March Birchbox Review

My March Birchbox arrived very quickly this month! If you don't know about Birchbox yet you should check it out because you're missing out. I talk more in depth about it here or you can check out their website. Let's get right to it.

I love dry shampoo and am always excited to try new ones. I had never heard of Serge Normant Meta Revive Dry Shampoo, so I was excited to get my hands on this nice size sample. The smell was a little strong at first for me, but didn't seem to linger. The product itself is very heavy. It does the job and absorbs the oil, but makes your hair feel very "producty". It would be great to dirty up really clean hair.  

Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream was a nice surprise. I normally receive hair, face, nail, or perfume samples so this was a nice change. (Not that I don't love the other products I normally get). I'll admit it, I'm a shaving foam kind of girl. I know that even using conditioner is great for shaving and leaves skin feeling very soft, but sometimes I can't justify wasting expensive conditioner for shaving. With that being said, I am very excited to try this shaving cream. If it performs likes it promises it will be amazing. Oh, and the blueberry smell is very yummy.

I have already received twistband hair ties in a previous Birchbox, and loved them so much I ordered more right away. I have a few of their headbands as well, but none are fancy and shimmery like this one. I am excited to have one for more than just working out.  

My beauty extra for the month was this cute emery board done by Madewell for Birchbox. Who couldn't use another nail file laying around. I swear I have 100's, but can never seem to find one when I need it. 

Lastly, I received Incoco Nail Polish Applique. I have yet to try them so I can't tell you how they work, but I have heard great things about nail appliques in general. All you do is stick them on and then file away the excess. Not sure that I would wear this pattern on every nail, but maybe a fun accent for my ring fingers.  

Easy Chignon Tutorial

Happy Friday! I decided to leave you this weekend with this easy chignon tutorial. It can be as fancy and polished as you want or as casual and as undone as you want.

Have a great weekend!

Maria Menounos Oscar Hair Tutorial

Monday this week I did my best and worst hair review from the Oscars. My number 1 best hair went to Maria Menounos with this stunning look.

In today's tutorial I am going to show you how to recreate this look. 

I already curled and set my hair before I started like I did in this previous tutorial. 

February Birchbox Review

It's time for my February Birchbox review. To find out more about Birchbox view my first post or their website.

At first look this month I thought  my box seemed a little on the empty side, but after digging in I realized it was packed with some quality samples. I had to remind myself, it's not about quantity but quality. 

We will start with the Ghirardelli Milk and Caramel Square because of course it caught my eye first. I mean what girl doesn't want to get chocolate as a gift. Yum!

I can't wait to treat myself with Kerastase's Chroma Riche Masque. It is a hydrating mask for highlighted or color treated hair. Being a professional hairdresser I know this is a great brand, so I have no doubt that this will be an awesome fix for my winter dull and dry strands. 

I am very excited about Jouer's Matter Moisture Tint. In my last Birchbox I received a matte moisturizer and I have been loving the tinted bb creams, so I think this combination might be the perfect all-in-one product for me. 

I have mentioned this before, but I am pretty much an all gel polish girl now. It's not to say I don't appreciate a bottle of Color Club nail polish (in mamba), but I probably won't use it. Also I am not a fan of red, so this might end up being gifted off to someone else. 

Lastly I found Vasanti Brighten Up face cleanser in my box. I always love trying new face washes, so I can't wait to give this cleanser a whirl and see how my face feels after a couple of days. 

Do you get Birchbox? What did you get this month? 

Don't forget to follow me!

Oscar 2013 Best and Worst Hair

As you all know the 2013 Oscars were last night. I don't know if I have ever had the Oscars on for the whole time, but geez they are long. It's not that I didn't love looking at the fashion, but my goodness 4+ hours! Well of course I have an opinion on the hair. We will start with the best. 

1. Loved Maria Menounos hair. It's no secret I love volume and she nailed it. I also love that the headband was hair color with the perfect amount of bounce to the rest. 

2. Naomi Watts was beautiful from head to toe. Her soft updo was just enough undone without being to messy. I loved that it was put together with the right amount of volume in front instead of the crown.

3. I fell in love with Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty. I almost didn't recognize her all done up. Her old romantic curls looked sleek and vintage. It was very fancy red carpet, but still looked touchable.

4.  Amy Adams's classic french twist had the right amount of volume with a nice little center mini part. It was still loose enough in the front, where it didn't looked slicked back like some french twists tend to look. 

5. Stacy Keibler's faux bob was stunning. There's nothing quite like making long hair into a wavy romantic bob. 

And for the worst...There wasn't one that stuck out as a terrible failure of a hairdo, but there were a few that disappointed me. 

1. Nicole Kidman's hair fell flat for me, literally. There was too much left down in the front and it was flat in all the wrong places. I think it brought her face down and was just unflattering. 

2. Salma Hayek had it all wrong. I'm not sure what she was going for, but I wasn't digging this huge top knot bun. It seemed to big, and she could have done without the bling around it.

3. Kristen Stewart's hair never does it for me and I couldn't agree more last night. She needs to do more to it and could stand to brush it every once in a while. 

4. Jennifer Lawrence's hair wasn't awful in the back, but I thought the front was lacking. It looks like her hair was just pulled back into a loose ponytail, not red carpet worthy. 

5. There was nothing wrong with Jennifer Aniston's hair except that it looked like every other day. She always wears it down, straight, and layered. I would have like to seen a little more for the Oscars. 

What did you guys think of the hair last night?

How to Curl Your Hair With A Wand

Hair wands are so popular, but the thing is you can get the exact same look with a regular curling iron you already own. So save your money and go buy yourself some new clothes or go out to eat.

Polka Dot Tank // Grey Sweater (both Loft)

December Birchbox

For those of you who haven't signed up for Birchbox yet, you should because it is amazing. I look forward to mine each month with so much excitement. Whoever said a box was boring was so wrong. 

You pay $10 a month and receive a box in the mail full of sample size products to try out and review. If you love them you can purchase the products online at the birchbox store. Also you get points for then reviewing the products as well as points for dollars spent. With 100 points you receive $10 off any purchase. To find out more click here.

This month my box didn't disappoint. I was surprised on how large the samples were. 

To start I dove right in and ate my Dark Chocolate Peppermint Holiday Fortune cookie. For some weird reason I love fortune cookies and this one was great. I mean what girl doesn't love chocolate. If you don't your crazy!

Eyeko supplied a Skinny Liquid Eyeliner which I am excited to try out because I usually use a pencil.

Everyone has been talking about the new CC creams and now I get to try out Juice Beauty's Stem Cellular Repair CC Cream. This went right in my makeup bag. 

Juicy Couture sample is sweet with a little bit of floral notes. It's nice to always have new perfumes to try.

Lastly, since you know I am a hair girl, I am super excited about this large Advanced Volume Shampoo sample from Nick Chavez Beverly Hills.

Pretty Ponytail

So you want to know what to do with all those curls from yesterdays tutorial? Well your in luck because that's exactly what I am going to show you today.

This tutorial is great for putting your hair up in a little fancier way than just a boring old ponytail.

Curling and Setting your Hair

This tutorial is great for a fancy updo that needs to be super curly or have a lot of texture. Also, this is great for those of you that have hair that doesn't hold curls. If you wanted a similar look with not quite as tight of curls you could use a little bigger curling iron than a 1" like I did.

This tutorial is going to be 2 parts in 2 days. I wanted to show you how to curl your hair like this first (part 1). The part 2 of this tutorial, which will be tomorrow, will be how to put these tight curls up into a fancy ponytail. 

High Five For Friday!

Wow! This week flew by. I know I have said this before, but really, where did this week go?

1. Brrrr winter is here. Broke out the winter coat for walking around in the city.

2. Did hair and makeup for a commercial Bill was directing. 

3. Got a little crafty this week. (Look for a post soon on what I made.)

4. Bailey went beauty shoppin' and got the Christmas special!

5. Went to the Rockettes last night at Radio City Hall. Let's just say, I have been bitten by the Holiday Bug. Love this season!

Hipsters and Fingernails

So my husband, Bill, asked me to be in one of his commercials that he is working on for this new t-shirt company. In the commercial I had to play is a hipster. Nothing against hipsters, I think they are pretty cool, but it is not my style.

Anyway, the day of the shoot I decided my nails looked terrible, and since I knew my nails would be showing, I figured I should get a manicure. Once I got to the spa I realized I probably couldn't choose a color that I normally wear because I needed to be a hipster. I decided on Suzi Says Feng Shui by opi gelcolor.

After my manicure I headed over to the IAC building in Manhattan and got to work. From Bill's directions I need to not do my hair up in my normal "Texas Size Hair" so I left it  flat and went for the messy "undone" pony. 

All I had to do was stare at a computer with an "adoring look." (It was a lot harder than you would think.)

I guess they are going to take out the green background, keep my reflection, and put in a new background. I don't know, some nerdy stuff.

Blowdryers

I decided to write some tips to use when looking for a  new blowdryer. (Maybe a great Christmas present for someone on your list.) It is often a daunting task as there are so many out there to chose from so follow these simple steps and you should be all set.

1. Wattage. You know how some blowdryers take forever for your hair to dry? That's because the wattage is low. The higher the wattage the more powerful the heat will be. 

2. Accessories. I would definitely look for a blowdryer that comes with both a concentrator and a diffuser.   

3. Controls.  A blowdryer that has hot, warm, and cool options as well as high, medium, and low speed options are important. The cool option or sometimes button, helps to set a style and smooth the cuticle down while being able to change the speed and heat are important depending on what you are doing to your hair. Also you might want to change the heat and speed setting depending the condition of your hair. 

4. Weight. While this is more important for some than others it is nice to not have a blowdryer that weights a ton. For someone with really thick hair that takes forever to dry or someone that straightens their hair with their blowdryer and concentrator I would definitely go with very lightweight dryer.

5. Lastly, the words ceramic, tourmaline, and ionic are thrown around a lot. While I don't know if these are the most important things or how big of a difference they make in a dryer I will let you know what they are. If a blowdryer is ceramic it is also ionic. This just refers to how the heat is distributed through the blowdryer. If a blowdryer has these qualities the heat should be a more even and powerful heat. Tourmaline promotes smooth and shiny hair because of the ions it emits. All of these qualities will make the blowdryer price increase significantly.

My favorite brands. While I am not saying these are the best, these are the ones I have found that I love the most over the years.

Rusk Speed Freak 
Of all the hairstylists I have worked with this one seems to be a favorite.





















Super Solano 
This is what I currently own and love.

CHI Pro Dyer
Both with blowdryers and straighteners this company knows what they are doing.