Sally Hansen Salon Effects Review

SOOOOO, I don't often polish my nails. Why not? Because I use my hands so often that the polish always comes off the tips or they get those little dents in them from banging my hands on something. I love a good pedicure, though. So the good people at Influenster sent me the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in my Spring Beauty Voxbox to test and review.

First of all can I say that I'm in LOVE with this product???!!?! I love that there's no dry time! ZERO, NONE, ZILCH!! Just stick them on your nails, press in place to get rid of any bubbles, and file to fit! That's it! To remove, you just use any polish remover like you would take off normal nail polish. Currently, I'm on I think day 6 or 7 and I have to say that I'm impressed that I still have a great looking manicure AND pedicure. Yes, there are enough strips in my package that I can do a mani and pedi and I have enough left over I think to get one more mani or pedi (it could be because of my small nail beds). They come in 40 different styles and I want.to. try. them. ALL! And the pricepoint? $9.99!! You can't beat that with a stick! What do YOU normally pay for a salon mani/pedi???

The only con I have to say about this product is that it is a little bit difficult to get the adhesive off before application, but once you get in a rhythm, it's good to go. Other than that, I have no complaints.

For more information on this product check out the Sally Hansen site.

Love and Hugs,
Lashawn

My Sally Hansen Salon Effects in "Kitty, Kitty"

Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot Cushions Review

And another one! I'm on a roll tonight! I'm making up for all the posts I've not done in the last few months, :). Anyway, THIS post is dedicated to the Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot Cushions. This product was provided to my by Influenster.com for testing and reviewing purposes.

I'm always looking for something to give me some relief in my feet. These cushions really give me the relief I need, especially when I'm standing for long hours. HOWEVER, I do need a little more cushioning for my feet, especially since I'm completely flat-foot, and I have long narrow feet. Who would have thought that I could have successfully run track for as long as I did with the feet that I have!! I've never used Dr. Scholl's products before, but I was impressed with the comfort that the ball of foot cushions gave me when I wore heels, wedges, or flats. I tried them out in various shoes just to get a better idea of how they would feel in different conditions. I'm tempted to purchase other Dr. Scholl's products to see if I can get the ultimate foot relief experience all at the same time. Hmmm.....stay tuned!

For more information about Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot cushions, click here. Thanks for reading!

Love and hugs,
Lashawn

Bath and Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist Review

Hey all!!

I have another review for yooooooouuu!! LOL! This is dedicated to Bath and Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist. I will say first, I was skeptical about the mist because to me, body mists are very alcoholic and strong smelling, they don't really stay with me unless I layer them with the shower gel, AND the body scrub, AND the lotion. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but the scent really doesn't stay with me enough to go out and purchase it and enjoy it. Now back in the day when I was younger and didn't know enough about real fragrances?? Yeah, body mists were my go-to, lol. Now, I know what I like, I know what works great with my body chemistry, and I can make smart purchases.

When Influenster sent me the Fine Fragrance Mist in the Twilight Woods scent (a scent that I really enjoy) in my Spring Beauty VoxBox, the first thing I said was "oh, something I can gift to someone". I honestly thought this because of my prior body mist experience. But when I tried this fine fragrance mist, I was a little more surprised and pleased with this. Why? Because the mist sprays very lightly and in much smaller particles than the original body mist bottles (does that make sense???). It doesn't smell like alcohol and fragrance. I get the full enjoyment of the actual smell of the product in a more delicate way.

For more information on this product, click here. Thanks for reading and look out for more posts!!

Love and hugs,
Lashawn

Sheer Cover Review

It's been a REALLY long time, but I'm back and the first post that I wanted to make is dedicated to a product that I received, compliments of Influenster.com and Sheer Cover. I know, I know, I don't really do makeup reviews, but I'm getting more into wearing fun colors on my eyes and using the products that I have. Anywho, this is a really great product and I wanted to share it with you guys (and it's my blog, so I can post what I want, :P).

 I have slight dark circles under my eyes, and I don't wear a foundation, but I do wear a concealer to sort of even me out and make me look more awake. I'd heard of Sheer Cover, seen the infomercial, and thought it would probably be a good product to try, especially because it has jojoba oil in it, which is very moisturizing to the skin. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to get the Sheer Cover Duo concealer, complimentary, from Influenster's VoxBox program to try out. I believe I've posted about them before. Once I received it, I gave it a try on my freshly washed face. First impression; it glided on so smoothly. It's really lightweight, creamy, and it totally did what I needed it to do. It covered my dark circles and I looked like I had nothing on my face! I loved it. It washed off my face well at the end of the day, and I was completely happy with the product. I have been using it very regularly, and I'm still happy with it. Another plus? It's dermatologist tested, it has an ingredient in it, Allantoin, which helps calm and soothe, sensitive, and irritated skin, and it provided antioxidant protection from free-radical scavengers.

For more information on Sheer Cover, click here. I recommend this product to those who want coverage for blemishes, dark circles, and hyperpigmentation.

Hope you liked, and it's great to get back to blogging again!!

Love and hugs,
Lashawn

Realizations about MY hair

So, yes, I've come to some realizations about my hair that I haven't put out into the universe for all to know. But tonight, I think I'll let you all know the skinny on my personal head of hair, and not hair in general. Everyone's head of hair is different, so things I've done or currently do, may or may not work for you. Okay, here goes...

First off, my hair is VERY dense. It's thick, especially for the size of my head! I got my first Denman detangling brush within my first year of being natural. I loved that brush! It detangled like no other, got my hair so smooth. That was my Holy Grail hair tool. But over the years, I found a very comparable, less expensive option to the Denman. That would be the Conair brand detangling brush. I even modified it by taking out every other row so that I could have an even easier detangling experience. Over time, I started to notice that no matter how gentle I was with my hair during the shampoo, condition, deep conditioning, or detangling process, I seemed to have wispy little hairs around and throughout my hair. I didn't know what to attribute it to, I didn't know why, it just was. I knew all about finger detangling. I had even tried it before. #FAIL... It was too much hair! As fast as I got it detangled, it got tangled again. So I resorted to my old faithful Conair brand detangling brush. Fast forward to the current year. I'm even more patient with my hair, I deep condition with my Huetiful Hair Steamer, I have my staple products, and guess what? I can finger detangle!!! Well, with the aid of my wide tooth comb, I can finger detangle!! :) 

But I figured out that when I do to my hair what it needs, which is shampooing with a creamy sulfate free shampoo, very regular deep conditioning, use my AWESOME find of a leave in conditioner (a la Kimmaytube), feed my hair a great moisturizer with oils, and seal my hair with an oil, my hair is VERY happy with me and does exactly what I want it to do. Bottom line, MY HAIR LOVES OILS. It thrives when it's fed with water, oils and oil based products. What oils you ask? Well, my number one is castor oil. It's thick, nourishing, it feeds my hair. I love it. Then, grapeseed oil. I also now use grapeseed oil as my heat protectant when I flat iron my hair. My other oil loves are coconut oil, jojoba oil, amla oil, and macadamia oil. I still really like shea butter, too (in small amounts).

Bottom line, when I use my Conair brush, it's great. I get nice smooth twists and braids. It also works when I want to have a smooth flexirod set. But I realized that I am taking out more hair prematurely when I use my detangling brush, especially if the section of hair is larger than an amount that I can wear in a two strand twist. When I finger detangle and use my wide tooth comb, I get less shedding, and I get to keep some of my curl definition. And that's a win-win for me. :)

Those are my realizations! Until next time!

Love and hugs,
Lashawn

It's been too long...

I've been in a funk...I, like a lot of other people out there, have been struggling to get back in the full time workforce for a while now. It's been a huge strain. I know I've had bouts of (undiagnosed) depression, which have further put me in my funk, and I'm just trying to get back in where I fit in best. I have had great ideas swirling around in my head (some of which I've gotten out on paper and other avenues), but overall, I've been in an unmotivated funk. I haven't made a blog post in almost a month. I haven't edited or uploaded a video in about a month (even though I have about 4 videos that need attending to).

I needed to write this particular post just to get me over the hump. I have been taking much better care of my hair, though, :). And I've come to some realizations about my hair that I'll be putting up in my next post. I know I don't have many followers on here, but this avenue of blogging is for me to vent, share my gift of natural hair knowledge, offer my natural haircare services, and anything that may touch someone in an inspirational way. I'm one of millions of bloggers and vloggers out there. But I know someone, somewhere, is reading this and needing this too. I got inspiration to write this post from one of my favorite bloggers, Glamazini (www.glamazini.com, you should check her out). Too often, we dwell on things aren't going great, things that stress us out, make us sad, or make us worry. I just wanted to take a minute to post some things that I actually really LOVE. These are things that make me happy and make me smile (in no particular order, except the first three). Here's my top 75.

I love....

God

knowing God has NEVER failed me

Jeff (my husband)

the color yellow

hugs

music

naps

little miracles

being wrapped up in a soft throw blanket

the color red

the color "grape" (a deep, dark purple)

Taboo

Mad Gab

Scrabble

ice cream

chocolate

smiling

taking pictures

dancing

maxi dresses

sunny days

warm, sunny days

laying out on the beach

eating

eating in bed

cereal (Frosted Flakes, to be exact)

spending time with my nieces and nephews

my family and friends

laughing

styling my (or others') hair

days off

blogging

vlogging

track and field

coaching

completing a goal

Chipotle

journaling

going on vacation

pillows

being warm

laffy taffy

mike and ike's

gummi bears

reading

"Love Jones"

"Soul Men"

"My Fair Lady"

being a twin (I have a twin brother)

being a leftie

pajamas

singing

body butters

cooking

a clean home

a good smelling home

vacuuming

entertaining

a good cocktail

painting

massages

cuddling

making a bad day, better

surprises

planning surprises

positive affirmations

tank tops

cupcakes

waffles

hot cocoa

going to the movies

museums

organization

making others smile

Scramble with Friends

Just writing this list out made me smile, because there's so much I have to be grateful for. I'm blessed to even be able to have THIS list. And I know that any time of the day, week, or year, any one of these items can be had by me. That makes me happy. I'm a blessed individual, I'm still human, so I will have bad days, but I'm comforted in knowing that it gets better. I came across this quote a day or so ago, and I think it's only appropriate to use, to end this post.

"If you just look for what's right - in others, in relationships, in yourself, your career, and your journey...you'll always find it....and it's the same thing when you look for what's wrong."
-Mike Dooley

Love and Hugs,
Lashawn

Prepping MY hair for heat

Hey everyone! So, for me, winter is the season when I can use heat on my hair, and it won't be in vain. Tomorrow, 1/13, I'll be flat ironing my hair and doing a new growth check since getting my color this time last year. In preparation to use hear on my hair, I take good care to give extra TLC to my strands, and I'll explain what I do to prep (this is actually exactly what I did on Sunday, 1/8).

First, I shampoo my hair. I have always loved Organix brand shampoo and conditioner. But lately, I've fallen IN LOVE with the Keracare line for natural hair! I love this line because it's very moisturizing for my hair. I also love that the packaging gives the pH of the product. This lets me know that I'm keeping my hair in the proper pH range to retain moisture, which keeps my hair soft (more on pH in another post).

Next, I deep condition my hair. I usually use Macadamia Hair Oil Deep Repair Masque, because it gives me ultimate slip so i can detangle my hair with ease. But I decided to try out another line for couple of months because it was in my price range at the time. Beautiful Textures deep conditioner is what I've been using and I have to say, I love the smell, but I only like the product. It doesn't give a ton of slip, like my hair needs, but it does do the job and give me a good deep treatment. My hair is really soft after steaming my hair with it. Which leads me to my next form of TLC-steaming!! I use my Huetiful hair steamer to aid in my deep conditioning process and it makes my hair feel like butter! I love that device! My steaming time lasts about 20 minutes, after which I will rinse out my deep conditioner with cool water, then proceed to "styling".

I use my leave-in conditioner that I've been making, per Kimmaytube's recipe, because it is the ONE THING my hair cannot live without, ever since I started making and using it. Even if I use just the Kinky-Curly Knot Today leave-in without mixing in the other ingredients, my hair just doesn't respond the same. After applying my leave-in, I further moisturize with my Qhemet Biologics Amla and Olive Heavy Cream, and then I seal my ends with an oil. It's either castor oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil, Amla oil, or grapeseed oil. Only one; not all, LOL.

The final thing I do is twist my hair up in big twists. I do this to avoid having to use heat on my hair twice, using the blow dryer and the flat iron. And that's it! My hair will remained stretched in twists until I'm ready to flat iron, which I'll be doing tomorrow. I like this process for me because my hair stays detangled and moisturized for days, until I'm ready to further style with heat. Once I'm ready to flat iron, I'll put a little grapeseed oil all over my hair as a heat protectant.

I like to make sure to let you all know that this is what I DO for MY HAIR. Everyone has their own methods for their own hair, and this is what works for me. Sometimes I don't want to wait to flat iron my hair and I want to do it the same day that I wash. In that case, I will use the blow dryer. But I try not to use too much heat and I try not to use heat too often. Take a look at my hair as it is right now, and see that I'm definitely not out for a fancy twist style when I'm prepping my hair for heat, but it is a decent enough style to wear out and about. I hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned!

Love and hugs,
Lashawn