How to Get Golden Globe-Worthy Voluminous Hair

Salma Hayek's Luxe Hair Volume at the 2012 Golde Globe Awards

Sexy, voluminous hair makes anyone look instantly more glamorous- but finding the right product to get your hair to stay up can be a pain in the ass. Usually, people with limp or thin hair need a boost of volume- but my hair is the opposite. My hair is ridiculously heavy... so heavy that my scalp actually hurts from the sheer weight of my hair when it's up in a ponytail. A hairdresser once told me that I have like 4 times as much hair as an average human... so, clearly, those weaksauce drugstore hair volumizers don't work well enough for me.

Luckily, someone up there must have noticed how horrible I look with flat hair and decided to let me catch a break. I tried a new salon a few weeks ago and the girl who did my hair introduced me to Michael O'Rourke Size Matters Big Volume Root Pump Spray. I believe her exact words were: "Girl, let me tell you- if you stick your head in a wind tunnel you won't get as much volume as this stuff will give you!"  And, after she used it to style my hair, I was sold. (And I mean that literally because I paid $21 for it and saw it on Amazon and at TJ Maxx for $10 the next day- but I digress.)

Michael O' Rourke Size Matters Big Volume Root Pump Spray, $10, Amazon.com

Michael O'Rourke Size Matters is a mousse spray that comes in a glamorous pink aerosol can with a rhinestone heart on the front. (Honestly, I probably would've bought it just for the Barbie-like packaging so the fact that it makes my hair defy the laws of gravity is a bonus). It smells amazing and it's so easy to use:

1. While your hair is damp, part your hair where you normally do.
2. Use a comb or your fingers to create another part about two inches under your normal part and spray the foam along the second part. Rub the foam into your roots.
3. Create another part about two inches under that part and repeat the spraying and rubbing.
4. Repeat these steps all over the top and crown of your head, making several parts in your hair and spraying and rubbing the foam into the parted areas.
5. Blow dry your hair upside down or with a round brush and style as usual.

This product creates and holds volume REALLY well without making my hair too crunchy, like other mousse products I've tried. I also love that it sprays a relatively thin line of mousse (just enough to cover each part) so you're not applying too much product and wasting it- so this 13 oz can should last me a few months.

Short & Sweet: I definitely give this mousse spray a 5/5 for volumizing, holding volume, fragrance, amount of product, and packaging. ;]

Tip: For even more lift, tease your hair a bit at the crown and then spray with got2b Voluptuous Volume Hairspray to set and to tame flyways.

Review: Revaleskin Skin Firming Serum and Replenishing Eye Therapy

I've heard a lot of good things about the antioxidant coffeeberry, one of the active ingredients in Revaleskin's skincare line, so these products have been on my wish list for years. A few weeks ago, I finally got my hands on the Replenishing Eye Therapy and the Skin Firming Serum.

Revaleskin Replenishing Eye Therapy, 0.51 oz, $90

The eye cream is great, it helped lighten my dark circles overnight and it definitely helps get rid of under-eye bags from retaining too much water. The serum is the best I've ever tried- it brightened and evened out my complexion after only a few uses. Before using it for the first time, I exfoliated with my favorite scrub and then applied the eye cream, let it absorb for a few minutes and then applied the serum.

Revaleskin Skin Firming Serum, 1 oz, $70

I love that the serum isn't full of silicones so it doesn't break me out. The serum absorbs easily and definitely improved the look and feel of my skin after only a week of use. My skin was glowing after using this! It works even better than my ex-favorite brightening serum, Lumene Energy Cocktail, and the Revaleskin serum isn't greasy and doesn't clog my pores! I only use it at night so it won't clog my pores and, by the time I wake up, my skin looks healthy and radiant! I believe that it will help firm my skin over time, too, because I've been doing the pinch test (where I pinch the skin around my lower cheeks and then release to see how fast it "bounces" back) and it's already looking a bit less "jiggly".

The eye cream is great but I do have a minor complaint. First, the packaging. It looks really cool because it's a twist-top airless pump but each pump squirts out wayyyy too much product, which leads to a lot of product waste. I've read that other people have had the same problem, so I know I didn't just get a defective one... it took me a few tries to figure out how to make sure only a little bit comes out each time. Once I twist out the top of the pump, I hold the bottle like a joystick and press down on the top lightly (and slowly!) with my thumb. So far, that's worked pretty well for me, but I definitely already wasted a lot of product before I figured that out.

I still love this eye cream because it actually works- so the packaging problem isn't enough to make me stop using it. I will still continue to buy it for as long as it keeps working =)

I've read some complaints from online reviewers who don't like the coffee smell of Revaleskin products. I actually like the mocha aroma and it's not as strong as people would lead you to believe- the smell is gone a few minutes after you apply them. Don't let that stop you from trying these amazing products! I highly recommend these to anyone who wants to brighten/even out their complexion, get rid of dark circles and under-eye bags, and protect their skin with antioxidants.

Bite Beauty Luminous Creme Lipstick with Anti-Aging Antioxidants

Bite Beauty Lipsticks in Champagne and Fig

I was given these two Bite Beauty Lipstick Minis for free in a swap. The ingredients in their Luminous Creme Lipsticks are unique because each tube contains the same amount of resveratrol as 5 glasses of red wine as well as food-grade argan oil. The first color I received is Champagne, a light peachy-beige with iridescent pink shimmer. The second color is Fig, a medium-toned rose pink.

Both lipsticks have a sheen finish when applied. As far as color payoff, you need a few coats to get the true color, so I would rate the pigmentation a 7/10. The formula gets a 6/10 because it contains antioxidants and doesn't dry out my lips but it does tend to settle into lines. The packaging gets a 10/10 from me, though, because they come in really cute matte black tubes with a "Bite" logo on the base.

Overall, these are decent lipsticks but they're not the best. The retail price is $24 for a full-sized tube. You might think the price is worth it to get a good dose of antioxidants every time you reapply your lip color but, me, I think I'd rather just take a multivitamin.

Have you tried any Bite Beauty cosmetics? How did you like them?

Love & Beauty Swatches: Bronze Shimmer Shadow, Goldie Tones Palette, and Cat Eye Felt Tip Pen

Here are the swatches that I did for the makeup I bought from Forever 21:

Top Row (with flash)
Bottom Row (without flash)

*ALL APPLIED OVER URBAN DECAY EYE PRIMER POTION* 

Get the detailed review after the jump!

Pigment-palooza!

Etsy.com is one of my favorite sites because I can find tons of homemade products, from handcrafted jewelry to blended mica mineral pigments. Sellers have their own online boutiques where you can browse all of their products and goodies. On a hunt for duochrome eye shadows recently, I discovered two great cosmetic lines on Etsy: Caustic Cadets Cosmetics and Spectrum Cosmetics.

I decided to purchase 5 duotone pigments from each line:

Spectrum Cosmetics charges $3.25 per 3 gram jar or choose any 5 for $15
EOS: Looks like burnt copper with tons of white glitter in the pot but shifts to a gorgeous, sparkly mix of light green and blue with a deep reddish-brown base
EOS-2: (A less glittery version of the original EOS but still shimmery) It looks like a dark reddish-brown in the pot but shifts to a turquoise blue with a reddish-brown base
Mystic: Looks like a medium reddish-brown with moss green iridescence but shifts to a metallic teal-green with a reddish-brown base
Briar: Looks like an almost completely matte light rose-violet in the pot but shifts to a light blue shimmer with violet flecks
Sassy: Looks like an almost completely matte light peach but shifts to a light violet shimmer with light blue flecks

Caustic Cadets charges $3.99 for each jar of 2 grams of powder
Volatile: Looks fuchsia in the pot but shifts to electric violet with flecks of blue
Dreamweaver: Looks peach with green glitter in the pot but shifts to reddish brown with flecks of olive green
Pillow Talk: Looks like rose in the pot but shifts to medium rose gold
Black Magic: (my FAVORITE duochrome!)  Looks deep periwinkle blue with gold and blue glitter in the pot but shifts to electric teal, blue, and gold with a matte black base
Siren: Looks pale pink with blue shimmer in the pot but shifts to a dusty lavender with flecks of light blue

I tried my best to describe the colors accurately and display the right shades in the pictures, but the pictures don’t really do these pigments justice. They are absolutely stunning and so affordable that you’ll definitely want to check out several colors at a time. Happy shopping!

*All of the swatches were brushed on top of Clean & Clear Finishes Pore Perfecting Moisturizer to help the loose pigment powders stick.

***UPDATE: Caustic Cadets Cosmetics are now sold on Facebook here.

If you try any of these pigments, let me know what you think!

This Weekend's Pink Mini Makeup Haul

Isn’t my mini haul from the drugstore this weekend so cute? Everything is so…PINK! xD To find out what I think about each product, read on!

[Image via Temptalia]

The Wet n’ Wild Spoiled Brat Eye Shadow Trio ($2) caught my eye because not many drugstore brands sell this vibrant fuchsia color (sorry that my first pic doesn’t do it justice, I did the best I could with rainy-day outdoor lighting). I applied all of them over Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion and all of the colors have great color payoff for a drugstore product! They are a bit powdery, though, and do fade, even with primer. Oh, well, I really just bought this for the pink color, anyway, so I’ll give this a 4/5. I can’t wait to do a pink smoky eye shadow look with this!

The Wet n’ Wild Mega Brilliance Lip Gloss in Crushed Grapes ($1) is a very sheer Barbie-pink with multicolored glitter. The good thing about this gloss is that it is NOT sticky at ALL and it also tastes amazing. It’s not gritty, like most glittery glosses, either. That said, the color payoff is non-existent and the glitter is barely there once you put it on… I feel like you’d only be able to tell that there’s glitter on my lips if I was in direct sunlight. Boo… This gets a 2/5.

Wet n’ Wild FuchsiaRama ($2) is such a pretty medium-toned purple-pink color…(a bit more pink than it looks in the pic above). It’s perfect for Fall! I love that I finally found a purple that doesn’t make the yellow undertones in my skin look weird… (Cool-toned nail polishes make my hands look like a corpse.) This is a warm purple-pink, though, and flatters warm undertones! The formula is very sheer, but it’s pretty much a given that drugstore nail polishes need at least 3 coats, so I’m okay with it. I give it a 4/5.

Finally, we have Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Strobe Light ($3), which is STUNNING! I love Disco Ball, which is snowflake-colored glitter, but this is a close second! It’s a rose pink multi-colored glitter top coat and makes any nail polish more glam Love this! It gets a 5/5.

If I had to recommend only one of these products, I would definitely say to buy Strobe Light. You'll get the best quality for your money there. Hope this helps!

Caustic Cadets Cosmetics Swatches

I received some sample packets from Caustic Cadets Cosmetics, which are now sold on Facebook instead of Etsy. (The owner of the company told me that she made the switch because Etsy charged her about $20/month to sell her products.) I hope her Facebook store is a success!

Here are some swatches from the samples:

Caustic Cadets Cosmetics: (L to R) Beer Before Liquor, Walk of Shame, Comera, Cheeky, Speed Ballin', Galactic, and Wendy

I absolutely love Beer Before Liquor, Walk of Shame, and Galactic. Cheeky would be a gorgeous highlighter for special occasions. It's so glowy and the perfect shade to make my NC40 skin look dewy (not disco).

Beer Before Liquor (eye shadow): Bronze brown with moderate amounts of multi-colored glitter, highly pigmented
Walk of Shame (eye shadow): Electric violet with flecks of periwinkle shimmer, great pigmentation
Comera (creme paint): Matte black cream shadow, buttery soft but not as pigmented as I would like. It would probably make a great e/s base, though.
Cheeky (blusher/highlighter): Gorgeous metallic golden peach
Speed Ballin' (eye base): Sheer pearl shimmer loose powder
Galactic (glitter dust): Very pretty caviar black glitter with flecks of silver
Wendy (mineral lipstick): Tomato red, with more of a sheer lip balm consistency than lipstick

Bottom line: I love the colors and pigmentation of Caustic Cadets' loose eye shadows and glitter powders but I'd pass on the cream-based stuff, since they don't seem to be as pigmented.

MAC 162 Small Contour Brush Dupe: Naimies 827524 Angled Contour Brush

MAC 162 Brush (discontinued)

A similar brush I found at my local beauty supply store, Naimie's

A long time ago, while I was working at a makeup counter, I read Kevyn Aucoin's book, Making Faces, which is still pretty much the Bible of makeup application. I learned that contouring your face can make your features pop in all the right ways. I like to contour my nose (to make it look less wide) and cheeks (to make my cheekbones stand out more).
 
I went to Naimie's Beauty Center the other day, looking for a dupe of the discontinued MAC 162 small contour brush and found this AMAZING brush. It was only $8 and is the perfect width for contouring the sides of my nose. The brush is about 6" long and has blunt angled bristles. The circumference of the bristles are about as wide as a penny and they're dense. They're a bit stiffer and more bushy than the 162. Also, the angle of the bristles is a little less than the 162. The brush applies just the right amount of contour powder (in my case, Too Faced Chocolate Soleil) without giving you harsh lines down the sides of your nose, if you use a light hand.

You can buy this brush at Naimies.com. Check out Naimie's other brushes too- they're great quality for the price!

Product Review: Kate Somerville 360 Tanning Towelettes

For Halloween weekend, I was dressed a sexy Native American Princess... *ahem* I believe the costume was called "Poke-My-Hontas". (Don't judge meeeee lol)

Anyway, even though I'm Filipino, I'm definitely sort of a guidette at heart (it's the New Yorker in me), so getting tan was essential before putting on my outfit. Unfortunately, there are a lot of self-tanners out there that smell disgusting, so I had to pick one that wouldn't make me reek of sweaty fake bake while I was out partying and dancing my ass off
.
Luckily, the sweet team at Beautylish.com sent me some free swag since I wasn't able to make it to their Beauty Social event last week and in my box of goodies was two packs of Kate Somerville 360 Tanning Towelettes... yay! They saved me from what would probably have been hours of aggravation trying to find the right self-tanner. (I was leaning towards Sun Labs Sunless Tanning Spray.)

$10 for 2 at Sephora

Kate Somerville's tanning cloths are like big wet-naps that are soaked with self-tanning solution. I needed two to cover my whole body, so at $10 for 2 the price is a little steep. But the tanning solution did its job and I immediately started getting tan. After only a couple hours, I was very bronze and my boyfriend's brother even commented on how dark I looked. Thankfully, there was no strong smell at ALL- even while I was out dancing and sweating at a Halloween party. The next morning I was SNOOKI dark. For the price, though, I was disappointed because I was orange :(

Short & Sweet: Kate Somerville's 360 Tanning Towelettes are great in a pinch, when you're short on time and need to tan ASAP without having a gross, lingering sunless tanner smell. However, the are pretty expensive ($10 for 2 or $48 for 8) and turned my skin orange-y when the color fully developed, so I would only give them a 3/5.

Tip: I used Glytone Exfoliating Body Wash with a Salux Japanese Exfoliating Washcloth to scrub off any dry, dead skin before using the Tanning Towelettes. Always exfoliate before you tan so you won't look splotchy! Then, rub a thick moisturizer into your elbows, knees, ankles, hands, and feet so they won't absorb too much of the solution. Finally, start at your ankles with the towelette still folded and work your way up, unfolding the cloth as you go.

Dupe for MAC 168 Angled Contour Brush

I just took another trip to Naimies, my favorite beauty supply store, and discovered their Royal Silk natural-bristle brushes. Many of them are under $10 and a look like great quality for the price. I picked up the C120 Contour Brush, which looks very similar to the MAC 168 Angled Contour Brush.

Both brushes have white bristles and a long black handle. The only major difference between their handles is that the C120 tapers slightly at the end. The bristles are both angled, soft bristles but the MAC 168 is slightly bushier, wheras the C120 is slightly firmer.That actually worked out to my benefit because I need stiffer bristles to deposit the right amount of contour color on the sides of my nose.

MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush, $34, maccosmetics.com

Royal Silk C120 Contour Brush, $7.50, naimies.com

The C120 isn't an exact dupe for the 168 but it's the closest you'll get for under $8! If you need a brush to contour the sides of your nose, like I do, definitely give Royal Silk a shot! :) If you've already tried Royal Silk, please drop me a comment and let me know how you liked them!

The Mary Poppins of Styling Products: Tough Love for Bratty Hair

My hair is like a bratty little kid, living on my head. It refuses to do what I want it to, it stays up when I want it to lie down and lies down when I want it to stay up, and I have to beat it into submission on a regular basis. (Ok, so I wouldn't beat a kid but you know what I mean.)

On top of that, my scalp is super sensitive to all kinds of ingredients-  so if my hair was a bratty kid, it would be one of those kids that constantly needs an inhaler and an Epi-Pen and has to live in a bubble to protect itself from the outside world. You can imagine the trouble I have finding hair products that work for me.
Luckily, I stopped by Naimie's Beauty Center last weekend and spoke to a really friendly sales girl who knew exactly what my hair needed: Osmo Essence Aqua Wax Hard.

Osmo Essence Aqua Wax Hard, $20

I am absolutely in love with this styling product! It's a transparent cobalt-blue wax (think blue Jello) that's firm enough to keep flyways and frizz at bay but soft enough that it doesn't make my hair stiff at all. It imparts glassy shine, touchable hold, and a very light unisex scent. (I literally have to hide it so my boyfriend won't steal it.) It's also water-soluble so you can mix a bit of water and product in your palm to thin it out.
I use it straight out of the jar, on dry hair, for maximum hold. Just grab a dime-sized amount, rub it between your palms, and apply to the middle to ends of your hair. Then, lightly pat down any baby hairs at the roots.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend this finishing product to anyone whose hair needs some tough love! This stuff is firm enough to keep my bratty hair in line-  but in a gentle, non-irritating way.

NEW Ardell Clear Brush-On Lash Glue

I love fake eyelashes but they can be such a pain in the *ss to put on-  the glue is so messy and gets all over the place. There's usually also a lot of product waste since you only really need a skinny strip of glue yet it just spurts out of the tube.

Luckily, Ardell's new brush-on lash glue will save you time and aggravation. It goes on clear, dries clear, and makes it easier to get just the right amount of glue on the lash strip.

HauteLook Haul: Rock & Republic Eye Shadows

These are the gorgeous eyeshadows that I recently purchased from HauteLook.com! It's a flash sale site for beauty products, clothing, accessories, and houseware that offers CRAZY discounts on designer brands for a very limited time. These eyeshadows normally cost $28 a pop (I've seen some stores mark them up to $50 or more!) but when I saw that they were going for only $7 each on HauteLook I knew I had to buy a few.
As soon as I saw all the richly pigmented hues, I wanted to buy all of them -  but somehow I managed to exert some self-control before I was able to rationalize spending $100 on eyeshadow.

Instead of picking out the same old colors I always do (i.e. various shades of copper, dark brown, bronze), I tried to select ones that I don't already own. These colors are just too pretty:

Wicked: a warm dark brownish-purple (matte)
Denim: a rich, deep navy blue (matte)
Ammo: a shimmery medium bronze