Hair

If You’re Over 30, It Might Be Time to Get to Know Living Proof Timeless

March 7th, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

My thirtieth birthday heralded some pretty big life changes. Like, I met my kitty soulmate (hey, that’s a huge deal, OK?), took the plunge to pursue my lifelong dream of freelance writing (this was shortly before I started the blog), and I finally got hitched to El Hub (we’d been dating a while).

Big things also started happening in my beauty-related life. For instance, my skin underwent some crazy-@ss changes. After years of oily skin, my epidermis turned combination oily-dry, and then there was that awful period of hormonal acne along my jawline and chin.

Oh, and my hair didn’t make it through unscathed. Two words: the grays.

They’d been around since I was a teenager — a few occasional gray hairs tucked away, usually on the back of my head (everyone in my family goes gray early) — but around the time I turned 30, all hell broke loose. I started seeing gray hairs where I’d never seen them before, like around my bangs and on the top of my head. Suddenly, going to the salon for a touch of color stopped being something I did just for fun when I got restless or felt like a change. It became part of regular maintenance, like going to the dentist.

And that’s not all. I also started noticing changes in the texture of my hair. “What are these random wiry Chinese noodle-like strands coming out of my head?”

Oh, that’s my hurr!

Turns out I wasn’t alone in this. Many women (and dudes) experience changes in their hair around the age of 30. It’s something that the products in Living Proof’s new Timeless collection are designed to address. They’re made to help hair cope with the age-related changes that often happen to your hair in your 30s and up, protecting it from breakage, while keeping hair looking voluminous, shiny, smooth and rich in color.

The new four-piece Living Proof Timeless line is available now exclusively at Ulta Beauty and includes the Timeless Pre-Shampoo Treatment ($26), Timeless Shampoo ($28), Timeless Conditioner ($28) and Timeless Plumping Mousse ($28).

All of them are sulfate-free, silicone-free and color safe, and they also contain UV protectors to extend the life of your hair color and protect your hair against damage from heat styling and the sun.

They’re all designed to work together as part of the system…but, of course, you can cherry pick and just use your faves. I’ve been using the whole kit and caboodle for maximum effect, and it’s been about about two weeks. So far, my long, color-treated hair is feelin’ it.

My favorite member of the Timeless fam has to be the Pre-Shampoo Treatment. I was a little wary of it at first because I’d never used a pre-shampoo treatment before and didn’t know what to expect. Mostly, I thought it would be an unnecessary step, but yeah, now that I’ve used this one, I see the point.

living proof pre shampoo — Living Proof Pre-Shampoo

Have you ever used a pre-shampoo before? Basically, they’re moisturizing treatments, like hair masks, oils and butters, that you apply to your hair while it’s wet or dry before you hop into the bath or shower to shampoo and/or condition. The extra step adds shine, and it’s also supposed to make the Timeless shampoo and conditioner work better.
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The Day in Beauty, Vol. 11: Tabby Tea Time, the L’Oreal Cleansing Balms, and Gooooo Science!

February 17th, 2016 by Karen 48 Comments

Let’s hear it for the boyyyys! I gotta hand it to El Hub and Tabs for always keeping me on my toes. Those two… I never know what to expect from them, even after all this time.

Like today — today I learned that Tabs likes tea.

Who knew?

Because this morning I made a cup of decaf Irish breakfast tea (it’s super tasty! — the one from Trader Joe’s), put a hearty splash of milk in it, and set the cup down on my desk when I sat down to write.

Shortly thereafter, Tabs jumped up on the desk, and I just assumed that he was going to do what he usually does, which is to walk across the desk toward the window, where he likes to look outside.

I wasn’t really paying attention because I had my eyes on the screen, but then I heard a little tabby tongue lapping something up and realized, OH, CRAP! He’s drinking my tea.

LOL! #smdh

Oh, don’t even get me started on traumatic tea events… Seems like my desk is a magnet for them (remind me to tell you about the “Onion Tea Incident” someday, but I can’t talk about it right now because the thought of it just triggered my gag reflex).

So, yeah, watch your cat around your morning beverages… Sneaky kittehs…

L’Oreal Cleansing Balms

This next one isn’t tea related, but I’ve also been into these new cleansing balms by L’Oreal lately.

WOW! Years ago, back when I started MBB, I never would have thought we’d be seeing affordable sulfate-, silicone- and paraben-free hair products at stores like CVS, Rite Aid and Target, but these cleansing balms are exactly that. They’re about $12 for a big 16.9-oz. bottle.

These would have been the kinds of products I would have had to get at a specialty beauty store or salon, and they would have been a lot more than $12… Drugstores have come a loooong way.

So, these non-lathering cleansers? I think they’re great. You use them in place of your regular shampoo and conditioner, where they clean and condition in one fell swoop, and they do it without stripping color or moisture from your hair or weighing it down.

The overall idea has been around for years (google “conditioner washing” or “co-washing”), so these aren’t revolutionary, but I like that the idea is more mainstream now.
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The Day in Beauty, Vol. 9: A Good Hair Day, Aveda Color Conserve, Low-Maintenance Hair, and Guerlain Spring 2016

February 5th, 2016 by Karen 31 Comments

Slowly, she pulled herself up atop the rocky plateau, then stood tall and gazed out across the vast horizon. It seemed like all of eternity stretched out before her. She could see for hundreds of miles in every direction, the mountains, the rivers, the valleys and forests, the endless sky and the distant sea. There were towns and cities far below that looked like little dots. Suddenly, with every fiber of her being, she roared into the great beyond: “I DID MY HAIR TODAY!!!”

Honestly, I just needed to feel a little bit more like myself, ya know? — because I’ve had it up in a messy bun all week long. Seriously, I haven’t even bothered to run a brush through it. That’s how tired I’ve been, but when I woke up this morning, I was like, “Karen, do your damned hair.”

So I did. I did my damned hair. 🙂

Here’s a great hair tutorial on using the T3 Bodywaver to get BIG curls

I was randomly cruising “the YouTube” last night and looking for different ways to use my T3 Bodywaver curling iron when and came upon this short video by one of T3’s head stylists (head as in top, haha). It shows this technique where you slowly unwrap each section of hair from the barrel in such a way that the curls retain more of a wavy pattern at the ends.

I tried it this morning, and yay! Pretty good results.

So it’s all about the small victories. 🙂

Time to stock up on Aveda

I also wanted to do my hair today because I washed it last night (and I’m so happy about that!) partly because I wanted to try some things from Aveda. I’ve been stocking up on color preserving shampoos and conditioners because, ya know…I’m getting my hair done and colored tomorrow, and I figure that since I don’t know how long it’ll be before my next trip to the salon (kinda revolves around BG’s schedule), I want to get as many color preserving products up in the mix now as I can.

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5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

January 22nd, 2016 by Karen 23 Comments

There should be a video right up here in this post, but if it isn’t appearing for any reason, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

You wouldn’t think that hair ties would be something to be particular about, but I’m so particular about my hair ties. They can’t give me a headache; I don’t want them to leave a weird bend in my hair; I don’t want them to snag my hair, and these Tony Ties by Mia don’t do any of those things. They’re my new favorite hair ties, and I love them so much that I packed them away to bring with me to the hospital on B-day (birth day).

That’s when you know your love for something is real deal — when you’re willing to go into labor for an unspecified amount of time with it…

Here are five things (one of them’s a combo) I’ve been loving lately. How about you? What are some things you’ve been loving too?

Mia Beauty Tony Ties ($5 for a pack of three)
- Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper & Hair Touch Up in Brunette ($24)
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel ($22)
- MAC Eye Shadow in Brun ($16)
T3 BodyWaver 1.75 Professional Curling Iron ($149)
Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder ($38)
Jackie Aina (lilpumpkinpie05 on YouTube)

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

What Have You Been Using Lately to Wash Your Hair?

December 30th, 2015 by Karen 37 Comments

On the days when I actually use something that isn’t a dry shampoo, I’ve been using a couple things from Carol’s Daughter: their Hair Milk Cleansing Conditioner, which I use as my “shampoo,” (you can find it at Target for about $12 a bottle) and their Hair Milk Original Leave-In Moisturizer (also about $12 at Target), which I use as my conditioner.

My hair is long, colored, wavy and naturally dry — both my strands and my scalp — and the dryness is even worse in winter, so I diligently try to avoid any products that might strip whatever remaining moisture my hair has.

I look for products that are going to put moisture back into my hair and don’t build up to a frothy lather.

Oh, and I also do more heat styling in winter, which is another reason why I like using cleansing conditioners and leave-ins, because they seem to help my hair retain more moisture and counteract more of the damage done from the hair dryer and curling iron.

I use these products once, or maybe twice, a week in the shower, and then use a dry shampoo (LIVING PROOF!)on the in-between days to freshen my roots.

If your hair happens to be on the drier side, I wholeheartedly recommend those two Carol’s Daughter products. They get two big ol’ thumbs up from me. Since I started regularly using them about a month and a half ago, my hair’s been in the best winter shape it’s been in a while…so it’s still dry, but much less dry than usual for winter.

How about you? What have you been using lately to wash your hair?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Elizabeth and James Nirvana Dry Shampoo: Achieve a Heavenly Hair State of Being

November 13th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

This week I’ve been the girl that got away.

Allow me to explain.

I’ve been wearing and testing new Elizabeth and James Nirvana Dry Shampoo ($28 for a 4.4-oz. bottle), and my hair has smelled like the hair of the girl that got away…who had great smelling hair.

I can’t remember where I heard this before, and something tells me it was in a shampoo commercial (LOL!), but I’ve heard that your hair should smell like the girl who got away, as in the stranger who walks by you on the sidewalk or the train one day, and you catch a whiff of his or her wonderful hair, which is, of course, perfectly styled, and the memory of said hair haunts your dreams for all time. From that day forward, you remember him or her as the guy or gal with the amazing smelling hair who got away.

You know a hair product smells good when you can’t stop sniffing handfuls of your hair, and I’ve been doing that a lot with this new dry shampoo. It’s the best smelling dry shampoo I’ve ever smelled.

Correction — there are two of them, and they’re both the best smelling dry shampoos I’ve ever smelled. One is called Nirvana White, and the other’s Nirvana Black, and they’re after their respective perfumes by Elizabeth and James (otherwise known as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson’s company).
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Are You Particular When It Comes to Hair Brushes?

October 15th, 2015 by Karen 24 Comments

karen singing brush — Because good hair brushes should also double as microphones…

Ya know…for someone who can be surprisingly picky about the shape of a nail polish brush or the density of makeup brush bristles, I’m not super picky when it comes to hair brushes.

I do keep different ones for different tasks, though, like paddle brushes with wide-set teeth for detangling (like the Sam Villa Paddle Brush in the pic at the top) and boar’s hair brushes for those rare occasions when I feel like doing a blowout, but I’m not about to hunt down “The World’s Best Brush” if it costs an arm and a leg. Generally, as long as I can rake it through my mop without it getting tangled, it’s all good, whether it’s a drugstore brush or something fancier from a salon.

Except for the time I was gifted a $205 (!) Mason Pearson Brush, because as far as brushes go, that thing is pretty dang good. It’s like the bristles aren’t even there! They glide through my hair like Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory, and when I’m done using it, my hair looks considerably less unruly.

I don’t think I’d ever actually throw down that much moolah for any brush, though, because even the Mason Pearson isn’t that much better than the $10 brushes at Target. Well…

So, yeah. I guess you could say that I’m mildly particular about my hair brushes. 🙂

How about you?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Current Obsession! Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo

October 13th, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

You know a hair product is holy grail when 1) you talk about it nonstop, 2) you’re already making plans to hoard more bottles of it during the next Sephora VIB sale, and 3) you’re having perfect hair days left, right and upside-down.

I WILL NOT STOP until everyone on earth (or at least a majority of us) understands just how bomb .dot com Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo is! It’s the relatively new dry shampoo that’s been rocking my world lately, and it’s available now at Sephora, $22 for a 4-oz. bottle (I also gushed about it in last week’s 5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately).

Hence this video.

And then I also learned a new foundation application technique about which I have to tell you. 🙂 I got it from Butter London makeup artist and manicurist Katie Jane Hughes. She recently did a Falling for Fall makeup tutorial on her YouTube channel in which she does a cool foundation application technique. Give it a look-see if you get a moment.
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