Smells of Summer

I was at the Shadyside Sephora two weeks ago and got caught up trying new perfumes.  I’m usually pretty picky…flowery scents make me sneeze and give me a headache.  Usually I stick with fruitier ones.  And, once I find one I like, it takes me awhile to switch.  (I’ve been wearing Angel since college!)

But, I am in love.  I tested Very Irresistible Givenchy Summer Sorbet and immediately ran to the cashier.  When I got home and tried it on for real, I even loved it more…which surprised me a little because usually the opposite happens.

Two weeks later, it’s my favorite smell of the summer!  It smells fruity, but is described as floral, so what do I know?!  It’s fun…it makes me smile when I put it on and it lasts all day.

The little things…gotta appreciate them!

bliss hand cream is the worst

Happy New Year! It’s freaking cold in western PA. My hands – despite constant hand cream application – are so dry. At work, I have a bottle of bliss high intensity hand cream…and I’m vowing to never use it again. In the past 20 minutes, I’ve put a generous amount on my hands three times, and my hands feel no different at all! Victoria’s Secret hand cream is so much better…and comes in much more fun scents.

Shampoo that makes your hair…dirtier?

Guest blog from Gabby:

As many of you know, thanks to my BFF Modernista, I recently turned 30. I did a little bit of appraising of where I am in my life, but all in all, it wasn’t too traumatic. The real traumatic experience happened a few days later…when I decided to try a new shampoo.

I have a favorite shampoo that I’ve been using for a while, but I ran out. Since I happened to be at the mall with my mom and she needed something at Sephora, I decided to take a look with her and try a new shampoo. I had no idea what I was getting into.

I picked up a bottle of Rosemary Mint Herbal Shampoo with Sea Moss for dry or damaged hair by Carol’s Daughter. My hair tends to be on the dry side naturally, plus I use a flat iron quite a bit, so I like to use moisturizing shampoos. I also like a nice tingle, so I thought rosemary mint might do the trick. Was I ever wrong! The shampoo was kind of watery and I didn’t get much of a lather at first. So, I dumped some more on my hands and kept scrubbing. When I rinsed out the first round of shampoo, my hair didn’t feel clean, so I made another bad decision, dumped some more shampoo in my hands, and washed it again. The second time around, I got more of a lather, but my hair felt even dirtier than it did when I started this whole process! It was sticking to my hands and felt gross and tacky.

My hair is naturally curly, so I usually comb it out, throw in some gel, and forget about it. Not this time. As I was combing my wet hair, it just did whatever the comb did! I could’ve bent it at a 90 degree angle and it would have stayed! My normally springy, curly hair that does whatever it wants was just plastered to my head. I managed to make it semi presentable by blowing it dry, but it was still extremely pliable and sticky. To make matters worse, not only did my hair feel dirty, but my color didn’t look nearly as vibrant as it did before this shampoo.

Needless to say, when I went to the grocery store, I picked up some good old Pantene Pro V. After three shampoos (in one shower, mind you!), my hair feels better…but it’s still not back to normal. Luckily, Sephora takes back pretty much anything, so I returned this terrible product and got some lipgloss (I did NOT try anything new, but rather stuck with my Smashbox O gloss). The moral of this story: DO NOT BUY CAROL’S DAUGHTER’S ROSEMARY MINT HERBAL SHAMPOO WITH SEA MOSS (unless you’re being Pippi Longstocking for Halloween and need your hair to bend)! I guess I should’ve known not to buy a product made by someone who won’t even put their own name on it…Whoever Carol is, I hope she doesn’t get homemade presents from her daughter!