The One Hair Product to Rule Them All

Hello, dear readers,

Remember the last time you heard from me? I didn't think so. I am one of [what seems like] only a few people who like to read about why bloggers have taken such a long leave of absence whenever one happens to occur. However, despite having written several updates in the past, I realize many people read that as a long-winded essay of excuses. I shall spare you the boredom before I move on to the actual post; instead, I will give you this abbreviated list: School, blah blah blah, job searching, blah blah blah, personal reasons, etc. Essentially a compilation of acts and events that many people perform and go through, respectively, while they are still breathing and moving. I believe it's called life. I did not prioritize this blog. There you have it.

And now on to what we do, in fact, care about: The one ring hair product that beats them all, in all its shining glory:

See? Even the bottle is shining!

We have here the Aquage® SeaExtend® Ultimate ColorCare® Silkening Oil Treatment. No, there are no typos there. Yes, there are that many registered trademark symbols.

As you can most likely see in the photo, the product claims it "creates silky, smooth, frizz-free hair," and I have to say I agree with that assessment. I don't make those kinds of statements lightly, because my wavyish, curlyish hair is a fan of frizz and flyaways. The picture above shows the 1.7 oz bottle, which is convenient for travel, and I also have the 4.5 oz full size.

The full size bottle reads: "Ultra-light formula delivers silky, smooth, frizz-free hair. Restores moisture and shine. Seals in haircolor for longer lasting results. Speeds drying time up to 40%. Crystal-clear; won't alter color tone. Exclusive Thermal-V® [Yup, another registered trademark. These people are dedicated] heat protection."

It is important to note that I have never colored my hair in my life. To that end, I cannot speak to those particular claims that pertain to preserving color. I pretty much never use heat to style my hair, so I'm not a reliable source for confirming the 40% faster drying time. So what can I address? The fact that it makes hair silky, smooth, and frizz-free.

My hairstylist introduced me to this product, and my mom sneakily bought it when I wasn't there [thanks, Mom!]. My hair looked fantastically smooth and shiny when the stylist used it after my hair cut and before blow drying my hair, and I suppose my mom was sold. Granted, I can never get my hair to behave quite like the hairstylist can, but it works for me nonetheless. This product contains argan oil as the fourth ingredient, along with sweet almond oil, blue sea beet, seaweed, blue sea kale and sea fennel, not in that order. Can you see where the "SeaExtend®" name came from? No? Okay.

Argan oil helps fight frizz, moisturize, and smooth hair, and all the fancy sea botanical ingredients help to do the same. I mostly use this product after a shower, so I detangle my hair with a wide tooth comb before taking a big T-shirt and squeezing out excess moisture. I then put a couple of pumps of Silkening Oil Treatment in my hands and apply from about ear level down to the ends, concentrating on those ends. I run another comb through my hair to evenly distribute the treatment. When my hair dries, it is smoother and shinier. With the exception of a few flyaways, there is no frizz to speak of. It doesn't weigh down my hair either.

This being a salon-only professional product, it is not cheap. My full size bottle says it is $36, and I'm not sure about the smaller size. To read more about the product and see a video demonstration of its suggested use, visit the Aquage® web page here for Silkening Oil Treatment. 

Easy to use and effective, I say this product is a champ.

I hope you enjoyed this long-winded review; I'm sure you desperately missed those.

Happy June!

x Esther

Nailed It: A Mini Review of imPRESS Press-On Manicure

Hello, dear readers,

I am taking you back in time once again to my post on the spring Influenster VoxBox from last June. In case you're unfamiliar with Influenster, you can click here to find out more. One of the products sent to me in that VoxBox was the imPRESS Press-On Manicure from Broadway Nails. The pattern I received was called "Over the Moon."

 

You can see in the image above that the kit contains 24 stick-on nails in 12 different sizes, cutely packaged in a fake plastic nail polish bottle. It claims to be "fast and easy" and to last up to a week.

The first thing I noticed about these nails was the cool pattern. If you're anything like me, you love nail art but have very little patience to sit down and create said nail art yourself. I tend to only paint fancy or funky designs for special occasions [See: New Year's Eve 2011, Harry Potter opening night]. As you may imagine, I was pretty excited to have the lazy girl's version of quality nail art. The pattern here is made up of abstract deep red and gold swirls, for lack of a better word.

It's safe to say that I checked "excellent pattern" off the list. After that, I was slightly dismayed to take a closer look at the size of the nails. For reference, I have baby hands. I kid you not; I will never be a hand model with digits this diminutive and childlike. With hands like mine come short, wide nails. Naturally, I found that hardly any of the press-on nails completely covered the width of my own nails. Now this was only visible to me, because they did come close, but it was still a disappointment. The length was, quite frankly, laughable. Here is a view of my hand with the nails at their full length:

Baby hands + Talons = Not on my watch

Some people may like the look of talons, but I like to be able to use my hands. I took a pair of nail scissors to these straightaway after the initial application, hacking them down to a more appropriate size. The application itself was simple: I took the nails I wanted; laid them out in the desired order; and one at a time, I pressed the nails on.

Cutting them, however, was a pain. I had to cut into the adhesive that makes these products stick, and that left me with little balled up gluey bits between the fake nails and my real fingers. I peeled these off, but red glue kept coming through. Not enough to be noticeable to anyone else, but slightly irritating nonetheless. This is what they looked like after I cut them:

Baby hands with baby sized nails.

Much more to my taste. Aside from the sizing issues and the bits of glue reappearing throughout the 6 days I wore them, these nails didn't budge. They would have lasted one more day, but I had no patience for them anymore. The reason? They felt heavy to me, and I was eager for a change. I will say that I got several compliments on them, and my summer internship boss thought I painted them myself. Now that's what I call a success. Another bonus: No nasty chemical smell.

These nails retail from somewhere between $5 and $9 on average. I personally wouldn't purchase them, because I prefer painting my own nails. With this price point, I think it's more economical to buy a bottle of polish that will allow for numerous applications rather than the two applications this provides. I don't have the patience to painstakingly re-size all the nails either, nor do I adore the heavy feeling.

What I can say is that this product lives up to its claims. It is indeed easy to use, and it will last up to a week. There are other patterns available, and the convenience factor of pretty nail art with no effort is appealing. If you want a super simple, quick way to get professional looking nails and can't stand the smell of regular polish, I'd say checking these out would be worth your time.

As for me, I'll stick with the noxious fumes DIY approach.

How do you like to do your nails?

xEsther