Product Review: The Fragrance Shop

One thing that has become very much apart of me in the past 2 years is a love for fragrances. I blame this on Luna Bleu. This was my first experience with having fragrances customized just for me and I instantly fell inlove. Since finding luna bleu I have purposely not looked for new smell good companies because I do NOT need to get caught up. My wallet tells me as much. However, there's a group of women, I won't name any names (this time) that always seem to stumble upon new fragrance websites and sends them to a group of us because we're not already product whores *rolls eyes*. I of course eventually fall victim, but this is yet another time I'm happy I did.

The Fragrance Shop is a website where you can buy pure oils. No alcohol or extra stuff added, just oils in their purest form. They have one note scents, designer fragrances, special blends...anything you can think of! I.am.in.love my friends! To top it all off, I ordered on Friday, it shipped on Saturday and I got it Monday! How awesomely fast is that???

So here's what I ordered, the notes they contain per the website, and whether it received a yay or nay from me:

Poppy Type for Women
· Top Notes: Mandarin Orange, Freesia, Cucumber
· Middle Notes: Jasmine, Gardenia, Waterlily, Rose, Sweet Accord
· Base Notes: Sandalwood, Cedar, Vanilla, Marshmallow
Normally I would see Mandarin Orange and Cucumber and go the opposite direction, but this really works well with all of the other notes. It is a luscious, sexy scent that is also light and girly. Definitely a yay!

Blue Nile
Mandarin, Lime, Liliy, Balsam, and Musk, a slightly masculine fragrance.
Not an everyday scent for me, and I'll probably pair it with something else, but I say yay!

Rain
Our own classic, a beautiful blend of fresh green notes, and soft Lily of the valley. Clean musk and precious woods, artfully blended with with Gardenia, Carnation, Lily, Magnolia, and Jasmine, and more. Our most popular floral fragrance.
Yay! I love it. It makes me happy.

Black Coconut
The scent of toasted coconuts.
It's "Ok". Mmm I give it a yanay lol.

Black Woman
Bergamot, Frankincense, Patchouli, Magnolia, and Carnation are combined in this complex scent.
This scent is too many things and most of them aren't good. To top it off it has left several of our throats itchy and scratchy. It's too much, like a bothersome inscent. Just say no. Nay.

Bamboo Flower
A sweet blend Coconut Milk, Bamboo flowers, Kafir Lime, and star fruit.
Not for me. There's something in it that doesn't smell strong enough to compete with the other scents. It's like it leaves the fragrance feeling a little hollow. I don't know what it is, but if it were deleted I would like this scent a whole lot better. Nay.

Pink Martini
Cranberry, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit, Musk.
Reminds me of a fun, summer day. Light and summery with a slight bite. Love it! Yay!

Pink Sugar
Bergamot, Sicilian Orange, Raspberry, Fig, Lily Of The Valley, Anise, Strawberry, Cotton Candy, Vanilla, Caramel, Musk, Wood.
Dead.On. The BEST Pink Sugar I've ever smelled. The men love it! I've already received many compliments. Yay!

Zen Garden
Inspired by exotic Japanese gardens, this fragrance is a blend of heady Florals, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Cedar, and Sandalwood.
I'm sold. Yay!

Have you ordered from the Fragrance Shop before? Plan on ordering now? What have you bought/what do you plan on buying?

~HG

Product Review: Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque

Jackpot! I think I'm inlove!

This product is the best thing that has happened to my hair since going natural, period. Ok, so for months now I've been complaining about the state of my hair. "It's thirsteeehhh!" You could often hear me scream. Nothing seemed to come close to quenching it except for the mixed chicks detangling deep conditioner. It does a good job of making my hair feel moisturized, but it still wasn't 100% what I needed. It is still a staple product in my hair regiment though. Anywho, whenever I would cry for help a sista friend, Lisa, would say try Shea Moisture. So finally I ordered the Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque from amazon.com last week and used it for the first time this weekend. Oh.My.Good.God. I'm totally inlove.

The consistency of the product isn't super duper thick, but it's not runny either. This satisfied me in two ways: 1) This made it easier to work through my hair and 2) It was thick enough that I felt like it was going to really moisturize.

The smell is so fantabulous! I kept waking up all night wondering who was wearing perfume and where could I buy it lol. Now, it's not heavily perfumed by any means...It's more like a mixture of different oils that smell great!

Now, I didn't use this product as a deep conditioner, but rather as a leave-in conditioner (it states on the package that it can be used in such a way) and my hair thanks me for it. I cowashed my hair, towel blotted, then added the Shea Moisture throughout. Loves it! Later in the day I was randomly pulling at my curls and thought man! My hair is super duper moisturized and soft! Even my husband commented on how soft my hair was. Now, I used it with an Aubrey conditioner and...well, that's another review in itself. Next I want to buy the Shea Moisture shampoo. The routine for next time will be:

Shampoo
Deep Condition with Mixed Chicks
Use Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque as a leavein

My guess is that my hair is going to be so moisturized and fantabulous that I'm not gonna be able to take all of the lusciousness!

Ingredients: deionized water, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), argan oil, cetyl esters, sea kelp extract, panthenol (vitamin b-5), ammonium salt, essential oil blend, avocado oil, lonicera caprifolium (honeysuckle) flower and lonicera japonica (japanese honeysuckle) flower extract, tocopherol (vitamin e), hyssopus officinalis extract, salvia officinalis (sage) leaf and equisetum arvense extract, soybean oil, daucus carota sativa (carrot) seed oil.

Available at amazon.com and Target for $9.99

~HG

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway here!

Product Review: Revlon DoubtTwist Mascara

"Revolutionary brush combines traditional bristles with innovative defining bristles for luscious volume and remarkable definition."

Umm, yeah, no. I hate hate hate this brush! It was super hard to use, and the mascara clumps! Worst of all, I've only had the mascara on for 30 minutes and oh, what is that I see in the mirror? Could it be flakes? Why yes, yes it is. Also, you pull up so much mascara when you pull the wand out that you immediately know that you are wasting a lot of product, and for what? Clumpy lashes? Ugh.

Any mascara where I have to twirl the wand in order to make any headway is just not worth my time.

Before

After 2 coats

Product: 3/10

Pricing: 6/10
Packaging: 9/10

~HG

Maybe She Was Born With It... Yeah, that must be it.

If you haven't noticed this about me from my various LOTD, when I find a product I love it take me a long time to try something else. This is especially true when it comes to mascaras. I am completely loyal to products that make my features do what it do. However, every once in a while if a product is on sale, or I'm just feeling sassy that day, I try something new (new to me anyway). So while I was standing in Ulta last week I pickede up L'Oreals Extra Volume Collagen Mascara.

"The luxurious, buildable formula infused with collagen creates breathtaking volume instantly. Glides on smoothly and lasts all day, with 12x more impact. No flakes, smudges, or clumps!"

Le sigh.

I should've known that a product that swears to do something by 12x would fail me.

Before

After

Me no likey. I feel like the mascara added length to my lashes, but I'm looking for this 12x more volume that it promised. I don't see it! As for no clumping, well, you be the judge.

The other thing I despised about this mascara was the wand. It didn't get a good grip on my lashes, so I couldn't apply it like I normally would.

For me this mascara was a fail. I can't even use it as my backup mascara. I keep using voluminous for that. However, if you'd like to try it, you can buy it for $8.99 at Ulta.

Product: 4/10
Pricing: 6/10
Packaging: 9/10

~HG

Product Review: Model Model Human Hair Deep Bulk

Above is the curl pattern of the Model Model Human Hair Deep Bulk braiding hair. I saw it and fell inlove. Two weeks later, I'm completely out of love. In fact, this hair reminds me of a fly that keeps buzzing around my head and just won't die already!

How is it possible that I've only had this hair in for two weeks, and it's already napping up? The ends are dry and frizzled. I have to keep cutting away and dry little balls in the hair. Ugh. This is disgusting. I can already see that I will have to buy more hair and try again next month.

My advice? If you walk past this hair and fall inlove, please recognize it as a con artist and keep on walking. It's not worth your money at.all. I can promise you that.

~HG

Product Review: So She Cosmetics

I was super duper uber excited when new cosmetics company, So She Cosmetics, Inc., a company based in Chicago, IL, presented me with the opportunity to review their products! What a treat! Here's what they sent:

Velvet Veil - $15.00 - Velvet Veil is a super soft and light face primer. I was really impressed by the smooth texture of the product.  According to SSC you can use Velvet Veil on your boy and on your hair for extra shine and silkiness. Although I didn't try it on my hair I did try it on my face and I can promise this will be the next primer I buy. It contains Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and Licorice.

Gold Lip Sparklette - $12.00 - The consistency of this gloss is really nice. It doesn't leave your lips feeling gritty or sticky. However, my one beef with this product is that you have to reapply constantly. When paying $12 for a gloss, I'm use to it staying on through me eating say, a piece of fruit. As soon as I finished eating my peach, the gloss was finished as well. For the price I would like to have some staying power. The color is a great everyday color though, and I can definitely see myself wearing it with any makeup I want to enhance with a gloss that has a sparkly gold tone to it.

Gold Candle Glow Bronzer - $11.50 - I really like this bronzer! The texture is so light it feels non-existent on the skin. It's not oily or heavy, just a great creamy texture. I truly did not think the color would go with my skin tone, but it did! It gives me a nice, subtle glow, not over-powering or heavy at all. I would definitely buy this product for my kit because I think my clients will love it.

Gold Bronze Eye Shadow - $12.00 - This loose shadow is a nice pigment, not too light, not especially heavy. I think my one gripe with it is you definitely should order samples before buying it. Depending on the lighting, this shadow came off really light gold for me, not bronzy gold. Also, although it's a pigment, so not oily at all, it kept migrating to my crease, so definitely wear a base under it. I'm also a little disappointed in the color selection. Most of them seem to have a bit of a frosty texture to them, and I am not a fan of frosty eye shadows. I look forward to So She Cosmetics coming out with new colors for me to try and play with. The verdict is still out on this one.

Overall I think So She Cosmetics is on to something really good. With a few tweaks they could have something really great! As the company grows and acquires new products I really believe people will naturally gravitate to their cosmetics.

~HG

New Product Review: L'Oreal HiP Color Presso Glosses

Hello gorgeous! To know me is to know how much I love a great gloss, so when I was given a bunch of L'Oreal HiP Color Presso glosses at The Makeup Show NYC, I was kinda excited to try them. Kinda because we all know I'm not a fan of drugstore beauty products, however, a gloss is a gloss and I'm always on the hunt for a better one.

What I love about this gloss is that it is very glossy and nicely pigmented. It doesn't feel sticky or greasy, yet leaves my lips feeling moisturized. Gotta love that. So what don't I like about this gloss? The fact that after a couple of hours the gloss factor is gone :~( You must reapply several times throughout the day. Boo to that.
The one featured in this post is Chic. I think it's a nice everyday shade for myself. One side is a light pink grapefruit tone while the other is more of a ruby grapefruit tone. The other great thing about these glosses is that you can choose to wear one color or the other, or squeeze both sides to mix them together to give you a kind of red grapefruit look.

The left color

The right color

Combined

You can purchase L'Oreal Hip Color Presso from Target for $10.99. Not bad for a 2 in 1 gloss.

Product: 8/10
Pricing: 8/10
Packaging: 9/10

~HG

New Product Review: Covergirl Smoky Shadow Blast

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a bit of a makeup snob. I don't really go cruising down my local CVS drugstore cosmetics aisle looking for makeup to try. However, if there should happen to be a contest to win a certian drugstore cosmetic, I'll enter. Hey, I'mma sucka for free stuff! However, I must say I was pretty excited to win a set of Covergirls Smoky Shadow Blast.

The Smoky Shadow Blast eyeshadow is a double ended stick that you can use to create a smoky eye. One end is a more neutral, allover color while the other end is a darker version of that color to use across your lash line and in your crease.

This product? Was a fail!

I loved the concept, and it would be great if it weren't so incredibly oily! Within 5 minutes of applying it my eyeshadow had creased. Me no likey makeup that crease.

If you feel like you just aboslutely must buy this product, then please remember to wear a good base and powder your lids so that the product can at least last an hour.

Product: 3/10
Pricing: 8/10
Packaging: 9/10

~HG

New Product Review: Neutrogena Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner

Last week I was on the hunt for new conditioners to try. I felt like my hair was getting to use to my regular ole Olive Oil conditioners and it needed something new. So I ran to Ulta to see what I could find. That's when I ran into the Neutrogena product line. I've never used any Neutrogena products so I was a tad bit skeptical, but I thought at $5.49, why not.

When I got home I co-washed my hair with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Moisturizing Conditioner, then rinsed and finger parted my hair into four sections. I then added the Neutrogena Triple Moisture to each section from root to tip. Since I don't cover my hair nor sit under a dryer, I left it on for an hour - an hour and a half, then rinsed with cold water.

My hair has NEVER felt this soft! It was as if I visited a river of moisturizer and bathed in it all day. The best part is that it is now 4 days later and my hair is still superduper soft. I am now a believer and will buy every product in that line.

Word of caution - This product does contain sulfate so if that is a concern for you, you may want to skip it. However, it makes my hair feel so amazing that I will happily use it again and again.

Product: 10/10
Pricing: 8/10
Packaging: 9/10

~HG

New Product Review: Ecostyler

As summer approaches I've found myself wearing my hair out more and more. It's already too hot for any extra hair (aka wigs) to be on my head, so I needed to start finding products that worked for me. One of my big problems was that it was super duper hard to pull my hair into a pony tail. My edges wouldn't lay down and my head just looked like one big poof. So, I scoured the internet for something, ANYTHING that would work. That's when I stumbled upon Eco Styler Gel. My.hair.loves.it! This is my hair 3 days (yes, 3!) after using Eco styler:

This product is awesome! I never sleep with anything on my head (sorry, I just can't do it), so I'm really amazed my hair was laying down like it was 3 days later.

I co-washed my hair, applied a lot of leave-in conditioner, then applied the Eco styler gel. I had my hair separated into 4 sections, then I ran the gel through my strands with my finger tips.  I brushed my hair back, slapped on a ponytail holder, and went on about my business.
This gel does wonders. The greatest thing about it is that it does NOT dry hard. My hair wasn't crunchy or dry. The second greatest thing about this gel is that my edges remained slicked back, which my hair has never been able to do up to this point.

To top it all off i only paid $2.50 at the BSS for the gel. Cheap and it works? This is definitely a rockstar product!

Product: 10/10
Pricing: 10/10
Packaging: 10/10

~HG

Product Review: Alaffia Hair Care

Whole Foods is the devil. Whenever I walk in there, I get sucked in, immediately ignoring my budget. I sternly remind myself that I will not  spend over $20! Welp, last week that all went down the drain when I spent $60 in one visit, le sigh. How quickly I'd forgotten my budget goals as soon as I saw the beauty aisle!

I've been in the market for a new conditioner and moisturizer for the past couple of weeks. As soon as winter hit my hair became dryer than I could ever remember it being. It's rough to the touch, and my curls are awkward. I don't like it. So I figured it was time to change up products. In the beauty aisle of Whole Foods I found  a row of Alaffia products. I remember briefly reading about these products via various natural hair blogs on the net, so I decided I would give it a go. I ended up buying the Alaffia Virgin Coconut and Shea Enriching Hair Lotion, and the Alaffia Coconut & Shea Daily Hydrating Conditioner.

When I first opened the bottle of Coconut & Shea Daily Hydrating Conditioner, I found the scent to be pleasant. It's light with a hint of coconut and lemongrass extract. When I poured it into my hands my hopes jumped through the roof! It was thick and creamy, just the way I like my hair products. I massaged it in my hair and waited for it to work it's magic. How sad I was when I rinsed it out and my hair wasn't any softer than it was before I used it. I thought that was a bad sign, yet it was too early to judge.

While my hair was drying I used the Virgin Coconut and Shea Enriching Hair Lotion. This too had a pleasant smell, and great creamy thickness. I soaked my hair with it determined to have soft, hydrated hair again, and then I waited. Le sigh. It was a fail.

While my hair doesn't necessarily feel overly dry like it did before, it still feels as if it is begging for moisture. I had so much hope in these products. The Conditioner is made up of shea butter, virgin coconut oil, lemongrass extract, pro-vitamin B5 and wheat protein. How could that not leave my hair soft and shiny? The hair lotion contains behentrimonium sulfate (a detangling ingredient deriving from rapeseed oil), cetearyl alcohol, shea butter, virgin coconut oil, pathenol, emulsifier, essential oil and preservatives. Those ingredients sound yummy to me! However, when I placed it on my hair it was simply...ok.

I know many people love the Alaffia line, but for me, it was a fail. The smell was right, the ingredients seemed right, but my hair is screaming "WRONG! Try again!".

What's your favorite natural hair care product for the winter to keep your hair moisturized?

Alaffia hair and skin products are available at Whole Foods and via the alaffia website.


~HG