Blow Dry Perfector Totally Blows

Yesterday, I washed my hair for the first time since applying the Garnier Fructis Blow Dry Perfector, and I think I know enough about it at this point to give you an update. While I haven’t had the absolutely terrible results some of the reviewers on Amazon had, (it must especially suck for people without a good flat iron or with color-treated hair) I’m still really REALLY not happy with it.

Sunshiney Smoothie

This Carrot Pineapple Smoothie is tied with the Apple Kale one for the title of My Favorite. Both recipes are from Real Simple Magazine, and I’ve made both smoothies many, many times since the recipes appeared in the February 2011 issue.

Sugar Honey (Iced Tea)

One of the first posts I wrote for this blog was about my very favorite lip balm, Fresh Sugar Rosé. I still absolutely love it, though when I tried it’s original-flavor sister, which has a lemony scent and no tint, I was not impressed. I haven’t tried the Plum, because I’m not into the color. However, I recently discovered the newest member of the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment family on Sephora.com. The latest is Honey, and it’s good.

This Product May or May Not Totally Stink

Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Blow Dry Perfector is a “2-Step Smoothing Kit” which promises “Tames Frizz Stays Smooth & Shiny Easier, Faster Blow Dries”. I had to read that about three times to make any sense of it, especially because of the way it’s printed on the box. (Great job, copywriter and art director!) But you get the gist, and it seems good, right?

I Don’t Like Mondays

If you’ve read much of this blog, you might think I always love everything, but that is definitely not true. In fact, it really takes a lot for me like something. That’s probably why I feel the need to share it with the world when I find good stuff. Since it’s Monday, and a good day to be grumbly, here are a few things that I tried and did not like.

April Showers

So, it’s Earth Day! Let’s get all eco-friendly. I am not any kind of a crunchy granola hippie, but I try to do what I can. We all should. I use a Brita and a SodaStream instead of buying plastic bottles of flat and seltzer water. I bring my own bags when I go to the store. I recycle. I live in an apartment, and take public transportation or walk almost exclusively. I support local and organic farming when I can. I use cloth napkins, cloth lunch bags, and special reusable sandwich wrappers. I buy mostly natural cleaning products. I even buy toilet paper and paper towels made from recycled paper. But not the tissues, those tissues are awful! I also have a weakness for real light bulbs. I only have three CFLs in my whole apartment, and I hate one of them every time. And they’re so efficient it’s going to take FOREVER for that one to burn out! So I deal with that, but in general, I think my carbon footprint is small enough that I don’t really feel guilty about having soft tissues and nice lighting.

Don't Forget!

Today is the last day to get 15% off whatever you want from Sephora!

Egg Hunt

Holy Thursday! It’s almost Easter and I’ve been sitting on these egg-shaped makeup sponges for weeks, just waiting for the right time to share them.

Tinted Moisturizer Showdown

I’m fairly certain you all haven’t gone out and bought yourselves airbrush makeup systems, though I continue to be obsessed with mine. One of the things I was researching before getting addicted to the airbrush was tinted moisturizer, and I still needed to find one to use for low-maintenance days and summer travel.

Shake Your Booties

This isn’t a fashion blog, but it is a useful-stuff-that-I-really-like blog, and sometimes that’s gonna get a little fashiony. Since it’s rainy/raining AGAIN, it’s the perfect time to tell you about my new rain boots! They make rainy days suck a little bit less.

Fly Flyaway

Despite my extremely awesome flat iron, one thing that still plagues me is flyaways. I use Goldwell Star Polish, a “shine wax”, which is great for static and dry ends, but I don’t like putting too much of it near my roots, because it’s a little greasy. (Same thing with my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum, and many of the other frizz-taming products I've tried.) Plus, the crazy hairs along my part are extremely obstinate and the Star Polish just doesn’t have the muscle to make them submit.

Airbrush Gets A Classy Makeover

I was recently presented with the opportunity to buy a Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System from Sephora at 40% off. At first, I thought: “No, I don’t need an airbrush. I am totally 100% fine without one.” But I’ve been sooo curious about airbrush makeup, and I have a blog to write, so about 3 minutes later I made my purchase online. The system came with two pods of foundation in my choice of color, which was easy to choose from the options they had. (I am almost always the lightest shade, or second lightest, skewed toward yellow.)

No Pain, No Gain

A few years ago, after hearing that I shave my legs every day, my mother-in-law recommended that I get an epilator. In the 80s I tried my mom’s epilady for about one second and swore off them forever. My MIL assured me there were new innovations and they were much better. Plus, she said it makes your hair grow back finer. Since my skin is very light and my hair is very dark, in certain areas you can still see the hair under the skin even when the surface is completely smooth. I thought an epilator might be a good way to get rid of the “black dots.”

Zits & Wrinkles: The Best of Both Worlds

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Dr. Dennis Gross Alph Beta Daily Face Peel, which works great, until you stop using it. I found it too expensive for long-term use, so I decided I would follow up my treatment with Murad Live Clear Acne Complex Starter Kit for maintenance.

Two Good Ways to Get Naked

My sister-in-law was describing her new favorite product. She said it was a collection of eye shadows in really pretty, really wearable colors. She loved it so much she had just bought another one to give to her sister. It was called Naked Eye or something. I said: The Naked Palette from Urban Decay? I LOVE THAT! She said: No, I don’t think it’s Urban Decay. I said: Is it in a velvet box? She said: No, but it’s called Naked something. I described my Naked palette in more detail, and she was sure hers was not the same one I was talking about. Eventually, she retrieved it from her purse and settled it. This was something I had not seen or tried… yet.

DIY Minx: Sally Hansen Naaaailed It!

I’ve been searching drugstores for Sally Hansen Salon Effects for a few months now, and I FINALLY found them at Ricky’s! The selection, however, was severely limited. I was sooooo close to buying the hilarious “Denim Jeans” to wear with my jeans, denim shirt, and jean jacket, but I ended up buying glittery “Frock Star” which looks almost exactly like what clowns wear when they go to the disco.

Spraypoo? Shamspray?

I’ve always been somewhat fascinated with the 1950s and 60s. When I was a pre-teen, my mom, a champion garage-sale shopper, brought home a stack of old Seventeen Magazines, all dated in the 60s and 70s. I must have flipped through those magazines a hundred times; I think they’re still stored somewhere in my parent’s attic. I loved looking at the clothes, the hair, even the advertisements. One of the ads that stood out was for something called PSSSSSST! Dry Shampoo. (I may have too many or too few s’s in there, but you get the point.) It featured the girl from the Partridge family, who google tells me is named Susan Dey. I thought it was so weird that dry shampoo was a thing! I even remember asking my mom about it, because it boggled my mind. (How can it be dry AND shampoo?!) It makes a lot more sense now, and after my “History of The Blowdryer” post, I can see why ladies didn’t wash their hair much. But back then, I was definitely perplexed.

This Blog is Your Blog, This Blog is My Blog

I have two sisters, three sisters-in-law , SIX brothers-in-law (heaven help me) , and heaps of cousins. Whenever I get together with my relatives, there’s always a little fashion/beauty gabbing with the girls, and I was excited to tell everyone about the new blog. After I broke the news to my sisters-in-law, I got three different, but also similar comments. Sister in law No.1 said “I have a great new product for you try!” No.2 said “I need to learn how to put on eye shadow!” And No.3 said “Can you do a smokey eye?” Within 3 minutes of announcing my blog to them, I had my first 3 requests.

I will address all three soon, but I also want to invite everyone else to send in questions, requests, and suggestions too. That’s sort of the point of what I’m doing here. I started this blog so I can share stuff not just with my friends and relatives, but with their friends and relatives, and theirs, and so on, and strangers, and anyone, and everyone. (Tell everyone!) And you can share stuff too! I don’t claim to know everything, I just write about what I like and my experiences. I welcome your comments on any post. The more we all share, the more we’ll know about what’s out there and what works best for making US look and feel our best. And then we’ll all be awesome! (More awesome!)

If there’s something specific you want to see here, or have questions about, the P-Rock request line is now open. If you’d like to be a little more private about it, you can also email me using the contact link over there on the right. Otherwise, comment below!

Sunblocky When Wet

As I mentioned yesterday, I am just dying for summer to get here. I mean, I love spring and all, and if spring wanted to go ahead and be springy one day soon, that would be awesome. But it seems like what spring really loves to do is toy with our emotions by being warm/freezing sunny/hideous. (Spring, stop being such a JERK!) So I’m looking beyond spring, to a hot and sunny summer.

Can’t Wait for Waves

Many people, like me, have excellent self-control, and never buy anything extra when they go to the drugstore. But not me! Very often, I’ll find something new and exciting that I’ve got to try.

One such buy was Sally Hershberger Wave Spray. Last summer I got a keratin treatment that, combined with my excellent flat iron, allowed me to wear my hair smooth and straight for most of the summer. This summer I think I want to have a little bit of a softer look, and work with the natural texture in my hair. I want it to look and, more importantly, BE effortless. Since I CANNOT WAIT until summer, I was easily sold when I saw the Wave Spray, which they claim “creates tousled sexy curves.” Sally Hershberger has a whole line of products now available at Duane Reade, sporting somewhat ill-advised packaging design. But I looked past the seafoam green plastic bottle and saw only the promise of easy summer hair.

Shave-a-colada

Sometime last year, I decided to try to reduce the amount of pthalates and parabens in my life. While it’s impossible to cut out all of your exposure— that stuff is in EVERYTHING— you’ve got to try to do what you can. At least, I do. One of the products I switched was my shaving cream. What is generally referred to as “shaving cream” is really a foam, and even the shaving gels are just a quick rub away from being foam. My shaving cream replacement is an actual cream, similar to body lotion, but less oily so it doesn’t jam up your razor. It seems like these are referred to as "Cream Shave" I guess to differentiate them from the creams that are actually foams. Inexplicably, these cream shaves are offered in an array of tropical flavors we would normally encounter in umbrella-drinks.

Wooden it Be Nice?

In olden times, in fact, as far back as the caveman days, styling tools for women were made of the only stuff they had around: natural stuff. Paleolithic hair dryers were carved of wood and only worked on very windy days, curlers were made of rags and/or bones, and to straighten your hair, you had to sleep with your head between two flat rocks! People didn’t shampoo back then, because, duh, cavemen don’t EVEN appreciate nice smelling hair. And if you’ve ever seen a “Dawn of Man” exhibit, you know conditioner was definitely not happening either.