An Introduction to Drybar (Sake Bomb + Detox)

I know there’s a lot of people out there familiar with Drybar, but I definitely wasn’t one of them until recently! Here’s a roundup of some of the items I’ve tried recently:

Drybar Sake Bomb Shampoo + Conditioner
Drybar Sake Bomb Shampoo + Conditioner

The first items are the Sake Bomb Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner. It’s funny, cuz I’m going into this review having used both bottles up completely, but I had no idea they were even labelled nourishing. I just threw them in my shower and started using them over a month ago.

So here are my thoughts:

  • The smell is STRONG. It’s the first thing you’re going to notice when you pop that lid. I did NOT like it when I first used it, but as the month wore on, I started to love to love it.
  • I’m a daily hair washer, but these two products combined often left me with hair that hadn’t turned greasy by the next morning (so I could easily go out without washing my hair again if I hadn’t worked out the day prior). This was surprising since I can’t recall another shampoo/conditioner combo doing this to me in recent memory. Pretty impressive!
  • The shampoo lathers well and the conditioner hydrates. I wasn’t left with a rat’s nest that required leave in conditioner either! My hair has even felt extra bouncy!
  • The bottle looks like you’d have to twist the whole dang thing off in order to get the product. WRONG! It comes with a normal flip top lid as I’ve handily pictured below:
Drybar Sake Bomb
Drybar Sake Bomb
  • The price point is… different. Both the shampoo and conditioner retail for $30 CAD ($24  USD). I’ll leave it to you to decide if that’s expensive or not. I’m personally slightly aghast at the price tag… but then I remember how well this works in my hair and the temptation to buy it is REAL.

Now, what does Drybar say about their Sake Bomb range? This is “a nourishing shampoo that’s ideal for dry and/or medium-to-coarse hair and creates healthy-looking strands”. I believe I was sent this particular product because I’m blonde and most people assume my hair colour is fake (it’s not). That being said, I found that this did work incredibly well on my hair, even going so far as to keep the grease at bay on day two! Is the price tag worth it? I’m not going to make that judgement call for you because we all come from different lifestyles. Me personally? I think I’ll be picking this up again! (But will likely wait for the Sephora sale to do so!)

Drybar Detox Dry Conditioner and Dry Shampoo
Drybar Detox Dry Conditioner and Dry Shampoo

Next up is the Drybar Detox Dry Shampoo and Dry Conditioner. These smell identical to the Sake Bomb products above, but wayyy more intense.

The Dry Shampoo does its job (and what more do you really want from a dry shampoo?). When I need a dry shampoo -which isn’t too often, to be honest – I need it to blast the grease in my hair and murder it quickly so I can last the next few hours before I make it to my shower (namely when I’m going for a quick coffee or running errands, etc.). I’ve also used it to create volume for backcombing, and it also does that as well. Heads up though… let it soak in before you rub it in with your fingers. I get a bit of a whitecast even on my blonde hair so you REALLY need to comb it through to make sure you get all of the powder doing its soaky-uppy job. My husband has used it too and it worked wonders on his super greasy second day hair!

The Dry Conditioner... I hate to end this post on a bad note… but I don’t get this product at all. Supposedly this is “a dry conditioner that extends the life of a blowout by providing the benefits of a conditioner without the need to wet hair and blow dry afterwards.” You’re encouraged to use this from the middle of the hair shaft downwards… and yet… that’s not where I need the oomph in my hair when it’s fighting the second day hair grease battle. It also doesn’t detangle my hair when it’s knotty so I can’t figure out what the heck to use this for. If you have suggestions, PLEASE tell me – I would love to know how to use this product correctly!

So there’s my roundup! Loved the shampoo and conditioner, as well as the dry shampoo. I can do without the dry conditioner, but hey… three out of four is pretty darn good! Let me know what you’ve tried by Drybar – what works, what doesn’t. I’d love to hear both. 🙂

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.

Too Faced Sweethearts Additions (Review & Swatches)

Too Faced Sweethearts Additions - Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
Too Faced Sweethearts Additions – Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini

With the launch of their summer collection, Too Faced added two brand new items to their Sweethearts lineup!

Too Faced Sweethearts Additions - Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
Too Faced Sweethearts Additions – Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini

Until now, the Sweethearts lineup had always been all about that blush life. This launch introduced us to a new blush *and* a bronzer shade! (And you KNOW how I feel about bronzers!)

Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini
Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini

Encased in ridiculously adorable packaging, the Sparkling Bellini blush has three stripes of oranges and pinks.

Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini
Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini

Since two of the shades in the pan are more on the orange side of things, this blush does lean quite orangey-coral. It’s also worth noting that there is some particles of glitter in the mix that will adhere to your skin. If you’re adverse to glitter, go easy with your brush!

Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini - swatches
Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini – swatches

In Sparkling Bellini, the middle stripe had the least amount of frost/glitter in it. This is a very luminous blush – to the point where you may not even need a highlighter. I wore it a few days without highlighter, but then ultimately decided I still needed BECCA’s Champagne Pop in my life! 😉

Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea
Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea

With my incredible love for bronzers, I was most interested by the Sweet Tea Sweethearts Bronzer. *Especially* because the left half of the pan can look almost grey/white in some lighting.

Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea
Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea

In terms of customizing your bronzer tone, this product works out really well. If you’re a bit paler, you can stick to the left hand side. Darker toned? The right hand side. Or do what I do and swirl the brush into the two of them! Unlike the blush, the bronzer does not have glitter particles.

Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea - swatches
Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea – swatches

Pigmentation is STRONG on these! I should probably opt for the paler side until I get my full summer tan, but I’ve been swirling my brush into the two shades and going in with a very light hand and blending out like crazy just so I can use the product to their full effect.

Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini

I’m wearing Sweet Tea on my temples, backs of my cheekbones and along my jaw line. Sparkling Bellini has been applied to my cheeks and blended backwards.

Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini

You can get a very subtle glow with both the  bronzer and the blush, which is something I really appreciate.

Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini

OR, you can amp it up and get a lot more colour impact out of both of them.

201606_toofaced_sweethearts_sweettea_sparklingbellini3

Final Thoughts

This was my first time trying any of the Too Faced Sweethearts products and I have to say they’re a lot of fun to use, although there is a bit of a learning curve.

I found the Sweet Tea bronzer intensely pigmented, which I definitely wasn’t expecting based on how luminous it looks in the pan. In my experience, luminosity usually means more sheerness in the powder but that definitely wasn’t the case this time! I had to scale back my bronzing technique in order to get the flush I wanted. If you’re fair, don’t be afraid! The product does blend out nicely so you’re not left with any kind of streaks! This is also potentially great news for those who are a deeper skintone than me and need that extra pigmentation to make a bronzer work for them.

Sparkling Bellini blush was also super pigmented and I definitely booped too much on my cheek the first time I applied it (I wish I had a shot of that, I looked hilarious!). With a gentle hand, this is a gorgeous blush that comes with its own built in subtle highlighter. You will find small particle shimmer suspended in the blush which will stick to your cheeks – just a heads up for those who are adverse to any kind of glitter.

The new Sweethearts bronzer and blush are permanent additions to the Too Faced lineup and each retail for $30 USD (blush, bronzer)  or $38 CAD (blush, bronzer).

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.

MAC Cosmetics Fashion Pack Lipstick (By Special Order & Stylist’s Tip)

MAC Fashion Pack lipsticks in By Special Order and Stylist's Tip

One of MAC‘s latest collection to launch is Fashion Pack! It’s currently available online now, and will be in stores on June 23rd. For full colour story details, please see Swatch and Review’s roundup.

MAC Fashion Pack lipsticks in By Special Order and Stylist's Tip
MAC Fashion Pack lipsticks in By Special Order and Stylist’s Tip

I’ve got two of the limited edition lipsticks from Fashion Pack… and holy crap you guys… they are not messing with these colours! They’re jawdropping!

  • By Special Order is a deep reddened fuchsia (be still my heart) in an Amplified formula.
  • Stylist’s Tip is a deep violet, also in an Amplified formula.
MAC By Special Order and Stylist's Tip - swatches
MAC By Special Order and Stylist’s Tip – swatches

You can see from the swatches that they have a very creamy finish and are quite shiny. I did find that some of the sheen died down after about thirty minutes (which is a plus for me).

MAC - By Special Order
MAC – By Special Order

By Special Order has completely stolen my heart. This is the kind of shade that I’m drawn to time and time again. Anything with “reddened” in the shade description usually sends my heart aflutter, and this one is no exception!

Wearing MAC - Special Order
Wearing MAC – Special Order
Wearing MAC - Special Order
Wearing MAC – Special Order
MAC - Stylist's Tip
MAC – Stylist’s Tip

As for Stylist’s Tip, at first I wasn’t sure what the heck I was going to pair it with… however I quickly discovered that it goes with just about anything. I wore Stylist’s Tip the other day with an olive smokey eye and it turned out to be gorgeous!

Wearing MAC - Stylist's Tip
Wearing MAC – Stylist’s Tip
Wearing MAC - Stylist's Tip
Wearing MAC – Stylist’s Tip

Final Thoughts

Although I have admittedly not been a fan of the Amplified formula in the past, there’s something different about these lipsticks now. While soft on the lips and easy to apply, they oddly (/amazingly) had more grip on my lips than I had ever experienced with previous lipsticks in this formula. THIS IS WONDERFUL! I didn’t get any excessive lip line bleed out which I was prone to with their Amplified formula even with a clear liner and primer! I can finally wear the Amplified formula and enjoy it – man oh man, I’ve been missing out on the wonderful shades they’ve been putting out!

As for the colours in this post, they both applied smoothly and were cushiony and comfortable on my lips. I’ve worn each of them for 5+ hours and noticed very little fading over time. They are completely non-drying on my lips as well. Of the two, By Special Order is my favourite shade, but hey, it’s up to you to pick whichever is YOUR favourite!

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.

Swatch Sunday: Wet n Wild Poster Child

Wet n Wild Poster Child

A colourful, bright addition to the Wet N Wild collection: Poster Child is here to stay!

Wet n Wild Poster Child
Wet n Wild Poster Child

Wet n Wild Poster Child Swatches

Wet n Wild Poster Child - Browbone
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Browbone
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Eyelid
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Eyelid
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Crease
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Crease
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Definer
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Definer
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Browbone
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Browbone
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Eyelid
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Eyelid
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Crease
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Crease
Wet n Wild Poster Child - Definer
Wet n Wild Poster Child – Definer