Pureology

Anyone who reads my blog probably has figured out that I like to shop and enjoy trying new things. Well, I have recently refound an old favorite that has made my Shannon's Picks list…Pureology!

It has probably been over a year since I have personally washed my hair. And before you get too wigged out, 1) African Americans typically don’t wash their hair every day and 2) I typically go to a salon to have my hair wash and styled every one to two weeks.

Anyhoo…

While on my current work assignment, and having a lack of available resources, I decided to wash my own hair. After a trip to Ulta (and $200 later) I was ready to tackle my do. I decided to pick up Pureology shampoo and conditioner since it has an exclusive AntiFade complex which is good for color treated hair and relaxed hair. I also had a previous stylist who used the Pureology line in her salon. Wow, did I forget how wonderful it is!

Photo Credit: http://www.pureology.com/systems/hydrate

While using the Hydrate Shampoo I noticed how great it was for detangling my hair. I could easily get my fingers through my hair to really get to my scalp. And the conditioner…double wow! I have a dry scalp and I could really feel the Hydrate Condition working on my scalp. There is peppermint in the conditioner that created a tingling sensation on my scalp. After leaving the conditioner on while I finished showering my hair soft and silky when I rinsed it. And I finished things off by using the Fortifying Heat Spray before blow drying my hair and using my Instyler.

So if you’re looking for a new shampoo and conditioner, I think you can’t go wrong with the Pureology line of products!

Do you have any styling products that you love and would recommend others to try?

The Eyebrows Have It

When I’m on a work assignment, sometimes my personal maintenance suffers. I mean, I can’t just go to just anybody to have my hair done or waxing services completed! So one of the great things about being in Indy for a work assignment is that The Eyelash Place is still open!

Now from the name you probably wouldn’t think that eyebrow waxing takes place there, but it does. Back in 1997 when I first moved to Indy was when I started getting my eyebrows waxed by someone who understands that having great eyebrows is an art form. Before then, I would tweeze them myself or go to someone who would over wax them. But after I learned about the wonderful world of eyebrow grooming, I never looked back!

I never realized how much eyebrows play a part in framing ones face. (Now of course I know that a uni-brow doesn’t do anyone any good!) My eyebrows have a good natural arch, although they do require some TLC to stay looking great. Lynn at The Eyelash Place was the first person that did more than just waxing….in addition to waxing away my wayward hairs, she tweezed superfine, hard to see hairs (did I mention she wears super microscopic goggles?), and also trimmed and shaped my eyebrows with scissors. The end result is nothing short of fabulous…perfectly framed and well-maintained eyebrows!

After living in Indy for 8 years and having wonderful eyebrows, you can imagine my sadness when I relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio for my company. Although I tried and tried and tried many salons for eyebrow grooming, they all paled in comparison to The Eyelash Place. I would even break down and make special trips to drive 2 hours to Indy to get my eyebrows waxed!

Then one day the eyebrow gods smiled on me…

They sent me to Jenny, the Eyebrow Expert! Jenny was even more fabulous than Lynn at The Eyelash Place and by far the best part of living in Cincinnati (no offense to anyone who might live there!). (Jenny also introduced me to Michele watches - one of my favorite things! - although that’s a story for another time.) Since leaving Cincy nearly 5 years ago, I have been back there once for a work assignment and my love affair with Jenny picked up again, although only for a short time. I keep praying to the eyebrow gods that Jenny is able to open a second location in Dallas...man, I miss her! (And once you read about Jenny on her website, you'll see that she sums up perfectly what eyebrows should be!)

Now, I don’t want you thinking that I fly all over the country just to have my eyebrows waxed! Fortunately, before I moved to Dallas I was there for 3 months on a work assignment. During that time I found Tara who is my current eyebrow artist. Tara keeps my brows looking great when I am in town. And when I return from a work assignment (unless I’m in Indy or Cincy) she’s there to groom my eyebrows back after whomever got wax or tweeze happy and tried to jack them up while I was away from her.

So, if you are ever in Indy, Cincy or Dallas, you’ve got 3 fantastic places to go for your brows!

Product Expiration Dates

After my trip to Sephora, my mind slowly drifted to all of the skin care and make up products that I already have. I have so many perfumes, moisturizers, lip glosses, lotions, etc. that from the outside looking in, an outsider would think that I probably don't need to purchase any additional items. And if I were really being honest, I probably don't need to purchase any skin related products for the rest of this year. 

Some people might think this is borderline hoarding of some type but I honestly need these things!

So, since I do have all of these items, I decided to look up what expiration dates are of products. And that's when things got a little scary. Here's what I found out:

General period after opening is:
Perfumes, perfume – up to 3 years;
Powders (including blush, eyeshadows powdery texture) – 1 to 3 years;
Foundation in a jar or a cream powder – 1 to 3 years;
Liquid tone means (in tubes or jars with dispenser) – 1 year;
Nail polish – 1 year;
Sun cosmetics – 1 year (but no more than one season);
Lipstick, lip gloss – 1 year;
Pencil (Eye, Lip) – about 1 year;
Skin care products (hydrating cosmetics, wrinkle, eye contour) in a sealed packet with the pump – about a year, in a jar – from 6 to 10 months;
Solid eyeliner and eyebrow pencil – from 6 to 8 months;
Bronzing – 6 months;
Mascara – 3-6 months;
Liquid eyeliner – from 3 to 4 months;
Natural/Organic products – up to 6 months.

Yikes!

I decided to look up the expiration of a few items, and let’s just say that I will need to throw some items away. Like yesterday. And there are some items that will be expiring within the next six months.

I also learned that some items have a PAO (period after opening) date. I had always seen a symbol like a jar printed on some products, with an ‘18M’ printed inside the symbol. This means the product is good for 18 months after it has been opened. But of course if the product expiration date occurs first, then that might prevail. To be honest, trying to decipher some of this stuff started to give me a headache (and I’m sure you might be getting one too right about now). So here’s a link to the site that I used to get information AND it has a product calculator on it: http://checkcosmetic.net/

I have a feeling that I won’t be the only person throwing away some items…

Ah, Sephora

Today I made a long overdue trip to Sephora – the make-up, skincare, lotion and potion wonderland. For me, Sephora is one stop shopping for anything beauty related. And the best part is that I can test whatever I want to purchase before I actually make the purchase. (Well, today the best part was probably that I had a Sephora gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket) Which brings me to today’s testing excursion…nail polish!

For the most part, I don’t have a nail polish collection at home. I get mani’s and pedi’s on a regular basis and I typically select a color from the salon that I go to. Couple of problems with that: 1) I tend to wear the same colors over and over again and 2) if I chip a nail I don’t have the color at home to do a quick touch up. So today I decided that I would find a signature color to wear for the rest of the winter months. After trying on about 15 different colors (thankfully there was a wonderful and conditioning nail polish remover handy), I finally landed on a Sephora for OPI color named ‘Metro Chic’.

I like it because it is a neutral color that should go with just about anything that I am wearing. And to me, it is kind of grayish with a purplish undertone to it (and then again, I could be becoming colorblind) which seems to be pretty popular right now. (I am happy to announce that Sephora lists the color as ‘opaque dark smoke with a hint of purple’, so I wasn’t too far off with my description of the color!)

Other purchases for the day were a new blush brush and Urban Decay eye primer. (Since I have spoken about this amazing product before, I’ll have to later this week!) And the second best part of the Sephora excursion was that after using my gift card, it only cost me $1.42…winning!!!

Korres Lip Butter and Full Color Gloss

While on a work assignment in a VERY dry part of the country I found myself in dire need of a new lip product to hydrate and moisturize my lips. (When your lips are so dry that you start licking them and then begin to see the start of chapping around your lips, you know they are way too dry and that it is time for an intervention!)

I took this unfortunate situation as an opportunity to visit one of my favorite one stop beauty stores...Sephora! When I was in a Sephora store earlier this year I remembered a friend tried a product that she said felt like heaven on her lips. So I beelined my way right to...

Korres Lip Butter! Even though the label says 'a buttery lip balm that melts on the lips', I had NO idea what I was in store for. When I first touched my lips with the lip butter, I think my lips let out a sign of relief and began clapping. And when the labels says the lip butter melts on the lips, this is not an understatement...it literally did melt on my lips!

I purchased the Guava Lip Butter and not a tinted variety (But I will be back to purchase some of the tinted lip butter!). I thought the Guava would be great to wear to bed and also as a base under my other lip glosses and lip sticks (The website says the guava color is clear, but it is not. It turned my lips a pale shade of white). Within days I witnessed a transformation of my lips back to the smooth, kissable lips that I remembered and missed.

While I was falling in love with the lip butter, a salesperson came over and suggested the Korres Full Color Gloss. He raved about the gloss because it doesn't have the tacky feel that many lip glosses/lip glasses have. My hesitation was that the product is made with cherry oil. And I don''t like cherry flavored anything! But with his insistence I tried the gloss. And guess what? I fell in love for the second time that night!

The Full Color Gloss goes on soooooo smooth and there is no sticky feeling (especially great if you have longer hair and it is a windy day!). To be honest I think I was just being hypersensitive about the cherry flavor...either I have gotten used to the flavor or I now like cherries.

Although I am a loyal fan of another cosmetic line that carries lip glosses/lip glasses, I will be adding the Korres line to my make up bag. At this time the only thing stopping me from letting the Korres line become number one is the limited number of colors.

Item of Note: Upon doing a little more research on http://www.sephora.com/, I realized that the tinted lip butter can also be used on the cheeks to give a natural, healthy glow.

Skincare Junkie

I love, love, LOVE skincare products! And my friends that have spent hours with me in Sephora can second that. Last night when I was out with friends, one asked if I had anything she could use for her lips. Well, of course I did! My two new favorite lip products are Estee Lauder's Nutritious Vita-Mineral Lip Treatment and Sugar Lip Treatment with SPF 15.

The Estee Lauder product just feels like heaven when you place it on your lips...it goes on smooth and you can just feel it hydrating your lips. The great thing is that it has lots of nutrients (hence the name!) which really help my very dry lips. I use this product all by itself, under matte lipsticks, or on top of lipsticks to give an extra glossy shine. (My friend liked it too, especially once people started asking her what type of lip gloss did she have on and that her lips looked wonderful)

The Sugar Lip Treatment is just as great for a different reason. Due to the cost, I only use this product in the morning before I go walking (since it has SPF) and at night before I go to bed. This product really penetrates the skin and it is also a great exfoliater.

So if you are looking for 2 great lip products I personally endorse these! They can be found at any major department store that carries Estee Lauder and Fresh skincare products.