Sahajan Hair Oil

TextForever my favourite hair oil and one that is made by a company founded by someone who knows and lives in the Ayurvedic tradition: Sahajan Nurture Hair Oil. Smells amazing (herbal but not green). If you like how Aveda products smell, then you’ll like this oil too.

When this company launched, their PR person sent me the whole line of products to try, and I’ve since repurchased the body and hair oils many time, even buying them as gifts. They are THAT good.

They use Amla and Coconut oils in the blend, oils that in Indian households are commonplace and used daily. This oils brings that tradition into this era with tasteful apothecary-style packaging and beautiful scents. I told the founder that she needs to make these scents into perfumes, but it’s probably not as easy as all that.

Have you tried this line? Get it here.

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Empties: Bumble and Bumble, Dior Lip Glow, Maybelline Lifter Gloss, MAC Glosses

Morning light and a bunch of things I finished.

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The three really worth mentioning: Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil. I’ve been a fan of this since it launched and I still don’t think there’s anything else like it out there. It’s got silicone in it but also oils so it’s a good blend. It detangles like anything else, fights frizz, and a little goes a long way.

Maybelline Lifter Gloss. This is a slightly sweet gloss. It was ok. I wouldn’t rebuy it, but it competes with a lot of high-end options out there.

Dior Beauty Lip Glow. Again, one that I’ve gone through multiple tubes of. Not the most moisturizing but a nice stain if you like that sort of thing. I have a few more tubes out and about so I’ll probably finish more of them.

A few old MAC lip glosses that are done.

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Kayali Utopia Coco Video Review

TextKayali Utopia Vanilla Coconut 21. You know that I’ve been having a moment with coconut these days, and I’m really feeling warm comforting fragrances.

I’m on the fence with this one – I feel like sometimes I get a whiff of the vanilla and it really has the potential to be something beautiful, but the coconut note in this is a little artificial-smelling and that was off-putting. There’s definitely a bit of white floral in here too, and that’s ok, the combo of white floral and coconut is one of my favourites, but again, because that coconut is plasticky, it just comes off as trying to be something it’s not.

The one thing it has going for it is that it’s not too sweet and never ends up being cloying, but I’m definitely not in Utopia.

Here’s a video review of it: let me know what you think if you’ve tried it!

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L’Artisan Parfumeur Ambre Extreme Perfume Review

TextToday I had a little spritz of my old bottle of L’Artisan Parfumeur Ambre Extreme, and I believe newer bottles are called L’Eau d’Ambre Extreme. This is a cozy spicy amber that really reminds me of my grandfather. It’s from a different time period. There’s a warm body feel to it, checked shirts, cardamom chai, herbal soap…

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Boscia Pro-Retinol Repair

TextBoscia has a new retinol out and it’s an oil! I know we’ve seen cheaper retinol oils on the market for a few years now, but this one is different because it also has bakuchiol in it.

In case you’re keeping track of retinol percentages because your skin is extra sensitive, this is 0.1% retinyl (not that strong) and 0.5% Bakuchiol (an effective amount), so this formula should be pretty gentle.

Personally, I love to use a drugstore retinol on the nights that I’m not using a prescription because they’re always more moisturizing formulas and so I’m still getting a tiny dose of retinol on my skin.

You can find this at Shoppers Drug Mart. $67.

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Strivectin Creme Control Brightening & Firming Hand Cream

Using StriVectin’s Crepe Control Brightening and Firming Hand Cream these days and I’m finding that the best way to actually make sure that I’m using hand cream is to keep it on my desk.

TextStrivectin tested this on 32 subjects for 8 weeks and found that 96% showed improvement in smoothness, texture, fine lines, and wrinkles, and 90% of subjects showed an improvement in radiance and luminosity. I don’t know if this hand cream will last me that long (most only last me about a month) and I use tons of other things on my hands (lotion is always within reach), but I’m going to use this.

Like all of Strivectin’s products, this has NIA 114 in it which is their barrier-strengthening ingredient. There’s also peptides and shea butter, so the same great ingredients you would use for your face, is what you’re putting on your hands. Like all of Strivectin’s products, this smells pretty strong but it’s a smell that dissipates, and soon enough, I’ve forgotten all about it. Honestly, sometimes I use retinol on my hands too but it makes my skin so dry. Oils are greasy and they get on everything, but hand cream gets applied right before I sit down with my coffee in the morning. Hand sanitizer is so drying too, and without a hand cream I’m prone to flakiness or dermatitis.

The update on this cream is that I got through about half of it before someone liked it so much that I had to give it to them.  I have another one but I had already noticed that the pigmentation on my hand had gotten better, and hopefully that’ll continue, the more I use it.

You can find Strivectin online.

*gifted

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Empties: Keratinworks, Korres, Sukin Beauty, NYX, Benefit

Empties.
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Tom Ford Ebene Fume Review EDP

TextI’ve worn this a few times, enough to know that I don’t want it. @tomford Ebene Fume, really smells a lot like Palo Santo, so much so that they’re nearly identical when you smell them side by side, and that’s good, because that’s the scent that the perfume is trying to evoke! That being said, the base of this is a synthetic sandalwood that you’ve probably smelled in everything else, and anyone could smell it from a mile away.

My own personal experience is that palo santo always reminds me of cloves, and when I was growing up, sometimes Indian food would have whole cloves in it that I would unwittingly bite, and the taste of whole cloves is so bitter and disgusting that I never want to be near it. Not everyone has that scent association but I do… so this is a nope from me.

So I won’t spring for this, but it’s woody and warm and actually seems perfect in lots of ways. They did take that synthetic sandalwood and dress it up… the smokiness in the opening is powerful and enjoyable, and it actually lasts a while before the scent settles down.

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Bliss Skincare Bright Idea Serum

TextThis Bliss Skincare Bright Idea serum is my favourite from the brand. It’s got ethyl-ascorbic acid which is usually more stable, and a gel formula in a pump bottle. The pump lets in less air than a bottle that you’re constantly opening. For a drugstore serum, this one is great and even has peptides which help improve your skin condition too. I have to say – there have been so few misses from the Bliss products I’ve tried this year.

Bliss Skincare is now available at Shoppers Drug Mart.  $33.

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Estee Lauder Luxury Scent Collection

TextI checked out some of the new Estee Lauder Luxury Scent collection yesterday – I was somewhat surprised to see them in a Hudson’s Bay and with no salesperson in sight, but there they were. The packaging is gorgeous. Heavy ribbed glass, magnetic gold lids. They’d look good on display. I also like that they’re organized by scent styles – woody, earthy, amber, chypre, etc. It gave me an idea what to reach for. I didn’t try them all and sprayed on scent strips first.

The one that was my favourite was the one I wore on skin: Desert Eden, a woody floral. Listed notes are: Sandalwood, Rose, and Olibanum. This smells exactly like Rooh Afza. It’s a somewhat fruity sweet rose tempered with smooth sandalwood. The sweetness isn’t cloying but it’s sugary. Plain. Seems linear and retains some sweetness throughout its wear. Refreshing, slightly watery without being aquatic. These perfumes are EDP formulas and I found 2 sprays on my wrist to be very long-lasting. If you’re a fan of L’Artisan Parfumeur Safran Troublant, you’ll like Desert Eden. I only wore it once, but I’d like to wear it again.

Have you tried any of these, what did you think?

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