GVP Joico K-Pak Review

In the past, I've written about how much I love Sally's line of Generic Value Products and what a great steal they are, and this time it's no different.

The original Joico K-Pak treatment is lauded by everyone for being able to mend even the most over processed hair and GVP's version, GVP Hair Reconstructor, is said to be just as good.

If you're not familiar with GVP, they're a company that makes generic versions of expensive haircare products and sells them for a fraction of the price. They even go as far as to list the ingredients for both the original and the copy side by side so you can see that it's the same exact formula, down to the last paraben.

I have to preface this review by explaining something very important. For some very odd reason, GVP markets this product as a conditioner, but beware, this is NOT a conditioner, it's a treatment. What's the big difference, you ask? Well, when used as a conditioner, the Reconstructor really dries out your hair. That's because it contains protein and while protein will help make your hair stronger and less brittle, it will also majorly dry it out. That's why you have to use it as a treatment, meaning after you rinse it out, you HAVE to follow it up with a deep conditioner.

ok, now that we got all that out of the way, on to the review.

I have wavy, kind of frizzy hair [I'm convinced if I didn't live in Florida and it's 100% humidity, I would have much nicer hair, but that's a whole other post in itself.] My hair is a little coarse and I don't have a lot of it, it seems like more because of the waves and the frizz, but there's barely a handful. The only real damage I have is that my ends are super dry because I'm overdue for a cut, but I don't have dyed or processed hair and I barely ever use heat tools on it. I'm explaining all this because hair products can vary SO much from one person to the next and I figure the closer we are in hair type, the better your chances!

This is my hair before the Reconstructor. Note: I do have a bit of mousse in it left over from the day before, but this is close to what it looks like without product.

I used the Reconstructor as directed, after shampooing my hair, I left it on for about 4 minutes and rinsed it out. I followed this up with Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle.

 And this is the after. My hair looks 20 time bigger because there's no product on it at all.

The Reconstructor made my hair incredibly soft and very manageable, but it severely dried out my ends. However, this is to be expected of any protein product. What I really liked about it was that it made my waves much more defined than usual. I have the kind of waves and ringlets that I've only been able to create before with mousse and hairspray. I imagine if I had used product in my hair, the waves would have been even nicer.

Although I didn't see an enormous difference in my hair, apart from the nice waves, I think it was mostly due to the fact that my hair isn't in dire need of repair to begin with. Someone with processed hair would probably benefit from it a lot more than I did, and anyone who wants softer hair should give it a try. 

GVP Hair Reconstructor is available at all Sally Beauty Supply stores and online.

Nail Spam!

While looking through my phone, I found a bunch of nail pictures I've taken to upload to my Facebook page. They're not amazing quality, but you can still see the colors and that's all that matters!

I tried my hand [ha! nail pun] at a little bit of nail art in support of the Miami Heat playing in the finals [a lot of good that did!]. The red is OPI Vodka & Caviar.

This is Sinful Colors Fiji and--wait for it-- Sally Hansen HIDDEN TREASURE!

Revlon Royal. I love love love how bright this is.

 

China Glaze Recycle and a no-name brand for the light pink. I love the combo of grey and pink. Please check out my Hello Kitty bathrobe in the background!

China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I love this color, it has so much depth. The pictures don't do it justice.

 

This is one of my favorite nail looks. The base is Finger Paints Aren't You Gladiolus? and the crackle coat is Sally Hansen Vintage Violet.

Another Hidden Treasure combination.The base is China Glaze Custom Kicks. 

Hidden Treasure turns gold when combined with the turquoise and it looks amazing.

Revlon Starry Pink Nail Polish

I love nail polish. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite cosmetic in the world [sorry, mascara!.] That being said, I find myself not really being wowed by polishes lately. Perhaps it's because I've seen and worn too many, or maybe nothing amazing has been released for a while. Whatever the reason, I haven't found a new polish that makes me stare at my hands admiringly for minutes at a time, until now.

Revlon's Starry Pink, part of their Expressionists line, is stunning. Stunning isn't even the word for it. I love that the base coat is a light pink and the glitter is silver.

** I left my camera at a friend's house and won't have it back for a few days. So, please excuse the horrible camera phone quality. For better pictures, you can go to The PolishAholic's blog, she has great swatches!

 From far away it looks like a very plain pink color, it even looks like an "office polish". However, when you get up close, you see the large hex glitters and the smaller round ones and it's so great. People's reactions are usually "oh that's prett- oh wow!" the latter being when they realize it's not just pink polish.

Do yourself a favor and pick these up ASAP. From what I hear, they'll be part of Revlon's core collection, so there's no need for the limited edition panic attack. The only place I've been able to find this and the other polishes in this collection is at Target.Don't look for them in a special display, they're right in with the other polishes, and this week they're on sale!

August Favorites

These are the products I found myself reaching for constantly all month long.

The majority of these are products I'd never tried before, which is great because I love when a new product turns out to be so great that I don't stop using it after the trial period is over. 

First up is Nuance Salma Hayek Beautiful Blends Eye Quad. 

Nuance Salma Hayek Color Vibrance Lipstick in Dusty Rose. 

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara [Waterproof]

 

Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow Trio in Bronze Glitz

e.l.f. Studio Blush in Blushing Rose

NYX Shadows Swatches and Review

I LOVE NYX eye shadows. In my opinion, they are the closest any drugstore brand has gotten to MAC quality [though I'm not sure if NYX even counts as a drugstore brand since I can't find them ANYWHERE around here!.]

Recently, Cherryculture had a 50% off NYX sale and I took advantage by buying a ton of shadows and nail polishes. Because the swatches on the NYX site are atrocious, I often have to rely on blogs and youtube videos to get some idea of what I'm buying. I figured I'd do the world a favor and swatch the ones I go, just in case someone out there is dying to buy one of these shades but can't figure out what the color actually is!

All pictures first without then with flash

Swatched on bare skin, no primer.

From L to R:  Gypsy, Pine Nut, Latte Foam

Gypsy has a TON of fall out, and it's quite glittery. Pine Nut is basically the same shade as Gypsy with without the glitter. Latte Foam is somewhere in between the other two shades, also quite glittery. 

From L to R: Cryptonite, Sparkle Cedar, Morocco 

Cryptonite and Sparkle Cedar are glittery and have a lot of fall out as well, but the colors look great together. Morocco is very shimmery and not as blue as it looks in the pan.

From L to R: Purple, Sweet Oleander, Prune

All 3 colors look great together. Sweet Oleander came out looking more purple than pink, but I think that has more to do with my skin tone than with the shadow.

 

From L to R: Skin Tight, Sunset Ray

I'm not a huge fan of Skin Tight, it seems like a matte version of their Champagne color [which I love with all my heart.] Sunset Ray is amazing, probably one of my favorite orange shadows.

 

All in all, a great purchase!

Revisiting Maybelline SuperStay 24 hr Concealer

** read original review

I couldn't resign myself to the idea that SuperStay was just a bad concealer with limited colors and tones. So, I kept looking for reviews and comments from other bloggers, trying to see what they saw in it that I didn't. Finally, one day I had an epiphany!

SuperStay is not a good concealer for me, but it's the perfect corrector.

The difference between a concealer and a corrector is that while a concealer is there to hide your dark circles and is usually skin colored [sometimes with a bit of yellow in it,] a corrector uses colors to mask other colors in your face.
Example: My NC35 concealer makes my dark circles the same color as the rest of my face, but sometimes [most of the time,] they're too dark and the darkness shows through. Putting a pink-based corrector on my yellow toned skin cancels out my dark circles and brightens up the eye area. [I've been doing a bit of reading about all this and it seems that pink based correctors aren't necessarily just for yellow toned skin, so feel free to give it a shot.]

Although SuperStay isn't marketed as a corrector, I found that it is much too pink to work as a concealer, but as a corrector it works wonders.

I apply the too-pink SuperStay to the inner corner of my eye and first half of my under eye area where the circles are at their worst.

I blend blend blend blend until it looks passable [though always a bit powdery,] and then I put my MAC Pro Longwear concealer in NC35 over all of it. Sometimes, I skip MAC and go for the Maybelline FitMe concealer in 25 because the color looks really great.

By mixing the two colors, my circles are effectively wiped out [or at least, as much as they'll ever be.]
I'm really really happy with SuperStay now that I've figured out how to use it to my advantage. I still say that as a concealer, it's incredibly limited because of how thick it is and the very few color options, but as a corrector, it rivals Bobbi Brown's line [that's right, I said it.]

** As a way to deal with how powdery SuperStay is, I always make sure I put a little bit of extra moisturizer under my eyes and I apply the concealers right after so the area is still smooth enough to work with.

How to Deal with Eye Shadow Fallout

Eye Shadow fallout is pretty much the worst thing that can happen when you're trying to do your makeup [closely followed by clumpy mascara and messing up your liquid eyeliner.]

A lot of people say that cheaper eye shadows are the only ones that have excessive fallout, but I've experienced it with shadows of all price ranges though I've found that It's usually most common in darker shades.

There's no way to stop fallout, so all you can do is deal with it.
Here are a few ways:

1. Do your eyes before anything else
I'm not a huge supporter of this option because I hate putting on concealer after eye makeup. Because I have dark circles, I use about three different concealers on different parts of my under eye area, and I have a very specific way of doing it. Any time that I try to do it after applying my shadow, it ends up looking weird.
*I think this could work for someone who doesn't wear a lot of concealer.

2. Wet your brush first
Obviously, this means dampen your brush, not run it under the faucet until it's drenched. I find that this method works most of the time, but I don't always want to apply my shadows wet. Sometimes, dampening the brush changes the color of the shadow and not always for the better.

3. Tap the excess shadow off **
This is another one that works most of the time, but sometimes it's not enough. Tap your brush either on the shadow pot or onto a tissue so that the excess shadow falls off and only a bit remains on the brush. I use this method for lighter shadows because even if a little still falls on my face, it won't be as noticeable.

4. Place a business card under the eye **
I use this method most and it's the one I find that works the best, it's just not very comfortable. It doesn't necessarily have to be a business card, some people use a piece of paper or tissue. Basically, anything that can be placed [or held] directly under your eye to catch any fallout and keep it off your cheeks.
*Sephora sells Shadow Shields. You get 30 shields for $12, which might be fine for some, but I would rather use my free pieces of paper. Also, with the shadow shields, you have to apply your concealer after your eye makeup anyway because when you peel it off, the makeup will go with it, so it kind of defeats the purpose for me.

5. Use Loose powder
This is the only method I've heard of but have yet to try, only because I think it sounds messy and kind of a pain. Take any kind of loose powder [white or translucent, of course,] and put a heavy coat of it under your eyes. When you're done with you makeup, take a big brush and brush away the loose powder and any shadow that has fallen on top will be swept away along with it. Many people swear by this, and it sounds like it works, I just can't be bothered to coat my face in powder every day.

6. Pat, don't Sweep
I left this for last because I think it's the most obvious one. When applying your eye shadow [especially if you're using a brush instead of a sponge applicator,] don't sweep the color across your lid. Instead, lightly pat over the desired area, you'd be surprised at the difference it makes.

Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Polish in Olive

I was so incredibly excited when I spotted this polish at Forever21 because I've been looking for this exact color for months.

L.A. Girl makes this exact same color as part of their Metals line, I'm actually almost positive that these Forever21 polishes are just repackaged L.A. Girl polishes. Anyway, I never could get the L.A. polishes because the only place I could ever find them was on CherryCulture and I only order from them if I can get free shipping, which means spending at least $40 and that's something I just wasn't willing to do any time soon.

So, when I found the polish I almost screamed in the middle of the store [which wouldn't be the first time.]

The formula is pretty good, It took two coats to look good and I added a third one just because I wanted the color to really show.

I find that this polish is starting to wear very quickly, though. The first day I put it on, I had tip wear within a few hours [and this is with a good base and top coat.] I've been reapplying it to my tips every day along with top coat, but it only seems to slow the tip wear slightly.

However, the color is so beautiful that I don't mind too much. I don't think I'll be buying other polishes from this line, but this one was worth it because of how badly I've been wanting this shade.

Finger Paints Palette of Petals Spring 2011 Collection

I won the entire collection of Finger Paints Spring 2011 shades from Sally's Beauty Blog!


I never win anything!! I know everyone always says that when they win stuff, but I really really never do.

I'm super excited to try these out, but I didn't want to wait to swatch them, so I'm copying the super clever scotch tape swatches I've seen Karla Sugar do. I don't know if she came up with this idea herself, or if this has been going on for ages and I just never knew, but she's the first person I've seen do it and I think it's amazing! [I'm easily amused]


The collection consists of six very spring-y colors. I automatically loved all of them except the orange. This is only because I hate orange in everything except eye shadow. I think it looks weird because of my skin tone.

 My polishes didn't come with the rings, which is fine because rings usually suffocate my fingers and make me fidgety.


Also, for some odd reason, my polishes have no names on them, maybe because they were promotional? I have no idea.. Google came to the rescue like always, and I was able to find the names for them anyway.

L-R: Carnation Creation, Aren't You Glad-iolous?

L-R: Chrysanthe-mum's the Word, Did You Ast-her Out?

L-R: Heavenly Hydrangeas, Dahlia My Number

 The formulas for these were great, and they applied smoothly.

Carnation Creation [top] looks a lot darker in person, I think the flash makes it look a bit bright

Aren't You Glad-iolous? [bottom] is my favorite of these two, and one of my favorite overall.  It's also the definition of a one-coat polish. It's super pigmented!

Chrysanthe-mum's the Word [top] is something between a mint green and a lime green. It's not really bright enough to be considered lime, though.

Did You Ast-her Out? [bottom] is pretty opaque and required three coats. The color isn't really anything spectacular, but it's a nice bright pink.

Heavenly Hydrangeas [top] is another favorite [I always favor purple polishes.] It only required two coats, though I think one could have also worked.

Dahlia My Number [bottom] is the only shimmer in the collection. I don't like the color on myself, but I think it could look nice on someone else. It's very shimmery and required three coats.

This collection came at a great time for me, I was just thinking that all I own are dark colors and I had nothing for spring. yay!

Common Beauty Mistakes

Nobody can be perfect all the time [I manage to be perfect five days out of the year and it's usually during holidays when I'm asleep for most of them.]
Everyone makes beauty mistakes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to correct them asap. Especially because some can end up hurting you in the long run. 

1. Going to bed with your makeup on
Everyone has heard this a million and one times, and yet we still keep doing it! When you wake up in the morning and your makeup has all but melted off, look at your pillow and you'll notice it's not all on there, so where is it? that's right, it's in your face, clogging up your pores and making you look dull.
No matter how tired you are, force yourself to get out of bed and wash your face every night. You don't have to do your entire skincare regimen if you're too tired, just make sure you wash all that stuff off.


2. Putting conditioner all over your hair
I only stopped doing this about a year ago when I realized it was wrong. Nobody ever told me any different! Conditioner should only be applied from your ears down, otherwise it can create buildup on your scalp and make your hair limp. This is especially true if you have wavy or curly hair or if you have fine hair.

3. Washing your hair everyday
People always seem a bit put off when I say I wash my hair twice a week. I don't know how dirty everyone else is getting, but I don't work in a farm or tend sheep in my time off so that I need to wash my hair everyday. Over washing can strip your hair of its natural oils and it can leave you with dry and dull looking hair. If you have extremely oily hair, try using a dry shampoo in between washes. If you use a lot of products in your hair [hello my fellow mousse addicts,] you can rinse your hair out with water when you shower, just don't use shampoo.

4. White Eyeshadow
This one is purely an opinion but seriously, white eyeshadow is horrible. It looks good on NO ONE. Unless you're a celebrity on the cover of a magazine that will get photoshopped to death, you're going to end up looking ridiculous. Dark skinned girls especially, white eyeshadow is the death of us. Just don't do it.
** White or light colored shadow on the inner corner of your eyes is absolutely a must, I'm talking about all over the lid.

5. Biting your nails
I bit my nails from the day I was born until about six years ago. I know how hard it is to stop, but now that I have long, healthy nails, I also know how important it is to stop. Not only because nubby fingers are unsightly, but because your nails can get infected from all the bacteria being passed from your mouth to your hands, not to mention the infections from all the germs on your hands going into your mouth.
How to stop nail biting.

6. Not wearing sunblock/tanning
You know those old ladies who have really leathery skin that kind of looks like a Chloe Handbag? Stop them one day and ask them if they liked to tan when they were younger. Actually, ask them if they still tan on a regular basis. Yes, tanning looks good and I'm of the opinion that it looks healthy but oh my God it's NOT. Tanning is the worst thing for your skin. I finally came to terms with this a few months ago and invested in a daily moisturizer with sunscreen and a couple of bottles of sunblock for when I go to the beach. Maybe I won't look as golden as everyone else in Florida, but I'm lowering my odds of skin cancer and premature wrinkles. I win!

7. Matching your makeup to your clothes
This is one of those that don't hurt you but are just terrible to look at. A purple dress does not mean purple eyeshadow. Rather than wearing the same color, go for one that complements your outfit. Purple dress? Gold and brown eyes. Blue shirt? Grey eyes.

Makeup and beauty are fun, and I hate talking about "rules", but these aren't so much rules as just guidelines to not looking crazy. I've pretty much done all of the above things several times..I still do some of them, but it's important to know what these mistakes are and how to avoid them and just TRY. Nobody wants bad hair!