Glossybox June Reveal!

So Glossybox works a little differently than other subscriptions. You get charged for the box somewhere around the first week of the month (so far around the 7th-10th I have noticed) and they ship at the end of the third week of the month, so you usually get your June box the last day or two of June, though this box arrived July 1st. It just took me until yesterday to get across the border to pick it up (they only ship to the USA).

I promise you all, I had EVERY intention of quitting and cancelling my membership as soon as I got my May box. I only wanted the Bergdorf Goodman box. I mean, come on!! $21 for a box full of high end samples AND a $25 gift card to BG? I mean how can you pass that up? The box was free!

And then I saw a preview of June and had to get it. The box is $21 and inside it is a full sized $18 strangebeautiful colour block. You all know I love the brand, and it made the rest of the box $3! Now as it turns out there were THREE full sized products in this box - an $18 colour block, a $10 hand lotion (given to my mom already), and an $18 shadow pencil. So that is $46 worth of stuff without the other two samples. The RUSK texturize spray is a $3.75 value, but we all know that when buying the travel size bottles, we pay more than double that just to get the convenience and the last two mini dry shampoos I have purchased for travel have been in the $8-$10 mark even though the value of product is next to none. Then another sample size (though deluxe sample) of a body butter which has also already been given to my mom. All in all, I am pretty happy with this box, and feel even this oh so picky blogger got her moneys worth, even after giving two of the products away!

Oh! And a surprise gift card with a secret value of between $5-$500. What a flipping joke. I was annoyed at my $10 but it seems most people got $5. Shipping is like $8 and everything on the site is overpriced to begin with. It would have been one thing if there was an item from C Wonder in the box and then a coupon for free shipping or something. But a gift card that doesn't even cover shipping and has no connection to the box actually just pissed me off. It felt like a way to pretend they were adding a bonus when in reality, its garbage. /End rant!

NOW.. IF you are interested in signing up for glossybox, now is the time to do it! In the next box we are all getting the Glamglow mask!!!!!! The $19 sized one! So yes, I am sticking around one more month. As long as they can show me ahead of time that I will be happy with my box, I will hang around.

And if you are interested in getting the box ($21 and a guaranteed $19 face mask), make sure you use code CIATE to get a free nail polish.

CLICK HERE TO 

SIGN UP! REMEMBER

TO USE CODE CIATE

June GLOSSYBOX Spoiler!!!

GLOSSYBOX only ships to the USA but I must say I am super impressed with the company thus far and for any Americans (or fellow Canucks with American addresses) I thought I would show you the sneak peeks we have had thus far in case you want to sign up. I had planned on only getting May and cancelling, but $21 seems worth it to me when I want all 3 of the sneak peeks so far!! And I am really happy with the brand thus far so I will keep it!

Every June GLOSSYBOX will include the STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Library of Color Colorbloc so you can create your own stars & stripes nail designs to match our custom-designed box!

The second item that we know will be in each box is the RUSK Texture Dry Finishing Spray.

The third product in the June GLOSSYBOX this month will be the Sumita Beauty Champagne Eye Shadow Pencil ($18 value)!

AND!!!!!!!!! If you use code HAIR, You get a free NIOXIN Diamax Thickening Treatment Valued at $50 just for signing up!

YOU CAN SIGN UP RIGHT 

HERE! THIS BOX IS STILL ON SALE!!

Silicones And Hair Products.

So as you now all know from my last blog post, I have been shampoo free for almost two years. For about 20 months my hair has been washed with conditioner only. I have really had no negative ramifications at all from that once I got through the first few weeks of a disgusting greasy mess. But........ I have been trying recently to conserve my favorite hair product as its no longer available here, and in the process I noticed A BIG build up in my hair. I was just no longer getting it clean!

After a lot of research I realized that the issue I was having was a silicone build up. Now I am not going to get in to an in depth post about what silicones are or if they are bad or good for you. I really have no opinion on if YOU should use them or not.

But silicone in general are used to coat the hair and give the appearance of thicker, healthier fuller hair.  I say they give the appearance because they really do NOTHING to alter or fix the composition of your hair and have ZERO benefit to the hair over time. They simply make your hair look better when you are putting them in your hair.

For a very good in depth post all about silicones in hair products, I suggest checking out the blog post the Pink Sith did just last week. FOUND HERE, the post gives a very good overview without getting TOO technical. But basically, the point I need to explain to you all is that there are two types of silicones. Those that dissolve in water, and those that don't. For those that do, water alone can break them down. For those that are NOT water soluble, you need sulfates to break them down. Can you see the problem here? For anyone who uses sulfate free shampoos, or those like me who use conditioner only (which has much less sulfates and in much lower concentrations) it can lead to a nasty build up.

As it turns out,  my normal go to hair product that I loved so much was silicone free by chance. So when I stopped using it (saving it up) I ended up using a LOT more silicones in my hair than ever before.

Water Soluble Silicones:
Any Silicone with PEG as a prefix
Dimethicone Copolyol
Hydrolyzed wheat protein (Hydroxypropyl Polysiloxane)
Lauryl Methicone Copolyol

Here is a list of some Non Soluble (not water soluble) Silicones:
Amodimethicone
Behenoxy Dimethicone
Cetearyl Methicone
Cetyl Dimethicone
Cyclopentasiloxane
Dimethicone
Dimethiconol
Phenyl Trimethicone
Stearoxy Dimethicone
Stearyl Dimethicone
Trimethylsilylamodimetheicone

Now there is also a silicone called Cyclomethicone. This one is a little different and as such I am leaving it on its own. This one is NOT water soluble, but it does evaporate in the air.

Now I am by NO MEANS saying you should go silicone free. I highly recommend checking out the link to the blog post by Pink Sith and make your own decisions. For me, I will use cyclomethicone as well as any of the ones that are water soluble.

So I had to go through my stash.

Non-soluble silicone containing products to be thrown out (given away as much as possible):

Quick note about this one. I JUST bought it a few weeks ago and I would have been TRASHING it regardless of if it contained silicone or not. I used it once and it worked well but I thought it smelled like bathroom cleaner. I wasn't sure if I was crazy or not, I took it to my dad, said smell this, and he said "why do I need to smell the toilet bowl cleaner?" And he was serious! So beware! Smell before buying! And then get a different heat protecter!

AND NOW FOR THE CHEATING:
This one DOES contain non water soluble silicone but it is just too amazing to toss. I will keep it for special occasions when I need that PERFECT curl and body. And then I will NOT repurchase! Its probably already 80% gone. But SHH! Don't tell anyone!

And then what I am left with!

And the go to product of mine that I am almost out of and that I can not replace. The twisted sista works just as well, but the texture is not quite as easy to work with. But it contains silicone. So I will need to find a replacement.

Julep February Classic With A Twist Maven Box

First let me tell you Julep has a big giveaway right now! You could win the ULTIMATE red carpet beauty MAKEOVER! The winner will be selected at random and announced on February 27th.

ENTER HERE!!! 

Ok, back to regularly scheduled programming. As mentioned, I made an order on the 30th of January, most of which I received on Thursday. I came home yesterday to two more Julep boxes. The first one I opened is not MY maven box (the It Girl aka Polish Lovers Box) but rather the last of my January 30 order. I was only planning on ordering Meryl since I have the gold en route and really didn't want a hair product. But...... the reviews of the hairspray were TOO FANTASTIC to not want to get a bottle myself, and so once more, cheaper to buy the box than the two items I wanted individually. And once more, a spare polish to gift!

Now if you don't live on beauty and nail blogs as I do, the chocolate would have been a nice surprise. I however KNEW it was coming, though its still a nice little extra. Though I hate dark chocolate (and all chocolate lacking peanut butter or mint!) I can appreciate the thought!

Once more, I was really happy with how well presented the box was! The ribbon and plastic once more!

And within the wrapping, was a LOT of bubble wrap. Julep definitely learned from their mistakes! yay!

The first thing I noticed was how SMALL the bottle of hairspray was. Its like half the size of any other bottle I have. $16.00 is a LOT of money for a bottle this size. I went to look and see on the website and it conveniently LACKS a size. I really do think that is a little...... not underhanded, but irresponsible. I think if you are ordering a full sized product at a value of 16.00 you have an expectation. And if you are going to sell such a small bottle, you should clearly state it. Had I ordered it alone I would have been very very disappointed. To show you what I  mean

Most are roughly in the same price range. The rusk between 21.00-18.00, the Redkin around 17.00, the GOT2BE and Sunsilk in the 5.00-6.00 dollar range. The Julep looks like a travel mini in comparison!

Now when you are a company that does not deal with hair products, I think it is fairly surprising to take your first offering and price in this manner. Now in comparison to RUSK, a salon only brand that retails for about 18.00, at less than a quarter of the size, it is essentially being priced at SEVENTY DOLLARS for the equivalent amount of product. That is fine if you think its worth that amount.

BUT PUT THE SIZE ON THE WEBSITE!!

Ok. Rant over. Sorry. It really does smell AMAZING though I have yet to use the product. I BETTER love it though at the price it is. Or more like, I better hate it as I am unlikely to shell out that kind of money for that amount of product!

Both Meryl and Oscar arrived safe and sound and prettier than expected!

Both were gorgeous and easy to apply. This is one coat of each. I almost think Oscar is TOO opaque though. If I am using it as a top coat (and I am unlikely to use it as anything else) I think I would want less gold and more of the base colour shining through. But the formula was great!

And for those of you curious as to the difference between Meryl and Dendrie, Meryl is MUCH MUCH darker. Not even close to the same colour though I think it would be a smashing combo for a french manicure with a twist!

EDIT - I just recieved this comment and thought it should be higlighted!! 

"It's not a hairspray though. It's a shine spray, just like the ones that Feria and others make. So it wouldn't be in as large of a bottle, since it's considered a hair treatment instead. You might want to change that since your description is misleading too! Also, I suggest that anyone looking to purchase the topcoat take a look at the maven boxes that contain it, and consider spending the $4 extra dollars to get the whole box instead of just the spray alone. That's what I ended up doing, because you get more products for almost the same price."

Its completely true!! I bought the box because it was cheaper than buying individually. And while it seems I was wrong ( I thought it was a hairspray!) I still stand by the point that they should post the size of the product on the website.