Diptyque Patchouli Room Spray

If you've read my blog before, you know I'm a fan of Diptyque Patchouli. I wrote about their candle here. Then in August I found their Patchouli room spray. How could I resist? Seriously, I was hugging it in the store.

A lot of room sprays tend to be overpowering or smell completely artificial, to the point of nausea. When I find a good one, I stock up. I hadn't used Diptyque's room spray before, so one bottle was enough for the experimental phase. And the bottle is huge, so I wasn't concerned I would run out after a few uses.

On a particularly warm evening, my living room was smelling a little ripe so I decided to give the patchouli spray a go. I spritzed three times in different areas of the room. It took about two minutes for me to realize that was a mistake. Way too much! I had to hide out in the bedroom and wait for it to dissipate. Fortunately, I learned a very valuable and cost effective lesson: with Diptyque, one spritz is enough for a whole room.

After I learned to control my over-zealous spraying, I found this is quite possibly the best room spray. It lasts FOREVER and smells amazing. It fills an entire room (again one spray only). It's certainly not cheap, but it's so high-quality and will last an incredibly long time. If you like home sprays, I suggest you try Diptyque.

Nails Inc. Holographic Glitter

Nails Inc. has had quite a fan-base for some time now. Just recently, we were lucky enough to have the company hit the States. Sephora is the exclusive carrier of the polishes. The line boasts a wide array of colors, glitters, and top coats.

Everyone I've spoken to has already fallen in love with Nails Inc. Not to mention they now have magnetic polish (can't wait to try these)! I spotted the holographic glitter top coat the second I walked in: just look at the box, you can't miss it.

I put two coats over a dark, forest green and while it's not really holographic it does sparkle something fierce. The glitter pieces are extremely fine and go on smoothly. This top coat will be perfect come the holidays! I highly recommend trying it if you like a little sparkle.

Living Proof has Restored my faith in hair care

There is no shortage of high-end hair care products out there. With simple shampoos and conditioner prices climbing well into the double digits, and some even reaching astronomical heights hovering around $100, where do you plunk down your hard-earned cash?

I've always felt the need to try the slightly pricier shampoos, conditioners and masks because I grew up using Pert (the shampoo/conditioner combo). Once I hit middle school I scraped together my allowance to get Aussie and Salon Selectives products. Still, I was only in the drugstore realm. Then I was introduced to lines like Bumble and Bumble and Moroccanoil. I justified the expense with the fact that my hair was being taken care of. Was it really? What was my shampoo and conditioner doing to protect my hair from the daily torture sessions I made it endure?

Living Proof has come out with some pretty great products. Not to mention they were created by a team of MIT scientists. And when they released their Restore line, I knew it would be in my bathroom in no time. I did want to try it first, and typically LP has mini-bottles of their products. No such luck this time. I took a risk and purchased the big bottles of both the shampoo and conditioner. No cheap feat. But how can you put a price tag on gorgeous, healthy hair?

I've done everything to my poor strands from blow-drying to flat ironing to coloring. And I've been doing these unspeakable horrors to my hair for years....years! I figured that if these products didn't work it would be a bit of an expensive mistake... but if they did work... well, then they probably could have charged me double and I wouldn't blink an eye.

After three days of using the Restore set, my hair is noticeably smoother and more manageable. I can let it air-dry without it becoming a frizzy, broken-hair-free-for-all. Whether or not it can turn back the clocks to its original, pre-messed-with state is yet to be seen. But for now, it's definitely putting my hair into the best shape it's been in years. That's saying something.

Mary Kay Concealer

Some days are a little rougher around the edges than others and on those days we need a little bit of help. I like to have concealer handy for these types of days. And since you never know when a pesky little blemish is going to pop up.

I've found that concealer is particularly hard to get right. Often the color is way too light or dark, and blemishes or dark spots are made more noticeable. If you manage to find a color that is close to your skin tone, sometimes the formula can be cakey and flakey.

I stumbled upon Mary Kay's concealer in Ivory 2. It's a perfect match to my fair complexion and covers imperfections seamlessly. It's not too runny and does not flake during the day. It's quite possibly the best concealer I've ever used. And at $10 it's a bargain. I can't recommend this enough.

Smooth as a baby's....

Lips! Smooth as a baby's lips people. Take your minds off bottoms. This is a beauty blog and I'm not in the business of showing off derrieres. However, like all of us my lips are on show daily and sometimes especially during the cooler months they can look less than stellar. Once the dry, arctic temps roll in so do dry, cracked lips. Not cute.

Luckily, I happened upon Maybelline's newest lippie, Baby Lips. Once I got past the cutesy name I realized this balm is jam-packed full of good-for-your-lips ingredients. All of which are aimed at helping restore lip's moisture along with repairing fine lines and coloration resulting in lips as smooth as a, er, baby.

I picked one up in Quench (a clear balm). It smells faintly of Fruity Pebbles and tastes nice as well. The slick balm comes in another clear choice with a peppermint flavor, and four colors. I wouldn't say the moisturizing power is a full 8 hours as it states but it did last significantly longer than other balms I've used and it hydrates immediately.

I don't typically like a lot of color from balms, so I'll probably only try the other clear one, but these are definitely worth checking out. Check out how Maybelline makeup artist Charlotte Willer used Baby Lips on the runway here.

Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray

As you know from my last post, I love the sleek look of straight hair. Let's be honest, we all love it. But even with straightened strands I need to have volume and texture. I don't want my hair to look flat and limp. I also like to get several days out of my straight style. So what's a girl to do? Second-day-hair is great for adding texture but tends to make my hair flat on top and without washing it can get a little icky.

Oribe's Dry Texturizing Spray is perhaps the best styling product I've come across in a while. It's like dry shampoo and hair spray had a perfect styling baby. This hybrid is not really a dry shampoo or a hair spray but has all the benefits of both and none of the drawbacks. The polymers take away any oil like a dry shampoo would but this is not powdery at all, leaving no tell-tale white patches. And it adds texture and volume like a hair spray would but without stickiness or crunchiness. And it gives a bit of hold and tons of movement.

How could this possibly get any better? The smell is ridiculously good and lasts well into the next day so it's perfect for after-work cocktails. It's a little pricey but just a small amount of this fine mist goes a loooong way.

Living Proof helps you play it straight

It's been well over a decade that I've been fighting my natural curls and waves. With the years, my methods have grown with the technology offered. Gone are my days of dragging a clamped curling iron over my hair to flatten it, as are the days of using an actual iron (hello fire hazard). Now I have sleek flat irons and a multitude of creams, lotions and potions to transform me from curly to straight.

Admittedly, I should not be so hell-bent on forcing my curls into pin-straight perfection but the grass is always greener, right? And when a shiny, new product is sitting right in the display as I enter the store, what am I going to do? I have to at least check it out.

I enjoy the Living Proof line. I have used their wave/curl shaping cream-which is awesome and doesn't make your hair crunchy. Recently, they introduced their Straight Spray. It called out to me instantly. I wasn't ready to commit to the gigantic bottle, so luckily they have a mini (not so mini price though) that I could try out. I wanted to love this spray but I'm only in like with it.

It for sure protects from heat damage which is a mega-bonus for someone like me that tortures my poor strands with volcanic temperatures. It also does help to extend your heat styling, and works on both wet and dry hair. But is it just me, or should straight spray help to, um, straighten your hair? This is did not do. At least not for me. To be fair, I have really high, almost unattainable expectations when it comes to straightening products. I want something that does all the work for me and unfortunately outside of getting all formaldehyde-y, technology is not there yet.

Application is crazy easy but I highly recommend spraying in a well-ventilated area to avoid tasting the spray for the next 10 minutes. The smell is amazing and even better the next day when it's reactivated with heat tools. Overall, I really like this so I will continue to use it until someone makes a spray that's quite simply straight hair in a can.