Review: Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning & Texturizing Spray

I received this spray in my June Ipsy bag. If you aren't subscribed to Ipsy, give it a try. It's only $10.00 a month and you always get a nice box of beauty product surprises (and I LOVE surprises!!). I also love it because you never know what will be in the bag or how they package it and they always give you a product you have never heard of before (at least I have not heard of before) and it really assists me in learning about all of the beauty products in the market and allows me to sample them before seeing it in a store, going ga-ga, purchasing it, taking it home and hating it. How is that for a run-on sentence! My English teacher would be so upset!! I saw many of these in my day on my English papers:

 



 

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, can you guess how I would rate this product? Look above.

 

Let's start with the description located at the Sexy Hair website:

SOY RENEWAL BEACH SPRAY creates undone texture that looks and feels like you’ve spent a day by the sea. Helps nourish, protect and heal hair damage with the power of Argan oil. Cures winter blues by giving your hair the look and feel of a day at the beach.

The description is very true. It does make your hair feel like you've been at the beach all day. Imagine that you have been laying out at the beach for a few hours, alternating between sun-bathing, walking and swimming in the ocean and your hair gets wet with salt water and sweat (which is like salt water, only not as strong). You go back to your room and what is the first thing you want to do? TAKE A SHOWER and wash your HAIR and body to get that salty feeling out!

The website states the following on how to use the spray:

Spray on damp hair and let dry naturally or blow-dry with a diffuser for all over texture. Use on dry hair for detailing or to add volume to the roots without having to wet hair.

With this product, I took a shower and washed/conditioned my hair to a squeaky-clean consistency and then proceeded to spray it into my damp hair. When it dried, my hair felt like it had been blowing in the hot winds of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina after I swam in the ocean all day. The only thing missing was the specks of sand mixed in. 

It definitely adds volume to not only your roots, but the ends of your hair as well. I felt wind-swept! I have naturally thick hair; therefore, this feeling was not a pleasant one. I wanted to jump back in the shower and wash it all over again.

For people who have thin hair, this product may be a Godsend. I know that I could only cross my ponytail holder over my hair twice versus three times because my hair had so much volume. If I had thin hair, I may love this product; however, since I do not and don't know anyone with thin hair that can test it out for me, I give the following:

Rating: F

PS/ For those who are mindful of what they put in their hair, the website stated the following regarding the ingredients of the spray:

• Magnesium Sulfate & Sea Salt- Provides texture and beachy feel
• Algae Extract- Retains moisture, strengthens & texturizer
• Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil(Argan Oil)- Protects, Repairs   
• Benzophenone-4- UV Protectant 
• Butylene Glycol & Glycerin- Humectant – helps retain moisture
• Hydrolyzed Soy Protein- Nourishes and strengthens
• Panthenol- Conditions, Antistatic 
• Sorbitol- Conditions, Humectant 
• Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Extract- Anti-Oxidant, conditions & protects
• Methylisothiazolinone- Preservative 

Mani and Review: nailtini "Mai Tai", China Glaze "For Audrey" and "Lemon Fizz"

I had so much fun with this mani! I received nailtini's, "Mai Tai" in my Ipsy bag this month and for the first time tried out the Monster Bundle dotting tools using China Glaze's "Lemon Fizz" and "For Audrey".



I used "Mai Tai" as an undercoat and then used the dotting tool to dot on "For Audrey" and "Lemon Fizz". I then realized that I was using too much blue and yellow and then dotted a few more drops of the "Mai Tai" to space everything out a bit.

I wish I had long nails and could paint my whole nail with "Mai Tai" and then use the dotting tool at my nail line to put one line of "Lemon Fizz" and "For Audrey" alternating dots. My fingernails naturally curve up and growing them long just looks gross. I will keep trying various ways with the dotting tool in the meantime.

As for the consistency, all nail polishes rocked. They were not too runny or clumpy and glided right on the nail. It's been five days now and I still do not have even one chip! I am practically amazed at this because by now I would have a few chips, at least (I type at work all day). I use Seche Vite top coat all of the time, so that did not change. I wonder if it has something to do with the dots of color I put on my nails, which dispersed the weight of the polish throughout my nail avoiding chipping as much compared to two or three coats being put on at approximately the same depth, which makes the polish all one piece on the nail, if that makes sense. I am not sure. I will continue to try this out with the dotting tool to see if it helps in the chipping process.

All in all, ratings are:

China Glaze "For Audrey": A+
China Glaze "Lemon Fizz": A+
nailtini "Mai Tai": A+
Bundle Monster: A+
Seche Vite Top Coat: A+ all of the time!

Don't Forget to Enter the Giveaway!

ColorSutraa started a "Minions and Mini-Manis Multi-Blogger / Indie Maker Giveaway where 16 polish makers and bloggers are giving away prizes to 16 people all over the world! Please visit http://colorsutraa.blogspot.com/2013/07/minions-and-mini-manis-multi.html to sign up!

It's the first giveaway that I'm participating in and it was SO MUCH FUN to shop for polishes (6 in all), purchasing a Minion at McDonalds and I still need to get some mini-candies. I am looking for retro candies that we used to eat as kids (70's era).   :)

As ColorSutraa stated on her blog:

"The giveaway will run from July 17th, 2013, 12 midnight EST to August 7th, 2013, 12 midnight EST. Winners will be picked by the weekend and prizes mailed out directly from the participants within 2-3 weeks. This is open INTERNATIONALLY. Remember to enter as many of the options as you can to increase your chances of winning and don't forget to share!"

Thank you, ColorSutraa for allowing me to participate and good luck everyone!

Review: Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme Eau De Parfum

This morning I am with my husband in Greenwood, SC while he takes a test to start his teaching certification. I didn't want to take an entire bottle of perfume to the hotel and instead grabbed a Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme sample Sephora sent to me for my last purchase. I had no idea what to expect and for some reason thought it might be quite "loud". I was pleasantly surprised to find it having a very light smell and not overpowering.

At first spray, I instantly thought of gardenia. It was such a soft smell that the picture of baby powder displayed in my mind. I kept sniffing it and while sitting here in Fourbucks (Starbucks) waiting for my husband can smell the soft aroma around me. I am not the greatest of picking the notes of perfume and as previously stated thought that gardenia was one of the notes at least. I visited the Sephora website to learn more and read the following:

From the Mediterranean, the epicenter of harmonies and contrasts, a classic fragrance is reborn embodying the essence of the Dolce & Gabbana woman: passionate, sensual, and maternal. Dolce & Gabbana Pour Femme will envelop the senses and linger long after she is gone. Seductive and soothing neroli intertwines with nuances of raspberry over the playful hint of tart green mandarin. This gives way to a heart of voluptuous sensuality, a softly undulating bouquet of velvety jasmine and citrusy sweet orange blossom. The addictive and sugary guimauve introduces the full-bodied sensuality of the vanilla base notes, and the captivating fragrance is further lit by the roundness of heliotrope and smooth, creamy sandalwood.

 

Notes: Neroli, Raspberry, Green Mandarin, Jasmine, Orange Blossom, Guimauve, Vanilla, Heliotrope, Sandalwood.

Style: Seductive. Beautiful. Sensuous.

It is true that the scent lingers for a long time, yet as previously stated, is not an overpowering scent where everyone will look at you when they enter the room you are in. It does smell maternal...homey, warm and quite seductive. It is one of those perfumes that someone would have to get quite close to smell and as it melts into your skin and envelops your aura, I'm sure the person will be quite pleased.

I never would have guessed neroli, raspberries and mandarin are in the top notes, but am not surprised by the vanilla and sandalwood.

Overall, I think it's a great perfume. The price is quite high, as you would expect from Dolce and Gabbana. Sephora had the following prices:

• 0.2 oz. eau de parfum rollerball: $25.00
• 0.8 oz. eau de parfum spray: $66.00
• 1.6 oz. eau de parfum spray: $82.00

What is interesting is that I found a 3.4 oz. eau de parfum spray for only $61.39! I'm sure the price changes quite a bit; however, the link for Amazon is below if you are interested. For $61.39, I would consider purchasing it; however, never at Sephora. It is just too expensive there.

 



Rating: A-

Enter the Giveaway!!

ColorSutraa started a "Minions and Mini-Manis Multi-Blogger / Indie Maker Giveaway where 16 polish makers and bloggers are giving away prizes to 16 people all over the world! Please visit http://colorsutraa.blogspot.com/2013/07/minions-and-mini-manis-multi.html to sign up!

It's the first giveaway that I'm participating in and it was SO MUCH FUN to shop for polishes (6 in all), purchasing a Minion at McDonalds and I still need to get some mini-candies. I am looking for retro candies that we used to eat as kids (70's era).   :)

As ColorSutraa stated on her blog:

"The giveaway will run from July 17th, 2013, 12 midnight EST to August 7th, 2013, 12 midnight EST. Winners will be picked by the weekend and prizes mailed out directly from the participants within 2-3 weeks. This is open INTERNATIONALLY. Remember to enter as many of the options as you can to increase your chances of winning and don't forget to share!"

Thank you, ColorSutraa for allowing me to participate and good luck everyone!

There are Never Bad Days if you Have Lipstick

Spoken like a true makeup addict! Love. It.

Review: Malibu Lemon Blossom by Pacifica

I love the smell of fresh lemon and was instantly curious about Pacifica's "Malibu Lemon Blossom" perfume. Of course I could not purchase just the perfume, the body wash and body butter was bought as well so that I could layer the fragrance so it would last longer. If you are interested in all three, it is more economical to purchase altogether versus each individual product.

When I first squirted the perfume, I loved it. In fact, I actually had a visceral reaction to it by my mouth watering, it was so lemony. Now, you may wonder why I would want to smell like a lemon all day. It's not just lemon, but also a very sweet sugary smell and a few minutes after applying it and the initial shock of lemon dissipates, the smell is just too good to be true. When I wear it, I feel like it's a special day and I have received quite a few compliments at work with people asking what perfume I was wearing. I think people ask because it just smells different for a "normal" perfume. It is not what people expect. After the perfume settles or "dries down" into your skin, the aroma lasts for at least five hours and if you layer it with the lotion, more than eight.

The body wash is a great way to start your day, feels great on your skin and is not too soapy or difficult to wash out. The body butter smells great; however, when you first rub it into your skin, you can actually see it and reminded me of how it looks when first putting on sunscreen and the lotion being white on your skin. It is not a sticky lotion and absorbed into the skin after about five minutes. In my moisturizing routine, I always moisturize my face all the way down to my feet using various products and then let them all absorb into the skin before putting clothes on. While waiting, I usually clean around the bathroom, get the clothes out I am planning to wear, etc., so it is not a big deal waiting.

I wanted to learn more about Pacifica's perfume and found that they describe the fragrance as "this fresh scent captures the free spirit of the Pacific Ocean with Lemon Blossom, Litsea Cubeba, flowering Angel's Trumpet, fresh herbs and salty breezes." When I saw the words "Litsea Cubeba" and "Flowering Trumpet", I had to dig a little deeper because I had never heard of these two.

In case you do not know, below is what a lemon blossom looks like:

I had no clue what Litsea Cubeba was or looked like and found the following at Wikipedia:

"Litsea Cubeba is an evergreen tree or shrub 5–12 meters high in the Lauraceae family. It is native to China, Indonesia, Taiwan and other parts of Southeast Asia. It is called "mountain pepper" (山胡椒) in Mandarin and maqaw (馬告) by the Atayal aborigines in Taiwan. As a famous spice among Taiwanese aborigines, a proposed National Park at Yilan County is named "Magao" after the spice. It produces a fruit which is processed for its lemony essential oil. The oil can also be extracted from the leaf, but this is considered to be lower in quality. The timber is sometimes used for making furniture and crafts. Plant parts are also used in medicine."

 The Litsea Cubeba tree is also called "May Chang" and it looks like the following:

Angel's Trumpet is a gorgeous flower that comes in a variety of colors as displayed below:

 

 

 

Would I purchase this again? Most definitely!

 

Perfume Rating: A+

Body Wash Rating: A

Body Butter Rating: B

 



Cramming for my MBA!

 

 

 

I am in the MBA program with a concentration in Project Management and have not had any time at all to post on my new blog due to school! It is highly frustrating because I would MUCH RATHER post about my latest beauty find or the awesome polishes I recently purchased (Illamasqua Speckled!!) versus pouring over a book about risk management and writing papers about some multinational company going down the tubes due to a lack of risk planning. The class is driving me crazy; however, it is much needed for my degree, so I have a smile on my face and plug away.

 

I will have time later this week to post and thank you for your patience. I am certainly impatient to have fun here!

 

I hope that you are all well and finding beauty within and all around you.



Review: Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment by Fresh

I love Fresh due to their Sugar products. I remember the first Sugar perfume I smelled back in the day and screaming with delight over the sugary lemon scent. I used to overlay the Sugar perfume with Fresh's Rose perfume and it was divine.

When I saw this little number, I couldn't wait to try it:

It is a tinted lip balm that is in the shape of a small lipstick with an SPF of 15.

When you first put it on, though the red tint initially looks flaming red in the tube, it turns into a nice rose-colored tint on your lips. It is highly smooth, almost like melted butter and makes your lips feel instantly soft, moisturized and voluptuous. It is not greasy in the least and actually stays on for an admirable amount of time considering that it is a lip balm. The smell is fresh, light and with a hint of rose. 

It lasts quite a while; however, it does have one small issue. Due to the consistency of the balm being so soft, it easily breaks during application and I found myself trying to smoosh it back into place several times. It looks like this now:

With this flaw, I will continue to use it until the tube is empty. Will I purchase it again? Probably not. Would I love it as a gift? Most definitely!

Rating: B

Konad Stamping Nail Art Kit Arrived!

I am so excited about the package I just received in the mail! I plan to review it next week, so stay tuned!

Now THIS is Inward Beauty

Millions of people have heard of Zach Sobiech due to social media. In case you haven't heard about him, it was discovered at the tender age of 14 years old that he had a rare form of terminal cancer.

Did he give up?

Did he stop living?

Not at all.

He became a rock star, wrote and sang a gorgeous song entitled "Clouds" and millions of people got to see his music before he passed away on May 20, 2013 at the age of 18. This is his beautiful story and the definition of inward beauty and strength.........

 



What is a Maven?



Recently, I've been asked what maven means. It basically means an expert or connoisseur. At first I wanted to write about all things beauty such as nail polish, makeup, etc. I then thought that I didn't want just outward beauty...inward beauty is so much more important, so instead of calling it, "Not a Beauty Maven...yet"...I called it "Not a Maven...yet."

The goal of this blog is to review various beauty products as well as books, music or anything else I can think of that really assisted me in my life. It's all about the whole package...the ins and outs.

I hope you enjoy the ride. I am so far. :)

Review: OPI "I Theodora You" and essie luxeffects "a cut above"

As I've already stated, I'm not a maven...yet; therefore, at this point in the health/beauty blogging world, I am an infant in writing about the subject and taking pictures. Throughout the lifetime of this blog, please let me know how it can be improved. If you have any ideas on how something can be better, I would love to receive your feedback.

So, this is my first review....*NERVOUS*!! I've seen other great health/beauty bloggers out there who are amazing...just remember, I am a virgin to this sector of the blogging world.

I absolutely love Essie and OPI nail products (and my faves are indies!!). Recently, I purchased "I Theodora You" from the OPI "OZ - The Great and Powerful Collection" and essie luxeffects nail color, "a cut above" because I adore pink and even though I'm 41, am like a magpie and love shinies. A little bling never hurt anyone!

(the above is a great drawing created by rhiannonladd)

 

 

I used OPI's "I Theodora You" as a base coat and OF COURSE did not think to take a picture of it by itself. I used two coats and it appears to have a jelly quality to it. One day I would like to make a sandwich of glitter and the nail polish to see the effect.

 

 

 

OPI "I Theodora You"

 

 

I then used essie's luxeffects "a cut above" (does essie capitalize anything because this blogging editor is certainly trying to?). It was nice not to have to fish glitter out of the bottle. The glitter went on smoothly, which was a pleasant surprise.

 

 

essie luxeffects "a cut above"

 

 

The Type-A personality comes out in me when viewing these pictures. I will not use that background anymore (it is my husband's Coca-Cola bottle cooler). The top is a bit scratched and the reflection of the windows is glaring down in the pictures. Yay! My first lesson in what not to do here!

 

After applying Seche Vite top coat, the following are the results:

 

 

 

 



 

It is OBVIOUS that I am not a photographer in ANY sense of the word and I hope to improve upon that. Any tips would be helpful. Also, this pic makes my hands look HUGE. They aren't petite, but they aren't gargantuan, either. Oh well, I hear pictures put 10 pounds on a person, so my hands are now 10 pounds heavier up there. :)

 

I hope you enjoyed my first real post. I can't wait to post more as time permits.

 

Take care everyone and don't forget about using your Seche Vite top coat! It's the bomb! I will blog about this little beauty at a later date.

 



Genesis 1:1

This is the beginning of a mid-life crisis. I'm sure of it. I'm 41 years old and am all of a sudden smitten by all things beauty, especially nail polish. I have moisturized since I was 15 years old and have been addicted to eye shadows, lipsticks, perfumes and all things beauty for as long as I can remember.

Recently on Facebook, I have noticed an explosion of nail art/design pages and sites and have gone nuts in purchasing new nail polishes, textures, etc. It is quite truly ridiculous. I don't know what I'm doing, but whatever it is, it is FULL SPEED ahead.

I hope that you join me on the ride of transcending from a complete amateur to a beauty maven. Is this the kind of things we do when our daughters turn 20 because we have more time? I have no clue, but I want to enjoy the ride.

Please contact me if you have any beauty finds you'd like to share. I am addicted at this point. I guess it's better than crack*, heroin* or meth*...though if that were the case at least I would be skinny...hmmmm...maybe I shouldn't think about that too much.

Let's get started!

*And no, I have never been addicted to drugs, though sometimes I wish I could to relax but it's just not possible.