WHOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHH! Izunami G6 Blowdryer Take Me Away!

I have seriously thick hair.

Japanee-hair.

Wire-horse hair like strands.

And really thick – lots o hair on my head.

So, when we have really muggy thick like pea soup weather in the 808, drying my hair is a real chore in the no-a/c bathroom.

Even with the little pip-squeek fan-ain’t no thang! Can’t get my hair dry.

Frowns around!

I had a brand new blow drier-which is perfectly fine for finer haired sisters, but it just couldn’t puff hard enough for me.

Remember the days when blowdryers became available for non-hair stylists? Back in the days of Farrah and her wings, or those bowl hair cuts, that were round all-around with the curls blown under?

I was soooo jealous of my cousin who’s mom was a stylist -because my cuz had one of the first yellow bumble bee dryers-made by Conair.

Anyway..

So, tooling around my favorite beauty supply store, BOSS on Nimitz Highway, right after the Costco turn if you’re going Ewa, I am lucky enough to catch Lincoln Whang – chief beauty guy and owner.

I told him my issue and he showed me a couple of driers–the top grade of the Izanumi line was a little out of my budget so he showed me the totally sleek G6.

The G6 is light, pretty in silver, and the cylinder doesn’t get hot. It is designed for professionals who have to blow dry hair all day, so they can take a break and hold it by the cylinder.

Plus it is quiet, easy to clean, and has unbelievable power – like I mean thrust -like the ability to dry my hair FAST!  Izanumi designed the drier for this purpose-there’s a video online if you choose to check it out on their website.  I’d post, but the video host’s voice is a little much for me – so it must be the same for others.

I highly recommend checking out this blow dryer for people with really thick hair-or for those who want to get out the door fast!

k

 

 

Advertisement

Cream Silk-y Smoothe–Kitoko Body Cream

I’m a glutton for a beauty product store.  I got the bf hooked on Revivogen- since February the product has given back real estate on his receding hairline on the top of his head.

On a recent hair supply run to BOSS Beauty Supply on Nimitz Hwy in Honolulu, I was tooling around waiting for him when I came upon a new Kitoko product.

I used a few bottles of the yummy smelling Kitoko Oil on my path to get my hair back into condition, and loved the soft, kind of nutty, rich smell.  Not like coconut, but somehow has a rich scent.

Anyway.

The new product has both the original Kitoko Oil’s Karite oil and now Argan Oil.

Super softening and non-greasy, this is the new pick for body lotion. Plus it smells so good, I don’t need to put on perfume-which I really don’t wear anyway.

I have a hard time reading the print on the tube, but the original Kitoko oil products provide sunscreen via antioxidant Vit E, and Argan oil is supposed to have 3 times the amount of Vit E.

But at the end of the day, I still say wear sunscreen.

k

 

Update Deux – Nerium AD

Update 8/14/14

I as checking out Biologic Stem Cells-my friend gave me a sample so I found this site.  Kind of scary about Nerium.

http://barefacedtruth.com/2014/05/21/review-neriumfirm-body-contouring-cream/

http://barefacedtruth.com/2014/03/06/goodfellas-v-worsefellas-liotta-sues-nerium-international-over-fake-beforeafter-photos/

What I wonder about is, if Nerium AD is so fantastic, why do the manufacturers advertise?

Actually, more accurately, my question is, why don’t any beauty oriented articles or magazines comment on the “wonder” product?

Nerium AD stories on my blog are amongst the top 5 since I started in February this year.

737 page views on the first post, and 95 on the update. A trailing second place is my article on skincare products at TJ Maxx and other outlets–is the efficacy of the product intact? (I think it’s fine to buy soap etc-but if the product is supposed to have an active ingredient-I wonder how active it still is after it has sat on the shelf somewhere else before making it’s way to Ross and the like).  People are also very interested in korean toe masks – which are really foot masks – cool little booties worn to soften your feet skin.

I digress.

The search queries are–

will nerium help with melasma

nerium cult

is nerium ad poisonous?

will nerium help brown spots?

is nerium ad toxic?

nerium doesn’t work

nerium ad smell

nerium ad puffy eyes

You get the picture.

I can only talk about my experience and what people tell me-mostly that they have gone through the product and say it made their skin really really dry, didn’t get much in the way of results etc.

My own experience, was meh.

The power of pyramid marketing is pretty astounding.

Is it any different than other advertising?

Hmmm.

k

FUNKY with a Capital F-Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream

Funakdiscious-funkalicious-funky this and that.

There must be a new marketing director at Elizabeth Arden -haven’t heard about this brand for years until the last year or so.

More mags of late have had beauty editors gushing about how great this iconic cream is.  The urban legend is it was formulated with flight attendants in mind(stewardesses back when it was created) because they work in uber dry conditions and needed some extra care.

So when Macy’s had the Elizabeth Arden gift with purchase, I went to our local Ala Moana store–I wondered did they recently add an Elizabeth counter? Eons ago, back in the Helena Rubenstien days, Arden had a counter too.

The Chanel girl told me, no, they had once carried the cream in the new section of trendy boutique brands, but not any more.

So,me having never tried it, went online and, to get the gift bought 2 tubes.

It arrived yesterday and after cleansing, I squeezed out a bit.  It looks like a gel, so I squeezed out about a 1/2 inch thinking it was more like jello.

It was not.

I put some on, and it was so thick it was like dragging on my skin to spread it.  It’s like vaseline jelly if you froze it, or otherwise sucked out the moisture and slide- ability.

I thought, ok I’ll give it a chance even though it feels terrible and smells funky funky funky.

I attempted to rub the remainder on elbows and knees but only made them stick so I washed it off.

Then the bf comes for a goodnight kiss and right away his reaction is ewgh! What do you have on-it’s terrible, spleh spleh spleh–and he promptly went to brush his teeth again.

Climbing into bed he further growsed about how terrible the product smelled and said it made his lips numb.

Needless to say I washed it all off and applied something else.

On the reviews, I only read about people who loved the cream.  I don’t know if I got a funky batch-but what I had was eewwww!

ew!

ew!

k

Lash Me Update-Lancome Hypnose Super Duper Drama and LM LL Bleu

I like it big I like it fat I like it loooonnnngggg!!

No no nononononono-I’m talking about my lashes!

The life of an eyelash is 90 days, and since the first round of grande lash md to grow them really long, I’ve been lazy.

So, being the type that uses my mascara samples, of which I’ve gotten bored, I venture to the Lancome counter.  The very friendly person was at Ala Moana and is now at WW mall.  We go through all the types of Lancome – and I have had a sample of Hypnose but there are so many variations my head hurt.

So I end up picking the Hypnose Drama – it has a wavy brush that you maneuver to help lengthen and curl at the same time.

For whatever reason, I find myself on the other side of the island and at NM’s Laura Mercier counter.  I’ve been reading about blue mascara and how it brightens your eyes-so I’ve been looking around for a month or two.  I checked the drugstore shelves for a cheap suitor – but to no avail, in the land of dark hair color, I found mostly black, really black, and brownish black.

I knew Laura Mercier would have and yes she did.  I had a sample of Long Lashes in Black, so that’s where I started.  The rep put on the Bleu version of long lashes and the affect is very subtle, but definitely there.

When I use the two together – the Drama and the Long Lash Bleu-I really do think my eyes look brighter.

I only apply one coat of mascara of anything I put on – because I just don’t have the time.

I barely have time to curl my lashes, which I decided to do after having the squeezey curler from LM for months.

It’s a great effect. I need a little push and pull and lengthen.

I guess that’s a better way to put it.

So then.

k

It Looked Good In The Store-Urban Decay BB

I love love love Urban Decay’s Naked line packaging. Somehow you think you’re going to squeeze out something bronze and shimmering when you open a tube of their new BB cream.

What’s curious to me is, it comes out with a tint, but any salesperson will swear it’s translucent.

When I put it on my hand in the store, it appears to give a little coverage – making my hand skin look a little polished.

Excited to get it home and on my face (I never put products on my face or lips. Why? You have to read those icky reports of  what and how many germs live on the product testers. I don’t mind putting it on my hand when I can wipe it off with alcohol tho.), but true to the salesperson’s pitch-it changes the color of my facial skin not at all.

I can’t really see the benefit of using it since I am a faithful skincare devotee. So anything I get from a product is truly just extra.

ByeBye BB!

k

What I Really Really Want! Foundation that matches my skin!

It really bugs me when purchasing foundation in any form – tinted moisturizer, powder compact, creme compact, foundation stick, liquid and any other gyration, and it doesn’t work for me once i head out the store.

My pet peeve is when the makeup artist projects their desire to be tan and sells me foundation that is too dark.

Only to be topped by my other peeve – that even in the best stores, the lighting is terrible and you can’t see that the color doesn’t work, before you plunk down your hard earned cash!

(The exception to the lighting issue is the Mac company store.  Customers have their foundation applied in such gorgeous light – how can you possibly be mismatched? All in the pursuit of a flawless, usually matte visage’).

I’ve been pretty lucky with Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier foundation color – but mostly because I advocate for my self since my former beloved Bobbi rep left almost 3 years ago to pursue a career in nails and brows – after that, the remaining salespeople never really convinced me they were trying to find the best colors and products for me. Every time I would go to the counter and the colors I bought from them like lipsticks and eye shadows have bit the dust or I gave them to my friends.

I constantly read about the raves for Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturizer and having had myself “matched” and given the color sand – I just couldn’t make it work.

Love love love LM’s Radiance Primer-and finally found using a light dusting of her powder compact foundation was the best solution.

But I just couldn’t give up the search – the quest for the perfected tinted moisturizer in the fabled line.

So, I recently packed for a trip, and somehow my dop kit full of make up is reduced to a small box about 1/3 the size.  Mostly because I break out the samples.

In the last NM bag, I got a sample of LM tinted moisturizer which I tossed off because I thought it was the same sand color that doesn’t really work.

Unbelievably the color in the sample tube is perfection! Now I believe when others gush about LM.

Anyway–the perfect color on the face is the one that matches your skin, but makes you look a bit better.  I don’t really like a truly flawless face, tho for a big night out it works. But what I’m really getting at is some people don’t realize that their foundation has become really gray on their skin, or has caked.

I know easy is well easy, but when your face is the first thing people see, then well…why wear powder foundation if it dries and crackles, or mineral powder that turns gray, or pink foundation when your undertone is yellow.

Oh well.

k