Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioner Review

Holy Bejebuz Batman! It's been a long time since I made a post for le blog. I have just been kind of busy going back to school so I can get my life on track again. It's been a few years since I stopped going but now I am back. But enough excuses, I needed a break and thought I would give this a crack. Speaking of crack, deep conditioners is my crack. I swear I am addicted and I don't really care about anything else but my hair and eyebrows as of late. I just ran out of my usual Tresemme and went to Target but they were all out of the deep conditioners. I decided to give this Aussie 3 Minute Miracle a go since it's only about $3 and comes in a nice convenient squeeze tube. 

I bought the color treated formula even though I haven't dyed my hair in months because I figure it would be more gentle. Plus the only other choice was this or the "moist" formula and super moisturizing formulas tend to weigh down my thin hair. It's definitely not a good look for me. I have been looking for something super moisturizing since I have been putting off my haircut for awhile now. My ends have been feeling a it stiff and crispy even though I don't heat treat my hair most of the time. I mean, nothing replaces the feeling of taking off a few inches but I really got to stop my urge of reaching for my scissors at my desk to snip off bits here and there until I can do what I want to do with my hair. I'm thinking a copper-ish ombre. We'll see how I feel about it by next month though....

I have been using this for the past few weeks and I can say it is now my most favorite deep conditioning treatment ever. EVER. I swear it has helped my crispy ends and makes my hair feel super soft without weighing it down. You know those little tube of deep conditioner that come in the box dyes? It is better than those and I hoard them like nobody's business. I have been having a problem with tangles which comes wit the territory when you have tons of thin but dried out hair like me. I was so close to just grabbing the scissors myself and lopping it off but then how am I going to explain that to my hairdresser Sara when I go in for her to fix it? Plus it didn't smell too perfumey which I like. I like a more subtle scent that doesn't overpower whatever other  smell I have going on. I also love how I don't have too leave it in for too long which is a good thing if I am running late. Other deep conditioners I leave in for about 5-10 minutes but I can leave this in for 2 and it still does the trick. I have also noticed my hair doesn't get as poofy and tangled at the ends when I have second day hair. 

And this is officially my favorite way to deliver product to me. I am way too clumsy to be dealing with tubs of conditioner and this is even easier than the flip caps. Just lightly squeeze until you get your desired amount of product. This is seriously the best for lazy/busy people like me. I want everything to come in this packaging now. Overall I really loved everything about this deep conditioner. I plan to stock up on this so I don't have another deep conditioner shortage. Since it's so affordable I might as well. Im seriously a big fan and would love to try any different ones that they may have except for the "moist" formula, I'm too afraid of my hair being weighed down too much. 

Hopefully I can crack out a few more posts tonight to schedule for later. 

I'm glad to be back guys! 

XOX 

Veritypretty

My Skin Saviors

I have really gotten into taking care of my skin and just getting it in tip top shape lately. In my efforts I have started exploring the world of serums and I think I am in love. But what made me fall even more in love with them is adding an astringent to my daily routine as well. I swear that since adding a toner to my daily routine it has improved my skin dramatically. I bruise and scar like a peach so getting rid of my monthly blemishes caused by hormones is a challenge. I started out using the La Niege Serum and liked it and then felt like it plateaued after a few weeks. I never quite got the same results as when I started. 

I then decided to start using The Sea Breeze Sensitive Skin Astringent because I remember I really liked stealing it from my mom's stash when I was a teenager but never bought it for myself. I have used the regular formula and remember liking this one better because even though I do not have sensitive skin I do like how strong yet gentle this formula was compared to the other. Plus it's a really pretty blue color. Sue me. 

As soon As I started using this with the rest of my routine it made such a big difference it wasn't even funny. The dark scar on my forehead that has not budged for over 6 months started to fade and fast and to top it off my pores looked smaller. I also loved that my skin started to break out even less and not as severe as before. It just really takes off all the left over dirt and grime leftover even after washing my face. Yes, there was still dirt and buildup on my face after washing it and using a face scrub. What am I doing wrong?!! Do I really have that much dirt on my face? Am I cursed to never have really clean skin? All very good questions with no real answer. It usually takes about 5 cotton pads for both face and neck to get clean but is worth the extra time and effort. Without that layer of grime the serums had a clear highway to permeate the skin and work its magic. 

Since my discovery I have been even more into trying new serums, all of which I have yet to review here but those are posts for another time. For now I sing the praises of the miracles toner has brought me. It seriously is my new favorite re-discovery and has made strides in making my skin look pretty for once. But is there something else out there I am missing out on? It feels like there can be something more I can do to help my skin say blemish free, be rid of dark acne scars and prevent early signs of aging. As my skin evolves I will have to adapt to meet it's needs but for now, I can say I am happy with my routine. 

So how about a post on my routine? That's for another day....

XOX

Veritypretty

Treseme Keratin Smooth Serum Review

Oh wow, look at me! I'm back from my blog hiatus which was totally unplanned and sort of unnecessary but nice to have at the same time. It's just that I had so many side projects that I had to put this whole thing on the back burner but now I have the focus to get started again. I really haven't gotten anything new except for hair products and one of hem happened to be the TRESemme Keratin Smooth Serum. Since I have been washing my hair every other day to preserve the health of my hair I notice that after I release my shower bun my ends are sort of frizzy looking. Since then I have been looking for a hair oil of some sort to tame the frizz without giving me greasy looking hair and wouldn't interact badly with my dry shampoo at the same time. 

I had passed over this product for awhile and almost passed over it again due to the Allure stamp of approval because I feel I normally get sucked into hype products that just don't work for me but at $4.99 at Target I thought it wouldn't hurt to try this. I got to try this out the next day as luck would have it and honestly I didn't expect to like it but was pleasantly surprised that I did. I had this giant poof of dry ends after my shower and greasy roots to boot and honestly don't know why I didn't just wash it and be done with my first world pain.

 I stuck it out and dry shampooed my roots then prayed I wouldn't get any funky mix of serum/powder film at the ends of my hair. My hair almost instantly became tamed and like I just had freshly washed and dried hair. It felt lightweight and had the signature TRESemme scent going on. All TRESemme products have that scent to it but I really don't know what to describe the smell as. Just open up a bottle and see what I mean. My hair felt very smooth and shiny and just overall gave a nice healthy glow. 

I dispense two pumps, rub it between my palms, and then smooth it over the ends of my hair and add more if I need it. I have thin hair that is very straight but a lot of it so if you have thicker hair or thinner hair do however many pumps it takes to make your hair happy. Overall I was super pleased that my initial gut feeling was wrong. This has to be one of my new favorite products in my low maintenance morning routine. I will note that I didn't like using it on my wet/damp hair and prefer it on my second day ends. I feel it made my hair look a bit on the greasy because it was hard to get it absorbed into my wet hair without it looking stringy. But yes, I will be using this every time my hair needs a pick me up at the ends and if nothing changes I would definitely repurchase it because it is not only one of the best budget smoothing serums I have found but on of the best hair serums period and it really does deserve the Best of Beauty title. 

XOX

Veritypretty 

City Color Contour Kit Swatches and Review

I have been wanting to get a contouring kit for awhile and while I was at Generation  Beauty City Color had one for sale for $5, normally $7, and I thought why not? I tested the kit out and I really liked the texture of the pressed powders and thought at $5 it was a bargain. I mean, yes I have a matte bronzer and a highlighter I like but I thought I would like to have just one kit to use for traveling or just in case I cannot for the life of me find what I need. Because you know those beauty lovers/bloggers that have the nice organization system for all of their makeup, yep...that's not me. I do have a system but I cannot for the life of m keep up with it. So good makeup kits are my boyfriend. 

I know when I first look a look at this kit I was just thinking meh the whole time. I mean, I thought the contour was too dark and I would end up looking like I got some dirt on my face but I did like the bronze color as it is very matte. As for that highlighter, no it isn't ghostly white on the skin, unless you really pile it and and just don't blend at all. It just gives a nice subtle shimmer to the skin 

I wanted to show you all how the colors looked side by side on my skin. I wanted to exaggerate the highlighter a bit because it just wasn't translating well on camera but it does blend to a sheer shimmer that looks better in person, I promise. I just really like how matte the bronzer and contour color are. I am almost obsessed with it. I really think this kit is good for a beginner at contouring. It really helps give me an even more angled look with a couple swipes to my jawline and at the hollow of the cheek. Blending is super easy and I use my elf flat top studio brush which works great because I really hate using a fluffy brush to blend out on my jawline because it tickles. I do find myself reaching for other highlighters as the one included can seem a little too subtle for some nighttime looks but is perfect if you just want a slight glow for an everyday daytime look. One other thing I dislike is that it just has a magnetic closure and can pop open easily but if I do travel with it I will probably end up rubber banding it shut. 

Overall I really like this kit and I think it's a good investment in my collection. I would definitely buy it again if I don't find something better. But really, at $7 I can bring this with me on a vacation and not have to worry so much about loosing it but I really hope I never do loose it. I hope you enjoyed my input on this and if you think you found another good contour kit let me know! I'm always looking for some good contouring items. 

XOX 

Veritypretty

Nair Clay Hair Remover Review

When I first started shaving my mom made me use this horrible loud electric shaver from the 1960's or 70's because she was so afraid of me cutting myself. I was desperate to ditch the huge clunky machine so I thought it would be a good idea to start using Nair. The smell was horrible but somehow I thought I won the war against my mom and her pleads to leave my armpit and leg hair alone. Flash forward to now, I have switched to razors but now I wish I listened to mom and never started shaving at all. Well, not really. But it is such a pain to keep up with it and and getting my knees shaved is the biggest struggle ever. 

I spotted this spa clay at Big Lots and decided that maybe, just maybe that the formula and scent has gotten better. Though I have never seen so many steps for a depilatory in my life. I felt while applying the cream on my skin the pink spatula was pretty dang useless. 

I do like that it comes with a sponge to dip in the jar and spread it on your legs but then you have to rinse it off and you still get some of the product on your hands and it still stinks but thankfully not as much as it used to back when I first started using it. 

The texture of the cream was very thick and stayed on my legs without slipping. It did feel a little bit tingly as I left it on my skin but I used to get that feeling with the creams before. 

These two added steps were some wipes to prep the skin and a moisturizer to apply after you get out of the shower. I let the moisturizer wasn't very effective and that just using a little aloe gel or an unscented lotion would be good enough. As for the wipes, you only get two. Two. I don't know what they were thinking but there are way more than 2 applications in that jar. the wipes were a bit on the oily side so I think it was to moisturize and soften the hair before application. I think a little dry oil on the skin would be good enough as a substitute. 

So it got most of the hair off my skin but there were patches where my fur was like "Uh uh! I'm staying right here bro!" and it took some extra effort to rub it off or I had to resort to shaving a tiny place I missed. But I miss places when I shave all the time anyways so that is no big deal. What I don't like is how fast it still grew back. I remember it not growing back as fast before maybe taking 2 days to grow back in but I had dark stubble with this the next day. what was the point of taking longer than shaving and all these steps if it was just going to grow in dark polka dots the next day? 

What I did notice was that all of the hair around my knee was gone and stayed gone for a pretty long time. I am super afraid to nick myself while shaving and I always have peach fuzz around my knee. I would definitely switch to just using any depilatory around my knee then shaving the rest off. To me the extra time would be worth it to not have hairy yeti knees. 

Overall this whole thing reminded me of how much I hated the smell of this stuff but then opened my eyes to just using it on my knees exclusively to just make my life easier. Would I ever repurchase this again? Not this formula, maybe one of the original ones but not this. I don't think it is very effective at taking off all the stubborn hair on my legs and my hair isn't even that thick. 

XOX

Veritypretty