Decluttering Series: Weekly Beauty Product Testing With #Reviews- Week of Aug 3 + 10th

I'm still working on using up all of my samples, but I am making a lot of progress along the way. After this week, I mostly have some skin care samples to try out.. here's hoping that my skin wont freak out!

I tried out quite a few products so I'll try and make the reviews brief and to the point. ;)

John Frieda Colour Renew Tone-Correcting Shampoo for Colour Treated Blondes

This shampoo claims to neutralize brassiness for colour-treated blondes in 3 uses. It's your typical purple shampoo that you find in blonde shampoos that remove brassiness. Some of these types of shampoos can be VERY drying for your hair. I didn't find this one very drying and the results were subtle. I wouldn't say this one is very powerful at reducing brassiness. 

Korres Wild Rose 24HR Moisturizing and Brightening Cream

I found this to be more of a lotion consistency than a cream, despite this, it was fairly hydrating. I was surprised that I didn't have any breakouts as many rose based products tend to make my acne-prone skin breakout. I used it in conjunction with my usual serum and oil and although I would rate it as good, it didn't blow me away so I wont be purchasing it.

Dove Go Sleeveless Beauty Finish 48 Hr Antiperspirant

I really liked the scent, not sure how to describe it but I really liked it, and it wasn't a powdery smell (which is great for me). This is definitely a little more powerful than my aluminum free deodorants. I never wore it for 48 hours, so I cannot attest to that claim. I prefer to use products without aluminum, so I will stick with my aluminum free deodorants and save this for special occasions when I need a little more power.

Novex Queratina Brasileira Hair Food Keratin Treatment

After using this product my hair had a slightly different texture to it. It felt a little bit more coarse (maybe stronger?) but I found it a little too heavy for my fine hair when I left it on for 25 minutes with a shower cap on. However, when I used it as a regular conditioner in the shower and only left it on for a few minutes, my hair was not weighed down and I liked the results much more. I am curious to see if it would have any long term benefits though. And, I'd be willing to sacrifice weighed down hair for a day each week or month if it meant healthier, stronger hair. My hair wasn't particularly soft, so I doubt I'll ever find out if there are long term benefits unless I'm able to get my hands on a few more samples.

John Freida Go Blonder Lightening Shampoo

This product definitely brightened my blonde hair. I noticed it after just one use. It did leave my hair feeling more unmanageable when it was wet, but it was fine once styled. I would say this product lives up to it's claims. However, unless my hair needs some lightening, I will probably be sticking to my purple shampoo to tone down any brassiness.

Mario Badescu Skin Care

Special Cucumber lotion: Forget about it! This is full of alcohol. I will not be using this. I damaged and dehydrated my skin for enough years when I was trying to combat acne and didn't know any better. Luckily, now I know better and I don't dry out my skin!

Peptide Renewal Cream: I don't know if I got a bad one, but this smelled of some horrible gas or engine oil, it was very strange (and awful). It was really thick and very difficult (almost impossible) to blend into my skin. I would be willing to give it another chance if I could get my hands on another sample and see if I just got a bad one. I find it hard to believe they'd make something that smells so horrible and doesn't absorb into the skin.

Peptide Renewal Serum: This serum had a nice slip to it and seemed hydrating. Unfortunately, after using it for a week, I ended up with small, painful bumps under the skin on my forehead!  Nuff said. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! 

Let me know if you've come across any fab products lately..

ps. Come and join a bunch of fabulous bloggers at fabulousandfunlife

Amy 
xx

Decluttering Series: Beauty Samples Stash Testing + Reviews #challenge

I love getting samples of new products to try but I don't always use them right away as I'm often trying to finish up some full size products that I'm using. Now I find myself in a sea of samples so to speak so I've decided to take on the task challenge of using up all of my samples.

Hair Samples

Face & Body

Other Samples

As you can see I have a lot to get through and these are only the small size sample that I've accumulated. I have given a lot of samples to friends and family when I had duplicates or items that I thought they would enjoy more than I would.

Storage

This is how I decided to store my samples to give me easy access until I finish them up. Oh, the victory I will feel when that day comes! All the hair samples are in the basket and everything else is in the clear zippered bag.

I will use a few samples each week and report back on my experience with the products. Some samples are one time uses and others will give me a few uses and may take longer to finish up. 

I am looking forward to this challenge! 

Here is what I tried this week:

-TreSemme 7 Day Keratin Smooth System- Wow, did I lose a ton of hair using this 3 step system. I lost a lot of hair during each step and I have no idea why. Maybe it's not suitable for fine, fragile, bleached hair, but I didn't read that on the packaging anywhere. I didn't even follow the part of the instructions that tell you to go over each section with the flat iron 3 times, once was enough for me. The end result was dry hair and it only remained straight for the 1st day, after that my waves started to come back. I did not notice any special straightening from this product over using any normal shampoo, conditioner and treatments.. other than a lot of hair shedding!  I have two more of theses samples and they are going straight in the garbage.

-LaCoupe Argan oil Smoothing Shampoo and conditioner- My fine, curly hair was totally weighed down by this products and looked dirty with no style. Maybe better suited for people with coarse hair.

-Garnier Makeup Removing Lotion Cleanser- This worked well at removing my makeup but still required a cleanse after. I prefer to remove my makeup with an oil, Micellar water or wipe over this lotion cleanser.

-Almay Smart Shade- This blended into my skin nicely and had light coverage that evened out my skin tone. I didn't have any irritation or breakouts from it but I found the shade turned dark on my light-medium skin tone. Maybe it oxidized or is the wrong shade. The sample was from a magazine insert and doesn't state the colour.

I hope you enjoyed this post and mini reviews. If you have a lot of samples to use up maybe you'll join me in this challenge.

Come check out some other great beauty blogs here! Fabulous and Fun Life Linkup Party!

Amy