From the Boudoir

It is shockingly easy to go from one thing to another when beauty blogging. At first, I just wanted to talk about manicures. But that got into nail polishes, and all those pictures of my hands meant I had to work on my cuticles, which then made me think about lotions, and then...

Well, you can see what I mean. Everything is connected! It's kind of beautiful, like a well constructed tapestry.

So, with that in mind, I thought that I might share my thoughts on a few products I've finished up in the last couple of weeks:


We'll start on the left, with the Up & Up Women's Shave Gel. I don't remember what I paid for it, but it was less than $2 at Target. I really like the texture of the gel, which is very smooth and has a good lather to it--it also stays in place a lot better than other products I've tried. This was also the first shaving gel I've tried that actually made a difference in my skin (granted, it's been a few years. Yeah, that's how unimpressed I was before). I gave this a shot out of desperation, because my skin was so dry and no amount of lotion seemed to help. It also made my razor bumps go away within a week or two, and those have ALWAYS been a problem for me, even when I tried using shaving products in the past. As a bonus, it's got a really good, very light scent which I love. I would definitely buy this again.

In the middle we have the Up & Up Strengthening nail polish remover. I'm not going to talk about this one here, because I already added a review to my stash page (<---The link is in the sidebar).

Lastly, Color Me Sexy Volumizing Conditioner. I bought this at Marshalls probably three years ago. I'd seen it at work and heard good things about the brand, so when I saw a set of shampoo, conditioner, and leave in conditioner on sale for what I would normally pay for just my shampoo and conditioner, I decided to try it out--especially since I don't dye my hair as often as I need to and want to preserve the color, and like most girls with straight, fine hair, it's hard for me to get volume without frizz.

My overall feelings about this...meh. For starters, this product smells a bit like black licorice. Points for being unusual are quickly negated by the fact that it's the one candy I absolutely can't stand. It took me a few tries to get used to it, which is one reason it took me so long to use this up. I actually finished the shampoo over a year ago (it was more tolerable when I was washing it out) but I think I still wound up throwing out some of it, based solely on the smell. Did it help my color last? Yeah, I guess...but no more than any other shampoo for color treated hair on the market.

Then we get to the conditioners. The only reason I held on to these is because I hate throwing out things that might still be useful, and I was loathe to replace them when I still had some left.

Eventually, I got used to the conditioner and it didn't bother me any more. My #1 peeve with this one was that it's SUPER thick. Like, can't hardly get it out of the bottle thick. Like, take off the dispenser top, squeeze it out through the neck, and wind up with a cylindrical chunk of conditioner that holds it's shape in the shower. Eventually, in frustration, I squirted about a quarter of the regular conditioner into the leave in conditioner bottle, and then added water until I got a consistency I liked and could work with. This stuff was so thick that I started using it as a leave it treatment, but even then I had to thin it out quite a bit because it left a residue on my hair. What I finally ended up with was something slightly thicker than the Garnier Sleek and Shine leave in--and while I could finally squirt it out through the cap, it still held it's shape even when exposed to water. I'm telling you, you could sculpt with this stuff.

As for the leave in...I still have some of it left. It's okay. It's a spray-on treatment that really only seemed to work after I added some of that super-thick conditioner to it. Out of the three, this is the one I like the best.

Did it give me volume? A bit. But I still had lots of problems with frizz. Overall? Wouldn't buy it again, and I can't wait to go back to my standard shampoo and conditioner.

I need a rating system of some sort, like the Hammie points on Polished Indulgence. :| Any suggestions? (speaking of which, I clicked on Hammie to find out where she got him and found this adorable dog. He reminds me of my baby, Sam, who resides with my mom and dad.)

Happy Monday!