Hask

Checking In: The Hask Mask in a Tub, New (Old) MAC Eyeliners, and Baking a Sprinkle Cake

September 22nd, 2020 by Karen 22 Comments

baked sprinkle cake final — I baked a cake!

Hey, guys. Happy Tuesday! Has the universe ever sent you a gentle reminder that perhaps you should probably get back to doing what you love? I got one of those nudges to start baking again (it’s been months) because I made this kick-butt cake a few days ago… Granted it was from a mix, but still!

Of course I had to share it with you… 😁

It’s the Sprinkle Party Snack Cake Mix With Frosting by a brand called Baked. I picked it up randomly at Cost Plus World Market a few weeks ago because it was on sale and…I liked how the box looked!

baked sprinkle cake — The box comes with the frosting and the dry ingredients for the cake.

connor stirring the batter — My sous chef

I could whip up a cake from scratch, but eh, baking requires attention, precision and, well…heart. I haven’t had much leftover soul to invest in baking sweets lately, but then I found this cake mix. Not only did it make things easy, but the cake actually tastes homemade. Highly recommended!

The mix includes a packet of dry ingredients for a butter-based vanilla cake with rainbow sprinkles, and another packet for plain with vanilla frosting. The instructions are pretty detailed, too, which makes it easy to not mess up.

THIS CAKE IS SO GOOD. It’s light-as-air and melts in your mouth, and it doesn’t have that obvious taste of your typical boxed cake. Hard to explain, but to me boxed cakes all taste the same — kinda oily and heavy, without much flavor. Anyway, this one’s really, really good, and so is the frosting.

If you happen to live near a World Market, I suggest grabbing a box!

Anywho, that lovely cake opened up a metaphorical baking door, so I’ve made even more goodies since then, including brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and marbled cookies, which are half chocolate chip and half dark chocolate.

Chocolate chip cookies and brownies, YUM!

chocolate chip cookies september 2020 — The most beautiful thing I ever did see…

I’m thinking of making a pie next, because rumor has it that Trader Joe’s has a pre-made gluten-free pie crust. Or, maybe I’ll make some savory scones, or perhaps I’ll finally try my hand at croissants?!

Sorry, I’m getting distracted. Before I lose my train of thought, I have one more World Market thing to show you — this box of dark chocolate sprinkles!

It’s from Holland and from a brand called DeRuijter (“masters of bread toppings”), and the picture on the front looks like a loaf of French bread cut in half with the dark chocolate sprinkles on top.

chocolate bread sprinkles — OK, so how does this work, exactly?

Can somebody please explain what’s going on here? Do you eat the bread with just the sprinkles on top, or do you toast the bread in an oven to melt the sprinkles? Or, are the sprinkles attached to the bread with Nutella or peanut butter or something? Or, do you just eat it plain like a dark chocolate sprinkle sandwich?

If someone from Holland could please explain just exactly how this works, please fill me in, because I don’t know what’s going on here, and I would love to, LOL!

Now, to ensure that this post is marginally related to beauty, I finished the packets of Hask Hair Masks I got a while back, so I popped into Ulta to grab some more and found out that they sell the Argan Oil version in a jar for six bucks!
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Target Hair Haul! Help for Dry, Thirsty Hair With Hask Argan Oil Hair Mask and Shampoo, Pantene Damage Repair Nourishing Overnight Restoring Serum, Odele Leave-In Conditioner and Air Dry Styler

September 9th, 2020 by Karen 16 Comments

odele pantene hask — Just a few affordable hair goodies from Target!

Hi, guys! 👋 Got dry hair? GIRL. I feel you. 🤦🏾 I went to Target last week because my ends have been feeling bone dry lately, and here’s what I picked up. I think you might like these things, too!

Lately when I get up in the morning, my first thought is, “What’s gonna happen today in this level of Jumanji?” Because seriously, life right now could pass for a crazy dangerous video game. Smoke-filled air from wildfires, ash falling from the sky, dusky twilight at 10am, economic crisis, a pandemic… If I stepped outside and saw a herd (flock?) of angry ostriches stampeding toward me, honestly, I would not be shocked.

Weird and unexpected things are happening almost daily, on both a large and small scale. In the category of “not a big deal in the larger scheme of things but still mildly concerning in my immediate world” is the current state of my hair.

It’s wicked dry!

Has your hair ever gone from pretty decent to crazy wicked dry in a matter of weeks? Something verrrry mysterious has sucked the moisture out of the ends of my mane, which has gone from relatively healthy (for someone who hasn’t cut it in over a year) to drier than horse hay.

My best Scooby Doo detective agency guess is that it has something to do with the smoke in the air, coupled with the stress from the wildfires and the virus the past few weeks. I’m also long overdue for a cut, and that’s not helping, either.

Anywho, I recently went to Target and picked up a few things that have helped with the dryness. If you have dry, thirsty hair, they might help you, too.

Two goodies by Hask

This first one is an old love, Hask Argan Oil Hair Mask ($2.49). When I reviewed this workhorse for dry hair last year, I said:

My hair feels silky soft, but not in the way that feels like your hair is coated in sedimentary layers of silicone… The tangles and knots are gone, and the obnoxious white ramen noodle flyaways in my hairline — which normally stick up at every unfortunate angle you can imagine — are relatively tame and smooth and lying in one direction (SAY WHAT?!).

Ya know what? It’s as fabulous as ever. Just as great as the $$$ masks at high-end lines like Kerastase.

hask argan oil mask shampoo — Hask Argan Oil Repairing Shampoo and Hask Argan Oil Repairing Deep Conditioner

I stretch one package out to use it twice. Depending on how thick your hair is, you should be able to get anywhere from 2-5 treatments, I think.

I also grabbed a bottle of the Argan Oil Repair shampoo by Hask ($5.99), although I’ve yet to try it. I’m hoping it’ll be just as good as the mask. It’s sulfate- and paraben- free.

A lightweight but rich hair serum with volume for days…

Now, onto Pantene, which is currently one of my favorite drugstore hair brands and has been ever since Rosewater Shampoo and Conditioner from the Nutrient Blends line came into my life. If you have unruly or dry hair that needs TLC, the Rosewater line is a gamechanger.

This time around, I grabbed a bottle of their Fortifying Damage Repair Overnight Repair Serum ($7.99), a rich, moisturizing serum for dry hair that doesn’t weigh it down (and therefore preserves your volume).

pantene fortifying — Pantene Fortifying Damage Repair With Castor Oil Overnight Restoring Serum

It feels like a thin, runny lotion, so it’s easy to work through your strands. Massage it through your mane, starting from the ends and working up, after you shampoo and condition, and let it air dry.

I’ve used it a few times so far, and I’m already in love because my ends are definitely a lot softer and smoother and less crunchy overall. I also love how bouncy my hair looks. I’ve been embracing my natural volume lately, and this definitely does not weigh it down.

It’s pronounced “oh-dell.”

Their Leave-In Conditioner ($11.99) and Air Dry Styler by the Odele ($11.99), which is a vegan cruelty free line only available at Target, are also new to me.

Confession time: I bought these two because I liked the font. LOL!

odele leave in conditioner hair styler — The Odele Leave-in Conditioner for Deep Moisture, Detangling + Frizz Control, and the Air Dry Styler

odele closeup — That lower case “e” though! 😍

Speaking of fonts, I’m pretty sure that seeing Papyrus on the Hask Argan Oil Shampoo is slowly going to chip away at my soul every time I see it in the shower! 🤣

Gosh, I’m all over the place today… OK, technically, Odele is pronounced “oh-dell” (which is a phonetic translation of Norwegian for “to share”), but I keep wanting to call it “oh-dah-lay,” as in “Órale” in Spanish.
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Budget Beauty for $10 or Less: Hask Hair Masks

April 11th, 2019 by Karen 24 Comments

Hooray for budget beauty! In this new series, we talk about sweet finds you can get for $10 or less.

You guys! I’m sitting here running my fingers through my hair thinking, “All this softness for $1.99. ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE PENNIES,” because last night I did a Hask hair mask. They have a few different versions, and I used the Coconut Oil one. Now my hair feels silky soft, but not in the way that feels like your hair is coated in sedimentary layers of silicone… The tangles and knots are gone, and the obnoxious white ramen noodle flyaways in my hairline — which normally stick up at every unfortunate angle you can imagine — are relatively tame and smooth and lying in one direction (SAY WHAT?!).

Inactive ingredients
Aqua/Water/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Quaternium-18, Gardenia Taitensis (Monoi) Flower Extract, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed) Seed Oil, Vaccinium Myrtillus (Bilberry) Fruit Extract, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Panthenyl Hydroxypropyl Steardimonium Chloride, Isopropyl Palmitate, Sodium Lauroyl Oat Amino Acids, Silk Amino Acids, Sodium Pca, Tetrasodium Edta, Citric Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Chlorphenesin, Ethylhexylglycerin, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum/Fragrance

If your hair is feeling dry and/or in need of some serious TLC, all you need is 10 minutes and a generous coating of this thick conditioner. I’ve got a lot of’ mane at the moment (Side note: Please talk me out of chopping it all off into a bob because I’m THIS CLOSE.), and I get about three uses from each package. If you buy them at Target, they’re $1.99 a pack (a little more expensive at Ulta: $2.99).

Maaaaaan. If Hask sold this by the gallon, I’d spring for one, for sure. It’s also cruelty-free and doesn’t have any sulfates, parabens, phthalates, gluten, alcohol or artificial colors.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen