 *Sorry Deciem I used your photo. Mine looked roughhhhhh*
How's your January been? Mine has been interesting. I've been super focused on using up products before I buy other things and just in general cutting back on a lot of things in my life. Which has really helped me see how I truly feel about products especially. Once I've used them up I see if I feel the need to get them again. So it's been very interesting.
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Alright guys, I've been testing out the Tria Hair Removal Laser 4X for a month. "The only FDA-cleared hair removal laser technology available for home use." Tria was kind enough to send this to me to try and I couldn't be more excited to tell you how it went.
I'm happy to discuss with you some more products from Kenra that are available now at Ulta.
I've discussed the Snail Cream in another post. Mainly the Cavier products and Snail Cream are great for strengthening hair, helping with aging hair, helpful for thinning hair because of the protein it provides. So if you need products to get your hair healthy, I have no problem recommending those. Some info on that: "KENRA PLATINUM SNAIL COLLECTION: The fastest growing anti-aging Korean beauty secret, Snail Essence, can now be applied to hair. The NEW Kenra Platinum Snail Anti-Aging Collection is the 1st professional hair care product infused with Snail Essence, a highly concentrated blend of proteins proven to awaken the youth in hair. This luxurious 10-in-1 corrective creme weightlessly restores and prolongs youth by fighting all 10 signs of aging hair: 1. Dulling 2. Thinning 3. Breakage 4. Frizz 5. Dryness 6. Elasticity 7. Porosity 8. Scalp irritation 9. Unmanageability 10. Coarse Texture" I've always been a fan of their Heat Protectant sprays, it's on of the first ones I used. The heat block spray has been crucial to curling my hair and keeping it as healthy and undamaged as I can. Their info on the Heat Block Spray: " KENRA PLATINUM HEAT BLOCK SPRAY NEW Heat Block Spray 22 is enriched with bee propolis, a natural resin that forms a cast around the cuticle for unparalleled heat protection. This multi-benefit, quick-drying, high hold spray allows for a clean release from styling tools. • Multi-benefit styler provides heat protection up to 450°F (232°C) • Finishes with high hold • Enriched with bee propolis for unparalleled heat protection • Allows for clean release from styling tools" The Alcohol Free is new to the line and I'm very excited. It works just as well as any single hair spray I've used, if not better. Above are all the hair looks I done while using these products over the last month. You can find them all on my Instagram as well. This is their info on the Alcohol Free Spray " KENRA SHAPING SPRAY Keep the alcohol out of your hair and in your martini with Kenra’s NEW Shaping Spray 21. New from your favorite hairspray brand, Kenra introduces the 1st ever professional alcohol free hairspray. This revolutionary technology provides max moisture retention with an extra firm hold and high shine finish. Shaping Spray 21 is designed to have a wet application with optimal control and working time for endless styling options. • 1st Professional Alcohol Free Hairspray • Max Moisture Retention • Optimal Working Time • Extra Firm Hold & High Shine" These are now available at Ulta **This post was Powered by Brandbacker**  Exciting announcement! Allure has decided to give 4 of my followers the July Allure Beauty Box. The giveaway is up now on my Instagram which I will link here. Rules are: you have to follow me and follow Allure and leave a comment on the Instagram post about what product you'd like to try! Super easy, super fun. Inside the box you get:
So there's the run down. You also get a booklet with tips from Allures Beauty Experts, promo codes exclusive to Allure, and where you can buy these products. The promo codes are awesome. If you want to sign up for a monthly beauty box from Allure you can go here: www.allure.com/thebeautybox Go to Instagram enter the giveaway and win one of the July boxes! Goodluck!  
Here we have 5 different professional sprays from Kenra Professional. So I thought I would go about this review a bit different than normal. I was first introduced to Kenra products when I was in highschool over 10 years ago. It was their heat protectant spray I believe, that caught my eye. Can't think of the actual name of the product. Since then I've had numerous brands and products that were used by professionals but Kenra has always been a staple at any salon I go to. So I had the opportunity to try several of their products and I decided the best way to review them, put them to the test if you will, was to do casual everyday hair and then formal or intricate styles. That's what I did. I hope you enjoy it.
 For the last month I've been trying the Revive 3 Part system in my hair care routine. They were kind enough to send this to me for testing. The reason I was interested in this was because it's "Clinically Proven to visibly reduce hair loss, increase hair strength by 300% and improve scalp health, leaving it looking fuller and with more volume" I don't have thin hair but I lose hair a lot. Mainly because of health issues but it got to a point where your could tell by my part in my hair that I had lost a lot of hair. This addresses thinning hair specifically around the hair line so I was very intrigued. The 2nd thing that intrigued me is this is focused on overall scalp health. If you've been with me for a while you'll know that I tend to think that a clean scalp, free of build up let's your hair follicle breath and thus lets your hair grow and so on. Which is why I don't use many styling products except occasionally some dry shampoo. I hate product build up on my scalp. This company provides a more natural and "therapeutic" option for a healthy scalp and in turn healthier hair. These products are:
This 3 part system is good for all hair types. They use "Shielded Micro Technology" which "allows the combining of active ingredients to effectively improve the scalp skin environment in natural and chemically treated clients". So the claims are if you use this system it is "clinically proven to grow healthy hair that is 3x stronger in 30 days using ingredients found in nature" I have used this for right at 30 days and my hair is definitely stronger. It's also looks quite healthy. I have blue streak in my hair as you may know and it didn't seem to mess with that very much, but keep in mind I do use a weekly blue mask treatment to re-deposit color and keep it fresh in between colorings. As far as the thinning hair that I had noticed, it wasn't overnight results by no means. I was getting a bit discouraged but I kept using it. I noticed this week when I did a side by side comparison that it actually had helped quite a bit. So I do fully think it has improved my hair overall from look to condition. You have a shampoo, conditioner and then a Micro Activ3 Treatment Spray. The shampoo is very gentle. I wash my hair twice back to back as you know. This is sulfate free so it won't lather like most shampoos that have sulfate but that doesn't mean your hair isn't getting clean. This targets product build up, DHT, environmental residue, and toxin on the scalp and also protects from UV rays. Next is Moisture+ Conditioner. This protects the scalp and protects hair color, controls frizz, and also protects against Natural Thermal and UV damage. I focus this mostly on the scalp and then bring it through the hair. I leave it on for about 2 minutes. You can leave it on for 1-3 minutes. The Micro Activ3 Treatment is to be sprayed on the entire scalp and it is a leave on treatment you then comb it through your hair. This can cause redness on the scalp but it never did on me. This is to be used daily to breakdown residue and build up from all causes and is formulated with antioxidant vitamins. This is safe for your hair color as well. Overall I like this and I do see a difference hopefully you will too. They offer more products that just this 3 part system. Check them out. I've leave the link for this website here: www.reviv3.com  
I recently got to try some of the Hask Chia Seed Oil Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner. I hadn't tried Hask products before but I seen the "chia seed" part and was immediately intrigued because I add them to everything. Typically my smoothies and my salads. So I thought it was really interesting that they were added to hair care.
The idea behind the chia seed in the hair care is because chia seeds have "hair volumizing proteins, antioxidants, and shine enhancing nutrients like Omega-3s". Which is all we're really asking for right?? Also these products have a complex called "Hydra Boost" which is weightless to help create volume and adding in moisture to the hair that isn't then weighted down because of the moisture. Still pretty sweet right? These products are free of: ⦁ Sulfates ⦁ Parabens ⦁ Phthalates ⦁ Gluten ⦁ Drying Alcohol ⦁ Artificial Colors ⦁ Not Tested on Animals It does have fragrance added to it but I find that it's quite mild and very pleasant. Actually I personally think it's a dead on dupe ,scent wise, for the Elizabeth and James Nirvana White dry shampoo. Which I happen to love, so if you love that scent, you will love these as well. I find using them are equally as pleasant. It gets the task of, cleaning my hair done very well. For reference my hair is pretty long, has blue streaks, pretty thick but very manageable and easy to style. With a slight wave to it. I don't have a lot of buildup either because I'm not one to use many styling products or lots of dry shampoo. The conditioner is really thick and I like that. I let it sit for about 2 minutes and then rinse it out. It doesn't make my hair super oily or anything out of the ordinary in a bad way. Actually, my scalp tends to itch a lot where it's gotten colder and the air is drier and this helps a great deal with that. Since I have blue hair I do use a weekly hair conditioning mask that is blue to keep my blue streaks fresh in between colorings. I just wanted to add that in there to be completely honest. I've used it for almost a year so it's nothing new as you know. These products however doesn't disrupt my blue color or strip it so I feel really comfortable with that. I find that my hair has more volume for longer. What I mean is that I typically don't have an issue with volume or body the first day or two after washing my hair however on the third day it starts getting weighted down. I wash my hair about twice a week. This seems to keep the volume stable more so than my regular routine. Which means even less products I would have to use if I were going somewhere where I needed my hair too look awesome on day 3. So I wouldn't have to use volume boosting sprays that sometimes are required in a pinch. If I did need to use them it would be very little. Now typically what I do with my hair on day 3 is a braid or a bun of some sort so that it still looks pulled together even though it's not "fresh". I try to not use a lot of styling products in general I want to be very clear about that. Also when I wash my hair I wash it twice with shampoo to really get it clean because while sulfate free does lather some it doesn't lather as much as a shampoo that has added sulfate so I always wash my hair twice. Then I go in with my conditioner and leave it on for about 2 minutes. You don't have to leave it on for two minutes but I do. Lets talk about the brand a bit now. I'm gonna leave a quote from their website below. "HASK is a collection of hair care products featuring exotic oils and other unique ingredients from around the world. The range includes shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners and shine oils based on the key ingredients of Argan Oil, Monoi Coconut Oil, Charcoal Citrus Oil, Macadamia Oil, Keratin Protein Oil, Bamboo Oil, Kalahari Melon Oil, Chia Seed Oil, Superfruit and Mint Almond Oil. HASK Shampoos, Conditioners and Shine Oils are free of sulfates, parabens, drying alcohols, phthalates and gluten. Each system was developed to target and solve specific hair care needs. Initially introduced in Europe in 2012 with great success, distribution of the HASK Exotic Oil range has expanded worldwide over the past four years. The range appeals to women around the world of all ethnicities and with all hair types. Utilizing high quality ingredients, luxurious fragrances and fresh packaging, the HASK Exotic Oil range provides consumers with high-performance, salon quality results at an affordable price." Hask has been around for about 50 years and they are best known for repairing and restoring damaged or chemically treated hair. What I like about this is first that they have something for everyone, every ethnicity, every concern or need they got something for you. The second thing is "sulfate free" which is a very big thing right now. Sulfate is essentially a detergent kinda, it's what makes shampoos lather and also used in many household cleaning tools as well. The reason you're seeing "sulfate free" so much now is because it's been linking to causing frizziness and also damaging colored hair. So where if you had colored hair like myself, you would've had to search for shampoos and conditioner labeled safe for color treated hair. Where as now, sulfate free labels, have opened up a lot more avenues for us in terms of what we can use on our hair. Parabens are essentially synthetic preservatives. They've been around since the 1950's.They're used in around 85% of cosmetics and other products to maintain their shelf life. They're also very inexpensive and more efficient than natural preservatives which is why so many choose to use them in everything from food to deodorant, to skin and hair care. They can mimic hormones like estrogen and their are some articles and studies that state that being exposed to too much estrogen can increase your likelihood for breast cancer. The reasoning is because the body can not break down synthetic estrogen as easily which can then possibly turn into fat cells much like breast tissue. Parabens have also been found in breast tumors but there's not a direct link that they "cause" tumors. They can also affect endocrine systems and might possibly be a cause for early puberty. Also they may be a cause for early menopause. So if there's a choice I would choose the "better safe than sorry" route in most everything However, I will say that it would be very very hard to get away from everything that is synthetic or unnatural we are literally surrounded by it. Advanced skin care for examples has a lot of unnatural ingredients that do wonders for the skin. So while I think it's better to be without parabens if you can, don't let this lead you into a panic about things you've not paid attention to in the past. Instead just start paying more attention to things now. That's why I included the reasoning behind "sulfate free" and "paraben free". Awareness is our best friend here. These products are 12 oz bottles each. Made in the USA. You can also mix and match your products if you want so don't think you have to buy the matching shampoo and conditioner if that's not what you want. Their ingredients come from literally all over the world. Major heavy hitters like: Jojoba, Argan, Almond, Coconut, Shea, Charcoal, Bamboo, Mangosteen, Avacado, etc, etc. You can buy Hask at Ulta, Walgreens, CVS, Target, Rite Aid, Kroger, Walmart and K-Mart. That is just for those buying in the US. They are available outside of the US as well and I will leave the link to help you find where you can find some for yourself. Just gohere . Another really cool this is that you can check out their products by the ingredient in that you're looking for like for example if you want something with Keratin Protein they have that as a category and you can see what products they offer specifically for that ingredient. My duo came in an awesome canvas drawstring bag with their slogan "Sure, life isn't perfect but my hair is." which is really cute. Be sure to follow Hask on their social medias: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaskHair Instagram: https://instagram.com/haskhair/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaskHair Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/haskhair/ **This post was powered by Brand Backer* 
This is my hair with no volume sprays or anything just curled with a little bit of light hold hair spray on the ends. Also, this was day after I had washed my hair.
This is how long my hair actually is and also this was probably a day 3, if I was just guessing.
"It's the most wonderful time of the yearrrrrr........", NO! It's the most stressful, wonderful time of the year, am I right? Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and I LOVE giving gifts but sometimes it can get overwhelming, especially if you wait till November/December to start. Nothing wrong with waiting though because you'll no doubt find a better deal and score some awesome stuff. I however, refused to be stressed this holiday season and literally bought my first Christmas present for this year, after Christmas of last year. I found a major sale so I picked something up for someone. Then I waited a bit and got started in February, yes that's right, February. So I've been buying a present or two each month and I've been done for quiet a while. Still have to pick up some candy though for my husband. Anyway, since I know it can be difficult to decide what to get, I'm doing my usual gift guide. This year however, I went a bit different. Usually I only do Sephora I think but this year, I have stuff from Sephora, Ulta, MAC, Lush, etc. None of this was sponsored by the way. I just wanted to give you more options.  So starting with Sephora, let's talk makeup. There are several things out right now in their "value sets" that would be great gifts. I just narrowed it down to what I thought would be good gifts that I either have or would be super excited to get.
 Skincare is tricky. So I don't usually recommend going that way unless you know what someone likes or they're just really wanting to try new stuff, or possibly they don't have a skin care regimen to begin with. So for that I found some things that I think would be good gifts to start with and then good gifts to just try and see if you would like it.
 Next up is a couple really good sets for hair. Some people are makeup junkies, some are skin care junkies, and some are hair care junkies.
 Now lets head on over to Ulta. I picked out a few things only because they have massive Black Friday sales. So definitely check that out on Black Friday online or in store.
 MAC always puts out beautiful Holiday sets. They put out collections 24./7 but Holiday sets are always beautiful and you know there will be a pigment set, eyeshadow palette, lip sets, and so on. Those are the staples. Now I will say of all the stuff they release I stick to face powders like blushes, skin finishes, highlighters and so on, loose pigment sets (you can't go wrong there), and lip sets (again you can't go wrong). For gift's though I would stick to lip sets or the blush and highlight duo I've included. It's out of stock online but it's usually still available in store. I don't care for their eye palettes they just aren't the best quality if I'm being completely honest. I do however LOVE these lip gloss sets this year. I love all of them but especially the nude and the red set. They're mini but still pretty good sized and the colors are beautiful. I would give that as a gift for sure especially for a teen who's into makeup or a gift for a friend.  I'm also bringing in some bath products and the most unique bath products I've found have to be from LUSH. They make fantastic products period not just bath stuff and it's hand made I believe as well. They also always have gift sets. So I included some gift sets I thought would be the best value and looked the coolest. As you can see there are some that have more than bath bombs, bath melts, and bubble bars, they also have some soaps and shower jellies. There are more online of course that offer shampoo's, conditioners, and so on. So if you know someone who really enjoys their bath time and likes to pamper theirself. I would get them some LUSH products for sure. The bath bombs alone would make them enjoy it 10x more with all the colors and scents swirling around them. Also I find that unless you have an enormous tub it's best to break the bath bombs, bubble bars or bath melts apart so that you get more use out of them. So maybe half now, and half later sorta thing.
I'm going to leave some honorable mentions here: Morphe Gun Metal Brush Set has 7 brushes from the Gun Metal line that I love, and is $50. I'm sure there will be a Black Friday sell though. This will be under "Brush Sets" on their site. Pay attention to the shipping though. Shipping was $10 the last time I got something from Morphe and I won't lie that turned me off to buying from them lately. They went to USPS for a short while and it was great but now they're back to strictly Fedex I think. That may have been for just the palette I was buying though. Never the less, pay attention to that. Bauble Bar Holiday Sets. Bauble Bar has some really beautiful boxed sets and jewelry pieces right now for the Holidays. I really love their boxed set of statement earrings they have. They also have a code for 30% off their Holiday pieces right now with code: Holiday30. Makeup Geek has and is often releasing bundles of eyeshadows with palette included. They recently had a warm berry toned fall one. It almost always has at least 2 foiled shadows in it. Watch Marlena's twitter and also their Instagram for flash sales that pop up. I believe last year they did a 12 days of Christmas sale or something of the sort. You get 9 shadows typically and always for a good price. I love Makeup Geek shadows as you well know. **UPDATE** They have released the preview for Black Friday Sales which you can scope out now. It's killer! https://www.makeupgeek.com/sales.html If you know someone who is a true makeup junkie then storage can be a good gift. Some people don't get excited over that but I do. Clear acrylic drawer containers are awesome cause they can be stacked and de clutter your vanity. Also a brush holder is always nice. I used wine glasses for the longest time until I found a turning six compartment pencil holder I guess was what it was designed for but I put my brushes in it and it works wonderfully plus I love that it spins around in a circle. As always for the person who has everything, gift cards are great. I love gift cards. If you won't be able to see someone to exchange presents due to distance or whatever than you can send e-gift cards through email, I've done that as well. Some people say it's not personal or they just never use them but I always put mine to good use. Here's some stores that will have black friday and cyber monday sales:
Happy shopping guys and be kind to one another. This is the season of giving. Merry Christmas!!  Probably over a month ago I was sent some hair vitamin supplements to try out. They are from the brand Be Biotin and they aren't just for your hair, they also improve your nails, and your skin. I had tried regular OTC Biotin before but it actually made my skin break out, as it did every other person I knew at the time so I was worried to start taking this supplement. However, this isn't just Biotin it's "Pumpkin seed, saw palmetto and pygeum (african tree bark) combined to naturally lower the hormone that's been directly linked to hair loss and thinning. " It's an herbal complex that works from the inside out (obviously) by fighting hair loss and it thickens your hair, while also increasing growth in your hair (and nails) and making your skin more radiant and in my experience much more evenly complected without any break outs at all. I can honestly say my skin has done remarkably well since I've been taking these supplements. My nails have been growing like crazy too. I decided to give this a shot because, my hair was in really bad shape. I was very very sick and I was losing tons of hair thanks to terrible nutrition, sickness, and stress. My hair was literally coming out by the handfuls. It looked dry and terrible, no matter what I done. So I went and got around 4-6 inches cut off of it. Totally cried when I got home because I didn't mean to have that much taken off but it needed it. Then decided to give these supplements a whirl because they were natural and safe vitamins that are different from OTC drugstore generic vitamins. It took me about 2 weeks to get in the habit of taking them everyday. I'm done with my first bottle (which is 35 capsules) and I can tell a major difference in thickness. So can my mom and hair stylist. As far as growth I got my hair chopped in mid July and it's now November and I'm about 1 inch away (maybe) from having my super long hair back again. So from a growing stand point, I think it definitely helps but it's not over night miracles which nothing will be obviously, but like I said it definitely helps. Keep in mind though that your hair goes through cycles when it sheds more than normal and also grows faster than other times. For some people their hair never seems to get that "growth spurt", my friend Jamie being one of them. I don't care as much about how fast it's growing though because my hair looks and feels a lot better than it did before. With the added bonus of my nails and skin looking the best they have ever looked in my life. I'm going to insert a statement from Be Biotin here about why their supplement is different. "BE Biotin is a completely one-of-a-kind universal supplement that makes hair grow longer and stronger. The key to its effectiveness is a unique ability to lower Dihydrotestosterone (also known as DHT), a testosterone related hormone that naturally increases in men and women as we age. Unfortunately for our hair follicles, DHT is a kryptonite that causes the hair to become weak, thin, or fall out completely" So before to combat DHT there was only a chemical treatment called "Propecia" which was effective. What BE Biotin done was found a way to replicate it naturally though. That's where the herb combination of Palmetto, Pumpkin Seed and Pygeum came in. They were proven to naturally lower DHT "safely and effectively". I can only speak from personal experience in which I do feel like my hair is much stronger, longer and I had no unpleasant side effects at all from taking these supplements and I did take the entire bottle and I'm working on my second bottle now. Just as a background, my hair grows at a pretty normal rate. However, thanks to a crap diet and stress it seemed to have stopped growing all together when I got it cut. So to remedy that I got the Indie #Cleansweep shampoo, that I've mentioned before, which is sulfate free but lathers really really nice and really cleans your hair and scalp. I wash my hair back to back twice with that in the shower. I still swear by my Amika Nourishing Hair Mask. I use it as a hair mask or just as plain old conditioner whenever I shampoo my hair, which is honestly about 2 times a week. I don't over load my hair with dry shampoo or styling products, so that I don't have a ton of product build up. I really believe that one thing that can stall your hair growth is smothering out the hair root and not letting it breath. Which is why I love the Indie shampoo because it gently clarifies and gets rid of any and all build up with out the harshness of sulfates (plus it's great for color treated hair), and then I don't use that many products so that I avoid buildup that way my hair isn't smothering to death. I also let my hair air dry, and I don't heat style it too much, probably once a week or maybe twice. Only because my hair is very manageable and will keep curl in it very well but usually when it gets to a point of looking oily I tend to do a braid or a sock bun so that I can avoid using dry shampoo but still look pulled together. I don't care what they say about dry shampoos, some of them are great and better for your hair but at the end of the day it is causing product buildup. Don't get me wrong I still use them from time to time (my faves being Elizabeth and James Nirvana White and Not Your Mothers Clean Freak) but I do try to avoid them when I can. So while I know there are other things that contribute to my hair looks and what not I can't deny that these supplements aren't part of the equation and helped it's growth and overall health. They were kind enough to offer my readers 25% off with the code "LOVEMASCARA", no I don't get any commission off that code, it's just something specifically for your guys.  Above is the day I got my hair cut. It's was about two inches below my collar bone, completely straight. Curled it was all the way up to my collar bone.  This picture was taken around the 1st of November and it is slightly curled as well. It's pretty much right where I want it and I've felt that way since the beginning of October I just hadn't had time to really sit down and collect my thoughts to give you as much information as I could on the subject.
**As with any supplement that you are thinking of using, read up on it and see what the ingredients are. I feel good about talking to you guys about this because it's a natural vitamin and herb complex. I take it everyday and have had no bad reactions or side effects for MYSELF personally.** |
  
ErinI'm a makeup and skincare lover. I have always enjoyed creating looks but I love to help people with product knowledge and application even more. I've been able to do these things because God has seen fit to bless me with the opportunity.   Click to set custom HTML
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