Hair

Q & A: Have You Ever Dated Anyone With a Perm?

October 7th, 2020 by Karen 13 Comments

ramen noodles perm curly hair — Asking for a friend.

I feel like if we were in the thick of ’80s, the chances of most of us answering “yes” to this question would be extremely high! HAHAHAHA!

By the time I was of dating age, most dudes I knew didn’t have perms (mullets are another story, though), so no, I’ve never dated anyone with a perm.

Hmm… Well, now that I think about it, I can’t say that with 100% certainty because I did go out on a date with a dude with ramen noodle-esque curly hair that looked like Justin Timberlake during the N’Sync era! His hair was coated in very hard-looking gel, and the curls were shiny and ultra sculpted. His entire mane was one solid unit; not one lick of it moved. I spent the entire date wondering if his hair was naturally curly or if it was permed.

Anyway, now I’m thinking about how El Hub with a perm, and it’s cracking me up! Knowing him, though, he’d still find a way to pull it off. LOL!

So how about you? Have you ever dated anyone with a perm? AND, OH MY GOSH…I cannot wait to find out if anyone actually answers “yes” to this!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Product Spotlight: Pantene Miracle Moisture Boost Shampoo and Conditioner With Rosewater

October 6th, 2020 by Karen 8 Comments

pantene miracle moisture boost rose water — A couple of my drugstore hair loves

I absolutely love this stuff! If you’re looking for a budget-friendly, moisturizing shampoo and conditioner for smoothing frizzy hair, this drugstore duo is a star. The most tragic thing about Pantene Rosewater Shampoo and Conditioner is that they aren’t sold in wine barrel-sized vats!

Yes, they’re both that good. I went to Target yesterday and picked up my fourth bottle of each!

This sulfate-free drugstore shampoo and conditioner is made to moisturize dry strands and tame frizzy hair, and it’s been a minor miracle for my grays, which I’ve been growing out for over a year now. My grays, especially the ones around my bangs and hairline, are totally and completely unruly, and this set helps to smooth down the noodle strands that stick up at all kinds of weird angles.

Here’s the kicker: both the shampoo and conditioner tame the crazies without weighing my strands down.

I don’t like most hair products designed to defrizz and smooth because they usually leave a noticeable residue, and I don’t like it when my hair looks and feels like it’s covered in “stuff.” Not a fan of flat helmet head, ya know?

Even though these work well, they don’t leave a thick residue behind. Just smooth strands with lots of volume, lift and movement.

And they smell good too! They have a fabulous faint rose fragrance.

FYI, if you’d like to get just the shampoo or the conditioner separately, they’re about $8-9 each at Target (8-oz. bottle). Pantene also sells a boxed set with both for $12.99.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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

September 22nd, 2020 by Karen 25 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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Checking In: A CRAZY Orange Sky, Maine Coon Cats and Kitten Fur Perfume

September 10th, 2020 by Karen 15 Comments

orange sky september 2020 — Welcome to the next level of Jumanji!

You guys. When I said that every day lately has been like a new level of Jumanji, I was not kidding. When I woke up yesterday morning, the sky was a terrifying shade of orange.

Yeah, and it was SO DARK outside that the street lights, which are light activated, stayed on till 10, despite the fact that sunrise allegedly occured at 6:40(!).

It was dark. I’m talking pitch black until almost 8, and then it only got dusky dark after that.

There are still a bunch of wildfires in California right now, and the sky over the Bay Area is currently this shade of orangey red.

Oh, yeah, and ash is also falling from the sky like post-apocalyptic snow… It’s all over the cars.

Next stop: vampires! 🧛‍♀️

Is this freaking me out? Totally. Because, of course, being the science fiction enthusiast that I am, I’m thinking, “This is how all post-apocalyptic novels start.” The sun goes away. Then all the plants die, and shortly thereafter, everything goes to sh*t. This is the beginning of the vampire uprising. By the end of next week, we’ll all be bloodsuckers. (See: 30 Days of Night. See also: the Van Helsing TV series.)

I really want to be wrong on this theory, and yes, I know I probably am, HAHAHA! Let’s face it, I do have a penchant for the dramatic. 😁 But, just in case we are on the verge of a vampiric uprising, we had a good run. It’s been a thrill.

Yeah…as if it hasn’t already been said enough, 2020 has been so freaking cray!

Agro exfoliation

Looking at the glass as half full in all this, I’m grateful that my house is currently — knock on wood — intact, and that I have a roof over my head. I’m also thankful that I still feel like laughing at myself (can’t take this for granted, for real). Also glad to have the mental space to contemplate not-so-serious things, like starting a skincare program for dealing with dark spots right MEOW, instead of waiting for the first rains like I had originally planned (because, seriously, I don’t even know when we’re going to see a sunny day again.)

So, yeah, I had this whole plan for aggressive exfoliation and was going to start with some products I’ve been wanting to try that target discoloration and uneven skin tone.

The first: Blue Algae Vitamin C Dark Spot Correcting Peel by Algenist. It’s pricey at $85, but it’s supposed to be good at resurfacing and exfoliating skin to reveal a smoother and more even-toned complexion. I dunno why, but I have this vision of it peeling away all the layers of dead skin on my face to reveal smooth skin on the face of a very crabby, cranky baby. LOL!

(I. WISH.)

I also have the Discoloration Correcting Serum from Good Molecules on deck. They’re kind of like The Ordinary because they have no-frills, stripped-down packaging, and everything is very affordable. This serum is $12, and the primary active ingredient is niacinamide.

Because kittehs make everything better

Since I’ve been low-key anxious over the past few days, I’ve been doing things to sooth the savage beast, and one of these things I’ve been doing lately is watching videos of a Maine Coon cat exploring the wilderness.

The channel is called The Explorer Cat, and it stars a very fluffy, round-faced Main Coon kitty with white, orange and black fur. I really love the video of kitty testing the waters and swimming! Yes, this cat swims. Kind of amazing.

Highly recommended if you need to calm-the-eff down!

Purr-fume!

On that cat-related note, out of sheer curiosity, I had to smell this perfume after reading about it a few weeks ago: Demeter Fragrance Library Kitten Fur.

Of course, the million-dollar question is, “Does it actually smell like a kitten’s fur?” Well, I can tell you what my tubby Tabby’s fur smelled like — like a yeasty rustic bread loaf! — and this perfume smells nothing like that. Rosie’s fur smells like Temptations, and the last real, live kittens I actually smelled, Rosie’s babies, smelled like cat food, laundry and litter, HAHAHA!
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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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