dr h

Bad news

I thought I was having chaos at home getting back into the swing of life and personal stuff. Our family has been hit with an unimaginable tragedy. A child died in a horrific accident, something no one should ever have to experience. I will be taking a short break. I hope you all will still be here with me on the other side

Update

Hey,
I just wanted to let you all know that regular posting will resume tomorrow. I have just been unwinding and catching my bearings since returning from the show this year. I will do a haul vid. I will also post my pics, but I forgot my camera this year (hectic homelife), so they are from my phone.
Talk to you tomorrow!

Review: Clarisonic Deep Pore Cleansing Brush

We all are pretty familiar with the Clarisonic, so I won't go into too much detail and just get right to the review.

I normally use the delicate brush head which is softer than the sensitive brush head. I started using this softest brush when I was battling acne and had to go on a senstive skin routine. Once my skin went back to "normal", I decided to go ahead and try this new brush head.

This brush head is really weird because I assumed it would be more "rough" than the delicate. It was actually just as soft. I almost didn't notice that I was using a different brush head. I would sometimes use it 2 times a day but most consistently, once a day. You can move the bristles to get a smaller brush (I never tried it). The bristles also move in opposite directions.

These slight differences do lead to a great clean. When I used it, especially twice a day (my skin is tough), I noticed a huge improvement in my skin.

I have moved on to the Acne brush head (creates more foam and bubbles) they just came out with. I will give it a go, but if i don't like it, i will be going back to this deep pore brush.

Do you have a Clarisonic? What brush head do you use?

Review: Garnier Fiber Gum Putty

This is my favorite gel, so I thought I would tell you all about it in case I never have. It is fairly cheap running about $4 or less for 5oz. It is very hard to find though. I have resorted to ordering mine off of amazon.

It has the consistency of very sticky yogurt. Its weird. It looks like yogurt, then you work it into your hands a smidge and stretches like putty or pizza cheese because the hand action activates the fibers if you can imagine that. It does not translate onto the hair though. Once you put it on, it gives you a soft but strong hold with minimal residue.

I don't have anything bad to say about it.... hmmm.... maybe that you may need to tie edges with a scarf if they are super stubborn, but it holds all day.

Review: Creative Nail Design Shellac/ Gel Nails at Home

Ok, first the pics. 14 days post

Start up
The start up costs to do at home gel nails. A basic starter set from the drugstore will cost around $40-$60. To do a startup on a more professional level, you will need the following:

• topcoat and basecoat= $30
• basic powerful UV light= $50
• gel color polish= $15
• acetone= $1
• alcohol= $1
• lint free cloth/papertowel=$1
• cuticle pusher= $1

Optional products would be cuticle removers and cuticle oils.

If you know this is something you want to invest in, I would save up and go pro. It makes the process go faster (the more powerful light makes the most difference). I would also say that the UV light is more versatile since it can be used with different kinds of gel systems. I have tried Shellac and Red Carpet Manicure, they both can be used with UV. Some systems cannot use LED making it less versatile but more "safe". You can use gelish, red carpet, whatever. The most important tips IMO are to use Shellac with shellac, Gelish with gelish, etc... don't mix and match (for best results)

The Process

Fairly easy. You make sure you remove your cuticles/shape your nails. Clean your bare nails with alcohol. Put on the base coat, cure. I put on 2 coats of color, cure. Then the topcoat, cure (wipe with alcohol with lint free cloth after each step). You have to be more neat and careful so that it does not get on your cuticles. You have to master the art of thin coats, some of mine were clumpy but not very noticeable. It takes me about 30min or less for the whole process and the pics above is how it held up.

The process I am currently experimenting with is the gelly sandwich. It makes it more versatile where you can try and incorporate your reg polishes. I do a base coat (cure and wipe), then top coat (cure and wipe), then color x2-3 coats. Let it dry overnight, then apply another topcoat, cure and wipe. I am noticing that it does not last as great, but still testing it out, so I will do an update post. I will say that so far it is holding up better than regular polish alone. This second try was more even than the first try, I suspect my third try will look "professional".

Some people do the gelly sandwich by doing a base coat, cure and wipe. Applying your reg nail polish and dry overnight, then apply a top coat the next day, cure and wipe. You really have to let your reg color be completely dry or it will NOT work.

Removal

I found the red carpet removed better than the shellac. I did use the gelly sandwich with red carpet which is "weaker" so that could be why it removed better. The only damage that happened was due to my own mistakes. I have a really good metal cuticle pusher, I over zealously scrapped some nails and that caused minor damage. Had I been more gentle and patient, I would not have had any damage. Take your time soaking.

Well, if you have any questions let me know, I hope that this was brief but informative. Let me know if you have any tricks or have tried this at home.

Review: WEN Conditioning Cleanser

First of all, please don't pay attention to the particular scent of this product because I tried out 2 different kinds. I was lucky enough to get 2 samples thru my sample subscriptions, which was enough for a sizeable test trial.

Pros:

• It smells great
• It feels great. I did have thsi mint kind, and I think another and the mint one tingled in a good Paul Mitchell tea tree kind of way
• It leaves my hair silky and soft. I was reluctant to try it because I had been trying out cone and paraben free products. Since trying those out, other products have felt a bit slimey to me. It wasn't as bad as I thought.
• It doesn't weigh my fine hair down and is easy to rinse out. My hair feels clean afterwards.
• I didn't follow the "rules" and still got good results, so I may have got even better results had I been compliant
• Doesn't strip hair

Cons:

• Could be considered expensive
• Not readily available at stores near me
• Not as "natural" as they claim it to be
• Says to rinse with cold water... hell to the no! (it did work well with warm water like I normally use)
• For my hair, it says to use 48 pumps minimum. Who is going to sit there and count that? Is that even economical? I used the same about I always used with other products. About a half dollar size. It worked fine.
• I also did not comb this thru my hair and clip up. Too much work. I worked it into my hair. Let it sit there. Till I was done showering. It worked great.

Have you tried this?

Ingredients


Ingredients: Water, Aloe Vera Gel, Glycerin, Chamomile Extract, Cherry Bark Extract, Calendula Extract, Rosemary Extract, Behentrimonium Chloride, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetyl Alcohol, Emulsifying Wax, Panthenol, Trimethylsilylamodimethicone, Hydrolyzed Whole Wheat Protein, PEG-60, Almond Glycerides, Menthol, Essential Oils, Citric Acid, Methylchoroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance