Born 2 impress: Born 2 Impres Holiday Gift Guide- Haute Polish Gel Nail Kit Review and Giveaway

Born 2 impress: Born 2 Impres Holiday Gift Guide- Haute Polish Gel Nail Kit Review and Giveaway

Dark and Lovely 5-Minute Total Restore Conditioning Treatment

Background: I was fortunate enough to win a giveaway last month hosted by Tomecia Blake- she's the Dark & Lovely 2012 Fashionista Winner. You can check out her youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/HairDeLaCreme), twitter (https://twitter.com/HairDeLaCreme) and blog page (http://hairdelacreme.com). She has lots of hair tutorials, product reviews, wig and 3/4 wig reviews. Check them out if you're interested or just nos...I mean curious.

For the giveaway I won a few Dark and Lovely Products. I won two boxes of hair color from their new Chocolate Bliss Collection, the Dark and Lovely 5-minute Total Restore Conditioning Treatment and the 6-Week Anti-Reversion Cream Serum. As a result, I was in no way paid to endorse their products or contacted by Dark and Lovely to do so.

Description on Product: This 5 minute treatment boasts of being able to Recover+Replenish+Revive to Reveal healthy Hair in 5 minutes. The product also notes that it, "Quickly Revitalizes and Helps Strengthen Dry, Damaged Hair. Infused with Honey, Panthenol and Vitamin E, Total Restore is designed to:

+Recover strength and manageability

+Replenish moisture and softness

+Revive body and shine

Initial Feelings: Honestly, I was a bit skeptical. With all the naturalistas, product junkies, hair guru's and anyone out there on the journey to healthy hair out there one of the big rules that I've learned in passing is that anything that says it is a deep conditioner and recommends leaving the product on for less than 30-45 minutes is not really a deep conditioner.

Prep: As a result, I was quite excited to try the product out and see what would happen. I washed my hair with nuNAAT's NAAT Brazilian Keratin Shampoo (they are on sale for Christmas, you can get any three of their products at select Walgreens for $9), used Naat's Keratin Deep Conditioner to add moisture to my hair and help get rid of what ever tangles there were and then added the Total Restore.

Description: There is an ample amount of product in this package (1.75Fl.Oz/51.5ml). I have short, relaxed hair so it was really enough. The consistency of the product is a bit thicker than yogurt (the rich yogurt  and is just as creamy. The smell is a pretty light and sort smells like cologne.

Directions: After shampooing, apply a generous amount to hair from roots to ends. Comb through for even distribution. Place a plastic cap over the hair and sit under a warm dryer for 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly and style as desired.

Ingredients: Aqua/Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Paraffinum Liquidum/Mineral Oil, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Polyquaternium-37, Sorbitol, Propylene Glycol, Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Parfum/Fragrance, Sodium Benzoate, Isopropyl Alcohol, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, PEG/PPG/Polybutylene Glycol-8/5/3 Glycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter/Shea Butter, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Honey, Citric Acid, Sodium PCA, Hexyl Cinnamal, Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride, Linalool, Olea Europaea Oil/Olive Fruit Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis Oil/Jojoba Seed Oil, Persea Gratissima Oil/Avocado Oil, Panthenol, CI 19140/Yellow 5, CI 14700/Red 4, CI 17200/Red 33, CI 42090/Blue 1.
(I really can't  judge if the products are good or bad. I'll let you decide. I will say though that the Mineral Oil is up for debate at the moment in the hair community and the fragrance is pretty high on the list. I have no problems with Mineral Oil).

Method: I ended up leaving this product on under the dryer for 15 mins as I started writing the review for the product. Washed the product out after my hair cooled down a bit and added my leave-in, reconstructor and moisturizer/sealant( on the bottle it says it's a moisturizer but it contains mineral oil). Combed through with a big toothed comb. Put my hair in a faux bob and let air dry.

Review: I did not comb the conditioner through my hair (gasp). I never do. Usually, I just apply the deep conditioner and smooth through my hair. With relaxed hair and a deep conditioner that detangles without combing I've never had a problem. With this product that was a mistake. I should have combed through with the deep conditioner.

Cons: I have VERY DRY COLOR TREATED HAIR. This product did moisturize but it was o.k. I have yet  to find a deep conditioner that really really moisturizes my color treated hair.

Pros: They give you a good amount of product. I've looked online and this product is $1.59 on their website. You may find it cheaper or more costly some where else.  I dont know. The product also didn't leave a film on my hair. One of my previous staple deep conditioners left a film on my hair after washing and it started to become a pet peeve of mine. The product also smells great. Finally, come on guys, this treatment is only to be left on for 5 minutes! It's very convenient if your'e on the go. I was very busy this week and was glad that I had the product. There was NO SHEDDING. My hair usually sheds when I wash out the conditioner. This did not happen. My color also remained intact.

Overall: For the price, time period and amount of product it's o.k. in my humble opinion. It's for the girl on the go. I would like to try the product again and leave it on for a longer time period with and without the dryer. I think the dryer really helped with the steaming process.

What do you guys think? Have you tried the product before? Are you excited to try the product? Have you been able to find the product in stores? Leave a comment below.

Nestle Abuelita

Check out Dancing Hotdogs Abuelita Giveaway at:

http://www.dancinghotdogs.com/2012/11/nestle-abuelita-giveaway-sweepstakes/

My Discovery of Shop Well

I had never heard of this site prior to my accidental discovery. I haven't been dieting for well over 5 years and the past year I've been less calorie conscious. If it tastes good I've eaten it. :(

The site is pretty cool. It offers a mobile app that has a food scanner and a healthy grocery list. I remember when I first dieted, I would memorize the calories in foods without labels (fruits, veggies, foods that did have labels but I wanted to avoid weird looks in the grocery store and wasted time) or favorite foods to really get a good idea of how healthy each serving was. It also offers recommendations for 'Trade Ups'. The site is beautiful and user friendly. Lots of pictures, enough writing where I don't feel like an idiot (a lot of websites now have little to no words and its quite frustrating-when windows got rid of drop down menus with text I was pretty annoyed), food scoring to show how closely a product matches with your needs. You can connect with a facebook account or email.

You can sign up if you want, enter your age and gender, goals and/or conditions (for example, general health, lactose intolerance  ect.. this helps with selecting food preferences). It recommends foods that you want to eat to achieve your goals, foods that you don't want and you can also specify allergies. Based on your height, weight and age, exercise times and the recommended calories per day are also recommended. Mine was quite high for weight management. You can also find foods that you like and trade them in for healthier ones. A wide variety of foods are presented from international foods to run-of-the-mill items. Even bakery items from large stores are shown. For example, I wanted some cinnamon buns from a large chain store. The score was a 32 and marked in red. Another snack was recommended that was lower in calories, fat and contained more fiber. Unfortunately, the amount of sugar was not specified. It's a cute website that has all the nutritional labels.

I'll continue to check out the site but if you are starting a weight loss journey like me, this maybe a pretty interesting place to start along with Sparkpeople.

http://www.shopwell.com

Do you guys know of any other handing websites for weightloss? Leave a comment below!

Grace Coconut Milk Powder for Hair

Premise: For the longest time I've wanted to use coconut milk as a hair treatment. When I was highschool, my friend's mom would style her hair in-between hairdressing appointments and use homemade hair treatments to boot. Hey, my friend had a male hairdresser so she was avant-garde in my humble opinion especially since male hairdressers are rare in my neck of the woods. I still think that she is. One of the home treatments that she used was a mixture of mayonnaise and eggs for a protein treatment every six weeks. I tried it and had o.k. results (my hair has never been a fan of protein treatments and I'm still in search of a product that will be gentle enough to do so). My friends hair on the other hand was always beautiful.

Where and How Much: In any event, I went into my local Save-a-lot and was perusing the international food isle (they have a pretty good selection of products that fit my budget and many of the products are familiar but I'll write more on that later). I found this packet of Coconut Milk for 99 cents and decided to try it. I thought about using the coconut milk in the can but decided against it because of the potential mess and product dripping down my neck.

At home, I decided to use this product as a pre-poo because of the fats contained in the product. No joke, as much as I love peas n' rice make with coconut milk I try my hardest not to consume it. That's a dish for special occasions and comfort food when life gets too rough.

Breakdown it down: Basically, each packet has 5 servings of 5 tsp each, each serving has 6g of total fat and 5g of saturated fat with 1g of protein. The product is high in saturated fat. A packet of this has as much fat as a burger. In contrast, the acutal liquid coconut milk has one serving as 1/3 cup. There are 5 servings per can. Each serving has 10g of total fat and 9 g of saturated fat with 1g of protein. So, if you use a half a can of the product on your hair, it's about 25g of total fat, 22.5g of saturated fat and 2.5g of protein.

I used a half a packet of the coconut powder which was 15g of total fat, 12.5g of saturated fat and 2.5g of protein. There is a disparity between the two. To further illustrate, a large egg has about 6g of protein. In terms of protein, I have NO IDEA how many grams of protein is supposed to be in our hair or how many grams of protein are in protein treatments. Math is also not my strongest subject so my quick calculations are up for debate. In any event, I supplemented the coconut powder with a Hot Oil Treatment and an o.k. conditioner and added just a touch of water until the mixture became a creamy paste. I wet my hair and put on the paste for about 3 hours. It was pretty cold outside so I just put on a shower cap, a metallic shower cap and a wool hat to hide the shower cap whilst I ran some errands. I've alternated this method with only keeping the product on for an hour and also sleeping with it overnight. Next, I rinse out the mixture (a good tip would be to pull the shower curtain out of the bathtub and just wash your hair under the faucet; because there's so much fat in the product, it's quite difficult to wash out). I followed up with shampoo, a light conditioner to detangle (which really wasn't needed because my hair came out quite detangled. I did it out of habit), a deep conditioner and just let my hair air dry in a wrap.

The process does sound time consuming but it really isnt. I do it in phases. I prepoo the night before (for warm weather where I can't conceal the shower cap) or the day of and go to the library (for cold weather where I can conceal). The deep conditioner I do late at night before bed and whilst studying or cleaning.

Overall: I love using the powder. I may use the liquid when I have more time on my hand for cleaning and washing towels. I use this as a treat for myself especially if there is spare change in my pocket when I go to the supermarket. It's also a great way to use up a conditioner that I'm not so hot for anymore. I had no shedding with this product and my hair felt stronger and healthier. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

Try it out guys and tell me what you think! Don't be afraid to comment below.

Dark and Lovely Healthy Gloss 5 Shea Moisture Relaxer

Contents:

Shea Butter Conditioning Relaxer Creme with build-in Pre-Care

Creme Activator

Silk Keratin Serum

Healthy-Gloss Moisture Conditioner

Healthy-Gloss Moisture Hair Creme

Wooden Spatula 

Instructions

Gloves

What the product promises:

1) Moisture

2) Shine

3) Strength

4) Softness

5) Body

6) "Recharges hair with 5X more conditioning power for Moisture and Body."

My Review:

I LOVE this product. A few weeks before I had purchased the regular relaxer, I noticed that they offered the product in Super, Regular and for Color Treated Hair. After I had come from work it was already late and I was rushing to catch the beauty supply store before it closed that night. Saturday, the next day, was going to be extremely busy and I wouldn't have enough time for the commute. I just made it to the beauty supply store as it was closing and I quickly grabbed the box off the shelf completely forgetting about the fact that the product also catered to us color-treated girls. 

I loved this product so much that I purchased another box from Walmart but there was no box for color-treated hair. Regardless, the product was gentle enough on my hair and I experienced little hair-loss (you guys know what I mean-after relaxing, neutralizing and conditioning when you comb out your hair). 

What I enjoyed the most about this product was the fact that before you wash your hair with the neutralizing shampoo that there is a Silk Keratin Serum that you add to the hair. I really think that this step strengthened my hair.

 A lot of times after relaxing my hair, I've had very straight hair but it lacks body. Also, there have been a time or two when my hair has been texlaxed because I didnt want to leave the product in too long for fear of loosing hair. This relaxer left my hair straight but with body. I wish I had taken pictures. I just let my hair air-dry and I was good to go.

After using this product, I feel as if SoftSheen Carson has been watching YouTube videos and listening to and heading the concerns and feedback from its customers and the public in general. The fact that a relaxer was made that contained Shea Butter and also had a step in between relaxing and neutralizing proved this. They also know that there are several other companies to compete with and the Creme Activator also proves this. 

Recommendations:

I wish that the instructions were a better in terms of how long to leave the relaxer in. The instructions recommend performing a strand test and then adjusting the timing based on this for fine and color-treated hair. Medium hair had a limit of 15-18 minutes and coarse hair had a limit of 18-20 minutes. For my fine hair, I used the 'touch and go method'. Lol, my way of saying that I didnt have much time on my hands and did the relaxer without the strand test. Would I recommend someone else doing this? No! I'm assuming that the instructions advised as such because there are 3 different types of relaxers and also because everyone's hair reacts differently to the products. 

I've always been a fan of SoftSheen Carson but have never used any of the Dark and Lovely Products. The Optimum Salon Quality is my go to (and before this favorite) relaxer. But, I honestly wanted to switch things up after a while. People change and I didnt want to have a bone straight relaxer because I'm always getting caught out in the rain. 

Would I buy this again? :

Of course! The box I bought also had a $2 off coupon and I ended up buying the Leave- In Treatment which I also love and will post a review up at a later date. 

Leave a Comment! I would love to hear from you guys!

Revenge Season 2 Episode 3 Recap - Confidence

The episode opens with Emily and Aiden trying to outrun a pack of dogs through a maze. This scene gives us a little history of Emily and Aiden’s past training with Takeda. Aiden wins the training session by outsmarting Emily because she let her emotions cloud her judgment. As we’ve seen throughout the series, this is Emily’s major weakness.

In the present, Emily and Aiden begin arguing over the dead White-Haired Man’s phone. She wants the phone to locate her mother. He wants the phone to track down The Initiative. Aiden secretly removes a set of keys from the White-Haired Man’s jacket before Emily hits him over the head with a bottle. Finally the White-Haired Man is gone! He was beginning to get annoying but not as annoying as Tyler. Oh gosh, nobody could be as annoying as Tyler. I’m still wondering what Emily did with the body and how she was able to dispose of it without Victoria noticing (in the previous scene Victoria was standing with Daniel watching over Emily’s bungalow). I’m assuming that this body will turn up similarly to Franks; at the wrong place and at the wrong time later in the series. Furthermore, how was Emily able to carry an unconscious Aiden outside of the house, left and dispose of him in a dumpster with a plan ticket back to Japan? Nolan’s not the only person in Revenge whose been working out this summer.

Aiden wakes up the next morning and barely escapes being crushed in a dump truck. He goes to the motel that the White-Haired Man was staying at and finds the flight log for the crashed plane. As Aiden is leaving the motel, Em’s mom approaches him and asks who he is. He explains that he is a detective. She doesn’t trust him and calls the police department. We now know that she is working with the White-Haired Man.

Meanwhile, Emily blackmails Amanda into giving her father’s notebook from jail to Charlotte. She even marks points of interest for Charlotte to read. Victoria is well again and decides to invite Emily over for tea. Victoria warns Emily to stay away from the Grayson household. Honestly, after watching ABC’s Q and A with all of the actors both Emily and Victoria’s ‘spats’ seem a little too forced. The inside joke has been exposed and some of the edge that was usually associated with the archenemies smart alec responses has dulled. In any event, in Victoria’s mind she has used Emily and is now sending her away.

Victoria is holding a press conference on the same day and in a private interview tells a reporter that she is changing her ways. That she wants to turnover a new leaf. An angry Charlotte stomps in and reports that Victoria was behind her biological father’s death and tells the reporter that David Clarke is her father. Victoria threatens the reporter for liability. Lo and behold, Emily is there to witness the whole fiasco go down. Victoria admits that Charlotte is David Clarke’s daughter and that Amanda is her half-sister. Jack on the other hand is now angry at Amanda for joining forces with the Graysons’.  He is also angry at Declan for stealing and being caught and now he owes the man for not reporting Declan to the police.

At the end of the episode, Emily trades all the items that she received from the white-haired man for the flight log except for a locket which contains her mother’s picture. Her mother and the White-Hair Man are not only in cahoots but they have a romantic relationship with one another! Conrad announces that he a Victoria will be remarried at the end of the summer. Aiden and Amanda were an item before Aiden snuck off in the middle of the night to save his sister which turned out to be a failed mission. He wants to work with Emily now to help her on her mission (he placed Victoria’s fake passport in Daniel’s way so that Daniel would know that her kidnapping was all a rouse). Emily still doesn’t trust him.

Funniest parts of the episode: These parts were quite ironic. Nolan finally being able to show off his new ‘skills’, getting taken down by Aiden and asking why he is always being ambushed.  Also, when Daniel finally is in on the fact that everyone (Conrad +Charlotte) knows that Victoria staged her kidnapping. Daniel is always the last to know. Rolling my eyes.

Final question of the evening: Where is Ashley? Did she disappear out of the mansion because Victoria is back? Why didn’t Victoria have some smart comment for Ashley dating Daniel? I’m assuming because Victoria just like all of us realizes that it’s just a fling.

Where do you guys think this season is going? What big surprises are you hoping will materialize? Also how do you feel about the crush that Nolan’s coworker has on him? Do you think that she is working with someone to take Nolan down or is she simply jealous of Emily?

Revenge Season 1 Finale

In the previous post I mentioned how I was unable to watch the Season Finale of Revenge until months after it premiered. Along with or rather due to life's stresses I had thought that the previous episode was the Season Finale and was highly upset to discover that Nolan had been captured and that I would have to wait 3 months to find out if Emily would save him. I swore off Revenge Season 2 for trying to pull a "Who shot J.R.?" tactic.

Low and behold I was trolling on ABC's Revenge website and came across the episode entitled Reckoning and boy was it good! ABC took all of our favorite elements from Season 1 and served it to us with explosions, axes, exes, overdosing and a surprise gift-opening. Initially, I thought that the episode had started and ended too slowly. Why was Amanda taking so long to discover Nolan's disappearance? What was the purpose of Victoria visiting Amanda's house? Who in the world is the White-Haired Man and why doesn't he have a name? But as soon as Amanda entered that kidnapper's looking van without a weapon, I knew the episode was going to be exciting.

So to Recap:

The episode starts with Emily standing in her signature black tracksuit in the middle of her ransacked bungalow. She begins to scream for Daniel. Daniel comes downstairs and immediately looks under the kitchen counter for his briefcase and all the evidence against Conrad. Because clearly, no burglar would think to look behind the pots and pans to find incriminating evidence against one of the richest men in the world. He makes up a lie to Emily that I'm sure even if she were clueless to what was actually going on she would never believe it. Conveniently, it's Daniel's idea to pack-up and move to New York.

Emily then calls Nolan and when she is unable to find him, travels to his home to find his laptop with a message to call the kidnapper via Skype. It's none other than the White-Haired Man who doesn't decide to leave on the laptop's webcam. As per his instructions and under the ruse to Daniel of subletting the guesthouse, she meets with him. The White-Haired Man notes that she has no weapons (which, personally, I would have been wary of a good butt-whooping) and Emily willingly lies on a mattress in the back of the van (because of course she is about to be killed in comfort) and  inhales a good amount of chloroform ( for some reason I could only think of Nancy Drew at that moment and how no matter the amount of chloroform that her kidnappers used she was able to get away).  When she wakes, she finds herself chained beside to the wall of what looks like a meat freezer/warehouse. The White-Haired Man thinking that he is more clever than Emily has taken off her watch with a lock pick hidden inside. That did not fool me for a second although Nolan was quite surprised when Emily tricked the Whited-Haired Man into a goose chase for the evidence and pulled out another lock-pick from her jacket pocket with her teeth. The funniest part of that episode had to be when Nolan commented that he was "not worthy" (I'm sure that we were all thinking the same thing). When the White-Haired Man returns Nolan is already on his way to New York to deliver the evidence to the cops and Emily is waiting for the White-Haired Man with an ax. Yes, I wrote it an ax. Emily means business. For some reason, the White-Haired Man decides to use a surgical knife to take Em's down. Of course she is about to strike the crushing blow when she decides to have a conscience and spare the man. When I think about it, if I were the White-Haired Man I would have packed my bags and left the country. She must be really crazy to not only come after me with an ax but I've already seen her face and she decides to walk away?

Other minor things that happen during the episode include, Emily breaking off the engagement with Daniel, Victoria slapping Daniel, Conrad loosing that blonde haired annoying secretary (What's her name again?) to Victoria because the grass looked a lot greener on Victoria's side and Ashley making a move on Daniel ( I wonder how Victoria' s is going to feel about this development. Daniel's definitely gone down the ladder and taken the Grayson name down with him), Charlotte overdosing on pills after being rejected by Declan for  publicly humiliating the new girl and Conrad finding her (I dont think I'll miss Charlotte), the real Emily showing up pregnant with Jack (there's no doubt in my mind that he is not the father) and finally the White-Haired Man orchestrating the blow-up of the plane with Victoria and the Evidence inside (Victoria, I'm sure is not dead).

Oh and finally the best part of the episode. Guess what was inside the box that Victoria gave to Emily for an engagement gift? Absolutely nothing! The look on Em's face was priceless. I can't wait to see how things turnout next season! What are you hoping to see on Sunday's episode?

Why I and You love ABC's Revenge! Part 1

Swamped with final papers, exams, work, projects and personal drama, I didn't have the opportunity to watch the Season 1 Finale of Revenge until three months after it appeared on television. That just sounded like a line straight out of Emily's mouth. As I was writing, the first thought that came to my mind was when she poisoned Conrad's soup and noted that "people say that revenge is a dish best served cold but I think it's best served warm" or something similar to that effect. Emily VanCamp's sinister voice and cliched one-liners crack me up every time yet, I can't help but root for her and the show and here's why.

I think that Revenge is a lot of people's guilty pleasure. To be quite honest, I love the mix that the show offers from being a campy soap opera , to being a compelling drama, to presenting moments of comedic relief and frustration- Nolan, Tyler and Jack are some characters that I have a weekly love/hate relationship with, to providing fantasy- what's it like to be rich and living in The Hamptons with your only concern being revenge, avoiding detection and/or collusion? In these economic and stressful times many of us want to see the underdog and the betrayed overcome every obstacle, defeat the bad guys and run off into the sunset- it's sorta cathartic and we can relate to Emily, Nolan and Jack. I'm sure I'll feel the emotional purging even more when it appears for Season 2 on Sunday nights after a long, exhausting and frustrating work week.

Furthermore, Emily is no damsel in distress neither is she a white knight. Rather than being a victim (or simply hiring an assassin) she sets out to The Hamptons with a plan to avenge her father's death. Throughout the series it seems as if the men are much more in distress than Emily. For example, Nolan is 9 times out of 10 always fumbling through or foiling a plan due to his insecurities and lack of experience, Jack is still pining away at the disappearance of Amanda several years after the fact and keeping her dog as a memento of a lost love, Tyler expectantly going off the hinges because of the damage done to his family and Daniel having absolutely no backbone, being the alcoholic socialite and having absolutely no understanding of life purpose until Emily appears due to his cushy upbringing. The main women in the series are the Lady Macbeth's of their generation. Every time Victoria appears on screen I see her as the perfect embodiment of Lady Macbeth in the first act although I seriously doubt that they will have the same fate.

Oh, and let me not forget to comment on the clothes, cars, houses and furniture. I love the newspaper print upholstery on Victoria's chair; it reminds me a bit of Regina's office in Once Upon a Time. I also enjoy seeing the contrast between Emily's tiny beach house to the Grayson's huge mansion. The soapy symbolism get's me every time.

Maybe I'll do a part two. I was actually getting pretty excited just remembering the old times with my friends from the Hamptons.