Oh the Places You'll Go…

I've been thinking about this post for a long time, especially now since I'm packing to head to Charleston, South Carolina soon. I absolutely love traveling, and it's a passion of mine to travel to new places and experience different things. So far, I've been lucky enough to visit about 14 states, 9 different countries, and the numbers get to keep growing. 

So what's the point of all this?

Pick a place in your mind where it would be your dream to go. Currently, mine would be Australia/New Zealand. It is my absolute dream to be able to travel there. Now save money. Start young, and keep saving money for this certain place in your head. Don't cheat and say that TV would be better or something else, because from my experience, a trip of a lifetime is just that. The memories will last a lifetime. I think there is so much to learn from traveling, and so much that can come out of it that it is absolutely worth the wait. I wish you the best of luck in your travels, and I hope that your dream place can become a reality!

…And 1 "Do" Hair Product

Um, holy crap. This stuff is good. And I mean gooood. Okay weirdness over. The Living Proof No Frizz Humidity Shield is some really good stuff. As far as luxury hair care, the travel size (above) is $14, and the full size is $22 which is not a bad price for the amount of product. You spray this stuff on dry, already styled hair, and take a comb or your hand and just smooth down the fly-aways and watch them instantly disappear. It's sooo good! I have extremely frizzy hair, and this is probably the best and most long lasting product I've used in the lovely humidity. I highly recommend this product if you don't already have it (I am a little late to jump on the bandwagon myself). 

2 "Don't" Hair Products…

I am a sufferer from very dry ends in my hair, and a very oily scalp. It becomes quite difficult finding hair products that will nourish my ends but don't make my scalp an oil slick that I need to wash twice a day. Yes, I just put the product on the ends but sometimes I seriously think hair products can travel on their own. 

Anyway, these guys were actually good products. From what I could tell, they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. The Lush H'suan Wen Hua (pronunciation is per your interpretation) is a mask that I would put on during a shower and wash off at the end, then shampoo normally. Unfortunately, I could only use this guy once because the smell was absolutely horrific. It was so incredibly strong, and I think I may have even gagged once from it. I smelled it in the store but even then I didn't realize how strong the smell was. Not to mention, it expires in less than a year. That smell with a very steep price of $21 and that expiration date? No thanks. 

R&B from Lush was not that much different. At $23, it did last longer than the other one, and I could tolerate the smell without feeling like I needed to throw up. However, it was still a very particular smell that I didn't like and there's so many better (and cheaper) (and better smelling) products to put in the ends of your hair to moisturize it. Overall, just not worth it. 

Of course, these are my opinions and you could end up absolutely loving the smells of these. Your best bet is to give it a good sniff in the store and see if you can really tolerate it for that long, because they both linger. I really wish they did have better smells because they were pretty good products! Such a disappointing "don't"!

Sephora Birthday Review

It's that time of year again (although for many of you it's probably past that time) where I review the sephora birthday gift. This years brand was Nars and let me tell you it didn't disappoint. 

Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien: This lovely pencil is a pinky nude "my lips but better" kind of color. It's got a sheen to it but its definitely not a gloss, just a like you licked your lips. I like the color, it's a very unique one, but the formula itself is so-so. It's very similar to tarte lipsurgance, but comes off on everything and isn't quite as moisturizing. 

Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella: Staying power!! This pencil is a very finicky one to get on, because it's so bright and matte. Just use a precise hand and follow the contour of the lip. Otherwise, I love everything about it. Hours of wear, and my lips don't feel dry, and the color is just slightly darker than a firetruck red which I think is very elegant. I would very much recommend this one! Just be careful because like the satin, it can come off on things fairly easy. My favorite of the set!

Larger than Life Longwear Pencil Eyeliner: (only for rouge members) This is a very nice (twist up… yay for no sharpening) black eyeliner that is up there with the rest of them. Even though it says long wear, the staying power isn't fantastic, but it's very easy to use and not at all smudgy compared to other eyeliners I've tried. With a little eye base, I'd say that this is pretty good!

Overall I'd say better than last year in terms of products and quality. I do really like the lip pencils and they are a nice little travel thing or just everyday wear. You can find the kit here. Can't wait to see whats for next year!