Project reconstructing hair

I have been discussing my hair a lot lately. Fact is that my longer hair with quite some volume has gotten thinner and sparser, with patches of boldness.

I announced on the blog that I would be "working on it". And I have, taking the hair serious. So I will show the steps I have been taking:

1. Yucky shakes used by supermodels:
Normally I do not fall for "supermodel X has been using this"-dogmatisms. That is just because genes, photoshop, makeup artists and fairy intervention have made them more beautiful than the rest of us. Exception in convincing, the almost 50-something Elle McPerson still rocking a body even 20-somethings would be envious of, AND excellent hair (even though it has gotten bleached, blowdried and all other modelly tools done by eager hairdressers all around the world). 
Ok, not just the potion, but she claims it works
 Also, Nigella Lawson, food-Goddess by excellence, was able to add this stuff to her sophisticated palate of food-perfection, keeping her beautiful hair and loosing some extra pounds too.

It is horribly tasting, but if it gives me better hair (and body) than I will keep up with it...(got Clean & Lean Body Brilliance from *SpaceNK*)
 
 2. The usual omegas  and Superior Hair (biotins & others)
Anything called Superior Hair sounds tempting, and the omegas are good for the skin too..

3. Too expensive newest supplements range:

 I wrote about it *here*

4. No Hair-dye

My hair is already breaking off without dye: let's not do chemical thingies with it!

The jury is still undecided whether dye brings out more volume in limp, greasier hair by altering the original structure. So for volume a bit of dye would be good. Also, the smoke-n-mirror effect that some dye can have the impact of it looking better than it actually is. But I have to wait for my own hair to get better, which brings me to step  5...

5. Protein cement treatments that smells like rotten eggyolk
Or better known as the oh so succesful Apoghee Two-step Protein treatment. See various reviews & explanations on Makeupalley. I have to say: it works.

6. The multitude of Volumizers that are somewhat succesful:
6.A. Dry Shampoos
 Batiste XXL volume wins hands down from French Klorane..."dommage" [=sorry]

6. B. Moussing Up...
Liese Wave-up Foam is actually targetted to create curls, but is actually tons better than L'óreal Proffessionel Volume Expand. Liese has a better hold and a natural feel. L'óreal Professionel has that sticky-feel and doesn't hold that long.
 
7. Finally, things that work:
I have blogged aplenty about Kerastase Elixir K Ultime Moringa Immortel for glossing up and reconstructing damaged hair, and I still like it and find it effective.

My latest volume hit has been L'óreal Elnett Heat protecting styling spray in Volume: it was BlushingLoves review that was really enthousiastic and convincing about it and I loved it since. It feels natural, non-sticky, and has the power to give the limp 'do a bit of volume, more than all the other potions I've tried so far.

8. The things I already did, a lot:
Left (brown bottle) washing the hair with a sulphate-free, non paraben shampoo (mine being L'óreal professionel Nature Abondance de Cacao, review coming soon).
Middle and right: the abundance of conditioners and hairmasks (some reviews here, others will be made soon).

9. Change hair-partings
from laurenconrad's site
*Another 'tip' from the experts I followed*

It helped me not to touch the bolding spot on the side that I had my parting on, and that could grow back with the help of Phylia de [M] Connect. But changing hair-parts can be quite iffy to work with and can feel a bit unconfortable in the beginning (tutorial of how-to here). Experts/magazines often tell you this change can give your hair more volume, but when volume is already sparse in hair, the change is minimal. But it helps to disguise thin spots and can look like you did something new with your hair (and you actually did).

10. Sweet Silk to protect the hair
I often wrap my hair in a silk scarf in bed. You could also opt for a silk pillowcase, which would also benefit the minimising of wrinkles. To see why it (can) help, visit this page.

So, has it been worth it, this much work, if a dramatic cut would do too?
I have seen an improvement in my hair-quality from quite horrible to tolerable. The major frizz has been gone and the baldness has been replaced with 3 cm hair-regrowth.  

If it is worth it, all these steps/time/money?? Perhaps not, if you would be not into beauty-regimes nor being as stubborn as I am.   Lack of volume is still an issue, and perhaps I should reach for the dye soon because my hair is almost healthy enough to tolerate this: only something that matches the natural shade. Or these type of perms that are not perms but provide more volume, I'll see.

Casanera Immortelle Serum

After my first venture with Casanera Preziosa nightcream (here), I went for the Immortelle Serum.

The samples were just as generous  as the first order, supplying me with another GWP fab bodylotion in Clementine & a delicious bodywash.

The serum looks like one of those vintage bottles and is made of a porcelain-like glass. I love this look, as my very first skincare was in these type of bottles: so hello nostalgia!
The serum is from a different line than the Preziosa nightcream. Its key-ingredient has "immortelle" better to be translated as 'everlasting'. What a perfect name for something anti-ageing.  To see how "immortelle" or "helicrysum" works, see *here.*

French description from their website
They are not the first company working with Immortelle, Various organic & natural skincare ranges have discovered the regenerative properties of immortelle/helicrysum as well. The more reknown L'Occitane has a specific Immortelle range. Also, Tammy Fender Intensive Repair balm is fused with immortelle/helicrysum.

Full list of ingredients:


Freshness guaranteed with expiry date on the bottom of the jar:

The serum itself is like a true serum in consistency: thin, fluidy and of a milky appearance:

I have been using this potion for about 3 weeks:
  • anti-ageing effect short term? Yes! Immediate tightening of the skin after application
  • anti-ageing effect long term? I cannot fully tell after 3 weeks, but my skin looks tauter.
  • hydrating? Somewhat, the argan oil ingredient is hydrating but it's more for tightening/anti-ageing than a superhydrator for dry skin. Simply use a cream/oil afterwards like serums often need.
  • Consistency/texture: light, like a true serum
  • scent: quite strong...somewhat herbally and slightly like cat-biscuits
  • alone or with something else? I prefer a cream with spf in the morning & the Casanera Preziosa cream in the evening
  • Price: fairly pricy for € 62.00 (excl shipping)

Overview:
I like the effect of this organic product in tightening the skin, but my skin has gone to a supersensitive stage lately. I can only reach for the gentliest, most fragance-free products, so I had to put this one in the freezer. I will report on this when my skin gets more tolerant and I can use it again.

Availability:
It's on the Casanera website (here) and they ship to most European countries.

Burberry-ed: orangy lips

In my preview I showed some labels that I bought. I was quite curious about the Givenchy matte foundation and I loved the natural-look when testing it.

But I am not up to showing boring useful foundation-swatches today, so I will get red and orangy instead.

I really had a craving to buy something new from the Burberry Spring range. Perhaps because I really need this winter to be over and hoping I can coach spring into the weather when I wear it, or delude my mind into happiness when wearing brighter colours.

Actually, I wanted to go for the Hydrangea Pink blush first, but I need to see it swatched first. Holland is having the Spring '13 colours online (here), but the brick-n-mortar shops haven't been stocked yet.

Lipgloss-wise, I picked a colour I wouldn't normally go for:


Burberry calls this one a Coral, although I wouldn't call it a real coral colour. I think it's a bit goldfish with a slight dusting of gold shell, making it still rather tropical:

I especially went for this one as it looked really unique and plumping in the various swatches I've seen online (example 1, 2). I figured that the warmer glow and golden particles can be a excellent way to warm up and give dimension to my cooler, purplish lipsticks.

The Collistar lipstick actually was a GWP but I really like it a lot. 
Italian creativity with the lipstick? I'm going to wear it frequently now ;)
The colour that comes closest to it, is my Edward Bess Midnight Bloom. Collistar Scarlatto is a micro-shade lighter, making it looks a hint pinker than EB Midnight Bloom.



I consider it equal to EB Midnight Bloom in pigmentation, perhaps a bit more matte. 
swatches & goosebumps: "spring, where are you?"
As you can see: the Burberry 22 Coral is pigmented, but doesn't alter the original hue of the lipstick too much. It only gives it a more pink/rosy and glowier appearance.

Top line (instead of bottom line) is that the lipgloss totally lives up to my expectation. I actually like the fraganced luxurity of it, the balmy feel, and the idea that it is pigmented on it's own but extra-dimensional on another lipstick. Also, that is a fab GWP,  the Collistar Scarletto lipstick...yum.

☼ Now some sunny orangy rays and a warmer temperature to match the lipgloss ☼

Owly

My wallet was stolen about a week ago. Good thing I've purchased this cute purse at forever21 beforehand, so the loss wasn't too bad.




I should get something sophisticated (leather) soon, but for the moment I love my canvas cutie!

Label-mentioning

I'm gonna show off the labels I got recently: Givenchééé, Burberry & Collistar:
Actually, the lesser known sister of this haul is actually one of the prettiest in design, and that says something with Burberry beauty in mind:
intricate shape of the Collistar lipstick
I will post the details of my haul soon... (✿◠‿◠)

Sampling Vapour Beauty: Atmosphere Luminous Foundation 130

The reason I ordered this: Stick foundation, or Foundation stick!
 
Vapour Beauty Sample set
Ok, to steer away from the phallic symbolism and Freud, it was curiosity too after reading Miss DrivellerKate blogging about it (here). It almost made the order the whole stick before sampling, but reason got over stick-mania and I ordered some samples.

I'm not the greatest (foundation-)stick fan! (you might thought otherwise but I wanted a sassy introduction...hehe). My last one was a Rimmel one in the prehistoric year of 2001! I worked in a cosmetic shop which fueled my cosmetic-addiction and gave me playtime when no customers were around. I think most women (& men) working in cosmetics love their face-crayons aplenty.

So that one, and I tested Tom Ford in London when I visited Selffridges. I kinda liked it (I almost hear DrivellerKate wispering "traitor" as I told her I'm not the most Tom Ford-cosmetics fan) but the amount of cash wasn't word the splurge that it would outdo my other foundation stash.

Anyway, I ordered a set of samples from their original website, as it was the only place to try out the  Atmosphere Luminous Foundation (or the more sophisticated name for the "stick" I've been muttering out again & again in this post, teehee)
Vapour sample set: full with tips, a discount,  pictures & application methods...

Overall, I ordered a Mesmerized eye-colour in Storm, Stratus Luminous Skin Perfector, a delightful nighttime oil: Essence restorative night treatment with the sample of the stick:

But I will do a mini-review of the Atmosphere Luminous Foundation (Stick) today in colour 130:
not THE stick, but a part of it
I received the sample in the exact same container as when I ordered from naturisimo.com (see review on concealer here)

Swatches: Unblended: 1st application -above: Tanned part of arm - below- original paleness of me:
It matches the top and it totally too dark for my real light skin. 

Swatches Blended:
Similar as before: when it matches the skintone (top) , it brings out a gorgeous & luminous glow. When too dark (bottom), it looks like a bit of oompaa loompa.

Swatch: blended-close-up
Similar as before, only close up.

(personal) VERDICT:
  • the colour turned out to be too dark for my face too. 120 would have been a better option
  • Formula: Thick. Personally, it felt too heavy on my sensitive skin.
  • Effort: I found it difficult to blend and it took me longer than normal. The stick was too thick for me 
  • Finish: I loved the glow and colour-luminescence, even if it was too dark for me (it looked natural after lots of blending in the neck, etc)
  • More suitable for dry and not-too-sensitive skins.
  • Scent: natural but still scented.
CONCLUSION:

Blimey, I love the effect it had on my skin, natural and glowy! The feel on my skin was something I personally didn't like. Howcver, that has been the reason I stayed away from sticks for more than a decade so that's something personal and related to the type of skin I have.

Availability:
You can order 5 samples from their whole range on their website (here)

Using, Used, Gonna Use

I'm such a chatty blogger but I will keep this round of "using, used, gonna use" concise.

1. Using: Sofina Primavista Smooth Base Coat primer in Yellow:
I've talked about my Rudolph (red nose) syndrom yesterday. This primer doesn't just make pores appear much smaller, but the yellow cancels out most of the redness too.
I've bought it a while ago and revisited it recently...and my nose thanks me for it

2. Used:  Christophe Robin Creme Lavante/ Cleansing Cream with Citron
I once got a GWP of this and I liked it enough to repurchase in large. Anyway, sometimes it happens that you like the sample but feel *meh* about the full-size: that happened (but I still emptied it because it's still good).  It works as a no-poo sort of cleansing conditioner (see what the no-poo method is over here, trust me, nothing to do with the toilet). I started to get *meh* about the scent which reminded me of Cif cleansing lemon scent. And, I am not really a no-poo person: I love to shampoo my slightly-greasy roots with foamies...sorry for that.

3. Gonna Use: La Prairie Cellular Treatment powder Foundation
 I finished up my Poor Burberry and hope to be much gentler for this luxury babe...

My beauty diary 2-step Winter Bright Pack

This pretty sheet-set ended up in my shopping-cart a while ago. I have been trying a My Beauty Diary 2-step pack before (here), and the words 'Winter Bright' got me in...
Moisture and hydratation has been highly needed this long-lasting winter. I made a photo beginning winter of my hairline for the Phylia [de M] hairgrowth project and a second one last week: Conclusion is that my hair grew and got somewhat restored, but my skin has a bit more redness. It's still quite good after enduring the longer winter-weather, but not as smooth/calm as pre-winter.

That means I have to up my mask-routine a bit more. Something that targets especially for winter could be up for some soothing & brightening.

Shortly, an overview of the Steps:

1: Just like the previous My Beauty Diary 2-step system, it has a sheetmask in one compartment; an Olive Leaf mask. The smaller compartment contains Shea Butter creamy gel.

2: Ingredients of the Olive Leaf Mask:




Ingredients of the Shea Butter Creamy Gel:

 
3. How to use: similar to other (MBD) sheetmasks. The cream should be applied afterwards.

4. Date of production for controlling freshness.

Swatch of Step 2: the Shea Butter Creamy Gel
It has a lighter, fresh consistency which reminds me of Japanese Toner/lotion formulas

Step 1, the Olive Leaf sheetmask, is of a similar shape as most of My Beauty Dairy sheetmasks so I haven't made a photo of that one.

VERDICT:
  • The Olive Leaf Sheetmask is quite drenched with liquid, being a moisture-bomb skins often needs for colder winters
  • step 2: Shea Butter Creamy gel feels like a normal moisturizer instead of gel, but a thinner one.
  • this time I really like an extra cream afterwards for extra hydratation
  • Calming effect: yes...my redness around the nose reduced
  • Brightening? I think so: my skin looked more translucent, moisturized & calmer afterwards
  • lasting effect: until 3 days afterwards I had calmer, better skin with the same skincare regime
  • scent sheetmask: somewhat fragant of a enhanced olive flower (bit chemical, but still fresh)
  • scent Shea butter cream: neutral, fragance-free
CONCLUSION:
I really like this mask and wanna repurchase 2 or 3 more.

Availability:
I'm glad Sasa still has them for $ 1.70 per piece (here)

Kanebo Kate Goldish Eyes PK-1

Happy Valentine's Day! Today I'll feature two of valentine's fave colours, pink & gold (the diamonds will not be present, but there is a diamond-esque sparkle around)

Sometimes I get a slight fascination with colours that are not the most universally flattering nor the easiest to use, but still I am intrigued or beautified by them.
peachy pinks, golden pinks, pinks for lips or eyes...I'm intrigued
Peach is one of them, pinks are the other.

You might say: "well, these are easy to use on lips & cheeks" but there you go: I want them on my eyes.  I love the easiness of most taupe eyeshadows, but a bit of peach or pink has the quality to make various eyecolours a lot more interesting.

Hence, introducing: Kate Kanebo Goldish eyes in PK-1:
Kate's minimalistic black packaging
I have liked Kanebo Kate in the past for a couple of products that are both of good quality and reasonably priced. It's not that everything they launch is a complete hit with me. I can remember some sticky lipglosses that are not up my alley: 

Their eyeshadow palettes are often a (facebookian) LIKE  with me: they come with easy instructions, even if they aren't in English: the illustrations are easy to follow and most of the colours are useable and of good texture/colour.


And now I was curious if their latest release of palettes would live up to this.
"ohhh, shimmery shiny golden goodness!!"
I really like golden hues in eyeshadows so the whole gold line looked really up my alley. As for my pick of the PK-version, well, explained above, I like 'difficult' pinks and I really liked the idea of trying out a pinkish gold, like the variety they have in golden jewellery ♥

So, let's see how that pretty palette above will look SWATCHED (no primer):


VISUALS:
  • all colours have a metallic (often golden) idirescence, only the "white" is slightly stark
  • "GOLD-yellow" lacks pigment, but is lovely for a hint of glow or layering
  • "GOLD-pink" has light to medium pigmentation, also suitable for layering (see most right swatch over "brown"
  • "Brown" is the most pigmented
  • "Brown"is that cooler sort of brown mixed with a taupe, metallic  hue, so lovely and quite safe universally flattering again ;-)
  • "Brown" has the best texture of the 4: buttery and smooth, even after 2 or 3 layers
  • Palette: the 2 Golds have that "baked eyeshadow" raised idea in the palette, see picture below:
Side-angle Swatches for different view upon idirescence:








VISUALS:
  • "GOLD-yellow" is more of a flecked quality and applies irregularly
  • "White" has a slight glow.
  • "Brown"(alone) has that soft metallic glow that looks like lit-from-within
  • GOLD-pink looks more like a rosy, coppery gold instead of pink.
  • Layering "GOLD-pink" over "Brown" makes it more sparkly, more nightime-suitable & gives it a slight rosy edge without making that dramatic pink eye.

VERDICT:

When I first swatched this palette, I was slightly dissapointed for the lack of pigmentation of some colours. After playing with them, layering and wearing them for a while, I found them to be fun and adding that bit of glow on the safer more neutral colours. They wear quite long! I wore only the GOLD-pink without primer (they add similar colour-depth with or without primer, I've tried!) and they even lasted after a shower. That made the boyfriend comment why I wore eyeshadow in bed (proving a. it's visible b. it stays on c. clean eyes better!). The only colour I really find unhandy is the "white", but that's personal preference: it layers on as an equal white with a slight glow so other people might like it as a base for the GOLD-yellow or GOLD-pink.

The only negative is that the GOLDS are raised in the palette, making it slightly messier and spill-prone to the sides of the palette when swiping over.
eyeshadow spill-prone due to raised platform GOLDS

CONCLUSION
I really like this palette and I have nothing in my stash that comes close to it. I didn't expect Kate to come up with the most theatrical type of pink golds which is a good thing for being office-appropriate or just liking fun, glowy makeup without going pantomine. So not all colours are evenly pigmented, however, they have a different function to layer or to add a glow. Even the best rated palettes such a DIOR have some *meh* colours/textures of the ones included in their palettes, so for a reasonable price you get a fun and original type of palette.

Availability:
I bought mine via ichibankao (here) for appr. €16.30 and they have 3 more varieties in Gold, white & blue.

PS: Speaking about DIOR, the lipgloss featured as a partner-in-crime on the pictures has been the DIOR Addict lipgloss in 157, which has a bit of pinkish-gold flecks inside as well: