L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil

Hi friends from all over the WWW.  :-h  This post is for another hair oil, very similar in fact to the L’Oreal Professionnel Mythic Oil I have previously reviewed. This time the lovely folks at Beauty Heaven sent me out the L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil (I’m just loving these cool names btw, B-)  who thinks of them, LOL  :))  ultra mag and kinda catchy too) to test drive for their Trial Team.  Check out my thoughts:  :D

 

I have baby fine, straight, coloured hair that has oily roots and dry lengths, so previously the thought of adding oil of any shape, size or form was quite terrifying.  :-SS   I’ve since discovered that by using suitable treatment oils, which aren’t too heavy or rich, my mane won’t become limp or slick with oil and appear dirty,   #:-S   instead the nourishing formulas help counteract the oiliness and protect my mop, leaving it beautifully soft and shiny.  ;;)

L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil is a versatile blend of 6 botanical, flower oils  @};-  that brings out the natural beauty and health of your hair.  It retails for only $19.95 for 100mls,  <:-P  which is an absolute bargain compared to similar hair care oils on the market that can cost in excess of $50 for a bottle the same size.  :-O   Speaking of the bottle, the packaging of the L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil screams pure class and looks like it belongs in an upmarket salon, rather than on a supermarket shelf.  $-)  The stained glass bottle is translucent amber in colour and is of a solid, sturdy quality.  It features a pump-action lid that locks shut to avoid spills and allows the user to easily dispense the product without making a mess.  =D>

The weightless oil is clear in colour and has a sweet lolly-like fragrance that isn’t exactly my preferred type of scent, but it isn’t too overpowering, nor does it bother me to the point of avoiding it either.  ;)  The runny fluid has a silky texture that absorbs fast and most importantly doesn’t leave any greasy residue.  It can be used on either wet or dry tresses, as a conditioning treatment before washing to provide intense conditioning for damaged locks, for protection prior to styling, or as a finishing solution that controls static, smoothing away frizzy flyaways and creating a lustrous glossy sheen.  (*)

The multi-use oil is effective regardless how I use it, and because my hair is so fine, one pump supplies enough oil to evenly distribute throughout the strands of my hair.  The result is soft, sleek tresses that are nourished and more manageable, with greater flexibility and an enhanced all-over shine.  :x   In the past couple of weeks since I’ve been using this oil frequently, I can see a noticeable improvement in the overall condition of my hair, which looks and feels remarkably better.  To defy those bad hair days, I would absolutely recommend the L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil, as an ideal addition to any hair care regime, because the handy styling support delivers optimal hair health and luscious-looking locks at an unbeatable price that we can all afford.  \:D/

Have you tried any of the various hair oils available on the market these days?  :-/  Which one do you like the best, is it the cheapest, or have you concluded you get what you pay for??  :-?  Would love to hear your thoughts and how oil is a benefit for your hair care routine, based on experience and hair type.  Cheers for now! xxx ooo      :-*   >:D<

The image in this post is generic.

Fudge Daily Mint Conditioner

Howdy folks,  :-h   just me again!  I have a dry scalp and fairly oily hair, so buying suitable hair care products can be quite a dilemma.  ~X(  Not to mention, my scalp is also very sensitive and reacts to various ingredients in products, so finding products with the right balance that cater for my hair and scalp concerns is usually tricky.  :-L   I generally like hair care products that are enriched with essential oils and plant extracts and do my best to avoid the majority of supermarket or no frills brands because based on my own experience the products with the cheaper ingredients on board generally exacerbate my scalp leaving it red, itchy and beginning to flake.  :(  When I have the chance to try products that help both my hair and my scalp I am keen to put it through its paces.  >:/  Tammerly from Spoilt beauty blog kindly offered me the Fudge Daily Mint Conditioner to try and review.  Here is the link to that review and this is what I thought: 

The Fudge Daily Mint Conditioner comes in a white 300ml plastic bottle with a grey flip-top lid.  It’s adorned with a label printed in a grey, orange and silver design that looks modern and has an urban appeal to it.  The consistency is ultra thick and because of that, it’s a bit of an effort to squeeze and shake a decent-sized blob of product from the bottle.  The white conditioner is silky and velvet-like with a rich, creamy texture, which resembles something similar to whipped butter.  The formula boasts a delightfully uplifting minty fragrance that stimulates my mind and enhances my mood, making me more alert, energised and rejuvenated.  Despite the thickness, the non-greasy conditioner is easy to distribute throughout my strands, from root to tip, using the finger comb method, while it gets straight to work eliminating any tangles and knots.  During this process, I also spend a minute or so massaging my scalp to clear build-up, boost circulation and encourage healthy hair growth (this is also extremely relaxing and a great way to relieve tension  :)>-  ) before concentrating on the more needy ends.  It rinses off with warm water and even while still wet, my hair feels instantly softer and smoother, but the best part is experiencing the soothing, tingly sensation on my scalp.  :D

After drying, my locks are left soft, nourished, super shiny and more manageable, without being weighed down.  It also helps banish my frizzy flyaways, so my locks are sleek, smooth and glossy.  For hours after washing my scalp remains cool and feeling refreshed, while my tresses are infused with that gorgeous minty aroma that screams clean.  The additional benefits of this conditioner, such as the anti-ageing properties, strengthening and restoring abilities, along with scalp care and maintenance are all relevant to my hair care needs, whilst the free radical protection against heat styling, UV and environmental assault is a positive advantage.  Maintaining a healthy scalp is important to me because when my scalp is in good condition, it yields greater results for my hair.  This conditioner has worked wonders at alleviating the irritation associated with my dry, itchy, sometimes flaky scalp and because I spend lots of time outdoors, it’s great to have peace of mind that my hair is safeguarded from the elements.   :x   Living in the topics, the heat and humidity wreaks havoc on my mane and proves to be an ongoing challenge, so I’m especially looking forward to incorporating this conditioner to my hair care routine during summer to sustain not only the benefits, but the cool, invigorating, experience that I enjoy every single wash.  :-*

Since I started using this conditioner, I have seen a noticeable improvement in the strength, texture and overall appearance of my strands, with the increased shine clearly evident.  It soothes my scalp, imparts additional hydration to my hair, particularly to the frazzled looking ends, whilst repairing existing damage. Featuring de-stressing and detoxifying capabilities this conditioner is guaranteed to leave me, my hair and my scalp feeling completely replenished and smelling sensational.  <:-P   I would classify the minty fragrance as a unisex scent, therefore, I recommend the Fudge Daily Mint Conditioner to both male and female of any age, even though it’s ideally more suited to an older audience or those with dry coloured or chemically treated, hair that is prone to frizz and breakage or tresses that are just generally difficult to manage.  It’s mild and gentle enough to use on a daily basis and I believe it’s the perfect way to kick-start your day, with an energising lift that will care for your hair.  \:D/

I can’t fault this conditioner so I think it deserves a rating of 5 stars out of 5,  (*)  (*)  (*)  (*)  (*)  brilliant!

Have you tried a cooling minty style hair care product yet??  :-?  If not, you don’t know what your missing out on, it feels remarkable and is just what the doctor ordered for our tropical climate!  Comment below with your thoughts.  ;) 

The image in this post is generic.

CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam

I would like to thank the team at The Word of Mouth Company for the generous opportunity to trial and experience the CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam, which I received in the shade of #7 Dark Blonde.  I am a regular DIY hair colour girl, who has been using permanent hair colour kits at home for close to 20 years.  I prefer buying these kits and dying my own locks, rather than going to the salon for a professional colour, being more affordable to suit my budget, after economic factors forced the change, when regular salon colours just became too much maintenance. :-<  Over the years, I have learned that I can achieve great results colouring my tresses in the comfort of my own home :)

Dark Blonde

A bit of history:

 

For as many years as I can remember, I chose to be a brunette and black was my colour of choice, however, for the last 12 months I have been trying to grow it out (the only effective way to properly remove black hair colour) and revert to a shade closer to my own natural hue.  I was born a blonde, but as I got into my teenage years, my locks started getting darker and all of a sudden, I was blessed as a dirty blonde, also referred to as ‘bronde’ (a mix of brown and blonde).  Not thrilled at losing my golden mane, I introduced regular hair dyes into my lifestyle.  Anyway, now aiming for a dark blonde hue, in preference to the natural ‘bronde’ look, was a dramatic change from the jet-black hair I sported for so many years, also required time, dedication and plenty of patience to achieve.  I was graduating the colour of the roots as they would grow out, beginning with a dark brown, then progressing to a medium and light brown and finally to the dark blonde.  During this evolvement, I was also regularly having the black ends snipped off every 8 weeks or so.  As of the commencement of this trial, I have had the majority of the black removed and its only noticeable right on the tips of my locks, which will finally get the chop for good, when I have my next haircut.  It has been a couple of months since I last dyed my hair, so I have extremely noticeable roots a couple of inches long, paired with ugly brassy/yellow looking lengths, not a good look!!  :-S  I am also 37 years old and am a mum of two children aged four and three.  Since having kids, over the last couple of years I have begun to notice a few stray grey hairs appearing, (I am sure my kids are slowly sending me grey, ha-ha) EEK!  ~X(  :)) Therefore, I like to ensure that I select a hair dye product that thoroughly covers those pesky/embarrassing greys. Luckily, the CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam claims to provide 100% grey coverage.  I am excited!!  \:D/                                 

My experience:

The CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam kit is a 5-piece set, featuring everything I need to colour my own hair.  It includes two bottles of solution (Tint and Developer), Foamer Cap, Gloves and a sachet of Conditioning Gloss.  The preparation was super easy, simply mix the two bottles together, shake and replace the existing cap with the unique Foamer Cap (something I have never seen in the various other brands I have previously used).
 

Making sure I had the gloves on to avoid staining my hands, I initially went to work, distributing the solution through the roots of my dry hair, before working it down to the lengths.  The formula itself was not particularly foamy, which was my only let down, because I had the idea in my mind that it would be of a mousse like texture.  Instead it was slightly runny, more like froth than foam, which lead me to believe that possibly I had not shaken the bottle for long enough when I was preparing the solution?  :-?? I later learned that it was actually caused from shaking the bottle TOO much and that you only need to give it three shakes to get the best consistency to create the foam. It is a new technology that is explained in full here.  They even tell you what to do if you make the mistake I made and shook it too much, d'oh! #-o  It goes to show, it pay's to READ the instructions properly first, oops!  [-X  Even though it was more fluid like, it was still simple to massage into my mane, just as I would, if I were washing with shampoo.  There was ample solution to entirely saturate my hair (which, I should mention, falls below my shoulders in length, but it is baby fine, so I would think it’s probably the ideal amount of product for someone with thicker hair).  I ended up discarding about a quarter of the bottle, as I already had adequately covered all of my locks with hair dye.
 

The scent of the CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam was not as overbearing as many other formulations I have tried, although, in my opinion, I would describe the scent as a beer-infused aroma, ha-ha, :-/  :)) as it was distinctly a yeast-like scent, which I thought was unusual and unlike the ammonia/peroxide type fragrance that normally accompanies permanent hair colours.  While I can’t claim that I was overly fond of the fragrance, it was certainly more appealing than other hair dye formulas, which tend to constantly give me headaches, make my eyes water and leave my nose running. Not only was the scent mild in comparison to the various competitors’ brands on the market, the actual solution is gentler as well.  I suffer from a sensitive scalp and on occasions, some of these products cause my scalp to start stinging and burning, so much so that I end up having to wash it off, before it even has time to run its due course.  I can vouch that I didn’t experience any irritation using this product, so my scalp didn’t become red and angry, leaving my comfortable during the 25 minutes I waited for the solution to work its magic and the development process to elapse. :)

Upon rinsing the product out of my hair, which came out with ease very quickly, using warm water, I initially found my hair was feeling extremely dry.  This is normally the case when I use hair dyes, but what set the CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam apart from its competitors, was that for the first time ever, I only had a few stray hairs falling out, instead of heaps of strands that always wind up in the drain of my shower recess.  So, once again this product comes up trumps for being far more gentle to my hair than any other product.  Next, I applied the Conditioning Gloss that instantly infused the room with a gorgeous fruity, coconut, fragrance that just screamed ‘paradise on a tropical island’ and this was ever so welcoming after smelling like a brewery for the past 25 minutes, LOL! ;)  OMG, I want to know if this Conditioning Gloss is sold separately, I absolutely LOVE it. :x  The conditioner was a breeze to apply, with the rich, creamy formula and the butter-like texture, felt like pure bliss when I massaged it into my scalp and finger-combed it through to the ends.  The instructions suggest leaving the conditioner on for 2 minutes, but I left it on for about 5 as I was really enjoying the uplifting scent, which stimulated my senses whiles it was getting to work nourishing and rejuvenating my locks. (*)

Warm water thoroughly rinsed all the conditioner from my hair and with what was just like the wave of a wand, my hair was transformed from dry and knotty to super, silky soft and tangle-free, before I even thought about physically combing my damp locks.  The conditioner didn’t coat my strands or leave any greasy residue behind to contribute to more oil production, which is the last thing I need, as I already have naturally oily hair. Instead, it was ultra lightweight and didn’t weigh down my tresses, as many heavy conditioners do that always leave my fine hair looking limp, lank and lifeless. 

I wrapped my hair straight in a towel and allowed it to dry naturally, as I am not a big fan of heat styling, which I believe can be damaging if done too frequently.  During this time, I was pleased to discover that any stains that were previously visible on my skin around the hairline and ears in particularly, were totally gone!!  I forgot all about those stains when rinsing the dye from my hair in the shower.  I would normally need to pay special attention to the stains, rubbing and scrubbing away overtime until my skin gets red raw, before they even look like budging.  Sometimes, even that is unsuccessful and I need to pull out all stops, trying anything and everything from alcohol to nail polish remover, to get the annoying stains to come OFF!! :-L  It’s amazing that the stains that blessed my skin, when using the CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam, simply rinsed straight off, with no extra effort involved!  That alone, is a huge bonus, because there is nothing worse than sporting newly coloured hair, and then advertising the fact, you did it yourself, thanks to the stains on your skin, EEK!  ~X(  When my hair finally dried, I loved the outcome.  My tresses were noticeably lighter and even, with a consistent looking colour all over.  The horrid brassy/yellow looking lengths had toned down, featuring plenty of natural depth, thanks to slightly lighter, ashy highlights in the top layers, beautiful warm golden tones and lowlights to create a textured ribbon effect.  That teamed with my still dark ends, presented like the latest ‘bayliage’ craze, a style that you would expect to pay top dollar for in a salon, and I personally doubt that a professional colourist could have done a better job, LOL ;)  :)) It’s shimmery and glossy throughout with natural shadings, looking and feeling not only super shiny, but incredibly healthy too.  Not to mention, that after my microscopic inspection, I was thrilled that any grey hairs were indeed, 100% covered. <:-P

My final thoughts:

Overall, I am very happy with how my hair now looks, thanks to my experience with the CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam, which imparts impressive, effective results that are very natural and complimentary to my skin tone. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wants a effortless DIY at home permanent hair dye that is comparable, if not better than a salon quality colour, guaranteed to hide those unwanted greys and deliver an intense, vibrant, highly pigmented finish in a gentle formula, suitable for those who normally experience sensitivity when colouring their hair.  I know that when I am due to re-colour my tresses, I will not be mucking around deciding on which product will provide the best results.  I will zone straight in on CLAIROL Nice n Easy Colour Blend Foam, a reliable, efficient product that I can trust will meet my needs perfectly every time.   =D>                          

All images in this post are generic, however all images in the slideshow are my own.