made that icon!" (it was the image on the right hand side of the blog).

Little did I know, that while I was finishing up my first degree, my little curly girl guide has been viewed over 100,000 times, pinned, tweeted, facebooked, and linked all over the web. I googled the link to it out of curiosity, and by about page 5 I had tears streaming down my face because of how many women said that this blog post had changed the way they did their hair and made them happy with their curls for the first time. It was a truly breathtaking experience.

So here I am. When I started this blog, I was in my first year in college. Now, I'm in my first year of graduate school. I was dating my high school sweetheart, and a bit scared about how our relationship would hold up across a long distance. Now, we're engaged.  Back then, I wanted to be a doctor. Now, I'm in law school and loving it.  When I started the blog, I truly was a dorm room curly, blogging from an actual dorm room. Now, I'm the apartment curly, blogging from a grown-up fourth floor room with a kitchen.

Of all the changes over these four years though, one thing hasn't changed. I've still got my curls. One of the reasons I stopped blogging and posting on naturallycurly.com is that I actually more or less figured out my hair around year two. In the coming weeks, I'm going to do some posts to let you all know what I've been doing and how I figured out what worked for me (hint: lots of bad hair days with trial and error!).

I am so incredibly grateful, overwhelmed, and humbled that my simple blog post, which I read now and think of all the ways I would edit the writing style of it after four years of post-secondary work, has helped other people figure out their own hair.  Even those who tried the method and said that it didn't work for them, that's a step in figuring it all out.

So here's to figuring things out. I'm not sure how continuously I'll be blogging, but like I said, I've got a least a few posts up my sleeves.  I changed the layout, because the styles of websites have changed so much over the last four years! Leave me a comment if you've got a request for something you'd like to read or if you have a question for me or if you just want to say hi! I would love to hear from you.

Anyone out there?

Stay tuned! I've got an update post in the works that I will post in the next couple of weeks! Leave me a comment if you're excited!