Kerastase Resistance Ciment Thermique heat-activated reconstructing milk review

I used to go to hairdressers and always end up buying whatever styling products they recommended because  whatever they did, it made my hair look fabulous when I step out from the salon. Sadly once I get home I can never replicate the same look and end up wasting the products.

After that I've stopped buying any hair stylist recommended products for quite a while, because often your hair looked so awesome was because of the careful blowdry, the end styling product virtually just 'finished it off' or added a little bit more shine or hold. Hence what probably needed improvement on my part is my hair blowdry skills...

Then come this little thing! I went to get my quarterly hair trim, the hairdresser applied a bit of this on my damp hair before blow dry and also a little bit after. I was absolutely blown away by the scent, I couldn't stop sniffing the air! It was like a mild fragrant 'neutral' floral scent yet also a touch of herbal, not sickeningly sweet, but yet not clinical or overly strong herbal.

Not to mention my hair looked really silky after that (again, that was really to the merit of the blowdry rather than this product).

Afterwards I asked the price (was about $30-35 AUD or something) and just grabbed a bottle home!

It comes in a classy light green paper box- the product is 125ml which lasts a while.

It's made in Spain- if anyone wants to know.

Comes in a squeeze tube like this. It's a screw off cap.

Click below to enlarge- basically it says apply to damp hair, start at the ends then brush through. Walnut sized.  If styling with straightening iron, dry hair completely first with blowdryer, then use iron ideally at 180 degrees Celsius temperature, and iron through.

Looks like this- it's light and not oily. Absorbs really quickly.

I always try to be as truthful as possible with my pictures- from my pictures of before and after I can't tell much difference. Top picture is before, bottom is after. This is probably because I just had a trim so all the dry ends are gone.

What it really does is it's a wonderful leave in treatment that kind of "seals" the end of hair together so it feels really smooth and feels like it mends any split ends temporarily. Not to mention it's also a heat protectant- I don't have too many leave in treatments at the moment that works well with curling irons. I have other common products like Moroccan oil and Kerastase elixir oil ultimate in the original gold bottle (and other variations of it like the pink and purple bottles) or the oleo relax oil (and a lot of other things), I find that oils work better with blowdry (since it helps even heat distribution so you can blowdry hair a lot faster). This product also makes blowdrying a little bit faster but not as dramatic as say, moroccan oil (which helps me dry my hair in half the time compared to without it).  

What it does best is before straightening iron- I find that when I use hair oils with straightening iron or curling iron, because it almost conducts heat faster, it ends up frying my hair. So oils are better as a 'finisher' after straightning to add some gloss or tame frizzies down.

It's not a miracle leave in treatment which can turn straw hair into silk immediately, but it does what it markets to do- protects against heat and seals the end so hair feels smoother.

Overall rating 5/5. I'm heavily biased due to love of the scent though!

Schwarzkopf Ultimate Colour Multi-Usage Permanent Colour Foam #400 DARK BROWN swatch/ review

 

 I'm obviously going through my camera photos again... here's a review of the Schwarzkopf Ultimate Colour multi-usage permanent colour foam. This is the darkest brown shade in the series, "400 Dark Brown".

These are a lot more expensive than the Permanent Mousse range, probably because the packaging of the foam hair dye is in a can.  It retails for around 18-20AUD in Priceline in Sydney, the total content is 2 x 40ml = 80ml. (the metal can is pre-designed in two metal tubes, once you squeeze the nozzle it effectively mixes them together, as opposed to the permanent mousse range where you have to mix the solutions together yourself.)

I got this during Priceline sale for about 15AUD, never saw it for cheaper than that.

The color indicator in the back seems to suggest an ultra dark cool toned deep brown shade.

Here's the foam. And a picture of the useless gigantic plastic gloves enclosed which are the worst gloves I've ever used in any brand of foam hair color. They are too big and slips off easily once you are trying to work the foam into your hair.

You can see the foam has white bits and brown bits, this is because the nozzle pumps out both solutions at once. It doesn't affect the application.

Instructions below, click to enlarge.

Basically apply foam to dry hair, massage in, wait for 30 min then rinse off (no shampoo needed), Then condition.

The benefit they are touting for this particular product is that you can re-use it. Which is the same concept as Salon de Pro line (from Japan). I only bought 1 can so used the entire amount this time. In terms of foam, you get a nice dense foam that's better than the Permanent Mousse range. You also seem to get a bit more foam compared to the Permanent mousse range, felt like maybe 10-15% more output (but given the permanent mousse range retails for 14AUD full price and often 10-11AUD while on sale, the price to quantity ratio isn't better).

Here's my hair color BEFORE, which is the Schwarzkopf Permanent Mousse foam colour in shade 3-0 Dark Brown after 4 weeks. There was slight fading.

This is still the BEFORE color, in some lights the fading isn't as obvious.

All pictures below are the  Ultimate Colour Multi-Usage foam in #400 Dark Brown. You can see the ends are visibly a slight different color since the quantity was not enough for a full head coverage to the end of hair. (I prefer to focus all the foam application on the roots for my grey coverage).

Here's hair after styling with my hot curler  (I think I used conair 31mm hot curler).

Top of head- at least I got an even color coverage there and no grey roots. You can see my hair's still reasonably shiny too. (I applied my usual variations of hair masques from various brands for a full week after every shampoo to ensure the foam colours don't damage my hair).

Overall I like the concept that you can re-use part of the bottle, which is ideal for grey roots touch-ups.

I do find this also covers grey hair as well as the usual Permanent mousse range.

Honestly I think this #400 dark Brown is just a smidget darker than the shade 3-0 Dark Brown from the Permanent mousse foam range.  You can probably use 3-0 for full head and then use this shade for grey root touch-ups.

There's also little odour.

Again the only gripe I have with this is I would need two bottles to cover my full head of hair, (which is slightly above armpit length), which means $40AUD at full retail price- that's not much cheaper than going to a professional hairdresser here. (A standard hairdresser in Sydney would charge like $60 for a color touch up for my length of hair, unless you go to a premium hairdresser). I would guess to fully cover my hair with sufficient foam, I need about 1.5 bottles or even the full 2 bottles.

Rating is 4/5. Still easy to use, but as with all Schwarzkopf foam hair dyes, they should give you a bigger quantity. Having to use two bottles is just doubling the cost and defeats the point of going for a DIY hair dye.

Schwarzkopf Perfect Mousse Permanent Foam Colour 3-0 Dark brown 3.0 review/ swatch

I've been meaning to review this foam hair dye from Schwarzkopf for ages, I've used at least 5-6 bottles of this but just never remembered to take photos until now.

This has became my staple hair foam dye for this winter, firstly because of ease of access (sold in Priceline and supermarkets- though I find priceline has the most complete hair color options), secondly the price is great, Priceline often have these on sale for $10-11AUD each. (RRP is about 14-15AUD).

This shade is 3-0 Dark Brown. It looks like the most cool toned brown (with possibly slight green base for that 'ash brown' sort of look, but really subtle). Unfortunately most other shades in the Swarzkopf brown series are red based and warmer colors. This is about the darkest brown in all the available shades, the next shade is 1.0 black.

Usual contents below. 

The application is as usual. Put the content of the black bottle into the large white bottle. put nozzle on. Then squeeze pump to get the foams. Massage foam from roots then work to end of hair. Rinse, condition, then dry hair.

Also comes with a conditioner (which I thought was weak- after first two bottles, I end up never using these and stick with my usual Kerastase or any other brand hair masques).

Also comes with some cheap plastic gloves- they are gigantic and very difficult to use. On a few occasions when I remember, I actually buy those latex gloves from supermarket instead. 

Not much point in showing before color- I find this shade has excellent coverage and does not fade a lot. I mainly reapply each time to cover my few grey roots (I'd say I have maybe a few hundred grey hair, but it's not obvious yet- I'm just really picky about any grey roots).

Here's how it looks after about 2 weeks. 

Indoor light, this is as dark as it looks (I like it since it's a good color for winter, not too light, almost blackened brown so it's good for the office).

Under different lighting this is as light as it looks, a shiny dark brown.

Again here. with flash photography some strands look a bit more chestnut brown, but in reality I don't find it to be as warm and definitely does not fade to a brassy red or orange.

The shade also looks rather natural. I don't do highlights or any special techniques, but it's not flat looking or streaky.

I also want to add the grey coverage is excellent with this shade. It's probably due to the fact I often have to use two full bottles if I was doing my full head of hair. That's a major down point- there is simply insufficient content , you clearly need about 2 bottles for any hair length over the shoulder.  (Mine is just above armpit length). I have a lot of hair so it also means you need 2 bottles to ensure even foam coverage, otherwise 1 bottle may barely cover the roots, not even enough to work a bit to the ends to make it look natural.

I also leave this in for 30-40 minutes (I count the 30-40 minutes from the time AFTER I applied everything and massaged it in, so that excludes any application time. Though it only takes me 10-15 min to apply).

It also isn't too drying so my hair doesn't turn into straw afterwards. However would still strongly recommend using a hair masque regularly if you use foam hair dyes (just swap your conditioners with hair masques).

Overall:

Pros: - good grey hair coverage, relatively cheap, does not have strong odour, easy to apply.  Rinses out easily (instructions says rinse with water until water runs clear, then apply usual masque. i.e. do not shampoo. Also does not stain the skin very much. Very little fading. 

Cons-  too little product inside, compared to any other brand I have tried. The foam product is 35ml + 35ml mixed together so that's only 75ml.

Loreal sublime mousse only contains 39ml + 26ml so a total of 65ml- however the foams come out and feels like maybe 10-20% more than Schwarzkopf in terms of application areas.

- the gloves are rubbish- they are very loose and hard to use. Also very cheap and flimsy. Latex gloves are much easier to use (though I guess some people are allergic to latex).

Rating is still 4/5 since I just like this color. The fading is much better than a lot of other foam hair dyes and grey coverage is miles ahead of Liese and Prettia. Loreal sublime mousse has decent coverage too but I just didn't like any of the L'oreal colors.

Please note if you have anything other than naturally black hair or dark brown hair, this color may easily turn out way too dark for you, most foam hair colors really tend to go on darker than it looks.

Clairol Nice'n Easy Colour Blend Hair Dye #114 Natural Light Ash Brown review

For the first time, this is NOT a review of any bubble hair dye or foam hair dye, this is a standard hair dye that's just creme in consistency.

Again, I have natural Asian black hair, it's not a stark black but more like blackened brown naturally. I have a bit of grey (less than 1%) so using drugstore branded hairdyes is just my way of avoiding spending too much money at hairdressers every 6 weeks. I usually use two or three at home hair dyes (each time at least 4-8 weeks apart), then usually followed by a professional hair dye and cut at the hairdressers.

I picked shade 114 natural light ash brown, it still looks sort of medium dark on the pack

Contents:

Basically you get globes, conditioner, and the other two bottles are the dyes. 

You mix the die together and apply with the bottle on the very left in picture above.

Instructions:

Here's my hair color before, it's already faded, and was taking on a more reddy/ mid brown tinge, which in sunlight makes my hair look dull and lacklustre.

I had a bit of difficulty with applying the clairol one. There's no applicator per se, they just tell you to separate hair into small strands, and apply from the bottle nozzle and massage in with fingers. Personally I have way too much hair to do it all myself. So I got an old plastic comb, squeezed some on the hair and some on the comb then brushed through main areas of concern (e.g. regrow and greys). I don't have too many greys, at most 1% of my hair, but I'd like to cover them as much as possible.

The whole application process took a good 20 minutes, and personally 1 box wasn't quite enough for my long hair, the end of my hair didn't really get much product on it.

I left the dye on for a good 35 minutes (excludes the 20 minute it took to apply), then rinsed my hair thoroughly. Then used the enclosed conditioner (which was ok, nothing spectacular), and rinsed again thoroughly.

AFTER pictures are all below:

You can see it did come out well, like the box color, especially in picture below, it wasn't as 'ash' as I expected, but I liked how it wasn't warm toned and neutralised the previous brassiness.

Below pictures are AFTER 4 weeks- I took these right before I was doing another different hair dye again (separate review to follow later).

After 4 weeks I had some issues with the regrowth area, I don't think I got thorough grey coverage , so the regrowth looked quite obvious, and even for normal black hair area the regrowth was still very obvious because in the areas where I applied the hair dye thoroughly , it took on color, and also faded in the same localised area, making the regrowth patch glaringly obvious.

Indoors it was still ok

Outdoor pictures below, you can see pictures below there's a lot more red based brown appearing, which I quite dislike, because it makes the regrowth section very obvious and in real life it makes my hair texture look worse.

Again, here you can see it's now became a warm brown.

Ovreall I thought for a boxed creme dye for like $15AUD retail, it delivered what it promised. However as with all creme hair dye the real trick is probably getting an even application and make sure you have more than enough dye for your hair. I thought the brushing through I did with a comb helped with color distribution, but I think a lot of work was still needed with your fingers to rub in the color to ensure all strands are coated, especially if you have long and a lot of hair like me. 

It had a typical ammonia sort of hair dye smell, was not too bad.

Personally I don't think I will go back to normal hair dye other than bubble foam types anymore, it's just too troublesome for at home application to achieve an even result, and the instructions always say "avoid scalp application", which is a bit silly if you are trying to get as much grey coverage as possible. I didn't really follow that instruction and still rubbed it well into the roots, it did sting the scalp a little bit but didn't leave any other resulting irritations once rinsed clear.

Rating is 4/5. It's a nice color, works well if you have short hair (probably anything above shoulder length). It came out a bit darker than on the box but stayed like the box color for a good 2-3 weeks. However the fading was pretty marked after about 4 weeks and I thought the regrowth was far more obvious than bubble foam type of hair dye.

What I liked from Japan: Rohto Z!, Lion Cooling Sheet for Legs, Tokyu hands Woodyhouse brush, Lycee Rohto Eyewash reviews

Well it's been ages since my Japan trip, where I bought quite a bit of random beauty gadgets. Some I saw from magazines, some I just saw in stores and was interested in trying.

Firstly, Rohto Z! Refresh you eyes eyedrops. There are a few versions (by box color), like super minty vs mild etc. These are a step up from the pink bottled Rohto Lycee cooling eye drops. They give really great cooling sensation to the eyes and clear any redness. I use it in the morings a few times a week as I get allergies regularly (as with all eye drops, not recommended for prolonged regular long term use).

In Japan these are not prescription products so they are available in most drugstores alongside other eyedrops. I think you shouldn't use this with contacts, but if I recall correctly there might be a special version for contact wearers as well (same with Lycee eyedrops- there's a contact lense version).

I like how it's plastic sealed internally too. the square/ triangular bottle shape is also easy to hold.

Next is Lion Cooling Sheet for Legs. The brand is "Lion". This always received rave reviews in many beauty magazines and are recommended as a holiday treat when you are in Japan after too much shopping and walking. Basically it's a leg mask that's aimed at cooling and refreshing the legs and soothe that tired/ sore feeling. 

I was very sceptical but it really does work- it's like an improved version of those traditional medicinal plasters and pastes.

Each pack contains 3 individually packed sachets (see left of box in pic below). Each sachet contains 6 sheets (each use is 3 sheets per leg).

Basically you stick the masks on your legs like in pictures below.

The sheets are 13cm x 8.5cm, they are a bit like a pink 'gel' look (but it's not runny and doesn't drip). You peel off the separator sheet on top and stick the pink gel patches on the foot, back of leg and ankle. Leave for 15-20min (or longer like 1 hr if you want, they stick on fairly easily so you can still walk about).

You can feel an immediate cooling and soothing sensation on the legs, it's hard to describe, but it's such an "ahhhhhhhh so nice" moment after a long day of walking and shopping. 

They are not reusable. Each box retails for about USD15 so I consider them to be for special occasions only. They don't exactly have skin treatment properties either so it wouldn't leave your skin moisturised etc etc.

I also went to Tokyu Hands (which is like a medium sized department store that really specialises in selling random things, from hairdryer to cosmetics to cute garden tools to calendars etc).  I've always wanted a boar bristled round brush for blow drying my hair (especially doing the slightly curled inward look for the ends of my hair). Having looked at mason pearson then I decided I didn't want to invest that much just yet. 

I bought this one instead, which says it's made with natural boar bristle and the brush is heat resistant and static resistant, sounds perfect for blow drying. 

 (and made in Japan with real wood handle, the actual brand is called "Woodyhouse") 

It was 1470 Yen so about 16USD. Made in Osaka I think.

Personally I thought it's a very nice and reasonably priced brush, I wish I got a slightly bigger diameter size, but it still works quite well with a hairdryer to avoid that messy hair look where the ends sometimes curl at a weird angle. I still haven't quite grasped the technique for a perfect home blowdry with beautiful inward curls though.

The varying length of the bristle (at the base there's more densely packed shorter bristles, then mixed with longer bristles) also meant it was great for smoothing down hair (to avoid that static flyaway finish).

Only thing to complain about is that it's slightly difficult to clean (i guess with any similar hair brushes though).  A lot of fluff and hair gets trapped in the very root of the bristles. Sometimes I spend a good 2-3 minutes with a tweezer to clean it. However a good trick to clean your hairbrush (one that's well made), is after a thorough shampoo and while your hair is still full of foam, use the brush to brush your hair (through the foam) without tangling it, then the shampoo will clean any dirt or oil in the brush as well.

Lastly Rohto Lycee eye wash. I've been meaning to try this for a while. The Lycee line is not as super cooling as the Z! line (I'd actually prefer the Lycee eye drops since they are cooling enough for me and comes in cute pink bottles).

See the plastic strange looking cap on the top of the bottle- that's the holder for the eyewash. You squeeze some eyewash liquid into the holder, then put the holder over your eye, press against the skin, then squeeze the bottom of the holder while your eyes are still open, it then rinses your eyeballs easily.

I know it sounds silly to wash your eyeball with a special product, but this really works especially if you are one of those people who always find you wake up with gluggy eyes or after removing your eye makeup, it still seems a bit foggy or there might be random mascara residue or shimmers that's floating around in your eye. This gets rid of the last bit of it (and is really soothing and cooling when you use it). It really does feel different to using just plain water.

I got the smallest 80ml size which still lasts a good 3 months (used a few times a week). There's also a giant 400ml size but I just prefer to use my eye products within a few months to ensure everything's clean. 80ml retails for like 10-12USD.

This works great with those who suffer from hayfever or slightly bloodshot eyes.

I like most items above and would happily repurchase most of them. Quite a few items are probably available online too like ebay or adambeauty.com etc. Definitely take a look, I love fun Japanese gadgets.