Ah, Parissa, you drugstore queen of hair removal, I love your Warm Wax and Body Sugar kits oh so very much! When I heard about your latest hair removal product — 2 in 1 Roll-On Body Sugar ($20) — I was *so confident* in your skillz that I grew out my ‘stash for two whole weeks! Sure, I looked like Groucho Marx, but I knew you wouldn’t let me down.
Or so I thought…
Check out the green dispenser ball. Doesn’t it look like medieval weaponry? I’d never used anything quite like it before. According to the company, the shape of the ball (fits nicely in the palm of my hand) and the roller wheel dispenser are supposed to make it quick and easy to use. Holding it in my hand for the first time, I was definitely looking forward to giving it a try.
Per the instructions, I microwaved the ball to warm the wax stored inside. Then, I attached the roller applicator. It just screws onto a spot on the outside of the ball.
So far, so good.
I took one last look in the mirror at the furry little caterpillar growing on my upper lip. “Say goodbye, fuzzy,” I thought to myself.
The product is supposed to work like other heated wax hair removal systems: you apply the wax to the area to be cleared, set a paper or fabric strip on top of the molten wax and rrrrriiiiip! No more hair.
At least that’s the idea.
Unfortunately, in this case the roller applicator released too much wax. With other wax hair removal systems, I get the best results when I apply a thin, uniform layer of wax, but for the life of me I just couldn’t control this thing. It was oozing wax all over the place. Each time I’d stick on and yank off one of the hair removal strips, it hardly removed any hair. In the mirror, my lush forest of upper lip hair remained, mocking me.
Parissa 2 in 1 Roll-On Body Sugar
Price: $20
Use: At-home waxing, complete with wax and removal strips
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: C-
Good thing I had a spare Parissa Warm Wax kit (a fantastic product) in a bathroom drawer. I guess I just couldn’t figure out how to tame the green monster, but my trusty Warm Wax kit came to the rescue. It vanquished good ol’ Groucho in no time flat.
I give Parissa props for trying to evolve the way we ladies remove hair at home, but the Parissa 2 in 1 Roll-On Body Sugar roller sitch definitely needs a little work.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Want more makeup and beauty in your life? Click here to get MBB updates by email. 🙂
Marisol says
I have never heard of this brand before. That ball seems rather odd.
I use Poetic Wax by Bliss. Ever tried that?
Marisols last blog post..Haul-a-thon!
Karen says
I buy it at Longs in the “natural beauty” section.
I haven’t used Poetic Wax! How do you like it?
Arianne says
Aww that’s too bad. I wanted to try this when I read about it on Temptalia. But I agree with you, Parissa Warm Wax is a great product. It’s so quick and fun that I usually get carried away and end up waxing patches off the bf’s back too! lol
Ariannes last blog post..Progress Report: Urgency is a Good Thing
Marisol says
I really like it. You can get it at Sephora and it lasts forever. I like that it is blue so you can see where you are applying it but also removal is easier.
Marisols last blog post..Haul-a-thon!
Elena says
Ooh, you are brave. I can’t bring myself to use wax on any part of my face. I just get it threaded, instead (I’m calmer if someone else does it, lol). Glad you had backup wax, though, cause that ball looks kinda scary. o_0
Karen B says
Wax. I’m way too chicken to try it out. I once tried it on my legs and can I say ouch? Also, my mum funds my shaving habits, I don’t think she’d fund waxing habits… lol
Btw: that ball creeps me out. What’s with the ewwie green colour?
Karen Bs last blog post..French Flower revamp!
Max says
This post – like all your posts – was hilarious.
Yeah I’ve never met a roll-on wax that actually worked. You just can’t control the flow.
Maxs last blog post..The Salicylic Acid Challenge – can you see the difference?
Okyanus says
I used to get my face threaded and it’s an excellent for of hair removal that you can use all over the face (or other parts of the body but it would take waaay too long). If you use it on your brows, it leaves a really precise shape. Many people haven’t heard of it or are scared of it but I’m Turkish and it’s one of the two traditional forms of hair removal for us. The other one being, of course, waxing. I never shaved my legs until I was 18 because up until then I had always waxed, which I also love.
For the face we have this little pot would a mound of wax in it that is very hard when it’s room temperature but of course gets a gel-like consistency when heated. The wax is reusable (lasts months-a year). If I want to wax my face I just take the little pot and put it in a larger put that has boiling water in it, making a little double boiler (like you would use to melt chocolate or something). Then I take it to the bathroom and use the waxing spoon to apply it all over my face–in sections, not all at once. Then I let the wax slightly harden on my face a bit (which only takes a moment or two) and then I quickly pull it off. It gets all of the finest, tiniest hairs all over the face and I never have peach fuzz. each used strip is then thrown back into the pot and when you reheat it next time it just melts into the rest of the wax. It’s not “gross” or anything, which I guess is what some people might think because your hair is in the wax. It’s just facial hair and peach fuzz, which are short and fine. It’s not like it has your legs hairs (eww) or bikini area hair (double eww).
I do it all over my face, even on my forehead where I don’t have anything but what every human has over their whole body–peach fuzz. I just really love to have a completely bare face.
Glosslizard says
You’re brave to take the plunge for all of us, thanks for the review! 🙂
I’ve been so spoiled lately! I’ve been using the new Venus razor (the one with 5 blades) on my legs, and, as skeptical as I am about how much difference the razor can make, I only have to shave once a week! So every Sunday I bust out the blade and have at! This is so darned easy that I can’t be bothered to wait long enough to get wax-length stubble! I’m lucky in that my facial hair is by and large invisible so I just do my brows. Although at the first sign of increased ‘stache presence I’m running for the Parissa aisle at Longs (for the ball-less version)!
Dao says
I’ve never tried Parissa but used the microwave wax pot from Sally beauty supply for my eyebrows. That thing works very swell and also cheap. Have you ever used it? The brand is called Gigi, I think.
Daos last blog post..Pumping Up the Heat with LORAC Hollywood Heat
Brittany says
haha I love your posts, Karen. You crack me up.
I’ve tried Gigi from Sally Beauty Supply. It works on me pretty well. I have their Microwave tweezeless wax for in between salon visits for my brows. It’s really inexpensive. It works pretty well on me. I’ve only used it for eyebrows though.
tokyostargirl says
Hahaha – reading about the furry little caterpillar growing on your upper lip made me laugh. =P
If one of your girlfriends had a mustache and did nothing about it – would you tell them?
tokyostargirls last blog post..First Full Makeup Tutorial
Kas says
Okyanus – do you have a recipe/place to buy that wax?
Karen says
Hi Marisol,
Hmm, it’s blue? That’s kinda cool. One of these days when I finish my Parissa kit (I swear I have four of ’em floating around) I will have to try it.
Karen says
Hi Elena,
I’ve never had my ‘stash threaded before. Does it hurt?
Karen says
Hi Karen B.,
LOL, once you get the hang of it it’s not too bad! And as long as you do it yourself it’s way cheaper than going to a salon.
I gotta say that certain parts of the legs actually hurt more than the bikini line. The ankles… killer!
Karen says
Hi Max,
Thanks! This was probably my first and last time using one. Gimme those old school popsicle stick thingies any old day!
Karen says
Hi Okyanus,
That waxing ball sounds interesting… a lot like hard wax, which is the strip less kind. I haven’t tried it yet but I bet it gets *everything*.
Girl, I have shaving. I swear I am smooth for one day and that’s it. I shave my pits and once in a blue moon my legs. Waxing all the way!
Karen says
Hi Glosslizard,
Yeah, I reviewed that a few months ago. It works well on the pits!
I am jealous that you have barely any facial hair. It’s sucks having the upper lip action… back in day when waxing was not in vogue I actually used bleach! I have several weird pictures of me with this blonde ‘stach from the 90s. Ugh!
Karen says
Hi Dao,
I used Gigi microwavable sugar wax a long time ago and it didn’t work for me. I do like all of their other waxing implements though…
Karen says
Hi Brittany,
You are braver than I am when it comes to brow waxing. I usually pluck, because I’m terrified of dropping not wax into my eye! Oh and I can just see myself mistakenly waxing off a brow, LOL!
I might try the tweezeless wax for my upper lip hair, though!
Karen says
Hi Tokyostargirl,
It depends on how close I am to them. I think I could do it in a way that would be constructive. It can back fire on ya though, which is what I’ve learned in the past. A few years ago I had a co-worker who wore the most uh, interesting eye makeup, who I wasn’t that close to. She’d cover her entire lid area with really harsh black gel liner and she’d never blend out the edges or anything. I asked her one day if she ever considered wearing lighter, softer colors, like purple shadow on her lid. A few days later she came to work wearing really harsh dark purple gel liner applied in the same non-blended fashion. Sigh.
Ellery says
Could you recommend any good waxes that are made for use on the face?!
I’m 17 soon and I’ve already noticed a couple, and since I’m a guy I know it won’t just be a couple and I’ll be a big hairy monster before I know it so I wanna have wax ready for when it happens, lol!
addicted_2color says
Thanks for the review. I saw this at the store and picked it up, and hesitated ti buy it. I wanted to find more reviews on it and I’m glad I waited!