Hey, just wanted to add in here, if you are considering having microdermabrasion done at some point, be sure to purchase a “package” deal if you can. Not only will you see much more results if you purchase these packages - usually of six treatments or more, but the establishment will also allow you to get some sort of discount.
It’s basically a win/win situation - they’re getting more business, you’re saving money and getting better results. If you want to try a home microderm kit, look to the right - they’ve got all of em pretty cheap…
L’Oreal Hair Color - the Only Nondrying One on My Hair
That’s right, I only use L’Oreal hair color when I’m gonna color my own hair. I’ve actually gotten fairly good at coloring my own hair, but if I decide I’m going to get highlights or some sort of intricate low lighting or something, I’ll definitely put that in the hands of the professionals at the salon.
My most recent favorite - which I used about 3 times in a row - a record for me, is the L’Oreal line of hair color called Colour Experte. I love L’Oreal hair colors because they don’t dry my hair out as much as the other brands, and they are pretty true to the cover of the box how your color should turn out.
L’Oreal’s Colour Experte is a hair color that consists of a highlighting mixture as well as an allover color, that complement eachother. ALthought the only complaint I have about this multi tonal hair colour is that, as usual, the little highlihter tool is very hard to use, because you end of getting much larger chunks with the lighter color than you want - this is where it might be handier to go to a colorist.
Even though you’re only putting a few, strategically placed highlights in your hair with this type of home system, you may leave it in too long and end up with too much contrast, or the opposite - not leave it on long enough and not notice any difference at all where your hair is supposed to be “highlighted”.
This may sound completely crazy to some of you, but I’ve gotten really into olive oil in my skin care products lately. Ever since I read that olive oil - even just pure virgin olive oil in the rough, applied to the facial skin, provides a myriad of skin clarifying and anti aging benefits.
While many skin care products have taken advantage of the claims of olive oils skin mending properties, there are only a view that I’ve found that have the right ingredients (ie real olive oil extract) that make the difference.
The one I’ve liked lately is Olio de Oliva. It’s an Italian import, and I was lucky enough to get it on sale at Marshalls as a closeout at like $6 a bottle. It comes in a small opaque ceramic bottle, and it’s a light pink color. I’m using that along with Elizabeth Arden skin cream during the day with ceramides in it.
I like the combo, but unfortunately since I bought into the whole “oh you have to have this” spiel from the ladies at the spa where I got my microdermabrasion, I guess I’ll be switching to BioElements skin care for a little while, which I’ll be able to review once I figure out if it’s working over the next few weeks. Why, oh why do we have to cave in so easily 
This is a review of the Estee Lauder Self Tanner called “Go Bronze”. While this product may be a little on the “high end” as far as cost, and I wish they gave you a larger tube of the product for the $25.00 you spend. With that said, this is one of my all time favorite self tanners, for both the instant tan it gives with the bronze formula, as well as the long lasting tan it delivers after one or two applications.
Drawbacks: Well, you know this will be a drawback for almost every single self tanner on the market, the smell is not the greatest, especially once the self tanning action kicks in, which is about an hour into the application after effects.
Cost is another drawback for Estee Lauder Go Bronze , since it is fairly costly, and the bottle only supplies about 6 full body applications. If you consider that you usually needs two coats of any self tanner to last a good week, without fading adn spotting all weird, this isn’t much - it’s only about three weeks worth of product for $25.00.
But hey if you have the money to spends, and your a tanorexic, self tanner like me - GO FOR IT. This product delivers excellent results and lasting color, as well as a great deep brown and realistic tan with zero orange color look.
I bought about 6 new hair products prior to and on the day I got my cold smoothing hair process done. One of them is the Redken anti frizz cream called Outshine. I really like it. It’s actually called an “anti-frizz polishing milk”. And what it is is a fairly opaque cream that’s not too thick, and glides through your hair very easily and feels almost like velvet.
Why I Like Redken Outshine:
You don’t need to much of it, a little goes a long way, and will cover a lot of your head, just don’t glob it all one one spot - make sure to EVENLY DISTRIBUTE throughout as much of your hair as you can.
The stuff is very light, not greasy or too thick feeling, and doesn’t leave a weird dull residue on your hair like so many other glossers and high shine hair polishers do.
At first I thought that Outshine didn’t come in a big enough package for the money - by the way it costs $15.00 for 3.4 FL OZ. of the product - but now that I see how far a little dab goes in my fairly long hair, I think it’s enough for the fifteen bucks. I actually kind of appreciate the compact packaging now that I know it goes a long way.
It’s got Shea Butter in it, which I LOVE - on my body and my hair - it’s an actual humectant, and helps deliver real moisture to your hair, not just deposit drying silicone droplets like many other high shine products are designed to do.
It’s been exactly 24 hours since my first microdermabrasion appointment, and my skin is still a little red looking, but no dryness or sloughing has occurred yet. My aesthetician did advise that the best results will be if I do my six session run at two week intervals, I will get the most out of the sessions.
She also advised that it is critical I use sun block for the first few days after the microderm treatment, since my skin will not have the same defenses (they’ve basically been blasted off lol), and I will be very prone to sunburn and free radical damage due to the suns damaging rays getting to my skin more easily.
One thing I am hoping for, besides the reduction of my every-growing crows feet, and recurring acne scarring that just won’t seem to go away, is less visible pores on the right side of my nose. Cynthia, the woman who did the microderm on my skin, also gave me some referrals for skin care products (of course it was the one they sell at the spa) called BioElements. I hope it works, because for forty eight bucks a pop, it better work!
She gave me a pumice peel and manual microderm set, as well as an anti stress serum which I’m honestly not too sure I like right now. The BioElement stress serum seems to be just a silicone-type serum, while it does feel smooth going on, I have to wonder if I’m just slicking on a very expensive silicone protectant? Time will tell. I’ll keep you posted on the results, of course.
Body Wash and Soap for Cellulite?
The latest thing I’ve seen are these products that claim to tighten and firm your cellulite problem areas - just by showering? Yeah, they’re cellulite body washes and soaps, which claim to help you tighten the spongy look in your thighs, buttocks and stomach through most likely, the use of ingredients such as caffeine and seaweed extract - a known tightening ingredient. Before you get too excited though, you would still need a cream to finish off the toned look for the day.
I’ve found it best to use my cellulite cream in the morning, about 30 minutes after rising, when any water retention I’ve gained over night has gone away, that way I feel like I can get the full benefit of my tightening cellulite cream by applying it so it lasts throught the day.
Just wanted to give you guys a preview of all the self tanners I’ve tried, and will eventually be, or course providing reviews for the best of the best and the worst:
- Estee Lauder Go Bronze
- Neutrogena foam self tanner
- Jergens Glow Gradual self tanner
- Tan Towels
- Generic brand tan towels
- L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Cream
- L’Oreal Sublime Bronze Gel
- Sally Hansen Spray Self Tanner for the Body
- Sally Hansen Spray Self Tanner for the Face
- Banana Boat self tanner
- XenTan Self Tanner
- Chocolate Mousse Whipped self tanner by Body Drench
- Spray Self Tan System Professional Airbrush
- Mystic Tan (the tanning booth kind of self tan)
- Bain De Soleil self tanner with streak guard ( I did not like this one, I’ll tell you that now!)
- Clinique self tanner
- Bath and Body Works Spa Beauty series self tanner for the legs
- Alba Botanica self tan
- Coppertone Endless Summer
- Neutrogena self tanner - cream
I’ll add to this list, because I do feel like I’m foretting several of the products I’ve tried - don’t forget I’ve been self tanning since way before everyone else started to do it, due to my love of the sunkissed look, and a deadly aversion to the sun (I’ve had two precancerous sunspots removed already - I’m Irish and naturally pale).
Ok, so I DID IT. Got my cold smoothing done yesterday and I LOVE IT. It’s almost half the price of Japanese straightening, of course depending on what salon you choose to go to, and it has almost exactly the same outcome. The only thing is, I don’t believe this will stay as long as a thermal reconditioning treatment would, so I guess time will tell on that one. With thermal reconditioning, at about 8-9 months was when I started to notice my curl was coming back and my hair wasn’t as smooth as it was before.
Why Did I Choose Cold Smoothing Over Thermal Reconditioning This Time?
Well, I decided that I really missed that body and wave that I used to hate so much in the summer, but only because of the frizz that went along with it. Sure, the straight as a bone, sleek look that thermal reconditioning gives is awesome and it looks great for a while, but you get “bored” with it after a while, because all you see day in and day out is a flat as a board hair with no lift and no volume. Not to mention, curl and wave and body are back in style this season - BIG TIME!
I have to say, right now my hair is very flat just like it was with the thermal recon, but once I get to wash it for the first time, it should have a little bit of body, depending on what products I use and how I blow it out etc. The real test of whether this process was worth it will be the first wash. Then I can truly see how much of the frizz it took out of my hair, and also hopefully get a little body into it.
I’ll keep you updated on the first washing. I can’t wash for 72 hours and can’t get it wet or anything, so it’ll be about two days before I can update you. Also I’ll let you know what products I got for body vs. straightening. Hopefully it’s some good stuff. You know I’ll review those hair care products too!
I just had my first microdermabrasion appointment in a series of six today, and my skin is feeling a little “raw” right now. I just took my shower and washed my face and it felt a little sensitive. This time though (I’ve had a series of six microdermabrasion appointments about three years ago too and loved the results, just haven’t had the time to go for another round), I remember a lot more irritation and redness, also sloughing off of my skin afterwards.
I’m hoping that if I keep my skin amply moisturized with the moisturizers they guilted me into buying (lol, haven’t we all been there), I will have minimum peeling or sloughing. I’ll keep you posted on how my skin looks post dermabrasion - for this first appointment.
The aesthetician that performed this first treatment on me used a 3 1/2 setting on my skin. The dermabrasion system only goes up to a five, so she must have felt fairly confident my skin could take a higher abrasion setting. I’m going to let her go a little more agressive next time though, since there are some crows feet that I’m needing to get rid of, and I would like fairly agressive treatment in those problem areas.
I’ll tell you a little more about this microdermabrasion tomorrow - at the moment I’m thinking of going to bed! It’s almost midnight here (Cleveland OH) and past my bedtime. Need my beauty sleep!
